On Destiny's Wings: A Journey of Embers (UNDERGOING REVISIONS)

Chapter 11: A Dreadful Place

Hiiissssss...

It was so dark. Sundrop squinted fretfully into the blackness of the other side of the chasm, trying desperately to make out a figure, a shape, something. She trembled, a prickle of panic rising deep in her chest. She stepped to the side and spread out her wings, instinctively trying to make herself look bigger. Whirlpool bit her tongue and stared disbelieving at Sundrop, her webbed tail tucked timidly beneath her body. Her own wings were pressed tightly to her sides.

"What are you doing?" the WaterClaw breathed harshly. "Get back over here!"

The small cave was utterly silent. The stalactites dangling from above seemed even more like teeth than before. That disgusting flesh-rotting odor was suffocating. The light that streamed down from the caged-off exit tunnel was barely enough to make out. Sundrop felt masked in darkness.

"Stay back!" Sundrop warned, her voice meek and obviously frightened. 

She waited for a response. The only thing she could hear was a faint distant whistling. It must have been the air whooshing past the hole from above. The heat in the unruly prison-like cavern was beginning to make Sundrop feel claustrophobic.

"Sundrop, please," Whirlpool begged, her webbed claws fastened to the stones below. "You might anger it!"

Sundrop turned her head to look at the WaterClaw. "Maybe I can scare it," she replied quickly.

"Hiiisssssss..." 

Sundrop flinched away and tucked in her wings, flattening her reptilian ears. Perhaps she wasn't very scary after all.

There was a tense silence for what seemed like moons. Sundrop and Whirlpool pressed against each other, their breathing shallow. The dragonling had never felt so small, so insignificant. She had been caged by strange black dragons who reeked of death because she had stood up for herself and the others that had been kidnapped. She was tossed down a dark shaft like a piece of prey, condemned to wait the necessary amount of time to be freed. She couldn't escape, the air was tight, and worse still, something was looming in the darkness of the chasm, something unknown. Her safety was no longer guaranteed. She wanted to go home with Flametooth, back to her mother and her sleeping place on the cliff. She wanted to fly away and never look back.

Suddenly, the shadows shifted. There was a noise, perhaps a scuffling, followed by a flash of movement close to the wall. There was a very faint silhouette lurking about on the far end of the chamber. Sundrop squinted, her blue eyes narrow slits of concentration. The figure was large, not belonging to any prey creatures or dangerous predators. There was a distinct curve along the back end of the shadow that could only mean one thing. Sundrop took a step forward, tilting her head to get a better view. She heard Whirlpool gasp behind her.

"Sundrop, no!" she rasped, trying to grab the FireClaw's tail to keep her in place.

"Shh," Sundrop replied, hushing her friend and batting her paws away. "I think... I think I see something."  

The blackness shifted again, followed by a rapid clacking against the stones. Sundrop watched as a pebble came tumbling into view, bouncing to a stop at her black talons. She peered down and observed the rock, pulsing the frills at the tip of her tail.

I wonder what will happen if I pass it back, she thought curiously.

 She glanced up for a moment, watching the shadows, before placing one paw on the pebble. She hooked it beneath her claws and cautiously rolled it back into the darkness. It made scratching noises from the friction before disappearing from view.

Whirlpool furrowed her brows and inched forward, her gills expanding to let in more air. Her bloodied webbed tail was curved upward. She was intrigued as well. She flicked out her very pink forked tongue, trying to taste the presence behind the blackness.