Dragon Prince - Chapter Seventeen
Dragon Prince
Chapter Seventeen
Hyunjoong heard the animalistic cry beginning and he felt something clench within him. He gasped softly and staggered backwards. Strong arms kept him from falling and he looked up to see Jaejoong directing Yunho with a nod. The older man smoothly quickened his pace and engaged their guide in conversations, easily distracting him from the Prince.
Jaejoong didn’t say anything as he helped him find his balance and urged him forward. Hyunjoong let his feet lead the way as he tried to push away the deep feeling of sorrow that was not his within him. He inexplicitly knew that the sorrow belonged to Youngsaeng.
It took him a moment, but he realized the further they got from the dragon, the less he felt it. When they were far enough away from the room, it had lessened enough that he could put it in the back of his mind.
He had no sooner done so when their guide turned to him and smiled. “This is our training facility for our latest experiment,” he said eagerly, knocking on the door. A man in a white robe answered the door and looked confused until his eyes fell on the Prince.
“My Lord,” he said bowing deeply. “We were not expecting you so soon. Our results are not final yet,” the man said nervously.
“I wish to see your progress,” he declared.
“O-of course,” the man stuttered bowing again and opening the door wider.
Upon walking through the door, Hyunjoong found himself in another large room. It was divided in half by a low wall. On one half were several humans in white, working with different items on tables. On the other side small dragons were bounding around chasing one another. Hyunjoong counted nine in total, one red, one white, two yellow, two black and three green. He judged them to be no taller than his waist for the largest and twice as long. Each was wearing a silver collar.
One of them squawked and spread its wings for a moment before pouncing on another one and Hyunjoong stifled a gasp at what he had seen. The dragons wings, when spread to their fullest, had shown neatly cut holes through the venerable webbing of their wings. It left them looking more like spider webs then anything that could be used to fly.
“What happened to their wings?” he asked when he was sure he was calm enough to speak.
“They were cut to insure that the creatures couldn’t fly away,” the scientist said flippantly.
“And those?” Hyunjoong asked pointing to nine small indents in the wall. They were approximately a third of the size of a gypsy’s wagon. He imagined that five or so people could squeeze into it if they really tried.
“Oh those are the creature’s rooms. See we chain them here,” the scientist said, pointing to chains inside it. “And then we press this button here which allows us to activate the magic to close the door,” he indicated the plain raised button beside the door.
“And my father approved of this?”
“What my Lord?” the scientist asked confused.
“Cutting their wings and keeping them like this?”
“Yes. The King devised this plan himself. He showed us how to cut their wings,” the man replied.
Hyunjoong nodded certain that had found his truth and it sickened him. He turned and looked at the young dragons. Seeing them, the only thing that his mind could draw up was the image of Haneul, a child orphaned and traumatized in a way that she didn’t yet understand.
“You and all of your men get into those,” Hyunjoong ordered coldly gesturing to the small indents in the wall. “You too,” he said, gesturing to the guards that had lead them there.
“My Lord?” the man’s voice was baffled.
“I said everyone in. Are you questioning a direct order?”
“No my lord,” their guide disagreed immediately. He looked around the room and gestured sharply. “You heard the Prince. Everyone in.” Around the room men scrambled to obey. Completely bewildered, Hyunjoong’s friends watched as every single man crammed themselves into one of the little cubbies. Once they were all inside, Hyunjoong strode to the end of the row and began hitting the buttons to close them. One by one the doors to the indents slide closed, trapping the men within.
“My Prince, may I ask what you are doing?” the lead scientist asked shakily as the Prince stopped just outside the last door.
“Undoing what my father has done,” he said calmly. Then he pressed the button and the door slid shut.
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It took what seemed like forever for Youngsaeng to calm his sorrow enough to complete the task that they had come to accomplish. Once it had lessened to a stead ache in his chest, the black dragon rose slowly to his feet.
Arunika had removed the vines from him nearly as soon as the door to the room had shut. She and Kyujong had slipped from beneath his wings and set about freeing the dragons enclosed there. It was slow work as Arunika focused on returning as much energy through the plants as she could before removing them completely. Kyujong followed behind her tending to the multiple wounds the best he could, none of them wanted to exhaust Arunika by asking her to heal as well.
Youngsaeng shook himself, trying to remove the lingering feeling of the vines and moved over to the great black dragon that was laying free of the tree at last. “Great one,” he called in the language of the dragons, an audible spoken language consisting of sounds, most of which human ears couldn’t pick out. “We have come to free our people.”
