Wings of Fire: Revenant

Chapter Eight

Peacemaker was just rousing from sleep with the thought that he had never been more sore in his life when a dragon-sized weight suddenly dropped down onto his back.

"Rise and shine!" Cliff declared, pouncing atop Peacemaker and landing with all four talons planted painfully on his spine.

"Ouch! Cliff, get off of me!" Peacemaker growled, rolling over so that Cliff tumbled off of his back and onto the floor.

Cliff leapt to his feet with a delighted laugh, spinning and hopping up and down in place like a demented ferret.

"Aren't you sore?" Peacemaker inquired. Spending all day digging and hauling and craning over had left him feeling as though he'd been clubbed by an IceWing tail while he slept.

"Are you kidding?" Cliff replied. "Every bone in my body hurts. But the trainers in the Sky Kingdom always told us that the best way to combat sore muscles is to get your blood flowing. No sitting around letting yourself get stiff."

"Then all SkyWings are just as crazy as you," Peacemaker said, pulling the blanket up over his head.

"Come on," Cliff said, whisking it away again, "I let you sleep past sunrise and everything."

"Your generosity is overwhelming," Peacemaker replied, rolling over to grab a slightly overripe banana from the basket of fruit still sitting by his bed.

"Aren't you excited?" Cliff asked. "Today is your first day of classes."

"I'm not awake enough for excitement," Peacemaker said through a mouthful of banana. "At most I can offer you mild enthusiasm."

"Well, while you were in here snoozing, I was out being productive," Cliff said. "After getting some breakfast, I went and checked our schedule for the day, and guess what? Our winglet has music class first thing this morning!"

Peacemaker blinked at him.

"This is where you're supposed to have a reaction," Cliff prompted.

"Um ... neat? Super? Stupendous? Hey!" Peacemaker exclaimed, waving away the puff of smoke that Cliff had just blown into his face. "What was that for?!"

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated."

"I wasn't being sarcastic. That's just my voice," Peacemaker returned, throwing the banana peel so vigorously that it landed right between Cliff's eyes.

"Ack!" Cliff yelled, shaking the peel off with a disgusted expression.

"All right," he said, scooting the peel away with his back talon, as though it might jump up and attack him, "maybe that's more exciting news for me than for you. Music is only my single favorite subject in the history of forever. Besides, it's a whole lot more fun than when we have geography as our first class. I usually fall asleep when that happens."

Music was one of the many elective classes offered at Jade Mountain Academy, along with things like art and cooking. Students could choose to take the class during any one of the open choice periods throughout the day, but every class had required attendance about once a month.

"Of course, it would be even better if we'd been paired up with Auklet and Seeker's group," Cliff continued, scratching thoughtfully at a spot behind his left ear. "I think we're taking this class with the Obsidian Winglet today."

Peacemaker thought wistfully of the day before, of Seeker standing in a room of shimmering lights, looking at him like he was the only other dragon in the world.