The next morning, Cactus woke up to a soft drizzle hitting the cave walls. She wriggled out of Nameless's wing, careful not to wake the snoring lump of scales. Thunder echoed softly from far away.
She saw Corundum, still curled up by that window in the corner of the cave, on a flat stalagmite. She was humming a soft, sweet little tune to her son, keeping him asleep. It was the only time she couldn't be burnt by him.
The SkyWing finished her little song, noticing Cactus, she set her son down on the rock and jumped down to the cave floor, "Good morning, Cactus. I take it you slept well?"
"Oh yes, thank you very much, Corundum." Cactus smiled. Nameless snored loudly from the other end of the cave. Cactus scooped up a stone and tossed it at the NightWing, hitting his head and waking him up.
"Let's get moving, sleepyhead. We have to find the Talons by nightfall, they have to be based somewhere in the mountains.
"Oh, no need for any unnecessary searching." Corundum lifted a claw. "Please, follow me." She slithered away to a tunnel in the far corner of the cave, one that neither Cactus or Nameless had noticed before.
Corundum led the two deep into the mountain, through the winding passage. The tunnel would be large enough at points for two dragons to stand side-by-side with their wings unfurled, and so narrow at others that each one would crawl on their bellies in a single file line, with only the SkyWing's flame to guide them through the dark.
After about an hour of wandering through the mountain, the passage began to open up, eventually leading to a beautiful cavern. Rock formations dotted the floor and ceiling, lit up by the soothing, eerie glow of florescent fungi and quiet glow worms. An underground pond was also lit by the glow, reflectively casting shimmering patterns of light onto the glistening stalactites above. The pond was fed by a trickling waterfall seeping from one of the caves' walls, the pitter-patter noise it made echoed throughout the cavern. Dragons squawked in the distance. A fwoosh sent gusts of hot wind from the direction of the dragons, carrying with it, the smell of burning, rotten fish.
"Corundum!!" A dragon stumbled over his feet as he ran to the SkyWing. He was a RainWing, bathed in a pale green with splotches of dark colors along his neck and wings. He turned a dial on a weird device around his neck, turning his scales to a neutral blue. "Squelch and Kraken are at it again!!"
"Of course. I'm coming!" Corundum took off across the slippery stone with ease in the direction of the awful scent. Cactus and Nameless followed suit, being careful not to slip on the wet floor.
In another section of the cave, past a huge boulder which was left uncovering the entrance, stood a dragon from every tribe in Phyyria. A MudWing who had an ugly black scar etched from his left eye down his neck, stood over a coughing, smoking SeaWing, the luminescent stripes along his body flashed enraged curses at the other dragon. A pale IceWing sat on a stalagmite overhead, laughing hysterically. While a smallish black dragon sat in a corner of the room, trying to avoid any of the conflict.
"Squelch!" Corundum roared. The MudWing swiveled to face her, his face stricken with sudden panic. "Haven't we been over this?! SeaWings can't be
trained to stomach fire! Let alone breathe it themselves!" She swatted Squelch with her large wing, and helped the hacking SeaWing to his feet.
"Three MOONS!" The dragon wheezed, "That BURNS!!" he coughed forcefully, puffing more smoke into the air.
"Well, of COURSE, you blubbering idiot!" the IceWing scoffed, breaking into another bellowing laugh. "You've just had fire shot down your throat!!" He laughed even harder, losing his grip on the stalagmite and falling to the floor in a wild fit of giggling.
"Solstice!!" Corundum growled, "I'm giving you two seconds to pull your sorry self together before I shoot fire down your throat!"
Solstice ceased laughing and scrambled up to his perch.
"Talons and teeth! I can't believe you all! I leave this cave to care for my son for one day and I come back to this!" Corundum slumped to the floor and put her head in between her claws. "Unbelievable!"
A few minutes of hushed silence filled the cave before Corundum gathered her composure again. She sighed.
The RainWing from earlier was now bubbly, and a bright, berry-colored purpleish color. He walked up to Corundum and wrapped his wings around the fiery dragon, "So nice to have you back, Corundum!" He turned to Nameless. "Ooooh, another NightWing! I bet you'd be good friends with Lightslayer!" he tried to wrap his arms around the big dragon. Finally, the RainWing reached out to hug Cactus, jumping back suddenly.