“You have come too late for most,” her voice was weary.
“I am sorry,” he said sadly. “I have come too late to do any good.”
“It is never too late for good,” she corrected gently. “As long as one of us has hope in our bodies, it will never be too late.”
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“My Prince?” Yunho asked softly when the last of the wall indents was sealed. If the men inside were raising a fuss, it couldn’t be heard.
Hyunjoong stared around the room taking in every detail of the creation his father had had a direct hand in creating. As his eyes took in everything there, he carefully pressed down his emotions, locking them deep within himself so that they wouldn’t hinder his thoughts. “We are going to do what we came here to do,” he said slowly. “Free the dragons.”
Yunho nodded. He reached into a pouch at his waist and pulled out a scrap of paper. On it was the map that Arunika had drawn for them earlier that day. “Alright this is where we are,” he said pointing to a room on the map. “Our little guide was nice enough to tell me all about the security of this place and there is very little. Most of it is concentrated to these forward halls near the front of the complex,” he traced it with a finger.
“If we get a dragon that can move earth to close those off, we won’t even have to deal with the majority of them,” Jungmin pointed out as all of the men gathered around the scrap of paper.
“The good news,” Yunho said with a smile. “Is that the rooms where they are keeping the dragons are unguarded. They were confident that the elements would hold them and saw fit to never post guards. We are also between what he called ‘Bleedings’ so everyone should be in the holding rooms just waiting for us to set them free. The problem is we are going to have to do it one at a time because only a dragon with the same elemental capabilities or ones that can overpower them will be able to break through the things holding all of them.”
Hyunjoong nodded and turned from the group as several members began throwing out ideas for plans of action. He knew Yunho would be able to handle creating a plan that would work the best for them, so he left the man to it. The Prince turned and moved closer to where they young dragons were playing.
The largest was no larger than a very large dog all and the smallest would only reach his knees. As he approached they stopped in their play to look at him. The largest, a red dragon, shifted in front of the others and spread its tattered wings.
“I won’t hurt you,” Hyunjoong said gently. “We have come to set you free and take you to your home.” He stepped closer and the little dragon hissed, its tail lashing back and forth. “It’s ok. We are friends,” he soothed.
The little dragon crouched down and in a sudden burst of speed, sprung forward at him teeth bared. A strong hand on the Prince’s shoulder dragged him out of the way before the little teeth would have found their hold and the little dragon screeched as it landed without hitting its mark. It scampered back to its companions as if afraid to leave them unprotected and Hyunjoong looked back to see Suk-chul staring at them sympathetically.
“They don’t understand you,” he said softly. “The humans may have made them little more than animals.”
“We can’t leave them,” Hyunjoong argued gently.
“No,” he agreed, “but you best call your dragon to help you with them. I’ll never hear the end of it if I let something happen to you.”
Hyunjoong wanted to protest that no one owned Youngsaeng, but he figured it wasn’t the time for that. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The Prince had no idea if he could do what he was about to try but he figured it couldn’t hurt. He remembered the feeling of Youngsaeng speaking into his mind, the feeling that not only was their words flowing into his mind, but their seemed to be the added presence of someone else. He reached for that as hard as he could and then thought in the direction of something he couldn’t even name, one single word, ‘Youngsaeng?’
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Youngsaeng was aiding one of the younger water dragons in standing when the tentative mind call flowed into his head. It was whisper quiet and barely audible to him but he knew exactly who it was. He let out a startled undignified noise that would have had him blushing in embarrassment if he could have done so over black scales. ‘Hyunjoong?’ he answered with his mind, forgetting for a moment to speak only privately to the Prince.
“Hyunjoong?” Kyujong asked confused, pausing in his application of a bandage.
‘I thought I heard him,’ Youngsaeng tried to explain.
“Is he alright?” Kyujong asked worried.
‘Yes I think so. I didn’t feel distress or pain, but I don’t know if I can even feel that,’ he answered after a moment.
‘Go to your mate young one,’ the large black dragon told him as she moved over and steadied the dragon beside him with a gentle nudge of her head. ‘I will aid them here.’
‘He isn’t my mate,’ Youngsaeng replied weakly.
‘You cannot fool me. The bond may not have settled, but it is forming. Go to him.’
Youngsaeng knew that it was not only pointless, but rude to argue with her so he nodded, a human gesture that he had picked up, and turned to the door. On the way out he stopped by Kyujong and the healer put a hand on the tip of his muzzle. ‘Be careful,’ he said softly.
