Casting Shadows (re writing)

Chapter 37 Fault

This is all my fault! Sightless thought. He focused on the black oblivion front of his eyes...That was all he could see...That was all he could ever see...

This is all my fault! Sightless thought. He focused on the black oblivion in front of his eyes. That was all he could see... that was all he would ever see.

...Sightless had been up late in his den. Rain pounded on top of the mountain. His name was Northwind, Northwind the Icewing! He sighed, it was an honor to be him, he knew it. He was going to save the world, but how was he supposed to save the world when his stupid guardians wouldn't even let him out of this cave?! Northwing rested his head on his white talons.

He stared at them for a while. He was one of a kind, no one in all of Pyhrria looked exactly like him. I mean, think about that! Wow... Northwind's gaze caught on Fangs. The beautiful Venomwing was fast asleep. Her head rested on her dark green talons and her chest rose softly in her sleep.

He observed her from horns to talons. It was so interesting how dragons sleep. I mean, why did they? Did dragons just sleep naturally? It must have been so weird before we knew what it meant. They must have thought the dragon was cursed by an animus! Were animuses born back then? How were they born? How was it possible for a dragon to be born with magic? He wondered how it must feel to produce magic. His mind wandered to the animus dragons of the past, before he broke himself off.

Hawk had always scolded him for asking too many questions, or wondering too much. He said if Northwind wanted to be a legend, he couldn't waste his time wondering about everything that lay in his mind. He had tried that, and he was getting better, he thought...

He got up, stretching his muscles, sore from sleep. His wings were bound; they had been since he was a hatchling. But he didn't mind really. One day he would take them off and set into the vast winds of Pyrrhia! Just then a loud thud echoed around the cave! Northwind jumped.

Had he bumped something with his tail again? Hawk would be so mad if he woke him up again! He would tear off his tail! His tail was weird, all long with rigid spikes. Focus on the reality, Northwind! Those thoughts flew by him in almost an instant, he was still quiet and aware of the abrupt noise.

He glanced behind him. Nothing was knocked over. He looked ahead of him wonderingly. There was a long silence... then ginger talon steps. Northwind looked beside him. Fang was starting to wake, and the young hatchling, Cloud, was stirring in her nest. Maybe their guardians had arrived home? Nah, why would they be up this late?

Northwind quietly wandered closer to the exit. Just as he was about to peek around the wall, a voice whispered. "Would you hurry up? My feet are getting tired." "Well it's your own fault for coming, Crocodile, you should've known it would be a non-swimming journey," the second voice spat. "Well, you could have told your father to pick a better place to hide these seagull-brains," the first voice sounded young but firm. "Like he would ever listen to me," the second voice scoffed. This voice sounded older, perhaps a few years older than Snake. "Enough complaining," a third voice said smoothly. Her voice sounded almost misty and ghostly. Northwind thought of it like a spirit speaking into the wind.

"If we fail this, your father will surely abandon my mother for good. We need this truce, Crocodile, don't be known as the one who broke it." The third voice purred, she spoke almost mindlessly. It was beautiful actually, but it also felt like it was digging into Northwing's scales. Memorizing was a good word. "Why would your father send three princesses to do this in the first place? Wouldn't Queen Eyesore kill him if he killed three of her most important dragons?" "You know him, too busy to even pay attention to me. He probably doesn't even know we're out here," the second voice chuckled.