Rain Under the Mountain by Leafwhisker

This is a WoF fanfic I am writing. Hope you enjoy it

## Chapter One- The Beginning

Alone. Abused. Unloved. Clover the RainWing felt these feelings all day, every day. She had nobody to talk to-or, nobody worth talking to, anyways. Nobody to play with (nobody ever, in her six and a half years of life). Nobody to argue with. Well, her supposed ‘guardians’ argued with her all the time, but those ugly dragons didn’t count. She wanted a young, good-tempered dragon to be with, not three old dragons who hated her.

As the RainWing sat in her small ‘room’- an extremely tiny cave – she thought about the thought that ran through her mind every day: what it’d be like to be in her own tribe. Her only ‘companions’, if they deserved to be called that, were definitely NOT RainWings. Grumpy Star was a SkyWing, livid Deathrock was a NightWing, and blob-face Pelican was a SeaWing. Clover had overheard Pelican and Star talking about their children before; when she was younger, she had asked them if their children could come, but they had never agreed. They don’t want me to ever have any fun, thought Clover, flustered. Her scales flashed emerald green as she sighed.

Just then, Clover could hear footsteps outside her cave, and by the squelching of webbed-feet it sounded like Pelican. Although he was the oldest of the guardians, he was REALLY grumpy, even grumpier than Star. Her scales quickly ate up the green and replaced it with rainbows of colors a second before the ugly SeaWing plodded into the cave, throwing down a cow. “Eat up,” Pelican grumbled, and without another word he stepped out of the room. The sad emerald green flooded her scales again in displeasure. As she ate the cow, she could hear the guardians talking in the other room. “Should we be talking so close to Clover’s room? She could hear our plans,” grumbled Deathrock’s voice. “Who cares? She can’t escape anyways,” This was Star, the youngest of her miners, who’s the meanest of the guardians. “Let’s just get this done. I want to get rid of the little brat.”

‘Get rid of’ must have meant killing her, Clover thought with horror, flame-red rushing over her scales. I got to get out of here! She thought, exasperated. Just as she finished the cow, Clover heard Star say, “I’ll do it tonight. I’m the strongest, and I can just catch her all on fire before she wakes up. She won’t have time to use her poison.” Clover whisked the cow bones into an extremely shallow river which flowed through her cave. How can I get out? I can’t go through the river. Maybe through the Sky Hole. She looked through the hole in the top of the ceiling. When she was younger, she tried to escape through the hole, but the three miners had seen and chained her to a stalagmite for two days, without any necessities whatsoever.

Could she escape now? Star, Deathrock, and Pelican would be snoozing away. They always took a long nap before the night, to usually stay guard for any intruders (well, mostly to keep Clover from escaping). Maybe she could. Maybe she could really escape. Maybe this is the day that she’d free. Away from this awful place. Away from these ugly, rotten mangos. And maybe, to her home, where she belonged.

## Chapter Two- The Chains and the Fight

Clover flew up to the Sky Hole and stuck her graceful snout into it. I hope this works, she thought, I REALLY hope this works. Her head popped out into the cool night air. I better get going quickly, because they are going to get in here soon. She hadn’t realized how late it already was. She shoved her shoulders out the hole, then tried to fold her wings. But as she was just slipping through, jagged talons grabbed her midsection. She screeched loudly in surprise, and tried to scrabble out. She almost got free when she heard Deathrock’s voice, “Help me, idiots!” Pelican’s webbed feet grabbed her tail, while Star’s burning claws tore at her back. Clover screeched again, just as she saw six dragons in the air; too far away to make out their features, but still close enough so she could see them. The smallest, who was in the lead, turned, and he seemed to talk to his companions. “HELP ME!!!” she roared out in pain, Star’s talons burying into the lower parts of her wings now. “Come on, we got to shut her up before someone hears her!” snarled Pelican. “I’m trying!” argued Star, “But she is stronger than I thought. You should have fed her fattening foods, not strengthening foods!” Deathrock just snarled, his dagger-like talons digging in between her scales. Clover roared again, and it seemed like the loudest sound she’d ever heard. In surprise, she lost her grip on the rocks, and she came tumbling down. “Finally!” roared Deathrock, pinning her down, she struggled, then remembered her poison-spitting teeth. “Don’t you think about, brat!” growled Star at the same time, “Otherwise I’ll fry you!” Clover sighed, and, knowing she was no match for that, gave up, as Pelican came into the room with iron chains. Clover yelped in fear, trying to make the sound as loud as possible so hopefully the dragons outside would hear. “Hurry up, slow-slug!” growled Deathrock. Pelican ran as fast as his short legs would let him, and he threw the painfully hot chains around her snout. The smell of melting scales filled the air, nearly choking Clover (it probably would have, if the chains weren’t around her snout). Pelican through the chains around her legs and midsection, then wrapped it around a stalagmite. Star let out a burst of flame, and the chains’ ends forged together. “We should leave her to rot,” growled Deathrock. “No, let’s wait until tomorrow morning, then kill her. Let her suffer a bit; She wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, anyways,” Pelican argued. “No, we should kill her now!” roared Star. A crashing sound suddenly erupted, and dust exploded into the cave. As the dust clear, a voice said, “Not if I can help it!” The four dragons turned- well, three dragons turned and Clover looked up-to see a small SeaWing poking his head through the Sky Hole. The Hole was now much bigger, and Clover’s eyes widened in confusion. The guardians looked confused too, and they looked down at the floor underneath the Sky Hole to see rocks scattered all around. Pelican finally said, “Deep, what in the three moons are you doing here? Go back to Tide and Eel.” “Too late, blobfish,” replied Deep, showing a toothy grin, “I’m here; mother sent me here.” Pelican’s jaw dropped, “Well, you came at the wrong time. As you can see, I’m in the middle of a killing here.” Deep replied, smiling bigger, “Mother sent me here to save the RainWing princess, blob-brain! She knew your messages were fake.” When Pelican remained silent, and Deathrock snarled at the older SeaWing, “I told you to stop with those!” Deep continued, “Tide thought there was something up with the messages. ‘The princess is doing perfectly!’ ‘She is learning EVERYTHING!’ ‘She is in perfect health. We haven’t touched a scale of her’s.’ Stupid move, Dad. Do you think our Queen lets stupid blobfish-brained dragons remain in the Council? Certainly not! There was something fishy about it, and it wasn’t just your breath. Just before I left, Tide said, ‘What a silly squid-brain he is! Does he think I have no brain at all? Well, if it was true, it’d be better to have NO brain then PELICAN’S BRAIN!’ Wow, that’s the best quote ever in Pyrrhia!”

Star snarled, “You shouldn’t have sent those messages!” Pelican hissed, “You send messages to Falcon!” turning to his son he snarled, “If you came to rescue her, where is your reinforcements? You couldn’t defeat me, nor all of us.” “Oh, I got reinforcements, don’t worry. I wanted to make it fair.” Deep landed onto the floor of the cave, and five other dragonets fell awkwardly onto the ground. That’s the group I saw! Thought Clover as a NightWing stood up, scattering the other dragonets. “Ha, that’s your ‘army’?” taunted Star, “Wow, I’m scared. Watch out! It’s the Baby Dragonet Play Group!” The NightWing hissed, “We are tougher than you think!” She spread her large lavender and black wings, hissing in a threating way. A small SkyWing crept from behind an IceWing, his oversized wings twitching. “Talon!” gasped Star, “What are you doing here? You should be back with Raven!” “Father,” the small SkyWing said, trembling, “She... she’s in Queen Cloud’s prison. And so is Hawk and Storm. Falcon is, too, and Comet.” Star went pale, “F... Falcon? No, no! I must go back! Queen Cloud can have me instead!” He threw his arms around Talon, but the dragonet pulled away, embarrassed. Deathrock rumbled, “And Volcanictooth, you should be back with Scorchflame and Flametalons!” The NightWing dragonet interrupted, “No, father! I’ve come to save the RainWing princess. You betrayed me and my brother and my mother! My mother!” She arched her neck, like she was going to strike her father. “They are both in the NightWing prison, because you betrayed Queen Shadebringer! The Queen was kind enough to let me go. She sent me to kill you! It’s all your fault for running away because a stupid baby RainWing wanted to be king!” Volcanictooth leaped at Deathrock, breathing fire into his face. He howled, and the fight began. A SandWing raised her poisonous tail, driving Pelican back into a corner. “You leave Clover alone!” she hissed in his face, and Clover saw Pelican try to duck away. Coward, she thought with a muffled hiss. She then wondered when she’ll be unchained, if ever. Her miners could kill her and her potential rescuers. Star was cornered by his own son, Talon, and the IceWing. Who knew my guardians could be over powered by dragonets? Clover thought as she watched them fight. Wait, where’s the little SeaWing? She then suddenly saw Deep and a MudWing creep out from behind the fighting dragons, then slither over to Clover. “Don’t worry, we will save you!” the SeaWing whispered fiercely. The MudWing tried to breath fire at the chains, but only a little flame came out, and she coughed. “Too cold tonight,” the MudWing wheezed, then she cleared her throat, “Deep, I’ll get Desert. She’s about to kill your dad, you know.” “Wait, Cattail,” said Deep, “Let me. Keep trying, or maybe soothe Clover. She’s probably freaking out by now!” And with that, the little SeaWing ran over to the SandWing Clover, with Clover thinking, Soothe me, three moons! What am I, a couple month old dragonet?

Cattail tried a couple more times to melt the chains, but they all ended in hacking fits. Finally, the large MudWing stopped, and she turned to Clover. “You probably know this already, but I’m Cattail. I really wish I could get those chains off your snout. Your poor snout! I’d hate it if that happened to me. But my mom is too nice. Instead of letting me and my siblings go off on our own, like most MudWings, she’s raised us. It’s not too hard; she’s an awesome hunter, and there is only me, my brother Alligator, and my sister Weed. Alligator is our bigwings, which is the first hatched MudWing in a nest, and he or she protect the others. I bet you don’t really understand; you’re not a MudWing, and you’ve been stuck in this cave... hmm, I think the scrolls said four and a half years, I believe. The story of the missing RainWing princess is a required reading in school. Queen Mist wrote it herself. But Rustle is now trying to burn all of those scrolls, the little worm. That’s one of my favorites!”

Clover saw Deep and Desert come back, with Pelican lying on the ground, blood pouring from his heart. Clover gasped- well, she tried to gasp, but her snout was still chained. Desert began to breath fire at the end of the chains, as far away from Clover’s body as she could. The chains sizzled, becoming weaker, but not fully breaking. “We need Talon’s or Volcanictooth’s help!” yelped the SandWing. “Well, Star is looking pretty weak; Snowflake could handle him alone,” Deep said, and he called the tiny SkyWing over, and he bounded over to them. Without speaking, Talon and Desert began to breath fire onto the weaker part of the chains, and it soon snapped. Clover stood up immediately, but staggered from the scratches on her back, wings, tail, legs, and midsection and the burn marks of the chains. She yelped in pain, then slumped back down on the floor. “I can’t get out of here if I can’t fly!” she whispered, her jaw aching. “Oh, yes we can!” Deep said. “I know a way we can go without you having to fly. Well, I know there is one, but I don’t know where exactly. We’ll make them tell us.” He pointed at Star, who was pinned down by Snowflake, the IceWing, and Deathrock, who was facing off with his daughter. Cattail pointed out gently but firmly, “Deep, I don’t think Clover could walk far enough! She must be weak from those... those monsters!” She glared at Pelican, lying dead on the ground; Star, who had his throat pressed down on by the IceWing; Deathrock, who was cornered by his daughter, trying to dodge her blasts of flame. “Desert, go help Volcanictooth,” instructed Deep, “I’ll go help Snowflake. Talon, you and Cattail stay with Clover. Tell me if anything bad happens.” Talon nodded, and Desert and Deep raced off. Clover was now barely conscious, dizzy with pain. Cattail was going to run the side of her talon gently across her back, then remembered the deep gashes and drew back. “Poor, poor thing,” she whispered to Talon, and the small male nodded, a worried look in his eyes. Her vision becoming fuzzy, and everything was beginning to blacken. Cattail saw her looking dizzy, and she shouted, “Deep! Come here, quick! Clover is passing out!” The small blue dragonet ran over, said something that Clover didn’t hear, and Clover blacked out.

## Chapter Three- Escape and the Journey

Clover woke up to feel that she was laying on a dragon’s back- no, two dragon’s backs, and they were walking. She opened an eye and saw that she was on Cattail and Volcanictooth’s backs. They were walking towards a forest, and as her vision cleared Clover saw that the group had moved pretty far away from the mountains. Cattail turned her head, saw Clover was awake, and she said to Deep, who was in the lead, “Clover is awake. Can we take a break? She is heavy!” Deep protested, “We are almost at the forest! We can get there!” “Maybe you can,” muttered Volcanictooth under her breath. Clover looked at her back and saw mud was smeared all over her wounds. She cringed, wondering why they had put slimy mud all over her. But her wounds did feel better for some strange, unknown reason.

The dragonets soon got to the forest, which turned out to be only a grove of trees. “It’s better than nothing,” said Deep. “We’ll rest tonight, and half of tomorrow. Hopefully Clover will be able to walk by then.” “Deep! You are too impatient,” Cattail replied, “She isn’t going to be able to walk properly for days. Weeks! Maybe even months!” Deep said, “Well, let’s at least get out of SkyWing territory. Star is fleeing to the palace, and Queen Cloud won’t be happy. She’d get livid if an escaped prisoner is in the Sky Kingdom.” Cattail sighed, “Alright, but me and Volcanictooth will have to keep carrying Clover.” Talon argued, “We should get out of the Sky Kingdom as soon as possible. We should leave before dawn; Queen Cloud has dawn patrols, looking for me and Star. Although she will be happy to have Star, she’ll still be looking for me. And if she finds me with you, she’ll keep you all for hostage. Especially the RainWing princess.” Deep nodded, “Okay, first thing in the morning, we’ll be outta here.”

Cattail and Volcanictooth laid down slowly and carefully, and let Clover slide of their backs, on the opposite side of her wounds. Clover sighed, and she looked at Deep and said, “Why is there mud all over me?” A hint of a hiss was in her voice; not because of anger, but of the pain that still lingered. “Cattail said it heals wounds. She is more of a doctor type dragon than me, and I’m trying to trust somebody. I can’t trust my dad. Well, I won’t need to, now that he is dead.” There wasn’t a hint of regret in his voice, Clover noticed. Cattail interrupted her thoughts,” My mother taught me and my sibs about doctoring wounds.” Clover nodded, and Volcanictooth said awkwardly, “I’m going to go hunt,” and she flew off, Desert following. Deep said, “Should we make a fire? I mean, the SkyWings could see it, but we got to keep Clover warm.” Talon replied, “We can surround her, with Desert nearest to her. The heat that radiates from her scales can warm up Clover.” The IceWing, Snowflake, agreed, “I’ll be by someone else; I’m cold, especially with my ice breath.” She smiled a toothy grin, and Talon snorted in amusement, “You can sleep by me,” he smiled shyly at the large IceWing. Snowflake flashed another smile, and Talon looked away, embarrassed.

Desert and Volcanictooth soon came back, carrying two deer, a moose, and an elk. “Awesome catch,” praised Deep, “Let’s eat.” Cattail grabbed the moose, dragged it over to Clover, and began to tear away pieces and nudged them to Clover. The RainWing ate them ravenously, and Desert sighed, then looked at Talon, Volcanictooth, and Deep angrily, “Your dads STARVED HER!” Volcanictooth replied, “Not my fault.” “I know, but still!” growled Desert, her voice rising, “They are AWFUL!!!” Talon looked around wildly, “Shush!” he whispered fiercely, “I hear wing beats!” All the dragons paused, and the sound of many, many strong wing beats filled the air. “We gotta get outta here!” hissed Talon, and all the dragonets jumped up. Well, Clover tried to get up, but she was still too weak; she could hardly stand. Volcanictooth and Cattail Nudged Clover onto their backs, and they began to run as fast as they could without hurting Clover. The wing beats grew closer, and Deep hissed, “Me, Desert, and Snowflake will distract them. Talon, you keep running with Cattail, Volcanictooth, and Clover. The SkyWings would fly two times faster if you went with us,” Deep added as Talon opened his jaws to protest. The little red and orange dragonet snapped them shut, and he began to run, with Cattail and Volcanictooth following. Clover heard Deep roar, “Hey, stinky SkyWings! We’re over here!” Talon grumbled, “I’ll get him for that!” Deep continued, “Can’t catch us, squid-brains!” Talon let out a rumbling sound, but continued.

After what seemed to be hours of running, Deep, Snowflake, and Desert caught up. “They’re all confused now! They thought we went towards the Kingdom of Sand!” Snowflake nodded, flashing yet another toothy grin, and Desert nodded, her forked black tongue flicking between her teeth. “Well, let’s keep moving,” said Deep, “We are almost to the Kingdom of the Sea. There, my aunt can get Octopus and Seaweed to help Clover.” Clover asked, “Who is your aunt? She must be very rich and high in the ranks if she can order dragons around.” Deep puffed his chest out proudly, “Oh, she is very rich and high in the ranks. My aunt is the queen.”

## Chapter Four- The Kingdom of the Sea

Clover gasped, “The queen? Does that make you a prince or something? Is Pelican the queen’s brother?” Deep replied, “I’m pretty sure I’m a prince. And no, Pelican is- I mean was- not Queen Pearl’s brother. What an awful thought! My mother, Tide, is the queen’s sister. Pelican was a soldier of the army, but after hearing that abductors were needed to capture you, he jumped to the job.” “And your mother was okay with this?” asked Clover. “Dad said that there was trouble in the Rain Kingdom and you needed to be protected for a while. My mom started getting suspicious, since you’d been here for, like, four and a half years. With her extremely clever mind, Tide got stupid, idiotic Pelican to give information.”

Talon said, “We should get to sleep if we want to move quickly tomorrow.” Volcanictooth snorted, “Alright, alright, bossy-scales.” The NightWing and Cattail lowered themselves slowly, letting Clover slide off their backs gently onto the ground. Clover curled up, trying to avoid her wounds contacting the ground. Desert laid down, pressing her yellow scales against Clover’s ever-changing ones. Clover sighed happily; for the first time in a long time, maybe the first time ever, she felt safe. Deep laid down on her other side, with Cattail beside him. Volcanictooth laid on Desert’s other side, and Talon and Snowflake curled up besides Clover’s tail. Clover fell asleep immediately, and as the sun went down, Clover felt happy for the first time in many years.

