Dragon Shifter

The Hunter's New Leader

I flew many miles for many days, resting at the darkness part of the night and flying the second the sun could be seen. I flew over the great blue sea and many small islands, but nowhere I could call home. I was always on the look out for Autumn, but I was starting to lose all hope of actually ever finding her. I had checked every island I passed and always kept an eye on the ocean, but there was still no sight of her. I felt empty without Autumn and now April too. And I felt cold, although I was in hot sunlight. I glided over the waves and little drops of water flew up at me and cooled down my scales in the hot sun. I saw some sea stacks up ahead and convinced myself to test out my agility. I clicked my tail fins and raced towards the rocks in front of me. The wind rushed past my scales and I left a trail of wavy water behind me. I reached the sea stakes and twisted left. I flapped my wings and clicked my tail flaps to pick up speed. I dashed through a hole in the rock and turned right. I zoomed through the maze of rocks and dived down towards the water. The last rock was in front of me, I flapped my wings and flew upwards. I reached the top of the rock and did a flip. As I was upside down in my flip, I spotted a familiar dragon. I turned upright again as my flip finished and dived back down towards the water.

I turned around and flew higher up. Agility time was over, now it was time to find that dragon! I raced through the sky, trying to find it. Then as if out of nowhere, it popped up. I dashed closer and examined the dragon. It was a Singetail! He was light green with brown spots. He had a wide, flat body, a long tail and four wings. I was almost happy to see another dragon again, but I still held a strong grudge against Singetails since that's the dragon species that took Autumn from me. Suddenly I heard a loud humming sound. The Singetail looked about, his eyes went into narrow slits and he dashed towards the sound. I felt myself falling under the control of beautiful tune from a Death Song. I shifted into a Thunderdrum so I could block it out. Thunderdrums blast loud sonic shockwaves instead of fire and its loud enough to make any human go deaf. Thunderdrum's are partially deaf which means they can block out the Death Song's tune. Then I followed the Singetail and we approached an island.

I watched the Singetail fly over a clearing in some woods. The Singetail lifted his head towards the humming sound and continued to fly over the trees. I followed close behind. Suddenly the Singetail was hit with boiling amber, he shrieked and fell to the ground. I dived into the trees and watched. The Singetail landed on his back then rolled over onto his belly. His snout landed in front of a long whip. A tall man stood in front of him. He had very pale skin, a large body build, brown eyes and short dark hair which crawled down his face and made a short beard. He was wearing red scaled armour over his chest and a green kilt which was held up by a thick brown belt. He had metal cuffs on his arms and draped around his back was a dark purple cape. All around the clearing were armoured men who were all dressed in dragon hunter uniform. This was a group of dragon hunters. Dragons cocooned in amber lay around the clearing and the hunters were loading them into cages. This man must be their leader. Behind him stood a Death Song which was tied up in chains.

I heard a shriek and saw a purple Deadly Nadder fall to the ground in a cocoon of amber. I watched as two armoured men lifted the purple Nadder onto a cart with wheels. "What do you think of that new leader Gunnar?" One hunter asked the other. "This is no way to hunt dragons" the other hunter whispered back. The leader turned around and help his whip on his right shoulder. "Not what you're used to. Is that it?" He asked in a deep voice. Both hunters exchanged a nervous glance. Gunnar continued "well please, do accept my most sincere apologies." The hunter nodded nervously. "Now, if you would be so kind as to tell me why the objection?" Gunnar asked as he took a couple more steps forward. "Uh, takes the sport out of it. Seems like cheating is all..." the hunter replied nervously. "Cheating... cheating. Well you're right" he paused to inhale then he continued, "well, I suppose if you'd rather do things your way... good luck to you, hmm? And perhaps we shall meet again." Gunnar held out his hand and pointed towards the exit of the island. "I can leave? Just like that?" The hunter asked with confusion. "Just like that. Safe travels, my friend" Gunnar replied. The hunter turned and started jogging away. However the leader's face turned from a friendly smile to a deadly frown. The hunter turned around and waved goodbye, but Gunnar lifted a dagger and ran at the hunter. I turned my head so I didn't see what happened next, but I the hunter grunt and then a thud against the ground. The other hunters gasped. "Anyone else feel like discussing our methods of trapping? The floor is open..." Gunnar said fiercely as he turned around.

I decided to excuse myself for a while. I leapt into the air and flew down to the sea. I landed on the soft sand and crawled into the cool salty water. I swam around and it felt good to have water between my scales once more. Once I had finished my bath I flew back to the clearing where the hunters were. It was dusk now and it looked like the hunters were leaving. The hunters had loaded the last of the dragons, including the trapped Death Song, onto a large ship. "That's all sir" one of the hunters told the leader. "Very well. We set sail now!" Gunnar replied as he turned around and climbed aboard his ship. I watched the ship start to sail away and wondered if I should just leave it and continue my search for Autumn. But if Autumn was still alive surely I would have found her by now... Autumn was probably dead. And these were dangerous dragon hunters. I shifted into a Deadly Nadder and swiftly flew after the ship as it left the island behind. Right there and then I decided I was going to stick around the hunters, find out what it was they were up to and stop it.