Chapter 1
15 years later…
“Stop!!” an officer called, “Thief!!!” Drakeal bolted through the streets, nimbly swerving around innocents, carrying two loaves of bread and a basket of fruit. His long tail trailed after him.
“Catch me if you can!!” Drakeal called behind him. He found an open area to unfurl his now large, majestic dragon wings. He beat them twice and was off.
He didn’t land until he was sure he had lost them. He broke a loaf of bread in half and took a bite of a half. Can’t live on unless you’re strong he thought. Those were the words he lived by since that time… He moved the bread from his open-mouth and closed his mouth, remembering that moment when his mother was killed when he was 6 years old.
He shook the memory away and quickly took a bite of the bread, savoring the honey in it. Today was a good day. He had gotten enough food to last him for a whole three days! He smiled to himself.
Drakeal looked down at the street below from where he was to watch the train of important people riding their canopied chairs, being carried by muscular slaves. He put down the bread, stowing it in his usual hiding place, to keep it away from the birds and other thieves.
Drakeal stepped onto the ledge and let gravity take over as he fell, straight as a board. He looked like a dive-bomber. He quickly opened his wings as he zoomed across the ground.
He searched for his first target. It was a fat nobleman. He smiled as he zoomed by, quickly grabbing some of the gold around the fat man. He flew away before the nobleman knew what happened. He repeated the process, but each time, with a different target.
One left he thought as he headed for the final on in the train of canopied seats. He looked in and his eyes opened wide. Time seemed to freeze. “Mom?” he whispered, before coming back to time. He zoomed past, slamming into a wall. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but he was too disoriented. A bag was suddenly thrown over his head, ropes tying him up.
“Gotcha!!” a guard growled. Drakeal tried to break free, but there were too many of them. Knowing it was a losing battle to resist, he finally gave in, allowing himself to be taken away.
Drakeal blinked, trying to adjust to the light, as the bag was yanked off.
“Here’s the troublemaker, Your Grace,” the head knucklehead said, as Drakeal called them, bowing down.
Drakeal looked up at who they called “Your Grace”. His jaw dropped. “You!” he cried, attempting to stand up.
“Get down, scum!!” the head guard said, kicking him back down, “How dare you talk to the Nobleman’s Daughter like that!” He kicked Drakeal in the stomach a couple times for good measure.
Drakeal gasped in pain, falling over to his side. He took the blows quietly, not crying out. He refused to give them that satisfaction. The Daughter raised a hand. They stopped. She got up and walked up to the gasping Drakeal, and began examining him more closely, occasionally poking his wings or his tail, watching as they thrashed angrily about.
Drakeal couldn’t do anything but stare. This girl looked like his mother. Without him meaning to, tears began welling up in his eyes. He tried blinking them away.
One of the guards saw. “Hey, look guys!” he said, “The monster’s actually crying!” He laughed at Drakeal, kicking him again as the Nobleman’s daughter’s back was turned.
“Just you wait!” Drakeal shouted at him, “I will kill you!!!” His tail snaked up and wrapped around the guard’s neck, squeezing until it looked like his head would pop like a zit. The others began attacking the tail and Drakeal, trying to rip the tail off, but no luck.
When they finally did, the guard was already dead. The rest of the guards began attacking him. When the girl told them to stop, realizing what they were doing, Drakeal was a bleeding mess. He was panting heavily, the pain great. He refused to cry. He glared at them, waiting for his moment to get back at them, already forming plans of how he was going to kill each and every one of them.
The girl came up to him and knelt down, her shockingly blue eyes sparkling as she giggled. “So.” she said, “What’s your name?”
“Drakeal…” he said, without meaning to. Her resemblance of his mother was disturbing.
“Drakeal…” she repeated, as if she were tasting it, “Huh… that’s a funny name!” She giggled at him.
“There’s nothing funny about my name!” Drakeal snarled. A guard kicked him again. The girl glared at him, harshly.
