Parched Sands

Why of all dragons was Parch sent to the Jade mountain?

She doesn’t even want to go. But that changes when she meets her winglet. Unlike her they're all weird and wacky. Or are they normal and she isn’t. Though this winglet is not about to stay at the Jade Mountain. Oh no. They want to explore until… a ancient danger looms close. Will they be able to stop it? Or they just another bunch of silly dragonets hoping to find a destiny?

**Prologe**

“Princess Blister?” A young, freckled, SandWing
poked his head around the wooden door.

Blister couldn’t remember what his name was but it
didn’t matter because he was probably a servant. He certainly looked lowborn
with little jewellery on and dirt on his face.

She thought he could be the unreliable messenger the
Cook and the kitchen-maid had been talking about.

Mother called her sneaky for prying in other dragon’s
business but she was just curious. Plus she was a princess so no one should
keep secrets from her.

“Who is it!” she snapped.

He shouldn’t be in her room anyway it was private.

“It’s Fennec, Princess” he quivered.

*Ah,*
Blaze’s Boyfriend. Mother probably sent him here because she thinks he’s
lowborn. I don’t blame her, he is. Oh Blaze always trying to make drama.

“Why are you here” she snapped again “Did Mother
send you here because I don’t want to meet yet another suitor” *or did Blaze send you here to spy on me* she
thought*.*

“No, it wasn’t your mother it was a dragon named…”
he paused thinking “Hijack…? Hiblack…? Or maybe it was-”

“Hyrax” Blister interrupted.

“Yeah, him” Fennec answered sourly it was obvious
that him didn’t like any dragon more handsome than himself. Which meant he
didn’t like many dragons.

“He told me to tell you to go to the courtyard to
meet him.”

“Thank you, you can get out of my room now” she
stated.

“Alright, no need to be pushy” he grumbled.

She growled and gave him a look right between the
eyes that could have killed an elephant. He squeaked and scurried out of the
room slamming the door behind him.

When Blister was sure he was gone and not listening
by her door she stepped onto her balcony which looked onto the main courtyard.

Below her was a dirty coloured SandWing smiling up
at her near the ferns.

“Hey thought you’d never come” he joked “come on
down.”

Gently she glided down and landed in front of him
her tail making a swift curling motion which sprang up sand. It was how she
dealt with anxiety. Curl up your barb and everything will be alright.

For a few precious moments they stared into each
other’s eyes not wanting the few precious seconds to end.

“Oh” Hyrax broke away “I bought you this.”

Gently he pulled out a small necklace. It had a
black gemstone with a gold rim and golden chain. It must have cost a fortune.
It was the same as all Blister jewelry except it was different. Because it
came from him. He unlatched the clasp and clipped it around her neck.

For a few seconds his talons brushed against her
neck. They were warm and soft, filled with love and gentleness.

“It’s beautiful” she whispered touching it lightly.

“Want to fly?” he asked her grinning.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

At that moment all their problems were solved, all
worries lost, in the present with no care for the future as long as they were
together.

Nothing was in their way. For now…

**Chapter 1**

“Get
here right now or we going to snap your neck” a SandWing dragonet yelled.

The
dragonet he was chasing turned around to get a glimpse of her of her attackers.

The one that had bellowed at her was a sandy yellow
mostly but had a more daffodil yellow on her top scales with a brown crest.

*Jackal*
her overstuffed brain murmured. Right behind him was a dragon she only knew
from reputation.

*Prairie*
she shuddered. This dragon was known for beating up young dragonets, like her.
Not only was she 5 years older than Parch but was bigger, stronger and had
killed two other SandWings with her ruthlessness in the past.

She was a strange dragonet with pale scales, a black
tipped barb (normally held in an attacking position) and a snout that looked
like you had just tipped it into ink. If she wasn’t as terrifying Parch would
have asked more about it. But she was terrifying so Parch normally kept it to
herself.

