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Friends among the foe

Darkness and silence prevails, not a light could be seen nor a whisper heard, John opened his eyes only to see darkness, he was laying on a cool stone floor, he felt no pain, in fact he felt...rather good, but something was wrong. "I'm dead" John concluded, "No, you're not dead son." A voice rang, deep and calm. John spun to where the voice came from as a figure appeared. The figure stood at the same height as John, he was covered from head to toe in dull blue and white amour, his wooden shield had a painting of a white dragon on it, and at his hip was a red sword. The mans face was covered in a brown and white beard, his blue eyes were caring and calm. The man had no helmet, showing his short brown hair. John looked at this man first with shock then confusion, "Dad?" John asked barely able to hold his emotions. "Aye son, it is me, you have grown up tall and strong I see," John eyes watered over as he took a shaky breath, he walked forward and grabbed his father fiercely in a bear hug. His father stunned from this sudden act slowly returned the jester. "I've missed you my son....ah lad you're strong, let go before you break your old man." John slowly let go and stepped back rubbing his eyes, "How?" he asked.
His father placed his hand in Johns and said slowly, "John, my son, you have made me so proud and I love you, I would love to stay and chat my lad but things are moving at a pace, and if we don't catch up soon we will fall behind forever." John looked into his eyes confused "What do you mean 'stay'?" His father sighed, "You are just like you mother, never satisfied when answers are given." He whispered, "The land of the dead is not your place to stay and rest son, your duty has yet to be finished." "Duty?" John questioned "Yes John, your duty, you have been chosen for a reason, it's up to you to win this war and keep peace in our land."

"I don't understand father, I'm but a soldier in the army."

"You are much more than that and you know it John, a way to stop this war has arisen and you were given the task of making it work."

"You mean to kill the pack leader?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid to say their plan won't work, no one Platoon will ever kill the pack leader."

"Then what will father, please tell me I don't even know if im dead or where I am?"

"You my son are not dead, you're just visiting, and you're in the mountains, that's all I can say."

"Father ple-"

"I can not say much as time is short, so get your head straight and listen to me, no-one alone can kill the pack leader I takes two species to kill him, no one dragon will slay him, and no one human will best him, you must work together."

"I don't understand…"

"Trust the dragon lad, they will not lead you astray, I must be off as my time is up." He let go of Johns hand and backed up, John yelled after him "Father! I can't do this!" His father looked him straight in the eyes, "Yes you can, and you are meant to be a dragon rider, now go! And kill the pack leader, before it's too late." John bowed his head, "Yes father. I love you father."
John's father smiled and slowly started to disappear in to the darkness, but before he left completely he said back, "John you have one chance at this, don't fuck it up." And with that he disappeared, leaving darkness and silence in his path. John stood there alone but filled with courage and knowledge, "I pray to god I can do this." He clasped his hands and closed his eyes awaiting to return.

The first thing John felt was pain, mind numbing pain, his whole body throbbed in unison as his many cuts and broken bones cried out. John was laying on his back, his bashed and dented armour was still on him, jabbing his flesh with its sharp and jagged edges. John could hear the steady rhythm of something massive breathing, his waist had an unnatural weight to it, like something was holding him down. John's breath came heavy as his side burned, he must have some broken ribs, John waited for what must have been minutes but felt like hours for his pain to go away, but it did not, it continued in a steady Rhythm. John's eyes watered over and his mind, still wary, it was sluggish in its thinking. John slowly opened his eyes but did not move an inch, at first all he could see was a blurred blue, he let his eyes slowly gain focus and then looked around him. Everything was blue, the sky was a dark blue, his surroundings were also blue, he looked down to his feet but only saw a blue limb on him instead. Slowly his mind connected the dots, the sky was a blue dragon's wing, the limb on top of him has a dragons arm, holding him down but not so that it was uncomfortable. John craned his head back, and flushed by what he saw. Right in front of him was dragons muzzle, its lips quivered revealing its long sharp white teeth, eyes danced around under its eyes lids and air was forced in and out from its scaled nostrils.
John instantly went for his sword but gasped as his right head flared in unbearable pain. John whimpered between his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as pain continued to flow from his wrists. As the pain died down, John open his eyes to look at his wrist, what he saw pained him. His wrist was bent at an awkward angle, it was swollen and red, he had at least two teeth marks on his wrist, going all the way to the bone, and in one case through it. John stopped himself "Wait a minute, teeth, that dragon....JYNXY ate me...why am I here?" His mind grappled with his ordeal. John gaining courage slowly and painfully shuffled his legs wriggling free from the dragons grasp, John held his breath as the blue dragon stared, shifting its majestic head over a bit away from John. He gasped as he saw the scars on the dragons face, Jynxy!

