Hello again, readers. I apologize for the time gap with this chapter, but I have no intentions to give up this story. It may take some time but I will finish it. In this chapter, the dragonets leave the only home they've known to help their new friend. There'll no doubt be a lot of danger in their quest, and time will tell if they are ready for it...
Torque and Adder peered at the detailed sketch on the new chapter's first page. The title was like the others, spelling "The NightWing Tribe" in large flowing letters. The illustration beneath was of a NightWing on some kind of balcony. He was looking up past magnificent stone spires to the star-speckled night sky with a thoughtful expression. Marble already knew this chapter well from poring over it for many hours. With all the mystery surrounding NightWings, the book was like a reservoir of information.
"The Night Kingdom." she said, flipping to the next page which had a grand picture of the Night City in it's prime. "This is where the bracelets were taken. I know our tribe has already picked it pretty clean over the years, but I don't think they found them. Nobody ever knew where they went after the NightWings took them and I'd bet it's stayed that way."
She found herself staring at the great buildings in the illustration. It was nagging at her mind, as though there was something she should be remembering but couldn't quite find. Marble blinked the feeling away and returned to the present task.
"So you mean, we have to head into the Night City and find those bracelets which'll get us past the deadly ice wall of death, right?" Torque said, wrinkling his snout doubtfully, "But what gives us a better shot at finding it than the SandWing looting parties? I've got my magnetic detector but I'd bet there's a bunch of metal all over the city."
Marble replied, "The bracelets were taken by the NightWings that visited the IceWing palace just before the war. They were most likely kept hidden by them somewhere or given to the queen. The palace would probably be the first place to look."
"The looting parties scoured the NightWing palace. Every bit of it. If the bracelets were there they would've found them, I'm sure." Adder said, "Maybe the NightWings that took them did keep them. If that's true they'd be hidden in their homes somewhere. If they were under floorboards or something like that the looting parties probably would've missed them."
Torque frowned and winced, "Searching every house in the city, huh? Maybe I should bring my magnetic detector..."
"Not every house," Marble replied matter-of-factly, "Just the ones near the palace for the nobles. The four dragons that visited the IceWing palace were all part of "the council" as the story goes."
"So we'd even have to check Foeslayer's home?" asked Adder.
A beat of silence. All of them knew the significance of the name. Foeslayer, the young dragon who fell in love with Prince Arctic and spirited him away. She was the mother of Darkstalker and his sister.
Marble shrugged and tried to brighten the mood, "Heck, maybe she had the bracelets. I'm pretty sure the place isn't haunted like rumors say. Come on, the freezing ghost of Prince Arctic floating around there dripping ectoplasm and screaming at bystanders?" she rolled her eyes at the thought.
As Marble closed the book with a dull thump and redid the clasp, Adder stood tall and addressed the others.
"Well then. It looks like we've got a starting point."
The next morning at breakfast was when Marble, Torque and Adder began formulating their plan. They'd gathered at one of the corner tables and were whispering to one another. Each of them had a large clay bowl of fried locusts and cactus grubs that they ate from periodically.
"I'd love a good adventure, seeing the other tribes and lands of Pyrrhia and everything," Marble was saying, "But we can't exactly waltz up to Queen Scorpion and say: "Hey, we need to go get some magic bracelets from the NightWing kingdom. Then we can go to the IceWing kingdom and get some magic narwhal horns to heal a poisoned IceWing we found in the desert." she threw up her foretalons in exasperation, "I've asked over the years for trips to other lands and every time they say no. My aunts tell me it's because the queen doesn't want her NightWing running off." she speared a locust with a claw in irritation.
Torque unfolded one of his wings and gave her a side-hug, "Hey, don't worry. You're an awesome dragon, not just some pretty jewel Queen Scorpion can keep under her claws forever." he found himself smiling like a dope when he saw Marble brighten at his words.
"Yeah," Adder replied, grabbing one of the locusts from his bowl, "This wouldn't be the first time we've broken the rules either. If we do this, it'll just make us even more qualified to be soldiers." he raised the locust in the air as though it was flying, "How many other cadets can say they went all over Pyrrhia and bested dangerous foes to save a dragon's life?"
