Running
Stoneshine flapped his wings fervently in the chilled early morning. Another nightmare had refueled his fear, making him fly faster than he could stand after a rough night's sleep. By his calculations, however, he only had a few more hours of flight until he reached his destination, the dragon town Sanctuary.
He had heard about Sanctuary from his only acquaintance back in the Mud Queendom. He couldn’t quite call him a friend, because no one truly befriended hybrids in the outskirts of the Mud Queendom. But, Bistre never hated him as much as the other dragons did. Once, seven years ago, Bistre had found Stoneshine hiding behind a big boulder, crying. Stoneshine had just been two years old. Instead of laughing as the other dragonets would have, Bistre asked him what was wrong. Such kindness in a bleak and lonely place, Stoneshine swore he’d never forget. His issue, back then and still currently, was that he needed to escape, to leave the marshes that drowned his spirit, and go somewhere without the stigma his scales caused him.
He and Bistre weren't close— they barely talked, but if they ever found the other alone, they would always say hello. Years later, after they had grown up from being dragonets, Bistre had sought Stoneshine out. “Remember that time you told me you needed a place to go? Somewhere to escape to where you could live as yourself?” Bistre had said. Stoneshine was surprised Bistre remembered, it had been so long ago and he was just a random dragon. Stoneshine had nodded. “Well, I heard from my friends that there’s a town being built, near the Claws and Clouds mountains, in the Sky Queendom. I, uh, just figured you might want to know.”
That was perhaps twelve moon cycles ago, and Stoneshine hoped it was true. If he was ever in need of a safe place for hybrids, it was now. His life had never been easy as a MudWing-NightWing hybrid, especially because his MudWing father was long gone. His father was gone and his mother hated him, but it was still his home, Until a few days ago, when his notion of safety crumbled to the ground, crushed by a strange NightWing.
Stoneshine shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts of that night. He couldn’t handle another anxiety attack, especially in the air so high above Pyrrhia. He was still in the Mud Queendom, as Sanctuary was just past the border into the Sky Queendom, to the west of the Diamond Spray Delta. The land below Stoneshine was green, thanks to the many rivers, but less wet and muddy than the marshes, where most MudWings lived— even if they were on the outskirts.
Out of sudden spontaneity, the dark brown dragon headed even higher into the sky, towards the white clouds. Cool mist touched his scales and sent a chill down his back. That was just enough to clear his mind for the moment, but Stoneshine knew that there wasn’t much he could do to avoid thinking on an hours-long flight, alone in the vast sky.
The hours had passed painfully slow, but with a soft thud, Stoneshine finally landed at one of the entrances to Sanctuary. From the sky, he had noticed a border of some kind encompassing the town. He had also seen two openings in the structure, which he figured must be the doorways into the dragon city. It was the safest bet to land outside the city instead of risking that the streets were too narrow to land.
There was a forest to the north of Sanctuary and a lake to the east, bigger than the separated swamps he was used to, bluer too— like a common variety of darner. The lake was small enough that he could see the other side off in the distance. The midday sun hung high in the sky and shone down on the water making it glimmer and keeping Stoneshine’s attention.
Movement beneath the stone arch gateway distracted Stoneshine from the view. He turned his head and studied the activity. He could see a periwinkle white dragon that sparkled even more than the lake and a peachy-red dragon standing at the base of the arch. The closer he walked to the dragons, the better he could see the details of their scales and wings. Besides his mother, who was a NightWing, this was the first time seeing dragons who were not from the Mud Queendom. The SkyWing seemed to be 9 grown, yet was smaller than the IceWing.
The SkyWing was trying to grab something from the IceWing’s talons.“It’s my turn, Graupel— you said so last time,” the SkyWing nagged. The IceWing, Graupel, sighed and reluctantly handed over what looked to be a scroll.
“Try to make your writing look nice,” Graupel told the excited peach dragon.
As Stoneshine approached the dragons, the SkyWing took the lead in greeting him. “Hello! I’m Finch and this is Graupel,” he gestured to the IceWing, who was looking grumpy. “It’s very nice to meet you! We are with the Talons of Peace. Fun fact: we built this town! Well— not me specifically, I joined after I moved here from Queen Ruby’s palace—” He spoke quite quickly without taking any breaks to breathe or wait for a response.
“State your name, where you came from, and your business here,” Graupel interrupted, rolling her eyes. Finch let out a huff of air, trying to show Graupel that he was annoyed at her interruption. Graupel’s cold exterior never budged.
Stoneshine sounded unsure of his words, and they came out slow and fragmented when he said, “Um… My name is Stoneshine, I’ve come from the Mud Queendom, and, er, I’m looking for a place to stay?”
Finch hunched over and scribbled away on the parchment. “One last thing,” Finch said when he was done, “if you see a scavenger, don’t eat it , they are protected here, okay?” He waited for Stoneshine to nod. “Well then, you’re all set! If you need anything, the Talons of Peace are located in the center of the town.” Finch gave a big, toothy smile, which Stoneshine tried to return— though his smile was less bright and confident and more like he’d eaten a weird-tasting frog. Given his past experiences with dragons, Stoneshine had the impression that Finch was a bit too happy and hopeful for the world. Receiving such kindness from another dragon was unfamiliar to him, but Stoneshine held the interaction close to his heart as he walked under the arch, into Sanctuary.
