Stone Cold

Sequel to Dark Seas. Followed by Rising Flames. 
When the stones of old awaken, the fires of death must burn. 
When the lives of many have been taken, the ground of Pyrrhia will be turned. 
From the deepest black, to the eternal flames. 
Join the tablet forgotten, and the fumes untamed. 
With the frozen claws, let darkness be tamed. 
And an ancient evil, shall death be thy name. 
The land that is all but lost, will be the refuge of the dark. 
Across the bridge of light and frost, must the waters of life be sparked.
When darkness lights the frozen earth, and lost souls wander the forsaken land.
Three will come to devour the sun, and the queens will make their final stand. 
A deadly message will be told, forgotten from the days of old. 
Chilled to death with freezing cold, and they will be crowned with the cursed gold. 
The night will last a thousand years, ’till the rays of light can glow once more. 
Unless the chosens can unite the tribes, to lead them in a peaceful war.
==Prologue==
A cold wind shook the SandWing palace in the frigid desert night. It blew over the dunes, picking up sand and burying small pebbles and rocks beneath, hidden treasures never to be seen again. As the wind continued on its course, it sailed over the ancient walls surrounding the stronghold, scattering small pieces of rock and bone. It climbed up the sparsely decorated walls of the palace, reaching its claws through the windows of the great room on the top floor, licking the scales of the sleeping SandWing within.
Queen Thorn woke up with a start, her tail twitching reflexively and stabbing into the base of the mattress, pulling out a bundle of goose feathers as it ripped through the fabric. Thorn winced as she placed her paws beneath her, hoisting the rest of her body up. She eyed the end of her mattress in irritation. Her barbed tail had ripped a new hole in it, adding to the count of other tears. How had Queen Oasis slept in this bed? Chances were that she just bought a new mattress every cycle of the smallest moon. Thorn had briefly thought about it, but these mattresses were so expensive, and the money could go to much better use, like renovating the public well in the stronghold, or contributing to the program for orphaned dragons she’d set up after becoming queen.
Thorn quickly looked around the room, the wind rustling through the window. What had woken her up? “Is someone there?” she called, wondering if someone had knocked on her door. She received no answer, and there was no sign of movement in her sparsely decorated room. Much of the art and treasure that had once adorned it was taken by Burn for the war effort, and Thorn saw little reason to replace it. Still tired, Thorn thought for a moment about going to bed, but an odd sensation seemed to tug at her. A light pressure had formed at the back of her skull, beneath her sail.
Thorn glanced over to the simple wooden dresser next to her bed. Along with two scrolls, three pieces of jewelry rested on it. One was the small moonstone pendant that Stonemover had given her. How many years ago had that been? Sunny was nine, so Thorn wanted to say . . . ten? She’d visited Stonemover only once since, a few years ago. Sunny had told Thorn he was still at Jade Mountain, stone creeping up his scales. When she had first seen him, she’d thought he was dead, the life and emotion was so drained from his body. She’d gotten angry at him, but he could barely respond. What had she ever seen in that dragon? Still, she wore the pendant. Maybe as a token of what they had once had together. Or maybe, it was now a token of what they had created. Just the thought of Sunny warmed Thorn’s heart, causing heat to pour from her scales.
The second piece of jewelry was a golden legband, two SandWings wrapping around it. Thorn had worked hard to earn this from the previous leader of the Outclaws. Thorn wondered if Jackal was still alive. It had been ten years since she’d passed the golden band on to Thorn with no contact, but if anyone could survive ten years remaining unseen, it would be Jackal. Thorn wondered what Jackal would think of Thorn, now Queen Thorn. Thorn chuckled. For all she knew, Jackal could be in the palace right now, keeping an eye on her successor to make sure she didn’t get too power-hungry.
The third piece of jewelry sat in the middle of the table, the black stone of the Eye of Onyx radiating power and authority. By now, every dragonet in the Sand Kingdom knew what this was. It ensured to the rest of the kingdom that Queen Thorn’s reign was legitimate after the enchanted stone had chosen Thorn over Blister in a . . . spectacular fashion. Sometimes, Thorn wondered what would happen if she became too ambitious or selfish, and started hurting the kingdom. Would the Eye fry her to a crisp when she put it on in the morning? She didn’t want to find out, but wearing it on both gave her authority legitimacy and made sure to herself that she was still doing the right thing.
She recalled what had happened two years ago, during the Talons of Power incident. Thorn’s fake copy of the Eye of Onyx had been stolen by a SandWing named Vulture — Qibli’s grandfather — and Onyx, Smolder’s daughter. Vulture’s followers, a group called the ‘Talons of Power,’ attempted to assassinate Thorn, but the assassin, Vulture’s daughter, was caught and Thorn’s life had been narrowly saved. Both Cobra and Vulture were killed in the incident, and Thorn couldn’t say she was too sorry. Unfortunately, Onyx challenged Thorn to the throne, and neither Thorn nor her father had been unable to convince her to back down. Smolder had left the Sand Kingdom with his scavenger after Onyx’s death, and since then had been staying with Prince Vermillion in Queen Scarlet’s court. Thorn had always wondered if poor Onyx had been named after the Eye of Onyx. Had her mother always intended for her to be queen, and known about the stone? Or could it have just been a strange coincidence?
A flash of light on the surface of the Eye of Onyx caught Thorn’s eyes. She reached her claws out to the stone, and carefully picked it up. A tingling feeling spread throughout her claws, and small arcs of blue electricity jumped from the smooth black surface, lightly stinging Thorn’s scales where they touched. The pressure at the back of Thorn’s skull increased, causing the queen to wince in pain. Was something going to happen? Had the stone suddenly decided to kill her? What had she done wrong?
Thorn waited a moment, her wings tense and her tail ready to strike, but the Eye of Onyx seemed to decide that it wouldn’t kill her. Thorn let out a sigh of relief, and placed the golden chain of the Eye around her neck, causing it to drop to her side. She frowned as it gently buzzed. It felt like it was trying to tell her something. Thorn stood up, and crawled out of her bed onto the sandstone floor beneath her. She wasn’t sure quite how, but she knew the direction she needed to go. The Eye was leading her somewhere.
Thorn quietly opened the room from her chambers, checking for other dragons down the dark hallway. She knew it would’ve been safer to have guards by her room, but there were few dragons she trusted to guard her while sleeping, and she liked having privacy. There were guards posted elsewhere in the palace in case of intruders, but none directly outside. Thorn turned to the right. That was where the Eye of Onyx wanted her to go.
The SandWing queen continued through the halls of her palace, down a curved staircase. She passed a young SandWing guard with a bored glaze over his snout. He immediately snapped to attention as Queen Thorn passed, and she gave him a nod of acknowledgement before continuing on. At this point, she could tell where the Eye of Onyx was taking her. To the four great treasure rooms of the palace. She wondered why it was bringing her there. That was where Queen Oasis had kept the Eye when she was queen, presumably too afraid of being judged unworthy to have worn it. It was also where she had died, killed by scavengers, no less, and starting the War of SandWing Succession, one of the most brutal wars that Pyrrhia had ever seen.
Queen Thorn stepped in front of the door to the treasure room that the Eye of Onyx was pulling her towards. She realized that she hadn’t brought the keys to it. She would have to go back and get them. As she turned away, she felt the pressure by her horns building, as if the Eye of Onyx didn’t want her to go. She looked back to the doors, unsure what she was supposed to do. She put her claws around the handle, and pushed the door. It easily opened, already unlocked. Thorn’s heart started to pulse. Had she forgotten to lock the treasury? Or had someone else gotten inside? There wasn’t that much gold inside, since most of the taxes were used for social programs that Thorn had set up, and most of the ancient SandWing treasure had been stolen by the scavengers or Blister. The rooms were practically empty. Why would someone be in here?
Heat radiated from Thorn’s scales, now caused by fear, as she stepped into the dimly lit room. She raised her tail, ready to strike at any attackers. There were no lit torches inside the room, so the only light was from the hallways outside, and it took a moment for Thorn’s vision to adjust to the darkness. Partway into the room, Thorn saw the motionless silhouette of a SandWing, a small tiara resting on her horns.
“Blaze?” Thorn called out, relieved that it was just the ditzy Ex-Princess. Of course it was Blaze who was in the treasury. The only thing that narcissistic dragon loved more than glittery treasure was her own snout. Thorn sniffed the air. The normal cloud of perfume that surrounded Blaze seemed to be missing. Had she ran out, and thought that there was more perfume in the treasury? “What are you doing here?” Why had the Eye of Onyx brought her here for this?
Blaze remained unresponsive. Thorn took a step closer, a frown growing on her snout. “Blaze?” she called out. Still no answer. Thorn opened her jaws, and let out a short burst of flame, lighting up the room for a quick moment before it was again doused in darkness. In that  short moment, Thorn’s claws tensed up and her breathing grew heavy. All the golden color had been drained from Blaze, and the SandWing had been frozen in an eternal scream, each of her scales the color of grey rock.
A burst of air came hit Thorn as the door to the treasury slammed shut. Thorn twisted around, feeling movement from behind her. She took a step back and let out a burst of flame, warning any intruders and allowing her to her enemy. An icy-blue IceWing stood at the doorway, hidden within the shadows. A twisted obsidian dagger was strapped to her side, with the light-blue scale of a dragon and a pitch-black pearl laid within it. “Who are you?” Thorn growled, swinging her barbed tail back and forth. “What happened to Blaze?”
“She’s dead. I killed her,” the IceWing laughed. “My master has called upon those whose blood the Eye has touched to meet their destinies. Give me the Eye of Onyx.”
Thorn hissed. What was that supposed to mean? “Fine. If you want it, you can take it,” she hissed. She pulled the Eye of Onyx from her neck and threw it at the IceWing, then averted her eyes, expecting to hear a crackle of electricity as the IceWing’s flesh was seared from her bones.
The IceWing raised a paw up, and caught the Eye of Onyx firmly within it. A blue glow started to radiate from the stone, as bolts of lighting formed between the stone and the IceWing’s talons. The smell of ozone flooded Thorn’s snout, and she took a step back as the light shone brighter. For a moment, Thorn regretted giving the IceWing the Eye, and condemning her to such a horrible fate. But as the streaks of electricity subsided, a faint glow from the Eye of Onyx lighting up the sparse treasury, Thorn looked back to see the IceWing completely unharmed.     “Thank you for your gift,” the IceWing smirked, her forked tongue flicking around her razor-sharp teeth.
Thorn’s eyes opened wide in confusion. How had she lived? Was she an animus? Had she done something to the Eye? Seeing Thorn’s confusion, the IceWing explained. “The true master of the Eyes is my own. He would never let his servants be harmed by them.”
This was too much for Thorn, and she lunged forward, hoping to spear the IceWing through the neck with her barb before she had a chance to respond. But the IceWing was quicker, and twisted the paw holding the Eye of Onyx. Suddenly, the hard sandstone floor beneath Thorn’s feet collapsed into wet sand, catching Thorn’s paws within it and causing her to trip into it. She tried to pull her claws out of it and find a foothold, but the sand engulfed her legs, causing her to sink further.
“Magic,” Thorn hissed quietly. “If you think you’re more worth of the SandWing throne than I am, challenge me in battle.” She wasn’t quite sure what the rules on this were, but if this dragon was an animus or something similar, Thorn didn’t think she had any choice.
The IceWing snorted indignantly. “I don’t want your pitiful kingdom,” she laughed. “It’s far too late for that.” She turned her gaze back to the Eye of Onyx as Thorn continued to struggle, the SandWing queen finally finding a piece of solid ground she could use to pull herself out of the quicksand.
The IceWing held the Eye of Onyx directly in front of her, staring into it. She took a razor-sharp claw and dragged it clockwise around the surface of the stone. “Wakey wakey, Jerboa,” she sneered. “I hope you had a nice long rest.”
Suddenly, a shimmering vertical line appeared on the surface of the Eye of Onyx, the middle of it expanding into the glowing blue pupil of a dragon. The visible fringes of an iris appeared beside the slit, and the pupil darted around the spherical gem, as of trying to make sense of where she was. The IceWing flicked her tongue out, and raised her paw, the eye starting to glow again. In a burst of light, a golden wave of heat and pressure expanded out from the Eye of Onyx. It passed over Thorn as she dragged the lower half of her body from the quicksand, an eldritch warmth passing through her scales. The pulse of pressure spread out from beyond Thorn, quickly reaching beyond the walls of the treasury and beyond into the rest of Pyrrhia. The IceWing took the Eye of Onyx, the narrow pupil on its surface still darting back and forth, and placed the golden chain around her neck.
Thorn finally finished raising herself from the quicksand, her paws now on solid ground. She waved her barb back and forth, unsure whether to attack or not. The IceWing made that decision for her, drawing out her long, snake-like, dagger, the faint glow from the Eye of Onyx glinting off the blue scale and black pearl inlaid in the dagger. The Eye of Onyx looked up towards Thorn, as if it were hoping Thorn could do something.
“Whoever you are,” Thorn growled, “no one messes with the Sand Kingdom and gets away with it.”
The Eye of Onyx quietly blinked as the IceWing tsked. “There’s far more at stake here than you or your mate realize, Thorn.”
Thorn’s scales bristled in anger. “My mate?” she seethed. “I have no king.” She took a deep breath, calming herself. Maybe the IceWing was trying to rile her up?
“Really?” the IceWing smirked. She took a step towards Thorn, the ground that was once quicksand having suddenly hardened back into sandstone. “Then who is that soppy NightWing in Jade Mountain?”’
Thorn bared her teeth. How did this IceWing know about Stonemover? At least until Sunny had returned, only Six-Claws and Armadillo, Thorn’s most trusted advisors, knew about Sunny’s father. “If you’ve laid a single claw on him . . .”
“Relax,” the IceWing snorted. She stepped forward again, causing Thorn to move backwards. “It’s been seven years for the two of you, so if you haven’t found out by now, I doubt you ever truly cared about him.”
A rumble of rage sounded in Thorn’s throat as she took another step back, one of her hind legs brushing against the frozen Blaze. Now that Thorn thought about it, whatever curse that had been put on Blaze looked awfully similar to the rock that crept along Stonemover’s scales. But Sunny had told Thorn that Stonemover had done it to himself in order to keep his magic from taking over his soul. Had he lied?
“So you’re the one who did that to him?” Thorn calmly questioned. “The stone on his scales?”
“I tried,” the IceWing answered. “Unfortunately, I never finished the job.” She swiped her dagger back and forth threateningly. “But you have no one to save you.”
As the IceWing took another step towards Thorn, expecting her to move back again, the SandWing queen lunged forwards, her barbed tail sailing through the air. The surprised IceWing was unable to sidestep the attack in time, as the barb, originally aimed for her throat, punctured into the edge of her breastplates. The IceWing yelled out in pain as the venom entered her bloodstream, but turned her obsidian dagger upwards as she moved to the side. As Thorn’s tail moved back towards Thorn’s side, the dagger’s edge nicked her scales, scratching her. As the IceWing fell to the ground, clutching her chest in pain, she cackled.
Immediately, grey stone spread out from the wound on Thorn’s tail, as she reared her head back in surprise. She opened her jaws and prepared to release a jet of flame, attempting to sear off the stone shell that now covered most of her tail, but it was too late. The grey stone wrapped her body as the first flames scorched her stone scales, and crawled up her neck, reaching into her open mouth and turning her insides solid, dousing Thorn’s flames. After it was all done, Thorn stood tail raised, her jaws open in a final act of defiance.
Crystal struggled on the ground, wincing in pain at the venom. Maybe she should have kept the Diamond Healer after all. She glanced down at the Eye of Onyx around her chest, Jerboa’s pupil looking back and forth at the the dying Crystal and the already dead Thorn.
“So I can do that?” Crystal said out loud, like she was talking to herself. “Good. Trying to collect Brightsting right now would be a pain.”
Crystal smiled as she brought her left paw to the Eye, moving it to the puncture wound on her side. The ethereal light shone brighter for a second, and the venom inside Crystal’s blood started to dissipate harmlessly, the pain in Crystal’s chest faded. The IceWing stood up, tucking her dagger back to her side, then paid Thorn a quick glance of pity. It was ironic that the magic that had killed her was the same which was slowly killing her mate. Crystal wondered if Calamity had done that intentionally, or if it was just a silly coincidence. He seemed to like that sort of thing, though she could never understand why.
Crystal left the palace as swiftly as she entered. There was far more work to be done, and the future of Pyrrhia depended on it.
=Part 1=
==Chapter 1==
Six-Claws’ wings beat fast, every muscle in them aching. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep flying, but he knew he had to make it Jade Mountain as soon as possible. The future of the Sand Kingdom depended on it. A cold wind whipped the SandWing from side to side, forcing him to exert extra energy in order to get back into his flight pattern. He wheezed as his lungs burned, and fell into a fit of coughing. He wasn’t prepared for long flights such as this. Normally, they’d send a courier to deliver a message, but the news was far too important, and Armadillo had begged Six-Claws to bring it himself to Sunny. The small scroll itself hung by Six-Claws’ side, although it didn’t matter much — Six-Claws already knew its tragic contents by heart.
The twin peaks of Jade Mountain started to become visible in the distance, the sun to their left signalling the rise of dawn and a moon barely visible on the right side. Six-Claws tried to sigh in relief, but his lungs were working too far overcapacity for him to succeed, and he started to cough again. It had been a long flight from the SandWing Palace to Jade Mountain, but it wasn’t much further. He’d being going at full-speed, with not a single stop along the way. Most SandWings wouldn’t be able to have made such a flight, but Six-Claws’ determination kept him going. After the news was delivered, he’d leave the choice in Sunny’s claws.
As Six-Claws neared the ledge that marked the entrance to Jade Mountain Academy, he saw a small white speck down on it, looking out towards him. An IceWing dragonet. Probably a student. Six-Claws started to spread his wings, gliding down towards the edge. The IceWing got up and scrambled back, as Six-Claws suddenly realized he was coming in too fast. He tilted his wings up to slow down, but there wasn’t enough time for the SandWing to correct his landing, and he crashed and slid along the ground, the rocky floor scraping up his legs and underbelly. Fortunately, he didn’t have enough momentum to hit into the rocky walls marking the entrance to the academy.
Six-Claws, injured and completely out of breath, laid on the floor, unable to move. The young IceWing crawled over towards him, and poked the SandWing with a claw, checking to see if he was still alive. Six-Claws turned his head, causing the IceWing to jump in the air like a startled cat before scrambling back.
“Please,” Six-Claws coughed, “get Sunny. It’s urgent.”
The IceWing tilted his head, deciding whether to follow the strange SandWing’s plea or not. Eventually, he made his choice, and ran into the academy. Leaving the panting Six-Claws alone. It was a few minutes before the IceWing returned, now with two more dragons behind him — Sunny and Clay. Six-Claws gave a sigh of relief as Sunny approached, whereas Sunny looked at him with a horrified stare.
“Six-Claws?” she asked in worry, seeing the red stains on his underbelly. Was he injured? Did he come for Ostrich? “What happened to you?”
“Poor landing,” Six-Claws muttered, too tired to explain more. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Alright?” Sunny questioned. Why wouldn’t she be?
Six-Claws struggled as he reached his claws towards a scroll in his satchel, the IceWing dragonet making a ‘eww’ sound as he saw that Six-Claws indeed had six claws on each of his front paws. Clay gave him a gentle warning, “Ermine, don’t be rude.”
Seeing that Six-Claws was having trouble, still exhausted and breathing heavily, Sunny reached towards his side, bringing the scroll out to help him. “Read it,” he whispered, tears welling up in his tired eyes, “I’m sorry.”
Sunny’s heart pulsed as she gently slipped off the ribbon around the scroll, her talons shaking. Her mind was blank as she rolled the scroll open, somehow already expecting that the worst was in there. She let the scroll roll open. The handwriting written upon it was messy and rushed, and it was difficult for Sunny to pick out the individual characters inked upon it.
Being the only literate guardian, Webs had been the one who had taught her and the rest of the dragonets to read, and had done a fine job at it. Still, it was somewhat confusing to look at the calligraphy of a SandWing, especially one with such messy penning. All the tribes shared the same language and alphabet, but each was written just slightly differently. Sunny had grown up on NightWing scrolls, but her teacher was a SeaWing.
She remembered how Starflight had once asked Webs why he was forming the letters wrong after looking at a bunch of NightWing scrolls. Webs had said that it was the other way around, and the NightWings formed theirs wrong, putting marks where there weren’t supposed to be any, and connecting letters that shouldn’t be connected. Starflight didn’t try to argue, but Sunny noticed that he had always made an effort to write in the NightWing fashion afterwards, which occasionally irritated Webs.
Sunny put a claw at the top of the scroll, using it to point to her place in the reading. She whimpered as she read the first few lines, Clay looking over her wings.
Dear Princess Sunny,
   I regret to inform you that Queen Thorn, your late mother, was found dead this morning, at the time of this message being written.
   Sunny’s muscles went still, and she stood motionless, paralyzed. “No,” she whispered, “she can’t be dead.” For a second, she wondered, hoped that this was some kind of prank by the students, but a quick look at Six-Claws told her it wasn’t. Clay sat down by her side, and wrapped one of his large wings around, holding himself close to try and comfort her. Her talons shaking the scroll back and forth, Sunny continued to read the letter.
Dear Princess Sunny,
   I regret to inform you that Queen Thorn, your late mother, was found dead this morning, at the time of this message being written. I am willing to provide you with more information on the circumstances, but wish to do so in a more private fashion. Any questions until we meet can be answered by Six-Claws to the best of his ability. Because Ex-Princess Blaze was found alongside your mother, killed in a similar fashion, we are worried that you might be in similar danger, being her one and only heir. I ask that you urgently return with Six-Claws to the palace to be crowned Queen of the Sand Kingdom, as I believe it will be much more secure than your current residence.
My Condolences,
Royal Advisor and Acting Queen,
Armadillo
Beneath Armadillo’s signature, a royal seal was stamped in wax, as if to prove that the letter was royal in origin.
“She was killed?” Sunny whispered. “Murdered?” Tears escaped from her eyes as rage boiled up in her chest. 
Clay wasn’t sure how to respond, so he just held Sunny tighter as she started to sob.
----“DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS???”
Tsunami paced back and forth around the small room, her voice echoing off the walls. Glory frowned. If the SeaWing princess paced any harder, there would be little webbed claw-prints in the stone floor.
“A little quieter please?” Glory asked the SeaWing. “We’re trying to have this conversation without Sunny and the rest of your school hearing, remember?”
When Glory had come with Deathbringer from the rainforest to check on her friends and the academy, she had not been expecting a regicide, and certainly not that of Queen Thorn. She had been hoping for a nice update on some of her subjects, and maybe a laugh or two at their antics. Meet some of the new students, and catch up with her friends. But no, they just couldn’t have nice things.
Clay stood a bit uncomfortable standing in the doorway, looking like he had swallowed some rotten fruit. One would think he’d be used to Tsunami’s yelling by now.
“I WILL NOT BE QUIET!!!” Tsunami growled. “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! SUNNY IS IN CHARGE OF A WHOLE FREAKING KINGDOM!!!”
Clay attempted to speak up, with his quiet voice. “Shouldn’t we be worrying about helping Sun—”
“Hey, I’m in charge of a kingdom right now, fish-brains,” Glory butted in angrily, “two kingdoms actually.”
Tsunami shrugged. “Yeah—but you’ve got the RainWings, which are totally the easiest tribe ever. No offense, but c’mon, look at them.”
She poked a talon out the open doorway into one of the many corridors of the academy. Glory peered out to see Coconut, who seemed to have a mango stuck on one of his fangs. He was attempting to pull it off, but his lower jaw seemed to be continuously getting in the way, much to his frustration.
“I make it easier for her also, being my generally helpful self,” Deathbringer unhelpfully pointed out.
“You forgot the NightWings,” Glory replied to Tsunami, ignoring her mate. “Half of them hate me, which doesn’t make it easy.”
Deathbringer nuzzled up against Glory’s head and licked her cheek gently, forcing a blush of yellow amongst her scales. “Yep,” he said quietly, “us NightWings hate you sooo much.”
She pushed Deathbringer’s head away gently: as cute as he was being, it was a bit distracting, considering the situation on hand.
“True,” Tsunami conceded, Deathbringer’s commentary being ignored again, “but there are like, fifty of them, a hundred max. HOW BIG IS THE SAND KINGDOM??? LIKE A HUNDRED HUNDRED HUNDRED DRAGONS OR SOMETHING, RIGHT???”
Clay winced at the sudden change in volume, and moved away from Tsunami slowly. Yeah, you might want to get away before your ears burst, Glory thought to herself.
“Shush,” Glory hissed at Tsunami, “you’re scaring my subject.” Coconut, hearing the yelling SeaWing, had turned a pale green and was quickly fleeing from the corridor.
“Fine,” grumbled Tsunami, her voice lowering a few decibels. “Sunny can’t handle all the SandWings. She’s much too nice, and plus, I don’t trust this Armadillo character at all. I’ll bet a pearl necklace that he’s the one who did Thorn in.”
   Ugh, again with the jewelry. Tsunami had pestered Glory the last time they talked about how un-queenly she looked without jewelry, and how she needed some to be a real queen, like Queen Coral. Glory had mentioned that a queen’s resources could be put to better use, and that jewelry was just vain, but Tsunami wouldn’t hear of it. Obviously, it was just to make her feel better, because she was only a princess, and not a queen.
Well then, Tsunami, now two of us are queens, and neither of which are you. By the time you challenge your mother, Starflight and Clay could be queens too. Males weren’t usually allowed to be queens (or would king regent be the proper term?), but if this ‘Armadillo’ character could be acting queen, there was no reason that Clay and Starflight couldn’t do the same.
“I agree,” replied Glory, invoking a look of surprise from Tsunami, who was clearly expecting some sort of retort. “Armadillo seems pretty suspect to me. Both royals killed in the palace, and he thinks Sunny will be more secure there than here? If the assassin managed to get both of them, how can he keep Sunny safe? And calling himself ‘acting queen?’ It sounds like he wants a kingdom of his own, and wants to use Sunny to get it. We can’t let her go.”
“You don’t get to ‘let me go!’”
Sunny stood in the doorway, a scowl on her usually uplifted snout, tears staining the scales beneath her wet eyes. The fin on her back bristled with rage. Glory glanced over at Tsunami with derision, as if to tell her, See? I told you to be quiet.
“Well,” snorted Tsunami, “it’s just that your mother was assassinated, and it was probably this Armadillo character who wants you to go to the Sand Kingdom, so I’m going to say that you shouldn’t go. Does that decide it?”
Sunny hissed in fury. “You don’t get to choose whether or not I go. I do. I’ve already talked to Six-Claws about this. If Armadillo was trustworthy enough for my mother to tell him about Stonemover, then he’s good enough for me.”
“You talked to Six-Claws about this, instead of us?” Tsunami growled, causing Clay to take another step away. “We’re your friends.”
Glory sighed. She didn’t particularly want to get involved in this. Maybe she could ask Deathbringer to assign some of his “Ninja Guard” to Sunny if she decided to go. Oh yeah, Deathbringer had something to ask me.
As Sunny and Tsunami continued arguing, Clay stuck in between the two, Glory turned to Deathbringer. “So, what were you wanting to tell me earlier?”
“Oh,” he replied, snapping out of his concentration on Tsunami and Sunny’s argument and glancing over towards his mate. “Jambu mentioned something about how all the rivers’ water levels dropped a ton last night. He even couldn’t find one of them, apparently. Also, why were you in the Sky Kingdom?”
Glory rolled her eyes. “Jambu couldn’t find a river if it bit him on the tail. And I wasn’t in the Sky Kingdom, why does everyone keep asking me why I was there? Why didn’t Jambu go directly to me?”
“He still angry at you for banning the color pink.”
   Glory chuckled. “He didn’t realize that was a joke yet?”
Deathbringer nodded. “He’s trying to get a group of RainWings to make signs and hold a protest against it. If I were you, I might be worried about the ‘pinkies’ staging a coup.”
Glory laughed, loud enough for both Sunny and Tsunami to hear. Their argument stopped, and the two turned to Glory and Deathbringer. Clay continued to look like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now.
“Er — sorry,” said Glory awkwardly, a hint of dark purple crossing her scales. She really didn’t want to look like she didn’t care about Thorn’s death in front of Sunny. “Just RainWing antics.”
Sunny gave Glory an uncharacteristic glare of rage, surprising the RainWing queen for a moment, then turned back to Tsunami. “I’m not a dragonet anymore, and you don’t have to teach me as such. I can make my own decisions without your help.”
“I’m not letting you rush into this without thinking. This isn’t a game we’re playing here, and I’m not letting you be killed by some random advisor.”
   “That’s not your choice! Just because I’m smaller than you, and not as loud, and rude, doesn’t mean I’m stupid!” Sunny’s voice started to shake a little with her raising it.
After a short pause, Tsunami replied, “I can’t let you do this while you’re so emotional after Thorn’s death,” matter-of-factly.
Sunny’s eyes went wide, and glared in anger at Tsunami, while a low growl escaped from her mouth. For a moment Glory thought that Sunny was going to leap out and attack Tsunami, but the SandWing only turned away and left the room silently, Clay getting out of her way as quickly as possible.
After she left, there was a long, awkward silence between the remaining dragons.
“Tsunami—” Clay said quietly.
“—that was completely uncalled for! What were you thinking, that your snide remarks, would make her listen to you?” Glory finished. “Well then, good job, now she’s angry with all of us. Someone should go warn Starflight now, before she goes and yells at him.”
That wasn’t really true, of course, Glory couldn’t really imagining Sunny taking out her anger at Starflight. And Fatespeaker would surely just yell at her back.
“Hey, at least I was trying to not get her killed,” Tsunami snorted, swishing the end of her tail back and forth. “What were you doing, chatting up with your boyfriend about how ridiculous your little brother is? You could’ve helped me, you know.”
Tsunami did have a point. Maybe she could’ve tried a little bit harder. But yelling at Sunny certainly didn’t make things any better.
“Maybe someone should go and check on her?” Clay asked.
Tsunami roared in anger and whacked her tail against the stone wall in anger, creating a loud rumbling noise that echoed through the cavern. “You know what, I’m done with your ingratitude! You can deal with this yourselves!”
Tsunami stormed out of the room, almost pushing poor Clay aside in a fit of fury.
“Tsunami, wai—” Clay said, but his attempt was too late. She was gone, and another awkward silence ensued between the three dragons remaining.
“Is this normal?” Deathbringer asked.
Glory rolled her eyes. “Yeah,” she replied, “she’ll be calm by morning. She’ll probably just go yell at Webs for ‘ruining her life’ and all that.”
Deathbringer nodded in reply, and it was another half-minute before any of them spoke.
“Well then,” Glory said, breaking the silence, “I’m going to head back to the rainforest now.”
“Wait,” asked Clay. “Can you stay a little longer? With all this, it might be helpful to have you around.”
Glory shrugged, trying to seem unattached. “Sorry, I’ve got some missing rivers to find for my little bro. Useless, easy, RainWing queen stuff. C’mon cutie, let’s go.”
Deathbringer followed her, and they left without any protest from Clay. In truth, Glory didn’t really leave because of the whole ‘missing river’ thing, that could wait a day or two. She just didn’t want to do any more damage than she already had done.
As the two walked through the stone corridors, lost in her thought, Glory suddenly walked into a fellow RainWing, a dragonet of maybe four at the oldest, followed by a MudWing of about five. Tiger, she knew instantly from the clearly recognizable orange and black stripes on the RainWing’s scales, and Sepia. Glory had met Sepia a few times before, but didn’t know much about her.
Tiger dropped the stack of scrolls she was carrying beneath a wing, and started to pick them up before she realized who she had ran into. “Your majesty!” she stuttered, bowing her head to the ground, her scales flushing a light-pink in embarrassment. “Please accept my apology. In no way did I intend this confrontation.”
Glory smiled, slightly uncomfortable. She’d known Tiger back in the rainforest and had occasionally tried to strike up a conversation, but Tiger always seemed to get stiff and over-polite around her, so Glory had just given up. Deathbringer was the one who suggested her to be part of the next batch of Jade Mountain’s students, so he might have known her a bit better. “Don’t worry Tiger, it’s no problem. What’s the rush?” Glory asked.
“Your majesty,” Tiger started her reply, “I was returning this collection of scrolls to the library, but passed Sunny on her way out. I wanted to report to Clay that Sunny left Jade Mountain just now, in some sort of hurry.”
Glory gulped. Six-Claws was still recovering; wasn’t Sunny supposed to leave with him? “Which direction was she heading towards?”
This time Sepia answered the question, slightly urgently.
“Northwest,” the MudWing replied. “Towards the Kingdom of Sand.”
==Chapter 2==
Inferno slowly moved through the dragons in the cave hallway in her attempt to get through. Though ‘moving through’ wasn’t exactly the right phrase, it was more of a ‘everyone else moved to the side of the hallway as quickly as they could to let her through.’ Which was both polite and smart of them, because it wasn’t like she could just shove her way through the crowd, like how Coyote always seemed to do. If she attempted to do that, it would go down in history as ‘the Talons of Peace Massacre,’ or some other awful name like that.
Of course, Inferno would never let something like that happen, she was very very careful around other dragons. She had only ever burnt one other dragon, Coyote (on accident, of course, hurting a dragon intentionally would be an awful thing to do). Frustratingly, Coyote was the least forgiving SandWing Inferno knew. It had been six years ago, when Inferno was just a teensy tiny dragonet (who had remarkably good spatial awareness, even for her age).
Inferno didn’t really deserve to be forgiven though, she had burnt Coyote (albeit not too badly, he had little more than an ugly scar on his tail to prove it, which wasn’t nearly as bad compared to his other scars) and so had to suffer the consequences. Which was mostly just Coyote glaring at her everytime she walked past him, like he did now. Inferno gave a friendly smile in response, and waved, but he only growled in reply. Oh well, she thought, maybe next time. She knew of course that he’d act the same way next time they passed by each other, but she could always hope. Ash had told her that he wasn’t much of a threat, no matter how much he hated her.
More dragons stared as she continued down the cavern tunnels. She kept her side so close to wall of the cavern that rocks scraped against her scales, scratching. At least she wouldn’t burn anyone, this way. A pair of SandWings murmured something that she couldn’t pick up on, quieting down as Inferno passed just so they could safely get away from her. Something about Queen Glory visiting the Sky Kingdom to talk to Queen Scarlet? Politics. Inferno wasn’t really supposed to know about that.
Inferno was almost to Goat’s cave when a claw tapped her on the shoulder, and a small sizzling sound was heard. Inferno jumped in surprise, and turned around to see who she had burnt, but no screaming sound was heard. Oh no oh no I burnt someone I burnt someone.
“I’M SO SORRY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” she yelled, but quickly calmed down after seeing which MudWing had tapped her. Inferno wouldn’t be able to hurt this one, and that no one’s claws would be burnt off today. A few of the other Talons looked around at the two of them, hearing the commotion, but quickly went back to their work. The MudWing grinned a prideful grin and smiled, seemingly attempting to impress Inferno with his inability to be burnt.
“I’m fine, my beautiful SkyWing princess. I have magical fire-proof scales that stem from my glorious blood-red egg, remember?” vainly replied Ochre. A dribble of slobber dripped down his chin, and it started to form a small puddle on the ground. Since he had discovered that his scales were fireproof two years ago, he had taken a liking to Inferno which wasn’t reciprocated at all by her. His gross eating habits weren’t the worst part about him, he was always rude and snobby to everyone. Ash didn’t like Ochre either, which pretty much settled it between them. Yet Ochre seemed to think that they had some sort of destiny together.
“Inferno, my darling princess, with my fire-proof scales, and your burning ones, it is clear that we are meant to be together. They will write great scrolls about my love for you, my love. We are like fire and — um — just a minute.” He took out a scroll and attempting to scan through it. It was apparently some notes.
Inferno sighed. She didn’t want to deal with this right now, but couldn’t just demand Ochre to leave. That would sound too much like a threat, and Goat told her she couldn’t ever threaten or scare other dragons, or they’d start to worry she might hurt someone, which she would never do, but they’d kick her out of the Talons and would stone her to death anyways. She averted her eyes from the MudWing. “Er — Ochre, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure — ”
Ochre had growled in frustration, and yelled back even before she had finished her sentence. “Well, you’ll realize soon enough that I’m the only that can be your mate! You’ll burn anyone else who comes near!” The MudWing glared at Inferno and his snout turned into a pout. “Why are you always so mean?”
Inferno turned her head away, trying to find a way to walk around Ochre, but she couldn’t right now; with so many other dragons in the small hallway she might accidentally bump into one of them. Ochre moved closer to Inferno, causing her to instinctively move back so not to touch him. He moved a talon to her neck, brushing the tip of it against it. Inferno’s scales lit up in discomfort, a hint of flame on their surface.
“See?” Ochre stated. “You can touch me, and I won’t burn.”
Suddenly, Ochre gave a yelp of pain, and turned around him. The webbed paw of a SeaWing had crushed the sensitive spot on Ochre’s tail beneath it, causing the MudWing to cringe in pain. “Stop bothering Inferno,” the SeaWing owning the paw growled, baring his sharp white teeth at Ochre as he towered over him.
Ochre meekly nodded, and slouched his head as he crawled down the hallway. The older SeaWing turned to Inferno. Inferno gulped slightly as his eyes stared straight into her. This was Seahorse, one of the newest additions to the Talons of Peace, having arrived around two years ago, after the war had ended. He was the most intimidating dragon Inferno had ever seen, each of his aquamarine scales vivid, matching the thin silver locket around his neck. His body radiated strength, and Inferno was certain he could have crushed Ochre like a bug had he so desired to. Which Inferno really wouldn’t have wanted to happen, as wishing harm on dragons was a very bad thing.
“Thank you, Seahorse,” Inferno stammered. Seahorse frowned, examining Inferno up and down, a hint of wistful loss in his eyes. Inferno averted eye contact. Seahorse always seemed a bit uncomfortable when he was around Inferno, and that in turn made Inferno uncomfortable. Inferno wasn’t quite sure what Seahorse’s deal was, but Ash didn’t trust him, and had told Inferno to be wary. At least Seahorse didn’t seem frightened of her, although Inferno doubted Seahorse could be frightened of anything.
Seahorse nodded quietly, and walked away from the SkyWing, his tail curling back and forth as he moved. Finally, Inferno could get back to her and Goat’s cave. She stepped through the small doorway of the cave, looking both ways to make sure that she knew where her mother was so that she didn’t get too close to her and accidentally hurt her.
Goat was on the floor of her side of the room, reading through a scroll. If she saw her daughter come in, Goat didn’t acknowledge it. Inferno peered over her mother’s wings to see large scribbles of ink on the parchment, with simple drawings of various objects Inferno hadn’t seen next to them.
“I hate this,” Goat growled under her breath. She lifted her left wing up, blocking some of the heat radiating from Inferno’s scales and preventing Inferno from seeing more of the scroll. “What’s the point in forcing me to learn how to read if I’m just going to be stuck in this cavern for the rest of my miserable life?”
Inferno didn’t answer the question, knowing by now that no answer would satisfy her mother. She thought there were plenty of good reasons to learn how to read, like being able to know what was going on in the huge world outside the Talons of Peace, but if she told Goat, she’d just get angry and bitter. It was Inferno’s fault that Goat had to stay down here anyways. If Goat had just thrown Inferno off a cliff like she should have, Goat would be living a happy, fulfilled life back in the village she’d come from. Personally, Inferno would have loved to learn how to read, but for obvious reasons the Talons wouldn’t even let her near the scrolls.
A couple minutes of silence passed between Inferno and her mother. Inferno crawled onto the rocky ledge that was her bed. She had few belongings on her side of the room; she’d just burn most of them. The most she had were a few small rocks and treasures that a few of the friendlier Talons had gifted her. There was one beautiful agate that was her favorite; she kept it on a ledge not far from her ‘bed’ so she could look at it as she went to sleep.
“Apparently Trustbreaker is visiting tomorrow,” Goat suddenly commented.
“Trustbreaker?” Inferno asked, surprised. She hadn’t expected him to visit for a while longer.
Goat nodded. “Better him than Morrowseer,” she grumbled.
Inferno remembered Morrowseer. Apparently, he’d died about three years ago, around the time that Clarity had put Riptide in charge. Morrowseer had visited the Talons of Peace every so often. Most notably, Inferno remembered when he’d asked Goat why Inferno wasn’t put to better use, as some sort of weapon. Inferno shivered at the prospect. Goat had refused him, fortunately. Inferno would never become like Peril. When she heard that Morrowseer wouldn’t be coming back, she got a hint a relief, even though she felt very guilty for being happy that a dragon died.
As a young dragonet, Inferno had believed Morrowseer was the leader of the Talons, but as she grew older, she realized that the leadership structure of the Talons of Peace was such a complete mess, it was a wonder they could get anything done at all. It was simpler now that Morrowseer was gone and Riptide was the official leader, but before that, there seemed to be some weird competition between Morrowseer, Avalanche, Clarity, and her mysterious mate that apparently no one but Avalanche and Trustbreaker knew. Avalanche was the only one who was around most of the time, so until Riptide came along she was the de facto leader of the Talons. Still, she occasionally got orders from Clarity, who had started distancing herself from the Talons when Inferno was young. Inferno still wasn’t sure what Morrowseer did. Apparently he was the NightWing who discovered the Dragonet Prophecy, and he certainly acted like he was in charge of the place whenever stopped by to visit. She’d asked Trustbreaker about this once when he’d come by, and he’d told her that Clarity’s mate originally planned to put a SeaWing named Nautilus in charge of the Talons, but that he’d been unexpectedly killed by SkyWings before Inferno was born.
Inferno liked Trustbreaker, another one of the few dragons in the Talons who wasn’t afraid of her. He was basically the closest thing she’d had to a father, even if he was never around as much as she would’ve liked. As far as she knew, he was the only NightWing in the Talons of Peace (not counting Morrowseer). Like Clarity and Morrowseer, he only visited every so often with his cat, but never seemed to give orders to Avalanche like the other two had, so she thought he was lower in the pecking order than them. Still, he was one of the few dragons Avalanche could stand, even more than her son Flame. At first, Inferno wondered if Flame was Avalanche and Trustbreaker’s son, but he didn’t look at all like a NightWing, so she doubted it. Whenever Morrowseer came by, Trustbreaker always disappeared, so Inferno assumed the two had some sort of weird past together.
Ash had freaked out a ton after Inferno first met Trustbreaker, and convinced Inferno to hide from the NightWing in a small crevasse, although she was eventually found. Trustbreaker was one of the dragons who was the nicest to Inferno, but for whatever reason, Ash still didn’t like him, and asked Inferno to keep a close eye on whatever he was doing when he came by. Inferno thought it was silly, but her brother insisted the importance of her making sure he didn’t get up to anything strange.
“That’s good,” Inferno yawned. Personally, she liked Trustbreaker. His pet cat, Sapphire, was very cute, although Inferno knew it would be a very very bad idea to try and pet him. Ash had once suggested that she try, to which Inferno just gave him a look of confusion. She normally followed Ash’s suggestions, as he was very smart and seemed to know practically everything, but that was one of the times she just had no clue what he was thinking. “I like his cat.”
Goat snorted. “I wouldn’t touch it unless you want to get us thrown out of here too. It has fur, so it’ll go up in flames quicker than your brother did.”
Inferno winced. It felt like Goat reminded her of that at every chance she got. Inferno didn’t like it, but she understood how important it was. If she didn’t always stay conscious of her emotions, she’d kill even more dragons. She’d turn into a monster, like Peril. That’s why she needed to remember what she’d done. Maybe what had happened to Ash was a good thing; knowing the fate she’d condemned him to by killing him in their egg would keep her sane. Calm, kind, and careful.
Goat turned back to her scroll, grumbling. Inferno let out another yawn, the smell of sulfur emanating from her mouth. Her scales cooled a few degrees as she rested her snout down and gently closed her eyes. The fireborn SkyWing started to sink into her sleep.
When she next opened her eyes, and felt cool air brush against her scales. The smell of dew on grass permeated the air, without the smell of burning plants accompanying it. Inferno glanced down. Her talons rested in dirt, moist grass and flowers weaving between them. She brushed her claws through the dirt, the cool air causing her to feel a nip of cold as the blades of grass tickled her scales. Was that really what it felt like? There was a small golden flower in the dirt, and Inferno reached her talons down to pick it up. As she held it between her talons, examining the flower intently, she heard a voice speak firmly to her.
“Inferno.”
She raised her eyes. The two of them were on a large, grassy slope, the peaks of mountains rising above. Further down the slope, she could see a river running through a small valley.
“This is really good, Ash,” Inferno complimented him. Is this what the Sky Kingdom looked like? She had hatched there, but couldn’t remember what it looked like at all.
“Thank you,” Ash answered. “I’m glad you like it. Does it feel real?” The salmon-pink SkyWing started to walk down the slope, towards his sister. Each of his scales shone brightly in the orange sunlight that fell upon the two. Four small moons were barely visible on the other side of the horizon.
Inferno nodded. “It really does.”
This was Ash, her dead brother. As Goat loved to remind her, Inferno had killed him before they had hatched. She’d stolen his fire and crisped his scales to a black char. Inferno didn’t remember it, of course, but the vision of Ash’s mutilated body after Inferno had hatched still haunted their mother.
Yet, when Inferno was around two years old, she started to have dreams of him. At first, she thought that it was just some sort of nightmare stemming from her guilt, but she quickly started to realize that it was more than that. Ash could talk to her, give her suggestions she never would have thought of on her own, and even knew things Inferno didn’t. She didn’t know how it happened. Ash suggested that Inferno accidentally absorbed his life force when she killed him, although she had know idea how she could’ve done that. She’d asked their mother once, if absorbing another dragon’s soul by killing them was possible, but didn’t get an answer. Instead Goat had been freaked out by Inferno for a week, and kept trying to convince Avalanche that Inferno was going to become a murder-machine like Peril. After that, Ash had asked Inferno not to mention him again to others, and she’d obeyed him ever since.
“I wanted to ask you about something,” Ash opened.
Inferno cocked her head to the side. Ash usually knew everything. He rarely asked her about information. Chances were, this was more of a request. Did he need her to do something? “Go ahead,” Inferno smiled.
“I don’t think you’re safe in the Talons of Peace anymore. I want you to leave.”
Inferno’s snout curled in surprise. “Leave?” she asked breathless. She’d considered the possibility a few times, but hadn’t ever taken it seriously. “I don’t think Goat would allow me to.”
“You don’t need her anymore,” Ash scoffed. “You’re eight. She’ll be fine without you. You can’t just live your whole life with the Talons, can you?”
“Er, no.” In truth, she thought she had to live her entire life with the Talons of Peace. That’s what Riptide and Goat wanted. If she stayed with them, she’d be safe from the outside world. And Pyrrhia would be safe from her. “But it’s dangerous outside the Talons. I’m a monster. Dragons will try and kill me.”
“I’d like to see them try,” Ash snorted. “One touch and they’d go up in flame.”
“That’s even worse!” Inferno exclaimed. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt just because they’re scared of me.”
Ash rolled his eyes. “I doubt you’re going to have dragons flinging themselves at you. Not every dragon in Pyrrhia would immediately try and kill you. There are places you could be safe.”
“Yeah, like here,” Inferno whined. “No one really likes me, but at least they aren’t trying to hurt me. Where else could I find that?”
“Well . . . ,” Ash answered, his voice trailing off, considering a few options. “How about Jade Mountain?”
Inferno’s expression grew two shades darker, and she opened her jaws slightly, hunching her wings in. “I can’t go there.”
“Just hear me out,” Ash pleaded. “The Talons have said she’s changed, right? Avalanche and a few others saw her a couple of years ago, and said she’s put her past ways behind her. Apparently she hasn’t killed anyone since then either.”
“‘Not killing anyone’ is a low bar,” Inferno grumbled.
“She might not even be there,” Ash continued. “From what I’ve heard, the Jade Winglet has a pretty poor attendance record.”
Inferno thought for a moment to ask who Ash heard this from, but didn’t bother. “I can’t go there,” Inferno repeated. “I have to keep an eye on Trustbreaker, remember? He’s coming tomorrow.”
“I changed my mind on that,” Ash commented. “I don’t think he’s that important or dangerous. He’s not particularly ambitious. He knows about me, but doesn’t seem to care.”
   “He knows about you?” Inferno frowned.
Ash nodded. “Yeah. I can feel it. It’s why he always makes sure to talk to you when he comes by. He’s curious.”
“Oh,” Inferno answered, deflated. She had thought Trustbreaker liked her, not just that he found her weird and interesting. “Well, how dangerous can a peace-loving dragon with a pet cat be?”
Ash smiled. “So. Have you changed your mind about Jade Mountain?”
Inferno squirmed uncomfortably, her tail dragging across the dirt. “I guess,” she muttered. Ash was right, like usual. She didn’t want to spend her entire life in the Talons of Peace. She wanted to do something with it. And Jade Mountain could be the perfect place. She just hoped that Peril wouldn’t be there.
==Chapter 3==
It was a hot day in the Diamond-Spray Delta. Then again, it was always hot here. This day wasn’t particularly hot, though Slate guessed it was a little warmer than average. Still, it wasn’t that bad — well, it was bad, just not that bad. It wasn’t humid, like it normally was in the Mud Kingdom, so the heat didn’t cling to Slate’s scales like it normally did.
Slate trailed behind his mother, Fawn. It was a little difficult to see the resemblance, but it was there. Slate’s scales had the same yellowish quality behind him that Fawn did, although it was much more muted. His snout squished slightly at the end like Fawn’s, although he didn’t have the small white horn at the tip of it. Most prominent, neither of their horns were a shade of fall brown like most MudWings, they glistened a prominent ivory against the earthy backdrop of the delta. Still, the ways Slate looked different than Fawn were far more noticeable. Slate lacked the three inches of a membranous fin that Fawn had between her spines, the large scar across her left wing membrane, and the young MudWing had no trace of the shriveled bulb resting at the tip of Fawn’s tail.
Fawn walked softly on the dry ground, cracks in the dirt beneath her paws. Slate dug his talons into one, pulling up a small chunk of dry soil. The air was parched, and a few of the plants to the side of the trail had started to wilt. It had been like this for the last few days, and no one was quite sure why. They’d had dry spells before, but none so sudden.
Slate lifted his snout up, and noticed that Fawn had gotten far ahead. He quickly ran ahead, and caught up with her. Not too far ahead, there were three MudWings walking the opposite direction on the trail. Slate frowned. Linden and two of her sibs. Bad-tempered. Fawn kept her head down on the trail, trying to avoid making eye contact with the three. Slate did the same. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be bothered.
Linden walked past the two, turning her head as she walked. “Looks like the mutt passing by with her dragonet,” she whispered to her sibs. Linden was slightly above average size for a MudWing, and had returned from the war three years ago, proud of her fighting. Since then, she’d been stuck in the Delta like the rest of them. Her rage had gotten more and more pent up over time, and she started to take it out on other dragons.
Fawn just kept walking, not noticing the remark. Slate gave Linden a side-eye and he frowned, just slightly, but Linden didn’t seem to notice.
Linden snorted, unhappy with the lack of reaction. “Hey mutt, how you enjoying the weather? Just like home to you while the rest of us suffer?” Linden took a lunge forward as Fawn passed her, causing Slate to scramble to the side suddenly. Fawn didn’t move, but Slate saw an instinctive flick of her tail to her right, putting it between herself and Linden. Linden noticed too, and jumped back in alarm, her muscles tensing up in fear. Even if Fawn’s barb couldn’t inject poison, Linden had seen enough injuries in the war to be involuntarily on guard around it.
Linden gave Fawn a glare, as Fawn just continued to walk forward. Slate climbed back on the trail and followed her. Linden smirked at Slate walked past. “Where your sibs, bigwings?”
Slate didn’t reply, holding back a low growl. There was a reason he lived with his mother instead of his non-existent siblings, and Linden knew it.
Linden gave the two a look before turning away with a scoff, her two sibs following closely behind her as they walked away. Slate gave a sigh of relief, as the two continued down the path, deeper into the Diamond Spray Delta. They could hear more dragons ahead. Hopefully, these ones would ignore Fawn and Slate, at least until they got to the Fawn’s sibs’ mudhut. Slate hated having to meet with Fawn’s sibs. Well, half-sibs. They weren’t as bad as Linden, but the three remaining of them were nasty and rude. Yet Fawn still felt obligated to them and needed her pension, so she visited once per cycle of the largest moon, dragging Slate along with her, of course. To be fair, Lichen was a decent cook, so there was at least that.
“Slate,” Fawn suddenly said, a hint of worry in her voice. She suddenly stopped walking, and Slate almost ran into the shriveled barb on the end of his mother’s tail. He looked around her to see what was going on, to see a big ditch in the path ahead of them. A few MudWings were within it and on its sides, small groups of sibs examining it.
Slate and Fawn walked over to the edge of the ditch. It extended a short distance ahead of them before the trail continued, but as Slate looked to the left and right, the ditch extended further than he could see. Slate gulped.
A few MudWings at the bottom of the gully picked at the bones of a cow that were buried beneath. “So this is where she went,” one of the MudWings muttered to his sib. “I told you I didn’t eat her. She must’ve just stumbled in.”
“Is this . . .?” Slate started to ask his mother. She nodded in mutual understanding. They’d been down this path before. Around here, they had to cross one of the branches of the Diamond Spray River to get into the heart of the Delta. Usually, they just swam through the murky river branch, or flew over if they had stuff they didn’t want to get wet (although it was awfully difficult to keep stuff dry in the Mud Kingdom). A small trickle of a stream ran through the bottom of the gully, surrounded by cracking dirt as dry as the cattle’s bones. The river branch had dried up almost completely.
“Let’s move on,” Fawn suggested. “Maybe Moss will have water stored for you.”
Slate nodded. Fawn had been doing fine the last few days. She didn’t need to drink water very often, probably due to her SandWing father. Slate, on the other claw, wasn’t fortunate enough to have inherited that gift.
Fawn and Slate quickly walked through the gully, Fawn getting strange stares by the other MudWings as she passed. Luckily, no one decided to heckle them. The two continued out of the other side of the dry riverbed without problem, and continued along the trail, deeper into the Diamond Spray Delta. Small mudhuts existed on either side of the path, every one of them occupied. A few of them had cattle outside, tied up and surprisingly not scared of the multitude of dragons around, any one of which could decide to make a cow a tasty treat whenever they desired. The smell of the dense population of dragons and cows permeated the area, causing Slate to wrinkle his nose in disgust. If the river branch was dried up, Slate wondered how the cows would get water. They had to drink even more water than MudWings. In fact, Slate wondered how he and Fawn would get water to their own small calf back at their mudhut, far outside of the central delta. Hopefully, no one would steal or eat her while they were gone. 
Finally, the two reached the small mudhut belonging to Fawn’s sibs. A single MudWing stood outside, padding the walls of the hut with mud. It didn’t seem to work well, the soil was far too dry to stick on. He looked over at Fawn, with a bored look. “Oh, Fawn,” he said. “You were coming today, right.” He paid Slate little attention. This was Hornwort, the youngest of Fawn’s three remaining (half)-sibs. He was a full MudWing, unlike Fawn, although other dragons sometimes said his snout was shaped similarly (it was slightly pointer than the average MudWing, but nowhere near the extent as Fawn and Slate’s snouts). “Moss is inside the hut right now. She might be in the cellar.”
Fawn stuck her head into the mudhut. It was small, just large enough for three dragons. They used to have a larger one, back in the war, back when Peat and Turf were still alive, and back before Slate hatched, when Fawn was still allowed to live with her sibs, but they didn’t need it anymore. A small hole at the opposite side of the hut, just large enough for a single dragon to fit in, led down to the ‘cellar,’ a tiny space where the three MudWings kept their treasure and food stores. Fawn could see Moss’s thick tail sticking out of the end of the tunnel, swishing back and forth as she sifted through treasure the sibs had earned in the war. Moss heard Fawn enter, and snorted as she recognized her half-sib’s pawsteps.
“Fawn,” she muttered, her voices muted. She took a couple steps back, trying to back her way out of the tunnel. She was larger than Fawn, and was currently the bigwings of the sib group. Originally, Peat had been their bigwings, but she’d been killed in the war. Moss still blamed Fawn for that, though Slate thought it was ridiculous. Fawn hadn’t even fought in the battle where Peat had died; she’d been taking care of Slate. Although, that was why Moss blamed her for it. Had Fawn not been absent, and had decided to abandon Slate’s lonely egg like any normal MudWing would have, maybe Peat would still be alive.
Moss continued trying to get out of the tunnel. Fawn thought a little bit about asking her if she needed help, but decided that Moss wouldn’t take it very well. Eventually, Moss backed out of the tunnel, and turned herself around, frowning at her sister. “I take it you want your payment,” she growled.
Fawn nodded uncomfortably. Queen Moorhen had promised every sib group drafted into the war treasure afterwards, and it came in monthly installments. How much each sib group got was based on how long they had fought, how many siblings they had currently, permanent injuries, and sibling deaths. It was given to their bigwings, or whatever dragon was acting as bigwings if their bigwings had died. So, Moss had gotten it, and whenever Fawn visited, gave the hybrid her share. Which was usually a lot less than a quarter of the total pension. Yet, there wasn’t anything she could do. After Slate hatched, Peat said that it was either him or them. Maybe it was Fawn’s SandWing motherly instinct, but she’d stayed with Slate, and hadn’t fought alongside her sibs in the last three years of the war. So Moss wouldn’t give Fawn any of the additional money for Peat and Turf’s deaths, since they’d been killed after Fawn had left. Fawn assumed that Moss had shaved off more of the treasure just out of spite, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. If Moss just decided to cut her off, there wasn’t anyone Fawn could talk to in order to get recourse. She didn’t even count as a MudWing, it was fortunate that Moss got any treasure for Fawn being part of their sib group. Technically, Slate didn’t count as a MudWing either, but he’d easily pass as one so long no one asked too many questions about his yellowish-white horns.
Moss grumbled and handed a small number of copper coins over to Fawn, glaring directly into the hybrid’s eyes. Fawn accepted them, and quickly counted them in her head. It was less than last time.
“Her majesty reduced our pension,” Moss explained, the word ‘majesty’ dripping with vitriol. “Again.” Fawn wasn’t sure if she was lying or not, but it was believable.
“It’s like she wants the entire Diamond Spray Delta to starve,” Moss continued grumbling. In this case, ‘she’ was Queen Moorhen.
Fawn nodded quietly. Moss wasn’t wrong. The Diamond Spray Delta and other MudWing settlements along the Diamond Spray River had long had a contentious relationship with the queen in the south. There had been a rebellion during the war, but it had petered out, and the whole thing had gone unresolved for seven years. Yet, dragons were starting to get fed up again.
Slate looked behind him as he heard the fluttering of wingbeats. A small MudWing landed behind him, giving Slate a glare. This was Lichen. Slate smiled back politely as Lichen pushed past him, carrying a few leather sacks beneath her wing. One smelt good, like freshly cooked meat. “I’m back,” she stated. “I see Fawn is here. Come to take more of our treasure?”
Moss glanced past Fawn. “Did you find any water?” she asked Lichen.
Lichen nodded, waving one of her sacks. It rocked back and forth, bouncing as it her against her scales “A little. It’s a bit dirtier than normal, but we’ll survive. Get out here, Moss, so we can eat.”
Fawn stepped to the side as Moss walked out of the mudhut. Hornwort looked excited, smelling the meal. “You’ve outdone yourself again, Lichen,” he laughed. “You see Fawn, this is what you’ve missed. You should’ve given Slate up and stayed with us.”
Fawn gave Hornwort a glare, but he didn’t respond. She couldn’t have done that. Maybe if Slate wasn’t her only egg. If he’d had sibs, she could have done the normal MudWing thing. But for whatever reason, he was her only egg, and she couldn’t just have left him to die. She looked over at Slate, as if trying to apologize for her half-sib’s behavior. He plastered on a smile.
Lichen opened the sack and laid it down on the dry soil to the side of the mudhut. There were four rabbits inside, all cooked. Not a large meal, but large meals weren’t common in the Diamond Spray Delta. The local lords usually put a feast together for breeding night once a month, although they seemed to have been getting smaller in recent years, and neither Fawn nor Slate were invited.
Lichen passed out the rabbits out, one to Moss, Hornwort, and the smallest one to Fawn. Moss put it up to her snout, taking in a deep whiff of her meal before nibbling on it. “This is great,” she complimented her sib. “What did you put on it?”
“I found some great spices down by the dry riverbed,” Lichen commented. “Not exactly sure what they’re called, but they sure smelled good. I brought some extras back, although I don’t know how long it’ll be before they go bad. I’ll put them in the cellar after we’re done.”
Fawn tore her small rabbit in half, and handed the larger piece to Slate. He eagerly swallowed it down. It was good. Very, very good, nothing like normal meals in the Diamond Spray Delta. It was disappointing when he had finished the rabbit, the tiny bones being crushed under his teeth. Well, the two of them would be back in another month.
Lichen brought out her other sack, which squished slightly as she set it in front of them. She opened it to reveal murky water inside. She offered it first to Moss, who vigorously started to drink it down. After she had had her fill, she gave it to Hornwort, who gave back to Lichen in turn.
“Could I have a sip?” Slate asked quietly, after Lichen was done drinking.
Moss snorted in irritation, and glared at Fawn. “Tell your dragonet not to be greedy. SandWings don’t need water.”
Fawn gave Slate a look of sympathy, and didn’t follow her sib’s instructions. “It’s alright,” she said to Slate. “We can find some for you on our way home.” Slate smiled cautiously. He wished Fawn had just scolded him. It would make things easier.
Moss bared her teeth. “I told you to tell him to apologize. If he doesn’t, the both of you shouldn’t bother coming back next month.” Lichen continued sipping the water, whereas Hornwort uncomfortably averted his eyes from the conversation.
Fawn sighed. “Slate, please apologize,” she muttered.
Slate twisted his face into a smile, trying to force himself to appear genuine. “I’m sorry for asking you for water,” he replied.
Moss smirked, satisfied. “There. He’s almost seven, isn’t he? Even if he’s not a real MudWing, he’s living with us. He’s got to learn some manners. Can’t have him behaving like a SandWing here.”
Slate scratched his claws against the dry dirt. You fought with SandWings in the war, you old hag, he wanted to say, but held his silence. Your sibs died alongside SandWings.
“Did you hear the rumors?” Lichen suddenly said, trying to change the subject. The sun was just starting to set, sky was lit up with reds and orange. “The old rebellion is back.”
“The old rebellion?” Moss asked in surprise. “They’ve been gone for seven years. Are these rumors of the true type, or the false?”
Lichen shrugged her forepaws. “Dunno. But Linden said that one of her sibs overheard a MudWing whose sib had talked to one of Glen’s old underlings a few days before. Apparently Glen is back, and she’s recruiting. Apparently there’ll be a message sent out to the entire Delta soon, asking us to rise up against the crown.”
“I’m excited,” Hornwort spoke up with a grin. “I wish I could’ve been there for the old rebellion. If we weren’t so busy fighting IceWings, we could’ve helped Glen topple Moorhen’s posh tail of her glittery throne by now.”
“Or at least have forced her to give us a better pension,” Lichen grumbled. “I wonder took her so long?”
Slate glanced over to her mother. Fawn was gently chewing on her rabbit, not participating in the treasonous conversation of her siblings.
“The damn war, that’s what,” Moss snorted, tapping a talon to the ground. “Well, let’s hope this rumor is true, and she her throat wasn’t actually slit by Queen Moorhen’s assassins seven years ago like everyone thinks.”
“We’ll find out pretty soon,” Lichen beamed.
The rest of the dinner went smoothly, and Fawn got herself and Slate out of there as soon as it was polite to do so. Their journey back to their small mudhut on the outside of the Diamond Spray Delta went smoothly.
As Slate and Fawn reached it, walking through the cracked doorway, Slate rested his head down on the cold ground. Fawn put the coins Moss had given her in the small collection she had, and lied down next to Slate.
“I hate this,” Slate grumbled.
“Hmm?” Fawn asked. “Hate what?”
“Everything,” Slate growled. “Linden and every dragon who stares at us when we walk by. Moss, Lichen, and Hornwort, and how you have to grovel beneath them every month just for treasure you rightfully earned years ago. Queen Moorhen. The entire Diamond Spray Delta. There’s nothing here, and there’s no way we can escape. Do you think it would be better in the Sand Kingdom? I’ve heard Queen Thorn is good.”
“Maybe,” Fawn replied. “Although I doubt it. Neither of us look much like SandWings.”
Slate sighed. What was the point of it all? It felt every day was spent just trying to survive. He needed a miracle, but MudWings didn’t have any gods to pray to. Maybe Glen. He knew a bit about her. She’d started the rebellion during the war, and survived for a year on nothing but dew. She’d faced down a hundred of Queen Moorhen’s loyalists alone, and came out victorious, with only a scratch on her ear. She’d turned a dragon to stone just with her glare. The legends got a bit ridiculous, but the important thing was that she inspired hope. Hope for a better future for the Diamond Spray Delta. Maybe one where hybrids were allowed. Did Glen like hybrids? Slate hoped so. Maybe he could fight Queen Moorhen for her, and prove to Glen that he and Fawn just as good, if not better, than any pureblooded MudWing. Fawn had told Slate some of her war stories before he had been born. Peat had given her the most dangerous but the most important missions. Sneaking behind enemy lines to take out an IceWing commander. Drawing a platoon of SeaWings into a fleet of quicksand so they could be easily picked off.  Slate could do that for Glen. He’d take down Queen Moorhen with his own claws, forcing her to submit to Glen. He visualized doing it, his talons tearing into the arrogant queen’s wings, ripping off her crown and tearing out the jewels in it, handing them to starving dragonets.
Slate’s head suddenly whipped up in alarm. He glanced around. His mother snored quietly, Fawn’s chest gently rising and falling. He must have fallen asleep. Had he been woken up by something. He was about to put his head back down, when he heard it again. Squish. Like a dragon’s paw sinking into mud. That was strange. It was dry outside, and he couldn’t hear any rain. How could there be mud? Maybe a cow had accidentally stepped into their own patty.
Squish. He heard it again, this time closer. It was loud, louder than a cow. It had to be a dragon. And whoever it was, they were moving towards them. Squish. Slate turned to his mom, and shook her back and forth. “Mom, get up,” he whispered.
Fawn raised her head with a yawn. She glanced over at her son, tired and confused. “Slate, you’re stabbing me with your claws.”
“Shhh!” Slate replied, releasing his hold on his mother slightly. Squish. It was close now. Almost to the entrance of the mudhut. “There’s someone outside.”
Fawn frowned, and glanced towards the entrance of the mudhut. Squish. Squish. Squish. Slate’s heart pulsed, and his claws tensed up. The dry dirt beneath him started to crumble and turn into a muddy mush. Squish. Squish. Squish.
Suddenly, the blue tip of a dragon’s snout poked through the entrance to the mudhut. Slate sprung into action, throwing himself at the intruder with a frightening roar. The intruder yelled as Slate dug his talons into the dragon’s neck, before he was thrown off into a puddle of wet mud. He quickly rose to his paws, and saw his intruder in the moonlight. A SeaWing towered over him, his shark-like teeth as sharp as razors. The roar of battle quenching his terror, Slate fearlessly jumped at the SeaWing, trying to claw at the SeaWing’s back. He landed, holding on to the SeaWing’s backside, the claws raking across the dragon’s scales.
   With a twist of his body, the SeaWing turned around, Slate being unable to hold on. His claws drew blood as Slate was flung away from the SeaWing onto hard, dry ground. As he tried to get up again, the SeaWing walked towards him, and the ground suddenly softened into thick mud, causing Slate to slip. He held out his tail as the SeaWing lunged forwards, causing the dragon to trip on it and skid across the mud, landing on Slate with a thump. Slate tried to get up, but the SeaWing was too heavy, crushing Slate beneath his body. Slate gave out a cry of alarm as the SeaWing stretched out a paw, holding Slate’s head down to the ground.
“STOP! STOP!” Fawn ran out of the mudhut in alarm, seeing the SeaWing pinning Slate to the ground. “Please don’t hurt him, please! We have money! Just don’t kill him!”
The SeaWing turned towards Fawn’s eyes, his cold eyes glaring into hers. She shook. If she tried to attack the lumbering SeaWing, he could break Slate’s neck with a quick twist. “Hurt him?” The SeaWing growled, his voice deep and angry. “He’s the one who attacked me!”
“You tried to come into our house!” Slate protested. He let out a cough, his throat being crushed. The SeaWing let up his grip slightly, his webbed paws raising from Slate’s neck. From this point of view, Slate could see a leather pouch strapped to the SeaWing’s side, along with the hilt of a dagger. The two of them seemed to be lying in a pool of mud centered around the SeaWing, even though the rest of the ground around them was cracked and dry.
“Yes, I did,” the SeaWing snorted, not seeing why that was a problem. “Are dragons not allowed to talk to other dragons these days without being attacked by angry hatchlings? Ridiculous. Back in my day, MudWings and SeaWings were cordial with each other.”
Fawn growled. “It’s the middle of the night. What do you want?”
   “You’re Fawn, aren’t you?” the SeaWing asked. Fawn frowned, unsure why a SeaWing would know her name. The SeaWing pointed a claw to his neck, where three pink scars ran alongside it, like talons had burned into his scales. “Your son’s father had similar scars, except . . . everywhere. Correct?”
“Get off my dragonet.”
The SeaWing glanced down at Slate, his paw still over the young MudWing’s throat. “Don’t try to attack me again, please,” he warned Slate, then stood up. Slate got up to his paws, the wet mud sticking onto his scales, and walked over towards his mother. As soon as he got a couple yards away from the SeaWing, the mud on his scales instantly dried and cracked, causing his scales to feel parched. Strange.
“Who are you?” Fawn asked warily.
“My name is Torrent,” the SeaWing answered with a sigh. “I was friends with Slate’s father.”
He knows my name too, Slate realized. Fawn had never said it.
“Why should I care?” Fawn hissed. “He’s not my mate. MudWings don’t have mates.”
“Well,” Torrent yawned, “neither of you are truly MudWings, are you?”
Slate growled. “I’m a MudWing. Mostly.”
“I suppose.” Torrent nodded in agreement. “Do you know your father?”
Slate shook his head. Fawn opened her mouth, about to say something, but chose not to.
“His name is Schist,” Torrent smiled.
Slate frowned. He remembered hearing that name somewhere. Suddenly it came to him, and his eyes opened wide in surprise. “Schist?” he asked in shock. “You mean Glen’s sib?”
Torrent nodded, content, and Slate turned to Fawn. “I’m Glen’s nephew?” Slate asked. “That Glen? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It didn’t matter,” Fawn grumbled, averting her eyes from her dragonet. “No one would care. MudWings don’t do mates, or dragonets. Schist probably has lots of dragonets by now.”
Slate tapped a talon on the dry ground beneath him. His mother was right about MudWings, of course, except maybe Torrent was also a little right. They weren’t MudWings. Not fully. He was related to Glen — this was definitely important to him. He had a right to know, didn’t he?
“Why did you tell him this?” Fawn snapped at Torrent. “Did you come here just to reveal private information to my son? It was seven years ago, and the only reason it happened was because no one else would even consider the two of us. Schist probably doesn’t even remember me.”
Torrent rolled his eyes. “Look under your paws,” Torrent commanded, “then look under mine.”
Slate and Fawn complied. Under Slate’s paws, he saw dry, broken soil. Dying plants and swamp-grasses. Under Torrent’s, the delta looked almost normal. In a perfect circle around him, the ground was wet and muddy, covering the SeaWing’s paws. How was that possible?
Seeing Slate’s expression, Torrent grinned slyly. “Do you see it? The dryness? A dark curse has placed on Pyrrhia, and if it’s not broken soon, this continent will shrivel up and every dragon in the Mud Kingdom will die of thirst. But you can break it.”
“What?” Fawn laughed. “What are you talking about? Curses?”
Torrent nodded, and turned to Slate. “You can see with your own eyes, can’t you? This isn’t a normal drought. There is evil magic at work here.”
Slate squirmed uncomfortably. Break curses? Could he do that? He didn’t think so. And this SeaWing — he could be dangerous. He could be lying. “I’m sorry, sir. I need to stay with my mother.”
Torrent frowned, looking annoyed. He glanced behind him, and moved his claws towards his dagger. Slate and Fawn tensed up, but Torrent only reached into his leather pouch, and pulled out a cloth sack. He opened it up, and looked inside, then flung some of the contents out towards Slate and Fawn. The two both jumped back in alarm as hundreds of tiny pebbles sailed towards them. Yet as the pebbles flew through the air, they shifted right before Slate’s eyes, transforming into tiny gems and golden coins.
Slate’s eyes opened in shock as treasure landed around him and his mother. He picked a piece up. It was real gold. “Magic,” he whispered.
Fawn picked up a huge ruby, her talons shaking as it glittered in the moonlight. This alone was worth more than the total amount of treasure she’d had in her entire life, no more than the total amount of treasure she’d seen in her entire life. She could do anything she wanted with this. Buy a mansion, even a palace. She’d never have to worry about if Moss would give her a pension or not. She’d never starve again at night. It was a miracle.
“W-why?” Fawn stammered. “How?”
“Schist earned it,” Torrent explained. “You saw his scars, didn’t you? Pretty hard to forget a dragon with the right side of his body burned off. This is how he got them. This all should belong to him, so I figured it should also belong to his son.”
Slate briefly considered mentioning that MudWings don’t do sons, but held his tongue.
Torrent re-tied the sack, and casually tossed it over to Fawn. It landed by her claws. She put them around the neck of the bag and tried to lift it up, but she could barely make it budge.
“Thing is,” Torrent clucked, “all of this will be worthless in the Mud Kingdom if everyone here dies of thirst. Maybe your mother will be fine, being half-SandWing, but there’s not much point in having so much treasure if everyone you wanted to brag about it to is dead. So, Slate. Have you changed your mind about joining me?”
Slate glanced down at the ground, hundreds of coins and gems covering it, then back at his mother, almost crying in joy as she hugged the sack against her underbelly. She looked over at him, and nodded. He turned back to the SeaWing. “I’ll do it,” he answered, shaking. “I’ll do it. I’ll break this curse.” This time, courage shone through his voice.
“Good!” Torrent replied. “I like that spunk. Say goodbye to your mom, and get anything you want to take with you so we can get going.”
Slate frowned. “Wait, we’re leaving now?”
Torrent nodded. “I’d like to be out of here before dawn. The war might be over, but I don’t think most MudWings would take kindly to seeing a SeaWing so deep in their territory. Anyways, we’ve got a long flight to Crosswinds ahead of us.”
==Chapter 4==
The golden orb of the sun ducked beneath the Claws of the Clouds, colors forming on the horizon. The air was cold and dry, but that wasn’t any problem for Polar. Unlike most other dragons, IceWings could easily stand cold weather. It was why Polar had chosen to fly through the mountains instead of along the border of the Sand Kingdom or the Mud Kingdom. There’d be less dragons around, and less risk of him being attacked and losing his precious cargo.
The young IceWing casually walked through the pine forests on the mountain. As he swayed from side to side, the single silver circle hanging from his neck swung back and forth. It was late, and after a long day of flying, he was ready to get some sleep. At the moment, he was looking for a couple things — a good place to rest his head where he wouldn’t be seen from above, and any source of water. He hadn’t brought much with him, expecting that there’d be plenty of small, clean streams along the mountains. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
   Polar groaned as he saw the dry stream-bed. Another one. Like the last few he had come across, there was almost nothing to drink there. He dipped a claw into a small trickle of water, blocking the entire stream. Maybe he’d just have to stay parched tonight. Hopefully things would be better when he got further south. Probably weird weather from the Sand Kingdom.
   The light was quickly running out, and Polar quickly remembered that he still had his orders from Queen Glacier. She’d wanted him to write her a log of everything that had happened. A diary. It wasn’t Polar’s favorite duty, but it was a duty nonetheless, and he was sure that Her Majesty wouldn’t have assigned it to him if it wasn’t critically important to the kingdom. As the sun started to fade, Polar spilled out a few items from his sack. A good amount of caribou and scavenger jerky, a small diamond, three moon globes, a scroll, an inkstone, and an inkstick.
   The IceWing picked up a piece of caribou jerky with his left forepaw. A silver bracelet wrapped tight around his arm, with a haunting dark-purple stone glittering in the center. As Polar tossed the jerky into his dry mouth, grinding the tough meet to small pieces, he rubbed the bracelet and winced. An aching pain spread up and down his forearm from it. Polar grabbed the diamond, rolling it around in his talons, then opened up his scroll. There were rough inkmarks on it, and in a couple places he’d accidentally tore through the scroll. Oh well.
   Polar pulled out the inkstone, and frowned. It was dry, and he didn’t have any water. Polar ground a bit of the inkstick onto the stone, then finished chewing up the caribou jerky, trying to swallow any leftover pieces. He spat a glob of phlegm onto the inkstone, bits of meat still in it. Gross and unfitting of an IceWing of his importance, but sometimes a dragon had to put aside his pride for stuff like this. He wouldn’t have gotten to the First Circle if he couldn’t handle a little spit.
   Polar took his claw and rubbed the phlegm around the surface of the inkstone, the ground inkstick turning into a dark liquid. It wasn’t ideal, with little particles of meat still in the ink and the consistency varied, but it would do. He dipped a talon in, then turned to the scroll.
   Today was another usual day of flight. I flew south from where I left off yesterday, through the Claws of the Clouds. I do not know exactly where I am, but if I am on schedule, there are only a few days until I reach Jade Mountain. I saw no dragons today — this entire area seems empty of dragon life. There was a small colony of scavengers I passed midday, but I did not approach them. Interestingly enough, the pattern of drought I mentioned the last few days seems to be getting worse as I go south. It’s been difficult to find water, and today, all of the streams in the area I found were barren.
   Polar glanced to his forepaw again, the small ache in his arm building. That might be notable. He dipped his claw in the ink again, about to write more, when he suddenly heard a large cracking sound not too far from him. Polar froze up. Another dragon. There was very little on Pyrrhia that was large enough to make such a sound.
   Polar quietly moved his claw from the scroll, and placed the diamond back in his pouch. He carefully shifted his weight up, the spikes on his tail stretching out into an attack position. More branches snapped. Whoever this dragon was, they sure weren’t trying to be quiet. Polar would be able to take them by surprise.
Polar crouched down, getting in a pouncing position. The dragon kept coming closer. It was dark now, but it wouldn’t be difficult for Polar to see the intruder. As soon as the winged figure of a dragon stepped through the trees along the riverbed, Polar jumped, leaping at the dragon.
The dragon gave out a yelp of a surprise as the figure of an IceWing leaped towards him claws outstretched, as any normal dragon would. Polar’s talons made contact with the dragon, shoving him to the ground. The dragon scrambled, trying to stretch his wings and get away from Polar, but Polar was too fast. The IceWing shoved his claw onto the dragon’s fragile wing membrane, not hard enough to tear it, but enough to keep it in place. With his other forepaw, he grabbed ahold of one of the dragon’s arms, turning his adversary on his back and holding him in place. Polar held his snout down against his foe’s underbelly, making sure that the dragon didn’t attempt to use any sort of breath weapon on him. He quickly realized from the dragon’s midnight-blue scales and the webbing along the dragon’s paws that wouldn’t be a problem — this dragon must be a SeaWing, roughly Polar’s age by the look of it, though he couldn’t see fully in the dim light.
The SeaWing tried to struggle once, but quickly gave up. This was the skill of a First Circle IceWing. The opponent was utterly defeated and immobilized, while Polar didn’t even have a scratch on his scales, not a drop of blue blood spilled. Polar lay on top of the SeaWing, and raised his head slightly. He could just kill the dragon here and now, but that might cause more trouble. Did he have friends nearby? What was a SeaWing doing in the Claws of the Clouds? Polar bared his teeth, revealing sharp fangs. The dragon looked up, and Polar noticed that he had a leather band covering his left eye. He should have noticed that earlier; realizing that the dragon had a blind side could have been helpful if this SeaWing wasn’t such a puny fighter. Had he been injured in the war? He seemed a little young to have fought, and his fighting skills certainly weren’t up to par.
The SeaWing looked up at Polar with a goofy grin. “Oh, hello,” he greeted Polar happily. “How are you today?”
Polar blinked. Had this dragon just . . . greeted him? He looked back down at the odd SeaWing, staring back up at Polar like he was somehow enjoying this. Polar shivered. A dragon who didn’t show fear, even in this position? A formidable enemy. Polar even felt slightly jealous, though he’d never have admitted it.
Polar’s snout contorted into a growl. “State your name and purpose, or I’ll tear out your jugular.”
“Oh, okay,” the SeaWing said, remaining completely calm. “My name is Ink, and my middle name is Adventure! Which is coincidentally my purpose too. Do you mind getting off me? You seem like a very kind dragon, but I don’t think we know each other well enough yet for this sort of intimacy.”
Polar let out a low growl. He didn’t like this dragon’s attitude, but the SeaWing seemed completely harmless. Too harmless. Was it a disguise? Maybe Ink was attempting to trick Polar into lowering down his guard. Had news of Polar’s precious cargo somehow left the Ice Kingdom?
“Please?” Ink asked, sighing, his permanent smile unchanged. “It’s a little uncomfortable. Don’t worry! I don’t bite, unless you’re a fish! You’re not a fish, are you?”
Polar sighed, and glared straight into Ink’s eyes, baring his teeth back again. “One wrong move and I’ll kill you.”
Ink nodded vigorously, and Polar carefully took a few steps from Ink, careful not to turn his back from the dragon. Ink eagerly leapt to his paws, causing Polar to tense up, but the SeaWing didn’t move. Polar frowned as he looked at the SeaWing a little closer. Something about him seemed a little strange, although it was difficult to tell what it was in the darkness.
Ink tilted his head back and forth as he looked at Polar, examining the IceWing. “You thirsty?” Ink finally asked.
“What?” Polar snorted. He didn’t want to show weakness to this dragon. “No,” he replied. Showing weakness was a good way to get pushed down in the rankings in the Ice Kingdom.
Ink nodded, clearly not falling for Polar’s lie. “Mhmm. Alright. I’ve got some bags of water I’ve been carrying if you want any, but otherwise I’ll just have to drink it all myself.”
Ink turned around, and walked down the dry streambed a short distance, to where Polar noticed a few watertight sacks. Had Ink dropped them during the short fight? Flicking his tail, Ink clamped his teeth around the handle of one, and dragged it over towards Polar. Why was he coming back? Polar wondered.
The SeaWing opened the bag up and lapped up the water, as Polar stood still, watching Ink drink. “You sure you don’t want any?” Ink asked. “I’ve got plenty to share.”
Polar frowned. This was a bad idea. The SeaWing might be trying to poison him. Although, he was clearly drinking from the bag himself, so it would be a pretty poor choice to put poison it. Still, if Queen Glacier found out that Polar accepted help from a SeaWing, he’d drop in the rankings quicker than a dragonet through thin ice. Yet, Polar was very thirsty, and if he succeeded in his mission, Queen Glacier would easily overlook something like this. He’d be at the top of the rankings, permanently. Everyone who had ever called him a traitor would be staring up at his name, ashamed they’d ever doubted him. So, he’d accept the SeaWing’s kindness, just this once.
“Fine,” Polar growled, “but don’t try anything funny. If I see you reach for poison, I’ll rip off your claws.”
Ink held back a chuckle, but offered Polar the water. The IceWing eagerly lapped up water. It had been days since he’d had a really good drink. The taste of salted caribou finally got out of his mouth. The dry pain in his throat finally subsided, and for just a moment, Polar let down his guard. Ink shook his head, like he was amused with something.
Eventually, Polar finished his drink, and lifted his head up.
“You’re welcome,” Ink grinned. “I’ve got plenty more if you want it!”
Polar frowned. He still didn’t know what Ink was doing here. “So, what are you actually doing here? It’s pretty far from the ocean.” he asked, slightly less threateningly now. “And don’t say ‘adventure.’ That’s a stupid answer.”
“I’m going to Jade Mountain,” Ink beamed. “Do you know they have an academy there?”
Polar tensed his wings up uncomfortably. That was where he was going. Was it just coincidence that this dragon was also going there at the same time? They were getting somewhat close, and there wasn’t much else south of here, so he supposed it was reasonable, but still, Polar didn’t trust it. What was this odd dragon up to? “Yeah. I know someone who goes there.”
“Are you going to Jade Mountain too?” Ink asked. “Are you a student?”
Polar gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to reveal where he was going to the SeaWing, but still, Ink seemed harmless enough. “I’m not a student at Jade Mountain,” he answered carefully.
“But are you going there?” Ink pressed, noticing that Polar hadn’t actually answered his first question. “I’m excited. Did you know that’s where the Dragonets of Destiny are? They’re pretty cool, right? I want to meet them! Find out how they did it!”
Polar averted his eyes. “Yes. I’m going to Jade Mountain,” he finally answered. “But it’s none of your business.”
“Ooh, is it a secret?” Ink asked, stretching his neck towards Polar. Polar gently pushed the dragon’s snout away as he got too far into Polar’s personal space. “I love secrets! You can tell me, I’m good at keeping secrets!”
Polar sincerely doubted that. “No,” he firmly replied. “And I’m tired, so please leave.” He didn’t want to sleep while a potential enemy was nearby, although he very much doubted this whimsical dragon could harm him. Polar doubted a one-year old IceWing could put up a poorer fight than Ink had.
“Oh, okay,” Ink nodded. “So it’s a mystery! I like mysteries too. Do you want to fly the rest of the way to Jade Mountain with me?”
Polar was about to open his mouth to answer with a resounding ‘no’ when Ink interrupted him.
“It would be very helpful for me, you see,” Ink continued. “I’m being slightly selfish. I’ve got all this water I’m carrying, and it’s really hard to fly, so it would be great if we could split the load and get there much faster!”
Polar groaned. The SeaWing made a good point. And Polar didn’t have water. If he went with Ink, he’d get water, and if they didn’t run out, he wouldn’t have to search for more dry riverbeds along the way. “Maybe,” Polar hesitantly answered, regretting the reply after he said it.
“Great!” Ink responded. “We can be flying buddies! Do you mind if I sleep over here, right next to you?”
‘Yes, I mind very much,’ Polar wanted to say, but he didn’t. The closer the SeaWing was, the better Polar could watch him. “Where did you get all this water?” he asked. If he knew where Ink got it, maybe he could ditch Ink after the SeaWing fell asleep. “All the streambeds appear to be dried up.”
“Oh, I stored it!” Ink responded. “Just in case something like this happened.”
“Something like where all the water just . . . disappears?” Polar snorted, trying to suppress a laugh.
“Yep!” Ink answered. He tapped a few scales on the side of his head with a claw. Polar frowned. That seemed suspicious. Polar looked around Ink, trying to see what he had on him. In addition to the two sacks of water, Ink also had a small satchel. Was there a weapon in there?
Ink noticed Polar’s intense stare at his satchel. “Oh, do you want to know what’s in here?” Ink asked. He quickly opened it up, and pulled out a scroll and a few pieces of parchment paper, along with some inkstones and inksticks. “Tada! This is where I store all my drawings!”
Polar cringed. He was regretting this immensely.
Ink walked over to Polar and rolled open a parchment paper. “So, you see, this one is of a SandWing I met in Possibility. She had this really cool sail, and I just had to draw it . . .
Various sketches were made on the paper, and Polar had to admit they were pretty good, although a bit difficult to make out in the low light. Simple of course, compared to IceWing tapestries and art, and trash compared to some of the greatest masterpieces in Queen Glacier’s palace, but the sketches weren’t awful. Some were of dragons, but not all. Polar noticed a few drawings of scenery in the Claws of the Clouds. There were also drawings of scavengers, a rabbit, and even what Polar thought looked like some sort of bird with legs.
“ . . . and she was a bit angry afterwards, although her brother seemed to like it a lot. Do you want me to read you a story? I write stories, that’s what’s in this scroll.”
“Please don’t,” Polar begged. “It’s late, and I don’t want to have to tear out my eardrums.”
Ink shrugged his wings, and collected his stuff, putting it back in his pouch. “Well, if you want to sleep instead of reading amazing stories, it’s your loss.” He walked over towards the pouches of water and layed down, turning his head away from Polar.
Polar sighed. This dragon was clearly harmless. Polar could easily sneak up to him and snap his neck in his sleep. It couldn’t be that much further to Jade Mountain. He could stand this weirdly friendly SeaWing’s company if it would get him water.
Polar laid himself down, glancing over at Ink every so often to make sure he wasn’t trying anything sketchy. The IceWing reached over to his satchel and grabbed the diamond, holding it close to him as he shut his eyes, moonlight reaching down into the pine forest.
==Chapter 5==
The figures of a RainWing and a NightWing flew high over the treetops of the rainforest, casting their shadows on the canopy beneath. A warm, dry wind from the mountains pushed behind them as they traveled into the heart of the rainforest.
“Do you think she’ll be alright?” Glory asked, her scales green with worry.
“Sunny?” Deathbringer responded.
Glory nodded. “Yeah. I just don’t like the idea of her going off to become queen by herself. It’s a dangerous job.”
Deathbringer nodded. “It sure is. Do you know how many assassination attempts I’ve discovered just this week? Three. That’s three times I’ve saved your life right now.”
“Really?” Glory snorted. “And how many of those assassination attempts were Jambu accidentally trying to feed me rotten fruit?”
“Only two,” Deathbringer responded. “There was also that sloth which almost fell on you, remember? You’ve gotta watch out for those things.”
Glory rolled her eyes. In all seriousness, Deathbringer had been an important help. There were still NightWings who thought they’d be better off with Glory dead, and Glory was fortunate that Deathbringer knew who they were and what they were planning. Fierceteeth and Strongwings, to name a couple. Then there was that whole thing with Silverhorn. Glory dreaded to think of what condition the rainforest would be in had Deathbringer not been there.
“Well, Sunny doesn’t have anyone like you to protect her from falling sloths or poisoned fruit,” Glory replied, “and whoever was protecting Thorn clearly wasn’t too good at their job.”
“Maybe, but that’s why Clay’s going after her, right?” Deathbringer answered. “To help watch her back? And Sunny can probably handle herself. She’s a dragonet of destiny, just like you, and look how you’ve turned out.”
“Dragonet of Destiny,” Glory muttered. “Yeah, right. Because I’m clearly a SkyWing, and the prophecy was true and not just completely made up.” A hint of orange appeared on her scales.
“What would Sunny say right now?” Deathbringer chirped. “You made your own destiny, and ended the war, prophecy or not. Pretty impressive for someone who isn’t a SkyWing.”
“True,” Glory answered, “although that doesn’t really sound like Sunny. She liked the prophecy far too much. But not really my thing.”
Deathbringer nodded. He wasn’t really a fan of prophecies either. He’d been raised believing that they were all false, but since Moon revealed her prophecy two years ago, that entire worldview had been shattered. NightWings could read minds and make prophecies, real prophecies. At the moment, there were only three dragonets other than Moon with powers, two that could read minds, and one that could tell the future. Deathbringer had asked Toxin a few times about the Jade Mountain Prophecy, but she was clueless as to its meaning, or when (if ever) it would come true.
“Speaking of powers and prophecies, the twins are causing trouble again.”
Glory groaned. The twins were what they called the two mindreading dragonets. Insight and Hindsight, barely more than a year old each. She wished that one of them had been named ‘Foresight’ instead, but apparently that you couldn’t just ‘choose’ NightWing names like that. There was a special ceremony and everything for name-choosing, and they got stuck with two dragonets who couldn’t stay out of trouble, whether it was spreading secrets of the older dragonets or pulling pranks on Jambu. The scariest thing was that it would only get worse — the NightWing population would start to revive itself, and soon the rainforest would be crowded with dragonets who could read minds and see the future. No one knew how to raise them; there were some old traditions, but it wasn’t enough. And there were seven eggs already due to hatch around a full moon, two of them hybrids.
Glory gritted her teeth. “I’m the queen, why is dealing with them my duty?
“Because you’re the queen,” Deathbringer beamed. “Now, do you want me to tell you what they did or not?”
Glory sighed. He was right, of course, but she didn’t like it. “Please don’t,” she answered. “I’ll deal with it later. After we finish this business with Jambu. How’s Firefly?”
Deathbringer’s eyes lit up. “She’s great! She seems to be healthy as ever, although it’s a bit difficult to tell. But her eggshell is nice and thick, and you can hear her through it now!”
Glory grinned, swirls of pink and indigo fluttering around her scales. “That’s great! Is her eggshell still doing the color thing?”
Deathbringer nodded, causing a small flash of green to move through Glory’s scales, stress puncturing the happy colors. Even though she seemed healthy, Glory was still worried about her and Deathbringer’s unhatched dragonet. Firefly’s eggshell was unusual. Instead of staying a single color, like eggs normally did, the patches of violets and purples on Firefly’s eggshell seemed to slowly drift around, changing every few hours. It wasn’t normal, but then again, there weren’t a lot of hybrids in the rainforest yet. There were six eggs currently, including Firefly’s, and three of the very young dragonets were hybrids, but Toxin and Sunflower were the only two who were old enough to really have a conversation about it. Each of them had their own . . . differences from full NightWings or RainWings, but none of their eggs had done the weird swirling thing like Firefly’s. So Glory felt like she was rightfully concerned. Still, if Firefly seemed healthy, hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue.
“That’s alright,” Glory smiled. “Everything will be fine, I’m sure.” She glanced down towards the rainforest to see movement beneath the trees. That was about right — the two of them were nearing the RainWing village. Glory tilted her wings down and started to spiral slowly down into the canopy, Deathbringer following closely behind.
As the two gently touched down at a spot on one of the wooden pavilions criss-crossing the forest, Glory noticed that there were dragons waiting for her at the Royal Pavilion in the center of the forest. About twenty RainWings stood around the pavilion, conversing frantically among each other. A few yelled out as they saw Glory land. Glory gulped and turned towards Deathbringer.
“Were you serious about the pinkie coup?” she asked anxiously.
Deathbringer shrugged his forelegs, and Glory turned back to the RainWings. With a burst of flight, she flew towards the pavilion, landing in the middle of the crowd of RainWings, who backed away so not to be hit by her or Deathbringer’s wings. She looked around for the dragon she wanted.
“Jambu,” she growled, seeing the hot-pink dragon in the center of the crowd. “Stop this right now. I’m not actually banning the color pink, no matter how tacky it is. That was a joke.”
Jambu pushed through the crowd, and gave his sister a look of confusion. “Pink?” he frowned. “Oh, no, that’s not what we’re here about! We can discuss your authoritarian tendencies later.”
Glory gulped. That meant there was a real problem. That wasn’t good. “What’s going on then?”
“I told Deathbringer, I couldn’t find one of the rivers, and now they’re all gone! Didn’t he tell you?”
Glory glanced over at Deathbringer. He did tell her, although she hadn’t taken it seriously. Jambu wasn’t an easy dragon to take seriously. “Is that’s what’s happening?” she asked another RainWing.
The RainWing nodded vigorously. “There’s no water,” she whined. “The riverbeds are dry. What can we drink now?”
“Fruit?” a second RainWing spoke up.
Glory snorted for a moment, thinking that was a silly idea, but then she realized that might actually work. “Yeah, fruit,” she answered. “There’s a lot of fruits which have a bunch of water in it, right? Can you eat that for now?”
A few of the RainWings murmured to each other, discussing the idea, but the crowd started to disperse, going back to their usual business. They seemed to accept the idea. Glory gave out a sigh of relief. The plan worked for now, but it would only be temporary. If there really wasn’t any water left in the streams and rivers, that meant that there was no water for the plants. If this went on too long, the rainforest would stop producing fruit. Still, it gave Glory some time.
“Deathbringer,” Glory commanded, “can you go check on Firefly? I’m going to go with Jambu to check out these riverbeds.” The pink dragon was still hanging around the pavilion, and his ears perked up happily when he heard Glory mention his name.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Deathbringer answered. “Just in case.”
Glory rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry,” she comforted him, “it’s just a trip down to the streams. Jambu can keep me safe.”
Jambu puffed out his chest in pride in this, his scales flashing an intense indigo. Deathbringer held back a chuckle. “Alright then,” the NightWing responded. “See you soon.”
As Deathbringer took off, Glory glanced over to Jambu. “Alright then, lead the way,” Glory told him. Jambu eagerly took off into the canopy, quickly flying between the trees as Glory followed behind, almost having trouble keeping up. As her young brother weaved in and out of the tree trucks, Glory caught a glimpse around the rainforest. Maybe it was her imagination, but it did seem . . . drier than normal. The embrace of humidity that normally enveloped the air had weakened, and Glory couldn’t see any of the normal trickles of streams. Sure, a lot of the smaller rivulets were inconsistent in their location, but it was strange not to see any at all.
Eventually, Jambu started to head into the undergrowth, landing by a large papaya tree. Glory glanced up. It looked slightly unhealthier than usual, like everything else around it. Even the normal barrage of chirps and squeaks that filled the rainforest had lessened. Uncanny.
   Glory followed the bright pink RainWing as he pushed further into the dense undergrowth. Eventually, the two reached a small break in the trees, a large creek that ran through the rainforest. “See?” Jambu pressed, demanding that his sister recognize that he knew what he was talking about. “It’s gone.”
   Glory glanced up and down the creek. Jambu was right. The water level had dropped to practically nothing in the time she was gone, exposing the bare stones of the creek. This wasn’t normal. What could have caused something like this?
The rainforest queen stretched a claw into one of the small pools of still water littering the remains of the creek. It was murky, and her claw stirred up muck as it shook the pool around. Glory’s talon bumped against something squishy, and she carefully pulled it out. The decaying remains of a fish. She quickly threw it back into the pool in disgust. She’d be smelling that on her claws for a while. She didn’t blame the RainWings for being vegetarians, and wasn’t surprised a few of the NightWings had joined them.
As Glory raised her head from the pool, she jumped back from it in alarm as she saw the fangs of another dragon. She caught her breath when she realized who it was. Just Toxin. There weren’t that many hybrids in the kingdom, and Sunflower didn’t have that unnerving glare that Toxin did. Toxin looked up at her queen not with respect and cheer, but with defiance and spite. Deathbringer had once said that Glory just didn’t like Toxin because the hybrid was too much like her. Rebellious, but not mischievous.
The young dragonet had her normal resting scales on. Primarily dark purple and indigo, much like her NightWing father presumably had, with olive-green highlights across her underbelly and horns. In most RainWings, those colors meant ambition and displeasure, but most dragons assumed that was just how her scales rested during her normal mood. Although the two often seemed to be the same. Much like Glory, Toxin was good at not showing her feelings on her scales, but she’d had a bit more trouble with her camouflage than most pure RainWings dragonets, so that could have been part of it. Probably due to her hybrid status — although Sunflower seemed to be the exact opposite. In the literal sense. It had taken a while to realize it, but Sunflower’s scales showed the polar opposite of the normal RainWing color corresponding to his emotions. It made for some . . . interesting situations. Glory wondered how Firefly’s scales would respond to her emotions when she hatched, whether they’d be closer to Toxin’s, Sunflower’s, or something completely different. Glory hoped that it wouldn’t be too much of a burden on her future dragonet.
Glory meekly smiled, trying to appear glad to see Toxin. “Hello, Toxin,” she said. “You shouldn’t sneak up on dragons like that. Someone could get startled and accidentally hurt you.”
Toxin glared narrowed, although the dragonet’s expression seemed about the same as before. “I didn’t sneak. You just didn’t notice me. Are you surprised by the water disappearing?”
Glory hesitated a moment, not sure how to respond. It felt like the dragonet was goading her into saying something, trying to force her to display weakness.
“I’m not.” Toxin answered definitively, even though Glory hadn’t responded. “I saw it about a week ago. I would’ve told you, but you were busy.”
Glory frowned. She didn’t want to let herself get angry at this dragonet, but it was clear what Toxin was implying — that Glory wasn’t being a good queen. Glory wanted to say something snappy back, but that would just be giving in. She smiled, hiding colors of irritation beneath her scales. “Yes. Queen Thorn died. Did you know that was going to happen too?”
Toxin frowned, and thought for a moment. Finally, she shook her head back and forth. Glory held back a smirk. She shouldn’t feel good about a four-year old dragonet not knowing something that Glory did, but Glory really couldn’t help it. “That makes sense now,” Toxin answered.
At least for now, Toxin was the only dragon other than Moonwatcher who could see the future, although Toxin’s visions seemed far too vague for them to be of any help. It mainly just annoyed her how Toxin could just claim ‘I told you so’ after a problem arose, even if Toxin clearly had no idea what the vision meant at the time. She’d told Glory about a vision before the Silverhorn incident, but she’d only spoken about seeing a NightWing wearing fancy jewelry. There were plenty of NightWings with jewelry! How was Glory supposed to know that meant that a NightWing had come across some ancient enchanted artifacts that the Darkstalker had made, and that he was planning on using them to take over her throne? It was ridiculous. At least Moon’s prophecy had words, even if no one understood what any of them meant. Well, it wouldn’t be much longer before they had future-seeing dragonets flying all around the rainforest. ‘One in nine’ was what Mastermind had claimed. One in nine NightWings and hybrids would be hatched under at least one full moon, and would be given either mind-reading or future-seeing. More of those was just what Glory needed. At least Moonwatcher behaved, wherever she had gotten off to now. Toxin and the twins could learn a bit from her.
“So you had another vision?” Jambu suddenly asked, curiously watching Toxin. Glory rolled her eyes.
“Yes,” Toxin replied, scratching a claw against the dry creekbed. “There was an IceWing in the Sand Kingdom, with an obsidian dagger. A statue of Blaze was behind her, screaming out in terror. It was scary, not like my other visions. I felt something. Like I was being watched.”
Glory perked up a little. “You saw Blaze?” she asked. She’d been killed too, but Glory hadn’t mentioned that to Toxin. So Toxin was telling the truth, which wasn’t that surprising. Toxin’s visions usually seemed to come true, they just weren’t helpful until afterwards. But, that meant that the assassin was an IceWing. Maybe Queen Glacier was still angry about how the war had ended, and decided to put Sunny in charge? No, that didn’t make any sense; she would’ve put Blaze in charge, and Blaze had been killed along with Thorn. Some other reason? Were there any factions of IceWings that wanted both Thorn and Blaze dead? Maybe the assassin wasn’t allied with the IceWings — Queen Scarlet could have done it. But that was still strange; Queen Scarlet wanted Glory dead, not Thorn.
“Blaze was turned to stone?” Jambu suddenly announced, surprise crossed with a hint of fear on his snout. A few of his hot pink scales started to turn a pale green. Both Glory and Toxin looked at him in confusion. He wasn’t really the deductive type.
“I don’t know,” Toxin responded, “I just saw the statue. I assumed it was metaphorical.” The hybrid frowned. Toxin knew as well as Glory did that Toxin’s visions weren’t metaphorical. They were almost always literal, but unhelpful even so.
“Is something wrong?” Glory asked Jambu.
Jambu shook his head. “Just remembering something. A couple years before I hatched, one of the RainWings dragonets was turned to stone. Liana said that an IceWing did it, but Simian swore it was a talking bird.
“Like . . . a parrot?” Glory snorted. She was doubting the authenticity of this story already, but at least it was something.
Jambu shrugged his wings up and down. “Dunno. But I haven’t trusted parrots since she told me.”
Glory tried to piece together what had really happened. So there was an IceWing assassin with a pet parrot, and she killed a RainWing dragonet by turning them to stone? Then decided to kill Queen Thorn and Blaze over a decade later? It made no sense at all. Maybe Jambu just got something wrong, although she might want to ask Liana about it the next time Glory saw her.
Glory turned back to Toxin, who seemed to be frowning, possibly pondering the same issue. “Was that all?” she asked. “Just the IceWing and Blaze?”
Toxin shook her head. “There was more. The IceWing and Blaze disappeared, and I was in the mountains. There was a really tall one with two peaks. Jade Mountain?”
Glory nodded. There weren’t many other mountains like that.
“Everything was dry, and I was parched. It was a scorching dry, like the desert. There were an empty riverbed, like this one. Then I looked up, and I saw a RainWing I hadn’t seen before falling off a cliff,” Toxin continued.
“Falling?” Jambu asked, shocked. “Could they not fly?”
Toxin shook her head. “One of his wings was burning, and there were holes in it. I could smell it. It was awful. Then I saw another dragon. She had blue scales, like the clearest sky you’ve ever seen, and a iron band around her leg. I think she was a hybrid, like me. She was watching the RainWing fall, her eyes just following him all the way. That was it. The vision ended after that.”
Glory frowned. There was one dragon she knew who could set a RainWing on fire like that. Peril. Had Peril attacked a RainWing? “Do you know if this RainWing or the blue dragon had anything to do with the drought?”
Toxin shook her head. “If I knew, I would have told you. I asked Mastermind, but he said he left the scrolls on interpreting visions on the island.”
Glory sighed. That was what was really urgent here. The drought. She suddenly frowned. “Wait,” she growled, a hint of red appearing in her scales, “you talked to Mastermind about this?”
“Yeah,” Toxin defiantly snorted. “Tiger and I visit him occasionally. He’s interesting, and he gets lonely. What’s it to you?”
Glory quenched her emotions, but noticed Jambu take a step back out of the corner of her eyes. “He’s not someone that either you or Tiger should be talking to! He’s a horrible influence, and he’s being punished for a reason. He kidnapped and tortured RainWings. He’s a war criminal!” Mastermind was very lucky he wasn’t in the quicksand pit anymore. Starflight and Deathbringer had convinced Glory to put him under house arrest instead, so at the moment he lived in a covered pavilion outside the RainWing village on top of a very tall tree, with his wings bound so that if he tried to escape, he’d fall a couple hundred feet and break his neck. It was nice, not having to remember to pull him out of quicksand every so often, and this way no one had to guard him, just give him a shipment of food and water every week or so.
Toxin shrugged her wingblades, as if she didn’t care that she was fraternizing with a murderer. “He’s alright,” she answered, as if she was just trying to annoy Glory with her answer.
Glory seethed. He was most certainly not alright. Very, very not alright. She didn’t care all that much about Toxin, but Tiger was one of the best students at Jade Mountain Academy, and even if Glory didn’t know her too well, she was proud of her. Glory would definitely ask Starflight to give Tiger a talking to. Not Tsunami. Asking Tsunami to yell at a dragonet seemed too cruel, especially since Glory was almost certain it was Toxin who had roped Tiger into talking with Mastermind. She would also have a talk with Mastermind. In fact, that wasn’t a bad idea, especially if he knew something about interpreting visions. “You know?” Glory grinned. “How about we pay Mastermind a visit. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Sure, I’m willing to join you,” Toxin answered. Glory snorted. Glory was the queen. Toxin didn’t get a choice here. She was lucky Glory was such a good queen, Queen Scarlet would’ve had Toxin’s head for that, or worse. Toxin glanced towards Jambu. “Just the three of us, visiting Mastermind together? Sound great.” Glory easily picked up on the hint of sarcasm in Toxin’s voice.
“Yeah!” Jambu answered. “I can give that ugly NightWing a piece of my mind!”
Toxin smirked, and turned back to Glory. Glory held back a groan. She didn’t particularly want to bring Jambu along, but once he got started on something, not even Glory could stop him. Glory glanced back at the dry creekbed. Well, it wasn’t like she had any better ideas.
== Chapter 6 ==
Inferno’s eyes opened from her sleep, and she let out a long yawn. She rolled over, stretching out her legs as she turned to look at her mother. More smoke began to rise up from her scales as she came back to consciousness, slowly filling the cave and floating out through the entrance.
Goat was already awake, and was gnawing at a roasted deer leg, the delicious smell wafting over towards Inferno. In general, food smelled better than it tasted to Inferno. By the time she was able to rip off a piece of meat with her fangs, it would already be charred up. Still, the smell was nice, and if Goat was in a good mood, she was sometimes willing to tear off pieces of meat for Inferno and throw them directly into her dragonet’s jaws, keeping the scorching to a minimum.
Inferno stepped down from her small ledge, and smiled at her mother. Even though Inferno had slept well into morning, as she presumed from Goat’s eating schedule, Inferno had difficulty holding back a small yawn. She was still drowsy. This wasn’t unexpected for her — whenever Inferno talked to Ash, it felt like she hadn’t slept half an entire night’s sleep. What she wouldn’t give to be a RainWing right now, with normal scales and lots of sleep.
Oh, that was right. Ash. They had talked last night. She thought back to the conversation she’d had with her brother. Fortunately, talks with Ash were far easier to remember than a normal dream. She winced. Leaving the Talons. Going to Jade Mountain. Inferno tried to force a smile and think of the positives. She’d be able to meet new dragons, maybe ones that were nicer to her than the ones here. The Talons weren’t so awful that they never let her out of the cave to see the sun, and the previous hideout of the Talons was above-ground, but Inferno would be glad to be outside more. The caves were stuffy. Maybe Inferno would even be able to see the ocean! Apparently, one of the Talons’ really old hideouts was on the ocean, but Queen Scarlet had found it and burned it to the ground. It was unfortunate, Inferno would have loved to live near the ocean. Although she wasn’t quite sure what would happen if she tried to swim . . .
Still, Inferno wouldn’t have to deal with Ochre and Coyote anymore, and wouldn’t be around for her mother’s bad moods. But what if she met even worse dragons at Jade Mountain, ones which wanted to hurt her? At least everyone here was tolerable. What if Peril was there? 
Inferno started to hyperventilate just at that idea. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath, exhaling hot air. Ash had said that Peril probably wouldn’t be at Jade Mountain. She just had to trust that he was right, and if he wasn’t, she was sure he could tell her what to do.
Inferno glanced over towards Goat, trying to get the last few scraps of meat from her leg. Inferno gulped. She wasn’t sure how Goat was going to take this. “Mother,” Inferno announced, pulling Goat’s attention towards her. Goat glanced over towards her daughter, looking slightly annoyed that Inferno was taking her away from her food. “I think I’m going to leave the Talons,” Inferno continued. “I don’t know when I’m going to be back.”
Goat looked at Inferno for a moment, frowning slightly. “Oh,” she answered, spitting out flecks of venison. “Fine. See you around. Don’t get yourself killed, and if you do, don’t tell them I’m here.”
Inferno kept her feigned smile up. That was it? No argument? No ‘you’re too young, it’s too dangerous to leave’? Inferno supposed that it was easier this way, but she was almost hoping that Goat would tell her to stay, saying that this was a stupid idea, and that she’d miss her daughter if she left. Did Goat want Inferno to leave? Inferno knew she secretly did. Inferno was a burden to Goat, and without Inferno around, her mother would be able to live her own life. And it wasn’t that Goat didn’t love her dragonet or wouldn’t miss her, it was just that Goat knew Inferno was an adult, and that she didn’t want to stop Inferno from choosing her own path. Yes, Inferno thought, that must be it. Goat was just a good SkyWing mother, supporting her daughter’s independence.
“Don’t worry,” Inferno replied, forcing a grin, “I’ll be fine.”
Goat snorted, and went back to gnawing on her almost barren bone. Inferno looked down at her belongings. She couldn’t take her entire rock collection, of course, all of the leather and cloth satchels that the other Talons used would instantly go up in flames if she touched them. Still, she would be able to take the agate near her ledge, she could just hold that in her claws. She picked it up, then thought for a moment. It wasn’t as if she could bring food or water either. Well, the flight to Jade Mountain wasn’t too far, and SkyWings generally didn’t need to eat every day, so that wouldn’t be a problem. She could just get water on the way there. If she remembered correctly, high mountains had snow and ice, which was pretty much water or steam as soon as she touched it, so that would be fine.
Inferno stepped out of her and Goat’s cave, taking one last look back at her mother. Goat glanced up towards Inferno uncomfortably, then turned back to her bone. Inferno looked away. That was it. Who knew when she’d next see her mother again?
Unable to resist, Inferno looked back. This time, Goat kept her head down. Embarrassed, Inferno whipped her head around to the tunnel in front of her, and hurried down it. It wasn’t too crowded, fortunately. It was late enough in the morning that most of the Talons were already doing their daily duties, and were out of the way. She smiled at the few dragons she passed, who pressed themselves up against the stone walls in order to keep as much distance between themselves and Inferno as possible.
There was only one dragon who Inferno felt the need to talk to before she left, Riptide. Not because she really wanted to talk to him, but more that he was in charge of remembering who was in the Talons and who wasn’t, and she felt slightly obligated to tell him she was going. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too angry. She really didn’t want to have to deal with any angry dragons.
Inferno slipped through the small entryway into Riptide’s room, folding in her wings. The SeaWing glanced up from a series of scrolls rolled out over the stone floor. Inferno looked down at them, but couldn’t read much of anything on them. Maybe news from the outside world? Or letters from allies?
“Oh, hey Inferno,” the young SeaWing began. “Is something up?”
Inferno smiled. Riptide tried not to show it, but it was pretty clear he was uncomfortable around her. He wasn’t mean to Inferno like Avalanche or Coyote (though to be fair, Avalanche was mean to everyone), and Inferno thought that he genuinely didn’t want to not like her, but she was a difficult dragon to like.
“Er, yeah,” Inferno replied. “I’ve thought about it a bit, and I’ve decided that I’m going to leave the Talons.”
Riptide looked at her for a moment, as if trying to judge if she was being serious or not. His expression turned into a dour frown. “You mean leave as in go out into Pyrrhia?”
Inferno nodded.
Riptide’s expression worsened. “Is Goat coming with you?” he continued.
Inferno shook her head.
Riptide sighed. “Inferno, are you sure? Do you know how many dragons out there would try to kill a fireborn roaming around? I know you’d never hurt them, at least intentionally, but it’d be dangerous, and you’re barely more than a dragonet.”
You were nine when you took charge of the Talons, one year older than I am now, Inferno wanted to reply so she could point out Riptide’s hypocrisy. She was eight, plenty old enough to leave. All the kingdoms which had a draft conscripted dragons by at oldest seven, with some even as young as five. “I know,” Inferno replied politely. She wasn’t quite sure how to reply. “I’ll stay safe.”
Riptide shook his head. “Look, Inferno, it’s not like I want to keep you here, but I can’t let you leave.”
“Riptide, is that your choice to make?”
Inferno turned around as Riptide’s eyes followed behind her. A silvery-black NightWing stood in the doorway, slightly closer to Inferno’s tail than she was comfortable with. The torchlight of the cavern reflected off his scales, causing them to take on a strange orange tint. An elderly tabby slept between Trustbreaker’s horns, flicking his furred ear in his sleep. That was right. Goat had mentioned Trustbreaker was going to arrive today.
“Oh, hello Trustbreaker, welcome back,” Riptide said, with a slight hint of disdain in his voice. Inferno could tell that Riptide was a bit irritated by the older NightWing. Trustbreaker had been in the Talons of Peace far longer than Riptide, and Riptide could get a little annoyed when the NightWing encroached on his authority. “And to be clear, I think it is my choice to make,” Riptide answered, “I’m in charge here.”
Trustbreaker expression or tone didn’t seem to change. “In charge of the Talons, maybe, but not of the lives of the dragons within it. And if Inferno has decided she isn’t in it, I think that means you’re no longer in charge of her. If she wants to risk the real world, that’s her choice. She’s not a crawling dragonet anymore. But if you want to try and stand in the way of Inferno and the cave’s exit, be my guest.”
Inferno stepped to the side uncomfortably. She liked Trustbreaker arguing in her favor, but it was still a bit strange. And if Riptide really wanted to stop her, he probably could. She wouldn’t disobey his direct orders.
Riptide flicked out his forked tongue with a glare. Trustbreaker was right about one thing — it wasn’t like he, or any dragon alive, could actually stop Inferno from leaving. One of the benefits of having firescales was that dragons tended to get out of your path very, very quickly.
“Fine, she can go,” Riptide growled, maybe a little too quickly. She doubted the grim SeaWing would miss her too much. Unlike him, she was a bit of a nuisance to the Talons of Peace. Chances were that he partly wanted her to leave. Riptide turned to look at Inferno. “But don’t come crying back to us when no one will accept you.”
Inferno felt a pang of anxiety. Maybe Riptide was right. Maybe she’d be out in Pyrrhia, with no home to go back to, and no one to live with. Maybe dragons would try and hunt her down. Maybe this was a bad idea. No, she had to trust Ash. If he thought that it would be more dangerous staying here, he was probably right.
Trustbreaker glanced over to Inferno. “Do you mind if I ask where you’re going? Just in case Goat or one of us wants to go find you.”
Inferno hesitated for a moment. Ash had said she wasn’t safe here. Would it just be better to not tell anyone where she was going? Probably not. It wasn’t as if word wouldn’t get back to the Talons anyways. “Jade Mountain Academy,” Inferno replied, “but maybe somewhere else after that.”
“Jade Mountain?” Trustbreaker replied, slightly surprised. “I thought . . .”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but Inferno averted his eyes. She knew what he was going to say. ‘I thought Peril was there.’
Riptide’s expression softened. “Oh, Jade Mountain?” he commented with a hint of relief. “Why didn’t you just say so? That’s a good choice. You’ll be in good paws.” That was right. Tsunami, one of the Dragonets of Destiny and Riptide’s mate, was head of the academy there. Inferno wasn’t quite sure if that was a positive or a negative, but at least Tsunami would be glad to hear how Riptide was doing.
The three dragons stood in awkward silence for a moment. Sapphire stretched out his paw, brushing it against Trustbreaker’s horns as he yawned.
Inferno finally broke it. “So, can I leave now?”
Riptide hesitated for a moment. “Yeah, sure. If you come back, make sure to tell me how Tsunami is doing, alright?”
Inferno nodded, slightly confused, and stepped out of the cavern, Trustbreaker backing up so she could get through without touching him. She glanced over at the NightWing as soon as the two of them were out of Riptide’s earshot. “Didn’t he say he didn’t want me coming back?”
Trusbreaker shrugged his wings. “As long as you say something good about Tsunami, I’m sure he’ll forget all about it. So, it’s true that you’re going to Jade Mountain?”
Was Trustbreaker asking Inferno if she had lied to Riptide? “Er, yeah,” she answered. “I am.”
Trustbreaker looked at her for a moment. It seemed like he wanted to ask what had changed, but he held his tongue. “Good luck,” he answered, “and remember, you always have a place here in the Talons if you need it.”
Inferno nodded. “Thank you,” she replied, “for everything.”
Trustbreaker smiled as Inferno stepped away, walking towards the exit of the caverns, the agate still in her claws. A bright ray of light entered through it, and Inferno almost rushed into it, even though took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the direct sunlight. Clean, dry air entered her lungs, unlike the damp, stuffy smell of the caverns. Small foothills of the Claws of the Clouds were visible behind her, and the skies were clear. That was fortunate, it would make flying easier.
Although there were trees hiding the cave entrance, there was a small clearing not too far from it. Inferno walked towards it, the grass around her claws sizzling and crisping with every step she made. She looked down in worry. If she wasn’t careful, she could start a fire. On her flight, she would need to make sure that she didn’t land anywhere too dry.
Inferno spread out her wide wings, and pushed them down, creating a gust of air beneath them. It took a few more flaps until she finally gained enough lift to take off. The wind whipped against the scales on her snout as she flew upwards, the clouds getting closer with every wingbeat, and the home she’d spent much of her life in growing smaller and smaller beneath her.
It was less than an hour before Inferno realized that she wasn’t alone in the skies. The wind was loud, which made it difficult for her to hear the dragon behind her, but a haphazard glance back caused her to see the dark speck in the distance, with the familiar shape of wings spreading out from the dragon’s sides like two straight lines. Inferno tensed up. How long had she been followed?
As if realizing that Inferno had noticed them, the dragon swooped upwards, hiding in a cloud. Inferno gulped. Well, it wasn’t like Inferno was in danger. Even if someone was following her, they couldn’t lay a talon on her, or else . . . Inferno didn’t want to think about what would happen. Anyways, she was leaving the Talons of Peace, not going towards it. There wasn’t much danger of their pseudo-secret hideout being discovered.
Inferno continued flying for a few minutes longer, worry still plaguing her mind. She glanced back again. She could see a hint of color in the clouds. She sighed. She might as well get this over with.
“Hello?” Inferno called out, raising one of her wings as she banked to the left, reversing her direction. She started flying towards where the other dragon was. “Are you there? Why are you following me?”
Familiar aquamarine scales lowered themselves through the white cloud-cover, as a slightly ashamed SeaWing’s eyes met Inferno’s. Inferno frowned, confused. What was Seahorse doing here?
“Er, I can explain,” Seahorse quickly said. “I heard that you were going to Jade Mountain Academy, and I have, um, a relative there I kind of wanted to see, so I thought I’d catch up with you and see if you would be fine if I went with you.”
“Go with me?” Inferno asked, unsure. “Why me?” She looked over Seahorse. He had certainly packed. He was carrying a huge cloth sack, a large waterskin and a scrollcase. Inferno looked closer at the sack. It was visibly sagging, and Inferno thought it looked quite heavy. How was Seahorse able to fly with whatever he had in it? And even more, how had he been able to catch up to Inferno, a SkyWing? Wasn’t she supposed to be a really fast flyer or something? Well, Inferno was pretty out of practice, and Seahorse seemed pretty strong. So maybe it wasn’t that weird.
“Um,” Seahorse stammered, “the dragon I want to talk to, you see, she has a bit of a grudge against me, probably for good reasons, and I kind of want to apologize, but I’m also a bit worried she might just get really angry, and you seem like the perfect dragon for helping me with her.” Seahorse gulped, his teal flushed with embarrassment.
Inferno almost laughed. Inferno was the perfect dragon for helping Seahorse out? That was ridiculous. Chances were that Inferno would just end up scaring Seahorse’s relative away, if not the rest of the academy. She was probably the worst dragon for whatever Seahorse wanted. Why couldn’t Seahorse just do it himself? Back in the Talons, the SeaWing had seemed so confident in his own scales Inferno doubted there was anything he couldn’t do if he put his mind to it. Still, Inferno didn’t want to let Seahorse down, especially when it seemed like the SeaWing was so desperate.
“I mean, I can try,” Inferno answered. 
Seahorse sighed in relief. “Thank you, so much,” he replied. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”
Inferno nodded. “Yeah. No problem.” As Inferno turned herself back around, going further towards Jade Mountain, she suddenly remembered what Ash had said last night. Inferno was in danger in the Talons of Peace. What if Seahorse was that danger, and Inferno had just invited him to go to Jade Mountain together? And Ash had told Inferno to be wary of Seahorse. Which was the opposite of what Inferno had just done. Ugh, she was so stupid. What could she do now? She couldn’t just ask Seahorse to leave. Maybe she’d ask Ash about it the next time she saw him. He could help, and if Seahorse was the danger he’d mentioned, he would have told Inferno. Right?
== Chapter 7 ==
The desert was hot and dry, exactly the same as the last time Sunny had been there. The SandWing palace wasn’t much better; it didn’t do a very good job at keeping out the heat. Sunny didn’t particularly like the weather here, even though she felt like she should have. She was a SandWing, the desert was her home. Although, being part NightWing, she supposed it was only half her home. She didn’t really belong in the desert, unlike the three SandWing guards that stood at its front.
“Halt,” one of the SandWings commanded to Sunny as she approached the entrance to the fort. He looked young, maybe a year older than Sunny herself, and seemed somewhat uncomfortable in this position. “We’re not allowing any visitors in right now, sorry.”
Sunny sighed, and reached into her small leather satchel to pull out the scroll had sent her. She handed it to the SandWing, who carefully opened it, quickly reading through the contents. His eyes opened in surprise as he realized who he was talking to, and quickly bowed his head. “Your majesty,” he stammered, “I’m sorry for delaying your entrance. Armadillo got rid of a lot of the old guards, so we’re all new here.”
The other two SandWings were unsure for a moment what was going on, then quickly realized that this small, strangely shaped SandWing was to be their new queen. They bowed their necks to Sunny before she could say a word.
Sunny forced a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s fine,” she replied. “And you can all just call me Sunny. Do you know where Armadillo is?”
The SandWing thought for a moment before nodding. “I’d be glad to take you to him, your ma — Sunny.”
Sunny nodded. “Thank you. That would be great.” She felt like she should ask this SandWing his name, but wasn’t quite sure she was in the mood for any sort of casual conversation. At the moment, all she wanted to do was get introductions Armadillo over with. Then maybe find someplace quiet she could just be alone in. She deserved that much.
The SandWing opened the gates into the palace, leading Sunny through the great entrance. As he closed them behind her, she heard one of the other two guards whisper, “Did you see her tail?” before getting shushed by the third. She couldn’t bring herself to care. It wasn’t important.
Beautiful spirals and patterns were carved into the sandstone walls of the palace, some of them painted in blues and reds. The evening sun shone in through some of the small archways on the sides of the hall, although much of the light came from dim torches. The palace was beautiful, although Sunny had heard that it was so much more magnificent back in the time of Queen Oasis. There used to be tapestries and paintings hung along the walls, and gems and precious metals inlaid in the cracks, but most of that had been either sold or destroyed by Princess Burn during the war, or put into the Sand Kingdom’s fragile wealth reserves by Queen Thorn afterwards. At least the weirdling tower and the severed heads on pikes outside the wall were gone now.
Eventually, the SandWing led Sunny into a small room off the main corridor. Sunny peered around it. A large map of the Sand Kingdom was hung up behind an old wooden desk, with scrolls neatly arranged on it. One was rolled open in the middle of the desk, as a SandWing looked down on it with a scowl.
“Er, Armadillo,” the guard started to say. The SandWing glanced up from his desk, looking slightly irritated that his work had been interrupted. “The queen is here.”
Queen. Sunny didn’t like the sound of that. But she didn’t really get a choice here, did she? The Eye of Onyx chose her mother as queen, and now it was Sunny’s turn. Unless the Eye decided to choose someone else. Maybe that was possible. Maybe Sunny could find a dragon who’d be a better queen than her, and she could just go back to teaching.
Armadillo’s snout perked up. He wasn’t an old dragon. Maybe a couple of years younger than Thorn was, before her death. Still, the stress in his scales made him look a bit older than he actually was. Clearly, the last week had not been good on him. His scales were a bright orangish-yellow, and his small sail seemed to be stout and flat. Sunny glimpsed his tail curling back and forth beneath the desk, the tip of Armadillo’s barb dull and unintimidating. A small golden chain was strung between his two horns, with little bejeweled vials hanging from it that looked like they might contain things like ink or scraps of paper, along with a few keychains. A bracelet made of two intertwined strands of metal, one copper and one gold, wrapped around his left foreleg. Armadillo wasn’t quite as small as Sunny, but he was still dwarfed by the SandWing that had led Sunny into the palace. He seemed maybe slightly malnourished — Sunny could see the outline of some of his skull pushing up against his scales. Strange for a dragon that lived in a palace. 
Yet, even if Armadillo seemed physically nonthreatening, he had this glimpse of desperation and ambition in his eyes that set Sunny on edge. Sunny wondered why Thorn trusted this dragon so much that he and Six-Claws were the only ones who knew about Stonemover, and therefore Sunny’s hybrid heritage. It was even more unusual that Sunny hadn’t ever seen him before. Thorn had mentioned him occasionally, but Sunny didn’t remember seeing Armadillo with any of the other Outclaws.
Armadillo smiled gently, causing Sunny to awkwardly cringe a smile back. “Your majesty,” he introduced himself, bowing his head slightly, “I don’t think we have ever been formally acquainted. I am Armadillo. I was advisor to your mother for over ten years, and have been instructed by her to lead the transition between her rule and yours in the unfortunate event of her death.”
Armadillo glanced to the side, and pulled out a small scroll from his carefully arranged stack. He opened it up, and passed it to Sunny. “Can you read?”
“Yes, I can read,” Sunny answered, slightly annoyed that Armadillo had assumed she couldn’t. “I teach at a school.” Armadillo only nodded in approval.
Sunny glanced over the scroll. It was long, and Armadillo pointed a talon blackened from ink marks at a few lines. Sunny recognized her mother’s script from a series of letters they had been sending back and forth to each other. It stated almost exactly what Armadillo had said: ‘In the event of my death, if not caused through an official royal challenge, my advisor Armadillo will be in charge of the Sand Kingdom as acting queen until my successor has taken my place. If he is unable to perform this role, for whatever reason, Six-Claws will take his place.’ Armadillo moved his claw lower down on the scroll. ‘My chosen successor (subject to the choice of the Eye of Onyx) will be my only daughter, Princess Sunny.’
“She wanted to make sure there was a clear successor if she didn’t die through a challenge,” Armadillo explained, “so that nothing like the War of SandWing Succession occurs again.” He seemed to be holding his tongue slightly, as if he thought the whole thing was actually his idea instead of Sunny’s mother.
Sunny nodded. “Alright,” she replied tersely.
Armadillo glanced to the SandWing guard, still awaiting directions. “Creosote, can you leave us? Wait outside the room please.”
Creosote nodded, and stepped away from the two.
Armadillo looked at Sunny after Creosote left. “I wanted to give you my condolences,” he replied. “Your mother was a great dragon, both as a friend and as a queen. She will be dearly missed by everyone.”
Sunny averted her eyes away from Armadillo. She felt her breath speed up slightly, and her wings get tense. She didn’t want to talk about this in front of a dragon she barely knew. “Yeah,” she whispered.
“Did Six-Claws tell you . . . what happened?” Armadillo asked uncomfortably.
“Assassin,” Sunny muttered unhappily. It wasn’t anything unusual, she supposed. Just a normal queen thing. Thorn had to have known the risks of the job.
Armadillo grimaced. “Not exactly. There was . . . more. You should probably see for yourself, if you’re . . . willing to.”
Sunny thought for a moment. Armadillo was offering to show Sunny her mother, or at least what was left of her. She didn’t know if she could do it, but this might be the only chance she got. To say goodbye; to see her one last time. “Alright.”
“If you’re worried about decay,” Armadillo muttered, “there’s none of that. Her body has been, er, well-preserved.”
Well-preserved? Sunny wondered. What was that supposed to mean?
Armadillo got up from his desk, and walked out of the small room. Sunny quickly followed. “Creosote, follow us to the treasury, but stay outside the entrance,” Armadillo ordered the young guard. He nodded, and trailed behind the two, carefully glancing around, as if to make sure there weren’t any assassins hiding in the walls.
Armadillo led the two of them to one of the treasury rooms. He took off one of the keys from the chain between his horns and inserted it into the lock, quickly fiddling with it as he unlocked the treasury door. “Creosote, stay there, and don’t look in,” Armadillo demanded. Creosote nodded.
Armadillo pushed the door open a crack, allowing Sunny to enter in it. As she glanced around the almost empty room, she let out a slight gasp as she saw two stone dragons in the center of the room. “No,” she whispered.
