Another Prologue Revision

It was already late into the night when the scout disturbed the slumber of the desert city. He scurried through the streets towards the castle, keeping an eye behind him. He did not know if his enemies spotted him, but he knew what he saw. A small village was forming around one of the precious oasis alcoves. All use of the alcoves in the area required approval by Zenith, and he never approves for those creatures. The scout quickly entered the castle like building, startling the half-awake guard.

The scout saluted the guard, who responded with, "Scout Taza, what business do you have in Center Point?"

Taza quickly replied, winded and out of breath. "Sir, I need to speak with Zenith regarding alcoves. It is urgent information, Sir."

The guard regarded him slowly before letting him pass. Taza saluted once more before sprinting down the main hall. Zenith's room wasn't hard to find, nor did it take long for Zenith to summon Taza in.  Within a few seconds, Zenith stormed out of the room, with Taza tailing behind him. He led Taza up several floors, before kicking open the door to his office. The force of the kick splintered the fine desert wood of the door, leaving a large indent. Taza glanced at the dent before quickly running in after Zenith. When Zenith reached his desk, he rounded on Taza. Taza stopped and swallowed hard as Zenith bent over to stare right into his eyes.

"Repeat that again!" Zenith hissed into Taza's face. Taza fumbled with his shaking arms, trying to salute Zenith before speaking, as his training taught him. "Taza!" Zenith kicked him down and pinned him under his foot. "I said, repeat that again!"

Taza gasped for air, "Sir, t-the dragoons and sethians s-seem to have s-started a small village on, on one of the o-oasis alcoves, sir." Zenith removed his boot from Taza's chest, and Taza quickly stood back into attention.

Zenith moved to be alongside his desk. "Now tell me how," he slammed a fist into the desk, "How my scouts, that are sent to scout out every area, missed this!? THIS! It is within our desert! Fifty three scouts are assigned to the desert!"

"Sir, I don't know, sir!" Taza managed to spit out. He now understood why no one liked reporting to Zenith.

Zenith slowly moved to his chair and sat. He brushed the sand off his desk and rested his head in his hands while he thought. Slowly a grin formed across his mind. He opened a drawer and pulled out paper, quickly writing out a form. "Taza!" he snapped. Taza jumped and saluted him. "I want you to head down into the dungeons. There is a man in one of the advanced dragoon cells whom I want to enlist help. He is a vynyar, as we are, with special abilities." Zenith began to fold the letter and put it in an envelope. He placed his seal to close it. "Here…" He held the letter out to Taza. "The man's name is Tokoya. He is in dragoon cell 5."

Taza gulped as he took the letter. Zenith's eyes seemed darker as Taza exited the office. The hallway seemed longer as Taza found his way around it. He counted the doorways. "5… 6… 7… here we are." He opened the door, revealing a stairwell. Taza drew out his poison tipped dagger and slowly descended the stairs.  The stairs curved through a tunnel, few lanterns illuminated, and a grotesque scent filled the air – a scent of crisp, burning flesh, burning for years.  Zenith built this passage when he inherited rule from his grandfather. A small stair well branched off to the west, a direction where the scent was coming from. That direction sent shivers down Taza's spine, but he ignored it and continued down the main passage. Not too far past the small passage, he found the metal door. It was old with blood stained onto it, blood placed during their many fights with prisoners trying to escape. A good amount did escape, few died trying, and fewer died here. They just did not know enough yet about the creatures to keep them contained for long. Many catch on to the poisoned food and stop eating, slowly regaining their magic.

Taza let out a breath and braced himself. He did not know if something was trying to escape if he opened the door, and braced himself for a fight.

Slowly he unlatched the door. Doors to the dungeons all lock from the outside. Guards who work in them earn three times as much as normal guards, because they trap and lock themselves into the dungeons. This helps keep the creatures from escaping, but it also leads to the guards dying, and the creature escapes when someone opens the door. Taza raised his dagger to point towards the ceiling. With a sigh, he pushed the door open. With a flash, something tried to pass over his head. He felt wet drips of blood as his dagger pierces its arm. It gasped and fell in the hallway, clutching its arm as the poison shot through its body, paralyzing all of its muscles. Taza glanced into the room to see if the guard was still alive. He spotted the lifeless body, reaching for the mechanism to alert Zenith. Taza shook his head; no amount of money was worth working in the demonic place. He stepped into the room and covered the dead guard. The guard seemed covered in many burns that must have killed him.

Taza looked around the room. It was equipped for people to stay for many hours. There was a pantry full of food, a place to go to the bathroom, and a shelf full of books. At the fall end, the room narrowed into a passage full of cells. Built with a thick, reinforced metal, it was near impossible to break them down, but he could see a melted hole through one cell. Taza walked down the path, looking for cell five. All of the cells were empty along the way. Soon he found the cell with the number five carved into it and looked in through the slot in the door.

