Wings of Fire; A Royal Ghost

Chapter 1; Page 4

Torrid walked through the tunnels, heading towards the prey centre. He was a lot smaller than the other dragons attending the school, but that didn't bother him. Someone's loud voice caught his attention as he twisted his neck around. A dragon only slightly bigger than Torrid bumped into his shoulder, giggling as he scurried away again.

"TOUCAN, QUITE RUNNING, YOU LITTLE- GAH!" A dragon shouted, being abruptly interrupted as they full-on tripped over Torrid. Torrid squeaked as the large dragon tripped over him, landing on his body and painfully pressing him into the stone. The dragon growled, pulling herself up before turning around, a pale green suddenly washing over her body.

"Oh, dear. Sorry kiddo. Are you alright?" she asked, gently helping Torrid to his feet. Torrid shook his body.
"Yes. i'm fine, don't worry!" he chirped cheerfully. The rainwing standing in front of Torrid was a type of green colour, her arms and tail fading gracefully to a blinding lime green. Her snout was orange while her head was blue, and her wings were patches of yellow, brow and orangey-red. She looked dangerously tired, her wings drooping on either side of her body.

"You sure, kid? I completely trampled ya!" She cried, her brows furrowed in a worried manner. Torrid nodded.

"Don't worry! I'm small, I'm used to being tripped on. Mostly by my mothers." He chuckled. The rainwing chuckled with him before looking down the tunnel in the direction the smaller rainwing had run. "Is that a friend of yours?" Torrid questioned. The rainwing nodded.

"Yes. he's pretty much an adopted brother, except I adopted him, unfortunately." She sighed, beginning to walk down the tunnel. Torrid began to follow, pretty much jogging to keep up with her long strides. "You heading to the Prey Center?" she asked, turning her head slightly to look at the smaller dragon. She slowed down to make it easier for Torrid. Torrid nodded.

"Yup! Although I think I'm a tiiiiiny bit lost." he chuckled. The rainwing gave a soft smile.

"That's alright! I'm heading that way, anyhow. Shouldn't have promised Toucan to teach him how to catch a chicken." she hissed at herself. Torrid tilted his head.

"Who's Toucan?"

"Oh, that small rainwing who bumped into you. Sorry 'bout that, again." the dragon scratched her neck. Torrid only just realised her wing was spread over his back, and he gave her a confused look. She flinched, pulling her wing back to her side.

"Sorry! I'm always afraid of Toucan running off, so it was just instinct. Sorry".

"It's fine! So you and Toucan have been with each other for a while?" Torrid asked. The rainwing nodded.

"Yes, he finds me fascinating. Possibly because I have many stories to tell him." She shrugged. "That, or my odd appearance." She chuckled. They turned into the entrance of the Prey Centre, which was filled with loud noises. Torrid's eyes stopped on a cow attempting to buck off a small rainwing. The rainwing next to Torrid turned a pale green all throughout her body as she began to run towards the struggling cow.

"TOUCAN!" She cried, hovering above the cow. She pulled Toucan off of the cow as it scurried away, still bucking its legs wildly. The rainwing flew back towards Torrid, landing as he pulled himself onto a rock, sitting on it neatly. Toucan leapt onto the same rock as Torrid, pushing him aside so they could both barely fit onto the small stone.

"Toucan, don't push." the rainwing hissed. Toucan just grinned as the rainwing sat on the other side of Torrid.

"What's your name?" Toucan squawked, flapping his wings.

"Torrid!" He answered. Toucan smiled.

"Mine's Toucan!" he chirped. The green rainwing held two bananas in her talons. She handed one to Torrid, but before he could grab it, Toucan snatched it from her grasp, eating in a rather messy manner. The rainwing sighed, handing Torrid the banana that he assumed the rainwing was planning to eat.

"And what's your name?" inquired, inspecting the yellow fruit.

"Lorikeet." the rainwing chirped. Torrid thought about it, inspecting her scales. It was a bit obvious; the orange snout, the blue head. The colourful wings. It seemed like the perfect name. He smiled.

