Dragon was sleeping within the wagon. The ropes coiled around him like a python. His eyes flashed open and he sat up straight. He stared down at the wagon floor and looked around. He didn’t see anyone else with him, but he did see that he was shackled with more manacles.

He shuffled and his shackles jingled. He sighed and waited until a slaver checked on him.

“Oh, yer awake? Come on out, lunch is made.” The slaver then tugged on the rope. “Hurry it u-”

Dragon dropkicked the man, causing him to fly out and hit the tree. They flopped down to the ground like a doll that was thrown by a raging child against the wall.

Some of the slavers stood up and drew their spears. The leader sighed and sauntered over to Dragon.

“What tha hell ya playin’ a’?” He asked.

“He was annoying.” Dragon walked to the others where they were eating, his steps barely a foot long due to the chains between the manacles.

The slaver sighed. “I can’t have ya droppin’ aneh of tha men li’e tha’.”

“They shouldn’t annoy me.” Dragon sat down between a couple of men who were sweating profusely now that he was between them.

He waited for some soup to be served to him since he couldn’t grab anything with how his hands were tied behind him.

The little girl grabbed a bowl for him and then started to feed him.

His glare into the bowl could have murdered it.

She smiled oblivious to his killing intent, though the others moved and kept their distance.

“Does it taste good?” She asked.

Dragon didn’t reply.

“I know, it tastes rubbish right? They don’t even spice it.” She frowned.

“What spice would you use?” Dragon asked the girl.

“I don’t know… I think Snard is nice.”

Dragon turned to look at her with a rare expression of emotion, a slight confusion.

‘Snard?’

He took a sip of the soup.

“You are a Lady?”

She sat up tall, a smug smile across her face.

“That’s right, I am a Lady.” She nodded.

From the way she sat, Dragon could tell she wasn’t messing around, she was indeed a noble. She continued to sit tall and proud, waiting for him to reply.

However, that didn’t come. She eventually resigned herself to feeding him, but that didn’t stop her from chatting away.

She spoke of her previous life. She was a Rand, a minor noble family from the South East. They were caught in small skirmishes as part of a war that they wanted nothing to do with, and once many of their men had gone off to war, a troupe of bandits came in like a plague.

Her family was splintered off into several caravans. She was alone, her parents were killed together, and her elder sister was separated in another caravan. Her cousins had also been captured during the raid, though her elder brother had gone to war so managed to escape this fate.

‘She’s taken it well…’

She continued to talk for some time and Dragon listened, letting her feed him.

Then shouting began to echo from the distance. Dragon sat up and listened to hear screaming and roaring in the distance. A large shadow formed in the trees and the slavers drew their weapons, shouting at one another. Chaos took the camp.

A Red Wolf had appeared.