John could only stare at her in fear and confusion, Im alive, and she was...sleeping with me? John looked up and saw his sword still stuck in her horns, there was no way he could get them with out waking her. John decided he had to get away. Holding his arm on his chest, John shuffled away under her wing, his armour grinded against the stone floor. John continued slowly, and before long he was out of under Jynxy's wing, she now resembled a blue heap of scales.
John took a breather, he had dealt with pain before but not this, his wrist felt like it was slowly being sawn off, his chest hurt with each breath as his broken ribs. Every breath seemed to reveal a new wound. John laid on the ground thinking hard on what to do, I can't survive long with my wounds, father said to trust the dragons, but why would he trust them, they tried to kill him and killed hundreds of his comrades. John shock his head, he could not think straight, I need to get this blasted armour off. With his left hand John slowly took off his armour working his right arm first, unbuckling the straps, trying not to aggravate his wounds. All was quiet around, except for the occasional rumble or grumble from a sleeping dragon. John closed his eyes as he undid the last strap to his chest plate, he braced himself and tore it off, sending it flying and landing on the cave floor with a clang. John beat his fist as his chest turned red, the jagged holes in his armour had caught on his flesh tearing his skin in a many places. John looked around, he counted at least 6 dragons in this cave of various colours, all sleeping still. John slowly got to his feet, and holding his chest walked towards the caves entrance.

The moon played hide and seek between the clouds, a chilly wind swirled into the cave making John shiver. The cave was high up in the mountains, the entrance was 30ft tall and had a flat ledge. John limped over to the edge and swore. All was black, he could not even see the ground from his height but he knew he was not too high up, the cliff was way too steep, the only way into and out of the cave, was by wings.

Something in the cave stirred, John slowly turned around, breathing fast and hard from fear, and pain. A large dark finger, eyes gleaming in the dark light stood in a shadow, it growled once. John heard the scurrying of four legs charge, John unable to see well in the dark was knocked to the ground by something small and green. Johns head hit the floor and his eyes flashed red, the last thing he saw was a green hatchling standing over him, fangs bared as the large figure loomed in the corner chuckling.

John was alone when he awoke, well he was never alone, pain was his new friend, pain that came in every intensity and place, pain that made it hard to breath, but seemed to have dulled over night. The cave was empty, the sun shined brightly out of the cave entrance, sweet brush flowed in bring fresh cool air. The cave was silent, John looked around, his armour was nowhere to be found, along with his sword, he had lost everything. "Along with my shirt I see." John said resorting to speaking his mind. He had only his cut leather pants on, that was all. John closed his eyes and rested against the cave wall, "look at me, I have a broken wrist, I don't know about my leg but it hurts like hell, and I must have some bloody broken ribs." He held his wrist against his chest, he winced as it pinged with pain.

Something was different, the hundreds of small cuts no longer hurt and most were already scabbed over, "How could I have healed this fast?" He asked him self. He put it to the side for now; he had a lot to think about.
John thought long and hard about everything that has happened, "Okay, so my father wants me to trust the dragons, I can't do that, not with what they have done." John sighed, this was no easy choice but he made up his mind, he was going to stay with the dragons, at least until he has healed then he will make his choice. John was still battle tired and his wounds sapped his strength, before taking a nap he spotted a pile of bones, crawling over to it he knotted them together with his belt making a splint to go over his arm and wrist. With that done, he laid down and rested his eyes.

John was again awoken by the sound of wings beating, out of instincts he scurried away from the entrance to the farthest and darkest corner. John watched the cave entrance, the sun was now half way down the sky. Thud, thud, thud, John ears popped as air was shoved into the cave, soon a blue dragon landed hard on the ledge, battle scars covering her face and a sword sticking from her horns. John immediately recognised her as Jynxy.

Jynxy, slowly walked into the cave, a dead buck in her jaws, her scales reflected the sun to a million blue dots covering the caves walls, dancing around as she moved. She looked at John, she moved at him until she was 5 meters away, then moved no further. She lowered her head and dropped the carcass on the ground, John looked at the dead deer, his stomach growled, he had not eaten for a long time.

Jynxy looked at him softly then opened her jaws again and breathed fire onto the carcass, burning it nicely, she stopped and nosed it over to John side, "I thought you would be hungry so I got you some meat, eat it if you like." She said ever so softly, kindness clearly her intent. John stared at her coldly, not moving a muscle, he could not believe the dragon that killed Adelaide, that nearly killed him, then ate him....was giving him food and talking to him as if he was family. John could think of nothing to say or do but stare at her. Jynxy's ears sank, she dropped her head and santered over to the caves edge, her back to John. She laid down in the sun, like she was about to pounce on someone, John looked at her then the black meat, bits of it was torn off already making it easier to get the good stuff, it smelled strongly good it was cooked well from the fire, with his left hand he dug in and ate as much as he could.

When he finished eating, he looked over at Jynxy, her dark blue wings spread out over the sun. John could think of nothing to say except, "Thank you…" He mumbled nervously, he did not know why he was nervous, but he was. Jynxy said nothing but continued to stare at the sun, John shifted around getting some pain in his ribs, "Where are the rest of the dragons?" he asked.
Jynxy finally answered, she moved her neck only so she was looking at John "Gone, they won't be back for a bit."

John nodded his head like it was the most obvious answer, after some minutes of uncomfortable silence John asked "What do you want?"

