Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Eighteen

For a few moments, Brisktail sat on top of the cliff, breathing shakily to calm his nerves. He had just defeated an entire army and had saved his tribe from what he was certain was extinction. His limbs were shaky and rightfully so. The young dragon trembled on his perch.

     Brisktail was about to place his talons onto his horns before he remembered his enchantment. Could he kill himself by accidentally touching himself? Brisktail was curious but he didn't want to do that. For some odd reason, his mind flashed him an image of Rainwind and he suddenly realized what he had done.

     He had enchanted his talons to kill other dragons. Who did that? Brisktail felt shame creep up his spine at the thought of it now. He hastily mumbled a counter-enchantment. With shaking talons he touched his horns and found himself to be alive. He let out another shaky laugh.

     "Did you hear that?" asked a voice. Brisktail's head shot out of his cocoon.

     Some of the SwiftScales had been landing on the nearest cliffs. Two soldiers were lying next to Brisktail, both of them looking around for the source of the laugh.

     Brisktail slapped his forehead with his talon and then rubbed his spines for hurting them. They could hear him! He should be more careful! He slumped down, letting out a gusty oof as he landed on his scrolls. They were still attached to him! His head must have been in the clouds to forget them. Brisktail detached his scroll with his notes. It was about half full and even then it wasn't anything extraordinary. He needed information on what Windwhipper wanted to do with Queen Swansong and Princess Lightningtail.

     Brisktail detached his map and unrolled it, making sure to keep a talon on both maps to keep them invisible. He examined them. Most of the spies seemed to be aboveground, but now a small group had begun moving south, into the forest. Brisktail scrambled to get his things to track them.

     With his map in talon, he decided to follow the SwiftScales. They could be meeting for something. Upon further inspection, the rest of the spies (fourteen altogether) were making their way to the same spot. A few had already made it there, apparently a small clearing near the edge of the forest. Brisktail put his scroll away as it came into sight.

     He angled his wings to make tight spirals to land. He clipped his wings on a few trees but that was fine since no dragon seemed to notice. Brisktail slunk his way behind a bush and spread out his information gathering scroll to take notes.

     So far, seven dragons were present. One was Whitecloud and he didn't recognize theothers. One of the SwiftScales had blackened talons and Brisktail recognized one of Silversound's apprentices. The blacksmith dragon looked gruff and large, his scowling face frowning at the rest of his companions. Two of the other SwiftScales were lean and sinewy, presumably hunters. Brisktail thought he had served as a guard on one of their patrols once.

     As the other dragons landed, Brisktail was surprised to see a few SwiftScales he recognized. There were two apprentices he knew; Father had made him spar with them a few times. He was shocked to see them here. Did even young dragons think that their Queen was insufficient?

     He recognized two of the dragons as well. One was Fastflyer, the guard that had been stationed with the SkyWing prisoners. Brisktail realized that those dragons must have been transported home as well. Another dragon was Ravenscale, the SwiftScale in the armoury. The other three dragons he didn't recognize but the rock dust on their talons made them seem like excavators to Brisktail.

     It seemed as if all of the dots on the map were present. Brisktail had just taken his charcoal out to write when one of the dragons said:

     "That wasn't part of the plan," a dragon with copper flecks in his green eyes hissed. He flicked his tail and glowered at the other members.