Wings of Fire: Diamonds in the Desert

== WARNING: old fics be old ==
READ AT YOUR OWN RISSSSSSSSSSKKKKKKKKKKK
By Mythies123.
==
Summary ==
Jerboa and Figs live happily in the Scorpion Den. Fighting for food, shelter, and even their lives is their idea of a good life. But then, Figs loses his home, and Jerboa hatches a plan to get it back. They embark merrily, but things don't go as planned...
== Prologue ==
A SandWing was searching through the desert. He swept his mangled wing and swirled up the sand, looking for a dragon egg. The sand dragon's venomous tail hit something. Aha! The SandWing egg! The first SandWing's egg had already been found. This one would do if something went wrong with the first.. He noticed, with shock and pleasure, a pattern of black diamonds. A royal egg! Dune thought, How did it get out here? Never mind that, if it's a female, it could be SandWing queen if Blister betrays us. Suddenly, voices came to his ears. He tensed, the smooth yellow egg held tight.
"DUNE! Come back and let me poison you, you egg-stealing camel-face!"
It was Thorn and her Outclaws! Unable to fly, Dune started to run lopsidedly, his bad leg making him wobble.
They'll catch me. He thought hopelessly as he ran. Their wings will overtake me in a second. Still, he ran. A burly dragon with a grumpy expression was gliding over the sand, hardly flapping his wings as he gained ground. Thorn put on a burst of speed, her tail poised to strike. Her venom barb whipped the air so close to his scales that he could almost feel the acidic sting.
The egg! The egg is slowing me down. I have to leave it. After all, another Talon could come back and fetch the egg. Without a backward glance, Dune threw the black diamond-patterned egg away as far as possible, and, no longer weighed down, he exploded out of the Outclaws' reach. As if on cue, a sandstorm hit, shielding Dune from sight and blowing the egg back toward Scorpion Den. He noticed, though, that the Outclaws seemed to not be able to see the egg. They shook their heads and flew away, leaving the egg.
== Chapter 1: In the Streets ==
Jerboa strolled through the crowded market. To her, a small dragonet, the riches contained in these stalls were valuable beyond imagination. But first, she had to get it. She had no money to pay, no trinkets to trade. But she had her wits, and her talent at making diversions.
Jerboa flapped up to the sandstone roof of one of the dusty houses in the Scorpion Den, and shouted, "Help! Dragonbite viper! There's a dragonbite viper! AAAAAAAARGH!" The crowd exploded into chaos, everyone flapping crazily to get away from the imagined deadly snake. Taking cover in the panicking crowd, Jerboa snatched a loaf of bread, some camel meat, a bottle of brightsting cactus oil, and slipped these into her pouch. Smirking at the gullible dragons who were spiraling through the air, screaming, she slipped into old houses, gaps in walls, and through dirty alleyways.`
Finally, she arrived in the oldest, dustiest part of the city. Jerboa dodged into a desolated sandstone building. The inside was filthy, and she had to muffle a sneeze. She wriggled through a gapping hole in the floor, into a tunnel underground. She padded through, cracks in the roof letting in dusty light. She arrived at the end of the tunnel, a sandstone cave under the street, large enough for Jerboa to stand up, walk in a circle, and lie down. It was crammed with rugs, bottles, and coins that Jerboa had purloined from various unwary dragons.
She devoured the meat, savoring every bite, and tucked the bread into a rough cloth bag around her neck with a pattern that depicted a winged scorpion in a cave, presumably representing the Scorpion Den. It was probably the last food she would eat for a week. She knew that dragons could survive a month without food, but, of course, she was only a very skinny dragonet. She swallowed the last piece of meat, curled into a ball of pale yellow scales, and slept.
When Jerboa woke, she had the very unnerving feeling that someone was watching her. Uneasily, she glanced around the shadows.
"BOO!" Jerboa swung her tail around and slashed at the voice. Swish! Swish! Swish! Whoever it was kept dodging, and then she recognized the familiar scent of figs.
"FIGS! Do you have camel spit for brains?! I couda have killed you!" she shouted, trying to hide a grin.
"It was just a joke..." Figs said in a fake you-hurt-my-feelings-voice. He chuckled, and Jerboa couldn't help following. Figs was a terrifying fighter and an excellent trickster.
"Jerboa," He broke in, suddenly serious, "There was a dragonbite viper at the market the yesterday. Did you see it? Did it bite somebody?"
Jerboa started to laugh again.
"That was me, Figs," she giggled, "I raised a false alarm so I could steal some food."
"Ah."
Jerboa suddenly remembered that Figs was locked in a battle for territory with a gang of considerably older and stronger dragonets.
"Figs. Shouldn't you, um, be in a battle for your den right now?" She inquired.
