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

Part 3: Chapter 26 & 27

"And no mother either, apparently," Glory said coldly.
But Cattail just nodded, untroubled. "That's right," she said. "I with you luck, but there's no room in our troop for clingy little dragonets."
Her voice was matter-of-fact. Clay could see that she wasn't trying to be mean, but it still hurt worse than anything he'd ever felt - more than Kestrel's taunts and attacks, more than seeing Sunny in a cage or knowing Peril had betrayed them. He felt all his dreams thudding like stones inside his stomach.

He'd always believed there was someone in the world waiting for him. He'd imagined finding his mother and father and how it would be just like in the story. None of the scrolls they'd studied had talked about MudWing families, but he knew NightWings and SeaWings had mother and father figures, se he's always assumed all the dragon tribes were the same way.

it had never occurred to him that no one would even know who his father was. And he certainly hadn't expected his own mother to care so little, or to send him away as soon as she met him.
'Another thing Asha could have warned me about,' he thought bitterly. If she'd lived, she could have told him how things were in the Mud Kingdom and saved him of a lot of useless dreaming.

"Come on, Clay," Glory said, tugging on his wings. She steered him back toward the mud village. Clay's scales felt as heavy as boulders. His tail dragged slowly behind him.
"You tell the Talons," Cattail called after them, "that we made a deal! No matter what happened, they can't have those cows back!"

"Do you want to try to talking to anyone else?" Glory asked as they reached the village. "Maybe she's wrong, and your father would want to know you."
Clay shook his head. "There's no point," he said. "I don't have a place here."

Suddenly Glory stopped with a hiss. She pointed to the clearing ahead and darted under the nearest low-hanging vines. Clay hurried after her.
A burly SandWing was stamping his feet in the center of the mud village, trying to shake off the wet mud that clung to his claws. He was missing an ear and a couple of teeth, and he grimaced at the two MudWings in front of him.

"What?" he bellowed. "Speak up!"
One of the MudWings raised his voice. "I said we haven't seen anyone like that."
"You sure?" said the SandWing. "There'll be four of them. A MudWing, a RainWing, a SeaWing, a kind of SandWing-looking thing and maybe a SkyWing."
The MudWing wrinkled his snout. "No," he said. "I assure you we would have noticed a SeaWing, a RainWing, a SkyWing, or a ... 'SandWing-looking thing' strolling through our sleephouses."

The SandWing snorted, as if he doubted that was true. "Well," he said, "if you do spot them, let Queen Burn know right away."
Both of the MudWings bowed their heads politely. "Of course."

Glory and Clay ducked farther under the tree as the SandWing took to the sky. "We've got to get out of here," Glory whispered.
"I forgot the MudWings are on Burn's side," said Clay. "We're lucky Cattail didn't know Burn was looking for us. She would have turned me over in a heartbeat." He didn't feel lucky, though. He felt perfectly miserable.

"Let's go around the village," Glory said, slithering back toward the waving reeds. Almost at once, she sank in a pool of mud up to her belly.
"Oh, urrrrrrgh," she groaned.
Clay saw a snout poke out of the swamp a short distance away. The dragon gave them a suspicious look.
"Remember to act like a MudWing," he whispered, sliding into the mud beside Glory. "Mmmmmmmmm, mud!"

"Yaaay," Glory said unenthusiastically. She floundered a few more steps into the reeds, spattering mud all across her wings. This was going to be a long walk at that pace. Clay checked the sky.
"All right, he's out of sight. We can fly back to the others."

He wriggled out of the mud onto a dry island and hauled Glory up beside him. They both shook their wings to get the biggest clumps off, and then they leaped, quickly clearing the trees. Clay spotted the river winding toward the cliff to their left and banked in that direction. He was ready to leave the Mud Kingdom behind him forever.