Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Fifteen

Brisktail scurried backwards under a rocky overhang to hide as wingbeats sounded overhead. As he did, he immediately realized how pointless that was if he had an enchanted invisibility rock. It sounded as if the dragon or dragons landed so Brisktail decided to step out and see who they were.

     It was Keeneye and Speedscar. Speedscar looked tired and spent as he raised his dark snout in the air. Holy mackerel, is he smelling the air? Brisktail thought in alarm. He didn't know if the invisibility rock covered his scent or not.

     Speedscar was indeed smelling. He inhaled, looking around and scanning the cliffs. He turned to the grotto and sniffed inside. "Quickclaws?" he called out, his deep voice echoing across the shale and skipping across the water.

     When there was no response, Speedscar bowed his head, sighing and looking even more crestfallen than before. Keeneye awkwardly patted his shoulder.

     "Cheer up, he'll come back eventually. With Brisktail too."

     Speedscar slammed his tail into the snowy sand. "I know, but why is it taking so long? What if something happened to them?"

     Keeneye began to walk inside the cave. "I don't know. The best we can do is sit and wait. If they come back and we're not here what else will they think? Probably that we've been taken hostage by some SkyWings or something."

     "Fine," Speedscar agreed, following the other dragon deeper into the cave.

     Brisktail sat in stunned silence for a while. The way Father looked and talked... he had known him his whole life, and he had noticed the same look on his face whenever Father was thinking of Mother – of Spottedtalon. When he missed her. He was wearing that face now as he talked about him and Quickclaws.

     Does that mean he misses me too? Brisktail thought. He looked back to the grotto.

     No, he doesn't. Since I abandoned him because of a stupid argument there is no way he can want me back. Brisktail flicked his tail and lifted off. He spread his rudder-wings wide and angled them to bank hard to port, heading back to the estuary.

     Brisktail glided on a thermal draft high in the air. As he did, he looked ahead for any signs of his old home. After a short bit of flying, less than an hour or so, he could see the familiar head-shaped inlet appear on the horizon in the dusk light. Brisktail glided down to a landing at the edge of the collapsed tunnel system, standing on a tall boulder and looking out ahead at the contours of rock.

     It looked the same as he left it, jagged and unfriendly, the waves crashing at the short bit of cliffs left. Brisktail tried to look for his home but found it looked the same among all the piles of the other rocks.

     There was a fire burning at the very end of the bay. Brisktail walked through the wreckage of the tunnel collapse, curious as to what the smoke was coming from. As he neared the source of the flames, he stopped and sniffed the air.

     It was the most horrible scent he had ever smelled before. Worse than even a rotting snail he had found in the woods once. It smelled like someone was roasting food but had let it on for too long and now it was black and charred.

     He peered around a corner and promptly turned around, shutting his eyes and closing his mouth with a talon. All he saw was a glimpse of a red body being devoured by flames and that was all he needed to know. The SwiftScales were burning SkyWing bodies here.

     He moved on quickly. Brisktail spread his wings and flew away as fast as possible to the opposite end of the wrecked cliffs, where the bit that was standing upright was located. He walked to the edge and looked out at the bay, trying his best to forget what he had just seen and smelled.