Rainbows In The Dark

Chapter 5

Oleander

The three children of Glory were all different.

Firefly was known for having a short fuse and being the most joyful of them.

Silver was known for being unpredictable and having a stubborn attitude.

Oleander was known for having the most in common with her mother and the fact that she was the only one of the siblings who hadn't been in a fight yet.

Fight experience would have come in handy but all she had now were the tactics her father taught her.

Oleander rolled aside as the Chief stabbed his tail at her. She flung herself forward and slashed at his shoulder.

The Chief slammed her into the wall with his arm. He laughed while slowly walking toward her. "Did you seriously think that you could take me on alone?"

A dart hit him in the neck.

"She's not alone." Fennec said from behind the wooden desk. "She has me."

"Fennec... no..." Oleander mumbled. Her eyes were blurry around the edges from the hit she had taken.

The Chief scoffed and ripped the dart out. "What? Did you think this would... work?" He shook his head and made his way toward Fennec.

Fennec shot another dart and the Chief shielded himself with his wings. Seeing his chance, Fennec lunged forward and bit down on the top of his right wing.

The Chief tried shaking him off but then started howling. Fennec was flung off of the wing and rolled over to Oleander. A burn was left on an imprinted bite mark on the Chief's wing.

Fennec tried standing up and fell over on his side. "Oleander, get out of here."

"No. I'm not leaving you." Oleander said, getting up.

Fennec looked up at her. "Oleander, please."

Oleander stepped around him and grounded herself in front of him. The Chief walked slowly toward her and she was finally able to see why he went so slow. 

The giant Sandwing had two scars on his rear legs, which must be painful to move. "Little dragon, do not worry, your death will be quick and painless."

Oleander glared at him. "But your's won't." She unhinged her jaw and shot a jet of venom at the wing Fennec had burned. It landed on his membrane and the Chief screamed.

She wasn't sure scream was the right word. It was like a roar but ear-piercingly awful.

Fennec had gotten up and was grabbing the keys from the wall. "I got them! Let's go!'

Oleander followed him past the Chief, who was laying on the floor, unconscious, but not dead. "I know he's a bad dragon, but I'm glad I didn't kill him." She thought.

Fennec was hiding behind a tent out of the way of the path. Oleander turned invisible and brushed up against him to let him know she was there. He nodded and slowly winded his way through the back of the tents toward the prisoners tent.

"That scream must have woken up the whole camp, we need to get everyone out now." Oleander said.

She and Fennec burst into the tent. The prisoners turned their attention to them as Fennec made his way to the lock.

"Fennec! Good job but what was that sound?" Qibli asked.

"That was the Chief, Oleander hit him with some venom and while she did save us, the camp is probably on their way here so we need to get our weapons." Fennec said quickly.

Qibli nodded. "Alright team, let's get our weapons and storm this place!"

Oleander stepped out of the tent with Lavender by her side, then immediately stopped when a Sandwing ran past her.

"Help! Help! Thorn's coming!" The Sandwing yelled. Down the path, Sandwings who were already out looking confused, seemed even more confused.

"Queen Thorn is coming!?" One of them shouted.

"Yes! We need to tell the Chief and get out of here!" The first Sandwing shouted.

Another Sandwing stumbled out from the direction of the Chief's tent. "The Chief's dead!" 

"They must already be here!" 

"Secure the prisoners!"

"No time! We need to leave!'

"None of you are going anywhere!" A new voice shouted.

And then the tent above the camp was shredded and a troop of dragons dropped down.

A six-clawed dragon stood in the front, behind him were nearly a hundred Sandwings. "You are hereby under arrest under the name of Queen Thorn." He said.

Half of the Talons of Peace members threw their wings up while the other attempted to run. The six-clawed dragon's Sandwings ran after them.

"Six-Claws!" Qibli called as he ran out of the barracks.

Six-Claws, the dragon in charge of the others, turned around to face them. "Qibli! What in the great dunes are you doing!?"

"We're in the middle of an escape, come back later." Qibli said.

Six-Claws huffed. "This is no time for jokes. Get your team out of here, we've got this covered."

Qibli nodded and went back inside the empty barracks. Oleander made her way after him but was stopped by Lavender.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to check on Fennec." Oleander said.

Lavender raised an eye. "Why? We need to leave."

"Because he risked his life to help me and I'm not leaving until I know he's safe." Oleander said fiercely.

Lavender nodded. "Okay, I'll wait out here."

Oleander walked inside the barracks, where Fennec was getting a bandage wrapped around his arm by another Sandwing.

"Oh, Oleander." He said as she made her way to him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine. But funny enough, I was going to ask you the same thing." Oleander said, leaning against the wall.

The Sandwing that was helping Fennec walked out of the tent, grabbing a spear on the way out.

"Really?" Fennec looked down at his bandage. "I mean, I'm doing fine, just hurt my arm a bit when I got hit."

Oleander twined her around his carefully, avoiding his tail barb. "That was quite an experience though."

"What do you mean?" Fennec asked.

"Well, we haven't even known each other for a day and we've taken down a cult together." Oleander looked at curtain of the tent.

Fennec laughed lightly. "Yes, we don't really know each other, do we?"

"We could introduce ourselves now. We can start over." She offered.

He smiled at her. "Alright, my name's Fennec."

Oleander smiled back at him. "I'm Oleander, and it's nice to meet you."