Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 7

By CamsterDragon
Hemlock's POV

Hemlock stared at the Sunwing with open-mouthed fascination. Of course, he had seen a Sunwing before, but he had never seen one quite like the one in front of him. Her scales were mainly dark red and made her dark green eyes stick out of her face. Her underbelly and spikes along her back were very dark shades of grey. Her poisonous glowing spots were an unusual black color, and Hemlock could practically see the venom soaking out of them and onto the grass below. That explains the smell. The most fascinating thing about her was the veins along her body that glowed with an unearthly light. Hemlock stared at them the longest, not ever seeing anything quite like it.

Hemlock was interrupted from staring at the strange dragon when he smelt two Cloudwing guards advancing on their position. Oh no. Hemlock had a sudden sinking feeling in his gut. If this was the dragon from the forest, the guards didn't have a chance. He opened his mouth and was about to step out into the opening when the guards came around the corner, holding their long spears. He wasn't able to look away in time. The Sunwing pounced on the unsuspecting guards, killing them with a single touch of her deadly claws.

Once again, Hemlock found himself fleeing from the burning smell, fear, and instinct overriding any sense of caution. He thanked his hours spent in the sky when the Sunwing shot acid spikes at him, and he was able to dodge them easily.

He flew like this for a long time, trusting his wings to outfly the Sunwing's. Except... He faltered mid-wing beat. Sunwings don't have wings. He turned around abruptly. And I just let one take my food. Anger filled him at the Sunwing. How dare she! Taking my food, killing those guards, scaring me by throwing silly acid spikes at me. And, he was scared. More than scared, he was terrified. But, he was also hungry and, to be frank, still curious. Who is she anyway? Having made his decision, he turned around and started flying again.

Instead of going to his room where the dragon would've certainly already fled from, he traveled towards her supposed home. He was still faintly aware that he wasn't supposed to outside the palace, and he could very well be caught, but the possibility of learning something new excited him. 

He beat his wings harder, determined to reach the Sunwing's house soon. It was glaringly obvious that she had traveled out of her house from the burnt grass that marked a clear pathway for anyone foolish enough to follow her... Hemlock shook his head; he wasn't foolish. Just curious.

He repeated that to himself over and over as the extent of destruction that the Sunwing had caused was revealed to him even more. A few dead trees sagged over by their own weight and their charred trunk stuck out to Hemlock more than the others. Flying closer, he was able to distinguish cries for help amid the silence of the place. Paling, he rushed over to the trees and fastened his claws into the dead bark. Gusts of wind propelled him and, with him, the tree upward. Two rodents scurried away from him and out of sight, their meek cries of terror breaking his heart. The Sunwing will pay for this. Filled with new determination and vigor, Hemlock set off at an even faster pace towards the mountains where the trail of destruction was leading. And, once he saw where it stopped, his heart skipped a few beats. My old cave. Hemlock's head was suddenly filled with the horrible weapons he had constructed two years ago and their possible uses in the hands of a capable and already deadly Sunwing. But, Frost destroyed them.. right? Hemlock suddenly found himself back two years ago when his life had rested solely in his sister's hands. He hoped his sister had thoroughly searched and destroyed every item in that cave. Of course, Hemlock was forbidden to even go near the cave; his sister had even put wards around the cave to alert her if he was entering. Now, this posed a difficult problem for Hemlock as he didn't want to arouse any further punishment but couldn't contain his unquenchable curiosity. 

Luckily, this issue was resolved when he smelled burning behind him. Whipping around, he barely dodged the poison spines aimed at him. The Sunwing's eyes opened in recognition than narrowed just as quickly. "You again." Her voice was gravelly from lack of use but nevertheless displayed a commanding tone that Hemlock instantly admired. What are you doing? She stole your food! Hemlock shook his head to clear his thoughts and tried to keep his chin up high. 

"Yes, it's me again." The minute Hemlock said it, he knew it was cheesy, and he winced. "I want my food back."

"Your food?" she asked. Hemlock nodded his head. "Not anymore. I ate it." Hemlock winced. Of course, she would've eaten by now. She wasn't stupid. In his moment of anger and fear, Hemlock had forgotten to consider any option other than revenge. 

"Yeah? Well, I want you to repay me."

"Like I'd do anything for you," she growled, crouching low as if preparing to pounce. Hemlock's eyes widened as more spines came flying at him. "Quit moving," she muttered, narrowing her eyes further. 

Hemlock shook his head. "I'm not that stupid." More spines fly at him. He dodged them easily, suddenly wondering why she kept missing. Is she reluctant to hit me, or am much faster than I realized? "Listen, you can repay me by telling me how you got here and what you know of the outside world." Hemlock suddenly was blushing. "I've only been outside the border once."

"Once again, I'm not doing anything for you. Give me one reason why I should."

Ans then, Hemlock said the dumbest thing that he had ever uttered. "Because I'm the prince."