Bright, golden rays of sun fell upon the lavish garden, causing the pristine leaves to shine in brightly. Even more radiant were the flowers that grew from the stems; roses of red, purple, white and yellow, as well as marigolds, poppies, and orchids, not to mention many that were purely exclusive to that world. Some flowers were neatly trimmed into bushes and hedges that lined the red-brick walkways, while others grew in beds down below. Others still grew on hedges that formed large sculptures of men, birds, beasts, and even dragons.

The flowers, however, were outshone by those that attended them. Women with hair ranging from deepest black to bright gold or copper colors trimmed and cared for the gardens. Each one was the very picture of perfection, with smooth, clear skin and shining eyes. They wore plain, white dresses with dark brown aprons that gave them the appearance of maids, or workers of a similar nature. It seemed, however, that even the work dresses were carefully fashioned so as to flatter the women's figures even further.

Occasionally, one of the women would glance over at the tall brick walls that surrounded the gardens, then at the massive mansion that the gardens wrapped around. The mansion was a sight to behold in itself, with brick walls that bore just enough ivy to give it a sort of rugged appeal. This did nothing to detract from the overall grandeur of the building, however. The mansion was three stories tall, with wooden shingles that covered the sloped roof. Large windows gave a view of a stone and brick interior, with beautiful paintings mounted on the walls and expensive pottery and various artifacts that sat on silver pedestals. It was the sort of house and property that a common man could never hope to afford in his lifetime, or even perhaps in many lifetimes.

The walls that surrounded the mansion were of little interest, with the exception of the large gate at the front of the mansion. It was a silver-colored gate that stood nearly ten feet tall and twenty feet wide. Two armed guards stood on either end of the gate, both on the inside and the outside. Whenever one of the women allowed her eyes to wander toward the wall, they would find themself gazing at the large gates, as well as nervously eyeing the posted guards. After some moments of staring, they would return to their work before the mansion owner caught them.

One girl, however, seemed to eye the gate more than any of the others. Rather than stop and stare, however, she worked continually while occasionally glancing at the silver gate. She eyed the gate not as one who was wishing, but as one who was plotting. This almost devious nature made her something of an oddity, though only a sharp eye would notice it. She was an oddity compared to the other women, both in her conduct and in her very appearance.

Unlike the others, whose skin ranged from pale to deep tan, hers was light purple and covered in reptilian scales. Her fingers did not have fingernails, but were adorned with black claws that dug into the wooden handle of the broom that she held. Two brown, pointed horns emerged from her medium-brown hair and pointed behind her, much like the horns of a dragon. A tail emerged from the bottom of her back, and curled into the spear-like point that one would see on common depictions of a dragon. A pair of large, deep-purple wings protruded from her shoulders, with black claws where the bones of the wing split off like those on a hand. The back of her dress was far lower than that of any of the other maids, allowing her to spread and move her wings freely. From her wings to her tail to her claws, everything about her was reminiscent of a dragon.

The most unnerving part, however, were her eyes. They were bright green like a pair of emeralds, and seemed to shine with a certain ferocity. Anyone staring into them would realize that they were not normal, human eyes. They were dangerous, intimidating to make any grown man uneasy. They were, perhaps, the most draconic thing about her. They moved back and forth, glancing from the guards, to the women, to the house, to the gate, only barely looking at the walkway that she was sweeping.

She only realized her own lack of attention to where she was going when she found herself bumping into a man who had been traveling down that same walkway that she had been sweeping. For a moment, she prayed that she had stumbled into a butler or another maid, but this was quickly replaced with fear as she found herself staring into the dark green eyes of the mansion's owner.

The owner was very obviously well-off, as one would expect from one living in such an estate. He wore a purple coat similar to a bathrobe, but made of a thinner fabric and rimmed with a silver-colored pattern. His black hair was neatly combed, and his eyes carried a look of perpetual condescension. His face was young, but never seemed to show so much as a smile.

"Lost your way, dragon-girl?" he asked in a cold tone.

"No, sir," the girl responded, looking away as her claws dug deeper into the handle of the broom.

"Look me in the eye when I talked to you," the man responded in the same, icy tone.

The girl hesitantly turned her eyes to meet those of the man. Despite the ferocity her eyes contained, they slowly widened with fear as they stared into the man's own eyes, which had shifted from condescending to vicious. "I'm sorry sir," the girl croaked, her voice breaking slightly.

