The Mysterious Dragonman (Chapter XIV)

Anxious Heart

Rue was the first one to awake some hours later. Her chest was quite painful from having slept on the hard metallic floor of her cage, and she cursed as she sat down, inspecting the room she and the other dragons were imprisoned in. After all she couldn't do it before as she was too tired to do so.
The room looked pretty old, like it was part of a castle. It was also weakly lightened by a single window near Mei's cage, which was as well letting a small sun ray hit her own cage. The window looked like having been repaired hastily and quite poorly, still letting the wind blow through it. Bargy, in the third cage, had a part of his cage hidden in the shadows.
There was only one door to exit the room, and it also seemed like it had been poorly repaired some times ago. Definitively, absolutely nothing looked modern or whatsoever. No plastic materials, no electric wire, no lightning source except the window... Where the hell could they be ?
And those cages they were in... The bars looked so big she doubted she could bend them, even with her new muscles. But she anyway had to try. She just couldn't sit and wait to know what would happen to them. The dragoness sat down in front of the cage and began to force with her forepaws, trying to widen the hole between two bars. Groaning, she finally gave up and looked at what she had done. Rue puffed as she understood that the two bars didn't even moved an inch. She at least hoped that she would have managed to slightly bend them...
"I knew it. Those bars are far to big to be bent. Even the lock looks too solid to be broken." Mei commented.
Rue turned back to see the blue dragoness standing up and cursing about how rough was the floor. Mei lied down on the other side and, curling the top part of her body, made herself a small massage on the painful side she had used as pillow.
"That's nice to be able to curl my body at will. I think I'm going to like all this." she smiled.
"That would be much nicer if we had something softer to sleep on..." Bargy grumbled as he stood up and searched for a more comfortable position. "I thought that this fur would at least make it better but it seems like it's not the case."
Rue grinned. "My chest hurts as well, don't worry for that... But is there really no water or food ? I'm thirsty and starving !"
"So am I. But someone brought us in those cages, I guess it's not to let us die from thirst and starvation..."
"For sure, it would be sad to have done all this for nothing." a voice answered her.

The three dragons suddenly looked toward the door as the Dragonman made his appearance through the door. He got welcomed by three dragons suddenly discovering they were able to hiss - and quite loudly.
"Oh, sorry, it seems like I surprised you." he falsely apologized. "I hope you didn't spent a too rough night ? From what I got, the floor of those cages isn't as comfortable as I would want them to be."
Rue hissed again, her eyes clearly showing her anger. "Oh, that's nice you're caring about our comfort because I've got a bunch of reclamations to do ! Including the possibility to show you how happy I am to be here..."
"And how happy I am to have been gazed during your show..." Bargy added.
The Dragonman snapped his tongue. "Oh, come on, there is no need to be that angry. Didn't I gave you the wonderful and powerful bodies you are now enjoying ?"
"Sure. Just come closer and let me show you my gratitude by trying my new fire breath on you... Or whatever power I've." Mei replied.
The Dragonman shook his head. "It's right that you're still shocked by what's happening to you. But I ensure you I only want the best for you. I've got an offer for you, and I'm sure you're going to like it. For now, I'll let you enjoy a meal and get used to your new bodies."
The Dragonman got closer from Bargy's cage, and the furred dragon couldn't help to growl at him - by the way enjoying that low threatening sound coming from his throat.
"You know where you can put your offer..." he growled. "We don't even know who you are !"
The Dragonman smiled. "You don't need to know anything about me right now. I'm the Dragonman, as you already know from my show. I'll reveal you the rest in needed time."
Mei growled as well. "Wonderful. Like we're going to accept your damn offer without knowing who you are."
"You'll see, the offer should suit you." the Dragonman replied.
Rue frowned as she suddenly remembered something she saw at the show.
"But... Aren't your tigers with you ? It seemed like they were your pets..." she asked.
The Dragonman grinned. "Oh, you really are an intelligent dragoness. I just hope you're enough to fully understand how much you can gain from my offer. Indeed, my tigers should have been here as well, but... I sent them finding something that belongs to me."
He put a bowl of water and a bowl of food in front of Bargy's cage before heading toward Mei's cage.
"And what about all the others ? There was a whole crowd at the show, and it wasn't your first one !" Bargy asked after having given a look to his two bowls.
The Dragonman put the two bowls in front of Mei's cage before answering.
"Only a few people have been brought here." he just replied.
He finally put the last two bowls in front of Rue's cage.
"Now, I'll let you some time to get used to your new bodies. I just hope that it will also allow you to get past your animosity toward me, even if it's justified considering the circumstances, so that we can really have a discussion this evening. You'll see that my offer will greatly compensate the fact I had to lock you here."

The Dragonman left the room, leaving three puzzled dragons behind him. During a whole minute, they all tried to get what he was meaning.
"I don't really get it." Rue finally said. "He sounded like he only locked us because he knew we would be angry at him. Did he meant he would free us if we accept that offer he was speaking about ?"
"Sounds like." Bargy answered. "But then why not making his offer now ? If that's really this interesting, he shouldn't fear we refuse it, right ?"
Mei shrugged. "Somehow he's right. Just for what he had done to us I think I would have refused by principe... But that doesn't fully justifies why he didn't proposed it now, even if that meant he had to try again this evening."
"Well, maybe he already tried and it didn't worked ?" Rue suggested.
"Already tried ? You mean with the other dragons he captured ? He didn't deny that there was none after all." Bargy commented.
Mei's eyes widened as she suddenly understood.
"With the dragons... from his previous shows !" she exclaimed, making Rue and Bargy oddly look at her. "I'm sure we're the only dragons here at the moment, but that evasive answer he gave us was because he didn't wanted to say that there was dragons here before !"
Bargy nodded. "It makes sense, yes. So he tried his proposition with the other dragons, and somehow they didn't accepted. I wonder where he put them then..."
Rue's jaw dropped as she looked at the window.
"Guys, I don't think he 'put' them anywhere. If the Dragonman is being that cautious about his offer, it's because these dragons escaped from here." she said.
Mei followed her look and smiled. "That's why this window is broken, this cage is on its side, and our cages are equipped with reinforced locks..." she muttered.
Bargy also turned his look toward the window. "Then I just wonder why they fled after he made them his offer. I don't like that..."
Mei and Rue nodded, agreeing with that last statement.
"Eh moment, you think that his tigers were sent after them ?" Mei suddenly realized.