(Ah yes, me and my impatience. Just a general reminder: Please use bold, italic, or both for speaking in Serpent-Tongue)

~

Sarah held tight to Ryu's neck as he zoomed along. She had never used dragon tack on him, Ryu always hated it. She left her two hunting dragons, Ryoko and Kaito, at home where they couldn't get in her way while she and Ryu were practicing. "Okay, Ryu. Ready to try it again?" Ryu groaned, but steadied his wing-beats. Sarah waited until he was completely balanced, holding tight to his back with her legs. She slowly let go of his neck and rode with her arms out. Very, very cautiously, with Ryu steady, Sarah slowly stood up on his back. She carefully drew her bow and nocked an arrow, aiming at a fleeing seagull in front of them. Exhaling, Sarah let the arrow fly. It hit the seagull and Ryu surged forward, grabbing it in his claws. Surprisingly, Sarah didn't fly off Ryu's back. She quickly slung her bow back over her back and sat on Ryu, "I told you we'd get it eventually. Now if we can somehow incorporate Ryoko and Kai into the move, we'll get it perfectly." Ryu huffed and dumped Sarah off his back. He let her fall for a little while before diving and catching her in his talons. "Oh please, as if Kai would cooperate long enough to do something that complex." Ryu said, turning and zooming towards home.

"Yeah, getting Kai to do something will be pretty hard. But still, it'll be worth it!" Sarah said, patting Ryu's leg as she swung from his talons. In a short amount of time, they had reached their little island they called home. Ryu swept downward and dropped Sarah on the ground before landing himself.

~

"Ahhh, Home sweet home guys!" Amber said to her three dragons. Smaug goes off in a huff because he didnt catch the fish he wanted from the river yet Kayda did. "Smaug, come here boy! I got you your fish dont be grumpy mister! *she hands him the fish* Oh and Nymeria stand still will you?! I am trying to untie this stupid strap..UGH I need new dragon tack for you but I dont have the money right now, sorry girly" Amber pats Nymeria as she dumps the dragon tack in the corner of her hut. Amber pulls out her prized possession from its scabbard "I have got to get these fish guts off you my love" Amber gently wipes the sword squeaky clean with a cloth. Kayda begins to rumble at the door "Hush Kayda, stand down!" Amber whistles to Nymeria and instructs her to stand ready for emergency flying while Smaug and Kayda head around the back of the hut to hide. Amber opens the door ajar so all you can see is her eye "hello?" She says with a tremble in her voice.

Sage jogged through the forest quietly, looking for something to hunt. His dragon, Fire Storm, had gone down to the brook since she likes fish best. He, however, preferred something.....not cold and slimy. After a while of ground searching, he sighed and climbed a tree. He knew prey was rare in this part of the forest - but it was where the dragon tamers and capturers didn't come because of the forest predators. He knew how to tell when one was close or stalking him by the sound of their breathing and footsteps and, if need be, he knew how to kill them. He ran along the branches, deftly jumping from one tree to another until he saw a deer grazing. He maneuvered towards the buck, unsheathing his dagger as he did so. A deer is super rare here...it'll be nice to have some decent food. I'll just have to be careful making a fire since it creates smoke. He dropped from the tree and killed the buck easily, and then cleaned it and headed back to the place he and Fire Storm were staying tonight. They moved around, never really staying in one place - he didn't want the other humans to find out where he was hiding since they saw him as a criminal. He jogged back into camp and nodded a greeting to Fire Storm. "We'll eat well for the next few days", he told the dragon.

"Oh you got a deer! That's good news! Maybe more prey will come in time", the dragon responded. Sage shrugged. "Maybe", he muttered, "but I don't have much hope."

"Oh, you never have hope about anything", Fire Storm complained.

"That's because I know better," he snorted.

She sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I was expecting that response." Then she brightened. "Well, let's cook the food, shall we?" Sage nodded and the two of them made a small fire. Sage put his mask on and climbed a nearby tree to keep watch - he didn't trust anyone besides Fire Storm, and even she could be finicky sometimes. He would much rather have to rely on himself and himself alone, but he did love the dragon - she had chosen to stay with him since he rescued her 5 years ago. He had raised her since then, glad to have someone to talk to at times. Dragons are so much better than the other humans down in the villages. He settled into the tree, comfortable with the silence surrounding him and his dragon partner. The forest was peaceful when the damn dragon tamers and riders didn't come barreling through.

"Draein! Good work today." A voice spoke as a hand slapped on Draein's shoulder. Turning, the young dragon rustler saw Evedir, the leader of his group. Nodding gratefully, he ran his hand up his forehead, wiping off the sweat that had been dripping down. "Thank you, Evedir. I couldn't have done it without you. I would never have captured two dragons all on my own. For now, all I can handle is one." The gruff dragon rustler leader laughed heartily, roaring, "Isn't that the truth! Well, we dragon rustlers stick together. And besides, you did a fair piece of work yourself. You're becoming quite handy with that sword you know." Draein smiled in gratitude as he gazed on the sword on his lap, which he had been cleaning off at the moment of the interruption. "Well, I have to find some way to bring bread on the table, right?" He asked halfheartedly, still focused on the cleaning of his sword. Evedir chuckled loudly, but said nothing in response, walking away towards the rest if the group. Pausing his cleaning for a moment, Draein looked more carefully at the inscription on the blade. He knew it well, and could call it up from the recesses of his memory at any time, but he still liked to study the carved runes with his own eyes. The letters were fairly simple, and not as fancy as the swords many others wielded, but the word they formed, the name of Arcrest, was something rather enchanting to Draein. Ever since the fateful day his father died, he had taken up the sword, and had practiced often, so that he could one day be fit to wield it. At the age of 17, he had gotten his chance, and had gone off to work as a dragon rustler. For three years he had trapped dragons. For three years he had been able to support his brother without needing to rely on anyone else, and for three years, he had fought against the creatures who had so ruthlessly killed his parents.

(Sorry, I forgot which account I was on)

How does 999 words look?)

♧

♧

Rome, with a sly grin, was making a plan, it was most definently one of the the stupidest ideas she'd ever made and one she would probably live to regret. But she was to cocky not to.

Her plan was to infiltrate a dragon capturing facility and free the dragons, she wasn't accustomed to this, but she was going to try to fit in like a rustler.

Taking a finger across the edge of her sleeve's cuff, she opened the oversized door to the dragon cages' room. Gaurds were placed as sentinels around the 1000+ square foot rock building. She examined them, seeing a gun on each of them, each was a large pistol, most likely for stunning the dragons, possibly killing them.

She turned, looking around another 1000+ square feet of dragon cages. She inhaled deeply feeling her heart rate rise, she knew this was a bad idea, as the brunette walked out further into the room, she noted that she saw 10 gaurds, only 4 could see or hear her. Walking into the middle of the room, she was ready and was covered, she was vulnerable, she bad no knives or her bow.

Yelling out in a low tone, her normal voice was low, it was her odd aspect.. aside from speaking Serpent-Tongue. "Hello! Where is the owner of this dragon rustling facility?" She expected an answer, but all she got was guns pointed at her, then one spoke out. "Who's asking?" His sunglasses covered most of his expression, being the jerk she is, she replied stupidly with a flat, sarcastic tone. "Um, I didn't get that far." She mumbled it lpud enough that they could hear appearantly. Hearing a shot, then a puff of dirt near her, she ducked for cover in a post that was covering the middle section, she had left the big door open, it was a 500 foot run from where she stood to the door. She flicked with her fingers, counting the shots, there was 6 bullets per weapon and 4 of the guards had fired, Three.. five.. Seven.. Ten. And a pause, 14 bullets left in the chamber, plus 36 if the other guards have heard.. my chances of escape are low. She said, doing the math that she did to waste away the time, and her stress. But not to low. She said, inhaling sharply and she stepped back leaning into a sprint and counting down in a whisper. "Three." She crouched. "Two." She forward, extending a leg behind her. "One." She took four deep breaths. "Go!" She whisper-yelled, taking off from her crouched stance and bolting.

