Heart of the storm

Chapter 6

Thunder groggily opened his eyes. He felt like he had been caught in a tornado, and then spat into the sea. Maybe he HAD been caught in a tornado and spat into the sea. He slowly looked around him. He was in a cave. He couldn't see much in the room but he heard a dragon chuckling in the corner. Everything started to come back to him now. He had been hiding. The HiveWings had captured him. He had the Heart.
The Heart!
He frantically looked around trying to find the little box that contained the orb of energy. The dragon in the corner was laughing now. Not a nice laugh, why did the bad guys never have nice laughs?
“Looking for this?” he said. Wait, I recognise that voice. That’s the dragon from the cave - what was his name?
Thorax! That’s Thorax!
Thunder played out in his head the conversation in the cave. Thorax had killed Static. In return, Cloudburst had agreed to help him retake the HiveWing throne, by lending him the Heart. It was idiotic, but Cloudburst was desperate, or so Thunder estimated. Why hadn’t she challenged Static then? And then it hit him. Static had been a favourite queen among the VoltWings. If Cloudburst had challenged her openly, she might get resistance, and killing her in another way could leave a trace. So she had resorted to calling in Thorax.
Why was he thinking about that? What could he fight with? He didn’t have his spear or the rusty sword. Of course, he had the Heart. Or rather, Thorax had it.

