Wings of Fire Scales of Stone (Book 2)

Chapter 6

The new Dragonets set up their studying in the library, and began to decipher the new riddle. "Hold up! Before we start anything, how did your scale work for the last riddle. Geyser said that it wouldn't work for special dragons?" Wildflower asked. Subzero then answered, "I agree with that, that's why I didn't use my scales. This is my father's bag, he seems to always leave his scales in the bag...it's quite unsanitary now that I think about it". Wildflower made a face of defeat mixed with closure at the answer. "Are there any other questions that we need to ask before we start?" I asked. We looked at each other and no one spoke, so we started.

Aurora wrote down the riddle on the parchment under the first clue, then gasped. "In faults of sand and stone...like the Sandwing royal treasury? The Sandwings took Thorn as their new queen after the war right..." Aurora started to say, breaking apart the clue. "Yes, that would make her recent new queen, and the scavengers refer to the dragon thieves of the kingdom, that are starting to fade away. Nicely done Aurora, I see that the lessons actually helped." Sunny finished and complimented from Starflight's desk. "You mean we gotta go back into that sandy wasteland?" Wildflower asked. Aurora nudged her green friend reminding her that Sunny was still in the room. "I get it you don't like it, but that's where you need to go. I'll write a letter to mom, and let her know that you are friends." Sunny said with a forgiving tone. Andrena gasped loudly and said, "YOU'RE A PRINCESS! I BOW BEFORE THE"! All of us laughed at the buzzy comedian. Sunny then said, "Yes, I have to say no one every takes that title that seriously".

After that little stunt, we had to figure out what we're looking for. Starflight brought out a box with several scrolls inside. "What's that Star?" Aurora asked while trying to peak into the box. Starflight answered, "It is a set of lists, a catalog of all known animus items". He emptied the box onto the ground, and most of us grabbed a scroll to look at. Marking of any item that was destroyed, and considering all items to be known in the Sandwing kingdom, we looked through the older parchments trying to find the item that we need to help see this prophecy through. Hours went by and the list seemed to get search seemed to get longer and longer as we found possible items and then debunked them once we found out new facts about the item and it's last known status or use.

"This seems pointless, the riddle didn't specify the ability of the item, or the appearance of the item. Without and description, we will be unable to find the animus object." Geyser said with boredom and frustration in his voice. All of us put our papers down and seemed to groan in unison. "Geyser's right, with any context in which this item is used, we can't uncover which one it is." Aurora agreed with the hybrid. We placed all the scrolls with dead ends, in the box, and we kept out a few records of animus items for further investigation.

The sun had set, and all of us retired to our caves to rest. All of us were so tired, that even I took less then a couple of minutes to doze into sleep. I dream of Oakley walking towards us with something in his paws. Geyser picks it up and it does not sizzle. He opens the box, and inside is a necklace with a white jewel embedded in it. I went to touch it, and out of no where white scales wore the necklace. A sound lounder than I had ever heard filled the area around me. I see other dragons nearby, crash from the destructive sound and a laugh following the deviation. I wake up suddenly sweating from the horrible nightmare I look around and see the daylight enter the corridor and my friends sleeping peacefully, except for Aurora.

I stand up and quietly roam through the school to find the colorful dragon. In lesson caves, and relaxing areas, I find her sitting on the edge of the cliff, watching the sun rise. "I didn't know that Silkwings enjoyed sun-time." I said with a smile. She looked over her shoulder at me and said, "We don't, but to see the sun rise over the vast, ever shifting environment of the island, gives me a scene no dragon on Pantala gets to see". I sat next to her, and watched the sun rise with her. The sound of birds and the wind, the shifting colors of the sky and clouds, and the calm beating of my heart made the moment seem like paradise.

"I had a dream last night, all of us were in it." I said quietly breaking the silence. "I drempt of a strange looking necklace that seemed to crawl halfway up a white dragon's neck. It shimmer black with  with white gemstone on it." I said explaining the dream. Aurora jerked her head towards me and asked, "Was this necklace layered...I mean did the bands coil around the dragon's neck"? I nodded in confusion, and she jumped up with excitement. She ran through the halls of the mountain with me stumbling behind her. For a dragon with more wings, she very light on her claws. We went back to the reading cave, and she dug through the scrolls we left out from the night before. She rummaged through the stack with a delicate touch. I waited until she found the parchment with the information she was looking for. "I found it, thank you Clearsight!" She said holding the parchment to the air.

Aurora rolled out the scroll and weighed it down with rocks in the corner. I looked at the sketch and said, "Hey that's the necklace I saw in my dream". The colorful dragon smiled feeling proud. "The necklace according to this transcript, has not been used in centuries almost a millennium. There are no records on when it was last used cause it was so long ago when it was used." Aurora read from parchment. We looked at each other with amazed looks. An animus item that old and not used must make it a special artifact. We both left to wake up the other to update them on the breakthrough in our new discovery.