Chp.44: Seeing the brother again

The news that Maldor finally had access to the laboratory and that he knew how to steal the portable gate was obviously greeted with great joy by the other dragons. They were now closer than ever to freeing Haku. They had finally solved the problem from range: now all they had to do was steal the portable gate and bring it into the arena, and Haku would be free.

Of course, they didn't steal it immediately. There were many factors to take into account. They knew they had only one chance, and that if they failed they might never be able to free their brother again. First they had to devise a plan, one that was perfect and with no margin for error.

They had to make sure the portable gate reached Haku in the arena. Unfortunately, it only worked once, so Maldor couldn't have teleported to him. Which meant she'd have to cross nearly half the city, and even with a level adamantium mana core that wouldn't be a quick feat. Therefore, if they were to be successful, they had to make sure Maldor didn't find any obstacles in her way.

They thought about it for a long time, and finally came up with a plan, one that had a very good chance of working. And so, they started preparing everything. Every detail had to be carefully studied and they had to foresee every unexpected event; a single mistake could have marked their failure.

However, one day something new happened. While she was working at 'The dragon's shop', Finiar noticed that a strange crowd was forming in the street. Curious, she went out and asked a passerby what was going on. "Don't you know? They are transporting the dragon to the royal palace!" he answered her.

Finiar gaped. "What why?" she asked almost without realizing it.

"The king is having a party and wants everyone to see the dragon" the man replied. "He should pass on this street in moments. You should stay, seeing a dragon up close is a more unique than rare opportunity! Who cares the arena, here we will have it less than a meter away!"

Finiar didn't listen to him; she turned and ran into the shop. Luckily there were no customers at the time, so no one saw her enter with her mouth agape and her eyes popping out. "Sister! What's going on?" Malchia asked noticing her, and all the others quickly joined her worried.

"They're... They're taking Haku away!" Finiar said out of breath. "He... they take him to the palace..."

"What? Finiar, what are you saying?" Sisna exclaimed in shock; if the humans took Haku away from the arena, then they would have to change a lot of their plan. "Sister, please. Take a deep breath and explain calmly"

Finiar listened to her sister and inhaled deeply, and then brought back what the passerby had told her. When she was done, Sisna seemed more relaxed. "Well, maybe it's not a bad thing. If they bring him there just to show him during a party, then he will almost certainly be safe. And once the party is over they will bring him back to the arena… I hope"

"Do you hope?" Jatara asked raising an eyebrow.

"At the moment we can do nothing but hope. Let's keep an eye on the situation and then consider what to do" Sisna replief. Unfortunately there was nothing else she could do: she had too little information to determine if Haku would return to the arena or not. She could only wait and see how events unfolded.

Some of her sisters didn't seem convinced, but before anyone could protest Tikka looked out the windows and exclaimed, "Look! He's passing now!"

All the girls felt a shiver down their spine. Just like a few months ago, when they arrived in the city, they weren't sure they wanted to see Haku... but this time they were unable to hold back. Almost as if animated by a will of their own, their bodies raced to the windows and gazed out of the shop. Even Sisna, after a moment's reluctance, stepped forward and looked.

And finally they saw him. It had been a year since they had last seen him, but they had no problem recognizing him. It was like an instinct, something that stirred within them that allowed them to recognize their lost brother even after he had changed so much. A bond that existed between all of them.

Haku had grown, and his body had become ten meters long. His horns had grown even larger than Rhaegal's and Darbi's ones, and so had the spines on his back. His appearance had become quite majestic and beautiful, at least from the dragons' point of view. He was locked in a cage, with chains that blocked his entire body, and a muzzle that prevented him from opening his jaws too much. Several soldiers were escorting him, and people on the street crowded around the cage to get a closer look at him, as if he were some kind of attraction.

That sight stirred something inside the girls. Their mouths moved and their teeth gnashed, and their clawed fingers scraped the glass with their nails. A hurricane of feelings formed in their hearts: happiness at having seen their brother again, the desire to be able to hug him, the will to hear his voice again... but all these positive feelings were overshadowed by anger. Dragons had felt true rage few times in their lives, but seeing their brother treated like this caused it to bubble up like a volcano from within them. Suddenly, all of them felt the immediate urge to break down the window, go out of the shop and maul every single person in the street until everyone who had dared to taunt their brother was nothing but food for worms.

Was that what their brother had become? Nothing more than a prop for those pathetic newcomers? Had they turned him into a trophy to show off? How dare they! Haku was a dragon, the embodiment of power and destruction! He was their brother, the one who had allowed many of them to survive when they alone could not have done it! The newcomers should have bowed down and asked forgiveness for their foolish actions, instead they kept smiling, talking and joking as if this could save them from the fury of the dragon! The girls suddenly remembered Haku's words when he urged them not to give up after they were kicked out by their mother, and for the first time in their lives they really felt the urge to show everyone what happens when someone pitted against a herd of dragons! No more subterfuge, no more prudence, no more deception; it was time only for devastation!

But then, they saw something. Something that immediately quenched their anger, giving way to a strange feeling of relief and happiness mixed.

Haku turned his head slightly, and they were finally able to see their brother's eyes. And the look they saw was not a look of resignation, of weakness, of submission; on the contrary, he was more proud and authoritative than ever. With just a look, Haku instilled terror in the hearts of the newcomers, who immediately fled from his cage.

