29 Escape from Slaughter

Nia ran and ran towards where the other forest dragons were. As soon as she saw that that demon was distracted by the other knight, she took off towards the nest.

"I have to warn them. I have to warn them," she said as she ran on the dirt while footprints of the other dragonslayers was evident across the land.

She tripped on a root and quickly got herself up. She looked back hoping that the demon hadn't caught up to her. The sun was setting.

She pushed branches and bushes away trying to get to the nest, but by the time she got there, it was too late. It was night, but when she approached the nest, the light began to shine brighter.

Nia stopped in her tracks as she was in clear view of a bloody battle. Fires sweeped the trees and fields. Dragonslayers shot flurries of arrows with green arrowheads that pierced through the scales of the dragons. The forest dragons shot fire at the knights as they approached with swords, axes, and battle hammers. Bodies of burned dragonslayers and arrow-filled dragons filled the forest. The smell of burned flesh burned through her nose. Smoke filled the air. She looked in horror, frozen at the mere sight of it all.

Crows started falling from the sky as they shot downwards towards the dragons. They clawed and pecked at the eyes of the dragons. From the corner of her eye, she saw knights jump onto the backs of one dragon and start stabbing and slashing at him. Another dragon was breathing out fire against a group of dragonslayers, but a magical barrier protected them. The next thing she saw, was the smiling woman wearing a chain dress shooting lightning out of her hands against hordes of dragons.

Nia took a step back, slowly, as fear overtook her mind.

I have to run away from here, she thought, far away.

Her whole body shook at the mere sight of everybody that she ever knew being brutally killed.

She tried to move back more, but she wasn't able to control her body. She tripped onto the ground. At that moment, the demon that killed her friends zoomed past the small girl and towards the carnage. It was just a moment, but she saw the armored monster's yellow eyes through the visor. The demon's eyes looked at her in that moment, but his current speed was too fast for him to stop, so he continued to charge towards his original target of a larger dragon.

Nia's entire body shook, but she knew that she couldn't stay. She quickly got herself up, and as she did so, she heard the demon speak to some of his men.

"There's a little dragon, over there. Go and kill it, quickly. Don't let it suffer," the red and black monster said as it pierced another dragon through the heart.

Three other dragonslayer complied and looked over to where Nia was. Nia immediately started running and the small group of dragonslayers gave chase. She didn't think about anything else, but her own survival. She couldn't do anything to save the others. She could only take care of herself.

She ran towards the dark forest, while the knights shot bolts and arrows with their crossbows. As the forest and dark skies hid Nia from sight, the dragonslayers gave chase while continuously shooting arrows. None of them hit their marks in the shadows of the forest. Nia continued to run and run, while arrows flew by her.

She began flapping her wings in human form, but in that moment, an arrow struck her right wing and tore through it. She gasped in pain, but kept running. She ran past a dragonslayer who was gasping for air, but as soon as he saw Nia with her wings and tail extended out, he took out his crossbow and started giving chase, as well. "Hell, yeah! A dragon!" he yelled in excitement.

Arrows and arrows flew past her. All the dragonslayers needed was a lucky shot in the dark. Nia kept running past bushes and branches. She evaded trees on her run, while the dragonslayers were behind her. She didn't know where to go. She ran through pushing branches out of the way, and eventually she hit a dead end. She suddenly stopped at a slope down to a riverbank. Arrows flew past and one arrow hit its mark. Nia's bottom leg was pierced by a bolt. Pieces of bone chiseled out and in that second, she gasped and tumbled down the slope. She rolled down hitting branches and rocks to the water.

The three dragonslayers ran to where she was, but didn't find any sign of her. One of them looked down into the riverbank, but it was too dark to see anything such as blood. The trail for the dragonslayers went cold.

The dragonslayers talked to each other.

"Damn it. Let's go back. Mr. CBK still needs help taking down that nest."

"Mr. CBK?"

"You know... Crimson Black Knight."

"We're calling him CBK, now?"

"It's just a nickname that I made up. His regular title's too long for me."

"Uh... right. Who are you, again?"

"Dragonslayer Lebazno," he said while saluting.

"Uh-huh. Let's just go back and deal with the nest."

They headed back as there was no sign of the little dragon they were chasing.

Nia's eyes closed as her body dragged along the river's current.