The Dark Mother. A Wings Of Fire Fanfiction.

A Royal Summons.

Part Two: A Shadow Eclipse.

The SandWing/SkyWing border.

Sergeant Patch. Had a nice ring to it, at least Patch thought so. They were back to patrol duty two days after the party, and he was much more enthusiastic than the rest.

Snakebite was beside him, on a plateau as they ate lunch. Dustdevil and Sandstorm were busy arguing about who Princess Blaze was most likely to be in love with.

Patch rolled his eyes as the two were too deluged in their fantasies.

"They're a couple of camel brains." Patch smiled to Snakebite.

For some reason she blushed a little before speaking, her voice was harsh and low with a pained rasp, sometimes it bothered her too much to talk. "I think their just being silly dragons."

"Hey don't put too much pressure on your throat. Does it hurt?" Patch leaned over worriedly.

Snakebite seemed almost startled as she waved a claw at him. She cleared her throat, and tried to say more but then she started to cough. Blood trickled down her scaled lips.

At the sight of that, Patch nearly freaked out, but he calmed himself. "Snake, don't strain yourself. You know we don't like to see you hurt yourself." He patted her back with his wing.

She seemed to smile lightly as she whipped away the blood. She signed with her claws. "Thank you, but I miss talking to you guys."

"Well, we-" He wasn't sure what to say. He understood she missed talking to them, it was a nice privilege to have. Something that was robbed from her in being a solider in Burn's army. He rested a claw on her's. She met his eye's. "You know you don't have to stay anymore. I'm sure Queen Thorn would be alright with you requesting a leave. Maybe you can finally start that pottery business you thought about."

She blinked at him, then she placed her other claw over his. Starring at him with those wide observing eyes. He realized she wasn't going to say anything this time, and it annoyed him when she did that smile. She shook her head defiantly to him.

He nodded. "Fine, you be the stubborn one." Then he lifted his head in the air and pretended to not care.

She slugged him in the arm, so he pushed her over. Then she retaliated by tackling him.

"Hey, love birds, he got a courier heading this way." Shouted Dustdevil.

Love birds? What's he talking about?

Patch glared at his friend, as he struggled with Snakebite sitting on his back. She might have been smaller, but she knew how to wrestle and get the upper claw. He blew sand out of his face and glared at her. "You know I can report you for insubordination!" He gleamed with an evil grin.

She rolled her eyes and pounced off of him. He stood up and bumped wings with her. Trotting over next to Sandstorm who was watching the oncoming dragon very intently. It did indeed look like a courier. A lone SandWing carrying a sleek secured bag so it didn't hamper their flight.

The tiny courier landed next to them and then saluted them. "Sir, I'm to report to Sergeant Patch, sir!"

Patch grinned at the familiar face. "You trying to be like us, Lil Devil?"

Lil Devil was only three years old, and he seemed to be struggling in his growth spurts. His real name was Pebble, but his face made him look like a twin to Dustdevil and so the group aptly gave him a fine nickname. One to which Dustdevil cherished more than he should.

"Aye, the little rascal think he's a big soldier like us." Dustdevil started flexing his muscles. To which Sandstorm joined in and easily outshone him. Lil Devil tried to flex with his tiny muscles, but he wasn't as impressive, of course he was five times more adorable.