The Warmth of the Sun

Chapter 6

"What do you mean 'I should calm down'?!" Though Treefire kept her voice down, she was far from calm. One of her brothers was taken into the City of the Night where a tribe of dragons could for sure read minds. One rouge thought would spell his doom if he wasn't careful, but how could he be. What's worse was that it happened so quickly and she couldn't do anything to help. Now she, along with her other siblings were standing in a spot closer to the city where they couldn't see the sky. The wind would occasionally whistle past them making it easy to mask their voices.

Treefire continued. "We had a plan. A good plan that was going to work with all of us together."

"At least this way we can cover more ground and it gives us more time to explore without having to look over our backs." Leafall countered. They were all thinking the same thing. What if Alligator is gone forever?

"That's fine and all," said Treefire, "but what's the point now if he's there. We've already agreed we won't be able to find her in the city."

"Well," Mud spoke up hesitantly, "we agreed that it would be hard to find Lostbringer in the city."

"Same difference." Treefire was finding it difficult to keep her voice down.

Leafall continued. "Regardless, we know there's a place outside of the city we need to find. Until then, we need trust in Alligator."

And that was what they did. Treefire tried to keep faith in her brother, but she continued to worry. As the second oldest and the second strongest, it was up to her to keep everyone safe when Aligator wasn't around. This was unspoken among the siblings to the point where Treefire wondered if any of the others would agree. Regardless, she had to keep everyone safe in this new, unknown territory.

Mud and Leafall took up the front for they were the quickest and the most dexterous. Though the terrain was different, they glided through as if they were back in the forest. However, the shifting rocks made it hard to be stealth and the chances of falling were greater here. Back at the forest, if you fell, you could at least be confronted by branches and bushes if you were not fast enough to catch yourself in the air or if it was too cramped to open your wings. The rocks here could cut scales and break bones. If that wasn't bad enough, any loud noises they made would bring curious scouts to their location.

Darkness had fallen. Now everything around them looked more the same. They came back together using the fire light from Treefire as their beacon.

"It's no use at this point." Said Treefire once everyone was together. "We'll get lost if we keep looking now."

"You're right." Leafall's body was feeling heavy. "There's no point in continuing if we can't see anything."

"We don't have to see." said Mud. "We can still smell. Lostbringer should be the only dragon who would travers these crevices. If she comes here constantly, then her scent would be easy to find."

Both Leafall and Treefire looked over to Mud with surprised looks on their faces. Mud wasn't a timid dragon, but he wasn't bold either. He sounded so sure of himself, too. He was scared like the rest of them, and yet he stood so determined.

To Mud, it was fear and not determination that made him say what he said. Alligator was counting on them to find the hiding place of Lostbringer. In his mind, they didn't know how often Lostbringer visited her hiding place. The sooner they found it, the more likely it was to cross paths with her. The hideout would also be a good place to keep hidden from passing scouts.

Treefire looked up to the night sky. She was tired and cold, but she could see the starry sky clearer from where she was. She didn't like how Mud seemed to be so much more determined about this than she was. "We can't search for much longer." she said to Mud. "We need to rest regardless of where we are. I'll use my fire to warm us up."