At that moment, everyone stood frozen for a second. They could not move below the huge shadow that grew over them. They felt a cold shiver, even though the air became warmer. All eyes laid onto those glittering scales, unending as they looked slowly up. Their bodies tensed even more, staring in disbelief at the sharp spikes that showed out of that strong flesh. They dared not move, not even if a tail slithered behind the huge shadow, which towered four times over them. Two wings left them in darkness, covering the sun behind them. Their eyes filled with dread, while the cold yellow ones above narrowed with more disdain.

He truly felt small then. Really fragile, and insignificant. He felt vulnerable, scared… even if the beast before him was not piercing him with its eyes. No, he was not the one who those sharp eyes were looking at. It was her.

The dragon spoke again, baring its huge fangs, letting out yet another growl. It felt like a fierce rush of air against the three of them. Its voice rumbled the earth they stood on, and did not fail to make them quiver.

“Surrender the gem, princess of the Ashen kingdom. Now.”

Belinda had been frozen with disbelief, and even if she was still too taken aback to move, she did react, at last. Pushing back her shock, she looked down for a second, at the heavy trinket she wore. Her necklace was all but a glimmering black gem, a deep abyss with soft glints of red inside its transparent surface. A gem she carried because of her royal standing, because of her blood.

This gem was important for the kingdom, a show of its glory and strength, a symbol… but upon this bloodthirsty beast, it meant nothing to her. Ready to surrender it, she met eyes with the huge dragon, and attempted to take a small step towards it. Because she was not alone, but with many who could die at the hands of it.

All this had taken very little time, and it was all the time needed for one of her knights to find their courage. She gasped, pushed back firmly, by the tall knight at her right.

Gregory stood right in front of her, almost blocking the view of the beast ahead of them.

“Step back, my lady.”

Those words were sure, defiant, and caring. Frederick, until now too shocked to move, stood upright once more. He could not let himself be afraid, not when the one they swore to shield was menaced. Like his older brother did, he too unsheathed his weapon and faced the dragon more firmly, even if with less confidence that him.

The dragon was not surprised to see its objective blocked by two other humans. It was disappointing and irritating though, very much so.

The princess would never travel alone. The field was full of escorts and soldiers carrying lances. They were at a distance, at the ends of the field. They had let the three most important figures travel in between their numbers, never expecting an attack from above.

Soaring high, lunging down, the dragon had appeared and landed before the princess in a matter of seconds. Far were the princess’ guards, too far for them to reach her in time. Only her two most trusted knights were at her side. And behind them was the gem it sought after.

The dragon laughed silently, yet it sounded like a deep growl. Frederick and Gregory stood by, sword and lance in hand, waiting for it to make a move. It did not lunge for them, not yet.

The seconds in which the dragon pondered allowed some nearby soldiers to attack; they threw themselves at it, points of lances first. It all was for nothing, for with one move of tail, they were swept down onto the green grass at their feet, most of their weapons broken.

The dragon did not even look at them, it was not even scratched. The soldiers had been afraid, like a deer trying to show its antlers to a ravaging wolf.

Gregory scowled, enraged to see fellow experienced guards fail so easily. He lunged too, sword first, yelling with all the anger he had for the dragon.

Frederick paled, when his eyes noticed a claw twitch subtly.

“Brother, watch-!”

No words could flow faster than the claw of a dragon. Belinda cried out, while Frederick flinched; Gregory was literally clawed off, pushed multiple feet onto the ground. His body rolled for a few seconds, ultimately stopping by a tree. They expected the worst, for his steel heavy armor was pierced deeply. Worse, they could not see his face or distinguish any wounds. They only felt relief when they heard him groan weakly, muttering something he would not say if he was lethally mauled.

“You…you damn…”

Frederick did not have time to sigh in relief. The dragon took a step forward while they looked towards Gregory. In just a second, another claw lifted, and began to lower onto Belinda. She winced, and instinctively took a vain step back. She mentally cursed, regretting not being allowed to carry a dagger. However, she did not need one, because a lance stabbed at the claw that would have clutched her. She opened her eyes in surprise, and saw Frederick there, pushing his lance against the claw.

