Healed

Chapter 24

The search didn't take long at all. Just as Flame had suggested they quickly scouted all the restaurants and food booths. Within twenty minutes they found the lumbering dragon near a pretzel stand ordering pretty much everything on the menu.

Keeping low to the ground, a pointless action that made them feel stealthier, they slinked passed the stand and ducked behind a nearby cluster of boulder near the edge of the cliff. Umber peered off the ledge to see that at the bottom of the cliff was another street, or rather, the same street as it winded back and forth down the mountain's face.

A hiss from Flame caught his attention and they peaked their heads up over the boulder to watch as Ochre took his food and immediately wolfed it down, much to the disgust of nearby civilians.

Umber's brows lifted in surprise and concern. I know I have no right to judge but, wow. Didn't he just have a huge take-out order from the clay-pot place?

"OK, there he is," Flame whispered and turned to Umber. "Ready to initiate Operation Vertigo?"

"Operation Vertigo?"

"Yeah, I just made it up now. Plans always go better when you have a cool name for them."

Despite the nervous knot in his chest Umber laughed. "Did you read that from a graphicoll?"

Flame pointed an accusatory talon at Umber. "Hey! I'll have you know graphicolls are a great source of information for all aspects of life, thank you very much."

Umber batted Flame's talons away, beaming ear-to-ear. Why was Flame so adorable when he geeked out about graphicolls? "Can't argue with logic like that," he teased.

Flame grinned back, no doubt realizing how silly this all was. "Alright, we can talk about graphicolls later, which reminds me, I still need to show you the rest of the series. I think we only got to the third issue-"

"Flame. Focus!"

"Uh, right." Flame peeked up over the boulder once again, his eyes smoothly tracking a moving target. "He's on the move. It looks like he's going back towards the market. We need to talk to him before he enters, otherwise we'll never find him."

Umber gulped and nodded. For some reason the idea of talking to Ochre was making him so nervous. Maybe it's because of all the lies I need to keep track of. What if I mess it up? I just want to help Flame figure out if his mother is here or not, why does it have to be so complicated?

On swift talons they followed Ochre, dodging behind anything if he so much as slightly turned towards them. This included signs, booths, stalls, and even a few confused groups of dragons. All the while they kept a close eye on the mahogany dragon as he approached every food stall. Eventually he stopped at a booth passing out cups full of steaming liquid that smelled of apples and cinnamon. Umber guessed it was some sort of cider.

"I think this is our best shot," Flame spoke as they hid themselves behind a row of stacked tables pushed off to the side. "Are you ready?" He turned to Umber.

The cold pounding of Umber's heart said 'no' but he silently nodded anyway.

"I'll be right here if you need me. Good luck!" Flame wished him before giving him an encouraging nudge forward. On shaky legs Umber approached the Ochre from behind. In addition to the cup of cider he had also purchased several sugar cookies being sold at the station as well. How much treasure does he have to be buying all this stuff?

Umber shook the question away. This was no time for distractions.

When Umber was directly behind the other MudWing he took a deep breath and cleared his throat to get his attention.