~Burdon~

I almost made it to the Dream when someone shook me awake. "What?" I asked, sleepily.
"The Empire has come," explained my Father, who was standing over me.
Standing up quickly-but not too quickly-I rush through the process of putting on my armor and Licá's. I just was seated in the saddle, and was just about to go to battle Valln, when Ava appeared. She was dressed and ready for battle. "Ava-"
"Don't you start! I'm coming with you wherever you like it or not," stated Ava, already getting into the saddle.
"Ava, it's too-"
"Dangerous, I know! Now let's go!" yelled Ava.
'She won't give up now would she?' I asked to Licá.
'If we had more time, which we don't, you could persuade her not to come. But we don't have the time and I believe we probably couldn't persuade her before the battle has ended,' replied Licá.
I groaned. "Fine, you may come along," I finally said, even though she was already in the saddle, and instantly regretting it.
"Thank you! I thought you were going to send me back to the healer's tent," said Ava with relief.
"Is that still a option?" I inquired, hoping she'll say yes. My hopes were shattered when she said, no.
I was about to say more when Ava pointed out, "You already said 'yes' now let's go!"
Before we wasted anymore time with me arguing with Ava, Licá flew up into the air to meet Valln and Espinho.
The first thing Valln did was he looked confused and shocked, and then he said, "You brought a girl?!" And he laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
"Hey! Girls know how to fight!" yelled Ava, angrily.
Indeed you do, I just want to make you are safe. I don't want you to get hurt.
"Sure, whatever you say," Valln mocked and also still laughing.
"Is he seriously this immature?" wondered Ava, asking me. I shook my head.
"I'm not immature!" screamed Valln, annoyed.
"You're still immature if you think females can't fight!" I resorted before Ava could.
"I'm not immature!"
"Do females know how to fight?" Ava questioned.
Valln shook his head.
She asked it again and he shook his head over and over again. And again and again until finally Valln gave in and said, yes.
Suddenly Valln pulled out his sword and charged at me, sword raised. We clashed together. Valln brought his sword down to attack, but I stopped him with a blow to the stomach. I slashed at Valln's wrist. Valln pulled back before he could cut off his hand-as if I would of anyway. Ava tried some attacking of her own. She slashed at Valln and managed to cut him on the cheek. Valln slashed at her stomach, but I blocked the blow before Valln-and his sword-could come even close to touching her.
We were going to do more blows, but our dragons started fighting of their own. The two dragons clashed together clawing at each other. They snapped at each other neck. Breaking from Espinho, Licá circled him. She went to bite Espinho's tail, but missed by a inch. Espinho tried to bite her tail, but he missed. Licá swirled around and bit Espinho on the nose, hard. He tried to shake her off, but it didn't work. She hold on to him like her life depended on it, which it really didn't, but hey you never know. Espinho roared a terrible roar of pain. Espinho tried to shake her off multiple times, but each time she didn't budge, not even a little bit, in fact she didn't even move-not even a centimeter. When Espinho tried again to dislodge her, she let go and flew away.
'Why did you let go?' Then I figure it out a second later. Espinho was furious, in fact if Licá had hold on any long he probably would've swiped at her with his paw, or try killing her. Espinho looked really murderous, like if he could kill Licá right now, he would-maybe he'll try to kill me also, maybe Ava, if he could.
Multiple times Espinho tried to flame them, but Licá managed to dodge them every time. Licá swirled around and clashed into Espinho. Espinho tried to flame her right then and there, but Licá somehow blew out his fire. Once Espinho recovered from his fire going out, he tried to bite her in the neck, but Licá moved out of the way, just in time, inches from Espinho's jaw.
All of us-Ava, Valln, and I-tried to land a few blows, but it's really hard to fight someone on a dragon when your dragon is fighting another dragon.
The dragons clawed at each other, snarled and a bunch of other dragon stuff. Espinho clashed into Licá again and while they were trying to attack each other, Ava slashed at Espinho's leg and cut him. Espinho roared a roar of pain and anger. Murderous wasn't even close to what Espinho looked right now, in fact I think he's plotting our deaths right now, and with him so close to Licá and Ava that is extremely dangerous.
Oh, what to do? What to do? I don't think trying to calm him down would be an option because he's obviously too angry to listen, make that too furious to listen.
Espinho literally tried to bite off Licá's head. Luckily-extremely luckily-and thankfully Espinho missed. Licá landed, trying to reduced the risk off Espinho literally bitting off her head- or any other body parts. The earth beneath them started to rumble.
