This one's going to be shorter than the previous three, but it was this short in the original books and nobody seemed to mind.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland does. All credit goes where due.
NOTE: In a few places the wording will be similar if not the same as the Sutherland books. This is done because a re-word would make it sound silly and the setting, plot, universe, and characters are distinctly different enough to not constitute an infraction of the "no posting the original work with thoughts thrown into the flow of the work" rule.
Suddenly there was a thundering crash from the central cave. Cyclone heard the entrance boulder slam back into place, and then the rumble of heavy footsteps. From the extra squish-flap sound of them, he knew that it must be Webs.
"Something's happening." Tsunami said. She hurried to the door, her ears twitching and the spiny ridge along her back standing straight up. "We have to go listen."
Clay spread his wings slowly. "I'm sure we'll find out what the fuss is in the morning."
"I don't want to wait that long." Tsunami spun around to jab his underbelly with her tail, and he tipped backward with a grunt. "Don't be a scavenger! Let's go!" She whirled out of the cave.
Flora's scales were already changing to match the mottled gray-and-black rocks. In a moment she'd be nearly impossible to see. She slipped past to join Clay, Winter, and Tsunami.
Cyclone's tired muscles sprang into action. He followed Anion, Candor, Umbra, Ray, and Flora to the Central Cave, and the six of them hurried toward the tunnel that led to the big dragon's cave. They vanished almost immediately into the shadows. Hidden by her dark coloring, Umbra would get as close as she could to eavesdrop. Behind her was Candor, then Anion, then Cyclone, and the bright white Ray in the back. Cyclone saw the Lightwing frown as he tried to mute the soft, ambient glow of his Lightwing scales, but failed to dim them completely.
In addition to the bright bioluminescent patterns that every tribe had, Lightwings' normal scales glowed a bit as well. Glint said that controlling the ambient glow was possible, if a bit difficult.
Tsunami, Flora, Winter, and Clay had an even better shot of hearing everything than them. Cyclone heard the quiet rippling sounds that indicated they had slipped into the river. The ten older dragons hardly paid any attention to the river, except for Webs, Fjord, and Paradise, who would occasionally sleep in the shallows. It would never occur to them that four pairs of dragonet ears might be poking out of the water, listening. Tsunami swam to the left half of the opposite side of the room and Winter took the right, the two were the farthest from the tunnel. Flora swam to the left side, and Clay swam to the right side. That way at least one of them could hear, no matter where the minders were talking.
Tonight, however, Cyclone was pretty sure everyone could hear everything. From the way Kestrel was shouting, it was possible even the Skywings up in the mountain peaks could hear her.
"Coming here? With no warning? After nine years, suddenly he's interested?" A bolt of lightning shot out of her snout and blasted the nearest rock column.
Shroud, the thin Darkwing, shifted away from her. "Ease your temper. We don't want to wake the Dragonets."
"Maybe he wants to make sure they're ready to stop the War." Paradise suggested.
"These dragonets? Then he's going to be very disappointed." Dune eased himself onto a flat boulder, stretching his mangled left wing toward the fire. The big fire dragon never discussed his scars or how he lost his foot, but the Dragonets could guess from the anger in his voice whenever he talked about The Great War.
The fact that he couldn't fly was probably why he was chosen for underground dragonet-minding duty when everyone else was out hunting or gathering scrolls or with the Talons. He clearly wasn't picked for his warm, nurturing personality.
"We've done our best." Nebula said with a frown that Cyclone didn't understand. "The Prophecy chose these dragonets, not us."
"I still think that Wormhole had to have tampered with the Prophecy somehow." Glint sighed, shaking her head. "It just doesn't make sense."
Quicktail stamped at the ground. His Nullwing scales bristled in aggression. "I still think he's just going to use these dragonets for Voidwing benefit. Why else would he care so much about them?"
Webs flapped his wings. "I'm not sure why he cares. The message just said, 'Wormhole is coming.'" He waved his talons at Nebula. Her unusual "band" of silver scales arched as she raised her brow at him. The "bracelets" on her arms and legs twinkled as she shifted her weight. "You're supposed to meet him and bring him here tomorrow."
"Did the Talons say what he wants?" Asha asked.
"Well, it's his prophecy." Fjord said. "I guess he wants to make sure it'll actually come true."
Maybe Wormhole was more important that Cyclone had realized. After all, he was coming to see them. Perhaps he would take them out into the world. Maybe they didn't need to escape after all.
Maybe everything was about to change.
I overslept and now I have a headache. Yay.
Hey, I'm not so sure how good or bad this is - I mean, I think it's bad, but that's normal for people. So, can someone please tell me exactly what I'm doing wrong so I can improve on this? The review box is like, right down there.
Ray: You're begging.
Akira: Shut up.
Thank you for reading!