Dragon Bound

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Chapter Three

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Lune woke with a jerk. The heavy metal door to his stall was opening. In the entrance stood the human, dressed in leathers. Lune growled, his tail lashing.

‘Good morning. It’s time to start our training,’ the man said matter-of-factly. Oh, there would be training alright. Lune was going to show this idiot man that no human would ever get him to present like a dog for a bone. The man grinned.

‘Come.’ The collar glowed blue. Lune gave a snarl of rage and hatred as his body began to move against his will. He was forced to follow the human out into a massive corridor. They walked by what seemed like hundreds of stalls, the eyes of the residents on them as they went by. Lune could smell other dragons, hear them too. The variety kept in this giant stone prison was staggering. As they walked Lune was turning his head from side to side, trying to see and remember every detail.

The wonderful scent of fresh meat, saltwater fish, smoked beef, and sweet grain filled his nostrils. The corridor opened out to the left, opening onto a low, slightly sloped, smooth stone floor. Huge metal tables had been set up. There were hooks dangling from the ceiling on runners, some holding the carcasses of oxen and sheep, whilst others held poultry or giant colourful fish. Several dozen humans dressed in long aprons and knee-high boots were moving about, chopping meat, or weighing ingredients.

‘This is the killing floor. We prepare most of the food for the animals here, we cook it here too,’ the human explained as though giving a tour. Lune tried to ignore his grumbling belly. Those six chickens felt like a long time ago and the tantalising scent from the killing floor was reminding him of his hunger. The rider walked on which meant Lune was unfortunately forced to go too. The corridor had a constant draft, the wind cold as it blew from behind. It had to be, after all, wide enough to allow dragons as big as Damon to traverse.

In any other circumstance, Lune might have found the architecture impressive or interesting. They travelled on. From the changing colour and thickness of stone and wood beams, he got the impression that this keep was one massive building that had been constructed by bridging the gaps between many smaller buildings.

They went slowly and Lune guessed that for whatever reason, the human was giving him a chance to look around. They stopped again outside an open stall door. Lune peered inside curiously to see a small pretty lapis filly dragon. She was laid out comfortably, her head resting on what looked like a stone bench. Her eyes were closed, and she gave a contented purr as her own human rider passed a rough bristled brush over her scales, grooming her. The filly’s rider was a human female with short hair and a stocky build wearing the same leather uniform as Lune’s own captor.

Lune snorted. The filly opened one eye to peer at him. She regarded him for a moment with mild interest before closing her eyes and relaxing again. Lune stared, bewildered. They moved onto another stall. Again, Lune was given a moment to look in. Two thickly muscled earth dragons were grumbling around, eating from a wide trough. They were as large as horses with tusks and solid frames. They grunted noisily like wild boars as they ate a mix of large sheep bones, chaff, clay pellets and raw carrots. For prisoners, the dragons did seem to be at least fed well here. Lune grumbled to himself as he was led on. The long passage split sharply in three.

‘The one on the right leads to the underground pools. We are lucky to have them. From what I know only the king’s keep has the warm underground springs. If you behave, I will take you down there.’ Lune fantasized briefly of drowning the human in one of them. The rider snorted, obviously hearing Lune’s ideas. Lune really didn’t care.

They passed through the centre corridor into a massive round stone chamber. The tall ceiling was made of thick lead-crystal glass that allowed in a flood of gold evening sunlight. Lune’s eyes fell on six thick metal posts in the centre of the room, each with attached D-shackles. They were lined up, three each side and Lune had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what they were for. Heavy doors swung shut behind them with a deep groan, making Lune jump. Jason was walking backward now, in between the posts and Lune was forced to follow him.

The white dragon roared and tossed his fine head, trying to pull back on the spell that controlled him. He walked between the posts. The posts moved, sliding in towards his body. They hugged him, one either side of his neck, belly and just behind his rump. The rider grabbed two sets of heavy chains that dangled from the front two posts and fixed them to the collar. Lune felt the magic of the collar die away. With no magic to ignite his fire, only smoke could curl from his flared nostrils. One half of the circular room had hooks on the stone wall. Ropes, chains, netting, coiled whips, strips of leather and large shackles hung from these hooks.

