Wings Of Fire 16: The Journey Begins (Arc 4)

~Chapter 5: The time we got dragon-napped~

"Should we... tie her up? " Marigold asks tentatively. "And... take her with us?"

"NOPE. She is going to KILL us for sedating her!!" Willow exclaims.

"Ok, it was just a suggestion," Marigold says, "Honey, I think it's your turn to carry me."

"Ok. Hop on!" Honey says, bending down.

"We should do it quickly, she's waking up!" says Stella, pointing at Sundew.

"Blue sent me..." Sundew muttered groggily.

"Crud. She's waking up fast. We need to go before she's fully awake." Willow says, taking off.

•••

"It's getting dark, we should find a place to stop." Says Croc.

"I think I see a bit of rock," says Marigold, leaning forward on Honey's back and nearly falling off. "I hope its an island."

"I see it. Let's head over there," says Willow, veering towards it.

A few minutes later the group landed on the island and found it was a reasonable size.

"Hopefully we got away from Sundew," Says Willow, settling down. "I'll take the first watch."

"Good idea. I think we're all tired," Said Honey, "Well... except maybe Croc." She grinned.

•••

"Guys, wake up," says Willow quietly.

"Oh hi!" says Croc, walking in.

"Great to see you up Croc," says Willow, rolling her eyes privately.

Everyone else was still sound asleep, with Marigold and Honey curled up next to each other.

"I was up like 3 hours ago," says Croc with a grin, "You should try to stay more alert on watch. I easily snuck past you."

"I would think you were awake at 3 AM, with all the energy you had," mutters Willow. "Guys! Wake up!" she called to the five sleeping dragons on the ground.

The rest of the group slowly wake up and groggily make their way to their feet.

"Guess what?" Croc announced, "My wing is healed! I took some healing herbs last night, so my wing was healed overnight!"

"That's great!" said Reef, yawning. "Means we won't have to stay underneath you to catch you if you fall." He grinned at Croc jokingly.

The group went about their various tasks to get ready for their departure.

Since it was so busy, none of them noticed when Croc vanished.

Finally, Marigold does a head count and notices there is one less head than there should be.

"Where's Croc?" Marigold asks, looking around to see if maybe he's hiding. "He's not here, and I don't see him on the beach or in the sky."

Willow looked around the cave too, exasperated and confused.

"Oh god, I hope he hasn't gone and hurt himself again," Willow muttered. "We've had enough of that already this mission."

"Oh I hope not," says Marigold, checking behind a bush. "He's not here..."

"I haven't found him either," says Willow, who was double checking the cave they had slept in.

Suddenly they hear a muffled scream.

"Did you hear that?" Marigold asks, straining her ears for the sound again.

They hear it again.

"There! Do you hear it?" Marigold says.