Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 11

By CamsterDragon
Hemlock's POV

The beginning of the meeting was fairly boring. The tribe leaders discussed clan problems, old friends, and trivial matters that they hadn't been able to discuss since they last saw each other. The dragons talked for so long, that Hemlock began to doze off. He was only awoken when his ear stung as if shocked. Sitting instantly upright, Hemlock raised a talon to his ear in horror, the shock buzzing his ears enough to make them ring. He slowly remembered the time he had enchanted his ears to alert him. My animus paper has been activated! The Sunwing discovered my stash! Hemlock tried his best to contain his worry, almost hyperventilating as possibilities flashed through his head.

His head was so filled with worry that he at first didn't notice the new dragon lazily entering. The new arrival was Queen Amazon, leader of the Featherwings. Bright colorful feathers adorned her body, mostly hues of orange and yellow although the ridges along her back and the feathers along her neck and top of her tail were a vibrant green. She had stayed the queen longer than most, even though safe tournaments were often hosted in their region to determine the new queen. While one of the laziest dragons in Tarliin, Featherwings had a wickedly sharp beak and claws. Unlike the other dragons, Amazon didn't take even one glance at the rows of books as her tribe was known to not care for knowledge; instead, they preferred chatting, relaxing, and boasting at how amazing they are.

"So sorry I am late," she announced regally. Despite being the smallest dragon in the room, she still managed to draw the attention of every dragon present. "I was caught up dealing with some major issues in my tribe."

A lot of the dragons rolled their eyes at this, and Hemlock heard Tulip and Iguana mutter in unison, "Yeah right," and then they glared at each other as though the other had purposely copied them.

Not noticing the obvious dislike towards her, Amazon sat down elegantly, nodding her head for them to continue the meeting. Before they could start again, however, a very different looking dragon burst into the library. She was clearly distressed as she hasn't even managed to land on the ground, still in her battle armor with only her helmet tucked beneath her arm. Dark grey scales could be seen under her light but efficient armor. Her powerful wing's membranes and her tail orb were both purple, signifying her ability to control lightning from storms. This was very efficient on their floating island since it was almost always in a storm. Much like the Smokewings, Stormwings lived in a patriarchal society, although they still preferred a queen over a king any day.

Hemlock admitted to himself that he admired their species more than any other. Not only could they fly through any weather and beat almost any dragon in a wrestling match, but they did all of this without much of their other horrible senses, mainly using instinct in their battles. As a dragon whose only good sense was a sense of smell, Hemlock had tried to be like them when he was younger.

Despite their extreme strength and stamina, Stormwings were very slow, and it had clearly cost the queen a lot to arrive in the time she did. She was out of breath and looked defeated, which was scary to see of such a large and magnificent dragon.

"Razorrain? What's wrong?" asked SnowyOwl worriedly. Just like Hemlock, the tribe leaders had rarely seen a Stormwing so frazzled.

"My tribe," she gasped, still beating her wings frantically. "We're being attacked by the Darkest Flame. But, the army... it's like nothing I have ever seen! They all have this impenetrable armor that conceals their faces and weapons that never miss their mark and tail spikes that poison the person they hit..." Then, her face clouds over. "Except for their leader. He's a Smokewing without any doubt, but he has this weapon.. it's like a mace attached to his tail.. and then he swings it and fire seems to erupt from it, even though he's clearly an ice breather..." She gasped in a shaking breath, and Hemlock felt pieces of a puzzle click in his head slowly. "He killed my mate, Stonewall and so many others. He's..." her eyes hardened. "He's a monster."

Dragonkiller asked the question before Hemlock could. "Did this dragon.." he said slowly. "Did this dragon look like me?"

Razorrain squinted at him, eying him up and down. "Now that you mention it, he did share quite a bit of resemblance, but I can't be sure." Hemlock sucked in a breath as the smarter of the dragons also began to piece together what was going on. It was famously known that Dragonkiller, despite his name, had not actually killed his brother in their fight for the kingdom. He instead showed mercy where none should've been given.

"So.." says Nova slowly, giving voice to the question they were all thinking. "Are you saying that Shatteredmoon is the one leading this army?"

"It seems very likely," replied Dragonkiller, only his face betraying the worry he felt. "Although, how he got so powerful an animus is beyond my reckoning." Hemlock shrunk lower in his seat since he had already figured out exactly how this dragon had acquired all these animus touched objects.

How could I have not figured it out before? He gave me his name, I should've easily figured out the rest. If the name hadn't given him the answer, the tail mace most certainly had. He remembered working on that particular object for many a night, making sure it wouldn't harm the ice breath user, making sure the ice breath user wouldn't harm it, adding just the right amount of fire to be controllable, but enough to still be a deadly weapon. And he remembered this all with a sinking feeling in his gut. If it wasn't for Frost, I wouldn't have given all those objects to them in the first place. I wish I had known what a slimy rat she was.

Hemlock sighed, watching the leaders arguing on how best to approach the problem. SnowyOwl leaned over to him and Frost and whispered, "You're free to go. I don't want you to miss your classes." Classes were the last thing on Hemlock's mind, but he begrudgingly agreed.

He and Frost went their separate ways, but Hemlock decided not to go to class. Instead, after quickly looking around, he took to the skies, flying towards his old cave and the den of the Sunwing. Luckily, he had made sure that none of his animus objects would hurt him as a precaution against his employers. At least I can try fixing one problem...