* + - * + - * + - * + - *

Clover woke up to Talon’s slightly squeaky, bossy voice. “Guys, it’s past dawn! Let’s go let’s go let’s go!” Deep grumbled, “Okay, bossy-scales, who’s the leader around here?” Snowflake replied, “You are.” With a quick glance at Talon, who glared at her, she added, “Talon would be a good one, too. But Clover is gonna be leader when she is healed, since she is princess, right?” I’d make a horrible leader, Clover thought while Deep snorted in amusement, “She can lead the Rainforest Kingdom, but when she’s away from there, I’m in charge.”

Cattail and Volcanictooth crouched besides Clover, and Desert helped nudge Clover onto the NightWing and MudWings’ backs. Snowflake stumbled sleepily forward, nearly tripping over her own tail and treading Volcanictooth’s. “Ouch, watch it, big claws,” the female NightWing grumbled. “All ready?” Deep asked, and when everyone nodded, Deep continued, “Okay, let’s get going!” The small SeaWing flapped his wings excitedly. “Me and Desert will scout above, while Talon leads the rest of you on the ground.” The SeaWing flapped his wings again, but harder now, so he could hover in the air. He flapped higher, with Desert following. Talon started walking, everyone else behind, and as he did so he talked, half to himself. “The Kingdom of the Sea is pretty far off still, but the sea itself is not too far off. We could rest on islands; there are a whole bunch of them.” The tiny SkyWing continued to mutter to himself.

Snowflake suddenly gasped, “How will we get to islands if Clover can’t fly!?” Talon rolled his eyes and replied, “Cattail and Volcanictooth can swim.” “Not that we want to,” growled Volcanictooth. Cattail said, “We can’t let Clover flounder around in the water, though.” Volcanictooth only let out a low snarl in reply.

After hours of walking, Talon said, “Here we are. The sea.” Clover looked up to see sparkling blue water that seemed to stretch out forever. “Wow,” Clover breathed. Deep landed beside them, Desert following, and said, “Isn’t it beautiful? I think this is the most awesome sight in all of Pyrrhia.” Snowflake said, “I like it too, but it’s so hot out here, and I think all the snow and ice is gorgeous.” Talon said, “All the mountains in the Sky Kingdom are awesome.” Volcanictooth said, slightly uncomfortable, “All the mountains in the NightWing Kingdom are pretty, too.” Cattail looked at her sympathetically, and then said, “Let’s get going. I like swimming, but Volcanictooth doesn’t, and she’ll have to help me. Unless Deep wants to help,” she added, turning to the tiny SeaWing. “No, I can’t. I’m too small,” he gritted his teeth and frowned, and Clover tried hard to hide a giggle. Deep glared at her a moment, and Snowflake protested, “Don’t glare at the princess.” Volcanictooth gasped, “Oh, nobody ever has glared at anyone royal! What a shame on you, Deep!” Talon growled impatiently, “Let’s get going now. SkyWings are probably chasing us right now.” And with that, Talon, Snowflake, Deep, and Desert rose into the air, while Cattail plunged into the water. Volcanictooth tripped over a rock, and Clover nearly slipped off. She held on as tight as she could, but not tight enough to hurt Volcanictooth. The NightWing regained her balance, then raced into the water. “Yuck,” she growled softly, and then swam clumsily over to where Cattail was waiting. “You could have been slower!” hissed Volcanictooth, and Cattail apologized, dipping her head so that only her nostrils, eyes, and ears were poking out of the water. Volcanictooth swam awkwardly sideways to be beside Cattail, and the MudWing raised her back so that Clover’s back legs and tail rested on Cattail. Working together, Cattail and Volcanictooth swam, and the four above kept watch. Why do I have to be so helpless? Why can’t I heal?

## Chapter Five: Captured Again, and Brought Before a Queen

Weeks went by with Volcanictooth and Cattail swimming, Desert, Deep, Snowflake, and Talon on look out, and Clover feeling very useless. Clover was beginning to heal, with her snout almost better and her being able to walk short distances, and swim a bit, but she still couldn’t fly, making her dissatisfied. “It takes time; don’t be impatient,” Cattail would say when Clover complained about being carried everywhere.

Finally, after a month of trying to fly went by, while the seven dragonets were on a particularly large island, Clover lifted herself into the air! But only for a second. She tried again, and this time she stayed in the air for a bit longer. Snowflake, lying in the shade, panting, lifted her head and shouted, “Clover is flying!” Cattail and Desert, who were guarding Clover while Deep, Volcanictooth, and Talon hunted, ran over and cheered. On her third try, she flew over the others, her scales bright yellow with pleasure. She beamed, relieved and very excited about being able to fly, one of her favorite things.

Suddenly, Pelican, Talon, and Volcanictooth walked out of the bushes, a boar in each of their jaws. Deep grinned when he saw Clover, but Talon snarled, “Get down! Someone is going to see you, or hear you guys howling like a bunch of monkeys!” Desert spun around, and the usually cheerful face of the SandWing’s face turned angry. “Can’t you let us have a bit of fun? Clover is healing! That should be good! You’re not our leader, anyways, you little grumpy. . .” Cattail stepped between them, “Stop fighting! I agree that we should be glad that Clover is healing, right? That’s what we want. I’m sure Volcanictooth is kinda getting fed up with carrying Clover around everywhere.” Volcanictooth gave a tiny nod, and Cattail continued, “We should be cautious, though. We don’t need to have curious SeaWings finding us and taking us for hostage.”

As if talking about other dragons summoned it, the group heard wing beats. “Quick, hide!” hissed Talon, and he and Snowflake dove into the nearby bushes. Clover flew down quickly and changed colors, trying to cover Deep with her partially-healed wings. Cattail covered Volcanictooth and Desert and hunkered down, blending into the dark brown soil, but Desert’s tail hung out. The SandWing tried to tuck it closer to her as a large group of SeaWings flew over the spot where they hid, but she wasn’t fast enough. A pale green and blue SeaWing looked down and, seeing Desert’s tail, pointed, calling out to his companions. Desert quickly hid it, but the group knew they were there. The SeaWings landed, and the pale green and blue male stalked forward, his eyes narrowed. Please don’t see us, please don’t see us! Clover thought, not daring to breath. She felt Deep stiffen, and he covered his nose with his talons. Oh, don’t sneeze! Thought Clover desperately. She noticed with a jolt that her tail was right in front of the male, and he was about to step on it! On reflex, she moved her tail quickly, and, unfortunately, he saw it. He growled, “We know your there! Come out now, or we’ll make you.” Clover looked under her wing to Deep, and he nodded a tiny nod. Taking a deep breath, Clover stood, letting a rainbow of colors eat the dark brown. Deep followed, raising his head bravely, and Cattail, Volcanictooth, and Desert stood also. Snowflake and Talon stepped out from behind the bushes, the IceWing’s black eyes narrowed. The male SeaWing’s small green eyes widened, scanning the group, and his cold gaze landed on Deep. “You’re Tide’s dragonet, right? The one she sent out to look for the RainWing princess? This is her, isn’t it?” he briefly looked at Clover, then added angrily, “Why did you bring enemy dragons into our kingdom, Deep? You were supposed to be bringing back a RainWing, not a whole group of enemy tribes!” Deep retorted, “These ‘enemy dragons’ helped me find Clover, Seahorse. They aren’t here to invade. They’re my friends!” Seahorse snorted, “Before you left, you hated the other tribes. Now you’re making ‘friends’ with them!” Clover cleared her throat and growled at Seahorse, “Cattail, Talon, Snowflake, Desert, and Volcanictooth wouldn’t try to invade. Cattail and Snowflake are too gentle, and Desert is just a bubble of joy. Talon and Volcanictooth are sarcastic, but they wouldn’t be evil enough to do that.”

Seahorse narrowed his eyes, then growled, “Well, you’re going to be brought before the queen to be dealt with.” Summoning the other SeaWings, he turned, and the soldiers corralled the dragonets into a tight group. Volcanictooth growled softly, “I don’t need to be dealt with,” but she lifted into the air, supporting Clover with a wing. I’m really glad I can fly now, Clover thought as Cattail moved forward to support Clover’s other side. An old blue SeaWing growled, “You’re acting as if this is the queen of the universe.” Volcanictooth snapped, “She was almost killed by her ‘guardians’, Pelican, Deathrock, and Star. Pelican is more use dead, now.” A younger, sky blue male SeaWing with a small head, who almost looked like a dragonet, or barely older than one, gasped, “Pelican’s dead? Oh, my mother won’t be happy. She and him are siblings.” Deep snorted, “I feel sorry for you. He was the worst dad, even though I only knew him when I was a young dragonet. I never felt any love towards him.”
Seahorse lead the other SeaWings and the dragonets over the sea for what seemed hours. Finally, he slowed as they approached a large cliff. Dead end, Clover thought, but Seahorse dove into the water besides the tall cliff. “What, we’re going under the water?” Desert yelped, and Talon nodded grimly. Deep followed, beckoning the others to follow. Taking a deep breath, the six dragonets plunged in after their SeaWing friend.

Clover tried to swim as fast as she could, following Deep’s flashing tail. She was grateful that Deep considered that only SeaWings can see in the dark. She pushed herself forward, wondering when she’ll feel air wash over her lungs again. Deep stopped unexpectedly and pointed up, then swam above. Clover followed, the others trailing behind, and Clover felt air wash over her head. The others popped up, gasping for breath. “I never thought I’d breath again!” Snowflake squeaked, and Deep splashed her playfully. “Hey, stop that! It got on me instead,” Volcanictooth grumbled. “Sorry,” Deep said quickly, “Now, take a deep breath. . .” he didn’t finish, for he dove back under the water, flicking some water at Volcanictooth. “Argh, I’m so gonna get you” she growled, and Talon replied, “You and me both,” then they all took a deep breath. They dove under, following Deep’s flashing tail.

