~Chapter Four~
Sandstone, wrapped a white bandage around Hydrus’ wounded paw. Ointment was applied to a large gash on his neck, and a few bad burn marks.
“What happened to you?” Citron asked. “Canyon.” he growled. “I don’t know what happened to him, but he just went ballistic on us.”
“Us?” echoed Canary. “Me and Egret. We came in search of you five, and your two new friends.” He pointed to Sparrow and Jinx. Smelter and Fennec came into the healer’s hut with a bundle of leaves. “Here you go.” Fennec said, handing Sandstone his bunch. Nodding, the Dune Dragon took the plants and stuck them to the ointment.
Hydrus seemed to ease up, and relax more. “Anyway, why are you all here in the jungle? How did you escape? I know they’re dimwitted but not that much.”
Nightgazer, sat up higher. “We outsmarted them! And came in search of the Gemstones of Power.” she announced. “The Emerald of Grass and Earth. But we still haven’t found it.”
King Acacia, immediately flinched back. They all turned to gaze at him. “Uncle?” Citron said.
“Hm?” answered Acacia. “What’s the matter?” Sandstone said.
“It’s just the emerald.” Acacia thought out loud. “I’ve never heard someone call my earrings that in a while.”
“Your earrings!” Citron said.
The king nodded. “Yes, they’re a family heirloom. ed down from one Alpha to another. If that’s what you’re looking for, I’ll surely give it to you.” He fixed a ring on his claw. “But if I do, you’ll have to promise me that only Prince Citron will wear them. Nobody else.”
The wolflings, agreed straight away. Acacia reached and took off his jewellery, and handed them to Citron. He took them and replaced his ruby earrings with the emerald ones. Suddenly a surge of power filled his body. He felt lighter, faster, stronger.
“What does it do?” Citron asked. Acacia shrugged. “I’m not sure we never had to use it before. My Clan used to be extremely peaceful, until the war broke out. Anyhow my appointment it about to start, I’ll be back in an hour, or so. You may relax until I return.” The king strutted out of the hut, with his cape dragging behind him.
“Now what?” said Smelter.
Citron hung from a bamboo branch, staring upside down at Canary and Sparrow. The grey wolf placed another milky white flower in her fur. They’d been acting like that since, Sparrow had protested his love for Canary a day ago.
She is pretty, thought Citron. Who wouldn’t fall in love with her, instantly? And all the girl grass wolves are already gushing over Sparrow.
A group of ochre, lime, and brunette females laughed and giggled on a higher platform. Occasionally sneaking a glance towards Sparrow, Fennec, and Smelter. The SunPaw waved back at them, as the fiery Smelter tried his best to ignore them.
Sparrow, however was completely oblivious towards them. All he saw was Canary, braiding her long blue and white fur. Hydrus sat near a ledge talking to Nightgazer and Jinx about King Draco.
“Hey!” Tangerine came running up to Citron’s branch. She flung her tail around the bamboo, swinging beside the prince. “Hello, Tangerine.” Citron said.
“What are you doing? I was just about to go to a high platform, want to come with? It’s okay if you don’t. Not every wolf wants to play with me at the moment. Probably because the GrassPaw prince is my best friend ever.”
Citron climbed up another long strand of leaves. “We’re friends?” Tangerine eagerly nodded, her head. “Uh, huh! You saved my life; I could have died earlier today. But then you were using that floating thing to help me out. So, you’re my best friend now, and you’re way better than Apricot. She just up and disappeared on me. One minute she was behind me, eating a papaya, as I picked flowers for my mom and then BAM! She vanished leaving her yucky fruit peel behind.”
The orange wolfling flipped onto the platform, his friends were sitting on. Citron sat up to the noise of rustling leaves. Peering up he saw the outline of a dragon sitting above him.
“Prince Citron,” said Beetle in a quiet hush. “May I speak to you in my hut, for moment?”
Citron nodded, and looked back at Tangerine. She was staring at a monarch butterfly that had rested on the flower, that Rose held in her tail.
Speaking of Rose, why is her fur so weird all of a sudden. And that flower. . . I think it’s withering even more now.
