A young, small girl is curled up in the back of a dirty cell. It's unlit, candles had gone out weeks ago. The sailors were too frightened of her to go in to relight them. Her hands and feet are weighed down with thick, heavy chains. Her body is thin and malnourished, missing days of rations and water. Her long black hair plastered to her skin with filth.
She was done sobbing, it had done her no good when she was taken from her family that horrible night three years ago. It had done nothing when she was sold, naked, beaten and afraid. It had not made her feel any better when her stomach growled angrily with hunger or when her mouth was as dry as the great mirror deserts themselves. All it did was earn her beatings time after time again. She was to be compliant. She was not to speak unless addressed. She had even been beaten once because she was breathing too heavily.
The ship was cold and she had nothing more than a potato sack she had fashioned into a dress. Glattonburge was a fair sized boat, she was big enough to easily sail over open seas, even during the storm that raged just up on deck. The boat rocked violently back and forth with the water as it crashed over the angry waves, heading for the man who had bought the girl this time. Her third time. Probably her last time. The man she was being sold to this time was the king of a neighboring country. King Cooper. The man rumored to have killed his own father for the throne.
Most of the crew were cruel, but she knew that the cruelness was an extension of the fear they had for her. Too bad they didn't know she was far more scared of them than they were of her. After being tormented for three years, fear was constantly gnawing at her stomach.
They had not sent a single person down to her other than the guards meant to watch her who were specifically instructed to watch her, not to talk to her. Not that they would, most couldn't even stand to look at her.
She had learned that by attempting conversation most of them would beat her, so she learned to keep her mouth shut, and stay in the farthest corner of the cage. Unmoving. Too scared to speak.
"I know I was wrong, to talk back to the captain, but to send me here to watch this bitch? By the gods, how have you done this for a full month?" The guard on the left says, shoving a finger toward the small girl, hugging her knees in the shadows.
"I'm not to question the Captain." says the other one, on the right. He was young and had long black hair, reaching just past his ears, stunning green eyes and the solid body of a hard worker. He was the same man that was usually with her, one of the few that hadn't beaten her. He was the first person to show her any kindness since the day everything went to hell. He had never raised a hand to her, never even yelled at her. He was a kind, patient man. But, he always had this solemn look in his eyes. The same look she knew she had, like the world had betrayed her and had no interest in redemption. "It's not like the lass does anythin'. She just sits there, starin' at the wall ahead of us, or sleepin' or eatin'. I figure if I leave 'er alone an' don't piss 'er off, than I 'ave nothin' t' worry 'bout. I hope." He swallows hard eyes flickering toward her.
The man on the left turns to look at him, "She eats? I thought the Captain said not to feed her! What have you been doing? What if she finds the energy to change here?"
The man on the right groans, "She's obviously not had a good meal in weeks. I've been slippin' her some scraps from the kitchen."
"Captain says if she had the strength she could take out this boat and a couple more!"
"Oh, come off it." Says the younger man on the right. "Look at 'er, how much damage do ya suppose she could do?"
"I don't know! She gives me the creeps. Who has eyes that color? They're gold! And glow in the dark!" He shivers, "As long as this little bitch is on board, the captain will never have to worry about me talking back to him again. Also," He turns a dark glare towards the black haired man, "You'll be lucky if I don't tell on you."
"Ha!" Barks the man on the right. "Ya could, but ya won't." He lets out a light laugh. The girl liked his laugh although it never quite seemed genuine. He was the only man who stepped up when she was being beaten by the captain first day she was taken on board. When she had tripped on her chains and the Captain began kicking her. He had stepped up and stopped the Captain. It was his kindness toward her that had gotten him stuck watching her day after day as punishment. Still, the man had slipped her scraps of food and allowed her to drink from his canteen from time to time. Suddenly he sobers, getting serious, "Maybe I'll open the cage and throw ya in for her next snack."
The man on the left stiffens, "She… wouldn't really… eat me… would she?" He turns a look of pure horror to the girl, eyes wide. She meets his glare if only for a moment, than looks to the ground in submission.
His persona breaks, and he laughs, "Probably not in that form, an' there ain't room enough for 'er to change in that cage now, is there?" He says, shaking his head.
