Chapter 1: Arrow

“What the hell is this? Do they want to start a war?” Yugyeom’s voice whispers through the night.

Jungkook grips his bow tighter as his brows knit in fury, echoing the anger on his best friend’s face.

“It’s dragons, Yug. We’ve got to help them,” Jungkook whispers back.

He’s almost helpless with rage and a need to do something as he surveys the clearing below them. There are dragons down there: five of them. All young, or at least small, with the smallest perhaps just over 10 meters tall and 30 meters long. All in chains. Two of the dragons are brown, one white, one lime green, and the last and smallest a silvery blue. There are chains binding their wings to their sides, and even more chains tethering them to what is essentially an enormous rotating wheel, the energy from which seems be the main power source of the factory behind it as the dragons use their strength to turn the wheel in never-ending circles. There are several humans with whips among the dragons, lashing out at even a perceived slackening of pace. The whips have serrated blades on the ends that leave ugly gashes in the dragons’ beautiful hides.

Jungkook has never seen a downtrodden dragon before, not that he’s seen many dragons to begin with, but he knows now with concrete certainty that it’s not something he ever wants to see again. It’s just… wrong.

Jungkook makes to move closer but Yugyeom grabs his arms and yanks him back down into the bushes they are using for cover.

“I know you love them, Kook,” Yugyeom whispers. “But let’s be smart about this, okay? Hang back for a minute and wait for Jinyoung’s signal.”

Jungkook sees then that the slave drivers whipping the dragon’s were also armed to the teeth: with bows, spears, and swords as common as the whips among them. By Jungkook’s estimate Jinyoung’s squadron of thirty senior cadet Knight Scholars in Training were outnumbered by at least two to one. They would have to be coordinated if they were going to rescue any dragons.

Jungkook settles back down wait a bit grudgingly. “Jinyoung needs to hurry,” he mumbles, his eyes still trained on the scene below him.

They received the mission earlier that same day, having learned of this little operation earlier in the week, of a factory in the middle of the Great Forest churning out weapons, and using slaves to do it. They hadn’t known it was dragons until they got here. And now Jungkook was doubly glad it was Jinyoung’s squadron that had been chosen for the task, never mind that his squadron of cadets were the best of the class in any case.

The clearing below is an eyesore in stark contrast to the nature around it, little more than churned dirt and cloying smoke bathed in the orange glow from the furnace fire, with little hutches where the slave drivers likely slept, and of course the iron encapsulated factory itself steadily churning out what looked like a bunch of steel blades.

Jungkook’s gaze hones in on a sudden bit of commotion. A slave driver snaps his whip at the little silver blue dragon who shockingly whips around and snaps at the man who hit him. His teeth close just inches from the man’s neck; only quick reflexes and probably adrenaline had saved him.

Jungkook mentally cheers the dragon on. But the cheers quickly die down as about five more men with whips hurry over and start flaying the dragon, its roars of agony echoing throughout the clearing and into quiet night hanging over the forest beyond. Jungkook is standing again before he knows what he’s doing. Plan be damned; they are going to kill that dragon!

Probably luckily for Jungkook, this seems to be exactly the sort of distraction Jinyoung had been waiting for as well, and the signal, a whistle imitating the sound of a screech owl, echoes through the air. Jungkook immediately raises his bow and lets an arrow fly, grinning victoriously when it catches one of the slave driver’s beating the dragon right in the throat. From other directions more arrows rain down, some hitting their mark, others missing. The slave drivers quickly regroup and retreat behind the dragons, making themselves more difficult targets. Jungkook swings his bow back on his back and starts making his way down the steep slope into the clearing. Others are following him, he knows; he can hear their feet sliding against the rocks.

Jungkook whips out his knives as soon as his feet touch the bottom, running directly towards the dragons before thinking better of it and veering off to the side, towards the slave driver’s hutches. One of them is bigger than the others; that must be wear the master is, and hopefully the keys to the dragons.

The sounds of the fight raging outside lessen somewhat as Jungkook enters the hutch, prepared for a fight, but no one is there. It doesn’t take him long to spot the keys, thankfully, since they are hung on a hook right by the entrance. Jungkook snatches them up and beats it back towards the center of the fight. Jungkook kills two more slave drivers before coming to the first dragon, the white one. It takes him longer than it should to find the right key, but soon enough he unshackles it and it leaps into the sky with a roar. Jungkook can’t begrudge it that it doesn’t stay and fight; it’s undoubtedly not accustomed to kindness from humans.

In quick succession Jungkook frees the two brown dragons and the green one, killing another slave driver along the way, before arriving at the side of silver-blue dragon, the last one in need of freeing. The dragon is already looking at him as he approaches, probably having noticed him freeing the others. As their eyes meet, time seems to stand still to Jungkook for a moment, but the sounds of battle quickly bring him back to the present.

He hurries to the dragon and starts digging through the remaining keys to locate the one for its shackle. He unlocks the shackle with a sigh of relief but is a bit startled as the dragon does not immediately launch off into the air like the others. It regards Jungkook closely and he tries not to cower under the intimidating sky-blue eyes. The dragon blinks. It’s an acknowledgement, and Jungkook feels something in his chest warm at the sight, a smile dancing across his lips despite himself.

But the warmth vanishes as quickly as it comes, doused in icy fear, as Jungkook finally notices the slave driver with a crossbow behind the dragon, aiming what looks like a poisoned arrow directly at the dragon’s heart.

Jungkook doesn’t think. He darts past the dragon just as the crossbow releases. The arrow catches him in the chest, stopping all of Jungkook’s forward momentum in its tracks.

He draws in a rattling breath. Coughs once and tastes blood. Distantly, he hears a dragon roaring, a frantic voice calling his name. He thinks that’s his name. Suddenly, he isn’t too sure. His vision is blurring in and out.

Jungkook falls.

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