Chapter 3: Scavengers of Pyrrhia
~~~~18 years ago~~~~
Prince Shark walked along the pavilion, waiting for the council to arrive. What was taking them so long? Suddenly, a navy blue dragon thumped onto his pavilion. "What do you want?" he barked.
The SeaWing, clearly startled by Shark's rash approach, quickly flapped away without a word.
Shark groaned. He turned around, running right into a tan scavenger with some type of red and black armor right in front of him. He snarled at it, and it pulled out a long, curved, red stick, about twice the size of the scavenger, and it was up to his chest. It then lifted the object in an upright position. "What's that you got there?" he asked figuratively, genuinely curious. He poked the scavenger, and hit something hard.
Was that really armor? It seemed relatively uncomfortable, and it had a boxy shape at the torso. The side seemed spaced out and flexible, with big flaps on the sides. A sharp pain then hit him on the shoulder. "Ah!" he screamed. The scavenger then pulled out a long, curved scavenger claw. It attempted to chop at his arm, and missed as he pulled back. It went into a stance, and it was unlike any scavenger he had ever seen.
Another sharp pain struck his body. Then another hit him. And then another came. His head snapped around, and saw a small band of those scavengers, all holding those long, curved, red sticks. He took a look at his wounds. Something stuck out of it, like a tiny stick. He snarled at the scavenger, and dived at it. They nimbly dodged, and shot more of those vicious little sticks. He roared, and bit towards a scavenger, who was backed up against the edge of the pavilion. As he faced the scavenger, he saw something in its eyes that made him stop right in his tracks.
They were eerily like his eyes, gray and proud. The scavenger whipped out his scavenger claw and chopped, again and again, at Shark. The sudden actions were enough to snap him out of his remorse, and he swiped at the scavenger, which knocked it over. The scavenger stood up and the others quickly ran away. That one stood behind, as if to stand guard and let the others get away. He advanced on the lone scavenger, and it circled around him.
It then charged at Shark with its claw raised, ready to strike. Shark was ready. He nimbly jumped to the side, dodging the strike, and then the scavenger swung to the side. Shark quickly flapped his wings, taking to the air, and plucked off the scavenger's helmet. The helmet tasted of leather and metal, which was extremely unpleasant. It revealed the scavenger's face, a head that looked like mostly eyes, with a well-groomed, furry top. Shark bared his teeth at it, and it revealed two smaller claws, which it threw at Shark.
He dodged them, and he charged at the scavenger. It was expecting it. Shark crashed into the ground, and the scavenger lifted its claw above Shark, ready to strike. "This is it," thought Shark. "I die at the hands of a scavenger." He grimaced, only not to feel anything. He looked above himself, and saw the scavenger walk off him, and it bowed down to Shark, grabbed its helmet and put it on its head and walked away, running towards where its comrades went, and jumped down. Shark quickly ran over, and stopped himself. "Am I becoming fond of a scavenger?" he asked himself. Then again, the scavenger had spared his life, and he was curious as to why it jumped down the pavilion.
He poked his head out the edge of the pavilion. He saw a long rope falling down, and he saw the little scavenger squeal as it saw him. It lifted its little paw to cover its head, and when Shark did nothing, it continued to climb down the rope. He snorted. What a strange episode. He walked back towards the center of the pavilion, and saw his sister, the Queen, thump onto the pavilion, followed by a SandWing.
"Shark, meet Queen Blister." she said. Shark snorted.
He bowed mockingly. "Hello, Blister."
Blister narrowed her eyes at him. "Queen Blister." She walked up to Shark, and rested her barbed tail on the back of his head. She whispered something into his ear.
"Don't expect to live much longer if you continue like this. I expected better from you, but I predicted this nonetheless, and I predict a lot of suffering too. Let this be a lesson to you; in life, you must consider everything, from the worst to the best. Know how things work, how dragons think, and find how to put it in your favor, how to change the tide to your favor. And you better step in line, or someone will be having an accident."
~~~~Present time~~~~
Eagle sat in an infirmary, watching his friend sleep peacefully on a makeshift straw bed. She was stabbed, or rather, scraped, by a SandWing barb just 10 hours ago. It was the middle of the night, and he was still waiting. He was told it would take more than a week, but he insisted on staying. As he sat on a little bench in the infirmary, he saw a little scavenger scramble along. It seemed much smaller than the other scavengers he had seen; this one was at least 2 times smaller. It seemed to struggle to walk.
Another larger scavenger ran by, covered by cloths, and picked up the little scavenger. It squealed when it saw Eagle, and it hugged the tiny one, covering with its cloths. How cute. "Now is a good time to take notes." he thought. He grabbed a scroll from his bag, and grabbed his feather pen as well.
"Alright, it seems that scavengers are sensitive about their young. This is most fascinating." He thought. He scribbled some words on his scroll. Scavengers seem to have a close relationship with their young. They are highly protective, and will protect them by covering them with their cloths. It may be a natural defense, unlike many theories which recognize scavengers as defenceless. He poked the scavenger, and the scavenger seemed to shield the little one with its own body. But scavengers didn't care for its young that much, did they? Another probably desperate defense is to cover their young with their own body, probably as to shield them from harm. This probably proves that scavengers are quite advanced, even as to share many different dragon-like characteristics other than in appearance, because dragons will risk their lives for their dragonets.
