The Rage of the Dragons

Opening my eyes, I woke up... The first thing I did was groan in pain, my whole body was hurting, mainly my stomach and my chest, which seemed to bleed under the bandages that were applied to me... It's the second time I am knocked out and wake up without remembering a thing...

"What... What happened?", I asked the others while looking around the area. It was rather dark there, but the moonlight was more than enough to illuminate the place, luckily. It seemed like we were still in that large chamber of the cave... It took me a few seconds, but I remembered the dragon using its claws against me...

"Ah, you're awake... That's a relief... I wouldn't want you to have died because of the stupidity of my people", Anna said, quickly rushing to my side, offering me a piece of bread, as though she knew that was secretly a healing potion.

"Because of the stupidity of your people? Why they are to blame for this?", I asked her very confused, and she seemed a little bit troubled, or even embarrassed to explain it.

"They are guilty of what they had done to me", a rough, very rough voice echoed through the chamber of the cave. It was an unfamiliar voice for me and when I looked in the direction in which the voice came... I could only see the dragon... It could speak, while I was left almost speechless.

"W-what? You can speak? And... And I thought you had killed me"

"No... Be thankful for your little friend here, the fox... It jumped in front of you to protect and that's when I noticed it isn't from the region of the Triplet Peaks and to have risked its own life to save you... It must mean you are not from here either, are you?", it asked me.

"No, I am not... I am from Coventry"

"Then I was right, I have no motive to kill you, after all, you don't have anything to do with the situation between me, and the Fallscales and Fallwings people", he said, but then looked to Anna with a very enraged glare. "But I have business with her... I only spared her for now so she could take of the wounds you had".

"Wait, I still don't understand what's happening... Could you at least me explain what happened between her people and you?", I asked it and it gave me a side glance... Then a long sigh.

"Well, they are to blame not only for my situation but to my species as well. The Triplet Peaks used to be our home... The three mountains were our nests... We could live comfortably and in peace over here... Until humans decided to come and make the mountains their homes. In other words..."

"They killed you? But if those mountains were your nest, then you should outnum-"

"I know... We should probably be able to take them down with our numbers", the dragon interrupted me. "But they were numerous at that time, we were far too outnumbered, even at our nests... Fallscales was the first to fall, every dragon that lived there was either killed or enslaved to serve your stupid wishes. We fought back, obviously, we attacked the cities and buildings they tried to build there, but you humans gave us the answer... By invading the Fallwings mountain too. Fallscales so-called ancient warriors were the doom of my species"

"Worse yet...", Anna started to add "They used the dragons they had captured against themselves and through experimentation, they discovered several of the dragons' weaknesses. Fallwings and Fallscales... They were named like that to signature the human supremacy over the dragons..."

"And for us, it signified our fall. However, they lost many just by conquering those two mountains and when they came to this mountain, we were at more equal strength. They perished here, as you can see", it said, pointing out to the skeleton we had seen earlier.

"And so... You are the last of your species... Right?", I said, noticing what they meant by that.

"Not quite... I have a family, I am not the last... But I lived during those dark times, I can live for ages after all. Those two societies living at the triplet peaks have to pay the ultimate price for their actions and I am the one who came collect their debt, part by part, each in a week", it said and then looked at Anna. "Your generation might be very far away from the ancestors that did that to me, but the justice must still be delivered", it said and then approached her, opening the mouth as if ready to have dinner.

"And I understand... You can kill me... You can burn my city... If we're really-"

"Wait, stop!", I shouted, interrupting both before anything worse could happen.

"Stay out of this. You, your friend there, and the fox have nothing to do with this, you can go free if you don't want to witness, but you don't have the right to interfere!", the dragon shouted, staring at me threatfully. Gulping a little in fear, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of courage.

"Look, they have nothing to do with this as well... You said this is a story lost in the past, right? I am sure the new people are better, you can make an agreement with them...", I opined. It laughed a little and then returned to look at Anna.

"And risk trusting the ones guilty for my species almost extinction?"

"But... They did nothing, right?", Jeffrey asked, wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Their ancestors did!"

"Their ancestors are their ancestors, the people today are the people today. One is not responsible for the crimes of the other...", he said and the dragon seemed a little bit angry, but thoughtful... With a long sigh, it couldn't do anything but agree.

"I suppose that's true. I have already said, someone has got to pay for the blood of my species that was spilled. Besides how can I know if they are really trustworthy? They even kept one of those fireproof shields they used to fight against us!", it claimed.

"Well, I walked through the Fallscales mountain... They are ruined, few in number, they can't seriously pose a threat to you. Just try and make an agreement, I am sure you will be able to see if they are really deserving of your wrath", I suggested to the big creature and it closed its eyes in consideration.

"Alright... I will try to talk with them, but if anything goes wrong, then I will burn both cities in the same minute, ok?", the dragon asked... I looked at Anna to see if she was fine with that, but she seemed a bit troubled... Confused as well... In the end, however, she nodded in agreement.

With that settled, the dragon allowed us to mount on its back while it flew back towards the Fallscales mountain to have this agreement...