The Poisoned Mind

== before you read this... ==
The events in this story are happening ≈ 100 years after The Flames of Hope (the events of prologue are happening 10-15 years after Queen Wasp`s overthrow). What has changed during this time:
* On Pantala the LeafSilk Kindom was formed
* All Hives exept the Wasp Hive are slowly dismantled for other buildings
* The Wasp Hive is now the residence of the SilkWing Assembly
* Dragons with leafspeak grewmany trees so now Pantala isn`t a huge savanna without any trees
* In Pyrrhia the Agate Mountain Academy was opened, it`s the academy for hybrids and dragons with deviations
* And many, many hybrids appeared...
If you see any mistakes (such as grammar mistakes or misprints) you can write about it in comments and I`ll correct these parts. But don`t edit this page without my permission, please!
Hope you will enjoy my fanfic :3
== Prologue ==
The world was blue that day.
Blue was wherever you look: a depthless azure sky above, like a knocked over bowl, and the foaming, shimmering tortoise wave crests below. No one was around except a heart-rending seagull and a dragon nearby.
Gryllotalpa flapped her wings, going higher.
Dragonfly and her were flying to their homeland, to Pantala. She hadn't seen familiar shores so long that her memories were almost completely erased and began to resemble come kind of a dream.
"Give me the map," she ordered to her husband, and he pulled the parchment obligingly out of the pouch on his neck. Gryllotalpa snatched the map from his talons and studied it carefully, then glanced again at the boundless ocean. "We'll soon reach an island, it will be close from there to Pantala. We can make it in a day, I suppose." If Dragonfly can't, then it's his problems, she thought.
"Um... can't we stay overnight there?" her husband spoke up.
The HiveWing winced.
"No, we can't. Come on, move your wings, you lazy lizard." She threw the map to him, and Dragonfly caught it awkwardly, almost dropping it in the water. "Be careful!" she hissed. "We don't have another one!"
"I understood," the striped dragon muttered slightly resentfully.
They flew mutely for a while, the silence was broking only by measuring wingbeats and the sound of the waves below. Even the seagull disappeared somewhere. Gryllotalpa glanced down – two dragon silhouettes were reflecting in the water, flying side by side. The HiveWing started to work with her wings even faster, shooting ahead.
A little bit more, and they'll come to Pantala! And then all that remains is to find the others and calmly discuss the plan. The main thing is to remain unnoticed, and everything will be OK.
"Oh, there’s an island," Dragonfly said suddenly.
"Don’t be silly," she barked, "there’s nothing where you look. You have misunderstood it. Give me the map." Gryllotalpa unfolded it irritably and looked closer at the horizon. "I was right, no islands here. Be more careful next time."
"No, there`s an island, I`m telling you for shure," her husband insisted.
The HiveWing grunted and flew higher, stretching her neck at full tilt. The sun was hitting her eyes, so she squinted.
Did it seem to her, or?..
For a split second a tiny black spot appeared on the horizon.
"We must be veer of course," she muttered. "Grrr, we won`t make it in time!"
"Don`t worry," the dragon shrugged, "on the other talon, we can rest and renavigate. It`s beter to think with a rested head".
Gryllotalpa took a deep breath to calm down and exhaled trough the teeth with a wistle.
"Fine," she hissed and headed towards the island with her husband not far behind.
Up close the spot really turned up to be an island. Not so big and somehow shapeless, but at the first glance there were no dragons on it. Gryllotalpa swooped down on a desrted shore, trowing up clouds of sand, Dragonfly followed her, landing noisily right in the water. Cool drops splashed on the black-and-orange HiveWing scales, and she jumped back in anger.
Her husband stepped aside with an innocent look and began to study fry and crabs on a sandy bottom with a fabulous interest. Gryllotalpa setted out to the interlacement of trees and vines in search of food, lashing her tail.
Very soon she realized that she couldn`t get through such a thicket on foot. Everywhere she went were the continuous branches and wide leaves covering everything around. Even the sun barely reached here.
The HiveWing backed away to get out from here - there was no point in thinking about taking off because of the tightness. The left hind leg fell into some bush and got stuck in the branches. The dragoness jerked furiously, but the bush didn`t let her go. Odd. Usually her strength was enough to free herself from any grip.
She turned her head slowly and squinted suspiciously, releasing the poisonous stingers from under her claws just in case. Gryllotalpa looked around carefully at the dense thickets around. Then she tried to move the claws on her stuck paw. It was as if they were being squeezed by something cold and sharp, cutting unpleasantly into the scales.
She was poverless in this case.
"Dragonfly!" she yelled. Then she cleared her throat and shouted with all her might: "DRAGONFLY, COME HERE! I AM TRAPPED!"
A couple of minutes later she heard a crash in the thickets, as if someone was pushing through them. The dragoness rolled her eyes.
"Well, finally you`ve trudged... Come on, look what’s there".
She turned towards the sound and her heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't the husband.
It was not a HiveWing, not a SilkWing, and not even a LeafWing.
What is the Pyrrhian dragon doing here?
