Wings of Fire: A Twisted Future - Broken Visions

Chapter 9

The ground quivered gently, and it groaned. Quietkeep's head snapped up from his sleeping position. What. Was. That? It could be many things... Quietkeep's mind spun with theories, most of which included very dangerous things.
Don't worry, Quietkeep, i-it's just Cardinal snoring all a few tents away... we're only surrounded by trees in a grounding valley in the middle of nowhere very far from home and the academy...
He writhed in his hammock, suddenly uncomfortable in what not too long ago seemed like the softest bedding. Was he imagining those thorns stabbing his scales? Quietkeep sat up and dragged his claws trough the hammock, but nothing. Soft bedding, like before, but those invisible chills impaling him felt important.
The NightWing scratched his head and lay back down, adjusting his position, though this time he was facing the tent entrance. If anything entered, run, Quietkeep, run.
To his surprise, Mango shivered in her sleep, perhaps because of her staying in the same upside-down-like-a-bat position for about an hour, or she wasn't asleep at all. Which, obviously, she wasn't.
The RainWing slowly uncoiled her tail, but in the end it didn't have enough strength to hold her up and she collapsed face first with a loud thud and crunch, wings unfurling a moment too later, and her entire little birch tree flinched. The three bats who'd accompanied her shot into the air, shrieking like moons-know-what. Quietkeep was genuinely surprised when the only dragonets who murmured or turned in their sleep were Permafrost and Raven.
Mango grinded her teeth, pushing herself up to her feet, shaking dry leaves off her snout. The dragonet glanced around warily, her spine arched threateningly, and to his horror, she stared at Quietkeep. His face was tucked into his hammock, so only his ear poked out, but he could feel that aggressive, smouldering hot gaze.
Mango scrunched up her snout and slithered our of the tent, leaving the curtain barely waving in the wind.
Quietkeep waited.
This was good; Mango had gone to probably investigate, so he could go to sleep. He'd be safe that way. And avoiding socialising with dragons who clearly held a nonsensical grudge against him.
Yet after a minute, Quietkeep had expected the apprehension to go away, but it stayed. Oh, it stayed, teasing him and poking him and smacking him right in the face.
Go after her, you coward!
Apprehension hissed. Quietkeep could just imagine the dragon, a bright yellow, but the ugly yellow that was more on the green side than the orange side. Like an unripe banana but worse because it's vibrant and likes to blind you. Unlike boring bananas.
Quietkeep lashed his tail, unintentionally smacking the little shelf beside his tree. He could hear Apprehension and Mocking laughing at him, smacking him harder and harder.
Don't be so scaaaaared, lil' baby dragonet!
Mocking, Quietkeep imagined, would be a dull blue-grey with mottled of silver-white.
Don't listen to hiiiiim, there's danger out there! Remember that rumble? It could be anything! An earthquake, a volcano erupting, who knows? Is Jade Mountain secretly a volcano?
"Stop it," Quietkeep crowed, scratching his chin. He was talking to his conscience, but any sane dragon would believe he was insane.
After a few more agonisingly slow minutes, he leapt up, whipping the imaginary creatures with his tail and stomping outside.
Once he pulled the curtain away, though, he cast the forest a rueful look. The fire was out, leaving glowing orange embers in its place, all tents were dark except the safety firefly jars still lit in case any dragonet had a fear of the dark. Quietkeep took a deep breath, took a step forward and felt the curtain swish back to place. Pine needles showered over the dragonet, drowning him in pain and agony. This was bad. The dark, it was so dark, the moons were a pair of almost full and one sliver of a claw scratch in the ebony sky. Quietkeep bit his lip, then glanced around. The mountains to his left, the forest to his front and back and right and the sky above and who knows what under. The rumble could come from anywhere, but Quietkeep had a good sense of which direction to follow when he heard snorts from the mountains and a few crushed yellow leaves scattered across a path. The same birch leaves as on Mango's about, the same birch which she'd slept on.
Quietkeep followed the path for a few minutes, going deeper and deeper, not daring to look back at the dying light behind him; also, he had read enough horror scrolls to know that the moment a dragon turned around, the game truly began. Walking into the black void forest? That was the easy part.
