Talons of Peace

This fanfiction is an AU. The dragonets are different people, because I want them to be, and you can expect things to be surprising or different from canon.
== Chapter One ==
=== Webs ===
The three full moons shone down, glinting off of the blue-green SeaWing's scales. He held the egg he carried tighter to his chest, it's clear shell already begginning to crack. As he landed in a deep valley, a large SandWing with a missing leg greeted him. "Webs." he said.
"How are we doing?" Webs asked, walking inside a cave that the SandWing, Dune stood slightly inside.
"The MudWing's already hatching." Dune said. "The SeaWing's on it's way."
"Oh, good, I'm not late." Webs replied, hurrying inside. The four eggs rested around a campfire, as an enourmous, red-gold SkyWing lay near the edge of the cave, her back turned to Webs. "I got it." he said.
"No... need." the SkyWing grunted. "I went in... got one myself." Kestrel turned, revealing two things that immediately caught Webs' eye. The first was the pale orange egg she clutched in her talons. The second was the blood leaking across it. Webs gasped at the huge slash across her chest. Kestrel pulled away, snarling, as he came closer. "I'm fine."
"Well... what am I supposed to do with this then?" Webs asked, holding up the RainWing egg.
"I don't care." Kestrel growled. "Throw the damn thing off of Jade Mountain for all I care. Just get rid of it." Reluctantly, Webs began to walk towards the cave enterance. He kept his eyes on Kestrel, however, and as he did so, he saw something in her face change. "Oh, whatever. Put it by the fire." she hissed. "The dragonets' might want something to fight when they're upset." Webs wasn't sure why Kestrel had made this change, but he could guess why. An outcast egg no one wanted, that faced death. Not unlike her own. he thought as he placed the egg. A tiny, dark reddish-brown snout poked through the reddish shell of the MudWing egg. Webs gasped and moved closer to it. "It's hatching, Kestrel!" he called. Dune poked his own head around the wall to see himself. The tiny MudWing pushed her way out of the egg, the splintered red eggshell scattering everywhere. She was tiny, with red-brown scales, dark orange underscales and wings and huge indigo eyes. "She's cuter than I expected." Webs said, surprised. "Nice colour." The SeaWing was hatching too, poking a very light blue face through the side of her own egg. As Webs went to pick up the egg, he heard Dune roar in pain as he was dragged behind the wall. Webs turned, running over, where he saw three SkyWings pinning Dune to the ground while a fourth dug through a leather pouch. "Kestrel!" Webs called. "Help!" The fourth SkyWing pulled out a small sphere as Kestrel's talonsteps became audible. As she appeared to take in the scene, her eyes landed on the sphere and went wide. "Get down!" Before Webs could process the command, the SkyWing lit a small bit of string attatched to it and threw it deeper into the cave. Kestrel almost immediately leaped up to grab it, as it exploded, knocking Webs to the ground. Through the smoke, he could barely see, but he saw a slight glint of Kestrel's scales not far from him. Webs stayed lying down, however, as the SkyWings walked past them. "Ah." he heard one say. "There's the eggs."
"What do we do with them?" another asked.
"What the queen said." the first SkyWing replied. "Destroy them." Webs rose to his talons at that, and crept up behind them. He lunged at one SkyWing, throwing them into the river that flowed across one side of the cave. As they floundered and the other soldiers rushed over to them, Webs ran over to the campfire. The SeaWing lay on the ground, her tiny cries barely audible over the roars of the SkyWings. The MudWing seemed to have been hit by the explosion, because she lay unconsious on the floor. The RainWing egg had a few cracks across it's surface, and the NightWing and SandWing eggs showed no sign of even hatching that day. Webs grabbed the dragonets, and went to grab the eggs as a tall white shape limped in, followed by a smaller, dappled brown shape. "Asha, Hvitur, we need to get the dragonets out of here!" Webs yelled, passing the tiny MudWing to the adult MudWing as she approached. "What's going on?" the IceWing asked.
"SkyWings must have found us." Webs said, giving him the SandWing and the RainWing eggs. "We need to split up. Take the dragonets between you and take them to meet at the main Talon meeting spot tommorrow."
"What will you do?" the IceWing, Hvitur, said, beggining to grab eggs and the SeaWing dragonet.
"I'm going to alert the Talons." Webs said. "Now, run!" The SkyWing was out of the river now, and Asha and Hvitur had to run to get out of the cave before the red and orange dragons grabbed them. Webs dived past them, into the water, and began swimming as fast as he could. He swam for what felt like hours before he dove out into the air, seeing the moons high in the sky. He turned to see if the SkyWings were following him, but he was safe. He began to fly towards the Mud Kingdom, knowing that whatever happened, the dragonets were safe and hatching.
