Chapter 9

The Boneknapper

Finally, at dusk, we reach the island that Zylah told us about. My wings ache as I land, but I don't show my weariness. Turning around, I make sure everyone lands on the shore before walking inland.

The island is a bit grey like Outcast Island, and there's a slight fog on the ground. But there are many bushes, shrubs, and a few trees here and there so it's not barren. Commanding a few Fangs to stand by my side and make sure that nothing will leap out of the undergrowth, I look for a place where my clan could stay for the night.

It doesn't seem like there are many good places, though. We could never settle here permanently. Eventually, we decide to carve out some hollows on the side of a somewhat pebbly hill with bushes all around.

I order Sparrow and some Fangs to start digging before turning to the Claws. "Crag, I want you to lead a hunting party on the east side from here, but take Misty just in case. Dagger, you lead another to the west and take Whiplash with you."

They nod and start assembling Claws to join their party. I turn around and walk towards Fernheart. She's gathering her two children and the four Changewing orphans under her large wings. "How are you doing?" I ask as I approach her. Looking tired, she answers, "Fine, but the children are getting hungry." To prove this, the hatchlings immediately start mewling and whining.

"I just sent out some hunting parties. Hopefully they'll bring back something. I'll also have fire's set in front of each den."

She smiles wearily, "Thank you." I nod and go look for Ash. The Smothering Smokebreath is alongside Sparrow, helping him dig a big enough hollow for Zylah. "Ash," I call and she looks up, "Actually, you and Sparrow. I need you two to go and collect some twigs and branches for fires. Come back as quickly as you can."

They nod and scamper into the forest. Stepping forward, I'm about to take over their job when I hesitate. Looking around, I spot Zylah and call her over. "Can you dig your own den, please? It'll be quicker and I need to keep an eye on things."

"Of course," she says and starts clawing at the earth.

Skurge, who is a natural tunneler, has already made his den and is helping others make theirs. "Good job." I say as I pass by him and he grunts, "Just getting things done quicker."

I gaze around at all the working dragons. Sitting down, my eyes droop for a moment before I jerk back awake. Shaking myself, I watch as the Fangs finish the dens. They're almost done now, and Fernheart is starting to move into one. The hatchlings follow her closely, whining hungrily. She folds one of her wings over them and they disappear from sight.

There's a big hollow near the top of the hill, and it looks like it was made for me. Shaking myself again, I stand up and walk to Skurge. My deputy is now barking at Crag's hunting party, who has returned with mouths full of prey. But they're not large prey, like boars or game, just rodents and rabbits and such.

"Make sure you give the biggest piece to Frostbite, alright?" I hear Skurge say as I approach. "No." I interrupt and they all jump in surprise, "Make sure that the hatchlings are fed first, and then Dracen. I'll eat from whatever the second party brings back."

The Claws nod and disappear. Turning to Skurge, I say, "I'll be taking first watch 'till midnight. If you could take the second, that would be great." He nods and slithers away.

Once again, I gaze around, deciding what to do. I see Crag and a male Deadly Nadder named Fireflight giving some prey to Fernheart and the hatchlings. Then, remembering what I said, I call Aquamarine over and say, "Can you quickly dig some pits for fires in front of the dens? But make it two dens per fire."

"No problem!" the Thunder Drum says and bounds towards them. Then, she simply puts her chin in the pebbly ground, moves it a bit, and then moves away. There's a little dip in the ground, perfect for fires.

Just then, Ash and Sparrow return, their mouths full of brushwood. They look at me expectantly and I jerk my head towards the fire pits. After quickly setting down some of their load, they follow Aquamarine as she continues to dig the holes.

Taking a deep breath, I shoot fireballs at each pit that they make, lighting them. Immediately, all the dragons edge close to the fires.

A rustling on my right makes me look away to see Dagger and his hunting party returning. Like Crag's party, they all have small prey. One of Dagger's heads drops his prey and says, "These lands are full of prey, but they're not very big. We hid some of the prey to we could go back and get it once we dropped off this batch. We'll be right back, but where should we leave this?"

I nod towards a patch of bare earth near one of the fires and say, "Just put them in a pile there."

His head nods and picks up his prey. As he leads his party over, I notice that Whiplash has caught a rabbit. My stomach growls hungrily and I ask, "Do you mind if I eat that?"

The Grapple Grounder jerks his head in surprise but then immediately drops his prey, "What? Oh! Of course, of course… my queen."

I purr and gratefully take the rabbit. Padding over to the fire near my den, I sit and wolf down the large rodent in a few bites. Licking my maw, I watch as Dagger's party disappears for a few moments before coming back, mouths once again full. Everybody's done working by now and are all in the camp.

