The Silken Seer

Chapter 4

Clearwing scrambled in the air as she plummeted like a rock toward a level far, far below. Her attacker, startled, let go of her and veered off in another direction.

"Clearwing!" Coal yelled. From the burst of blazing heat above her, she guessed that her friend had burned his attacker to a crisp before diving to save her. He caught Clearwing's forearms and spread his bat-like wings to glide them both safely to the ground. The SilkWing dragonet nearly kissed the ground as though she thought she'd never see it again, except it was covered in burning oil and plants, so maybe some other time.

There was a nearby balcony that they could jump off and escape the burning Hive, but how that would go was... questionable. The drop down to the savanna was pretty far down. Even so, they both ran toward it in unspoken agreement.

But before they could reach it, a LeafWing landed neatly in front of them, blocking their path. "Where do you think you're going?" the green dragon said, her teeth glinting in the light of the fire blazing around them.

Clearwing froze to the spot. She stared into the leaf dragon's brown eyes, but before she could piece together her story, Coal hissed angrily.

"None of your concern," he said, grabbing Clearwing by the arm. He lunged forward at the LeafWing and roughly dug his claws into her wrist, sending all three of them sailing off the ledge.

The dragons plummeted toward the ground, the LeafWing fighting Coal the whole way. She shrieked and flapped her large wings madly, twisting around through the air.

"Are you insane?" she snarled. "You're going to get all three of us killed!!"

"Better than just two," Coal said as he shot a burst of flame at the LeafWing — who barely dodged — getting the green dragon to recoil in fear.

"Coal, what is wrong with you?" Clearwing yelped, her blue eyes wide. This entire moment had felt like a dream, most likely because it had been, many times over. But she finally snapped into it, and the SilkWing dragonet was just as terrified as the LeafWing.

The ground got unnervingly close, and soon Coal let go of Clearwing, letting her drop the short distance to the waving savanna grass below. Clearwing landed on all four of her legs, like a startled cat, and she stood there for a few moments as she waited for her heartbeat to calm down.

It didn't.

She looked up, seeing the shape of a black dragonet easily dragging a full-grown LeafWing into the sky. She closed her eyes, wishing (perhaps more than she ever had before) that she could go back to how things were yesterday.

"Hey!" a voice called. Clearwing turned around, finding herself face-to-face with the pale green and yellow flamesilk.