== Chapter Two ==
=== Asha ===
Asha dove down, her orange-brown scales glimmering in the sun. Jade Mountain rose to meet her. Hvitur landed beside her, struggling to hold onto the pile of blankets he'd concealed the two dragonets he carried in. "Webs should be just about here." he said, sounding nervous. "Where is he?"
"Webs is dead." a cool, clear voice called, as a vibrant orange SkyWing stepped out from behind the rocks.
"D-Dead?" Asha murmured.
"I'm afraid so." a second dragon, an IceWing, said as he followed the SkyWing from behind the rocks, his light blue scales glinting in the morning light. "He delivered the message to us, but... his fate was dark." 
Asha bowed her head, as the SkyWing came closer, the sharp smell of cinders clear on her. "Are these the dragonets?"
"Yes." Hvitur said, placing his blankets on the ground. "We salvaged the blankets from a small safe house, and hatched them on the way here." A tiny green snout appeared, as a little dragonet poked her head out before disappearing back into the furs. "Well, good thing we were on talon to take them off your own." an icy voice muttered as a dark-coloured SeaWing appeared, followed by a wiry MudWing and a plump SandWing with one eye. "Hand them over." Asha nuzzled the dragonets in her talons as she placed them in the centre with Hvitur's pile. "Take care of them." Hvitur cautioned. "They're Phyrrhia's only hope."
"Yeah, yeah." the SandWing said. The five Talons each took a dragonet and dissapeared into the rocks or into the sky. Asha gazed after them, wishing she could do more. "Well," she said. "Where to go?"
"Will Queen Moorhen take you back?" Hvitur asked, gathering the blankets.
"She might." Asha replied. "My sibs certianly won't." Hvitur nodded slightly as he spread his silver wings, the cool waves of air from them chilling Asha. Before he could take off, however, a large, red SkyWing slammed the IceWing into the ground. Before Asha could run to help him, a second dragon she couldn't see knocked her to the ground, too. She could barely see, but she heard Hvitur shoot his frostbreath and a roar of pain. Asha pushed herself up, knocking her attacker off of her. She tried to shoot a gust of fire at the SkyWing attacking Hvitur, but only a sputter of sparks came. With a dark feeling in her chest, Asha realized her attacker was an IceWing and the cold from his scales hadn't worn off. She could see him now, his glittering white scales blinding in the sunlight. "What are you waiting for, Toothfish?" the SkyWing shrieked, her voice almost inaudible over her own wings. "Kill her!" Asha's eyes widened, and she dived to the side to avoid the charging IceWing. Turning, she saw the IceWing barrel into Hvitur, knocking him to the ground as he tried to shoot another gust of frostbreath at the SkyWing. "Oh, Scarlet's great wings." the SkyWing growled, diving for Asha, slamming into her chest. Asha gasped in pain as an audible crack sounded where the SkyWing had landed. She slammed her foot down around SkyWing's tail, a second crack rewarding her. The SkyWing roared in pain, and grabbed Asha's top and bottom jaws, holding them open, as the hiss that preluded a SkyWing's fire reached Asha's ears. No! was all she had time to think before the fire scorched her and her vision went black. 
===Hvitur===
Hvitur stared at Asha, the blackened scales around her mouth and the look of horror in her eyes terrifying. Nothing I can do. He turned his attention back to the IceWing he struggled with. He was... familiar, somehow. "Stop writhing and snap his neck, you moons-blasted idiot!" he heard the SkyWing snarl. Hvitur slashed his talons over the other IceWing's eyes, and took advantage of his opponent's distraction to lunge into the air. It was only as the sound of beating wings reached his ears did he realize what a terrible idea that had been. He couldn't possible outfly a SkyWing. But strangely, as he turned, trying to freeze something vital, it was the IceWing who snarled as frostbite spread across his underscales. Below Hvitur, the SkyWing seemed to be unable to take off. Like something was wrong with one of her legs. I can work with that. Hvitur thought, swooping back around and down towards the ground away from Jade Mountain. As he weaved deftly through the trees, he heard several sharp growls and hisses of pain and crashes from behind him. He soared back up, letting the wind carry him away from the mountain. Looking back, it didn't look like either the IceWing or the SkyWing were following him. As he flew further on, he mulled over why the IceWing had been so familiar. The SkyWing too, now he came to think of it. A memory surfaced of one of the SkyWing's yells- 
"What are you waiting for, Toothfish?"