This made the girls smile. That look was proof that Haku hadn't folded. He hadn't become the plaything of the newcomers, he hadn't submitted to them: despite all the humiliations he was undergoing, he had remained proud and indomitable. Haku was left.

Sisna almost cried at the sight. During that entire year, she had always wondered what she would find when they rescued Haku. After a year of captivity, would her brother still be her brother? It wasn't so obvious. Fighting in the arena could dull his sensibilities, turning him into a bloodthirsty and crazed beast. Or the constant torture to which he would have been subjected could have broken his will and transformed him into a fearful caricature of himself. Sisna was terrified that when she found her brother, he would be something she would no longer be able to recognize. But now, she could see that that hadn't happened. That eyes showed that Haku had resisted. In those eyes Sisna could see her brother's calculating mind, without any hint of fear or bestiality. Not even a whole year spent as a prisoner had been able to break his will, his pride, his dragon pride. He remained Haku, their brother.

This was enough to calm them down. Reason got the better of anger again, and they moved away from the windows to avoid losing control again. They couldn't go out and slaughter everyone, not now; they would get nothing. The city guard would be on them in minutes. Also, they had noticed that leading the procession carrying Haku was that legendary level woman, Hara. Saving Haku at that moment was impossible. So they stayed inside the shop and waited, until the shouting of the people disappeared, a sign that Haku must be long gone.

When there was no more voice, Sisna went to the window and looked out. The road had emptied and now only a few people were seen on it. "He's gone" she said.

Her sisters seemed to be freeing themselves of a burden. "What do we do now?" Glausar asked.

Sisna reflected about it, then she answered: "Let's close the shop for today, and use the invisibility rune to lurk anywhere around the arena. We will stay there all day and all night if necessary. We need to make sure Haku gets back there"

That proposal was well received by the others, who decided it made quite sense; so they locked up the shop, used the invisibility rune to vanish from the eyes of the newcomers, and then climbed out a window and jumped onto the rooftops. Each of them headed to a different point, so that the surroundings of the arena were always watched. After that, they waited. A great amount of emotions were swirling in their hearts, and they were sure that if they were released they could do something rash: concentrating on surveying the area, at least they could keep their minds busy and not think about it.

They were so concentrated that they didn't realize that the sun was moving across the sky, and that it soon disappeared over the mountains on the horizon. The sky turned black and the stars sprouted like mushrooms after a thunderstorm. The dragons barely noticed this, and despite the passage of time they didn't move from where they were. They probably would have stayed there until the next morning, except that around three o'clock they had seen Haku returning to the arena.

This time he was out of the cage, but was escorted by many guards. Given the situation, the girls again felt the urge to intervene, but they managed to hold back: those guards were almost certainly all level adamantium, they were more numerous than them, they were better armed and even if they had managed to beat them many others would have arrived sooner that they could escape. Evidently Haku must have done the same reasoning, because he wasn't resisting even though his eyes betrayed his anger. Thus, they could only watch helplessly as their brother re-entered the arena.

After making sure that at least Haku was still where they wanted him to be, the girls headed back to the shop and as soon as they were there they returned to their real bodies. When they did, they met a rather angry Rhaegal. "Where were you!? I've been waiting for you for hours!"

"Sorry, brother. We… had a setback" Sisna said. "We saw Haku"

Rhaegal's eyes widened. "You... really?" he asked amazed. "How is him?"

"Still fine, both physically and mentally" Sisna replied, clenching her claws slightly. "We have to get him out of there, Rhaegal. I can't stand the newcomers treating him like a freak!"

Rhaegal nodded. He hadn't told his sisters about what he, Corgorin, and Serengal had seen, because he knew this would be their reaction. Knowing that their brother was treated in similar ways… made them lose their sanity. "We'll do it soon. Don't worry, we've already sorted out almost all the pieces"

Sisna nodded. "I know. So? Were you able to sell Darbi?"

"Of course! Right now my avatar is in a cell in the merchants guild" a voice suddenly said. Sisna turned and to her surprise saw Darbi eating a carcass. "What are you doing here!?" she snapped. "You should be in your avatar!"

"Hey, I have to eat too, you know? I told you, right now I'm in a cell and I'm sleeping. No one is watching me. I can afford to stay here for a moment and feed myself" Darbi replied.

After a long time, today it was finally time for Darbi to take action, with the most important task of all: to contact Haku. After all, they couldn't execute any plan without the individual concerned knowing what was going on. Besides, they needed some help from inside the arena, and Haku would then play a part in his own escape. Therefore Darbi had created an avatar of a red lizardman and Rhaegal had sold him into slavery. That way, as soon as Darbi arrived at the arena, they could actively communicate with Haku. Executing this plan sooner would have been risky, since Darbi would have ended up fighting strong opponents and having the avatar destroyed, resulting in the humans discovering that it was nothing more than a dead and stitched body protected by the illusions caused by the invisibility rune. But now the dragons planned to implement their escape plan within a week, so Darbi could finally go to meet his brother.

"We can't risk anyone discovering you! Go back to your avatar now!" Sisna exclaimed in an angry tone that didn't admit of reply.

"Okay, okay. How touchy" Darbi said closing his eyes and finding himself back in his avatar. As he'd expected, there was no one to look at him, which made him smile a little. Then, a single tear rolled down his eye. "Brother, tomorrow I'll finally talk to you again. I hope you haven't become a grouch like our sister"