"I want this war to be over, so lives can go back to the way it was."

"This war is your doing, you're fighting it with the wrong people, your race has betrayed our treaty!" John said coldly staring at her bright blue eyes.

Jynxy growled "You have no Idea what we have done for your race, shut up and let me explain before your blindly point fingers at races."

John looked away unable to meet her gaze "Well what side are you on?"

"We are on our own side but we fight with you," she sighed "years ago the last pack leader died naturally of old age, Zeckter then took his place, that was a grave mistake as Zeckter mind was bent with greed promised from the Northern Empire, he made up lies about how our ancestors were treated under the treaty, how they used us like slaves to build the keep, those that were there fought to be heard, to prove that what he said was a lie, Zeckter had them killed off, all those few that remain went into exile to hide from Zeckter and his followers, all those that knew the truth ran away, from the high mountains as more and more dragons believed the lie, soon the entire race was bent on killing the Du Edoc'sil. My parents were one of few that were still alive and knew the truth, they ran away with me, then left me with other dragons so they could help tell the truth, Zeckter had them killed as well." A tear slid down Jynxy's blue cheek she sniffed, "After the dragon declared war, all the males left to avenge their ancestors with less and less dragons to defend the high mountains. We can move in, and one by one convince a pack to join us by showing them the truth."

John listened carefully, drinking in her words, Jynxy got up and moved closed settling back down front of John, he chose his words with care, "So Zeckter is the dragon you must kill, and to get to Zeckter you must get more followers to join your cause...how will you do that?"

Jynxy looked at him pleading "That's why you're here John, that's why you're alive, that's why I went out looking for you."

John was stunned "W-why me?"

"Because you're the one that formed the Dragon platoon or Dragon riders, you made it for a good cause and you're living truth that the Du Edoc'sil have good hearts that they follow the rules. You're near the king, you know the truth, that's why you're alive, the dragons believe you made the dragon riders to enslave more dragons, prove them wrong and we can prove them wrong about the past."

John could not see himself doing this, and seeing what she had done was not truly believing her, "You expect me to help you after what you have done!"

Jynxy's looked down she said softly "I'm sorry John for hurting you so badly, I wanted you to be unharmed but instincts took over me."

John looked away, looking at the floor "You ate me Jynxy, before I consider to help you I want to know what you have done."

Jynxy nodded her head, John's sword flowing with her movements "I searched for you John, with the memories of my parents that have met you, I followed my hunting instincts and found your camp....I got a little too exited in finding you, and...Yah I'm sorry about that...anyway, after that I knew you were heading for a place I could not get you. So I went back and learned about the attack on your wall." John listened carefully and intently "I knew you would be there, so I got 60 of our best fighters and flyers to help with the attack, we weren't really helping, we did not attack or kill any of your troops, we volunteered to transport them, most of them we made fall off when we dodged your flying spears."

"Then why did you kill Adelaide?"

"I did not kill her, she was alive when I left her, and when I fought you and your friend... again I caved in to my instincts, and I know you want to know why I ate you. It was more for show then anything, I wanted to make it look like you were dead, so they would not send a rescue party after you...you were safe in me."

John was silent, his mind was buzzing with answers he did not have the questions to, the sun was about to set, making the bright white clouds red. John sighed "Jynxy....what happened to my shirt?"
Jynxy smiled "I took it off to help heal your wounds, Im so surprised humans can take so much cuts and bruised with out falling over in pain."

John grimaced "You...cleaned my wounds?"

"Yes I did and will continue to until your healed." Jynxy licked her lips her tongue darting out to taste the air.

John groaned, he rubbed his eyes, he was tired and had a lot to think about, he looked at his sword stuck in her horns and asked "Can I have my sword back?"

Jynxy nodded silently and set her blue scaly head on the ground, the last bit of light found its way into the cave. John stood up, his joints sore from sitting down all day, his leg still hurt, he walked over to Jynxy, stood still and looked her in the eye before grasping his swords hilt, he slowly moved it around to wriggle it free, and with one hard yank pulled it free of Jynxy's horn the sword now rested in his hands, dried blood still on the blade...here was when he felt his heart skip a beat, this was it, he could end this right now, she was defenseless one swing and it was all over, John shut his eyes and… He lowered his sword, and walked back to his corner and silently set it down. Jynxy snorted behind his, obviously thinking he was going to kill her, she looked out the cave entrance, the moon was not out yet, but night had momentarily won the war over the sky.
John laid down on the cold stone floor, Jynxy smiled and moved away settling down to sleep, John was frozen for a minute. The cold air chilling him, John's teeth clattered together. John heard Jynxy sigh, then the world turned blue, as she nestled up against him, John was about to complain when he realised she was helping to keep him warm, he laid against her warm smooth belly scales, her wing over him like a living breathing tent. He closed his eyes. Jynxy whispered into his ear, "Do you have an answer John?"

John kept his eyes closed and answered "I will tell you when I know." Jynxy sighed blowing smoke out her nostrils, John then fell asleep dreaming about what his next step was in his new life.