Wings of Fire: book 16 The Secrets Below

== Chapter 1 ==
Stalagmite loved the caves. Who wouldn’t want to live in the caves? The caves have the best dragons, All the dragons in the caves were nice and they all shared food. Stalagmite knew the caves well enough that she barely ever walked into walls, unlike her sister who was still learning how to echolocate properly. 
A couple of bats could be heard flying into the caves through the long tunnel leading to the outside before they got snatched by dragons who waited near the tunnel for food. 
Nobody ever went outside because it's so hot any dragon who went out there would get burned and besides why go out there when life was easier in here. 
The caves were so alive. Noises everywhere basically showing every nook and cranny that was in it. 
The lake near the bottom of the cave had dragons splashing about and a few had caught fish based on the excited cheering that echoed up to her room.
“Ow!” stalactite said. “I keep doing that.”
“Don’t worry you’ll figure it out.” Stalagmite said. “I used to hit the walls of the cave all the time before I learned how to echolocate efficiently.”
“Easy for you to say you're like a whole year older than me.” stalactite said annoyed.
“two years actually. Why don’t you go down to the lake and untense your muscles.” Stalagmite said. That's what she said when her sister got angry at herself. 
As Stalactites talons clattering farther away Stalagmite heard a slip and a lot of screaming which gave her a decent idea of what the cave looked like in its entirety. 
She could sense the place of every house along each wall and the lake below, but she didn’t have time to imagine the whole cave despite how cool it was. She rushed to the ledge and jumped down with her talons outstretched hoping to catch her sister before she got hurt.
As she the cold air rushed around her, she felt scales, stalagmite grabbed on and thrust upward with her wings. As she lowered to the ground she let go of the dragon and scared said “are you ok?” 
“Yeah but that was close, I wish I could just echolocate instead of needing to work for it.” her sister said, shaken.
Stalagmite hugged her sister wishing the same thing. Stalactite turned around and walked into the cold lake.
It’s been a while since Stalagmite has been in the lake. she walked in and the cold rushed over her scales. She dipped her head under the water and the sound got muffled.
She immediately remembered why she stayed away from the lake for so long. When she was a young dragonet she got really scared because she didn’t know how to swim well and the water muffled her image of the caves making her panic and swim in random directions. Luckily her mother noticed how useless she was being and swam down to get her. 
Sympathy went through her scales as she knows what her sister is dealing with but she just didn’t believe her.
Stalagmite’s head rammed into the side of the lake and she went up to regain the image of the cave she had in her head a second ago. She flew into the air flinging water droplets in all directions. 
She went to her house which was embedded in the side of the wall like all the others except the queens which was a few wing beats away from the lake. “Can you call your sister in it’s about feasting time?” her mom, Limestone said.
“Stalactite, it's almost time to eat! Make sure you dry off!” Stalagmite said.
A small “ok.” rang in the opposite direction. 
Stalagmite jumped down, helped Stalactite find where she was, then helped her dry off, before taking her to the palace where all the cavewings eat. The feasting room was at the bottom but there were two other rooms, Queen Olms room, and the top of the palace. Nobody knows what's up there but the queens, all the queens she’d had kept it a secret. 
bats, salamanders, fish, and mushrooms could be smelled everywhere. The room like the rest of the cave was made of stone but felt smoother and smelled better. 
Every dragon sat down at the long stone table and the queen's voice came from the back of the room like it always did. “Hello my subjects. We gather here and eat the food caught and cultivated by our greatest dragons. When you're finished please thank everyone on the way out. Now let's feast!” 
Stalagmite felt the table until she found her food stacked in a neat pile. She grabbed the fish in front of her and bit into it. Fish was her favorite. Salamanders and mushrooms were also good but bats ew, why do bats feel so fuzzy. She didn’t like bats but she finished the entire meal nonetheless.
“Hey.” someone whispered through the talking of other dragons that gave her a full view of the feasting room. “Are you done?”
“Yeah why?” stalagmite said.
“I’m Troglobite, what's your name?” they said.
