Chapter Two

"No!" Cinnamon roared, leaping forward.  The bird's talons had already closed around one egg.  Cinnamon let out a snarl of rage, jumping and clamping her jaws onto the death condor's free talon.  With a shriek, it dropped the egg, which fell to the earth with a worrying thud.  It's now free talon lashed at Cinnamon, tearing into her neck and shoulder as its thunderous wings beat at her head.  She let go, releasing a spray of blood from the condor's leg, and it flapped up higher into the sky. 

Cinnamon quickly bent over to sniff the egg.  She rolled it onto one side, then the other.  No dents.  No cracks.  It would be fine.

She heard another cry above, and to her surprise, the bird was diving again, still going for the eggs.  Her front left leg felt uncomfortably heavy, the fur logged with blood from the scratches on her shoulder, but Cinnamon ran as fast as she could to stop the condor.  This time she got there first and threw herself over the divot it was going for, snarling.  "Stay away from these eggs!" Cinnamon growled, glaring at the huge creature.  "I won't let you have them!"

A dark shape caught Cinnamon's eye, and she looked up in disbelief.  Oh no, she thought hopelessly.  There are two of them??  Sure enough, a second death condor was hovering above, eyeing the eggs with malicious desire. 

The first one—the smaller one—lashed out at Cinnamon with its wicked talons, trying to get her out of the picture so that it and its companion could dine without interruption.  Cinnamon spun and kicked the bird in the chest, flinging it away from her.  It crash landed on its back, flapping its wings to no avail.  Cinnamon rushed up to the wretched creature and pinned its wings, sinking her teeth into its throat.  It only took a moment for it to stop thrashing. 

Cinnamon stepped back and regarded it for a moment to make sure it was dead, spitting foul-twisting blood out of her mouth.  The creature's wings were splayed out crookedly at its sides, its talons curled in.  That bird was dead. 

When she looked up, she realized that the other condor was flying away.  That's right, Cinnamon thought smugly.  Get out of here before the same thing happens to you. That, of course, was before Cinnamon realized that there was an egg in its talons—the same egg that the other one and tried to steal.

"No!" Cinnamon wailed, tearing after the bird.  She caught up quickly, but she was so far below... she saw no way to rescue the egg.  Staying in the bird's shadow, she tried to figure something out.  Think, Cinnamon, think!  Use your brain for once in your life!

There was a rock spire ahead, with ledges for footing and a deep oasis underneath it.  It was higher then the condor was flying.  She might be able to get on top of it in time, but only if she ran ahead, and only if the bird didn't change its path.  Please let this work, Cinnamon prayed, putting in a burst of speed.  Please please please...

Cinnamon jumped, scrabbling to stay upright, and landed on the lowest ledge on the spire.  Swiftly she leapt to the next ledge, and then the next, desperately pushing for the top.  There was no time to slow down.  There was no time to be careful.  There was just to run and pray that this would work, and that she wouldn't end up killing herself. 

Cinnamon finally reached the top of the spire, her muscles aching as if she'd been running for days, and leapt off the edge, throwing herself toward the giant bird. 

The condor shrieked as they collided in mid air.  Cinnamon unsheathed her claws and held onto the monster, her legs kicking against empty air.  Slowly it started to fall out of the sky, wings working to keep up with the weight of both Cinnamon and itself.  A moment later it seemed to have given up, and they were falling in a tangled heap of feathers and fur. 

Cinnamon grabbed the egg with her front talons and yanked it out of the condor's grasp, kicking herself away from it.  It shrieked and fell faster, hitting the water with a horrible smack and drifting away, dead, to the bottom of the pond.

Cinnamon knew the same thing would happen to her (and the egg) if she hit the water wrong.  She curled her body around the egg, holding it close against her chest, and broke the surface of the oasis. 

She waited for her heart to stop beating. 

But it didn't.  In fact, it was all she could hear.  I'm alive, she thought, kicking her hind legs toward the surface.  I did it!  I'm alive!  Cinnamon breached the surface and sucked in a deep breath, and then worked to keep the egg above the water as she paddled back to shore.  She realized that several drakes were already standing gone the bank, reaching for her.  Moss and Cinnamon's mother, Dawn, both waded into the water to help her, grabbing her by the scruff and dragging her onto solid land.

Cinnamon coughed, her chest heaving.  She thought maybe she should sleep for like, a year.

"My egg!" Cried a small, dusky brown she-drake named Hazel.  She darted forward and took it from Cinnamon, examining it carefully.  "Thank you so much for saving it!"

"Uh... yeah, don't mention it," Cinnamon said breathlessly. 

Moss grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug.  "That was amazing!" She exclaimed.  "And crazy brave!"

"You could have gotten yourself killed," Dawn said, biting her nails anxiously. 

"You did very good, young Cinnamon," a grand, strong voice boomed. Drakes cleared away to make way for Emerald, the matriarch of the Sunblaze Pack.

Cinnamon ducked her head respectfully, trying to pull herself together and look stronger. "Thank you, matriarch," Cinnamon said.

"I think there's ought to be a ceremony in your favour," Emerald told her with a small smile. "Something to celebrate your bravery. And this egg's survival."

"R-really?" Cinnamon gasped. "In my honour?"

"What you did today was incredibly noble," Emerald said, nodding solemnly. "Fighting a death condor, actually winning against it... chasing down the other one, leaping off that spire to save the egg... that was unquestionably brave. You're mother was right," she added, nodding at Dawn, "you very easily could have been killed. But you took the risk for an egg, one tiny unhatched drakelet. Imagine what you'd do for you're friends and family, if they were in danger."

"This whole pack is my friends and family," Cinnamon promised.

"I know," Emerald replied. "We need more drakes in the world who think like that." She turned and began to walk back toward the camp, but tilted her head back to look at Cinnamon again. "Sunset, at the oasis. Tell the pack; make sure everyone knows." And then she walked away.

"Wow! A ceremony!" Moss gasped, butting Cinnamon's uninjured shoulder with her head. "When you woke up this morning, did you expect to have a whole freaking ceremony in your honour tonight??"

"No," Cinnamon admitted, shaking her head as she watched the matriarch leave. "Never."