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“YOU DON’T GET TO LIE DOWN!”
The young Bewilderbeast let out a high-pitched whine as the bullhook struck down on the already sliced scales and skin of the terrified dragon. He tried to avoid setting his injured leg onto the ground, but the Screaming Man had none of it.
“LISTEN TO ME!”, he bellowed and hit the metal staff against the cage. “I AM YOUR MASTER!”
She let out a soft whine and pressed into the corner of the wooden box she had been put into.
The Screaming Man struck the Bewilderbeast over and over again and again, the dragon’s cries echoing through the caves.
Is this right?, the Dust Fury wondered. Is this what life is supposed to be?
I am so sorry… Through the small hole in the box, she watched as the young dragon was beaten to the ground again, the bullhook pointed at his eye.
“KILL IT!”, the Screaming Man yelled and pointed the bullhook at the Triple Stryke that was tied to the ground with heavy chains, his three tails pierced into the wooden floor with spears.
She narrowed her eyes at the downed dragon, her wings pressing against her sides and ears pinned back.
I do not want to kill him, her thoughts whispered, but any form of resistance was intercepted by a slicing pain in her skull.
“KILL IT, YOU USELESS THING!”
A low rumble resonated from her throat, before she focused her attention on the Triple Stryke again, the sound she was making turning into a low whine as she took a deep breath. With a sharp sound, the green flame erupted from her throat and hit the tied down dragon square in the chest, his body going limp in an instant.
She waited. A few heartbeats. Another few.
No yelling. No pain.
“This is what I want from you”, the Screaming Man said. Was that the first time he was not screaming? How was that possible?
Her gaze darted towards him, before she looked away again.
He would punish her if she looked at him. He had done it before.
But there was a way to appease him.
Follow the Screaming Man’s orders and you will survive.
And if I do not?, she wondered and felt her ears twitch when she heard his footsteps stalk around her.
Then you did not deserve to survive.
Silence.
So. Much. Silence.
She thought that was what she wanted. Surely, silence was better than not surviving.
Wrong. She had been wrong. She was wrong. She will always be wrong.
Her gaze ran along the tusk she was perched on. Over the shackles with which he was tied to the ground. Right to the eyes of the Bewilderbeast.
Was he a friend?
He did not look like one.
But his eyes looked sad.
Was he sad for her?
Was he sad about the silence she was now trapped in?
It was not his fault that her world was silent now.
You did not follow the Screaming Man’s orders.
Then why did I survive?, she wondered.
You are thinking too much.
The Bewilderbeast’s tusk vibrated, the tremors shooting through her paws into her head and what was left of her ears.
A rumble.
An apology.
Why?
Her head tilted to the side as she looked at the massive dragon.
Why?, her thoughts asked.
His eyes could not speak. But they told her that he felt the same pain.
I am not in pain, she thought.
Not the truth.
What was left of her ears hurt. The cuts scattered over her body, over their bodies, hurt.
But what hurt most was her soul.
It did not feel right.
The Screaming Man had told her that everyone was the enemy. That he was the enemy.
If that was the truth, then why was the Bewilderbeast not the enemy?
Are you the enemy?, she wondered.
Vibrations ran through the tusk again.
No.
How?
Carefully, she pushed herself onto her paws, before walking along the tusk up to the shackle.
The Bewilderbeast listened to the Screaming Man. He never faltered.
Why was he tied to the ground, then?
He did not listen at first.
Follow the Screaming Man’s orders and you will survive.
She stepped over the shackle and followed the tusk to where it had grown out of the Bewilderbeast’s jaw, all those years ago.
His eyes followed her.
His pupils were wide.
They were never wide.
You do not act like you are supposed to, she thought.
A rumble. Maybe she heard it.
She could not tell what it meant this time.
Why?, she wondered.
His eyes looked sad.
Her eyes very likely looked sad, as well.
The Night Fury looked more like her than any other dragon.
But he was not a friend.
Not like the Bewilderbeast.
Even though the Night Fury had broken the rules.
Why did he survive?, she wondered.
You are thinking too much.
Her wings unfurled as she jumped into the air, soaring shortly above the Screaming Man riding the Night Fury and the Quiet Man riding the young Scuttleclaw.
What was left of her ear twitched when she felt the Bewilderbeast’s vibrations rumble through the air.
The Night Fury was fighting his will.
There was nothing for her to fight against.
Silence made it impossible for him to control her body.
She was sure he would never do it to her if he could.
Unless the Screaming Man told him to.
I am thinking too much, she thought and watched as the Night Fury grabbed the bullhook and threw the Screaming Man off his back.
Follow the Screaming Man’s orders and you will survive.
He did not.
Why does he survive?, she wondered.
The Quiet Man jumped after the Night Fury.
He would attack him.
He was the enemy.
The Night Fury is also the enemy. He did not follow the Screaming Man’s orders.
Her gaze turned towards the Screaming Man.
Do not survive, she thought.
You are the enemy, then.
I am not, she thought.
Her wings pressed against her sides as she dove down and caught the Screaming Man, before setting him onto the Bewilderbeast’s tusk.
Follow the Screaming Man’s orders and you will survive.
She would survive.
Her eyes looked up and around herself after she had landed on the Bewilderbeast’s tusk.
The Night Fury and the Quiet Man were gone.
Where?
A rumble.
Her eyes flicked towards where the Bewilderbeast was looking.
The Night Fury.
The Quiet Man.
Her wings opened again and she pushed herself off the tusk to attack.
She was born to attack.
She was meant to kill.
She would follow the Screaming Man’s orders and she would survive.
Her jaw parted, but the Night Fury was quicker.
His tail fin hit her eyes and she was blinded.
Where was she?
Where was the friend?
A rumble, then she felt the familiar feeling of the Bewilderbeast’s tusk.
He had caught her.
Why?
Was it an order of the Screaming Man?
She opened her eyes, but everything was wrong. Everything spun in her vision.
I can not follow the orders of the Screaming Man and I will not survive.
A low rumble vibrated through the tusk.
She opened her eyes.
Where was she?
Her gaze turned towards the friend. He looked at her.
His eyes did not look sad.
Why?
Vibrations rumbled through her body and his gaze turned towards something in front of them.
He was swimming.
Why was he not diving?
She would not survive.
But she had not followed the Screaming Man’s orders and was not allowed to survive.
She focused her eyes on what the friend had tried to show her.
A hole in the ocean.
Where are we?, she wondered.
A rumble vibrated through her body.
Safe.
What does that mean?, she wondered.
The Bewilderbeast swam into the hole in the ocean.
It went deep. The tunnel after that was big.
Big enough for him.
And he glowed.
And she glowed.
And the cave glowed.
It did not feel sad.
The tunnel went deep. The cave after that was massive.
The Bewilderbeast and the Dust Fury did not glow anymore.
But the cave was bright. The cave was not sad.
She felt vibrations run from the friend into her paws.
Safe.
Yes.
Maybe this was safe.
A bit of a different kind of short story.
This was so fun to write ^^ Like, it was sad, but also SO fun.
Anywho, here's the cover and bai!
