Firebreather: Flames of the uprising

Restless Nights

RESTLESS NIGHTS

      It had been a few hours after the fight in the forest, Fenn and Drage travelled a little farther south just in case there were other breathers in the area. It was already night fall there was no moon but the stars had already dotted the night sky taking over the arduous work of illuminating the night sky, their pure silvery glow illuminated the camp below. Drage was trying to get some sleep but he found sadly that no matter how he tried he couldn’t, although he was tired and weary he just was not able to fall asleep, anytime he closed his eyes countless images of the sad painful look of the dragon whose rider he had killed kept appearing in his mind creating countless turbulent thoughts that kept him awake. He wasn’t sure if he should blame himself for the tragedy, after all if he hadn’t killed the rider the dragon wouldn’t have chosen to die, but if he had not killed the rider then he would have been the dead body on the ground and shriller would take the dragons place mourning over him he was not strong enough to incapacitate an enemy and his dragon on his own. Thoughts like these kept him confused and awake all through the night, he looked sideways and spotted Fenn and Burt where sleeping soundly, completely relaxed not in the least bothered about what happened during the day or the lives they had taken. Drage noticed a few seconds later that shriller was nowhere to be found, although shriller could take care of herself and often flew off on her own but today for some reason Drage was worried, he got up from the makeshift bed made of animal skins and left the camp quietly to look for her.

Shriller quietly got up and flew silently away from the camp her slender figure cutting through the air leaving no sound as she flew off, she originally did not want to go too far but she had been uncomfortable since the night begun and it was getting worse, she felt something in her body quietly changing this made her restless and a burst of irritation was persistently impacting her mind filling her with thoughts of anger and bloodlust. As she flew her heightened senses noticed a herd of caribou that was grazing in an open plain filled with tender grass that seemed to sway softly in the starlight. The sight of these animals seemed to flip the switch on her bloodthirsty instincts as she was instantly lost in bloodlust. She swooped downwards swiftly not bothering to fly stealthy anymore this caused the herd to discover her presence and this made the herd to instantly panic and plunge into chaos. The members of the herd started running away from the area. Shriller landed in the midst of the chaotic animals she then used her wings as a blade tearing all animals close to her vicinity to shreds. she continued her mindless s*******r and vented her unwarranted anger on all members of the herd she could lay her hands on. When she was done she stood there in the open plain, the silvery glow of the stars illuminating her proud silver figure that was already stained with various drops of blood, her eyes now had a scarlet tinge with b********y fully reflecting in her eyes, she let out a large howl full of unknown and complex meanings before taking off flying towards the largest nearby gathering of life she could perceive.

     Drage was a little bit away from the camp when he heard Shriller’s roar, the roar seemed to stimulate their psychic connection and Drage felt the confusion and bloodlust shriller was now exuding. Drage realized something was horribly wrong so he raced back towards the camp to seek help from Fenn. A few minutes later Drage saw that Fenn was already up and the camp was already packed, Drage tried to explain what he had just felt but Fenn just told him to get on Burt. Drage who was already anxious and worried did not delay and immediately got on Fenn dragon, as soon as Fenn got on Burt took to the skies. It was the first time Drage was riding another dragon but he was no mood to savor or enjoy the feeling he was busy directing Burt and Fenn towards the area he sensed shriller was heading. 

    When Fenn heard the roar and noticed the missing duo of Drage and shriller, he already understood what was happening. The silver dragon was growing towards the adult stage, although this stage was not really dangerous the dragon would be instinctively uneasy and easily irritated and drags unstable mood had contributed to it making shriller fall into a rage. Fenn had long noticed Drage anxiety after his first kill but there was nothing he could say or do to help the boy needed to figure things out for himself, but Fenn had not expected that the boy’s young dragon would enter the adult stage so soon, normally it took a few years from a young dragon’s birth to adulthood and according to Drage it had only been a few months since he had been with shriller and Fenn had also checked confirming that the silver dragon was just a year and some months old. Fenn was suspicious that the unwarranted growth speed had something to do with Ra-Aghul after all it was rumored that apart from being a fire breather Ra-Aghul was also a sorcerer, if it had nothing to do with Ra-Aghul then Shriller’s situation was most likely part of the reason why the infamous ruler of the western lands wanted Drage and his dragon captured so bad.

    Fenn shook his head shaking the thoughts out of his mind, his thoughts would do nothing to help in the present situation, he urged Burt to speed up, they needed to catch up with the dragon soon, the longer she was in that state the more likely it was that her connection to Drage would weaken and then ultimately disappear making her a rouge dragon that would lose all wisdom and only know destruction. Although Fenn honestly could care less about the appearance of a rogue dragon, he could not accept that the rogue dragon was Drage’s partner, according to records stored in the fire breathers castle the pain of the destruction of a psychic bond was so great that there was a high possibility of the rider’s death, and if the rider did not die he would become a waste even weaker than ordinary men.

 Fenn could not accept that happening to Drage, he had bet all his hope on Drage being able to defeat and kill Ra-Aghul and he was going to make sure he did everything humanely possible to let that vision become reality.