Wings of Fire: The Rainforest Monster | ✔️

~ The Rainforest Monster: Chapter 13 ~

The halls here were narrow and nothing was open to the sky. A fireplace held a roaring fire in every room they passed, so the heat was almost stifling, and yet cold winds still rattled through the small windows. There was no treasure adorning the walls, no gold or pearls embedded in the floor.

Instead, the stone walls were hung with thick woven tapestries. Each tapestry had a bright yellow sun blazing at the center of it, surrounded by patterns of images from the desert - sinuous lizards, prickly cacti, palm trees, camels. White and green and blue covered the dull gray walls almost from comer to comer.

"You better be bringing good news," the SandWing said as he led them through the halls. "Blaze doesn't like hearing bad news, and neither do we."

"Well not all news can be good," Jambu said coldly. Glory shot him a look, which he responded to by simply rolling his eyes.

They reached the center of the fortress and stopped in a small antechamber outside a pair of giant wooden doors. The SandWing knocked twice, then stepped back and waited.

"Come iiiin!" a cheery singsong voice called. The SandWing jerked his head toward the doors, then pushed them open.

The room on the other side was larger than any they'd seen so far. The smooth stone floor was covered in sand, and the tapestries on the walls here were more intricate, with images of dragons and crowns and jewels surrounding the yellow suns.

Giant wine-red pillows and camel-hair carpets were piled in a loose nest in the middle of the room, and sprawled across this was a strikingly beautiful SandWing. She had her chin propped on one talon and was gazing listlessly into a mirror on the sand in front of her. Her tail coiled gracefully across the pillows, with the poisonous barb touching the floor. Her wings were folded, and her scales shimmered like white gold against the red backdrop.

She lifted her eyes and smiled, holding out her front talons in a welcoming gesture.

"New guests! Come in, come in. I'm assuming Queen Glacier sent you."

"She did," Glory said, dropping into a bow. The others followed, including Hare. Blaze tilted her head and pointed at Hare as the dragons rose. "You look quite odd. Why have I never seen you before?"

Hare hesitated. She started running her claw over the smooth floor. "My mother put me into hiding," she told Blaze.

Blaze tilted her head. "My sister did the same thing with her dragonet. Truly tragic. She's lucky mother isn't alive anymore, she would've killed her and the dragonet."

Liar.

Hare felt a jolt of surprise at Mystery's sudden intervention. Did you know her mother?

Better than you may guess.

"So what was your mother's reasoning?" Blaze pressed.

Hare blinked. "Oh, uh, her mother forbade her from having dragonets. She didn't want to risk my life because of dragons who may still be loyal to her."

"That was Burn's reason, too," Blaze said with a small sigh. "What a small world."

"There's actually a reason for that," Hare admitted. "I'm Burn's daughter, and your niece."

Blaze gasped and backed away. "No..." She looked at the SandWing with wide eyes. "Ocotillo, how could you? Get away! Don't touch me!"

Hare took a small step back. "What?"

Blaze suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Hare. "Did my sister send you?" she demanded. "Well I'm no idiot! You won't hurt me!"

"I didn't want to," Hare protested. "I just wanted to meet you! I swear, I mean no harm. My mother hasn't seen me in months, not since we escaped the Sky Kingdom."