Storms
Thunder roared, waking Stoneshine from shallow sleep. The two dragons had taken respite from the rain underneath the thick green canopy before drifting off to un-confident sleep. For extra measure, before sleeping, Stoneshine had assured his wing covered Azalea’s body— dare any stray droplets made their way through the leaves. Making sure his friend was warm and dry was the least he could do after she went into hiding with him. She was so brave. At least, she acted braver than Stoneshine felt.
Another clap of thunder sounded and the brown dragon suppressed a frightened jump. Ever since he was a child thunder had scared him. His mother called him many vicious names for being ‘a coward,’ but he couldn’t help it– loud noises made him jump and his heart race. A looming sense of dread could always be found within him during a storm.
A chill had been ravenging Stoneshines scales since the rain started, and finally, he breathed out a plume of fire, just to feel its warmth. The scalding heat was gone just as quickly as it came, leaving Stoneshine even colder than before. Under his wing, Azalea shifted in her own sleep. He was so grateful to her, he would never have been able to stand the anxiety and fear if a friendly face wasn’t there to ease him back out of the gloom.
Fast as a striking snake, a black figure lunged out of the bushes. Stoneshine was caught off guard and did not get the chance to move. At the last second, however, he roughly pushed Azalea out of the way. Startled awake, the pink dragon saw a NightWing, black as death, pinning Stoneshine into the forest floor. Stoneshine closed his eyes and prepared for death. Instead, the weight was lifted off of his limbs and he heard a scuffle to his left. Jumping up, he saw that Azalea had tackled HonorBringer. Rushing into the fight to get Azalea out of harm's reach, Stoneshine slashed his claws at their attacker’s wing. A yelp sounded and the two young dragons were able to escape. They ran through the thick trees, trying to find their bearings. Not far on their tail was Honorbringer, chasing the dragons’ loud movements.
Stoneshine and Azalea bursted through the treeline. Not even looking at the pond or the rushing waterfall, they jumped into the air. Seconds after his talons left the dirt, Stoneshine was tackled to the ground. He gasped at the impact, the wind knocked out of him. He hoped Azalea had kept flying, saving her life. A claw was pressed into Stoneshine’s throat, cold and sharp. He waited for the dragon to slit his skin, spilling his life force, but it never came. With risk, he opened his eyes and looked up at his uncle—who looked young, like him— and noticed an unsure look in his eyes. A thought brushed the surface of Stoneshine’s mind: breath fire into his face and run away. That was what any normal dragon would do, but Stoneshine couldn’t bring himself to harm a dragon that hadn’t yet hurt him. Sure, he had been tackled, but no blood had been drawn.
A flash of pink knocked into Honorbringer, sending him into the dirt. A burst of flame shot from the NightWing’s open mouth. It just nearly missed Azalea as the fire unfurled in the air. The fighting dragons rolled in the dirt, talons clawing at the other. Honorbringer got to his feet much quicker than the SilkWing. Stoneshine, who had just gotten up, was pushed down yet again into the ground. Seemingly having made up his mind, the NightWing on Stoneshine’s back started to press a thick branch against the hybrid’s neck. It became hard to breathe as Stoneshine struggled against the weight of the bigger dragon and the wood cutting off his air supply. He would have yelled or cried out if he could have. No sound came out, no matter how hard he tried.
The rain was coming down harder now, pelting the wings and scales of the fighting dragons. From the mud, Azalea rose and pushed Honorbringer off once more. “Run!” she yelled at Stoneshine, trying to break the repetitive cycle the fight was going through. He barely heard her before the sound was washed away by the sheets of water. Almost slipping in the mud, Stoneshine jumped into the air flapping wildly. Not wanting to leave Azalea, he stayed hovering until he saw a dark shape with two sets of wings follow him. Honorbringer was close behind them, Stoneshine knew by the blasts of fire scorching the very tips of their tales. The NightWing was invisible in the night sky like a murderous phantom.
A bright streak of light struck the sky, lighting the world purple and white. Close after, a boom of thunder raged. “Not safe, not safe, not safe,” chanted Stoneshine’s mind. If they weren’t going to die by claws, they were going to die by lightning. All three dragons beat their wings against the strength of the water, raising higher and higher up the mountain.
A shriek pierced the air, followed by another strike of lightning and the following thunder. StoneShine turned his head to look behind him. While Honorbringer was still advancing quickly, like a knife slicing through the sky, Azalea was flailing her limbs wildly, falling. She twisted and turned, trying to regain her balance. Not giving a second though, Stoneshine dipped his head, folded in his wings, and dove. Lightning flashed, with thunder sounding just milliseconds after. He felt the harsh rain on his scales and the wind trying to push him off course.
Honorbringer was taken by surprise by the sudden dive. By the time he swooped down to follow his target, Stoneshine had grabbed Azalea and was stationary in the air, attempting to hold the weight of two full grown dragons. A hint of foreign guilt began to seep into Honorbringer’s heart, making him falter in the air. He begged the rain to wash it away, he had a mission to complete. He had to kill Stoneshine. But he didn’t want to. He hovered there in the air, against the push of rain, watching the dragons who kept sacrificing themselves to save the other. Stoneshine was living the life Honorbringer didn’t have the fortune of having, could he really take that away?
Electricity crackled and leapt from the clouds and earth, connecting in the center. It all happened in a second— the lightning struck so close to the flying dragons that Stoneshine felt electricity surge through his muscles. A loud, guttural scream parted the sound of heavy rain, covered by an explosion of thunder. It was loud and hammered Stoneshine’s skull. A dark, heavy shape dropped past Stoneshine and Azalea. Looking up, rain pattering his face and eyes, stoneshine could not see his uncle. A sickening thought crossed his mind, had the nightwing been struck by lightning?
He couldn’t dwell on it, he had to get Azalea and himself out of the air onto solid ground. If Honorbringer did get hit by lightning, the two dragons still in the air very well could too. Letting Azalea’s weight drag him down, Stoneshine started to descend. Azalea tried to flap her wings, specifically only her right ones, Stoneshine’s realized, but it harmed his efforts more than helped. The rain poured too heavily to tell her to stop, so the dragons clumsily made their way to the ground. Stoneshine had made sure to try to aim their landing as far away from the fallen NightWing. He had no desire to stumble upon a charred corpse of a dragon who tried to kill him.
The darkness was suffocating underneath the treetops. Stoneshine wished he had a SeaWing’s night vision so he could inspect his friend’s wounds. Past the rain sounding on the canopy, the MudWing-NightWing could hear Azalea whimper. He asked her if she was okay with him leaving and getting a healer's help from Sanctuary, but Azalea had shook her head. There was nothing Stoneshine could do until morning.