I'm back.
After reading several of your reviews, it appears that y'all want me to finish this. So, here's the deal. This chapter has been written out and waiting. The last chapter is written and waiting. And between here and there are several pages of writing that need to be organized and expanded on. I have the skeleton of the ending, now I just have to hang some meat on it. But here's the problem.
It's spring time. And unlike everyone else, I don't have a lot of free time. I live on a farm, and the crops don't care if there's a pandemic. I have a busy schedule at the moment: fields to plant, firewood to cut, and, a tractor to rebuild. Not to mention all of my normal chores. I have been thinking about this story almost nonstop (bad idea when running a chainsaw. Always, ALWAYS stay focused when running a chainsaw) but I haven't had time to sit down and write. And when I do get the time, I am never sitting long enough to let my mind engage. So in short, I cannot promise you a schedule. I will update when I can, no matter how sparadic that gets, but I do intend to finish this. Like I said, I have the skeleton written out, I just need to fill it in.
Thank you to all my reviewers this week.
-queenglorythefirst: first place!
I'm glade that scarlets death felt appropriately written. I actually checked out all of the first series of wof before the craziness hit, but unfortunately haven't been able to sit down and read. I kinda wish I could get the Kung flu, then maybe I would have some downtime. 98% of people recover from it, so it's not like it would kill me.
-dragon349295: second,
The story shall continue. By the way, I was scrolling through the story's here of fanfiction, and I stumbled across one called 'world of torture.' I guess the whole 'scarlet torments the dragonets' isn't that original of an idea after all. Are there many more out there like this? It doesn't sound like I'm copying anyone, does it?
-oragonking: I know that. But I'm afraid that I'm missing your point. Yes, they all end up together in the books, but this is fanfiction. Also, why aren't you more upset about deathbringer?
Cricketsundew: well, a fellow ww2 nerd, how nice. Do you collect anything? I have a tiny collection of ww2 equipment and scale models of planes and tanks, plus stacks of books I will never have time to read. I'm writing several alternative history stories, almost like 'what if?' Scenarios.
-nonya: don't worry, you will find out what happens to Starflight and glory.
...eventually. Just as soon as I have time to write.
-donhp: see me at the bottom.
-alpaca: I'll have to look out for that show. I'm glad you liked the chapter, but I don't know how twisty the ending will be.
-blackberry avar: sorry about the name, autocorrect strikes again. It's all part of the joys of typing on a phone. I've had it change the word 'Viking' to 'bikini'.
Alright, here's chapter 12
The air was cool and dry. A gentle breeze was blowing, rustling the tree branches and tall grass. The sky was cloudless and brilliant with stars. One of the moons was full, another was waxing. Crickets and night insects sang quietly, adding perfect harmony to the sighing breeze.
The dragonets of destiny were huddled around a little fire. They lay in an alcove at the base of a cliff, atop a small grassy hill that led to a wooded valley below. They were in the foothills of the claws to the clouds mountains, not far from where they had been captured. Behind them, the entrance to scarlets cave was hidden in a wrinkle of the rocky wall.
Clay and tsunami were the only ones awake. Tsunami and the other three were lying by the fire, while clay paced restlessly around their camp Glory and starflight were still unconscious, having shown no signs of recovery since they had been carried out of the cave. Sunny had slowly cried herself to sleep, cradling her injured arm. Her ear and her forearm were covered in horrific blisters, and the scales around the damaged areas had turned black, standing out in stark contrast with her golden scales.
Clay would sit down and fidget, looking around distractedly. Then he would get up, check on the others, and then go back to pacing. He carried the blood covered spear he had used in their escape. Tsunami was armed with a knife she had taken from the forge. Together, they kept watch.
After a few hours, clay threw a piece of bark on the fire.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" mumbled tsunami.
"What? What is?"
"The fire." she said, "someone could see it. From a long ways away."
Clay shrugged.
"I guess they could. But who is out flying around the mountains at this time of night? Beside, maybe it would be good if someone saw us." he looked at his unconscious friends, "we need help."
"What if … there are more skywings working for scarlet?" she asked.
Clay stopped pacing for a second, back turned to her. He gazed off into the dark valley. There was nothing but the trees and the star filled sky.
"I don't think there are. I hope not." he looked at the spear in his talons, "I don't know how they could follow her."
Tsunami sighed and tried to adjust herself to lay more comfortably.
"I hope you're right." she breathed, "I don't know how we could possibly fight them off."
Clay turned and walked to her.
"Don't worry about it. Why don't you get some rest tsunami? You need it." he said.
Tsunami groaned and rubbed her eyes.
" I know. I wish I could, but I can't sleep." She looked over at the others. "Every time I try, I see poor fatespeaker, or deathbringer. And I'm too worried about all of us."
Clay nodded. His eyes drifted to the holes in her shoulders and snout, where the phosfernt scales had been.
"Tsunami, what do we do now?" he asked.
Tsunami shook her head.
"I don't know clay. I wish I did. I wish we had a dream visitor or something, but i think scarlet took the one we had. It wasn't in fatespeakers bag, and I have no idea where it could have gone."
Clay looked up at the sky.
