Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Twelve

Part Two - Secrets in Caves

- ❈ -

Brisktail bowed to the Queen again, professing his gratitude and apologies. She simply nodded at him, watching him leave. Brisktail turned around and walked over to the strange dragon and its escort of BurrowWing guards.

     The dragon looked at him as if surprised. Brisktail smiled at it and looked up at the biggest BurrowWing.

     "I'll just follow you guys, I'm heading in the same direction and I don't really want to fly back over the tundra."

     The guard nodded as if understanding where this was coming from and beckoned with his tail to all the guards and the strange dragon. They left the queen's villa, heading down a tunnel that slanted upwards. Brisktail tailed the group, content in staying hidden along the sidelines.

     They walked up the tunnel until it ended back at the main "city" dug-out. A few BurrowWings flew away, the rest staying with Brisktail and the other dragon as an escort. They returned with a small fleet of burly-looking dragons, whose shiny white scales were stained dull gray with rock dust. The five new dragons carried five large sacks on their backs.

     The lead guard nodded and turned to the see-through-ish dragon. It timidly bowed its head, its skinny limbs shaking as it stood up and padded away. The guards followed it, as did the masons and Brisktail.

     He stopped paying attention after that, lost in his thoughts. He knew of his relative surroundings – a cave leading odd into the gloom. A BurrowWing lit a torch that glowed with embers and they trekked in near-darkness. Brisktail kept stubbing his talons as he thought.

     Could that dragon who visited here really by my mom? What if she's alive? Should I tell Father? Come back and try to meet her? Will she even want us back? I mean, it's been eleven years, she must've remembered me at least... right?

     Brisktail couldn't shake the feeling that something felt horribly wrong.

     What about the PineWings? Belladonna knows we exist, and I even let slip that I lived on the coast... what is she sent some of her dragons to spy on us? Or attack us? Did I just endanger my tribe?

     Brisktail's stomach churned uncomfortably. He was tired and hungry, and homesick. He wanted to feel the wind under his wings again. He had spent nearly only one day underground and he was already cave-sick. He just wanted to go home.

     That's where you're walking now, you fool, he hissed to himself inside of his head as his talons picked up speed. His eyes had adjusted to the ember-light and he could make out a small outline of the landscape. He found himself bounding across the damp ground until he bumped into something.

     He looked up and saw the strange new dragon. It turned around as it walked, its black eyes fully open. They seemed to be able to see perfectly well in the dark, and its whiskers quivered on its snout.

     "Hello," Brisktail murmured, his voice sounding loud in the caverns, "sorry."

     The dragon blinked and smiled. "It's okay." He turned back to walking, eyes focused on the path ahead. Suddenly, he flared his see-through wings and Brisktail smacked into the membrane. He was prepared to mumble another sorry but then he looked down.

     A hundred dragonlengths below him, a long ravine stretched. At the bottom, a fast-flowing river gurgled and bubbled noisily. Brisktail's head spun at the height of the drop, the still air adding to his instability as he was usually very sure of his footing. Here, where there was no wind to aid in his flight, he would be clawing helplessly at the air as he fell, and by the time he gained his balance, he would have fallen impaled on a stalagmite.