Sepia Winglet: Dusty Pasts

Chapter 1: The Captives

Sepia awoke to Fennec pulling on her wing. Her wing that wasn't burnt to a crisp like her father's. Fennec, the small, wide eyed Sandwing squeaked, "I had a nightmare Sepi. Can I please sleep with you?"

Sepia groaned and rolled over. "Fine," she replied, her voice muffled against the dirt ground.

Fennec gratefully snuggled against Sepia and warmed her right up. Even for a Sandwing, Fennec had exceptionally warm scales, which helped with the frigid nights they spent outside.

It had been 8 years since Vulture and his goons had caught her. Vulture collected a number of odd looking dragons to make money. Some looked weird, some were hybrids like Sepia, and some had strange abilities like Fennec.

Sepia tried to drift off to sleep, but the memory of her father kept her awake. Why hadn't he come back? Was he dead? He had just taken off without another thought about the poor little dragonet who had been his daughter. Her thoughts transferred to her mother. Probably murdered by the villainous Thorn, or at least prisoner.

Fennec's snoring brought her back to reality. There were many other dragons held captive besides just her and Fennec. There were at least thirteen dragons in Vulture's show of oddities. Sometimes he would employ dragons to work, but it was mostly just the captives doing the work.

The captives were Sepia, Fennec, Frigid, Echo, Cloud, Jaguar, Heatstroke, Mallard, Kelp, Fortuneteller, Mudpie, Penguin, and Sightseeker. There used to be fourteen, but one had amazingly escaped, but never come back.

All of them were defective and that made the show what it was. Dragons from all over gawked at them, and even once the Queen of the Skywing's, Scarlet, came to watch. To watch this was all for a price, of course.

Vulture didn't just run the show though. He ran a black market and assassination agency as well.

This was a family business. His son Sonoran, his daughter Cobra and her children Rattlesnake, Sirocco, and the newly hatched egg were all assassins.

She didn't know what the new dragonet was called, but she knew he was just as bad as the rest of them. He would be soon, at least, anyway.

Sepia looked around the enclosure, and saw Mallard, a Seawing-Mudwing hybrid, gazing at the stars.

He must've seen her because he spoke quietly to her. "Fortuneteller would love these stars. He would be in heaven. If he were awake he would tell me all about how the stars lineup to mean different things." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess," Sepia replied with a small smile. She wasn't close to Mallard, and she didn't talk to him much, because he mostly hung out with his mate, Fortuneteller, who could tell the future, and the older dragons. Sepia usually hung out with the younger dragons, like Fennec and her best friend, Cloud.

They sat in silence again for a few minutes.

"Hey Mallard," Sepia asked, "do you think our future is going to change and we won't be stuck here forever?"

"Maybe," he replied, "just maybe, Sepia."