Wings of Power: The Rising Tribe [SERIES CLOSED]

Chapter 7

Marble kept thrashing until Vein extended his tail to her. Marble looked up as if she couldn't believe that Vein had helped her, but she climbed up Vein's tail anyway.

"So," Vein said to himself. "Now how will we get to your island?"

"We take your boat. Duh," Marble said, and Vein realized he wondered aloud.

Vein had forgotten the boat that he had made with his bare hands. He was surprised by the fact that the oak boat was light and could really float in the water. He couldn't push it into the water, though. So he had to convince Marble that she needed to wade into the ocean to push Vein and the boat into the water. Marble hopped in.

"So, did you make any oars?" She asked.

"Well, no. I was thinking your magic could speed us along?" Vein replied, noticing the tiny glint of anger in her eyes. 

"Well, I could control most of the water with my two full horns," Marble said. Then, while softly touching her left horn, "I could use the currents to get us there. But it would still take an hour, and I'll be exhausted."

"Wonderful," Vein muttered.

"So how'd you get here?" Marble asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"We still have an hour here, Vein. Unless you want to die of boredom, I'd suggest you start telling your story."

"Fine," Vein puffed. "But you're going after me."

"Whatever."

So Vein told her. He tried to make it brief, but it was still hard to keep it in. He explained how, when he was two, he accidentally killed his older sister Gory when he brushed his tail against a volcano, resulting in a big boulder smashing Gory. He told of his trial with the Queen (which Marble wasn't too happy to hear about) that she'd sentence him to no-fly and servant-to-the-queen for ten years. For most of the years, he'd done well, until he dropped his food platter two days ago. The Queen roared at him, and he jumped back in fear, accidentally killing another BloodWing, Fleshdigger.

"And so I fled here, and then that's what has happened so far," Vein concluded. "Now what's yours?"

"'I don't want to talk about it'." Marble said.

"Oh, you better, before I blast you too---"

Suddenly Marble burst out laughing. "You BloodWings have no sense of humor! HA!"

She kept this on until Vein struck her face with his talons. 

"Ow! Okay, okay. Jeez, I was just mocking you. Now, here's the story . . ."

Vein wasn't really listening to her that much. The night sky had distracted him, and he stared at the stars until Marble mentioned something about her parents being killed. 

"What?" Vein jerked up.

Marble scowled. "Now you're listening? Interested about how my parents died. All right, fine, because you BloodWings have so much gore."

"What?"

"Anyways," Marble started. "My parents and I were in a cave when the StoneWings attacked. We thought we'd be safe, but the StoneWings somehow found us. They spat lava at my mother and kicked my father off the cliff. And since then, StoneWings had placed number two on my hate-dragon list."

"Who's number one?" Vein asked sleepily. Marble shot him a dirty look at that question, as he should know.

"BloodWings. That's incredibly obvious."

"Even though StoneWings killed your parents? You're mad just because of some death of a leader when your parents were killed? You don't care about them very much, I see."

Marble paled. "No! That's not---no, I mean---uh, actually---" she stammered, but it was too late. Marble didn't care about her family. She cared more for a leader.

Vein grinned wickedly. "See, we are smart."

Scowling at Vein, Marble grumbled. "Don't make me slash you to pieces."

"Don't make me turn you into a heap of charred TimeWing. Hey, what's that behind you?"

"I am not falling for that trick," Marble said. 

"No, actually---is that the island?" Vein asked.

Marble spun around. "Sure is. Vein, welcome to my home."