What Lurks In The Shadows (WoF)

♦️Chapter 14 - Cliff♦️

Cliff jotted down notes as fast as he could, dipping his claw back into the ink for what felt like the millionth time. They were in Tsunami's battle class, but she was in a sour mood and was making the dragonets write something over and over again on scrolls as a punishment.

Cliff hadn't done anything wrong, but someone else clearly had. He looked over at Auklet, who fiddled with her ink holder. She gasped lightly when it spilled over the paper.

Tsunami whipped her head around, her eyes angry and annoyed. She stomped towards Auklet.

"You've been twitching for the last hour." Tsunami observed. "What's wrong?"

Auklet let out a squeak. "I'm worried. About Dusky." She admitted, looking down at her talons, which rested covered in ink on the desk.

"You don't need to be." Tsunami told her, her voice softening. "Luna's seen more than enough metamorphosises in her lifetime to catch on if something was wrong."

Auklet's shoulders relaxed and her wings fluttered down. Cliff looked back at his own paper, which was covered from top to bottom  in the same sentences over and over again.

"Um, Tsunami?" A new, but familiar, voice came from the doorway, echoing across the cave. Cliff whipped around to see Clay.

Tsunami made her way to Clay, and the two talked in hushed whispers for a minute or two.

"Wait here, guys." Tsunami told her students. "Actually, go stretch your wings. Class is cancelled for today."

Cliff's wings twitched in suprise. She sounded so worried.

"Does...anyone wanna come see Dusky with me?" Auklet broke the silence in the class as Tsunami and Clay walked away.

"Of course." Agreed Peacemaker, who looked at Auklet fondly. Cliff admired how much he looked after his Winglet.

The rest of his friends agreed with murmurs, and Mink put a wing over Auklet's back as they walked.

Cliff and Peacemaker fell into a rhythm with their steps, walking side by side.

Though now wasn't the best time to think about this, Cliff wondered. Why did Peacemaker always seem so flustered and weird around him?

But those thoughts faded. Dragons fluttered everywhere as the Jade Winglet made their way back into the Great Hall.

Dusky's cocoon rested in the center, but dragons weaved around it as they talked in hushed voices.

Cliff looked up and noticed Peril hovering high above the others, her gaze flitting across the cave as if she was trying to look for something.

Clay waved a wing and Peril and the firescales dived down to intertwine tails with him.

Cliff turned his attention back to the dragons around him. His Winglet had formed a circle. The SkyWing prince could see so many different scale colors whirl past him all at once.

Then his gaze landed on a familiar dark red dragon.

Ruby!

Without warning, Cliff darted towards his mother, pushing past dragons to reach her. Ruby's eyes lit up as she saw her son.

"What are you doing here?" Cliff asked, embracing his mother's warmth as she wrapped her wings around him.

"I heard a dragonet went missing!" Ruby gasped. "I want to take you home."

"No way!" Cliff objected. "I love it here!" He told his mother in a pleading voice.

"Fine." Ruby sighed. "But if any more dragonets go missing, I wont be happy. I'm just glad it wasn't you."

Cliff's heart soared. "Thank you, Ruby." He dipped his head at his mother.

Peacemaker's familiar voice came from behind Cliff. "Is that really Queen Ruby?" He whispered into Cliff's ear.

"Yes, it is. Peacemaker, meet my mother." Cliff took a step back to show Peacemaker to his mother. Ruby nodded her head politely.

"This is the cute little hybrid I heard about." Ruby told the two dragonets. "We talked a lot about you when we discussed opening Jade Mountain again."

Peacemaker's ears turned bright pink. "Oh, really? What did Queen Glory say?"

Ruby let out a soft laugh. "Oh, nothing bad. She told me you would love it here."

"I do!" Peacemaker gasped. Cliff nodded at his mother and went to go find the rest of the Jade Winglet.

"Where's Jackal?" A voice that Cliff recognized as Fog shrieked.

"It's fine, everything is fine!" Tsunami called from her perch. "Jackal will be found, and all will be fine!"

Somehow, from the fear in Tsunami's voice, Cliff didn't think everything would be fine.