Opal slowly got to her talons. Two of Critters jumped back, terrified, but another one of them yelled at the two. They got back up grabbed their pointy sticks and aimed them back at Opal. Opal slowly backed away. She looked at the far end of the cave to see bones. Dragon bones. Do these creatures kill dragons? She thought to herself. The bones looked no bigger than dragonet bones from where she was standing. Opal shivered. Just dragonets. That word bounced around in her head. Dragonet. She was a dragonet. I'm going to die! Opal looked around for an escape. Then something sparked in her mind and she looked up. Flint was still watching. Opal sighed with relief.
"Flint!" She called, "Help!"
Flint looked around the dim lit cave until he saw the bones shoved at the back and gasped.
"Can't you fly?" He called back.
"No," Opal replied, "I hurt my wing in the fall!"
Her left wing throbbed with pain as she tried to move it. Opal winced.
"Flint!" She called again.
"Alright, hang on!" He replied. As he was trying to find a way down, one of the Critters leapt at her. Opal ducked out of the way just in time. The cold surface of its stick lightly brushed her right wing, and she drew it back. Opal backed up against the wall and dug in her claws. Almost instantly, crystals began to grow in an oval shape around her. They grew thick and fast. Four of the Critters stood there dazed by the sight, while the biggest one, a male, barked an order at them. One of the more slender females jumped back and raced into one of the holes, only to come back with a curved stick with string and a shiny T shaped stick. Opal's crystals fully encased her and she relaxed a little, felling the safeness of the crystal walls around her. Suddenly there was a cracking sound. Then another. Then another. And another still. The Critters were breaking through! Opal squinted and saw they were using the T-stick.
Opal smiled and waited for them to get a little closer in the wall, then gently tapped her claw twice on the wall. The dome shattered and the impact sent all five careening into one of the small wooden shelters they had. Opal took this advantage and climbed one of the crystals, out of reach. Her wing still hurt and time was running out.
"Flint!" She called. There was no response. Flint had gone. "Fliiiiiiint!"
Sharp pain bolted up her foreleg. A long stick with a feathery end was sticking out of it. Another just narrowly missed her head. Opal looked back at the Critters. One of them had the curved stick and held the small feather-tipped stick back on the string. It pulled back further aiming at her head. It then let it fly. Seconds before it hit Opal's head, she was lifted off the crystal by large talons. She looked up to see Shulker flying her back to the ledge above. Down below, she heard the biggest Critter scream with rage. The other four screamed in terror and shot back to their shelters.
"Shulker!" Opal said, "Flint!"
As soon as her talons touched the stone ground, Shulker let go, and she ran over and wrapped Flint in her wings. Her left wing hurt, but she didn't care, at least she was alive.
"Thank you," she said tears forming. "Both of you." She added.
Shulker smiled and didn't notice as Opal reached out a wing. He yelped in surprise as Opal pulled him into the hug. Shulker's scales were cool, like small droplets of water against her scales. Opal savoured every moment.
"Lets go." Opal said, "let's leave the Critters be."
"Critters?" Shulker asked, "you mean those strange creatures down there? That tried to kill you?"
"Yes." Opal answered, "we call them Critters."
"Oh."
                                                                 . . .
A while later, Opal, Flint and Shulker emerged from the cave to see the other two pairs, Nephrite, Emerald, and Lapis and Sardonyx, already finished. Opal could clearly see that Opal and Flint had gathered a little less Aythem than the other two duos. Lapis sighed with relief as she spotted Opal and Flint approach. The other three did as well.
"You're alive!" Lapis said. She ran over to hug Opal. Lapis hugged Opal tight, almost refusing to let go.
"Woah, what happened to your arm?" Asked Emerald from behind Sardonyx.
Opal looked down to see the feathery stick still embedded in her foreleg. She grabbed it and winced. Moving the stick hurt.
"Here, let me." Said Shulker grabbing the stick with his talons. Opal closed her eyes tight and braced herself. Shulker pulled once, then twice, and, with another hard pull, the stick was free. Opal yelled in pain, clutching her foreleg.
"You alright!?" Nephrite asked worriedly, casting a glare at Shulker.
"I'm alright," Opal said, catching Nephrite's glare she added, "it's not his fault."
"What happened down there?" Asked Sardonyx. She shifted her tail and flicked some dirt off her wings.
"I found some Critters." Opal said.
"Tiny little Critters did that?" Emerald said surprised. Opal nodded.
"There were five of them, in the cavern below the tunnel we were in. It seemed as though they have had dragons visit before." Opal remembered grimly of the dragon bones piled at the back of the cave. Flint remember spotting them too.
"What makes you say that?" Lapis asked.
"We saw bones, dragon bones, piled at the back of the cave." Flint said sighing. The others gasped.
"Did I hear you correctly?" Lapis said "Did you say dragon bones, because I'm sure you said dragon bones?"
"I said dragon bones." Flint said. Larimar came up to them.
"What happened here?" Larimar asked. She glanced over at Opal and saw her clutching her foreleg.
"Oh dear what happened?" Larimar crouched down to examine the wound.
"It's nothing," Opal replied, "just got hit by a Critter stick."
"Critter stick?" Larimar looked around and saw it by Shulker's talons. Shulker edged back away from it.
"We should get you to the healers to get that properly looked at." Larimar said, then added quickly, "lesson dismissed!"
"But how am I going to get to the healers?" Opal asked after her lesson mates had left, "my wing still hurts."
"I can fly you there." Shulker said, putting his talon on Opal's shoulder.
"Thank you." Opal said smiling, letting Shulker wrap his talons around her. He lifted her off of the ground confidently, and followed Larimar to the healer's cave. Opal let herself relax, but not too much, she didn't want to slip out of Shulker's grip. This reminded her of when she was really young, shortly after hatching. Her father had let her climb on his back so he could take her there. All dragonets were to go to the healer cave shortly after hatching, to be checked if they have nothing wrong with them. Opal was suddenly shocked out of her memory-daydream, as her talons hit stone. They had arrived at the healers. Larimar hurried inside, leaving Opal and Shulker alone. Opal stepped back to let Shulker land.
"I should wait here." Shulker said, "I don't think they'll want me in there. Especially in there."
"What makes you say that?" Opal asked. She looked straight into Shulker's gentle purple gaze. The two dragons sat there for a moment before he tore his eyes away and looked at the sky.
"It's just, uh, everyone isn't a fan of my tribe these days." He managed. "I don't think the healers will thank me at all, even if you told them I rescued you."
"Hmmmmm." Opal said skeptically. "You shouldn't feel bad about something you never even did. Even if my tribe blames you for it. But they shouldn't."
"That's nice but, I'm a VoidWing and you are a GemWing," Shulker argued, "Being together is forbidden, as the truce agreement says."
He looked away from her and looked at his talons instead.
"I know how much you want to be with me," He continued, "and I feel the same but. . ."
He paused looking for the right words.
"Cross-dragon hybrids can never happen. We all know it."
Opal sighed and turned toward the cave. It was obvious, Shulker didn't want to go with her. She took one more glance at him before disappearing into the tunnel.