“Um Stalagmite.” she said, knowing that this was a dragonet because no dragon her age would ask for they're name without having met them before.
“Oh cool, that's a really nice name.” Troglobite said. 
“Have you ever been outside?” Troglobite asked.
“No, why?” stalagmite said.
“Oh no reason.” they said. “I’m Olm’s dragonet. She lets me go outside sometimes. All that's out there is a bunch of open space but who would want that. It’s pretty hard to know what's going on out there. Every once in a while there's a noise but nothing crazy.”
“How long did it take you to learn to echolocate?” He said somewhat dignified but before she could say anything he said “two weeks! It took me two weeks to learn how to echolocate. Olm gives me the best teachers.”
This put her to shame. It took a whole year to get her echolocation correct.
“That bad imitation of a cavewing, stalactite was it. She’s five and still doesn’t know how to.” Troglobite said.
a sliver of anger rose though her body. Don’t do anything, he's just a dragonet.
“Yeah, I'm so much better than her. Like geez just learn it’s not that hard.” Troglobite said, raising his voice a bit to be heard over the crowd. 
“Did you hear that Stalactite fell off the ledge? To get to the lake.” Troglobite said. “That’s so funny I couldn’t imagine being her.”
Stalagmite heard a sniffle that came from across the table where she imagined Stalactite was sitting.
Has Stalactite been listening to Troglobite talk? Oh this is such a bad Idea.
“HEY leave her alone! It’s not her fault that she can’t echolocate yet!” Stalagmite said standing up.
“What is this about?” Queen Olm said.
Oh no. She thought. 
“Your dragonet was bullying my sister.” Stalactite said.
“And you decided to yell during the feast.” Olm said regally. “Troglobite tell me what happened.”
As murmurs came from all across the table Troglobite came to the queen and said “she is lying. she said that I was a useless dragonet so I said that I wasn’t as useless as Stalactite.”
Troglobite whispered something into Queen Olms ear and the queen Said. “You are banished from the caves. You not only lied to my face but you insulted my dragonet.
== Chapter 2 ==
“What! You can’t do that, it's too dangerous out there, she’ll die!” her mother said.
“Well she should have thought of that before insulting the royal family.” Queen Olm said. “So stop unless you want to be banished too?”
Her mom stuttered before the room fell into complete silence. Stalagmite walked out of the room loudly making sure everyone knew she was leaving. Why do I have to leave? I could just stay here and be super quiet. Nobody can see anything so I could do that, but if the queen found out I was still here despite being told to leave the punishment would be much harsher.
Stalagmite dipped her wing into the lake and flung a lot of water into the air Before getting to the entrance of the cave. Was this a good idea? Was it more dangerous out there or in here with all the dragons who would tell the queen I was still here when they found out. Nobody has been banished in a long time. The last time someone was banished was when she was still in her egg. Nobody told her why they were banished but everyone said it was really bad. Would legends like that spread with her? Dragons saying that she did some horrible deed that was so terrible she got banished from the kingdom when all that really happened was she defended her sister cause a little jerk was bullying her. Who would help Stalactite if she falls again?
Stalagmite turned around and heard that all the dragons were chattering again like nothing happened. She turned back toward the entrance and jumped into the water that led to more tunnel.
The water way had a very small airway that allowed bats to enter but dragons couldn’t do anything with it.
As she turned upward because the water was about to end. At least she thinks. The water messes up the image of how the tunnel wound toward the surface.
As she got out of the cold water she walked onto the tunnel again. The chattering was hard to hear. Stalagmite screeched allowing her to see the tunnel. As the cold dampness of the caverns went away and warm humid air swept around her. It was uncomfortable. The sound of water echoed through the tunnel. As Stalagmite stepped out of the cave and touched spiky things that, as she felt around, were everywhere. 
when she walked toward the water something really warm touched her scales, it didn’t seem like a creature, it felt more like a radiating warmth all around and it was extremely uncomfortable. Stalagmite stepped into the water. It was colder than the air of the surface but was still warm which was confusing and she hated it. The water was also rushing past her.