The scavenger quickly ran away, with its cloth still draped over the little one. "Well, I guess that's the end of that." He rolled up his scroll and put it in the bag. He leaned his back to the wall of the infirmary, and slept, only to be greeted by a series of nightmares.
~~~~The Next Day, Rainforest Kingdom~~~~
Moonwatcher sat in the floor of the Rainforest, the rain pattering on the leaves of the massive canopy as she waited for her mother to return. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she begged for company. She put her head in the dirt, and another one of those nightmarish images flashed through her head.
She saw a massive gathering of red and orange dragons, all looking up to one standing on a raised surface. That one walked about that platform and started to say something. When that one finished speaking, the crowd exploded in an uproar, and then she returned to the real world. Something was strange about this image. Something told her that this would happen, one way or another. And something told her she would be regretting the day it came.
~~~~MudWing Infirmary~~~~
Eagle decided to take a walk around the Infirmary, and he brought his bag along with him. He took flight, and later, he saw a small, almost imperceptible, scavenger home hidden in the tall grass reveal itself. He flew down, fascinated by how scavengers would be able to get enough resources to survive in the Mud Kingdom. It could help the SkyWings create camps in the Mud Kingdom, and even create massive cities. As he flew down, a bunch of scavengers scrambled away, all wearing muddy-looking clothing.
When he landed, his talons sunk into the mud. The mud seemed to be arranged in large, flooded cubes from the sky, like they were growing something. He guessed he was in a farm, since some green stuff was growing in small rows in the flooded cubes, and he pulled out a scroll. He started drawing the farm. Between the many cubes that the crops were grown, there was a long row of thick, tall grass separating the flooded cubes. The farm blended quite well into the surrounding swamp, and he found out that the small scavenger house that he saw was made out of straw and mud. There were many scavengers bustling around this place, and he saw a few more small straw homes hidden in the undergrowth. Was this a scavenger den?
Some pointy thing hit his head, and saw that the scavengers had some torch objects in their little paws and the others had small claw spears. They charged at him, and Eagle took to the sky. Some more pointy things started hitting him, and he pulled out his scroll. Scavengers living in the Mud Kingdom fiercely defend their scavenger dens, and they have a clever irrigation system which involves growing some type of grass in mud, with the plants half-submerged. This type of farming technique could help SkyWings and other civilizations to colonize the Mud Kingdom, that is, if the SkyWings are willing to eat plants, and probably would provide a good battlefront if the SkyWings were to declare war against the Mud Kingdom.
He rolled up his scroll, and realized that the scavengers were watching him in awe, and some of them went back to tending to their fields. They were no longer pelting him with sharp objects, now that they knew he was not here to hurt them. At least, that was what Eagle assumed. Maybe they just thought it was a lost cause. To test that theory, he landed down on the ground, and seemed to startle a few scavengers, who screeched and screamed as they ran. The scavengers that were left scattered and left.
Eagle snorted and went back to studying the irrigation system. He spotted a few cows walking along, dragging a scavenger behind it. He noticed a large metal object that the scavenger was standing on, and it was hooked on the cow. The scavenger was using some type of thing rope object to hit the cow, and it seemed to provoke the cow to continue moving.
He drew the thin rope object and the cow pulling the metal object, labeling the drawing according to what he thought the parts were supposed to be and what he thought they were made out of. As he finished, he heard a MudWing patrol above him, their wings breaking the quite silence that was so dominant when Eagle first landed. They called out to him, and Eagle quickly ducked into the undergrowth.
"SkyWing! Report your business at once!" a gruff voice demanded.
Eagle didn't say anything, and hoped that they wouldn't find him.
"Are those scavengers?" another feminine voice said.
"How should I know? I've never really been out of the village before..." the gruff voice answered. Their voices started getting louder, and Eagle started to breathe heavy.
"Please don't find me, please don't find me..." he whispered.
Suddenly, the tall grass that was covering him just moments ago was uprooted and a group of MudWings looked down at him.
"Just answer us and we won't report you." the gruff voice said.
Eagle tried to flinch away, only to fall into the mud. "Oof!" he said. "Alright, a friend of mine was scratched by a SandWing barb, and I was passing along here, so I got the help of a SandWing officer and now I'm waiting for her to get better!"
The gruff MudWing narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah, that seems like a likely story, don't you guys think? Yeah, I think I'll let you go." he said sarcastically. One MudWing frowned at the MudWing.
Eagle then flinched as the MudWing said the last sentence Eagle heard before something hit his head and he lost consciousness.
"You're coming with us."
Ow! Anyway, next chapter Eagle will be at Queen Moorhen's palace! Also, the red, long sticks that Shark encountered were Yumi Bows, a Japanese bow, and the scavengers he faced were Samurai. Now you're going to be asking the question; why Japanese people? Well, first of all, I'm obsessed with the Japanese culture in Minecraft (don't ask me what mod it is), but now I'm banned. So that left an imprint in my mind, and I decided to make the dominant culture in the Sea Kingdom the Japanese, since they lived on the islands.
Now this clashes with my Windmill concept last time, but then again, that wasn't that deep in SeaWing territory, right? Whatever, let's just say those were Vikings. I felt like putting Eagle in some more trouble, so now he's being shipped off to Queen Moorhen's palace! Who knows what will happen next! (PS: Eagle visited a rice paddy)
Stay tuned,
The Great and Honorable Emperor of Pyrrhia
