The Story of Artemis- Wings of Fire

Chapter 16

Right as Mamba spoke those words, a loud gong rang out clearly through the halls. Everybody looked to Sunny, who stood in a corner and was setting down the stick, sheepishly backing away from the gong. Tsunami let out a laugh, along with Clay, and even Queen Glory managed a snort.

"You guys should be heading to the prey center." Clay decided. "Don't worry about that silly prophecy and the islands, okay? But just to be safe, don't tell anybody. Try and enjoy the day. We'll let you know if we find anything."

"Thank you, Clay." Artemis nodded to the Mudwing, who smiled and nodded back.

"Well let's get moving." Seaglass blurted, "If we are this slow, we'll be stuck with the leftovers! There's no way I'm doing that."

"Agreed." Snowfall said.

"Move out!" Tempest exclaimed, dropping down on her belly and crawling to the cave exit. Potent and Mudpuddle snickered at the tribrid, who paid no attention and continued on her way. Snowfall, Mudpuddle, and Seaglass followed close behind.

Mamba suddenly gave Potent a hard shove, and rushed out the door, now camouflaged and laughing.

"RACE YOU THERE!" She yelled.

The surprised Sandwing stumbled and fell onto Artemis, who tripped and fell crashing down with him.

"Watch the tail-watch the tail!" Artemis yelped, attempting to get the Sandwing off of her.

"I'm sorry!" Potent yelled, rolling to the side and pulling up Artemis, curling his tail inwards. His frill stuck up like he'd been electrocuted.

Potent growled, "That stupid lizard!"

"I WILL GET MY REVENGE!" He bellowed down the hallways, frightening an unfortunate Rainwing and Seawing who were walking down at that moment. They both gave small yelps and scurried down the halls. Artemis managed to shoot them a sorry look.

Artemis sighed and shook her head. "Same here." She mumbled. She stood and tried to regain her composure, avoiding the burnings eyes of the Dragonets on her scales.

"Come on." Potent snapped. "I need to find that RAINWING and make sure she's gotten back." He strode down the hall, his venomous tail lashing back and forth.

"What a nice guy." Tsunami mumbled to Glory.

Artemis narrowed her bright blue eyes, following Potent to the prey center, and whatever waited for her once she got there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Artemis arrived in the prey center, she wished she had skipped lunch.

Dragon voices rang relentlessly through the room, bouncing off the walls into the open air above them. All the animal noises didn't help, either. The sun beating down on all those scales made it even harder to tell which dragon from which.

Artemis was utterly tired, and quite hungry as she trudged into the prey center. Her excitement of the prospect of food became short lived when a chicken rocketed over her head in a flurry of feathers. She let out a yelp in alarm and ducked as a small Sandwing chased her prey, shouting curses and insults at the feathery foul.

She let her gaze wander the room, searching for red and black scales that matched her Rainwing friend.

"Gotcha!" A sudden voice shouted, and startled Artemis into nearly falling over.

"What?" she cried, and found the culprit of the scare staring down at her with gold snake-like eyes.

"MAMBA." She roared. Artemis scrambled back to her talons, snorting smoke in her friend's face. She waved it away with a talon and stuck out her tongue.