Chapter One

Chiara pounced. She swiftly killed the deer she had caught with her claws and picked it up, turning to look at Cephas. He grinned and spread his wings in a praising gesture. Chiara dragged the deer towards where her brother stood proudly. They had both decided to go hunting together. They often did. It was fun knowing that she was helping support her leap.

          Chiara remembered a teaching Warrick had told her. *A leap cannot survive without prey. And prey cannot survive without territory. Territory is what keeps us alive. What keeps us safe. What keeps us strong.* Chiara smiled as she realized that she could almost hear her father saying that. Warrick had ingrained it into her mind so much that it was as if he said it to her every time she thought it.

          Cephas and Chiara flew back to where they lived. It was much nicer than where she knew most Leothra stayed, but then again she and Cephas were royalty. And as Cephas being heir to the chief and their father being, well, the chief, they needed to show them that they were wealthy and strong. *A leap is only as strong as its chief.*

          Tiyriki landed behind Cephas on the gnarled wooden planks that formed a small platform easy to walk on. Above it was a small clearing in the trees where you could see the sky above. On the occasion, a high-flying bird could be spotted flitting about. It was late afternoon, so the sun had set low enough that shadows cast over the majority of the area.

          Tiyriki glanced behind her, feeling as if she were being watched. She whispered to Cephas, "I think I saw something!"

          Cephas bent down to ask in a hushed tone, "Like what?" His eyes flickered back and forth as if expecting something, or someone, to leap out of the shadows.

          Tiyriki flicked her tail in the direction to where she had seen a movement that looked like a shadow. They both turned around to look. Cephas took a step in front of her. Chiara felt confident knowing that Cephas was there to protect her if anything went wrong. Only a little bit though.

           Chiara felt the sunlight blocked from hitting her pelt. She looked up to see a huge dark form leap over her and onto Cephas. "Surprise!" They tumbled over into a massive mixed heap of gold and black fur and dark blue and lime green feathers. "D'you miss me?"

          Chiara caught herself from tumbling to the ground in relief. It was Ames, Cephas's best friend. Not an intruder. Chiara jumped up. "You're back!" She exclaimed, happy.

          At the same time, as she had said it, Cephas had chuckled and said, "Yeah I did." Ames stood up and slid off of Cephas, letting him get up. "How did it go?"

          Ames let out an exasperated tone, flinging out his wings. "It was agonizing! I think Chief Warrick had it out to punish me for that time when I tricked one of his guards into thinking his forehead had gone bright blue." He laughed a little and Chiara smiled. She remembered like it was yesterday when she had seen Flioj. He had been recently made a high-ranking guard at the time. He had raced as fast as he could to the nearest river as his life depended on it. Poor poor Flioj, always too concerned with his complexion.

          Chiara snapped back into focus when Ames continued to talk. "If he did mean to punish me then Chief Warrick is one clever Leothra. I was forced to not only go out with Kanu but also Ruyi!" Ames rolled his eyes. "Kanu was constantly complaining that the humidity was making his feathers ugly and stick together. And Ruyi would never leave me alone! At least Eron was somewhat decent. He kept to himself at least."

          Cephas's eyes filled with amusement and Chiara could tell he was trying his hardest not to chuckle. "Maybe Ruyi likes you," he offered, teasing.

          At this Ames spat. "Blergh! Yuck! Gross! I'd rather marry a toad!" Ames shook his head in irritation. "Anyways, the mission was a fail. We tried scouting the farther out islands for possible suitable territory but they were all practically deserted and devoid of life. The most I managed to catch were a couple of small lizards and a hawk. No way several Leothra could survive out there."

          Cephas nodded solemnly and Chiara was a little disappointed. The Leothra had steadily begun to run out of territory with how large they were in number and size. She had hoped that moving to the islands off the coast of the jungle would solve their problems. I hoped wrong.

          "Did you report this to Chief Warrick?" Cephas asked, straightening his position-the one he always held when he tried his best to be formal.

          "No, but Kanu has got it covered," Ames said, not worried. He scoffed. "He would never pass up the chance to make himself look better and take all the credit for our miss-"

          There was a loud crash and suddenly the jungle reeked of smoke and ash. Chiara felt adrenaline surge through her limbs and she sprang her wings open to fly at a moment's notice. *What's going on? Is that fire?* Chiara looked to Cephas with a panic-stricken gaze.

          Cephas looked as terrified as she felt. Chiara felt even more terrified than she would normally have been as a tree began to collapse towards them. *If Cephas couldn't be brave, who could? Certainly not me!* she thought. She stared at the massive hulking kapok tree as it came roaring towards her. Its bark was engulfed in flames that cracked and twisted in the air. It sent off red and gold sparks flying off towards the forest canopy. Perfect kindling. Her legs felt frozen to the ground, locked in place by fear, and she couldn't move.

          She was knocked off by her paws and sent tumbling off the platform. She fell backward through the air. Chiara could hear the wind whistle past her ears. She plummeted faster and faster towards the floor of the jungle. She opened her eyes as she felt like time had slowed. She was able to take in the detail of her wings, which were above her hanging limp as she crash-landed. She could see a flash of dark indigo blue wings. She saw what was the face of her brother as she realized he had been the one who pushed her off.

          Chiara had barely enough time to think about opening her wings. She twisted her tail and her body in the correct way to right herself before she could hit the roots, dirt, and leaves below. Still, it wasn't enough and she still was sent careening through the forest. She tumbled through a patch of thick vines until she was slammed into the trunk of a thick, hard, and unforgiving tree.

          Chiara managed to get up, her head feeling as if claws were tearing at her. She looked up, coughing. She tried to see through the reddish haze that surrounded her home. "Cephas! Ames!" She cried out, lifting her wings only to cough again. "Cephas!"

          The roaring of flames sounded in her ears. She had never seen or heard fire before. She knew enough about it to know that there was no way there was anything other than it. Chiara paced on the undergrowth. She could hardly hear the piles of dead leaves cracking underfoot as she raced to and fro looking for her brother.

          Every other tree was ablaze in fire, so bright that it hurt her eyes to stare at it for too long. *I can't find them. I'm lost and alone surrounded by deadly fire,* Chiara realized with a sharp renewed pang of terror. *Oh Cephas, where are you?*

          Chiara decided that she would have to risk flying although the thought scared her. She knew the fire surrounded her so there would be no way she would be able to escape on her own four legs. She also knew the dangers of how much damage one small spark could create. She could set herself on fire by trying to fly up through the flaming canopy. It was now or never and only one option guaranteed her a chance at survival.

          She opened her wings and pushed off from the ground, narrowly dodging a falling branch on her way up. Chiara tried not to think about the fact that she was doing this on her own. That Cephas was nowhere to be found to keep her safe from harm. The thought, *If I fail I die,* managed to slither its way into her mind no matter how much effort she put to shut it out. Chiara understood the peril of the situation she was in. She didn't need her cowardice to try to help with the situation.

          Being fearful may have saved her from a snake by telling her to avoid it. It would not save her from fire by telling her to not take her only way to escape. Chiara closed her eyes tight shut as she burst through a layer of branches and leaves that were ablaze. If she had caught on fire, she was too occupied with other things to notice.

          Chiara flapped her wings to continue flying upwards. She opened her eyes again to find jaws sweeping towards her. At first, she didn't even comprehend. Some instinct told her to stop flying and she began to fall back to the ground. As she had lowered in altitude barely, Chiara heard teeth gnash together. She looked up to see a ginormous head of a huge winged scaly monster. *Is that a DRAGON?*