The Dragon and the Captain

Staring past the shimmering gold bars made for a bird, the young Dracnascule flapped his wings in irritation. From being in the same place for close to a month he knew trying to escape was futile.

Sitting down with crossed legs and arms to mirror his frustration, Brorym thought back to all of his escape attempts. Maybe the young dragon missed something?

Within the first few hours of being captured, Brorym attempted several times to slip his body through the narrow openings between the bars. All it took was one body part to be free and Brorym knew the rest would follow. This was probably the moment Owen decided the small creature was not the brightest. It only took one hour to capture then cage the small creature. Within two hours Owen walks back into his cabin finding only half of Brorym's body sticking out between the bars while the other half was flailing back and forth. What was even more humiliating was the fact it only took one measly hand from the human, along wit not a lot of pressure to push him back where he belonged.

The third day he drove himself exhausted by trying to breathe fire on the bars. Maybe if he got them hot enough the teenager could use both of his hands to bend the bars apart. His luck wasn't there that day either. Brorym ended up just lying face down on the ground out of breath. The bars he focused on were not even budging. All he accomplished was making the bird cage so warm even the half-breed couldn't touch it without wincing. At least the human couldn't mess with his cage that day. Owen attempted just once to grab the door of the cage when his hand got scorched. Brorym knew the human would most likely take his anger out on him but at least the teen got a good laugh out of it.

Maybe if the draconian was nice and charming, basically a good pet, then the human would set him free? Bring him out to 'play'? Let's just say to this day the young dragon was still working on that plan. The human never seemed to want to get too close to Brorym. He would open the cage up to give the teenager food, but there wasn't much interaction from the human. It was like he was trying to avoid the young dragon. Brorym was grabbed, caged against his will, and at this point ignored. Which made him even more aggravated since he was a naturally talkative creature. Dracnascules weren't, but Brorym couldn't go one hour without expressing himself. By the fourth day, it got to the point the young dragon either talked to the human when he was in the cabin, never expecting an answer, or he talked to the wall

"Maybe I could bite his hand the next time it came into the cage?"

The creek of the door instinctually made Brorym's flapped ears twitch a bit. Turning his head he watched as the rugged blond-haired man walked in. The young Dracnascule remained sitting with his tail wrapped around him as a protection. Even with the sway of the ship under his feet, the human was able to walk with such force and no sway, it always amazed him. Every thump seemed so natural like he's spent his whole life on the sea and the two were friends. He naturally aligned his sway and footing with the rhythm of the water even though he was not watching it.

He could tell one thing...the human was done. He was done with life, irritated with his crew, and wanted an escape...but Brorym was not going to allow that.

"So how was the water today Owen?" Brorym asked with a smirk preparing for that look of disdain from the human.

Right on cue, the human planted both hands on the desk giving an intended shake that the small six-inch creature would feel through his body. He gave a quick glare that summoned it all up. 'Shut up'. The human didn't even have to say anything for the dragon to get the idea.

"Did I touch a nerve, Owen?"

"It's Captain." Brorym could tell the human was going to be on edge but could not afford to slip up. Both knew at this point it was a game. Which one would cave in first? The small seven-inch half-human half-dragon who was destined to be sold or the 5'6 human Captain who couldn't afford to slip up or his money would fly out the window literally. If the Captain was willing to slink back into his quarters with the half-dragon, he must have been annoyed with the crew or had a lot on his mind.

Owen slipped his skinny cutlass with a pure black hilt over his shoulder, placing it on the table beside the cage. With a sigh, he tossed his brown Captain's hat off of his head having it land on the ground. Brorym was always attracted to the feathers sticking out of it. They looked real, especially the huge black-striped one from either a hawk or a hawk hybrid creature. The other feathers were a mix of fake and real for decoration but of dull colors.

Brorym expected the Captain to sit at his desk or go lie down in his cot. Instead, the man walked to the other side of the desk.Directly in front of him, the wall was lined with hundreds and hundreds of papers. Brorym observed this man is usually pretty organized for one at sea, but when it came to this wall...it would take a well-trained eye to see all that was hanging up. Being trapped in a birdcage and having nothing else to stare at, the young one had picked up on a few things here and there. Heck, he learned the Captain's real name because it was signed on one page.