"We need help." he said again, as if asking the moons for a miracle.
Tsunami nodded. She reached out and felt glorys forehead, as if checking for fever.
"Tomorrow we need to figure out where we are. I'll have to stay here. Do you think that you could find your way to the rainforest?"
Clay nodded.
"I think so. Scarlet couldn't have carried us that far from where she caught us. It should be over there." he pointed across the valley. Tsunami nodded.
"I think you're right. How long do you think it will take?"
Clay shrugged. He moved away from her to check on sunny, who was fidgeting and moaning quietly in her sleep.
"I'll go as fast as i can. But I'm not eager about leaving you all behind."
"There's no choice." she said. Henodded.
"I know. I'm just … worried that I'll fail again."
Tsunami shivered and leaned closer to the fire.
"Clay, you didn't fail." she said, "if anything, I did. I let scarlet get to me. I gave up and let her take the others." she looked down at herself, regret filling her face. "I stopped fighting … and it cost fatespeaker her life."
"That wasn't your fault." said clay.
"it sure feels like it is." said tsunami
"Well it's my fault I took so long escaping. I could have gotten out sooner, if i had tried harder."
"Clay, don't say that. You did what you could." said tsunami, "at least you weren't like me. You didn't give up."
"But you didn't-"
"Yes i did. I laid there and let her take them."
Clay was about to respond to that, to tell her about how it was his fault and not hers, when they suddenly heard a loud cracking sound. Tsunamis head snapped up, clay whirled to face the noise, spear held at the ready.
The noise had come from down the slope, from the thick valley woods. There was nothing to see.
"What is it?" whispered tsunami.
"I dont know." said clay, "Stay here,"
He took the spear and stepped out of the firelight. The night was cold away from the fire, and he felt the urge to shiver. He slowly made his way down the small grade letting his eyes adjust to the dark. His head was on a swivel, looking all around for any signs of trouble. He made it to the bottom of the hill and approached the forest, stopping at the edge of the trees. The forest rose up abruptly, like a wall. Clay held the spear tightly, trying to peer into the trees. He saw nothing, and heard nothing. But he felt as though someone was watching him. He swallowed hard. Clay called out, in a low voice,
"Hello? Who's there?"
He heard no response. Clay looked around, back up the hill where the dim fireglow reflected off the cliff walls.
He jumped when he suddenly heard footsteps, and swung around to face the woods, just as a black silhouette stepped from the trees. It was a dragon, slightly larger than him.
"Who's that? Who's there?!"
"Clay?" said the figure, "is that you?"
Clay blinked a second, lowering the spear in disbelief.
"... Deathbringer?" he said, "I thought you … is that you?!."
Deathbringer limped towards him, and clay saw that he was walking on three legs. As he left the shadows of the trees the moonlight suddenly illuminated the black dragon. He stopped a tail length from clay, and the two stared at each other in disbelief. Then deathbringer's face split into a smile.
"Oh my gosh, it is you! Clay! You have no idea how good it is to see you!" his voice was full of relief and excitement, and he began to circle clay, looking him over. "Are you alright? I've been looking for you guys for three days, are the others with you?"
Clay nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm okay. The others are up there." he pointed at the firelight reflecting off the cliff wall. Deathbringer appeared satisfied that clay was okay, coming back to stand in front of him.
"I saw your fire, I was across the valley on the next ridge. I wasn't sure if it was you guys or scarlet, so i tried to scope it out on foot." his smile fell suddenly. "Where is scarlet? What happened? And are the others okay?"
Clay rubbed his forehead, accidently breaking the scab he had gotten from the door.
"uh , scarlets dead. So are her helpers. She kind of … tortured us."
Deathbringer's eyes widened.
"What about the others? Are they okay?"
Clay exhaled through clenched teeth.
"No."
"Take me to them."
They climbed the hill slowly. Deathbringer had one of his fore legs held close to his body, and a white bandage was tied around his shoulder. The bandage was holding a pad tightly against the injury in his back, keeping pressure on the wound. Walking was hard and painful, clay could tell by the way he grunted and clenched his jaw.
When they came back into the firelight, they saw tsunami sitting up, holding her knife. When she saw them, she blinked in surprise.
"Deathbringer?" she said, "you're alive? How?"
Deathbringer gave her a pained smile, holding out his wings, as if to say 'ta-da! Here I am'.
"Long story." he said. His eyes swept over the other three still forms. He counted them, then re-counted. He turned to clay. "We're missing one, wheres-"
"Gone." said tsunami, "she's gone."
Deathbringer blinked, then shook his head.
"Poor thing." he said, "nobody deserves that."
They stood quietly for a moment, each with their own thoughts on that. Then deathbringer shook his head, and unslung the leather bag he carried. He unbuttoned it and dumped it into the grass by the edge of the fire. Out fell several throwing stars, a small blowgun, a knife, and an olive green canvas bag. He picked it up and opened it.
"What's that?" asked clay.
"My blow out kit." said deathbringer, "or what's left of it. I had to use it to stabilize myself." he pulled out two wads of bandages and several small jars. He looked over the dragonets, looking unsure.
"I don't think I have enough for all of you." he said.