"I don't know," Marble said, grabbing Adder's locust suddenly, "Even if everything goes great, can you imagine Queen Scorpion when we get back?" she puffed up her chest, stuck her snout in the air and gave an imitation of the SandWing queen's raspy, piercing voice,
"You three broke the rules and snuck off to another kingdom? You could have been captured and used against us! The secrets of our tribe would have been lost! That you did all this foolish nonsense for one dragon, preposterous!"
"Buuut," Torque sidled in, "Because of your immense courage and dispensing of justice, it is clear that you three are ready to become worthy soldiers in the SandWing army!"
Marble and Adder looked at him doubtfully, crunching on their meals. Torque shrugged nervously, "Okay, so maybe it wouldn't go like that. She might give us punishments too. But, guys, do you really wanna be stuck at the compound for the rest of the year? We'll learn a heck of a lot if we go out into Pyrrhia and experience it for ourselves. Old scrolls and boring teachers can only get us so far."
"I'm in, obviously." nodded Adder, placing his foretalon flat in the middle of the table, "I'll save Glacia no matter what."
Torque placed his foretalon beside his brothers in agreement. They looked to Marble for her decision.
"Well," she said, "It'll be dangerous, and exhausting, and we might not live through it." a grin widened across her snout as she placed her foretalon down and exclaimed, "Count me in!"
A week passed as the trio worked on their plan between training. Navigation would have to be done with the help of some maps dredged up from Marble's archives as well as a few taken from Torque and Adder's parents. The furthest any of them had been from the SandWing Kingdom were a couple of it's borders. They had confidence that with the help of maps they'd be able to find the Night City without too much trouble.
The first step of their journey was to find a way to sneak off to the NightWing border without being caught. All borders of the SandWing Kingdom had regular patrols rotating around them. Since the desertion of the NightWing Kingdom, however, the patrols around that section were more relaxed. Very few looting parties went across it these days as much of the ghost city's wealth had been plundered years ago.
The trio deduced that it would be best to cross the border late at night. Patrol shifts there ended a while after sunset and would not be replaced until sunrise. Some of the more superstitious guards left earlier if they could help it; few of them wanted to guard the gateway to a dead kingdom on a cold, dark night. In this window of time Marble, Torque and Adder would slip past the border into the NightWing Kingdom. From there they'd navigate to the Night City using their maps. From what they'd learned the city itself was more or less in the center of the kingdom. Given the fact that all it's occupants were long gone, the trio wasn't worried about being chased off or attacked. But they agreed to remain on the lookout for any SandWing parties that might enter the area. If they found them they'd be dragged back by their ears to the compound and disgraced instead of honored.
Over the week supplies were gathered for the trip. Each one of the three would be carry three packs with them: One for food, another for water, a third for navigation equipment. The food would last them a few days at most, but there was a pretty good chance they'd be able to catch enough to eat as they went. The same went for water; streams, ponds and the like were dotted around the NightWing Kingdom. The supplies in their packs were to be conserved in case they found themselves stuck; or worse, lost. The navigation equipment was really nothing more than sheafs of parchment on which were scrawled various maps, while Torque had his magnetic detector as well. Marble also had her hefty book, The Dragon Tribes of Pyrrhia, and a compass she'd nicked from her aunt Sunbeetle. She felt guilty about taking the small thing, but reasoned that she'd return it when they came back and that her aunt probably didn't need it at the moment. Marble would be leading the three of them due to her deeper knowledge of the NightWing Kingdom and better navigation in the dark.
They had all decided to leave on the last night of the week shortly before midnight. Because their rooms were spaced apart somewhat in the lodgings building each of them had set up small clocks issued to each cadet. Somewhat recent inventions, they had been based off the simple hourglass. Each clock encased a small one, which was connected to a system of notches and weights. When the hourglass turned over as all the sand fell, the force would tick up the notches by one. The notches in turn were marked by a line on the rim of the clock-face that moved to show what time of day it was.
