Arms chained to the wall, body severely malnutritioned, beaten, bruised, and bloody. His long sandy-blond hair matted around his face. Cody trembled the dark was terrifying. He had lost track of time since Elite-Chaos put him in the dark. How long would Elite-Chaos hold him? He had never done anything to them.
His dragon Viper, really wanted to come out, but there was no room. He was a dragon rider, not a weredragon. Viper and Cody were separate beings, but their life force relied on the other to live. They could talk without talking, in some ways they shared a mind.
Dragonrider’s aren’t made they are born. They are a form of human without being human. They live as long as their dragon lives; they have the strength of a dragon, and the ability to wield dragon magick. The dragon lives in the rider and the rider in the dragon; they can co-exist side by side.
At this moment the rider was helpless, the blasted Elite-Chaos had put them in an iron room that diluted his and Vipers magick. The iron made them powerless and weakened them both physically. That was partly why Cody was keeping Viper within himself to keep him safe from the beatings. Also with them as one, they were stronger than the average human, even though they were in this iron room. At this stage, he didn’t think Doc Morgan realised that otherwise he was sure that they would have been separated before now.
“I know Viper, you want to get out, you need to hang in there we will be free of the darkness soon. I can feel it; one who is friendly to our people is getting closer.” He became quiet again as he realised that someone was coming their way and it wasn’t someone who was friendly towards them.
“Oh good you are awake this time,” said one of the Elite-Chaos in the doorway, a whip in his hand, and evil smirk on his face. This was one Cody hadn’t seen before, he wasn’t surprised by that. After all, whenever possible he would fall into unconsciousness or he would go into his inner self.
Cody sighed he knew what was going to come next, he grabbed hold of Viper with invisible hands and concentrated on holding Viper to him while he was whipped. Viper talked to him the whole time about some childhood antic the two of them had gotten into. When he went into himself like this no matter what happened to his external self it wouldn’t affect his internal self, or more importantly Viper.
“Can you remember that time Slade borrowed Napoleon’s bike and pushed the blue button?” Cody asked Viper after his dragon had finished his tale.
“Oh yeah, and wasn’t Napoleon mad when we told him how Slade had written his bike off. Oh those were the days,” Vipers voice was almost happy as he and Cody talked; a ripple in the air interrupted their talk, no it couldn’t be.
“Viper what’s Slade doing here?” he was stunned, they had just been talking about him; weird.
“I have no idea, but let’s give him a hand with this imbecile that has the nerve to touch you,” Viper’s viscous streak wanted some revenge for Cody’s blood.
They took the Elite-Chaos by surprise when all of a sudden Cody’s hand lashed out and grabbed a hold of the end to the whip as it speed towards his face. With borrowed power, he sent a deadly fireball to the Elite-Chaos, which engulfed him and burnt him alive in seconds.
“Wow that is so handy to know. I mean you no harm, can you stand, or do I need to get the brothers to help you?” Klarissa said as she came to the doorway to the room where Cody was imprisoned.
“Slade!” Cody croaked out of dry cracked and split lips, his voice barely audible, but Klarissa heard him clearly, thanks to her supersensitive hearing.
“Slade get your smelly butt in here, NOW!” Klarissa called on her telepathic link.
“Easy there, Brother. Who is with you?” Marshall asked his shadowy form attached to Klarissa, so that their shared power was stronger. He could sense another presence other than the beaten and broken man that was before him and Klarissa.
“Your wish is my command,” Slade’s smart-ass remark broke off as he was hit with the sense of the being before them. “Cody, shit. Napoleon we have a sitch here that I need you for. Klarissa do you have any half-beings that have dragon in them here? If so get them out of here immediately. Hey Cody, it’s me Slade, is Viper here?”
“I am here, he will not let me out, I want to eat the hearts of the ones that hurt my rider!” boomed out Vipers voice in all of the elemental and half-beings heads, it was very painful for those who were not acquainted with the dragon and rider.
“I know that buddy, but we sort of need them as hostages,” Slade said in a reasonable voice, he breathed again more easily as he felt his brother come up behind him.
“Hey Viper you remember me. Remember it was my bike that you convinced Slade here to wipe-out on.” Napoleon said in a soothing voice, trying to defuse the situation before Cody lost his grip on his dragon.