The newcomer seemed to belong to the SkyWing tribe. His reddish-rusty scales stood out from greenery on the background, his dark, sharp talons dug deep into the sticky, rich dirt, and his yellowish eyes gazed closely at the prisoner.
"What do you want?" the HiveWing didn`t get confused. "Better help than pretend a column!"
Instead of answering, the SkyWing reached to the ankle of his right hind paw and snatched a dagger from its sheath. The sharpened blade flashed predatorily in the darkness of jungle.
Ah well? Straight into a fight?
With a furious roar the dragoness rushed forward, almost writhing from the sharp pain that stabbed her hind leg. It seemed as if her scales were being torn off alive. Gryllotalpa slashed the SkyWing with her talons, roared again, snapped her teeth and stuck the stingers into his neck. The red dragon gasped and went limp, his wings sagged limply and crumpled under the powerful paws of the HiveWing as she threw his body away.
"DRAGONFLY, damn it!" the dragoness screamed, grabbing a dagger and trying to cut the branches of the hapless bush with it.
At that same second, someone pounced on her back and almost knocked her to the ground.
Gryllotalpa let out a guttural roar and threw off the another dragon, after which raised her crest and took a fighting stance. Quickly looking around the thickets, she realized that the dragons were swarming and swarming - worse than ants, honestly!
It seemed that all the tribes of Pyrrhia were here, but for some reason most of them turned out to be Sky-, Sea- and SandWings. The HiveWing spun around her axis, lashing her tail, dodging attacks, tearing open flesh and grabbing opponents with her teeth. She also used the dagger of the paralyzed SkyWing. It turned out to be quite comfortable and seemed to have been created for her, it fit so easily into her palm. However, there were too, too many strangers.
Some MudWing jerked her ear with his fangs, and she roared in pain. In response, she tore the edge of his wing, but literally right there her tail was almost set on fire by a puff of flames.
In a matter of seconds, the stupid bush was engulfed in fire, and its leaves burst into flames, falling into hot ash. Good news: now it was clear what was keeping the paw out. Bad news: the fire sank its red-hot teeth into the poor limb.
Gryllotalpa had never experienced such a pain in her life. The hind leg seemed to explode, as if every scale was being agonizingly slowly cut out with a knife. She bellowed so loudly that her throat almost burst. The dragoness jerked her paw out of the trap, everything turned black before her eyes and motley spots danced in front of her, but Gryllotalpa darted like an arrow into the gap between the trees. The fire trailed behind her, the smoke obscured her teary eyes.
Finally, when there was no more strength left, the HiveWing ran to the shore and fell like a stone into the water. The salt caused even more pain, but she didn't care anymore. The main thing now was to survive and protect the egg.
She didn't know how long she layed there like that. The sun was already setting behind the horizon, and the world was painted in the colors of flames. For some time Gryllotalpa looked at the crimson disk disappearing over the sea, where the shores of Pantala lay, and then she turned her head towards the island.
The charred, twisted trees reminded the deformed skeletons of some mutated creatures. Black soot sticked around the graying branches, replacing the leaves. A stream of caustic smoke rose from somewhere on the opposite side of the island. A light breeze carried the smell of burnt wood and charred flesh.
The dragoness moved with her talon and found the hilt of a dagger nearby. Wow, she didn’t even notice how she brought it with her. Gryllotalpa clenched the weapon in her claws and tried to examine her hind paw.
The sight was not the best. It was actually amazing how, with such injuries, she rushed so quickly through the jungle. Adrenaline, probably.
Burns covered all the scales that were warped and melted. The scales weren`t there at all near the claws; a bone was visible through the blackened flesh. From there, long narrow scratches stretched to the hip, and in general the whole body was covered in scars.
Gritting her teeth, Gryllotalpa rose up on her elbows. Quietly howling in pain, she awkwardly crawled to the shore, and from there to the body lying on the sand. More precisely, half on the sand. The other half - the back - was under the fallen trunk of a giant palm tree.
The HiveWing reached with her front paw and turned the dragon's face towards her. Empty, lifeless eyes stared into the darkening sky. The HiveWing was dead.
Gryllotalpa sighed. Well, she didn't expect anything else from him.
She carefully removed the bag from the deceased`s neck, wherein the Dragonfly's head fell back at an unnatural angle, revealing a deep wound in the throat that reached almost to the vertebrae. Gryllotalpa whewed. However, now she wasn`t interested in her husband, but in the contents of the bag.
She breathed a sigh of relief. Thank the moons, the map wasn`t damaged.
The dragoness looked thoughtfully at the sky, which had turned purple. The first star even appeared on it. Gryllotalpa involuntarily touched her stomach with her claw.
Her daughter. She will live. She'll take care of her.
A spider ran across the dragoness’s paw, and Gryllotalpa smiled, following it with her gaze.
"Karakurt. I will call you Karakurt."
