Misfits of Vernada ~Wattys2016~

XXII

Zappy/Slash

By: creepakilla

Slash sat dejectedly in his lava prison, dread coiling inside his stomach; in mere minutes, a guard had told him, he would be summoned to Magma's private chambers—Tornado was ill. The cackling laugh he had given wasn't comforting in the least.

He leapt to his feet nervously—nearly stumbling into the lava when he felt the weight of the heavy chains wrapped securely around his whole body—as clacking talons echoed outside.

Pricking his ears, he heard muffled voices, and then a blood red Stormrider put a wing through the lava, stopping the deadly flow enough for Slash to leap to the relative safety of the corridor beyond.

A nearby blue Stormrider smiled grimly, seized his chains, and, before the young dragon could react, proceeded to drag him through the mountain.

Slash stifled a groan as his head smacked the wall, but the ache was nothing compared to the gaping abyss of hurt and sadness within.

Before long, he was propelled into a cramped stone room and chained securely to the wall. He tried to ignore the instruments set out along a nearby table that were clearly meant for torture.

As Slash's guard departed, Moon's grandfather, Magma, entered the room. His snout was stone-like in its grimness.

He gripped red-hot pincers in his talons. "You will pay for blemishing my granddaughter," he hissed in as the pincers descended toward Slash's quivering wing.

He clenched his teeth and tried to keep the fear out of his eyes.

Suddenly the door vibrated as someone knocked almost hard enough to shatter it and Magma whirled around, snarling threateningly.

Slash went limp with relief as the orange Stormrider lay the pincers back on the stone table and angrily yanked the door open.

"What is it?" he snapped.

Slash, watching, caught a glimpse of brown scales; heard quiet voices. Then he noticed a young orange dragon creep undetected past Magma.

She laid a quieting claw to her snout as he stared.

"I'm Li—Firelily; I was Moon's friend: she saved my life. I know you're Zappy; me and Flamer are here to help," she whispered as excitement flooded across her snout.

Slash smiled. "Thank you," he murmured gratefully. He felt bad that he wasn't grateful enough, but—Moon was gone. Nothing else mattered.

Firelily nodded and drew a set of keys out from under her wing, casting a nervous glance toward Magma as they clattered slightly; the large orange dragon didn't seem to hear a thing.

"Where didya get those?" Slash accidently wondered aloud.

The orange dragon grinned and pointed toward Magma before undoing each of the locks wrapped around his body.

Magma heard the chains clattering onto the stone floor and turned his head...

Swift as lightening; acting without thinking; Slash darted across the cavern and tackled him, attempting to just trap him and disable him by slicing his tail through his leg—but he roared and squirmed, attempting to wriggle out from under him and the deadly blades sliced through his throat.

Slash gingerly stepped away from the body; he wasn't numb enough to not feel shock.

Firelily looked horrified and even the brown dragon, Flamer, wore an expression of dismay.

"You really are dangerous," Flamer muttered, taking a cautious step back. "I'm not sure if this is the right thing to be doing," she said to Firelily, but still keeping a wary eye on the Sharpshooter. "He just killed Magma!"

The orange dragon snorted. "Of course it is. He's Moon's nest-mate, Flamer! Eventually Obsidian would've had him killed, then where would we be? Moon would hate us, and with her Bloodlust nothing would stand in her way. She would kill us all."

Slash gaped as a strange feeling washed through him. "What?" he gasped. "Are you—Is she—" His legs were wobbly and he couldn't finish.

Flamer smiled happily. "Is she alive?"

"You'd better believe it!" Firelily crowed as she finished the other dragon's sentence. "And free, too! Flamer showed her the way out and spread a false rumour that Sparkles killed her!"

The world seemed dream-like; Slash couldn't comprehend anything. Moon was dead but she wasn't. He was surrounded by enemies but was among friends at the same time...

"Maybe we shouldn't've told him," Firelily said anxiously as she noticed his blank expression.

Flamer chuckled. "He'll get over it when his head's in the real clouds," she assured Firelily.

The two Stormriders each seized a front leg and lead him through the mountain to the passageway leading out.

Flamer grinned as a brisk wind blew up and slapped Slash in the snout, waking him from his daze.

"Thank you so, so much for your help," he beamed. "I can't believe this.

"But, please, do you know where Moon was headed? I can't be away from her anymore!"

Flamer nodded, understanding how he felt. "I'm not certain where she went, but I'd imagine she went after you."

Zappy nodded, and, unable to restrain himself, immediately spread his wings and spiralled down the tunnel.

"Thank you!" he called, hearing the words echo and reverberate back up to them.

Bursting into the open air he didn't bother to examine his surroundings, instead beating his wings as powerfully as possible; racing away, back to the WildWoods were he knew Moon would at last be waiting.