What I needed was a place to hide. There had to be something! A rock. A bush? I had no clue if either one would be enough to shield my body from the horrors around me. I still looked. I wasn't that big!

Behind me, I could hear the thrashing of plants and the growls of one of those creatures. Snarls, snaps, and grunts as well. I didn't want to look back. I was terrified they'd be too close to me, so I just kept going.

A few paces further, the mess under my hands and knees got softer. Without slowing, I got a foot under me, then the other, making one pace with my hands still on the ground before I could truly stand. Pain shot up from my soles, but it didn't matter. It was fleeting. It could be ignored.

I still limped. But this was faster than crawling, so I kept going, kept searching for a place where I'd be safe. Faster, then faster still, I pushed my newly-broken body. All around me was nothing but green. The brightest green I could have imagined, and so many shades of it.

The world was beautiful. That didn't make it any less dangerous. Once, I'd read that bright colors meant poison, but did they mean more? Because colors assaulted my eyes from every direction. So did the daylight. Everything was bright. Much too bright, which might be why I couldn't find a hiding spot!

But when I stepped on something else sharp and felt my skin split, I had to pause. Grabbing the trunk of the closest tree, I dared to look at my feet and saw blood. Little cuts, and now a big one to go with it. Raw skin and things sticking out of it.

Behind me, I heard movement. Daring to glance back finally, I saw something dark moving my way. Screw my aching feet. I ran.

It was more of a hobble and a limp, but it was as fast as I could go. The chain was now wrapped around one of my arms, but the weight of it slowed me as well. The thing certainly wasn't light! It also clanked, which made me worry less about the roaring of my own breath as I struggled to take in enough air to keep moving like this.

A grip on my arm spun me around. The first thing I saw was grey, but black was right after, so I pushed, trying to keep it away. My hands landed on what felt like the chest of a man, and I looked up. The creature barely rocked with my defense. Worse, it smiled.

"Varhor tu gouun lidel moul?"

I took a step back as fear gripped my chest. "What are you?"

The monster's head twitched, proving it heard my words. "Tu dounaspyk Vestrian? Val, dees izgoundabi thun."

All I could do was shake my head and keep retreating. Behind the monster, that blue tail swished slowly, but with power. On the end was something sharp - the stinger! Just like the one in the dining hall. Another step backwards and I looked the entire beast over, trying to make my mind understand what I was seeing.

Because this was a Dragon.

It didn't have four legs and wings like in my books. Instead, it - he - looked so much like a man. His feet were different, and his skin. His coloring was definitely not human, and his hair was even different, yet there was something very human-like about him.

"Please don't eat me," I breathed.

The Wyvern simply grunted - then stormed forward. Ducking down, he scooped my body up. Slinging me over his shoulder like a sack from harvest, the thing clasped my legs behind the knees to hold me in place.

I still tried to struggle. Kicking my feet only made him hold me harder. With my hands, I pounded on his back, hoping to hit hard enough to make him drop me. Every bouncing step of this man-thing shoved his shoulder into my gut, making me want to gag.

"Put me down!" I insisted. "Let me go!"

He said nothing. On either side of me, trees were passing. Oddly, no branches were grabbing at me this time, but they were still out there. I tried to reach one, hoping I could use it as a weapon, but the few my fingers could touch simply slipped from my grasp before I could do anything with them.

Worse, I could barely see. With every passing second, the Earth was getting even brighter! My eyes wanted to close on their own. I had to force the lids open to even catch a glimpse, but I would not let this monster drag me placidly to my death.

Screaming was pointless. The Wyvern was a man, and men would only laugh at a woman's pain. Instead, I focused on hitting. Reaching as far as I could, I tried to find his kidney. That should make him pause, right? But when my fist slammed into it, the best I got was a muffled huff.

Next, I did my best to lunge forward, hoping to slip out of his grip. I knew I'd tumble to the ground, but then maybe I could run again? So, shoving all of my weight forward, I tried to break free. This time, the Wyvern actually laughed - even as his arm gripped my legs tighter, pressing them into his bare chest.

"Dadzna gounavork."

His voice was deep but smooth. He also sounded amused. I wanted to beg for another chance, to plead with this monster to let me go, but his words made no sense to me, so mine would be no better for him. Instead, I finally allowed myself to cry.

I'd gotten so close. I'd made it out of the compound. I'd seen the Earth above, and I'd crawled through real dirt and leaves! That was more living than I'd done in my entire life, but it would all be for naught. The hunters had warned me to hide before daybreak, but I'd gotten distracted with all the colors around me. I'd paused to see the wonders I'd only read about.

And now I would pay for it. Callah would never get something yellow from me. Hopefully, that would convince her not to try the same. For a brief moment there, I'd dared to hope we could forge a life on the surface by ourselves, alone, without the torture of men, but I'd failed.

