Rain and Night - A Glorybringer Story

Chapter 36

(REASONABLY BIG TIME SKIP)

Deathbringer awoke to the sound of Firefly and Fern playing. He sat up with a yawn. Bright morning sunlight poured in from the windows. Amber was sitting near the door, watching with sparkling eyes as Firefly and Fern chased each other around, squealing and roaring. 

"Daddy!" Amber squeaked, sprinting over to him, bright yellow. "Daddy, we want to go outside today!"

Firefly stopped her game with Fern, hearing what Amber said. "I wanna see a moon globe!" She yelled, bouncing up and down. "Is it made of ice?"

"No, the moon globes aren't, only the tree itself,," Deathbringer replied patiently. They're so energetic, he thought. Was I like this when I was their age? Surely not. Beside him, Glory was also awake, yawning and climbing out of the hammock. "But we'll show you them later."

"When can we learn to fly?" Firefly asked with wide eyes, flapping her wings as though practising. Glory let out a light chuckle. "I want to tree glide like Uncle Jambu!"

"Me too!" Fern said, and Amber nodded in agreement. Deathbringer smiled widely. They're perfectly adorable. 

"You'll learn to fly when you're a little older," Glory answered them, giving them a reassuring look. "Now, let's go and see the moon globe tree, okay?" 

They all squealed in delight. "Okay!" Amber piped up. Deathbringer crouched down, and a moment later both Fern and Firefly were on his back, in between his wings. They grabbed his neck and he straightened. 

"I don't remember being this excitable when I was their age," Glory whispered to him in an amused way. 

"Well, I guess it's hard to imagine being really tiny when you're adults," Deathbringer replied with a shrug. Glory smiled and nodded, Amber clinging to her back. Deathbringer twined his tail around Glory's. "Let's go."

As they took flight, the dragonets all gave little shouts of joy and fear. This continued until they finally landed at the small moon globe tree, a few miles west of the RainWing village. There weren't any other dragons around. It stood out, pale blue in the sea of green and brown. And it was glowing slightly. The young tree had around ten moon globes dangling from it. 

"Wowww," Firefly said adoringly as she slid off of Deathbringer's back. She scampered over to the trunk and began to climb, her little claws digging into the ice. When she perched herself onto a branch, she exclaimed, "Look! It's all shiny!" 

Amber watched curiously as Fern joined Firefly on the icy branch. "Oh, it's cold," the young prince squeaked as sat himself down with a shiver, curling his tails around his tiny talons. 

"Yes, the trunk and the branches are sculpted from ice," Glory explained. "Do you want a moon globe?"

"YES!" All three of them shouted at the same time. Deathbringer gave a light laugh and walked up to the tree, before carefully taking three moon globes. It hovered a few inches above his talon. Fern bounded up to him and grabbed a moon globe. These things are animus-touched. So new ones will grow to replace the ones I took. 

"Now release it over your shoulder," Deathbringer explained. Fern did as he said and the moon globe stayed levitating over his tiny wing. 

"Oooh! It floats!" Amber said. "Can I have one?" Glory took a moon globe from Deathbringer and handed it over to the orange dragonet. Amber copied Fern as Firefly claimed hers. Amber looked at hers excitedly and declared, "Wait, wait. Imma look like an IceWing." She shifted her colours and became snow-white with blue wings. 

Glory seemed surprised and impressed. "Whoa," the RainWing queen said. "Since when did you know about the other tribes?"

Amber looked up at Deathbringer, who promptly smirked proudly at Glory. "Daddy told us about them," she replied. He remembered the small lesson he gave them yesterday afternoon after suntime, where he briefly described the other tribes to them. 

"Oh, of course you did," Glory said to Deathbringer in an exasperatedly affectionate way. She rolled her eyes at him. "So, still determined about the 'smartest dragonets in the world' thing?"

"They are the smartest dragonets in the world!" Deathbringer protested, pretending to be utterly  devastated and shocked by her remark. Glory rolled her eyes again, and he couldn't help but give her a smug grin. 

"Hey, don't give me that smug face," Glory said flatly, trying to hide her amusement. 

Deathbringer grinned even more and replied, as though it were obvious, "Again, Glory, this is my heroic face! Anyways, aren't you the smartest dragonets in the world?" He continued, peering down at Amber, Fern and Firefly. 

"We ARE!" Firefly announced, flapping her wings indignantly. Her left wing hit the moon globe, but she didn't care. 

For the next hour, they climbed trees, tried (and failed) to fly, and picked some of the fruit in the area. 

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the distance. Deathbringer tensed. His bodyguard habit. He pricked his ears and heard dragon voices calling out to one another. 

"Glory," he whispered. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Glory said, as she gently pushed Amber away for a moment. She listened more carefully and froze, as well. The voices were unfamiliar, and belonged to nobody they knew. Glory turned to the three squabbling dragonets and murmured softly, "Shhh. Be quiet for a moment." Amber, Firefly and Fern fell silent. 

The voices were becoming louder, closer to them. 

"Ugh, I can't stand all the mud in this stupid rainforest," The first, gruff, male voice muttered unhappily, followed by the squelching of mud under dragon talons. "So many dumb trees. And it's so loud, don't you think?"

Who are they? They've clearly never been to the rainforest. Not NightWings, surely, since they wouldn't complain with all the food around here, Deathbringer thought. Dragons from another tribe ... 

"You three," Deathbringer said softly to the dragonets, who stared at him, wide-eyed. Glory seemed confused but alert, ready to defend herself. "Go and hide in the bushes over there and don't make a sound, okay? Just stay still."

They nodded and ran over to the thick bushes nearby, crouching down to conceal themselves.

"Good," Glory whispered to them. The voices continued to talk amongst each other. 

"Yeah, this place is weird," a female voice agreed. "I wish we were back in the desert."

SandWings? Deathbringer thought. Why would SandWings be in the rainforest? And why don't I know about it? They must be with Fierceteeth ...

After a while, the SandWing stepped out into the open, right in front of Glory and Deathbringer. The male one was covered in battle scars and the female had strange green eyes. Behind them was another male SandWing, burly and silent.

"Hey!" The female SandWing shouted when she noticed Glory and Deathbringer. Deathbringer was prepared to defend Glory, ready to pounce onto the SandWing in the front. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The two SandWings behind her were excited and bristling. The burly one snarled. 

"What are we doing here?" Glory retorted, a growl escaping her throat. "This is our rainforest. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The smaller male one took a step forward threateningly. "We're Fierceteeth's new soldiers," he growled. "And in case you haven't heard, this part of the rainforest belongs to us now." 

Deathbringer hissed. "Since when was this land yours?"

"Since yesterday night, actually," the SandWing replied, raising his barbed stinger. Deathbringer froze. He did NOT want to get stung by a SandWing again. 

"Go now and we'll leave you alone," the female SandWing ordered them. He and Glory exchanged a glance. If they chose to fight, they'd risk Amber, Firefly and Fern's safety. Seething, Glory flicked her tail, signalling for them to go. Quickly, quietly, they turned around, neatly scooped up the dragonets, and flew back to the RainWing village.