Wings of Fire - Eclipse Burning (1)

Chapter 5

"Eclipse?" whispered a soft voice. 

Eclipse groaned, rolling over to find the little SandWing she shared a cave with staring into her soul. 

She jumped, causing the SandWing to flinch away. 

"Three moons. . ." Eclipse mumbled. 

"Sorry!" Ostrich yelped. "I didn't want to wake you but it's almost time to meet our winglet! I'm excited! I think. And kinda nervous." I wonder how Qibli feels about it. . . I never did get the time to ask. 

"Our winglet?" Eclipse grumbled, pulling herself from her rainforest bedding. She was never really a morning person, and neither was Moon. I wonder if she's awake.

"Yes," Ostrich said, her body shaking with both excitement and panic. "The students we'll be learning with. Dragons from all different tribes." I wonder who our RainWing will be. I've never met one before. 

"Oh," Eclipse yawned. "Yeah, our winglet. First real day of school. Got it." 

Ostrich quickly rushed towards the cave entrance, her tail tucked in the neat spiral Eclipse had seen most SandWings hold them.  

Then, with a sudden jolt, she remembered what she and Moon had heard the night before. 

Killing is easy enough. . .

She shivered. If someone at the school was planning a murder, she could figure out who. If anyone could find out about it, it would be her and Moon, she was sure. And if a dragonet was murdered, none of the queens would want to send anymore dragonets. The school would fail.   

The sound of the bronze gong being struck reverberated through the halls - BONG BONG BONG - three times. 

Eclipse ducked out of her cave and followed behind Ostrich quickly, watching carefully incase she were to accidently step on her tail. 

The SandWing was smaller than her, the height of her head finding itself in the middle of her neck. Eclipse didn't want to accidently knock her over or something. 

"That's the first warning, I think." the little SandWing said. A SeaWing and a MudWing rushed past them in the hall, nearly bumping into Eclipse, who hissed at the MudWing before he could. He shrunk back and continued forward, his wings now tucked as close to his body as he could get them. 

"We have to figure out where our meeting cave is." Ostrich worried. "We're in the Silver Winglet." 

"Sepia is in our winglet too, right?" Eclipse asked without thinking. She wondered if she could reach out and find the dragonet who hopefully knew where she was going. 

"Yes," Ostrich said, her worried mind completely missing any intentions behind her question. "I think that's how the 'clawmates' work. Whoever your sharing a cave with is in your winglet."

"Ah," Eclipse nodded. "Make's sense."

She reached out with her mind, searching for the MudWing. From what she could gather in the short time she knew Sepia, was that her mind was a mix of worry and determination. Her mind was also quite goopy, as all MudWing minds were. 

Eclipse finally delved into the right mind, feeling the familiar sinking feeling of mud. Wow, I've never seen a SeaWing before. She's suppose to be the queens daughter. She's very pink. . . and shiny. 

"Uh," Eclipse motioned for Ostrich to follow her. "I think I saw Sepia turn this way." 

"Ok," the SandWing nodded.  

As she led them down the tunnel, she noticed dragons noticing her. She lifted her head, wanting to seem unbothered and confident within the sea of thoughts, both negative and positive.