"It will probably take us two or three days to get to the foot of the mountains," Remi said. It was morning, the sun had just come up.

"Wait," I said, "Two or three days?! We got out of the forest in one or two!"

"Well," Nick put in, "We were riding you for a lot of that time, Dragons move a lot faster than humans do, especially in the air."

I nodded and Remi shifted Gen around on her back. She winced slightly, "This journey is going to be a lot longer."

Nick glanced nervously at the sky, "There isn't much shelter out here. Also, are we going to discuss the ten different ember alerts that were called? Zorg will be swooping around on their Glyferno for weeks now!"

I shuddered at the thought, Glyferno had always been horrible. They were mutations of Dragons but much smaller. They had small wings and their heads were too big for their bodies. Their tails were unnaturally tiny and their jaws made up half of their faces, ending in two curved fangs that met. They spat a sort of acid from their front fangs and were very fast, but those were their only defenses.

"So we need to move fast," I said and took the lead.

We walked and walked, talking little and resting occasionally. We found a small pond to fill our water bottles at. Most of the day was uneventful.

The sun began to set so we set up camp for the night under a small tree and decided not to risk a fire. We were much too close to Pira and a Zorg watchtower. We all sat and ate while I tended to Nick's wounds. When I was done with Nick, she decided to go to sleep. She was soon out like a light. I then did what I could for Gen, which wasn't much.

Remi watched as I washed and bandaged Gen's wound, which hadn't gotten any better, but not any worse. She saw me look at her and gave me a small smile. I couldn't help but smile back.

I tied off the bandage and turned to Remi. "Your turn," I said tiredly.

"Alright," She said and let me untie her bandage.

Remi closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath in through her nose.

"It's ok, '' I said gently, "Don't suppress pain, there isn't anyone here but me."

She sighed and relaxed slightly as I finished and then sat next to her.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the sun make its journey down the sky.

"It looks like a Fire Dragons scales," I said quietly, "Not that I've ever seen one, but I've read about them, seen drawings. Most of them were done by the Zorg to get everyone to fall under their rule, though, so they weren't very good."

"It does look like a Fire Dragons scales," Remi agreed, "Except from what I've read, Firetails scales have more of a flame design. I've never seen one either."

I nodded. "Don't you think it would be cool if we could meet all the tribes of Dragons? I mean, I haven't met any Nocttails, or Grasstails, or Firetails, or Entomotails, or any of them really, other than you guys. I guess I can put Snowtails in that group too."

"That would be interesting," she said wistfully, "But that probably won't ever happen thanks to the Zorg. They'll hunt us to the ends of Eisildor to find us and make sure we won't ever try to stop them again. It could only be a matter of time before they find...us. But I promise on my life they aren't going to get you, Hazel."

I met her eyes, there was less than six inches between us.

"I don't think all the Dragons will be found," I said, surprising myself at the words "I have a hope."

She cocked her head to the side, "What is that?" She asked.

"That someone can make peace, someday. In fact, my hope is that I could even make peace between the Dragons and the Zorg. Or we could. Together. I don't know how but I want to do something."

"We?" She asked, disbelieving.

"We," I agreed, "Us. Someday."

We sat there until the sunset had faded away, like water soaking into a sponge.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them, I had fallen asleep on Remi's shoulder again and we hadn't gotten up. Nick was rummaging in her bag for food and Remi was eating an apple beside me.

"Oh hey sleeping beauty." Nick said when she saw me awake. She grinned and tossed me an apple and a piece of bread, "I was just about to suggest Remi kiss you to wake you up, like the prince did for Aurora." She made mock kissing noises at us which made me want to tie her lips together forever.

I felt the tips of my ears turn as red as Remi's hair. Remi quickly looked away. I forced a laugh and bit my apple.

Nick doubled over laughing, but stopped with a wince, "Your face!"

"I am really tempted to smack you right now," Remi said to Nick. I had to agree with her.

"You may," Nick said, "I probably deserve it."

