Wings of Fire: The Glorious Tower (dead)

Part 5: Caribou

Caribou glided in the open sky, feeling very happy. They were finally off on their quest, and they were going to be the coolest superheroes in the whole damn CONTINENT! Okay, Caribou, she scolded herself, no need to get so enthusiastic!

She let out a chuckle and flapped her wings higher. She was on top of the world, and nothing could make her feel otherwise! Even Andromeda with her rudeness and hesitance! Seriously, NOTHING-

"Where are we going?" Aloha asked, flapping her wings to go as high as the IceWing was. 

Caribou looked at her in shock. "Did you not hear the whole thing in Queen Glory's courtroom? Y'know, stopping Frigid and-" She was cut off by Andromeda flying up to her other side.

"She doesn't mean that, frost face! Do you even have any idea where the Haven of Bronze is?" 

Caribou slowed, thinking about what Andromeda had said. "No, I don't." She said quietly.

She felt a nudge to her wing, and found Aloha, looking at her sympathetically. "It's okay. Let's land and figure it out first?" Caribou smiled at Aloha and swirled down to a nice, not-muddy, patch of land. They were traveling north of the rainforest, and were over the borderlands of the Mud Kingdom. Aloha followed, and so did Andromeda, muttering colourful insults about "following idiot walrus-heads" Aloha glared at her, causing her to shut up. Caribou waved for the others to follow, and soon four dragons landed next to her, forming a messy circle. Caribou stood up straight and alert.

"Soooo... uh, why have we stopped? Are we hunting or something?" Toad asked.

Bighorn rolled his eyes. "It's not even lunchtime yet!", but Ember took a potato out of the food satchel, (given by Queen Glory) and handed it to Toad. He took it gratefully, then roasted it and started eating.

Caribou sighed. "Actually, we're going to figure out where this Haven is."

Dolphin looked confused. "I thought it was in the Ice Kingdom. On one of the islands floating near it, maybe?"

Aloha shook her head. "Maybe, but we need to be sure. It would make sense for it to be there-"

"Are you crazy?" Andromeda asked. "No way are we going to the COLDEST PLACE ON THE CONTINENT! AND IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER?!" 

"She has a point, you know. Maybe it's somewhere in the Mud Kingdom! We could search there! And I could see my sibs again!" Toad's eyes glimmered with hope. 

Bighorn winced. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's highly unlikely that Frigid've gone to the Mud Kingdom. He would have thought it was too dirty for his oh-so-importantly-clean-and-royal-scales."

Ember nodded. "It would've been too far. And it's okay about your siblings, you've only been gone a day. We could search in the islands nearby, though!" He added, seeing Toad's look of disappointment.

"Nah." Toad sighed.

"That makes sense." Dolphin said. "There is an island near the coast of the kingdom. It's called Beaver Island or something. They specialise in, well, foods made from beavers."

Aloha thought for a while. "Okay." She said. "It's settled. Let's go to Beaver Island, everybody!"

They had been flying for hours. Caribou felt as if her wings were going to snap off soon. The sun was nearly fully set behind them, withdrawing its long golden talons from the sky, inviting the coldness of the night. Caribou didn't mind the cold; it was the darkness she hated. The Ice Kingdom had moon globes everywhere, darkness was a thing unheard of. But here, it was so, so, dark. All of her other friends(if she could call them that) were tired too. It was only Ember that was still not drooping his tail or dipping his head, like the others were doing. Caribou decided that if they didn't stop soon, they were all going to crash in exhaustion. To her relief, she could see the dark smooth sand of the beach below. Caribou could also see the moons start to rise. Two moons were full. 

"Guys?" She called out cautiously. Immediately everyone snapped to attention. 

"What?" Andromeda asked.

"I'm exhausted. Let's land now." Caribou said. There were a murmur of 'yes's and even a 'THANK THE MOONS!" the source of which was Toad. She laughed.

They soon settled down in a small circle of palms. 

"Let's sleep now!" Bighorn offered. SandWings were also pretty good at flying, but flying for eight hours straight was no good for anydragon. 

Everyone agreed. They made small beds with palm leaves and slept.

Caribou woke up first the next morning. Or so she thought. Andromeda and Aloha were already awake! Actually, they looked they had been awake for quite some time. Aloha was carrying a heap of what looked like green apples, and Andromeda was carrying a big fat boar. 

"Hey guys!" Caribou greeted them both, sitting up on her leaf mattress as they carried the food into the tree circle. Aloha grinned at her, while Andromeda offered a curt nod. Look who's the frosty one now, she thought with a stab of venom. 

"By the teeth of the great ice dragon, it's hot!" She said as she squint-glared at the sun. It glared back with more force. Caribou lost the staring match. She looked curiously at the apple-things "What are those? And why are you even bringing food in? Queen Glory gave us lots." She pointed to the satchel containing rainforest fruits, although greatly diminished.

"These I found in the swamp. I don't think you should eat the seeds, though. Gut feeling." Aloha replied.

"You shouldn't." Toad was awake. "Your gut feeling's correct. Those seeds are poisonous." 

"Oh. Well, the reason we're bringing in extra food is that there are only two mangoes left, and I call dibs on those." Aloha said sheepishly. "Toad, want some poison-seed-fruits?" 

Toad winced. "I hate the taste. And plus, most MudWings call them pond apples." 

"Okay, guess I have the fruit all to myself, then!" Aloha grinned. "You PEASANTS will have to share the boar! Luckily for you, it's a big boar."

Ember had woken up too. "Sure," He laughed, playing along.

Dolphin growled and slapped Ember with her tail. "HOW LOUD DO YOU SPONGE BRAINS HAVE TO BE?!" 

Aloha sighed. "Wakey-wakey, melon head. It's time to go to Beaver Island!"

That woke her up. "Yes!" Dolphin cheered, jumping up and slapping Ember with her tail... again.

"Now that everyone's up, let's fly!" Andromeda said.

"Speak for yourself. I am swimming." Dolphin shook her head. 

"Okay, let's go!" Toad yelled.

Okay. So, you might be wondering why I'm updating a day early. Well, I'm going to a really cold place tonight, and I won't be back till Monday. I'm not bringing my laptop with me, so I can't update tomorrow like I've done before. Okay, Bye! BTW THIS IS 1000+ PLUS WORDS TOO!