Behind her was Jackal useless sidekick. If he was
meant to be intimidating Jackal certainly should have picked any dragonet apart
from Rhino. He was a bumbling dragon that was apologizing for Jackal’s mistakes
and harsh words.

Unlike Prairie he was a sandy yellow and had brown
dirt splodges all over him which probably meant his uncle had pushed him into a
dusty patch. Again.

But now was not the time to be worrying about her chasers
bath problems. She needed to fix her own mess.

*Should*
of just given them the pineapple *Parch cursed.* Why didn’t she do it? Whydid she have to be stubborn?Because Iwas hungry, starving even, *her brain murmured, defensive.*

Now she was sweating as she skidded to a corner,
kicking up dust. As soon as she did she realized her mistake. A dead end.

But before she could start cursing herself for her
stupidity a shrill scream pierced the air like one of the daggers on display at
the markets.

As she whipped her head around she saw Jackal on the
ground. One hand to his face. An ugly bleeding scar that slashed his whole face
and blinded one eye was only visible from underneath his hands.

On Rhino’s face was a look of horror and disbelief
before it changed to a look of terror.

Strangely though Prairie’s look was smug like she
knew Parch was petrified and was thinking of all the ways she could manipulate
her with her knowledge of Parch’s fear.

When she turned her face back to Rhino he was
pointing at her feet. No not her feet. Her tail. The barb was stained
blood-red. Jackal’s blood.

She had scared him for life. She: Parch had just
wounded a dragon twice her size and 6 years older. That was the first time she
ever hurt someone. But there was one thing for sure she never wanted to do it
again.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she could feel
the cold, desert-night air on her scales. Beside her an 11 year old Sandwing
stood looking down with a worried expression.

“Are you alright?” a worried frown crinkled her forehead
“you were sweating and mumbling stuff.”

“Yeah I’m fine. It was just a dream” Parch shivered.

“Well I called Scorch to get you back to the palace.
You need some sleep” Antelope gently told her.

“But you’ll be guarding on your own” Parch
protested.

“After Scorch drops you off he’ll come and help me”
she told her.

“I’m here” Scorch replied as he came up behind them
“come on Parch you need your sleep.”

They walked wordlessly to the palace until the
stopped at the two huge wooden doors.

“Are you all right on your own from now?” he asked.

“Yeah thanks” she replied.

She soon made it to her rooms that the Queen had
assigned her to. As she snuggled into the blankets she looked out of the only
small slit window in the round room and looked out into the night sky that was
filled with stars and the onto the endless empty desert. But her eyelids were
getting heavy and she soon fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

**Chapter 2**

“But I can’t go I have to stay here. To protect
you!” Parch protested.

It was the next morning and she had been called into
the dining room to discuss with Queen Thorn the letter that had arrived that
day.

“I think the Jade Mountain Academy is the best thing
for you. I mean you can’t even spell for coconuts for Pyrrhia's sake!” Queen
Thorn exclaimed desperately trying to convince the dragonet to go.

“I don’t like coconuts so I don’t have to spell for
them and it wouldn’t matter because I doubt any dragons in the scorpion den
even knew how to spell so it wouldn’t do me any good anyway! Plus soldiers don’t
need to spell or read but they do need to know how to protect their Queen and I
bet that the Jade Mountain Academy doesn’t teach you how to fight” Parch
retaliated.

“No, they don’t because it’s all about peace!” Thorn
exclaimed “just try it out for a term and if you don’t like it you can come
back. Please try to be positive.”

“I’m positive I’ll hate it but fine” Parch gave up.
She’d always knew Queen Thorn would win they fight, she’d do anything to make
her happy.

“Thank you” Thorn replied, relieved that it hadn’t
got heated “Now why don’t you go to your room to pack.

“I don’t have anything better to do” she deflated.

Up in her tower-room Parch sat on her mat and
wondered what the school would be like. Really grey and cave-ish or maybe
really cold. She hoped it would be like Queen Thorns Stronghold. She couldn’t
imagine living anywhere else.

