Page 10 of Prison Moon
A loud crash echoed behind them before the underbrush shook and small creatures came pouring out from under it by the dozens. A moment later something huge stepped into her line of sight. It stood on two legs the size of mini tree trunks, its arms muscular and long, its hands nearly touching the ground. Razor sharp spines jutted out of its back and the thing had tusks the size of her leg that curved up out of its mouth toward its forehead. “Okay, Marcy, I’ve seen enough.”
The trees behind him moved and more—things—came crashing out into the open. The locals had found them.
Marcy screamed so loud it caused every hair on her body to stand on end, her own screams joining in when those things started toward them. They both turned and ran.
It didn’t take long for those creatures to close the distance between them, the ground shaking as they ran, the snarls and growls she’d heard earlier once again filling the air. They should have stayed inside the ruins. Whatever kept animals from getting near it had to be less scary than the mass of bodies slowly gaining ground on them now.
A bellowing roar tore through the air long minutes later, a flash of red light filling the sky in her peripheral vision. Intense heat flared at her back and those snarls and growls turned into screams. Gooseflesh dotted her arms at the sound. Was something larger than those creatures they’d seen chasing them in pursuit of them now?
Sara hiked up her knees, her arms pumping at her sides as fear drove her to run faster, Marcy half a step behind her. She hoped she kept up. She wasn’t going to die because her new friend was three-seconds slower than she was and she was stupid enough to slow down to wait on her. She ran full-throttle until she couldn’t run anymore.
The screams behind them grew and her heart felt ready to race from her chest as the dense thicket of trees seemed to thin, then disappear completely when they ran out onto a grassy area. It took her only seconds to realize the ground ahead of her was gone.
Marcy screaming, “Sara, stop,” was a second too late. Her new friend’s scream joined her own as she saw the edge of the cliff and tried to stop but momentum kept pushing her forward even as she tried to turn and reach for Marcy. The landscape flashed by, then she saw nothing but the blue-pink haze of the sky as she fell. Her screams echoed through the canyon as she tumbled, the ground below her hundreds of feet down. Her stomach crawled into her throat, Marcy’s voice as she screamed her name fading as she plummeted, the cliff growing further and further away.
Your life really does flash before your eyes right before death and all Sara could think of was how she’d wasted what time she’d had. Her impending death caused her muscles to relax, her pounding heart racing so fast she grew dizzy, her vision going out of focus moments before a dark shadow blotted out the sun. It fell over the side of the cliff and headed straight for her. She stared at it, her vision going dark around the edges as one clawed foot came into her field of vision. She was snatched from the air, her body jerking as she was caught, another burst of heat and flame filling the air.
Her last thought as she blacked out was, there’s no such thing as dragons.
* * *
Toren soared back up the cliff wall and climbed into the sky. The female was hanging limply in his grasp. He didn’t think he’d squeezed her too tight when he’d grabbed her but he’d not touched anything so fragile in longer than he could remember. He looked down at her and hoped she wasn’t dead, then glanced at the trees below.
The creatures that had been chasing her were still burning. His flame had scorched them where they stood and their stink filled the air, along with the sound of their screams. Those screams would alert the enforcers and he wondered how long it would take for them to come after him.
The moment he’d climbed from the lair inside the old ruins, he’d heard them. The snarling mass of bodies crashing through the trees was on the hunt and instinct told him they were chasing his female. Or maybe it was his own desire to hunt her that made him think so.
He pulled her close to his chest. She was his now. He’d found her and those creatures would have to kill him to get to her. He gave one last look at the burning pile of flesh below and headed for the ruins, his gaze scanning the trees for more of them.
The vilest inhabitants the universe had to offer now lived on Dra’Thia—a place they now called Prison Moon One. Those creatures were dropped off in large numbers and left to kill or be killed and hatred for them burned inside his chest like acid. The desire to flame the entire planet and rid it of them was great, but he’d seen what happened to those who drew attention to themselves.
The enforcers—the shape-shifting two-legged, winged Wyvern—took great pleasure in hunting and destroying any Draegon they came across. He’d watched as his people were slaughtered on sight for no other reason than their scales brought a great price. Dra’Thia—dragon land, as it had been known—had existed for thousands of years, his people worshipped by those who lived here until the wyvern arrived. Their race enjoyed nothing more than destruction. Once the wyvern had been welcomed to share their world, they’d destroyed it—conspired with those who mined their precious resources and now controlled everything. The Draegon were slaughtered by weapons so advanced, they’d fallen in great numbers, overtaken and outnumbered, and forced into hiding. His entire race was hunted, their scales harvested and sold for currency, the Draegon killed by the thousands. He’d not seen any of his people since the great forest had turned into a barren wasteland and the smaller rivers dried to nothing, but hard packed trenches filled with useless rocks, and many times he’d wondered if he were the last of his kind.
Toren lowered his right wing and made a sharp turn. The top of the temple rose above the trees and he saw things running nearby. More of those strange creatures that inhabited his world now. He looked toward the horizon. There was no doubt he’d been seen by now, so going back to the ruins was no longer suitable. The female wouldn’t be safe there, and now that he was out in the open, neither would he.
He banked right again, his wings catching the wind as he soared above the tree line. The world looked very different from what it once had but the great river still flowed. He could see the sun shining off its surface in the distance. Scanning the sky, he looked for those strange shiny orbs that tracked everything that moved, or for the wyvern who would take great pleasure in destroying him, and headed toward the distant rocky shores of the river.
A herd ofteshengrazed nearby. It had been too long since he’d eaten his fill but didn’t dare waste time chasing the beasts until he found a safe place to take the female.
The sound of rushing water filled the air as he swooped down and followed the bank of the river, twisting and turning through the trees that lined the rocky shore. A wall of rock lined one side where the river was joined by the mountain streams and though there wasn’t a cave, the rocks were high enough it would provide some shelter. Those orbs would have no reason to fly this low unless they saw him. He shot into the air, rolled to look in every direction, and once he was sure none had, he swooped back down into the river gorge and landed near the rock wall. He laid the female down, then took a step away from her. She didn’t move but her chest still rose and fell steadily. She was alive. He hadn’t squeezed too hard.
The rocky overhang cast deep shadows along the wall. It looked dry but laying on the stone would be uncomfortable. He’d have to build a nest for her but first, he had to eat. Already he grew weak.
The female was still unconscious. He stared at the surrounding cliffs. She was too exposed here. He carefully scooped her up and laid her closer to the rock wall, tucking her behind a large boulder to hide her from curious eyes. Once he was sure she was well hidden, he jumped back into the air in search of food. The teshen were still grazing when he circled back around to where he’d seen them. He swooped down and grabbed two with clawed feet and snatched one from the ground with teeth that had been too long without tearing into fresh flesh. He ate his fill, staying low to the ground and wondered if he should take one to the female.
He grabbed another and headed back to the river, dipping low enough not to be seen. When he reached the rocky gorge he’d left the female, he dropped the teshen near the river bank, checked to make sure she was still there, and dipped his head into the cool water for a long drink.