Wings of Fire: Holocaust of the Skies {FINISHED}

Chapter 17

Gavin landed on the ground, his heart his beating so hard and fast he could feel his heartbeat in his talons. Oh moons.
The SandWing landed on the ground also, hissing and baring its teeth. "Leave," Gavin warned, lashing his tail. "I'll leave when you're dead." The SandWing's cold voice made Gavin shiver, but he focused on his enemy.

The SandWing charged at him, his barbed tail raised up. Gavin rolled under his underbelly, raking his claws across his soft belly. The SandWing roared in agony, but he quickly struck with his claws. Gavin dodged his claw, but ran right into his barbed tail. The tail scratched his left shoulder, leaving a deep, bleeding gash. Gavin howled in pain, and he roared at the SandWing. He couldn't retreat now. Well, it's not like the SandWing will allow him to flee without revenge.

Gavin yelled, "I enchant the nearest Azollae cactus to attack this SandWing!" Gavin raised his claws towards the SandWing. The SandWing was about to bolt to Gavin until an Azollae cactus sped across the desert and rammed into the SandWing so hard the dragon went tumbling back a few feet away. The cactus was beating against the SandWing all by itself, it's thorns stabbing the dragon's underbelly and face.

The SandWing screeched and roared in pain, thrashing in the sand and trying to escape the wrath of the cactus, but he kept getting whacked. In only a few minutes, the SandWing stopped moving. Gavin lowered his claws, and the cactus dropped onto the sand. The SandWing was certainly dead.
His shoulder felt like he was getting clawed by an IceWing talon. The gash throbbed with pain, and Gavin felt dizzy. He collapsed onto his right side as spasms of pain shot through his body. "Gavin!" Jenny yelled as she galloped to him. "What happened? Did that SandWing scratch you with its tail?"

Gavin nodded slowly, the muscles in his neck beginning to ache, also. He could barely speak, black specks were starting to form in the corner of his vision. His heart unevenly thumped in his ears. "Oh moons, oh moons... This isn't good, uh.. Uh.." Jenny paced back and forth, thinking of a way to save her friend. Gavin's vision began to blur, and he tried to say something to Jenny, but nothing came out of his mouth. Jenny's worried talking sounded fuzzy and inauditable as he slowly closed his eyes. "Cactus juice! That's it!" was the last thing he heard until he went unconscious.

☾

Gavin woke up to the feeling of some kind of liquid dripping onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes, his vision slowly beginning to focus, and saw Jenny standing over him, squeezing cactus juice from a thorn-less cactus onto his scratch. It stung, and he softly hissed. Their eyes met, and Jenny looked relieved to see him awake. She smiled. "Oh good, you're awake," Jenny said as she squeezed the last of the juice from the cactus. "Just barely," Gavin responded. He looked around. "Where's Grapefruit?" He asked. "He's still hiding. He was apparently hiding in the sand when he first spotted the SandWing," Jenny says. "He tried to warn us, but we didn't hear him clearly."
It was about dusk, twilight coming soon and the stars slowly popped out one by one. "You should rest a little longer," Jenny insisted. "Let the cactus juice settle in." Gavin did feel awfully tired, even when he just woke up from falling unconscious. He took Jenny's advice and fell asleep.

Gavin was surprised to wake up without any pain. It was in the middle of the night, and Jenny was still awake. She laid next to him, but not too close that their bodies touched. Gavin lifted his head, starting to notice that his stomach was rumbling. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything but small berries.

"Are you feeling any better?" Jenny asks as she turned her head to look at Gavin. "Yeah, I feel much better than earlier," he says. The NightWing stretched his wings. Jenny stood up. "We need to go to the Rainforest Kingdom. There may be more SandWings and I cannot let you get even more hurt."
There was lots of sympathy and care in Jenny's voice, so much that it almost surprised Gavin. "Right. Come on."
Gavin lifted into the air with Jenny, calling Grapefruit and flying to the Rainforest Kingdom.

After giving the thorns to Queen Glory, the dragonets took a long rest in the RainWing village for about three days. Gavin was feeling better, though he sometimes had stinging sensations where the gash was.
Gavin, Jenny, and Grapefruit were the queen's task-takers, completing the queen's desired tasks she tell them to do. Jenny was allowed to freely roam the Rainforest Kingdom as a gift to her help, and it was the perfect gift in her opinion. Now she doesn't have to worry about getting venom spat into her eyes by angry RainWings and dying. She could also sleep in the RainWing village, instead in the outskirts of the rainforest.

One night, Gavin was reading a few scrolls in candlelight, just reviewing the wonders of animus magic, until he heard soft wingbeats. He looked up from his scroll to see Jenny flying out of her hut and into the canopy. Blowing out his candle and setting his scroll down, Gavin followed the NightWing, wondering why she was up in the middle of the night. "Jenny," Gavin called once he was far enough from the village. Jenny whirled around, surprised, her claws curled and ready to fight, though she quickly calmed down once she saw who it was. "Gavin? What are you doing here?" Jenny asked. "I saw you fly off. Why are you awake?"
"I couldn't sleep," Jenny said. "I was just taking a midnight flight." Gavin smiled softly. "Can I join?"
Jenny chuckled. "Sure."

The two NightWings flew through the night, silent and just enjoying the moment. Gavin glanced at Jenny, who was still focusing on looking forward. Her scales look so beautiful. Her wings was like his entire night sky. Her brown eyes were as fierce as a grizzly bear, but also soft like cotton. Everything about her was pefect.
She was gorgeous.
Gavin's heartbeat began to quicken as those thoughts ran through his mind. He wanted to tell her these things, but what if she doesn't feel the same way about him?
She has such a beautiful snout.
The thoughts were overwhelming, and it made him blush and act shy. When he stopped looking at Jenny, in the corner of his eyes, he had seen Jenny glancing right back at him. He acted like he didn't notice, trying to keep his happy smiles to himself.

"The stars look very pretty," Jenny says as she looked up at the sky. "Yeah, they are." Gavin says as he did the same. The stars sparkled and glittered like diamonds. The dark silhouettes of trees began to show as he and Jenny turned back around, heading towards the village. They were also awkwardly quiet on the way back, though Jenny flew a bit closer to Gavin this time.
In the village, Gavin laid down in his hut, closing his eyes. He had a dreamless snooze until he couldn't completely fall asleep, so he woke up.

He felt something warm against his scales. He looked up and saw Jenny, laying next to him, snoring softly. The tip of her tail twitching.
He softly smiled. Not wanting to wake her up, Gavin laid his head down and forced himself to sleep.