Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 4

By thedragonshifter
Pleiades's PoV

After she had finished her lunch, Pleiades had made her way back up the burnt, worn down trail to her cave. The piercing wind made her shiver and the spikes on her back rattle noisily. She could hear the trees in the forest whispering and wailing, and the quiet flapping of dragon wings. I wish that I could fly. Of all the dragon tribes, why was it the Sunwings who got no wings?

When she reached her cave, she settled down right outside the opening, her talons dangling over the edge of the cliff that was only a few feet away from the cave mouth. The wind was cold, yet the sun was warm today. Pleiades was very thankful of that.

She rested her head on her arm and stretched out on the rock, soaking in as much sunlight as possible to warm her freezing scales. Then, she closed her eyes and listened to the noises that the wind made in the mountains. She thought that is sounded kind of like a howling wolf mixed with the sound of a flying dragon. It was a calming noise, and she loved to lay in the sun and listen to it.

She laid in that spot for a while, relishing the warmth before she finally got hungry again. She could already feel her tongue drying. Do I feel like getting up a trecking all the way down the mountain? She thought for a moment, in a position that was halfway between standing and laying down, but in the end she just flopped back on her side. It's not worth it. The sun is so warm and comfortable. If I go down into the forest ill just freeze to death. So, she adjusted her position and allowed herself to nap in the warmth.

* * *

Pleiades was jolted awake as a freezing wind chilled her straight to the bone. It the already dark outside and the half moon was high in the sky. The sky was filled with stars and when Pleiades turned to look up at the beautiful expanse of glittering blackness, she couldn't help but feel amazed.

She always loved astronomy and anything related to the vast universe. In fact, she was named after the Pleiades, one of the nearest star clusters to the planet all of the dragons called home. It's Origgion's belt, the animus Featherwing who wanted his own constellation named after him that lived thousands of years ago... And Cassioperra, the oldest Viperwing queen's diamond crown. She could go on and on about the stars all night long. If only I had a friend to talk about the universe with. We could discuss its mysteries and solve them. We could... Her thoughts trailed off as a shooting star blazed across the sky. We could travel up there together. We could be the first dragons to set foot off of our planet... I'm so hungry.

     Her thoughts bolted back to her current state: hungry and cold. And her eyes darted back and forth along the tops of the tree below her. And then, as they flicked towards the gargantuan palace and the huge town below it, a genius idea popped into her mind. I could sneak into the city in the dead of night, steal some food, and get out. They wouldn't be able to see me because of my dark colors and my only slightly glowing patterns! Pleiades flicked her ears in excitement and began to half trip, half walk down the mountain. It was almost pitch black outside and it was hard for even her, who had great eyesight, to navigate around.

     As she continued to walk as carefully as she could in the dark, she could sense that she was already close to the foot of the mountain. Trees began to tower of her head and she kept stepping on little pieces of grass and twigs, which shriveled up into mush. There were less rocks also, making it easier to walk, but more trees. Running into a tree would be the last thing I would want to do. It would rot and fall down if I touched it and then all of the guards would be more alert.

     Pleiades let out a sigh of relief when she finally reached the bottom and the ground leveled out. But, the trees were closer together and more dense. She kept on walking though, passing in between the trees and taking special care not to touch anything. It was darker under the trees because the light of the moon couldn't pierce the blanket of leaves from above.

     As she went, Pleiades began to see a couple of lights shining and she knew that she was close to the castle and town. But, when she was watching the light grow steadily bigger, she gasped as a fallen log crossed her path and tripped her, sending her flying forward until she landed with her face in the leaf mulch. Then, as she picked herself up growling when one of her talon began to throb, her tail lashed in an arc to the side in anger that she tripped and smacked in a tree.

     Pleiades hadn't realized her mistake until she heard the tree beside her begin the creek and moan. She tore her gaze away from her throbbing talon and watched as the tree's bark began to decay and fall, smashing into the tree beside it with a loud crack! Pleiades interpreted this as the time to run.

     She took off as fast as she could on three legs, limp-running towards the town in a desperate attempt to steal food. This time, she paid close attention to her surroundings and didn't trip on a single obstacle. She passed a few signs with things written on them and some lampposts here and then as she got closer to the city. I'll need to do this quick, the fallen tree might have woken up part of the city. In so dumb. This mission will be a case of in then out, no in between.

     As she approached from behind a building, she sighed at the fact that she needed to steal fokd in order to survive, and then stepped into the city.