The Dragon Liberator: Escapee
-20-

POV: Fendrel

The ex-rouge fire dragon barreled through the tunnel and leaped on top of the cage in the center of the room. He opened his jaws and set loose a raging blue flame onto the earth dragon.

It squealed, scales melting into each other.

Venom charged through and skidded to a stop when he saw the unfolding scene. “What are you doing?”

The fire dragon shot a burst of flame at Fendrel’s door. It left a sizzling, bubbling gap. “Saving your son.” He locked eyes with Charles and growled, flaring his wings. The back of his throat lit up blue.

“Don’t hurt him.” Fendrel rushed out of the cage, sidestepping the rogue, and stood before Charles.

With a hiss, the ex-rogue closed his jaws. He coughed a few puffs of smoke and shuddered. “He’s a hunter.” He coughed again.

“He’s an ally.” Fendrel looked at Venom. “He’s the one who helps me rescue dragons. He thought this would be an easy job, but it wasn’t. That isn’t his fault.”

Fog stretched her wing out and helped Charles to his feet.

Venom slinked down to the lower level and eyed Charles. He lifted his head and sniffed then looked at Fendrel. “Are you bleeding?” Venom grabbed Fendrel’s hand. “Who did this to you? Was it the rogue?” He flung his wing toward the earth dragon.

Before Fendrel could respond, the fire dragon plunged his front paws down on the earth dragon’s neck. There was a loud snap, and the writhing body went limp.

Fog covered herself with her wings and whimpered at the sound.

Venom looked between Fendrel’s hand and Fog’s distressed ball of feathers. “What happened here?”

The other dragons in the cages, stunned into silence until then, spoke up at once. They pointed and grabbed at their cage bars.

“Silence!” Venom flapped his wings. He pointed at Citrus. “You, tell me what happened.”

Citrus shrugged. “A rogue attacked these humans and that vapor dragon. Well, a pair of rogues.” She pointed at the air dragon’s corpse.

“How did the rogues get in?” Venom stepped toward her.

“They were always here.”

“And you didn’t warn them?”

“It wasn’t my problem. They got themselves into this mess.” Citrus jutted her chin out.

“You ungrateful worm.” Venom lashed his tail. He began ripping off the cage’s doors.

Fendrel looked at Charles. “You lit up all the halls, right?”

Charles nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

“You didn’t see the rogues?”

“There were a lot of curtains, some of them were strung up between cages. Maybe they were hiding behind those.” Charles gripped his broken arm. “By the way, I put your fire jar on the floor over there.” He nodded his head towards the far side of the room.

Fendrel nodded and retrieved the jar. He tipped it all the way upside down. The ashes fell out and the fire died. He stuffed the jar back in his bag.

The freed dragons dragged themselves and limped out of their cages. Some had to be helped by the stronger dragons.

Fendrel approached Fog and placed a gentle hand on her wing. “Are you okay?”

Fog froze for a moment. “Your friend could have run away and saved himself…”

“Charles?” Fendrel crouched. “Why would he run? He wants to help us.”

“I just… thought he didn’t really care. I thought he would run for it as soon as he could.” Fog hunched her shoulders. “Mist wasn’t even here, and I did nothing.”

“What? No you didn’t. You fought the air rogue.”

“Argh, not by myself.” Fog lashed her tail.

Fendrel glanced at Charles’ bleeding shoulders. “Well, there’s still one thing you can do here that no one else can.”

“Yeah.” Fog lifted her head. “I can. I need water.”

“Well, there’s a river near Stone Edge. It’s closer than anything else.” Fendrel stood.

Fog nodded. She rose on shaky legs and walked toward Venom. She leaned against the dusk dragon.

Venom paused, then awkwardly put a wing around her.

“Thank you for coming to help us.” Fendrel heard Fog’s muffled voice.

“I’ll always come to help you all when you’re in danger.” Venom drew his wing back to his side. “I’m appalled you would think otherwise.”

“There aren’t any other dragons down the halls.” Charles jutted his thumb behind him after Fendrel climbed the ladder. He gasped as Venom grabbed the back of his shirt in his teeth and dropped him on his back.

