This is a fantasy piece. All characters are over 18 and all are in human shape for the fun stuff.
***
We were all on edge. It was as if we could feel something coming but couldn't see it. Behind me, I could hear laughter and chattering over the music in the ballroom. Damian and I were on the west balcony. We were in our dress uniforms instead of armor because the royal elite didn't like the look of armor when they were drinking and eating to excess. I'd normally have a full set of knives strapped to my body, so only having my ceremonial sword at my hip unnerved me.
Before us, the mountains were shrouded in angry purple black clouds. We could see them swirling as the storm approached. Koryn and Jayl were station to my right, at the other set of doors. When I glanced over they were standing with their heads together, motioning at something in the distance.
"What is it that they see?" I asked Damien. Damien glances to the way I'm looking and back out at the horizon.
"There's nothing but weather..." Damian says slowly. I took a few steps away from my post.
"Shadows," I half whisper. There were shadows in the clouds.
"Wyn, do you think?"
Damien and I look at each other.
"Dragons," we say at the same time. We stood frozen for a moment. Maybe longer.
"Dragons!" Damien yells as he finally unfreezes. The call is taken up and there is shouting.
The music stops and there is screaming inside the ballroom where there was once laughing and music. I turn and run inside. Other guards are trying to herd all the nobles and royals out of the ballroom. Most are resisting the guards orders, some because they are drunk, others because they don't like being told what to do. The king sits on his pedestal, watching the chaos. He isn't my priority. That's for his personal guard to work out, thank the gods.
Instead, I go around blotting out candles and lights. Damien races to me and starts to help. We were maybe half way through the candles when the king starts shouting at his guards. I abandon the rest of the candles and run back outside. The guards have moved in and the guests were heading further inside and not outside. Excellent. I rush inside and bolt the double doors in front of me. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than being open. As I rush to the other set a huge body comes crashing through the windows and glass shatters all over me. I drop to the ground and roll to the wall. Small cuts all over my exposed skin stings and I hiss from the pain.
Before me a huge gray dragon has landed in the middle of the room and starts roaring and snapping at people are they panic. I was about to get up when a huge black dragon steps through the window, narrowly missing stepping on me. I heard a yell across the room and saw Jayl leap between the ball guests and the gray dragon. I jumped to my feet and sprinted for him. I glanced around the room looking for Damien but I couldn't see him.
Jayl was doing his best to hold off the dragon. I ducked under the tail as it swept across the room as the dragon snarled and snapped at Jayl. I screamed when the dragon managed to bite down on Jayl's arm, severing it. I slid between Jayl and the dragon, my sword pointed at the dragon. I realized too late that I had forgotten about the other dragon. A huge dragon paw slammed into me, sending me flying across the room.
My head hit the floor, causing me to see double. I curled into a ball as people walked over me and on me as they tried to get away. Hands grabbed my shoulders before pulling me up. Damien stood before me, looking me over.
"I'm okay," I rasped.
"Your arm," Damien said. I looked down and saw I had been clawed. I flexed my arm and winced. Damien released me to look at the wound. "It's not as bad as it look, it's just a bleeder."
"Right," I said. We needed a plan. There were more bodies on the ground and the dragons had multiplied since I took flight across the room.
"We might be able to make it out onto the balcony," Damien suggested. We looked to the doors next to us. They were broken but the way was clear.
"But we're supposed to-"
"What?" Damien demanded. "Die for them? They let our families starve and force us into the army or guard like it's out of good will instead of insuring they keep control of us. I don't think they'll survive, even if we stayed to fight."
He was right. They refused to help the poor in the city and kept those of us from poor families half starved instead of fed like the noble guards. I glanced up to see the King screaming at one of the dragons before taking a blow to the chest from a tail. Right. It was over anyway. The dragons too massive and too few guards. I turned to the balcony and watched in horror as the dragons outside turned into men. They were dressed in all black with the dragon kings crest on their chest.
We were so screwed.
Damien took my hand and pulled me toward away from the balcony. Before we made it three steps we got hit with a tail and flew against the wall, my head cracking against the wall. I crumpled to the ground, my eyes unfocused.
When I came back to myself, the room was quiet with nothing but sniffling and crying to be heard. I slowly sat up. Men dressed in black uniforms with the dragon king crest stood around the room. The nobles were clustered together across the room from me, clutching at each other. Damien wasn't with me. My eyes stung. I swiped my hand across my eyes and it came back sticky with blood.
Feet stopped before me and I looked up. A huge man with coal black hair and eyes stood looking down at me. He bend and hauled me to my feet and shoved me against the wall. He looked me over from head to toe. Then his hands ripped my uniform top apart, shredding it. Hands shoved me back against the wall when I fought back, my head smacking against the wall before I stopped resisting.
His eyes were on my torso. My chest was bound tight with cloth, since a corset wouldn't work under my uniform. He pulled my arms above my head and took both wrists in one hand and his other hand traced down my chest. His finger tips barely grazed the side of my breast and down to my ribs. His hands settled on my ribs, tracing them. Then he pulled me away from the wall and tore the uniform completely from my body, leaving just the white cloth that bound my breasts in place.
I was pulled around the room until I was thrown before the king. He glared down at me like all of this was my fault. I dropped my gaze to the floor, my arms going to my chest.
"Do you starve all your subjects? I could count her ribs from the other room," the man roared at the king. "Remove him from my seat."
Men hauled the king out of the throne and dragged him not too gently down the small steps that lead up to it. Then the man hauled me to my feet and pulled me up the steps with him. He turned us to face the room. He sat and pulled me on top of his lap.
"You may select your tributes," his voice rang out. The dragon king's guards went about the room and selected people. Strangely they didn't select any of the nobles. They selected from servers and guards.
I glanced around the room and finally found Damien. He wasn't one of the selected. He said with a few other guards and servers. He had blood running down his face too. His eyes met mine. He looked worried.
An arm snaked around my waist and pulled me until my back hit his chest. I still kept my arms pressed to my chest as his other hand gently rubbed my arm, pausing when I hissed as he touched the wound on my arm. He forced my arm up so he could look at it. My eyes went to my arm. It didn't look bad, honestly. Not even worth getting stitches.
His chest rumbled behind me as he called out and was answered. I ignored him as best I could and glanced around the room. Those selected as tributes sat at the edge of the room on their knees, heads down. Those were were left over from the servers and guards were also being shackled together. Arms behind their back with chains looping through to connect them to the person in front and behind them.
