Listen, And The Stars Shall Speak

Regret

Dusk's eyes widened and he unconsciously took a step back. A brother? Oh no. No no no. His father's words rang out in his head like an alarm. "My brothers are awful, horrible dragons that would kill you..." 

Oh Dad, Dusk thought worriedly. What have I done? He hadn't expected this. He thought Fennec would be an acquaintance, maybe an old friend- not his brother. And yet, as he stared at his uncle, Dusk couldn't help but feel a bit of doubt. This dragon didn't look like someone who would kill his own nephew without a second thought. But, if his dad was right, then he and Haze were in danger. A lot of danger.

....And it was all his fault. 

Haze watched with curiously before glancing back at Fennec. 

"Um," she said awkwardly, not really knowing what Dusk had wanted to find out. "Maybe you could tell us about him- something about his past maybe?" Fennec smirked slightly, his eyes regretful. 

"Coal...." he began. "Well, Coal is- was- the baby of the family. But we didn't protect him like we were supposed to. Our father and Prickle- and pretty much everyone else- they'd hurt him. Beat him up, hit him with all kinds of things. He never did anything wrong. He was innocent, but that didn't matter. After Father died and Prickle took over, Coal betrayed us and became a spy. He ran off after we found him out. He came back once and tried to talk to me, but Prickle found him first and they beat him again until he got out."

"Who's Prickle?"

"Mine and Coal's older brother and the leader of the gang. He's very cruel." Haze grimaced.

"Well, at least he can't hurt anyone no more." Fennec made a face.

"I don't know," he admitted with a sigh. "He hurt Rattlesnake pretty bad." Haze momentarily froze. Why did that name sound so familiar?

"Who's Rattlesnake?" 

"She's the girl Prickle's always been obsessed with. A few years ago we got ahold of some Nightwing that was important to Coal-"

"My mother." Dusk whispered.

"I suppose. He traded himself for her and we tortured him for weeks, trying to get information about Thorn. He didn't crack, unfortunately, but he said something to Rattlesnake and she ran off. Took us nearly two years to track her down. We had to kill some innocent Mudwing to get her back, but we did. Now she doesn't do much but weep and ignore her son." 

Haze's eyes were as wide as saucers. Her arm shot out at the mention of a Mudwing and whacked Dusk. He eyed her strangely, but she didn't notice; didn't care. A sandwing disappearing from a gang, being forced back after a Mudwing was killed? The two stories matched up perfectly. It felt to Haze that all the air in the world had mysteriously vanished. She found it near impossible to breathe. 

"Who's her son?" Dusk asked.

"He's just a tiny thing. His name's Drought, after our father. Prickle was the only one of us that ever liked the man. Neither of his parents care about him though, so I'm usually the one who takes care of him."  He frowned suddenly, staring at Haze.

"Strange," he offered. "You look a lot like Rattlesnake." Haze regained her voice and forced out a sentence.

"Can I- can we see her?" she asked. "Can we see Rattlesnake?"