Chapter Two – An Unwelcome Surprise
Lightningtail kept his eyes closed, still exhausted from the climb all the way from the RiverClan camp as well as the steep, rocky slope to the Moonpool. But his eyes soon flew open when he heard an unearthly shrieking roar.
He was staring right at a… A thing. It had scales like a lizard, but it was so much bigger, only slightly smaller than himself. It had two extra appendages coming out from its back, and two horns prodding from its skull. It was the thing that shrieked, and was staring at him like he had grown another head.
Lightningtail glanced around frantically and saw that there were two more of the beasts, one black and one brown. They were both on their paws and looking at the others wildly, as if they had gone mad.
The brown one flopped back down and covered its face with its paws. He heard it whispering almost inaudibly, "I'm going to die. I am going to die…" But… it wasn't the beast talking. It sounded like— "Morningstripe?" Lightningtail asked aloud. It looked up at him and asked, "How do you know my name?"
Lightningtail blinked in astonishment. "How do you not know me? It's Lightningtail! Y'know, the one you traveled with to get to the Moonpool…."
He looked around. It wasn't the Moonpool anymore. At least, not as far as Lightningtail could tell. It was just a little pond, in a grassy clearing. The clearing was surrounded by the mountains.
Morningstripe blinked in confusion and a little fear. "Lightningtail? But he's not a… lizard-beast," she said. Lightningtail blinked and looked down into the pool. But what stared back was not his handsome cat face, but the same strange thing that Morningstripe was. Well, not exactly. His face was narrower and goldenish-orange. He also had a horn prodding from the tip of his snout as well as the back of his head.
"Wait just a moment," snapped the orange-and-grey beast that had first shrieked. She sounded eerily like Emberlight. "If you're Morningstripe," she said, looking at the beastly-Morningstripe. "And you're Lightningtail," she said, turning to him. "Then you must be—"
"Darkfall," finished the black creature. Emberlight-beast blinked. She had no snappish comments for now.
"So we… we're all different now?" asked Morningstripe, staring into her rippling reflection with wide eyes. Darkfall thought for a moment. "Well, Paleface said, 'this next part may be a little… Weird.' Do you think she was referring to us getting… Transformed?" he asked. Lightningtail thought back to the confusing speeches the four StarClan cats had given. They did all seem to point to the changing.
Lightning suddenly perked his ears. He heard something. What was it…. Wingbeats? Were there eagles here? He looked around but saw nothing. But the noise grew louder. It was impossible to ignore now. "Do you guys hear that?" he asked. Emberlight glared at him with her mouth open. She had obviously been in the middle of a sentence. "Sorry, Emberlight, but seriously. Can you guys not hear those wingbeats? It sounds like eagles to me."
They all strained their ears. "I can't hear anyth—" Emberlight began, but was cut off by Morningstripe. "I think I can hear them. They sound really distant though." Morningstripe shot an apologetic glance at Emberlight.
Emberlight looked around at the distant mountains. Lightningtail noticed her stiffen a moment before she said, "Is that what you heard Lightningtail?" She pointed one taloned paw at the semi-distant mountain. Lightningtail looked and saw a cluster of red and orange specks. They were growing closer fast.
"Oh dear," whimpered Morningstripe. "Please don't tell me those are—"
"More lizards," Darkfall interrupted the shy she-cat. Morningstripe tried to crouch even further into the ground.
The red lizards were headed straight towards the group of former-cats. Lightningtail watched them for a moment. "Wait a minute guys," he said. "How are they flying? Lizards definitely don't fly." Darkfall blinked at the red-orange lizards, who were now closer.
"They seem to be using these extra limbs," he concluded, waving the strange new things on his back. Sure enough, they seemed to have extended the appendages and were moving them in a circular motion. It looked similar to bird flight, but they were obviously not birds.
Lightningtail moved his appendages to what looked like the right position and tried to leap in the air and take flight. But before he was fully off the ground, a dark orange blur slammed into him and pinned him down.