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Deep stopped swimming, and Clover bumped into him. Deep shot a quick glance at her, then swam to the surface. Clover thrust her head out of the salty water, glad to have air flowing into her nostrils. Deep turned to the others as the six dragonets resurfaced. “This,” he said, “Is the Summer Palace.”

```

Snowflake whispered what everyone was thinking, “Wow!” “Uh, yeah wow!” Volcanictooth replied, her black and lavender wings spread so she could float atop the water. Clover did the same, although it didn’t work as well with her mangled wings. SeaWings stared at them, whispering among themselves. Some snarled in displeasure at Cattail, who ducked her head, Volcanictooth, who glared back at them, and Snowflake, who sighed unhappily. Talon paddled over to tread water next to her, his small wing pressed against her glittery very pale blue-purple scales. Seahorse exchanged words with a dark blue male SeaWing with many scars all over his body. Maybe he fights a lot, Clover thought as Seahorse swam back to the dragonets. “Queen Pearl is in the Deep Palace right now, so you’ll have to wait up there,” Seahorse pointed to a cave carved into the cliff wall. The older SeaWing gestured to ten of the SeaWings that had been part of the patrol, and they herded the dragonets up to the cave, among them the young SeaWing soldier. Clover thought that he was just full grown, or still maybe a dragonet, seeing that his demeanor was submissive to other SeaWings. Deep murmured in Clover’s ear, “That young male is Splash, and the young female beside him is Porpoise. They just became soldiers right before I left to look for you. They just turned seven years old; that’s when Queen Pearl makes dragonets soldiers or whatever she wants them to be, but sometimes she does it earlier.”

The SeaWing soldiers practically shoved the dragonets into the cave; five of them lined in the entrance so they couldn’t escape. The other five left, and quickly came back with achingly familiar iron chains. “Splash, let’s see how you can handle these,” an older soldier laughed, throwing the long chain tendrils to the young male. Splash obeyed, silent and, by looking at the look on his face, unhappily. He wrapped chains around first Cattail’s hind legs, then Snowflake’s, then Volcanictooth’s. The NightWing growled, but reluctantly let the SeaWing chain her. He moved towards Clover, who in a panic frenzy threw herself away from him. Two of the other older soldiers rushed over and pinned her down, each one holding onto a wing. Clover yelped, and as she looked at Splash and by the look on his face Clover could tell that his heart was torn between obeying his orders, or trying to let Clover be. . . happier. After a moments’ pause her chained her hind legs, and he whispered to her, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Clover whimpered in reply, lying her head onto her talons. The other SeaWing soldiers let go and padded out of the cave. All but two, Splash and another older SeaWing, left, with the two remaining ones stood guard.

Talon, who had laid down next to Snowflake, who was panting slightly, suddenly snarled at Clover, “This is your fault! You attracted the attention of these stupid dirt brains!” Clover snapped back, “No, it was Deep’s fault because he suggested us going through the SeaWing Kingdom! If he hadn’t, this would never had happened!” Deep growled softly, “Blame it on the one who had been hunting when the ruckus happened.” Snowflake said softly, “Clover has a point.” Deep snarled, “You’d say that, barnacle brain! You don’t know more than a rock! Like MudWings!” Cattail protested, “Don’t bring me into the picture! Most MudWings are moderately smart. Not really smart, but not stupid, either.” Cattail’s usually gentle face was angry. Deep rumbled, “Yeah, right. Can someone actually smart agree with me?” Snowflake looked hurt, and Talon pressed closer to her. Deep looked at Cattail, who shook her head sadly. He snarled, turning to Volcanictooth, “I don’t bother asking you, because you would agree with Clover! You agree with whatever the princess says!” Volcanictooth hesitated, then hissed, “I do not! But I do have a better reason as of why we shouldn’t have come this way. If we had passed around the edge of MudWing territory, we could have passed through quickly. SeaWings don’t really patrol by the delta, and you know it!” Deep growled, “Fine. Abandon me, I’m fine with it. I’d rather be with my annoying little brother than you salty crabs!” He turned, plunking himself down in a corner of the cave. Cattail took a step forward, but Deep snarled at her, making her draw back. We’re falling apart, thought Clover, and it’s all my fault, not Deep’s. I shouldn’t have blamed him. . . She closed her eyes, then fell asleep, blaming herself for this mess.

“Wake up! The queen is coming!”

Snowflake’s voice interrupted Clover’s sleep. “I was dreaming about chasing this awesome deer,” grumbled Volcanictooth, who heaved herself up into a sitting position as she continued, “I was almost gonna catch it, and then you started your noise.” Deep was sitting in front of everyone, facing outside of the cave, his face emotionless. I should apologize. . . later; Once we’re done with this queen business.

Desert was hopping up and down excitedly. “I’ve never met a queen before,” she squeaked excitedly. “I have,” Deep said loftily, and Desert shrunk back from the poison in his voice. Volcanictooth glared at Deep, but the little SeaWing didn’t seem to notice it. “Here she comes,” he said, backing away from the entrance. A moment later, a huge turquoise female dragon landed slightly inside the cave. Her wings were interlaced with pearls, all sparkling in the small bit of sunlight that crept through the entrance. A slightly smaller SeaWing landed beside her, pearls also interwoven around her wings. The younger one was sky blue with darker blue wings and beady black eyes that was digging a hole into Clover’s skull already. Maybe she is the oldest princess, Clover thought, shifting uneasily. Another, even smaller, female dragonet landed beside Queen Pearl, ducking away from any others’ gaze. I wonder who she is, Clover thought, but her thoughts were interrupted by the largest dragon’s voice.

“So, Deep, what have you brought now?” she asked, obviously pretending to be unaware of what was going on. “A NightWing? An IceWing? A MudWing? Oh, and a RainWing. Where have I heard of a certain RainWing? Oh, that’s right, when Pelican went off to ‘guard’ her. But that was such a while ago. And I thought you were going to bring the untrustworthy dimwit back here, Deep.” Deep replied, “He’s dead, Queen Pearl. I killed him.” Queen Pearl looked surprised for a moment, then said, “I always knew you would do this! Oh, how wonderful this is! I bet Seahorse is so happy; now he can go ask Tide if they can marry. I bet he’s doing that right now. That’s so like him: always trying to do everything immediately. Now,” the SeaWing queen turned to Clover, “You look like you’ve been in a tussle. Tsk, I’d better get Octopus and Seaweed. They’ll help you with those nasty wounds of yours.” She rubbed the side of her talon under Clover’s chin, and she did everything but duck away. Deep smirked, and Clover tried hard to not spit poison at his eyes. Queen Pearl continued, “We’ll have a nice cave set up for you and your friends,” the queen’s gaze flickered over Desert, Talon, Snowflake, Cattail, and Volcanictooth. “And we’ll have you spend some time in the healer’s cave for you to get better. And you,” the queen turned to Deep, “You can go back to Tide and Eel and break the news of your father’s death. Then you can stay with your friends, if you like. Hurry now, I bet you’d like to get back to your friends quickly.” Without hesitation, the young SeaWing flew out of the cave, not even saying good-bye. Fine, be that way.

Queen Pearl said, “Now, you must meet my lovely daughter, Wave,” she gestured to the sky-blue female. “She will be a lovely queen someday. And this is my servant, Reef.” She pointed to the smallest dragonet, who ducked away. “She is really quite shy,” Queen Pearl added. “Now, Splash, you lead Clover to Octopus and Seaweed while I get Seahorse and the others to bring the other dragonets to another, more comfortable cave.” The young SeaWing soldier ran over to Clover and quickly unchained her. “Do you need help flying?” he asked her. “I saw the NightWing and MudWing helping you earlier.” Clover replied, trying to hide her strange, embarrassed emotion that suddenly overcame her, “I’ll be fine.” “Alright then. Let’s go,” Splash walked to the edge of the cave and opened his wings, then flew out. Clover followed, less certain and more clumsy and slower. Splash flew slower so that Clover could catch up. He whispered, “Watch yourself, in the healer’s den. Octopus and Seaweed are tricky. They nearly put lionfish poison in my wounds once! That could kill a young dragon. Seaweed said it was an accident, but I don’t believe that. Again, just stay safe in there.” Clover, feeling uneasy, just nodded.

After a few minutes, Splash stopped at a cave with kelp hanging in the entrance. “Remember what I told you,” Splash whispered. Clover gave a tiny nod, and Splash led her through the entrance. A tunnel dug deep into the cliff, and Splash lighted up some of his stripes so Clover could see; she was grateful for his consideration. After swimming through the dark, narrow tunnel for a minute, they emerged into a large room. Clover gaped at all the stuff that was packed into the room: seaweed bandages, kelp beds, and many hollow shells containing many things Clover could not identify. Two large dragons sat in the middle -one dark green, the other pale blue- organizing shells. The pale blue one looked up and said in an oozy voice, “Why, hello Splash. Who is this RainWing with you?” Splash explained, and both of the other dragons nodded. “We’ll take care of her,” the dark green one said in a deep, gruff voice. Clover shivered at the words ‘take care of her’. She had heard that before: from Star, Deathrock, and Pelican, wanting to kill her. I hope they don’t try to kill me! Clover thought, but she had a feeling they would. I gotta keep an eye out. With a last afraid glance at Clover, Splash flew through the narrow tunnel, out of sight.

“Now, we should introduce ourselves,” the pale blue female said in her awful, screeching voice. “I’m Seaweed, and this Octopus.” She gestured to the dark green male, who barely glanced at her. “Let me take a look at you,” Seaweed said, walking over to Clover. “I’m not that hurt,” she said quickly, hoping to be able to leave as soon as possible. “This happened over a month ago. Probably almost two months.” Seaweed frowned at her wounds, “Well, what did you have to help this? Mud, I see. That will just make your wounds dirty.” Clover protested, “My friend Cattail knows a lot about doctoring wounds, and after the mud was applied it felt better. And my wounds were a lot worse before, so the mud did help.” Seaweed sighed, “Not enough, though. If I had treated it, or Octopus, you’d be feeling alright now. You’d be as peaceful as the dead.” Clover noticed with horror that there was a glint in the SeaWing’s eyes.

“Now, I’ll put some seaweed on this. Ha, Seaweed putting seaweed on your wounds.” The female healer cackled, and Octopus smiled. This place is unnerving. “Octopus, hand me some of the seaweed bandages and that shell,” Seaweed continued, pointing to a shell full of quills. They were white with reddish-orange stripes, and the ends of them looked almost barbed. Why in three moons would she need that? Clover thought, her ears twitching nervously. Octopus handed Seaweed the items. Seaweed narrowed her eyes at Octopus and hissed, “I need more seaweed than this!” she poked the pitifully small pile of seaweed. Octopus grunted, then grabbed a huge talonful and put it in the pile. “Better,” growled Seaweed, her pale blue tail flicking. She began to wrap seaweed around Clover’s wounds. When she finished, Seaweed pointed to one of the empty kelp beds and told Clover, “You rest here. I’ll come back later with some food.” You better not try to kill me in my sleep, Clover thought as she laid down on the soft kelp. She suddenly noticed how tired he was, so when she laid her head down in between her talons, she fell asleep right away.

## Chapter Six: Nearly Killed. . . Again

When Clover awakened, she smelled something she didn’t recognize, but it smelled tasty. She opened her soft green eyes to see a fish-type thing in front of her. She sat up, then bent over to sniff it. It did smell edible, even good. She began to eat it slowly. After deciding the fish-thing was tasty, she gulped it down. Just as she finished chewing the last bite, a seaweed hood covered her head.

She screeched, but it was muffled. Someone pinned her down; someone with a very strong grip. The bandages on her tail were taken off, and something sharp was prodded into them. A sudden pain rippled through her tail, and she screeched as loud as she possibly could, making herself deaf for a second. “Hope you’re having fun, because there won’t be much time for you left.” Growled a gruff voice she recognized as Octopus. Dizzy with pain, she tried to lash out at Octopus, but she was feeling to weak and woozy. Despite the pain, she whipped her tail around, and she could tell she took Octopus by surprise. “You little. . .” he snarled, and there was a crashing noise; he must have gotten tripped. She tried to get up, but then someone else pinned her down; it couldn’t be Octopus, because she could hear him just getting up. It must be Seaweed. She tried to whip her tail around again, but it was pinned down. “Nice try,” hissed the oozy voice of Seaweed. Suddenly, she heard a familiar roaring.

“You get off of her, you blobfish-brained evil back-stabbing stinky-eared seagulls!” snarled the voice of what Clover immediately recognized as Deep. Her heart jumped; he wasn’t that mad at her after all. She heard more wingbeats, and Clover guessed it was Cattail, Desert, Volcanictooth, Snowflake, and Talon. The bulky shape of Cattail knocked Seaweed off of Clover, and the lither body of Volcanictooth pinned Octopus. “You are going to pay!” snarled Volcanictooth. Clover felt someone picking the spines out of her tail, which hurt almost as much as when they were put in. Then the seaweed hood was lifted off her face. Clover sighed in relief, then in surprise saw it was Splash. “I thought you might needed some help, so I informed your friends about Seaweed and Octopus being evil as soon as Queen Pearl left. Man, she talked for forever! Deep was already back and had been there for an hour by the time she left.” Clover looked at her tail: it had lots of little, black holes in it, and black rings around the holes that seemed to be growing bigger. Clover gasped, “What. . . what is happening to me?” A sad look overcame Splash’s face, then whispered, “Seaweed was putting lionfish poison in you.”

Clover choked out, “What?! How do you fix it? Can you fix it?” she looked pleadingly at Splash. “Am I going to live?” Splash gulped, “Not if we don’t think of a plan soon.” Clover nearly fainted right then, but she tried to seem brave. She looked behind Splash to see Cattail hissing in Octopus’s face, and Volcanictooth getting ready to breath fire into Seaweed’s face. The rotten pineapple deserves it, Clover thought.

Splash was pacing back and forth. He suddenly perked and said, “Hey, SandWing’s breath fire, right? And fire could burn the poison out. . . So, your SandWing friend could burn the poison out! You can do that with a dragonbite viper, so you should be able to do it with lionfish poison, which is much milder, although it can still kill young dragons.” He looked back at Clover, who was staring with horror at him. “What’s your SandWing’s friend’s name? Desert, right? I think that’s what Deep said.” “Yeah,” Clover croaked; she looked back at her tail. Most of the base of her tail was engulfed in black, and it was spreading to the tip of her tail. Splash saw it, too, because he called out quickly, “Desert, we need you now!” The large SandWing plodded over, and Splash quickly explained the plan. Although she looked scared, Desert nodded, and he called to the others, “I’ll need all of you to hold her down.” Clover screeched in fear, but the others were already pinning her to the ground: Deep and Talon were holding down her legs, Cattail was holding her shoulders, Snowflake and Volcanictooth held her midsection, and Desert held the base of her tail, closest to the spreading poison. Splash held onto Clover’s head, whispering in her ear, “It’ll hurt; really hurt, but you’ll be fine. It’ll be way better than dying. You’ve endured this much, you can certainly handle this.” To Desert he added, “Okay, now!” Desert took a deep breath, then breathed fire onto Clover’s tail.

Clover screeched in pain, and she instinctively tried to get up and fly away from the unbearable heat flashing into her tail. But the others held firm, and after a minute of unsuccessful thrashing, Clover gave up, panting. Splash continued to try to soothe her, rubbing the side of his talon along her head, in between her horns. Desert blew another big fire ball onto Clover’s tail, and Clover nearly blacked out from pain. She dug her talons into the hardened sand floor, and she screeched again. “Almost gone,” breathed Splash, “It’s almost gone. Just one more time. . .” Clover didn’t hear the rest, for when Desert breathed one last, huge breath of fire, Clover blacked out.

## Chapter 7: Imprisoned and (Another) Escape

“Is she alive?”
“Of course, she is, blob-brain!”
“Well, she better be.”
“Otherwise, Rustle will take over!”
“Shush, she’s waking up, she doesn’t know about him really, yet.”
“See, told you she is alive.”

Clover heard familiar but fuzzy voices as she drifted out of unconsciousness. I don’t know who? Clover thought blearily. She opened her eyes to see her friends and Splash standing over her. Snowflake squeaked excitedly, “Hurray, it worked! It worked! She’s alive!” Splash announced gravely, “But she probably won’t be able to use her tail properly now, though.” Clover lifted her head and asked, “Use it properly, how?” She looked down at her tail. It was wrapped in seaweed tightly, and it seemed skinnier than normal. Splash replied, “For climbing. RainWings usually use their tails for climbing or grabbing things, but the fire Desert used to kill away the poison damaged your tail nerves too much, and they most likely won’t be able to grab onto tree branches and fruit and all that stuff.” Splash looked away, his face painted clearly with guilt. Clover felt a pang of pity for him; he’d tried to save her life, which he did, but now she couldn’t grab with her tail. “At least it’s better than being dead,” she said softly, but loud enough for Splash to hear. The young SeaWing turned, a grin spreading across his face. “You know my language already, don’t you? I’m always saying situations are better than being dead. It works out in battle. If someone is really injured, I just tell them, “At least you aren’t dead” and they cheer right up. Most of them, anyway. Seahorse is so grumpy he won’t laugh the tiniest bit at a really good joke.” Splash’s ears flicked nervously, and he kept casting glances to the tunnel. “Queen Pearl is going to notice that Deep and the others are gone sometime, and she’ll probably think you came to visit Clover. But when she gets here. . .” he looked at Octopus and Seaweed, who, Clover realized, looked dead. “She’ll find out that Octopus and Seaweed are dead, and that their blood is on our claws.” Suddenly, Seaweed’s body shifted. Deep hissed, “I thought she was dead!” “I’m not. Yet,” Seaweed rasped in that awful oozy voice of her’s. “I’ll say that Splash came in and attack Clover, and that me and Octopus were trying to protect her. Then I’ll say that your friends thought I was killing Clover, so they nearly killed me. Queen Pearl always believes me; I’m her mother. And we’ll see what Tide and Queen Pearl does to you, Deep.” Seaweed coughed, then smiled the evilest smile Clover had ever seen. “I’ll also say Clover rebelled against me, for defending myself. Then you’ll be sorry.”

Suddenly, large wingbeats could be heard. Seaweed grinned wickedly, then closed her eyes again. Great, why now? Clover thought as Queen Pearl burst through the entrance, only to stop, her pale blue eyes wide with horror. “What happened?” she screeched, her eyes blazing with anger. Seaweed pretended to just flicker her eyes open. “Oh, my daughter,” she rasped, “Please get Tide. I want my dying words to be heard by her, too.” Queen Pearl nodded numbly, then sent a large SeaWing male who was behind her to get Tide. They came quickly back, and Seaweed began, “I was just giving Clover some food, when suddenly Splash charged in and started attacking Clover. Me and Octopus tried to defend her, but then her friends appeared. They thought me and Octopus were trying to kill Clover, so they killed Octopus and made me next to dying. Then Clover rebelled against me, probably for defending myself from these arrogant blob-brains!” Seaweed began to gasp for breath, and she added weakly, “Please, my dying wish is for you to punish those little monsters as best as you can!” She wheezed, then fell still. Seaweed was dead. And both Tide and Queen Pearl were enraged.

“Why did you kill our mother and father?!” Queen Pearl screeched. “I’m very disappointed in you, Deep,” snarled Tide, her bright green eyes flashing. Deep protested, “We didn’t! Well, we did, but they were trying to kill Clover! Seaweed and Octopus were putting lionfish spines into Clover’s tail! Splash came to get us,” he gestured to himself, Talon, Desert, Snowflake, Volcanictooth, and Cattail, “And we were fighting Octopus and Seaweed because then they tried to kill us!” Tide glowered at Deep and hissed, “Octopus and Seaweed would never do such a thing.” Splash piped up, “They nearly did it to me! On purpose, too!” Tide retorted, “No, it was an accident!” Splash muttered under his breath, “They did too do it on purpose.”