The first man glares at her, but she only stares at the ground. "I wish we didn't have to-"
The boat suddenly lurches to the side, throwing the men, and the girl to the side. Chaos erupts as the sounds of cannon fire echo through the belly of the boat as shards of wood splinter and explode inward. Screams begin on the top deck about pirates. The girl hugs herself onto the bars of her cell as the boat lurches again, throwing the man who was on the left back the other way, one with a large splinter of wood sticking out from his neck. The girl cries out in fear as water begins to spill into the boat.
The other man, knocked unconscious from the first hit, the man she recognised as the one that gave her food, floats by. His head under the water. Her stomach knots, telling her not to let him die. Somehow, she knew he was important to her survival. She reaches for him, and flips him face up, holding onto his shirt as the boat again rocks, throwing other things like chairs and barrels by, she holds onto him tightly with one hand slipped through the bars across his chest. The other she uses to grip the iron bars. The chains left her with just enough room to grab him through her cage, but they were tight on her wrists and neck.
The man gasps, his eyes searching the room as if in a daze. At last his eyes meet hers, then he glances down at her hand. Confusion flashes across his face along with fear and shock. He couldn't understand why she would grab him. Why she would save him. Wasn't she a monster?
Screams and gunshots could be heard from above deck as the attack on the Glattonburge continues. More cannons were being fired from both boats and more wood comes splintering into the girl's cell. A piece gets lodged into her leg. She cries out in pain and fear as blood begins to ooze from the wound. Still, she holds onto the man.
The boat is shoved to the side again and the man is almost swept under. Letting go of the bars, she grabs him with both hands and, for only a second, their both pulled under. But, using the bars of the cage, when the current slows, she pulls them back up.
The girl comes to a terrifying conclusion; the boat was sinking. She was going to die if she couldn't get out of the cage she was stuck in and the chains that were pulling her under the water with every rock of the boat. But there was a second thing she knew at that same moment. The man she held onto would die also. He couldn't go to the deck, he would get shot. If he stayed under with her, he would drown with the Glattonburge.
Realization hits her. They needed each other if they were to survive. Maybe that's why her inner beast wanted to save him.
She locks eyes with the only person who has shown her kindness since she was sold three years ago, "If you don't unlock me, we're both going to die." She tells him, gulping air between waves of water.
He stares at her for a moment as fear takes over his body. Eyes wide, mouth open. "No! No, I can't."
"You have the keys!" She yells, trying to reach for them through the bars, her chains keeping her from reaching out all the way out to his hips.
He moves to the side, dodging her hands anyway. "How do I know ya won't kill me?"
"You'll die if you don't! You have no choice if you wanna live! If you don't do anything, we're both going to die. Unless you wanna take a chance with the pirates?" She says as the boat is shoved to the side again, the water level lowering so they could stand again, the water at their knees.
He shakes his head, flinging water everywhere off his black hair. With shaking hands he pulls the loop from his pants. She snatches them, and begins to unlock the shackles around her wrists. The man takes a step backward, splashing the water that was now rising again. After the first heavy chain link sinks to the bottom with a hard klank on the wooden floor the boat goes the other way, throwing the man to the side, as the girl grabs the bars. Her eyes follow him as the water sweeps him away.
Completely submerged, the girl works quickly, unlocking the next three with ease. Just as the water level is almost to the top of the room, she unlocks the door to the cage she had been locked in for the past couple weeks. She goes for the surface and takes in a gulp of air. Freedom would have felt fantastic, if she wasnt still fighting for her life.
She dives under the water as more cannonballs riddle the boat. It was sinking fast, and taking her along with it. Finding the largest hole in the deck she swims for it. Barrels, tables and other things were being swept away by the current. She would consider herself a good swimmer, but the current was too strong. She was going to be pulled under with all the other goods for transportation.
But, the boat was almost completely destroyed on one side. There was enough room. There had to be! Grabbing a splinter of wood, she jams it into her hand, blood pouring out, she licks the wound. For a second nothing happens. Fear stabs at her stomach, was the blood too diluted with water? Just as panic sets in, her bones begin growing, snapping and rearranging. Even under water, she cries out in pain. Despite being beaten multiple times, the pain of a transformation was always the worst thing she'd ever felt.
