The Draconian Story: Chapter 19
#20 of The Draconian Story
The Revelation of a Scaly Friend
"Hey, Viglerne, you gotta control the town, man! What the hell are you doing holed up inside this...peaceful side of town?! Where are Enrique and Cajo?! Hey, come out!"
Richard reached Viglerne's apartment (apparently he knew Viglerne's apartment from Hector who only lived opposite his apartment), but found it totally empty except from soot-covered room and turned furniture. When he ventured a little around the destroyed part, he found a lizard-like body lying near the bathtub full in blood. It had a pale green scales, and the only draconian he knew having those scales and also the one having a rather fat posture was the one he was searching now.
"Viglerne? Viglerne?! What the hell happened to you? Hey, wake up!"
"R...Richard?" said Viglerne faintly. "P...please, you gotta get out. It's a trap."
"Trap? By who?!"
"Just...get me out of here and I'll explain!"
Richard took Viglerne's weak body. He was like drugged, and somehow too weak to even move himself. Because of Richard's strong dragon muscles, he could lift the smaller draconian easily. Richard jumped to the window and opened his wings so he could land easier (it was lucky since Viglerne was also a winged type). Upon landing, he suddenly didn't feel right and he quickly ran toward a half-wall in the same time when he saw some machine gun-wielding draconians aimed and shot at him. He was thinking on how to run away while protecting Viglerne from any attacks since he was vulnerable and a knife expert with no experience on using any guns. He knew giving him his almost emptied pistol could make a bad decision.
Readying himself, he ran under the wall while trying to avoid the now penetrating bullets and pulled out his gun. He returned fire after they were reloading, although it was intended for distraction. He ran in high speed using his feet when he ran out of ammo. The plan was effective enough to take him away when he realized two Northornians he knew used a weird kind of element for killing the attackers, suffocating them from afar. Richard, who came from a fantasy world, realized it was magic.
"Was that...?"
"We did tell you about this, right?" said Enrique. "It's called tomar viento. Using this, we can take air from their surroundings. Not a bad start for an apprentice like me. Be wary, senor. All Northornians can use magic, and of course that assassin too."
Richard suddenly remembered on the Northornian assassin. He knew this trap could be his doing, and of course he knew this wouldn't be advantageous if he was carrying a wounded draconian. Handling Viglerne to the two trustworthy Northornians, he said, "Carry him to a safe place. Don't let him die."
"He is our Salvador. We'll never let him die."
They both walked away while carrying Viglerne over their back and Richard opened his wings and flew around the vicinity, trying to find any Northornians. In the way, he was thinking about what kind of assassin the draconian would be. Although he knew most draconians capable of doing stealth kills, he couldn't find anyone being evil enough to do that kind of thing. Readying the only weapon he got on his claws right now, he scanned around, sniffed around, and making his ears sharper for any snipers or arrows directing at his vulnerable condition. Only then, he was too late to realize a small shooting sound that was only heard once before his right leg was shot. Judging from the position it came from, it came from one of the apartments right to Richard. Using his sharp dragon eyes he made the arrow and bow toward the place he could say where the last blitz from the sniper was seen. Little did he know that the power of his bow destroyed the wall, and he was lucky no other draconians were there since it was like abandoned.
"Damn, this one's fast," thought Richard. "I gotta admit, he's good in exposing weaknesses. He shot the part where Juagar pierced through, and it's really painful right now. I need to land and..."
He suddenly felt another pain when another bullet from the fast sniper pierced his wing, and forced him to crash-land, and met some thugs carrying AKs aiming toward him. Because of his quick thinking, he could fetch one AK-47 right in a single snatch and started to shoot their legs, to the point he almost killed one. Taking the magazines (he pulled out the cartridge by force, damaging some of the units), he tried to evade the snipers, but somehow the draconian could find him and shot him at a shot Richard could lastly suspected. He managed to catch three bullets, but before he fainted in the middle of the silence when he realized his opened wounds weren't tended since he had no bandages.
The next moment he woke up, he was being aimed at by the assassin, but he became quite surprised when he saw the one carrying the specialized silenced SVD was his weird friend Schrosharx.
"S...Schrosharx?! Y...you're the assassin?!"
"So, you're awake, huh?" said Schrosharx in a manner different from how he usually talked with Richard. "I'm sorry it must ends this way, but, right now, I can't really kill you before telling you the truth of my whole life pretending to be a transvestite."
"What? What I want to say is why you are so light-hearted on making this shit?! Those Dragnets bastards are none other than trashes! You...you tricked me..."
"Trick? No, Richard, I'm not trying to trick you or any of those Erizce friends of mine. No, I'm bound for my contract. You see, this is the part I want to tell you...before I eliminate you."
Schrosharx directed his finger toward both of his eyes, and Richard realized they peeled off, revealing the red eyes that were very similar to the eyes that were sent to kill Richard and Hector.
