Chained Inferno

By StrangeDream

When a small community of dragons is forced to flee their home all they can do is try to find safety. But to do that they will have to journey to a distant sanctuary, fending off bandits and dragon slayers as they go. And all the time a powerful and relentless enemy pursues them...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781326645267

Book preview

Chained Inferno

Part 1: Feathers and Flames

StrangeDream

Chapter 1

The serpent easily moved through the water, grace and fluidity in every flex of its powerful body.  In this part of the ocean it was the supreme predator, with not a single creature to challenge its dominance.  It had fed only a week ago on some fishermen and was satiated for the time being.  All it had to do now was patrol its territory and wait for the hunger to return.  Even at rest though its senses were still alert for prey, and now they were telling it that something was approaching.  Quickly.  Not from below or from the side but abo-

Mellira didn’t need to check, but did so anyway.  After all you never knew when a clean kill may not be so clean, and these things were venomous.  And it was a big snake too, over a hundred yards in length and every few yards you could see signs of violence in its skin.  Pieces of shark, pieces of ship and what looked like a broken pike-shaft.  How that wound up in a sea serpents side was a puzzle.  If only its former owner had gone for just behind the head as she did…  Well, no point on musing over the past. Time to get this carcass back to the others, where it would soon become lunch.  A difficult prospect for even a large ship, impossible for practically anything else.  Then again she was a dragon.  It was hard to take words like impossible seriously when you could fly and breathe fire.  She gripped the serpents body firmly with her forelegs while kicking out with the back pair and thrashing her tail.  That got her to the surface and vigorously beating her four wings got her airborne.  Slowly she rose into the sky hauling up her burden with her and fastening her hind claws to the carcass.  Then she set off for home.  A few mortal fishermen were passing by and looked up in disbelief as she flew overhead, just managing to haul up the snake so its trailing tail didn’t capsize their small boat.  Perhaps they had a point; the snake was far bigger than she was.  Still, no matter.  She was nearly at the shore and – yes.  There they were, right after all the hard work had been done.  Typical really.  Two Gold dragons flew up to meet her, a Green dragon trailing along behind them.

The Golds reached her first.  Anberix and his sister Iltherna; bright, radiant, gleaming and complete pains in the hindquarters when they felt like it.  Which was most days.

‘What took you so long?’  Anberix of course.  All calm and good looks with a tiny bit of impatience thrown in, just in case you forgot how irritating a Gold dragon could be.

‘You think you can do better?’  She tried to make the words calm and measured, but they still came out as a snarl.  It wasn’t they she was annoyed.  Far from it.  It was just a really big snake she was carrying.  That was it, nothing more.  Nothing.  Well, maybe…

And here came Iltherna, right on time:  ‘Are we really supposed to eat that?’

‘What?’  Okay, this caught Mellira off guard.  ‘What’s wrong with it?  Plenty of muscle, fat and snaky goodness.  You want to fish for yourself you go ahead.’

‘It’s not even cooked!’ Iltherna grinned at her brother, ‘still, we can fix that…’

The two dragons flew beneath Mellira and began to breathe fire up at the snake.  The flames rose higher and higher until they were licking at her feet.  It wasn’t as if she was in danger, it would be a poor lookout for dragons it they could be hurt by dragon fire, but this was becoming a major annoyance.  Did we mention it was a really big snake she was carrying?  Anberix caught the look on her face and grinned.  ‘We’re just trying to help you little one.’

‘You want to help?  Alright then.  Catch.’  Mellira relaxed her grip on the serpent and watched its vast body fall down exactly between the two Golds.  They both lunged at it and had to bank up quickly to avoid a collision.  Typical Gold behaviour.  Brash.  Impulsive.  Full of themselves.  Nowhere near as skilled in the air as they liked others to think.  Mellira on the other hand was a Blue dragon.  For one of her breed it was child’s play to dive down between the two larger Golds, snatch up the serpent and continue on her way as though nothing had happened.  Doing all that with a look of serene boredom on her face took a bit more work but was so much more satisfying, not to mention stylish.  Style was very important for a Blue, even more than a Gold.  After all, what’s the point of being the best flier in the skies if you can’t fly with flair?

As Mellira continued on her way Calcar struggled up to join her.  Green dragons were the least comfortable in the skies, being far more at home in forests and deep valleys.  Calcar didn’t even have wings, just flaps of skin along his side that stretched out on modified scales when he took to the air.  As a result Green dragons flew along in a slithering pattern, rather like snakes now Mellira thought about it, although without the easy grace the latter showed.  Even weighed down she could easily have left the Green behind, but after showing up Anberix and Iltherna she felt owed a little basking and admiration.  Admiration was certainly something that Calcar was good at.  Green dragons tended to be rather simple in their outlook, giving praise where they thought it due and criticism likewise.  From the look on Calcar’s face they also appreciated watching Golds being taken down a peg.  ‘Nice flying there.  You plan these things out in advance or do they just occur to you?’

Mellira shrugged.  ‘Doesn’t take much planning to realize those two will try something.  It’s not malicious or anything, they just can’t stand the idea of someone else being more useful, better looking or perfect than they are.’

‘You forgot to mention modest.’

Mellira shot him a sideways glance.  ‘I’m carrying a bloody great sea snake here.  How much do I have to be modest about?’

‘Oh dear, a bit strained are we?  Well, never mind.  We’re almost there.’  Calcar chuckled as he looked ahead to the marshland they all called home.  ‘And look, there’s a welcoming committee.’

Mellira followed his gaze and groaned inwardly.  Here they came…

Chapter 2

Up they spiralled from the marsh, six glinting dots in the sky and three larger, duller specks.  As Mellira came closer they revealed themselves to be infant dragons, only a few decades out of their eggs.  The six smaller ones flashed silver in the sun while the larger three were a dark, vivid red.  They all swarmed about her, chirping their welcome.  Happy, food, friend!  Gratitude, affection, love!  This was how dragons had used to speak, with emotions and concepts instead of words.  It had taken mortals to show dragons how communication could