Wings of fire Book one: Befriending a monster.

New beginnings

"It'll be morning in a few hours." The dragon soaring above the mountains said to herself.  The dragon yawned, closing her dark purple eyes for a second as she flew down towards a mountain.  When she landed some of the black charcoal dust she had used to hide her camel colored scales came off.  Cold, irritated, and tired, she curled her barbed tail and started gathering some sticks from the forest below, that she could use to make a small fire with the flint and bits of steel she had in a leather pouch under her wing.   Laying by the fire with her talons close to the flames, the sun started to rise as she thought about whether trying to get information about Queen Scarlet's prisoners was a good idea or not, She didn't tell Thorn that she was going to go or where she would be staying during the day, so if she went missing she might not be found.  She looked up towards the sky and saw something glowing in the distance, looking closer, she saw a sea-wing with it's scales lit, and for some reason, a mud-wing was flying alongside them.  She quickly stood up and smothered the flames with a wing then hid in the closest bunch of trees, hoping they didn't see her. 

The two dragons flew by, not even glancing in her direction as they headed down towards the river.  She decided to follow them, because why would a sea-wing be so far into the sky-wing kingdom? And with a mud-wing?  Strange.  The two landed by the river and the mud-wing started rolling in mud, so she landed and got as close as she could in the nearby forest with out being seen.  Watching them, she noticed that both of the dragons were around her age, maybe a bit older, and they were talking like friends.  Suddenly, a scavenger stumbled out of the trees a few wing lengths away from where she was hiding, spotting the two dragons and dropping a metal claw and a small pouch, making quiet squeaky noises as it slowly backed away.  When the two opened the pouch, she saw a dragon fly over her, land, and bite off the scavenger's head, quickly spitting it out as blood started flowing from the poor little thing's body.  The dragon walked towards the terrified mud-wing, smiling in a truly chilling way as the sea-wing put themselves between them, staring at the orange and red colored dragon defensively.  She flicked her barbed tail, recognizing the dragon as the bejeweled sky-wing queen herself, Scarlet.

"Oh moons." She whispered to herself.  Scarlet was one of the dragons she hoped to never meet out here,  she had seen a portrait of the queen before but never imagined her as this terrifying.  The sky-wing was talking to the two younger dragons, the sea-wing looking ready to attack and the mud-wing looking terrified and confused, but Scarlet didn't seem to recognize either of them.  She started thinking about the situation.  The mud-wing could be useful to Thorn if they saw the arena and the sea-wing could help in other ways, plus it's not like she would be taking them prisoner, they would be provided with safety, shelter, and food.  She needed to do something to help them.  Taking a deep breath and putting on a calm look, she stepped out of the trees and started walking towards the mud and sea-wing, immediately capturing the queen's attention. 

"Queen Scarlet." She said, ducking her head in a quick bow.  "It's wonderful to meet you." 

"Oh, I am quite sure that it is, but who are you?" The sky-wing replied, narrowing her eyes.

She raised her head. "I am Starstorm, one of Thorn's guards in the sand kingdom, and I have been assigned to bringing those two back with me."

The mud-wing still looked confused, but the sea-wing seemed to understand what she was trying to do, as she started talking.  "Yes, we apologize for touching your treasure, but we do have to keep going."

The mud-wing nodded, realizing what was happening as the sea-wing moved to the side, grabbing the metal claw that the scavenger had dropped earlier.  "Well, it wouldn't it be rude to leave when I just started to know you?" Scarlet said.  "How about I bring you all back to my sky palace with me?  Won't that be thrilling?"

"We don't want any trouble your majesty." The mud-wing stated.

"Yes, Thorn will be upset if we are late, and this break has made us so already." She added, getting nervous.

"Well, I'm sure this 'Thorn' will not.." Scarlet started, being interrupted by the sea-wing stabbing her in the tail with the scavenger's metal claw.   "HOW DARE YOU!" The queen roared, starting to hiss.

That type of hiss meant one thing, she was about to breathe fire.  Starstorm ran in between Scarlet and the two other dragons, spreading her wings to shield them from the flames, as usual the fire didn't hurt, but it was still hot.  The others took flight towards the rising sun and she followed close behind them with smoke trailing from her wings as Scarlet continued to roar from below.