Standing up, I say loudly, "Let us all eat. Though the prey isn't large, there is enough to keep us full. After that, go to sleep, because we're going to need our strength for tomorrow. Alright?" Everybody nods and I add, "And also, good job Claws."

As the dragons choose their dinner and begin to eat, I climb to the top of the hill. From there, I can see the whole camp and all the dragons, and also stuff beyond that. Turning my back to my clan for a moment, I gaze at all of the hills, small mountains, and the forests of bushes. I remember what Zylah said about big dragons living here, but I can't see where they would hide, or live.

Looking back at my clan, who are all looking happy and full, I let a little whine escape my mouth. Turning my head, I look at the wilderness beyond the camp. "It couldn't hurt to look." I grumble thoughtfully. The idea of having a large, powerful dragon like a Boneknapper in my clan eventually wins me over, so I patiently wait for everybody to go to sleep.

It doesn't take long. They all seem tired after today, seeing as we got no sleep the night before, and quickly retreat into their dens. Before Skurge goes to his den, though, our eyes meet and he nods and slithers into the hill. For a few moments, I gaze at the empty camp. The moon behind me casts my shadow over the area, sitting strong and proud.

Puffing out my chest, I give one last glance before turning around and taking off into the night sky. The cool breeze sooths my hot, aching muscles as I fly and the pressure of being a leader, although wonderful, vanishes. Sighing with relief, I soar over the uncharted land. It looks the same as it did when we first came here, but now it's just flat, without any hills.

Narrowing my eyes, I search for any signs of life. Of course, there're rodents and such, but that's not exactly what I'm looking for. So, I change tactics and prick my ears.

Hmm, nope, no sounds of dragons. But I can barely hear the distant trickling of a river far away.

Flying low to the ground so I can pick up a scent, I take a deep sniff. There's a faint musky smell, along with something else. It doesn't smell like prey, so I decide to follow it, flying low to the ground so I don't lose the trail.

The scent leads me on a winding path, but there're wide curves so it isn't very hard to follow. It excites me, though; wide curves must mean this thing can't make sharp turns, which means it's big.

As I fly, the scent grows stronger and stronger, and at one point I cross over a muddy area and see a few very large footprints. Thrilled, I fly even faster and soon find myself at the edge of a forest. Landing in front of it, I sniff the air again.

The musky smell is as strong as ever now, and I gag a little. Wrinkling my nose, I stare up at the forest.

It's full of dark, thick evergreen trees so tall they seem to touch the clouds. For a moment, I wonder why none of my clanmates or I could see this, but then a sudden shriek comes from the forest. Jumping in surprise, I'm about to fly when I realize that the forest is too thick to fly through so instead in plunge into it on foot, ducking low, underneath branches.

The noises grow louder and louder as I charge through the evergreens. They're starting to thin out, and there's more space in between them now. Suddenly, "What do you think you're doing?"

I skid to a halt at the edge of a clearing. Crouching underneath a tree, I watch the scene unfold before me.

Two male Boneknappers, both nearly as tall as the treetops, are facing each other in the clearing. One is clearly bigger than the other, and he looks angry. "You think you can just prance into my territory whenever you want?" he spits at the smaller dragon.

The other flinches but doesn't back away and instead gives him a stubborn look, "It was an accident, alright? I'm just passing through."

"Dragons don't hunt in another's territory when they're 'passing through'." The bigger male snarls, "I'll teach you what happens to trespassers!" he lunges at the intruder and snaps at his neck. The other dragon dodges and then moves to attack.

The bigger dragon tries to move away but the other manages to snag a few of his teeth on his neck. Immediately he bites harder and the bigger dragon tries to wriggle out of his grip, "Geroff me! Let me go!"

He thrashes his head from side to side and then suddenly bites the intruder's wing. The smaller male shrieks and lets go, a few of the other's bones from his armor falling from his mouth. Struggling to get out of the bigger male's grip, the intruder pulls and tugs his wing, but that seems to only make it hurt more. Finally, his attacker lets him go and then bites his chest. He doesn't hang on this time, but continues to bite, scratch, and nip the trespasser.

After a long beating, the intruder yowls, "Okay, okay, I'll leave! I'm going, alright?"

He scrambles away and darts into the forest, knocking the branches off of trees in the process. Immediately, I take off after him, prowling underneath the trees and staying to the shadows. He shambles noisily as he runs, while as I barely make a sound, like a wind blowing through the forest.

