Scavenger

23 0 0
                                    

I hoped I wouldn't get caught. THAT would be the end of me.

    The good news was that Chameleon probably didn't know which way I went.
    Wait! Ugh, I forgot to tell Pine to either ignore Chameleon or lead him on a false trail toward a different route if he comes looking for me!
    For a moment I considered going back, but when I turned around, I realized that I was so far out that Pantala wasn't even visible. I sigh-growled but kept flying. The other islands that I found had food on them. Water too. Some of them didn't have water pools, so I had to go to other islands.
    How many islands are there? I thought. I bet this isn't the way Clearsight took. I shook my head. Why am I thinking about Clearsight?! She lived the rest of her happy life in Pantala, she's not a resident of Pyrrhia anymore, so WHY ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT CLEARSIGHT WHEN YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND YOU!?
   
I growled and caught a salmon as it leaped out of the water. Ugh, fish. I'm no IceWing or SeaWing, but it's food. Reluctantly, I bit into it. I learned on my journey that if you think you'll have plenty of food, you'll most likely end up somewhere without food, so eat what you can before that happens.
    I flew onward and after a while my wings began to get tired. Has it really been that long since I saw an island? I looked at the sun for confirmation. Sure enough, it was starting to set while I had started flying at the crack of dawn. Either there were a few islands at the beginning I didn't see because it was dark, or there weren't islands for the rest of my journey and I was going to have to swim or drown.
    Please don't let that happen. I thought nervously. Eventually I lowered myself to the water's surface and glided. I flapped my wings a few times, but they weren't complete flaps otherwise they'd go underwater and that wouldn't really end well.

    It took another hour or so, and my eye lids began to droop. Oh no, I'm tired! I need to find an island. I started to look around frantically, no matter how tired I was.

    There! I thought. I angled myself toward an island. Oh thank the moons! I landed on the island and found a spot in the shade where I wouldn't get found. Then as soon as I lied down, without even checking my surroundings, without even trying to find out if this was a good island to stay at, I dropped off to sleep.

    The next day, the sun's powerful rays flashed through my eye lids as the sun went up. I groaned and turned away from the sun and fell asleep again.
    This happened a few more times until finally I had enough and I got up. Oh no, I didn't scout this island did I? Ugh, if it's not good... I checked my wings. They were ready to fly again. Good. If this isn't a good island, I'll fly away in search of another. This time I'll fly all the way up until I'm a few feet below cloud level, and then I'll glide so that if my wings get tired I can just continue gliding without having to use them.
   
A while later, I started to move around the island. There were coconuts. I wasn't going to eat those until I really had to, even though I was raised to know fruits were good. And meat. No, I wasn't going to eat a coconut because they were hairy and they had white insides but they were brown on the outside and it was just plain WEIRD. Eventually I came across a pool of water. I took a sip, and it was perfect! It was pleasantly cool and gave me a sense of calmness. It tasted amazing, just the right amount of pure with the smallest hint of...something that wasn't good.
    Again, I stayed there a while longer, memorizing my surroundings so that I could come back. I moved on soon, though, and came across a clearing. Wait I was in a forest? I looked around myself. Huh. I was. Then I stepped out into the clearing and I found myself face to face with food.
    Food!
   
Yes! I licked my lips and pounced on a cow. This is perfect! How they got here, I don't know! What I do know, is that I. Have. Food! I ate my fill and left the rest for later, or for a scavenger. Not one of the wormy things with fur on the top. No, one of the things that came out in the middle of the night to eat. Like coyotes. (Where would I find those though?) Or Raccoons. (Why would they be here though?)
    Then something tapped me. Slowly, I turned around.
    "Boo." Said the scavenger.
    "Ah! You can TALK?" I replied.
    "Obviously. What, did you think humans are just creatures like sloths or something and they don't have feelings? Or maybe sloths do have feelings. But did you think we were unintelligent?!"
    "I mean...that's kind of what everyone thinks."
    "Well that's rude." The scavenger huffed. She started marching around the small circle she had made with her stick. Then she put the stick in the ground and started putting lines around the circle.
    "What are you doing?" I asked. I stepped forward.
    "First of all, stop RIGHT THERE RIGHT NOW, YOU'LL RUIN IT, and second of all, I'm drawing you so STAY STILL."
    She's drawing me? I learned about drawing but I never did it before. This scavenger...no, what did she call herself again? A human. This human (ugh, that sounds weird) knows how to draw! Wait. If humans are as intelligent if not more intelligent than dragons, does that mean...
   
I slipped out the calming rushing waves of the sea that I had heard once before this, and I tried to read a mind. But there was no mind to be read. Instead there were emotions.
    The scavenger was feeling angry that I had almost ruined her drawing but scared about facing a dragon. She was also feeling happy that she finally got to show someone her drawings.
    "Hey, I'm sorry about almost ruining your drawing. You don't have to be angry. I'm a born ruiner. I break almost anything I touch." (THAT'S LITERALLY ME THOUGH. Half the things I touch, POOF, gone the next day. Thank the moons my computer isn't dead though. YET)
   
"How'd you know I was angry?!" Now she's feeling more scared because she doesn't know how I felt her emotions.
   
"I'm a NightWing." I said.
    "Is that what the Night Dragons call themselves?"
    "Yep. But certain NightWings have certain powers. Tell you what. Why don't you finish drawing me and then I'll explain everything."
    "Got it! My name's Kimberly, by the way."
    "I'm Phantomhunter."


Okay, I'll see you all in the next chapter! Bye!!!

HomeWhere stories live. Discover now