Queen Pearl said, “I’m sorry for doing this. . .. wait, why should I be sorry for murderers? I’m not sorry to do this: You’re going into prison.” Deep gasped, “We were using self-defense!” Tide snapped, “Don’t talk back. And you were not using self-defense! You were being plain murderers. Now we have no healer!” Deep whispered, “Oops.” Clover hissed, “Yeah, oops. It wasn’t my fault that Octopus and Seaweed wanted to kill me, though.” Talon, looking unusually subdued, ducked behind Snowflake, who covered him with her pale lavender wings. Queen Pearl ordered to the large male behind her, “Go get many, many other dragons, Hurricane. Include Seahorse. Whale and Shell, too. We know they are loyal,” she glared at Splash. “I don’t know about Porpoise. She wouldn’t want to take her brother to prison. But definitely include Shell, Whale, and Seahorse, along with Lionfish, Dive, Otter, Starfish, and Manatee. Get a bunch of extra stronger dragons, too.” The huge SeaWing, Hurricane nodded, and raced away. Was there a flash of uncertainty in that SeaWing’s eyes? Clover thought as she waited to be taken to the third prison in her life; the first being the cave, the second the healer’s cave.
Queen Pearl and Tide glared at them with narrowed eyes the whole time that they waited for Hurricane, making Clover feel guilty. Why do I feel guilty? I’m not! Only if you consider the others killed Octopus and Seaweed. But they were protecting me, and future dragons, too. Deep and Desert did the same to Pelican and Tide didn’t care! Not that Tide liked Pelican, but still. . ..

Then more wingbeats than Clover had ever heard at the same time echoed through the narrow tunnel. A minute later, more than thirty dragons flapped through the exit of the cave. Like we’re serial killers, thought Clover with a growl. Am I going into prison, too? I didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one who suffered the lionfish spines. I was the one who went through my tail getting burned. But I’d rather be with Deep and the others. And Splash. . .. The young SeaWing stood tall, his head lifted, trying to make himself brave, but Clover could sense that on the inside he was trembling wildly. Clover inched closer to him, but a young female soldier pushed her way in front of them. “You’re first,” she told Clover, not meeting her eyes. Clover obediently moved forward so that one dragon stood in front of her, Hurricane, and one stood behind her, a kind of small, subdued-looking male. No soldiers were needed on her sides until they reached outside the tunnel; the walls were too narrow for three dragons side-by-side to fly through. Clover looked back to see Deep, then Desert, Volcanictooth, Snowflake, Talon, Cattail, then in the back Splash. He stood behind the young female, and he seemed to be whispering to her urgently. Queen Pearl and Tide, who were in the very back with Seahorse and some other SeaWings, were too busy to listen to Splash and his companion.

Hurricane looked back, and when he saw Seahorse nod, her flew forward, Clover behind, into the skinny tunnel. Just before they flew out of the tunnel, Hurricane whispered back to Clover, “I’ll help you out of this,” then he flew into the open. Two more SeaWings flew immediately to her sides. Like I’d try to get away from fifty SeaWings! Thought Clover angrily. Then she began to think about what Hurricane said: I’ll help you out of this. Did he really mean it? Was he joking? Clover couldn’t tell. He seemed genuine, but she couldn’t be for sure.

The eight young dragons were led to a perfectly rectangular hole into the cliff. This is creepier than the healer’s cave, and we aren’t even inside yet! Clover gulped, then took a deep breath. I have to be brave for my friends! As they were led inside, Clover noticed that there were torches that were only tail-length apart, and the orange flames made shadows on the black stone walls. Really creepy, Clover thought as she walked uncertainly down the path. It was wide enough so that Clover and the two SeaWing soldiers next to her could walk without being pressed against each other, but there wasn’t much room to spare.

Clover saw ahead of them, there was a turn, and eerie green glow came from it. What is this, a lab? Clover thought, trying not to fight the urge to fly away. I’d get caught anyways, so what’s the point? She tried to reassure herself. As they took the turn, she saw squares of flooring separated from the path by glowing, neon green water. It bubbled restlessly, small ripples moving up and down. Long, snake-like creatures swam slowly, ominously, through the glowing water, their creepy, dead-looking eyes always staring up. “What are those?” she wondered aloud, and Hurricane replied, “Eels.” Clover shivered, That’s really, REALLY creepy!

The group passed a few dragons on different islands: Two NightWings huddled together, a SeaWing staring ominously ahead of itself, an angry-looking SkyWing who’s nostrils pulsed out smoke, and an IceWing, who looked like it was about to melt. That must be how Snowflake feels, Clover thought, and she hasn’t complained about it. I bet she misses the icy cold winds and falling snow, which sounds really weird to me. . ..

Hurricane stopped, and Clover nearly ran into him. “Now, jump across there, quickly,” Hurricane ordered, and he stepped out of the way so Clover could jump across, but still block her escape route. Clover crouched, paused, then leapt across. As she landed, her back leg slipped, and she nearly fell into the eerie green water. Determined to not fall in and get eaten by those creepy, dead-eyed eels, she got a grip onto the cold stone floor and heaved herself up. She sat on one of the edges so everyone else won’t trip over her when they landed. Deep was next; he practically shoved the young, subdued looking male soldier out of his way as he walked to the edge of the neon green water. He crouched like Clover did, then jumped across, spreading his wings so he could glide over. Is he always trying to find a funnier way to do something? Even when it’s going into our prison cell? Desert easily jumped over the gap, as did Volcanictooth. Despite her suffering in the heat, Snowflake also easily jumped the glowing, slowly flowing river, then turned around and held out her arms to catch Talon. The little SkyWing lowered himself, then launched towards Snowflake, which actually made him go higher than across the gap. He abruptly stopped in the middle of the gap, like he hit the stone wall, and he began to fall, squeaking fearfully. White and lily-green ate up the emerald green that was on Clover’s scales, fear and panic making her sadness disappear. Snowflake reached out, but she couldn’t reach as far as Talon was. Splash pushed past the others, bounding towards the gap, only leaping up when Clover thought he’d fall in. Splash caught Talon, and he flew them across. Talon looked very embarrassed as he said gruffly, “Thanks,” and Snowflake wrapped the SkyWing in a hug. After a moment Talon pushed Snowflake away, and if he was a RainWing, Clover and the others would’ve seen pale pink eat up his red, orange, and yellow scales.

Hurricane called across, “We’ll have plenty of guards, so don’t try to escape.” Hurricane led the forty some dragons out of the prison, four of them staying behind. When Hurricane had said ‘plenty of guards’, Clover now guessed that some were left at the entrance of the tunnel. Splash laid down beside Clover, his long, skinny tail wrapping almost around her whole entire body. Clover smiled, in spite of herself, and pressed herself closer to Splash. She sighed happily but quietly, knowing she and Splash were probably the only ones happy for the moment. Deep felt betrayed by his mother and aunt, Snowflake was utterly hot, Desert was unhappy for just being put in a prison (in general), Volcanictooth was more grumpy than usual, and Talon was very embarrassed about having to be rescued. Hurricane’s earlier words ran through mind once again: I’ll help you out of this. Would he really? Clover whispered to Splash, “What did you say to that female soldier earlier?” Splash replied, “That was Lionfish. She. . .. I grew up with her. We became soldiers at the same time, and we are usually on the same duties. Well, we were. Anyways, she’s kind of, um, soft to me, so I asked her if she could think up a plan to get us to escape. She has this thing with plans. . . she can make them up fast, and good ones, too. She said she could get her and her siblings and friends to keep guard, and Hurricane. He is really into doing the right thing, and when Hurricane listened to Seaweed’s story, then ours, he knew Seaweed’s was fishy. So, hopefully, he, Lionfish, and her brother, Dive, her sister, Otter, and her friends, Manatee and Starfish.” Splash peered over at the guards, then said, “It looks like Lionfish, Manatee, and Otter are over there, so Starfish, Dive and Hurricane should be at the entrance. Should be. Let’s hope this works.” For some strange reason, Clover trusted Splash, and there was an emotion that she never remembered feeling ever: love. Not friendship love that she felt towards Deep, Volcanictooth, Cattail, Snowflake, and Talon, but love as a family member, or. . . a mate? No, I got to have a mate with a RainWing. . . don’t I? But maybe I don’t. . .. Clover closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, her an Splash’s tails twinned together.

Hours later, Clover was awakened by a gentle tapping. At first, she thought it was part of her dream, and she began to push away from it. The tapping grew more intense, so she pushed harder. She felt herself tipping sideways, and something grabbing her, pulling her away from where she was. She opened her eyes to see Splash pulling her away from empty air. She turned and saw the creepy, glowing green water inches away from her. Startled, she scrambled away from it, bumping into Splash and nearly knocking him over. “I was trying to wake you up, because it was dark, and that’s when Lionfish and the others said they’d issue out the plan.” Splash whispered, his blue eyes wide with concern. He nodded to where Lionfish, Manatee, and Otter were discussing quietly among themselves. Splash continued softly, “Lionfish said we should free the other prisoners, too. When you were asleep, she went out to Hurricane, Starfish, and Dive to explain the plan. She came back looking excited, so I guess they agreed. She also talked to the other prisoners, it looked like, and now they are pacing around; anxiously, I’d guess.” Clover replied, “You could have woken me up earlier. I’d like to help make plans.” Splash sighed, “I’m sorry. I thought you’d like to sleep for a while, since this situation must be stressful for you: coming out of a mountain where you’ve been for most your whole life, badly injured, escaping SkyWings, crossing the Kingdom of the Sea, getting captured, and nearly getting killed, then being thrown into prison.” He took a deep breath, then continued, “Anyway, I thought you’d like to rest. I thought that’d be best for you. . .” his voice trailed away; he glanced at her, then away again quickly. Clover thought she caught something in that gaze: genuine concern. He does care about me, then, Clover thought, her heart warming unexpectedly. She mentally shook the feeling away, then nodded. “I understand,” she murmured, her tail tip flicking. Splash shook himself, then sat down, his tail curling around Clover, watching Lionfish and the others.

Clover noticed all of the others were sleeping, with Snowflake curled around Talon, Volcanictooth, Desert, and Cattail pressed together, and Deep sprawled out in the middle. Poor Deep. Nobody thought he deserved to be slept next to, Clover thought sadly. It wasn’t his fault; it was mine.

When Clover felt like she was going to fall asleep, she noticed one of the SeaWing guards quietly walking over, and Clover recognized her as Lionfish. The young SeaWing female called over softly, “Okay, Splash, wake up the others, and make it quick!” She’s bossy. Splash walked over to Cattail and poked her back, then did the same to Desert and Volcanictooth (although he did it slower to Volcanictooth). Desert jumped up, her small ears pricked, while Cattail got up more slowly. Volcanictooth snarled, but still slept, so Cattail whispered, “Get up, Volcanictooth! We’re escaping!” The female NightWing jumped up immediately. “Finally!” She shook herself, then stomped on Deep’s tail accidently. “Hey!” he grumbled, “Get off of my tail!” Volcanictooth quickly stepped off, then started poking Talon’s ear. “Come on, lazy bones! We’re leaving!” Talon shoved Snowflake’s tail off of himself, then leapt over the IceWing’s serrated talons. Talon turned back to Snowflake and poked her snout. “We’re about to escape!” he squeaked excitedly. Snowflake jumped up, accidently smashing Deep’s tail. “Twice? How much more am I going to take?” Deep growled. “Sorry,” Snowflake replied, shaking herself. Deep grumbled in reply, shaking his pale blue scales. “Are you done yet?” Lionfish called over impatiently, tapping her foot. Impatient, aren’t we? Clover thought, her anger rising. Splash replied, slightly frustrated, “Alright, we’re coming.”

Deep stepped up defiantly, then leapt across the river, landing neatly on the other side. Talon pushed himself in front of Volcanictooth, who grunted unhappily. Talon took a few steps back, then broke into a dead run, jumped, and spread his wings to glide across, as Deep had done earlier. The small SkyWing landed gracefully, but then tripped over Lionfish’s green tail, and the young female SeaWing hissed at him, her pale blue eyes narrow. Talon yelped, leaping back, and Snowflake jumped across quickly, then stood in front of Talon, hissing at Lionfish. The IceWing’s back spines lifted up, while Lionfish’s gills pulsed. Splash called across softly, “No fighting, please!” Lionfish seemed to ignore him, and she took a step closer to Snowflake, her tail lashing angrily. “No, stop! Don’t fight, please?” Talon squeaked, pulling on Snowflake’s tail, just above the spines. Snowflake stood still, her black eyes glittering with fury. I gotta stop this, Clover thought just as Cattail leapt across. Clover followed and she stepped up to Lionfish, her ruff flame-red with anger. “Leave my friends alone,” Clover snarled, shoving the slightly smaller SeaWing aside. Lionfish whipped around, snarling. Splash ran up to them, “Hey take it easy,” he said, slight annoyance in his eyes when he looked over at Lionfish. The SeaWing hissed, “Stop trying to act friendly to me, Splash! I’ve seen how much you like Clover instead of me! I’ve loved you since the first day I laid my eyes on you. And you loved me back! Now,” she snarled, turning slowly to Clover, “Now that you’ve seen a RainWing getting captured, you pity her and fall for her! That isn’t the loyal dragon I knew.” Then she added softly, as if her anger had never been present, “I won’t tell anyone about you escaping, though. I still feel loyal to you, Splash, even if we aren’t together anymore.”

Splash sighed in relief, “Thanks, Lionfish. I’m. . . I’m sorry. I still love you, but....” he didn’t finish, and both Clover and Lionfish looked away. “Not like you love her,” Lionfish whispered, and Clover shuffled her feet. Splash gave the tiniest nod. They stood there a moment, the Lionfish told Splash, “Well, let’s get this going, before someone finds us like this.”

Volcanictooth jumped across, Desert following. Lionfish rushed over to Manatee and Otter, and they all went to separate prisoners, and called across to them something. First the two NightWings jumped across, then the IceWing, the SkyWing, and finally the SeaWing. Splash leading, Clover and the others raced over to Lionfish, Otter, Manatee, and the other prisoners. Manatee, a very dull green, almost gray, female SeaWing, introduced the other prisoners. “This,” she said, pointing to the SkyWing, “Is Earthquake. The IceWing is Polar, the SeaWing is Trench, and the NightWings are Scrollwriter and Shameless.” “Shameless!” Volcanictooth yelped, and everyone jumped, including the small dragonet. Deep slapped her with her tail and growled, “Shut up! Everyone heard Manatee, you know!” Volcanictooth growled, “I know, but he is my cousin! My mother told me that her sister had a young dragonet a couple years ago, but she was mad at her sister for something, so we didn’t really visit each other. But you must be him!” Volcanictooth turned to the little NightWing, who looked utterly startled. Shameless finally stuttered, “Mother said that her sister had a dragonet older than me, recently, right before I was captured. I... I wanted to find you; I’d heard you’d gone off to find and kill my uncle Deathrock, and I,” he ducked his head sheepishly, “I wanted to help.” Scrollwriter said, “I wasn’t going to let him go alone. I guess I should have at least told someone where we were going. Besides, my father was a traitor, too, and I wanted to prove I can be useful.” Scrollwriter looked away, embarrassed about confessing her wrongdoing. Volcanictooth hugged Shameless and said, “I’m glad you’re okay, though. I’ve never met any of my cousins before.” Shameless squeaked, “Me neither!”

Deep grumbled, “This is a nice reunion and all, but we need to go rescue Reef and my brother still.” Clover turned to Splash, confused, and the SeaWing grunted, “Deep here is taking charge and adding in details to our plan of escape, I see.” Deep spun around and said, “I can’t have Eel growing up with Tide teaching him I’m a criminal when I’m not. And Reef deserves to get away from being Queen Pearl’s servant.” Clover questioned, “Why is Reef the queen’s servant, anyways?” Splash explained, “Her father ran off in the middle of a battle and it’s rumored he’s with some SkyWing, which I doubt. Her mother, who was poor to begin with and had many mouths to feed, said that one of her children could be the queen’s servant for as long as Her Majesty wanted.” Desert exclaimed, “That’s mean!” Deep nodded grimly, “Queen Pearl is nasty. But Reef’s mother was desperate, too. She couldn’t have all of her seven dragonets in jail, even more starved than normal.”

Volcanictooth growled, her foot tapping, “Let’s get this over with. We’ll rescue Reef, then Deep can go after Eel. We’ll meet by the Diamond Spray Delta, and go from there. We’ll help the prisoners get to their kingdoms. Well, except Trench. Because, you know, we’re already in the Kingdom of the Sea, and they won’t like him running around, out of prison.” Trench rumbled, “I’ll stay on one of the outmost islands. One far, far away from the Summer Palace.” Deep protested, “SeaWings will catch you and kill you on the spot if they find you. Come with us; once Rustle is gone, it’ll be peaceful again. Clover will be queen. . .” Clover gasped, “Wait, wait, wait. I’m supposed to kill this Rustle, then I’m queen? I never said I was going to be queen.” Cattail informed, “Well, the only other female heir besides you is a two-year-old named Vine. She can’t be queen, and Rustle can’t either. He’s evil. Queen Mist is getting old, too old to make decisions. And so is her husband, the king, you father, Kumbu. The queen and king are on the brink of death, anyways.”

Me, queen? Clover thought just as Splash blurted, “You’d be a wonderful queen, Clover.” He looked as if he immediately regretted himself saying that aloud, for he looked away when Clover tried to catch his eye. They were all silent, then Deep spoke up. “Let’s get going. Lionfish, can you, Hurricane, and Dive lead Scrollwriter, Shameless, Trench, Polar, and Earthquake to the Diamond Spray Delta? You guys would most likely get killed if Queen Pearl sees you guys napping away, we prisoners missing.”

Suddenly, wingbeats could be heard. “Uh oh,” Shameless whispered as two SeaWings flew in. One was pinkish gray and very pale blue, like Manatee, who was helping a very small, silver-blue dragonet, who must have been barely a year. “Dolphin!” Deep gasped, running up to her and hugging her. Dolphin hugged back, looking embarrassed, while the one-year-old dragonet hopped up and down around them, looking very excited and nervous at the same time. After a moment Deep asked, “What are you doing here? And why did you bring Bubble?” he looked down at the smaller dragonet affectionately as Dolphin explained, “I was going to help you escape. I knew you were going to save anyone else in the kingdom that needed to be saved. Bubble can’t grow up with the propaganda popping up lately. And I know exactly where Reef is. She. . . um. . . had a suspicion that you would do something to save others, and she escaped from Queen Pearl. She and Eel are waiting outside. Eel and Bubble were having a playdate, and Tide wanted Eel to stay late, because she ‘had important stuff to organize’. So, it was as easy as saying ‘squid-brains’!” Deep told her, “You are brilliant! Let’s escape now. We have quite a lot to do.” Dolphin nodded and she and Deep led the others out of the tunnel. Clover saw a very dark green male dragonet, who looked less than a year old, and Reef sitting outside with Hurricane, Dive, Starfish and, surprisingly, a silver female that Clover recognized as Splash’s sister, Porpoise. “I can’t let you leave without me,” Porpoise whispered to Splash, and he smiled slightly. “You know we won’t be able to come back.” Porpoise replied, “I’d like to explore and not be stuck here, anyways.”

Hurricane rumbled, “Let’s get to the Delta as soon as possible. From there, we can drop Shameless and Scrollwriter at the Island of Night, then swoop towards the Sky Kingdom, then the Ice Kingdom. Then to the Rainforest Kingdom.” Clover thought that the general had a pretty good plan to follow, and she nodded. The group flew towards the canopy, Hurricane leading, where a dragon-sized hole awaited them. Hurricane squeezed through, Clover behind with Splash, Porpoise, Deep, Dolphin, Bubble, Eel, and the others, Cattail, Volcanictooth, and Snowflake last. Hurricane poked his head back into the hole, looked around, then pulled his head out. “Nobody has seen us,” he whispered as he patched the hole in the canopy quickly. “Let’s go,” Hurricane said softly, and he lifted himself into the air, his snout pointing southwest. The others followed, and Hurricane began flying towards the Mud Kingdom.

Chapter 8- Chased towards the Mud Kingdom

“I’m tired, Deep!” Eel squeaked, panting, trying to keep up with his older brother.