"Y...you're the one trying to kill Hector..."
"Yes, and I must say, you're pretty dumb to not realized my own body as a Northornian. Do you realize that I'm not even a draconian anymore? Wasted, trying to be eliminated, and treated like an animal?!"
"W...what do you mean?"
"Since you're securely tied, I can tell you everything, as the last wish. 21 years ago, I was born in Northern Northorno, near the Sea. It was the time of the war, and of course many young drakes from Northorno were trying to be trained in the art of magic given by our ancestor. But, seeing me as a prodigy, they took me into a dreadful experiment that left me like this, a combination of all ancient reptiles."
"Not really all ancient, you know," said Richard.
Schrosharx became silent, then he said, "Well, yeah, I mean, my claws weren't from any dinosaurs, but at most part, I'm a beast, okay? Let's continue. This experiment was the first experiment of super soldiers, and I'm one of them. Because of a genetic failure, my whole body had changed, and I'm no longer being considered a draconian for I had these...raptor feet.
"Not only that, I also sported some likeness with dragons, but then, I was thrown and exiled to Apachia, ended in here. The Dragnets, the organization I tried to avoid, forced me a job as a hitman if I really want to have my family survive. They didn't, and I'm bound to the Dragnets forever."
Richard knew Schrosharx wasn't a bad draconian, seen from his emotions given by Engrak. He knew Schrosharx would only kill because of the Dragnets' order.
"But," said Richard. "If you really wish to live on without any mercenary-like kind of shit, I suggest you say the reason why you're taking the Dragnets like your own family?"
"Okay, then let's get to the point. How about if I tell you I'm the coordinator of this whole mess, and when Milsteir is in chaos, the organization will open the border to Northorno and starts an all-out war?"
"Then I'll gonna stop you."
"No, you'll gonna die here." Schrosharx then aimed his SVD toward Richard's head. "I'm really sorry for this, Richard, but...adi..."
"Oh, Jua, just in time!"
Schrosharx was distracted for a moment before Richard released a shocking aura that electrocuted Schrosharx, but because of his modified body, he didn't get the lethal shock, but he lost the grip to his sniper. Grunting, he ran away in a great speed when the real Juagar came from behind him and untied him.
"Damn that motherfucker! I thought he's a good drake!"
"He's a good drake became bad because of orders. Jua, did you come here by car?" "I came here after taking care of Bes. He got his left eye gouged out. We'll gonna stop this mess, man. I heard your conversation with him, and I suggest you run after him while I call the National Guard."
"Tell them to stop the riot while I'm trying to catch the culprit!"
Juagar nodded while Richard ran to catch Schrosharx. Because of the draconian's raptor's feet, he ran quite fast, but Richard's digitigrades feet helped him keeping up the speed. Only then Schrosharx leaped from the roof and opened his wings, revealing a pistol behind his folded wings and started to shoot Richard while falling, though not really falling since he also could flap his wings. Richard who had draconic senses dodged the bullets and opened his wings, too. The chase continued through the apartment, jumping and dodging bullets (apparently Schrosharx had a magic to enhance bullet's speed). In the end, Schrosharx met a dead end.
"Schrosharx...," said Richard while panting. "Don't try to fool me...man...."
"Hey, it's not that I hate you or what. I'm just following orders."
"N...no, you have fully functioning wings so why don't we...settle this on the sky?"
"We can't." Schrosharx then whispered to Richard when he approached him. This made Richard surprised.
"Understand?" said Schrosharx while walking away. "We can't be seen, or else everything will be wrong."
Richard couldn't react when Schrosharx ran vertically upward with his lizard legs while his friends reached him where he fell to his knees. Seiglet then supported him up while watching Schrosharx in surprise.
"Hell, that 'friend' of yours is really somethin', mate," said Seiglet. "Damn that traitor, maybe we'll gonna need a bottle of vera for a joy, eh?"
"N...no, he's...he's not gonna do that...right?"
"What? He was the assassin..."
"He's not an assassin! He's one of the highest ranking Dragnet agent sent here to reopen the borderlines between Northorno and Apachia just for a fucking dirty business! B...but, he...didn't do it for pleasure. It's only order..."
The last two sentences wasn't heard by his friends, so then they said, "You gotta stop him, man! C'mon, where's he? How did he scale the vertical wall like that?"
"Bloody hell, mate! He's running away! We gotta chase him by car! He's fast for a draconian."
"Jua, start the car already, do as he said!" exclaimed Richard. "I'll gonna kill that bastard and finish every fucking thing I start with him, including that false friendship!"
"O...kay, I won't gonna...argue with you, man. Seig, c'mon!"
When they both leave, Richard, who was still standing facing the wall, stabbed his sword many times until the wall gave way to the one living behind the wall. His eyes were flashy yellow as if angry, but in truth, he was sympathetic.
"Why, Schrosharx, why?" murmured Richard. "Why do you want to die?"