Shifting Sands (A WOF Fanfiction)

Prologue

      BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Explosions rocked the quiet camp and shattered the silence like bullets. Kiang was jarred out of his sleep and tumbled off his sleeping carpet, staggering to the flap of the tent that he and his little sister shared. Poking his snout out revealed a sudden rush of fiery heat everywhere, as well as a strange, unpleasant odor coming from the other side of the large oasis that their tent cluster surrounded. He could see hooded figures through the darkness gliding down upon his parents' tent with spears and long, rigid, thin tubes. One also looked like it was holding a bundle of swinging chains, but another explosion rocked the camp and he fell down, but when he looked back up the figure was already gone. Screams and shouts filled the air, and Kiang dropped the flap back down, then turned to his sister, Scorpion, who was sitting upright, her four small wings partially opened. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear, and reflected his own emotions back at him from the newly lit fires outside. Through the shadows of the tent he could see shadows moving, wings spread and weapons clanging off of other weapons.

"Kiang, w-what's happening?" Scorpion looked so small and innocent, his heart ached for her, for what what about to happen. Mother and Dad had told him about what might happen one day, had told him what to do, and he had to do it. For their parents. For her. 

"Grab whatever is most important to you, you have to be able to carry it. Quick! We have to hurry! Take a cloak and suncover, too." 

      As for Kiang, he dug in the baskets that surrounded his bedspread and took out a single sheathed dagger. Their mother's dagger. Next was the moonstone crescent necklace that he was going to give Scorpion for her hatching day tomorrow. I won't make it that long. The thought sent an icy feeling through his stomach. The screams and shouts were getting closer. He didn't know whether their parents were okay, but he just had to get them out of danger, now.

"Come on, follow me. Don't make a sound, no matter what you hear or see, okay?" He whispered. She nodded back, so Kiang slipped under the back wall of the tent, away from all the sounds, and heard her tail slide against the sand  behind him, telling that she was doing as he asked. Scorpion was only two, but it was clear she understood how grave the situation was. 

      Kiang was her older brother by three years, and there was nothing that he wouldn't do to keep Scorpion safe and happy for the rest of her life. All he could do for her now, though, was keep her safe for tonight. It was a maddening thought, and he wished that this had never happened. They continued loping over the sand, as silent as they could. Upon looking back, he could make out Scorpion with her wings spread low over the sand to blend in better. She could do that, because her wings just looked like shadowed dunes, good for camouflage. His wings, however, were black, so they gave him away. Suddenly another scream cut through the air, shattering his thoughts. Was that-? 

"Kiang? Was... was that mother?" Scorpion's urgent whisper echoed his thoughts.

"I..... don't know. We have to keep going, though. Right over this next dune, okay?" The sand sunk down as they walked, leaving tracks and making their progress slower, but he couldn't make Scorpion fly with her things. Her wings just weren't strong enough yet.

      The two dragonets collapsed on the other side of a fairly sharp, tall dune, perfect for hiding a small, sand-coloured dragonet. But not a larger, dark-coloured one. Kiang passed her the dagger he had swiped from their tent and the necklace, as well as a camel-skin flask of water, and some gazelle jerky provisions. She looked at him, wide eyes full of questions. So he cut her off before she could ask any of them.

"I need to go back to help Dad and Mother. You need to stay here, okay? If.. if I don't come back.. go to Sanctuary and find a dragon named Jackal. Tell her what happened, okay? Show her the dagger."

"Bu-"

"And no matter what happens, do not come back, okay? Don't follow me and try to help, just stay here. You need to listen to me about this. Stay here, hidden, until you don't see anyone at the camp, then go. Don't come check to see if anyone is alright. You must make it out of this. I love you, Scorpion."

"But I can help!" She wheedled.

"No. You can't. The biggest help will be if you stay here. Do what I told you. Be brave and strong. Like Queen Glory, remember?"  At these words the look of fear in her eyes took on a different tone, one of scared determination, young courage.

"Okay. Just promise you'll come back." 

"I-" I won't be coming back. "I'll try." 

The last Scorpion saw of Kiang was his deep blue eyes, blue like late twilight, reflecting the firelight, then him soaring over the dunes back to the now-burning camp. A distant shadow, held up by a huge spiked dragon in one claw. And then a spear, shoved through the silhouette's chest, along with two larger ones. As they thrashed and jerked on the sand, blurry through her tears, she heard a haunting laughter that would be stamped into her brain for as long as she lived. Laughter that no young ears should have to hear.

                                                   ~Half a moon-cycle later~

"Are you Jackal?" A disheveled hybrid dragonet was standing on her doormat, weak legs trembling, but held up through a fiery determination. The dragonet was holding a dagger. Her sister's dagger. Jackal's heart stopped. There was only one reason this dragonet would have the dagger that she herself had given Namib on her eighth Hatching Day.

"Well. Isn't this.... interesting."