Young Writers Society

A great billowing carpet of white clouds swirled below Zoltar. His shadow danced on the sun lit blanket while the bright yellow sun reflected off his obsidian scales. The sky up above was clear a blue crystal and the air was warm against his scales, but it just seemed to mock the unbearable loneliness in his heart.

"Why am I always not good enough?" he asked quietly to himself as if expecting an answer to the question he'd been asking for years. Why couldn't the Shadow Talons just accept him for who he was? Even his own parents had thought he'd been an accident and had abandoned him. If it hadn't been for Scorpus taking him in, he probably would have died. Now Scorpus was gone and the only dragon that had cared about him was gone forever. Life just felt empty now.

He was sure that if he'd been born with acid fangs, he would have fitted in just like all the other Shadow Talon dragonets. It wasn't like he wasn't a Shadow Talon, he was just a little different. Sometimes he thought about the other dragon tribes living in Megalonia and how they treated their tribe members. It was days like these that he wished he'd been born a Moon Talon or better yet a Sea Talon. He wondered what his life would have been like if he'd been born into one of those tribes.

Zoltar sighed as he tried to take his mind off the matter. The bites he'd received were starting to throb and ache. He found his thoughts wondering to the fight with the Howler Dragons. He'd never known he could fight that well. Sure, the Howler Dragons had be half his size, but there'd been over ten of them. And why had Krakatoa, the leader of the Howler Dragons, told him to watch Hisster. Maybe he saw something in him Zoltar didn't see. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as useless as he thought.

The clouds were starting to turn grey and the horizon glowed red. As Zoltar neared, he could see the tall figure of the volcano rising up from the middle of the Shadow Lands. The land was streaked with orange and gold as Zoltar surveyed the rivers of lava in worry. The volcano was getting more violent by the day and it was only a matter of time before it erupted again. The Shadow Talons needed to move as soon as possible before the volcano wiped them out for good.

Sparks flew through the air and the smoke grew thicker as Zoltar neared the group of tunnels he and the rest of the Shadow Talon soldiers stayed. Hisster’s and the other Shadow Talons caves weren’t that far off. As Zoltar flew past Hisster’s home he could hear Hisster growling in a deep voice while the other soldiers laughed mockingly from their underground cavern.

Sighing to himself sadly, Zoltar landed a few caves down and ducked into a tunnel. Faint echos of dragon voices slipped along the corridors, but they were quite a way a way. Soon they died off too and silence filled the tunnels as Zoltar entered his chamber. A dim fire rock lit the small room, the weak light just enough to make out a rock slab in the corner; his only possession in the world. Curling up into a tight ball on the slab, Zoltar closed his eyes, waiting for the relief of sleep to come.

…….

The next morning Zoltar was woken by the sounds of dragons’ roaring and wings clapping together. He jumped out of bed and rushed up the tunnel outside. A crowd of scrawny Shadow Talons were assembled round Hisster’s cave. It seemed as though every dragon in tribe had shown up; around a hundred to a hundred and fifty dragons.

Zoltar pushed his way through the mob, dodging a mass of sharp talons and barbed tails. A few dragons snapped at him disapprovingly, muttering things like runt and loser. Zoltar simple ignored them though. The Shadow Talons had said demoralizing things to him all his life, but he'd gotten used to it. Right now he wanted to see if Hisster really was going to leave him out of the quest. After all there where only five soldiers left including him.

All the dragons were gathered round four large Shadow Talons. They were wearing golden armour which glinted and sparkled in the rising sun. The gold was tainted red from the glowing lava streams that flowed by the caves.

The crowd fell silent as Hisster emerged out of his cave. Hisster walked proudly over to a big rock and stepped up onto it. He raised his wings to silence the few dragons whispering in the back.

“My fellow Shadow Talons,” he began, “I have gathered the best of the tribe to go on a mission for the Ruby of Fire.” His eyes caught on Zoltar peeking out of the crowd, who flinched and ducked back into the sea of wings and talons.

“They will travel to the Misty Mountain Island and get a Wisp Talon scale. They will return and give it to me, so that I know they are doing as instructed. Then they will travel all over the continent of Megalonia to collect the other three things, which will be given to the Riconra in exchange for the Ruby of Fire. I will then travel back to the Forbidden Hills and give the Ruby to the Howler Dragons. They will in return kill the resident tribe on the Misty Mountain Island, enabling us to leave this waste land and go live on the island!”