But, within moments, her body had transformed into a dragon. A rather small one, but still half the size of The Glottonburge, a galleon with a crew of upwards of a hundred men. Though still small when compared to a fully grown dragon, she was still large enough to break open the bottom deck of the boat and set herself free from the current. Her wings that had grown from her shoulders were enormous, spreading out at more than twice her length. Every bone in her body had grown many times bigger than the little girl she was only moments ago. Even with little to no food in her body and being physically drained from the transformation, she was much stronger than the little girl she was. With a mighty heave, the dragon shoves out what used to be the side of the boat, pieces of wood seemingly dissolving into the ocean. Sending all the ratons, barrels, tables, chairs and anything else they stored underneath into the ocean with it. The sea was going to be swallowing the whole boat in the next few minutes.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees the man who had placed his trust in her. He was motionless floating by her in the current. With a couple heaves, her wings bring her toward the surface, and with her back leg, she grabs the man as she goes by.
Her mighty head breaks the surface, and she takes in a breath of fresh air. Water pours off her sleek form as she rises from the depths. Even in her dragon form, her lack of nutrition was obvious. Her scaley skin barely stretched over her bones.
Grabbing onto the bow of the pirate ship that was attacking The Glattonburge, she pulls herself out of the water. All of the men pause in horror. Water cascading off her deep navy scales as she hauls herself up from the ocean. The boat sinks into the water with her weight, the ocean washing up on deck.
With a powerful, terrifying roar she flicks out her wings, sending a wave of water down on the men, taking a good handful of them from the boat entirely, their bodies being thrown to sea. The men still left on the boat, still hanging onto whatever it was that kept them from getting swept off the bow, were now shouting something about capturing her. Again. But the captain shouts, "Abandon the dragon! Abandon the ship!"
She flicks her wings a couple more times, stretching out the wings she hadn't used in almost three years. Her wings were weak and shaky. Even worse, it was still stormy outside, and her wings were heavy and wet. She breaks the sails on the pirate ship as she lifts away, the whole boat lifting from the water a good six feet after being released from her massive weight.
She flies off, the man still clutched in her back right leg. She carries him gently, but tightly. The last thing she wanted to do was drop him. Her nostrils flare as she takes in the smells around her. Even through the storm she knew the closest land was to the east. But, it was still far out. The man she held in her claws, would he make it that far?
Keeping her wings as straight as possible, she glances down at him. He still wasn't moving. She grabs him a little tighter, shaking her leg. He simply flops around in her grasp.
No! She thinks desperately, He won't make it! No! Not again!
Her eyes search the sea, her nose flairs for any smells that may be of use. Then she catches something, her golden eyes widen, and she changes course, heading slightly more south. There was a boat that way. A fairly large one. By the smells coming from it, she would assume it was some sort of cruise ship. She could smell a lot of people, and a lot of different foods she had never smelled before.
She heads straight for it, only thinking of the man who had shown her kindness. She had to repay his kindness and the trust he left with her.
As she comes in view of the ship, she sees that it has very few cannons, and probably even less staff to shoot them. The boat was in sight of land, even if just barely. Pirates rarely went after ships so close to the mainland.
Panic erupts on the deck as singing and dancing comes to a halt and they disperse under deck. The dragon flicks its wings up, and lands on a massive dance floor, dipping the boat into the ocean with her weight. The tarps that had been set up to keep the people out of the rain getting ruined by her wings as she flicks them to the side. This boat was much larger than the one she was locked up on, and it barely sunk more than a few feet.
Three of her legs touch down as the last one places the man on the dance floor. The beast looks inward, finding her humanity, and with more sickening cracks, shrinks and reforms into the small girl. She was cleaner than before and her clothes had been torn off by her beastly form.
She runs to the man as best she could, her body still in severe pain from the trauma of having to transform twice in less than ten minutes. She drops to her knees and throws her weight on him, slamming her tiny hands, fingers spread out, onto his chest. She does it four times in a row before flipping him to his side, and slapping him hard in the back. Nothing.
