Minglings - Book 3 chapter 21: Sandra's story

Sandra finally calmed down as she gazed at the brown dragon lying before her. She took a quick look at Mason, wondering how he had managed to find such a prize.

"Alright, how about you tell us your story?" she said, motioning Baudron to begin." Start by telling us a bit about how you came here. Why didn't your father protect you?"

She saw the brown dragon look at Mason, slightly worried and frowned. How could this be one of the children of that dangerous man? All the stories she had heard about him had spoken about his cutthroat mentality, razor-sharp mind, and incredible proficiency at lightning magic.

"Father cares little for his children until they turn thirty," Baudron said as he looked at Sandra." In my family, it is common for nestlings to become tainted-blooded and change into drakes."

"Dragons," Sandra snapped.

Baudron seemed to start, then quickly nodded.

"Continue."

"My family… we are only worthy of becoming true members if we reach thirty. If we show any signs of the turning, we are either put down or sometimes held so we can be sold into slavery," Baudron said. As he continued talking, his eyes turned unfocused.

"I was barely twenty when the first dream came, and after living in fear for a year, I… foolishly told someone," Baudron whispered." I thought I could trust her, but she spoke to my father, and I was locked away. He was furious that I had tried to hide it and said I didn't deserve a clean death. So, he had some brown lizards held below the keep's prison beside the cell he threw me in. It took a year before I changed, and when I awoke, my father himself was there. He took me and sold me to a slaver, after which I eventually ended up with Mosran Hasrion."

Dammit, so he has no knowledge, Sandra thought as she gazed at the sad-looking dragon. Or he is lying… she frowned. She would have to ask some of the others to talk to him a bit, and see if they can get some intel out of him. Though, she was pretty sure it was chanceless. She'd heard many stories like his, and it was likely he knew nothing.

Another effect of hearing all the horror stories was that by now, she couldn't bring up the effort to act surprised. She did notice that Mason was heavily affected by the story. His glare was enough to almost frighten her, and she had the feeling if he could, he'd probably scorch any slavers he came across.

Did he grow again? She thought as she inspected him. She'd thought as much when he arrived, but she had been distracted by the other dragon's presence. Food for thought, but not for now.

"You have had a rough time, but you are safe now," she said. "Can you find your way back? I need to talk with Mason."

She wasn't surprised to see him almost jump up and move to the door.

"Of course, Queen Sandra! Thank you for listening to me," the massive lug said. She nodded and, as soon as he had left, turned to Mason to find him glaring at her.

"What?"

"You're acting like a queen, ordering people around."

As if I have any other choice, she thought. Still, she felt a slight stab of sadness at the hostility in Mason's voice. When he had shown up, she had hoped he would become her second in command or at least someone she could build on. His previous story and the way he was looking at her now showed she might have been hoping for too much.

"I've heard a lot of stories like his, and although his father is far more influential if he has no knowledge about troop positions, caravan routes, or hidden mage-towers, he can't help right now," she said as she leaned back.

Mason frowned, and she could see the annoyance in his eyes. She hesitated for a bit, then decided to try one more time.

"The towns closest to us belong to Mosran Hasrion and his family and have over four thousand soldiers and two dozen mages. Each mage is capable of bringing down one or more dragons, and only those of us who can wield magic might be able to stop them. But most dragons here can't fight. They are either mentally or physically broken, and if I didn't know better, probably most of them have PTSD. The best I've managed to do so far is raid the smallest towns and free dragons to bring them here, and even during those raids, we lost a dozen dragons…"

She saw Mason start to frown, his golden red eyes glittering with intelligence. It was the thing she liked about him, and she suddenly felt a rush of hope that he'd see her way.

"If we try to do too much now, Mosran Hasrion will seed one of his armies. If he blocks the way southwest, we will starve. There are not enough Etags in these mountains to feed us for longer than a few months. We survive by raiding the smaller towns and the caravans, trying to do as little damage as possible."

Mason hummed. "Why don't you eat some of those Sharwigs? There seem to be a lot of them in just this volcano, let alone in the"

Sandra shook her head, causing the golden-red dragon to fall quiet.

"The only ones who can eat those are red dragons or those that have at least some fire affinity. If we try it, we will, in the best case, only get sick and vomit."

"There are Etag's in the desert," Mason said. "Why don't we go hunting for those? Or go far north to where those fishing villages are supposed to be."

"Except for red dragons, the rest of us can only stay in the desert for a short time before needing water. It's why we raid during the evening. And up north? This continent is immense… by my estimates, it's probably larger than Africa, and we are in the southern part of the central region. Do you have any idea how long it would take us to fly there? And then what? We go back to bring food, or do you propose we try and stay there?"

She knew from what he'd told her that was probably exactly what he wanted. As she gazed at him, she saw his eyes flicker with anger, then stare at the ground. He was quiet for a bit, then gazed at her.

"So, what exactly did you have planned then?" he asked.

"Slowly build up our strength," she said, trying to put as much sincerity and conviction in her words as she could. "We need to get enough dragons so we can make up for our lack of magic."

