Quest for Fire ~ Chapter 5 ~ The Meeting

It was a long and fitfully night for Zoltar. Every sound, every twisting shadow made him jump. In the back of his mind was the image of that shadow crossing the passage and the ghostly sound of claws clacking against the ground. He tossed and turned, trying to get to sleep, but no sleep came. Hours dragged by, until, finally the fire rocks started to burn bright again. It was morning.

Zoltar hauled himself out of bed, his vision blurred with the lack of rest.

‘Not the best way to start the day,’ He thought as he stumbled out the doorway. As he exited his room and moved onto the main passage, the thought of the mysterious shadow the night before came to mind. Surly whatever it had been would have left claw prints or tail drags. Zoltar scanned the ground. There wasn’t anything unusual to be found. Just a few claw marks, which he quickly identified as Shadow Talon claws. Probably his from the day before judging by the trail they lead towards his room. There wasn’t another mark to be found.

A sudden wash of shame passed over Zoltar. He’d been trained better than this. These were blatant claw marks. Scorpus would be deeply disappointed if he saw this and Zoltar knew it. Shadow Talons were renowned across Megalonia for their stealth no matter the situation or the terrain and here he was stomping around the tunnels. Even the untrained Shadow Talons left no trace.

Flattening his ears in humiliate, Zoltar continued on down the tunnel, this time making sure to put each paw down softly just like Scorpus had taught him.

It was still early morning and most of the rooms he past were either empty or had a sleeping Shadow Talon in them. Only the soldiers and chief were up at this time of day. Everyone else tried to reserve as much energy as possible.

As Zoltar padded down the tunnel he passed Mouzan’s room. It was empty. Zoltar cocked his head. Usually Mouzan was a late sleeper even with orders from the chief.

‘He must really be excited about that island,’ Zoltar thought as he carried on along the tunnel. It had been three years since the volcano’s last eruption. All that time he and the other soldiers had been outside the Shadow Lands, searching for another place to live. Not a single island they’d found was habitable.

Zoltar sighed. If this island wasn’t the one, he didn’t know what the tribe would do. They were too weak to take on one of the mainland tribes. Even the Wind Talons would beat them in a fight and they’d been the weakest tribe in Megalonia for hundreds of years even with the Lightning Talons to help them.

The Shadow Talons couldn’t live here much longer. They were slowly being starved and poisoned be the volcano. If another three years went by there wouldn’t be any Shadow Talons left. They’d be extinct as their ancestor the Exltron.

Zoltar’s thoughts were broken by the distant sound of voices. It was coming from further along the tunnel. Straining his ears to pick up what the dragons were say, Zoltar hurried towards the sound.

“…Yes, I know it wouldn’t work Hisster. The island isn’t large enough.”

Zoltar’s heart fell when he finally managed to hear a few words. Which island were they talking about? Did Hisster think his island was too small? Would they have to look for another one now?

Zoltar could feel himself starting to panic. His heart was pounding in his ears and he forgot to be careful where he put his paws. He knew it was stupid to start worrying. He didn’t even know if Hisster and the other dragon were talking about the Wisp Talon Island.

He was still scolding himself when he turned the last corner to Hisster’s throne room.

His heart jumped when he saw Scorpus standing in the doorway waiting for him. Scorpus was back. Zoltar’s mind wondered back to the shadow the night before. Now it made sense. How could he have been so stupid to think that it had been some monster? Of course it had be Scorpus.

“Morning, Zoltar,” Scorpus greeted, allowing Zoltar into the room.

Zoltar looked around. Hisster was standing in the far corner, his tail curled over his talons as smoke rose from his snout. Zoltar’s eyes caught on Mouzan, who was fidgeting uncomfortably next to Scorpus and kept looked first at him and then at Scorpus.

“What’s going on?’ Zoltar asked as he looked from one dragon to another. They all looked so serious. Had something happened? Had he done something wrong?

“We were just talking about you.” Scorpus said, padding over to stand next to Hisster. His brilliant obsidian black scales shone as they caught to the fire rocks eerie glow.

“Y-you were?” Zoltar stammered, all his worries resurfacing.

“Yes,” Hisster started, a grim look had settled over his scarred snout, “That island you found will be perfect for the Shadow Talons, if…” he paused, flicking his forked tongue, “we can get rid of the Wisp Talons. The island is too small for both tribes. I was up late last night with Scorpus talking and, although he doesn’t like the idea of it, he’s agreed that the best way to defeat the Wisp Talons is to go to the Howler Dragons.”

Zoltar swallowed the lump building in his throat. He’d been hoping Scorpus would reject the idea, but that seemed to be out the cave right now.

"So when are we going to the Howler Dragons?” Zoltar asked, struggling to keep his voice from stuttering.

“We were going to go right now actually, now that you’re here,” Hisster said, getting to his paws. He padded over to the door way. Scorpus followed close behind.

Reluctantly, Zoltar followed them. Mouzan walked along beside him as they travelled up the passage. Zoltar’s thoughts felt like an out of control storm raging inside his head. Hisster and Scorpus planned to kill the Wisp Talons? 

Zoltar shook his head. It was unheard of in Megalonia. Sure, the tribes were constantly trying to grab land from one another, but no one had ever actually tried to wipe out an entire tribe. It was horrible. It wasn’t the Wisp Talons fault they lived on an island without enough room for both tribes. It was their island and it wasn’t like they had anywhere else to go. Megalonia was occupied and there weren’t many islands that they could inhabit. They were stuck on that island and now, just because the Shadow Talons wanted it, the entire tribe had to die. It just wasn’t right. 

If the Shadow Talons started killing off entire dragon populations what was to top the other dragon tribes doing it. It wasn’t the best idea to be setting such examples. The Shadow Talons weren’t exactly the strongest tribe in Megalonia at the moment and wouldn’t be for some time.

Frowning, Zoltar shook his head again. If he remembered right, the island hadn’t been that small. It was roughly the size of the Shadow Lands and that had happily supported the Shadow Talons with much to spare. The island should be more than enough for two tribes especially counting that the Shadow Talons numbers weren’t exactly at their highest. Something was going on here and it wasn’t right. Hisster wasn’t telling the truth about the reason for getting rid of the Wisp Talons.

“Do you think going to these Howler Dragons is a good idea?” Mouzan whispered, breaking through Zoltar’s thoughts.

Zoltar blinked, trying to process what Mouzan had said while juggling what he’d been thinking about.

“To be honest with you, no,” Zoltar hissed back, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard be Scorpus or Hisster who were traveling just ahead.

“Really? What do you plan to do about it?” Mouzan asked, his eyes wide as he walked closer to Zoltar.

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something,” Zoltar growled, gritting his teeth. Hisster was putting the whole tribe at risk by making a deal with the Howler Dragons and all he had to do to avoid it was to make a peace agreement with the Wisp Talons. Why was he so avert to the idea?