Kingdoms Falling

Chapter 4

Three more fights broke out before midday. Two were simple skirmishes that were quickly smothered by gentle words and compromise. The third, however, was between Meadow's "troop" when Armadillo wanted to talon-craft every brick of cement for the new wall around Sandtron City, and Gorge, the raynbow hatchling assigned to their team, blatantly refused, claiming it would take far too long and put them days behind schedule, and Hillock found himself trapped in the middle, begging both sides to come to an agreement so they could all go back to work. 

"Why don't we take a break?" Meadow had suggested urgently after the argument had carried on for over fifteen minutes without coming to a conclusion. "We'll go hunting, eat, and then come back to this with fresh eyes, all right?"

The others had nodded, and, after sharing a few more grunts and growls, had slowly followed the smaller hatchling away from the construction site. Just over the walls of the city was a semi-barren desert. Meadow knew they could catch something pretty easily, and it would give his coworkers a chance to cool off before one of them did something they would regret. Gorge flew off by himself toward the midday sun, while Armadillo and Hillock went together to hunt for lizards near Sandcrages, a small deserted canyon just to the west. They invited Meadow to come along, but he politely declined, his stomach rolling over at the thought of devouring something even remotely related to him.

Instead, he'd flown east, knowing there was a small oasis near the southern territory. There, he could a trout or two and was the remaining concret from his talons before it became a permanent part of his scales. Below him in the sand, he saw a herd of baby armadillos trailing their mother, and a small smile crept across his face. Dasypodidae. Kingdom Mammalia. He found them adorable, and he caught himself wondering what Cotton thought about armadillos. Did she think they were cute? Knowing her, she'd only wrinkle her snout and shoo them away, claiming they were dirty, stinky little beasts. 

He swept down low behind them, his wings providing the family with a moment of shade as they squeaked and scrambled across the dunes toward shelter. The qibli was hot against his back, and the currents carried him smoothly across the landscape. He had a brief sensation of possibly being part desert dragon. He had the knowledge, and he could go a long time without water, but he was also too small, and his form was entirely wrong. His wings curved inward instead of jutting out, and his tail was too narrow and wispy. His scales were too small, and wouldn't shield him from the blistering heat of the sand. He'd learned early from Sun not to touch the ground unless he wanted scorched claws that were nearly impossible to walk on for several days. 

Maybe one-fourth desert dragon?

Even that seemed like too much to hope for.  

Leaving the armadillos behind, he shot off over the dunes and continued flying south. Small huts dotted the land, and several dragons sent up plumes of fire as a greeting as he passed. That was another reason he half-wished he were from Marblerivver. The inhabitants there were so cheerful and welcoming. It didn't matter what breed he was. They had taken him in and accepted him as one of their own. At least while he was there leading a construction team. 

And,  as the destruction was partially his fault, he felt a certain obligation to help. 

"Hey! Meadow!" 

He heard someone approaching from behind, and he twisted back as he flew, spotting familiar sleek yellow scales glinting from an approaching squadron of scouts. And at their head was Sun. The young drake grinned as he signaled something to his second and broke away from them to wing toward Meadow. 

"Hi!" he crowed, nearly bowling the smaller hatchling over in excitement. 

"Erm...hiiieeeeooowww!" Meadow yelped as the sand dragon embraced him in a bone-crushing hug. "Sun...what...owwwww." He carefully pried his friend off of him and ducked back, gasping for breath.