WintersDelight

A thunderstorm clashed angrily against the Shifting Expanse's dark horizon, rain poured from the clouded-over sky.
A long, snaky, red imperial dragon crept into a cave in the Carrion Canyon.
There was hardly enough room for her, let alone her mate. A slender green and orange skydancer snuggled closely to the imperial.
"Are you comfortable?" the imperial asked, "I'm sorry I'm so long."
The skydancer smiled at her as they were squashed between the cave walls.
"Frankly, my dear," he replied, "I'm right where I want to be."
The imperial nuzzled her head against his; Her antlers scraped the room of the cave, showering them with dust.
"I don't suppose you could that sideways," the skydancer joked, "We'd have more room."
The rain streamed from the sky, a flash of lightning filled the small cave, and was followed immediately by a loud snap of thunder.
A faint, high-pitch crying could be heard over the downpour.
Beylaa, the red imperial, stopped scraping the sides of the cave and listened intently.
There was no mistaking; some thing was out in the storm and needed help.
A scuffling, jostling insued as both Beylaa and her mate, Muddauber, tried to leave the cave mouth together.
Beylaa accidentally pressed Mud's snout to the ground with her paw.
"Sorry, honey." she said meekly to him.
Her mate rose from the ground, covered in freshly moistened mud.
"No problem, cupcake," he replied, after spiting out a clump of dirt, "I'm just living up to my name."
The two followed the crying sounds and, with the help of a particularly bright lightning bolt, found what they were searching for.
A tiny wildclaw hatchling was struggling to escape the boney remains of a fallen beast.
The pair worked together to scratch and dig the hatchling free; They carried the hatchling back to their cave.
"What on Sornieth is this hatchling doing out in this storm?" Beylaa looked down at the tiny dragon crawling over her paws.
"What's any hatchling doing out in a storm?" Mud looked down and the shivering wildclaw.
"Look at her eyes," Beylaa replied, "Bright green, she must be a wind dragon."
"She was probably blown away from her nest and ended up here." Mud nuzzled the tiny dragon.
"Blown all the way from the Plateau?"
"The Plateau's winds are as unpredictable as a caffeinated Spiral," Mud replied, "And with this storm, it's not a surprise this little one was lost."
Another flash filled the cave, a clap of thunder, and the rain thickened.
It was as if Stormcatcher himself was yelling at the world to stop slacking.
Another flash.
"Wait for it." Mud said.
A BANG of thunder filled the air.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Mud yelled in unison with the thunder.
Beylaa immediately began scraping the sides of the cave with her antlers.
"Yes, oh mighty thunder lord."
A tiny Shiny Anole fell from the cave, broken loose by Beylaa's antler.
The tiny lizard scrabbled over the imperial's paws, the wildclaw hatchling pounced on it and bite it's neck.
The lizard squealed, but soon fell silent.
"I guess you were hungry." Beylaa stared down at the wildclaw, now eating her prey.
The now fed wildclaw belched with joy.
Mud nuzzled the hatchling.
"That's my little hunter."
The wildclaw hatchling yawned loudly, walked in a circle, than finally laid down, leaning against Beylaa's feathered leg.
"If we can't find it's parents, Mud" Beylaa smiled down at the sleeping wildclaw, "What are we going to do with her?"
Mud glanced up to his mate, now beaming at the baby.
"We'll do exactly what your smile is telling us to do."
Beylaa looked down to her mate.
"I'm smiling?" she asked, unaware of her enormous grin.
The two dragons nuzzled their heads together, and soon slept through the storm.

A young, deep red wildclaw poked and sniffed the ground.
Her black head feathers twitched in the light breeze.
She had only just moved from the Shifting Expanse to the Ashfall Waste with her parents, Beylaa and Muddauber; She was eager to learn the terrain and find the best hunting grounds.
A faint blue glowing told the young wildclaw that a duskrat was nearby.