Well that was a lie. She could remember when she was
2 and lived in an old barrel in an alleyway.

After packing Parch went to her cousin’s room in the
west tower. Unlike her, Mamba was excited and wanted to go and had been
excitedly waiting for the letter to arrive.

“I don’t get how you aren’t excited” Mamba exclaimed
“I’ve been waiting for this for forever” she added an exasperated voice to the
last sentence

“That’s where you and I are different” Parch told
her.

“Pie, I just don’t know why you’re not excited”
Mamba frowned and used Parch’s nickname to soften her up.

All Parch did in return was raise one eyebrow.

“I’ve got an idea” Mamba suddenly perked up a bit “I
found this super cool place I want to show you.”

She jumped onto the window ledge and took off into
the sky before Parch could protest. Only a few moments later she was up in the
air as well, doing loop-the-loops in the cloudless sky as her cousin watched
happily for a moment then joined in herself, both of them laughing joyfully.

**Chapter 3**

About an hour later they both came to a small oasis
in the middle of the desert. It looked like paradise with palm trees slowly
swaying in the wind and the waterhole crystal clear as darting fish streaking
all over the place as the sun reflected off their scales.

The first thing Mamba and Parch did was jump into
the cool water. Parch yelped as Mamba splashed her and the two sent water
spraying everywhere. After swimming for a long time both of them got out and
started sunbaking on the big boulders next to the pool.

After both of their scales were dry and the sun was
beginning to set a camel strolled into the oasis for a drink.

If it had realized there were to dragons on the
rocks looking intently at him he wouldn’t of strayed a hundred meters near
them. But he was extremely thirsty so he didn’t hear Mamba stalking up from
behind and jumping on his back. All it could do was snort as she silently slit
his neck.

“Madam, dinner is served” Mamba exclaimed in an
extremely posh voice that made Parch roll around in the sand giggling.

They roasted the camel and in a few minutes it was
all gone and the night sky was full of twinkling stars.

“We should get back or Queen Thorn will be worried
and we won’t get to go to the Jade Mountain” Parch looked worried.

“Aha!” Mamba exclaimed triumphantly “so you want to
go after all!”

“I never said that” Parch shouted as Mamba took off
with one beat of her wings.

The rest of the trip was silent as both of them took
in their surroundings.

“Well here we are” Mamba exclaimed as Thorn’s
Stronghold came into view “home sweet home.”

“See you tomorrow?” Parch asked.

“No, sorry I’m going in the early morning when it’s
still dark” Mamba replied.

“Why.”

Mamba shrugged.

“Well I’ll see you there” Parch told her.

“You bet I will.”

**Chapter 4**

The next morning truth be told Mamba had started off early and taking everything
she needed. But she had also packed. The thing Parch had forgotten.

She thundered furiously to her room where she packed all her essentials:

ü Quill

ü Parchment

ü Ink

ü Blanket
(in case there were none)

ü A
bag of salted almonds

ü Her
cloak (given by Queen Thorn on her 4th birthday)

ü And
her black gemstone necklace.

Instead of packing the last one she decided to wear
it and clipped the golden chain around her neck.

She always worn it and couldn’t remember not having
it. It was also her most expensive possession she had and sometimes she just
liked to wear it.

After finishing putting everything in her brown
satchel she slung it over her head and went down the winding staircase towards
the dining room were Queen Thorn said she would meet her.

Sure enough she was down there waiting for them at
next to her was a dragon she hadn’t seen for a long time.

“QIBLI!” she cried lunging into him and knocking him
over.

“Wow, I never knew I was that important to any
dragon” he joked and smiled “haven’t seen you in a long time. Am I shrinking or
are you getting taller.”

“No, I’m pretty sure you shrunk” she answered “Why
are you here. Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

“We’re all supposed to be there. Come on we’re
running late” Thorn shoved the out of the window and followed afterwards.

“So why are you here?” Parch questioned.

“Thorn called me here” he shrugged.

Thorn shot him a look and he stuttered “what I meant
to say was I wanted to…um… see you off… yeah that’s why.”

