A/N - I'm sorry for not updating in forever; I've been on vacation and therefore have been otherwise divided timewise. I haven't forgotten about updating I just haven't gotten around to writing anything.
Honestly, I have no clue how I didn't just fall out of the sky right there. I had just seen Fang in the claws of a dragon (or at least I thought it was a dragon), and suddenly disappear into thin air. I should have been frozen stiff, unable to move. But my wings were still beating, still keeping me aloft.
"Max what was that thing?" Nudge asked me. I could clearly hear the shakiness in her voice. Up above us, more roars were sounding from the reptilian creatures.
"I'm thinking it was... a dragon." I answered, trying to hind my own worries.
"Will somebody please tell me what happened?" Iggy yelled next to me. I shook my head vigorously.
"Sorry, Ig, no time. We have to save Fang. Ask Angel to tell you." I beat my wings, flying in the direction that the dragon came from. My flock followed behind. Using my ability, I flew super fast, leaving them far behind. I had to slow it down when I approached a large mountain that looked promising. As I got closer, I noticed that the mountain looked more like an extinct volcano. There was an opening in the wall of the rim, and a few scattered dragons around the base.
As fast as my wings would let me, I dropped quickly onto the ledge and ran inside the volcanic dwelling. Who would have thought to live INSIDE the rim of an extinct volcano, and why? No time to wonder about that.
I raced along, barely glancing at my surroundings, and tried to listen for Fang. I took off down a hallway, just as I heard a heart-wrenching scream come from Fang. I stopped in my tracks. That sound almost made my heart stop; Fang had never, and I mean NEVER in his life, screamed like he did just then. Even when Ari had all but killed him on the beach, he had barely made a sound. For Fang to do something like that… I kept myself from finishing that thought.
I had started running again, and now came to a halt as I heard voices in one of the rooms ahead.
"F'nor, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" A woman asked, sounding scared. Please don't let them see the wings, I thought. Anything but the wings…
"I'm not so sure myself, mother." Said a man. He sounded just as skeptical as she. "I wish I had had some of that fellis juice so I could blame what I'm seeing on that…" Amoan sounded from the room, and there was no mistaking who it was from.
"How did you find him again?" The man's mother asked. I noticed I was breathing hard, and forced myself to calm down and concentrate.
"Canth saw him fall right out of the sky. He was scanning for Thread when he informed me of someone falling from the sky. Canth's just as shocked as we ourselves are."
"Have you ever seen a person with wings, F'nor?" My heart sank. So they had seen them. This was getting out of hand. I had to get Fang out of there. But how?
Before I could formulate a plan, something hit me and I fell to the floor. Whatever hit me suddenly disappeared when I looked up. To make matters worse, I was right in front of the room. Typical, right?
F'nor turned towards me, looking surprised. But my focus was immediately directed towards Fang, unconscious. His jeans were torn from his body, showing odd scrapes on his leg that were deep and bleeding. His wings were outstretched, the same scraps appearing on his right wing. He looked pretty bad. There also appeared to be burns on his face… from some extreme cold? But where?
"What happened to Fang?" I choked, fully realizing the condition he was in. F'nor looked at me seriously.
"Wait, so you know him?" I couldn't blame F'nor for wanting answers, but I did, too. Probably more than he did.
"Yeah, I know him. Now what happened?" I wanted to scream, but something inside was keeping me from doing that.
"No, first, you're going to tell me a few things." He stepped past me and shut the door. It took every fiber in me not to knock them both out, grab Fang, and get off of this planet. "Now, would you first of all, kindly explain to me where your from and how your friend has wings?"
"The wings part is gonna be a long story." I tried, "I'm from Earth, you know, the same planet that the first humans here came from." Now F'nor was speechless. He cocked his head slightly, and grinned at me.
"Okay, nice try. What Hold are you from and what Weyr are you bound to?"
"Hold? Weyr? What the heck are you talking about?" I had no clue if this guy was ever going to take me seriously. And I also had no freakin clue why I was telling him all of this. I just met him! Could I even trust him?
"Which is it? Benden? Fort? Half-Circle Sea Hold perhaps? Out with it!" The man was suddenly silenced by the woman standing next to him.
"F'nor, do we have any reason to believe that she's lying? Do we know much about our ancestors and where they came from?" Surprisingly that worked, and F'nor gave me an honest smile.
"I can't argue with that, can I?" He paused, seemingly lost in a daydream, totally oblivious to the world. Just as quickly, he turned to the woman. "Canth reports other young children landing on the ledge. Are you not alone?" Before I could answer, the rest of the flock came running in, Angel and Iggy with outstretched wings. I sent a thought to Angel to put their wings in asap, and they did.
"So, is Fang going to be alright?" I asked again.
"Well, Fang has a Threadscored leg and... wing. He was in a lot of pain, judging by the noise he was making. He's not unconscious anymore, just resting. Now if you don't mind, I'd like you to tell me more about you being from… Earth, was it?"
"Forget it, F'nor." The woman said, "The child needs to rest, she's obviously had enough anxiety for one day. And we don't even know her name!" I couldn't help but smile at her mother-like attitude.
"Its Max, by the way." I informed her. "The rest of us are Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel." Nudge gave me a scared look when I gave the flock's real names.
"Well, you guys just rest up, and we can talk later." She grabbed F'nor's arm and drug him out of the room. The last thing I heard her say was, "I've never heard such names before."