Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Seventeen (The Real One)

APRIL FOOLS!

Bamboozled again...

(There are actual changes here, you should read it just in case, I'm super sorry)

- ❈ -

Brisktail padded along the halls of the infirmary, finding a few differences about this level (the third) than to the one where he originally found Whitecloud on.

     First of all, he could hear faint breathing echoing along the tunnels. Some voices sounded laboured and sick, while others were light and healthy - the stark difference between patient and caretaker.

     Brisktail could smell the differences too. The air was thick with the smell of bitter herb juices and the metallic scent of blood. Brisktail found himself able to see the differences when he turned to look into the first patient room.

     The room was long with cots filling it in rows of five on each side. Three nurses were inside, one standing guard and two inside readjusting bandages and poultices. The nurses, although gaunt and tired, looked infinitely better than the soldiers they were tending after. Each soldier Brisktail saw in the rooms was covered in wounds, some head-to-talon in white bandages. Some he was able to see breathing (he slowed down to check) but some were breathing so shallowly that even when he slowed to a stop Brisktail couldn't tell if they were alive.

     With a worried flick of his tail, Brisktail continued on. He had to admit, he never had to come here; he could have just asked his pebble what had happened when he was gone, but he had wanted to see first-talon what had happened while he was gone. It was as if he couldn't believe it himself.

     He remembered asking his pebble where Lightningtail was a while ago when he had been trying to find out if she needed his help because he had stumbled into Windwhipper. It had said she was in the Forest Kingdom and since she went nowhere without Thunderclap Brisktail assumed she would be fine. Since she and Quickclaws were courting now, he also assumed that Quickclaws at least had gone with her.

     The entire reason why Brisktail had asked the pebble for the whereabouts of his friends was to see if they were even alive. Brisktail had been making his way out of the Underground and he had accidentally stumbled into a cave that connected to the hideout of a dragon called Windwhipper. From what he had heard, Windwhipper was trying to overthrow the Royal Family. He had mentioned needing to kill Lightningtail so Brisktail decided to check on her.

     He had also learned that SkyWings had attacked the estuary while he was gone. He didn't know the details and that was why he was checking the infirmary. It was also because he had a terrible feeling as if Quickclaws had been fighting in that battle and that he had been injured.

     Since he had seen the SkyWings in the "prison," Brisktail felt the terror even more. He couldn't help but think that Quickclaws was in here, wounded in the infirmary, and he needed to see with his own eyes that his best friend was safe.