Dragonet Drabbles

Chapter 3

Flame shot up, nearly tripping over his talons. "Chromis!" he shouted again. No answer. He whipped his head around frantically, scanning every angle possible. Cold dread rooted in his stomach as if he had swallowed a bucket of ice. The bag he had brought with him to hold his scrolls pinch painfully between his scales as he tried to bend his long neck around his body. Shit, I should have been paying attention! Stupid, stupid me! After giving himself a proper berating his thoughts become consumed with finding his brother. Or, more accurately, he could only think of the horrible fate that had befallen the small dragon.

His brain conjured images of Chromis dangly from a cliff above a bottomless pit; of Chromis eating some random plant in the gardens and getting poisoned; or what if he had found the kitchens and crawled into the ovens? Not to mentioned how Avalanche would react. He very much doubted she'd be pleased.

"Flame... you're looking a little crazy-eyed right now," Umber helpfully commented. He raised his talons in an attempt at a pacifying gesture. "I know this is scary and you want to run off in every direction at once but we have to be smart about this."

"Smart?" Flame repeated in disbelief. His heart was pounding and he was having trouble getting air into his lungs. That couldn't be good. "We don't have time for that!" he snapped, "We need to find him as soon as possible. Maybe if we split up and... and we just look everywhere and... he'd have to be somewhere it's not like he can fly...."

"Flame," Umber repeated his name curtly and his voice was like a boulder being dropped into the turbulent river of Flame's thoughts. Umber placed his palm against Flame's cheek and without thinking Flame leaned into the touch. He took in a deep breath, though it felt harder than usual with his heart pounding in his throat. He continued to stand there, just breathing, while Umber tenderly stroked the line of tiny scales that encircled his eye. It took a few moments, but eventually his pulse settled into a rhythm that was only slightly worrisome.

"Good," Umber announced and dropped his talon. Flame felt eased by the surety in Umber's voice, but wished he could still feel the MudWing's warmth.

"OK, boss, now what?" Flame half joked, shaking his wings out. He was still too jittery to think straight and hoped Umber wouldn't mind acting as his brain for a little while. Umber took a moment to think, his gaze drifting past away from Flame and to somewhere behind him absentmindedly. Whatever he saw though made him perk.

"Look," he said and pointed to the bush behind Flame. The SkyWing took a look but wasn't too impressed. It was a pretty dull bush, all things considered. Whatever blooms it might have had were long gone. It was just kind of green and, well, bushy. They had chosen to rest beside it mostly because it was tall and provided a little nook away from the other patients as they ambled around the gardens. He wondered if maybe Umber had suddenly become a scrub enthusiast, but when he followed the direction of Umber's pointing talon he saw what was actually interesting.

"A ... hole?" Flame asked, making sure he was getting it right. Indeed, at the base of the plant was a ragged gap that looked like someone had punched through the leaves and twigs.

"Yes!" Umber confirmed. He stepped towards the small area of destruction and sniffed. "And it has his scent. He must have gone through here." Umber cocked his head to the side. "How did we not hear him do this?"

"To be fair, you were being very distracting," Flame explained. Umber look at him with an expression that was a perfect mix of offended and bemused.

"If I remember correctly, it was YOU who was being distracting," Umber shot back.

Flame was about to respond with a defiant 'nuh-uh' but stopped when he realized they were doing the exact same thing that had gotten them into this problem in the first place.