Rose’s fur had small streaks of yellow and green bursting all over her. And two stubs were poking out of her back. Ignoring that he called out to Tangerine, to come over. She ran to Citron and followed Beetle and him to the hut.
“What do you need to talk about?” Citron said as they entered the small house. Wanted posters were lined up on a wall, with different wolves and dragons’ drawn on them. Bottles and vials were set up on a risen shelf, with labels written on them. Many books and scrolls, sat on top of a dark wood desk, littered with papers.
A white and black spotted dragon head poked up from a table in the back. It was Panda wearing a pair of glasses, and holding a feather pen in her mouth. She hurriedly, pulled the glasses off and placed the feather on the table.
“Heeeey.” she said, slowly. “So, you found him. . .and Tangerine.” The orange wolf waved to the Jungle Dragon, happily.
“Mm, hm.” Beetle replied. He gestured for them to come to his desk. Panda was quick to follow him. He pulled out a piece of paper and lay it on the top of a messy stack.
“This is a letter from my old friend, Scorcher. Apparently, your pal Canary has met him before, including many other important dragons. Which include almost all the royal winglets of Ember Wings. The kings and queens aren’t very happy, that their children never won the fight they had, properly. So, now they are all in training. Trying to better hone the skills and powers that the universe has given them.”
Citron and Tangerine shared a confused look. “What does that have to do with me? Or any GrassPaw really?” he said. “Oh! There’s another note. It’s about the war between the wolf Clans. He wrote saying that the Lunar Eclipse is quite close, about three weeks away, now. Strange things have been happening throughout Talon Mark and Ember Wings. The desert is experiencing cold blizzards, the sky kingdom is having a hurricane every day or so. The FlamePaws’ region is beginning to simmer and cool, and the lava rivers have stopped flowing. These things aren’t normal, even with the Lunar Eclipse. Scorcher doesn’t know how to deal with them, and his damage control team is stumped as well.”
Beetle gently set down the letter, teardrops streaming down his face. “And my mother, and father have another egg soon to hatch. If they can’t burry it in the sand, it’ll die from heat shortage. They need another winglet, one that actually looks normal, Prince Citron.” Panda twined her tail into Beetle’s. “You are a normal Dune Dragon. Don’t you ever forget that.” she said sympathetically.
“I’ll stop this madness, me and my friends. We just need four more gemstones and this war will end. And you’ll have a new sibling soon, don’t worry.” The prince turned to leave.
“Oh, tell your mother to gather a bunch of sand, if she can find any, and store it in a large pot. If she places the egg in there, and makes a fire near it, the dragon inside will stay warmer. And it’ll last two more weeks. Learned that from a hatching project when I was young. They were lizard eggs but, it’ll work just the same. As long as she puts extra sand and covers it.” He explained this to the dragons, before leaping back to the platform.
“Guys! I need to talk.” Citron said to his friends as he did a last flip to land, Tangerine nearby. “We need to leave now. If we go to GemPaws we’ll be done in about three days. Then next will be the FlamePaws.”
“Whoa, slow down Citron. Why are you in such a hurry, all of a sudden? And what about your family? You didn’t even have time to meet them?” Fennec said. Canary put a wing around him. “Come on, tell us. It’ll feel better off your chest, then just keeping it bundled up inside.” She pulled him in for a warm hug, Sparrow hugged him too. But just to then to move beside Canary after.
It took him a short while to tell everyone about everything that happened. Including his powers, and the vanishing wolves.
“Vanishing wolves?” Jinx said. “That’s preposterous! Wolves don’t just disappear.”
Tangerine stood on her hind legs, and yipped. “Oh yeah they do. My friend Apricot, was standing behind me then WAM! She was gone. It was really, really scary.”
Citron patted her on the head. “And your brother Bamboo, and all those soldiers, and others that haven’t returned. Including my older brother Sage.” He stared down at his green paws.
“Brother?” Smelter said. He nodded. They stayed silent for a moment, before King Acacia came sprinting towards them. “Wolflings! The celebration is about to begin. Come on, Prince Citron. Your mother is waiting, with everyone else. You should never be late for your own party.” Acacia dragged Citron along, with the others close behind.
