"PLEASE STOP! PLEASE! I screamed as she continued to slowly tug my arm with her jaws. Fire snaking up my arm as I could feel each muscle tearing as blood started to shoot out the small holes opening up while the sound of ripping filled my ears. I let out another agonized scream as I could see out of the corner of my eye what looked like a long white noodle being snapped, each snap sending another shockwave of fire directly into my brain. I bit down on my bottom lip hard enough that it started to bleed as I sobbed. "P-PLEASE S-STOP!" I sobbed, spittle and blood coming from my mouth as I pleaded to empty ears. The only thing it seemed to do was provoke her further as she bit down harder on my arm, her teeth the size of my entire body slicing right through the muscles and tendons, sending another wave of internal fire and agony. I screamed again but for no one to hear as she finally bit down hard enough to completely sever the damaged limb, I watched through watery and bloodshot eyes as the bloody arm bounced across her dirty yellow scales, and bounced to the ground to the sand, joining the collection of disfigured dragon hands below. I looked into her pitch black eyes, mine no longer having the same look of defiance or resistance as I faced her from before, instead my eyes only held pleading, begging for mercy, but I wasn't met with pity, only disgust from her eyes.

"You are truly a disgusting creature, but I don't want to finish you off too quickly now, do I?" She growled before moving her head away and letting out a roar I had to cover my ears for, but I could only cover my right as my eardrum was probably ruined in the other. "SMOLDER!"

In a flash of yellow and jewelry, the smaller dragon appeared in front, his eyes widened as he looked down on me before narrowing his eyes professionally as he looked back to his sister. "I'll repair the object, if you desire."

"Good. I have other business to attend to, so be useful, brother, unless you want your head joining the others on the stronghold walls." She snarled before flying out of the tower.

Smolder looked at me sympathetically as I whimpered there while blood continued to spill from my arm, like a small red waterfall. "Y-you w-were r-right..." I whimpered through tears.

"I'm sorry Teardrop, I really am." He said with his head lowered before revealing his talons where Flower currently was. "I still don't know Common but I could tell she wanted to see you." Smolder says as he places the women into my cage.

"D-did... d-did you come for dragon lessons?" I tried laughing through my tears but more pain went through my veins as she lifted my arm and started wrapping some type of fabric to stop the blood from spilling.

"Kid... I'm so sorry..."

"It's fine, there was n-nothing you could have done... besides... i-it wasn't all that bad."

"How could you even say that? You-" I barely managed to push the metal rod into her arms, interrupting her before saying anything further.

"T-the Boomstick... is our key out of h-here..." I managed to get out.

"How-"

"I think I-I might pass out now." I mumbled before I felt myself falling to the ground, but everything faded around me before I even hit the floor.

***

It was dark again, the only light being from the orange hue of the flames and the Moonlight for Imperial, wait, I could see? Everything felt different, smaller, I felt armor on my body dragging me down, I felt a sense of pain in the upper parts of my body as I bled from several spots, some of the blood dripping back onto me, but no, this wasn't me, not even close. Everything felt wrong and out of place, and I could see this time, I was covered in a small room, yet it looked like one of the gigantic rooms in the stronghold, lining the walls were the remains of what seemed to be wooden shards, as if something had been shattered or broken.

I let out an inhuman scream mixed with a roar before looking at my hands, what remained of them, only a few digits and a thumb on one, there was only a piece of bone sticking out of the other. These were Burn's hands, explaining why I felt so angry I guessed. I looked down and saw none other than... myself, still in the cage, coughing weakly as I try to get up on my one good arm, one half of my body burnt, before I suddenly looked up at myself as Burn's body let out a terrifying roar before charging at me like a wild animal before scooping me in her jaws and a loud crunching noise was heard, followed by several drops of blood flowing from Burn's lips, blood I could feel as if running down my own chin. I was dead? No... no... this is not how things are going to end, not for me, not for me!

***

I let out a gasp as I forced myself to wake up, clutching the metal rod in my good hand tightly as I thought about my next move. If I don't do anything, I'll be dead when Imperial's a full moon, so I have a day before then, wait, nope, I've got till tonight. "Fuck!" I groan to myself before remembering the wooden shards. "Black powder barrels..." I mutter hopefully as I try to grab the piece of paper with my shaky hand as I carefully use my other arm's stump to push it flat against the ground, hissing in pain as the paper touches the cloth wrapped around my arm, even with the cloth, it still felt like I was reaching my hand into fire.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"You really shouldn't be moving." Flower said to me, causing me to jump at how close she was to me, right next to me on the right, crouched down with a pair of folded clothes next to us.

"T-thanks... F-Flower..." I managed to stutter as I dropped the paper and tried reaching for the clothes, quickly stopping as she gently grabbed my arm and put it back to my side.