Shown on the clock-face were sections for dawn, dusk, noon, and the rest for day and night. A button on top of the clock allowed cadets to set an alarm with a second line. This would wake the trio up in time for them to gather their things, meet up and fly out to the border. Hopefully without being noticed by any soldiers or nosy cadets.
On the night of the trio's devious plan, Marble lay awake on her bunk. For the past few hours since lights-out she'd been trying, and failing, to go to sleep. Her whole body was buzzing with energy in anticipation of what she'd be doing tonight. She kept flicking her tail and fidgeting her claws as she thought about the plan over and over. Now and then she'd turn her head to look out the little square window behind her at the night sky. It looked the same as it had when the sun had first set, she thought.
'Urrrgh. Three moons, this is killing me!'
Marble rolled off her bunk and checked the packs she was wearing for what must have been the twentieth time. Food: Check. Water: Check. Stuff so that we don't get lost: Check. She fluttered her gray wings, aching to get outside and fly around to relieve her boredom. She wished that her friends were closer, but she guessed they'd probably be asleep anyway.
"Like I should be!" Marble grumbled to herself, picking up her pillow and covering her eyes with it as though it would magically put her to sleep.
A sudden BRRRRRRING sound made her jump, dropping the pillow and almost falling over. She perked her ears towards her small metal clock, which was buzzing and ringing across the nightstand. She slammed a talon over it both to silence the alarm and stop it from tipping onto the floor.
"Yes!" Marble whispered to herself in triumph, hopping about in excitement.
Carefully, she creaked open the door of her room and peered out into the corridor. Unlike the SandWings she could see quite well in the dark, even a bit better than she sometimes saw in the day. Right now she saw that the corridor was empty of dragons as she'd hoped. She stepped out into it and closed the door gently behind her. A minute passed as she tapped her claws on the ground, worrying that Torque and Adder hadn't woken up.
But her fears were allayed as two more doors opened a ways from her own. Adder stepped out first, rubbing his eyes and adjusting one of his pack-straps. Torque emerged from his own room seconds after with a quiet yawn. They caught sight of one another in moments and started heading out of the building slowly.
When they were outside, in the cool night air, the trio gathered together and whispered against a wall. They'd checked for nearby dragons and found none, and so began their plan in earnest.
"Alright, follow me," Marble said as they finished talking, "If I see any danger I'll stop. Keep flying with me until we're at least several minutes past the NightWing border. Then we can land, check if we were followed, and get our bearings."
Torque and Adder nodded, lifting off into the air after her. They flew at a quick pace but not too fast so as to keep quieter. Marble would have been very difficult to spot; her scales practically melded with the darkness around them. Torque and Adder stood out more but a SandWing would have to look hard before they noticed them. They flew for several minutes in total silence, Marble always scanning around them for any stray dragons. Luck was in their favor that night, for they reached the border without incident. There was a near miss at the border, though. Two soldiers were still at their post, playing what looked to be chess with one another. Since they were distracted with their game the trio managed to slip by, just. One of the soldiers had almost seen them as he argued over his turn with the other.
Even so, Marble lead for a while more past the border without a sound. The landscape below them had morphed from vast dunes of sand to swaths of forest and rock. A silvery stream running past some of the sheltering trees was where the trio chose to make their stop.
"I think we made it." said Adder, panting and bending down to drink from the stream.
"So do I, but I'll do another sweep just in case," Marble responded, swooping up into the air and doing a slow circle above.
She landed shortly, looking relieved. "Yep, we made it. There's nobody around and I don't think we've been followed. Phew!" she sat down beside the water, strangely energized by the night flight.
Torque was shuffling about along the stream's shore and flexing his wings. Marble went over to sit by him and gave him a nudge,
"Hey, you alright? I know this is a little crazy, what we're doing, but we should be safe from here. The NightWing Kingdom is pretty much empty, remember?"
"I know," Torque responded, sitting down, "I'm just a little worried about our parents back home. I don't want them getting in trouble because of us."
