Heart of Fire

Chapter 7:

Emberice flew and flew and flew for days on end, trying to get to the Kingdom of Sand before Heatwave passed on completely. She was only five miles from the Kingdom of Sand when she felt Heatwave go even limper than before, and she realized that he had died. Emberice landed in the burning sand, and ran with her wings outstretched all the way to the Scorpion Den, carrying Heatwave on her back.

When she got inside the city, she called to the first SandWing she saw, "Can you help me? This dragon got stabbed by another SandWing, and he needs help!" One of the SandWings, with pale tan colored scales, walked over and looked Heatwave over, then gently took his wrist, and dropped it a few moments later. "He's dead, little puny IceWing. Nothing you can do about it." the SandWing called over her shoulder, walking off. Emberice was irritated. What was with everyone calling her puny and little? She growled, and gently put Heatwave on the sand beside her, then hissed as the cracks between her scales started to glow. "Hey, you!" she roared at the SandWing. "If you want to call me puny and little, tell it to my flaming talons!" Emberice ran towards the SandWing, with her talons outstretched, and raked them across the side of the SandWing's face, neck, and chest, making the SandWing howl in agony, then stagger to the oasis pool and jump into it, to try and stop her scales from burning.

Emberice let her firescales die down, picked up Heatwave, and pushed through the crowd of SandWings in frustration. After several minutes of running, she realized she was in a back alley, and was completely lost. Emberice noticed a gleam of light coming from a hidden stall off to her left, and walked toward it, the pugent odor of spices, candle wax, and musty items invading her nose as she walked in. She didn't see the owner of the stall, but she noticed a ball made out of crystal that was sitting on a pedastal, and as he reached out to touch it, a sharp voice said, "Don't touch that!"

Emberice turned around, and saw a large, muscular looking NightWing with scarves wrapped around her neck, several gold and silver bracelets on her arms, a gold hoop earring in one of her ears, and a silver nose ring. The NightWing's eyes were mismatched, the left one being silver, and the right one being red. "What are you here for?" the NightWing asked. "Nothing. I-I just saw the light coming from your stall so I wandered in by accident." "Wrong. You came here for the one that you carry on your back." the NightWing said, pointing at Heatwave.

Emberice didn't know what to say. "I am a doctor, so let's see if I can fix him. Follow me." The NightWing led her to a back room that was lit by several candles, but still seemed dark. "Put him on the table." Emberice reluctantly put Heatwave on the table in the center of the room. The NightWing inspected him, then asked, "How did this hybrid die?" "I was forced to fight him in the SkyWing arena, and I burned his talons and gave him several scratches. The way he died... I stabbed him through the stomach with his own barb." Emberice stared at the floor. "Ah. So the wound I need to fix is underneath." The NightWing rolled Heatwave over, and inspected the gash. "Yes, yes... will do, will do..." The NightWing looked up at Emberice, and said, "In order to save him, to give him life, I will have to take something else. I must take in order to give."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Emberice squeaked. "In order to give something life, I must take something in death." "But-but I thought you said you were a doctor!" "I am, but there's no healing involved. Only witching." Seeing Emberice's shocked expression, the NightWing laughed, and said, "Not what you were expecting, was it? Yes, IceWing, I'm a witch doctor. So, do you want me to try and help him, or not?" "Fine. Do whatever you have to do, but leave me out of it." "Actually, dear, I need for you to go find that SandWing you burned several minutes ago, and kill her." "What? No! Never! I only kill if I have to!" "Well, IceWing, this is one of those "have to" moments." "Oh. All right, fine. But you better fix him!"

Emberice ran out of the stall, and quickly found the SandWing she had burned, remembered how much she hated being called puny and little, and let her firescales come, leaping out of the shadows and digging her talons into the SandWing's chest and ripping it open violently before dragging her kill back into the shadows toward the tent of the mysterious NightWing.