“You too,” Kyujong returned. Youngsaeng sent him the feelings of friendship, affection, and protection, before he pulled away and left the room.
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Hyunjoong wasn’t even sure that contacting Youngsaeng had worked, but beside the brief moment when he had called out, he hadn’t been able to feel the dragon again. Suk-chul had moved him away from the young dragons and back to the planning group as the dragons had moved to the back corner of the room.
“Alright I think our best bet is to free as many of the dragons as we can and make our escape that way. We need to go back and meet up with Arunika and Youngsaeng to do that. We’ll leave a few people here to make sure everyone stays put and guard the little ones until we come back for them,” Yunho said laying out their plans. There were collective nods and Yunho rolled up the scrap of paper and tucked it away.
“Who stays?” Jaejoong asked. Hyunjoong was about to answer when the door to the room exploded inwards. There was a moment of chaos as all to the men drew their swords and shifted to be ready to fight whatever was entering, yet when the dust cleared, there stood Youngsaeng, watching them with glowing golden eyes.
“Dude you could have knocked,” Jungmin, joked, sliding his weapon away.
‘Sorry,’ Youngsaeng replied sheepishly. ‘It wouldn’t open.’ His eyes found Hyunjoong and he squeezed through the door snarling at the tight fit. A moment later he was across the room and touching Hyunjoong’s chest lightly with the tip of his nose. ‘You called me.’
“You heard?” Hyunjoong asked, slipping his sword away and reaching out to touch the smooth scales on the dragon’s muzzle.
There was a rumble that sounded very much like a pleased purr from the dragon’s chest as his fingers stroked along smooth scales. ‘Yes I heard you.’
They stood there for a moment, absorbed in each other, until the noise of a throat being cleared interrupted them. “As cute as this is and all,” Hyungjoon said with a smile. “We should be getting on with this whole rescue plan things.”
‘Yes,’ Youngsaeng agreed, lifting his head but shifting so that Hyunjoong’s hand could rest on his neck. ‘Arunika has the water dragons nearly freed; from there they will be able to help free the next group. We should return to her.’
“Youngsaeng, there are young dragons here,” Hyunjoong said gesturing to the little dragons. The dragon’s head moved to take in the little ones who had changed from defensive to curious at his entrance.
‘We will stay to take care of them,’ he said instantly.
Yunho looked between the pair for a moment and then nodded. “I am only allowing this because I know you will protect him,” he said slowly. “Be safe my Prince.”
“And you,” Hyunjoong replied.
Yunho nodded and without another word the rest of his friends strode from the room. When they were gone Youngsaeng turned his attention on the little ones and began to speak to them in the language of the dragons. “You are safe now young ones. Do not be afraid.”
“What is that?” Hyunjoong asked curiously.
‘The spoken language of the dragons,’ Youngsaeng told him absently in his mind. His focus was on the young who seemed to be curious but uncomprehending.
Hyunjoong watched the exchange and sighed sadly. “They don’t understand me either.”
Youngsaeng nodded and pulled from him. Hyunjoong watched as he walked slowly over to where the young were. When he stopped a few feet from them, the young red one it the front cocked his head sideways and released and excited chirp. A moment later, Youngsaeng was swarmed under by nine brightly colored children. The Prince took a step forward in fear but stopped the moment he heard the warm chuckle flow into his mind. There was pure delight flowing from Youngsaeng and Hyunjoong felt it as clearly as he had the sorrow earlier.
He stayed standing where he was, afraid to disturb them. Youngsaeng allowed the young dragons to climb over him for a moment more before he started to hum. It was a deep vibrating hum in his chest and Hyunjoong listened as the sound rose into notes, clear and sweet.
The little dragons paused in their play to stare at him curiously, before they began joining him in his song. Hyunjoong thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, Youngsaeng’s voice strong and clear, and nine tiny tentative voices joining it. He was just beginning to enjoy it when one by one the little dragons began to lay down and curl up with their eyes closed.
When the last one, the red dragon who appeared to be their leader, curled up and shut his eyes, Youngsaeng’s song trailed off into nothing. “That was beautiful,” Hyunjoong said softly, stepping forward.
‘It was a dragon’s lullaby. The same you sang to Haneul when you found her,’ Youngsaeng told him. Hyunjoong stared into golden eyes that seemed to swirl with color as he gazed at the prince and a wave of emotions flowed over him so quickly that he couldn’t name them.
“Why did you put them to sleep?” He asked in effort to distract himself from the feel of it.
