Dragon Shifter

Disagreements

I woke up in the cave the next morning and it took me a minute to figure out where I was. Then I remembered that I was part of a pack now. "Morning newcomer!" Chirped an orange Singetail as he walked past. "Morning!" I chirped back. "JadeScale, would you care to come with me?" Asked the deep grunts of FireFang. I nodded and followed my leader out of the cave. "JadeScale, you may think that I'm just the powerful leader of this pack, but I actually have a leader of my own. My leader is a human, a man named Gunnar. Our job is to work with the humans and capture dragons for them to sell, do you understand?" FireFang explained. "Yes sir" I replied. "Good, now I think it's time to meet my human. And remember, you must treat him with respect" FireFang said as we approached the hunters campsite.

We walked between the tents until we reached the largest tent of all. "This is Gunnar's tent" FireFang told me. He nudged his nose inside the tent and I heard a grumble from inside. The red tent flap was pulled back and standing in front of us was the tall, pale man. Just by looking at his eyes I could tell he was cruel. FireFang bowed down and instructed me to do the same. I reluctantly lowered my head, but only after I let out a hiss. "Ah, you found me another Singetail" Gunnar said as he reached into a nearby bucket and threw a fish to FireFang. I lifted my head and locked eyes with the leader. "Fine, here you go" Gunnar said as he tossed me a fish too. I caught it and swallowed the Ice Tail Pike. "Alright reptile, be on your way now" Gunnar commanded FireFang as he pointed his whip down the path. FireFang bowed once more then walked away. I hissed at Gunnar, then followed my new leader.

We walked through the camp. I spotted Kai in the distance and headed in his direction. "Who's that kid?" I asked to try and find out more about him. "He's Gunnar's son, but the kid is a nuisance" FireFang told me. "There he is, my son!" I heard Gunnar say as he walked over to Kai and put an arm around his shoulders. Kai groaned and wriggled out of his fathers grip. "Calm down boy, I'm not gonna hurt ya!" Gunnar said and he sounded slightly annoyed. "You would though" Kai muttered. Me and FireFang slowly crept closer to them. "No, I would never hurt you. I only want to best for my son!" Gunnar said as he put his hand on Kai's shoulder. Kai shoved his fathers arm off and took a step back before yelling "then give me my dragon!" FireFang ran forwards before I could stop him. He skidded to a stop beside Gunnar and growled fiercely at Kai. I leapt into the air and landed in front of Kai. I spread out my four wings above my body, growled at FireFang and prepared a fireball in my mouth. "What are you doing? Get over here now!" FireFang yelled at me. "Leave the kid alone!" I hissed at him.

Suddenly I was knocked to the ground and a muzzle was shoved over my snout. I looked up and saw a man dressed in full armour leaning over me. "I'll deal with this sir!" The man told Gunnar. "Very well. Come on Kai, we're going!" Gunnar said as he grabbed Kai. The boy protested, but Gunnar dragged his son away. "Thank you Destiny" Kai whispered back at me. I nodded in return. FireFang stepped in front of me and growled. "Reptile! Get over here!" Gunnar shouted as he cracked the whip. FireFang snorted some smoke at me then turned around and ran after his leader.

I looked up at the man leaning next to me as he attached a chain to my muzzle. He tried to pull me along with the chain, but I refused to move. The man groaned and kept pulling. Suddenly I jumped forwards and landed on top of the surprised hunter. I hooked my muzzle onto his armour and managed to slip out of it. I let out a deep growl at the man before spreading my wings and flying away.

I landed by the cave entrance and crawled inside. I immediately noticed that the other Singetails were either glaring at me or looked worried. I walked to the stream at the back of the cave and dipped my snout into the cool water for a drink. Suddenly FireFang leapt at me and pinned me to the ground. I looked up at the growling red Singetail and our eyes locked. That's when I finally realised why I felt so uneasy around him and why I was so angry every time I saw him. This was the very same Singetail that had taken Autumn from me! I growled in anger and pushed him off of me. I leapt forwards and shot a fireball at his feet. FireFang leapt at me, but I ducked and ran under him. FireFang landed on the ground and snarled before shooting a fireball at me. I jumped into the air and the fireball hit the ground where I had just been standing. I landed, growled and was about to shoot another fireball when an orange Singetail jumped between us. "Drop your fire, both of you!" The Singetail shouted. I swallowed the fireball and looked up. "Okay listen. We know that you two had a disagreement earlier, but we need both of you in this pack so let's just agree that you were both wrong. FireFang overreacted and JadeScale needs to show more respect, right?" The Singetail asked. "Yes" I muttered softly. "Fine!" FireFang snapped. "Good, now stay out of each other's way until tomorrow!" The Singetail said as he stepped back. I let out a puff of smoke from my nostrils then turned and walked away. The orange Singetail came over to me. "Hey, uh, thanks for the help back there" I told him. "That's alright" the Singetail smiled. "What's your name by the way?" I asked. "I'm Fireball" the Singetail replied.