"I'm sure you are," the man replied. "Mind your step, and do not touch me without permission again. I shouldn't have to say such things to a slave girl in the first place."

The girl gave a quick bow. "My humble apologies, sir. I promise it won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," he said coolly before continuing down the path.

The girl turned to return to her own work, and noticed that the other women nearby were staring, their faces white. Their eyes were just as terrified as the girl's were. Slowly and one at a time, they returned to their work. None of them so much as glanced at the gate from the corner of their eye after that.

That evening, the maidens entered the house in a single-file line from tallest to shortest. The odd dragon girl found her normal spot in the middle of the line as she made her way in. The line moved down a hallway and then down a set of polished wooden stairs that led to an underground chamber. As they moved, they were joined by other maids from within the house. Though the halls, doors, and floor were identical to those throughout the rest of the house, there was an eerie feeling to the downstairs corridor that they walked down. It was like a sort of unified depression was emanating from the maids, and from the walls themselves.

The girls arrived at a hall lined with doors, six in total. Starting at the front of the line, four girls broke off and entered into the first door while the line continued in the same pattern. At every door, the next four girls broke off and entered. The dragon-like girl did not enter into one of the rooms with the others, however. When her set came, she moved past the door and made her way to the sixth door instead, opening it and slipping inside.

The house had twenty-one maids in total. They were lodged in sets of four between the five rooms, but this left one outlier. The dragon girl was that outlier. There was no rotation, or tradeoff of any sort. She was the strange one, and was therefore confined by herself.

She sighed as she closed the door and stepped into her room. It was fairly large, with a vanity-style dresser to the left and a bed in the far right corner with a nightstand and a candle beside it. In the center of the wall opposite the door was another doorway that opened into a small closet where a row of identical maid outfits hung. The only natural light came from a window on the ceiling that lined the wall on the far side of the room. It was level with the surface of the ground, and allowed varying levels of light to peek through throughout the day.

The girl allowed her body to fall onto the bed with a painful plop. The mattress was thin and firm, nothing like the lavish ones upstairs. Nevertheless, it was the one bit of comfort she had in this place, and she knew not to take it for granted. She stared at the ceiling for several minutes before a sudden click caused her to jolt to a sitting position.

Another maid had opened the door and made her way in, closing the door behind her. "Hey Railyn," she said with a slight smile and a small wave. The girl's short, black hair seemed to bounce slightly as she walked. She made her way to the bed, where she sat down next to the girl.

"Cassy!" Railyn hissed, a nervous look on her face. "First off, you gave me a heart attack. Second, you could get in serious trouble if Master caught you!"

The girl simply rolled her hazel eyes in disgust. "Don't call him master when he's not around, Railyn. I don't care how pretty the owner is, he doesn't deserve that title. Might as well throw dirt on his name while he's not listening!" she giggled as she said it, but Railyn's light-purple face seemed to grow pale.

"Wait, don't," she began, "you don't know if he's listening right-"

"Keith Owen is a scummy, womanizing degenerate-" the other girl sang before Railyn tackled her, forcing a hand over her mouth.

"You don't know if he's listening, you idiot! Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Oh, lighten up," Cassy chirped as she pulled Railyn's hand away. "Jeez, you're getting strong though. You been training or something? That's odd, especially for someone who seems so scared of him. He's not into muscular ladies, you know."

"I know that," Railyn said as she sat back. "It's not like I have a choice though. Not if I want to break out of here."

"Here we go again," Cassy sighed, rolling her eyes again. "Just give it a rest, Rai."

"Oh come on, hear me out," the dragon-girl groaned. "Look, if I can just get strong enough, I'll be able to fly right over the walls this time! And if I can get strong enough, no one will be able to stop me! I'm part-dragon for crying out loud!"

"Last time you tried that nonsense, the owner didn't let you out of your room and didn't feed you for a week."

"He's not going to kill me though," Railyn said as a sly smile formed on her face. "I'm an exotic breed, after all. I wish him luck trying to find another draconic. He's not going to do anything to disfigure any part of my body. I know what I'm worth, you know."

"Weren't you just saying that he might be listening?" Cassy sighed, casting her friend a doubtful look.

"He didn't burst in when you insulted him, so we're probably going to be fine," the "exotic" said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Still, Rai, this is crazy. You already tried it, and you remember what it got you. What's different about this time?"

"I'm going to try harder this time."