There were so many maps. Some Brorym knew...like his old home, and others he had never seen except in his dreams. The papers on the very left confused the halfbreed the most. The writing was in a language he had never heard or come across before. He would stare at the left side of the collection for hours and never understand what Brorym was looking at. He could piece together that the smaller pieces of paper were most likely diary entries or letters written in another language. On top of all the papers was a drawing of some type of swirl. Maybe something Owen saw while in an induced alcoholic coma? The teen tried to ask a few times about that side of the wall but stopped after he struck a nerve one day. Brorym was just ranting. Talking about nonsense. He got on the topic of a drawing Owen made that looked like a female human but in clothing, he had never seen before. The dracnascule made fun of her hairstyle and Owen stormed over smacking the cage across the table. The human did seem sorry afterward for almost injuring the small dragon, but that didn't fix what had happened. After that Brorym stopped asking about the papers.

Just so he had something to do Brorym stood up, walking towards the lock of the cage. He stuck his clawed hand inside, starting to tinker with the locking mechanism. The teen knew he was never going to get it unlocked this way, the motion just kept him occupied...and caused a bit of hope ringing in the back of his mind. "So Captain," he emphasized the word Captain. "Your crew getting on your nerves yet? I know I would be annoyed if I had to constantly watch my back around the people I had to trust the most to get me home."Brorym's tail flicked back and forth while he concentrated on the latch.

"Everyone needs a break." Brorym's ears flicked back while his wings flapped straight out in surprise. He was not expecting the Captain to strike up a conversation. The teen tilted his head to the side in curiosity while he slowly moved his claws away from the lock.

"Oh don't stop your failed attempt to escape on my account. I'm curious if you can unlock your cage."Owen kept his back to the prisoner as he spoke but had a wide smirk slowly creeping out at the sight of the small dragon.

"But no honestly it seems we need to take another route to the market. A storm is on the way."Owen turns so he is facing the cage, walking forward with his hands behind his back."Ye don't happen to have an idea, do you?"

Brorym couldn't help but now smile back. "Why would I know such things? I'm stuck in your cabin all day. I didn't even know a storm was about."it was his turn to turn his back to the Captain. The half-breed was now piecing it all together. Owen must have been desperate if he was talking to him or simply trying to process information. Either way, Brorym wanted no part in helping the Captain sell him any faster. With a twitch of his ears, the Dracnascule processed there was no sound coming from behind him. There was no more thumping rhythm not even a tapping to help the conversation along. All while the two were going about their back and forth, all Brorym could hear was the steady thumping of the captain pacing back and forth. There was now no sound. What was Owen doing?

Two huge slams could be heard on either side of the cage. Just from the vibrations, themselves, the cage started to tilt in one direction. Scrambling to the left, Brorym offset the tilt of the cage. A shadow engulfed him making his body shake and react. If the Brorym was thinking straight he would stay to the left side to make sure the cage didn't topple over, but his instincts screamed for the teen to get out of the darkness. He ran to the right side of the cage.

Owen watched as his small movement caused the even smaller creature's world to be toppled over. All he did was slam both hands on either side of the cage. Such a movement that most humans wouldn't even think twice about doing when frustrated caused such a looming presence for the seven-inch dragon. It even offset the cage causing it to tilt. If Owen hadn't suddenly reached one hand out, the cage would have fallen on its side or toppled to the ground. The human had to remember such movements had to be thought through, or they could be perceived as an earthquake towards the tiny creature.

"Well, your body language tells me differently." slowly moving the cage back onto the flat surface, Owen watched as Brorym had to catch his balance.

"My body language could have been in reaction to your carelessness!" Owen could see smoke starting to come from the hands of the young one but not make a flame.

"Oh, you have done worse." the captain leaned down so his face filled the view of Brorym. "But don't sit there and lie to me. I know you knew about the storm because your ears and wings were more perked up than usual. Your scales are even perked up just a bit."

The smoke died down as Owen spoke more and more. Brorym was a bit amazed that the human could notice all that on his minuscule body. The smallest of details didn't seem to pass the giant. "Well, that doesn't mean I'm going to do anything about it. I'm stuck in this nice and cozy bared room. You can run around in the rain like lost maniacs."

"I swear you need to-" The ship rolled back with a sudden jerk. Reacting naturally, Owen grabbed the desk to keep his footing but watched as everything in the cabin started to slide. He nailed down most of his items of value, but objects such as his chair were not. It and several items started to screech across the wooden floor, ending up across the room. As the ship tilted to the opposite side, Owen gripped his hands onto the edges of the desk. They were so red only the comparison of a tomato would be accurate as a description. Looking up, he meets the eyes of Brorym as the small creature's containment flies across the room as well.