Chapter 8

Gli felt terrible. Not terrible, as in she lied, but terrible, where she had a headache and a bad shoulder and stuff.

The next day, she was moved into a cage. The Sword-Soldiers were Lightning Dragons. They were sleek black dragons with glowing spots all over them. They had piercing-beady orange-amber eyes. They could spit out deadly lightning bolts from their mouth. They liked to shock each other as a joke. Lastly, the end of their tails were very sharp.

Gli was stuck there for a week. Every day, a Sword-Soldier named Teriefula [t-air-ee-full-a] came and fed Gli. Gli was amazed that she hadn’t been killed yet. Sword-Soldiers were trained to be harsh, merciless, and deadly fighters.

After three more days, Gli burned up with a fever. Now she just had to get out of here. She was fed lamb legs and was expected to drink stale, muddy water.

When she was sleeping, she saw Karokoro’s pale scales. His face was sad, and perhaps something happened to him, but Gli felt no sympathy for him.

“I’m sorry,” rasped Karokoro’s hoarse coarse voice. “I’m sorry, Gli. I was in a deal. Also, I don’t ever get any visitors.”

Gli looked at him with a cold expression, then turned away and fell down, going to sleep.

Gli was woken up by Teriefula, given two lamb legs and some bad water. She was also given five fji (jee) leaves, which were huge and comfortable. She laid them were she was, making a bed, and ate her lamb legs. She put the lamb wool around on her bed. She rolled over and went back to sleep.

Gli woke up again and it was night, but she did not move her eyelids.

“-we need Gli!” she heard Scythina’s voice, only this time it was angry.

“I do not care!” shouted Karokoro, which was the loudest Gli had ever heard him. “You do not respect your elders! I gave her to you, now let her go!”

“Did you hear me? We need Gli’s soul. It will make my soldiers stronger! If you have seen the Kimtari [kim-t-air-ee] Town soldiers? They are no match for even ten of my Sword-Soldiers, and we are outnumbered by three-thousand!”

“Then take my soul!” Karokoro roared. “We do not need Gli’s, then.”

“Lower your voice; we do not want the Subject waking up,” Scythina whispered. “Your soul is not strong enough; it doesn’t have enough stubbornness, enough talent, or love in it and too much loneliness . And even if we were to use it, it would kill you. We need you, Karokoro. You’re the only one who still knows the spells from the old days.”

“But… then Gli would die…”

“It doesn’t matter!” snapped Scythina. Gli heard a little bit of thunder coming from Scythina (and knew she was only angry and didn’t strike anyone) and now knew that Scythina was not actually an Herb Dragon, but a Lightning Dragon. “We want the world, Karokoro. Give me your spell book, and I will let Gli go.”

Karokoro seemed to be hesitant, but said, “Alright. Let me go grab it for you.” There was suspicion in his voice, but Gli heard him leave and come back. “Here you are, Scythina. It contains every spell ever created.”

She heard Scythina laugh, and heard a loud bunch of thunder. She could see the flash of lightning through her eyelids. She heard Karokoro gasp for air and then all could be heard was Scythina’s evil laugh.

When Gli woke up again the next morning, she felt terrible, like usual. Teriefula came and gave Gli her consumables. Gli realized the lamb bone looked exactly like the key of the cage. She ate the rest of the meat until it revealed the bone. She stuck in into the keyhole and turned. It had worked! She quietly opened the cage and stepped out. She got out and flew away. She was sluggish and slow because of the fever and her wings ached, but she had to get going now.

She didn’t stop. She flew three miles before her wings couldn’t care carry her anymore. She stopped in a thick forest. She piled up a bunch of dirt, sticks, and rocks and made a simple shelter. She was carrying three fji leaves and stuffed in her shelter. She lied down, and for once in a while, she rested.