Robin felt exhausted as night fell upon the Sand Kingdom. She was laying on her back, almost hanging out of the nest of blankets and pillows they had made within the Royal dragonets room.
Trotzen, Cacti and Snowflake all slept in the same room, so for Robin and Python's visit, they were sleeping with the three royal dragonets.
Beside her, Python was already fast asleep with Cacti sprawled our across his back, Python snoring softly in his sleep. On the other side of Python and Cacti was Trotzen, the darkly coloured SandWing curled up nearly and sleeping softly and silently, her wings tucked around her. On Robin's other side was Snowflake, laying on her stomach with the scroll she was reading to them out loud in her talons.
Robin's eyes were drooping and it felt like time was flying by in a blur. As her eyes closed, she could've sworn she heard someone walk in, the soft tapping of talons walking over to them. She then felt something soft drape itself over her and it only seemed to encourage sleep to try and pull her into a slumber, though her curiosity kept spiking and trying to keep her awake.
She managed to crack her eyes open just in time to see King Meerkat, in the form of Shudder the IceWing, walking out of the room, quietly shutting the door softly as to not make a sound to wake up the sleeping dragonets.
Robin waited a few moments before she reached up with one talon and rubbed at her eyes, trying to run away the tiredness from her golden yellow eyes.
Once she could see clearly enough, she yawned and looked over her shoulder at her friends and her cousin, fast asleep with a blanket draped over them, including Robin. As she looked at them, her eyes landed on the little bit of the scroll she could see from within Snowflake's talons.
That was a strange scroll, she thought. That night, they didn't really act out anything, they mostly just listened to Snowflake read it out to them until they fell asleep, one by one. She remembered that Python was first to fall asleep, Cacti soon after. Robin remembered that she was drifting in and out of sleep. When she woke up, Snowflake had fallen asleep and Trotzen was getting ready to fall asleep, telling Robin "just go back to sleep, you'll be tired in the morning if you don't." before she went to sleep, Robin falling back in and out of sleep.
The hybrid dragonet started to slowly pull herself out from underneath the soft blanket. Once she was out, she made her way over to Snowflake, crouching down beside her sleeping form to look at the scroll, making sure she kept herself quiet in order not to wake the others.
She looked over the scroll, reading over the words written out on the old piece of scroll.
The forgotten continent, she thought. It sounded interesting, new and untouched. Something she wanted to explore. It has to be real, she told herself with a twitch of her tail. And I'm going to find it.
"Robin....?" Whispered a voice from beside her, pulling the dragonet out from her thoughts. She looked over at Snowflake who was tiredly rubbing at her tried solid blue eyes behind her glasses.
"Did I wake you?" Robin asked in a whisper.
"No," Snowflake yawned as she soon stretched her forelegs. "I was starting to wake up anyways."
"Oh."
"What were you," Snowflake yawned. "Doing?"
"Just looking over the scroll again." Robin whispered as her gaze moved back onto the scroll now laying on the floor. "I really want to go see it, it's a new place full of new things! I haven't found anything new in so long and everything feels boring now."
The hybrid dragonet looked back over to her friend. "Wouldn't you like to see somewhere new? To go explore?" She asked Snowflake.
"Well....I don't really like being in new places," Snowflake said softly as she twiddled with her serrated talons. "But it does sound interesting."
"What sounds interesting?" Asked another tired voice. The two hybrid dragonets looked over to see Cacti sitting up, rubbing at his tired eyes. Beside him, Trotzen and Python also looked to be waking up but were keeping quiet.
"Looking for the los continent!" Robin whispered to them, which caught their attention rather quickly.
"You want to what?" Trotzen hissed quietly.
"That sounds hard." Python complained.
"That sounds interesting." Cacti hummed.
Robin then got an idea that made her smile. "How about we go looking for it?" She suggested. "We could find it and see if it's true that there's a lost continent that's separate from Pyrrhia! Maybe there's dragons that live there too!"
"What kind of dragons?" Cacti asked with a tilt of his head. "SeaWing's? NightWing's?"
"Maybe SkyWing's if theres any mountains." Trotzen shrugged.
"Who knows!" Robin's wings fanned our in excitement. She no longer felt tried and she felt as though she'd be able fly around Pyrrhia several times over. "We could go find out for ourselves!"
"Yeah!" Cacti jumped up.
"How are we going to find it though?" Snowflake asked. "It's lost for a reason, no one can find it."
"Pick a direction and look for it." Robin shrugged.
"That could take forever and would never." Trotzen deadpanned.
"Maybe there could be some clues on the scroll? Or maybe on a map?" Snowflake suggested quietly.
"That's a good idea! How about you, Trotzen and Python search the scroll while me and Cacti go find a map?" Robin suggested.
"We can do that, right Python? Trotzen?" Snowflake looked over to her sister who shrugged her shoulders, but when they looked over towards Python, the SandWing dragonet had fallen back asleep and was snoring softly.
"Well, while you guys do that and Python sleeps, me and Cacti will go be sneaky and get a map."
"Why do we have to be sneaky?" Cacti asked with a twitch of his wings.
"Because they might try to stop us from getting it if they find out what we're doing." Robin told him and she quickly made her way over to the door, the Prince following behind her.
"Oh," Cacti realized as Robin slowly opened the door and peaked out. "I guess that makes sense."
