"Let him go you bastards!"
They had thrown Tuorka to the ground. Three fawns were holding him down and still he fought back in the pitch black of night.
Uokror was shrieking in pain.
At the first chains he had awakened. Then it had been a mad rush to throw the others and try to ensnare the beast. They had tried to pierce him with spears to keep him at bay but it was not what hurt him.
It was that black iron.
Now that the struggle had begun the fighters had lit torches that only added to the chaos. They could see Uokror's wing still free, as well as his neck. They could see another body fall.
"Tie the neck!" Etelet screamed.
But they could not approach anymore, not until Tunu plunged to hold it still while the others picked the chain from the ground and tried again.
The keep was awakening from those screams.
They had tied his wingtip, or so they thought. The beast pulled them in with ease, ripped one apart and then the other before the scaled lizard could even intervene. He himself struggled to hold despite his might.
But the beast's tail had been tied, forced down like the rest of the body. If only for that free wing and the head victory would be theirs.
"Don't leat it breathe!"
"Watch out!"
Tunu had been thrown down with force. Suddenly Uokror's head was free. Immediately he snatched one chain and cracked it with one bite.
But before he could attack the others, a cry stopped him.
"Stand still!"
It was the old kobel, the chief, a short sword at Tuorka's neck.
"Kreil you traitor!" The old warrior screamed. "You'll pay for this!"
For that short moment where the beast wavered a new chain flew and pinned his neck. His head hit the ground with force.
Already his free claws were on the chain, ready to snap it.
It was Tunu who prevented it. Tunu, at the last moment, had rushed to grab it, to put himself between the chain and that paw.
"Still I said!" The chief warned and pressed on the furry neck.
Uokror, finally, went quiet.
"What are you doing!? Get out of there!"
Etelet's voice answered coldly: "He can't. Those chains are sapping his strength."
The fighters were hurrying with the rest of the chains, to tie the beast as best they could. It wasn't struggling anymore, just wincing when the iron was tightened on its limbs.
All around they were planting iron pegs to keep him in place.
"You're all going to burn!" Tuorka was still yelling. "I'll kill all of you!"
The old chief let go of his neck so that the others could put that old warrior back on the ground.
"Shut up already. You brought a stranger to our tribe, what did you expect?"
Nothing. Tuorka had expected nothing from the tribe. His murderous eyes said as much. He wasn't the one that had wanted to put some trust in them.
So Uokror's voice broke the silence.
"It's fine."
"No it's not! Break free already!"
"It's fine. I can break chain. You have tribe."
Etelet, at those words, approached to touch the iron links. There was fear in his touch. But for all the apprentice could tell, it was a bluff.
So he calmed down. The last of the pegs were in place. The wyvern had been captured.
"It's fine." Uokror repeated.
"You heard him." The chief followed. "Now choose and choose wisely, Tuorka. Choose us or him."
That was hardly a choice.
All could tell he had sided with the winged kobel. They had just spent too much time together. His actions, his words, had stated it clearly already.
Yet the chief still pretended otherwise, the beast was playing along and to say the truth would only have him killed. All those who still cared about the old champion were telling him to betray the one he probably owed his life.
He clenched his teeth, beat back his anger and grumbled.
"Let go of me."
The fighters obeyed. The kobel got up, rubbed his arms, darted a glance at the chief while pondering his next words.
"He is a captive?"
"Nothing less. In time we will free him."
"Yes." Etelet confirmed.
The apprentice's hand was caressing that bestial head. He was touching the horns, fascinated. His fingers carried some vicious touch.
"It won't take long. Once I'm done, he will be free again."
"Done with what?"
"This is our new shaman." The chief explained. "It is only natural that he takes a look at a legendary kobel. I can assure you, neither me nor him want your friend any harm."
That all sounded like lies, because most of it was. But again, everyone was telling him to play along.
Everyone but Tunu. The scaled kobel had stood aside, now that the beast had been tamed. He was still not sure what this was all about and didn't seem to care either way.
His heart had tightened.
This wasn't a fight, and this wasn't honorable. He longed for blood. Had he listened to his own feelings the kobel would have broken those chains and defied the wyvern barehanded. Like Tuorka, he was forced to let it all happen.
The old champion looked at Uokror's eyes, sighed and walked away, to the stairs.
The moment he was gone it was the chief's turn to exhale.
"That imbecile. I'll make sure he never sets foot in the keep again. So, what do we do with that?"
He was pointing at the wyvern.
"He has followed the path of the wyvern." Tunu declared. "I would rather we keep him alive."
"We will."
Etelet had crouched. His eyes fixed the bestial one, trying to find a spark of resistance in it. To no avail.
"I said the truth. You can tell, right? Can monsters read a creature's heart? Nothing? Suit yourself. You might be more talkative once you are free again."
He got back up and turned to Tunu.
"I will need this tower for myself. The whole tower. No one enters without my approval. No one. Not even you."
"Okay. Will you be okay with him? If he escapes..."
"He won't."
So they agreed. After a few more words the first fighters headed down, then the chief. The chief looked tired, absolutely exhausted. In the darkness no one but Tunu could perceive that.
He himself felt like a coward. Turning his back to a prey.
"Tunu." Uokror's voice called him.
Somehow, he felt like it was a friend and so he turned, somewhat hopeful, to recognize the wyvern on the ground.
"Grow strong. For tribe."
It made no sense to him. So the scaled kobel returned to the unfinished stairs, down following the trail of torches. Further ahead was a crowd asking what the clamors had been about. They might as well have been on another hill.
He could not believe that the creature he had just helped capture was wishing him well. Those clumsy words sounded like one from a tribesman.
It added betrayal to his shame.
But Savae had broken through the crowd and reached him. She had recognized his shimmering scales in the dark.
"You captured Uokror? Is he dead?"
There was impatience in her words. Desire, even.
"He is alive. Chained."
"Let's kill him. I want to taste wyvern flesh."
"Cannibal." He mocked her. "What you want is me."
She only hissed, a soft hiss against his chest.