‘Today will be easy. We are going to set some ground rules. You will listen. If things go well, then this session finishes quickly, and you go back to your stall to a large breakfast. Do you understand?’ the man asked. Lune glared at him. He worked his tongue around his teeth and spat.

Laughter erupted in the large round room. Lune craned his neck to see a massive human with black hair and silver eyes. No. Not a man. Lune had heard the stories that humans could change dragons into creatures like themselves. It was a terrifying idea, a horror story to tell the young. The spicy scent was familiar to Lune, and he knew, somehow, that this new individual was the black dragon.

‘Yes. Yes, this is Damon,’ the man said. The one called Damon smirked as he came closer. He reached out a hand and touched Lune’s neck. Lune flinched but there was nowhere for him to go, the chains clacking.

‘My name is Jason. You may also address me as master or sir,’ the rider said.

Please come closer so I can spit on you again.

Damon let out another roar of laughter.

‘I already love him!’ Damon chuckled. Jason sighed but grinned. Lune didn’t like that. He’d expected anger.

‘We’ll muzzle him,’ Jason said cheerfully.

Go drown in a river human.

Lune glared at Jason as he took a large net and several strips of buckled leather from two of the wall hooks. He passed the net to Damon. Lune let out an indignant squawk as Damon cast the net over his head. He tried to shake it off, but it tangled in his horns and weighed him down. The two captors pounced on him. The leather was passed through and around, buckling it tight and forcing Lune’s jaw shut. They stood up, panting and smug.

‘Right! Let’s start with your name,’ Jason said, dusting off his hands. Lune growled. Jason could invade his mind. He could force his body to move with that foul collar, but names held power. Jason could not strip Lune’s name from his mind without the white dragon’s approval. Which was not going to happen.

Ever.

‘We’ll see,’ Jason said. The rider came over to his bound form. Lune tensed as the man placed his hands on his neck. Lune pulled back on the chains, but they held. They stank of oil, blood and underlying old magic.

‘Don’t bother, these chains have held things far bigger and older than you, my friend.’ Damon sniggered.

Not your friend.

Damon just laughed. Lune couldn’t stop the two men from running their hands over his body. He hissed and yowled and clawed at the stone, but the posts kept him immobile. It was horribly invasive, but he could do little more than make noise. Unless…

‘If you would like me to stop then you could just tell me your name,’ Jason said, his tone polite. Lune didn’t reply. He went completely still, feathers fluffed out in agitation. The two moved down Lune’s body.

Suddenly, the white dragon’s tail whipped back. Damon grabbed Jason by the back of his leather jacket, hurling him out of the way as a thick hollow spine shot from the dragon’s tail. It whistled through the air, missing Jason’s face by inches before it sank deeply into the brick of the wall beyond. The rider stared at it in shock.

He walked over slowly. Fingertips traced the spine. It took some effort to work it free of the stonework. It was hollow but sturdy. He tried to bend it with his bare hands, but it was completely inflexible. So, the white dragon could hurl these like the quills from a porcupine.

Fascinating.

He looked at the tip. Even after stabbing into the stone, it was still decently sharp. Deadly, in fact.

‘Fine. We’ll change tactics. Seeing as we have you here, we’ll start with a full physical, starting with this,’ Jason announced, holding up the spine. Lune just huffed.

Lune was not having fun. Several medics came in and a heavy metal mesh was thrown over his tail, pinning it to the ground. Several feathers were painfully pulled from his spine. Jason came over with a set of pliers.

‘Sorry, this isn’t going to be pleasant, but we have to run the usual tests,’ he said. Lune struggled as Jason grabbed at one of his glittering scales with the pliers and wrenched it loose. Lune screeched in pain, thrashing against the pillars. Another scale was extracted from his rump and a third was pulled from his wing. Damon winced sympathetically as he pressed a cotton cloth to the thin trickle of blood that leaked from where the largest scale had been pulled. Once it had stopped bleeding, he passed the cloth to a medic.

‘A tooth would be better than blood,’ said the medic.

Tooth!?

Lune shook his head as hard as he could, rattling his chains violently as they cut into his neck. Panic made him blind to the pain. His claws bit into the concrete floor. Blood slicked the pillars.

‘Stop,’ Jason commanded. The collar glowed and Lune let out noise not dissimilar to a wail as his body stopped moving.

