"Turn left." The dragon behind me instructed after he closed the gate and locked it. I did what he said without argument, strolling down the hall in the desired direction, with torches lined on the walls guiding me. He followed along, feeling his eyes locked onto my back and not leaving me. This was the first time being out of the cell, and I noticed for the first time with each step I was taking that there were a lot of more cells. I didn't catch glimpse of any of my people so far in any of them, but I did see some groups of people, young, old, child, adult, I hadn't met before trapped behind bars. None of those people were let out like me. Not yet.

I can also tell a bit as I walked on by that these people did looked depressed, and didn't appear to have taken a bath in...Who knew for how long. The clothes some of them wore looked tattered and worn. Not all of them, but some looked much worse than everyone else. And some appeared to have been worked to the bone too. I can see some muscle had already shrinked like they were deprived of daily meals a lot, and ribs and bones were showing.

I've heard of slavery...But knowing myself, I never seen anything like it before.

This was horrible. Rage was bubbling up inside me. Other than coming across those treasure mounds before, this was another motivation for me to make Messina and all those scaly bastards pay.

They'll pay dearly for all this. I can promise them that.

When I was about to move past another cell, I stopped forth and stared. A beautiful young woman, probably about a few years older than me, stood right at the bars and was staring back at me with those blue eyes of hers. But they didn't look too sad, I think she was probably curious about me since she hasn't seen me here before. She appeared to still be in decent shape, physically anyways, with her long silver hair falling over her shoulders. Although it wasn't exactly combed very well, she was a bit dirty like she hasn't taken any sort of bath in a long time, and her clothes looked a bit tattered too. Like she was half a shell of her former self, like she was some ragged doll.

I was feeling sorry for her, like I was feeling sorry for everyone else. I pictured Heather in her place. I would be very angry if she was treated like this. Thank goodness I'll never see her in this sort of state.

A paw shoved me forward from behind. Stoney hissed, "Snap out of it! Who says you can socialize with the other prisoners? Move now or I'll kill you!" I only snapped at him with a mere glare, no words were needed to show him how I felt. Besides, I was already given a warning not to talk back to him, so I'd better not give him any lip.

After I gave that silver haired woman one last glance, I continued on down the dark, depressing corridor. When me and the sand colored dragon finally wandered out of that hall after several, long paces, I felt almost relief. There were lots more people in more cells after the ones I already saw and that woman. More lives ruined and captured and taken away from their homes than I imagined. I almost couldn't take seeing more and more innocent lives sheltered harshly by a bunch of monsters.

As the dragon with me was ordering me around, giving me directions where to go next throughout this fortress of sorts, my eyes and my mind wandered around unbeknownst to him. Where is he taking me? There has to be a way out of here.

To my surprise a while later, I was shoved up a steep, stone stairway now. I was going up. Then finally after taking several steps upward for what seemed like forever, I was now standing on the roof of the fortress with the smoke covered sky over me. I paced to the edge and peeked over. What I see beyond these walls was nothing but a sheer drop. I was at the side of the fortress that faced nothing but a long cliff. I didn't see any river at the bottom, not a normal river you can drink from anyway, but rather a lot of lava, which I believe came from that river of lava I saw last night.

Looking down over the side was making my imagination run wild. I can feel the wind rushing up at me after I imagined myself jumping off here. There was no way I'd survive the fall. Then from out of nowhere, before I could think anything else, I got snapped off the ground. I yelled out, eyes very wide with fright, as my feet were now hanging in the air with the REAL wind rushing at my face. I quickly glanced up and found that Stoney the drake had scooped me off the ground with his forepaws and flew us off here without ever giving me a warning. His claws gripped around my form tightly while he laughed a bit for his own amusement.

The sounds of huge wings beated as he took us higher in the air. I was looking down as I soared over that sheer drop. I gulped. It made my feet pull up closer to me. I wasn't exactly amused as he was. I never been carried in the air before, not too mention never been THIS high up in the air before. I hated what he just did, but this was more terrifying than anything else. If he'd wanted to...He could drop me and I would perish from the fall. Considering all the trouble I caused, he probably wouldn't hesitate.

