Casting Shadows (re writing)

Chapter One The beginning

Fang looked around hurriedly. She kept running as she knew where she was going. She had to make it there fast. She stopped when the forest led to a sandscape. She looked behind her to see the forest was gone. She saw Sand Wings in the sky above her, surrounding her like hawks. Her heart pounded, "Fang?" "Come on Fang." Something rammed her to the side. She opened her eyes to see stone. She sighed and looked up. Cloud was racing around the dorm. "Wake up!" She yelled at Sightless. "Ugh, what now?" He said tiredly. His Ice Wing spikes glittered in the light of the torches. "Harry says he wants you to come train with him!" Cloud cheered. "This early?" Fang complained. "And for what?" Sightless protested. "I don't know! Maybe to train for the prophecy!" Cloud replied. "Oh, you mean the one Snake made up?" Sightless said bluntly. "He did not! He would never!" Cloud growled. "Grrrr can we just get this over with?" Fang sighed. "Yes, THANK you Fang!" Sightless said as he stood up. He used his wings to guide him to the door. Fang jumped down from the ledge and followed Sightless. Sightless was the only one without metal rings binding his wings together. It was made so the dragonets couldn't fly or escape, but since Sightless was blind, they decided he would never fly anyway.

They walked out of the small room to see the cave open far above them. There were stone carved stairs leading to different ledges. Each one had a sign to say where it went. Stalactites hung above them. They walked up some stairs to where they reached a cave entrance. The round cave lead to the arena. It had a river of water surrounding it. There was a hallway to the right of them that lead to a medic station, which Snake ran. "Cloud, Sightless, Fang. Welcome back," Harry said in a kind voice. Harry was a rare brown Web Wing. Brown Web Wings are considered "deformed." They have wings like a female Web Wing, and no abdomen. Web comes from their tail and they are one of the only tribes with fur. They have spider-like legs, but they only appear when they please.

In Fang's opinion, Harry and Snake were okay, but Hawk was the one she hated. He was a Swift Wing, but he was born differently. Some Swift Wings are born without irises. This rare trait allows them to mind-control dragons. Sometimes Hawk uses it on Harry or Snake. Fang hates it when he does that. They all act different, and their eyes turn pure black, as if they didn't have irises.

"Today we're going to be training. You'll need this one day when you go to the Wing War." Harry explained. Hawk walked into the cave. He stood tall. His red eyes glared down at them, his long, spiky wings behind him. He curled his tail around his sharp talons and said. "Sightless!" The Ice Wing jumped, not aware he was in the room. He looked straight at Hawk, making it look almost as if he could see. Sightless hated being blind and tried to make it look like he had the gift of sight often. "Get on your feet! How dare you sit down in this arena!" "Ok, ok!" Sightless said as he stood up shaking slightly. "I will release a rabbit in this room. If you can find it Sightless, then you can skip fighting today." Hawk lifted his huge wing to let a rabbit skurry out from under it. It ran, bounding across the room with its powerful legs. It ran up to the dragonets, realizing it couldn't get around them, it ran the other way. Sightless blew a quick blow of ice, but it hit the river, turning some if it to ice. The rabbit ran straight into the medic den. "Great job cow-brain, now were going to have cold water!" "Isn't that a good thing?" Sightless said with a small chuckle to his own joke. Hawk flew up and lashed his razor claws at his shoulder. Sightless yelped in pain and shock.

"What was that for?!" Fang hissed. "Yeah! Don't be mean Hawk!" Cloud yelped in her annoying voice. Hawk's eyes turned pure black and Harry suddenly shot web straight into Cloud's eye. "Ow!" Cloud yelled. "Haw-" Fang was interrupted when Hawk lashed his tail at Fang's chest, knocking her straight into a rock. Fang was shocked, she felt like she had broken a rib. Well, she knew that wasn't true, but it felt like she had. She got up and shook of the dust. She looked at Hawk. He sighed and said, "You'll never be ready." Harry's eyes turned back to their original orange. He shook his head, then left the room, leaving Sightless, Cloud, and Fang alone. "Come on, let's go get some food," Fang encouraged. Sightless got up and said. "Fine," with a sigh. He limped slightly towards them. "I wanna come to!" Cloud yipped. "Alright fine" Fang said with a sigh.

The group walked out of the cave and down some stairs. They turned left and walked into a cave. "Ok, Sightless, you have to get in fast before the animals scurry out," Fang explained. "Yes, I know. We've only been doing this for thirteen years now," Sightless murmured. Fang moved the boulder. Cloud bounded in front of them. Sightless ran into a wall, spread his wings out to find where he was, and ran in. Fang watched a lizard run under her talons, and into a small crevasse behind her. "Hah! Now they'll have some work to do!" Fang thought as she closed the boulder behind them. Cloud sunk her claws into a dead rabbit. She charged electricity through her talons and into the rabbit. She paused, and did this again. Fang could tell she had a problem having not done this in awhile. In the opposite side of the cave, Sightless was eating a pig silently.

Bone was pulling bones out of a turkey. Fang walked over to him. "Hey Bone," Fang said. "Hey..." He responded trying to focus on taking the turkey's bones out. Bone was pure black with white bone-like markings where his bones were. He could make them glow like a Sea Wing. Like Sea Wings, Bone Wings had their own language through their markings. Bone loved studying, and knew almost all the tribes and queens by heart. "Welp, I'm gonna grab some food," Fang said to Bone. "Uh huh," he responded.

Fang spotted a deer galloping across the room. She crouched down....and pounced on it. She reared up her tail as a sharp stinger came out of it. She impaled it between the deer's shoulders. Then Fang jumped off the deer, which ran around for a while, then fell to the ground. Fang picked it up and sat by Sightless. Sightless flicked his ear and said, "Hey Fang." "Hi," Fang responded. "Whats up?" She asked. "Err not much, just eating a pig as you can see." Fang nodded. She looked up at the holes in the roof. Each led to a different place. One to the desert, one to a forest, and so on. An animal would stumble into it, and the air pressure pulled them in and dropped them into the cave. Their guardians told them that it was made hundreds of years ago by dragons who once lived here. Fang flicked her tail with a sigh. Fang yearned to spread out her forest-green wings for the first time and fly straight through the tunnel. She and her friends could run free into the wild, feel the heat of the golden sun against their scales, and fly through the sky, watching the land so far below them.

Fang shook her head. "We can never even get close to that." She thought, interrupting her thoughts of the wild. She sighed, looking down at the deer she caught. "You ok? You sighed if I'm correct," Sightless suddenly said. Fang flinched, it still was weird that Sightless could hear better than all of them, due to his lack of sight. Fang shook her head and said "Oh! D-Dont worry Sightless, I'm fine." "Did I startle you? You know I can hear better than the others," said Sightless.Fang dug her talons into her prey, she felt as if he were reading her mind; knowing everything she was thinking... Fang looked at him. His sea - blue eyes stared up at her. It looked almost as if he could see. He looked more alive when he did this, looking at dragons when he spoke to them. Looking around when there's a noise. Glaring straight into the eyes of Hawk in a fight. Sightless turned back to his pig. "It's ok Sightless. I love how great your hearing is," she commented with a smile she knew he would never see. "Thanks..." he responded as he took another bite of the pig he caught. Fang nodded, knowing he could probably see that she did. She took a bite of her deer and ate with him.