"Lightningtail!" Morningstripe cried. Lightningtail thrashed underneath the huge creature, but it was bigger than him. There were about nine or so of them surrounding the four former-cats. One very large red one stepped forwards and said, "What's all this about? A NightWing, a MudWing, a SkyWing—or, semi-SkyWing—anyways, with a SandWing? How exactly do you think you four are?"
Darkfall stepped forward, keeping a calm air about him, even in the direct face of danger. "I'm sorry for intruding, but my friends and I have no idea where we are at all. We were at home asleep one moment, and the next we wake up here. If you wouldn't mind pointing us back to the Clans, it would be greatly appreciated."
Not it was the creature's turn to be baffled. "Clans? What Clans?" Darkfall now looked slightly concerned. "I'm from ThunderClan, she's from ShadowClan, the one your warrior is rudely pinning down is from RiverClan, and the terrified-looking one is from WindClan," he said, flicking his tail at each of us in turn.
The large red one turned to a lighter coppery colored one and murmured a few words to her, casting anxious yet hopeful glances at Darkfall.
Finally, the copper and red ones stepped forwards together. The red one flicked his tail at the creature holding Lightningtail down, and he scrambled up and came to rest next to Darkfall's talons.
"There was a prophecy," said the copper one. Lightningtail pricked his ears. "A prophecy from StarClan?" he asked hopefully. The red one gave him a dubious glance and replied, "No… it was a prophecy from the dragon named Soulreader. Here is what it says:
'A pointless war has raged too long;
The Tribes can hardly cope.
Of four dragons who once were not;
Will be our final hope.
One dragon from Clan of Thunder
The one with sharpest mind.
Another from a Clan of Shadows
Will fight you every time.
One dragon from the Clan of River
As friendly as can be.
And the dragon from the Clan of Wind
Will be the one to set us free.
Four dragons, of Night and Sky and Sand and Mud,
Will came to save us all.
These four dragons, who once were not,
Will come to answer The Call.'"
Lightningtail blinked a few times again. "Is this referring to us?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Well, that depends," replied the copper one. "We never could figure out the 'four dragons who once were not' part. But… were you always dragons?"
"We don't even know what dragons are!" yelled Emberlight, finally losing her temper. "We just want to go back to the Clans, where we are what we are: cats."
The red 'dragon' bristled, or, what would have been bristling had he had fur, but the copper one seemed unfazed, even facing an angry Emberlight.
"She certainly fits the prophecy," laughed the copper one. "Anyways, I'm Ozone, and the-easily offended-one is Forge."
Forge—which turned out to be the red one—dipped his head stiffly. "We're going to take you to Queen Oriole. She… she'll know what to do with you four."
Forge lifted his extra limbs, obviously about to take flight, when Morningstripe cried, "Wait!" He stopped and turned toward her. "Uh, well, you see, we don't exactlyknowhowtofly," she mumbled.
"They were—what did you call it?—oh yes, cats before they were dragons, Forge. They wouldn't have a clue how to use their wings," said Ozone kindly to the big red dragon. He shrugged and said, "Then we carry them. Three of you get the MudWing, two on the other three," he called to the rest of the surrounding dragons.
Two of them came over to Lightningtail. One grabbed him by the shoulders, and the other took hold of his hips. It was slightly awkward, but they showed no feeling. The three of them lifted into the air, with Lightningtail hanging limp in between the other two.
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"We've arrived," growled Forge to the patrol of what Lightningtail now knew to be SkyWings. The two that were holding him were named Crow and Ash. They could work as Clan names, mused Lightningtail. But when he told them this they had replied, "I would be a SkyWing any day over a Clan cat. No offence though."
They dropped him onto a ledge right outside of a magnificent building. It was well-structured, and looked beautiful and durable.
"Come on," said Ozone. "It's time you met Queen Oriole."
That was pretty long if you ask me. Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thx for getting this far!
Read on Spectacular BookWormies!
~Creek