Scarab the Fierce

Chapter Fifteen

Arid could hear the NightWings outside of the nursery, patrolling the platforms. Their claws dragged across the smooth wood and their spears cast sharp shadows on the walls. Night was falling.

Scarab hasn't come back.

Arid kept trying to tell herself that that was a good thing, kept trying to tell Qibli that it was a good thing. But she knew that they both missed her.

There was tension between them that she couldn't identify.

Arid took a deep breath and considered her words carefully. She wasn't great at this.

"Qibli," she paused. "You miss Scarab." She didn't phrase it like a question. Should she have?

Qibli was sitting next to her, tail flicking nervously. He gave Arid a questioning look. "Yeah?"

Arid coughed. "Uh yeah." She stared at the walls of the nursery.

"I know you miss her," Qibli mentioned after a moment of awkward silence.

Arid was startled. She was usually better at hiding her thoughts. "You think so?"

"Well, if I had a dragonethood best friend, then we were separated against our will for years, then we suddenly found each other again? I wouldn't want to leave their side, let alone be trapped in a nursery while trying to deny to myself that they might be dead." Qibli said simply.

Arid didn't know what to say. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Arid could feel the walls she kept around herself start to crumble and loosen. Suddenly the despair she had been holding in for so long started to leak out.

Scarab was gone. Her father was gone. She had been living alone in the desert for years and as much as she told herself that she liked to be alone, she didn't think it would ever be true.

"It's getting dark." Arid tried to distract herself from the storm in her head. "How long do you think until we're executed?" She had meant it as a joke. Maybe it wasn't a great joke.

Qibli shook his head, his amber earring bouncing from side to side. "Why would we be executed?"

"Conspiring against the NightWings?" Arid offered. "Invading their kingdom?"

Qibli snorted. "They could kill half the RainWing tribe for that. And the Dragonets or Destiny." His breath caught in his throat.

Arid wanted to say something comforting, like "Don't worry, the Dragonets are way too valuable to just simply execute." And was debating the actual comfort that statement might give when she heard the noise.

The dry scape of talon steps. The whisper of tails over wood. The drag of old chains.

The RainWings cowered away from the door and started fading into a ghostly white. Arid peered over the crowd and her blood froze when she saw who was coming.

The doors of the nursery opened, and Vulture stepped forward.

Vulture is here. HOW IS VULTURE HERE?? WHY IS HE HERE??

Arid was horrified. Nothing could make this worse.

A flickering light behind him cast sharpened shadows across his wings and horns. Arid hadn't seen him since she was a young dragonet, but almost nothing about him had changed. He was wearing his coal coloured cloak and his medallion hung chain-like over his neck. Arid saw one of his wings had a gruesome tear through the middle of it. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear that story.

Two NightWings wearing full battle armour flanked the SandWing's sides. They carried chains and shackles in their claws.

Vulture's black eyes glazed over the captured dragons.

"Where are the SandWings?" He growled. He glared at the RainWings closest to him.

Every RainWing immediately turned invisible, highlighting the pale SandWings in the nursery. They couldn't be more exposed if they were glowing.

Arid felt Qibli trembling slightly next to her. She brushed her tail against his as subtly as she could.

The two NightWing came forward and the RainWings audibly scurried away, leaving a path for them straight to the SandWings. Arid stood up straighter and coiled her tail. She sneered at the NightWing in front of her, easily meeting his height.

"You can choose how this goes," Vulture said ominously. "Struggle and be killed, or cooperate and be shown mercy."

"What mercy are you capable of?" Arid spoke like she could stab Vulture with her tongue. "I'll cooperate with the likes of you when the three moons fall out of the sky."

Qibli remained silent and flicked his tail threateningly.

"Fine," Vulture didn't try to hide his smugness. "I see how it is."

He tilted his head ever so slightly towards the NightWings and the black dragons were immediately upon them. Arid felt chains coil around her limbs and her wings pinned by massive talons. She roared and whipped her tail towards her attacker, striking painfully against a metal chest plate. She shot a plume of flame toward the NightWings face and he hissed in fury, rearing back.

Arid lunged towards him while he was off balance and aimed her tail at his scaly underbelly, unprotected by armour. She could hear RainWings screaming in terror around them and Qibli struggling against the other NightWing beside her, but all her focus was pinned on her attacker. Her tail stabbed viciously toward him but was caught before it could land. A heavy chain was wrapped around her tail and flung away. The NightWing moved quickly and through chains over Arid's snout, wings, and talons. She couldn't move.

Qibli had found himself in a similar position, tied in chains and defenseless.

Maybe they were about to be executed after all.

___________________

The sky was black, all wispy clouds invisible under the saturated night. Little fires glowed on torches along the edges of the wooden platforms. There were no RainWings in sight.

The NightWings had completely moved in, hovering around the edges of Arid's peripheral vision. There were SandWings too, most of them carrying the vulture insignia of the Talons. They stared at Arid and Qibli as they passed.

They were led like prisoners toward the central platform. Their chains were tied to metal anchors that had been secured to the wood. Dark and pale dragons watched silently from the perimeter.

A smug smirk flashed across Vulture's face, but it quickly settled into a condescending glare. "It was about time I found you three."

Arid's eyes narrowed. Of course, this was about Scarab. She strained against the chains, growling underneath the muzzle locking her snout. I'll stab that toxic piece of-

"You're going to bring Scarab to us." Vulture snorted. "I have no idea where she got the idea in her head that she could trust other dragons. I always told her that it would only be a weakness." He snarled the word "weakness" with pure hatred.

Qibli growled from behind Arid and yanked at his chains.

Suddenly, a huge NightWing stepped forward and stood beside Vulture, barely taller than him. He had a wicked expression on his face. "And once all the real Dragonets of Destiny are in our control, the fate of Phyrria is in our claws."

Vulture grinned next to the NightWing. "And they will all come to fear the Talons of Power."

A/N: so sorry for the long wait on this one :l and that it's short. I wanted to give you some more content while also leading up to more action. I hope you've been enjoying the story, and thank you all for the great comments and votes. I hope to update this book again soon!