Siege's Journey

Ch. 1

Chapter Two--

1 Week Later~

Carnaline~

"And then he laughed so hard, the juice came out his nose!" Carnaline and Siege cracked up at the thought of Chrysoco and his confused face as fruit juice slid down his nose.'Too bad he's gone'. Went a voice in her head.

"Nice one, mother." Carnaline noticed her son had cried because of all the laughing. It quickly evaporated into steam. "Okay, How about this one,"He began to tell her a joke. She had never felt so peaceful, now that last week's ordeal was over. Her son was having fun, and that made her heart soar.

Later, she went out to get wood for the fire, snapping branches off of trees, picking up twigs. Carnaline was bent over a bush, searching for dry tinder when she heard a few rough voices ahead of her. She leaned forward a bit to see easier, she dropped a twig on the ground and flinched, but they didn't react, so she was good.

"Another day, another patrol searching the forest." A SkyWing with guard's armor lay leaning against a tree, sharpening his sword. "Don't you ever get tired of this routine? Same thing every single day."He tsk-tsked.

"Stop asking questions, will you?"A muscular MudWing dragoness sat across from him, tucking into a boar. She had a tattoo of two alligators in a battle, twining around each other.

"Scarlet is acting odd, though. Looking for those two. It's been what, four years now?"He persisted. The MudWing growled in annoyance.

" Shut up already." The MudWing spat, her mouth full of meat.

Carnaline was about to leave when she stepped on the twig she dropped. She let a gasp escape. The MudWing stood up and grabbed a spear. "What was that?" She started walking in her direction.

"What was what?" The other guard echoed, and stopped sharpening his knife. The big dragoness twitched her ear.

"Over there,"She did a few hand signals, pointing to where Carnaline was crouched, heavily sweating. Carnaline's patiencd snapped. She couldn't take it anymore, she ran pushing past branches and bursting through bushes. She was close enough to hear the MudWing holler,"It's a SkyWing, over there!" Carnaline felt their pawsteps on her tail, but she was far enough to make it to the cave and warn her son.

She bolted into the cave, her deformed talons burning from the pain.

"Mom?"Siege walked over to her and made sure she was fine."Are you ok? Why didn't you bring the tinder?"He looked concerned. But Carnaline had no time to ask questions.'He has to run.' She told herself.

"Listen Siege," Carnaline was in a hurry,"I want you to go and hide in that place you always hid in when you were upset, when you were a hatchling."

"But-"He started, but she wasn't done yet.

"You may not come out unless I come looking for you, and if I don't come back, do not come out till morning."

"I think she came this way!"Went a voice in the forest. It was the young SkyWing guard. And the voice was dangerously close.

"Run, Siege! Run! Don't look back!" She yelled, knowing this might be the last time they saw each other."Go. Get outta here." She nudged him off, feeling a tiny sting as his scales burned her for a second.

"Mother-"

"I see them!" Hollered the MudWing, even closer than before.

That was enough for Siege. He ran and ran, never stopping or risking a glance back. "That's my boy." Carnaline felt herself cry, and cry. But she was happy, Siege was safe.

"Well, well."The MudWing entered, smacking her spear from one talon to the other."So you're the one that's been causing all the ruckus round the the Sky Kingdom, eh?" The MudWing taunted. Carnaline said nothing, she just kept her head down. "Where is your son?"She poked Carnaline with the blunt end of the spear. Carnaline remained silent.

"She isn't talking, what do we do now?"The young SkyWing stood guard in the back of the cave.

"We don't need her, I only need the Kid."The MudWing smirked. "kill her."

"What?! But T-Those weren't my orders."The SkyWing piped.

"Too bad. Do it. Now" The MudWing seemed to be enjoying her day.

"B-But I-I can't."He lay his spear on the ground. The MudWing scowled.

"I you want something done, you have to do it yourself." The MudWing looked disappointed. She brought the blade of her spear straight through Carnaline's neck with one powerful jab. Carnaline fell to the ground. The MudWing threw the bloody spear over to the baffled SkyWing, and he barely managed to catch it. "The Kid's bound to come back here for his mother, so we can stay."

"Commander Jasper said to bring them both back-"He reminded her.

"Heh. Well too bad, I don't work for him."

"But it's SkyWing law to do his command, and you joined the mission."He piped.

"Well, pipsqueak, I'm no SkyWing. And I don't work for Scarlet." Carnaline didn't hear the rest, she gasped for air, the hot blood in her mouth gurgling out, she knew she was dying.

"Noo.....Pleaaase.....Don't hurt...him"She rasped, feeling her vision blur. The two didn't respond at all to her plea. Her eyelids fluttered slowly, and the world seemed to be fading away. She reached out with her talons and feebly dragged herself forward, her life leaving her with every moment that passed. She knew she had to leave a message. Carnaline dragged herself to a tree trunk, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She scrabbled a few runes on the trunk, leaving a brief message. She hoped Siege had payed attention during her lessons on the ancients.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"The bulky MudWing dragoness approached her and Carnaline turned around, back against the tree trunk. She looked defiantly up at the MudWing, and the large she-dragon towered above her. Carnaline only saw a brown blob, though. Her vision did front flips and rolls, waving around like a flag in the wind. She felt the burn of her tears as the MudWing placed a huge talon on her neck, right where the wound was. Carnaline hissed in pain. The MudWing chuckled malevolently and sunk her claws into Carnaline's neck with a shhnkk. Her body gave a shudder. Everything went dark.