Wings of Fire; Creature / ✅

CHAPTER TWELVE

Elk was too excited to sleep, even a tiny bit. He knew he should be nervous about this mission but come on. Who wouldn't be excited? 

He decided that he wouldn't sleep, partly because of his overwhelming excitement and the fact that he didn't trust himself to wake up on time. If he messed up, Gleam would be disappointed, and Elk didn't want to disappoint a potential friend. 

It was dark. In Elk's room in one of the lowest levels of the palace, barely and light got there, and now that it was midnight, it was almost completely pitch black. He could hear the soft breathing of other nurses around him as they tried to catch as much rest as they could before waking up early the next morning. He knew he should be doing the same, but Gleam had put so much trust and faith in him, that he couldn't let her down.

Elk slowly got up, careful not to disturb any sleeping dragons. Since nurses were seen as one of the 'lowliest rankings', they didn't have beds, and everyone slept on the cold, stony basement floor. Those who were lucky had thin strips of cloth to cushion themselves - others had nothing to sleep on at all.

The young SandWing lightly stepped over straying limbs, hoping not to misstep onto a leg or arm. Every SandWing was taught from a very young age that, when sleeping, you must carefully tuck your tail close to yourself so that nobody accidentally tramped on it. 

Suddenly a doctor close to him grunted and rolled over, then opened her eyes. Elk groaned silently, realising it was Anaconda, his mentor.

"Elk?" she said sleepily. "Where are you going?"

"Um," Elk said, fumbling for an answer. "Uh... to get a drink," he lied, feeling quite guilty for lying to his mentor.

"Oh, OK. But be back quickly - remember that nurses aren't meant to be out after curfew," Anaconda ordered, then closed her eyes again. Elk breathed a small sigh of relief that she had believed him so easily. 

After a while of stepping over arms and legs, he finally reached a heavy wooden door. Roughly, he shoulder-barged it, and after a couple of nudges it slowly opened. Elk shook himself, then entered the next room.

This room was basically empty apart from a couple boxes laying here and there. It was an abandoned storage room - left unused because royal members got sick and tired of always having to fly really far down just to get something they left in here.

Here there was no roof or door apart from the one where Elk had just come out of. If you looked up, you could see miles and miles up where other floors were - and, if you had very good eyesight, the slightest hint of the roof, which was quite high up.

Elk was headed to one of the highest levels, where Smolder's room was. He gulped, suddenly realising how hard his task was to complete - if it was even possible.

He was risking his place in the palace, and the title of a nurse or SandWing. If anyone found out what he was doing, he'd be surely exiled, if he was lucky. 

Trying to calm his speeding heart, Elk unfolded his wings, and quietly lifted up. At daytime, the palace was usually lively and full of murmurs, and hearing it so silent was a bit unnerving. The only thing Elk could hear now was the steady flapping of his wings, and the light snoring of the nurses below him, gradually getting fainter and fainter as he flew higher into the air. After a couple minutes of flying, he could not hear any signs of dragons at all.

Darkness enveloped him. Elk's breath begun to come in short gasps as fear overtook him. He had been scared of the dark since little. He had always been wary and cautious in the dark, because you never knew what was waiting to attack you. He had a terrible fear that someone would just lunge out of the dark and grab him at any moment.