by Hopeflower » Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:50 pm
Cirrus gave an odd yelp as Blade's jump forced the gray hatchling off-balance, sending him sprawling into the dust. Alira bounced after Blade, chirping and stumbling a bit, as the sub-adult he'd rolled into gave a grunt and looked down at the youngsters. Behind them, Cirrus got to his feet, looking slightly irritated. He gave a final snap at the dragonfly as it buzzed around his head one last time, snaring one of its legs and pulling it off as the insect darted away.
As her headache subsided, Steeltalon finally felt able to open her eyes fully. She didn't dare move her head much, but from what she could see and what her nose managed to pick out underneath the reek of mutant, she was inside a fairly large cave. She could hear the shrill chirps of hatchlings younger than Silver, so it seemed Riptide's pack had grown larger than she was last aware of. Somewhere close to her head, there was the faint trickle of water over rock; even as she noticed it, a small, cold droplet splashed on top of her head. Somewhere, wind was whistling softly in a gap in the rock wall. And not far off, Steeltalon could hear Raven's voice - as well as two other male voices she didn't recognize.
"I still don't understand why father chose you to bring her back," Whiptail growled, narrowing his eyes. "You might be the fastest of us, but you're by no means the strongest." Ebony looked from one of his brothers to the other as Raven replied shortly, "It doesn't matter why he chose me. I got the job done." But in truth, he did know why Riptide had told him to go...he was being carefully manipulated. All three of Riptide's sons were. The mutant pack's leader wanted to know which of them was worth his attention. Amberclaw hadn't let Riptide kill off the two smaller male hatchlings when they had been born, so apparently the big mutant had decided to choose one of them and arrange accidents for the other two...Raven narrowed his eyes. We'll see what happens, father...we'll see.
The conversation had carried on without him; Ebony growled, "I don't see how it matters who kills her. if Riptide wants her dead so badly, Raven should've just broken her neck when he had the chance." "Riptide wants to kill her himself," Raven hissed, letting a bored tone slip into his voice. "It's something to do with a conflict he has with her family. Or something. Be glad you haven't had to hear him rant about it."
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown