Shadow's Rising {Wing 6} Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Warm Friends and Cold Enemies

The cart backed up and came to a sudden jarring halt along with the clang of metal bars. The cover was removed and Shadow ‘s eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim torchlight. There was a cage made of strange green metal behind the cart. The back of the cart opened into the cage and one of the guards went to enter Shadow’s cage with a rope, but the moment he saw Shadow’s blood-crimson eyes looking at him from the darkness of the cage he yelled and scrambled back out.

“I thought you said they were all asleep from the poison!” the man yelled.

“Does it matter? Just use the spears to push him into the cage,” one of the others replied.

Shadow felt no effect from the poison anymore but he pretended to be drowsy just in case as he was prodded into the cage. The cage door slammed shut behind him and a heavy lock clacked into place.

“Come on boys. Let’s go get paid!” one of the bandits called and the rest cheered as they hopped into the cart while it pulled away.

Shadow quickly checked on the forms of his friends strewn about dusty ground. Most of them seemed relatively unharmed.

Aurora was dirty but had no visible injuries. Her pearl scales glittered in the flickering torchlight and the beautiful pink and blue swirls across her body and horns had not been scratched.

Hailstorm had a few spines broken but those would heal quickly. His cold blue and white scales showed the mud and dirt of their travels more clearly than most.

Tempest seemed to have some bruising but it was hard to tell amidst the dark blue scales covering the majority of her body. Her thick wings showed some signs of whips but thankfully the membrane hadn’t been torn.

Boulder almost blended in with the brown stone and dust of the floor. He groaned slightly and looked as if he was trying to wake up. The spikes along his chin made a slight grinding noise as they slid across the ground. His large frame seemed to struggle under his own weight, which scared Shadow a bit. He was used to the strong dragonet carrying himself and even a few others seemingly with ease.

Gale’s wings and tail were sprawled awkwardly. He was breathing steadily and looked as though he had simply taken a deep nap. His tongue had flopped out of his mouth on one side and his mouth was twitching in a silly grin like he was having a pleasant dream. At the same time his back talon was pawing at the air like a dog. Perhaps it was simply the relief Shadow felt at seeing them all ok, but the scene looked quite comical and he couldn't help but chuckle nervously to himself.

Satisfied that none of them were in immediate danger, Shadow looked around to try and guess where they might be. The walls, roof and floor were covered in the same green bars of metal as the door. The walls and roof themselves seemed to be made of bricks far older than the cage itself. Perhaps this cell was a recent addition to the prison beneath the coliseum. But what kind of things did they have in here before?

A quick look around the floor of the room gave him his answer. There were remnants of old human bones and a few pieces of rusty armor. Shadow stuck out his tongue in disgust. The humans in this city were barbaric. If they did this to their own race, he couldn’t imagine what they would do to those they considered monsters.

Boulder groaned and rolled onto his belly clutching his head. “Argh, ow. Wha-what happened?”

He got to his knees and slowly looked around. “Tempest? Aurora? Hailstorm? Where…” He trailed off as he noticed their bodies lying on the floor and his breath caught in panic.

“They are all ok. Just sleeping. The poison affected them a little more than us I think.”

Boulder whipped around, looking for who had spoken, and Shadow waved to him. Boulder jumped a little, then relaxed as he recognized him.

“Thank goodness. I thought we were all going to die.”

Shadow didn’t have the heart to remind him that a quick death while unconscious might be preferable to whatever the humans had planned for them next.

Boulder looked around and helped get the other dragonets into more comfortable positions before laying down himself.

Down here the thoughts of the humans in the city were muted and he was able to hear Boulder’s thoughts clearly.

Boulder was worried about what was going to happen and how the other dragonets would react. He didn’t really consider himself much of a planner, so he decided to simply wait until everyone had overcome the effects of the poison before thinking about it.

A few hours later, Tempest woke up. She tried to stand up quickly and stumbled. Luckily Boulder was able to catch and steady her.

Tempest’s eyes looked around the room and landed on Shadow. This is… We’re all… You. Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed in fury. “I know it was you. You convinced them to try to rescue me. What were you thinking?!” she roared, her talon shooting up to her head as her exclamation brought on a splitting headache.

“I didn’t need your help. I didn’t want your help. And now everyone is in this mess, all because of you!” she hissed angrily.

“It’s not Shadow’s fault. We all would have come to rescue you whether he wanted to or not.”

“Get off me!” she retorted as she pushed him away and curled up in a corner, her tears already causing muddy streaks down her face.

