Always - Moonbli

6. Captive and Flight

Qibli

Oh, wow, this is fantastic, grumbled Qibli internally, shaking off the rain from his wings. He'd been flying for a half a day in the same direction, with no clue of Winter's whereabouts. Now he was stuck in a sudden downpour of water. A drenched, lone SandWing is not an impressive rescue patrol, thought Qibli dryly. Looking around, he realized that he'd no idea of where he was. A drenched, lone and lost SandWing. Oh, great.

He crawled into a cave in a cliff face nearby and hunched there, shivering in a huddled heap of golden scales, as he waited for the shower to cease. The stone felt cold and wet against his naturally warm pale-yellow scales, and water was dripping down his neck from the cave roof. His back was pressed uncomfortably against the hard cave walls. All in all, not the best experience he'd ever had, but at least he wasn't out in the rain.

It took a long time for the heavens to stop pouring. When the sun finally emerged from its hiding place in the dark storm clouds, Qibli was fast asleep, squashed against a large rock. As soon as its warm rays brushed his scales, his eyes snapped open and he breathed in the sweet air. 'Great kingdoms, that was a trying ordeal,' muttered the SandWing, crawling out of the cave. He stretched his cramped muscles and took to the sky, doing a few laps around the mountain peak before he felt normal again.

Back on the trail, mused Qibli silently as he soared over the mountains. He'd been following a very faint IceWing scent that reeked suspiciously of a certain haughty, possessed IceWing prince who was also his best friend. Along with Winter's scent was a rather fishy one. SeaWing had been his first guess, but then he realized it also smelled like perfumed ashes, which was strange. Maybe a psycho SeaWing with a very bad taste in perfume had kidnapped Winter. Why they did that was another mystery.

They seemed to be heading to a part of Pyrrhia Qibli had never been to before - a jagged ring of spiky mountains that looked rather like a dragon's teeth. The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon in a blaze of scarlet, fuschia and gold, lighting up the sky with vibrant colours. Suddenly, new scents hit Qibli - the stench of rotting meat, lava, ash and smoke. NightWings, he realized. A large group. Smell is old  - they came here probably a month-ish? I don't know. Curiously, he beat his wings faster until he was hovering above the ring of mountains. Winter's scent trail spiraled downwards, smack in the middle of the mountain ring.

Qibli arrowed downwards and dived straight for the scent-trail, the wind whipping past his wings. He neatly pulled up a tail-length above the mountain peak and lowered himself slowly until his talons were brushing the rock, not quite touching but almost there. The SandWing breathed in the cool air. Winter's trail seemed to curve down to the middle of the mountain slope, and abruptly vanished. Qibli halted halfway down the slope. 

I'm so tired, thought Qibli drowsily. He ran a puzzled talon over the rock where the scent-trail disappeared, and then sighed. In the morning I'll figure this out. He looked up at the sun. Its blood-red rays were fading away, eaten by the dark midnight-blue that indicated night was falling. There was a large overhanging rock jutting out from a steep part of the stony slope, and Qibli crawled underneath it. He curled up to sleep, his eyes closing before he even rested his head on his talons. The last thing he remembered was the soft grass beneath him, the pleasant night air, the melody of a nightingale, the sweet smell of a rose and the twinkling of stars in the faraway sky. Then everything went dark.

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Qibli's muscles were aching. He growled softly in his sleep and tried to stretch, but there was no space. He tossed and turned before laying still on his back, trying to get into a comfortable position. He was no longer sleeping in the open. Beneath him was cold, hard stone, and the musky smell of an underground cave hung heavily in the air around him. He also sensed the presence of walls around him, closing in on him, crushing him.