Wings Of Fire: The Wings Of War

~Chapter 7~

Tundra woke up to the sound of screaming. She scrambled to her feet only to see Dune and Sandstorm getting attacked by five Skywings. She slapped Rattlesnake in the face with her tail to wake him up, and before even realizing what she was doing, she threw herself into the pile of dragons. It was still the middle of night, the three moons were high in the sky.

"How did this happen!" Tundra shouted as she was fighting one of the Skywings.

Sandstorm threw one of the Skywings off of her, and gave a face of fear to Tundra.

"A soldier must have seen us from the sky, and ambushed us," Sandstorm said, out of breath.

"How long have you been fighting them!?" Tundra asked, shocked.

Not very long, maybe a few minutes?" Sandstorm replied.

"We-" a Skywing suddenly slammed into Sandstorm knocking her out.

Tundra threw herself towards him and plowed him to the side. She stood guard over Sandstorm as two Skywings were walking towards her.

She heard a loud snap as Rattlesnake came running alongside her.

Dune was still fighting one of the other soldiers. One Skywing was already dead, and one was unconscious.

Rattlesnake flung himself into the first soldier stabbing its heart with his venomous tail.

Tundra fired her frost breath in the second soldier's face. The soldier screamed and started rolling in the sand.

Sandstorm woke up, shook her head, and got into battle position like nothing happened.

Jeez she is strong, Tundra thought.

Tundra looked over and saw Dune struggling. The Skywing pinned her venomous tail so she couldn't use it.

Sandstorm rushed over to help her, as Tundra got plowed into by another Skywing. There were only two Skywings left, besides the one that Tundra hit in the face. The Skywing she was fighting was two times the size of her, she knew there was only one thing she could do without getting killed.

I have to use my magic.

Tundra looked around for something she could do. She saw a spear on the ground. That's it.

"Spears, kill the Skywing on top of me!" She yelled.

The spear on the ground instantly shot towards the Skywing and stabbed him in the heart. The Skywing screamed then fell to the ground. Seconds later Sandstrom shredded her talons threw the last Skywing, killing him.

Tundra stood up, blood running down her leg. She felt no pain, and remembered that was because of her amulet.

Sandstorm looked from her bleeding leg to the amulet.

"Is that amulet animus touched?" Sandstorm asked Tundra.

"Yes, Tundra said. "I enchanted it right after me and Dune were thrown into the Sandwing kingdom."

Sandstorm glanced at the amulet, then back at the rest of the group.

"Everyone okay?" She asked.

"I took a good hit to the wing, but I will be ok," Rattlesnake said, showing a decent gash.

Dune had blood dripping from the edge of her eye, and a few fresh claw marks along her side, and underbelly.

Sandstorm had a few scratch marks, and a big bruise on her side where she was hit.

"Sandstorm, how exactly did you get so good at fighting?" Tundra asked.

"I was specially trained by the strongest palace defenders when I was about three. "Everyday I would get up at the same time, and I had a series of training exercises that I had to complete each day. I trained for about a year, until I got really good. The last day of training I had to fight one of the guards to the death. He almost beat me, but at the end I used my tail stinger and killed him instantly," Sandstorm explained.

"Tail stinger?" Rattlesnake echoed.

Sandstorm explained to Rattlesnake that she was a hybrid of every dragon and whatever the last one was from. Tundra still had no idea where the stingers came from. The only thing she could think of besides a mutation, was a dragon from the distant lands, if they even existed.

None of them slept for the rest of the night. Tundra pretty much just sat in silence thinking about a thousand things, while Dune and Sandstorm explained to Rattlesnake why they were out here in the first place.

The only time Tundra spoke was when Rattlesnake asked about the spear that killed one of the Skywings. She told him she was animus, and his face had a startled, but surprised look.

The next morning they walked into the Skywing kingdom, and stayed under tree canopies for most of the day. When night fell they found a hidden cave so no one had to stand watch.

Tundra couldn't sleep even if she tried. When everyone was asleep she got up and sat at the edge of the cave entrance. She sighed and started to think about what was going on in the Icewing kingdom.

There is probably a war there right now, Tundra realized. I really hope that Pluto is ok.

"Hey," Rattlesnake said, coming up behind her.

"Hey..." Tundra said, looking behind her.

"You okay? You look like you have a lot on your mind," Rattlesnake said looking at her.

"I do have a lot on my mind, and a lot I need to figure out," Tundra said. "The last three days I figured out that I'm related to Darkstalker, and that if I use my magic too much, I could go insane, and become a killer," Tundra said, scared.

"You're related to Darkstalker? How?" Rattlesnake said.

"Well for one I'm animus, and for two, I do have a nightwing feature," Tundra pointed to the silver teardrop scales running down her side.

"I see," Rattlesnake said, inspecting her.

Rattlesnake looked at Tundras amulet quickly, then looked away.

"One more thing," Tundra said. "Is there something special about this amulet? Sandstorm gave me the same look that you just did."

"Well, there has been a legend of an amulet with wings that will disintegrate a dragon, or choose a dragon to become the Sandwing queen," Rattlesnake said. "The amulet looks very similar to the one you are wearing, but you're not a Sandwing so it can't be it."

Tundra stared at him with fear on her face.
"What was the amulet called? Do you know? Did it have a name?" Tundra asked.

"It was said to be called The Eye Of Onyx," Rattlesnake said.

Tundra turned her gaze back to outside of the cave.

After a few minutes Rattlesnake went back to sleep, and Tundra continued to watch as the sun was rising.

The next morning the four dragons continued their journey through the Skywing kingdom. About half the day went by, and they had to hide in a cave to avoid a flock of Skywing Soldiers.

Tundra went to get a drink from a small puddle in the cave. Dune and Rattlesnake were talking about combat, and showing each other different methods of how to defend themselves if they needed to.

Tundra killed, and ate a rat for a snack. She was starving. She hasn't eaten real food in days. Man do I miss arctic food, Tundra thought, with a twinge of sadness.

After a little while, Sandstorm came to join Tundra at the puddle. For a moment Sandstorm just sat and looked around the cave. Tundra caught her glancing at the amulet again.

"Where did you find that amulet?" Sandstorm asked.

Tundra looked at Sandstorm worried.

"I found it buried in the sand, why?" Tundra replied. What do you know about this amulet that I don't? Tundra thought.

Sandstorm looked from the amulet to the others, and back to Tundra. It almost looked like she didn't believe what she was seeing.

"Tundra you are wearing The Eye Of Onyx."