Toothfish! Hvitur knew that name. An IceWing who'd joined the Talons at around the same time as him. And that meant the SkyWing... Avalanche! But they hadn't shown much signs of recognizing him. And why had they been attacking Hvitur and- Asha... even just thinking about her brought back images of her with a burnt mouth, her kind eyes, how she shared Hvitur's belief in the prophecy. He felt like he was going to throw up thinking of the hopeful MudWing. Focus, Hvitur! Why had Avalanche and Toothfish been attacking the two of them? They were all from the Talons of Peace... what motivation would they have? Webs's image floated around the back of Hvitur's mind. But he'd died of... of... well, the IceWing who took the NightWing dragonet had been vague about that, but surely... why would Nautilus kill another Talons member? Hvitur shook his head and began to try and pay attention to the area he flew through. After all, IceWings weren't exactly welcome in any of the kingdoms to the east. Where could he go? The IceWings... too far. And I'd have to go back the way I came.
The SandWings? I'd die of heatstroke.
The rest of the Talons of Peace? ...If they really did try to kill me, Asha and Webs, then I don't think I'd be safe.
The NightWings? Who knows where they are? The dragon in Jade Mountain, but they're associated with the Talons, and I don't even know if they're real...
The Rainforest. The RainWings were known to be a peaceful tribe, no one ever went there, it wasn't too far away from where Hvitur was now- it was perfect. I hope the dragonets are alright. he thought as he changed direction to head southeast. They're in the- well, the talons of the Talons. If I'm just overthinking, and they didn't send Toothfish and Avalanche, then they're safe, but if not... well, I hope they're still working for peace.
Stay hopeful, Phyrrhia.
Because the dragonets are coming.
==Chapter Three==
Six years later...
===Arethusa===
The warm light of the evening sun was nice on Arethusa's scales as she lay, stretched out in the mud, her talons clenching fistfulls of the stuff. She felt calm, not as nervous as she usually did. Which was more than could have been said for earlier that day...
Arethusa had been training, like normal, with Piper, Muskeg and Canecutter. Piper was going to try and teach her combat again. "It's just a dummy, Arethusa," he'd said. "Just hit it like you'd hit me, except you can't hurt it." Arethusa had tried, but the moment she hit it, a weird sort of reddish dust had puffed from it, and- and- and she was right back there, on the worst night she could remember, and she was playing with the little pale blue dragon, careful to watch the eggs in case they needed her, and then there was fire everywhere and there was screaming and there was something wet all over her and then a bright flash behind her eyes and everything was really dark and then she woke up here. And then she was back in the present, gasping for breath, the red dust all over her talons, and Piper held her close and was gently murmuring comforts to her. Later, he'd explained he'd put the dust in the dummy to try and prepare her gently for when she'd hit a dragon and the thing that would come out would be blood and he didn't think she'd react like this. Canecutter and Muskeg had both scolded him, but Arethusa had felt guilty and embarrased about freaking out so much.
She still did, really. Below her surface-level calm, she still felt embarrassed for her panic. The light squelch of mud heralded the approach of another dragon. Arethusa turned as a large orange dragon lay down beside her with a large sigh. "Hi, Piper." she murmured.
"Are you alright now?" he asked, his voice quiet and gentle. Arethusa nodded, as she heard two more sets of talons approaching. "I knew, deep down, it was a bad idea." Piper continued. "I hope you aren't mad."
"Why would I be mad?" Arethusa asked, surprised. "I was the one who freaked out over some stupid red dust. Like I always do."
"Never blame yourself for that." Muskeg's higher voice cut in. "You experienced something so deeply traumatic you still vividly remember it. I'd say that you should be upset with Piper."
"I don't need to be." Arethusa mumbled. "You're angry for me." Piper laughed, slapping his thick tail in the mud and splattering Arethusa's reddish scales with more mud. "You're right in not being as angry as Muskeg was." Canecutter added. "I was more worried for you than angry with him. Arethusa looked up, taking in her three guardians- well, more like adoptive parents, really. Piper's bulk and oddly bright colours for a MudWing, Muskeg's deep, dark green eyes you could lose yourself in, Canecutter's dark scales that made her almost disapear into the shadows. Apparently, their fourth sib, Hazel, had been the one to bring Arethusa, but that he'd died of wounds from a strange IceWing that had fought him off near the trio's old home nearer to the Rainforest. Sometimes, Arethusa caught one of them staring back at the distant trees on the horizon with an unreadable gaze. "You want to tell me something, don't you?" Arethusa asked.
"What makes you say that?" Canecutter said, her deep voice falsely surprised.