== Chapter 1 ==
Blueberry stood near the entrance to the academy. Trembling was running through her entire body. Nearby was standing a NightWing Sirius, the dragoness’s father. Blueberry squinted at the large gate, on which all ten tribes from both continents were depicted. Blueberry's observations were interrupted by a coughing fit. It felt as if hundreds of fragments of hawthorn spikes or needles were stuck in the throat. Fortunately, the fit ended. Father approached to Blueberry.
"Blueberry, are you sure you should go to the academy? Maybe you'll stay homeschooled?" Sirius looked at her with kindness, which seemed to be transmitted to her, "what if you`ll have spasms again and no one will help you?"
"No, I’ll go anyway," the SilkWing looked at Sirius with confidence, "and it seems to me that there will be those who will help."
"I will worry, and so will your mother. I hope everything will be alright..." - father hugged Blueberry with his wing.
The dragoness stared at the gate. Dragons' eyes were made of jems, and their claws were trimmed with iron and gold.
"Okay... dad, I’ll probably go now," Blueberry stroked her father’s wing.
"Bye! Mom and I will visit you!" Sirius stopped hugging Blueberry and began nervously wagging his tail.
Blueberry approached the gate, looked back and saw a purple dragoness with many bags, who was sitting opposite her parents, a NightWing and a HiveWing-SandWing hybrid. The dragoness's parents gave her a bracelet and waved goodbye. Sirius also waved to Blueberry. The SilkWing noticed this rather late and awkwardly waved back, after which whidded to the gate and opened it.
Lots of dragons from different tribes were walking throughout the academy. There were many hybrids and dragons without body parts such as tails, paws or ears. Some were as pale as snow, while others were covered in scars. It immediately became clear that she ended up at the Agate Mountain Academy - an academy for diseased and hybrids.
Blueberry wanted to go down the drain. How could she have missed her father like that? The dragoness sat down, clutching her head. Oh, and this is only the first day! Okay, I can only hope that my father didn`t aggrieve. The dragoness stood up on her paws, and just at that moment that purple dragoness with bags entered the gate. She walked towards Blueberry and stopped not far from her.
"Hello, are you new, too?" the dragoness with the bags looked at Blueberry, raising one eyebrow.
"Uh... Yes! Yes, I’m new too," Blueberry raised her wings proudly, trying to look graceful.
"As I see, you are also a tribrid?" The purple dragoness put her paw on the gate.
"Well... yes," Blueberry looked at her interlocutor with some curiosity, "what’s your name? I'm Blueberry."
The purple dragon looked at Blueberry a little uncertain.
"I`m Troides," the dragoness waved her tail. "Let's look for the director's office, or?.."
"Yup, okay," Blueberry looked around the hallway. Two dragons were sitting in the corner: a SandWing and a LeafWing, looking very nervous. They were gesticulating oddly, and the LeafWing was gradually calming down.
"Let's ask them?" Blueberry pointed to Sandwing and Leafwing.
Troides looked at the SilkWing in surprise.
"Walk up if you want," the HiveWing snapped dryly.
Blueberry looked at Troides and walked towards Sandwing and Leafwing.
"Um... Hi!" the SilkWing waved to them, "can you tell me where the director’s office is?"
LeafWing turned to Blueberry and looked at her as though the SilkWing had distracted her from something very important. The SandWing, who looked like he'd jumped out of the pages of a nature-study textbook, ignored Blueberry's appearance and continued gesticulating.
"Wait a second," the LeafWing gestured something to the SandWing, after which he sat down, "so, the director’s office?"
"Mmm... yeah!" Blueberry raised her wings proudly and twisted her short antennae into a tight spiral.
"Well, it’s there," the LeafWing pointed to a round foramen overgrown with moss and white flowers.
"Thank you," Blueberry smiled and waved to Troides.
The HiveWing ran up to the SilkWing.
"Well, so where is it?" Troides looked at Blueberry with curiosity.
"Come with me, I’ll take you," Blueberry touched her temple.
All this time, the SilkWing was trying to suppress thoughts about her abilities. These thoughts immersed her into darkness. The thing was that she could see the future. Just like Darkstalker, or rather like his pathetic copy, which was lost in history. Visions of the future were painful, and most importantly, useless. How did Darkstalker manage to do this so well?! She just wanted to tear out these teardrop scales and burn them! Burn in a bright flame, drown, trample and never remember again!
"Hey! Blueberry!" Troides' voice sobered the SilkWing's mind, "what's going on? Are you okay?"
Blueberry removed her paw from her temple.
"Yes... yes, everything is fine," the SilkWing noticed only now that she was leaning against the wall and clenching her front talons.
Blueberry moved away from the wall and went to the director's office, followed by Troides. The dragonesses knocked on the wall at the entrance and heared from the office: "Come in!"
== Chapter 2 ==
The blue dragoness paused, looking back at Troides.
  "Maybe you first?"
  She raised her comb indignantly.
  "Why should it be me? You stand closer, so you come in."
  "The idea was yours," Blueberry reminded, and Troides bit her lip. Why, why did she start a conversation with this SilkWing?!
  Her grandmother’s scornful voice sounded immediately in her head: Who knows how to make a mess, must know how to redress! It’s all your problems! It’s your own fault, your own!...
