King of The Dragons (Wings of Fire X Monster Hunter)

Part 1: Chapter 3 & 4

"It's amazing!" he cried. "Feel how soft it is!" He seized a handful of dirt and flung it at Tsunami. Stormcaller was looking at the MudWing with a confused expression, But Clay nor Tsunami noticed.

"Hey, quit that!" She protested, defending herself with her good wing. Clay flattened himself to the grass, feeling the warm earth crumble around his legs and clump against his scales. Scents of green and brown and buried sunshine overwhelm him. It was nothing like the hard, cold, bare rock under the mountain. The ground here was welcoming and full of life. A worm burrowed past his nose, and he snapped up.

"I hear the river!" Clay cried, jumping up and shaking himself. Tsunami ducked under the shower of dirt while Stormcaller didn't even flinch and simply brushed the dirt off of him with a talon. "River plus dirt means mud!" He spun around and raced through the trees towards the sound of bubbling water.

Tsunami and Stormcaller found him blissfully in the muddy banks of the river. "I don't think most dragons get this excited about being so dirty." Tsunami said wryly. "I know a few . . . 'dragons' that probably would." Stormcaller said eyeing an odd rock sticking out of the mud farther down the riverbank.

"I've never been this warm in my whole life." Clay said. for the first time ever, his claws didn't ache, his scales didn't itch, his wings didn't feel too dry, and he wasn't worried about stubbing his talons every other step. He felt the mud squelch into the gaps between his scales and realized that the pain from the cave poison was fading, as if the mud was healing him. He sighed happily, squishing himself farther down into the damp riverbank.

"Wow," Tsunami said. She stuck her front talons in the river. "And we're not even at the MudWing swamps yet. I wonder if I'll be this excited when I go to the sea."
"You will," Clay said, suddenly feeling certain and brave and confident. "And when you can fly. Can we fix your wing?" He tilted his head, studying her injury.

"Let me take a look at it." Stormcaller spoke up, finally taking his eyes off of the strange rock. Tsunami obliged, settling down on the grass, and spread her wings. Stormcaller looked at the uneven line of her wings and shoulder. He felt along her shoulder with his front talons.
"I can fix this." He said.
"Really?" Tsunami asked, not knowing if this dragon was trustworthy. He may have helped save their lives but he was a NightWing. He might be in league with Morrowseer.

Right after Tsunami spoke, Stormcaller took his talons and made one swift, strong movement and popped the bone back into place. "OW!" Tsunami roared, rearing back. Her powerful tail whipped around and slammed into Stormcaller, but it didn't even phased him.
"Sorry." he said.

"Well I though it was going to work." Clay said, standing up. Tsunami was turning in a circle, flexing and extending both wings. They perfectly matched again.

"It did work," She said. "It's a little sore, but I can move it now. Thanks Stormcaller." Stormcaller opened his mouth to respond but it snapped shut as both Tsunami looked at the woods, ears twitching. Clay was about to say something but Tsunami shooshed him and raised up one talon, signaling to be quiet. "What's that?" She whispered.

Clay strained his ears to listen. Something was crashing through the forest towards them, but both of them were unaware of what Stormcaller was doing. Nostrils flaring, his eyes widened and glowed with rage. He knew what was coming, and he would kill it as soon as it showed it's ugly face.

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Onto the next chapter

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"Not big enough to be a dragon," Tsunami whispered. "I think."
Stormcaller nodded, his eyes almost looked like they were glowing. They were glowing, glowing with rage. He could here it huffing out of exhaustion and pattering it's feet made when they hit the ground. It was breaking branches as it ran. This one clearly even more idiotic then its ancestors. Clay pried Tsunami's talons off his snout and whispered, "Maybe we can eat it." Clay looked over at Stormcaller to see tendrils of smoke pouring out of his snout.

Then a short; pale creature stumbled into the moonlit clearing in front of them. The top of it's head was barely as high as Clay's shoulder. It had two long, thin legs and two dangling arms that ended in floppy, clawless talons. One arm held something Stormcaller was familiar with, a sword. And the other was wrapped around a bulky sack.

