Hunted

Chapter One

Frostburn hatched in the wrong place at the wrong time. She loved life at first, never knowing about the dangers of the outside. She never saw the outside world, for all she saw were glittering ice walls and the bare stone floors. Her father went out to catch something to eat and didn't come back. So her mother went to look for him. She never came back either. Hungry, cold, and alone, she decided to eat some snow to tide her over. She heard scratching, and her ears twitched, moving towards the noise. The walls fell away, and the sunlight poured in. Standing in the door, was an Icewing. "Dad!" Frostburn yelled, almost bursting with joy. She took a closer look and realized it wasn't her dad, it was Queen Polar's top guard, Cirrus. He stared at her with unforgiving eyes, as if she had eaten the only fish in the entire ocean. His wings were torn, and he had a terrible burn scar across his snout. "You should not exist." He rasped. "You are forbidden. You have to die." He inhaled, ready to breathe his frostbreath at her and kill her. "NO!!!" She screamed, and without thinking, shot sparkling fire at his face. This had only been seen once before in a lifetime. Frostfire. He screamed and dropped to the floor, as the fire gave him blistering burns than immediately froze over when the frostbreath hit. Frostburn stepped over the writhing dragon and walked outside. The glare of the sun on snow hurt her eyes, but she adjusted. She saw pale blue and white dragons flying toward her an an alarming rate. She spread her wings and flew into the clouds. She saw the pale desert ahead of her. She had to hide. Frostburn would be killed instantly if she showed her face to the Icewings. She saw a pale yellow body snagged on an icicle. Her stomach flipped as she saw the blank expression on the Sandwing. It was her mom. Her throat was slashed and her tail was frozen. Red and blue blood  surrounded the area. She hadn't gone down without a fight. Frostburn landed to take her off of the icicle and felt an unnatural lump under her talons. She dug up a tail and threw up. She wiped her mouth and uncovered the rest of her body. It was her dad. She dug a hole and put them both in it. Covering them back up, she smelled a polar bear. Tempted, she walked over to the smell and found the bear. With one swift movement, she quietly jumped on it and snapped its neck. She quickly ate, then flew again, giving one last glance at her mother and father's grave. She sighed and felt the burning anger inside of her swell up. She gave a hard glare to the group of Icewings flying toward her and stopped abruptly. She whirled around to face them. She inhaled and shot frostfire at them it hit most of them but one of them twisted and flew out of the way. He slapped her face with his whip thin tail. She gingerly reached up and touched the wound. She winced with pain as she saw blood on her talons. He lunged forward midair and grabbed her with his serrated claws. The guard dragged her to the ground and dug his talons into her skull. Frostburn roared with pain and lashed out with her tail. The guard froze with an expression of terror. The poisonous barb on her tail had gone straight through his heart. He drew his talons from her forehead and fell backwards. She blinked blood out of her eyes and put some snow on the injury. She carefully pulled her tail out of his chest. Blinking back tears, she flew off, not looking back at the charred and frozen bodies that lay on the ground. Frostburn closed her eyes. With no one to talk to, she started humming a prophecy she had herd long ago. Under ice but warm as fire,
Lies a dragon with a great desire.
Breathing fire and sparkling frost,
She must be stopped or all is lost.
Frostburn knew it was about her but she wasn't quite sure why she must be stopped. She was so lost in her train of thought that she didn't see the sand colored dragon in front of her. They collided, and bright pain flared up from the wounds on her snout. "Hey!" He yelled angrily. "Watch where your going Ice... Sand....... What are you?" Frostburn sighed and looked at him. He was handsome, a narrow snout with perfect teeth, not stained or crooked. His wings were oddly beautiful, as if someone had dipped them in water and the droplets stayed. His eyes were a bluish purple, not like the jet black eyes of Sandwings. He was frighteningly thin, as he hadn't eaten in months. He had a silver scale behind his eye, like a tear about to fall. He had no tail barb, which was very odd. No scars, also odd considering he lived in the kingdom of the sand. Did he live in the kingdom? She didn't know. His underbelly was tinted purple, and now that she was closer, she realized his dusty yellow scales were also tinted black. He tapped his foot impatiently. "What are you?" Frostburn snapped back. He looked surprised, as if no one had ever noticed that he was different. "Hmph. I'm Starchaser. I know weird for a Sandwing. But I'm half Nightwing, so let's all go out and ask him questions and test him and run in circles making scornful noises that he is a hybrid." Frostburn gave him a look full of sympathy and surprise. "I'm Frostburn. Don't bother making friends with me, you'll just be another hybrid dragon the Icewings have to kill on their way to killing me, the Icewing Sandwing dragon with frostfire and a tail barb. I'll be on my way now." His eyes went from doubtful and angry to surprised and kind. "I...You're a hybrid too?" Starchaser asked. "Oh no wait, are you part of the prophecy the Nightwings delivered years ago?" He shuddered and took a step back. Frostburn sighed and nodded her head yes. Her eyes were full of sadness, as if her only chance at a friend turned out to be a walrus. "It's ok if you don't like me. I'll just go..." Her eyes moved to the desert behind him. Well, if you don't like me, then I don't like you very much either. Frostburn thought ruefully. "Well, other dragons don't like me that much either. Especially since I can.... Well I can..... I can read minds." He mumbled out quickly. Frostburn was surprised. "I still like you... Just try to stay out of my head, ok?" She said. Now Starchaser was very intrigued. "Let's stick together, we'll be safer that way. Oh and I'm also a seer. And maybe a prophet? I don't know quite yet. I was born under three full moons, giving me the powers of the seer and mind reading and possibly the power to deliver prophecies." Now Frostburn was dumbfounded. "Well, the Icewings are after me, so we'd better get moving before they catch up." He nodded then took off. She flew beside him, glancing once or twice at his tail. He saw that she noticed that he had no tail barb and winced. They were heading to the Kingdom of the Sand, whether they liked it, or not.