The NightWing walked and walked until he came across a ravine. Behind  from that ravine were the mountains to the Sky Kingdom, and to Quietkeep's right were the mountains, a grey-green hue in the corner of his eye.
There, Mango sat on a tree, fiddling with something in her palm. Quietkeep instinctively slunk to the ground and crept forward, avoiding fallen sticks and leaves, which had suddenly multiplied now that he was stalking someone. Mango, of all dragons. Though, Quietkeep could honestly name a few dragons he'd prefer Mango over.
He flicked occasional glances at the green-teal-black RainWing, examining her. She was sitting there, a little fuzzy brown thing cupped in between her talons. Mango stared at it, expressionless, as if she knew someone would be watching her even though she was practically alone and decided to mask her feelings even now, just in case. To Quietkeep's surprise, the dragonet then reared and lunged forward, tossing the little thing over the ravine until it bounced away from the side of the mountain, sending stones rolling down the huge towering structure, and clapped her talons over her mouth as it rolled down toward the ravine. But she didn't move to save it from its demise. She sat there, one talon over her mouth, the other teaching out, still as stone, toward the thing. The NightWing turned his head toward the fuzzy thing and realised its green insides, scattered black flecks everywhere.
Kiwi...
Mango thought with hidden anguish, letting her forearms drop back down into the branch and she sighed.
I'm throwing her away from me more and more, aren't I?
Quietkeep didn't understand her thoughts at that particular moment. Usually Mango would realise and glare at him, or there'd be the great purple wall of venom protecting her mind. Quietkeep never enjoyed crossing that unpleasant threshold, no matter how imaginary it was.
Again, when he looked back up, Mango was there. A claw of cold raced down Quietkeep's spine and he yelped as something hit his neck and curled its long, menacing claws around his throat.
The dragon turned him in her grasp and it was Mango, staring at him with as much hatred as Quietkeep had seen in Permafrost's chilling glare. Except this wasn't intent and transfixed you. They were hypnotic blue, poisonous and sizzling you with just a glare. Wow — the things some dragons can do with just their eyes was amazing!
But now wasn't the time for writing down theories or anything. Now was tie for well, it was nice meeting you all, got to go time, with his entire existence in the harsh claws of Mango.
She tightened her grip on her, unexpectedly pulling her arm back and slamming the NightWing into the tree with such brute force, Quietkeep was surprised it had come from a RainWing, of all tribes.
The breath was pulled out of Quietkeep's lungs and he gasped as his spine rattled against the stiff trunk. He knew his back would ache for a few days, now.
Mango's claws twitched at his throat, as if she was itching to end him right then and there, most likely not out of pity and to put him out of his misery, however.
Physical interactions, ew.
Were Mango's only thoughts at that moment — or that, that was an explanation for twitching claws.
"Tell me, NightWing," Mango growled, tipping her head. But her grip loosened when he ears flicked up, and Quietkeep heard the sound half a second later.  Footsteps. Quietkeep began smacking at her talons, trying to pull away and push her away, but Mango was stronger than she looked. Or... than was her tribe's reputation lived up to, anyway.
To his surprise and anguish, it wasn't Cardinal or Heron or Eel or even Fennec! Instead, it was the moon-cursed Jade Winglet, aka dragonets who can't do anything about what was on through Mango's head at that very moment.
"Mango," Permafrost began, but she suddenly dropped on all fours from trying to reason with the RainWing, her eyes wide and claws digging into the turf. Quietkeep felt it too, and heard it, and saw it, after Raven screamed and pointed behind him.
Mango's grip releases him and she dropped back, her breathing picking up speed and strength, getting a little hoarse.
Run!
The SeaWing, Buzzard and Bracken instantly abandoned the other dragonets, and they all cowered to the grass, their claws ploughing doggedly through the earth.
Three moons...
I'll deal with him later, I better go!
We're going to diiiiiie!!!
Go, Quietkeep, go, why are you paralysed, GO FOR MOON'S SAKE YOU ANCIENT BAG OF STARDUST!!!
The mountain behind them, Mt. Athar, was collapsing.