She sunk low to the ground and crept silently forward; A sudden angry cawing filled the air, a flock of bleeding-heart crows flew overhead against the dusty sun-setting sky. The duskrat quickly scampered away underground.
"Great," the wildclaw grumbled, "There goes dinner."
She sat up, and looked around, she was curious to see what had cost her the rat. Her mother had told her it's best to chalk-up the loss and search for something else, but still she looked around. The Emberglow Hearth was usually quite this time of day, the resident hatchlings and their parents were quieting down for the night.
A faint scuffling could be heard in the distant; The young wildclaw was about to investigate it when a bright glistening caught her eye.
"The duskrat is back." She crept low to the ground and pounced at the glittering.
The wildclaw pulled her head back; She sunk her teeth in to what she thought was a tasty rat, but instead a lavender chain dangled from her teeth.
"Nice shot, Winnie."
The wildclaw looked around, a green and orange skydancer trotted beside her.
"Pappa," she looked gleefully as Muddauber approached her, "I thought it was a duskrat."
Mud looked over the chain.
"That's the prettiest rat I've seen." he batted the pendant with his paw, "Not much meat on it, though."
The wildclaw slipped the chain over her head.
"It's not food, but it looks nice."
"Come alone home now, Winnie." Mud said, "We have a nice pile of meat for you."
Winter's Delight, named after a berry she bore a resemblance to, only allowed her adopted parents to call her 'Winnie". She trotted along beside Mud to what she knew would be a feast.
A 'pile' of food to an imperial, like her mother, would be a mountain to anyone else.

Winter's Delight twitched and rolled on her back.
She had tried to sleep, but she still puzzled over what could have scared off the animals in the Ashfall Waste wilderness. She closed her eyes, the images of the crows filled her mind.
"Stupid birds scare too easily," she muttered, "That's all."
She rolled again and sat upright.
"What ever it was is probably gone by now."
She glanced out of the cave's mouth; her parents slept soundly on the opposite side of the cave.
The sky still had light in it, only an few hours for the night to be fully dark.
Winter toyed with the pendant that hung around her neck.
"Maybe whoever dropped this is who scared the birds?"
She knew that if someone had dropped the necklace, they would most likely be gone; She was looking for an excuse to investigate.
"I'll just slip out for a few minutes."
She crept to the cave's entrance, glanced back to be sure she hadn't woken her parents, than was off in a dash.
Winter soon approached the area where she had seen the duskrat; Many glowing blue flashes told her that several of the rats where out of their holes.
"Not now," she had to stop herself from thinking how tasty a few of them would be, "I think the crows came from that way."
Winter trotted north, toward the ocean-side edge of the Emberglow Hearth. She had heard something coming from that direction earlier, but hadn't been able to check it out.
A handful of holes lined the rim of the hearth; The young wildclaw could hear the same scuffling she heard earlier, only now there was a snarling as well.
The sounds grew louder as she approached the caves; As the sounds became more angry Winter's Delight became more anxious.
"What's down there?" she mused as she stood on the edge of a crater ; She tried to see into the caves but night was almost fully dark.
Flash.
"That was fire," Winter squinted, "I definitely saw fire."
Another flash lit the cave mouth; Winter began creeping down the rocky edge of the crater.
An ice-coloured mirror dragon ran from the hole; Winter stopped at the floor of the crater. She could see deep cuts and scorches along the mirror's body, she could also see that the mirror's wings were slashed.
Th ice coloured mirror flapped her wings and tried to take off, but her wings were too badly injured to fly.
Another mirror, teal in colour, ran from the cave and jumped on the back of the first mirror. The teal dragon sunk her teeth in the ice mirror's neck.
The ice mirror bucked and managed to knock off the teal mirror; A slate-grey mirror slide out of the cave.
"Come now, Spellwing," the grey mirror's voiced sounded slippery and dark, it reminded Winter of the time she had knocked over her mother's cartography ink, "Just tell us what we want to know."
