Epic WoF book

Fanfiction short story

Grapefruit looked down at his talons. What was the point of this? There was no reason for him to do this. He snuck through the trees, making sure that he was camouflaged to his surroundings. He moved as swiftly as possible. If the Rainwings found him here, there would be consequences. They had already banned him from the rainforest. He was a disgrace to his tribe. It had only been 50 years since the scorching and Grapefruit was always afraid of scavengers killing him. He was only twelve, but the detail told to him about it was horrifying. Only a few years ago, Grapefruit had seen a scavenger in the forest holding a long pointy stick. He had casually backed away, his heart pounding. He had no idea why he was so afraid of them. Snap! Grapefruit looked a the stick below him. He needed to be quieter. Enemycrusher would be enraged if he didn't do what she had asked. Grapefruit crawled into the village. He snuck past all the houses and platforms. Fortunately, most of them were in the trees. Then he saw what he was looking for. The hatchery. He slowly paced to it, as quietly as possible. He didn't see a guard, which was unusual for the Rainwing hatchery. He slid up to the window and peeked in. Instead of eggs, there were fruits and other plants. There were coconuts and bananas and berries. He saw a pile of tangerines and lemons. They moved it?! I can't believe they moved it! Grapefruit had to find the hatchery, or else he would be dead. He wondered if he should look in the trees. On one talon, if he did, he would be easier to catch. On the other talon, if he showed up to Enemycrusher without an egg, he would surely die. He checked around on the ground for a while before giving up and deciding to take flight. He was glad that it was dark. He wondered if it would have been better to take the egg in the day when the Rainwings slept. He knew that many of them liked to stay awake at night. Grapefruit looked into one of the huts' windows. A Rainwing was walking toward the door. It sighed as it stepped into the night. Grapefruit held still. He didn't want to get caught. The Rainwing yawned and took off. Grapefruit let out a sigh of relief and continued his search. Enemycrusher's deadline was about the middle of the day, so Grapefruit picked up his pace. It was almost dawn when he found the hatchery. It was a large wooden building on one of the platforms. The usual guard was standing by the only doorway. Grapefruit headed for one of the windows on the other side of the building. Grapefruit tried to climb in, but the window was too small. He got his neck and one of his front legs stuck in it. He knew the guard could easily just turn around and he would see him because Grapefruit couldn't stay camouflaged while he was stuck in a window. It was too frustrating. He could see the color rippling through his scales. Surprisingly, he was able to loosen up and pull himself out. His neck hurt. He needed a diversion for that guard. Then he had an idea. He knew how much the Rainwings loved fruit. He bolted to the old hatchery and grabbed a small rock and one of the tangerines. He quickly flew back. The sun was started to peek out above the trees. Grapefruit was running out of time. He got to the new hatchery and landed on the roof. He dropped the rock so the guard could hear it. Then he dropped the tangerine. "Huh?" The guard grumbled. He walked around the corner and saw the fruit. "Oh, I'm hungry," he said. He bent to pick it up. Grapefruit gently climbed from the roof into the hatchery and dropped silently to the floor. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. His talons trembled. He looked upon the rows and rows of eggs. They all had some sort of marking to indicate whose they belonged to. Grapefruit wondered what would happen if they suddenly stopped caring. These eggs would never have a family. He chuckled at the thought of it. That would never happen. He selected a random egg from the hatchery and clutched it to his chest. The marking on it was a little tree. Grapefruit thought of the mother of this egg. Would she be really despondent? Or angry? What would become of the guard? Would he be killed? He would probably be banished. Grapefruit knew how horrible that would be, but he took the egg anyway. He had never questioned why Enemycrusher wanted a Rainwing egg, but he wasn't about to do it now. He turned and hobbled on three legs to get out of the doorway. Fortunately, the guard was still eating the fruit in the same spot where he had picked it up. Grapefruit quietly lifted off and headed away as the sun rose in the sky.