A man sat in the back corner of the cell. He had no wings, nor tail, but he did not seem all human. He looked over at the door when Taza looked in. The man stood up and walked over to the door. Taza knew there was no way this man was purely human. He was almost seven foot five! The man had to bend slightly to look through the door's slot. Taza could see his pupils were slitted and the iris was a bright orange.

"Are you Tokoya?" Taza questioned. He was unsure, since Zenith said Tokoya was human, yet this man did not seem it.

The man nodded, "And you are?" His icy voice washed over Taza, sending shivers down his spine.
"Just a messenger," He slipped the envelope through the slot. "A letter from Zenith." Taza slid the slot shut and returned to the main room. He glanced around again.

Taza turned back to the creature, glaring at him from the floor of the hall, Taza's poison having paralyzed it.

He could see in the light what the creature was. Her body was about seven feet long, about a medium tall for her kind. He realized that her kind was a dragoon, her large wings similar to those of a bat. Her long tail had spikes at the end. Taza judged from the red hue her wings and hair was that she was a fire-based dragoon. The female looked to be about Taza's own age, but looks can be deceiving with this type of creature. Taza felt a knot in his heart, he wanted to give her an antidote and let her go, but if Zenith found out… but he could say, he missed with his dagger. She did kill the guard, but anyone would to get out of here. He made his choice and approached the woman. He saw her eyes, built like a dragon's, widen before closing, as if she accepted her fate. Taza took a vial from his pocket.

"I doubt you trust me, I only paralyzed you to protect myself," Taza knelt near the dragoon's head. She opened her eyes and stared at Taza. "The poison does not affect your face muscles. Therefore, if you want to escape, open your mouth and I will give you the antidote."

The woman regarded him before she spoke. Her voice sounded toneless, as if she was repeating a lecture. "Why would I trust your kind, vynyar? Your people entomb us in here for torture, to learn from our bodies a better ways to contain us."

Taza smiled, she was a young dragoon. "Well, your elders have taught you well, but most learn from experience. Those would know you have few choices," Taza paused to brush the hair from the dragoon's face. "First, you can be left to lay here; the guard exchange would find you and re-poison you. They would lock you back in the cell and keep a closer eye on you. Second, this vial could be a poison to kill you. Third, it could be the antidote for the current poison. Or I could just kill you with my dagger now."

The dragoon looked into Taza's eyes. "You have a point. Fine, but what is saving you from me when I am free?"

Taza smiled, "If you kill me here, I won't have to face Zenith. If you don't, I may or may not have to face Zenith about letting you free."

She smiled, "As hard as it is to believe, I won't kill you. I killed your guard friend because he attacked me. I had no other choice." She let her mouth stay open.

Taza felt a warm feeling and unclamped the top of the vial; he dripped three droplets into her mouth. Within seconds, her tail quivered and she rose. Taza stood up as well. The dragoon did a quick stretch, checking each of her limbs. With a twirl, she laughed, happy to be alive. With a fluid movement, she pressed her lips to Taza's forehead.

"Ah, thank you sir. Thank you. Navinra, my name is Navinra." She laughed again.

Taza was taken back. This dragoon just kissed his forehead and told him her name. "Um, you are welcome. My… my name is Taza."

Navinra took his hands. "Taza, huh? You have my eternal gratitude; I shall remember your name." With that, Navinra ran up the stairs and vanished around the corner.

Taza gave her several minutes, before backtracking to the fallen guard. He pressed the mechanism to call Zenith and soon heard Zenith's voice.

"Yes?"

Taza took a breath. "Sir, this is scout Taza reporting in."

"Did you give my letter to Tokoya?"

"Yes sir. However, when I had gotten to the dungeon a dragoon was in the process of making her escape. She just missed my dagger and flew up the stairs. The current guard is dead." Taza braced himself for Zenith's wrath.

"You didn't call me first?" Zenith sounded surprisingly calm.

"No sir, I wanted to make sure the letter got to Tokoya in case the dragoon came back sir."

"Alright, this is one loss that can be overlooked. A new guard will come with the exchange of the shift."

A form appeared behind Taza, startling him. It was Tokoya. He took the speaker from Taza. "Vynyar leader Zenith?"

"Yes, is this Tokoya?"

Tokoya smiled. "Yes it is. I have decided to accept your proposal. If I eliminate that town, you will allow me to join your force?"

Zenith laughed, "Of course. I knew you would want to hunt down the people who ruined you."

"How much time are you allowing me to complete this task?"

Zenith did not respond right away. "You have until the next full moon."

Tokoya smirked. "Give me one week."