Raised of Fire (a WOF story)

Chapter Two: Tragedy

Amaranth paced around, waiting impatiently for Glide to finish her scroll. She was the slowest reader Amaranth knew.

Claws scraping against the stone, she let out a puff of smoke.

"Quit pacing and go make yourself useful. Go wipe down your mother's table."

The dragonet rolled her golden eyes and sulked away. She grasped a rag and vanished into the room where they stored their food and dipped it into a basin of water.

She walked into the room and began scrubbing down the table. Her wing knocked into a container of brushes, which fell over and spilled its contents onto the rock. Amaranth dropped the rag and scooped them up.

Wait...why don't I paint something for Mother? Glide was going to take a while anyway, and she would never know that she had ignored one of her orders.

Taking out a small canvas and some paints, she dipped a brush in and began to create her gift.

She had gotten a lot better since the previous year and had replaced all of the paintings in her room with far better ones.

Her colors blended together much better, though she was still nowhere near as good as Dawn.

A pine forest appeared on the canvas with somewhat gloppy layers on the wood. The blades of her grasses were uneven and messy, but still a huge improvement.

Two red dragons with their wings draped over each other were in the center of the painting. Bright smiles were upon their faces. Amaranth and Dawn.

She had hardly finished adding in the final details--such as the silver chain Dawn always wore--to her artwork when Glide shouldered into the room, grumbling under her breath.

"Hurry up will you," she shouted and turned away.

"Speak for yourself," Amaranth hissed under her breath.

The two SkyWings lifted off from the entrance to the cave and began flying. Amaranth had her wings spread out to their fullest. She loved flying; it made her feel strong and powerful, like a champion of the skies.

The pair swooped down and landed on the peak of a mountain. While Amaranth landed easily, the lame dragoness stumbled as she hit the ground.

"You go chat. I'm waiting here," she said and waved the dragonet away.

Amaranth let out a mental sigh of relief and flew over the forest. She landed excitedly in a clearing in the wild thicket.

Dawn was pacing frantically. She looked up when she heard the grass crunch. Her eyes instantly lit up.

Amaranth rushed forward and wrapped her wings around Dawn. They embraced happily.

There was a faint rustling in the leaves.

Dawn looked up. There was concern in her expression.

"Go and wait in the gap under those rocks. Don't come out until I say so!"

The frantic energy in her voice send Amaranth leaping into the gap. She squished herself in and went as far back as possible.

She waited in silence for a short moment before four dragons crashed out of the trees.

Based on what she had studied about the other tribes, two were SandWings and the other two were NightWings.