"You never gather around with me like this until it's time to go to sleep." Arethusa replied. "What is it?" The three adult MudWings exchanged nervous glances before responding. "A SeaWing came earlier." Muskeg finally said. "We hadn't seen her in years, not since before Hazel died."
"What? You didn't tell me Tidemark-" Piper began before Canecutter whacked him with her tail.
"She had a strange piece of news." Canecutter continued. "That the leader of the Talons of Peace asked that we bring you and the other Dragonets of Destiny together, two days from now."
It didn't sink in until Muskeg added, "You're going to meet the dragons you're supposed to save Phyrrhia with."
===Streamline===
The pearly sheen of Streamline's knives was covered in a reddish sheen as she let the blood of the SkyWing flow into the water. Their hate-filled expression still stared at the young SeaWing as she dropped them into the waves. She was wiping the blood off of her knives as she heard a sharp, cold voice behind her. "Sloppy." Streamline turned, glaring at the dark green dragoness that had slid out from a rock pool. "You gave him time to cry out." Tidemark continued, her webbed talons silent on the wet sand. "If I hadn't made sure to lead him so far from his allies-"
"Yes, yes, I would be a goner, I know." Streamline said exasperatedly. "But here's the thing- I knew there weren't any dragons nearby except us." Tidemark gave her a sharp look. "You cannot act as though you are immortal." she said. "Someday, your mistakes could serve your downfall."
"Or I could return to the Sea Kingdom and challenge my mother," Streamline replied. "I'm sure Blister losing allies for the second time would destabilize her enough to put her out of the running-"
"Absolutely not!" Tidemark growled. "You have heard your uncle's plans a thousand times- do not interfere until we say so!"
"I don't remember the prophecy saying 'a bunch of snooty imbeciles will tell the Dragonets how to stop the war'!" Streamline snapped back. She stormed past Tidemark, strongly resisting the urge to drive a knife through her ribs. She's the one always telling me I'm special and royal and such. she thought furiously. She should have expected I'd be as strong-minded as I am. As she walked into a gap in the rocks and into a cave system that formed this Talons hideout, she began to fantasize, as she so often did, about what the SeaWing tribe would be like under her rule.
First, the Royal Hatchery would be so much better guarded. After all, if her egg, the only heir, could be stolen by a weak-willed fool, then who's to say that Coral would have any heirs at all by the time she died? And there would be much, much worse punishments for insubordination. So many SeaWings seemed to have deserted to join the Talons of Peace- Streamline would make sure that no one would DARE commit such a treasonous act. And she'd have every Talons SeaWing hunted down and executed, of course. Prideful toads with trees up their tails, all of them. If she had fire, most of them would sport much worse than scars. The military would be improved- the SeaWings had the biggest disadvantage above water, so she'd have to train them in her methods of fighting that worked just as well abovewater. And- 
Her musing about the painful deaths of anyone who opposed her was inturrupted by a dragon slamming into her. In an instant, her knives were at this dragon's throat. "Hey! Owwwww, that huuuurts!" a familiar voice whined. Streamline didn't lower the knives from the emerald-coloured SeaWing's throat- in fact, she was tempted to bring them even closer. "Daaaaad!" the dragonet called, his voice still whiny and brattish. "Streamline's trying to stab me!"
"Shut it, Squid." Streamline growled, lowering the knives. They were too pretty to be dirtied with this brat's blood. "What were you doing in the halls? Aren't you supposed to be in the Wingery?"
"I'm six years old, just like you." Squid muttered. "You don't get told by everyone else to go and sit with tiny dragonets in the Wingery."
"Maybe it's because you both look and act like a one-year-old." Streamline hissed. "Now, move it, slime weasel." Squid ducked his head and stomped away, still muttering. Streamline continued thinking about her rule as she kept going.
I'll definetly execute Squid. For... being annoying. I'm sure some queen's done that before. 
Honestly, why was everyone so annoying? Surely it wasn't so hard to just shut up and go away. It made Streamline want to gouge all their stupid eyes out. She felt a webbed talon on her shoulder and turned. "Streamline," Nautilus said, his glittering eyes focused creepily on her.
"Yes?" she growled.
"I've decided to gather the other four Dragonets here." the green SeaWing replied, his voice slighlty oily. "After all, I believe two years should be long enough that you'll be familiar with one another."
"Why are you telling me now?" Streamline asked suspiciously.
"Because they're almost here."
===Enkindle===
Enkindle remembered the day she'd been brought to this awful place of darkness and cold, hard stone and loud, firey, snappy dragons that told her she was existing wrong for the tribe she'd hatched as. It still appeared in her dreams, even six years later.
