Wings of Fire #1: Sahara's Destiny

Chapter 17

"Falcon!" Sahara beamed, hugging the SkyWing around his neck.

Falcon wrapped his wings around her and smiled. Now that Sahara was up close to him, she could see a slight difference. His horns were black instead of white and his eyes were a different color. He even had a nose ring that made him different.

"How did they not recognize you?" Sahara asked.

Falcon released her and pointed to his nose ring. "This nose ring only changes me slightly. That's how I asked Polar to enchant it. She was confused why I wanted so little changes, despite what happened last time. She wondered why I didn't want to change my look completely. I just told her 'Slight changes can make a huge difference.'" He grinned and took the nose ring off. His horns turned back white and his eyes returned to yellow. Now he was back to being Falcon.

He looked at the other four dragons and his eyes widened. "Vulcan?" he exclaimed.

Vulcan looked at Falcon and smiled.

"Zodiac. Lavender. . . even Hail?"

Hail gave a weak grin while Lavender waved.

"You all were here the entire time!"

"Well, yeah. So is everyone else." Zodiac said.

Falcon put one talon to his head and sighed. "All this time?" he repeated.

He looked out at the tower that held Topaz's special dragons and then back at them. He laid down and put both talons on his head and then his wings to cover it. He began to mutter to himself while his tail lashed. Poor Falcon seemed to be in a state of shame and guilt.

He laid there for a moment before removing his wings and talons and sat up. "How had I not known?" he asked himself. "I've been searching all over the Sky Kingdom for our missing dragons, and I find out they were here." He looked at them. "In the tower, a place I would've never even considered checking."

"Except for Algae, Canyon, and Quake. They're somewhere in the prisons." Lavender pointed out.

Falcon narrowed his eyes in thought, then looked at Sahara. "You only have an hour before you have to go down to the arena." he told her. "Do you think you could possibly locate the other three before then?"

Sahara nodded. "I could, but what would you like me to do afterwards?"

Falcon stood up and glanced at his nose ring. "Since Queen Topaz would want everyone to be there to watch you and Pearl, the prisoners could get freed if you distract them. If you could tell them before you head down that you're going to help them escape, and if you can distract Pearl, we could flee back to the city. It's a risky plan, but if you're willing, I am." Falcon explained.

Sahara thought the plan over, then nodded. Another risky plan, she thought, another chance at helping dragons that need it.

"Raptor. You're needed at the palace!" a SkyWing outside called.

Falcon put his nose ring back on and turned back into Raptor. He winked at Sahara and leaped out of the cave. Sahara turned to look at her friends and they smiled at her.

"I'll be back." she said.

"Watch out for SkyWings, and -" Zodiac worried.

"And for enchanted dragons, I know." Sahara finished, rolling her eyes.

She flew out of the cave and hovered. Most of the dragons she saw were SkyWings, flying to the palace and away from it, maybe towards the delta. None were patrolling the prisons, neither were any other dragons. She twisted to fly to the left of the mountain and scanned the prisons. Sahara didn't know who she was supposed to be looking for, but by the names, they sounded like a SeaWing, SandWing, and MudWing. Once she reached the end of that side of the mountain, she noticed a SeaWing curled up in a ball, crying softly.