Wings of Fire: The Shifting Sands

Chapter 7: Darkthought

 Darkthought had never thought he would be nostalgic of being in a prison alone, but now he rather wished he could have a moment of peace. Even Cactus jeering at him might be better than this.

The new prisoner was quite feisty, and had ignored him whenever he tried to start a conversation, or sometimes blasting a column of fire at him, which he always ducked. At present, she was fuming as smoke poured out of her nostrils. She paced behind the bars, her chains clanking as she stomped back and forth.

Darkthought wished he could talk to Sunwatcher, but he couldn't reopen the enchanted bricks without the SkyWing noticing, and he was fairly certain he didn't want this dragon to know about any of his powers. So he just focused on trying to figure this SkyWing out.

The SkyWing's mind also matched her ferocious outside, although there were sections of it that was a little more mellow. Those sand snorters! Her brain grumbled. They'll be sorry! Hmmph! A little blast of fire shot out of her nostrils. Outside, she was a ferocious dark red, with streaks of orange scales - amber colored, actually. Her huge wings were dragging on the floor like she was about to pass out cold. Her yellow eyes glared at everything, including him.

Oh dear, Darkthought worried. He scratched the stone under his claws, wondering whether it was worth it to try to strike up a conversation again. "Um..." he said, before he could stop himself.

The SkyWing turned to look at him with no particular friendliness.

"I was just wondering... what your name is?"

She snorted. "Amber," she said flatly. She paused for a moment, then looked at him and added, a little less brusquely, "And you are?"

"Darkthought," he said, keeping his enthusiasm beneath the surface. A kind dragon is in there, under the anger and the wall of fire, literally and mentally. He brushed down some other confusing feelings that weren't important, and tried to focus on how to communicate with Sunwatcher.

Amber nodded slowly, then retreated to a pile of straw, where she fell asleep. When Darkthought was quite sure she was really sleeping, he stuck his claw into the indentation in the wall and twisted it to the right, and the six bricks crumbled into dust.

"Psst!" he hissed to Sunwatcher, who was also sleeping. Three moons, was everyone but him asleep? He risked a glance over his shoulder at Amber, to check she was still deeply sleeping. "Hey!"

Sunwatcher grunted and his eyes half opened. His tongue flapped out and he rolled onto his back, sighing gustily. His usually golden scales were now black with a hint of blue, orange and pink at the edges of his wings. Starry scales, placed like a normal NightWing's, were shimmering quietly.

"Hey! Sunwatcher!" Darkthought tried. "Come on, wake up!"

The dragonet rolled again, dunking his tail into the icy river. With a yelp, he jumped up, wings fluttering. "Cold! Cold!" he yelped.

"Hey!" hissed Darkthought. Honestly, Sunwatcher was not easy to wake.

"What?" he whispered, coming over to the hole. "Who's your cellmate?"

"Amber," Darkthought said quickly. "She is not very... quiet."

"YOU MANIPULATIVE TOADS!" roared Amber in her sleep, making both the NightWings jump. She lurched violently, her black claws twitching. "SAY THAT TO MY FACE, WHY DON'T YOU!"

"Moons," whispered Sunwatcher in a trembling voice, once he had regained the power of speech. "That was absolutely terrifying." He gave Amber a worried look. "Are we sure her mental level is completely stable?"

"Yes," said Darkthought firmly. "We are."

Sunwatcher gave him a confused look, but shrugged. "So what's up?" he asked.

"We need to escape," said Darkthought. "As soon as possible."

Sunwatcher nodded. "We're all in." he swung his tail, indicating the slumbering form of Sandstorm. "We've been discussing too."

Darkthought started to ask how, but then mentally slapped himself in the head when he remembered they both knew sign language. "Right." He said. "I'll catch some shut-eye."

"Oh, and Darkthought?" said Sunwatcher as Darkthought turned to leave. Sunwatcher was almost unrecognizable with his regular scales. The sunset colors had drained completely; now he was completely identical to a regular NightWing's. I wonder if he can change it at will.

"Yes?" asked Darkthought, turning. Sunwatcher glanced at the bars, at Darkthought and then at Amber.

"I think I know how." Sunwatcher explained his plan.

"Good," said Darkthought, nodding. "So... tomorrow night... we escape."