‘They were confused and did not understand us. I thought it best to put them to rest so we can move them without harm.’ Youngsaeng told him.
“I don’t know if you realized this but there are nine of them. How are we going to move all of them with just the two of us?”
Youngsaeng looked around the room. ‘Those tables are wooden. I can float the little ones on them right out of here.’
Hyunjoong looked at what he was indicating and nodded. He walked over to one and with a sweep of his arm knocked all of the contents off its surface and onto the floor. Youngsaeng joined him, being careful not to step on the slumbering young and looked at the table for a moment. A second later his tail whipped out and cleanly severed all four legs from the rest of the table. The whole thing clattered to the floor and Youngsaeng looked at it satisfied. Hyunjoong shook his head and the pair repeated the process with two more of the tables.
When they had their makeshift rafts created, Hyunjoong and Youngsaeng together pushed and pulled all of the slumbering dragons onto the surface of them. ‘Get on,’ Youngsaeng ordered gently once the last one was loaded. He knelt to allow Hyunjoong to do so easily and the Prince climbed up to settle on the dragon’s back in a position that was becoming normal.
Once he was seated, Youngsaeng rose and stared intently at the walls. Water began to bead on their surface. The drops collected in a steady trickle and began to form a small stream. The stream rolled down the surface of the wall to the floor and then crept across it, until it was collecting in a growing pool at Youngsaeng’s feet. In no time at all water from everywhere had pooled leaving the dragon standing in his own created pond. Then the water raced out, shifting beneath each of the three tables and pushing them up. When all three were floating on their own puddles, the water stopped flowing from the walls.
Youngsaeng stepped around them and moved to the door. The little rafts followed after him like obedient dogs on a leash. Hyunjoong paused to stare at the floating bits of wood on water that seemed to eagerly follow after the dragon. It was easily one of the strangest things he had ever seen.
‘Arunika says that they have nearly released the last group of dragons. We are just waiting for everyone to be ready,’ Youngsaeng informed him.
“Good,” Hyunjoong said with a nod.
‘I need to borrow your strength,’ Youngsaeng said slowly as if afraid to ask.
“Of course,” Hyunjoong replied without preamble. For some reason he knew that there was nothing that the dragon could ever ask of him that he wouldn’t give.
‘Thank you,’ Youngsaeng said both grateful and relieved. He felt a pull as if his mind was being tied tightly to Youngsaeng before reaching out for something else. It took him a moment to realize that the reaching and touching of other consciousness, was Youngsaeng reaching out to every other dragon in the underground prison.
He could feel them all faintly in his head, and if it hadn’t been for the security of Youngsaeng tightly wrapped around him mentally, he was afraid he would have lost his mind at the feel of it.
‘Brothers and sisters,’ Youngsaeng began slowly, as if it took a great deal of effort. ‘We have come to set you free. It is time to right the wrong that has been done to this land and to our people. It is not just our kind that has suffered from the tyranny of the Dragon King but his own kind as well. Too long has he reined in terror, it is time for it end.’ Youngsaeng paused as if waiting for something and Hyunjoong touched his neck lightly. He knew without words that he would be able to speak to every mind they were connected to in the same way.
‘I am deeply sorry for what my father has done to you and those you love,’ Hyunjoong said slowly. ‘And I know that I will never be able to make up the wrong done to you, but I wish to set things right. I will seek justice for what has been done, and I swear I will prevent this from happening ever again.’
‘We do not order you to help us because we set you free,’ Youngsaeng took up the role of speaking again. ‘But we ask it. Outside this prison there is a lake,’ Hyunjoong saw a picture flow through his mind of a beautiful shimmering lake at the edge of a field. ‘I will turn it into a homing portal that will take us to safety. From there you may choose to go home or stay and fight, the choice will be yours alone, I simply offer you a safe way to freedom.’
Chapter Eighteen
Masterlist
AN: So when I posted the last chapter I wasn't feeling very thrilled with this story anymore. I don't know if I was burnt out on it or just distracted by my other project, but since I have taken some time out and banged out a few more chapters I am all excited about this little gem again (go figure). I can't wait for everyone to read the rest of what I have written. ^_^
I also want to share with everyone that I now have a twitter and have started tweeting spardically on it. It will be mostly random things but I will be tweeting lines that I like from chapters of my stories that I am working on at whatever point I am writting them. I can also use it to anounce when I post a chapter and for who knows what else. I'm known as Kat_elric over there too so you can follow me if you like. ^_^
Chapter Seventeen
Hyunjoong heard the animalistic cry beginning and he felt something clench within him. He gasped softly and staggered backwards. Strong arms kept him from falling and he looked up to see Jaejoong directing Yunho with a nod. The older man smoothly quickened his pace and engaged their guide in conversations, easily distracting him from the Prince.