‘I am not extracting a tooth from him. Use the blood to run your damn tests,’ Jason barked, fuming. There was now plenty of it. Jason gritted his teeth in frustration. He grabbed another cloth and wiped the blood from the fresh cuts. His touch only enraged the wild dragon. He hoped that would soon change.

I’ll never willingly submit to you.

He could hear that particular thought loud and clear. Damon had said something similar in the beginning. Only, with a lot more cursing and death threats. It took several long minutes after the medics had left for the white dragon to calm down.

Lune huffed weakly as Jason gently patted a cold mixture into the new cuts, soothing the pain. He couldn’t really understand how this human could hurt him and then soothe the pain away minutes later.

‘I didn’t injure you. Your struggles caused your injuries.’ The heavy clink of metal on rock echoed around the room. Lune was too sore and angry to respond. Jason stayed beside him, gently stroking his neck. Damon finished wiping the pearly scales free of blood. It was a small advantage to their species. Dragons fought often to establish dominance and territory. This meant claws and fangs and because of this, dragons had developed blood that could clot rapidly. It was certainly necessary in a world where both male and female dragons fought violent and bloody battles.

‘You will learn to trust me little dragon. I could force you into a human form.’ Lune tensed, cold fear slithering down his back. ‘I could, but I won’t. Not yet. I don’t need you to use it as another excuse for how you are tamed,’ Jason said.

Tamed!? Lune was not tame! The only reason the human had him at all was because he had been injured in the storm.

‘Do you really believe that?’ Damon growled. Lune let out another angry snort.

Of course he did! The human and his black dragon were cowards! He would not have been captured and won in a fair fight.

Damon growled, low and angry.

‘Is that a challenge? Are you insulting me, little dragon?’ Damon sneered. Jason crossed his arms over his chest.

‘Is that what you want, little dragon? Will you tell us your name if you lost to Damon in a fair one on one fight?’ he asked. Lune hesitated. One on one would be a lot better than dealing with the human’s obscene magic. He was sure, or at least, almost sure he could win. Even if Damon was larger than him, Lune could out fly him. His wing was almost completely healed.

Yes. But if he won, Lune would go free.

Jason considered this. Dragons did not think the same way that humans do. They did not live together the same way humans do. In the wild they lived in strict hierarchy, achieved through sparring with other dragons to establish dominance. Even dragons owed by humans squabbled when first introduced. Of course, this was normally done with strict supervision from the human rider to make sure the new dragon knew his or her place. Yes… maybe he should allow this. It would be dangerous. It would be met with enormous criticism from his fellow riders, but it could cut months off training this little dragon.

‘Fine,’ said Jason, shocking Lune. The first trickles of unease seeped into his bones. The human had agreed so easily…

The pillars shifted back, grinding along the stone floor. Lune stretched.

‘I’ll take you back to your stable. You can eat and rest for another day. Tomorrow, you will fight for your freedom or submit to us for life,’ Jason said, his voice firm. Lune was taken back to his stable. He took a long drink and spent some time grooming his feathers. It took a while for the feeling and smell of human to be off him. He would win tomorrow. He would fly straight for the mountains, and he would never look back for even a second.

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‘Are you interested in watching the colosseum matches tomorrow my king?’ Jason asked casually.

The king looked up from the parchment, one finely sculpted eyebrow raised. ‘I am not usually interested in partaking in such events,’ he purred. Jason had come to him this afternoon with a bounce in his step. Damon was not with him which was, in itself, unusual.

‘You may want to. There has been a challenge issued,’ Jason said in a would-be casual voice, but his eyes were bright with excitement. His king put down his quill and stood up.

‘And what challenge would that be?’ he asked, prowling over to his knight. He saw Jason tense in response and his smirk widened. The boy had always been wonderfully easy to read if only to his king. Of all his knights, Jason had never lied to him and not out of fear, but out of respect.

‘My little white dragon has called us cowards. He wishes to fight Damon one on one to win his freedom.’

The king’s lip quirked. ‘And you thought it fit to allow such a thing? What will your fellow knights think?’ the Sun King asked.

‘With all the respect I can give sir, I really don’t care what they think. The white dragon is mine and whilst he believes he can still break from this keep with nothing but raw strength, he will be too stubborn to be broken. I could force him into a human form and beat him with my own fists like others see fit to do… but I do not train my dragons that way.’ Jason shivered as the king came to a stop in front of him. The king’s aura swelled around him like a thick burning fog.

