Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter One

     Brisktail rubbed his tired eyes and pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He had better places to be.

     Walking to the exit, Brisktail dropped the battle talons in a small bin by the door. He turned right and followed the salty scent of the air to the outside.

     Brisktail emerged onto a wooden platform that was part of the long walkway snaking around the bay. Across the estuary, blocking the view of the open ocean, sat a tall island that Brisktail had stayed in for the three months. That was the infirmary. Albatrosswing, the Master Healer who worked there, had told him not to engage in any vigorous activities for the next month to not to pull anything or tear open some of the more severe scars.

     He scoffed. Too late. Day one out of the infirmary and already he had his hide handed to him by his father. Brisktail was also pretty sure that he had pulled something in his leg and had torn open a cut on his palm but, what else was new?

     Brisktail, feeling overwhelmingly stressed from the training session and argument with Keeneye, decided to go to the only place where he knew he could relax.

     Brisktail spread his gray-bluish blotched wings and flew up three levels to the Royal Cave. The guards on duty recognized him and nodded at him as he passed them.

     The Royal Cave was like all the other caves. Dank, smelly walls and windless tunnels leading under millions of tons or rocks above him just waiting to fall and crush him. Brisktail hoped to someday make a house on top of the cliffs if Swansong would let him.

     Passing by the Council Chamber, Brisktail caught a glimpse of Queen Swansong herself signing scrolls. Probably expansion requests to upgrade the infirmary (which was in desperate need of a make-over in his opinion) or a field trip request for one of the schools. Either way, boring stuff Brisktail would never do himself.

     Swansong looked up as he passed by, smiled, and waved. Brisktail waved back shyly with his tail. It seemed absurd to him that she had once told him he was her friend of all things. It was probably just an extension of kindness since he was such a large part of Lightningtail's, Thunderclap's and Rainwind's lives, but Swansong actually seemed to genuinely like him.

     Brisktail imagined his mind as a blank scroll. He came here to relax, and that was what he was going to do. Brisktail rounded the corner and stood on the threshold of one of the many sleeping quarters.

     Well, not just any SwiftScale's sleeping quarters.

     Ringing the bell before walking in, Brisktail was greeted with a familiar cozy sight.

     A table sat in the centre of the room covered in maps of his tribe's home, Ventus. Brisktail noted the long-winged dragon sitting at one end and smiled at her. Albatrosswing smiled at him too and then went back to frowning at her paperwork. A quick glance at the parchment read:

     Risingwind.

     Age twenty-three, male

     Reason for admittance: laceration across stomach, severe burns on wings.

     Ouch, that sounded bad. The scroll was obviously a patient file and Brisktail hoped whoever Risingwind was that he was alright.

     Brisktail walked into a room separated from the main living quarters by a curtain made of bright blue feathers. Another quick glance told Brisktail that the dye application was sloppy. Just what he'd expect from a slacker like Rainwind.

     Rainwind was great- she really was! But mention a cute little crab that somehow got stuck in the halls and she'll run out screaming for no one to eat it (which, unfortunately for Brisktail's ears, she had done before). Honestly, Brisktail wondered how she could stomach eating fish all the time with a love of creatures like she had.