Bigwings

Chapter Eight

SIENNA

"WAKE UP! SIENNA, WAKE UP!" Auburn squealed excitedly. Sienna groaned and opened her eyes. Auburn's dumb face was in a smile. "Earth is ready to make his choice," he said, rubbing his talons together. "Then we can get out of here!"

A feeling of dulled excitement covered Sienna. Her eagerness to leave the rainforest was not very ferocious...but that had something to do with Leaf. Sienna was very confused: did she want to stay or did she want to leave? I have to leave, she told herself. There are so many dragons here! Yes, she hated all the dragons in the rainforest...all of them except for Leaf. I'd bet he wants to stay, she thought sadly. He grew up here. He's safe here. He has tons of fruit to eat and many games to play with his fellow RainWings. What would he ever do in the Mud Kingdom? 

Then, she thought about her brothers. They would probably negatively react to her relationship with a RainWing. Auburn would react most intensively, of course. I wonder, Sienna thought to herself. Does Soil like Grapefruit? It was hard to tell, but the way he sometimes looked at her...He likes her. I'm sure of it. 

"Grapefruit!" Soil said, tapping his claws on the metal bars. "Will our meeting with Earth commence in the throne room?" "Yes, Soil," Grapefruit said, bubbles of pink appearing on her scales and fading. Sienna scrunched up her snout. Here was proof that Soil understood how she felt right now. He has a relationship with a RainWing...but what does he want? Does he want to leave or stay? 

Grapefruit unlocked the door. The trio of MudWings marched after her to the throne room, ready to listen to whatever Earth decided.

Queen Cockatiel was perched on her throne. Her scales were light lavender and pale yellow, and her claws had crisscrossing lines of dark purple on them. "Bow," she ordered in the same voice she had used on the day of the MudWings' arrival to the rainforest. Sienna bowed.

"Grass, enter Earth," Cockatiel commanded. Grass seemed to be Cockatiel's right-claw dragon. She was always in the throne room with the queen, her scales constantly that bright, alarming, red-orange color.

Earth entered. He seemed to have grown even thinner and there were dark hollows under his eyes. "Well, MudWing," Cockatiel said, tapping on one of the throne's armrests with her claws, "What do you say? Do you want to go with your siblings to your muddy kingdom, or do you want them to stay here and help you work for me?" Earth lowered his head. His tail lashed and his claws twitched. "I--I want to speak privately with my siblings," he said quietly. Cockatiel grumbled something about stupid MudWings and then said to Grass: "Take them to one of the back rooms to talk. I give them five minutes." Grass opened a door. Sienna glanced at Soil and saw that his tail was twisted around Grapefruit's. When he saw her looking at them, he quickly untwined his tail, gave Grapefruit an apologetic glance, and followed his siblings into the room.

"What is it, Earth?" Sienna asked her bigwings. "Listen, you guys," he said. "I really want to see the Mud Kingdom. I really do. But I also want to stay here and--" "But don't you feel imprisoned?" Auburn interjected. "Don't you feel like you want to escape? Don't you understand that the RainWings are just keeping you alive so you can work for them? You DON'T FIT IN HERE! Growing up in the rainforest doesn't make you a RainWing! You can still become a true MudWing, Earth! Come with us and we will teach you everything you need to know."

Something new appeared in Earth's eyes. "Oh," he said. "I never looked at it that way. I guess they are keeping me prisoner...they don't give me large enough of a house, they don't assign me any dragonets to play with, so I'm very lonely...I guess all they do is make me work for them in exchange for shelter and food!" 

There was a hiss and a RainWing burst into the room. Her scales were dark purple and black. She landed on Auburn and bared her fangs. "You're trying to steal our worker, aren't you," she snarled, her claws sinking so deep into Auburn's scales that she drew blood. "You don't deserve to live. He grew up with US and he is OURS!" The MudWings were too shocked to react. But then, she opened her mouth...dark venom shot from her fangs...and landed on Auburn's shoulder.

He roared in agony. Sienna finally snapped back into reality. She tackled the dark RainWing, mercilessly hitting her and clawing her. They attacked each other with full strength. Then, after a long while of pain and claws, the RainWing immobilized the female MudWing. She was about to venom Sienna, but then Sienna remembered her weapon. She hissed, summoning the fire from deep inside her. Flames rose in her throat, and she directed them at the RainWing's face.

She yelled. She fell off of Sienna, her scales white. This reminded Sienna of how she burned Rosebush. The RainWing was blinded. She leaped at the closest dragon nearby, who happened to be Soil. She nearly kicked his talons with brute strength and was about to shoot venom straight into his eyes when someone roared: "NO!" A red blur demolished the door. The other RainWing rammed into the first one, knocking the breath out of her. The second RainWing was Grapefruit. She shot venom into the first RainWing's ear, which was when the white-scaled RainWing went limp.

"Grapefruit!" Soil cried. "Grapefruit, he's probably going to die!!!" He and Sienna crouched beside Auburn, who was beginning to faint. "What's happening?" asked a voice. It was Leaf. Leaf, the one Sienna was fairly sure she loved. "Leaf, get help!" Sienna yelled. "Okay, on it," said Leaf, recognizing the situation. He returned a few seconds later with a healer who crouched beside Auburn and applied something to the venom scar. It looked less horrible within fifteen seconds of the product's application onto the scar.

"Woah," Auburn said in a cracked voice, standing up. He looked at the white RainWing's dead body. "W-what happened?" Earth, who had been sitting with his wings over his head, showed his face.

"Oh, no," he said softly. "No, no, no. Please tell me this is not what it looks like." "What is it?" Sienna demanded, twining her tail around Leaf's, who had returned with the healer. "You have killed," he said in a shivery voice, "Princess Vine, Queen Cockatiel's favorite daughter."

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A/N

Wow. What a dramatic chapter! So, yeah, Vine is dead now, she won't come back ever again, she will stop bullying Rosebush alongside her parents. This means Rosebush is the only remaining heir to the throne (because Cockatiel doesn't have any siblings and they don't have any dragonets). That'll be epic: a wingless queen! 

The only way for another heir to come into existence is for Cockatiel to have eggs again. She might do that because she hates Rosebush...but who knows! I might add that, but I might not...

P.S. I don't apologize for the cliffhanger >:)

-Blizzard