Where Smoke Bleeds Gold

Chapter Three - Mixed Scales

They held me back, the strap tightening around my throat. I hissed and squealed but the attacker wouldn't let up. I stumbled back, ripping the leather strap apart once I could fit my claw under it. I breathed in a breath of fresh air as I fell forward.
"Why?" I hissed, coughing as the dirt fell closer to me. I was met with silence. I turned around toward the attacker, but all I was met with was a willow branch with what was left of the bag on it.
Was I going insane? Had that pollen had lasting effects? Was I just too oblivious to notice it? I turned away quickly.
"Okay, Mr. Tree," I said, standing up. I held my breath in case someone was to speak again, but no voices called out. I pulled the bag from tangled branches. "I won't go that way," I wrapped what was left of the bag around my shoulder and laid beneath its branches.
The willow leaves made a thick curtain around me, reassuring me that it would protect me just like my blankets would when mother brought threatening dragons home.
I sighed, gripping the grass beneath me as I let myself sleep as Sun made his descent down the sky.
"Wake up," A soft voice said. A cool talon held onto my shoulder, slowly shaking me awake.
"Shsss," I told Flicker. Couldn't she let me get a few more moments of sleep before I got up? I couldn't remember anything important to-
I jumped up, suddenly bumping snouts into the blue dragon. Her sky blue crystal eyes stared into mine.
"Hi," She said, seemingly not noticing the flame on the Firehorn grow. I quickly stiffened my tail, making sure she didn't notice.
"Ack- sorry- I didn'-" I began, pulling away. Remembering all that had happened yesterday.
"You say sorry a lot," She said, unmoving.
"Oh, sorry," I said before realizing how stupid that was. She sat up, pulling me with her.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked. I was too busy realizing how hot my cheeks were before I realized what she was talking to me.
"Oh- yea, I just-t getting away from it..." I said, not finishing the phrase.
"Getting away from what?" She asked, keeping her talon on mine. I suddenly noticed this, feeling my scales burn even more.
Get away from what? Her question repeated. Get away from the two dragons who ever gave a flying horse about you? Get away from the two dragons that did everything they could to make you happy? To get away from your own dumb mistakes? To get away from the consequences of your own actions?
"Why should you care?" I sneered, pulling away from her quickly, no longer feeling so warm. She stood up, wrapping her tail around my front leg. It was covered in needles like a porcupine.
"Because everyone should be cared about," She smiled as if it were true. If it was, why were dragons sent to dungeons? Why were Scales living on the streets? Why did some dragglings spend days without food? Maybe in the Frost Kingdom pretty dragons like her never had to worry about those kinds of things.
Not that she's pretty.
"Now come on Mr. GrumpyHorns. Let's go meet my friends," She grinned. She pulled me up, and I don't know if it was that unwillingly that I walked beside her. She curled her tail around one of my horns, keeping me with her. She had millions of quills that threatened to poke me in the eye, but I didn't mind it too much.
Her scales were a glossy cold. It was strange. I felt like I was ready to melt into her tail, the cool feeling was so bittersweet. I had never really been cold, with being in a desert around fire breathing dragons. Constant arson and natural wildfires. I never wanted to leave. Or for her to leave. I liked this cold. I wanted to always be this cold. Everyday.
"We're here," She said, shaking me from my thoughts. I opened my eyes just before I ran into her. Around us was a tattered camp. A lean-to was falling apart, a fire was dieing, there was even an animal hanging from a tree. I couldn't quite tell what it was, but it smelled heavenly. I wanted to ask for a bit, but I did nothing to help catch it and cook it, so I barely had an excuse for some.
"Quake!" She yelled hoarsely. From behind a tree a brown"Getting away from what?" She asked, keeping her talon on mine. I
suddenly noticed this, feeling my scales burn even more.
Get away from what? Her question repeated. Get away from the two
dragons who ever gave a flying horse about you? Get away from the two
dragons that did everything they could to make you happy? To get away from
your own dumb mistakes? To get away from the consequences of your own
actions?