In his hand, he held the Heart, out of its box, its light shining for all to see. It was painful to look at. Which confused Thunder, for a moment, until he realised he was wearing some kind of metal glove to protect himself. Electricity sparked all over it, but the metal absorbed it all. There must have been some kind of sap coating on the inside, otherwise Thorax would be dead. Smart.
Thunder knew that under no circumstances could he trust Thorax, so he decided to play the situation smoothly.
“N-n-no” he squeaked.
That certainly didn't help.
“So . . . if I were to drop it, no one would particularly care?” he said, tilting the little animus object.
“Oh no no no no no,” Thunder stammered.
Three moons, what am I doing?
Thorax sensed his fear and smiled triumphantly. He was like an animal who played with its food before going in for the kill. He proceeded to put the Heart in a glass box. How it withstood the power of the Heart Thunder had no idea.
“No one has to get hurt, little VoltWing. Bow to me and your tribe lives. Refuse and you will all die. Now tell me what this thing is if you value your life.” Thorax spoke quickly and concisely, as if he wanted the answer out of Thunder quickly.
Should I tell him? Better a dead hero or a living traitor? What if he's bluffing? I have to be strong now. I can’t…
The HiveWing seemed to sense Thunder's scepticism, as he motioned to the guard to fetch something. The guard returned moments later carrying something as large as a dragon. As he came closer thunder realised it was a dragon - a VoltWing, in fact, and he muffled a scream as he saw the crude gash along its neck.
“Now little dragon, do you see what happened to the last dragon who refused to cooperate? Such a shame so much innocent blood was drawn. You can prevent all that by telling me one little thing. Second and last chance. What is this thing?”
Should I? Should I not? Argh, why must this be so difficult?!? Why can’t someone else answer this? Why ME?
Thunder didn’t really want to admit to himself that he was the reason why he had to answer this. His stupid decisions had caused this.
“It’s the Heart,” Thunder admitted in a quiet voice.
“Ah, thank you little dragonet, and what is your name?”
“Thunder.”
“You see, Thunder, do not feel bad for your actions. I knew one of you heroic young VoltWings would eventually seek out the murderer if I killed enough,” said Thorax.
What kind of evil… Thunder began thinking, but Thorax continued.
“I also happened to know that there was a sacred object that granted you VoltWings your storm, and lightning itself. As well as that, I know that VoltWings must feed on lightning. So, if a heroic dragonet ventured out to find me, he would either be mad… Or bring the Heart straight to me.”
Thunder stared at Thorax. This dragon was deplorable, but also a genius. Then again, he didn’t think about the REAL reason Thunder was there, which meant Thunder had a minuscule advantage. Maybe he could talk his way out? Thorax spoke again.
“Well, Thunder, I will keep to my word and not kill you. Put him in the dungeons,” he said, motioning to a guard.
So much for that advantage.
Thunder shouted with outrage as he tried to escape but he was easily overpowered by the guard who was much bigger than him.
“I’d stop squirming if I were you,” said the guard, “You may have Thorax’s grace now but once he sees you're not useful he will take no hesitation in killing you.”
“Where are you taking me?” asked a still struggling Thunder.
The guard growled. “Are you deaf as well as stupid? I’m taking you to the dungeons, but if you don’t shut up and settle down I will personally take you to a volcano instead.”
A little harsh, Thunder thought. He was just a dragonet, after all.
The dungeons were dark and musty. The places where they kept prisoners themselves were guarded by rusted iron bars. As thunder walked past the cells he saw a few SilkWings and some old HiveWings, but to his surprise, he saw no VoltWings.
“Where are all the VoltWings?” Thunder asked the guard. The guard gave him a nasty grin.
“You're the only one that Thorax let live.”
That didn’t exactly make Thunder feel better.
They had reached the first empty cell and the guard roughly threw him in. He landed on the floor painfully and examined his arm. It had been cut badly, and was bleeding. The guard paid it no heed.
“Sweet dreams little dragonet! You're going to be here as long as you live!” the guard laughed. Ominous.
Thunder immediately set to work to try and get out of there.
What can I do, what can I do to escape?
Thunder investigated the room. The walls were made of strong material.
Treestuff, he thought, remembering his history lessons, it's made mostly out of wood.
Thunder sighed, he couldn't zap the treestuff away with his electricity.
Is there any way out of here? Thunder thought, surveying the room.
Let's see … There are metal bars so no blasting through that. Just some water in the corner.
Wow, I'm hungry. Thunder realised. I wonder if they will feed me something, though probably not. What was it that the guard had said to me earlier?
You're going to be here for a long time, little dragonet.
How long? A bit too long, maybe.
Well sweet dreams for me then, Thunder thought as he drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
Thunder woke up from nightmares of the Storm disintegrating into nothingness to the sound of something wet hitting the stone floor of his cell. He looked up and saw the guard walking away after leaving a piece of something lying on the floor. It was… antelope?
He poked a talon at it and some flies buzzed off it.
Well, it's not exactly a big buffet. But he was so hungry he snapped up the meat in a few gulps.
He sat on the stone floor and sighed. His stomach hurt, his head ached and his wings were stiff.
The HiveWings think they’re so clever, locking up innocent dragons and torturing them for information.
His head was starting to hurt just thinking about it. The injustice of it all made him want to kill all the HiveWings, especially that insufferable monologuing Thorax.
No. The others are just doing what Thorax orders them to. Just Thorax.
Oh, and maybe that guard. And that soldier who captured me.
About an hour later, the guard returned to Thunder’s cell and opened the door. “Get out, worm,” he grunted. “Thorax doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” Thunder begrudgingly obeyed and climbed the stairs, the guard always right behind him.
At last, he reached the entrance to the HiveWing’s cave. Thorax approached Thunder, smiling cruelly. That wasn’t a good sign. Thunder tensed.
“Good news, VoltWing. We have decided to release you.” Thunder's heart jumped. He could go back to . . . well, wherever.
“But of course, we can’t let you go telling your other friends about us. That would be disastrous, Cloudburst would be MOST annoyed, and she’s such a pain these days. So, in that case. . .” Quick as a blink, Thorax stabbed Thunder in the side of his body with his sharp tail. Thunder howled, and then hit the floor, unable to move. That wasn’t natural.
Paralysing toxins! Thunder realised, horrified.
“Throw him off.” Thorax declared briskly. “Make it quick.” Two burly guards walked up to him and hoisted Thunder's limp body, bruised and marked with cuts,  off the floor. Then they slowly dragged him towards the cliff. When they neared the entrance, he could see the dark sky. There was a raging lightning storm outside.
I can almost hear it now. Thunder thought bitterly. Rogue VoltWing dragonet named Thunder dies in a thunderstorm. He grimaced but felt almost calm. He was going to die. He would meet his end, just like Whirlwind, just like Static, just like… just like his parents. And he probably deserved it.
Suddenly Thunder realised something. He had essentially killed his whole tribe. The HiveWings had the Heart, which meant that they could control the Storm, the VoltWing's most vital resource.
That wasn’t a good way to go out.
He closed his eyes as the HiveWing's rough talons threw him off the edge.
As he plummeted to his death, time seemed to slow down. He felt a weird static-esque sensation as if he had stayed in the centre of the storm for too long. He lurched forward suddenly and only heard the cries of anger from Thorax and shouts from the other HiveWings before a lightning bolt consumed him and he vanished off the face of Pantala.

What's this for a cliffhanger, guys? Sorry about the wait, I'll try to update more!

Talons off - Thunder