‘I give you a lot of slack because you are my favourite but be warned about overstepping your bounds. So, watch. Your. Tone.’ The king stepped in close. Jason could smell the exotic perfume the man wore. It made him dizzy.

‘Yes, my king.’ Jason whispered.

‘I trust there is method to your madness but make no mistake. If this does not go well, I won’t protect you. The knights can vote to have him removed to a more experienced rider. He is an important asset to my armoury Jason. I hope, for your sake, this little gamble pays off.’

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Lune lay tensely waiting in his stable. He had not eaten that morning, wanting his stomach empty for the impending battle. He wanted to feel enthusiastic for his battle, but he didn’t. He had sparred with his half-brothers back in the mountains, but he had never been in a serious fight. The memory of his father’s mangled body flashed into his mind, blood cooling on the ash-coloured rocks. The smell of salt and rust on the snow wind. This would be more dangerous than any playful sparring match with his younger half-brothers.

The heavy stable door slid open. He didn’t bother to lunge for Jason this time. He followed him willingly into the corridor. The collar glowed but he didn’t need to be made to walk. Not this time. They treaded down the passage. When they came to the split, they went left. The tunnel turned upwards. For once Lune didn’t take much notice of what was going on, or where they were headed but as they travelled, he noticed vibration. The floor was shaking… or was it the walls? Then there was noise. For one crazy moment he thought it was a rockslide.

The passage opened out into blinding sunlight. The noise was louder, clearer. Voices, many voices all yelling and cheering.

It was a colosseum. The floor of the round arena was covered in sand. There, in the centre was Damon. The black dragon looked spectacular, standing there like a gleaming ebony statue. He looked strong and powerful. Lune had never seen so many man creatures in his life! There must be thousands of them! Humans sat in rows that seemed to stretch up to the sky.

The sky…

We didn’t agree on this!

Lune stared in horror at the giant metal mesh dome that covered the fighting arena.

He wouldn’t be able to fly!

‘There’s enough room. You never specified that you wanted to battle in the air. The grounds are even. You can fly here better than Damon. The collars stay on. This fight is not official without an audience, and we can’t have either of you breathing fire.’ Jason’s voice was impassive. Lune shifted from one foot to the other. Jason wasn’t wrong. Lune could fly in tight spaces. Damon was too large to do the same.

And if I win, I go free?

‘Yes,’ Jason said.

Then there wasn’t anything else to be said. He watched as Jason turned and walked towards the entrance. As he passed through it, a large metal gate slid down behind him. The crowd screamed. It was deeply unnerving. Lune shivered.

Damon stepped close. He dipped his head. It was customary, like a bow before the fight. Lune dipped his head in return. Damon was not going to get any help from Jason today. It was to be a true one on one only. His blood was pumping with adrenaline. He was fiercely excited, his tail twitching. His heart was already beating like a war drum. The white dragon was young, but he had courage. He could scent his fear but if he was not mistaken, the other dragon was excited too.

As they began to dance around each other Damon began to realize that this might not be as easy as he had first anticipated. Almost fully recovered, the little white dragon was quick on his feet as well as in the air. He lashed out with his front claws, not really trying to hurt the smaller dragon but to see how well he moved. The white dodged nimbly and leapt easily over Damon’s swinging tail. In the early morning sunlight, the white pearly scales seemed to catch every beam. The reflected light dazzled him, distorting his vision.

He missed completely with his next swipe and again moments later. Suddenly the white dragon went on the attack, darting in like a little carpet snake to snap lethally at Damon’s legs and wing joints. He was trying to lame him. For Damon, if lamed, would have no hope of catching the smaller beast. Damon swung around swiftly, and the white dragon was forced to leap back to avoid the heavy spiked tail.

Lune flexed as he went, feeling the good soft sand under his claws. The last of his stiffness melted away as he and the black began to tussle. Lune didn’t want to get too close. Damon was almost twice his size and would easily crush his bones with one powerful swing. Without his fire, his speed was going to be his greatest weapon. He darted in and out, trying to get in a bite or a good swipe with his claws. He was painfully aware too of the onlooking humans. He hated that this fight excited them so. He wanted to burn them all. He wanted to be free. He wanted to show this dragon and his rider that Lune was not some hatchling to be taken and tamed.