The dragon snarled, somewhat in pain. It had not expected the cowardly looking knight to be able to move. The point of the lance had pierced the palm of its claw, and would not come off. Frederick only pushed forwards more every time the dragon tried to pull back. It was not a wound that really hurt, but one that kept it from advancing. Truly an annoyance.

“Off, you little vermin!”

Frederick yelled while he endured a yank. He looked behind him, sweating with both urgency and tiredness.

“Move, Belinda!”

She would have objected, but she did not carry any weapon with which to be of aid. She knew better than to stand there and make things worse. Hurriedly, she ran for it. The field was uphill, and with her long white dress, it was not easy to flee at a desirable speed. Even though she fled, she did look back, worried about Frederick’s and Gregory’s lives. She winced and cried as she ran; the dragon had pinned Frederick down under its big claw, preventing any possible movement other than feeble squirming and stabbing. Slowly, that huge maw was opening, she could see blazing flames begin to curl in between those fangs. The beast stopped glaring at the Knight, instead raising its gaze slowly. To her.

After a moment of calculation, it let out a roaring blaze. Frederick screamed, feeling the heat himself, seeing the flames burst fiercely out of those jaws above, in a raging fireball.

“No!”

His plea was for nothing. The fire soared over him, directed at his princess. She jolted, looking back wide-eyed at the hellfire that was coming her way. She felt the flames surround her, lick her. But they did not consume her.

Shields had slammed together, with a loud bang. The flames scorched the steel, yet did not manage to go too far past them. She disappeared from the dragons’ sight, covered behind the shields of the soldiers ahead. At last, they had reached their young ruler, and had moved accordingly for her safety.

The dragon was not pleased. Its eyes showed a trace of something, and Frederick could not avoid thinking it was desperation and fear. Seeing the princess scatter away, it roared in anger, more feral. Then, it lunged forward. Its wings batted down, strongly. It did not care to be stabbed; it did flinch, but still jumped and soared over the sharp lances. It breathed more flames down onto the soldiers, out of spite. Unstopped, it landed again, chasing after the blonde with strong leaps.

The princess kept running, even if with every second the rumbling grew stronger behind her. Its huge shadow was looming more and more over her, but she was not looking back. Ahead, there was a fort, her only chance.

The jaws of the dragon opened, inches away from her. One claw reached, ready to snatch and rip at her. She was right there.

But then the sound of air rushing overcame the one of the flames in its maw. It let out a loud hurt roar, when a sharp arrow lodged itself into its neck, right between some spikes. Slowed down by the pain, the dragon backed off into the air with a strong heave of wings. It panted as it focused on the princess again, now more afar. Its yellow eyes narrowed with ire, it tried to lunge down again, but it stopped. More arrows were flying its way, too many to dodge.

With a loud cursing snarl, it glared down at the princess, now surrounded by too many soldiers.

The dragon only felt ire, it wanted nothing more than to rip her apart. It could not stop glaring at her, intently… but that did not mean it could not feel stabbing. It looked down slowly, and realized that the spear of the knight was still deep into its claw. And even better, the knight was there as well.

Frederick was clinging to his spear for dear life, groaning both in tiredness and stubbornness. He was hanging in the air, but that was not stopping him from trying to hurt the beast as much as possible. He did not know if he had contributed to the dragon stopping, but he wanted to believe he did.

Slowly, the scowl on the dragon’s face changed. It stared right at him, and again, it made him feel small. The claw moved up; he expected to be bitten in half, yet it only moved him closer to its eyes. It kept staring at him, almost contemplating, as if it could see his soul. He gulped, but kept clinging to the spear, not only to keep harming it, but to not break all his bones with the possible fall.