Marble placed a foretalon on one of Torque's and tried to reassure him. "They'll be alright. They've done tons of things for Queen Scorpion, and this mess was all done by us. My aunts should be okay, too. Whenever I got in trouble the queen mostly yelled at me." she shrugged her wings and rolled her eyes at the memories.
Torque wanted to say something, but found his throat was a little stuck. His heart seemed to be thumping fit to launch from his chest and was spreading a sweet, nervous heat throughout his body. He cleared his throat, forced his wings to stop moving and did his best to respond.
"Y-yeah. Yeah, I hope so. My parents are tough anyway, and so are your aunts. When we come back, everything will be okay."
Marble looked at him with a smile so wide Torque thought his heart would burst.
"I'm glad you're coming along, Torque. Together we'll kick butt and save the day, right?"
The hybrid nodded, her surety clearing away his fears like a fresh gust of wind. "Right."
After the exertion of their flight from the SandWing Kingdom the three dragonets were quite exhausted. Marble nominated herself to keep watch while Torque and Adder sunk into a deep and much-needed sleep. She reasoned that she could see better in the dark, and really, she wasn't that tired.
For a few hours Marble explored the small clearing to ward off boredom. The land was very different from the desert she'd grown up in. Lush grass waved at her talons, old trees with rustling green leaves bent in the wind. The river gently bubbling past served to complete the picture, Marble thought. She spent some time simply enjoying the new environment, a happy smile on her snout. It helped to calm her down and forget, for a little bit, the worries and danger still ahead.
'It's almost like an oasis back home with all these plants. But they get rain to help them grow too, not just the river.' she mused to herself, laying down and observing her wavering reflection in the water.
Despite having knowledge of the lands of Pyrrhia from school and books, for Marble it could not compare to the real thing. It thrilled her to imagine the other wondrous places she might yet visit someday. Still, despite her excitement, she found her eyelids beginning to droop and had to stifle a yawn more than once. Even her endurance could not outlast the tolling call of sleep; despite all her attempts to stay awake, Marble eventually succumbed to the warm, dark blanket of slumber.
It wasn't until some time past sunrise that she woke. Adder had shaken her awake as he just had Torque, who was still yawning and rubbing his eyes as he stood up. After shaking away the bleariness left from her dreams, Marble realized her lapse and apologized to her friends.
"Oh, geez," she sighed, rubbing her eyes, "I shouldn't have fallen asleep. Sorry, guys, I think I overestimated myself."
Adder smiled and shrugged, "Hey, don't worry. None of us got much sleep last night. Heck, I'm surprised we didn't drop out of the sky on our way here!"
He grinned and Marble found herself relax and smile in turn. Adder was always good at keeping things light with his jokes, able to make them laugh even if they were covered in mud and sand-flies.
"Still," she continued as Torque walked over to them, "If we're gonna be soldiers one day we need good discipline. Imagine if someone came to attack us while I was snoozing at my post, it would be a disaster!" she exclaimed, turning to the river and dashing a foretalon through it in frustration.
Her stern-faced reflection rippled and distorted in response to her bout before settling back to it's steady motion. Torque appeared in the waster beside Marble, studying the water and remarking,
"We did our best and that's all we can do. Sometimes we slip up, but we learn, right? The next time we have someone on watch, we'll rotate so we each get our turn to watch and then to sleep." he grimaced, "We should've done that last night, but we were knocked out too quickly to think about it. Look on the bright side: in the end we weren't attacked and we all got some rest."
Marble nodded and turned, her will bolstered by her friend. "Honestly, I'm not even sure who would attack us. None of the sentries spotted us, and-" she paused suddenly, her eyes growing wide in shock.
Before her friends could wonder at her surprise, she explained in hurried tones and pointed at the sun rising above the trees, "It's way past roll-call! They'll know something's up by now back in the Sand Kingdom. Once they realized we've left they'll search the borders! We have to go, now, put distance between us and the desert so that we can't be found."