"And then?" Mason asked.

Sandra sighed as she saw the barely contained annoyance in his eyes. She didn't really blame him. If she hadn't seen what she'd seen after awakening to her dragon body, she might have done the same.

Would have, she thought as she took a deep sigh. She really didn't want to tell him what she'd seen because that meant she'd have to think about it-something she had been resisting for a long time now. But if she wanted his help… and make sure he wouldn't go out and draw unwanted attention, she had no choice.

She focused on the ground for a few moments before looking back at him.

"The different smaller lords of this continent war amongst each other to gain favor with the Warlords, like Lord Ral Lakrion, your friend's father. These smaller lords, Mosrans, live like ancient royalty, gathering armies of soldiers and mages. The size of these armies is what seems to determine their status, though more land means they are able to feed larger armies," she said. As she spoke, she saw Mason settle down and listen.

"When I awoke here, it was in the middle of a tiny hamlet during a raid," she said.

A shiver ran through her as the memories began bubbling up, and she fell quiet for a moment before continuing when she managed to reign in her emotions.

"The village captured and held large amounts of creatures with dragon blood in the hopes of one turning. They sold them to the slavers, using the money to buy food and water from the oasis. I woke up in a cage to the sound of fighting. There were hundreds of cages around me, many stuffed full with creatures. In my cage, there were three small lizards, but none of them were my nest siblings."

As Sandra spoke, the memories surged forward, and she felt like she was back in those first moments.

–

Why the hell am I in a cage? Sandra thought as she looked around.

She was still slightly shaky from having to battle then absorb her dragon self, or the original thing in this body, or whatever it had been.

Seeing the darkroom behind the bars, filled with stacks of cages, she shook her head in confusion.

It hadn't been like this in her dreams!

The tiny lizards in the cage with her were shivering as they looked at her. She could see their ribs and sunken eyes. The one they were in seemed far too big for them, but as she rose to her feet, her back touched the top. For a moment, she thought of Jake, wondering if he was going to be able to keep the others under control without her. As she thought of the town and the other people they had saved, the things they had started building, she felt a deep sense of loss. Before it could grow further, she shoved it away, something she'd done many - many times before.

Instead, she looked around, trying to determine what was going on.

They are expecting us to change. That's the only reason for all these cages to be so much bigger than what's inside. Fantastic… Let's hope they just cage us in case we get violent, she thought, not believing it for a second.

A fiery explosion rocked the far wall of the room, causing the stack of cages to shake and wobble dangerously. They were all made of some pale bone or wood and had metal barred doors.

Sandra gritted her teeth and looked around for a way out. There was a closed, barred door to her side, and she jumped towards it. She hissed as another explosion struck the wall, causing it to burst inward. Two dozen cages tumbled forward, some cracking open, scattering the creatures inside around.

Gotto get the hell out of here!

Grabbing the metal bars, she saw the copper-colored scales on her dragon arms, tiny black lines around the edges. As she ripped the bars, the cage she was in wobbled, but the bars held.

Another explosion came, and this time a hole ripped into the wall. Through it, she saw pale desert sand with black scorch marks and the edges of a few tents.

Great… another desert, she thought as she tried to rip open the bars, quickie finding it would be useless. Looking down, she saw the cages below that had been ripped open. Taking a deep breath, she began shaking the cage, electing a set of scared sounds from behind her.

"Shut it," she hissed as she continued.

Loud shouting and screaming came from outside, but the fighting seemed to have died down.

Gotta hurry while I might have a distraction, Sandra thought as she put more muscle into it.

The wobbling turned to swaying, and she felt her stomach lurch a second before their cage reached the tipping point. It slid forward, the ground rushing towards them. Sandra quickly let go of the bars, feeling her body instinctively reacting and bringing her feet down. There was a part of her that wanted to spread her wings, but she held that back. There was no space.

The cage struck the ground hard, and she landed on her feet, one sliding between the bars. The tiny figures slammed into the bars next to her, letting out cries of pain. For a moment, she feared her plan had failed, but then she saw the crack in the thick bone next to the door. She climbed over and shoved her shoulder against the corner. With little effort, the entire sidewall bulged outward.

That was easy, she thought as she shoved it away and climbed out.

There was one final explosion outside, and she heard screams of pain and a bellow of agony and rage. All of it reminded her of some of the worse things she'd seen on duty.

Another world, not even human, and still this happens? she thought as she climbed towards the hole in the wall.

She ignored the tiny reptiles and lizards crawling and slithering around. Somehow, their existence seemed perfectly normal, and even the snake that slithered over her claw didn't bother her in the slightest.

As she looked outside, her dragon eyes widened.

Bodies littered the ground, and a mass of kobolds -soldiers- stood far to the left. A trio of yellow and brown-scaled Kobolds in leather robes covered in runic symbols stood before them. One of them had a swirling ball of dark fire above his hand.