“See Cody he does still remember. For your information it was all your brothers idea, we were just there for the entertainment factor. And man it was hilarious. I do not understand the word hostage. If it wasn’t for this iron room I would break free of Cody’s grip and eat all the hearts.”
Slade and Napoleon winched at the anger and hurt that was in their old friend’s voice. “See these people with me they too have been hurt by those that have hurt you. They need information from those that they have captured. Once we get the information then you can have the hearts, okay?” Slade tried to reason.
“I am hungry now, and my rider is hurt,”
“If you promise not to rip my heart out of my body and feed on it I will help Cody get the help and rest he needs to heal from the iron poisoning. You might remember this pretty lady, she’s Klarissa...” he broke of as Cody interrupted him.
“I remember her now, can I please have some water,” Cody said weakly, it hurt to speak but he knew it would reassure Viper. He could understand why it was a good idea not to let Viper rip out hearts just yet. He sent a mental thanks to Slade when his old friend wet a cloth and dripped some water into his mouth. He almost lunged for Slade when he took the cloth away, only to realise that he was re-wetting the cloth.
“Okay that’s everyone rounded up, Charmers wants us out of here before reinforcements arrive,” Evan said as he bounded down the stairs to where Klarissa and the others were standing in the doorway. “Cody shessh man, leave you alone for one minute and you get into trouble. What? is this room made out of iron, or something? Anyway let’s get you out of here, if Viper bites me you are in serious trouble. Klarissa here is wickedly cool at healing. Remember I told you how these idiots had beaten me up. Well it was my lady here that healed me, now she might tell you that she’s not very good at it but that’s rubbish. Slade and Slade’s brother why don’t you give Cody a hand, he can use my flat for now. Klarissa is he stable enough to be flashed?”
“As long as Viper doesn’t think it’s snack time sure, Vippy you behave as the boys have said and I will see if I can hunt you up a bear or two,” Klarissa joked with the dragon, referring to the fact that Evan was a werebear.
“You will make sure that Cody’s injures are healed?” Vipers mind voice was unsure, he wanted to trust these people, but his rider came first.
“Yes I will get help for Cody, but you must let Slade and Napoleon get him to a safe place, there will be enough room for you to spread your wings out in the open, and there will be enough light for Cody to recover. Slade, Napoleon flash Cody to Evan’s flat.”
True to Klarissa’s words, the brothers got their friend to the safety of Evan’s flat. Not long after they had arrived there, a light knock sounded on the entrance door to the flat. Napoleon went to answer it, hand on his weapon. “Yes, who is it and what do you want?”
“I’m Rebkka, Klarissa sent me to look at your friend Viper, and there will be someone along shortly to look at your friend Cody,” Rebkka called through the door. “The medic is coming down the hall now; please open up so that we can heal the patients.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Cody reassured the brothers. He watched wearily as Napoleon opened the door and let the two different types of medics in.
“I was told there is a dragon here as well,” Rebkka said puzzled as she could only see the men, and there was most definably no viscous dragon. She was used to the unusual; she was one of the Shield of Darkness’s vets.
“Oh right, are you sure he will be okay here?” Cody asked the brothers, who both solemnly nodded yes.
Cody went inside himself to talk to his best friend and protector. “No eating the humans, the girl Rebkka is going to have a look at you and heal your wounds. The other one is going to look at mine and heal me, now it is going to be painful, but promise you won’t go eating any hearts.”
“Promise me Cody, promise me that you will be okay and I won’t eat the human medic.” Viper spoke to only Cody, he was very concerned about his friend, he was in very bad shape.
“I promise, but Viper you in turn also have to promise the same thing.”
“I promise.”
With excruciating pain both physically and emotionally, Viper and Cody separated from each other. Viper exploded out of Cody’s chest, his massive black and midnight blue dragon form manifesting before everyone’s eyes. He hovered protectively over his hurt rider for a few moments before settling his form on the grass just outside, not too far from Cody. He figured it would be easier for the medic to look him over if there was space for her to get around him, and no doubt she would want to see his under bits... hmm maybe he could get her to look at the sore on his leg.
“Excuse me miss, but Viper has asked if you could look at his left hind leg. He said it is sore,” Cody said for his friend. “Also do you have something for dragon mood swings...” he broke off as a sharp spiked tail came his way. “Hey, be nice, injured man here.”
“I don’t see any injured man, more an injured girl.” He must have publicly broadcasted because the other’s snickered.