Sunny stepped towards the corpse of her mother, frozen with her jaws spread wide as she attempted to burn off her own tail. Only a hint of fear remained in her expression. As Sunny walked over her, she suddenly stubbed a claw on the ground. She glanced down. The surface of the sandstone beneath her was warped in a puddle around her. Not far behind Thorn was a similar stone statue of Blaze, though Sunny barely noticed.
“Mom,” Sunny whispered, wrapping her wings around Thorn’s cold body. A few tears started to slide from her eyes. A small scrape of claws from behind caused her to turn around. Armadillo still stood there uncomfortably. She suddenly realized that if Armadillo wanted to, he could kill Sunny right here, and no one could do anything about it. Creosote had been hired by Armadillo, not Thorn, and would probably do whatever Armadillo asked him to do. So if Armadillo really was the one who had done this to Sunny’s mother . . .
“Can I have a moment by myself?” Sunny croaked, fear pulsing through her.
“Of course,” Armadillo replied, relieved that he could leave. He quickly scuttled out of the room, leaving Sunny with Thorn and Blaze.
Sunny continued sobbing for a bit, just holding the stone figure of her mother close to her, even knowing that Thorn was entirely gone from it by now. “I’m sorry,” Sunny whimpered, “I’m so sorry.” She knew there was nothing she could have done, but still. Why hadn’t she gotten to know her mother better? Spent more time with her? In her time growing up with the other dragonets, all of them had dreamt of having a parent like Thorn they could be with. And now she was gone. Sunny had wasted the last three years when she could have been here in the palace, getting to know her mother.
She quickly resolved to herself that she would spend more time with Stonemover from now on. Even if her father was cold and distant, she needed to know him better. For Thorn’s sake. More tears slipped from the young hybrid’s eyes, staining the floor beneath her. As her claws scraped against Thorn’s stone scales, the scratching sound caused Sunny to shiver. That combined with already having her father on her mind reminded Sunny of something. Stonemover’s scales had a similar sheen and texture to whatever had happened to Thorn. What if it was the same curse? Stonemover said that he’d started to turn his scales to stone to prevent himself from losing his soul . . . what if he’d done this to Thorn?
Sunny shook her head. No, that was impossible. She scolded herself just for considering the idea. Stonemover would never do something like this. He didn’t use magic anymore, so his soul had to be intact. More importantly, he had loved Thorn. He’d be devastated to hear of what happened, maybe even more than Sunny herself. Still, it was a lead. Maybe Sunny would send him a letter about it. Then the two of them could bring whoever had done this to justice.
Sunny started sobbing again. It was too early for her to think about avenging her mother’s death. She continued like this for a while, just holding her mother’s body within her wings, unsure what else she could do. Even if she was dead, maybe there was something left of Thorn within her stone husk.
After some time, when Sunny had no more tears to cry, she pulled her wings away from her mother. That was enough. Thorn wouldn’t have wanted Sunny to be sad like this. Thorn would have told Sunny that she was stronger than this, and that she needed to face her new duties to the Sand Kingdom. Sunny turned around, and dragging her tail, went to the doors of the treasury. She made sure not to look back.
Sunny opened the doors to see Armadillo and Creosote, patiently waiting outside. Creosote avoided making eye contact with Sunny whereas Armadillo quickly turned to her, only paying the tears still on her wet snout a short glance. “Are you good?” Armadillo asked.
“I’m fine,” Sunny grumbled. She glanced down at Armadillo’s paws, and noticed that he held a small envelope in his claws.
Armadillo followed Sunny’s eyes, and held the envelope open. Sunny saw a small red glob of wax on the parchment, holding it closed. A seal, and from the crown on it, a royal one. “It’s for you, if you want it,” Armadillo responded, not yet handing it to Sunny.
“Why is it already opened?” Sunny asked, noticing that someone had already clawed apart the top of the envelope.
“There could have been poison,” Armadillo answered matter-of-factly.
Sunny frowned. “Have you read it already?”
Armadillo tilted his head. “Yes,” he honestly replied, “as acting queen, it is my duty to fulfil all the roles the queen would do, such as reading royally sealed letters.”
“As acting queen?” Sunny said, slightly irritated. She didn’t know this dragon, and still didn’t like him taking charge of the kingdom so quickly after Thorn’s death. Even if he didn’t kill Sunny when he had the chance, she wasn’t sure she trusted him yet. “I’m here. I thought I was queen now?”
“That depends,” Armadillo steadily answered, “on whether or not you accept the position.”
Sunny considered it for a moment. “You’re saying that I have a choice? So I can choose not to become queen?” She’d thought about it. Maybe the Eye of Onyx could choose someone else. “Who would be queen if I didn’t want to?”
Armadillo glanced down, his mood becoming suddenly much more dour. “Read the letter,” he muttered, passing the piece of scrollpaper to Sunny.
To the Honorable Sunny,
   I am sorry to hear of your mother’s loss. Even if her rule was illegitimate, the Honorable Thorn’s reign over the Sand Kingdom was beneficial to the kingdom and my subjects, and I have no quarrel with either you or her for the death of my mother, the late Princess Blister. I only ask that you relinquish your hold on the throne immediately to its rightful owner, myself. If you comply, I offer full immunity and forgiveness to yourself and any dragons who took part in the Honorable Thorn’s short regime. If not, I have loyal SandWings that will be utilized to secure the throne by force. You have until we reach the eastern border of the Sand Kingdom to abdicate.
Her Highness,
Princess Aloe of the SandWings
Armadillo grimaced. “It came yesterday, exchanged through a series of unknowing couriers. I haven’t been able to any information on who Aloe is, and whether or not she’s actually Blister’s daughter, but the royal seal is legitimate. It’s not impossible that Blister had dragonets. But a letter from one of our diplomats in the Mud Kingdom came this morning verifying that she has dragons loyal to her. They were spotted on the southern border of the Mud Kingdom, but we’re not sure how many there are. No final decisions have been made, but it looks like Queen Moorhen isn’t going to send out troops against them, since they’re not technically trespassing, and the sudden drought conditions have made a potential rebellion in the north an issue for her.”
Blister’s daughter. Sunny remembered Blister more than she would have liked to. Black diamonds on her scales and a conniving grin of ruthless evil. She’d been the one who Morrowseer had chosen and tried to force the dragonets to support, and she was the one who had killed Kestrel. Eventually, Blister had met her end when she’d tried to take the Eye of Onyx from Thorn. She’d been deemed unworthy of being queen, and had been zapped into oblivion by it.
“We can’t let Aloe be queen,” Sunny grimaced. “Not if she’s Blister’s daughter. Why don’t we just invite Aloe here, and make her hold the Eye of Onyx? Everyone knows now that’s what deemed Thorn’s reign legitimate. She can’t expect to be accepted as queen unless she does it.” Still, Sunny was worried. She knew she herself was from from being as bad a dragon as Blister was, but what if the Eye of Onyx didn’t accept her as queen? Was she really worthy?
“Maybe,” Armadillo answered skeptically, “but if she’s anything like her mother, assuming she’s not lying about that, then she probably has some plan to get around it. And slightly more importantly . . .” Armadillo winced slightly as he said this “the Eye of Onyx was stolen.”
“Stolen?” Sunny exclaimed. “No,” she replied, shaking her head. “It can’t be stolen. Wouldn’t whoever stole it just end up like Blister?”
“That’s what I thought, but it’s gone. Thorn usually wore it around her neck, but we had a fake made, just in case an unaware dragon tried to steal it. The fake is still there, but the real one is gone. It wasn’t on Thorn when we found her.”
Sunny gulped. Did that mean whoever took it was worthy to be queen? “Maybe they wrapped it in cloth, and it didn’t kill them because of that? How did the scavengers get away with it in the first place?”
“Maybe,” Armadillo pondered, “that’s what I was thinking. Aloe must have sent the assassin to kill Thorn and Blaze, then steal the Eye of Onyx somehow so that it wouldn’t get in her way.”
Sunny nodded. That story seemed to add up. But still, something didn’t make sense — there was clearly animus magic involved here. How did the assassin turn Thorn to stone? Maybe Aloe’s assassin had some sort of magical artifact.
“So,” Armadillo said, almost pleadingly, “what do you plan to do? Are you going to accept the throne?”
Sunny gulped. She didn’t want to answer this question. She still wasn’t sure if she was worthy to be queen of the Sand Kingdom. But there was one thing she knew. “I don’t know. But we can’t let Aloe be queen. Not if she killed Thorn. I need time, please.”
Armadillo solemnly nodded. He turned towards Creosote. “Can you take Sunny to her quarters?”
Creosote nodded. “This way, your majesty.”
He walked further into the palace and Sunny followed, leaving Armadillo behind. The two went up a curved of stairs and down a hallway before Creosote stopped. “This is the queen’s room, I think,” he announced.
Sunny turned to see two large doors in front of her. She put her claws around the handles, and quickly opened them. They were unlocked. She glanced towards Creosote.
He shifted from side to side, uncomfortable in his probable queen’s gaze. “I’ll ask Armadillo to get you keys as soon as possible.”
Sunny nodded, and pushed the doors open. The room inside was more bare than she had expected, but it was obvious that her mother had been sleeping in here up until recently. Sunny’s heart sunk. There was a small dresser by the bed, with two scrolls on it, along with a piece of jewelry that Sunny instantly recognized, the moonstone pendant that Thorn had always worn. She knew that Stonemover had given Thorn it, and she’d kept it all those years, hoping he’d return to her.
“Please go,” Sunny whispered back to Creosote, who quickly complied. She walked up to the dresser, and looked down at the piece of jewelry, stroking it with her claws like it was as fragile as glass. She was gone, and Sunny had to take her place.
== Chapter 8 ==
One had to fly across the Claws of the Clouds to get to Crosswinds, and while there were easy routes through the mountains, these were frequently used by MudWings flying back and forth to the Mud Kingdom. Torrent had instead forced Slate to go with him through a longer route between the peaks, so to, as Torrent claimed, ‘attract less attention.’ Slate wasn’t sure why that mattered. Pyrrhia was mostly at peace, as far as he knew. Sure, the SkyWings were definitely hostile towards the new RainWing-NightWing Kingdom, and the IceWings didn’t seem too happy about the merging either, but so far, no war had broken out between them. Even if it was mainly MudWings who traversed that section, the Claws of the Clouds were neutral territory. Torrent didn’t have to be scared of being detained or attacked for being a SeaWing anymore.
Still, Torrent had insisted that they stay out of sight as much as possible, and Slate wasn’t really sure he had any choice in the matter. So, the two flew between two mountain peaks. The cold, dry air only made Slate more parched. He glanced over at Torrent. The SeaWing had brought a waterskin with him. He’d been unexpectedly kind enough to share it with Slate, but it was small, and there wasn’t enough for the both of them, so the two had been forced to ration it on the flight here. Fortunately, some of the taller mountains still had snow, so the two had taken a detour to collect some of that as their drinking water. That would hopefully last them to Crosswinds, where the Great Five-Tail River ran through from the mountains.
Still, if this drought was magically caused like the SeaWing claimed it was, Slate hoped that they’d be able to end it soon. He still wasn’t quite sure what Torrent had meant when he said that Slate could ‘break the curse,’ but it seemed pretty urgent, especially for the Mud Kingdom. Animus magic — the idea frightened Slate, but at the same time gave the young dragon a feeling of thrill and exhilaration. Almost every dragon in Pyrrhia knew what animus magic was, although at least until Blister’s death three years ago, there’d been plenty of skeptics in the Mud Kingdom. But few had seen it themselves. Slate was almost proud that he had joined those ranks: the thing with the pebbles turning into treasure that Torrent did was clearly magic. Slate had asked Torrent if he was an animus, and had gotten a howl of laughter in response, followed by a terse ‘no.’
Slate looked up at Torrent mid-flight. Irritatingly, the SeaWing had kept his jaws shut for a lot of the trip. “After we get to Crosswinds, how am I going to break the curse?” he asked excitedly. “Will I get magic powers, like you?”
Torrent snorted. “Magic powers?”
Slate nodded. “Yeah, like that thing with the making the ground muddy. You did that, right? Will I, like, be able to do that to all of Pyrrhia somehow? That sounds cool.”
Torrent laughed. “I don’t have magic powers. As I told you, I’m not an animus. Practically the furthest thing form it.” Torrent reached his talons to his side and pulled out a dagger. Slate flinched at the sharp metal blade. “This is what does it. It’s enchanted to do things like break curses.”
“Ah,” Slate replied. “Wait, then why don’t you stop the curse with it?”
Torrent shrugged his forelegs. “I can’t stop it without finding the artifact which caused the curse in the first place.”
Slate thought for a moment. “Then what am I supposed to do? Find the artifact? I thought I was the one who was supposed to break it.”
Torrent flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth. “Maybe. Maybe not. Not quite sure.”
Slate frowned. The wind seemed to get a touch colder. “You’re . . . not quite sure?” This wasn’t really what he was expecting. How was he supposed to break a curse if no one told him how? He was starting to lose his faith that the SeaWing had any idea what he was doing. At least his mother had gotten a bunch of jewelry out of it. Unless it all turned back into pebbles.
Torrent nodded. “Sorry,” he yawned.
“Then why are we going to Crosswinds?” Slate demanded, a hint of anger in his voice.
Torrent gave Slate a cautious stare. “I’m visiting my daughter, Midnight. She lives there.”
Slate growled impatiently. “Why? How can your daughter help us stop the drought?”
“I’m not sure,” Torrent answered, this time starting to look a bit irritated, “but I’m worried she might have something to do with it, which is why I’m visiting her.”
Slate thought for a moment. Why would his daughter have something to do with the drought? And something caught his attention. “Midnight isn’t a SeaWing name,” he frowned, confused.
Torrent tsked. “She’s a hybrid. Like your mother.”
Slate grew immediately uncomfortable at the mention of his mother’s SandWing heritage. But he was also intrigued. Slate knew that there were other hybrids out there, but he’d never met any before. Midnight sounded like it was a NightWing name. Did that mean she was half-SeaWing, half-NightWing? Could she read minds, or tell the future? Probably not. After they’d lost their homeland, the NightWings had said they’d lost their powers with it, although there were conflicting rumors from the southern border with the rainforest.
Slate wondered how it was being a hybrid in Crosswinds. He knew that both MudWings and SandWings lived there, although ‘in harmony’ was a bit of an optimistic point of view. He’d talked with Fawn about moving there before, but the topic had been dropped. Maybe once this drought was over, they could go there. There had to be more hybrids there, and if a NightWing-SeaWing could really live there, and maybe even be happy, Fawn and Slate could too. Especially with that much treasure. They could live like queens.
A glint of light flashed off the sharp blade still in Torrent’s paw. “What will happen if she does have something to do with it?”
Torrent grinned toothily as he twisted the dagger mid-air, causing Slate to gulp. “Then you might not be needed for this after all.”
Slate squirmed his wings uncomfortably, causing himself to accidentally take a short dip downwards. He quickly recovered his previous height. Was the SeaWing threatening to kill his dragonet? Slate had been taught that the sib group of a SeaWing, their ‘immediate families,’ included not only their actual sibs, but their parents and dragonets too, sometimes even more relatives. It was ridiculously complicated, especially since two dragons that were immediate families with each other could not have the same immediate families. Slate knew some sibs with serious disputes in their groups, but killing your own sib . . . that was a horrid thing to do. It was one of those crimes in the Mud Kingdom that was punishable by execution. He glanced over at Torrent. If this dragon was willing to murder his own daughter, Slate wasn’t so sure he was safe around Torrent anymore. Perhaps Torrent had a good reason for it. Slate hoped.
----It only took another two days for the two to reach Crosswinds. They entered in the early evening, as the colors of the sunset were just starting to peek out of the clear blue sky. The small city sprawled around the dry, flat ground, with gentle hills quickly rising into the Claws of the Clouds to the east. Slate could easily spot a large bending trail winding through the city without any sort of houses on it, like an empty clearing. He suddenly realized what it was — the dry riverbed of the Great Five-Tail River, with barely a trickle of water through its deepest point.
Torrent snorted. “It’s gotten bigger since I visited last year,” he muttered to no one in particular. Slate wasn’t surprised. Since the war had ended, a number of the MudWings unhappy with their prospects in the Mud Kingdom, had moved to Crosswinds, and its population, like many of the other settlements along the Great Five-Tail River, had almost doubled in the past three years. A number of SandWings unhappy with Queen Thorn had moved here too, and even a few SkyWings.
The two flew down towards the edge of the city, catching the eyes of a small group of MudWings, most likely sibs, beneath. So much for not wanting to be seen, Slate thought, slightly irked that they’d spent extra time in the mountains just to be caught on arrival. Still, the MudWings didn’t bother either of them. That was good.
“Don’t talk to anyone, and you’ll be left alone,” Torrent warned Slate. “I don’t want to cause any trouble for Midnight.”
Trouble other than yourself, Slate thought to himself. He followed closely behind the SeaWing in silence. As long as he was near the hulking SeaWing, Slate doubted anyone would want to cause trouble. Torrent was large, and the burn scars across his snout and gills just made him look more intimidating. The MudWings that had watched them on their way down carefully avoided getting too close to Torrent as he gave them a glare of suspicion.
The two walked along narrow roads and alleyways, with Slate noticing that Torrent was careful to avoid any larger spaces as much as he could. Apparently, he still wanted to avoid catching the eyes of too many dragons. As the two walked down a small alleyway, Slate noticed a SandWing lounging about in it, flicking his claws against the barb on his tail. As Torrent started to pass, the SandWing glanced at him in suspicion. His eyes immediately went to the dagger on Torrent’s side.
Suddenly, the SandWing’s jaws opened wide in surprise. “You . . .” he stammered as he stared on at Torrent, “you’re—”
“Shut up,” Torrent suddenly growled, his tail whipping around as he turned towards the SandWing with terrifying speed. The SandWing’s barb instantly went up in defense, moving between his snout and Torrent’s jaws. Torrent kept his composure, and didn’t move as the frightened SandWing shook. “I’m no one. You didn’t see me.”
The SandWing quickly nodded. “Yes sir,” he whispered, relaxing as Torrent pulled his sharp fangs back. Without pause, Torrent walked further down the alleyway, Slate trotting behind him. The MudWing glanced back to see that the SandWing’s eyes were following Torrent, his expression a mixture between fear and admiration.
After the two had left him behind, Slate quickly caught up to Torrent, the small dragonet attempting to walk beside him in the narrow alleyway. “What was that all about?” he asked. “Do you know him?”
Torrent shook his head. “No, but he knows me. I’m a bit of a local legend in this town. I had a small . . . public incident with an animus here a few years back. Before you were born.”
   Slate could tell Torrent was trying to hide a smirk of pride. An animus. That must have been where all that enchanted treasure came from. And a public incident with one? What was this SeaWing?
Torrent suddenly stopped, Slate almost walking past him. “Come on,” Torrent said. “We’re here.”
Slate found himself standing in front of the door a small house. He thought it looked somewhat run-down, and he could tell that there were repairs being made to it constantly. There were faded scorchmarks over a number of the bricks, and the door seemed to have been made up of at least five types of wood, fragily stapled onto each other into a conglomerate. The roof had a few holes in it, but given the lack of rain, that probably didn’t need to be urgently repaired.
“Is this where Midnight lives?” Slate asked.
Torrent nodded. “Probably. It’s been close to a year since I’ve been by, so it’s possible she’s moved since then, but I doubt it. Even if she has, I can find her if she’s still nearby.” He tapped a claw to his dagger. Slate felt like there was something he was missing here, but with the SeaWing so clearly keeping secrets from him, the feeling had become ordinary over the past week.
Torrent quietly knocked his claws against the door. A few moments later, it opened slightly, and Slate could see the yellow scales of an elderly SandWing looking the crack. Presumably not Midnight.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” the SandWing asked, suspicious of the visitors. Her voice croaked with age, grating on Slate’s ears, and she let out a raspy cough. She looked from Torrent to Slate, and back again.
“Hello Gazelle. It’s Torrent and a friend,” Torrent responded patiently. “We visited here last year, remember?”
No hint of recognition crossed the SandWing’s expression. “No. Go away.”
Torrent sighed sadly. “Can you ask Midnight? She’ll know who we are.”
“There’s no Midnight here. Go away.”
Another voice sounded from further into the house, this one the sound of a young dragon, around Slate’s age. “Thank you Gazelle, but you can let them in. I know them,” she sighed, a hint of stress in her voice. “This is Torrent. He’s my father.” Slate guessed that was Midnight. 
“Are you sure?” Gazelle called back. “I don’t like him.”
“Yes,” Midnight answered, “I don’t like him much either, but you still need to let him in.” Slate saw Torrent wince at the comment. Honestly, Slate didn’t blame Midnight after hearing Torrent’s threat against her earlier. He still wasn’t quite sure what that was about.
Gazelle paused a moment, and gave the two visitors a wary glare before opening the door far enough to let them through. Torrent gave a nod of gratitude to the SandWing, and walked through the opening first. Slate could barely avoid staring at Gazelle as he walked past. She had to have been the oldest dragon Slate had ever seen, so old that if he was told she was a veteran in the Scorching he would’ve believed it. Her scales seemed dull and cracked, and her legs were weak. Slate could almost see through her wing membrane. Each of her movements was slow and fragile, as if her bones were made of glass.
The house was small, but seemed to be well organized. Midnight and Gazelle didn’t seem to have too many belongings, but Slate could see a broken scrollshelf in one of the corners. Apparently, Midnight knew how to read. Slate grew slightly envious.
Midnight herself was standing up in the center of the room. Slate could clearly see that she was a hybrid. Unlike Slate, there was no hiding that for Midnight. Most of her scales were a dark blue, almost black, as expected of a NightWing, and her horns were large and straight, unlike Torrent’s. Yet, her SeaWing features were more prominent: though she had no gills, Midnight sported webbing along her spine and paws, along with her father’s blue eyes. Instead of the usual organized NightWing scale pattern, Midnight’s scales were like pebbles scattered on the seafloor, with lighter splotches across her body that might have been vestigial glowstripes. Other than Slate’s mother, Midnight was the first hybrid that Slate had seen. She gave Slate a glare, and he suddenly realized he’d been staring at her for far too long. 
“I see that Gazelle has gotten worse,” Torrent commented, slightly saddened by this fact.
“Yes,” Midnight replied, giving her father a cautious glance. “That’s what happens when you’re kept alive by magic, and it’s suddenly removed. It’s too bad there’s no one here who could somehow prevent that.” She said the last part with bitter sarcasm, barely holding back anger in her voice. “Oh. Wait. There is.”
Torrent seethed, and the SeaWing bared his sharp teeth. “You know my rules. No magic.”
Magic? Slate wondered, confused. It suddenly hit him like a brick. Midnight was an animus. That was why Torrent had thought she might have caused the drought somehow. He should have realized it earlier. He took a slight step back, looking at the hybrid in front of him through different eyes. If she wanted to, she could have easily killed him, or far worse. The entire city of Crosswinds could be in her control if she so desired.
Midnight glared at her father, almost pleadingly. “It would just be one thing. For Gazelle. You care about her, don’t you?”
“I care about you not losing your soul,” Torrent stated. “I don’t want to take that risk.”
“I’d be the one taking the risk, not you,” Midnight muttered. Her eyes darted to the dagger at Torrent’s side.
The SeaWing noticed. “If you’ve used your powers . . .” he growled. He touched a clawpad to the purple amethyst on his dagger.
“I know, I know,” Midnight hissed. “You’ll kill me, right?”
Torrent stayed silent. Slate glanced over to Gazelle, who didn’t seem to be actively listening to the conversation. She’d lied down on the floor, and had started to close her eyes. Personally, Slate didn’t want to get involved in the two’s dispute.
Midnight smirked. “You keep saying that, but I know you don’t have it in you. You couldn’t kill your sister, and you can’t kill your daughter.”
Slate immediately saw Torrent tense up. His sister was an animus too? That made some sense, he knew that animus magic ran in families.
“Don’t bring her into this. She was a good dragon.”
Midnight clucked. “And yet, you think I’m going to turn out like her just from using my powers once to help Gazelle? Wasn’t such a ‘good’ dragon after she lost her soul, was she?”
Slate could see Torrent’s claws shaking, as if he wanted to tear out Midnight’s throat. “It wasn’t her fault she was born with your curse.”
“She could’ve been a bit more frugal with her powers though, don’t you think?” Midnight retorted. “Maybe she shouldn’t have enchanted that nifty dagger you have.”
Torrent was quiet for a moment, and the two glared at each other. “You should get rid of your powers, like I told you to,” Torrent finally growled, changing the topic from his sister. “How many enchantments have you made already?”
“One,” Midnight snorted. “In my entire life, and as I told you, it was an accident. I don’t think causing a scroll to float even counts as a real enchantment. And I know you don’t want me to get rid of my powers, or else you would’ve made me when I was younger. Just in case a certain someone comes by, right? Why do you even care if I die? I don’t get it. You literally come by once a year, just to tell me that you’re probably going to kill me.”
Torrent didn’t respond to this. He just looked away, not making eye contact with his daughter.
Midnight sighed, and looked over to Slate. “I’m sorry you had to hear that,” she apologized. “We have this conversation whenever he comes by. Usually it’s worse, but I suppose Torrent doesn’t want to look bad in front of you. Who are you? Some poor MudWing that accidentally got caught up in Torrent’s mess?”
Slate gulped. “It’s fine,” he responded. “I’m Slate. I’m not actually a full MudWing. I’m a quarter SandWing.” He wasn’t quite sure why he said that. Normally, he tried very hard to prevent other dragons from learning that. Yet, Midnight was a hybrid. He wanted her to know.
“Oh, alright,” Midnight responded, slightly confused. “You’re from around here? Are you sibless?”
Slate shook his head. “Diamond Spray Delta.” Sibless? He hadn’t heard that term before. “If sibless means I don’t have any sibs, then yeah.”
Midnight nodded. “Some of the other Sand-Mud hybrids around here use it to mean that they didn’t have any sibs at hatching, an only egg. It seems to be pretty common. If you’re planning on staying around for long, I should introduce you to some of my unsibs. I’m not sibless, but . . .” She gave Torrent a glance, causing him to shift uncomfortably. Slate understood what that meant. She’d had sibs at some point, but not anymore.
The SeaWing sighed. “We don’t have time for meet-and-greets. If you didn’t cause it, then you must have noticed the drought.”
“The drought?” Midnight asked. “I have. It seems like it’s animus-caused. I’m surprised you haven’t removed it already.”
“I tried,” Torrent explained, “but I can’t, not without getting close whatever artifact caused the enchantment.”
Midnight looked deep in thought for a second. “I might be able to get rid of it.”
Torrent bared his teeth. “No. No magic.”
The animus hybrid rolled her eyes. “I know, but if it comes to it . . . Maybe SandWings might be able to survive this, but the rest of Pyrrhia will suffer. Sacrificing a little piece of my soul has to be worth it, even for someone as stingy as you.”
Torrent flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth, and tapped a webbed claw on the floor. “If it comes to that. Maybe. But I don’t think it would work anyways.”
“Really?” Midnight asked, confused. “I’m sure if I word the enchantment in the right way, I could do something.”
Torrent shook his head. “I doubt it. Conflicting enchantments cause ‘erratic behavior,’ whatever that means, and whatever is going on here — it’s weird. Once you’ve seen enough magic, you notice certain things about it. The intentions of the animus, their experience, the scale of the enchantment. Most magic feels ‘fake,’ as if it was hastily plastered over the world by someone, and if you stare at it for a bit too long, you can start to see parts of it cracking. Certain types of magic give this feeling more than others.” Stonemover’s tunnels and Erosion’s pit were what immediately came to Torrent’s mind.
“But this doesn’t feel fake,” Torrent continued. Slate leaned in close, eager to hear what Torrent said. This sounded important. “It’s obviously magical, but it feels real, more of this world than even you or I. I’ve only felt something like it once before. Your mother and I visited the NightWing island once. The NightWings had a magical artifact called the Obsidian Mirror that they could use to spy on dragons. I lent her my dagger so that she could destroy it. When she tried, the mirror turned to liquid, and the entire volcano shook. And this happened.”
Torrent lifted his dagger from its sheath, and showed the hilt to Midnight. Slate peered in, trying to get a better look. The emerald on it had a small crack through it.
“I felt the same thing when the volcano rumbled as I do now. Animus magic, but far more intense and real than anything else, as if our world is woven around it. Whatever magic the mirror had, Orca’s magic was parlor tricks compared to that. That’s why I don’t think your magic will work.”
Midnight stood back for a moment, a concerned expression on her snout. She winced. “I take it you haven’t heard the news.” Torrent looked at her with a blank expression, Slate watching closely.
“Both Queen Thorn and Blaze were assassinated around a week ago,” Midnight explained carefully. “My condolences.”
Torrent shrugged his wings. “It’s fine. I’ve never met her,” he explained, “and your uncle had left her by the time we’d met. It’s a shame though, isn’t it? I’d heard she was really turning the Sand Kingdom around after the war. Who’s in charge now? Last time we met, Stonemover told me he’d found out that he has a dragonet. I think she runs that weird hippie academy.”
“Sunny,” Midnight replied. “One of the Dragonets of Destiny.” Torrent rolled his eyes slightly at the term. “As far as I know, Thorn didn’t have any other daughters, so I’d assume it’s her.”
“Wait,” Slate answered, putting two-and-two together. “An uncle is a mother’s sib, and a daughter of an uncle is . . .”
“A cousin,” Midnight clarified. “Yeah. That would make Queen Sunny my cousin. What a strange coincidence.” Her eyes narrowed, slightly suspicious.
“Sure, but you’re half-NightWing, right?” Slate started to reason, not caring that Midnight was related to royalty. “And that has to come from your mother, since Torrent is a SeaWing. Which means that your mother’s sib is also a NightWing, unless he’s a half sib. And since he’s Queen Sunny’s father, and Queen Thorn, who was a SandWing, was her mother, that means that Queen Sunny is a hybrid. A SandWing-NightWing hybrid.” His eyes opened wide. “Do you realize what this means?” Ideas started to run through his head. A hybrid queen of the SandWings? She could put reforms in place. Prevent dragons from treating hybrids like scum. She could change everything.
“Yes,” Midnight sighed, “but you can’t tell anyone, alright? There would be a lot of unhappy SandWings if word got out.”
Slate felt crushed for a moment, but his hopes quickly rose back up again. Sure, she had to be secretly a hybrid, but she could still do things without being suspected, right? Once this was over and he got back to the Mud Kingdom, he had to tell his mother. She’d be thrilled.
“Anyways, that’s beside the point, at least for now,” Midnight continued. “I found it pretty suspicious that the drought started at the same time Queen Thorn died.” She turned towards her father, a slight hint of fear in her voice. “But there’s a rumor going around about how they died. They weren’t just killed. They were turned to stone.”
Torrent shook his head, his paws shaking. “No,” he muttered, “that can’t be true. It’s been seven years. She has to be gone.”
“It’s just rumors,” Midnight responded.
Torrent was still for a moment, and Slate was unsure what was going on. Then suddenly, Torrent let a deafening roar, shaking the house. He slammed the end of his tail against the stone walls of the house, causing pieces of rubble to fall from the hole in the ceiling. Slate jumped back in surprise.
“I’LL KILL HER!” Torrent roared. “IF SHE’S BACK, I’LL KILL HER!”
Midnight looked down to the floor as Torrent continued to seethe. Eventually, his breath started to calm.
“Who?” Slate meekly asked.
“An IceWing,” Midnight explained, “her name is Crystal. She has an enchanted item—”
“My enchanted item,” Torrent interrupted with a growl.
“—that she stole from Torrent, which can turn dragons to stone. She used it to kill my mother and sibs.” Midnight decided to leave out Crystal’s previous relationship to Torrent.
“Oh,” Slate responded, realizing that this might be a sensitive subject, “I’m sorry.” He was still trying to piece together how everyone was involved in this. Slate still didn’t know what his or his father’s place in this whole thing was. 
“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Midnight responded. “I don’t remember it.” Still, she looked slightly grim over the matter. She turned back to Torrent. “Does he know yet? Why you brought him here?”
Torrent shook his head. “No. I told him who his father was when we met, that’s all. His aunt is pretty famous where he lives.”
Midnight sighed. “Sorry about my father,” she explained to Slate, “he’s not very good with communicating. Or caring how his actions affect others.”
“That’s alright,” Slate replied, curious to hear what Midnight had to say.
“There’s a prophecy,” Midnight stated.
“A prophecy?” Slate exclaimed. “Like, a real one? I thought that the NightWings lost their powers.”
“It wasn’t from a NightWing,” Torrent muttered, “well, sort of not really. I’m not sure.”
“An eccentric IceWing named Fracture gave it to my parents,” Midnight continued, “and he claimed that my mother was the one who told him it, but she didn’t remember ever doing that.”
“Couldn’t he have just made it up?” Slate asked.
“It’s possible,” Torrent replied. “I don’t trust him, nor any of the Talons. He’s Crystal’s brother-in-law, and disappeared after . . .” He started to choke up slightly, unable to say what he was intending.
“After she killed my mother and sibs,” Midnight continued. “But he’d correctly predicted the future before for my parents, so we don’t think he’s lying.”
“What does this prophecy say?” Slate asked.
“I was getting to that,” Midnight sighed, “there’s a line in it that Torrent thinks references you. He thinks you’re like, some sort of Dragonet of Destiny.”
“Except this prophecy is probably real,” Torrent interjected.
Slate snorted. Him, in a prophecy? He didn’t feel very special or prophetic. If he had any magical prophecy powers, he would’ve definitely used them on his aunts and uncles by now. Well maybe not, but he might have threatened them a little. Still, the prospect was exciting.
“So, there’s a prophecy that says I’m going to break this super-intense animus curse,” Slate said. “How do you know it’s me? Does it say ‘Slate is going to end the drought’ or something?”
“Well,” Torrent explained, “One of the lines in the prophecy contains the phrase ‘Join the tablet forgotten,’ so you seem to fit the bill.”
Slate winced. That sounded like a pretty poor reason to bring him all the way out here. “That’s all?” he asked.
Torrent snorted. “It’s the best I’ve got.”
Slate groaned, and shook his head. “No. You have the wrong dragon. I was named after slate, which is a type of rock. Not sure what a tablet forgotten means.”
“A slate is also a slab used for writing, sort of like a hard scroll,” Torrent pointed out. “It’s a writing tablet.”
Slate frowned cynically. “I can’t even read. Wouldn’t a MudWing named ‘Tablet’ be better?”
Midnight rolled her eyes. “That’s what I said,” she chirped.
“It’s because you’re Schist’s dragonet too,” Torrent continued. “Him and I used to travel together. And Fracture gave the prophecy to me for a reason. I’m pretty sure he knew I knew your father and thought I could find you when the time came.”
“That’s a stretch,” Slate grumbled.
“I’m pretty sure Midnight is part of the prophecy too,” Torrent said, ignoring Slate. “She’s ‘the deepest black,’ since Midnight is pretty dark and you’re ‘the tablet forgotten.’ The other three Dragonets of Destiny are ‘the eternal flames,’ ‘the fumes untamed,’ and ‘the frozen claws.’ I already found a SkyWing at Jade Mountain Academy named ‘Flame,’ so we can check that off. I figure the other two are going to be a NightWing named ‘Fume’ and an IceWing named ‘Claw.’”
Torrent’s getting way too carried away with this, Slate thought. “Alright, so even if I accept I’m part of this prophecy with Midnight, Flame, Fume, and Claw, what are we supposed to do? Decide who the next SandWing queen is to restore the balance of Pyrrhia, thus ending the drought and the war? If so, I vote for Sunny.”
Midnight spoke the relevant lines of the prophecy. “‘The land that is all but lost, will be the refuge of the dark. Across the bridge of light and frost, must the waters of life be sparked.’”
Her voice sounded creepy when she said it, almost like a dark slithering sound was crawling within her throat. Just hearing it made Slate’s scales shiver.
“Fine, but what is that supposed to mean?” Slate asked.
“You need to find the land that is all but lost, cross a bridge, then spark the waters of life,” Torrent replied, making it sound simple.
“Yes,” Slate groaned. “But what does it mean?”
Neither Torrent nor Midnight could answer a response to that. It was clear that they had no idea what he was supposed to do.
Slate sighed. He glanced towards the door. It was starting to get dark. “Fine. I get it. Neither of you know what the prophecy means. Look, can I just have some time to think?”
Torrent and Midnight glanced towards each other, then nodded in unison. Slate rolled his eyes, and started out the door of the house. He was a MudWing, and apparently not even the only hybrid here. Even if someone noticed his strangely colored horns, it didn’t sound like they’d pay him much attention.
Slate started walking down the roads of the city, with no aim in particular. He thought back to the piece of the prophecy that Midnight had shared. The land that is all but lost… that could be a reference to the Lost Continent? Is it across a bridge? he wondered. The waters of life could literally just mean bringing water back to Pyrrhia. He was trying to stop a drought, after all.
Slate had heard a little bit about the Lost Continent before, but had always dismissed it as legend. A fantastical land of magic, where unicorns and gryphons walked alongside bugs the size of dragons. Where scavengers could read and talk, and the springs gave eternal life. All nonsense of course, but Fawn would sometimes tell Slate tales before he fell asleep at night. In particular, those about the Hybrid Knight. There might have been some truth to the legends; it wasn’t impossible to imagine that there was another continent beyond the sea. Yet, if there was one, it was far enough away that no dragon had reached it and come back in millennia.
Still, Slate wasn’t quite sure he was cut out to be a prophecy dragon. He wasn’t particularly brave, was he? And saving Pyrrhia from a drought — his ideas had more been along the line of leading the revolution against Queen Moorhen alongside Glen. But he could always do that after this drought thing was over with. MudWings rarely cared about their dragonets, much less about their sibs’ dragonets, but if Schist had travelled with Torrent, a SeaWing, maybe he would be an exception. If he and Glen were still alive as the rumors claimed, Slate could find him and ask to join their revolution. If Slate was a Dragonet of Destiny and saved the world from the drought, he had to accept, correct? And additionally, Midnight was related to Queen Sunny, a hybrid queen. That meant Slate had connections. Things were looking pretty good for him right now. He just had to figure out what this moon-cursed prophecy meant, and fulfill it.
The voices of two dragons suddenly caught his attention. Two SandWings were standing on the street, casually conversing with each other. Slate overheard a snippet of their conversation.
“I liked her, personally,” one of the SandWings said, a young dragon, a few years older than Slate. He had a thin golden chain around his neck with a small locket hanging from it. “Even if she wasn’t part of the royal family, she wasn’t awful.”
“Doesn’t matter of Thorn was awful or not,” the other dragon growled. Slate noticed that she had a small black tattoo on the side of her neck, but it looked smudged out, as if she’d tried to have it removed. “I don’t care what some stupid gem says, I don’t trust animus magic one bit. She had no right to be queen. Onyx did, and Aloe does too. Plus, if she’s Blister’s daughter like she claims, that means she’s smart. We could use a smart queen.”
“Blister was quite a bit more than smart,” the first SandWing smirked. “But I’m not happy about this Aloe. She’s probably lying. Lots of dragons want to be royal, but aren’t, and Blister didn’t seem like the type to have dragonets with anyone. I don’t know much about this Sunny, but the word on the street is she’s one of the Dragonets of Destiny. Helped stop the war, and now Aloe comes in with her army, all fired up and ready to start a new one. I was hoping for at least a few decades of peace here. I don’t like it one bit.”
“You don’t have to,” the second SandWing snorted. “But Sunny has no right to be queen, ‘Destiny’ or not. And we’ll find out about Aloe pretty soon. You saw the posters. She’s travelling through here in two days.” She suddenly turned to glare at Slate, making his scales shake. He realized he’d been lingering around the two too long. She flipped her tail in the air, waving her barb threateningly. “Do you have something to say?” she hissed, taking a step towards him.
Slate shook his head rapidly. “No, no, sorry!” he exclaimed with a gulp.
She took another step forward, flicking her tail back and forth and baring her teeth. “What’s a MudWing doing around this part of town anyways? Y’all have your own neighborhoods. Stay in them.”
The first SandWing sighed, and stepped between his friend and Slate. “Leave him alone. He’s barely more than a dragonet.” He glanced over toward Slate. “Scram,” he ordered.
Slate quickly nodded, and got out of the area as fast as he could, rushing back toward Gazelle and Midnight’s house. It was getting dark, and the moons were now bright in the sky. As he entered down the small street where the two lived, a small scrollpaper hanging on a house caught his eye. He ripped it down. He couldn’t read what it said on it, but he saw a sketch of a dragon. A bejewelled crown rested between her horns, and a small pendant hung from her neck.
A SandWing with black diamonds on her scales.
== Chapter 9 ==
Ink let out a great yawn, stretching out his tail and wings, almost hitting a passing SandWing. Colorful light fell into both of Ink’s eyes from glass globes strung on the roof of the cavern, filled with flame. He wondered how much the headmasters had paid for that. Back in Possibility, all of these would have cost a fortune. Did the RainWings make them? If so, Ink wondered why. Did Queen Glory order them? Or maybe they all decided to pitch in to help out the school? How did they get the glass? Ink would have to ask if he remembered.
“Ink,” a flat voice stated, summoning him. It came from Ink’s brother Loresearcher, a NightWing-SeaWing hybrid around the same size as Ink. Unlike Ink’s, Loresearcher’s scale color was almost uniform across his body, with the exception of his underbelly. His SeaWing features were much less noticeable than Ink’s, with a slight curve in his horns and barely noticeable flaps of webbing between his spines and claws. The scales on his neck were raised slightly, but there was no membrane between them as there would be in a SeaWing’s gills. Down his neck were large white dots that gave off a faint glow of light, casting shadows over the rest of his scales.
As Loresearcher walked through the hallway, he didn’t give his brother even a glance, his eyes focused on two scrolls. Each of the scrolls was held up by a small wooden contraption attached to each of Loresearcher’s wings, making it so that he could use all four of his legs while walking and read at the same time. The tops and bottoms of the scrolls were each inserted into a metal tube to hold the scrolls in place. A small pot of black ink rested on the left side of the contraption, with a carefully carved circular glass on the right side. The entire thing was attached to Loresearcher’s back via a harness, which appeared to have a number of pouches and scrollcases hanging from it.
“What is it?” Ink asked Loresearcher, turning around to walk with his brother.
“Have you been eating fruit?” Loresearcher asked, his eyes still focused on the two scrolls he was reading, glancing back and forth between them. Suddenly stopping, Ink almost running into his tail, Loresearcher raised his right forepaw, all but one of his talons creamy white color, with the furthest left instead almost entirely black, stained from years of writing with ink. He licked the talon then dipped it into the ink cup, and wrote a few short notes on the left scroll while still focused on the right. After he was done, he started walking forward again, Ink eagerly following behind.
“Fruit?” Ink asked. He thought for a moment. “Yeah, I had some this morning. Why?”
“Fruits contain a large quantity of water,” Loresearcher answered, glancing from the scroll on his right to the one on his left, then back again.
“So I can eat lots of fruit instead of drinking water?” Ink reasoned out. His brother didn’t correct him, so presumably Ink was correct. So that was why he didn’t feel so thirsty as when he’d arrived at Jade Mountain, after days of having nothing to drink. “Does that mean we don’t have to worry about the drought, and can just eat fruit instead?”
“No. If the fruit-bearing plants don’t have water, they’ll be unable to perform transpiration.”
Ink opened his mouth, unsure what transpiration was, but Loresearcher interrupted him.
“It means they’ll die, and we won’t have any more fruit. Drought conditions across Pyrrhia mean that our current dragon population is unsustainable.”
“So how do we stop it?” Ink asked. “Can we get more rain somehow?”
“No, but we can get water from the ocean.”
Ink frowned. He’d tried drinking saltwater before. Loresearcher had asked him to once, wondering if Ink could drink it since he was half SeaWing. It didn’t work. He waited for a moment, knowing that his brother had more in mind.
“Most dragons can’t drink saltwater,” Loresearcher continued, turning right, into a larger corridor. “So we can make it drinkable by desalination.”
“Desalin-what?” Ink questioned.
“Removing the salt,” Loresearcher responded. “I think I’ve developed something that will work, although it will take time to set up. I plan to talk to the dragons in charge of this school in order to use their resources for it after I finalize the project.”
“Okay,” Ink replied. “That sounds good. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No,” Loresearcher answered matter-of-factly.
Ink’s expression sunk. Once again, there was nothing he could do. He was the incompetent brother. There wasn’t anything wrong with Loresearcher, per se, but sometimes he wished that his sister and mother were still alive. His father was inattentive at best, and sometimes Ink just felt like Loresearcher’s plaything. If Midnight and Nightreader were still alive, there would be dragons he could talk with, ones he could share his ideas and jokes with who would enjoy them. At least from what Torrent had told him, Nightreader sounded like that type of dragon, that type of mother. And even if Midnight had died far too young for Torrent to have told Ink much about her, Ink could still imagine what she’d be like if she was still alive. She’d a be happy and kind dragon, who would love to play with Ink. They could make up stories together, pull pranks on their father together.
“I’m useless,” Ink muttered, loud enough that Loresearcher heard him.
“This is a time of crisis,” Loresearcher coldly responded. “You need to put your personal feelings aside for both of us to succeed.”
Ink sighed. He glanced up again to see an ice-blue IceWing in front of him, glaring down at the two hybrids. A single circle of silver hung from his neck, and the IceWing wore it with pride. Ink gulped.
Polar poked one of the wooden braces of Loresearcher’s scroll-holding contraption, causing it to creak slightly. “What’s this?” the first-circle IceWing snorted, a hint of disdain in his voice.
“Don’t touch that again,” Loresearcher growled, his snout still looking at his scroll, not bothering to give Polar eye contact.
Polar flicked his tongue in and out, unhappy that he was being ignored. He poked the contraption again. Loresearcher raised his head up, glaring at Polar. Ink shuddered, and took a step back. He didn’t want there to be a fight. He’d seen what happened to dragons who got in a fight with his brother. The outcome was never pretty.
As Polar and Loresearcher locked eye contact, Ink noticed the tip of Loresearcher’s tail moving through the space between them, too slow for Polar to notice. Ink winced. He opened his mouth, ready to plead for Loresearcher to back down, but his tongue was stuck in his dry throat. He closed his eyes and heard a smack of scales against scales.
Ink opened his eyes and let out a sigh in relief. Loresearcher had done nothing more than whip his tail lightly against the silver bracelet on Polar’s left arm. Polar jumped back in surprise, not having noticed the tail. He gritted his teeth, clutching his right paw around the bracelet in pain. Ink could see small dots of blood coming dripping from where Polar’s talons cut through his own scales. Ink frowned in confusion. He was certain Loresearcher hadn’t hit Polar that hard.
Although a hint of fear quickly flashed in the IceWing’s eyes, Polar hid it and snorted defiantly. He walked past the two hybrids, heading in the path he originally planned to go.
As soon as Polar was out of earshot, Loresearcher turned back to his scrolls. “Ink,” he spoke, his voice expressing a hint of disappointment, “I thought I told you to make friends with Polar.”
“I tried,” Ink protested, “I really did. He’s just really rude to everyone. How can I make friends with a dragon like that?”
Loresearcher sighed. “That’s your job. Keep an eye on Polar, build rapport with him, and warn me of any plans the IceWing has that might be a threat to us.”
“Fine, I’ll try,” Ink grumbled. “What do you want me to do?”
“Follow him,” Loresearcher ordered, “but don’t stalk him. Do it openly, and in an amiable fashion, like you desperately want him to like you. I’m going to go look over my design for the desalination machine with Tiger. After that, we’re going to go talk our uncle.”
Ink nodded. “Alright,” he agreed glumly. He looked over to his brother for more instructions, but Loresearcher’s snout was already back in his scrolls, and he was heading away. Ink cocked his head curiously, then turned to the opposite direction, his tail fanning out through the space behind him. Loresearcher hadn’t bothered to tell Ink what he did to Polar’s bracelet to hurt the IceWing so much.
It didn’t take long for Ink to catch up to Polar, who was entering the library of the academy. Ink wondered what the IceWing was doing there — he didn’t seem much like the scrollish type. It had to be something suspicious. Ink moved into the library, just as beautiful as he last remembered it. Green light filtered by vines lit up the room, with only the faintest hint of a chilled wind coming from the mountain-slope outside. Small cubbyholes and shelves took up most of the room’s space, almost all of them filled with glorious scrolls of all sizes and genres. Polar was in the center of the room, walking away from a round wooden desk with a black NightWing behind it. Having noticed the hybrid walk in, Polar gave Ink a quick glare, then walked towards one of the walls, quickly picking a few scrolls out. He moved to a small rocky ledge and opened one, starting to read it without paying Ink another glance.
Ink bounded towards Polar, giving Starflight a quick, “Good morning!” on the way. As Ink approached, Polar rolled his eyes and seethed. He rolled his scroll up to prevent Ink from reading it and placed it by the two others, one a small scroll that hadn’t seemed to have gotten much use, and the other an extremely old scroll made of a strange black paper. Ink caught the title of the scroll that Polar had rolled up. The Animus Histories.
“Hello, Polar!” Ink opened with a smile. “I didn’t know you liked to read!” He didn’t know much about Polar at all, to tell the truth. Like Ink and Loresearcher, Polar wasn’t actually a student at Jade Mountain. He had arrived a day after the two brothers, and was apparently sent by Queen Glacier herself to check on the well-being of the students here during the drought and retrieve them if required. Loresearcher had postulated that the IceWings here appeared to know him from how they interacted. Most of them had treated him with respect and reverence when he was around, but were outright hostile behind his back. He’d picked up from eavesdropping on a conversation between Changbai and Ermine that even though Polar was loyal to his queen to a fault and his late grandparents were well-respected, the previous generation of his family had been deemed traitors of the worst sort. Ink still wasn’t so sure why Loresearcher was so interested, even cautious, of the IceWing, but he trusted his brother’s intuition.
Polar growled. “What do you want? I’m busy, and don’t have time for dragons like you.”
Ink could read the intent behind that. ‘Dragons like you’ meant hybrids, particularly ones who were half-NightWing. He brushed it off. “Nothing,” he quickly lied, “just wanted to apologize about my brother earlier. He can get a bit, er, possessive sometimes.”
“Ah,” Polar answered, feeling a hint of smugness from the apology, “he should really learn some respect and manners. If we were in the Ice Kingdom, Queen Glacier could have had his head for something like that.”
Ink wanted to roll his eyes and stick out his tongue in disgust, but held it back. His secret mission right now was infiltration. Figure out Polar’s devious plans. “Yeah. What are you reading? Is it interesting? If you want, I can find you some interesting scrolls. I’ve only been here for a few days, but this library is amazing! Have you talked to Starflight? If you’re ever want to find something, he can be really helpful.”
“Er, nothing much,” Polar answered tightly, his scales tensing up. It was clear to Ink that he wasn’t interested in sharing.
Ink made a point of looking over at the scroll Polar had just closed, making the IceWing even more uncomfortable. “The Animus Histories,” he spoke out-loud. “That sounds cool. I like animus stories, even if I know not all of them are really based in truth. I’ve written a few myself, all fiction of course. They’re pretty simple. The archetypal plot of an animus legend is that of tragedy, whereby a dragon with originally noble intentions is corrupted by power, leading to their eventual downfall at the end of a ‘hero,’ a dragon who usually embodies the moral standards that the animus is unable to live up to, but isn’t actually the main character. The moral of the story usually tends to be along the lines of ‘don’t be tempted to take easy solutions to hard problems’ or occasionally the slightly subversive ‘power should be in the talons of many rather than that of one.’ There are definitely outliers, but a lot of legends follow this animus and hero archetype: Darkstalker and Fathom, Queen Fen and Calamity, in the SkyWings, Vulture and Princess Ametrine.”
Polar seemed visibly uncomfortable at this discussion. Was it because Ink had mentioned Darkstalker? Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. He knew he looked a bit like a NightWing, and the IceWings still kept that grudge. Was Polar an animus himself? That seemed pretty unlikely. That was why IceWings hated NightWings — they had stolen Prince Arctic, and thus, the kingdom’s magic.
“You know, I’m apparently related to some animuses myself,” Ink stated, trying to get Polar to open up, “I don’t have any magic, of course, and the relations are a bit distant, but I think it’s pretty cool.” ‘Distant’ was a bit of a stretch. He had both an aunt and an uncle who were animuses, one of whom lived somewhere in these caverns.
“You’re a dirty hybrid!” Polar suddenly exclaimed, surprise in his voice.
Ink frowned, confused. “Yeah, you knew that already,” he tried to comment. “You noticed that when you arrived, and I was talking with Skytaker.” He suddenly realized that even though he tried to speak them, the words hadn’t come out of his mouth. Polar was still looking down at the scroll, and hadn’t seem to notice anything.
“Who?” Polar asked. His mouth didn’t move as he spoke the question. Ink realized that in front of him, Polar’s scales were starting to blur together, parts of his image dripping down like paint. The green light started to muddle with light-blue color, and the writing on the scrolls started to fade away. As the scenery in front of him began to collapse, Ink tried to move a forepaw. It didn’t budge, and instead the dark-blue colors started to spread out like watercolor paint.
Even though he couldn’t see anything moving, Ink felt the sensation of leather on his claws, and quickly pushed it down. As his eyepatch covered his left eye, the vision in front of him finally dissipated, and Ink opened his right eye to see Polar standing above him, claws outstretched and teeth bared.
Ink let out a yawn, and looked around. He was in the Claws of the Clouds, right where had gone to sleep the previous day. Not Jade Mountain. That was where he and Polar were heading right now. He shook his scales back and forth and stretched out his wings. “Good morning,” he drowsily bumbled to the IceWing, menacingly standing over him.
“I thought you were a SeaWing,” Polar snarled. Seeing Ink’s webbing in the dim light last night was what had convinced him, but it was clear now that Ink was not fully a SeaWing. He had no gills, and instead of glowscales, he had normal-looking NightWing scales that were slightly flattened.
“I’m half-SeaWing,” Ink suggested, “so you were half-right.”
“You’re half-NightWing, too, aren’t you,” Polar said in disgust. NightWings. It was because of them he was doing this. If they hadn’t stolen Prince Arctic from the Ice Kingdom, the IceWings would still have animus magic. Polar glanced down at his left forearm. The silver bracelet with the purple stone inlaid in it was still there. Ink hadn’t tried to steal it from him in the night.
“Yeah, haha, sorry,” Ink answered haphazardly. “You don’t need to worry though. If I wanted to steal from you or hurt you, I would have done it while you were asleep.”
Polar snorted. “I had an eye open,” he lied. “I would have torn your throat out if you’d tried. I still might. NightWings are devious; how am I supposed to know what you’re planning?”
“Sorry,” Ink chuckled uncomfortably, “I didn’t mean that as a threat.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Polar hissed, baring his teeth. “You can’t threaten me. I’ve seen you fight. You can’t even lay a claw on me.” Queen Glacier would send me to the Seventh Circle if she knew I accepted water from a NightWing, he thought, frustrated with his own naivete. “I’ve deduced it. That’s how you knew to collect water for the drought. You foretold the future.” Polar had to tell Queen Glacier about this the next time he saw her. The NightWings had claimed that they’d lost their powers when they left their previous home for the rainforest, so this meant that they were lying. What a shocker.
“Er, sure,” Ink responded, surprised. Polar was right, well, sort-of. He couldn’t tell the future, like in the fabled NightWing powers. And his visions weren’t as clear or controllable as Fracture’s. But Ink had predicted the drought because he’d seen it happen in his left eye. He’d predicted that Polar would be on his way to Jade Mountain. And he’d been right, both times.
“Can you read my mind too?” Polar asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
“Um, yeah,” Ink answered without thinking. Polar’s claws stiffened up in fear, and Ink didn’t need mind-reading to tell that Polar was deciding whether or not he should kill Ink. So there was something he was thinking that he didn’t want Ink to know.
A hint of shame suddenly passed over Polar’s eyes, which quickly turned to scorn and derision. “You’re lying about that, half-NightWing,” he accused Ink, “you would have been shocked if you had known what I was thinking just then.”
“Oookay,” Ink replied. “You got me. I can’t read your mind. What were you thinking? Do you think I’m cute or something?”
Polar froze up. “What?!?” he exclaimed. “No! Not that at all! You’re an ugly mongrel. And I can’t tell you what I was thinking if you don’t know it. It’s secret IceWing business. Not for your ears.”
Ink rolled his eyes. He was very tempted to jape about how Polar was trying to hard to deny his crush on Ink, but didn’t want to push the IceWing any further for fear of angering him irreversibly. He’d already made far more progress in making friends than vision-Ink, and didn’t want to ruin it! But secrets were interesting. “Secret IceWing business? Can you tell me, just a little?”
“No,” Polar growled. “Of course not. That’s why it’s a secret. Not for non-IceWings, especially not half-NightWings. Can you predict what I’m going to do next?”
Ink shook his head. “No. I can’t really do that. That’s not how it works.”
Polar snorted, unimpressed. “I’m going to keep an close eye on you. We should get to Jade Mountain before our water runs out. Hopefully they have water there.”
‘We.’ So Polar was still going to travel to Jade Mountain with Ink. “I don’t think they will,” Ink commented. If Polar thought he had prophecy powers, he might as well go along with it. “But they’ll have fruit.”
“Fruit?” Polar asked, confused and slightly disgusted.
The hybrid nodded. “Fruit! It contains lots of water, so we can drink fruit instead!” Polar seemed slightly more displeased at this prospect. Ink searched back through his memories of the vision. Parts of it were starting to fade, but some of it was still clear. “I think I can also build a desalna . . . desalination machine.”
“A what?”
“It can turn saltwater into freshwater,” Ink explained. He tried to keep the image of the sketches his deceased brother had made in the front of his mind. He quickly pulled out his sketch-scroll, causing Polar to take a step back at his sudden movements. Ink dipped a wet talon into water, then into his ink, and started drawing what he remembered. The IceWing watched with fascination.
The sketch wasn’t good, and Ink wasn’t quite sure what much of it meant, but it seemed to mostly match what Ink remembered Loresearcher drawing. As a finishing touch, he wrote the name of a dragon on the top of the machine. Tiger. That was the name of the dragon that Loresearcher had mentioned. He’d probably met them, but he didn’t remember ever seeing that in his visions, so he’d just have to find whoever Tiger was and hope they would understand what the sketches meant.
“Is that the machine?” Polar asked.
Ink nodded. “I saw it in my vision. Or at least sketches. If we make one, we can bring it back to the Ice Kingdom!”
Polar snorted. “We have enough freshwater in the form of ice and snow to last us as long as we want.” Although it might be difficult to melt it all in the cold climate.
“That’s good,” Ink smiled, putting the scroll back into his pack. “We should go now, right? Bright and early?”
Polar sighed, slowly grumbling in agreement. He twitched his tail slightly, and pulled out a piece of jerky from his pack, then tore it in two. “Here,” he muttered, giving part of it to Ink. “It’s payment for the water.” He felt awkward, giving something to a dragon who was half-NightWing. Helping out a dragon who wasn’t an IceWing seemed like something he could be pushed down in the rankings for. But Ink had shared his rations of water with Polar, and a dragon in the First Circle needed to have honor. 
“Oh, thank you!” Ink answered, popping the jerky in his jaws and swallowing it in a few gulps. He went over to one of the sacks of water and got his fill while Polar carefully chewed his jerky. The IceWing went to one of the other sacks and started drinking. Once he was done, he strapped it and and another sack beneath him, and spread his wings open, ready for flight. He glanced over towards Ink, who had done the same with the third sack. It seemed like the two of them had emptied them enough that they were light enough to fly with.
The two walked down towards a small clearing in the forest, and spread their wings wide, lifting off into flight, Ink following directly behind Polar. With the sun on their left, the two dragons soared towards Jade Mountain.
== Chapter 10 ==
It had been three days since the night Ink and Polar had met, and Jade Mountain was almost within sight. A uncannily warm wind blew from the east, and the sun shined directly overhead. As Ink was lost in thought, thinking about a few strangely-behaved scavengers the two had flown by recently, he heard Polar suddenly let out a cry of pain.
The hybrid turned to the right to see Polar growling and gritting his teeth, his claws clutching around the silver bracelet on his left forearm. He let out another roar of agony, and sent out a blast of cold frostbreath into the distance. His wings started to falter, and Polar slowly started to spiral towards the ground. Ink dove downwards, ready to swoop beneath the IceWing if needed, but he seemed to have enough control to land safely.
Polar flew towards a dry grassy slope on the side of a mountain and quickly tumbled into it, scuffing the scales along his underbelly in his poor landing. He continued to clutch his forearm, whimpering slightly. He glanced over to Ink as the hybrid landed in shame. He was a First Circle IceWing. He couldn’t let another dragon, much less one who was half-NightWing see him like this. He yelled out again as a jolt of pain streaked through the nerves in his forearm, travelling up to his neck and wingblade. Polar started to reach towards his sack, but his right forearm tensed up.
Ink, alarmed, walked over to Polar, slightly frantic and unsure what was going on. “Do you need me to get you something?” he quickly asked. Polar winced as Ink looked down towards his sack. The hybrid quickly opened it and spilled out the contents as they fell onto the slope of the mountainside, being caught within the dirt.
For a moment, Polar was worried that they’d roll off the slope, but they stayed put. The IceWing breathed heavily as he reached towards the small diamond that had fallen out, eagerly grasping it in his razor-sharp talons. He quickly brought it up to his left forearm, rubbing the diamond against his ice-blue scales. His breathing started to slow, and the pain began to subside.
“Are you going to be alright?” Ink asked.
Polar waited a moment, catching his breath, before answering. “I’m fine,” he grumbled, clearly not fine. He hadn’t wanted Ink to see this. Even though Ink had already seen it, he tried to hide the diamond in the palm of his paw from the hybrid.
Polar’s hiding motion just made Ink more curious. “Is it animus-touched?” the hybrid asked. “I’ve seen you holding it while sleeping.”
Polar tensed up and winced. The pain was mostly gone by now. That was good. Sometimes it lasted longer than that, especially if he didn’t get to the diamond right away. “It’s none of your business,” he growled, “and I’ll kill you if you tell anyone about it.”
Ink sighed, a little exasperated with Polar’s violent threats and secrecy. “You can trust me. Who is there to tell?”
Polar snorted. “It’s not important. It’s just an item that heals dragons. I got it from a relative. Haven’t you ever seen an enchanted artifact before?”
Ink thought for a moment, carefully. “Once or twice,” he responded. It was technically correct, but Ink wasn’t quite sure that he’d call him an artifact. It just felt . . . wrong. “Are they common where you come from?”
Polar scoffed proudly, his ego suddenly inflating to the maximum, like he was trying to hide his pain with it. “Yes,” he replied. “In the Ice Kingdom, we have enchanted items everywhere. We used to have animus blood running in the royal family, until a certain NightWing abducted our last animus prince. To this day, relics of that great age remain in our kingdom, bringing joy and prosperity to our kingdom.”
A relative gave it to him, Ink wondered. He remembered from his vision that Loresearcher had mentioned something about Polar’s relatives. They were traitors to Queen Glacier. “If there’s no animuses left in the Ice Kingdom, how did your relative get the diamond?”
Polar’s eyes shot wide-open in surprise. Clearly, something Ink said had struck a nerve. Maybe the diamond had been stolen? “It’s a family heirloom,” Polar quickly responded, “it was passed down to me by my aunt.”
Ink frowned. He could tell that the IceWing was lying about that. What if it had been enchanted more recently than that? “I don’t have any family heirlooms,” Ink responded. If he opened up about himself, maybe Polar would too. “I don’t know my parents.” Ink started to realize that he was still following Loresearcher’s orders from the vision. Get Polar to open up, and figure out his plans. It was funny — he was trying to please a brother who didn’t even exist. Yet Loresearcher’s advice, even if he was long dead, had helped Ink out before.
Polar grumbled. “You’re not alone on that one. Mine abandoned me and fled from the Ice Kingdom when I was a year old. They’re probably dead. Good riddance, if you ask me. I’ve got Queen Glacier now. What happened to yours?” He asked this last question without any hesitation or respect for Ink’s privacy.
“Er, they were killed,” Ink answered, now starting to get slightly uncomfortable himself. “But I think I have an uncle at Jade Mountain. Maybe he’ll give me a family heirloom?”
Polar snorted. A SeaWing and a NightWing. He wondered how that had happened. “Well, were they nice, at least? They had to have been at least a little bit traitorous to have you, but they couldn’t have been as bad as my parents.”
Ink shuffled his wings. “I didn’t know them very well. They died when I was very young.” That wasn’t completely true. He knew Torrent a bit, at least from his visions. And Griffin had told him about Nightreader as well. “What did your parents do?”
Polar flicked his tongue in and out, slightly unsure whether or not he should reveal it. Among other IceWings, he tried to hide the crimes of his parents as much as possible. Heritage was important, almost as much as rankings. Whenever the topic had come up among other IceWings, he tried to tell them about his mother’s parents. A famous researcher and a general, both of humble heritage themselves. But the topic always came back to how Polar’s parents had conspired against the Ice Kingdom, siding with the enemies and trying to make them lose the war. It was like every mother and father blamed Polar for their dragonets dying in the war. And then there was his aunt — few dragons but Polar, the Empty Circle, and Queen Glacier herself knew exactly what she had done, but everyone knew about the bounty on her scales. A quarter of the crown’s wealth, and marriage into the royal family. The pain Polar was going through now was all because of her.
But Ink was just a hybrid. He didn’t know or care about all that. He was born from the blood of traitors too — there was no way the Sea and Night Kingdoms would condone a mating between two of their dragons. “They were part of the Talons of Peace,” Polar responded. “Sick, isn’t it?”
Ink tapped a webbed talon on the ground, and squinted closer at Polar with his one eye. The light-blue scales started to seem more familiar. How had Loresearcher known? “Clarity?” he suddenly blurted out.
Polar blinked for a moment. “Sorry, what did you just say?” he asked, unsure if he had heard Ink correctly.
“Clarity,” Ink gulped, realizing that it might have been a mistake to say the name out-loud. “I’ve, er, met her and her mate Fracture once or twice. My adopted father knew them.” That was a bit of an understatement. The two of them had helped Griffin raise Ink for the first few years of his life; they were practically his aunt and uncle. “You look a little bit like her.”
Polar uncomfortably squirmed. His parents were still alive? And apparently, they’d met this dragon. He’d suspected that they’d been killed in the war or something, but no such luck. So they were still out there. Somewhere.
“C’mon, we should get going to Jade Mountain,” Polar suggested, changing the subject. He placed the diamond in his left forepaw and lifted his right talons from his arm, revealing the silver bracelet. Ink could see that some of the scales at the edge of it were discolored and fused together. It certainly looked like it hurt; Ink didn’t blame Polar for using the healing diamond.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Ink asked. “It looks like you’re in pain.” Ink having an intimate connection to Polar’s family seemed far too unlikely to just be purely coincidence. Although, Ink supposed it wasn’t. Loresearcher must have realized it, which was why he asked Ink to investigate the IceWing. And Ink didn’t just randomly meet up with Polar out here — he’d hoped that Polar would come across him, since this was the path that he used in Ink’s visions.
Polar stiffened up again, realizing Ink could see the injuries beneath the silver armband. “It’s fine,” he muttered. “We’re almost there. Only a few more hours of flying to go.”
Ink nodded, and the two took off from the mountainside together, continuing their flight south.
Polar’s timing was right; it was in the late afternoon when they spotted the twin peaks of Jade Mountain rising over the Claws of the Clouds. As they flew closer, the landing platform for the academy came into view, the great entrance cave yawning behind it. A small white dragonet perked his head up as the two spiraled down, curiously watching their entrance as if he was looking out for visitors.
Polar groaned as he saw who it was. “Ermine,” he sighed, and the dragonet walked up to him with a glare. Ermine looked back and forth between Polar and Ink, who was brushing his wings off.
Polar wasn’t a fan of Ermine. Ermine was a small, cowardly dragonet who was at the bottom of the Second Circle. The only reason he’d been chosen to go to Jade Mountain was because his parents were high-ranked nobles in the First Circle, and they’d insisted to Queen Glacier that Ermine be sent. They believed that the school would help give their dragonet the skills he needed to make it into First Circle before his seventh birthday, but all it had done was keep his ranking stagnant for the past three years he was at the academy. He was five now, and only had a year left at the academy before he was sent back to the Ice Kingdom. Honestly, Polar believed that Queen Glacier just sent Ermine away so that she wouldn’t have to deal with him in the palace.
“Polar?” Ermine questioned, glaring at his superior. “What are you doing here? Who said that you could come? The school year has already started, it’s too late for you to join.”
“Can’t say,” Polar quipped, twitching his ears. “I’m on a secret mission from Queen Glacier, you see. Hush-hush, Third Circle IceWings aren’t allowed to know.” One of the nice things about having a First Circle position was that he didn’t have to pretend he was a nice dragon to those beneath him, which just happened to be most IceWings. It didn’t make him many friends, but he didn’t need those. Everyone else seemed to hate him because of his parents, so why would he care about being nice back? As long as he remained polite to those above him, Queen Glacier, the rest of the royal family, and the Empty Circle in particular, he didn’t have to take any of the caribou-dung-laced words any other dragon gave him.
“Third Circle?” Ermine asked, his eyes suddenly filled with worry. Polar thought he might have even seen tears form in the dragonet’s eyes. Third Circle meant that when he reached seven, he’d be removed from Queen Glacier’s palace. Polar saw Ermine stare up at the silver ring that Polar wore around his neck, taunting the dragonet — his own ranking, First Circle. As soon as he had gotten the necklace, at seven, Polar had worn it wherever he went within the Ice Kingdom. To remind everyone else that no matter how much they despised him, he was better than the rest of them. He’d been so happy when he’d seen Vortex’s shocked expression.
Ermine glanced up towards Polar’s eyes, and gave him a frown. “You’re lying,” he said, “I was still in Second Circle when we got updated on our rankings last. I had actually gone up one.”
Polar shrugged his wings up and down. “You’re right, it hasn’t happened yet, but Queen Glacier might be changing it soon. She just saw the most recent report from the headmasters here. She knows what you did.”
Ermine squirmed uncomfortably. Polar didn’t get to read the report, so he wasn’t actually sure if Ermine had done anything bad at the academy and if so, what it was, but he was bound to have done at least something wrong. He was a dragonet, and Ermine could be was rude and defiant, at least from how Polar remembered him. “Anyways, you should make sure to be on your best behavior. I plan on giving a full report to Queen Glacier when I get back.”
“Unfair,” Ermine muttered as Ink lugged his watersack over towards the entrance, passing the young IceWing. Ermine stared at the hybrid. “What are you?”
“I’m Ink!” Ink gleefully answered.
“You’re ugly,” Ermine grumbled. “You’re a hybrid, aren’t you. Like Skytaker.”
Ink perked up for a moment. Skytaker. He thought he recognized the name from his vision. So there was a hybrid here. That was good to know, he might want to meet them.
“You’re not really one to talk, Ermine,” Polar snorted, flicking the spines of his tail in front of Ermine’s snout, making sure they didn’t actually touch the dragonet.
Ermine growled grouchily. “Are you hanging out with him? You’re not supposed to hang out with dragons from other tribes, especially not hybrids. What are you doing, talking to him? I’ll bet Queen Glacier would be angry if she found out.”
Polar gave Ermine a glare. “I’m not talking with him. We just arrived at Jade Mountain together, and now we’re gonna have nothing else to do with each other.” He wasn’t particularly scared of Ermine ratting him out. Queen Glacier had invested far too much in him already, and if he succeeded in his mission, there was virtually nothing that would keep him from being placed at the top of the First Circle, even talking with Ink. He could make Ink his mate and join the Talons of Peace, Great Ice Dragon forbid, and his name would still be cheered from every balcony of the palace. “Anyways, you should be getting to sleep,” Polar told Ermine, “isn’t it getting a little late for little dragonets to be up?” It was only early evening, but it still worked.
“I’m not a little dragonet!” Ermine growled. “Stop it!”
Polar rolled his eyes, and suddenly noticed soft clawsteps coming out from the cave leading further into Jade Mountain. A small NightWing walked out quietly, burn scars over his unfocused eyes. “Ermine, what’s going on?” he asked.
“There are dragons here,” Ermine muttered. “A mean IceWing and a weird hybrid.”
“I’m not weird,” Ink growled quietly.
Even though he couldn’t see him, Starflight instinctively turned his head towards Ink. “Who are you?” he asked uncertainly. “You’re not with Queen Scarlet, right? Why are you here? Do you need water?”
“We’re not with Queen Scarlet,” Ink quickly replied, “definitely not. And we have water, so we’re good on that for now.”
“I was sent by Queen Glacier. You must be Starflight,” Polar suddenly interrupted, causing Starflight to turn towards him. “I am here to report on her students.”
“Are the reports we send not good enough?” Starflight asked, concerned that something had happened to harm their relationship with the Ice Kingdom even more than already.
Polar shook his head, even though the NightWing couldn’t see it. “The reports are fine, we just wanted to provide our own evaluations. This wasn’t part of our original plan, but because of the drought that arose on my flight here, Queen Glacier will also want to make sure that there are plans to keep her students hydrated in place. If not, we might have to temporarily bring them back to the Ice Kingdom.”
Starflight thought for a moment. “At the moment, we’ve been using fruit from the rainforest for water and melting snow from the mountaintop. I think one of the students suggested importing more blubbery animals like seals and whales here, but that’s a little difficult to do. Is that good enough?”
“I think so,” Polar responded. There was a lot of water supply in the snow, and as long as there were fire-breathers in the academy, that would hopefully be enough. Still, food supplies would definitely be impacted by the drought, so the solution wouldn’t be permanent. Hopefully, the drought was just a freak fluke in Pyrrhia’s weather, and there’d be rain and water again in a few weeks. Where had all the water gone?
“Can we stay for a while and use your library?” Ink suddenly asked. Polar glanced over at him, slightly surprised. That was exactly what he was planning to ask Starflight, and was the primary reason why Queen Glacier had sent him down here. He was pretty sure that the hybrid couldn’t read minds, but still . . .
Starflight thought for a moment, slightly concerned. “We don’t normally have visitors up here, but our library is supposed to be a source of knowledge for all dragons. You’re welcome to it, and as long as you don’t interfere with normal school business, you can stay in our guest room for now.”
“Thank you so much!” Ink answered. “I’m Ink by the way, and my friend here is Polar.”
“I’m not his friend,” Polar quickly said, giving Ermine a glare.
Starflight nodded gently. “I’m Starflight, our librarian. Please follow me.” He walked into the caverns slowly, but knew where he needed to go even without looking. Polar and Ink followed him, leaving Ermine behind at the entrance of the school. Dragonets crowded around the entrance hall, many staring at Ink as he walked by. He barely paid them any attention, looking around the cavern walls. It was just like he’d seen it in his vision.
Eventually, the three reached the library, just the same as when Ink had last seen it. As Starflight walked over towards his desk, Polar followed behind him. Ink walked closer.
“Starflight,” Polar stated, hiding his disdain for the NightWing in his voice. He lowered his voice just slightly. “Do you have any scrolls on animus dragons?”
Starflight thought for a moment, and nodded. “A couple. We actually got a couple new ones just recently; they were salvaged from some of the old libraries on the NightWing island.” He pointed a talon over in the direction of a scrollshelf. “That’s our shelf on legends. A good amount of them have animus magic involved in them, but the one we have that would probably be the most help is called The Animus Histories, which is a comprehensive history of various animus-touched objects and their creators. It has three spirals and a circle on its wooden end piece. The other two should be easily identified from their ages. One is part of an antique reference set called The Black Scrolls, and is specifically on animus magic from a NightWing perspective. Another is called A Guide to Animus Magic, and is much more recent. Fatespeaker read me part of it not too long ago; it was written by an animus named Vine as a sort of ‘instruction guide’ for young animi. Might I ask why you’re looking into animus magic?”
“Queen Glacier told me to when she sent me down here,” Polar replied quickly, fidgeting his left foreclaws. “It’s not my place to ask her why. One of our gifts is probably acting strange.”
Starflight frowned slightly, and tapped his claws on his desk. Polar gulped quietly, hoping the NightWing couldn’t hear. Queen Glacier would be very angry if the truth got out too soon, and Polar could be in a lot of danger. The NightWing finally finished thinking, and gave Polar a toothy smile. “Alright,” he said, “best of luck in your research. If you take them out from the library, please make sure to return them. We don’t have a stamp for guests.”
Polar walked over to the cubby that Starflight had pointed out, Ink following behind him. He quickly found The Animus Histories from the description Starflight had given of the end piece, and the volume of The Black Scrolls was instantly given away by the peculiar black paper it had been written on. It took him a little longer to find the Guide; this one was small and old, but it didn’t seem to have much use. It also didn’t have a carved endpiece on it yet, just a normal flat piece of wood. After grabbing all three, the IceWing moved towards a small rocky ledge that looked like it could be a nice reading space. He opened The Animus Histories, the paper crinkling as it rolled open.
The scroll opened to the last place it had been read. A short section on Fathom, with a large question mark in the space where an illustration should have been. Polar quickly glanced down across the section.
Grandson of Albatross, the perpetrator of the Royal SeaWing Massacre [see: Albatross]. Fathom was so traumatized by his family's murder that he swore an oath to his sister, Pearl, the new SeaWing queen, that he would never use his animus magic.
Fathom was sent to the Night Kingdom to befriend and guide a young animus dragon named Darksta— 
Polar stopped reading, seeing Ink’s dark snout peering over him. He glanced up with a sigh, and closed the scroll. He didn’t want the hybrid getting too curious about why he was looking at animus magic. Why hadn’t Ink just gone off somewhere else? Didn’t he have better stuff to do than stick around Polar like a bear cub on its mother?
“I didn’t know you liked to read,” Ink grinned.
Polar rolled his eyes. Hopefully the hybrid wouldn’t force Polar to read his stories now. “What do you want?” he asked, exasperated. “I’m busy, and don’t have time to talk right now.”
Ink’s eyes lit up happily, confusing Polar. “Nothing,” he laughed. He glanced closer at the scroll. “What are you reading? Is it interesting? If not, I bet we could go find some interesting scrolls together. I’m sure Starflight could help.”
“It’s alright, but not the best,” Polar grumbled. “I’m not reading for fun anyways. It’s stuff that’s assigned to me by Queen Glacier.”
“Can I see?” Ink asked quickly.
Polar opened his mouth, about to give Ink a clear ‘no,’ but the hybrid was too fast. Ink pulled the scroll towards him, and opened it up to the section about Fathom.
“The Animus Histories,” Ink spoke. “Oooh, this part is on Fathom. This sounds cool. I like animus stories, even if I know not all of them are really based in truth. I’ve written a few myself, all fiction of course. They’re pretty simple. The archetypal plot of an animus legend is that of tragedy, whereby a dragon with originally noble intentions is corrupted by power, leading to their eventual downfall at the end of a ‘hero,’ a dragon who usually embodies the moral standards that the animus is unable to live up to, but isn’t actually the main character. The moral of the story usually tends to be along the lines of ‘don’t be tempted to take easy solutions to hard problems’ or occasionally the slightly subversive ‘power should be in the talons of many rather than that of one.’ There are definitely outliers, but a lot of legends follow this animus and hero archetype: Queen Fen and Calamity, in the SkyWings, Vulture and Princess Ametrine. And of course, Darkstalker and Fathom.” Ink suddenly frowned as a sudden sense of deja vu passed over him. That was almost exactly what he’d said in his vision, right?
Polar tapped a claw on the scroll, pulling it back towards him. This dragon seemed naive and clueless, half NightWing or not. It was nice to see a dragon so laid-back and comfortable, but he wouldn’t last a day in the Ice Kingdom. It was a shame.
“You know, I’m apparently related to some animuses myself,” Ink suddenly blurted out, “I don’t have any magic, of course, and the relations are a bit distant, but I think it’s pretty cool.”
Polar glanced at Ink curiously. Related to an animus. Depending on how distant the relative was, it could even mean that with the right choice of mate, Ink would be likely to have an animus dragonet. That would be powerful. Especially in the Ice Kingdom. More than anything, Queen Glacier wanted to bring back animus magic to the royal family. That was why Polar was going through all this. Almost instinctively, Polar tapped a talon to the dark-purple stone on his silver bracelet, feeling the tender pressure against his scared scales beneath it, a trickle of blue blood leaking out.
If Project Darkstone was successful, the Ice Kingdom would be restored to its rightful wealth and glory. The Royal Family would once again possess the greatest gift of all. The Gift of Magic.
== Chapter 11 ==
Inferno and Seahorse flew a difficult path through the Claws of the Clouds, going straight over the snow-capped peaks rather than around them. This way, the two could collect snow and ice at the top of the mountains, Seahorse suggesting that Inferno could easily melt it to get water. He was right, of course. At least Inferno’s curse was good for something.
As the two flew above the peaks, light glanced off the fields of white beneath the two, preventing Inferno from keeping her eyes on the ground. It was amazing. She’d seen snow before, but not in many years. As worried as she was about what Ash had said, it was great being out of the caves. The heated air beneath her wings caused strong updrafts and turbulence, making her flight harder than it would be for a normal dragon, but it didn’t take her long to get the hang of it. She was a SkyWing. Flying in difficult conditions was in her blood. Even so, she still had to ask Seahorse to slow down every so often.
It was late in their first day when they started to land. With Inferno nearby, it seemed unlikely that Seahorse could get too cold, even sleeping on top of the mountain peak. The two gently landed on a the ridge of a snowfield. The snow melted into water as Inferno touched down, quickly started to steam. Regardless of being unable to feel it, Inferno gleefully trudged through the snow. “Snow,” she giggled. “Seahorse, isn’t it great? You’ve seen snow before, right?”
Seahorse curled his tail back and forth. “Yeah,” he responded, picking up a chunk with a claw. “Don’t you care that you keep melting it?”
Inferno shrugged her wings, causing more snow around her to melt. She was unwilling to let Seahorse’s words crush her mood. “It’s fine. I bet this is more fun anyways. I’ve heard it’s cold and uncomfortable to touch; plus, the melting makes it feel all tingly.”
Seahorse snorted. “I guess so,” he responded. He walked into the clearing of snow that Inferno had melted out and placed down his large cloth sack and waterskin, his scrollcase still around his side. He looked into the waterskin. It was still pretty full. “Do you need water?” he asked Inferno.
“Er, that would be nice,” Inferno asked. She glanced towards the snow, and attempted to scoop some into her mouth. It melted in her grasp, only drops of water getting into her mouth. “I think I can just do this though. It should work.”
Seahorse sighed, and picked up the heavy waterskin with a single forepaw like it was made of air. “Open up,” he said, “I can pour it into your mouth.”
“Oh,” Inferno replied, surprised, “that’s alright. You don’t have to come close. If you get too near, it’ll be really uncomfortable, and you could get hurt.”
“I’ll be fine,” Seahorse stated. With a moment of thought, he placed his scrollcase on the ground beside his other belongings, and twisted his necklace behind his neck. That was probably a good decision; there would be less risk that Inferno accidentally caught a claw on it and ended up touching him.
Seahorse carefully walked over to Inferno and lifted the water skin up as the SkyWing opened her jaws wide. He slowly poured it into Inferno’s mouth, Inferno catching most of the water. Still, drops of it missed their target and started to steam, splattering onto Seahorse’s scales. Inferno winced, worried that it might be hurting him, but the SeaWing didn’t seem to notice or care. When Inferno had enough to drink, she backed away, and Seahorse stopped the flow of water.
“Thank you,” Inferno smiled gratefully.
“It’s nothing,” Seahorse answered. He placed the waterskin back on the ground and put the scrollcase back beneath his wing. He glanced over towards Inferno. “Can I ask you something? I’m worried it’s a little personal.”
Inferno frowned. “Er, sure,” she politely answered, unsure if she really wanted to answer a personal question.
Seahorse flicked his tongue in and out, thinking. “If you were given the opportunity, to say, remove your firescales, would you take it?” he questioned.
“Of course!” Inferno immediately answered. This was a question she’d certainly thought about before, and it had one obvious answer. “I’d be normal. I’d be able to talk to dragons without them too scared to get close to me. I’d be able to touch snow. Why wouldn’t I?”
Seahorse dragged a webbed talon across the cold ground. A slight hint of wist crossed his snout. “I don’t know. It’s part of what makes you who you are, isn’t it?”
Inferno snorted. “Sure it is. It definitely helped make me the dragon I am today. But just because it’s part of me doesn’t mean it’s a part of me I want to keep. All it does is hurt me.”
Seahorse continued thinking for a moment. “Yeah. That makes sense. I understand.”
Inferno doubted that. Seahorse seemed like the perfect dragon. No one hated him because he would literally set them on fire if they got too close. She glanced up to the sky. It was starting to get dark, and her wings were sore from the flight. Why had Seahorse asked that?
----It was another two days before Inferno and Seahorse reached Jade Mountain Academy. Inferno had talked to Ash once during the time, but only briefly. She’d asked him if Seahorse was what he was worried about, and he’d told her that he wasn’t. Still, Ash warned her to keep her guard up around the SeaWing, and Inferno had complied, of course. It was late in the evening when they arrived, and a young IceWing was keeping watch outside the entrance. Seahorse and Inferno flew down to meet him.
The small IceWing stared up at the two with a glare. Inferno gave him a kind smile back. “Hello,” she opened, “are you a student here?”
The IceWing flicked his tongue out. “Who’s asking?” he questioned. Inferno could tell that he wasn’t in a very good mood.
“I’m Inferno,” the SkyWing replied with a smile, “and this is Seahorse. Do you know where the headmasters are? I’d like to talk to them.”
“They’re busy. We have too many weird dragons at Jade Mountain already.” He felt the heat radiating from Inferno’s scales, and growled. “We don’t want you here. You’re like Peril.”
Inferno bared her teeth angrily, her emotions suddenly getting the best of her. “I am not like Peril!” she hissed, a hint of flame rising from her scales.
Terror suddenly shot through the IceWing’s eyes, and he scrambled back, seeing an angry dragon in front of him that could melt his scales in an instant. Inferno suddenly gulped, realizing that she’d scared him. She hadn’t meant to do that. “Sorry,” she quickly apologized to the IceWing, covering her mouth with a paw. Seahorse looked down at the ground unhappily.
It was already too late. The IceWing fearfully scuttled back into the entrance of the cave. A few seconds later, Inferno heard a booming roar through the entrance of the cave, almost knocking her off her paws. “WHO SCARED ERMINE?” it yelled.
A large SeaWing walked through the entrance, her ears twitching in anger. She had her webbed claws wrapped around the less-spikey bits of Ermine’s tail and was dragging him towards Inferno as he ineffectively attempted to scramble away from the SeaWing.
“WAS IT YOU?” the SeaWing aggressively accused Inferno, walking towards her. “NO ONE SCARES MY STUDENTS! ARE YOU WITH QUEEN SCARLET?”
“Please don’t get too close!” Inferno pleaded, taking a step backwards. “I’m not with Queen Scarlet!”
“She isn’t,” Seahorse concurred, quietly shifting his tail.
The angry SeaWing continued her stride, Ermine frantically clawing at the ground to try and stop her. As she felt the heat from Inferno’s scales, she frowned, and her pace came to a halt.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Inferno apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare Ermine, I really don’t want to hurt anyone and I’m with the Talons of Peace, please forgive me!”
The SeaWing cocked her head to the side and released her grasp of Ermine’s tail. The IceWing immediately ran behind the SeaWing, keeping her bulk between himself and Inferno. “You’re with the Talons of Peace?” she asked, surprised. “Why didn’t you just say so?” She let out a happy laugh. “How’s Riptide? Has he said anything about me recently?”
“Riptide?” Inferno asked. She thought for a moment. Of course. This must be Tsunami. “He’s good,” she explained quickly, “a bit busy with management, though. He thinks of you often, and misses you.” That was true. She heard Riptide talking about Tsunami quite a bit.
Tsunami nodded in approval. “He’s quite a good leader, isn’t he?” Inferno didn’t answer that. “It’s been a while since we’ve talked last,” Tsunami continued, “I’ll need to go out there sometime soon, when my schedule here starts to clear up. You’re Inferno, right?”
“Me?” Inferno asked. She nodded. “Yeah.”
Tsunami swished her large tail back and forth, almost hitting Ermine with it. “Riptide mentioned you once or twice, but you’ve always been busy when I’ve visited the Talons. Well, I’m glad to meet you now. I would shake paws, but, well, you know.”
Inferno decided not to tell Tsunami that Riptide always ordered her to stay out of the way when Tsunami visited. Making Riptide look bad in front of her might make her angry.
“Who are you?” Tsunami said, turning to Seahorse. She glanced up and down the other SeaWing. He was even larger than Tsunami, who was quite a big SeaWing to begin with. “Are you with the Talons too? I think I’ve seen you before.”
“I’m Seahorse,” Seahorse replied. “I joined the Talons of Peace after the war ended.”
That was true, but a lot of the time Inferno felt like Seahorse had been around longer. Unlike Inferno, he seemed so integrated with the rest of the Talons, even if he didn’t have many close friends among them. Whereas Inferno couldn’t even get close without scaring dragons away.
“So, what are two Talons doing here?” Tsunami asked. “Did Riptide need you to send a message through the ‘Dragon of Jade Mountain’ or something? Does he need help?”
“Er, I was wondering if I could sleep here for a while,” Inferno answered. Ash hadn’t quite detailed what he wanted Inferno to do here. Did he want her to become a student? “I would like to learn more about the academy, I think. It seems like a nice place from what Riptide has said.”
Tsunami thought for a moment, flicking her tail back and forth. Ermine whimpered quietly. “Are you planning on staying too?” she asked Seahorse. The SeaWing nodded in affirmation.
“I think we can do that,” Tsunami continued, “any Talons of Peace are welcome here.” Inferno let out a sigh of relief. She’d been worried Tsunami was going to reject her. “But,” Tsunami started to say, “Starflight mentioned to me that we already have dragons staying in our guest room. It might be a bit crowded.”
“Oh,” Inferno answered worriedly. “How crowded?” Years of practice had made her very careful when in close quarters with other dragons, but she didn’t want to try sleeping anywhere near anyone else. If she flicked her tail back and forth and accidentally tapped someone with it, it could be deadly.
“Not you,” Tsunami interjected, “I can put you somewhere else; the guest room isn’t fireproofed at the moment anyways. Speaking of that, I’ll need to tell you about the firescales protocol we have here later. But Seahorse will have to stay in the same room with two other dragons. An IceWing and a hybrid, both around Inferno’s age. Will that be a problem?”
“No,” Seahorse answered, no hesitation in his voice. “Er, are there any other dragons with firescales here right now?”
Inferno glanced towards Seahorse. He must have known Peril was here too. Had he known that Inferno was worried about meeting Peril too? That was nice of him to ask.
“You mean Peril?” Tsunami clarified. “No, she’s with Turtle and a few other students from the Jade Winglet in the rainforest, collecting fruit. Obviously not collecting the fruit herself. She’s probably just there for moral support or something like that.” Seahorse frowned, and looked slightly down-trodden at this. A sudden realization whacked Tsunami. “WHO LET PERIL GO TO THE RAINFOREST?” she roared, turning around and glaring directly into Ermine’s eyes. “SHE’LL BURN IT DOWN!?!”
Ermine squealed and bolted into the entrance of Jade Mountain, quickly disappearing within. Tsunami glared after him. “I’ll bet they’re not actually collecting fruit in the rainforest,” she muttered. “They’ll get a talking to after they get back.”
She turned back towards Inferno and Seahorse, who’d both been startled by her outburst. “Ha ha, sorry about that,” Tsunami apologized. “The Jade Winglet has an unfortunate . . . independent streak. A bit like me, back in my youth.” According to the Dragonet Prophecy, Tsunami would only be nine. Not much older than Inferno herself. An adult, but definitely still ‘in her youth.’ Inferno decided not to mention that.
“That’s alright,” Inferno smiled. She was mainly just happy that Peril wouldn’t be here, at least for a while.
Tsunami glanced up at the quickly darkening sky. “It’s getting late. Lemme show you your rooms; I’ve got business to attend to. Like figuring out how to punish the Jade Winglet for whatever they’ve done now. Hopefully not deposing more queens.” She turned around and started into the entrance hall of Jade Mountain.
“Deposing queens?” Inferno asked, following behind the headmaster.
Tsunami nodded, and gave out a long sigh. “It wasn’t really their fault, but a couple years ago, they got caught up in Queen Scarlet’s machinations and ended up restoring her to power. Now, I can’t really say anything bad about Queen Scarlet because she’s a queen and we’re a professional academy that holds no biases in our education, but she’s uglier than an eel and makes Burn and Blister seem like Blaze in comparison. She hates us, and if we didn’t have Peril and the support of three kingdoms firmly behind us, she’d burn the mountain to the ground and put each and every one of our students in her horrid arena.” Tsunami lit up a number of her glowstripes in succession and gave Seahorse a smirk.
Inferno couldn’t speak Aquatic, but she guessed that Tsunami was saying something not so polite about Queen Scarlet. Inferno glanced over to Seahorse to see his response, but he continued looking ahead, his expression remaining unchanged. Tsunami snorted indignantly and turned around, back to facing forward.
As they headed to the guest room, the three passed by a small group of dragonets crowded around what looked like some sort of game, maybe seven or eight total. They appeared to be cheering on two players, moving small, flat pieces around on a checkered wooden board with various images engraved on them. A few were standing behind an orange RainWing with black stripes on her scales, staring intently at the board. “You can do it, Tiger!” Inferno overheard a small MudWing whisper.
As Tiger moved a wooden piece forwards, her opponent, a young dragon with crimson red streaks across their vivid black scales, smirked, an earring in the shape of a conch dangling from their right ear. “Are you sure you want to make that move?” they taunted Tiger. Inferno stared closer at Tiger’s opponent. She hadn’t seen any dragons who looked like that before in the Talons of Peace. Were they a hybrid? That would make sense. There were a couple of hybrids who’d decided to join the Talons of Peace after the war had ended. Inferno wondered what tribes this dragon was from.
Behind the black and red dragon, Inferno saw another dragonet, this one slightly older, peeking his head out to watch Inferno. He also appeared to be some sort of hybrid, with his scales a deep blue with lighter splotches, but his scale colors were ordinary — he could have passed as a normal SeaWing or NightWing if one didn’t look too closely at him. He had webbing between his spines, but had no gills or glowscales like a normal SeaWing would, and an leather eyepatch over his left eye.
Inferno was surprised for a moment to see two hybrids at Jade Mountain, but thinking it over, it didn’t seem that strange. Jade Mountain was one of the few places on Pyrrhia which claimed to be accepting of all dragons, regardless of what tribe and kingdom they hailed from. Of course there would be hybrids here. The blue-black hybrid continued to stare at Inferno, and raised a forepaw, waving it at her with a goofy grin. She shuddered slightly. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something about him really put her on edge. She glanced back to the game.
Tiger was hesitating, her talon still on the piece, refusing to take it off until she was sure it was the right choice. “C’mon, Tiger!” a SandWing prodded in the background. Finally succumbing to the pressure, she lifted her talon off.
“Good choice!” the red-black hybrid exclaimed. “But I still win.” They made their own move, and Tiger winced, realizing that she’d lost.
“Good game,” Tiger muttered, still staring down at the board. “You win, Skytaker. Again.”
Skytaker grinned as Tiger continued to map out her opponent’s future moves.
“Can’t you move this?” the MudWing next to Tiger suggested, pointing her talon to a piece.
Tiger shook her head. “I could, but they’d be able to place down the NightWing Queen I sacrificed earlier over here.” She pointed to a different square. “I’d have three turns left before they captured my Empress.”
Skytaker grinned, then turned towards the onlooking dragons. “HEY!” the hybrid yelled, startling Tiger so much that she rapidly turned her scales invisible, then slowly went back into view. “Are you just going to keep staring at me like that?”
Inferno opened her mouth to apologize, then realized that Skytaker wasn’t talking to her. The hybrid’s eyes were focused on Seahorse, who was looking at Skytaker with a grim look. The SeaWing opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t find the words to speak. Skytaker snorted.
“Sorry,” Inferno quickly apologized to the hybrid. With the dragonets’ attention turned to her, they started to realize from the heat radiating from her scales what she was.
“Firescales,” she heard a SandWing whisper, “like Peril.” Inferno winced.
Skytaker frowned, their eyes still locked with Seahorse. “Do I know you?” they asked accusingly.
Seahorse just barely tensed up. “Er, no,” he answered, letting out an uncomfortable chuckle. Hiding his head in shame, he quickly started to walk away from the group of dragonets, catching up to a surprised Tsunami. Inferno gulped and went after him. She didn’t want to hear more of what the dragonets had to say.
The three went further into the halls of the academy, none of the dragonets willing to follow Tsunami. As they got closer to the room, Tsunami turned to Inferno. “So, what are you?” she asked forwardly. “I mean, what’s your position in the Talons. Riptide never told me. Are you like, their secret weapon or something? Their last line of defense?”
“N-no!” Inferno stammered, shocked. “No! I’d never intentionally hurt someone with my powers. I’m not a monster.”
“Oh?” Tsunami pried curiously. “I suppose that makes sense. They’re called the Talons of Peace, after all, I’m glad they’re starting to live up to their name under Riptide. I just would have figured Morrowseer would have used you for something, like he used us.” She said this last bit with hatred seething through her voice. “So why were you in the Talons, then, if not as Morrow’s weapon?”
“Um,” Inferno responded, “my mother brought me there because otherwise, I’d have been thrown off a cliff. That’s what they do in the Sky Kingdom to dragons with my powers.” It was probably for the better. Inferno was fortunate to have been raised in the Talons. They taught her to respect the lives of others, not to kill dragons whenever possible. But her mother and Avalanche had told that much of the Sky Kingdom, especially the southern regions, was militaristic in nature. A dragon with her abilities would be raised as a murderer. A weapon. Like Peril.
“Oh yeah, that’s true,” Tsunami commented, “I think Peril might have told me that. It takes a dragon like Kestrel to actually go through with something like killing your own dragonets, though.”
Inferno squirmed uncomfortably, keeping her wings clenched to her sides. Even if she wasn’t actually around, it felt like everyone was talking about Peril here. Comparing Inferno to her. Inferno was nothing like Peril, right?
Tsunami finally stopped, Inferno taking a careful step back as she did. She pointed a webbed talon to a small room off the side of the corridor. “This is the guest room, where Seahorse will be staying.”
Seahorse poked his head inside. It was dark, and the guest room was slightly barren. There were a few small desks scattered about, along with a wooden scrollshelf on the wall, with only a few scrolls in it. A few leather pouches and waterskins were scattered across the floor, below a small rocky ledge with a young IceWing sleeping on it. He opened an eye and grumbled, glaring at the newcomer.
“What are you doing?” he growled threateningly at Seahorse, seeing him as an intruder. “Get out of my room, unless you want to get my claws down your snout.” He stretched out his claws, a small silver bracelet visible on his left forearm.
Seahorse snorted. “It’s the guest room,” he answered, stepping forward and bringing his entire humongous form into the IceWing’s eyes. He bared his teeth. “And I’m a guest.”
Polar tensed up slightly, seeing the sheer power in the SeaWing’s jaws. He could snap his neck in two with a single bite. He started to furiously think of ways to defeat him if he attacked, but Seahorse just turned away to another rocky ledge. “Is anyone sleeping here?” he asked.
“No,” Polar muttered under his breath, defeated. Ink was sleeping on a different ledge. “You better not be noisy.”
Seahorse flicked his tongue out of his mouth. “Believe me. You won’t hear a thing.” It was all Polar could do not to gulp. Don’t show fear. Don’t show weakness. 
Seahorse dropped his cloth sack to the ground with a large ‘clang’ of metal, then placed down his and Inferno’s waterskin, keeping his scrollcase beneath a wing as he laid himself down to sleep. 
What is with this dragon? Polar wondered, his talons shaking. Pure power resonated through every movement he’d made. Not even the strongest First Circle IceWing could make him tremble like this. There was something unnatural here, and he didn’t like it. It would be very difficult for him to get a good sleep tonight. Part NightWing or not, at least Ink was just cute and unintimidating.
Seeing that Seahorse was situated, Tsunami turned back to Inferno. “C’mon,” she yawned, “let’s get you to your room.”
== Chapter 12 ==
Tsunami led Inferno into a hallway that looked like it could be the rooms of the students at the academy. The heads of an IceWing and a SeaWing poked out from a doorway, cautiously watching Inferno walk past them, smelling the smoke drifting from her crimson-red scales. They quickly exchanged whispers between themselves about the newcomer before ducking back into the cavern. Inferno sighed.
Eventually, Tsunami reached a small collection of rooms, all of which had no students in them at the moment, but seemed to be in use. Inferno wondered where the students they belonged to were. Maybe these were the students still playing in the common area?
“The Jade Winglet is normally here, but until they get back, you can take this room,” Tsunami said, motioning a webbed paw to the only room in the collection that was completely barren. No scrollshelves, no leaves to rest on, just a small ledge of rock. As Inferno poked her head inside it, she got the slight whiff of smoke.
“It’s already been fireproofed, of course,” Tsunami continued. “If Peril returns and you’re still around, we can probably find someplace else to move you. Or maybe we can just move her to Clay’s room. I’m sure she’d love that.” Tsunami grinned devilishly.
Inferno tensed up, folding her wings even closer to her body than usual. This was Peril’s room? Why did Tsunami have to put her here? She wanted nothing to do with a dragon like that, someone who’d gruesomely murdered more dragons than there were scales on her body. Inferno opened her mouth slightly to ask Tsunami if there were any other rooms available, but quickly closed it. She was Tsunami’s guest here, and the SeaWing had shown great hospitality by just letting a dragon like her into the academy, and even more gave her a room. She didn’t want to insult the SeaWing by rejecting it.
“Alright,” Tsunami yawned. “I’ve got stuff to do. Talk to me or one of the other Dragonets tomorrow, I’m sure we can help get you better situated.” She thought for a moment, then gave Inferno a glare of warning, causing the SkyWing to back up a step. “Also, I don’t know you. The only reason I’m trusting you and Seahorse is because Riptide does. But if you try and lay a claw on one of my students . . . well, we have ways to deal with even dragons with scales like yours. Got it?” Tsunami thought back to Whirlpool’s death, three years ago. She really didn’t want to ask Anemone to use her power. But if it came to that, then she might have no choice.
Inferno nodded furiously. “Please don’t worry,” she replied, “I’d never hurt any dragon.”
Tsunami smiled warily. “That’s good,” she answered, “although if Queen Scarlet decides to come down here, you could be useful.” Inferno frowned uncomfortably. “But see you around,” Tsunami parted.
As Tsunami left Inferno alone, the SkyWing glanced back to the Peril’s room. It made her feel nauseous, just imagining Peril using her talons to rip out the burning guts of screaming dragons. She covered her own talons. She would never, ever, become like that.
Inferno decided she wasn’t tired, and after quickly placing down her small agate, walked away from the room. She wondered if her mother was thinking of her right now. Maybe. Did Goat miss her? Probably not. Inferno didn’t miss Goat yet, but that didn’t seem that weird. She’d only been gone for a few days. Even so, it was strange, being away from someone she’d spent her whole life next to.
Eventually, Inferno arrived in the common room she’d passed on the way in. The crowd of students had dispersed, but a few of the dragons she’d seen earlier were still there. The two hybrids were now playing against each other, while the RainWing and MudWing were watching. Inferno knew that the black-red hybrid’s name was Skytaker and the RainWing was Tiger, but she wasn’t sure about the other two.
As she came into sight, the four dragons’ eyes all turned on her, smoke rising gently from her scales. She stood tense, unsure what to do. She didn’t know her way around the school, and wasn’t quite sure where she was going. “Sorry,” she quickly said, walking back towards another one of the tunnels.
“Hey!” shouted the NightWing-SeaWing hybrid at Inferno. She froze up. “You can join us if you want!”
Inferno just blinked for a few seconds, surprised that she’d been invited to join. They didn’t even know her, and she could be dangerous if she got too close. As the grinning hybrid smiled at Inferno, she saw Skytaker and the MudWing conversing quickly between each other. They were probably unsure if inviting a dragon with firescales so close was such a good idea. Inferno didn’t blame them.
“Oh no, it’s alright,” Inferno answered. If some of them didn’t want her to join, it would probably be better if she stayed away. She didn’t want to make them angrier than they already were.
“Are you sure?” the MudWing suddenly spoke up. “You’re new here, right?”
“It gets boring only playing with Tiger and Sepia,” Skytaker mused. “But apparently there are three new dragons visiting? I’m down.”
“The reason no one else plays with you is because you beat them too easily,” Sepia gently replied to Skytaker.
The hybrid snorted and raised their head pompously. “You seem to be implying it’s not easy for me to beat you.”
“I’ve gotten better,” Sepia protested. “I’m fifth-best in the school now. Fourth-best if you don’t include Starflight, because he’s a teacher. And Qibli is never here anyways, so let’s go with third-best.”
Skytaker grinned, and turned back to their game with the other hybrid. Inferno inched closer, noticing that Tiger was carefully watching her every move. Not with fear, but with intense curiosity. As Inferno made sure not too get so close that the heat she radiated bothered the other dragons too much, she locked eyes with the RainWing. “Um, hi,” she greeted Tiger.
“Hello,” Tiger answered, cocking her head to the side. A few of the black stripes on her body started to change into a blue color. Inferno watched in wonder. She hadn’t met any RainWings before.
“Hey, Inferno, do you know how to play Queens and Generals?” the hybrid with the eyepatch suddenly asked.
“Queens and Generals?” Inferno asked. She glanced down at the checkered board. There were eleven squares to each side, with a large number of wooden circles on the board. Each circle had a small image engraved on them. Some were of animals, some of dragons, and others had only symbols on them. Additionally, each piece had a small half-circle carved at the top. “No, I haven’t played it before.” She wasn’t sure why the hybrid needed to ask her. Of course she couldn’t. She’d burn up the board if she tried.
“Are you good at it?” Tiger asked.
Inferno gave the RainWing an inquisitive look, confused. “No, I said I hadn’t played before.”
“That doesn’t imply that you aren’t good at it,” Tiger answered. “Take Ink. This is his first time playing, and he’s winning against Skytaker, who is unequivocally the best player in the school.”
Inferno glanced at the dark blue hybrid, who waved a paw at her again. That must be Ink.
“He’s not winning,” Skytaker muttered. “I’ve got him cornered, you see?” They pushed a piece forward, and took one of Ink’s pieces off of the board. “And I just took his SandWing Queen.”
Almost without thinking, Ink pushed forward a different small circle close to Skytaker’s side of the board. “I’m promoting my Fox to a Fox General.” He turned the piece over, and for an instant, Inferno saw panic in Skytaker’s eyes.
“He’s definitely beating you now,” Tiger commented. “You have two turns remaining before he takes your Empress. Four with the right move.”
“I know that,” Skytaker snapped, moving one of their pieces to the right. They glanced at the board against and winced. “Eagle guts,” they grumbled, realizing they’d made the wrong move, having suddenly lost their cool. “I should’ve captured his Stag General.”
Tiger turned towards Ink, who’s excited expression had just fallen. A single talon hovered over one of his pieces, shaking. She glanced at him, hints of purple running across her scales. “Well?” Tiger asked. “You can win this turn, right?”
“Um,” Ink replied, gulping. That wasn’t what Skytaker was supposed to do . . . “Er, the Fox General can move diagonally forward and to the left twice, right?”
“Only once,” Tiger replied. “But you don’t want to move your Fox General, you want to move your Rai—”
“Shhh!” Skytaker suddenly interrupted Tiger. “Don’t tell him!” Tiger rolled her eyes.
Ink pushed forward another one of his pieces, taking one of Skytaker’s off the board. Tiger groaned as Skytaker grinned deviously.
“You fool! You didn’t take my Cat!” the red-black hybrid laughed dramatically. Skytaker moved a piece across the board, taking one of Ink’s pieces off. They raised the piece dramatically — a small circular token with a crown on it. “Your Empress has been captured! Pyrrhia is mine!”
Sepia tsked while Tiger glowered at Ink, causing the hybrid to gulp in concern. “How?” Tiger growled, slightly enraged. “How did you lose? What is with you? First you give me an almost perfect design for a desalination machine and have no idea how it works, and now you were two turns away from beating Skytaker, but lost because of a rookie mistake?”
“Um, beginner’s luck?” Ink asked, laughing uneasily.
Tiger frowned, and continued to glare at the uncomfortable Ink. Ink turned away, towards Inferno. “Do you want to play?” he asked, trying to change the subject. 
Inferno smiled kindly, surprised that he offered. “Thank you,” she replied, “but I can’t. I’d burn your pieces.” She raised up a talon, wisps of smoke emanating from it.
“Oh, cool!” Skytaker said, looking closer at Inferno’s talons. “What’s your name? Are you talons as hot as Peril’s?”
Inferno squirmed uncomfortably, not sure how to answer to that. She didn’t particularly want to know how hot Peril’s talons were.
“Stop asking her personal questions,” Ink snorted.
“I’m not,” Skytaker responded, “it’s because we might be able to use a metal set if her talons aren’t too hot. Sepia, do you know if we have one anywhere?”
“We don’t,” Sepia answered, “at least, not that I’ve seen. I’m pretty sure they only make them in wood.”
“I could move the pieces for her if she tells me what to do,” Ink suggested. Skytaker nodded in agreement.
“I’m Inferno,” Inferno introduced herself, “but I still don’t know how to play. I don’t think it would be very fun for you, since you all are probably so much better than I am.”
“I can teach you by playing against you,” Tiger spoke up, disregarding Inferno’s concern for her enjoyment. “Unlike certain dragons, I can play against newcomers and not completely dominate them.”
“She’s the one who taught me,” Sepia brought up.
“Excuse you,” Skytaker snorted, curling their black and red tail around one of their hind legs. “I can hold back. Anyways, I’m basically undefeated. I should be the one to teach her.”
“You’re wrong on both accounts,” Tiger retorted. “I’ve seen you teach, you’re awful at it. And you’re not ‘undefeated.’ I’ve beaten you twice. Remember?”
“Completely negligible to my winning streak,” Skytaker snapped. “And you only beat me once! The first time didn’t count because we never finished the game.”
“We never finished the game because we had to go to class, and when we came back Ermine had messed it all up,” Tiger argued, her dark stripes of scales starting to disappear against her orange body. “I had at most five moves to win, and you knew it.”
“There was still a chance you could have messed up. Ink was pretty close to beating me, and he still messed up.”
Tiger glanced towards Ink, startling him. “Well, I’m not Ink,” she answered. “I’m still shocked Ink lost.”
“Maybe we should start showing Inferno how to play instead of squabbling,” Ink chuckled, giving the SkyWing a glance. Sepia nodded in consensus.
“Fine,” Skytaker muttered, stepping out of the way so that Tiger could take their place. Tiger began to set up her side of the board, moving the small circular pieces in various positions, pointing them so the semi-circular arc at the top of each piece pointed away from her. 
Ink glanced down at his pieces, not moving them. “Er, is the beginning setup just mirrored on each side?” he asked.
Tiger winced. “Yes,” she explained. “Set them up the way I’m setting mine up. Since apparently you have no idea how to play, I can teach you at the same time I teach Inferno.” The RainWing glanced into Inferno’s bright blue eyes. “Have you played any sort of board game with pieces before?”
Inferno shook her head. “Not really.”
Tiger thought for a moment. “Alright. So the basic goal of Queens and Generals is to capture your opponent’s Empress. That’s the piece with the crown on it.” She pointed her talon to one, and Inferno leaned in, very carefully, to see.
“To capture the Empress,” Tiger continued, “you have a variety of other pieces that can all move in various ways. The pieces with their semicircle pointed away from you are your pieces that you can move, and the pieces with the semicircle pointed towards you are your opponent’s pieces. Pieces with the semicircle pointed to the left or right are neutral pieces, but those won’t appear until later in the game.”
“You’re explaining too much,” Skytaker grumbled, “just make her play, but remove all the complicated pieces and rules for her first time.”
“I don’t even know if she’s played turn-based games before,” Tiger groaned.
“Well, she can learn on the go,” Skytaker said. “Ooh, maybe you can play against Sepia, and she can watch. Watching is a great way to learn!”
“Not if she has no idea how the basic game works!” Tiger snapped.
A small grin started to come to Inferno’s face as the two continued arguing. For a moment, it felt like she was a part of this group, even if she didn’t know any of these dragons at all. Jade Mountain was turning out to be better than she’d expected. Maybe, just maybe, she might be able to find a home here.
== Chapter 13 ==
Glory deftly glided towards Mastermind’s pavilion, Jambu and Toxin following close behind her, weaving in and out of the trees. Mastermind’s house was on the outskirts of the RainWing village — far enough away that Glory rarely had to deal with him, and not so close to the NightWing village that they visited him often. While she’d originally placed a RainWing to guard him after moving him away from the quicksand, she’d eventually decided that he wasn’t dangerous enough to bother. He preferred to keep to himself and the scrolls that Starflight occasionally brought him.
Still, Glory did have the occasional worry that he’d be used by NightWings who wanted to overthrow her. She wasn’t quite sure how he’d be used, but he was smart, and probably would be a useful asset to NightWings unhappy with a RainWing queen. Fortunately, plots to usurp Glory had been rare for the past year. Ever since the Silverhorn incident, most of the NightWings had been complacent with Glory’s rule. It was much better than it was on the volcanic island. Plenty of food to go around for everyone, and a queen who listened to all her subjects. Even the dissenters kept their complaints to quiet grumblings. Yet, if this drought didn’t let up, and food became more scarce, this fragile peace wouldn’t hold. That was why Glory was desperate enough that she was willing to ask a murderer like Mastermind for help finding out what Toxin’s visions meant.
As Glory approached the tree Mastermind was situated in, she pointed her wings up, sailing through a gap in the canopy. Toxin followed, clearly already knowing this path, with Jambu trailing behind her. As the bright sunlight of a clear sky hit Glory’s eyes, she saw Mastermind’s tree poking out above the rest of the nearby rainforest, a small wooden pavilion at the top. A variety of woven baskets were situated around the pavilion, containing things ranging from food and water to scrolls. The figure of a NightWing rested on the pavilion, and appeared to be carefully studying small glass vials filled with some type of liquid. His wings were bound loosely against his body with a harness, with a rope made of woven vines extending from it, wrapped around the huge tree beneath the pavilion, where the NightWing couldn’t reach. It was possible he could try and burn it, but Glory doubted he’d risk the fire spreading and burning himself. It was somewhat ironic, Glory thought, that he’d ended up with his own wings bound, after he’d done the same to so many RainWings back on the island.
As Mastermind saw the three visitors approach, he raised his head. Almost knocking one of the vials over, he pushed one to the side, as if that would hide it from Glory. She frowned. What was he experimenting with? She doubted he was trying to escape — even if he decided to burn his tether and was able to get his harnesses off somewhere, he wouldn’t be able to take all his scrolls with him if he flew away. That just made her more concerned. At least a dragon who was trying to escape was predictable.
As Glory, Jambu, and Toxin landed on the pavilion, Mastermind smiled uncomfortably, sitting up. He looked much better than he did before moving to the rainforest, though that was most NightWings. He was no longer as thin and bony, and seemed to be far less stressed. Many of the small scars on his snout were fading, although a few new ones seemed to have been created.
“Hello, your majesty,” Mastermind greeted Glory, exchanging a quick glance with Toxin, “what brings you here today? Is it my water shipment? I didn’t get any with my sustenance last week.”
“We’re in a drought, and don’t have any spare water,” Glory explained with a frown, “you can eat fruit if you need water. Don’t complain.”
“That seems efficient,” Mastermind commented.
Glory snorted, and glanced down to the glass vials at Mastermind’s paws. They were filled with a diluted liquid with the faintest hint of black. “What’s in here?” she asked, pointing a talon to the liquid, already knowing the answer.
Mastermind squirmed back and forth uncomfortably in his harness. He opened his mouth to speak, but Toxin stepped between him and Glory, interrupting him. “It’s just RainWing venom,” Toxin snorted. “Why do you care?”
Glory hissed in irritation, pacing back and forth. “You do realize that’s what he was experimenting with, back on the island, right? He was torturing us for our venom. Just ask Kinkajou or Orchid how they feel about it.”
Toxin turned her head around, towards Mastermind. In a quick motion, she opened her jaws, and sprayed out two shots of venom at Mastermind. Glory’s eyes opened wide in panic, then looked away. Jambu gave out a squeal of fright. The NightWing jumped in alarm as the black venom hit him. Instead of hearing screams from Mastermind, the venom harmlessly dripped off his scales. “I’m not a RainWing,” Toxin growled.
“It’s inert,” Mastermind explained.
“Yes,” Glory answered, “I can see that. And the point is?”
“Mastermind thinks that it’s inert because my venom neutralizes itself,” Toxin explained.
“I think I may have discovered the method by which RainWing venom from close relatives neutralizes the biotic corrosiveness of itself,” Mastermind continued. “With more data on different venom types, I might be able to create a universal neutralizer.”
“So you want to find more RainWings to experiment on?” Glory snapped. “How do you even know that the venom from two relatives neutralize each other?”
“Tiger told him,” Toxin explained, “she found out about my venom being inert, and introduced me to Mastermind since he’s an expert on it.”
Glory flicked her tongue, and shuffled her wings. She didn’t like this at all. Toxin was the troublemaker, she had been hoping that she was the one who forced Tiger into talking with Mastermind. “And now what? The two of you are allowing yourselves to be his lab rats?”
“We give him venom samples. It was Tiger and I’s suggestion, not his!” Toxin hissed. “Don’t punish him for it!”
Glory sighed, pacing back and forth. Maybe she should have kept Mastermind in the quicksand, or at least under stricter guard somewhere. “Mastermind, I want you to stop all experimentation, and Toxin, I don’t want you to visiting him anymore. He’s a dangerous and evil dragon.” Blotches of red were starting to appear on her scales.
“He’s not evil,” Toxin protested, “And isn’t that the whole point of Jade Mountain Academy to forgive dragons for bad things they did during the war and teach everyone to get along?”
“To forgive dragonets,” Glory corrected her, “and I’m not a part of that. I’m the Queen of the RainWings and NightWings. If Sunny wants to forgive dragons like him, then she can do that, but I won’t.”
Toxin glowered, and opened her mouth to continue the argument, but Mastermind stopped her.
“It’s alright, Toxin,” Mastermind grimaced. “I hurt dragons. Three of their deaths are my fault. If Glory doesn’t want to forgive me, I understand. I’ll stop experimenting.”
Toxin seethed at Glory. “He just wants to help you,” she hissed.
Glory ignored Toxin, turning to Mastermind. “Good. You’re lucky a criminal like you even gets a place like this to yourself. I’ve seen prisons in some of the other kingdoms. It’s far, far worse than what we have here.” She glanced over towards her brother, who didn’t seem too interested in the conversation, and currently had a glazed look of boredom on his snout. “Now that that’s done with, I had some questions to ask you about the drought.”
“You have the audacity to ask him for something after this?” Toxin retorted, baring her teeth.
Glory continued to ignore the whining dragonet. “You can feel it, right? How the humidity of the rainforest suddenly dropped overnight? All the rivers have suddenly dried up, too. Is that natural?”
Mastermind frowned, tapping a claw against his vial. “It’s not a weather pattern I’d predict here. And I wouldn’t think that the rivers completely drying up in such a short amount of time would normally be possible.”
“So it’s not natural,” Glory said. She didn’t like that. “Do you think it’s magic? Can animuses control the weather?”
Mastermind tossed his tail back and forth. “I’m a scientist,” he responded, “not a wizard.”
“You’re also a NightWing, and if you’re anything like Starflight, you read a lot,” Glory continued, “even if none of you had powers until after the eruption, you have to know something about animus dragons or prophecies, right?”
“Prophecies?” Mastermind responded, clicking his forked tongue. “Is that why you brought Toxin here?”
“I told you already, he doesn’t know,” Toxin muttered.
The NightWing nodded. “There are a lot of things the vision might mean. I’ve thought it over a bit, but I’ve read a lot of literature on prophecies and visions, and it’s difficult to tell what’s true and what’s not. It could be metaphorical or literal. Blaze being made of stone might represent how the previous dynasty is fully in the past, and the IceWing with a dagger could mean that Queen Glacier is planning something that could pose a danger to the Sand Kingdom.”
“It’s literal,” Glory stated, her tail twitching back and forth. “Both Queen Thorn and Blaze were recently assassinated. That probably means that Blaze was literally turned to stone somehow. There’s magic involved here, I’m sure of it, and I hate it. Jambu here thought he heard of something similar happening years ago. Jambu, tell him.”
Jambu’s ears perked up, and he glanced over to Mastermind. “Oh, er, I don’t know much, but either an IceWing or a parrot turned a dragonet to stone, years ago.”
Mastermind mused on this. “So you think that there’s an IceWing with some enchanted artifact out there, probably the dagger Toxin saw her holding, turning dragons to stone?”
“Yeah,” Glory replied, “she might have found it somewhere, like Silverhorn did. It might even have been enchanted by the Darkstalker himself.”
“Which means that the second part of Toxin’s vision was also most likely literal,” Mastermind concluded. “And possibly related to the first in some manner.”
“I could feel the heat and dryness in the second vision,” Toxin spoke up, “I can’t normally do that. I think it has something to do with the drought.”
“And maybe, figuring out what the second part of the vision means could help us find out what caused the drought,” Glory suddenly realized. “You said that it happened at Jade Mountain, right? Maybe we should go there, and see what’s going on. Moon could be helpful too.” Toxin also mentioned a sky-blue hybrid in her vision. Glory didn’t remember there being any students like that or any hybrids other than Sunny and Skytaker, but maybe she just missed this one.
“If we’re still trying to interpret it, there’s a chance some of the scrolls on prophecies might have survived the eruption,” Mastermind commented. “There’s one in particular that documents a lot of older prophecies, back before our move to the island. I’d be happy to go and check.”
Glory snorted. Chances were, he just wanted to save his scrolls. Still, Starflight would be happy to see scrolls rescued, and maybe there would be something useful. The island was just a creepy tunnel away. “Fine,” she conceded, “I can have Deathbringer go there for me.”
Mastermind fidgeted against the harness binding his wings. “Deathbringer?” he asked scornfully. “I doubt he knows the scroll I’m thinking of. He’s been away from the island for years, I’m not even sure he could find our library in all this rubble.”
Glory glared, not particularly liking the insult to her mate, but knew Mastermind was probably right. “What, you think we should let you go?”
Mastermind smiled toothily, as if hoping that would convince his queen.
Glory was unimpressed. “I’ll talk to Deathbringer about bringing you along with him or I.” If Mastermind was going out, she might want to chaperone him herself. It wouldn’t take too long, and she didn’t want to return to Jade Mountain immediately, considering she just got back from there.
Mastermind nodded, and bowed his head slightly. “Thank you, your majesty.”
White splotches of disgust started to appear on Glory’s neck. She didn’t want this dragon’s thanks. “Fine,” she muttered. She turned to glare at Toxin. “Jambu, can you take her somewhere and keep her busy? I don’t want her chatting it up with Mastermind anymore.”
The hybrid growled as Jambu nodded enthusiastically, happy he was needed. “This way, Toxin!” he said gleefully, motioning her with a bright pink wing. “Ready for some tree-gliding?”
Toxin stood still for a moment, as if deciding whether to disobey her queen or not, but followed Jambu off the edge of the pavilion, the two gliding beneath the canopy layer and into the rainforest.
Glory shot one last look at Mastermind. It was so wrong, him leaving so peacefully and healthily in the rainforest, while Bright, Tapir, and Orangutan were dead. Still, something bugged her about it. Almost every NightWing over three years of age was at least a little complicit in what the Night Kingdom had done, both to the RainWings and to the rest of Pyrrhia. Was it really fair that Mastermind was the only one punished like this? Mastermind claimed that he was just acting under his orders. But the NightWings who had guarded the captured RainWings, who’d fed them for Mastermind, they couldn’t be innocent either. And Mastermind wasn’t the only ringleader — Greatness’s claws were hardly clean, and three moons, how many innocent dragons had Deathbringer himself murdered? It had to be more than three. Yet, he was a good dragon, right? Just following the orders he was given from Morrowseer and Queen Battlewinner? Even if he’d done bad things for his kingdom, he’d betrayed them not just for Glory, but because he knew what they were doing was wrong. That had to be the difference between Deathbringer and Mastermind. Deathbringer had redeemed himself, and Mastermind hadn’t.
Leaving the NightWing behind, Glory leapt from the pavilion. She had two kingdoms to run, and a prophecy to get to the bottom of. She didn’t have time to think about dragons like Mastermind.
----Glory found Deathbringer in the hatchery, holding Firefly’s egg beneath his snout. He smiled as he saw her, and she glanced down towards the egg. The eggshell seemed as thick and healthy as Glory had last seen it, but again, the colors on the shell had moved around; the purple and violet blotches were in different places. Strange.
“I think I can hear her moving inside,” Deathbringer grinned, carefully holding the egg up to Glory, who listened carefully. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have heard the faint noise of claws scratching against eggshell, and a small heartbeat.
Glory smiled, although it started to droop as she remembered the topic on paw. “Deathbringer,” she said, “Toxin had another vision. I think it’s about the drought. There’s animus magic involved.”
“Oh,” Deathbringer answered, “that’s not good, is it?”
“No,” Glory snorted, “it’s not good. I’m planning on going back to Jade Mountain. There might be something important happening there, and I should be there for it. Tsunami and Starflight should know about the vision, too.” If Peril was going to kill someone at Jade Mountain, then they should be warned. Maybe Sunny and Clay, too, but Sunny was going to be busy with taking over her mother’s throne. Glory didn’t want to make her worry about this, too. Maybe she’d send someone through the tunnel to tell her, after she knew more.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Deathbringer asked.
Glory thought for a moment. She wasn’t sure how long she’d have to wait at Jade Mountain for the vision to occur. It would be nice having Deathbringer there, but with the drought and all, she needed someone she could trust to watch over the kingdom. She supposed that Grandeur and Greatness could work in her stead, but she preferred that Deathbringer be here to help. “I don’t think so,” she replied, “someone needs to take care of the dragons here. But there is something I wanted to ask you. I talked with Mastermind today. He thinks that there’s a few scrolls which might be useful to us on the island, if parts of the library survived.”
“And you want me to go?” Deathbringer asked. He tried not to show it, but Glory could tell he didn’t seem too happy about going back to the island.
“I want you and I to go, along with Mastermind,” Glory corrected him. “It should just be a quick trip, in and out. Maybe an hour or two at most.” Glory didn’t want to spend more time than she had to breathing in the ash and sulfur, personally, and they were just going to look for a few scrolls.
“You’re taking Mastermind?” Deathbringer asked, slightly surprised.
Glory nodded. “He’ll be useful for finding the scrolls, and it’s not like he’s going to try and attack me. He might try to escape, but if you’re there, I doubt it. He doesn’t seem like the particularly ‘courageous’ type, if you get what I mean. I assume Starflight got any of that from his mother.”
Deathbringer nodded. Farsight was definitely a courageous dragon. Probably had been a bit too much for her own good. “Alright,” Deathbringer agreed hesitantly, “if you think this is a good idea.”
Glory smiled, and for a moment, the thin yellow stripes on her neck started to brighten into a rosy-pink, bursts spreading across her wings. She moved closer to Deathbringer, and curled her tail around his. “I know this is hard for you, and that you don’t want to go back. Thank you.” She licked her tongue against the side of Deathbringer’s snout, making the NightWing grin toothily.
“What, me?” Deathbringer laughed, putting on fake bravado. “Scared of a little smoke and fire? Ridiculous. I eat lava for breakfast.”
Glory rolled her eyes, and looked back down towards Firefly’s egg with Deathbringer. Her daughter wouldn’t grow up trapped on a barren hell-island, or locked up in a cave. Glory would make sure she’d have a beautiful, peaceful rainforest full of dragons who loved her. That was why they needed to do this.
== Chapter 14 ==
Glory shuddered as she stood in front of the tunnel, specks of bright morning light hitting her scales through the rainforest canopy. The scent of smoke and decay could already reach her from here. The NightWing island was understandably not her favorite place in Pyrrhia, and going into it with the dragon who had held her captive there didn’t make it much better.
She glanced over at Mastermind, fidgeting his wings back and forth. He mainly seemed happy to have his harness off, and to be somewhere different for a change. He was carrying a large, empty sack with him that he’d been given; presumably to hold scrolls. If he was thinking about trying to escape, Glory couldn’t tell. Deathbringer stood next to him, giving him a cautious glance every so often.
Glory looked back to the tunnel. A small waterfall ran down from a nearby ledge, splashing against a large rainforest tree. From the other side, it looked like any other tree in the forest, but from this angle, Glory could clearly see the small black disk a short distance up the tree. She hated this thing. It clearly wasn’t supposed to be here. If she looked too closely at the edges, where the rest of the world just . . . stopped, she started to get nauseous. Still, she couldn’t deny its utility. Maybe not so much this one, but the one that led to the Sand Kingdom made it very convenient when talking with Queen Thorn. Now it would provide a quick way to send messages back and forth to Sunny. Queen Sunny.
Suddenly, a flash of movement caught Glory’s eye from the side of the tunnel, partly hidden by the bushes. She immediately tensed up, and without thinking, leaped out at the enemy. Her claws landed on scales, and she looked down at the surprised figure of a young RainWing. “Eek!” he squealed. “Your majesty!”
“No, wait!” Deathbringer suddenly cried out. “He’s with me! He’s part of the Ninja Guard!”
Glory rolled her eyes, and stepped off her frightened subject. The RainWing quickly scooted away, re-cloaking his scales and becoming almost invisible against the rainforest background. The ‘Ninja Guard’ had been Deathbringer’s pet project recently. He’d chosen a number of interested RainWings, and had been working on turning them into assassins, or spies, or something of that sort. Glory had said that the rainforest didn’t need spies or assassins, but Deathbringer had insisted, both because a invisible personal guard would be useful, and also really cool. With RainWing camouflage and venom, one would think that they’d be naturals at it. Unfortunately, it was a bit more difficult than Deathbringer had expected.
Glory remembered what had happened when Deathbringer had invited her to watch their assassination training mission. One cut herself on one of her weapons, and another cried after what realizing what he’d done to the Blister target could’ve happened to a real dragon. Kind of pitiful. There were tears and comforting hugs everywhere, and the target wasn’t even that realistic. 
“Can we not bring your assassins-in-training along with us?” Glory asked. “There’s going to be no one but us on the island.”
“But Mastermind—” Deathbringer started to protest.
“Knows very well how RainWing venom works, and what would happen if he tried to attack me. You can also just use one of your spinning blades on him or something if it comes to that. Starflight’s father or not, he’ll be dead in seconds if he tries anything funny.” Glory sent Mastermind a smile, causing the NightWing to gulp. 
