Into The Wild ~ Book 2 ~ Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 3 ~ Trackers

~~~Shadowhunter~~~

The rain forest was humid, miserable and buggy. Shadowhunter officially hated it.

Not that there was anything she could really do about being there, since it was quite a reasonable place for the Flares to go, seeing as most of the RainWings were on the edge of rebelling. But seriously. How could anyone like being here? She fully understood her father's reasoning when he'd put the NightWings back in their ancestral home.

Panther, on the other hand, was ecstatic, and the euphoric joy so unlike her was making Shadowhunter happy too. Not happening, she thought grimly. The rain forest is horrible. End of story.

The NightWing took some comfort in the fact that all of the other Shades were just as miserable as she was, Shatter, Scorch and Sandstorm most of all.

"Why is it so loud here?" Shatter hissed, gouging deep marks into a tree that was standing a little too close. "I can barely hear a thing over it all!"

Shadowhunter winced in understanding. Back in the kingdom of night, you could hear everything for miles...here there was just too much. It all blended into one long sound, one that was getting seriously annoying. Why couldn't it be the SandWings or the SkyWings that were close to revolting. Why did it have to be RainWings?

"We're almost at the village," Panther suddenly announced, appearing in a tree a few tail lengths ahead of their group. And then I'll have no choice but to talk to father, her thoughts continued in a more desolate tone.

"Thank the starry skies!" Shatter gasped, shaking several insects off of his scales. "This place is maddening!"

Personally, Shadowhunter wasn't sure if the village was going to be much better. After all, it was still in the rain forest, and inhabited by dragons that were probably the most deadly tribe on Panzia. Again, she wished that Chameleon had done a better job of pacifying his subjects.

"Which way?" she snapped, glaring at the place where she thought Panther was.

"Right over here," the RainWing's disembodied voice said, growing fainter as she spoke.

Shadowhunter corrected her route, ducking under a green strand that may or may not have been a large snake. Shatter showed less restraint. He full on bolted in the direction of the village, scattering insects and spatters of mud in his wake. Peregrine snarled mutely as an especially large chunk hit her square in the forehead.

The SkyWing princess was walking in the middle of their group, wrapped in chains only barely loose enough to let her move. She was attached to Pantalus, who's eyes were half-closed, and the SilkWing prisoner that had refused to tell them his name. Seeing Shadowhunter's gaze on him, the Flare gave her a glare that would have been worthy of her father in even his worst moods.

Rankled by the show of disrespect, the NightWing slid over to him and smiled nastily. "Do you want to know what we'll do to your friends after you help us catch them?" she asked sweetly. "I'm sure my father wants them alive, of course, but we can always organize a few 'accidents' first. It would be ever so sad. What do you think? Maybe we could drop that annoying LeafWing hybrid from a great height. Not all of us are that strong, and your friends are quite heavy, after all."

"You'll never catch them," he hissed, his voice muffled from the chains around his snout. "I'll never help you!"

"I don't really think you have a choice," Shadowhunter answered calmly. "That Breath of Evil vine is ever so helpful, don't you think?" She then walked back up to the front of the procession, smiling to herself.

After a few more minutes of the torturous trek, a small patch of light filtered through the tree tops. Shadowhunter glanced up to see a wooden platform directly above her. Seriously? The village is made of tree houses? What kind of sane dragon would willfully choose to live in the air?

However, Scorch was the only other one that seemed to think along the same line as her. All of the other Shades were already flying up, apparently glad to be out of the mud. The three prisoners also remained where they were. Their wings were too tightly bound for them to even spread them.

"Follow me!" Shadowhunter barked, gesturing with her head in the direction she wanted to go. "We'll drop them off in my father's prison, and then head up to talk to Chameleon."

Scorch wrinkled his snout, either at the thought of talking to the king or of continuing on through the mud, Shadowhunter didn't know. Either way, he started walking without complaint.

The prison wasn't hard to find. It loomed out of the trees, screaming unnaturalness with every brick. Every member of their little party couldn't help but shiver slightly at the sight of it.

"I don't like this," Scorch murmured, strangely tense. "Let's toss them in and get out of here."

Shadowhunter nodded silently, and yanked on the chains binding the prisoners. "Come on," she snarled, trying to mask her unease with anger. She led them around to the doorway and inside, appraising the thick bars on every cell. Darkstalker was very good at making inescapable jails.

Even though she knew the building was a product of her father's magic, she still didn't like the grim atmosphere, so wasted no time in tossing the three prisoners into one of the larger cells, next to a couple of petrified RainWings that stared at her hopelessly. The door slammed shut with a loud echo, and stayed that way. No one could open it now, not unless they have express permission from either Darkstalker or Chameleon. It was quite a handy spell, if she said so herself.

"Let's go," Shadowhunter said to Scorch as she swept out of the jail, already spreading her wings in preparation to take off.

Together, they flew up into the trees, where the rest of the Shades were waiting. It was time to capture all of the Flares once and for all.