Stalagmite let out a screech and barely anything came back. It really was a big open area. It was scary not being able to see anything unlike the cave. There was barely any noise and nothing for the noise to reverberate off of. She could tell there was a massive sloped wall behind her where the cave was and there were pillars in front of her but that was all she knew. 
She got out of the water and into the radiating warmth again. She rushed to the pillars which gave a nice shade but it wasn’t nearly as cold as the caves. She let out another screech and yet again barely anything came back. All she knew now was there were a lot more shady pillars farther ahead. 
Not knowing what to do she walked towards them. As the radiating heat started to burn she flew towards the pillars and into the shade. Resting next to the pillar as the surface was so unfamiliar and bad. Who would want to live here? It was uncomfortable and there was nothing to see. The spikes were everywhere over here too. How would anything live here? It's spiky and hot and it sucked. 
Getting back up and moving farther into the pillared area she found herself lost. She screeched and all she found out was there were pillars in every direction. There was no way of knowing where she came from or where she was going, It was miserable.
There were a lot of sounds out in the pillars but they weren’t familiar. There were caws, woops, and weirdest of all a fwoop, right before something jabbed into her neck. “Ow!” Stalagmite said before falling asleep.
When she woke up she heard “what is this?” from an unknown dragon.
“I don’t know scouts found her near the edge of the rainforest.” another said.
Stalagmite let out a screech and she found out she was in a large sphere with a few dragons. 
“Hey, it’s ok. Why did you have to scream so loudly.” the first dragon said.
She was laying on a weird soft pile of something. It was extremely warm in this place. The humid environment was unpleasant.
“What is that place?” Stalagmite said. 
“The rainforest.” the second dragon said. “The most amazingest place in pyrrhia.” as if she was going to understand what that meant.
“No, it's not the amazingest. It's hot and uncomfortable in this place.” Stalagmite said. “How could you live here? It's terrible.” 
“Wow, someone needs suntime.” the second said.
“What's your name?“ The first said “I'm Mango and that is Melon.”
“I’m stalagmite.” She said.
“Wow, that's a weird name.” Melon said.
“You have a weird name. What even is a melon? What even are you?” Stalagmite said.
“Where rainwings.” Mango said as if Stalagmite would know what that was.
Stalagmite gave them a concerned "what."
“I don’t think she knows what a rainwing is.” melon said.
Mango gasped and said “oh this poor delusional dragon.”
“ok that's enough, can I go now? Stalagmite said.
“I don’t know we’ll have to ask Queen Glory.” Mango said.
“Ok.” Stalagmite said.
“Melon, stay here and I’ll ask the queen.” Mango said.
“Got it won’t go anywhere.” Melon said, as wingbeats allowed her to see some of the terrain below the sphere.
“Wow we’re way above the ground.” Stalagmite said. 
“Wait, how do you know that?” Melon asked.
“What do you mean?” Stalagmite said.
“We are in the infirmary right now, the ground is all the way down there, you don’t have eye’s and you were able to know that we’re high above the ground.” Melon explained.
“Oh it’s echolocation it allows dragons to see. Do you not know how to do that?” Stalagmite asked.
“No, I just thought if dragons were blind they wouldn’t be able to see.” Melon exclaimed 
"Wait so you can see?” Stalagmite said shocked.
Before Melon could respond Mango and the rainwing queen, Glory, flew into the infirmary.
They all stood in silence. Were they looking at me? Did I look weird? What did I look like? Looking weird is just objective, it doesn't matter what I look like. Questions she never thought she would ask herself started popping into her mind.
“Where are you from?” a new voice which was probably Glory’s said.
Should I tell them? What would they do if they found the caves? Is it dark down there? would they even be able to see. 
“Um, I don’t. Um.” Stalagmites said as her whole world started crumbling apart.
“It’s ok I won’t let my Dragons do anything.” Glory said.
“Can I stay here for a little while until I know what to do?” Stalagmite said scared. 
Are they looking at me? What should I do? 
