Illinto

Illinto kept herself standing tense, head lowered towards the ground like some kind of wounded animal as the man approached. She recognised him vaguely, Ethan? Elliot. As Elliot came in, she did not miss the light tremble in his hands as he approached with the saddle. It would not fit her, no saddle could truly fit her contorting form, it would be uncomfortable and it would press her spines into her own muscles. But she stood still as the man fastened the buckles.

Remained calm as he wrapped the lead ropes around her neck and encouraged her to walk forwards. He had removed her chain. The kiss of fresh air against her back ankles was ecstasy. The chain cuffs had rubbed deep into her scales, even her excellent healing could not combat the constant injury. She had rough ropes of scarring around her back legs that weeped fresh blood daily.

Being walked by a human was humiliating. Her bones jutted out from her shoulders and hips with each step, the sharp points pulling at her slack skin. Once she had been beautiful, a creature envied and adored. Now she was a malnourished sliver of a dragon with lethargic movement and heavy footsteps.

The arena was sparse and neglected, spattered with dark stains in the dirt from old duals covering the space. Heavy gouges in the earth from where dragons and riders alike had gone careening into the ground. Now she had to pretend to be compliant.

It didn’t help that Dharial was looking at her with an excited spark in her eyes, as though she truly believed her sister had had a change of heart. Illinto avoided her gaze and swept into position behind Elliot, head still lowered close to the ground.

The large dark red dragon beside her snorted, puffs of sulphuric smoke coming from his nostrils, his lip curled as he leaned down to grumble under his breath.

“They’ve broken you now.”

Illinto didn’t look his way, didn’t change the cold expression on her face, but the fiery rage inside her was fanned to life. The unfortunate recipient of that rage would be her rider and the target of this supposed training exercise.

Her rider had climbed upon her back, fastening himself into the saddle and attempted to guide her with his instruction. She did not listen. Illinto went slithering around the edge of the fray, strong strikes of larger dragons being dodged with practiced ease by the smaller Turqion.

Elliot was growing frustrated with her circling, yelling down at her to lift her head and fight. To do something, to do anything. Oh she would do something.

In a heartbeat, Illinto had reared back and snarled sharply, her neck twisting unnaturally backwards to snap at the rider. She caught his hand between her teeth and felt the satisfying crunch of bone followed by his squeal of pain. Next she dropped to the ground and writhed, pressing her muscles into the earth and contorting herself in all manner of ways to squirm her way out of the saddle. It worked, the leather finally pulled free from her ribcage and slipped down her thin back half, taking the still screeching Elliot with it.

The moment the touch of leather left her body, Illinto crawled towards the fight. Her body correcting itself as she went, slowly turning her limbs to be in the correct configuration.

Turqion was slipping out of the way of Dharial as she went barrelling past him, when her sister’s body was no longer in the way, Illinto stood before Turqion within striking distance. Revealed in a quick fashion, she acted accordingly and lifted her head high. Her jaw unhinged and slender black teeth flexed forwards towards the male and Gideon.

She darted forwards, curling herself around Turqion but applying no pressure, not yet. She weaved herself around him like a stream, tail flicking up near his neck whilst her torso slinked under his haunches. In constant motion, she was angry. That was given, but she held no direct hatred towards this pair. One might say she even liked them.

With her moment of body horror over, she made her move and suddenly righted her long body, swiping Turqion’s legs out from under him as she dashed away from him. It winded her, the lack of movement from being in the prison had made her weak.

Illinto

She had paused in front of the young dragon, her chest heaving with the effort from her twisting move on Turqion. Something like that used to be child’s play, but now she felt as though her muscles were going to rupture and snap from her bones. This hellscape had turned her into a pathetic excuse for a dragon, she had been deadly. She had been feared and powerful, these humans had made her weak.

Illinto’s ears pressed tightly back, nose flared as she took in the approaching scent of the other dragons and the metallic lingering of blood. Her eyes focused on Turqion as he called up to the Master in earnest, Gideon trapped within the huge red dragon’s jaws. That wasn’t going to turn out well for either of them, she thought with a small pang of sympathy for the young dragon. The feeling was quickly replaced with surprise as she saw Dharial and one of the other dragons charging over towards her, Elliot clutching onto Dharial’s rider and wailing about his hand, how Illinto needed to be punished for causing him harm.

Her ears shot up, legs shuffling backwards as they drew closer and closer to her. Dharial’s eyes were softened in sadness, but her thunderous gallop towards her did not falter as her rider instructed her to pin Illinto. She almost left it too long, almost ended up pinned beneath her sister’s huge claws.

With dust billowing up around her, Illinto scrambled to run, her legs fighting through the aching pang of exertion to make an escape.

“She’s getting away! Tell your stupid beast to hurry up!” Elliot was still hollering.

Illinto’s lungs felt like they were on fire, pinpricks of sharp pain shooting through them as she heaved for breath. Slowly, her wings creaked out from her sides, joints popping from disuse. The thin membranes catching in the wind from her speedy gallop away. The sound of the wind against her wings was dampened by the soft hairs on the end of the membranes, silencing her as she slammed her hind legs into the ground and forced her body upwards. Forelimbs tucked in close as she hoped that her body could still launch her high enough to catch the flow of higher air. Her heart dropped when she felt herself begin to fall back down towards the training ground. Her eyes widened with panic, the black sclera being further exposed.

A pained keening noise came from the back of her throat as she met the ground again, limbs struggling to keep herself upright upon the landing. Long tail coiling behind her, refusing to use the razor point to lash out at her encroaching sibling.