  With an effort of will, the tribrid suppressed an irritated growl rising in her throat. She turned away defiantly, pretending that she had never seen anything more interesting in her entire life than the right wall.
  The headmaster saved her from further bickering... that is, excuse me, the headmistress, who suddenly emerged from her office.
  "Come in quickly!" she hissed, waving her paw impatiently.
  Blueberry walked deeper into the room, and Troides trotted after her. As she passed by the headmistress, she smelled the pleasant aroma of fresh mint and snow. She saw the latter live at most a couple of times in her life - and then from afar, on the peaks of the Claws of the Cloud Mountains, a range that crossed the entire Pyrrhia like a huge scar. But, however, she thought that snow smells exactly like that.
  After taking a couple of steps, the tribrid stopped in confusion. Blueberry did the same. The headmistress finally came unstuck from the entrance and hurried to her desk, made of varnished wood. Troides remembered unwittingly the painfully familiar bamboo table from her grandmother’s home. It seemed thatit had never left the room in which it stood - dark, like the NightWing scales, and filled to the brim with other trinkets that the grandmother carried around like gold ingots.
  The headmistress sat down at the table, clasped her claws together and placed her chin on them, after which she smiled at the dragonesses. Troides noticed only now that she was a half-breed, too - apparently, an IceWing-LeafWing hybrid. A LeaceWing, the tribrid mentally named her.
  "Hello, my name is Carex," the LeaceWing introduced herself. Her white scales had a slight green glint, like needles under a snow cap, and her large icy-green eyes shimmered with perky sparkles. Troides had to admit that she was quite young, pretty and also cute. "You are new, as I understand?"
  "Yup," Blueberry answered immediately, before the tribrid fully understood the meaning of the question. "My name is Blueberry, and she is Troides." She flicked her tail at the new acquaintance.
  Carex fished out one sheet from a neat stack of parchment, dipped a metal claw into the inkwell, and scribbled something quickly. Troides tried to read upside down, but didn`t succeed. Then she began to study the office.
  Everything here was extremely neat and minimalistic, nothing extra, but, surprisingly, there was a clear feeling of cosiness here. Behind Carex there was a large window, letting in a lot of light and overlooking the Claws of the Cloud Mountains. On the windowsill there was a row of clay pots with flowers - some blue and white ones, and yellow petals were sticking out of one pot. On the few racks and shelves there were scrolls, spare inkwells and metal claws, and a couple of books - most likely from Pantala.
  "How old are you?" the headmistress asked, looking up. "What tribes do you belong to? Do you have any comments from your parents?"
  Isn’t it clear at first glance that I’m a HiveWing-NightWing-SandWing tribrid? Troides thought.
  "I’m five," Blueberry said. "I’m a SilkWing-RainWing-NightWing tribrid. No comments." She clenched and unclenched her talons several times and winced as if because of headache. "But I have coughing fits, if that’s important."
  Carex wrote something again and turned expectantly to Troides.
  "Six years," she said dryly. "NightWing-SandWing-HiveWing tribrid. Primarily NightWing. Biologically." She hesitated, but still decided to tell the truth: "My parents said that I need to take some medicine."
  "Do you know what the medicine is for?" the LeaceWing asked.
  "For... they say that it helps me to live. Supposedly because I'm a tribrid, but I don't know how that's related." She remembered unwittingly black rocks from Peril’s stories, which her father once told her about. Altair... at least someone normal in her family. Although she saw Blueberry's father only briefly and out of the corner of her eye, she immediately realized how similar they were.
  "Fine..." Carex added a couple more lines, then ran her claw across the parchment several times, making two rectangles with notes. "You will both get in the Obsidian Winglet." She stood up and took two scrolls from the shelf. "These are your schedules," she handed them the scrolls in turn, first Blueberry, then Troides. "Your sleeping caves will be different. You, Blueberry, will have a sign with the number one hanging above the entrance to the cave, and you," she turned to Troides, "will have the number three. To get to the dormitory, here are the maps of the academy." She handed them two more scrolls. "If you have questions, please apply to me." She stacked two rectangles with notes on top of each other, knocked them on the table to align the edges, and put them in a previously unnoticed drawer.
  There was a knock outside, and Carex raised her head. "Come in!"
  Two dragonets entered the room immediately - and Troides recognized them at first sight. Those same strange Sand- and LeafWing ones that Blueberry asked for directions!
  The tribrid hurried out into the passageway, Blueberry followed her. They moved around on a one place like fools for a while.
  "Uh... we should look at the map," Blueberry finally said.
  She unrolled her scroll. It turned out to be quite big, with a detailed plan of all floors. The dormitory was discovered at the first floor.
  "In theory, we need to go there," the SilkWing nodded towards some passageway leading to the side. "Let's go, if anything happens, we'll ask someone."
  They walked in silence for quite a long time. At first Troides was studying the academy, hoping to remember where everything was, but quickly gave up and admitted that she couldn’t do it without a map.
