Fire Islands: Chapter Two: Awakened

Chapter Two

Awakened


    Tsunami opened her eyes to bright sunlight. Gulls cried overhead and the sound of waves sounded close by her. Where was she? She raised her head. Her wings were sprawled at an awkward angle beside her, and she was half in the water. She struggled to her feet. It was a beach with golden sand and a mountain range behind her. No one was in sight. "Clay? Sunny? Glory? Starflight?" Her calls went unanswered.

    Tsunami frowned and started along the shore. Mountains. I'm in a mountain range, so probably SkyWing territory. "Hello? Can someone take me to Queen Ruby?" she called. No answer. She shivered. The silence was uncanny. There were the gulls, but they sounded more like they were prophesying doom than offering comfort. There! A flash of gold caught Tsunami's eye, but when she dug it out of the sand she found it was some weird golden coin. She growled in frustration and threw it back onto the shore. She looked to her right. The sand shifted abruptly into large rocky boulders that really didn't look appealing. It seemed creepy how the rocks jutted into the air and cast long shadows with someone hiding underneath them. Wait.

    "Tsunami?" asked the someone. "Is that you?"

    "Clay!" Tsunami hurried forward and threw her wings around his neck. "You're okay!"

    "Tsunami!" laughed Clay. "Oh, thank the moons. I was hoping one of you would come along."

    Tsunami pulled back and made a face at him. "If you were that worried you could have gone looking."

    Clay's face grew serious and he sighed. "No. I can't leave Sunny." He swept his wing back to reveal the golden SandWing lying on the rock behind him, eyes closed.

    "Oh, no." Stepping forward, Tsunami could see a gash on her arm, and bruises everywhere. "What happened?"

    "I found her in the storm," explained Clay. "I grabbed her and I think I cushioned her fall when we landed, but I'm not sure."

    Tsunami drew one wing softly across her and Sunny sighed. "Have you tried waking her up?"

    "Yeah. I tried water, sand, even sticks. She won't wake up."

    "Sunny? Can you hear me? It's time to wake up now." Tsunami gave her a little shake and Sunny mumbled something incomprehensible in her sleep. "What?" Tsunami leaned closer.

    "Everything hurts," mumbled Sunny again.

    "We'll get help," promised Tsunami. She turned around. "Clay-" She broke off. Clay was holding something in his talons. "What's that?"

    Clay opened his palm. "It's a scale." A lime green scale lay there, shimmering in the sunlight. "And I think it's Glory's."

    "Where did you find this?" Tsunami asked.

    "On the ground there." Clay pointed to a spot on the stone.

    Tsunami glanced at the bright blue sky, retreating cloud the only evidence of the storm. She shielded her eyes from the sun and sighed. "She's not up there."

    Clay murmured an agreement. "But she's somewhere close."

    Tsunami glanced anxiously around at the pointed rocks. "That's bad. We have to go. Now."

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