Wings of Fire: The Prequels

2.3

When Cloudwatcher turned four years old, he fought in his first battle.

A little ways away from the Great Five-Tail River, two sides prepared to clash. A small army, mostly consisting of IceWings, slowly advanced on the army of SkyWings who were defending their territory. A sea of white and blue spotted with yellow faced a sea of red and orange.

Cloud's wing, a group of ten dragons, were near the outskirts. Fissure and Falcon, Falcon being someone who had been introduced to Cloud shortly after his enrollment, were next to Cloud in their V-formation. Cloud was at one of the edges of their formation, mostly there to keep him out of the fighting. He was the youngest here, the others at least two or three years older. The eldest, a poor SkyWing named Goat, was ten years old and the leader of their formation.

Other than Goat, no one in the formation had ever fought in a battle. That made Goat rather insufferable as he stated obvious things about going into battle. Cloud had a feeling that he was placed as a wing leader either by mistake or by absolute necessity.

The opposing side approached as the SkyWings also advanced, wanting to keep the others as far away from their home as possible. The tension in the air was heavy enough that it made Cloud's head want to drop but he kept it up. He had to do everything possible for this battle.

The battle began, two sides clashing in a flash of fire and frostbreath. No one had come over to their section yet, giving Cloud's wing a moment more to prepare. To prepare to fight for their home, comrades, and lives.

"Remember everyone, don't let them get even an inch further into our territory," said Goat, stating the obvious like always. Before anyone could retort, a flash of white appeared next to Goat. An IceWing had broken away from the pack, aiming straight for their wing.

Goat didn't stand a chance, his neck and face frozen by frostbreath before he could even blink. His wings were torn apart by wicked IceWing claws, laid to ruin and uselessness. He fell out of the sky, not even a scream able to escape him.

The wing froze, shocked by the sudden death. The IceWing turned to the next SkyWing in the formation, opening his mouth to spew his frostbreath once more. Cloud was the first to snap out of it, rushing forward without a thought in his mind. He body-slammed into the IceWing, forcing his frostbreath to miss his target. The two of them tumbled in the air for a moment, both disoriented by the blow.

The IceWing recovered first, digging his claws into Cloud's shoulders and gouging them into his underbelly. Cloud let out a scream at the pain, his claws scratching back at the IceWing with vigor. Rather than close his mouth to stop the scream, Cloud remembered the other's frostbreath and summoned his fire.

Cloud clamped his jaws around the IceWing's neck, biting down only a little to not get dislodged by the IceWing's thrashing before releasing the sun that had been building up in his throat. Fire blasted at the IceWing's naturally cold scales, melting them like their owner's namesake. Much to Cloud's disgust, the IceWing's burning flesh didn't taste like melted snow.

The IceWing tried to scream at the pain, unintentionally stopping his attacks on Cloud's underbelly. Cloud grabbed the IceWing's wrists and tore his claws away from his shoulders, ripping into them with his claws to make the IceWing 'scream' more. Releasing both his claws and his mouth, Cloud reached up, grabbed the IceWing's horns, and snapped his neck in a quick and simple motion. It was almost thoughtless, the adrenaline barely letting him think about the IceWing's body dropping out of the air. It barely let him think about the pain as blood poured from his new wounds.

Cloud turned his head, cursing under his breath when he saw more IceWings coming their way. He turned to his wing, ignoring how horrid he looked to shout an order. "Follow me!" roared Cloud, shooting above the danger with the sounds of powerful SkyWing wingbeats following.