Boulder turned to Shadow. “Don’t worry. I’m sure she didn’t mean that.”

Shadow placed a talon on his shoulder before he had even finished and nodded. “I know.”

The whole time she had yelled at him, her mind was screaming those same accusations at herself.

When Aurora and Hailstorm woke, Tempest and Boulder wrapped them each in a hug. Shadow still felt a bit awkward and stood off to the side in the darkness.

By the time Gale woke, Shadow’s internal clock said it was dark outside. The poison had drained all the strength from their bodies and they were mentally exhausted as well, so they decided to discuss what to do next in the morning.

Shadow watched as the other dragonets all gathered in the middle of the room and snuggled into a pile. Up until then, Shadow had always slept on his own a small distance from the rest of the group, but now something made him want to join them. At the same time guilt held him back so he just stood awkwardly, torn about what to do.

Aurora noticed him there and raised her wing, beckoning for him to join them. Shadow reluctantly accepted and snuggled in next to her. The scales around him were warm and much softer than the hard ground of the cell.

Aurora leaned down and whispered quietly in his ear. “You don’t have to be so nervous, Shadow. We used to sleep like this all the time when one of us had a particularly hard day, and I know this has been tough for you just as much as the rest of us. You belong with us. So don’t worry about it and just sleep.”

Heh. I wish it were that easy. It always takes me twice as long to fall asleep, Shadow thought to himself, but the same was often true of Aurora. Perhaps he could chat with her tonight rather than listening to her thoughts as he often had.

Shadow looked up at Aurora. She was smiling gently at him but her eyes quickly captured his attention. It may have been a trick of the light and how tired he was, but he could have sworn there were pretty rings of purple, blue, and pink flowing through her eyes. The moment he saw them he felt his whole body start relaxing.

“That’s it, just sleep,” Aurora whispered softly, her voice sounding oddly melodic. Shadow was about to argue, but his eyelids suddenly felt like lead weights had been attached to them and he couldn’t even lift a claw in protest. His mouth opened but no sound came out.

“Shhh. Close those weary eyes and sleep. Sleep all night long.”

Shadow felt himself nodding as his eyelids drifted steadily downward, and the moment they closed he was flying blissfully through dreamland.

Shadow woke the next day feeling more refreshed than he had in a long time. His memories of last night were a bit fuzzy though. He remembered Aurora inviting him to sleep with the rest of them but he must have fallen right to sleep after that because everything else was hazy. As he wondered about this his eyes drifted over to Aurora’s sleeping form. Her face was serene and her scales seemed to shimmer, they reflected the torchlight as her sides rose and fell with each breath, like the world’s most beautiful gemstone.

Watching her made him feel warm inside and a strange feeling like butterflies stirred in his stomach but he ignored it. They hadn’t had a good meal in a while after all.

After laying there for a few minutes he yawned and stood, licking his dry lips and wiping the dust from his eyes. He moved slightly away from the rest of the sleeping dragonets and stretched. Or, at least, he tried too. Shadow felt an awkward pain in his wings as if they were being squeezed by a vice grip.

Looking over his shoulder, Shadow was able to make out a thick bar of the same green steel as the cage connecting two clamps attached to his wings. They held his wings together at an awkward angle such that he couldn’t reach them with his talons or tail. He looked at the others and found they had all been equipped with similar shackles. It was obvious why they had done it but Shadow couldn’t understand why he hadn’t woken from the pain of attaching the clamps. There was a lingering sickly sweet smell, but even if they had used Dormir poison, he had become practically immune to its effects after his extensive exposure.

As Shadow puzzled over this, Boulder began to stir. Like Shadow, he stood, rubbed his head and began to stretch before finding that he was shackled. Shadow watched his face turn from confusion to horror as he noticed the others were wearing similar devices.

“Wake up! Wake up, guys! They’ve done something to us,” he called in a panic as he shook them all awake.

“They must have placed these on us while we were sleeping to prevent us from flying!” Haistorm exclaimed.

“Ow! Argh. When I find whoever did this, I’ll pinch their wings right off! See how they like it,” Tempest growled.

Aurora whimpered and winced as the metal dug into the soft flesh of her delicate wings whenever she moved. Shadow wanted to comfort her but Gale was in an even worse state.

My wings! Can’t fly. No good. I’m no good if I can’t fly. It hurts, it hurts! No wings. Can’t fly. Free… free. I want to be free. Let me out. Let me out! Ow! Ow, my wings. Can’t fly. Can’t fly.

