The Story of Artemis- Wings of Fire

Chapter 9

Artemis was absolutely awed by what she saw in front of her. Two small stone ledges stuck up not far from the ground, both piled with blankets in deep ruby and purple colors, patterned with fantastical little lizards and frogs and suns. She guessed they were Sandwing-made.

Furs carpeted the floor and almost empty shelves sat against walls, glowing glass spheres hanging from the ceiling by what seemed to be metal or twine. One of these two ledges was occupied. The other ledge, though, was not.

On that occupied ledge was a dragonet of the likes Artemis had never seen before. She had the body of an average Skywing, with big wings and a long neck. But she had an oddly shaped tail and the scales on her back were not like a Skywings at all.

It wasn't the dragonet's horns and body shape that confused her, though, it was the color of her scales. They were a very dark grey, with yellow scales reaching down her spine that were shaped like grasping bolts of lightning.

Artemis tilted her head and caught the strange dragons eyes. She stumbled back, for her eyes were a shocking violet. Small golden scales were near her eyes, like dewdrops.

"Uh...what?" Said the violet eyed dragonet, looking down at herself. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...just.." Artemis struggled for words.

The dragonet suddenly laughed. "It's the lighting bolts and the eyes, isn't it?" She guessed. "Always gets dragons. They're just special defects of mine." She explained, stretching her talons.

"Although I personally wouldn't call it a defect. It depends on the dragon I guess. I'm what you get when you combine a Skywing, Mudwing and Nightwing."

She shrugged her shoulders, looking at the bewildered Artemis. "I'm Tempest, by the way." The dragonet said, her tail swinging from the tall ledge.

"You're a hybrid?" Artemis said. Dumb question, Artemis. She thought after the obvious statement.

"I call myself a tribrid, actually. It's just a fancy way of saying I'm a mixture of three different types of dragons. It doesn't matter though!" Her thoughts suddenly switched to something else. "Your ledge is over there by the way." Tempest said, pointing to the other ledge that also contained lovingly made blankets, and even a stark black fur across the rough stone. These had patterns of suns as well as lizards, though hers had scorpions too.

"I'm pretty sure she can see which one isn't occupied, Tempest." A tired voice mumbled from behind, and Artemis turned her head to see.

"Oh come on, Mudpuddle. I was just being polite." Tempest whined, narrowing her eyes at the Mudwing. Mudpuddle snorted, climbing out of a big hole carved out of the ground. A small vat of warm mud sat near it, while many animal furs lay inside the sleeping area. The Nightwing immediately smiled at Mudpuddle.

"Hi. I'm Artemis." She held out a paw as Mudpuddle lumbered slowly over, dragging her talons sleepily. Definitely didn't seem to be one that was all sunshine and roses once she woke up.

"Mudpuddle." She said, shaking Artemis's talons and yawning. "So I'm guessing you're our Clawmate?" She blinked the daze from her eyes, smiling gently.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure." She answered hesitantly.

"Oh. Okay, it's nice to meet you."

They fell silent after that.

"So!" Tempest suddenly broke in, startling Artemis and breaking the silence. "Opal Winglet. Pretty exciting."

Artemis nodded in agreement, sitting down and looking to the tribrid.