Wings Of fire: Shadowstalker

Chapter 21: Desert Sands

Shadowstalker and Starhunter flew through the desert. The sun had began to rise, casting a bright light over the sandy landscape. Despite how cold the air had been the night before, it was rapidly heating up. Shadow felt uncomfortable with all the heat and the hot sun over his scales. Having black scales didn't help either as they absorbed all the heat that blasted the two.

"Shadow, you're not looking too good.. we need to find water." Starhunter called as he flew beside him. The prince just turned to him, panting heavily as he flew. It was getting difficult to fly, and he was having a hard time focusing. He didn't even know where they were due to never having studied the landscape.

"Where...?" Shadow groaned. The giant began to glide to conserve energy for the time being. Starhunter did the same. His friend began to scan the ground with his eyes, looking for anything that might be a sign of water.

"There! Look!" Starhunter pointed to a large cluster of palm trees with a large pool of water in the center. Eager to have something to drink and cool down in, the two swooped down towards it as quickly as they could. Shadow landed first and stuck his head in the water before taking large quick gulps.

"So good...water...haha.." Shadow mumbled and went in for more, his tail swaying slowly. His friend sat beside him and pat his shoulder before moving down a ways to drink some as well. The giant finished up and flopped in the water to cool off for a bit, splashing Starhunter who grumbled with a huff.

"Careful! Oh what the hell.." Starhunter laughed and dove in. Never had he ever felt so refreshed in his life. The prince was able to soak up to his head in the large pool, feeling cool again.

"Good find." Shadow mumbled and glanced at him. "Very good.."

"Well the other half of my name is hunter!" He laughed and floated. Shadow splashed him for that before relaxing and sighing, now suddenly feeling very scared and worried. "What's the matter?"

"Our home.. we can't go back.." Shadow mumbled. "My father will kill you, he'll probably lock me up, or worse.. I.. I don't know what to do-" He whimpered soflty. After everything that had happened it seemed there was no chance to stop his father. "Our home is gone.. we can't stop my father either."

"You're right, but you said we need to find Nighthawk. And, not only do we have the world's best stargazer, but we also have an Animus! Which is you. If you and I work together then we can find him, I know it." Starhunter smiled hopefully at him. "What do you say?"

"I guess so.." Shadow sighed and glanced at him. "I don't even know where he is, but.. we need to try. I'll see if I can find anything to enchant. My father hasn't found us so I'm assuming we're in the clear for now. Magic can only go so far after all."

"I understand. You bought us some time, that's all we need. I'll figure something out." Starhunter smiled. Shadow nodded and looked around at the rest of the oasis. That was when his stomach let out a loud rumble. He hadn't eaten in hours, nor had he slept. Despite being exhausted he refused to sleep. They had to get to safety before he could rest.

"Woah! I heard that through the water. There should be some food over there, I think. I can smell a few things." Starhunter got out of the water. "Stay here a minute, I'll find you something."

"Alright then." Shadow stretched and began to float on the water, huffing to himself. His tail flopped about behind him as he relaxed in the large pool. While he tested he began to think of different things to do with his magic that could help them out. Then he remembered a seawing Animus by the name of Turtle who created two stone tablets that could be used for one-way communication. He knew something like that would be best to contact Nighthawk.

"Hey! While you're over there get me two large stones!" Shadow called, now paddling over to the sand. Once he was on the ground he sat up and watched Starhunter walk over with some strange looking fruit and two flat rocks.

"Here, you might wanna make something that can duplicate food too." Starhunter suggested.

"That's a good idea! And those stones are perfect. I'm gonna enchant one so can write talk to Nighthawk on it and get some information." He smiled and sat up a bit as he looked for something else to enchant. Before him sat a coconut, and he got an idea. The giant smashed it open before carefully eating the meat out of the shell.

"I see what you're doing. See? Clever. Two bright minds working together to save the world!" Starhunter smiled and nudged him a little bit. "Haha.."

"Absolutely." Shadow finished eating what he needed, and he saved some fruit to duplicate with the coconut shell. Now it was time to enchant his tablets and create the bowl. "Enchant these two stones to be perfectly rectangular and identical. Any messages written down shall appear on the back of the other tablet instantly. Now go to Nighthawk." He spoke clearly as he did with any other spell, and one of the tablets disappeared.

"Oh. Well there goes that." Starhunter said to him. Shadow shrugged and picked up the coconut shell.

"Duplicate any food placed within the bowl upon entry." Shadow demanded. Starhunter tossed him a fruit and he dropped it inside. Suddenly the bowl shot out two of the prickly cactus fruits, and Shadow sighed in relief. "Haha! It worked!"

"Yes it did, nice work big guy!" Starhunter pat his shoulder gently. "We're getting there, now we just need to contact Nighthawk."

"Of course." Shadow said calmly as he searched around for another thing to enchant. He found a piece of the coconut shell and he enchanted it into some chalk. Then he used it to write a message to Nighthawk, asking where the cloaked dragon was. Only a few seconds later a response message appeared.

"He's in the scorpion den.."