He shuffled his feet.
"Well... I kinda... lost. The fight." He murmured, his fighting spirit crushed by this loss.
Jerboa tensed her muscles and growled. "Those mangy scorpion-brains! I hope that they all get eaten by... by... something nasty!"
"I don't see the reason for your sympathy." added Figs, revealing his sharp, yellow teeth in a nasty grin, "I gave Warthog something to think about as his cronies drip brightsting cactus oil on his neck." He snickered. "Ol' bully-butt."
"Bully-butt?!"
"Yup. He's a beetle-nosed, viper-tempered, snot-brained, minion-making, bully-butt."
Suppressing a smile, Jerboa thought for a moment. She had to help get Figs' territory back. Staring into space, she pictured Warthog's missing teeth, torn wings, long scars, and beady, evil eyes. She could see now, his saunter, with a slight limp in his scarred back left foot, and a smirk.
"We have to get your territory back." she decided.
"What? Once Warthog gets his dirty claws on something good, he will fight-or rather, make his cronies fight- to the end." He replied incredulously.
"Oh, but we won't fight." Jerboa smiled, waving her claw annoyingly.
"How will you get the territory back if we won't fight?" Figs asked, wrinkling his snout.
"You will see..." She whipped her claw across the tapestry with an adornment of wriggling horned lizards and thorny brightsting cacti around a stylized sun, revealing branching, dark tunnels.
"Why did you not show me this?!" Figs gaped.
"I was waiting for the right time. And, this seemed to be it." she remarked airily. "Kinda of a surprise, ya know? Besides, I haven't really explored them at all. I was gonna to be safe, and have someone to help out."
"Help out with what?!?"
"You shall see."
== Chapter 2: How Not to Tunnel ==
Jerboa strolled confidently down a wide, dark, sandy tunnel. Behind her, Figs was sneezing loudly in the dust.
"Shush! They'll hear us." She slapped a talon over Figs' mouth.
"Who will hear us! Where are we going?"
"Shhhh!"
They walked in silence, until Figs whispered "Do I have to fight somebody? All this strategic talk is winding me up."
"Shut up!"
"Ugh, OKAY!"
Jerboa stopped and lashed her tail.
"We're here, Figs. We have to be perfectly quiet, or else they will hear us and dig up the tunnels."
"Who will-" Figs began to ask, but stopped as footsteps thundered above. They heard a rumbling voice that they identified as...
"Warthog." Jerboa breathed.
"We're under HIS territory?! Are you crazy!"
"I gotta a plan to get your home back."
Figs looked around uneasily and followed Jerboa into a tunnel that sloped down, deeper into the desert earth. Silly dragon. He pretends he's so brave but he's scared and there's nothing to worry abo-
A rumbling noise sounded overhead. A shout slipped through the ceiling and puddles of light and shadow formed on the earthy floor. Jerboa stopped suddenly, and Figs bumped into her tail, barely avoiding getting his eye taken out by a poison barb.
They've heard us, Jerboa thought, They'll dig us up. She threw a look at Figs that plainly said shut up. He obeyed, looking more petrified than Jerboa had ever seen him, but quickly regaining his composure and looking bored even under the circumstances.
Rumble rumble crick crack. 
Pebbles bounced off Jerboa's scales.
Scrape scraaaape scrape. 
A single claw wormed into sight, then a paw, then leg, and finally, the head of Warthog popped into view. His dull eyes narrowed and he roared.
"CAMEL FARTS! RUN, FIGS, RUN!" Jerboa turned tail and dashed into a side tunnel. Footsteps thundered overhead. A claw punched through the ceiling and grabbed Figs.
"Jerboa!"
Jerboa grabbed Figs' paw and held on. She was no match for burly Warthog, let alone several more equally burly dragonets yanking on Warthog's tail. Figs was squeezed through the roof -which looked very uncomfortable- making a huge crack in the ceiling. Uh-oh...
CRASH!
The ceiling caved in. Jerboa just managed to avoid being buried alive under a motherlode of sand. When the dust cleared, she saw Figs lashing furiously at a group of tough-looking dragonets. A spray of venom splattered the sand as he contracted his tail. One darted forward and, quick as a viper, wrapped the barb in cloth. Warthog's unpleasant features were illuminated by an nasty smirk. He reached and tore Figs' crest, opening an old rip.
Jerboa squeaked out loud. Oops... Their heads slowly, slowly turned toward her.
Figs bit the dragon who was clamping his mouth shut and and yelled, "Run! Go back to your cave! Bring the tunnel down after you! Quick-OW!" A dragon had slashed a nasty new scar across his snout. "GO!! I'll take care of them! I don't want to lose you!" He screamed, a horrible sound of agony, as one dragon sent a shower of his yellow scales flying into the sand.