The dark green dragonet looked pleadingly at Deep, and he whimpered pitifully, “When can we sleep? And why are we going away from Mommy?” Deep sighed, then growled softly, “We are getting away from Tide because she wants me dead and she would teach you that I’m a bad guy, when I’m not. You can ride on my back if you want.” The little male dragon squeaked excitedly as Deep lifted him up onto his own back. Clover smiled sadly; she wished she could have a little brother or sister, tagging along with her and wanting to play with her. I do have a sister, Clover reminded herself. Once I’m done with this important stuff, Vine can be with me all the time.

Splash was flying next to her, and he kept brushing wings with her. A shiver of delight ran down her spine. I know I have one someone who loves me. Volcanictooth was on her other side, chatting to Shameless, who looked less anxious and happier. Scrollwriter was on Shamless’s other side, Polar and Earthquake behind them. Hurricane was speaking to Trench, who were both in the lead. Deep was talking to Dolphin, who had Bubble on her back, and Cattail flying next the Reef and Desert. Talon and Snowflake were next to Diver, Otter, and Manatee, Lionfish and Starfish behind them, and Porpoise was on Splash’s other side. Clover noticed that everyone was peaceful together, talking and flying with each other as if they were all one tribe. At least we’re happy. . .. mostly. Clover looked behind her at Snowflake and Polar, who were both panting, beads of sweat running down their pale blue and silver scales. And its night; how bad would it be in the day time?

Hurricane had said once it’s dawn, they’d find an island to rest on, then travel when the sun sets. So far, they’d past four large islands and at least five little ones, and another was popping up in front of them. Cattail had calculated their speed and the roughly guess of how far away the Diamond Spray Delta was, and she said that they’d be at the Delta in about four to seven days. If they did everything fast, the MudWing had said, they could be done with only one task to do (killing Rustle) in about two or three weeks. If they did it slow, it would talk almost two months. I’m not making this take two months.

The sun was now about to rise, Clover noticed, and the dragons picked up speed. In a few minutes, they all landed on a decent-sized island with half of it beach, the other half a thick grove of trees. “Perfect!” Deep said, holding his head high as if he were in charge. Splash made a low grinding noise in his throat, and Clover knew that he must be thinking the same thing. “Who made him in charge?” Volcanictooth breathed as the little SeaWing strutted around in front of Dolphin, who rolled her eyes, but grinned. Bubble then rolled her eyes, and scampered to the seashore, splashing along with Eel.

Hurricane said, “We’ll rest here today. To speed this traveling up, we’ll start flying just before the sun goes down.” Trench rumbled, “We will probably have to hide in the trees for most of the time. SeaWings will be after us, and a group of twenty-two dragons can be seen easily from the sky.” Hurricane nodded at the older SeaWing and said, “Me and some others shall go hunting. Preferably SeaWings and maybe Clover.” Clover looked up from shifting sand between her claws in surprise. “You can become invisible so one, you’re harder for prey to spot, and two so you’re harder for SeaWing patrols to see,” Hurricane explained. Splash immediately volunteered, and after a minute it was decided that Clover, Hurricane, Splash, Porpoise, Lionfish, and Starfish would go hunting. Clover watched Snowflake and Polar immediately plod over to the shade of trees and thought sadly about how the IceWings must be suffering. Hurricane took off over the canopy, and Clover followed, Splash beside her.

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About an hour later, the group came back, the sun completely out. Clover dropped a large, warty pig next to Hurricane’s two crocodiles, Splash’s four swordfish, Porpoise’s narwhal, Lionfish’s four albatrosses, and Starfish’s half-grown shark. Deep exclaimed, “Wow! You guys did awesome!” Clover had to stop her scales from turning the blushing, rosy pink color. Trench grunted, but Clover could tell he was pleased, too. They dragons ate peacefully, no one thinking that they were on the run. Suddenly, wingbeats echoed in her ears, and she leapt up, her eyes narrowed and scanning the sky. Hurricane seemed to hear it, too, so he whispered fiercely to everyone, “Into the trees! And get the prey so no one will suspect anything.” Clover grabbed her half-eaten pig-thing, and dragged it towards the trees. Splash came over to help, and they were quickly hidden in the thick ferns and bushes. Clover raced over to Talon and covered the small SkyWing with her wings, which was already becoming a dark green and brown. She shut the noise of the other dragons out of her mind, and thought about her surroundings: the last drops of dew dripping from the fern leaves, the quiet waves rushing at the surf, the wind blowing softly through the trees. Deep’s voice startled her: “Woah! It’s like she’s invisible.” Clover grumbled, “I am invisible, toad-brain.” “Oh,” he snorted, then ducked under a bush, holding Eel, beside Dolphin, who was holding Bubble. Splash accidently stepped on Clover’s tail, and she let out a muffled yelp of pain. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said, laying down beside her. She pressed against him, and he did the same in return. Just as everyone was settled under a bush or hidden in the hollow of a tree, seven thumps could be heard on the beach. Talon curled into an even tighter ball than he was already in. Clover watched as a dark blue female dragon came slowly walking towards the trees. Talon must have been watching, too, for her shivered under Clover’s wing. Clover slowly made herself not invisible, but still pretty well camouflaged. She glanced at Splash, who fell ridged, staring ahead at the female dragon coming closer. Clover glanced over towards Hurricane, who was hiding Reef underneath his wing. Clover wondered how to ask if they should escape or keep hiding without speaking. Trench, who was beside Hurricane, flashed his light-up stripes as softly as he could. When he was done, Hurricane did the same, but in different patterns. Suddenly, Hurricane reared up, lifted Reef onto his back, called as quietly as he could, “Let’s go!” And without another word, he darted farther into the trees.

Clover stood up and nudged Talon quickly. The SkyWing flung himself up, spread his over-sized red, orange, and yellow wings, and flew off after Hurricane. Dolphin put Bubble onto her back, and Deep did the same with Eel. They ran after Hurricane, Snowflake, Earthquake, Polar, Shameless, and Scrollwriter right behind. Lionfish, Starfish, Manatee, Dive, Otter, Porpoise, Cattail, Desert, and Volcanictooth soon followed. Clover, Splash, and Trench went last, and Clover heard a voice call out, “Hey! Come back!” But nobody stopped; that only made everyone go faster. Clover saw Hurricane lift up towards an opening in the canopy, and fly through. Everyone else followed, and when Clover looked behind them, she saw the blue dragon and six others following closely behind. “Hurry, faster!” Clover shouted, and she picked up speed, Splash following, so that they could fly right behind Dolphin and Deep. The little dragonets clung to their backs, eyes wide with terror. Hurricane called back, “Make sure Reef, Eel, and Bubble are in the middle!” Hurricane handed Reef over to Cattail, and the MudWing slowed slightly so she was beside Deep. Everyone else surrounded the youngest dragons and the ones carrying them so they were protected the best. Splash nudged Clover towards them and said, “You need protecting, too.” Clover slowed so she was next to Splash and Trench, who were in the very back. “I do not. I need to help protect the others.” Outraged red flooded her dark green and brown scales, her bright blue eyes narrowing slightly.

Splash sighed, “Alright. But I’m going to protect you.” Clover smiled, then looked behind her. The dragons were slightly farther away from before, but gaining. “Faster, faster!” Clover called, and everyone flew at top speed. Earthquake and Talon flew in front, searching for another island. Talon is lucky that he has powerful wings. That’s his only weapon, besides fire-breathing. The two SkyWings had become small red and copper dots in the sky, far ahead of them. Suddenly, Talon came racing back. “There is a large island over there!” he gasped, panting hard. Hurricane nodded, then dove down, not straight down, but enough to make sure they were going slightly downward. Hurricane tucked in his wings and he zoomed forward, almost at SkyWing speed. Clover blinked in surprise, and the others copied the former SeaWing general. Clover tucked in her large wings, who’s tips were still sore, and dove down towards the others.

They all quickly landed on the island, which was all trees, and they quickly hid. This time, Clover climbed up a tree and dark brown quickly ate her flame-red and blue scales. Splash hid in a river that split the island in half; it looked like all of the other SeaWings decided to do the same. Talon flew up to a different tree and hid among the leaves. Clover looked through the trees to see the dragons chasing them land; half of them flopped over, panting hard. They look small for soldiers. Most of them, anyway, Clover thought as she peered closer. There were seven dragons, one an adult, the others dragonets that looked like their ages ranged from eight to two. Two-year-old soldiers? Unlikely.

The adult was a dark blue female, and she kept a silver female dragonet beside her at all times. The eight-year-old was also female; her stripes were flashing constantly, as if something was wrong with them, and they couldn’t stop. A very pale blue male was standing beside the oldest, narrowing his eyes as he watched the trees in front of him. Two other dragonets-both looking like they were four; a female and a male- were besides a dark green five-year-old female. Wow, why does that seem familiar? Wait! Deep said that Reef’s mother had seven dragonets; there are six there, and if you’d add in Reef. . .

“Where are you?” the oldest male boomed, and Clover jumped and nearly fell out of the tree. She quickly grabbed a better hold on the branch, hoping she wasn’t noticed. But the little silver female squeaked, “I think there is someone in that tree!” She pointed straight at Clover’s tree, and Clover held her breath. “Are you sure?” the older, dark blue female asked. “I didn’t see anything.” “Well, I did,” both the pale blue male and dark green female said. Great. “If you’re sure, we can look,” the dark blue female said, and Clover slowly began to back up to the trunk, keeping an eye on the strange SeaWings.

Suddenly, a crash came from behind her, and Clover gasped and looked behind her. Nothing, she thought as she slowly turned back to the other dragons. She noticed that the silver female disappeared. Silly little thing, running off like that. . . Clover thought as something poked her back. She yelped in surprise, and this time she did fall out of the tree with a crash. All the other dragons turned in her direction, and she quickly blended herself in with the foliage. She looked up to where she was and saw a stick hovering in the air. What in the three moons! She thought as a huge splash came from the river. Clover looked up to see Splash charging out of the river, with Porpoise clinging to his tail. His sister let go, and Splash ran over to Clover. “Idiot! You’re supposed to be hiding!” Clover hissed. “Sorry, but I was worried about you!” he shot back. “Go!” Clover whispered, and she rolled into a particularly large bush. But it was too late; the group slowly walked over to Splash. The oldest male narrowed his eyes, and a deep rumbling sound came from his throat. “Stop it,” the dark blue female said, and as she turned back to Splash she said, “I’m Ocean. I’m looking for a little female dragonet, about her age,” she pointed at the little silver dragonet clinging to her leg. “Her name is Reef; she was a servant of Queen Pearl, but I heard she ran away.” Splash said with a slight hiss in his voice, “Why do you want to know?” The very pale blue male snarled, “What have you done to her!?” he sprang at Splash, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground. Clover sprang out of the bush and snarled, “Get off of him!” and she barreled into the pale blue male. He hissed, then swung his tail around towards Clover. She ducked, barely missing, and the dark blue female growled, “Ripple, stop! This is not how we are going to find your sister!” She tore Ripple away from Splash and Clover and explained to them, “Sorry, he is very protective of his siblings. Ever since Reef was forced to be Queen Pearl’s servant. . . I shouldn’t have allowed that to happen! My poor darling, I’m so worried about her. . .” Clover blurted, “She’s with us. I mean, not just me and Splash; others are, too.” She looked over at the river, where Hurricane was hauling himself out of the river, Reef right behind.

Ocean cried, “Reef!” Reef ran past Hurricane and jumped into her mother’s arms. The little silver dragonet hugged Reef, and the others surrounded Ocean and Reef, talking excitedly. The dark green five-year-old turned to Splash and Clover and said, “Thank you for getting Reef away from that awful place! I was so scared for her. By the way, I’m Glow. That’s because when I light up my stripes up, they don’t flash very brightly, just a low glow. My oldest sister,” Glow continued, pointing to the eight-year-old female, “Is Lumiscent. As you already know, Ripple is the seven-year-old overprotective brother of mine. Those four-year old dragonets are Jellyfish and Seal, and the silver female is Moon Fish. Reef and Moon Fish are twins, and Seal and Jellyfish are twins, too. I’m the middle dragonet. I’m the one who is supposed to be a role model for the younger dragonets, but I still got to be watched by Ripple or Lumiscent. It’s kind of annoying; I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

By this time, everyone else had come out of hiding. Ocean rushed up to Hurricane and said, “Thank you for keeping my daughter safe and getting her away from the SeaWing palace! I was trying to figure how to rescue her, but I didn’t know how.” Hurricane replied, “It was nothing, really. She came to us when me and some other young soldiers,” he flicked his tail in Starfish, Lionfish, Otter, Dive, Porpoise, and Manatee’s direction, “were helping some innocent prisoners escape.” He shuffled his feet and continued, “Clover, who is the missing RainWing princess, was taken to the healers because her ‘guardians’ were abusive and injured her wings, back, hind legs, snout, and midsection by clawing her and chaining her with boiling-hot chains. Octopus and Seaweed stuck a bunch of lionfish spines in her tail, attempting to kill her, when Splash and Clover’s friends found them in the middle of the process. They killed Octopus immediately, and tried to do the same to Seaweed, but she lived long enough to think up of an evil lie to get them into prison. Right after telling Queen Pearl and Tide that Splash tried to kill Clover, and the dragonets killed Octopus and Seaweed for no reason, Seaweed died. Since Seaweed was their mother, and Octopus was their father, Tide and Queen Pearl instantly believed Seaweed. Queen Pearl threw them in prison, and me, Starfish, Lionfish, Otter, Deep, Manatee, and Dive to guard them. Well, I felt sorry for them, and the other prisoners who were there for no good reason. Shameless went to search for Volcanictooth, who is his cousin, and Scrollwriter came after him to protect him. Queen Pearl sent a patrol to capture a SkyWing just to stir up trouble, and they got Earthquake. And Polar was taken for the same reason as Earthquake. Anyways, I helped them escape, and now I’m probably considered a traitor back at the Palace.”
Ocean growled softly, “Everyone is mad. Seahorse kept saying, ‘I can’t believe I was so easily fooled’, and Queen Pearl keeps going on and on about how you betrayed her.” Hurricane shuffled on his feet again and murmured, “I wouldn’t have if she had have been just.”

Volcanictooth butted in. “Let’s stop making each other uncomfortable and let’s think of a plan. Wow, great idea, Volcanictooth! Let’s do that!” Desert’s pale-yellow eyes darted over to Volcanictooth in surprise, and her face told her thoughts: she doesn’t talk like that! Deep said, “Yeah, let’s do that! I like making plans.” Ocean looked at Hurricane again and said uncomfortably, “Can we join you? We only got to escape because there was chaos all day, and I’ll sure be killed if any SeaWing finds me and my children.” She swept Reef and Moon Fish closer to her, holding them against her sides tightly. Both of the little dragonets squirmed, trying to escape their mother’s grasp. Hurricane nodded and joked, “What more is seven more dragons?” Ocean laughed softly, nervously, and clutched Moon Fish and Reef even tighter. Hurricane said, “We’ll sleep here tonight, and leave early tomorrow morning. We have to try to get to the Diamond Spray Delta in four days, maybe less. If we keep getting chased, we should get there faster than that.” Trench nodded, his dark green eyes concentrating on nothing in particular. Clover wondered if Trench secretly didn’t agree. Hurricane continued, “Let’s hunt again. Everyone who hunted last time, come with me.” Hurricane flapped his gigantic dark blue wings and took to the air, while Clover, Splash, and the others followed.

Half an hour later, the group came back with four crocodiles, seven swordfish, and six narwhals. Deep exclaimed when they had gotten back, “You guys are awesome. Especially you, Clover, for being stuck under a mountain for, like, your whole life.” Clover rolled her eyes, “It’s pretty easy....” Eel interrupted, “Maybe you are a SeaWing in disguise!” Everyone laughed at that. At least nobody is uncomfortable about being around other tribes, Clover thought as she walked into the trees, Splash next to her. He is so obsessed with me, but why? Clover shook herself, trying to dislodge the thought, but it clung on like her own scales. And she already knew the answer; an answer she didn’t want to hear. Tomorrow, we can get moving towards the Mud Kingdom, toward my home that I’ve longed for. But do I want to be queen?

Chapter 9- The Diamond Spray Delta and Unsuspected Help

Just as Hurricane had planned, the twenty-nine dragons reached the Diamond Spray Delta before four days, but barely. They had gotten there the night of the third day, and were so tired they’d fallen asleep quickly on a small island right outside the delta. To their luck, nobody found them- while they were asleep, anyway.

Clover awoke to unfamiliar voices.

“Hey, do you have the feeling someone is here?”
“Um, I’m here. And so are Heron and Panther.”
“You idiot! She’s mean, like, somebody beside your useless brain.”
“I’m not useless! I’m a bigwings, after all.”
“Wow, like that makes you so special.”
“Guys, stop fighting. And I think Weed is right.”
“You’d say that.”
“Whatever, Panther. I’m tired of your attitude.”
“So am I.”
“Thanks, Alligator. That makes me feel SO GOOD.”

Clover jumped up, and, unfortunately, she stepped on Talon’s tail, who let out a muffled yelp in his sleep. “Hey, I heard that!” said the second voice. The first voice squeaked, “I knew it! Someone’s here, spying on us, trying to capture us, take us to their kingdom, then torture us. . .” “Weed, stop!” the second voice, and, if Clover heard right, was Alligator. Why’d that name sound familiar? Clover prodded Splash, who was next to her, and whispered, “Others!” And she instantly turned invisible. Splash quickly went among the others, poking them awake and telling them to hide. When he finished, Splash ran after the other SeaWings and splashed into the sea.

“I heard that, too!” Alligator cried. “I think you’re right, Weed. . .” The first voice, Weed, screeched in fear. The fourth voice said, “Let’s investigate. Queen Willow would make us heroes if we found intruders.” “Good grief, Heron,” the third voice, Panther, grumbled. Alligator said, “We should still investigate.” Panther made a grunt, but when Clover heard the four crashing through the woods toward them, she guessed it was a grunt of agreement.

When the four leapt through the pine trees, Clover thought angrily, I’m about to get stepped on. I’m always giving us away. The largest dragon, a brown male with yellow underscales, grumbled, “Nobody is here.” Clover recognized him as Alligator. A tiny pale brown female with amber underscales stuttered, “They must be hiding!” This was Weed. A very dark brown male, Panther, grumbled, “I’m not playing hide-and-seek today.” A copper-brown female with bright blue eyes, Heron, said, “We must find them, then.” She walked inches away from Clover, looking behind bushes, as she got closer and closer to Snowflake and Polar’s hiding place....
Clover leaped from her hiding spot and barreled into Heron, still in her camouflage. Weed screeched, “It’s an invisible monster!” Clover rolled her eyes, trying to dodge Heron’s huge wings. The MudWing snarled, “A little help would be awesome here!” Just as Clover kicked her in the stomach, making herself fly into Weed, who screeched in fear. Alligator leaped on top of her and she felt herself being pinned down. “I can’t see you,” he said in a deadly slow voice. “But I can still feel you. You. Do. Not. Attack. My little sister! Do you understand me?! YOU DO NOT ATTACK HER!” He lunged down, and just as he was about to bite her his weight was suddenly gone. Clover saw Splash, dripping wet, facing off with Alligator, and Porpoise fighting Heron. Clover made herself visible just as Cattail came bursting through the trees. “Alligator! Weed!” she cried, throwing herself into Alligator as he lunged towards Splash. Alligator went reeling back in surprise. “Cattail?” he growled uncertainly. Cattail wrapped herself around his legs and said, “Don’t attack them. Clover was only trying to defend us. . .” she cast a glance over to Snowflake and Polar, who were peeking from behind a huge fallen tree. Alligator hissed, “You don’t protect by attacking other’s little sisters.” Cattail shot back, “She didn’t launch herself at Weed! She kicked Heron and went flying. I know she wouldn’t hurt a defenseless dragon like that. Right Clover?” The MudWing turned towards Clover, who took a step back. What am I doing? Trying to get us killed?