Don't drop me...Don't drop me...

But thank god he did not. The dragon banked around, flapping his wings, and we were back over the dragon fortress now. The place was really huge, like a big castle nobody ever heard. More bigger than I had realized when I was outside it for a short second last night. Somewhere in the middle of the place, there was this round area with nothing in the middle. I doubt that was the throne room, it had a ceiling. I don't think I've been there before. I didn't know what sort of area that was, but I had a bad feeling about it for some reason.

I didn't think about it for too long cause we were already away from the fortress, with us being over that river of lava for a second, then the scene gave way to that black, ashy forest I couldn't reach the other night. I looked and I can see that volcano still spewing lava and smoke. I was trying to take deep breaths, trying to slow my beating heart.

Stoney flew me over land for a while. It got me curious of where we were going, where I was gonna be digging. I guess I somewhat figured that where I was digging was outside the fortress, but a part of me believed it was going to be somewhere within the place. Where else would Messina get all these priceless jewels? I eyed the landscape below me, a serious thought crossing my mind. I remember that Lazzo-dragon fellow giving me and Ly some meat earlier, since it was our morning meal, but what's making me wonder is where he got it. If I was right, surely the wildlife wouldn't enjoy living around this area. Maybe avoid it. How would the dragons hunt and eat? Where would they get all the food to feed all their slaves?

I looked towards ahead, swinging my gaze around from one end of my view to the other. Maybe they'd fly off to a land distant from the volcano and grab what they could from there. The dragons would eat the most, knowing their large sizes, and they don't look like they're starving at all, I don't think, and they just leave the scraps for the people they're slaving off of. Probably not a whole lot of food. Surely they don't feed all their slaves a lot during the day. That'd take a whole lot of food and a lot of work. I don't think the dragons would like doing that so much. It's no wonder some people living in that place looked like they haven't eaten three meals a day.

Pathetic. Dragons would eat every single thing without having any manners and not care.

My thoughts were on Ly. Ly really didn't act like any of the dragons I met. Part of me imagined she would've shared her meal with me when we were all alone together...And after it was all well done and cooked. She didn't act very hungry enough that she wouldn't share.

She really was...Friendly. She's weird, I'll give her that, since she said she can see 'visions', but...She is a rather friendly dragon.

I had thought before that her parents had grounded her for whatever reason and that was why she was put inside her cell, but now...My mind wondered if that were true. I haven't exactly met her parents, least I don't think I did. Part of me was wondering what happened to them.

That feeling of wanting to trust her came slowly back to me. Was Ly actually in the same situation as I am? Did something happen to her parents too and that's why I haven't met them?

I shook my head off that thought. Dart, you can't possibly think she is anything like you! She's a dragon! You can't trust her! She's probably been put in there and acting nice to you so she could gain your trust. That's what's going on here! Acting innocent and everything would probably do the trick! Maybe Messina probably put her up to it so she can trick me into giving her, and that Celine bitch, some very important secrets that'll hurt more people.

Which I do not know any, but they don't know that.

Or maybe if I had relayed any escape plan to her, or had her helping me out, then she would tattle on me and then I'd be in more trouble.

Makes much more sense to me. Why not have one little dragon trick me into giving out my little plans?

And her parents are probably all right! They're not dead, they're probably just waiting around somewhere in that fortress, smiling on proudly at their own daughter for doing such devious things.

They're pathetic...Just like any other dragon.

I snapped out of my own thoughts when I saw what I was flying towards. I can see a giant, round pit in the ground, like it was a crater. That must be where the humans dig for the jewels. God it's huge. People must've been digging in it for a long time. Shortly, we circled around a bit over the crater. Below I spotted several dragons and humans. Dragons were watching over their captives digging at the dirt. I didn't see any other dragon flying over to this place with another human in their paws. I was apparently the last to show up.

