Wings of Fire: The Shifting Sands

Chapter 3: Darkthought

Darkthought's roar was unlike anything he'd ever heard before. To him, it seemed like it split the sky, tore up the ground, and destroyed his whole world for the second time that day.

Bullfrog's body was slowly disintegrating into ashes, but for Darkthought all of existence was crumbling along with it. Painful flashes of memories tore through his head; Bullfrog coming back in the pouring rain with a soaked, shaggy goat corpse, Darkthought and Bullfrog singing songs around their small, dismal fire at night. Hunting together, Bullfrog's promise of a trip to the sea, learning about all the dragon tribes, and Bullfrog rescuing of Darkthought's egg from the Night Kingdom. The NightWing dragonet wept for a long, long time.

Then he dried his tears and faced the sunlight pouring into the cave entrance. The orange morning sun was rising over the mountain range. His helpless sadness filled him like a cup of salt water, but he had mourned. Now he needed to find who had killed his father.

Bullfrog's body was both burned and slashed. Three cuts penetrated his throat, and another ten leaving long, bleeding lines through his underbelly. One of his wings was completely torn, and his tail was cut all the way off. His teeth also appeared to be missing, which was odd.

Darkthought studied the claw marks. Long and ragged around the edges, like a saw, or... an IceWing's talons. But they weren't all like that; they had a bit of his claw shape too. An idea came to him. An IceWing-NightWing hybrid, Darkthought thought furiously. Perhaps even the one Bullfrog told me about in his escape. If that was the one, he knew who to kill to avenge Bullfrog's death.

I have to go as soon as possible. There's nothing left for me here.

He stalked to his bedroom, where he found nothing much that he wanted with him. He took his satchel, and filled it with a few of his favorite and useful scrolls; Dangerous Mushrooms and How to Find Them, A Guide to the Customs of the Seven Tribes, Legend of the Darkstalker. Besides that, he also added a container of water and some prey. He walked out of his cave, past the dining cave, then stopped. He dropped his satchel on the ground and walked in front of Bullfrog's body. A wave of gut-wrenching sadness washed through him.

He gently picked up Bullfrog's head, and took off the necklace the MudWing wore. It was a smooth, worn circle of silver, with a moonstone attached. It fitted Bullfrog nicely, but was a little too large for Darkthought. The dragonet thought about that. If he was going to leave, he wanted something sentimental for him to remember Bullfrog by. The MudWing's necklace seemed like a good idea. He thought for a time, then remembered something.

In that dream I had, he thought, with the SeaWings. That was — I was...an... animus, wasn't I?

He reached with tense muscles towards the necklace. He clutched it, then said aloud with his eyes closed, "I enchant this necklace to fit me, and also," he paused for a moment, cleared his throat and continued. "And also, to remind me of Bullfrog and my whole life here. Never let me forget. Make me remember him with happy memories." He felt a shifting on his scales, like a snake coiling tighter around his throat.

He opened his eyes. It had worked. The necklace felt perfect against his ebony scales. And now this life's memories were installed permanently. The grieving sadness lifted. He felt ready.

Time to fly. Time to avenge my father.

Goodbye, Bullfrog. I'll miss you.

He clipped the satchel shut, spread his wings, and flew off into the moonlight.

Darkthought soon realized that his plan had quite a few flaws in it.

For starters, he had no idea where the Night Kingdom was, and he suspected the NightWings were not eager to share that location either, based on what Bullfrog had described it as. Also, he didn't see a lot of maps growing up, so he really didn't know where Jade Mountain, where he grew up, was actually located in Pyrrhia.

Guess I'll just keep on going until I find somewhere, he thought, a little excitedly. Rain clouds started to gather, and soon afterwards rain poured down, sending his excitement plummeting down to the craggy mountain rocks below. He held his satchel underneath his body to shield it from the rain, which was now in allegiance with the bellowing wind. He flared his wings to stay aloft, then a suddenly whirl of wind from behind him started up. I never actually had experience in storms, he realized. Bullfrog herded me inside. And for good reason. It was actually a bit like what he imagined swimming to be like. Well, swimming when also getting pounded by waves.

He was going along fine until a roaring from behind informed him a second before it happened that a gust was building up. It flipped him upside down, then huge invisible talons seemed to grab him and throw him down. Rain splattered his wings and face. His satchel opened up, and he saw all the contents plummet. He just saw Legends of the Darkstalker vaporized by a bolt of lightning before another whirl of wind threw him upwards, which gave him an idea.

What if I go so high up I'm above the storm?

The idea was crazy. But it might work. Inside the cloud, if he flew up there, he would probably meet a highly painful end. Although, it might be an improvement... but he couldn't think like that. I have to try.

He spread his wings and soared upwards, beating as hard as he could as he reached the cloud. Purple streaks of lightning flashed, illuminating the sky for a second, then everything went dark with a booming roar a few seconds later as the thunder rolled in. Darkthought slammed his eyes shut and flew as hard as he could. Rain whipped his face. He lost track of time, flying up, but suddenly he felt strangely peaceful. He opened his eyes.

He was flying above the clouds.

It was amazing, like a whole other world. Wisps of clouds were floating above him, and the thick, dense storm below seemed so solid he could stand on it. The sky was dark, dark blue, streaked with shades of orange and pink-purple.

If I ever get down, I'll have to remember this.

The faint ambience of rain and thunder echoed from below, but right now he didn't worry about that. When he found the edge of the storm, he would fly down and get his bearings. But while he was up here, he was going to enjoy this while he could. This also seemed like a great time to try to think how to find the dragon he was looking for.

Since he was part of the band that followed Bullfrog, he must live in the Night Kingdom. He also seemed to have a SkyWing target on his back, since Bullfrog told me that those two SkyWings were supposed to kill them. So maybe I could ask the SkyWings and see if they know anything about it.

There was a pause while he flew, and then his eyes spotted the edge of the storm. Sandy dunes rolled as far as he could see from up here, with a lot of cacti and withered bushes. Darkthought pulled into a dive, and winced as the blazing heat enveloped him. He landed, the sand catching in the grooves of his claws, making his talons itch.

As he sat down to pick the grains out, his focus zeroed in on the simple task until a heavy hand clapped over his shoulder. He felt the hiss of three dragons all around him. A deep, cruel voice said, "Well. What do we have here?"
Then he felt a sharp impact hit him on the back of the head, and everything went black.