Venom led the other dragons out through the main tunnel, carrying some of the dragons up the short flight if they couldn’t help themselves. Once all the others were at the top of the cliffs, Venom stared back at Charles as Fendrel climbed onto his shoulders in front of Charles. His tail flicked.

“You’re sure we can trust him?” Venom flexed his claws.

Fendrel gave an assuring nod. “If I didn’t trust him, I would have warned you all about him. Besides, he risked his life to make sure Fog wouldn’t get hurt.”

Charles tapped Fendrel’s shoulder. “We’re going to… ride the dragon?”

“Would you rather be dangling from his claws over the ocean or are you going to try and scale your way up that passage?” Fendrel grinned at his friend.

“Hmm, I don’t know. Rock climbing sounds pretty fun right now,” Charles grabbed his shoulder.

Venom’s eyes scanned the group. “We’re going to the nearest river.” He started walking and the others followed.

<~><~><~>

They stopped by the river that ran near Stone Edge. The ruined village sat in the distance to the left. The imposing structure of the Black-Brick Ruins was to the right. Along the cliff edge was a line of trees, dense and tall.

The freed dragons rushed for the water.

Fendrel and Charles slipped off of Venom’s shoulders. Fendrel started toward the river.

Venom held his wing out in front of Fendrel and lowered his head, so they were at eye-level.

“You are going to explain about him, right? Fully?” Venom nodded his head at Charles.

Fendrel sighed. “I will when we get to the Ruins.”

“He’s coming with us?”

“I assume so.”

Venom huffed. He put his wings back at his sides.

“And you’re going to explain why he’s here?” Fendrel pointed at the fire dragon.

Venom snarled. “I told him to stay in the Ruins, but he refused when I announced I was going out to look for you. After I had Thea heal his wings out of courtesy, he flew ahead of me and it took the whole journey for me to catch up with him.” He shook his head. “I have no idea what he’s thinking. He’s an enigma. He says he wants to redeem himself, but he keeps disobeying my orders. Just… be careful around him.”

Fendrel nodded and walked with Charles to the riverbank.

“So you’re coming with us?” Fendrel gave him a sideways glance. “Won’t that be suspicious if you don’t return?”

Charles smiled. “Sadon thinks I’m dead. Before I reached Stone Edge, I told one of the hunters we can trust to turn back and tell Sadon a rogue attacked us and got me.”

“And what about the hunter you knocked out?”

Charles shrugged. “Maybe this time alone will do him some good.” His eyes lit up. “Oh! By the way, my family moved across the sea. Even I don’t know where they’re going, which means Sadon doesn’t either. So if I mess up or die, he can’t take his anger out on them. Isn’t that great? I’m finally free!”

“I never would have thought that making people think you’re dead is a good thing, but I guess that does help your situation.” Fendrel chuckled.

“So where are we going now on this grand adventure of yours?”

“The domain of the dusk dragons.” Fendrel gestured to his right.

“Ah.” Charles nodded with understanding. “The Ruins.” He pointed at the dragon teeth on his shoulder, some were chipped where the rogue’s claws plunged down. “We should get rid of these.”

Fendrel nodded. “I don’t think those are fire dragon teeth, so we can burn them.” He looked at the gathered dragons. The only fire dragon other than the ex-rogue was one of the ones too weak to stand.

Charles ripped the dragon teeth from their stitching on his shoulder and handed them to Fendrel.

With a sigh, Fendrel approached the red dragon.

He was drinking from the river. He lifted his head and looked at Fendrel, droplets of water dripping from his jaws.

“We need these burned.” Fendrel held up the teeth.

The dragon’s eyes flicked between the teeth and Fendrel. “Set them on the ground.” When Fendrel did so, the dragon opened his mouth and lit up the teeth in blue flames. They blackened and cracked, turning to ash. The fire dragon went back to drinking, his mouth steaming.

Venom came up beside Fendrel, between him and the fire dragon. “We’re going to bring these dragons back with us until they’re strong enough to fly back home.” He gazed at the freed dragons. Some of them looked as if their wings would never be repaired. “Or until they can walk back home.”

