Fire Islands: Chapter Four: The Fire Islands

Chapter Four

The Fire Islands


    The dragonet peeked out from under the dragon's wings. "Flicker! They're the Boulder Dragons!"

    The dragon frowned. "Don't be silly, Embers. The Boulder Dragons aren't real."

    Wriggling out from under the older dragon's wings, the dragonet matched her frown. "What else could they be? I bet Lightning would believe me."

    "Lightning believes everything you say," the dragon retorted. She turned back to the founders of the Jade Mountain Academy. Her gaze carefully combed each of them in turn, lingering on Glory and Sunny. "Well, whoever they are, they need help. Go get Blueberry, and notify Queen Shining immediately."

    The dragonet did a little bounce. "What if they're a new type of Glowsnake?"

    The dragon raised her eyebrow. "They certainly aren't snakes, and I don't think even he could convince dragons."

    Nodding, the red and golden dragon jumped into the air and flew away.

    The dragon turned back to them, her expression wary and careful. "Who are you?"

    Clay pressed Sunny closer to him, careful not to touch any bruises. "I'm Clay. This is Sunny, Starflight, Glory, and Tsunami."

    "I'm Flicker. That was my little sister Embers." Flicker nodded to the retreating form of the dragonet. "Did you get caught in the storm, or were you attacked by giant living boulders?"

    Tsunami rolled her eyes. "Hmm. Let me think. I'm pretty sure it was the storm."

    "The more logical answer," Flicker commented.

    Starflight interrupted, "Who's Queen Shining? Where are we?"

    "These are the Fire Islands. Shining is our queen. And since I'm guessing you know who we are about as much as I know who you are, we are the SunWings."

    "Another new dragon species?" exclaimed Glory incredulously. "I thought we had found them all once we discovered Pantala!"

    Flicker spread her wings out in a gesture of, "apparently not."

    "Question," spoke up Clay. "Who is Blueberry? Another highly respected figure or something?"

    "Blueberry is our tribe's healer. Very protective of her patients." Flicker shot a glance at Glory. "Better you than me."

    Glory sighed and shifted her broken wing, wincing again.

    "What happened to her?" asked Flicker, looking now at Sunny.

    Clay looked down at her. "I found her in the storm I think right before we crashed. She must have hit her head on a rock."

    Flicker took a tentative step towards him. "Can I see her?"

    Clay paused for a moment, unsure, then lowered his wings.

    Flicker carefully placed her talon on Sunny's forehead and closed her eyes for a heartbeat, before opening them again and stepping back. "It's bad, but nothing Blueberry can't fix." At their inquisitive gazes, she explained, "SunWings can tell how bad an injury is from how quick their breathing is."

    "Ah," replied Tsunami. "That must come in handy."

    Flicker murmured an agreement and turned back towards the horizon, angling her arm so that the sunlight bounced off one of her bright golden scales. It hit a pair of figures in the distance, and a few moments later three quick flashes came back. "That would be Embers and Blueberry."

    They looked up to see two dragons flying towards them. Embers was visible, and beside her was a large SunWing. Instead of ruby-colored scales like the two sisters, this dragon had a red more comparable to a poppy. She landed with a thump a paused a moment to catch her breath, then looked, panicked, at Flicker. "Don't go to the village," she gasped. "It's him!"

    Flicker gasped. "How did he find us?"

    "He must have picked up one of our signals," the dragon who they guessed was Blueberry replied. "He's here!"

    "Who?" asked Starflight. "Who's here?"

    Flicker turned to look at him, eyes wide with alarm. "It's the Venom-Spitter."

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