Wings of Fire; The Assassin

Chapter 25

He ran out the door into the hall and chased Alpine. A small group of dragons were walking down the hall when Bubble bolted past them. They were a group of MudWings, which were probably sibs, and were pretty much taking up the entire hall. For once, Bubble was thankful for his small size. He leaped right over the smallest MudWing and barely managed to fit in the gap. The MudWings yelped, but he didn't give it a second thought. This was his one chance to catch Alpine without putting his friends in danger.

He knew that Alpine was a lot more athletic and bigger than Bubble, but in the narrow and winding halls, he might have a chance at catching up with him. Around every corner, Bubble could see his red tail getting closer every time. They were still in the smaller and newer halls, which helped Bubble's speed, but Bubble could tell that Alpine was heading to the larger main halls for the same reason why Bubble wanted to avoid them in the first place.

It was worse than he feared. They were closer to the main halls than he initially thought. As soon as he turned the last corner, he ended up in the hall leading from the Prey Center to the Great Hall. Bubble looked over to the Prey Center, but didn't see anyone in the hall at all. When he looked over in the direction of the Great Hall.

I need to get to him NOW! If he makes it to the great hall first, he could go down any one of the tunnels there! They spread throughout the ENTIRE MOUNTAIN!

With a new burst of energy, Bubble followed as fast as he could, but his muscles were starting to give in, and Alpine started to gain more distance between them. Alpine managed to get around a corner, which was the entrance to the Great Hall from the Prey Center. Bubble rushed to try to see which tunnel Alpine went down, but it was too late. He arrived to see an empty cave and the sun setting over the horizon outside.

"Three MOONS! Why is it so hard to catch him!" Bubble cursed under his breath. He was trying to think of a way to find him, but the only option that would work was one he was not willing to do. Nothing was worth it, and it might not even work.

Bubble started to wander around the school, looking for any clues about where Alpine went. The only thing close to a clue is a few rocks chipped off of one of the tunnels and a few small drops of blood on each of the little pebbles, but that could be from any dragon in the school (other than the IceWings, of course).

The entire rest of the day was just Bubble wandering around, but there was nothing that he could use to find him. Bubble headed back to the Art Cave to grab his dragon carvings, but when he arrived his box was not where he left it. It was in the center of the room, with a canvas and a small scroll on it.

Bubble walked over to grab his box, but what he saw amazed him. It was a painting of two dragons, one had a blue-ish green aura around it like it was glowing, and the other had silver dots all over it. The sky was a dark purple with stars all over, and Jade Mountain was in the background.

Bubble's jaw dropped. He was in absolute awe. The night sky in the painting looked even more beautiful than what was outside that night, which was already stunning. The two dragons in the painting were in a position where it looked like they were spiraling around each other in flight. Bubble has never seen something made that looked this gorgeous.

"This is the most beautiful painting I have ever seen," Bubble whispered to himself.

He couldn't peel his eyes away from the painting. Everywhere he looked there was something new that seemed like it had a deeper meaning than just being the background of the picture. He finally managed to look over at the scroll that was laying delicately on top of the painting in one of the corners, making sure not to block the focus of the painting.

Bubble picked up the piece of the scroll and read it.

Thank you for a wonderful night, and the beautiful carving.

Bubble picked up the box of carvings and the painting, and walked to his cave. He left the Art Cave, in hopes of maybe being able to see Artemis ask her about the painting. He knows very well that art always seemed to hold deeper meaning than what is just at the surface. He couldn't seem to be able to figure out the meaning of this one though.

When he made it to his cave, he placed down the carvings in a corner and picked out an IceWing, SandWing, and his SeaWing statues. He placed the IceWing on Boris' bed and the Sanding on Diamondback's. He was about to set his carving up next to his bed, on the scroll rack, but then he saw a small glimpse of a piece of paper poking out from the scroll rack. Bubble grabbed the piece of paper and read it. As he read it his heart dropped.

If you ever want to see the NightWing again, bring the SkyWing princess to the Great Tree south of Jade Mountain by midnight tonight. Don't bring others, or else. You have been warned.