There was deafening round of applause as Hisster stepped off his rock. The four Shadow Talons that stood in the middle of the mob opened their wings and soared into the air, heading for the Misty Mountain Island. The crowd cheered until the four Shadow Talons were only black speaks on the horizon. Slowly the dragons started to go their separate ways, leaving Zoltar lost in thought.

‘He actually did it. Hisster sent the group away without me. They are never going to be able to do it on their own. I may not be a good soldier, but I know the continent like the back of my paw and I have been to the island. They aren’t going to make it. They don’t know what they are getting into. I will be surprised if they even return,’ Zoltar thought, walking back to his cave. He could feel that something had snapped inside him. Maybe it was the final rejection from Hisster combine with fact that Scorpus had died. He could feel all the hate and sorrow he'd held in over the years boiling up to the surface of his mind like a volcano about to erupt. ‘Hisster will need me. I am the best dragon for the job, he just doesn’t want to admit it. I’ll give it two weeks at most. Hisster is going to be begging me for my help.’

…….

Zoltar sat inside his dark cave with only the dim fire rocks to light the rust brown walls. He had laid out in front of him a mountain of scrolls, each about a different part of Megalonia. Every roll of paper held a specific memory to Zoltar and reading them brought back many memories. He and Scorpus had been part of the team of dragons to cross the continent in search of a new home for the Shadow Talons. He'd had to go through a pile of scrolls to gain knowledge of continent before he’d been able to attend the mission. He’d studied for months alongside Scorpus and after reading enough scrolls to fill a book shelf he’d been able to go with Scorpus on the mission.

Zoltar smiled at each and every one of the memories as he read.

‘I know that Hisster is going to need me, so I best review the scrolls. Scorpus would want me to,' Zoltar thought as he studied the map to the Misty Mountain Island.

Days passed with no sign of the four Shadow Talons and Zoltar could see that Hisster was starting to get worried. He sat outside his cave every day gazing at the sky as though the four Shadow Talons would suddenly appear. Almost two weeks passed and still no sign. They only had a year to find the Ruby of Fire and they needed every second of it. Time was running out and Zoltar was getting fed up of Hisster's stubbornness.

‘He’s too pig-headed to admit that he was wrong and now he's putting the entire tribe at risk of another eruption any day now. I guess I am going to have to confront him for the sake of the Shadow Talons,’ Zoltar decided, padding over to Hisster, 'Maybe after I save the day and get the Ruby, they'll actually see me as one of them."

Hisster noticed Zoltar's approach and gave him a dagger like glare. Zoltar chose to ignore it and simply stated, “They’re not coming back you know.”

“Zoltar,” Hisster growled warningly, his amethyst eyes giving off a hint of worry with in their depths, “You’re not going. Can’t you see that I’m just trying to protect you?”

“No you’re not. I’m just as good as any Shadow Talon in this tribe. Sure I don’t have acid fangs, but I can still fight. You are going to have to send me out there. They aren’t coming back and we have until next autumn to give the Howler Dragons the Ruby and I don’t want to think about what they will do to us if we don’t arrive on time. You're running out of options. Put you’re stubbornness aside and work with me for the sake of the tribe, you are their chief after all."

Hisster remand silent as if in deep thought.

Snorting in irritation, Zoltar continued with his rant, "Look, I'm going to get that Ruby whether you like it or not. I don't need your approval. This tribe had been treating me like an underling ever since I was born. Maybe once I get the Ruby for you, you’ll see that I’m not useless. So you can agree to work with me or against me, but really I don't care." He knew that it wasn’t all Hisster’s fault, but it felt so good to just let out all the anger and hatred he'd held in for so long. It felt like a great stone had lifted from his chest and a new feeling of confidence spread over him from head to tail.

Hisster's eyes widened for a second as a look for surprise crossed over his face, “Fine, have it your way. But just know that I did warn you. It’s dangerous out there and whether you like it or not you do have a liability,” Hisster hissed. He paused as if to think for a moment, “I’ve decide that if we can’t get the island we are going to have to take Moon Talon land. I know that you’re not going to like that, but the Shadow Talon’s will have no choice. If you don’t return within a year, the Shadow Talons will have to announce war against the Moon Talon tribe. You have until next autumn.”