" Winter, where are we going?" Moon asked nervously scanning their surroundings as they walked through the forest. " I better do it now," Winter thought. He knew that Moon knew about his feelings for her. But he needed to talk about something different this time. He stopped suddenly, causing Moon to bump into him.
"Ohh Sorry, I'm so sorry," she said, backing off fear flashing in her cool Green eyes.
She's still that afraid of me…. Winter thought hurt, refusing to let it show.
"Relax, I'm not going to slice your face off or anything, I should've slowed down before stopping," he said, rolling his eyes.
Moon blinked " I keep forgetting how far you've come, Winter." She smiled. His heart throbbed painfully in his chest. Even though it had been over two years since she and Qibli got together. It still hurt, His heart throbbed painfully. reminding him of what he deserved. " Stupid pathetic excuse for a prince." he thought, berating himself. " Get over her, she's with Qibli. Accept it and move on " He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Moon," he said determinedly, his talons digging into the soft earth.
" I need to know what happened to Darkstalker." Moon's smile wavered.
" I told you we dealt with him, He's never coming back," She said.
Was it just him or did he see a small bead of sweat drip down her face?"Yes, I know that but…" Winter hesitated. " I've noticed how you guys act around me." He whispered. Ever since I got back it's been great but…"The side glances, the conversations behind my back." His back spines rattled as he unclenched and clenched his claws. STOP before you say something you regret. his mind warned. He waved his claws angrily, buzzing away the warning.
" I need to know what happened, moon You're hiding something from me again you all are."
Moon was silent, her face still expressionless, as she stared at him." MOON" he roared " WE AGREED NOT TO KEEP SECRETS FROM EACH OTH-" His tongue shot into his throat. She was crying, silent tears streaming down her face. He realized that his talons were raised menacingly. Looking down he realized how close she was to him too. " no no no not again, why. Why can't I do anything right? "he thought, quickly backing off. Lowering his shaking talons he stammered.
"Moon I-Im sorry." she stopped crying. "I won't ask again I promise I-"
"No you're right Winter," Moon said wiping her face angrily. Smearing the tears across her face.
" We haven't been honest with you." We promised no more secrets, There is something about Darkstlaker."
His talons tightened again. Don't you dare. His mind growled angrily. You did this to her, You haven't changed, Winter's head slithered. " You never will"
" I….
Yes, Moon, I'm sorry I shouldn't have lost my temper," he admitted, he pulled his talons free, Dirt sticking to his jagged claws.
Moon took a deep breath. " It's a fine Winter you deserve to know ". "We'll-" A desperate roar echoed through the forest, The Shriek battered at his ears, A call he was all too familiar with hearing on the battlefield. His Icewing training kicked in, he flew to Moon's side. He outstretched his wings. Putting himself in the direction of the roar, while covering as much as Moon as he could. A second later an awful cacophony echoed through the trees. It sounded like something very big had just slammed into the ground. What was that? Is there a fight? his mind raced along as he continued to scan the trees.
"Based on the cry and the crash somebody must have fallen," Moon said quickly, moving beside him. Breaking him out of his stupor.
Seal Tongues. He berated himself for not recognizing it sooner. And you call yourself an Icewing. His father's voice echoed.
"Hey, you ok?" Moon said her nose wrinkled slightly.
He shook himself "Yeah I'm fine," He said "Based on the direction of the roar, it came from there." He pointed with his wing North. At least I can still do that…
She nodded. They leaped forward bounding through the woods. Searching for the fallen dragon. We'll have to talk about Darkstlaker later. Arriving at a ridge they skidded down. He felt jagged rocks dig into his talons, but he ignored it as he looked for the Injured dragon.
Landing at the bottom, they stopped. It was eerily quiet, the noises of the forest suddenly gone. He shifted, the smell of blood slamming into his nose. He staggered. Why is there so much? He rarely smelled this much even on battlefields, and it felt weird. Mixed somehow…
"You smell it too?" Moon asked.
He nodded. They quickly resumed their pace, dodging around rocks and cracks as they made their way down the canyon.
"THERE," Moon said pointing. Leaping over another boulder as she rushed to the fallen dragon.
He turned. there among the rocks. A broken Nightwing was splayed in a crater, blood pooling around his body. He flinched. " Are they still Alive?" he asked, rushing to her side.
Moon jumped forward holding a paw to the Nightwings neck, searching for a pulse. She had asked for extra healing and medical lessons with Clay after Kinkajou got hurt. Enrolling in Herbs and Healing with Tamerine and Peregrine He was surprised at how quickly she learned, even becoming a frequent volunteer for the Healing Center. certainly better than most Nightwings. he noted.
. "They're still alive," She said, her talons gliding over the Nightwings body. " They have a pulse but have several broken bones and a major concussion, maybe a fractured skull. We need to get them to jade mountain." She explained turning.
"How are we going to get there?" he said.
"We'll have to carry him." "Here," she said pointing. "Go back up and see if you can find some good vines and Leveas."
He soared upward, quickly grabbing as many Leaves, twigs, and whatever he could find. He returned quickly dumping the pile at her feet.
"Thank you," she said quickly. Taking some leaves and twigs from the pile. She fashioned a makeshift bandage, Wrapping the Leaves around the Nightwings head, and using the twigs to keep them in place. "Wrap this around their head and torso." We need to keep them steady if we're going to fly them to Jade Mountain.