He sat shivering in shock as his mind repeated the same words over and over. Shadow could feel the overwhelming helplessness radiating from his thoughts. It made him want to curl up in a corner and give up on everything. The pain of the other dragonets was present in every thought and only added more weight to Shadow’s heart.

What if Jarid never found him? Was he destined to suffer and die down here? He couldn’t do it. It was all too much to bear.

Shadow looked down at his own talon as it trembled, and slowly forced it into a fist. No. I will not abandon hope. As long as Jarid is out there I can keep going. I’ll push though for as long as it takes for him to find me again. I know he won't give up, so neither will I.

He looked up at Gale as a new determination swelled within him.

I always thought this power was wrong. That it was a bad thing to be able to hear the thoughts that those around me don’t want to share. At times it feels like a burden to carry the weight of their hidden pain. But I can do it. I can use this power to help the ones who hurt the most. I can help heal wounds deep and old. I am the healer of ancient scars! I bring…

HOPE!!!

Shadow shouted the last words in his mind as he poured all he could into sharing the new hope he had found with the other dragonets.

For a moment all of them paused as their fears and worries calmed. Even Gale looked around in confusion though his tail still trembled.

Shadow took the opportunity to walk over to Gale and embrace him as much as he could with his wings still locked behind him.

“You are going to be alright, Gale. We are all here for you. You are more than just a quick flier. You are my friend, and your family cares for you very, very much.”

Gale stood awkwardly at first, then tears began streaming down his face as he leaned on Shadow’s shoulder. The others quickly noticed and gathered around to comfort Gale as well. Shadow could feel their love and compassion all around him. This, he felt, was the true gift he had been blessed with. He could take in the good and help them push through the bad. Now that he thought about it, his mother had once done the same thing for Jarid the night they met.

Suddenly, Shadow felt a wave of cold travel down his spine, washing away every warm feeling he had.

Hm, hm, hm. Well, now. What’s this? Such a burst of hopeful energy. How adorably naive. But you should be more careful about using your telepathy. You never know who might be listening.

Whoever’s thoughts he was hearing, it felt as though they had spoken directly into his head. It was a voice he didn’t recognize, even among the muted ones coming from up above. He felt it in his head, like a cold, emotionless snake writhing its way into the deepest corners of his mind. He felt exposed and vulnerable, as if all his darkest secrets had been laid bare. It made his scales tingle, his wings tremble, and his heart race.

Ah! I see. No wonder your mental defenses are so disappointing. You’ve had no one to teach you how powerful you really are. You’ve barely even started on the basics.

The voice was deep and powerful but not necessarily menacing. It reminded him of the stone giant, though something told him even that creature wouldn’t be a threat to whoever this was. Their presence in his mind made him shiver from his horns to the tip of his tail.

Shadow took a breath and tried to calm himself. His friends were all around him and he couldn't feel the presence of anyone else nearby. He squeezed his eyes shut, hugged Gale even tighter and focused on the feeling of his friends, his scales against theirs.

Calm down. Whoever they are, they can’t hurt you. You’re safe here, he thought to himself.

As Shadow’s heart began to slow, he let out a sigh and opened his eyes once more.

Oh, I very much doubt that little Night Wing, the voice replied with an evil chuckle. In the wall at the back of the room the stone had molded itself into the face of a grinning Night Wing head. The eyes were hollow and seemed to stare into Shadow’s very soul, finding amusement in the misery of his current situation.

“Ahhh!” Shadow exclaimed as he fell back. The other dragonets looked at him in confusion.

“What’s wrong, Shadow?” Aurora asked in concern. “You look scared of something.”

Shadow looked at her then back to the wall, but the face had disappeared. The other dragonets followed his gaze but found nothing unusual about that side of the cave. Had it simply been an illusion?

“Are you alright?” Boulder asked.

Shadow nodded and tried to appear calm, but his mind was racing. It seemed like the voice had responded to his thoughts. But that’s impossible. I thought all the other Night Wings were wiped out.

He got onto his knees to stand, but froze as the voice spoke once more.

Oh, I am no mere Night Wing, little dragonet. I could tell you who I am but what would be the fun in that? After all, we are going to be meeting each other a lot from now on. But for now, you can call me Bellum. Dulce Bellum Inexpertīs.

I wish I could chat for a while longer but I’m very busy getting ready for the tournament. I have a feeling this year’s will be one to remember. I can’t wait to meet that brother of yours as well. What was his name again?

Shadow tried to resist but he felt the same cold slithering sensation in his head from earlier as the answer was plucked from his mind.

Ah. That’s right. The human.

Jarid.