Jaejoong didn’t say anything as he helped him find his balance and urged him forward. Hyunjoong let his feet lead the way as he tried to push away the deep feeling of sorrow that was not his within him. He inexplicitly knew that the sorrow belonged to Youngsaeng.
It took him a moment, but he realized the further they got from the dragon, the less he felt it. When they were far enough away from the room, it had lessened enough that he could put it in the back of his mind.
He had no sooner done so when their guide turned to him and smiled. “This is our training facility for our latest experiment,” he said eagerly, knocking on the door. A man in a white robe answered the door and looked confused until his eyes fell on the Prince.
“My Lord,” he said bowing deeply. “We were not expecting you so soon. Our results are not final yet,” the man said nervously.
“I wish to see your progress,” he declared.
“O-of course,” the man stuttered bowing again and opening the door wider.
Upon walking through the door, Hyunjoong found himself in another large room. It was divided in half by a low wall. On one half were several humans in white, working with different items on tables. On the other side small dragons were bounding around chasing one another. Hyunjoong counted nine in total, one red, one white, two yellow, two black and three green. He judged them to be no taller than his waist for the largest and twice as long. Each was wearing a silver collar.
One of them squawked and spread its wings for a moment before pouncing on another one and Hyunjoong stifled a gasp at what he had seen. The dragons wings, when spread to their fullest, had shown neatly cut holes through the venerable webbing of their wings. It left them looking more like spider webs then anything that could be used to fly.
“What happened to their wings?” he asked when he was sure he was calm enough to speak.
“They were cut to insure that the creatures couldn’t fly away,” the scientist said flippantly.
“And those?” Hyunjoong asked pointing to nine small indents in the wall. They were approximately a third of the size of a gypsy’s wagon. He imagined that five or so people could squeeze into it if they really tried.
“Oh those are the creature’s rooms. See we chain them here,” the scientist said, pointing to chains inside it. “And then we press this button here which allows us to activate the magic to close the door,” he indicated the plain raised button beside the door.
“And my father approved of this?”
“What my Lord?” the scientist asked confused.
“Cutting their wings and keeping them like this?”
“Yes. The King devised this plan himself. He showed us how to cut their wings,” the man replied.
Hyunjoong nodded certain that had found his truth and it sickened him. He turned and looked at the young dragons. Seeing them, the only thing that his mind could draw up was the image of Haneul, a child orphaned and traumatized in a way that she didn’t yet understand.
“You and all of your men get into those,” Hyunjoong ordered coldly gesturing to the small indents in the wall. “You too,” he said, gesturing to the guards that had lead them there.
“My Lord?” the man’s voice was baffled.
“I said everyone in. Are you questioning a direct order?”
“No my lord,” their guide disagreed immediately. He looked around the room and gestured sharply. “You heard the Prince. Everyone in.” Around the room men scrambled to obey. Completely bewildered, Hyunjoong’s friends watched as every single man crammed themselves into one of the little cubbies. Once they were all inside, Hyunjoong strode to the end of the row and began hitting the buttons to close them. One by one the doors to the indents slide closed, trapping the men within.
“My Prince, may I ask what you are doing?” the lead scientist asked shakily as the Prince stopped just outside the last door.
“Undoing what my father has done,” he said calmly. Then he pressed the button and the door slid shut.
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It took what seemed like forever for Youngsaeng to calm his sorrow enough to complete the task that they had come to accomplish. Once it had lessened to a stead ache in his chest, the black dragon rose slowly to his feet.
Arunika had removed the vines from him nearly as soon as the door to the room had shut. She and Kyujong had slipped from beneath his wings and set about freeing the dragons enclosed there. It was slow work as Arunika focused on returning as much energy through the plants as she could before removing them completely. Kyujong followed behind her tending to the multiple wounds the best he could, none of them wanted to exhaust Arunika by asking her to heal as well.
Youngsaeng shook himself, trying to remove the lingering feeling of the vines and moved over to the great black dragon that was laying free of the tree at last. “Great one,” he called in the language of the dragons, an audible spoken language consisting of sounds, most of which human ears couldn’t pick out. “We have come to free our people.”