Heron staggered up from where she had fallen and grumbled, “For a RainWing, she fights good.” Panther hissed, “How could you tell when she was invisible?” Heron shot back, “That’s the point. She made herself invisible so I couldn’t see what she’d do.” She turned her admired blue gaze over to Clover. “Where’d you learn that? You’re a RainWing, so I’d guess you haven’t really learned how to fight. . .” Weed suddenly gasped, “Cattail, you did it! You went searching for the lost RainWing princess, and you found her! You’ll be a hero!” Alligator scratched his head, a smile creeping across his face. “Yeah, you did it, Cattail! Now you can come home with us!” Weed’s amber eyes nearly glowed with pleasure. Cattail opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. She looked over at Clover, her eyes showing how her heart was torn apart. Would she stay with her family, or go and help someone she meant only three months or so ago?

Deep charged from the water, shaking his blue scales to free them from the water. Weed jumped back in surprise, and Alligator step in front of Weed, her eyes narrowed. Cattail said, “It’s okay! He’s a... friend of mine. He helped me. . . us. . .. find Clover.” She flicked her tail, and Volcanictooth dropped down from the pine tree she’d been in. Talon leapt on top of the boulder he’d been hiding behind, and Desert flew down from another pine tree she’d been in. Alligator’s eyes widened and he whispered, “You. . . you’ve met dragons from all of the tribes? Now I’m jealous.” He gave his sister a teasing shove. Cattail grinned, “Yes I have. Guys, this is Deep, Volcanictooth, Talon, and Desert. Snowflake, Polar, you can come out now.” The large, pale purple-blue IceWing plodded heavily from behind the fallen tree, Polar behind. Hurricane came out of the water, the other SeaWings following. Earthquake flew from behind a huge boulder, extending his copper wings luxuriously. Shameless and Scrollwriter flew from behind a large pine tree, their black scales looking like shadows that emerged from the forest.

“Woah, you, like, have a million dragons here,” gasped Panther. Heron rolled her eyes and corrected, “Twenty-nine.” Panther rumbled, “I knew that.” Alligator said, “You guys have to come meet Queen Willow! She’d be so happy to meet you all!” Clover’s eyes widened with fear; from how Queen Pearl had acted, and how the SandWing queen and IceWing queen sounded, she didn’t feel like meeting anymore queens. Until she met her mother, anyways.

Splash answered for her. “We are kind of on a deadline. We need to get these escape prisoners back to their homes, then get to the Rainforest Kingdom and kill Rustle.” Alligator paused, then said, “We? That including. . . Cattail?” Weed cried, “She has to stay!” Cattail looked on the verge to crying. “I have to help Clover, otherwise Rustle will become king, then start taking over all the tribes, one by one. And he’ll surely kill Clover and whoever helped her escape. And that includes me. So, would you rather me stay, then get hunted down by Rustle and be killed, or me doing something good, something right, and possibly dies that way?”

Alligator stayed silent for a long time. Then, finally, he breathed, “Go with them. But don’t die. You better not die. Me and Weed couldn’t bear it.” Heron added, “You can come back once you’re done. We’ll be waiting.” Cattail nodded and replied, “Thanks. We’ll be going first to the Sky Kingdom and leave Earthquake there, then go to the Ice Kingdom and help Polar there. Then, we’ll go to the Kingdom of Night, drop Scrollwriter and Shameless off there, then to the Rainforest Kingdom we go!”

Alligator, Weed, Panther, and Heron gaped at her, their eyes, amber and blue and brown, all wide. Alligator said, almost in a whisper, “You are going on a real journey. An adventure! I wish I had the courage to go. I wouldn’t do it for all of the cows in the world.” Cattail blinked at him, then said softly, “I’ll be back. I’ll come back.” She turned to the others and said, “We should go now. If any of the major patrols found us, we’re dead for sure, no questions asked.” Alligator nodded, “The Sky Kingdom is northwest of here. It should be a day’s journey, but that goes straight through the Sky Kingdom, and Queen Cloud isn’t in the best mood lately....” Hurricane interrupted, “I know. But if we’re caught by a SkyWing patrol, that’s perfect, because they’ll recognize Earthquake, and they should be considerably tolerant with us.” Alligator sighed, then wrapped Cattail in a hug. “I’ll be waiting for you. Me and Weed will be waiting.” Cattail hugged back, then suddenly gasped, “What about mother? Is she alright?” Alligator paused, his face falling. “She kicked us out. Right after you left. She didn’t believe our story, saying we made you run away, and she said if she saw us again she’d kill us.” His voice broke as he continued, “I couldn’t let her do such a thing to Weed, so Panther and Heron are living with me and Weed. You know, so we have company. All of their other siblings died, so we decided to do an unsibs group.” Cattail nodded, then let go of him and hugged Weed. Clover’s heart broke as she watched. I hope Vine is as welcoming to me as I hope.

Cattail held her smaller sister in a tight hug for a moment, then let go. She turned to Heron and Panther and said, “Stay strong. Make sure these two don’t die before I come back.” Panther and Heron nodded, their brows creased, and Cattail turned to Hurricane. “I’m ready,” she said, in barely a whisper. Hurricane nodded and told the four other MudWings, “Stay safe, and don’t follow us. You’ll regret it.” With that, the huge SeaWing took off to the sky, then pointed himself towards the direction Alligator had told them. Everyone else followed, Cattail one of the last. “Keep safe!” she called to her brother and sister. “I love you, and don ‘t you forget it!” “We love you, too!” Alligator shouted, and he, Weed, Panther, and Heron all waved. Soon, the MudWings were dots, then they vanished all together as the twenty-nine dragons flew towards Queen Cloud’s Palace.

PART TWO: The Meeting of the Queens

Chapter 9- Queen Cloud’s Kingdom

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Just as Alligator said, it took about a day to come within sight of Queen Cloud’s Palace. But as they got close enough to almost see the guards on the castle walls, a wall of fire blasted behind them. Talon, who was near the back, yelped, “SkyWings!” and dove down lower, Snowflake right behind him. “Just in time,” Hurricane murmured. Clover hissed softly as fire nearly singed her seaweed-wrapped tail. The group spun around to see about twelve SkyWings behind them, their jaws drawn back to blast more fire. “Don’t!” Earthquake shouted, pushing himself forward. “Earthquake? Is that you?” A younger red-gold SkyWing asked, cocking his head. “Yes, it’s me!” Earthquake said, “I was captured by the SeaWings, but some of them freed me.” He looked in Hurricane’s direction and nodded in gratitude.

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“Why would they capture you, then free you?” An older, dull-orange SkyWing asked. “Well, from what I heard, Queen Pearl just wants to stir up trouble,” Earthquake answered, “But some of her soldiers disagreed. So, one of the generals and some young soldiers freed me and the other prisoners who shouldn’t have been there, and I’m now here.” The younger SkyWing whistled in awe. The dull-orange soldier grunted, “Alright. We shall go back to the Palace. And these others are no threat? Not even the NightWings?” He narrowed his eyes at Volcanictooth, Scrollwriter, and Shameless. “They’re fine,” Earthquake reassured him. “Two of them were caught as well, and the third was placed in the prison because someone wrongly accused her of murder that was really self-defense.” The dull-orange soldier grunted again and grumbled, “Then they shall leave right away. Which way are you going?” Earthquake interrupted, “I think they should come with us.”

The older SkyWing hissed, “Enemies into the Palace? Has going to the Kingdom of the Sea made you gone completely insane?” Hurricane said quietly, “Me and all of my fellow SeaWings are now outcasts for either running away from Queen Pearl’s awfulness or from saving these other innocent dragons. We will not go back to the Kingdom of the Sea with information.” The dull-orange soldier narrowed his eyes, then said, “Alright. But Queen Cloud might not be happy. Unless,” he said, a sly look on his face, “She can see this one.” He poked Talon, who yelped in fear and hid behind Snowflake. “We’re all going,” Hurricane informed him. Talon seemed to shrink at Hurricane’s words, and Clover felt sorry for him. Talon had told her and everyone else that he was an escaped SkyWing prisoner that had been took to the prison in the first place because his father, Star, had been a traitor to the SkyWings. ‘Queen Cloud had said that she didn’t trust any of Star’s family’, Talon had said. Now, he was going back to the dreaded place.

The orange SkyWing flicked his tail, and two other SkyWings went in the back of the group, three on the left, three on the right. He placed himself and Earthquake in front and he commanded, “Let’s go!” He immediately flew forward like a dart, and the non-SkyWings had to fly top-speed to keep up. Clover heard Snowflake whisper to Talon, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. I won’t let them get you.” Clover knew that the IceWing would, too. And I will, too.

Earthquake and the old SkyWing lead the group to the front of the palace. Earthquake spoke quickly to the guards, who nodded, and they opened the huge, creaking doors. They entered the dark passage way, and Clover felt Talon trembling on her right side. Splash, on her other side, was staring in awe at the beautiful tapestries hanging on the walls. Most showed battle scenes, but a few showed local wildlife in the Sky Kingdom, and the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. “They are so beautiful,” Desert whispered, and Cattail nodded in agreement. Talon stammered, “It’s beautiful, all right, but she wants to kill me, remember?” Snowflake said fiercely, “I won’t let that happen!” She laid a wing over Talon’s back and, despite his scrunched-up face, she pulled him closer against her lavender scales.

After a minute, they entered a large room with a large, marble throne with curved, smooth edges. Sitting on it was a huge red female dragon with sapphires embedded into the scales around her dark orange eyes. Her eyes lightened when she saw Earthquake, but when she saw Hurricane, Trench, and the other SeaWings, Polar, Scrollwriter, and the dragonets her eyes narrowed. “So,” she began with a deep but soft voice. “Earthquake is back, and has captured new prisoners. How lovely. Just back from who-knows-where and has caught twenty some prisoners.” When her eyes landed on Talon, she leaned forward. “Am I seeing Talon, or a con artist? But why would such an excellent con artist try to look like my number one wanted prisoner?” Talon shrunk against Snowflake, who spread out her wings to protect him from the female dragon’s gaze. “And an IceWing protecting a dangerous SkyWing, how cute,” she went on. “And a SeaWing glued to a RainWing’s side, how adorable. And a MudWing, a SandWing, and two NightWing dragonets under the age of ten. Interesting. I can certainly deal with this. I hope we have lots of empty prison cells.” Before she could continue, Earthquake said, “No, wait, Your Majesty. They aren’t prisoners. They helped me escape the SeaWing’s Summer Palace after Queen Pearl sent ten SeaWings to capture an important SkyWing general, and it turned out to be me.” The large female asked, “Queen Pearl is setting out to capture other tribes’ dragons? How cruel of her.” Earthquake nodded and continued, “She also captured an IceWing citizen, and this group of outlaw SeaWings and the seven older dragonets are returning the other innocent prisoners to their homes. I was the first, and after all of this the RainWing, who is the missing princess, will be challenging Rustle and taking over the throne.” The female’s sapphire-encrusted eyebrows arched, her eyes narrowing slightly. “A dragonet, leading a whole tribe? After being under a mountain for most of her life? Hope she gets training. But now, you must be turning the very-wanted SkyWing dragonet over to me, yes? I’ve been wanting him so badly.” Earthquake replied firmly, “I’m not ‘handing him over’. I want to make a request for his family, Storm, and Hawk to be released from prison.”

A long silence blanketed over the entire room. Then, after what seemed an eternity, the female dragon growled, “Why would I do that? I need the little dragonet so I have the whole family. I cannot just let them all wander around the Sky Kingdom.” Earthquake hesitated, and Clover blurted, “They can live in the Rainforest Kingdom.” Another long silence followed. Talon’s amber eyes were looking hopefully up at the SkyWing queen. The SkyWing guards were looking and Clover curiously. And the SkyWing queen, Queen Cloud, if Clover remembered correctly, was watching Clover with her dark, churning orange eyes. Finally, the SkyWing queen spoke. “You are going to be queen of the RainWings, yes? Well, you better be responsible if I’m handing over a traitor and his family.” Then, Talon spoke up. “My father can reform. I saw it in his eyes when I told him that Falcon and my siblings were in the prison. He can change, and I can help him. Clover will help him, too. If my father, mother, siblings and friends, plus myself have Clover as their queen, can you let them go? Clover will be a responsible queen; she’ll have our friends to help her. Deep is the SeaWing queen’s nephew; he knows about that stuff. Hurricane was an important general, he can help too, and Dolphin. She is one of the SeaWing queen’s daughters, and she is not evil whatsoever. They will all help. Please, Your Majesty, let my family and friends go.”

The SkyWing queen’s eyes narrowed slightly, then after a minute she said, “Alright. I’ll let your family and Storm and Hawk go, but you will all be banned from the Sky Kingdom for as long as I rule, and for as long as my daughter, Bird, rules, unless she says otherwise.” Talon nodded, and the queen turned to a guard beside her and said, “Go unlock Star, Falcon, Raven, Comet, Storm, and Hawk and bring them here. Then lead them, with a good number of others, out of the palace and to the edge of the Sky Kingdom, near the border of the Ice Kingdom.” The guard nodded, and raced out of the room. As the SkyWing got up to move on to other duties, Clover called, “Hold on, please, Your Majesty. I’ll be taking the RainWing throne from my brother, but he has an army and allies, and I do not. So, I’m asking you if you can be one my allies.” Queen Cloud eyed her curiously, then said, “Alright. You will send me a messenger to me when you need the help, yes? I myself will lead my army, and a good sized one, too.”

Talon blinked several times, then whispered to nobody in particular, “I never thought it be that easy to… to free my family, Storm, and Hawk.” Snowflake hugged him and said, “You did brilliant with your diplomacy.” Talon grinned in an embarrassed way, and Clover couldn’t help but smile.

After a minute, a different guard flew through the entrance and told Earthquake, “Star, his family, and the six-year-old dragonets are ready to go.” Earthquake nodded, then turned to Hurricane and said, “I’ll lead you with some others to the Ice Kingdom. I say good luck to all of you; Queen Icicle has been, well, cold and prickly lately. But I give my most gratitude and luck to you, Clover. You deserve more than what you are given. Without you coming to the Kingdom of the Sea, you wouldn’t have been put in prison. Then I wouldn’t have met you. Then you wouldn’t have saved me. Then, I would’ve been there, back in the prison, for probably months. Maybe years. Thank you again, all of you. Now, we should be going.” He turned towards the entrance, and a few guards along the wall joined him. He led them out of the palace, and they took to the skies.

Chapter 10- Queen Icicle

The group had made it to the Ice Kingdom pretty quickly, only stopping twice to hunt and rest. Clover had found it hard to say goodbye to Earthquake, even though they’d only known each other for less than a month.

Now, the group was flying over the vast, white, snowy plains of the Ice Kingdom, and Clover had never felt so cold.

Yeah, the underground river had been cold. But not this cold. It was like icy needles piercing under her scales, twisting around painfully. But Snowflake and Polar looked happy, which made Clover feel better. I couldn’t live here, even if I wanted to. It must be like this when they are in hotter places… kind of. Clover shook the thought away and pushed herself forward. Talon, who was shivering violently, asked Snowflake, his teeth chattering, “H… How long t… till we g…get to the P… Palace?” Snowflake replied, “We’ll be there early tomorrow morning. I can feel it.” Talon sighed, his breath puffs of white frost. Desert was flying with Bubble and Eel underneath her wings, Dolphin and Deep under them to support them, so they could stay somewhat warm. “Dolphin, my talons feel like ice!” Bubble said, and Eel nodded in agreement. “We’ll rest soon,” Dolphin assured the little dragonets. I hope so, Clover thought, but she tried to push on as best as she could.

The group rested in a large grove of pine trees, where not much snow covered the ground. Snowflake had said there wasn’t much more distance between them and the Palace. The next day, they started off again.

* + - * + - * + -

When they were within sight of the Palace, a large group of IceWings could be seen, speeding towards them. “Uh oh,” Talon whispered, but Polar said, “Let’s wait. I think I see Queen Icicle in front. See the small blue one? That’s her.” Clover was surprised to see that Queen Icicle was smaller than her, but her black eyes looked glittery and fierce. When they approached, Clover had moved herself to the front with Hurricane and Trench, Splash on her right. Queen Icicle hissed, “What is a RainWing, a bunch of SeaWings, and at least one dragon from every other tribe doing in my Kingdom?” Clover had already devised a plan in her head of what to do. Snowflake had said Queen Icicle was pretty dumb with everything but battle; Clover could use this to her advantage.

“Queen Icicle,” she began, taking a small bow. “I’m Clover, and I’m trying to take the throne away from my little brother, Rustle. I was hoping to ask for your support.” She cringed inwardly about even thinking of having this evil dragon on her side. “Oh, trying to kill Rustle, are you? That little worm hadn’t given me any help when the MudWings came and invaded not that long ago. I was one of his first allies, too! To think he’d betray me like that. I’d gladly support you.” Clover continued, “And me and some of my friends,” she carefully gestured to Desert, Cattail, and Talon, “sneaked into the SeaWings’ Summer Palace and tried to get assistance to destroy Rustle, and their queen refused. But some, such as one of the princesses and a couple important generals, were on my side, so we gathered up some of their soldiers who were on my side. Some others have joined us,” she then gestured to Shameless and Scrollwriter. When Clover went to continue, Queen Icicle interrupted, “That IceWing dragonet was banned from my Kingdom!” Clover looked momentarily surprised, then said, “We took her as prisoner. We made her tell us if she had any others in your prison, and she told as about to dragonets named Swirl and Arctic. We were hoping to take them to the Rainforest Kingdom, and…” “Torture them with the heat! A brilliant plan!” Queen Icicle cried. “And keep that other IceWing, too. I don’t care about her,” she flicked her tail at Polar, who, Clover could tell, was trying hard to hide her hurt. Queen Icicle turned to some of the other IceWings and said, “Bring those two dragonet prisoners here. If the prison guards give you a hard time, kill them.” Seven of the IceWings nodded, and flew back to the Palace.
“So,” Queen Icicle said, “How about we land and talk about invasion.” Clover nodded to her followers and they all landed, Queen Icicle and a couple dragons behind her followed. Queen Icicle began, “I know all of Rustle’s ‘secret’ outposts. Since Princess Darkrevendge of the NightWings and I were his first allies, he showed us all of his outposts. We should send attack patrols to invade each outpost, then one big one to his fort. He brought me to that, too.” She raised her head importantly, and Clover said, “So far, I have the SkyWings on our side. Queen Cloud says she’ll lead an army herself to get rid of Rustle.” Queen Icicle nodded approvingly. “I knew she would, the kind-hearted dragon she is. Sometimes I see that as a flaw to her, but some flaws can go both ways.”

While Queen Icicle and Clover told each other information and prepared battle plans, Clover wondered why everyone had described the IceWing queen as ‘bloodthirsty’ and ‘terrifying’. Sure, her eyes were creepy, but she seemed normal. Or maybe she’s just a good actor. Either way, she’s a powerful ally to have.

About twenty minutes later, the same IceWings flew back with two dragonets: a female with silver scales and pale blue wings who looked about her age, and a large pale silver-blue male who looked about eight. Queen Icicle clapped her talons together and said, “Well, you better get going. I’ll get my army ready for the invasions and all. Where are you going next?” Clover hesitated, then said, “We’ll go on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sand, then onto the Kingdom of Night. There, we’ll leave Scrollwriter and Shameless there, then We’ll be going to the Rainforest.” The IceWing queen nodded, then looked at Polar with narrowed eyes and said, “You’ll have to lead the group out of the Ice Kingdom. I’m not sending an escort; you know the way.” With that, the IceWing queen took off to her palace, her guards following.

