Wings of Fire: Chameleon Shifting

Chapter 22

Chameleon caught two more fish before he was winging northeast again. He had placed the leather case that contained the scroll in another makeshift grass pouch and slung it over his side. The case bumped against his chest with each wingbeat.

Each wingbeat that brought him closer to the Kingdom of Sand... and also to other dragons, that is.

Back when he was still in the rainforest, he had once heard there was a town in the Kingdom of Sand, one called the Scorpion Den, where dragons from every tribe- not just the SandWings- lived. He heard it was a place of refuge for something, but he had forgotten what.

But he knew one thing for sure: He would go there to learn to read. Because in a place as diverse as that, surely there'd be someone who was literate.

Chameleon never stopped to rest when he was flying. He was too desperate, too excited, too hopeful to do so. He flew for so long, he thought his wings would flap themselves out of their sockets.

But at last, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, Chameleon finally spotted signs of dragon life. In the distance, on the horizon, he spotted a gate embedded in a long wall that probably stretched for miles. As he got closer, he noticed there were two guards standing in front of it, barring the way with their spears.

Chameleon collapsed in front of the gate, spraying the guards with a wave of sand.

"Halt!" cried one before Chameleon could scramble upright again. The other one scowled, trying to dust off the sand all over him, but then abruptly stopped with a snort and grabbed his spear, pressing the tip of it to his neck. Chameleon let out a yelp of surprise.

"What are you?" asked the dragon who had stopped Chameleon earlier. His breath smelled like cactus cider.

Chameleon winced. As if I'm a thing and not a dragon, he thought bitterly. "I'm a RainWing," he said. Then he added more appropriately, "My name is Chameleon."

The two guards exchanged glances and started whispering with their wings tented over their heads.

Finally, the one holding the spear said, "It's okay, Six-Claws, let's just let him in. They're not involved in the war, after all. There really isn't any reason to be suspicious."

Chameleon immediately glanced at the guard without the spear.

Sure enough, instead of the usual five claws on each talon, he had six.

"Six-Claws?" Chameleon echoed.

The SandWing named Six-Claws sighed. "Yes," he said. "Six-Claws."

"Um, wait." Chameleon shuffled his feet awkwardly. "So earlier... I heard you two talking about a war, maybe? What was that about? You said something like 'they're not involved in the war.' I didn't know there was a war."

The two SandWings looked at each other. Finally, the one next to Six-Claws said, "That's because you're an ignorant RainW-" Then he checked himself.

Chameleon frowned at the guard.

"Don't be rude, Parch. Well, since this RainWing has absolutely no idea, why don't you explain it to him?" Six-Claws motioned to Parch, who stepped away from Chameleon. He sat back up.

"Sure," said Parch. He cleared his throat importantly. "I'm sure you don't know about this since you're a RainWing, but do you know who the queen of the SandWings is?"

Chameleon shrugged.

"It used to be Queen Oasis, but then she died."

"But what does that have to do with war?"

"The problem was that none of Queen Oasis' daughters had challenged her for the throne." Parch tapped his claws thoughtfully on his spear. "So her two youngest daughters, Blister and Blaze, left the stronghold to ally themselves with the other tribes. And her oldest one, Burn, took over the stronghold."

"Wait- but how did Queen Oasis die then? If she wasn't killed by any of her daughters?"

Parch snorted. "A scavenger killed her."

"What's a scavenger?"

"You've never seen a scavenger?" asked Parch incredulously. "Fine. I'll describe one. They're basically furless monkeys, but they only walk on two legs, which sounds extremely unstable to me. The only fur they do have is on their heads."

"Wow," said Chameleon. "That sounds exotic! I bet they fall over all the time."

"Actually, that's not true," Six-Claws interrupted. "So, Chameleon, Queen Oasis used to have three sons along with three daughters, but two of them were killed. The only one who's left now is Prince Smolder."

"Okay."

"So basically, Smolder found the scavenger that killed his mother, and he ended up keeping it as a pet. He named her Flower, and I've seen her before. She can walk perfectly fine with just two legs, and I've never seen her fall over once since all my time around her." Six-Claws sighed. "Such weird animals, those scavengers. They almost seem to have intelligence sometimes."

"Huh. Well, I didn't know that before." Parch scratched his horns thoughtfully.

"Alright, back to business," said Six-Claws, snapping himself upright. "What are you here for, RainWing?"

"Chameleon," Chameleon insisted. "My name is Chameleon."

Six-Claws gave him an apologetic glance. "Chameleon," he amended.

"Well- I want to meet someone who can teach me how to read. Is all." He fiddled unconsciously with the strap of his pouch.

"What's that?" asked Parch, finally noticing it and reaching for it.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" roared Chameleon, his wings flaring.

Parch didn't even blink. "Alright, alright, I won't," said Parch, rolling his eyes. He drew himself back. "I'll take you to Thorn, and I'll see if she can teach you. Follow me." He whipped around, his tail swishing, and stepped through the gate, nodding at Six-Claws. Six-Claws turned his back to the entrance again, continuing to keep an eye out for unwanted visitors.

Chameleon stumbled behind him and looked around. There were stands and tents everywhere selling all sorts of things- a type of cactus, water, camel-skin rugs, freshly caught lizard heaped up in a pile, and many, many more items that Chameleon didn't have the time nor interest to discern.

Parch finally led Chameleon to a tent beside a huge oasis with palm trees along the circumference of it. A few more guards patrolled the edges of the water.

Parch pushed the tent flaps aside and stepped into the tent.

With his heart pounding and threatening to burst through his chest, Chameleon reluctantly followed.