“Ok you can stay as long as you like.” Glory said surprising Stalagmite.
“Wait really?” Stalagmite said confused.
“Yeah I don’t want to scare away any visitors.” Glory said.
“But don’t I look weird? Will the rainwings not like me?” Stalagmite said.
“Well that's up to you. You're the one who gives the first impression, not your looks.” she said before flying back to her royal pod or whatever.
Wait what if the rainwings don’t like that I have to screech to know where I’m going. What if I don’t screech? then I might walk or fly into someone. It’s ok, I'm the one who impresses everyone, not my looks. 
Stalagmite wished she never got banished; it was easier. She wished that she never knew about the rainwings or about the surface or about what she might look like.
As she jumped down out of the infirmary she tried to keep the mindset she had in the caves not knowing anything about being able to see. What was it like? What did everything look like? Was the rainforest really “amazingest”? It doesn’t feel great. It's was still humid and very hot unlike the cave's cold air. That was “amazingest”. but was it? Is it as great as I thought it was?
The spiky things were still everywhere which wasn’t very comfortable. She tried not to screech cause she didn’t want to make any possible friends fly away.
As she walked trying to find somewhere with dragons but all that she could find was the pillars which felt rough like the cold walls of the cave.
“Ok one screech that's it.” Stalagmite said to herself.
She screeched and she found an open area past the pillars. She walked towards it hoping nobody would fly away. 
“Oh hey you look cool.” a rainwing said.
“um thanks.” Stalagmite said.
“You're like a pale pink, maybe I can do that.”
What is he talking about? What is pale pink? Stalactite thought. And how could he “do that”?
“What?” Stalagmite asked.
“Oh I'm changing my scales to match yours,” he said.
“That sounds painful.” She exclaimed.
The rainwing let out a giggle and said. “You're funny.”
Wow I made a friend. that was easier than expected. Maybe being out in the surface isn’t as bad as I initially thought.
== Chapter 3 ==
"oh it's sun time gotta go." The rainwing said before wingbeats from everywhere gave her a pretty good view of the rainforest. It was mostly just the Pillars but there were also spheres just like the infirmary in the pillars. There was another open area near her so she walked to it and bumped into a cloth structure.
"hey you broke my tent." a dragon said.
"oh sorry I couldn't see it." Stalagmite said.
The dragon came closer and put his tent back together.
"who do you think you are messing with a nightwing." The dragon said
Nightwings, Rainwings how many dragons are up here.
"I didn't know that you where a nightwing." Stalagmite said trying to stop him from screaming at her.
"you what! even a weird dragon like you should now what a nightwing is." he said.
am I weird looking. that rainwing sounded like I looked cool. remember looks are objective. she thought.
"I'm not weird looking, your just bad at knowing a good-looking dragon when you see one." Stalagmite said.
She couldn't imagine the face he was making. Partially cause she didn't know what he looked like but also just cause she insulted him.
He said something under his breath and flew away. Stalagmite flew up to where she heard the rainwing flew only to getting hit in the face by lots of different thing. The radiating heat was back. This was suntime? I can't imagine going up here and. And, um, what are they even doing.
She listened closely and heard snoring. I couldn't imagine going up here and sleeping. She flew back to the ground cause the "sun" was starting to burn. What do I do now? I'm not sure if the nightwings like me and the rainwings are all sleeping. 
Stalagmite could smell something. She went towards it and the smell got stronger. As she held one talon out not wanting to mess it up she could feel a round smooth thing. She grabbed it and bit into it. It tasted good. Better than bats anyway. it was kind of juicy inside and some juice dripped out and onto her talons. She finished it and thought. How long are the rainwings going to be up there.
She wanted to be able to see but didn't want to wake them up with a screech and she also didn't want to do nothing. Maybe only that nightwing was like that. She thought walking back over to where she thought the nightwings were. Was stalactite ok. Why didn't her mom continue to fight for her.
