Wings and Warriors

Chapter 4: Lessons from the Past

We walked over to my residence and stepped inside, shutting the door behind us...

The noise of the dragons outside quickly drowned out as the door closed. I felt like I could finally breathe again, finally open my eyes. As I did I saw a horrific scene, pools of bright red dragon blood on some of the floor and furniture, a trail leading towards my parents' room.

I took a step back, shocked, and bumped into Anubias. He was frozen, his scales were ghostly shades of white with hints of green. His usually brave and stoic composure was completely thrown out the window.

I risked another look back at the setting, looking for clues to what all this could have been from. I listened closely and heard the weak whimpers of a dragon in pain coming from my parent's room. I glanced back at Anubias and he nodded, we ventured towards the whispers cautiously.

I peered through the doorway and stood flabbergasted, I wasn't sure what to expect but it was certainly not this. My eyes were wide and my stomach began to turn, I could feel my heart and breathing speed up. Anubias turned to see what I was staring at and he too froze in horror.

"Mum?" my voice was weak and I struggled to get the words out. She was crying in the corner holding something in her arms. She looked up at me and I could see the fear in her eyes. "Hey, it's just me, it's Waterlily. What happened?" I tried my best to stay calm but couldn't take my eyes off all the blood pooling around my dearest mother. Tears began welling in my eyes, I began to slowly walk towards her.

Anubias stood at the door, the same shade of pale green. My mother slowly uncoiled herself from what she was guarding, revealing that she was holding an egg, covered in blood. Mother bowed her head ashamed, tears streaming down her face.

"I-I didn't know I- was even-" mother struggled and choked on her words, suffocated by the embarrassment she was experiencing.

"Shhh, it's okay. Everything is going to be alright," I sat in front of her, looking up into her deep blue eyes. She looked down at me, still crying rivers. "Let's get this cleaned up before the others get home."

She nodded and let the egg rest on her bed after wiping it with a rag. It sparkled in green and pink tones, it was quite small, small enough to fit in even my own tiny claws. Mother walked slowly to the living room and realised what a mess she had made. I felt bad for her, it wasn't her fault.

Anubias was already scrubbing the stone furniture with a rag, he had taken the woven silk blankets off of the couches and had put them into a bucket to be washed later. He was coloured in his default scheme of yellows greens and blues, not letting any disgusted emotions show through that might have upset my mother.

I couldn't help but smile at him, his kindness always seemed to startle me, even though I had seen him be caring time and time again. It just never seemed to fit the rest of his dark and brave attitude. I walked towards him and grabbed another rag, helping him to scrub the stone floor, making sure to be thorough in the cracks where shells were embedded.

My mother crouched down beside us and did the same until the room was back to its usual spotless state. We all looked around the room, both looking for things we missed and feeling proud of ourselves for doing such a good job.

"Mother?" I looked up at her, and she turned back to look into my dark eyes with her own. "We should probably visit a healer, to make sure the egg's going to be okay, and that you are too."

She nodded, "We should wait until our father and brother are home to tell them what happened. Oh, and Waterlily?" she began to add. "I have some news for you and your brother," She looked up at Anubias, "And for you and Oceanflower," she finished