Remi shook her head and tossed her apple core into the woods, "As satisfying as smacking you would be, I-"

From above us, there was a thump, like a Dragon's wingbeat. All awkwardness disappeared immediately.

We all were on our feet in an instant. "What was that?!" I said.

I jammed the last bite of bread in my mouth and started fumbling for the knife in the water-bottle holder of my backpack.

I scanned the sky. There was nothing but a couple of geese flying in a lopsided V formation.

"I don't know," Nick said, also scanning the sky.

"Are we just paranoid?" Remi asked.

"Maybe," I said, swallowing my bread, "Let's hope."

"We should leave here anyway," Remi said and I dropped my gaze from the sky. I must admit, that was the first time in my life I had wished to be paranoid.

We started to pack up but we didn't relax, not even a little.

I grabbed my mat and shoved it in my bag as I finished my apple. Nick and Remi did the same.

I rolled up my sleeves and started to help tie Gen to Remi, but before I could even pick up the rope, there was another thump from above us.

Our heads shot up, looking frantically at the sky for any sign of whatever is making the sound.

I drew the knife from the pocket of my backpack, ready for a fight.

"Definitely not paranoid," Remi said, clenching her fists.

"That is starting to creep me out," Nick said but her voice was cut off by yet another thump.

"Who's there!" Remi shouted at the sky. "Show your face! Or whatever you have! A snout? A nose? Eyes? Show yourself!"

The thumping was coming about every two seconds. The tree leaves shook and the trunks groaned. My ears popped from the pressure.

And very suddenly, there was an ear-splitting cry that sounded like nails on a chalkboard but a hundred times worse. It was like metal shrieking against metal. It echoed through the forest. For some reason, it sounded oddly familiar.

I was yelling with my hands clamped over my ears and so were Remi and Nick, I couldn't tell who was yelling loudest or if any of us were even yelling at all.

As quickly as the sound started, it stopped. The only thing I could hear were my own ringing ears.

Remi stumbled into me, her fingers still jammed in her ears and we crashed to the ground.

I couldn't even hear myself think, let alone speak, but I yelled, "Remi! The sound is over! You can-" but the noise came again, louder this time.

I couldn't exactly hear the sound, but I knew it was there. It made my whole body hurt.

We huddled together on the ground, hands over our ears, but the sound stopped again.

I looked up in a haze, feeling like tiny people were using forges and hammers inside of my brain. I tried to take in what was happening.

Wings and darkness were descending around us from the sky. My ears hurt so bad. I touched one to try to stop the pain, and my finger came away glistening red.

Wings. My brain said, Could they be Dragons? And then my eyes closed.

***

I woke up seconds later. I knew because the sun was in the same position in the sky and Remi's side was still pressed to my back. The problem was that when I looked down, my hands were tied behind my back. My ankles were tied likewise. My knife was gone and a gag prevented me from speaking.

Great.

To my left, Nick lay on the ground, tied and gagged in a similar manner. There was a large bruise forming on her jaw that she didn't have before and her eyes were only half open. She was alive.

I glanced back at Remi and noticed that her eyelids were beginning to flutter open as well. She too was bound and gagged. Her watch was gone. A small trickle of blood ran down from her left ear. That couldn't be good.

I brang my hands up to touch one of my own ears and was surprised to learn that I could hear again. They rang profusely but I could hear it when I snapped my fingers.

My eyes landed on the rope binding my hands and feet and keeping my gag in place. Black. An odd color for rope. The gag tasted horrible too, like smoke.

There was a grunt to my left. Nick wriggled around until I looked at her.

She locked eyes with me, then looked frantically behind me, then at her wrists, and then frantically pointed at her ear. She repeated this several times before I got it.

Something made that noise. And something made those thumps. Right before I blacked out, I saw large shapes with wings descending on us.

I looked behind me, and immediately wished I hadn't.

Standing there were what made the screeches, what made the thumps. I thought the screeches sounded familiar, I knew why.

Standing before us, was a squadron of seven weapon-wielding Zorg-topped Glyferno, and none of them looked like they'd come for a tea party.

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Written by justasnarky_sandwing on WATTPAD