Wings of Thunder

Chapter 16

Hurricane yelped and flailed wildly as he tumbled down the side of the volcano. After a few moments, he managed to stop himself and lift into the air, wings beating quickly and unevenly.

"No!" He snarled against the wind, flapping wildly towards the mountain. "I won't leave-"

There was a series of explosions and Hurricane was sent flying backwards, being hit by various pieces of debris, rocks, and other things. He screamed in pain as he felt something hot hit his front talon and couldn't tell which way was up. When he finally regained balance, he looked over, but the side of the volcano was covered by a plume of smoke. Hurricane narrowed his eyes at it, confused.

"Hurricane! HURRICANE!"

Hurricane turned to see a small, pale blue dragonet racing at him. Spirit almost slammed into him. "Hurricane, we need to go!"

"Thunderbird." Hurricane whispered.

"Hurricane, please!" Spirit pleaded. Hurricane stared blankly at the cloud of smoke.

Spirit grabbed him by the tail and flung him away from the volcano.

Hurricane screeched as he hit the ground, scrambling. He wasn't hurt, though he was sure it would hurt the next day. Hurricane looked over at the cloud of smoke to see that it had almost cleared. Gritting his teeth with determination, he hurtled towards the smoke, landing in...

A crater. That was all that was left of the collapsed tunnel. Hurricane searched desperately for his mother, but all he could find was one of the golden bracelets she'd worn. He stared at it, tears brimming in his eyes. "I shouldn't have come back." He whispered. He let out a choked sob and sat in the ash, sending up a small cloud around him. Spirit landed beside him, her voice quiet. "Hurricane?"

"Leave me alone!" Hurricane shouted and without a second thought took off away from the sight of the explosion.

"Wait!" Hurricane ignored Spirit's cry as he sped off into the distance. It was still dark, though not far from dusk. Eventually, Hurricane's wings grew tired and he drifted to a stop by a large lake that stretched out, reflecting the stars and the night sky above.

Hurricane sat there for a while. Too long for him to keep track of, actually. It was starting to get darker and darker, and eventually the bushes rustled behind him.

Hurricane spun around, although he already had a hunch as to who it was. Spirit stood there, staring at him with concern in her eyes.

"What do you want?" Hurricane grumbled, turning away.

"I'm worried about you." Spirit murmured. "Are you alright?"

"What do you care?" Hurricane stared pointedly at the lake.

"I was just wondering what happened. You're not acting like yourself." Spirit said sympathetically.

"I was a failure. What's new?" Hurricane said scornfully, tears still running down his face.

"What happened?" Spirit asked softly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?!" Hurricane shouted. "Out of all the dragons, why did it have to her?"

Spirit backed away for a couple of seconds and then stepped up and decided to speak.

"Hurricane, I-I'm so sorry that happened to you." She looked genuinely shaken.

"Don't be, I've only spent most of my life worrying about where she is or if she was even alive." Hurricane's words must've hit harder than he'd expected, because Spirit opened and closed her mouth a few times.

"Leave me alone. There is nothing you can do about this." Hurricane said coldly to the SpectreWing.

He turned his back to her and stared at the lake blankly. Spirit walked up to him and without saying a word put a wing over him.

"I'm not trying to pity you. I...I'm your friend right?" She asked in a suggestive voice.

He shrugged and looked at her, trying to wipe the tears from his face. His stomach felt like it was going to explode, just like the volcano had. This is what Thunderbird was talking about. That had gotten him thinking about Stormwatcher. He shivered at the thought of how he was Hurricane's father.

"I'm sorry about what happened, but you look like you need a friend." Spirit said kindly. "Don't try to make me admit to ever saying any of this." She added.

Hurricane chuckled, smiling for the first time since the explosion.

The two watched the lake shiver and ripple, reflecting the stars above. Hurricane wasn't cheered up yet, but he was way less sad.

The silence was broken by a screech and a crash. Silverfang barreled out of the bushes, eyes wide with concern. "WHERE IS MY SON?!"

"Your-Your son?" Hurricane almost choked on his own spit.

"Barak. His name is Barak." Silverfang said. "He's usually around here. Me and Mist saw the explosion, and-"

"I'm here!" There was a tiny squeak and Barak tumbled out of the bushes behind her. "I've been trying to catch up to you!"

"Oh." Silverfang visibly relaxed. "Thank the moons. Barak, never scare me like that again!"

"Hurricane helped save me!" Barak declared. "He had me go out first, before the tunnel collapsed! Hey...where's Thunderbird?"

"Not right now." Spirit said gently, before Hurricane could reply. He felt a flash of indignance; Spirit didn't have to reply for him! Still, he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh." Barak said softly. "I'm sorry."

Silverfang hugged Barak with her wing. "Let's go."

"Alright." Barak nodded.

They flew off without saying much else and soon Hurricane and Spirit were alone again.

"Y-You didn't have to do that." Hurricane said to Spirit, slightly embarrassed.

"I care about you," Spirit said sympathetically. "And I'm not trying to make you feel worse, or make fun of you. Hurricane, it's going to be alright. I promise."

Hurricane sniffed. "You promise?"

"I promise," Spirit answered softly with a smile on her face.

Hurricane couldn't have thought of a better dragon to be there with him.

"I-I'm ready to go back now. I mean, I think we need to find Tarantula and Mesos."

Spirit barked a laugh. "Okay, Blueberry."

With that they flew off from the lake, now the sun was coming up and along the way Hurricane wiped the tears from his face. He felt better about what had happened. They eventually made it back to a small forest, far enough away from the blast sight to be safe. Hurricane hoped that he'd cleaned himself up enough to look normal again. They landed near a massive group of dragons shouting and arguing, which Hurricane was quite used to now. Suddenly, Hurricane was tossed to the ground by an unknown figure.

"I was so worried about you, dragons should not disappear like that-" Tarantula was cut off

"Nice to see you, too." Hurricane interjected, trying to not wonder what Tarantula was talking about by "disappearing dragons". Tarantula leaped off of Hurricane and half a second later, Hurricane saw Spirit talking to Igneous, Mesos observing the two while they chatted.

"Hey, I was wondering where you guys were." Igneous said, turning to Hurricane with a warm smile on her face.

"Oh, we just, we..." Spirit tried to explain, clearly afraid of saying something she shouldn't have.

"We were looking for my mother," Hurricane said in a low soft voice, "We didn't find her, doubt she would've made it out with her leg."

Tarantula looked upset by the news, but knowing him, that look could mean anything. Even Mesos looked a little disturbed by the news.

"We can't think about it now. Let's find Stormwatcher. I've got a bone to pick with him." Hurricane snarled.