“Well,” she said, “My name is Rose.” She snapped her fingers. “Release him!” she ordered.
“But Miss,” one of the guards said, “He’s a wanted criminal, wanted for several accounted of thievery, witchcraft, and many others.”
“Do I look like the kind to use witchcraft?!!” Drakeal demanded.
“You’re a monster and that’s reason enough to say that you use witchcraft!” the guard retorted, preparing to kicking him once again.
“You kick him again, and I’ll have your head.” Rose said, coolly.
The man lowered his leg, if not reluctantly, “Yes, miss…” he said, but continued to watch him.
“Now I said, Release him!” Immediately, Drakeal was freed. “Better??” she asked.
“Umm…” Drakeal said, “Thank you??”
Rose giggled. “No problem.” She said, “Now, that I’ve freed you from death, you have to be my friend.”
“What?!!” Drakeal and the guards said simultaneously.
“You heard me.” Rose said, “I saved your life and so now you have to repay the debt.”
“I don’t do debts…” Drakeal said, turning to exit. Rose snapped her fingers. The Guards surrounded him.
“You be my friend,” Rose said causally, as if she wasn’t threatening someone’s life,” or I can let the guards have you. Your choice.”
“Fine…” Drakeal said, giving in. He knew he had no choice. “I’ll…. Be your friend…” He obviously was sharing the same thoughts with the men around him about him being Rose’s friend.
“Then come with me.” Rose said. She walked off in the direction of a hallway. She led him to a garden.
“Now what was the point of bringing me here?” Drakeal asked, shaking his head clear. The scented air from the flowers was getting to him. “This smell is starting to get to me.”
“Really??” Rose said, “I feel fine.”
“But then, you aren’t me,” Drakeal said, “isn’t that right.”
“I guess you can put it that way,” Rose said absent-mindedly, stroking a rose’s petals like it was a pet.
“Can I go now??” Drakeal asked.
“Where you gonna go?”
“I…” Drakeal stopped. Where was he going to go? He had no home to go to, nor anyone to go to. He grew more silent.
Rose seemed to notice. “You okay?”
“Fine,” Drakeal said sarcastically, “I’m being held here against my will, being reminded that I have no home or family. I’m fine! Never better!!” He shut his mouth.
“Sorry!!” Rose said in mock apology, “See if I worry about you ever again!”
“Just…” Drakeal sighed, sitting down on a bench, “leave me alone…” Rose went to him and sat next to him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“This.” Drakeal’s tail wrapped itself around her mouth, silencing her screams of fright. He grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her. “You’re my ticket out of here.” Drakeal said. He led her back the way them had come.
When the guards saw him, they prepared to attack. “Attack me,” Drakeal said, “And you attack her as well!” They backed down. When Drakeal got outside, he quickly let Rose go and took off. He hadn’t gotten very far before he froze, beating wildly. “What the-” He looked down to see vines wrapped around his ankle. “Hey, let go!!” he said, drawing his long knife, slashing at the vines.
As he cut one away, two more came to take its place. Soon, Drakeal’s entire lower half was wrapped in vines, pulling him down. He saw who was doing this. Rose had her hand outstretched towards him, pulsating a green aura.
Drakeal sighed. He began beating his wings three times as hard, slowly, but surely, rising. Soon, he was free from the vines, but not from the guards.
“Archers, ready!!!” Drakeal heard, “FIRE!” A torrent of arrows flew at him, piercing the thin membrane of his wings. He quickly fell, hitting the ground with a sickening crunch.
“Are you okay?!!” Rose asked, running as fast as her dress allowed, towards him. One of Drakeal’s wings and one of his arms were bent at odd angles. “My wing!!!” Drakeal cried, devastated, “My beautiful wing!!!! Look what you did to my wing!”
“Don’t worry,” Rose said, trying to help, “The doctors here can fix it up in no time.”
