Wings of Fire: The Hidden Key

~Chapter Two~

Reed blinked her eyes open, heart thumping against her chest. Ugh.... Where am I? Her entire body felt like someone had dumped a rockslide on it. She tried to get to her feet, but then immediately fell back to the ground.

 She was surrounded by inky pitch-black darkness and couldn't even see where she was. Panic crowded her brain, and her thoughts began screaming at her to do SOMETHING useful. Blinking faster, she glanced down at her talons, and saw that they were chained to a cold stone floor. No, no, no, no! This CAN'T be happening! She strained against the chains as hard as she could, but they didn't even budge.

 Tears slipped out of her eyes, and eventually she just flopped over on the floor in defeat. I'm sorry, Mother... Kelp... I wish I could've helped you... An idea suddenly popped into her brain. She felt like slapping herself, if she could. Rgghhhh, stop being stupid, Reed! With a growl, she lit up all of her SeaWing glow scales, illuminating her surroundings.

 She was inside a small, cramped cell, with stark walls and a stone slab for sleeping. And in front of her, there were five iron bars keeping her inside the prison. The chains on her legs were attached to the floor, and made out of steel, and it looked like she couldn't break them if she tried.

 Holding in another sob, she let all her scales go dark and went limp on the floor. Who kidnapped me? She wondered, squeezing her eyes shut. And... why? I'm just a dragonet, there's nothing important about me. I barely even matter to anyone...

 "Wow, I've never seen such a pathetic dragon in my life." A female voice chuckled.

 Reed's head shot up, and she called out, "Wh-who's there?"

 She lit up her scales again and let out a shriek when she saw a face staring at her through the bars.

 "Sandstorms and spikes, what's got you so jumpy?" The voice asked.

 Reed squinted harder at the face watching her. It was a... SandWing? A SandWing with black eyes, orangish scales and a smirk on her face.

 "Are you serious?!" Reed shouted shrilly.  "I'm literally chained to the floor! OF COURSE I'm jumpy!"

 Not replying to Reed's exclamation, the dragon stepped back from the bars, revealing herself. She was large and bulky, with scales covered in brown speckle. She had huge, pale wings and a scarred snout that was smirking at her. "Well, I'm sorry. Wish I could help, but I can't." The SandWing shrugged, and then settled down in front of her cell.

 "Can you please tell me w-what I'm doing here? And again, who are you?" Reed stuttered.

 "I'm Amber. And I don't even have a clue what you're doing here. These cells are usually reserved for the traitors."

 "...What?" Reed felt VERY confused. Why was this SandWing speaking so cryptically? And why did she look so young? Was she a prisoner like her? Or was she working with whoever had kidnapped her?

 "Nothing. So- OH, camel spit, someone's coming! See you, strange dragon!" Amber suddenly disappeared from outside her cell, her talonsteps quickly fading away.

 "WAIT! DON'T GO, PLEASE!" Reed cried, but no one replied, and once again, the only thing she saw was darkness.

 She began to cry even harder, her entire body shaking with sobs. The minutes ticked by, and no one came to talk to her or even feed her. She felt like she was trapped in an endless black void, with a growing sense of hopelessness. And as the time went on, she began to lose track of how long she had been in the dark cell.

 Soon, she eventually fell asleep, but only for a short amount of time. She was woken up by a freezing cold sensation on her wings and tail, so cold it hurt. Yelping, she flailed around on the floor, and spluttered, "who-what-"

 "SHUT UP." A voice snarled. She heard something splashing and realized someone had dumped a bucket of water on her. "Move."

 Confused, she stumbled to her feet, noticing that her chains were gone. "What's happening-" She began to ask but was cut off as someone's sharp talons stung her cheek.

 "I said no talking. Now shut up."

 She nodded meekly, lighting up her scales to see who was talking to her. A hulking gray green SeaWing stood in front of her, his stormy eyes blazing. His body was covered in twisted scars, and his snout was so deformed, it looked like a sea monster had mangled it. He was holding a jagged spear and was scowling so fiercely that it hurt to look at him.

 "Why-"

 "SHUT UP, FOR THE LAST TIME!" The SeaWing roared, lunging forward and slamming Reed into the wall. She cried out with pain, blood dripping down her face and onto her talons. She stared at the blood, shuddering violently.

 Without a second glance at the frightened dragonet, the SeaWing grabbed Reed and dragged her out of the cell. Squirming in his grip, she felt like her arm was being ripped off her body.

 "Please let me go! I-it hurts!" she whimpered, but he didn't even blink. He dragged her through a VERY long hall, with twisting corridors and endless amounts of doors carved into the walls.

 Where is he taking me? She wondered, wincing when the SeaWing jerked her arm violently. She opened her mouth to ask but thought better of it, remembering his reactions to her questions. I guess he doesn't like talking... 

 Suddenly, her captor came to an abrupt halt, sending her flying face-first into the floor. Her snout flared with pain, and she felt like crying for the third time today. She sat up with a small whimper, rubbing her bruised nose gingerly. "Come on, runt." The SeaWing growled, motioning towards an arched, elegant steel door.

 "O-okay..." She stammered, stumbling to get up. She nervously walked through the arch, anxiously awaiting what could be inside the room. It seemed very ominous, and it wasn't helping that she felt someone watching her as she stepped in.

 The room was completely dark, just as her cell was, without a single speck of light anywhere. She couldn't even see her own talons as she held them up to her face. She waited for a minute or two, her eyes slowly adjusting to the blackness. She blinked, now being able to make out what was inside the room.

 She let out a gasp of horror, whipping around so fast her neck cracked. She felt her eyes streaming tears again and folded her wings around her head. Look away, look away, look away...She didn't want to look at the sight anymore, it was too horrible. 

 Right in front of her, splayed out on the floor, was a circle of dead dragons.