All of the buildings were different. Some were mud, which reminded him of his home, some were made out of wood from the forest and topped with leaves sewn together, and occasionally some were made from stone. The dragons were all different as well. Not only could all the Pyrrhia dragon tribes be spotted, but the tribes from Pantala as well. Stoneshine walked along a pathway drenched in sun and filled with new noises and scents.
Dragons were trading coconuts and other tropical fruit, services, woven fibers, and all sorts of fun new things that he had never seen before. He even saw flashes of small scavengers walking in groups, along with signs that said, ‘The eating of scavengers is strictly prohibited in Sanctuary .’
As he walked, a few young hybrids ran out in front of him, being chased by a couple of other small dragonets. The hybrids were playing with single-tribe dragons, Stoneshine realized with a smile. That was a childhood he didn’t have the privilege of experiencing, but he was thrilled that these young dragons would get to have friends that were just as unique as they were. Unique . Stoneshine thought other hybrids were unique, but he couldn’t think of himself in the same positive light. ‘Worthless’, ‘mistake’, and ‘deviant’ echoed in his mind like a thick, black mist, flooding all the corners of his brain. All were words he’d heard from his mother.
Up ahead, a black male dragon stood talking to a Sandwing. Stoneshine’s mind screamed at itself, “danger!” It seemed to say. In a frantic, hurried twirl, Stoneshine turned around and ran back the way he came. A few dragons shouted at him when he accidentally stepped on their tails. He rushed through the connected streets until he was back at the arch where he had come in. After being in the crowded streets surrounded by buildings, he finally had enough room to spread his wings and jump into the air. Finch, who was still on duty, yelled after him, “Are you okay?”
Stoneshine couldn’t respond. His jaw was glued shut and his mind couldn’t piece together words. The only thing he felt in his body was fear . He flew out to the forest that surrounded the northern part of Sanctuary. When there was enough distance between him and the town he slowed down and was able to form thoughts again. He found a break in the trees and chose that spot to land.
He crumpled into a ball as soon as his talons met the earth. A sob sounded into the forest. The quiet of the trees was a relief after the commotion of the town. The reasonable part of his brain told him that his uncle, the NightWing he was running from, was not in Sanctuary, but in fact still in the Mud Queendom, looking for him. The NightWing he had seen was not his uncle. He reassured himself that it was impossible for Honorbringer to have gotten to Sanctuary before Stoneshine, especially since he hadn’t even known where Stoneshine was headed. Stoneshine had even gotten a head start.
It was there on the soft forest floor that Stoneshine felt how truly tired he was. It had been days since he had had a good night's sleep. He had been flying rigorously for so many hours. His muscles ached and pulled him down to the earth, his eyelids slipping down over his eyes, shoving him into darkness. Sleep took him quickly, but to Stoneshine, slumber was cruel. His own memories were used as a cell to keep him in place as he was tortured.
Ducked low, beneath bushes, Stoneshine strained to hear the words his mother was speaking to the strange NightWing that arrived at their doorstep that morning. The two dragons had wandered into the forest quite suspiciously to have a talk. His mother had made sure to order Stoneshine to stay far away. Even though Stoneshine knew that he shouldn’t, and if he was caught he would be punished severely, he couldn’t resist following them.
Small animals were scuttling behind him on the ground and chirping loudly in the trees, making the words his mother and the dragon were saying difficult to hear.
“… come back, Hopetaker. The old Queendom is destroyed, you don’t have to live there anymore. You could live in the rainforest if you wanted, it really is quite nice. Mother said you could come back if…” The stranger paused.
“If what , Honorbringer.” His mother, Hopetaker, pressed.
“If… the child is gotten rid of. I have been sent to kill it either way if I am being honest. Mother seems to think it would be honoring father’s memory. She pulled strings with the association to get me out of the assignment I was in and onto this one.”
“I don’t care what you do with him, he’s more his father’s son than mine.”
“I…” Honorbringer looked like he wanted to say more, but he squared his shoulders and snapped his mouth shut.
Stoneshine brought his talon to his mouth, he had to bite his tongue to keep from making a noise. The metallic taste stung in his mouth. They were talking about him.
Hopetaker took a moment to think. “Why would I go back when everyone hates me for what I’ve done?”
“They have all forgotten about you. Mother just doesn’t want to be lonely. It will all be fine if you prove you’ve changed. You have changed, haven't you?”
“If you are asking if I’d run off with a MudWing again, then the answer is no. I was a stupid and idiotic dragon who thought she was in love. I know now that only mistakes that ruin your life happen from mixed tribe mating.”
Mistakes like me , Stoneshine thought.
“I regret it every day of my life,” Hopetaker said, bluntly.
“That’s… good. Okay then,” Honorbringer sighed, “I just have to get the rest of this mission done with.”
Eyes wide and body shaking, Stoneshine slowly turned around as silently as possible and started to quickly race back to their house, the house that he had lived his whole life and came back to after the year he spent in the war because he had been too afraid to leave. His eyes began to water. He had to leave, or else he would be killed. His whole life cracked and trembled. He had known his mother hated him, but he never thought she’d be okay with killing him. Once his hands stopped shaking, he quickly said goodbye to the plants he planted years ago and sprinted away in the sky, hoping if he flew fast enough Honorbringer would never find him.