“You have come too late for most,” her voice was weary.
“I am sorry,” he said sadly. “I have come too late to do any good.”
“It is never too late for good,” she corrected gently. “As long as one of us has hope in our bodies, it will never be too late.”
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“My Prince?” Yunho asked softly when the last of the wall indents was sealed. If the men inside were raising a fuss, it couldn’t be heard.
Hyunjoong stared around the room taking in every detail of the creation his father had had a direct hand in creating. As his eyes took in everything there, he carefully pressed down his emotions, locking them deep within himself so that they wouldn’t hinder his thoughts. “We are going to do what we came here to do,” he said slowly. “Free the dragons.”
Yunho nodded. He reached into a pouch at his waist and pulled out a scrap of paper. On it was the map that Arunika had drawn for them earlier that day. “Alright this is where we are,” he said pointing to a room on the map. “Our little guide was nice enough to tell me all about the security of this place and there is very little. Most of it is concentrated to these forward halls near the front of the complex,” he traced it with a finger.
“If we get a dragon that can move earth to close those off, we won’t even have to deal with the majority of them,” Jungmin pointed out as all of the men gathered around the scrap of paper.
“The good news,” Yunho said with a smile. “Is that the rooms where they are keeping the dragons are unguarded. They were confident that the elements would hold them and saw fit to never post guards. We are also between what he called ‘Bleedings’ so everyone should be in the holding rooms just waiting for us to set them free. The problem is we are going to have to do it one at a time because only a dragon with the same elemental capabilities or ones that can overpower them will be able to break through the things holding all of them.”
Hyunjoong nodded and turned from the group as several members began throwing out ideas for plans of action. He knew Yunho would be able to handle creating a plan that would work the best for them, so he left the man to it. The Prince turned and moved closer to where they young dragons were playing.
The largest was no larger than a very large dog all and the smallest would only reach his knees. As he approached they stopped in their play to look at him. The largest, a red dragon, shifted in front of the others and spread its tattered wings.
“I won’t hurt you,” Hyunjoong said gently. “We have come to set you free and take you to your home.” He stepped closer and the little dragon hissed, its tail lashing back and forth. “It’s ok. We are friends,” he soothed.
The little dragon crouched down and in a sudden burst of speed, sprung forward at him teeth bared. A strong hand on the Prince’s shoulder dragged him out of the way before the little teeth would have found their hold and the little dragon screeched as it landed without hitting its mark. It scampered back to its companions as if afraid to leave them unprotected and Hyunjoong looked back to see Suk-chul staring at them sympathetically.
“They don’t understand you,” he said softly. “The humans may have made them little more than animals.”
“We can’t leave them,” Hyunjoong argued gently.
“No,” he agreed, “but you best call your dragon to help you with them. I’ll never hear the end of it if I let something happen to you.”
Hyunjoong wanted to protest that no one owned Youngsaeng, but he figured it wasn’t the time for that. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The Prince had no idea if he could do what he was about to try but he figured it couldn’t hurt. He remembered the feeling of Youngsaeng speaking into his mind, the feeling that not only was their words flowing into his mind, but their seemed to be the added presence of someone else. He reached for that as hard as he could and then thought in the direction of something he couldn’t even name, one single word, ‘Youngsaeng?’
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Youngsaeng was aiding one of the younger water dragons in standing when the tentative mind call flowed into his head. It was whisper quiet and barely audible to him but he knew exactly who it was. He let out a startled undignified noise that would have had him blushing in embarrassment if he could have done so over black scales. ‘Hyunjoong?’ he answered with his mind, forgetting for a moment to speak only privately to the Prince.
“Hyunjoong?” Kyujong asked confused, pausing in his application of a bandage.
‘I thought I heard him,’ Youngsaeng tried to explain.
“Is he alright?” Kyujong asked worried.
‘Yes I think so. I didn’t feel distress or pain, but I don’t know if I can even feel that,’ he answered after a moment.
‘Go to your mate young one,’ the large black dragon told him as she moved over and steadied the dragon beside him with a gentle nudge of her head. ‘I will aid them here.’
‘He isn’t my mate,’ Youngsaeng replied weakly.
‘You cannot fool me. The bond may not have settled, but it is forming. Go to him.’
Youngsaeng knew that it was not only pointless, but rude to argue with her so he nodded, a human gesture that he had picked up, and turned to the door. On the way out he stopped by Kyujong and the healer put a hand on the tip of his muzzle. ‘Be careful,’ he said softly.
