Wings of Fire; Destiny

Chapter 3

"A war? That's absurd!" Yelled her father. He flared his wings, frowning.

 Kestrel looked down at her talons. She didn't want to bring this subject up right now, but... How could my father, a general, let me go to training if he knew I would have to fight another dragonet? She asked herself, worried. Kill another dragonet. Kestrel corrected. But that wasn't important right now. There was a WAR going on. And their tribe was in danger. Her FAMILY was in danger.

"And- and I heard the guards mention that Her Majesty might be in danger..." Kestrel murmured quietly. "She's at a royal meeting with the IceWings. We don't know if they were informed about the war..."  

"That's bad. That's HORRIBLE. I need to get to the palace. Right now." Hawk stated loudly. "I need to protect our kingdom. We're all in danger. We MUST chose allies soon." The bulky SkyWing walked quickly to the exit, but got stopped by Goldfinch.

"Hawk- be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want anything to happen to our daughter. To my family." The small, orange dragon looked sad. "There'll be refugees soon. I must start making meals for sick or injured dragons." She then turned to Kestrel. "Kestrel, I am so, so sorry this is happening. Mother and Father will be quite busy- please promise us you will take care of yourself here. Don't go anywhere- fly away as fast as you can if there are intruders."

"When will you both be back?" The dragonet asked, troubled. "Please tell me you'll come back for dinner." 

"We don't know, Kestrel." Hawk said. "But we can promise you we'll be back. It's dangerous now. Stay here." He then flew away to the palace.

"Mother..." Kestrel said. "I'm scared." Her expression was filled with anxiety. The small dragonet felt sick, just like when she was at her training. The sour feeling you get when you know something is going wrong.

"I'm sorry, dear. So sorry. I cannot leave our kingdom hungry- especially during a war like this. We must be prepared for an invasion or an attack at all times." She walked to her dragonet and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Kestrel." The warmth of her mother's scales slowly faded away as she left the den. Then it all went quiet. For a long time. A long, cold silence. There she was, a small dragonet, waiting for her parents. For a sign. For the slightest sound of wingbeats. But none of them came.