Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 36

Pleiades's PoV
By thedragonshifter

     "The Darkest Flame? What's the Darkest Flame?" Pleiades asked quietly as she crouched against the inward sloping dirt wall of the Spiralwing tunnel. She had to squint her eyes to see through the shadow, but from what she could see, she could tell that Hemlock was shaking like crazy and Velocity was fixing her with confused eyes.

     "You don't know who the Darkest Flame are?" Velocity asked incredulously, her eyes widening in disbelief. Pleiades shook her head,"no, I have literally been living under a rock my whole life." Said Pleiades bluntly in a monotone voice.

     Velocity sat on her back legs and emphasized something large by moving her front talons in a large circle,"well, the Darkest Flame is this super evil group led by, as Hemlock said, Shatteredmoon, who is also the brother of King Dragonkiller of the Smokewings." She said. Velocity paused to take a breath and then continued.

     "A really long time ago, Dragonkiller and Shatteredmoon fought over the throne, but Dragonkiller won and instead of Killing Shatteredmoon like what usually happened when a dragon wins a dual, he let Shatteredmoon escape. But, Shatteredmoon was bitter and vowed to become king of all the tribes and kill Dragonkiller." Velocity finished and sat back on four legs. Pleiades just blinked her eyes, taking in the information. "At least he dreams big, that Shatteredmoon." Pleiades said with an unhappy laugh.

     When silence only followed, she stood with a serious expression. "Let's kill him." Pleiades growled. If he thinks he can rule over all the tribes in Tarliin, then he's wrong. Shatteredmoon is somewhere outside this tunnel, and if we can put a stop to this evil dragon, then we need to take the chance. Hemlock suddenly stopped shaking and looked at her with a stern expression,"we are not going out of this tunnel. Shatteredmoon is extremely dangerous. He has animus touched objects." He whispered urgently.

     Pleiades whipped her head around, her eyes narrowed,"how do you know that he has animus touched weapons?" She asked suspiciously, the spikes on her back and neck rising. Hemlock's eyes widened,"umm, you know... Uhhh..." He looked at Velocity nervously. "Umm, the thing... That I told you... When you rescued me... Was about... Uhhh... A certain... Dragon." He said slowly. Velocity looked confused but Pleiades understood what he meant. She sighed and dipped her head,"it's fine, Hemlock." She said and turned back towards the entrance.

     "I'm not even gonna ask." Velocity sighed,"but, let's go kill the bad guy and save the day!" Her voice lightened and she walked towards Pleiades, who beckoned for Hemlock to follow them.

     She sprinted from the tunnel with Velocity enthusiastically following, and Hemlock not far, his fur standing on end. Pleiades could see a black shape flying soundlessly away, only a speck amongst the clouds, but before anyone could stop her, Velocity flew up into the air as fast as she could.

     Pleiades exchanged a fearful look with Hemlock as Velocity stopped and started to yell at the top of her lungs, bombarding Shatteredmoon with insults. She's not only going to make Shatteredmoon attack us, but the whole of Tulip's army too! Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. "-AND IF YOU REALLY ARE ALL POWERFUL MISTER, THEN WHY DON'T YOU TURN AROUND AND FACE US LIKE A REAL DRAGON! ARE YOU A SMOKEWING, OR A GIANT SNAIL WITH A COW HEAD AND A BRAIN THE SIZE OF A SPARROW'S?!?" Oh no.

     Pleiades and Hemlock seemed to have the same thought as the black speck stopped and began to become rapidly larger. That was when Velocity came to her senses and darted back towards them, choosing to hide behind Pleiades once she touched the ground.

     "Say that one more time, puny Viperwing!" Shatteredmoon snarled as he landed heavily on the ground in front of them. Velocity didn't say anything, which made Shatteredmoon angrier. "I said to say all of that one more time!" He roared, stepping closer to them.

