Wings of Power: The Rising Tribe [SERIES CLOSED]

Chapter 21

"It's going to be a long ride to the other side of Grinnen, right?" Vein asked Blizzard.

He grimaced. "Probably. It'd take---"

"Uh, hel-LO?" Cactus said. "SunWing over here!"

Andesite turned and glared at the energetic, hyperactive SunWing. "What does that have to do with anything?" She snarled. Vein didn't like how StoneWings were quite mean to every living thing. Literally. She yells at the thorns when they poked her. The first time Vein spotted her do that, he thought she was crazy.

Anyways, Cactus was practically jumping up and down. "I'm super-duper-blooper-gooper-ooper-looper-fooper-FAST!"

"I never knew there were so much 'upers'," Andesite grumbled. 

"Wait, what about your magic?" Vein turned to Blizzard.

Blizzard looked dubiously at Vein. "Why didn't I---oh wait, I can't."

"Why?"

"Well, because it's too far."

"GUYS-GUYS-GUYS!" Cactus yelled enthusiastically. "I'LL get you guys to the other side!"

"How?" Andesite asked doubtfully. "We're too heavy for you to carry. Especially me. You'll---"

Cactus grinned mischievously. "That's where magic comes from!"

"Um, no, It---" Blizzard started.

"BLIZZARD CAN ENCHANT ME SO THAT I CAN CARRY YOU ALL TO THE CORAL KINGDOM!" Cactus yelled, hyperactivity glinting in her eyes.

"Um . . . okay," Blizzard said. He muttered words, only know Vein noticed they weren't words he knew . . . some kind of language. Nevertheless, magic rolled over the TimeWing and swept on to Cactus. The SunWing laughed with glee as dirt, grass, sand, stone, fire, blood, and water all rushed over her. At first, Vein thought it was creepy. Blood? But then it suddenly hit him: dirt,  grass, and stone represented the StoneWings. Sand and fire probably showed SunWings. Blood obviously meant BloodWings, and water stood for CoralFins.  

"Wow, she's mad," Andesite said.

Then surprisingly, Blizzard collapsed. Vein, Andesite, and Cactus ran to him, Vein fearing the worst. Blizzard was coughing and gasping, and Vein shivered, probably thinking that Blizzard had used too much at magic at once . . . or . . . elements.

Blizzard gagged some more, then slowly stood up. He seemed fine, all though sick didn't correctly describe his expression.

"Are you okay?" Vein questioned him. Vein noticed that he flinched ever so slightly. Vein understood. BloodWings were probably the worst enemies you could probably ever have.

"Yeah," Blizzard replied, his voice ragged.

"WELL!" Cactus said. "Let's go get our CoralFin." She scrambled up to Vein, Blizzard, and Andesite, and threw them on her back. Vein made a grunt that sounded like "oog" when he was thrown on. Cactus took off, and Vein thought he'd never feel as good as this ever again. The wind smashed into his face, giving him a good cool down after the wound on his hand. Vein winced, remembering the spear going through his hand. He wrapped it in some cloth Blizzard whipped up. 

In no time, Cactus was at the entrance of the Coral Islands. Vein jumped off a little too early and crashed into the ground, his face just a smidge too close to the edge. He recoiled, careful not to fall in. He really didn't need to become the next dragon with melted scales. Vein started to feel a little sleepy and didn't really listen to Blizzard's spell. After Blizzard finished, he crouched towards Vein. 

"Hey," Blizzard said. "Who's the sleepy one here?" He joked.

Vein didn't feel like joking. "So, what was the language you said?"

"Oh, that?" He said nervously. "Well, it's the language of TimeWing magic. I'm not supposed to tell you that."

Vein raised his front arms. "I ain't gonna press you, Blizzard."

The sound of splooshing ended their conversation. A CoralFin erupted from the water. Vein had never seen a CoralFin in real life (other than the one Gory had killed). But now he could see that CoralFins really did have gills on either side of there necks. They didn't have wings, which looked quite weird after you went your whole life seeing dragons with wings. His scales were a purple sprinkled with sea blue.

The CoralFin didn't pay them any attention. He had his nose buried on his scroll, and he was still reading, even after getting dragged. The turquoise scroll looked quite interesting until he saw that it was about the dragons. Vein thought that scroll was useless.

The CoralFin looked up and nearly jumped back into the water. Then he stood back up and lifted up his scroll. "Hmmm . . ." he mused. "Ah, yes. The SunWing, StoneWing, BloodWing, my tribe, of course, and the TimeWing." He lifted it down again, interest sparkling in his eyes. "This is an incredibly fascinating experiment! Oh well. I suppose I should introduce myself."

"Wow, we've got Mr. SmartyClaws, here," Vein heard Andesite say to Cactus. The StoneWing and SunWing started snickering.

"I'm Slug," the CoralFin said. Now this time, Andesite and Cactus started cracking up. Slug went right up to them and gave them a good thwack on the head, not that it did much to Andesite. Cactus clutched her head, staggering away.

Slug brushed himself off. "Sorry about that. What are your names?"

"Well, the StoneWing is Andesite," Vein said. "The TimeWing is Blizzard, and the SunWing is Cactus."

"What about yours?" Slug asked, curiosity in his eyes.

"I'm Vein he said, and outstretched his talon. Vein could see a new friendship arriving, and Vein thought it would be good if they had a CleverClaws here.

But Slug's happy expression instantly shattered. "You're . . . Gory's sister?" He asked.

Vein could see where this was going.

"Vein . . ." Slug said, and for a millisecond a flash of anger dominated his eyes. 

"Gory killed my brother."