"Will it Never End"
It's been done since before I could remember. It was always over the same hill, the same cliff, over the same river. A single tree grew at it's top, and it ended in a sheer cliff down to a wide slow water way. Arrows, spears, shields, and rusted swords littered the bottom of it, along with the bones of the fallen.
Taking a deep breath, I inched my way forward to better see what was going on. There on the top of the hill, a lone figure stood watching the sun rise. It was hard to tell from what clan the person was from, he had his back to me, and the man was facing into the sun, so all that I could see was a fiery outline. Then with a shrug of his large shoulders, two large leathery wings unfolded, the sun turning them to a blood red.
Backing further into the woods, my scouting of the Hill was done, I had confirmed what the senior warriors had said. Turning and running a ways into the woods, I relaxed my shoulders and let my wings unfold. Taking flight, I flew in the opposite direction of the sun, even deeper into the woods.
Right, about the wings. My wings were feathered and a soft smoky gray color, I had a special tunic that members of my clan wear with slits in the back for my wings. Being a part of the Angel Wing clan, named for obvious reasons, it was our turn to try and take the Hill. Our rival clan Dragons Fang, they have leathery wings, and are the current keepers. As I said before, this never ending battle over the Hill has been going on since before I was born. In my lifetime the Angel Wing clan has had the hill only once before. That was three years ago, and since then the Dragons Fang has been fending off every thing we've thrown at them. This fighting over the hill, its not only between the two clans, there are others in it too, they just don't last as long at its top. Ground dwellers as we call them.
Tilting my wings, I banked to the left and came into a graceful spiraling decent towards a clearing below me. Back flapping hard to slow down, I ran a ways from the momentum, and came to a stumbling halt. All around me could be heard the sounds of preparing for the coming battle. The smiths were hammering out more and more of the lightweight swords we avians favored, and the light armor and sometimes shields. On my right a pair were practicing, each had a sword and they were doing everything they could to get through the others defenses. Soon the fight was taken to the air, their wings beating steadily as they continued to hammer at one another. An instructor on the ground gave a light whistle, and the fighting came to a halt, both combatants landing lightly next to each other, breathing heavily.
“Hey! Anthony!” Turning, I saw my best friend Butch jogging towards me. His raven black wings were neatly folded against his back, so he looked almost like a ground dweller if I hadn't know it was him. “Sir Lenold said he wants your report as soon as possible, he told me to wait here for you.”
I nodded my head, “Yeah, I figured as much, Come on, we might as well start heading over there.” I turned to my left and started towards a trail that ended at the edge of the clearing. Butch fell into step beside me and we walked in silence a ways, then Butch asked in his light calm voice, “So, is it true, do the Dragons Fang have the Hill again?”
I nodded my head, “Yeah, that small army of land dwellers didn't have the Hill long at all. They never stood a chance.”
Butch tilted his head to the side, thinking, “Hm, they do have that new catapult of theirs though, the one with the nets in it?”
I knew what he was talking about, the ground dwellers had came up with a way to try and ground us. As long as we were in the air, they didn't stand a chance, knowing that they had made giant catapult that hurled huge nets with rocks tied around their edges at us. They didn't always hit, and it was pretty easy to dodge, but when there were three or four nets flying at you...
We entered a clearing to find it in chaos. There were maps flying through the air, and sticks and dirt was becoming airborne. There in the middle of it all was Sir Lenold and someone I didn't know battling it out. I ducked as a large rock whizzed past my left ear. I yelled Sir Lenolds name but it didn't get much of a response, so I reached out and grabbed the arm of the person I didn't know as he swung his fist. With Butches help, we managed to drag the still fighting man away from Sir Lenold. The whole time we were doing this, both men were yelling at one another, to the point were I almost wanted to just let them continue fighting if it would get them to shut up.
The man I was till holding by the arm, jerked it out of my grip, glared at me and jumped into the air. He hit me with his wing as he rose, yelled one last thing down to Sir Lenold, then was gone. Rubbing my shoulder where he had hit me, I walked up to Sir Lenold and bowed respectfully. Though a bit disheveled from his tussle, he returned the gesture then cleared his throat, “I trust that you have confirmed either good news or bad, which ever it may be, I must hear it. Speak your report lad.”
“I am here to report that I have confirmed our fears, that Dragons Fang does still have control of the Hill.”
“Ah, i don't suppose you saw what they put as guard?” He had a pained look on his face, as if he knew what my answer would be.
“They assigned a Dragon Elite as their first line of defense my lord” Sir Lenold nodded at this, then turned so he was facing both of us.
“Prepare for the worst boys, if we do not get that hill before the great power at it's top fades for winter, we may never get it again.” He looked around the small clearing as if he might never see it again, “Tell the War Generals, tell them to prepare the forces, we must have back the Hill before it's too late.”
He flicked his hand in the release gesture. I bowed and turned back to the trial Butch at my side. Another war was starting, and this time, I was going to be in it whether they thought I was ready or not.
DragonOfThynHeart Community Member 
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