Escape from the Hunters

Escape
from the hunters

Chapter 1

At night, I
am not the same person as I am during the day. I’m fast, agile, and a silent
killer. I’m also usually younger than those I’m protecting/rescuing, when I do
rescue or protect. I’m feared among my enemies. My name alone makes them cower
and run in terror. I’m dark and mysterious. I am called Valsadora. I was cursed
as a newborn by enemies of my cruel parents. They couldn’t take out their anger
on my powerful parents, so they took their vengeance out on me. I was burdened
with a special, rare, and unique affliction. The Curse. The Curse is when a
person vents all their anger and rage into the victim. I was turned into a dragon
on the entire left side of my body. At the time I was born, dragons were
terrible fire-breathing pests that stole livestock -- starving whole villages
that couldn’t fight back. Seeing a chance to get rid of their deformed infant,
my parents tossed me out onto the street while a dragon attack was going on. I
was carried off by a ferocious Monstrous Nightmare, a dragon species that had a
nasty habit of setting themselves aflame and that only the best warriors dare
to meet in battle. I wasn’t conscious as I dangled from the long talons of the
wild, black and red beast. However, I was adopted by the dragons as one of
their own. As I grew, I found out that there was more to me than being just
half Deadly Nader though.

During the ten years I was with
the dragons, I found out that my dragon half could turn into different kinds of
dragons. The last time I ever saw my family of dragons was when I went out
hunting and was caught by Dragon Hunters. Ryker, the chief hunter, was
surprised and delighted by my odd appearance. He forced me aboard his hunting
ship, complete with cannons and ballistae that can shoot nets along with large
arrows. Of the ten guards that brought me down to the hold only three survived,
not without each losing a limb though. One bled to death after getting his mangled
arm cut off. After I calmed down a bit, which took days, Ryker ordered that I
be taken to a longer cell where they harassed me with spears. They did this
until I shot my tail spines at them where they caught them on their shields.
They used my spines to attach to long poles to make spears and shorter sticks
to make ammo for their ballistae. After two years of doing this I’ve gotten
better at my aim, so Ryker loses men faster than he can hire them. The third
year, however, they took me out of the long cell back into the smaller cell
that I started in. After being in the long cell for so long… the shorter cell
made me disoriented. I found out why they did this a little while later.

*SHINCK!* A tail spike
landed in my cage right by my slumped form. The guards of my cell have captured
a blue and orange Deadly Nader that, for some reason, has a saddle securely
strapped to its back. The cowards that call themselves guards don’t have the
guts to get near enough to take it off though. They harass that dragon day and night
in order to harvest the long sharp tail spikes that it shoots at them. Although
I’m glad for the break from getting harassed myself, I have a bit of sympathy
for the Nader. The day was going as normal when I heard the odd cry of “Dragon
Riders!” *Dragon riders?* I thought *Is that where that Nader came from?*
I heard the usual rolling of cannons and ballistae. I heard the usual
explosions and arrows whistling through the air. I heard a Hideous ZippleBack’s
explosions, a Gronkle’s spew, a Monstrous Nightmare’s flames, and a…. no… I
thought they were hunted to extinction! A Night Fury! That gave me
long-forgotten hope. I ran up to the cell’s doors as the hunter’s boat began to
lurch.

When I heard cries of triumph
from the hunters, I automatically knew that all was lost. The new dragons that
were brought in had saddles too, just like that Nader had. I saw the Gronkle
and the Zippleback, but not the Monstrous Nightmare or the Night Fury. I was
relieved that the Night Fury had escaped. The guards came into the stuffy room
with four people who were put in the cage across from mine. One turned sharply
around and surprised me with the question “Where are our dragons?” She had an
accent I didn’t recognize. All the guard told her was to watch what she said
and did. She replied sharply, “And why should I do that?” The guard only grinned
and nodded his head over at my cage. They could only see my shadow, for I had
stepped back from the bars. He slammed the door shut and stumbled away back
down the dark corridor. The new prisoners immediately started to discuss how
they were going to get out of their cage. I quickly learned their names and
their dominant personalities. The girl who asked about the dragons was named
Astrid, and she was tough and serious. Fishlegs (whoever would name their kid
that, I have no idea) was the brains, and a brother and sister, obviously
twins, Toughnut and Roughnut were nuts for sure. They were the stupid/smart
type of teens who used their smarts to be stupid, if that makes any sense to
you. I could tell they have all been together for a long time.

The next day, Ryker came to take
the gang on a tour of the ship, probably to show them how he was treating their
dragons and to get information. An hour later, Ryker brought them back and threw
them back into their cell. As Ryker walked out, he hit my cage with a *clang,*
and I gave a long, low warning hiss that sounded like the dragon that I was half
of at the moment. A Speedstinger. The gang looked at my cage in alarm,
frantically trying to find my body in the dark cell. Toughnut asked, “Does that
sound familiar to anyone but me?”

Fishlegs
answered with a whimper, “Yeah, it sounds like a Speedstinger is in the cage
across from us.”

Then I spoke
up, “You would think that wouldn’t you?”

They all
jumped, “You’re in a cage with a SPEEDSTINGER!?!” Roughnut yelped.

“No” I
replied calmly.

Astrid
interrupted, “It doesn’t matter if there is a Speedstinger or not… actually I
think it would be very helpful…”

Toughnut
said, “Do you have a crazy, mad, stupefying-ing escape forming in that creative
mind of yours, Astrid?”

“Yes… here’s
the plan…. wait…” she sighed, “Can’t open the cell…”

“Who ever
said that?” asked Roughnut producing the key to the cells.

Everyone gaped
at her. Astrid was the first to get out of her dumb-foundedness and she said,
“Great! Now here’s the plan.” She turned to me, “Do you know your way around
the ship?”

“I have
lived here for three years, so yes, I know my way around, but you have to be careful.
There are booby traps in all of the dragon’s cells.”

“OK, we need
your help… if you want to come with us.”

“Yes, I
would like to get out of here.”

“Good,” and
she laid out the plan.

I must say I
admire her creativity. The plan was going great, until it was time for us to
get their dragons. I had memorized the whole ship and I knew where every booby
trap was, so I had to do a little modifying of the plan. I would go out alone
to each of their dragons, free them, and send them to their masters. After
finalizing our plans, I left them to go to the dragons. I first came to the
Deadly Nader. I calmed it down by explaining things to it with my Deadly Nader
half while my human half got the chain off its leg. The Nader went off to meet
its rider. Next, I came to the Gronkle. A guard was still forcing it to make
metal. I went back into Speedstinger mode. I quickly and quietly slipped behind
the guard and stung him with my tail. He froze, for a Speedstinger’s sting
paralyzes the victim. I got the Gronkle loose, and it went to her rider too.
The last was the Zippleback. This stubborn beast didn’t want to go because,
unlike the others, it was treated well because the hunters were preparing it
for sale. I managed to get it to go by telling it what was in store for it. I
followed close behind the Zippleback to the rest of the dragons, now reunited
with their riders. Dawn was breaking, so we had to hurry, or our cover of
darkness would dissipate. I counted to three, and we literally blew the roof
off the hold we were in. We all flew straight up out of the line of fire of
their toxic arrows. Before the riders saw me, I flew off as fast as I could
away from the ship, the riders, and from the only home I knew… my prison.