Deathbringer shrugged his wings in defeat. “Alright, Ninja Guard dismissed,” he ordered. Glory could here the slight rustling of leaves around her, but it could have just been the wind.
“Thank you,” Glory replied, “and please stop calling them the ‘Ninja Guard.’ It’s really stupid, and gets on my nerves.”
Deathbringer grinned. “Do I get on your nerves?” he asked, nuzzling Glory’s neck gently. Glory rolled her eyes and smiled, spirals of gold and pink flashing through her scales.
As Glory noticed Mastermind awkwardly turning away from the two lovers, she was brought back to the current task. She needed to find the scrolls, and figure out how to stop this drought. Maybe eating fruit would work for now, but it wouldn’t be long before the rainforest would start to shrivel up.
Glory gently pushed Deathbringer away from her. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you can take care of any big, scary NightWings yourself. You’ll just use your seductive grin on them and they’ll run right away.”
“Oh?” Deathbringer asked, surprised. “I’m the seductive one? Last time I checked, you were the one who convinced me to betray my queen and kingdom, even if they totally deserved it.”
Glory chuckled as she flew up towards the entrance of the tunnel. Even if it did give off creepy, evil feelings, being with Deathbringer just made her so much more comfortable. He just gave off that sort of vibe around him. It was part of why she cared for him so much.
After Deathbringer gave him a quick nudge with his tail, Mastermind took off, landing directly behind Glory, with Deathbringer following closely behind him. The chill of magic stretched and squished against Glory’s scales as the darkness closed in behind her. As she approached the end of the tunnel, Glory could feel the dry heat of the NightWing island, sulfurous air entering her lungs like a kiss from Deathbringer on a bad breath day. Strangely enough, the dryness wasn’t as striking as usual. She quickly realized why — the normally humid rainforest was much more parched than usual.
Glory was relieved to finally reach the exit of the tunnel, into a dark cave. Her tail brushed against the floor, pushing aside a thin coating of ash. “Deathbringer?” she asked, hoping for a little bit of light. She felt Mastermind’s cold scales brush up against her uncomfortably.
“Yeah, just a sec,” Deathbringer commented. With a gush of air, a small burst of flame left the NightWing’s mouth, lighting up the cave for a moment.
Glory looked up to see the petrified shape of Morrowseer above her. It made her shiver, seeing his frozen talons, reaching towards her as if he wanted to finally kill her in his last moments. There was a dragon turned to stone, sort of. Glory flicked her tongue, looking up towards the solidified NightWing defiantly. He’d thought he’d had so much power, treating the Dragonets of Destiny only as his playthings, his tools. Well look at him now. Glory, the ‘useless RainWing mistake’ was now the queen of his tribe, and he was like this. 
“Oh yeah, he’s still here,” Deathbringer yawned as the light from his flame started to fade, leaving the three again in darkness. “Maybe someone should move him.”
“Eh, I think he’s a good warning, just in case some poor RainWing or NightWing dragonets find this place accidentally,” Glory commented. “Hopefully, he’ll frighten them off.”
As Deathbringer let out another burst of flame, Glory moved around Morrowseer’s corpse, into the cave behind him. Mastermind and Deathbringer quietly followed, following down the small cave until they reached the end. When she exited the cave, her eyes only had to adjust slightly to the dim light. Clouds of ash loomed over the island, obscuring most of the sunlight and resulting in the island being surrounded by a hazy glow. Pockets of lava were still on the ground, and while most of it seemed to be cooled, a few flows closer to the volcano were cracked open, allowing an dim orange glow to escape.
Though it had been two years since the volcano had erupted, the effects were still clearly apparent. A large portion of the crater seemed like it had fallen off during the eruption, covering the land below. The air was toxic, and it was difficult for Glory to breath. She let out a quiet wheeze. It certainly wasn’t healthy to breath this in for a few hours, much less one’s entire life. She wondered if anyone would ever inhabit the island again. Hopefully not. She glanced over towards Deathbringer and Mastermind. Both of them seemed slightly grim, but seemed to have adapted slightly better than Glory had.
Deathbringer took in a deep breath of the abrasive air, and let it out slowly, feigning pleasure. “Home sweet home,” he muttered.
Mastermind looked a bit less pleased. Even being imprisoned, Glory guessed he had grown used to the rainforest and it’s cleanliness. He didn’t really seem like he wanted to be here either.
“We can leave as soon as we find those scrolls,” Glory suggested.
Mastermind nodded, and pointed a ink-stained talon to the thick walls of a fortress, poking through a field of solidified tunnels. “My laboratory is over there, so the library should be not too far, just a short passage through the tunnels.”
“We’re not here to go to your sick laboratory,” Glory reprimanded, “and chances are that the tunnels have been filled up with cooled lava anyways. Are there any other ways in?”
Mastermind’s claw moved slightly to the left, and pointed to a the stone ceiling of a building, pushing out from layers of black rock, layed on top of one another. “That might be the library ceiling, or close to it. We might be able to get through from the outside.”
“Great,” Glory responded, already spreading her wings to take flight over the island. She didn’t want to waste more time here than necessary.
The flight across the small island was short, and it wasn’t long before the three touched down at the roof Mastermind had pointed out. The lava around it was cooled, but hardened. There was no way they would be able to break in that way. As Glory looked around for a possible entrance, she noticed something.
“Hey, over here!” she called to Deathbringer. He quickly waltzed over to her. The RainWing queen pointed at a small hole in the ceiling, just large enough for a small dragon to get in. “I think we can open this up.”
Working together, the two dragons dislodged a large stone from the roof, causing it to tumble into the library beneath. Mastermind winced as he heard it crash against the floor. Hopefully, it hadn’t harmed any precious scrolls beneath.
As the three entered the remains of the library, Deathbringer let out a small burst of flame, allowing Glory to see. Finding a small torch, he set it on fire, dimly illuminating the room. Rubble was scattered all over the room, but most of it had stayed somewhat intact. Scrolls were all over the floor, having fallen off the collapsed shelves. Still, Mastermind didn’t seem to be daunted by the mess, he instead looked right at home.
Starflight would have loved this place, Glory thought to herself, had he still been able to read, of course. She still blamed Morrowseer for that, and burning alive to become a frozen husk didn’t seem like enough punishment for him for everything he’d done, to both the Dragonets of Destiny, the RainWings, and every other dragon who’d been killed in the war because of his plan. Still, there wasn’t much he could do about it. It’s not like she could bring him back to life to kill him again. Then again, there was that one IceWing queen Winter had mentioned . . .
A sudden interruption from Mastermind tore her mind away from vengeance, and back to the library. “This might be helpful,” the NightWing suggested, handing his queen a scroll.
It titled Great NightWing Prophecies: Volume Two. Glory opened it to find a series of successive prophecies, many in rhyme.
“We lost almost all our scrolls about two-thousand years ago, the same time we lost our powers,” Mastermind explained, “so there’s very few scrolls which will be completely accurate, and there aren’t any studies on visions nor prophecies either. There was a NightWing, Scrollwriter, who attempted to write down as much as he could afterwards, but it wasn’t anything close to what we had.”
“Scrollwriter?” Glory snorted. “Where do you get these names from? They seem pretty accurate. Deathbringer?”
Mastermind flicked his tongue. “Call it some leftover sense of prophecy, I guess. We also train dragonets from birth to fit them, which makes things a bit more likely. Conformation bias, if you will.” He glanced over towards Deathbringer, standing up on his hind legs to grab a scroll from the top of a shelf. “Hey! Don’t touch that!” Mastermind suddenly yelled out.
Deathbringer glanced back, startled by Mastermind, and suddenly lost his balance. As he scrambled at the shelf to try and regain it, his claws only grabbed ahold of scrolls. He fell back, knocking the scrolls off the shelf. They fell onto his head harmlessly, but Mastermind didn’t look pleased.
“Uh, sorry?” Deathbringer apologized halfheartedly, invoking a cackle from Glory. Mastermind grumbled as he walked over to where Deathbringer was, and carefully picked the scrolls up to put them back on the shelf. He suddenly stopped at one of them, and yelled out a triumphant “Aha!”
“What is it?” asked Glory, hopeful that he’d found something useful.
“I’ve been looking for this for ages! I mean, before the eruption, but I had given up hope!”
   Glory peered over at the title. “The Refraction of Light through Various Minerals?”
Mastermind nodded. “Yes, I was doing some research on that a while back, and found this great scroll. But my assistant decided to put it back in the wrong place, and I could never find it again after that. Such a pity.”
Glory sighed, her eyes rolling. “Can we just find the scrolls we’re looking for?”
After a little grumbling, Mastermind went to pick up a few more scrolls.
“A Guide to Explaining NightWing Powers,” she read out as he handed them to her. “Creating Visions. Anything else?”
Mastermind didn’t look hopeful. “There might be one or two, but that’s pretty much it, since the Black Scrolls seem to all be missing. I think that we might find another few volumes of Great NightWing Prophecies, but that didn’t look like what you wanted. But why look at those scrolls when there are so many other great scrolls here?”
He started to pull out a random scroll from the sense, invoking a slap from Deathbringer on his paw. “We’re not library browsing here,” Deathbringer reprimanded.
“Wait,” Glory said, “what are the Black Scrolls? And why are they gone?”
“They’re a set of antique scrolls that we used to have here,” Mastermind quickly explained, still rummaging through the scrolls like an excited dragonet, occasionally shoving them into the quickly growing sack he’d brought along. “They were written around the time we moved to the island, as a way of preserving our history and saving the information in some of the older decaying scrolls. I saved a few of them I thought were the most important when I left the island, although I had to leave most of them behind. It looks like the entire shelf they were on has been emptied, though. A shame, there was a really good one on prophecies, visions, and interpretations. I suppose all of them must be real, now that I think about it.”
“Wait, the shelf was emptied?” Glory asked. “Are you telling me that someone’s been in here?” She glanced up to the hole in the roof she and Deathbringer had expanded out. That must not have been natural. Someone had broken in.
Mastermind nodded. “Most likely.” He frowned, deep in thought. “Oh.”
“Oh?” Glory questioned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well,” Mastermind coughed uncomfortably, “I think Tiger might have moved them.”
“What?” Glory asked, growling. “Why would Tiger be here?”
“I might have mentioned the Black Scrolls to her,” Mastermind conceded, “they are very old and valuable, and I felt bad about a bunch of them being left behind on the island, so I told her I was worried about them.”
“You sent a dragonet here?” Glory roared, red and orange highlights forming along her horns. “Of course you did. You haven’t changed a bit! You care more about your stupid scrolls and research than the life of a dragonet. We should have kept you in that quicksand pit.”
“She did it by herself!” Mastermind protested. “I didn’t ask her to. She never even told me that she went here!”
Glory twitched her tail for a moment, unsure whether or not to believe the NightWing. Eventually, she started to calm down, realizing that he was telling to the truth. He wouldn’t have come here if he’d thought the scrolls were already gone. She still wasn’t happy with Mastermind. She’d bet a pile of mangoes that ‘rescuing’ his scrolls was his ulterior motive in convincing Glory to bring him here.
“Hey,” Deathbringer suddenly interrupted Glory with a whisper, his ear perking up, “do you hear that?”
Glory listened closely, unsure what Deathbringer meant. All she could hear was the gentle crinkling of paper as Mastermind unrolled and rerolled scrolls before putting them into his back. “What?” she asked sarcastically. “The sound of Mastermind’s brain whirring around?”
“No, seriously,” Deathbringer replied, slightly concerned, “I think I hear someone outside the library.”
Glory was skeptical, but she trusted Deathbringer’s instincts as an assassin. She motioned a wing towards the hole in the ceiling, and quietly walked over towards it as she camouflaged here scales, blending in almost perfectly against the stone walls. Taking care with every step, Glory climbed up a bookshelf towards the hole, and slithered through it. She looked around the roof, half-covered in layers of black stone. At first glance, she seemed to be alone, but it wasn’t long before she spotted a dark blur against the black stone. A poorly disguised RainWing.
Glory rolled her eyes, and pounced at the dragon, keeping her claws sheathed so not to hurt them. They yelped is surprise as Glory easily pushed them to the ground with her weight advantage. The intruder squirmed, trying to get away as Glory held them down beneath her paws.
“Deathbringer!” Glory shouted out. “It looks like one of your assassins-in-training has been following us! I thought you told them to leave?”
Glory turned to face the dragon, and her expression changed to surprise as she saw who it was. “Toxin?” she asked, startled. What was she doing here?
The hybrid dragon hissed as she glared up at her queen. “Get off me!” she commanded.
By now, Deathbringer had climbed out of the hole, leaving Mastermind behind in the library. It wasn’t as if he could try and escape with his big sack of scrolls. “I thought Glory was the one giving orders around here,” he commented, “being Queen of the RainWings and NightWings and all.”
Glory stepped off Toxin, allowing her to get back to her feet. She gave Glory a glare of hate and disgust.
“What are you doing here?” Glory demanded. “Are you trying to help Mastermind escape? I found out that Tiger has been down here.”
“I was checking to make sure you didn’t throw him in lava or something awful like that. He’s my friend.”
“He’s a prisoner,” calmly replied Deathbringer. “Probably not the best influence on a young dragonet.”
“And,” Glory added, “he’s just studying you, and might be using you to escape. Do you really think he actually cares about you?” Memories flashed before Glory: RainWings being forced to use their venom; heavy chains around her snout; and Kinkajou, staying positive and hopeful, even through everything that Mastermind had done.
“HE’S NOT!” Toxin spat at Glory. “He’s my friend, and I’m not letting you hurt him!”
“Half of the queens would have had your head for that comment,” growled Deathbringer. “You should be lucky Queen Glory is so forgiving.”
“Deathbringer, that’s enough,” Glory said. She knew that Deathbringer was just trying to help her, but she didn’t want to scare Toxin like that. Glory wondered if they actually did that in the Night Kingdom, executing dragonets. Considering that they had an underpopulation problem, it seemed sort of unlikely, but she wouldn’t have put it past Morrowseer and Battlewinner. Morrowseer had certainly tried to execute her.
Suddenly, Mastermind poked his head from the hole, and squeezed his body partly through. “You do realize I can hear you all, correct? Your argument is well within my hearing range.”
Glory’s mouth twitched in a mixture between frustration and embarrassment. She hadn’t exactly meant for Mastermind to hear her harsh criticisms, even if they were completely true.
Toxin walked over to Mastermind protectively. “He’s my friend, and you won’t hurt him, and I don’t care if you’re the Empress of Pyrrhia, and that’s final.”
Glory looked at them, the four year old dragonet, attempting to physically protect the fully-grown NightWing. It would have almost been comical, had Toxin not been so irritating, and Mastermind not just a plain awful and manipulative dragon.
Deathbringer tapped Glory on the wingblade, and motioned for her to follow him. They walked a little a few steps off from Toxin and Mastermind, then spoke privately.
“You know,” Deathbringer said in a hushed voice, “Mastermind really isn’t that horrible a dragon. Yeah, I know he put a lot of RainWings in horrible conditions, but well — I genuinely don’t think he meant to hurt you. I’m not even sure he realized what he was doing.”
   Now Deathbringer was trying to convince her to forgive him?
“So what?” she asked. “He still did those things, even if he didn’t realize how awful it was. He not going to get any forgiveness from me.”
Deathbringer frowned slightly, in a sad way. “Yeah, but you forgave me, didn’t you? I’ve done some pretty awful things, too. You know I’ve killed dragons.”
“So have I,” Glory responded. “It’s not really preferable, but that’s how I protected my family.” If she hadn’t killed Fjord, Clay would definitely be dead. 
Deathbringer nodded. “One of the things I always tried to do as an assassin is avoid killing dragons whenever possible. It made me feel less guilty; I thought I was doing the right thing. There’s a surprising amount of ways you can remove important dragons from the picture without actually killing them.”
“So? You’ve told me all this before.”
“Well, I’ve thought more about it,” Deathbringer continued. “Not killing dragons directly still doesn’t make me a good dragon. I’ve ruined lives; more importantly, I helped keep the war going for as long as it did. Sometimes I wonder, if I had decided not to be a part of Morrowseer’s machine at all, how many more dragons would still be alive? When would the war have ended? I’m not asking you to forgive Mastermind for what he did. Not yet. But maybe he deserves a chance to become a better dragon.”
Glory thought for a moment. Deathbringer did have a good point. Logically, Deathbringer himself had done much more damage than Mastermind had. But Deathbringer had risked everything to make up for his actions. Mastermind hadn’t. She glanced towards the NightWing again, fidgeting with his talons. Maybe one day, she could forgive Mastermind for what he’d done to her. She hadn’t been trapped in the Night Kingdom for that long, and it was all old memories now. But what about Kinkajou? It would certainly take more than a few words.
Glory and Deathbringer rejoined the other two, where Toxin quietly growled.
“Look, I’m not going to hurt him,” Glory sighed, “and I’m not throwing him into the volcano. I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that I’m that type of queen. You were there for the conversation; he came here of his own will. That being said, Mastermind is coming with Deathbringer and I to Jade Mountain to figure this out and find these Black Scrolls.”
Deathbringer looked at her with surprise. Glory glanced back. “What? You asked me to give him a chance.” she whispered to her mate. “This is his chance.”
“I’m going with you,” Toxin demanded. “It’s my vision.”
Glory thought about it a moment. She didn’t particularly want the dragonet with her, especially if Mastermind was coming too, but it made a bit of sense. Toxin could describe what she’d experienced better than any of them could. Still, she might want to add in an extra RainWing just in case the two tried to escape together, maybe one of Deathbringer’s ‘Ninja Guard.’ Papaya would work.
“I’ll think about it,” Glory replied, even knowing the answer was already yes. Toxin didn’t need to be any more disobedient to her queen than she already was.
“No, it’s my ri—” Toxin started to protest.
“I said I’ll think about it, and that’s final. If I let you come with us, then we’ll meet at my pavilion tomorrow morning.”
Toxin gave Glory a glare, but the queen ignored it. She didn’t want to give Toxin anything to argue on.
Glory turned back to Mastermind. “So, are we done here? Do you have the scrolls you think are useful?”
Mastermind quickly nodded, and dove back down into the library. Within moments, he squeezed the cloth bag through the hole, making a large clunking noise as it hit the stone outside. Glory guessed that not all the scrolls in there were about prophecies and visions, but she let it slide. She didn’t care for another argument at the moment.
“Great,” Glory muttered, letting out a small cough. The oppressive air here was getting to her. “Then let’s g—”
“Wait,” interrupted Deathbringer again. “We’re not alone.”
Glory frowned. Another dragon had followed them. Deathbringer pointed a claw in the distance, out on the hardened black lava, near a pile of rubble that looked like it could have been a collapsed building. The sight of sky-blue scales caught her eye, though the color was tinted in the orange glow of the island.
“Toxin?” Glory asked quietly. “Is that the dragon you saw in your vision?”
Toxin looked, and quickly nodded. Glory frowned. She thought the sky-blue hybrid was supposed to be at Jade Mountain. What was she doing here?
“C’mon,” Glory quickly said, spreading her wings out. She wasn’t sure if this dragon was dangerous or not, but it wouldn’t be bad to be cautious. “Deathbringer, come with me. Toxin, Mastermind, stay here.”
Toxin didn’t seem to like the idea of staying behind, but much to Glory’s relief, she didn’t protest. Glory and Deathbringer quietly took off, flying towards the mystery dragon.
As they landed, they could tell that the dragon was pushing aside rocks and rubble. She gave the two approaching dragons a quick glance, then turned back to the rubble. Is she looking for something? Glory wondered. “What was this place?” she quietly asked Deathbringer.
“I think it might have been Princess Greatness’s room,” Deathbringer decided, “but it’s been a while, so I might be a little bit off.”
As she approached closer, Glory could more clearly see that the dragon was a hybrid, unlike any other dragon on Pyrrhia. She seemed to be around Glory’s age, and had small strips of flat white scales all over her body, which looked somewhat like the glowstripes Glory had so often seen on Tsunami. Every so often, one would flash up, seemingly at random. She was definitely part-SeaWing, then. Was she trying to speak in Aquatic?
The thin, wispy spines, the ball of spikes, and the pale white color in her scales clued Glory into the other side of the dragon’s tribe. Half-SeaWing, half-IceWing. But what was she doing on the NightWing island? Glory noticed a thin silver chain hanging from the dragon’s neck, a perfectly spherical deep purple stone hanging from it. A nasty-looking pebble shaped burn scar appeared in her scales behind it. Along with that, a thick iron shackle with three chainlinks hanging from it was fused around her left foreleg.
Even as Glory and Deathbringer got closer, the dragon didn’t look up at them again, still engrossed in her search.
“Go away,” the hybrid growled, not bothering to make eye contact, “it’s not your time yet.”
Deathbringer cleared his throat. “That is no way to speak to Queen Glory of the RainWings and NightWings. You are to address her as ‘Your Majesty,’ ‘Your Highness,’ or ‘Sexy Rainforest Queen.’ Oh wait,” he teased, “that last one’s only for me.”
Glory slapped Deathbringer in the snout with her wing, feigning anger, even though she couldn’t help but chuckle. “If you call me that again, I’m going to announce you as ‘Sparkly NightWing King’ from now on.”
Deathbringer grinned. “‘Sparkly NightWing King?’ I sort of like the sound of that. Especially that ‘king’ part. Imagine that, a humble assassin becoming king of two tribes.”
The sky-blue dragon seemed not to care about their banter, and continued digging around in the rubble.
“Excuse me,” Glory asked, turning away from Deathbringer. “What’s your name? You probably shouldn’t be here. We normally don’t allow dragons on the island.”
The hybrid finally seemed to notice her enough to care, and snorted at the interruption of her searching, turning her head up towards Glory. A cold wind seemed to blow from behind her, Glory turning her head away from it. A blast of lightning ricocheted across the grey cloudy sky, and the ball of spines on Aurora’s tail seemed to grow, hooks twisting and growing out from the ends.
“Aurora,” the hybrid responded emotionlessly. She tilted her head at the RainWing queen, and raised a paw. A metal sheath had risen up over each of her talons, thin steel knives growing out from each of them.
Glory felt her heart suddenly speed up, as a tremor shook the earth beneath her paws, pebbles clattering as she tried to keep her balance. She lifted her head, looking straight into Aurora’s blank stare. It only took her a moment to realize it:
The two of them were very out of their depths.
== Chapter 15 ==
Queen Glacier slowly walked into a small room, walls of ice enclosing around her. Ice was plentiful in her palace, it was what the entire place was made of. The largest thing differentiating this room from every other one in the palace was how . . . dull it was. While most of the palace had generous sculptures and tapestries decorating it, the Chamber of the Empty Circle was the most barren room there: a large cube with a raised platform of ice in the middle. It was also one of the oldest, technically, because of its hidden location. Much of the palace had been magically regenerated after Queen Fen had managed to conquer it, possibly the only time outsiders had invaded the palace. It wasn’t the first time the palace had been destroyed, of course — there had occasionally been wars over succession, or revolts from the lowest circles. After the first time, many thousands of years ago, the IceWings had been given the Gifts of Splendor and Revival by a pair of animus twins who rebuilt the palace. The Gift of Splendor was both the palace itself and the enchanted ice that would never naturally melt or crack. The Gift of Revival enabled the palace to regrow itself, if accidentally or intentionally damaged. It was part of what hid the Chamber so well: technically, there were no doors to the place, just a thin sheet of ice that hid it from view, which had to be broken to gain entry.
But now, the IceWing palace was one of the safest places on Pyrrhia. The Great Ice Cliff was just the icing on the cake (not that IceWings would eat anything like cake, that was left to the posh SkyWing and MudWing queens), even without it, no army could invade the Ice Kingdom due to the frigid weather. Except for the Great Army of Queen Fen of course, but that was the exception, and as long as none of the other queens gained the power of animus magic, the Ice Kingdom was safe. Supposedly, the MudWings had been planning on invading the southernmost parts of the Ice Kingdom during the War of SandWing Succession, but the war was stopped by those irritating dragonets, and the MudWing army was spared their pitiful MudWing lives.
Of course, the dragonets stopped the war by deciding that they wanted to break the rules a little bit with their queenmaking. Thorn? What right did she have to be queen? She was the commander of a band of outlaws, not royalty. Still, she’d apparently done a decent job at it in her short three-year reign, and Glacier had to give her some credit for that. And the Eye of Onyx had chosen her over Blaze, unfortunately.
Queen Glacier reached a talon up to her neck, dragging it along the silver chain around it until her sharp talon reached the many-faceted stone at the bottom. The Eye of Diamond, her own royal signifier. Two molded wings of silver wrapped out from the stone itself, an unusually cut diamond, with thousands of small faces around the almost spherical gem. The faint glow of the room shined through it, causing small dots of light to appear on Queen Glacier’s blue breast-scales. The familiar aura of animus magic pulsed across the surface of the gem, a small otherworldly tingle spreading down Glacier’s talon.
At least before the end of the war, Queen Glacier had only worn the Eye for special occasions. Official IceWing ceremonies, of course, like moving names from the dragonets’ rankings to the adults’ rankings, and the naming of new hatchlings. She’d occasionally wear it at balls and parties to make a strong impression. She’d known that it was magical since she was a dragonet, like a fair amount of her mother’s jewelry, but hadn’t realized what it had done until Blister’s electrifying death three years ago. She’d been worried to wear it after that, worried that her own Eye would decide to reject her. But she was an IceWing, not some cowardly SandWing. It would seem weak to stop wearing it after so long, and what would happen if some ambitious IceWing decided to grab it in her absence? What if it accepted them as queen? What if they were a failure from the Seventh Circle, or a lowbown not even in the Circle Rankings? Great Ice Dragon forbid. So, instead of wearing it less, Queen Glacier had done the exact opposite: she’d kept that cursed stone around her neck for the last three years straight, where everyone could see it and know that she was the rightful queen.
Queen Glacier tried to remember which of the other kingdoms still had their Eyes. The SandWings, of course. She thought that the SeaWings and SkyWings still had theirs, but neither of their queens wore them for anything non-ceremonial, so she wasn’t sure. The MudWings had lost theirs, but Glacier wasn’t quite sure when. The NightWings probably didn’t have theirs; that put a smug grin on Queen Glacier’s snout. She’d looked a bit into it a couple years ago, and though the records from the Scorching were clear that one had existed for them at a time, there were no mentions of it ever being worn or used for ceremonies afterwards. If it hadn’t been destroyed in the Scorching, it was almost certainly lost after the Darkstalker or after they escaped their old volcanic home. She wondered if their Eye would have accepted a RainWing as their queen. The RainWings themselves . . . if Glacier remembered her history correctly, it disappeared sometime during the War of the Rainforest.
That was one of the things that worried Glacier about the new RainWing queen. Glory taken over two kingdoms at six years old, and was a so-called ‘Dragonet of Destiny.’ Like it or not, Glacier had to respect her like a real queen, as real as any of the others, and the RainWings now had to be included as an actual threat. Glory might be peaceful for now, but if she or an heir spurred the RainWings into military action . . . Glacier shuddered at the thought. She might not have been alive for the war, but the gruesome tales that Muskox had told her were enough to warn Glacier not to provoke the RainWings. She missed the old days, back when they were supposed to be dumb and lazy.
The NightWings were a wild card in this hypothetical situation. If the RainWings declared war on the rest of the tribes, a lot could rest on whether they would follow suit. If the two fought together, who would be telling how many deaths there would be before any war was over. Still, the IceWings would be safe behind their wall. No amount of RainWings could hurt Queen Glacier so far north, not without magic. And then, there were the SandWings. At least according to the news, they now had another ‘Dragonet of Destiny’ on their throne. Was it not just too coincidental that no IceWing was in the NightWing prophecy?
As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the single moon globe that had been placed on the circular platform, it was easy for Glacier to see the dragons that were already in the Chamber. Eight ‘seats’ surrounded the raised platform of ice, though they were really just plots of ice covered with seal leather. Each was equidistant from each other, circling the table. Six of these seats were taken, each with an IceWing in them, patiently waiting for Queen Glacier’s arrival. Glacier’s own daughter, Princess Snowfall, sat behind one of the two empty ones, looking quite cross with her mother. This was her first time she’d attended an Empty Circle meeting, something she needed to do to prepare herself for when she would eventually be queen herself. Of course, that wouldn’t be anytime soon; Glacier was in no way about to let herself be killed by this insolent dragonet of her.
“Mother,” Snowfall grumbled, almost hissing, as Queen Glacier walked towards her. “Let me sit in the empty seat. It’s cold here, and I deserve to be a part of your ‘secret meeting’ much more than the Traitor’s kin. He’s not even here right now.”
Glacier sent an icy glare in her daughter’s direction. “You will get your seat when you manage to tear out my throat in battle. Until you do that, you will watch respectfully, and quietly.”
An ancient IceWing missing one of his legs slowly raised his head, each of the other dragons turning from Queen Glacier to him. Glacier could almost hear his frail neck creaking, a small singular circle denoting his place in the First Circle along with a small copper amulet with a four-pointed star hanging from it. If Muskox had lifted his head to its full height, he would have scraped his horns against the ceiling, as large as he was. After clearing his throat by coughing out a glob of blue phlegm, he opened his crusty eyes as far as they would go. It was little use, though, Glacier knew he couldn’t tell a walrus from a polar bear anymore. Muskox was the oldest dragon in the kingdom, and one of the oldest dragons in all of Pyrrhia. He had been alive for the Rainforest War, and there were even rumors that he’d been alive for the time of Queen Fen’s invasion. Some even said he was older than Prince Arctic himself. Glacier knew better than to believe that nonsense, but he was old nonetheless.
“So,” Muskox started in a quiet, rasping tone, “let us begin. As you all can see, we have Princess Snowflake here today, watching her first meeting. Welcome to the Empty Circle, my dear princess.”
Glacier didn’t bother correcting him on the name. It wasn’t like he was the only dragon who’d gotten it wrong before. Snowfall herself didn’t seem to notice it either, being focused too much on the imagined slight of not being given a seat.
A young IceWing quickly spoke up. “Let’s get straight to business,” he opened. “The Mining Phase of Project Darkstone is going poorly. No signs of it have been found anywhere we’ve looked, thanks to whoever let the Dragonets live.”
That was Fir, the second-youngest member of the Empty Circle, maybe ten at most. Smart and hardworking, but ambitious and impatient. Also, not the nicest Circle member. Queen Glacier forgot whose idea it was to put him as the leader of the mining project, but it was probably a poor choice for his talents and demeanor, since it could only lead to frustration.
“As I’ve said time and time again,” Fir continued, “we’ve only found darkstone in the Southern Hills. If we want more, that’s where we need to go.”
“Mining?” another IceWing spoke with a growl. “In SandWing territory? Maybe Blaze would let us get away with that, but if we tried that now, it would basically be a declaration of war. Do you want another war, Fir? Do you?”
That was Alpine, the angriest pacifist Queen Glacier had ever seen. She’d stayed against the War of SandWing Succession until the end, and she might have been right for that. She sure bragged about it a lot in the meeting after Thorn was crowned.
“There might be another option,” suggested an IceWing with blue scales that seemed to shimmer in the light of the Moon Globe, shrugging his wings. Three silver bands wrapped around each of his horns, bejeweled with rubies and diamonds. “We could buy the land from them.”
A large female IceWing with a large battle scar running through one of her eyes and down her neck snorted. “And what do you suppose we buy it with, ice? No thanks, Shard. I say we fight for the land!”
“AND WHAT, FIGHT ANOTHER TWENTY YEAR LONG WAR?” Alpine suddenly roared, placing both of her paws up on the table, baring her teeth at the IceWing who suggested it. Queen Glacier gently put her paws over her ears. Actual fights in the Empty Circle were rare, but not unheard of. “WE SHOULD JUST MURDER ALL OUR DRAGONETS NOW, JUST TO GET IT OVER WITH!”
“Alpine, wait,” a calm voice suggested from the background. “Egret might have a point. Although I’m against rushing right into another war, this would be an ideal time for it. Queen Sunny is new and young. I suggest that we offer her a handsome price for the land, and if she refuses, we can make a threat. She was raised by the Talons of Peace, so I doubt she’s the warmongering type. And what’s a little barren land for continued peace, especially if she gets silver and gold in return?”
That was Stratus, the voice of compromise in the Empty Circle. He was one of the younger dragons in the Empty Circle, but his gaze carried wisdom along with embers of youth. There were a few nods and murmurs to his response, and a little bit of grumbling from Alpine, but it was general agreement.
“I second this motion. Shall we vote?” Queen Glacier asked the Circle. In order for the Empty Circle to vote on an action, someone had to second it. The rules dictated that the queen herself was allowed to second motions, even though she wasn’t allowed to vote unless there was a tie. Which there might well be, today, since one of the seven seats was empty. “All in favor, say yea.”
Fir, Shard, Egret, and Stratus responded with a quick “Yea.” Queen Glacier glanced towards Muskox, surprised that he hadn’t, until a small “Yea,” squeaked from his coarse throat. Glacier wasn’t surprised from this. Although a couple members of the Empty Circle preferred to use treasury money as little as possible, all of them felt like Project Darkstone was a worthy place to spend it.
“All against, say nay.”
Alpine was the only responder to this, as expected. She would vote against anything which could possibly mean war, even if it was just the empty threat of it. Although Queen Glacier didn’t agree with Alpine’s views, she had to respect her for her determination and consistency. It was part of why Glacier had put her on the Empty Circle in the first place.
Had Queen Glacier wanted to, she could have vetoed the motion, and put it to an end. It was possible for her veto to be overridden, but only by a unanimous vote from the council, which could only happen if all seven members were here. Unanimous votes were uncommon though, and even if one happened, Queen Glacier could always have someone killed and replaced. She didn’t plan to ever have to do that; it would defeat the whole point of the Empty Circle. Even if it could be irritating at times, she wanted her council not to be afraid to argue and disagree with her.
Stratus took a small quill and wrote down a few notes on a scroll. He was the designated scribe of the Empty Circle, and it was his job to write down everything that was discussed and decided upon, mainly for records. He couldn’t quill every word said, but he tried his best, and was a fast writer. His impartiality, willingness to hear other opinions, on honesty were the reasons why Queen Glacier had chosen him; a biased Scribe might be able to change or warp the records to fit their own ambitions. They didn’t have to check records very often, but it had become apparent early on to Queen Glacier that a few changed words could have a huge impact.
“Next on the agenda, we have continued reports of a drought.” This time, it was Shard who started the conversation. “Although we currently have plenty of stored water in the form of ice and snow, we haven’t had any snowfalls or rains since the drought began. There have also been reports of the pack ice on our borders melting.”
“How long do you think we have before stores run out? Is it an emergency?” asked Egret.
“Months, maybe longer, bu—”
“Then we can move onto more pressing matters,” Egret interrupted, not caring for the subject. “It seems very likely that the RainWings and NightWings will become closer to the SandWings with Sunny’s ascension. Thorn had the restraint and intelligence to treat Glory as a rival, at least to an extent, but Sunny and Glory are practically sisters. Based on what Glory did to the NightWings, I’d be worried that they might do something similar to the SandWings, attempting to join them into one unified kingdom. If this foolishness is allowed to happen, a combined army between the three of them would be practically unstoppable if they wished to introduce, say, the MudWings to their conglomeration. Glory certainly has the ambition, too. She’s publicly announced that the tribes become closer together, and is a major supporter of Jade Mountain Academy. Unification is likely on her mind.
“The SeaWings are also a danger. Granddaughters of Queen Coral not included, as all known ones are too young to take the throne, their oldest princess, Tsunami, is also one of the Dragonets of Destiny, and is coming of age. If she challenged her mother and won, that would be four tribes in the claws of the dragonets. I say that we make a secret alliance with the MudWings and SkyWings to fight in unison against the dragonets if any one of us is attacked. If we can take out the NightWings quickl—”
“Really?” Alpine snorted. “Again with the wars? The MudWings are sure to want no part in this violence. Three years is not long enough for their kingdom to mend, and Queen Sc—”
“I second Egret’s idea,” Queen Glacier butted in, tapping a claw on the ice table. She didn’t care to hear more of Alpine’s pacifism, and the RainWings needed to be prepared against. She also didn’t want Alpine influencing any more votes against her. “All in favor, say yea.”
This vote was less clear than the last. Only Egret and Fir agreed. Glacier was worried for a second, until Muskox came in with a final yea. It would be a tie, and Queen Glacier would decide the vote.
Asking who was against the motion was just for show, but Glacier did it anyways. As expected, the three who didn’t vote yea went against it.
“Then I vote yea,” Glacier said, settling the outcome. She’d have someone compose letters to Queen Scarlet and Moorhen. Glacier glanced over to her daughter, who had remained silent all this time. She seemed to be scratching at one of her scales, uninterested in the conversation. Hopefully, that would change with age.
After an uncomfortable silence, Fir spoke up again. “Next order of business is our empty seat. As you might remember, someone forced through the seal-brained idea that Polar should conduct the Field Research Phase of Project Darkstone, and he was sent to Jade Mountain.”
“That was me,” Glacier yawned. If Fir had wanted to insult her, he could do it to her snout. She had vetoed the Empty Circle’s vote on that and gotten the proposal through with a bit of a technicality. The vote had been five to two, with Stratus and Polar himself for it.
“Well, we haven’t received any news from him, so I can only assume that your continued faith in that family has lost us yet another ten years of work.”
Princess Snowfall suddenly spoke up unexpectedly, giving Glacier a quick look of scorn. “Do you dare speak to my mother, the queen, that way? I could have your head taken off for th—”
“Shut your mouth!” Queen Glacier suddenly hissed. She struck out her talons, raking them across the side of her daughter’s snout as Snowfall jumped back with a yelp. Not enough to scar her, but judging by the surprised look she gave, maybe enough to teach her a little respect. A few drops of blue blood dripped between Snowfall’s scales, and she glared at her mother. “This is the Empty Circle, and if you ever hope to lead the kingdom, you will not threaten your greatest allies!”
In truth, Fir had overstepped his bounds, but Snowfall didn’t need to know that. Glacier would have a private conversation with him after the meeting, while Snowfall would be bragging about her new scratches, claiming she got them from a giant polar bear she killed or something. The truth was a bit too embarrassing. It was uncanny for a First Circle dragonet, no, a First Circle adult to be chastised like that. Still, humility was a lesson she needed to learn. Glacier had made that mistake with her first daughter. She wouldn’t make it again.
After she was confident that Snowfall wouldn’t try talking back, Glacier turned back to the Empty Circle. “I am confident in Polar,” Glacier replied, pretending the incident with Snowfall had never happened. “He is far more like his grandparents than his aunt, and has proven his loyalty to me and this kingdom time and time again. It’s not surprising he hasn’t made contact with us, either. He’s been gone less than two weeks, and it isn’t like there’s a lot of communication routes into the Ice Kingdom.”
“Chances are he’s seeking refuge in the rainforest right now, or maybe he’s gone to wherever his aunt flew away to,” scoffed Egret.
“If he does escape to his aunt, we’ll know,” spoke Stratus, “we have three loyal Second Circle members secretly following him until he reaches Jade Mountain. If he steps out of line, they’ll stop him, and we’ll find out soon enough. It’s not like there was anyone else we could have chosen for the job, either. Project Darkstone must remain at the highest levels of secrecy, and so far, Polar has survived the longest of all our test subjects.”
“He’s nothing like Boreal,” Shard complained. “Maybe he’s loyal to Queen Glacier, but he has no respect for any other dragon on this continent. And even if he’s still alive, none of the tests have proved fruitful. Even with the Darkstone, he can’t use animus magic.”
“Not yet,” Stratus continued, “but that’s part of why we sent him out. As useful as magic was to us, we don’t have a lot of information as to how animus magic works, since few of our ancient animuses used it more than once or twice. Like it or not, Jade Mountain has plenty of scrolls, even some secret ones from the Night Kingdom. And even in the unlikely event Polar betrays us, we’ll still come out ahead. If he’s able to draw out his aunt from hiding, we’ll be able to capture her and retrieve the first Darkstone. The Traitor might think we’ve given up, but we will find her, and make he—”
The sound of crashing ice suddenly echoed through the chamber. That wasn’t supposed to happen. This was the first time since Boreal’s death someone outside of the Empty Circle had been brought into this room. Polar was halfway across the continent by now, and Blackice was still exiled to her island in the far north. There was only one other living IceWing who knew where this room is, but that was impossible. It had to have been a guard, who had accidentally stumbled in here, or . . .
“Make her what?” the IceWing standing in the entranceway sneered, pieces of the secret wall scattered around her. As she stepped further into the room, the shards of ice behind her started to clatter across the floor, drawing themselves up into where the wall once was, magically fusing back together. The IceWing glanced towards the sealskin on the empty seat. “I see you’ve kept my father’s seat cold. Last I had heard, my nephew had taken it.”
Queen Glacier shuddered. Even though it had been over a decade and a half since Glacier had seen her last, she knew that the dragon standing before the Empty Circle was none other than the Traitor herself. Crystal. Queen Glacier had hoped that Polar would flush Crystal out of hiding, but she hadn’t expected this. Nothing good could come of this intrusion. Glacier looked down to Crystal’s neck. Her scales were bare. The Darkstone was nowhere to be found.
Fir was sitting closest to the entrance, so he chose to confront Crystal first. “Lower your head in surrender and give up the Darkstone. No harm will come to you.”
Queen Glacier felt that ‘no harm’ was a bit too broad a statement, but didn’t protest. Crystal grinned. “Oh?” she asked, in a sweetly sarcastic tone. “But I just wanted to sit in my father’s seat. You wouldn’t have a problem with that, would you?”
Crystal took a few steps towards the sealskin Princess Snowfall was sitting behind, and that was enough to provoke Fir into action. With a roar, the young IceWing lunged towards Crystal, trying to bowl her over into the ground. But Crystal was quicker. With a flash of obsidian, the blade of a dagger sliced beneath Fir’s wing.
A crumbly grey-brown texture started to replace Fir’s sheeny scale, the stone spreading from his wing up to his neck, then down his snout. He quickly attempted to stretch his neck up, trying to avoid the spreading stone, but it was useless. The crusty rock soon covered his eyes, along with the rest of his body. He attempted to scream out in terror, but his vocal cords had hardened, silencing him as his body froze up, becoming lifeless in seconds. The rest of the Empty Circle could do nothing but stare, either in shock, terror, or pure hatred. Queen Glacier stood up, pushing her daughter behind her.
“Oh dear,” Crystal chuckled, “I was expecting you all to be a little more inviting. It’s been so long, after all.” She slammed her wing into Fir, causing his body to crumble into pieces of rock and dust, spraying over the rest of the dragons in the room. A chunk of one of Fir’s horns hit Glacier’s neck, instantly collapsing into a fine powder. Crystal turned towards Queen Glacier, and took a step forward as she held out her dagger.
A moment later, all hell broke loose.
Egret and Shard leaped onto the table, trying to tackle Crystal from above, as Alpine came in from the back. Crystal swiftly jumped forward, causing Egret and Alpine to bump into each other, their wings getting tangled up. In the time it took the two of them to sort things out, Shard came down on Crystal with a bite, his teeth barely scraping into Crystal’s left wingblade before she swiped her dagger across his snout, drawing a nick of blade as Shard was transformed into stone. Crystal made a mental note — so far, she’d gotten rid of two of the eight dragons in the room.
As Shard solidified, Egret had pushed Alpine aside, and pounced at Crystal with her claws outstretched, attempting to aim for her neck. Although Crystal turned her head to avoid a fatal incision, Egret managed to hit Crystal before she could pull her wings out from Shard’s remains, and the two of them toppled into Shard’s stone corpse. The statue collapsed into a plume of rock and dust, clouding Egret and Crystal within. When it cleared, Egret was holding Crystal down with a triumphant glare, not noticing the tip of the dagger buried in her wing membrane that had turned her to stone. Three.
Alpine attempted to take advantage of Egret’s corpse trapping Crystal, hoping that even in death, her ally would slow down Crystal’s movements. She pounced at Crystal’s already injured left wing, Egret getting in the way of Alpine, preventing her from aiming at a more lethal spot, like Crystal’s underbelly or neck. As Alpine rushed forward, Crystal twisted her tail to the side, rolling to her left, allowing Egret’s body to topple onto Alpine. As the surprised Alpine slipped to the right, attempting to dodge Egret’s effigy, Crystal took the chance to quickly slit her dagger across Alpine’s leg, giving her the same fate as the others. Four. Halfway done.
Suddenly, a jolting pain ripped through Crystal’s scales, causing her to yelp out in pain before her nerves went numb. Although her body had been shielded by the rocks and rubble of her enemies, her tail and spines had been hit directly by a blast of frostbreath from Stratus, gluing it to the floor of ice below. But it wasn’t enough to hamper Crystal. As Stratus momentarily ceased his frostbreath to see what had happened, Crystal burst out of the partly frozen shell of rock around her, and swiped her dagger across Stratus’s claws, quickly putting an end to him. While the mists of his frostbreath started to clear away, Crystal stomped down on the end of her frozen tail, shattering the ice along with the end of her tail into a million frozen pieces, slicing into the bottom of her hindpaw. Five.
Crystal grinned as she limped towards Queen Glacier, blue blood trailing from her hindpaw. “The Empty Circle seems a bit more . . . empty now, doesn’t it? What will her majesty do without her precious power-hungry aristocrats?”
At this point, Muskox stepped in front of Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall, in a feeble attempt to protect them. He was brave till his last moments, even though Queen Glacier could see his three shaking legs struggling to keep him standing. She knew that they were shaking not from fear, but only old age.
“Crystal,” he rasped, in a final attempt to dissuade her, “I will not allow you to harm Queen Glacier or her daughter. You don’t have to do this.” He opened his jaws, and using his wings to balance himself, scraped a talon along the inside of his gums, drawing a spurt of blue blood onto it.
Crystal laughed. “You old fool. Your family still serves her, after all she and her mother have done? I’d have thought you would at least have some wisdom, after all this time.”
“I swear my blood to the protection of the royal family,” Muskox growled, wiping a smidgen of his blue blood on the copper amulet. Queen Glacier took a step back as the blood soaked into the amulet, turning it from copper to silver wherever it touched. The shaking in Muskox’s legs suddenly stopped, and the muscles in his neck and wings started to stretch. The Gift of Guardianship. Enchanted so that while activated, the wearer becomes as strong as the strongest dragon in Pyrrhia, so long as they were protecting their queen. Queen Glacier had always wondered who the strongest dragon in Pyrrhia was.
“Please leave this to me, your majesty. Escape and gather forces while I hold her off,” Muskox said.
Muskox started to take a step towards Crystal, and raised a paw. Suddenly, he froze up. A layer of stone crawled across his scales, trapping the ancient dragon beneath. Crystal started to step around his frozen body, holding eye contact with Queen Glacier as she retrieved her dagger from within Muskox’s paw. Crystal laughed. She couldn’t believe that she’d ever been afraid of these fools. Now, she knew there were far worse things to be afraid of. Six.
Without hesitation, Princess Snowfall rushed towards the door, foolishly attempting to scramble for the exit wall. But Crystal was faster. She stepped in front of Snowfall, and slammed the princess’s head to the ground in her hurry to escape. Snowfall turned, ready to fight, until she saw the tip of Crystal’s dagger above her neck. Snowfall immediately understood what would happen if she tried to escape. Blue blood dripped from Crystal’s neck onto Snowfall’s wing beneath.
“The Ice Kingdom wastes the magic it has, and yet you still want more?” Crystal stared straight into Queen Glacier’s pitch-black eyes. “It’s disgusting. Your greed rots and destroys our world. Give me the Eye of Diamond,” she commanded.
The Eye of Diamond? Queen Glacier could almost laugh. “What? You think you’re going to be queen of the IceWings now? You betrayed your kingdom, like a second Foeslayer, you stole our chance of magic. And now you’ve killed its leaders. You’re the least worthy dragon in Pyrrhia.” Did she not know what happened to Blister?
“I said, give me the Eye,” Crystal growled. She pressed her dagger further against Snowfall’s neck, almost breaking through her scale layer and drawing blood.
“Take it,” Queen Glacier spat. She tore it from her neck, and threw it at Crystal. “You want the throne? Prove how worthy you are, Traitor.”
Crystal easily caught it. It started to glow as soon as it touched Crystal’s scales, small streaks of electricity arcing between the diamond and Crystal’s talons. The scents of Crystal’s blood and ozone mixed in Snowfall’s nostrils.
“Thank you for your gift,” Crystal smirked.
Seven. Eight.
= Part 2 =
== Chapter 16 ==
Sunny ate quietly at the large table in the SandWing Palace, slowly tearing off small pieces from a large lamb’s leg. The only other dragon in the room at the moment was a small dragonet, maybe three or four. Sunny glanced over at him with a smile, but he kept his eyes focused down on his food, not wanting to make conversation. She wasn’t quite sure of his name, although she thought he was one of the Outclaws who had moved in with Thorn to the palace. She couldn’t blame him for being unhappy. None of the few dragons in the palace were, now that Queen Thorn was gone.
It had only been two days since Sunny arrived at the SandWing palace. It was strange, not having so many dragonets bursting with energy constantly around her, like there had been at Jade Mountain Academy. Even if it had only been a few days, less than a week, Sunny missed it. Having friends around, dragons who cared about her; here, she didn’t know anyone, and everyone treated her stiffly.
The doors to the dining room suddenly burst open, and the pastel amber snout of Armadillo poked through it. He quickly scanned the room, his gaze focusing on Sunny as he found her. He quickly trotted towards her, looking slightly concerned with his tail twitching back and forth, as if he was constantly expecting an attack from behind him.
Sunny looked up towards him, trying to feign a smile. “Good morning, Armadillo,” she greeted him.
“Good morning, your majesty,” he answered, too rushed for any small talk. “I need you to look over these.” He opened one of his forepaws, dropping a small collection of rolled up papers into Sunny’s talons. “I wrote up a few drafts for the speech you’re going to make later today.”
“Speech?” Sunny asked, surprised. “Today?” She glanced through the papers, reading snippets of sentences as they blurred past her. 
Armadillo nodded. “The crowd won’t be too big, but other than myself and some of the palace staff I kept, no one else has seen their new queen. They need to know you’re alive, safe, and healthy.”
Sunny squirmed. She didn’t like this. “I can’t,” she replied. “Look at me. They’ll notice that I’m weirdly colored, and too small, and don’t have a barb. They won’t accept me as a . . . a SandWing queen.” She was careful not to say the word ‘hybrid,’ with the Outclaws dragonet within earshot, even if he didn’t seem like he was listening.
Armadillo snorted, almost chuckling in amusement. “Don’t worry about that. After your mother decided to let her stay in the palace, Blaze brought some of the best stylists in the Sand Kingdom with her. They can easily make your scales look dustier and your eyes darker. They can probably hide your missing barb with a veil or jewelry. You’ll be fine.”
Sunny tapped her tail on the floor. She didn’t like that. It felt like she was lying. Dragons would realize she wasn’t a normal SandWing eventually, wouldn’t they? She couldn’t hide her lack of barb forever, and if that became public, dragons would start to talk. “Why didn’t you tell me this yesterday?” Sunny questioned Armadillo. “It would have been nice to have more than a few hours warning.”
Armadillo scratched his claws slightly. “I was planning to propose a speech for tomorrow, and was going to talk about it with you today. I figured you deserved a day to rest, with . . . everything. But I got news of something that happened last night in the Ice Kingdom, and things have become urgent.”
“The Ice Kingdom?” Sunny asked, surprised.
“Last night, in their palace,” Armadillo explained anxiously. “According to the official story that Queen-mother Tundra gave out, Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall were meeting with a number of important aristocrats, and were attacked by a rogue IceWing without warning. Both Glacier, Snowfall, and the aristocrats were killed, and the killer escaped.”
Sunny gulped. Two queens murdered, in such a short timeframe. That couldn’t be coincidence, could it? Could the same dragon or group of dragons have killed both Thorn and Glacier? Why? Were they trying to destabilize Pyrrhia, or start another war? “The IceWings,” Sunny asked, an idea forming in her head, “did they have anything like the Eye of Onyx?”
Armadillo nodded. “Yes. They have something called the Eye of Diamond, which has a similar purpose and appearance. Both date back to the Scorching, even though our legends of Jerboa seem to have persisted for a few thousand years later. I looked into it a bit after Blister’s death, and I want to say an IceWing named Queen Frost was involved in its legends, but I can’t say I know more than that. There wasn’t any mention of the Eye, or Queen Glacier’s specific cause of death, if that’s what you’re asking.”
If the Eye of Diamond was stolen too, that complicated things. Sunny had thought that Aloe had been the one who’d sent someone to kill Sunny’s mother, but why would she want to kill Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall, too? That didn’t make sense. “Can you compose a letter for me?”
“To whom?” Armadillo asked, slightly surprised.
“Queen Glory, in the rainforest,” Sunny answered. “If someone is going around, assassinating queens, we need to warn her. She could be in danger.”
Armadillo flicked his forked tongue in and out, frowning. “Are you sure that’s wise? Maybe you were friends as dragonets, but now you’re both queens of rival kingdoms. You should be more wary of her, and how your relationship appears to the rest of Pyrrhia.”
Sunny glared at Armadillo. “What do you mean, ‘be more wary of her?’ She’s not just a friend, she’s practically my sister. Just because we’re both queens of separate kingdoms now doesn’t mean that will change.” Maybe you’re the one I should be wary of. For all I know, you helped plot my mother’s death.
Armadillo still seemed slightly uncertain. “I don’t doubt that she’s a good and trustworthy dragon, but your subjects might think you’re too close to her, and it won’t help with Aloe. Eventually, you might fly into a situation where you might have to choose between her and what’s best for your kingdom.
Sunny winced. How could Armadillo think that it was a bad thing for Sunny to be friends with Glory, the RainWings, and the NightWings? That was the whole point of Jade Mountain Academy: to be able to have dragons, no matter what kingdom they hailed from, be able to put aside their differences and communicate peacefully with each other. To prevent the next war before it started.
“My relationship with Glory is fine,” Sunny snarled, “and if something comes up between us, we’ll make sure to work it out peacefully, and do what is best for all dragons, not just SandWings. That’s final.” Sunny would give her life for Glory, and she knew Glory would do the same for her. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?” 
Her advisor looked a little worried, but didn’t press the matter. “Do you understand the situation in the IceWing throne?”
Sunny thought for a moment. Since no one had actually challenged Queen Glacier, if there wasn’t a clear successor to the throne, that might be bad. Sunny didn’t think that it could turn into a worldwide war like the War of SandWing Succession, since it wasn’t like the other kingdoms could send armies into IceWing territories, but any war at all would be bad. “No. Queen Glacier had multiple daughters, right?”
Armadillo nodded. “Two. Princess Snowfall, who was killed, and Ex-Princess Blackice.”
“Ex-Princess Blackice?” Sunny asked, confused. “What does that mean? She’s not a princess anymore?”
“She was disowned by Queen Glacier for an incident that happened early on during the War of SandWing Succession. Glacier sent out a proclamation that Blackice was unsuitable to be queen, and revoked Blackice’s royal challenge privileges.”
“Revoking royal challenge privileges? Are queens allowed to do that?” Sunny asked.
Armadillo shrugged his wings. “There isn’t anything but traditions that says queens can’t. After it was done, there was a bit of debate in the Ice Kingdom about whether queens could just ban daughters from royal challenges, but the controversy wasn’t really about exiling Blackice in particular, just the worry that future queens would take this as precedent to prevent their own family members from challenging them and abuse it. Not like that’s that much worse that Queen Oasis and her predecessors assassinating their sisters and daughters for the same reason.”
“So, if Blackice can’t be queen, who is?”
“The next IceWing in line for the throne would be Queen Glacier’s niece, Icicle, who is currently in control. Hence her mother Tundra sending out the news of Glacier and Snowfall’s deaths.”
“Icicle?” Sunny asked in alarm. “That can’t be right. She can’t be queen. I knew her, she was a student at Jade Mountain Academy. She tried to murder Starflight. Why didn’t Queen Glacier ban her from being queen?”
“Presumably, Glacier didn’t feel like what she did was bad enough to deserve the same punishment as Blackice,” Armadillo answered. “Still, I don’t think she’s going to be popular. She was placed in the Seventh Circle after what happened two years ago, and was only able to work back to Fourth Circle before she turned seven, so she wasn’t even allowed to live in the palace until now. From what it sounds like, her mother Tundra is trying to keep Icicle under her paw and reassure the kingdom that she won’t let Icicle do anything rash.”
Sunny recalled being told a bit about the IceWing ranking system by a few of the students at Jade Mountain. It sounded terrible, pitting all of their dragonets against one another. It certainly explained a lot of the behavioral problems she’d had to deal with at the academy. “Where is Blackice in the Circle Rankings?”
“I believe she’s second-last in the Seventh Circle,” Armadillo replied. “It’s where the worst traitors to the kingdom go, and most of those at the bottom of the adult rankings are imprisoned or exiled somewhere. Just because of how the Gift of Order works, the queen isn’t technically allowed to remove their names until they die.”
“What did she do to deserve that?” Sunny replied, shocked. Maybe she preferred Icicle as queen to Blackice.
“It was before you hatched,” he explained. “Not too long into the War of SandWing Succession, there was a decisive battle on the northern border of the IceWing kingdom between Blaze and Burn’s forces, the Battle of Devil’s Eye. Princess Blackice, as she was known as the time, was in charge of one of the IceWing legions, which was supported by one of Blaze’s legions, led by General Vicuña, a SandWing known both for having strong morals and being a brilliant military strategizer. The two of them faced a much larger force of Burn’s, led by an over-confident general of hers, General Mesa. Though lacking numbers, General Vicuña was able to outsmart Mesa, and engineered the SandWing and IceWing armies into an advantageous position. Had he won the battle, he would have been able to take the SandWing stronghold from Burn, and possibly remove her from the war. The war might have been over in only a few years, with Blaze and Queeen Glacier’s victory almost assured.
“But just as it seemed certain Vicuña was going to be victorious, Princess Blackice gave her troops the inconceivable order to attack and kill all SandWings, regardless of whether they were friends or foes. Although it’s thought that she had become jealous of Vicuña’s success, it’s still unknown what her intentions were for the order, and it could have been argued to be an unfortunate miscommunication. Perhaps, but the next part couldn’t have been misunderstood. When General Vicuña questioned Blackice about what what happened, she attacked him and stabbed him through the throat with his own barb, in front of all his subordinates. They tried to capture her in response, but a group of IceWings directly loyal to her killed them. On the field, the battle was a slaughterhouse, with allies turning on each other. The advantage was lost, and General Mesa crushed both armies, forcing the IceWings to retreat north while Vicuña’s army fell apart.
“When Blackice returned to the Ice Kingdom, she attempted to cover up the incident, claiming that Vicuña was killed by a SandWing from Mesa’s army, and adding in that she would have won the battle had Vicuña not been killed. But after listening to a number of soldiers who had seen the whole thing and obtaining the correct information from some of Blackice’s lackeys, Queen Glacier realized the truth behind the defeat. Blaze, her remaining generals, and other higher-ups wanted justice, and Glacier was more than willing to deal it out. Blackice was stripped of her royal title and demoted to the bottom of the Seventh Circle. Queen Glacier placed an edict ordering that Blackice was unable to participate in royal challenges and unable to become queen, then exiled her and the dragons who’d fought with to an abandoned rock far north of the Ice Kingdom, where she’s remained to this day.
“Of course, she still had her allies. After her banishment, a small group of IceWings still loyal to Blackice arose, with the occasional treasonous communication back and forth to her. A cult known as the ‘Black Princes.’ They pushed for Queen Glacier to overturn the order and allow Blackice to challenge her, but had no success. I suspect that they will take Glacier and Snowfall’s deaths as a chance to bring Blackice to power. I don’t know if Blackice has enough supporters for there to be all-out war, but I don’t doubt that she will try and kill Icicle somehow.”
Sunny thought about this. She didn’t like Icicle as queen, but Blackice sounded worse. Even if she hated it, Sunny could at least understand why Icicle had done what she had. In a sense, she was a victim; she’d been blackmailed by Queen Scarlet with her brother’s life on the line. But Blackice had killed her allies, and for what?
Still, Sunny didn’t want to get involved. Other kingdoms sticking their snouts into succession crises was what had lead to the War of SandWing Succession, and Sunny would do anything to avoid another one of those. “If there’s civil war between the IceWings, I don’t want to take a side,” Sunny announced. “We have enough to deal with with Aloe right now, and whoever the IceWings chose is their business. I’m not going to endorse either of them until this is over.”
Armadillo tapped his barb from side to side, pondering Sunny’s decision. “That might be for the best,” he replied, “although it might make Queen Icicle a bit more receptive if she knows you support her from the start. But if Blackice ends up taking control, you could be her first target because you supported her opponent.”
“I know,” Sunny stated. “Have we found out anything more about Aloe? If she’s actually Blister’s daughter, and how large her army is?”
“We know a little,” Armadillo said. “She’s planning to visit Crosswinds tomorrow, a small city on the Great Five-Tail River in neutral territory. According to some posters that were put up, announcing her visit, she has the black diamond pattern that her supposed mother did, and I have spies keeping a lookout to try and figure out of it’s just scale-paint, or if she’s the real thing. We don’t know how many dragons she has behind her, but it can’t be that many, or else we would have gotten more reports.”
But why would she be marching against the Sand Kingdom if she knows she’s going to lose? Sunny wondered. It didn’t make sense. She glanced over to the Outclaws dragonet. He had finished his meal, and was getting up to leave the dining room. She waved a paw goodbye, but he didn’t respond.
Sunny turned back to Armadillo. “Could Aloe have more dragons hidden somewhere?” she asked.
“In the Sand Kingdom?” Armadillo responded. “Probably not. There are some old tunnels in the mountains southwest of the kingdom, but they’re all abandoned. We would know if there was a secret army there.”
She needs troops if she wants to take the throne, but where would she get them? Maybe the other kingdoms, but Sunny wasn’t sure that anyone else would want another war over the SandWing crown so soon, even Queen Scarlet. But what if a direct attack wasn’t her goal?
“Could she be trying to plan an uprising or revolution against me?” Sunny asked.
Armadillo considered that for a moment. “That certainly seems possible. Maybe she’ll skirt around the Sand Kingdom for a while, hoping to grow her numbers. It might be why she’s passing through Crosswinds. A lot of dragons unhappy with Queen Thorn’s rule moved there.”
“Then what can we do?”
“Your mother was very popular, especially after the war,” Armadillo explained, “so as long as you’re able to appear strong, confident, and kind as she was, then I don’t think Aloe will be effective. Hence the speech.”
Sunny grimaced. Appear as strong, confident, and kind as Thorn? She wasn’t sure she could do that. Kind, maybe, but she wasn’t strong. She was Sunny. To the other dragonets, she was cheerful and caring. She’d never exuded power and confidence to them. She didn’t know if she could do what her mother did. To be able to kill dragons, like how Thorn had killed Preyhunter.
Yet, Sunny was the one who had ended the war. She’d gotten the three SandWing princesses to meet up. Sure, it hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but Sunny was the one who found the Eye of Onyx, and had made Thorn queen of the SandWings. She’d fulfilled the prophecy. If she could do that, why couldn’t she be queen? At least until she found someone else better than her to do it.
“Alright,” Sunny replied, “I can try.”
Armadillo smiled, then reached a paw to a small pouch hanging on the chain between his horns. “I think you should have this,” he said, bringing out a round black stone, with two golden wings attached to it, hanging from a thin chain.
Sunny’s eyes opened wide. “The Eye of Onyx?” she whispered, surprised. “How—”
“It’s not real,” Armadillo quickly explained, “it’s the fake I mentioned earlier. A replica that your mother had made to be put on display, so that if an ambitious dragon came in and tried to steal it, they wouldn’t suffer Blister’s fate. We still haven’t been able to find the actual one. Sorry.”
“Oh,” Sunny answered glumly, “thank you anyways.” She took the stone. It seemed practically indistinguishable from the real one, except without the ethereal tingle of magic.
“Put it on,” Armadillo suggested, “Queen Thorn always wore hers, and if you wear it, everyone will believe that you’re the rightful queen.”
Sunny folded her wings in. She didn’t like the idea of that. It sounded too much like lying. “Won’t Aloe realize it’s fake, if she stole the real one?”
“Maybe, but as far as we know, she doesn’t have the real one. This way, we might even find out whether or not she actually sent the assassin and stole the Eye. Until we figure out what happened to the actual Eye of Onyx, you should keep it with you.”
Sunny looked down at the fake, examining it closer. “She’ll have the power of wings of fire,” Sunny whispered, gently tracing a talon along one of the golden wings. Even from close up, it was convincing, although squinting at it, she could tell that it wasn’t perfect. The stone itself wasn’t as perfectly round as the original, but one couldn’t see the slightly oblong shape unless they had their eyes practically pressed up against it. Now that she thought about it, it was amazing that the original makers had gotten the gem so perfect. Maybe it was magically carved?
“What did you say?” asked Armadillo, interrupting Sunny’s thoughts.
“Oh,” Sunny replied, “‘She’ll have the power of wings of fire.’ It’s a line from the Dragonet Prophecy.”
Armadillo snorted, almost amused. “I know where it’s from. There’s not a dragon in Pyrrhia who doesn’t. But why did you say it?”
“Well . . . did my mother ever tell you about the prophecy?” She didn’t want to tell him about the fake prophecy if she had to; that was supposed to be kept a secret.
“That it was fake? Of course she did, she told me everything.”
Everything? Maybe Armadillo could tell her a bit more about Thorn sometime. All the things that Sunny had missed out on. That would be nice.
Sunny sniffled. “The Eye of Onyx reminded Thorn and I of that line. If you flash it in the sunlight, the golden wings look a little like wings of fire. And the prophecy — it did sort of come true after all, didn’t it? Two did die, and I guess Blaze learnt something. Maybe Morrowseer really did have the gift of prophecy. A least a little bit.” Now that Sunny knew prophecy powers were real, it didn’t seem that impossible. Moon had mentioned that Fatespeaker had a little prophecy powers, even if they were extremely weak. Could Morrowseer have been right? Could the prophecy have been real?
“That was just coincidence, wasn’t it?” Armadillo asked skeptically. “Glory wasn’t the wings of sky, was she?”
“I know, I know, it’s just,” Sunny continued, trying to hold back her tears, “if the prophecy was fake, that means that all that time I spent away from my mother was for nothing.”
“Nothing? You ca—”
“No, I mean, that’s not what I meant,” Sunny interrupted, not wanting to mislead Armadillo. “It wasn’t for nothing, I met the rest of the Dragonets, my brothers and sisters, and we stopped the war. That was worth it. I just wish I could go back and know her better.”
Armadillo didn’t have a response for that. A long silence ensued. Eventually, Sunny broke it. “I’ll read over the speeches you gave me and prepare.”
“Great,” Armadillo responded, averting his eyes from the new queen, “I’ll see you in a few hours, and introduce you Blaze’s stylists. Get your rest.”
----Queen Sunny stepped out onto the balcony, bright light hitting her eyes. She was blinded for a moment as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. Standing beneath the platform was a decently-sized crowd of SandWings, maybe a few dozen. They looked up at her impatiently, and it felt like they were all examining her, as if making sure she was as queenly as her mother. I wasn’t expecting so many, Sunny thought anxiously. She took in a deep breath.
“Hello, fellow SandWings,” Sunny announced to the crowd, knowing that was only half-true. She tried to force a smile. “I’m Sunny — I mean, Queen Sunny, your new queen.” She tried not to wince. This was going poorly already. She glanced down at the papers Armadillo had given her, and scanned across them quickly. His script was messy and it was hard to make out. Even more, there were so many different ideas on them, so many things she could say. He really was a meticulous dragon. She’d picked out a few which made the most sense here.
“I think some of you know me a little already,” she continued, “there are some Outclaws in the crowd who know me as my mother’s daughter, and others who remember me as one of the Dragonets of Destiny, from the False Brightest Night. Some of you might know me as a founder of Jade Mountain Academy. I’m sure many of you have heard things about me and my friends.
“I know some of you are excited to have me as your queen, and I hope to not just live up to, but to exceed your expectations. But not all of you are like that. I’m sure some of you are worried. Some of you might even dislike me already. And for those of you in the crowd, I hope that I’m able to ease your worries.
“As I’m sure all of you already know, I’ve ascended to queenhood unexpectedly, not through a royal challenge, following my mother — Queen Thorn’s — untimely death.” Sunny choked up slightly as she said this. Keep calm. Keep smiling. “My mother didn’t only help end the war, she spent the past three years trying to heal the wounds twenty years of bloodshed and civil war created. She helped the less fortunate, and saved the lives of dragonets which would starve and die of thirst otherwise. She was a very good queen who did her best to unite our splintered kingdom, and as her daughter, I will try my hardest to live up to her legacy.”
Suddenly, a flash of brown in the crowd caught Sunny’s eyes. She squinted, trying to get a glimpse of the dragon. Clay? she wondered. Why would he be here? She quickly came back to focus, just as dragons started murmuring, wondering why their queen had stopped talking.
“I first want to assure everyone that I will keep my mother’s post-war reforms in place. I also plan on raising the available aid to veterans of the war, and to the dragonets and mates of the deceased. Three years isn’t enough time to heal the gaps in our hearts of those who were killed during the war, and as queen, I give my word that as long as I live, our kingdom will never again suffer such a tragedy.”
Sunny glanced down at the papers Armadillo had given her, glancing for the next section of the speech. As she looked back to the crowd, ready to start speaking again, an ear-splitting screech suddenly came from an older SandWing in the front. Sunny barely had time to turn her head as the thick paws of a dragon slammed her thin body against the wall of the balcony, and the razor-sharp barb of a SandWing hovered over her eyes.
== Chapter 17 ==
“Apparently, Aloe is coming through today,” Midnight commented. The hybrid stepped through the small doorway into the crowded room. It was barely big enough for two dragons, much less four. In her claws, Midnight held a small scroll. Slate recognized it as one of the ones that he’d seen posted around the city.
Torrent glanced towards his daughter. “Aloe?” he asked. “Should I know who she is?”
“She claims to be a SandWing princess from the old royal family,” Midnight explained. “Blister’s daughter, I think.”
“I don’t like her,” Slate proclaimed. “She wants Queen Sunny to step down. This has to be the first time the Sand Kingdom has had a hybrid queen, right?”
Torrent snorted. “Pyrrhia has more to worry about right now than a petty dispute over who gets a pretty crown. I’ve seen the drought in the east. It’s as bad as it is here.”
Midnight walked further into the house, and sat down by Gazelle, who was currently in a light sleep on the floor, squishing Slate between her and Torrent. “Maybe the rest of Pyrrhia, but a drought isn’t too pressing a concern for a bunch of dragons who live in the middle of a desert. This is important to all of Pyrrhia too, you know. There have been plenty of changes in royal families before, but they almost always end up with someone from the old family marrying into the new one. Most of the queens can trace their lineages pretty far back. Maybe not all the way to the Scorching, but one or two thousand years. From what I heard, Thorn was originally planning to take Smolder as her king for that reason, at least until the Onyx incident. But if Sunny ends up staying queen, and doesn’t marry anyone from the old dynasty, that would be pretty monumental.”
“What do I care if River knew that her great-great-great-grandma is just as posh and arrogant as she was?” Torrent grumbled.
“Who?” Midnight asked, confused.
Torrent waved a webbed claw. “Nevermind. You wouldn’t remember if I told you. Point is, none of this bloodline tracing stuff matters one bit. Personally, I prefer Aloe. Maybe she’s Blister’s daughter, but at least she’s not an animus.”
“Sunny is an animus?” Slate questioned, surprised.
Torrent shook his head. “No. Well, I don’t think so. No, she wasn’t, the Brightest Night was nine years ago, so I would have known if she was an animus. But her father was, which means that if she stays on the throne, the SandWings will have animus blood in their family. Nothing good can come of that.”
“The IceWings would beg to differ,” Midnight responded.
“They’ve been lusting after magic since the day they lost it. Sure, they have a fancy wall and a castle that rebuilds itself, but from what I’ve heard, life there is cut-throat and miserable because of some big animus-touched list they all worship as much as their deity. Doesn’t sound particularly happy.”
“They have artifacts that can heal frostbreath injuries, and a magic well that feeds starving dragons,” Midnight countered.
“But at what cost?” Torrent snapped, baring his teeth slightly.
Slate glanced back and forth between him and Midnight, whose paws almost seemed to be shaking. There was clearly some unsaid communication going on between the two, and Slate didn’t want to get involved. He carefully shied away from Torrent, leaning closer to Gazelle. The elderly SandWing breathed heavily in her rest, and shifted her barbed tail from side to side, making Slate slightly nervous. As her tail moved back and forth, Slate noticed a small white scar between her scales, close to her tail’s end.
After a few tense moments between father and daughter, Midnight broke the silence, and turned towards Slate. “I’m going to see Aloe with a couple of the hybrid buddies I mentioned. You want to come with us?”
“Huh?” Slate responded, still cautiously glancing at Gazelle’s barbed tail. “Uh, yeah, sure.” He hadn’t really met any hybrids before, other than his mother. What would they think of him? Would they think he was a hybrid, too, or just a MudWing?
“Alright,” Midnight said, “let’s go.” She stood up, and started towards the door.
“Now?” Slate asked, confused.
Midnight nodded her head. “Yeah. She’s coming in soon. We want to see what she does. I also told them that Sunny was a hybrid, so they’ve got a bit of a stake in this too.”
Slate nodded, and rose to his paws. He carefully stepped over Gazelle, making sure not to brush against her barb. As he followed Gazelle, Torrent stood up too.
“I’m going, too,” the SeaWing stated.
“What, you want to keep an eye on me?” Midnight responded crossly.
Torrent shook his head. “Not you. But the last time a dragon vying to be queen came through Crosswinds, things got a little bit messy. I feel like I should be there, just in case I need step in again.”
Midnight shrugged her wings. “Suit yourself. C’mon, let’s go. She’ll be here soon.”
----Leaving Gazelle behind to sleep, the three walked through Crosswinds, the eyes of SandWings and MudWings following them closely, dragons whispering behind them. Having lived here all her life, seeing Midnight wasn’t that unusual a sight, but Torrent was something different. Not only was he a SeaWing, a bright burst of blue in a sea of varying shades of browns, but a few of the older residents of Crosswinds recognized Torrent from nine years ago. Occasionally, one or two would try and approach him, but a growl from the huge SeaWing quickly caused them to back off.
The three soon reached the Great Five-Tail River, although right now, it didn’t deserve the title of ‘great,’ or even that of ‘river.’ As Torrent approached the edge, a small jet of water suddenly appeared from thin air at the edge, splashing onto the dry ground below. Torrent quickly jumped back, and glanced around, checking to make sure no one else had noticed. Slate was staring with wide eyes, but fortunately, he seemed to have been the only who had seen it. Torrent glanced down to his side, towards his dagger, and sighed.
“Let’s fly over,” Torrent suggested to Midnight and Slate. “It’ll be quicker.”
Midnight nodded in agreement. “Probably a good idea. I normally swim through the river when there’s water in it, but I guess that’s not happening today.” She spread her wings apart, and let a burst of wind lift her up as she leaped down into the riverbed. Slate went next, soaring into the air. Torrent followed behind the two of them, careful not to get too close to where the river should have been. That might become useful when he needed to drink next, although it would certainly attract more attention than desired.
Eventually, the three reached the edge of the city, where a line of SandWings and MudWings were standing, staring at the southwest horizon. Small yellow blemishes in the distance started to slowly grow, slowly growing into SandWings.
“That’s all?” a MudWing commented, unimpressed.
There were maybe a hundred dragons in the distance, all flying barely a wingspan apart from one another. A prominent SandWing flew at the front, with a pattern of black diamonds covering her scales. Aloe. As the group approached the edge of Crosswinds, they started to circle down in unison. A large plume of dust came up as they reached the ground, swallowing the crowd of dragons who had come to watch.
When the dust settled, Slate looked around at all the dragons who had gathered here. Unsurprisingly, it seemed to be mostly SandWings. That made sense; it was the future of their kingdom which was at stake here. A number seemed to be whispering back and forth to each other, judging the arrivals. Still, Slate couldn’t find any other hybrids. 
“Where are your friends?” Slate whispered to Midnight.
Midnight’s eyes quickly darted around. “Trust me,” she answered, “you’ll know them when you see them.”
Three SandWings walked forward from the group that had just landed, Aloe just behind them. One of the three raised her head high, light glancing off her sail. Her scales were unusually non-uniform, with brown dotting her sand-colored background of scales. Similar brown spots appeared on her wing membranes.
“Hello, City of Crosswinds!” the SandWing in front opened, almost yelling. “I have come to you today to present your rightful queen, her majesty, Queen Aloe!”
The SandWing stepped aside, allowing Aloe to step forward, the princess brushing against her announcer’s wing as she moved into the spotlight. If Aloe was expecting applause, she didn’t get it. A few members of the crowd whispered among each other, some more joyful than others.
Aloe herself smiled quietly, remaining still and almost motionless in front of the crowd. She seemed to be somewhere around Torrent’s age, but her eyes seemed to light up with an almost youthful quality that the hardened SeaWing didn’t have. Her scales were a extremely pale yellow, almost as white as an IceWing’s, although the barb on her tail as opposed to spikes confirmed that she was a SandWing. Her dark black eyes and diamond pattern contrasted against her pale scales, almost bulging out against them. A thin crown rested on her horns, and around each of her four ankles was a thick golden band embedded with small purple and red gemstones. A silver chain hung from her neck, on it a golden pendant in the shape of a dolphin slowly swinging back and forth.
Aloe carefully scanned the crowd, her eyes suddenly stopping as she reached Slate. Slate gulped in fear, feeling a chill squirm down his tail, until he realized that Aloe wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were focused on Torrent and Midnight. He breathed a sigh of relief. Of course she was looking at them; there weren’t that many SeaWings or NightWing-SeaWing hybrids in the crowd of SandWings and MudWings. Slate looked towards Torrent, who seemed to have stiffened up. His teeth were almost bared, and Slate started to hear a low growl forming in the SeaWing’s throat.
Aloe suddenly turned away, breaking the eye contact between them. She smiled again. “Good afternoon, Crosswinds. For those of you who haven’t heard of me already, I am Aloe, daugh—”
“Go back to wherever you’ve been hiding!” a voice suddenly shouted from the crowd. “We don’t want you!” A large SandWing stepped out, followed by around a dozen dragons behind him. “If you were supposed to be queen, your mother wouldn’t have been fried to a crisp!”
Aloe’s expression didn’t change, a small smile still plastered on it. The group of SandWings continued walking towards her, causing a few of her guards behind her to step in front of Aloe.
“What has your family done but cause war and strife?” the SandWing challenger roared. “Sunny and Thorn were ones who ended your stupid war. I’d much rather Sunny be our queen than you.”
Slate glanced around the crowd, hearing murmurs of disagreement. He was almost surprised, until he remembered something about Crosswinds. One of the advantages of living here was that it wasn’t technically SandWing territory. A lot of the SandWings who had moved here in the last two years were those who weren’t happy with Queen Thorn’s rule, and still supported the old royal family. That had to be why Aloe had come to Crosswinds in particular. She’d known that she’d find supporters.
The group of challengers walked forwards threateningly, even closer to Aloe, who kept her faint smile up. More of the SandWings behind her walked in front, preventing the challengers from getting within attacking range. Slate shrunk back a little. It was getting tense. What if there was a fight? A battle? Would Slate get caught in it?
However, after a few moments, the challengers seemed to back off. Their leader took a few steps back, spitting on the sand in front of Aloe in insult. Slate let out a sigh of relief.
It was a moment too soon. One of the SandWings in the back of the challengers suddenly jumped forward with a roar. “FOR THORN!” he yelled out as he charged, trying to stab his barbed tail towards Aloe.
Three of Aloe’s guards suddenly came forward to meet him, making sure their queen was safe. One grabbed his tail as his barb grazed the guard’s side, causing her to yell out in pain. The other two grabbed the attacker’s wings trying to throw him back. In retaliation, more of challengers rushed towards them, roaring out battle cries. SandWing guards came to meet them as a skirmish ensured, dust being kicked up from the dry ground. The announcer pulled on Aloe’s wing, hurriedly trying to get her to step back from the fight, but Aloe pushed her back and stretched out her wings, not budging even as claws, teeth, and barbs flew around her.
The SandWings in front of Slate started to move from side to side, causing Slate to step back in order to avoid getting too close to their deadly barbs. He could tell that the dragons were tense, ready to shred their neighbors apart at a moment’s notice. Slate stepped closer to Torrent, ducking beneath the towering SeaWing’s wing. As the crowd started to shift nervously around them, Torrent stayed still, growling slowly as his eyes focused on Aloe, dust clouding his vision.
It wasn’t long before the skirmish ended, Aloe’s forces victorious. Each of the challengers was being held down by two or three guards, Aloe herself not having budged from her original position, the end of her tail curled carefully around her announcer’s. Not a single scratch had landed on her scales. Slate looked out again from beneath Torrent’s wing, almost afraid to watch. Was Aloe going to execute her opposers in front of the crowd?
Aloe looked down at the challengers, her smile turning into a frown. “As everyone can see, these dragons attacked me, unprovoked. Attempting to take the life of a dragon like that, especially royalty, is a grave offense in the Sand Kingdom, punishable by death.” Aloe uncurled her tail and raised her pale barb into the air, twisting it from side to side, as if it was itching to be used. The SandWing in front of her gulped, his talons shaking.
However, Aloe set her barb back onto the sand. A surprised murmur rose through the crowd. “Weak,” Slate heard a SandWing not too far from him grumble. “I was hoping to see more blood.” Slate moved away from her, a little closer to Torrent.
“Yet, I am not the correct dragon to deal out this punishment,” Aloe calmly claimed. “When my announcer, my general, and great friend Leopard tried to introduce me to this city, she styled me as Queen Aloe. But I don’t think that’s true. Just because I’m part of the royal family and granddaughter of Queen Oasis does not automatically make me queen. I have neither challenged the queen, nor have I earned the respect of the Sand Kingdom’s constituents. Nor is Crosswinds under the jurisdiction of the Sand Kingdom. I have no right to punish these dragons.”
Aloe quickly glanced over her wing to Leopard, who seemed be grinning happily, with a proud smile on her snout. “Let these dragons go,” Aloe quickly ordered. Leopard nodded, and with a flick her her tail, Aloe’s guards slowly let the challengers rise to their paws, and led them back into the crowd. “The City of Crosswinds can choose if these dragons are punished, and how so,” Aloe continued. “It is no crime to support Sunny or Thorn. Even if tradition dictates that they are illegitimate rulers, they are brave and honorable, and have done much for this kingdom.”
“What about the Eye of Onyx?” Slate overhead a SandWing near him whisper to her friend. She was right. Wasn’t the Eye of Onyx supposed to decide who was the rightful queen or not? That was what Slate had heard after the war ended, at least.
“I would also like to make a final announcement,” Aloe said. “I have asked Sunny to abdicate the throne and recognize me as the rightful queen of the SandWings, but as of yet, she has not given me a response. So, I would like to officially announce that I am challenging Sunny for the throne.”
There was a sudden burst in discussion among the crowd. “Queen Sunny isn’t going to accept,” the SandWing near Slate muttered. “She’s not going to recognize that the old royal family has a right to the throne.”
“Queen Thorn did,” her friend replied, “wasn’t that what happened with Onyx?”
Eventually, the discussion quieted down. “Also,” Aloe said, “there is a favor I would like to ask of all you. Because we’re not technically in the jurisdiction of the Sand Kingdom, I would like to ask the city for permission to stay here for the next few nights, along with my small group of SandWings. I will do my best not to cause any troubles, and I hope that we’re not too much of a burden on you.”
There was a fair amount more discussion throughout the crowd. Eventually, a SandWing stepped forward. Slate recognized her as the one who’d threatened him a few days ago, the one with the smudged tattoo on her neck.
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like, your majesty,” she answered, bowing her head. “If you need to make camp somewhere, the riverbed is dry.”
“Impala doesn’t speak for me,” a MudWing near Slate quietly grumbled, “or any of the MudWings in this city, for that matter.”
Aloe smiled as Impala stepped backwards, the crowd continuing to converse. “Thank you,” she responded gratefully. “I will be sure to remember Crosswinds’ hospitality. That is all I have to say for now,” she finished.
Aloe bowed her head, sunlight glittering off her pale scales. Without another word, she turned around, and walked back into her group of SandWings, Leopard trailing behind her. Her guards closed in behind them, until the princess disappeared. The crowd of SandWings and MudWings started to shuffle and disperse.
Midnight glanced over towards Slate, who had stepped out from beneath Torrent’s wing. “Well. What do you think of her now?” she asked.
Slate snorted. “She seems pretentious and strict.” To be fair, she didn’t seem as bad as her mother and Burn. She didn’t kill the SandWings that had attacked her, like either them would have done. Still, there was something about her Slate didn’t like.
Midnight nodded. “I don’t like her much either. I’ve never met her, but I had a friend who was there when Thorn was made queen. From what she’s said about Queen Sunny, she seems nicer, and more true to herself. But it doesn’t matter who the queen of the SandWings is, as long as she’s not an animus. Right, dad?”
Midnight turned to Torrent, who was glowering, staring into the group of SandWings that Aloe had just disappeared into. “Dad?” she asked, waving a paw in front of his snout. “You okay?”
Torrent turned to his daughter. “Did you see what Aloe was wearing?” he snarled.
“The gold bands around her ankles?” Midnight questioned. “Pretty cute, if you ask me. I’d ask her out if she was a bit younger and not an evil scheming princess.”
“No,” Torrent grumbled, “not that. Her necklace.”
“It was a golden dolphin with ruby eyes,” Slate suddenly spoke up. “That’s a little weird, right? She’s a SandWing princess. They don’t have dolphins here in the Sea Kingdom, do they?”
“It’s my sister’s!” Torrent snapped, digging his webbed talons in the dry ground. “She wore that necklace all the time. That and her amethyst bracelet, the one which she enchanted to detect magic. She loved it.”
Torrent’s animus sister, Slate recalled.
“You’re saying that’s Orca’s?” Midnight asked, surprised. “Maybe there were multiple ones made?”
Torrent shook his head. “No. An aristocrat had it designed especially for Orca. It was a egg gift. It was originally supposed to be an orca, but there was some kind of miscommunication along the way, and it ended up as a dolphin. It was one-of-a-kind.”
“So, how did it end up in Aloe’s talons?” Midnight questioned.
Torrent growled, and glared towards where Aloe could have been. “Orca gave it to our brother, Rift, when he went off to participate in the war under Blister. She told me she didn’t enchant it when I asked her, but I knew she was lying. I never found out what she did to it, though.”
“It’s animus-touched?” Midnight exclaimed. “And you don’t know what’s on it?”
“I’d originally thought it was a protection spell, or something like that,” Torrent explained. “But clearly, it wasn’t. Because Rift died. He was killed in battle by SkyWings.”
“And now Aloe, Blister’s daughter, somehow has it?” Midnight snorted. “Sounds pretty suspicious to me. Who saw Rift die? Let me guess — Blister?”
Torrent growled. “I know, I know. There was suspicion at the time, but it wasn’t like anyone could do anything about it. Mother attacked Blister. Dad even tried to get her to pull out of the war. Angler kept trying to convince Mother that Blister killed him herself. He made a huge deal about it. Orca almost used her magic to do something, although Griffin and I barely convinced her not to. But Mother dropped the subject, and that was that. The life of a single prince wasn’t worth it.”
Torrent stared back over towards Aloe’s SandWings, trying to catch a glimpse of the princess herself. They were moving towards the riverbed, starting to set up camp. “I’m going to kill her.” He placed a paw on his dagger.
“What?” Slate asked, surprised. “You can’t just kill Aloe. She’s a princess!”
“Your point?” Torrent muttered. “Princesses die all the time.”
“No,” Midnight said, stepping in front of her father. “Please don’t kill her. That sounds like a really, really, bad idea.”
“Fine,” Torrent conceded, “But I need to disenchant that necklace, at least. And she better tell me what happened to Rift. Angler deserves to know that, at least. Then I’ll decide whether or not to kill her.”
Midnight winced. “That’s not much better. She has guards. Lots of guards. You can’t just go in there and interrogate her!”
“Watch me.”
“Please, please don’t,” Midnight groaned, “you’ll get killed. And if you die, who’s going to keep me from using my evil animus powers on the rest of Pyrrhia? I’ll enslave all of dragonkind if you do it.”
Torrent stared at his daughter for a moment, considering his options. “Fine,” he answered, accepting Midnight’s argument. “I won’t do it. But just so that you don’t enslave all dragonkind.”
“Thank you,” Midnight sighed.
Slate glanced between the two. The frightening part about the exchange was that Midnight probably could have actually enslaved all dragonkind if she’d wanted to. Slate should probably try and stay on her good side.
“Slate,” Midnight said. “C’mon, let’s go find my friends.”
Slate hurriedly nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
“Dad, you’re coming with us,” Midnight ordered Torrent, “I need to make sure you don’t get into trouble.”
Torrent gave her a glare, but didn’t argue back.
Midnight started to walk off into the dispersing crowd, weaving her way through SandWings and MudWings. Slate and Torrent followed, Slate stepping carefully to make sure he didn’t get too close to the SandWing barbs blocking his path.
Midnight was right about her friends. It wasn’t long before they found them. There were three hybrids, standing in a small circle, discussing among each other while the SandWings and MudWings around them gave them plenty of space.
“Hey!” Midnight yelled at the three, causing them to turn around. They smiled as they saw her.
“Hey, Midnight!” one of the three, a SandWing-MudWing hybrid, greeted. He looked somewhat like Fawn, more MudWing-like, with the same ivory horns as Slate, and part of a small fin between his spines. “Who are these two?”
Midnight gestured to Torrent with a wing. “This is my dad, Torrent. I think I’ve mentioned him to you a few times. Swampy, you’ve met him, right?”
The oldest of the three nodded. He seemed to be somewhere between Torrent and Midnight’s ages, and didn’t seem at all SandWing. His scale colors were completely non-uniform, with misshapen blobs of brown and black spread across them, and had large conical horns on his head. “Yeah, very briefly, years ago. He helped free me from Erosion.”
Torrent squinted at the dragon. “You were one of her animuses?”
The hybrid grimaced. “Unfortunately. Not a fun time. I’m Swampswimmer, but please just call me Swamp.”
Torrent frowned as Midnight gestured towards Slate. “And this is Slate. He’s a hybrid, too, the son of one of my dad’s old friends.”
“Nice to meet you,” the third dragon smiled as she grinned, another SandWing-MudWing. Her scales were a light brown, and she looked somewhat like a stocky SandWing with curved horns. Three silver moons dangled from her ear as she turned her head, her neck covered with tattoos, not of skulls, but of animal heads, and a small golden ring of a snake wrapping around itself hung from a chain on her neck. She flicked her tail back and forth, a fully-functional barb at the end.
“Dad, Slate,” Midnight continued, “these are a few of my unsibs. Swampy already introduced himself. This here is Brahminus, Brahm for short,” she pointed towards the hybrid who looked sort of like Fawn, “and the other one is Ecru.”
“Wow, all I get is ‘the other one’?” Ecru chuckled.
Midnight rolled her eyes, and gave Ecru a quick nuzzle on her neck. “Yes.”
Ecru scoffed, and wrapped her tail around Midnight’s. Slate stiffened up, seeing Ecru’s sharp barb so close to Midnight’s scales, but Midnight didn’t seem to be worried.
“So, what do you think about Aloe?” Midnight asked Ecru.
Ecru snorted. “It was ridiculous. Did you hear what she said? ‘Because Crosswinds isn’t technically within the jurisdiction of the Sand Kingdom.’ You know who she’s pandering to.”
Midnight nodded in agreement. “She’s a good speaker.”
“And I’d bet a gold piece that the whole fight was staged, just to make her look good,” Ecru continued. “You saw what happened, right? Sunny’s supporters were going to back down without a fight, until some random SandWing from the back attacked Aloe. Making Aloe’s enemies look violent and angry, while Aloe gets a chance to show she’s not evil and violent like Blister or Burn. Great Ice Dragon, she really is her mother’s daughter.”
“Okay, but did you see Leopard?” Midnight commented, lowering her voice slightly. “She was like, brushing against Aloe every chance she got, and Aloe was trying super-hard to pretend she wasn’t there. They’re together, right?”
“Oh yeah, totally,” Ecru responded. “But Aloe can’t show it. With Blaze gone, Smolder is the only dragon in her family who isn’t dead, and he’s hiding out in the Sky Kingdom. Both Oasis and her mother killed all their sisters, so her nearest relatives are fourth-cousins. Feathered Spirit save us, if she doesn’t have dragonets, we’d have another stupid succession crisis. Of course, that assumes she displaces Sunny somehow.”
“Of course,” Midnight answered. “Hey, Slate, didn’t you want to ask about how it’s like being a hybrid in Crosswinds?”
“Oh, er, yeah,” Slate replied. “My mom’s a hybrid too, and I was thinking we could move here. My aunts and uncles are really nasty, and Torrent gave my mom a bunch of my dad’s treasure, so now we won’t have to rely on their pension anymore.” Slate turned to his right, hoping to smile at Torrent in gratitude, but where Torrent had previously been standing, there was now a large SeaWing-shaped hole. “Er, where’s Torrent?”
Midnight blinked for a few moments, scanning the surrounding dragons for SeaWings. “Camel dung,” she muttered. “He’s gone.”
“He’s not a particularly reliable parent, is he?” Brahm said, tapping his talons together.
“That’s one way to put it. I think he’s going to try and kill Aloe. He thinks she killed his brother or something like that. I need to find him before he gets himself killed.”
“Jerboa’s luck with you,” Ecru laughed, untwining her tail from Midnight. “I can’t say I’d be much help.”
“Slate, come on,” Midnight winced, “we can talk later. It’s getting late, and it’ll be harder to find him once my color-vision turns off.”
== Chapter 18 ==
The SandWing’s barb shot forward, grazing the side of Sunny’s neck as she ducked to the side, her head over the edge of the balcony. She screamed out in pain as venom was injected beneath her scales, twisting away. The barb ripped out of her neck, spraying spilled venom onto the side of the balcony. The SandWing quickly came in for a second stab, his eyes cold as he this time attempted to stab his barb through Sunny’s soft underbelly. In defense, Sunny whipped her tail up, the veil over her missing barb, grazing the inside of the SandWing’s foreleg with it. He yelled out in surprise, before realizing that Sunny hadn’t actually stabbed him with a venomous barb.
In the attacker’s moment of shock and confusion, Creosote leaped down on the SandWing, grabbing ahold of his horns and slamming his head to the ground so hard it felt like the balcony shook. The SandWing’s wings and legs splayed out, and Creosote lifted the attacker’s head again, and once more shoved it into the hard floor. The attacker started to cough, and Creosote shoved his tail beneath the SandWing’s forearm, pointing his barb up against his neck. He looked towards Sunny, as if asking for permission to end his life.
“Don’t kill him!” a voice suddenly yelled out. With a flap of his wings, Armadillo rose up from the crowd, onto the balcony. “We need to interrogate him.” He glanced towards Queen Sunny, as if to make sure she didn’t order Creosote to kill the SandWing instead.
Sunny yelled in pain again, breathing hard as the venom started to spread through her neck. It felt like the flesh beneath her scales was on fire. She moved her paws up to the wound, although it didn’t help at all.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Armadillo said frantically, “it’ll be fine.” He glanced down at the venom that the attacker had spilled. “It wasn’t a full dose.” He raised his head over the balcony. “ZEBRA!” he yelled. “Get some Brightsting right now! Poppy too!”
“I know,” Sunny whimpered, still clutching at the wound, “poor Flame.”
Armadillo gave her a confused expression, then looked down at the crowd. It was in chaos. SandWings were yelling and pushing, some trying to leave, others trying to get a closer look at their fallen queen. Armadillo winced. They’d need a lot more Brightsting by the time this was all over.
It was maybe a minute or two before a reddish-orange SandWing landed on the balcony, a glass bottle in each of her forepaws. Armadillo stepped aside as Zebra walked towards Sunny. “Open your mouth,” she ordered, gently pulling the stopper out of one of the bottles. Sunny complied, and Zebra poured a small amount of the liquid into Sunny’s mouth. It tasted bitter, but Sunny got it down. Within moments, the pain of the venom started to dull.
Zebra quickly opened up the other vial, and shook it a few times, a greenish-white cream falling out of it, onto Zebra’s claws. She squinted at the wound, and carefully scraped a healthy portion of the cream around it. “This will both neutralize the venom and make an infection less likely.”
“Will she be alright?” Armadillo asked.
“Yes,” Zebra snorted. “She was lucky. She only received a small dose and the wound was treated quickly. I don’t know a SandWing who hasn’t gotten at least a barb wound like this at least once, usually by accident. There might be a small scar.”
Armadillo sighed in relief. “Thank you.” He stepped forward onto the balcony. “Don’t worry,” he yelled at the panicking dragons below, “the queen is safe! Her injuries are minor and are being treated right now.”
Sunny winced. She certainly didn’t feel safe. The attacker shouldn’t have been able to touch her. What if she wasn’t so lucky next time? Armadillo had said he’d removed a lot of the staff in the palace, for fear that they had taken part in Queen Thorn’s death. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, after all.
Still, a small nagging thought lurked in the back of Sunny’s mind. What if Armadillo had set this up, and let the attempted assassin through? Zebra had been right there at the time, that seemed maybe a bit more than coincidental. Yet, that didn’t make sense. If Armadillo had wanted to kill Sunny, he’d had plenty of chances to do so. And if he had set this up, he probably would’ve had the assassin killed to cover his tracks.
Sunny tried to raise her head to look at her attacker, but her muscles were stiff. “Don’t try to move,” Zebra suggested. “It’ll make the wound worse. We’ll take you back to your room in the palace. You can rest there.”
Sunny woozily tried to nod. She kept her head laid back, and closed her eyes as the poppy took its effect, and she started to drift off into a daze.
----Queen Sunny awoke to a gentle light, shining through the crack of a window. She slowly raised her head from the mattress. Her dreams had been restless and painful, and she gave out a yawn. It was like she hadn’t slept at all.
“You’re awake,” a dragon grumbled. Sunny glanced over to Zebra, who was reading a scroll by the bedside. The two of them were alone in Thorn — no, Sunny’s bedroom.
“Yeah,” Sunny replied. She winced as she moved her neck. The wound was dull, but it still hurt. She moved her paw up to it, and felt a moist bandage, soaked in brightsting cactus juice. “Thank you.”
Zebra snorted. “Don’t bother thanking me. It’s what you pay me to do.”
Sunny sighed. It had barely been a week since Thorn’s death. Sunny had been queen for only days, and she’d almost had an assassination attempt succeed. She started to understand a little bit why royal challenges favored princesses with the best fighting abilities — they were less likely to get killed. And Sunny had to do this for the rest of her life? Maybe she should have thought a little bit harder before crowning her mother queen.
“How long have I been out?” Sunny asked Zebra. Hopefully not too long. What if something had come up while she was asleep? An emergency?
Zebra shrugged her wings. “Dunno. A bit less than a day?”
That wasn’t so bad. Sunny slowly got up from the bed, trying to move her neck as little as possible. She slowly walked over to the bedroom doors, and glanced towards Zebra, wondering if the doctor was going to try and stop her, or tell her that she needed to rest more. Zebra didn’t, and just continued to read her scroll.
Sunny walked out of the bedroom, and into the palace’s corridor. It felt quiet, and empty here. That was right. She wanted to tell Armadillo that he needed to hire more guards for the palace. She didn’t want the next assassination attempt to succeed.
Sunny walked further into the heart of the palace, only stopping until she came to Armadillo’s small alcove. The SandWing was in his usual place, reading over a scroll. He looked up happily as he saw his queen.
“Sunny!” he said, relieved. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah,” Sunny said, keeping a smile on her snout. “There was something I was wondering if you could do for me.”
“Hmm?” Armadillo asked. “Of course, your majesty.”
“I want us to hire more palace guards,” Sunny suggested. “Make sure that they’re loyal, but I want to make sure we’re safe in the palace, especially if Aloe is trying to kill me.”
Armadillo nodded, and Sunny sensed a hint of guilt in his expression. “Yes, definitely. I’ll get on it as soon as possible.”
“Good,” Sunny replied. Why did Armadillo feel guilty? Maybe it was just that he felt it was his fault Sunny had been attacked. She wanted to tell him it wasn’t, but honestly, she wasn’t sure if she should. That was his job, right? Someone should have caught the assassin. “What happened after I passed out?”
Armadillo shuffled his wings. “Not much. The crowd calmed down, and we offered brightsting up from our supply to any dragons who’d gotten injured in the chaos. Almost everyone left after that, without a fuss. But a few of the local aristocrats stayed behind, and wanted to make sure you were okay. They weren’t happy with how the fight turned out. One said that Burn would have ripped the SandWing to shreds.”
“Well, I’m not Burn,” Sunny responded with a shiver. She certainly didn’t think that being Burn was a positive quality.
“Yes, but your mother would’ve been able to defend herself.”
Sunny snorted. “Are you telling me it’s my fault that he attacked me?” she asked. “That’s ridiculous. Sure, I’m not the best fighter, but I can fight. He just caught me by surprise.”
Armadillo tapped his claws on the desk, clearly concerned. “I think there’s something you need to hear. The SandWing who attacked you: I’m currently holding him in the dungeons. He had a message for you.”
“Alright,” Sunny replied. “Take me there.”
Armadillo nodded, and stood up from his desk. “Follow me,” he said, with a swish of his tail.
Armadillo led Sunny to a thin passage, leading downwards beneath the palace. Sunny shuddered as the dry walls closed in around her, only the dim light of the occasional lantern lighting the way. This place felt far too much like the caves she’d grown up in for her liking. There were a number of gates on the way down the tunnel, which Armadillo unlocked with a few keys from a set hanging on the golden chain between his horns. I should probably ask him for a set of keys, Sunny thought. And maybe for a more thorough tour of the palace.
Eventually, they reached the final gate, where a single guard stood in front of. She bowed her head towards Sunny as her queen passed, and Sunny did the same in response. Armadillo quickly opened the gate, and Sunny walked down into a small antechamber, with four tunnels exiting from it. Armadillo locked the gate behind him.
“Are these the dungeons?” Sunny quietly asked. “How many dragons are down here?”
“Just three, if you include us,” Armadillo replied, “Thorn rarely used these. She freed the prisoners down here not long after becoming queen. At the moment, the only other dragon down here is our attempted assassin.”
Sunny nodded, touching a talon to the bandages on her neck, still sore. Armadillo picked up a small lantern from the side of the room, and blew a touch of flame into it, providing dim light. “This way.”
It wasn’t long until they found the SandWing who had attacked Sunny. Four chains stretched from each of his ankles, bolted into the wall behind his cell. He glowered at Sunny as she approached, almost hiding against the back of the cell.
He seemed to be maybe around twenty or thirty, but unlike many of the dragons who had fought in the war, he had no visible scars on his body. His scales were a dark shade of orange in the dim lantern-light, and his eyes were sunken. His beady black eyes met with Sunny’s, and they stared into each other for a long moment.
“Are you the one who killed my mother?” Sunny asked, holding back a growl.
The SandWing was silent, and other than the faintest twitch of the end of his tail, he was motionless.
“He isn’t,” Armadillo answered for him, an air of certainty in his voice. “He’s not skilled enough to be a real assassin; he’s just a normal soldier playing pretend. He also didn’t have anything magical on him.”
Sunny frowned. So, did that mean that Aloe didn’t have anything to do with Thorn’s murder? She still wasn’t quite sure, but it was seeming more and more like that.
“I also don’t think he was trying to kill you,” Armadillo continued.
Sunny glanced at him. “Are you sure?” she asked. She looked back to the not-so-assassin. It sure had felt like he’d tried to kill her. “I thought that’s what Aloe wanted.”
“Yes,” Armadillo mused, “but I don’t think she was expecting him to succeed, or even get as close as he did. He attacked you in broad daylight, while dragons were on-looking. I think she just wanted to cause a commotion in the crowd, and make dragons worry about how safe you were. She wanted to make it seem like you were unsuitable to be queen.”
And she succeeded, Sunny thought, maybe I am unsuitable to be queen. She looked close at the SandWing in his cell. “So you did it, even knowing you were going to be caught?” Sunny asked. “Even knowing you’d probably be killed?” That was brave. If he hadn’t tried to kill her, she might have admired that.
The SandWing finally opened his mouth. “I would gladly lay down my life for the rightful queen,” he growled. 
“The Eye of Onyx chooses the rightful queen,” Armadillo countered, pointing a talon to the gemstone hanging from Sunny’s neck. She winced, he knew as well as she did that it was a fake.
The SandWing stayed silent in his cell, expressionless. Maybe more proof that Aloe didn’t have the real Eye.
“Please, can you tell us what she’s planning?” Queen Sunny asked. “If you do, we can let you go.”
Armadillo gave her a glance of surprise, apparently not sure that was a good idea. Sunny ignored him. Maybe Aloe had just manipulated the SandWing into doing this, like how her mother and Morrowseer had tried to manipulate the dragonets. He might not be a bad dragon.
The SandWing snorted. “Aloe didn’t share her plans with me. She knew I’d be caught. But the SandWing throne will be returned to its rightful owner soon enough.”
Sunny sighed, and glanced towards Armadillo. “You said he had a message for me, didn’t you?”
Armadillo nodded. “Spit it out,” he growled at the chained SandWing.
The SandWing started to stand up, and let out a laugh. “Aloe has requested a royal challenge against you. One week from now, in the palace stadium.”
Sunny stiffened up. She had been afraid of this. She was small, and didn’t even have a barb. She couldn’t hold up in a battle against a normal SandWing. She looked towards Armadillo. “Do I have to accept it?”
“You don’t,” Armadillo responded. “Aloe isn’t part of the royal family anymore. She doesn’t have the right to challenge you.”
“Coward!” the SandWing in the chains hissed. “A weak dragon who won’t even face her opponent shouldn’t be queen!”
Sunny glanced down. He was right, wasn’t he? “It would look bad if I didn’t accept, right?”
Armadillo nodded. “It would, especially because it breaks the precedent your mother set when she accepted Onyx’s challenge. It might also mean war.”
“War?” Sunny asked, alarmed. “We can’t have war. Can’t we settle this peacefully?”
Armadillo shook his head grimly. “The only way that could happen is if one of you backed down.”
Sunny scratched her talons against the stone floor. Maybe she should back down. She wasn’t suited to be queen. Three moons, she wasn’t even a real SandWing, how could she rule the Sand Kingdom? But she couldn’t let Aloe be queen, not if she was like her mother. She couldn’t let everything Thorn did for the Sand Kingdom be undone.
“I can’t make this choice for you,” Armadillo continued, “but if you want to talk, that’s my job.” He turned back to the SandWing in his cell, who seemed to be slightly amused be the whole ordeal. “You. What’s your name?”
“Soldier 513,” the SandWing replied with a smirk. “My name is for my queen alone.”
Armadillo growled, staring straight into the chained SandWing’s beady eyes. “You’re going to tell me everything about Aloe that you know.”
“No!” the young SandWing queen suddenly objected. “Please don’t hurt him!”
Armadillo glanced back to her. “You don’t want war, right? Maybe there’s something he knows that will stop Aloe.”
Sunny shook her head. “I don’t want to be that type of queen. I might as well give the throne to Aloe if I’m going to be as bad as Burn or Blister.” Yet, what if Armadillo was right? Sometimes, queens needed to hurt dragons, didn’t they? Thorn had killed Preyhunter and Onyx. If Sunny couldn’t do that, maybe she wasn’t fit to be queen. She was too weak, too kind, too happy.
“Fine,” Armadillo responded, not arguing. “Then what do you propose?”
Sunny glanced at the SandWing, still in his chains. He looked straight towards her. Was he scared? “We’re going to have to keep you locked up for now, you understand that, right?” The SandWing didn’t respond. “If you can tell us stuff about Aloe, we can move you to a nicer cell, up in the barracks. Are there any foods you like? We could make you whatever you want, and bring it down here.”
Armadillo winced, but Sunny just continued the smile. Finally, the SandWing let out a rattling laugh.
“Aloe will tear you limb from limb.”
== Chapter 19 ==
Aloe dragged a pale talon along the empty riverbed. Even though there had been water there only a week ago, the ground was now dry and cracked. Was this what the desert was like? Even though it was her true home, she wasn’t sure if she liked it. The Sea Kingdom seemed so much nicer, with its warm, sandy beaches, its salty wind. So long as you could swim, prey was plentiful. Even if she’d only been gone less than a week, she somehow missed it already. It was funny. Her mother had kept her prisoner there all her life, and now, she justwanted to go back. She swung her golden dolphin pendant back and forth. There weren’t dolphins in the Sand Kingdom, were there?
She raised her head upwards, where the white fabric of her tent blocked her view of the moons and the night sky. She wasn’t quite sure why they’d still put up tents — it wasn’t like it was going to rain anytime soon. Maybe it was to give her a little bit of privacy.
As the entrance flap flew open, Aloe turned towards it, suddenly alert. She stretched out her claws, and raised her barb from the ground. The huge SeaWing she’d seen in the crowd earlier was standing in the entrance, the shadows of the small lantern in the tent cast against him. He ducked his head and walked into the tent, barely hiding the rage in his expression.
Aloe relaxed as the entrance flap shut itself behind Torrent. Her barb lowered to the ground, and she smiled. “You were at my speech today, weren’t you,” she calmly opened, “it was a bit surprising to see a SeaWing there, so far west. How did you enjoy it? I hope I didn’t bore you. I wanted to make a good first impression.”
Torrent snarled as he walked closer, scanning Aloe up and down. He was able to get a much better look at her from up close than behind a crowd of dragons. Her scales were pristine, completely scratchless, and the light of the lantern reflected in them. She no longer had her crown on, but still wore a bejeweled golden band around each of her ankles, and the dolphin pendant hung from her neck, its ruby eyes staring into Torrent. There was no mistaking it. That was the exact pendant that Orca had worn.
“Where did you get that?” Torrent growled, pointing a webbed talon at Aloe’s chest.
She glanced down, surprised. “This?” she asked holding up the pendant, light reflecting off its ruby eyes. A slightly frown crossed over her snout, but it quickly faded. “It was a gift from my mate. Do you like it?”
“You’re lying,” Torrent hissed, taking a threatening step towards Aloe, his webbed paw kicking up dust. Aloe didn’t budge. “It belonged to my sister, who gave it to my brother.”
“Are you certain of that?” Aloe asked, moving the pendant between her talons, flicking her forked tongue between her clean teeth. “Is that all you wanted? To ask me about the pendant?”
“No,” Torrent said, drawing out his dagger from its sheath. “I know it’s enchanted. I’m going to destroy it.”
Aloe swished her tail up and down, brandishing her barb to Torrent. A hint of fear passed her snout, but she quickly replaced it with confidence. “You said it was your sister who gave it to your brother? I wonder how it got to me, then. It’s funny how things like this get passed around.”
“Give it to me, or I’ll rip it from your corpse,” Torrent ordered, rage rippling through his talons. This wasn’t just destroying a potentially dangerous artifact. This was for Rift.
“You have a lot of audacity, threatening me in my own tent,” Aloe snorted. “I still am a princess.”
“So that’s a no.” Torrent suddenly leaped forwards, his talons wrapping around his dagger. Aloe didn’t move, only half-heartedly jabbing at Torrent with her barbed tail. He easily evaded, and the blade of his dagger flashed across Aloe’s neck. She suddenly ducked to the side, and the blade missed the pendant, instead striking a bit above, ripping across Aloe’s neck, her eyes opening wide in shock. It tore through scale, and narrowly missed an artery before Torrent pulled the dagger from her flesh.
Aloe let out an ear-splitting screech, and suddenly bolted, trying to scramble away from Torrent. As she turned her back to the SeaWing, Torrent took the opportunity to slam a paw into the back of her neck, pinning her to the ground. She continued to yell out, not thinking to use the dangerous barb on her tail. Torrent quickly grabbed her tail with his hind paw, making sure it was immobilized.
“You have poor fighting skills for a dragon who so confidently declares a royal challenge,” Torrent commented. Blood dripped from the wound on Aloe’s neck, staining the dry dirt beneath her red.
The entrance to the tent was suddenly ripped open, and Leopard charged in, alerted to Aloe’s screams. She quickly realized the situation as four SandWing guards came in behind her. She stuck out her right wing, ordering them not to approach. She met Aloe’s eyes, seeing the pain and terror in them, then looked up towards Torrent.
“Don’t come any closer, or your princess is dead,” Torrent growled. Oops. He was outnumbered here. If he didn’t play this carefully, he wouldn’t get out of this alive.
Leopard didn’t approach. The wound on Aloe’s neck told her that the SeaWing definitely wasn’t bluffing. The two held an intense stare for what seemed like forever, neither dragon willing to move. Torrent suddenly broke it, and scrambled towards the opposite side of the tent, ripping through it as he kicked up dust behind him.
Leopard stood still for a moment, before turning back to her guards. “Catch him,” she ordered. “Rhyno, stay behind.” Three of the four SandWings rushed forwards through the hole in the tent Torrent had made.
Leopard quickly walked over to Aloe. “Are you alright?” she asked frantically, looking at the wound on Aloe’s neck. It was bad, but not deadly. “Are you safe?”
“I’m fine,” Aloe said, wincing. “I’ll be alright.” It would definitely leave behind a nasty scar behind. She supposed that wasn’t too strange for a queen.
Leopard glanced towards the dolphin pendant, red blood staining the gold on it. “How did he . . . ?”
“I don’t know,” Aloe admitted. “He said the pendant used to be his sister’s. He knew it was enchanted, and wanted to destroy it.”
“Oh no,” Leopard replied, alarmed. “If it doesn’t work—”
“I’ll think of something,” Aloe answered. “From what I’ve heard of Sunny, I might be able to defeat her, even without magic. That would be the honorable way.”
Leopard shook her head. “No. That’s too risky. Rhyno, get her bandages.”
“Wait,” Aloe said, just as the guard was starting to leave the tent. “After you do that, get me some scrollpaper and ink. I need to prepare a letter to my mate. And find me a list of SeaWing princes and princesses.”
----“This is a bad idea,” Slate grumbled, carefully climbing down the edge of the riverbed. A few rocks tumbled down beneath him as he moved a hindpaw, into the makeshift camp at the bottom. “We’re going to get caught.”
“We might,” Midnight answered bitterly, not offering any of the reassurance that Slate was hoping for.
“What happens if we do?” Slate asked. “Aloe won’t just kill us, right?”
“Probably not,” Midnight replied. “She gave that whole speech about Crosswinds not being under her jurisdiction, so she might give us up to the authorities here. Or, she might just kill us and hide our bodies.”
“If we get caught, will you use your magic?” They were getting close to the bottom of the riverbed, a distance upstream from the tents.
Midnight pondered this for a moment. “Maybe,” she responded. “Although I don’t know how much help it can be. I don’t exactly have a lot of practice, so I’m not sure I could enchant something quickly or anything large; it would be a distraction at best. Torrent might kill me for it, if I did.”
“I hope you’re joking about that.”
“I’m not,” Midnight firmly answered. “He might.”
Slate sighed. “And you still want to save him? Even though he’s all that’s preventing you from helping Gazelle?”
Midnight stiffened up, almost slipping down the side of the riverbed. “I mean . . . yeah. He’s still my father. He’s a horrible father, but he’s not that awful a dragon. And he means well, perhaps too well. He knows what happens when an animus loses too much of their soul, and doesn’t want that to happen to me. Regardless, I’d never be able to forgive myself if he died.”
As the two reached the bottom of the gully, Slate looked over towards the camp. It seemed still. “Maybe Torrent just went back to your home?”
“He’s not the type of dragon to give up so easily,” Midnight replied, golden dots sparkling beneath her wings. “I’m sure he’s down there. We just need to find him before he does something stupid.”
A sudden yell came from the center of the camp, soon followed by a clamor of dragons. “Too late,” Slate muttered. “Can you see him?”
“Maybe,” Midnight replied, seeing a large figure burst out of the large tent in the center of the camp, more figures suddenly running after him. “Yep,” she sighed, “that would be my dad. C’mon, this way.”
Midnight started to run towards the camp, seeing more dragons starting to collect near Torrent. “Wait, you want us to go towards them?” Slate asked, alarmed. “Won’t we get caught?”
“They’re too busy with Torrent to notice a couple of shadows,” Midnight answered. “Hurry up, I need you. Don’t fly, they’ll spot us more easily.”
Slate did as he was told, slightly nervous as to why Midnight needed up. They quickly ran up towards the side of the camp. Midnight’s view was too blocked by the tents to see Torrent, but from the shouting of SandWings, she was able to infer an approximate location for where he was. “He needs a distraction,” Midnight said, turning over towards Slate.
“Oh,” Slate replied, “oh no.” He gulped, wondering what Midnight was plotting.
“It’s hot enough for you to breathe fire, isn’t it?” Midnight asked. “Set some stuff aflame.”
Slate winced, and glanced around the edge of the camp. All of the guards nearby had gone after Torrent. Hopefully, they’d get out in time. He walked up to one of the tents, and slowly opened the flap. No one was inside. Putting the cloth flap up near his snout, he let out a small burst of flame. The tent immediately caught, fire quickly spreading around it.
“Burn a few more,” Midnight said. “Quickly, before they come over here.”
Slate walked over to two more tents, and glanced inside. Fortunately, no sleeping dragons were there. Even if he hated Aloe, he really didn’t want to accidentally burn any sleeping soldiers in their sleep. Slate quickly shot an arc of fire across the tents, lighting them up. By now, the fire from the first tent was starting to spread.
“Great, now let’s get out of here,” Midnight ordered, already running back upstream. Slate rushed after her, hearing more voices of shouting dragons as the fire spread across the camp. He winced. He didn’t feel too much remorse for burning Aloe’s camp, although he hoped nobody got hurt.
As the two of them sprinted upstream, away from the flaming camp behind them, Slate glanced to his left. Maybe a dozen SandWings were chasing after Torrent, who was only five or six tail lengths ahead of them. He had bleeding scratches on his scales, but fortunately, didn’t seem to have any barb wounds. One of the SandWings glanced back at Slate, and the two locked eyes.
“Um, Midnight?” Slate spoke up. “I think they’ve noticed us.”
“Great,” Midnight muttered. “C’mon, this way.” She veered to the left, towards the group of SandWings.
“That’s the wrong way,” Slate winced, still following her.
As the two got closer to Torrent, Midnight shouted out to him. “Hey! What were you thinking, you dumb squid-swallower, barging into Aloe’s camp?”
“I don’t know why they’re angry, I didn’t even kill her!” Torrent roared back. He gave the SandWings a quick glance behind him, then suddenly lit up all his glowstripes. The vivid contrast of the burst of light against the night caused the SandWings to momentarily go blind, and a few tripped over one another. Still, they quickly recovered, getting Torrent only a few more tail-lengths ahead. “I’m completely fine. I’ve gotten out of worse before.”
“You’re being stupid!” Midnight shouted. “You’ve got a dozen dragons after you, you’ll be ripped apart!”
“Go on without me!” Torrent roared back, “I have a plan! A good one!”
“No!” Midnight yelled.
“Maybe we should go on,” Slate suggested, “they’ll catch all of us if we don’t.”
“They’ll catch all of us even if we do,” Midnight snapped. “We won’t be able to fly to Crosswinds before they get in the way.”
“Hey!” Torrent shouted. “What did I tell you? Get away! I don’t want you to get hurt!”
A couple of the SandWings, overhearing the shouting match that was going on, stayed back from the crowd going after Torrent. They suddenly turned towards Midnight and Slate, and started towards them.
“C’mon,” Slate urged Midnight. He spread his wings open, and let the wind sneak beneath them, lifting him into the air.
“You better not die!” Midnight growled at Torrent as she followed Slate’s lead.
Torrent snorted. “Hey, sand-for-brains!” he taunted the guards behind him, turning around and stopping in his tracks. Pulling out his dagger, he threw it point-side down into the dry riverbed, around halfway between him and the SandWings. “Y’all forgot the first rule of fighting a SeaWing!”
The crowd of SandWings suddenly stopped their chase, almost running into each other. They quickly glanced down to see what Torrent had thrown, unable to fully see it in the darkness. A few cautiously stepped towards it, unsure if it might be dangerous.
“Never fight a SeaWing underwater!” Torrent shouted. There was a moment of confusion among the guards, when suddenly, a deluge of rapid water burst from the area surrounding the dagger, slamming into the SandWings. The flood of water pushed them down the empty riverbed, back towards the flaming camp. The dagger quickly broke free of the ground, and shot down the blast of water, flooding every point it passed. Left behind was an empty riverbed, the dirt now drenched.
By the time the flood had reached the camp, carrying Aloe’s SandWings with it and putting out the flames Slate had created, Torrent was in the air. “Hurry!” he shouted at Midnight and Slate, who were watching from above the riverbed. “I told you to escape!”
“You hurry!” Midnight yelled back, as Torrent flew up to meet them. It wouldn’t be long before the dagger passed by the camp, and Aloe’s forces recovered enough to go after them. They needed to hide themselves in Crosswinds before them.
The three quickly dove into the bank closest to Gazelle’s house, and landed on the edge. Torrent could see SandWings in the riverbed, the great wave of water having passed over them. Hopefully, it would be a while before they got up.
“How did you do that?” Slate asked, amazed at the show of magic. “Can your dagger create water, too?”
“No,” Torrent answered hushedly as the three walked into the alleyways of Crosswinds. “It negates magic around it if I let it. The drought curse is what caused the Great Five-Tail river to dry up, and I had to allow the curse to work in order to get down into the riverbed. I just stopped it from working again afterwards.”
“What about your dagger?” Slate questioned. “How will you get it back.”
“It’s enchanted to return to me,” Torrent snorted. “Sometimes, much to my ire.”
“You said you didn’t actually kill Aloe,” Midnight snapped, as the three turned a corner. “So, was all that for nothing?”
“Pretty much,” Torrent admitted. “I tried to disenchant the necklace, but she got away. She didn’t even tell me anything useful.”
Midnight shook her head with a sigh. “Great,” she muttered. “Next time you do something fish-brained like that, don’t count on me to rescue you.”
== Chapter 20 ==
Deathbringer took a step in front of Glory, making sure his body was between her and the growling hybrid. He spread out his wings to cover her, and arched his claws, preparing for a fight.
“Get back,” he ordered to his queen.
“I’m the one with the venom,” Glory hissed, pushing Deathbringer to the side. “And she hasn’t attacked you. She might be friendly!” She glared at her mate as the pebbles beneath her shook. What was he thinking? They needed to not antagonize Aurora any more, if possible.
“Does she look friendly to you?” Deathbringer asked, gesturing to knives growing from Aurora’s claws with a wing. 
“Be quiet,” Aurora growled back. “I can hear your threats.”
Glory winced. Maybe talking about her venom in front of the hybrid wasn’t the best diplomatic strategy. She gave Deathbringer a quick glance of caution before looking back to Aurora.
Aurora had already turned away, and was continuing to comb through the rubble for whatever she was searching for, the metal shrinking back into her talons. Just because I’m less likely to decapitate you than any of the other queens doesn’t mean you can be rude to me, Glory wanted to say. It was hard enough to get respect with the other queens or even her own subjects as it was, being both young and a RainWing. She shivered. The sudden surge of power she’d felt had gone as quick as it came, but Glory was still on edge. She had to tread carefully here.
“You’re technically trespassing on off-limit property of the Rainforest Kingdom,” Glory pointed out, “so if you don’t want me to take you in for questioning, I at least need an explanation for what you’re looking for, and why. You’re free to go after that.”
“It’s none of your business,” Aurora muttered, like every word she said to Queen Glory was a waste of her time.
“That wasn’t an answer,” Glory flatly sighed.
Glory received another cold shoulder from the hybrid, causing the RainWing queen to flare her ruff in annoyance, orange bleeding from the scales on her neck. The hybrid could at least pretend to respect Glory, like a lot of the NightWings did. But flat-out ignoring a queen was either arrogant, or extremely courageous. It was like Glory didn’t even.
“Should we capture her and take her back to the village?” Deathbringer asked Glory, making sure his voice was a low whisper this time.
Glory thought for a moment. “Eh. Other than annoying the scales off my neck, and having really creepy knives growing out of her talons, she isn’t actually doing anything that bad. It’s probably fine!”
“Maybe, but she could be secretly plotting your downfall,” Deathbringer suggested.
Glory laughed, rolling her eyes. Aurora was still furiously poking through the rubble. “I doubt it. I’m . . . not even sure she knows who I am, which I believe is a requirement for a coup attempt.”
“Fine, but it still bugs me,” Deathbringer huffed, concerned. “What if she’s looking for one of the Darkstalker’s artifacts? I don’t want a repeat of Silverhorn.”
Glory winced, swirls of green and purple appearing on her wingblades. She didn’t really want to remember that. Around a year ago, a rogue NightWing named Silverhorn had discovered an animus-touched earring created by none other than the Darkstalker himself. She’d used it to manipulate Glory into trusting her over a few weeks, and had almost gotten Glory to declare her the new queen of the NightWings. It had so clouded her thoughts that she’d attempted to arrest Deathbringer on Silverhorn’s advice, believing that her trusted NightWing was a spy.
Luckily, Silverhorn had made the mistake of attacking Deathbringer when he resisted, and had gotten her ear torn off in the ensuing fight, along with the magic earring. Her hold on Glory was broken, and Silverhorn ended up with venom in the eyes. Afterwards, Glory had destroyed the earring. She’d thought about keeping it just in case she ever needed it, but keeping malicious magic like that around was too risky.
The event served as a reminder of the dangers of animus magic, if it fell into the wrong claws. If just a single item could almost take down a kingdom, it was frightening what an full-fledged animus could do with just a bat of an eye. The drought, if it was in fact magical, was an example of that. Glory was relieved that there weren’t any animuses in either of her kingdoms, but that might not last forever. She didn’t know how many NightWings in the kingdom were related to Stonemover, and any one of his relatives could have it.
“I doubt she’s going for something he created, the Darkstalker never lived here, from what I’ve been told,” Glory replied. Yet, the idea had already taken hold in her head. What if there were other animus-touched items here? Starflight had found one of the dreamvisitors, even though he’d ended up losing it. “But I don’t want to take any risks. Just . . . be cautious.”
“Hybrid,” Deathbringer commanded Aurora, less cautiously than Glory would’ve liked, “if you won’t tell us what you’re doing, we’re going to have to take you back to the rainforest to interrogate you.”
Aurora turned to Deathbringer, cocking her head from left to right as he stepped forward. Glory stiffened up as she saw more metal daggers appear from Aurora’s claws. This time, it was more visible — they weren’t just hidden somewhere, the metal was actually forming out of thin air.
Deathbringer seemed to notice too. Slowly, Glory saw his paw shake, involuntarily moving to the pouch where he kept his chakrams. Don’t! Glory wanted to tell him. She moved forward, about to try and pull Deathbringer back.
The small motion was too much. As Deathbringer’s claws brushed against his pouch, Aurora sprung into the air, steel hooks extending from her tail. Her talons stretched out at a moment’s notice, aiming towards Deathbringer’s neck.
Deathbringer reached into the pouch, grabbing a silver disk only to let out a yelp of pain as two thin metal spikes shot up from the ground. His paw opened up as drops of blood poured from it, the disk clattering to the ground. Glory shoved her mate’s wing out of the way, getting between him and Aurora, opening her jaws, prepared to shoot venom into Aurora’s eyes, but a moment too late.
Aurora suddenly crashed at Glory and Deathbringer’s paws, Deathbringer gritting his teeth as he tore his paw from the spikes, blood dripping onto the hybrid’s scales. Glory looked down, surprised that the attack hadn’t landed. Aurora’s glowstripes suddenly flashed, and the hybrid placed her talons to her own neck, trying to scratch at it. A moment later, her body went limp, her legs and wings splayed out. As her eyes shut, Glory stared at the end of a small dart sticking out from Aurora’s neck.
Glory and Deathbringer turned to look at each other, wondering if the other had shot it. Neither had. Suddenly, the shine of scales started to protrude from the smog, and four RainWings appeared, one of them holding a blowgun. Glory laughed as she recognized one of them as the RainWing she had accidentally attacked back in the rainforest. So Deathbringer’s ‘Ninja Guard’ had followed after all.
Glory looked to Deathbringer, seeing a few drops of blood fall from the wounds on his forepaw. He grimaced. “I’m fine,” he tried to assure her.
The RainWing queen turned back to Aurora, who was unconscious at Deathbringer’s paws. “I hope that was a sleeping dart and not poison,” Glory muttered.
“Don’t worry,” one of the RainWings said, “Deathbringer doesn’t let us use anything too deadly yet.”
Glory didn’t really want to know what Deathbringer’s threshold for ‘too deadly’ was. She turned to her mate. “So, why are they here? I thought you dismissed them.”
“I did,” Deathbringer replied, glancing over the four RainWings. “Why did you come? I think that might be disobeying orders.”
“Yes, but you told us to think for ourselves, right?” the youngest of the four answered, the one that Glory had attacked. Frog, if she remembered correctly. “Well, Gorilla said that we should go anyways, just to make sure you were safe. We saw Toxin sneaking after you.”
Glory glanced over to Gorilla, the RainWing holding the blowgun. She waved happily. Glory sighed. “Thinking for yourself doesn’t mean disobeying orders. I mean, sometimes it does. But usually it doesn’t.”
“Wise words, your majesty,” Deathbringer quipped.
Glory snorted. “Anyways, we were fine. Aurora here should probably be thanking you, in fact; she would’ve gotten a snout-full of venom if she’d hurt Deathbringer.”
One of the RainWings shuddered at the thought of what venom could have done.
“Personally, I’m impressed they took initiative,” Deathbringer commented, proud of his pupils.
“Quiet,” Glory ordered him. She glanced behind her, back to Toxin and Mastermind. Fortunately, neither of them had tried to fly off, they were just watching the scene from afar. “Grab the hybrid’s body and fly her back to the Rainforest. Please don’t drop her. Careful of the spikes.”
“Toxin?” Frog asked.
“No,” Glory said, exasperated. “Aurora. The one Gorilla just shot. Not Toxin.”
Frog nodded, and the four RainWings got to work figuring out how best to carry Aurora without accidentally puncturing themselves on her.
----After they got back in the rainforest, Glory, Deathbringer, Toxin, and Mastermind quickly got to work on looking through the scrolls they’d gotten from the island. While they worked on the Royal Pavilion, the Ninja Guard had brought Aurora back to a nearby pavilion, and at Deathbringer’s request, were keeping watch over her until she woke up. Glory quickly filled Deathbringer in on the contents of Toxin’s vision.
