Blood Beneath The Scales

Chapter 5: The Defeat

Another full day passed before they reached Scorch’s cave by foot.
“We’re here,” Fang whispered.
Misty gulped. A mass amount of thick black smoke funneled out of the cave entrance.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” she said.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Spider gave her a concerned look.
Misty nodded then the three of them walked quietly and blindly into the cave. The smoke wasn't the only obstacle, the cave was pitch black and sharp rocks were sticking out of the walls and some areas of the ground, Spider stumbled over a few of them, scratching up his foot. The smoke cleared and they saw the ending of the tunnel. It leads into a massive cave, it was mostly empty with a few other caves. Misty stopped and felt for Cole, he was in the center tunnel.
“Follow me,” Misty whispered, leading them into the cave.  
It was pitch black but she could feel Cole’s presence. They walked out into a dimly lit cave.
“Misty! Spider! Over here!” Cole whispered loud enough so they could hear.
Misty, Spider, and Fang ran over to Cole. He was locked up in chains left behind by humans, mounted into the wall. Animal bones were scattered across the floor. Cole looked thin like he haddn’t eaten in days. In the corner, there were three other female dragons. Two of them looked about the same age and one was younger. One of the female dragons had a feather pattern on her forehead, she was blue and white, and the younger dragon had the same pattern but on her shoulder, she was red and white. The third female dragon was orange and red. They were very thin, thinner than Cole.
“Fang come help me, Spider free your brother,”
Fang and Misty walked over to the three female dragons, they started shaking as Misty and Fang got closer.
“Are you Feather, Flare, and Skyfeather?” Misty asked.
The red and orange dragon nodded.
“Yes. What do you want from us?”
“I’m from the Fire Tribe, Fang is from the Ice Tribe and Spider over there is from the Lava Pit Tribe. We’re here to rescue you,”
The two older dragons shared the same look and nodded. Fang and Misty proceeded to break the chains as Spider and Cole walked over.
“Is everyone alright?” Misty asked.
“Yes, everyone is free now. I'm Flare, this is Feather and Skyfeather,”
“Nice to meet you. Now let's get out of-”
“Ah, what a lovely reunion. Shame it'll last forever,” Scorched hissed.
Fang, Misty, and Spider shared a look. They had made a backup plan in case Scorch showed up. Misty ushered the female dragons away along with Cole, while Fang and Spider leaped into action, using their elemental powers. Fang blew snow and ice, making the floor slippery under Scorch while Spider started attacking him with his lava attacks. Scorch flung Spider into the wall with just the flick of his claw and threw Fang into the wall using his tail.
   “You hatchlings will never defeat me. Not even a tribe leader could destroy me!” He laughed.
Misty looked around, seeing her friends laying on the ground, weak. Scorch was powerful but something even more powerful burned inside her. She raised her wings and started growling in a blind fury, she didn't feel her wing hurt as she lifted herself off the ground and threw herself at Scorch, darting every which way and breathing fire, making sure Scorch could never predict where she would end up next. Fang and Spider got up and shook the rocks and dirt off themselves. They felt the power Misty had and she was releasing it to her friends. Together they attacked Scorch with all they had. Spider, Fang, and Misty aimed a blow to his side, making him slip on the ice underneath his feet. The vibration of Scorch falling to the ground shook the entire cave. Rocks began falling from the ceiling. Spider, Fang, and Misty gathered the other four dragons and helped them escape, but as Spider was getting Cole out of the cave, Scorch grabbed him by the tail. Spider tried to fight back but Scorch pinned him to the rocky floor.
   “If I die, one of you are coming with me,” he growled, letting more rocks fall around them.
Misty and Fang made it out with the captive dragons. Misty looked around.
   “Wait! Where’s Spider?” she asked in a panic.
Nobody had noticed he wasn't with them, Misty ran back in the cave, she saw Scorch had pinned Spider down to the floor.
   “Let him go!” She demanded.
   “Oh, that's cute. The little hatchling wants to play hero. Well to bad! Now both of you are going to die with me!” he roared.
   “Not on my watch,” a dragon said.
