Wings of Fire - Cavernous Promises

Chapter 3

ACACIA

Acacia sat there, humiliated. His role model, and leader had just denied him. Not only in front of his soldiers, but to the entire black wood colony. Denied him. Not because of absence of skill or talent, but for primarily being himself, Acacia. He didn't know what to do, apart from just stare into the distance hoping this period of humiliation would be long gone.

Y-you really did it now leaf-brain. He scorned himself. And in front of everyone. I'm SO glad my mother and father aren't here right now. To be honest, they'd join all those laughing dragons up there in their hysterics. Acacia brought his snout and head down to his claws, avoiding eye contact with anyone that would even dare try. My hope, my future, was that all false? Was that all a mere fantasy? Probably. Socotra always said I was too 'imaginative' anyway. But it's good to be like that! Isn't it?

Well the laughing crowd certainly didn't think so. Acacia's eyes were beginning to water, but he held the urge back. No, not now. Not in front of all these LeafWings. And that SilkWing. I wonder if he's nice. He brought his head up from the ground, slowly locking his gaze with the unfamiliar SilkWing. The dragon gazed back at him, almost dazed. He's probably laughing at me too. He thought. Probably just not showing it. His heart didn't think that somehow, although his soul did. What if I help him? Would he be my friend after that? I do have a shortage of those at the moment. His eyes were still locked with the SilkWing, amber eyes staring into orange.

Acacia pulled his gaze away, tilting it to the surrounding dragons. They were all snickering as if they had just had a dose of dragon nip, apart from one. He recognised the LeafWing as Mallow, the spy who had captured the SilkWing. I'm sorry Mallow, but I'm about to undo all of your hard work. He stealthily urged his way toward the warm-red SilkWing, slow enough so that he would be undetected. It seemed that the dragon knew what he was doing, as he began slowly but surely urging the same way. This might actually work, but I shouldn't be so sure. The two dragons were now a tail's length away from each other now, still undetected. Many in the crowd of hysterics began to fall over, laughing at him. Well at least I'm not staying here for much longer. He sighed. Acacia gestured with his wings toward an opening in the dragons, where hopefully they could slip by unnoticed. The SilkWing seemed to have understood, as he began heading the way he had suggested. They were making progress, but in small amounts for each breath-taking step. Wait. This dragon, he doesn't have wings. He can't fly. Let's pretend that won't cause problems. Maybe I could carry him. MAYBE.

They were now at the edge of the clearing, a breath's worth away. Before they could sprint, he heard a LeafWing in the crowd yell, "Wait! They're getting away!" Eerily, all the snouts of the dragons began to turn in their direction, eyes lit up like a woodland wild-fire. Oh. Oh. We're so dead. He turned to the SilkWing next to him and whispered, "Run."

Immediately, the SilkWing bolted, Acacia only a split-second behind him. Acacia readied himself and sprinted side-by-side with his new escapee, running for what seemed like their lives. A dragon took to the air above them, shooting above the clouds. That's not my main concern at the moment. Focus on getting yourself and this SilkWing outta here. For a brief moment, life turned to a stop. Acacia was running with a random SilkWing he had only said one word to, and he was being chased by those of his own tribe. What had Pantala come to? The SilkWing next to him spoke for the first time, "Hey! You see that cave down there?" he gestured with one of his talons, stubbing it as he placed it back on the ground, adding it to his running force. Acacia looked in that direction, and sure enough, there was a dark hole hidden in the rocks. He wouldn't have spotted it without the help of this new SilkWing."That's brilliant!" he told him, "Just what we need!"

"You reckon we can make it there?" The SilkWing asked.

"It's our only hope." he responded.

"Well, only hope it is then!"

"Yes, indeed."

The pair were gaining on the cave, a few talon steps or two away. During their run, they had split themselves off from the rest of the tribe, meaning that they couldn't see them, but still had dragons on their tails. The SilkWing reached the cave mouth first, shouting for Acacia to slot inside with him. With one move of his wings, he swept inside, barrelling off the back wall. Acacia was sent flying across the cave floor, snout over talons. Of course, Of course , Of course. Who wasn't expecting that?

"Oh, are you okay?" the red SilkWing bounded in after him, stopping before his claws.

"I'll survive..." he moaned back. The cave was small compared to the den's in the blackwood clearing, but it would have to do. Vines hung from the cave's mouth and along the ceiling, providing a damp drip down the walls. Aside from nature, the cave stank of animal remains. Ew. Acacia thought as the smell wafted over his snout.

He realised that the SilkWing was staring intently at one of the cave's walls.

"What is it?" Acacia questioned, getting up on his talons.

"Claw marks." the SilkWing answered. "Strange." Acacia toppled over to the crimson SilkWing, nearly falling as he went by. He stopped next to the SilkWing, running his talons in the marks. "Definitely not LeafWing marks," he concluded.

"They're not SilkWing either." the dragon said next to him.

"Do you know about HiveWing talons?" Acacia asked him.

"Yes I do, and these ain't them." he responded. Then what are they? If they're not Pantalan, then... No, don't skip to conclusions Acacia. Distant kingdoms aren't real.

"I didn't catch your name." The SilkWing stated. "I'm Admiral by the way."

"Nice to meet you Admiral, I'm Acacia." he responded. "Nice name."

"Thanks." Admiral responded, "Oh hey, along with the marks, did you notice the smell? It's disgusting!"

"Hah, tell me about it! It stinks of rotten panther!" Acacia laughed.

"Y-you eat animals?" Admiral questioned. Oh. I forgot that SilkWings were vegetarians. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"N-no need." he winced back.

Acacia turned his head to the rest of the cave, curiosity peaked. "Someone has clearly lived here before..." he muttered under his breath. "A few someone's..."

"Hey! Look over here!" Admiral called as Acacia rushed over.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Some weird dry grass..." Admiral responded.

Uhm okay. That's weird.

"Look, you see the way it's shaped?" Acacia asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well, look! It seems like someone lay here." he pointed with the end of his tail.

"So what you're suggesting here," Admiral asked, "Is that we are standing in someone's sanctuary?"