     Both Velocity and Hemlock were shaking now, shrinking under the massive Smokewing's glare. Pleiades had to admit that this dragon scared her too, but she was determined not to show any weakness. Instead, she stood taller and turned her body sideways so that both Hemlock and Velocity were behind her. And, if she had wings, she would have spread them as far as they would go so that she could protect her friends.

     Shatteredmoon's icey gaze suddenly narrowed as he spotted Hemlock behind Pleiades, and his face twisted into a toothy smile,"ah, there you are, little animus." He said, smirking,"ready to continue making weapons for me, have you?" Pleiades didn't take her eyes off of Shatteredmoon, but she could tell that Hemlock was trying very hard not to run. She felt terribly bad for him.

     But then, his voice spoke confidently, and it surprised Pleiades, admiration at his bravery warming her heart. "I would never work for a cruel dragon like you-" but he was cut off by Shattermoon, who spoke with a devilish smile,"even if i, hmm... Let's see... Kill your entire family?" He said. Hemlock's voice shook as he answered,"there is nothing that you can do to make me build you weapons." He growled.

     Pleiades could tell that he was lying, for he was only saying that because he didn't have his powers. Shattermoon's face fell into an angry glare,"nothing will make you, will it?" He growled. But then, he he raised his dark head and let out the strangest, most loudest roar Pleiades had ever heard.

     And almost immediately, three Spiralwings, all wearing heavy armour, burst out of the trees. They landed with a thump in front of Shatteredmoon, there heads up and shoulders back. "Yes, sir!" They chanted.

     Shatteredmoon regarded them and then turned his gaze back to Pleiades, Hemlock, and Velocity. "Surrender, or these two-and your family- will die." Said Shatteredmoon. Pleiades turned towards Hemlock, shaking her head at him, and as he opened his mouth, he looked as if he were about to turn himself in. Pleiades snarled at Shatteredmoon defiantly,"we never surrender. You'll need to kill me before you scratch an inch of Hemlock's skin." Velocity stepped forward to stand next to Pleiades,"same here too." She said, raising her head.

     Shatteredmoon glared at them,"so be it. I guess you'll just need to die then." And with a flick of one of his talons, the Smokewing sent the soldiers toward them.

     One of the Spiralwings soared towards her, and another leapt at Hemlock, but Pleiades was relieved when she saw Hemlock quickly take care of the dragon. She could worry about her own foe. The dragon dove down at her, but Pleiades quickly dodged away from the its spear and reached up to tear her claws through the Spiralwing's wings. And after it crashed to the ground, Pleiades was able to quickly kill the dragon.

      when she looked up, she saw Hemlock and Velocity working together to fight the last soldier, but thaw wasn't all she saw. Shatteredmoon was no longer in the same spot, for her was sneaking up behind Hemlock, his tail swishing. And to Pleiades's surprise, a mace was attached to the end of it.

     Time seemed to slow down as Shatteredmoon spun in a circle, the mace flying towards Hemlock. And at the exact same time, Pleiades lunged forward and tackled Hemlock out of harm's way, the mace hitting thin air. She had no time to think before the mace was flying back at them.

     She stood and used her entire body weight to stop the mace and attempt to pull it off of Shatteredmoon's tail, but it didn't budge. Suddenly,  a bright red and orange flame flew out of holes in the mace and Pleiades roared as pain seared across her arms and chest where the flames had exploded out of the weapon.

     She staggered backwards, snarling as her scales burned, but it only made her angrier. She whipped her tail around and flung the long spikes that were on her tail at Shatteredmoon, and was satisfied when one of them stuck in his shoulder.

     "We're going to kill you!" Velocity growled from Pleiades's right, and she watched as Velocity's jaws widened and blue flames erupted from her mouth, hitting Shatteredmoon square in the face. He backed away from them, his teeth grinding together to stop him from snarling,"you're going to pay for this you stupid dragonets! You will regret your decisions once I come back for you!"

     And with that, Shatteredmoon took off so fast that in a mere five seconds, he was already too far away to chase.