As she walked she wondered if she was even going in the right direction. What would the rainwings do if I left while they where having suntime. They don't seem like the dragons to do much but maybe Glory would look for me. Would she? Stalagmite kept walking until she felt the radiating heat again. Am I out of the rainforest? Should I go back? I could barely see anything and the heat was unbearable. But I did make a friend there. No it's probably fine they will understand.
As she walked out into the blistering heat radiated from the sun she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Should I be trying to get back to the cave? Probably. Ok that is what I will be working on from now on. As she was walking she heard water and the sun was starting to hurt so she jumped into flight and dived into the water below.
== Chapter 4 ==
Warm water which Stalagmite still hadn't gotten used to, surrounded her scales. The rainforest and everything she knew about what the surface looked like got muffled. As Stalagmite swam forward she wondered how she would get unbanished and be with her sister again. The water at the surface was noisier than the water in the caves. It came in waves allowing her to somewhat know what was in front of her every few seconds. 
Maybe I can sneak into the caves every once in a while and talk with Stalactite about how to get unbanished. That seemed like the best plan she would have and it would help her make better plans. She just needed to find where the caves were. She turned around and listened for the waves which allowed her to kind of see what was around her. The waves came over her at just the right time allowing her to see the ground again right in front of her this time. she turned upward and shot into the air. That was close. She thought before walking into the shade.
Why did I even go into the water. The sun was starting to burn but why not go back into the rainforest. Maybe just for dramatic effect. It was weird she never thought to impress dragons until she found out they could see. 
Walking along the shaded areas she heard waves crash against the shore allowing her to see the pillars. The spikes where still everywhere but she had kind of gotten used to them. The wind rushed through the pillars and the roof atop the pillars protecting her from the sun.
Walking along the coast took longer than expected where were the caves? Was she even heading in the right direction. As the shade stopped and the rushing water she'd heard before entering the unknown could be heard from over near the rainforest. She flew in the direction of the water and screeched allowing her to see where the tunnel was. She entered trying to be as quiet as possible not wanting to get caught by the queen and receiving a punishment worse than banishment.
The tunnel wound downward as water dripping and chattering cavewings echoed upward. The air was much more pleasant than the rainforests, though there was a sort of unhappiness around it unlike how she thought of it before. 
Stalagmite slowly creeped into the water and swam through to the other side. When she emerged the chattering was much more loud letting her see most of the cave. She flew as quietly as possible towards her house hoping her sister was there. Feeling around a bit she couldn't find her. There were no signs of her sister or her mother anywhere. Was she in the wrong house?
leaving the room hoping she didn't go into a random cavewings house she bumped into a cavewing whose scales were cold from the lake. 
"oh I am so sorry. I didn't mean it." Stalagmite said not to loud.
"Stalagmite?" her sisters voice said.
"yes. It's me I've been so worried about you." Stalagmite said trying not to scream.
"what are you doing here? you where banished." Stalactite said worried for her sister.
"I came to see you and plan about how to get unbanished." Stalagmite said.
her sister shoved her into they're house and said "what is it like up in the surface? are you ok?"
she wanted to tell her sister everything but she didn't have time. "I can't tell you much right now. we need to plan how to get me unbanished." Stalagmite said.
"maybe I can convince Queen Olm, Troglobite lied and you can be unbanished." Stalactite thought out loud.
"how will I know when it's safe to come back down here though." stalagmite said.
"when I convince Queen Olm I will come Up to the surface and tell you." Her sister explained.
"how will you know where I am and how will you convince the Queen?" Stalagmite asked.
"check near the entrance of the cave every once in a while and when I come out you'll know I'm done." She said. "and maybe I could explain to the Queen that Troglobite was lying and that you were just defending me."
It would probably be harder than that to convince the Queen but It was the best plan they had. Stalagmite thought before talonsteps entered her room. 
"HELLO Stalactite what are you talking about." Queen Olm said.
Stalagmite got Quiet instantly and shoved herself against the cold stone wall of her room.
"I was just drying off." Stalactite said.
"oh really. it sounded like you were talking to somebody familiar." Queen Olm said.