“You too,” Kyujong returned. Youngsaeng sent him the feelings of friendship, affection, and protection, before he pulled away and left the room.
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Hyunjoong wasn’t even sure that contacting Youngsaeng had worked, but beside the brief moment when he had called out, he hadn’t been able to feel the dragon again. Suk-chul had moved him away from the young dragons and back to the planning group as the dragons had moved to the back corner of the room.
“Alright I think our best bet is to free as many of the dragons as we can and make our escape that way. We need to go back and meet up with Arunika and Youngsaeng to do that. We’ll leave a few people here to make sure everyone stays put and guard the little ones until we come back for them,” Yunho said laying out their plans. There were collective nods and Yunho rolled up the scrap of paper and tucked it away.
“Who stays?” Jaejoong asked. Hyunjoong was about to answer when the door to the room exploded inwards. There was a moment of chaos as all to the men drew their swords and shifted to be ready to fight whatever was entering, yet when the dust cleared, there stood Youngsaeng, watching them with glowing golden eyes.
“Dude you could have knocked,” Jungmin, joked, sliding his weapon away.
‘Sorry,’ Youngsaeng replied sheepishly. ‘It wouldn’t open.’ His eyes found Hyunjoong and he squeezed through the door snarling at the tight fit. A moment later he was across the room and touching Hyunjoong’s chest lightly with the tip of his nose. ‘You called me.’
“You heard?” Hyunjoong asked, slipping his sword away and reaching out to touch the smooth scales on the dragon’s muzzle.
There was a rumble that sounded very much like a pleased purr from the dragon’s chest as his fingers stroked along smooth scales. ‘Yes I heard you.’
They stood there for a moment, absorbed in each other, until the noise of a throat being cleared interrupted them. “As cute as this is and all,” Hyungjoon said with a smile. “We should be getting on with this whole rescue plan things.”
‘Yes,’ Youngsaeng agreed, lifting his head but shifting so that Hyunjoong’s hand could rest on his neck. ‘Arunika has the water dragons nearly freed; from there they will be able to help free the next group. We should return to her.’
“Youngsaeng, there are young dragons here,” Hyunjoong said gesturing to the little dragons. The dragon’s head moved to take in the little ones who had changed from defensive to curious at his entrance.
‘We will stay to take care of them,’ he said instantly.
Yunho looked between the pair for a moment and then nodded. “I am only allowing this because I know you will protect him,” he said slowly. “Be safe my Prince.”
“And you,” Hyunjoong replied.
Yunho nodded and without another word the rest of his friends strode from the room. When they were gone Youngsaeng turned his attention on the little ones and began to speak to them in the language of the dragons. “You are safe now young ones. Do not be afraid.”
“What is that?” Hyunjoong asked curiously.
‘The spoken language of the dragons,’ Youngsaeng told him absently in his mind. His focus was on the young who seemed to be curious but uncomprehending.
Hyunjoong watched the exchange and sighed sadly. “They don’t understand me either.”
Youngsaeng nodded and pulled from him. Hyunjoong watched as he walked slowly over to where the young were. When he stopped a few feet from them, the young red one it the front cocked his head sideways and released and excited chirp. A moment later, Youngsaeng was swarmed under by nine brightly colored children. The Prince took a step forward in fear but stopped the moment he heard the warm chuckle flow into his mind. There was pure delight flowing from Youngsaeng and Hyunjoong felt it as clearly as he had the sorrow earlier.
He stayed standing where he was, afraid to disturb them. Youngsaeng allowed the young dragons to climb over him for a moment more before he started to hum. It was a deep vibrating hum in his chest and Hyunjoong listened as the sound rose into notes, clear and sweet.
The little dragons paused in their play to stare at him curiously, before they began joining him in his song. Hyunjoong thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, Youngsaeng’s voice strong and clear, and nine tiny tentative voices joining it. He was just beginning to enjoy it when one by one the little dragons began to lay down and curl up with their eyes closed.
When the last one, the red dragon who appeared to be their leader, curled up and shut his eyes, Youngsaeng’s song trailed off into nothing. “That was beautiful,” Hyunjoong said softly, stepping forward.
‘It was a dragon’s lullaby. The same you sang to Haneul when you found her,’ Youngsaeng told him. Hyunjoong stared into golden eyes that seemed to swirl with color as he gazed at the prince and a wave of emotions flowed over him so quickly that he couldn’t name them.
“Why did you put them to sleep?” He asked in effort to distract himself from the feel of it.
