Wings of Fire | The Half-Breed Tales

Chapter 5

Quill bounded through the hallway, his claws clicking on the tile floor, with Sobek, Mango, and Crimson hot on his heels. He darted past the Queen, who stared at him in astonishment, skidding to a hault, Quill started unfurling his wings, increasing speed, before he kicked off, and launched himself into the air. He flapped his cobalt blue wings, rising higher in the sky, before flying off.

Five seconds later, Crimson zoomed ahead, her huge coppery wings catching the wind, and flashing in the bright sunlight. Quill flapped his wings harder, and flew as fast as he could, his wings beating through the swirling wind.

"What are we going to say to stop her?" Sobek shouted, his voice faint, the wind snatching his words, and flinging them away into the howling wind.

"I don't know," Quill called back warily. "But maybe if I tell her something I think is important, she'll listen to me."

"What exactly do you mean by "important", Quill?" Sobek sounded doubtful, as doubtful as Quill felt.

"You'll see," Quill said hurriedly, knowing the more he thought of it, the more he would doubt himself. "No time to explain."

"THERE'S PLENTY OF TIME TO EXPLAIN, QUILL!!" Mango shouted from behind all of them. "And for the record, I'm not a good flyer!"

"Well, since you're the smallest here, I could probably carry you on my back," Crimson offered. "When you get tired, let me know."

"I'm tired," Mango said immediately, flapping her wings wildly.

Crimson sighed in exasperation, and ignored her.

"Leopard!" Quill cried out in desperation, knowing there was a very slim chance Leopard would actually listen him. "I have something important that you might want to know! I mean... I don't really know, but..."

In the far distance, the tiny silhouette of Leopard paused in midair, as if thinking for a moment. She turned her direction and started flying towards them at a speed Quill hadn't ever seen any dragon—not even a SkyWing—fly before, coming back into sight.

"Whoa, you're fast!!" Mango cried in admiration.

Leopard didn't say a word. Instead, she stared at Quill in quiet comprehension, her yellow-green eyes narrowed.

"Well," Sobek said finally, breaking the painful silence. "We should probably stop and take a break from flying, because the crazy RainWing over there is dying. Most likely because she's never actually flown anywhere."

Leopard nodded silently as if she understood. She glanced around, her eyes surveying the landscape around them, then she sped off. As Quill and his friends tried to fly after her, he could see the outline of a nearby river, that led to a pond, shaded by trees.

"Oh," Quill murmured. "She's smart. She must know the Queen would be sending out guards for her. She knows good places to hide. How to hide." Quill tried to squash the strange sensation rising in his chest. Admiration. Envy. A prince—no less a member of the royal SeaWing family—shouldn't feel envious of the lower dragons. Yet, that's how he felt in his heart. Focus. Quill thought. Be a real SeaWing, just like Queen Echo always tells you.

Quill looked up, and realized Sobek was giving him a suspicious glare "You sure you don't know her?"

Quill shook his head. "Only a faint idea. I don't even know if she's a true half-breed, although it certainly looks like it." He said

"She's scary," Sobek said, grinning."I like it. It's almost like when I first saw you. I got scared that you were another grumpy and terrifying SeaWing. But I guess there's two sides to every dragon, right?"

"Hmmph," Crimson puffed smoke from her nostrils. "Not so easy with me or Mango, huh."

"Yeah, we're both 276% good," Mango declared.

"It's 100%, not 276%," Sobek corrected

"Oh, just shut up, all of you," Quill growled in annoyance. "Just follow Leopard."

As they were about to land, circling over the tops of the trees, Sobek looked over at Quill, "You know," he murmured quietly. "Leopard is a strange name. I can't categorize her into any of the tribes. There's a clue for you."

Quill nodded. Leopard is definitely not a SkyWing, SeaWing, SandWing, IceWing, MudWing or NightWing name. He thought. It could be a RainWing name... Wait, no, Leopards don't live in the Rainforest. I don't even know what tribes she could be.

Leopard sat down across from them, folding her huge wings. She was definitely taller than them, and definitely stronger and fiercer. She regarded them in a regal fashion, in a way only a royal could manage, her expression was formal, yet fierce, the fire in her eyes saying she wasn't afraid to fight. Yet at the same time, she also had an insecure, guarded look to her—as if she was weaker than she looked, was hiding something.

Quill wished he could have half that impression on anyone. Nobody took him seriously. Nobody except his mother... but it had been years since he'd last seen her, had even come into contact with her. Sometimes, he wondered if she was even still alive.

"What did you want to tell me, SeaWing?" Leopard spat out the word 'SeaWing' as if it was a piece of rotten fish.

Quill swallowed nervously, stealing a glance at Sobek, who was staring, wide-eyed at Leopard. "Uh," he stuttered. "I've—er—had—an—er... um... I've had a... a vison."

"Oh. A vision, you say?" Her green-yellow eyes were narrowed to tiny slits.

Quill knew she didn't believe him for a second—even though he was telling her the truth. "Uh, yes."

"Go on." Leopard said, waving her talon in a way that said to continue, and that she was dismissing him.

"I- er--Well, I went to sleep, and I kinda just appeared in this world. I'm not sure if it was real or not. It seemed like a memory, but I just can't figure it out. I seemed very small, like a dragonet, for starters. I don't remember my small dragonet days, really. But, anyway, I saw another dragon—I don't know how old—that looked sort of like you. A NightWing, or whatever, it was black as obsidian, flew in and snatched you off your tree that you were perched on... staring at me. Or past me, for that matter. Another NightWing flew off after you as you were kidnapped, and I don't know who he was. Another dragon appeared, and this time stood over me protectively, like a mother. And that's where it ended."

Leopard stared at him with shock shinning in her yellow-green eyes. She opened her mouth once, then closed it, looking confused—an expression that looked kind of funny on her.

"Whoa," Sobek said, awkwardly breaking the silence. "That's some pretty deep stuff there."

"So it is you," Leopard murmured to herself, still gawking at Quill.

"Maybe she is Quill's mother or something," Mango suggested cheerfully.

Quill glanced over at her."What? She's not my mother. She's only like three years older than me or something. That would be—acck don't... Just... no..." Quill shook his head.

"How can that be Quill's mother, Mango? She's still young. You don't even know Quill that well!" Crimson snorted.

"Neither do you!" Mango challenged, her scales turning white.

"Quill," Leopard said suddenly. "Your name was Quill. Is Quill. I remember you, Quill. You were my little brother."