Winged

Chapter 1

Uroda collapsed onto the school's cloud. Stracony was lying next to her, breathing heavily. They were probably late, but at that point they didn't care. A dragon. It ran through Uroda's mind like wind rushing through her feathers, or rain running off her face. She looked to Stracony, who was already gathering himself up and beginning to panic. Uroda jumped up and grabbed him, gripping his shoulders.

"URODA, WHAT IN THE QUEENS NAME WAS THAT?" Stracony whispered, grabbing his forehead. Uroda began shaking violently and grabbed his mouth,

"I don't know but SHHH! We have to think about this logically!" Uroda murmured, letting him go. He nodded, rubbing his wings anxiously. She looked at the school then remembered the test they had to take.

"Like, should we tell the queen? What if we saw something we weren't supposed to? What if that... that thing comes up here? It was BREAKING THE STORM BARRIER! It's going to get through, it's going to come and get us. I thought Sokol was safe! The Slayers can't kill THAT thing! What do we do? Uroda are you-" Uroda shoves a hand onto his mouth and drags him into school, hurrying to their flying class.

"Talk later, focus on test!" Uroda barked, turning the corner of the hallway and dashing towards the flying facility.

"You know I can't even take the test, right?" Stracony said, "And there are way more dragon-that's-coming-to-kill-us things to worry about right now!"

"That doesn't mean you can't cheer me on. And it might distract you so you can not freak out, and cause a scene!" Uroda huffed, pushing him into the facility and taking her seat. He slid into the seat next to her and put his head down, throwing his hands over his head. Uroda rubbed his back, worried. He's right, we need to tell somebody, but... It didn't break through, right? It'll be fine, Everything is fine, we're going to be safe...

Stracony lifted his head as people flooded into the class, they'd probably scouted the area they were flying out before the test. Raze, their teacher, scowled at the sight of them. Murmurs and giggles filled the room, upsetting Uroda's already petrified stomach. This is NOT HELPING, Raze... Uroda thought, frustrated.

"Ah, and here we have the Winglet who consistently- and I mean CONSISTENTLY - decides they are better than EVERYONE ELSE here, and skips out on the preview." Raze scoffed, watching Uroda fume with his dark, mocking gaze.

"I don't need the fly-through, I fly better than YOU; Raze." 

"And I don't need a Winglet too stubborn to listen to their captain." Raze barked, silencing her. Stracony looked at Uroda, then back to Raze. He raised an eyebrow,

"Raze, you know damn well she'd make a better captain. Don't act like your royal affiliation didn't give you an edge. Besides, I'd rather have her lead us than some snot-nosed brat." Stracony bit, looking back down into his book.

"Like I'm going to listen to a cripple, you little Clip-wing!" Raze sneered, tilting his head. Uroda jumped out of the table and charged at Raze, slamming her forearm into his neck and pressing him against a wall.

"Don't you dare... say Stracony is clipped..." Uroda growled, breathing heavily. Stracony ran up and grabbed her shoulder, making her drop Raze. He grabbed his neck and fell to the floor, coughing.

"It's fine, Uroda. Don't let him get to you." Stracony whispered, pulling her away. Uroda pushed his hand off,

"No, it's not fine! I'm sick of him saying you're clipped, instead of teaching you how to stay balanced in the air! He's just jealous of your wings, and he REFUSES to help you!" 

"I know, I know. Calm down. Just ace this test and get us both out of here, okay?" Stracony murmured, hugging her. She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.