Hurricane said thoughtfully, “She’s an odd one.” Deep nodded, then said, “Let’s get out of here! I’m freezing.” Polar lifted herself into the air, then began to fly south. Everyone followed, Snowflake chattering with the female dragonet, the older male behind them with a distressed face. After a bit of flying, Clover slowed down until she was next to the distressed-looking male. “are you okay?” she asked, and for a moment he didn’t reply. Then he said, “No. My sister, Snowflake’s twin, is a follower of Icicle. I couldn’t believe it when she left home, and all she left behind was a note, saying she wanted to join Icicle’s army. I don’t know what to do! I’m the older brother; I’m supposed to be looking after my sisters, but how do I look after a sister who joined an evil dragon’s army, and she didn’t even protest when I went into prison.” His super dark blue eyes narrowed in anger. “I thought she was more sensible than that, but I… I guess not.” His voice faltered, and he then stayed silent. Talon slowed down, too, Snowflake next to him, and he said, “My dad was one of the guardians of Clover. Me and my family were put in jail because of what he did. I escaped, because I wanted to make him good again. Then I met up with Snowflake, Deep, Volcanictooth, Cattail, and Desert. I instantly clicked with them. We are now best friends, and I guess I have kind of succeed. Star is with the rest of the family again, maybe that’ll make him softer or something. He certainly seems more like…. Like the dad I knew before he went to capture Clover. He is definitely happier to be with Falcon again.” He looked up to see Star and Falcon, slightly ahead of them, next to each other, and they kept brushing wings. Snowflake nudged Talon, a toothy grin spreading across her face. Talon sighed just as Snowflake wrapped him in a hug. He grinned in an embarrassed way, and Clover smiled in spite of herself. She felt a wing brush her side, and she turned to see Splash, his dark blue eyes themselves smiling. Clover smiled back, and she felt the rosy pink color trying to burst through. Instead, she masked it with bright yellow, the color of happiness, which hadn’t been used very much in her life.

Clover wondered if it was okay for different tribe dragons to love each other. Snowflake certainly loved Talon, and Talon seemed to like her, too. Clover had heard from Trench, who told stories of the days, long ago, when wars were always waging through the tribes, and millions of innocent dragons died, that dragons of different tribes loved each other. Long ago, when it was about five thousand years after the Scorching, of the queen of the RainWings, Glory, loving a NightWing, Deathbringer. Queen Thorn, a SandWing, had loved a NightWing named Stonemover, and they had a dragonet, Sunny. Clay, a MudWing, and Peril, and SkyWing, loved each other. But now, almost fifteen thousand years after the Scorching, would it be okay? Well, it doesn’t matter, Clover thought. I… I like him too much to listen to those silly rules. It doesn’t matter if other dragons don’t approve. All that matters are that I love him, and he loves me.

Chapter 11- Queen Drought of the SandWings

“It’s so hot,” complained Deep. “We go from too cold to too hot.” Desert chirped, “I love it! Ooh, there’s a lizard!” The SandWing suddenly dove towards the sand, grabbed a small green lizard, and flew back up to the others. She popped the lizard into her mouth, and Clover saw Eel cringe. “Isn’t it scaly?” he asked in his cute, high-pitched voice. “Not really,” Desert answered. “I’ve always eaten lizards, so I guess I’m used to it.” Clover thought it’d be kind of scaly, too, but she guessed the scales were so small that you’d barely tasted them.

The group had been traveling for about three days since meeting with Queen Icicle. They’d traveled most of the borderline of the Kingdom of Sand and was almost to the Kingdom of Night. Desert kept talking about her brother, Flame, and his ‘girlfriend’, Saguaro. Clover wondered if everyone else thought of her as Splash’s girlfriend, and Splash her boyfriend. Clover shivered; she wouldn’t consider them that, but more of really good friends. That was on the verge of the girlfriend-boyfriend thing, right? Well, if so, she considered her and Splash there. Splash probably considered them as nearly husband and wife, the way he acted, always trying to help her, and trying to catch prey for her. She liked to hunt for herself, and herself only. But if she had leftovers, she always gave them to Eel, Bubble, Reef, and Moon Fish. She’d tried to give some to Trench, but he always said, ‘I’m not that old; I can catch my own food’. Just trying to help, you are getting old. Hurricane had said the same, but not where Trench could here. ‘He has too much pride to say he’s getting old’ Hurricane had said.

Desert was scanning the ground below with her very pale-yellow eyes, which were slightly narrowed. The SandWing’s ears twitched; Clover wondered if she’d heard something. Desert had been in front with Hurricane and Trench, searching for any signs of other SandWings. Clover sighed; she’d been tired of going through everybody else’s’ kingdoms. She wanted to go to her own. But they still had to go to the Kingdom of Night for Scrollwriter and Shameless to go home, then the Rainforest. Clover’s scales tingled in excitement just at the thought of going to her home. Her real home, where she belonged. Not a stupid cave, not everyone else’s’ kingdoms. Her own.

Suddenly, she heard a voice hiss, “What are you doing in my kingdom?” Everyone spun around to see a pale-yellow female SandWing with dark eyes and a black diamond on her forehead. Her forked black tongue flicked in and out of her straight, sharp teeth, and her poisonous tail flicked around. Desert pushed through the dragons until she was right in front of the SandWing. “Your Majesty, we were just leaving from the Ice Kingdom,” Desert said, her head bent low. The other sand dragon hissed, “You’re Desert, right? I told you to leave my kingdom, didn’t I?” Desert answered, “I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I am just leading the future queen of the RainWings, Clover, and her followers, which include me, out of your Kingdom, towards the Rainforest.” Clover noticed that she left out going through the Kingdom of Night, and she sighed inwardly with relief. The SandWing queen narrowed her eyes, then hissed, “You better go now, then, otherwise I’m going to slice your face off.” Desert nodded, “I will. But I’d like to ask you one thing: can I have my brother and his friend back?” Clover wasn’t surprised; Desert had been talking about them for the whole time they’d been in the Kingdom of Sand, saying she missed them. The other SandWing narrowed her eyes, then snarled, “No. I’m not letting those traitors go. Unless you want to join them; it’s gotten a little, let’s just say, bloodier since you’ve been there.” Desert gasped, then hissed, “What have you done with them?” The SandWing queen replied, “Oh, I haven’t killed them. Yet. If they displease me again, well, things could be different.”
Clover instantly decided she wouldn’t ask this dragon to be her ally; she’d say no instantly. And besides, Clover didn’t want this evil dragon on her side. She looked like a backstabbing individual if she’d ever seen one. Snowflake’s words echoed in her mind: Queen Icicle is untrustworthy, too. She can’t be trusted. Well, Clover would have to see about that. If the IceWing queen backstabbed her, which seemed unlikely at the moment, she’d still have most of the RainWings and all of the SkyWings on her side. Plus, she was planning to send a message to Queen Willow, the MudWing queen, and ask Queen Shadebringer, the NightWing queen, to be allies. She’d be able to fight her off. She hadn’t doubt that. But now, looking at the SandWing queen, Clover felt afraid. This was probably one of the most powerful dragons in all of Pyrrhia, and she had a powerful army, and powerful allies.

Now, the SandWing queen hissed, “Go, otherwise I will slice your throats!” Desert cringed away, and everyone turned simultaneously towards the Kingdom of Night.

Chapter 12- Queen Shadebringer: The Mother of Evil Princess Darkrevendge

The thirty-seven dragons reached the edge of the Kingdom of Night a day after meeting up with Queen Drought. They rested that night, and took off east, towards Queen Shadebringer’s castle. Almost immediately, a large group of midnight-black and dark purple dragons came speeding towards them. Shameless, unusually excited and not nervous at all, pushed himself in front of the group, Scrollwriter, more politely, following. Volcanictooth hung back a little, but when the NightWing patrol reached them she made her way to the front. “What is every other dragon from the other tribes doing in the Kingdom of Night?” asked the leader of the group, a huge female with a purple spine and silver eyes, in a smooth but slightly terrifying voice. Volcanictooth spoke up, saying, “It is I, Your Majesty, Volcanictooth, the one you sent out to seek out Deathrock. I was, I guess, kind of successful? I found him, but I was unable to kill him. I wounded him a good bit, I have to say.” The leader, the queen, Clover suspected, considered Volcanictooth’s words for a moment, then said, “I’m glad you at least found the little worm. And will your wounds kill him at one point?” Volcanictooth shrugged. “Maybe. I got a few good slashes to his face, and good burns on his neck, so after a while, I guess they should, if he doesn’t take care of them.” The queen nodded, then said, “That is good. And he probably will be so miserable he wouldn’t care if he died or not. Now, what is one of my best teachers and a dragonet, who turns out to be one of the tribe’s best students, doing with you?” Scrollwriter took up the conversation before Volcanictooth could say another word. “Shameless had heard of Volcanictooth’s expedition and went to follow her. I was already preoccupied, but I went after him, to keep him from harm. I wasn’t thinking, and I did not tell anyone. The SeaWings captured us, and if it wasn’t for these dragons,” she added, pointing at Hurricane, Clover, Deep, Volcanictooth, Talon, Snowflake, Cattail, Desert, and the other SeaWings, “We’d probably still be there.” The NightWing queen cried, “I’m impressed that such a young group of dragonets could do that. I am in debt to you; what can I give back to you?” Clover was surprised, and after a moment she said, “I’d like to ask two things. One, I’d like to ask for your alliance. I will be trying to fight my brother, Rustle, and his army, and I will need some alliances. I’ve already got the SkyWings and IceWings on my side, and I expect most of the RainWings to be on my side, too. And second, I’d like Volcanictooth’s mother and brother, Scorchflame and Flametalons, to be freed from prison. If they can come free, they can live in the Rainforest Kingdom, with me as their queen, and I’ll make sure they do no wrong.” The NightWing queen paused, then replied, “I’ll be your ally, but I’m afraid my daughter won’t. She has her own army, and she is on Rustle’s side. I’ll warn you, she is quite powerful. But I’ll be on your side, and we can beat them together. And with freeing Flametalons and Scorchflame, yes. I’ll get some of my guards to bring them back.” She turned to a couple of the NightWings, and they darted off quickly. “We aren’t too far from the palace, so they should get back quick.” The NightWing queen said, and Clover nodded and replied, “Thank you for your gratitude.”

“How about we discuss matters while we wait?” The NightWing asked. “By the way, if you don’t already know, my name is Shadebringer. But Scrollwriter has probably already told you.” Clover nodded again, and Shadebringer continued. “I don’t know if you should trust that queen of the IceWings. She was originally on Rustle’s side; I don’t know why she ‘changed’ over to your side.” Clover replied, “Queen Icicle said that the MudWings attacked her kingdom, and Rustle did nothing to help the IceWings.” “Supposedly,” grumbled Shadebringer. “She could be pulling of one of her many tricks. Even if the MudWings did attack, maybe Rustle did send help. Queen Icicle is a very crafty dragon. She thinks up of battle plans in her sleep. That’s the only thing she is good with: battle. And that includes placing traps for unsuspecting dragons.” Clover paused, then said, “Well, even so, I should have enough allies to defeat her. Queen Cloud and the SkyWings are on my side. I’ll be sending a message to Queen Willow, and I suspect most of the RainWings will be on my side. And you are an ally to me. So, we should be able to fight off the IceWings, SandWings, SeaWings, your daughter’s army, and Rustle’s little band of RainWings.” Queen Shadebringer stayed silent, as if she was thinking. Nobody moved for quite a lot of minutes, besides flapping their wings to stay aloft. Not until different wingbeats could be heard did the dragons turn their heads. The group of NightWings were flying back, two others that were barely visible with them. Volcanictooth, for the first time that Clover had seen, seemed excited, smiling grandly. Clover smiled, too; she was glad she was making most of the others happy, being reunited with their parents, siblings, and friends. All except for Desert.

Ever since they left Queen Drought, Desert had been unusually gloomy and quiet. When they’d rested, she had hunted alone, worrying everyone that she’d get attacked. She’d stayed at the back of the group, not talking to anyone. Clover had formed a plan to send some dragons to the Kingdom of Sand to retrieve Saguaro and Flame, since the SandWings would most likely be at the Rainforest Kingdom and the edges of the Mud Kingdom, Kingdom of the Sea, and the Kingdom of Night.

The group approached, and almost immediately a jet-black male dragonet with purple stripes down his neck, who looked about seven, burst from the others and flew right over to Volcanictooth and hugged her tightly. The male was quite a lot bigger than Volcanictooth, and he had a scar down one wing and another across his snout. Tears ran down his face, and down Volcanictooth’s, too. For a long moment, they just hugged each other tightly; then the male pulled himself away and wiped the tears from Volcanictooth’s face, then his own. Clover noticed he had the silver teardrop-shaped scales at the corner of his eyes, which, Volcanictooth had informed her, either meant he could read minds or foretell the future. Clover shivered; she hoped he wasn’t a mindreader, prodding into everyone’s thoughts. A voice behind her whispered, “He’s not the one who reads minds in this group.” Clover turned, startled, and right behind her was Reef. The little SeaWing stared up at her with huge pale silver eyes for a moment, then looked away, and flew back over to Moon Fish and her other family members. Clover frowned, puzzled. What did Reef mean? Was she joking? But if so, how had she known what Clover had been thinking? Could she read minds?

Clover was distracted from her thoughts when Queen Shadebringer said, “You’ll be going to the Rainforest next, yes? Some of my guards could escort you…” Clover said quickly, “No thanks. Volcanictooth can show us the way.” Volcanictooth looked up, surprised, and the male nudged her affectionately. “Alright,” Shadebringer said, “I’ll start assembling my army. Send a messenger when we are needed.” And with that, she flew back towards the way she had come, her guards, Scrollwriter, and Shameless following her.

Everyone was silent for a minute, then the male, who Clover guessed was Flametalons, Volcanictooth’s brother, nudged his sister and said, “Well? Let’s go; you’re the one showing us the way.” An older, female NightWing that Clover hadn’t noticed up until now, said, “Yes, dear. You were the one who went that way, anyways.” Volcanictooth ducked her head, unusually embarrassed, and without a word she took the lead, heading east. Everyone followed, Flametalons next to her, poking her for information about her journey. Volcanictooth seemed subdued for a while, but then began to warm up; being around her brother again, Clover thought. For the first time and who-knows-how-long. Now, we’re going to my home. The one I’ve always wanted to see. But what if I’m leading everyone- Deep, Talon, Snowflake, Splash, Volcanictooth, everyone eyes- to their deaths?

PART THREE: Preparation for Battle

Chapter 13- Meeting Rustle

Clover could never had imagined how beautiful the Rainforest was.

The group was now just starting to see the Rainforest Kingdom, but even from a distance she could see the bright greens, purples, pinks, reds, yellows, and every color she could imagine coming from the trees and other plants. Seeing this made Clover happier than she’d ever been, and her scales were bright yellow with bubbles of raspberry pink. “Do all RainWings do that?” Flametalons asked, his eyes narrowed, and it took Clover a second to realize his eyes were narrowed against the bright colors, not her in general. “When we’re happy,” Clover tried to explained the little information she knew about RainWing’s color-changing scales. “I’ll do a duller color, if that hurts your eyes.” She changed her scales to dark brown and black, with red and very pale pink dots. Flametalons shrugged, “That’s better, I guess.” Clover grinned, and she tried to make herself fly faster. It was still hard, though; her wings had healed, but they were still a little sore.

“I can’t wait to see all the pretty flowers!” Bubble squeaked. “Me, too,” echoed Eel excitedly, his blue eyes huge with excitement. Clover shivered in excitement; she’d finally be to the home where she belonged!

Splash seemed to notice her excitement, and he grinned, saying, “I bet your kingdom is the most beautiful of them all.” He added more quietly, “Just like you.” Clover struggled to keep the rosy-pink color out of her scales, and instead she made a flash of icy blue pass through her scales. “Will you stop?” she whispered, trying to hide the warmth and love in her voice. “I know you love me. You don’t have to keep dropping hints.” “Well, the question is, do you love me?” Splash replied boldly. Clover didn’t answer, and this time a wave of rosy-pink overcame her scales, and she quickly got rid of it. Splash said after a moment, “You can tell me, you know. I mean, away from everyone else.” Clover didn’t answer to this, either, but she knew that Splash would have heard ‘yes’, even if she said ‘no’. She inwardly sighed; Why does he love me, of all dragons? He is too good for me; I don’t deserve him. Another part of her said, but I do deserve him I need somebody to care for me, like I care for everyone else… don’t I? She shook the thoughts away before they could proceed.

A voice jolted her into the real world. “We’re here, we’re finally here!” It was Bubble, flying in circles excitedly. “And why are you here, may I ask?” a voice said in a cold way. Everyone jumped as a blue dragon slithered out of the trees. Others followed, their eyes narrowed with malice. Oh great, the first RainWings I meet hate us. “I’m here to see Prince Rustle,” she said instead, trying to make her voice calm. A smaller RainWing, who was orange with black stripes, white underscales, and amber eyes, growled, “You’ll call him King Rustle if you want to live!” The blue leader flicked his tail at him to silence him. “Of course,” the blue dragon said smoothly. “And who are you, if I may ask?” Clover narrowed her eyes, then said, “I’m Clover, the missing RainWing princess, and I want to see and speak with my brother.” The blue dragons’ eyes widened, ever so slightly, then he nudged the black-striped dragon and said, “Tiger, go ahead and tell Rustle that she is here, and she wants to see him.” Tiger nodded, and rushed away.

The blue male turned back to Clover and said, “I mine as well introduce myself, since we may be seeing each other a lot lately. I’m Thorn, Rustle’s second in command.” He said the last part quite proudly, which disgusted Clover greatly. And by his sudden change of demeanor, it seemed he was trying to impress her. Not today, rotten pineapple, she thought. “Anyways,” Thorn continued, “We might as well be on our way. Rustle’s fortress isn’t far from here; Tiger should have gotten there by now.” He flicked his tail again, and the other RainWings formed themselves around Clover and her friends. Thorn took the way, and he, quite gracefully, leaped into the swarm of vines, trees, and other plants. Clover followed, and she felt clumsy, never leaping in such a fashion as this, and she kept stumbling and tripping over stumps, logs, or rocks, hidden by the tangle of vines. The other RainWings rumbled with laughter. Clover huffed; she’d learn this fast enough. You better watch who you’re making mad, she thought, you’ll see who’s your leader by the end of the next couple weeks.

Thorn lead them to a stone building, quite smaller than Clover had expected. Despite its size, it was surrounded by formidable looking RainWing guards. The two in front of the tall, wooden door nodded to Thorn, and opened the door with a creak. Thorn stepped inside, everyone else following, and when everyone was inside the door was shut. “Follow me,” Thorn said, and he dashed down a long stone tunnel.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever, until Thorn stopped in front of another tall, wooden door. He pushed it open to a messy room, with papers strewn all over the place. At a desk on one side of the room was a green, orange, brown, red, and yellow dragon, about Thorn’s size, was writing furiously on an old, crinkled, yellow paper, his blue eyes narrowed. He looked up, nodded to Thorn, and then he instantly stared at Clover. His eyes were the same shade of blue as hers, if not a hint bit paler. His horns were red, and his front talons were stained with very dark red speckles, and with a sickening feeling Clover thought it must be blood. “So, my sister has come for me at last,” Rustle said in an eerie, high-pitched voice. “Well, you’re never going to win. I already have many allies, and you have a band of thirty some dragons. Nobody will want an unprepared ruler, like you.” You don’t know what I’ve got ready for you. “I’ll be considerate and give you three days to decide whether you will accept me as your king, or fight me, going to your death.” He turned to Rustle again and said, “Take them away from my fortress; how about to the other side of the kingdom, near the MudWing and NightWing border. We’ll meet in the middle of the Rainforest at noon on the fourth day.” Rustle nodded curtly, then went back to writing. Thorn flicked his tail, going out the door, and everyone followed him. “As you can see,” Thorn said after he closed the door, “He’s not as social as I am.” He glanced at Clover, grinning ridiculously. Stupid dragon, Clover thought. I’ll kill you if you get close to me. And by the look on Splash’s face, it looked like he’d do the same. Thorn continued, “Rustle has never seen love. All he thinks about is war, war, war, blood, blood, more war, and more blood. I bet I could be a better leader then him.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Clover, who could barely hide a snort of disgust. Even more then stupid, he idiot, Clover thought, and she rolled her eyes.