Fog crept up behind Charles and pulled at the fabric on one of his shoulders. Charles jumped back.

“Oh! It’s just you, Fluffy. Hey, Fendrel, what’s her actual name?” Charles looked toward Fendrel as Fog breathed a stream of mist on his punctured skin. Fog moved to the other shoulder and healed the wounds.

“That’s Fog. She’s a healer.”

Fog gripped Charles’ arm and shoved it back into its socket.

Charles yelped and gripped his shoulder. He rolled it with a wince.

The vapor dragon looked as if she was about to speak, then she ducked her head and looked at Fendrel. “Can you tell him ‘thank you for helping me?’”

Fendrel nodded and relayed the message as Fog took his hand to heal.

Charles smiled at Fog as she left to heal the dragons. “You are very welcome. Now, I think it’s time I took up your offer on learning the dragons’ language.”

“It’s not that easy.” Fendrel chuckled. “But I know someone who can give you a shortcut.”

<~><~><~>

Fendrel and Charles walked side by side. The herd of dragons hobbled around them. Fendrel squinted at the Black-Brick Ruins ahead. A broken-down castle made of black stone stood against the pale blue sky. Two dusk dragons perched as sentries atop the castle over a cavernous portcullis.

Venom’s ears perked up and he glanced behind him. “Everyone go on ahead. I have to check something.” He spread his wings.

“What is it?” Fendrel approached the dusk dragon.

“I think someone is following us.”

“Let me come with you.” Fendrel climbed onto Venom’s shoulders.

Venom flew to the edge of the forest and landed just outside. Fendrel slid off his shoulders and peered between the trees. Nothing was there. Then a white shape moved between the trees.

When Fendrel approached the shape, he saw it was a white horse adorned with a gold-rimmed saddle.

Who’s the rider? Where is the rider?

The horse saw Venom and reared with a whinny. It raced through the woods, soon out of sight.

The forest went still.

A twig snapped.

Fendrel’s head turned toward the noise. Someone was hiding behind a tree trunk, but one of their hands was in plain view.

“I can see your hand.” Fendrel crossed his arms.

The hand disappeared behind the tree. A figure stepped out from his cover.

Fendrel sucked in a quick breath. He scowled, trying to conceal his surprise.

<~><~><~>

POV: Cassius

The prince bit his fingernails.

A voice spoke behind him. “I can see your hand.”

He looked down to see his other hand around the side of the tree trunk.

Oh no. Cassius brought his hand to his chest as if that would keep him hidden. He came out from behind the tree.

A chill went down his spine. It was him. The dragon Liberator, and an actual dragon.

Cassius squeaked.

“Have you been following us?” There was an edge in the Liberator’s voice

Don’t lie. The worst thing you can do right now is lie.

“Yes?” Cassius’ voice cracked. “Just a little, though! I heard a rumor in the city of Sharpdagger that you were seen heading in this direction. And then, by chance, I happened to see you with that group of dragons. But then one of the dragons went around breathing on everyone and healed them, even you? That was kind of weird, but…”

The man took a step forward. “You didn’t see anything.”

Cassius waved his hands wildly. “I won’t tell anyone about your magical dragon friends or the dragon hunter, I promise.” He gave a nervous laugh, then frowned. “You don’t look very convinced.”

“Why?”

“What? What do you mean ‘why?’” Cassius took a step back.

“Why are you following us?” The Liberator crossed his arms.

The prince took a deep breath. “I need your help. Let me explain.”

Drumming his fingers on the bag that at his side, the Liberator nodded. “Go on.”

“I don’t want Zoricus to be in charge of the royal guard any longer, and neither do you, right? After my father passes, the citizens will surely want to keep him in power. They might even want him to overthrow me. I need to get him out of his position of authority before my father dies.” Cassius puts his hands on his hips.

“And why would you think I’d help you?” The Liberator gestured at the prince’s royal robes.

Cassius’ hands dropped. “Well, you’re probably the only person in the whole kingdom who doesn’t hate me, since you spend so much time with dragons rather than with humans.”

The man scoffed.