She had had much practice for this, running long distances, but this may be over her limits. Gunshot after gunshot, infront, beside, behind. Her breathing was panic, she swallowed the earth, adrenaline pumping, she made it to the last 100 foot stretch. 10 bullets left. She had been counting, silently praying too. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five-. A feeling of numbness passed over one of her arms, she didn't know what had happened, she hit the home run, whistling for her dragon, she could feel her heart beating fast.

A Black dragon floated through the sky, tackless, as she preferred and stopped, diving down to the ground, landing and pausing. She jumped on his back, The large iridescent dragon, Iphtahel kicked off, flapping his wings, her left arm felt weak but she didn't look at it, she had to get to home to the safety of her campsite.

Flying in, she looked down, spying Ziklag who was napping on the ground. She pulled Iph down, landing him softly, realizing the white shirt she had worn to the facility, was dripping with blood now, her heart skipped a beat. An aching pain drove through her arm now, she jumped off the dragon who was worried about her. "Ro, what's wrong? Why so much blood?" Iph asked curiously, not realizing that she'd been shot.

She ignored his question, peeling off the shirt, a wince covered her face, painfully, the shirt came off, leaving her in her black, sleeveless undershirt and bra. A series of painful groans followed her examination of the through-and-through wound.

Her hand shook, she lost a great amount of blood. One of the things she wasn't the best at was doctoring wounds, she had lost to much blood as of then and she doubted she could do anything along the lines of "doctoring" her own wound. But she had a certain acquaintance who she knew would be around somewhere. "Ziklag!" She called, waking the small, great Dane sized dragon, he zipped over, the black and red stinger was excited to see her. "Let's go see Sarah, why don't we boys?" her voice trembled, gaining a few higher pitches, jumping on the back of her black and teal colored Wind Dancer, she grabbed on with her legs, holding her other arm with what little strength she had left, her eyes fluttering. The stinger hopped on and held on to the protruding bumps of Iphtahel's back.

The dragon kicked off, Soon they had arrived at the place where Sarah Phoenix and her dragons were camping out. Rome's eyes fluttered, she was tired but trying to stay awake, she had bled badly, the bullet wound was exactly in the middle of her bicep, closer to her shoulder. Shot through-and-through, side-to-side. "Sarah Phoenix, right?" She asked in a loud tone of voice, light headed as she looked to her, her bleeding arm must've been a sight for sore eyes, her grip stopped, she had decided not to hold onto her wound, she wasnt going to stop the bleeding. She swallowed hard, Ziklag slid off the big dragon's back, she slipped down to the ground, sliding on Iph's wing. She had a cold pale hue to her skin, her eyes seemed pale, lifeless, but she had hope somewhere in them.

o.O was not expecting that-)

~

Sarah squinted, the shape of a Wind Dancer was coming towards her and Ryu. Hmm? What's this? "Kaito, Ryoko, get out here you lazy bums! We've got company." She shouted towards the small house. Ryu blinked at the approaching Wind Dancer, clearly happy at the sight of another of his species. Sarah felt an odd slithering up her leg, it traveled to her shoulder. A sleepy Kaito appeared. "Ryoko's out hunting. But more importantly, I was taking a nice nap, why'd you wake me up-?" Kaito complained, falling silent when he caught sight of the Wind Dancer. He hissed, spreading out his ruff.

The Wind Dancer arrived, he was carrying a pale human and a Stinger. The human and Stinger slid off the riding dragon's back and spoke. "Yeah, that's me." Sarah's eyes widened, there seemed to be a dark red blossoming out from the girl's arm. "You do know your bleeding, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Sarah stepped forward and ushered the girl to the little house. "C'mon, I have some bandages in my house. I can help you." Ryu crept towards the Wind Dancer and sniffed him.

-

~

Mizu roared angrily. A couple dragon-rustlers had herded him into a cage, but not before he blasted a couple off the ship with his two tons of water. Can't believe I let them catch me! Usually I'm not so careless. He snapped at a dragon-rustler that poked him with a stick, but missed. Mizu may not be a spring chicken, but he was still physically fit. The ship that he was on was sailing to a small Dragon Prison.

