*leans close to mic and breaths*

Great galloping scallops of the Sahara desert I'm not dead

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    "That, is a lot of gold." Sceva remarked, as we trudged forward in the wee hours of the morning, again.

    "You won't believe how hard it was to fit in five chests." Zorro rolled her eyes.

    I yawned, shaking my head slightly to clear up the morning foggyness. Today was the big day, we were finally going to Skylark, at last. There would be no slip ups this time, seeing how all other islands besides ours were weeks away. Then we could find Grendal, and somehow convince him to step down from his throne, it was a shaky plan but we were winging it. We had already been walking for quite some time to get to some peninsula, it had been an eventful morning so far.

    "Here we are." Zorro said cheerfully. "Now kids, are you all ready to take off?"

    "What about me?" Sceva asked. "I'm not a dragon, I can't fly."

    Zorro flapped over to him and patter him on the head. "Yes dearie I know, you'll fly with one of them, since you're a marginally short and light looking human-" He frownded at this-" I'm sure it'll be alright, I'm not big enough anymore to carry a human, and if one of you hatchlings gets tired I'm sure we can switch off."

    I must have looked like a suspecting victim because she pointed one of her black tipped claws at me.

    "Asriel, I propose you get to carry Sceva first."

    "That's sounds like a wonderful idea." Torien agreed heartily, patting me on the back as I glared at him and everyone nodded smirkily.

I frowned at the short, raven-haired, young man as he walked over awkwardly, his arms stiff as he waddled like a penguin.

    "You had better not be heavy." I said, eyeing suspiciously.

"Is everyone ready?" Zorro's asked, standing at the head of the group. "Have you got the treasure?"

I curled my claws around the small wooden trunk and made sure it was fastened securely. I would have to carry it it my hind paws and hoped for the best that I didn't drop it. Everyone nodded or mumbled their agreement.

"Wings out everyone, it's time to start flapping." The small red dragon took her chest in her talons and dropped straight off the cliff in front of her, Torien followed with less grace but managed fine.

"Uh..." Sceva started pulling at his sleeves. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this."

"Hop on now or stay forever." I offered, leaning down slightly so he could get up easier, it was hard on my leg though so I hoped he would make up his mind pretty quick.

He bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. "Alright fine."

He pushed onto my leg and climbed onto my back, in front of my wings. I have to say he was surprisingly light, for as old as he seemed.

"Alright here we go." I said, glancing at Phira who was going to be my left hand man for this journey.

"I'm ready." She confirmed.

"Wait-" Sceva was cut off by his own shriek as I dipped off the cliff and grabbed the chest with my hind claws.

He screamed, very high pitched I might add. I opened my wings semi-slowly and curved up to glide behind Torien and Zorro. Sceva had decided to clutch onto my neck and I didn't want to dislodge him by glancing back but I imagine his skin tone resembled a pale, white, sheet.

Othniel and Oswin followed suit and Zorro started steering us out towards the ocean. The salty smell had already hit me and my eyes watered as the wind whippped in from the convection currents.

"How you doing?" I asked Sceva, noticing his grip had loosened slightly.

He didn't answer me for a moment, so I risked turning slightly to catch him out of the corner of my eye. He was staring off at the horizon, looking deeply confused.

"Sceva?" I questioned, slightly worried.

He snapped out of his trance. "I'm doing, surprisingly okay now. I always thought I had a fear of heights but now that I'm actually up here...I don't know how to explain it but I'm not scared, but my heart is racing."

"Adrenaline?" I offered.

"No, it's not like that." He refused, sounding very sure of himself.

"Well I'm sure it's not terribly serious." I replied, chipper. "It'll probably pass anyways."

He let out a short hm that told me he was agreeing with me but didn't entirely want to. I sighed and concentrated on battling the stubborn wind.

    "Hey Sceva, didn't you say you were going to Skylark as well?" Phira questioned, banking slightly to pull up alongside me.

    He shrugged. "Yeah, I was trying to find a reasonably priced way to get there. I ended up getting to Alanda on a small fishing vessel that was kind enough to take me."