"Why should you care?" I sneered, pulling away from her quickly, no
longer feeling so warm. She stood up, wrapping her tail around my front leg. It
was covered in needles like a porcupine.
"Because everyone should be cared about," She smiled as if it were true. If
it was, why were dragons sent to dungeons? Why were Scales living on the
streets? Why did some dragglings spend days without food? Maybe in the Frost
Kingdom pretty dragons like her never had to worry about those kinds of
things.
Not that she's pretty.
"Now come on Mr. GrumpyHorns. Let's go meet my friends," She grinned.
She pulled me up, and I don't know if it was that unwillingly that I walked
beside her. She curled her tail around one of my horns, keeping me with her.
She had millions of quills that threatened to poke me in the eye, but I didn't
mind it too much.
Her scales were a glossy cold. It was strange. I felt like I was ready to
melt into her tail, the cool feeling was so bittersweet. I had never really been
cold, with being in a desert around fire breathing dragons. Constant arson and
natural wildfires. I never wanted to leave. Or for her to leave. I liked this cold.
I wanted to always be this cold. Everyday.
"We're here," She said, shaking me from my thoughts. I opened my eyes
just before I ran into her. Around us was a tattered camp. A lean-to was falling
apart, a fire was dieing, there was even an animal hanging from a tree. I
couldn't quite tell what it was, but it smelled heavenly. I wanted to ask for a bit,
but I did nothing to help catch it and cook it, so I barely had an excuse for
some.
"Quake!" She yelled hoarsely. From behind a tree a brown CavernScale
looked out toward us.
"Sheesh, I'm right here, what do you want?" They said, staying behind the
tree. "Oh, is that fresh meat?" She grinned, baring her teeth at me.
"Quake!" The blue dragon yelled.
"You're gonna eat me?" I squaked, falling behind the blue dragon.
"Ha. Ha. Ha," The blue dragon laughed mechanically. "No, she's just joking,"
She said forcefully. "Don't mind her," She said, smiling forcefully. "Her sense of
humor is a little-" She stopped, not finishing.
"Starshine!" She yelled. "Would you at least-" She began, "What's your
name kid?" She asked me. I took that as a shock. She looked my age, so why did
she belittle me like that? No, everyone did that. I was just a kid.
"Flare," I told her.
"-Meet Flare?" She called.
"What?" They called from the lean-to. After a clatter of logs, a black and
white snout popped out from the fallen shelter.
"Quake won't help me out," He said. He was a SpectrumScale, that was for
sure. He had three sets of horns, and only SpectrumScale had six. But for my
entire life I've always been told that Light and DarkScales couldn't stand each
other, so why-?
"Hi Flare," Starshine said, holding his head up to look at me.
"Hiii..." I said, hoping that the blue dragon would forget to move her tail.
My face was beginning to feel hot again. Yet her tail slid away as she moved to
help Starshine out of the lean-to he found himself in. I looked away, feeling I
had no business in what they had little to talk about as the blue dragon tried to
pull logs off his tail.
"Flare, was it?" Quake asked from behind a tree.
"Yeah?" I answered, stepping to look at her.
"Were you the one that saved Avalanche yesterday?" She asked.
"Is that the blue dragon's name?" I asked her. Quake stopped, blinking her
big black eyes. A wide smile grew on her face.
"You just followed her here?" She snickered, her sharp talons digging into
the bark of a tree. "And she never told you her name?" She laughed.
"Aw man, you're both stupid," She laughed, wiping her face with her talon.
Was I being stupid? I knew her well enough to trust her, right? Or, probably not.
For all I knew she might've been taking me to my death.
"Anyway, thanks for saving the glacier brain over there. I think Starshine might be sad without her," Was she implying something? Did Starshine like Avalanche in a different way than Quake? A romantic way?
Not that I cared.