“So, do we really need these scrolls?” Deathbringer asked, glancing at the pile that Mastermind brought back. “I don’t see how they’ll help us interpret it.” He poked one, and turned it over, having a bit of trouble with the cloth bandage on his paw. Documentation of Lodestone Uses. 
“Oh, that one doesn’t have to do with prophecies,” Mastermind said, quickly stripping it from Deathbringer’s talons. “But I’m sure some of the ones that we brought back will be useful.” In return, Mastermind handed Deathbringer a different scroll.
“Great NightWing Prophecies: Volume Four,” Deathbringer read out. “And . . . why is this useful? We already know what the vision was about. Aurora’s the hybrid in the vision, right? And Peril sets a RainWing on fire. Seems pretty clear to me. What more do we need to interpret?”
“That still doesn’t help with the drought,” Glory mused. She took the scroll from Deathbringer’s talons, and rolled it open. There was a small collection of prophecies written by a dragon named Vision. “Although I’m not quite sure this will, either. What are we looking for? Prophecies on magical droughts two-thousand years in the future?”
Mastermind shrugged his wings. “That would be quite helpful.”
Glory rolled her eyes. It felt more and more like Mastermind had just tricked her into getting him more scrolls.
“There’s this one about a hurricane,” Deathbringer said, reading over Glory’s wing. “Apparently a NightWing named Clearsight wrote it. How long ago was that?”
Mastermind opened his mouth to explain, but Glory interrupted first. “We’re looking for droughts, not hurricanes. Keep looking.”
“Huh, this is interesting,” Toxin suddenly spoke up, looking through a different scroll. Glory and Deathbringer looked over to her, wondering what she’d found.
Toxin held the scroll up. “It’s the scroll about creating false visions. It was written after the NightWings lost their powers, but the author is one of the few who still thinks they were real at some point. The author claims that NightWing prophecy actually came from animus magic, but the Great Ice Dragon took the power of prophecy from the NightWings because of what happened with Prince Arctic and the Darkstalker.”
“The Great Ice Dragon?” Deathbringer snorted. “Why is a NightWing writing about the IceWing deity?”
“Don’t ask me,” Toxin replied, “I didn’t write it. Whoever did is long gone.”
Glory sighed, and glanced back down at the scroll. They weren’t going to get anywhere at this rate. “That’s fun, but what does it have to do with our drought problem?” she asked.
Toxin gave her a glare. “I don’t know. I just thought it was interesting.”
Glory dropped the scroll to the ground, and started to pace around the pavilion, the other three watching her intently. The scales on her neck started to turn a bright orange. “This is pointless,” she growled. “None of this scroll-reading is going to help with our drought problem. We need to find whatever is causing the drought, get rid of it, and stop Peril from killing that RainWing. What’s the point of having visions of the future if we can’t do anything about it?”
Deathbringer stood up, and put a wing around his mate. Glory felt useless. She was queen of two tribes. All of them were going to starve to death or die of dehydration, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it, except look through moldy scrolls for something a dragon dead for a few thousand years might or might not have said.
Suddenly, two high-pitched screams echoed from across the rainforest, quickly followed by a third. Glory immediately whipped her head around towards the direction of the sounds. They’d come from nearby, in the direction of the pavilion where they’d left Aurora under guard.
“Sloth-dung,” Glory whispered, realizing that Aurora had woken up far sooner than expected with an entire dose of tranquilizer. “HURRY!” she shouted to her mate, who was already taking off towards the source of the screams. The rainforest queen leaped off the pavilion, and used her tail to guide herself as she glided downwards. Aurora was their only lead on the prophecy, at the moment. If she got away . . .
It was far too late when the two arrived. Glory’s blood ran cold as she saw the grizzly scene. Aurora was gone. Of the four RainWings who had been guarding her, three were laying in pools of their own blood, dripping through the cracks in the pavilion, staining the leaves below. One of these three was moaning in agony, while the other two were motionless. The fourth was nowhere to be seen, but Glory could hear the sounds of sobbing and whimpering nearby.
For a moment, Deathbringer stood on in shock, his talons shaking. “No,” he whispered, “no. This wasn’t supposed to be dangerous.”
Glory walked over to the moaning RainWing. Even though his scales had all turned a deathly pale white, she could recognize him as Frog. Red blood ran down his forepaws as he clutched his underbelly. As Glory looked closer, she could see that there were holes torn through the soft scales there, and a bloody line between Frog was holding his scales. He let out another moan, and looked at Queen Glory almost pleadingly, unable to say anything.
“Don’t worry,” Glory tried to comfort him, her own talons shaking, “it will be alright.” She wasn’t quite sure of her own assurance. He was in critical condition. If there was any chance of him surviving, he needed medical care immediately. Frog was younger than Glory, still a dragonet. How could anyone have done this to him?
Glory turned to the sobbing dragon, still invisible. “Grapefruit, please get help. He needs medical attention.”
The RainWing slowly lowered her invisibility, revealing pale green scales. Still sobbing, she nodded, her wings and talons shaking back and forth. She slowly walked to the edge of the pavilion, and carefully looked over, as if she was expecting Aurora to be hiding beneath her. Camouflaging her scales against the trees and leaves, she opened her wings, and shakily started to glide towards the center of the village. Glory could see a few more RainWings coming over from nearby pavilions to see what had happened. The screams had to have been heard from miles around.
Deathbringer walked over to the other two RainWings. Gorilla had a similar wound on her underbelly, except far larger than Frog’s. He winced as he saw a hint of her entrails coming out from the largest gash. The other RainWing, Tropic, lied down next to her. His scales peeled away from a red line stretching from his throat to the base of his neck. Each of their scales were a light shade of grey, and neither of the two was breathing.
Deathbringer couldn’t turn away from the two. He’d seen dragons like this before. Three moons, he’d killed plenty of dragons, although he’d preferred to do it cleaner than this. But this was his fault. He was Gorilla and Tropic’s teacher. This never should have happened.
He solemnly stepped towards Glory, who was still by Frog, trying to sooth the moaning RainWing with her presence. The two exchanged a glance.
“This was supposed to be safe,” Deathbringer whispered. “The whole ‘Ninja Guard’ thing — three moons, I was being so stupid.”
“It’s not your fault,” Glory assured him, “you couldn’t have known this was going to happen. It was unfortunate, that was all.”
Deathbringer shook his head. “No, I knew there was a risk.”
Glory turned back to Frog. A few more RainWings had landed on the pavilion, and were whispering to each other. “We need to bring her to justice. She killed two of us. She won’t get away with this.”
Deathbringer stood still, and looked around the pavilion. There was no trace of where Aurora had been, or where she had gone. The positions of the RainWings indicated that they’d tried to stop her, but Deathbringer couldn’t be sure. How had she been able get away? There were four of them, and they still had sleeping darts. And venom, Deathbringer had been teaching them to use their venom in battle. Maybe Grapefruit could tell him what happened. The NightWing felt his heart skip a beat. This was his fault. If they’d tried to fight her or re-capture her, it was Deathbringer who had trained them to do that. Why couldn’t he have told them to just let her go?
The flap of wingbeats made Deathbringer turn. Toxin and Mastermind had come to join them, and the two landed on the pavilion, careful not to step in any of the blood.
Toxin examined the three RainWings. If she was sickened by it, she didn’t show it in her scales.
“You should go,” Glory suggested to her, wincing, “you’re still a dragonet. I don’t want you to see this.”
Toxin glared at her queen. “He was a dragonet, too,” she hissed, pointing a talon at Frog. “That didn’t stop this.”
“Is,” Glory stiffly growled. “He’s going to be fine.”
Toxin looked doubtful. “It was the dragon in my vision who did this, wasn’t it.”
Glory nodded. “Her name is Aurora.”
“Why did you bring her back here?” Toxin snarled.
“Are you blaming this on me?” Glory yelled, the ruff on her neck turning a bright red. “You never told me she was dangerous!”
Toxin stood still for a moment, maintaining her eye-contact with Glory.
Glory winced, looking down at the young dragonet. “I’m sorry,” she replied, “I shouldn’t have said that. This isn’t your fault.”
Toxin didn’t respond. Glory wasn’t sure what she was thinking. Did she blame herself for this now? Glory recalled what she’d told Toxin earlier. What’s the point of having visions of the future if we can’t do anything about it? She was only a dragonet, she shouldn’t be under the same pressure that a queen was. Glory had chosen this role. Toxin had never had a choice.
“Deathbringer,” Glory said, “go after Aurora before she gets too far. I’m going to go back to Jade Mountain with Toxin and Mastermind. We’ll go find the Black Scrolls that Mastermind mentioned.”
Mastermind perked up at the mention of scrolls.
“Are you sure?” Deathbringer asked, slightly alarmed. “You saw what Aurora did here. Will you be safe?”
“I have my venom, and I know how to use it,” Glory assured him. “I also won’t be alone at Jade Mountain. If Toxin’s vision comes true, and Aurora goes there, we’ll be ready for her. Just make sure to stay safe yourself. Bring your weapons.” She didn’t like bringing a dragonet as young as Toxin into this, but it was far too late for that. Anyways, with so many dragons around, Jade Mountain would probably be safer than the rainforest.
Deathbringer bowed his head. “On the three moons, I swear that Gorilla and Tropic will be avenged.”
== Chapter 21 ==
Inferno stepped across the slope, running her paws through the bright green blades of grass. She was in a different place than the last two nights, further along the river. The mountains seemed closer than before, and in slightly different places. As she looked towards them, she could see one with two peaks, like a distorted version of Jade Mountain, where she was sleeping right now. She wondered why Ash had chosen to make it. If she flew up there, would she find a little school, full of dragonets? She doubted it. Ash usually didn’t make the edges of their dreamscape as detailed as the center.
“I had a good day today,” she spoke. When Inferno turned around, Ash was lying on the grassy hill, a blade of grass between his talons.
“That’s good,” he replied with a smile, flicking his tail across the dirt. “What happened?”
“I was invited to a game of Queens and Generals,” Inferno grinned. “I couldn’t play, since I’d burn the pieces, so Ink offered to move the pieces for me. I think you were right about going to Jade Mountain. I don’t feel like an outcast here, like I did in the Talons. I think I might be able to find friends.”
“I’m happy for you,” Ash said. “I don’t think you’re the only dragon here who doesn’t feel like they belong anywhere else. But you still need to keep up your guard.”
“I do?” Inferno asked, frowning. Wasn’t the whole point of coming here so that she could be safe? And it wasn’t like anyone could hurt her, anyways.
Ash nodded. “You mentioned Ink. What do you think about him?”
“Well,” Inferno mused, “I think he’s nice. He’s the one who invited me to play, and moved the pieces for me. I was a little weirded out by him at first, though. It felt like he already knew me.”
“He does know you,” Ash stated. He tore the blade of grass between his talons in half. “Did you realize that he said your name before you introduced yourself?”
Inferno thought back to the conversation she’d had. She hadn’t really noticed it at the time, but Ash was right. “Maybe he just heard it from Tsunami or Seahorse?”
Ash shook his head. “It seems unlikely, especially considering how he looked at you when you were coming into Jade Mountain.”
“What if he used to be in the Talons?” Inferno suggested.
“We’d have remembered a hybrid like that.”
“He’s part NightWing,” she hypothesized, “what if he can read my mind? I know that the NightWings said that they lost their powers, but maybe he didn’t.”
Ash shook his head. “I would have known if he tried to read your mind. He hasn’t. There’s something he’s hiding.”
“Oh,” Inferno frowned. She’d thought that Ink just wanted to be her friend. But this seemed suspicious. “Does this mean I can’t be friends with him?”
“I don’t know,” Ash answered, tearing apart each piece of the blade of grass he held. He threw them into the air, and they scattered into the wind. “He doesn’t seem malicious, but again, you should keep your guard up. Just in case.”
Inferno dug out a little bit of the dirt with a claw. “Why did you want me to come here? You said I wasn’t safe in the Talons, but this seems more dangerous.”
Ash smiled. “I had a few reasons. I thought you’d be happier here than in the Talons. You are happier here, aren’t you? You’ve found friends. I also had a feeling. A premonition, maybe, that you needed to come here if you wanted to stay safe.”
Inferno thought about that for a moment. He’d told her originally that she wasn’t safe in the Talons, but it wasn’t just that — it was that she had to go here to be safe? She wondered what Ash knew. She could ask him, but she doubted he would tell her anything more than what he already had. It kind of annoyed her when he hid stuff, although she never mentioned that to him.
“So,” Ash asked, “are you planning to stay?”
“At Jade Mountain?” Inferno responded. “Do you mean enrolling?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe,” Inferno considered, “but I still don’t want to eventually meet Peril. I also want my own room. I hate having to use hers. And I’d have to ask Tsunami. I don’t really have any treasure to pay for the school.”
“It might be fine, since you’re part of the Talons.”
“Am I?” Inferno questioned. “I left, didn’t I?
Ash shrugged his wings, making a small wave of air across the grass. “Tsunami doesn’t need to know that, does she?”
Inferno squirmed uncomfortably. She didn’t like the idea of lying, even if it was only a half-lie. “I guess.”
Ash turned his head upwards, towards the four moons, barely visible in the daytime sky. “It’s probably time for you to wake up. Good luck with Ink and Tsunami.”
“Thank you for talking to me,” Inferno said, bowing her head. 
Ash twinkled, swishing his tail back and forth. “My pleasure.”
The ground around Inferno started to fade in detail, the individual blades of grass blurring together. As the landscape started to disappear, Inferno closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was on the floor of Peril’s room. There was a small ledge in the corner that made a bed, but Inferno had decided not to use that. She didn’t want to sleep in Peril’s bed. It might be a good idea for Inferno to say good morning to Seahorse, and see how he was doing.
Inferno slowly got to her paws, her legs tired and stiff. She carefully walked out from the room, and down the hallway Tsunami had led her down the day before. The morning sun streamed through the holes in the cave and from the lanterns, but it was quiet here, like it was the night before, and she didn’t see any wandering dragonets, even as she passed the rooms. That was probably for the better; she didn’t want to surprise anyone. Still, she wondered where everyone was.
When she reached the guest room, she could hear the slight shifting and mutterings of dragons inside it. Carefully turning her way around the corner, and making sure no one accidentally ran out too fast and into her, she stepped into the entrance of the guest room, looking around. Three dragons were inside it, all awake to some extent or another. Seahorse himself was lying on his cloth hoard, deep in thought, as he noticed Inferno approach. He quickly smiled, and gave Inferno a wave.
Inferno gave the other two dragons a glance, and was slightly surprised when she saw Ink, drawing something on a scroll. “Oh,” she opened, a bit worried for a moment. Ash had told her to keep up her guard around Ink, right? “I didn’t know you were sleeping here.”
Inferno winced immediately after, realizing how rude that might have sounded. Of course he was sleeping in the guest room — he wasn’t actually a student here. Still, Ink didn’t seem to care. With a huge grin on his snout, he turned from his drawing to Inferno. “Morning, Inferno!”
The third dragon in the room was an IceWing, around Inferno and Ink’s age. He had a scroll in front of him, but instead of reading it, his eyes seemed to be warily watching Seahorse. As Ink greeted Inferno, he turned to her. He stiffened up as he saw the wisps of smoke coming from Inferno’s scales, and started to bare his teeth when Ink turned to him.
“Polar, this is Inferno,” Ink introduced her, “I met her last night, and we played Queens and Generals together. Inferno, this is Polar. He’s from the Ice Kingdom, but we came here together.”
“We didn’t come here together,” Polar grumbled, his shining First Circle amulet hanging from his neck. “We just met up on the way, and happened to be going the same direction.” He scanned Inferno up and down, then gave Ink a glare, as if judging him for bringing back a dragon like Inferno here.
“Which means we came here together,” Ink continued, his cheeriness unfaltering. “Ooh, Inferno, do you want to go get breakfast with me? Skytaker invited me to join them, Tiger, and Sepia. You can come too, Polar!”
“No,” Polar snorted. “I, er, have to go to the library. More research for Queen Glacier.”
Ink shrugged his wings. “Oh well, you can join us some other time.” He looked over towards Inferno hopefully.
“Um, sure,” Inferno answered quickly, before thinking it through. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to eat breakfast with Ink, especially if she was supposed to be wary of him. But he was so friendly and welcoming. How could she say no?
“Great!” Ink said. “Let’s go before all the good stuff is eaten!” He stood up, moving his scroll to the side, and started towards the exit. Inferno quickly stepped aside, clearing a path for him to safely leave through.
Polar looked back down to his scroll again, then back to Seahorse. Maybe he should go with them after all. He carefully rolled up his scroll, picking it up to take with him. “I think I’ll join you,” he announced, “since I need to get breakfast anyways.”
“Sure,” Ink replied, giving Inferno a quick glance and rolling his eyes. “The more the merrier.”
As Ink started trotting off towards the prey center, Polar walked behind him, carefully keeping his distance from Inferno. The SkyWing poked her head back into the room, towards Seahorse. She’d originally come here to talk to him. “Er, sorry,” she apologized to the SeaWing. “If you need me to help you out . . .”
“It’s fine,” Seahorse answered. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh,” Inferno said, slightly confused. “Um, alright.” As she turned around to catch up with Ink and Polar, she wondered if she should have talked to Seahorse more. Even though he said it was fine, it probably wasn’t. Did that mean he just wanted Inferno to leave him alone, or was he wanting Inferno to help? Inferno sighed, and walked behind Polar, making sure not to get too close.
“It feels like there’s a volcano erupting behind me,” Polar grumbled to Ink, complaining about the heat coming from Inferno’s scales.
“Sorry . . .” Inferno replied, keeping her head down. Ink gave Polar a glare, then continued on his way. They followed along the passageway, slanting downwards before a blast of wind hit Inferno. The sound of yelling dragonets filled the air as Inferno’s eyes adjusted to the morning sun. The ceiling of the cave widened above her, revealing an enormous cave with one wall open to the elements. A large boulder stood in the center of the cave, where Tsunami was on top, peacefully gnawing on a fish as she carefully watched the ruckus of dragons beneath.
A small stream flowed between the entrance tunnel and the prey center, with a stone bridge allowing dragons to cross without getting wet. As Ink went over it, the hybrid dipped the tip of his tail beneath the swift-moving water, splashing a few drops on Polar. The IceWing grumbled, and gave him a cold glare, but Ink just grinned cheekily back.
Inferno carefully stepped over the bridge, and poked a talon down into it. The water around her talon quickly started to bubble and boil, feeling warm against her claws. Her eyes suddenly met two young SeaWings, playing in the stream as they swam against the current. Inferno gulped. She hadn’t meant to attract attention. One of the SeaWings, a grey-blue one cautiously looked at the bubbling, while the other, a small light blue dragon with pink webbing, turned away, apparently uninterested in Inferno. The latter SeaWing turned to a RainWing on the banks of the stream, carefully eating a mango, and suddenly yelled out, “SURPRISE ATTACK!” 
The SeaWing jumped onto the startled RainWing and pushed her into the river. The RainWing splashed around for a few seconds as the SeaWing pushed up beneath her wing, making sure she stayed safely above the water. The RainWing snorted, shivering slightly in the cold water as hints of orange started to appear on her blue scales. “What was that for, Anemone?”
“Come on Tamarin, it’s more fun in the water,” Anemone laughed.
Tamarin sighed, and shook her head, spraying water droplets away. “Where’d my mango go?”
Anemone quickly ducked her head beneath the water, looking around for the lost mango. She finally noticed it, quickly tumbling down the river, into the next cave. She brought her head back up. “Er, it’s long-gone.”
Tamarin tsked. “You know you just wasted a perfectly good mango.”
Anemone shrugged her wings, splashing a bit more water onto Tamarin. “We can get more. Pike! Get us some more mangoes!”
“Please,” Tamarin quickly added.
The other SeaWing, who was still watching Inferno, turned around. “Yes, your majesty,” he replied, rolling his eyes. He smoothly exited the river, and headed towards a large pile of fruit nearby.
“Inferno, c’mon!” Ink suddenly yelled, distracting her from the scene. He was standing by a small raised platform, something of a table. Skytaker and Sepia were next to him, with Polar behind him, pouting as he scanned the room.
Inferno slowly walked towards the dragons, keeping her head down. The room was full of rambunctious students, and it would be awful if one of them accidentally ran into her. A few chickens ran around the floor, but were careful to keep away from her path. A young NightWing chased after them, but turned as she noticed Inferno, allowing the chickens to escape. She gave the SkyWing a cautious look, then trotted off again. To Inferno, it felt like everyone was watching her.
Inferno eventually arrived at the table, and sat near it, making sure not to get too close to any of the other dragons and make them uncomfortable. Just being near her for too long was difficult.
“Good morning, Inferno,” Sepia cheerfully greeted her.
Inferno smiled in response. “Good morning.” She looked down at the slab. A few chicken thighs were there. She carefully nudged one towards her with a talon, the meat charring and blackening at her touch. Making sure not to touch it with her scales, she bent her neck down to it, picking it up with her teeth. She winced, aware that the other dragons were watching her unusual way of eating.
“Hey, where’s Tiger?” Ink asked Skytaker, wondering why the RainWing was missing.
The SkyWing-NightWing hybrid snorted, and shrugged their wings as they gnawed on a chicken bone. “Dunno. She’s normally here.” Skytaker turned to Sepia. “She’s your clawmate, not mine. Is she alright? Caught a cough again?”
Sepia thought for a moment, not quite sure how to answer the question. “Apparently Queen Glory came this morning and wanted to talk to her.”
“Whaa?” Skytaker asked. “Glory was here just last week though. Not that I mind, but why is she here again? And what is she stealing Tiger for?”
“It’s an emergency, I think. Something to do with the drought.”
Inferno was a little surprised. Queen Glory? Here? That was a little intimidating. Inferno had never met a queen before.
An idea suddenly clicked in Skytaker’s head, and their eyes lit up. “We should spy on her!”
Sepia winced, and shook her head back and forth. “That’s a horrible idea. I can just ask Tiger next time I see her what they talked about.”
Skytaker snorted. “You’re no fun. It would be cool!”
“We’d be like secret agents or something, trying to figure out our enemies’ plans before they put them into action!” Ink suddenly announced, liking this idea.
Skytaker grinned. “I like the way you think.”
Sepia gritted her teeth. “You make no sense. Glory is our friend, not our enemy.”
“Yes,” Ink continued, “which is why we suddenly realize, in a twist of epic proportions, that we were on the wrong side all along, our conscious getting the best of us.” He glanced to Polar behind him, and gave him a wink. The IceWing stiffened up, looking slightly worried as Ink turned back to the group.
Sepia groaned. “That’s even worse. We already know that Glory is one of the good guys. And it’s a drought. It’s just nature, taking its course. There aren’t any bad guys here.”
“Except Queen Scarlet,” Skytaker interrupted. “She’s a bad guy.”
Sepia shook her head, finally giving up and changing the subject. “Inferno,” she asked, turning to the SkyWing. Did Sepia think she worked for Queen Scarlet or something? She most certainly didn’t. “So, are you thinking about joining the academy?”
“Joining?” Inferno asked, taken slightly aback. “Um, yeah. I might talk to Headmaster Tsunami about it. I don’t know if she’ll let me in, though.”
“Eh, you’ll be fine,” Skytaker laughed. “Last I heard, Tsunami is thinking about more opening up more winglets if she can find some more teachers, but we’ve got a shortage of SkyWings, anyways. It’s just Peril, Flame, Cliff, and I right now, and I barely count.”
“Huh,” Inferno replied. She suspected that had something to do with Queen Scarlet.
“What about you, Ink?” Sepia asked, turning to the hybrid. “And you, um, IceWing-whose-name-I-don’t-know.”
Ink thought for a moment. “I might,” he admitted. “We’ll see how things turn out.” He turned to Polar, expecting an answer.
“No,” Polar snorted, “and my name is Polar, First Circle. I’m not a dragonet anymore, and I’m just here to provide reports on the IceWing students here for Queen Glacier.”
“You don’t have to be a dragonet to be a student here, just under 13 or so,” Sepia explained. “Like, Peril, Flame, and Marsh are as old or older than Tsunami. I think Onyx was 19 or something ridiculous when she arrived. That was a mistake. For a lot of reasons.”
Skytaker nodded. Even though Skytaker themselves arrived afterwards, Qibli had told them about the whole Talons of Power affair. “I think IceWings have to go home when they’re six or so, though,” they commented. “That’s what Changbai told me, at least.”
“Changbai is right,” Polar commented. “Unlike the other tribes, IceWings have very busy lives after reaching adulthood. We can’t just aimlessly wobble around like penguins at a school like this anymore.”
Skytaker frowned. “You don’t seem too busy, flying down all the way down to Jade Mountain just to keep an eye on some dragonets.”
Polar scoffed. “I’m very busy. In fact, I have stuff to attend to right now. So goodbye.” With a ‘hmph,’ Polar stood up, and walked away from the table, head raised high as he exited the prey center.
Skytaker’s eyes followed him until he left. “Wow,” they commented. “He makes Ermine seem like a sweetheart in comparison.”
“Oh, he’s alright, if you get to know him,” Ink explained, even though he barely knew Polar himself. “He’s just got some things he needs to work through.”
“Well, he could work through them a bit more politely,” Skytaker snorted. They glanced around, and noticed that the prey center was starting to clear out. “Sepia, come on, we’ve got to get to class.”
Sepia nodded, and stood up. “See you,” she waved to Ink and Inferno, before walking off with Skytaker, joining the crowd of students.
Ink laughed, and grinned at Inferno. “You wanted to talk to Tsunami, right?” he asked. “Better catch that fish before she gets away.” He pointed a wing to Tsunami, who was gliding down from the rock in the center of the prey center.
“Thank you,” Inferno said, walking over towards the headmaster, before thinking twice about it. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to interrupt Tsunami right now. It looked like she had stuff to do, and it would be rude to force her to talk. But wouldn’t it be weird if she went back to Ink now?
“Yes?” Tsunami suddenly asked, startling Inferno, who was just standing right there, staring at the SeaWing. “Did you want something?”
“Oh, er, is this a good time to talk?”
“Yeah, sure,” Tsunami answered, giving Inferno a look of skepticism.
Inferno coughed before posing her question, shuffling her tail from side to side. “Well, I was wondering if you had any spots at the school, and if so, how much it would cost for me to join.”
Tsunami laughed. “It’s funny you ask. We actually have a SkyWing spot available right now, and haven’t found anyone to fill it yet. A few of our students were withdrawn after Queen Scarlet rose back to power, and outlawed sending students here. I was actually planning to ask Riptide if there were anymore SkyWings in the Talons who were interested in coming. If you want, you can shadow the Copper Winglet for a while, and see what you think.”
“The Copper Winglet?” Inferno asked. “Is that the one Skytaker and Sepia are in?”
Tsunami shook her head. “No, no. They’re in the Silver Winglet with my sister, and Skytaker takes up the SkyWing spot there. You’d probably do better in the Copper Winglet, since they’re a bit closer to your age, but you’re fully welcome to take classes with the Silver Winglet for a while, until you’re sure you want to stay or not.”
Inferno bowed her head. “Thank you, Headmaster Tsunami.”
Tsunami snorted, flattered. “Also, don’t worry about payment. We’re privately funded by the Sand and Sea Kingdoms, and get a ton of NightWing and RainWing volunteer work. We accept donations, but none of our students have to pay if they can’t.”
Inferno bowed her head again. This was great news. Everything seemed to be working out almost perfectly.
== Chapter 22 ==
Glory walked down the halls of Jade Mountain, a stern expression on her snout. She glanced back at the two dragonets following her. Tiger’s head was lowered, and her orange and black wings raised up, ashamed. Toxin seemed to be less sorry. Mastermind trailed behind the two, excitedly looking around at the cave, a huge change in scenery from the rainforest.
“Do you know what you did wrong?” Glory asked, posing the question to all three of them.
“I’m sorry, your majesty,” Tiger apologized glumly.
Glory snorted. “That’s not an answer. I found out about your field trips to the NightWing island.” Tiger winced. “You know that it’s off-limits, especially to dragonets without permission.”
“Your majesty, I was just collecting some scrolls.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Glory reprimanded. “It’s dangerous there, and you could’ve gotten hurt. Why didn’t you ask for permission? I could have had an adult go collect them with you.”
“I thought you wouldn’t have wanted me speaking to Mastermind,” Tiger explained.
“Well, you’re right,” Glory continued, “he’s a war criminal, and should not be allowed to influence the minds of young dragonets like you.”
Tiger looked slightly hurt. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again.
“You don’t need to apologize,” Toxin suddenly snapped, talking back to her queen. “You were doing the right thing. It’s just that Glory is an unfair queen.”
Hints of black started to appear on Queen Glory’s tail as she flicked it back and forth. “Oh, I’m an unfair queen,” she growled, defending her pride. “Did you know that Queen Coral once ripped out one of her guard’s teeth and tore out her heart, because she was eating on the job, with Queen Coral’s brother’s permission, I might add? Ask Tsunami about it. And thing is, Coral isn’t even the worst queen! You should get to know Scarlet sometime, see what she’d do to you for this. I am not an unfair queen.”
Toxin shrugged her wings, not offering up a response. Glory opened her mouth to say something again, but thought better of it. She couldn’t go around yelling at disobedient dragonets. That definitely wasn’t queen-like.
Glory sighed, the black in her scales fading. “But I’m not here to scold you, Tiger. I’ll figure out a suitable punishment, eventually, but right now I need your help.”
One of Tiger’s ears perked up. “My help?” she asked, surprised that the Rainforest Queen was asking her for help. “Me?”
Glory nodded. “Yes, you. I need to figure out what’s causing this drought, and stop it before it’s too late. You’re the one who brought the Black Scrolls here. I’m hoping you can help figure out what Toxin’s vision has to do with the drought.”
Tiger glanced over at Toxin. “You had another vision?”
The hybrid flicked her tail. “Yeah. Something’s going to happen here, and the dragon who hurt Frog is going to be there. I’m going to make her pay.”
Tiger frowned. “What happened to Frog?”
Glory gave Toxin a look of warning. “Toxin, please, for your sake, listen to me. Don’t go after Aurora. You saw the aftermath of what she did. I don’t want you to get hurt, or worse. If you want to be helpful, stay in Jade Mountain and help Tiger. Deathbringer can take care of her.” If there was any dragon Glory trusted to bring down Aurora, it was Deathbringer. Aurora had been able to kill Gorilla and Tropic because they’d been mostly untrained. But Deathbringer was the greatest assassin on Pyrrhia. Nothing bad could happen to him. For Firefly’s sake, Glory hoped not.
“C’mon,” Glory said, leading the three into the library, not answering Tiger’s question. “Let’s go find those scrolls.”
As Glory walked up to the desk in the center of the room, Starflight behind it, Tiger turned to Toxin. “What happened to Frog?” she asked again, her black stripes starting to shift into a green. “Is he alright?”
“He was attacked,” Toxin hissed. “She killed Gorilla and Tropic. Frog was hurt. Real bad. I don’t know if he’s going to be alright.”
Tiger nodded solemnly, staring aimlessly into the shelves of scrolls. She hadn’t been best friends with Frog or anything, but she’d known him well enough.
“Hey, Starflight,” Glory greeted him. He grinned at hearing her voice. That was one of the things that Glory didn’t like about being queen. While the rest of the dragonets were running Jade Mountain Academy together, she had to tend to her duties in the rainforest, and was never able to spend as much time with them as she would’ve liked. Whenever she visited, it always felt like she’d missed out. Still, she supposed that was going to change from now on, with Sunny queen of the SandWings now. Maybe Glory could retire one day. Since the RainWings had their own way of choosing their queen, that was certainly an option, although she’d want to make sure her successor was worthy, and nothing like the queens before Glory.
“Glory!” Starflight said. “You’re back so soon! Did something happen?” He frowned as he realized this was unusual, anxiety starting to set in.
“Er, yeah,” Glory squirmed. “There’s some stuff I need to talk to you about.”
“Hi,” Mastermind quietly murmured, averting his eyes from his son. Glory glanced back to him. Maybe bringing him to the library wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Starflight stiffened up, hearing his father’s voice. “Glory,” he whispered, “is that who I think it is?”
Glory winced. “Yeah, I’m sorry for bringing him here. He’s, um, involved in the stuff that’s going on. I figured he might be helpful for some research.”
Starflight scratched a talon against his desk. He’d told Glory he didn’t want to have anything to do with his father. Just because this dragon had passed on his genes to Starflight didn’t mean that the young NightWing had any other connection to him. “Well?” Starflight sighed, exasperated.
“Tiger here said that she brought a set of scrolls called the Black Scrolls here,” Glory asked. “Do you know where they are?”
“Most of them are on the shelves over there,” Starflight said, pointing a talon across the room. “They’re a bit scattered, since we organized by subject, but the scrollpaper is black. You should be able to find them easily. What do you need them for?”
“We need to figure out a prophecy, and what it has to do with the drought,” Glory explained. She could tell that Starflight was frustrated with her for bringing his father here, although he was trying not to show it. She hated that. When she had lived with the dragonets, she’d hadn’t really cared if one of them was angry at her. But now it was different.
“Well, just ask if you need anything else,” Starflight tersely replied.
“Thank you for the help,” Glory responded. She headed towards the scrollshelf Starflight had pointed to, leaving Mastermind behind.
Starflight stood still for a moment, waiting to hear his father leave. When Mastermind didn’t, he gave out a quiet sigh.
“Er, your library here is very nice,” Mastermind complimented him.
Starflight snorted. “Yes. It is. Are you looking for a scroll, too?”
“No, no, nothing in particular.”
“Then you can go,” Starflight coldly responded. “I’m busy.”
Mastermind stood there for a moment, unsure if he should respond or not. Not sure what the best thing to say was, he took a step back. “Alright, er, see you.”
He stood there for a few more moments while Starflight waited for him to leave. Glory gave Mastermind a firm glare from across the room, and the NightWing finally gave up, walking over to the RainWing queen, who had joined Toxin and Tiger by the scrollshelf Starflight had pointed them to.
Glory carefully scanned the shelf, and pulled out a few scrolls. Starflight was right — even though the Black Scrolls had been scattered around the library, sorted by subject, they stood out clearly, the strange black paper they were written on contrasting with the rest of the scrolls. Glory pulled one out. The paper was old, but based on how long the scrolls were supposed to have been around, they were in surprisingly good shape. She wondered if they were enchanted, or maybe the strange paper just held together better than normal.
Glory rolled open the scroll, and read its title, written in golden ink, each of the letters written in the classic NightWing style, every stroke curved and connected, so a dragon could write without picking up their claws. Royal Lineages of the Queens. It rolled opened to a length list of dragon names, connected in a web of lines of varying widths. Small crowns were on some of the names, and notes were scattered throughout the scroll, directing the reader to various other sections, supplemental scrolls, or sometimes even scrolls by different authors that probably no longer existed, lost to the volcano or decayed to the depths of time. Glory started to realize why Mastermind and Starflight cared so much about preserving their scrolls. How much information about Pyrrhia’s history had the Night Kingdom had in its libraries? How much had they hid from the rest of Pyrrhia?
“Hey, Glory,” Toxin whispered, interrupting Glory’s train of thought. The queen glanced over to the dragonet, who was pointing a claw across the library, beckoning Glory to look. She looked over to a small rocky ledge in the corner of the library. An IceWing maybe a year or two younger than Glory rested on the ledge, a scroll in his talons.
“Yes?” Glory asked, not quite sure why Toxin had pointed him out to her.
“Look,” Toxin whispered to Glory. “Doesn’t he remind you of someone?”
“Of Aurora?” Glory asked, skeptical. “Just because he’s an IceWing doesn’t mean he has anything to do with her. It’s a library, he’s allowed to read.”
“No,” Toxin growled, “look at his bracelet.”
Glory squinted a bit closer, and frowned. There was a silver bracelet around the IceWing’s left forearm, with a dark purple stone embedded in the center. That was right, Aurora had been wearing something similar, a silver chain with the same type of gemstone hanging from it. That didn’t mean anything, of course. It might just be a common type of IceWing jewelry. But it did raise Glory’s suspicions.
“I don’t think I’ve seen him here before,” Glory commented. “Is he a student here?” Her eyes moved to the singular ring hanging from his neck. That meant he was an adult, in the First Circle, so not a student.
“He’s not,” Tiger quickly responded, glancing over the scroll that Glory had opened. “His name is Polar, I think. He arrived here last night with a hybrid, Ink. Oh yeah, Toxin, I wanted to introduce you to him. He’s interesting. He gave me some plans for a desalination machine that could be used in the rainforest, but he has no idea how they work.”
“Hmm.” Glory pondered for a moment. Polar wasn’t a student, had arrived here at the same time Aurora was in the rainforest, and had similar jewelry. That was suspicious. It might be good to ask him a few question. “I’ll be back. I want to see what he’s doing.”
Glory stood up from her scroll, and walked over to Polar, Toxin following behind her. Glory gave Toxin a small glance of warning, but the hybrid didn’t listen. Glory sighed. Hopefully, Toxin would get a bit more obedient as she got older, but it probably couldn’t hurt too much if she tagged along. She was the one who’d pointed out Polar to begin with.
As he saw the two coming over, Polar raised his head, and carefully rolled up his scroll to look at the intruders. He flicked his tongue in and out. A RainWing, and a hybrid dragonet. Probably students here. “Yes?” Polar asked as soon as he was sure they were coming over to talk to him. “Do you want something?”
“Yeah,” Glory replied, putting on a smile. “You’re not a student here, are you? What are you doing here?” 
Polar snorted. He didn’t owe some random RainWing an explanation. “None of your business. Can I get back to my scroll now? It’s a library, and I’m trying to read.”
Glory flicked her tail back and forth, and grinned, her fangs showing. Clearly, he didn’t recognize her, although there was no reason that he should. She might as well have a little fun with it. “No, you may not,” she ordered him. “I asked you a question, and unless you want Queen Glacier to hear about this, you should answer me.”
Polar growled, flexing the spikes on the back of his tail. “Why would Queen Glacier care what a random RainWing has to say?” he snapped.
The rainforest queen tapped a talon on the ledge Polar rested on. “It’s Glory,” she answered. “And she wouldn’t be happy if she found out a First Circle IceWing caused a diplomatic incident. That wouldn’t do so good for your ranking, would it?” Threatening Polar’s ranking might not make him her friend, but it might make him talk. Anyways, it was his own fault for being so rude.
Polar blinked for a few moments, staring at Glory as he realized who she was. This was the queen of the RainWing and NightWings? He’d expected her to be a bit more . . . impressive. He’d known she was young, but he’d always thought that she’d look more menacing, or something like that. She didn’t have the same air of haughtiness, grandeur, and authority that Queen Glacier had.
“Er, um, sorry, your majesty,” he responded, still slightly shocked that he’d been talking to a queen. “Queen Glacier sent me here. To check on the IceWing students.” Even if Queen Glory did report his rudeness to Queen Glacier, Polar wasn’t particularly worried about his ranking. As long as he succeeded in his mission, Glacier would forgive him.
Glory frowned. That hadn’t really gone as she’d expected. The high-ranked IceWing students always seemed to be obsessed with their circle rankings, and Tsunami claimed that threatening to send back a poor report to Queen Glacier usually kept them in line. She’d thought he’d be grovelling for forgiveness at her paws, not just a quick ‘sorry.’
“Hey, IceWing,” Toxin growled, poking her head up defiantly at Polar. “Do you know a dragon named Aurora? She’s a hybrid, IceWing-SeaWing, and her neckl—”
Glory quickly put her tail over Toxin’s mouth, silencing her. She gave the young hybrid a glare. If Polar was in cahoots with Aurora, she didn’t want to tip him off that they knew. Although it might be a bit too late for that now.
“Sorry, little dragonet, we don’t allow hybrids in our palace,” Polar replied. “Your majesty, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?” If there was one dragon that Polar couldn’t talk about Project Darkstone with, it was a rival queen. Was that why Queen Glory had come over? Did she somehow know about it? Polar certainly hoped not. If she did, then he might not be so safe at Jade Mountain. He shouldn’t underestimate her just because she was a RainWing, no matter what Glacier had said about them.
“Your majesty! I found something interesting!” a voice suddenly called out from across the library. Polar and Glory turned to look at Mastermind, who seemed excited about something. Polar shivered. There were far too many NightWings at Jade Mountain for his comfort, and now that they were allied with the RainWings, that was double the danger. Maybe sending the Darkstone with him to Jade Mountain had been a bad idea. But how could anyone else know about it? So far as Queen Glacier knew, Crystal hadn’t told anyone about it.
Glory quickly glanced back to Polar. “Well, it was nice to meet you, but I have something to attend to.” She would definitely want to keep an eye on the IceWing. Glory walked back to Mastermind and Tiger, Toxin following behind her. “What is it?” Glory asked the NightWing, surprised he’d found something interesting so quickly.
Mastermind moved a scroll towards Glory. It was another one of the Black Scrolls, this one titled Historical NightWing Prophecies and Visions in the same golden ink. He pointed a talon to a paragraph. “Look at this,” he suggested.
Glory read the title of the subsection. “Nightreader’s Prophecy,” she repeated quietly. A chill ran along her spine. This was a real prophecy, unlike the Dragonet Prophecy that Morrowseer had created. She read the prophecy out loud as Tiger and Toxin peered beneath her wings.
“When the stones of old awaken, the fires of death must burn. 
When the lives of many have been taken, the ground of Pyrrhia will be turned. 
From the deepest black, to the eternal flames. 
Join the tablet forgotten, and the fumes untamed. 
With the frozen claws, let darkness be tamed. 
And an ancient evil, shall death be thy name. 
The land that is all but lost, will be the refuge of the dark. 
Across the bridge of light and frost, must the waters of life be sparked.
When darkness lights the frozen earth, and lost souls wander the forsaken land.
Three will come to devour the sun, and the queens will make their final stand. 
A deadly message will be told, forgotten from the days of old. 
Chilled to death with freezing cold, and they will be crowned with the cursed gold. 
The night will last a thousand years, ’till the rays of light can glow once more. 
Unless the chosens can unite the tribes, to lead them in a peaceful war.”
Glory paused for a moment. Reading the prophecy was almost intimidating. How long ago had it been written down? What it had referred to? Starflight had always been the one interested in history, but uniting the tribes sounded like it had to do with dragons winning the Scorching. Although that certainly hadn’t been a peaceful war. Could the prophecy be that old?
“Alright,” Glory said, turning to Mastermind, “it’s just a prophecy. What’s so interesting about it, and what does it have to do with our drought?”
Mastermind coughed. “We used to have a Nightreader in the Night Kingdom. She was the sister of Stonemover, our most recent animus. She disappeared around the time her brother did. We never found out where she got to.”
Stonemover’s sister. That meant she was Sunny’s aunt. “Cool, but so what?” Glory snorted. “This prophecy is ancient, so she clearly didn’t write it. And if Nightreader was born on the island, she couldn’t have gotten prophecy powers anyways. Chances are, the name was just repeated.”
Mastermind shook his head. “That’s doubtful. Most of our names have two parts, so NightWings only rarely repeat names. It’s a lot more useful when studying history. With the other tribes, you see a hundred ‘Bogs,’ ‘Diamonds,’ and ‘Lagoons.’ You might find a Moonseer, Moonwatcher, Skyseer, and a Skywatcher, but rarely two of the same name.” He seemed slightly proud of this, as if it was just one more way the NightWings were superior to the rest of the tribes.
Glory rolled her eyes. “I suppose you have another explanation? Nightreader is a time-traveler? Anyways, even if you’re right and it’s not just a coincidence, I don’t see why it matters. We’re looking for stuff on droughts, strange visions, and dragons turning to stone.”
Glory suddenly heard the small clatter of a scroll from behind her. She quickly turned around to see Polar on his ledge. The IceWing had dropped his scroll in surprise, and was staring at Glory.
Glory sighed. “Do you have something to say?” she asked. “It’s rude to stare at a queen.”
Polar thought for a moment, the IceWing debating whether or not to ask his question and risk telling the NightWing queen something he shouldn’t. He made his decision. “You said something about dragons turning to stone. Was this something that happened recently? Or nearby?” He knew that part of the reason why the Empty Circle had sent him out to Jade Mountain was in hopes that they could draw out Crystal, and retrieve the second Darkstone. If they had succeeded, he might be in far more danger than he’d originally thought.
“Yeah,” Glory answered. So the IceWing might be connected to this after all. This was interesting. Very interesting. “Queen Thorn was assassinated, and found turned to stone. What do you know about it?” She decided not to mention how she knew about that and give away Toxin’s visions.
Polar frowned, and swished his tail back and forth. Queen Thorn, dead. He hadn’t heard about that yet. It wasn’t that nearby, at least. But it couldn’t just be coincidence that Crystal decided to make her appearance right after the second Darkstone left the Ice Kingdom. Did she want it, for some reason? Or did she just want to make sure that Queen Glacier and the Ice Kingdom couldn’t have it?
“Not much,” Polar replied, fibbing a little, “but nine years ago, there were a bunch of high-ranked IceWings working for Queen Glacier that were killed in the same way. We never caught the culprit.” That was public knowledge, at least in the Ice Kingdom. All of the IceWings were affiliated with Project Darkstone, but Queen Glacier had kept that secret.
“Huh,” Glory replied, frowning. Three completely different magical killing sprees, all in the same way. A RainWing dragonet over a decade ago, some higher-up IceWings nine years ago, and now Queen Thorn and Blaze. An IceWing assassin with a pet parrot. A hybrid on the old NightWing island who could form metal from her claws. A sudden drought. This made even less sense than before, but at least they were getting somewhere.
The common thread through all this was that IceWings and magic were involved. Glory knew that the IceWings used to have animus magic, back before the Darkstalker, and there were still remnants of that Silver Age around. Glory even had some IceWing magic herself; the cutting of the Moon Globe Tree that Queen Glacier had given her in exchange for Icicle had been growing well. What if the IceWings had gotten a new animus? Doubtful. But what if the assassin had stolen some of their magic, or had found an ancient animus-touched artifact in the Ice Kingdom, like what happened with Silverhorn? “Is that it? Do you know anything else?”
Polar shook his head. “Sorry. We don’t know what happened to the assassin.” He definitely did know more about Crystal. More than he wanted to know about his aunt. But he couldn’t share it without risking knowledge of Project Darkstone getting out. Not with Queen Glory. Still, if Crystal was back, and these dragons were trying to figure out where she was, he had to make sure that he found her before they did. He couldn’t let Queen Glory get her claws on the first Darkstone.
Polar rolled up A Guide to Animus Magic; he could read more later, when it was time to put it into practice. He climbed down from the ledge, and walked over to Glory, glancing down at the scroll in front of her. He gave the queen a smile. “I’ll tell you if I remember anything helpful.”
Glory flicked her tongue out, and grinned back. The IceWing was definitely hiding something, but she didn’t know what. He’d been rude to her earlier, even after finding out that she was queen, and now he wanted to help her out? Dragons didn’t just change their demeanor like that. “Thank you, Polar.”
Polar quickly read what the scroll was open to. A NightWing prophecy? She was in charge of the NightWings now, didn’t Queen Glory know they’d been faked and made up? They certainly weren’t to be trusted. “Starweaver,” Polar commented, seeing the name at the bottom of the scroll, hidden by a fold of paper. He didn’t recognize the name.
“Who?” Glory asked, confused. She still didn’t see how the prophecy was connected, but if Polar knew something that she didn’t about it, it might be a lead.
Polar rolled down the bottom of the scroll, revealing a short paragraph of gold ink, this one written more finely. “I’m not sure. Just some random NightWing claiming to be a prophet. It says here that he’s the one who foretold the prophecy.”
Glory quickly glanced at the paragraph. Polar was right. Apparently, this prophecy wasn’t foretold by a dragon named Nightreader, it was by a NightWing named Starweaver. “Nightreader’s Prophecy was written down by the great prophet Starweaver in the year 2 Post-Scorching. At the time of this scroll’s writing, it is still unknown what events it refers to, or will eventually refer to, and was the subject of intense scholarly discussion in the years after his death,” she read out loud. “It then gives a couple references to scrolls that discuss this scholarly debate on Starweaver. Which is completely useless, since these are ancient scrolls that are probably long-gone. Great.”
“I remember reading the name Starweaver before,” Tiger said. “It was in some legends on the Scorching. I think he was a big player in setting up the Night Kingdom, and was one of their first prophets. I could look for more scrolls on him.” 
“Fine, but I still don’t see how this helps us,” Glory grumbled. She gave Mastermind a glare, and he shrugged his wings. Still, from what she’d read, the prophecy had never been completed. What if it did refer to the modern-day Nightreader, and had something to do with the events that were happening now? But what could it mean? Could ‘the fires of death’ mean a drought?
The five dragons continued their research for a few hours, without much luck. Eventually, Polar decided that they probably weren’t going to find anything out about where Crystal was in some ancient scrolls. The drought wasn’t really his concern, and he had more important things to do.
As the four continued discussing, Polar slowly backed away, grabbing his Animus Guide scroll. If he was going to try testing the Darkstone again, he might need it. He started towards the entryway of the library, raising his tail to make sure it didn’t loudly scratch against the ground. As he exited, he saw that Toxin was giving him a glance, watching him as he left. He didn’t bother to give the hybrid dragonet a look back, and walked out of the library, heading down the halls of Jade Mountain Academy.
Toxin turned back to Glory as she saw Polar leaving, but she was too engaged in a discussion with Mastermind to care. The hybrid looked back to see the spikes on Polar’s tail swishing around the corner. A few colors brushed across her scales as Toxin changed them. What was he up to? She might be able to follow him, but she wasn’t so good at changing her camouflage quickly, and she’d probably be caught. Still, what if he was secretly communicating with Aurora? Toxin got up to follow him, but when she had gotten to the exit of the cave, the IceWing was already gone. She frowned. Hopefully, she wouldn’t later regret being too slow to follow him.
Polar quickly walked down the tunnels of the academy. He couldn’t practice using the Darkstone in the guest room. There was too much of a risk of being seen, and he especially didn’t want Seahorse to find out about it. That left a couple options: he could leave Jade Mountain, and find some solitude on a nearby mountain peak, or he could go deeper into the caves, where the dragonets didn’t go. If he left out the main entrance, there might be dragons, Ermine, in particular, asking too many questions about where he was going, so he decided on the latter.
Just heading along the tunnels of the academy, it wasn’t long before the caves started to get more craggly, more wild, and Polar could tell he was descending deeper into Jade Mountain. As the tunnels became unlit, Polar pulled out one of his three moon globes, the gentle glow of it lighting his way. Rubble crowded his path, and small crevasses split off from the caves, too cramped for a dragon to enter. It seemed dangerous down here, like a dragon could easily get stuck. He wondered why the dragons in charge here hadn’t tried to block it off. Had they had any accidents? He knew that there had been a couple incidents the first year of the academy’s operation; everyone in the Ice Kingdom knew what Princess Icicle had done. And there was the whole debacle with Prince Hailstorm and the Diamond Trial. After Queen Glacier had realized that Prince Winter was not only still alive, but had freed Foeslayer, she’d dropped Hailstorm in the rankings. Not all the way to Seventh Circle, but far enough to kick Narwhal and Tundra out of the palace. No one knew where Foeslayer had gotten to.
Eventually, Polar found a cave that suited him well. It was small and cozy, but it was flat, and had a nice place for him to sit down. There was a trickle of running water somewhere in the distance, but Polar couldn’t see it. If someone came down here, he would be able to hear them climbing through the nearby tunnels.
Polar took the healing diamond out from his pouch, and placed it onto the stone, making sure it wouldn’t accidentally roll away from him. He felt a small tingle as it touched his claws, the dull ache in his left foreleg starting to subside. Polar wasn’t quite sure what he’d do if he lost the diamond. Would the Darkstone eventually kill him?
The IceWing then took out A Guide to Animus Magic, rolling open the old scroll. At first, he’d been surprised that it wasn’t written by an IceWing. But he supposed it made sense, it wasn’t like the ancient IceWings could instruct their animuses in how to use magic, since every animus was only allowed to use their power once. No one would’ve had actual experience. Polar would have to be careful about that, especially if he ended up trying to use the Darkstone more than once. He wasn’t quite sure if it had any effect on a dragon’s soul, like natural animus magic, but if Crystal was any example, it probably did. Anyways, the scroll looked like it was written long after the IceWings had their magic stolen. The author’s name was Vine, which sounded a bit like a RainWing name.
It’s best for the beginning animus to start with enchanting small objects for limited periods of time. Since there are so few of us, there’s not really a consensus on what type of enchantments are more draining or not, but it’s pretty well-documented that animuses who haven’t used their powers much before can feel exhausted after creating a complicated enchantment for days, or even months. I personally experienced this when starting out, and it’s not fun to be hammock-ridden for a week. I still feel tired after some enchantments, but it seems like it depends quite a bit on how complex the enchantment is, and how long I took to make it. Like, a simple enchantment such as asking something to move is pretty easy, but if there’s any unclearness or interpretation needed, you might end up feeling it.
My personal recommendation for a first enchantment is to try and get a pebble to levitate for a short period of time. I took a bit of inspiration from the SeaWings for this; they’ve got this ceremony where they test all their dragonets to see if they’ve got animus magic by asking them to move a coconut off the ground. In my opinion, a coconut is a bit large, and it’s always better to explicitly say that you’re enchanting something, since what words you use can matter. For a first exercise, I’d say exactly “I enchant this rock to float one talonlength off of the ground for the next minute,” replacing rock with whatever small object you want to levitate. As with any enchantment, remember not to try and use too much magic. I don’t know how much I believe in the ‘losing your soul’ stuff myself, but it’s pretty well-documented, so it’s better to err on the safe side.
Polar put down the scroll, and grabbed a small pebble from a pile of rubble on the floor of the cave, possibly from a fallen stalactite. Maybe that’s why he’d failed so far, he’d been trying to enchant things that were too big, or too complicated. He pulled the pebble closer to him, moving his snout down to the pebble to examine it. With his left forepaw, he grabbed the Diamond Healer, clenching it tightly around him. He knew the pain that came with using the Darkstone, but he was prepared.
Polar took a deep breath in, his tail shaking. “For Queen Glacier,” he whispered. “For the Ice Kingdom.” He locked his black, beady eyes on the pebble, and repeating the scroll word-for-word, said “I enchant this rock to float one talonlength off of the ground for the next minute.”
For a moment, Polar wasn’t quite sure that anything had happened. But abruptly the pebble started to shake, as if it was trying to lift up into the air. Polar wasn’t quite certain, but it seemed like it started to rise, just barely above the surface of the cavern floor. Was it working?
Suddenly, a sharp pain started to spread through Polar’s left foreleg, emanating from where the Darkstone touched his scales. The IceWing clenched onto the diamond tighter, its sharp corners cutting through his paw, staining it with his blue blood. A wave of nausea and fatigue promptly hit Polar. He put out his right forepaw to stabilize him, but it wasn’t enough. The IceWing spilled his stomach on the ground in front of him as he fell to the ground, the pungent smell of the fish he’d had for breakfast in his snout.
Polar tried to put his paw under him to lift himself up, but it slipped in his lack of coordination. He tried to look up, but the cave was spinning around him. The IceWing remained like this for a few minutes, resting his head in his own bile, pain coursing along his arm. 
Eventually, he was able to get up, and shook himself off. He glanced around for the pebble he had tried to levitate, but it was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably knocked it away in his stupor. He glanced over to the scroll he’d borrowed from the library. Fortunately, it hadn’t gotten dirty. Polar would need to find somewhere wash himself off; he didn’t particularly want to be seen by the IceWing students in this state. Maybe the running water he’d heard nearby.
Polar’s tail brushed against a few colorful crystals in the cave wall as he poked his head outside the cave, a sense of pride welling up in him, extinguishing any disgust. Blue blood dripped from his forepaw, but it barely stung. Maybe things weren’t progressing as quickly as he’d have liked, but Polar could be patient. The IceWing was absolutely certain he’d seen that pebble move. That was far more than he’d been able to do back in the Ice Kingdom.
Project Darkstone was a success. He had finally proved his worth to Queen Glacier.
== Chapter 23 ==
After breakfast, Ink wandered back to the small guest cave. He didn’t really have much to do while his new friends were in class. He thought about visiting Stonemover, but that could wait until later. Maybe he could enter a vision. Loresearcher might have found something out that Ink hadn’t, something to do with the drought or Polar. Or maybe he’d figure out what Queen Glory was doing here. That would be helpful.
As he entered the cave, he gave Seahorse a friendly wave, getting a suspicious glance from the SeaWing back in response. He wasn’t quite sure why Polar had been so scared of him. He seemed nice enough, although Ink wasn’t quite sure what he was doing here. Not that he was so sure of that for himself, either.
Ink laid himself back on the stone bed, spreading out his wings to the side. It was a little weird trying to have a vision in front of another dragon, but he doubted that Seahorse would notice. Anyways, the vision was more important than a little awkwardness. Knowing what might come up in the future had saved him multiple times before, and especially with all the weird stuff going on right now, he wanted to get all the information he could. It was like a mystery, almost. Fracture would be proud of him.
Ink slowly lifted his eyepatch off, closing his other eye. For a moment, the world was dark, and all he could hear was Seahorse’s gentle breathing. Ink took in a deep breath of his own, calming himself, and let the vision take him in, overcome him. In a way, his visions were like dreaming. If he started to realize that he was in a vision and tried to make a conscious decision, he’d usually wake up and fall out of it. He couldn’t become lucid in his visions. Whoever the Ink in his visions was, this Ink couldn’t make any choices for him; everything was always pre-determined. It was usually easier while sleeping, but over time, Ink had learned to have them so long as he could relax.
It was a few minutes before Ink had finally drifted away from reality enough that the vision started to overcome him. Colors swirled around the darkness, starting to turn into the blurred shapes of dragons. Muffled voices appeared. They started to solidify, and Ink was once again in the prey center, Loresearcher sitting across from him, poking at a fish as he read a scroll.
“I saw Seahorse talking with Tsunami,” Loresearcher mentioned.
“Mhmm,” Ink replied, stuffing his mouth full of fish, voraciously gulping them down. The fish here were quite different than the fish in Possibility, and personally, Ink preferred them. It was something new, something exciting.
Loresearcher rolled his eyes, and sighed. “I don’t know why I bother telling you this stuff if you don’t listen.”
“Eim wiffening,” Ink tried to respond, a half-eaten fish falling from his mouth and onto the plate. He wasn’t quite sure why Loresearcher suddenly cared about Seahorse now. He’d arrived with Inferno, and was part of the Talons. Wasn’t Polar supposed to be the one Ink was supposed to be investigating?
Loresearcher glanced down to the fish, a hint of disgust on his snout. “Chew your food, please. As I was saying, I saw Seahorse conversing with Tsunami. Tsunami said something in Aquatic to Seahorse, and Seahorse didn’t seem to understand it. That’s unusual.”
Ink shrugged his wings, and finished gulping down his fish, so that his mouth was clear. “I don’t know Aquatic either,” he responded. “Dad tried to teach me, but I forgot most of it. It’s hard to learn, and it’s not like I can really speak it, either.” He glanced down to the strangely flat and sheeny scales where his glowscales normally would be. Loresearcher couldn’t speak Aquatic either, but he knew how to tell what other dragons were saying in it. It made for some interesting interactions.
“If Seahorse had been raised in the Sea Kingdom, he’d know Aquatic,” Loresearcher reasoned, ignoring Ink. “It would be like not knowing how to speak Dragon.”
“That’s not that weird,” Ink responded. “We weren’t raised in the Sea Kingdom.”
“I also don’t remember him from when we last visited the Talons,” Loresearcher continued. “Or any time we’ve visited the Talons.”
“Maybe he was out getting food or something like that. Or he’s new.”
“It’s not just that,” Loresearcher grumbled, starting to get tired of Ink’s responses. “He has this bag of treasure that he flew in with. It’s way too heavy for any dragon to carry while flying. I did the calculations, he’d normally drop like a rock. I’ve seen him move. He doesn’t show it, but do you realize how strong he is? He could crush a dragon’s skull with a flick of a talon.”
“He could just work out a lot,” Ink suggested.
Loresearcher shook his head. “No. There’s magic involved here. I’m certain of it.”
“Maybe he’s one of the animuses here?” Ink asked. “How many did Dad’s map show? Like, a bazillion?”
“He isn’t, or else he’d have shown up on his map while he was in the Talons, if he was in the Talons at all,” Loresearcher responded. “He probably isn’t an animus herself, but might have something animus-touched on her. That’s dangerous. I don’t like it.”
“So he has something magical that gives her super-strength?” Ink asked, not seeing any problem. “I mean, okay, but why do you care?”
“I don’t like that he’s hanging around Inferno,” Loresearcher explained. “And I get déjà vu around him. I think I’ve seen him somewhere before. It’s also weird that Inferno is here.”
Ink nodded, not really caring. He remembered meeting Inferno last time Torrent had taken them to the Talons to visit Griffin. She seemed nice. Happy, confident, and full of energy, if a bit boisterous. Ink would’ve loved to be like her all the time.
“And if Polar is really Fracture and Clarity’s son, there’s definitely something going on here that I don’t understand,” Loresearcher continued. “This can’t just be coincidence. Something or someone is manipulating whatever is going on here, something malign. I’m certain of it.”
“Alright,” Ink yawned. “Sure.” Ink tried to glance behind him, wondering if Skytaker or Sepia were in the prey center. His head didn’t seem to move, and Loresearcher’s scales started to drip as he froze up, colors draining from them into the rest of the background. Ink tried to wince, although that didn’t work either. Oops.
The vision slowly faded out, and the surroundings turned to black. Ink grabbed his eyepatch, and put it back over his eye. He lifted his head up. Seahorse was still in the room, lying down, maybe slightly bored. Ink glanced over to the huge bag of treasure next to him. Maybe Loresearcher was right, and there was something suspicious about him. Still, Ink didn’t think he seemed malign. No matter what Torrent had taught Loresearcher, just because he had some form of animus magic didn’t mean he was evil.
Ink got up, and walked out of the guest cave. He thought a little about what Loresearcher had said. Something or someone malign, influencing whatever was going on here. Who could it be? Not Polar nor Inferno. Nor Seahorse. Could it be one of the Dragonets of Destiny? Doubtful. Maybe one of the other students, although Ink didn’t know where he’d start in an investigation. No one had really seemed super-suspicious so far.
A warm feeling suddenly washed over Ink’s scales, and he took a step back. Inferno had slowly walked around the corner, making sure she didn’t accidentally surprise anyone at the other end.
“Hey!” Ink greeted her with a smile. “How did things go with Tsunami?”
“Oh, er, fine,” Inferno answered. She glanced around the tunnels quickly. “She said I could join the Silver Winglet for some of their classes until I decide I want to stay or not. Although she didn’t really tell me where the classes were, so I’m a bit lost.”
“The guest room is back that way,” Ink helpfully suggested, pointing towards the direction he just came from with a wing. “Although I think I remember Skytaker telling me that their first class was usually history with Webs. There’s a map at the front of the school, want me to take you there?” Maybe Ink could ask Inferno about Seahorse on the way there.
“Oh, yeah, that would be great!” Inferno answered. “If it’s not too out of your way or anything?”
Ink shrugged his wings, and carefully walked around Inferno, back towards where he thought the entrance was. “It’s no problem. I don’t actually have a ton of stuff to do or anything. I’m really just here to meet with a relative, and maybe keep an eye on Polar.”
The SkyWing followed behind the hybrid, careful to keep a tail-length between her and him. “That’s funny,” she pondered, “Seahorse said that he was here to visit a family member, too. Is there a SeaWing family reunion, or something?” Inferno immediately regretted saying that. She didn’t really have any reason to think Ink and Seahorse were related, other than that coincidence.
Ink raised his head up. That was interesting. Seahorse had a relative here, but if Loresearcher was right, he wasn’t raised in the Sea Kingdom. Could he be a hybrid, like Ink? He didn’t look like it, but it was certainly possible. “I doubt it,” Ink laughed. “The relative I’m meeting is a NightWing, not a SeaWing. Both you and Seahorse are from the Talons of Peace, right? Do you know who Seahorse is meeting? Aren’t some of the teachers here from the Talons, too?”
Inferno shook her head. She knew that Webs, Riptide’s father, worked at Jade Mountain, who was probably what Ink was asking about. “Sorry, I don’t really know much about Seahorse. He’s sort of new to the Talons, and is usually a bit quiet. I don’t really know where he’s from, but I’m pretty sure he’s not related to Riptide or Webs.” She frowned. Why was Ink asking her about Seahorse? Ash had been suspicious of Seahorse too, did they both know something Inferno didn’t? And Inferno hadn’t mentioned to Ink that she and Seahorse had come from the Talons, had she? Seahorse and Ink had both slept in the guest room together, maybe that’s how he knew. But Ink had still known her name before Inferno had told him . . .
“Alright, here we go,” Ink said as they reached the entrance cave. It yawned over them, the two dragons small and insignificant beneath it. It was strangely quiet and serene, a cold wind blowing into the cave from outside. The hybrid quickly walked over to the map in front of the tunnel he and Inferno had just exited, showing where the tunnel went. After scanning it, he pranced over to the other three tunnels leading out from the entrance cave in succession, quickly checking their maps before returning to Inferno. “I think I found the history cave,” he grinned. “It’s pretty far down that tunnel, where it intersects with too more tunnels. You can just keep going until you see it.”
“Thank you,” Inferno smiled. Even with her suspicious about him, Ink seemed nice, and he didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives. “You said you didn’t have anything else to do, right? Do you want to join me and the Silver Winglet?”
Ink’s eyes brightened up. “Oh, sure!” he responded. “A history lesson sounds fun!”
There didn’t seem to be the faintest hint of irony in his excitement, to Inferno’s surprise. The SkyWing laughed. “Hopefully we haven’t missed too much.” She’d never really had a history lesson before.
The two quickly walked down the tunnel, before eventually reaching the history cave. The caverns seemed to get darker as they went further into the mountain, the fire globes and torches getting dimmer. With Inferno so near, the air around Ink started to get uncomfortably hot and stuffy, although the hybrid ignored it.
As the two turned into the history cave, the eyes of dragons all glanced towards them. Six dragonets were gathered in a circle around an older SeaWing in the center of the cave, each with a scroll in front of them. The SeaWing frowned as the two dragons interrupted his lecture. This must be Webs, Inferno thought. He did look a little like Riptide, although he had a large scar on his side that his son didn’t have.
“Yes?” Webs asked exasperatedly. “Did you need something?”
“Er, I’m Inferno. I’m from the Talons of Peace. Tsunami said I could sit in on the classes,” Inferno introduced herself. She glanced to Ink, realizing that she probably should’ve asked Tsunami if he could join too. “This is Ink. I, um, invited him to come here with me. Sorry for not asking first.”
Webs grumbled a little, and gave Inferno a glare. She shivered. Did he not like her? Was it just her firescales? Or was it because she was in the Talons? Or maybe because she forgot to ask if Ink could join before inviting her?
“Fine,” Webs conceded, “you two can sit in the back of the class, just don’t cause any disturbances. I only have one extra scroll right now, so you’ll have to share.” He gave Inferno a glare. “Don’t burn it.” He swished his tail to point towards a scroll, and Ink quickly grabbed it. 
Skytaker gave the two of them a wave as Ink sat down next to Inferno. Ink rolled the scroll open, moving it close to Inferno so that she could clearly see. She smiled uncomfortably. She didn’t want to tell him she didn’t know how to read.
“Now, as I was saying, a lot of modern IceWing history has been shaped by their various conflicts and cultural exchanges with the NightWings and SandWings,” Webs asked. “As has been one of our recurring themes in this class, the geography of Pyrrhia heavily shapes history. The IceWings are far from an exception to this rule, in fact, how their geography has influenced their culture and history is probably one of the clearest examples. Can anyone explain what geographic feature has influenced their culture exchange the most?”
None of the dragonets immediately answered. Skytaker leaned back towards Inferno and Ink, invoking a glare from Webs. “Tiger normally answers all this stuff,” they whispered. “But she’s not here today, since she’s with Queen Glory. It’s really weird, Tiger never misses class! It has to mean that there’s something big and important going on, or else she’d be here. Ugh, I hate that I’m missing it.”
Webs let out a cough. “Skytaker,” he said, interrupting the hybrid. “Instead of chatting with the newcomers, can you answer the question?”
Skytaker rolled their eyes. “Yeah. The Big Ice Wall thingy is wh—”
“The Great Ice Cliff,” Webs interrupted. “Even though it isn’t a natural geographic feature, the Great Ice Cliff still counts as Pyrrhian geography. Anyways that’s the wrong answer. The correct answer is the freezing temperatures of the Ice Kingdom.”
Inferno glanced around at the six dragonets, sitting around Webs as he continued. They all seemed to be around the same age, four or five years old, slightly younger than the average Jade Mountain students. Just like she’d been missing at breakfast, Tiger was nowhere to be found. Skytaker and Sepia were sitting together. Inferno noticed the small blue and pink SeaWing she’d seen at breakfast next to Sepia. Anemone, and if she remembered right, Tsunami’s sister.
Inferno didn’t recognize the other three dragons. An IceWing was sitting next to Skytaker, gently licking their claws as they ignored Webs’ lecture. She remembered Skytaker mentioning an IceWing at breakfast. Changbai, maybe? A SandWing was sitting next to Anemone, yawning quietly as she stared down at her scroll. And a NightWing sat between the SandWing and IceWing, intently staring down at her scroll, giving Inferno the occasional glance before quickly turning away.
So this is the Silver Winglet, Inferno thought. She didn’t know much about the winglet system at Jade Mountain, but from what she’d figured out, they were basically small groups of dragons that were roommates and had classes together, with one dragonet from each tribe. So far, Inferno had heard the Silver, Copper, and Jade Winglets mentioned. The Copper Winglet would probably be the one that Inferno would end up if she decided to stay here, and the Jade Winglet . . . that was where Peril was. The Jade Winglet were the ones who were missing, and had accidentally restored Queen Scarlet to power two years prior. And knowing what she knew about Peril, Inferno wasn’t quite sure she wanted to meet the rest of them.
== Chapter 24 ==
Queen Icicle rubbed a razor-sharp along the inside of her necklace. A single, gleaming silver circle. She was quite pleased with it. Before Queen Glacier’s death, she’d been stuck in Fourth Circle. It didn’t suit a dragon like her. Why hadn’t Glacier understood what she’d done had all been for Hailstorm? If only she had succeeded, she would have been a hero instead. But now she was queen. She got to decide what ranking she was in.
Icicle was situated on one of the highest floors of the palace, granting her a view over the grounds. It had been quite a while since her family had been allowed to live here. Since her two brothers had cheated the Diamond Trial, dooming their family to infamy and oblivion. But now, that had changed.
The young queen turned back behind her. Most of the rest of her family was there. At least, the ones who were still supposed to be alive. Queen Glacier had made sure that Winter would never be welcome into the Ice Kingdom again after the Diamond Trial, and Icicle wasn’t about to change that. Not that he would come back anyways, he was far too busy hanging around dragons from other tribes.
None of the three seemed quite as happy as Icicle herself. Hailstorm was frowning, moving his tail back and forth across the ice floors. Tundra and Narwhal had slightly concerned looks on their faces, and both were whispering back and forth to each other about something.
Queen Icicle flicked her tongue in and out. “Mother, Father,” she said, “is there something you needed to tell me?” She was the queen. Her parents answered to her now.
“Yes,” Narwhal replied directly. “We noticed that you changed Circle Ranking necklace. You shouldn’t have done that.”
Icicle snorted. She glanced quickly at her parents’ necklaces. Both had three concentric silver rings, instead of Icicle’s one. “If you’re asking whether or not I’m planning to move you up, I am. It would be embarrassing for the royal family not to be allowed to live in the palace.”
“It’s not that,” Tundra spoke. “It’s only been four days. Most IceWings still view you as Fourth Circle. Changing your ranking so soon is an abuse of your privileges, and that’s how the rest of the kingdom will view it.”
“And don’t change ours back, not yet,” Narwhal added. “As much as we would love to live in the palace again, queens should not be favoring their families.”
Icicle snorted, light from the moon globes reflecting off her shimmering snout. “Nor should they be treating them unfairly. Queen Glacier kept both of you down because of some grudge she had against Winter. I was planning on remedying that. But suit yourselves, if you want to keep bowing to Lynx whenever she passes.”
Narwhal gave his daughter a stern look. “Queen Glacier was just in her rankings. We were lowered in the rankings because we were unable to raise our dragonets to behave properly, not because of some grudge.”
Icicle hissed quietly. She knew that her father had said ‘dragonets’ instead of ‘Winter’ intentionally. She glanced towards Hailstorm, wondering if he had anything to say. He didn’t, keeping his head down.
“Fine,” Icicle conceded. “You can stay in your places, for now, but there’s no way I’m moving myself back down to Fourth Circle. Have we gotten any news from the other kingdoms? Condolences for Glacier and Snowfall’s deaths, recognitions of me as the new queen?”
“There hasn’t been enough time for news of your ascension to go out and for letters to have come back already,” Narwhal remarked. “If you’re asking about Queen Sunny and Queen Glory in particular, I should remind you that you attempted to murder both of them at one point. I’d recommend sending out another apology for that, just to ease their worries.”
“I did it for Hailstorm,” Icicle growled, giving her brother a growl. You ungrateful seal. “Any IceWing would have done the same in my situation.”
“You not only conspired with an enemy and attempted to assassinate a queen, you failed,” Tundra retorted. “You could have gotten us in another war, maybe two. The life of one dragon, even if it’s your brother, is not worth that. We had hoped that you’d have spent enough time so lowly-ranked to realize that and take responsibility for what happened with Queen Scarlet.”
Icicle’s claws curled up at the name. “I hate her,” she hissed. “She’s the one who made me do it, and brought shame on our family. I want her dead for what she did to Hailstorm, for what she did to all of us.”
Hailstorm raised his head. “You’re not thinking of declaring war, are you?” he asked. The fact that Icicle didn’t give him an immediate answer made him gulp. “You can’t,” he pleaded, “please, don’t risk IceWing lives just to get revenge for my sake.”
Tundra and Narwhal nodded in agreement with their son. At least they had raised one dragonet right.
Icicle scoffed. “I’m not going to declare war, even if the honor of our family and our kingdom is at stake here. But it’s my choice, not any of yours.”
Narwhal sighed. He supposed he and Tundra would just have to spend the rest of their lives convincing their daughter not to destroy the Ice Kingdom. He needed to find a better way to control her. Queen Scarlet had done a good job by putting Hailstorm’s life on the line, and it wasn’t like it would be the first time Narwhal had put a son’s life in danger . . .
“It might be your choice, but just barely,” Tundra responded. “The Black Princes are still out there, and we know Blackice is planning to lay claim to the throne. Who the kingdom supports is up to you. If you think you can just make whatever choices you want as queen without caring for what the rest of the IceWings think, you won’t be in charge much longer. I’ll remind you that we are in a time of crisis. Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall weren’t the only ones killed. Queen Glacier’s council, some of the most important aristocrats in the kingdom, are also dead. Any stability the masses had is ruin, and if you don’t listen to your father and I, the kingdom will fall to chaos.”
“I should also point out that none of us are safe, and we need to be wary,” Narwhal brought up. “The palace may be compromised, and there’s a chance that the dragon who killed Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall may come back for seconds. If it wasn’t clear enough from what happened, she’s extremely dangerous.”
Icicle’s ears perked up. “She?” the queen asked. “You know who killed Glacier?”
“I’m not certain,” Narwhal admitted, “but I suspect it was an IceWing named Crystal.”
“Crystal,” Icicle repeated. She’d seen that name before. Back when she’d been a dragonet, she’d occasionally gone with Snowfall, Winter, and Vortex to check on the adult rankings every so often. Sometimes to see where dragons she knew were, and deciding if they could get ahead of them or face them in combat once they got the chance. They usually looked at the First Circle, full of war heroes, generals, and royalty, but occasionally, they looked at the bottom of the Seventh Circle. This was where the worst traitors, murderers, and exiles resided. The three had asked around, to see what she’d done, but few dragons seemed to know anything other than it was unspeakably horrible, so terrible that she was placed below even Blackice.
Eventually, Snowfall had asked her mother. ‘The Second Coming of Foeslayer,’ Glacier had called Crystal, although the queen had refused to provided more details. Foeslayer was the NightWing who had stolen animus magic from the IceWings, thrusting the Ice Kingdom into two-thousand years of cultural darkness. Only a dragon so wicked, so traitorous, could have killed Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall. It still haunted Icicle that her own brother had been the one to release Foeslayer, to allow such an evil to roam freely.
“What if it was Foeslayer?” Icicle suddenly suggested. “I’ll bet she could have done this. She certainly has the motive.”
Narwhal shook his head. “It’s possible, but the magical way that the killings were done matches Crystal’s style. Something similar happened a few years before you were hatched.” He supposed that if she was queen now, he’d need to tell Icicle what little he knew about Project Darkstone. But it could wait, at least until things were more stable and he and Tundra had Icicle under control. “Do you remember Polar? Crystal is his aunt.”
Icicle thought for a moment, and nodded. He’d lived in the palace when Icicle had, and was around her age. She’d known that his family members had done something bad enough to get exiled, so she, Vortex, and Snowfall had sometimes made fun of him for that and being practically an orphan. Still, Polar worked hard and was quite good at kissing Queen Glacier’s tail, so he’d been frustratingly good at competing with the three of them for their spots at the top of the First Circle. Thinking about it, she hadn’t seen him since she’d gotten back to the palace, not that she’d looked. Had he been kicked out, too?
“Then I’ll make sure that Crystal is brought to justice,” Icicle announced. If there was one way to ensure her reign and popularity as the next queen, it would be catching her predecessor’s killer.
Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door leading to their chamber. Hailstorm got up, and walked over to the door, slowly opening it to see who it was. One of the palace guards, with four silver circles hanging from her neck. Just barely low enough in the rankings that Queen Icicle’s parents could speak down to her, ironically.
The guard bowed her head. “Your majesty,” she said to Icicle, “there’s an IceWing outside of the gates of the palace, asking for an audience with you. He claims to be one of the Black Princes, and wishes to meet with you and the royal family as part of a diplomatic mission.”
Queen Icicle frowned. So her cousin Blackice was making a move? So far, there hadn’t been much news about her, other than a short letter notifying Icicle that Blackice was laying claim to the throne. Although Blackice had supporters, she didn’t have the army that Icicle had. What sort of diplomatic mission did she want? Was she hoping that Icicle would allow her to return from exile if she backed down on her claim? That was certainly possible. Icicle hated to give in like that, but it would remove a competitor. Anyways, she and Blackice were both alike, in some way. Both had them had been punished unfairly by Queen Glacier. If Icicle allowed Blackice to return from exile, she’d be able to start off her queenship by undoing her aunt’s wrongs.
“I’ll hear what he has to say,” Icicle responded.
The guard nodded, and started to back away. Before she did, Tundra spoke up. “We’ll meet him in the palace hall. Check very carefully that he’s unarmed, and put guards around him.”
The guard bowed again, and left the room. Icicle gave her mother a glare. Icicle was the one giving orders around here, not Tundra.
“Icicle,” Tundra suggested, her voice quiet and worried, “I want to make sure you understand how dangerous Blackice is. Even before she was exiled, things never ended well for dragons who got in her way back while she was still in the palace. Some ended up hurt, even dead, and Blackice always got away with it. She’s not to be trusted, and I want you to promise me that you’ll consult with your father and I before making any deals with her or the Black Princes.”
Narwhal nodded in agreement. Icicle snorted, annoyed. She was queen, not her parents, why should she have to ask them for permission to invoke her powers? “Fine,” she still grumbled, years of deference towards her parents getting the best of her. “But I have the final say.”
“Of course,” Tundra replied, though Narwhal looked a bit less certain of that. “Hailstorm, go find to the Captain of the Guard, and tell her that we’re meeting.”
Hailstorm nodded, and quickly trotted off into the palace as Icicle, Narwhal, and Tundra went down to the palace hall. The great chamber loomed over them ominously, a million glittering icicles covering the frozen top of the hall. Glowing blue snowflakes glittered along them, making the ceiling almost look like a starry sky. The queen’s throne sat at the back of the room, bold and menacing. On it were carved two IceWings, possibly renditions of the creators of the palace. They held up what looked like a small, round, indentation in the throne, which looked like it might have represented the moon. More twinkling blue snowflakes fell through the throne like stars.
Queen Icicle slowly climbed up into it, placing her forepaws on its arms as she put her wings over the edges of the throne. Her spiked tail hung down over the side of the throne, swinging back and forth. She frowned. Usually when Queen Glacier had sat here, the bright colors of an aurora would magically appear in the throne’s ice. Was there some reason that the throne hadn’t done the same for Icicle? Was there some rite of passage she had to go through, first?
Tundra and Narwhal walked up to the throne, beside it. The three waited quietly as the doors at the back of the great hall opened, revealing eight or so IceWings marching in unison, all with four silver circles on their neck. Each of them carried a pointed spear, ready to be used at any time. They formed a circle around an IceWing in the center, who slowly walked towards Queen Icicle, swaying back and forth as he did so. Each of his spines and claws was painted as black as his eyes, contrasting with his snowy white scales. As he grinned, it was revealed that his fangs were stained the same color.
The parade eventually reached the area in front of the throne, and each of the guards bowed to Queen Icicle. The IceWing in the center did not. Even though he walked like aristocracy, and was definitely an adult, he had no silver rings around his neck to indicate his ranking. He slowly looked around the great hall, taking in every detail as he breathed in and out the cold air.
The IceWing gave out a sigh. “It’s so nice to be back,” he spoke, his voice smooth and calm. “The palace is quite a work of art. I hatched here, you see, and I’m glad I got to see it again, after being exiled in the northern reaches for so long. There’s nothing like this up there. We got nine moon globes total, one for each of us. It’s not much to keep you going for six months of darkness, and the food was, well, cold and scaly. But this palace, all this light! It brings back good memories.”
“It’s not the time for nostalgia,” Queen Icicle growled, angry that she hadn’t been given the proper respect she deserved as queen. “You’re here on a diplomatic mission, correct? What does Blackice want? Does she want her title reinstated? To be returned from exile? Pardoned? A place in the palace?”
The Black Prince snorted. “I know you’re not the one making the deals here.” He turned to Narwhal, then Tundra. “I suspect you have your own thoughts, do you not?”
Tundra and Narwhal stayed emotionless, as Icicle’s claws clenched against the throne. “Excuse me?” she growled, before her father silenced her with a glare. She was the queen, not her parents! She opened her mouth to say something else, before Tundra interrupted her.
“What are Blackice’s demands?” Tundra interrogated the IceWing, staring ruthlessly into his eyes.
The Black Prince grinned. “Queen Blackice has asked for a public statement from you and Icicle granting her full control over the throne. In return, Queen Blackice will allow Tundra and her family to peacefully keep their place in the palace, except for Icicle, whose head will be placed on a spear in front of the palace to make sure that the kingdom knows Queen Blackice knows is the one and only queen.”
Icicle let out a laugh. “Are you serious?” she asked. She looked over to her mother. Tundra and Narwhal were exchanging glances, as if silently discussing the offer. Icicle tensed up.
“You’re not considering this, are you?” Icicle questioned her parents, slightly fearful. They wouldn’t, right? She was their daughter. She was the perfect dragonet, the one who had been at almost the top of the rankings for most of her life. The last couple years had been a unfortunate mistake, but now she was queen. Sure, they’d been willing to get rid of Winter, but that was different, right? He was a failure.
Finally, Tundra and Narwhal turned away from each other. “We don’t accept Blackice’s offer,” Tundra stated. “If that’s her final demand, she can stay on her island and pray to the Great Ice Dragon that we don’t sentence her and the rest of you to death.”
The Black Prince looked mildly amused at this thinly veiled threat. He let out an exaggerated sigh, and tapped his claws on the ice floor of the palace. “I was really hoping, for my own sake, that you would agree.”
Suddenly, the IceWing pounced forward towards the throne, his black claws outstretched and ready for blood. He stretched his jaws far apart, and a wisp of white smoke came from his mouth before he shot out a blast of frostbreath at Icicle. A moment later, the guards surrounding the Black Prince put their spears into action, one of them impaling the IceWing in his neck, piercing through scale and flesh.
Queen Icicle immediately jumped to the side to avoid the blast of frostbreath. She winced as it only barely brushed her scales, mainly landing on the side of the throne. She turned back with a snarl, but it was too late for the Black Prince. His head fell limp on the spear, his beady black eyes dull and lifeless.
Icicle snorted. “Well, that was a stupid mistake.”
Then the Black Prince exploded.
----Hoarfrost paced back and forth. His white scales camouflaged him well against the snowy mountainside, but if an IceWing looked down on him from above, they would have seen the black paint on his horns, talons, and spines standing out against the pure snow. Possibly not the best tactical move, but exposing yourself to the enemy was a sign of loyalty and courage. Had Hoarfrost been chosen for Squall’s mission instead, he would have gladly taken the IceWing’s place, even if it had meant his death. It had been his idea. Yet, his queen had chosen for him to remain with her, alive.
Hoarfrost continued his pacing. Squall should have been done by now. Had there been some delay? Had Tundra agreed to the terms? Doubtful. But it was always possible that complications could arise. That was why one always needed to be prepared.
Suddenly, a small rumble shook through the snow, and a loud noise sounded from across the valley floor. Hoarfrost immediately snapped his neck to the left, where the IceWing palace was visible in the distance, reaching up to the clouds. He stared intently towards its top as a red plume of smoke came out from around where the throne room should have been. Part of the palace has collapsed in on itself, but soon it would quickly start to reform.
“Sweet dreams, my friend,” Hoarfrost whispered, knowing that Squall was no more. “Your death shall be remembered as the one which brings in a new age of IceWing glory. We shall celebrate you through our song and dance.”
Within moments, Hoarfrost had taken off, quickly gliding around the mountainside, to the temporary camp situated in the snowdrift on the other side. A small number of white tents were situated against the snow, and the faint outlines of dragons could be seen moving between them. The small number of forces that Blackice’s allies in the outskirts of the kingdom had gathered over the past two decades.
In the center of a camp was the largest tent, belonging to Queen Blackice herself. Hoarfrost landed at the entrance, and walked into the tent, nodding to the two young guards as he passed them, neither of them wearing silver circles around their necks. The air around him warmed up slightly as he ducked beneath the cloth, and an unnatural smell of chemicals filled his nostrils, causing him to let out a small cough. It came from a small iron cauldron in the tent, where a shivering NightWing stood hunched over, breathing in the fumes as whatever concoction was in the pot helped keep him warm.
Shaking almost violently, the NightWing turned his head to Hoarfrost, who tried to avoid his glance. Even with how useful he was, Alchemy was far from a pleasant sight. Only stubs remained of the talons on his hindlegs, and all of his claws on his forepaws been ruthlessly pulled out. He grinned manically as he shuddered, his gums toothless. His wings had been mutilated, their membranes irreparably shredded beneath Blackice’s talons. Even his horns and spines on his back hadn’t been spared. Alchemy was Blackice’s favorite toy, something for her to take her anger out when she needed to. None of the Black Princes objected. It was all fair for what the NightWings had done to the Ice Kingdom, plunging the IceWings into two-thousand years of darkness and stealing the magic that the Great Ice Dragon had given the IceWings. 
Yet, Alchemy was far more useful alive than dead. Although Hoarfrost doubted he still knew much, at one point he’d had intimate details of the Night Kingdom that he’d given Blackice, and before his capture, Alchemy had been apprenticed under a NightWing scientist. Still, Hoarfrost was surprised the pitiful creature still had both of his eyes and ears. And sometimes annoyingly, his tongue. There were fresh wounds on his scales — Blackice had been quite furious that someone else had gotten to her mother and sister first.
A thick shackle wrapped around one of Alchemy’s hind legs, his scales cracked and worn beneath the tight iron. The chain dragged across the snow to the dragon who was holding it, Queen Blackice herself. Unlike her mother, Blackice wore no jewelry or adornishments, but was just as formidable. Her scales were as white as snow, and her eyes a blue as bright as a clear summer sky. She curiously watched Alchemy, observing the shivering NightWing before turning to Hoarfrost. Hoarfrost gave her a quick bow.
“Your majesty. Squall’s mission was a success. A red plume was visible from the top of the palace. I can only assume that Icicle and the royal family are dead. The palace will reform quickly, and it won’t be long before the chaos winds down. Shall we attack?”
Blackice swirled a pearly white talon in the snow, as if pondering the decision. “I don’t know,” she responded, her voice hissing, like the sound an IceWing makes before frostbreath. She turned to the NightWing. “Alchemy. What do you think we should do?”
The NightWing bobbed his head from side to side, his grin getting even wider. Even his lack of teeth made it normally difficult to tell what he was saying, the message was clear. “Kiw dem!” he spoke gleefully, almost jumping up and down. “Kiw dem aw!”
Blackice clucked her tongue, and stared back at Hoarfrost. “You heard Alchemy. Kill every dragon in the palace. Anyone with silver circles around their neck. Leave no remains of my mother’s weak kingdom but the heads of those loyal to her.”
Hoarfrost bowed again. “I will do as you wish, your majesty.” He quickly turned around, and exited the tent, starting to shout out orders.
Queen Blackice smiled, flicking her tongue across her teeth. Finally, things were starting to go her way.
== Chapter 25 ==
Sunny winced, still feeling the bandages around her neck. It had been difficult to sleep last night, with the pain in her wound keeping her awake. She raised her head, drowsy, as sunlight streamed into the room. She groaned, still exhausted. She didn’t particularly want to get up. But she was queen now, and it was her duty.
Eventually, the young hybrid climbed out of her bed, her barbless tail dragging across the sandstone floor. Creosote was waiting outside her door. Armadillo had asked him to stand guard over it in case another assassination attempt was made. The SandWing glanced over to her, gently bowing his head down. “Good morning, your majesty.”
Queen Sunny smiled. She thought about asking him to just call her Sunny again, but it didn’t seem worth the effort, trying to correct him. She let out a small yawn. “Morning, Creosote.”
Creosote nodded. “I wanted to let you know that there’s been a MudWing outside the palace doors the last couple days, claiming he knows you and asking for an audience. If you want, I can force him to leave.”
“A MudWing?” Sunny asked, surprised. “Clay?” She remembered back to the speech, she thought that she might have seen a MudWing in the crowd, had that been him? Had he come after her? Was he worried? That was so sweet of him, but he didn’t have to. If both he and Sunny were gone, how would the academy function?
Creosote thought for a moment, and nodded. “I think that was what he said his name was. Do you know him?”
Sunny winced. “Yes, I know him. He’s practically my brother. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Creosote gulped, slightly ashamed, making Sunny feel a little pang of pity. “Armadillo said that he want me to concern you with it yesterday, since you were still recovering from the attack.”
The SandWing queen sighed. This wasn’t Creosote’s fault. But it certainly made her more suspicious of Armadillo. Had he known who Clay was, and not allowed him in intentionally?
“C’mon,” Sunny said to Creosote, giving him a smile. “Let’s go down to let him in. I’m sure you’ll be happy to meet him.”
The two quickly walked to the front doors of the palace. Sunny was excited to see Clay again. It would be nice to have someone here who she actually knew and trusted. She threw open the doors, light bursting in. Clay lay down on the steps of the palace, gently snoring as he slept. Sunny laughed. Of course he was asleep, that was just like him.
“Good morning, Clay,” the young queen chuckled.
The MudWing let out a long yawn, then slowly turned his head, opening his eyelids. He groggily looked up at Sunny. “Good morning, Sunny.” He blinked a few times, before suddenly realizing where he was. “Sunny!” he excitedly shouted.
Clay quickly got to his paws, and ran forwards to meet the SandWing queen. Creosote stiffened up as he walked towards her, and moved to stop him, but Sunny brushed him aside and gathered herself beneath his wings.
“I’m so glad you’re alright,” Clay said, relieved. “I was there when you were attacked. I sorry I couldn’t do anything about it and was so worried and—”
“It’s fine,” Sunny replied.
Clay raised his wing, looking down at Sunny’s neck, still bandaged. “Is it . . . ?”
“I’ll be okay,” Sunny reassured him. “It might leave a small scar, but nothing as bad as Webs. I look strange enough already, it’s not like it could make things worse.”
“Oh,” Clay frowned, “don’t say that, you look fine.” He glanced over towards Creosote, careful not to talk about Sunny’s hybridism in front of him.
“How is the academy?” Sunny quickly asked. With both her and Clay gone, if something happened, there might not be enough dragons there to handle it. She trusted Tsunami to make the right decision, but Tsunami had almost always had the other Dragonets around her to help.
Clay shrugged his wings. “I don’t know. I only left a day after you, and things were still running smoothly.” He glanced around. “You don’t happen to have any water around, do you? I was having trouble finding some on the way here.”
“Yeah,” Sunny smiled. “We’ve got stores in the palace, just in case we’re ever besieged. Food too, if you’re hungry.”
Clay nodded, and Sunny led him through the doors of the palace, walking past Creosote. The guard quickly followed besides them. Sunny immediately felt more comfortable with Clay around the palace. At least there was someone here she knew. But it wasn’t like she could just keep him here forever, could she? Eventually, he’d have to return to Jade Mountain, and she’d be left in these dusty old halls. It felt like Glory always had RainWings and NightWings swarming around her, but Sunny just felt lonely here. Maybe it would be better after they had caught her mother’s assassin, and more dragons could be allowed back into the palace.
Sunny’s ears suddenly perked up as she heard a voice from up ahead she didn’t recognize. She glanced to Clay, who just smiled in confusion back.
“Have you found her yet?” a hoarse voice growled, like the dragon had sand stuck in her throat.
“No,” Armadillo’s voice calmly responded. “She hasn’t made it easy for us. For all we know, she’s vacationing on a beach in the Lost Continent.”
As Sunny and Clay slowed down, Creosote suddenly ran into the two of them, tripping over Sunny’s tail. He let out a short yelp in surprise, alerting Armadillo and the second dragon to their presence. Sunny winced.
Armadillo poked his head around the corner, followed by the dragon he’d been talking to, a large, older SandWing with crusty eyes. She glared at the three intruders, and flicked her tongue out. “MudWing,” she grumbled.
Armadillo gave her a glance, and sighed as he turned to Sunny. “Your majesty, this is Kudu. She’s with the Outclaws, their current leader.”
Kudu tapped a claw on the ground, closely examining Sunny. She squinted, as if surprised such a strange little dragon could be queen. “Hmph. You’re Thorn’s daughter?”
Sunny nodded. “I am,” she answered.
Kudu shook her head disapprovingly, then turned around, walking off into the halls of the palace. Sunny watched as she left. Didn’t dragons usually have to ask permission to be dismissed by their queen? She didn’t really want to have to do that, but Kudu didn’t care to give Sunny the least bit of respect. Although, Sunny wasn’t quite sure she deserved it.
Still, Kudu walked off. Armadillo grimaced. “Sorry about that,” he said, “she’s not really one for obeying authority. It’s why she joined the Outclaws in the first place.” He looked over to Clay, eyeing the MudWing carefully. “Why is there a MudWing in the palace?”
“Because I let him in,” Sunny growled, looking just the littlest bit threatening. “This is Clay. He’s one of the Dragonets of Destiny; he’s practically my brother. Not just a MudWing.”
Armadillo tapped a claw on the sandstone floor, but didn’t argue, accepting Sunny’s decree. “Alright,” he conceded, “moving onto other matters, have you decided on what you want to do about Aloe’s challenge?”
“Aloe’s challenge?” Clay suddenly remarked, alert. He turned to Sunny. “You’re being challenged? Like, royal challenge?”
Sunny grimaced, and nodded slightly.
Clay shook his head, worried, and shuffled his wings. “Who’s challenging you? Do you have a sister? A half-sister? Maybe you can just let her be queen. She can’t be that bad.”
“No,” Sunny responded. “It’s not a sister. Her name is Aloe, and she claims to be Blister’s daughter.”
Clay shivered, remembering Blister. The limp in his right hind leg suddenly felt heavier. It was Blister’s fault that he’d gotten that. And she’d also been the one who killed Kestrel.
Still, Clay shook his head. “You can’t accept the challenge. I’m not letting you be killed, even if it’s for the SandWing throne. Isn’t that why you have the Eye of Onyx? To prove you’re the real queen?”
Sunny shook her head, and lifted the stone up from her neck. “This one’s a fake. The real one was stolen after my mother was murdered.” She choked up slightly on the words.
“Do you know how to fight?” Armadillo suddenly asked, his prying eyes examining his queen closer.
Sunny winced. “Theoretically. Kestrel gave us battle training, but I wasn’t the best at it.” She waved the end of her tail in the air. “I don’t even have a barb. But I have to fight, don’t I? Thorn accepted Onyx’s challenge, so I need to do the same.”
“No!” Clay shouted. “You definitely don’t. The Eye of Onyx decreed Thorn as queen. You can’t accept by any means, or else the throne will go to Blister’s daughter, and even worse, you’ll be dead.”
Sunny sighed. She would’ve liked a little bit more faith from Clay, but he was right. She was small, and had no barb. There was no way she fairly win a one-on-one fight with a real SandWing, right?
“Clay is right, as I said before,” Armadillo remarked. “You don’t actually have to accept the challenge. And it might look a little bad, but a lot of SandWings embraced Thorn. The previous royal family thrust us into two decades of war, and Blister was the most disliked of the three sisters.”
“Yeah, listen to him,” Clay urged Sunny. “Please, don’t accept the challenge.”
Sunny nodded unhappily. “I won’t. But Armadillo said that means there might be more war. I don’t want that.”
“It’s true, there will be fighting,” Armadillo quickly brought up. “We got a report from Crosswinds that Aloe does have a small number of troops with her.”
Sunny looked towards Clay. “I’m a Dragonet of Destiny. It was my job to stop the war, not create a new one. I don’t want to send out dragons to fight in my place, just because I’m too weak.” She’d spent the last three years trying to repair the damage of the war, to help dragons understand that they don’t have to be violent towards each other. There had to be a peaceful resolution to this where no one got killed, right? Still, it wasn’t like the resolution to the last war had been peaceful. Blister and Burn had been killed, and Clay had almost died.
“But I can’t let you die,” Clay replied.
“We don’t have to do a draft,” Armadillo suggested, tapping a claw on the ground. “We’d have a volunteer army. Dragons who want to fight, not just for you as their queen, but for the better future that you and Thorn stand for. And based on the reports, Aloe doesn’t have a lot of forces. We could crush her quickly, maybe a single battle.”
Just a single battle, Sunny thought. Was that what Blister had thought before she started the war? And how many dragons lives would be lost, just because I’m not strong enough? Sunny looked over to Clay, asking him for confirmation. He’d lost sibs in the last war. Could he really do this?
Clay winced, and looked down to the sandstone floor. “There’s no other option, is there?”
Armadillo didn’t respond. “It’s your choice, Queen Sunny.”
Sunny closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth. Maybe she was just being naive and idyllic, thinking that this could be solved peacefully. She was an adult now. A queen. She had to be realistic. “Fine. I’ll do it. We’ll go to war.”
== Chapter 26 ==
After a brisk walk through Crosswinds, keeping their scales out of sight, Midnight, Torrent, and Slate finally arrived at Gazelle’s small house. Warily watching over her wings, Midnight let the two in, quickly shutting the door behind her. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Gazelle was still asleep on the floor.
“Are we safe here?” Slate asked, peering out the windows of the house. “What if Aloe tries to search for us?”
Torrent swished his tail back and forth. “Crosswinds has only gotten bigger since the end of the war. I doubt she has enough troops to search the city.” He glanced down to his daughter. “Do you think they recognized you in the dark?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Midnight snapped. “Aloe or one of her soldiers was bound to have seen us together at the welcoming, and there aren’t many other dragons that look like me in this city. It won’t take much investigating to figure out where I live, just asking a few questions to the right dragons. She wouldn’t forcibly search the city anyways, her whole schtick is giving Crosswinds its independence. It would ruin her image. So it would probably be best for you and Slate to move on your way.”
Torrent shifted uncomfortably. He could tell that Midnight was angry at him for this. Probably rightfully so.
“We need to go to the Sand Kingdom,” Slate suggested, “to the palace, where Queen Sunny is. If Aloe has an animus-touched necklace, she needs to be warned, right? And we can help her figure out how to beat Aloe! If Queen Sunny is Midnight’s cousin, and also a hybrid, I’m sure she’d be welcoming!” Slate’s eyes lit up excitedly.
Midnight shrugged her wings back and forth. “You can go there if you want, but I can’t come with you.” Slate’s excitement started to wane, and Midnight pointed her tail to the sleeping Gazelle. “I have to take care of her.”
“Maybe you could bring her to the palace?” Slate asked. “Queen Sunny probably has some way to take of her.”
Midnight shook her head. “Gazelle’s not in a condition to fly to the palace; I’m not taking her out of Crosswinds.” she explained. She gave Torrent a glare. “It’s bad enough that I’m going to have to move her somewhere else until Aloe leaves town.”
“But you’re one of the prophecy dragons!” Torrent protested. “You have to come with us and stop the magical drought. Can’t you just leave Gazelle with one of your friends?”
Midnight growled, baring her teeth at her father. “You still need to find the other prophecy dragons, right? Do that, then bring them back here.”
“Come on, you can help us, right?” Torrent pleaded. “I’m sure we can carry Gazelle with us. We could put her in a net and carry that.”
Midnight almost laughed. “That sounds horrible. I’m not putting her under that kind of stress. Look, I’d love to go help you with whatever, but I’m staying here unless Gazelle is magically healed somehow. But you don’t want that, do you?”
Torrent’s expression fell from pleading to serious, and he realized what Midnight was implying. If he wanted her to come with him, he’d have to let her use her powers on Gazelle. He curled his snout. “Fine. We can go without you.”
Midnight snorted, but didn’t say anything else. She looked over to the sleeping Gazelle.
Torrent turned to Slate. “We’re not going to Queen Sunny, unfortunately. As much as I would like to warn her, the drought is more important than family business. We need to find the other prophecy dragons, and stop it before it’s too late.”
Slate nodded grimly. Torrent was right. He’d seen the effects of only a few days of drought in the Mud Kingdom. Telling Queen Sunny about the pendant would have to wait, unfortunately. He still wasn’t quite sure if he was onboard with this whole ‘prophecy’ thing, but it did seem like the best option. “Then let’s do this quickly. You said you’d found one of the other prophecy dragons already, right?”
Torrent nodded. “Flame. He’s a student at Jade Mountain. I haven’t actually talked to him, but he might be able to give us a lead on the other two. And it’s been long enough that I owe Stonemover a visit, especially if Thorn’s dead. I don’t know if he’ll be any help, but it’s something.”
Midnight’s ears perked up, and she turned away from Gazelle. “Wait,” she said, “did you just say that you’re going to Jade Mountain?”
“Yes,” Torrent replied. “You’re not thinking about joining us, are you?”
“No,” Midnight hissed, a hint of disgust on her snout. “It’s just . . . if you’re going to Jade Mountain, there’s something I need to show you. Dad, you gave up the animus hunting thing, right?”
Torrent frowned. “Mostly. But Pyrrhia is in danger right now from magic, so I suppose I’ve resumed it a little. But I don’t kill indiscriminately anymore, if that’s what you’re asking. You know that.”
Midnight scratched her claws on the floor, hesitant. Torrent looked at his daughter, confused. She finally sighed, and gave into it. “Alright, dad. Just . . . be responsible. Don’t kill anyone else. And don’t get yourself killed. Please.”
Midnight slowly stepped over Gazelle, and to the scrollshelf at the back of room. After looking through it for a second, she took out a scroll. Slate and Torrent’s eyes were locked on her as she rolled it open. Hidden inside the scroll was an old piece of parchment paper, covered in a waxy gleam. Two large gashes had been ripped through the paper, but had been carefully repaired with thread. The surface of the parchment revealed a map of Pyrrhia, with a number of blotches of colored ink over it.
Torrent took a step back. “How did you get that?” he asked, shocked.
“A neighbor found it the day after you dropped me off with Gazelle,” Midnight explained. “He could tell that it was magic since the blotches moved, but didn’t know what it did. You told me about the map on one of your visits. He had it framed, and eventually, I saw it. I told him it was my father’s, and he was kind enough to let me buy it from him with one of the pearls you gave Gazelle. I’ve had it here ever since.”
“Wait, it’s magic?” Slate asked. “What does it do?” He peered over it, and touched his talon to a grey blemish of ink, somewhere in the southern Claws of the Clouds. Agate Mountain, maybe?
“My sister enchanted it,” Torrent answered. “Each blotch on the map is an animus dragon. The one you’re touching is the Darkstalker.”
Slate jumped back in alarm, taking his claw from the map. He looked at his claw again, just to make sure nothing happened to it. “The what?”
Torrent snorted. “Don’t worry. You can’t do anything to the animuses just by touching the blotches, unfortunately. It just lets you see where they are.”
Slate looked back to the map. Northwest of the Darkstalker’s blotch was a dark blue, almost black spot. That was where Crosswinds was, so it had to be Midnight. “What’s going on at Jade Mountain?”
Torrent turned his eyes to the map, looking to the southern coast of Pyrrhia, where the twin peaks of Jade Mountain stood. He stiffened up. “Three moons,” he whispered.
“Yeah, I know,” Midnight said, “this is why I needed to show you this if you’re going there. Three of them have been there for a while, but the two faded ones are new.”
Torrent brought his snout closer to the map, and moved a webbed talon to Jade Mountain. The blotches seemed to run into each other, creating a mess of colors difficult to sort out. Stonemover’s familiar pewter color stood out, but four new ones surrounded it. One green, one pink. And two similarly colored blotches that seemed to be fading into the parchment paper, one a white ice-blue, and the other a sky-blue. The only time Torrent had seen so many animuses together was when Erosion had brought her slaves to Crosswinds.
“Well,” Torrent muttered, “this is going to be a fun visit.”
== Chapter 27 ==
Inferno twiddled her talons, glancing over Ink’s history scroll, even if she wasn’t sure what it said. Webs’s voice droned on in the background, and the SkyWing struggled to stay awake. It had been two days since she and Ink had started attending classes with the Silver Winglet. While she’d enjoyed her time at Jade Mountain so far, her exhaustion really made it difficult for her to pay attention to Webs’ already dry lectures. Ash had talked to her again last night, and it felt like she’d hardly slept a wink. He’d been more persistent in his dream visits recently, going from once or twice a week to almost every night, and it was really taking a toll on Inferno. Still, she understood his concern. She was in a new environment, around a lot of unknown and strange dragons, and he just wanted to make sure she was safe.
“And that concludes our discussion on how IceWing culture has been impacted by temperature changes across Pyrrhia,” Webs finished. The SeaWing glanced across the room, to a large hourglass sitting on a desk. Sand was falling through it, before gently settling in a pile. There was still a bit of sand in the top of the glass.
“It looks like we still have a bit of time before the next class period,” Webs muttered, pondering something. Skytaker raised their head in excitement, hoping that Webs might let the Winglet out early. Webs glanced down to them, and rolled his eyes.
“Since we don’t have enough time to start on our next unit, I suppose you all can go—”
“Yes!” Skytaker interrupted excitedly, flapping their wings around. “C’mon Sepia, let’s go see how Tiger’s doing!” They quickly ran out the door, with the rest of the Silver Winglet following.
Webs sighed. “I would recommend using this extra time to go to your next class early, or even better, to study for our upcoming test.” Just as Inferno and Ink were about to exit the room, he shot Inferno a glare. “Inferno,” he commanded, “would you mind staying for a few moments?”
Inferno gulped. Was she in trouble? She wasn’t even enrolled in the school yet, had she done something wrong? “Yes, professor?” she asked, turning to face Webs.
“You mentioned to me that you’re from the Talons of Peace, correct?”
Inferno nodded. Why did he care about that? Something didn’t happen to the Talons, right? What if her mother had gotten hurt?
“Was my son the one who told you to come here?”
“Riptide?” Inferno asked. She shook her head. “No, sir, not him.”
Webs narrowed his eyes, sending a shiver down Inferno’s spine. “That’s what I suspected. Tell me then, who was it?”
Inferno blinked for a few moments, unsure how to respond. She couldn’t actually tell him that Ash was the one who suggested it, of course. “Um—” she stammered.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Webs growled. “It was Avalanche, wasn’t it? What, does she want to finish the job?”
“Finish the job?” Inferno asked, unsure what he was talking about. She glanced back to Ink, who was still watching them.
“I spent six years raising their precious Dragonets of Destiny, and she and Morrowseer repay me with an assassination attempt.” Webs ranted. “They got Kestrel too. She might not have been the nicest dragon, but she was my friend. I don’t see why Riptide is bothering to try and reform them, they’re all just a bunch of kelp-eating scum. Back when I joined, Clarity was in charge, but she just let Morrowseer and Avalanche trample over the Talon’s morals. I’m surprised Riptide hasn’t put all of them to the justice they deserve.” Webs turned back to Inferno. “If you’re here to kill me, don’t think I’ll go down without a fight,” he hissed. “There are ways to kill even dragons like you.”
Inferno shuddered, and took a step back, lowering her head. Ink suddenly stepped around her, between the SkyWing and Webs.
“She’s not here to kill you, she just wants to learn like the rest of us,” the hybrid snarled. “And don’t you dare threaten her. She’s a good dragon.”
Webs continued to frown, looking down at the dragon in front of him. “So you think,” he snorted. He looked back at Inferno. “If Tsunami wants you to stay, I can’t do anything about that. But don’t even think about trying to cause trouble here.” The SeaWing lifted his head up high and walked around the two to exit the classroom, careful to keep his distance from Inferno.
Inferno carefully watched him leave, uncomfortable. She was starting to have doubts about joining Jade Mountain. She’d have to have classes with this dragon every day. Maybe there was some way she could get him to like her?
“Wow, who bit his tail?” Ink asked Inferno.
Inferno shrugged her wings. “I don’t know.” She looked back to Ink. “Why did you defend me?”
“Huh?” Ink wondered, slightly confused why Inferno had asked the question. “Well, we’re friends. If he’s being a jerk to you, it’s my duty to step in. You’d do the same for me, right?”
“Yeah,” Inferno quietly replied. If a teacher was yelling at Ink, would she defend him? But what if she scared the teacher, and they expelled her for that?
Ink cocked his head, and gave the SkyWing an examining look. “You’ve had friends before, right?”
Inferno shuffled her wings back and forth. “I mean, I guess.” There was Trustbreaker. And Ash.
Ink frowned, and flicked his tail back and forth. “Anyways, I also had a bit of personal stake in the conversation. I got a bit annoyed with Webs being rude about Clarity.”
Inferno’s eyes lit up. “Clarity?” she commented, surprised. “You know her?”
Ink chuckled uncomfortably, and scratched the scales behind his horns. “A little more than just know her. She and her mate helped raise me after Queen Glacier took their dragonet. Like an aunt and uncle.”
Inferno’s jaw almost dropped. “You’ve met Fracture?” No one in the Talons had met Fracture, except for Clarity, Avalanche, and Trustbreaker. She blinked for a few moments, shocked. This small, unsuspecting, weird hybrid had been raised by the mysterious leader of the Talons of Peace. 
Ink nodded, seemingly unaware of Inferno’s surprise. “Yeah. He’s a cool IceWing, no pun intended. I know he’s can be a bit aloof, but he’s genuinely a brave and kind dragon who wants everyone to be happy. It’s why he founded the Talons.”
Inferno shook her head back and forth, and Ash’s suspicions suddenly made sense. “So that’s how you knew my name before I told you!” she exclaimed. “You’re part of the Talons too, and someone must have told you about me! It’s not like there are many fireborn SkyWings out there.” She breathed a sigh of relief. She’d had no reason to worry about Ink after all. Ash would be happy to hear this.
Ink uncomfortably smiled, knowing that Inferno was wrong. He considered telling Inferno about his visions, and how he already knew who she was. He was half-NightWing after all, so it’s not like it could be that shocking. But Inferno spoke before he had a chance.
“Did you know Trustbreaker?” the SkyWing asked.
“Yeah,” Ink nodded. “I met him a few times. His cat is cute.”
“Sapphire,” Inferno replied. “Did Trustbreaker let you pet him? I’ve always wanted to, but, you know . . .” She waved a claw around in the air, smoke emanating off it.
Ink smiled. “Yeah. Are you telling me you haven’t met Fracture?”
Inferno shook her head. “Never. Most of the Talons don’t get a chance to meet him. Some of us don’t even believe he’s real, although Trustbreaker told me enough about him that I believe in him.”
Ink snorted at the absurdity of this. “Don’t worry, he’s very real. He’s just been busy with taking care of me and other stuff, I guess. I hope you get to meet him one day, he’s really a fun dragon to be around. Do you mind if I ask how you ended up with the Talons?”
“Oh,” Inferno replied, shuffling her wings again. “It wasn’t really my choice. SkyWings . . . like me aren’t really allowed in the Sky Kingdom, so my mother brought me to the Talons. They were kind enough to take me in, so I’ve just been there the whole time.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There was at least one fireborn who’d been allowed in the Sky Kingdom. But being made Queen Scarlet’s murder-weapon was worse than death. With the Talons of Peace, Inferno had been taught not to ever hurt other dragons or threaten them with her firescales from day one. Goat had made a good choice.
“How did you join the Talons?” Inferno asked Ink. Oh. She shouldn’t have assumed he was in the Talons just because he knew Fracture. “If you are in the Talons, I mean. Not that there’s anything wrong with not being in the Talons.” Although, there were some dragons who didn’t agree with that statement. What if Ink thought that it was ever dragon’s duty to work for peace?
“Oh, sort of the same as you, I guess,” Ink answered. “My dad is part of the Talons and is old friends with Fracture, so he kind of just brought me in after my actual parents died. I’m a hybrid, and my dad is . . . unusual, so there’s not really many places for us in normal dragon society. I lived in Possibility for a while though.”
“You’re an orphan?” Inferno asked, surprised. She winced, realizing that might be a sensitive subject. “Er, I’m sorry about that,” she continued, trying to correct the situation. “It must be hard not knowing your parents.”
Ink shrugged his wings. “I guess. This might be weird, but I think I’m sort of lucky. I had a good family, better than the one I would have had.” In reality, he really did know his parents, at least one of them, from his visions. He knew what his life would’ve been like if Loresearcher and Torrent hadn’t died, at least in small glimpses. As guilty as he felt for thinking it, Ink knew that he was much happier raised by Griffin, Clarity, and Fracture, without an uncaring and fickle father, without a cruel and cold brother.
“Huh,” Inferno answered. “Don’t worry, it’s not weird.” In all honesty, it was a little bit weird. But even with their differences, Inferno started to feel that maybe Ink was a little bit like her — a misfit brought into the Talons of Peace.
“Yeah,” Ink smiled. “Can I ask you something a little personal? I don’t want to seem like I’m criticizing you or anything.”
Does he want to ask about my firescales? Inferno wondered. It was nice that he’d asked for permission first, most dragons just went ahead and asked super-personal questions. “Sure, go ahead.”
“Why didn’t you speak back to Webs?” Ink queried the SkyWing. “You were just kind of silent. Was it because he was a teacher?”
Inferno stood silent for a moment, stiff. She hadn’t been expecting that question. She took a deep breath, and reminded herself that Ink was a friend. She could be open with him. “I didn’t want to scare him,” she answered. “I could hurt him really easily, and if he’s worried I might get angry, he might get frightened and do something unexpected. Or he could tell Tsunami that I threatened him, and I’d be kicked out of here.” Or even worse, what if Inferno did get angry, and hurt him on purpose? She shuddered. “Like what happened with Ermine.”
“With Ermine?”
Inferno sighed. “When I arrived at the school, he was being really rude and said I was like Peril, and I snapped at him a little. I didn’t mean to scare him, and I didn’t think I was being threatening, but he ran off and got Tsunami and she got all angry at me for scaring him.”
Ink thought for a moment. “I’m sorry about that,” he replied. “But you can always speak back to me if I’m saying something rude, and I’ll try and help out if Webs keeps giving you trouble. Can I tell you a secret?”
“A secret?” Inferno asked, unsure why Ink changed the conversation so quickly. “Sure. I won’t tell anyone.” What if she was promising too much?
Ink tapped his talons on the ground, wondering how to ease into this. “Do you remember Polar?”
Inferno snorted. “I don’t think I could forget. Not that Polar’s a terrible dragon or anything, he’s just . . . rememberable.”
Ink laughed. “Don’t worry. I know his personality is a bit gritty. I was just thinking about him since we were talking about our connections with the Talons of Peace.”
“The Talons of Peace?” Inferno asked. “He’s not part of it too, is he?” She really didn’t see the IceWing as rebellious.
“No, no,” Ink answered. “But I told you that Queen Glacier took Fracture and Clarity’s dragonet before banishing them from the Ice Kingdom, right? Well, apparently Polar’s that son.”
“Wait, seriously?” Inferno gasped. “But he’s nothing like them. I mean, I don’t think so at least.”
“Yeah,” Ink confirmed. “He thought they were dead when I met him. He really hates them too. He feels like they betrayed him and Queen Glacier. I wanted to tell you this because I think all of us being here at once is a really weird coincidence, especially with the drought and Thorn’s death. Like, what are the chances of three dragons, each with connections to the Talons of Peace, all arriving at Jade Mountain at once?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Inferno replied. Is this some sort of conspiracy theory?
Ink opened his mouth speak again, but a dragon’s yell interrupted him. “Hey, Ink, Inferno!” Skytaker’s voice called. “What are you still doing down here? You don’t want to spend more time in Webs’ class, do you?”
The SkyWing-NightWing dragonet walked into the room, one of their foreclaws wrapped around Ermine’s tail, dragging him in. Ermine glanced up to the two with a sigh, having given up on resisting Skytaker.
“Guess who just arrived?” Skytaker asked excitedly. Not giving Ink and Inferno any chances to guess, they explained. “The Jade Winglet. They’ve returned! Ermine saw them flying back, and came to alert me.”
“I was alerting Tsunami, not you,” the small IceWing grumbled. “And you didn’t have to drag me all the way down here.”
Skytaker ignored him. “They’re sort of like celebrities here. You should meet them and say hello before the next class starts! Although it might be delayed since they’ve come back. C’mon!”
With no hesitation, Skytaker turned around, and started to drag Ermine back up the tunnels. The IceWing sighed, and Ink turned to Inferno. He’d tell her about his visions later. “You want to go?”
Inferno hesitated a moment. “I mean . . . not really.”
“Oh,” Ink said, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
Inferno huddled her wings in next to her body. “Peril’s in the Jade Winglet,” she sighed. “I don’t want to meet her.”
“Peril?” Ink asked, confused.
Inferno scratched at the cave floor. “I know dragons have said that she’s changed, but I heard stories about her from the other Talons when I was growing up. The awful things she did as Queen Scarlet’s champion. My mother would tell me never to become a monster like that.”
Ink pondered on this for a moment. “Well, it’s not like you’ll turn evil just by talking her. Anyways, you’ll have to meet her eventually if you stay here. I can go with you, if you want. That might make it easier.”
Inferno shuffled her claws. Ink was right. Peril would probably want to meet Inferno eventually. Unless Peril saw Inferno as some sort of threat, which would probably be worse. “Alright.”
Ink smiled. “Great, let’s catch up to Skytaker and Ermine before they get away.” He quickly ran into the tunnel leading from the classroom. Inferno followed behind, making sure to keep a distance from the tip of Ink’s tail.
It wasn’t long before Skytaker and Ermine came into view, Skytaker having been slowed down by dragging Ermine. Ermine glanced over at Inferno cautiously as he saw the two approach. “You can let me go,” he grumbled to Skytaker, “I can walk.”
Skytaker continued this for a moment, and suddenly dropped Ermine’s tail, causing the IceWing to fall flat on the ground. He slowly got up and followed after Skytaker with a sigh.
“What’s with you always sitting at the academy’s entrance?” Skytaker interrogated Ermine, not bothering to turn their head to face the IceWing. “Were you waiting for the Jade Winglet to come back? Seems pretty boring.”
Ermine kept his head low, and shrugged his wings. “Not much else to do here. And I like the mountains. They look a little bit like home.”
Skytaker snorted indignantly. “‘Not much else to do?’ What do you mean? There’s plenty to do. Why don’t you hang out with your winglet or something? You’re in Quartz with Newt, right?”
Ermine gave out a loud sigh. “No one there likes me.”
Skytaker rolled their eyes. “Then maybe start being a little more friendly instead of moping around all day. You can chill with Silver if you want. Hehe, chill.”
Ermine shook his head and grumbled. “I’m going back to the Ice Kingdom soon anyways, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Skytaker swished their tail back and forth. “Alright,” they replied. “Suit yourself. But you’re free to come over if you want to.”
It wasn’t long before the four reached the entrance of school. It was busier than Ink had ever seen it, with the platform filled with students of all ages as they greeted the returning Jade Winglet. Skytaker nudged Ink with a wing, and lifted up a claw. “That’s Winter, Kinkajou, Mouse, Turtle, and Peril,” they said, pointing to each of the dragons in succession. “Aww, I can’t see Moon and Qibli. Maybe they’re talking with Tsunami?”
Skytaker’s guess was confirmed to be false as the booming voice of a dragon suddenly yelled from behind. “EVERYONE QUIET!” Tsunami ordered as she walked into the entrance cave. She barged into the crowd, clearing a path within students to the five dragons of the Jade Winglet. The SeaWing fumed as she glared up and down the five dragons. Turtle shyed back a little from his older sister. He didn’t need mind-reading to know that she was already thinking of a suitable punishment.
“I see our most of our missing winglet has returned,” Tsunami growled, glaring at Turtle. “Where are Moon and Qibli? If they’re hurt—”
“You really don’t need to worry about them, they’re fine,” Kinkajou suddenly spoke up. “They’re in the Scorpion Den right now, not that the Scorpion Den isn’t dangerous, but they’ll be safe since Qibli knows his way around there. I know that since he led us around th—”
“You were all in the Scorpion Den?” Tsunami interrupted.
“Yeah but it’s fine we’re all fine,” Kinkajou hurriedly continued. “There were like a few dragons who were glaring at us in not so nice ways and there were some mean comments but like there are seven of us so who’s going to bother us? No one smarter than a camel. Which there were a lot of. But Moon got an urgent vision so we kind of ha—”
Tsunami made a loud coughing sound, and glared at Kinkajou. “I’m sorry, what did you say? Moon is learning long division? That’s very good for her. You know what Kinkajou? It’s a bit crowded here so how about you and I go back to the headmaster’s cave and talk about this where it’s more quiet. I’ll get to the rest of you troublemakers later, so don’t think you’re not getting out of discipline. That goes for the rest of the winglets too, if you ever decide to fly off on a non-sanctioned field trip.”
Kinkajou rolled her eyes. By now, Moon’s powers were one of the worst-kept secrets in the school and the rainforest, and with more NightWings and NightWing-RainWing hybrids with powers coming on the way, there wasn’t much point in hiding them much longer. The students were asked not to talk about them to dragons outside of Jade Mountain, since Queen Glory was trying to keep the NightWing powers a secret, especially with all the fiasco when everyone realized (incorrectly) that the NightWings didn’t have powers. Still, rumors spread like a wildfire.
Kinkajou followed Tsunami as she walked back through the crowd, leaving the students to greet the remaining four dragons of the Jade Winglet. As Skytaker and Ermine walked into the crowd, Inferno stayed back with Ink. She ducked her head slightly as she carefully watched Peril, who was chatting with a few of the students. She seemed . . . normal. How could they all just talk casually to a dragon who’d brutally killed hundreds? Only Trustbreaker, Ash, and Goat had treated Inferno normally like that, and she wasn’t even a mass murderer.
Suddenly, Peril turned her vivid blue eyes towards Inferno, causing Inferno to shudder. She’d been seen. Ink turned to her, feeling the air around him get warmer. “Don’t worry,” he calmed her as Peril started to walk through the quickly parting crowd towards Inferno, “it’ll be alright.”
Turtle trailed behind Peril as the excited fireborn walked up to Inferno and Ink. For a moment, Peril stood in silence, staring at Inferno, whose tail was defensively between her hindlegs. Ink suddenly felt the temperature around him get even warmer, and forced himself to avoid instinctively backing away.
“You have firescales,” Peril said, her eyes wide open. “Like me.”
Inferno opened her mouth, but she wasn’t sure what to say. What could she say? Peril didn’t give her the chance. A goofy grin suddenly washed over Peril, and the SkyWing rushed forward. Alarmed, Inferno covered herself with her wings, and put her foreclaws defensively in front of herself. Peril climbed into them, and wrapped her forearms and wings around Inferno in a hug.
Inferno shuddered as Peril embraced her, the SkyWing’s scales rubbing against her own. She closed her eyes as her muscles tightened in fear. No one had ever hugged her before, and she’d tried very hard to forget the few times she’d ever touched another dragon.
Inferno slowly pushed Peril off of her, and took a step back. She glanced down to Peril’s claws, as Peril took them off Inferno’s body. They didn’t appear to be bloodstained, although there was no telling how many dragons had died under them.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” Peril shouted excitedly. “What’s your name? Where did you come from?”
Inferno tried to stammer something up, but couldn’t. Ink took her place. “She’s Inferno, and I’m Ink. We’re prospective students from the Talons of Peace. Sorry, she’s a little bit tired,” he commented to Peril. “She didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”
Inferno silently thanked Ink. It was technically true — she hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night. She wondered if Peril also had her deceased sibling in her head. This dragon didn’t seem like the murderous killer everyone had told Inferno she was. Maybe her sibling had convinced her to do it somehow?
Ink noticed the SeaWing behind Peril staring curiously at him, as if there was something curious about the hybrid that he’d noticed. Ink gave Turtle a smile, trying to comfort him.
“Ooh, the Talons of Peace?” Peril asked. She touched Inferno’s neck again, causing her to wince. It didn’t hurt, but the feeling of another dragon touching her own scales was weird. Especially this dragon. She took a deep breath. Calm, kind, and careful.
“I know a few dragons from the Talons of Peace,” Peril commented. “They’re good dragons. I don’t know if it’s because the Talons raised them right, but you have to be a really great dragon if they raised you. I mean the Dragonets of Destiny, of course. You’ve met them, right? Have you met Clay? You weren’t raised together, were you?” A dark thought seemed to quickly flash across Peril’s expression, but she quickly hid it. “Of course not, the Dragonets were sort of raised alone, and didn’t meet most of the other Talons. He told me this. I haven’t seen him since we got back.”
“Skytaker mentioned that Clay left right before we got here,” Ink explained, trying to get Peril’s attention off the shaking Inferno. “I think he went to the Sand Kingdom, after Sunny. Or Queen Sunny now.”
Peril looked a little bit crestfallen, but her mood perked back up. “Oh, that’s alright,” she said, reassuring herself. She turned to Turtle, who was still inspecting Ink. “I guess we missed him, huh. Because we were also in the Sand Kingdom. Not where Clay is in the Sand Kingdom, because the Sand Kingdom is really large and we weren’t near the palace, but missed as in we were in the same general region. Even though he’s about the same distance from the Scorpion Den as the Scorpion Den is from Jade Mountain. So not really just missed him at all. Oops.”
Turtle lowered his head down, trying to see under Ink’s wings. Ink shuffled them, hiding the underside from the prying SeaWing’s view. “Hey, um, Peril,” Ink commented, trying to get the SkyWing’s attention again, which was still focused on the other fireborn. “Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but Inferno really should go sleep now. Maybe we can continue this later.”
Peril blinked. “Oh, alright. That’s fine. I’m not at all disappointed in this.” She turned to Turtle. “Really, I’m not.”
Turtle shrugged his wings. “I didn’t say anything otherwise.”
“C’mon Inferno, let’s go,” Ink suggested. He held out his claws, but realizing how bad an idea that would be, carefully pulled them back. He glanced back at Peril. “Sorry, she’s been using your room to sleep in while you were gone. Since you’re back, I can fireproof the guest room. Maybe get a few rocks in there so that Inferno doesn’t roll in her sleep.” Polar wouldn’t be happy to have a living fireplace in the room, but he’d just have to bear through it.
Inferno nodded, and gave out an exaggerated yawn. “Yeah, um, goodnight Peril. And, um—”
“Turtle,” Turtle reminded her. “Don’t worry. I’m used to it.”
Inferno winced, and slowly shuffled away, Ink waving behind her at the two Jade Winglet dragons. As they left, Turtle glanced curiously at Peril. “Well, that was an interesting encounter.”
Peril nodded. “She hates me, doesn’t she? Ugh. You’d think that other fireborns wouldn’t hate me, right? Nope. But that’s alright. I’m used to dragons hating me on first sight. Just like you’re used to dragons forgetting your name.”
“It’s less forget than not being able to distinguish me from my brothers,” Turtle replied. “And I doubt she hates you. She’s probably just shy.”
Peril shook her head. “She was scared. I’ve seen enough dragons frightened of me to know.”
Turtle wasn’t quite sure what to say. The two stayed in silence for a moment. Turtle glanced around the room. Somewhere amidst the crowd of students, he noticed another SeaWing, carefully watching Inferno. An adult. Maybe a new teacher? he wondered. The SeaWing suddenly noticed Turtle’s gaze, and ducked, slipping into the crowd. Turtle frowned. Strange. But it wasn’t that unusual for a dragon to stare at Peril.
“Did you notice anything weird about Ink?” Turtle asked.
“Ink?” Peril considered. She hadn’t really paid much attention to him. “I dunno. He didn’t have gills, did he? That’s sort of weird. He’s a hybrid, right?”
Turtle nodded. “I’m pretty sure. But not that. He looked a bit like a few of my brothers. I guess you wouldn’t have noticed that.” He lifted a wing up, showing the starburst patterns beneath them. “Dragons in the royal family have these starburst patterns beneath our wings. I tried to check if he had them, but he moved his wings against his body so I couldn’t see. It was a bit suspicious.”
“You think he’s part of the royal family? Even though he’s a hybrid?” Inferno asked, surprised. She frowned. “You don’t think Queen Coral did it with a NightWing, did she?”
Turtle snorted, and rolled his eyes. “No, of course not. But he could be like a second cousin first removed or something like that.”
“Could be a nephew,” Peril suggested, “you have so many brothers, maybe one of them did it with a NightWing.”
Turtle winced. “Please don’t say it like that. But maybe. A number of my older brothers have left the palace. I don’t know, maybe it’s just a weird coincidence.”
== Chapter 28 ==
Polar quickly scanned down the length of a scroll. Random SandWing general, random NightWing prince, blah, blah, blah. He wasn’t so plebeian as to discount the historical significance of any scroll, but this one didn’t seem to be of much use. He didn’t need a paraphrase of every letter any dragon may or may not have written. No, I don’t care what Prince Snottysnout ate for breakfast.
Polar gave out an audible sigh, and set the scroll to the side. There had to be a better way to figure out what Crystal was up to than this. It didn’t even make any sense what the dragons were doing — looking through scrolls for information on some ancient prophecy? How would that help them, again?
