Wings Of Fire; The Fate Begins: The Dragonet Prophecy

Chapter 5: A Danger Begins

It seemed like a long time later when Brightglide finally slunk back into the main hall with Duefulsage close behind him. Clay couldn't tell whether Brightglide had told Duefulsage the truth—that he didn't have visions or read minds. He was just ordinary, like the rest of the dragonets. But who would be brave enough to tell Duefulsage that?

The enormous slithered off to the guardians' cave without a word to Sunny and Clay. Brightglide glanced at them, then turned and headed to his sleeping cave.

Clay hurried after him.

"What happened?" He asked. "What did he say to you?"

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," Brightglide said stiffly. He sat down in the middle of the cave, his wings askew behind him, and started poking through the scrolls on the floor.

"It's over here," Clay said, nudging a fat scroll with gold letters that had rolled under his sleeping ledge. Brightglide hooked it over with one talon, tucked it under his wing, and carried up to his ledge. He curled up with his tail draped over his nose and started reading.

"Wow," Clay said. "So it was that bad?" 'Tales Of The DayWings' was Brightglide's favorite scroll and he always read it when he was upset or fighting with one of the other dragonets.

The tip of the of Brightglide's tail twitched. "I have a lot to learn," He said.

"But you already know everything!" Clay said. "You have to be the smartest dragon in all of Pyrrhia. Couldn't he tell that by reading your mind?"

Brightglide didn't answer.

"I thought he liked you," Clay said. "Surely he said something about what a great and noble dragon you must be because you're a DayWing."

A long tired breath whooshed out of Brightglide's snout. "Yeah," He said. "That's exactly what he told me, actually."

"Oh," Clay said. "Well, that's good. Did he say when you'll get your powers?"

Brightglide fidgeted with the scroll, shredding a corner of it between his claws. Clay had never seen him upset enough to damage a scroll without noticing. He wished that he could say something helpful, but he couldn't think of a single useful thing to say about about DayWings.

"At least you're not a RainWing," He tried. "Did Duefulsage say anything about Glory?"

Brightglide frowned at him over the edge of the rock. "Not much. He said, 'Don't worry about the RainWing. I'll take care of her.'"

Clay felt a cold chill climb up through the stone floor and spread to his scales. "What does that mean? What's he going to do?"

"How should I know?" Brightglide poked his nose back into the scroll. "Maybe she'll get to go home. She's probably the luckiest of all of us."

The pulse of fear pounding in Clay's head disagreed. He couldn't see the guardians just releasing Glory, not after all the years of secrecy.

"We have to go spy on them," He said, jumping to his feet. "We have to know what they're planning." He stopped halfway out of the cave and stamped one foot in frustration. "Oh, no, we can't. Duefulsage will know we're there."

"Right," Brightglide said. "He'll hear you thinking all your big, loud, worried thoughts."

"You don't know that my thoughts are loud and worried," Clay said. "Maybe they're quiet and very serene."

Brightglide snorted in amusement, the first happy sound he'd made since Duefulsage showed up. Even through his worry, Clay was pleased.

"What are you doing?" Sunny's anxious voice echoed across the main hall. "What's that for?" The heavy tread of dragon footsteps reached the seven dragonets' ears, along with ominous clanking. "Stop! Wait! You don't have to this!"