  Then she switched to examining her new acquaintance. The light-blue scales had blue and purple metallic sheen, and bright orange RainWing-shaped wings, the same color as the stripes along the spine. There were round scales running down the neck, straight horns and short antennae... I wonder how sensitive they are.
  In the corners of Blueberry's eyes she saw a pair of silver teardrop scales, like NightWings with superpowers have. Troides shuddered. It would be better if she could only see the future, because what if she’s rummaging in her brain right now?... This thought made her shiver.
  "Well, it seems we have arrived," the SilkWing broke the silence. "Maybe we can take a walk around the academy after we pack our things?" The tribrid noticed how Blueberry glanced at the countless bags with which the HiveWing was hung.
  "No," she said quickly, suddenly remembering something. "I need to take the medicine first, and after that I will sleep. We'll probably meet tomorrow."
  Blueberry looked somehow sad.
  "Okay," she slightly hung her wings. "Goodbye then?"
  "See you tomorrow," Troides switched the her tail lightly and stalked further down the passageway, looking for a sign with the number three.
  The entrance to the sleeping cave was in another wall, which was a little unexpected. The tribrid stepped inside, pushing aside a curtain of blooming vines and long threads with wooden beads. The cave was dark and at the first sight empty. However, at the second one too. In the sense that there was no one here except Troides herself.
  The HiveWing groped a stone bench, which was a small ledge, and climbed onto it. Then she began to sort her belongings - after taking the medicine she would not have the strength to do this.
  One by one, she took off all her bags and laid them out on the ledge. The bracelet given by her parents also went there - too bulky and heavy to wear without taking it off. Troides sighed and began to take out the contents of the bags - a pad made of dried bark, an ink refill for it, a tinder-box, a bunch of thin sticks peeled from bark, some jewelry, a larger pad in leather binding - a gift from her father, a half-empty flask, a folded scarf (in case if it will be too cold in the mountains) and a clay vessel with medicine.
  The tribrid put some of the items back into the bags, leaving the vessel, flask, ink refill, and gifted pad on the bench. She placed the scarf instead of a pillow, which wasn't visible in the dark. Then she pushed the vines at the entrance apart, letting in as much light as possible, and began to inspect the cave for a lamp or torch. Neither one nor the other was found, so she had to strain her eyes to write.
  She opened the pad on a free page, shook the refill and wrote, having previously put the date: "Arrived at the academy. Met another tribrid, her name is Blueberry. I was sent to the Obsidian Winglet. The headmistress seems okay. Settled in cave number three, it's dark and no pillow here."
   She chewed the refill thoughtfully, wondering what else to write. Then she added: "I'll take my medicine now. Classes will probably start tomorrow."
   No, she isn't able to keep a diary...
   With a sigh, she closed the pad, placing the refill inside as a bookmark, and put it in the wooden nightstand that stood next to the bench. Then she changed her mind, hid it in her bag, and put the stupid bracelet in the nightstand. She really wouldn't want her cavemates to accidentally read her notes.
  She uncorked the vessel and poured a handful of rolled herbage into her palm. She put it in her mouth, feeling the sharp and tart taste, hastily washed it down with water from the flask and just as quickly stuffed everything into her bags, after which she fell onto the ledge, covered all the bags with her wing and felt an unpleasant heaviness throughout her body. As always. After taking this medicine, her body became like leaden, and she couldn't move even a talon. But then, after sleep, there was a strange lightness in her head, thoughts flew in and out like dragonflies over a lake, and nothing remained in her mind...
  Troides closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
== Chapter 3 ==
Blueberry woke up, yawned and spread her wings wide, but folded them quickly. The light poured from the room straight into Blueberry's side, warming her like the heat of a stove. The tribrid looked around the room and noticed a SilkWing reading a book. Blueberry waved to her, and the SilkWing responded the same, almost immediately afterwards burying herself in reading matter. I wonder what other cavemates are like? They lay literally opposite her: a RainWing-NightWing hybrid, apparently, and an IceWing. The hybrid had black scales, practically like soot or coal, her belly was almost completely white, and there were white stars on her wings. The IceWing one looked like she didn't sleep. She was bluish-gray, and there were dark blue spots on her wings.
  Suddenly the RainWing-NightWing woke up. She looked around and saw Blueberry.
  "Argh! Newcomers again, I haven't come to my senses from Moss yet!" She hit the pillow with her paw and looked at Blueberry with hatred. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
  "Uh... sorry, what?" The tribrid looked at her cavemate in surprise.
  "So the newcomer is also a hybrid!" the interlocutoress looked arrogantly at Blueberry.
  "But you're also a hybrid..." the SilkWing was interrupted by the RainWing-NightWing dragoness.
  "It is not true!" With these words, she stood up and left the dormitory.
  She's so strange. Blueberry looked after her in surprise and looked back at the IceWing, who had already woken up and was sharpening her claws on the stone near the bed.
  "Newcomer, hello! Although I’m new myself..." the IceWing has already turned her face to the tribrid. "I'm Moss, and that NightWing that left is Mamba, and she is," Moss pointed to the SilkWing, "Diaethria."