“Useless?” Toxin asked. The young hybrid dragonet peered over at Polar’s scroll, before shrugging her wings. “Great. Mine too. But don’t worry, we’ve got plenty more useless scrolls in this library.” She waved a wing around to show the plentitude of useless scrolls.
Polar could see. How many would they have to look through before they found something? It had been two days since they’d started, and they hadn’t found what they were looking for, whatever that was. Queen Glory had been strangely silent about specifics, but the IceWing couldn’t tell if that was just her prickly personality or if she was actually hiding something. Probably both. Well, two could play at that game.
“Why are you even bothering to help?” Toxin asked Polar as the IceWing picked up another scroll. “It doesn’t seem to be because you want to spend extra time around mine and Glory’s amiable personalities.”
Polar flicked his tail, deciding what to and what not to reveal. “It’s part of my duty as a First Circle IceWing,” he answered. Not that duty is something they teach in the rainforest. “Queen Glacier ordered me many years ago to try and find your assassin.” If these dragons were hunting down Crystal, and the first Darkstone with her, he had to keep an eye on them. “She’s at the bottom of the Seventh Circle. I’d be celebrated if succeeded.” Not that he wouldn’t be celebrated already, if he got the Darkstone to work. He could see Queen Glacier’s proud gaze on him already. No one would care about what his parents and aunt did anymore. He’d be the first animus in two-thousand years. Chances are, he’d be wed to Princess Snowfall, and could one day even be King. Not that he wanted to marry Princess Snowfall, but he liked the King part. King Polar. It sounded so good in his thoughts.
“I’m surprised that Queen Glacier would give a mission like that to a dragonet,” Toxin commented, completely unaware of Polar’s royal fantasies.
“It’s kind of a personal thing,” Polar commented thoughtlessly, still lost in his own head.
“Oh,” Toxin said, her usual apathetic tone becoming a slight bit more serious. “My condolences.”
“Huh?” Polar asked as he snapped out of thought, confused as to where the conversation had gone. “Condolences for what?”
“Nevermind,” Toxin smiled, pulling a scroll from the shelf. She’d assumed a little too much. “You said it was personal, so I thought you meant that the assassin had killed your family or friends, and you were trying to avenge them or something.”
The IceWing winced. “Er, not really. It’s a bit more complicated than that.” This was about honor and blood. Probably not something a dragonet as young as Toxin, especially one who was half-RainWing, could understand. “It’s something I need to do to get respect.”
Toxin snorted. “That sounds like an awful large responsibility to put on a dragonet. Is this a normal IceWing thing? Forcing them to hunt down regicidal mass murderers as a rite of passage?”
“No, no,” Polar laughed. “The Ice Kingdom is tough, but we’re not that awful. Just tough enough to make sure our all our dragonets grow up to be strong and loyal. Anyways, I’ve already done my rite of passage. I’m an adult.” He twiddled with the single silver circle around his neck, showing it off proudly as if Toxin would know what meant.
“Clearly,” Toxin sarcastically responded. Polar looked to be barely seven or eight at most. Hardly old enough to be confidently calling himself an ‘adult.’ “Glory told me not to tell this to you, but if you want your search to be useful, you should probably know that I have prophecy powers.”
“Oh,” Polar said, taken by surprise. A few weeks ago, he’d have thought that she was lying, but Ink had shown him wrong. Queen Glacier would be interested to know. There had been suspicions and rumors in the last couple years, but now the NightWings still having powers was confirmed. “You should probably listen to your queen,” Polar suggested. “She’s your queen, and likely knows what’s best for you.” He shook his head in pity. Queen Glory really needed to keep her dragonets in line. Toxin had casually disobeyed direct orders; that wouldn’t have happened in the Ice Kingdom.
Toxin rolled her eyes. It’s not like NightWing powers were much of a secret anymore. Everyone at Jade Mountain and in the Rainforest knew of Moon. “Yeah, but I’d felt a little bad for you, trying to help us out and all without knowing what we’re looking for.”
Polar frowned. He didn’t particularly like a young dragonet taking pity on him. “Well? What are we looking for?”
Toxin quickly shared with Polar the visions she’d seen of the IceWing assassin and Aurora, then went on to explain what scrolls they had been looking for in the Night Kingdom, and their encounter with Aurora.
Polar considered this for a moment, and sighed. If Toxin was going to explain her secret vision powers to him, the least he could do was tell them a little bit more of what he knew about his aunt. “I doubt it will help, but her name is Crystal.”
“Crystal?” Toxin asked, confused. “Whose name?”
“The assassin’s,” Polar explained. He thought of what else he could share, but nothing came to mind. All of Crystal’s possible motives were wrapped up in Project Darkstone. And there was no way he could share that. He instinctively brought a claw to his silver bracelet, checking that it was still there.
“What’s that?” Toxin asked as she saw him reach for it.
Polar tensed up in fear. Oops. “It’s nothing,” he lied. “Just a gift from Queen Glacier for my hard work and services. Why did you ask?”
Toxin suspiciously glanced at the Darkstone. The color was distinctive. “I told you that we came across a hybrid named Aurora, right? She had a necklace with a similar-looking gemstone.”
Polar blinked for a moment, his jaw almost dropping. That was the first Darkstone. It had been only a day’s flight from here, in the middle of the Queen Glory’s kingdom. How could Aurora have gotten it from Crystal?
“What?” Toxin asked, cocking her head. “Why do you look so surprised?”
“Oh, nothing,” Polar gulped. He quickly thought up an explanation. “Er, when Crystal fled the Ice Kingdom, she stole some stuff from Queen Glacier’s treasury, including a necklace with a similar looking stone in it.”
Toxin frowned. “Maybe it’s a different one?”
Polar shook his head. “Not possible. There were only two of them made, and the second is with me.” He was getting dangerously close to telling Toxin too much information, but he doubted the dragonet would figure out that the Darkstone was more than just cosmetic. But this meant there was some link between Crystal and Aurora. Maybe there was some value in this scroll-reading after all. “Did you catch Aurora after she escaped?”
“I don’t know.” A dark look crossed the hybrid dragonet’s eyes. “If we do, we’ll make sure she’s put to justice for what she did. Deathbringer’s going after her right now.”
Polar nodded nervously. Maybe Crystal could wait. If Aurora had the first Darkstone, he needed to make sure he got it back as soon as possible, preferably before Deathbringer. He couldn’t say he cared too much for whatever justice the RainWings wanted — from what Toxin had said, it seemed more like they’d attacked Aurora more than the other way around, and she’d just killed her guards while trying to escape. But if Aurora told Deathbringer what it did, Polar was sure the Darkstone would end up in RainWing claws.
“Yeah. If you do catch her, I’m sure Queen Glacier would pay a good amount to get that necklace back. It was one of her favorites.” Polar anxiously scratched his tail across the floor. That wasn’t too much, was it? It would be bad if Queen Glory thought the necklace had some abnormal value, like if she thought it was animus-touched.
The call of another dragonet suddenly came from across the library. “Hey, everyone!” Tiger shouted. “I think found something!” Afterwards, Tiger looked at Starflight, hearing his sigh of disappointment. She winced. She had broken the most important rule of the library: stay quiet. Never again, she swore to herself.
Polar and Toxin got up, and quickly walked over to where Tiger was examining a scroll. Queen Glory and Mastermind had also moved over to the young RainWing dragonet, expectantly waiting for her discovery.
“I was looking through some of the other Black Scrolls,” Tiger explained, holding up another scroll made of the strange black paper. It rolled open, revealing faded gold ink. “I got a little bit caught up in this one. Legends of the Scorching. I think this part is copied from another scroll. It’s a story about Princess Frost.”
“Queen Frost?” Polar asked, a shiver running down his spines.
Glory turned to the IceWing. “You know her?”
“Of course I do,” Polar snorted indignantly. “She’s one of the most important figures in IceWing legend. She’s the second IceWing queen, and introduced animus magic into the royal bloodline. She set up the whole ‘one Gift per animus’ system.” He glanced around, wondering which of the dragons he was talking to even knew what the Gifts were.
Tiger nodded in understanding. She pointed a talon most of the way down the rolled open scroll, and the four dragons crowded their heads in to read. “The scroll describes Starweaver’s death.”
“Is it useful?” Queen Glory asked. She’d seen some more stuff on Starweaver, but it didn’t seem helpful.
Tiger looked a little uncertain. “Maybe. I don’t know. I think it could offer an explanation for the drought, but it seems a little . . . out there. You should read it for yourself.”
Tiger set the scroll down on the ground, much to the dismay of the dragons trying to read it, and rolled it a little further open. “The story itself doesn’t focus on Queen Frost herself, even though she plays a big part. It’s called the Legend of the Seven Animuses. How true it is . . . is up to debate. The commentary says there are a few different versions of it with disputing facts.”
Queen Glory rested her eyes on the top of the scroll, slowly reading down it:
The dawn of our age was marked by the events of the Scorching, a massive war between dragons and an invading race of what are now called scavengers. This war took place for over a hundred years, spanning the expanse of two Brightest Nights that roughly marked the beginning and end of the war. Four waves of scavenger invasions took place during this time, the third one almost bringing an end to civilization. Near the end of the third wave, scavengers had almost won with their numbers and weaponry, having taken over West Pyrrhia, including the territories now known as the Ice Kingdom, Sand Kingdom, and Night Kingdom [Translator’s note: the Night Kingdom referred to in this legend is currently known as the old Night Kingdom]. As their homes and cities were razed by the invading forces, many of the escaping dragons had fled to Eastern Pyrrhia, the Claws of the Clouds representing a temporary dividing line.
Still, the scavenger forces easily crossed over the mountains, and even with forces from the west, there was little hope for the remaining dragons. Yet, a elderly RainWing named Conifer hatched a daring plan. He claimed to have some sort of arcane powers, now known as animus magic, that he could use to bring certain victory to the dragons, but refused to provide proof of them to his fellow dragons. He was dismissed as a fake. Yet instead of giving up on his plan, Conifer traveled around the remaining dragon enclaves, searching for others like him who were willing to help him in his plan. He chose six more animuses, including himself, one from each of the seven tribes, most of whose names have been lost to time. [Translator’s note: a few sources give names for these animuses. I have included a listing of the given names in the endnotes, comparing them to each other. A huge variety of historical confusion has taken place, since one of them appears to have named their (grand?)daughter after themself, who has shown up in various other legends.]
As the scavengers enclosed in around the last dragon settlements, the seven tore out their own eyes, and combined their magic to enchant seven great weapons, called the Seven Eyes. But because of the risk on their souls the magic had, Conifer added in a clause to the combined enchantment that would kill each of the seven animuses. Yet, one, a MudWing known as Calamity, managed to escape this with an enchantment of immortality. Conifer’s curse destroyed Calamity’s body, but his spirit still remained. Calamity fled north, escaping into the Claws of the Clouds. The Seven Eyes were distributed to seven dragons that Conifer had chosen for their bravery before his death. The introduction of the Seven Eyes finally allowed the united dragons to turn back the tide of battles, forcing the scavengers to scatter and retreat. [See: The Scorching, Third Wave]
After the war, the displaced dragons returned to their homelands, but the casualties were immense, and no one knew if the scavengers would return. The seven dragons who wielded the Eyes, in accordance with Conifer’s plans, became queens over their respective domains. Along with the might of the Eyes, the unison of all dragonkind was what allowed the newly formed seven kingdoms to defeat the fourth wave of scavengers, finally putting an end to the Scorching. [See: The Scorching, Fourth Wave] In case the scavengers ever returned, the queens would be able to unite their forces once again.
But while the Scorching was over, Calamity still remained. Not long after the Sky Kingdom had recovered from the war, he attacked the Queen of the SkyWings along with a SkyWing named Ignite, whose scales could burn any dragon who touched them [See: Fireborn/Firescales]. The two took the SkyWing princess hostage, and forced the queen to give Calamity the Eye of Amethyst along with permission to use it, in return for the princess’s life.
A few months afterwards, earthquakes started appearing across Pyrrhia at rates unheard of, and it wasn’t long before a SkyWing veteran named Falcon realized that the Eye of Amethyst had been used to create similar effects during the war, except on a more localized scale. He sought out three other dragons to aid him on his quest to stop the earthquakes: Starweaver, the first great NightWing prophet; Mica, a MudWing with unburnable scales; and Princess Frost, daughter of the first IceWing queen.
The four confronted Calamity and Ignite north of the Sand Kingdom. Ignite was defeated and killed by Mica, but Mica quickly died due to a fatal wound from the battle. The remaining three dragons found Calamity, and attempted to harm him, but were unable to. Amidst the battle, Starweaver received a vision showing him that the only way to defeat Calamity was to bind him in the body of a living dragon using the blood of an animus. Starweaver tricked Calamity into entering his body, and Falcon, while not an animus himself but the son of one of the animuses who created the Eyes, spilt his blood, sacrificing himself in order to bind Calamity to Starweaver. Princess Frost engulfed Calamity and Starweaver’s body in frostbreath, trapping Calamity forever in the prophet’s frozen corpse.
The only surviving member of the group, Princess Frost took the Eye of Amethyst and returned it to the SkyWing queen. She eventually challenged her mother to become queen, and introduced animus blood into the IceWing royal family through a marriage with a son of one of the animuses who created the Eyes. Knowing the dangers of animus magic, she forced her daughter never to use her magic albeit once in her life. Eventually, her reign ended after her daughter slew her in a Royal Challenge. Queen Frost was never able to overcome the guilt of being the only one of the four who defeated Calamity that lived, and in accordance with her wishes, was put to rest in the same place her three comrades were. [See: Ancient IceWing Queens]
Glory lifted her head from the scroll. She’d known some of the Scorching history from the readings Webs had given her and the other dragonets, but most recounts of the Scorching were of tenuous validity at best. This one was probably the same. Still, something struck her.
Mastermind gave out an exaggerated ‘hmmm’ of thought. “Are you sure the names are right?” he questioned. “Prince Calamity was the name of one of Queen Fen’s sibs, who was far more recent history. It doesn’t seem like a common MudWing name. Unless she named him after this Calamity for whatever reason. Fen was quite a character.”
“Maybe he time-travelled with Nightreader,” Toxin joked. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence.
Mastermind shook his head. “There are too many eye-witness accounts of the more recent Calamity for that to be possible. There are portraits of him as a dragonet, and his death was . . . very well-known. Although I suppose the manner of death was a strange coincidence.”
“Coincidence?” Toxin asked. She knew who Queen Fen was. Some of the NightWing dragonets had mentioned her. The MudWing queen had lived just long enough ago that her history was starting to turn into legend. An animus conqueror, who’d used her magic to support her armies, allowing them to invade the Sea and Ice Kingdoms. She’d only been stopped by her only remaining sib, after she’d killed the rest.
Mastermind nodded. “Prince Calamity placed the MudWings’ Eye around Queen Fen’s neck in her sleep, the night before they were to begin their attack on the Sand Kingdom. It rejected her, and the two sibs were zapped to oblivion. Much like Blister’s own death.”
Glory frowned, a faint green starting to circulate beneath her wings. “Something is coming to shake the earth, something is coming to scorch the ground.”
The five remained silent for a moment. A cold wind blew through the library, rolling the scroll partially closed. It had been two years since Moon had delivered the Jade Mountain Prophecy, and it still hadn’t taken place. Some dragons had even forgotten about it. But its warning of doom still rang throughout Queen Glory’s ears. The Jade Winglet had managed to find the Lost City of Night a year ago in Darkstalker’s Teeth after a bit of pawing through scrolls and a suggestion from Winter (technically, a suggestion not to go there), but all they had found were ruins. No one knew whether or not that was all that was needed to avert disaster.
Tiger nodded knowingly, as if the small dragonet had already figured it out. She carefully closed the scroll. “The Eye of Amethyst was used to cause earthquakes across Pyrrhia. It would make sense that the Eye of Onyx could be used to cause drought. Or, so to say, ‘scorch the ground’.”
“Well, we found the moons-damned city,” Glory snapped. “That’s all we needed, right?” The queen winced as she saw Tiger’s look of alarm. She really needed to stop yelling at dragonets. “Sorry, Tiger.”
“Forgiven, your majesty,” Tiger said as she bowed her head. “But I suspect that our IceWing assassin killed Queen Thorn and took the Eye of Onyx.”
“Crystal,” Toxin suddenly spoke up, causing Polar to glance over to her, “the assassin’s name is Crystal.”
Glory frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I told her,” Polar admitted.
The rainforest queen licked her teeth. So the IceWing knew a little more than he’d claimed. She wondered what else he knew, and why he wasn’t telling them. “How do you think this Crystal was able to use the Eye of Onyx?” she asked. “I was there to see what happened to Blister. The same should’ve happened to her. And why would she have caused a drought? That doesn’t seem very useful.”
Polar shrugged his wings. He had his suspicions. Maybe Crystal could’ve used the Darkstone to enchant the Eye of Onyx somehow, although maybe not, if Aurora had it. “I don’t know,” Polar remarked, not giving anything up, “but I do know this. Crystal is pure evil. She doesn’t need any motivation to cause a drought, as long as it would hurt dragons.” She stole our chance at getting animus magic, Polar thought.
Glory considered this for a moment. Being pure evil didn’t seem like a very good reason. “We have a lot here,” she decided. They had the cause of their drought. “I’m going to think on this for the night, and decide what to do.” Part of her wanted to go off after Crystal herself, but she had no idea where the IceWing assassin would be. She’d told Deathbringer she’d wait for him at Jade Mountain. If Toxin’s visions were correct, and Aurora would be here soon, that might give her a clue. And if there was anyone who could help her find an assassin, it was Deathbringer.
The rainforest queen stood up. “Go get some rest,” she ordered the four. “We’ll meet back here tomorrow.” She felt a little bad about having taken Tiger out of classes for so long, but the RainWing dragonet knew these scrolls as well as Mastermind. She was invaluable. 
“Thank you all for your help on this,” Glory continued. “If there’s anything I can do to repay you, let me know.” She know that included Mastermind, but maybe it was time to start the NightWing’s rehabilitation in society. She winced slightly as she thought of the RainWings dead from his negligence. Or maybe not. She’d have to think that through a bit more carefully, after all this was over.
As the group dispersed, Polar grabbed A Guide to Animus Magic, and headed into the belly of Jade Mountain, trying roughly to follow the same path that he’d gone two days ago. He hadn’t practiced with the Darkstone yesterday, and decided that it would be good to see if he could do something more with it. As the IceWing delved deeper into the caves, it quickly became apparent that he was starting to diverge from his previous path. It sloped slightly downwards, and the walls of the tunnel were wet, as if they had been soaked with water. A slight drip fell from the ceiling.
Suddenly, the rocks beneath Polar gave way, and the IceWing tripped, sliding down his belly as the tunnel ahead steepened. He gave out a cry of surprise as he tumbled, before landing in a flat area. He glanced back upwards, to where the tunnel had left him. It was too small to fly back up. Maybe he’d be able to climb. His claws were made for climbing ice after all, a rock wall couldn’t be that different.
Polar opened his pouch, the two moon globes in it revealing that nothing had slipped out. He touched a talon to the Darkstone, just to make sure it hadn’t popped out of the bracelet. Still there. The IceWing glanced around. He’d dropped the moon globe he’d been carrying in the fall, and it had rolled a short way, until it had been stopped by a stalagmite. The IceWing picked it up, and raised the moon globe in the air, letting it light up his surroundings. The cave he’d been dropped in was huge, agoraphobic. The surface was covered with a field of stalagmites, and it would be difficult to walk through. But it wouldn’t be hard to fly. This would be a good place to practice.
Polar took a deep breath, deciding what to try and enchant. Maybe the same thing would be good. He didn’t want to wear himself out so much he couldn’t get back. The IceWing picked up a small rock from the ground, and placed it in front of him. He then pulled his healing diamond from the pouch, and put it in his left paw. The injuries where the diamond had cut it had healed up quickly, probably due to the enchanted healer itself. That was fortunate. He set the moon globe to the side.
Polar laid himself down, and locked his eyes on the stone in front of him. He moved a few of his claws to the Darkstone, already feeling his scales beneath it ache and burn. He breathed in and out, steadying his breath. It was time. “I enchant this rock to lift up off the ground one talon-length for the next minute.”
Polar winced as he felt the pain in his arm, and dizziness started to overcome him. The scales beneath the Darkstone felt like they were melting, and the IceWing gritted his teeth, clenching harder onto the Diamond Healer. Breathe, Polar, breathe. He focused his eyes on the stone, managing to keep himself from falling this time. The pebble slowly started to rise into the air, until it was just above the ground.
Polar stared at it for a few seconds. He’d been uncertain if the enchantment had worked last time. This confirmed it. He could use animus magic. The IceWing slowly reached out a talon, and prodded the stone. It started to turn midair. With nothing but air to stop it, it kept rotating. Polar couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. He’d done that. Magic.
Suddenly, the rock dropped the ground, making a clattering that echoed through the cavern. A brief thought came over Polar. What else could he do with magic? So much was open to him now, he barely knew where to begin. The IceWing lifted himself up a bit, and took a step forward, before collapsing to the ground, his left foreleg in pain. Maybe he was getting a bit ahead of himself. If getting a pebble to float took a toll on his body, trying to do two enchantments in one day would be disastrous. And using magic liberally — that wasn’t the IceWing way. Tradition dictated that an IceWing animus could only use magic once in their life, for a selfless Gift to the kingdom. It’s how they avoided Albatrosses, Darkstalkers, and Fens. Polar had already used it twice, but that was a special circumstance. He wasn’t a natural-born animus. He needed to learn how to use it from the Darkstone, and that required practice.
Polar got back to his paws, steadying them as they shook. Limping with his left foreleg, he picked up the moon globe. A glimmer of light from across the dark cave suddenly caught his eye. Polar frowned. Was someone there? What if someone had seen him? He quickly doused the moon globe, hiding in his pouch. The cave went pitch black as the IceWing’s eyes adjusted. But suddenly, glimmers of colorful began of all hues to appear all around the cavern, small flickers. The cavern ceiling lit up like a field of stars. The IceWing looked around, amazed that he’d missed this. He turned to the stalagmite next to him. He could see now that it covered in small glittering gems. He touched a talon to a bright green one, and it seemed to flicker in response.
After the sense of amazement in his view faded, Polar pulled out the moon globe again, the light causing the colorful gems to go dark again. He looked up to the tunnel he had slid down. His legs were still shaking from his use of the Darkstone. Maybe there was a better way out. A quick scan around the area revealed another thin tunnel, going upwards. That could lead to the surface. If it didn’t, Polar could always come back here, he just needed to make sure he remembered his path. Walking around the stalagmites on the ground, Polar headed up the tunnel.
The tunnel seemed to go almost straight up. While there were a few small passages leading away from it, none of them were near big enough for a dragon to enter, leaving only the one path for Polar. As he got closer to the surface, the tunnel eventually started to open up. Polar breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a lit torch on the wall of the cavern. He’d found his way out. He looked around, trying to figure out where in the school he was. There were a few passages leading out of the room, but no clear indication which one led back to the main caves.
Suddenly, a scratching sound came from the cave wall near the torch. The scratching of claws. Polar whipped around, lifting up his tail, ready to plant the spikes on its end into any intruder. He bared back his teeth, preparing a blast of frostbreath. The wall started to move, the outline of a stone grey dragon visible against it. The dragon opened his crusty eyelids, shaking off a thin layer of stone and dirt. He turned his head slowly towards Polar, looking like the movement pained him.
“Who are you?” Polar growled hostilely. This was a NightWing, and too old to be one of the students. He took a step back, fear in his eyes. He knew there were stories about where the Darkstalker had died. Buried beneath Agate Mountain . . . this couldn’t be . . . had Polar’s meddling with animus magic somehow awakened him?
“Are you lost?” the NightWing croaked, his voice rough and quiet.
Polar shuddered, covering himself with his wings. “N-no,” he stammered.
“Ah. Have you come to see me? I don’t get many visitors these days. Sunny comes now and again, but few others.”
Sunny? Polar wondered. She couldn’t be in cahoots with the Darkstalker, could she? Had he put her under some sort of spell? “A-are you . . .?”
The NightWing’s expression stayed tired and blank. “I’m her father, Stonemover. I live here, if you can call this living.” He frowned as he looked Polar up and down. Something seemed off about the IceWing. “Are you a student here?”
Polar breathed a few sigh of reliefs, catching his breath. He’d gotten all worked up for nothing. Just some old NightWing. He shook his head at his cowardice. Imagine, thinking that Queen Sunny would be working with the Darkstalker. Ridiculous.
“No,” Polar replied, “just visiting.” So the NightWing wasn’t a teacher. Did he just live down here? Polar looked a little closer at Stonemover’s scales, shining the moon globe on them. They appeared to be covered with a stoney sheen, weighing the dragon down. He wondered if Stonemover could fly, or even move under that. Wait, had this NightWing said he was Sunny’s father? Queen Sunny? She was a SandWing, wasn’t she?
Stonemover continued to scan the IceWing, his eyes moving to the Darkstone bracelet. He sighed. “I can sense the magic on you. The caves brought you here for a reason, didn’t they?”
Polar gulped anxiously, and lost his train of thought. “You can . . . sense the animus magic?” He didn’t know that was possible.
“Yes,” Stonemover replied, offering no explanation. “You’re an animus too?” His eyes slowly moved along Polar, and he carefully eyed the Darkstone.
Polar snarled. “None of your business, NightWing. It’s your fault we don’t have animus magic in the first place. Your gifts are stolen from us.” It was the NightWings’ fault that the IceWings had to deal with the Darkstone in the first place.
Stonemover nodded solemnly, and let out another sigh. “We have paid our price for our hubris. I sometimes wonder if it would be better if we behaved like the SkyWings, throwing our animuses off cliffs before we could hatch. Young IceWing, magic is not something to be trifled with. It is a curse, and it will only bring you and everyone around you unhappiness.”
“That’s not true,” Polar retorted. “IceWings used magic for millenia, and everything turned out just fine for us.” He held the moon globe in front of him. “I was able to find my way through the caves because of magic. Maybe NightWings can’t handle it, but we’re able to.”
Stonemover shook his head. “I doubt you’re told the legends of when IceWing animuses abused their powers. Do you really think bringing animus magic back to the Ice Kingdom will be good for everyone? Or will Queen Glacier misuse it, and just create more war and strife? And if not her, what about her daughters?”
Polar’s expression softened. He wasn’t sure why, but something about what Stonemover had said struck a chord within him. His own life had been ruled by Queen Glacier’s lust for animus magic. Crystal had killed her own father just to take its power for herself. If dragons realized that they could become animuses themselves with the Darkstone, how many would die to get it?
“If I were you, I would throw it into the sea, or the snow, or the heart of a volcano,” Stonemover continued. “Somewhere no one can find it. Somewhere it can’t hurt anyone.”
Alarm suddenly jolted through the IceWing. Stonemover knew about the Darkstone. Polar shook his head. No more treasonous thoughts. This NightWing was manipulating him with words, just like they’d done for millenia. Had Stonemover read his mind?
“How do you know about the Darkstone?” Polar hissed. He flexed his claws quietly. If the NightWing had figured out the IceWings’ best-kept secret, he could tell. Polar knew what Queen Glacier would want him to do — kill Stonemover and make sure his mouth was closed, permanently. Especially if Stonemover himself was an animus. Yet, Polar hesitated. He didn’t really want to kill this old, seemingly harmless dragon, especially if he was the father of not just one of the school’s headmasters, but the new SandWing queen. It would be unprovoked, and poor repayment of Jade Mountain’s hospitality. Dishonorable.
“You’re not the first dragon I’ve seen who’s carried it,” Stonemover answered. He let out a groan, as if the very act of staying awake pained him. “I’ve seen the evil it can do with my own eyes, many years ago.”
Of course. “So you’ve met Crystal?” Polar asked. That would explain the stone-covered scales. Stonemover remaining alive like this seemed to be a worse fate than death.
Sadness showed through Stonemover’s eyes. “I have,” he replied quietly. “If you wish to see for yourself, follow the tunnel behind me.”
Polar stiffened up. What did Stonemover want him to see? The NightWing offered no further explanation. Polar nodded his head, and slowly walked into the corridor. It sloped upwards, towards the surface. His talons shook as he slowly walked up. What if this was a trap? What if Crystal was at the other end, waiting for him?
As the tunnel levelled off, it grew into a larger cave. A cold blast of mountain air suddenly hit the IceWing’s scales. From the outside. He’d reached an exit. He immediately saw where the wind was coming from: a small hole across the outside of the cave, where a few rays of light entered the cavern. Plants had naturally grown up around it, but towards the top of the entrance, what looked like a few carefully woven vines remained. A few stones had been placed in a circle not far from the entrance, as if to make a fireplace.
As Polar turned his head, the motionless figure of a dragon caught his gaze. A NightWing with stone covering her scales — no, not covering. This looked far more thorough than the stone on Stonemover’s scales. It appeared as if she’d been turned to stone both inside and out. Her head was lifted up, as if another dragon had been holding it. Her grey eyes looked to the right. Polar followed her stare, but whatever had caught her gaze, it was gone.
Polar walked closer to the NightWing, examining her. He brought a talon up to her neck, feeling it. No movement. Just as he’d suspected, she’d turned fully to stone. He’d seen it before, in the Ice Kingdom. Queen Glacier had a locked room, deep within in the palace, where she’d kept the stone bodies of Crystal’s victims during the attacks before Polar’s hatching. This looked the same. It had to have been Crystal’s clawwork.
As Polar turned back, something caught his eyes behind the NightWing. He leaned his head down to see a small structure of hardened dirt and sand, protected from the wind and rain by the cave. Inside it were the fragments of eggshells. The colors were faded, but he could make out faint tones of blacks and blues. This was a nest. A small glance to the right confirmed his suspicions. The skeleton of a miniature dragon lay across the cavern wall. A newly hatched dragonet.
Polar stood up. Whatever had happened here, Crystal had done it. She’d terrorized Pyrrhia for long enough. Queen Glacier had given Polar a duty, and he’d waited far too long to fulfill it. It was time for Crystal to pay.
Polar slowly walked down the tunnel, back into Stonemover’s chambers. He looked at the NightWing with new eyes. He was just as much a victim of Crystal as Polar was. “I’m sorry,” he said, offering his condolences, “was she . . . ?”
“Nightreader,” Stonemover explained. “My sister.” 
Polar nodded, sorrowfully. He frowned as a realization came into his mind. Ink had mentioned that he’d come to Jade Mountain to visit his uncle. He said that his parents had been killed. And there’d been faint tones of blue on the eggshells in the nest. “You don’t happen to have a nephew named Ink, do you?”
Stonemover thought for a moment, as if he was trying to remember. “I did.”
“Huh,” Polar mused. He wondered why Ink hadn’t yet talked to Stonemover, if he was coming to visit. Did Stonemover think Ink was dead? If he did, it wasn’t his business to get involved in.
Stonemover had said he was Queen Sunny’s father, hadn’t he? That meant Queen Sunny was half-NightWing. And it meant that Queen Thorn had been Stonemover’s mate at one point. Polar wondered if Stonemover already knew about her death. It sounded like he hadn’t seen anyone down here for a while, so Polar doubted it. He considered telling him, but decided not to. Maybe he’d remind Tsunami, it would probably be better if Stonemover heard the news from someone he knew better.
“Er, you don’t happen to know the way back to the academy, do you?” Polar asked.
Stonemover thought for a moment, and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’ve never been. But there’s an exit in the cave I showed you, you should be able to fly around the mountain to see the main entrance.”
Polar sighed. That was what he was afraid of. He wasn’t particularly keen on seeing the grizzly scene again. “Alright, thank you for everything.”
Stonemover looked at him with a confused expression, wondering what Polar was thanking him for. He looked at Polar pleadingly as the IceWing started to leave. “Please, young IceWing, consider what I said. If Queen Glacier, or any other queen, gets the power of animus magic, it could spell doom for all of Pyrrhia. Believe me. There are fates far worse than death.”
== Chapter 29 ==
“Loresearcher,” Ink called.
The hybrid sighed, and looked over his wing towards his brother. “What is it now?” he asked. “I’m a bit busy here.” He folded up the scroll he’d been reading, and set it down next to the others he had been reading. Starflight cocked his head, hearing the noise. The library wasn’t really a place to chat.
“Um, I just heard something from Polar,” Ink notified him, lowering his voice. “He says that Toxin says she saw Aurora on the way here.”
“Toxin?” Loresearcher asked.
Ink nodded. “She’s a hybrid too. She came with Queen Glory. Apparently Aurora was captured, but killed some RainWings back in the rainforest in her escape. I think she might be coming here.”
If Loresearcher was surprised, he didn’t show it. He pondered on this for a moment, Ink awaiting what his brother decided to do. He wondered why Aurora would be here. His half-sister, who’d helped Crystal kill Ink’s mother and sister. His claws tensed up, just thinking about her. The two brothers had seen her again, a couple of years ago. Ink had tried to fight her, but there was no chance of him winning. He felt the scar on the underside of his right wing that she’d given him. If she’d wanted to, she could’ve gutted Ink. But she’d let him live with the reminder. Loresearcher wasn’t scared of anyone, but if there was one dragon Loresearcher were to be scared of, it would be Aurora.
“If she’s coming, then we need to make sure we’re focused when she arrives,” Loresearcher decided. “We can’t have interference from outsiders.” Loresearcher set down his scroll, and started walking towards the library’s exit, turning the tunnel.
Ink nodded. His brother was truly wise beyond his years. He thought about what Loresearcher meant. “Do you want to . . . evacuate the school?” Ink quietly followed behind his brother, wondering where he was going.
“No,” Loresearcher responded. “I doubt the headmaster would listen to us. They had a series of murders and attempted murders a few years ago, right before Queen Scarlet returned to power. They didn’t evacuate then. It would take a few natural disasters to cause them to evacuate the school now.” Loresearcher considered the idea for a moment, wondering how plausible the idea was. He shook his head. Too risky, especially if Aurora would be here soon. Or worse, if she was already here, just waiting for the right time.
“So, how do we . . . stop interference?” Ink asked.
“My main concern right now is Seahorse,” Loresearcher responded. “He’s a wild card. He has something enchanted, and I don’t trust him not to use it. I doubt he’s working with Aurora, but I don’t know his motivations. We need to remove him from the picture.”
Ink gulped. “When you say remove him from the picture, you don’t mean—”
“Kill him?” Loresearcher asked, slightly annoyed that Ink seemed to be questioning him. “That’s probably the safest way to do things, but I plan to get more information first.”
“Oh,” Ink replied unhappily. He sighed. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. He knew by now that he couldn’t stop Loresearcher if he’d made his decision. There wasn’t really much point in trying. At this point, he could tell where Loresearcher was taking him: back to the guest room.
The two turned into the room. Polar was laying on the ground, reading a scroll, while Seahorse was in the corner, resting. Ink had hoped he’d be asleep, but no such luck. He opened his eyes as the two came in.
“Polar, leave,” Loresearcher demanded.
Polar frowned. “Excuse me?” the IceWing growled, the symbol of the First Circle hanging from his neck. “I only take orders from Queen Glacier. A mutt like you has no business telling me what to do in my room.”
Loresearcher was unpleased. He slowly removed his harness and the wooden contraptions on his wing, setting them to the side. Ink whimpered nervously, tucking his tail between his legs. He knew what that meant. Loresearcher was preparing for a fight, and didn’t want his stuff to get hurt in it.
“Queen Glacier is dead,” Loresearcher flatly announced, his eyes focused on Seahorse rather than Polar. “Your aunt, my step-mother, murdered her five days ago. Now, unless you want to end up like your queen, leave.”
Polar stood up. A mixture of confusion, rage, and loss filled his head. Queen Glacier, dead? And now this hybrid was threatening him? And what was this about Crystal? He bared his teeth, and stretched out his claws. He huffed, a puff of cold mist coming from his mouth. Loresearcher stood still, and slowly started to turn his head towards the IceWing.
“Polar, please,” Ink begged the IceWing. He’d gotten to know the IceWing over the past few days. He didn’t want him to die like this. “This isn’t about you. Don’t do this. Just run.”
Polar caught Ink’s eyes. The two exchanged a glance for a moment, and Polar relaxed from his fighting stance. Loresearcher turned back to Seahorse.
“This isn’t over,” Polar growled at Loresearcher, before he left the room, trying to grapple with the news the hybrid had just told him.
Seahorse had patiently been biding his time, cautiously looking back and forth between the fighting dragons. “Do you want me to leave, too?” he asked. “I’m not here to fight.”
“Stay where you are,” Loresearcher ordered. “Ink, search his belongings.” He stayed at the entrance, blocking it. Ink bowed his head, and slowly walked over to the white cloth that held Seahorse’s treasure. He ripped the fabric open, the contents spilling out. All sorts of shinies spilled out: jewelry, chalices, huge gemstones, and gold pieces aplenty. Seahorse could buy himself a small kingdom with this.
The SeaWing stood up. “What is the meaning of this?” he growled. “I’ve done nothing to you. I’m not doing anything wrong.”
Loresearcher didn’t bother answering his question. “You have so much jewelry, but you always wear that one silver locket around your neck. Why?”
Seahorse stiffened up nervously. “It’s important to me. It has personal meaning. Why do you care?” Ink continued looking through the treasure. Other than the sheer amount of it, nothing in it had seemed unusual. Had Loresearcher been mistaken?
“What’s inside of it?” Loresearcher took a few steps forward and to the right, putting Seahorse between himself and Ink.
“None of your business,” he answered, his breath starting to speed up as his heart raced. “Now, please leave. You have no right to look through my stuff.” He turned his head towards Ink, who had moved on from the sack, his eyes caught on a scrollcase that Seahorse had laid down next to him. Alarm rushed through the SeaWing as he reached for it.
“Don’t touch that!” Seahorse yelled in surprise, and swung out a foreclaw, grabbing Ink by his leg and swiftly throwing him to the side. A loud crack resounded in Ink’s leg, the bone snapping in two. The young hybrid yelled as the throw sent him flying across the room, slamming into the cavern wall next to the exit. He screamed in pain as his left wing hit the hard rock surface, crumpling against it as the bones in it shattered. He back contorted around the exit, and Ink slid to the ground, his wing caught under him.
Seahorse stared in shock at Ink as the hybrid screamed in agony, like he hadn’t been aware of his own strength. “Oh three moons, oh three moons, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. No, no, please don—”
In Seahorse’s shock, Loresearcher leaped at his neck, his claws grasping around her silver locket and ripping it from his neck. As he landed on the ground, Seahorse’s form started to quiver and shrink. His thick tail thinned and curled as his snout narrowed, his strength becoming sapped. The SeaWing’s aquamarine scales started to shift colors, morphing into a blinding lime green. Even though he was older, the RainWing’s head barely reached Loresearcher’s. The hybrid frowned, slightly surprised. He’d expected that Seahorse just had some sort of strengthening spell in the locket, not that he was a different dragon altogether.
The RainWing’s eyes darted towards Loresearcher, and he bared his fangs with a hiss. He opened his jaws and a burst of venom shot out, barely missing Loresearcher as the hybrid dived to the right. The RainWing jumped towards his pile of treasure, grabbing at a mess of iron chains holding boxes together. As Loresearcher turned around, leaping at the RainWing, he slipped them on. His form suddenly grew in size, the green scales turning to the black of a NightWing’s. Loresearcher’s claws grabbed onto him, but his talons were unable to pierce into the NightWing’s scales.
The NightWing turned, ready to attack Loresearcher, but the hybrid had already leaped off him. Loresearcher slowly backed away as the NightWing walked forwards. “You can’t hurt me in this form,” the NightWing growled.
Loresearcher carefully stepped out of the cave, over the whimpering Ink, wrapped around the exit. The NightWing followed him into the hallway. “Don’t try to run.”
The NightWing’s head suddenly turned, as the voices of dragons came from further down the hallway. Ink’s screams had been heard by someone. Peril, Turtle, and Kinkajou, quickly followed by Tsunami and Polar.
“What’s going on?” Tsunami growled, as she took in the scene. The huge black NightWing, standing over Ink’s crumpled body, Loresearcher behind him.
“YOU!” Kinkajou suddenly yelled out, quickly recognizing Shapeshifter as the dragon who had put her in her coma. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE???”
Peril stood still. She knew this dragon. Her expression dropped. “Chameleon,” she said shamefully, looking at Ink. “Why . . . ? What did you do?”
Turtle looked up to her, a worried look on the young prince’s snout. Polar stared, shocked, at Ink’s body, barely breathing.
Shapeshifter shook his head, like he was trapped in a bad dream. “No, no. Please, Peril. I’m so sorry. This wasn’t supposed to happen, it was all an accident.” He looked over towards Ink. Bone was protruding from his leg, and he was losing blood quickly. Ink’s vision started to get blurry. “I can explain. I can help him.”
Shapeshifter turned back to the cave, his eyes focused on his scrollcase, but he suddenly felt scales pushed against his neck. He turned to see Loresearcher. The hybrid had poked his head beneath Shapeshifter’s chained jewelry, trying to sneak under it. Shapeshifter tried to pull him out, but realized too late what the hybrid was trying to do. Loresearcher’s body suddenly started to grow, the blue hues fading out of his scales as the enchantment transformed him into another Shapeshifter. With neither of the dragons’ impenetrable scales able to give way, the chains snapped around the two’s necks, the enchantment breaking.
As Shapeshifter transformed back into Chameleon, Loresearcher took no time to hesitate, and tore his fangs into the RainWing’s exposed throat. With a rip and gurgling noise, he tore Chameleon’s throat out, blood dripping from the hybrid’s jaws as the RainWing fell to the ground. Blood poured from his neck, pooling up on the ground as Loresearcher stood up, victorious.
Ink’s vision started to go woozy, the world turning around before him. He heard the screams of a dragon in anger, but he couldn’t tell who. A white blob stood before him, and pressed a gemstone to his chest. The pain started to subside
“Please, don’t worry, it will be okay,” Polar’s voice whimpered, trying to comfort him as his vision faded into darkness.
Ink’s eyes suddenly opened, gasping for breath as he let out a short yell. He moved his eyepatch over his blind eye, shutting it tight. He quickly touched his paws to his wing and leg. Both felt fine, albeit a little sore from sleeping on them wrong. He looked around the guest room. Inferno was the only other dragon in there. She opened her eyes, awoken by Ink’s sound.
“Are you alright?” she asked, concerned.
Ink nodded, as he took in a few deep breaths to steady himself. “Yeah,” he huffed. “Just a bad dream.” The room was hot, warmed up by Inferno’s constant supply of heat. Ink moved his wing, as if to check it was still working. He quickly looked around the room, keeping the memory of his vision fresh within his head. It wasn’t real. Loresearcher had been dead seven years. It couldn’t come true.
Inferno let out a yawn. Ink hadn’t lied about her being tired. The two had went to bed after their conversation with Peril and Turtle, maybe a little bit early. Ink wondered what time it was. It felt like the middle of the night. “Where’s Polar and Seahorse?” Ink asked Inferno. “They should be back by now, right?”
Inferno shrugged her wings. “I haven’t seen Polar. Seahorse left and accidentally woke me up, so I guess he’s still out there. He seemed a bit restless. Maybe he’s on a midnight flight or something.”
Ink nodded. That was probably for the best. He tried to remember when the events of his vision had happened . . . Loresearcher had said five days after Queen Glacier’s death. That didn’t help him at all. Was Queen Glacier even dead in this world? He had no way to know. “Inferno, I’m worried about Seahorse. I think he’s hiding something, and I’m worried that he’s going to end up hurting himself or someone else.”
“Seahorse?” Inferno asked, confused. She hadn’t really seen Ink interact with Seahorse much. Yet, Ash had told her to be cautious about the both of them. “How so? He’s a little unusual, but I think he’s a good dragon at heart.” Hopefully Ash didn’t mind that she disagreed with him on this.
Ink nodded. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.” He hadn’t really gotten a sense of evil from Seahorse, or Chameleon, or whoever he was. Thinking back on the events of his vision, Seahorse hadn’t really meant to hurt Ink. He’d just been scared, rightfully so, of Loresearcher. “Do you know why he came to Jade Mountain?”
Inferno thought about if for a minute. “Yeah,” she replied, “he told me he had a relative here he wanted to talk to. He actually wanted my help talking to this relative, believe it or not.” Inferno laughed, as if the idea was ridiculous.
That’s ironic, Ink thought. He’d lied to Polar himself about coming to Jade Mountain to visit a relative. He probably should go talk with Stonemover when he found the time. And maybe Polar himself. He hadn’t seen the IceWing much the last few days. “I believe it.”
Inferno’s laugh stopped. “Oh no. I’m really not sure I could help with talking to other dragons. You saw how I was with Peril and Webs.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Ink replied, “I’m sure you’ll do fine.” He frowned. “Do you know of a RainWing named Chameleon?”
Inferno shook her head. “No clue.”
Ink thought for a moment. Inferno was the closest to Seahorse here. If he wanted to avoid what he’d seen in his vision, it would be best if he told Inferno what he knew. “I think Seahorse can turn into other dragons, including a RainWing named Chameleon.”
Inferno looked at Ink curiously, wondering if this was a joke. “You’re serious?” she asked. Maybe he was a bit addled from his nightmare.
“Yeah,” Ink replied. “It’s why he’s so unnaturally strong. You saw the bag of treasure he brought with him, right?”
Inferno mused on this. Ink was right, but this just seemed too out there. “There’s probably a better reason than that. Maybe the bag is just really light?”
Ink shook his head, and walked over to the cloth sack. He pulled at it, but could barely move the sack of treasure. Inferno frowned. She still didn’t believe it.
Ink sighed. “Alright. I think there’s something in here that can prove it. Go to the entrance to make sure Seahorse and Polar don’t come back.” He started opening up the cloth sack.
Inferno squirmed. “You shouldn’t do that,” she suggested. “We shouldn’t be going through his stuff.” Still, she slowly got up, and walked over to the entrance.
Ink let the cloth unfold, revealing the treasure within. He carefully looked through it, trying not to displace anything, until he found what he’d seen in his vision. Iron chains, with a few boxes on them that looked like they held something. He lugged the heavy jewelry out of the sack. Inferno nervously peeked around the hallway, worried Seahorse could come back any second.
“Watch,” Ink said. He slipped the chains over his neck, and his body suddenly started to transform, growing larger as his scales darkened. When the transformation finished, Ink had turned into a huge NightWing with glistening scales.
Inferno gasped as Ink transformed into Shapeshifter. He’d been right.
Ink, now Shapeshifter, waved his wings up and down, feeling the power in them. “Oh wow,” he said. “This is awesome.” He tapped a talon on his scales, feeling how hard they were. He barely felt the heat from Inferno. “I think these scales are fireproof! I bet you could touch me and I wouldn’t burn.”
Inferno winced. “No thank you,” she replied, “I think I’ve had enough touching for today.” She shivered as she remembered Peril’s embrace.
The huge NightWing grinned, and took off the iron chains, returning to Ink. He looked back to the pile of treasure. “I wonder if every piece of jewelry does this,” he considered. He put on a golden necklace, but nothing seemed to happen. “Nope, guess not.”
“We shouldn’t be playing,” Inferno said. Why did Seahorse have all this stuff? He wasn’t like, secretly a ninja assassin or something, right? That seemed unlikely. Maybe he’d been an ninja assassin before joining the Talons of Peace? A piece of jewelry caught Inferno’s eye in the pile. “Hey, I’ve seen that earring before,” she told Ink, pointing to it. “It was on a dragon named Cirrus. He used to be in the Talons.” She gasped. “Put it on,” she suggested.
Ink carefully picked the earring up, and placed it on his ear. His form suddenly shifted again, his spines growing as his scales turned hues of white and purple. “Woah, I’m an IceWing now. Do you think I can breath frostbreath?” He thought about trying, but decided not to, since it could leave some residue. “Wait, do you think Seahorse killed Cirrus and took his identity? That’s bad, but also pretty cool. Why does my voice suddenly sound evil? Bwahahaha.”
“No, no,” Inferno sighed. “Take it off. Seahorse was Cirrus all along. Cirrus left the Talons a few months before Seahorse joined, around the time Queen Scarlet rose back to power.” In hindsight, she supposed it made a little sense that they were the same dragon. She’d noticed a few similar quirks, but Seahorse had always seemed less menacing.
Ink swished his spikey tail around, admiring it. “Alright. I really hope Seahorse is good and not evil. Maybe he could make me into an IceWing. I’d bet that Polar would like me a lot better. Do you think he finds IceWings hot? Or should I say, cool?”
He could make my scales normal, Inferno realized. She pushed the thought away. Maybe after this was all over.
Ink took off the Cirrus earring, and transformed back into his original shape. He looked over the earring. “Do you think Seahorse is an animus? Or Cirrus or Chameleon or whichever he prefers?”
“I don’t know,” Inferno said. If Cirrus had been an animus, he hadn’t shown many signs of his power. He could’ve saved dead dragons, help stop the war. Why hadn’t he?
Ink shook the earring up and down, examining it closely. A small, rolled-up scrap of paper appeared in one of its cracks. The hybrid unfurled it, squinting as he read the tiny script. “Turn the dragon who wears this earring into an IceWing named Cirrus.” There were a few more lines that added in details, some of them appearing to have been written down long after the first line.
Inferno frowned. “Why would an animus write down their enchantments on a scroll instead of saying them out loud?” she asked Ink.
Ink’s eyes went wide. “Oh,” he whispered quietly. “I know this story. My dad told it to me as a dragonet. Sort of.” A hint of confusion passed through his eyes as he tried to sort things out. That wasn’t quite true. Torrent had read him and Loresearcher tales about animuses in his visions. But that wasn’t real. Inferno looked at him expectantly. “Nevermind. But you’ve heard of the Darkstalker, right?”
Inferno shook her head, surprising Ink. He supposed it made sense she wouldn’t know.
“It’s an IceWing and NightWing legend,” Ink explained, “so I guess the Talons wouldn’t have told you.” He knew there weren’t very many IceWings or NightWings in the Talons, especially with Fracture and Clarity mostly absent. “The Darkstalker was an ancient NightWing animus. Well, according to the IceWings, he was technically a hybrid, but no one seems to remember or care about that. He did some really evil stuff with his magic I think, but what exactly he did depends on who you talk to. But he had a SeaWing friend who had a son that said that he apparently tried to make a talisman that would contain his animus powers so he wouldn’t lose his soul. Maybe that’s what Seahorse did, put his animus magic in a scroll.”
“Alright, but if he was an animus, wouldn’t he be doing something . . . cooler that hanging out in the Talons of Peace?” Inferno asked. “It’s kind of a lame way to spend your life if you have superpowers. Especially if you’re super-rich, which he clearly is.”
Ink shrugged. “But these are scraps of paper from a scroll,” he continued, “which means they came from a bigger scroll.” His eyes turned to the black scrollcase on the ground. The one which had caused Seahorse to throw him in his vision when he’d tried to touch it. “I wonder what’s in here.”
“Maybe that’s not such a good idea,” Inferno squirmed. “Don’t animuses curse dragons who touch their stuff?”
“Eh, I already touched his treasure. If I was cursed, I’d already be cursed probably,” Ink replied as he grasped his claws around the scrollcase. Inferno didn’t get the logic there — there could be a worse curse on the scrollcase — but it was too late.
Ink opened up the scrollcase, and a scroll dropped out. He quickly rolled it open, curious to see what was inside. Inferno looked out into the hallway again. This would be a really bad time for Seahorse to come back into the room. She turned back to Ink, and saw his eyes open in shock, a hint of fear in them. He dropped the scroll, and took a step away, as if just touching it had somehow hurt him.
“Ink?” she asked. “What is it?” She looked over at the scroll to see writing already on it, although she couldn’t read any of it. She’d been starting to learn her letters, but she was hardly proficient, and the script on the scroll was too old for her to recognize any of the letters she knew. 
“Umm, so you remember what I was saying about the Darkstalker? And him having a talisman that he put his powers into so that he didn’t lose his soul?”
“Mhmm,” Inferno replied. She suddenly realized what Ink was implying. “Wait, you don’t mean—”
“Yeah,” Ink gulped. “This is it.”
“Are you telling me Seahorse is the Darkstalker?” Inferno stammered.
“Umm,” Ink replied, thinking on it for a moment. “I don’t think so. There are two different clawscripts on the scroll. And it’s pretty clear which is which.” He shuddered at the one enchanting Prince Arctic. Some amount of the lower section had been ripped out, but there were other enchantments written on them too, with the same clawscript that was on the earring. A lot of them seemed a bit . . . ordinary. Like the dragon who wrote them didn’t really have any grand plans. For example, one had enchanted a mango into a golden crown, which had later been crossed out and re-enchanted to become a persimmon.
Inferno frowned. “What should we do?” she asked. “The scroll has unlimited power. We could enchant anything with it. It pretty much lets whoever have it be an animus, right?” What would she do with animus magic? Get rid of her firescales, of course. But she wasn’t quite sure what else.
Ink considered it. “I don’t know. Maybe we should get rid of it. Animus magic in anyone’s claws is pretty bad news. And I don’t know if using it would do anything to our souls.” Even if he’d only met his father in his visions, some of Torrent’s views on animus magic had taken hold in his mind. If you used magic, it would always come back around to bite your tail.
“Don’t destroy it,” Inferno said, almost pleadingly. “I don’t think we should make the decision without thinking about it first. It’s also Seahorse’s, isn’t it?”
“Well, sort of,” Ink replied. It was really the Darkstalker’s. “You think we should let him keep it?” He remembered the Seahorse from his vision. He’d almost killed him, albeit accidentally.
Inferno shrugged her wings. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. If he’s just using it for simple things, that’s not so bad.”
Ink wasn’t sure about that. There were so many ripped off portions of the scroll, he didn’t know what Seahorse had used it for. “I still don’t know what else he did with it.”
Inferno tapped her tail on the rocks. “Maybe we could make it so that no one can use it, at least until we agree otherwise. You could write something like that down on the scroll, right? Or give it to me for safe-keeping, hah. It’s not like I can use it. Actually, bad idea, I’d just set it on fire. Unless it’s fireproof.” She realized that if Ink agreed with this, she’d have no way of confirming that he’d written down what she’d asked him to. Well, she trusted him not to lie to her about it. He was the one who’d suggested destroying it, anyways.
Ink considered the option. Temporarily restricting it so that no one could use it. “That’s a good idea,” he agreed, “but I don’t think we should be using the Darkstalker’s magic. What if writing on the scroll hurts your soul, or lets the Darkstalker possess you or something like that? Maybe if we found an animus to enchant it to keep it from working. Maybe we should just let it be for now.”
Inferno sighed. “Alright. So we just aren’t going to do anything about this?”
“No, we’ll investigate,” Ink grinned. “I have a hunch that Kinkajou and Peril know more about Seahorse, but by the name of Chameleon.”
“A hunch?” Inferno asked, confused what Ink meant.
“Er, yeah,” Ink replied, “sort of like NightWing things, you know.” He packed Darkstalker’s scroll back in its case, and started to tie Seahorse’s cloth bag closed.
“NightWing . . . things?” Inferno asked. “Like, NightWing powers? You can’t read my mind, can you?”
“No, no, but it’s a little bit like precognition,” Ink continued. “But not really. It’s hard to explain. I don’t want to get into it right now, especially if Seahorse could be coming back soon. I’ll tell you tomorrow, alright? And we can go see what Kinkajou and Peril know, ‘kay?”
“Yeah,” Inferno said, staring at the hybrid. He had NightWing powers, and hadn’t told her? I mean, she kind of got why, especially with all the confusion going on about whether NightWings had powers or not. And it wasn’t like Inferno had told him about Ash, either. But it still felt like Ink had dropped a dragonflame cactus on her, and hadn’t explained it at all. Ink didn’t offer any more explanation, though, so she supposed that was all she was going to get for the night.
The SkyWing walked to her stone bed, surrounded by rocks, and lied down. She let out a long yawn, quickly spiraling into her much needed sleep. Inferno could use a bit more sleep before she approached the subject. Or talked to Peril again.
“I can help you.”
Inferno’s eyes fluttered open. Grass tickled her underbelly. She looked up to see a familiar salmon-pink SkyWing. “Oh, good evening Ash,” she yawned.
“You have questions about Seahorse and Ink,” Ash continued. He seemed far more direct than usual. “I can help you answer them. Touch their scales, and I’ll figure out everything you want to know.”
“T-touch them?” Inferno asked, surprised. “Er, I can’t. That would burn them.”
Ash snorted. “They’ll be fine. Maybe a small scar, but that’s all. Or you can talk to Peril again. It’s your call, but this way, you’ll know for sure.”
Inferno opened her mouth to speak, but Ash was gone. The grass beneath her started to burn, fire spreading across it as it crisped and blackened. The fire flared across the landscape, turning everything it touched to ash. In what felt like mere moments, the pristine landscape was no more.
== Chapter 30 ==
“Your majesty, we got news from the Ice Kingdom.” Armadillo held out a letter to Sunny, his claws stiff.
Queen Sunny grasped it in her talons, and rolled it open. She gave Clay a glance. Even if he hadn’t been able to help too much with her queenly duties, just his presence had made the last two days easier. With someone she knew, the palace had felt far more friendly.
As Sunny scanned the letter, Armadillo explained its contents. “It’s from Blackice, Queen Blackice now. According to her, she attacked the IceWing Palace yesterday morning. Her forces killed Icicle and Tundra and took the palace. They killed a large number of the aristocrats, almost anyone with a Circle Ranking living in the palace. She claims that her hold on the throne is unbreakable, and asks that each of the other queens recognize her as the rightful queen of the IceWings.”
Sunny continued to read down the letter, becoming as stiff as Armadillo. Armadillo’s description fit what it said. Every dragon with a Circle Ranking. Adults and dragonets alike.
“Three moons. She massacred everyone with a Circle Ranking in the palace?” Clay asked, shocked. He knew that Changbai and Ermine had been chosen by Queen Glacier to go to Jade Mountain Academy, and that their families were highly-ranked and lived in the palace. If this was true, that meant their families were dead, and they’d have no place to return. Clay’s expression drooped.
Queen Sunny stared at the ground, horrified. “I made the wrong decision, didn’t I,” she gulped, ashamed of herself. “Icicle would never have done something like this. She only attacked us because her brother’s life was on the line. I should have supported her.”
Armadillo shook his head. “No. You made the right decision to stay neutral. Even if you’d supported Icicle, there was nothing you could’ve done to prevent Blackice’s victory. You can’t send dragons to the Ice Kingdom — all it would’ve done was put a strain on your diplomatic relations from the start.”
“A ‘strain on diplomatic relations’?” Sunny snapped. “She massacred hundreds of dragons. Innocent ones! Dragonets! I can’t just stand by and let her become queen!”
“The SandWings won’t want to get involved in another kingdom’s politics,” Armadillo warned her. “We just had twenty years of war, and Aloe’s threat still looms. As awful as it may be, Blackice’s massacre brought a quick end to what could have been a civil war. She holds the palace, and almost every IceWing who had enough power to fight her is dead.”
Sunny made a face, disgusted. “She killed dragonets. The IceWings have a lot of lords with armies, doesn’t it? Can’t they fight against her?”
“It’s possible,” Armadillo answered. “Blackice attempted to scare them into submission, but many of them had family in the palace. I doubt she’ll be forgiven quickly. Some may refuse to swear fealty on grounds that she cannot be queen by Queen Glacier’s orders, but if she manages to put on the Eye of Diamond, they’ll likely be forced to submit. But we’re busy enough with Aloe as it is, and there’s little opportunity for support.”
“Aloe isn’t going to ally herself with Blackice, is she?” Clay asked. If Aloe wanted to pose a threat to Sunny, she needed numbers, and an alliance with the IceWings would be one way to get them. “I don’t want another world war.”
“I’d be surprised,” Armadillo replied. “If Aloe is as smart as Blister, she should know that Blackice isn’t a trustworthy or reliable ally. It would be poor image for her to announce an alliance with an IceWing who just massacred her own kingdom. But Aloe is desperate, and it’s possible there could be behind-the-scene dealings going on.”
Queen Sunny sighed. “So what you’re saying is, you don’t know?”
Armadillo shrugged his wings. “In a somewhat more detailed fashion, yes.”
Sunny thought for a moment, and turned to Clay. “Clay and I talked it over a bit yesterday.” She gritted her teeth, knowing the decision she was about to make. Maybe it was the right decision, but it still felt wrong to her, and every bone in her body seemed to physically reject it. “I think we should fight Aloe in battle. And I’m willing to commit troops, as long as they’re volunteers ten or older. And I don’t want a drawn-out war, with the other kingdoms getting involved. Better yet, I don’t want a war, maybe a single battle. Can you promise me that?”
Armadillo swished his tail back and forth, deciding how to respond. “I can’t be certain, but I can try my best. Ultimately, how long the war lasts is up to you, Aloe, and fate. But from the reports I’ve received on the size of Aloe’s forces, I doubt it’ll take long to force a surrender.”
Sunny wondered what Glory would think about her decision. Maybe she’d have figured out a better way to do this. Like having Deathbringer go in at night and capture Aloe. Although she doubted Glory would be willing to send him on a mission like that. “So . . . is that it?”
“We need to issue a proclamation. Something explaining to the public what’s going on. Preferably something that makes them agree with you. Queen Thorn kept a small standing army that’s I’ve maintained, volunteers only, seven and older. I can have dragons between seven and ten stay behind for training, although it will reduce the size of our force, and may make some SandWings unhappy they’re not allowed to fight. Should I have someone draft your announcement, then deliver it to you?”
“Sure,” Sunny sighed apathetically. “Go ahead.”
Armadillo bowed, and walked off into the palace halls, leaving Sunny and Clay alone.
“It feels like all I’ve done since I became queen has been trying to keep myself queen,” Queen Sunny grumbled. “I thought I’d be able to help SandWings, like my mother.”
“It’s only been a week,” Clay said, trying to cheer Sunny up. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re doing fine.”
Sunny shook her head. “No I’m not. One week and we’re already at war.”
Clay was silent for a moment. It was a few awkward moments before he broke it. “You don’t want to be queen, do you?”
“Of course not,” Sunny scoffed. “But it’s my fault my mother got the throne. It’s not like I didn’t knew I’d have to take it someday.”
“You still have a choice,” Clay suggested. “Just because you don’t have the Eye of Onyx doesn’t mean you can’t give someone else the crown. Did Thorn have other relatives? Sisters? A niece?”
“I asked her once,” Sunny grumbled. “She said she was an orphan. It’s why she joined the Outclaws in the first place. And with Blister’s daughter trying to take the throne right now, Armadillo thinks I shouldn’t try to start yet another dynasty by choosing someone new. Maybe after we stop Aloe, I’ll try and find someone to rule the kingdom better than I can.” She showed a glimpse of a smile. “Then I can go back to the academy.”
“There’s always Glory,” Clay joked. “What’s one more kingdom to her? And if she refuses, I doubt Tsunami would pass up an offer to be queen.”
Sunny laughed, a hint of warmth in the cold world. “I doubt the Sand Kingdom would accept a RainWing or a SeaWing as their queen. Although they’ve already got half a NightWing, so I guess we’ve made some progress.”
Clay chuckled. “Oh, speaking of that, does Armadillo know?”
“Yeah,” Sunny answered. “He’s one of the few dragons my mother ever told about Stonemover. Him and Six-Claws.”
“I guess she had to have trusted him a lot,” Clay mused.
Sunny shrugged. “Yeah. I don’t know. I want to trust him, but it doesn’t seem like he trusts me at all. It feels like he’s keeping information from me, and trying to undermine my authority as queen. For a little bit, I was worried he was the one who sent the assassin on me. And there was the whole conversation with Kudu I never got explained.”
Clay thought for a moment. “Do you think he’s a hybrid?”
“A hybrid?” Sunny asked, surprised. “Why would you think that?”
“I dunno,” Clay replied, his voice wandering. “His scales are a bit orange, and his barb’s kind of small. It might be why Thorn told him about you.”
Picturing Armadillo in her head, it did make a bit of sense to Sunny. “I guess it’s possible. Even if it’s true, I don’t think it really matters.”
The two stood in silence for another moment, not really sure what to discuss.
“You don’t have to stay here, you know,” Sunny sighed. “If you want, you can go back to Jade Mountain.”
“Oh,” Clay replied, a little surprised. “Do you not want me here? I’m sorry I haven’t been able to help much.”
“No, no,” Sunny said. “You’ve been plenty of help. I just don’t think you’ll be happy here.”
“You’re not happy here either,” Clay pointed out. “I don’t think it’s right to leave you to suffer.”
“Maybe things will get better. I’m also a bit worried about Tsunami and Starflight and the academy. With the drought and the IceWings, I think they might need you.”
“You also need me. I’m your bigwings. It’s my duty to stand by you during your greatest challenges. Right?”
Sunny smiled. “Alright,” she submitted. “You can stay in this old, dusty palace, if that’s what you want.”
== Chapter 31 ==
Polar yelled as the SeaWing slammed him into the cavern wall, pinning down his wing. Torrent took a swipe at the IceWing’s neck, but Polar ducked just in time, the dagger brushing along the edge of his wing. Drops of blue blood splattered the wall.
“Dad, stop, please! Don’t hurt him!” Ink yelled out. He took a step forward, but stumbled. His ribs were wrapped in cloth to brace them, and only a stump remained where his right wing and hind-leg had been. After the fight with Seahorse, Polar had managed to save his life with his healing diamond, but the shattered bones hadn’t healed correctly, and the two limbs had been amputated. Ink looked on as Torrent continued to attack Polar. He was useless. There was nothing he could do but hold onto the scroll Loresearcher had given him. He grasped it, carefully cradling the ancient scroll in his forepaws. He glanced to the pale-horned MudWing further down the tunnel who’d come in with Torrent, also staring in shock.
Polar managed to pull his wing out from Torrent’s grasp, and ducked beneath the larger SeaWing, trying to escape out from under him. He wasn’t quick enough — Torrent slammed down on the end of Polar’s tail. The sharp spines dug into his paw, coating it with crimson blood, but he kept the IceWing down. Polar tried to turn, but the SeaWing hit his tail into the IceWing’s skull, slamming his head against the hard floor of the cavern. It took a few moments before he tried to get up again, but by then, Torrent had his dagger on Polar’s neck.
Before he could end the young IceWing’s life, another dragon leaped onto Torrent in a blur. Torrent turned to the side as he tried to throw Loresearcher off, but the hybrid was quicker. Digging his claws into Torrent’s neck, he used the momentum from the leap and Torrent’s imbalance from his throw attempt to topple the SeaWing over. Torrent almost landed on his son, but Loresearcher was already prepared for that, and rolled Torrent over him, exposing the SeaWing’s belly. The hybrid dug his hindclaws into Torrent’s soft underbelly, quickly tearing through them. Torrent curled up, trying to rake at Loresearcher’s side with his foreclaws to stop the attack, but with his foreclaws still around his father’s neck, Loresearcher slammed Torrent’s snout against the ground.
Torrent attempted to struggle, turning his back against his dragonet while trying to use his brute strength to lift himself off the ground. Loresearcher just held tighter against Torrent as the SeaWing stood on four paws, the hybrid’s foreclaws around Torrent’s neck, and his hindclaws beneath the SeaWing’s wings, pressed against his underbelly. Unable to shake off Loresearcher’s grip, Torrent tried to stand on his hindlegs, hoping to slam his back into the tunnel wall. Something in the back of the tunnel caught Loresearcher’s eye. The fight had gone up long enough. The hybrid wrapped his tail around his father’s and suddenly pulled, causing Torrent to lose his balance and fall once more to the ground. Loresearcher sunk his fore and hindclaws into Torrent’s throat and underbelly, ripping through scales and deep into flesh.
Torrent flailed against Loresearcher, but it was too late, and his motions quickly stopped. Loresearcher pushed his father’s body out from on top of him, and stood over the dead SeaWing, no remorse in his gaze. His claws were stained red with Torrent’s blood, and two similarly colored pools started to spread from beneath his father’s neck and belly. The pale-horned MudWing stared, his forepaws shaking as if he wondered if he was going to be next.
Ink stood, shaking as he stared at Torrent’s lifeless eyes. The dragon who’d raised Ink lay dead before him, killed by his own son. “Loresearcher,” Ink whispered, unable to grasp what had happened, “why would you . . . he’s our father . . . you kil . . .” He choked up a bit.
“He’s not useful to us anymore,” Loresearcher responded, his eyes focused on something behind Ink. “And I couldn’t have him interfering.”
Ink turned his head, following his brother’s gaze. A sky blue dragon sat on her haunches, the faintest sliver of a smirk on her snout. A thin silver chain hung from her neck, ending with a deep purple stone. An iron shackle wrapped around her left foreleg, with three chainlinks trailing from it. In her other forepaw, she held a small cloth pouch, which looked like it contained a round object a bit smaller than a dragon’s paw. Every few seconds, one of her glowscales lit up in a flash, like they matched her calm heartbeat. The temperature in the cave seemed to drop a few degrees.
“You’re A-aurora . . .” the pale-horned MudWing quietly whispered.
Aurora’s eyes were focused on Loresearcher, completely ignoring Ink and the MudWing. “As useful as he was, he’d become a nuisance to us, too. Thank you for taking him out of the picture.” She turned to her father’s corpse, her expression changing to one of pity. “Though I can’t say I’m glad to see him dead. I would have liked to know him better.”
Loresearcher reached down to his Torrent’s corpse, and pried his father’s dagger from the SeaWing’s claws, still wrapped tight around it. Even in its owner’s death, Loresearcher still felt the weapon give a tug back towards Torrent. He raised it up, almost threateningly.
Aurora turned to Ink, causing the hybrid to give out a whimper, his scars reminding him of their last encounter. Her eyes narrowed on the scroll in his talons. “You better keep that safe, and away from our father’s dagger,” she warned him. “If it’s destroyed, Darkstalker will escape his prison. We’ve had it happen before. Nothing good comes of it.”
“What do you want?” Loresearcher snapped, his half-sister’s gaze returning to him. “I know the drought is your and your mother’s doing. Are you here to finish us off?”
“No,” Aurora replied, “at least, not yet. I’m here for him.” She pointed a talon towards the recovering Polar, who seemed almost surprised that he’d been picked out. “Or more particularly, the Darkstone in his bracelet.”
Polar’s rage flared up at this, and he stood up hissing, blue blood dripping from his wing. “What?” he exclaimed. “You already have the one Crystal stole. The IceWings need this. What do you want it for?”
“Polar is too much of a wildcard, just like your father,” Aurora explained to Loresearcher. “Calamity wants him out of the picture, along with the second Darkstone. Nothing else. I’m willing to make you a trade for it.” She emptied the contents of her cloth pouch, an oval piece of obsidian rolling out. “The Obsidian Mirror.”
“Don’t do it,” Ink pleaded his brother. “I’m sure it’s a trick. Please don’t do it.”
“Shut up,” Loresearcher growled. “If you want to be helpful, convince Polar to give up his Darkstone. Or take it from him, if you have to.”
Ink didn’t move, his eyes catching on Torrent’s bleeding corpse. 
Loresearcher turned his attention back to Aurora. “What good does the mirror do me? I know it lets me spy on dragons. Who would I spy on? You?”
“No. We have countermeasures for that,” Aurora answered. “But if you want any chance at defeating Calamity, you must find Duskbringer’s Eye within the Lost City of Night.”
“Why are you giving it up so easily, if it helps me find a weapon I can use to defeat you?” Loresearcher questioned.
“I’m no NightWing,” Aurora answered. “The Mirror won’t open to me, and there’s a good chance you’ll die before you find the Eye in the Mirror.”
Loresearcher considered this for a few moments. Aurora was telling the truth. “Polar, give me the Darkstone.”
“No!” Polar growled incredulously. He took a step back, glaring at Loresearcher. “This belongs to the Ice Kingdom. If the Empty Council is dead, it’s our only chance of getting back animus magic. I won’t betray Queen Glacier, even in death.” He looked around quickly, trying to figure out what to do. “Tunnel! I enchant yo—”
In a flash, Loresearcher had leaped forward, driving Torrent’s dagger down through Polar’s left foreleg, causing the IceWing to crumple to the ground in pain. He tried to finish his enchantment, but it was too late, the dagger blocking it. Polar opened his mouth, hoping to breathe frostbreath at Loresearcher, but in the seconds it took Polar to prepare the frostbreath, the hybrid jumped behind Polar and grabbed the IceWing’s horns, aiming Polar’s mouth towards Ink. Not wanting to hurt him, the coldness in Polar’s throat faded. As Polar tried to turn to fight Loresearcher, the hybrid leaped onto Polar’s back and took ahold of the silver chain around Polar’s neck, twisting it and pulling it back.
Polar pitifully clawed at the silver necklace around his neck as his own First Circle necklace choked him. He flailed, trying to get Loresearcher off, but the hybrid held on. Unable to break Loresearcher’s hold, Polar’s head finally slumped to the ground.
“Loresearcher. That’s enough,” Ink pleaded to his brother. “You can get the Darkstone. Release him, please.”
Loresearcher relaxed his hold, and let the chain fall. Torrent’s dagger still implanted within Polar’s left foreleg, the hybrid quickly tore off the silver Darkstone bracelet, stained by Polar’s blue blood. The IceWing’s scales beneath were raw and worn, like they’d been melted off by the power of the stone.
Almost silently, Aurora walked past Ink, holding out the Obsidian Mirror. She quickly exchanged it with Loresearcher for the Darkstone bracelet, which she put back into her pouch. She turned back, ready to leave, but Ink stood in front of her. The pale-horned MudWing took a few steps back, intimidated.
Ink’s body shook in terror as he used his three legs to keep himself up. Polar was out, Torrent was dead, and Ink’s own brother had turned traitor. Ink was the only one left to stop Aurora. He let out a low growl, wielding Darkstalker’s scroll at his side.
Aurora seemed fully unamused at Ink’s courage. She turned to the left, and without another word, walked into the walls of the dim tunnel, her body becoming immaterial as she phased through the rock. Dropping the scroll, Ink leaped after her, but by the time he’d landed the tip of her tail was gone, leaving no trace of her presence remaining but the Obsidian Mirror.
Ink cried out on pain as he crashed into the floor, his bandaged ribs hitting against the stone. He shut his eyes closed in agony, but when he opened them again, he was no longer in the tunnel. Instead, he was looking at the smoking scales of a SkyWing.
Ink quickly slipped his leather band over his pearly left eye. Ink glanced around the guest room, rage and adrenaline still coursing through him from his vision. Inferno was still sound asleep. Had Polar and Seahorse come back during the night and just gotten up early? Or had they not come back at all? In his vision, Aurora had wanted to take Polar’s bracelet, because it had let him use animus magic. Did it still do that in the real world? If so, that meant that Aurora was nearby, and Polar was in danger. Ink had to stop her, but how? He glanced over to Seahorse’s cloth bag, an idea coming to him. He didn’t like using the Darkstalker’s magic, but if it was the only way he could beat Aurora . . .
Ink quietly snuck over to Seahorse’s bag of treasure, careful not to wake Inferno. He didn’t want to get her involved with this. Aurora was his half-sister, and this was his business, not Inferno’s. He doubted she’d be able to do much, anyways — he knew she’d vowed never to harm dragons with her firescales.
Ink carefully pulled open the cloth bag, and as silently as possible, took out the iron chains. It wasn’t stealing, he was just borrowing it. He doubted Seahorse would need it in the meantime; hopefully he wouldn’t come back to find Shapeshifter’s jewelry gone. He lifted the chains onto his back, holding them between his wings. A giant NightWing walking through the academy would be suspicious.
Making sure each and every step was quiet, Ink left the guest room behind. His steps wobbled as he carried the heavy iron chains, every so often clinking against each other. Ink’s heart beat heavily, knowing what he was about to do. Have courage, he reminded himself. If he could beat Aurora now, maybe he could figure out what Loresearcher had been investigating. Maybe he’d be able to prevent Aurora from attacking Polar. He’d spent too long lazing around at Jade Mountain, having fun playing pretend at a life he couldn’t have. Inferno, Skytaker, Sepia, the rest of the students. The drought was his family business, and if he couldn’t end it soon, all of them would suffer for it. He recalled something Fracture had told him. ‘It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak.’ Well, Ink was the only one who had any clue of what was going on, and as soon as he put these chains on, he’d certainly be the strongest dragon in Pyrrhia.
Ink glanced around each corner before he turned it, just in case Seahorse was around the other side. Fortunately, there were few dragons out as he walked through the academy. It was still early in the morning when he finally reached the ledge outside the academy, the sun having not yet peaked over the mountains to the east. As Ink turned the last corner, he saw that there were three dragons on the landing platform. Ermine as usual, staring out into the valley. Near him, a tired looking Polar was conversing with a NightWing. No, on closer sight, a RainWing-NightWing hybrid. Right now, it didn’t matter.
“Oh, hey Ink,” Polar said as Ink walked towards the exit, a hint of excitement on his snout. He’d warmed up a bit to the hybrid. “Er, I haven’t seen you in a while. Toxin here and I have been doing some research in the library, and there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“I’ll find you later,” Ink replied. He glowered, staring into the valleys between the mountains. Was that where Aurora was? “Right now, there’s something I have to do. Family business.”
Polar stared at the chains Ink held on his back. They seemed heavy. Would he be able to fly with those? What were they even for? “Ah, ok,” the IceWing conceded, his heart falling. “If you’re looking for your uncle, he’s in a cave around the back of the mountain. The entrance is a little hard to find, so ask me if you need any help. Please.”
“I’m fine,” Ink answered. He spread his wings wide, and leaped off the mountain. The chains weighing him down, he was only able to glide, slowly circling to the left as his altitude slowly dropped.
Polar watched him until he fell out of view. What was that all about? Instead of Ink’s normal fun and carefree attitude, he seemed determined and angry. Stonemover didn’t really seem like the type of dragon to conjure those emotions in his nephew. Polar sighed, and exchanged a glance with Toxin, who just shrugged her wings. He hoped that Ink didn’t suddenly hate him now.
When Ink was finally sure he was clear from Polar’s view, he turned back inwards to the mountain, and landed on a flattened ledge. He let the chains fall from his wings, the iron boxes containing the enchantments landing in the dry dirt, causing the loose dirt and pine needles to scatter. Ink ducked his head beneath the chains, slipping the heavy jewelry on. The transformation quickly took place, Ink’s scales darkening as his body grew to an enormous size. The chains that had weight him down before now felt as light as a feather under his strong wings. His scales were as hard as diamond, no dragon could hope to claw through them. One hit against Aurora, and she’d be finished. Not to kill her, of course. Ink wasn’t an evil dragon. But he needed to put her out of commission, and maybe interrogate her.
Ink confidently soared off into the valleys surrounding Jade Mountain. The sun started to peak over the horizon, reds and oranges breaking into the blues of the dawn sky. “Aurora!” Ink called. “Aurora! Come out and fight me!”
“Who are you?”
If he hadn’t been flying, Ink would’ve jumped. He turned his head to see the sky-blue hybrid behind him. She flapped her wings slowly, almost hovering mid-air. Her gaze contained neither menace nor curiosity as she stared towards the huge form of Shapeshifter. The three chainlinks from her shackle whipped wildly around in the wind beneath her. Purple blood coated the blue scales of her neck, and a deep wound ran through her throat, running through her arteries. It seemed fresh, but the flesh seemed to close upon itself, healing as Ink watched.
Ink swerved himself around, surprised. He regained his position, and slowly circled around Aurora. He stared at her wound. How was she still alive?
“Answer my question,” Aurora commanded him. Barely moving her wings, she turned mid-air to keep her eyes focused on Shapeshifter. “You’re not the NightWing who attacked me. Who are you?”
Ink bared Shapeshifter’s huge fangs. Aurora seemed unimpressed at their size and sharpness. “My name is Ink. Seven years ago, you and your mother murdered my family. I’m here to avenge them, and to stop your evil deeds.”
If Aurora was confused, she didn’t show it. She brought a claw up to her chest, just below the Darkstone, and tapped something. Where her claw had touched, a round amethyst the color of Aurora’s blood appeared, two small golden wings curling around it. A golden chain let it hang from the hybrid’s neck. “You wish to fight me. I was told you would interfere.” She moved her talons to the wound carved in her neck, purple blood dripping down them. “Then hurry up. I need to heal.”
Ink let out a roar, and dove towards Aurora, Shapeshifter’s claws out and ready. He swung his talons at her already wounded neck, but they only hit empty air. A strong gale pushed Ink back, keeping him from approaching his half-sister any further. He beat Shapeshifter’s wings, but even their extraordinary strength couldn’t break through the winds keeping Ink away, as powerful as a tempest.
“Fight me, you coward!” Ink shouted, beating his wings again to rush forward. Aurora held out her forepaw. To his shock, the winds immediately changed on his wingbeat, and pushed him forward, far faster than he’d expected. In a blur, he’d reached Aurora, but flew right through her, his claws never making contact. When he swooped back around, Aurora held Shapeshifter’s iron chains within her talons, as if she’d pulled them right through Ink.
“No!” Ink yelled as his body transformed back. His teeth chattered in terror as Aurora turned. Even with Shapeshifter’s body, he’d had no chance of hurting her.
Aurora cocked her head, and Shapeshifter’s chains turned to glittering ice in her talons. She closed down her paw to crush them, the ice shattering into sharp shards. Ink turned, trying to flee, but the winds in front of him turned, shoving him towards the ground. Shards of ice shot past him, cutting into his scales as he screamed, red blood scattering into the wind.
Ink tried to fly away, but the wind trapped him, hurling him further down. The ground grew closer. “Please, don’t!” he yelled, pleading. “Help! Help!”
As Ink shut his eyes, his body crashed into the ground. He screamed again for a few seconds, expecting only death. It was a few seconds before he quieted, opening his eyes again. He was still alive, laying on the forest floor. His ribs were hurt and bruised, but nothing had been broken. Blood dripped onto his dark blue scales from where the shards of ice had cut into him, the wounds stinging. Had he been saved?
Ink tried to stand up, but a powerful wind kept him on his belly, his wings and legs splayed out, unable to move. Shards of ice ripped into his scales again, the air whipping them around. He trembled.
Light as a feather, Aurora landed on the grass in front of Ink, the wind picking up her wings as her claws gently touched down. Ink squinted his eyes closed again, terrified of what Aurora was going to do.
“Look at me,” Aurora commanded.
Ink did as he told, staring back into his half-sister’s eyes. “You murdered my family,” he trembled. “Why?”
“The fate of Pyrrhia is more important than our family, Ink. Had I been necessary, I would have killed my own mother instead.”
“Not ‘our’ family,” Ink hissed. “You’re not part of my family.”
Aurora seemed unamused. “I’m your half-sister. We share a father. I’m just as much your family as Midnight and Torrent.”
“Midnight?” Ink asked, confused. “Are you saying—”
“You don’t know?” Aurora asked, the faintest hint of surprise in her voice. “Midnight is alive and well. Torrent too.”
Ink was shocked. Midnight was alive? He had a sister? “But we thought . . . Griffin thought they were dead. They didn’t escape from you and Crystal. How—” 
“We left,” Aurora explained. “We’d done what had been asked of us. What was needed.”
Ink stared. There didn’t seem any good reason that Aurora would lie to him. He had a sister he’d never met. Although it didn’t matter much now. He was at Aurora’s mercy, and it didn’t seem like she had much to spare.
“Do you know why we’re doing this?” Aurora asked, staring at the leather band around Ink’s eyes. She took a couple of steps towards Ink, winds brushing against his face. “Why we killed your mother and brother?”
“N-no,” Ink trembled, seeing Aurora’s sharp claws get closer, sharp steel growing and coating them. He took a deep breath. If he was going to die, at least he’d tried to fight, as pitiful as his attempt had been.
Aurora considered this for a moment, as if she hadn’t been expecting that answer. “So you haven’t figured it out yet. And Fracture didn’t tell you.”
“Figured w-what out?”
“The secret hidden beneath your world,” Aurora replied cryptically. “The reason for all of this. But you still know too much, just like Fracture.” She moved closer, her talons within striking range. Ink felt the winds above his limbs. Another one joined them, holding his head in place. Even if he’d wanted to move, he couldn’t.
“Are you going to kill me?” he asked quietly.
“No,” Aurora answered. “If I’d wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now.”
Ink didn’t get a moment to think about this before Aurora struck her paw at Ink, tearing off his eyepatch, revealing his blank eye. Immediately, a vision started to appear in Ink’s head. Loresearcher frowned as he turned gaze down upon his shaking brother. No, Ink thought, trying to fight it, no. He tried to move, but was frozen, staring up at Loresearcher.
Suddenly, Ink was torn from the vision, Loresearcher’s figure disappearing as Aurora plunged her claws into Ink’s eye socket. He screamed in agony as her talons grasped around his eye, swiftly ripping it from his socket in a splash of blood. As he tried to flail, the shards of ice tore into his scales. He kept screaming as blood dripped down onto his snout, staining the ground red. With a clench of her paw, Aurora crushed the featureless eyeball, blood dripping from her hand as she threw the remains onto the ground below.
Aurora stood still as Ink continued to wail, staring at the young hybrid’s bloody face, at the whole where his eye had been. As Ink’s screams started to quiet, Aurora heard the yell of a dragon from above her, and turned.
“Ink!” Polar yelled as he swooped down to land in the clearing, Toxin following behind him. Aurora took a step back, letting them land. The winds above Ink subsided, and the shards of ice fell to the ground, melting.
Polar darted over to Ink as the hybrid whimpered, placing his healing diamond on Ink’s scales. “It’s alright,” the IceWing tried to comfort him, seeing the bloody hole where Ink’s eye had been. Wasn’t that the eye which he’d had the eyepatch over? The question perplexed him, but there was no time to think of that now. He looked around, unsure what to do. His eyes caught on Aurora, the first Darkstone hanging from her neck above the amethyst. He legs shook, and the burden of the First Circle felt heavy against his chest.
“You!” Toxin hissed, the small dragonet baring her fangs. “You killed them! Why did you kill them?” She noticed the wound on Aurora’s neck, like a sharp blade had cut through it. A hint of her artery was clearly visible, still structurally intact. It served her right. But why wasn’t she dead?
“They attacked me. I needed to be free, and I was too tired to phase or be careful where I hit them,” Aurora responded. She cocked her head, confused. “Why do you care? They were unimportant to Pyrrhia’s future. You’re not unimportant.”
Toxin growled. “They had names, you know! Gorilla, Tropic. Maybe Frog. They had hopes, dragons who loved them. And now they’re dead!”
Aurora didn’t answer, perplexed. Toxin yelled out in anger, and started towards Aurora.
“Toxin, stop!” Polar yelled. He rushed over to Toxin, trying to keep her from attacking. A wind started to blow against the two.
Toxin haltered, and the wind fell as she stopped. Polar stepped in front of her, and glanced back towards Ink, blood still pouring from his eye socket. Toxin was still a dragonet. She didn’t need to die like this. If Aurora knew how to use her Darkstone, she was basically an animus. She’d have animus-touched artifacts. The shackle around her leg seemed suspect. And if the amethyst around her neck was what Polar thought it was, and Aurora knew how to use it like in the legends, none of them had any chance. Polar had wanted to find her, and he’d gotten his wish.
“You see it Polar, don’t you?” Aurora asked, turning to Polar. “The family resemblance. This meeting isn’t chance.”
“Shut up!” Toxin yelled, trying to step around Polar. “It’s three-on-one,” she threatened. “Surrender yourself to Queen Glory now, and we’ll make sure your justice is swift!”
Aurora was unfazed by the dragonet’s threats. She took a step back. “I did what to had to do. Calamity’s way is the only way. We’ll meet again, soon.”
Toxin let out another roar, and tried to run at Aurora. Polar grabbed her tail, holding her back. “Let me go!” she screeched. “Don’t let her get away!”
As Polar glanced back to Aurora, the sky-blue hybrid was slowly sinking into the ground, before finally disappearing, leaving no trace of her departure.
== Chapter 32 ==
Queen Glory glanced around the library. Tiger and Mastermind were both there already, looking through scrolls for information on Calamity and Queen Frost, but Polar and Toxin were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they’d just stayed late at breakfast? Oh well, they’d helped out enough already. Toxin was still a dragonet; it was probably too much to expect her to work in the library for four straight days. She needed to have a little bit of fun, converse with some of the other dragonets. And from what Glory had seen of Polar, the IceWing could use a bit more joy in his life.
She turned back to Tiger and Mastermind. The two had been faring well. Both seemed at home around so many scrolls. She still felt bad about taking Tiger out of her classes, but Glory didn’t think she’d have much problem catching up with the rest of her winglet on schoolwork. Glory would make sure Webs went easy on her.
“Any luck?” Glory asked.
Tiger shook her head. “No, your majesty. I’ve found a few more Scorching scrolls on the legends about ancient Calamity and the Seven Eyes, but nothing new. Most of them are just repeats of what we already found. Not a lot of Scorching history has survived.”
Queen Glory sighed. She supposed that was to be expected. “Mastermind?”
The NightWing held up a scroll, too far away for Glory to read it. “I don’t think this is very useful, but it's interesting. The scroll is about IceWing animuses, and gives a few theories for how their magic originated. In accordance with the other scrolls we’ve read, it claims that Queen Frost introduced animus magic to the IceWing royal family through marriage. It also says that she confined it to the royal family, often through violent methods. But her mate’s mother, Arctic Fox, was far from the first IceWing animus. They appeared long before the Scorching. Apparently, most IceWings believe that animus magic was given to them by the Great Ice Dragon.”
“The Great Ice Dragon,” Glory mused. “I’ve heard some of the IceWing students mention her, but don’t really know what the Great Ice Dragon is.”
“Changbai told me about her,” Tiger explained. “The Great Ice Dragon is the IceWing deity, sort of like some NightWings and SandWings have moon goddesses, and SkyWings have a gryphon god. The Great Ice Dragon is said to have chosen the IceWings to grant the first Gifts of blue blood, frostbreath, and animus magic. She lives trapped within the ice. Changbai says that when the world ends, Pyrrhia will get really hot and the ice will melt, and she’ll rise up to take the IceWings to an eternal paradise.”
Glory snorted. The whole ‘Gifts’ thing just sounded like a way to make IceWings think they were better than other dragons. If that’s what they were being told all their lives, no wonder so many were as stuck-up as NightWings. “So they think the Great Ice Dragon gave them animus magic specifically? That’s salamander-brained. There are plenty of non-IceWing animuses.”
Mastermind coughed. “You’re right, but IceWings historically have had the most animuses. The conventional explanation is that animus magic gets spread through hybrids, and that all animuses can trace their lineage back to IceWings.”
“The ‘conventional explanation’ sounds like IceWing propaganda,” Glory retorted. “The NightWings have animuses, right? Don’t tell me that there’s a ton of NightWing-IceWing hybrids out there; you all hate each other.”
Mastermind shuffled. “Well, not exactly a lot of hybrids, just one important one. The IceWings hate us because we stole animus magic from them. In particular, they claim a NightWing named Foeslayer kidnapped one of their princes and . . . used him to introduce magic into the NightWings. We’ve had animuses since, although the line has been far more sporadic, and we’ve never been able to control them the same way the IceWings have.”
“Control them?” Glory asked.
“Yes,” Mastermind replied. “They’ve often caused lots of trouble. For example, there was one named Sunscorcher before I hatched. She didn’t take well to her queen telling her what to do, and eventually killed her before leaving the kingdom. It lucky she didn’t do worse. Then there was our most recent animus, Stonemover. He’s the one who created the tunnels. He never did anything violent so far as we know, although some think he enchanted the volcano to erupt early. Rumors not based in facts, of course. But he and his sister disappeared in a probably treasonous fashion around the time Starflight hatched. They were caught going through the tunnels with a SeaWing who presumably came across our island when swimming, but escaped. No one knows what happened to Stonemover, although we suspected he was killed by an animus hunter not long afterwards.”
“An animus hunter?” Glory asked, curious. She knew that Stonemover wasn’t dead, of course, although she’d tried to keep that a secret. She wondered what tall tales the NightWings had made up about the pitiful Stonemover.
“I wasn’t particularly involved with the whole incident, but around the time Stonemover was making the tunnels, there were rumors of a dragon going around Pyrrhia, killing animuses. Quite a worry for her majesty, who didn’t want to lose her only animus. But the rumors stopped after Stonemover left, so some thought that his sister had been somehow making them up in an effort to keep Queen Battlewinner from forcing Stonemover to use his magic.”
An animus hunter, Glory wondered. Well fortunately for Anemone, the rumors had stopped. It probably wasn’t a threat, unless the NightWings started hatching animuses. She already had enough dragons with the NightWing powers on her paws, she really didn’t want to add soul-stealing animus magic to the mix.
“Glory! You in here?” Tsunami’s voice suddenly called from outside the library.
Queen Glory stood up in surprise, turning towards the entrance to see Tsunami. Standing next to her was a concerned looking Deathbringer, a thin scroll in his talons. Glory let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re okay!” she said, gladly. He seemed a little bit out of breath, but wasn’t hurt. Even if it had only been a few days, she’d been worried about him. She’d sent him on a dangerous mission, and even if Deathbringer was an expert assassin, there was always the chance things could’ve gone wrong. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
Deathbringer walked into the library, and Glory gave him a hug, holding him tight. Her scales started to turn a rosy pink. “You too,” Deathbringer replied. “I came right away.”
“Right away?” Glory asked, confused, her mate’s wings still wrapped around her. “Did something happen? Did you find Aurora?”
“Yes,” Deathbringer answered. “Early this morning, I found her in the forests around Jade Mountain. I took the chance to try and kill her. I threw one of my disks right through her neck.”
“That’s great,” Glory sighed in relief. She wasn’t the kind of queen who codoned executions, but based on what Aurora had done to her bodyguards, she was too dangerous to be left free. Whatever had happened, it certainly wasn’t talons which had made some of those wounds. If Deathbringer had been able to capture her, Glory knew he would’ve done it. “I was kind of hoping to interrogate her, but I guess that’s no longer an option.”
Deathbringer shook his head. “No. It is.”
“Huh?” Glory asked, confused. “I thought you said—”
“You didn’t let me finish,” Deathbringer gulped. “She’s not dead. The disk cut through one of her arteries. There was a lot of blood. But it stopped. She turned around, and stared at me. I threw another one. It went right through her, as if she was made of air. I thought she was going to kill me, but she left. She walked into the mountainside, and disappeared.”
“Wait, what?” Glory stammered. “No, she couldn’t have survived that. Dragons can’t survive that. Not normally. Curse the moons. Deathbringer, you were right. She’s got animus-touched artifacts, or even worse, she’s an animus herself.”
Deathbringer nodded. “Probably. It’s why I came here. If Toxin’s vision is right, and she’ll be at Jade Mountain, I wanted to make sure you’re safe. Or better yet, not at Jade Mountain.”
Glory shook her head. “No, I need to see this through the end. The drought is still going on. We’ve got enough snow up here to last us a while, but the rainforest will suffer. I need to figure out how to end it. We’re close, too. I think it has to do with the Eye of Onyx.”
“If it has to do with the Eye of Onyx, then maybe you should go the Sand Kingdom,” Deathbringer suggested. “I say this because Sunny gave you an invitation.” He handed Glory the scroll he’d been carrying. Glory rolled it open, quickly reading its contents.
“It came through the tunnel yesterday, from the palace,” Deathbringer explained. “Jambu took it in your place, and flew it to me.”
“Sunny wants to meet with me urgently . . . war with Aloe . . . Queen Glacier assassinated in a secret meeting . . . Icicle dead, Blackice takes the throne . . .” Glory got progressively more anxious as she read it. She had so much to deal with already: the drought, Aurora, Toxin’s vision. This felt like too much. Still, that’s what she’d agreed to take on when she’d become queen. She’d protect the rainforest and its inhabitants, even if it killed her.
“Sunny’s starting a war?” Tsunami frowned, peering over the scroll. “Huh, I thought I was the one everyone thought would do that. What is Clay doing over there to let it get this bad?”
“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Glory replied. “Being queen isn’t just pearls and lobsters.” Still, Glory was pretty alarmed. She’d need to have a talk with Sunny about this.
“Alright, but — do you hear that?” Tsunami went quiet, much to Glory’s surprise.
Glory listened quietly. Someone was yelling. “Toxin?” A burst of green terror flashed across her scales. Oh no.
Tsunami, Glory, and Deathbringer rushed to the source of the yells, the front of the school. A crowd of students had already started to gather. “Move!” Tsunami ordered, pushing them out of the way. “Back to your classes!”
Toxin and Polar were at the ledge, a dragon’s body draped over Polar’s back. Ink. Red blood dripped down Polar’s light blue scales, onto the entrance platform.
Toxin turned to Glory as he saw her approach. “We need to get him medical care, now.”
Tsunami pointed down a tunnel. “The infirmary is this way,” she said. She frowned. What had happened? She didn’t like that none of the dragons involved were her students. At least Glory seemed to know Toxin.
Helping Polar shoulder Ink, Tsunami led the group up to the infirmary. She placed him down on one of the beds, and examined the hybrid. Most of the blood was coming from wounds all over his back and wings, like small sharp cuts. Fortunately, they all seemed surface level, and the sheer number of them made him look in worse condition than he was. The wound from his torn eye had stopped bleeding.
“Well?” Polar asked anxiously, standing over Ink. “He’s going to live, right?”
“It looks painful, but he’s nowhere near critical condition,” Tsunami diagnosed. “Nothing’s broken. He’ll survive, and most of the wounds will heal quickly; no permanent damage. I’d keep him from flying for a while, though, don’t want to risk damaging the wing membranes more. The only thing I’m really worried about is the eye. Three moons, what did he get into?”
“He was attacked,” Toxin hissed, turning to Glory. “By Aurora.”
Glory winced, and gave Deathbringer a glance. So Aurora was here, and was still alive. “Was it unprovoked?”
“Probably,” Toxin answered.
Polar shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he replied. “I think Ink was looking for her. I saw him leave the academy this morning with some chains. He was pretty angry. I talked with Stonemover yesterday. I’m pretty sure Ink was trying to avenge his parents.”
Glory flicked out her tongue. How come Aurora had let him live, especially if Ink had been the one to attack her? It was almost unfair. Glory knew Aurora could have done far worse that a few surface wounds and a missing eye. She still didn’t know if Frog was going to live or not. “Polar, how well did you know Ink?”
“Not much,” Polar admitted. “I met up with him on my flight here. He offered me water. He’s . . . nice. We’ve been rooming since we got here, but he’s mostly hung out with the Silver Winglet and the fireborn.”
“Fireborn?” Glory asked. “You mean Peril?”
Polar shook his head. “The other one. Inferno.”
“She’s from the Talons,” Tsunami added. “Riptide sent her.”
Glory frowned, and tapped a claw. It felt like Toxin’s vision was growing closer and closer. A RainWing with a burning wing, falling from Jade Mountain as Aurora watched. She’d thought that Peril would be the one to do it, but this changed things.
“Oh yeah,” Tsunami added. “Peril and the Jade Winglet came back yesterday. You wanted me to tell you, right?”
Glory sighed. “Yeah.” This was worrying.
“Hey, didn’t he have an eyepatch on this morning?” Toxin asked. “Like, over the eye socket that’s bleeding.”
Polar nodded in confirmation. “It was there when we brought him back, but I lost it in the flight.”
“Then why would Aurora attack a missing eye?” Toxin snorted. “That’s kind of pointless.”
“It wasn’t missing, I saw it a few times,” Polar replied. “He had some sort of birth defect where his eye didn’t have a pupil or iris. I think the eyepatch was just to keep it hidden so dragons wouldn’t stare.” Although it wasn’t like dragons wouldn’t stare at Ink anyways for being a hybrid.
“Fine, but that’s not really a good explanation,” Toxin retorted. “Aurora bothered to tear it out.”
“Could’ve be a blindside attack,” Tsunami added. “Excruciatingly painful and gross, but not actually a threat to his life. Same with the wounds on his back. She clearly wasn’t aiming to kill.”
Toxin sat in silence, tapping her claws on the ground. It still seemed weird. What connection did Aurora have to Ink, and why had she let him live? She glanced to the IceWing at her side, carefully watching Ink’s breathing. “And what do you have to say about this?”
“Huh?” Polar asked, confused. “I told you, his eyepatch wa—”
“No, no,” Toxin growled. “You’re hiding something. Again.”
Polar stiffened up, and shuffled his forepaws around, the Darkstone uncomfortably visible. Tsunami, Glory, and Deathbringer’s eyes had turned on him. “What? I’m as confused as the rest of you.”
“Nuh-uh,” Toxin replied. “You mentioned that you talked to Stonemover about Ink’s parents. Didn’t Mastermind say he was Nightreader’s sister? Like from the prophecy?”
“Prophecy?” Tsunami exclaimed, surprised. “Oh, please don’t tell me there’s another prophecy. I hate those.”
“Hey, that was an accident,” Polar growled. “I didn’t mean to run into him.”
“And what about what Aurora said?” Toxin continued. “‘Family resemblance?’ What was that all about?”
Polar didn’t want to think about that. “I don’t know,” he lied. “She was probably just trying to freak us out.”
“Freak us out?” Toxin argued. “That was aimed towards you. She completely ignored me!”
“It’s because you’re a dragonet,” suggested Polar. “She probably didn’t see you as a threat.”
Toxin hissed, baring her fangs. If Polar was going to lie to her, couldn’t he at least try harder? “What, you think she saw you as a threat? She took out four of the most fight-trained RainWings in seconds, and the ones still living were too traumatized to tell us what happened. Her neck was literally split open. She sunk into the ground. So, what did she mean by that? Are you two related, or not?”
“I don’t know!” Polar angrily growled. “Maybe, maybe not. Why does it matter? Why do you all care so much who I’m related to?”
“You saw what she did to Ink,” Toxin hissed. “Maybe if you told us your relation to her and actually were open about it, we’d be able to find a way to stop her, or at least make sure no one else dies.”
“Fine!” Polar snapped. “Crystal is my aunt. It’s why Queen Glacier tasked me to hunt her down. Aurora is probably Crystal’s daughter, which is where she got the D — necklace from. My aunt is a serial killer, and murdered Queen Sunny’s mother. Happy?”
The other dragons were silent for a moment, not sure how to respond to the enraged IceWing. He looked around at them, glaring.
Tsunami was the one to break the silence, offering sympathy. “If it’s any consolation, my family is pretty awful, too. There’s a reason I twisted my mother’s claws to get Anemone here instead of home.”
“Starflight’s dad is a war criminal,” Glory commented. “And Clay’s mom is a total jerk, worse than you. Makes me kinda happy RainWings don’t do families.”
Polar blinked a few times, surprised he’d gotten sympathy. It was a stark change to dragons’ responses in the Ice Kingdom. It was like they didn’t care at all about it.
“So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, is there anything else you wanted to tell us?” Glory continued. “For example, what’s your bracelet enchanted to do? Please don’t bother trying to pretend it’s not animus-touched. I’ve seen Aurora’s. Both of you have that weird burn scar around it.”
Polar looked down at his paws, staring at the Darkstone. He’d really messed up this time. “I can’t tell you about it. Queen Glacier ordered me to keep it a secret, especially from a rival queen. It’s confidential information.”
“Queen Glacier, huh?” Glory tsked. “So I take it you don’t know what happened?”
Polar’s heart started to race. No. It couldn’t be. Glory couldn’t mean . . . “D-don’t know what?”
The rainforest queen sighed, and held up the scroll Deathbringer had given her. “Queen Glacier is dead. Assassinated.”
Polar shook his head in disbelief, his talons trembling. “No, that can’t be. Let me see that.” Glory had to be wrong. This was some sort of trick.
Glory was about to tell Polar that the scroll contained confidential information, but realized how hypocritical that would be. She supposed there wasn’t anything too personal in there, and if she wanted Polar to trust her, she needed to do the same. “Alright, but there’s some personal stuff in there. Please don’t go spelling the contents.”
Polar took it without responding. He quickly looked down the contents. Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall dead, assassinated in a secret meeting with aristocrats. The rest of the Empty Circle. Ex-Princess Blackice usurped the throne from Icicle, killing the residents of the palace.
Polar looked down at the Darkstone, his blood running as cold as ice. He’d succeeded on his mission. He’d been able to do animus magic. Yet, it was all for nothing. Queen Glacier and the Empty Circle were dead. Not just them, almost everyone he’d ever known. Sure, there were still IceWings, but for him, there was no Ice Kingdom to return to. His dream of redemption was dead. Who could he redeem himself to? And getting animus magic back into the royal family — Blackice was more likely to kill him and take the Darkstone for herself than take Polar as her king. Or force him to father dragonets with her before killing him. All he’d worked for had been for nothing.
Even without color-changing scales, Glory could see Polar’s emotions. “So Polar, where do your loyalties lie?” she asked. “To Blackice, or to Pyrrhia? Are you going to tell me what’s really going on?”
Polar sighed. Telling her would be treason. But who would punish him for it? Blackice? If there was one dragon he didn’t want to have animus magic, it was probably her. He hadn’t sworn loyalty to her, and if he could help it, he never would. “Fine,” Polar muttered. “I’ll tell you. But Tsunami and Deathbringer have to leave. I want as few ears as possible hearing this.”
Glory rolled her eyes, and motioned them to shoo. Tsunami shot Glory a glare, but complied. “What about Toxin?” asked Glory.
Polar shook his head. “She can stay. I trust her more than you. And I doubt you’d hurt me in front of her.”
“Hurt you?” Glory frowned. What was this secret? “Alright. But there’s a good chance that Deathbringer and Tsunami will end up hearing about this anyways. Deathbringer is my mate, and Tsunami’s basically my sister.”
“Fine,” Polar acknowledged. “Stonemover knows anyways, ironically enough. What’s going on is a fight over animus magic.”
“Animus magic?” Glory asked, slightly confused. “But IceWings lost it two-thousand years ago. Are you fighting over animus-touched objects or something?”
Polar shook his head. “No. There was a project that’s gone on since Queen Oasis’s death, trying to create artificial animuses.”
“Artificial animuses?” Glory snorted. The idea was laudable. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The project was to create an object that could let normal dragons use animus magic, called Darkstone. My grandfather, Boreal, started it with Queen Glacier’s permission after making an unexpected discovery while mining. The project was almost successful. We created an object that allowed its holders to use animus magic for small feats. But Crystal, my aunt, murdered her father, destroyed much of his work, and stole the prototype. Over the years, she slowly murdered most of the dragons who’d worked on the project, or even knew about it. She set us back a decade. And it looks like she came back to finish the job. As far as I know, I’m the only dragon alive who knows about the project, at least in any significant detail.”
Glory pondered this for a moment. “So that’s what all this is about? Queen Thorn’s death, Queen Glacier’s death, Aurora, the drought? It’s just a fight for who has animus magic and who doesn’t?”
“I don’t know,” Polar admitted. “I’m being truthful this time. I have no idea what Crystal and Aurora are plotting. If it’s just about animus magic, then it should be all over. Unless they need to kill me too. Maybe Ink will know more, when he wakes up.”
“And Aurora is an animus, which is how she survived Deathbringer’s assassination. Because of this secret project?”
Polar nodded. “Yes.”
“How?” Glory frowned. “How does it work?”
Polar shook his head. “I don’t want to give you detailed information. It could put you in danger. Moreso, I don’t want you to be able to replicate it. Not you, not Sunny, definitely not Blackice, not any of the queens. If this is what caused all of this, I think it should die with me.”
Polar kept his head up. He knew he was denying a queen information. Queen Glacier wouldn’t have allowed that. And if Queen Glory decided she wanted animus magic for herself, Polar didn’t know what she would resort to to get the information out of Polar. He winced at the thought of torture.
Glory closed her eyes. She was frustrated Polar still wasn’t open with her, but at least now, she understood why. “Alright, I’ll respect that. I don’t need details. I don’t want to replicate the project either. Animus magic is probably far more trouble than it’s worth. Is there anything else that might be helpful for me to know?”
“Maybe one thing,” Polar replied. It was more information than he wanted to give out, but if this made a difference . . . “Aurora’s necklace, the one that looks like my bracelet. If you can get that off her somehow, that might get rid of her animus magic. Or not. Either way, if you get that . . . give it to Stonemover. He’ll know what to do.” If there was one dragon who wouldn’t use the Darkstone for himself, it was an animus who hated his own magic. “Promise me.”
Glory nodded. “I promise. And if Stonemover’s dead, or doesn’t accept it?”
“Throw it into the heart of a volcano,” Polar grimaced, repeating Stonemover’s words.
Glory took a deep breath. Maybe there was some way to defeat Aurora after all. But Glory wasn’t sure she was the one who needed to do it. “Alright. I’ll tell Deathbringer this, but no one else. I suspect you already know about Toxin’s visions? Aurora will be here when it happens. Maybe that’s our chance. But I have a meeting with Sunny, so I guess I won’t be able to be there when it happens.”
Glory glanced over to Toxin. She’d been awfully quiet during this whole conversation. Glory was surprised she hadn’t asked any questions or made any snide comments. The RainWing-NightWing hybrid was over Ink’s body, looking down at his empty eye socket, blood coating the inside. “You alright?”
Toxin didn’t respond. Glory frowned, slightly concerned. She brushed her wing against Toxin, but the dragonet didn’t move. “Toxin?” she asked, starting to get worried. “TOXIN???”
Toxin’s mouth started to move. A voice started to snake out of her jaws that was not her own.
“Blood,” Toxin whispered, her talons shaking. “There’s blood everywhere. A sea of blood.”
== Chapter 33 ==
Inferno opened an eye, and let out a yawn. The guest room seemed quiet and empty. Neither Ink nor Polar were there, only Seahorse. The SeaWing was nervously fiddling with a piece of treasure. Inferno wondered what time it was. Her gurgling tummy told her it was already midday. She’d probably slept in late and missed breakfast and the first classes. Webs wouldn’t be happy . . .
She glanced over towards Seahorse, recalling what Ink and her had learned last night, and what Ash had told Inferno. If she wanted to know what Seahorse was doing here, all she had to do was touch him. Inferno shivered at the thought. If she went around burning dragons, she’d be no better than . . . Peril. That was what Ink had wanted her to do, wasn’t it — talk to Peril and Kinkajou about Chameleon. Even if Inferno dreaded it, a short chat with Peril was far better than setting Seahorse on fire. Better to ask help from a monster than be one.
Inferno glanced around. Where was Ink, anyways? He’d said he was going to help her talk to Peril, and tell him about his future-telling powers. That would’ve been handy to know. Maybe he was out with the Silver Winglet already, at classes. Inferno sighed. As bad as she felt about it, she really needed to ask Ash to stop visiting her during the night so often. But it wasn’t like he got any other company, did he? Maybe that was too cruel. She was the one who’d killed him; she could just bear being a little sleepy.
The SkyWing got up from her resting place on the floor, and left the guest room, leaving Seahorse behind. She wasn’t quite sure where to go. Was it time for lunch already? Maybe. But instead of going directly to the dining hall, she found herself walking to the Jade Winglet’s corridor. Ink had asked her to talk to Peril or Kinkajou about Chameleon, and even if he’d disappeared, Inferno felt like she had a bit of a duty. Even if she was scared, it was the courageous thing to do. He’d be proud of her if she did that, right?
Fortunately for Inferno, Peril wasn’t there when she reached the Jade Winglet’s caves. Winter was brooding alone in his cave, while Kinkajou was chatting with one of her clawmates, Mouse. As Inferno poked her head in the room, the two’s eyes turned towards her.
“Um, sorry for interrupting,” Inferno chattered, glancing around at the room. Those scrolls looked mighty flammable. “You’re Kinkajou, right?”
“Oh, hey!” Kinkajou perked up. “Yep, that’s me! Most awesome RainWing in the Jade Winglet. You’re the firescales Turtle was talking to, right? Inferno? He mentioned you by the way, since Tsunami was VERY angry with me. Don’t try and steal Turtle from me, he’s my boyfriend, and I’ll shove a pineapple UP YOUR SNOUT if you do because STEALING BOYFRIENDS is not cool. I say this because we broke up briefly last year and he and Peril dated for a while but it wasn’t serious since it was actually just a ploy to get Clay to pay more attention to Peril and GAH THERE’S SO MUCH RELATIONSHIP DRAMA AT THIS SCHOOL.”
“Half of it is your fault, Jou,” Mouse pointed out. “Also did you ever think about how it’s like totally weird that Peril’s dating Clay since he’s a teacher?”
“SHUT UP she’s older than him and you know NOTHING about relationship drama also when are your sibs coming to visit I want to meet them?”
“Dunno, like, a few weeks from now.” Mouse seemed entirely uninvested in this conversation.
“Fine anyways Inferno did you want something?”
“Umm,” Inferno said, not really quite sure what was going on, “I was just wondering if you know a dragon named Chameleon?”
“Oh dear,” Mouse sighed, knowing what was coming next.
“WHAT CHAMELEON?” Kinkajou yelled, invoking a glare from the brooding Winter. “YES UNFORTUNATELY I DO KNOW A DRAGON NAMED CHAMELEON.” Her scales were starting to turn red all over.
“Deep breath,” Mouse interrupted.
Kinkajou made a big huffing noise, glaring at Mouse. “Chameleon is this mean, nasty, smoke-breathing, good-for-nothing RainWing. So you know how everyone blames the Jade Winglet except for Mouse because we accidentally brought Queen Scarlet back to power? Well that’s not really our fault, it’s Chameleon’s. He’s also the reason Winter can’t go back to the Ice Kingdom, not that we want him to go back, and he put me in a coma.”
Mouse sighed. “Chameleon is Peril’s dad,” she explained, rolling her eyes. “He works for Queen Scarlet, and can like change into other dragons or something. I dunno, I wasn’t there for that.”
“Yeah and if I ever see him again I’m going to shove TWELVE PINEAPPLES AND A SLOTH UP HIS UGLY SNOUT. Is that all?”
“Er, haha, yeah,” Inferno replied, a little bit intimidated. “Thank you for your time.”
“It’s nothing,” Mouse yawned.
Inferno slowly backed out of the room, unsure what to do now. So Seahorse/Cirrus/Chameleon was Peril’s father, and worked for Queen Scarlet. That sounded pretty awful, but Seahorse had never seemed like a mean dragon. He’d been awkward around Inferno, but nice. He’d helped out the Talons a lot, and worked just as hard as everyone else, maybe harder, on the Talons’ projects. But working for Queen Scarlet, and hurting Kinkajou . . . 
Inferno wasn’t sure what to do. Was Seahorse a spy for Queen Scarlet, sent to Jade Mountain to secretly kill dragons? She didn’t know. She considered Ash’s suggestion again, just briefly. No, that wouldn’t do. She thought back to what Seahorse had said on their flight to Jade Mountain. He wanted to see a relative and apologize. He wanted to apologize . . . to Peril? And he somehow thought that Inferno could help because she also had firescales. That was pretty stupid, but the story made sense. Still, Inferno didn’t know if she wanted to help Seahorse, especially if he’d worked for Queen Scarlet.
Inferno started to head back to the guest room, still debating what to do. Seahorse was still there, but it wasn’t like Inferno could go back to Peril’s room, now that she’d returned. She walked in to see Seahorse anxiously tapping his scrollcase on the floor. He glanced up as she saw Inferno walk in.
“Oh, er, Inferno. You didn’t happen to see anyone unusual come into the room last night, did you?”
“U-unusual?” Inferno gulped. She glanced towards Seahorse’s cloth sack. Had he realized that Ink had gone through his stuff? “Um, no, no one unusual.”
“Ah,” Seahorse frowned. “I was looking through my treasure last night, and noticed something important missing. It’s a kind of unique piece of jewelry, these iron chains and boxes. Do you think you could tell me if you see them anywhere, or find someone wearing those?”
“Of course,” Inferno smiled, her talons shaking. Those were the ones that had made Ink turn into a giant NightWing. She felt guilty, lying to Seahorse about going through his stuff last night. Even if Seahorse was working for Queen Scarlet, it didn’t feel right. And who could’ve stolen the chains? They were there when Ink had woken her up. Did Ink steal them? He wouldn’t have, right?
Inferno laid down in the small area that had been set aside for her. She stared at her agate. She’d promised Seahorse she’d help him with apologizing, hadn’t she? Inferno just couldn’t break that promise, could she? Even if she was scared, even if Peril was probably an evil monster, Inferno had made a promise. She was part of the Talons of Peace — it was her duty to try and make dragons’ lives better.
“Seahorse,” Inferno said, almost spontaneously. She’d made her decision, it was too late to turn back now. “Did you want to go talk to your daughter now?”
“My daughter?” Seahorse asked, slightly surprised. “Er, um—”
“Peril,” Inferno told him, her voice uncannily stern. “I know who she is. I talked to Kinkajou. She hates you, by the way. Do you want me to call you Seahorse, Chameleon, or Cirrus?”
Seahorse blinked in surprise. “Oh. So you know.”
Inferno gritted her teeth. “Yes. You were telling the truth, right? About wanting to apologize to her? You’re not planning to go on a murder spree at Queen Scarlet’s bequest?”
“No, no,” Seahorse replied. “No, definitely not. I don’t work for Scarlet anymore. I haven’t since I returned to the Talons.” He sighed. “If you must, just call me by whatever form I’m in. Seahorse if I’m a SeaWing, Cirrus if I’m an IceWing, Chameleon if I’m—”
“A RainWing,” Inferno replied. “Got it. So you want to apologize to Peril for turning her into a monster? She’s back.”
“Turning her into a monster?” Seahorse chuckled uncomfortably. “Oh, no. I had nothing to do with her upbringing. That’s all Queen Scarlet’s fault. She lied to me, you know. She told me Kestrel’s dragonets were dead, and kept us far apart. I didn’t know she was my daughter until a few years ago.” Bitterness dripped through Seahorse’s voice as he spoke about Scarlet.
“So what are you apologizing for? Attacking Kinkajou?” Inferno asked. “Bringing Queen Scarlet back to power?”
“Um yes, and also yes,” Seahorse replied. “And some other stuff. A good amount of other stuff. Mainly tricking Peril, although to be fair, I didn’t know she was my daughter until after I tricked her. Well, after I wrote the enchantment. Huh, that’s a poor excuse, isn’t it? But don’t worry, I’m a good dragon now and will redeem myself for my past actions! Technically, Seahorse is a good dragon but Seahorse is me so it’s fine.”
“Okay?” Inferno asked, not sure what Seahorse had meant by that. “So, you want to go find Peril? Like, now?” Inferno kind of wanted to get this over with. Especially the talking to Peril part. She shivered, just thinking about Peril’s hugs.
“Yes, but you see, I think she still hates me,” Seahorse explained. “Which is totally justified, but it still hurts. Do you think you could, soften her up or something? Not in a manipulative fashion, but just to make sure she doesn’t try and set me on fire.”
“Oh, her hating you hurts,” Inferno snorted. “So what? Everyone hates me, and I still have to talk to them. You think I want to talk to your serial killer daughter either? I’m not going to ‘soften her up’.” She wasn’t sure why she hated how cowardly Seahorse was being so much. Maybe it reminded her of herself too much.
“Ah. Alright,” Seahorse squirmed. “I guess I can. You’ll be there too, right? Not to soften her up, just as emotional support.”
Inferno rolled her eyes. “Yes. That’s why I suggested we go to find Peril. Believe me, I don’t want to talk to her alone either.”
“Great, great,” Seahorse grinned. He tucked his scrollcase behind his bag of cloth treasure. “Um, do you know where Peril is?”
Inferno and Seahorse found Peril on the landing platform, chatting with Turtle. The view over the Claws of the Clouds was stunning. The skies had been clear ever since Inferno had got here, with no clouds to obscure the heavenly mountains, even if the snow on their peaks was melting. Ermine stared out over it, keeping his distance from a few bloodstains on the platform that hadn’t yet been cleaned up. Inferno wondered what had happened.
“Oh, hey Inferno!” Peril called excitedly as she saw the other fireborn approaching.
Inferno’s stomach turned. Hopefully the blood on the platform wasn’t Peril’s doing. “H-hey there.” She glanced at Seahorse, motioning him forward, hoping that Peril wouldn’t try and hug her again.
Seahorse stepped forward, meeting Peril on the edge of the platform, the mountains behind them. “Um, hey,” he greeted, staring at Peril. His heart raced.
“Heeyyyy,” Peril replied, a little unsure of why this SeaWing was looking at her so strangely. “Have we met?” She gulped. Hopefully, they hadn’t met in the arena. What if she’d killed one of the SeaWing’s family members or something?
“Yeah,” Seahorse chuckled uncomfortably. He scratched behind his horns. “I kind of wanted to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Peril asked, confused. “Oh, did you throw rocks at me once or something? That’s alright, I kind of deserve it.”
“No, no,” Seahorse gulped. “Something a bit worse. I just . . . felt like we left on bad terms, and sort of wanted to change that.”
Peril sighed. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have absolutely no idea who you are. Seriously, you don’t have to be all pitiful and mopey or anything, if I can’t remember it, it probably wasn’t a bit deal.”
Seahorse squirmed. “Er, just give me a moment.” He took a deep breath, and moved his claws to his silver locket. He carefully removed it from his neck, and held it in his claws as they changed in size and color, turning into a lime green. Seahorse’s gills faded into his scales, and the webbing beneath his claws disappeared. A small RainWing stood before Peril where Seahorse had been.
“Oh,” Peril grumbled unhappily, shaking her head like a migraine had suddenly been brought onto it. “It’s you.”
“Yeah,” Chameleon replied. “It’s, er, been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Not long enough,” Peril snorted. “What do you want? I’m not taking any more of your stupid necklaces, if that’s your plan. What, does Scarlet want me as her champion again? If so, you can head back to her right now.”
“I just wanted to apologize, you know?” Chameleon replied. “I feel a bit bad about what I did, and was sort of hoping you could forgive me for that. You’re my only daughter.”
“‘A bit bad,’” Peril mocked her father. “What, you just expect me to forgive you, just like that?”
Chameleon nodded. “Yeah. I’m a good dragon now. You’re supposed to forgive good dragons, right?”
Peril snorted. “What does that even mean? You have to do good things to become a good dragon. Like setting Queen Scarlet on fire. That’s a very good thing. Not that I still set dragons on fire or anything, but she’s an exception.”
“I’ve done good things!” Chameleon snorted. “I joined the Talons of Peace. For real this time, not to spy on them. What about you? You killed a lot of dragons in the SkyWing arena. But you changed, and become good, and everyone forgived you.”
Peril looked slightly in conflict about this, but Turtle stepped forward, raising his snout up towards Chameleon. “Peril was raised and taught by Scarlet, no thanks to you, to do those evil things,” he growled. “You chose to hurt and murder dragons.”
Inferno winced. This was turning out to be a disaster. Why did she think that she’d be able to help anyone?
"I had a rough raising too!” Chameleon protested, hissing at Turtle. “Do you know how awful it is to have everyone teasing you, telling you you’re not a real RainWing, constantly telling you there’s something wrong with you?”
“YES!” Turtle responded. “And I didn’t turn out like you. I didn’t try and kill a RainWing dragonet because my brothers bullied me.”
“What, you’re still angry about that?” Chameleon grumbled. “It was years ago. And this is between Peril and I, so stay out.” The RainWing bared his fangs threateningly.
“Don’t you touch him!” Peril yelled, pushing Chameleon away from Turtle. “I don’t c—”
Chameleon’s ear-splitting screams cut through Peril’s words as he stumbled back. “My wing!” he cried as the scent of burning flesh rose up from where Peril had pushed him, holes burning through his wing membrane. “My wing!”
“Oh no, no,” Peril winced. “Why did I do that? Ugh, stupid, stupid.”
Turtle gulped. “Um, I can get the pebble,” he suggested, turning back towards the academy.
Chameleon let out another high-pitched scream, this time for a different reason. Turtle looked back to see the burning RainWing tripping over his tail, stumbling over the side of the platform. Peril reached out her paw and grabbed the end of her father’s tail, causing him to let out another shrill shriek as her talons quickly burnt through the flesh, leaving nothing but ashes. Chameleon tried to flap, but with the huge hole in his wing, it was in vain. A few moments later, Inferno heard a the sounds of a dragon crashing through the forest’s leaves, followed by a loud ‘thump.’
Inferno stared on in shock. This had really not gone according to plan. This was all her fault, wasn’t it? Why had she stuck her neck where it didn’t belong? She took off after Peril and Turtle, flying down towards the forest below.
“GAAH!” Peril yelled as she descended, at no one in particular. “Why did I do that?” she looked frantically at Turtle. “I killed him, didn’t I? I didn’t mean to hurt him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Clay’s going to be so angry.”
“He won’t,” Turtle tried to comfort her. “He’ll know it’s an accident.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s an accident!” Peril protested. “I killed him, after I swore no more killing or setting dragons on fire, even if I really want to do that. Even if he was a bad father, I didn’t want him to die! I really, really wanted him to have changed. I want a family! Not that there’s anything wrong with you all. But now he’s dead, and I don’t have any parents anymore, do I? I’m an orphan. Which isn’t really that weird since I used to think I was an orphan, but still!” She glanced back to Inferno. “Three moons, you’re still here. I’m so sorry about this. I don’t normally kill dragons. Not just not normally, I don’t ever kill dragons. Well, I used to, but Queen Scarlet made me think I should and I guess I never questioned her until Clay came along. But I don’t kill dragons anymore! Except for this, but it was an accident. Really, I promise!”
“I believe you,” Inferno replied. Even in Peril’s rambling, Inferno could tell she was genuinely feeling guilty about the accident. Maybe this dragon Inferno had thought was a monster really wasn’t so bad after all; she’d just been misguided and manipulated. She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to be friends with a murder, but maybe Inferno could at least tolerate her.
The three landed near a hole in the canopy, where the branches had been bent and crushed by a falling dragon. Careful not to set anything on fire, they walked to the area beneath the hole.
“Ouch,” a dragon grumbled, much to Peril’s surprise. Seahorse slowly raised himself up from the smashed leaves, glancing warily at Peril. “Please don’t kill me. I got the message.”
“You’re alive!” Peril exclaimed happily, much to her father’s confusion. “I’m so sorry for setting your wing on fire and then your tail and dropping you off a cliff. It was accidental, I swear.”
Seahorse looked warily in Peril’s direction.
“She’s telling the truth,” Inferno corroborated. “It was an accident. I don’t think she meant to hurt you.”
“Er, who’s the fourth dragon?” Seahorse asked worriedly.
Peril turned around and let out a sharp yell of surprise, finding herself snout-to-snout with a sky-blue hybrid. “Hey, don’t sneak up on me!” she reprimanded Aurora. “You could get hurt, and I’ve already hurt enough dragons accidentally today.”
Aurora was unintimidated. She slowly turned side to side, examining each of the dragons in turn. “Fireborn. Fireborn. Animus. Shape-changer. This is the most formidable group of dragons I’ve ever seen.” The last sentence was said like an observation, with neither fear nor reverence. She tilted her head to the side, curiously staring at the smoke rising from Inferno’s scales. “You smell like smoke.”
“Er, who are you?” Turtle asked. “How did you know—”
“Shape-changer,” Aurora interrupted, turning to Seahorse. “Your NightWing form is gone. Blame the Night-Sea hybrid. He’s already paid for his hubris.”
“Night-Sea . . .?” Inferno replied, suddenly realizing she meant Ink. She bared her fangs. “What do you mean, ‘paid’? If you’ve hurt him, I’ll . . . I’ll . . .”
“I hurt him, in the way I was ordered to. You’ll do nothing,” Aurora commanded. A wind started to pick up from behind her. “I have no quarrel with you. It is not yet the time for us to meet. Goodbye.”
Aurora started to walk away, towards the cliffside.
“Hey, stop!” Peril shouted, starting after her. The fierce gust blew against her eyes, causing her to turn away and shut her eyes. When she looked back, no trace of the hybrid remained. The four were silent for a moment.
“Well, that was weird.” Peril frowned. Suddenly, she turned back to her father, smiling. “But you’re alive! I’m grateful! Not because I think you’re a good father, since you’re not, but because I don’t want to kill you since I don’t kill dragons anymore. Also I’m sorry for setting you on fire.”
“Thank you,” Seahorse sighed. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have come back, expecting that you’d forgive me just because I’d thought I’d become a better dragon. I hurt and tricked you, my own daughter, just for gold. If you want, I can just go.”
Peril swished her tail back and forth, unsure. “Are you still working for Queen Scarlet?”
Seahorse shook his head. “Not anymore. I stayed with her for a while after she returned to power, but the treasure stopped pleasing me. I got in an argument with her about how she kept you hidden from me, and she threatened to throw me in the arena. So, I left. I knew you wouldn’t want me back, so I went to the Talons of Peace. I decided to change myself in hopes that you’d be able to forgive me and we could be a great and happy family. Literally, change myself. They’d already seen Cirrus, so I used Seahorse, although I changed up his enchantment a little. I knew about your redemption with Clay, and figured you’d accept me if I became good, so I added in ‘Seahorse is a good and selfless dragon’ on his enchantment.”
“Wait, wait, hold up,” Peril interrupted. “You’re telling me that you enchanted yourself to be good? That feels like, totally cheating. Also the whole changing how dragons think is really creepy, even if it’s yourself, no offense.”
Seahorse shrugged. “More like a little bit of guidance than forcing myself to be good. I think that I could still be selfish and greedy if I wanted to. Like how after I enchanted you to be loyal to Queen Scarlet — sorry about that — you were still able to break free of it. But I told, you, I’m really trying, I promise. For you.”
Peril sighed. Something about that struck a chord in her. She remembered how she’d tried to become a better dragon for Clay — how she was still trying to become a better dragon. She couldn’t ever reverse the things she’d done, but maybe she could keep the future brighter. Clay had given her a chance. Maybe she could give her father a chance in return. “Turtle, how do you feel about him staying? After what he did to Kinkajou.”
Turtle tapped a webbed claw on the ground. “That’s not my choice, it’s Kinkajou’s,” he decided. “I can talk to her about it later. But are you sure?”
“Of course not,” Peril snorted, turning back to Seahorse. “Look. Jade Mountain was willing to take in a monster like me. You might have a place here. Honestly, we really need some more teachers. I haven’t forgiven you yet, and I’m not ready for us to be family. But Clay gave me a chance, so I feel you deserve one too. Still, you’re on pretty thin ice. If you’re lying, or you hurt someone again, especially any RainWing dragonets, I’ll make sure Queen Glory makes you pay for it.”
Seahorse’s eyes sparkled with happiness. “T-thank you for the opportunity.”
Peril nodded. “Just a suggestion though: stay as Seahorse until we get things sorted out with Kinkajou. Unless you want pineapples up your snout.”