Stoney glided downward close into the crater till he just dropped me for about a few feet. I landed on my hands and knees with a grunt. Forceful wings from the dragon sent up dirt and dust when he flapped to land nearby. I threw him a sharp glare, watching him padding over to meet me with his wings curling on his back. He asked as I stood upright, tail swishing behind him, "Enjoy your flight?"

I replied angrily, dusting myself, "What do you think?"

"Good." His claw pointed at a spot beside me, "All right, you know what to do. I don't have to tell you. Get to work."

"Ok." I asked, holding out my hand ready to grab something, "Can I get a shovel?"

The dragon replied, "I don't have one."

I demanded impatiently, clenching my fingers, "Well then bring me one."

His draconic lips were showing me his first ever grin, "You don't get it...We don't have shovels."

My eyes went wide in surprise for a second before I turned them back to narrow. I said, dropping my limb to my side, "You gotta be kidding me. You scaly assholes don't have shovels?!"

Stoney's smile was wiped off when he replied, "First off, don't call me that again or I'll kill you. Second, that's how you get your hands dirty. Why did you think I said that I hope you like getting your hands dirty? That isn't hypothetical."

I sharply looked around at the other human slaves that are nearby out of curiosity, and found to my anger that everyone else was only digging with their hands. Nobody had ONE freakin shovel at all. I cried at the dragon before me, gesturing at the other slaves, "What is wrong with you guys?! We can't dig like this for a long time! This'll hurt our hands! For god sakes at least make it more bearable!"

Stoney stated annoyingly, "We're dragons, there's no point in having those things. We dig with our feet. I'm sure it won't be hard for you. You're not brain damaged to not know how. Digging is as simple as walking and eating." Then he roared, "NOW QUIT WHINING LIKE A STUPID HATCHLING AND DIG!" I stood still for a long time, not taking my eyes off him. I finally sighed. Pricks. I turned my back on him, went back down on my knees, and curled in all the fingers in my hand and begun digging through the dirt.

To be honest, this was quite possibly the most humiliating thing I ever endured. Digging with only my hands was beyond ridiculous. This was what I'd imagined Gunther would make me do if I was his slave. I imagined Stoney the bigger version of that guy. Guess this was another fair reason to make Messina and her cronies pay for everything.

As if things couldn't get any worse.

While I was still raking with my hands, moving the pile of dirt away to a spot beside me, I looked around the pit around me. I can see all the people here were from my village, all doing the same thing as me, being guarded and watched over by other dragons to do their evil bidding. Even a couple of the children I saw last night from the village were digging too. They apparently weren't taking things well. The twins Rose and Lily were here too. Rose was balling her eyes out while her sister kept a clean face. There were even a bunch of other people too I never seen before from what I can see, probably taken from their homes to do this too. They were in the same state as my people.

I figured something out, although it didn't help matters much. It was about why there were slaves still in their dungeons while all of us were all the way out here. I'm guessing Messina doesn't let all her slaves work together in one day at once. Tiring every one of them out probably wouldn't do her good in collecting her hoard. So she probably has a few different groups of people from a few large cells do this in one day. That when my group and that group was done today, then the next few groups get to do this tomorrow, and then the next few the day after.

Still doesn't help about the shape most people that are under her rule are in. They still don't get fed a lot. I eyed at the children. I hope they had a good meal before they were taken away from the fortress. Makes me feel bad thinking about it. How long can those kids survive here by so much lack of food?

This is downright despicable.

I dug for a long time. With the sky so cloudy with smoke still, I couldn't tell how much time has passed. My arms were already feeling spent. They felt so sore I thought they were about to explode. Didn't help with my hands too, all caked with dirt. It'd probably take forever to clean them up. With how dirty and tattered the people here are, it'd probably take forever to clean ourselves up. But during all this, I had kept on peering around the area with no dragon looking, since Stoney tends to take his eyes off me now and then. I was clearly looking for a escape route, trying to come up with a plan.

