Chapter 6:

9 0 0
                                    

"This hybrid's my son?" "Yes, Grain. This is your son." Aryn said, looking at Grain in the eyes. "Deathslayer... is he... alive?" Starsand looked at the floor. "N-no. H-he was killed by the S-shadow-dragons. I got captured by them when I flew into a maze of rocks and they knocked me out. But I'm here now, I'm safe... Mother."

Starsand ran towards Grain and threw himself into her chest. "Ooomph!" Grain said. "Do you... have any siblings?" "Yes. One. My sister, whose name is Sunsetmaker. M-my friends, they h-helped me pick out a name for her. Father told me that I had the honer of naming her for you. But I failed." One of the dragons hissed, and then Grain put her large, sand colored wings on Star's shoulders. "What happened? Please tell me. I want to know everything." "Okay." Starsand told her, and then tried to pull away, but Grain said,"Stay."

Starsand told Grain what happened, and waited. Grain's face twitched in a mixture of anger, and sadness. "THOSE HORRID ROTTEN FROG FACED CAMEL BODIED GOAT FARTERS!!!" Grain roared, causing Starsand to have to cover his ears. "I'M GOING OVER THERE TO SET THEIR DISGUSTING ROTTEN FACES ON FIRE!!!" Starsand slowly backed away from his mother, and Aryn said, "Grain. Calm. Down." "CALM DOWN??!!! YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN???!!!"

The SandWing started screaming out more cuss words than Starsand had heard in his lifetime, including one particurally violent one that involved calling the Shadow-dragons "dirty rotten flaming swine". Aryn was blocking the door, but Grain pushed past her, and hissed, "I will find them, even if it means I have to burn the world down to get my claws on them." Aryn rushed out and roared, "GRAIN!!! GET BACK HERE!! NOW!!!" The SandWing walked through the doorway a few moments later, and grumbled, "What?"

"Speak, Starsand." Aryn said. "Um, well, I think, at least according to what Aryn said, there's going to be a war with the Brotherhood and the Shadow-dragons. We were wondering if y-you could help us." "With what?" "Fighting the war. We hardly have any fighting experience. We did fight a lot of the guards and defeat them, though. But that was when we escaped. We haven't fought since. We are hoping you could teach us how to fight better."

"No, I'm too old for that sort of thing. And besides, as much as I'd like to go rip out some shadow-dragon throats, I just don't think I'm capable of fighting anyone anymore, be they Shadow-dragons, or dragonets who have barely any fighting experience. Listen, son. I'd love to help you, but I-I just can't." "Can't? Or won't?" "I can't. Not again. Not ever agan. Not after what happened last time. That was how I got all of these scars."

Grain rubbed the side of her neck. "What happened, Mother?" "I was... attacked." Grain whispered. "By the Shadow-dragons. I was hunting near the HUC's Base, just for lizards, and I looked up to see a troop of dragons that seemed to shimmer, like mirages, surrounding me. When the dragons had all taken their places, a dragon right in front of me solidified into a SandWing with a scar on his chest that I recognized. I knew his name, though I said nothing."

"The SandWing said, "Hello, Grain. Or should I call you Princess Grain?' there were ripples of laughter from around the circle. The SandWing stepped foward, intent on saying something, when I interrupted him. 'What do you want, Impala?' I asked. Impala had been a royal guard before he was banished for trying to kill the brother of Queen Sekmeht, Prince Dingo. Impala said, 'We know that you have an egg about to hatch. Where is it?' I didn't know what Impala was talking about, because only I, Deathslayer, and you, Starsand, knew about the other egg."

"I said I didn't know, being careful to act confused as to what Impala was talking about. 'You know.' Impala snarled, lashing out at my face with his claws. He probable would've taken my eye out if I hadn't been careful enough to duck. Instead, he just nicked my ear. I lashed out at Impala's chest and forelegs, and then all the other dragons in the circle surged in and started beating me up. By the time they were finished, I couldn't stand. The last thing I remember was feeling my left hind leg being burnt, and then everything sort of dropped off into a black haze."

"I woke up in this room, on a pile of sand, with bandages wrapped around my neck, leg, everything, it felt like. I stayed on that sand pile for months on end. They finally took off the bandages and told me that I could try walking a couple of weeks ago." "Oh. That's... nice." "Very." Grain replied, with a dry, humorless laugh. The scarred SandWing turned away, and walked towards a tapestry on the back wall, in the shadows, touching it lightly. Then, as Starsand watched, his mother violently ripped the tapestry off of the wall and threw it towards him with a snarl.

"That..." Grain hissed angrily, pointing at the tapestry on the floor in front of Starsand. "Is why I will never help you." Starsand looked at the tapestry, unsure of what his mother meant. On the tapestry was a NightWing with a NightWing SandWing hybrid dragonet, as well as an egg, and a SandWing. The NightWing seemed to be walking away from the SandWing, dragging the dragonet behind him and holding the egg in his talons, leaving the SandWing behind.

The Peace of the Stars (Book 3 of The Hybrids Rising Trilogy)(Complete)Where stories live. Discover now