“Did anyone tell you you’re a terrible liar” she
joked.

“What me! I’m a fabulous liar! I think…” he puzzled
and put on a confused, thinking face that made Parch laugh.

“You look like you’ve swallowed camel droppings” she
laughed.

“Who says I haven’t” Qibli looked genuinely
mysterious.

“As much as I hate to interrupt your fascinating
conversation, we’ve arrived!” Thorn exclaimed.

As they touched down Parch saw many different tribes
piling in and chatting. In one corner a dark blue Seawing laden with pearls was
fussing over two dark green dragonets and one light pinkish colour while
another blue one stood and held at one year old green dragonet.

*Queen*
Coral *her mind murmured* that pinkish one must be Princess Anemone and the other one is Tsunami
who’s holding Princess Auklet. But I don’t know who the other two are.

On the other side stood Queen Glory fussing over a
dark coloured dragonet and another looking like he might kill anyone to protect
his queen.

Next to them was four Icewings. The first that had a
necklace on was glaring at every one in the room and when she caught Parch’s
eye she frowned. The only other female was staring down at her claws looking
extremely bored with a timid older male one next to her and another one with a
haunty expression that looked down on everyone else and seemed to categorise
them as LOWBORN.

“Qibli!” a Nightwing dragonet with strange but
beautiful silver, tear drop scales next to her eyes bounded towards them.

“Moon!” he returned her cry “Moon this is Parch,
Parch this is Moon. Moon’s a mind reader.”

Moon gave him a look that suggested that that wasn’t
the first impression she wanted to give. Parch tried to just think about sand
falling in front of her gaze. By Moon’s expression it looked like it worked.

“I Moonwatcher” she said and took Parch’s claw and
shook it “I’m in the Jade Winglet” she smiled.

“Parch, I want you to meet Glory. You two go have
your fun” Thorn dismissed them.

**Chapter 5**

As Moon and Qibli walked away Parch saw their
wingtips touch and the two of them smile at each other. *When did they start falling for each other?* Parch thought *and a mind reader too.*

Queen Thorn started walking to Queen Glory so Parch
hurried to follow suit.

“Glory” Thorn put her talon up and Parch felt all
eyes turn to them for a second but quickly get back to their business.

“Thorn, who is this” Glory smiled down at Parch.

“This is Parch” Thorn exclaimed “she’s five.”

“Oh, so she’s the same age as my Dusk” Glory
commented and the dragonet next to her blushed.

The first thing Parch noticed about Dusk was that
she wasn’t fully black. The scales that went from her snout to her eyes were
each a colour of the rainbow. The first was red then orange and so on. Instead
of silver scattered scales on her wings they were rainbow and so were the dot
scales leading from her neck to her tail. She had the usual ruff of a Rainwing
at the back of her ears which was coloured rainbow and a small chip in her ear.
Next to that was a small silver earring they only jewellery Dusk wore.

Parch wondered ifs he was the offspring of Queen
Glory and the Nightwing that was looking affectionately at Dusk.

“Why don’t you two go and try and find your sleeping
caves” Glory suggested “oh, and Dusk, go and say hi to the dragonets for me
okay.”

“Yes, Mother” she replied nuzzling both of them
quickly and then walking off with Parch.

As soon as the adults were out of ear-shot Parch
asked “can I ask you a really nosy question?”

“It depends on how nosy it is” Dusk smiled.

“Are those your parents?” Parch asked blushing
slightly.

“Adoptive ones, yes” she replied but kept walking
“my real parents left me on Glory’s platform when I was a day old so I didn’t
know them well. Deathbringer and Glory are better parents then they’ll ever
be.”

“My parents abandoned me too” Parch told her.

“Hey that means we have something in common!” Dusk
exclaimed.

“Do you know where the sleeping caves are?” Parch
asked.

“No” she replied looking worried “we’ll have to find
them ourselves.”

