05 Rising from the Ashes

CHAPTER 5 RISING FROM THE ASHES WAAA-RAAA! An alarm sounded. Tag woke with a start. The moon was high in the sky. Below, something flickered brightly. "Fire!" he yelled.

Black smoke filled the air. "The egg!" Skyla cried. Flames rose from the old fallen tree. Tag gasped. "The egg was hot—it must have set the tree on fire!" The friends raced down from their branch. They scooped up water to pour onto the flames. Finally, all that was left was a smoky pile of ashes. Pieces of golden eggshell glittered among the ashes.

"The egg is destroyed!" Tag cried. "We're going to be in such big trouble. Now we went into the Howling Caves and woke the tiger bats for nothing! And we started a fire!" Skyla patted Tag on the back. "At least we put out the fire before it spread." Something snuffled beside them. "Look!" Tag said. Covered in ash, blinking its big, blue eyes, was a very large baby bird.

"ACHOO!" The bird sneezed, sending up a cloud of ash. Her beautiful feathers were gold, red, and orange. They sparkled brightly, lighting the dark wood. Skyla stared. "A firehawk!" Tag shook his head. "But... there's no such thing as a firehawk."