Tsunami gently laid back down.
"I don't need anything. Me and glory both have surface injuries, although she was knocked unconscious."
Deathbringer made his way over to the still forms. He gently touched glorys face, and a pained look passed through his eyes.
"What about the other two?" he asked, not looking away from the still rainwing.
"Starflights unconscious too, but he has a deep stab wound. Sunny's asleep, but she was severely burned."
Deathbringer gazed at glory for a few seconds more, then pulled his eyes away. He shook his head and looked over the other two.
"I can't help the stab wounds." He said, "other than trying to clean it. If you have some water, we can wrap sunny's burns."
Tsunami looked at clay, who hesitated. The last thing he wanted to do was go back into that horrific cave, past the bodies of fatespeaker and the skywings. But he also wanted to help sunny, so it was an easy choice to make.
After clay had gotten the water, deathbringer set the bandages in the bucket to soak. They woke sunny, who was surprised to see deathbringer, but not overjoyed like they had expected. Instead, she was unnervingly quiet, watching as deathbringer applied some paste from one of the jars to her burns. The whole scene was eerily silent, until clay couldn't stand it.
"How did you survive the attack deathbringer?" he asked.
Deathbringer looked up momentarily from where he was gently rubbing the paste around the iron band in sunny's arm.
"Dumb luck." he said, then went back to his work. "I was so worried about scarlet, I never thought to look around. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late." he took another scoop and started gently working farther up sunny's arm, toward the shoulder. "On the bright side, when I looked up at that skywing, the spear missed it's target. From what I can tell, the blade bounced off my ribs and went down and behind my shoulder. Most of the damage is internal, but not fatal."
Sunny winced, and he drew back his talons. "Sorry," he said.
"It's okay." she whispered.
Deathbringer took a little more paste and gently began to apply it to her ear.
"I'm not sure I'll ever walk the same again. I don't think I will fly normally either, but at least I'm alive. And right now, I'm just grateful that I found you guys."
He finished applying the paste. deathbringer picked up the bucket and reached in, pulling one of the bandages from the water. He looked at the wet, pinkish bandage in momentary confusion, then looked up at clay.
"Is this …?"
"I hope not." said clay. He shivered at the thought of blood in the water.
Deathbringer began to wrap sunnys arm in the wet bandage, taking utmost care to avoid causing her any further pain. Clay circled around their little camp, then checked on glory and starflight.
Both were still unconscious and showed no signs of improvement. The stab wound in starflights side was oozing a clear liquid that glistened in the firelight. Clay took the last piece of bandage Deathbringer had, and wrapped it around the unconscious nightwing to stop the bleeding.
By the time he had finished, deathbringer had finished on sunnys burns. He packed up his bag, then limped over to glory. He laid down beside her and let out a huge sigh.
"At least it's all over now." He said, trying to lift their spirits, "you will never have to worry about scarlet again. You're safe now. We'll all get better, starflight and glory will wake up soon, and everything will be okay."
Clay knew he was trying to help, but he could hear the worry in deathbringer's voice.
"It won't be okay for Fatespeaker." Said tsunami.
I'm sorry for the abrupt end, but I can't think of another way to end the chapter. I will try to write when I can, but today I'm going to be painting sheet metal, among other things. Please review, what did you like, what did you not like?
-donhp: I was a little nervous when I saw your review. When you suggested having deathbringer survive, I thought, "oh no, is my story to predictable?" Fortunately, we have some very different outcomes, but thank you very much for offering your help. It means a lot to me to see that others are willing to suggest things in order to help me.
Blackberry avar: I agree that Fatespeaker kind of got the short end of the stick. I really tried to give her some attention before she died, and I hope I did her character right. Now I have to give more development to Starflight, sunny and deathbringer. But it ain't gonna be easy.
Also, I'm going to have some spoilers from the third series here.
book thirteen is odd, very odd. The whole third series is the same way. To be honest, I don't like the third series. My reason is because I feel like we are getting too much of a good thing. The first arch was good, the second was ... eh. The third is out of wack with everything else. The feeling I get from it is like when there is a good movie, but then they keep making sequels.
However, you asked what I thought pertaining to the magic.
Well, on one hand I like it that the animus magic stopped working, even if that didn't make sense. But then it was replaced with the ability to magically make stuff grow, or with weird mind control plants. That is a new level of no thank you for me. So I still don't like it, but not in the same way I didn't like the overload of animus magic. Now it's a weird, magical tree fairy ... thing ... that I don't really like. Maybe I'm just picky, but in the end, I really don't like magic.
That's not the only reason why I don't like the third series. There are similar reasons for why I don't like the second one.
I don't like all of the romance that is running around in the other books. The first series had some, each character had a love interest, and there was even a love triangle. But I think it was kept in check.
On the other hand, the second series is all one big triangle between moon and her two interests, and with kinkajou and turtle as well. The third series has blue chasing cricket, and sundews romance is sort of thrown in your face.
I'm not a big fan of romance. Which might make me a bit of a minority in this fandom. I prefer reading about the bond between siblings and close friends, groups who stick together like a family, and care about each other in a non-romantic way. Which is a big reason why I like the first series.
