The Dragon Prince - Ladon

Chapter 5

-Ladon-

I had been trapped for... months. I was going to go insane. Every time I tried getting out of here, Mefan just used his powers to make me completely powerless. He would trap me in darkness, confuse me, or put his stupid assassins on watch, making sure if I tried anything, they would stop me or alert their master. I had simply had enough!

“Where are you going?” Carter asked.

“Out. I’m flying out of here.”

“Ladon, we talked about this.”

“No! We didn’t!” I yelled and walked toward him.

He had appeared at the other end of the hallway, where I had just come from. I turned back to him so I could yell in his face. I was done with being babysat. I was done just sitting around. Ashes might be king, but I was the f*cking prince, and I was tired of this s**t.

“You made a decision I wasn’t a part of, and now I have had enough!” I shouted.

“You are being reckless.”

“F*ck you!” I said and turned to walk away.

He followed me.

“You are putting yourself in danger all the time,” he pointed out. “We are just trying to protect you.”

“I didn’t ask you to!” I said as we came outside. “Now I am going to kill someone if I don’t get out of here, so are you going to stop me?”

Carter crossed his arms over his chest as he studied me.

“You know I don’t have the power to do that,” he said.

“Good.”

“But Mefan does,” he said, before I got a chance to turn.

I groaned, irritated, and looked at Carter again. He looked so smug, and I just wanted to punch that stupid smile off his face. I walked closer to him, so we were right in front of each other. He didn’t let himself get scared by me. Why would he? He was tied to a god. He wasn’t scared of anything.

“Carter, I swear to the Gods, that if you don’t—"

“Carter!”

Mefan appeared behind us, and he pointed to the sky, where Ashes had appeared. We all looked up as my brother descended. We could all see something wasn’t right.

Mefan. Carter. I need your help. Things are getting ugly out there.

“What is happening?” I inquired.

The humans are attacking people everywhere.

“Let’s go,” Carter said and got up on Ashes’s back, Mefan right behind him.

“I’m coming too.”

No!

“Ashes, I am not staying here!” I exclaimed.

I’m king, and I say no! You are too reckless. Just take a look in the mirror.

Then he set off, taking my two guards with him. I shook my head at my brother. He was not completely wrong. The scarring hadn’t healed completely. Most of my face had turned back to normal, but there was a part of my cheek that never completely healed, and a lot of scar tissue had formed.

I looked at the sky, watching my brother disappear. I knew he would lock me up if I didn’t follow orders, but I didn’t really care. I was not staying one more second in here, and so as they disappeared, I quickly changed and took to the sky.

I flew in a completely different direction than them and looked for trouble down on the ground. It didn’t take me long before I heard screaming and shouting for help, and to my luck, I also saw something red flowing in the wind.

There you are, I thought.

I had really wanted to go out and find her. I had to pay her back for our last meeting.

I started to descend. The people they had attacked were clearly rich merchants, and all their guards were already dead, yet Red stayed a little further away, watching the scene. But then, as she noticed the big shadow covering her, she looked up at the sky. She yelled “dragon” before jumping away and getting out of the way just in time.

My appearance gave the family a chance to escape, since everyone now turned their attention to me. I watched as someone helped Red stand. She was limping slightly. I was surprised that her leg had even survived, but at least she hadn’t come out without a little scarring herself. She had trouble walking.

“So finally, he shows up,” she said.

I growled deeply, scratching the ground, making sure she saw how furious I was.

“We have been waiting.”

I looked at her, confused, when suddenly she started to whistle a tune, and then, out of the blue from the trees around me, chains appeared over my body.

The other end of the chains was caught by humans on each side of me, and they started to pull, pressing me down on the ground. I tried fighting them, and I saw the way they started to slide over the gravel. I had no idea why they thought they were strong enough to keep me down, but then suddenly I saw that ball again come flying through the air, together with the burning arrow. I couldn’t move out of the way.

However, I was able to turn my head, so instead, it burned my shoulder. I screamed loudly, just as another ball came flying, but this one didn’t send burning drops of acid out, but powder that descended on me like fog.

I tried not to breathe in whatever it was, but it was hard not to when my skin was burning. The humans started to pull again, and I noticed how weak I was now. I couldn’t fight them, and I was forced lower and lower toward the ground.

I tried my best to resist them when another smoke ball was sent into the air and burst, spreading more of the powder around me. Soon, I couldn’t stand on my legs, and I fell down on the ground, slowly reverting to my old self as two feet appeared in front of me. I looked up to see Red standing before me. She pulled her mask down, and I saw the cruel smile on her lips.

“What? Didn’t expect to be the one trapped this time?” she remarked.

“Careful,” I warned her, as the world started to blur around me. “I have gotten out of worse, and when I get my hands on you, Red...”

“Then what?” she challenged, exuding confidence.

I just smiled up at her as the world slowly started to darken.

-Rivanna-

It had almost been too easy, and I kept looking around, expecting his brother or someone to come to his rescue, but no one came. So, we hurried to tie him up and put him on a wagon we had hidden, so we could transport him. He was a heavy one, but we managed.

“We did it,” Tristan exclaimed. “We actually did it. Your plan worked!”

“For now,” I stated.

“What do you mean?”

I looked at the sky again, so sure that his brother would appear, but he didn’t.

“Maybe this was his plan.”

“His plan?” Tristan inquired.

“Don’t you think it was a little too easy? We lost no one.”

“We haven’t heard back from the others yet,” he reminded me.

He was right. We hadn’t, but still, my gut was not satisfied.

“Ri, is this really about this mission, or... him?” he gestured toward the wagon that was moving away.

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“Don’t act like you weren’t haunted by nightmares after he almost killed you.”

“I am fine.”

“So, you say,” he remarked. “But I think he scared you.”

“Well, he did almost crush my leg until it couldn’t be salvaged.”

Tristan put his hand on my shoulder. “But we got to you in time.”

“I know, and I am really fine.”

“But?” he prompted with a little smile, wanting me to admit what I already knew.

“But maybe it scared me a little. Shook my confidence.”

“But we did it, Ri!” he exclaimed and put his arm around my shoulder. “Now let us go back, regroup, and figure out how many we lost.”

I nodded and let him pull me along.