He glanced at her as he helped wrap the bandages. Her face was determined but beautiful, her scales shining in the fading light. "Not now Winter," he muttered. Appling another leaf around a gash in their neck.
She gasped as she lifted the Nightwing wing.
He grimaced. Deep gashes were torn down his torso, leaning forward he saw black fluid leaking down its side. That's odd… "Looks like Clawmarks," he said. Deep too. They were much bigger than any of the talon-related injuries he'd seen. He had seen Icewings inflict some series damage, but there were no jagged marks in the flesh, which was the telltale sign due to their claws.
" I Checked their injuries," she said, applying more bandages to the gouges. They're serious but not too many are fatal. As long as we get them back Turtle could probably heal them, especially those gashes.
He nodded, moving to the Nightwing. "Here I'll carry them" He grabbed the vines out of the pile, turning to Moon, who had just finished the bandages around his gashes.
"Winter, we can carry them together," she said. "Remember kinkajou? we had to use a hammock for her and she's twice as small as him," she said motioning to the Nightwing.
He shook his head "There's no time" "By the time we make the hammock he would be dead." he argued "This is also a much shorter trip than last time."
Moon growled softly " Fine" She helped carefully hoist the dragon onto his back making sure none of the spines stabbed him. She then wrapped the rest of the bandages, along with the vines around them. Making sure to make it so their wings didn't bump against him when he tried to fly.
He groaned as he struggled to stand. Stop being weak, He growled. This reminded him all too well of carrying Kinkajou through the mountains. He'd grown bigger since then but the dragon on top of him was also not exactly small either. " suck it up, you're going to give up just because you're pathetic. Icicle murmured. He growled, leaping as hard as he could. He flapped his wings violently, feeling his shoulders scream in protest.
Moon was close behind, making sure to catch them if they fell. He didn't fly much trying to gain altitude and glide to conserve strength.
Sweat trickled down his face as they continued through the now night sky. "You're almost there cmon" He could see the entrance to Jade Mountain. He quickly rose higher to get level with the approaching opening. His Wings screamed in pain as he felt something warm trickle down his back. he realized that the nightwings gash had already soaked through the leaf bandage. He stretched his wing higher, trying to get there faster.
*Snap* He felt something pop in his shoulder. He roared in Pain as his wing fluttered limply. He was losing height fast spinning and tumbling lopsided. "WINTER" Moon shouted, slamming into his underbelly. She roared desperately trying to keep them aloft. Moon wrapped her wing around his useless one, keeping them flying with her other wing. " She-NOT NOW YOU USELESS ICEWING" his mind screamed. Even with Moon's help, they were coming down hard. He heard someone roar as they careened toward the cave opening. Clay sprinted out of the opening rising to catch them.
His teeth rattled as they slammed into the rocks, jarring the Nightwing off his back.
Groaning, he tried to extricate himself from the pile of limbs. This is nothing, I've dealt with worse. Luckily Clay managed to slow their fall, If he hadn't…
" Owwww '' Caly groaned. Stumbling to his talons. Some of his back spikes had snapped from the impact.
He turned quickly to his fallen students. "Are you hurt?" he asked. Face full of concern. Even as blood gushed down his back.
Moon rose slowly, blood trickling into her eye from a cut above her eyebrow.
" You're fault, you're fault" his mind echoed. He kept his face blank, even as pain lanced through his body. He forced himself to get up, his bones screaming as he stood.
Moon shook her head."No not seriously but-"
"Whose this?" Clay asked, nudging the unconscious Nightwing gently. He glanced over, luckily They had managed to cushion most of the impact enough so it didn't kill them but…
He blinked. Noticing that their scales had a weird polished sparkling look to them. Looking closer he saw sandy swirls and rivers ebbing through his scales. With sandy highlights on his wings and body was mostly hidden by dust and blood. Instead of stars scattered in their wings, they had weird stars and streaks of yellow and gold almost like Seawings.
He blinked "I saved A hybrid?. '' he thought. He wasn't sure how he felt about hybrids. Back in Icewing territory, hybrids were considered oddities. Not "pure" Icewings, and were subsequently banished from the Icewing Kingdom. Thankfully Snowfall revoked that law, mostly due to the hybrid that saved them from Darkstalkers Plague. Despite the invitation, most hybrids chose to stay where they were in Possibility. "Hmmm" he pondered
"We found them in a raven in the forest," Moon explained, breaking through his thoughts. " We think they crashed while flying, they need medical attention, fast." Clay's face softened " Ahhh poor guy. He cradled The Nightwing, gently scoping up the dragon. Placing him on his back before limping inside. They followed behind close after.
Moon sighed in relief turning as they walked " Are You ok Winter?" She asked her eyes creasing in worry. His shoulder seared with pain, announcing itself to his battered body. "Fine" he snapped, he had handled far worse growing up, "a little sprain isn't going to kill me" he growled. Distintally he heard her yelp as she glanced at his wing.
"No you're not fine," she said pointing.
He looked down. His wing hung uselessly at his side dragging on the rocks, as they walked." oh" he gasped. He tried to Tuck his wing back in, but he felt nothing. Panicking he grabbed his wing trying to force it back up. Pain Rocketed, through his shoulder, stabbing through into his entire body. Darkness slammed into his head, as he roared with pain. The ground rushed up to meet him. Then he felt nothing…