Siege's Journey

Ch. 2

Siege~Chapter Two

What was wrong with him? He could've stayed and fought for his mother, but instead he scuttled back here, hiding like a scared little mouse. Siege was in a small hole in the mountain, a small cave, just big enough for him to squeeze in. About an hour had passed since he left his mother at the cave. He sniffled, tears streaming relentlessly down his face. 'I'm a horrible dragon, and I'm a coward, too'. He distantly traced a pattern on the floor, swirls and lines, swirls and lines,and a few weird splotches. Carnaline was probably out there, fighting. 'Or dead', went a voice in his head. He pictured his mother fiercely battling her pursuers, on the other talon, there was a bloody image, her body lying on its side, two SkyWing guards laughing at the sight of what they had done.

"I have to go fight."He told himself, but half of him wanted to stay here and listen to her instructions. "Argh!" He was giving himself a headache."Stop being so soft-scaled!"Siege clawed at the ground. Carnaline was his mother, he had to go.

Siege practically shoved himself out the cave and sprinted toward where he last saw his mother.

He burst out into the clearing where the cave mouth was, smoke rising frantically from his scales. He saw his mother lying in the grass, a pool of blood staining the once green stalks of plants that cushioned her body. She had a gaping spear wound where her neck met her chest, and there were five small pocks in her upper neck, as if some dragon had sunken their claws in there. Carnaline's head lolled to the side, her eyes wide open in surprise. They were glassy. "NO!"Siege rushed to his mother's body, and cradled her head in his arms, and burning, hissing sound came out as her scales melted, but he couldn't let go. He held her tight until her blackened ashes were the only thing left.

He was crying, mucus and spit and all. "I'm so sorry.....I'm sorry. Please forgive me." 'You could have saved her. You could have fought them off.' He clutched his head in frustration.

Siege wiped his tears and looked to the sky, distantly, he could make out a pair of dragons flying. 'It's them.' He was almost sure of it. He took off, not very sure what else to do but catch them....and make up for not being there for Carnaline.

He flew, nothing but a jumbled mix of anger and adrenaline fueled his wingbeats. One was a SkyWing not much younger than Carnaline, and another a MudWing with a tattoo of two alligators clashing on one arm. Quickly gaining less distance from Carnaline's attackers, he noticed that the SkyWing guard was holding a bloodied spear in his talons. 'He did it.' Siege thought grimly, he sped up even more, sure that this was the killer. The SkyWing looked back and practically fell out of the air when he spotted Siege.

"Fly FASTER!"The guard called to the MudWing, his wings flapping frantically. He barely finished speaking whenSiege barrelled into him , sending him down, smoking, into a tree. "Aagh!" He roared as Siege grabbed him by the tail, and got onto the larger dragon's back. The two fell through the trees in a torrent of smoke and fire, branches slapping their faces. As Siege had him pinned down, the SkyWing writhed in pain as he watched himself get set on fire. The broad-shouldered firescale dragon hissed,

"You killed her."Siege tightened his grip, smoke rising off of him and entangling the other dragon, as if wanting to attack, too.

"N-No I didn't."The SkyWing gasped for air, while clawing at his attacker's talons, but Siege was too far gone to feel any pain. 'Liar.' Siege thought bitterly. But he noticed something that brought him out of his rage. 'He has no blood on his claws.'He remembered, when he found his mother's body, there had been pock marks that probably belonged to a very large dragon. "What did I do."Siege was bent over the other dragon,who had a pool of blood expanding around his shallowly slitted neck and deep gashes around the stomach . All the fire had left him, and he felt even worse than before. Ears pressed to the side of his head in extreme worry he apologized. "I am so, so sorry, I-I just lost control-and you didn't deserve this, no one does-"He was crying again, vapor rising off as tears welled up his eyes. The other Dragon coughed, and rasped,

"It's......Fine...I still...Let her do.....it." The Dragon lay there, the fire gone, only smoke rising off of his wounds.

"Her?"Siege inquired.

".....That.....MudWing dragoness.."The SkyWing said slowly, coughing in between.

"You still don't deserve this."Siege still wanted to save him."Please, let me help." He plucked a clump of leaves from a tree in between his teeth and ground them to a paste. He began to spit it on the injured guard's wounds to stop the bleeding. The guard hissed, as the paste on his open wounds probably stung. Siege wished he could carry the dying Dragon to help, but that would only worsen matters.

"No. Don't waste your..energy on...me, kid. I've lost..too much blood...already."

"But it's the least I can do for you, let me help y-"Siege trailed off when the SkyWing's eyes clouded and his head hit the ground. Siege sighed and got up, not knowing what to do next.