Darkness Falls ~ Book 1 ~ A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 9 ~ Thaw

A/N

I hope you like the story so far! Please comment if you can guess why I gave this chapter the name "Thaw". Also, can anyone guess any of the developing ships? Yes, I know, it doesn't seem like some characters are ship-worthy, but trust me, I have ways...

~~~Mirage~~~

Mirage darted past a doorway, before doubling back and stepping through. She glanced around the dark room, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the low light. "It's clear," she announced, holding the door open with her tail.

Lapwing, Frozenshadow and Leaf-cutter followed her, and Lapwing closed the door behind them.

They now stood in almost complete darkness, but luckily Mirage had night vision, inherited from her mother. Frozenshadow also had a weak night vision, most likely from her RainWing mother, an unknown dragon. Her IceWing father was a relative of Freeze, but that was all they knew of him.

Frozenshadow had told Mirage that Freeze took her in after both her parents died in an accidental fire at their home, and she'd only survived because her parents had left her to play in a nearby tree.

"Is this the store room?" Lapwing whispered, rubbing his eyes.

Mirage shook herself and glanced around again. "Yes," she confirmed, and flicked her tail into the other hybrid's claws, since he couldn't see. "Follow me."

Frozenshadow offered her tail to Leaf-cutter, and together they started off through the rows of wooden shelves contained within the room. Each shelf was stocked with  mostly pointless supplies, but Mirage was sure there was food somewhere, and at the rate they were going, they'd need every crumb.

After five days of running without food, their whole group was growing cranky and things weren't looking good. Mirage and her friends were looking for new nutrition, since if they didn't, their only option was to look to the Shades for help, which would mean capture, or worse.

"I think I found some, over here," Frozenshadow whispered to Mirage. "Can you come over and see?"

"Sure," Mirage replied, stepping over to inspect the parcel Frozenshadow offered. "Yep, that's food, all right."

"Finally," Lapwing sighed, his face a mask of relief. "I was worried we'd come up empty and have to turn ourselves in."

"Not on my watch," Leaf-cutter growled. "Those Shades are even worse than Snipe, and that's saying something."

Mirage chuckled quietly, before becoming serious again. "Should we leave it and come back later with more help, or take as much as we can now?"

"Let's take as much as we can carry, and come back later for anything we leave behind," Lapwing decided, opening a leather pouch he'd tied under his wing. They all had pouthces like it, since they wouldn't be able to run or hide with food overflowing their arms.

"Yes, sir," Frozenshadow replied, shooting him a mock salute before going to fill her bags. Mirage smiled and copied her, happy for the first time since the nightmare had begun.

After a few minutes of shoving food into sacs, Leaf-cutter backed up. "I'm full," he announced. "There's no room left in my pouches."

Mirage stepped backwards as well. "Same here," she said, wishing she'd thought to bring something bigger to carry everything in.

"Then let's go. Well come back later with more dragons," Lapwing ordered, heading towards the door.

Just as he was about to open it, it burst open from the other side, and Freeze walked through. Her expression instantly became one of shock, before melting into a blank mask. Everyone froze, staring at each other, none of the blinking.

"So," Freeze sighed. "I'm supposed to take you to the Shades." She paused for a moment, and then smiled wryly. "I guess you didn't expect them to figure out your name for them, did you?"

Mirage didn't answer, just stared. They'd been that close. Suddenly she heard a voice in her head.

Escape! it shouted. Run, get out! I do not want to capture you, I know the Shades are evil. Darkstalker forced me to work here by holding my sister hostage, but I do not support them. You are Pyrrhia's last hope, and I will not, can not ruin that. Now go!

"W-what?" Mirage stammered, unsure if she was hearing properly.

Freeze whipped her head around and shot Mirage a pleading look, before her emotions seemed to dissolve once more. "What do you want, worm?" she snapped, her voice so convincingly disgusted that Mirage thought the voice in her head had been fake. But no, Freeze was just a good actress.

Trust me, her mind whispered. But hurry, the Shades are coming. They will be here right away! 

Thank you, Mirage thought back, and then turned to her friends. "I refuse!" she shouted. "And you won't stop me!" With that, she barrelled straight towards the older hybrid, aiming to push her backwards just enough to let them escape, but also make it look convincing.

Sure enough, Freeze flew backwards without any resistance, not even trying to stop Mirage from hitting her, although she suspected the former assassin could have done so easily if she'd wanted to.

"Come on, let's go!" she exclaimed, pulling open the door and gesturing for her friends to follow. They did so quickly, although they all wore expressions of confusion.

Not safe yet, and not entirely sure Freeze wasn't trying to trick them, Mirage led them towards the dining room. It was the only place she knew they couldn't been found, therefor their only hope.

"What was that?" Leaf-cutter asked once they were safely hidden away. "There's no way you overpowered Freeze that easily."

"Freeze let us go. She told me to escape telepathically." Mirage turned to face the pantalan hybrid. "But...I wonder how far she wants us to go."

"What do you mean?" Lapwing inquired sharply.

Mirage tilted her head to the side. "Maybe...we need to leave the village. Head out into the wilds of Panzia. And then fight back."