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Grapefruit headed back to Enemycrusher's secret base. It was a small cave located in one of the mountains close to Jade Mountain. He had memorized exactly how to get there so that he would never get lost. He flew around the small peak until he spotted the small hole on the South side of the mountain. He swooped down and landed into the dark cave. He found the tunnel with his talons and walked down it, using the wall for guidance. He turned and then was able to see light flickering somewhere ahead. He hobbled toward the light while clutching the egg. He turned the corner and immediately declared, "I have returned, my master." Grapefruit had never liked using that phrase, but Enemycrusher demanded that they call her that. 

"It took you long enough," she scowled. "I was beginning to think you weren't up to the task." They were in another small cave with absolutely nothing in it except for food and a small rock platform that Enemycrusher sat on. Two torches were connected to the walls on both sides of the cave. The only other dragon that knew about this cave other than Grapefruit and the giant Nightwing was Darkmoon. She was also a Nightwing but was only five. She was a servant to Enemycrusher as well, although Grapefruit suspected that she was her daughter. Darkmoon was waving a large branch with leaves to fan Enemycrusher off.

"I have succeeded in fetching a Rainwing egg for you," Grapefruit informed, holding the egg out in front of him.

"Give it to me," Enemycrusher demanded. Grapefruit reluctantly passed the smooth egg into Enemycrusher's talons. "Yes. Good," she said in an evil voice.

"Um, why do you need a Rainwing egg?" Grapefruit questioned. He got ready for all the yelling about how he should never ask questions. But the yelling never came. 

"I need this because it will allow me to conquer Phyrria!" She laughed evilly. "I will find out how to use your venom against yourselves. It shouldn't be hard to determine how to use the venom. Then I can use it for propaganda to get more tribes to ally with me. Then we can wipe out the Rainwings. And slowly, but surely, I will take over every tribe!" Grapefruit sat back. Should he let her just go on with this? This was his tribe he was betraying. But if he stayed with her, he would be safe. Wouldn't he? 

"What about me?" He asked nervously.

"Oh, you'll be my top advisor. I give you my word." She grinned evilly. Grapefruit was about to let it slip by when he saw Enemycrusher put a claw to the egg. He couldn't let her have it. The poor Rainwing would never have its own life. It would probably be killed as soon as it hatched. No, I can't let this happen! It was easy to say no inside, but outside was a different story. Then Grapefruit hissed and fired a trail of venom at Enemycrusher's face. It seemed as if she had been ready for it when she ducked and rolled out of her chair. She lept onto Grapefruit and instantly went for his neck. The Rainwing was much lighter and smaller, so it was harder to fight. Enemycrusher held his snout shut so he couldn't fire venom. She said, "Useless Rainwing! I never should have trusted you!" Her large jaws opened and she readied for the kill. Grapefruit tried to get her off, but he couldn't. Even when he scratched her underbelly and legs with his claws, nothing seemed to happen. No! I can't die! Not now! Then Enemycrusher attacked his neck. Grapefruit squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for all the pain, but the sound that came next was not his scream. It was a different scream. He felt the weight on top of him disappear. Then he opened his eyes. He saw Enemycrusher on the floor beside him, blood spurting out of the slit on her neck. Darkmoon sat over her. She held a long scythe that was blood red. She was breathing heavily.

"But what? Why?" Grapefruit inquired, confused. 

"I had to. Mother was just too evil." Grapefruit rolled over and stood up. He was sore. He was very sore. He saw blood running down his front left leg and winced. "You look horrible. Do you want any help?" Darkmoon asked.

"How could you help me? And where did you get that scythe? There was never one here."

"Uh, I haven't told anyone about this yet, but... I'm an animus."

"Are you kidding me?" Grapefruit was shocked. He had never even seen a real animus. 

"No, I'm not. Now hold still." Darkmoon whispered something to her scythe. It turned into a brown cloth. Then she rubbed it onto his leg and shoulder area. All the blood disappeared. There was no wound.

"Whoah!" Grapefruit looked up to thank the dragon, but she was gone. "Uh, thank you," he said anyway. He scooped up the egg and headed out the cave and back to the Rainforest.