Touched By A Dragon

Chapter 13: Unexpected Arrival

Meanwhile back at camp Jewel had woken up; she was always the first to do so so that she could prepare her clan for leaving. But when she had raised her head and opened her wings to let out her rider she noticed straight away that something was wrong. She walked around the sleeping area and counted all her dragons then she realised what it was. There was one more dragon then there was at curl up last night. This dragon looked unfamiliar but it had the markings of the clan. She gently nudged the new arrival with the tip of her wing. The dragon gave a small whine and rolled on its side. Jewel then recognised this dragon as Phoenix. She was delighted to see him again and they had much to talk about. But as he didn’t seem quite himself she decided to ask him something simple.
 “Where is your rider?” She asked him.
When he did not reply she panicked and woke up the clan healing dragon, Emerald, she came over and took one quick look at him. She shook her head and explained to Jewel that this was the clear signs of a broken bond. Jewel galloped over to peter who was getting ready to leave and stood in front of him.
“What’s the wrong girl?” He asked, confused.
“It’s Phoenix, he’s come back without Destany, he doesn’t look good, and Emerald said he’s dying of a broken bond. She says that if we can’t find Destany and fix their bond he’s not going to make it.”
Peter cursed under his breath.
“I knew I should have sent someone after her, she’s still young and foolish she doesn’t know how to control her anger and that is a dangerous thing, we’ve got to get him out of here, can he fly?” Peter asked.
“No master, and there is no hope of walking there, even if we could make a sling so he could walk it wouldn’t be any good, from what he’s told me she swims past many islands.”
Peter cursed again. 
“There must be something,” He wondered out loud. 
“Master how about we wave the banana leaves together?” Jewel suggested.
Good idea girl, wait, no phoenix it too big and it would take too long. Wait, what in the world is that? He asked as he looked over to where Astrid was struggling under the clan’s blanket. 
It was covered in dirt and well worn. He hadn’t seen it because it was always folded up because no one had needed it since the dragons came.
Astrid that’s it! You’re a genius! Peter screamed, excited.
Waaahtph?  She replied, muffled by the blanket.
He ran over to her, dropping the supplies on the ground. Then he tried to take off the blanket. But because it was so huge jewel ended up just flying above them and picking it up with her paw. 
“It’s perfect!” Peter cried happily.
So 4 dragons spread it out and it covered the entire curl up grounds.  
“Perfect. It’s just what I’ve been looking for,” Peter said to himself. 
Then jewel brought over Phoenix and gently put him in the middle of the blanket. Then she, Fierce, Justice and Tanipha took a corner each and started flying slowly so they didn’t hurt him too much. Emerald flew next to them and treated the dyeing dragon as best as she could. 
As day fell a hopeful moon rose, their pace was slow and Phoenix was getting worse. The wind picked up and the waves grew larger, soon the waves were so big that they had to fly higher to escape their deadly grasp. But with the weight of the camp gear and Phoenix, the dragons soon got tired. They flew lower and lower and lower until they were only just out of reach of the waves. After a while Justice, the youngest of the dragons started to let go. Just before Phoenix fell a huge wave swept up and took the blanket down under the crewel, murky water.
“Phoenix!” Peter yelled as a long line of bubbles rose and popped on the surface.