Fire Islands: Chapter Nine: Exploring

Chapter Nine

Exploring

    Flicker frowned in confusion. "I thought Blueberry told Shining that it would take a day or two."

    Embers shrugged. "I'm just telling you what she said. She seemed surprised too."

    "Great!" Starflight gently touched his talon to the ground, remembering his mental map of the town. "Where is Blueberry's hut?"

    Flicker opened her mouth to reply, but then shot a look at Bask, who was snagging another dragonet off his back. She lifted her head again and said, "I will take you there." She turned to Violet. "Will you accompany us, or are you occupied?"

    Violet grinned as if she was in on an inside joke. "I am already occupied, Flicker. Perhaps I may join you once these dragonets are under control."

    Flicker rolled her eyes at her and leapt into the air. Tsunami gently touched Starflight with her tail to guide him into the air and they followed. As soon as they were out of eyesight of the rest of the SunWings, Flicker heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. "I hate being out in public. I have to act like that ALL the time."

    "Why?" asked Clay curiously. "Is your father some kind of important figure or something?"

    Flicker and Embers exchanged glances. "Or something," Embers said.

    "What do you-" started Tsunami, but was interrupted by Flicker.

    "Look! That's Blueberry's hut! Great! We're almost there." She abruptly dove downwards and Embers hurried after.

    Starflight sighed. "No use asking them about it."

    Tsunami murmured an agreement and they followed. Blueberry's hut kind of had a roof. Its walls were like the rest of the village's. Dry sticks lashed together with twine. But her roof was the thing that was different. Living plants and branches were entwined, still allowing lots of light to filter in but enough to prevent rainfall.

    "Hello?" Clay landed and peered inside. "Flicker?"

    Flicker turned towards him. She was smiling. "Embers was right. Your friend is waking up." She moved aside. Sunny lay behind her like a living sunbeam, her golden scales reflecting the sunlight coming through the leaves. Her eyes were still closed, but her breathing was faster. Blueberry was silently arranging herbs in one corner of the room and Glory was lying next to Sunny, waiting with a tense expression.

    Glory looked up as they came in. "Oh, thank the moons. I was worried Embers couldn't get the message to you before she woke up."

    "Excuse me," Embers huffed. "I am fine at flying. I bet I'm faster than you. Frankly, I don't know how you fly with wings that size."

    "Well I can't fly right now," retorted Glory. "My wing's broken."

    "So I've noticed." Blueberry frowned over at her. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you this. Getting upset will-"

    "-slow the recuperation process. I know, Blueberry." Glory sighed and a wave of green matching the leaves absentmindedly rolled across her scales. "How many more minutes?"

    Flicker gently touched Sunny's wing. "I think just a few."

    "Hey, Glory. The SunWings have a giant boulder with pictures of us in the middle of their town," said Clay. He began describing the day's events while Starflight sat next to Sunny. His mind wandered. The Fire Islands.

    "Hey, Flicker?"

    "Yeah?"

    "Why are these called the Fire Islands?"

    Flicker brushed a section of the dirt floor clean. "I've heard it's because the islands are shaped like a jet of fire shooting from a dragon's mouth." She sketched a few lines. "I'm a bad artist."

    "I'm probably worse, but I'll try." Tsunami came forward and studied it. "Pyrria is shaped like a dragon, so if your islands are fire, then I assume that it comes from the dragon's mouth." She frowned slightly and added the rough shape of the continent. "There. I don't exactly want to cross into Queen Snowfall's territory, or she'll kill us, so I assume that the quickest way is going back to the SkyWing territory, where we started."

    She stopped at a soft murmuring. They all turned to see Sunny raising her head and blinking her eyes opened. "Ow. My head hurts. Where are we?"

    "Sunny!" Clay heaved a relieved sigh. "Thank the moons. You're all right."

    "Like I said," said Flicker, "no patient of Blueberry's would dare not recover."

    Sunny frowned and looked at the SunWing. "I think I'm seeing things."

    "No." Starflight gestured to Flicker, Embers, and Blueberry. "These are the SunWings."

    "ANOTHER new tribe? How many more are there?"

    Glory shrugged. "No idea. Are you feeling all right? Apparently you took a big hit."

    Sunny wrinkled her forehead, trying to remember. "I think so? I can't really remember anything past the storm."

    "As would be expected of someone who just received a bad head injury." Blueberry slipped a large waxy-looking leaf off the shelf. "Eat this. You need to rest and recuperate."

    "And while you're doing that, I think I'm going to go fly around," said Tsunami. "I want to explore the Fire Islands." She smiled and turned away. Blueberry's hut was on a cliff overlooking the sea. She breathed in the salty air and leapt into the wind. She closed her eyes and soared, not even looking where she was going until she became aware that the temperature had dropped. Tsunami stopped and glanced at the sky in confusion. It looked the same, but it was definitely colder. She blinked out across the landscape. It was the same mountains of the Fire Islands, but below her...

    Tsunami narrowed her eyes at the ground. An enormous boulder with a giant cave inside stood on a flat expanse of rock. Was that something moving in the cave?

    "Tsunami!"

    Tsunami turned. Flicker was hurtling towards her at top speed. "Flicker. What-"

    Flicker barreled into her, knocking her to the side just as a jet of bright green poison shot past her ear. Tsunami gasped and looked down at what she knew instinctively was the reason they had hid in the cave. The Venom-Spitter was just below her.