A few hours later, Zoltar
became aware that the Exltron had stopped thumping around and that still quiet
had settled on the forest above. Yawning, Zoltar got up and began walking back
up the tunnel. He wings screamed in pain with every step and he was beginning
to worry that they were damaged pretty badly. He quickened the pace upwards,
wanting to get out of the dreary cave and back into the sun light. Zoltar emerged to
the eerie drumming of a wood pecker on the trees outside the cave. Chunks of
rock had fallen for the walls and ceiling. The bushes outside where trampled
and torn and the whole patch of forest around the cave was broken and smashed
to splinters.
Shakily, Zoltar stepped out
into the darkening forest. His wings were covered in cuts and his right wing
had a small tear in the webbing near the tip. He slowly extended the wing to
examine the damage. A sharp bolt of pain shot through his wing and he winced.
‘This is bad,’ Zoltar thought, pressing his wings
close to his body. He wasn't going to be able to fly back to the
cave like this and it was getting dark. Emerald's warning flashed
into his head and he knew he had to find cover fast. There was more
than an Exltron out there that would try to attack him and already he could
hear the night creature calls slowly echoing through the forest.
Picking up the stone tablet
and carefully putting it in his jaws, Zoltar slowly crept out into the open,
keeping a careful look out for danger. The small trees around the cave had been
reduced to splinters. The ground was churned up and had deep claw marks
trailing through the dirt.
Zoltar stole into the
trees, his ears straining for the slightest sign of danger. He carefully placed
his paws in front of him taking great care not the make a noise. Zoltar cringed
every time his wings brushed a shrub or tree trunk. Acute pain shot up his
shoulders with every step.
‘Shiraku and Felistia
are going to kill me when they find that I’m not home.' Zoltar thought as he hurried through
the trees. He just hoped they hadn't gone out looking for him. The last
thing he wanted was for them to get caught out at night along with him. This
was his problem and he didn't want them dragged into it.
After a little while Zoltar
stumbled across some tracks. He paused to sniff them. They were paw prints with
claw marks on each toe and they smelled fresh. Zoltar couldn't recognize
the tracks though. He knew that they were way too small to be the Exltron's and
looked more like the prints of a small forest raptor or forest
cat. Zoltar's stomach growled at the thought of prey. He'd not eaten
in ages and even though he was hurt, he was sure he could take down a
forest cat. He studied the tracks again. They seemed to be going in the same
direction as him.
Zoltar padded down the
small path following the prints and being careful not to snap any twigs. He
didn’t want whoever’d made the tracks to know that he was trailing them. The paw marks lead him past a small pond. Its surface was covered in alga and a foul
smell drifted off the green water. There was not a sign of life in or around
the pond. A skeleton of a tree hung over the water in such a precarious passion
Zoltar wondered how it had not fallen in yet. Insect noises hummed around him
as he walked on. After about half an hour Zoltar heard noises up ahead, twigs
cracking and a tail swishing along the forest floor.
'That doesn’t sound
like the beast at all,' Zoltar thought, gaining courage as he hurrying towards the sounds.
The rustling was coming from behind a bush. Zoltar quietly stalked over to the
plant. Flexing his talons, Zoltar crouched and with a mighty roar he leapt over
it, catapulting into a green ball of scales. It clawed back at him and hissed
indignantly, “What are you doing!”
Zoltar flinched in
surprise. Prey wasn't supposed to talk. He looked down at the now flash
red and orange dragon under his claws and realized it was Emerald.
“What are you doing here?”
he asked surprised.
“Searching for food! You
big oaf! Get off me!” Emerald shouted in frustration.
“Yes, yes. Uh sorry,"
Zoltar hurried to get off Emerald and then stood there studying his claws
sheepishly.
Taking a deep breath,
Emerald got to her feet and let a cool coconut white run down her scales with
winding veins of gold. Zoltar glanced up with a hopeful expression written all
over his face, not knowing quite how she was going to react.
Emerald gave one look at
Zoltar and burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Zoltar
asked baffled. He'd just pounced on her. Wasn't she upset with him?
“You!” Emerald snorted in a
fit of laughs, “Your face was hilarious when you realized it was me. You were
so big and scary when you came out of that bush and then you got such a fright
when I shouted at you.”
“I guess it was funny,”
Zoltar admitted scratching behind his head were Emerald had scrapped him with
her claws, “I was expecting some sort of forest beast,”
“Well you’ve got one,”
Emerald joked bating his wing with her snout.
“Ow!” Zoltar shouted,
jumped back, “Don’t touch my wings,” Zoltar hissed, gritting his
teeth as pain surged up his wing and down his back.
“What did you do to
hurt them like this?” Emerald asked gently touching his wing.
“It’s a long story,” Zoltar
said, sitting down.
“I don’t suppose you can
fly with these can you? I mean if you weren’t already a black and blue color
your wings would probably look like you'd spilled blue berries all-over them.
You’re lucky you don’t have any broken bones.”
“Yes I know. Are there
others out here?” Zoltar asked, peering into the forest. The last thing he
needed was a bunch of strange wisp talons appearing out of nowhere and giving
him another fright.
“No. I am alone. Heavens
alive you gave me a fright,” Emerald said sarcastically.
“I said I was sorry,”
Zoltar moaned shifting on his paws.
“Aw it’s alright. You
didn’t know it was me. Now how are we going to get you back before sunset? You must
have a cave or tree that you sleep in?” Emerald probed, gently stretching
Zoltar’s wings out. She examined the scratches on the webbing. They were
deep and would leave scars. One in particular caught her eye. It was a rip on
the bottom of his right wing tip.
Zoltar didn't knew whether
or not he should tell Emerald where he lived, after all she was a strange
dragon that he hardly knew. After a few seconds thought, he dropped the
suspicion. She seemed like a really nice dragon and he really liked
her. He was sure there was no reason to be suspicious of her, after
all she wasn't a shadow talon. Still... he wasn't going to let on too much,
"I live on the far west side of the island in a cave."
“That's a nice side of the
island. I sometimes fly down there to sit by the lake, but it's quite a long
way away. You’re going to have trouble flying all the way down there with these
cuts in your wing. In the meantime I think we're going to have to take you
to the wisp talon village for the night."
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