    "Well if you don't mind me asking, why?" She continued.

    I titled my head again in time to see him cast a few nervous glances around. "Well. why are you going to Skylark?"

    "Well, we're dragons." I snorted. "We kind of live there."

    "I mean besides the fact we're on a secret mission." Phira added smoothly.

    I shot her a look that she returned to me with a confident smile. Whatever she was planning to unravel from Sceva's mouth had better be good.

    "A secret mission?" He questioned, a high note of skepticism in his voice.

    "Do you follow Dragon politics Sceva?" She asked, flying closer to me so she could stare him in the eye.

    A dragon's stare is not very healthy for humans I would just like to add.

    "N-no." He stuttered, reaching for his sleeves again.

    "We're about to elect a new king or queen, and one of the candidates is responsible for the murder of his mate, and we received direct information that he cannot be trusted so we're going to make sure he never becomes king." She replied, but her tone of voice implied that she was telling a story for children half our age. I assume it was because she didn't want to give away to much.

    "What's this dragons name?" Sceva asked, sounding more nervous by the second.

    Phira smoothed out her flight pattern. "Formerly, Benjamin, a respected and well liked general of sorts. Currently he goes by his murdering alias, Grendal."

    Sceva gasped, startling me slightly as I looked back to see he had clutched his heart, and his head. My eyes widened and I slowed down slightly to address the situation.

    "Sceva?" I asked calmly yet forcefully.

    "I've heard that name before." He wheezed, bending over. "I've seen her."

    "Whoa whoa." Phira soothed. "Calm down. Take deep breaths"

    He was making small noises of pain while he rubbed his head, but he followed her advice. It wasn't that long before he shakily met our gazes again. I could have sworn I had seen something in his eyes just then, like liquid gold. Like Grendal's eyes from our nightmares.

    He watched us both glancing at him in concern and his face twisted up in confusion.

    "Why are you staring at me?"

    "What do you mean?" I sputtered. "You just had a nervous breakdown!"

    Sceva's face got even more confused. "Uh, no I didn't."

    "Are you feeling alright?" Phira asked, her mother mode coming out.

    "Guy's I'm fine." He shrugged it off, still acting really confused.

    At least I assume he was acting. Even if he was, Sceva was doing a really good job.

    "Do you remember anything about the last few minutes?" She inquired further.

    "We just took off." He explained, glancing behind him. "Oh wow! We must be going really fast, look how far away the shore is!"

Phira and I both stared at him in complete disbelief.

"We'll tell Zorro when we land." I offered. "She's busy now."

Phira nodded, her brow still knitted in confusion as she sailed a little farther away.

"Tell her what?" Sceva inquired, sounding slightly more chipper.

"Nothing." I replied offhandedly.

We flew in that tight formation of six for a few hours, until the sun beat down upon out back and I was panting for the combined weight of Sceva and the trunk. I was considering asking someone to switch off with me. I was also so starving, my stomach was jabbing painfully at my rib age in protest.

"Land ho!" Zorro suddenly shouted.

I squinted my eyes and sure enough, there was a small collection of sea stacks ahead. Blurred by the sun. The sight of land filled me with new energy and determination as I pumped my weak and tired wings harder, when I suddenly I felt a cool draft of salty ocean wind hit from behind as we zoomed forward. I extended my foreleg and spread my wings out to the max and pumped furiously as I hit the ground, immediately dropping the trunk and tripping over the grassy area, glad to finally stretch my feet muscles again. Sceva kinda rolled offhand collapsed upon the ground, miming gratitude as he hugged the grass.

The rest of the team landed somewhat clumsily upon the grassy hill of the large outcropping placed in the middle of the sea. I spotted Phira immediately go up to the shorter red dragoness and started chatting with her. Sceva was out of earshot now of course. I watched Oswin, Torien, and Othniel settle down and start up a hearty conversation with him as I made my way towards Phira.

    "-he woke up and it was like he had no memory of the incident, or he was jus a really good actor but I don't think so." She finished, sounding semi-worried.

    Zorro got that old-aged look in her eyes again, like and old house that's been through many storms. "I was wondering when something like this might happen."

