Outcast

"Guests? who is coming? the tribe isn't really in the position to be accepting guests"

I explain to him about the Stormfury clan and my connection to it. I then tell him where we just came from, and our plans for tomorrow.

As Gorm listens, I can see the weight of the last few days fall off him, His eye glows with excitement.

"How are Varrick, Shaw, and Tala?" I ask, scared to hear the answer.

"....Shaw is dead, I'm sorry Valoris. Tara and Varrick are wounded but will be okay." answers Gorm, his voice heavy with guilt, and sadness.

Grief fills my heart when I hear this. Shaw, a beast who had treated me like a younger brother, was gone. Taken from me, while I was away.

"Who did it? was it the Silverback tribe, or Demons?"

"It was Silverbacks, they tried to kidnap him, but he fought back to much so they just killed him."

I try to summon anger to push away my sadness, but it fails. Right now my heart is just filled with sadness at the thought of never seeing Shaw again, listening to him explain a tricky move to me, telling me funny stories, or getting to spar with him again.

Numbed, I go to my cave, noticing that I'm almost too big for it now. Squeezing inside, I lay down, wanting tomorrow to arrive so I can do something to take the mind of my sadness.

The next morning, before Vanor, and the Clan head arrives. I decide to visit Varrick and Tala, I'm sure as much as Shaw's loss hurts me they are in even more pain.

Arriving at the impromptu infirmary, I see at least a dozen beasts here for treatment. Teacher Shale is in the corner, his feathers burnt, a wing bent in the wrong way. His eyes are lifeless, staring into the void.

As I crawl towards him, a spark of life comes back into them. He looks like he is trying to figure out where he knows me from before whispering.

"Valoris...is that you?"

"Yes, Teacher, I came to see Varrick and Tala," I say, immediately regretting it.

"They are in the back, their injuries were more severe. It's good to see you Valoris, our tribe needs good news right now, no matter how small"

"Teacher...I'm sorry about Shaw, I miss him already."

"He was a good boy, so headstrong. When they tried to take him, he killed 3 of them. They realized he wouldn't be taken, so they killed him." Says Shale listlessly

Listening to him, I realize he has given up on life. If left alone, he will just waste away until he dies.

"Teacher...We are going to raid the Silverback tribe later, I think you should join."

"Ha... I wish that truly was the case, but we have lost too many to fighters to do that. Plus the Bloodyfang will just help them"

I explain to him how I managed to join the Stormfury clan, how we found out the Bloodyfangs secret, attacked their base and killed Selena, finally how Vanor and Clan head was coming today to help up raid them.

As I do, Shale seems to gain life before my very eyes. Suddenly, I see a burning rage in his eyes before he turns to the nearest healer.

"Hey! come over here and fix this wing. I need to go flying later today, do worry about the other injuries, I can take care of them. I just need this bone placed."

Happy to see him start to awaken, I go to the back where he said Varrick, and Tala is. Eventually, I find them. Laying next to each other, still knocked out. Tala has had most of her feathers burnt off, and one of her claws is missing two talons.

Varrick is in pretty bad shape himself, several areas of his body are burnt, part of his tail is missing, and several deep lacerations are all over his body.

Watching them sleep, I start to feel an ice-cold rage overtake me. Today the Silverback tribe will cease to exist, today we will show everyone what happens when you attack the Crimson Flame!

Crawling away, I go and find Rentil. She is in the open clearing just before the mountain, clearly waiting for Vanor and Clan's head.

"You okay?" she asks.

"I will be, today will help some."

We wait in comfortable silence, me watching the skies, while she plays with some rocks. After an hour or so, I spot two dots in the sky. After another hour and a half, they land.

"Did they manage to find any survivors?" I ask

"They found a few, they were being led by this odd-looking serpentkin, he had Selena's bloodline though which was odd. Two of them were Crimson Flame tribe members. They are being brought over once it's determined they are okay. Are the beasts here ready to raid with us?"

Hearing his question, I give a cold grin before looking off to the left. They're a group of beasts appears, all of them have injuries of various seriousness. But they all are looking on with burning fury, leading them is Shale, his wing fixed.

"Valoris, these are the guests you were talking about?" asks Gorm, who claws next to Shale.

"Yes, this is branch head Visarios, and Vanor heir to the branch clan. Branch head, Vanor these are the elders of the Crimson Flame" I say as I introduce them.

They eye each other before Shale says.

"When do you plan to attack?"

"When will you be ready?"

"Now, we go now"

After that, we all start to head towards the Silverback tribe. Instead of flying, I join the ground unit, made up of beastkin unable to fly, with Gorm leading us. Because our territory borders the Silverbacks it doesn't take long before we cross into their territory.

Looking up, I can see that the flying group hasn't outpaced us, instead, they are flying right above us. We run across the occasional guard which we instantly kill. Finally after 30 minutes of running through their territory.

We arrive at the base of the Silverback tribe. It's a grove of 30 or so ancient trees, grouped together in such a way that it has become an intricate fortress.

The Silverbacks are hiding within their Grove, just when we are about to charge Gorm stops us.

"Leave this to me, I can get them out."

He crawls forward, each of his scales turning brighter, steam coming off his entire body. Taking several deep breaths, he roars before Crimson Dragonfyre shoots out hitting the Grove.

The trees catch on fire instantly, screams can be heard as the Silverbacks panic, trying and failing to put the Dragonfyre out.

Gorm stares at the trees being consumed by his Dragonfyre, beasts screaming as they get trapped and are burned alive.

"There, now they can't hide".