Jade Mountain Academy: Retold

Chapter one: Part three

The hall was filled with the sounds of dragons screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs, Qibli heard some other dragons in front of him yelping something about a scavenger that was loose in the cave. But how could a scavenger have made it all the way up to the top of Jade Mountain by itself? How was it not scared away by the dozens of dragons in the area? He then caught the look on Winter's face as the Icewing turned back around; a mixture of fear and shock. The Icewing Prince didn't seem like the type to be afraid of a mear scavenger, so what was his part in this whole situation...

He heard Icicle whisper something to Winter, although the only bit he caught was: 'Sorry I let it out!'

So it was his? He also found the thought of a dragon as cold and pompous as Winter having a pet scavenger rather amusing. However, if he wanted to make peace with him and avoid any more conflict, he should probably help to fix this mess and get his weird little pet back. 

"Hey Winter", he said tapping the Icewing on the shoulder to get his attention again, "That's your scavenger isn't it? I'll help you get it back if you want, I've had some experience with scavengers... cause, y'know, I'm a Sandwing", he grinned up at him, and Winters face changed from annoyed to sceptical.

"How did y-", he started, then placed his talons onto his snout and closed his eyes in an exasperated expression, "Whatever, just don't eat him, the only reason I agreed to come here is because scavengers can't survive in the Ice Kingdom. If Bandit is dead. I'm out."

"Sure, they are way too stringy for me anyway", Qibli replied, his eyes scanning any entrances or exits, and he saw the scavenger run down a hall on the opposite side of the room. "Follow me, I think it went through that hallway", pointing down to it. Winter nodded and grabbed something that had originally been out of view for Qibli, it was a cage-like structure that was about as big as his arm in height and length, filled with carved wooden contraptions and small fur blankets. He was surprised at the quality of the craftsmanship, which also made him see Winter in a new light, as he obviously cared enough about the scavenger to make all this for it.

"That cage is pretty cool, how did he escape though?", he asked.

"My sister thought it would be funny or something. She just plucked him out and I guess he was so terrified he tried to run away", he seemed genuinely sad about it, which was odd for such a seemingly arrogant dragon.

"Well she seems like a piece of work, glad my sister isn't around anymore."

"Icicle isn't so bad, she's kind of annoying but I could have it worse. Now hurry up, I wanna get to him before some stupid dragon decides to bite his head off!", said Winter. 

They had now made it to the entrance of the hallway after pushing through a flurry of dragons, and Qibli could tell something had changed. The Icewing had actually started to open up, but now his expression was full of anger and resentment. Qibli nudged past him a little and saw what he was staring at, a small female Nightwing was standing at the end of the hall grabbing the scavenger in her claws. This was bad. He knew that Nightwings and Icewings had never been that big fans of each other, but the look on Winter's face was clouded with hatred, while the Nightwing looked so terrified Qibli was scared she would crumble if they went any closer.

"Give. Me. My. Scavenger. Back." Winter growled, stepping closer towards the terrified-looking Nightwing, who was still clutching the poor scavenger tightly.

Qibli didn't think that Winters, 'you better do this or I will kill you', method would work on this particular dragon, she seemed shy, but knew how to stand her ground, and an intimidation game would not be rather effective. To get the scavenger back he would have to try a different approach.

"Hey, what my very good friend Winter here is trying to say is, please don't eat him... uh, what's your name?"

The dark dragonet squeaked out a word, "Moon." 

Qibli noticed that this particular Nightwing has interesting silver scales near her eyes, in the shape of teardrops, he had never seen that on a Nightwing before and he was rather intrigued by them.

"Moon what? Mooncrusher? Moondestroyer? Speak up Nightwing."

"Moonwatcher, but um it's just Moon really."

Winter looked a little crestfallen as if he was expecting something a lot more violent.

"Listen, Moon, just don't eat his scavenger, if your hungry I can go out and get you a sheep or something, I don't know what Nightwings like to eat, maybe a Yak?", Qibli said, hoping that she would just put Bandit down.

"I would never! Nobody can eat him, not ever."

So she had been trying to protect it? What a strange turn of events. Winter on the other hand looked slightly relieved, and his expression had softened a little.

"That is exactly how I feel about it", he said, his tone now soft and unopposing.

"Alright so if everyone is happy here, Moon, can Winter have his scavenger back?", Qibli asked her.

"Of course...", she mumbled, handing Winter his strange little pet back, who then dropped it back into the cage and shut the door again.

"I think he's hungry", she said rather unexpectedly, and for some reason it looked as if she was listening to something, that was odd.

"He isn't, I offered him a slice of yak on the way here and he didn't touch it."

"Well, I heard that... that scavengers like their food cooked is all", she muttered.

"It's not like I can help with that! All I can do is freeze stuff! This was a waste of time", Winter began to turn around when he heard a new voice enter the hallway.

"What's going on here? Aww, is that a scavenger!" It was Sunny, her golden scales radiating warmth and heat as she padded in, she was Queen Thorn's daughter and Qibli's friend.

"Yeah, I'm keeping it as a pet, and if I'm not allowed to I'm leaving", said Winter.

"Oh no, that's fine! We encourage such things at this school. This one looks rather hungry though, there's some fruit in the prey centre I think. Oh! and to fix your little problem with cooked meat, if I remember correctly I think Qibli is your clawmate! So you can just ask him to cook it for your scavenger."

"Wonderful."

"It sure is wonderful, I can tell we are going to be just the best of friends", grinned Qibli, although he was only being half sarcastic, as being friends with an Icewing Prince didn't sound too bad anymore, especially as this one wasn't nearly as awful as he had originally thought.

"I'll be sure to tell everyone that... uh, what was his name?", Sunny asked.

"Bandit."

"That Bandit is off-limits for all dragons! Now Moon, would you like to come with me, I can show you to your sleeping area with your two clawmates!"

"Sure", said Moonwatcher, giving Winter and Qibli a strange look as she walked away with Sunny.

"You really thought her name was gonna be 'Mooncrusher'? She's far too shy to be called that", Qibli grinned as he attempted to make a joke for Winter, and he could swear he saw the ghost of a smile appear on his clawmates face.

"Something was different about that Nightwing, she didn't have the same arrogant and smug feeling to her that the rest of her tribe does. Still- a Nightwings a Nightwing, and they cannot be trusted."

"Alright well, wanna take Sunny's advice and go get Bandit some fruit? Look how skinny he is."

 He peered into the cage Winter was holding, and Qibli was right, the poor scavenger was extremely bony and dishevelled, with dark hollows around its eyes and a bunch of raggedy fur on the top of its head.

"Whatever, but we have to go back to Starflight first to figure out where I can put Bandit. As well as the scrolls we didn't get."

"I'll go get the scrolls and you find him a banana or something, be right back!"

And Qibli rushed down the hall, and winter went the other way, off to the prey centre.