Bigwings

Chapter Two

Sienna

She was in a new kingdom. A new kingdom meant dragons. Dragons upon dragons upon dragons. Back in the Mud Kingdom, it had just been her and her brothers. The one dragon Sienna had ever met besides her sibs had nearly killed them all. So she was not a fan of other dragons.

"There are probably tons of invisible RainWings watching us," Soil said. Sienna disliked the fascination in his voice. Be horrified! she sometimes wanted to yell at him. Be scared because those invisible dragons can MELT YOU! But she said none of that, because Soil was her bigwings, whether she liked it or not. Not for much longer, her brain whispered. Soon your TRUE bigwings will return. 

"I love the rainforest," Soil said. "It's almost as muddy as the Mud Kingdom!" Auburn suppressed a snort. Sienna knew that he didn't like their bigwings. They continued to sneak across the ground, their scales brushing the mud. "Uh," Auburn whispered nervously, "Why did everything become silent?" Sienna's heart skipped a beat as she noticed the silence. The birds had stopped twittering. The monkeys had stopped whooping. Everything was silent and still. Then, the trees leaped out at the trio of MudWings.

At least, that was Sienna's first impression. She roared and rolled away at claws slashed at her: claws that became bright purple streaked with sky blue. It was a RainWing. Another RainWing leaped at Sienna. She pinned Sienna down, her fiercely sharp claws sinking into her scales. She felt the heat rising in her throat. She felt flames preparing to escape. Then, she opened her mouth and let her fire set the RainWing's wings aflame. 

The RainWing shrieked. Parts of her scales turned white. She leaped into a river that was nearby. As Sienna was distracted, another RainWing grabbed Sienna's snout and hastily wrapped chains around it. He clamped Sienna's wings shut. "Don't try struggling," he said in a slithering voice. "You know exactly what will happen." Sienna shot him a ferocious glare. He had deep, blue-green scales and weird purple eyes. His wing membranes were a shimmering grey and the tops of his wings were gold. Sienna hunched her wings and sat down. 

She peered around. There were seven RainWings. The slithery-voiced one was with Sienna, two were with Auburn and two were with Soil. One was standing to the side, holding a spear, and the seventh RainWing was in the river, washing water over her wings.

"That was some damage you caused with your fire," Sienna's guard said with a small smirk. "Rosebush, are you okay?" "Yes," Rosebush replied, climbing out of the river. "Good," the blue-green RainWing said. "Your parents wouldn't want you to get into very serious danger." Rosebush rolled her eyes. Her wings were horribly burnt. Sienna was certain she would never be able to fly again. That's great, she told herself. That way she won't be able to hurt me or my brothers ever again.

"My parents don't even care about me," Rosebush muttered. "They have Vine. Vine is PERFECT and SHINY and A WONDERFUL PRINCESS." "You're great, too," the blue-green dragon told her. Tinges of pink appeared on Rosebush's scales, but she washed them away. 

"So," said one of the dragons who was guarding Soil. "We will unchain your snouts now, but don't set anything on fire, or we won't hesitate to kill you. Understand?" Sienna and her sibs nodded. The RainWings unchained their snouts. "THANK you," Soil said. "Can you remove the wing clamps? I swear we won't fly away." The rainforest dragons exchanged glances and then unclamped their wings. Soil stretched his wings with a delighted expression. Auburn stared at the ground beneath his talons, acting as if the RainWings didn't exist.

"Okay. Time for introductions?" asked one of Auburn's guards. "Very well," said the blue-green RainWing. "I am Dartfrog. The son of a major noble. The pre--uh, the purple and blue dragon is Rosebush, the orange one is Grapefruit, the yellow one is Branch, the greenish-purplish one is Howler, the brown one is Leaf and the red-green one is Kumquat."

Kumquat was the dragon with the spear. He was staring at the three MudWings with wide eyes. "Something wrong, Kumquat?" Grapefruit asked. "Woah," Kumquat said softly. He sank onto the ground, not taking his eyes off of Sienna and her siblings. "Do something with those eyes or I'll cut them out," Branch snapped. "Are--" Kumquat started. He paused, took a deep breath, and continued: "Are you here to rescue your brother?" Auburn's head snapped up and he glowered at Kumquat. "Yes," Soil said. Sienna desperately wished she could punch him. STOP SHARING INFORMATION! THREE MOONS! OUR STEALTH PLAN IS ALREADY RUINED ENOUGH! 

Kumquat beamed. "Guys," he said, "Remember all those years ago when I brought four MudWing eggs to the gathering?" Everyone nodded. "And then Mother told me to keep one and bring the other three back?" Everyone nodded again. Kumquat's smile widened even more. "Well, these three are spit images of the tiny dragonets that I brought back to the Mud Kingdom!" "They remember that they have a bigwings?" asked Howler. "Somehow," Leaf said with a shrug. "Wow," Rosebush said faintly. "That's...unbelievable." Her scorched wings twitched. "Just let us have our brother. We'll leave and never touch you again," Soil pleaded, pressing his talons together. 

The look Dartfrog was giving Soil was almost sympathetic. "This dedication is unbelievable," Kumquat said. "Aw, come on, Dartfrog! Let them have their brother! Don't you remember when he was little and kept reading the MudWing scrolls? He read them ten million times, especially the section about sibling bonds! Then, that one time, he wanted to run away to find his siblings! He was lost without them!"

Branch barked a laugh. "You're using the past tense, Kumquat," he said. "Yes," Leaf said. "He tells us every day that he loves it here!" Sienna was confused. Yet something was tugging her forward, in the direction of her lost brother, who was most likely everything Soil wasn't.

"Just take us to him," she said. Dartfrog sighed. "Okay," he said. "We'll let Earth decide." All the RainWings began walking and beckoned for Sienna and her siblings to follow. Sienna went after them, her scales tingling with excitement.