Gift or Curse?

Chapter Four

Blood warning for this chapter. I don't think it's that gory, but just to be safe.

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Kite flew behind Sturgeon as the pair crossed the Sky Kingdom. The green SeaWing flew at a casual pace, one foreleg hanging beneath him as though he were carrying an invisible bag. He seemed to be in no hurry, whereas Kite was tempted to grab the larger dragon and force him to go faster. It was already past noon, and the mountains were beginning to cast dark shadows.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Kite asked Sturgeon more than once.

"I told you I'd find her, didn't I?" Sturgeon said.

"Yeah, but how do you know you're going the right way?"

Sturgeon looked back at her, eyes half-closed against the sunlight. "Does that mean you've decided to tell me why the kidnappers are using your friend to blackmail you?"

Kite gritted her teeth, but kept quiet. Who knew what this SeaWing would do if he knew the truth?

The sun was halfway to the horizon when Sturgeon slowed, peering at a clump of forest near a cliff. "She's there," he said simply. "Her and her kidnappers."

"How do we get her back?" Kite asked, heart beginning to pound.

Sturgeon just tipped forward and glided down into the trees. Kite followed, and when she landed, Sturgeon was already disappearing into the trees. It seemed he didn't much care whether she kept up or not.

The SeaWing finally stopped standing in as stream just a few trees away from a clearing that had once been a blacksmith's workshop. A forge was burning in the middle of the clearing, hot enough that Kite could feel the heat from where she stood. She didn't have to guess at its purpose.

The forge was surrounded by five fully-grown SkyWings in chain or plate armor. Kite could just see Cinder leashed to a tree with a chain attached to a loop of fireproof wire running between her claws and mouth before a large, authoritative-looking dragon stepped in front of her.

"Cinder," Kite breathed. She began to step towards the clearing, but Sturgeon grabbed her around the snout.

"Now, now," he said. "Let me get ready first."

He grabbed a stick from the bank of the stream and began stripping the side branches from it. Then, he laid his claws against the end and began whittling it down to a point.

"You're going to go spear-to-spear with them?" Kite hissed in his ear. "Five full-grown SkyWing soldiers– who, I might add, breathe fire– and you're a single SeaWing with a wooden spear?"

"No," Sturgeon said. "I don't intend to let them get to their weapons. But first, I need to make sure they're all there, which means you need to get captured."

"What?"

Sturgeon shoved Kite through the bushes and into the clearing. Six heads went up, and the dragon in front of Cinder pointed at Kite. "Grab her," he ordered.

One of the SkyWings by the forge leaped on top of Kite, pinning her to the ground. The commanding dragon stepped towards Kite, leaving her with a view of Cinder's wide, fear-filled eyes.

"I brought you the necklace," Kite gasped out from under her captor's weight.

"Yes, you did," he said. He pulled it off her neck and held it in his claws. "Nearly three thousand years of searching, and you bring it right to us. Thank you."

"Now let Cinder go," Kite said. "You have what you want. You made me break a promise and you're putting the tribe at risk, but you have what you want."