Dawn of the Darkness (Wings of Fire)

Chapter 8

Stingray swiftly went through the horrid Course as fast as she could.
However, the speed she put on wasn't exactly the best for...dodging.
A wooden log crashed into her face, and she fell back into the sand with pain and shock.
Ray growled.
"GET UP YOU WORTHLESS CENTIPEDE!" she screamed.
Stingray slowly stood up, rubbing the large bruise that was on her cheek.
She knew Ray wouldn't let her stop, so she had to proceed.
Next were these dragon heads with a small hole in their mouths.
They were shooting fire.
Shouldn't be too hard...it's only a little fire after all....
Stingray gulped at that thought. Only a little fire?! There was a whole line of them she had to fly over!
She spread her wings and started to flap them as hard as she could.
Maybe RAY should try this and see how hard it is! Stingray thought with an exhausted growl.
She slowly began to increase in altitude, and she flew over them with a pained face. Flying was hard with under-developed wings.
She made it to the other side and dropped from the ground, landing on the sand with a sigh of relief to be on the ground again.
Next was a stepping stone puzzle. After this there was the exit. The puzzle seemed to work like this;
If you step on one correctly, another set of three stones will rise out of the sand.
Fail to step on a stone correctly, and arrows would fly at you in a second.
That's where Stingray had gotten most of her bad wounds from.
"GO ALREADY, STUPID!", Ray screamed at Stingray.
Stingray's ears went back.
Does she have to talk so loud? Stingray internally thought.
She stepped up to the puzzle.
If she could remember right, the light green stone was first. She placed her foot on it and prepared to bolt.
Three stones rose out of the sand in front of her.
Nice!
Stingray's sense of victory vanished as she couldn't remember the next one. The only thing she could concentrate on now was not dying. Death was the only thing Ray couldn't fix.
Oh no...was it orange?! No, purple.....wait, that can't be right! It's the indigo one!
Stingray's eyes darted over the stones. She stepped on the indigo coloured stone.
Click!
Three dozen arrows fired and were zooming at Stingray. She cried out and bent her back, dodging the first, but as the next one came she wasn't quick enough.
The arrow flew right through her wing webbing, leaving a hole now filling up with blood, and it ran down her wing.
Stingray cried out in pain and ducked, dodging the next. She moved her tail as an arrow zoomed past it. She remembered the next colour of stone. Baby blue. She pounced on the stone and three more rose up. The arrows behind her stopped firing. She sighed in relief and pulled out an arrow from her arm with a roar of agony.
Ray looked amused.
"She's getting better. She only got hit twice this time." Ray said with a bored but high voice.
Was Ray proud, or was that just an attempt to be sarcastic?
Whatever the matter, Stingray was concentrating.
Red, yellow, or beige?!
She stepped a shaky foot on the red stone.
Click!
Stingray gasped and slammed her foot on the beige.
Click!
Four arrows stuck into her side with more coming. She screamed and barrel-rolled out of the way, an arrow coming towards her face.
She lifted her talons and swatted at the arrow. It cut in half where her claw had been, and the wooden pieces got disconnected with the iron arrowhead. Stingray was surprised.
That...worked...?
Stingray had no time to ponder as more arrows stuck into her tail.
She winced and ducked, clicking the yellow stone.
The next three popped up. This was the last, and hardest, one.
All of the colours presented were slightly darker than the first.
Sea foam, darker sea foam, and one that almost seemed black. Ray liked black, didn't she?
Stingray pushed the black one. No clicks.
That was the last one... Stingray thought, limping over to the exit and collapsing. It felt nice to rest.
She turned her head towards her body, and reached for the first arrow in her tail. She grabbed it and pulled, wincing while she did so. She did the same for the rest of the arrows, and soon enough she was covered in dark red holes with blood everywhere; not including the dark purple spots of painful bruises.
Whale nudged Ray's shoulder.
"Go help her..." He said softly.
Ray snorted.
"Do it yourself." Ray said as she handed him some sort of green tube (which looked more like a carrier for toothpaste then anything) filled with the same strange cream Ray had put on Stingray's burn.
Apparently she had just enchanted the weird white paste inside to heal any injury it touched; not forgetting that the tube refilled itself with the same paste every use.
Stingray dragged herself over to him.
"Daddy....please help me..." She whispered at his feet.
"I will, Stingray. I promise." Whale said as he opened the cap of the tube, made from flexible tree leaves and a wood. It gave off a pungent odor as he removed the cap and put it on the ground.
He squeezed the tube and the cream came out on his hand. He took a knee and rubbed some of the cream on Stingray's wounds. She winced at first, but the pain went away.
Whale finished, closing the wooden cap on the tube again.
"There..."
He bent lower towards Stingray and kissed her cheek, now clean from bruises.
Ray snorted, "Whatever. I'm going to go hunt and swim."
Stingray's stomach growled at the word 'hunt'. She hadn't eaten for weeks and was starving; not to mention her scales were as dry as the leftover fish bone in her cage she occasionally chewed when she was really hungry (which was everyday).
Whale gave her thin stomach a glance.
"Stingray...c'mon. She's gone. Your scales are dry and I know you're hungry..." He said nervously.
Stingray held his hand as the two walked to the edge of the beach.
Stingray shuddered as the cool water sloshed over her small feet. She also hadn't been in the water for at least 5 weeks. When Ray would give her water, she would drink until she couldn't drink anymore, and with the little bit of water that was left she would try to submerge herself as much as she could in the small bucket. Usually she went feet-first so the cool water would soothe her aching feet. Today was a special day because she was with Daddy! Daddy was her favorite, considering that Master was cruel to her in every way she could think of.
Stingray gripped onto Whale's hand as she went belly-deep. The water was cool today, and the aches in her underbelly soon soothed.
She got excited and plunged into the water, submerging with Whale.