"Sepia. Oh, Sepia!" a voice called. "Now where could she be?" the voice asked. A dragonet giggled. "I...found you!" her mother cried as he stuck her head behind a cactus and pulled out a small sandy and brown colored dragonet. The little dragonet, Sepia, squealed with delight. "Sepia, would you help daddy go into the market?" Sepia's mother, Asha, asked her dragonet. "Yes, mommy," Sepia replied and bounded away towards a small hut in the vast sandy desert.
Prickly pear, saguaros, and barrel cacti were everywhere. The tiny dragonet chomped on the cacti all the way to where her father was standing, just outside of their hut.
"Hey there, Sepia. Did you have fun with mommy?" her father, Dune, asked.
"Yes. We played lots of games," Sepia told him.
"Fun. Are you ready to go to the Scorpion Den?" Dune asked his daughter.
"Yes, yes, yes! I wanna see Aunt Thorn, Uncle Stoney, and their new egg!" Sepia cried.
Dune froze, his face hardened, and he said, "Yes of course. The egg."
"Do you know what it looks like? Oh, I hope I get to see it. I bet it's so pretty. I hope that it hatches when we get there. That would be so cool!" The dragonet babbled all the way there.
As soon as they walked into the market center, Thorn greeted them, but she did not look happy. She growled at Dune as he approached and said, "Dune, you did something to my egg. I should have never trusted you." she hissed.
"You won't find your egg, it's hidden where no one can find it," Dune said keeping a straight face.
"You!" Thorn screeched at him. "You joined the Talons of Peace under my watch. I trusted you and you disobeyed me."
"I'm so sorry, but I can't take you to the egg."
"I will find it. I won't stop searching until I do. Meanwhile, I can punish you for treachery." Then, she jumped on Dune and scratched him in the eye.
Blood was everywhere, and Dune was struggling to get up.
"Dad!" Sepia cried, but her father was slowly getting up.
He scratched Thorn across the snout, but she stabbed his wing and breathed fire on it. The stabbed part of his wing disintegrated.
"No!" Sepia cried again.
Dune got up again, stared at Thorn sadly, and flew away as fast as he could, jolting in midair, because of his wings.
Thorn growled at his retreating back. "Coward. Go after him, and get his wife. Bring her in for questioning. They live in a hut a few miles West of here. I need my egg back."
Four of her guards flew off in different directions. Two after Dune, two after Asha.
Sepia was frozen on the spot. Thorn was too busy to notice her. She didn't understand what had just happened. Thorn's egg was stolen? By Dune, her dad? He had been Thorn's best friend.
She turned around and took off through the alley, trying to find her way out to warn her mother of the guards.
As she turned around a corner, something hit the back of her skull, and everything went black.
"Look at this one guys." A gruff male Sandwing remarked.
"Perfect." a female Sandwing hissed.