‘They were confused and did not understand us. I thought it best to put them to rest so we can move them without harm.’ Youngsaeng told him.
“I don’t know if you realized this but there are nine of them. How are we going to move all of them with just the two of us?”
Youngsaeng looked around the room. ‘Those tables are wooden. I can float the little ones on them right out of here.’
Hyunjoong looked at what he was indicating and nodded. He walked over to one and with a sweep of his arm knocked all of the contents off its surface and onto the floor. Youngsaeng joined him, being careful not to step on the slumbering young and looked at the table for a moment. A second later his tail whipped out and cleanly severed all four legs from the rest of the table. The whole thing clattered to the floor and Youngsaeng looked at it satisfied. Hyunjoong shook his head and the pair repeated the process with two more of the tables.
When they had their makeshift rafts created, Hyunjoong and Youngsaeng together pushed and pulled all of the slumbering dragons onto the surface of them. ‘Get on,’ Youngsaeng ordered gently once the last one was loaded. He knelt to allow Hyunjoong to do so easily and the Prince climbed up to settle on the dragon’s back in a position that was becoming normal.
Once he was seated, Youngsaeng rose and stared intently at the walls. Water began to bead on their surface. The drops collected in a steady trickle and began to form a small stream. The stream rolled down the surface of the wall to the floor and then crept across it, until it was collecting in a growing pool at Youngsaeng’s feet. In no time at all water from everywhere had pooled leaving the dragon standing in his own created pond. Then the water raced out, shifting beneath each of the three tables and pushing them up. When all three were floating on their own puddles, the water stopped flowing from the walls.
Youngsaeng stepped around them and moved to the door. The little rafts followed after him like obedient dogs on a leash. Hyunjoong paused to stare at the floating bits of wood on water that seemed to eagerly follow after the dragon. It was easily one of the strangest things he had ever seen.
‘Arunika says that they have nearly released the last group of dragons. We are just waiting for everyone to be ready,’ Youngsaeng informed him.
“Good,” Hyunjoong said with a nod.
‘I need to borrow your strength,’ Youngsaeng said slowly as if afraid to ask.
“Of course,” Hyunjoong replied without preamble. For some reason he knew that there was nothing that the dragon could ever ask of him that he wouldn’t give.
‘Thank you,’ Youngsaeng said both grateful and relieved. He felt a pull as if his mind was being tied tightly to Youngsaeng before reaching out for something else. It took him a moment to realize that the reaching and touching of other consciousness, was Youngsaeng reaching out to every other dragon in the underground prison.
He could feel them all faintly in his head, and if it hadn’t been for the security of Youngsaeng tightly wrapped around him mentally, he was afraid he would have lost his mind at the feel of it.
‘Brothers and sisters,’ Youngsaeng began slowly, as if it took a great deal of effort. ‘We have come to set you free. It is time to right the wrong that has been done to this land and to our people. It is not just our kind that has suffered from the tyranny of the Dragon King but his own kind as well. Too long has he reined in terror, it is time for it end.’ Youngsaeng paused as if waiting for something and Hyunjoong touched his neck lightly. He knew without words that he would be able to speak to every mind they were connected to in the same way.
‘I am deeply sorry for what my father has done to you and those you love,’ Hyunjoong said slowly. ‘And I know that I will never be able to make up the wrong done to you, but I wish to set things right. I will seek justice for what has been done, and I swear I will prevent this from happening ever again.’
‘We do not order you to help us because we set you free,’ Youngsaeng took up the role of speaking again. ‘But we ask it. Outside this prison there is a lake,’ Hyunjoong saw a picture flow through his mind of a beautiful shimmering lake at the edge of a field. ‘I will turn it into a homing portal that will take us to safety. From there you may choose to go home or stay and fight, the choice will be yours alone, I simply offer you a safe way to freedom.’
Chapter Eighteen
Masterlist
AN: So when I posted the last chapter I wasn't feeling very thrilled with this story anymore. I don't know if I was burnt out on it or just distracted by my other project, but since I have taken some time out and banged out a few more chapters I am all excited about this little gem again (go figure). I can't wait for everyone to read the rest of what I have written. ^_^
I also want to share with everyone that I now have a twitter and have started tweeting spardically on it. It will be mostly random things but I will be tweeting lines that I like from chapters of my stories that I am working on at whatever point I am writting them. I can also use it to anounce when I post a chapter and for who knows what else. I'm known as Kat_elric over there too so you can follow me if you like. ^_^