Wind streamed across the sky, fast and furious. It brought cold air rushing into Aggro's face and tugging at her fire red wings. She shook herself and shivered, she breathed a spurt of flame to warm herself.
"You can stay in my nest until you find a cave for yourself, alright?" Mama Ironclaw was saying, her babies playing with her giant metal-scaled tail.
"Thanks." Cutter said, scratching his neck. He suddenly flinched and shook his arm as if it was in pain.
Aggro noticed and frowned, "Are you ok?"
"Yea, fine. Just Razorwing molting stuff I guess." He said, sounding slightly worried, all earlier pride gone.
Aggro nodded and climbed into the nest. The young Ironclaws spotted her and ran over yelping with delight. She couldn't help but smile as the babies ran her over and started licking her. The weight was lifted as the dragon's started going over to Cutter and started pulling him down.
"Woah!" He said and tumbled over. He hissed suddenly and got up, shaking out his front arms. The babies didn't seem to notice and started tugging on his claws.
"Hey little guys, over here." Aggro called and scampered over, she saw the Mama Ironclaw smiling out of the corner her eye. All paralyzing fear of BoulderDeath seemed to be forgotten, it was a happy time now. Well, for now.
———
Parrot sat on the roof of the Roost, his mind buzzing with worry and fear. He clearly remembered the blood-stained teeth depicted on all the cave drawings of BoulderDeath. The red-eyed menace was the most common dragon legend ever.
"Hey Parrot, wanna join in some target practice." Dak said, flying up on Winger. The blue swiftwing had a used training target gripped in his dark claws.
"Sure..." He said hesitantly and hopped up, almost instantly eye-level with the dragon and boy. He flew down after them, Winger quickly tossing the old target into the sea.
A whole array of trading supplies was ordered neatly. In the clearing of the Roost, Leyla and Summer were there to, but Burple was no where in sight.
"Nice to see you Parrot." Leyla waved over as they landed.
"Let's go easy first, try to hit one of the green targets." Summer said to Parrot.
The Green and blue Deadly Nader couldn't hold himself back. He was surprisingly very good at shooting accurately. He fired three bright yellow shots instantly, hitting all of the three green targets. They instantly melted into a puddle of hissing goo.
Parrot hopped back, "Oh... heh heh... sorry..."
———
It was night, Cutter and Aggro had found a cave and made comfortable nests in it made of roots and rocks. A storm was passing over head and Aggro was settling down inside. Cutter had been acting odd the whole day, there seemed to be something wrong with his front arms, but he hadn't spoken about it.
Right now Cutter was gazing at the miraculously rainless storm, thundering ever closer. A forbidden part of him wanted to be up there in the storm. It seemed impossible to keep his big secret with his fifth molding.
Remember what happened when you told anyone last time. They abandoned you. He thought, willing himself to keep his mouth shut.
But surely I can tell Aggro? She's my closest friend... she wouldn't betray me... The other part of Cutter's mind argued.
He shook his head and continued to stare endlessly at the approaching storm. A zap of pain darted along his front legs. He flinched and growled quietly. Aggro was inside finishing up the nests, of all the times this was the time to tell her that...
"Oww!" He yelped out loud and then instantly snapped his jaw shut. The pain was fiercer now and larger, his front legs felt weak, as if all the life was slowly draining from them. He now knew for sure what was going on. And it would most definitely expose his secret.
His scales shifted, he would be molting very soon. Uneasiness prickled through him, along with worry and a dash of fear.
"Owww..." Cutter hissed, he saw Aggro come up beside him.
"What's going on?" She said, looking worried.
"I'm just... ow... molting. Like a normal Razorwing." He said and gritted his teeth.
She inched closer, "Cutter... I know-"
He cut her off swiftly, "Fine, fine. I'm about to tell you something that's really... important..."
Aggro nodded, wide eyed, she wondered what was going on.
"You know something about hybrids... if they are hatched with say, four legs like a Swiftwing, but their mother was a dragon like a Deadly Nader, then since their mother only has two back legs they would eventually lose thier front legs..." He said, building up to his main point.
"What are you saying? What does this mean?" Aggro said.
Is Cutter a...? No, not a hybrid. But iv'e never seen another Razorwing before and I know everyone else hasn't... it couldn't be... She thought, her wings slowly dropping to her sides.
"Your not a..." She started, "You... your losing your front legs when you're molting... are you?"
Cutter turned to her, he looked her in they eyes, "Aggro, I'm half Skrill."
