The Mudwings of Jade Mountain Academy (Wings of Fire Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: Jade Mountain Academy

"We have to what!?" Cattail roared.

"You heard me. The queen has sent orders for you and you siblings to attend Jade Mountain Academy." The Mudwing guard said stony faced.

"I don’t think so." She retorted.

"It’s the queens orders, you have to go." Cattail was tempted to say she didn’t have to do anything, but she could already see where that conversation went.

"Fine!" she hissed instead.

"Guards will be here tomorrow afternoon to escort you and the others." The guard said and then flew away. Cattail sighed and turned back to mud behind her. She walked forward until she spotted a Mudwing with half of her submerged in mud and the other half stretched out to the driest patch of land close by. She had a mud stained scroll and was fidgeting with it so that the edge was shredded.

"Hey! Ali, we all need to have a meeting." Ali leaped up abandoning her scroll

"I'll go get them! I know where they are!" She offered immediately.

"Thanks.” Cattail said. She knew where the others were too but Ali always loved to have something useful to do. Ali was her nickname. Her real name was Alligator. She was dark greenish-brown with a one gold hoop in each ear and a set of dark brown freckle scales on her face on both sides. She was also really small and the youngest of 7 by about 20 minutes from oldest to youngest. Cattail watched as she darted off. Soon a small clear brown dragon came winging to ground.

"Hey Pond!" Cattail called.

"Hey!" Pond called back. As she landed her pale white and pink tinged seashell necklace thumped against her chest.

"Wait... weren't you practicing flying with Salamander? Where is he?" Cattail questioned. Pond smiled.

"Let’s just say I tricked him in chasing me through a gap between two tree trunks that was way too small for him. I left him back there with Ali to help get him out." Pond was nearly double the size of Ali but was still the second smallest of the group. She could easily fit through gaps the third largest dragonet, Salamander, couldn’t. A roar echoed through the marsh

"POND!YOU ARE SO DEAD WHEN I FIND YOU!" Ali must have gotten Salamander out. A brown Mudwing with darker brown patches shot from the tree and tackled Pond. She screamed in surprise and they started to roll around locked in a mock battle. It ended when Pond had Salamander pinned down in a mud puddle.

"Ha Ha! I win!" She cried.

"I don’t think so!" He said and rolled so he was sitting on top of her.

"Hey! Get off of me you great lump!" She complained.

"Don’t worry Pond! I'll rescue you!" Cattail roared and launched herself at Salamander knocking him off Pond. She then sat on him.

"Hey! No fair! Your bigger than me!"

"Oh so sitting on Pond was fair?"

"Absolutely.'' Cattail rolled her eyes but slid off of Salamander. She looked up and saw a dragon circling overhead with one of his wings slightly crooked. He had broken it years before.

"Mudpile!" Salamander suddenly roared and dropped on her back. Cattail yelped in surprise. Pond smiled and joined Salamander in crushing Cattail. The dragon flying above tucked in his wings and dropped down on her too. "Oof!" They grunted as he landed.

"Oh thanks for the help Dragonfly!" She growled. Dragonfly only smiled. Another Mudwing landed in the clearing. He was basic looking except for the extra patterning on his back legs and his powerful muscles. He was the largest of the group besides Cattail, the Bigwings.

"Avalanche help!" Cattail cried. Avalanche smiled and said,

"I'm coming Salamander.'' He joined the mudpile. Finally a beautiful Mudwing landed with Ali at her side. She was strange for Mudwings but would always be beautiful to her family. She was very pale brown with a more wiry build than most Mudwings and shockingly blue eyes. She had strange markings around her eyes, on her legs, and down her side.

"What are we mad about today?" She asked. The whole Mudpile stopped moving and looked at her.

"Change Mudpile!" Salamander roared. "Attack Delta!" Avalanche chimed in. Delta screamed and tried to bolt out of the way as every dragon turned to tackle her. The dragonets played and tumbled until they were all laying in the mud, covered in mud and dirt, and panting heavily,

"So what, exactly, did we need to talk about?" Delta finally asked. Right to the point. Delta always was too smart for her own good. Cattail sighed.

"A guard showed up just before Ali came to get you with orders from the queen." She started.

"The Queen?" squeaked Ali. Cattail nodded and continued

"She has sent orders for all of us to attend Jade Mountain Academy." The others sat for a moment in stunned silence before finally Pond spoke.

"Does that mean we are going to be separated?" Her whispered voice was shaking. Pond had always been the most fragile. Cattail didn’t respond which gave everyone an answer.

"When are they going to come get us?" Avalanche asked. His voice was strong, he was always a rock.

"Tomorrow afternoon."

"We should pack then" Delta put in. Cattail nodded.

"Then we have the best last day ever." Salamander finished. Everyone couldn’t help but to smile. The dragons spent the rest of the day gathering their few things. They had always had each other so they never needed much stuff. They all wore some form of jewelry. All of her brothers each wore one gold colored hoop with a tiny piece of amber hanging off of it and Salamander wore 2 gold colored bangles. Cattail herself only wore 2 silver studs in each ear. Delta wore a small pearl bracelet with a bigger pearl hanging on it, she also wore two silver studs in each ear. One of each stud set had a tear shaped pearl hanging from it. The pearl jewelry had been found near their home on two different random occasions and all the sibs agreed they looked best on Delta, Pond had her seashell necklace and 2 large pearl earrings traded from years of colleting odd trinkets. Ali wore only a small gold colored hoop in each ear.

They soon had their bags packed and the sun started to set. Cattail sunk into a mud puddle happy for its comfort. Dragonfly curled up half way submerged on her back, Delta went under one of Cattails wings with Ali on her back, Avalanche went under Cattails other wing, Pond laid in the mud with Cattails tail wrapped around her, and last Salamander was stretched out over Cattails back, Dragonfly, his head laying on Avalanches back, and his tail draped across Delta and Ali with the end of it over Ponds snout. Three moons, I'm really going to miss this when we get to Jade Mountain Academy, Cattail thought. Then the world faded into darkness as she fell asleep.