"well there are noises everywhere. gives you a pretty good look of the caves doesn't it. I can see the feasting room from here." Stalactite lied.
"oh yeah your right. I can see everything in here including a dragon shaped bump clinging to the wall." the Queen said.
Oh no. She found me! should I run to the entrance? no she already knows I'm here. what will she do to Stalactite?
"oh that's just limestone she's been grieving there ever since Stalagmite was banished." Stalactite said.
Even though her sister couldn't echolocate she made up for it with her fast thinking and perfect responses for these types of situations. 
"oh well sorry about your daughter I might think about unbanishing her as it was a mere mistake I'm sure, my sister has been begging me to unban her, but she insulted the queens dragonet and deeds like that must be punished. I'm only trying to be a good queen." Queen Olm said before leaving the room, hiding something in her voice. 
Stalagmite untensed her muscles and walked over to give Stalactite a hug. "you may not be perfect but you are to me." Stalagmite whispered.
== Chapter 5 ==
Outside the caves were just as spiky and warm as it was before. The sun still burned, the water still rushed, and the pillars were still everywhere. Hopefully Stalactite can convince Queen Olm to unban me. Stalagmite thought. Although the queen did say she might unban her even though Stalactite hadn't done anything. Would she? Was she telling the truth. 
As she went back to the rainforest, she hoped they were still having suntime cause she didn't want them to be alarmed and come looking for her. The Idea of dragons doing that still confused her but she wasn't a rainwing. Maybe to them it was nice. The extremely hot rainforest air surrounded her and made her uncomfortable. She screeched seeing the infirmary in the pillars. She flew up and landed in the room. How will Stalactite convince Queen Olm? Did she even need to be convinced? 
Stalagmite walked around the infirmary and heard dragons waking up. Was that in the infirmry or up there. Stalagmite thought, listening to where it had came from.
Stalagmite paced in circles through the infirmary waiting for the rainwings to wake up and do something. How long has it been? Could she go back to the caves and everything would be ok? Was Stalactite waiting for me? 
Dragons started to come down from he pillars based on the rustling and wingbeats telling her where they were. She flew towards them as more dragons started waking up. Landing near the rainwings she said. "hey did you have a good suntime.
Nobody said anything untill the rainwing she made friends with came over and said. "this is my new best friend. her name is. um? what is it."
"it's Stalagmite." she said wondering if he really meant it. Making best friends wasn't as easy as this rainwing made it seem.
"my best friend is Stalagmite. That's a cool name, what even is a It's Stalagmite." the rainwing said.
Was this rainwing even my friend, He didn't seem like a very good one.
"um, I gotta go sorry." Stalagmite said.
"what why?" the rainwing said.
"oh. I'm just needed elsewhere." she said with a shrug not wanting to hurt his feelings. 
Would he believe her? He seems like the kind of dragon to believe her.
The entire rainforest had woken up. Dragons flying around. Dragons walking around. Creatures cawing and whooping. She walked back to the cave trying no to bump into anyone, luckily succeeding.
Flying past the river and down to the underwater entrance she emerged in the cave. It was loud and she wanted to get used to it again but the surface wasn't as bad as dragons down here said it would be. Flying over the lake and listening for Stalactite was no use. it was too loud and maybe she wasn't even in the lake. She flew toward her house and nobody was there so Stalagmite landed near the Queens palace as the queens talonsteps entered the feasting room. Stalagmite walked toward the queen until she heard wingbeats going upward from the queens chair. The queen had flew into her room. Stalagmite followed but she wasn't in her room anymore. The queen had went into the third floor of her palace. 
Scared and not wanting to do it she jumped up into the third room making sure to silence her landing before shimmying into a corner the third room. The third room barely had any sound in it so she was able to hide without being seen. Stalagmite felt around and is that a bone. She thought feeling some more before realizing that Queen Olm has dragon skeletons in her palace.
