A red armoured woman who held the title of Lord Commander, stood tall as her gaze swept across 28 covered cages. They were lined up in a row and organised by race. It was extremely rare unless a slave merchant was visiting the city, for there to be more than one or two species delivered at the same time causing the courtyard to feel a bit cramped.

-"They got such a variety of younglings” she sighed and mentally ran through the stock list again. A few on the list, the purebloods like the angels, dragons and vampire were beyond rare. No wonder the convoy was protected by so many knights. Other kingdoms would pay handsomely for even a few of these, let alone the entire collection.

==== Lord General ====

-”They even have two dragons...TWO!. Dragons are extremely maternal and would fight to the death before letting one of their young get taken away. I haven't heard of any dragon subjugations or even dragon sightings in the last few months. I wonder where they got hold of them”

Walking towards the cages I give hand signals to my highly trained men, watching as they split with the knights into large groups surrounding the cages and looking as intimidating as possible.

James, the generals squire moves towards the small group responsible for removing the covers and recording information. Ignoring the fact that he didn't ask for my permission, I push back a dark feeling gnawing the back of my mind. Something doesn't feel right, surely there was more info than just the stock sheet provided.

-”There is no such thing as coincidence. Being ordered to tame them all together, bond them into 4 man packs for a single trainer and have them combat ready within two months is beyond ridiculous, its madness.”

-”Damn those politicians in the capital, these creatures are all too unique to be forced into contracts. We should be winning them over instead of using force but I guess my hands are tied.”

I look to my companion Rarek. Rarek, a lethean snake and my only contractee was already well over a hundred and recently he has been getting slow and more forgetful. It would be great to bond with another creature to lessen his burden as well as provide some company however that is pretty unlikely as I have to beat them into submission. By becoming their fear incarnate it will help other trainers quickly bond with them.

Mentally slapping myself to prepare for the role of the villain, I activate my Commanding Presence skill.

Not a sound had come from the cages since I announced they were slaves meaning that they had all probably tried to go against the collars on their journey here and learnt… or were dead. I hope it was the first one, I don't want to be reporting to Rolf that one of them is dead before I even start.

“I have used magic to enable you to speak the common tongue instead of your native languages. You will only speak in common. If you speak in any other language you will feel agonising pain until you pass out”.

I pause for effect before continuing.

“If any of you speak without permission, you will receive pain. If you make a ruckus, you will receive pain….. You look at me funny and” I pause again. Having done this countless times, I understand the need for dramatic flair. Let their minds go into overdrive, conjuring the worst things they can imagine is much more effective than ‘real’ threats “You will feel pain”.

“Your collars have not been bound to a master yet so anyone amongst my men can give you an order. I suggest you obey them promptly.”

I need to start laying the foundations of the benefits of having a master. Most of these creatures should be incredibly intelligent and if I just say it, there probably will be more resistance to the concept.

-”You can lead a ranok to water, but you can't force them to drink”

Waiting a bit for my words to sink in I give a nod to the squire and his group. They move to the first two cages and get ready to pull the sheets off. Once again, this is done for effect.

It would be much more efficient to remove all the covers at once but the being able to focus on small groups as well as the fear of the unknown for the ones not yet inspected it's surprisingly effective.

-”It's a shame the time scales I am working with are too tight. Shock and awe is needed if we are to get them ready in time.”

“We will now begin the inspection. Sit in the centre of the cage and face towards my voice. Do NOT make a sound. Do NOT look around”.

==== Third person ====

As the sheets hit the ground the soldiers took a collective breath. Two dragons, one red and the other blue, sit in the centre of the cage facing the Lord Commander. Except for the squire who has seen them before, only she was able to keep her composure, however, if anyone was to have looked closely they would have caught her pupils rapidly shrinking.

The most noticeable were the red dragon. It was the size of a dog with large red wings folded along its back, making it seem much larger and intimidating.

The dragon was covered in heavy, dull scales that emphasised its well defined, taut muscles. Its long neck rose up in an S like-position where its large, thick, spiky head held numerous jagged teeth. Barely protruding a few centimetres, tiny horns were visible poking out the back of its head.

With a raptor-like gaze, it was stareing the commander directly in the eye. It's golden, majestic eyes were marred by its dark, snake-like pupils which contracted slightly as it let out a low hiss.

“Pain - First rank” [Lord Commander]

She needed to stamp out this disobedient behaviour before it got out of hand and at her command pain flooded into the dragon from the collar. The dragon's pupils once again constricted as it quickly stopped its hissing before slowly dropping its gaze.

“You're just an overgrown lizard and you think you can challenge me, know your place!” [Lord Commander]

“WOW, that one has been causing trouble since we left…..” James abruptly stopped. He was under orders to keep the origin a secret.

Although it was a very poor kept secret which many already knew Beth, the Lord commander had to be kept in the dark as must as possible. She was very selective about what she accepted into the coliseum and like most seasoned commanders hated unknowns.

The commander ignored the squire’s words and concentrated on the dragons.

-”It's just a drake but it has such an intimidating aura. It's going to be a monster in a few evolutions. We better get it contracted as soon as possible” [Beth]

Taking a final glance to make sure the red dragon kept its eyes on the ground she turned towards the blue dragon. Although they physically looked the same, the size of the blue dragon was no more than a large cat and where the red dragon's scales were dull, its azure blue scales almost sparkled in the light causing some to briefly lose themselves.

The small blue dragon held none of the defiance of the other and was already staring at the floor in submission.

Beth looked at the little dragon with a hint of sadness. Runt’s of any species rarely lived long. If their own did not kill them outright, they would be abandoned. Any younglings containing a core without the protection of their parents were ruthlessly set upon. It could even be considered lucky that this one had been captured as it would at least get to live.

If this was a normal batch, she would have gotten one of her shield bearers to take the pitiful dragon. It might not be any use in combat, but a dragon is a dragon and this little one seemed to be more amiable than most.

==== Lord Commander (Beth) ====

“Do you have names?” [Beth]

Both dragons slightly confused me as they shook their heads but did not utter a sound, probably out of fear of the collar.

-”Why would they not have names? All creatures are given names at birth, even the ones that were abandoned”.

As the strange events started to stack I decide to move on. The sooner we get through this, the faster I bind their status stones and get to the bottom of this.