Wings of Fire 2: Toward the Horizon

Chapter 4

         Blinding, yet beautiful, the Seawing castle stood in front of the two dragons. They have just left the towering building, and both were headed...somewhere.

         Athebea gave the castle one last glance, as she trotted slowly behind the princess feeling dumber than she could ever be. Where on earth were, they going?

        "It's just around here." Exclaimed Minnow. Athebea squinted to get a better view of the building. It was small compared to the castle but still towered over the small homes of the kingdom's residents. Something wasn't right. Athebea craned her neck forward hoping that her assumption was wrong.

       "W-WHY ARE THERE OTHER SEAWINGS THERE!"

      "It's a school, stupid." Answered Minnow, looking proudly at the school as if it was part of her rock collection. "The most prestige school in all of Pyrriah to be exact, only the most intelligent, brilliant, and absolutely wealthy dragons can go here. Pisces Academy!"

        Athebea imagined a school full of Darkshadows and cringed. One dragon that thought he knew everything was enough, but a school full of them would be a nightmare. A strange pang of sadness grew, as she realized that she might not even see him again.

       "I can tell be your confused expression, that you have never seen anything like." Chirped Minnow, interrupting Athebea's daydreaming.

      "Huh? Oh! Yeah...that's cool." She said with strained happiness. "But I don't understand why I have to be here." Minnow flinched and then made a face that seemed to mean, that she was thinking of something.

      "I-I just have a small favor. I-it's nothing important really." Stammered the princess. Athebea swore that she saw the princess shaking.

      "What is it?"

     "It's a favor so minuscule that it isn't even worth sayin-"

     "JUST GET TO THE POINT" Hissed Athebea. She wanted to see her friends as soon as possible and knowing this was the only way possible. Minnow looked surprised at Athebea's remark and let out a melancholy sigh.

      "C-can you come to class with me just for today." Blurted out Minnow, and the dragonet looked very embarrassed at the question, and Athebea couldn't believe what she was hearing.

     "Go to class with you? Don't you have friends for that?"

       Minnow's gaze didn't leave ground, as she played with a speck of dusk under her claws not saying anything. Though annoyed by this, Athebea groaned in annoyance and gave the school a quick glance around. A question was still in Athebea's mind.

      "Do you have any friends?" she asked. Minnow looked taken aback but wore a face of pure rage and embarrassment.

        "OF COURSE, I DO!" she shrieked, and then ducked down, when she realized that the majority of the dragons there were looking at her. "I normally have Ray with me, but she can very overprotective and annoying. A-and as a princess, I obviously have friends. Lots of them! But unfortunately, you will never understand that."

       Thinking of Peacock and Darkshadow, Athebea tried hard not to object with Minnow's comment and kept her focus on finding, maybe freeing, them, as soon as she finished following this spoiled princess around.

      "So, should we get a move on already." Exclaimed Athebea. "It seems like your school or whatever is about to start, since all of your dragon "friends" are heading inside."

      Minnow only harrumphed and trotted to the pearl colored, castle like structure in silence. Athebea followed.

      Once they were inside, Athebea already felt a sense of regret, as every dragon in the room turned from what they were doing to face her. Minnow didn't seem to notice and walked (almost strutting) across toward a large group of dragonets, that seemed to be her age.

       Athebea didn't know if she should follow or not and just lingered in the shadows of the princess. Did Ray have to go through the same thing. It was the Skywing kingdom fiasco all over again, just underwater instead of a looming arena of death.

       "Eel, Pearl, Trout, how are you today!" Athebea heard Minnow shout. Three dragonets looked back at her with smiling faces, and Athebea tried to decipher who was who. The silver dragon with snake like eyes seemed to be Eel...but there was a more grayish dragon that could also been her or Trout. (Most trout that Athebea had seen were grey). Pearl was obvious, because of bright white scales, and her eyes were a soft gray.

       The silver one, which could have been Trout or Eel, ran up Minnow and pulled her into a hug.

       "How're you doing your majesty!" she said jokingly. Minnow laughed

       "Eel, you can stop that royal stuff now."

       "Heheh just can't help it you know." The newly identified Trout and Pearl joined them. Athebea just stayed in the shadows. She hated being around too many strangers, and after her recent experiences, it was hard to trust anyone, but it was still interesting to watch Minnow's life.

       "Minnow, how was the dinner you were at." Chirped Trout. "I heard that the ruler of the Sandwings was there. How was he like? Does he talk much?"

      "I-I don't really know, since mother was talking to him the most."

     "ABOUT WHAT!" shrieked the three.

     "I don't know something about...some sun dragon. I don't know, it was weird." Athebea was really listening this time. The only sun dragon she knew about was herself, and whatever this Sandwing spoke about, it could be a possible danger to her.

     "T-that's interesting." Exclaimed, nearly stammered, Pearl. "I've read about Sunwing sightings in the articles."

      "Yaaawwwn, are you still reading about random things, Pearl." Groaned Trout. "I'm still stuck on the first chapter of the book we have to read."

       "Probably, it's because you didn't start on it." Snapped Pearl. Minnow's eyes flashed a look of fear.

       "Guys, class is about to start, so I think it's best the we should be going." She said.

       "I agree with her majesty" Continued Eel, who snickered, when Minnow gave her an annoyed look. Pearl and Trout looked like they wanted to say more but reluctantly followed their two friends down the hallway. Athebea, later, followed them too.

        The first class was boring for a fact. The students were not like Darkshadow in any other way judging by their eye rolls and dozing off. The teacher, on the other hand, had the same droning voice of the Nightwing, when talking continuously on the same subject, which was still unclear to Athebea.

        Athebea still didn't know what to do, since Minnow had left her to fend for herself all alone. So far all she was doing was peaking through the small window on the door. So much for sitting with her in class. Out of pure boredom, Athebea left her self-assigned post and started a small exploration.

       There was a possibility that her friends could have been hidden in the school, and she was willing to do anything else then sit through another class.

     "Darkshadow, Peacock!" She whispered, while silently giving the wall a small tap and hoping that they might be behind them. Honestly, anywhere was possible. Where are you guys.

     After a couple wall tapping sessions, she encountered a large arch-shaped door. A dungeon perhaps? Athebea pushed the door open and peaked inside expectantly. She regretted her decision after one glance.

      It was a library. A huge one too!

     Shelves of books towered along the walls, and she couldn't even see the top. Huge light blue couches surrounded long tables, which looked to be made of pearl. Despite her hate for reading, the room intrigued her greatly, and she stepped inside letting the door close behind her. 

✨Authors Notes ✨

Thank you all for reading! For those, who are still going on with the story, thank you for your support. For those, who are new to the journey...WELCOME ABOARD (please read the first book if you haven't, it'll make the story clearer ^^).

See you all in the next chapter!