Spellwing, the ice coloured mirror, leaned wearily against the edge of the warm crater.
"I don't know what you want." her voice cracked as she spoke.
The teal coloured mirror lunged at her again, this time flipping Spellwing on her back.
"Who sent you?" the teal dragon hissed.
"No one, I swear." Spellwing trembled as she defensively pulled her paws to her face.
"You just happen-" the teal mirror slashed Spellwing's side, "to be carrying our treasure-" the teal mirror struck again, "through OUR territory-" she slashed once more, "Treasure we worked and finagled for-" the grey mirror grinned sickeningly as the teal mirror slashed again, "And you don't know HOW.YOU.GOT.IT?"
With each strike Spellwing cried and pleaded to be released.
"I swear, I just thought I was carrying scrapmetal," tears filled Spellwing's eyes, "The merchant slipped the treasure in."
"WHICH MERCHANT?!" The teal mirror pressed her claws to Spellwing's throat. The grey mirror smiled as he looked down at Spellwing.
"You know," his grin widened as he glared down, "I can't control her when she's like this."
"Please," Spellwing begged, "I don't know which-"
Fire. The teal dragon release a hot orange jet of fire at the injured mirror.
"TELL ME!"
A few pebbles rolled down the crater's edge, they went unnoticed by the fighting dragons.
Winter climbed as fast as she could from the crater, she didn't want to risk flying in case she would draw attention from the other dragons. She ran from the edge a few meters, spread her wings, and took of to the air; A sudden harsh light blast forced her to the hard ground. Winter fell with a loud thump.
A brown coloured skydancer hover a few feet above her head.
"What's this," the skydancer hissed, "Little wildclaw lost?"
The teal mirror and grey mirror flew from the crater and landed in front of Winter; Winter righted herself and glanced helplessly at both mirrors.
"I-I'm just out hunting duskrats."
The two mirrors laughed and sneered.
"Ahhh, she's a cute one." the grey mirror snarled.
"Don, go finish that Spellwing," the teal mirror hissed, "We aren't getting anything from her."
The skydancer dove into the crater, a sharp cry and whooshing of light magic came from the crater. Silence followed.
The two mirrors smiled at each other, then focused their attention back to Winter.
"Now, what are we going to do with you?" the teal mirror dug the earth with her sharp claws.
"Now, now, Cail," the grey mirror laughed, "Maybe the little beasty is just out hunting."
Winter stepped backward.
"Yeah," Cail, the teal mirror snarled, "And maybe the Flamecaller will dance a jig on my nose."
Winter winced as she backed up, her mind raced with ideas of how to get away.
"Why didn't I just stay home?"
The two mirrors crept toward her, teeth bared, and prepared to strike.
Cailleach, the teal mirror, hissed and launched herself forward; A deep purple dark bolt knocked Cail to the ground.
A blood-curling roar filled the dark night, a red imperial weaved through the air, landed, and wrapped herself around Winter.
Beylaa's dark purple eyes glared murderously at the two mirrors; a green and orange skydancer landed in front of Winter and Beylaa. Mud's glare was fixed on the mirrors.
"I'll say this once and one time only," Sparks shot from his mouth as he spoke, "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!"
Mud fired a staticy shock bolt from his mouth; The two mirrors effortlessly dodged.
The grey mirror smirked smugly as he flew overhead; A bright glistening caught his eye, Winter's purple pendant caught a shine as Mud's lightning breath followed the flying mirrors.
"You wretched little beast," the grey mirror turned back to the dragon family, "You're a part of this."
Cail noticed the glittering necklace as well.
"So, that Spellwing had an accomplice."
"Lucky us," the grey dragon sneered, "She'll know the name of the merchant."
The two mirror flew close to the imperial and skydancer and released a pair of fiery flame bolts.