Jerboa was petrified for a moment, then ran. She rammed the ceiling with her tail and wings, showering her with dirt and dust.
Crack! Crack! Little dark lines formed on the ceiling.
I don't want to lose you.
Wam! She bashed it with her head, eyes watering as dust fell.
CRASH! 
Sections felled down, barely missing her tail. The entire tunnel was collapsing. She couldn't make it back in time to escape. Desperate, she ducked into a side cave as, with an echoing BOOM, the tunnel caved in. She darted into a corner.
After booms, crashes, rumbles, and an assortment of little tinkles and smashes that she couldn't imagine the source of, Jerboa opened her eyes. The entrance was completely blocked by rubble. Only her sharp SandWing eyesight allowed her to see.
"Camel spit." Jerboa muttered grimly. "I'll never get out of here." Her deep navy eyes flickered around the cave. With a jump, she realized that it was not a cave, but a tunnel. Leading to where? She had no clue, but it was better than sitting here until she starved or Warthog dug her up.
Figs. With a shudder of guilt, Jerboa knew that he could be dead or tortured because she had ran. He wanted me to run. Somehow, this didn't comfort her all that much. Figs didn't sacrifice himself for nothing. He wouldn't want me to just sit here in the dark. She turned toward the gaping, black tunnel mouth, which was looking more and more like the mouth of a huge beast ready to swallow her whole. She took a deep breath and entered the depths.
== Chapter 3: More Tunnels? ==
It was tricky for Jerboa to notice much in the dark tunnels, but it was definitely very cold and wet. After walking and gliding through the tunnel for several days, eating the increasingly stale chunk of bread in her bag, it got colder and wetter.
Her sun-warmed scales, softened by the desert heat, felt like hunks of ice. The little cracks between her scales had opened naturally in the sun, now, in the cold, just let in the cold air. A small part of her said to curl into a ball like a snoozing -ha- jerboa, but the other, bigger part of her knew that she would freeze. She would force herself to run as fast as she could when she started to feel numb.
Jerboa grumbled to herself, wrapping her wings around herself to keep warmer. As she shivered and took another step, her talons came down with a splash. She leapt back, startled, but quickly recovered her disinterested demeanor and fierce dignity, even though no one was watching. For the past couple days (or, rather, the times between sleep), the ground had been decidedly damp, but Jerboa had never encountered this much water. She skimmed her tail over the earth and splashed in another puddle.
Even though she had never seen water before except via drinking out of waterskins, Jerboa already knew she hated it. She gritted her teeth and padded forward, claws gurgling in the splashy soil, well aware that there was no other way out but forward.
Some time later, the tunnel dipped slightly and Jerboa was up to the middle of her legs in water. She hissed as water lapped at her wings tips. The tunnel was getting smaller, and the walls were rock instead of sandy dirt. She would never admit this, but she was beginning to be a little freaked out. Not scared. Jerboa wasn't scared of anything. 
The water rose more, nearly up to Jerboa's body. Now up to her chest. Now her wing joints. Now her neck. The water sucked and pulled at her ears as she stubbornly half-walked, half-paddled through the tunnels to what she hoped was safety.
Wait...
Sucked?
The water had been incredibly still and quiet, but now it gurgled along in an unhurried way, tugging gently at Jerboa's tail and SandWing crest. The hoop earrings in her crest and bag waved in the current. What the... 
A rushing, gurgling, sucking, splashing noise from ahead caught Jerboa's attention. It sounds like... part of the tunnel ahead collapsing? 
Gloonk!
What is that?
Jerboa felt a tugging on her body, first a faint pull like a cool breeze, then increasing to a constant tug.
A jank of rushing water so sudden and so violent that it caught her off guard knocked her legs out from under her.
"Nooooooo!"
Her claw scraped at the walls, trying in vain to get a grip on the smooth rock. Jerboa's only thoughts were full of terror. She bobbed through the maze of tunnels, sometimes ducking under to avoid low ceilings, terrified that the ceiling would grow so low that there was no air space.
Jerboa found a waterfall. Confused by the sudden falling and rushing, freezing air, Jerboa flailed blindly and whacked her tail painfully on a rock. Her stiff, cold, waterlogged wings refused to open. By the time she had figured out what was going on, she hit the bottom. Thankfully, it was deep with no rocks, but she was going so fast that the water felt like rock, smashing her side and knocking the breath out of her.
Jerboa stuck her head above the water and reached her hind leg down to see how deep it was. The bottom, which she could just scrape with her paw, was worn smooth by the water, feeling like the sleek, clear metal-like substance that her fire and sand made. She noticed, with dismay, that the current was still moving, but so gently that she could barely feel it.
