Maura lay in her den. The sun was bright, and sunlight poured in from the mouth of the den. She could see her den mates perfectly. The sun was beautiful, and she envied the Day Dragons. They got to see the sun every day. She rolled over, and tried to sleep. After Aroin almost catching her with Baron, she had been restless.
"Maura?" someone whispered.
She lifted her head. It was Ayala. "What?"
"What happened? When you were in King Odell's den? You've been acting....different."
Maura bared her teeth. "I don't want to-" she looked into Ayala's glimmering turquoise eyes. Maura didn't even know the color of her own sister's eyes until now. "Fine. I'll tell you. Come outside. But be quiet!"
The two of them snuck out of the den.
"Ok," Ayala said, "what happened?"
"King Odell....asked me to be his mate."
Ayala gasped. "Oh Maura thats great!"
"What?"
"I know you'll be a great queen!"
"But...I don't want to be queen!"
"Huh?" Ayala looked confused. "But....every dragoness wants to be queen!"
"Well I don't!" Maura snapped.
Ayala opened her mouth to speak, but her eyes landed on Maura's shoulder. Where her white scale was. "What is that?" she asked.
"What is what?" Maura asked.
"That white scale! On your shoulder!"
"Oh that. I have a um....disease...."
Ayala's blue eyes were so wide that Maura thought they'd fall out of her head. "Were you attacked by a Day Dragon? Did its sickness spread to you?"
"Its "sickness"? What are you talking about?"
"Don't you know that all the Day Dragons are infected with diseases? If you touch them then all your scales will turn white, and you die!"
Maura hissed at her. "That's a lie! Day Dragons aren't sick at all! You're just a liar!"
"Maura? You're a Night Dragon remember? We hate the Day Dragons. We don't like them." she yawned. "I'm going back to the den. Coming?"
Maura shook her head. "No....I'll be there soon. I'm going hunting."
"Alright." Ayala walked sleepily back to the den.
Maura watched her lay down. She took off quietly into the sky.
Baron?
She flew around for a while, waiting for Baron's reply. After a while curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to venture into Day Dragon territory and look for Baron. The territory was unfamiliar, and she jumped at every sound. She walked alongside a river when she heard someone say her name.
"Maura?!" someone hissed.
She smiled when she saw him. "Baron!" she exclaimed.
But he didn't look so happy. "Maura! Get out of here!"
"What?"
Baron's eyes turned to slits as a Day Dragoness emerged from the bushes.
"What do we have here, Baron? Not that Night Dragoness you've been seeing, right?" she said.
"Falan please! Don't say anything!" Baron pleaded.
"I'm sorry, Baron. I told you that you couldn't see her anymore. And now she's in our territory. I'm getting a patrol."
"Falan!" Baron wailed.
She screeched into the air. In less than a second seven day dragons were standing next to her. At the sight of Maura some of them cringed, some of them growled, some of them looked shocked to see an actual Night Dragoness awake in the day.
"Who is this?" an older male Day Dragon growled.
"A trespasser!" a dragon growled.
"Kill her, Boulder!"
"Father! Don't! She's done nothing wrong!" Baron begged.
"She came into our territory. That's bad enough."
"But! King Sunray! You have to have his permission!" Baron said.
"I'm the beta. I can do as I please. Dragons! Kill the intruder!"
The dragons screeched and jumped on top of Maura. Their sharp claws dug into her skin. Their fangs dug deep into her body. She tried to defend herself the best she could, but it was seven against one. Soon she lay almost dead, half of her body was in the river. She has half aware that she could be pulled into the river. Blood poured out of her, and she stared at Baron with tears in her eyes. The dragoness, Falan, held him back. He stared back at Maura, with sadness in his eyes. The other dragons, except Falan, laughed at her.
"Come one," Boulder said. "She'll die soon. Either that or she'll be pulled into the river. Lets leave her." he and the other seven dragons flew away.
"Come on Baron." Falan said.
"No! I wont leave her!"
"It's no use. She's dying. Their is nothing you can do. Come on."
He looked back at her once, and then he disappeared into the trees. Maura wondered when she was going to die. The surrounding started to get blurry, and the sun kept getting brighter and brighter. A blurry black figure appeared in front of her.
"Maura? Maura what happened?" it was King Odell.
Maura looked up at him, then in the direction Baron went to. The sun got brighter, and everything turned white. Then it turned darker, until all she could see was darkness.