She'd been in something big and dark and soft. A few other dragonets were bundled up against her- a black dragonet with silver spangles all over her and a very light blue dragonet with webbing down her back. There'd been a lot of bumps and a weird swinging feeling and cold leaching through the top of the fur, but she didn't mind. Then she was on something solid. The black dragonet had almost immediately walked straight out of the warm thing, followed by the blue one, but she'd stayed inside, curled up fearfully. She'd poked her snout out for a moment, before disappearing back inside at the first sight of a bright orange dragon with sharp blue eyes. But then there were talons reaching inside, orange talons. I can match that colour. she'd thought, but not in as many words. And then she'd been in the orange dragons claws, and she was scared, and then she was being taken into the air... and then the memory always went forward to when the orange dragon was snarling and roaring and she'd ducked away and then the nightmare had just been the rest of her life-
"ENKINDLE!" a sharp voice snapped. Enkindle focused back onto the present as Sulphur swiped just above her head, the cold scales on her arms scraping the top of Enkindle's horns.. "Pay attention!" the vibrant orange SkyWing snapped. "Unless you want to die at the talons of an IceWing, perhaps?"
"N-no, ma'am." Enkindle murmured. She'd learnt that it calmed Sulphur ever so slightly to be adressed like a superior. Because as far as the irritable SkyWing thought, she was superior to Enkindle. "Why that idiot Webs couldn't just get the right-" Sulphur took a deep, hissing breath, before walking back over to the IceWing and SandWing that stood at the door to her room. They'd arrived less than half an hour ago and Sulphur was already complaining about 'unfair conditions' and how she 'should have been excluded from this exercise'. The SandWing looked at her with... something in her eyes- no, eye, a scar covered her left eye and kept it closed. Was she- pitying Enkindle? She wasn't sure... "Well, if Nautilus wants well-trained Dragonets, this creature is of no use to him." Sulphur growled. "Even considering her... disadvanteges."
"I quite commiserate." the IceWing said. "The NightWing I trained is completely incompetent. I do not see how anyone could want such a useless dragonet."
"But Nautilus does want every dragonet to meet at once." the SandWing added, her tone calming and gentle. Meet the others? Enkindle thought. I'm- I'm going to leave here?! It almost seemed too good to be true. She was practically kept in a cage for all she could tell. She hadn't seen the outside world since the day she'd arrived here. "Fine. Take the lazy RainWing." Sulphur spat the word 'RainWing', like the insult could sting even more than it already did. "I'll be glad to be rid of her." The SandWing nodded and turned slightly to look properly at Enkindle. "You heard that, right? Come on." Enkindle walked over, trying to hold her small wings and large head in the same way Sulphur did. "Thank you for contributing." the SandWing said, dipping her head to Sulphur. The cold-scaled SkyWing just rolled her pale blue eyes as Enkindle followed the SandWing and IceWing. "Thanks. For everything." Enkindle muttered.
"Don't thank me, useless creature." Sulphur hissed. "If it was up to me, I'd have wrung your scrawny neck the moment I found out the truth." Enkindle ducked her head, squeezing her own sky-blue eyes shut to keep the tears from coming the way they always did when Sulphur talked about that. The SandWing gently nudged her with her wing. "Are you alright?" she asked."
"Y-yeah." Enkindle lied. "So, the other dragonets. Where are they?"
"The Talons' headquarters." the IceWing said, not looking directly at Enkindle. "The home of our leader, Nautilus, and the SeaWing dragonet of destiny."
"Are they... nice?" Enkindle asked hesitantly.
"I'd expect them to at least be nicer than that SkyWing!" the SandWing said, sounding annoyed. "Honestly, saying things like that to a dragonet... I've half a mind to go back and get her kicked out of the Talons." Enkindle ducked her head even lower as she followed the two adult dragons into the air. "Oh- whatever am I thinking of-" the SandWing said, before continuing, "My name is Cholla. I raised the SandWing dragonet of destiny. This is Aqualon. He raised the NightWing."
"Not to my pleasure." the IceWing added, his pure white scales bright. "As you'll find out when you meet them." Enkindle was silent for the rest of the flight. She was so nervous about meeting the other dragonets. Maybe they'd hate her, like Sulphur did. Maybe they'd think she really was the wrong dragon for the prophecy and send her back to the cave under the mountains. Please, please, whoever these dragonets are... let them like me. she thought. I don't think I can stand going back there...
I'd rather die.
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Category:Content (TyphoontheMonsoonWing)
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