Wings of Fire: A Game for Glory

Chapter 8: The Pursuit

Envy and Newt set off to Jade Mountain, steadily flying to their destination. Envy began to wonder how many riddles there are, and where they would lead them. Were there a small number of them, perhaps three, but it was difficult to decipher and it lead them to dangerous places, like volcanoes or the Ice Kingdom? Envy gave himself a mental shrug.

Newt and Envy didn't talk too much during the flight. They both kept a close eye out-- the NightWings and the SkyWings could be settled near the Jade Mountain. Though, they had no reason to kill them-- well, the SkyWings had no reason to kill Newt, however, Envy was still a target to his own tribe.

After a long, awkward silence, Newt speaks up. "Is that the Jade Mountain?"

Envy looked forward, squinting his eyes. Through the clouds and mist was an enormous mountain that literally reached to the skies, past the clouds. The other mountains, who were smaller, could barely be compared to the Jade Mountain; it was humongous. The smaller mountains rise like mighty jagged teeth from the earth, creviced to perfection, sculpted by the rains and winters. The crown of rocky grey mountains with snow topped peaks always took Envy's breath away, even though he'd always see it outside of his window when he was in the palace. Newt seemed to be memorized by the landscape too-- an IceWing like him probably hasn't seen an actual rocky mountain in his life.

The dragons abruptly stopped in midair, hovering, steadily flapping their wings to stay in one place.

"Where would Caspian put a scroll.." Newt thought out loud. He craned his head towards the ground, and without using his mind-reading abilities, Envy already knew what Newt was thinking. "I say, let's try the very top first. It's predicable, but, It's good enough for now," Envy suggests. "Hurry! Before a NightWing guard sees us!"

The IceWing and NightWing flapped towards the apex of the mountain, passing through faint wisps of stratus cloud. Envy snorted at the water droplets that had formed when he passed through the fluffy clouds, and almost immediately, he was beginning to shiver. It was horribly cold the more they ascended up the mountain. Naturally, Newt was not bothered by the cold, and even dared to give Envy a cheeky grin every time he sees the prince shiver.

Envy beat his wings harder, trying to stir up heat. "Newt! Go check if there's a scroll up there! I'm about to freeze to death-- oh holy moons.."

Condensed mist rapidly came out of Envy's nostrils, only to disappear in seconds. "I won't be far," he reassures. "I'm only going a bit lower until I get enough heat."

"Right," Newt says. "Don't get yourself captured." Newt vanished into the white haze as he scaled up the mountain, his wingbeats fading into silence. Envy slowly descended down the Jade Mountain, going through the cloud layer again, hissing at the frigid cold droplets that formed on his scales. Almost in an instant, below the cloud layer, he felt warmth, enough warmth to subdue his shivering. Envy sighed satisfyingly. Now, he just needed to wait for Newt. He hoped the scroll was up there, somewhere in the snow or the rocks on the tip of Jade Mountain. It was too much of danger to go down the Jade Mountain, where other dragons roam. NightWing guards and soldiers could be posted around the area, and if one of them spotted Envy..

It'd probably be game-over for the prince.

Envy suddenly hissed, his head aching severely. He was blinded with flashing colorful spots and craved darkness, and he missed a wingbeat, for a moment hurtling towards the ground. Fear struck his heart as he quickly sensed that he was falling, and he hastily regulated his flying, breathing hard, attempting to concentrate on one thing at a time. The pain throbbed so violently around Envy's skull that he began to wonder why it didn't just crack open, and finally, the prince instantaneously saw a scene play out before his eyes.