Adventures of Aurora - Ch. 4

Chapter Four



Aurora couldn’t sleep. She had woken up several times during the night and couldn’t seem to stay asleep for long. She felt as if something was going to happen. Beside her, Shimmer and Singe slept peacefully. Aurora walked over to the cliff’s edge. The stars were high in the sky, each one bright and twinkling. A shooting star flew across the night sky.

Aurora looked down to the river at the bottom of the canyon. She could see the reflection of her ice blue scales glittering in the water. For some strange reason, she felt very small. There was a whole world out there, and she had only seen the smallest fraction.

Spreading her small wings, she jumped into the air. Slowly she flew, tracing the pictures in the stars using her wingtip. Her mother and father had told her some things about the night sky, but not much. The stars were said to be the souls of the ancient dragon warriors who had perished. Aurora was beginning to feel tired once more, so she flew back to the cliff.

Then she saw a strange sight. Two dragons, one male and one female, flew across the sky. They were transparent, like ghosts and seemed to glow like starlight. She watched as they dissolved into the night sky seconds later. What a strange sight, she thought.

Curious, she followed their flight path to see where they had been going before they disappeared. She was startled to find a large group of dragons dressed in armour watching over the dragons from Evernyte Valley. She gasped, they didn’t look like very nice dragons. Luckily, they hadn’t seen her yet, so she rushed back to tell Windnyte.

“Windnyte, Windnyte!” She called frantically as she flew over the crowd of sleeping dragons as fast as she could.

“Yes, little one?” Windnyte asked sleepily.

Before Aurora could warn him, several battle cries came from the other side of the canyon. Windnyte was fully awake now, and was shouting for the other dragons to wake up. Some of the older dragons had immediately formed a protective circle around the youngest dragons to keep them safe. “Scarr,” Windnyte growled to himself when he saw the leader of the dragons coming towards them and leapt into the air. Aurora flew as fast as she could, trying to find her parents before the enemy dragons got to them, but she bumped into Flare.

“What’s going on?” Flare cried.

“I don’t know!” Aurora screamed back. She was terrified, wishing she was back home in their safe cave. She got pushed away by a large gray dragon that looked several years older than her. The enemy dragons were now upon them, all around Aurora saw dragons fighting.

She fought back, kicking with her powerful hind legs. He was thrown back momentarily, which gave her time to get up and get into the air. She had lost Flare among the confusion, and was beginning to worry.

The gray dragon followed her into the sky, above the fighting dragons. She sped up, he followed. She weaved through all of the dragons fighting in the sky, but no matter what she couldn’t get him to lose sight of her. She decided to turn and fight, although there wasn’t much that she could do. Her mother and father hadn’t given her combat lessons, what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t even breath frost yet!

The enemy dragon came closer and closer, he was grinning. Aurora tried to roar to get the attention of another dragon, but all that came out was a pitiful squeak. She could feel the fear growing inside of her. The dragon was almost upon her, Aurora opened her mouth and was surprised to see a steady stream of what seemed like white fire coming from within her. The other dragon seemed surprised, too.

She blew her frost breath all over him, freezing his wings. Unlike any other dragon, Aurora blew frost, hence the name “Frost Dragon.” The gray dragon could no longer fly. Aurora watched as he began falling to the ground below with a screech, melting the ice with his fire breath and flying away at the last moment. He didn’t return to fight Aurora.

Aurora began flying to find her parents once more.

Meanwhile, Scarr and Windnyte had been fighting at the center of the crowd.

“What are we doing, Scarr? Why are we fighting?” Windnyte asked, blocking a blow from Scarr’s claw.

“I am getting what I rightfully deserve!” Scarr cried, following Windnyte into the sky. Windnyte blew a jet of fire that Scarr carefully avoided.

“Why?” Windnyte asked. “I have done nothing wrong to you.”

“Yes, you have.” Scarr replied, following his brother higher into the sky, “Mother always liked you best, and never gave me any of the attention. That is all I ever wanted, for her to glance my way. But you were too busy stealing the spotlight!”

“But Mother isn’t here anymore.” Windnyte reasoned.

“It doesn’t make a difference! I want to be leader of these dragons, I am their rightful ruler!”

“What makes you their rightful ruler?” Windnyte fought back. He was beginning to get angry and frustrated with Scarr.

“I was born first.” Scarr hissed.

“It does not make a difference. I am leader because I show care for others. You will never be leader of these dragons.”

Scarr growled and lunged at Windnyte, who managed to dodge just in time. Windnyte grabbed Scarr by the tail and swung him around, letting go at the last moment. Several dragons stopped fighting and parted so they wouldn’t get hit.

Aurora, meanwhile, had been flying around the battlefield, trying desperately to find her mother and father, when she bumped into Argentia. Aurora shook as the large gray dragon lifted her up with ease and tossed her aside. She closed her eyes, she could feel herself falling.

Aurora hit the wall of the cliff, and began to loose consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she saw her mother and father fighting the gray dragon that had carelessly tossed her aside. Slowly, they started to close once more. The sounds of the battle grew distant. Then, it went black.

Scarr was hurt and bleeding. He could not fight anymore, and saw that many of his dragons were also wounded. “Fall back!” he cried, turning around to escape.

“I will come back for you, Windnyte.” He threatened. Then he disappeared among the many retreating dragons.

“Aurora!” Shimmer cried. She had seen Aurora go down around the cliff’s edge, she just couldn’t see where through all of the dragons flying around.

“What are you doing?” Singe asked quickly. “We must get moving, Windnyte is ordering the dragons to leave immediately as we speak.” Shimmer looked up, many dragons were flying overhead, trying to get as far as possible from Scarr and his army.

“Aurora…” Shimmer whispered sadly.

“Shimmer, there is nothing we can do. She is gone. Her fate rests in the hands of Drake now. I will miss her, too.” Singe grabbed Shimmer’s claw and pulled her, urging her towards the sky. Shimmer reluctantly followed him.

“Aurora, may Drake watch over you.” Shimmer said softly as they flew away. They passed over the rocky horns quickly. Shimmer dared not look back, fearing she would go back to search for Aurora and find the worst.