Robin looked back and forth both ways down the long SandWing Palace halls. There wasn't a soldier in sight. Perfect, she thought with a smile as she flicked her tail, signalling to Cacti to follow her. She looked over her shoulder and put one talon to her snout, a silent way of telling him to be quiet before they started to sneak down the palace halls.
The two dragonets kept themselves within the shadows of the dark hallway, keeping quiet and walking slowly so their talons wouldn't tap or scrape on the sandstone floor, keeping quiet to avoid making any noise that would alert any guards that could be patrolling the halls, even though they hadn't seen any yet. Robin remembered her father's lesions. He taught her how to be stealthy, if she ever needed to be.
"When walking on a hard floor, step softly and always pick up your talons to avoid making any noise." Shadowsplitter instructed as he demonstrated in their hut on the hard stone floor. "If the floor is made of wood and creeks under your weight, spread our your weight as though you're stepping on ice to avoid it breaking beneath you."
"Like this?" Little Robin copied her father's movements, stepping slightly and picking up her talons.
"Make sure to keep your tail up to, don't let t drag." He commented with a nod and a proud smile on his face.
Robin pulled herself out of her thoughts and back to the present. Step lightly, pick up your talons and lift your tail, she told herself before adding, don't let it drag.
Robin and Cacti continued to sneak down the hallway until they were about to round the corner that lead to the library doors.
The SkyWing-NightWing dragonet peaked around the corner, looking at the library doors. Her golden yellow eyes widened slightly to see a guard positioned outside. He was a large and well built SandWing wearing silver armour and holding a spear in his talons as he sat beside the wooden doors lined in silver. Hooked beside him in the stone wall was a torch, lit with flames that flickered and made the area glow in a dim golden light.
How were they going to get past him and into the library?
Robin backed up and sat around the corner with Cacti.
"There's a guard," she whispered to him, ushering her talons to help her describe him. "He's big."
"Oh no." Cacti whispered as his ears drooped. "How will we get the map now?"
Robin just shrugged in response as she peeked around the corner once more to get another look at the soldier and to see if they could find a way in. There didn't look to be any other way in other than the front doors, which was currently guarded, or the windows.
The windows! She thought, her ears perking up. She quickly looked back over to Prince Cacti. "The windows! We could fly in!"
"But those are stained glass windows, I don't think there's any open ones."
"We can go check, if not, we'll find another way in." She decided as he gave her a nod.
Robin and Cacti snuck back down the hall until they came to one of the large open windows. Cacti was first to peek out the open window before giving the all clear. He was first to jump out, his wings shooting out to catch him, Robin following soon after.
The two dragonets flew over towards the last window and they both peaked their heads up to see the guard still sitting there and looking alert.
Cacti tapped her shoulder with one talon, drawing her attention back to him rather than at the SandWing guard. He jerked his head for her to follow and she silently did as they flew over to the first stained glass window. It looked like an art piece, one of a large SandWing with emerald jewels and a fiery gaze, one that made Robin shiver. She thinks she knows who that SandWing was.
Queen Beetle, Prince Cacti's great-grandmother and once of the most feared Queen's of all of Pyrrhia. When Robin visited her grandparents in the rainforest, Strongwings read her a scroll about her. The scroll said that Queen Beetle was the most brutal and powerful Queen, wanting bloodshed rather and peace. When the NightWing's showed weakness, she didn't hesitate to strike.
I would hate to have lived under her rule, Robin shivered at the thought before she glared. But I would've taught her a lesion! Yeah! She would've feared me and she would've learned to be nice!
Robin and Cacti presses against the colourful stained glass but there didn't seem to be a way in, so they went to the next window. This one was colourful and had two dragons on it. A SandWing and a SeaWing.
Those two must be Queen Camel and Queen Pearl! Robin thought. They checked the window and there still didn't seem to be a way in.
"Maybe we'll have to go back and try our luck with waiting out the guard?" Cacti sighed. "Maybe we could wait till he falls asleep?"
"He'd be a pretty bad guard if he fell asleep on the job, would he not?" Robin asked as they flew to the third colourfully stained glass window. This one had Queen Scorpion on it, as well as Queen Iceberg of the IceWing's. The two Queen's looked to be shaking talons, as though a sign of peace.
"Yeah, he would be." Cacti chuckled.
Robin pressed against the glass. She was starting to think they might need to wait the guard out, but that was until she felt the window move underneath her talons, pushing inwards slightly. It was like a small door!
"Look! A way in!" She smirked back at Cacti.
"Yes! Now let's go get that map!"
Robin held it open for Cacti as he quickly made his way in, Robin following soon after. The stained glass window closed softly behind them, sealing them into the dark library.
"Do you know where a map would be?" Robin asked the price as they started to sneak around. It seemed so much different. Everything was dark and had looming shadows that looked as though they wanted to swallow them whole, it was rather scary but Robin needed to be brave if they were going to find the lost continent.
"I think so." Cacti nodded as he took the lead, leading them to one of the several bookshelves within the library. "I don't come in here often, that's Snowflake's thing, but from what I remember, I think they should be ovvveeerrrr here!"
Cacti started to search through the scrolls, looking for the map they were looking for within the dead silent and dark library.
But that silence was broken by the sound of a wooden door creaking open. The sound of talons scraping and tapping against the sandstone floor making the two dragonets freeze.
Someone was in there with them.
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What a shame to leave off on a cliffhanger, but it's my favourite thing to do. Luckily you won't have to wait long for chapter 6!
I wonder who might be in there with them?
- MindlessTyper