Dragons of many colors danced on the platforms below them. Blue, orange, golden yellow, and green scales turned, and twisted in different patterns, moving to the rhythms that boomed from the drums, and loud bongos. Citron could see Sandstone and Lilypad sitting at a table, on a near deck. Sipping honey dew, and punch from paint splattered cups, with straws, made from bamboo poking out. Fuzzypaws, Lilypad’s baby koala, sat on the Jungle Dragon’s shoulder chewing on a mango peel.
A green dragon came walking up to the group. “King Acacia.” he said, bowing deeply.
“Ah, General Forest! How are the troops doing? Ready for the
. . .well you know.” Forest nodded, sternly.
“The Jungle Dragon’s king and queen have told all their tribe . Every female, hatchling, young winglet, and female carrying an egg. They will be escorted to the Grassland of Emerald Blades, by nine o’clock tonight. Including every female and wolfling from your Clan. Everything is under control sir. Me and my soldiers are ready for anything.”
The general squared his shoulders, proudly. “Okay, then!” said the king. “For now, you can relax with your family and friends. This is a celebration! So, go have fun.”
Acacia trotted down a pathway as General Forest smiled at Canary and flew off to a lower level.
Oh, right. His daughter, Lavender was one of the winglets. The ones that were attacked in that swarm, with Canary. He must be happy to see she’s alright and found us.
Wolves sat in the treetops, dropping flowers down like it was raining from the heavens. Daffodils, orchids, lilies, and jasmines delicately fell down to lay out a beautiful walkway for the ing wolves.
Tangerine appeared beside, Citron with two small clementine in her paw. “Want one?” she said shaking the biggest one in his face. “No, I’m not hungry just yet.”
Eat? He could barely swallow let alone digest something at a time like this.
I’m going to meet my parents. My sister, Pineapple. I wonder if they’d been searching for me all this time. Did any of our parents even care enough to look for their lost pups?
He’d heard the stories Canary told them about her wonderful family. How her father was one of the Wind Strikers. The best flyers and fighters of the WindPaws. They train daily to perfect their skills. Sometimes they fight alongside the soldiers in the war. Canary sometimes worries about that, when she told them. Her mother, is a stay at home mate. Just, simply hunts with her hunting pack and looks over her siblings Junco and Glider.
They’re perfect. Just like her.
He craned his neck to see Sparrow and Canary walking near each other. Their tails entwined for a second then drifting away shortly after. Citron smiled at them.
At least she’s found a perfect match.
The wolves rounded a corner to come to a stop in front of two tall thrones. Gorgeous jewels were sewn into the strong vines they were made from. Flowers entwined in the plants creating a beautiful, spiral of scents and colors. Queen Tropic was sitting on the far end throne. Her back faced the wolflings, as she was in the middle of a conversation with someone.
“Queen Tropic. We have arrived.” announced Acacia. She turned to face her husband, as the group strolled up a slanted pathway to the queen.
“Good evening, darling. Your sister and the others have arrived! They’re just down that level.” The queen pointed to a lower deck where wolves wearing flashy jewellery and drinking fruit cocktails were. Other wolves carried platters of fish, berries and leaves. Politely offering them to guest and visitors.
Nodding King Acacia told the others to stay there, and led Citron down the level.
They weaved and bobbed through crowds of wolves and dragons. A big azure wolf bumped into Citron, making him stumble back a bit. “Watch it.” he barked to Citron. “Sorry!” mumbled the prince.
Up a head King Acacia was chatting to two wolves. One wore a tail ring and a bracelet that wrapped around her arm, made from gold and amber gemstones. Her purple-lime fur shining brighter with her accessories. The other held his head high, wearing a golden ear piercing. He had a tattoo on his neck of a juniper flower blooming.
He strolled up beside his uncle. “Ah, and here he is.” Acacia said. The two wolves looked Citron up and down.
“Oh, who is he again?” the female said to her companion.
The bigger wolf sighed, sounding annoyed. “Juniper, dear. I believe this is Citron. Our lost wolfling.”
Comment