The Gift of Volkeye by Marque Strickland, Wrinklegus PoisonTongue

anger and relief.
    As Lyn’s tears ran down his chest, Khye held her in shock, trying to make sense of everything she’d said. Suddenly he froze, recalling everything vividly. He remembered the very reason he was down below without Lyn anyway.
    “Happy birthday, Lyn Sha,” Zynathian said, stealing the words from Khyeryn’s mouth.
    They both turned around to see their father sitting awake in his cot. Lyn covered herself in her blanket, and they ran and hugged him. Zynathian looked as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
    “Hey, sport…didn’t know if you were going to stay with us or not.”
    Khyeryn saw the curiosity on his father’s face, knowing that he’d go berserk when he shared the details. He had to tell him, even though he hated the idea of ruining Lyn Sha’s birthday.
    “Dad…it was Phyllamon.”

V
Khyeryn’s Escape
     
    T welve days ago, Khyeryn had risen early to go find a birthday present for Lyn. He easily got out of bed although they’d only retired two hours previous from a fun night with their father.
    Though he was quite reserved with his feelings (going red in the face and breathing heavily every time his deep emotions were called upon) Khyeryn adored his family, especially Lyn Sha. He always took her birthday seriously, and this year was no exception. So, he’d risen early to embark on his task.
    He quickly washed and put on his thick, red cotton suit. After slipping on his boots and putting on his warm fur cap, he grabbed an empty canvas sack from the edge of his bed and opened his window.
    Whenever he and Lyn Sha played hide-n-go-seek, Khyeryn loved to elude her by jumping out of his window. This time he decided against it, for it had been a cold night and the stones on the deck would be frosty. He could badly hurt himself or wake everyone with the sound of his landing, foiling his escape.
    Being so anxious to get moving, Khyeryn had broken one of the biggest house rules and absentmindedly left his window open. Tiptoeing through the house, he made his way to the long hallway that led out to the balcony. Arriving at the end of the hall, he hit a green button, and the airlocks hissed as the shield, which opened up to the patio, slid aside. Khyeryn could only pray that neither Lyn nor his father was roused from their sleep with the noise, which seemed to echo all throughout the complex.
    Once outside, he walked over to where Jalum rested in his huge nest, gently running his fingers along Jay’s feathers to wake him.
    Jalum batted at Khyeryn with one of his wings, as he didn’t like being bothered so early on cold mornings—that was when he slept the best. But Khye was persistent. Now irritated, Jalum sat up in his nest and squawked as loud as he could. Khyeryn was hit with a huge blast of hot breath and fell on his bottom.
    Jalum was raising hell.
    “Shut up, Jay…you’ll wake them!”
    Khyeryn quickly got up and wrapped both his arms around the beak of the beast and squeezed with all of his might, muffling the sound. Jalum swung him about in the air with ease, and when he saw that there was no changing Khyeryn’s mind, he let him down and listened.
    “This is important! I have to go and get a present for Lyn, and you have to help me. I know it’s early, and I’m sorry about that, but it’s not like I can go down without you—I don’t know how to use the hover! …And dad says I’m too young to fly the car all by myself. C’mon, take me, pleaaaase. It’ll be fun…I promise I’ll get you a treat when we get down there,” Khyeryn said with a huge smile on his face.
    Jalum shook his head with annoyance and climbed out of his nest. His clawed feet made slight crackling sounds as they moved on the frosty, stone deck of the castle. Then he sat down long enough for Khyeryn to saddle him and waited.
    Soon Khyeryn was upon his back and strapped in. Jalum walked slowly to the edge of the balcony and stood there for a moment. Meanwhile, Khye held the reins and cringed