== Chapter 34 ==
“Jade Mountain,” Torrent commented, looking up at the twin-peaked mountain from the forest below. “Beautiful, ain’t it?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty . . . large,” Slate replied. When he’d first come to the Claws of the Clouds, he’d been amazed by the stunning beauty of the mountains, but it was already starting to wear off. Even so, Jade Mountain stood out among the rest — snow completely covered the top, and it dwarfed the nearby mountains in size. Partway down the peak, Slate saw a large landing platform, with the entrance to a large cave behind it. That had to be the entrance to Jade Mountain Academy. He could just barely see a small IceWing on the platform, as if keeping guard.
“Brings back memories,” Torrent snorted. The SeaWing brought out his enchanted map, and laid it out in front of himself and Slate. It looked much the same as it did when they’d left Crosswinds. Seven blotches — seven animuses.
Slate peered over, engrossed in the magical map. “So, do you know who all these dragons are?” he asked.
Torrent shook his head. “Not yet, although I have a few hunches. Midnight’s obviously the one in Crosswinds, and the Darkstalker is under Agate Mountain, which isn’t too far from here.”
“The Darkstalker?” Slate asked, frowning. “You mentioned them before. What’s that?”
Torrent sighed. “An ancient animus in NightWing and IceWing legends. Evil, of course. Probably lost his soul. Killed a bunch of dragons. His own magic was used to put him in an eternal slumber, sealed beneath Agate Mountain. I confirmed it myself — I was young and stupid, and thought I could kill him myself. There’s a magical cave system beneath Agate and Jade Mountain that hides him. Crystal and I went down there years ago. We thought were going to die down there, and well . . . we escaped only at his mercy.”
Slate tried to quickly take in what Torrent was telling him. What did he mean about Crystal? Wasn’t she the one he was trying to kill?
“Back to the map,” Torrent continued. “Of the five in Jade Mountain, I know the pewter one is Stonemover, Midnight’s uncle. I remember seeing the green one years ago near the Deep Palace, so I suspect that’s one of my many brothers, another one of Midnight’s uncles. I have no idea about the pink and white ones, but the blue one is the one I’m most worried about.”
“What’s the blue one?”
“Each of the blotches matches up somewhat with the dragon’s scales,” Torrent explained. “Orca didn’t enchant the map explicitly to do that, but I guess that’s how the magic interpreted her. The blue color is somewhat unique — too light to be a SeaWing, and too dark for an IceWing. There’s one dragon I know who fits that, and may be an animus. Her name is Aurora. She’s a hybrid, SeaWing-IceWing. If you see her, don’t provoke her, and don’t try and hurt her. She’s dangerous.”
Slate could hear the conflict in Torrent’s voice as he spoke of Aurora, the SeaWing becoming solemn. “Aurora,” the young MudWing asked, an realization dawning over him, “is she . . . ?”
“Mine and Crystal’s daughter,” Torrent grumbled unhappily.
“What happened?” Slate said, worried that might be too personal a question. Another hybrid? “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”
Torrent shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ve dragged you into this, you should know. Back during the war Crystal and I travelled together for some time across Pyrrhia, along with your father, and another . . . ex-friend. The group split after Crystal and I made a bad choice together that your father didn’t agree with. He left us, and we haven’t talked since. Maybe after this is over, I’ll go and find him. After that, Crystal and I spent some time together. Trying to hunt down and kill the Darkstalker took a while. It was a mistake. One of multiple that we made. Fear and loneliness can make two dragons do . . . strange things. Eventually, we gave up on our hunt, and for a while, we were happy. I thought. But she left, and took Aurora’s egg with her. I still don’t know why. For a while, I blamed Griffin. Then I blamed myself. I thought she’d left for the same reason Schist did. But instead, years later, she returned as a monster. She destroyed everything I had. She killed our family.”
The SeaWing sighed glumly. Even after seven years, he still grieved. There was so much he’d done wrong. Where could he start?
“If Crystal’s here, and you see her again, what will you do?” Slate asked.
Torrent gritted his teeth. “I’ll kill her without hesitation. But Aurora . . . I think Crystal corrupted her. Forced Aurora to work with her. She’s still my daughter — as stupid as it might be, I somehow still love her. I want to at least try to change her. Are there any other questions you wanted to ask?”
Slate shook his head. He didn’t really feel the need to pry too much more into Torrent’s personal life. He got the jist of it. The whole MudWing sib system was really starting to become more appealing to him.
“Great,” Torrent grumbled. “It’s getting late. We’ll make camp out here. Tomorrow, I want you to investigate inside of the academy while I search outside of the mountain for some of our blotches.”
“Why me?” Schist asked. “I have no idea what Crystal and Aurora look like, and I can’t detect animus magic.”
“You’re the right age to be a student,” Torrent explained. “You’ll be less visible than an old scarred SeaWing, and neither Crystal nor Aurora know who you are. They’ll recognize me instantly, and some of the other animuses might’ve heard about me from my old animus hunting days. I might go catch up with Stonemover, too.” Torrent winced slightly. Conversations with Stonemover were always a bit awkward, so they’d only talked a couple times in the last seven years. He looked a bit too much like his deceased sister, and it didn’t help that Torrent had to walk past Nightreader’s stone corpse. Reminding him of everything he’d lost. “If you see anything suspicious or notice any of the animuses, make sure to find me as soon as possible. You’re a prophecy dragon. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Slate agreed, and looked back up towards Jade Mountain. The peaks were covered in snow, but he could tell that it was melting; the snowline had receded from its usual extent. How much longer before it was all gone? He thought back to his mother, still in the Mud Kingdom with its dried up rivers. Don’t worry, he thought to himself, I’ll be back soon.
== Chapter 35 ==
Darkness. Ink looked up, to where the stars and moons normally would be. Instead, there was nothing, just an expanse of pure black. Where the night sky would normally be lit up with specks of white, illuminating Pyrrhia beneath, there was nothing.
Ink turned. Why was he able to turn? He wasn’t normally able to turn in his dreams, or make any decisions at all. All that was left up to other Ink. He flapped his wings, feeling warm air beneath them. His claws felt a gravelly stone beneath them, but he couldn’t see it. He stood still, worried that he’d slide down if he tried to move. That couldn’t happen, right? This was just a dream.
“Hello?” Ink yelled out. “Anyone there?”
His voice echoed before fading into the distance. There was no response, no other noises at all. Ink sighed.
Well, this is interesting.
Ink jumped up, hearing the noise of gravel falling as he landed. “Who’s there?”
After the gravel settled, Ink started to hear something. A faint buzzing sound, like a swarm of bees. If there were bees in here, wherever ‘here’ was, Ink didn’t want to get close to them.
You can hear me?
“Yes, I can hear you!” Ink responded. The voice didn’t seem to be coming from any direction in particular, instead, permeating the darkness. “Where are you?”
Relative to you? I’m not quite sure anymore. Where are you?
“How am I supposed to know!” Ink snorted. “I can’t see anything.”
Ink’s dreams took place beneath you. You should probably leave.
“Umm, that’s absolutely useless,” Ink retorted. “I can’t leave unless I can see anything. And I’m dreaming, right? Or did I die? Aurora said she wasn’t going to kill me.” The buzzing had gotten louder, sounding like the hushed voices of a thousand dragons were just beyond a wall.
As lonely as it gets down here, I’m not talking to you. Me. You’re in danger the longer you stay.
In danger? I hear something else near you. A lot of somethings. Is that what you’re talking about?
Yes. Don’t try and listen. I’m trying my best to keep them from getting to you.
Is this where Ink dreamt? Why are you here? Are you telling me they’re weren’t visions?
“Hey!” Ink yelled out. “I’m still here. You can stop talking to yourself or whatever, it’s a little weird. Also, can you be quiet for a moment? I think there’s someone else trying to talk to me.” The buzzing was getting louder, and Ink tried to focus on it.
Ḧ̴̡̻̖͇̪̊̓͘͢͞ė̶͉̮͕̜̠̣̞̉͐̄̑̎͊͐͟͞͠l̶͈̣̦͈͙̤̥̝͌̌͛́͋̇̀̅͢͝p̸̛̩̲̲͖̗͍͎͆̇͐̊̂̃͘̕.̴͖̞̺̪̗̥̖̪͖͗̅̏̅̈́̀͢͠
“Wait, did you want me not to try and listen?” Ink asked.
No, not you.
What is this place? Explain.
Look, I’d love to stay and chat, but you’ve really got to go. It’s coming closer.
At least give me something. Moon should know about this. Does it have something to do with Aurora? I can’t read her, she’s protected somehow.
Š̷̢̲̗̩͇̩̃̾̋͊̆͢ä̧̞̹̝̰͉́̈́̀̒̉̕͝v̶̡̙̳̭̺̒́̈́͗̅̒̀͝͞ē̷͕̬̱͍̱̫̗̌̃͊̓̑̍͒̚͟͜͞ͅ ũ̶̳̫̲̮̬̙͛̂̆̿ś̸̛͍̺͇̯̦̮̮͕̾́͑̒̚̕̚.̷͉̱̪͖̭͇͈̜̼̈́̿̓̿̈
You’re annoyingly persistent, you know that?
Like you’re one to talk.
Please stop bothering me and just leave. You’re taking away from my focus.
I’m not leaving without an answer.
Ỉ̷̬̪̝̺̞͍̼͙̫͑͋͌͐͂͠ d̸̢̛̩̫̜̬͇̪͂̾̾̿o̶̡̼̟̰̣̣͓͛͗̒̑̓̀̂̓̎̚n̷̡̛̗̰̯̤̠̱̰̺̎̀͒̑̈̉’̶̳̪̫̱̜̥͉́͆̒͂͌̉t̷̡̧̬̲̩̪̝͗̎̑͆͒͢ ẁ̨̧̪̮̩͍̉̉͋̄̾̓̕̕a̡̨̰̘̱͈̫͍̟͊̂̑̂͡͞ͅṅ̨̞͎̈́͒̀͘͢͟͠ͅť̶̨̨̛̛͎̹̝̹̱̜̌̒͆̓ t̴̨̻͕̲̙̬̻̦̘͕̊̈́̉̀͂̈̃o̷̹̝̬̪̘̐̈́̀̔̌̕͝ d̛̟̥̣͕̹̞͕͖̠̪̿̓̾̂͝͡i̢̻̳̺̪̞̍͑̇͐̽̅̏̔̕ͅē̸̡͈͙͙̠̟͕̥͑̈́͋̇̌̄̕͞.̶̢̦̫̦̳͚̤̂̾͑́͗́͝
Get your moons-cursed answer somewhere else. Right now I’m qudbbhasyslgjynn.
What?
Ajgsuqnsu ghastopysh afjgus*a71j][\\\\uafhleavea81ay11@())))%6\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Are you okay?
“Does that sound like okay?” Ink snorted.
\\\\\\u\5\\\\\\\\\\\@\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\go\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\8\\\\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\
That doesn’t sound good.
P̸̟̟͎͖̯̰͙̻̬̠̓̔͌͐͗̾̔͛͞l̡͓̻͓̱̰̲͈̓͌͆̊̀̋̒͌̆͢͡ȩ̡̛͙̱̝̉́̓͛̇̈́̓͟a̷̢̬̖̜͇̖̠͚̻̎̏͐̄̂͆̋̊͞s͓͈͎̺̘̟͒͋̓̕͠ę̵̧̭̙͖͖̭̺̫̒̔̌̀͐̀͘̚͟,̴̧͈̩͎͍̅̐̾̔͢͢͠͠ͅ t̵͓̫̹̮͚͒͒͛̋́͒̆͢͠͠å̶̧͎̩͔̻̩̟̳͆͌̏́k̷̨̦̦̖̜̬̠̯̖̈́̋̓͗͗̍e̷̥̥͚̣̞̿͊̋̊̓͐̇͜ m̵̫̹͍͉͆̈̀̾̈́̾̀͢è̵̢͙͔͎̠̣̜̝̼̔̋̐̈́̇̏͘͘͜ í̶̧͚͍̗̬̳̤̹̝͇̊̏̂͛ņ̵̠͙̤̫̥̟͌͒̐͌̑̀͌̌͋͊s̵̡̛̹̞̟̬̟̋͑͛̏͢ͅẗ̸̢̡̬͖̱͉͛͋̂́̓̓̓̈͢é̴̢͓̲̜̬̭͖͈̥̄̍̒̕͡ͅa̛͙͖̱̣͆̒͌̇̽͢͢d̵͓͕̻͚͈͑̔̓̿̇̕͟͞͝.̧͈͕̺͓̤̹̼̬̐͑̇͗̊̐́
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Alright Ink, you’re on your own. Sorry dude.
“Wait, what? Don’t leave me.”
Ink received no response. The buzzing was starting to get louder, the voices drowning out everything else.
H̷̳̤̤̤̠̗̰͔̻̽́̎͘͝͞ė̡̩͇͈̋͆̑͒̒̏́͟͜͝l̪̱̯̙̼͓̦͋̃͒͘͘͜͠p̡̛͓̲̬̙̹̦͗͗́̐͢ m̸̢̹͉̤̻̑̇̃̔̋̈ȩ͕͇͔̭̺̯̃̐̀̂͞͝ͅ.̴̧̡̡̡̱̹̼̦̇̊̈͛̊͞
“What? Please calm down and speak one at a time. Don’t all try and talk at once!”
S̰̜͖̗̼͚͂͗̀̊͆̎a̵͔̝̹̞̐̿̄̋͌̇̉͑̾ͅv̶̧̬͕͎͖̌̈͆̔̐́̈̀͝ͅe͈͓̰͙̭̖͖͋̍̂̀̉̄͛̈́͘͠ ų̨̺͍͚̲̝͎͔͓͑̐́̚̕̕s̡̨̻̬͕̞̅̾̓̑͆͒̌̽̅͢͢.̷͇̦͚̺̦̪͑͑̌̈́̚͝ͅ
̷̡̠̦̫̹͖̮̔̒̽̌͟͢͡D̶̯̞̫͇̐́̃̇͐̌͊̐̿͟o̵̩͚̝̦͍̙̯̫̤̎̄͒̋̈̏͒̔͞n̸̢̢̤̱͔̣̗̅͗͂͆͆̀̔̊͞’͉̤͚͎̜͎͗̓͂̒̒͞ṱ̨̰͉̘̪͇̔̀͛̄͛͆̕ͅ l̶͉͚͔͇͍̠͉͑̽̏̚̚͟ė̜͙̫̝̯̰̬͓͓̖̿̈́̄̊͘͡͞ţ̨̰̠͚͓̩̉̌̋̎̓́̒͜͝ m̗͍̲̗̥̤̜̫̒͐̋̈́̈͊̂̌͠ͅé̴̡̯͉̖̻̱͇̟̯́̐̽͘̚͟͠ d̵̨̨̘̳͉͙̳̾̊͑̌̕͝i̧̼̩̞̹̋̅̓̐̈̽̓̑͟è̢̢̨̘̻̪͚̤̉̄̀̄̂̔͞ͅ.̢̨͍̹̰̮̟̀̐̑̾̅̀͒͂̚͟ͅ
̵̗̬͔͔͖͊͑͊͂̾Ŵ̶̛̬̭̳̝̖͗͋͞͝ḩ̸̭̹̰̣̪̩̈́̾̃̍̽̅̒̚͢͢è͖̱͚̲̟̙̈́̐̿̚͢r̡̺͚͙͚͕̦̩̒̃̓̓́̒͜͝͡ͅe͓̟̫͉͍̹̰͌̊̌́̃͋̈́̎̍̚ a̧̳̺͚̘̪̬͎͚̓̔̂̌͆̋̈̚ͅm̛̰͚͕̻͕̹͂́̔̇͜͢ͅ I̸̛̜̦̯͎̭̒͊̈́̍̕?̸̻̼̯̩̘͔͛̍̽͐̈́̌͞
̴̠͕̬̰͍̂͑̽͑̿Ì̸͍͕̖̞̺̙͔̙̈͒̆͋̃͡͞t̡̙̳̫̹̖͙̞̔̒̒͊̓̔͑ w̴̧̟̯̭̪̬͚̹̽̊̽̂͛͘͟͡į̸̣͔̥͇͉͔̰̀́́͂̊̆͑̕̚͜ͅl͕̩̯̥̮̖͆̏̅̈̑̒̌̀l̴͕̙͚̰͆̑͒̂̓̓̅̾͟͠ͅ a̢̛̻̼̩̟̋́̋̄̐l̴̡̳̟̟͉̖͔̮͖̱̇̿̾̌͛̌̂͗͒͞l̷̮̰̯̥̥̲̇̒̋̍̋͘ b̴̨̗͙̫̝̘̬́̔̒̎̿̇͟͝͠é̵̡̖̥̳̠̻̯̗̤̈́̆̾͂́͂͗̕ͅ ą̧̦̞̪͍͙̣͍̅̏̐̽͒̓͛͘͜͠l̛̲̮͇̃͂͐͑͋̚͢͡ͅr̛̜̦̹͍̪͖̝͋̽̎̚ǐ͚͎̭̫̝̑̏̌̾g͔̫͉̭̿̄̈́̆͗͊́̾͒͟͡h̘̰͚̯̭̝͒̿̉̾̾̕͡͠ͅt̙̟̳̊̋̾̈͗̆̿̾͢ͅͅ,̘͔̟͙̤͚͖̜̄̍̂́̽ d̡̯͕͇̠̄̋͛͑̚̕͘ȏ̞̠̺̥̯͛͗̉͑͆̈͗͢n̛̜̥̞̯̱͓͍̪͒̀́͠͞ͅ’̸̼̳̮̱̲̠̮̩̗̾̈̀̏̄̕͞t̤͈͇̜̬̾̉̓̔̔͘͜ b̷͖̙͉̰̞̭̳̖̤̈̓̀̋̀̾̿̓͂̀͟e̡̥̰͙̣̝̞͗̀̍̄̇́͜ͅ ä̴̡̡͍̫͈͎͌͛̈̔̃̾́͠f̢̰͕̣̭̖̿̉̎̋̽͛̉̉͢͞ȑ̞̜͈͖̯̑̈̾̏͒̀̄͠͝a̴̡͇̼̳͚͓̓̅̅̏̃̕͢͡i̸̧͍̺̱̱̭̙̣͛̓̈̔͂̉͘͟ḑ͈̼̲͎͔͉̎͂̔̂̉͞.̱͔̻̙͍́̓̎̋͋̐̓̑͐
̵̣̞͉̬̪̰͗̃̆̏͑̆̆̚͢͞Ď̛͖̠̙͖̼̖͓̳͈͚̎̓͑̎̄̾͊͠o̴̗̬̯̞̭͈̦̣̔̒̆̒̆͟͢ņ̸̧̥̬̞̻͚̥̖́͒̅͗̽͟͠’̸͈͇͕͓̬͙̍́̓́̓t̡͖̰̻̏̌̎̈́̀̓̄͟͝ ḑ̶̱͙͙͉͕̞̜̪̓̊̌͂̽̾̋̕͢͠ǫ̴͚͔̳̯͙͖̜͍̪̈́́́̿̚͝ t̨̳͇̣̟͖̟̣͈̱͐̌̀̊̏͐͠h̸͕̖̞͙̘̙̾͑̀́͑̋͆̕͟͞i̗̭͈̦̭͈͐͌̄̓̔̔̎͢s̶̼͉̻̭͔̻̓̌̑͗̑̅̐͢͡,̼̙̜̰̠͚͚̝̩͌̿̉̂͗̀̊ͅ p̨̛̲̮̱̣̃͊̽̂̾͋l͔̩̘̠̔̄̽̂͢͡͡ẽ̷̡̤̹͎͖̀̊̀͆̏̍̂̒̆a̡̗͇̙̯̱̣͎̐̋̆́̓̍̿̽͞ͅs̷̛̱̫̝̳͖̗̺̟̣̹͂̎͌͐̀̾̑̾ĕ̷͉̩̦͍͕̯̩͎̖̀̉͛̓͞͞.̴̢̹͍̝̩̼͌̈͗̏̊̈́͝
̵̢̱̬̣̺̔́͋̑̒́̀͢W̸̖̘̮͇̼̖̣̘̿̾̊̊̓̆̾͛͜h̴̡̡͍̟̝̱̺̼͈̩̄̾͋̏͡͞ỹ͍͎̜̞͉̌̉̓̇̎ͅ i͉̲̠̜̟͂̿̏̆̀ŝ̶̜͙̥̖̞̫̲̼̄͐́͌̓͆͜͜ i̧̧̜̘̞͖̲͂̊̈͊̿t̵̡̰͚̼̟̲͔͆̿́̃̌͒̒̀̕͡ͅ s̷̭̗̜̙͍̫̟̟͌͑̃̈́͛́o̸̡̢̭͍̻̭͔̩̥͍͛̀͐̄̂̀̽́̈́ d͚͕̫̺̲͕̤̘̮̄́̈͛͢͡a̶̛̻̣͓̟̯͖̙̼͖̭̾͆̄̈́́̈́͝r̸̛͙̬̞͎̗͖͍͇̋̀̍̀͌̈̕͢k̷̦͍̗̘̟̭̉̃̈́̊̌͢͠͡͝͠ͅͅͅ?̢̛̤̮̞̜͈̽̾͂͊̾̍͠
̨̙̘͍͙̮̲͓̭̦̑̽̾̅̄̒͞A̵̻̲͎̣̦͈̳̜͐̓͂͌̎͑̀̔̕ú̯̤̻̯̯͛́̇̉͒̍̽b̸̛̘̱͍̆͋̓̽̊͟͜͞u̶̢̗̣̟̥̲̳̭̅͌̽̅͘͠ŕ̶̢̛̳̳̘̲̞̿͂̓̄̅͛͛n̪̳̹̬̬̱͍̟͊͒̊̒͐̆͑͡?̵̢̯̥̬̲͖͎̤̔͂̎͌̚͜͞ Ǻ̸̤͈̠͍͙͙̲͙͇̋̋̌̊͟͡u̷̧͙̺̪͎͚̞̮̠̐̽̀͘͡͠b̮͈̦̺̙̳̃̈̉̋̈̓̕u̸̧̺̱̬̦͚͉͒̐̄̉̈̌͆̓̕̕ͅr̨͔͖̪͈̮̝̪͔͒̂̋̌̀̎̑͢n̜͖̺̰̥̔̎̄̓̆́̀̒̈́͐ͅ?̨̧̬̪̥̈̅͋̑̌́̄͞͠ Ṕ̡͖̜̥̗̩͈͉͎̰̓̇̊̀l̡̲̲̼͕͉̟͛̿̍̍͌̆́̏̂̕͜e̴͓̞̰̖̞͆̆͑͗͑̓͜ä͚̖͙͚͉̗̑͊̈͛͝ṣ̷̺̘̤͌̓̇̀̍͑̽̚͟ẽ̹̯̰̻̗͇̐̍̾́̆͒̊͡,̲̮̜̳̿̍̉͟͞͠ ḥ̡̛͖̹̠͓̱̱͐̓͆̄̓̿̋̇̍͟a̶̻̹͔͎̥̰̦̮̓̅̋̍̿͒̇͒͘͢͝ş̷̡̹̖̘͖̏͛̌͒̌̈́̋̈͠ a̵͓̦̗̞̳̪̙̫͗̑̀́̒̔̂̓̏ń͙̻̲͑͐͋̋̔́͟ͅy̢̬̖̼̓̒͌͊͋͂͋͐̓͟ọ̴̧͚̣͉̭̜̰͛̀̀̀̌̇̊ͅn͎̜̦̬̞̔̀̋́̇e̸͍̙̩̫͚̾̇͛͘͞ s̱̭̩̹̹̰̙͎̿̈́͌̈́͛̍̕͝e̶͎͔͓̫̿̆̌̒͢͞e̡̞͍̠͓̼̫̤͆͒̃̇̿̓̂̉͂n̸̨̢̞͉͓͚̻̜̭͊́͑̏̽̓̑̐͘ m̸̢̢͓̟̙̘̱̈̓̑̾͊y̞̮͇͉̩͖͈͓̅̒͑̄͗̅ d̛̹̥͙̹͚̩̱̮͈͊̌͐̏̈̿̌́͝r̜̱͖̹̮͍̻̋̐̄͌̐̃̚͘ą̸̡̨̛͕̼̆̀͗̅̉́̾̈́̚ģ̸̧̩͕͚̪̀̃̅͆͊͠͡͠o̵͎̖̠͔̥̿̊̿̂͒̋̈́̐̕ņ̛̩̞̬̤̰̱̪͚̓̃͂̓͊e̵̠̮̤̹̥̙̾̔̃̉̓̏̊́̈́͡t̷̠̞̻̦͇̑͒̎͌̿͝?̖͇̘̻̂̄̂͋̕͢͝
̨̬̦̥̹̬̩̭̜̩͋͆͌̽̈͊̿́͞Ī͍̞̲͚̒͑̉̐̍̚̕͢t͍̩͇̳̭͂̊̊̚̕’̰͓͚̲͔̘̜͒́͑̆̿s͍̰̟͙̦̭̮̩͂̓̿̽͂̾́̎͟ s͉̪̼̣̗̜͚̠̭̔̓̒̈͊͗͠͞ơ̼͍̙͓̞͒͐̅̕ c̢̞̪͈̻̩̏̉̒́̌̅͘͟ͅȏ̧͇̯͔͕̀̃̓̈̾͟͝͠l̴̨̥̞̰̲̣͇̥͆̓̈́͑͡d̷̨̥̥̮͙̖̥̫͊̍̀͌͛̃̉̋ͅ.͈̮͕̖̙̆͒͛̉̊̅̔͗̌̕ͅ
̢̲͇̦̙̤͐͛̈̒͛̑͒͒͘̕S̩͚͎̱̀͗͊͑͂̚͡͡͠ͅṰ̨̡̟̤͕̘̱̜́̆͊̋͑̕͠͡͝͞ͅO̴̢͈͔̜̪̐̆͒̈̋̕̚͝P̴̨̦̹̜̻̥̄̃̊̿́ Ṡ̡̨̛͇͉̠̤̗͖͔̈͆̑̏͊͐T̢̨̞͙̮̪̬͚̑̽̏̈́̽̈͟͟O̴͍̣̭̣̖̭̹͊͛̂̕͡P̝̖̱̖͔̣̟͓͆̾̔̀͡ͅ N̻̤̠̲̻͉̭̐͗̆̋̾̍͟͡O̷̧̮̞̤̠͙̟̿͗̑͜͜͞͞ Ş̶̮̺͕͙̀̇̃̆̇̚͢͟T̴̢̠̻͖̤̰̺̗̾͒͆́̍͆̇͟͝Ő̷̟̪̺̜̾͒̊͘͢P̴͎̮̰̳͆̋̓͛͑͗͋͐̕͜͝.̷̢̞̰̮̦̗̮̑̀͗̂̅̈̋̿͘͝
̰̜͕̳̜̺̙̻̲̈̂̓͋̈̒̓͒̕͘ͅF̛̭̳͍̖͖͔͓̗͗̈͛͑͟͡͠ơ̡͓̥̹̞͊́̈̐̂̉̌̔ứ̭̪̤͍̻͍͚̃́̈́͊͢r̷̥̝̼̯̲̘̃̾͋͗͋̌̀͘͘͡,͙̱̭͓̘̝͖̦̝̓̔̉͒̏͛͗̋̐͟ f̛͈̖͉͙͙̰͓̔̀̑͗̔̅́͡ỉ̞͕̳̟̉̎̈́̈́͘͜͝v̵̢̗̝̗̼͓̺̰͗̄̋̊̔̿e̸͕̪̥͖͎̲̝̔̑̃̀̌͠͝,̷̧̮̺̥̤̘̜̝̱̲͆̐͗͗̐ s̴̢̧͍͈̙̖̅̉͂̑̒̋̚į̶̻̘͈͎͒̂̋̀͞x̢̯̞̦̫̗̻̫̝̦̀́͗̍̑̾͆͠͞,̡̧̞̺͈̖͖̪̠̐̎̉̀͠͝͞͝ s̸̜͈͕͖͇͕̲͉͎̄͆͂̑̋̾͛̍̚͟ë̴͓̮̩̥̞́͒͘͘̚͞͠͡͞ṽ̸͕̪̩̬̠̼͎̞̟̽̀̅̈͑͝ẻ̠͖̙̣̝͖́̋͗͌̋͑͆͡n̡̳̜͍̫̠͔̽̐́̐͆̆̒.̛͔͓̻̭̖̥̙̊̑͋̉͛͌̔͝
̷̢̡͖̣̲̪͇̺̤̠̒̅͋͛̿P̱̙̳͇̪̯̬̥̩̐́̂̑̂̈́͜l̸̢̯̤̎͛̅́̒͜͜͝ę͙̥̤̪̭̼̼́͊͊̓͂͆͜͢͡ą̸̬̬͓̣̙̺̈̐̉̊̚͝s̘͔̠̥̹̦̭̲̄̍͂̿̇͟͜ẽ̴̲̝̻̠͍̹͑̌̔͊͆́͑͘ s̴̢̛̙̮͖̤̖̖͗̀̉̀̊̊̚̕͢͢͟͞a̧̨̧̛͓̘̺̻̠̅̈́̑̓̓̿͝͝ṽ̪̗͖̰̞̪̦̥̃́̎̿̈͌̆̃e̛͍͈͔̞̱̲͙̺̝͑̈͌̍̊̄͒́ m̷̛̖̱͈͖̼̝̓̈̌̒͒̎̽͢͡ͅḛ̷̢̧̲͉̬̰͒͐̄̂̌͟.̷̢̭̺͇̭̱̰͓̊̔͗͌̑̚͢
̥̟̹͓͚̰͔̗͂̄̽̎̉̄͘͜͜͞͠I̴̞̩̜̥̥̗̺͓̓̎̉̄̏̆̚̕͟Ṭ̡̱̺̬̬̈̈̀̾͒̎͟ H̴̯͈̙̞͚͒̒́̀̿̿Ư̶̡̻̺̩̪̐͂͆͑̔͛̊̓͞Ȓ͙̻͖̤͖͓̪͋͛̽͆̈́ͅT̷͙͎̣̟̼͌́̎̍͆̐̍͜S̤͙̥̥̐̽̈̓͑̓̾̚͜͝͡ I̷̦̪̪̪̺̣̳͈̞͂̓̎͛͆̑̓͘T̺̤̘͓̠̜̩̒̍́̔̄̎̍̚ H̢̙̗̬̱̺̒̿̃̃͠͞͝Ů̳̱̲̖̣̱̞͈̓̍̍̽̾̈R̶̗̺͙̜͚̗͒͗̽̀̋͢͞͞͝Ṭ̢̖̣͙͕͇̤̈̋͌͆̄̐͆͘̚͠S̭͈̭̩͔͎͆̅̄͊͑̐̚̕͘͜͠
̴̨͉̩͈̥̈̅̽̀͋͡Ī̸͖̻̘̼̺̖͍̎̃̌͆̚͘ d̴̫̬̦̰̩͋͑̋̾͊̉͊̊͛̎͟ò̪͔̝̠̞̺͗̽̿͗͛n̸̞̜̭̝̱̪̘̝̞̙̅̆̅͋̆̀̓͋̊’̛͚͎͉̙̯̘̤̖̼̲̃͋̾̄͘͠ṫ̗̜̰̲̹̜͇̱̺̲̑͑̆̀̿͘͞ w̸̹̪͔̩͓͔͎̲̅̀̈́̓̐̈́̒́̕a̮̠͚̼̤̓̄̿͑̍̓͛n̷͍̟̥͍̯̝͛̇̊̒͢͞t̛̥̼͙̺͍̹̜̞̰̂͌͐̀̾̄͘͠͞ͅ t̷̡̛̩͎̖̤̘͆̓́̏̋͂̚̚ò̡̨͍̻̺̦̾͛͋͗̐̏̚ͅ d̷̛̞̪͉̳̯͈̖̱̅̆̔̎͒̒̉̓͌i̯̦̬̣͇̱̗͒͊̍̓͊̽͐͆̾͟͟ͅe̶̺̱͈̟͚̖̹͓͆̀̓̆͒̋͆̕.̴̧̛̯͇̘̣̙͓̏̎͐͗̾̌͘͠ͅ
̵̨͉͎͉̫̾̋̒͋̾̾͘͜͝͞G̵̺̙͕̣͉̱̗̦͎͛͛́̉̆͟͠o̷̢̞̟̖̯̣̹͊̐̾̅̈́͒̾͂̎̕͟ a̶̺͍̟͇̪̪͐̇̆̉̊̑́̃̐w̵̫̭̠͔̻̱̋͆̓͛͌͂́͆͟͞͞ä̢͎͈̹̯͍̩́̊͘̚͡y̵̛͉̼͕̺̱͚̪͉̏̀͊̊͊͒́͡,̷̱̲̪̟͆͋̈̅̑͆̓̕͟͞ g̳̭̙̺͋̿́͛̎̈́͟ͅͅọ̸̡̜̲̜̤͉̰̦̘̈́̔̌͊͠ ă̧̧̖̯̩̲͇̖͙̄̃̾͒̏w̵̨̙̩̼͓̦̰͍͕̓́̓͛̂ã̵̢̟͓̘͚̝͒͂̅͋̈͋͝y̹̤̙̼͇͂̎̇͒͒̇͘.̛̛̤͙̩̻̬͎̻̠̇̈̍̔͐̀̓͠
̵̛̱̤͙̗̰͚̲̑̀̀̔̒̕͠W̵̳̪̣̭͊͑̏̓̈̊͘͜͞ͅh̡̧̳̹͔̗̱̣̃͆̑̎͗͠͞o̷̢̡͍̮̫̙̯̅͒̌̅̍̒͡ ḯ̡̝͓̜̩̩͓͕̮̃̍̈̊̀̚͠͠s̝̗͎͎̫̦̹͙̙͋̀͒̂́̑͛̄͛͢͞ ṯ̬͈͈̳͐́̎̀̽̾̓͘̚h̴͕̺͓̖͚́͊̿͋̚ą̷͕̻̘̹̖̲̬͐̽̔̑̀̚̕̚͟ͅṫ̨͎̲̮͔͚͆͑̓̈̓̍͒͠?̴̨͈̺͔̣̤͙͚̰̩́̏̎͌͗̽͊̚̕͝ C̰̪̲̹̲̖͙̫̻̉̐̉̓́̓́͝͡a̝͔̳͍̼̜̬̬̐͑̀̕͜͢͡ň̴̛͔͖̺̤͉͕̝̘̈̋̇͛̃͂͘͠ ÿ̸̲̪͈̱̞͒̓́͗͌͘̚̕̕ơ̶̡̞̩̥̼̠̞̟̪̠̇̓̽͋̑̀̐̎͘ŭ̡̼̻̹̖͈̦̠̥̔̆̾͒̃͢ ḧ̢̭̻̝̙̝̞͉͓̪́̌͘͝͡e̸̡̬̦͕̟̦̝̾̿̾̋̉͐̐͌͝͠á̸̡̜͔̗̹̤̋̓̊̓ͅṛ̡̯͇̫̩̙̀̈́͛̉̏̒͠ m͕̩̻̤̞̤͕͙̄͋̅͂̇̂̾̚͘͟͡ḙ̰̣̭͕̙̬̺̩̰̓͒̋̉͋͝?̤̦̰̣̩͕̮͎̜̒͂̃͋̀̎̃̐͝
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Light suddenly flooded Ink’s eye, making him yell out in surprise. His breathing was rapid, and his scales felt warm, even as the dream started to fade from his memories, quicker than his visions had. What was that? he wondered, trying to recall his dream. Darkness, voices talking . . . had someone mentioned Aurora?
Oh, that was right. Aurora. Memories of the real world started to return as the final fragments of his dream left him. He’d tried to attack her using the NightWing’s form, but he’d lost. Brutally crushed. Whatever magic Aurora had been using, Ink never had a chance against her — he’d been at her mercy the entire time. He felt stiff bandages around where his blank eye had been. Why had he been so stupid? He’d known how scared the Ink in his visions had been of her. He should’ve listened, and his eye was the price he’d paid for it.
The consequences of what Aurora had done finally started to set in as Ink looked around the infirmary. Without his blank eye, Ink could no longer see the other Ink. Everyone in his vision’s world was gone, forever. He’d never be able to see Loresearcher again: in reality, he’d died seven years ago, his neck snapped by Ink’s father here. As awful a brother Loresearcher had been, the thought of him being gone forever, dead for real . . . Even if Ink had never had a real life in his visions, only getting glimpses of what might have been had given him another family, another life.
And what of Aurora, and the drought? The only reason Ink had made it this far was because of his visions. Without them, he might never had met Polar. He wouldn’t be at Jade Mountain. Even if it was far from perfect, he’d always been to guess at what the future could hold. How could he do that now? His heart began to race. He couldn’t know what would happen anymore, it was all dark to him. He’d thought he’d be able to stop Aurora and the drought, but without his visions, he had no idea what to do. Polar, Inferno . . . without his visions, Ink would have no way to protect them from his half-sister. Fear pulsed through his blood. Not only them, but Ink could no longer to protect himself. If Aurora changed her mind, he was defenseless.
He clenched, and started to get up from the medical cave bed. Other than the bandage on his head, whoever had tended to him had also bandaged a number of the minor wounds and cuts he’d gotten in his fight. He spread out his wings and shook his spines. It hurt a little, but nothing too serious.
Ink started to walk down to the rest of the academy. How long had it been? He’d promised to help Inferno figure out the situation with Seahorse and the Darkstalker’s scroll. But without his visions, he didn’t know how he could help. He could at least give her more detail about his visions, like he’d said he would. Polar too, he deserved to know, as caught up in this as he was. Not that it mattered much now.
As Ink headed down the tunnels towards the guest room, he spotted the snout of an strangely familiar dragon in the hallways, passing in the opposite direction. A skinny MudWing around Ink’s age with horns the color of ivory. Ink frowned and stopped, glancing back towards the MudWing as they passed each other. The MudWing did the same, curiously looking at Ink after stopping. Staring wasn’t too unusual. Ink was a hybrid, and a NightWing one at that. But something in this dragon’s expression seemed unusual.
“Hey, do I know you from somewhere?” Ink asked.
Slate stiffened up. Why did this dragon look so much like Midnight? Hadn’t Torrent mentioned a dead brother? It seemed unlikely, but how many NightWing-SeaWing hybrids were there in Pyrrhia? He couldn’t be one of the animuses, could he? Slate needed to go back and tell Torrent at once. “Er, nope,” Slate replied, “sorry, gotta . . . go to class.”
As Slate suspiciously ran off towards the school’s exit, Ink flicked his tongue. Where had he seen that dragon before? He suddenly realized it: the MudWing had come in with Torrent in Ink’s vision. Did that mean that Torrent could be here too? But he was dead — no, he wasn’t. Aurora had told Ink that Torrent and Midnight were still alive. If Ink believed her, that meant that Torrent was probably coming to Jade Mountain.
Ink tried to remember his vision. Even if he couldn’t get any more of them, maybe he’d be able to stop the disaster he’d seen. Torrent had attacked Polar for being an animus, but Loresearcher had rescued Polar by killing Torrent. Loresearcher had then traded Polar’s Darkstone for some mirror thing Aurora had. And Ink had been holding the Darkstalker’s scroll to keep Torrent from disenchanting it and awakening the Darkstalker. But now, Loresearcher was gone. If Torrent was coming, Polar was in danger. And if Aurora was coming, everyone was in danger. Ink didn’t remember seeing the MudWing in his visions, and he probably wasn’t a student. He’d run off at the sight of Ink — probably to get Torrent.
“Camel dung,” Ink winced, starting to run towards the guest room, even as his wounds hurt. His heart started to race. If Torrent was coming, he didn’t have much time to stop the vision.
When he got to the guest room, only Inferno was there. She looked up in surprise as she saw Ink enter. “Ink!” she greeted him exuberantly. “You’re alright! I’m so glad, we were so worried about you.”
“Worried?” Ink asked. Most of his wounds seemed minor, not much to worry about. “How long was I out?”
“Two days,” Inferno responded. “I checked in on you as often as I could. You were spasming in your sleep. Tsunami was worried your brain had accidentally been damaged or something. What happened? No one would give me a straight answer. Polar said you were attacked? Seahorse figured out that you stole one of his forms, but he’s not angry about it. We worked things out with him and Peril. And there was another hybrid who said the form got destroyed and that you got what you deserved. I was really worried!”
Ink winced. He shouldn’t have gone after Aurora. He’d put himself in danger without even thinking of his friends, and for what? To avenge his family? He’d seen most of them in his visions, and a small part of him wasn’t quite sure they were worth avenging. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I was stupid. The hybrid you saw — was she a SeaWing-IceWing?”
Inferno nodded. “I think so, although it’s kinda hard to tell sometimes. Polar thought you were a SeaWing when he first met you!”
Ink sighed. “That was probably Aurora, my half-sister. I was trying to get revenge on her, and stop something I saw in my visions.”
“Your visions,” Inferno frowned. “You never got to tell me about that.”
Ink shook his head, remembering the MudWing in the halls. “Honestly, I’m not too sure myself honestly, but I was able to see a sort of alternate future where my brother lived. Things sometimes came true, and sometimes didn’t. I can try and give more details later; sorry to delay again,” he replied, a sense of urgency in his voice. He pointed to the bandages over his left eye socket. “It’s not too important anymore anyways. Aurora took it from me. But I think we’re getting closer to the vision I saw, and I think I can still stop it. Do you know where Seahorse or Polar are?”
“Seahorse might be out talking to Peril, or trying to apologize to Kinkajou or something else. By the way, he’s Peril’s father. I have no clue about Polar.”
Ink glanced to Seahorse’s cloth bag. His scrollcase was next to it. So the Darkstalker’s scroll was here. “Alright, I hate to steal more stuff from him, but I need the Darkstalker’s scroll. We need to make sure it isn’t destroyed.”
“Destroyed?” Inferno asked, confused. “I thought you wanted to destroy it.”
Ink shook his head. “Not anymore. In my vision, apparently the Darkstalker gets free if it’s destroyed. But I think it’s in danger. I want to make sure it stays safe.”
“Alright,” Inferno replied. “I trust you.”
Ink smiled, still worried, and grabbed the scroll. “Polar might also be in danger, so I’m going to go search for him.”
“I’m coming with you,” Inferno decided. “Not that I don’t trust you of course, since that would contradict what I just said, but to make sure you don’t do anything stupid again and stay safe.” She didn’t want to think about what would happen if she had to use her firescales to protect him. She wasn’t quite sure she’d be able to hurt a dragon intentionally, even if she tried.
“Okay,” Ink replied, putting the scroll around him. “But if you see Aurora again . . . be cautious. Firescales or not, there’s nothing you can do to stop her.”
Inferno shivered. There had been very few times Inferno had been afraid of being in physical danger, but Ink didn’t sound like he was exaggerating. And when Inferno had seen Aurora, the hybrid hadn’t looked at all scared of her, or any of the other dragons around Inferno at the time.
“C’mon, let’s try the library,” Ink suggested.
The two ran towards the library, back through the schools. As they neared the entrance, two dragons came from around the corner — Peril and Turtle were quietly chatting when they noticed Ink and Inferno.
Peril smiled as she saw them, but it quickly transformed to a frown. “Hey, is that what I think it is?” she asked Turtle, pointing to the scrollcase Ink carried.
“Yeah,” Turtle gulped. “Why do you have Chameleon’s scroll?”
“Not Chameleon’s scroll,” Peril replied in a hushed voice. “Remember who Moon said made it?”
“We’re, er, protecting it,” Ink replied.
“Protecting it from what?” Peril snorted. “I hate to be rude, but it’s pretty dangerous, and Moon wanted us to destroy it.”
“We know what it is,” Inferno answered. “The Darkstalker’s scroll, whoever that is.”
“Which is why we need to destroy it,” Turtle explained. “We talked to Foeslayer, Darkstalker’s mom. She told us what he did. We want to make sure he doesn’t get released.”
Ink shook his head. “That’s why we need to protect it. If it’s destroyed, it releases him.” He wasn’t quite sure how to explain how he knew this. He didn’t think ‘my dead brother and evil half-sister told me’ would be very convincing.
Peril huffed angrily, and looked a little like she wanted to go and snatch the scroll from Ink’s paws. “That’s ridiculous. His magic is in the scroll. If it’s destroyed, his magic gets destroyed with it.”
“Unless he made it so that it goes back to him.” Turtle frowned. “It always seemed pretty suspicious to me that Darkstalker didn’t try harder to convince Moon not to destroy it. He’s literally in her head, he could like keep her from ever falling asleep or something awful if she wanted to.”
“So you’re saying he wants us to destroy it?” Peril asked. “I mean, he did tell Moon to destroy it if it ever got into the wrong claws. Wow, I’m really liking him less and less. Which is already a pretty low standard, given evil nightmare dragon.”
“Wait, wait, hold up,” Ink interrupted. “You’re telling me you’re talking to the Darkstalker?”
“Well, not us,” Peril explained. “He can read Moon’s mind a little so they have this two-way communication set up. But he’s trapped underground and is basically powerless. Why?”
“Er, not sure.” Something about Ink’s faded dream was bugging him. There was something important here, but it felt just out of reach, like he couldn’t touch it. “But you’re not destroying the scroll?”
“No,” Peril snorted. “But you better give a good explanation for why you’ve got it. I’m pretty sure my dad doesn’t lend it out like a library scroll.”
“As I said, it’s in danger,” Ink explained. “I’m trying to protect it. I’m worried my father is coming to Jade Mountain.”
“Wait, I thought you said you were an orphan?” Inferno asked, confused.
“I thought I was,” Ink admitted, “but according to Aurora, my dad and sister are still alive.”
“And you trust her?” Inferno questioned.
Ink shrugged his wings. “I don’t know. Although she didn’t seem like she was lying, and the MudWing’s arrival matched up with what I saw in my visions.”
“Visions?” Peril asked, surprised. “MudWing? Wait, you have prophecy too?”
Ink winced. “Not anymore,” he sighed. “But I think my father is coming here. He’s an animus hunter, and he’s got a big dagger with him. It’s enchanted to cancel out nearby animus enchantments, so I think Darkstalker will get his magic back, at least temporarily, if Torrent gets too close to the scroll.”
“Wait, Torrent?” Turtle said. “I had a older brother named Torrent. I mean, I never knew him, but Gill made us memorize all the names of our siblings. I thought he was dead.” He glanced at Ink’s wings. “He doesn’t happen to be a prince, does he?”
Ink nodded. “Yeah. Which I guess makes you my uncle. Small world?”
“Knew it,” Turtle grinned triumphantly, looking to Peril. “Wait, he’s an animus hunter?”
“Mhmmm.”
Turtle gulped. “Er, there’s someone I need to warn. I’ll be right back.”
Turtle started to walk past Ink and Inferno, but quickly took a step back.
“What is it?” Peril asked, following his line of sight.
Ink and Inferno turned. Blocking the tunnel were an equally surprised Torrent and Slate.
== Chapter 36 ==
“You know, you’ve been reading the same scroll for five minutes and haven’t touched it.”
Polar glanced back over to Toxin. Other than Starflight, the two were the only ones in the library at the moment. Glory had headed back to the rainforest with Mastermind, and Tiger was back in classes. Deathbringer was still around somewhere, waiting for Aurora’s arrival, even though Toxin’s vision had already passed. “It’s dense,” Polar snorted.
Toxin rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You’re still worried about him, aren’t you?”
“I’m not,” Polar retorted.
“Yes you are,” Toxin teased. “You totally are. I can tell. You can pretend you don’t care about him all you want, but you totally do. You have a crush.”
“Shut up,” Polar hissed, glancing around to make sure no one else had heard Toxin. Starflight twitched an ear.
“You’ve literally referred to him as cute multiple times to me. What, do you think someone’s gonna Queen Glacier?” Toxin laughed.
Polar’s expression fell, his tail drooping. 
Toxin realized that she’d probably gone a bit too far. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I know that must be . . . rough for you.”
“It’s fine,” Polar sighed. It really wasn’t. He felt his First Circle necklace, his thoughts taken off Ink. “It’s just . . . Glacier was a little bit more than a queen to me. She was almost a mother. After my parents fled the Ice Kingdom, she took me in, raising me in the palace. It was far more than she had to do — before they fled, my mother was Fourth Circle, and my father wasn’t even ranked. I had no right to live in the palace. Even talking to you and Ink feels treasonous, like I’m stepping over her memories.”
“Cause we’re half-NightWing, and we’re hybrids,” Toxin replied. “Got it.”
“I’m not trying to be offensive,” Polar quickly said. “Maybe you and Ink don’t realize this, but IceWings and NightWings really aren’t supposed to get along. We’re not even supposed to talk to NightWings, we’re supposed to kill them on sight. An eternal war. Had I realized Ink was part-NightWing when I met him . . .” Polar winced. He wondered if he’d really not suspected Ink was a hybrid, even in the low light. Had he just been trying to pretend he didn’t know?
“Just cause I’m half-RainWing and a dragonet doesn’t mean I don’t understand,” Toxin retorted, flicking her tail. “I know plenty of dragons who lived on the island. I know that IceWings basically murdered the old NightWing queen. I just don’t care. I’m not even a full NightWing, it’s stupid that I’m supposed to hate you all.”
IceWings killed the NightWing queen? Polar wondered why he hadn’t heard of that; news like that would’ve shaken the Ice Kingdom. “Yeah. I guess it’ll probably be different from now on, at least for the NightWings. Queen Glory doesn’t seem like the type to promote our feud. Although I wouldn’t count on any changes in the Ice Kingdom, Bla — Queen Blackice doesn’t seem to hate NightWings any less than Glacier.”
“Ink wasn’t raised in the Night Kingdom, right?” Toxin asked. “I don’t think they were too fond of hybrids back on the island. I’m pretty sure my egg would’ve been thrown in lava instead of being added to the mix of RainWing eggs. Queen Glory changed that by the way; dragonets are still raised communally of course, but we keep track of our eggs now.”
“I’m honestly not quite sure where Ink was raised,” Polar admitted. “I think he mentioned Possibility? There’s not a lot of places for hybrids. And I doubt he’d ever learn hate IceWings — he was part of the Talons, and my parents helped his adoptive father raise him.”
“Oh,” Toxin replied. “That’s weird. Are you—”
“Jealous?” Polar interrupted. “Not really. They left me for dead. They couldn’t have been that good.”
Toxin frowned. “Just curious, when you said they fled the kingdom, did they leave willingly, or were they banished?”
“Queen Glacier told me that they left after their treachery was discovered,” Polar answered. Toxin looked slightly skeptical. “You’re not suggesting she lied, are you?”
Toxin waved her wings back and forth. “Maybe not full-out lied, but don’t you think she could’ve twisted the truth a little bit? Like, why would your parents leave you behind in the Ice Kingdom? If they helped raise Ink willingly, they probably didn’t hate dragonets.”
Polar winced. Toxin was making sense. He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about this, especially so soon after Queen Glacier’s death. He quickly switched the subject. “I don’t know. So have you figured anything out about the vision you had? What it means? It’s metaphorical, right?”
Toxin sighed. “No clue. I haven’t had metaphorical visions before, but yeah, a sea of blood is a bit much. Probably means someone will die or something like that.”
Polar flicked his tail. He didn’t really like the whole NightWing powers thing. It seemed pretty unfair — not only did they have creepy powers, but they also stole the IceWings’ animus magic. Well, not much he could do about it.
Polar glanced back to the scroll he was reading, and put it away. “Maybe we should take another look at Nightreader’s prophecy.”
“Don’t have any better ideas,” Toxin muttered. She’d considered going back to the rainforest with Glory, but had decided to stay at Jade Mountain instead after her vision of blood. She’d started to regret it. It was getting kind of boring. She pulled out Historical NightWing Prophecies and Visions and opened it up to the prophecy. “Anything new?”
Polar scanned over it, reading it a few times. “I told you that I talked with Stonemover, didn’t I? I saw Nightreader. The modern day one.” 
“Wait, really?” Toxin asked, surprised. “Did you ask her—”
“She’s dead,” Polar notified Toxin. “Turned to stone. She was one of Crystal’s victims. But I’m pretty sure she’s Ink’s mother.”
Toxin thought about this for a second, putting the pieces together. “Wow, y’all had some wild parents. For a group of pacifists, the Talons of Peace sounds pretty intense.”
“And we’re the ones who have to clean up their mess,” Polar grumbled.
“So, what did Stonemover say about the prophecy?”
“Oh, er, I didn’t ask him,” Polar answered. “He just ranted about how evil animus magic was.”
Toxin huffed. “Really?”
“Sorry,” Polar apologized. “I know where Stonemover is now though. I looked through a map of the caverns and there’s a straightforward route to it, so we can go talk to him later.”
Toxin glanced down to the prophecy again. “‘When the stones of old awaken,’” she mused. “Think that could refer to the Eye of Onyx?”
“Not just that,” Polar suggested, “all of the Seven Eyes. Crystal killed Queen Glacier for a reason, and I’ll bet she took the Eye of Diamond too. And you saw the amethyst that Aurora was wearing, with the two wings? It looks just like Queen Glacier’s Eye of Diamond. It’s probably the Eye of Amethyst.”
“The SkyWing Eye,” Toxin concluded. “Which would explain her windy powers. Okay, so Crystal and Aurora are going around collecting ancient super-weapons.”
“‘The fires of death must burn.’ That’s probably the drought.” Polar continued.
“Or the volcanic eruption,” Toxin said. “That might make more sense with the next line, ‘When the lives of many have been taken.’ No clue what ‘the ground of Pyrrhia will be turned’ means. Turned to what? Sand cause there’s not enough water?”
“Sure, let’s go with that.” Polar looked at the next set of lines. “I think this is a listing of dragons. Hey, ‘the fumes untamed.’ Maybe that’s you.”
“Me?” Toxin laughed. “I’m not the one involved in this mess, you are. There’s no way I’m in some ancient prophecy. That’s ridiculous.”
“I’m serious. You’re the one having visions,” Polar responded. “You saw both Crystal and Aurora. That’s pretty important, in my opinion. And fumes, toxins, it would make sense.”
“Then what?” Toxin snorted. “‘Frozen claws’ sounds like an IceWing. Is that you?”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Polar admitted.
“Yeah, but you’re definitely more involved in this mess than I am,” Toxin continued. “Hey, what about ‘darkness be tamed’? It could mean the ‘polar night’.”
“What?” Polar chuckled. “How do you even know what that is?”
“Mastermind told me,” Toxin explained. “There was one on the NightWing island, where the night would last for over a cycle of the smallest moon. They couldn’t see the aurora, of course, too much smoke.”
Polar tossed his horns from side to side. “It’s possible, but a tenuous connection,” he decided.
“What about ‘deepest black’?” Toxin asked. “If we’re going with names being referenced in the prophecy, that could be a NightWing with a night-related name.”
Polar shook his head. “That’s penguin-brained. Usually nights aren’t even that dark with the moons out. It’s why IceWings don’t need night-vision. Really, only SeaWings do. Speaking of SeaWings, what if it’s Ink?”
“True,” Toxin replied. “I can’t really imagine anything darker than ink. And ‘the tablet forgotten’?”
Polar thought for a moment, but couldn’t come up with anything. “I don’t know. Maybe Stonemover will, though. It is his sister’s prophecy, apparently.”
“Alright, we can try and get him.”
Checking the scroll out from Starflight, the two headed down into the tunnels, Polar lighting the way with a moon globe as Toxin followed one of the maps distributed to the students. Stonemover’s cave wasn’t marked, but Polar knew the approximate location. This time, the path they took was far more direct than how Polar had gone through the tunnels before, and before long, they reached the NightWing animus.
Stonemover slowly raised his head as they entered, small chips of stone falling from his neck. He stared blankly at Polar. “So,” he greeted, his voice wheezing. “Did you give up animus magic?”
Polar winced. “Er, not exactly.”
“Wait, what?” Toxin yelled, glaring at Polar. “You’re an animus, and you didn’t tell us? Your secret IceWing project worked?”
“Sort of,” Polar sighed. “I’m not really able to do much with it. I’ve only been able to do tiny things like making pebbles float, and it drains a ton of my energy.” He didn’t tell her that it was also probably killing him.
“It’s the thingy on your arm, isn’t it,” Toxin snorted. “The one that Aurora has too. That’s why you told Glory to destroy it.”
“Yes,” Polar said, rolling his eyes. “I assumed you’d both figured it out already.”
“I was sort of busy having a vision of blood everywhere when that happened,” Toxin retorted. “I have an excuse.”
“Fine,” Polar replied. “Anyways, we’re not here to talk about that. Stonemover, we wanted to know about Nightreader’s prophecy. She was your sister, right?”
Stonemover let out a deep sigh. He moved his claws slowly, stone scratching against stone. He followed that up another sigh. Polar’s tail twitched impatiently.
“Yes,” Stonemover finally answered.
“Well?” Polar growled. “Is there anything you know about it? Why does an thousands of years old prophecy have the name of a dragon who was alive a decade ago on it? Did Nightreader know about it? Did she travel back in time? Or forward in time?”
Stonemover shook his head. “I can’t answer most of your questions. I’m sorry. I’m so useless. We never really talked about the prophecy much. It wasn’t something we thought was urgent. Maybe we were wrong. Probably.”
Polar smashed his tail on the ground in exasperation, making Toxin jump. “So how did you learn about it?” Polar hissed. “What does it mean?”
“Nightreader said that an IceWing with mystical powers told her it,” Stonemover finally answered. “I think his name was Fracture.”
“Wait, Fracture?” Polar yelled.
Toxin seethed. “Stop being so dramatic,” she scolded Polar. “Do you know him?”
“You could say that,” Polar grumbled. “Fracture wa — is my father. What do you mean ‘mystical powers’? Like, prophecy? He wasn’t secretly a NightWing, was he?” Polar checked his scales, as if making sure he wasn’t actually a hybrid.
Stonemover slowly bobbed his head from side to side. “I don’t think so. According to Nightreader, he was blind in one eye, but could use it to see ‘what had been’ or ‘what might have been’ or something like that.”
“Well, that’s interesting,” Toxin commented. “You know who else was blind in one eye? Ink. At least until Aurora tore it out. If it gave him ‘mystical powers,’ that would explain why she did it. And if your dad also had similar powers, maybe that’s why he helped raise Ink. Like to teach him how to use his powers or something like that.”
“He said he could see the future,” Polar explained. “Maybe that was what he meant.”
“Did you say Ink?” Stonemover asked. “One of Nightreader’s dragonets was going to be named Ink.”
“Yes, yes, this is the same one,” Polar snorted. “Apologies in advance for not telling you earlier. I thought he was going to visit. Unless he dies. In which case he won’t visit.”
Stonemover looked slightly distraught. “That’s alright. It’s not like anything really matters anymore.” He sighed again.
“Look, we need to focus,” Toxin interrupted. She started to doubt Stonemover’s usefulness, and it began to make sense why Polar hadn’t bothered talking to him more. “Nightreader’s prophecy. Do you know the dragons in it? There’s a few lines that we think are referencing specific dragons by their names. Since Ink and Polar’s families are all entwined in this mess, they’re probably two, and Polar thinks I’m a third because of all the visions I’ve had.”
“Hey, what about Inferno?” Polar suggested. “‘Eternal flames’ sounds fitting for a fireborn.”
“Alright, then who’s the ‘tablet forgotten’?” Toxin questioned. “If the ‘frozen claws’ line refers just to you, that’s number five, not including our ancient evil. Who, from reading the scrolls and this whole name repeats nonsense, is probably Calamity.”
“Or Darkstalker,” Polar pointed out, giving Stonemover a quick side-glance. “Also an ancient evil with deathly name.” He shivered just thinking about the ancient animus.
“Do you know what we have to do, then, after we find the fifth?” Toxin asked Stonemover. “Spark waters of life across some bridge and unite the tribes and lead them in a peaceful war? What does that even mean?”
Stonemover shut his eyes, and for a moment, Polar was worried the dragon would start crying. “I’m sorry,” the NightWing sniffled. “I really have no idea. I don’t even remember Nightreader’s prophecy. It was so long ago.”
“Well, you’re still an animus, a real one,” Polar brought up. “That can help us out, right? Maybe you can enchant a scroll that will tell who the five dragons in the prophecy or the three coming to devour the sun are, or maybe a compass that points to the bridge.”
Stonemover’s eyes opened up widely, and he shook his head vigorously, causing a burst of dust. “No, no! I can’t. I won’t use my magic again. I’ve caused too much damage already.”
Polar gritted his fangs, and turned to Toxin. “Well, he’s right. He’s totally useless. C’mon, let’s just go.”
The two started back down the tunnel to the academy, Polar almost raging in frustration.
“Stonemover said you were an animus, didn’t he?” Toxin asked. “If so, maybe you can enchant something that will help us.”
“Doubt it,” Polar grumbled. “It’s probably too complicated for me. It might even kill me if I tried. Maybe I can start with something similar.”
Toxin nodded with a sigh. She frowned. “Hey, do you hear something?”
Polar stood quiet for a moment, listening. “Yeah. Clawsteps. There are dragons coming this way.”
== Chapter 37 ==
“You saw what?” Torrent yelled.
Slate winced, turning away from the SeaWing’s sharp fangs. “Another hybrid. NightWing-SeaWing. He looked a little bit like Midnight, which is why I came back to tell you. Sorry, I didn’t find anything out about animuses . . .”
Torrent shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. Did you find out his name?”
“No,” Slate replied. “Do you think he’s your son? I thought you said Crystal killed Midnight’s siblings.”
“We had three eggs,” Torrent explained. “One was Midnight, and I know one of the others died. The last egg was taken; both Aurora and Crystal went after it. I didn’t know what happened to it, but I never heard from Griffin again, so I assumed the dragonet was killed.” Or worse.
“So it could be him?”
“There can’t be many other SeaWing-NightWing hybrids around,” Torrent grumbled. “So it’s not unlikely.” He opened his wings, ready to take off. “I’m going to go find him.”
So much for staying out of sight, Slate thought. This seemed to becoming a recurring pattern with the SeaWing. Torrent would definitely attract attention in Jade Mountain.
The two flew up to the platform, where Ermine watched as the two went into the academy. The small IceWing seemed far more saddened than normal, and didn’t even bother trying to stop the intruders, just staring out into the mountains.
“This place used to be far more serene,” Torrent grumbled, looking at the huge gong in the center of the entrance room. He glanced over at the maps in front of the tunnels, scanning each in succession. He quickly chose a tunnel, and headed off into it.
“Where are we going?” Slate asked, catching up with the SeaWing. “I think I saw the hybrid in one of the other tunnels.”
“This place is big. Who knows where he got to. And if Stonemover’s home has been invaded by animuses, he might have a clue to what’s going on. There’s a passage to his cave through the school, I can investigate along the way.” Torrent put a talon to the amethyst on his dagger, feeling its warmth. Drawing a weapon might raise too much concern.
The two walked down the tunnel, rounding a corner. Torrent suddenly felt a heat source in the cave beyond him, like a fire had been set. He frowned. The cave wasn’t flammable. He peeked around the corner to see four dragons further down the hall: two SkyWings, a SeaWing, and a Sea-Night hybrid, just like Slate had mentioned.
Torrent blinked for a few moments, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. Ink had survived? Was this some sort of trick? Torrent slowly pulled his dagger from its sheath, feeling the amethyst again. The nervous-looking SeaWing was an animus. From the green color of his scales, likely the same one Torrent had seen on his map in the Deep Palace all those years ago. A cousin or a brother, maybe?
Peril tensed up as Torrent drew his weapon, and stepped in front of Turtle. Torrent was able to see the wisps of smoke streaming from both her and Inferno’s scales. Two SkyWings with firescales. Torrent winced, the scars on his neck seemingly flaring up at the warmth, but walked forward anyways, Slate trailing behind him.
“He’s your father, right?” Peril asked Ink. “I can fight him, if you want. Not like kill or even hurt fighting, since I don’t do that anymore, I mean just standing here and letting him try and attack me if he wants.”
Ink took a few steps back as Torrent approached, and shook his head. “No, please don’t,” he asked her. He was slightly conflicted. “I don’t want him to get hurt, even if it’s his own fault. But we need to get away from him, fast.” He clenched the scrollcase tighter. If Torrent got too close, the Darkstalker could awaken.
“There are less explored caves further down that way,” Turtle pointed out. “Maybe we could lose him.”
“Maybe,” Ink replied, doubtful. As long as Torrent had the dagger, he’d be able to sense Turtle and Darkstalker’s scroll. But if Ink wanted to make a choice, he had to do it quickly. Draping the scroll over his back, Ink took another few steps back, turning and breaking into a sprint down the hallway. Turtle and Inferno quickly followed, with Peril waiting a few more moments before turning her tail on Torrent.
Torrent snorted as they ran off. If they were running, they must have known they’d done something bad. Had the animus used his magic to hurt someone somehow? Maybe Torrent shouldn’t have given up his job as an animus hunter. “Slate,” he ordered, “there’s a cave on the other side of the mountain. I want you to go into it and keep them from escaping.” He quickly described the entrance to the cave he and Nightreader had resided in. “Chat with Stonemover if you want. I know these caves like the glowstripes on my wings, I’ll be there soon.”
Slate nodded, and quickly ran back the way he’d come. Dagger out, Torrent slowly continued down the tunnel, following the heat signature left by Turtle. He’d get to the bottom of whatever was going on here.
----“I hope Anemone will be alright,” Turtle said nervously.
“Don’t worry, she can take care of herself,” Peril comforted him. “And she’s got Tamarin and Pike with her. She’s safe.”
Turtle nodded unassuredly. “Watch your step and stay to the left,” he suggested. “There’s a little bit of a slope here.” It was dangerous going down into the caves dark. The SeaWing winced. He hadn’t considered the fact that he was the only one of the four who was fully able to see where they were going. Everyone else was inevitably slowed down.
“Grab my tail,” Peril suggested to Inferno. “It’ll help you balance.”
Inferno sighed and carefully put her talons around Peril’s tail, instinctively flinching as she touched another dragon’s scales. She wasn’t quite sure if this was really helpful, or if Peril just wanted to be able to touch another dragon.
“Hey, I think I see something,” Ink suddenly pointed out. “There’s a glow ahead of us. Light!”
As the four slowly continued on, light started to shine on the cavern walls, shadows shifting. The sound of two chatting dragons reached Ink’s ears. As the light grew brighter, Polar and Toxin turned the corner, the IceWing holding out a moon globe.
“Ink?” Polar said, surprised to see the bandaged hybrid walking about. “You’re alright!”
Polar pushed past Turtle to give the hybrid a warm hug, wrapping his wings around him. Ink blinked, unsure what was happening. “Er, yeah, I’m fine,” Ink answered, pushing the affectionate IceWing away. He glanced towards the smug-looking Toxin, wondering what she’d done to Polar. He wasn’t normally like this. “Just a few scratches.”
Toxin looked over at Inferno, wondering why she was holding Peril’s tail. “So . . . what’s going on here?” she asked.
Inferno quickly dropped Peril’s tail, slightly embarrassed. “Er, it was dark, and we couldn’t see.”
“No, I mean what is Ink doing out of bed, and why are you all in the caves?” Toxin snorted.
“Maybe we should ask you what you are doing in the caves?” Peril retorted.
Toxin gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes, a slight hint of green working its way through her dark scales. “We were chatting with Stonemover,” she growled. “Nothing suspicious.” She glanced at Ink, expecting him to explain. She didn’t even know him, but she’d gone to help rescue him with Polar. He owed her a few explanations.
“We’re trying to get away from my father,” Ink quickly explained, looking back, just to make sure Torrent wasn’t right behind them. “He’s an animus hunter, and if he gets too close to this scrollcase, he’ll release the Darkstalker.”
Toxin looked up at Polar. An animus hunter. That could be a problem.
“Wait, WHAT!” Polar yelled at Ink, the hybrid wincing and turning away. “THE DARKSTALKER?” He turned back to Toxin. “See, I told you the Darkstalker was our evil.”
Ink sighed. “I’m real sorry about this,” he apologized. “This is family business, I really didn’t want anyone else to get involved in this. First my half-sister, now my father. I never should’ve come to Jade Mountain.”
“Oh, please,” Toxin rolled her eyes. “It was my business when I started getting visions about it, and Aurora murdered my friends.”
“And you helped me with Webs and Seahorse,” Inferno continued. “It’s only fair that I help you in return.”
“Yeah,” Peril added, “and I, er, I actually have no idea what’s going on still. Nevermind!”
Polar hadn’t realized that Aurora was Ink’s half-sister, but it made sense in retrospect. Two half-SeaWing hybrids. Wait, did that mean Polar and Ink were related? Polar’s aunt was Ink’s step-mother, which made them . . . step-cousins? Was that weird? Crystal had been married to Ink’s father? Wait, did SeaWings even have marriage? Polar shook his head, not wanting to think about any of this right now. “C’mon, let’s go already,” the IceWing suggested. “There’s an exit to the caves not far from here, past Stonemover’s cave.”
When the six reached Stonemover’s cave, Slate was already there, blocking the exit. His legs shook as he saw the group of dragons enter. How had Torrent expected him to keep them from leaving again?
“Oh, hello,” Ink greeted Slate. “I saw you in the hallways. What’s your name?”
“Um, Slate,” the MudWing responded, not quite sure whether this dragon was supposed to be his enemy right now or not. “Er, you’re Torrent’s son, right?”
Ink nodded. “Yep!” he answered. “I’m Ink. Nice to meet you!”
Slate glanced at the group — they’d been joined by an IceWing, but also a RainWing-NightWing hybrid. Two more hybrids? That was surprising. He glanced beyond them, to the cave they’d exited from. Torrent’s blue scales appeared from the crevasse, and Slate gave out a sigh of relief.
The SeaWing licked his teeth as he held out his map. “Hello, Stonemover,” he greeted. “It’s been a while.”
Stonemover murmured something inaudible, and gave out a long sigh.
“Four out of five are here,” Torrent snorted, putting his map to the side as he scanned the dragons. “Stonemover and the SeaWing are two. Now, who are the others?” He withdrew his dagger, causing Peril to take a step in front of Turtle.
“Dad, don’t,” Ink pleaded, moving back towards Slate. The further away the scroll was from Torrent, the better. “Let us explain.”
Torrent frowned. So the hybrid was his son after all. “The last time I had one of my dragonets suddenly appear, my mate and son were killed.” Griffin had been under Crystal’s magical orders. If Ink had survived, there was a good chance it was because Crystal had taken his egg, just like she had taken Aurora. “I’m not making the same mistake twice.”
Torrent pointed his dagger towards Ink, invoking a growl from Peril. He wasn’t an animus, but he had something enchanted on him. The scrollcase?
Polar glanced up and down Slate. He seemed scared, not battle-trained. There was no way he could keep them from leaving. “Toxin,” he whispered, “I think we can take out the MudWing together and escape.”
Torrent’s eyes turned towards Polar, and he pointed his dagger at the IceWing. The amethyst grew warm, and the SeaWing’s eyes narrowed on the Darkstone. So he was the third animus. Torrent took a step towards him.
“Don’t come any closer,” Peril warned Torrent. “If you do, I’ll step in front of you.” She glanced back, wondering if Inferno was going to back her up.
Inferno was occupied, shaking her head as she clutched her skull with her claws. “Quiet,” she whimpered. “Get out of my head! I’m not going to hurt anyone. I won’t fight. You told me you didn’t want me to!”
Torrent tilted his head to the side, revealing the scars along his gills to Peril. “These are from the last fireborn I met,” he growled, baring his teeth. “She didn’t survive the encounter. Step aside, this is none of your business.”
“This isn’t your business either, father.”
Torrent whipped around at the sound of the voice. Aurora stood a few tail lengths behind him, partially covered by the crevasse. The SeaWing snarled. “So you’re here after all.”
Aurora glared at her father. “You shouldn’t be here. Your time has gone and passed. Calamity no longer needs you.”
“Who the fuck is Calamity?” Torrent roared, his talons trembling. “Is that the bastard who told you to kill my mate? Tell me where he is so I can strangle the air from his windpipe.”
Aurora shook her head. “Unfortunately, the reason we’re in this situation is because you failed, father. You couldn’t kill him when you had the chance.”
“You’re talking squid-guts now,” Torrent growled. “I think I would’ve known it if I’d have met him.”
“You wouldn’t,” Aurora answered. “You should follow the fireborn’s advice. Your son is holding Darkstalker’s talisman.”
“Darkstalker’s what?” Torrent turned back around, his eyes focusing on the scrollcase Ink was holding. He started towards Ink before being blocked by Peril again. “Do you know how dangerous that thing is?”
“If you disenchant it, Darkstalker’s magic will return to him, and he’ll be free,” Aurora explained. “None of us want that. I put Queen Scarlet back on the throne to prevent it.”
Torrent seethed, and turned back to Aurora. The other dragons stayed silent. If anyone could stop Aurora, Ink knew it would be Torrent.
The ground suddenly stated to shake, and pockets of rubble started to fall into Stonemover’s cave. Slate grabbed out at Ink’s wing to keep his balance, surprised. Torrent appeared unaffected. “Your magic can’t hurt me.”
“No, but it can hurt them,” Aurora retorted. “If you take another step towards me, the cavern ceiling will crash down on every dragon in the cave behind you.”
“Then that’s three animuses dead.”
“Along with your son, your deceased mate’s brother, and an innocent hybrid dragonet. It’s your choice if you want their blood on your claws or not.”
“I’ll reach you before you can do it,” Torrent threatened.
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll escape, and it will all be for nothing.”
The ceiling started to shake again, and small rocks started to fall. Polar glanced towards the exit, Slate still blocking it. They needed to get out of here. He started towards it, when the cave suddenly shook again. A loud crack of rock sounded from above, and rubble suddenly fell into the exit tunnel. Slate yelped and jumped away, the rocks almost falling on top of him. He ran into Ink, causing him to drop the scrollcase, which started to roll towards Torrent. Ink winced he tried to take a step, but couldn’t hold on to his balance with the shaking, falling on his belly.
Polar’s teeth chattered. That had been their only route of escape. There had to be some other way out; he couldn’t leave this up to the SeaWing.
“You’re bluffing,” Torrent growled.
“Go on, father,” Aurora continued. “This is your last choice. Me, or these dragons? Choose.”
Torrent glanced back at Ink. Why had Crystal and Aurora let Ink live? There had to have been a reason.
Torrent smirked, flicking his forked tongue in and out. “Four birds, one stone.”
The SeaWing leaped at Aurora, claws outstretched, but it was too late. Before he’d gotten close enough for his dagger to be within range, she’d phased into the walls of the tunnel. The ground kept rumbling, and larger rocks had started to fall down from the ceiling. The torch fell on the ground. Torrent ran back towards Stonemover’s cave, but Aurora was already there, the sky-blue hybrid having phased back behind Ink. Ink yelled out in surprise. As the cavern began to collapse, winds started to pick up within it. The torch went out.
Polar breathed heavily, the Darkstone burning against his scales. His heart raced, and he felt a small rock hit his back, the cavern crumbling. He had to do something. Anything. “I ENCHANT US TO ESCAPE!” he screamed out.
A second later, and Peril breathed out a puff of flame, momentarily lighting up the cave. The trembling of the cavern stopped around her as Torrent came close. Turtle huddled nearby, his wings above his head. Stonemover remained against one of the cavern walls, stone covering his scales.
The only other dragon left in the room was an silent Aurora, chainlinks clinking as a gust blew through them. Her duty was complete.
AN: Hey, I'm not really editing the work beyond this point because I'm lazy and this is a fanfic, so there might be more typos and stuff.
= Part 3 =
== Chapter 38 ==
“Cal . . . Cal, wake up, please!”
Calamity felt claws dig into the scales on his back, trying to jostle him awake. The young MudWing moaned in pain, his head dizzy. His throat ached, and he wheezed out a cough. Sticky red blood came up, the taste of iron flooding his mouth. He opened his eyes, only seeing blurry shapes dancing back and forth. He squinted a little as they started to come into focus. The most prominent figure was of the dragon shaking him, another MudWing. She was the same age as him, five years from hatching, but quite a bit larger. Prince Calamity’s sib and bigwings, Queen Fen.
As Calamity’s eyes opened, Fen started sobbing. “You’re alive,” she sniffled. “At least you’re alive.”
Calamity tried to get up onto all fours, pushing himself up with his forelegs. They shook uncontrollably, and the young prince gritted his teeth as he felt a sharp pain through his back. He glanced back to his hindquarters, barely able to stretch his neck around to see. A large pile of rubble from what may have been a stone wall or pillar buried his scales, his hindlegs and tail trapped beneath. He tried to move them again, but felt no pain.
The MudWing prince tried to remember what had happened. He’d been in the foyer of the palace, the room with all the tapestries. They’d only moved into the Queen’s Palace from the nearby Princess’ Palace recently, after Fen had won her royal challenge, and Calamity had been looking through the tapestries, trying to figure out how many of the queens of old he could recognize. But there’d been shaking, and after that, he couldn’t remember anything.
Calamity felt the ground rumble beneath his claws, small pebbles from the rubble jumping across the floor. The shaking was still there. He looked around the room, his vision still blurry. He was still in the foyer, although it was difficult to recognize. The wall behind Calamity had collapsed, along with part of the roof.  A number of the tapestries were visible on the floor, some torn and ripped by the rubble. Calamity winced. That was history of the Mud Kingdom there, forever lost to an earthquake.
“C’mon Fen, we need to get out of here, the rest of the palace could collapse at any time,” Calamity urged her. He tried using his forelegs to pull himself out from the rubble, but his claws slid across the floor with nothing to grab onto. He put his forepaws out for Fen to grab. “Help me out of this.”
The shrieks of dragons suddenly pierced through the walls of the palace, making Calamity wince. It was unlucky that Fen had to deal with a disaster like this so soon in her reign. It was a bad omen. But right now, the most important thing was staying safe. Where were the rest of their sibs?
“No,” Queen Fen said, shaking her head back and forth. Small tears fell from her eyes. “I can’t go back out there. Maybe we can hide in here.”
“Hide?” Calamity asked, confused. “What do you mean, ‘hide’?” Fear struck through his voice. This was an earthquake, why did they need to hide?
Fen’s legs and wings trembled in terror, and Calamity could smell the reek of piss on her scales. She pointed her claws up. Calamity followed it to a hole in the ceiling. One of the moons was visible, having almost reached its first quarter. Stars twinkled behind it. Calamity kept looking, unsure what his sib wanted him to see.
Suddenly, a shape moved across the hole, blotting out the stars. The quarter moon disappeared, replaced by a field of colorful lights and bubbles, shooting across the sky. More screams yelled out, and Calamity’s blood turned cold as ice. A few moments later, the colors had disappeared, and the moon and stars were visible once more.
“Fen, what was that?” Calamity asked, breathing heavily, looking back to his sister, away from the hole.
Fen shook her head, as if trying to deny Calamity’s questions. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she whimpered, her claws shaking. “This is all my fault. I didn’t mean to do it. I don’t know how I brought it here.”
“What do you mean, ‘brought it here’?” Calamity interrogated, almost shouting. “What did you do? Where are the rest of our sibs?”
“I don’t know!” Fen yelled out, almost angrily. “It’s big, and I couldn’t control it. I tried, but it wouldn’t listen, even though that’s what I enchanted it to do. Everyone else is gone. You’re the only one left.”
“Only one left?” Did she mean, the only one of their sibs left? “No, no, you’re not saying —”
Calamity suddenly yelled out as a sharp pain ripped at his stomach. He tried to clutch at his underbelly, but wasn’t fast enough. He retched, vomiting up a puddle of warm blood onto his sisters paws. The MudWing prince started to go dizzy, and his head fell to the ground, his blood running into his scales. Sharp pains shot through his chest with every breath as he started to hyperventilate.
Fen started to sob again, not bothering to move her claws from the pool of her brother’s blood. “No, no, please stay with me.”
Calamity coughed again, before trying to speak. “Magic,” he wheezed. “Use your magic.”
The young MudWing queen stood still for a moment, unsure. “I can’t,” she whispered, her teeth chattering. “That’s what brought it here. It’ll find us if I try.”
“Please . . . it’s not too late,” Calamity said, his claws tensing up. He coughed again, the familiar taste of iron welling up. “Think of something.” Fen was smart, and an animus. She could find a way out of this, like she always had. The right enchantment, carefully worded, could save them all.
“It is, Cal,” Fen assured him, sounding defeated. “It’s too late.” She looked down at her sib, her eyes stained with tears.
Calamity wheezed again, his head lying loosely on the floor. The screams of dragons from far away started to blend together. He looked up at Fen. He needed to stay awake. He couldn’t close his eyes. If he did, it would be all over. “Please.”
Queen Fen stared back into her suffering brother’s eyes. No. She wouldn’t give up. This was her fault. There had to be something she could do. She stiffened her legs up, trying to stop the trembling. Ideas started to flash through her whirring brain. Animus magic couldn’t bring back the dead, but what if there was a way around that? What if they’d never died in the first place?
“Cal, if we were able to do this over again, do you think you could stop me?”
“Stop you?” Calamity groggily questioned. “I still don’t know what you did.”
Fen took in a deep breath. “I’m not sure either.” If she did this, Calamity would only have one chance to stop her. There was no way she could be sure he’d succeed. Unless . . .
Fen took a few steps back, into the center of the foyer, beneath a collapsed staircase.  The ground shook beneath her. She didn’t know how much time she had left. But if this worked, time wouldn’t be a factor anymore. The words of the enchantment already started to swim through her mind. She repeated it in her head a few times, editing and re-editing it until she made sure it was just right. Something infaillible, something that would ensure Calamity could prevent this.
As she finished composing the enchantment, exactly sure what she had to say, Fen took in a deep breath to calm herself. She wouldn’t get another chance. The MudWing opened her mouth to speak, and the familiar aura of magic started to surround her, twisting across her scales. “I enchant —”
As soon she started to speak, the ground around her cracked, the flooring splintering into pieces. A black ooze started to well up from the cracks, circling around Fen’s paws and latching onto them. She kept speaking, Calamity unable to make out the words as the screams of dragons flooded his ears.
Suddenly, a torrent of the ooze swarmed up around Fen, raising itself into the air in a column three dragons wide. It engulfed the MudWing queen within it, lifting her into the center of the foyer, a story up. The translucent black liquid flooded down Fen’s throat and beneath her scales, but her will was indomitable, and the MudWing kept speaking the words of enchantment. Colorful glowing bubbles started to rise up from the ground, flowing past Fen. Her scales started to glow, sparkles of light appearing on them.
Calamity could barely see anymore, everything in front of him blurring together. His head slumped to the ground as blood dripped from his jaws, and his eyes finally shut. By the time  Fen finished the enchantment, he was already dead.
----“Calamity. Wake up. I’m hurt.”
Calamity’s eyelids opened as Crystal dragged herself towards the floating MudWing spectre. Beyond a number of minor wounds, blue blood dripped from her hindpaw, and nothing remained of the spiked end of her tail. The Eye of Diamond swung back and forth from her neck, and her obsidian dagger remained at her side.
“Looks like someone had a little trouble,” Calamity commented. He gave out a yawn and swam towards Crystal, floating through the air. The Eye of Onyx swung from his neck, the glowing pupil still visible.
“Shut it,” Crystal growled. “I fought the entire Empty Circle at once. Magical dagger or not, I was lucky I didn’t lose more than my tail. Your magic can’t bring me back to life, can it?”
Calamity shrugged his wings. “Depends on the permanence of your soul. How you died, whether you have a strong reason to stick around or not. It’s easier with fireborns and impossible with animuses. Spooky ghost magic has a lot of rules.”
“Is that really the only name there is for it?” Crystal scoffed. “Spooky ghost magic?”
Calamity grinned. “What, not good enough for you?” With a sudden swish of his wings, he swooped down into Crystal, his ethereal form passing into her. Crystal winced as she felt Calamity’s presence within her. The feeling of having another dragon share her body set all her scales on edge. She could tell from the new rigidity in her muscles that her movements were not fully her own, and that Calamity could choose to exert his will on them if he wished. The Eye of Onyx had fallen to the floor beside her, the pupil on it curiously watching.
Crystal’s tail suddenly twitched without her moving it. A pale aura extended from the missing end of it, creating an glowing outline of her tail’s tip and spines. Slowly, flesh and scale started to fill in the outline, building the tip of her tail back up. Similarly, the wound in her paw started to heal, the scales slowly mending back together. A few moments later, her tail was whole again, and her wounds gone.
As quickly as he entered it, Calamity’s figure swam out from Crystal. Crystal relaxed, her body entirely her own again. She looked back to her tail and paw, perfectly healed. Calamity floated back around Crystal, picking up the Eye of Onyx once more and hanging it around his neck. Where the chain touched him, his scales appeared to solidify slightly, becoming opaque.
“So, I take it you succeeded?” Calamity asked, pointing his tail to the Eye of Diamond around Crystal’s neck. Two silver wings spread from the many-faceted diamond, glittering in the strange glow of the cavern.
“I wouldn’t have this if I didn’t,” Crystal assured him. “Queen Glacier, Princess Snowfall, and the Empty Circle are all dead.”
“Not all of the Empty Circle,” Calamity pointed out.
“Polar barely counts,” Crystal snorted. “You’re the one who told me he wouldn’t be there. Anyways, after Blackice decimated the palace, I removed the last forgotten remnants of Project Darkstone. It’s over. The only things left of it are Polar and Aurora’s Darkstones.”
“They still have a role to play,” Calamity said with a smile. “Although I can’t say I’m certain what it will be anymore.”
“So, you want this?” Crystal asked, taking the Eye of Diamond from her neck. She tossed it at Calamity. The MudWing caught it with one paw, turning opaque as he grabbed it.
“I can’t use both at once,” he clucked. With a smooth motion, he tossed the Eye of Diamond to the side of the cave. It settled against the rock, the clear shining gem blending in with the crystalline walls of the cavern. The MudWing’s paw became translucent again. “I’ll hide for later. I have to exert the Eye of Onyx a bit more first. Jerboa is a feisty one, aren’t you?”
The pupil on the black surface of the Eye of Onyx moved up towards Calamity, looking the ghost straight in the eyes.
“I swear, if she had eyelids, I’d think she’d be glaring,” Calamity joked. “You got Queen Glacier’s permission, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Crystal said. “She gave it to me in exchange for her daughter’s life.”
“Well, I just need to make sure that it’s in the right place when the time comes.”
Crystal frowned, glancing at the Eye of Onyx. It looked back at her. “So just how long are you going to keep this drought going?”
“Until I’ve finally exerted the Eye enough that Jerboa can’t hold it together anymore,” Calamity explained. “Why do you ask?”
“The Ice and Sand Kingdoms have been mostly spared from it, but I saw the effects its had on the land,” Crystal reminded him. “Plants dried and shriveled, animals dying of thirst. I can only imagine what it’s doing to the swamps and forests in the east. Dragons are suffering.”
Calamity didn’t seem particularly disturbed. “Dragons suffering is nothing new,” he replied. “I hope you remember what we’re trying to stop.”
Crystal’s eyes darted to the hole in the cavern behind Calamity, across the fragile crystalline bridge. She’d been through there before. She knew that everything they’d done was necessary. “Yes, I remember.”
“Good,” Calamity smiled. “In that case, I have another mission for you.”
Crystal nodded. “What is it?”
“You remember Fracture, don’t you?” he asked. “Well, I believe it’s about time to stop him from meddling any further.”
Crystal closed her eyes. She’d known this was going to happen eventually. She didn’t particularly want to kill her brother-in-law, but she knew it had to be done. “I’ll do it,” she sighed. “How long from my return to the caverns?”
“Not long, just [7 days],” Calamity responded. He frowned. “I can tell something’s wrong, you know. Are you still on that drought thing?”
“No, no.” That wasn’t quite true. It still bothered Crystal. But it wasn’t the only thing on her mind. “I’m worried about Aurora. She’s never been away from the caverns for this long.”
“She has her mission,” Calamity replied. “You not worried she’ll get hurt, are you? She has her band and the Eye of Amethyst. There’s few dragons who could harm her.”
“Not just that,” Crystal sighed. “It’s more. I suppose I’ve become a little sentimental. I want her to be happy, to have the life I gave up for this.”
“You chose this path for her,” Calamity said, tapping a claw in the air. “You knew the options. I gave you all the information. But this way, Pyrrhia has a chance. A small one, but a chance to survive.”
“Yes, I know, I know,” Crystal snorted. “But I want her to have a choice.”
“She got one,” Calamity retorted. “She’s free to leave us whenever she wishes, and she knows that. She chooses to stay because she wants to what’s right.”
“She never got to see what the other path looks like,” Crystal frowned. “Of course she chose duty. That’s the only thing she’s ever known.”
Calamity sighed, and floated in a small circle around the cavern, above Starweaver’s frozen corpse. Crystal watched him as he thought. Aurora never had anything close to a normal raising. It had just been her, Crystal, and Calamity all her life. But now that she was out there, maybe she’d have a chance to realize that there was more to life than duty.
“Alright,” Calamity finally responded. “I can try and get her a happy ending, although what she makes of it is up to her. The freedom she’s earned.”
Crystal breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“But she’s not done yet,” Calamity warned the IceWing. “There’s a bit more she has to do for us, to make this work. Crystal, have you ever played Queens and Generals?”
Crystal nodded. “A few SandWings I met during my time with Boreal showed me it, but I was never any good. Why do you ask?”
Calamity grinned, and fluffed his wings. “It’s one of those skills I developed over my existence, just to pass the time. Only a few more moves, and we can move our SeaWing and SkyWing queens to center of the battlefield.”
== Chapter 39 ==
In a blink of an eye, the world around Toxin went dark. When she could see again, the hybrid dragonet was no longer in the damp, shaking cave. Where there had been dimly lit rock walls, stone houses rose above Toxin, shaped by triangular roofs. Her eyes were caught on a bright crimson SkyWing, who was staring back at Toxin with a confused expression on her snout. The SkyWing backed away into a small alley between two of the houses before quickly running off.
The loud sound of a retching dragon came from behind Toxin, causing her to turn away from the fleeing SkyWing. She wrinkled her snout. The MudWing that had been blocking their exit had just emptied his most recent meal on the cobble street, and was woozily swaying back and forth. Next to him was a wobbling Ink, and a few tail-lengths away was Inferno, a confused look on her snout. Toxin glanced down to see Polar, collapsed at her paws.
“Polar?” she asked him, worried. The IceWing didn’t respond. She bent her head down and gave his neck a nudge. Polar didn’t move.
Ink stared down at Polar. He took a step towards the IceWing, narrowly avoiding stepping in Slate’s mess. “He’s not . . .” he whispered, choking up slightly.
Toxin rested her head against Polar’s side. It gently rose and fell. “He’s breathing,” she said. “I think he’s alive.”
Ink stepped closer, and rested a claw on the IceWing, checking for himself. “C’mon Polar, please get up.”
Slate staggered from side to side, and let out a moan. As he regained his balance, he looked around at the four dragons, then at his surroundings. Clearly, they weren’t in the cave anymore. “Hey, so what just happened?” he asked. “We didn’t die, did we?”
Toxin winced as she glanced down at Polar. “We’re not dead,” she sighed. “You heard Polar. I think he enchanted us . . . somewhere. To get away from Aurora.”
“Oh,” Slate responded. “Is Polar the IceWing? What happened to him? He looks bad.”
Ink nudged Polar with his snout, trying to waken him.
“What do you think we’re trying to figure out?” Toxin hissed, her ruff flaring up. “I hope you realize this is mostly your fault, for trapping us in that cave.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who almost caused the cave to collapse!” Slate growled back.
Toxin rolled her eyes, and looked to the alley where the SkyWing had fled. She could be coming back with reinforcements. Were they in the Sky Kingdom? If so, their unusual group could be in danger. Toxin had heard enough about Queen Scarlet to know that the only place the SkyWing queen liked diversity was in her arena. The hybrid dragonet glanced over towards Inferno. She was a SkyWing, right? Maybe she couldn’t get them out of this. It wasn’t like Queen Scarlet could capture her.
“Where are we?” Inferno asked, checking out her surroundings. She shivered. While a lot of these houses were made of stone, some of them looked awfully flammable. She’d never been allowed into a city before, and probably for good reason.
“The Sky Kingdom?” Toxin suggested.
Ink shook his head, his claws still on Polar. “No, I know this place. We’re in Possibility. Somewhere on the east bank.”
“Possibility?” Slate wondered. “We’re that far? But that’s on the other side of the continent from Jade Mountain! How are we supposed to get back there?”
“Flying,” Toxin bluntly answered. “Although it’s probably for the better if we’re a continent away from Aurora. It’s not like there’s anything else I need from Jade Mountain anyways.” She raised up the Black Scroll in her paws. Fortunately, it had come along for the ride when Polar had teleported them.
“No, no, I have to go back,” Slate stated. What had happened to Torrent? And he still needed to find the other dragons in the prophecy.
“Tsunami will be really worried about us,” Inferno mused. “Do you think everyone else will be okay? What if the mountain collapses on the academy?”
“I’m not leaving Polar behind,” Ink snorted. He lowered his neck, and tried to get himself under Polar to lift the IceWing up. “I know someplace we can stay until we figure out what’s wrong.” This was his fault. He’d done something wrong, somewhere. He should’ve been more worried about Torrent. He shouldn’t have gone after Aurora. If he had payed more attention to his visions, maybe Polar would be okay.
Ink tried to get Polar on top of him, wincing as the IceWing rubbed against his bandaged scales, still wounded from the fight with Aurora. Polar’s limp body slid off, rolling onto the cobble path.
“Ink, stop,” Toxin ordered, looking up at the hybrid. “You’re injured. Let someone else carry him.”
Ink shook his head. “I’m fine,” he winced, trying again to roll Polar on him. “Here, help him up.”
“You’re not fine,” Toxin snorted. “Anyways, you have to show us to the safehouse, right?” She glanced back at Inferno and Slate. Toxin was far too small to pick him up, and Inferno definitely shouldn’t try and carry him. That left one option. “MudWing, you carry him.”
“What?” Slate huffed. “I don’t know any of you, and the IceWing just threatened me a few minutes ago. No, I really need to get back to Jade Mountain as soon as possible. You see, the drought going on is magical, and there’s a prophecy, and —”
“You’re an idiot, and this is your fault,” Toxin interrupted, scolding the older dragon. “What’s your name? I didn’t catch it when you almost got us all killed.”
“Slate,” Slate growled. “Please listen, I really didn’t mean what happened, I didn’t realize Torrent was going to get all murdery, but —”
“The tablet forgotten, right?” Toxin sighed. “Hooray, we have our five. I would love to share this moment of celebration with Polar, but oh wait, he’s not moving.”
“Wait, you know the prophecy?” Slate asked, surprised. “You’re the other four dragons in it?” Wasn’t Midnight supposed to be in it? Where was she, still in Crosswinds?
Toxin waved the Black Scroll around again. “Yay, you figured it out.” She glanced towards Inferno, who appeared unsure what either of them were talking about. “I’ll explain it to you later. Now, Slate, pick up Polar.”
Slate grimaced. This whole epic quest thing really hadn’t gotten off to a good start. It seemed like everyone else hated him already. He glanced towards Inferno. At least the SkyWing didn’t seem particularly angry at him.
Slate walked over to Polar, Ink hesitantly stepping aside. Crouching down, he spread out his wings, opening up a place for Polar to lay. Ink and Toxin carefully moved the limp IceWing across Slate’s right wing, and onto his back. After Slate stood back up with a grunt, Polar’s limbs hung slack, his forelegs resting in front of Slate’s wingblades, and his spiked tail over the MudWing’s hips and onto the cobble path. Slate really didn’t want to accidentally step on that.
“C’mon Ink, lead the way. Keep us out of sight if you can,” Toxin ordered grumpily. Even if they weren’t in the Sky Kingdom, she didn’t want to stay here for long, just in case the SkyWing came back. Why did it feel like she had to tell everyone to do everything? Adults were supposed to be responsible.
Ink nodded with a sigh of defeat, and started off into one of the numerous alleyways of Possibility, Slate slowly lugging Polar behind while Toxin and Inferno followed.
The city was quiet this evening, something Ink was not used to. Could it be the drought? he wondered. Although they never had to cross it, the five had gotten glimpses of the Great Five-Tail River on their walk through Possibility. Or at least, where the river should’ve been. Just like how it had been in Crosswinds, there was little left but a dry gap where the river should’ve been, a trickling flow running through it and out to the ocean. It wasn’t just the river that the drought had harmed, the water level in the ocean had dropped in the past two weeks. The island in the bay north of Possibility could almost be walked to without getting one’s claws wet.
Eventually, the five reached the safehouse. The blue-shingled house seemed to be in a state of disarray. Parts of the roof had collapsed, and hastily nailed up wooden boards had taken their place. A pile of broken shingles lay on the ground, Slate carefully sidestepping them. That was definitely a safety hazard.
“Is it locked?” Toxin asked, examining the door. She gave it a few knocks, but got no response. She tried pushing it open, but it didn’t give.
“Nah, we lost the keys long ago,” Ink replied. “Just takes a bit of effort to get in.” With a shove and a crack, the door slammed open.
Toxin looked around the inside. Rocks and rubble were scattered around the room, and a pile of ash had blown out of the empty fireplace. She sniffed it, frowning as the stench of urine wafted through the air. “This can’t be sanitary,” she grumbled. “Ink, what is this place?”
“It’s a Talons of Peace safehouse,” Ink grinned, almost proudly. Something about this place seemed to bring his previously dour mood up. “Although it’s almost like a home to me. Griffin and I spent a lot of time here as a dragonet.”
Griffin? Toxin wondered. That sounded like a SkyWing name. She supposed it made sense that a SkyWing would’ve raised Ink here, with all the SkyWings around.
“Inferno, come on!” Ink called as Slate lumbered through the doorway, trying not to get any of Polar’s limbs caught on the frame. 
“Er, maybe we should go somewhere else,” Inferno gulped, glancing up at the house. Most of the walls were wood. “I don’t want to set your childhood home alight. You could get hurt.”
“The floors are just dirt, and furniture is lacking,” Toxin pointed out. “If you can get through the frame without setting it on fire, you can just away from the walls and you’ll be fine.” Personally, Toxin preferred having the dragon that set things on fire near her. Both for protection, and so that Toxin could keep an eye on her.
Inferno winced. This was a bad idea. She pressed her wings against her body as close as she could, and lowered her head. “Alright. I’ll try.”
Taking each step slowly, the SkyWing walked through the frame, careful not to let any of her scales touch the wood. She shuddered as she heard a hissing noise beneath her and the smell of smoke, but kept going. Eventually, she made it inside. She glanced back to see the damage — one of her talons had pressed into the bottom of the frame, and left behind a charred mark and a few coals.
“I accidentally stole Torrent’s waterskin,” Slate quickly suggested to Toxin. The RainWing-NightWing hybrid nodded, and pulled it from Slate’s side. She poured some of the contents over the coals, causing them to make a small fizzle before going out.
Inferno breathed a sigh of relief, and headed to the center of the room. Something she stepped went up in a burst of flame and smoke, causing her to jump in surprise, but it quickly went out. A scrap of food? She couldn’t tell from the remains.
“We don’t have much water, do we,” Toxin lamented, swishing what was left of Torrent’s waterskin around.
“No one does,” Slate answered. “You can have it if you want, though. An apology for what happened I guess. I can tough it out, got a bit of SandWing blood in me.”
Ink started to clear away a space on the floor, pushing aside rubble. “Set Polar down here.”
“SandWing blood?” Toxin asked. Her eyes glanced up towards Slate’s ivory horns. That would explain their unusual shape and color. “You’re a hybrid?”
“Sort of,” Slate explained. “My grandfather is a SandWing. Unless he’s dead, then was.” As Ink finished making a place for Polar, Slate shimmied over to the area and gently knelt, allowing Ink to slide the unconscious IceWing off him.
Ink regretfully looked towards Polar. The IceWing breathed in and out, but there was no conscious movement.
“I think he overused his animus powers,” Toxin theorized. “I didn’t get a lot of the details, but he’s not a natural animus. The thingy in his bracelet gives him powers.”
“It’s enchanted?” Inferno asked.
Toxin shrugged her wings, unsure. “Again, I don’t know the details.”
Ink frowned. “It’s called Darkstone. I think it’s what Aurora wanted. I saw it in my visions.”
“Visions?” Toxin wondered. “You can see the future too?” She supposed it was possible, Ink was also half-NightWing.
Ink glanced towards Inferno with a sigh. “Sort of,” he responded, not offering anything more than that. “But when I was flying to Jade Mountain with Polar, he collapsed while clutching it. What if it’s hurting him?”
The NightWing-SeaWing hybrid reached down to Polar’s forearm, and gently wrapped his claws around the silver bracelet. The scales around it were raw and disfigured, and parts of Polar’s discolored skin showed beneath. He started to gently slide it off of Polar, when the IceWing’s muscles suddenly stiffened up. They started to flail around uncontrollably, causing Ink to jump back. As the bracelet slid back, Polar went limp again.
“Maybe we should keep it on,” Toxin suggested. Ink nodded and sighed in agreement.
The four waited for a moment, carefully watching Polar. There was no more movement from him but his continued breathing. Eventually, Toxin turned to Slate.
“Alright,” she started, baring her fangs, “now that we’re settled down, I think you have some explaining to do. What were you doing at Jade Mountain with the SeaWing?”
Slate stiffened up, and Inferno let out a sigh. “Hey, you don’t have to be so rude,” she quietly suggested to Toxin.
“I’ll remind you that he and the SeaWing just tried to kill us all,” Toxin snapped. “I think I have a good reason to be a little rude.”
“The SeaWing is my father,” Ink commented. “His name is Torrent.”
“Duly noted,” Toxin snorted, returning back to her interrogation of Slate.
Slate grumbled unhappily. “Torrent and my father used to be friends or something,” he explained. “He brought me to Jade Mountain because he thought I was part of the prophecy, and believed some of the other dragons in it were there. The MudWings are suffering from the drought, and I just want to stop it before it’s too late.”
“Oh right, prophecy,” Inferno remembered. “Weren’t you going to tell me about that, um —”
“Toxin,” Toxin sighed.
“Right,” Inferno squirmed, embarrassed she hadn’t known the hybrid’s name. “There’s a prophecy? Like the Dragonet Prophecy?”
“Yeah. It’s called Nightreader’s Prophecy, although I’m not sure why. Ink, Nightreader was your mom, right?”
Ink nodded, still carefully examining Polar. “I didn’t know her, though. She died before I hatched.”
“Did you know about the prophecy?” Toxin asked bluntly.
“A little,” Ink admitted.
Inferno frowned. She hated to think it, but it seemed more and more like Ash had been right about Ink hiding stuff from her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it was relevant,” Ink explained. “I heard about it years ago, and never figured out what it meant.”
“Well, we have some idea now,” Toxin continued. She rolled open the Black Scroll, revealing Nightreader’s Prophecy, written in golden ink.
Slate peered over at the scroll, the glittering ink catching his eyes, even if the script was meaningless to him. Inferno stared at it blankly. 
“Er, I can’t read,” Inferno admitted. Slate nodded in agreement.
Toxin rolled her eyes. Why was everyone else so useless? she asked for a moment. She shook her head before speaking. That was wrong. She shouldn’t shame them for being illiterate — Toxin knew plenty of RainWings who couldn’t either. The only reason Toxin was able to read was because Queen Glory had started requiring all dragonets to learn, RainWing and NightWing alike. She was lucky.
“Alright, I can read it,” Toxin replied. “You might want to listen too, Ink, to refresh your memory.” She quickly read the prophecy out-loud, her words filling the quiet house.
“So what does it mean?” Inferno asked.
“Polar and I figured out parts of it,” Toxin explained, looking to her comatose friend sorrowfully. She explained what she and Polar had discussed, Inferno and Slate listening carefully while Ink stayed by Polar’s side. “And so we think that the five dragons here are the five mentioned in the second verse of the prophecy.”
Slate nodded. “That makes sense. But how come all of you already know each other?” He fretted a little bit. Had Torrent been wrong? If Midnight’s brother was in the prophecy instead of her, Slate might not be in the prophecy either.
“We don’t,” Toxin sighed. “I only met Polar a week ago, and I barely know Ink. As far as I know, none of us have met each other before, although I think Polar and Ink’s families know each other.”
Slate thought for a moment. They’d gotten off on the wrong wing with the RainWing-NightWing hybrid. “Maybe we should try introductions, then,” he suggested. “I’m Slate. I’m from the Mud Kingdom. Should we say something interesting about ourselves?”
“No,” Toxin grumbled, unamused. She stayed silent, not willing to put up with Slate’s antics.
“Er, I’m Inferno,” Inferno stated, unsure if they were doing this or not, and if so, if it was her turn. “I’m from the Talons of Peace.”
“Huh,” Slate mused. He hadn’t picked up on her name earlier. “Torrent had said there was a dragon named Flame at Jade Mountain that he’d thought was part of the prophecy. I guess that meant he was wrong about both her and Midnight.”
Ink’s ears perked up, and the hybrid turned away from Polar. “Midnight?” he asked. “Do you know her?”
Slate nodded. “Yeah, she’s your sister, right? Torrent and I visited her in Crosswinds.”
Crosswinds, Ink thought, grinning. He had a sister. Maybe after this adventure was over, he’d be able to visit her. But a dark thought suddenly crossed his mind. He’d always imagined Midnight as being kind and caring, but what if she wasn’t? What if she was like Loresearcher, or Aurora? “What’s she like?” he asked Slate, concerned. “Like, is she nice?”
“Nicer than Torrent,” Slate snorted. “No offense. But I liked her. She lives with a elderly SandWing named Gazelle who she takes care of, and has a lot of hybrid friends. She’s brave too, even though she doesn’t like him, she helped save Torrent from an army of SandWings.”
“Wow,” Ink beamed happily. Crosswinds wasn’t that far from Possibility. It was on the way to Jade Mountain. If they were flying back there, maybe he could stop off and meet her.
“So, what are we going to do about Polar?” Inferno asked, looking over the IceWing. Even if he hadn’t been very nice, she hoped he’d be okay. “When do you think he’s going to wake up?”
“There’s a doctor I know not too far from here, and there’s some spare coin somewhere in the safehouse, for emergencies only,” Ink suggested. “I can try and get her to come over and see what she can do.”
== Chapter 40 ==
“WHERE ARE THEY?” Peril asked, frantically looking around the cave for the five missing dragons. “What did you do to them?”
Aurora swished her spiked tail through the air, waving it threateningly, as one of her glowscales randomly lit up. “This wasn’t my doing,” she calmly replied. “It appears that Polar figured out how to use the Darkstone, and took them with him.” She suppressed the pang of empathy she felt for the IceWing, remembering her own experiences with the object.
The rumbling in the cavern started to slow, and Torrent walked forward, trying to get around Peril. “Get out,” he barked at the SkyWing as he brandished his dagger. “You’ll just get in the way.”
“Not a chance,” Peril snorted, breathing another puff of flame. “You think I’m on your side? You’re the one who just attacked us and tried to destroy the scroll.”
“Believe me, I don’t want to release the Darkstalker either,” Torrent growled, his eyes turning to the scroll on the ground, not far from Aurora’s paws. “Let me pass. I’ve allowed the enchantment, it’ll be fine.”
“Are you going to try and talk to her again?” Peril commented, stepping aside. “It didn’t work so well the first time.”
“Shut up,” Torrent hissed. He looked towards Aurora, making eye contact with his hybrid daughter. “Aurora. You don’t have to do this.”
Aurora tapped a claw on the ground, unimpressed with Torrent’s plea. “You don’t know what ‘this’ is.”
Torrent took another step closer, causing Aurora to back up. If he got close enough, he’d be able to keep her enchantments from working, but too soon, and she’d be able to escape into the wall again. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself from his earlier anger at Aurora. “Working with Crystal, Calamity, whatever. Using animus magic for your own gain. You can live a simple life, without magic. You’ll be happier that way, like your half-sister.”
Aurora let out a snort, almost amused. “You mean scared into submission, like Midnight? Terrified of her own magic? I don’t think you have any clue what’s at stake, father. I have a duty, and I know what will happen to your world if I fail.”
“What do you mean, ‘your world’?” Turtle asked, peering out from behind Peril. “Are you talking about the drought?”
“No,” Aurora explained. “We caused the drought. The death of a few dragons is a small cost to pay for survival. You agree with me, father, don’t you?”
Torrent walked a few more steps towards his daughter, forcing her back, almost to the wall where Stonemover lay motionlessly. “Please, just stop this. Come back with me to Crosswinds. Midnight could use a sister.”
Aurora shook her head. “You don’t get it. Pyrrhia is in danger. We’re not the bad guys here.”
“You killed my sister.”
Aurora turned around as she felt claws wrap around her leg, pulling it out from under her. Unbalanced, she fell onto her belly as Stonemover’s talons grasped her, shavings of grey stone crumbling from their movements. She growled and pulled her leg, trying to phase it through the NightWing’s grasp, but glanced back to see Torrent standing in front of her, her enchantment blocked.
Aurora hissed, stretching out her claws and baring her fangs at her father. She swirled her spiked tail through the air before slamming it into Stonemover’s foreleg. The spikes cut through the layers of stone, cracking it before lancing through his scales and into his flesh. Stonemover yelled out in pain, letting Aurora go. She quickly pulled her tail out from his arm, red blood pouring from the holes she’d made in it.
Aurora leaped towards her father, her claws out and ready to tear scales. Torrent roared as he reared up. The hybrid’s claws made contact with her father’s, and he threw her to the side. She slid back with a burst of her wings, using her tail to rebalance herself, landing on all four paws.
“Something seems familiar about this,” Torrent growled, circling Aurora. “But this time, you’re alone.”
Aurora didn’t reply, turning to keep her father in front of her. With another roar, Torrent rushed at Aurora, frighteningly fast for his speed. Aurora ducked to the side, swiping out at Torrent’s scarred gills with a paw as she passed by him. Torrent immediately changed course, and with a whip of his tail, whacked Aurora in her chest.
Aurora scattered back again, the wind temporarily knocked out of her. She quickly regained her breath, and crouched, carefully watching Torrent’s movements. The SeaWing rushed towards her again, and this time, she met him head-on. As Torrent dug his claws into her wingblades, ripping scales, she ducked her head beneath his neck and bit into, clamping her fangs just forward of his gills. Torrent twisted to the right, trying to throw her off him. She whipped herself to the side, unclenching her jaws just enough to tear strings of flesh from Torrent’s neck. Using Torrent’s momentum against him, she twisted her up into the air, slamming it into Torrent’s rib-cage. He roared in pain as the porcupine-like spikes of her tail embedded themselves a few inches beneath his scales.
The hybrid ripped her tail out from beneath Torrent’s wings, pouncing back again. She breathed heavily and gritted her teeth — Peril could see that violet blood was dripping from her wingblades from where Torrent had clawed her, running down her azure scales. Aurora had had her jaws clamped around Torrent’s neck. Peril had seen enough gruesome fights in Scarlet’s arena to know that it would’ve been trivial for her to rip out his throat or tear through an artery, ending Torrent. If she was trying to kill him, why hadn’t she done that?
“Both of you, stop!” Peril ordered, trying to quell the fighting like the two were dragonets. She stepped away from Turtle, wings outstretched. Aurora took a step back, and Peril walked between the two.
Torrent bared his fangs at Peril, blood dripping from his neck. “What are you doing?” he growled. “Get out of my way. This is between me and her.”
“Please, you don’t have to fight,” Peril stated. That’s sounded like something Clay would say, right? “Fighting each other will only lead to more pain and hurt. Believe me, I know. But we can work our differences out with words.” If she could make up with her father, maybe Aurora and Torrent could repair their relationship?
“I tried that,” Torrent hissed, exasperated. “And she didn’t listen. She’s lucky I tried that, and didn’t immediately tear her to pieces for what she did.”
“You kind of tried,” Turtle commented, invoking a death-glare from Torrent.
“She also isn’t trying to kill you either, it’s why she didn’t tear your throat out when she had the chance. Isn’t that right, Aurora?” Peril looked over to Aurora, hoping the hybrid would confirm her suspicions.
Aurora still looked towards Torrent, her legs tense. “Torrent is disposable, but neither his death nor injury are required,” Aurora flatly stated. “Of the four of you, we only need the remaining animuses’ survivals.” Her eyes darted towards Peril, then Turtle.
Peril winced. That hadn’t been the answer she’d been looking for, but maybe she could make something of it. She turned back to Torrent. “What Aurora means is that even though she could hurt you, she doesn’t want to. That means that neither of you actually want to hurt each other, right?”
Torrent growled, and his talons clenched around his dagger. Suddenly, Peril felt a whip of motion from behind her, as Aurora dashed towards Turtle. Torrent yelled out and rushed towards her, but he was too late. The hybrid grabbed ahold of Turtle with her talons, pulling him in her grasp. The young SeaWing fought back, trying to swipe at her neck, but she easily blocked it, slamming her tail into Turtle’s elbow.
Turtle screamed out in pain as Aurora’s spiked tail hit him, collapsing to the floor. Aurora pulled her tail and pressed her claws against his neck, pulling him towards her. He whimpered as blood dripped from his elbow, placing one paw on Aurora’s forearm. “Don’t move,” Aurora ordered Torrent, who stopped in his tracks, “or I’ll kill him.”
Peril roared, fear overcoming her previous attempt at pacifism. “If you hurt him, I’ll burn you to a crisp,” she growled.
Torrent hissed, baring his teeth as he kept moving closer to Aurora. “You’re lying. You said you needed his survival.”
Aurora flicked her tongue. “His death would be highly unfortunate, but not critical. If you think I’m lying, remember the last time you thought I was bluffing. Stay still, or the SeaWing dies.”
Disregarding Aurora’s warning, Torrent continued forward. Aurora dug her claws further into Turtle’s neck, the SeaWing squirming in pain.
“DON’T YOU DARE!” Peril yelled out, stepping in front of Torrent again. Torrent jumped back as the full force of Peril’s heat hit his scales. “Let him go, he has nothing to do with this!”
Aurora took a few steps into the tunnel leading back towards the academy, pulling the frightened Turtle with her as the prince looked to Peril for help. Her ears suddenly perked up, and something metal suddenly shot from her neck, almost taking off Peril’s ear. The SkyWing glanced behind her to see a silver disk hit against the wall, before falling harmlessly on the ground.
Aurora frowned, and stepped sideways, the right side of her body disappearing into the tunnel wall. Turtle yelled out as she pulled him into the wall, phasing with her. In moments, both dragons were gone.
== Chapter 41 ==
“Monkey droppings,” Deathbringer cursed, walking up to the space where Aurora and Turtle had just been. He tapped the tunnel wall, as if expecting them to appear from it. “It almost worked the first time.”
“Turtle!” Peril called out frantically, rushing to the wall of the cave, causing Deathbringer to take a few steps back. She put her ear up the wall, trying to listen to him. But no such luck. “She took Turtle!”
“He’s an animus, isn’t he?” Torrent commented uncaringly. “He’ll be fine.”
Peril glared at the SeaWing, shaking her head. She’d seen enough of Turtle’s enchantments that she had some doubts. She turned back to Deathbringer angrily. “You could’ve killed him, you know! If you hadn’t tried to kill her, maybe we could’ve gotten Aurora to let him go!”
Deathbringer shuffled his wings, defensively. “Hey, usually my weapons don’t pass through the dragons I send them at. I was just trying to do my job.”
The NightWing assassin walked into the center of Stonemover’s cave, giving Torrent a quick examination before looking down at Stonemover. If the animus was in pain from the punctures in his arm, he didn’t show it. “We need to get you back to the medical center,” Deathbringer frowned, seeing the wound.
Stonemover grunted. “It’s fine,” he replied apathetically, sighing. “I can barely feel a thing.”
Deathbringer grimaced. The wound certainly needed attention, although he doubted he could pull Stonemover to the medical center. Maybe he’d ask Tsunami to come out here and give the poor animus some attention.
Torrent walked over towards the exit out of the cavern, up to the room where Nightreader’s stone corpse still stood. Lying on the ground, slightly unrolled, was the Darkstalker’s scroll. The SeaWing picked it up, feeling the familiar otherworldly sting of animus magic as it graced his talons. Sitting back on his haunches, he carefully put a paw to the top of it, and unfurled the scroll. This was a artifact he’d only read about in legends, an enchantment whose power was imprinted in the memory of Pyrrhia forever.
Torrent snorted as he read the scroll. A large part of the scroll had been torn out, but a large amount of script still remained. At the bottom of the scroll was the most recent enchantment, in hasty clawscript which read ‘heal Chameleon’s body completely.’
“Hey, what are you doing with that?” Peril asked, seeing Torrent pick the scroll up. “If you release the Darkstalker, I’ll set you on fire.”
“I think I’m going to hold on to this,” Torrent muttered, rolling the scroll back up. This thing was more dangerous than the Darkstone. Instant animus powers. It was lucky the last dragon who’d held this hadn’t done anything worse than the enchantments on there, although Torrent was worried about what was on the torn out portions.
“I’m not letting you use it,” Peril hissed, threateningly. She didn’t want to hurt this SeaWing. Clay wouldn’t be happy. But Deathbringer might be able to get the scroll from him safely.
“What, you think I want to use it?” Torrent laughed, dropping the scroll into his satchel. “I’m an animus hunter, or at least I was. I’ve had the power of magic in my paws before; all it does is cause greed and pain. The last thing I want is to use the scroll. I’m going to keep this safe, keep it from falling into the paws of anyone who wanted to use it.”
Peril frowned. She felt a little bad about taking it from her father, and she didn’t trust this dragon, Turtle’s brother or not. Still, he did have something that could disenchant animus artifacts, which could be helpful keeping it from other power-hungry dragons. And she agreed with him on this, if they couldn’t destroy it, it needed to be kept as safe as possible — it wasn’t like Peril could do that herself, it would go up in flames if she touched it.
“Take it for now, but I’m going to keep my eye on you,” Peril begrudgingly agreed. “Also, it’s your fault Aurora kidnapped Turtle, not mine. You better help us get him back. And this time, he’s the priority, not your beef with Aurora.”
“Fine,” Torrent snorted. “I can do that for you.” He pulled his map from its scrollcase, gently weighing it in his paws. It was nice to have it back. He rolled it open, and closely examined the area around Jade Mountain. Not far from Stonemover’s blotch, he could see Aurora and Turtle’s blotches, stuck together as they left the mountain.
“What’s that?” Peril asked, curiously.
“How I found you all,” Torrent huffed, exasperated. “Your animus friend is still alive, at least for now. He and my daughter are nearby, outside the mountain.” And so was Polar, his faint blotch now having moved to Possibility. So Aurora had been telling the truth about that.
Peril’s eyes lit up, relieved in her friend’s safety. “Deathbringer, you hear that?” she shouted. “C’mon, let’s go find Turtle!”
Deathbringer nodded, and gave Stonemover a quick glance of concern before heading out of the cave, up through the tunnel behind Stonemover. Torrent winced as he and Peril followed. This trip had already dredged up enough bad memories, he didn’t particularly want to walk through what should’ve been his dragonets’ nursery, by the stone corpse of his deceased mate. He sighed in regret, still imagining the life he could’ve had instead of the lonely last seven years.
Quickly walking through the abandoned nursery, the three took off over the woods surrounding Jade Mountain. As Peril flew over the hills, the effects of the drought were more visible than ever. Trees were dried and withered, and their leaves had started to lose their color, becoming an unhealthy tint of nondescript green-brown, rather than the vibrant colors of fall. Cracks ran across the scorched ground, and the snowline had clearly receded further within the past two weeks. If Peril wanted to touch down, she’d need to be very careful, or else the whole forest would be set aflame.
“This way,” Torrent directed them, using his map to follow Aurora and Turtle’s movements. They three flew to the west of the mountain, towards the desert and foothills in the distant.
“So, who are you exactly?” Deathbringer asked Torrent, still somewhat unsure why Peril was following this SeaWing. “What brings you to Jade Mountain?”
“Torrent,” the SeaWing snorted. “I was tracking your animuses, including my daughter, And who are you, NightWing?”
“Deathbringer,” the ex-assassin grinned. “King of the RainWings and NightWings. Mate of her majesty, Queen Glory.”
Torrent glanced over towards Deathbringer, unimpressed by the extravagant title. This NightWing didn’t look or act particularly kingly. No guards, no ordering dragons around. It had been many years since Torrent’s time as a prince in the Deep Palace. Royalty seemed different nowadays, ever since the end of the war.
“So, what exactly happened?” Deathbringer asked the two. “I was going after Aurora, and tracked her here. Did she attack you both?”
“You should ask him,” Peril snorted, glaring at Torrent. “He’s the one who attacked us first.”
Torrent bared his fangs. “I didn’t attack you. I just followed you all, and you decided to run.”
Peril rolled her eyes. “Huh, I wonder why we’d run from a dragon chasing after us holding out a wicked knife while threatening to release the Darkstalker.”
Torrent scoffed. “The last part wasn’t my fault. If you’d just explained the situation, I might have stopped.”
“Might have,” Peril pointed out. “Anyways Deathbringer, Torrent chased us to Stonemover’s cave, where he threatened us a bit, and then Aurora came in, and she threatened to collapse the cave on us if Torrent attacked, but he didn’t care, so this is really all his fault.”
Deathbringer clucked.
Torrent grumbled unhappily, not really having a response to that. “The number of animuses at Jade Mountain was really suspicious, and I thought Ink was working with Aurora,” he protested. “You heard her, she’s helping to cause the drought. She’s dangerous.”
“I can agree with the SeaWing on that,” Deathbringer pointed out. “There’s a reason I was following her. We found her back at the volcano, and she killed two of the RainWing guards. Quite gruesomely, I might add.”
“You thought Ink was working with Aurora?” Peril laughed. “I barely know him, but he’s as harmless as a squirrel. And what do you mean, the number of animuses was suspicious?”
“There were five at Jade Mountain,” Torrent growled. “Five. Do you know how many animuses there are in Pyrrhia? Seven. The last time I saw that many animuses so close together, they were being enslaved as a plot to take over Pyrrhia.”
“I get your concern, but maybe you should’ve checked things out before attacking?” Peril suggested. “The animuses at Jade Mountain are just like everyone else, you know. They’re just trying to live their lives in peace.”
“Sure, they’re like everyone else except for their apocalyptic powers,” Torrent retorted.
Peril snorted. “Well, look at me. I can kill any dragon with just a touch. Three moons, pretty much any dragon could kill anyone else if they planned it out well. But we don’t, at least not usually. Powers or not, animuses deserve the same chances everyone else does.”
Torrent shook his head. “No. Either of you can kill many dragons, sure, but that’s nothing like what an animus can do. Your abilities are completely inconsequential. With a single enchantment, an animus could enslave or murder an entire kingdom. You can’t do that.”
“She can’t, but I can,” Deathbringer pointed out. Torrent looked at him, unsure what he meant. “I used to be an assassin for the NightWings,” Deathbringer explained. “I’m not proud of it, but I spent my life killing for my kingdom, each death meant to keep the war going until the NightWings could negotiate a new home with the victor. The war would’ve ended years before if not for me.”
“Well, that’s different,” Torrent growled, irritated. He didn’t offer an explanation why, just looking back down at his map.
Peril glanced towards him, wondering what was happening, but she couldn’t risk flying closer without the chance of setting the SeaWing on fire.
“They’ve stopped,” Torrent frowned, seeing that Aurora and Turtle’s blotches were now still. He looked over to a hillcrest, surrounded on all sides by the forest valley. “They’re over there.”
Peril breathed heavily. Hopefully, Turtle was alright, and they’d be able to get him back without incident. The three headed down towards the top of the hill, knowing that Aurora was awaiting, hidden.
== Chapter 42 ==
The hot desert sun beat down upon Sunny’s wings as she flew east. Her heart jumped in her chest as she saw the SandWings around her, the small volunteer army Armadillo had put together to defeat Aloe. Clay had been uncertain about leading them to the battle-site herself, but she felt like it was her obligation. If her weakness was leading some of these dragons to their deaths, Sunny wanted to experience what their pain and fear alongside them. And as Armadillo put it, knowing that their queen was flying alongside them would ‘improve troop morale.’
Clay and Armadillo flew beside Sunny, the former almost as close as he could be without accidentally flying into her. Six-Claws was not far behind. His safety and arrival had been relieving to Sunny. Someone new in the palace she could trust with her life.
“I don’t like this,” Clay murmured, looking around at the SandWing fleet surrounding them, many of them dressed with armor and armed with spears. “This feels wrong.”
Queen Sunny nodded solemnly. “I don’t like it either.” She’d only really been in one battle before, the short fight between Queen Thorn’s Outclaws and Burn’s SandWings guarding the stronghold, when Thorn had tried to rescue Sunny. If Sunny had been in Thorn’s position, would she have done the same thing for her daughter? Send a bunch of dragons to their deaths? Was that what a queen did?
Sunny sighed. “I can’t shake it,” she said. “The feeling that I’m doing something wrong here. Three moons, I’m a Dragonet of Destiny! I’m supposed to stop wars, not start them!”
“You’re a queen now,” Armadillo added cynically. “Not a dragonet. And you didn’t start this fight, Aloe and her mother before her did.”
“I still don’t like it,” Sunny snorted. She remembered how she’d been able to stop the battle at the stronghold, now the palace. She’d gotten Peril to threaten everyone. That hadn’t felt right either, but at least it was bloodless. Maybe it wasn’t too late to get Peril at Jade Mountain, but she’d just be relying on someone else to keep her in power. She’d be little better than Queen Scarlet. And if Aloe didn’t back down, there might be bloodshed after all. “There has to be another way.”
“It’s a little too late for that,” Armadillo asserted. “Aloe’s demand was unsatisfiable.”
Queen Sunny was starting to tell that her advisor was getting fed up with her idealism and pacifism. To him, war was just a fact of life. Yet, maybe it didn’t have to be. Peril had the power to prevent battles — what if Sunny had a hundred Perils, able to prevent any wars or conflicts at all? She would’ve snickered at the ridiculous idea, if not for the gravity of the situation. She glanced to Clay. She knew Peril had started to discuss the idea of dragonets recently, with Glory and Deathbringer’s egg. Would their dragonets, if they could even have them, be little Perils? Would they also have firescales?
An updraft of wind pushed Sunny up, before she quickly stabilized her flight, drawing her attention back to the upcoming battle. Stopping wars — that sounded like something a Dragonet of Destiny was supposed to do. Although she supposed it didn’t matter any longer. Morrowseer was years dead, and it wasn’t like the prophecy had ever been real. She’d just gotten lucky. If Flower hadn’t shown her the Eye of Onyx, Blister would’ve be queen instead of Thorn. And it wasn’t like Thorn’s coronation had been bloodless, anyways.
“If you’re still worried, I wanted to try and ease your concerns,” Armadillo continued. “I can’t say the same for Aloe’s SandWings, but your soldiers have been trained under a strict code of conduct. Queen Thorn’s provision.”
“A code of conduct?” Queen Sunny asked. “What do you mean?”
“The SandWing princesses, Burn in particular, had no sense of ethics in battle,” Armadillo explained. “Your late mother wanted to make sure that the atrocities committed by her and her soldiers would never be repeated. There are various commands we’ve given our soldiers — no harming civilians, no harming opponents who’ve surrendered, no animus-touched objects, no pillaging, no surprise attacks, and so on.”
“Huh,” Sunny said. The destruction she’d seen caused by the war — maybe it could be prevented. Maybe this way, as few dragons would die as possible.
“You also expressed concern about drafting soldiers,” Armadillo continued. “I’ve checked to make sure that all our SandWings are of age and are volunteers. I’d suggest that you speak to a few of them on our flight, if you’d like. Ask why they’re fighting for you. Talking to their queen could improve morale.”
Sunny thought about this for a moment. Maybe it would be a good idea to see what they were fighting for. Was it just because Sunny was their queen, and they didn’t like Aloe or Blister? Or was it more? She nodded. “C’mon, Clay,” she told him, before they flew towards one of the wings of the army, where her troops flew alongside her.
They all watched their queen with reverence as she came nearby. Sunny quickly picked out one of the younger, friendlier-looking soldiers, and glided over to her. The soldier looked in surprise, not having expected that her queen would be picking her out.
“Your majesty,” the soldier said, bowing her head mid-flight. A few more SandWings crowded around, curious as to what their queen was doing.
“Just Sunny is fine,” replied the young queen, kindly grinning. “What’s your name?”
“M-me?” the SandWing asked nervously, unsure why her queen was singling her out. Could she be in trouble for something? Sunny couldn’t know about the brightsting cactus juice she’d stolen, could she? It had been so many years ago, before Thorn’s ascension… “Er, I’m Sandstorm.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sandstorm,” Sunny replied. She could tell that the soldier was worried, like Sunny’s students when she had to bring them in to reprimand them (saving them from Tsunami’s wrath). “Please don’t be worried, you’re not in trouble. You all are going to be risking your lives for me, and I just wanted to meet a few of you before.”
“Oh,” Sandstorm said, clearly relieved. “Thank you, your majesty, that’s so kind of you.”
Sunny smiled. “So, I just wanted to check — you’re a volunteer, right? No one is forcing you to fight for me?”
Sandstorm nodded in response.
“And you’re ten or older?” Sunny asked.
“Eleven,” Sandstorm pointed out. “Don’t worry, I can fight.”
Sunny looked her up and down. She definitely did seem to be in fighting condition. She glanced at the other soldiers flying around, curiously watching the interaction. “That’s good. I’m hoping that you won’t need to. You know that you’re risking your life for me, right? Why?” A bit direct.
Sandstorm thought for a moment, but the answer was quick. “Your mother,” she explained. “My condolences. But after she became queen, things became so much better. She helped get everyone food and water, and gave out emergency brightsting cactus. During the war, that didn’t happen. None of the princesses cared.”
Another one of the SandWings butted in, this one a bit older than Sandstorm. “Every day, we were worried our cities would be destroyed. That our homes would be pillaged, and we’d be conscripted into Burn’s armies. Queen Thorn ended that. I’d risk my life if it means my dragonets can enjoy the stability she brought us.”
Sunny grimaced a little. But if he died, that meant his dragonets would grow up without a father. She sighed, and shook her head. “And you think I’ll be able to continue doing what my mother did?”
“Of course!” Sandstorm exclaimed. “You’re a Dragonet of Destiny, aren’t you? You stopped the war. There’s no better queen than you!” Murmurs of agreement came from the other soldiers.
Sunny shook her head, almost unnoticeably. The prophecy was fake. She’d just been lucky enough to fulfill it. She’d barely been able to hold a school together, much less a kingdom. And she couldn’t even fight Aloe herself. If they all knew the truth of the prophecy, they wouldn’t be fighting for her.
“Thank you,” Sunny sighed. She wasn’t strong enough to tell them the truth. “C’mon Clay, let’s get back to Armadillo and Six-Claws.”
The soldiers watched, confused as they glided back towards the center of the army. The long flight east continued until the sun was low in the sky, oranges and reds lighting up the desert floor.
