The dragon stayed silent for a while, eying you suspiciously causing you to shiver. Now it was impossible to hide your fear at all. You were sure the huge beast was about to burn you into ashes, and almost regretted to have tried and help the dragons.
You lowered your head, fighting to keep enough dignity to not beg for mercy. You didn't like the idea of perishing as a coward.
You were surprised when the dragon slowly and quietly spoke in your mind, 'We'll see, human... You seem sincere, but I need time to trust you.'
You lifted your gaze, quite relieved since the dragon apparently wasn't going to kill you immediately, yet still nervous since the giant clearly wasn't fully trusting you.
"Time?" you said in a trembling voice. "Do you mean I may stay here for a while?"
"No" he answered in a cold voice. "You MUST stay here!"
You froze in fear, realizing what the colossal being was meaning.
The dragon confirmed your fears, 'Nobody, dragon or not, is allowed to come here and survive unless they are a friend. I won't kill you now because I don't know if you're an enemy, but I can't let you go because I don't know if you're a friend so, you're going to be my captive, until I make my decision about it. I'll examine you and interrogate you... if you behave, no harm will come to you during your captivity, and if i eventually find out you're trustworthy, you'll be set free and will be considered a friend of my family. But if you give me the slightest motive of suspicion...' the dragon bared his teeth and ground his talons in the rocky floor, 'I'll give you a slow and painful death, even worse than the death your companions are going to get from us. Got it?'
Now scared to death, you nodded: obeying was the only way of surviving! The dragon grunted and lowered a massive paw toward you.
Scared, you crouched and covered yourself with your arms, fearing of being slashed or crushed; instead, you were just grabbed by the collar of your jacket and lifted into the air like a small kitten, while your captor walked, carrying you deeper and deeper into the cavern.
Dangling helplessly from the dragon's paw, you still felt terrified, unsure of what was going to happen to you, yet you couldn't avoid to notice how beautiful that place looked, the stone walls being nicely carved and light was given by crude torches.
The dragons were quite civilized, you thought, also noticing that several carvings showen dragons and humans being friendly together. That comforted you a bit. The dragons clearly could accept humans as friends. At least these could. His statement of no one is welcome here, dragon or not, rung in your head.
Finally the dragon came to an opening and carried you into a huge room, where you saw...