FifteenAyla

All too soon, the Wyvern broke from the trees. I couldn't see where we were going, but the brightness made it clear things had changed. Then, before I was ready, the monster crouched, lifting one arm to brace my back while the other moved my legs.

The world shifted and I found myself on my rump in the dirt. Only inches away was the most terrifying thing our people had ever encountered. My breath was coming too fast, and this time it wasn't because I'd been running. My eyes were streaming now, making everything into a halo of light and colors, yet the moment the Wyvern let go of me, I shoved to my feet.

Immediately, something in the sole of my right foot pushed deeper. The pain made me cry out, so I shifted my weight to the other foot. If the Dragons were going to kill me, I had no intention of making it easy for them.

Forms moved around me, but the annoying streaming of my eyes made them hard to see. Reaching up, I used the back of my hand to wipe at first one eye, then the other, but what I saw only made me wish I hadn't.

More Dragons.

Four more moved in to encircle me. Like the Wyvern, they all seemed to be male. All five of them had chests like the Righteous men - and no shirts to cover them! They were shaped so much like humans, with only two arms and two legs, and their necks were not long. They looked nothing like the creatures from my books!

But their hands did end in talons. The tails swaying behind them looked both strong and dangerous. Their feet were upright, more like they were walking on their tiptoes with their heels in the air. Of course, those toes had talons on them.

Then there were the colors. One was bright green. Solid green, except for his tan chest and a pair of red lines jutting back from his human-shaped - but not colored - eyes. The next was tan with green along his sides and horizontal black stripes over that. He was huge, maybe even bigger than the Wyvern. I was pretty sure he'd been the one who'd stood from the grass.

Turning a bit more, I saw another brown one, but this was a darker shade. Closer to the bark of the trees, but darker. Black polka dots covered his body, but it was the lavender on his belly and the royal purple marks on the back sides of his neck that made him stand out. Yet the one beside him?

I wasn't sure I had a name for all those colors. Yellow, red, orange, and turquoise assaulted my eyes. Unlike the rest, this Dragon wore pants. Black ones. That made me turn again quickly, inspecting the others one more time. I wasn't sure what they would call the covering over their groins, but it was leather, dyed to nearly the color of their bodies. Maybe a loincloth?

And they were talking. The words were flying too fast for me to even make out the sounds. With their eyes locked on me, however, I could guess the subject. Then the tan, green, and black one slashed his arm through the air and snapped something loudly.

Before any of the others could respond, he lunged at me. A scream broke from my lips and I tried to jump back, but my foot hurt too bad. I staggered. The blindingly-colored Dragon caught my shoulders, but that only held me in place as the tan, green, and black one grabbed my arm and yanked me towards him.

One more time, I stumbled on my abused feet. Pain was lancing up from them, but before the mostly tan Dragon could abscond with me, the Wyvern shoved in. So did the dark brown one with the purple. That made the solid green one press in.

I expected the monsters to pull at me until they'd ripped me apart. Instead, the Wyvern and the brown one pushed at the other Dragons. The other Dragons pushed back. Tails flailed behind them, whipping the air furiously. Their strange words grew louder and louder as the argument escalated, and I tried my hardest to pull free.

I could feel the tan one's talons poking into my skin. His grip was so hard, I knew I'd have bruises. I also didn't care. I had to get out of the middle of them. What I needed was a weapon!

My eyes landed on the chain. Heaving my entire body to the side, I swung the thing, hoping to add some force into it. The metal links made a sound as they impacted the tan Dragon's side, but little else. It was still enough to make the monsters all fall silent and look at me again.

Which was when the one in pants moved closer, crossing his arms over his chest. "Uf Zasen zes sa steiz dan sa steiz. Sou vot uf saz e moul? Saz olsou e fimeil, un viv nava zin wan bithar."

The tan one snarled in annoyance and finally released me. A jumble of words tumbled from him, with the green one adding a few of his own thoughts, but no one bothered to reply. Instead, the Wyvern simply smiled deviously as if he'd gotten his way.

Naturally, my stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. The men all paused. Slowly, their attention shifted to me again, but not to my face. They were looking at my body. The one barely concealed by the thin white cloth of my chemise.

I crossed my hands over my breasts to hide them and shook my head. Since the Dragons had stepped back, I had room to retreat, but no good direction to do it. Hoping for some way to escape, I glanced to my left. Then my right. The five monsters had me trapped between them, though.

Then the one in pants grabbed my upper arms again. No, clasped. His grip wasn't hard enough to count as grabbing, but it still made me freeze. My heart was hammering so hard, I felt like I was about to pass out. My breath was coming in short, shallow pants. My skin felt like it had gone numb, yet I could feel the Dragon's hands.

"Please!" I whimpered.