One of the SandWings who’d flown out ahead of the group was visible in the distance, rushing towards the army as quick as he could. Armadillo’s eyes lit up as the swift, small soldier’s form grew, his wings beating as he approached the center.
“This is it,” Armadillo murmured.
The dragon approached Queen Sunny, out of breath as he turned around. “Your majesty,” he coughed. “There are dragons, flying west, carrying a banner we believe is Aloe’s. We’re quickly approaching them.”
Armadillo nodded, and murmured something to another SandWing, who immediately started barking orders at the dragons around him.
“This is good,” Six-Claws quietly whispered to Sunny. “The sun is at our backs, and there aren’t any sandstorms in sight.”
Sunny nodded, not caring too much about the details. “How many are there?”
“I didn’t have time to count, but not many. Maybe fifty or so.”
“Only fifty?” Armadillo suddenly asked, surprised. “Reports said that there were about double that when she arrived in Crosswinds, and she should’ve gained numbers in recruits there.”
The messenger shrugged. “There might have been more further back, or maybe she split her troops. Or maybe Crosswinds was less than welcoming to her.”
Armadillo frowned. “No matter,” he decided. “Even if she tried to sneak behind us and attack the palace, it’s easily defensible and we’ve got plenty of troops defending it.”
“And if she tries to flank us with the two parts?” Six-claws asked.
“Still pointless,” Armadillo replied. “We have hundreds more dragons than she does, here alone. Unless she got the entire city of Crosswinds to join her, we easily outnumber her.”
Six-Claws nodded, and turned to Sunny and Clay. “I’ll be near you both the entire time,” he explained. “We’ll be in the center of the army rather than the back, and will stay as far from any fighting as possible. I want to make sure you stay safe.”
Sunny nodded, looking out towards the horizon in the east. It wasn’t long before the small figures of dragons appeared in the distance. Aloe’s troops. Yells and orders started to surround Sunny from the SandWing soldiers, and she heard the sound of horns call out. As they approached, it soon became clear that Sunny’s troops dwarfed Aloe’s. The numbers were even more skewed than they’d been for the Outclaws attack on Burn’s stronghold. It would take a miracle for Aloe to win this battle.
“C’mon, let’s get back,” Six-Claws said. Sunny and Clay followed behind him, until a crowd of SandWings flew ahead. The army remained mostly level with each other, although she could tell that a few layers were starting to separate out, like a pair of giant jaws, made up of hundreds of dragons.
Sunny said a silent prayer to herself, for the battle to be over quickly, with as few casualties as possible. She barely had time before the two armies suddenly collided, her SandWings enclosing around Aloe’s. Roars of dragons engaging in battle started to ring out, with the clang of claws on scale and metal drowning out all other noises, except for the piercing horns. SandWings started to fly around Sunny, Clay, and Six-Claws, and the queen tried to make herself small, hoping no one would accidentally brush against her scales with their barb. She didn’t want to go through that again.
Clay nervously brushed a wing against Sunny, as two dragons fought claw with claw ahead.
“Stay calm,” Six-Claws tried to comfort the two. The SandWing on Aloe’s side was hopelessly encircled by five more of Sunny’s soldiers, waiting for their turn a small distance away. Even if he defeated the one in front of him, he had little chance of getting through the rest. With a swipe of his tail, he raked his opponent beneath the wing with his barb. The injured SandWing roared in pain, struggling to keep aloft. He glided down to the desert below, landing with a tumble, as another one of Sunny’s soldiers swooped in to take his place.
Sunny looked down to the desert floor. More frequently now, dragons were dropping out from the swarm of fighting SandWings. Some managed to glide safely, but others fell like rocks, meeting a perilous end. Sunny winced. This wasn’t what she’d wanted. They needed to get the battle on the ground.
“Six-Claws, command our SandWings to land,” Sunny ordered him.
“Land?” Six-Claws asked, slightly concerned. “We have them surrounded on all sides now, they’ll be able to attack us from the air if we land.”
“At least take us closer to the ground,” Sunny pleaded. “We’re not trying to kill here, just taking prisoners.”
General Six-Claws nodded, although he seemed uncertain of the decision. “Yes, your majesty.”
He barked out an order to the nearest horn player, and the sounds shifted. Slowly, the mass of SandWings started to dive. Those of Aloe’s soldiers who were already caught in battle were pulled with the mass, but many others were too late, and the already small amount of soldiers was stretched vertically thinner. The sounds of the horns changed again as they got near the ground, until most of the SandWings were either standing on the dunes or gliding just above them.
The battle resumed, Sunny taking a sigh of relief. At least now, injured dragons would be fall. Suddenly, the queen heard a roar from behind her, as an enemy soldier came swooping down, talons out.
Six-Claws shoved Sunny to the side, into the dune. He turned around and shot up at burst of fire, scalding the soldier as he flew off with a yelp. He quickly became interlocked with another SandWing, and Six-Claws pulled Sunny away from him.
“By landing, we’ve opened ourselves up to attacks from above,” he warned Sunny, his voice teaching, but not judgemental of her decision. Clay followed as the three weaved through a crowd of SandWings, nestling themselves safely in the middle. A few more glided above them, protecting them from flying attacks.
Horns sounded again as Sunny looked out, barely able to see through the mess of dragons. She saw two SandWings fighting, claws out as they reared. As one leaped forward, the other feinted back, and stabbed their opponent in the neck with their barb. Sunny almost through up in her mouth as the barb was torn out ruthlessly, ripping out chunks of blood and flesh before the SandWing slumped to the ground, certainly dead. She couldn’t even tell who’s side the SandWings were on, with the sigils on their breastplates obscured.
Sunny shook her head. “We have to stop this,” she told Clay. “We never should’ve done this.”
“It’s too late,” Six-Claws interrupted. “You could try and retreat, but we’ve almost won.” It was true. There were a few fights left on the battlefield, but the fighting had mostly stopped. She looked around, wondering if the rest of Aloe’s army was going to show up, but there were no other dragons in sight, just sand and sky.
The horns sounded again, this time in triumph. Few dragons were still flying overhead. Sunny looked through the crowd to see that a large number of Aloe’s soldiers had been rounded up, disarmed while being placed in chains, while others were fleeing. They’d surrendered.
Armadillo walked into view, making his way through the crowd of SandWings towards Sunny. “Good news, your majesty.”
“It’s not good news,” Sunny grumbled, looking around. Plenty of dragons were on the ground, injured or dead. She wasn’t even sure what side most of them had been on. “I didn’t want anyone to die for me.”
“There were very few casualties, compared to a usual battle,” Armadillo replied. “Tens at most, including both sides.”
“And it would just be one if I’d fought Aloe,” Sunny snorted.
“In the short run, yes, but your reign will surely be less bloody,” Armadillo continued. “Less starvation and wars in the years to come will make up for the deaths here.”
Sunny sighed. This wasn’t what she’d wanted. Why she have settled things peacefully, like Glory and the NightWings?
“Do you see that?” Armadillo pointed out, raising his claws. Sunny followed them to the dunes, where two SandWings were lifting up another SandWing, carrying him. “He’s might be an enemy, but we’re still going to tend to his injuries as best as we can. We’ve got plenty of brightsting, enough for Aloe’s soldiers, too.”
Sunny was still unimpressed. It would’ve been better if no one had been hurt at all. “Where’s Aloe?”
“We couldn’t find her,” Armadillo explained. “She either fled, or more likely than not, wasn’t here in the first place.”
Sunny seethed, the small hybrid almost furious. “So what was the point of this? She’s the one who matters, not these dragons!”
Armadillo shook his head. “We defeated Aloe, and that’s what counts. Even if she still tries to lay claim to the throne, she has almost no one left to back her up. We can also get information from her troops on her movements.”
Sunny shook her head. This was an empty victory, only the first battle. The images of the dragons she saw killed flashed back through her head. All of their deaths were her fault, because she wasn’t strong enough to face Aloe alone. And there was nothing she could do about it. “C’mon,” she muttered. “I want to go back to the palace.”
== Chapter 43 ==
Ink, Toxin, and Inferno stared on as Mayfly poked and prodded Polar. The MudWing doctor seemed somewhat unhappy that she’d been asked to come all the way out here as opposed to having Polar brought to her, but Ink had been insistent. She lifted one of the IceWing’s wings up and gave its membrane a little squeeze, before feeling its response. It shook a little, but there was little motion. She then slid her claws down to one of his hindlegs, and gave the knee a hard whack. Inferno jumped in surprise, and Polar’s leg struck out.
“You don’t have to keep staring,” Mayfly snapped at the three.
“Sorry,” Inferno apologized.
Mayfly turned back, and moved her paws to Polar’s forearm. She squeezed it, checking the blood flow, then placed her claws to the Darkstone bracelet.
“Don’t take that off!” Ink suddenly shouted.
Mayfly turned back, annoyed. “It’s just a bracelet. I can put it back on.”
Ink shook his head. “No, he starts shaking if you take it off.”
Mayfly snorted. She jiggled the bracelet a tad, and Polar’s body suddenly stiffened up. “Hmph,” she replied. “That’s unusual. The bracelet doesn’t happen to be injecting poison or anything into him, does it?”
“Poison?” Ink asked, worried. “No, I don’t think so.”
Mayfly frowned, and stuck her snout to the Darkstone bracelet, giving it a sniff. The flesh beneath was blue and puffy. Was it the cause of the injury, or had he put it on there to hide it? Maybe it was causing an allergic reaction? But if taking it off caused spasms, she didn’t want to do anything that could harm him further. “Is it enchanted?” she asked. “I know IceWings have their weird gifts.”
“Not really,” Toxin answered, not quite sure how to explain the Darkstone to Mayfly.
“The diamond I put in his other paw is enchanted, though,” Ink continued. “It’s supposed to heal him.”
Mayfly opened up Polar’s paw, checking out the Diamond Healer. “Doesn’t seem to be doing a very job, then,” she commented. She moved her paw back to the area around the Darkstone, and gave it a few prods with her talons. Unlike the rest of his scales, the area was hard and lumpy.
The three kept waiting impatiently while Mayfly continued her examination. Eventually, she got up from Polar, and turned to Ink. “I have good news and bad news,” she reported. “I’m not sure what happened, so further details might enlighten me, but his body suffered some severe trauma, unusual in that most of the stress seemed non-localized. That being said, it seems to be healing quickly, and his coma isn’t bad as many other cases I’ve seen. It doesn’t seem like there’s severe brain injuries.”
“Do you know when he’s going to wake up?” Ink asked.
Mayfly shook her head. “I don’t. Optimistically, within a day or two. But given how unusual his case is, there’s no way to tell, especially since I don’t know how much he’s improving. It could be much longer, or never.”
Toxin winced. She hadn’t realized how much risk he’d put himself in when he’d saved them. She sighed. “Thank you, Mayfly.”
“That’s the good news,” Mayfly continued. “The bad news is that I discovered severe cancerous growth beneath his bracelet that’s spread through his foreleg. If left unchecked, it’ll spread to his organs, and eventually kill him.”
Ink looked down at Polar gravely. He remembered how the IceWing had fallen in their flight to Jade Mountain. Did it have something to do with that? Had Polar known?
“So long as the cancer is only in the foreleg, we should be able to get rid of it by amputating,” Mayfly explained. “It’ll need to be done as soon as possible, and I will want him brought to the clinic. Which of you is taking care of the IceWing?”
“I am,” Toxin decided. She frowned, worried. Why hadn’t Polar told her? “We’re not going ahead with the amputation until he’s awake. He should make the decision for himself.”
“I’d hardly call it a decision,” Mayfly snorted. “Unfortunately, there aren’t any other options, unless your magic diamond heals cancer. Hopefully, he wakes up soon, or else you might need to make his decision for him.”
Toxin clenched her claws. Maybe Polar could use the Darkstone again, and enchant something that shrunk tumors or similar. But that required him waking up. “He’s strong, he’ll wake up.”
Mayfly seemed ambivalent, and just shrugged her wings. “Well, come to me when you’re ready.” She swished her frostbreath-scarred tail and got up her supplies, opening the door to the small house. Directly in front of her, also trying to reach for the handle at the same time, was Slate.
“Er, sorry,” Slate said, stepping out of Mayfly’s way to let her pass. After she’d gotten down the steps, he came back up, carrying a small sack with him into the blue-shingled house. Closing the door behind him, he set his sack in the center of the room, and opened it up. The smell of smoked meat filled the air.
“That smells good,” Ink commented, trying to lift his mood.
“Yeah,” Slate answered, pulling out a variety of smoked and salted meats. “I wasn’t really able to get us much water, unfortunately. With the river gone, it all needs to be collected from the mountaintops.” He pulled out a small flask.
Toxin frowned. If the prophecy meant that they needed to stop the drought, it had better hurry up. How could Polar stop the drought if he was in a coma? He had to wake up, soon.
Inferno slowly made her way to the to the banquet, and picked out a large piece of pork. Careful not to touch anything else with her claws, she bent her neck down and picked up the piece in her jaws, making sure it didn’t touch her scales and char. She quickly swallowed it, before looking to the flask.
“I can get that for you,” Ink said, opening the flask of water. Inferno yawned and opened her mouth, letting Ink pour a small portion of it in, careful not to lose any drops of the precious water.
“Er, do you eat meat?” Slate asked Toxin. He’d heard that RainWings only ate fruit, but Toxin was half-NightWing.
Toxin shrugged. It wasn’t something she’d ever gotten fully used to, since no one had eaten meat before the NightWings arrived. “It’ll do.” She picked out a chicken breast, gently knawing on it.
Slate stared curiously at Toxin, watching her eat. She glanced back, slightly irritated. “What?”
“Oh, nothing,” Slate replied. “I was just thinking, do the NightWings have to eat fruit now that they live in the rainforest?”
Toxin shrugged her wings. “Some do, although most eat meat too. To be honest, most of them just eat whatever they can find. Even insects are better than what they had on their island. Carrion isn’t particularly tasty, so I’ve heard.”
“Bleh,” Slate snorted, sticking out his tongue. “That sounds pretty gross. I take it you were raised with RainWings, not NightWings?”
Toxin laughed. “Believe me, if I’d hatched in the Night Kingdom instead of the rainforest, they’d have thrown me in lava right out of the egg. But yeah, my mother was kind enough to put my egg in the RainWing hatchery.”
“Do you know her?” Slate asked, thinking about Fawn. “Your mother?”
“Nah,” Toxin answered. “RainWings don’t do parents, sort of like MudWings. They just throw all their eggs together. They check how their venom mixes to see if they’re related before mating, but it’s not really important otherwise. Still, I figure that my parents would know I’m their dragonet, since there’s only one other hybrid my age, but neither of them have come forward to claim me. I don’t even know if my mother is a RainWing or NightWing, or their relationship with each other. For all I know, they could’ve both been drowned in a pit of lava before I hatched.”
“Oh,” Slate said sympathetically, “that’s rough.”
Toxin snorted. “Honestly, that’s my favorite scenario. Two dragons who died fighting for forbidden love. But it might not have been so pretty. There might be a reason they don’t want me.”
Slate shuffled uncomfortably. Even though Toxin put off an air of ambivalence about this, he could tell she really cared about this. For her sake, he hoped it was something good, like her parents had flown off together, and would one day return to find their daughter.
“But again it’s not like it matters much anymore,” Toxin continued. “I barely even remember the rainforest before the NightWings joined us, and we’ve got plenty more hybrids along the way for Glory to fawn over. Her own dragonet included. But what about you? You mentioned your grandfather was a SandWing. How do you know that, if MudWings don’t know their parents?”
“I was unlucky enough not to have any sibs,” Slate answered. “So my mother took care of me instead, since she’d kinda been pushed out of her group of half-sibs. We thought about trying to find MudWings that would take in unsibs, but I was too young to join most open groups, and to be honest, I didn’t really want to leave her. So we just ended up together. I didn’t know who my father was until Torrent told me.”
“Torrent?” Toxin asked, recalling the SeaWing she’d barely met.
“Yeah, apparently they used to be friends or something.”
Meanwhile, Ink had turned himself away from Polar, leaving the IceWing to sleep. He looked over at Inferno. “Are you alright?” he asked. The SkyWing was bobbing her head in a dazed stare at the wall.
Inferno shook herself to attention. “Yeah,” she grumbled, “just a bit tired.” Ash had been frantic last night, worried about being in the city, worried about Polar’s animus magic, and worried about the prophecy. He’d pleaded for Inferno to turn back towards Jade Mountain, but she couldn’t. If the world was at stake, and she had to be with these other dragons to save it, then she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t just let everyone done.
Ash hadn’t been happy, and had warned Inferno that if she got killed, that would be the end of him, too. Still, what else could she do? She’d suggested that she tell the others, or at least Ink, about him, but her brother instantly turned the idea down. She didn’t like hiding Ash from Ink, but Ink had hid the prophecy from her, after all. And it wasn’t like Ink, or anyone else, really needed to know about Ash. What if they were creeped out by him? She’d not only accidentally killed her twin brother, but somehow absorbed his soul. That certainly didn’t seem like something a good dragon would do, even if Inferno had done it on accident.
“Alright, try and get some more sleep,” Ink suggested with a smile, not knowing if it would help or not. He looked back to Polar, watching the comatose IceWing.
Suddenly, Polar’s forepaw started to contract, as if he was trying to grab something. Ink’s eyes lit up as he saw the IceWing’s eyelids flicker. The hybrid rushed over to his side, looking down over Polar’s head. “Polar, are you alright?” he asked, wanting to see if the IceWing had regained consciousness.
The IceWing grumbled something incomprehensible. Trying to hear, Ink leaned his head down to Polar’s snout, almost touching it to his ears. By now, the other three were watching hopefully. “What did you say?”
Polar reached his forearms around Ink’s neck, pulling him in and breathing misty breath over hikm. Before Ink had time to react, the IceWing planted a smooch on the hybrid’s snout. Taken by surprise, Ink reared his head up. Polar’s forearms slipped off it, and the IceWing’s head hit the floor with a bang.
“Ouch,” Polar muttered.
“Well, now he definitely has brain damage,” Toxin commented.
Slate looked towards her, slightly confused. “Is this normal?” he asked.
“Polar? Showing affection? No.”
The flustered Ink blinked and stared back at Polar, not quite sure what had just happened. “Er, sorry about dropping you,” he stammered.
Polar moved a forepaw towards his head, trying to rub it, but his coordination was still off, and he ended up rubbing the floor. “No,” the IceWing grumbled groggily, “er, I deserved it. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s fine,” Ink replied, still confused, stepping back to give the awakening Polar a little bit of space.
The five dragons were all quiet for a minute as Polar struggled to get up, his limbs collapsing beneath him with each attempt. Eventually, he gave up, resigning himself to lying on his back, his wings spread out slightly.
“If anyone even thinks about mentioning what just happened to Queen Glacier, I’ll rip your throat out,” Polar threatened the others.
Toxin snorted. “This is more normal,” she commented to Slate. “Although Queen Glacier is dead.”
“Huh?” Polar asked, his memory starting to return to him as his thoughts became clearer. “Oh, yeah, right.”
Barely able to lift his head up, the IceWing looked around the small, cluttered, room. “Where are we?” he asked. “This doesn’t look like Jade Mountain.” He frowned as he looked over at Slate. “And what’s he doing here?”
“I’m the one who carried you all across town; you’re welcome,” Slate muttered.
“We’re in Possibility, and this is Slate, our number five,” Toxin explained. “Remember what happened? Aurora came in, and almost crushed us all, then you teleported us out.”
“Wow, I’m surprised that worked,” Polar snorted, laying his head on its side, trying not to shut his eyes again. “The most I’d done before was making pebbles float. Is that why I feel like I’ve eaten a rotten seal?”
Toxin nodded. “Partially. We had a doctor come by to check you out.”
“Oh great,” Polar grumbled, the floor swirling around him. “You didn’t tell them about the Darkstone, did you? That’s supposed to be a secret. Oops, I shouldn’t have said that. Wow, I’m bad at this secret keeping business.”
“Most of us already know,” Toxin sighed. Hopefully, this wooziness would end soon, “and yes. But there’s something the doctor said that you need to know —”
“— Although it’s not urgent,” Ink suddenly interrupted, turning back to Toxin and giving her a look of concern. She returned a glare. “It can wait until you’ve had a little more rest.”
“Great,” Polar yawned. “I’m pretty tired, and I can’t tell which of you is which anymore. Wow, letting a bunch of not IceWings guard me while I sleep. My ranking is dropping faster than a flying penguin.”
Polar shut his eyes, and the IceWing slowly drifted back off into sleep while the four watched. After she was sure he was finally fast asleep again, she turned to Ink.
“What was that for?” Toxin hissed. “Why didn’t you let me tell him?”
“He just woke up, and he’s clearly a little addled,” Ink answered calmly. “I didn’t want to bother him more than I had to.”
Toxin snorted. “Well, unfortunately, this is urgent. You heard what Mayfly said, right? We don’t know how long he has before the cancer spreads beyond his arm.”
“Fine,” Ink replied. “Next time he wakes up, you tell him.”
Toxin flicked her tongue out, and turned back to her meal, finishing it off. It wasn’t long before she was interrupted again.
A loud knock on the door suddenly startled Slate. Ink looked nervously towards Inferno, while Toxin bared her fangs.
“Who’s that?” she growled, glancing towards Slate for an answer.
“I don’t know!” Slate frantically replied, the tip of his tail swishing anxiously. “I didn’t think anyone followed me back!”
“What if Aurora’s here?” Inferno asked, suddenly alert.
“It’s not Aurora,” Toxin snorted. “She’s on the other side of the continent.”
“We teleported, what if she can too with her Darkstone?” Slate suggested.
“She’d just phase through the door,” Ink replied. “It could be the Enclave. They sometimes check up on disturbances.”
“Are we a disturbance?” Inferno gulped worriedly. “This is a Talons of Peace safehouse, right? And we’re on the border of the Sky Kingdom. Are the Talons outlawed here?”
Toxin groaned, and pushed Slate aside. “You all are such cowards. I’ll just open it myself.”
The dragonet stormed to the door and slammed it up with a ferocious glare. “This is private property,” she growled, “you have no business here.”
The RainWing-NightWing hybrid looked up to see a smiling wintergreen IceWing, a leather strip over one of his eyes that matched Ink’s. “Technically,” Fracture grinned, “I think this is my property.”
== Chapter 44 ==
Polar turned from side to side, his claws clenching. It was much too hot here for a good night’s rest. Voices spoke from around him, the chattering of dragons. “Would you be quiet?” he snorted.
The voices grew quiet, until only the occasional whisper surrounded Polar. He still tossed and turned, shutting his eyes. Sleep didn’t come. He sighed, knowing there wasn’t much use still trying. His eyelids slowly slid open, bright light coming in them as he looked up. Above him was the green-tinted snout of another IceWing, slowly coming into focus. As the rest of the room came into view, he saw the four other dragons that had been there last, staring at him.
“Who are you?” he snorted at the IceWing. His eyes moved to the leather band around the IceWing’s left eye.
Fracture looked down at Polar, a hint of regret in his voice. “I think you already know.”
Polar’s claws clenched up as he realized who the IceWing was. Queen Glacier had given him descriptions of his parents, and the eyepatch was just like Ink’s. “Fracture,” he said bitterly.
“It’s been too long, Polar,” Fracture responded, his spines drooping even as he tried to crack a smile. “I haven’t seen you since you could fit in my paw.”
A low growl sounded in Polar’s throat. “You abandoned me,” he accused his father. “You left me with Queen Glacier, just so you could betray our kingdom and raise someone else’s dragonet.”
Fracture was silent, curling his tail guiltily.
“Why didn’t you take me with you?” Polar hissed. “Did you think I’d enjoy living in the Ice Kingdom, with no parents? Whenever I left the palace, whenever I saw the rankings, I had to see Clarity and Crystal’s names, resting in the Seventh Circle. You weren’t even on there. I didn’t even know if you were alive, or just too lowborn to get a ranking.”
Fracture refused to defend himself, but Ink did.
“You think Fracture wanted to leave you?” the unusually angry hybrid snapped at Polar. “He didn’t get a choice. Queen Glacier took you from his paws and forced him to flee, just so that she had some extra leverage against Crystal and the Talons. He and Clarity didn’t abandon you. They tried to get you back, but there was nothing they could do.”
Polar looked over to Ink, still too weak to lift his head up much. He shut his eyes as his claws shook. Ink was right. Polar knew it. He’d known it since his conversation with Toxin, maybe even before that. He shook his head, sniffling as a few tears started to run from his eyes.
“No, Polar’s right,” Fracture said. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t there for you all those years when you needed me. I should’ve tried harder.”
Polar sniffled some more, and Fracture reached down to hold the IceWing, cradling his son’s head in his forearms as he sat. The two IceWings were like this for a while, while the other four waited patiently.
“I’m glad I got to see you again,” Fracture smiled. “I really wish I could’ve been a real father. To have been there as you grew up — taking down a polar bear together, singing you to sleep — I know your mother feels exactly the same way. My greatest regret is not being able to stop Queen Glacier from taking you.”
Polar laid back. He’d sometimes imagined what life would’ve been like if he’d been raised by his parents, even against Queen Glacier’s wishes. If he’d had dragons around him who’d loved him, instead of just being used as a tool.
Fracture sighed. “I’m proud of you. Don’t forget that you’re doing the right thing. There’s so much I wish I could say, to make this all better, but I don’t know how much time we have.” He gave his son another squeeze, before tearing himself away, teardrops in his eyes.
Fracture turned towards Ink and gave him a hug, cradling the hybrid in his wings. “I’m proud of you, too. You’ve grown so much from the dragonet I knew. You’re so brave to do this.”
After holding Ink for a few moments, Fracture let go. The IceWing took in a deep breath, holding back tears before stiffening himself up, becoming more serious. He scanned his eyes across Toxin, Inferno, and Slate. “Now that all five of you are awake, there’s something we need to discuss.”
“We already know you’re the one who gave Nightreader the prophecy,” Toxin stated, recalling Stonemover’s words. “How did you get it, and what do you know about it?”
“The prophecy came to me once in a vision,” Fracture explained. “Nightreader foretold the prophecy in this vision.”
“Hold on, what?” Slate asked, confused. “Are you saying you saw her foretell the prophecy in the future, then told it to her before she foretold it? Like, time-travel?”
“No, that’s not it,” Toxin said, keeping her eyes locked with Fracture’s. “First of all, IceWings don’t get visions of the future. Second, Nightreader was born on the volcanic island. She couldn’t have the power of prophecy.”
“You’re correct,” Fracture smiled. “Nightreader never foretold the prophecy.”
“So, your vision was a fake?” Inferno questioned. “You just made it up?” That didn’t make sense, the Talons had claimed that Fracture had predicted things before they had happened.
“In a way, yes, although I didn’t make it up,” Fracture continued. “Like Ink, I am able to experience a sort of vision through my blank eye.” He tapped a talon to his eyepatch. “But instead of seeing the future, and how things will be, I see how things could have been. I’m able to experience how my life would’ve been on different versions of Pyrrhia, where things happened differently from the way things are now.”
“Until Aurora took my eye out, I used to be able to see how Pyrrhia would’ve been if Crystal and Aurora had killed my sister instead of my brother,” Ink gave an example. “But Fracture can see lots and lots of different Pyrrhias.”
“So like, if Burn had won the war instead of Thorn?” Slate asked.
“Correct,” Fracture said. “Not just Burn, but Blister, Blaze, Erosion, Onyx, or Aloe. Unlike Ink, who could only see the one version, I experience visions in many of these worlds, which let me see more worlds where I can have visions, and so on. I can use what I see in the worlds most similar to this one to figure out information I wouldn’t have known normally, and use that to even predict the future sometimes. For example, figuring out troop movements, or if someone is an enemy or a friend.”
“And you used these powers to lead the Talons of Peace?” Inferno asked, frowning.
“Yes,” Fracture nodded, confirming it.
Inferno tapped a talon, still unsure. “How come the Talons of Peace failed, then? Why didn’t you use it to end the war?”
A twinkle glimmered in Fracture’s eye. “The Talons didn’t fail. The Dragonets of Destiny ended the war, and Thorn became queen, didn’t she?”
Inferno mused on this for a while. Maybe Fracture was right, but couldn’t there have been a better way?
“Back to Nightreader,” Fracture said. “In one of these versions of Pyrrhia, the NightWings conquered the rainforest decades before the war, brutally enslaving and killing the RainWings. The IceWings had responded, and the two kingdoms were locked in an endless war. I knew from my visions that the NightWings had an animus, Stonemover, and that he was going to cause a great travesty, killing many IceWings and NightWings alike. I travelled to what was left of the rainforest, where I was snuck into the NightWing palace and met with Stonemover and his sister, Nightreader. There, she gave me the prophecy, knowing that I could use it. Eventually, I just gave it back to her.”
“What happened to Stonemover and the travesty?” Slate asked.
Fracture shrugged his wings. “I convinced him and Nightreader to flee the Night Kingdom, but I didn’t manage to escape the palace alive.”
“Oh,” Slate responded.
“So, what does the prophecy mean?” Polar asked Fracture, trying to look up. “Toxin and I figured out that it refers to us five and the Eye of Onyx, but not much more than that.”
Fracture sighed. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much. I’ve never managed to live the prophecy out to its end. I can’t even say if it will come true or not. In some worlds, not all of you are even alive at this point.”
“Gah!” Toxin yelled, flashes of red streaking through her dark scales. “Seriously? What was the point in coming here if you don’t know what it means?”
“I said I can’t tell you much, not that I can’t tell you anything,” Fracture calmly replied. “You already know who Calamity is, I take it?”
“Not really,” Polar grumbled. “He did something with one of the Eyes to cause earthquakes after the Scorching. We have some conflicting information, but Aurora mentioned him, so I think they’re all working together.”
“There is little about Calamity that isn’t conflicting,” Fracture answered, “but it’s all true. He’s extremely dangerous, far more than Aurora or Crystal, and is unkillable. Still, if you wish to find him, the ‘bridge of light and frost’ refers to the Crystal Caverns beneath the Southern Ice Kingdom, beneath the Mausoleum of Queen Frost and the Darkstone mines.” He turned to Toxin. “Do you remember how Calamity can be stopped.”
Toxin thought back to the legend she’d read. “Falcon,” she said. “Calamity can be trapped in the mortal form of a dragon using the blood of an animus.”
Polar’s eyes glazed over as he started to realize what that meant. The Darkstone had made him an animus, hadn’t it? And none of the others were animuses. Just like Falcon, he’d have to sacrifice himself. If he went down into those caves, he wouldn’t be coming back.
“Yes,” Fracture confirmed, although he didn’t seem happy about it. Melancholy and dread dripped from the IceWing’s voice. “That is the only way.”
Everyone was silent for a minute, before Slate interrupted the quiet. “You said you can see other possible versions of Pyrrhia. Are these like, abstract possible futures, or are these worlds real? Can you go to them?”
Fracture turned to Inferno. “Inferno, you remember Trustbreaker, don’t you?”
Inferno nodded. “Yeah. He can read minds, right? Are you saying —”
“Yes,” Fracture responded. “NightWings his age in this Pyrrhia shouldn’t have powers, but he does. I met him years ago, not long after he escaped his world. That being said, in all my visions, I’ve only met a single crosser other than him. While some of these worlds are real, and Trustbreaker is from one of those realities, most of them are long gone.”
“Long gone?” Slate wondered. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
As Fracture opened his mouth, a loud knock suddenly sounded on the door, making Slate jump. Toxin bared her fangs.
Fracture looked towards it, and sighed. “It appears my time is up.”
Before anyone else could say a word, a quiet hissing followed by a loud ‘thunk” came from the door, and it flew off its hinges, slamming onto the ground with a bang. This time, a different IceWing walked through the door way, swishing her perfectly formed tail back and forth. She glanced around the room before turning to the dragons within it.
“Looks like this place hasn’t changed too much from when I was here last,” Crystal snorted, her obsidian dagger held out to her side. “Nice little family reunion we’ve got going on here.”
== Chapter 45 ==
The three landed on the top of the hill, Peril on a rocky outcrop. A few blades of grass growing between the cracks in the rocks shriveled and burned as she got close. She looked down at them worriedly. The last thing they needed right now was to set the entire Jade Mountain Valley on fire.
“Turtle!” she called out, unable to move from her spot while Deathbringer and Torrent walked towards the treeline. “Are you here?”
The SkyWing gritted her teeth and turned her tail in a circle. There wasn’t anything she could do but yell out — if she stepped one paw onto the grassy knoll, the dry grass would catch. She hated just having to wait here, not knowing whether or not Turtle was safe. Although it wasn’t like she’d be much use in combat; Aurora would just phase through her. There weren’t many dragons who could pose a physical threat to Peril.
Suddenly, a rustle sounded from the undergrowth. Large enough to be a dragon. The three turned towards it, getting ready for another fight. Torrent’s claws grasped tightly around his dagger, while Deathbringer reached towards one of his silver disks. Peril’s eyes watched the woods closely, and her wings beat once, in case she needed to fly.
Out of the undergrowth came a panting Turtle, tearing through bushes as he ran into the open. Torrent jumped back as Turtle fell to the ground, breathing hard. His forearm was stained red around the wounds he’d gotten from Aurora’s spikes, although it looked like it had stopped bleeding.
“Turtle!” Peril shouted. Thank the moons, he was still alive. “Deathbringer, bring him over here.” If there was going to be another fight with Aurora, Peril didn’t want Turtle caught in the midst of it.
Deathbringer put a wing beneath Turtle, and helped him limp over to the rocks Peril was on. “Are you okay?” Peril asked, checking her friend for injuries. Other than the ones Aurora had given him on his elbow, there didn’t seem to be any new ones.
Turtle’s breath started to slow. “Y-yeah,” he answered, clutching his forearm. “I think so.”
Deathbringer walked back towards Torrent, who was still waiting at the undergrowth, holding his dagger out.
“He’s just a distraction,” Torrent growled. “She’ll be here any moment.”
Deathbringer looked out into the dry woods. There didn’t appear to be any more movement. “Are you sure?”
Torrent kept his dagger pointed out towards the woods, then slowly lowered it towards the ground, keeping a claw on the amethyst. He narrowed his eyes. “She’s gone underground. If she’s trying to surprise us, she should know better.”
“Whatever you say,” Deathbringer clucked. At this point, he started to doubt that Aurora would be coming back.
Torrent bared his teeth and turned towards Turtle, lumbering up towards the rocky outcrop. “You, animus,” he demanded, “what happened back there? What did she do to you?”
“S-she just pulled me into the cavern walls, and then came up in the forest,” Turtle stammered. “She told me she was sorry for hurting me, then told me to go.”
Torrent squinted, starting straight into Turtle’s eyes as the SeaWing gulped. He took a step closer, and raised his dagger.
“Hey, what are you doing!” Peril yelled, seeing the dagger flash. She took a step between the two, causing Torrent to jump back in alarm and slide down the rock, his webbed paws scratching the surface. Deathbringer raised his paw with the disk.
“Trying to save your lives, you stone-brained idiots,” Torrent growled as he climbed back up the rock. “She could’ve enchanted him.”
“She didn’t,” Turtle responded. “She didn’t say anything.”
Torrent snorted. “Animuses don’t need to say anything to do an enchantment, and for all I know, she could be making you lie to me. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened, and I’m not taking the risk again. Let me check if he’s enchanted, and disenchant him if he is.”
“You’re not going to hurt him?” Peril asked, eyeing the sharpened dagger carefully. “You know you could’ve just told us that from the start.”
Torrent gave her a glare, and climbed back up the rock to Turtle. Cautiously watching, Peril stepped aside. Turtle squirmed as Torrent placed the cold flat of the steel on his scales, pressing the amethyst. It was warm, but that didn’t say much, since Turtle was already an animus. He moved his claw to the emerald, and gave the dagger a quick brush around Turtle’s body, like he was disinfecting him.
“There,” Torrent grunted. “He should be good.”
“I feel absolutely no different than before,” Turtle mumbled.
“Then you’re lucky,” Torrent warned his younger brother. “She could’ve enchanted you to try and kill one of us when we weren’t expecting it. Not sure why else she let you free.”
“He was probably just a hostage,” Deathbringer commented. “To make sure she got away safely.”
Turtle stood up, wincing at his wound. It would be good to get some care for that soon. Peril smiled and stepped away, giving him a little space from her aura of heat.
“So, what now?” Peril asked. She didn’t really have any desire to go after Aurora again.
Torrent pointed his dagger straight down, feeling for Aurora. “She’s still beneath us,” he replied, “although there’s not much we can do about that. But there are still three more animuses at Jade Mountain I might be able to do something about.”
Peril moved herself back in front of Turtle, keeping herself between the SeaWings. That meant Turtle and Anemone. “What do you mean when you say ‘do something’?” she growled.
“I’m not going to kill him,” Torrent snorted. “I’ve put those days behind me. I want him to give up his animus magic. It’s a win-win. No more animus magic, no more chance of him losing his soul.”
“Give it up?” Peril asked, looking back at Turtle. “Can you even do that?”
Turtle winced. He’d made Anemone an animus. Likely, he could take away his own magic. But he hadn’t told Peril, hadn’t told anyone about what he’d done. If he answered, Peril might start suspecting, and he didn’t have the heart to lie if she asked how he knew.
“He can,” Torrent answered for him. “I’ve seen it done before. Just say the words.” He growled at Turtle, baring his fangs.
“I’m not going to let you bully Turtle into doing it,” Peril said. “If he wants to, that’s his choice to make. Right, Turtle?”
“‘His choice,’” Torrent scoffed. “You say it like he earned his powers somehow; like he deserves them. The fact is, as long as he’s able to use animus magic, he’s got the ability to do whatever he wants, consequence-free. No one should be able to have that power over the rest of us.”
“There are dragons who’d use magic to make the world a better place,” Peril retorted. Clay, for one.
“Maybe, but it’s not worth the risk,” Torrent continued. “So long as Turtle has his powers, no one in Pyrrhia is safe from him, you included.”
Peril rolled her eyes, and glanced back at Turtle. He didn’t seem alright with this conversation. “Look, Turtle isn’t some Darkstalker-level threat. I’ve seen his enchantments, no offense, but they’re all silly and kind of useless, like a bowl which doubles things in it.”
Turtle turned away from Peril, avoiding her gaze. Not all of his enchantments. He’d slipped up, made Anemone an animus. What if he did something worse next time? What if she did something worse?
“They’re silly and useless now,” Torrent grumbled. “That’s how they all start out. Little things to make your life just a bit better. To give others a little bit of joy. Then it’s too late, and half your family is dead.”
“I’m keeping my powers, at least for now,” Turtle suddenly decided. “If there are animuses out there who can hurt my friends, I want to be able to protect them. Like Fathom.” If Darkstalker got free, Aurora returned, or three moons forbid, Anemone lost her soul, Turtle wanted to be able to stop them. He had to keep his powers, to protect them.
Torrent glared up at Peril, then back to his brother. He hadn’t been referring to Fathom and Albatross, he’d been referring to Orca. Torrent was supposed to have been her Fathom, but he’d been too weak then, too naive. “Then I can’t stop you. Let’s just hope you stay Fathom, and don’t become Albatross.”
He took a step back, then looked up towards the snow-crested peak of Jade Mountain. “With Stonemover, that leaves one more.”
“We’re not letting you hurt her either,” Peril hissed.
“Fine,” Torrent yawned. “Your loss. I’m sticking around, anyways, just in case Aurora comes back. Unless Turtle wants to use more of his soul to try and stop her, I’m the only one who has a chance.”
Peril breathed a puff of smoke in the SeaWing’s snout, making him cough and turn his head to the side. “I have half a mind to singe your tail and chase you from Jade Mountain for good,” she threatened him. “If you lay a claw on anyone here, you’ll regret it.” 
Torrent took a step back from the smoke, and bared his fangs. “If you’re going to put all these dragonets at risk by keeping two animuses around, that’s on you, not me.”
“Hey!” Deathbringer yelled from below the rock. “Can you please stop fighting? I’m going back to the rainforest to wait for Glory’s return and make sure things are going smoothly in her absence, but I’d like to know that no one’s going to kill each other as soon as I turn my head. That’s my job.”
“I’m not planning to kill him,” Peril huffed.
“My dagger is sheathed,” Torrent snorted, putting his dagger away.
“Great,” Deathbringer sighed, rolling his eyes. “Get Tsunami to sort this out, will you?”
Turtle looked up to Torrent, gulping as he met his eyes. He’d never had too much luck making friends with his brothers.
== Chapter 46 ==
Crystal twirled her dagger, the snake-like blade flashing in front of Toxin’s eyes. The hybrid’s gaze moved to its base, where a sky-blue scale and a black pearl were embedded. The scale had to be Aurora’s — how many other dragons on Pyrrhia looked similar? Was it just a keepsake, or could it be animus-touched?
“Who are you?” Inferno asked, slightly confused why this IceWing had just walked in the room.
“Crystal,” Toxin growled. This was the same IceWing she’d seen in her vision, the one who had killed Queen Thorn and Blaze. She was the one who’d started the drought.
“Yes, that’s my name,” Crystal snorted.
“It’s six against one, and we have a SkyWing who can set you on fire with a touch” Slate said, stepping forward, up to Toxin’s side. “You’re outnumbered. Surrender, or we’ll make you.”
Crystal laughed, and twirled her dagger in the air. She took a few steps towards Slate and Toxin, the spines on her tail scratching across the floor as she dragged it.
Polar lifted his head up, trying to see what was going on. His eyes focused on Crystal. She was the one who’d brought shame to his family, the one who’d stolen the Darkstone from Queen Glacier. If Polar managed to catch her . . . it was too late for that. Queen Glacier was dead, along with the rest of the Empty Circle. Some of the most celebrated war heroes in the Ice Kingdom. If they couldn’t defeat her, it was hopeless for the six here, firescales or not. “You can’t fight her,” Polar despaired. “You can’t win.”
Crystal’s eyes turned towards Fracture and Polar with a smile. The last time she’d seen them was just before Ink’s hatching. When she’d given Polar the healing diamond, before Queen Glacier had exiled Fracture and Clarity, thinking they’d been conspiring with Crystal. It wasn’t as if it wouldn’t have happened eventually, with the two leading the Talons of Peace. “Polar,” she cheerfully greeted him. “My favorite nephew. It’s been so long, hasn’t it?”
Polar tried to get to his feet, but his muscles were still weak, and he collapsed as he tried to stand. Letting down a wing for his son to grab onto, Fracture crouched down, and Polar put his forearms around his father’s back, stabilizing himself. “I hope you get impaled by an icicle,” Polar growled.
“That’s not nice,” Crystal scoffed. “I hope you didn’t treat your father that way, either. By the way, Fracture, it’s so nice to see you again. I never did thank you and Clarity properly for helping me steal the Darkstone.”
Polar stiffened up. He hadn’t realized that Fracture had had a part in that.
“Slate, take Polar,” Fracture ordered the MudWing. Slate obediently retreated back, and switched places with Fracture, letting Polar climb on his back for support. “Protect him. I trust I’m leaving him in good paws.”
Slate nodded, surprised. Fracture barely knew him. “Er, yes sir.”
Crystal took a few steps forward, her dagger still in her paws as she walked. She turned towards Toxin and Inferno, grinning. “Now, what’s a dragonet like you doing, getting involved in this? This seems like something adults should be trying to fix.”
Toxin didn’t take the bait. “You’re the one who started the drought, right? Stop it.”
Crystal shrugged her wings. “I can’t. That’s in Calamity’s paws now.” She suddenly lunged forward, slashing out her dagger at Toxin. Toxin jumped back with a yelp, barely avoiding the tip. She bared her fangs in response, shooting a blast of venom at Crystal’s paws. The IceWing took a step back, surprised. She shook her paws, spraying droplets of the venom over the room. About now, Toxin was really wishing she’d been born a full RainWing.
Crystal smirked. “What, you think a little spittle is going to stop me?”
Toxin took a few steps back, and Crystal turned towards Inferno, dagger out. “Don’t let her touch you with her dagger!” Toxin warned the SkyWing. Crystal had to have used animus magic to turn Blaze and Thorn to stone, and there was an obvious culprit for what had done it.
“Firescales,” Crystal snorted. “Seems dangerous. I best make this quick.”
Inferno took a few steps back as Crystal approached, shaking. “We don’t need to fight,” she pleaded. The SkyWIng suddenly jumped in surprise as she felt her tail brush against the wooden walls of the house. Instantly, the wood started to burn, smoke rising up as a charred hole appeared where Inferno had touched it.
“Crystal, that’s enough,” Fracture growled, warily glancing towards the wall, the fire slowly starting to spread on the dry wood. “I’m not letting you hurt these dragons.” He took a step towards Inferno, and breathed a blast of frostbreath on the floor in front of her, creating a line of ice between Inferno and Crystal. “Everyone, get out, now.”
Fracture stepped over the white line he’d made in the ground, Crystal taking a few steps back. With a lunge, she suddenly swiped her dagger at his left side. He deftly dodged to the right, keeping his distance from the blade while he swung his tail up into her chest. Crystal yelled and stepped back as Fracture’s tail spines raked her scales, blue blood dripping from them. She turned to the left, and swiped again. Even with her speed, Fracture easily dodged the attack, taking care not to get close to the blade.
“We need to help him,” Ink said, scooting over to Inferno and Toxin. “He can’t fight her alone.”
“We can’t fight her either,” Toxin stressed. “You know what will happen if she nicks you with that dagger? You’ll turn to stone.”
“I can’t just let Crystal kill him!” Ink growled.
“The magical IceWing who can predict the future told us to get out,” Toxin replied. “I’m following his instructions.”
Inferno glanced back at the flames, licking at the walls of the house as they rose. They really did need to get out of here soon. She turned back to Crystal and Fracture, still fighting. “If we want to get to the door, we’ll have to go through them.”
Toxin frowned. There was no way they could sneak past the fighting dragons without Crystal getting a chance to attack. She turned back to the burning wall, feeling the heat coming from the dry wood. “Inferno, run into the wall.”
“What?” Inferno asked, shocked at the idea. “That’ll just make the house burn up quicker.”
“We still have a little longer before the flames reach the support beams,” Toxin said, pointing a talon to the nearest wooden beam. “But the wood in the wall is charred and burning. I think you can break through it.”
Toxin looked towards Ink. He sighed and glanced around the safehouse. This place had been his home, he didn’t really want to see it destroyed. But it wasn’t like there were many options. “Yeah. These walls are flimsy.”
Inferno closed her eyes. Usually, dragons wanted her not to set stuff on fire. “Alright,” she said. “Here goes.” Getting a small head start, the SkyWing threw herself into the wall as hard as she could. She crashed through it as wood burned and charred, leaving a burning hole the size of a dragon.
Outside, the sun had just set, and dusk was quickly approaching on Possibility. Inferno had fallen out into a cobbled alleyway, no dragons around to see them. Splinters cut into the spaces between her scales, but quickly caught flame and turned into ash. Inferno swept her tail across the ground, pushing aside burning debris to make a safe space for the other four.
Meanwhile, Crystal leaped at Fracture’s side, knocking the IceWing to the ground and onto his back. Climbing on him, she stabbed her dagger down, aiming for his neck, but the green IceWing caught her forearm in a paw, using all his strength to keep it just inches from his neck. Unable to break through his grip, she moved her other forepaw on top of the dagger, pushing down harder, but Fracture took the chance to open his jaws, letting out a puff of frostbreath.
Crystal quickly rolled to the side and off of Fracture, only the tip of her horn getting caught in the blast. Fracture quickly got up again and took a few steps back, Crystal getting to her paws. She took another swipe again, but as if he already knew her movements, Fracture deftly ducked beneath it, and tore at Crystal’s wing with a paw.
“Inferno, step out of the way,” Toxin asked, not wanting to accidentally run into Inferno. That wouldn’t be a pretty death. She looked through the opening Inferno had made, flames eating away at the wood around it while burning coals and debris dropped from the top. It wasn’t like there were any other options.
Running as fast as she could, Toxin leaped through the opening, wincing as embers fell onto her scales, burning them. A few of her black scales turned white in pain. She landed on the ground, and shook her wings, brushing the hot embers off. “Ink, you next!”
Ink quickly complied, and jumped through the hole as embers showered. He gritted his teeth and squealed as his tail brushed across the opening, getting scorched by the flames. Still, at least he made it through.
Slate slowly followed behind, carrying Polar with him as he shuffled across the room, lowering his head as if hiding from Crystal. When he reached the opening, he gulped. A chunk of burning debris fell from the wall. The hole had expanded some, but not enough to fit two dragons. “Guys?” he asked worriedly. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it through with Polar. It’s too small, and I can’t jump.”
“I can try and make it larger,” Inferno suggested. She looked up, worriedly. It wouldn’t be much longer before the flames reached the beams, and burning more of the wall would decrease the little time they had.
Slate suddenly glanced back as he heard Fracture yell his name. Crystal and Fracture had gotten turned around, and Crystal had suddenly changed direction, aiming for Slate. Slate took a step back, running from the flaming opening as Crystal kept after him. Still, with Polar on his back, his pace was sluggish, and Crystal didn’t need to do much to catch him.
As Crystal pounced at the two, Polar clenched his claws into Slate’s back and turned his head around, letting loose a stream of frostbreath. Crystal ducked, yelling as the frostbreath grazed the side of her neck, instantly freezing the scales there. Polar coughed and wheezed. He didn’t know how much more he had in him.
“I need to help them,” Ink said, his expression streaked with worry. He raised his wings above him to protect his head from debris, and started back towards the hole. Just as he was about to jump, Crystal turned back towards the hole, abandoning Slate and Polar as she started towards the three dragons outside the house. A shower of embers burned her scales as they fell. The pain was irritating, but it would all be healed as soon as she got back to Calamity.
As Crystal tried to slash at Ink, she was suddenly pulled back, Fracture’s claws digging into her tail as they kept her from leaving the burning house. Ink jumped back into Toxin, the dagger having narrowly missed his snout.
“Fly!” Fracture yelled, as he pulled Crystal back into the house. She roared and turned around, swiping him again, this one almost making contact. “Fly, as fast as you can!”
“I can’t leave Polar and Slate behind!” Ink pleaded, another shower of embers obscuring his view of the fighting IceWings. “I can’t leave you behind!”
Fracture lowered his head and ducked to the right as Crystal swiped again, being knocked onto his back. “I’ll protect them, no matter what,” he calmly stated. “Ink, trust me.”
Crystal turned again towards the opening, grinning as she shot a blast of frostbreath through it, almost hitting Ink in the wing. Ink yelled and pushed into Toxin.
Inferno spread her wings as she walked to the edge of the alleyway, looking back at Ink. If Fracture was telling them that they should escape, she knew they had to. “Ink, we need to go.”
Ink looked back at the hole, tears in his eyes as Inferno spread her wings, hot air pushed down the alley. She started to take off, with Toxin behind her. He shouldn’t just leave them. That was cowardly, it wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Yet, if there was one dragon he could trust, it had to be Fracture. Shaking his tears, Ink turned away from his home, and went after Toxin and Inferno, into the clear night sky of Possibility.
Back inside the house, Slate stayed against the wall, Polar resting on his back. Fracture had grabbed onto Crystal again, and the two IceWing’s fight continued while the house continued to burn up around them. The MudWing looked across the ground to the open door, and started to slowly inch towards it. He just needed an opening long enough for the two to escape.
Crystal whipped around, slicing down at Fracture’s claws. He let go, and she pounced again, forcing him back. She roared out and charged, dagger out. Fracture took a step back, not dodging the attack. Suddenly, one of the support beams for the roof finally cracked, one side of the huge flaming beam falling, whacking the charging Crystal in the side and throwing her across the room, towards Slate and Polar.
Slate backed up, and looked over towards Crystal, wondering if she was dead. No such luck. Her eyes opened, and she carefully got up to her paws, looking directly at Polar. A blast of frostbreath suddenly came between Slate and Crystal, white frost spreading across the wooden wall.
Crystal turned back to Fracture as walked towards her, making sure he was between her and Slate. She slashed out again with her dagger, but Fracture lifted his wing beneath her forearm, forcing it up. Crystal took the chance to shoot a blast of her own frostbreath, coating the underside of Fracture’s wing as he cried out. She pulled her forearm back and stabbed at him again, but he turned to the side, the dagger almost grazing on his neck. By now, both of the two IceWings were panting, exhausted from the fight.
Slate looked towards the doorway. This was their chance. He stumbled towards it with Polar grasping to him, bouncing up and down. Seeing them try and escape, Crystal roared and let loose another stream of frostbreath, aiming to block their path, but Fracture lifted his already frostbreath coated wing up, using the dead wing to block the shot. With almost all of the nerves in it already dead, he felt little more than a tingle as Crystal’s breath coated his wing, its membranes splitting and cracking.
A shower of blue shingles and embers fell from the roof as another part of it collapsed. When Crystal stopped her frostbreath and Fracture lowered what was left of his wing, Slate and Polar were gone. In moments, they’d be deep within the alleys of Possibility.
Crystal cursed and glared at Fracture with a growl. He met her gaze with his eye, huffing. “I’m not letting you go after them,” he stated.
Crystal flicked out her forked tongue, blue blood dripping from her wounds. “I suppose it’s just you and me, then?”
Fracture nodded, and took a step back. More of the walls had started to burn, and the two didn’t have long before the rest of the house collapsed. The five dragons were gone, and there was nothing he could do now but hope they succeeded.
“How much did you tell them?” Crystal asked, stretching her claws. Her question seemed one more of curiosity than of fear or anger.
“I told them I could see other worlds,” Fracture answered with a smile. “That I could see versions of Pyrrhia where things turned out differently.”
Crystal narrowed her gaze. “Did you tell them what those worlds really are? Did you tell them what lies beneath our world?”
Fracture shook his head. Another beam fell across the house, shingles smashing into the floor.
“So you lied,” Crystal accused. “Nothing about you has changed.”
“I admit I have my faults and mistakes,” Fracture replied assuredly. “But this was not one of them.”
“If they knew the truth, you know they’d join us,” Crystal spat. “That’s why you keep lying. You’re afraid.”
Fracture shook his head. “You’re wrong. They’d choose the same as me. I didn’t want to put that burden on them.”
“Weak,” Crystal hissed, dragging her tail through the dirt, across a pile of fallen shingles. “Scared. If you really wanted to save Pyrrhia —”
“But I don’t,” Fracture interrupted. “I don’t want to save Pyrrhia, not if it means killing innocent dragons, making them suffer. It doesn’t matter, anyways. You’re going to fail.”
“It’s possible,” Crystal retorted. “Likely, even. So what? Calamity has an eternity to succeed.”
Fracture shook his head. “It’s not possible. You don’t understand what you’re up against. You have no chance.”
“I’ve seen it,” Crystal growled. “I’ve almost touched it.”
“Only while it sleeps,” Fracture continued. “You haven’t seen what it can do when it’s awake. I’ve seen myself killed by it. There is nothing you, Calamity, or any dragon on Pyrrhia can do to stop it.”
Crystal shook her head disapprovingly. “I’ve always wondered what my sister saw in you. You’ve given up.”
Fracture glared, his body tilting to the side as his frozen wing weighed him down. “You know as well as I do what’s going to happen to every dragon in this world. It’s inevitable. I just want them to live happy lives while they’re still here.”
Crystal snorted. “And so you took control of the most feeble pacifist organization in Pyrrhia? Allowed the NightWings to use you to their own foul ends?”
“The Talons of Peace saved lives,” Fracture replied. “That’s more than you’re able to say.”
“If we succeed, I’ll be able to say we saved Pyrrhia.”
The two IceWings continued staring at each other, as the walls went up in flames around them. Both were silent, not sure what else they could say.
“This is pointless,” Crystal sighed.
Fracture nodded. “We’ve had this conversation many times before, and we’ll have it many times again. You and I don’t manage to convince each other of anything.”
“Of course,” Crystal snarkily huffed, her snout twitching. “But you succeed in stalling for time so your fabled prophecy dragonets can escape.”
Fracture smirked slightly. “We might as well get on with it. I’m not going to make this easy for you. As a dragonet, I was scared of death. I replayed this vision over, and over, and over, hoping that I could avoid it.”
“And now?” Crystal asked. “Are you still scared?”
Fracture shook his head. “Of death? No. I’ll see you next time around, Crystal. I hope you’re able to make the most of the time you have left. Be happy, for once.”
Crystal laughed. “Never. Goodbye, Fracture.” She raised her paw again, clutching it around her dagger’s hilt.
Fracture smiled as blue shingles rained down upon them, another beam ready to crack. It was fitting that the oldest base of the Talons of Peace went down with their leader.
== Chapter 47 ==
Warm, dry winds brushed beneath Ink’s wings as he glided on them, Toxin and Inferno not far ahead. The gentle lights of Possibility glowed beneath, before becoming abrupt darkness as the three passed over the dry riverbed. Below, an curious SandWing dragonet had climbed down into the riverbed, exploring it while her SkyWing friend watched cautiously from the banks. The dragonet looked up to see the three pass overhead against the starlit background, but the silhouettes of wings was nothing unusual.
“We abandoned them,” Ink lamented, looking back up from the riverbed. “We should go back.”
“We didn’t abandon them,” Toxin replied, though her voice faltered. “Fracture told us to leave. We would’ve just gotten in his way if we’d stayed behind. More targets for Crystal, more dragons he’d have to protect.” Still, she wasn’t sure. Why hadn’t Slate and Polar come after them? She knew they couldn’t fly; would they be able to escape?
“What if Fracture was wrong?” Inferno suddenly asked. Knowing that Fracture had used his visions to guide the Talons, she had to question all the Talons’ failures. Queen Scarlet’s massacre of the Talons, the death of Asha and Hvitur, Queen Scarlet’s murder of the dragonets hatching on the Brightest Night — which of those had Fracture known about? Were there more tragedies that he’d prevented? Why not these? Which of those had he allowed? She was sure he had to have a good explanation, but now she doubted if she’d ever hear it.
Ink was silent. That was what he was dreading. His powers had certainly been wrong before. Three moons, the entire situation they were in right now was because he’d been misled. Fracture was smart, but certainly fallible.
“He had to be certain he was right,” Toxin replied, only half believing what she was saying. “He wouldn’t have told us otherwise.”
Ink looked behind them, back to the east banks of the river. There was no sign of dragons following behind them, whether Polar, Slate, Fracture, or Crystal, just a small orange glimmer in the distance as the blue-shingled house went up in flames. But what he could he do? Go back?
“Where are we going?” Inferno asked as they reached the west riverbank, the lights of shimmering lampposts dotting the city. “Is there another safehouse somewhere? One that Crystal won’t know about?”
“No,” Ink glumly answered.
“We should find shelter anyways,” Toxin suggested. “If Crystal comes after us, then we’ll want cover so that she doesn’t spot us.”
Ink sighed. “There’s a place we can land not too far from here,” he suggested. “There’s probably somewhere around there we can sleep.”
Ink lifted his right wing and turned to the left, delving deeper into the city. Few dragons wandered the streets at this time of night, and Ink and Toxin’s scales blended well in the darkness. Eventually, Ink started to drop altitude, and the three approached on a large square, a clocktower rising up from one end. Empty market stalls coated the square, and Inferno was unsure where she’d be able to safely land until spotting a small stone landing platform in the middle of the square, rising up to the height the buildings. It was like a work of art, with the figures of intertwining stone serpents hold the platform aloft. Inferno shivered as she recognized the handle of Crystal’s twisted dagger within it.
One by one, the three landed on the platform, cautiously walking down the serpent’s back until they reached the ground. The design clearly valued aesthetics over safety. The marketplace seemed to be empty at this time of night, with everyone’s wares removed. There wasn’t much view with the stalls placed all around them. If Crystal wanted to jump out and surprise them, this would be a great place to do it.
“This way,” Ink said as he disappeared into the darkness. Inferno and Toxin quickly followed, worried they’d lose him in the winding maze of stalls, lit only by the dim lampposts. Eventually, they reached the edge of the square, where Ink led them into a narrow alleyway, dwarfed by high walls on either side.
Ink led them down twisting and turning alleys, before finally stopping, looking up to an old sandstone building to their left. It seemed absolutely decrepit — part of the wall had collapsed, and while the rubble had cleared away, no one else had bothered to repair it. “I think this place is abandoned,” Ink commented, before pushing through the stone doorway, which had both doors removed.
Inferno cautiously breathed a puff of flame, looking for objects that could be set on fire. No semblance of furniture remained on the inside of the building, just a stone floor. The ceiling seemed to have decayed as much as the walls, and the roof was mostly open to the night sky. Well, it wasn’t like they were expecting rain.
Ink and Toxin had already settled down in separate corners. While they tried to sleep, both of their eyes remained open and alert. Toxin was muttering something beneath her breath. As Inferno listened closer, she heard a few words of Nightreader’s Prophecy. Having left the Black Scroll behind, the hybrid dragonet was reciting it, making sure she didn’t forget what could be the key to their survival.
Inferno settled herself in her own corner of the house, breathing another puff of flame, just to double check there was nothing flammable nearby. Fortunately, just the sandstone walls. Making sure not to get too close for fear of melting any mortar, the SkyWing put her head down. Unlike Ink and Toxin, she almost immediately fell asleep.
“Inferno.”
Inferno opened her eyes to see Ash’s familiar salmon form, standing snout to snout with her on the familiar grassy hill. This time, something new had appeared on the grassy hillside — an enormous waterfall, roaring as it crashed behind Ash, becoming the usual river. A spray of  water splashed on the rocks beneath the waterfall, the droplets cold to the touch as they landed over the two’s scales.
“Oh, hey Ash,” Inferno said.
Ash frowned, and cocked his head. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You don’t seem happy to see me.”
Inferno shrugged her wings. There were a lot of things wrong. For one, the attack by Crystal. She didn’t know Polar or Slate well, but she was still worried about them. Along with Fracture. And Ash’s visits always made her exhausted, like she hadn’t slept. “It’s fine.”
Ash narrowed his eyes. “I know you’re lying to me.”
Inferno shuffled uncomfortably. That was a harsh allegation to make, she just hadn’t wanted to burden him with her stress, or make him feel bad for talking to her.
Ash sighed. “Sorry,” he replied. “But please be open with me. I know you’ve been in a lot of danger recently, and I can see that you plan to keep putting yourself at risk. I’ll try and stop disturbing your sleep, at least until this is over. If you’re going to go after Calamity, I want you to be able to do it fully awake.”
Inferno smiled, thankful Ash hadn’t gotten angry. She felt bad about this all — by putting herself at risk, she was putting him at risk too. And it was her fault he was in this state anyways, had she not killed him, he’d have his own body. “That’s great, thank you. But there was something I wanted to ask you, that I didn’t manage to last time. What happened back at Jade Mountain, with Aurora? I heard your voice, telling me to fight. I thought you could only speak to me in my dreams.”
Ash shook his head. “I can speak to you whenever I want. I don’t just disappear when you fall asleep. You should know that by now. I have a question to ask you. Why didn’t you listen to me? Your friends were in danger, you should’ve fought Torrent. You could’ve protected them.”
“No,” Inferno answered. “I can’t. You know that. I don’t hurt dragons with my firescales. Mother sa —”
“You shouldn’t care what Goat said,” Ash snapped back, almost snarling. The roar of the waterfall become louder as it surged. “By not being willing to use your firescales when you have to, you hurt others. If you’d fought, this could’ve been prevented. Polar might not have been forced to use his magic to take you all to Possibility, and Fracture might not have had to sacrifice himself to save all your scales.”
Inferno looked away, ashamed. “Fracture?” she asked. “You don’t really know —”
“That he’s dead?” Ash interrupted. “Please. I knew it, and Fracture knew it too. There’s no way he could’ve beaten Crystal alone. Her attention was split between him and the rest of you, it’s the only reason she didn’t kill him sooner.”
Inferno glanced to the grassy flooring, spray from the waterfall wetting it. She dug a talon into the ground. She knew Ash was right. Fracture was dead, and it was her fault. Why was she part of the prophecy, a useless fireborn who wouldn’t fight? “Ash,” she asked, “did you know I was in the prophecy? Like Ink? Is that why you brought me to Jade Mountain?”
Ash snorted. “What? Don’t be ridiculous. I told you, I don’t want you taking part in this stupid prophecy anyways, getting near Calamity puts us at too much risk. I would’ve preferred you stay at Jade Mountain, but there’s not much chance of that now.”
Inferno sighed. “I don’t think I’m fit to be in a prophecy. Peril would do better, wouldn’t she?”
Ash rolled his eyes. “Now you’re supporting Peril? Has someone gone and replaced Inferno under my nose?”
Inferno smiled. “I think you were right about her. She doesn’t seem like a bad dragon. What’s more heroic and prophecy-worthy than a dragon who’s redeemed herself. That’s not me.”
Ash shook his head. “You know what? You’re right. You’re not worthy for this prophecy. You’ve barely started to explore the world beyond the Talons of Peace; how can you save it? But you can be worthy, if that’s what you want. That being said, the first step is shrugging off Goat’s fear and realizing that sometimes, you should use your firescales to hurt others.”
Inferno shuffled her wings uncomfortably, swishing her tail through the grass.
“You’re planning on taking Calamity on, right?” Ash pressed. “If you want to stop him, to stop the drought, then you’ll need to fight him. Melt him until nothing but bones remain, then melt those too.”
Inferno shook at the thought, as the figure of a one-eyed MudWing appeared in front of her on the grass. It reached out to touch a talon to her neck, then started to immediately melt like a candle onto the sod, brown scales becoming runny as its snout collapsed. Inferno tried to look away, but couldn’t. The figure of the MudWing kept deforming, until it was just a puddle of brown liquid on the ground. Like an ooze, the liquid flowed from the grass, between Ash’s legs, until it disappeared into the waterfall behind him.
“See, that wasn’t so bad?” Ash laughed.
Inferno felt queasy. If she threw up in her dream, would she throw up in real life? Dragons . . . didn’t actually melt like that, right? “No, that really was bad.”
“Well, that’s what it means to fulfill the prophecy and defeat Calamity,” Ash said. “If you want, you can always go back to Jade Mountain. See if you can ask Peril to trade out with you.”
Suddenly, a huge rumble sounded through the air, Inferno and Ash shaking as the blades of grass wavered. Inferno looked up to the sky. That had sounded like the voice of a dragon.
Ash was suddenly alert as another rumble sounded. “Inferno, you need to wake up, now.”
Inferno opened her mouth to say something, but it was too late. Ash was gone, and flames had spread across the grassy landscape, turning it black. She opened her eyes, and the gently light of dawn hit them.
In front of her was a nervous SandWing, shaking as he held a out a spear, the pointed end directly against Inferno’s skull, almost touching it. A few drops of molten metal dripped from the end, and the SandWing gulped. Inferno raised her head cautiously, unsure what was going on. Six SandWings and were inside the old, broken down house, surrounding the three. One SandWing was standing in front of Ink, another near Toxin, and a third at the entrance, while the rest of the dragons had their spears pointed at Inferno.
“Um, good morning,” Inferno smiled, moving slowly as she got to her paws. She sat back on her haunches, and raised her forepaws up in surrender. The SandWings jumped back as she moved.
Toxin hissed and spat at the SandWing in front of her’s paws, glaring. “What’s the meaning of this?” she growled. “Are you with Crystal?”
“Who?” the golden-brown SandWing at the front asked, flicking out his forked tongue as he glanced back towards Inferno. “You all are passing on Enclave territory here. Please don’t resist capture.”
== Chapter 48 ==
Slate carried Polar down the steps, the IceWing clutching onto him. He looked back only once, seeing Fracture’s wing blocking Crystal’s frostbreath, as cool air spread around him. There was no time for another glance. As fast as he could without dropping Polar, Slate turned the corner, down the street and into one of the numerous alleyways of Possibility.
“What are you doing?” Polar asked, shuffling nervously. “We need to meet back up with the others.”
“Did you see which way they went?” Slate snapped. “Cause I didn’t. And unless you can fly, there’s no way we can catch up.”
Polar moved a wing over Slate’s, just barely. He was regaining strength, but no where near enough to flap. “Alright.”
Slate kept down the alley, rushing as fast as he could. They reached a larger road with numerous shops on it, where Slate turned left on, before ducking under an archway into another cobbled alleyway. If Crystal had gotten out and was trying to follow them, he wanted to make sure he lost her. Unless she had some secret dragon-tracking power, in which case they were all dead.
Polar lowered his head onto Slate’s neck and let out an unhappy grumble. Slate sighed, wincing.
“Sorry,” Slate apologized. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just afraid.” Although, it was Polar’s father back there, not his. He couldn’t imagine what Polar was feeling right now.
“It’s fine,” Polar mumbled, digging his claws into Slate’s shoulders as they bumped along. “It’s only fair. You carried me all the way to the safehouse, and stayed behind to get me out of there, even when you could’ve run. Three moons, I don’t deserve that, the first thing I did after meeting you was almost attack you.”
“That was different circumstances,” Slate assured Polar, turning down into a different alleyway. A few buckets had been left outside of houses, as if hoping they’d collect water somehow. “You’re a friend now.”
They kept going, Slate panting and rasping. He wasn’t used to carrying the weight of another dragon. Finally, he had to slow down, his pace turning to a walk. He looked behind them. No sign of Crystal. The flames of the safehouse now glowed far in the distance.
Still, Slate pressed on. He wanted to be as far from the safehouse as possible, as far from Crystal. Torrent’s description finally started to make sense. He hadn’t seen a hint of remorse in her eyes. Which way were they going? Towards the riverbed? He glanced up to the sky. Two of the moons were clearly visible, even blocked by the walls of the alleyway. If Crystal was flying through the skies, he couldn’t see her.
The stars glimmered brightly on the two, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Slate supposed that was at least one advantage of the drought. Slate slowly walked on a bit more before his thoughts turned to Polar. He’d been quiet, and almost completely still. Had he fallen asleep again. “Hey, Polar?”
Polar was quiet for a few moments, before his voice replied hoarsely. “Yeah?”
So not asleep. “Sorry, just wanted to check how you were doing.”
Slate heard a small sniffle from the IceWing. “I don’t know,” Polar murmured.
Slate thought he felt a few wet drops on his neck. Was Polar crying?
The IceWing sniffled again, his voice shaky. “I don’t know how to feel. I hated my father all my life. Hated him so much. I used to fantasize about how I’d turn my parents in to Queen Glacier if I ever met them, how I’d be praised for being strong, for putting my kingdom above my blood, like any good IceWing would. He abandoned me. But as soon as I know I was wrong, he’s gone. Taken away from me, again. He barely even knew me, and he sacrificed himself for me.”
“Maybe he’s not dead,” Slate suggested, not sure how to make Polar feel better.
Polar shook his head, wiping tears on Slate’s scales. “No. I know how dangerous Crystal is. He’s gone, it’s certain. Almost certain. Please, don’t give me hope.”
Slate was silent. He’d only made things worse. He continued on, Polar sniffling every so often. 
The alleyway suddenly ran out, pushing the two into a larger street. Lampposts cast dim light down, flickering on the cobbled streets from the flames within. To the left, Slate noticed two SkyWings, muttering something to each other. They turned to look as they saw the MudWing, carrying the IceWing on his back. A strange sight, even in Possibility.
Slate turned the other way, walking away from the two. He glanced back towards the SkyWings, who looked like they’d gotten up. Slate started to go faster, and turned down another alleyway that smelled of rotten meat, his heart pounding. He didn’t know this city, and wasn’t sure he wanted to be out on the streets after dark, exposed like this.
Slate turned again, the fear letting him push through his exhaustion. He looked back. If the SkyWings had followed, there was no sign of them. Slate breathed a sigh of relief. He kept walking, and eventually the alley opened up, a burst of dry wind blowing against Slate’s side. In front of him was the empty riverbed, a huge gash through Possibility.
Slate peered around the corners of the alleyway before heading out onto the riverbank. It was empty at this time of night, when most of the city slept. To one side was the great bridge spanning where the river would’ve been. Even when the river was full, the bridge was mostly symbolic. Most dragons were able to fly across the river, although it was certainly useful during the rainy season, and critical for dragons whose wings had been injured during the war.
“Did we lose her?” Polar asked quietly. He shouldn’t be scared of Crystal. It had been his task to bring her to justice. But he’d run — not even run, he’d been carried. The weight of his First Circle necklace dangled from his neck. What a joke. He didn’t deserve it, not that it mattered anymore. Queen Blackice had killed almost all the First and Second Circle aristocrats, no doubt his ranking had been changed since. It wasn’t his anymore. Letting go of Slate, he clenched onto it with a forepaw. He knew he should just throw it into the riverbed, but something stopped him. Stupid sentimentality, he supposed.
“Yeah,” Slate said, looking up to the sky. If Crystal decided to search from up there, she might be able to spot them. He looked over towards the bridge. With the river dried up, there was a perfect spot beneath it for cover. Quickly, Slate climbed a small staircase down the river’s small seawall, and into the sandy ground below. It wasn’t far to the ocean from here, and small shells and decaying fish lined the riverbed. Careful not to slip into the valley created by the deep river, he straddled along the side of the seawall until he reached the bridge.
Slate brought Polar to the small space beneath the bridge, against the seawall. He looked out, into the dry gap made by the river, the bridge shadowing a strip of it from the light of the moons. Sort of like the one in Crosswinds, and the one back home. He started to understand more and more why Torrent hated animus magic so much. All it took was one dragon to do this, to hurt dragons from Possibility, to Jade Mountain, to the Diamond Spray Delta. He wondered if his mother was alright. She’d be able to buy water with the treasure Torrent had given her, surely. She’d be able to buy the Diamond Spray River with that, if it hadn’t been dried up. Well, maybe not the whole river, but a good chunk of it.
“Alright, time to get off the Slate express,” Slate yawned, crouching down to his paws. Carefully, he turned to his side, allowing Polar to scooch himself over Slate’s wing and onto the dirt. The IceWing cleared away a few rocks before tucking his wings in and turning himself onto his back, looking out over the expanse of the riverbed.
Slate stretched out his paws and wings, cramped from the distance he’d carried Polar. The MudWing let out another huge yawn, and rolled onto his back, like Polar. He stretched his wings again, accidentally bumping them into Polar’s snout. “Oops, sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Polar quietly answered.
Slate tucked his wings back in and laid back, letting his eyes scan the underside of the bridge. It was surprisingly clean. He’d never gotten to see the bottom of a river before, with how murky the Diamond Spray Delta was, and how dark the water was at the bottom. Did SeaWings see this all the time they went underwater? Or did it look different?
Slate suddenly felt cold scales touch his side, as Polar rolled to the right, onto Slate. He appeared to be shivering. Slate glanced over to him. Was he cold? Wait, no, that was stupid. Polar was an IceWing, he wouldn’t be cold.
“I guess tomorrow we should try and find the others,” Slate sighed.
“Yeah,” Polar replied. “Hopefully they’re still in Possibility.”
“Mhmm,” Slate answered. Fracture had told them to fly, but not to where. Where had Fracture said Calamity was? Would they be going there? Should Slate and Polar try and meet up there, instead of in Possibility? They could decide on it tomorrow.
The two were quiet for a moment, laying in the darkness beneath the bridge. Slate tried to shut his eyes, but he wasn’t tired. Not knowing Crystal could still be after them. What if she found them in the middle of the night?
Polar shuffled his wings. “So, how did you get involved in this mess?” he asked with a sigh.
“Me?” Slate said. That was right, Polar had been out most of the time they’d been in Possibility. He barely knew Slate at all. Slate thought about the question for a moment. It had been less than two weeks since he’d left the Mud Kingdom, but it had felt like much longer, with everything that had happened. “Well, it’s a long story, and to be honest, I don’t really know it all.”
“Might as well tell it,” Polar commented. “I’m not gonna be sleeping anytime soon.”
Slate shrugged. “Alright. I guess it started before I hatched. Apparently, Torrent, that SeaWing who almost attacked you back at Jade Mountain, used to be good friends with my dad, who happens to be sibs with this famous rebellion leader, Glen. Now, because of the way MudWing families work, I don’t know my dad at all, but I do know my mom, Fawn, since she raised me. This is because I was unfortunate enough not to have any sibs, probably because my mom is half-SandWing and apparently SandWings don’t have as many eggs in a clutch. That aside, not long after the drought started, Torrent came to the Mud Kingdom . . .”
Slate explained to Polar how Torrent had given Fawn magical gold and told him he was destined to stop the drought, then taken him to Crosswinds. He told Polar the events that had transpired there, with Midnight and Aloe. Polar seemed attentive the entire time, up until Slate finally reached Stonemover’s cave.
“And that’s where I met you and the others,” Slate finished. “I’m still not really sure I’m part of the prophecy, but I guess having a connection to Torrent through a father I never knew is good enough.”
Polar nodded. “So, what do you plan on doing after this is all over? If we win?”
“I don’t know,” Slate admitted. “So much more of Pyrrhia is open to me now, past the Diamond Spray Delta. I think I’m going to go back to my mother, who is now super-rich ‘cause of Torrent. Then we’re going to go find my father in the rebellion, and use our wealth to support Glen. We’re going make sure that Glen wins, then we’re going to make a new Mud Kingdom in the north. One where hybrids are welcome, where no one has to fight for queens they barely know, and where dragons won’t ever have to starve. Maybe a little bit ambitious, but after saving the world, it’s really a step down.”
“Mhmm,” Polar said. Slate’s hope and optimism made him smile a tad, even if it wasn’t based in reality. They’d run from Crystal, how could they hope to defeat Calamity? Polar thought back to the Darkstone on his wrist, pulsing as his forearm ached. Maybe it was for the better that Crystal had stolen the first Darkstone. Queen Glacier had been planning to practically obliterate the MudWings with it during the war. If she’d done that, Slate probably wouldn’t exist. In a way, Polar was happy he wouldn’t have to give Queen Glacier the second Darkstone, now knowing that it had worked.
“So what about you?” Slate asked. “I know there’s the thing with your forearm, but what are you planning on doing after the drought is over?”
“My forearm?” Polar asked, confused. He glanced over towards the Darkstone again, a small glimmer from the gem.
Slate winced, scolding himself. That was right. Ink had stopped Toxin from telling Polar what Mayfly had said. They’d been planning on telling him after he’d woken up, but Fracture had been there, and then Crystal . . . He supposed it was up to him, then.
“Er, sorry,” Slate apologized. Polar really didn’t need more stress, with his father probably dead, but it was too late to take it back. “I didn’t want to be the one to tell you, but we had a doctor stop by while you were asleep. She said that you had a cancer in your forearm, the one with the Darkstone. She thinks you’ll need to have it amputated.”
“Oh,” Polar replied. “No, it’s fine. I probably won’t.” It didn’t matter much anymore. Polar already knew the Darkstone was killing him. He’d probably be dead without the healing diamond. And if they wanted to stop Calamity, they needed to sacrifice an animus. It’s what Toxin’s vision of blood meant, that was his blood, binding Calamity. There wasn’t any need to worry about cancer, or the Darkstone, or after the drought. If the drought ended, Polar wasn’t going to be there to see it.
“What?” Slate stammered, suddenly worried. “What do you mean, you won’t? Mayfly said you’ll die if you don’t get it removed. It’s just, you know, a limb. I mean, it’s not great to lose it, but it’s far better than staying alive. I know plenty of dragons who were injured in the war who lost a leg, or much more than that. They’re happy and get along just fine, well, as much as is possible if you live in the Diamond Spray Delta. If you don’t —”
“Please, quieter,” Polar interrupted. “Don’t worry, I can get the limb removed. It doesn’t matter much though if I live or die. It’s not like I’ve got a home to return to. I was part of the Empty Circle. Queen Blackice would take the rest of my limbs off before adding my body to a spike if I went back.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” Slate asked. “You don’t have to go back to the Ice Kingdom. There are plenty of other places for IceWings. What about Ink? He’d be sad if you died. You and Ink could be mates, and live together in Possibility, or Crosswinds, or Jade Mountain.”
Polar snorted at the proposition, and let out a few coughs and wheezes before regaining his breath. “Please, please don’t ever mention what happened with me and Ink again. That was an accident. Anyways, it’s pretty clear that Ink doesn’t like me in the same way. He sees me more like a friend, or a brother. Not surprising, given that apparently my dad practically adopted him.”
“Oh,” Slate said, a little unsure about the two’s relationship. “Well, then Ink is clearly missing out. There are other dragons out there, you know.”
Polar laughed. “What does a MudWing know about relationships? You all don’t even have marriage, you just go into the woods every so often, get in two lines, do it, then go back to your sibs. Right?”
“You’re not wrong,” Slate lamented. “Except I’m only three quarters MudWing. I’m one quarter SandWing, and my grandfather was quite the seducer.”
“Really,” Polar snorted, laying his head against Slate. Polar didn’t know how many nights he had left. He might as well enjoy them. “You know, I think I’m starting to see that.”
----The sun rose from the east, gently spreading light on either side of the alcove beneath the bridge. The sound of chattering dragons reached Polar and Slate’s ears from the bridge above, now busy with SandWings and SkyWings crossing back and forth. Slate opened a eyelid, letting out a huge morning yawn.
“So you’re awake,” Polar said.
Slate looked over to him, then up to the bridge. They’d made it through the night. Crystal hadn’t found them. His stomach suddenly let out a gurgle. “I’m hungry,” he commented, almost surprised.
“And I’m thirsty,” Polar replied. “Not sure if we can get much to eat or drink, though. I don’t have any treasure, it was all back in the safehouse.”
“Yeah, I doubt there’s much left of it anymore,” Slate sighed, glancing behind him. There weren’t any fires raging in the city, so hopefully it had been limited to the safehouse. He suddenly lifted his head up in alarm, bonking his horns against the underside of the bridge. “Oh no! The prophecy was in the safehouse!”
Polar winced. He’d almost managed to forget. “It’s fine,” he grumbled. “I understand most of the first half, and what we have to do.” ‘Must the waters of life be sparked.’ A sacrifice of animus blood. He clenched tightly around the healing diamond. He’d been holding it when Crystal attacked, and it was the only thing he’d managed to get out.
“Oh, that’s good,” Slate said, not really relieved. “I guess we should try finding the others?”
“Unless Crystal finds us first,” Polar muttered.
“I’ll bet the others are trying to find us right now,” Slate pointed out. “It’s not like Crystal can attack us in broad daylight anyways, right? There are crowds around.”
Polar somewhat doubted that. “Where would we go, anyways? Just wander around the city?”
Slate shrugged his wings. “Maybe. Do you think you could enchant something to find them?”
Polar laughed, the IceWing shaking his head. “No. Definitely not. The teleportation enchantment knocked me out. As weak as I am right now, something else would likely kill me.”
“Oh,” Slate said. “Yeah, don’t do that. Honestly, I don’t have any better ideas than just wandering. We could see Possibility anyways; I’ve always wanted to.”
Polar thought about it for a moment. It was true, he hadn’t seen much of Pyrrhia outside the Ice Kingdom. He’d never had a reason to. But if Slate wanted to, Polar might as well. 
“Alright,” the IceWing said. He put his paws beneath him, and grunting, used them to push himself up onto four legs. He let his wings spread out, using them and his tail to balance himself as he started to wobble.
“You can walk!” Slate exclaimed happily.
Polar shook his head. “I can stand.” But Slate was right, his strength was starting to return to him. Soon, he might be able to fly again.
“You can lean on me,” Slate suggested. It was far easier than carrying Polar on his back.
Polar nodded, and hobbled over to Slate, before putting a wing over the MudWing, using him for balance. Slowly, the two walked out from under the bridge, the unlikely pair getting some glances from the dragons busily going their way through Possibility.
“Maybe we can ask around if anyone’s seen a dragon with firescales,” Slate suggested. “I’d bet someone’s noticed Inferno.”
Polar nodded, as Slate carefully helped Polar up the seawall. Polar leaning on Slate, the two moved into the crowd of dragons. If Polar had learned at one thing since leaving the Ice Kingdom, it was that he didn’t, he couldn’t just rely on himself. The two started over the bridge, the great expanse of the dry riverbed beneath them.
== Chapter 49 ==
The SandWings all stayed still for a moment, spears out as they anxiously waited for a reply from the three. Inferno opened her mouth to say something, but Toxin got there first.
“Don’t tell us what to do,” Toxin hissed, a red flash appearing beneath her wings. “Oh no, someone else slept in your stupid abandoned house. Too bad for you all.”
“Toxin, stop,” Ink said, concernedly shushing the dragonet. He turned to the golden-brown SandWing who looked like he was the one in charge. “Look sir, we’re sorry for trespassing. We were attacked and fled here for safety. We didn’t realize this was Enclave property.”
“That’s unfortunate,” the SandWing replied, glaring at the hybrid dragonet. “But you’re here. You all will have to come with me.” One of the other SandWings with a spear shuffled, keeping his eyes focused on Inferno’s movements.
“Wait, wait,” Ink pleaded. “My name is Ink. I’m a friend of Mongoose. Just tell her my name, she’ll know who I am. Not many Night-Sea hybrids here.”
The SandWing frowned uncertainly, looking over to Inferno. He seemed to be seriously considering Ink’s plea. He tapped his barb on the ground. “Sorry, but I’m under strict orders. Anyone found on this property gets taken in for questioning. And you’ve got a firescales SkyWing with you, the Enclave will wanna know ‘bout that. You’ll have to talk to Mongoose anyways, so if you know her, all should be good.”
“You can’t force us to go with you,” Toxin growled, irate, the dragonet raising her head. “You can’t force us to do anything. Inferno will melt all your scales if you try.”
The SandWings suddenly raised their spears, taking a step back from Inferno, shaking in terror. The ones by Toxin and Ink moved closer to the two, bringing their spears to the two hybrid’s necks. They glanced at Inferno with a silent warning. If she so much as moved, her friends would be killed.
“What?” Inferno said, shocked at Toxin’s threat. “No, no! I wouldn’t do anything like that, ever! Please don’t be worried, I don’t kill dragons, I don’t even fight. Ink, tell them.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Ink said to the golden-brown SandWing. “She’s very pacifist.”
Even though they were still wary, the SandWings relaxed a tad, and the two on the hybrids stopped poking them in the neck. Toxin glared at Inferno. “I know that,” Toxin growled. “I was bluffing.”
Ink smiled. “Please excuse the dragonet. We’ve had a long night. We’ll gladly go with you.”
Toxin turned her irritated gaze to Ink.
Ink sighed, turning back to her. “The Enclave can protect us from Crystal,” he said, loud enough the SandWings could hear. “They can help us search for Polar and Slate. They’re not bad dragons. Just a little . . . bureaucratic.”
“Fine,” Toxin reluctantly agreed. “Then I guess I will not be using my secret instant murder powers.”
Ink rolled his eyes as the SandWings shuffled nervously. He was pretty sure Toxin didn’t have secret murder powers. Her venom wasn’t even acidic.
“Great,” the SandWing in charge worriedly replied. “Then, er, please follow us.” He cautiously stepped out of the building into the alleyway, and the other SandWings formed a circle around the three. Ink went first, followed by Toxin and Inferno. A strange procession.
The group walked into a larger street, Ink looking back and forth as the crowd parted for the SandWings, making sure to give them a distance. There was no sign of Polar or Slate in the mass of dragons. Fortunately, no Crystal either. Ink’s eyes locked onto an IceWing as they walked past each other, but he wasn’t either of them.
Inferno nervously trailed behind Toxin. She hated this, with all the dragons in Possibility staring at the smoke emanating from her scales, the small scorch marks in the street wherever she walked. It felt like she was being paraded around Possibility, just for dragons to stare at her. She kept her head down, trying to keep herself from making any eye contact with the crowd.
“Hey,” Ink said, catching up to the golden-brown SandWing in the front. “Have you seen an IceWing and a MudWing with white horns around here? They’re our friends, and we got separated from them when we were attacked.”
The SandWing shook his head. “Nope, sorry. Seen a few IceWings, but none with white-horned MudWings.”
Ink frowned. Maybe they were on the east side of the city? “Sorry to ask you this, but do you think that if you see them around, you could direct them to the Enclave headquarters? Their names are Polar and Slate.”
“Will they give me as much trouble as you all?” the SandWing asked.
Ink shook his head. “No. Well, maybe. Polar might. But just tell them we’re waiting for them there. Not that you’re capturing them or anything like that.”
The SandWing frowned, and clicked his tongue. “Alright,” he said. “But I can’t do anything if they don’t listen.”
Ink breathed a sigh of relief. If the Enclave was looking for them, they might be able to find them. “Great. Thank you, thank you so much.”
Eventually, the procession reached the Enclave’s headquarters, a large stone building near the waterfront that would’ve been upstream from the bridge, had there been any stream running. SkyWings and SandWings alike were crowding in and out from the entrance, pushing each other aside to get inside. Toxin looked up to the top of the building, where the symbol of a SandWing’s barb over two wings jutted out from the sheer stone face.
“So, what exactly is the Enclave?” Toxin asked Ink.
“Technically, both the SandWings and SkyWings claim Possibility as their own territory, but neither kingdom has de facto control over the city,” Ink explained. “But neither kingdom has risked exerting too much power over Possibility, not wanting to incite tensions with the other. So we didn’t really have a governing system. For a large part of the war, the city was basically under mafia rule, with two organized crime groups extorting the citizens for protection from criminals, themselves, and each other. Eventually, the two groups fell, and after a few years of chaos what took their place was a unified government, elected by the dragons living in each city. That’s the Enclave. They’re not really official, and not everyone considers them to be legitimate, but they’re the best we’ve got.”
“ALRIGHT EVERYONE, MOVE ASIDE, FIRESCALES SKYWING COMING THROUGH!” the golden-brown SandWing suddenly yelled out. After a bit of commotion, the crowd in front of the building quickly dispersed, leaving plenty of room for the procession to enter. Inferno winced as she walked past, everyone staring and whispering.
Two SandWings and two SkyWings guards stood cautiously at the entrance, and just watched as the golden-brown SandWing passed, not stopping them. He led the three down a large flight of stone stairs, into a cold underground basement, quickly warmed up by Inferno. The SkyWing carefully scanned around, making sure she didn’t get close to anything flammable.
A few SkyWings and SandWings ran past the group, and the three were led into a large, dimly lit chamber, where a SandWing on top of a platform was barking out orders to a number of dragons beneath. She glanced over as the dragons watched in, her expression turning to one of surprise as she saw Ink.
“I’m gonna have to deal with this,” the SandWing yelled at the dragons below the platform. “Start filling out form 4B while I’m gone.”
She jumped off the platform, and quickly walked over towards the group. She was an average SandWing build, but had a number of darker stripes along her back, like those of a tiger. A scar ran down the bottom of her neck, beneath her wing. She smiled as she got closer to Ink, although a hint of worry hid behind it.
“Ink!” she greeted the hybrid. “It’s been a while. What are you doing here? Who are these other dragons? Why does one of them have firescales?”
“Mongoose, you can’t just ask someone why they have firescales,” Ink teased. Mongoose’s slightly worried expression didn’t seem to disappear. Ink sighed. “Inferno’s a friend. Don’t worry, she’s fine. She won’t hurt anyone.”
“The fire in the east residential zone last night?” Mongoose asked, nervously looking over to Inferno.
“It was an accident,” Ink assured her. “We were attacked. But how are you?”
That didn’t seem to make Mongoose feel any less worried. “Not good,” Mongoose admitted. “The Great Five-Tail River disappeared, practically overnight. We don’t have the infrastructure in place to collect water from the Claws of the Clouds for the whole city, and Queen Scarlet is threatening to capture our collectors. Even though she’s still claiming we don’t exist.”
“That’s not good!” Ink replied. “Yeah, we’re trying to help with that. At least the drought. I don’t think we can do anything about Queen Scarlet.”
“Things were going well just two weeks ago,” Mongoose lamented. “And now I’ve got this burden on my wings. Most of the SandWings are doing alright, since we really don’t to drink much, but the SkyWings are pretty hurt. If this continues much longer, tensions will get significantly worse.”
“How is Citrine?” Ink asked.
“They’re doing fine,” Mongoose smiled. “We’re fortunate I got this job. I can pay for enough water for them. And you? How’s, er—” She glanced towards the other dragons, unsure if she should say what she was planning to.
“To be honest, I’m not sure,” Ink replied, understanding who she was asking about. “Last I knew, he was with Clarity before the drought struck. I don’t think he has to drink water, though, so it’s probably fine.”
Mongoose nodded, then looked over to the SandWings, still making a circle around Toxin and Inferno. She slowly walked over to the leader, and frowned as she scanned him up and down. “So, what is this all about?”
“The three were trespassing,” the SandWing explained. “On one of the ‘sites’ in the western trade quarters. You told me I was supposed to bring anyone found there back.”
Mongoose sighed, a little irritated. Still, it wasn’t like she could blame him. “Please forgive him,” she asked Ink. “He was only doing his job.”
Ink smiled, and Mongoose turned back to the SandWing. “You can go now,” she ordered him. “Any friend of Ink’s is a friend of mine.”
He bowed his head, then along with the others surrounding Inferno and Toxin, promptly walked back down the corridor they’d come from.
Mongoose shook her head. “So, these two,” she said, examining Toxin and Inferno. “Who are they?”
“The hybrid is Toxin, and the SkyWing Inferno,” Ink explained, pointing to each in turn. Toxin bared her teeth, while Inferno waved a paw in response.
“She has firescales,” Mongoose commented, slightly concerned as she looked towards Inferno. “Please don’t set more fires as long as you’re in my city.”
Inferno winced. “I’m really sorry about that,” she apologized. “I’ll try my best.”
Mongoose sighed, and turned back to Ink. “Are you all just passing through?”
“Yeah, we’ll be out of your horns as soon as possible,” Ink said.
The stressed Mongoose seemed to breath a little huff of relief. She didn’t seem to be super happy about Inferno’s presence in the city. “You mentioned you were attacked. Is this something that concerns me?”
Ink thought for a moment. “Well, sort of. Indirectly. We were attacked by an IceWing named Crystal. She’s the one who assassinated Queen Thorn.”
Mongoose’s ears perked up, and a slight snarl formed on her snout. “The dragon who killed Queen Thorn is loose in my city? Unacceptable. I’ll make sure she’s apprehended as soon as possible. Do you have details on her appearance?”
“No, no, please don’t go after her!” Ink pleaded. “She’s very, very dangerous. She has this magical weapon that can turn dragons to stone.”
“We have our own defenses against animus-touched objects,” Mongoose frowned. “We might be able to take her out from a distance.”
Ink opened his mouth to warn her again, but Toxin interrupted him. “Yeah, that would be great,” the hybrid dragonet replied. “One less magically super-powered enemy. That leaves Aurora and Calamity.”
Ink rolled his eye. “Alright,” he said, defeated. “But please stay wary. She’s the one who killed Queen Glacier too.”
“That would leave two kingdoms in our debt if we got rid of her,” Mongoose mused. “Well, Queen Sunny would be happy. I’m not sure how Queen Blackice would feel. I don’t think she’s seeking to avenge her mother’s death.”
Ink sighed. “Okay. But right now, what we really need is protection from her.”
Mongoose nodded. “I can do that. This building is secure, and we can keep plenty of guards posted and on the alert. We’ll know to expect her.”
“We also have two more friends we were separated from,” Ink said. He quickly described Polar and Slate to Mongoose.
Mongoose nodded. “I’ll make sure the Enclave is looking out for them. I should note that if you want to stay here, the most secure rooms are our jail cells in the basement. They’re also the most fireproof ones, so Inferno won’t burn them down. Any problem with that?”
“No, no, that’s fine,” Inferno said.
Toxin frowned. “Really?” she asked. “Are we being taken prisoners after all?”
“The doors will stay unlocked,” Mongoose assured her, “and all our guards will know you’re guests, not prisoners, and can leave at any time. It’s not the most comfortable quarters, but it is the safest.”
Toxin muttered something under her breath.
Mongoose ignored her. “Follow me,” she said, “I’ll lead you there.”
Quickly and efficiently, Mongoose turned and immediately headed back down the hallway. The three followed her down another flight of stairs, into a dark corridor guarded by two SkyWings. Mongoose whispered something to them, and they let the four pass. Further down, torches lit a series of jail cells, barred with iron. Even if they did get locked in here, Toxin noted that Inferno would be able to easily melt through the bars.
Mongoose pointed out one of the larger cells. “Stay here for the time being,” she suggested. “I’ll have as much of the Enclave as I can spare looking for your friends.” The SandWing glanced to Inferno. Inferno looked away — she could tell that Mongoose really didn’t want her in the city. Not that she blamed her.
With a quick turn of her tail, Mongoose went back up the corridor, leaving the three alone, in silence. A small rat skittered across the floor, catching Toxin’s eyes before it disappeared. Toxin sighed. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to wait too long.
“So, how do you know Mongoose?” Inferno asked Ink, somewhat surprised and curious that the hybrid was so well-connected.
Ink shuffled his wings. “It’s kind of awkward,” he replied in a hushed voice, like he didn’t want Mongoose to overhear. “I first met her in my visions, years ago. She got in Loresearcher’s way one too many times, and he ended up killing her, just to get rid of her. After that, I sought her out and made friends with her. Kind of as an apology for not being able to prevent her death in my visions. I helped her out with some stuff, and she ended up getting elected as the Enclave leader and meeting her mate, Citrine. Never got around to telling her though, I think she’d be pretty mortified if she realized her election had been . . . tampered with.”
“Tampered with?” Toxin asked, surprised that Ink would’ve done something so devious. “You rigged an election?”
“No, no!” Ink snorted. “Nothing that bad. But let’s just say that in my visions, her opponent ran uncontested, and ended up having an scandal exposed after the election. I just exposed it a little bit early.”
Toxin tsked, shaking her head. “Wow, I didn’t realize you were such a bad boy.”
“Who’s Loresearcher?” Inferno asked.
Ink sighed. “My brother. Well, he was my brother. He was killed by Aurora and Crystal after he hatched in real life, but in my visions, it was my sister Midnight instead of him. Torrent raised us in Possibility.”
“And he killed Mongoose?” Toxin said. “Three moons. You really have some horrible siblings.”
“Yeah,” Ink admitted. “I honestly can’t say that I’m too unhappy he died in this world. But it’s fifty-fifty, if Slate’s right. He said Midnight was cool.”
“Did you see us in our visions?” Inferno asked. “What were we like?”
Ink thought about it for a moment. “I knew you the best, we met occasionally when you were with the Talons. I looked up to you a lot there. You were always so happy and confident, if a little brash, and I wasn’t. I was always around my brother, doing what he told me to do, constantly afraid he’d hurt someone that I cared about.”
Inferno frowned. Brash? That didn’t sound like her at all. What had happened there to make her that way?
Ink continued. “I never met Toxin, but Polar was basically the same. Kind of a jerk to begin with, and Loresearcher didn’t help. He messed things up pretty bad. So I tried to make friends with Polar instead.”
“What did Loresearcher do?” asked Toxin.
“He threatened Polar, a lot,” Ink replied. “He attacked him. Loresearcher figured out about the Darkstone somehow. He provoked Seahorse into attacking me before killing her, which is how I found out about her forms. Then Torrent and Slate came, and Torrent attacked Loresearcher. Loresearcher killed Torrent, and attacked Polar to make a deal with Aurora.”
“Wait, he killed Torrent?” Toxin said, shocked. “Isn’t Torrent his dad?”
Ink nodded. “He didn’t have a lot of respect for anyone else. Anyways, he ended up trading Polar’s Darkstone to Aurora in exchange for something called the Obsidian Mirror. She said something about him finding a thing called Duskbringer’s Eye.”
Toxin suddenly became alert. She’d heard that name before. Or to be more specific, she’d read it. “I know who Duskbringer is,” she explained excitedly. “He’s one of the seven animuses who created the Seven Eyes. The Eye of Obsidian. There was something weird about his spirit haunting the NightWings centuries after, but it might have been mixed up with a Darkstalker legend. Hey, if we have one these eyes, maybe we could use it to take down Calamity!”
Ink thought about it, uncertain. “I don’t know,” he frowned. “We’re running out of time as is, and have no idea where or what the Obsidian Mirror is. And if what happened to Blister tells us anything, we don’t want to mess with these things.”
Toxin sighed. “Yeah. You’re probably right. Calamity is also one of the dragons who made them, so it might not even be able to hurt him. I’ll bet he did something to them, which lets Aurora use hers without being electrocuted. She’s not even a SkyWing.”
Ink shrugged. “I’m sorry I don’t know anything else. Maybe there’s something I could’ve seen in my visions that would’ve helped. I’ll bet that’s why Aurora took my blank eye.”
“It’s not your fault,” Toxin replied.
Ink winced. It kind of was. If he hadn’t gone after Aurora, he’d still have his visions. He’d be able to understand what was happening.
Inferno tapped her claws on the stone flooring, wisps of smoke coming from them. It wasn’t right. Maybe it had taken him a bit long, but Ink had told her everything. She hadn’t. She was still keeping Ash hidden, and for what? Ink told them about his homicidal brother, Inferno could at least tell them she was able to communicate with her dead one. Maybe it could be helpful somehow.
Inferno opened her mouth to speak, but grasped at her throat as the words wouldn’t come out. Her eyes opened in alarm as she tried to breath, but couldn’t. She started to choke, trying to cough, and flailed her tail back and forth, hitting it against the stone wall.
Ink and Toxin turned, seeing her agitation. “Inferno, what’s wrong?” Ink asked urgently.
Inferno couldn’t answer, just pointing to her throat as she kept trying to cough.
“She’s choking!” Toxin yelled out.
Ink stood up. He’d been told what to do if a dragon was choking, but stopped. He couldn’t touch Inferno. He looked back and forth frantically, wondering if there was something he cold do. Whack her on the back with something heavy? A torch? No, that would break.
Inferno suddenly coughed, wheezing as she was able to breath again. A hint of smoke came from her throat, and her legs shook, the SkyWing light-headed. She took a deep breath in and out, hyperventilating.
Toxin breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Inferno was able to breath again.
“Are you okay?” Ink asked, still concerned as Inferno regained her breath.
Inferno feigned a smile. “Yeah,” she whispered, tears in her eyes boiling into steam. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
== Chapter 50 ==
While most of the SandWings were celebrating their victory on the flight back to the palace, Queen Sunny remained solemn and quiet. How could this be a victory? Aloe was still out there. The only outcome of this battle had been the death of SandWings on both sides.
Clay remained loyally by Sunny’s side until they reached the palace, tucked on a hill against a dune. With both of them gone, the teachers at Jade Mountain were dwindling. If the Dragonets wanted their academy to last much longer, they really needed to try and find some more teachers. Maybe some of the graduated students, like Boto or Mindreader. Although it wasn’t really her decision anymore, so long as she was queen. She could keep financing the academy, of course, like Sunny’s mother had done, and offer input and prospective students, but she wouldn’t have such a claws-on role with it anymore. Sunny sighed. They’d started the academy to try and create peace, where dragons from different kingdoms would learn to love and accept each other. And now this had happened.
While most of the soldiers headed to the barracks, Sunny and Clay glided down to the doors of the palace. The two SandWings there bowed to Queen Sunny before allowing her in.
“Your majesty,” one said, “you have a visitor. Queen Glory arrived from the rainforest while you were out.”
“Queen Glory?” Sunny said, her expression perking up. She hadn’t seen Glory since Sunny had left Jade Mountain. Was she answering Sunny’s message? It wasn’t surprising that she’d visited, with Stonemover’s tunnel connecting them, the royal pavilion was practically next to the palace. “That’s great! You let her in, right?”
The SandWing nodded. “She should be waiting in the meeting hall, we notified her as soon as we saw you returning.”
Sunny thanked the SandWing, and headed towards the meeting hall, Clay behind her. “I’m sure Glory will know what to do,” she told him. “She’s had far more experience being queen than anyone here.”
Clay nodded. “I’m glad to see her, too.”
As soon as they arrived, the two opened the doors to the meeting hall, revealing a fine circular table with a number of uncomfortable antique seats surrounding it. Queen Glory was in one, shifting from side to side as she sat back on her haunches. At one point, the room had been furnished with fine tapestries and paintings, although most had been sold off by Burn during the war.
“Where do I put my tail,” the RainWing queen muttered. She much preferred how RainWings designed their furniture for comfort rather than formality. She glanced up to Sunny and Clay as they walked in, smiling. “Sunny! Clay! I’m glad to see you! How have you been?”
“Could be better,” Sunny admitted. Even though Glory was trying to put on a happy mood, a few brown scales on the back of her neck showed her stress. The last two weeks hadn’t been easy for her either. “Being queen is hard.”
Glory laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. It gets easier, eventually. I can’t say it doesn’t have its benefits. I do have to ask, though — what’s with all the soldiers outside? I saw you all returning just now. What happened?”
“Oh,” Sunny replied guiltily. She turned her head away in shame. She’d been queen only a fortnight, and she was already involved in a war. She’d already failed. How would Glory see her?
“There was a battle,” Clay explained to Glory, seeing Sunny’s fear. “After Sunny assumed the throne, a SandWing named Aloe claiming to be Blister’s daughter told Sunny to fight her in a royal challenge. Apparently, she had a bunch of SandWing troops left over from the war hidden in the Sea Kingdom. Sunny clearly couldn’t accept the challenge, so she sent out troops to fight Aloe’s. We won the battle pretty effortlessly, but Aloe wasn’t there.”
Glory frowned as Sunny looked back towards her, although the RainWing queen’s expression seemed more one of concern than one of anger.
“Did I make the right decision?” Sunny asked quickly, almost pleading. “Should I have accepted the challenge? Or just step down? I didn’t want to start a new war, but I didn’t — I don’t know what other options I have. She tried to assassinate me.” Sunny pointed to her scar. “I didn’t want to fight, I don’t want dragons to die for me.”
Glory thought about this for a moment. “I don’t know if it was the right decision,” she admitted. “But at least in my opinion, sometimes you need to fight in order to do the right thing. Violence for violence’s sake, like what Burn and Scarlet did, is evil. Pacifism is admirable, but you don’t always have the option to respond to that without force. It’s why I had to use my venom to save us. Moons’ sake, the whole reason I became queen in the first place was to use the RainWings as an army to free them from the NightWings. It was lucky that the volcano exploded when it did, without it, we might have entered all-out war with the NightWings instead of them joining us.”
Sunny shifted her wings from side to side. Maybe Glory was right. She’d always tried to pretend that everything the Dragonets did to stop the war was as bloodless as possible, but maybe Glory was right. “I still hate it,” Sunny sighed. “Why do dragons have to die?”
Glory shrugged her wings. “It’s good that you hate war,” she replied. “If only all the queens were like you. You shouldn’t want to like it.”
Sunny smiled. Was Glory just trying to make her feel better? “There was something I wanted to ask you about,” she said. “To be honest I don’t want to be queen; my place is at Jade Mountain. My mother wasn’t part of the royal family, so I don’t see why the next queen has to be either. And I’m not even a full SandWing. I want to try and find someone else I can give the throne to.”
Glory looked unsurprised. “That’s a big decision,” she warned Sunny. “Is this just about you being a hybrid? If so, I wouldn’t care about that. I’m the NightWing queen right now, and I’m not even half-NightWing.”
Sunny shook her head. “It’s not just that.”
“Well, do you have anyone in mind?”
Sunny sighed. “No. I haven’t had time to look with this war business going on, and I don’t even know where to start.”
“Hmm,” Glory mused. “Well, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision. You were the one who chose Thorn after all. Speaking of her, we need to talk about something.”
About Thorn? Sunny wondered. Did Glory find something out about her death?
Glory pointed a talon to Sunny’s chest. “Has anything strange been happening with the Eye of Onyx recently?”
Sunny winced, and thought back to Armadillo’s words. That was one thing that she was supposed to keep secret, something that could end her rule as queen. But Glory was her friend, her sister. She had no reason to hide this from her, no matter what Armadillo said.
Sunny lifted the Eye of Onyx from her neck. “This one is a forgery my mother had made,” she explained, trying to keep her emotions from welling up. “The real one was stolen by whoever killed my mother.”
Glory nodded, as if she’d already known. “That’s what I’d expected. Have you found anything out about your mother’s death?”
Sunny shook her head. “Not much, except . . . we think there was animus magic involved. Both she and Blaze were turned to stone by the assassin. Don’t tell anyone; we’re trying to keep this a secret.”
To Sunny’s surprise, Glory seemed to be expecting this. “So Toxin was right.”
“Toxin?” Sunny asked. She remembered hearing that name mentioned a few times before. One of Tiger’s friends, back in the rainforest?
“A hybrid dragonet who can see the future,” Glory explained. “She had a vision she told me about after I got back, of an IceWing with an obsidian dagger, and a statue of Blaze screaming.”
“She knew this was going to happen?” Sunny said, mortified. If Toxin had seen the future, could she have been able to prevent Thorn’s death.
“Well, not really,” Glory replied quickly. “She thought it was metaphorical, and didn’t know Queen Thorn was involved. But we did a little investigating, and found some stuff out — this isn’t the first time this happened. Before we hatched, a similar killing happened in the rainforest, and numerous IceWings have been assassinated this way. We think a rogue IceWing named Crystal killed both Thorn and Queen Glacier.”
Sunny blinked a few times. They had a name. Crystal. The dragon who’d killed her mother. It wasn’t one of Aloe’s SandWings? “Are you sure?”
“We’re pretty certain,” Glory said. “An IceWing investigating her came to Jade Mountain, and explained some . . . sensitive details. Animus magic is involved, although I’m still not sure how much. There’s a hybrid hiding near Jade Mountain, likely Crystal’s daughter, with similarly enchanted objects. She hurt another dragon, a prospective student.”
“Her daughter is at Jade Mountain?” Sunny said, shocked. “Are the students in danger?”
“I don’t know,” Glory muttered. “And I don’t know what I can do about it. Deathbringer is there. I asked a few battle-trained NightWings to go to Jade Mountain before I came here to give him some back-up, but I don’t know the extent of her powers.”
“What does this have to do with the Eye of Onyx?”
“Mastermind helped us uncover some old legends and an ancient prophecy somehow named after your aunt, Stonemover’s sister,” Glory explained. “I think Crystal stole the Eye of Onyx, and it somehow using it to cause the drought.”
“The drought?” Sunny asked. That was right, Armadillo and Clay had both mentioned a drought, although it hadn’t been brought up much.
Glory frowned. “You don’t know? I figure the desert can’t get much drier than it already is, but the rest of Pyrrhia has been in an intense drought for weeks. The rivers have disappeared, and we’re resorting to eating fruit or getting water from the quickly melting snowcaps on the mountain. It’s why this is so urgent.”
“Oh,” Sunny said. All she’d done since she’d gotten the throne was work to try and keep it, while Glory was trying to save the rest of Pyrrhia from dehydration. “If Crystal is going after queens, will you be safe?”
Glory tossed her wings back and forth. “I don’t know. I don’t think she’s going to come after me, since I don’t have some magic rainforest gem, but Aurora, her daughter, said something about my time yet. Either way, I need to find Crystal first, as soon as possible. I don’t know how.”
Sunny shook her head. She wanted to find her mother’s killer as much as Glory, but she didn’t have any suggestions. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to help you. I can make sure everyone is looking out for stray IceWings, but if she also killed Queen Glacier, I don’t even know if she’s in the Sand Kingdom anymore.”
“That’s alright,” Glory assured her. “I guess there’s not much too it. I’m going to keep investigating, but she could be anywhere now. But remember, the rainforest is just a short walk through the tunnel away. If you ever need a break, just come through. I’ll try and visit more often, alright? You too, Clay, if you’re staying here.”
“Thank you,” Sunny said, smiling. In this palace full of dragons she barely knew, the more allies she had, the better. “Thank you for figuring out who killed my mother.”
Queen Glory nodded, and got up from the uncomfortable chair. “I should probably take my leave now,” she explained. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, and we need to solve this drought problem quick.” With a quick wave of her paw goodbye, she left the meeting room, leaving Sunny and Clay behind.
Glory gave a quick nod to the SandWings guarding the palace on the way out, and shot a glance to the barracks, on the edge of the palace grounds. She could hear the yells of cheering dragons all the way from here, the SandWing soldiers excited by their victory. Glory shook her head disapprovingly. Few of them had any idea what was going on outside the desert kingdom, and the danger that every other dragon on Pyrrhia was in.
The RainWing queen took off in the other direction, towards the entrance of Stonemover’s tunnel. Sunny, starting a war? Glory barely believed it. Anyways, it sounded like Aloe had nowhere enough support to actually cause a full-blown war against the SandWings. Yet, that hadn’t stopped the War of SandWing Succession. What if Aloe decided to align herself with one of the other queens? Queen Coral was far too closely aligned with the Dragonets, and there was no way Queen Moorhen would involve herself in another war so soon. Queen Blackice? Possible, but she was still securing power, and the only major feud the two kingdoms had was over the hills north of the desert. Queen Scarlet, on the other claw, would be thrilled to get Sunny off the throne. And even if Vulture’s incompetent grandchildren were leading them, the Talons of Power hadn’t dispersed. If Scarlet or the Talons of Power decided to join forces with Aloe, would Glory have to declare war in return? Sunny would likely expect her to support the SandWings, but the only army the rainforest had was a small number of NightWings. Could Queen Coral step in? Possible, but unlikely. Of course, if they really needed control of the SeaWing army, Tsunami always had the option to challenge her mother . . . Glory hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
As thoughts of war clouded her mind, the rainforest queen landed at the entrance of the tunnel. Queen Thorn had built a small structure around it after its discovery, a sandstone pavilion where four SandWings stood guard. Glory closed her wings as she landed in the sand nearby, getting it between her claws.
The four SandWings bowed their heads in respect as she climbed up onto the pavilion. Even if she wasn’t their queen, she’d been the greatest ally of Queen Thorn, and was in charge of two kingdoms. Glory nodded in acknowledgement before entering the tunnel, a dark hole on the far side of the pavilion where the sand of the dune seemed to turn to nothingness. Glory had always wondered what would happen if she went on the other side of the tunnel and tried to walk through the entrance from the wrong side. She hadn’t done it, of course. What if it cut her head off, or destroyed the tunnel, or worse? It was better just to remain curious.
A shiver passed over her as she entered into the dark tunnel. The feeling was now familiar — the unnaturality of animus magic. The sense that whatever this thing was, someone had ripped the world apart and shoved the tunnel in the tear. Sometimes, Glory even thought she could catch a glimpse of the stitches at the edge, where small dots of colorful blood poured from the wound. That was the way Stonemover had described it, at least, and it was partly why she didn’t want to test these things more than possible. If it was a stitched-up wound in the world, Glory didn’t want to risk tearing it back open and letting the guts of Pyrrhia spill out like Arctic’s organs.
As the dusk light behind her turned to darkness, a new orange glow opened up from the rainforest ahead. The acrid smell of smoke started to fill her nose as the rainforest queen got closer to the exit, stinging her snout. She frowned. A fire in the rainforest? Her green scales started to pale as she rushed towards the tunnel’s exit. The drought would have dried out the trees. If a NightWing had accidentally set something aflame, it would’ve spread easily. This wasn’t good.
The orange glow grew as Glory burst out of the tunnel. All around her, trees were burning, flames rising up from the dry undergrowth to eat at their tops. She coughed as smoke filled her lungs, burning her eyes. How far had it spread? The tunnel was close to the rainforest village, could it be there already? Glory spread her wings, and looked for an opening in the flames. She needed a higher view. Suddenly, a yell from behind her sounded.
“Get her wings!”
Four IceWings jumped out from behind the boulder the tunnel went through, embers spraying against their scales as they leaped through the air. Glory only had a moment to make a decision on what to do about her assailants. Opening her jaws, she shot a blast of venom at one of the IceWings, then turned her scales as invisible as she could.
The blast of venom hit straight-on, landing against the IceWing’s snout. A shrill shriek of agony pierced the sound of the roaring flames. The IceWing clawed at her face and eyes, running into a burning tree as she wailed. The flames licked at her scales while the venom tore through her snout, into her skull, and she dropped dead.
The other three IceWings didn’t hesitate in their attack, and as their comrade fell, they clawed at where the RainWing had been. Unable to see their target as she camouflaged herself, they attacked wherever they could, serrated claws digging into Glory’s wings and neck. Red blood dripped onto the ground as Glory flailed her wing, an IceWing’s talon stuck within it. She had no time to consider who her assailants were or why they were attacking her — survival was her only consideration.
Glory shot another burst of venom, hitting an IceWing’s paw and leg. He jumped back from her, screaming in agony, giving her the chance to get free of the other two. She allowed the tip of her tail to flash bright blue, drawing the IceWings’ attention to it, while she ripped her wing out, gritting her teeth as talons tore through the membrane. The IceWings took the bait, and clawed at her tail, scraping it with their claws before she snuck out from beneath them.
The RainWing queen gave a quick look around the forest, flames rising up around her as she ran from the IceWings. She lifted her blood-stained wing, and took off into the burning rainforest. Let’s see how good these IceWings are at tree-gliding.
One of the IceWings felt the burst of wind from Glory’s wings, and turned towards where the RainWing’s translucent form flickered against the orange flames, making them cloudy. “After her!” he yelled as spread his wings. “Drive her into the smoke! Caribou, get yourself together!”
The second IceWing Glory had shot with her venom whimpered as he glanced down at what little was left of his paw, just skeletal remains bound together by bits of flesh and tendon. Knowing a worse fate would await him if he fell, he followed the two remaining IceWings, flying after Glory into the rainforest.
Glory weaved back and forth between burning trees, her injured wing holding her up. Embers fell from the sky onto the burning rainforest floor, and her eyes stung as smoke entered them. She kept her scales as invisible as possible, but knew there wasn’t much good in it — with the smoke surrounding her and the flames flickering behind her, she would still be visible. She suddenly banked left as a huge flaming tree appeared through the smoke in front of her. Glory instinctively reached out for a vine to help swing her, but yelped as it burnt her paws. She barely made the turn, before seeing an IceWing to her left. He shot out a blast of frostbreath mid-flight, but Glory ducked beneath it, and the IceWing flew over her.
The IceWing tried to turn his course left to follow, but wasn’t tight enough, and sailed into another flaming tree head-first. He yelled out as he fell to the burning undergrowth, orange flames reaching up around him and embers splashing up. Only two left, Glory thought. She gave a quick glance back, checking to see that they were still following her. They were, blotches of white against the orange flames.
Queen Glory looked back to see another tree in front of her, out of the smoke. She yelped and swerved to the right, barely missing it as she dived beneath the treetops. Suddenly, a huge crack sounded from in front of her, as flames broke through a huge branch and it fell to the ground. Glory tried to swoop up to avoid it, but it hit her wing and back as it fell, sending her spiraling. Glory tried to regain control by sticking her wings out as she spiraled towards the ground, but there was not enough time, and she barely managed to break her plummet as she crashed into the flames.
The two remaining IceWings circled above the rainforest queen for a moment before they swooped down, their mission almost complete.
== Chapter 51 ==
Toxin lifted an eyelid to the loud sound of dragons arguing, waking her from her sleep. The three were still in the jail cell, and Toxin pressed a paw against the door, making sure that the Enclave hadn’t locked them in while they’d been asleep. It swung open a tad, before falling back against the other bars with a clang. It wasn’t like they couldn’t get out anyways; the metal wouldn’t be able to stop Inferno.
Toxin’s ears perked up as she heard Polar’s familiar voice. “Hey, wake up,” she said to Ink and Inferno as it grew louder. “I think that’s Polar.”
The two slowly opened their eyes as Toxin looked through the bars, to the staircase leading back up towards the surface. She breathed a sigh of relief. Even if Fracture had told them to trust him, she hadn’t been certain that Polar and Slate would be alright. But they were alive!
“Hey, why are you taking us to a jail cell?” Polar growled as he walked down the staircase, him and Slate following a SandWing. “You said you were bringing us to our friends. Are we being captured?”
“Polar! Slate!” Toxin shouted excitedly. “Over here!”
Polar’s expression suddenly changed. “Toxin?” he asked, rushing past the SandWing towards the cell. His eyes lit up when he saw Ink and Inferno with her. “You’re all okay!” He turned to the SandWing with a growl, claws outstretched. “Why are they in a cell? Release them at once, or I’ll rip out your kidneys.”
“Polar, it’s alright,” Toxin snorted, rolling her eyes. She pushed the door open, the bars hitting Polar’s tail as they swung. “We’re not trapped here. They’re helping guard us from Crystal.”
“Oh,” Polar said. He turned to the SandWing. “Sorry.”
The SandWing muttered something incomprehensible and turned around, walking past Slate with a sour expression.
“What happened?” Inferno said with a yawn. “With Crystal.”
Polar’s excitement at the reunion immediately disappeared. He looked over towards Ink, locking eyes with the contact. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. Fracture might have been his father, but he’d helped raise Ink. “Fracture protected us from Crystal until we got a chance to escape.”
“Where’s Crystal now?” Toxin asked anxiously.
“I don’t know,” Polar answered. He wasn’t certain that Fracture was dead, but it hadn’t been looking good for him when they’d left, after Crystal froze his wing. “We didn’t stay to find out.”
Ink nodded solemnly. He got the subtext. Fracture had given his life up to save the five. A heroic death, befitting of the IceWing. Clarity would be heartbroken when she got the news.
“So, what now?” Inferno said, looking down at her claws. “If Crystal is still out there . . .”
“We still have the prophecy to fulfill. Fracture . . . rescued us from Crystal.” Ink choked up a little at Fracture’s name, but tried to hide it. “We can’t just wait around for her to come after us again.”
“And every day we wait, more dragons are going to die from the drought,” Slate reminded them. “It’s already been two weeks. We have to do this quick.”
“Quick question,” Inferno said. “I don’t know much about prophecies, but does it have to come true? Like, if we’re the prophecy dragons, does that mean that Crystal couldn’t have killed us? And that we’re certain of succeeding?”
Polar looked towards Toxin. She was the one who could get visions of the future. This wasn’t her prophecy, but she had to know more about how it worked than the rest of them.
“Honestly, I’m not certain,” the dragonet replied. She hid a smug grin, happy that everyone was turning to her for advice on this matter. “All of my visions have come true, but those are slightly different than prophecies. For one, prophecies can be riddle-like, and have hidden meanings that aren’t clear from the start. And Nightreader’s Prophecy also doesn’t clearly say we’ll succeed. The second to last line specifically states ‘unless the chosens can unite the tribes,’ whatever that means. Which means that the default outcome is actually our failure.”
“Well, that sure makes me feel optimistic,” Slate grumbled.
“The prophecy might not come true at all,” Ink pointed out. “Fracture said that it came from a vision of a very different Pyrrhia, where it probably didn’t come true. But we have us five here, so I think we’re on the track already.”
“Whatever the case, we know where the ‘refuge of the dark’ is,” Toxin said. “Fracture said Calamity is at Queen Frost’s Mausoleum, right? Where is that?”
Polar shrugged his wings. Queen Frost might have been well-known among the IceWings, but he’d never heard about where she’d been buried.
Inferno thought for a moment. She’d heard that name mentioned before. “I think I know,” she explained. “Trustbreaker mentioned it once or twice, he said it was an old headquarters of the Talons of Peace. I think it’s in the northernmost reaches of the Sand Kingdom, a bit inland from the west coast.”
Polar snorted. “Of course,” he muttered. “Yeah, I think I can find it. It’s probably near the Darkstone mines.” Even though Polar hadn’t visited there much, the irony was amusing. Polar’s parents had been right under his nose. Not just his parents, but Crystal and Calamity too. Queen Glacier had fought a twenty year war for this place, without even knowing it. He looked down at his bracelet. Did the Darkstone have any connection to Calamity? Or was it the other way around? It couldn’t be coincidental.
“So, should we go there now?” Slate asked, concerned. “If Crystal is still in Possibility, and Aurora at Jade Mountain, Calamity might be undefended.”
“I find it hard to imagine that an ancient evil animus ghost would be undefended,” Toxin replied.
“But we shouldn’t stay in Possibility, with Crystal around,” Slate said. “This could be our best shot.” If they’d had more time, maybe they could go back to Jade Mountain and bring Torrent along. An anti-animus dagger could be pretty useful.
“I think we should go,” Ink said in support. “Anyways, we’ve got Inferno, right?”
He looked back to the SkyWing, who didn’t seem super-excited about this. She recalled Ash’s words. She might have to fight Calamity. “Yeah.”
“Great, then let’s get out of here,” Slate said, walking towards the staircase. Ink held open the iron bars for Inferno, who pulled her wings in to make sure she didn’t accidentally melt it on the way out.
“Wait, what about the rest of the prophecy?” Toxin questioned. “Lost souls might be Calamity, but what’s this about devouring the sun and a thousand years of night?”
“I don’t think it’s relevant yet,” Polar quickly explained. “We don’t have ‘darkness lighting the frozen earth,’ and we’re in a drought. I think we should wait to cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Toxin opened her mouth to protest, but Polar quickly interfered. “Can you stay back for a moment?” he whispered. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“What is it?” she asked nervously, glancing towards the three leaving dragons. Was there something Polar knew that she didn’t?
Polar sighed. “I don’t think I’m going to survive the battle with Calamity.”
“Huh?” Toxin said. “How do you know?” She glanced towards the Darkstone on his arm. Had he found out about the cancer?
“‘Must the waters of life be sparked,’” Polar recited. The line of the prophecy that ensured his death. “Calamity can only be bound with the blood of an animus. Fracture mentioned that specifically. I’m the only one here with anything close to animus magic; it has to be me. That’s what the waters of life are, my blood.” The prophecy might not be certain, but Toxin’s vision of blood was.
“Oh,” Toxin gravely replied. Of course. She had to have known that not everyone could survive this. In the legend of Queen Frost, all her companions had died. All of their lives were at risk here, because of this cursed prophecy. But they couldn’t turn back. What other option did they have? “I understand.”
“Thank you,” Polar said, bowing his head. “Please don’t tell the others. I don’t know about Inferno, but I think Ink and Slate would try to stop me they knew.”
Slate? Toxin wondered. He’d seen the effects of the drought more than any of them; he seemed the most determined to stop it. “Alright,” she agreed. “Er, how are you doing with this? Are you ready? Is there anything I can do to make things easier on you?”
Polar shook his head, smiling. It was nice of Toxin to care, but it was pointless. He’d accepted this long ago. “No, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter much if I’m ready; I already knew I was dead the moment I started using the Darkstone. I’ve seen it in other test subjects. The cancer is much worse than what the doctor thinks, cutting my leg off wouldn’t save me — right now, the Diamond Healer is the only thing keeping me alive, and I can’t say how much longer it will last.” 
Toxin nodded, a few tears welling up in her eyes. She suddenly went forward and wrapped her wings around Polar’s neck, hugging the IceWing as she buried her snout against him. “Thank you. For everything.”
Polar nodded, and placed a paw against Toxin’s horns, holding the dragonet close. If he was going to sacrifice himself, it wasn’t going to be for the Ice Kingdom. This was for all of Pyrrhia, so that dragonets like Toxin could live.
== Chapter 52 ==
Leopard kept her head down, her eyes pointed straight ahead. Don’t show fear. Don’t make eye contact.
She let out a few coughs and wheezes as she took in a breath of smoke. The stuff was everywhere, clouding her vision, stinging her eyes. The sky above was grey and filled with it. This volcanic island was the antithesis of the beautiful paradise in the Bay of a Thousand Scales she and Aloe had been raised on. Sandy beaches, palm trees, the ocean breeze. Leopard had always been jealous of the SeaWings. Their island was like the best parts of Pyrrhia rolled into one.
But if their island had been the zenith of Pyrrhia, there also had to be a nadir, and this was it. Cooled lava flows filled the treacherous, craggy landscape, and the beaches below the narrow ledge were covered with a layer of ash. Up the steep cliff, Leopard could feel hundreds of beady black eyes locked on her, the pale snouts of IceWings peering from above, their teeth bared. They couldn’t like this place either. As much as it looked like it, ash was nothing like snow.
Leopard chanced a quick glance back. In single file, the remaining loyal SandWings from the Bay followed. The flight here had been rough on them. Far out of their way, especially for dragons not used to long-distance flying. But if the Black Prince was telling the truth, it’d be worth it. If he was telling the truth.
Leopard looked back to the front. Aloe was directly in front of her. The princess’s once scarless scales had been torn since the SeaWing’s attack, a line down her neck where she’d been cut. ‘All queens have scars’ Leopard had assured her. It was a sign of strength. Aloe had tested the dolphin pendant again after they’d recovered from the destruction of their camp. Fortunately, it still seemed to work. Blister had ensured that Aloe wouldn’t receive any battle-training, to make sure that she’d never be able to pose a royal challenge. The necklace was her only hope.
Still, Leopard wondered how the SeaWing had managed to injure Aloe. Aloe believed she’d figured out the SeaWing’s identity from his story. Prince Torrent. One of two of Queen Coral’s sons who would’ve known Rift. Disappeared after Princess Orca’s royal challenge, believed to be dead. And after asking around Crosswinds to see if anyone knew him, they’d gotten plenty of answers. A large SeaWing with similar scars had been involved when an animus attacked Princess Burn years ago. He was seen on occasion visiting an elderly SandWing named Gazelle and a half-SeaWing hybrid named Midnight. Leopard had found their home, but it had been mysteriously abandoned. Aloe had suggested that Prince Torrent’s dagger had been animus-touched, which was why it had been able to injure her and cause the sudden flood. A potential enemy, but likely not working with Queen Sunny. They were better off staying clear of him, at least until they’d won back the throne.
Walking ahead of Aloe, leading the SandWings to their destination, was the Black Prince Hoarfrost. Queen Blackice had refused to meet with Aloe herself. Hoarfrost had claimed she was too busy, seeing it beneath her to meet with deposed royalty. In all honesty, Leopard was relieved. She didn’t want to meet with Blackice either. Instead, they’d made all their dealings with Hoarfrost. A strict, heartless dragon who evidently Blackice trusted enough to decide on the terms of their agreement. In return for usage of the tunnels, Aloe would provide a number of favors to the IceWings as queen. Relinquishing some territory in the northeast, allowing the IceWings access to ports along the Great River, etcetera. Strangely mundane things for the queen who’d massacred the top two rings of the IceWing aristocracy. It just made Leopard more suspicious.
Leopard glanced up to the IceWings waiting along the top of the cliff, glaring down hungrily at the SandWings like vultures. Hoarfrost had assured Aloe that they weren’t here to attack the SandWings, and instead were preparing an assault on the NightWings. Aloe seemed to be unsurprised by this, and had suggested to Leopard that was why Blackice’s terms hadn’t been harder. Whether they won or lost against Sunny, the SandWings were the greatest ally of the NightWings and RainWings. They wouldn’t be able to fight against Aloe and defend their NightWing allies at the same time. Still, Leopard was nervous. Hoarfrost had claimed there was a portal on this abandoned volcanic island to Sunny’s palace, created by the NightWings. What if instead, they’d tricked Aloe to come to this remote island just to be killed? Leopard knew Blackice had betrayed her SandWing allies at the Battle of Devil’s Eye. What if she did it again?
