Wings of Fire: A Dangerous Scroll

Chapter 1

  Moonrise had always thought of herself as sort of a strange NightWing. Sure, her scales were as black as the night sky, and her tongue was forked like every NightWing's. But the thing that set her apart most, that she and her tribe had never understood, was that she had firescales.

  Firescales was a condition that made Moonrise have too much fire; so much that anyone who touched her would be scorched. In all the scrolls she had read, she had never once been made aware of a dragon with firescales outside of the SkyWing tribe. It seemed to be something exclusive to them, and for a long time, it had been, until seven years ago, when Moonrise hatched. Her firescales, unfortunately, weren't apparent; a slight golden glow under her black scales was the only defining feature.

  "Moonrise! What are you doing?!" a voice called from the entrance to her sleeping cave. It was Crescent, her friend.

  "Y'know, just writing a scroll. I have to be careful how much I write because Nightshade never shuts up about how hard it is to make them." Nightshade, the tribe's resident craftsman, had created special scrolls for Moonrise to write on that were fireproof. "What's up? Windrider gave me a ton of writing assignments to do, so I can't talk for long."

  "About Windrider, actually. Uh, he wants us to report to the main room. He says he wants us to do something."

  "Another writing assignment, if I know him," Moonrise scoffed.

  The two dragonets made their way to the main room, where Windrider was waiting. His green eyes were full of disapproval, as usual. No matter how hard she or Crescent worked on something, Windrider could always find something wrong with it.

  "Greetings," Windrider started. "You are my best students, as you may know, but that does not mean that you are not utterly unimpressive. I called you here because I have a job for you."

  She knew she shouldn't, but Moonrise felt honored. Windrider was not fond of his students, but knowing that she and Crescent were the smartest pupils made her scales practically glow with joy. Well, more than they already did, that is.

  "I want you two to travel to the SkyWing Kingdom and deliver this message." He handed over a fireproof scroll with writing on it so Moonrise could hold it. "It is of utmost importance that Queen Finch reads it as soon as possible."

  Moonrise clawed at the ribbon keeping the scroll rolled up to see what was inside, but before she could peer at it, Windrider protested.

  "Wait!" Windrider exclaimed in an oddly urgent voice. "The information in that scroll is confidential and is not to be read by anyone except Queen Finch and the SkyWings."

  "Uhm, okay..." Moonrise awkwardly tied the ribbon back in place.

  "Fly east. The Sky Palace is right there." He pointed to a mountain range on a map of Pyrrhia mounted on the wall.

  "We won't let you down." Crescent lifted her head high.

  "I don't expect you to," Windrider said, turning his head to face the map. He studied it for a few seconds longer, then turned back to face the dragonets.

  "Go." Windrider glared at Moonrise in particular, which made her flinch. She spread her glimmering wings and signaled for Crescent to do the same.

  Moonrise and Crescent took off into the dark, smoke-filled sky. They soon emerged from the gloomy covering into the night air; thousands of stars glittered above them, reminding Moonrise of the underside of her and Crescent's wings. The three moons shone bright, and the dragonet felt better and braver than ever.