A Promise To The Stars

Chapter Three

I woke up sleepily, with my eyes sealed shut with tiredness. It was a strange feeling, and my feathers were all fluffed up, it was almost as if I were a bird. I was rolled against the cold stone wall, with my tail sliding off the edge of the bed.

I blinked up at the ceiling, my mind was blank from last night, and there was a sharp pain in my lower back. I grumbled, and pulled a pebble from behind me and flung it across the room carelessly. Nobody else was awake, as always, and Amber was snoring peacefully from above me.

A rumble was heard from another room, and I quickly realized it as Obsidian's loud grumbles when he woke up, and got out of his bed. He was a large wolgan, and shook the floor in a small radius around him when he walked, it startled me, and I took a moment to realize what it was.

"Wake up." He growled in a hoarse voice, and I thought he was speaking to me for a second, but as usual, he was snapping over towards Beryl. Asteroid still hadn't returned, and I felt my stomach churn, this was quite unusual for her to be gone longer than a night.

Beryl howled in surprise when he awoke, and I could hear the faint sound of Obsidian whispering something to him. I got up curiously, and raised a brow as I crept over towards the wall to listen to what they were saying. It was tricky to hear, as Obsidian was surprisingly quiet, but I could hear a bit.

"Where did you put her?" Beryl whimpered, as he gulped and I felt him shuffling against the wall.

Obsidian cackled, and said, "Don't worry about her, all we need are the hatchlings, and she was a mere obstacle."

My horns perked up with curiosity, as I felt my muscles become tense. Perhaps I was just too quick to assume, but coming from Obsidian, I could only assume that meant she was in danger... or even dead.

"I demand to know where she is." Beryl roared back to him, and shuffled around the room with a menacing hiss.

Obsidian was clearly surprised by his sudden anxiety, and in a high-pitched voice, he responded with, "Oh shut up, you'll wake the two if you keep shouting."

"I don't care." Beryl barked back at the large draylef, and shuffled away swiftly, knocking over a few scrolls that hung on the walls.

"Quit it with the attitude," Obsidian hissed through clenched fangs and glared deeply into the smaller wolgan's eyes, "Your insubordination will surely backfire if you continue with what you are attempting to do."

My shoulders were now at the sides of my head, as I slowly slunk out of the room with my back against the wall. I wanted to bring Amber with me, but it was too late as by the time I had thought of it, I was already at the end of the hallway, waiting patiently for any signs of movement.

Peeking my head around the corner, I could see the copper draylef backed up with his wings flared, almost as if he were a statue. He hissed, and pulled himself upwards with a snarl, it was the most unfriendly I had ever seen from that behaviour from such a reading-slob before.

Obsidian had his back arched like a feline, as he glared deeply into Beryl's eyes, it was a stare that could kill. His talons were extending, as he approached the slender wolgan with no mercy, almost as if he'd enjoy the slaughter.

I gulped, and stared into Beryl's beady dark eyes which were now filled with panic, as his tail flicked up like a scorpion's. He pulled his lip back in a snarl, to defend himself but Obsidian kept approaching.

Something inside of my brain snapped, and I automatically blurted out, "Hey, bird-brain!" as if I were a robot. I quickly covered my mouth with my talons, but it was too late, the large coal-feathered wolgan had already whipped around to face me.