  "Uh... Hi, Moss!" Blueberry waved her paw awkwardly.
  "Well, excuse me, I have to go," the interlocutoress took her bag and went out, limping. Blueberry followed her with her eyes. Finally she stood up and raised her wings.
  Blueberry approached to the window and pulled back a tapestry-looking curtain depicting Pantalian tribes. The tribid looked around the room. It struck her eye that Moss's part of the cave was neat, and a stone with claw marks wasn't expressing itself. On her shelf were trim vases with dry sticks inside. Mamba's part represented another picture: as if the explosion had occurred! Things were scattered, scratches flaunted on the pillow. The walls were also in scratches, but in deeper ones. The sight wasn't the best.
   Well, maybe I have to go out and look for Troides. Blueberry went to the door and opened it. Noise reigned in the passageway. Little dragonets were running and stomping very loud. Older dragons were sitting or walking quietly. The noise was probably from youngest ones, because their "races" were accompanied by exclamations and gamine cries. Blueberry decided to go along the wall, near the doors of dormitories, so she couldn't disturb the dragonets. After she reached the entrance to the first room, where Troides was, the tribid sat down and started waiting for her friend. The purple dragoness came out, and Blueberry waved to her, scaring the addressee.
  "Don't scare me like that, SilkWing!" Troides looked at Blueberry with wide open eyes, holding her chest.
  "Regards, HiveWing." The tribrid chuckled, thinking that her interlocutoress was joking.
  "Do we know each other?" Troides looked at the SilkWing in surprise.
  "What do you mean? We met yesterday!" Blueberry widened her eyes and looked at the HiveWing.
  "Oh, really? So, are you saying that I forgot that I met you?" Troides lowered her eyelids and took out a pad from her bag.
  "OK, I'll go then, bye..." Blueberry made a displeased face and headed to the opposite direction.
  The SilkWing walked without turning around. Thoughts about Troides didn't leave her head. Maybe she's joking like that? No, Troides was speaking in all seriousness. Maybe I should just make friends with someone else? Or maybe it's a side effect of taking the medicine? One way or another, I need to figure out the schedule, and I need to eat. I can only hope that I can make peace with her.
  Blueberry took a step and entered the cafeteria where a crowd of dragons was sitting. All the tables were occupied, so some dragons ate their portions standing. Blueberry walked through and got in the line. She folded her wings, looked thoughtfully at the entrance to the cave and noticed that Troides ran into the cafeteria. Blueberry smiled unwittingly, but the corners of her mouth drooped quickly, trying not to attract the attention of the purple HiveWing. I wonder if it will be possible to restore the friendship?
  Thoughts about Troides and friendship with her were interrupted by pain in her temples. Her head was splitting like a nut. Blueberry understood perfectly that this was a vision of the future. The SilkWing crouched in the middle of the queue for a portion.
  The cafeteria, the dragons, and everything at all disappeared before her eyes. Instead of this, an image of a large HiveWing with black and orange scales appeared. She was missing several talons, her whole body was covered with small scars, her ear was torn, and her left leg was all warped. The mutilated limb hung touching the ground. Sitting on a chain near the HiveWing was the same LeafWing with whom Blueberry had spoken yesterday. The LeafWing flapped her wings and tried to reach the orange dragoness with her claws. The HiveWing stood in front of Troides, placing her front paw on her purple-black shoulder. Troides looked frightened; they were talking about something, but the SilkWing didn't catch the words.
  "Blueberry!" The purple HiveWing leaned towards the blue dragoness. The SilkWing raised her head, and various dragons appeared before her eyes, crowding around. Blueberry stood up quickly and stepped aside, then ran to the dormitory entrance.
  The SilkWing heard Troides running after her, and only at the door the purple dragoness stopped Blueberry.
  "Wait!" The HiveWing stopped and began to breathe heavily. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I acted like that, it's probably a side effect of the medicine..."
  Blueberry burst into coughing, interrupting Troides with her apologies. But the fit wasn't the same as when she was entering the academy. Drops of blood came out of the SilkWing's throat, followed by a small stream. Troides widened her yellow eyes as she looked at Blueberry coughing up blood. Finally the fit ended. Blood was running down Blueberry's chin in a small stream.
  "Wait a sec, I'll find one thing," with these words Troides began to look for something in her bags.
  "Is it possible that after taking medicine you forget someone?" Blueberry wheezed, looking at the HiveWing.
  "That's what my parents told me, at least." Troides said this, pulling out a root from her bag. "Take this, put it in your mouth."
  Blueberry took the root and immediately sent it into her jaws.
  "Don't you remember me at all?" The SilkWing raised her wings.
  "I forgot everything that happened yesterday in general," Troides shrugged, and then took out a pad from her bag. "This is the first time when such a long period of time has disappeared from my head, actually."
  "So this is not the first time this happens?" The SilkWing looked at the HiveWing in surprise.
  "Yes... I would like to know, are you Blueberry?" Troides said, putting the pad into her bag.
  "Yup," the SilkWing swallowed the root.