The trio was glaring at a single, wounded kobold in a blood-splattered pale leather robe before them. He was swaying on his feet, both hands stretched sideways, and swirls of fire rippling around them.

Mages or wizards or something? Sandra thought as she remained motionless, closing her eyes as much as possible to prevent them from gleaming in the sun.

"Three-scale Gisrin, I will only extend this offer once," the center mage said.

Sandra cringed as she heard the deep sense of superiority and disgust in kobold's voice. She knew that whatever offer would follow wouldn't be to any sane person's liking.

"I.. will not… join your Mosran," the tottering kobold said, his voice picking up strength as his anger grew clearer. "You killed my family, my nestmates! All of them!"

"Yes, and as I take it, this is a now-on joining us, you will now also die," the mage said, not sounding very sorry. Instead, he stepped forward, his eyes flashing brightly and the fireball on his hand growing to the size of a basketball.

"Not that easy," Gisrin, the kobold in the pale leather coat, roared as he raised his eyes. Cords of fire rippled through the air, widening, and thickening. "If I die, I'll take you with me, you vile-blooded beast!"

A surge of heat blasted through the air from him, and Sandra saw the mage with the fireball step back, a look of startled frenzy on his face. He hurled the fireball on his head forward, causing it to howl as it rushed forward.

Sandra heard Gisrin snort, and one of his cords snaked forward, crushing the firewall with ease.

"He unlocked the fourth scale!" the other mage roared. "Kill him before he can finish the spell!"

The other two mages moved, both raising their hands, identical fireballs appearing, which they hurled at Gisrin.

The cords around the wounded mage swiped out, crushing one and redirecting the other while Gisrin's arms raised higher, more cords appearing.

"Fool! You are going to kill yourself if you do this," one of the mages bellowed.

Sandra swallowed as she felt the waves of fire all the way where she was hiding. The wind began picking up, and she saw tendrils of fire ripple around the wounded mage like the arms of an octopus. She'd never imagined that kobolds would be able to cast magic! Why hadn't the antraci been able to do that? Did they have no mages?

Better leave before he goes kaboom, she thought, deciding all questions would have to wait until she was safe.

A quick look around showed that she was in the center of a tiny tent encampment. Some wooden or bone constructions and houses showed it was probably permanent, and opposite where the mages were duking it out, she saw the desert in the distance with what looked like a mountain range behind it. There was a larger building not too far to the right, which seemed like a good place to run to.

Loud rumbling made her look back to the mages, and she saw the aggressors were throwing more fireballs, with little effect, while the large mass of soldiers began to retreat.

The heat was stifling by now, and the sorcerers were backing up, one moving his hands about in odd patterns, streaks of fire following his fingers while a thin glowing shield began to expand from his hands.

Sandra waited until they were throwing fireballs again before scrambling forward and to the right away from the fighting.

A surprised shout came from behind her, showing that at least someone had seen her. Sadly for them, they would need to go through that angry mage first.

As she ran, she felt her body moving fluidly on four legs, almost as if she'd done so her entire life. Dozens of bodies lay strewn around, some soldiers, but many dressed in little more than pale cloth rags. Tiny bodies were amongst them.

Where the hell did I end up? She thought as she rushed past the wooden house. She saw the village was bigger than she had initially thought, with tents and huts everywhere to the left.

Deciding that the mountains would probably be a good place to hide, she continued running. Jake had told her that flying took some getting used to, and this didn't seem like the time to try.

As she rushed through the tents, she heard nothing chasing after her, though the explosions from behind continued. Some roaring and shouting showed that Gisrin wasn't dead yet.

It took her only a minute to run through the town, and as she reached the other side, she slowed down in horror. Dozens of bodies were impaled on what almost looked like giant ribs, staked all the way through. Gritting her teeth, she continued slowly, looking around, slightly nauseous.

Would all the soldiers be on the other side? It seemed stupid to her, but as she kept looking around, all she saw were dead. As she continued forward, she noticed a patch of white shards and wet things to the side. It was piled up slightly, and when she realized what they were, she gritted her teeth.

As she rushed past the horrorshow and into the desert, she heard a high-pitched howl followed by a massive explosion that seemed to rock the desert. Looking back, she saw a massive plume of smoke climbing into the sky.

Suicide explosion or something?

Running forward, eventually up and down hills, she slowly realized nobody was chasing her.

–

Mason listened quietly to Sandra. He could see from the pain in her face that she wasn't at the worst part yet, and as much as he didn't agree with her, what she'd said about the mages wasn't hopeful.

I wonder what ranks, three-scale and four-scale, belong to. What would the max be? Ten? Twenty?

As he listened as Sandra told him about how she fled through the desert towards the mountains, which he guessed were those around the Hounds Eye, he gritted his teeth as he heard she encountered more destroyed towns on her way. Still, he'd yet to hear anything that seemed like a reason to hide and cower for scraps instead of trying to go out. No, if there was anything, he was now sure they needed to get their hands on a way to learn magic. That, or get the hell out of here and see if they could find their way back to their own little island.