Me either XD)

♧

Rome glanced down at the Frilly dragon who had just hissed at her and her dragons. "Chill." She told the little dragon calmly, looking up with a strange expression, it was the "I'm in a lot of pain and I have lost a lot of blood" face, the one that was perfect for this moment. "I figured that out after I got shot, yes I think I noticed that there's more blood out of me then in." Her voice, sarcastic as hell, was welcoming in a strange way. "I'd like that.." She trailed off, following the short woman with a somehow smooth walk.

The Wind Dancer puffed out a heavy breath, sniffing the dragon who was near him, Ziklag fell behind, crawling under the big dragon and near the them new dragon. "Hello." Iphtahel said his voice deep and strange. His head tilited, this new dragon was a Wind Dancer, his tail was excitedly wiggling, like a dog's, his head tilted as he gave a happy and curious look to the possible new friend.

Rome was feeling an odd sensation, the pain was mellowing, her arm tingle with pins and needles. "So Sarah.." Her eyes dropped slowly while she tried to stand still. "How'd you end up out here?" Her voice trained off, she shut her eyes trying to hold the wound again so it would stop bleeding on Sarah's floor.

Sage had seen the girl try and free the dragons at the prison. She was foolish to think she could have taken so many guards on head on like that. She had gotten shot, but seemed confident enough about where to go when she took off with her dragons. Besides, it wasnt his concern - her own stupidity had gotten her injured. He crept a bit closer to the compound, looking it over. Theres a lot of cages. I'll have to be quick. He glanced over at Fire Storm, who was fidgeting nervously. "Are you sure about this", she asked him. He shrugged. "not really. I could very well get myself hurt or captured. Or I could get killed." Then he smiled thinly, without humor. "But I won't die there - chill. I'll be back soon. You know to run and hide if things get tough." He crept down the slope quietly and began freeing the dragons. He knocked out the guards near the cages as quietly as possible, and then whispered the same thing to every dragon. "When I give the word, fly away as fast as you can. Not until then. That is your best chance of escape." The last dragon he freed was an big, blue Tidalwing. He was old, and looked very grumpy. Sage opened the cage door, holding his pointer finger to his lips. "wanna get out of here?" He whispered to the dragon.

The weather is sunny, skies are clear))

~

Kaito stopped hissing abruptly, surprised. With his ruff still spread, he angrily slithered off Sarah and into the house. Sarah rolled her eyes at the sarcastic comment, but she was concerned about how much blood Rome lost. She pushed Rome into a chair and peeled her fingers away from the bullet wound. "Mm. That doesn't look too good." She murmered, squinting at it. She touched it gently, before walking away for a moment. She came back with a damp washcloth, a towel, soap, and bandages. Sarah rubbed the soap on the wound first, and washed it off with the washcloth. "Oh, you know. Got chased around by rogue dragons. Dragon-rustlers trying to catch my dragons. I just came here looking for a place to stay in peace, I came here because it seemed the island was so small that nobody really paid any attention to it. Even most dragons don't stop here much." She finally wrapped bandages around the injury and stood back to admire her work. Emerald green eyes peeped out from a cat tree in the corner. Kaito was curled up on it, like an anaconda in the jungle. He was silently judging the newcomer. "You're Rome Dee, right? How'd you get this bullet wound? Only dragon-rustlers carry guns. You don't look like a dragon freer, but dragon-rustlers only go after dragons and dragon freers."

Ryu blinked up at the larger Wind Dancer, his head tilted. "Hi. Who are you?" He shifted from leg to leg, filled with youthful energy.

-

~

Mizu looked around in surprise when his cage door swung open. A human was there, holding it open. But it was no ordinary human, this human was dressed as a dragon freer. He snorted, the dragon-rustlers had put a muzzle on him after he had snapped at one. "Oh? A wee dragon freer has come to save the day? Well. I'm not leaving until my fellow Serpents are set free." He stubbornly stayed put in the cage, sitting down and folding his wings. He deliberately folded his wings a certain way, so they hid the row of scales that were burned off on his underbelly.