The Prince of Night and Rain

Chapter 5

Princess Firefly! SHE'S SO CUTE!!!

"Hey! Not so fast peregrine!" Prince Shadowscale called as he beat his wings to catch up to his friend. "I'm not part SkyWing you know!"

The rusty red SkyWing whipped around and flew next to his friend. He slowed his flight to a slow, casual glide and smiled sheepishly towards his friend.

"Sorry." He said. "I'm used to flying with other SkyWings, of who... well... are all really fast. So, I kinda have to also fly that fast too."

"Yeah, I know." Shadowscale replied with a sigh. "Guess we can never do races... I'll always loose!"

They both laughed at that as they flew above the thick canopy of trees together. "It's incredible how small the mountains look from this far away." Peregrine said after a small while, slowing to a hover to admire the scene.

"I envy you, you know." Shadowscale replied with another sigh causing Peregrine to turn towards him with a raised eyebrow. "I never left the Rainforest. I have no idea how the outside world looks like. Then again, I just turned three but still... you have already been to more places than I have..."

"It's not as good as you think." It was Peregrine's turn to sigh. "My parents want me to be like them. Soldiers, under the service of Queen Ruby. But... I don't want that. I mean, I don't mind fighting if I had my back against a wall. But I can't see me making fighting a lifestyle. I want to... No..." He shook his head and smiled. "You'll laugh."

"Come on." Shadowscale said, flying a bit closer to his friend. "You can tell me."

"Well... I wanna be a writer." Peregrine said, then stared intently at Shadowscale as if expecting him to laugh. Instead, Shadowscale looked at his friend with awe. 

"THAT'S SO COOL!!! Why would I think that's stupid, or funny? Writers are creative and awesome! I LOVE reading! I'd choose a good book over socializing with other dragons any day!" The Prince exclaimed. Peregrine gave him a grateful smile. 

"So." The SkyWing started with a grin. "Am I an exception though?"

"NOPE!" Shadowscale replied defiantly, then stuck out his tongue and darted off.

"HEY!" Peregrine called out with a chuckle of his own and darted after the prince. "TAKE THAT BACK OR I WON'T GIVE YOU A FREE COPY OF MY BOOK!"

"CATCH ME FIRST!" Shadowscale declared then plunged into the forest. Peregrine rolled his eyes and darted after him, expecting this to be easy. After all, he IS a SkyWing, and speed was his greatest advantage. Though his fire was significantly weaker due to his IceWing blood, his wings where just as large, muscular, and powerful as any other SkyWings'. 

However, he soon realized that flying in the forest itself was harder than he expected. He kept flying into vines and branches, narrowly missing a head-on collision with a tree trunk once or twice as he tried to catch up to the NightWing/RainWing prince. Rather than being annoyed by the fact that he couldn't catch up to Shadowscale, Peregrine marveled at how he moved through the forest with such ease and grace at such a young age. Using his tail to wrap around vines and branches and swing off, gliding only for a short distance before either jumping on larger branches or swinging again with his tail.

Shadowscale finally stopped in a small clearing, panting slightly as he analyzed his surroundings. There was a small creek before him, that started from the north and trailed south, vanishing into the foliage before he can see where it ended. There where banana trees as well as a coconut and oddly, a tangerine tree along with the many tropical trees that surrounded him. There was also a strawberry bush to his right and a blackberry to his left. He made his way towards the stream, took out a canteen he keeps under his left wing, and filled it with some water and drank. Relief flooded through his entire body as the satisfying, cold liquid flowed down his throat and into his empty belly. He then turned his attention to the tangerine tree, and debated whether he wanted one of those, or a strawberry. He could hear Peregrine getting closer, and knew he had to decide on the whim.