  "By the way, what happened to you there in the cafeteria?" Troides looked at Blueberry with curiosity.
== Chapter 4 ==
More than anything else, Troides wanted to fall through the earth right now.
If she were a human, she would stand with a face redder than boiled crayfish. But so only under the scales, it was as if many small fires had flared up.
How could she to behave like that in front of her first acquaintance at the academy? Three moons, how shameful, shameful, shameful!
Troides imagined too vividly what Blueberry could be thinking: So why do I need such a friend? What's the point of telling her anything, her head is a sieve anyway, she'll forget everything!
But this feeling was continually muffled by panic - nasty, aching in the heart, like a mosquito over the ear in the middle of the night. A clear picture was standing before her eyes - Blueberry was coughing, and droplets of blood were flying out of her mouth... as if someone was cutting her throat with a knife.
Fortunately, this very Blueberry still didn't choke on her own blood, but stood there looking as though she was going to pass out.
"You don't have to say," the HiveWing added quickly, - what if she really faints, and it's not clear where the healing center is. "I don't insist." She suppressed her screaming curiosity with an effort of will.
The SilkWing's eyes darted around and finally stopped at a crack in the wall. She picked the stone floor with her claw.
"I... well... how to say..."
Troides glanced at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. And then she saw again the teardrop scales in the corners of her eyes.
"Do you... do you see the future?" she guessed.
Blueberry nodded with relief.
"And it was a vision, right?"
The tribrid nodded again, but somehow tensed.
"About what? Was there anything important in it?" the HiveWing couldn't resist.
"Mmm... I don't like talking about visions." Blueberry finally stopped contemplating the crack and looked straight into Troides's eyes. "What if you will hate me?"
"What?" Troides was taken aback. She almost sat down from surprise. "Why should I hate you?"
"In that school... visions were not particularly welcome," the blue dragoness almost whispered.
Troides nodded sympathetically, hoping that she hadn't overdone it, and caught herself (partly to close this topic):
"You need to go to the healing station! Coughing up blood isn't good... I don't like it."
So you think it is good to forget the events of an entire day?
"In general, I'll take the map, wait here," without allowing Blueberry to answer, the tribrid rushed to her cave. Oddly enough, she remembered the location of this object.
It took some time for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the cave. Troides pulled back the curtain at the entrance irritably, letting in the light, and almost found out what a heart attack is.
There was another dragon sitting in her sleeping cave.
For a moment the thought flashed through her mind that perhaps she was in the wrong cave. But no, here is her bench! And her scarf lying instead of a pillow!
"Who are you?" Troides hissed. "And why are you scaring me?"
"Me? I'm, uh, Myrtle. Your cavemate, it turns out."
Having recovered a little, the HiveWing remembered why she had come and rushed to her nightstand. She jerked the door open violently, grabbed the map and shot out into the passageway, unfolding the parchment in motion.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" came the Myrtle's voice from behind her.
"To save my friend," Troides barked and headed towards this very friend.
Blueberry was still there and looked better. But yet, better safe than sorry.
"Let's go," the HiveWing pulled her along, studying the map. The healing station was found on the second floor.
"No need, I feel better now," Blueberry tried to resist, but somehow flabbily.
"It will be better when they prescribe you normal medicine, not my roots! How do you know, maybe I'm an undercover maniac and conversely I'm poisoning you."
"Then why don't you try asking for a different medicine? Non-erasing memory?"
"They don't have it," Troides said confidently, hurrying along the winding passageways of the academy. "Only my grandmother can make it according to her mother's recipe."
"How would you know?" Blueberry asked, following the HiveWing with frequent steps. "You haven't even asked yet..."
"Listen, it's more important for you to get your medicine now. My root doesn't work for a long time, and the blood may return. And in general, it's better for you not to speak much, so as not to strain your throat again."
The SilkWing fell silent unwillingly, and now only the rhythmic knocking of claws on the stone and slightly husky breathing could be heard.
The entrance to the sought-for cave turned out to be a rather high and wide arch, laid out with nacre and crystal. Above it a large varnished board with bright big letters spread out: “HEALING STATION”.
One after another, the dragonesses went inside and found themselves in a spacious, clean room. Along one wall there were a row of beds with soft-looking moss bedding. Near the other wall there was a high stone counter, behind which there was a passage into another cave - must be a storeroom.
"We urgently need help!" Troides called, walking to the counter. Blueberry remained somewhere behind.
The fuss was heard in the storeroom, and the SeaWing emerged from there. He came closer and looked into the tribrid's eyes.
"What?" he asked wearily.
"We need a cough medicine," the HiveWing wagged her tail towards Blueberry. "She needs. She just coughed blood, I gave her one root, but it doesn't work for a long time."
"Her name, winglet?" the SeaWing asked.
"Blueberry, five years, Obsidian Winglet," Troies answered for her friend.
The dragon muttered something under his breath and headed in the storeroom. A little later he appeared again with some glass vessel in hand.
"Take it three times a day at the same time. The cough should decrease within a week. Don't do a lot of loads on the throat, apply to me if you have any questions.