Since I was away from the fortress, away from the steep cliff and lava, I was thinking maybe I could make a run for it without anyone looking again, but then I thought it was a bad idea. I probably couldn't get far, and they'd certainly catch me. That was the only idea I came up with. I didn't exactly come up with any other solutions.

But I had to get out of here. I can't quit on this now.

Then I heard somebody snap nearby. I looked and saw Rose wailed in utter humiliation, "I can't take this anymore!" She immediately pushed herself to her feet, "I wanna go home!" I had a feeling something like this would happen sooner or later. With all the mental turmoil everyone must be going through, somebody was bound to crack.

I just didn't have an idea Rose would last THIS long.

Lily, while on her knees still, pleaded her sister, tugging down at her shirt, "Rose, please get down!"

"Hey!" The dragon that was guarding the girls came up from talkin to his buddy and barked at Rose, "Get on your knees like a good, sexy female and get back to work, lady!"

But to my surprise, when he had his snout close to her, Rose practically PUNCHED him squarely in the nose. His pained cry rang over the area. My eyes went wide. Damn, girl. I thought these two were a couple of know it all, gorgeous women, but Rose really showed her colors!

That dragon didn't take that kindly though. I saw him hissing from a distance, and he swiped her away for several feet. I let out a gasp. The dragon shouted angrily, "You fucking cunt!" As soon as Rose's body was done rolling, he went after her.

Lily tried to stop him, a fearful look upon her face, "NO! STOP! PLEASE LEAVE HER ALONE!" She tried to get up, but another dragon stopped her.

But I wasn't gonna let whatever's coming to Rose happen. I quickly got up and sprinted all the way to where Rose was. I saw she was still alive, the swipe didn't actually kill her. Rose screamed for dear life when the dragon that struck her was approaching her fast.

But I beat him to it. I got in between Rose and the giant lizard. He hissed, demanding, "Get outta my way, you scrawny human!"

I fired back, "You touch her...And I'll kill you myself!" Dart, you must be insane as she is now. You can't fight a dragon, you don't even have a sword!

Even with that, he'll kill you in a heartbeat!

"Are you kidding me?" He actually tossed back his head and laughed, "You think you can kill me? I think you should be more concerned for yourself than this bitch's."

He really made a good point. I should be worried about myself at the moment. But I didn't back down, "I said leave her alone, asshole!" That dragon growled at me in response.

Stoney finally came over to all this commotion. He yelled at me with his wings flared, "You! What do you think you're doing!? Stay out of this and get back to work!"

I turned to him and retorted, "I'll do no such thing, you giant prick! All of you can go to hell!"

Stoney made a threat, "I told you not to talk back to me like that again."

I threw out some more defiance at them, "So what, you gonna kill me like the queen ordered!? How about go ahead and do it! I'm already sick and tired of everyone giving me orders! If you want to dig, DO IT YOURSELF YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" I took notice that the other villagers were watching the scene unfold. They were about as surprised as I was. Now they're wondering if I'll survive this onslaught.

Probably not...

Stoney growled deeply, his narrowed eyes not leaving me. After a long pause, he finally said, "You know what...I've already had enough of you myself. But I'm not gonna kill you."

I quirked a brow, "You're not?"

"No. I have a much better idea." His haunches plopped down in the dirt and his paws picked me up once more. He brought me close to his face. He said, "Since you have the balls and like to give everybody trouble, I'm going to take you to the arena for the queen...And we'll watch you die."

"Uh...." I gulped, "...Say what?" Arena? He doesn't mean-

His wings picked us off the ground. When we were in the air, hovering over everbody else, he said with a devious growl, "You'll see." Then he flew forward with me in his paws. I twisted around a bit in his grip, seeing the landscape below speeding on by.

I had a fearful look on my face. I thought things couldn't get any worse...

I think they have.

*****

I muttered, "Oh...Boy..."

