Wings of Fire • Dragon of Warriors [3]

Chapter Sixteen

I am so SO sorry for the long wait. I was caught up in writer's block for anyone who doesn't know and I finally figured out what to write. THEN my friend recommended practicing animation for a skills competition we're going to take part in in the spring so I was doing that. Usually, I try to write for 30 min every morning but with the writer's block, it was hard to get more than a sentence out. Now I know what to write and there will be more plot-related events than filler.

Some of you asked so I'll show the animation that I made. This was about 136 frames give or take and a pain to put together with the sketchy software that I use (hence, "and I Cry" in the title...). I also lost a few hours of sleep to make this. Hope you like it!

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Early morning sunlight lit up the sky behind the clouds. It was hard to see up on the plateau, but Quickclaws didn't mind. It was also freezing – the dry kind that makes one's eyes water. He dealt with that by blinking the tears away before they froze.

     He was out training. There was no use letting his knowledge go to waste when there was a rebellion on the horizon. Plus, Quickclaws hadn't gotten much sleep so he might as well be productive. He had woken up in the middle of the night due to mysterious circumstances again. He had fidgeted in his nest for hours, trying to fall asleep to no avail. Finally, after deciding there were better things to do than lay around and mope, he found himself in his favoured spot to train: the plateau beside the mountain.

     Today was the morning after the revelation that the traitors' – now dubbed 'turnscales' – whereabouts were currently unknown. Now, not only were they up against an entire tribe of SkyWings – dragons who were far more suited to fighting than SwiftScales – but they also were up against each other.

     For Quickclaws, a dragon who values loyalty, this is a difficult prospect.

     He was used to trusting the dragons he met. After all, the idea of dragons disliking the rule of Swansong and Rapidwings seemed hard to believe because of the way both of them acted. They were both kind, caring, fair, and many other good things and that showed when they ran the kingdom.

     Then again, Quickclaws was biased. He remembered after they had freed Brisktail, as they were walking through the Underground towards home. He had explained to them everything he knew, and one thing in particular had stood out to Quickclaws: how Windwhipper even got the idea to revolt in the first place. Brisktail had said that it was because of the actions of a previous queen, but then didn't explain more after that, as if he hadn't looked into it. Quickclaws was still curious.

     I could probably ask Speedscar about that, Quickclaws thought as he performed a somersault dodge. He's old enough to have been around when Swansong's mother was in power...

     He continued practicing routines and sets until he noticed a dragon was watching him. Brisktail was crouched in the snow across from him in the lee of a rock outcropping. He was staring out at the clouds, observing them as they passed by.

     Smiling as he noticed him, Quickclaws called out: "Brisktail!" As he loped over to him, Brisktail turned his head to watch. Quickclaws skidded under the shelter of the rock and hopped from talon to talon to keep his rhythm.

     "What are you doing here?" he asked.

     Brisktail took his time to respond, as he usually did: "We're all going out on another hunting trip. Care to join us?"