Wings of fire: The Scavengers of Pyrrhia

Chapter 8

So, I've read a bit of Dragonet Prophesy and have found a few errors in my descriptions of the locations the characters are in as well as the timeline of what happens, so I am changing the story to better fit with book 1. If thee are any errors in my story, please comment so I may change them ASAP. Thanks a bunch!

Terrin turned around to see Nixibelle just outside of the cage with three other people behind her.

"What are you doing here!?" Terrin hissed harshly. "I thought I told you to leave!"

"Yeah, well I didn't." Nixi said with a smile. "I came here to find you once I got everyone else." 

"Nixi?" The man said in awe, getting as close as he could to her from behind the bars. "My little girl?"

Nixibelle's gaze turned to him. She stared at him in confusion, trying to place who he was and then, all at once, her eyes widened. "Dad?" She whispered quietly. Tears began to form in her eyes, reality hitting her hard.

The silence that followed seemed to last for an eternity, even longer than the seven years Nixi's father was imprisoned. Both their faces showed disbelief, their eyes penetrating each other, as if they were catching up on each other's life with only their eyes.

It was the person with Nixi, a young woman, who broke the silence. "Uh, this is great and all, but we really should be going before a dragon sees us here!"

Nixi immediately shook the daze from her head. "Right. We're getting you two out of here!"

"How do you plan to get us out?" Terrin demanded. "We can't possibly get out of this cage, Let alone the fact that the only way to escape is by climbing the face of the cliff!"

Nixi's shoulders drooped, then rose as she collected her thoughts for a moment. "What if...we tricked a dragon into opening the cage? Maybe if one of you got their attention by acting ill or something they might open the cage. Then you can run out and escape."

Terrin was about to speak when he suddenly heard a dragon speak from the other side of the plateau. "Hey Maroon? I think we've got a scavenger infestation."

Terrin looked past Nixi and the others to see a dragon approaching cautiously as if he were stalking prey. No, forget "as if," He was stalking prey!

"Nixi, behind you!" Terrin shouted, pointing at the red beast.

Nixibelle whirled around just before the dragon got ready to pounce. "Split up!" She cried to the three with her.

She dove to the left while the other girl dove to the right just as the dragon launched his body forward. Had they not moved, they would've been killed or captured. But instead the creature missed and his head crashed into the cage he had forgotten was in front of him, bending the metal under stress of his blunt force. "Ow ow ow!" The dragon cried, pulling away while holding his head.

Terrin and Nixi's father backed away from the front of the cage as he hit. Terrin noticed a space wide enough to fit through appear as the metal was twisted. "Quickly! Go through that space!" Terrin said to Nixi's father, ushering him towards their only escape.

Nixi had already recovered from the dive and rushed over to help them climb out of the cage. "Quickly! We haven't much time until that dragon recovers!" she urged, pulling her father, then Terrin, out of the bent wreckage.

Not wasting any time, Terrin started to run as fast as he could away.

"Wait!" Nixi cried from behind him. "We're on a table! You'll fall off!"

Terrin stopped just before he flew off a sheer drop from the dragon-sized table which was a good fifteen feet tall. "Then how'd you get up here before?!" He shouted to her.

"Just come here!" Nixi shouted.

"What's all the commotion?" Another dragon said in annoyance, flying into the Hall. "Moons, Rusty! What in Pyrrhia happened?"

"It's scavengers, Maroon! They're getting away!" Rusty said, pointing in the general direction of the group, eyes still closed from the pain.

Maroon looked at the four humans and laughed. "Don't worry about it, Rusty. They can't get off of the table without getting hurt. They're not lemmings. They know they'd be killed too! They have nowhere to run. Besides, in a bit the Queen's Hatching feast is going to start soon and we might as well let them out." She dismissed the situation with a snort. She lifted the broken cage from the table and heaved it off. "Come on, we still have a lot to do, and the last thing we need is to be caught goofing off."

"Terrin, run!" Nixi shouted to him. "They're going to kill you!"

Terrin turned back to Nixi. "Didn't you just barely hear them? They're saving us for a feast! We've still got time!"

Nixi cocked her head. "Excuse me? That was just roaring! How could you even understand anything they said?"

Terrin frowned, confused for a minute.

Oh! He realized. The paper! Right!

Terrin watched the two dragon fly into the air, then turned to Nixi. "Come here, I gotta show you something.

Nixi tilted her head slightly, but listened to him and went to him. "Okay, what is it? "I can understand them because of this." He carefully pulled out the paper from his pocket.

Nixi looked at Terrin, confused. "An ordinary piece of paper lets you understand what dragons say?"

"All you need to do is touch it." He assured, gently holding out a corner for her. Nixi looked at it for a moment and sighed then touched part of the paper.

Nixi's eyes quickly widened. She looked up at Maroon and Rusty in awe as they conversed about what their queen would do if the food wasn't adequate. "I-I can understand them!" She let go of the paper in shock.

"Your father gave it to me," Terrin added her, nodding at her.

"That can be a good tool to use when we get out." Nixi observed. "Just think of what we could do with it!"

Terrin frowned slightly. "We don't even know if we can  escape."

Nixi gave him a stuborn look. "Well, I most certainly am not  going to wait around here to become a snack! We're leaving, and we're leaving today!"