As I stood in the middle of the round area, a lot of dragons sitting on these high walls were chatting amongst themselves, along with several eagerly watching me like I was prey about to be eaten.

I think that sums up about what's going on here.

Shortly after Stoney flew me back to the fortress, he dropped me off in the middle of all this and then took off to probably talk to Messina. I've been standing around here for about several minutes I think. There were a bunch of dragons already here on those very tall walls that no human could ever reach, but at each passing minute, more would fly down to their seats and join the crowd. That really made me wonder how many dragons lived in this place. There were A LOT of them. My guess there were probably like sixty of them, but maybe my count was a bit off. Maybe there were more than that.

From what I figured, I think this place was this big round area I saw from up in the air before that dragon took me to the pit. This was the arena. I should've figured that's what it was from up above. I knew what an arena was from my father of course, since he's been to so many places and has seen all sorts of things. And when Stoney said he was bringing me to one for the queen's amusement...I knew I didn't like the sound of it.

That meant I was about to be in a fight to the death.

I didn't have an idea what's going to happen, and that scared me. Either I was fighting another human, or I was gonna be fighting a dragon. Either way, I was afraid I might lose. I can't fight that well, I know that for sure. Heck I got beaten by Gunther a bunch of times and I was already beaten by a group of dragons the other night. What makes the queen think that I might just survive this heinous sport?

Upon knowing what was going on, I wouldn've ran away by now, but of course I couldn't climb out of here cause these walls were too big and tall for me. There were no creases for me to grab onto on the walls either. Just smooth stone. There were a couple gates here too at one end of the arena to the other, but I couldn't get through them either cause they were locked. I was more or less...Trapped here. Forced to take part in a bloody battle.

I'm...Definitely going to die here.

I touched the pocket where my dragon scale was kept nice and snug. Ah...Dad, what would you do?

Maybe I should've just stayed out of protecting Rose from one of the dragons, but I couldn't let that bastard hurt her. I couldn't live with myself if I watched her die.

Now, other than I caused trouble last night, that was a bit of a final straw for them. If only I had known this would happen to me.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. I really should've thought everything through.

A voice bellowed all over the arena, "Greetings, my subjects!" I placed my attention like everybody else to see Messina, sitting in this sort of a special seat for her. The red, one eyed dragon hollered, "Welcome all to our main event of the day! You all know me, I am the GREAT, MAGNIFICENT MESSINA!"

The dragon crowd cheered.

The queen said, "Been ages since we had our last one, ain't it? Well, the time has come, and it's going to be GRAND! HA HA!" She thrusted her wing toward me, "Our first opponent is...Well, I don't know his name but who cares. But! He is the new human that you probably heard that has defied me so badly last night, and has now defied me AGAIN today! Not directly, but still defied me. What a troublemaker! And he's been here for almost one day! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!"

A chorus of boos erupted all over the arena.

Messina went on, "He has defied my rule so badly, his antics have been making me very THIRSTY for his death. But, I can't be the only one, and what better way to have somebody like that to die than to have everyone watch his HUMILIATING death unfold!"

The crowd cheered again. My eyes went wide. Oh crap.

She raised a claw and added, her mischievious grin already spread across her snout, "But, he's not the only one that defied me recently. Oh, no, it gets better. I'm sure we all know how we feel when our fellow dragon rebels against the queen, right? Well, we do have a new dragon that doesn't like cooperating like all of you. I'M the one who gets to have a bad attitude! No one tries to best me! I've been waiting all morning for this happen, been trying to pick which opponent for them to fight, and what a TERRIFIC way to begin our event with two of the most troublesome beings in our circle!"

The crowd yelled out in excitement again. I even heard one dragon holler, "Yeah, GET IT ONNNNNNNNN!"

I was still paralyzed. I only twitched. I'm fighting a dragon....

Give me a fucking break!

