Dawn of the Wolf Dragons: Book one; A Dark Beginning (unedited version)

Chapter 22

I woke dreamily to find myself in a hollow inside a tree. I sat upright. My friends cried out in joy. 

"What did you do to me?" I tried to ask, but my muzzle was clamped shut with a rag. I blasted the cloth off with a burst of fire. "What happened? Why did I have a muzzle on?"

"You were healed by our healer." Red explained.

"Oh ya..." The memories came back to me. I glanced at my stomach. There was no longer splattered blood. Instead, there was three fine lines of crusty scab and a weird green poultice.

"You where muzzled because we gave you antibiotics. -for the infection. We didn't want them oozing out of your mouth." A tall She-wolf strutted forward. She shared the same rich, crimson coat as Red.

"Are you Red's mother?" I asked.

"Indeed. Could you tell? My name is Ruby." She replied.

I nodded. " Am I okay to leave?"

She nodded. "You will fully recover shortly. Red, Please don't leave the village just yet. We need to know more about what you've learned."

Red nodded and left the den. "Come Nova! I want to show you my friends!" 

I followed Red into the open cavern. It was smartly created. There was grass on the floor and fruits growing in trees. They had a special light that was probably enchanted that gave the plants sunlight. Red led me to a  smaller cave in the side of the cavern there were small pups playing. "There are pups!" She exclaimed. "We haven't had pups since I was born!"

She left and showed me the wolves taking flying lessons. 

"Red!" one of them exclaimed. "You came back! But hey, You haven't had flying lessons!"

"That's Cherry, AppleCake and Scarlett." Red told me. "And yes- I have had flying lessons. From her!" Red leaped and soared into the painted sky. She rose to the height of the ceiling and flew into a den at the top on the ceiling.

I followed, eager to see where the tunnel went. There was a ledge at the top. Red crouched there. There was A hole covered by a bush. 

"Prey falls down this hole. We can eat it. I've never seen it up close though." Red said with a look of admiration in her eyes. She gasped. "Look!"

A small mouse sniffed the fruits growing just above the hole. Then, it leaned over to eat one and- Fell right into the open claws of Red. She took a big bite. "Here have some"

My stomach growled. "Thanks!" I said. 

"When someone isn't here, the prey just falls right down the hole into the prey pile there" She pointed to the mound of prey down below us.

"Do you ever catch anything big?" I asked, noticing the prey was all small animals, like squirrels and mice.

She shook her head. "We barely ever leave the mountain. When we do, It is because it is winter and we need to catch prey before they disappear."

"We just get fruits and prey shipped in from other villages." I told her. "We even get some tropical fruits from lands outside of the Lunae Silvam!"

"How!?" She asked.  

"The great birds can fly back and forth from the Great Ravine Border without being killed or imprisoned by the creatures from the other lands. They bring us prey and fruits in exchange for peace. We could just eat them if we wanted to." I pointed out.

"what lands?" Red asked. 

"The Magia Montainiums and the Stella Fieldis."

She nodded. "We should go back down now. I want you to meet Satin. She's the best."

"She definitely sounds better than Cunning" I remarked.

She laughed nervously, probably scared now of the Wolf Dragon laws.

"Do you know he was talking about? Some Vaxcris or something?" Red asked.

"I was hoping you'd know" I admitted.

"Maybe Satin will." Red said. "let's go!" She glided down. She's still a bit wobbly but I have to admit, she's gotten way  better.

"Satin!" Red sang.

A gorgeous she-wolf pranced from the great cherry tree in the middle of the cavern. "yes Red?" she yawned, just waking up. Her fur was a very orangey-red and she had lots of white chest fur and tail fur. She opened an eye. "oh!" yawn  " i've heard so much about you. Come in, will you? I'd like to speak with you and talk about your discoveries."

"Of course. But, do you know who Vauxcrix is?"

"Not Out here!" She exclaimed and ushered me into her den. "You mustn't speak about him here. He is terrible and I cannot say anything more. Now, Tell me about your 'adventure'"

We told her everything. Well, not everything,  but most of the important details.  When we were finished, She simply nodded. "I see. It makes sense now."

"What makes sense?" I asked.

"Nothing." She responded. "I want to speak with Cunning. He shouldn't have exiled you like that. I know him. He must be very wary at this time."

"That would be great. Thank you" I said.

"In the meantime, Red, I never want you to leave this cavern, understand?"