The wolf waited patiently for the dust to clear. When his vision was clear, he walked over to the shallow crater in which Tremor lay in a crumbled heap. At first glance he thought the earth guardian was dead; but after a long moment, Tremor twitched. The young dragon cried and gritted his teeth against the pain. The earth guardian forced himself onto his back. The sudden movement made him cry out as the spikes embedded in his stomach shifted around inside him. Trembling, he reached up and gripped the first spike that protruded from his chest. It had punctured his chest wall, just below his left lung, but he was already having trouble breathing. After a couple deep breaths, Tremor pulled hard and fast. The sound of his agonized scream carried for miles.
The wolf watched with a child-like interest. Seeing the blood spurt from the wound made it's tail wag with anticipation for the next spike to be removed. The smell of warm dragon blood reached his nostrils and his ear and tail began to twitch anxiously.
Tremor threw the first spike away and rolled onto his side. He prayed that the pain would be less of a shock and yanked another spike from his chest, this one only a couple inches lower than the first. He let loose another scream before letting the spike fall from his blood-stained paws.
"Damn it!" He sobbed, tears in his eyes and blood trickling from his mouth. "I can't take any more of this!"
It was then he looked up to see his enemy standing over him with a toothy grin spread across his mouth. The wolf looked at Tremor's underbelly. There were still seven spikes extending upwards from the earth dragon's gut. The wolf growled softly as it pondered to itself. Tremor tried to get up but the wolf stopped him. Before the earth guardian could get away, the wolf stomped on his left wing.
Tremor hollered as he felt the bones break and reached over to grip his wing. This proved to be a mistake on Tremor's part, as the wolf smashed his other wing beneath his foot. As the earth dragon screamed in pain, the wolf bent down and gripped the spikes between his fingers. Then, without warning, he pulled them all out at once. The shock caused Tremor's body to jerk and convulse sharply, sending more waves of pain through his body. The earth dragon couldn't utter any other noise except for a nearly inaudible squeak.
As he lay there, gasping for air and fighting through the pain, Tremor watched as the wolf moved off of him and leaned down until their noses were nearly touching. Before Tremor could react, the wolf reached down and grabbed him by the throat. Tremor coughed and gasped for air as he felt his throat start to collapse under the pressure of his opponent's grip. The wolf glared at him before slamming him into the ground. Tremor coughed hard and a spout of blood burst from his mouth. The wolf released his grip and stared at the dragon. Tremor's eyes remained closed as he lay still.
Back at the beach, Stella and Candice pushed against the strong ocean winds. The sand blowing through the air had nearly rendered the dragon's blind, forcing them to land and return to the cave on foot.
"That storm sure came in fast!" Candice shouted over the wind.
"I know!" Stella called back. "We need to get the others away from the beach! It's going to be a hurricane!"
They continued running through the sand, using their wings as shields against the stinging sand. Another gust hit them and nearly knocked them over.
"How much farther?" Candice called.
"I don't know! I can't see anything in this sand!" Stella hollered back. The situation was growing worse by the minute. Both dragons had been careless not to notice how far they had drifted from their cave.
All at once Candice felt the temperature in the air drop. She looked to the side to see the waves were no longer crashing loudly onto the beach. The water was frozen over and the grains of sand were mixing with the flakes of snow.
"We're close!" She shouted and took off ahead of Stella. The lightning dragoness bounded after her, trying to keep the wind from catching her under her feet. At last Candice spotted the glow of a fire emanating from the cliffside ahead of them. The two of them raced as fast as they could towards it and dove inside.
"Geez!" Flame jumped in surprise. "Where did you two come from?"
"Bad...Storm..." Stella gasped.
"Yeah, we can tell." Ember nodded towards the front entrance. Stella and Candice moved closer to the warm fire. "It just came out of nowhere."
"Well, we need to get out of here." Stella ordered. "That's going to be a major hurricane! It'll bury this entire cave!"
"What!" Flame was immediately on his feet.
"We have to head deeper inland!" Stella pointed to the back of the cave. "There's plenty of forest we can use for shelter."
"I guess we don't have any other choice." Flame sighed and rolled his shoulders, allowing them to pop. "Let's get going." He leaned down to help Ember onto her feet.
Candice looked around the cave. "Where's Tremor?"
The fire breathers froze and looked at each other. "He hasn't come back yet." Ember answered shakily.
"What? It's been hours though!" Candice protested.
"Candice, calm down." Ember thrust her chest out, taking dominance of the situation. "We'll find him."
"We don't have the time." Stella shook her head. "Candice. You go look for Tremor further inland. If my guess is right, he's probably close to the spot where we talked a couple nights ago. It's a large field with a single apple tree in the middle. You might find him there."
"Uh, right!" Candice nodded.
"Flame, you take Ember and start heading more inland. I'm going to stay here for a minute and leave Tremor a note, just in case we miss him and he comes back here. I'll be right behind you two."
"Got it!" Flame and Ember nodded.
"Alright everyone! Let's move! We don't have much time!" The lighting dragoness roared. Flame and Ember followed Candice outside. The first gust of wind nearly yanked them into the air and tumbling down the beach. After the dragons got their bearings, they spread their wings and took to the air, beating their wings as fast and hard as they could.