Chapter 3
She couldn't stop herself from screaming in horror and in pain. It was as if someone had sprayed venom in her eyes again and again and again. It was like a dragonbite viper lunging in front of you and you know you should hide but you can't because you're frozen in fear or disbelief. Everything she ever knew was crashing down on her. She wouldn't blame the sight in front of her so….she improvised.
"VENUS!" she screamed, her scales roaring with black and white and dark green. Venus stood calmly in front of her, yellow swimming across her scales.
"I can't imagine why you're so upset," she murmured, amusement twinkling in her eyes. Her claws glinted in the shifting sunlight and Dahlia saw Quinine crouched behind Venus, her scales pure lily green. Dahlia knew she'd have to apologize later if she even had a chance. Quickly, she tried to slam down her feelings, eradicating all traces of her emotions. She glanced at the dragons again, hoping that the white would just have blended in with her normal white and green. Venus looked above her talons.
"How did you know," Dahlia demanded, her voice still wobbly.
"I'm honestly surprised that you didn't figure out sooner, it'd be hard to put on a show like that without being honest," she pointed out, avoiding the question. Dahlia curled her tail in, trying to hide the pinches of black. Venus stood up and Quinine yelped in surprise, clutching her mother's leg. Dahlia tried to look imposing for a moment but lost it, Venus's height towering over hers. Dahlia looked away from her, her eyes squinted at the ground.
"I never suspected," she muttered, answering truthfully. Venus sniffed and swept her tail across the platform.
"Well, I did," she shrugged, stomping off to the corner. Dahlia lifted her head and curled her talons close to her."TAPIR! CONDOR!" Venus bellowed and two RainWings came floating down from the trees.
"You didn't have to yell," a bright pink one grumbled and the orange one nodded her head.
"You know we followed you, right?" the orange dragon asked and Venus glared at them. After a moment, they fell silent.
"Quinine, Dahlia, meet Tapir," she motioned to the orange dragon and Tapir sent them a friendly wave."And Condor, STOP EATING," she yelled and Condor sheepishly dropped the banana. Venus ruffled her wings for a moment. "Get those two hiding," she ordered and Tapir and Condor nodded.
"Yes ma'am," they murmured in unison, taking off through the trees into the clearing. Dahlia looked around Venus, checking for more RainWings.
"So..you order some sort of army?" Dahlia asked, stretching her wings. Quinine popped up beside her, yellow imprinted in every scale. Venus nodded, glowering at Dahlia.
"Yes, I am the Commander of the RainWing army," she informed them, less haughtily then Dahlia would have expected. Quinine looked up at her in awe for a moment, her scales turning purple. Dahlia looked out of the corner of her eye at Quinine. Venus ruffled her wings. "Here they come," she growled and Dahlia closed her eyes, wanting to curl up and hide at the bottom of the rainforest.
"LET GO OF ME!" a voice demanded and Dahlia opened her eyes, her talons twitching. Condor looked helpless holding the writhing green and orange dragon. He glanced at her and Dahlia managed to crack a smile.
"This is...STOP...very strict business so STOP TWITCHING," Condor tried, roaring as the RainWing stuck her talon in his wing. Condor swiped at the RainWing as she tried to flap away before Venus shot after her and grabbed the RainWing. Now that Dahlia had seen the RanWing clearly, she thought she might be sick.
"Heliconia?" she asked, her voice trembling. Heliconia froze at the sound of her name being said.
"Dahlia?" she asked, turning around."Why are you here?" she asked, flattening her ruff. Dahlia glanced at her and covered her eyes.
"Why are you here? Kissing a NightWing Heliconia!?" she asked, tears dripping down her cheeks. She could tell Heliconia was feeling guilty. After all, she would never see her best friend again. Heliconia opened her mouth to speak but Venus interrupted her.
"You are not allowed to say anything," she hissed and Dahlia sat up, still trembling. It couldn't get any worse than this. Her best friend, kissing a NightWing. Well, she couldn't have been more wrong as Tapir dragged back the NightWing.
Hello! Sorry for the short chapter! Needed to build up the suspense for the next chapter! (Muahaha). Will be trying to update every Tuesday or Friday. At least once a week until school starts back up for me.