Messina announced, "So, WHO SHALL WIN THE FIGHT?" Her wing tip pointed at me, "The dumb human with balls and a sword to grind?" Then her other wing motioned to the gate at the far end of the arena, "Or the rebellious dragon with blatant disregard and arrogance?"

I eyed at the gate intently, a pit forming in my stomach. Not good...Not good at all. Then an object fell in my view with a clang. My form jumped a bit. I looked down and found a sword at my feet. Then I glanced at a red dragon that came out of nowhere stood beside me. He must've been the one that dropped it. He grumbled, "Here's your weapon. Good luck...If you got any." He chuckled, before he took himself to the stands with a flap of his wings. I eyed at my weapon again with a huff. I bent down to pick it up. Well, it's better than just my fists. I held the sword up in both hands, gazing right at the blade. Don't think it's going to do me much good.

Messina roared, "Bring out the second opponent!"

I gasped, watching the gate across from me rising off the floor. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves.

I'm REALLY going to die.

*****

As I saw the gate rose from afar, that bastard drake Lazzo announced, "Alright, you're on."

I guess it's about time. I've been waiting in here forever! I wasn't actually kidding that I've been in this part of the fortress for a long time. At first I was kinda eager to show my face to the queen and show her that I wasn't afraid to be as mean spirited as possible, but imagine my utter dismay that I was instead not taken to her throne but inside this damn, dark, dimly lit tunnel, that was a bit more dimmer than the dungeon I was in.

And it all had to do with being his queen's...Entertainment.

And what that meant was...I was gonna fight somebody in some arena in front of the queen...And in front of a lot of dragons, at least judging by all the cheering I heard from in here. Not just any fight, but two opponents battling each other to the death. Which that was great. Try to watch me lose a fight against another dragon again...And this time I'll be dead. Least I think it was another dragon. Nobody told me who, or what I was fighting. I think I did hear the queen announcing outside, she probably did say what I was fighting, but I couldn't really make out much of the words with two dragons breathing down my neck.

My snout breathed freely thanks to the muzzle being gone after one of them took it off. I would've followed my first instinct and blown fire against their faces and ran away, since I know that chain that was around my neck is not on me anymore. I was very tempted to, but I noticed the clamps on my wings were still attached, so I couldn't fly away if I tried to escape.

But that didn't mean I couldn't spout words of defiance at them. I was not going out there. I don't intend to be in some stupid battle just to entertain somebody. Besides, battles aren't supposed to be entertaining, or for sport. It's not fun, it's supposed to be serious. I wanted to play along before, but not for this.

I think I'll just keep annoying them. Maybe they'll have me see the queen in a much normal way if I keep resisting. I still want to meet her face to face. I was quick to respond with a look of anger on my face, "Like I give a crap about this. I should be sitting in the dungeons right now."

I heard him growl behind me, "Still smart mouthing, even after I now got the muzzle off."

I shot back, "I like smart mouthing. Gets my point across."

"Yeah, whatever." Lazzo ordered, "Get out there, the queen is expecting a good fight. Don't disappoint her. Unless you want to disappoint her and have her end your life herself."

I retorted with a swish my tail and felt it bat against someone's chest, "How bout one of you go out there instead of me, would that be better?"

Lazzo's pal argued, "We're not in the mood for this. Get out through that gate, or hell will be unleashed upon you."

I rolled my eyes, "Trust me...I'm already in hell....It's from listening to you both."

"MOVE!" I felt a hard push. I outright shot them a glare. They both did the same, one of them shoving a talon to the opening. Shortly, I just pushed myself forward for the opening after a short moment of silence had passed. I guess my plan wasn't going to work. They were too stubborn for it, willing to not disappoint their queen as they'd say. They probably would've put me in an unfair fight if I kept resisting.

Guess it's back to playing along for the show...Unless I don't make it out of this alive.

I ain't dying like this...

With each slow, but brave step I took, I finally ended up outside through the opening, facing my only opponent.

And I cannot believe the opponent I was facing.

It was Dart.