Thorn opened the tall wooden doors and led them outside. He pointed north and said, “There is a good camp over there, where you guys can sleep and plan or whatever. It’s on the border of the Mud Kingdom and Night Kingdom, so watch out. Princess Darkrevendge isn’t the best dragon to meet, if you’re a stranger. Anyways, the camp is a clearing with trees to its south, marshes to its northeast, and mountains to its northwest. It’ll be pretty easy to spot.” He flapped back into Rustle’s fort, leaving Clover and her followers alone. “Well, we better get started,” Clover said, and without another word she took to the skies, narrowly dodging vines that pretty much threw themselves in her way. She grumbled a little, but otherwise was quiet. She could hear Eel, Bubble, Reef, and Moon Fish panting with exhaustion, and both Polar and Snowflake doing the same, but from the heat. How are they going to live here if it’s so hot? Clover thought suddenly, and then she felt a stab of guilt. I brought them here. It’s my fault that they will be overheating all the time. She didn’t say her thoughts, but tried to think of a way for them to get some cold pleasure.

They quickly got to the camp, described just as Thorn had said. But he had left one detail out: it was bare. Nothing but the ferns and other ground plants found in fields. It had a river to its southwestern side, which, Clover thought, would be good for the SeaWings. Eel, Bubble, Moon Fish, and Reef were already bounding over to it, shouting excitedly. Dolphin, Deep, and Ripple joined them, more slowly, as the four younger dragonets plunged into the greenish water. Moments later, Bubble popped up with a grayish fish in her mouth. She gulped it down, then said, “C’mon, guys! There is some really tasty fish in here!” She dove back under, splashing the surface with her silvery-blue tail.

Clover walked slowly around the perimeter of the camp, brow furrowed, thinking. They’d have to make shelter if it rained and, she excepted, it’d rain a lot, here in the rainforest. “Maybe we could sleep in the trees,” Clover said, half to herself. “Or, we could make little hut thingys. But that’d take too long for a temporary camp.” She growled in frustration. She knew not everybody would enjoy sleeping in the trees. “The SeaWings can sleep in the river. Splash would be where I will be, the mushy-heart. I guess I’ll probably be up making plans and guarding. But what about the others?” she continued to ponder where everybody could sleep. She was so busy she didn’t notice Splash walking up to her. He tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped surprise. “Sorry to startle you,” he apologized. “I like the idea of huts. Maybe some of us could build those, while the others are planning for the battle.” Clover shrugged, “I guess. But I want the best for everybody, not just me or a selected few. That idea seems pretty good, actually. I’ll have to pick some who have been in battle and stuff to help me plan. Hurricane, definitely, and Trench. He was some commander, right? He’ll know about this topic. You’ll help me, won’t you? Star probably knows something about battling, and Scorchflame. Maybe Flametalons, too. And maybe some of the other SeaWings. How does that sound?” She looked into Splash’s dark blue eyes. “You’ve been in more battles than I, so you must know something, at least.” Splash nodded, twinning his sky-blue tail with her blackened one, and she felt a twinge of… disappointment? Why did she have to have the stupid useless tail? But what does it matter; she’d never been taught how to climb trees, and she’d be too busy being a queen to learn with her tail, anyways. At least she could move it around a little, curl it up part of the way, just not enough to grab onto branches, but she didn’t care about that. Clover noticed Splash didn’t say anything on the ‘mushy-heart’ comment of hers, and she pushed the guilty feeling away.

Splash was already walking over to Hurricane and Trench, who were on the other side of the clearing with Scorchflame. Clover decided to see how Arctic was doing; he’d still seemed quiet and discouraged since she had talked with him before. She scanned the camp until she saw him in a corner, alone, tracing his claw in the soft earth. She made her way over to him, and he barely glanced up when she sat next to him. “I was trying to think of a way to get you, Swirl, Polar, and Snowflake some winteriness,” Clover said, hoping to start a conversation. Arctic sighed, then replied, “You don’t have to. This is better than being back at home, tortured.” He lifted up a forearm and pointed to long, red stripes on them. “We were whipped,” he said bitterly. “Me mostly, though. After a week, I said I’d take Swirl’s whipping, too, so I got forty whippings a day.” Clover gasped, “But what did you ever do to deserve it?” Arctic paused, then hissed, “We were good. We were imprisoned because we believed Queen Icicle and her older sister, Frost, was evil. Our mothers taught us to beware of them, so when both of my parents died, I made sure I taught Snowflake the same. I was four years old, and she was two. I would protect her with my life if I had to.” In his very dark blue eyes swirled with pain as he continued. “I convinced the Queen to let Snowflake go if she would never return again. I didn’t want her to bare the pain I had to, but I also wanted to be with her, always. I wanted to keep her safe. Now,” he looked over to the river, where Snowflake and Talon were sitting together, their tails twinned. “Now, she has… other friends. She’s growing up, I know, but sometimes I wish she could stay as the little baby she had been.” He sighed wistfully, and Clover pitied him. She wanted to give him words of comfort, but she didn’t know how. “She still loves you, though,” she said, picking her words carefully. “She talked about you all the time. She said she’d missed you through the whole journey, and she loved you as a big brother still, and she would forever, no matter how old she became.” When Clover looked over at Arctic, his eyes seemed to be smiling. “She really said that?” he asked softly, and Clover nodded. “At least you knew your sister. All I’d known was Pelican, Star, and Deathrock, my guardians. Pelican is dead, Deathrock is missing, and Star is now with his family.” She glanced over in the SkyWing’s direction: he was talking with Falcon, his wife, and two of his children, Raven and Comet. “I can’t remember how life was, before I was captured. I was only two and a half then. Now I’m six and a half, and I guess I have Splash, although he can get annoying.” Arctic chuckled, “Well, he does seem like he’s attached to you.” “Not only attached, he’s all over me!” Clover answered, her mind whirling with the thought that somebody actually loved her.

Arctic grinned for the first time Clover had seen, beside when he was Snowflake for the first time in who-knows-how-long. “I got somebody on my mind,” he whispered, staring into space. Suddenly, a voice squeaked, “Who? Who do you like? Hawk? Raven? Volcanictooth? Desert? Cattail? Dolphin? Don’t say Dolphin, my brother likes her; he’d whap you over the head before you could look at her!” Arctic and Clover turned to see Eel, his blue eyes gleaming mischievously. “I like Bubble; don’t tell her that though!” Clover admired how smart the little eight-month-old was as Arctic replied, “No, nobody here. I’ve seen the Princess of the IceWings a few times…” “What! My brother, in love with the ICEWING PRINCESS AND HE DOESN’T EVEN TELL ME?” screeched a different voice, and Clover covered her ears, turning, to see Snowflake, the female IceWings’ eyes huge. Arctic narrowed his eyes and said, “Why are you spying on me?” Snowflake didn’t answer that question, instead she asked, “Why are you talking about crushes? Hm? Hm? Tell me please. Does Clover have a crush?” Clover nearly shouted, “You haven’t noticed Splash following me around like a baby dragonet following its mother?!” “Ehh, maybe?” Snowflake grinned. Clover rolled her eyes. “Have you noticed yourself following Talon around?” Arctic shot a look at his sister, eyes gleaming. Snowflake squeaked, “I have not! I want to help him and stuff, is all.” Arctic interjected, “No, you like him. Everyone can see that.” Snowflake turned away, mumbling, “I’m… uhh… maybe…” Clover couldn’t hide her smile. Ever since she saw the two, she could see that Snowflake loved Talon, and that he liked her in a subtler way. Or maybe he just didn’t want to seem like he liked her, like Clover felt towards Splash. Snowflake ambled away, muttering to herself, and she plopped herself down in the shade with Polar, silver sweat making her scales glisten. Clover looked over at Arctic, who stood and shook himself. “I’m gonna, ah, go in the shade, if you don’t mind. It’s hot here, ya know, so uh, yeah…” he said, quite awkwardly, and he quickly made his way over to Polar and Snowflake. I got to get them to the Ice Kingdom, soon, before they practically melt!

As Clover pondered over the question, she suddenly thought of her sister, Vine, and her parents. Could I meet them before the battle? Clover wondered. Yes, I have to. They might die then, so I have to meet them. But how will I find them? She immediately looked over in Talon’s direction: the little SkyWing had been an excellent navigator throughout the journey; surely the maps have put the king and queen of the RainWing’s camp. She bounded over to him and said, “Talon, I need your help.” He looked up at her, his eyes gleaming. “It’s with navigating,” she continued. “You were a wonderful guide through our journey, so I was wondering… did any map you’ve studied have my parents’ camp in it?” Talon scratched his head slowly, thinking. After a few minutes, he said slowly, “Yes, there was one map of the whole Rainforest Kingdom I studied. Their camp should be not too far from here, just east of us.” “Clover said, “Thanks. Now, I have to go see them before the battle, because they might die. Or I might die, so I need to see them now.” She looked over the dragons, and continued, “You’ll come with me, and if I say no to Splash he’ll follow anyways, so him too. Hurricane should stay and run the camp, along with Trench, Lionfish, Polar, and the other SeaWings. Reef, Moon Fish, Eel, and Bubble shall stay, also. Desert can stay and watch them. I don’t want the IceWings sweating their scales off, flying all over the Rainforest with me. But if Swirl, Arctic, or Snowflake want to come, they can. Cattail should come, along with Deep, Hawk, Comet, Falcon, Star, Storm, and Raven. Scorchflame and Flametalons should come along to, and Volcanictooth.” She called the dragons she selected over, and explained what they were going to do. Snowflake and Arctic both wanted to come. She was surprised that nobody objected or complained (not that it was a surprise from Splash). She taking the lead, Splash to her right and Talon to her left, they took off east, towards her mother and father at last.

## Chapter 14- Meeting Queen Mist and King Kumbu

After about fifteen minutes of flying, they came across an unusual sight: all of them plants in front of them were blackened, curled, or charred. Talon explained, “It’s from RainWing poison. Maybe they made a ring around the camp to keep intruders from coming in.” “Well, it’s not exactly very intimidating,” Deep commented, sniffing a burned fern. “It can be,” a new voice said, and Clover heard a soft buzz go by her ear, and a tiny thunk sounded behind her. Talon’s eyes widened, “It’s the sleeping darts!” He dove into a bush as another thunk went into a tree right behind where he had been a few seconds ago. Clover glanced up to where the voice came from, and she saw the air shimmer, and a dull yellow dragon appeared, his green eyes slightly narrowed. He had a pouch around his neck, and a small blowgun was in his front talons. He was reaching inside the pouch, and he produced a dart, and he put it into the blowgun. “Now, don’t take a step forward, otherwise I’ll shoot you. I got friends to help me, so don’t try to run off.” Suddenly, the trees were full of dragons of all colors: jade, peach, azure, raspberry, violet, emerald, sapphire- more colors than Clover could have imagined. She was dazzled by all the colors; beside Rustle and Thorn (who did not have any amazingly awesome colors), she hadn’t seen any other RainWings, and her heart leaped with excitement. My own kind! Clover said bravely, “We’re looking for Queen Mist.” The dull yellow dragon hissed, “How do we not know you are a Rustle assassination party?” Wow, he really does those? “Okay, well, all of his RainWings grew up in the Rainforest, right? Well, ask me questions and see me get them wrong. I was raised under a mountain, and given no information whatsoever about this place.” The other RainWing considered this, then said, “How will I not know you are lying?” Clover snorted, “Come on, this is ridiculous. Oh, I better introduce myself; I hope it’ll make a difference. I’m Clover, and I’m the missing RainWing princess.” She heard a voice say, “Bet it’s a con artist.” Clover sighed, “All I want to do is see my mother. I might die in the next couple days, so I’d actually like to meet my mother and father and sister, in case.” The yellow RainWing’s face switched from hostility to curiosity. “Why are you about to die? Oh right, Rustle wants to kill you, right?” “I’ve met with him,” she answered. “And he is going to come with his allies to battle me and mine. If I die in the battle, I want to know what my parents and other sibling were like.” The other RainWing paused, then said, “Okay, but do the others have to come?” he flicked his tail over to her companions. “Yes, and if you touch them I’ll immediately go for your eyeballs,” Clover answered, a hint of a hiss in her voice. “Okay, okay, I got it,” the RainWing replied. “I’m Viper, by the way. And if you’re what we’ve been hoping for, you’ll see me in your army.” Clover nodded slowly; Okay, whatever that means: ‘if you’re what we’ve been hoping’. The yellow dragon flew down, beckoned his companions down, and he said, “The fort is not too far from here. And your SkyWing friend was right: we sprayed all the trees, bushes, and plants that surrounded the fort.” Talon poked his head out of the bush he was hiding in, crept out, and shook himself. “I’m the one who has studied all the scrolls; course I know,” he murmured under his breath, and Viper didn’t seem to hear him. The older RainWing silently slipped through a gap in the charred bushes and led Clover and the others through the rainforest. Clover noticed that Viper and the other RainWings kept casting glances all around, and Clover suspected that they were worried that some of Rustle’s soldiers would come out and attack. Well, once I defeat Rustle, they won’t have to worry about this anymore, she thought as they approached a building similar to Rustle’s fortress, except slightly smaller. In the trees around it had huts high, high up, with platforms surrounding each hut. “The soldiers sleep in the huts, which have no doors, so we can hear anyone coming,” Viper explained. “Queen Mist and King Kumbu usually sleep in a small hut behind the castle, and they are getting so sickly now that they barely come out.” He sighed, worry clouding his green eyes. “We’ve been worrying that if they die, which they could any day now, Rustle will come and capture the fort, and he’d be king.” He led them up to the doors, which were tall and wooden, almost exactly like the ones Rustle’s fort had. Viper opened them and led Clover and the others down a straight, dark, damp hallway. The other soldiers went off, one by one, down into other tunnels that led elsewhere. This tunnel led all the way to the other end of the castle, and when Viper opened another set of doors to reveal a small wooden hut with huge leaves for the roof. There was a door on this one, with two small, square windows in the front. “The king and queen live in here,” Viper said. Clover asked, “Where does Vine live, then? My sister; does she live in the castle?” Viper didn’t answer for a minute, his eyes clouding again. He took a deep breath, then said, “She… she doesn’t live here. She doesn’t live in the castle, either. I don’t know exactly where she is; Queen Mist got sick when Vine was less than a year old, and she sent her to be raised by somebody else. It was a good friend of hers, Tangelo, that said she’d take in Vine. She had a little dragonet, Cherry, that was about the same age, so Vine would fit in well. We haven’t had any word from them lately, so we’re getting pretty worried.” Clover could hardly believe it. Nobody even knew where her sister was? If possible, I’ll make sure she lives with me, or at least near me, she thought. “I better go and tell the queen that you’re here,” Viper said, looking uncomfortable. He quickly slithered over to the door, opened it quietly, then stuck his head in. After a minute he withdrew his head and flapped back over to Clover. “She wants to see you. Alone,” he added, noticing Splash begin to slink over. Sheepishly, Splash stepped back, but he kept his dark blue eyes fixed on her. Clover nodded, glancing at Splash, irritated. She took in a deep breath, then slowly walked over to the hut. She paused at the door, then stepped inside.

It was dark, with the only light coming from the small windows. At one corner was a small table, which had a few shredded fruit peels on it. At the other corner was one large leaf bed, which had two dragons laid open it. They were both large, but skinny, their ribs showing through their scales. They both had dull scales; the female had white and lily green colored scales, while the male had black white gray streaks. They looked anciently old; they must be over one hundred years old, Clover thought. The female turned her narrow snout in her direction and managed to smile a little bit. “You’ve finally come,” she rasped. Clover nodded, wondering what to say. Before she could decide, the female continued, “I knew you’d find your way here. I always was faithful. And now that you are here, you can defeat Rustle.” The old queen snorted in disgust at the mention of her only son’s name. “I still cannot believe that rotten, no-good dragon is my son. When he was young, I could see his nature was not the least bit good, but I tried so hard to turn his ways around…” she coughed, her breath coming in rasps. “When you got taken, I knew what was going to take place. Some of my archenemies were going to try to kill me, and with my only daughter gone and no sisters, the only one who could rule was Rustle. We were so careful, your father and I, with pretty much everything. We had extra patrols around the fort. We had bodyguards all of the time. But somehow, someway, someone slipped in something into me and Kumbu’s meal. It was my hatching day, a year ago, and every RainWing was invited, even Colobus.” She snarled at the name, and Clover wondered if that was one of the ‘archenemies’ her mother had spoken of. “I bet Colobus himself put that bit of poison into our food. Anyway, I believe it was some mixture or another that slowly killed a dragon, from the inside out. Ever since that night, I’ve been sick, slowly dying, and so had Kumbu. I feel my life coming to an end, but I knew I had to hang on until you came. And now that you have, I can leave.” Clover’s eyes widened with horror, “No, don’t die yet!” She threw herself down next to her mother and cupped her talons around Queen Mist’s snout. “No, don’t die yet,” she repeated. “You have to tell me how to be a queen, and tell me all of Rustle’s tricks first. What if I fail? Then Rustle will take over, and I cannot let that happen. But I just got here today, to the Rainforest. I don’t know anything about it yet!” Her mother replied, her breath getting slower, “Viper will help you. He’s been at my side for the past twenty-eight years. He’s been practically running the army and what is left of the Kingdom for the past six months. But you’re here now, and he’ll show you how to rule.”

Clover began to feel overwhelmed with sorrow for her dying parents. And if she had to ask her something, she had to ask now; “Do you know where Vine is, or where she might be? I want to make sure she is safe before the battle.” Queen Mist paused, then replied, “She should be quite near to here. Tangelo always wanted to see what was going on, so she kept her hut in the canopy. The last time we heard from her, she was right at the corner of our border with the MudWings and NightWings. But she might have moved now….” Queen Mist’s breath now came in ragged breaths, and Clover’s worry grew. As if she sensed this, her mother said softly, “Do not be afraid, little one. You’ll be safe, Viper will make sure of that. But now…. I must leave you…. And I’ll be with your father again....” Clover thought that this must mean that her father was already dead. Sorrow pierced her heart harder than ever before; she’d finally came back to her parents, and now one was dead and the other close to death. Clover silently pressed herself against her mother as the old queen’s breath got softer and softer, until there was no breathe at all.

She laid there for a few minutes, wondering what she should do now. She decided that she’d have to tell everyone that the king and queen were now both dead, and that they’d have to keep it a secret from Rustle, otherwise he’d claim the throne without a battle, then send assassins to kill all of his enemies. Clover reluctantly stood up, glanced at her parents one last time, and promenaded out of the hut.

*More Flying in Soon!*