Wings of Fire: Holocaust of the Skies {FINISHED}

Chapter 11

Gavin and Grapefruit walked through the forest floor, pushing past plants and trees. It was completely dark, the three moons in the sky was their only source of light. Only one moon was full, while the others were crescents. "Do you know anything about scavengers?" Gavin asked in a whisper. "I know that they're small, but I don't underestimate them. Queen Oasis got killed by one." Gavin snorted. "Also, they have horrible night vision."

"We do too," Gavin adds. "Worst than ours," Grapefruit says. "Without those torches they hold, they wouldn't even see us at all. They would probably step on a snake and get themselves killed in seconds." Gavin almost tripped over a rock, and he yelped for a moment. "Let's just find the scavengers," He says. The dragons continued their journey in the dark rainforest, not wanting to fly because of the risk of alerting them. Gavin wanted to see them up close and personal. He wondered if they could understand what dragons are saying. "Look," Grapefruit raised his claw and touched Gavin's shoulder, signalling him to stop. "Light." Grapefruit pointed into a direction, and Gavin looked and saw a soft glow of light. It wasn't too far from where Gavin and Grapefruit were, but it was far enough that whatever was over there couldn't see them. "Are they scavengers?" 

Grapefruit shrugged, flicking the tip of his tail. "Most likely," Grapefruit whispered. "It's our best bet. Let's give them the surprise of their lives!" Gavin giggled, before walking into the opposite direction. Grapefruit had done the same, planning on sneaking up on the intruders. Gavin could hear the scavengers talking, and he couldn't understand a word they said. After a long pause, he heard footsteps in the grass. Then, there was a loud hitting sound, as if something was hitting wood. Before Gavin could investigate, he heard a loud hiss and screams. "Begone, you two-legged freaks! Stop coming here and taking our trees!" Gavin barged into the scavenger's area, where he saw two the creatures yelling and holding up tiny knives. Grapefruit had a scavenger in his claws. The scavengers wore tan clothing, and some kind of band tied around their waists. "They're trying to cut down the precious trees!" Gavin saw one scavenger looking terrified and swinging a knife at him. "Hey, stop it," Gavin said calmly as he nudged the scavenger with his talon. Grapefruit threw the two-legged creature in his claws into a tree. 

The three remaining scavengers screamed even more. Gavin noticed that their tiny weapons wasn't really harming him or Grapefruit, but he saw some kind a hatchet in the tree. There was also other cut marks on the tree, indicating that the scavengers tried different ways to cut the tree down, but this tree in particular was too thick.

"Let's just scare them off," Gavin suggests. "They're not too bad. They're harmless!"

Grapefruit lashed his tail. "That's what I'm trying to do! But they're not leaving- OW!" Grapefruit's right front talon was then cut by one of the scavenger's knives. The scavenger who held it was yelling something at Grapefruit, completely enraged. Grapefruit smacked the creature into a tree with his tail. The last scavengers finally got the message and ran off, leaving their weapons. Grapefruit covered the scavenger's fire with wet leaves and stepped on it to put it out, and once again there was piercing darkness. "Come on," Grapefruit said as he flapped his wings and lifted into the air. The RainWing flew above the canopy until he was in the sky. Gavin followed, wanting to stretch his wings, anyway. 

But the moment Gavin made it out of the cluster of trees, Grapefruit was gone. "Grapefruit?" Gavin called, whirling his body back and forth. "I'm right here," A pair of floating orange eyes suddenly appeared next to Gavin. Grapefruit then turned his head yellow, while the rest of his body was dark blue with specks of white dots to match the night sky. It looked like Grapefruit's head was floating.

"I saw a dragon. And it was not a RainWing!" In spite of fear, Grapefruit shifted the scales on his head to match the night sky. Only his eyes were visible. "Hide!" Before Gavin could even respond, a great force rammed into him. Gavin hit the floor, the impact sending large amounts of dirt into the air. Gavin was quick to scramble onto his feet, baring his teeth and ready to fight. A great SkyWing hovered in the air, his tail lashing. He hissed. Grapefruit was still out of sight. He's probably still camouflaged. Stay hidden, buddy, Gavin thought as he roared at the sky dragon. The SkyWing then landed on the ground, too, and a sick grin formed on his face. Does all of his enemies have to smile like that?

The SkyWing then bolted at Gavin, and he did the same. Before the two collided, they both jumped with their hind legs and extended their sharp talons out towards each other. The SkyWing slashed Gavin's shoulder, causing him to roar in pain. Gavin pushed him away sharply with his back legs and the SkyWing stumbled backwards on the ground. The SkyWing growled, before hissing and firing a gust of flame at Gavin. Gavin swiftly dodged the flame, and he bolted towards the dragon. But before Gavin could notice, the SkyWing swung his iron-thick tail at his front legs, causing him to trip. In only a matter of second before Gavin even hit the ground, the SkyWing opened his jaws and bit down on Gavin's neck. 

The SkyWing thrashed his head back and forth with Gavin's neck in his jaws before suddenly releasing. Gavin was sent away like a spinning axe in the air, and he landed hard on the dirty ground. Pain shot through his body, but the pain was severe on his neck. It felt like he was being stabbed with knives when he tried to lift his head off of the ground. No, don't go unconscious, Gavin told himself. Come on, get up! Pyrrhia needs you! The SkyWing grabbed Gavin by the neck, chuckling. Gavin cried out in pain from the dragon's strong grip. "Why aren't you at home with your mommy, little dragonet?"

Suddenly, there was a sizzling sound, and a very sour and unpleasant smell filled the air around him. The SkyWing began to scream, and he dropped Gavin. Gavin fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Gavin tried to catch his breath and move his arms and legs to stand up, but his strength was almost gone and he slumped to the ground. But he looked up, and he saw the SkyWing clawing at his own face. Blood leaked down his face as his scales began to melt into a soupy mix of blood and his own red-orange scales. Some kind of liquid suddenly squirted onto the SkyWing again, causing more sizzling and the horrible smell. The SkyWing then plunged to the ground, slowly beginning to stop moving. Finally, he collapsed and laid on the ground, motionless, with no sign of life left in him.