"It's lovely to meet you, Lorikeet!" Torrid chirped. He took a bit into the bright yellow surface of the banana, before flinching at spitting out the chunk of fruit. Lorikeet barked a laugh.

"Here. ." Lorikeet gently took the bitten fruit from Torrid's claws, gently peeling off the skin to reveal a much paler and softer inside.

"Ooooh." Torrid cooed. "That makes sense." he stated, turning to Toucan and inspecting his already peeled banana, although it was a mushy pile in his talons. He bit into the fruit slowly. "Ah, that tastes a lot better." he giggled. Lorikeet reached for a mango which was sitting beside her, biting into the fruit, causing a mess in her own talons. His eyes stopped on Boutu, who was walking towards the group with a fish in his jaw. He sat down next to Lorikeet, inspecting her scales before taking a bite from the fish.

"Who're your new friends?" Boutu asked, smiling softly.

"This is-"

"NAME'S TOUCAN!" Toucan declared, flaring his wings and holding out his talon to shake Boutu's. Boutu made a slightly skeptical expression, nudging the dragonet's talon with the head of the fish.

"R-right. And you?" Boutu turned to Lorikeet.

"Lorikeet." she nodded.

"This is Boutu. He's one of my clawmates!" Torrid chirped. He flicked his wing to a small nightwing up on a ledge of the nightwing. "That's Quietmind, my other clawmate!"

Lorikeet smiled.

"Well, I look forward to meeting the rest of your winglet!" She grinned. Lorikeet turned her head towards a rather pale blue seawing, who was curled up on the stone amongst terrified animals, dangerously close to being trampled on by the animals. Lorikeet made a rather musical tweeting noise, and the seawing rose her head after a second of hearing it. The seawing's eyes scanned all the feasting dragons, until her eyes stopped on Lorikeet. she rose to her feet and scurried past every dragon with such gracefulness, looking as if she did it often. She pushed past Boutu and sidled up beside Lorikeet, tucking herself under the rainwing's wing. Lorikeet turned a warm pink-orange colour, folding her wing around the seawing.

"This is Petrel, the seawing of my winglet." Lorikeet introduced the seawing. Petrel's gaze was on Boutu, who had edged away from Petrel with a slightly horrified gaze. Petrel sighed, mumbling inaudibly to herself. Torrid recognised this seawing from the first day he arrived at Jade Mountain, in the main hall. Torrid smiled brightly.

"Hi! I'm Torrid! It's lovely to meet you!" Torrid chirped, smiling at Petrel. Petrel paused, eyeing the small dragon up and down. She mumbled to herself before responding.

"It's nice to meet you." She spoke, in a rather quiet tone. Petrel's gills faded from a darker blue to a lighter blue along her neck, and her face had pale splotches all over it, making it look like the sun was being shone through holes in the forest canopy. Petrel seemed to mumble to herself quite a lot, her eyes darting around to every dragon, although it seemed as if they weren't looking directly at them.

Petrel seems like a lovely dragon. Torrid thought. So why is Boutu so terrified of her? Torrid's eyes stopped on Boutu, his expression rather terrified as he attempted to edge away the harmless seawing. The bright light of fire caught Torrid's attention, and the friends around him as well. An oddly blue dragon seemed to be the cause of the flame, as smoke billowed from the dragon's maw. The dragon lashed her tail as many dragons fled away, although a current-red skywing, recognisable as Halite, rushed to the blazing fire, although instead tackling the blue dragon to the ground. Pika, from Torrid's winglet, scurried towards the fire like a cautious beetle, putting it out with her frostbreath. Halite hissed and huffed, trying to pin the blue dragon to the ground. The blue dragon let out a muffled, infuriated roar as Halite pinned their snout to the ground. Torrid leapt off his ledge and scurried towards the grappling dragons, frowning at the commotion. Lorikeet, Boutu and the others followed close behind.

"Is everything alright?" Torrid asked, frowning as the blue dragon gave up, going limp along the cold stone. She hissed, making the animals around them give out frightened cries.

"Yes, Yes. Bluejay just has some anger issues." Halite responded, gripping the blue skywing's horns, stomping a foot on her lashing tail.