The Eighth Kingdom

Travels

The wingbeats of the two dragons echoed throughout the rainforest, slightly muffled by the leaves. Boa flew behind Zero, keeping well away from his ice-cold scales. He sighed. Zero was taking forever to get through the jungle. While Boa could have swung through the jungle in less than a day, Zero's consistent weaving to avoid trees was taking unnecessary. But yet he flew along patiently, letting his mind wonder. He thought back to Zero describing of the prophecy.

"The Prophecy is a vague one, but it has ties of fate that run deeper than any words could." Zero had explained. Boa wasn't entire convinced at the amount of faith Zero had in this prophecy at that time, until Zero described the details of The Black Dragon that had been in Boa's dreams. Zero had explained that whatever the black dragon was it was tied to the Prophecy as well. "It's seems as if the Seven are deeply bound to whoever this black dragon is, since both me and you have had dreams about it. We can only hope to find the other five dragons and stop it before it can do what it has done in our dreams."

Boa hated the idea of leaving the rainforest. He hated the idea that he would leave the Queen without his protection. But he also hated the idea of the rainforest being consumed by The Black Dragon. So he decided that going with Zero, which he still wasn't excited about, was the best way to protect his Queen and home.

"What compels you so?" Queen Glory had asked.

"The love of my home, your Majesty" Was Boa's simple reply. "I can't stand by and wait for this... thing to destroy Pyrrhia." He watched as the Queen had nodded slowly.

"Then we will wait eagerly for your return."

Boa had said goodbye to his friends. Tiger had thrown her arms around Boa's neck. "Be safe out there. Don't you dare get killed!" She had scolded. Boa had chuckled and promised her that he would be as safe as he could. Pike had come, holding a necklace of gold with a golden jungle leaf charm on it.

"To remind you of what you are going to fight for." He had said, draping it over Boa's head. Boa was fond of the dragonet. He hoped to make it back to see him graduate from the school.

Piranha had tackled him, screeching "Be safe!" She then went to stand by her best friend, Tiger. "Come back soon, brother." Boa nodded, promising he would. He then turned to his last friend. He watched as Shadow held out his front talons, showing a carefully crafted earring made from the black jungle stone. He pointed to Boa's ear, then to the earring. Boa ducked his head and let Shadow pierce his ear with the earring's back. It throbbed, but Boa ignored it and lifted his head again.

"Thank you." He said, feeling and overwhelming sense of pride and sorrow flow through him, along with happiness. Without his will his scales begin to change color, indigo and dark grey flowing and twisting around, with pink tingeing the edges of his wings and neck ruff. He had watched as Shadow's eyes had gleamed and he had gathered his breath. Then, to Boa's surprise and the surprise of others he had spoke, with a broken, raspy voice that held its own beauty in a broken way, and asked,

"You...like?"

Boa had nodded profusely. "I love it, Shadow."

Shadow had nodded, his orange eyes full of happiness.

Boa snapped back into the present, and looked down at the necklace around his neck, and felt the earring in his ear. He smiled bittersweetly. He knew he would give everything he had to keep his friends and home safe.

Boa and Zero reached the edge of the Jungle at dusk, landing just outside.

"Where to now?" Boa asked.

Zero had looked out towards the East, then to the West. Then he sat with his eyes closed. Boa watched as he murmured the Prophecy to himself, sitting completely still. When he finished he snapped his eyes open. "East, to the Kingdom of Mud." He spread his wings. "We shall fly through the night and hide during the day." He launched himself into the sky calling, "Let's go!" leaving Boa to scramble up and fly after him.

...

Zero and Boa flew though the night, just as Zero had said, stopping at the Western edge of the Mud Kingdom. Zero planned to do the same that he had done with the RainWings, travel and meet the Queen of the MudWings, Queen Moorhen. His original plan was to find the NightWing from the prophecy as well as the RainWing, as both lived in the rainforest, but upon inquiry he was told that no outside visitors were allowed in the NightWing village. So he decided, after consulting the Prophecy, that he would travel with Boa to the Kingdom of Mud.

He watched as Boa leaned down and sniffed at the water in the stream, snorting in disgust. "No wonder they call it the Mud Kingdom. How could anyone live with this type of water?" Zero leaned down and looked at the water, sighing as he saw its brownish tint. He leaned down and drank from it, wincing at the grainy feel of earth in it. The water around his snout began to freeze over so he pulled back, ignoring the ice that stayed on his muzzle.

"MudWings." He said, and Boa scoffed.

"MudWings." He agreed, drinking the water himself. When he had drunk his fill he turned to Zero again. "What's the plan?"

"Try to go to the Queen. Explain the Prophecy and hopefully find our MudWing."

Boa settled down. "You seem to forget that IceWings and Mudwings fought against each other in the war. Most likely the first MudWing we see is going to be hostile."

Zero sighed. "Yes, but we must if we are to save Pyrrhia."

Boa was silent after that. Zero let the silence hang in the air for a while before getting up.

"I am going to hunt. You should too, Boa." Boa got up as well.

"Okay. We'll meet back here?" He asked, spreading his wings.

"Yes." Zero said, launching into flight. He watched as Boa flew in the other direction.

It didn't take Zero long to find a small lake, where large crocodiles were lounging lazily in the dim light. He dove down on silent wings and bit down on one of the crocodiles, causing the others to hiss in alarm. He quickly grabbed the dead crocodile in his jaws and flew back to the place when he and Boa were camping. The crocodile had a thin sheet of ice beginning to form on it by the time he landed. Boa was nowhere to be seen, so Zero began to eat from the crocodile, tearing chucks with his talons and eating them as quickly as possible. His ice kept him from eating anything hot, but it was something he was used to. He was almost finished with his meal when Boa appeared behind him, materializing from thin air. It caused Zero to jump slightly, which made Boa laugh. Zero watched crossly as Boa laughed at him, some gold- yellow showing through on his scales.

"You should have seen your face!" He exclaimed, still trying to catch his breath.

"You laughed." Zero said, and Boa's face grew serious once again, his scales returning to their normal coloring.

"I'm a normal dragon, I have normal reactions, am I not allowed to laugh?" He spat back.

"That's not what I meant. It suits you to laugh though. You should do it more often." Zero replied. He chuckled to himself at Boa's scowl, turning and walking to the bushes. Laying down he rolled in the mud, allowing it to stick and freeze on his scales.

"What are you doing that for?" Boa asked.

"Well, unlike you, my scales cannot change, and the bushes alone are not enough to hide my white scales, therefore I must hide my scales with mud. It isn't pleasant, but it is necessary." Boa's lip curled in disgust as his talons squelched in the mud.

"I don't envy you." He said, changing his scales to fit the mud. Zero watched as he vanished, only to hear his voice a few seconds later. "See you in the evening, Zero."

"Likewise Boa." Zero replied, and the two fell asleep as the sun rose over the horizon.