Fire and Frenzy Part 2

I am very sorry not to have up dated recently but I had my mocks

And I had to revise, and then there was coursework blah blah blah.

Thank you so much for those who reviewed it really meant a lot, a please do it again, and for those who haven't please do.

Oh, yeah I own nothing, ok.

Now where were we..

A lone body tore through the air, slow turning, somersaulting in a sickening lifeless fashion just before with a terrific crash it broke the canopy of trees below it and disappeared into under the blanket of trees. It broke almost every branch with its fall and then lay there silent unmoving its limbs stretched out in disturbing unnatural ways. The almost indistinguishable rise and fall of its chest the only hint that it was still alive.

The moonlight dappled the forest floor that was covered in dead leaves, and flickered silently off the body's armour. David was alone over 50 miles from any sort of civilisation and unknowingly lying in on of the most dangerous areas of Dinotopia, the one area left which hadn't been explored, for good reason…

Frank Scott, still fuming over the argument from last night, stomped his way down to breakfast. He was running it over in his mind and however he looked at it he knew he needed to apologies to his son. And when he knew he had to do something like that, it always made him cross. He hated apologies, the, 'I'm sorries', the, 'please forgive mes' whenever he did it, it always felt like a sign of weakness. But he also knew he wouldn't be able to get this lump off his chest if he didn't. From the table he called his younger son, expecting him to have just rushed off to his room. When no one responded he sighed and guessed David was still sore from the fight. He had no idea of the reality.

After another half hour he gave up on David guessing he had already left, and went out looking for Karl instead, at the back of his mind a small voice whispered to him that this was just another example of his favouritism. However he shook it off and continued, 'Well' he reasoned to himself, 'I might as well go to the one son whose whereabouts I know.'

As he walked along people when they caught sight of him whispered behind their hands and gave him small sympathetic smiles. Frank had always been an oddity the man who was not only an outsider but he also had spent a couple of month in the land below, or whatever they called it. He had gotten used to the odd looks but it had been a few years now and they had worn off. The sudden reappearance of them did nothing to improve his mood, and when one elderly gentleman walked up to him and looked as if he was going to say something, he angrily pushed him aside. He just managed to hear a couple that were standing by shaking their heads and mumbling something about the shock. He had no idea what they were talking about but stuck his chin further into his jacket and increased his step. The wind was picking up and little splatters of rain began to darken the pavement before him.

Zippo was surrounded by people when Frank entered. A half opened scroll dangling from one paw. Karl was pale and shaking and was standing with his back to everyone gazing intently at the rain that now battered the glass. Zippo's chest was rising and falling very rapidly and he sat down on a nearby stool with a clatter. From Frank's days in the army he would hazard a guess that Zippo had gone into shock, he just didn't understand why.

'What's going on here?' he demanded as he removed his now soaked outer jacket. ' What's up has someone died?' he joked. As soon as he said this however he knew something terrible had happened, Karl flinched at his words and Zippo let out a small sob. Barely audible but it filled the graveyard of silence and spread to the corners of the room, echoing. The people turned around and then Frank recognised them they were wearing the inner uniform of the skybacks riders, and then it all clicked into place. The unresponsiveness of David earlier in the morning, the lack of Free Fall roosting in the out house, the sympathetic glances it all fitted. Yet he still couldn't believe it, no, not to Davie, no, he was to good; he would never allow such a thing to happen. No he was jumping to conclusions; no, it was something totally different. He looked up at their expressions and his resolve faltered but stayed there, 'these guys always look serious, that is why David was so good at being one of them.' Time seemed to slow down for him as he concentrated on the parchment Zippo had just let drop to the floor. And then his hope failed, a few weeks ago he had seen a distraught couple in their forties clutching one of them as David slowly explained to them that their son was missing. It was one of the few times he had gone to visit him, and he had been so shocked at how grown up David had seemed. It was a letter like the telegrams sent to wife and mothers in the first and second world wars informing family relatives of their husbands, sons, fathers deaths. To him it had always seemed so cruel so emotionless. And now it was happening to him.

The officers noticed the direction of his glance and the elder coughed slightly. A few seconds seemed to elapse before Frank Scott noticed the noise and responded to it. He was in a daze as the officer explained to him that in the early hours, the sky back with the name of Free Fall had just made it back to the base at Canyon City, the jagged tears down its back and wings where characteristic of the recent attacks. A notice had gone out to all sky back teams to search for a missing rider, but he was sorry to say that the chances of finding him where unfortunately quite remote. They said their apologies again and took their leave. A stunned silence was in their wake; no one could fully comprehend what had just happened.

The rain fell on the motionless figure lying in the forest, it washed away the dried blood, scared the insects into hiding, cleansed the broken head and limbs of the dirt and sweat that had collected there, and cooled the fever from the wounds. Then with a moan the fingers of the body twitched and slowly the head moved inch by inch over and the bloodied lips twitched letting life saving water slide drop by drop into the parched body beneath.