“All right, scratch that.” Cassius sighed. “But at least you’re not afraid to show me that you don’t like me. Everyone else thinks they’ll be punished if they upset me. And if you help me kick him out, I’ll put someone in power who agrees with your… ideals.”

The man nodded in agreement.

“I’ve witnessed shop owners making the main source of their income by selling hatchlings to the royal guard. My father made a law stating it is illegal to have dragons as livestock or slaves or anything else. He’s too old to enforce it now, and Zoricus has a few dragons of his own that my father doesn’t know about. If we can prove Zoricus has been going behind his back, my father might exile him from the kingdom!” Cassius threw his arms out in excitement.

The Liberator laughed. “The knights under Zoricus’ command also have dragon slaves. What’s your father going to do, replace replacements for all of them?”

Cassius paused. “I’m not supposed to say this to an outsider, but the royal family has their own personal mage. Maybe I can get him to help. Oh! I’ll get him to replace some of the advisors, too. They’ve been keeping my father in the dark as well.”

“Are you serious?” The Liberator’s face softened. “All the corrupt guards and advisors will be replaced?”

“If that’s what it takes for you to help me.” Cassius pointed at the Liberator.

After a short pause, the Liberator nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Cassius grinned.

The Liberator pointed to the ground beside him. “Yes. But I’m not letting you out of my sight. Get over here.”

Cassius caught up to the man just as he began to step backward. “I thought you worked alone. What do you need me for?”

“I do, but this is a special case.” The man kept his eyes on the massive black dragon.

“What’s so different this time?” Cassius glanced between the man and the dragon.

The Liberator stared at him from the corner of his eye. “You don’t need to know about that.”

“Can I at least know your name? You already know mine.”

The man didn’t answer.

The wanted posters already show what he looks like. Giving me his name wouldn’t make that much of a difference, would it?

“Fendrel.” The man climbed onto the dragon’s shoulders.

“I thought you said I was going with you?” Cassius glanced at the dragon’s skeptical face, then looked away.

The man said something in a strange language to the dragon. It nodded and lifted off, grabbing Cassius’ shirt in its front paws as it flew, then circled toward the group.

Cassius yelped and clutched the dragon’s foreleg.

<~><~><~>

POV: FENDREL

Venom swooped down and dropped Cassius a few feet off the ground in front of the group. He landed beside the prince while Fendrel slipped down from his shoulders.

Fog’s ears perked up.

Charles shot Fendrel a confused look.

“We have another tag-along?” Fog stepped toward Cassius who began to stand.

Cassius stumbled backwards with a gasp. “Your magic dragon just talked.”

“Yeah, she does that a lot.” Fendrel grinned.

“What language was that?” The prince’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“It shouldn’t take more than an hour to reach the Black-Brick Ruins.” Venom’s voice carried over the group of dragons and humans.

Fog tucked her wings closer to her sides and drew her tail around her front paws.

Fendrel approached her. “Is something wrong?”

Her eyes were trained on Cassius. “Is he a hunter, too? He smells like Mist. Or maybe I’m tricking myself into thinking everything smells like her.”

The prince noticed Fog’s gaze and waved at her, a forced smile on his face.

“No, he isn’t a hunter. Maybe you’re still smelling Charles, and you don’t have to worry about him either. He’s not going to hurt anyone.” Fendrel shook his head.

“You said that—” Fog’s eyes flicked between Fendrel and Charles “—but it just feels a little weird having him around.”

Fendrel glanced at Venom. “I’m going to tell Venom about him later today, and you can listen in too. I guarantee that by the end of the day, you won’t feel so uneasy around him.”

“Are you sure?” Her feathers ruffled as if a breeze flew by.

“I’m sure.” Fendrel nodded.

As Venom began to walk away, the group followed. The freed dragons seemed more hopeful with each step.

“I wish I still had my horse.” Cassius dragged his feet, not seeming to mind the mud tainting his polished leather.

Charles gave a short laugh. “You and me both.”

“Oh, yeah.” Fendrel turned his head to the prince. “Sorry about that.”

Cassius stumbled forward and coughed as Charles clapped him on the back.

The ex-dragon hunter smiled at the prince. “The hunters have had horses tear off saddles before. I’m sure yours will figure it out and live free.”