Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Thirteen

Brisktail stopped in his tracks. He crouched down as low as possible and pressed himself to the ground, his breath lightly stirring the gravel in front of him. What was that?

     Brisktail strained his ears but no matter how hard he tried to listen he couldn't make anything out. They must have stopped talking. But who were they? Brisktail thought about the names he had heard – Windwhipper and Risingwind – and thought they sounded like SwiftScale names.

     But what were SwiftScales doing this far south? Judging by his internal compass and memorized map of Ventus, Brisktail was somewhere south of the Talon Peninsula. When he tried to listen, he thought he heard waves crashing far away and the distant whisper of trees. They must be in the forest near the ocean.

     "Anyways, that's not why I've summoned you here. What have you found out? What do our spies say?" said the first voice.

     Brisktail snapped to attention. He raised his head slightly, trying to see around a rock into the place where he heard the conversation coming from. For once, he kept his mind focused on something that wasn't the scenery.

     "Most of the soldiers that survived the battle are still in the infirmary. Your plan in antagonizing the SkyWings went according to schedule. The prince and princesses also haven't been seen since the attack, and the Queen sends out search parties for them. One of the apprentices went missing, two, actually, but I didn't think they were important enough to mention."

     Battle? What battle? Brisktail thought in alarm. The last battle he was in was the small skirmish over the collapsed cave sites with the SkyWings and before that the Great Battle. Surely, there hadn't been an invasion. Brisktail's stomach churned with worry and he suddenly felt a terrible, sinking feeling.

     The first voice paused and breathed in deeply as if thinking. "Not bad so far, Risingwind," he said. Okay. That means this dragon is Windwhipper and the other is Risingwind, Brisktail thought. Windwhipper continued: "I still want you to look into the disappearances of the apprentices. Depending on who they were, we might find ourselves in trouble."

     Risingwind seemed surprised. "How so?"

     "Some of my other spies have reported that one of the commander's apprentices was poking around the tunnel collapse with the royal dragonets. They might be onto something and I want you to keep all of my dragons on high alert in case they see them. I need to eliminate all heirs to succeed. Especially that young one with the gold spines, Lightningtail, since she's first in line. The other sisters are unlikely to take the throne if Swansong vanishes and Lightningtail is there to take the throne."

     Brisktail's face blanched in fear. He could feel his blood wash away as he gasped.

     "What was that?"

     "Okay, that was definitely something. Go check it out."

     "WHY ME?"

     "Because you need the battle experience."

     Claws tapped on stone and a dragon's tail slithered along the ground. Brisktail's mind drew a blank as he tried to figure out what to do next. The second voice - Risingwind - was coming closer and he would be found out.

     Brisktail looked down. He noticed the gravel in front of him and took a small stone that was shaped like his claw. He held it close.

     "I enchant this stone to turn whoever holds it invisible to the eyes of others," Brisktail breathed, reverently praying to whatever dragon spirits there may be that the approaching dragon didn't hear any echoes of his voice.