{Empress}
It took us a week to bypass Grand Keep, the staging point before the pass for the human raiding parties.
“Charge!” (Empress)
I yelled, as we rushed into the passage of Crevant Pass. The defensive walls were laid open, and since they haven’t been maintained for a countless number of years, it was easy for us to overwhelm them rather quickly. As soon as the battle ended, the people with engineering and construction talents started rebuilding and repairing the walls, while the others proceeded inside. It took a full day to close the gates, then it took a week and a half to repair and build up the gates. During that time, me and my mate went through the underground passage and ambushed the other side.
It took a full three days of travelling, and the fighting lasted a week. There were far more enemies that weren’t slaves than we imagined. From our raiding patterns, I imagine that they’ve already noticed how the slaves have been betraying their masters along the warpath. My mate confirmed that in Star City. Instead of fighting, my mate took it upon himself to supervise our people’s movements. I kept hearing him talk to himself.
‘We have 52,389 people. One unit of food can feed a single person for one day. We have close to one million units worth of food. Stretching it to thirty more days will be hard, but it’s doable for the fighters. It will all depend on…’ (Emperor)
I could feel his seriousness while he was thinking about that.
As we finally broke through the rear wall, all the dragon1dragonspeciesnewts and lizkin were surprised at what they found. One of the stables had young pure blood dragons being treated as livestock. A few humans that remained were also hiding there. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my greater kin, but I felt a backlash of pain as I stepped back.
“You monsters.” (Empress)
I said trembling. Treat a god like a beast, and eventually even a god will become one. I closed my eyes and started focusing again with everything I had. Now that I know what happened, I’m prepared.
‘Great ones, can any of you understand me?’ (Empress)
I reached out with my mind to the dragons. Many of them acted violently to my question, but one of them actually responded.
‘No, don’t hurt me again.’ (Abused Young Dragon)
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I instantly looked toward the captive. I moved over to the young dragon that was no more than a few months old, then used soul rend on my hand.
‘Great one, I’m relieved there is at least one of you that will speak to me.’ (Empress)
The young dragon felt the pain being removed from their body as I cleaned it’s curse. I couldn’t treat it’s physical damage at the moment though. I then told the dragonnewts behind me to get food for the young dragon. I took a knee and stared into his eyes. One of his eyes was gone, and the other barely opened.
‘No, I don’t believe you. Go away.’ (Abused Young Dragon)
I looked around and saw that the other dragons started acting up. The scared humans were still hiding in the back stall, so I walked over to them with my my sword drawn.
“No! Please!” (Stable Boy)
I didn’t give them a moment more to repent to their gods. My fury couldn’t be stopped, even by my mate who kept quiet during my torment. I then went and severed the limbs of the humans and started feeding the wild dragons their meat.
As my mate was organizing the tents, I had a meeting with the near half hundred other dragonnewts. The majority of them were from clans that were different from mine, but they were still lead. They understand very quickly that I was one of the leaders of the army. Our successes have been neither light or small. The beings like me who know their clans are all dead will remain with the defense forces, or they will join the raiding parties that raid the human’s nearby settlements. The beings that have some clan members remaining will go inform their people that we have secured the pass for the time being. This meeting wasn’t about that though.
“We have been quiet about this topic for some time now, but we have to talk about it. You, and the dragonnewts and lizkin that you represent, with and without previous clans. The motto we learn when we’re young is to follow whoever we call our master. Now that we’ve come back to the borders of our ancestors, it’s time to decide.” (Empress)
I paused to think about the dragons that were treated like animals for a moment. The young one that spoke thanked me, as the others were put to eternal sleep. She will go to any blood kin that will take him, or we will raise her ourselves in our new nation. By now, my mate should be heading toward the world source.
The empress and Loren looked at one another, as Loren stepped forward.
“I won’t be accepted in another clan, so I would like to stay with the strong one that freed me.” (Loren)
I took a moment to consider if she was referring to me or my mate. This young one’s emotions are still too wild. What she said is true though. The others know that we’ll accept them as well.
“I will give everyone one hour of rest before we move out. Just to remind you, the humans that we see from this point on are our enemies. There’s no reason to show any mercy, even to the infants.” (Empress)
I recalled our actions until now as I said that. There was a sign of hesitation and regret in my voice. It’s a ruthless thing for me to say, more than I’m comfortable with.
{Narrator}
The turning point for when dragonnewts became an independent force from dragons happened at this meeting. While the dragonnewts and dragons retained their good relations throughout the empire’s entire history, the micromanagement that the dragons always did to their followers from this point on started to turn away from their traditional rules of dragons being the chiefs. Their respective tribes and clans started to become spiritual leaders and guides. This also joined the eternally splintered dragon forces into a single force against the humans. While this didn’t last long due to personal vendettas and squabbles, it became a base and foundation for future generations to work from.
As for the young one that the empress and the other rebels saved, she became the central pillar of the spiritual guidance to the lesser blood kin of the dragons until she died over three thousand years later. Even at the end of her life, she would still think about the days when she was caged like an animal by the humans, and the gratitude she had for her saviors. He became the sole dragon in the empires history to have ever been enslaved, and the sole voice among them to forever fight against slavery3slaverytheme.