Uh-oh! We're in deep trouble if the ground from underneath us crumbles away completely, I thought. 'Licá! Up now! Like right now!' I yelled.
'Why?' wondered Licá as the earth started to crumble away. 'Oh! Going up!' Licá already up in the air even before she finished. People were fleeing everywhere-panic and chaos was everywhere.
Licá made it before the earth beneath us crumbled away-not like we couldn't fly away if that happens. Apparently, we weren't supposed to escape because the vine-like things from earlier came out again and wrapped themselves around Licá's and Espinho's legs, tail and actually their mouth-most likely to keep them from burning the vine-like things.
Valln and I used our swords to try to cut the dragons free, but as soon as they were cut, more came. Pretty soon the vine-like things wrapped around us until we could not move. Even if we cut them more would come and wrap around us-and believe me this is truly awful. As we tried to struggle against the the vine-like things we were being pulled down into the earth.
I noticed that no one else was being taken, which was really strange. As soon as we were part way down in the earth, the vine-like things let go of us and we crashed landed onto what felt the ground before the dragons caught themselves and flew away. But that was only short lived because we then crash landed. Licá landed on her left side and Espinho on his right side. I hit my head on the so-called ground and I blacked out for a few seconds.
Oh, my head hurt so badly! My entire left side side of my face was throbbing, bringing a new fresh wave of pain each time my head throbbed. My shoulder ached. I saw black and red spots against my vision as if I was going to black out again.
The rest of my arm-including my forearm, wrist and hand-was completely numbed, which was probably a blessing.
My side burned! I probably broken a few ribs or so. My hip didn't feel so great, probably because my belt for my sword was there.
Wait! Do I still have my sword? Where could it be? I better not of lost my sword because I'm going to be pissed if I did, it took me forever to make that sword!
Miraculously my sword was still in my hand when I looked down.
I stared down at my sword as if it was a branch that caught on fire and started speaking to me. Like seriously?! How on earth did that happen?! I thought I would've surely dropped it by now!
I wonder if the Valln had been that lucky. My entire-well, maybe not entirely because I still felt some pain in my leg but it did feel numb, which was a blessing. I was careful not to worsen my headache while I turned my head. I actually managed not to make it worse than it already was. I looked in front of me and saw that Licá was out cold and when I looked behind me, Ava was out cold also. Valln and Espinho were not awake either, that or they were very good actors. So far I was the only one wake.
I heard something coming and I placed my head back down and pretended I was asleep. I heard someone walking towards me and someone loosed my legs straps that held me to the saddle. I felt some slimy thing that felt like a snake wrap around my waist and pulled me from the saddle and dragged me some place. I heard someone unbuckling Ava and Valln from the saddles they're in, dragged them out of the saddle, and dragged them somewhere. I also heard Licá and Espinho being dragged across the floor, or ground, or whatever it's call. I was concentrating on keeping my breathing slow and steady as if I was actually asleep. My head hit something hard and I couldn't help but groan. I felt the slimy thing lift me up-presumably the others also-and lift me into what felt like a bed(?) and the I felt someone laid down some blankets(?) over me. I was so tired that I immediately fell asleep.
When I woke up everyone was awake. I sat up and groaned-the numbness in my arm has wore off. Also the rest of the numbness in my leg.
When they realized I was awake Valln demanded, "What on earth happened?! Why are we here?! What is this place?! Where are we?!"
I shrugged before I realized my mistake and I groaned. Ava was at my side a second later.
"I believe I can answer all of your questions," said someone behind us.
We all turned, surprised-even Licá and Espinho looked surprised there was someone there. It was the boy-man.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"I am called many things-"
"Just tell us what your name is," Valln snapped.
The boy-man shrugged if it didn't matter. "My name is..." the boy-man hesitated, if unsure if to tell us his name. "Trouble."
"What?" We asked, looking around, expecting trouble.
"My name is Trouble and I'm not going to explain why."
I wanted to asked Trouble why he was named Trouble, but if Trouble didn't want to explain it then I wouldn't force him to. At least I could finally stop calling Trouble 'the boy-man.' It's funny how I nicknamed him 'the boy-man' and his real name is Trouble. The others didn't seem to mind that Trouble wouldn't explain why his name was Trouble.
"My previous questions still stand, just to let you know," said Valln.
Trouble again shrugged as if that was his kind of thing that he does often. "You fell through the earth, when the earth beneath you crumbled, and you landed here. Why you are here? You just are and I don't mind it-I don't get a lot of visitors and when I do they usually leave as soon as possible. This place is called Alagrathea: The Underground City. It used to be filled with people, now Alagrathea is empty besides us. Where are you? You're in Alagrathea," explained Trouble.