“Pathetic! She can’t even fly!” Elliot gafawed, the other man with him joining in on the mockery. “Might as well put it out of its misery, what do you say Master Wake?” The rider shouted backwards, setting Illinto into another frenzied attempt to launch herself up.

Illinto’s attempts kept failing, each time she cried out to her sister. No words exchanged, only a mournful sound at the pain she felt in her chest.

The edge of the arena was fast approaching, she needed to do it now or be slaughtered, her blood being added to various stains on the dirt. Illinto slammed her feet down again and scrunched her eyes closed, heavy wings beating as quick as she could manage to meet the bliss of sky. Her tail hit the wall of the arena, tearing out a chunk of limestone and sending it hurtling down to the floor. Her hind legs scraped across the wall and boulders, jumping each time she met solid earth to gain some momentum.

Then she felt the uptick of wind, shooting beneath her wings and her body evened out. Illinto blinked her eyes open and peered down between her feet, seeing her sister and the other dragon start their own launch as they realised she could in fact fly. Too late, they wouldn’t catch up to her now and Master Wake wouldn’t waste their resources on finding her, at least she wouldn’t expect him to.

Her head tucked in line with her long serpentine body and she gave another huge slap of her wings and vanished towards the soft outlines of the mountains. They were days of flight away, but she could make it there if she forced her body to the brink.

The sound of other dragons had faded long ago, but Illinto could still hear the cry of her sister as she roared after her. Calling out her name, begging her to turn back around and join her, to let those weak humans use her as a weapon. Both enraged and deeply distraught, the female had not realised how close she had come to a small town. Only as the fires wafted skywards in the darkness of night did Illinto notice, looking down to watch the small black figures walking around.

More humans, they were everywhere. Invading land, sea and sky like vermin. The world would be better off if they were just a smidge more stupid, unable to invent things that would eventually lead to their own demise.

Tilting her wings, she veered away from the town and descended into the leafless forest nearby. With winter approaching there was little opportunity to find lush foliage to hide in, but perhaps she could hide her more vibrant half of her body amongst a pile of fallen branches and blend her paleness into the frost. She doubted it would work, especially if Wake’s men managed to follow her all the way here, she would stick out like a sore thumb from anyone with a bird’s eye view. She could at least try.

Illinto hit the ground with less grace than she intended, her atrophied muscles were not used to this much movement. Her bones ached, as though the spongy material was going to splinter into a million pieces and shred through her muscles to clatter onto the earth at her feet. The moment she stopped moving, Illinto felt the wave of exhaustion wash over her and she swayed, unable to keep her balance for much longer before she collapsed into the crisp, sparse grass.

Her head plopped down onto the ground, weary eyes staring out towards the expanse of the woodland, waiting for the approach of a predator, a wolf pack cocky enough to go after a weak dragon. Nothing came. She tried to lift herself, but all attempts were unsuccessful. The adrenaline had finally run dry and Illinto’s body could not push herself any further.

Instead, hungry tendrils of sleep began to drag her into the shadows, her vision cloudy as the promise of rest hauled her into a deep sleep. Limbs still splayed unceremoniously, tail flailed and flopped onto the ground behind her, wings ajar and being shifted by the breeze. The soft fur lining the edges prevented the wind from making a noise that might have drawn hungry animals to her location.

Illinto did not move from that spot until the moon kissed the horizon and began to trade dominance of the sky back to the sun, dark blue tinged with orange as dawn began. The warmth cast over her scaled and drew the dragon to stretch out her tired body, producing a grumbling noise that almost sounded like indulgence as Illinto bathed in the morning sun. The rays of light caught on her scales as she pushed out her wings to capture as much of that delicious warmth as she could.

Illinto

She had given into the sweet embrace of sleep, the sun soothing her into unwarranted calmness. A few small forest dwellers had come out to investigate, but none had approached her closer than a few feet before darting away from her and scurrying into their burrows.

Shadows began to pass over her, but the female remained unaware of the encroaching danger as it swooped lower and lower. The shadows became larger and larger until huge talons smacked down on her hind legs, yanking her out of her sleep. Illinto whirled around, her spine coiling back so that she could bare her flexed fangs at the attacker, her ears pressed so tightly against her neck that they blended into the scales. All of her spines were pricked, muscles tensed as she prepared her first blow. From the back of her throat, the inkling of a screech was beginning, she had not used her abilities in years. She was rusty, but she could at least deafen this beast and its human counterpart.

Her eyes landed on a dark green dragon that was pushing its talons into the flesh of her hindlegs, pinning her to the frozen earth. Togar. His rider was grinning so wide that his skin looked too tight on his face, eyes bright with adrenaline, pride that he was the one to make the first strike.

The beginning of her screech was starting, low at first and rising in volume steadily, then she saw Dharial land beside Togar and the sound sputtered out. She looked at her sister and blinked her wide eyes, neck twisting to look all around her as other dragons began to descend. Her tail, which had been laying flat on the earth until now, rocketed up from the grass and whipped towards Togar.

The sharp blade striking the beast in his flank, hacking flesh from the scales. In that moment of pain, the male had loosened his powerful grip on her hind leg and she ripped herself free, tearing her own muscles in the process. She began to pelt towards the only opening left in the encirclement of dragons.

There was no point in trying to fly up, she was too slow on the incline, she needed space to get away. The two dragons on either side of the small gap reared, preparing to strike at her as she tried to get by them. Around her humans were yelling their demands to their dragons, but it was all muffled to her, all Illinto could hear was her own heart pounding in her ears.

She couldn’t die here, a pitiful and pointless death at the hands of her kin being controlled by these weak, pathetic creatures. She was stronger than that, she wanted to go home, she wanted to be free. The humans could battle themselves into extinction for all she cared.