𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐫 - 𝐐𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢 𝐱 𝐎𝐜

Chapter 12

(𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐏𝐎𝐕)

"This is my brother and sister," Umber said. "Marsh is really fast - you should see him fly. And Sora knows everything; she's the only one who ever practiced her reading." He beamed at them both as if they were the most special, perfect dragons in the world.

"Hey," Qibli greeted them, his mouth half full of goat. He looked as though he wasn't particularly paying attention, I, however, studied them carefully before smiling and greeting them warmly.

"I'm Moon, remember?" Moon said to Sora, looking friendly. "I'm Peak" I add after swallowing a mouthful of goat. "Would you like some?" I held out a piece of my prey.

Sora gave me a quick shy smile. "Thank you. She took the goat leg in her claws, tore it in half, and gave the other half to Marsh.

"Who's in your winglet?" Umber asked. "Marsh, you're in the Copper Winglet, right?"

"Yeah. That's my clawmate," Marsh said, nodding over at Coconut.

Ha, I thought before I could stop myself. That's funny. Putting the slowest, least threatening dragon in the world with the most nervous. Not even twitchy Marsh could be scared of that sloth like dragon over there. 

Marsh looked around, twisting his claws in nervous circles. "I don't remember the other names yet." "That's all right, you'll figure them out. Sora?" Clay prompted his sister. "Anyone really nice?" She fiddled with the meat in her talons, pulling out tufts of fur.

"There's a RainWing in my winglet who seems nice - she's blind." "Tamarin!" Kinkajou cried. "Oh, you must be in the Gold Winglet. "She's my best friend!" 

I glance subtly at Moon to see if she was offended by that. She and Kinkajou seemed really close, but  the Nightwing showed no visible hurt in her expression. 

"A SandWing named Onyx," Sora continued, counting on her claws. "That SeaWing over there, Pike. His clawmates: a NightWing called Bigtail, and a SkyWing with a bad scar across his snout. And my clawmate."

She nodded at the far wall, at the IceWing seated on the ledge next to Winter. They were both gazing disdainfully down at the eating dragons. Above them, sharp, twisting stalactites studded the roof of the alcove where they sat, almost as though they were glaring out of a mouth filled with enormous teeth.

"Winter's sister?" Qibli said. "Then you and I are in the same tent, friend. Is she as stuck-up as her brother? Has she mentioned being in line for the IceWing throne yet?"

Sora blinked at the IceWings. Her expression going blank and unreadable. "Her name is Icicle" she states rather hesitantly.

"To be honest," Clay admitted, "from what we'd heard about Icicle, we figured we had to put her in the same cave as the nicest, least offensive dragon we could think of, so there wouldn't be any casualties the first week of school. I hope it's going all right, Sora."

His sister dropped her gaze to her claws. "It's fine," she said. "Let me know if not," Clay said gently. "It's really important to me that you be happy here." Sora nodded, zoning out and her expression turned slightly wistful.

"Don't we have history together next?" Turtle asked "Our winglet and yours?

"Do we?" Umber said, delighted.

"I think so," Qibli said. I had already noticed that he seemed to have a great memory so I had a feeling he already had the day memorised in his mind. I found myself studying his face for a moment too long and he caught my eye. I turned away slightly flustered and cured at myself for that immediately. 

"I have to go to the library first," Moon said to Kinkajou as she got up. "But I'll  catch up to you later," She added standing up. Suddenly she paused, "Um... do you want to come with us?" she asked Sora.

The MudWing blinked at her in surprise. "I do," she said, standing up. As they headed out of the prey centre together, I couldn't help but feel surprised. Moon never seemed to engage in conversation if it could be avoided.

I suddenly saw Icicle turn to stare at them as they left and she seemed confused and annoyed. Though I guessed that she felt annoyed on a daily basis.

As the others began talking about lessons I felt something fall on my claws and saw one of my embedments had fallen out. Letting out an irritated huff I twisted my tail closer to correct it, my craws barely reaching to stab it back into place. After several attempts I managed to successfully put it in its original spot on my tail. I suddenly heard the three gongs sound signalling lessons starting. "Peak come on!" Kinkajou exclaims tugging me towards a tunnel. "Where are we going" I ask in confusion as she leads me away from the history cave. "We have to get Moon" she explains briefly before letting go of me to hurry to the library. 

I let an amused expression cross my face as I hurriedly jog to catch up with her, nodding at the familiar Skywings I spot on the way.  

By now I can barely see Kinkajous tail as I follow the tunnel. Finally we reach the cave, Kinkajou energetically talking to Starflight when I arrive. 

"Moon!" I call, sticking my head into the library. "Didn't you hear the three gongs? We have to get to history class! Sora, you too!"

Sora scrambled to her feet, dropped her scroll with a clatter, and fumbled around trying to roll it back up. Moon picked up The Animus Histories, putting back into a shelf.

"Hi, Starflight! I'm super excited," Kinkajou was saying. "I don't know anything about history. I have a million questions for Webs. Like, what's the Scorching, and is it true there used to be scavengers everywhere, and who started the Talons of Peace, and what's the big Icewing tragedy from the past, and -"

A scream of terror suddenly echoed through the tunnels.

"Help!" somebody shrieked. More screams and the clamor of running dragons joined the tumult. "The SkyWing! She's here to kill us all!"

Okay hey guys, again, sorry for not posting for a while. I decided to spend my free time writing this for you because you guys are great. 😁. Question of the day, What's your favourite book? I'll once again comment my answer on the first response I get. Bye!

- Issy

{Word Count: 1054 Words}