“What is your dragon’s name,” the medic to see Cody asked politely.
“Viper,” Cody told the medic.
“Hey Viper, I am going to look at Cody now, this is possibly going to hurt. I will try to be as gentle as I can. Would you like to watch what I am doing?” Cody’s medic spoke directly to Viper.
“What do you mean?” he had never been asked that before.
“I will let you go into my mind and watch what I am doing and hear my thoughts. That way you will know that I am not intentionally trying to hurt your rider. Because quite frankly I really like being alive, with all body parts attached and where they should be. “
“Cody what do you think, will this make me want to eat the heart of this unusual person?”
“I think you are very interested in what the medic has proposed and you are just stalling to keep me in agony longer,” Cody teased his friend. “He would very much like to watch as you heal me. Rebbka, you will be able give him his examination at the same time.”
Viper found it very intriguing watching what the medic did to his friend. At the same time, he absorbed the knowledge that the medic had in regards to humanoid healing. “So you would stop the bleeding before you fixed the bones?”
“Yes that is correct, he can die from losing too much blood, and as this is an internal injury it could lead to other more serious problems. I will start with the broken bones once the internal organs are seen to. When I get to that part, Cody will be in a lot of pain while the bones are reset, but once they are, he will heal nicely. He is a strong, healthy male. And although he has injures on top of injures on top of injures he will make a full recovery in no time.”
“What were you doing here anyway,” Slade asked; this had been prying on his mind since he had recognised Cody.
“Evan had some questions about dragons; apparently one of the young were-dragons is having problems. I was minding my own business not hurting anyone, when out of nowhere we were enclosed in a net. I had Viper on the downlow as I wasn’t sure what was the go in this realm. Not sure how long I was in that hole, don’t even think they realised that I was a rider. They just wanted a toy to play with. I think it was a fluke that they put me in an iron-made room. You know for an organisation that is so high tech, they really don’t have a clue.”
“Cody, she’s tickling me,” Viper was actually giggly, Cody just stared at his friend as if he was an alien.
“Umm, miss, I mean Rebkka, you will need to be careful with the tickling if he loses himself and collapse on you he will squish you. As much as it would be accidently, the squishing will still hurt. Apparently he is ticklish, who woulda thought,” Cody shrugged trying to keep the laughter out of his voice.
“While you were in captivity did you see anyone else?” Napoleon asked.
“Well of course I saw the guards, well except for the time they blinded me, or did you mean others like me who where there but not by choice?”
“Yes, those who were there without consent,”
“Nope didn’t see any, although there were others, didn’t end very well for those ones, they were too weak, must have been human,” Cody shrugged being a rider he saw things differently and unless someone threatened him or his dragon then he generally didn’t interfere with other’s business. That is where Elite-Chaos made their mistake. Now he had blood to settle with them. Life as a rider was brutal and only the most vicious survived.
The two brothers stayed until the medics had finished with dragon and rider. Then Slade and Napoleon left the flat behind the two medics. Finally, finally Viper and Cody were alone with each other. They turned to each other; Cody walked out to his friend and put his arms around his friend as much as he could. Viper in turn put his chin gently on Cody’s shoulder. They stayed like that for quiet some time. They only pulled apart because they were both famished.
As Klarissa had promised there was food for both of them, someone had been kind enough to gut, de-fur, and de-bone a pile of raw meat for Viper. When Cody went to the kitchenette in Evan’s flat, he found that there was food for him as well. Not knowing how to use the modern gadgets, he used some of his restored dragon magick to heat his meal. He then took it outside and sat down on the grass with his back leaning against Vipers left leg.
Viper paused in his gorging long enough to look at Cody and make sure he was comfortable. Then he went back to his food, and Cody began to eat his.
“You know Viper the thing that I like most about being out of that hole?” Viper gave a dragon shrug. “Being able to breathe again. You know if Evan wants us to hang around maybe we could buy some land. It is actually quite nice here; there is something soothing about this realm.”
Viper gave a swish of his tale as agreement. “Yes it is nice to breathe again, as well as having the use of my body again.”
Cody reached up above his right shoulder and gave Viper a comforting pat on the leg. He took a deep breathe in again, letting the fresh air sooth him and his dragon. With the soothing breeze washing over them, they drifted into the first relaxed sleep that they had, had in a very long time.
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