Wings of Fire; The Assassin

Chapter 14

Bubble left the library and started to search for anyone else who could help him. He needed someone smart enough that they could solve this fast. Bubble didn't feel like he knew enough about Boris to make a definitive answer about him. Bubble didn't want to work with a SkyWing whatsoever, so Aella was out of the question. Bubble didn't know where to start to find Starburst, and he didn't exactly trust her entirely anyway. The only other dragon was Diamondback.

He knew that Diamondback was Artemis's older brother, and Artemis may have told him to stay away from Bubble, but there is still a chance that he could get to Diamondback, and talk him into helping before it was too late. Bubble's only option was to hope that he could get to Diamondback first. Bubble felt his dread and his limited confidence go to war inside him as he went through possible scenarios, where some went exactly as planned, while others ended in absolute disaster.

The SeaWing prince walked down the hall listening for any sounds of Diamondback, but he heard nothing. Absolute silence. Bubble felt a chilling breeze creep through the tunnel systems, carrying the scent of mountain rain along with it. Shivers crawled through his scales to every tip of him. Bubble slightly whimpered but managed to bite back any other signs of emotion escaping him. There was only one place that he didn't look that had a high possibility of Diamondback being there.

He decided to head to his sleeping cave, and see if Diamondback was there. When he walked into the cave, the SandWing NightWing was at his ledge, looking down at a scroll. He had his wings folded closely around him and was keeping himself very compact as though he was trying to keep himself warm.

Duh! He is a SandWing. They live in one of the hottest and driest environments! This is probably torture for him, with all the cold breezes and water seeping through the walls and being carried along with the wind.

"Diamondback?" Bubble said. He approached the dragon's ledge and looked toward the scroll. Bubble could see that Diamondback was not reading because there was a small inkpot half-buried in the sand on his bed, and some messy lines slightly resembling the shape of a SandWing.

Diamondback quickly flipped the scroll over so whatever was on the side he was looking at was facing the small amounts of sand on the ledge. Bubble only caught a glimpse of what was on it. He could see that there were two scars on their neck along with some tattoos outlining the scales on the sides of their neck. They had a necklace that had a black pendant on the end, but that might just be the ink, and not the actual color of it.

"Oh! Hey Bubble, you startled me a bit. What can I help you with?" Diamondback asked, fidgeting nervously with the corners of the scroll, and his eyes were dashing back and forth as though he was nervous about something. Bubble just shook the thought off and went on.

"I was hoping that you could help me with investigating something suspicious," Bubble answered. He decided it was best that he should keep what he was needing help with very broad. That lasted about two seconds before it failed.

"What suspicious thing?" Diamondback asked. Bubble was hoping beyond hope that Diamondback would not leave him too if he told him.

Bubble sighed, "so... this may sound a little unbelievable, but I think there may be an assassin in school."

Diamondback kept his face unreadable, "How do you know?"

"I overheard someone talking to someone else about killing someone some time. I think sometime soon." Bubble admitted.

Diamondback still kept his face unreadable, which was starting to become unsettling. Bubble shifted uncomfortably and started to think that Diamondback was starting to think Bubble was insane. Bubble was starting to think he was insane, too. What if he just hit his head too hard and started to imagine things. There was also a possibility that it WAS all real and that everyone was in danger. He was not going to take any chance.

And now I have another potential friend who thinks I'm crazy. Hopefully, by the end of today, I will still have some clawmates that could be friends.

Bubble prepared himself for the inevitable, "no," when Diamondback said something that shocked Bubble.

"Ok. I'm in. Where do we start?" Diamondback asked. Bubble was shocked at the reply and slightly jumped. He looked up at Diamondback, who had a sympathetic and worried slight smile on his face.

"That was what I was hoping you would help me answer." Bubble replied. Bubble honestly had no idea where to begin. All Bubble knew is that he was confused and panicking and he felt a little light-headed and might faint.

"Ok, so... do you have any clues or anything that could be useful?"

"Um..." Bubble thought for a moment, "Oh! I remember seeing a red tail!"

"And the voice, anything that could help identify the dragon? Anything else that could ACTUALLY be useful."

Bubble replied, "No, I think they used something to distort their voice. It didn't sound like a dragon."

Diamondback thought for a moment and decided, "I guess we already have something to go off of. Let's see if we can use it."

They walked out of the cave, when a massive cold breeze blew through the halls, blasting Bubble and Diamondback in the face with cold wind and water. Diamondback yelped in surprise, and shook himself off, trying to dry his scales that now had little gleaming droplets all over them.

"Should we wait out the storm? I mean, we are in cover but it is still cold and wet." Bubble said, trying to reason, half to himself and half to Diamondback.

Diamondback just shook his head. "No. We should keep going. I can handle it."

Bubble shrugged and continued on through the "storm." It was not much of a storm, but the wind seemed to be whipping through the halls faster than a speeding SkyWing.

The stalactites dripped with the collecting water, and it splashed softly each time. As Bubble was walking through the halls, he couldn't look away from the droplets. They mesmerized him with the calming simplicity of round droplets falling. He was flooded with calm and relief, which he realized has been scarce for him.

Bubble sighed as he felt lighter and freer than he has felt since he could remember. There was always that one part of his mind that was stuck, knee-deep in dread and end of the world scenarios. He never had time just to look at the simple things. To be in the moment. It was kind of refreshing.

But I have a job to do. I don't want to do it, but if I don't, who will?