Lotus

Chapter 25

A day or so has passed by since we left Jade Mountain. It was hard to keep track, since we were all exhausted. Luckily, though, none of the IceWings seemed to notice us as we took off into the desert. 

We eventually made it to the Scorpion Den, quite thirsty and completely worn out. We hadn't allowed ourselves to stop much, for fear that the IceWings would come after us, unlikely as it was.

The rough walls surrounding the city seemed to tower over us as we stumbled into it, trying not to get in anyone's way. As we inserted ourselves into the crowded streets, we realized we had no idea where we were going.

"Um…" Tombolo said, glancing at each of us in turn. "Where to now?"

Not knowing how to answer, we all stayed silent.

My eyes flicked over to Sunbreaker, who was clutching his shoulder with shaking talons. I internally felt my own scratches, wincing slightly at the pain. "We find a healer. Or supplies that I can use for healing. Then we can see if we can find a way to contact one of the other teachers, and let them know what happened."

The others nodded in agreement, and we started following the flow of the dragons through the winding alleys. We stopped every now and again to ask someone if they knew where a healer was. A few dragons were kind enough to just shoo us away or point in a general direction, but most just glared at us and told us to get lost. We didn't bother those dragons again.

As we walked, I remembered reading about this place in one of the history scrolls at Jade Mountain. It was said to have been a pretty hostile environment, but was kept more or less in check by a group of dragons called the Outclaws. That society must have died out years ago, though, since it now seemed to thrive on a certain kind of chaos that came from a lack of leadership. It made me rather uneasy.

As we got deeper and deeper into the city, unfortunately, we seemed to be going absolutely nowhere. We tried asking anyone whose attention we could get for directions, but they only ignored us or shoved us away. To make matters worse, it almost seemed like someone was following us, though we couldn't find signs of anyone doing so wherever we looked.

Eventually, I realized that we weren't going to find anyone here who could help us, and that we should probably leave before anything bad happened. I was just about to tell the others so when someone slammed into the side of me. My nerves spiked so high that they hurt, and my mind started racing about who that was and what they were doing and what was going on and what I should do next.

"Kamala! What are you doing here?"

An immense wave of relief washed over me as I realized who had 'attacked' me: Cairo. 

She released me from her tight hug and looked behind me. "Tombolo! And Sunbreaker and Shadowglide! You're here, too!"

"I thought you were staying at Jade Mountain," Kosan said as he came up behind Cairo, looking something between confused and concerned.

"We were," Tombolo said, and proceeded to briefly explain what had happened. As he did, Kosan, and even Cairo, grew worried looks. They were about to ask questions when Sunbreaker interrupted.

"Look, I know this is an important thing to discuss, but is there any way we could do this after I get this wound treated?" He looked about ready to pass out.

Kosan nodded. "You're right, we can talk about this later. Let's get you some help first."

"Yeah!" Cairo exclaimed. "Ooh, let's go to our house!" With that, she bounded off, the rest of us following as quickly as we could behind her.