Wings of Fire: Blood Ties

Chapter seventeen: Lokelani

Caiman ran to Rose's room. When he entered, panting from his run across the school, the two of them stared at him. The SandWing looked shocked, and Rose looked worried, like she knew exactly what he was going to tell her.

"Excuse me," He said, dipping his head towards the SandWing apologetically, "I need to talk to Rose. Alone."

The SandWing looked quizzically from Caiman to Rose. "Oh, uh, okay." She said awkwardly, "I guess I'll just get something from the prey centre. Do you want anything Rose?"

"Sure, bring me back anything, just not fish. They have too many bones."

The SandWing left the room, leaving Rose facing Caiman. She looked at him expectantly, and his heart lurched. He felt awkward making sustained eye contact with her. He almost didn't want to tell her, because that would make it real. That Mosquito was really out there, the prophecy was true, and they would have to fight her. Rose would be in danger, all because Caiman wasn't smart enough or brave enough to fix the problem before it began. He often felt responsible, like he should've found a way to either save Mosquito, or kill her, before it came to all this.

"Mosquito is here. I saw her. She's disguised, but with my soul vision she can't hide from me. There's nothing left of her soul anymore, Rose, not even a fragment." His voice broke slightly at the end. He cursed himself mentally, I should be over this by now. I should be numb.

He felt a tail twine around his own. Rose's scales were warm and soft, and he felt a wave of excitement despite himself.

"We need to narrow down the MudWings in this school, and find out what name she's going by now."

"We should ask another MudWing for her name, some of them might have met her," Rose said, "And maybe we should ask Fatespeaker for the winglets list. It would be useful to know where she is and when, and when to skip class if we have any with her winglet."

"Good idea." Caiman admitted. He found it a little startling how quickly Rose could come up with plans. She had pretty much orchestrated most of his rescue, and put herself on the line to bring him to this school. He couldn't help but admire her for that.

He glanced out the doorway. It was hard to admit, even to himself, but he was terrified of Mosquito. He wanted to be able to come here, and slit her throat on sight, show that he's strong, and make up for his mistakes. To prove Quagmire wrong, finally. To show that he wasn't weak, that he could fix things. But his fear won him over, he couldn't go out there in the hallways, not yet, if he knew she might be there waiting for him.

"Rose?" Caiman asked, "Can I stay here with you for a while? I... I don't think I'm ready to be out there again, not yet. I haven't seen her for so long and I just..." He shook his head, "I'm sorry, but what she did to my sister... What she's capable of..."

Rose wrapped her wings around Caiman, and he relaxed into her shoulder, shutting his eyes. Her wings felt like safety, a shield to block out everything else.

"You don't have to explain yourself, I'm scared too." She said, "Knowing when to rest and gather your thoughts is better than going into a situation unprepared. I'm glad you told me. Let's just stay calm for a while, and then we can plan and figure everything out."

"Okay," Caiman replied.

Rose gently let go of Caiman, just as the SandWing re-entered the room with a squirrel for each of them.

"Thanks Rebutia!" Rose said, catching the two squirrels that Rebutia tossed towards Rose from the doorway. She passed one to Caiman beside her.

They ate the squirrels, which were lightly roasted, and Caiman noticed Rebutia eyeing them suspiciously. What is she looking at? Does she know something? Does she suspect what we're here for? Then Caiman realised that Rose and his' tails were still twined together. Oh, he thought, retreating his tail and wrapping it around himself, that's what she was staring at. She must think we're a couple or something.

He glanced over at Rose, I wonder if she feels the same way about me that I do about her. Does she think of me this way? Or is she just this nice to everyone?

He pushed those thoughts away from his mind. I can't afford to think about this sort of thing right now. I have to plan for Mosquito's downfall.

Caiman realised that Rose and Rebutia had been chatting for a few minutes while he was lost in thought, finishing the last bits of his squirrel. "I better get back to my cave." He said, standing up and approaching the exit. "Let me know if... well, if you need me." He said quickly, before he said anything too suspicious. He didn't want to reveal that they were there to kill a student, even if it was to prevent her from going on a full-on murderous rampage.

"Wait," Rebutia said, "The assembly is soon. We should probably be heading to the main hall now. Are you coming?"

Caiman gave Rose a look, and she nodded. He couldn't be in a large group like that, in case Mosquito spotted him and blew his cover. He had to avoid being sighted by her at all costs. She wouldn't be looking for him, since she didn't know he had escaped prison, but she might recognize him anyway, even though he had grown considerably since their last meeting.

"You can catch me up, Rose." He said, making up a lie for Rebutia's sake, "I've never been a big one for assemblies." Not that I've ever been to one, unless you count war planning, he thought sourly, soldiers don't have time for school.

He made his way to his winglet cave, and luckily found that his two wingmates were leaving for the assembly. I'm glad to miss them, he thought. He wasn't a particularly social dragon, and those two gave him the sense that sitting quietly in a room with them would be just as awkward as trying to talk to them.

He entered the room, finally taking notice of the scroll rack next to his earthy bed. He had never been much of a reader, and he was a bit slow and possibly dyslexic, but there wasn't much else to do and he didn't want to be left alone with his thoughts.

He found a scroll about plants and animals in all the kingdoms, which had lots of illustrations and a clear font, and started looking through it.

The first page was about the rainforest, and showed a beautiful orange and pink flower as the first picture. The small letters under the picture read Lokelani (Damask Rose).

Caiman smiled. The colours looked just like Rose's vibrant scales.