Chapter 51

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Echos of now

Uhar and Frost vacated the room willingly, though Uhar really wanted to know who the spy was. He took this as an advantage though, because now he could ask Frost what in the world a ‘scavenger’ was. 

Uhar didn’t expect Frost to immediately head out. Nope, Uhar needed to know now. He followed behind the IceWing, trying to catch up as the larger dragon took long fast strides. Eventually, they got out of the building and Uhar had to shout for him to wait up because he was taking off and Uhar was 90% sure he would fail at keeping up with those large wings. 

The IceWing turned around, looking at Uhar with confusion and annoyance. Huh. “heeeyyyyy, I said I was going to ask about scavengers, can you tell me about them?” he took up a burst of speed and grinned up at the menacing dragon, completely unfazed after weeks of watching unnaturally large dragons argue and exist. 

Frost eventually responded, “what do you want to know?” 

“So are they like… dragons but not?” 

Frost blinked, as if he hadn’t thought of that, “actually yes, they do everything we do, except fly, of course.” 

Uhar grinned and stopped beside the IceWing, “oooo so can they talk?”

Frost bristled at this for some reason but reluctantly answered, “yes, but most of them don’t speak dragon.” 

Uhar gasped, “what do they look like?” 

Frost sighed, resigned to his fate of the Kiaen’s endless questions, “they’re mammals, they walk on two legs and they look really weak on the outside, but they’re so clever.” 

Uhar nodded, taking this to memory, “can I see some? Do you know where any are?” 

Frost blinked and narrowed his eyes, “if you eat any of them I will personally rip you limb from limb.” 

Uhar made a face, “if they can talk, I’m not going to eat any of them. Oooo do you think I could learn to speak Scavenger?!” 

Frost sighed, “maybe someday, I guess I can take you to the den.”

Uhar made a happy noise and followed Frost into the sky. It was only a few minutes away, cleverly hidden beneath a thick shelter of threes. Frost landed off to the side and approached from the land, Uhar following behind with a curious glance at the small structures around them. 

The scavengers were roughly the height of Uhar’s shoulder, which was roughly half the height of Frost’s shoulder; they watched the two dragons with trepidation, curiosity, and a bit of confusion. They seemed to be used to Frost though and murmured in their strange tongue as the dragons passed. 

Frost went up a small hill and waited outside the scavenger house at the top of it, “Truuttthhhhh” he called inside. 

There was a clamor inside and a bit of shouting as a scavenger who didn’t look completely full grown opened the door and gave Frost a look that reminded Uhar of an annoyed dragon. He said something in the scavenger language and Frost responded with the same tone. Uhar watched the exchange with interest, trying to gauge how a dragon throat could make those noises. It would be difficult, but he thought he could figure it out with time. 

Frost turned back to Uhar with a sigh, “This is Truth. He’s the Scavenger champion.” 

Truth nodded, patting his side where Uhar saw an empty sheath for a blade. He glanced up at Frost, “can I have my sword back?” 

Frost frowned and took out the small blade, setting it beside the scavenger, “I’m still not sure if I can fix it.”

Truth frowned at the sword as he picked it up and looked down the length, “it still works like a sword. It’s not like it’s broken. Plus, I paid good gold for this.” he sighed and sheathed it, “so who’s this?” he pointed at Uhar. “I’ve never seen a dragon like that before.” 

The scavenger was blunt, Uhar liked that, it solved plenty of things. “I’m Echo. I’m a CaveWing so I would be surprised if you had seen anyone like me.” 

Truth made a face, concentrating, “CaveWongo?” 

Frost glanced at Uhar, “he keeps saying all the tribe names like that, I have no idea why!” 

Truth glared at him, “I don’t even know how I’m saying it wrong!” 

Uhar grinned, “hey, it’s understandable, Frost keeps saying ‘wheren’ even after hanging out with normal dragons for so long. Some sort of accent has to get through.” 

“Excuse me, but that’s the proper way to say it.” 

“IceWings are weird, don’t let him convince you that anything he does is normal.” Frost whacked him with his tail and Uhar finally let his smile drop. 

Truth grunted, “so are CaveWongos normally that small?” 

Uhar nodded, “we’re the smallest tribe, unless there’s another type I haven’t met… that would be weird.” 

Truth looked at him thoughtfully, “are you even big enough to fly away with a… scavenger if you wanted to?” 

Uhar blinked and looked Truth up and down. “That depends entirely on if said scavenger comes willingly, and I probably wouldn’t be able to go for long.” 

Frost gave Uhar a suspicious look, “don’t steal the scavengers.”

“What motivation would I have to do that?! Oooo am I allowed to observe them though?” 

Frost glanced at Truth, who shrugged, “what, you’re already doing that.”

Frost sighed, “yeah, alright, Echo can observe the Scavengers.” 

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Truth gets a five minute break for every vote!

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