Those yellow eyes moved again, to look at the princess once more. Frederick would have sworn the dragon smiled while staring at her. Slowly, it looked at him again, this time smirking menacingly. The words it let out almost made him fall with their force.

“It looks like you will have to do, for now.”

He did not understand. His fear left for a second, exchanged by confusion. It did not last, because that claw closed around him.

“AH…!”

It did not stab him, but it did hold him very tightly. The spear broke with one last squeeze, which left the point still stabbed. He was short of breath, almost crushed by the dragon and his own armor. The beast began to dodge the arrows fired at it, twirling upwards in the air. It roared loudly, for everyone to hear. But it only wanted her to hear…

“Princess Belinda! If you want to see this knight alive, leave the gem at Hallow peak in three days!” It pointed a sharp finger at her, whispering knowingly. “Or carry the weight of his death with you, along with the many more I shall bring.”

With that, it curled around and twisted in the air.

Belinda screamed in horror, seeing and realizing what the dragon meant. Frederick was still in between those sharp nails.

“Frederick!”

She tried to reach up, she tried to run back, but too many soldiers held her back. She heard the screams of her trustworthy knight, more faint as the dragon flied away.

No one knew where the beast headed with its prisoner, for it disappeared up in the clouded sky.

 

——————–

 

Blackness. That was all he could see.

The only thing he could hear was a faint ringing and a slight rushing of air. With every second, those sounds grew more intense. And because of it, a strong headache became more evident.

The more he woke, the more he realized that something was not right. He couldn’t understand it yet, but something was completely wrong. Instead of soft bed sheets, he felt rough pressuring. He was not laying down, he was thrashing about, in between something, up and down, hanging inside the grasp of something rash to the touch. Something, apart from whatever was holding him immobile, was probing his side, a little painfully.

He was too dizzy. He opened his eyes but could not see anything. All he saw was a blurry image, whiteness, and flickers of dark blue. He was far too out of it to recognize the situation he was in.

Until he remembered.

He had heard her voice. He could still see her hand, outstretched upwards towards him. Her eyes were full of fear, but not for herself. He remembered her once tied up hair, rustled fiercely by the strong sudden flow of air. He remembered her, pushing past the surrounding guards, too late for him to see her clearly in the distance.

He remembered.

With a loud gasp, he finally reacted. Having been limp, he now tensed in between the sharp nails that held him still. That movement was not very intense, but it still made him wince in pain. He managed to move an arm up to his head, which seemed to pound with a rhythm. Now he remembered as well, how the dragon had flown near some cliffs… how it did not even try to keep him from brushing them as it fled. He had hit his head and had fainted.

He was awake now. Perhaps it was not a good thing. He shivered and trembled; the clanking of his armor was noisy, because he was being carried in the air, high above. He prayed for the beast to not let him go; the ground below was far, promising a deadly fall. The nails were holding him awkwardly, in a way that allowed him to trash slightly in their hold, allowing him to contemplate the possible dive.

He fidgeted a little, afraid to stare at the sharp nails that scratched his armor. Panting with every trash in the air, he looked up to the dragon, wordlessly. It did not seem to be aware that he was awake.

He dared ask, with what breath he had.

“Where are you taking me?!”

He trembled again. Those sharp yellow eyes shifted. That long neck moved ever so subtly, allowing the beast to give him a cold glare. It said nothing, it only pierced him with its eyes, once more. He panted more, because the hold of the claw tightened. He began to struggle, trash and kick; he was weaponless, but he was not going to lay limp and let this thing do as it pleased without resistance.

There was nothing he could do to get free. Wherever this thing was headed, they would reach without incident. He kept looking down, but with every cloud that hit his vision, he became less aware of his surroundings. Every cliff and field was foreign to him, too far for him to recognize.

“Let me go, beast!”

He gasped when one nail lifted off his armor, making him slide slightly down. It made him panic, for his legs dangled. The only thing holding him now were three other nails, around his chest. The dragon glared again, this time seemingly smirking. It was obvious it was mockery.