At one point he leaps over a wide river, and I give myself and extra flap as I do the same. After that, he seems to calm down a bit and slows down into a walk. Guessing that he's out of the other Boneknapper's territory, I also slow down.

We walk for a little while, me keeping a couple of Nightmare lengths away and absolutely silent. The trees start to turn into pines, and once again I wonder why we didn't find this place. "Grumpy old grouch." My ears prick up and I hear him grumble, "'You think you can just prance into my territory whenever you want?' obviously not! That reckless, annoying, stupid…"

I decide to interrupt. Hidden in the shadows underneath a thick evergreen, I say, "You shouldn't have given in so easily."

The Boneknapper jumps in surprise and whips his head towards me, "Who's there?" When I don't answer, he gazes around himself, looking for the voice, "Show yourself!"

I quickly leap into another tree silently and say, "You could've proven yourself to him if you'd done a few right moves." Once again, he whips his head around, trying to find out who or what is talking. "What would you know about fighting? Who are you?"

Silently, I leap into another tree. "For now, merely a voice in the wind." I rumble, "You don't seem to have a territory, do you?"

"No." the male snaps quickly, swiveling his head around, looking for me, "But so what? I like to keep moving."

"That's exactly what me and my friends are doing." I say after moving again, "But I don't think that's the real reason why you don't have a territory. You couldn't defend it, could you?"

The Boneknapper chuffs and tosses his head, "Says who?"

"Me. I can tell, and what happened back there proved it."

"Alright," he claws the ground with his foot and whips his head around, "you better show yourself right now. Nobody spies on me and gets away with it."

I ignore what he says and moves to another tree, "You would do much better if you had training and fought with other dragons."

He stops and narrows his eyes, "Other dragons? What do you mean?"

I'm about to jump into another tree and answer, but then I get another idea. Slowly, I crawl down the tree headfirst and prowl out into the open, taking long, slow strides that show off my sharp, gleaming claws. Immediately, he whirls around towards me. He lets out a small gasp of shock and takes a step backwards, "W-wh-what… are you?"

Fixing him with an intense gaze, I lift my head proudly and proclaim, "I am Frostbite, and I am the leader of my clan." I falter a bit before I say 'my clan'. We're going to have to choose a name for it.

Taking a few steps forward, I say, "We're just staying here for one night, but I chose to come to this island because I heard there were big dragons here. You stand out above all the other dragons on this island, and have just the right personality and experience that we need. You would be useful to my clan, and would be greatly appreciated. Think about it, because the opportunity will only come once, but would you like to join my clan?"

The Boneknapper stares at me. I keep the same intense gaze, waiting patiently. He looks like he's mulling it over in his head. Then, he gives himself a shake and says, "Er- tell me the benefits of this…and explain the fighting alongside other dragons."

I nod and proceed to tell him about clan life, "Well, I'm the leader, my deputy is a Whispering Death called Skurge, and my delta is a Skrill called Zylah. The rest of the clan has rankings. The two below the high hierarchy are the nursery queens and the healer, Dracen, the Changewing. But that probably doesn't matter to you. The other clan members are separated into two rankings; the hunters are called Claws and the fighters are called Fangs. Then, at the bottom of the pile, the lowest ranking, is the omegas. They gnaw out maps of the territory on bones, make battle armor, do dirty work, and eat last. Though they have the lowest ranking, they are very important to a clan, just as everybody else.

All the dragons have each other's backs whenever one is in danger. They're ready to lay down their lives for one another. Together, we're one of the strongest forces in the world. We protect each other and care for each other. The Claws make sure everyone has enough to eat, and the Fangs patrol around to make sure nothing will attack us." I pause and let that all sink in, "And that's the best I can do to describe it. But honestly, there's no better feeling than knowing that you're safe, full, and have an entire clan to rely on."

He continues to stare at me, but now his gaze is softer and he's slowly nodding his head. "I see," he mutters, "That is very tempting. A-and I can learn how to fight better? And we'll be safe on an island that is ours? Just ours? And I won't have to go to sleep hungry?"

I nod to every one of his questions. His face lights up and he licks his chops. "Tempting," he says again, "Very tempting. It does get lonely sometimes."

I grin and ask, "So it's a yes?"

He makes a thoughtful rumbling sound, "Hmm, alright, sure. But as long as I can be a…Fang."

Bowing into a playful position, I look up at him happily, "Thank you, thank you, you will be greatly appreciated. What is your name?"

"Skull."

I stand up. What a surprise.

Before you go, I have drawn a picture of Frostbite on deviantart. Just go to my profile and you will see my username. Just in case you want to see how Frosty looks to me.