Into The Wild ~ Book 2 ~ Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 1 ~ Fury

~~~Shadowhunter~~~

Peregrine cowered beneath Shadowhunter, her head bowed. "We lost them," the SkyWing muttered, her voice laced with fearful anger.

"You did WHAT?!" Shadowhunter roared, glaring down at her. "I thought I told you to leave them alone until we were better prepared!"

"Because I felt like it," Peregrine snarked, too quietly for the angry NightWing to hear. She cleared her throat imperiously and raised her head. "Because I thought we were already prepared enough. Pantalus's plan was ready, was it not?"

"And then she went against us!" Shadowhunter hissed. "You should have seen that coming!"

"Aren't you the leader?" Peregrine shot back. "Isn't it your fault?"

Shadowhunter paused, smoke blowing from her nostrils. "Perhaps it is. But don't worry, I won't make them same mistake again. And besides, Pantalus told me some very interesting details about you. Like how you're plotting to steal your mother's throne."

"Traitor," Peregrine growled, glaring at the iron cage tucked into the corner that held Queen Wasp's daughter.

"Indeed she is," Shadowhunter replied smugly. "But only because she attempted to kill the Flares. Otherwise, she's a hero."

Suddenly, Freeze stepped into the room and hit Peregrine over the head with a log hard enough to daze her. "Now what?" the IceWing/NightWing hybrid asked Shadowhunter. "Do I chain her up or put her in a cage?"

"Well, her mother most likely wants to kill the traitor herself, so chain her up and throw her in a cage, just for good measure," Darkstalker's daughter replied coldly. She'd never really cared for the SkyWing princess much anyways.

Freeze nodded smartly and then dragged Peregrine away, leaving Pantalus and Shadowhunter alone in the open-roofed room. All the other Shades had scattered to other corners of the underground complex to gather supplies for the upcoming journey.

"Why did you want to kill them?" the NightWing asked, trailing a claw against the bars of the cage.

Pantalus glared back at her, the muzzle clamped onto her snout preventing her from speaking. 

"If you behave yourself, I might have mercy, you know," Shadowhunter told her, turning away to walk back to the raised dais she'd been standing on earlier.

Tense silence answered her, and she smiled. "I'll just go visit the others, and then we'll head off," Shadowhunter announced, standing up once more and leaving the room abruptly.

It didn't take her long to find Shatter and Baobab, who were working together to collect weapons from the meager armoury. 

"How is it going?" she asked, stepping into the room and startling them both. A small smile of satisfaction was all she allowed herself before her face melted back into its usual blank mask.

"Good so far, although most of the stuff here isn't in very good shape," Shatter replied. "I take it these were mostly for the mentors, not the students."

"Well, take it all to the main hall once you're done," Shadowhunter instructed them, pointing in the direction of the room she'd just came from.

"Got it," Shatter agreed, and Baobab nodded mutely. As they turned to continue their task, Shadowhunter slipped out of the room and made her way to the cafeteria. In it, Fractal the Flare-turned-traitor was helping Sandstorm fill even more bags with food for their journey.

"What is it?" Sandstorm snapped, looking down her snout at Shadowhunter. Are you going to punish me? her mind whispered, most likely branching from the fact that her mother, Burn didn't have any qualms against lashing out at nearby dragons whenever she was mad.

"Nothing," Shadowhunter replied, returning the look. "Meet in the courtyard when you're finished." She didn't say anything else just turned and left. 

Now where did Tigershark, Panther, Deathfire and Scorch run off to? she wondered, peering into every room she passed.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" a voice suddenly yelled, causing Shadowhunter to jump in surprise. She quickly sidled into the room it'd come from, only to see the four missing dragons arguing about something with their backs to her.

"Trying to heal him, can't you see?" a voice she recognized as Scorch's replied. "Although I'm not having much luck. It seems like Pantalus broke his spine when she hit him."

"But why?" Tigershark interjected. "He's a Flare. We should just kill him and be done with it!"

Panther barked a wry laugh. "Oh, genius, didn't you realize that that is exactly what we're trying NOT to do? Pantalus tried, and look where she is!"

Shadowhunter approached the arguing dragons, but their wings prevented her from seeing the he they were talking about. 

"What's going on here?" she asked, causing all four dragons to startle.

"The SilkWing prisoner," Panther explained. "The one Pantalus injured through Depth? Scorch is trying to heal him, so that he can at least fly without us carrying him."

"Is he that badly injured?" Darkstalker's daughter murmured, pushing Tigershark out of the way so she could see. Sure enough the SilkWing, who the Flares had called Imperial, was laying crumpled in the ground, his eyes closed.

"Yes," Scorch replied. "His spine is either fractured or broken, but either way, he's completely paralyzed except for his head."

"Should I heal him with my magic?" Shadowhunter asked, flexing her talons. "Or should we leave him behind with the mentors?"

"I'd say heal him," Panther interrupted. "Those Flares obviously didn't want to leave him, which means he could be a powerful bargaining tool."

Shadowhunter nodded, and then winced. She hated using her magic, but their only other options were to kill him or leave him behind. Sighing, the NightWing picked up a flat stone off of the ground and held it up to her snout. 

"I enchant this rock to heal every wound on any dragon it touches," she murmured, shivering as a trail of ice wound its way down her spine. A fierce pain hit her, and she dropped the stone. What's happening? Shadowhunter thought, crumpling.

Something cold touched her shoulder, and instantly the pain disappeared. "What was that?" a voice she recognized as Tigershark's yelped.

Darkstalker's daughter looked up to see Scorch holding the stone she'd just enchanted. "When you cast that spell," the SandWing explained, seeing her confused expression. "Something flew out of the air and ran into you. And then you started screaming, so I used the stone to heal you."

"What was it?" Shadowhunter growled, glaring around the room to see if she could spot her assailant. 

Scorch shrugged. "I have a theory, though. I think it's some sort of protection spell against animus magic. We're lucky you'd just made a healing rock, or things could've gone nasty pretty quickly."

Shadowhunter shook herself, and then snatched the rock from Scorch's talons. "Let's get out of here," she muttered, and stomped over to Imperial. 

As soon as the rock touched him, he jumped up and lunged at Shadowhunter, but she had already stepped out of the way. Imperial sprawled onto the ground, and Deathfire quickly pinned his tail, motioning for Tigershark to hand him a coil of rope that'd been leaning on the wall.

Soon the SilkWing was entirely bound with rope, and Shadowhunter helped Deathfire carry him to the courtyard. Baobab, Shatter, Fractal and Sandstorm were already there, and Freeze was just arriving with the newly caged Peregrine.

"Time to fly," Shadowhunter announced, spreading her wings and preparing to take off. Deathfire reached over and loosened the ropes binding Imperial's wings, so the SilkWing could fly with them. Fractal, Panther and Scorch helped Freeze take the other two prisoners out of their cages and bind them in chains instead.

"Ready," Scorch announced once all of the prisoners were prepared and the supply bags were tied onto various dragons. 

Deathfire, with Peregrine on his back, took off and began circling above them, waiting. Shadowhunter copied him, quickly followed by Freeze with Pantalus on her back, along with Imperial and the rest of the Shades. 

The hunt was on.