Wings of Fire: The LightningWing

Chapter 11 - A SandWing is a Threat

Shock never knew that there was territory unclaimed by any kingdom yet. Beluga had told her that a field of grass with few trees was not claimed by either the Kingdom of Sand or the Mud Kingdom or even the Rain Kingdom. He said the Queen Coral, the SeaWing queen, wrote a scroll on the particular land and that the two advanced kingdoms, sand and mud, left the land to be claimed by the RainWings because it had no value. Maroon eventually shut him up after another lesson on Queen Coral. Later into the flight, Shock could feel the scorching heat devouring his scales. "Let's stop." Shock bellowed, making short wingbeats. Paradise smiled and hovered beside him, but Maroon angrily pushed on. "Maroon!" Shock burst, staying in place. Toad cocked his head in surprise. He still doesn't know our names, Shock thought. Maroon hovered and snarled vigorously. "WHAT? I, maybe not you, but I want to get this over with." Maroon flinched when Toad ran his talons over the scratch marks on her underbelly. Shock couldn't make out what he said, whispered, but it was enough to make Maroon fly to the ground. Beluga, Paradise, Toad, and Shock all followed slowly behind her back. Shock then realized that the dragonets had been flying for days without food. Maroon started bounding away when Shock noticed a cow waddling around. Maroon snatched it by the leg and tore her talons into its chest, the rest of the messy process was covered, to Shock's relief. He had always wondered what meat tasted like. In the Lightning Kingdom, their only food was stone. Surprisingly, their powerful teeth were capable of penetrating the rock, and surprisingly, it tasted quite good. He remembered the chips of stone crunching in between his teeth. Maybe meat would taste even better. Eventually, Maroon dragged the dangling figure in her jaws and the dragonets tore in, all except for Shock, and well, Paradise. In the middle of eating, Beluga spat a few words. "Nothing? You aren't eating, Shock?" Shock didn't want to tell them about his natural diet. Nor did he even feel like eating meat now, looking at the limp body. "I don't eat meat, or fruits." Shock watched Paradise pummel into the air, snagging the wind with her wings. She obviously was going to find some fruits. Since they were so close to the rainforest, it would be easy to find some fruits. Toad chomped some food while looking confusingly at Shock. "Mmen hwat mdo ou hmeat?" He  asked, chewing a jawful of food in his mouth. Shock believed he was trying to say "then what do you eat" but he wasn't quite sure. "I eat, uh, stone." Maroon, Beluga, and Toad all exchanged glances before directing their confused faces at Shock. "I think I heard that wrong." Maroon said, gulping some meat down. "Did you say 'stone'?" Shock shyly stared at the ground. "Yeah." He squeaked. This is the exact reason why he didn't want to talk about his diet. Shock looked over to the meat and noticed that only a few bones remained. Do they taste as good as stone? Shock carefully went over that thought before leaping into the air. "I'm going to find me a boulder to chew." At that, Shock flew into a group of trees and vanished from the dragonets' sight. Eventually he found a boulder, one right on the edge of the Kingdom of Sand. Shock chipped the top of the rock and then jumped on top of it, staring off into the kingdom before him. He wasn't in territory yet, but the heat was irresistible. Shock spread his wings and directed them toward the scorching desert before him. He needed time without the dragonets. Well, he did like Paradise, who agreed with everything, even against her own opinion. Immediately after that thought left his mind, Shock could make out a figure powering through the desert. It was like a black dot hovering through the air, until the scale color turned yellow. That was a SandWing. The figure flew faster when it saw Shock's blinding colors and Shock could make out the barbed tail poised over it's back. Was it coming to kill him? The closer it got, the more Shock had an urge to hide behind the boulder. He flared his wings and growled, trying to hide his fear. The SandWing dove onto Shock, nagging his wing with poison from the barbed tail. Poison seethed his scales and he moaned, shoving the SandWing off. As nightfall dragged upon them, Shock's senses kicked in. Day is your time, SandWing, but night is mine. Shock thought carefully. The SandWing's scales were covered in sand, as if it had been rolling in the grains. Shock was capable of turning on a nocturnal sense in his eyes to make him see in the dark, and as far as he knew, SandWings were focused on daytime. The SandWing launched again, poising his barbed tail at Shock's face. Shock scratched his underbelly and dodged the barbed tail, whipping the SandWing stealthfully with his tail. Pain surged through his wing where he had been scratched with the poison, but he kept fighting. The SandWing staggered back, flaring it's wings. Shock gritted his teeth and bit into the SandWing's wings, tearing them to where she couldn't fly. Even though the SandWing was injured, she lunged stunningly at Shock in anger. She struck like a cobra, poising her tail and baring her teeth. Shock used his back haunches to launch the SandWing into a nearby tree. He watched the barb of the SandWing smack the tree, devouring the bark in poison. The SandWing quickly rose back up and spread her sun colored wings. Blindingly, Shock hid his face and the SandWing struck, towering over Shock. She poised her tail toward his heart, until a flash of red and blue, with hints of purple crashed into the SandWing. Paradise, a RainWing, started battling the SandWing.