“Hi, Dusk, and you must be Parch” a Mudwing popped
out of a cave “I’m Clay by the way.”

“Hi, where are our
sleeping caves?” Dusk asked extremely confident “and what winglet are we in?”
“Oh, Dusk you’re in the cave at the end of the hallway and you’re in the
Emerald Winglet and you’re in the Obsidian Winglet in the cave in the opposite
direction” he smiled at them and then noticed their faces and his look turned
into one of pity “is Glory here?”

“Yeah, just near the big hall with Queen Thorn” Dusk
answered as the two of them race off to find their separate caves.

**Chapter 6**

When Parch got there she were surprised to see
another dragon sitting on one of small rock ledges. She looked up and Parch
almost gasped in surprise. The dragon wasn’t an Icewing that she had expected
from her colour but it looked like the strangest hybrid she had ever seen.

Her facial figures looked like a white Nightwing but
with a horn on top of her snout that was facing the wrong way and the front of
her snout it was a very light grey that faded into white. On her horns was a
small black string that wrapped around them with little yellow stones hanging
from it and an earring that was a small blue triangle with an emerald in it.
Her eyes were a light pink and gazed at Parch’s with curiosity.

“Oh hello…” Parch bit her lip.

“You look all green and spiky like a tangerine” the
white dragon whispered in a sweet wavy voice “why are you in this hole?”

“Um…” Parch didn’t know how to approach this dragon
“I’m Parch” she stuttered “and you must be…?”

“Abnormality” the white dragon answered firmly.

“Pardon” Parch looked confused.

“The crashing tides will soon sweep over you” she
stated in a dreamy voice.

“Oh um… well I’ll get going if we’re disrupting…
whatever you’re doing…” Parch trailed off.

“No stay” she answered “it’s your hole too.”

“Oh um… well has anybody taken this spot?” Parch gestured
to a small rock ledge that had a colourful woven blanket.

“Not in the name of pureness” the white dragon
answered.

“So I can take it then?” Parch exclaimed still
confused.

“I am still watching the shifting sands” she
exclaimed.

“What are you drawing?” Parch suddenly asked staring
at the piece of parchment the white dragon was holding.

“The answer to your question of course” she replied.
On the piece of parchment was a word spelt in blue ink.

*Howlite.*

Was this her name?

Parch stared at the dragon and looked into her eyes
they were filled with curiosity and seeing the world in a different way and
suddenly she understood what the dragon was saying. Everything she was speaking
made sense. She looked at Howlite like she had just figured out a particularly
difficult problem.

**Chapter 7**

All of a sudden a rainbow coloured dragon popped her
head around the cave opening. It was Queen Glory.

“Have you seen Dusk,” she asked.

“The caves on the right hand side, Your Majesty”
Parch told her receiving a smile from Queen Glory as she quickly strode out of
the cave.

Only minutes later two Sandwings poked their heads
around the cave.

“Ostrich! Qibli!” she exclaimed “Why are you here?”

“Just thought you might want to come to the Prey
Centre with us”
“Sure what’s the Prey Centre?” Parch asked confused.

“It’s just a place where we can eat” Ostrich
answered.

“Then I’m all in!” Parch exclaimed and jumped up
before pausing for a second “do you want to come Howlite?” she asked
uncertainly.

“Zero” Howlite replied still engaged in the piece of
scroll laid out in front of her.

“What does that mean” Quibli asked quizzically.

“No” answered Parch surprised she knew that herself.

With that the three dragons walked swiftly out of
the cave in the direction of food.

“Can Mamba come too?” Parch asked when they had been
walking for a few minutes in silence.

Ostrich bit her lip and looked down at the floor
mumbling.

“What is it?” Parch’s voice was raised in her
concerned voice “What’s happened?”

“It’s better if we just show you” Qibli dipped his
head and walked into the direction of the healing rooms.

This was all too much for Parch and she started
sprinting to the healing rooms with a look on her face that almost said she
would be permanently terrified for the rest of her life.

But when she got there she had the biggest shock of
all.