It spotted the trio of dragons, dropped everything it was holding, and shrieked a long high-pitched note, somewhat similar to birds. "It's a scavenger," Tsunami cried with delight as Stormcaller approached it. The creature screamed again, backing away and covering its head with its arms. "Look, Clay! Our first time outside, and we've already seen a real scavenger." Stormcaller was unimpressed. Its hard to believe that this was part of the same species that hunted monsters.

"It's so li-" Clay stopped when Stormcaller turned around and flicked the scavenger into the woods with his tail. It made a loud shriek but it was cut short when there was a loud crash. Stormcaller presumed it was dead. "Why'd you do that?"

"Where ever scavengers are, there's always a problem." Stormcaller said making sure to use the dragon term for a human. "It's kind of hard to believe one of those killed Queen Oasis." Tsunami said picking up the sword, which was about four times as long as a regular dragon claw. "I guess these are pretty sharp, but still . . . it must have been some unlucky accident."

"I wonder what's in here." Clay said, lifting up the sack. He upended it, and a pile of jewels and trinkets tumbled out, bouncing and sparkling across the grass. Stormcaller's eyes widened. Who ever that scavenger stole from was bound to be nearby, and who ever owned the treasure would probably not be happy to see some dragonets playing with it.

"Glory would love that." Clay said as Tsunami picked a silver medallion with a spiral carved into it, studded with tiny sapphires. "So would I," Tsunami said. "I know you like bringing her pretty things to cheer her up, but I saw this first."

"I'd put it down." Stormcaller said. "We don't know who it belongs to." 'Or what it belongs to.'
"I'll have to agree with the NightWings here." Said a new voice. "Not unless you want to fight me for it, which I don't advise." And orange SkyWing dragon, slightly bigger than Clay, landed soundlessly in the clearing in front of them. Wreaths of smoke coiled around her horns.

"Now that's just unfair," Said the orange dragon, who Stormcaller recognized. "First of all, thieves are always trying to steal my beautiful treasure." Clay took a step back while Stormcaller's eyes narrowed. He knew who this dragon was, but these dragonets didn't. "Who are you?" Tsunami asked. She was turning the medallion over between her claws as if she wondered it might be worth fighting for.

The orange dragon stared at her, her yellow eyes narrowing to slits. Stormcaller that a fine coat of golden chain mail, hung with rubies and amber drops, was fitted around the dragon's torso. A tiny row of rubies was embedded between the scales over each of her eyes.
"You don't know who I am?" Asked the dragon. "How upsetting. I'm really very hurt. Either I need to get out more, or you're not a very good spy, are you SeaWing?"

"I'm not a spy!" Tsunami said. "We don't even know where we are. We've been - held prisoner, kind of, and we just escaped." The orange dragon tilted her head while Stormcaller examined her every move, trying to figure out what she was going to do next. "A SeaWing, a MudWing, and a NightWing together," She said "Let's see. I know you're not from my dungeons, unless I'm getting horribly forgetful . . . so who was holding you? Blaze? I don't think she has prison camps. Wouldn't fit with her everybody-love-me act."

Stormcaller saw Clay take a step back out of the corner of his eye. "Tsunami," Clay said quietly. "Just give her back her treasure, and let's go."
"A MudWing using his head," said the orange dragon. "You don't see that very often." She slid menacingly towards Tsunami. Small flames flickered in her nostrils, and a steady stream of white smoke poured out and gathered around her horns. "All right," Tsunami said, holding out the medallion. "We don't want any trouble."

"Oh, neither do I," said the orange dragon. "That's why it makes me so sad when trouble keeps coming to me." She reached out and grabbed Tsunami's talon with the medallion still in it, squeezing hard. Clay started forward, but Stormcaller spread one of his wings in front of the MudWing causing the flames to harmlessly roll across his black scales. The SkyWing glared at Tsunami. "Nobody touches my treasure."

"We didn't know!" Tsunami protested. "We don't even know who you are!" Then Stormcaller spoke up. "I would have assumed your captors would have at least taught you how to recognize royalty." The orange dragon hissed. "Finally, someone who knows who I am. My name is Scarlet. But I highly recommend you call me Your Majesty if you want to live."

END OF CHAPTER