"previous queens, I am in need of advice. That Stalagmite, everyone is unhappy I banished her. She insulted my only dragonet, the rest of my eggs where destroyed. I want to protect my tribe and Troglobite. I only want to be a good queen, what do I do?" Queen Olm said almost as if she was waiting for a response. 
from who? the dead bodies littered around the room. Stalagmite thought before she started to think about what was going on. Who is destroying her eggs why were dead dragons in her palace, and why was she talking to them! 
"ok. I will unbanish her." Queen Olm said almost disappointed. 
Could she hear the previous Queens? she thought before hearing Queen Olm jump down into her room. OH NO! she's going to look for me. What will she do if she finds out I was spying on her. 
Jumping down and silencing her steps to get outside before her. If I move any closer she'll hear me. She thought 
The queen jumped down and into the feasting room, were she then flew into the main cave. Stalagmite jumped down and flew as fast as she could to the exit. Plunging into the water and swimming to the rest of the tunnel. Turning upward she heard a dragon dive into the water, though she wasn't sure if it was from the the lake or the exit tunnel, she then flew upward until she shot out into the surface. 
Ok act like you were going to walk into the caves to talk to the queen instead of like you just racing the queen to get outside so you won't get in trouble. Stalagmite thought. 
talonsteps came up the tunnel until Queen Olm came to the surface and sensed that Stalagmite was in front of her. "I'm sorry I banished you." She said with a sigh. "I misjudged you and would like to invite you back to the tribe." She said sounding more like she was repeating what a dragon said to her than she probably hoped. 
"I would love to come back to the caves with you and help fix what I messed up." Stalagmite said. 
"oh I was actually hoping you could help find the murderer of my dragonets." Queen Olm demanded. 
== Chapter 6 ==
Inside the caves felt different. Stalagmite didn't think it was the best anymore. She still liked it though, it felt better on her scales and she could see, but she had been to the rainforest and met the dragons that lived there. They loved it in the rainforest, even though it was hot and wet. Stalagmite couldn't imagine living there but now she didn't feel comfortable living in the caves either. so where did she belong?
Olm poked Stalagmites shoulder, getting her attention. Olm couldn't say any thing and Stalagmite couldn't tell if she was signaling something to her cause the water distorted her image of her surrounding so she went up to the surface hoping Olm would know what to do. In the cold wet air of the caves the image came back to her as the noise echoed of the walls in every direction. 
Next to her Olm came up to the surface, splashing water onto any dragon nearby and said. "you weren't even going the right way."
"how was I supposed to now I've never been to the hatchery before!" Stalagmite said harshly.
"well I was sending waves to you so you should have known my general direction." Olm said.
"ok. just go down and I will feel for any waves you push my way." Stalagmite said.
She heard a splash and went under feeling for anything. a wave came rushing towards her and almost pushed her out of the water again. going deeper she felt a wave every few seconds until they stopped. Did I lose her again?
Feeling around she felt dragons scales and pulled in her claws as she didn't want to get in trouble. One of Olms big claws wrapped around her wrist and gently pressed Stalagmites talons into the bottom of the lake and she felt egg shards, everywhere. who would destroy a bunch of the Queens eggs. Olm let go of Stalagmites wrist and she felt a whoosh of water wave into her face. She swam towards the surface and when the cold air touched her face. "someone has been destroying my eggs. Who would want to do that." Queen Olm said more angry than sad.
"I don't know, How do we know those are your eggs." Stalagmite said.
"I separate my eggs from the others. I separate everyone's eggs but I keep all of mine in that corner. there are only a few eggs left and I have a feeling they will be destroyed if I leave them for another minute." Olm said.
"well we can just wait until the dragon comes and then we will know who it is." Stalagmite said
"No, I have to run the kingdom and be a good queen." Olm said. "which is why I have you. you can sit here and wait while we feast. if you hear anything stop it and then tell me."
As the queen got out of the water and walked toward her palace Stalagmite floated in the lake waiting for someone to come. Now that Stalagmite thought about it she was hungry. Maybe I can catch a few fish while I wait. She thought diving into the water, suprised no fish accidentally swam into there faces when her and Olm went to the hatchery. Stalagmite stayed still waiting for any small fish to get close enough to grab. 