Her lethargy vanished, replaced by anxious energy that compelled her to run. She hopped about as Torque and Adder agreed to fly away from the encroaching threat. Checking their supplies, they each refilled their waterskins in the river and took several long drinks while they could. Having stretched their wings and charged with new-found urgency, the trio left the refuge of the clearing and continued their journey to the mysterious Night Kingdom.
After the first several minutes of frantic flying and backwards glances, the trio started to relax. The three of them were enthralled by the scenery below them, which was so different to the barren desert. Everywhere they looked was green, green, green. Dense clusters of trees were broken here and there by glistening streams and ponds. The water shimmered with migrating fish as they pushed their way upstream. The trio could hear the animals hidden in the forest, too; birdsong, barks and whistling deer calls created a rich thrum of life.
Marble continued to consult her compass while they flew. As it stood, they'd fly during the day and find a place to sleep each evening. Because of the abundant prey beneath them they'd also be hunting now and then for fresh meat. It would help to conserve their bag supplies and keep them well nourished. Due to the abandoned and general spooky reputation of the Night Kingdom Marble expected they'd be safe enough from any strangers. But the instincts drummed into her from training reminded her to be ready for the unexpected.
'I can't think of anybody else who'd be headed this way,' she thought, glancing at the compass in her foretalons, 'After the years of our tribe's looting there'd be nothing left that wasn't well hidden. The NightWings are long gone, and I'm pretty sure no dragons would want to live in their empty homes. At worst we might run into someone passing through to another place.' her eyes narrowed, 'If that's the case, we need to hide from them. It's best that nobody knows where we're going and why.'
It was past noon when the trio decided to land for a rest and meal. Marble's lack of sleep the night prior was beginning to show, and all three of them were hungry from their flight.
Adder peered off into the thick trees, ears perked.
"Trouble?" asked Torque, walking up beside him.
"No, prey. I can hear a few deer ahead. Probably feeding..." he turned to his brother, a smile growing on his muzzle.
"Oh boy, I know that look," Torque said with a roll of his eyes, "What do you have in mind?"
Marble missed the exchange, having already fallen into a doze beneath the cool shade of one of the many trees. When she did wake up, it would be to the absurd sight of her friends dragging over a deer carcass. Well, what was left of it.
"Agh, next time, we should both take it from the air, Adder." she heard Torque grumbling through a mouthful of venison. He was an alarming sight, his red scales seeming to be dripping right off of him; but of course, that was just the deer's blood. He was splattered head-to-tail in the stuff, while his brother was much neater in appearance. Only his snout and foreclaws were stained red.
The deer itself seemed to have had every bone in it's body broken and twisted as if by great impact. It was almost torn in half along the torso, only a flap of skin and sinew holding it together. All in all it seemed a pretty rough hunt, Marble thought.
The hunters themselves were quite battered as well. Torque was quite badly bruised on his chest and neck with a few cuts across his shoulders from sharp hooves. Adder was not unscathed, also bruised and sporting tears in his wings with a few raw cuts dangerously close to his eyes.
The pair noticed the third of their trio had awakened and her look of concern. She abruptly stood up and helped them drag the kill beneath a thick oak tree. They lay down beside as Marble awaited an account of the hunt. Adder began slowly,
"I guess, ultimately we underestimated our prey. Deer were fast, but we figured that since they aren't as hardy as the camels back home they wouldn't put up much of a fight when we got them."
Torque shook his head and snorted, "A mistake. We've been taught about the dangers of fighting other tribes, but I don't think we've been lectured on other environments and their hazards yet. The plan was for Adder to drive the deer towards me from the air, then I'd grab it and crush it's neck with my jaw."
Adder continued, pointing at one of the deer's shiny black hooves, "She ran like we planned, but stopped before she hit Torque. She became panicked, but suddenly stood her ground and started kicking and slashing like mad with her hooves." he tapped a cut beside one of his eyes, "Cut me up pretty bad in the front and gave us both a good battering."