He kept himself quiet.  One more demand and it could let him fall to his death. He did not fear the fall for too long though. He flinched when he felt the dragon take a dive. There was no other option but to shut his eyes tightly, hurt by the fierce rush of air. His body trashed more, even if the huge wings nearby had stopped batting strongly. The dragon was diving fast towards some hills, and he prayed it would not hit them with the force of gravity. All his bones would be crushed, by the hit or extreme weight of the monster.

If the dragon had known he presumed they would crash down, it would have thrown him to let him do so alone, out of pride. Dragons were magnificent fliers. It proved so when it batted its wings down, at the last moment. It twisted in the air, turning sharply. Its three free limbs outstretched out, as if able to stop gravity itself. A sudden shadow grew over the two of them, bigger and omnipresent. All that was in a second; Frederick felt the rush of air stop… and then the claw opened.

He screamed, forcefully thrown forward. He did not expect such a short fall; in a moment, he hit a rocky ground, and rolled along it.

It hurt, it did. He braced himself after the momentum slowed, because he expected the burning of broken ribs. But he only felt sore and exhausted. With a long tired sigh, he opened his eyes a little, confused by the small fall.

The dragon was right there, towering over him darkly. So he leaned onto his arms, to look up to the eerily bright eyes in the darkness. They were in a big cave, big enough to allow the beast to come in. He did not try to run for the exit, for the dragon stood right in between. It had landed down after throwing him to the ground, and was now hauntingly still. It almost looked like a statue.

Frederick sat up a little. His armor was shredded, so it would not be of much protection. He subtly looked around him, trying to find anything which to use to his advantage.

There was nothing. There were only rocks, a small dripping of water from the ceiling, and the dragon.

He kept himself still, trying to keep an even breathing. He was as good as dead without a weapon. The air was hot, the dragon was breathing silently, but there were flames inside those closed jaws, he was sure of it.

One minute. Two. Three… And the beast did not move an inch. Neither did he. It was like it was examining him, silently, thinking.

It moved.

He winced and shot back into a sitting position; he instinctively tried to shield himself with an arm, hearing it growl internally. He heard those claws lift and scratch the ground of the cave.

There was a rumble. Yet nothing fell onto him.

Again, he glanced. He shivered with a grimace, making contact again with those deep yellowish eyes. They were huge, and they would never stop looking through him. It was hard to outline the dragon in the dark, because those eyes were the only thing that could be seen clearly, ghostly. It had laid down, curled right by the hole that was the exit of the cave. All light had been blocked by its huge size. There was no way out.

Again he waited, while he was stared down intensely.

He wondered why he was here. He wondered why he was still alive, and not ripped apart. Of most things, he wondered why in heavens there was a dragon. It was something that should not be.

After a long while, he tried to move. He shifted a little, laying back against a rock to ease his soreness. He decided to play the same game as the dragon.

A stare down.

The dragon won. Intimidated by its horrible ability to not blink, he looked to the ground. Those slim sharp irises were unnerving.

He swore an hour passed. The silence was maddening; the dragon’s breathing was strangely silent considering its size. He could not take it anymore.

“What are you waiting for?”

Silence. Only for a moment though. A deep rumbling flowed out that maw, scorching and terrifying. The cave trembled with each word.

“Wouldn’t make sense to kill the one who will compel her to bring what I desire.”

He felt offended. He snarled and retorted loudly, even if it hurt him physically.

“I will never beg for her to save my life! I do not fear my end.”

The dragon seemed to laugh at that. It was as if it knew that he said the last part with less confidence.

“It doesn’t matter if you beg or not, knight.” The dragon finally stopped staring at him, at last. It glanced out, letting some flickers of light enter the cave. “She will bargain for your life without your say in it.”

Again, he retorted, pridefully.

“The princess is too important for her life to be risked for a simple knight. She would never-”

“She will.”

The dragon kept looking outside, with an unreadable expression. He kept quiet, paling at the thought.

She would risk it.