Wings of Thunder

Chapter Ten

Hurricane woke to the snoring of Spirit, Mesos, and Cloud. He looked over to see Spirit and was shocked. Spirit had somehow managed to get at least four blankets on her, talons outstretched, one wing over her head the other across her body, and tail flopped over her back talons.
He smiled softly to himself and got to his talons, turning and leaving the cave. Peering out, he saw that the hustle and bustle of the palace was beginning to pick up for the day, so he decided to quickly go out for a walk before he could get lost.
He glided down through the hallway, trying to avoid possible collisions, and slid slowly to a stop at the entrance. Glancing over his shoulder, he pushed the doors open and gasped in shock.
The city was even more beautiful in the daylight, with dragons all over. The banners shone brightly with vibrant colors, and Hurricane could now make out even more colorful tapestries and even a few statues of fighting StormWings in the streets.
He ducked his head and quickly chose a quieter, more peaceful route to explore. Looking around, he saw the two dragons he'd seen earlier; Stormwatcher and Silverfang. He gave them both wide berths; while Silverfang had been kind to him, Stormwatcher seemed grumpy and mean. Hurricane lifted his head and looked up at the top of the volcanoes. One of them was smoking ominously, but the others lay still.
"Hey!" Hurricane jumped and turned to see Cloud gliding towards him. Mesos and Mist weren't far behind, and Spirit was in the back. Hurricane could tell she wasn't flying at her full speed, and looked a bit embarrassed.
"Where are you running off to without us?" Cloud whacked Hurricane in the wing playfully. Hurricane laughed. "I was just taking a walk, guys. Calm down."
Mesos growled. "How am I supposed to keep an eye on you when you guys are gallivanting all over this moons-cursed village?"
"Sorry," Hurricane tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll try to stick closer to the group next time."
"Hey.." Mist squinted at the sky. "What is that?"
A dark figure was outlined against the bright blue sky, surrounded by smoke.
"Probably a bird or something." Mesos growled irritably. Hurricane narrowed his eyes as the shape got closer and squawked in alarm; that was a dragon, and it was heading right towards them.
Mesos spun around right before the strange new dragon crashed into her. Smoke billowed up in a cloud, but there was no fire. The strange dragon rolled to a sitting stop and Mesos leaped to her feet, snarling. "Who dare ambush me?"
"Huh?" The dragon twisted, bright yellow eyes shining. "Oh, hello! I'm sorry about the crash, I got caught in the volcano smoke. Hey, have you seen a black TeraWing? Really tall, shiny scales, doesn't like being seen but obviously can't help making a scene?"
"I'm here." A dragon matching his description landed beside him. "And I told you not to fly in the smoke."
"I was cold." The dragonet complained, "And when I'm cold, I get snappy. And when I'm snappy, dragons get bitten!"
The TeraWing dragonet sighed and Hurricane stared at her in shock. She was at most twice his size, though her wings were about the same size as his. Her talons were blunt and her scales reflected the sunlight perfectly.
"I'm Tarantula!" The first dragonet said gleefully. "That's Igneous, she's my best friend!"
"He followed me." Igneous sighed, "And now he won't leave me alone. I only stick by him so that he doesn't get himself killed."
"I-I'm Hurricane." Hurricane shook himself and tried not to look intimidated. "That's Cloud, Mesos, Spirit, and Mist."
"Hello!" Tarantula offered a broad grin. Mesos scowled at him.
When I get snappy dragons get bitten. That was odd and slightly dark to hear out of a dragon like this. Hurricane didn't have time to wonder what that meant, however, because Tarantula ran up to Spirit and started rambling again.
"Wow, I've always heard stories about dragons like you, that are big and mean and scary!" Tarantula then tried to examine.
"Touch me and you'll be dead before you know how you died." Spirit said sharply, brandishing her claws.
"Does she always threaten people like this, or does she not like me? I actually am fine with either." Tarantula said this with a gleeful smile on his face and yet it sounded like something Noviseer or Flood would say.
"Do you by any chance know where we could get a bite around here?" Mist interrupted.
"Well," Tarantula started talking in his high pitched voice and toned it down a little, "I hear there's a palace that serves breakfast."
"That's the first normal thing you've said since I've met you." Igneous stated nudging Tarantula.
"Bah, nevermind her, she's boring and weird. Follow me!" After saying that, Tarantula bounced off to the palace.
"Quite the friend we have here." Hurricane mumbled
"Well, he at least seems nice." Cloud said suggestively.
"He is, he's just a little too energetic for his own good." Igneous answered.
"Well, nice guy or not, walk around looking at people like that around here, he'll surely get himself killed." Stormwatcher appeared before them, looking bigger than the last time Hurricane had seen him.
"Oh look, the sentient overgrown map." Mesos sniped.
"I can assure you that you have as much chance of being killed as the bubbly SovovoahWing." Stormwatcher shot back.
"Anyways," Hurricane said quickly, not wanting to spend anymore time with the grumpy Stormwing, "I think we have other things to do right now, so we'd better get going."
"Okay, just come by my place after you're done. There are some things you need to know about." Before anyone could question him, he ran off into the crowd of Stormwings.
"Well, we got a SovovoahWing to catch up to." Igneous lifted off to find Tarantula.
The others soon followed and eventually ended up back inside the palace, where it was absolutely chaotic like usual. The majority of the dragons had prey in their talons while flying and if they didn't, then they were going to the throne room and coming out with it. That's when Tarantula nearly crashed into them, again. This time he dropped whatever he was carrying to actually land.
"Sorry guys, I got a little excited. Look at this though!" He scurried over the floor and picked up the bloody mess. "An entire deer! I've never had this before."
"Calm down, would you?" Mesos said, annoyed in the chaos.
"Come on, it'll be nice to share." Igneous said with a smile.
Tarantula grabbed the deer and he and Igneous followed the rest of them to the top deck, where most of the dragons were eating.
"You know, it's awfully nice of you to take in dragons you've only met today." Igneous said before they ate.
"Don't worry about it. We only met Mesos like, the day before yesterday." Hurricane said politely.
"Blah, you guys are nice, now let's eat!" Tarantula exclaimed.
He was just about to seize the deer with his talons before it was swiped away from him and into another dragon's.
"Hmmph," The dragon who took the deer was twice Tarantula's size and entirely gray.
"Hey buddy," Tarantula started kindly, innocently, almost, "You seem to have swiped our breakfast, please return it."
"I wouldn't give it back, even if you were growing on my tail." The older dragon snapped.
"Trust me," Hurricane said, trying to intervene, "We've been through quite a bit lately. It would be nice if you could-"
"Nope. Never. No thanks." The dragon growled.
"You don't need to be nice to this guy," Tarantula said, his voice dangerously soft. "Dragons like these simply need to be taught a lesson or two. I ask again, can we have the deer back?"
"You think you scare me, kid? You're tiny. Here's some advice, know who you're talking to."
Tarantula laughed.
"I don't think you know who you're talking to." With that said Tarantula pounced onto the gray dragon.