"What are you doing?" I asked her, stepping behind the trees with her.
"Nothing," She said, sweeping broken sticks under the brush with her tail. "Ack, you nose is gonna set the whole forest on fire," Quake said, pushing me out of the dense vegetation. "Go sit by the fire," She said, rounding the tree the other way for whatever reason. Quake sat down at the fire before me. She was really tall. I've seen DuneScales towering over every other dragon on the streets, but Quake seemed even taller than the DuneScale's I've seen at a distance.
"Hungry?" Quake asked, gesturing to the deer creature on the tree. I wanted to shake my head, yell, "Yes please!" But I didn't want to seem needy. I was supposed to be self-sufficient.
"I'm okay," I smiled. My stomach hissed in retaliation, but Quake didn't seem to hear. I meant to say, "Yes, thank you," But nerves caught me up.
"Alright," She smiled leaning back. I couldn't help but notice how odd her face looked. She had big black eyes, leaving no space for  her iris or even the white of her eye. The black bones that penetrated her scales looked like stones. She had one giant plate wrapped around her head like a helmet.
"Where are you from?" She asked, looking up from the dying embers.
"The Viper Nest, in the Glass Desert," I said, counting the claws on my hind talon.
"Cool," She said. "Do... you want to talk about why you left?" She asked. I looked up at her. Why was she trying to get me to talk about myself? Mom once told me the less I yammered about myself the better, and I'll never forget something like that.
"You don't have to, Avalanche rarely talks about how her life was like before she ran away, but Starshine felt much better after talking it out," She said quickly.
"Oh, I think I'm alright," I said, trying to think of how to get the topic off me. "Why did you leave?" I asked her. She looked up for a moment. Her big black eyes were shifty and thoughtful.
"Confidential," She said. Well then.
"Quake!" Avalanche yelled. I turned my attention to her and Starshine.
"Ahah! I see you've finally freed Starshine from his wooden shakals!" Quake said as if it was some heroic feet.
"Really?" Avalanche asked as Starshine shook himself of splinters and needles.
"It was funny," Quake said, turning back to the embers. Avalanche sighed as if Quake was never going to learn. "So... Does that mean we're good to go?" Quake asked, looking up to Avalanche. Avalanche snapped her head at her.
"You were supposed to be the one packing," She barked.
"So that's a no?" Quake said, acting sheepish.
"Oh dear Creation," Avalanche said, as if one more thing and she would threaten Quake.
"I'm kidding, everything's ready," Quake grinned.
"I am going to kill you," Avalanche said, poking Quake in the neck with her quills. I smiled, this felt exciting. I liked the dragons, and although they pretended to hate each other, you could still see how happy they made each other.
"You guys are leaving?" I asked, feeling the warmth begin melting away as I realized what they were talking about.
"Yeah, we don't want to stay anywhere for too long or we may be imposing on some kingdom's territory," Avalanche said.
    "Can... Can I come?" I asked. My throat closed as I realized what I was getting myself into. There was a chance I might never see my family again. I forced a big teeth grin so that the watering in my eyes wasn't so noticable.
    "Of course!" Avalanche said, as if she was actually happy to let me come. Was she? Did she actually want me to come? Did she actually want to be my friend?
    "No." Quake growled suddenly. I looked toward her, unsure if she was joking or not. Her eyes were narrowed and focused on mine. Her pig-like ears pressed against her head as she snarled at me.
    "We must have the traditional welcoming ceremony first!" Quake said, dropping the expression and throwing her arms up.
    "We have literally never done that before," Avalanche said.
    "Too bad," Quake smiled.
    "We have to go now, or it will be dark by the time we get to the beach," Starshine butted in.
    "Please?" Quake said, batting her eyes to Avalanche.
    "No," Avalanche said, dropping a bag into Quake's lap. With a loud groan, Quake slowly got up and wrapped the bag around her head.
    "Fine," She said, kicking dirt over the hot embers. "Ready to go,