Chapter 1: Mandrake

The RainWing waited-still as the branch that was his perch. His eyes meticulously scanned for movement among the trees. Where was she?

The torrential downpour that had persisted for the better part of the week had finally abated and the sun was up. Most of the other dragons were snoozing, enjoying the first 'suntime' this week but the dragonet and his friends had decided to fly in the face of conventional wisdom and play a game of hide and seek-something they'd been intending to do for a while. Downpours made it awful hard to hide even with camouflaged scales.

The dragon he was looking for, coincidentally also named Rain, was notoriously good at hiding. But he was supposed to be the best at seeking. He shouldn't be taking this long.

"Come on, Mandrake," a voice called. "Stop playing around and find her already. The rest of us want a turn!"

The dragonet, Mandrake, held back a snort of irritation. Lemur, owner of the voice, wasn't helping his confidence. Then again, seeing as how Lemur liked nothing more than heckling him, the best response was not to pay him any heed. Let him run his mouth...

Suddenly he saw movement. It took all of his self-control not to twist around and get a better look-something that would give away his position. Instead, he scanned the area out of the corner of his eye. He could barely make out the faint outline of a small RainWing lying flat against the bark of a tree.

The hazy figure reached up a claw to cover its mouth and seemed to yawn. It was definitely Rain. With him nowhere in sight, she must've decided it was safe to yawn. Remaining hidden while seeking had its benefits, Mandrake thought with a smirk.

Mandrake waited for her head to turn away from his general direction before slithering to a branch closer to Rain. He braced his legs and launched himself off the branch at the camouflaged dragonet, letting his own scales turn a bright shade of scarlet.

Rain shrieked, startled at his sudden appearance, and lost her grip on the tree. Uh oh, Mandrake thought. Not as planned. Rain plummeted, flailing, and Mandrake barely manage to catch her by the claw before she fell too far.

She managed to overcome her shock and quickly righted herself with her wings. She flew up to him squeaked, "Mandrake! You didn't have to scare me like that!" The smaller RainWing was still shrill from the fright.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Mandrake said plaintively, trying to keep from smiling. "It was such a good opportunity."

Lemur flew up to both of them. "You've gotten old," Lemur chuckled. "You never used to take that long. She was hiding in plain sight!"

Mandrake scowled at him. He would've just loved to smack Lemur across the muzzle. At that instance, a nearby pebble twitched almost as if in response to his stray thought. Mandrake's heart skipped a beat and he focussed on the thought of the stone staying put. It stopped twitching.

He exhaled, relieved. That had been a close call. He needed to control it. He was a perfectly-normal RainWing. And perfectly-normal RainWings didn't move rocks with their minds.

"Oh ignore him, Drake," another voice said, calling him by his nickname. "You did fine. I'd like to see Lemur do better."

"Thanks, Glimmer," Mandrake replied, turning to face the RainWing who'd nudged Lemur to one side. She was the same height as him but was of a sleeker build and had much larger wings. Had she been wearing the same crimson hue as Mandrake was, one might've mistook her for a SkyWing from the stories and tales of the elders instead of a RainWing.

They'd been friends for as long as Mandrake could remember. Of late though, he'd found himself thinking of her as more than just a friend. Her praise had made him want to do a happy tap dance right there.

His happiness turned to horror when he noticed the same pebble that had been about to throw itself at Lemur moments ago merrily hopping about-as if it was as excited as he had been.

Sit! Stay, he thought desperately. Play dead! Stop moving before somebody sees you! Please? Pretty please? The stone reluctantly obeyed his mental commands and dropped but not before one last rebellious jump. Disaster averted, Mandrake thought. I must be getting careless... That's the second time today! Not good-what if they'd seen it? What would they think of me? What would Glimmer think of me? No, I can't think of that, I've got to focus on fitting in.

These incidents had plagued him since he had been two. The first time it had happened, he had caused a mango to explode in Lemur's face. Nobody had linked it to him but his parents warned him about it when he had told them. It's something we don't understand, they'd said. Dragons don't like things they can't understand-far better not to use it.

And so, since then, Mandrake had tried to hide his unusual abilities. He had been able to do it too, to varying degrees of success. The number of incidents had dropped over the years but two in a day was an all-time new record. And not a good one. It worried him. Why was it happening again?

"So what gave it away?" Glimmer asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"She yawned," Mandrake replied, pushing his paranoid thoughts to one side. "A little too conspicuously. It was an easy matter to spot her after that."

"I was tired," Rain complained. "You can hardly blame me! I didn't sleep well."

"Nightmares again?" Glimmer asked, putting a comforting wing around Rain.

"Or did you just have too much for supper?" Lemur jibed, dodging to one side when Rain aimed a swipe at him.

"Nightmares," Rain said, gulping nervously. "It's the dark. Every time it gets dark the nightmares are there."

Mandrake couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She was the youngest of all of them. They all knew she'd get over her fear of the dark eventually-it was natural-but until then, it was one of the things that really terrified the usually-bubbly dragonet.

He decided to change the subject. "So how about another round?" he asked. "This time Lemur can hide. Let's see if he fares any better."

"You're on," Lemur said jovially, already diving into the undergrowth and disappearing.

"I'd better start counting," Glimmer said with a chuckle. "Wish me luck."

"Kick his tail," Mandrake joked as Glimmer turned away and started counting. "Come on, Rain, let's find somewhere high up to watch from."

The two of them eventually settled on a particularly large branch in the rainforest's canopy. Mandrake peered around. Where was Lemur hiding?

Glimmer was already on the hunt, speeding from point to point in an effort to locate Lemur but she didn't seem to be having much luck.

"Come on, Glim," Mandrake mumbled. "You can do it."

Suddenly, a chilling shriek tore through the forest.

"That's Lemur!" Mandrake exclaimed. He took off and beckoned to Rain. "Come on."

He closed in on the source, followed closely by Rain and Glimmer. What in Pyrrhia could've frightened Lemur that badly?

Mandrake finally reached his side. Lemur's scales were stark white-no doubt due to the shock he'd received.

"What's going on?" Mandrake asked.

Lemur raised a trembling talon. Mandrake followed the direction and felt a chill go through him as his gaze fell upon what Lemur was pointing at.

A dark brown dragon lay facedown on the rainforest floor, unmoving, his blood pooling around him and mingling with the mud and grime.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, this is the fourth Wings of Fire fanfic I will be embarking on. I've had this idea floating around for a while now and was planning to post this sometime later but since I can't type much for the coming two weeks I decided to move this along.

This is my first time writing a male, RainWing protagonist (and an original character at that) so please do tell me how you think I can improve. Really, I'd love any feedback-just no flaming. We're in the rainforest. Lots of flammable material XD I'm really excited about this story and look forward to being able to progress it as soon as my exams are through.

Just a heads-up, a lot of things are going to be different in pre-Scorching Pyrrhia. But everything will make sense at the end of this-all loose ends will be tied up by the time it's over, that's a promise.

With that, I hope you enjoyed this and see you in a couple of weeks for the next chapter!:D