Chapter 6: Dusk and the Whispering Death

Night Fury Island

February 29

As soon as Dusk left his den, he broke into a run through the forest. As he did, he lifted his nose into the air, sniffing for the scent of danger. It smelled not too near, but not too far either.

Then spreading out his wings, he lifted himself off the ground and flapped all the way up to the sky. He'd have better luck finding the danger in the air.

Higher and higher he went until he was hovering completely over the island.

His dark green eyes narrowed, Dusk looked left, right and all around, searching any signs of whatever the danger might be.

Finally, he spotted something on the west side of the island – something that didn't seem to be there before.

Grunting defensively, he headed down towards the west. He was determined what had come to his island once and for all. With his and Sapphire's eggs so close to hatching, he had to drive this danger away so that their young ones would stay safe.

As he got closer to the ground, he picked up a rather familiar scent.

Once landed, his eyes widened at the thing that was never on the island before – a rather large, and freshly dug hole in the ground.

What could have made this hole? He had a hunch.

Dusk stalked slowly towards the hole in a panther-like manner just in case whoever or whatever made that hole would pop out unexpectedly. But so far, he couldn't hear anything coming from inside the hole or coming close to him. At least not yet anyway.

Stepping close to the edge, Dusk looked down at the hole. Even with the sun almost down and the sky getting rapidly dark, he could see a deep tunnel leading from the top of the hole all the way to who knows where.

Lowering his head slightly, Dusk sniffed into the hole. Then his eyes popped for just a second before he shut them tight and wrinkled his snout, growling in disgust. The scent he had sniffed from the hole was so disgusting he thought he might vomit. It smelled like a combination of dirt, pebbles and blood.

As awful as the scent smelled, it was also very recognizable. This scent belonged to a dragon that all Night Furies hated above all others. This scent belonged to the fearsome, ground-digging dragon known as the Whispering Death.

Fury, disgust and hatred filled Dusk's heart. How dare a dragon of the species he and his kind have hated for as long as they could remember claim this island as its own?! And just when his and Sapphire's young were on the verge of coming into this world!

The only good thing about Whispering Deaths was that they were always traveling. They never stayed in one place for long and had the instinct of returning to their birth place. But Dusk was determined to make sure this intruding Whispering Death left this island and returned to where it originated from…

…now!

He'd have to lure it out of this hole in order to drive him away. Forunately, the sun was almost well below the horizon. If there was one thing Whispering Deaths hated it was sunlight.

Though it was a risky move, Dusk leapt into the hole, landing on his feet. Inside it was pitch black. Luckily, like all Night Furies, Dusk could easily see in the dark and he could always track down the Whispering Death by scent.

But he had another ability to track things down as well.

Opening his mouth, Dusk emitted a shrill, supersonic sound and violet sound waves that traveled down the tunnel. It was a rather short tunnel and Dusk could see the very end of it thanks to his vision and the sound waves. He could also see another hole on the right side of the tunnel.

Dusk pricked his ears backwards defensively. That tunnel to the right must be where the intruder was.

Slowly and cat-like, he stepped slowly down the tunnel at first before breaking into a short run. Once reaching the end, he turned to the hole on the right side and released another shrill sound and more violet waves. This time the waves went all the way down until they bounced off of something at the end of that tunnel before traveling back to Dusk.

At that same time, a terrible sound came from the end of the tunnel. It was a kind of soft, shrill, hissing sound.

From his time around Whispering Deaths in the past, Dusk recognized their hisses anywhere.

Opening his mouth again, he released a violet plasma blast which hit something right on target at the end of the tunnel and the shriek from the intruder let him know that it had struck him just as he wanted.

Quickly, Dusk turned around and ran as fast as he could towards the opening. Right behind him he could hear a rumbling sound and the sounds of earth and pebbles being dug through in a rapid motion. Dusk hopped right out through the opening and he was glad to see that the sky was now completely dark. Not a trace of sunlight anywhere. Running back a few steps away from the hole, he turned around.

POW!

The Whispering Death burst out of the hole and Dusk could clearly see his large, bulbous head attached to his grey, snake-like body full of sharp, red spikes. Hovering above the opening to his home, the Whispering Death looked down at Dusk, glaring at him with his narrowed, white, pupil-less eyes. As he opened his mouth and let out a loud, shrill shriek, Dusk could see his six rows of sharp, drilling teeth.

