Qibli x reader: Chasing Stars

Chapter 14

I opened my eyes, and saw Tamarin next to me, nudging me. "C'mon, please don't die." She urged. I let out a small cry of protest, but it was weak. "Oh, thank God you're okay. I didn't think you..." She trailed off, snuffling slightly. "Everyone's been calling for us... but I can't find a safe path through the flames." 

I looked around. "We're surrounded anyway. How long have we-" I asked. "I don't know." She whispered. "I hate being blind!" She spat suddenly. I sighed. Then I heard something. "STAR!" A voice screamed desperately. Qibli. "STAR!" Moon. "TAMARIN, STAR! ANSWER US!" Kinkajou. 

I tried getting up, and my burns almost blacked me out again. I began to breathe heavily. I gathered all my strength. "Qibli!" I wailed. The voices stopped. "QIBLI!" I tried again.

I heard a conversation, and saw a shadow move through the flames. "Qibli, Kinkajou... We aren't going to find them. When this dies down-" a voice I couldn't recognize said. "No! We will find her, I could have sworn I just heard..." Qibli's voice sounded beaten down. Who knows how long we'd been here.

The smoke filling my lungs made me feel sleepy. I took a deep breath. "QIBLI! PLEASE, ANSWER ME!" I screamed in desperation, and I fell back to the floor again. Tamarin did her best to shield me from the heat with her wings. "You are not going to die when you saved my life." She snapped.

After a few minutes, I saw a figure sweep through the flames. Qibli. He took one look at me rushed over to me. I lay there, unable to move. "Star..." He whispered. The heat was getting to me. My eyes began to close. "Hang on, Star. I'll get you out of here, I promise." He whispered, picking me up and holding me with his talons. "Tamarin... Try and hold on to me." He said. Tamarin took hold of one of his forearms, and he got us out. 

Kinkajou opened her eyes wide when she saw me, and Moon nearly collapsed with relief. "She's... she's okay!" And she looked at me closer. "No... Star, what happened?" She asked. My vision got funny, and I shut my eyes firmly. "She saved my life, that's what happened." Tamarin explained.

"She shielded me with her wings, and she took the worst of it." She sounded miserable. "What about Carnelian?" I asked feebly. I opened my eyes, and Qibli set me down. "She's... Star... She's dead. Bigtail, too." He sighed. "But you saved me." I whispered. He nodded.

"Are you okay?" Moon asked, surrounding me in a hug. "I feel... kind of hot." I chuckled woozily. "You idiot." Moon chuckled in a teary-voice. Tamarin insisted she felt fine, but Kinkajou told her to go get some water. After she left, Kinkajou took a step towards me with a worried look on her face.

"Star, you're bleeding." Qibli said. I noticed the trail of blood that was spilling down my left shoulder, and the stabbing pain in my head.

"I'm... all right." I responded faintly, and I touched my skull gingerly. I heard a lot more dragons coming my way, Tsunami and Sunny among them. 'You're going to have a lot of explaining to do. Start thinking of a good lie now.' Darkstalker suggested quietly.

"We have to get you to the infirmary." Kinkajou said firmly, and almost everyone agreed... except for one dragon.

"Wait." Winter snapped, emerging from the cave. Behind him, the fire was hissing out. The wrecked cave was covered in ice, a glimmering layer of silver and white over black, and frost over soot. Scraps of burnt scrolls and paper littered the floor.

'at least it wasn't the library.' How had everything burned so fast? Even with the scrolls and maps, there shouldn't have been such a big fire. How did it start?

It wasn't a normal fire, I knew that much. Something had exploded. But did that mean... that someone had set it on purpose?

Winter suddenly clamped his sharp talons around my injured forearm, and his frosty cold scales along with my burns forced a pained yelp out of me. The pain was excruciating.

"Hey!" Kinkajou protested.

"Don't you dare!" Qibli snarled.

But Winter didn't stop. He dragged me down the tunnel, away from the smoke. I could hear Qibli, Kinkajou, and a few extra pairs of claws scrambling to follow me.

"What are you doing?" I managed to choke out. His grip was like being trapped in ice; trying to pull away didn't do any good. And where usually when dragon's minds became clearer when I touch them, his became too bright, reflecting back at me like sun off snow. All I could get was flashes of sharp anger, which I could have figured out from his expression.

"Here." Winter snapped, pushing me into a large cave where the air was clear enough to breathe. They were out of sight from the fire damage, but I could still sense the dragons gathering there.

Qibli, Moon, Kinkajou, and Turtle burst into the cavern, bristling with outraged thoughts. Qibli had grabbed a torch along the way, and shoved it into a crack in the wall, adding some light.

"You can't just push your friends around like that!" Kinkajou snarled angrily, hurrying over to me and inspecting me. "Especially when she's hurt. Star, there's something in this wound." She reached out, but she didn't touch it. I flinched, then twisted my neck to see something sticking out of the cut in my shoulder, like a collection of needle sharp splinters.

Qibli immediately dashed in front of me and swung his venomous tail threateningly. I thought I'd seen him angry when Onyx had talked about Thorn, but now he looked downright murderous. Winter took a menacing step towards me and pointed a silver claw at me.

"You knew." He snarled. "That's why you tried to stop us from going in. You knew about the explosion and the fire before it happened." He took another step, but Qibli thought it was too close, and he gave an angry snarl.

"So, exactly how did you know?" Winter hissed.