    "Like what?" I asked, curious as to what she meant and why she looked that way.

    She sat down and ran a paw over her forearm. "Well, the reason I decided to drag the boy with us on our little escapade wasn't entirely because his scent was a bit off. Don't get me wrong, it's still one of the many mysteries I hope to unravel on our journey, but it was only a minor reason."

    "Why though, I mean he wasn't following us so why bring him along?" I inquired.

    She rolled her eyes. "Well why don't you shut your trap and let me tell ya?Hatchlings these days!"

    "He's sorry." Phira apologized. "Please go on."

    She sighed, it was a long dreary noise made through paper thin lungs. "Well, when you've lived to be as old as I have, you've seen a great deal as things. About a century ago, I came across a young drake who had been to the, other side on account of the tyranny of Queen Skylar. He was a complete nervous wreck who was no longer capable of fuctioning as a normal dragon without breaking down every few hours or so."

I made a mental not to ask one of my brainier friends about Queen Skylar later, she sounded important.

"A week later I happened to run into him again by chance, and he was completely fine." She stared us both dead in the eye. "And he had no idea who I was."

"You see, children, I'm not a very magical Dragon, but there are some very powerful ones out there who can erase memories for those who've been through traumatic events, such as the drake I mentioned." Her gaze turned towards Sceva who was sitting cross-cross and talking to the group.

"You're saying some person took his memories so he wouldn't have to remember something painful?" I tried, turning back towards her.

She shook her head. "I'm saying he payed a dragon a good deal of money to help him rid his life of an extreme fear of something that was stopping him from being functional. It's not a simple feat dear."

"Did you just figure this all out now?" Phira asked, sounding amazed.

"No I knew immediately, I could tell by the way he talked and acted. I know it's a harsh world out there and...I guess part of me couldn't bear...to see an innocent youth such as himself, be exposed to such evils and eventually be eaten by them...again." She frowned, as if thinking back on old memories.

"You think it's that bad?" I asked, slightly worried as well.

"I think it's even worse if you managed to trigger one of his memories just by saying Grendal's name. It should happen again now that the spell has taken care of that word, but I would be wary." She took a deep breath.

"Alright nap's over you lazy Ursadi!" She called over to the group, Phira called a hand over Fluffy's ears. "Let's catch us some lunch and get back into the air!

Oswin got to carry Sceva on the last leg of the journey. Which was something I was particularly glad for, for my shoulders. ached and it was nice to have a little more freedom to fly just a bit more recklessly. Torien agreed with my statement when I mentioned this.

"I mean, I'm defiantly strong enough to carry him, I just don't want to." He held a paw to his chest and probably imagined himself in some sunglasses about now.

"Oh I don't doubt it, I just figured it would be easier on you with your visual barrier, dear." Zorro explained. " I didn't want to strain anyone to much."

Torien's red spines on his back started prickling as a small line of smoke drifted from his notstrils. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Zorro said nothing, but she did cast a look in his direction. I had to say I sided with Zorro on this one, Torien was quirky, but that couldn't be the whole story, but I didn't say anything. A few hours passed with minimal small talk as the sun sunk further and further toward the land. My wings were starting to go stiff and I felt as thought they might fall off at any second, but there was still so much I loved about being in the air. I was just starting to go all poetic about it in my head when all of a sudden Othniel shrieked.

"Guys look!" He pointed. "Land!"

Zorro snapped out of her thoughtful daze. "Why, Skylark's Scales, you're right! Are you guys finally ready to see the Island of Dragons up close?"

"Yes!" Phira crowed excitedly and we all joined in.

I glanced behind me to see Sceva was equally excited, just not verbally. Whatever reason he had come here he was happy as well. I looked up, my eyes tracing every detail of the silvery-green looking lump on the horizon, my weary wings practically shaking with exhaustion, but also anticipation.

We flew towards Skylark with the sun burning the sky orange at our backs. We made it.

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Okay so I'm pretty I've finally found my school-writing equilibrium so I promise the next chapter won't be in a month yeah sorry about that

But only six more chapters to go hue hue