Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

Chapter 58

Pleiades's PoV
By thedragonshifter

"H-Hemlock?" Pleiades muttered quietly as she slowly blinked open her eyes. But, this time, there was no answer. She tried again, the area around her gradually coming into view, "Hemlock? Where are you?" She was being to grow anxious.

The area that she was in was barely lit, and she couldn't see much of anything. Though, she could tell that there were indeed more dragons around her. The floor, she could tell, was made of cold stone and brick. And when she stood to see how large the room was, she discovered that the front wall was actually made of thick metal bars.

There wasn't much space to walk around, and she found out that the bars were acid proof after multiple trials. Then, her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. She could see dragons in the cell across from bee's and beside hers. Each one of them looked miserable.

She noticed that she had short chains that were secured around her wrists and were anchored to the back wall. And, in the corner of the cage, a large, yellowed skeleton lay crumpled to pieces. Where am I? Where is Hemlock? Where are Ash and Velocity?

All she knew was that she was in some sort of prison, and she was utterly confused as to how she had gotten there. All she remembered was running into the tunnels with Hemlock beside her and then suddenly ending up here. That and the back of her head was sore.

She lifted her talon to touch where she had obviously been hit with something, and felt that half of her left horn had been snapped off. Then, she stared around her, trying to piece things together. Most of the dragons around her were Smokewings, all with chains wrapped around and binding their snouts. Am I in the Smokewing prison? Then, we must have been attacked by the Darkest Flame in the tunnels, and ShatteredMoon must have somehow found me and attacked me with his stupid tail mace thing. If that's really what happened, then where are the others? Did Ash and Velocity escape?

They most likely escaped. The Darkest Flame mostly only targets Hemlock and I. Where is he? Are they forcing him to use his animus magic to make more weapons? Are they torturing him? What if they are torturing him if he refuses to do what he is told? Fear for Hemlock suddenly filled her entire heart. She didn't want him to experience what had happened to her in the Sun kingdom. She didn't want him to be forced to use his animus magic. Just thinking about what could be happening to him was torture.

Pleiades began to urgently search the edges of the cell for things that would help her escape, but she found nothing. The only things other than her were the old skeleton and rotted food. But she didn't give up. She couldn't give up.

After she had tried merely everything possible to escape, she took to sitting with her head against the bars and her talons clutching the thick metal, desperately trying to course her venom through her fingers. She didn't know how long she sat there for. Years? Centuries?

She only looked up when she heard another dragon, specifically the one in the cell beside her, scoff at her, "that's useless, you know. Just give up already. None of us have been able to get out so far, and we've been here for years. Tried everything so far."

She turned her murderous glare slowly towards the dragon who had spoken, her mind especially riled up after all of her failed escape attempts, missing Hemlock, being stuck in a tiny cell, and experiencing a distinct helplessness that made her anxious.

And right now, she didn't feel like being told that she wouldn't be able to rescue Hemlock. The old, familiar feeling returned to her from when she used to be furious at everything 24/7 for the longest time, and for a moment, it felt refreshing. She had been trying her hardest to keep her anger contained for the sake of her friends, and she was sure that they appreciated that greatly.

Pleiades took her talons off of the bars to her cell and strode towards the right wall, the spikes on her back raising into the air. "What did you just say?" She snarled, peering into the cell next to her like a hawk. But the dragon next to her, to her surprise, was not a Smokewing. It was an Emberwing.

The Emberwing glared at her with furious red eyes, its long, black spines raising as well along its back. It had the same long, slender build as Ash with a very long tail. It also had fins behind its ears, and the skull-like helmet that was attached to its head was a light silver with worn yellow paint on it.

Its scales were a very dark pure with white spirals on the shoulders. It also had a white under belly, red and yellow wing membranes, and a strangely frightening demeanor. The Emberwing growled, its ears flattening down. It didn't answer her question, instead snarling one of its own.

"What are you supposed to be? Some kind of freak that they decided to stick in here to make our lives harder? Kill me now!" Pleiades and the Emberwing were now face to face, "so what if I am a freak?" She growled, her frustration almost tipping over the edge. She could feel the black venom within her begin to well out from in between her scales and drip onto the floor with hissing noises. The Emberwing took no notice of this, but continued to growl insults at her.

Pleiades felt like her brain was going to burst from her head. She couldn't stand listening to this dragon any longer. It was driving her crazy.

The Emberwing, getting lost in his onslaught of insults, didn't notice when she struck her talon through the bars, grabbed his wrist, and narrowed her eyes into a furious glare, "if you don't keep your mouth shut, you will most certainly end up like the skeleton in the corner of my cell. Now, I will get out of here one way or another, and there is nothing you can say to keep me from doing so." She hissed quietly before dropping his wrist and stalking back the place she had started. She didn't hear a single word from the Emberwing again. She could only hear the small growling noises that escaped from his mouth because of her poisonous scales. He deserved that. Nothing will keep me from rescuing Hemlock.

Then suddenly, she heard the clanking of metal as it came down the narrow walkways in between each of the cells. Five Smokewings covered in armor stopped in front of her cage, each carrying spears and chains. "Shatteredmoon wishes to meet with you. I suggest that you don't misbehave on the way."

I wonder what for, and Why would I misbehave? I hope Fig will be there, maybe I can teach him a lesson. Pleiades smirked slightly as they unlocked her cell, and as she allowed them remove the old chains in order to replace them with new ones. Hemlock, I'm coming!