Valln nodded as if that answered all his questions, but then he inquired, "Why are you still here and not up above?"
"Algarathea is a refuge for deformed people, who usually aren't accepted up above," I pointed out. Trouble nodded in agreement with me.
"How do you know?" questioned Ava.
"I read about it," I responded. Somewhere. I just don't know where. And I can't seem to remember where.
Everyone-not including Trouble-looked at me surprised as if to say, 'Are you serious?' I just smiled, not answering them because I didn't want to explain it.
Trouble suddenly left. A few minutes after Trouble left we heard some rumbling. We all frozen, holding our breath as if the earth beneath us was going to crumble underneath us, again.
It didn't.
A few more minutes to make sure the earth was going to crumble underneath us. When those few minutes were over we all released a sigh of relief. Suddenly up, above us, the earth crumbled and some people fell through the hole. I noticed that the hole was patching(?) itself up already, which is extremely weird. I also noticed that it was extremely dusty. I could hear people sneezing and coughing.
When the dust had cleared away we saw who it was lying on the floor. It was my Father; my half-brother, Malhaw; Malhaw's dragon, Leahna; and-sadly and shockingly-Jazer and his dragon, Jarnkan.
Oh, of course. Out of everyone in the Anjustlia Jazer and his dragon, Jarnkan, had to be the person who had to come down that hole! Of course, if Tenter and Jazer came down that hole I just might go insane-not literally, but it would drive me crazy!
Someone was groaning, probably waking up. Malhaw was the first to wake up. My Father was the second one to wake up. Malhaw's dragon, Leahna, woke up right after my Father. Quite sadly, Jazer's dragon, Jarnkan, woke up next. His color was completely black, which didn't appeal to me. Rather sadly, a few minutes later Jazer woke up.
But seriously did Jazer and his dragon have to fall through the hole? Honestly, Jazer was in the top five of my least favorite person-Tenter was the first one and Jazer might be the second.
"Where am I?" wondered Jazer, looking around and saw the rest of us. "How did I get here?! Did all of you capture me?!"
We all ignore him for obvious reasons. Jazer asked, actually he demanded, to know what was going on. Ignoring Jazer's demands, we all started searching for a way out like a door, a window, a hole, a tunnel, or something so we could get out of here. Valln found a door and it was locked, not even a dragon could knock that door down. Just about everybody found a door, but none of them were open-literally all were locked. We were all trapped in here with Jazer and his dragon.
Could it get-I'm not going to finish that thought because usually when someone thinks, or saids, that things tend to take a turn for worse.
"What do we do now?" asked Valln looking at my Father. In fact everyone-but Jazer and Jarnkan-was looking at my Father, as if expecting an answer or him to have a answer.
"Why are you looking at him as if he was the leader?!"
"Because he is a better leader than you are-a nicer one too," I snapped.
"I'm-"
"Don't even try to pretend you're a 'good' leader when everyone knows you're not," I snarled. Jazer was about to say something probably something like 'How dare you call me a bad leader!' or something like that when suddenly a door opened. We all ran to it.
Trouble was standing in front the doorway, shutting the door behind him. "Hello," said Trouble in a way that was as if we met for the first time.
"Who are you?!" again demanded Jazer.
"I'm Happy," said Happy(?!)
"Happy?! But you told me you're name was Trouble!" exclaimed everyone who met Trouble.
"Oh no, that's my brother," said 'Happy.'
"Your brother look exactly like you?" asked Valln, not believing him.
"Yes, but you can tell us apart by our expressions or what do. Like Trouble cause a bunch of trouble so you'll know that's Trouble. I'm always happy so you'll know I'm Happy," explained 'Happy.'
He must have a personality disorder or something.
"Where's Trouble?" Ava asked Happy.
"Causing trouble hence his name is Trouble," said 'Happy' with a amused smile on his face.
"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" questioned Valln.
"Every expression or feelings-which is basically the same thing-and everything you can do," explained Happy.
"So you have a brother, or sister, named Walking?!"
Happy nodded... well... happily.
We all looked at him as if to say, 'Yep. He's definitely crazy.'
"You people are giving us the same look everyone gives us the 'You're crazy' look and believe me when I say I'm not crazy. You have to look for Crazy, who actually is crazy, hence the name."
"Where are all of them?"
"Shall I call for them to come?" asked Happy. Everyone mumbled a "Okay, sure," or a "Sure why not," or they just nodded. Happy closed his eyes. A few seconds later he opened them.