Drakeal didn’t here her. “My wing...” he sobbed, “Now I’ll never get out of here…” he hadn’t noticed that his arm was broken too, nor the fact that he couldn’t move it.
“Guards!’ Rose called. Some men ran up.
“Yes, miss?” one asked.
“Take him to the Medical Wing, immediately.”
“Yes, ma’am.” They hoisted Drakeal up and carried him away.
“Hey!” Drakeal said, still concerned only for his wing, “Be careful of my wing!”
The doctors fixed his arm and, after much arguing and death threats involved, his wing. They wanted to chop off the wing, saying that there was no hope for it. Drakeal said he’d kill each and every one of them if they so much as even scratched it.
When he got out, Rose was standing there, smiling pleasantly.
“Better??” she asked.
“No…”
“Sorry, but you promised you’d be my friend.”
“I never promised anything!!!” Drakeal almost shouted, “It was either be you’re friend, or be killed by the Guard!!! I don’t even want to be here, let alone know you!!”
Tears formed in Rose’s eyes. She quickly turned and ran off, leaving Drakeal behind.
He sighed. “Great…” he groaned, and with much reluctance, he followed.
Rose burst into her room, crying. She threw herself onto her bed and cried into her pillow. There was a knock at the door.
“Rose?” Drakeal said, sounding unsure, “Can I come in?” He opened the door a crack so she could hear him better.
“Go away!!!” Rose said sharply, with unusual harshness. Drakeal’s good wing and his tail raised a little, sowing he was startled by the harshness. “And stay away!!!”
Drakeal’s wing drooped. “Kay…” he said, sounding hurt. Then he was gone.
Rose began regretting being so harsh to Drakeal. She got up and quickly walked outside. She stood in the hallway, looking both ways to see if he was still there. He wasn’t.
Drakeal took a bite of an apple. It was one of a few things that were left.
“Freakin’ birds are getting smart,” he said to himself. He sighed. He dropped the apple core and stood up. He stepped up onto the ledge and allowed gravity to pull him down. He landed softly on the ground, his one good wing acting as a parachute, his bad arm pressed against his body.
Drakeal was given a wide berth, due to his broken wing. He used his good wing to provided shade and walked deeper into the crowd, unaware of someone following him.
Cherry slipped quietly through the crowd, following the creature with the bag tied to his waist. When she got close enough, she reached for the clinking bag. Suddenly, the creature’s tail swung her way, knocking her over. She yelped.
Drakeal turned to the sound of a yelp and saw a blonde girl, who looked to be about 16, shaking her head clear.
“Oh, sorry.” he said helping her up. The girl looked startled. “What?!”
“You can talk?!!”
“Of course, how do you think I get around,” Drakeal said, laughing, “I have no money, after all.”
“Then what’s in the bag??”
“Oh, you mean this??” Drakeal pulled out a gold-chained necklace embroidered with diamonds and the centerpiece, a large teardrop shaped ruby “It’s nothing… Anyway, I’m Drakeal.”
“I’m- I’m Cherry.” She was lost in words. How could this guy say he had no money when that necklace’s got to be at least 100 million bardl!
“Nice to meet you, Cherry.”
Her hand suddenly shot forward and grabbed the necklace. Cherry turned and ran. She didn’t get far before Drakeal’s tail grabbed her leg, tripping her. Drakeal sprinted at the necklace before it hit the ground, landing on his bad arm. “God@#$%!!!” he cried. He staggered to get up, looking angry. “Why did you just try to steal my mother’s necklace and the only connection I have to remember her by?!!”
“I…I…” Cherry couldn’t say anything. “Wait, what do you mean, “To remember her by”?? Is she dead or something?”
Drakeal’s face went pale. He quickly turned away and walked away.
Cherry, finding pleasure in torturing others through their emotions, followed. “I’m right, aren’t I?!” she said, “Admit it, I am right!!”
Drakeal sped up, quickly losing her.
“Hmph!” Cherry snorted, and then turned to find another target.
