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

Part 1: Chapter 3 & 4

Starflight couldn't see any caves or a lava river like the one Glory had described, so he guessed they were on the other side of the volcano. But the air was smoky and gray as she'd said, and as hard to breathe. He still felt that raw scrapped feeling all the way down his throat.

Far overhead in the ashy sky, multiple strange creatures wheeled and circled, around and around, like vultures. They looked like large scaled bats as long as a scavenger was tall and their wingspan being double that. They had long, fanged beaks, and a small and straight crest sticking out of the back of their heads.
"Wha-what are those?" Starflight asked, having never seen the creatures before. He hadn't seen anything like that in all of the scrolls he'd read, including Stormcaller's.
"We call them Wingdrakes," Morrowseer answered. "They're no good for eating, but they can be trained to deliver messages."

A Wingdrake swooped overhead, let out an annoyed warbling-squawk, and quickly flapped away back to the others.

So many questions filled his head. All his life, he'd been full of questions about the NightWings and their secret home, and now perhaps they can be answered. He took a moment to think. 'I'm here. This is my home. this is my tribe. This is what I was looking for.' 

But it didn't feel true. This awful place was nothing like the NightWing utopia he'd always imagined. He'd pictured a beautiful hidden palace full or art and music and dragons who loved to read, with spires reaching to the clouds, and waterfalls and sunlight and a library around every corner. Not this - the smoke and stench and hostility and gloomy surroundings.

And even a million answers, even all the answers to all the questions her could think of, wouldn't be able to take the place of Sunny and the others.

Morrowseer and Legendseeker stared across the lave field. The larger of the two inhaled several times, his nostrils flaring and his tongue slithered in and out. He did this for so long that Starflight began to wonder if there was something wrong with his nose.
"Um," Starflight squeaked at last.

Morrowseer glared at him in the middle of a giant sniff.
"J-just, um," Starflight said. "I just want you to know I don't know anything else. Really. About the RainWings attacking." Almost immediately, his traitorous brain started clamoring. 'Except that Glory might be queen by now! And that RainWings are normally pacifists! And-'
He fixed his eyes on the mountain behind them and tried to think of nothing but lava.

Legendseeker snorted before making multiple talon movements. Morrowseer nodded in agreement. Starflight blinked at the two dragons for a moment. "What did he say?" he asked.
"He said you're the most useless spy he's ever met," Morrowseer said. "Now let's go."
He nearly knocked Starflight off the ledge as he leaped into the sky.

"Down there?" Starflight called, glancing at the molten cracks in rocks below them. "Is it safe?" He flapped to catch up to Morrowseer.

"Of course it isn't," Morrowseer snapped. "Several dragon have made the mistake of trying to land down there, only to break the crust and fall right through." He nodded at a white shape sticking out of the rocks. Starflight peered at it until he realized what it was, and then wished he hadn't. His stomach twisted as he spotted a few other: dragon skulls, their mouths open in an eternal scream.

"I wouldn't suggest a closer look," Morrowseer said drily. "We're going over there." he nodded to the far side of the lava rocks, where Starflight now saw a tangle of gray, ash-covered trees."

"So." Starflight cleared his throat. "When Greatness said 'if it's your turn to eat this week' - what did that mean?"
Morrowseer hissed. "There's a rotating schedule. All NightWings are allowed to or gather for about five days out of every month. Naturally, I am exempt."