Flaming Eclipse

Chapter 10 - A new recruit

Falcon lashed her tail as a sign for us to stop. We were standing in front of a giant mansion with windows pointing in every direction. 

"You live here?" Creek gasped.

"No, no, no. Many dragons live here. It's an apartment complex", Falcon explained.

"What's an apartment?" I asked, tilting my head. I had never heard of such thing, were they common in towns?

"It's a fairly new consept but shortly; many dragons live in their own - usually- one-story houses inside of a bigger house", Falcon described. Creek looked even more confused than she did before, "They aren't very common", Falcon added quickly.

"Why? What about the noise?" Creek questioned. She was eyeing one of the windows where two other dragons were looking down at us.

"You get used it. It's cheaper this way", Falcon shrugged and opened the door. 

The inside of the mansion was well decorated. There was a door with a number on almost every wall and a staircase leading up in the middle.

Falcon began ascending up the stairs and Creek and I followed. We stopped after two floors and stepped next to a dark wooden door, which had chunks seemingly bitten off at the bottom.

"A mouse problem?" Creek pointed out, sniffing the doorframe.

"Rats actually. We've managed to catch some of them, but you know, some always slip between the cracks", Falcon pulled a small key out of nowhere and unlocked the door.

I peered inside the apartment and noticed that under every wall seemed to similarly miss chunks like on the door.

Falcon tiptoed into the room without making a sound. I followed her lead and carefully pressed each claw on the wooden floor. Creek looked at me with a hint of amused confusement and pranced dramatically after us. 

"Shush. August is most likely sleeping and won't take kindly to waking her up", Falcon twisted her head around to look at us. I swear, she was so beautiful in the yellow light of the candle lighting I feel like she could have inhaled me into her eyes.

She bent down to pick something up from the ground, but as I looked closer, I realised she was bending one of the floor boards and pulling something out. She threw it in front of us.

"Here. Blankets. One of you is going to sleep on the couch and the other one has to sleep on the floor", Falcon nodded at a blue gray couch which had it's corners all gnawned off by rats presumably. 

"We can switch. We're used to not always sleeping, since someone had to be always on the lookout for all sorts of dangers in our old den", Creek explained.

"Yeah. I'm sure we can handle it. Besides, we're not going to stay here for long. A few days max", I exclaimed strenly.

"Oh yeah, about that, your brother told me that you were looking for dawn dragon to join your mission", Falcon suddenly flared her wings a little bit. "He didn't mention what kind of mission, but he said it had something to do with the octopus drama going on over in Lizard's Tail".

"Yeah. We're going to kill the giant octopus living under there", I explained happily.

"Rustle! We can't just go and leak out all of our plans!" Creek lashed her tail at me.

"It's fine, really. I was thinking if I could join you. I don't really have a job over here in the Farm town and your adventure sounds like a blast", Falcon's eyes were shining like stars.

"Of cour-"

"Are you sure? It's going to be very dangerous and you could die", Creek interrupted me.

"I'm sure. Besides, if I do die, at least I've lived a happy life", Falcon nodded.

Creek glanced at me as if she were asking me to warn the stunning dawn dragon about the dangers of our upcoming trip, but I didn't. This was a chance to get to know her better and I wasn't going to let that chance just slip away out of my talons.

"Of course you can come. We'll keep you safe", I nodded approvingly. Creek gave one last sharp glance at me before Falcon continued:

"Thank you so, so much! Oh, and I know a few other dragons who might also want to join", Falcon winked at Creek. Why wouldn't she wink at me?

"Fever and Hollier did say we could take multiple dragons with us.. Sure why not. Introduse them to us in the morning. Rustle, you sleep on the floor", Creek strode over to the couch and flopped onto it. 

"Hah. Sleep well. If August wakes you two up in the middle of the night asking why you're here, tell her I invited you", Falcon blew out the candles and walked into another room.

I sat beside the couch where Creek had already dosed off and began reflecting:

We might actually do this. And I get to spend more time with Falcon! But oh, I wish Rattle would've come with us. But then again, maybe it's better he stays behind. He isn't the sharpest spike on a cactus afterall.