There was a nod from Torque as he finished, "In the end there was a lot of struggling and it wasn't exactly a clean kill. But you know the hunter's code, meat won is not meat wasted. Besides, from what I've heard deer meat is supposed to be really tasty!"
Marble smiled, then sighed, "I'm glad you guys got this for us, but next time we need to all go together, and be careful. No matter whether it's prey or not, we have to consider that a lot of the animals around here could be dangerous to us in some way." she looked once more at their wounds and stood up, "I'll get some water and help you wash those wounds. We can't make healing poultices out of the plants here without knowing what they are, but I'd rather you two don't die of an infection."
The trio had decided to stay the night in the small clearing. After all, flying in unknown territory sore and sleep-deprived was asking for trouble. The deer's flesh had proven just as tasty as suspected, tender and rich in flavor. The meal and subsequent sleep had reinvigorated the dragonets and they readily resumed their course shortly after dawn.
As they flew on, the terrain below them turned to thick, dense trees. Looking down upon them made the trio uneasy; down there was so unlike the open dunes of the desert. Just thinking about being beneath the unbroken shadowy blanket of leaves and branches made them feel trapped. Fortunately, they eventually passed the great forest into mountainous territory. A great river split the land below, bordered by rocky cliffs and pine trees.
Between marveling at the scenery Marble glanced at the compass in her talons. The sun was setting and painted the blue sky in streaks of bright orange and dark purple. It would be time to rest soon; they'd flown all day.
Adder gave voice to her thought, "We'd better find somewhere to settle down for the night. Look," he said, pointing down near the river's shore, "I think that's a cave at the foot of the cliff. It should make a better place to sleep that out in the open."
Marble concurred; a harsh wind had begun blowing a little while ago, and a glance up at the clouds proved they looked none too friendly either.
The three of them circled down to land beside the river, each filling their waterskins after taking a drink from the fresh water. Torque, who held their map, was studying it as he looked around at the picturesque environment.
Suddenly, he exclaimed in excitement, "Oh, I think we're getting near the Night City! I'm pretty sure this big cliff is one of the landmarks. Here," he said, pointing with a claw at one of the sketches.
His companions quickly came to peer over his shoulder at what he referred to. It was an ink drawing of a tall cliff, with a sharp point jutting from it's edge. Above in cursive was written "Stoneclaw Cliff".
"You're right," Adder nodded, "It looks like the Night City is west of here, I'm guessing another day's flying. Whew," he grinned, "This trip's been just breezy so far!"
Marble was about to agree, when her ears twitched at a sound from behind them. She whirled around, startled, to face the mouth of the cave they were going to shelter in. Her friends did the same at her alarm, now also hearing the noise resonating from the dark maw. It was a strange sound, a sort of scraaape, thump, scraaape, thump.
By the volume of the sound and the vibrations in the ground, whatever was making it was quite large. The dragonets braced themselves for a fight, poised silently as they waited.
Then, the creature came into the day's waning light, lifting it's head to sniff the air. It's ears twitched towards the trio, and slowly, it turned it's head towards them.
Marble fought to hold in a gasp at the sight. Standing before them, clad in scales almost granite-grey with age, was another dragon. But what was most shocking was what kind of dragon he was. He had a build that suggested great strength in his youth, but his large frame now looked frail, skin sagging upon once-mighty bones. His scales were rough-looking and reminiscent of smoke. His wings were pitch black and speckled with white like the night sky, tattered like moth-eaten curtains. As could be expected from an old dragon, his snout was very wrinkled and his horns were quite battered.
Strangely, his eyes remained closed even in the sunlight. In his left foreclaw he gripped a large, polished staff made of some kind of dark red wood. He seemed to be using it to support his weight; it explained the thumping noise as he walked. He now seemed to be moving it about on the ground, as if feeling for movement
"Ah, visitors." his deep, creaking voice cried, sounding surprised but pleased, "It's been so very long..."
A stranger appears before our heroes! I hope you readers enjoyed this chapter, I've enjoyed writing it. In the next one the trio's quest continues and they figure out who this old coot is. Leave any comments or critiques if you feel like it, I enjoy reading them.