NOTE: The following is a fanfiction inspired by Tui T Sutherland's "Wings of Fire" saga. "Wings of Fire" does not belong to me, and much of the material included in this story is fanon, not canon, though several canon characters will be making appea...
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Lemming opened her eyes to dim afternoon light. She saw two orange dragons flying away from her and disappearing into the sky.
Owwww, Lemming thought. Is this the afterlife? Why is it so painful?
Lemming felt her throat. There was a small hole in it at the midsection of her neck, and claw marks surrounding it.
Lemming looked at her neck in disbelief. Aren't all my wounds supposed to disappear when I go to the afterlife? All my scars, too?
Lemming looked at herself and saw that she still had the scar on her left arm and the scars on her shoulders. As she looked around herself, she gasped -- quite painfully, sputtering more blood on herself.
She was surrounded by bodies.
I don't think this is the afterlife, Lemming thought as she glanced around the forest clearing. There were the corpses of nearly every single tribe apart from NightWings and RainWings surrounding her, all bearing the decayed marks of fatal wounds.
Lemming barely recognized Gill, who lied a few feet away from her, rigor mortis already setting into his body.
Lemming also saw Fjord, the IceWing who had died a few days ago. Shiney, black dots covered the side of his neck and face. Lemming still hadn't figured out how Clay had killed him -- maybe the dragonets of destiny had special powers?
Lemming saw Remora, whose dark blue scales had dulled to a greyish-blue.
As Lemming continued to look around, she saw Strike, whose face was still frozen, and Wolf, whose body was barely more than a skeleton and some scales.
Lemming wanted to vomit as she came across her former general's corpse. It was lied on its back, its rib cage open to the sky. Pale blue skin was draped over the back of his rib cage, and Lemming could barely discern Wolf's facial features on his skull, which smiled morbidly at the sky with all of his bloodstained fangs bared.
I did this.
I killed him.
I killed Wolf, and Remora, too.
Lemming took one last look and moved on from her former general. She saw hundred more bodies and skeletons scattered across the graveyard. Some seemed at peace. Some seemed still alive, scowling in random places as if their ghost was looking for vengeance.
Lemming felt something wet on her neck and realized that her neck was still bleeding, and she still had a hole in her throat.
Lemming staggered into the trees and came across a stream. She scraped some moss from the rocks and tied it around her neck with extra padding on the hole. It felt like fire in her throat, but it would keep infection out for now.
Dragons.
I need to find dragons.
Lemming needed to find a doctor, or someone who could at least help her, but it couldn't be MudWings, SeaWings, and definitely not SkyWings.
Lemming made sure that the moss was secure and took flight, heading south.
South.
South.
Maybe a lazy RainWing can help me somehow.
Maybe I'll run into someone who can help me.
I need dragons.
Lemming struggled throughout the flight. She felt weaker with each wingbeat, but knew she had to push through. Ever so often she let herself rest by a stream or lake, but made sure to keep moving and not let herself stop.
Don't stop.
If you stop, you'll fall asleep, and that wound will kill you.
Stopping makes you vulnerable to death.
A sudden, horrifying thought occurred to Lemming a few hours into the flight.
What if I can't talk again, or sing?
Well, at least I'll be alive.
Lemming pushed through. At some point in the middle of the night she found herself going west, but hadn't the mind to recognize this and kept going. At about midday the next day, she saw a a glittering golden shape under the sunset.
She felt so weak...
But the golden thing.
She had to get to the golden thing. She wasn't sure why, but her instincts told her to follow the bright, golden, shiney thing in the horizon.
Lemming came closer and closer to the sparkling object. It took her hours, but soon she could see that the golden shape was like a giant snake or dragon tail, and it had multiple tails branching off of it.
It was a river.
Lemming kept going with a boost of speed from determination. As she came closer to the river, she saw several dark spots -- buildings.
A city!
Dragons!
Lemming lowered her altitude and glided to the gates of the wall that surrounded it.
Two SandWing guards looked at her in surprise.
"I... need... help..." Lemming barely had the energy to muster the statement, and her voice croaked as she spoke.
"Are you a soldier or a veteran?" one of the SandWings asked.
"P-Prisoner... of Q-Queen Scarlet," Lemming forced out.
The two SandWings shuddered and widened their eyes in awe. They didn't take but a second more in eying her before they said "Come in, come in. We'll get you a healer. HEY!!! SUMMIT! HERE! TAKE THIS ICEWING DRAGONET TO THE HEALER!"
Lemming didn't have the energy to correct him before a purplish-red SkyWing flew over to her.
Lemming cried out in fear, then cried out again, this time in pain.
"Shhhhh," the young, male SkyWing said. "Come on, you're going to be okay."
Lemming scrambled away from him.
"She did say she was a prisoner of old Queen Scarlet," one of the SandWing guards said. "She probably thinks you're one of her soldiers."
"I'm not with Scarlet," Summit assured. "I haven't served Scarlet a day of my life. Come on, now. You're not fighting anymore. I'm taking you to a healer."
Lemming didn't have the energy to fight him anymore as she passed out in his arms. The last thing she heard was Summit cursing under his breath as he quickened his pace, then yet again everything went dark.