Suddenly million, billions of the vine-like creatures came in-well slithered in-and somehow started going into a human shape-or slithering into human form. We were so surprised. Mouths were literally-maybe not literally-hanging so low, it was like their mouth could touch the floor.
"Hi, I'm(insert whatever their name is: expression, feeling, or something you can do)," said the things.
"What are you?!" demanded(yet again) Jazer.
"We are the Vinstockar and we wanted to know how long dragonrider can stand each other. Of course there was a problem when the elf princess was on the dragonrider's dragon when we... well picked them up," said Happy.
Is he like the leader of the Vinstockar or something? I wondered.
"Don't worry about food or water or supplies, we'll get that for you. If you need something, that we haven't already given you, just asked and we will give it to you," said Happy and all of the Vinstockar left. We all ran to the door, but it was locked before we even reach it.
Great, just what I needed, I thought, sarcastically. Now I was trapped with Jazer who happens to be one of the most evil man in Anjustlia. I wanted to bang my head against the wall, but I knew that wouldn't help-at all.
"What do we do now?" asked out loud Valln.
"Anyone got any ideas?" openly questioned my Father, looking around. We all shook our heads no.
My stomach growled. "How about we think of something while we eat?" I suggested. Basically everyone said, "Yeah, sure why not."
Suddenly, out of a hidden slot, food and water came and slot just came out of nowhere. Just about everyone-including me-almost ran to the food and water when my Father said, "Let's split the food and water, so that there will be enough for everyone." Everyone agreed including-surprisingly-Jazer.
There was enough for everyone and more. We tried to go up the slot, but the slot disappeared in thin air. We all groaned. We were so close to escaping. We did find a few rocks and decided to light a fire to keep themselves warm. But, apparently, we weren't allowed to make fires because some sort of wind blew them out-and kept blowing them out. After a few tries we just laid down besides our dragon and had them cover us with their wings-to keep us warm, obviously.
'How long do you think we're going to be here?' I asked Licá.
'A while maybe,' said Licá.
I grunted in agreement. 'How are you? Any injuries?'
'No.'
'You must be made of some sort of gem if that fall didn't injure you.'
Licá made a little chuckled sound. 'Just go to sleep, I'll keep watch.'
I-for once-obeyed and fell asleep. I woke to dragons roaring. 'What's going on?' I wondered. Licá's wing kept me pinned to the ground. 'Licá, what's going on?'
'A fight has begin.'
'Between who?' When she didn't answer he asked her again. No response. I said, 'Licá, let me up.'
'No.'
'Licá?! Let me up!' I yelled.
'No,' said Licá, stubbornly.
I groaned. 'Licá, just let me up!'
'No, I will not let you injure yourself again.'
'Now?! You decide to do now?!'
'I should of done that a while ago.'
'Can you at least tell me who the fight is between?'
'Your father and Jazer.'
'What?!' I demanded, when I to stand up, of course, Licá's wing pinned me back down. 'Did my father put you up to this?'
'He said to protect you and that is what I'm doing.'
I groaned. 'Where's Ava?'
'She can take care of herself.'
'And I can't?!' I growled. Licá said nothing. Fine, don't tell me. I hate it when she does this, I thought. I smelled something and then I felt sleepy. Smells like ether, that was my final thought before I fell asleep.
I woke to a raging headache. What happened? I wondered, groggily. Something had bound my hands together, by chains. When my headache died down I opened my eyes and looked around. I am in a cage. Why I am in a cage? What happened? Where was everyone? My tongue was all numb and it felt all funny. Someone came up to my cage. It was Tenter. Even if the drug still clouded my mind I still knew not to trust Tenter-that venomous traitor. Tenter had a wicked smile on his face. Maybe I was dreaming or hallucinating or maybe this was real. I couldn't tell if it was real or not. Before I could figure it out, I blacked out.
When I woke up I was still in the cage, but this time I dangling in the air by a chain. I groaned and kinda moaned. My hands were also still bound. Someone came in through presumably a door, or a doorway, and presumably Tenter was that person. It was... Ava?! And she was smirking at me.

-
Question(s) of the chapter:
What do you guys and gals think happened? Did Ava betray Burdon(Aeri)? Was that why she was so nice to him? To gain his trust just so she could have him captured? If you have a idea about what happened jot it down and tell me what you think. I would give my opinion, but, since I know what happens, I can't. I will say one thing: someone(won't say who) from his past will make a appearance in the next chapter.
SC ©