Chapter Text
Running on foot was never any dragon’s strong suit. Their bodies were big and muscled, and their wings made flying the preferred method of travel. But she couldn’t fly. Not tonight. Not anymore. Even with her dark blue scales hiding her from any observers in the sky, the NightWing knew that if she took to the air again, she’d be spotted easily. Of course, this didn’t make the pain any easier, and she’d be tracked easily enough from the blood trail she was leaving.
How did it go so wrong? The plan had been simple; take both of her eggs, flee the Night Kingdom. But the queen had known; the queen had foreseen it, and she had only been able to get away with one. The NightWing looked down at the egg she cradled in one arm as she ran. Its black shell had turned silver over the course of her desperate escape, taking in the light of the pair of full moons overhead. The third moon was only half-full, like a lidded eye caught mid-blink.
She was so focused on the sky she wasn’t paying attention to her talons. The NightWing tripped over a large tree root, gasping in pain as she rolled with the impact of her fall, clutching the egg tightly to her chest. She lay there for a second, hissing in agony at the bruise she could already feel spreading on her ribs. Another wound to add to what she’d already taken; two arrows protruded from her left back leg and her shoulder, and a trio of huge gashes leaked blood from her side, left there by the claws of a soldier she’d been forced to kill. She’d felt weaker and weaker as she’d run through the forest, but couldn’t stop to try and staunch the flow of blood. Her egg was more important.
Not much farther now, she thought. She couldn’t fly, but she could at least give her egg a chance at escaping. She could see the river in the distance, a ribbon of liquid silver glimmering through the trees, trailing east and off towards the rest of Pyrrhia. I just have to keep going for a little while longer…
She ducked underneath the branches at the sound of wingbeats. A trio of dragons flew overhead, their bodies casting fast-moving shadows on the forest canopy. The NightWing kept her mind as clear as she could; she couldn’t let herself be heard, physically or mentally. After the sounds of wingbeats faded, she continued onward and finally, mercifully, reached the river.
The night was quiet. Aside from the gentle sounds of running water, insects, and nocturnal animals, it was nearly silent. The NightWing laid down by the riverside, panting heavily. She looked back over her shoulder at the path she’d taken, noting the dull, dark sheen of blood that she’d left in her wake. They’d find her sooner or later…and she’d known for a while now that she wouldn’t survive the night.
She looked back down at the egg. She’d fashioned a small, makeshift basket for it before she’d had to flee out of reeds and grass and a few tree branches. She didn’t know how long it would last, but with luck the egg would wind up somewhere safe before the basket came apart. She set the basket down in front of her, reaching into the small pouch she’d slung around her neck. First, she took out a blanket, which she wrapped gently around the egg. Next, she took out a scroll, tied together with a piece of ribbon, and placed it in the basket too. Whoever found the egg would hopefully read it; a mother’s plea to someone, anyone, to do what she couldn’t. She’d even named the unborn dragonet in the egg. It was an unfortunate name, one that they might think of as a curse when they got older, but she stamped down her grief.
I didn’t have any other choice. The pouch empty, the NightWing reached up and around her neck, pulling off the necklace that hung there. It had been a wedding gift from her husband, an expertly crafted metal necklace on a silver chain that depicted a NightWing’s silhouette, the dragon’s wings spread as it flew across a full moon. She set it in the nest as well, then gently brushed the egg’s silvery surface with a talon. She smiled sadly at it, then gently pushed the nest towards the river. As fog built in the corners of her vision, she nudged the egg softly with her snout, one last time.
“Little Forsaken,” she said in a breathless whisper. “Know that I love you…with all of my heart.”
With that she pushed the nest out into the river, laying her head down on her talons as she watched it drift away. Hours later, with the egg far out of sight, they finally found her body.
***
“Gator. Gaaaaatoooooooor. Gator! Wake up!”
“Mmmmrgh?” Gator the MudWing opened one eye, sighing in annoyance at the sight of his two siblings sitting in front of him, both wearing identical, excited grins. “I was having the most wonderful nap, you two. What is it?”
“Look what we found!” Heron reached behind her back and pulled out a small, battered, roughly-woven basket, setting it down between all three siblings. Gator looked down at it, arching one eyebrow in surprise.
“An egg?”
“Yep!” Stork, the other of the pair, nodded eagerly.
“Where in Pyrrhia did you two find an egg?” Gator asked, his mind already thinking of whatever upset parents would have to deal with a pair of mischievous MudWing dragonets taking their eggs from their nest.
“The river,” Heron said, pointing off to the west where Gator knew the Diamond Spray River wound its way down the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. “So, Stork said that I wasn’t brave enough to go past the border and into the Sky Kingdom, so I said ‘You’re on!’ and we went to the border over to the river, and while we were swimming around there, because I totally proved him wrong and I am brave enough, we saw this little thing bumping against a log!”
“Abandoned?” Gator asked, looking over the basket. He tapped the egg’s shell with a claw. “No other dragons around?”
“Nope.” Stork shook his head. “No SkyWings or anything, but I don’t think this is a SkyWing egg, either. I don’t think they go all silvery like that.”
“Hm…” Gator nudged around in the nest some more, finding a small scroll tucked in among the folds of the soft blanket. Slitting the ribbon with a claw, he unrolled it and passed it to Heron. “Came with a message. Think you can read it?”
“Sure!” Heron took the scroll, scanning it with her eyes for a second before clearing her throat. Gator and Stork waited patiently; Heron was the smartest in the troop, and the only one who could read well.
“To whatever dragon finds this letter. You won’t ever know me, but I hope that, even if I don’t know you either, you are a kind and gentle soul. The dragonet within this egg has escaped from a terrible fate. Unfortunately, I cannot go with him, as much as I would like to. I do not ask much of you; simply that you provide him a home full of the love and joy that I was unable to give him myself. His name is Forsaken.”
Heron looked up from the scroll, back at her brothers. “And…that’s all there is.”
“Forsaken, huh?” Stork cocked his head at the egg. “Um…what’s that mean?”
“It means abandoned,” Heron said, nudging the egg with her snout. “His mother’s not coming to find him…he doesn’t have any family at all.”
“Oh,” Stork asked, blinking as he stared down at the egg in pity. “Poor thing. What do we do?”
Gator thought for a second, looking down at the egg, then back around at the swampy forest. “You two are sure there wasn’t anyone else around?”
“Positive.” Heron nodded. “Just the egg.”
Gator thought for a moment longer, then nodded. “Right.” He looked up at them both. “We’re taking it. Go find the others and let them know.”
Heron and Stork took off into the swamp, leaving Gator to pick up the nest, looking at the egg within. “Don’t worry, little guy,” he said softly to the egg, brushing a talon over its warm, smooth surface. “MudWings take care of their own.”