All other tribes are evil.

That was the lesson Argill learned when he was very young. He and his sibs had been playing in the swamp outside of their village when it had happened.

Argil was playing in the steamy pool mud- which was the main and only good reason most dragons left the village. He had smacked his hand deep into the mud, listening to the squelching sound it made. 

"Hey, come and check this out!" He said, slapping the mud again. 

The second youngest sibling, Coyote, poked her head up from the puddle she was sniffing at. "What?" She asked. 

"I think Argil means the mud makes a funny sound," the youngest, Bhumi, said.

Mahogany, one of the middle sibs, snorted and just sunk his snout under the mud; blowing a bubble. 

"Yeah! Come here, it's fun!" Argil had replied. 

The other middle sib, Crawfish, bounded obediently to Argil's side and slapped the mud. "You know, it is kind of fun!" she squeaked. 

Coyote moved from her spot and watched her two siblings play in the mud with scrutiny. Although she was the second oldest, sometimes it seemed like she was more mature than the others.

Mahogany poked his head out of the mud and waddled over to his sibs. He sat down and smaked the wet Earth by his feet. "Fun," he grunted.

Finally, Bhumi poked her nose above the bushes. Even though she was their sib and a MudWing, she looked a little different. Her snout was narrower and her brow and cheek bones were sharper. She had pale brown and beige scales, and her wings were dark brown. 

"I'm going to go over to you guys," she said, hopping over to the bush she was behind and starting to trot over toward her sibs. 

There was a terrifying scream, and another dragon hurled themselves out of the bush. It landed on top of Bhumi and snarled down at her. Aril immediately jumped to his feet, yelling in surprise. Bhumi lay petrified underneath the stranger. 

The stranger had black scales with a dark blue stomach. As Argil watched, two more stepped out of the shadows. Dark, shady figures that Argil would eventually come to know as NightWings.

He narrowed his eyes. "L-leave us alone," he said, trying and failing to sound brave and intimidating. 

The black dragon laughed. "L-l-leave me alone, p-p-pwease," he said in mocking laughter. The other dragons gafawed. 

Another black dragon moved to stand in front of Argil. She stood tall in front of the small Big Wing. "Leave," she snarled. "We don't want some pathetic Mudwings messing with our new village." 

Slowly, one by one, each of the sibs moved to stand by Argil's side. "What village?" Coyote snapped. "Last I checked this was uninhabited marshland."

Mahogany growled, the sound low and deep. "Free game," He hissed. 

The NightWing rolled her eyes. "Well, now it isn't. Can't you see? or are all MudWings as slow as they seem? This land is ours now, so back off. Us NightWings are far more important than a few of you lazy Mudwings."

Argil clenched his jaw. Lazy MudWings? Is that all they see as as?

"No," he said, taking a step toward the NightWing. "This is our tribe's territory. We belong here and you don't. If anyone should leave, it's you!" 

The NightWing scoffed. "Well, you're just a MudWing," she pointed out, as if Argil hadn't noticed what tribe he was yet. "No one of Pyrriha would care if any of you just went missing." 

Argil gasped. "That's not true!" He cried. 

The NightWing snorted. "Than why is it that all of your very own parents leave you to fend for yourselves? Because they don't care. Get used to it. The world isn't all sunshine and rainbows, where everyone just gets along, MudWing."

Argil narrowed his eyes. Clearly, this NightWing didn't care to know enough about MudWing culture to understand what really happened. 

"No," Coyote said. 

"Not leaving," Crawfish added, speaking for the first time. 

From underneath the male NightWing, Bhumi squirmed, trying to get free from his grasp and reach her sibs. 

"Did I stutter?" Growled the NightWing in front of Argil. And suddenly he was afraid. So very afraid. 

"N-no," he squeaked, "we're-we're going now." 

"Good," the NightWing said, rolling her eyes. 

"Let. Me. Go!" Bhumi said through clenched teeth, squirming to get out from under the NightWing that held her.  The NightWing stepped off of her, and she ran away from the gathered dragons, followed by the rest of her sibs. 

Roaring laughter echoed behind them, but they ran a short distance away and stopped. Argil decided. All the other tibes were evil and horrible and would wipe out all the MudWings without hesitation. And so the sibs made a pact. Argil swore that no matter what, he was going to protect their tribe from all the other tibes. 

And so he learned. He studied warfare and learned every last detail about the other tribes. 

No matter what, Argil was going to protect his tribe.

⊰ ꩜ ⊱

A/N

Impulse starting a book be like.

Anyway, I'll try to have chapters come out every week, i enjoy writing this. Unless I'm busy, of course.