Stalagmite could feel a few small vibrations in the deeper ends of the lake but that happened every once in a while. If dragons caught them all the time then they would hide in the deeper parts and after a while they would migrate back up to the surface. Slowly creeping to the bottom she stayed still waiting for another small wave to brush against her. There! She snatched a fish in jaws and swam to the surface. 
Swallowing the small fish she waited for either a dragon to come attack the Queens eggs or for the feast to be over so she could talk to Stalactite. Sitting above the surface she heard quiet talonsteps coming closer and closer. Stalagmite dipped into the water and waited for the mystery dragon to get in the water. They slowly slid into the water and began swimming faster towards the eggs. Stalagmite followed and as they reached the bottom Stalagmite thought I should attack them right? No what if they are just a random dragon checking on there eggs. Swimming towards the eggs Stalagmite sat in the way of the Queens eggs just in case. A strange sound like rock scraping against itself rippled and distorted through the water. as Stalagmite sensed the dragon move towards the Queens egg she thought ok this is the one. she held out her talons and charged towards them. Stalagmite wrapped around the dragon and they let out a scream that bubbled up to the surface.
Stalagmite tried to pin the mystery dragon to the ground but they were bigger and much stronger than her. Then the dragon pushed her out of the way but Stalagmite didn't feel them swim towards the eggs. Are they looking for something? Stalagmite felt the ground until there was a egg in from of her. Was it? It was really hard and when the mystery dragons talons wrapped around it they threw it at Stalagmite. They were under water so Stalgmite didn't really understand the throwing a hard egg at someone until a heavy rock crushed her back left talons. Stalagmite screamed and all that came out was a load of bubbles and a feint echo of what she wanted it to sound like. Did they hide a rock shaped like a egg down here so nobody would know it was actually a murder weapon to destroy the eggs? They needed it cause they couldn't break the eggs with they're talons cause there under water and dragon eggs are pretty tough anyway. That's so geniusly evil. 
The dragon lifted the rock of Stalagmites talons and swam toward Olms eggs. Stalagmite followed and pushed them out of the way. I need to get them to the surface. Stalagmite thought.
Stalagmite grabbed the dragons neck and started swimming towards the surface as fast as she could. they started struggling and made it easier for her to swim to the surface. Stalagmite crawled up to the cave and out of the lake with the dragon still in her talons. She could hear large talonsteps coming closer to them. 
"did you stop them?" Olm said scared.
"yes." her mom said before Stalagmite could say anything.
"LIMESTONE! IT WAS YOU!" Queen Olm said angrily giving everyone a perfect view of the caverns.
"why did you do this?" Stalagmite asked.
Limestone took a moment to breath and before she could say anything Olm said "I should have you banished. No executed you for what you've done."
"please listen sister I know what I did was wrong but I only did it for my dragonets." Limestone said.
Wait Olm is my aunt!
"you can't even call me sister after what you did." Olm said.
"since I'm your sister and your only living dragonet is male the next queen would be me. I only wanted a better life for my daughters." Limestone said.
"What about my dragonets." Queen Olm said furious.
"since you kept having eggs hoping for an heir to the throne, I had to destroy them even if they were male since I didn't know which from which. I'm sorry. My actions are unforgivable I know but Stalagmite and Stalactite needed this." Limestone said.
Did we or is Limestone only trying to trick Olm. I thought our lives were ok.
"Ok then lets ask Stalagmite. Did you need a better life, am I a bad queen?" Olm said.
"What. Me. I." Stalagmite said not knowing what to do.
Neither said anything so Stalagmite said "We didn't need a better life but you didn't have to banish me so you aren't necessarily the best queen. But you didn't need to destroy the Queens eggs for something we didn't need and something you only wanted. So If I had to choose a side I would choose." 
what do I do? I don't want Limestone to die, but she did destroy her sisters eggs for no reason, Olm isn't my favorite dragon eighther. Ok just go with your gut. she thought.
"I choose Queen Olms side." Stalagmite said. hoping it was the right decision.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)