Troides bowed gratefully, taking the vial with a yellowish-brown liquid inside. She turned and saw how Blueberry slid down the wall, clenching her temples.
"Blueberry!" she cried, dashing towards the SilkWing. She winced painfully, clatching her head as if she wanted to don't let it tear into pieces.
Troides put the medicine aside hastily and began rummaging through her bags. A pad... another pad... roots... Needless, all needless!
Blueberry, meanwhile, sank to the floor, all her muscles tensed, as if in the death throes. What should I do if she passes away? - a panicked thought flashed through.
"Aloe!" the tribrid suddenly screamed, throwing up her head and staring into space. "Aloe! No, no, no!..."
Troides didn't notice how the SeaWing ran up to Blueberry and held her head carefully. And just in time, because the tribrid suddenly went limp, her eyes rolled back, and her wings unfolded under their own weight, remaining slightly bent at the joints.
"Blueberry," Troides whispered, stopping delving in her bags. She turned to the SeaWing. "She is dead?"
He put his palm on her chest in the heart area.
"No, she is alive. Just lost consciousness. She should stay here, in the infirmary."
The HiveWing exhaled in relief, relaxing a bit.
"Go to your classes, I'll take care of her," the SeaWing waved his tail to the exit.
Troides sighed heavily, but obeyed.
Already in the passageway, she realized that she had forgotten the map in the healing station, but she didn't return - there was no wish. Brrr, now she will have nightmares all night! Although no, she won't: gran's medicine removes all dreams. Good if it will remove the memories of blood from Blueberry's mouth at one.
But... The HiveWing imagined how she wakes up tomorrow and doesn't remember the events of yesterday... it made her shudder.
Troides plopped down on a stone bench standing in the hallway, and pulled out her diary. She flipped through the pages hastily and began to write:
"Today I woke up and met Blueberry. It turned out that I don't remember anything, so I need to be careful. Then she had a vision, and then she started coughing up blood, so we went to the healing station, where, I think, she had another vision about some Aloe. Now she's lying unconscious in the infirmary. I have a cavemate now, his name is Myrtle. Now I'll go to the cafeteria and eat finally."
Pleased with herself, Troides put the diary back in her bag and began to think. I had to redraw the map in my diary so as not to lose it. I just don't want to return... okay, I'll sort out later.
The tribrid stopped the first dragon she saw and asked:
"Do you know how to get to the cafeteria from here?"
The black dragoness, who looked like a RainWing, fluffed up her neck frill furiously and hissed:
"I don't deal with hybrids."
Troides looked her up and down.
"But you are a hybrid yourself, or?..."
The dragoness was already bloated with indignation.
"Here we go again! I AM NOT A HYBRID, how many times must I repeat this?!! I am a pure RainWing, and my name is Black Mamba!"
The HiveWing shrugged. RainWing so RainWing, you never know what trash this Mamba has in her head.
At this point some small IceWing arrived and pushed Mamba aside.
"Don't argue, please! What's your name?" she turned to Troides. "I'm Moss, and this is Mamba. How can I help?"
"Mmm... I'm Troides, I'm looking for a cafeteria here. I just lost my map, and I can't navigate without it, because it's my second day at the academy."
"I'll guide you!" Moss volunteered. "Only... there are just a couple of minutes left before the classes start. You'll hardly have time to eat."
"Never mind," the HiveWing waved away. "I'll just take it with me."
"Okay... by the way, have you by any chance seen Blueberry? Suchlike a light-blue dragoness, a tribrid, it seems? With orange wings?"
"Blueberry?" Troides perked up. "Do you know her?"
"Of course, of course," Mamba hissed venomously, wrapping her tail tightly around her. "Our cavemate with Moss. I feel like I'll definitely go crazy with both of them."
"So what, you saw her, right?" Moss went on.
"Yes..." Should I tell them about the visions? Or about the cough? "She... she's in the infirmary".
The IceWing gasped sorrowfully.
"In the infirmary? What happened?"
"Um... some health problems," Troides answered evasively.
Moss hung her wings mournfully.
"Oh, that's a pity... I'll visit her as soon as I can."
"She's unconscious," the HiveWing noted.
"Wow, what a speed," Mamba remarked gloomily. "She didn't even have time to wake up before getting to the healing station!"
"Are you jealous, or what?" Troides inquired.
"No. She's just a pathetic paltry tribrid, like you yourself, Troibes. She's not worth my attention."
"Troides." The HiveWing felt anger boiling in her chest. How dare she insult dragons she barely knows! "I see you're asking for trouble?"
"And if so?" Mamba bared its teeth predatorily, taking a fighting stance and revealing the RainWing's long fangs. At the sight of them, Troides's courage diminished.
"Don't you start," Moss stood between them, before the tribrid had time to move her poisonous stingers out. "Troides, let's go." The IceWing headed away along the corridor, and the tribrid had no choice but to follow her. She felt Mamba's furious gaze in the back of her head and realized that she might have just made an enemy.
== Chapter 5 ==
more flying soon...
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Genre (Mystery)