Misty turned around to see Fireweb, Spice, and Glacier, her heart filled up with hope.
   “He’s got Spider!” Misty told them.
As if that was the cue to leap into battle. Glacier threw Scorch off Spider as Spicer and Fireweb proceeded to pin their brother down.
   “Get out of here!” Fireweb commanded.
   “But what about you?” Misty asked.
   “We’ll be fine,” the three Tribe leaders spoke in unison.
Spider and Misty nodded. They left just as more dust stirred and the cave started to collapse more violently, Misty had lost sight of Spider as she heard him stumble and groan in pain.
   “Spider! Are you okay? Where are you?”
   “Over here,” he replied in a painful voice a short distance away.
The dust cleared and she ran over to Spider, his tail was lodged under a massive rock and he was knocked unconscious by falling rocks. Misty gasped and tried to push the rock off his tail but it wouldn't budge. She laid down and curled her body around Spider the best she could, being smaller than him. She lifted her wings, protecting him from falling rocks.
Is this the end? Would I die to protect him? she thought.
She thought it would be the last moment ever next to Spider. Misty closed her eyes and began to accept her fate.
   “Get up little one,” a voice said.
Misty opened her eyes to see all three tribe leaders standing over her with their wings open protecting Spider and Misty from the falling debris. Spice was the one speaking to Misty. Fireweb had pushed the rock off Spider’s tail and was now setting him on Glacier’s back. Spice held his wing over Spider, while Fireweb protected Misty. The five of them made it out of the cave before it collapsed entirely.
   “What happened to Scorch?” Misty asked
   “He decided to take his own life,” Fireweb sighed.
   “F-fire web?” Feather stuttered.
Fireweb turned around and gazed at his mate and daughter before crying and running over to them and embracing them in a dragon hug.
Flare ran over to Spice and jumped on him in excitement.
   “Flare!” he exclaimed.
   “I don't mean to be rude and ruin the reunion but we need to get everyone back to the Ice Tribe,”
   “Y-yeah of course,” Fireweb and Spice blushed as Glacier took off into the air.
The female dragons were too weak to fly but Cole had a bit of strength. Fang flew Feather, Fireweb took Misty, Cole took Feathersky and Spice took Flare.
~~~~~~~
They got back to the Ice Tribe where Bird, Icefang, and Storm were waiting. Bird and Storm took care of Spider while Icefang took care of the minor injuries.  Spider was still unconscious later that night, he and Misty stayed behind with Bird and Icefang while the others flew home. His tail was broken, his sides were bruised where Scorch had hit him and where he hit the wall, and he had a gash on the side of a head and a bruise behind his ear. She didn't want to leave his side so she slept outside his den. She decided to bring him food for when he woke up, so he could regain his strength. As she was setting food down beside Spider, he woke up.
“What happened? Where are we?” he mumbled.
“Ice Tribe. You got hit by a rock and you were knocked unconscious. Glacier, Fireweb, and Spice saved us,”  she told him.
He was silent for a couple of heartbeats before asking what happened to Scorch. Misty explained that too and how everyone is doing.
   “I’m glad we got to save my brother and other dragons,” he said, laying his head back down.
   “Me too, and we did it together,”
   “And you know what?” Spider said.
   “What?”
   “You flew again when Fang and I were in trouble. I couldn't have done it without you,” he smiled.
   “I flew?” she asked in shock.
   “You sure did,” Fang said from the entrance.
He walked in, bringing herbs for Spider to eat to regain his strength when he woke up. Fang was on duty while his daughter got some rest from a long day of treating the others, and Bird went to get more supplies. Misty looked shocked and Fang chuckled.     
   “All I remember is attacking Scorch at the time, it was an overpowering feeling,”
   “We felt it too, it was awesome,” Fang said.
They continued to talk about their battle, Misty explained what else had happened to Fang when she and Spider were in the cave. The sun was starting to rise and Spider had fallen asleep halfway through the story after eating the herbs and food Misty brought him. Fang left the cave to turn in for a while and exchange shifts with Icefang. Misty too fell asleep next to Spider. They slept most of the day, both of them being exhausted.