17 Chapter 17

Rykirus woke with a startled yelp as the thing he was riding jolted to a stop, throwing him forward until he was stopped by the chains tightening around him. The door squeaked open and three armored men warily made their way into his prison. The minute their feet crossed the threshold, the midnight drake growled deep in his chest, eyes narrowing dangerously.

The men stopped and eyes him before one raised his voice, "Oy! We need a mage in here!" There was a shout outside before the door creaked open once again and an unfamiliar elf entered, looking annoyed. Without a word, she raised a hand, pointing at Rykirus, and a wave of drowsiness swept over him, causing him to collapse on the ground. The humans advanced on the prone drake, who's eyes followed their movements, and unclipped the chains on the walls.

As if a signal was given, the vehicle under him roared to life, and he had to dig his claws in to stop from sliding. It traveled for a while, the men holding the chains tightly despite his inability to move, until it stopped, the whole front of the wall opening up. Rykirus let out a strangled yelp and smashed his eyelids closed against the burning sun. One of them snickered and tugged on the chain, "Come on beast, up!"

Rykirus stood, legs trembling slightly as he felt energy return to him, but only enough to stand. When he made his way outside, he could see a crowd had begun to gather, people were pointing and whispering, shock etched into their features.

The men clipped his chains onto a sturdy hook that protruded from the ground, and the mage raised her hand, before he felt energy surge into him. Rykirus snarled, eyes wild, and immediately started slamming his powerful tail onto the ground and tugging viciously onto the chain in hopes of getting free.

Many in the front of the crowd recoiled at his show of brute strength before settling in again at the sight of his powerlessness. At this, one man walked up, looking particularly smug, as he rose his voice to the crowd, "My men and I managed to capture this young, powerful drake at our recent excursion. It is in our belief that at such a young age, with proper training, it could be brought to heel and bow to its rightful masters."

Rykirus stiffened in shock before unleashing a rage-filled roar that was muffled by the chain around his snout. His thrashing increased but the man only gave him a vaguely annoyed look before nodding at another man. He pressed a button, and Rykirus gasped in pain, collapsing and curling into a ball, eyes shut. It felt like lightning was running across his scales and fire was running along his veins and boiling his innards. He barely concealed the whimper of pain that bubbled on his lips and dug his claws in desperately to the aged wood.

"As you can see, we have ways to make the drake submit, so if he is to your liking, you will not have to worry about getting attacked..." Rykirus couldn't make out the rest of his words in his pain-hazed mind. Everything was burning and he was engulfed in fire and blood. It took a second to realize the the pain was gone and the rest was in his head.

When the drake started paying attention once more to the crowd around him, he felt his orange eyes widen in surprise. Standing off to the side, surrounded by two guards, was none other than Crivus Kornel, the shade spy sent into the human capital.