Both blasts hit their mark. Beylaa covered Winter and took the full blast; Mud was knocked down to the bottom of the crater. The mirrors landed and slashed Beylaa, she flicked her tail and knocked the attacking mirrors backward.
Mud flew from the crater and latched his teeth around the grey mirrors leg; He tucked his wings tight to his body and fell, the grey mirror was dragged downward with him. Mud opened his wings, released the mirror and flew back up to the sky, the grey mirror smacked in to the hard ground. A fire blast struck Mud and set of teeth clenched around his throat. Cail slashed Mud's back and drove him down to the crater's floor. An infected bolt of pestilence shrouded the teal mirror; Cail fell back coughing and spitting. Beylaa snarled as plaguey smoke plumed from her snarling mouth.
An harsh wind blast pushed Mud backward, the brown skydancer flew from the crater's cave.
The grey mirror fired a hot blast at Beylaa, Cail and the brown skydancer fired their attacks at Mud.
They flew from the crater; Winter cried, she had been trying to break free but her mother's snaky body wrapped around her preventing escape.
From inside her trap, she could her snarling and whirling of fire and wind.
Then silence.
Her mother's body loosened, a gap appeared in the snaky frame. A sharp beak poked through, the teal mirror was crawling through the gap in imperial's weaving.
"Come on out, little beast." she hissed.
Winter shot a fire ball at the mirror's eyes, the mirror recoiled.
Winter flew from her mother's protection and in to the sky. She flew higher than she ever had and did not dare to stop.
Tears fell from her eyes, she flew higher and higher; smack!
Winter crashed hard in to a black coatl, who was nearly invisible against the dark night sky.
The two dragons fell, the coatly righted itself; Winter, however, hit the ground hard.
The two mirrors and skydancer were in pursuit. Hot sparks flared from Cail's mouth with each breath.
Winter curled in to a ball and whimpered miserably; The black coatl watched her, then landed beside her.
His black wings glowed blue, a barrage of blue rune symbols flared in front of him, then surrounded himself and Winter. The runes vanished, as did Winter and the coatl.
The attacking dragons landed and sniffed the ground.
"Their scent just ends." the skydancer hissed.
"I can't see any heat, either." the grey mirror added.
Cail, not it a talking mood, roared loudly.
"Let's just go," the grey mirror sighed, "Where ever that beast went to, we won't find her tonight."
Cail slashed the ground, sending a shower of dirt through the air.
The three dragons flapped their powerful wings and disappeared in to the night.
The rune symbols reemerged and vanished, the coatl and Winter reappeared on the ground.
The coatl jumped forward and turned back to Winter.
"OK, now what was that about?"
Winter opened her eyes, but did not move from her curled position.
She remained silent. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
The coatl looked on, not knowing what to do or say.
"They're gone." Winter said at last.
"Who's go-" the coatl soon realized what was being said.
"You need somewhere to stay, don't you?"
Winter didn't respond. Her pendant now laid beside her head.
She took the necklace off and threw it away from her.
"It's that stupid thing's fault," she blurted, "They wanted it and attacked me for it."
The coatl watched awkwardly as tears streamed down Winter's face.
"A stupid trinket, they attacked me and killed my parents for a piece of a jem!"
The coatl picked the necklace with his prehensile tail and held it to his face to examine it. It didn't look like more than a regular pendant to him.
"And that other dragon," Winter continued, "They attacked her for no good reason! They just wanted treasure. Stupid dragons!"
Her tail flailed and smacked the ground hard. She fell back to the ground and cried bitterly into her arms.
The coatl, with his tail, placed the pendant back on Winter. He pulled his tail behind her head and pulled a single treasure coin from behind her ear.
Winter smacked the coin away with her snout.
"You need a place to stay, don't you."
Winter looked up at him with teary, big eyes. She nodded slowly.
"I can take you somewhere safe."
The bright Sorienth sun was beginning to rise as the coatl and wildclaw headed east, toward the breezy plains of the Windswept Plateau.