"Oh yeah, because trying really hard kept Maisie from dying, right?"

Railyn shuddered. She remembered how Maisie had attempted to climb over the wall. The guards aimed their crossbows at her and fired right into her shoulder, causing her to fall back and land on her neck.

"Look, again, they're not going to do that to me. I'm too valuable."

"You don't know that! And if you fail this time, he might slice your wings open!"
"He says they're attractive though. Something something something, only redeeming quality, blah blah blah."

"He could do it anyway though! And besides, we all know that he doesn't have to wound you to punish you."

Railyn shuddered once more. "Okay. Point taken. Even so, I have to try."

"And leave the rest of us here?" Cassy demanded, incredulous.

Railyn glanced down for a moment before forcing her gaze to meet that of her friend. "If I have no other choice, then yeah. If my plan works though, I should be able to take you with me."

Suddenly, the girl's face changed completely. It morphed from one of concern to one of excitement. "Wait really? When do we leave?"

Railyn just groaned. "Cassy, you are the most selfish, hypocritical, most terrible person I have ever met."

Cassy grinned. "Yes, I know. Now when do we leave?"

The dragon-girl hesitated for a moment before answering. "Tomorrow," she said, this time much softer.

Cassy stood up, pumping her hands in the air and dancing around for a moment. She cheered quietly, mouthing as though she were screaming with joy. Then she threw her arms around Railyn. "Thank you!" she hissed.

"Such a hypocrite," Railyn repeated before hugging her friend back. "Now get back to your room before that scummy, womanizing degenerate catches you, okay?"

"Okay!" Cassy chirped before prancing toward the door with a newfound spring in her step. She slipped into the hallway, gently closing the door behind her.
Once she was gone, Railyn stepped off her bed, got down on all fours, and began doing pushups. After that, she did sit-ups. After that, she constantly fluttered her large wings to use and strengthen their muscles. The wings, she knew, would be key to her escape.

Tomorrow, she told herself, I'll be out. Cassy and I both. We'll find work somewhere else, even be slaves again if we have to. Anything to get out of this place.

Once she was done training, she sat on her bed with her back to the wall. She listened to the faint noises of the other girls as they visited with each other. She wished more than anything to join, but knew that was out of the question. It was simply dumb luck that Cassy hadn't been caught.

The owner always kept a particularly careful eye on Railyn, especially after her previous attempt at escape. Ever since the day he inherited the mansion, he went out of his way to separate her from the other girls. Deep down, she knew it was because he was scared of her, and of the prospect of her fighting back, but even so, he scared her more than she cared to admit.

Being forced apart from the others was horrible. Nobody likes to be alone after all. But all of this ends tomorrow, she told herself as she puffed out her chest. I'm leaving, and no one can stop me!

Her thoughts were interrupted by another click as the door opened once more. As she looked up to see who it was, she let out a tiny yelp.

"S-sir!" she choked as the owner, Keith Owen, strode into the room. His eyes were as icy as ever, but his lips curled into a very slight smile. A bone-chilling smile.

"Railyn, dear," he said in a smooth, sweet tone. "You seem to have worked up quite a sweat."

The girl glanced down at her arms, where some beads of moisture seeped from between her scales. Curse the human half of me! Normal lizards don't sweat like this! She stood up and turned to face him, standing at attention as she had always been taught to do.

"Always such a hard worker," the man praised in his strangely sweet tone. "Might I inquire upon what it is you're training for?"

"Oh, you know me," Railyn said with a nervous chuckle. "Always trying to improve myself."

"It's such a shame though, large muscles take away from your feminine charms," he chided as he slipped behind her and carefully extended one of her wings.

"I mean," Railyn continued, desperate to keep the topic away from why she was training, "don't you think they have kind-of a rugged appeal? Fits my dragon-like features, right?"

"I suppose," Keith sighed as he stroked the wing in his hands. "But even so, you're not so pretty when you're fierce and rugged. It's much nicer when you're petite and submissive. Maybe I should starve you again."

"I'd prefer it if you didn't," Railyn replied uneasily.

Suddenly, the man brought his lips close to the girl's ear. "It'd be a shame if you were trying to escape, you know," he whispered sweetly. "If that happened, I might just have to hurt that darling Cassy. I might even have to cut those wings of yours right off, and you know how much I love these wings of yours. You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

Railyn gulped and shook her head. "Of course not, sir," she said.