"Later... and it's Rose."

"Heh, S-Smolder was so sure he picked the perfect name for you."

"He was close." She sighed before looking back at the sleeping dragon outside the cage. It was early in the morning so I could see why he was still asleep.

I look back at her and nod before resting my head back to the sandy floor of my cage. "At least the sand... makes a nice pillow..." I wheezed while I tried relaxing my body, taking a few deep breaths as I unclenched my shaking fist, a little disappointed I couldn't do the same with the other. I still felt like it was there, that I was in one piece, but no, everything above my elbow on my right arm was gone, of course it had to be my dominant hand. I let out a scoff at the thought before falling back into staring at the ceiling. "My name's Teardrop- I mean River. I introduce myself finally to Rose.

"Just relax... is there um... anything I can get you to make you feel better?"

"An escape route would be nice." I chuckle weakly.

She smirks a little before her face falls back into a frown. "I'm sorry but when I first got here, I tried to, and I've been here for over a decade, maybe you can just stay and-"

"I have a day."

"What?" She asked.

I barely managed to lift myself up and look her in the eyes. "I think... I can see the future... at least that's somewhat what Smolder said when we were talking about my teardrop markings, something about being related to NIghtwing's or something, and look at the paper." I say while nudging the piece of unfolded paper her way. She opened it and her eyes widened a bit before squinting. "I don't understand."

"What part did you not understand-"

"It's not common."

"What? Of course it is, let me-" I hissed in pain as I sat up but still reached out with my arm and tilted it to see the paper. "That's common." I say with a nod but she keeps shaking her head.

"River, I've only seen the dragons write this."

My eyes widened/ "I know draconic?" I asked myself.

"Did Smolder teach you or-" I quickly shook my head.

"Smolder only taught me to speak and understand draconic verbally, never... anything with writing."

"So you just... naturally know draconic?"

"I guess so..."

There was silence.

"You said you had a day..." She started.

"What? Oh yeah, so I had a vision. Burn was pissed about something or the other, and I was in the room with the black powder barrels, and she ate me."

"She ate you!?"

"It felt really weird too since I was seeing it from her perspective so it just felt weird... you know?"

"Yeah I can see how that gets weird, so maybe we should come up with a plan, how did you know this was in a day?"

"Tonight, because Imperial was a full moon."

"Shit, what if we hide you?"

"That may send her on a rampage to begin with, I have another idea, for me to sleep."

"Sleep?"

"Sleep."

"How in three moons does that help us?"

"Wake me up in thirty minutes but by the time I wake up, maybe I'll have another vision and see what I can do from there. The problem is how do I go to sleep on command, I can't just-"

"I can take it from here."

"Huh-" I asked before looking up and seeing her fist heading full speed into my face. "That's one way to d-" I started before everything went black again.

***

I was back there, in my own body this time, nothing was on fire but I was still in the room, the barrels were still intact, and Burn was nowhere to be seen, just the room and the shit-ton of powder. I felt myself as I managed to grab some of the powder with my hand and put it into the boomstick, my mouth biting hard into the weapon's wood. I started loading it again, this time making sure every step was perfect before aiming it at the door where an enraged Burn soon opened before stepping through. She then turned her eyes to me before snarling and starting to walk up to me.

"This time I won't miss." I growled back. I missed.

But the small flaming piece of metal instead went way off as I fired and pierced one of the barrels. "That explains it-" I felt myself saying before my body was engulfed in flames and sent flying back and crashing into the wall.

***

"River!"

I suddenly jolted awake, panting before trying to put off any flames that were on me, but there were none.

"River!" Rose's voice finally snapped me back to reality.

"Rose! Rose..." I say again as I bring myself out of the trance.

"You okay?"

"Seems like it's gonna end up with an explosion and her biting me anyways, but there's gotta be a way to survive it." I murmured to myself.

"Whoa kid, slow down-"

"Do you know where they keep the black powder?"

"Yeah-"

"Do you know a place where I can maybe find some scraps, not food, metal?"

"Yeah, that too."

"Alright, cause hear me out Rose, I might have a plan that's just crazy enough to work."

She hesitated for a moment before offering her hand for me to grab onto. "Tell me."

I opened my mouth to speak but she soon stopped me as she then pushed the folded clothes she made and pushed them into arms. "Wait, first get dressed, then you can tell me everything."

I sigh. "Thank you Rose."

"Anytime, Teardrop."

I groan. "Really, you too?"

"What's the matter, Teardrop?" She chuckled, but her eyes grew softer as she looked at my arm. "It'll be fine." I couldn't tell she was assuring me or herself before she suddenly smirked and let out a laugh. "I never thought I'd help another dragonslayer."