"That's it tie them good." said the man, Joe had no choice but to comply. He tied both Darren and Brian to a post inside the cell of the dungeon of an abandoned fortress the slavers have taken over. "Nice haul in deed, I'll take the horse for myself, one of the boys will take the older boy tomorrow to sell and see if he can find a buyer for the younger one. Such a cute boy can fetch a good price." He said laughing and leaving them alone.
"Dammit Joe, what's wrong with you? Why are you helping them, I don't like what those guys were implying with me." said Brian with tears under his eyes.
"It's not Joe's fault, the collar is enchanted making him do whatever they want." said Darren.
"I'm sorry, I was supposed to protect you, I don't know how they got the drop on me." said the dragonkind Joe.
"Dammit, this is humilliating, I'm a dragon and now they will most likely sell me to some asshole and make me obey him for the rest of my life."
"I wouldn't worry about that, the collar wouldn't let you transform into your full dragon form without choking you, and as a dragonkind you might be a powerful warrior, you'll also develop an immunity to the collar's magic. Humans would have enslaved your kind long ago if not for that nasty trait of yours." explained Darren.
"Really how fast it would take?" said Joe with hope.
"Not enough, I'm afraid. For what I've seen dragonkinds that fall on the hands of enslavers, aren't very marketable... alive. Scales for armor, teeth and claws for trinkets, tails and horns for spells, eyes..." recited Darren.
"HOLY FUCK!" said Brian shocked, he saw that Joe expression turned to sheer dread. "Darren what do we do?"
"I kinda hoped you weren't very skill with ties, these are tight." said trying to loose the grip without avail.
"Heh, for someone so stupid looking you surely know a lot boy." said someone. There was no one in the room, Brian and Darren looked around, Joe moved his eyes, no one could see anyone. "In the lamp" said the voice. The lamp was the only source of light on what otherwise would be a sealed room, the boys squinted their eyes and saw something human-like looking inside the lamp.
"A fairy?" asked Darren at the Lamp.
"Of a kind, yes." replied the light. "But most importantly, I might be able to help you."
"Help yourself most likely." retorted Dar.
"Well my fate is no better than that of snake head here. Good news is I can help..."
"If we first free you from the lamp. And then you escape flying as soon as they come from Joe."
"First off you'll need a key to open this, and second but I can help with a spell." said fairies.
"Pfft... got to someone else with that story. If you could do magic you wouldn't be still here." said Darren.
"Dar! Let's at least hear the fairy, it might be able to help."
"How gullible are you? Everyone knows fairies are tricksters and need a wand to do magic, if it had a wand he would have wisp itself away. It has no magic." said Dar.
"Wait, did he called you Dar? As in Darren?" asked the fairy.
"Yes, that's my name." replied Dar.
"As in Brother Darren" said the fairy.
Dar took a second to realize. "Donovan?"
"Brother is it good to find you, what happened to you?" asked the fairy.
"Donovan is that really you? Fellows, we might be saved."
"Kikikiki you still doubt me?"
"With you it is always hard to tell. But don't stand there do it."
"What's going on?" asked Brian finally.
"This is Ser Donovan, the Stranger. He is part of my band, I told you about them the Cursed Knights."
"Your order had a fairy?" asked Brian.
"Well no, you see. Donovan has the cursed of never being himself again. Or anyone for that matter. " explained Darren.
"Ugh... always the hyperbole with you. Listen you know how this works, so do it already!" yelled the fairy.
"Do what?" asked Brian.
"You always rushing! It won't work even if we were free I don't think there's much either of us could do?" said Darren, obviously to Brian and Joe having omitted some context.
"Well I couldn't very well turn into dragon boy here could I?" said Donovan sarcastically.
"We ca- wait. Your name is Jou, right? This might sound silly, but we are desperate, you were always a dragonkind?" asked Darren.
"Uh? What does it matter?" asked Joe.
"No, he was human?" said Brian.
"Wait, you were human?" jumped Donovan in the lamp.
"Maybe" interjected Joe.
"What do you mean maybe? You were human." jumped Brian.
"Perhaps, but I don't know if Tye counts here."
"What's- nevermind if the dragonkind is not your original form, maybe we can save ourselves. Donovan has the curse that he can exchange curses between himself and others as long as both parties agree." explained Darren.
"That sounds awesome." said Brian.
"In theory, but soon you realise anyone 'willing' to exchange curses always wants to trade up. That's how I ended up as a fairy trapped in a lamp. So dragon boy, are you ready, I'll bail us all out of here. Just say I accept the trade." said Donovan.
"So I'll become a fairy."
"It's fairy or chopped liver, your call." said
Joe gathered he really didn't had a choice. "I accept-"