Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 34: Desperation

-We'll be jumping around a lot here and things will change quickly again. That's all part of my plan, though! I'll keep this author's note short and let you get right to it.

Enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

"H-Hey..." 

I grumbled as I was gently shaken from my sleep, taking a few seconds to remember why I wasn't in chains. As soon as I did, I leaped from my prone and vulnerable position and tackled whoever got so dangerously close to me. A Flame-Skin laid on his side under my paws, its wide, terrified eyes locked onto my bared teeth. It was surprisingly smaller than me, making me wonder how old it was. Guilt wormed its way into my heart at the terror in its eyes. It was probably just a very young fledlging; it most likely didn't mean me any harm.

I stepped off of the dragon with a soft sigh, nudging its back to encourage it to stand, wincing at the short nubs that typically held that species' distinct spine 'spikes.' It looked like they were torn off. What kind of childhood has this dragon had? I looked it in the eye when it stood. "Don't wake me like that," I grumbled quietly. "You scared me."

"S-Scared you?" Its voice very clearly belonged to a male. 

"I'm not fearless. Nobody is."

His brown eyes studied me as he gradually calmed down. "But you don't look scared of anything. You're strong, fast, skilled, beautiful, brave-"

"I'm not interested," I interrupted bluntly, hiding my rising annoyance at his poor attempt at flattery. "I have a mate." Only Myrkr was allowed to flirt with me. If I let it continue, this male would start flirting, and, for obvious reasons, I didn't want that.

He blinked. "I'm not either. I'm just saying all the good stuff you have. You shouldn't be afraid of anything." That was a relief.

"Trust me," I muttered. "Not all fears are on the outside."

He tilted his head in confusion. "Adults are weird. You guys always say stuff that makes no sense."

I almost told him that I wasn't an adult yet, but didn't want to get into another sidetracked topic. "Why did you wake me?" I shouldn't have fallen asleep in an unknown place anyway, but it was pointless to worry about that now.

"Everyone wants you in the circle," he answered. "Greywing said it was important."

"Circle?" I echoed.

"It's through there," he explained, tossing his head at the second tunnel to my left. "We use it for meetings."

"Great," I muttered, getting to my sore paws. "Lead the way, then."

The dark tunnel was surprisingly longer than I expected, but it gave me time to get my bearings before this 'meeting' they wanted me to attend. Eventually, I could see red light, which instantly made me uneasy. That only grew worse as we drew nearer until the tunnel ended at a circular room made of shiny back stone on every surface, five dragons waiting patiently within.

Almost as if something gave me a gentle push, my eyes were quickly drawn to the ground as the Flame-Skin moved to join his companions. They all waited inside a circle etched into the unnatural stone, dark red light filling the crevices the circle made. Strange symbols that I couldn't identify were carved along the outside of the red circle, each one made of different lines to create a unique image. They, too, glowed with dark red light.