Light and Dark - A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter Four

After what seemed like days, her father decided to take her to the seawings. "Just one peek at the ocean, okay? Then we're leaving." 

"No! I want to see my mother! That's the whole point!"

"No. One peek."

That night, he led her to the very edge of the trees. As they thinned out, mud started to squelch between their claws. Soon, he revealed a huge swamp, heavily cloaked with mud. She shivered, her scales turning brown and pale green...the colors of fear and stress. Her claws tingled. "How are we going to make it past the mud kingdom?" She asked. He grinned at her.

"By traveling through mud, of course! Follow me." He pressed his body to the ground, letting a darkish brown spill over his scales to match the mud below. Still, she could see him enough to be able to follow. The mud was a little soft, but hard enough to support them.

Suddenly, he started to sink into the mud until she couldn't see his legs. It made a large sucking noise. He continued to walk through it, and she followed.

The mud suddenly grew soft beneath her talons. Too soft. She sank until only half her body and wings and neck stayed above the soft mud. It was seeping between her scales, and she was very uncomfortable. Still, this hid her enough. 

As they marched through the mushy mud, her thoughts strayed to the ocean. How was she going to find her mother? She was sure her mother wouldn't just be waiting on the beach with open wings. She would have to swim to find her, wouldn't she? What if she couldn't find the palace? What would she possibly do?

As she pondered these questions, her father took another sharp turn. She followed, also veering to the side. It was taking forever to get through the kingdom. I guess that's what you would expect when you're traveling across a mucky swamp, she thought. She was struggling to keep her emotions out of her scales. She was sure a ripple of orange would seep across her scales soon enough.

The trail started to go down, and got a little steep. As she followed the ramp, she realized it was hard to keep her head above the mud. She tried to call out to her dad to stop as she struggled to keep her snout in the air, but when she sucked in a breath to speak, she started to sink a little. She paddled. She would probably have to risk it if she was going to get out of this. She couldn't loose sight of her father.  She felt her scales changing color. 

"Da-" She fell under the mud before she could finish. Everything was dark, and the mud was heavy and goopy. She didn't think she could swim in this, it was just too thick. She tried calling again, but her mouth filled with mud. She flailed open her wings, but she couldn't fly in the mud. 

She felt the world going black. She couldn't breath. Her scales were constantly changing from determined shades of indigo, pale green shades of fear, mud-brown ripples of stress, and black thunderclouds of uncomfort. Little diamonds of shifting colors were spurting down her back. She was sure she was going to die. Nobody would find her carcass.

I brought this on myself, she realized. I wanted to see my mother. I guess I'm getting what I deserve.