"Splendid. Because even if you do," he hissed as he wrapped his arms around her, "I could hunt you to the ends of this country, or even the world if I have to. Don't try me."

With that, he stepped back and strode smoothly out of the room. Railyn began to tremble. She climbed into bed and pulled the covers over, trembling in fear until she finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, after the women had all eaten breakfast, Railyn was assigned to outdoor chores, but Cassy was assigned to dusting the interior. The two had to wait several hours before the dark-haired girl had a chance to make her way outside. When she finally did, she moved to the back of the mansion to find Railyn tearing holes in certain parts of her dress with her claws.

"Rai, what are you doing?" she asked as she hurried toward the girl.

"If I'm going to fly," Railyn replied, "then I need to be as mobile as possible. My arms, legs, wings, and tail all have to move freely." As she said it, she carefully tore the sleeves off of her dress. Her fear from the previous night was replaced with newfound grit as she moved to the far end of the courtyard. Cassy followed.

"I'm going to start running," the dragon-girl stated. "When I give the word, you grab onto me from the front. Do not climb onto my back, okay?"

Her friend gave an affirmative nod and got into a running stance. With a nod from Railyn, they both began to run across the courtyard, catching the attention of several maids as well as the guards on the other side of the yard.

"Now!" Railyn yelled when they were about halfway across the courtyard. Without questioning her friend, Cassy wrapped her arms around Railyn's neck. She held on tightly as Railyn's purple wings began to flap rapidly. With every flap, they rose higher and higher off the ground.

Railyn's mind darted back to her last attempt as they neared the wall. I was barely able to clear the wall, and the guards caught me right after I hit the ground. And now I have an extra weight! But this time, I'm stronger. I trained every night for this! Every damn night! I'm not going down so easily!

She noticed one of the guards aiming his crossbow. The man, however, was cut off as Keith exited the mansion, dashed toward the man, and yanked on his arm, causing the arrow to miss by a long shot and bury its head in all several feet away.

"You imbecile!" the man roared. "Are you trying to kill them!? If you kill that dragon, I'll have your entire family hanged, you hear me?"

Railyn smirked. I know what I'm worth, alright. I'm exotic and rare, he won't kill me. I'm the crown jewel of this little party he's got going on.

She gasped as she noticed the wall coming up. At this rate, she and Cassy would both collide with it painfully, and the whole plan would be a bust. With a roar of protest, the girl flapped her wings twice as hard and surged upward, flipping herself upside-down for a brief moment to keep Cassy from hitting the wall.

She leveled herself once more, willing herself to go higher and higher, soaring over the rolling green hills that the property was built on. Below the hills was a town full of farmers and workers. Samatori Valley.

"You see that, Cassy?" she yelled above the wind that began to blow, filling her wings and taking her higher.

"Yeah, I see it!" her friend squealed back. "You did it! We're free!"

They both cheered for a moment, before a sudden sinking filling hit them. Before they realized what had happened, they were plummeting downward toward the grassy hills below. What happened next was a blur to Railyn. The impact sent pain shooting through her entire body, but she had been able to catch some air and break the fall just enough to keep it from being severe. She got to her feet and ran, not thinking about what was behind her. She heard a scream, and turned to see the guards. One had grabbed Cassy. Cassy was telling her to keep running. To not stop running, ever.

Railyn obeyed. She turned and ran, apologizing to her friend with every step. I'm sorry. She didn't turn back again. I'm sorry. She listened as the other man dragged Cassy back to the mansion, where she would undoubtedly face something horrible at the hands of the owner. I'm sorry. But she kept running, her trained body out-speeding that of the guard that chased her. I'm sorry. She ran toward the town with no idea what she'd do next. All she knew was that she had to get away.

I'm so sorry, she repeated over and over and over again. I won't let this end here, Cassy. I'll come back for you, I promise.

She ducked into town, losing the guard as she slipped between the people and buildings. Once she was certain that she'd lost him, she ducked into a vacant barn where she collapsed, the last of her energy finally drained. She clutched her chest as she gasped for air, finally slowing her breathing and her heart rate.

"I'm free," she croaked.

The last thing she saw before she passed out entirely was a strange one. Perhaps it was a vision of some sort, but before everything went black, she could have sworn that she saw the face of a boy with bleached-blond hair, light blue eyes, and odd glass lenses that sat on his face. She didn't have time to ask who he was though, as the pain and exhaustion set in and everything faded away.