Wings of Fire: The LightningWing

Chapter 19 - A New Tribe, The StoneWings

Shock squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember the last time he thought of Mist being the first animus. I was right at the moment before he cracked the case. Shock ran his mind over the thought again. Then, he remembered. Shock laid his head down on the air and slapped his tail on the wind. It shook, almost shattered like he wanted it to. If he broke the air barrier, Shock's friends could get in. Shock had thought back to the scrolls he read. Midair was Cloud's father, and Cloud was Mist's great great great grandmother. And Cloud was in love with Storm. Shock stretched his neck high, flared his wings, and stiffened his legs. "Get in the air, dragons, I'm breaking this field of air." Shock snarled deeply under his breath. Cracking the barrier would break the animus touch and his Pyrrhian friends could enter. Shock slapped the air hard with his tail, and the air below him and his friends shattered into the air around them and dissolved. Though, Shock and his friends couldn't fly. So they fell into a gaping chasm that was as dark as the darkest night in Pyrrhia and had jagged stalactites and stalagmites. Soon after all the dragonets fell in, the chasm's top welded together. They were stuck inside the Chamber of Midair. Beluga hid in a corner of the cave-like chasm but immediately jumped back when he heard a muffled moan. "Shock, what was that?" Shock looked deeply into a dark side of the chasm. "I don't know. Beluga, try to use your night vision. Maroon, Toad, and Sightseer, light up your mouths, we need to see this dragon." All the dragonets nodded, at least he thought because he couldn't see them all in the dark. Immediately Maroon, Toad, and Sightseer lit up their fire, and the dark chasm became lighted. After the lighting of the cave, a moan and cough came from the side of the cave. "Turn off that light, we are trying to sleep." The voice was shaky and came from the same side of the cave that Beluga walked into. The fire-breathing dragonets clamped their talons toward the dragon. The light shined brightly on a hidden dragon, until a stone body moved from their lump. Shock, startled, jumped back and opened his mouth, hissing a bolt of lightning. The lighting hit the stone dragon, but bounced off its chest and shot back at Shock. The dragon standing before them was a stone dragonet. Now that Shock had noticed too, these stone dragons lived with scavengers and they lived as civilized neighbors to each other. Shock spread his wings so the stone dragons could see him and quoted his exaggeration about the LightningWings. "I am a LightningWing, the wonders of the wind and sky, makers of thunder and rain, and the dragons poised on top of the world. I request that you tell just what your tribe is, who your queen is, and where I can find her." Maroon gave Shock a puzzled look. "When did you come up with that?" She whispered. Shock ignored Maroon's remark and frowned at the stone dragon. "Igneous, turn on the lights and wake every StoneWing from their sleep. We have visitors." A gray dragon's shadow trotted over to the side of the cave and soon, blinding lights sliced the cave. Shock could see the actual form of the StoneWings now, and be could see what the one StoneWing he was talking to looked like too. The StoneWings were draped in light gray stone, not scales, covering their bodies. They had a tail crowded with shards of minerals, all colors, like purple, blue, and green. Their claws were geodes too, typically purple or blue. Their eyes were the color green, and every StoneWing was the same size, so it was hard to determine what ones were dragonets or not. The dragonet called Igneous bounded to the one StoneWing's side. The StoneWing bowed and spread his wings before standing back up. "Dear LightningWing, I am Mica." Shock nodded and told them his name. "This here is Igneous. Ignore her." Igneous frowned and stomped her colorful talon on the ground. "Ignore me? Mica, that was rude." Mica nodded, but flared her wings and bowed again. "Our queen is Queen Marble and she is at the very end of the cavern. Please acknowledge that the humans are our friends though, so don't eat them." Shock looked confusingly at Mica. Was she talking about the scavengers? Shock let down his wings and bowed to Mica. Mica smiled and flapped her wings. She must have been talking about the scavengers. "Would you be so dear to lead us to your queen?" Cobra asked, walking in front of Shock. Mica nodded but pointed to Igneous. "She will." Shock saw that Maroon rolled her eyes and he gave her a small growl. Igneous smiled and jumped up and down. "Come on! Maybe Queen Marble will let you into the Chamber of Midair." Shock squinted at Igneous. How did she know about wanting to go into the Chamber of Midair? "How did you know?" Mist asked, jumping before Cobra. Igneous scrunched in her claws and wrinkled her neck, then glanced to Mica, who nodded. "We can read minds, but not the false NightWing way." What? The false NightWing way? Huh? Shock looked to Mica, who slapped her forehead. "Sorry, dragonets, that you had to find out this way, but obviously Igneous read Sightseer's mind and saw the truth, that I think you dragonets didn't know. NightWings can't read minds or see the future." Sightseer stomped her claw on the ground and charged up to Mica's snout. "Not true! Some of us are born with the powers, but I suppose it is an exaggeration about all of us having powers. I sure don't." Mica nodded and looked to Shock. "Leader of the pack, allow Igneous to take you to Queen Marble's throne. I do believe ruins could explain your home right now." Shock nodded back, bowed, and looked to Igneous. "Lead the way." Igneous scraped her colorful talon on the rocks below her. "Well, on the way, I better tell you about how we guard the chamber of Midair, and how we know who Midair and Storm are." Shock gasped and looked from Mica to Igneous. "Please if you would."