She spread her pale gold wings to help her float. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that she had drifted out into a huge cavern. Tiny cracks in the ceiling let is beams of dusty light. The rocks glittered in the faint sunshine, and the water sent shifting blue patterns on the ceiling. The water was warm and the current was gentle, tugging her gently around and around the cavern.
It's so peaceful.
Figs would like this.
I wish he was here.
Another spasm of guilt shuddered her wings; if she hadn't brought Figs into the tunnels in a silly attempt to get his home back that wouldn't even work in a crazy dragon's dreams, this wouldn't have happened.
She tucked her wings around herself, and found that by angling her wings into the current just right she could stay afloat without paddling. Jerboa felt drowsiness weighing down her eyelids.
Stay awake, silly camel head. It's a great idea to fall asleep while floating around in an underground... river...
Jerboa fell asleep, floating gently in circles in the peaceful underground paradise.
== Chapter 4: A Whirlpool of Unpleasantness ==
"MMMFF!"
In a great gurgling stream of bubbles, Jerboa popped out of sleep and into the waking world, which seemed to be underwater. She rammed her legs against the bottom, which, instead of smooth, was now soft and sandy.
Jerboa came gasping to the surface, and immediately wished she had stayed underwater. The current was pulled her in rapid circles, spiraling crazily around a dark hole. A hole? In the water? Is that possible?
Possible or not, it certainly wasn't nonexistent. White water pored into it, feeding the gaping, black hole in the underground lake that was pulling Jerboa toward it.
Frantically, Jerboa reared out of the dark water and flapped blindly upward, only to smash sideways against a rock wall. A loud crack echoed through the cavern, drowned by rushing water. She dropped back into the water, stunned. It was only for a moment, but she thought she saw a faint vision of something pale gold, round, and diamond-patterned. Then she thrust her head above the surface, but not before sucking in several mouthfuls. Her right wing was limp, painfully pulled by the current, and the entire right side of her body didn't feel too great either. Her neck hurt most of all, and breathing was very difficult.
Jerboa reached the edge of the whirlpool. Just before she went in, as if to taunt her the current lessened slightly, allowing her to get a grip on the soft, sandy sides. For a second that seemed to last forever, she leaned over the edge, dangling over the black abyss.
Let's take a minute to put ourselves in Jerboa's situation. You are a small orphaned SandWing. You have lived in hunger and fear all your life. Your best and only friend is tortured and captured, maybe even dead. You have been trapped in dark, damp, and desolate caves. You have been swept away by an underground river, freezing cold. Your wing is broken, so you cannot fly away. And now, right after you though things couldn't get any worse, you have managed to secure a precarious grip with one arm on the crumbling side of a screaming dark whirlpool, a merciless black abyss that will kill anyone and everyone that it can. Water is pouring down from all directions. But, worse than the pain of the cold, or the pain of losing your friend, or the pain of the broken wing, is the sound of the whirlpool. A horrible, gurgling, swallowing, screaming and roaring sound that has no mercy. It promises death and horror and despair and everything evil.
Jerboa hovered just above the whirlpool, staring paralyzed into black nothing. Then, bit by bit...
...her grip began to crumble away. Jerboa dug in hard, but...
Jerboa screamed, even thought there was no one to hear her, as she tumbled down, down into roaring blackness.
== Chapter 5: The River ==
It seemed that the river took everything from her.
First, it took her breath, slamming all air from her lungs, filling them with dark, frigid water.
Then, it took her sight, replacing the last bit of dim light from the cavern above with cold darkness.
Next, it took her hope, filling the empty space in her heart where hope used to be with despair.
Last, her consciousness, as her oxygen-starved brain sank into darkness like her body in the river.
Jerboa screamed again, letting out a stream of bubbles that dashed themselves out on the raging current, as she sank into unconsciousness.
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Flashes of sound and color flickered past Jerboa like grains of sand blowing in the desert.
An egg. A palace. A queen. A chase. A sun. A desert. A sky.
Jerboa wished the dizzying flash of pictures would stop. Surprisingly, it did. Just before the images faded, a single picture was snatched from the torrent. 
Two SandWings, one male, one female, were flying through the wide, blue desert sky. The sun overhead blotted out all but the endless blue sky and the flapping forms of the two SandWings. All else was bright warm light. The wingbeats of the two dragons seemed extremely loud, and Jerboa realized it wasn't just their wings. A wing of dragons flew after the pair, chasing them through the sky. The male SandWing roared as he tried to flee the dragons behind him, but they were gaining. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a sandstorm appeared on the horizon. The wing of chasing SandWings lifted up, out of the way of the storm, but the two tired dragons were swallowed up. As everything disappeared in a whorl of sand, 
WIPWIPWIP 
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (Mythies123)