And if that wasn't bad enough, judging by its size, Dusk could estimate that this one had to be around two years old meaning that he was still young. And Whispering Deaths were twice as dangerous as youngsters then they were as adults for they had now control of their strength or power. But Dusk was determined not to let this dragon's age stop him from driving him out of his home.

Roaring back, he pounced at the Whispering Death but the intruder quickly pounced out of the way. Landing on his feet, Dusk skidded a little on the ground before looking back. He let out a plasma blast right at the Whispering Death's body and exploded against its gray skin. The Whispering Death let out a cry as he tumbled backwards.

But the intruder recovered quickly and glaring at his component, he lifted his tail and released some of its red spines at Dusk. But the Night Fury dodged every one of those, flapped his wings and took off into the air.

Flapping his own wings, the Whispering Death followed after him. Aiming his round head upwards, it opened its mouth and released rings of golden flames at Dusk. Although his black scales were clearly fireproof, Dusk shielded himself with his right wing and the flames dissolved against the wing.

Unfolding his wing, Dusk released another plasma blast right at the intruder's head but the Boulder-class dragon dodged again. Still hovering in the sky and now over the ocean, the two dragons released and/or dodged their fire blasts until their shot limits had both run out.

Finally, Dusk lunged at the Whispering Death, knocking him downwards and the intruder wrapped its long body around him. The two tangled dragons fell all the way down and hit the surface of the seawater.

Even with his internal and external dragon body heat, Dusk could feel the chill of the water and salty water filling and stinging his nostrils. Kicking his hind legs at the Whispering Death's stomach, the intruder hissed as he uncoiled his body around his component.

With his component briefly disoriented, Dusk burst his head through the surface and roared as he took a deep breath of air. Even though the Whispering Death was underwater, Dusk could still smell his earthy, bloody scent.

But now he could smell something else. It was yet another foul smell. Not as foul as the Whispering Death's smell but still foul nonetheless. But just like the Whispering Death's scent, it was a scent that Dusk had learned to recognize.

Dipping his head underwater, he looked around and his eyes widened at something that was just a few feet ahead of him and the Whispering Death.

An eel!

If there was one thing Dusk hated as much as Whispering Deaths, it was eel.

No dragon would ever think to go near, touch or even consume an eel.

Then suddenly this gave Dusk an idea. An idea he couldn't believe that had popped into his head.

And the idea was that he had to grab hold of the eel and try to throw it into the Whispering Death's mouth.

The idea made Dusk feel sick to his stomach. He had hoped would never have to taste an eel for as long as he lived. But this was the only chance he had if he wanted to drive out this intruder once and for all.

Mustering up his courage, he swam speedily to the eel and wincing slightly, he opened his mouth and caught the eel between his teeth careful not to bite it in half and end up in his stomach.

Ugh!

The eel tasted worse than Dusk had ever imagined. But this was no time to be revolted. He had a trespasser to get rid of.

Still clutching the eel, Dusk burst out of the water and hovered over it. A moment later, the Whispering Death also burst out of the water, hissing. Then he charged towards Dusk.

Once the intruder was close enough, Dusk threw his head back and forwards, releasing the eel and tossing it into the Whispering Death's mouth.

The Whispering Death's white eyes bulged and let out a shriek before spitting the eel out of his mouth and back into the water. The gray snake-like dragon shook his head as though that would rid himself of the awful eel taste.

That gave Dusk the chance to headbutt right into the dragon's gut. The Whispering Death was knocked backwards. Dusk could feel his shots returning from within him and he let out a new, fresh plasma blast which also hit the dragon right in the gut.

"Now get out of my home!" Dusk roared at him.

Recovering himself, the Whispering Death glared at him.

"You may have won this time," he hissed, "but should we ever cross paths again someday, I'll be the one to win."

"Over my dead body," Dusk growled.

Shooting him one last glare, the Whispering Death turned and flapped away. Dusk watched him fly away until he was completely out of sight.

With his intruder gone, Dusk flapped back to the spot where the Whispering Death had dug its hole. There was a large boulder nearby and Dusk picked it up with his feet and carried all the way to the opening and dropped the boulder on top.

Now the reminder that another dragon had been here had been sealed up completely.

And now that he had gotten rid of the intruder, Dusk was free to return to his den, his mate and their eggs.

But before he could go back to all three, he had yet another important task to complete.

He had to go all the way to the pond and drink enough water to rid his mouth of the terrible eel taste.