The Red River

Underwater, River couldn’t hear the screams of dying wyverns.

Underwater, the battle was as far away as the moon. Fire couldn’t touch him. Talons couldn’t scar him. The blood washed away from his claws.

Underwater, he was safe.

Safe and a coward… still better than loyal, brave, and dead.

River shuddered awake.

A sabertooth salmon was staring at him blankly. The expression on it’s face said, “Why is there a wyvern sleeping on my River stones?”

River ate it, and that made him feel a little better. ‘The Talons of Peace must know what’s happened to the wyvernets by now,’ he thought. ‘They have spies in the Fire Wyvern palace. They don’t need to hear it from me.’

The other Talons didn’t need him to stand up in front of them and say, “We failed.”

But where could he go? He was already hiding from his own tribe, the Tropical Crystal Wyverns. Did he have to hide from the Talons of Peace for the rest of his life as well?

River paddled to the surface and cautiously poked his head out. It was dark, with the Claws of the Clouds Mountains blocking most of the moonlight like vast shadowy teeth. He’d been swimming downriver for days. The Fire Territory was far away now.

The Fire Territory, and the five wyvernets he had sworn to protect.

River dragged his long, aching body out to f the water and took three steps into the forest before he noticed the dark shapes waiting for him.

He spun around, but a new wyvern loomed out of the river to block his escape. Black spiral patterns marked his green scales, and his teeth gleamed in the moonlight.

“River,” said the other Tropical Crystal Wyvern in a pleasant voice, “I thought you would never wake up.”

River drew his talons from the riverbank mud. “Shell,” he said. He hated the tremble of fear in his voice. “I have important news for the Talons.”

“You don’t say,” said Shell. “I suppose you got lost on the way to the usual meeting place.”

“So we thought we’d come find you,” said one of the dark figures, in a voice like icicles dripping.

‘Cirrus,’ River thought. It was never a good sign when Cirrus the Ice Wyvern appeared.

“The Fire Wyverns found our cave,” River said. “And Queen Fireball took the wyvenets.”

“Yes,” said Shell drily. “We gathered that from how she’s been standing on the tallest mountain shouting, ‘I have the wyvernets of destiny! They’re all mine!’ ”

“Tell us everything,” Cirrus hissed. “How did they find you?”

“Well,” River said slowly, “it started when two of the wyvernets tried to run away.”

“Why would they run away?” Shell asked sharply. “What did you do to them?”

River felt his nostrils flare. “We kept them alive,” he snarled.

“Surely you caught the runaways and brought them back,” said a voice in the shadows. River recognaized Sarco, a Lightning Wyvern new to the Talons of Peace. His hopes rose. In his few meetings with her, she’d been sympathetic. Perhaps he had one ally here.

“Er,” River said, “no. Not exactly. They kind of… came back on their own. To get the others.” He cleared his throat. “We weren’t expecting that.”

“It sounds as if they felt like prisoners,” Shell said in a soft hiss.

“YOU told us to keep them underground,” River protested. “That was a decision made by all the Talons!”

“But we wanted them agreeable, not rebellious,” said Shell. “That was the entitre point, wasn’t it?”

A growl escaped River’s throat. “WHAT WAS THAT?!” Shell screamed. River slashed Shell’s face. Cirrus pounced on River. “Rip out his heart Cirrus,” said Shell. “And make it slow and painful.” River felt claws digging in his back. After what seemed like hours, he felt a rip in his heart and it all went black.

Cirrus threw the Tropical Crystal Wyvern heart in the river. After that, the river was red for all of entirety.

-Fenrir