“Are you sure we can trust them?” Leopard whispered to Aloe, getting a tad closer to the princess.
Aloe shook her head, not at all comforting Leopard. “No,” the princess responded, placing a claw to her dolphin necklace. “But if they were planning to kill us, they would’ve done it already, in our sleep.”
Hoarfrost suddenly stopped, turning around. Behind him was the entrance of a dark cave. “We’re here,” the IceWing said. “The rainforest is this way. Watch your step.”
Leopard looked down to the entrance of the cave as she walked in. A few red blotches had soaked into the rocky floor. She gave them a sniff. Fresh blood. And it was red; it couldn’t be an IceWing’s, their blood was blue. Whose could it be?
Her eyes caught Hoarfrost’s, sending a shiver along her sail. The Black Prince bared his teeth back a tad. A silent warning. Leopard left the blood spots behind, and walked into the dark cave. A dim torch had been lit partway down it, lighting up the figure of a petrified NightWing. Someone who hadn’t escaped the eruption.
Hoarfrost walked past, not paying the figure any attention. It uneased Leopard, seeing a dragon like that. She kept her eyes looking towards the front, but it wasn’t much better. The tunnel was there, a featureless dark disk. Leopard flexed her tail instinctively, although it wasn’t like stabbing it could do much good. Hoarfrost headed inside, Aloe quickly following behind. Leopard shut her eyes, and walked beneath the petrified dragon’s talons, into the tunnel.
When they finally saw light again, it was an orange glow. The smell of smoke was still there, although it seemed slightly different than the smoke on the volcanic island. Less sulfurous. The three exited in the branches of a scorched tree, two IceWings guarding it, periodically blowing frostbreath to put out any flames that got too close.
Leopard took a glance around at the rainforest. Flames licked at the trees, burning the undergrowth. Further in the distance, Leopard could see smoke rising up. What had happened here?
“There’s your tunnel,” Hoarfrost said, pointing a talon through the smoke. Leopard squinted, her eyes stinging. Across a small stream, was a large boulder, a hole in it similar to the one they had just gone through. “The palace is through there. We’ve completed our end of the bargain; get your troops through as soon as possible so we can continue moving into the rainforest.”
Aloe nodded in agreement, and motioned with a wing for the SandWings to go forward. “There are likely guards on the other end. I want the advance force to quickly dispatch them, without causing a commotion.”
About ten SandWings slowly went forward, nervously looking around the burning rainforest as they made their way through the ashes to the other tunnel.
A burning branch fell not far from Leopard, making her jump back as embers flew up. She flicked her tail, confused. “How did the IceWings set the rainforest on fire if you can’t breath it?” she asked Hoarfrost.
Hoarfrost glared. “That’s not your concern. If you get in Blackice’s way, she will not hesitate to kill you.”
Aloe turned her head towards Hoarfrost, and bared her teeth. “Don’t threaten her.”
The IceWing scoffed, shaking his head. “She’s a commoner. You two cannot have dragonets. It’s disgusting a dragon of your class would care for her.”
Aloe twitched her tail, brandishing her barb. If the bargain was done with, she didn’t have much reason to pay this IceWing any respect.
Leopard stepped towards her, placing a wing over the princess. “Don’t,” she warned Aloe.
Hoarfrost narrowed his eyes, seeing Aloe move her barb. “All I offer is advice. You are free to run your kingdom how you wish, but in Queen Blackice’s Ice Kingdom, the weakness and decadence that her mother tolerated will not go unpunished.”
“Thank you for the completely unsolicited advice on how to run the Sand Kingdom and our personal lives, but no thanks,” Leopard retorted. “Our deal is finished, right? You can take your ugly snout and shove it in the volcano for all we care.”
Hoarfrost didn’t change his expression at the insult. “I am waiting here until you move your troops through.”
“Then shut your snout so we can do it faster,” Leopard growled. She glanced towards the boulder, where one of the SandWings had motioned them forward. “Aloe, c’mon, I think the advance troops have returned.”
Aloe gave Hoarfrost a quick glare before carefully following Leopard across the stream and through the burning rainforest, a line of SandWings behind them. They followed the SandWing through the tunnel, coming out on the sandstone pavilion, in the dunes. The four guards lay dead around the tunnel entrance.
Aloe reached a paw out to the desert, running her claws through the sand, putting what Hoarfrost had said behind her. The palace was not far, visible in the moonlight. This was her rightful home. The palace where Blister had been hatched, where generations of her family had lived.
“I hate this,” Leopard grumbled as more of the SandWing soldiers came through the tunnel behind them. “It’s dishonorable, working with Blackice of all dragons to do a sneak attack on the palace.”
“I know,” Aloe sighed, her eyes focused on the palace. “But this is what Blister would’ve done. Getting her troops behind enemy lines while they’re drunk on victory.” Sunny was somewhere in there, wearing the Eye of Onyx. What if it rejected Aloe, like it had rejected her mother? What if Sunny really was the rightful queen? No. Aloe had to force Sunny into a royal challenge. The Eye of Onyx had presided over Thorn and Onyx’s battle without killing either of them. Aloe was still a legitimate heir to the throne. More legitimate than Sunny.
Leopard sighed, concerned. When this had begun, Aloe had wanted to win the throne the right way, to be better than the scheming Blister. Had she given up on that?
“This way, we’ll be able to win without starting a bloody twenty year stalemate,” Aloe said, almost sensing Leopard’s worry. “Blister couldn’t do that. I can.”
----Queen Sunny’s ears perked up at the sound of shouting dragons. She glanced up from her glass of agave wine, looking towards Clay. “Did you hear that?”
The MudWing was deep in a rack of roasted pig ribs, hungrily chewing them down. The palace chefs were amazing, and he had to admit the food was far better than what they had at Jade Mountain. Maybe Sunny would be willing to spare one for the academy. “Hear what?”
Sunny remained quiet for a moment, listening carefully. More shouting from outside the walls. Roars and screams. Like the sound of dragons fighting.
The SandWing queen stood up on all fours, knocking over the glass of wine onto the tablecloth. Right now, the two were the only ones in the dining hall, the long table silent and empty. She rushed to the side of the dining hall, where a small vertical slit was the only window to the outside. She pressed her snout up against it, catching a glimpse of orange and yellow blurs in the moonlit sky.
“Clay?” she said anxiously. “I think there’s a battle going on.”
“A battle?” the MudWing said, spitting out the meat he was chewing on. “Is it Aloe? We need to find Armadillo.”
Sunny nodded in agreement. As much disdain as she had for the SandWing, he’d know what to do.
The two rushed through of the hallway towards Armadillo’s chambers, catching small glimpses of the dragons outside. Sunny remembered when Thorn had attacked the palace to get her back. Thorn had no chance of getting in, and if Peril hadn’t stopped it, the Outclaws would’ve been slaughtered. That was good, right? If Aloe was attacking the palace now, it was easily defendable. Except, now the walls were gone. And based on the dragons outside, the battle was already near the palace.
As the two turned a corner, they almost ran into Armadillo. The SandWing was frantic, and let out a sigh of relief as he saw the two. “You’re safe!” he said, hyperventilating. He glanced back to see Creosote behind him, a similarly worried expression on the guard.
“What’s going on?” Sunny demanded. “There are dragons fighting outside.”
“We were ambushed,” Armadillo explained. “I don’t know how. We would’ve seen a small army of SandWings from miles away. It has to be Aloe, but unless she has an army of RainWings, I don’t know how she got in.”
Sunny glanced to one of the many small archways, moonlight pouring from it. Most of the SandWings seemed to be flying towards the front of the palace. Was that where the main battle was taking place?
“We outnumber them though, right?” Sunny asked. “We’ve got a ton of SandWings in the barracks.”
“Er, yes,” Armadillo replied worriedly. “But Aloe planned this well. Many of the soldiers will be celebrating the victory, drunk on agave. And if they’ve snuck behind the main defensive line somehow, they won’t need to lay siege to the fortress. There are few entrances in and out, and it won’t be long before they’re inside.”
Sunny shook her head, listening down the halls of the palace for clawsteps. They had guards inside the palace, but not enough. How long did they have? “I hope Glory is alright,” she murmured. She could camouflage herself, right?
“She should’ve been back in the rainforest hours ago,” Armadillo assured Sunny. “Right now, we need to worry about your safety. Aloe has made a desperate gamble. She’s used the last of her army to trap you in the palace. She’ll either kill you outright, or more likely, capture and force you into a royal challenge.”
“So Sunny will be dead either way,” Clay gulped. “What can we do?”
“There’s a passage through the dungeons to the arena,” Armadillo explained, unhitching the chain between his horns and pulling down a key. “It’s at the edge of the palace grounds. We can escape that way.”
“Escape?” Clay asked. “We’re just giving up? If Aloe gets the palace, she gets the throne.”
“We’re not giving up,” Armadillo snapped, annoyed. “The most important thing is Queen Sunny’s safety. Even if Aloe takes the palace, most SandWings won’t accept her without the  Eye of Onyx or a royal challenge. Six-Claws and our army are still outside the palace. If she gets control, she’ll be trapped inside, under siege.”
“There are food stores in the cellars,” Creosote suddenly brought up. “I can burn them.”
Armadillo shook his head. “No. I need you to protect the queen. Her safety comes first.”
Sunny’s ears twitched again, hearing shouting from the entrance. “We need to hurry,” she said nervously.
Armadillo nodded, and took off, the other three following behind him. More crashes and shouts came from behind Sunny, and she winced. She’d been right. All of this had been for nothing. The battle . . . three moons, even ending the war. Blister’s successor was going to take over, and all the change the Thorn had brought to the Sand Kingdom would be reversed. Even in death, Blister and Morrowseer had won.
As they turned the corner to the intersection leading to the tight passage down into the dungeons, Sunny caught a glimpse of golden scales and steel. Moonlight from the outside gleamed off six SandWings, marching through the palace with spears in their claws, helmets over their horns. The four turned, locking eyes with the invaders. They’d been found. Sunny glanced behind her. The tunnel leading down to the dungeons was right there. The way out was so close. They’d almost made it.
She turned back, her eyes meeting those of a pale SandWing in the back of the group. Her claws shook and a shiver ran down her spine as she saw the black diamond pattern on the SandWing’s scales. Just like Blister’s.
Aloe’s claws went to her necklace as her eyes met Sunny’s. The SandWing who stopped Blister’s war, who’d used magic to usurp the throne and put her own mother in power. Her eyes traveled to the Eye of Onyx, hanging from the SandWing’s neck. This small, strangely-shaped dragon was the only thing between her and the throne.
“Your majesty, get back,” Creosote whispered, stepping forward, extending his barbed tail. Four of the SandWings next to Aloe moved up towards him in turn, blocking Aloe and Leopard from sight.
Four against one, Sunny thought. He’ll be killed instantly.
Armadillo handed the keyring in his paws to Clay, who took it, confused. “Sunny, Clay,” he said, stepping up to Creosote, “we can buy you time. Find Kudu in the Scorpion Den.”
Sunny blinked, confused. Armadillo was a guard. Did he even know how to fight? He couldn’t win, even with Creosote. They’d kill both of them. “Armadillo —”
“Run,” Armadillo ordered. “May you have the power of wings of fire.”
Sunny nodded, and as the four SandWings ran forwards to attack Creosote and Armadillo, she and Clay took off into the dungeons. Roars and yells sounded as they descended into the passageway, not looking back. Two more dragons, giving their lives up so that Sunny could have the throne.
As they reached the first gate, Clay’s paws shook as he fitted one of the keys in, trying to turn it to open the lock. The two couldn’t have bought them much time. Sunny’s heart raced as she glanced behind her. Were those clawsteps? Clay tried another key as the sound grew louder.
After a third try, Clay finally opened the gate, the two rushing through before he locked it behind him. Hopefully, that would hold them off for a while. As they started down towards the next gate, Sunny saw a glimpse of scales from above. They had to hurry; there was no time to rest.
Neither of the two saw any more dragons behind them as they descended into the dungeons, until they reached the final gate. A single SandWing guarded it, glancing up towards Sunny and Clay. 
She bowed her head to the queen, a bored look on her snout. “The assassin is still there, if you wish to speak to him,” she notified her.
Queen Sunny shook her said from side to side, breathing heavily. “We’re under attack,” she whispered. “We need to get out of the palace. Do you know where the secret passage to the arena is?”
The guard’s eyes opened wide, her claws starting to shake. Under attack? Something was happening. “Y-yes, your majesty,” she stammered. “I can lead you to them.”
“Thank you,” Sunny said, relieved. She didn’t know what would happen if she got lost down in the dungeons. Would Aloe find her? Or would she starve to death first?
“P-please, follow me,” the dungeon warden gulped. Clay unlocked the final gate, and the three headed into the antechamber, with the four tunnels leading out of it. “This one leads beneath the arena.”
She quickly headed down the tunnel on the left, the three rushing past decrypt cells as fast as they could. At least here, they were alone. Aloe would have a hard time getting down to them.
Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel. It surely felt long enough to come out beneath the arena. The warden ducked beneath a small archway, leading to a circular staircase. Sunny and Clay followed her, until it reached surface level. The passage came out into a small room beneath the stadium, where a small door of sandstone let out under the benches. The warden peered around it, checking for enemies. There were none. The empty stadium was silent.
Sunny and Clay cautiously snuck out from the passage as the warden closed the door behind them, becoming almost invisible against the sandstone. “What now?” she asked.
“We could try and get to the tunnel to the rainforest,” Clay suggested. “Glory would keep us safe.”
Sunny peeked over in the direction of the tunnel. It was on the other side of the palace, and plenty of SandWings were between them. They’d be captured for sure. Her eyes moved towards the tunnel. Even more SandWings were circling in the air above it. “We can’t make it, it’s being guarded.”
Sunny’s eyes suddenly went wide in realization. That was how Aloe had gotten into the palace, behind the barracks. They’d snuck in through the tunnel. From the rainforest, or the volcanic island. Glory had gone through it, not long before the attack. What if they’d caught her? Aloe wasn’t at war with Glory, but that didn’t mean she was safe. Sunny winced. Her fight had put Glory in danger. Three moons forbid, hopefully she hadn’t been hurt.
“Then Armadillo said we should get to the Scorpion Den and find Kudu,” Clay said, looking out towards the edge of the palace grounds. The SandWings were all in the other direction. Hopefully, no one would notice them flying away.
“Yeah,” Sunny whispered fearfully. The Scorpion Den. Where she’d first met Thorn. “Are you coming with us?” she asked the warden.
“Of course, your majesty,” the warden said with a bow. “Anything to keep you safe. My name is Acacia.”
“Sunny,” Queen Sunny replied, before quickly realizing that Acacia would obviously know her name already. Not important right now. “Then we should go, while it’s still dark.”
Acacia nodded, and the three spread their wings. Sunny glanced towards the arena. Had she chosen to accept Aloe’s challenge, this was where she would’ve ended up. Yet, what choice had she had? Sunny took off, flying low to the ground while Clay and Acacia glided behind her. The SandWing queen looked back to the palace. Her mother’s death, Armadillo and Creosote’s sacrifices . . . she wouldn’t let them be in vain. She’d come back, and when she did, the palace would be hers.
== Chapter 53 ==
Deathbringer was plucking a ripe mango when the smell of smoke reached him. A fire? he wondered nervously, his claws digging into the mango. Glory had asked him to warn the NightWings about using their firebreath. With the drought, the undergrowth of the rainforest was dry, and the trees had lost a lot of water. Deathbringer looked over towards the NightWing village, expecting to see flames, but there were none. The source of the fire seemed to be somewhere between the two, an orange glow and smoke in the distance.
Deathbringer raised his wings, the NightWing king flying up above the canopy of the rainforest. He looked out into the great expanse of the rainforest beneath him, where every so often, a tree broke free of the canopy. Further out, he could see smoke rising from the greenery, and a circle of orange flames behind it, turning everything it touched black. It was spreading quickly, and Deathbringer shifted his eyes over to the area where the RainWing village would be, the sun setting behind it. Firefly’s egg.
Diving down, Deathbringer sailed above the rainforest, towards the village. Had the RainWings realized the danger yet? He wasn’t sure if Glory had returned from her visit with Sunny yet. That meant that Deathbringer had to be the one who dealt with this. He glanced back towards the NightWing village. The NightWings would just have to wait. They had Greatness; they could handle themselves.
Deathbringer ducked into the trees, the smell of smoke growing as he reached the edges of the village. He reached out towards a vine, using it to help land on a platform of vines. As he looked around, the pavilions were . . . empty. Had the RainWings fled to a safer area? Maybe they’d experienced fires before, and already had a routine. Still, something felt off.
Deathbringer cautiously walked across one of the many bridges. “Glory?” he called out. “Hello? Anyone?”
Suddenly, he felt something cold beneath his talons, and the vines under his paw snapped. He yelped as he tripped and his paw fell under the bridge, although the hole wasn’t quite large enough for Deathbringer himself to fall through. Carefully, Deathbringer raised his leg back up, moving back from the hole. Around the edge of the hole was a circle of ice, which appeared to have frozen and snapped the vines.
“Frostbreath?” Deathbringer whispered. Who could have done it? Had Aurora come back to the rainforest? Deathbringer wasn’t even sure she could use frostbreath, being a hybrid. A stray IceWing? Were they attacking someone?
Suddenly, Deathbringer heard the voices of dragons from the undergrowth. He flattened himself against the vine bridge, peering through the hole in it. His talons went to his pouch, touching one of his sharp silver discs. He took a deep breath. There was probably nothing to be worried about. Maybe an IceWing dragonet from the academy had wandered all the way down here.
As he peered into the hole, he saw two white figures walk beneath him. IceWings. Two of them, each wearing a leather strap beneath their wings. Definitely not students. What were they doing here? Deathbringer listened. They hadn’t seemed to have noticed him.
“This area is cleared?” one of them asked.
The other nodded. “Yep. Most of the RainWings just ran or hid, though we caught a few.”
Caught? Deathbringer wondered. They’re catching RainWings?
“This is stupid,” the first grumbled. “Why do we gotta be so careful around a bunch of lazy fruit-eaters? None of them have tried to fight back, we could’ve just stormed in there and scared them all off.”
“Blackice wants to send a message,” the second answered. “Something about what’ll happen to allies of the NightWings. Anyways, you heard what happened to Nieve? Apparently a RainWing melted half his throat. Creepy.”
“Sounds like bear dung,” the first snorted. “He probably just cracked open one of his vials. These things are dangerous. Great Ice Dragon, I wish I’d been assigned to fight the NightWings instead of RainWings. Get back at a few of them for all their sneaky killings. Let’s see how they fare in a real fight.”
“You’d be dead within the first minute,” the second laughed. “They’d read your mind. Know what you’re going to do before you do it.”
“Bear dung,” the first growled. “Everyone knows the NightWings were lying about all that. That’s what they are, liars, thieves, and murders. We’ll be doing Pyrrhia a favor, getting rid of them. C’mon, let’s light this place up.”
The first IceWing pulled out a small vial out from beneath his wing. Too far for Deathbringer to see what was inside. Was this the vial they’d mentioned? The IceWing threw it as far as he could, and when it hit the ground, it burst open, spreading its contents wide. Immediately, flames rose up around the area, quickly catching the dry underbrush aflame.
The second IceWing pulled out a similar vial, but before he threw it, he slumped to the ground, a puddle of blue blood spilling from around his neck. It took a few seconds for his companion to notice.
“Tern?” he said, taken aback. He shook the IceWing, as if trying to see if Tern would wake up. His claws shook, and he looked around the rainforest, trying to understand what had happened. As his eyes moved up to the hole in the bridge above him, realizing he was completely defenseless, Deathbringer threw a second chakram, and the IceWing soldier slumped down, dead.
Deathbringer closed his eyes. Queen Blackice was attacking the NightWings, and the RainWings had been caught up in their two-thousand year war. If they were approaching the RainWing village, that meant they didn’t have far to the hatchery. They might already be there. Smoke and flames started to rise up from where the IceWing had thrown the vial. If he didn’t reach the hatchery first, then the fire would.
Deathbringer swung through the rainforest village, gliding between trees as he weaved between the platforms. The smoke and flames were still behind him, but he didn’t know how long he had. Every so often, he caught a glimpse of white in the distance, between the shadowed trees. More IceWings.
Suddenly, the NightWing heard a dragon cry out from nearby. He took hold of a vine and use it to plop himself down onto one of the platforms. Quickly, Deathbringer ran up towards the nearest tree, hiding himself in the shadows behind its trunk. He peered his snout out from it, the dark scales blending with the coming night.
Across a large gap in the pavilions, spanned by a vine bridge, Deathbringer spotted a large number of RainWings, corralled by three IceWings holding spears out. Most seemed to have turned pale green in terror, and were shuffling into each other.
C’mon, use your venom, Deathbringer pleaded. There were only three IceWings, and over twenty RainWings. If they fought back, they’d easily win. Still, none of the RainWings moved to attack. They’d been taught never to use their venom on another dragon from the moment they hatched. Even though he regretted putting the Ninja Guard in danger, it would’ve been useful to have battle-trained RainWings during times like this.
Deathbringer tried to make out some of the RainWings in the crowd. With Frog’s injuries, Grapefruit was the only member of the Ninja Guard left, and she was nowhere to be seen. A bright flash of pink against the pale green caught Deathbringer’s eyes. Prince Jambu.
Deathbringer sighed. Glory would never forgive him if he let her brother get hurt or captured by IceWings. He slinked towards the woven bridge, keeping his wings low to the ground. It was lucky that they’d attacked during the night. It would be easier for RainWings and NightWings alike to hide. Putting three silver discs in his paw, Deathbringer made his way over to the bridge, and clutching the vines with his paws, allowed himself to hang beneath it, upside-down. The rainforest floor was far beneath him, and even if he had time to turn over mid-flight, the IceWings would definitely see him if he fell.
The NightWing assassin climbed beneath the bridge, paw by paw. It swung from side to side from his weight. Hopefully the IceWings would just think that it was the wind. As he got closer, he peered his head out from beneath the bridge, his eyes on the IceWings. He was almost within close enough range, but he couldn’t hit all three at once. Maybe he’d hit the one closest to him, get the second right as they realized the first fell. If the third rushed towards the bridge, Deathbringer could hit him, but if he went the other way, or stayed behind a RainWing . . .
The furthest IceWing suddenly looked towards the swaying bridge, and Deathbringer pulled his head back under. Had they seen him? Deathbringer heard a few claws on vines, before a shout sounded from above.
“Hey, are you here to free us from the rule of Queen Glory?” Jambu suddenly yelled, causing the IceWing nearest to Deathbringer to jump, and point his spear at the pink RainWing. “I didn’t realize that news of her abuses had reached all the way to the Ice Kingdom. Did you know that she banned the color pink? I have a lot of trouble sleeping if I’m not pink, and my sun time is really suf —”
Jambu let out a squeal as the IceWing growled and gave the RainWing a light jab with the spear. “Quiet,” the IceWing hissed. “I don’t care about your stupid colors.”
The IceWing suddenly dropped his spear, and clutched at his neck, blue blood staining his claws. He glanced back, but was only able to see a glimpse of his killer. Just as the other IceWings noticed, Deathbringer threw out another disc, landing in the side of the second IceWing’s neck. He turned towards the third, hoping the IceWing didn’t try and hide, before realizing that the IceWing was already slumped on the ground.
A dark blue RainWing breathed a sigh of relief, and set down a blowgun. The RainWings collectively stood in shock, seeing two of their captors dead.
Deathbringer climbed out from beneath the bridge and onto the pavilion, the RainWings unsure whether to be disgusted or thankful. He walked over to the first IceWing, and rolled the body over, causing a few RainWings to step back. A stream of blue blood flowed down the IceWing’s torn neck, staining the pavilion beneath. Deathbringer looked down to the IceWing’s chest. A leather band with vials of some liquid. Presumably the same stuff that the IceWings were using the catch the rainforest on fire.
The NightWing looked up to the crowd. Right now, they needed leadership and direction, and he was the best suited for the job. “RainWings and NightWings alike, we’re under attack,” Deathbringer explained. “Without warning, the IceWings are burning down your homes. I know you’re scared, and haven’t experienced war before, but you need to fight back. There are more of us than there are them, and we know the rainforest better. Use your venom, your blowdarts, your camouflage, and stop the IceWings.”
There was a quiet murmur from the RainWings. “Use our venom?” Deathbringer heard one whisper. They didn’t seem riled up at all, and most of their scales were still the pale green of terror.
The NightWing sighed. He shouldn’t expected much more. These RainWings couldn’t fight. “Alright. Those of you who are willing to fight, do so. Everyone else, go to the hatchery and wingery. Rescue as many dragonets as you can, and pass on the message. Hide from the IceWings, and retreat to the islands south of the rainforest.”
After more frightened murmuring, the RainWings started to disperse, many of them using their camouflage to blend their scales in with the rainforest, almost disappearing with the dark shadow of the canopy. Deathbringer glanced back behind them, the smell of smoke growing. “Jambu,” he called out, just as the pink RainWing started to become transparent. “Can you come with me to the hatchery? I want you to protect Firefly’s egg until you get to the islands. After I make sure she’s alright, I’m heading to the NightWing village.”
“Yeah, of course!” Jambu replied, happy to have a purpose. “I want to keep my niece safe.”
“I can help,” a voice sounded from behind Jambu. The blue RainWing who had shot the sleeping dart came forward, holding the blowgun in her paws. “I’m a good shot. I can fight.”
Liana, Deathbringer remembered. She was one of the RainWings who’d been assigned to patrol duty around the village, using her sleep darts to knock out any intruders. Deathbringer felt a pang of shame, remembering how the last dragons who’d fought under him had ended up. The RainWings weren’t trained, not like the NightWings had been. And this was a conflict between NightWings and IceWings. It had been wrong for Deathbringer to ask RainWings to put themselves in danger. “No, it’s alright,” he assured her. “You’ll be safer out of the rainforest.”
Liana shook her head. “No. This is my fault. I’m supposed to watch for dragons, and the IceWings got past me. I need to do something.”
Deathbringer thought for a moment. Having someone else, especially a RainWing who could turn invisible, would be useful. “Alright,” he conceded. “But if you come with me, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
“I know,” Liana replied.
The three headed after the other RainWings to the hatchery, not far from the village. As they landed, other RainWings were ducking into the hatchery, grabbing eggs before they flew south. Deathbringer looked around, checking that there weren’t any IceWings yet. Fortunately, they hadn’t seemed to have made it this far.
“There!” Jambu said, pointing to the small shrine of leaves that Glory and Deathbringer had made for their egg. Firefly’s egg was safe and sound, the violet blotches having moved across the shell.
Deathbringer flew over to the egg, and grabbed it in his paws, holding it close. If things didn’t go well, he might not ever get to meet his dragonet. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” he whispered, trying to comfort the dragonet inside. “Uncle Jambu is going to make sure you’re safe.”
Taking in a deep breath, Deathbringer carefully handed the egg off to Jambu. “Be careful with her, okay?”
Jambu nodded. “Of course.” He cradled the egg cheerfully, even in the danger they were all in. “You want me to take her to the southern isles?”
“Yes. Stay with the other RainWings, and hide there. I’ll try and be there as soon as I can.”
Jambu grinned, and bringing the egg up to his chest, spread his wings as the color faded from them. Deathbringer watched him go south, after the other RainWings. Away from the fire. The NightWing turned to Liana. “Alright. You ready?”
Liana lifted up her blowgun and a pawful of darts. “Yeah. What exactly are we doing?”
“I want to get to the NightWings, to try and organize them against the IceWings,” Deathbringer explained. “Make sure our dragonets get to safety.”
The two took off, heading back towards the flames as they glided through the treetops. Deathbringer spotted a few stray IceWings on the ground every now and then, but in the darkness, none were able to spot more than a quick blur in the canopy of the two. The IceWings didn’t seem to have any particular goal in mind, just walking around the RainWing village, searching for RainWings and using the vials to set fire where they could. If they were trying to pillage, it was pretty useless. RainWings didn’t have a lot of material goods.
Deathbringer thought about what Liana had said earlier. If she’d been on guard outside the village, how could she not have noticed the IceWings coming through? An army of white dragons would be easily visible. They must have snuck past the dragons on watch somehow. The tunnels, he suddenly realized. The IceWings could’ve come through either the NightWing island, or the SandWing palace. Had they attacked Sunny? Deathbringer had heard Blackice was ruthless, but she wouldn’t declare war on the Sand Kingdom so soon, would she? But how would she know where the volcanic island was?
Either way, that meant Glory could be in danger. The two had flown past the royal pavilion, which had been empty, with no sign she’d returned there yet. So she probably hadn’t left the Sand Kingdom yet. Hopefully, she was safe in the palace with Sunny. If the IceWings had come through the tunnels, there was no way Deathbringer and Liana could get through. So he just had to trust she was safe.
As the two moved closer to the tunnels, the blaze grew stronger, confirming Deathbringer’s suspicions. The smoke started to grow acrid, stinging Deathbringer’s eyes and filling his lungs. They couldn’t get too close, or the fire would claim them too.
Eventually, the two reached the NightWing village. The roar of battling dragons shook through the air, louder than the crackling blaze and the other sounds of the rainforest. Deathbringer watched as he saw IceWings fighting NightWings, bodies of his friends on the ground. Just like their last home, this one was going up in flames.
Liana and Deathbringer landed on the ground, beside a burning hut. As an IceWing glanced towards them, Liana shot out a dart from her blowgun, instantly putting the soldier to sleep. “Now what?” she asked, peeking around at the battle.
Deathbringer pulled out a few silver discs, and looked around for open targets. “There’s too many,” he admitted. “We need to try and get as many dragons out safely as possible. Not to where the RainWings are. I don’t want to lead the IceWings to them.”
“Out where?” Liana wondered. “The IceWings will just follow if you try and escape. I don’t think they’ll accept a surrender.”
Deathbringer’s talons shook. Liana was right. Queen Blackice wasn’t looking for war. She was looking for genocide. The IceWings wouldn’t stop until every NightWing was dead. “There’s nowhere we can go,” he whispered in defeat.
Liana frowned, pacing back and forth as the blaze burned behind her. “What about the Mud Kingdom?” she asked. “Queen Moorhen’s palace is directly north of here; we get MudWings accidentally finding their way down here all the time.”
“Do you think the IceWings would care?” Deathbringer replied. “They already attacked the RainWings, why wouldn’t they attack the MudWings as well?” The Great Ice Cliff was impenetrable. Even if Queen Blackice declared war on all of Pyrrhia, she couldn’t be attacked.
Liana shrugged her wings. “Maybe. But the MudWings are organized; they’d lose, right?”
“And what if Queen Moorhen attacked us? She might think we’re invading the Mud Kingdom.”
“Then the NightWings are doomed,” Liana dourly answered. “Tell me if you have a better idea.”
Deathbringer shook his head, wincing. Liana was right. They had to escape; their only chance was the MudWings. “Alright. The plan is to get everyone north.”
Liana nodded, and her scales started to blend in with the surroundings, rendering her completely invisible except for the small blowgun in her paws. Deathbringer clutched his discs. Glory, Firefly, please stay safe, he silently wished. If he succeeded, he didn’t know how long it would be until he could to reunite with the RainWings and his family. If he failed, then he doubted he’d survive the night.
== Chapter 54 ==
Torrent’s claw pressed into the parchment, the tip against a faded blue blotch. He stared intently at the map; his eyes un-wandering.
“She’s stopped,” Torrent muttered.
“Who?” Anemone asked, inattentive. The pink SeaWing princess was playing with her webbing, glancing over to the entrance to the small meeting cave every so often, where Peril stood behind Turtle. Anemone didn’t get why Tsunami had wanted her to meet Torrent. He was one more brother she wouldn’t care about. Tsunami herself was watching Torrent carefully, eyeing the map.
“Aurora,” Torrent answered tersely. “She’s been in the northern Sand Kingdom for a day now.”
“And why do I care?” Anemone sighed. Tamarin was probably doing something more interesting than this right now.
“Maybe she’s sleeping,” Turtle suggested. “Does she have to do that?”
“Why wouldn’t she have to sleep?” Tsunami asked.
Turtle timidly shrugged his wings. “I don’t know. I thought she might have used animus magic to not sleep.”
“She wouldn’t have slept that long,” Torrent snapped. “She’s in one place.”
Tsunami poked her head between Torrent’s and the map, squinting. “HEY!” she suddenly yelled out, her horns smashing into Torrent’s neck as she suddenly raised her head.
Torrent turned his neck away, coughing from the whack to his throat. He glared back at his sister. “What?” he hissed.
“Look,” Tsunami hissed back, pointing her claw back to the map. “She disappeared.”
“She disappeared?” Torrent yelled, surprised. He pushed Tsunami aside, looking back at the map. Tsunami hadn’t lied; Aurora’s blotch was gone.
Tsunami rolled her eyes. “Yes, that’s what I said.”
“Does that mean she’s dead?” Anemone asked, suddenly a little more interested. “Maybe an IceWing got her.”
“Doubtful,” Torrent grumbled. “She might have some way to hide herself from the map. I don’t remember seeing hers back when I saw first saw Turtle’s blotch either.”
“What if she can kill herself and bring herself back to life?” Anemone suggested. “That would be pretty spooky. I bet I could do enchant something like that if I tried.”
“You couldn’t,” Torrent snorted. “Animus magic can’t bring dragons back to life.”
“So, what would happen?” Anemone pressed, eyes lit with curiosity. That could be an interesting experiment. Not on herself, of course, but maybe she could try enchanting a lizard. “Would it just not work?”
“Maybe,” Torrent replied, still staring at the map. “Or maybe you’d make a clone of yourself.”
“But if I made a clone of myself, and the clone had all my memories, would the clone really be me?” Anemone philosophized out-loud. “And what if I just enchanted a clone of me to appear, and there was both me and a clone? Which of us would be the real Anemone, or would it be both of us? Maybe I could enchant something that gives us the answer!”
Torrent winced, gritting his teeth. “Please tell me you’re not planning on doing this.” The last thing he needed was a sibling that was more frivolous with her powers than Orca was. Even if he refused to give up his powers, at least Turtle was cautious and understood the damage using them would do. If Anemone kept on this way, Torrent didn’t know how long he’d have before he’d be forced to kill her. Sister or not, he was sure he could.
“She isn’t,” Tsunami assured Torrent. “She knows the rules. No animus magic if she wants to attend Jade Mountain.”
“Hey, what if Aurora went through a tunnel, like the ones in the rainforest?” Peril suggested. “That would explain how she disappeared.”
“Yeah!” Anemone exclaimed, slightly annoyed she hadn’t thought of that herself. “She could be somewhere that’s not on the map, like the volcanic island, or the Lost Continent, or the moons!”
“She’s not on a moon,” Torrent sighed. But it was possible. That was exactly what had happened when Erosion’s green diamond had teleported Stonemover and Griffin to her island.
“Why couldn’t she be on a moon?” Anemone asked combatively.
As Torrent prepared a response, Peril heard the sound of clawsteps from the tunnel behind her. She peered around the doorway to see a terrified Ermine, running down the hallway. A small pang of pity hit the SkyWing. Ermine’s parents had been living in the palace when Blackice had attacked it, and had almost certainly died in the ensuing slaughter. She didn’t know how good Ermine’s relationship with them was, but Peril remembered how devastated she’d been after Kestrel’s death. She’d hadn’t even liked her mother.
Teeth chattering, eyes wide with fear, Ermine looked over towards Peril, the four royal SeaWings behind her. “Tsunami,” the IceWing whispered, claws shaking. “I-I was at the landing platform. I-I saw IceWings. Lots of them. Flying towards us.”
Tsunami turned around, seeing Ermine’s concern. By now, she was used to Ermine’s cowardice, but he seemed even more concerned than usual. “How many?” she asked, frowning. “Like, an army?”
Ermine nodded, small tears in his beady eyes. “A lot.”
“Why would there be an army of IceWings here?” Turtle asked.
“It’s likely Queen Blackice sent them,” Tsunami explained, dreading the reason why. At least from the news she’d heard, Blackice had made particular effort to get rid of all the First and Second Circle IceWings in the palace. What if that wasn’t enough for her? “She might be here for Ermine and Changbai.”
Ermine whimpered, and started sobbing, tears running down his snout. “I’m sure of it!” he cried. “She’s going to kill me! You can’t let her; please don’t let her.” His claws started to shake more profusely, aware of his impending death.
“I’m not letting you kill her,” Tsunami replied, baring her teeth. “I’ll keep you, Changbai, and everyone else safe.”
“How?” Torrent asked, skeptical of Tsunami’s empty promise. “She’s got an army. You’re not going to have the students fight, are you?”
“Ooh, ooh, I can help!” Anemone shouted. “I can use my magic!”
Torrent turned to his sister with a glare. “No,” he ordered her. “You’ll lose your soul.”
“Excuse me?” Anemone snorted. “You’re just some random older brother, you’re not the boss of me. I can choose whether I want to use my magic or not.”
Torrent’s eyes narrowed, and he started to move his paw towards the dagger at his side. He opened his mouth to argue, but Tsunami interrupted him.
“Don’t use your magic unless there’s no other option,” Tsunami told Anemone. “Is there anything you’ve already enchanted that could be useful?” She glanced towards Turtle, silently posing the same question to him. If she could at all help it, she didn’t want it to be revealed to Ermine.
Turtle shook his head, but Anemone vigorously nodded. “Yeah!” the young princess exclaimed. “I have these awesome weather-controlling bracelets. I tried to get it to rain with them, although it didn’t work for long. But I bet I could blow them all away! If they don’t try and escape me first.”
“Then get those, quickly,” Tsunami said. “I don’t think we have long.”
“I can try and hold them off until she gets them,” Peril suggested. “I doubt any IceWing will be too keen on fighting me.” 
“Agreed,” Tsunami replied. “Do what you have to.”
Torrent gave Anemone a glare before rolling his map back up, and heading towards the entrance of the school with Peril, Tsunami, Turtle, and Ermine while Anemone went to get her bracelets. It was only a short walk to the entrance, where Tsunami could see that Ermine hadn’t been exaggerating. A horde of IceWings, many armed with spears and armor, had just about reached the great entrance cave of the academy.
As Peril stepped forward, into the center of the cave, the first few IceWings landed, walking forward to greet her as the rest hovered in place behind. At the front of the formation approached a grinning IceWing, evidently the leader of the group. His claws, horns, and spines had all been painted black, and a skeletal dragon paw hung from a silver chain around his neck. A battle trophy, to gross out enemies and indicate his prowess. Peril smugly grinned, certain that she’d killed far more dragons than this IceWing, whoever he was.
Tsunami stepped to the side of Peril, and the Black Prince turned to the SeaWing princess. “You’re the one in charge of this school, right?”
Tsunami nodded. “Yep. Tsunami here, princess, headmaster, and Dragonet of Destiny. What do you want?”
“Queen Blackice has simple demands,” the Black Prince said, giving a wide, toothy grin, revealing his black-painted teeth. “Surrender every IceWing, NightWing, and RainWing in the school to us, and we will leave.”
“Why?” Tsunami asked, surprised. Why were the RainWings involved in this?
“It doesn’t matter,” the Black Prince snorted. “If you refuse, we’ll make sure none of your students leave this academy alive.”
“I hope you understand you’d effectively be declaring war on the Sea Kingdom,” Tsunami clucked, calling his bluff. “Queen Coral won’t take kindly to Princess Anemone’s death. Nor mine, for that matter.”
The IceWing shuffled his tail back and forth, spines scraping against the stone floor as he thought. “Fine,” he conceded with a growl, irritated that Tsunami had out-smarted him. “We’ll take her as a political prisoner, and kill every other student. Happy?”
“Not particularly,” Tsunami yawned. “This is a pretty bad offer you’re giving us. Give up, what, almost half our students, or give up all of them? I dunno, it might not be good for our profits if we just started handing out students to random IceWings. Do you have, like, papers from Queen Blackice giving you permission to do this?”
The Black Prince seethed, not amused with Tsunami’s antics. “I don’t need papers. I have an army.”
“Well, Tsunami has me,” Peril hissed, taking a step towards the IceWings, flaring her wings up as a puff of smoke rose from them. The Black Prince took a careful step back, while the IceWings behind him started to slink away, feeling the heat from Peril’s scales. “You know who I am, right?”
The Black Prince was silent, his claws curling. He knew.
“That’s right,” Peril smiled, licking her fangs. “Queen Scarlet’s ex-champion. The one who’s burned a thousand dragons to death, just with a touch of my talons. Normally this would be bad, really bad news for you. But it’s your lucky day! I’m in a good mood, and I promised to Clay that I won’t kill any more dragons, and he would be quite disappointed in my if I fell back into my old habits. So let’s make a deal — if you, or any of your IceWings lays their claws or frostbreath or whatever on any of our students, I will burn off each of your limbs and roll your body off the mountainside. Got it?”
The Black Prince glared at Peril, staring up to her with a squint. He remained silent, reflecting on the threat, as if he could visualize what Peril was planning to do to him already. “That would kill me.”
Peril blinked. “Huh?”
“If you rolled my limbless body off the mountainside,” the IceWing explained, “that would probably kill me. Even if I survived the fall, I’d die of the burns. You said Clay would be disappointed if you killed any more dragons.”
Peril laughed. “Oh, he’d be fine with it. It’s not murder if death is just a side-effect.”
The Black Prince shook his head, smiling. “Did you really think that Queen Blackice didn’t prepare for you?” He spread out a wing, and four of the IceWings stepped forward from behind him. Beneath their wings were leather bands, corked glass vials with some sort of liquid inside hanging from them. The IceWings moved their claws to the vials, preparing to throw them.
“Alchemy designed them,” the Black Prince explained, “if they break, they’ll explode, spraying burning liquid everywhere. I’m sure your scales are fire resistant, but the explosion itself might take off a few limbs of your own. A small way for us IceWings to make up for our lack of firebreath. Now, step aside, and let us collect the dragons we want.”
Tsunami and Peril were quiet for a moment. Peril squinted at the vials. Could they actually do that? If the Black Prince was bluffing, why would he have bothered bringing the vials? He could’ve just claimed he had something animus-touched. Ermine started whimpering, worried Peril would have no choice but to step aside.
“Nope,” Peril growled, baring her teeth. “I’m not letting you have them.”
“Then it’s your loss,” the IceWing hissed. He flicked his tail, and stepped back. The IceWings threw their vials, the glass soaring through the air, liquid sloshing inside.
Suddenly, a load yell came from behind Peril, as Anemone rushed into the room. “SURPRISE ATTACK!” the SeaWing princess yelled, twitching her claws. The copper armbands on her forearms shook, and a gust of wind blasted from behind Peril. The glass vials, still in flight, sailed back towards the entrance, before landing in the crowd of hovering IceWings. As they broke, flaming material exploded from the vials, covering a good portion of the army in fire. IceWings screamed as they fell towards the ground.
“LIGHTNING STRIKE!” Anemone said, shaking her talons again as a bolt of lightning struck an IceWing outside the cave. The huge burst of thunder shook Peril’s bones as she jumped, taken aback. The IceWings started to flee from where the lightning had struck, the few who hadn’t been hit by the napalm flying away in confusion.
As the Black Prince stared in shock, not yet sure what was going on, Anemone whisked her paw, and another blast of wind shot from behind her, pushing the IceWings that had landed with the Black Prince from the ledge, forcing them to take flight. With a wicked grin, Anemone walked forward, head raised high as she stared down the single remaining IceWing. She shot another burst of wind to the entrance of the academy, spreading more of the IceWings out, keeping them away.
“Alright, thank you Peril, the real powerhouse is here now,” Anemone smirked, looking up at the Black Prince. She raised a paw in front of her snout, gently clenching her webbed talons. The IceWing flinched, unsure what she was about to do to him. Torrent watched cautiously with Turtle and Ermine, talons on his dagger.
“Okay, cold boy, here’s how this is going to go,” Anemone said. “You’re going to answer all my questions, or else I’ll do unspeakable things to you. Alright?”
The IceWing lowered his head, glaring at the cavern floor. He hadn’t been expecting this. This was supposed to be an easy job. Yet, he’d been defeated without even raising a claw.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Anemone grinned. “Who do you work for?”
“Queen Blackice,” the IceWing growled. “I thought that was obvious.”
“Well, I was just testing to make sure you were telling the truth,” Anemone snorted. “What do you want?”
The IceWing sighed. This was going to be a long interrogation. “I told you already. We want the IceWing, NightWing, and RainWing students given over to us.”
“Why?” Tsunami suddenly butted in, taking over the interrogation from Anemone.
“Queen Blackice has decided this school is a stupid, weak, and treasonous endeavor,” the Black Prince explained. “She wants to withdraw her subjects from it, and to make sure that the IceWings with First and Second Circle rankings are done away with, to overhaul the previous aristocracy.”
“I understood that already,” Tsunami replied. “What does she want with the NightWings and RainWings? They’re not her subjects.”
The IceWing smirked, just slightly. “Queen Blackice has completed the war against the NightWings, a war her mother conveniently forgot about. She is the is the rightful ruler of the Night Kingdom, and can do with her subjects as she wishes.”
Tsunami scoffed. “I’m sorry, what? The rightful ruler of the NightWings? That’s ridiculous.”
The Black Prince shook his head. “She is the rightful ruler. I saw it with my own eyes. Queen Blackice killed the previous NightWing queen in a royal challenge, ending our enemy’s life with a blast of frostbreath down her throat.”
== Chapter 55 ==
Cold, dry winds blew through the valley, stripping the moisture from between Ink’s scales. The valley floor was covered in loose dirt, with not a spot of green to be seen. The last remnants of snow appeared at the top of the valley walls, small trickles of meltwater quickly soaking into the hungry ground. Where only weeks before, the valley had been covered with white snow, there was little left of it now.
“I think I see something!” Slate called out.
Ink squinted. Further along the empty valley was a blotch of grey and white. As the five flew closer, they started to make out the distinct shapes of seven stone pillars, standing in a semicircle in front of a small building glimmering in the sunlight, walls made of ice. In a perfect circle bounded by the seven pillars, fluffy snow remained unmelted. Clearly, the work of an animus. Seven sculptures of dragons stood proudly atop each pillar, as if they were protecting the place. Ink’s eyes focused on a sky-blue dragon in front of the pillars, looking down the extent of the valley. Aurora.
“Aurora’s here,” Ink notified the group, a hint of fear in his voice. He had to remain brave. This was their destiny.
“So she got back before us,” Polar grumbled. “I was hoping she’d have stayed at Jade Mountain.”
“Maybe we should turn back?” Slate suggested. “She might not have noticed us yet. We could try and sneak around her at night.”
Ink shook his head. Aurora’s eyes were focused on the five, watching their approach. “No. She’s definitely noticed.”
As the five got closer to the Mausoleum, Aurora remained in place, just watching the group. Ink remembered the last time he’d fought Aurora. Even with Seahorse’s mask, she’d instantly defeated him. Soon, they were practically hovering over her, circling in place while she kept watching.
“She’s not attacking us,” Inferno said, confused. “Is she waiting for us to land?”
“We need a plan,” Toxin stated. “So we’ve got a dragon who can walk through walls and make earthquakes. Any ideas?”
“How are we supposed to hurt her if she can walk through walls?” Polar snapped. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“Maybe Inferno can sneak up on her while we distract her,” Toxin suggested. “It might not kill her if she gets away fast enough, but it could put her out of commission for a while.”
Inferno cringed. She didn’t want to set Aurora on fire, but did she have a choice? Ash had told her that she needed to fight to protect everyone else, but was there no other option than fighting Aurora?
“No,” Ink replied, his claws shaking. He stared down at Aurora. The Eye of Amethyst, now fully visible, swung from her neck in the winds. “We’re no match for her.”
Aurora sat back on her haunches, swishing her spiked tail back and forth. Every so often, a small burst of light would randomly come from one of her glowscales. Even if Ink knew Aquatic, he doubted it meant anything.
“Maybe she just wants to talk,” Inferno suggested.
“This is the dragon who tried to bring a mountain down on top of us,” Polar snorted. “I doubt she wants to talk.”
“She hasn’t attacked yet,” Inferno pointed out. “If she wanted to kill us, she could’ve done it already.”
“Look, if you want to try talking, go ahead,” Polar suggested flippantly. “You’re the one with the insta-burn scales, not us.”
“Fine,” Inferno blurted out, narrowing her eyes. “I will.” Inferno instantly regretted saying that. The last thing the five needed right now was fighting between themselves. But Polar’s expectant gaze told her it was too late to take it back. She started to circle down, Aurora’s eyes tracking her movements. The SeaWing-IceWing hybrid didn’t move from her position as Inferno’s paws touched the dry ground, not far from the circle of snow.
“Er, hey,” Inferno greeted Aurora, forcing a smile. “I don’t think we were properly introduced back at Jade Mountain. I’m Inferno.”
A cold wind blew from behind Aurora, before being quenched by Inferno’s scales. Aurora’s expression stayed neutral and terse, and she gave a quick glance to the four dragons overhead, cautiously watching the conversation below. “Aurora.”
Inferno scrunched up her claws. So Aurora was willing to talk after all. She might be too optimistic, but maybe they didn’t need to fight. “I think we got off to a bad start,” Inferno said. “I know there was that whole thing with Torrent, and Ink was the one who attacked you first, right? Maybe we can talk this out, and c —”
“No,” Aurora interrupted Inferno, a burst of light coming from a glowscale on her neck. “I am not your friend, and you are not mine. Our goals are opposing. We are enemies, and the only reason I have not killed you yet is because I have been ordered not to.”
Inferno took a step back, although the hybrid stayed in her place. She didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. “Alright,” she conceded. “What do you mean, you’ve been ordered not to kill us? What have you been ordered to do? Stop us from entering?”
“No,” Aurora growled, a hint of rage coming through her emotionless expression, “I’ve been ordered to leave.”
By now, the other four had descended closer to the mausoleum so that they could listen in on the conversation, hovering just above the seven pillars, side-by-side with the ancient queens. Toxin rolled her eyes. “Then just leave already,” she grumbled, not intending for Aurora to hear.
Aurora’s head snapped up, glaring at the hybrid. “And what are you here for?”
“We’re the prophecy dragons,” Toxin retorted, landing beside Inferno, shielding herself from the SkyWing’s heat with a wing. “We’re here to defeat Calamity.”
“Why?” Aurora pressed. “Because Fracture told you that’s what you need to do?”
Slate fluttered down next to Toxin, raking his paw through the dry dirt, the meltwater sucked from it. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a huge drought all across Pyrrhia. Dragons are dying. Fracture said Calamity is causing it, but if he’s wrong, please enlighten us.”
“Fracture is correct,” Aurora confirmed.
“Aurora, please,” Inferno begged. “You can help us; we don’t have to be enemies. So many are suffering because of what Calamity is doing. You can’t want that.”
Aurora shook her head. “Your view of Pyrrhia — no, your view of morality — is too narrow. My father understood. Didn’t he, Ink?”
Ink and Polar had finally conceded, landing behind Toxin. Ink didn’t respond to his half-sister, keeping his eye focused on the shackle around her leg. His claws brushed against his eyepatch, feeling an ache where Aurora had ripped out his eye.
“Don’t talk about morality,” Toxin spat. “You killed those RainWings. You murdered them. Did you even know their names?”
Aurora ignored Toxin’s accusation. “Is it better to do the right thing, or the nice thing?”
“You’re not doing the right thing,” Ink growled, keeping his eyes on Aurora’s paws, unwilling to meet her gaze. “If you’re killing dragons, that’s not the right thing.”
“And yet you’re about to go kill Calamity,” Aurora retorted.
“That’s different,” Ink protested.
“Is avenging your family by killing mine the right thing?” Aurora asked Ink.
“I’m not trying to get revenge,” Ink growled, finally turning his head up to look Aurora in the eyes. “We’re not trying to kill dragons. We don’t want to kill dragons. We’re just trying to stop the drought.”
“Is that why you attacked me at Jade Mountain?” Aurora continued. “I assume you were using the NightWing mask just to give me a slap on the paw? Or was I a necessary death? Would killing me have stopped the drought?”
A hint of confliction crossed Ink’s gaze. Why had he attacked Aurora, back at Jade Mountain? He hadn’t thought about it until now, but she was right. He’d been planning to kill her. He’d been frightened of what he’d seen her do, in another life. Furious at her role in the deaths of his mother and brother. Of course he’d wanted to kill her for that, but that was what he was supposed to feel. He’d have been avenging his family. That couldn’t be wrong, could it? But killing dragons was bad. Would killing Aurora even have helped them stop the drought? Or would it just have made him feel better?
“You want to see me judged for how I have hurt others,” Aurora continued, her eyes focused on Ink. “So you can believe this world is just, and that those who are good will be rewarded, those who are bad are punished. But this world is broken. I have chosen to do the right thing, instead of the nice thing, and I will suffer for it. Calamity has told me not to interfere with you, and because I believe he is doing the right thing, I will obey him, even if it costs me my family. Ink, will you be happy if Crystal and Calamity are dead? If I suffer the same way you have?”
Ink’s claws clenched through the dry dirt. “No,” he growled. “That’s not why I’m doing this. This is about saving the world from Calamity. Not revenge on him.”
Aurora nodded. “I see. Then savor your moment of heroism well. Be proud when you believe you have saved this broken world.” The sky-blue hybrid spread her wings, and a sudden wind burst from behind her, throwing the five back as it snuck beneath her wings, lifting Aurora up into the sky.
Ink watched as his half-sister sailed above the valley walls, before turning into the rising sun, soon becoming only a small point on the horizon. This wasn’t about revenge. This was about doing what was right.
“What was that all about?” Inferno quietly asked, looking over to the frozen doors of the Mausoleum.
“It’s a bunch of beaver dung if you ask me,” Slate snorted. “Dragons are dying of dirt because of her. I don’t how she’s justifying it, it’s still wrong.”
Ink sighed, looking down to the snow, and then to the doors of the Mausoleum. The engraved dragons behind the ice seemed to be staring at him, judging him. His eyes caught on the figure of a SkyWing, roaring in agony as his own talons ripped through his chest.
“Hey, don’t listen to her,” Slate reassured Ink, as he stepped up to the frozen door. “So what if you want a little revenge? That’s not wrong. This is still the right thing to do, even if your intentions aren’t completely pure. She’s just trying to distract you from our goal.”
“Yeah,” Ink said, smiling a tad. “You’re right.” He pushed his concerns away. Right now, they needed to focus on defeating Calamity.
Slate turned to the door, his eyes tracing the images of battle engraved beneath the ice. He put a claw to the layer of ice covering the door, his scales chilling as he pressed a paw pad to it. He traced out a small indentation in the ice between the two doors. They seemed fused together; like the mausoleum had never been meant to be opened.
“They’re images of Queen Frost’s battle with Calamity,” Toxin explained, thinking Slate had been checking out the engravings on the metal behind the ice. “The one on the left door are Mica’s fight with Ignite, and the one on the right is Falcon’s binding of Calamity. The scene above the door is Frost defeating Calamity, after he was bound within Starweaver.”
Inferno stepped forward, carefully placing her paw into the snow, unsure what would happen. To her surprise, the enchanted snow didn’t melt, her paw only making a small indentation within it. A chill ran up her foreleg, causing her claws to tense up involuntarily, her legs shivering. She felt cold.
The SkyWing returned her gaze to the engravings on the mausoleum door. She hadn’t been told the legend that Toxin seemed to know, but all of them depicted death and violence. Was that the only way they could complete the prophecy? Inferno didn’t want to think so. Her eyes locked to the left door, the battle between Mica and Ignite, and their mutual destruction. A battle to get into the caves beneath the mausoleum. A glimmer of hope flashed in Inferno’s eyes. They’d managed to avoid fighting Aurora. None of them were dead yet. Maybe, by some miracle, they could solve this peacefully with Calamity, and escape the tragedy of the other scenes.
“Seems a little crass for Queen Frost to put images of her friends dying above their graves,” Slate said.
Polar shook his head. “No,” he gravely replied. “They died honorably, protecting everyone around them. Their deaths are glorified here, showing other dragons their virtuous self-sacrifice. It’s why Queen Frost’s death isn’t pictured. She survived and was unable to make the same sacrifice her comrades did.”
Toxin gave a concerned glance towards Polar, but the IceWing avoided her gaze.
“Well, that doesn’t bode well for us,” Slate muttered. If their prophecy was a repeat of the Legend of Queen Frost, did that mean that only one of them would survive? The prophecy didn’t say anything about their survival. If Slate wanted to come to terms with his possible impending death, he’d have to do it quickly.
“What does the text say?” Inferno asked, looking at the four names written above the doors.
“I can’t tell,” Toxin admitted. “It’s an old script. Tiger might understand it. It’s probably just the names of the four dragons buried beneath here. Starweaver, Mica, Falcon, and Frost.”
“Only four,” Slate uttered. “Well, we’ve got five.” It wasn’t much, but the difference in the two groups gave his fears a bit of relief. This couldn’t turn out like a repeat of Frost’s battle.
“C’mon,” Ink said. “We should quit dawdling. We need to find a way in.”
Polar stepped up to the doorway, Slate moving aside for him. “I think I have an idea,” Polar winced. “Slate, please take a few steps back.”
The MudWing nodded, and watched Polar stare up at the doorway. Taking a deep breath in, Polar let out a blast of frostbreath at the ice. After the misty cloud disappeared, all that was left was an additional small layer of ice in front of the doors. They didn’t budge.
“What was that for?” Toxin asked.
Polar sighed. “I thought it might open it,” he explained. “Queen Frost was an IceWing. She might have had it magically locked so only IceWings could get it. I guess not.”
“I don’t think I can melt it,” Inferno said.
Polar looked down to his paws. The snow there was a strangely darker shade of blue, the color of IceWing blood. Falcon had been required to sacrifice his blood to bind Calamity. Queen Frost was an IceWing, of course she could’ve seen the symbolism in that. The IceWings’ blue blood was one of the three gifts given to them by the Great Ice Dragon. It wouldn’t be frostbreath.
Polar gritted his teeth, and placed a talon along his forearm, above the Darkstone bracelet. He dragged a serrated claw beneath his scales, a line of his own blood trickling down onto the snow beneath him, mixing with the blood of the previous IceWing who’d done this.
“Polar?” Slate asked, unsure why the IceWing had cut himself. “Are you alright?”
Polar nodded. The pain of the incision wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be. He supposed he’d just gotten used to the ache of the Darkstone. Staggering forward, Polar brought his foreleg to the indent between the ice, scraping his blood against it, staining the ice. Immediately, the blue liquid started to spread out, Polar’s cut opening wider as his blood seemed to be sucked from beneath his scales, droplets rolling up and down, filling the indentations in the ice. As butterflies started to fill his head from the light-headedness, Polar leaned against the wall. His blood continued to spread out, eventually making two rectangles, bordering around the doorways.
As Polar staggered, Slate quickly got beneath him, letting the IceWing fall onto his wing and back, Polar grasping at Slate’s scales. Slate moved Polar back as the blood suddenly started to glow a bright blue, trying to shield the IceWing from whatever was coming. Fortunately, the blood just sunk into the ice, dissolving it until there was a thin line between the two great doors.
Toxin put her body against the huge doors, trying to open them, while Slate nervously glanced over to Polar, dripping blue blood onto the MudWing’s scales.
“Are you alright?” Slate gulped, seeing the wound. Polar had lost a lot of blood in opening the door, and he’d already only been barely able to make the flight here.
“Yeah,” Polar woozily muttered, stepping off of Slate. The ground swerved under him, and he staggered towards the doorway to the Mausoleum. Staying nearby, in case he fell over again, Slate followed.
Inferno’s scales tensed up as she walked through the doorway, into the interior of the Mausoleum. She shut her eyes as the feeling washed over her, gritting her teeth as her breath sped up. Something felt wrong in here. Inferno glanced back towards the entering Ink, checking to make sure that the outside world was still behind her. It was. “Do you feel that?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Toxin frowned. The hybrid raised a paw in the air, curling her talons to check that they still responded, that her scales were still real. “I’ve felt it before. It’s like the tunnel to the NightWing island, but it’s worse here. It’s like you’ve stepped into somewhere that shouldn’t exist.”
The inner walls of the Mausoleum were also covered with ice, and the entire room glowed with a faint light that seemed to come from everywhere. The only furnishing was a beautiful coffin on a pedestal in the center of the room. The sides were perfectly shear, almost glittering. Slate peered into the coffin, and recoiled in surprise. Visible from the top was the perfectly preserved body of an IceWing. Queen Frost. She appeared peaceful in rest, and even with her violent death, didn’t seem to have any visible wounds.
Swaying from side to side, Polar focused his eyes on the ice coffin. He bowed his head to the ground in respect, looking up at the body. This was Queen Frost, second Queen of the IceWings, hero of Pyrrhia, and creator of the Gift system that had given the IceWings riches and prosperity for thousands of years. And here the five were, setting out to finish the work Queen Frost had left unfinished. For the first time, Polar felt almost lucky he’d been chosen by the prophecy. Even if few IceWings would ever know of it, he’d be able to follow in Queen Frost’s tracks. To be a hero worthy of being buried alongside her.
“So, what now?” Toxin asked, looking to Polar for an answer. “I don’t see Calamity, or any caverns.”
Polar lifted his head back up, clutching his bleeding arm as his blood dripped on the ice floor. “Queen Frost only wanted an IceWing to be able to get in,” he explained. “Someone could’ve killed an IceWing and used their blood to open the doors, if they knew how they worked. But to get down into the caverns, they’d need a living IceWing.”
Polar let out a small burst of frostbreath on the coffin, covering it in white smoke. The casket suddenly started to slide to the back of the Mausoleum, a stairwell opening up beneath it, down into a dark tunnel.
Slate peered in. “I can’t see anything.”
Polar shrugged his forepaws. “My moon globes were left in the safehouse. Ink, can you see?”
“A little,” Ink replied uncertainly. “I can see in the dark, but only if there’s at least a little bit of light.”
“I can breath small bursts of flame,” Inferno suggested. “I should stay in the back though. I don’t want to set anyone on fire.”
“That would create some light,” Toxin snorted.
“That’ll be enough,” Ink replied, ignoring Toxin’s comment. “I’ll go in first.” The NightWing-SeaWing headed down into the tunnel, followed by Toxin, then Polar.
As Slate walked down after Polar, Inferno turned to him. “Please don’t stop suddenly,” she suggested.
Slate gulped, and nodded. It would be pretty pitiful if he got hurt before the battle with Calamity.
The tunnel was cold, but damp, unlike the dry surface up above. Surprisingly, Ink was able to see. While most caverns would have no light sources at all, small specks of purple light from the side of the tunnel gave Ink just enough light for his darkvision to work. It was just enough for him to see the tunnel ahead, winding down into the depths of Pyrrhia. A strange sort of vertigo started to come over him as he moved deeper, as if the tunnel ahead was swirling up and down before his eyes.
Polar used his wings to keep himself stable, letting them drag along the sides of the tunnel to make sure her could tell where he was going. Every so often, he’d accidentally run into Toxin’s tail, or feel Slate nudge up behind him. To be quite honest, it was relieving, knowing that he wasn’t going down here alone. His eyes caught on a glimpse of purple light in the darkness, and he stared up at it as he passed.
“Darkstone,” he whispered, realizing what it was. A speck of Darkstone dust, like the ones in the nearby Darkstone mines. More started to come into view, almost covering the side of the tunnel walls. Queen Glacier had spent years just trying to get enough Darkstone dust to make Polar and Aurora’s Darkstones. Had she known about this place, she could have an army of Darkstone holders.
After what felt like ages of descent, Ink’s eyes suddenly caught upon a glow from up ahead. The floor and walls of the cavern slowly started to change, becoming suddenly covered by a clear white stone, smooth like ice. Ink felt it with a paw, but past the ambient chill of the cave, it wasn’t cold. The others suddenly started to be able to see again, as a dim light started to fill the cavern. The tunnel started to widen in caverns, with huge spikes of crystal lining the walls, occasionally blockading the five’s path.
Slate shivered. The frigid cavern was silent and pristine, like few dragons had ever touched their claws in here. Every so often, he’d see his snout reflected on a shimmering wall of crystal, distorted by the imperfections. Something about this cave made his heart race. It had a similar feeling to before, like something so strange didn’t belong here. Or it was Slate who didn’t belong in the cave.
Suddenly, the cavern opened up, revealing a huge, obloid space to Ink. A wind seemed to blow through it, causing Ink to turn put a wing up. Past a large, flat area, a crystalline bridge extended out over a pit, spikes of crystal sticking up from the bottom far below.
“The bridge of light and frost,” Toxin growled, stepping out in front of Ink as she saw the dragons standing on the bridge, in front of a gaping hole in the cavern.
Crystal stood about halfway across the bridge, grinning as her claws wrapped around her dagger. “Took you long enough.”
Ink peered around behind her to their real goal. In front to the frozen corpse of a writhing NightWing, Calamity’s specter floated above the ground, looming behind Crystal. The Eye of Onyx was nestled within his paw, a shining blue pupil between the two golden wings. As Toxin spoke, the pupil moved along the eye, looking directly at the five approaching dragons, as if it was pleading for their help.
“Welcome to the Crystal Caverns,” Calamity smiled. “How have you found it so far? Crystal says she’s not a huge fan.”
“And yet you made me stay here anyways,” Crystal snapped back at Calamity.
“But where else would you go?” Calamity replied, tossing the Eye of Onyx up in the air before catching with his other paw, the scales on it suddenly becoming opaque. “Aurora preferred it here, and it’s not like you’d be welcomed anywhere else in Pyrrhia.”
Toxin bared her teeth. It felt like neither of them was taking the five seriously. Was this just a game to them? “Hey, listen up!” she yelled out, seeing the two’s eyes focus back on her. “It’s five against two here! Give us the Eye of Onyx, and stop the drought, or we’ll make you!”
Calamity shrugged his wingblades. “Are you quite sure you want do that? You all can just leave right now, if you’d like.”
Slate took a step forward, into the cavern. “We’ve come this far,” he growled. “I’ve seen what you did in the Mud Kingdom. We’re not giving up.”
Calamity rolled his right eye, the left one staying still. “Of course. Crystal, protect me while I finish up with Jerboa here.” With a lick of his fangs, Calamity turned the Eye of Onyx around, forcing the pupil to look up at him.
“Fine,” Crystal snorted, almost reluctantly. Her dagger in one forepaw, she paced forward along the bridge, stretching out her wings. She glared at Slate. “So you’ve come back for round two? You ran from me last time, why do you think it’ll turn out differently now?”
Slate gulped, and glanced back to the other four. She was right. As long as Crystal had her dagger, she could kill any of them with just a single cut.
“It’ll be alright,” Ink said, trying to remain confident. “Fracture saved us for a reason. We need to trust him.”
“Trusting Fracture?” Crystal laughed, stepping off the end of the bridge. “What a joke. If you want to get to Calamity, you’ll have to get through me first.”
Toxin’s eyes focused on the snake-like dagger. They needed to keep her from getting close to them with it. “Don’t get too close to her,” she ordered, trying to form a plan. “Use breath attacks if you can.”
Slate winced, and breathed out a tiny puff of flame. It was a bit too cold here for him to do anything. Suddenly, he felt a wave of heat wash over the top of his body, almost scorching him. He looked over to see that Inferno had placed a wing over him, careful not to touch him with it. Just a few seconds beneath her scales, and the chill had been expelled, all the way to his claws and tail.
Inferno smiled. Even if she’d wanted to, there was no point in her trying to fight Crystal claw-to-claw. She wasn’t battle-trained. Crystal could kill Inferno with a touch, while everyone else would have to be careful to avoid Inferno. But at least this way she could be useful.
Ink seethed, glaring straight at the smiling Crystal as he bared his fangs. “You murdered Nightreader, Loresearcher, and Fracture.”
“I don’t deny it,” Crystal sighed. “Technically, it was Griffin who killed Loresearcher, but I had a pretty huge paw in that. What? Do you just want me to admit it? Or do you want an apology?”
“I want you to pay for it,” Ink hissed.
“Then make me,” Crystal taunted.
Ink let out a growl, holding his ground. This wasn’t about Crystal, and getting revenge. It was about Calamity, and stopping the drought. If he attacked her right now, he’d just be playing right into her paws. But if he tried to get around Crystal right now, she’d be able to swipe at him with her dagger.
“We’re behind you Ink,” Toxin said, motioning Polar to follow her as she walked around Crystal. If they encircled her, she might not have a chance. She’d stay on the ground, knowing that it would be harder for her to defend during flight.
Her eyes turning to Toxin and Polar, watching their movements, Crystal took a few steps away, retreating towards the bridge. Suddenly, Slate leaped from beneath Inferno’s wings, opening his jaws to let out a stream of fire at Crystal. Surprised, she jumped out of the way the best she could, gritting her teeth as the flames singed her wing.
The odor of burnt flesh entered Toxin’s snout as Crystal charged towards her. The IceWing roared as she tried to bring her dagger down on Toxin’s side, the hybrid just barely jumping to the side. Before Crystal could lift her paws up for another swipe, the dragonet rushed forward, between the IceWing’s forelegs. Toxin’s horns scratched against Crystal’s underbelly, and the IceWing swiped at Toxin’s disappearing tail, not quick enough to make contact.
Toxin tried clawing against Crystal’s underbelly, but the IceWing turned, kicking Toxin with a hindleg in the neck, scratching at her throat. The hybrid yelled, and turned to the side, trying to get from under Crystal. While Crystal attempted to turn after her, she screamed as Polar sent frostbreath at the side of her neck, ice crawling up her scales as they froze. She turned away from it, revealing Toxin beneath her.
Polar suddenly closed his mouth, not wanting to hit Toxin accidentally. While Crystal recoiled, he pounced forward. As Crystal stuck her forearm out, Polar grabbed his serrated claws around it, tearing them into her scales, trying to make her drop the enchanted dagger. With his other forepaw, he grabbled one of Crystal’s horns, grasping onto her as tightly as he could. Unable to hold Polar’s weight up, Crystal rolled over to the side, dangerously close to the edge of the pit. Hissing, she writhed back and forth, trying shake Polar off while he held onto her dagger for all his life was worth.
Ink ran in, claws out and ready to sink into Crystal’s exposed belly, but backed away as she tried to swing the dagger at him, Polar’s claws around her foreleg impeding her. Quickly changing his target, he sunk his paw halfway down Crystal’s tail, making the IceWing scream as he stabbed the sensitive spot. Even so, it wasn’t enough to make her drop the dagger.
Still at the entrance to the cave, Inferno’s eyes turned from the fight to Calamity. The spectral MudWing glanced back at her, grinning as he raised up the Eye of Onyx. The glowing pupil on the spherical stone started to jitter back and forth, and the Eye started to vibrate. Inferno opened her mouth, about to issue a warning, when Calamity squeezed a paw around the Eye, crushing it into a yellow dust, the two golden wings falling to the ground. Before Inferno could respond, Calamity stuffed his snout into the dust, breathing it in while his glass eye glowed yellow. He winked his other eye at Inferno, causing her to shudder.
“Hey, guys?” Inferno shouted out nervously. The Eye of Onyx was what they’d come here to take back from Calamity, right? “I think Calamity just did something to the Eye of Onyx.”
Polar took a moment’s glance over towards Calamity, seeing that the Eye had disappeared. Taking advantage, Crystal suddenly forced her head back, stabbing Polar in the jaw with her horn before turning to the side. Polar tried to hold on to her forearm, but she twisted it while getting back on her paws, ripping it away, now free.
“Crystal, you don’t have to do this,” Polar suddenly pleaded to his aunt. “Queen Glacier is dead. I gave up on the Darkstone; there’s no way it’ll fall into Queen Blackice’s claws.”
“What, you think that’s what this is about?” Crystal laughed. “It hasn’t been about that for ages. This is about saving Pyrrh—”
Crystal suddenly yelled out again as Slate’s claws sunk into her backside, pulling her away from Polar. The MudWing bit down on her neck, sinking his fangs deep into her scales, the taste of her blue blood in his jaws. Crystal roared and threw her forearm back behind her, trying to stab the dagger into Slate. Just in time, he let go, throwing himself off Crystal and onto the cavern floor, belly up.
Crystal swiveled towards the vulnerable Slate, and raised her dagger up, about to pounce forward, when Polar shot a blast of frostbreath at her hindlegs. She yelled as the frostbreath hit her directly. Ice started to form around her hindpaw, creeping between her talons. Polar kept blasting her as she tried to lift her hindpaw up, freezing it to the crystalline floor. Slate flipped himself over and backed up, getting out of Crystal’s reach.
Ink looked over towards the struggling Crystal, trying to pull her frozen paw from the ice. She was trapped. If he wanted to, he could end her now. Nightreader’s death, the splitting up of Ink’s family, would finally be avenged. Crystal turned to him with a glare, almost beckoning him forward.
He shook his head, remembering Aurora’s words. This wasn’t about revenge. He looked to Calamity, and opened his wings, gliding over the pit. The MudWing seemed unimpressed, and just shook his head as Ink landed beside the frozen Starweaver, Toxin behind him.
“Is this really what you want, Ink?” Calamity sighed, drifting towards the two hybrids. “I suppose you have no choice, just like the rest of us.”
“Oh, shut up already,” Toxin hissed. “Give us back the Eye of Onyx.” She took a swipe at Calamity’s body, but her claws just went through him, and Toxin stumbled forward.
“No can do,” Calamity tsked. With a swipe of his tail, he floated through Ink. Ink shivered as Calamity passed through him, and turned around to see the MudWing sailing down the crystalline bridge, towards the others.
“Sorry about this, Crystal,” Calamity smiled as he floated past Polar, and into the frightened Crystal. Polar shuddered as Crystal’s head jerked to the side, her body suddenly being controlled by a presence that was not her own.
The possessed Crystal grinned at Polar, and stared down at her frozen paw, suddenly blasting it with even more frostbreath, freezing the scales and flesh. Her tail swung around, smashing into the ice, and with a pull and a snap, the ice shattered, a few pieces of her paw scattering across the floor.
Slate took little hesitation in attacking, pouncing at Crystal’s hindquarters, aiming to throw her off balance. Her movements rigid and forced, she tried to swing her tail around, but Slate just grabbed ahold of it, pulling her back. Finally starting to get more control of her body, Crystal swung her dagger out towards Slate, forcing him to let go.
Crystal turned around, licking her fangs as she watched Polar get up. The frostbreath injuries on her neck and the burns on her wing started to glow, the wounds slowly healing. A blue aura extended from her missing hindpaw, and blue flesh and scales started to reappear.
“You could always join Crystal and I,” she said to Polar. Calamity’s words, not Crystal’s. “I can heal the damage the Darkstone has done to you; save your life. You know there’s nothing any mortal medicine can do now. You could still live a long happy life with Ink or Slate, or whoever you want.”
Calamity’s suggestion tempted Polar for a second, but no longer. “No,” he growled. “I wouldn’t deserve either of them if I let monsters like you do your bidding.
Crystal laughed, as if she’d already known what Polar’s answer would be, and had just wanted to torment him with the option. “It’s your loss, of course.”
Polar shook his head. “It’s not.” He moved his paw to the single silver circle hanging from his neck, letting his claws pinch the chain. “Do you know what this means?”
“Of course,” Crystal sneered. “A First Circle necklace.”
“It means honor,” Polar hissed. “It means protecting your family.”
Clenching his forepaw around the diamond healer, Polar jumped forward, attacking Crystal head-on. Her motions still clunky, she reared up, swiping her dagger from side to side. Polar just barely dodged it, ducking beneath her forearm and taking a swipe at her neck, splashing blue blood over her scales.
Crystal turned as the wound started to heal, like she couldn’t feel the pain. “Protecting family?” Calamity spoke through Crystal. “You just attacked your poor aunt.”
“She’s not my family,” Polar growled, slamming his tail into Crystal’s belly. Unfazed, she moved closer to Polar, his spikes pushing up and into her underbelly, her blue blood pouring down them. He just needed to keep Crystal injured, to keep Calamity from leaving her body. He glanced back at the other four, Toxin and Ink having almost made it back from the bridge. “This is my family.”
Crystal cackled, and swiped at Polar’s neck, causing him to pull his spiked tail from her as he dodged. More of her blood splashed on the crystalline floor, and Polar’s tail caught on a loop of her guts, ripping it from her underbelly. “How cliché,” she snorted, the huge wound already starting to heal. “Your family? You barely know any of these dragons. The only reason you’re able to tolerate each other is because of the prophecy. You’re not a family. How long do you think they’ll grieve for your death?”
Suddenly, Crystal brought her dagger down, swiping towards Polar’s neck again. He jerked away, but she lunged forward, stabbing the dagger between the Darkstone bracelet and Polar’s scales. Polar cried out as he felt the blade tear into him, and with a pull of the dagger, the bracelet snapped off of Polar’s forearm, skidding across the ground.
“Polar!” Slate yelled out, seeing the dagger make contact.
“Stay back!” Polar snapped. This was his sacrifice. He glanced down to the dripping wound, the blue welt caused by the Darkstone slowly turning to grey as the blood stopped welling up. He wrapped his talons around the Diamond Healer as tightly as he could. It was the only thing buying him time.
Polar glared up at the grinning Crystal, a loop of her intestines hanging out, dripping blood onto the floor. As grey stone started to spread along his forearm, solidifying his left forepaw and the diamond within, Polar grabbed ahold of his First Circle necklace again. “Being in the First Circle means always having the courage to do what’s right, even if it comes at great sacrifice to yourself. I never truly earned it. I just got it for being Queen Glacier’s paw. But that changes now.”
Letting go of the necklace, Polar brought his paw to his neck, digging his claws into it as stone started to spread up his sides and wings. Gritting his teeth, he ripped his talons from his neck, covered in his own blue blood, and smeared them across Crystal’s snout. A line of blue appeared on her white scales.
Polar kept his eyes locked with Crystal’s, waiting for something to happen. Was that it? Was Calamity bound within her body now? The stone kept creeping up his scales, almost reaching his neck. Ink stared at Polar, shocked.
Finally, Crystal shook her head, laughing. “What do you know of right and wrong?”
Polar’s right paw shook, his left paw frozen. Had it not worked? Why wasn’t it working? His teeth started to chatter as he felt his neck stiffen. He reached his paw out again, smearing more of his blood on Crystal.
Crystal sighed, amused at Polar’s desperation. “Oh, you poor thing,” she scoffed. “It’s always so tragic when you’re chosen for the prophecy. Sacrificing yourself for this? You might have falsetto animus powers, but not the blood of an animus.”
Toxin stared at Polar, the stone now reaching his horns. She suddenly realized what her vision had meant, seeing the puddle of blood beneath Crystal. Polar’s death was her fault. Her vision of blood — the blood had been red, not blue. She turned to Ink, but the hybrid was already in flight, swooping down towards Crystal.
“Ink, don’t!” Polar yelled out, seeing Ink out of the corner of his eye, as the layer of stone creeped around her snout.
Refusing the heed Polar’s warning, Ink dove at Crystal, claws outstretched. The IceWing turned up towards him, and stuck her dagger out. Not slowing down the hybrid pummeled into her, knocking her onto her back, sending the two across the room in a streak of blue blood. After they settled, Crystal shoved. Ink off her, pulling the dagger out from within Ink’s wingblade. The dagger left behind a blot of red where it was pulled from, and a small dab of crimson stained Crystal’s pale scales.
Suddenly, Ink’s wound started glowing. The hybrid screamed as a stream of red blood drained from the wound, flowing along the ground and wrapping itself around Crystal’s paws. The liquid rose up through the air, spiraling around Crystal’s leg and her body. Her snout started to contort, her head shaking from side to side as if she was trying to get free. Toxin saw a hint of Calamity’s translucent brown tail beside Crystal’s, before being forced back inside of her.
The blood began to glow crimson, light reflecting from the crystalline walls. As more poured from Ink’s wound, it formed a web around Crystal, splashing onto her scales and staining them a glowing web. Ink’s yells stopped, and a blank expression washed over his snout. Suddenly, the web of blood burst into steam, Crystal’s body recoiling.
As the red steam dissipated, Ink’s body fell over, smacking down on the cold floor. Toxin stared at him, her talons shaking. His eyes were cold and lifeless, no breath flowing through his snout. Her head turned to Polar, the IceWing’s snout now fully covered in stone. In just a stroke, two of them were dead.
Crystal cocked her head, grinning as she stared towards Toxin. “Congrats,” Calamity spoke through her voice, “you’ve bound me to Crystal. Now what?”
Toxin’s talons shook, and she backed away from Crystal. She still had the dagger. How could they win? She turned to Slate, who was standing by Polar’s stone corpse, staring in shock. She shook her head. She couldn’t grieve, not yet.
The RainWing-NightWing hybrid took a step towards Inferno, the SkyWing still at the front of the cavern. “Now is the time,” she growled. “If you’re going to fight, it’s now or never.”
Inferno shook her head, frightened. She couldn’t fight — if she hurt another dragon with her firescales, she’d become a monster. Peril. She’d promised, she’d vowed to Goat. Fighting was the cowardly thing to do; it took courage to use your words instead of threats and violence. But her eyes stayed focused on Ink’s lifeless body, motionless beneath Crystal’s paws. If she refused to fight, then his death would be for nothing.
Crystal swiveled her head from Toxin to Slate, flicking her forked tongue. Slowly, she waltzed towards him, dagger scraping on the ground.
Slate whipped his head around, torn away from Polar’s statue. He bared his fangs, narrowing his gaze. “You’re a monster.”
Crystal laughed. “Maybe so. But there are quite a lot of monsters in this world.”
Slate opened his jaws, shooting a blast of flame towards Crystal. It barely reached her, and she stepped into it, sneering as the fire died out. In a few moments, Slate’s firebreath diminished to just a puff of smoke, overcome by the cold of the cavern.
Furious, Slate ran forward using the smoke as cover. He reached his jaws forward, trying to latch onto Crystal’s neck, but his fangs barely scraped her scales, and he spat out blue blood. A paw suddenly hit against his face, serrated claws tearing into his snout. He yelled out as Crystal clenched her paw around him, digging into his scales and forcing his head to the ground. She glared down as she raised her other forepaw, dagger glinting within it, pointed towards Slate’s neck.
Suddenly, the smell of searing flesh filled the room, and Inferno’s talons dug into Crystal’s hindquarters. Eyes wrought with fear and fury, she squeezed her forearms around the IceWing’s rump, trying to touch their scales as much as possible. Crystal’s pale scales burst into flames, and their white started to shrivel up into a charcoal black. Smoke started to spread from Crystal’s back, obscuring the air.
“I won’t let you kill him,” Inferno growled as Calamity calmly moved Crystal’s head to look at the SkyWing.
“Interesting,” Calamity commented, even as his scales crumbled and turned to ash. “You’re not alone.”
With a sudden burst of strength, Crystal twisted what little was left of her hips away from Inferno, throwing the SkyWing from her. She grabbed ahold of Inferno’s neck with her left paw, flames immediately spreading over it as the flesh seared away. Inferno screamed as bare bones grasped around her throat, held together only by Calamity’s spirit.
Crystal raised her other paw, ready to stab her dagger into the trapped Inferno, but her forearm refused to move forward. She glanced over to see fangs buried deep within it, holding it back. Toxin shed her smoke-obscured camouflage, clenching her jaws down with all her might as she bit into Crystal’s arm, pulling it back from Inferno.
“So that’s where you went,” Crystal smirked. The IceWing unlatched her jaws, and Toxin had barely a moment to put up a wing before Crystal sent out a blast of frostbreath. The dragonet shrieked as the freezing death breath engulfed her wing, the leathery membrane solidifying and cracking as the cold spread, killing off her nerves. Still, Toxin kept her jaws clenched around Crystal’s forearm, tearing through flesh.
Crystal’s frostbreath suddenly stopped, and she reared back, Toxin finally letting go of her arm. She looked down to the wound Toxin had made to see another one, a small poke further down her forearm. She flexed her paw as it stiffened up around the dagger, and grey stone started to cover her scales.
A huge grin overcame Crystal, and she let out a chilling laugh as the stone spread up her, covering each of her scales as their shiny sheen became dull. It wrapped around what was left of her burnt paw and hips, freezing them in place for eternity as Inferno pulled away. Staring at Toxin, the stone climbed up her neck, quenching her final laugh as her eyes turned a dull grey, Calamity trapped within.
Toxin fell down, yelling from the agony of the frostbreath, the parts of her wing that she could still feel burning from the sensation of the cold. She curled her paws against her belly as she screamed, clenching up.
“Toxin!” Inferno cried out, not yet able to celebrate their victory. “Toxin, are you alright?” That was a stupid question. Of course she isn’t.
Toxin didn’t respond verbally, but her screams slowly turned into whimpers. Inferno’s eyes shifted to Crystal’s stone corpse, forced into an eternal laugh. She half-expected that Calamity would suddenly climb out from it, but there was no change.
Slate’s eyes turned back towards Polar, in a similar state as his aunt. Dead. And for what? “Why didn’t you fight?”
“Huh?” Inferno asked, unsure if Slate was talking to her or not.
“I asked, why didn’t you fight!” Slate growled, tears in his eyes as he turned to Inferno. “We could have used you, and you just stayed back until the very end.”
Inferno opened her mouth, but was unsure how to respond to that. “No,” she started to object, “I would have - I would have just gotten in the way.”
Slate seethed. “Polar might still be alive!”
“I didn’t —” Inferno stammered, “I didn’t mean to —”
Inferno’s expression suddenly changed, and her muscles grew stiff, her eyes blank and unfocused. After a moment’s pause, she mechanically lifted her right foreleg into the air, then leaning forward, placed it out in front of her. Her left hindleg did the same, not bending as it strutted itself forward. Her left foreleg, then right hindleg followed, and Inferno started rigidly walking towards Slate.
“You’re useless!” Slate yelled. “Why didn’t you fight?”
Inferno was unresponsive to Slate’s accusation, and she kept walking forward, until she almost walked up to Slate. The MudWing fiercely glared up at her as she approached, holding his ground. When she got near him, and he felt her heat on his scales, he suddenly leaped out of the way, barely avoiding getting his scales scorched. As if she didn’t realize, or didn’t care he was in the way, she kept on walking in the same direction, past him.
Slate turned to see her target when she finally stopped. At her paws was the Darkstone bracelet that had been ripped from Polar’s arm. She reached out her talons to it, and lifted it up in front of her snout. The bracelet immediately started to melt, and the molten silver dripped through her talons, forming a puddle on the ground, leaving only the spherical Darkstone behind. Inferno rotated herself 90 degrees, then started to walk towards the entrance of the cavern, keeping the Darkstone clenched in her paw.
“Inferno, wait!” Slate called after her as she left the cavern without a word. What was she doing? He winced, gritting his teeth. How could he have blamed her for Polar’s death? “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean what I said. Come back!”
Inferno was unresponsive, and continued on in her path, until she disappeared out of sight behind a wall of crystal. Slate opened his mouth, thinking about going after her, but his gaze was caught on the huddled up Toxin. He couldn’t leave her.
He stepped towards the dragonet, trying to make himself calm. She gave out a whimper and a cry, her body shaking from her frozen wing.
“Don’t worry, Toxin,” Slate said as he peered down, placing a paw behind Toxin’s head. He wasn’t sure there was anything else he could do to sooth the pain. “It’ll all be alright, okay? You did it. We won.”
== Chapter 56 ==
Glory squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep out the world around her. Her mind was foggy. She’d slept — no, she’d been unconscious. There was a difference. Sleeping made you feel all awake and energetic afterwards. Now, she only felt pain. Like someone had peeled off her scales, the skin underneath sore and burnt. That blistering pain was all over, but it wasn’t the only type. A jagged, cutting pain along her side and legs, a pain of claws tearing through scales. Her head ached beneath her right horn, her skull bruised. The RainWing moved in her half-consciousness, and she felt another pain. Metal scraping off scales by her paws, her forelegs contorted into a position above her.
She remained in this state for quite some time, tossing and turning, but not yet awake, not yet ready to open her eyes. She tried to sleep, but couldn’t. Not in the unnatural upright position she’d been placed in, not with the burning with her scales. A voice of another dragon pierced her ears, but the words didn’t make sense. Eventually, she got tired of the sleepless rest, her mind and senses starting to come back to her. Glory slowly opened an eyelid, before closing it immediately. Another pain. The sting of smoke in her eyes.
It was finally enough to break the spell of fatigue. Trying to calm herself and think, Glory took in a deep breath. She coughed as acrid smoke entered her throat. Smoke. There had been smoke in the rainforest. A fire. The drought. IceWings attacked her.
Glory suddenly fluttered her eyes open again, wincing as smoke entered them, tears running across her scales. She resisted the urge to close them again, and tried to turn her head to the side, hoping that the smoke would be less prevalent in a different direction. It wasn’t. Her vision was smoggy, and the figure across the cavern floor was just a blur through her tears and the grey smoke. A jolt shot up her neck as she turned it, twisting a nerve.
Her gaze fell to one of her forelegs, forcefully pulled up to her side and above her, in a position quite wrong for any quadruped. A thick metal cuff had been tightened just below her paw, her scales rubbed raw beneath it from her movements in her sleep. A rusty iron chain extended from it to a circular pin hastily smashed into the the stone cavern. She pulled on her forearm, gritting her teeth as the metal scraped her scales. The pin didn’t budge.
Glory turned to her other side, where a similar chain held the other foreleg in place. The rest of Glory’s body hung from her forelegs, between the two chains. Her back was against the warm cavern wall, her underbelly exposed out to the front. A third chain wrapped twice around her torso and wings, keeping her from opening them up, while two more chains connected her hindlegs to pins smashed into the ground. Her head and tail were the only parts of her body that were guaranteed free movement.
As the RainWing queen felt the heat of the cavern wall against her neck, it suddenly dawned on her that this wasn’t the rainforest. She didn’t remember this location specifically, but the smoke and the stone was too familiar. This was the NightWing volcanic island. She’d been here only a couple weeks ago.
Her suspicions were confirmed as the smoke-caused tears rolled down her eyes, and the shapes in the smoke started to become more clear. Not far from where she was chained up, an orange glow was cast on the stones. A small flow of still molten lava slowly ran down the cragged slope. That meant they had to be pretty far up the volcano; most of the lower flows had cooled when Glory had visited with Mastermind. Not far from the lava flow, an orange dragon idly twiddled his claws. A SkyWing? No, an IceWing whose white scales looked orange under the lava’s aura. It was difficult to make out in the smoke, but Glory thought she saw small black markings painted about his talons and spines.
IceWings. Why IceWings? Glory would’ve thought that if anyone would’ve attacked the rainforest, it would’ve been Queen Scarlet. Sure, rumors said that Queen Scarlet wasn’t exactly the evil schemer she’d been three years ago — apparently, her health had deteriorated since Glory took off half her face, and brave SkyWings even claimed that she’d started to see Glory’s spies in every nook and cranny of her palace — but she at least had a somewhat reasonable reason to hate Glory.
Glory took another breath, and let out a loud cough from the smoke. The IceWing glanced over to her, standing up as soon as he realized that her eyes were open, and she was awake.
“Hey, Icicle-Face!” Queen Glory shouted, realizing there was no point in trying to pretend she was still asleep. “What’s the meaning of this? If Queen Blackice wants to alk, she could’ve just asked me.”
The IceWing nervously looked back and forth, then promptly turned around and spread his wings, taking off over the lava flow. Glory let out a growl as he left her sight, tugging on the chains. Hopefully he didn’t leave her here for too long. She was not a fan of being taken prisoner. 
Still, if he was gone, Glory would make the best of it. Maybe she could try and escape. She turned her head back to the chains. The cuffs around her ankles and wrists had small locks on them for keys. Unfortunately, nothing like a keyring seemed anywhere in sight. Maybe she could try and break the chains, or pull them out of the walls? She winced as she tugged on one. Nope. It seemed quite well hammered in place.
What about venom? Her snout had been left unchained. So the IceWings didn’t know about the venom, or they were too confident to care. Either way, Glory doubted it would work on the chains. RainWing venom only worked on organic materials, like plants or flesh. Still, there was no harm in trying.
Glory quickly shot a small burst of venom at the chain on the floor. It hit the iron, and dripped off without a mark. She sighed. No luck there. Maybe there was another way she could use her venom? If she shot the guard when he came back with it, she could tell him she would only give him an antidote if he freed her. Then she’d kill him after being set free.
That plan made her feel slightly queasy. She’d killed dragons with her venom before, of course, but tricking someone like that, even if they were keeping her locked up, didn’t feel right. And it was risky — if he didn’t free her fast enough, the venom would run out and stop melting. Still, Glory was getting desperate. The rainforest was burning. Had the IceWings set the fire, or was it an accident? What had happened to her RainWings and NightWings? Were the IceWings attacking all of them, or was she their only target?
“Moons, please let Deathbringer, Firefly, and the rest of the kingdom be alright,” Glory muttered. Her breath started to grow faster as her scales started to pale. She needed to get back. She was their queen. She couldn’t abandon them like this. She glanced back to the chains. Her venom couldn’t melt the iron, but it could melt organic matter. If she shot it at her paws… 
Glory shook her heads. She couldn’t do that. To get all of the chains off, she have to use it on all four of her paws. She wasn’t strong enough to do something like that. But if it was the only option, the only way to save everyone?
The Rainforest Queen didn’t get a chance to wonder more, as a flutter of wings sounded from across the cave, landing on the same side of the lava flow as her. Glory briefly considered turning invisible, but realized they’d still be able to see her in the smoke. Maybe they’d be reasonable? That seemed like too much to hope at this point.
A small procession of six dragons walked forward. Five IceWings, one of them possibly the same as the one guarding Glory earlier. Four of them had the same black markings on their talons and spines, each of them clearly giving the fifth IceWing room and reverence. The only one without the markings, Queen Blackice needed little introduction. Her bright blue eyes stared greedily at Queen Glory, fangs grinning covetously at her prize. One of her paws wrapped around a chain, attached to the hindleg of a shuddering NightWing behind her. Glory recoiled slightly as her eyes fell on Alchemy’s abused form. What sort of monster would do that to a dragon?
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. Queen Blackice dropped the chain, letting one of the other IceWings pick it up. She walked forward towards Glory, eyes wide in amazement and glee. Seeing Blackice’s expression, Glory wanted to retch ten times more than she’d wanted to upon seeing the poor NightWing. The RainWing shook as memories of her time as Queen Scarlet’s pet came back to her. Blackice looked at her the same the SkyWing queen had, like a hatchday gift someone had given her.
“They did it,” Queen Blackice whispered, almost shocked. She placed a claw against Glory’s neck, causing the RainWing to stiffen up. Instead of tearing into, the IceWing traced it along Glory’s scales, as if she was judging her gift’s condition. “I’ll admit, Hoarfrost, I thought it was a stupid idea. I thought for sure they’d fail. But they did it. They got me the NightWing queen.”
“Yes, your majesty,” the IceWing who’d picked up the NightWing’s chain replied. “I was quite surprised myself.”
“Make sure they’re well-rewarded,” Blackice ordered, grinning as she continued to examine Glory, grabbing ahold of the RainWing’s horn. Glory tried to turn away, but Blackice refused to let her. “First Circle for them. Let their families live in the palace after it fully reforms. Treasure. A ceremony for their heroism. I want to make sure that everyone knows that under Queen Blackice, IceWings will be rewarded for their loyalty.”
“Of course, your majesty,” Hoarfrost responded. “For the two who died, I will make sure their families are given quite the payout, and will give them First Circle posthumously. It will be known there is nothing more honorable than dying in your name.”
Glory suddenly jerked her horn away, twisting it our of Blackice’s claws. She glared up at the IceWing queen. “What’s this all about?” she hissed. “Are you declaring war on the RainWings and NightWings? Am I your hostage now?”
Blackice let out a shrill cackle, the sound scraping against Glory’s scales. “Why would I need to do that?” the IceWing snorted. “Declare war? I’ve already won.”
Already won? Glory wondered fearfully. Did she take over the rainforest? “You attacked us without declaring war?” Glory growled. “That’s dishonorable. Even Burn wouldn’t have stooped that low. It’s not the dragon way.”
Blackice sneered. “Oh, who cares about that? Why would I care about that rule? The Ice Kingdom is impenetrable, who’s going to punish us for breaking some tradition? Besides, we were already at war. IceWings and NightWings have been for two-thousand years. The NightWings stealing our magic. That’s what’s really dishonorable.”
“So that’s what you’re doing?” Glory asked. “You’re continuing the ancient IceWing-NightWing war? And I’m the NightWing queen, I suppose?”
Blackice’s expression changed faster than a burst of lightning, her callous grin into a vicious snarl. She slammed a paw into Glory’s chest, and squeezed her talons into the RainWing. Glory winced as the serrated knives tore into her scales, and felt a trickle of blood roll down her underbelly.
“You stole the NightWings from me,” Blackice hissed, her spiked tail waving back and forth. “You’re going to pay for it.”
Glory glared up at Blackice, refusing to put down her bravado. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she growled. “You wanted to rule the NightWings?”
“It was my RIGHT to rule the NightWings,” Blackice yelled, cold spittle landing on Glory’s snout. Her voice reverberated through the cavern. The other IceWings stood still and silent, as if this was far from first time they’d heard this. “I killed Queen Battlewinner in one-to-one combat, fair and square. That makes me the rightful NightWing queen. But instead of getting the Night Kingdom like I deserved, all I got was this stupid NightWing who doesn’t know a polar bear from a seal. Do you know how many years I spent exiled on our island? How dark it was? How boring it was? How hungry we were? And I finally get news that my mother is dead, and I can come back, and what do I hear? Apparently some brainless RainWing has taken my prize.”
Queen Battlewinner? Glory wondered. So Blackice knew her name somehow. But Glory had been there during the queen’s last moments. Blackice obviously hadn’t killed her. Yet, Battlewinner had died of frostbreath wounds from the inside-out. Did that mean that Blackice was the IceWing who’d caused them?
“It’s unfair,” Blackice whined, continuing her rant. “I have to kill two NightWing queens? Although I suppose I should be grateful. I’ll go down in the history scrolls for this. For bringing the Ice Kingdom back from the weakness and debauchery of my mother, for finally ending the NightWings, and for killing not one, but two NightWing queens.” Her mood seemed to change again, her anger subsided. “Still, you’ve caused me so much pain. I’m going to have some fun with you before I kill you.”
Glory’s eyes fell on the abused form of Alchemy. She had a feeling that Blackice meant similar torture for her, if not worse. She glanced at the four Black Princes in succession. All emotionless. No moral reaction to Blackice’s threat.
The RainWing queen finally understood. She hadn’t been brought here as a hostage. Blackice had no intention of letting her leave alive. The color of Glory’s scales started to pale, her red-orange wings turning to a faded green, almost the color of ice. She closed her eyes, trying to still her breath. There had to be a way to escape, right? No, she’d been through that. It was too late.
Her eyes fell on the glowing river of lava, the murky sky barely visible beyond it. There was no chance of rescue. Even if someone figured out she was here, of all places, they’d have to get through the IceWings. RainWings could sneak in, but who would do that? Of the four RainWings who’d actually been trained to do stuff like that, two were dead, one was injured, and the last was traumatized. Moons above, Deathbringer had been right about her needing invisible bodyguards. Glory was the queen of two kingdoms. Why had she thought she was safe?
Where was Deathbringer? They’d saved each others lives more times than they could remember. He had to show up at the last minute, right? Glory should’ve had him go with her. She hadn’t meant to push him away. She’d just thought that splitting up would be helpful. A huge mistake. If Glory got out of this alive, by some miracle, she’d make sure she kept him close by. He was her mate before he was just some ex-assassin she could send out on missions.
The last of Queen Glory’s rage and hope welled up inside her. Blackice was going to try and destroy the NightWings. Murder an entire tribe of dragons. Blackice was right about one thing — Glory was the NightWing queen. It was her responsibility to protect RainWings and NightWings alike. She couldn’t just become some chained up corpse. Even if it meant her giving her own life for it, she would stop Blackice.
Glory slowly tilted her head, pointing her snout directly towards Queen Blackice. She stared at the IceWing’s snout, currently turned back towards one of the Black Princes. Glory would only have one shot at this, and she needed to kill. Directly in the eyes would give her the best chance of that. Afterwards, the other IceWings would likely kill her. But maybe the NightWings would have a chance.
“You’ll regret this,” Glory growled, trying to get Blackice to turn towards her. “You provoked the NightWings and RainWings. You won’t get off lightly.”
The IceWing queen shook her head, grinning. “I won’t regret anything, I promise you. This drought has been good for something — your rainforest is burning down as we speak. We’ve already got a supply of RainWing slaves to help rebuild the Ice Kingdom to its former glory. Heh. Glory.” Blackice chuckled at her own pun.
“You can’t,” she quickly protested, despair taking over her. “Please, the RainWings don’t have anything to do with this. They can’t survive in the Ice Kingdom, it’s too cold there.” An image passed in front of Glory’s mind of Kinkajou, dying of cold while forced to toil away in the snow of the Ice Kingdom, dragging around blocks of ice, her paws black and frostbitten.
“I can do whatever I want,” Blackice snarled.
Glory looked back towards the lava river, hoping to see friendly wings in the sky. She’d thought that bringing the RainWings and NightWings together was the right decision at the time. Had she only put the RainWings in more danger? Where were the other Dragonets of Destiny right now when she needed them the most? That was right. She’d left them to be queen. Her brothers and sisters had gone to Jade Mountain, while she’d stayed in the rainforest. And now they were all across Pyrrhia. All of them probably thought she was safe, back in the rainforest. She’d die here, alone.
A fizzle suddenly sounded from behind Queen Blackice, and the IceWing’s head whipped around. Another sound came shortly the river of lava, a small hissing noise. Her gaze narrowed as she saw what was causing it. Drops of water were falling into the lava from the sky above, evaporating as they hit it. Raindrops.
Before Blackice had a chance to say anything, the sky opened up. A flash of lightning burnt into Glory’s eyes, followed by a sudden crack of thunder. Steam rose up from the lava flow as the patter of rain grew into the strength of a storm. A trickle of water ran down into the cavern, touching the tip of Glory’s tail. The coolness of the water was an antidote to the dry heat of the volcano, and just the small touch seemed to calm Glory’s wounds and burns.
A small smile came over Glory’s snout, as the deathly pale green of her scales started to cool into a green-blue aquamarine. The noise of the rain on stone filled the RainWing queen’s ears, offering her meditative calmness in what she assumed were to be her final moments. Rain. The drought was over. Toxin, Polar. They’d won. She could rest, at least knowing that.
“You’re underestimating us,” Glory smiled defiantly, Blackice turning back to her. “The fires you started in the rainforest are going out as we speak. RainWings and NightWings aren’t just going to let you do what you want with them.”
Blackice’s snout contorted, baring her teeth. “You did this, didn’t you,” she hissed. “How? Tell me how.”
Glory grinned. “It wasn’t me. It was a RainWing-NightWing hybrid and an IceWing, working together. You don’t like that, do you?”
The IceWing queen’s eyes opened wide, a low rumble sounding in the back of her throat. Glory could see her claws shaking. Just a little closer, and she’d have a perfect shot.
“I’ll tell you something else,” Glory taunted. “Queen Battlewinner. You didn’t kill her. She survived your frostbreath. I saw her die, on this very island. She died trying to kill me.”
That was too much for Blackice. With a sudden roar, she pounced forward, claws out and ready to attack the chained-up Glory. Faster than Glory had expected, she had her talons around the RainWing’s neck. Glory opened her jaws, shooting out a blast of venom, but Blackice had slammed her neck back up into the wall, chipping her horns. The venom barely missed the IceWing’s head, sailing across the cavern before landing in a puddle on the floor.
Her one chance to kill Blackice. Gone. Glory closed her eyes as Blackice tightened her talons. Fuck.
Alchemy hobbled over to the small puddle of black goop on the floor, curious what Glory had shot out. He gave the venom a small sniff, before poking a claw-stub into the surface. As his scales started to melt, he squealed and jumped back, shaking his paw as if hoping the venom would stop.
Blackice turned her head, hearing the NightWing’s screams and realizing what Glory had tried to do. “YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!” she screeched, grabbing ahold of one of Glory’s horns with one paw and her lower jaw with the other. Holding Glory’s head back, Blackice forced the RainWing’s jaws opened, and grabbed at Glory’s largest fang, twisting and tearing at it as the RainWing screamed out.
Hoarfrost looked over to Alchemy in worry, seeing the NightWing coddling his claw-stub. “Wait!” he called out as he saw what Queen Blackice was doing, Glory’s jaws open. “Your majesty! Stop!”
Hoarfrost rushed forward, trying to protect his queen, when Blackice turned around with a furious glare. With no regard for his safety, she twisted her spiked tail around, slamming it into the side of Hoarfrost’s neck, knocking him away. “Don’t tell me what to do!” she yelled. “I’m the queen! I’m the one who giv —”
Blackice’s yells were cut short by her piercing scream, her eyes wide with shock and agony. Her right paw let go of Glory’s fang, covered in black venom as her scales dissolved to bone. Fear in her eyes, Blackice moved her gaze to it, watching her claws melt before her very eyes. She turned to her wing, a similar amount of black liquid having sprayed out from beneath her paw. The membrane was quickly dissolving, venom eating away at it, holes forming within.
As Blackice let go of Glory’s fang, the RainWing queen’s head slumped back. Venom had dripped down her fang from Blackice’s paw, directly into the RainWing’s throat. Her own venom had formed a hole had formed beneath her jaws and on the front of her neck. Queen Glory’s emerald eyes stared up at the shocked Blackice, Glory’s snout a lifeless grin.
Blackice screamed as she looked back at her paw and wing, still melting. “MAKE IT STOP!” she ordered frantically. All of the IceWings were still and frightened, unsure how to respond.
With no other option, Blackice’s gaze landed on the flow of lava, sizzling from the downpour of rain. She ran towards it, hobbling on her three non-venomed legs, increasingly desperate and frightened. Without hesitation, she plunged her leg and wing into the lava, letting out a screech like Pyrrhia had never heard as the lava burned away the venom, flesh, and scales alike. The IceWing kept it in there, refusing to take it out until she was sure there was nothing left of the venom left.
Alchemy’s head suddenly perked up, staring at Blackice, leaning over the river of lava. So vulnerable. Just a teensy little push, and she’d fall right in. He took a step forward. Then another. Then a third. His claws shook. Would Blackice be angry at him if he did this? Would she punish him? He took another step forward. He’d made up his mind. He suddenly leaped, pouncing at Blackice.
Alchemy squealed as he ran up against the end of his chain, grabbing ahold of his hindleg, slamming his snout hard to the ground. Hoarfrost stood at the other end, clenching ahold of it. Blue blood ran down the side of his neck from where Blackice’s tail spikes had hit him. The NightWing had been too slow.
After what seemed like an eternity of screaming, Blackice finally pulled her foreleg and wing from the lava, or at least what was left of them. Small stubs of blackened bone poked out from the stubs of her limbs, rainwater streaming down her scales. Her eyes were wide open as she turned, her remaining paws shaking. Hoarfrost pulled Alchemy back.
Blackice stared at Glory, the RainWing queen’s grinning corpse hanging from her chains, the hole in her neck widened. Blackice yelled out again, this time in anguish. Tripping once onto the stone floor, she limped over to Glory. She swiped out at the RainWing, what was left of her right foreleg’s bones waving through the air. The IceWing queen screamed again, this time using her left paw. Her talons cut through Glory’s underbelly, ripping it open. The Black Princes stared at Blackice desecrated the corpse, unwilling to look away for fear they might offend their queen or show weakness.
When Blackice was finally done, she glared at each of the emotionless Black Princes in turn. The coward. She’d taken two of Blackice’s limbs and killed herself in the process. She’d stolen her own death from Blackice, and there was nothing the IceWing queen could do about it. No matter how much she teared through the RainWing’s corpse, she was dead. She couldn’t feel it.
“Make sure everyone knows I’m the one who killed Glory,” Blackice hissed, getting a quick nod from the Black Princes. “It was me. No one else. Kill anyone who disagrees or questions me. That includes everyone here. Understood?”
The IceWings quickly shook their heads up and down. No one would ever learn the truth about what happened in here.
Blackice glared at Hoarfrost, still tightly grasping Alchemy’s chain. “Behead her and put her head up on a spike or something. Get rid of everything else. Just make sure everyone knows she’s dead by my claws.”
Hoarfrost nodded obediently. He turned to the chains, scanning what was left of the RainWing’s corpse. This would not be fun. He didn’t particularly want to soil his claws like this, but if those were his orders, he would carry them out with pride.
“Get me a NightWing to murder,” Blackice grumbled. “Or maybe an IceWing who looks like my mother. Yet another queen I didn’t get to kill.”
== Epilogue ==
Rain pattered down Slate’s scales, droplets of cold water wrestling their way between them. He folded his wings in with a shiver. The rain hadn’t let up since the fateful day at the Mausoleum, and it didn’t seem to plan on stopping anytime soon.
A flash of lightning lit up the evening sky, the pillars of Queen Frost’s Mausoleum casting shadows on the ground. Even with all the rain, a layer of fluffy snow remained inside the circle. Slate glanced up to one of the pillars, the frightening figure of a SandWing queen staring back at him. Thunder roared, and his claws clenched up, grasping ahold of wet mud. With all the rain loosening the dry soil up so suddenly, the five of them were practically standing in a huge puddle. Not that Slate particularly minded.
It was the first time him and Toxin had been back to the Mausoleum since the battle with Calamity. Even if it had only been a few weeks, it was nice seeing Toxin again. The two of them had been through something together that no one else could understand.
“If it keeps raining like this, we might have to find some way to stop the flooding,” Torrent muttered, vaguely in Slate’s direction. “Stuff like this happens when you mess with animus magic.”
Slate glanced down to the SeaWing’s webbed paws. They were flexing in and out of the muddy water, as if the SeaWing’s scales were secretly longing for it. How long had it been since Torrent had visited the ocean?
“You’re being rained on, though,” Slate pointed out, water running off the SeaWing’s jaw. “That wouldn’t happen if this was magical, right?”
Torrent grunted something that might have been an answer. Slate looked away, towards Trustbreaker. The NightWing was carefully placing a large rock on one of the four piles he’d made to mark the graves. Slate was grateful. Even if they’d only had one body to bury, it had been quite difficult to dig the grave in the mud. Trustbreaker had done not only that, but had gathered the stones to mark the graves and placed them, all in this weather. Normally, it would’ve been up to Clarity, as the leader of the Talons, to have done that, but well . . .
Clarity was sitting on her haunches a short distance away from Trustbreaker. She’d been almost completely still as long as Slate had seen her, her tail having almost sunk beneath the mud. Her only movements had been the careful rubbing of her claws, gently scratching Sapphire behind his ears as she held the tabby up against her scaled chest, using a wing to protect him from the rain.
To no one’s surprise, Avalanche hadn’t shown up to the funeral. Trustbreaker and Clarity had already put Fracture’s remains to rest, retrieved from the smolders of the safehouse in Possibility. The other three dragons — Clarity was the only one of them who was able to open the Mausoleum, and no one particularly wanted to go down there. The eerieness of the unnatural caverns. Slate still saw it when he dreamt. Sometimes, the battle played before his eyes, Polar’s death still vivid. Other times, he was cold and alone down there. Helpless, as he felt something grasping ahold of him, keeping him trapped there. And of course, there was the fear that still struck Slate sometimes. The fear that they hadn’t won. Calamity was only trapped in Crystal’s stone body. How long could that last? How long had Ink’s death bought them?
So, the other remains hadn’t been brought up. That was alright, Slate supposed. Ignoring the creepiness of the caverns. Laid to rest in the grave of Mica, Starweaver, Falcon, and Queen Frost. Ink and Polar would rest with ancient heroes . . . and Crystal.
“Why are we having a funeral for her?” Slate grumbled. “She’s the one who killed them. It’s wrong.”
Torrent shrugged his wings, causing the water coalesced in them to slip off and splash on the ground. “It’s not for you,” he said with a conflicted frown. “It’s for Clarity. Out of everyone here, she’s lost the most. Her mate, her sister, and her dragonets.”
Clarity kept staring at the graves, her claws against Sapphire, rubbing his wet fur. Torrent was right, Slate supposed. But how could she honor Crystal with the rest of them, when she was the one who’d stolen Polar away from her?
“And what do you think about it?” Slate asked Torrent.
Torrent stared down at his webbed talons. “Crystal took my family from me. Whether I loved her or not, I can’t say I’m sorry for her death. Just that she hurt so many in her life.”
Eventually, Trustbreaker finished building up the piles of rocks. The NightWing gave a short speech, but Slate wasn’t able to catch much of it with the noise of the downpour above him. Oh well. Fracture had said that Trustbreaker was from another world, hadn’t he? It was strange. The NightWing didn’t seem all that different than the dragons of this word. Slate had been curious when Fracture had mentioned it, but now it was like that had faded from him. Another world . . . why did that matter? It couldn’t be that much different from Pyrrhia, could it? Dragons living, loving, fighting, and dying.
Even if Slate had wanted to ask Trustbreaker about what Fracture had said, this would’ve been a bad time for it. After the NightWing was done, Slate splashed over to Toxin. The RainWing dragonet gave him a small smile as she looked up, but he could tell she was just as downcast as him.
Slate tried to avoid staring at the stump that remained of Toxin’s right wing. The price she’d paid for defeating Calamity. He’d carried her back to Possibility afterwards. Mayfly had done all she could, but there’d been too much frostbreath damage to save it. Toxin had remained strong as ever. She’d remained in Possibility while Slate had returned to Jade Mountain.
“Is there any news of Inferno?” Toxin asked Slate.
Slate shook his head. He’d figured that a dragon with firescales wouldn’t be hard to find, but he’d heard nothing. Since she’d left at the Mausoleum, no one had seen her. She hadn’t returned to Jade Mountain Academy, nor the Talons of Peace. Why had he said that? He promised that if he ever saw her again, the first thing he’d say to her was an apology.
“What about Aurora?” Toxin asked.
“Torrent has been tracking her on his map,” Slate explained. “She’s in the Sky Kingdom right now. Doing who knows what.”
“Are you planning to go after her?”
“Me?” Slate responded. “No. Definitely not. Torrent might, but he’s been conflicted. He thinks . . . he still hopes there’s good left in her, after I told him about our conversation at the Mausoleum. He wants to give her some time, now that Crystal’s gone.”
“She killed Gorilla and Tropic,” Toxin snapped.
“I didn’t say I agreed with him,” Slate continued. “I don’t like it. Sure, Calamity and Crystal are gone, but she could still be up to no good. Torrent should at least keep her under watch. She’s might well be the most dangerous dragon on Pyrrhia, and he’s the only one who can stop her.”
Toxin nodded. “So what now, if you’re not planning to go after Aurora?”
“I’m going back to the Mud Kingdom,” Slate replied glumly. “I’m sure my mother is worried about me.” Slate had been so hopeful back before the battle. He still should be. They’d stopped the drought. Thanks to Torrent, him and his mother were the richest dragons in the Mud Kingdom. They could still help Glen and Schist create a new Mud Kingdom, one where hybrids were accepted. A kingdom for everyone. But with Polar dead, it just didn’t feel the same. The spark of Slate’s hopes and ambitions had been doused. Damnit, why did I fall in love with a dragon with a penchant for martyrdom?
“What about you?” Slate asked, trying to change the subject. “What are your plans?”
Toxin sighed. “I don’t know,” she muttered. “I can’t go back to the rainforest. There’s not much left there.”
“Oh, yeah,” Slate glumly replied. At least he had a home to go back to. Toxin’s entire kingdom was gone in a night. “Were you able to find anything else out.”
“Maybe,” Toxin admitted. “I have hope. I had a vision. I think the RainWings are in hiding, but I’m not sure where. They’re waiting for the right moment to strike back.”
“You know, with Glory gone, the RainWings and NightWings will need a new leader,” Slate suddenly blurted out.
“Are you suggesting me as queen?” Toxin laughed. “I’ll pass. I’m a hybrid dragonet with no venom that can barely turn invisible. I can’t even fly anymore. I can’t even search for the RainWings.”
“Just because you’re not a fighter doesn’t mean you’re not a leader,” Slate replied. “You’re the one who defeated Calamity.”
Toxin shook her head. “I’m also the one who got Polar killed. His death was my fault, not Inferno’s.”
Slate frowned. “What do you mean? You don’t have to blame yourself.”
“I do,” Toxin insisted. “He told me he thought he was the one who was supposed to bind Calamity. If I’d realized sooner from my vision that it had to be someone with red blood, he might still be alive.” She turned her eyes away from Slate, unable to meet them. “I know. Feel free to be angry.”
“I’m not angry,” Slate sighed. Water dripped down Toxin’s snout, but he couldn’t tell if it was her tears or just the rain. “It’s my fault as much as yours. Fracture trusted me to protect Polar. I failed.”
Toxin stared down at her paws, slowly sinking into the mud. The two stayed silent for a moment, rain splattering from their scales as they shivered.
“I’ll probably just go back to Jade Mountain,” Toxin finally responded. “It’s safe there, and there are lots of RainWing and NightWing refugees. I want to know wh-who’s left.
Slate nodded. The Mud Kingdom. His home. The warm embrace of his mother, telling him that this all was over. He felt guilty for thinking it.
After what felt like an eternity, the funeral finally finished up. Trustbreaker and Clarity started their flight back to Possibility, carrying Toxin with them. It was far more difficult and dangerous in the storm, but it wasn’t like they’d get anywhere quick by walking. Before he took off, Slate looked back to Torrent. The SeaWing was by the graves, his gaze fixed, his wings drooped.
“Are you coming?” Slate quickly asked. He didn’t want to interrupt Torrent’s mourning, but the other three had almost disappeared in the fog of the storm. If they didn’t go soon, they might lose them.
“I’ll catch up,” Torrent responded. “Go ahead without me.”
Slate nodded, the SeaWing’s intentions indiscernible. If he wanted some time to himself to mourn, Slate wouldn’t deny him that. He quickly took off, disappearing into the rain.
Torrent lowered his head, quietly staring at the graves. A son he’d barely known. A dragon he’d once loved. In a way, it felt like he’d lost the least of everyone here. All of this felt like it was somehow his fault. He and Orca had started this, twenty years ago, and these young dragons had payed for it.
The SeaWing slowly raised his head, turning around, facing into the mists of the flooded valley. He closed his eyes, preparing himself for what he knew was going to come. Finally, he was ready.
“I know you’re there,” he spoke quietly, his voice extending out into the fog.
Slowly, a small figure stepped out of the mists, fog clinging to his soaked feathers. Griffin stared up at Torrent.
“It’s been a while, Torrent,” Griffin said. Other than their species, his expression wasn’t much different than Torrent’s. Both shared in their grief.
“Seven years,” Torrent replied, despondent. It had been seven years since he’d seen Griffin. The only other one who’d known Orca like he had, who’d been there through Crystal, Schist, Nightreader. “Why didn’t you ever look for me?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Griffin replied, his voice sad rather than angry. He ruffled his feathers, shaking off raindrops. There wasn’t much use still in the rain.
The two stayed silent. What was there to save? Griffin ran his talons through the mud. Even in death, Fracture had been right, of course. Once to kill, once to grieve, and once to live. Griffin had come to the Mausoleum twice after his initial meeting with Fracture. The first time, he’d been captured by Crystal, then magically forced by Aurora to kill Loresearcher. Now he was here to mourn Ink and Fracture’s deaths.
Griffin turned his head to Fracture’s water-soaked grave. What had the IceWing seer known? Ever since Griffin had met Fracture on the edge of the Sea Kingdom, he’d been guiding them. Now that he was dead, what would happen? Calamity had been trapped. Did that mean this was all over?
“I raised him well, you know,” Griffin said. “He had a happy life.” How much had Ink known? Griffin wondered. How much had Fracture told him?
“Thank you,” Torrent sighed. He felt like he should be angry at Griffin. Why hadn’t he ever brought him to see Ink, just once? Maybe Torrent understood. Griffin had been scared of him. It wasn’t like Torrent had spent much time with the dragonet he had either.
“His sister survived, if you didn’t realize,” Torrent continued. “Stonemover too, if you can call that life.”
“How is she?”
“She’s well,” Torrent explained. “Her name is Midnight. She lives with Gazelle in Crosswinds, if you ever want to meet her. She’s brave. Smart. The best of her mother.”
“And your other daughter?” Griffin asked.
Torrent closed his eyes, raindrops splashing against his snout. “She’s alive. I met her. I’m leaving her be.” The SeaWing sighed. What had happened to Crystal? Had she changed, or had Torrent just ignored the dangerous parts of her? Boreal, the SkyWing soldiers, the RainWing dragonet . . . Griffin had seen it, and he’d warned Torrent. But was Torrent really so different than her? He’d gone along with it. He’d agreed with her. Could he have killed Nightreader and Loresearcher? He’d threatened to kill Midnight if she’d abused her magic, but he couldn’t actually ever go through with it, right?
“Loresearcher and Nightreader weren’t your fault,” Torrent said to Griffin. He’d been enchanted. Just because Loresearcher had died in his talons — it wasn’t him. Griffin had been the one to warn him about Crystal.
“I know,” Griffin replied.
The two stood in the pouring rain, the Mausoleum and the newly made graves behind them. Quietly, Griffin turned his head, and started back into the mists of the valley.
“I’m going back to Crosswinds,” Torrent called after him, almost desperately. “I want to spend time with Midnight. You can come back with me if you want. I’m sure she’d be excited to meet you.”
Griffin didn’t reply. Soon, all that Torrent could see of him was the outline of a tailfeather, disappearing into the fog.
== Post-Epilogue ==
Thunder crackled from over the Sky Kingdom. A torrent of rain washed across the roof of the palace. The prisoners, chained up on their pillars above the arena, shivered and huddled in the cold, hoping that a stray bolt of lightning wouldn’t hit their chains.
Queen Scarlet herself remained safe and sound on her throne. She was in a grumpy mood, and the rain wasn’t helping. It had been two years since she’d regained her throne, and she still wasn’t in a war. That left her a dwindling supply of prisoners for arena battles, mostly SkyWings themselves. All of the battles seemed the same these days. Boring.
“Your majesty?”
Queen Scarlet looked down from her throne, involuntarily tilting her head to only show off her good side. A small soaking SkyWing shivered, groveling at her paws. That was right. This weasel was making a request to her for something. She sighed. “What is it?”
The soaking red SkyWing turned to the side nervously. Four guards surrounded her, and Queen Scarlet’s current advisor stood at the side of the throne, glaring at her impatiently. This was the third time she’d tried to explain to Queen Scarlet what she was asking for, but the queen refused to pay attention for even a moment.
“We were wondering if you could give our village relief for flooding,” the red SkyWing pleaded, claws shaking. “The rains have flooded our fields, and swept away much of our livestock. We won’t have enough food this winter.”
Queen Scarlet frowned. “Hey,” she muttered. “Haven’t I seen you before?”
“Er, yes,” the shivering SkyWing replied. “I came here a few weeks ago.”
“Pewter, what did she come here for then?” the queen asked her advisor.
“She asked for drought relief, your majesty,” Pewter responded, glaring at the red SkyWing.
Queen Scarlet tapped her claws on her throne, twitching her tail. “Drought relief,” she mused. “You just asked for drought relief a few weeks ago, and now you want flood relief?”
The SkyWing shuffled back and forth. “Er, yes, your majesty. But we didn’t get any drought relief, and now it’s flooding.”
Queen Scarlet shook her head, tsking. “You can’t just whine to me for help whenever the weather changes a little.”
“But, your majesty —”
“Shush,” Queen Scarlet interrupted with a snarl. “You’ve taken too much up of my precious time already. Guards, take her out of the palace.”
Two of the guards stepped closer to the red SkyWing, poking spears at her. She lowered her head in defeat.
“To the arena?” Pewter asked. The red SkyWing stiffened up.
“No, not to the arena,” Queen Scarlet growled. “She’s a farmer. I’d die of boredom if she was in a battle.” Where was Peril when you needed her? She’d made all of Queen Scarlet’s arena fights so interesting. Oh, that was right, Peril had betrayed her. Just like everyone else.
The guards pushed the red SkyWing out of the throne room. Queen Scarlet sighed, and her talons scratched at her snout. Her scales blackened and crusty, her once beautiful face ruined by that RainWing. Glory. Her claws tensed up, imagining Glory’s neck between them. But it was too late for that now.
“Cancel the rest of my meetings today,” Scarlet muttered. “I’ve had enough of SkyWings begging me for help. They need to learn how to fix their own problems. Is there any updates from Blackice?”
Pewter sighed. “Yes, your majesty. Queen Blackice is willing to sell Glory’s head.”
“How much?” Scarlet yawned.
“A fifth of your treasury.”
Scarlet’s eyes narrowed, her claws scratching against her throne. Pewter took a small step back.
“A FIFTH?” Queen Scarlet yelled. “Who does that conniving seal-eater think she is? I should’ve been the one to kill Glory in the first place. Blackice is lucky I’m not declaring war on her myself for this.”
“Of course, your majesty,” Pewter responded. “Her demand is ridiculous. I will try and get our ambassadors to lower it to something reasonable.”
“The SkyWings are getting weak,” Scarlet spat. “We’ve gone three years without war, and most of our soldiers still haven’t recovered from my daughter’s short reign. They’re soft. A war with Blackice would bring in IceWing prisoners for the arena. That sounds pretty thrilling.”
Pewter blinked, concerned. “Your majesty, are you planning on declaring war on the IceWings?”
“No,” Scarlet snapped. Another crackle of thunder came from overhead, the shadowed walls of the palace lighting up. “I’m not an idiot. All the IceWings are behind their stupid wall of theirs or in the rainforest. Who am I supposed to declare war on? With Glory dead, I don’t care about a bunch of RainWings and NightWings. Not that I want any RainWings near me ever again.”
“What about the other four dragonets?” Pewter asked.
“If Blackice can’t get into Jade Mountain with troops, there’s no point in me trying,” Scarlet muttered. “That’s where Peril is.”
Pewter remained silent, the only sound in the palace the rain overhead.
Queen Scarlet glared at her advisor. “You’re supposed to give me good ideas.”
Pewter stiffened up, fluttering his wings as he quickly tried to think of something. “Er, what about the SeaWings? You could capture some and deprive them of water, like you did with Gill.”
Queen Scarlet let out a melodramatic growl, scratching at her venom-scarred scales. “You bumbling fool. Do you know how boring it is waging war against SeaWings? They live underwater.”
Pewter shuffled back and forth on his haunches, trying to think of something else. Queen Scarlet sighed, shaking her head.
“I miss Soar, or Chameleon, or whatever his name was,” Scarlet grumbled. “He was a good advisor. You’re a poor replacement for him. He had good ideas. He would’ve done something magical and helped me sneak troops into Jade Mountain or something like that.”
“Y-yes your majesty,” Pewter gulped.
Queen Scarlet shook her head. At least Pewter was too stupid to betray her. There wasn’t a scheming scale on his body.
Suddenly, a SkyWing burst in through the doors of the throne room, wet from rain. Scarlet turned to him, annoyed he’d interrupted. “What?” she growled.
“Your majesty, a dragon flew up to the palace gates,” the guard huffed. “She claims she stole something from your treasury a few years ago, and wants to talk to you immediately. She’s, er, a hybrid.”
A hybrid thief? Queen Scarlet wondered, her curiosity piqued. Normally, demanding to speak with Queen Scarlet would get you an arena visit. But this was interesting. Scarlet had only gotten a glimpse from afar during her battle with Tourmaline, but could it be . . . ?
“Bring her in,” Queen Scarlet snorted. “I want to see her now.”
The guard nodded compliently, giving the queen a quick bow of his head. He rushed off. A few minutes later, he’d returned with three more guards. Each of them had their spears out, and were prodding a sky-blue dragon forward, chains around her wings and between her legs.
Queen Scarlet smiled, examining her new prisoner. She’d been right. This was the same dragon she’d seen. Every so often, one of the the hybrid’s sky-blue scales lit up with a flash. Around one of her legs was an iron cuff, three chainlinks hanging off it, clinking with the other chains she’d been placed in as she walked forward. Two thin chains hung from her neck: one a silver chain with a dark purple stone at the end, and the other a golden chain with a polished amethyst hanging from the end, two golden wings extending from each side of the stone. Aurora stared up at Queen Scarlet, unintimidated.
“You stole something very precious from my treasury,” Queen Scarlet said, narrowing her eyes at the Eye of Amethyst. “I don’t take kindly to dragons taking my treasure. The punishment is joining my arena. I’m sure my subjects would all be quite thrilled to have a hybrid fight. How long do you think you’d last?”
Aurora was unimpressed by the threat. “I saved your life with it. We’re even.”
As if to demonstrate, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, Queen Scarlet turning away as the windows of the palace flooded with light. Thunder clapped, shaking the palace for a moment.
“Don’t be insolent,” Scarlet snorted. “You’re in no position to bargain with me.”
Aurora’s expression unchanged, she took a step forward. The chains the guards had placed around her wings and legs suddenly slipped straight through her, falling to the floor with a clink. Her wings opened wide, small starbursts showing beneath her leather membrane.
The guards jumped back with a yell, shocked that Aurora had somehow gotten free. As soon as they recovered, they immediately pointed their spears forward, about to attack the now free prisoner.
“Stop,” Queen Scarlet laughed, raising a paw up. The guards obeyed, talons shaking. “You couldn’t hurt her if you tried,” Scarlet snorted. “Alright, hybrid. Speak.”
“I want to make a deal with you,” Aurora said, her cold eyes focused on the SkyWing queen. “You want revenge on the dragonets — I can offer you far more than just that. Even if you manage to kill the remaining four, their marks will still be left on history, a giant scar over your rule. You’ll just be a footnote in scrolls on how the Dragonets of Destiny ended one war, and started another.”
Queen Scarlet stiffened up, her claws clenching. “Are you only here to espouse my failures?”
“No. I can change your fate. You want to hurt the Dragonets? Make Pyrrhia forget them. Your name will be the one in the scrolls, and the Dragonets will be forgotten. You’ll be remembered forever for ushering in a new Golden Age, one where the SkyWings reign supreme over Pyrrhia.”
Queen Scarlet pondered this for a moment. She admitted that the mongrel made a good case. Even if Blackice had killed her, she could still have her revenge on Glory. The SkyWing queen swished her bejeweled tail from side to side. “And what do you want from me in return?” 
Aurora’s forked tongue flicked out, and another bolt of lightning crackled through the air. “I want Queen Coral’s throne.”
Scarlet grinned, flexing her talons. Now this, this was thrilling. Maybe a war with the SeaWings would happen after all.
“Guards,” Queen Scarlet ordered. “Take Pewter down to the arena. I think I’ve found a replacement.”
Continued in Rising Flames.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Content (Lapisdragon3)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)