"Oh, my! You don't have any wings!" he squeaked, "But that's alright, only surprised me for a moment." He gave Cactus a warm hug. "My name is Einstein. We welcome you with open wings to the Talons of Peace!"
"Alright, Einstein. You've shown off enough for one day. I say we get a good lunch, our guests must be very hungry." She turned toward the stalagmite, "Solstice!!" she called up to the droopy IceWing.
"I am not your personal hunter!" he griped, not moving.
"Get your tail down here and show some respect to our new guests, you melting slush!" she roared.
Solstice dropped to the ground, staring Corundum dead in the eyes. "I'm no pile of melted snow-slush! I'll show these newbies how to get some real grub!"
The group left the cavern through a hole in the sleeping cave's wall, leading to the open, mountainous forests. The dragons sat outside the cave and watched as Solstice flew loftily into the air, just above the trees, a pale blue dot against the rich blue sky. Quick as a flash, the IceWing pulled his wings in to his sides and dove into the trees, staying under for what seemed like only a split second before shooting back up into the air. He floated on the mountain's breeze back to the others, with five wild boars clutched in his talons.
Solstice dropped the prey in front of the others and landed nearby, folding his shiny blue wings.
"Who's melting slush again?" he asked Corundum mockingly. The red dragon sighed and slugged Solstice in the shoulder with her talon.
"Let's play a game!" Einstein chirped. The others gave him their full attention. "I say, we let the boars go, each with a rope tied around their ankle or something! And then we all go chase them! Won't that be fun!"
Squelch chuckled, "Sounds fun, it's been forever since we've played a game."
"What about you two?" Corundum asked Cactus. The little SandWing smiled.
"Sure! It sounds like a good way to test our hunting skills."
"Alright then!" Solstice grinned mischievously. Pieces of bright red wire were tied around the boars' tails. "First one to come back here with a boar wins. Some of us might not catch one though. Okay? Begin!"
Solstice released the boars from his talons and watched them scurry back into the trees. Cactus could see him silently mouthing something to himself, probably counting out their prey's head-start.
"Now!" he screeched, shooting himself into the air and over the forest. The others hurriedly flapped off to different sections of the forest.
Cactus took off, dashing wingless into the trees. She scanned the area as she ran. Something crashed through the branches above. Cactus saw Corundum leap to her feet and flap after a boar she had already spotted.
I'll have to pick up the pace if I want to outweigh their advantage. C'mon Cactus! Attack speed! Move it! Go go go!!
Cactus pressed on faster, weaving through the trees, scanning for the bright red of a boar's tag. Something caught her eye, a flash of bright red. She spotted the boar, and ran even faster, her talons ached as they pounded against the forest floor.
Suddenly, Corundum shot out of the trees and slammed into Cactus, sending her flying into another tree. That must have been the boar she'd been chasing, and now the SkyWing was too focused on her goal and competition to notice anything.
Cactus picked herself off of the ground, shrugging away the leaves and dirt. She dashed off to find the boars. Luckily she spotted another one, rooting around at the base of a tree. Cactus leaped for the animal, who squealed and ran out of the way, leaving Cactus to slam into the tree it was digging at. She chased the boar into a stream. It tried to swim across the current, but was swept into her talons.
"Finally! Now, just to get back to the rendezvous point."
The SandWing waddled out of the river and shook her scales of all the water, still clutching the boar in her talons. She looked around, and was hit with a sinking feeling in her gut.
"Wait...where am I?" the feeling in her gut grew bigger, as Cactus realized she had no idea where she was.
Hours later, Cactus sat under a tree by the river in the pouring rain. It was dark now, and she'd been calling for Nameless, Corundum and Solstice all day. The SandWing had decided to eat the boar she'd captured earlier, not like she could win now anyways.
As Cactus put her head down in the dirt, she saw a bright flash of silvery white up in the air. She heard a few wingbeats and the squish-suish of talons in the mud. Solstice turned the corner and spotted Cactus. She was overjoyed to see this acquaintance.
"Solstice!" She cried happily.
"There you are, newbie. I was afraid we wouldn't find ya for a bit." The IceWing smiled a little. "C'mon, it's pouring outside, we should get back to a blazing campfire and plenty of boar." He stretched his wings out and crouched lower to the ground. Cactus gratefully climbed onto his back as Solstice flapped up into the air and back to the cave.