Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Seven

The little dragon startled at his voice and backed up, as if it wasn't expecting him to talk.

      "Ty vhral? Quin tyr l'uhalar?" it asked.

      Brisktail shook his head. "I can't understand," he tried, but the smaller dragon seemed just as frustrated as he was. She stamped her foot and her eye ridges dipped in a frown.

     "Quin tyr nhan? Jain se Chvir." She took her talon and drew in the snow; a stem with three circular leaves.

     Brisktail peered at the drawing. It looked like a clover, but he wasn't sure. "You like Clovers? Is that what you're saying? Oh! Is your name Clover? Mine is – gah, what's the use, we don't understand each other anyway."

     Clover (Brisktail decided to call her that) looked perplexed. She clearly was having trouble like him.

     She stepped back again, beckoning him with her talons, "Firim ma," she said and took another few steps.

     Brisktail walked forward slowly. "Do you want me to follow you? Okay... I guess." Brisktail started after the dragon. Brisktailstarted after the dragon after a moment's hesitation. After all, what did hehave to lose?

     She led him between hidden spaces in the trees and bushes, and he had a relatively easy time going where she wanted him to. She would hold back branches for him with her long tail. One time, when she lifted her tail, Brisktail happened to look up and realized that the quills on it made it look like a branch from a needle tree. She seemed to take extra care to make sure he didn't brush against her quills for some reason.

     Clover's horns also looked like antlers more than horns, and in general, she looked like a forest-dwelling creature. Long, compact and flexible. Her scales even reminded him of tree bark. He looked at the stump of a pine tree they passed and in fact, her scales looked like exact replicas of the bark.

     The trees began thinning ahead. There was a break in the forest. Clover hopped a log and clambered across it. She turned around when she was under a tree, holding her talons out and patting the air with them.

     "Whir iram," she chirped and took off. She jumped onto the trunk and her claws fastened into the bark. Brisktail watched as she disappeared into the needles. The brown and white patterns on her scales helped her camouflage against the snow and bark. He was able to track her for a while but soon she blended in.

     Brisktail waited. Snow was still falling, just not as heavily as the blizzard before. Large snowflakes floated lazily from the darkening sky. Brisktail curled his tail around his talons and shivered. He wanted to get out of the cold soon.

     He didn't know how he would do that. Maybe there was a cave nearby? Brisktail scanned the ground. How would a cave form in a forest anyway? The only caves he had been around were ones in seaside cliffs. Maybe they would just be a hole in the ground? Nevertheless, Clover seemed to want him to wait here, so Brisktail did.

     A stick snapped behind him. Brisktail turned and saw a dragon staring at him.

     This one also seemed to be female, yet the scales around her eyes sagged with age. Brisktail thought she looked ancient. She had multiple pouches fastened around her chest and hanging from her neck. Upon closer inspection, her eyes seemed milky white instead of red like Clover's. It unnerved Brisktail.

     The dragon raised her head and sniffed. "Is that a SwiftScale I smell?"

     Brisktail's eyes widened. Did she just speak Dragon?

     The dragoness huffed. "Don't seem so confused. I'll explain everything. Follow me; you're freezing and I assume about to collapse." She turned and began walking away, not bothering to check if he was going to follow or not.