She does this again and again as men from the cruise ship come back to the deck, slowly approaching. Watching the scene unfold as she desperately tries to make the man breath again.
Just as she runs out of steam, the man coughs, water spewing from his mouth. She collapses into his lap as he coughs up more water, gasping for air. As he begins to calm down, his eyes flicker over the crowd that was forming, then to the naked girl that was in his lap. The small girl he had once been so fearful of saved his life and was now so exhausted she had passed out.
"What the hell is she?" One man asks, a sword in his shaking hand.
The man looks down at the girl who had saved him in his lap, "She's a dragon." He whispers, almost in awe himself. Gasps of horror echo through the crowd. "An' she saved my life." He finishes, glaring at the other people around him.
Bracing his hands on his knees, he stands, the girl cradled in his arms like a baby. Limp and vulnerable. She was so small and yet so strong. She had saved him. She didn't have to save him, in fact if it was reversed, he would have left her. Why would she save him?
"We should kill it." one man says, barely loud enough for him to hear. He searches the crowd for the man who had said it, but the crowd was ever growing as more people came from under deck. All scared. All easily influenced by that fear.
The man looks at the dragon girl in his arms. The girl that was in a cage that he was guarding not so long ago. Her long, curly, greasy brown hair like a waterfall off his arm. Her thin, weak body that had somehow managed to transform not once but twice in under fifteen minutes. The girl he was once so terrified of saved his life for no other reason than because he had made a deal.
What a silly girl. She could have made it far far away if she hadn't taken the time to save him.
The men on the ship close in, muttering threats made from fear and ignorance. The man looks over the faces of the people who were closing in. They knew nothing and yet they wanted her dead. But, was he really any different? He was willing to sell the girl off to the highest bidder less than a half hour before. He had stood up for her once, probably saving her life, but it was more from fear than pity. After all, they were not under deck, she could have changed and killed everyone there. Why didn't she when she knew she was going to be sold, beaten, starved and worse?
"Whoa, whoa fellas." He says standing, "She won't hurt you. Give us some space, she cant even move."
"Maybe he's one of them." One mumbles to the others.
"Kill them both." Another suggests.
"They're gonna eat us!"
"Kill them."
"Kill them!"
Things had escalated too quickly, and the people on the boat now wanted them both dead. The man searches the area, there had to be something that could help him. His eyes pause as they land on an escape boat tied to the side of the cruise ship in case of emergencies. This was life and death, this was definitely considered an emergency.
Just as the people close in, weapons drawn he bolts to the side, the dragon girl still in his arms, and dives onto the boat, nearly dodging a sword. It nips his leg, but the wound isn't bad. The boat was tied suspended over the ocean using pulleys. He puts the girl in the center of the boat and using both arms, lower the boat towards the water. Before he was half way down a man on deck slices the rope on one side.
The man with black hair is thrown to the side and the dragon girl is almost thrown from the little boat entirely. He grabs a hold of her arm as her limp body dangles from the sideways boat.
The boat had to be big enough to be used as an escape boat and was fairly large, supporting three seats. Wedging his leg into the middle one, he reaches for his own sword, a small cutlass, and slices through the other rope. For a second the whole boat was airborne, falling to the ocean bow first. The man throws himself to the other side of the boat along with the girl, evening it out just as it hits the water. The man slams down onto the belly of the boat, knocking the wind out of him. He had somehow managed to break the fall of the girl with his own body.
Yelling begins from above. The man rolls over on top of the dragon girl just as arrows rain down on them. Most of them didn't know how to use a bow, so many of the arrows don't even hit the boat. The few that do, miss him and the dragon girl. The ship was being pulled away, and soon he and the skinny, dirty, naked girl were alone, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm, in the middle of the sea.
He sighs, leaning back. Oh, how he had terrible luck. How would he explain this to his brother? His brother was expecting money when he got back. His brother couldn't work, after all. Nobody would hire someone with a disability.
After taking a moment to curse at his situation, he slides off his wet jacket, and lays it across the girl before beginning to row toward land. He would be at it all night.