Wings of Fire: The Hidden Key

~Chapter Five~

The SandWing glared down at her with menacing, glittery black eyes, before pausing its attack. "Wait a second-"

 Reed recognized this SandWing. It was the dragon that had spoken to her outside of her cell! What was her name... Ombre? Ember? Oh! Amber!

 Amber shook her head, sighing, stepping off of Reed. "Sorry about that. Thought you were him again." She said darkly, quickly looking over her shoulder.

 "S-sorry..." Reed stuttered, shakily getting to her feet. "I didn't-"

 "Oh, you don't need to apologize, tribrid." Amber laughed, curling her tail up behind her. 

 Reed cringed, and inwardly began planning a way to flee. The only dragons that called her 'tribrid' meant that they were bad news. But Amber didn't seem that dangerous... she was obviously older than Reed, but still seemed pretty young for being in this place. And she was being relatively nice, except for the whole... clocking her in the head thing...

 "I should be the one to apologize, actually." The SandWing continued, sheepishly glancing at Reed's bleeding and smashed-looking head. "I- uh- didn't mean to hurt you that bad... I guess I underestimated my strength." She laughed nervously, before muttering, "again..."

 "What did- you- um, smash me with?" Reed asked, cautiously taking a step back.

 Amber flicked her tail, smirking a little, before pointing at a large metal club on the floor.

 "WHAT?" Reed screeched, clutching her head with a groan. "HOW AM I STILL ALIVE, OH MY-"

 "Calm down, or you'll get us both killed!" Amber hissed, rushing over to her and slapping her hands over Reed's mouth. "Be. Quiet."

 Reed whimpered, a headache still flaring through her skull. 

 Amber sighed again, glancing behind her at the dark hallway. "How'd you even get out of your cell, anyway? I thought Salmon locked you up good. Oooh, did you escape? I love a good rebellion!"

 "No- no! It's not like that- Salmon- he took me to this room, and a really big, scary dragon named Eel-"

 "Wait. What?" Amber stared at her with blazing eyes, her entire body tensing up. "Eel spoke to you?"

 "Y-yeah... he asked me about this scroll? And locked me in the room for a really long time...?" She watched nervously as Amber's expression went from shocked, to terrified, to murderous.

 "Three moons above!" She growled, a spurt of flame coming out of her nose. "And just when I thought I would get a break..."

 "Um... what do you mean by that?" Reed peeped, taking another step back. The angry SandWing was making her VERY nervous.

 "Shut it, tribrid. Follow me, we're not safe here. I'll explain later." Amber grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her down the hallway, and Reed didn't even try to struggle. The SandWing didn't seem like she wanted to hurt her... so she went along with it.

 She followed Amber for about five minutes, before she took and sharp turn and ducked into a room with a bronze plaque above it labeled, 'private library.' Amber shoved her into the room, rather violently, and Reed tumbled to the floor with an 'oof!'

 "Okay, I'm pretty sure no one's here. This is the private library, and no one really comes here anyway. It's only used for... stuff." Amber said mysteriously, before leaning down and squinting at Reed.

 "Hey, you never told me your name. I can't just keep calling you 'tribrid'." She said, settling down on the floor.

 Reed frowned and gave the SandWing a cautious look.

 "Oh, I get it. You don't trust me." She shrugged, before saying, "Fair enough. I wouldn't trust me either."

 Reed turned around and uneasily scanned her surroundings. The so-called 'private library' was pretty small, with a red-carpeted floor and wooden shelves scattered in random places.

 "I guess I should probably explain a bit," Amber suddenly said, making Reed jump. "This... uh..." She paused, glancing at her like she wasn't sure what to say. "...situation... is not really the best thing for me, y'know? I'm not even technically allowed to be here, but I guess we're both breaking the rules today!"

 "I-um-okay?" Reed quickly looked away, as she noticed Amber staring at her with a curious look on her face. She knew she was going to regret what she was about to do... Mustering up all her courage, she blurted out, "Reed."

 Amber tilted her head. "What?"

 Her face flushing, she hastily added, "My- uh- name. It's Reed."

 "Oh. Cool. Anyway- can I ask you a question?" Amber opened her talons, revealing the scroll Eel had given Reed. 

 "Hey! When did you-"

 "I stole it from you when you weren't looking," she said matter-of-factly, shrugging again. "But where did you get this?"

 "Eel gave it to me."

 "Can you tell me what happened, in full detail? I just have a few... suspicions I need to work out."

 "...I guess?" Reed began explaining everything that had happened, from finding Kelp's scale in the water to being locked in the dark room with the mysterious scroll.

 When she finished, out of breath and trembling, she quickly examined Amber's expression. She was stone-faced, with a scrunched-up snout and fiery eyes. Reed backed away from the angry SandWing, whose face was beginning to turn red with fury.

 "AGHHHH!" Amber roared, turning around and smashing a shelf with her tail. "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!" She unfolded her wings and began dive-bombing everything in the library, almost including Reed.

 Yelping, she fled towards a small desk, and hid behind it while Amber... basically destroyed everything. Seaweed and sharks, she definitely needs to get anger management...

 After a few more loud smashes and roars, Amber finally calmed down. She landed back on the carpet, inhaling loudly. Steam was still spiraling out of her nose, but she at least wasn't throwing a fit anymore.

 "Everything's fine, everything's fine!" Amber said in a sing-song voice, although the tenseness in her wings showed otherwise. 

 "Um... can you- uh- maybe- explain? You said you would...?" Reed said nervously, curling her tail around her feet.

 Amber growled something under her breath, before giving Reed an obvious fake smile. "Yeah, I said I would. And I... will. But for now, I need to do something first."

 "Wait! What do you mean by that?"

 Amber sighed, giving Reed a fierce look. "Listen, tri- Reed. There's stuff going on here that you don't need to know about, and if Eel didn't tell you anything else, then I can't."

 "But you said you would!" Reed desperately reached out to grab Amber's wrist, but the large dragon easily shook her off.

 "Stay here. I'll be back soon. Don't do anything stupid, and I promise I'll at least give you some information. But... I can't tell you everything. Just remember that."

 Reed opened her mouth to argue, but before she could say something, the SandWing leaped out of the room and shut the door behind her, leaving Reed in darkness.

 Oh, come on! Why do I always end up alone in creepy dark rooms? Ugh... She curled up on the rough carpet, hoping that Amber would be back soon. She really didn't want to be here alone... again.

 Reed wished she didn't have to be a tribrid with absolutely no fire in her. Why couldn't Mother have married a SkyWing? Or something that would give her somewhat useful abilities? Instead, she was stuck with gills, glow scales and the power to garden. Like that would be helpful in a life-or-death situation. Like now.

 If only there was a way that I could light a torch... maybe I can rub two rocks together? Reed got to her feet and began searching the dark room for anything useful. She reached up to grab a torch hanging on the wall, but she stopped immediately when she heard a voice say:

 "I wouldn't do that if I were you."