His lapse in concentration earnt him a stinging blow to the shoulder as he did not dodge quick enough. Damon lowered his horned snout and charged at him. Lune spread his wings and snapped them down, leaping over the charging black to whoops and cheers from the humans. He pivoted spectacularly in mid-air and dropped onto Damon’s hind quarters. His claws trying to get a grip on the thick black scales as Lune bit at the delicate wing membrane. Warm luscious heat filled his mouth as he drew first blood.

Damon let out a roar of pain and flung himself forward, bucking and dislodging the little dragon. Instead of going tumbling off, Lune sprung into the air again. With a roar of annoyance Damon spread his own wings and tried to follow him. The dome was too low for them to get very high, and Lune easily stayed out of Damon’s reach, his second wings helping navigate the small space. If Damon could breathe fire, then Lune would be in real trouble, but the rider was keeping his word so far and Damon wasn’t able to call his dragon fire just as Lune couldn’t.

Lune flicked his tail sending several spears of narrow quills into the face of the pursing dragon. Damon had to dive to avoid them and all but crashed into the sandy ground. Dust sprayed up in the air and Lune was temporarily blinded. With all the noise the humans were making, Lune couldn’t tell what was going on. He felt muddled, disorientated.

A large black form crashed into him from the side, sending him sprawling. The wind was completely knocked from his lungs as he hit the ground. He stood and growled, rattling his tail quills as Damon came for him. His shoulder was sore from his collision with the ground but if he kept moving it wouldn’t stiffen up. He arched his tail, flinging more spines and rushed to one side as Damon came in for a bite. Lune dodged the jaws and snapped at the black’s exposed wing. Damon wrenched away, his teeth snapping shut on empty air. He let out shriek of pain as the black spiked tail smashed into his back leg, tumbling him.

Suddenly long teeth bit down on the back of his neck. Damon lifted the squirming white dragon, growling. Muscles knotted under the great crested black scales. He shook him like a hound with a dead rabbit. Lune tried to plant his feet back under himself, his tail arching to strike like a scorpion. Damon bit down harder, using his great mass to force Lune backwards. One of the long quills flicked up, sinking into Damon’s shoulder. The black roared in pain, flinging Lune away. Lune was sent spiralling onto the ground, sending sand spraying up around them.

He rolled, he was up. The world was rocking around him. He could feel blood trickling down his neck. The wounds weren’t deep, but they could have been. They were not as deep as Damon could easily have made them. This wasn’t supposed to be a fight to the death after all. Damon lunged for him. Lune launched into the air, his secondary wings engaging. Damon twisted on his hind legs, reaching for him. The white dragon bowed away from his claws.

The humans groaned, whistled, yelled, and cheered. The noise of the crowd was like the roar of some massive storm. Lune had to twist to avoid colliding with the domed ceiling as the black had done. His breath was rasping in his throat now, lungs burning. He was moving faster than Damon, but he was tiring quicker too. He felt a dim glimmer of true panic. He wasn’t sure how to end this fight. If he could force Damon to crash again, he might win but the black dragon wasn’t trying to fly anymore. He stayed on the ground, deliberately kicking up sand and dust making it hard for Lune to see.

He, meanwhile, sparkled like a mirror ball. He couldn’t be unseen. He swooped and dove at the black dragon, trying to hit him with a stray quill, trying to coax him back into the air. Damon coiled. His crested head followed the white moth that danced back and forth above him, and he waited.

Frustrated, Lune dove down, claws outstretched. Damon pounced like a cat onto a canary. Enormous black wings spread out, blocking out the sun. Lune’s eyes went wide as the black dragon seized him. The greater size and weight of the black dragon drove him down. Claws scrabbling, fangs gnashing he thrashed even as he was pinned. It was getting hard to breathe. As he gasped for oxygen a pair of leather boots came into view.

‘So,’ Jason said. ‘Is there something you want to tell us?’ the rider asked.

Lune groaned. Damon’s breath was hot on his neck. Finally, his muscles relaxed. As much as he detested this man, Damon had won.

Jason waited so long he thought the white dragon wouldn’t answer and then, finally…

Lune. My name is Lune.

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END

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