It had been raining for five days now.
The group had arrived at the edge of the Rainforest and went into the trees, then they have had the pleasure of dealing with the rain for a while now, as well as the muddy ground it brought with it.
The rain was one thing that Phantomtide had gotten used to, being in water half of the time. But the mud was another thing, and it was squishy enough to make anyone's feet sink in with any step they took, and then there was the squelching sound when those feet were pulled free.
In addition to that noise at the frequency from the entire group walking, though, there was also the moaning, groaning, and dripping wounded Seawing with them.
"Can we stop?" Webs gasped. "I need to rest." He floundered through the mud to a slightly drier spot under a tree.
"Webs, you can rest when we've reached the village, at least." Phantomtide turns back to look at him, glancing past Opal, who was right besides him, hiding under his wing from the rain. Out of everyone, the rain seemed to affect Sunny and Opal the most, as the two were of the tribes that more preferred warmth and the sun.
Opal glanced back as well. Phantomtide immediately thought back to when the others had awoken and found the Skywing under his wing.
"Hey! What's she doing here?!" Tsunami nearly strained her vocal cords when she awoke him and Opal to question the both of them.
The hybrid chuckled softly. It took a bit to calm the Seawing, Starflight, and Glory down. Of course, Clay didn't seem all that concerned, and well, Sunny was more curious about the newcomer than anyone else. They did settle down after being told that Opal was a friend, but they both felt out an important detail for the time being. That being Opal was the thought-dead Skywing dragonet of the prophecy.
Clay paced over to Webs and peered down at his wound. It had been wrapped with seaweed soaked in ocean water for as long as it could be, but now they were too far inland to get any more. The poisoned scratched near Webs's tail had become an ugly gash surrounded by blackened scales, and the black seemed to spread more each day. Clay swept his tail through the mud, looking worried. "I hope the Rainwings can help him. This isn't exactly like their venom. But maybe they'll have more ideas than we do. If not, then we can have Phantomtide go see his friend and ask her."
"That's the plan, yeah." Phantomtide nods in response to the Mudwing, before hearing a loud splash. He turned around to find Glory leaping back with a hiss, looking more wet than she had before as she glared up into a tree.
"Shhh." Tsunami says from above. She dropped down and peered around the gloomy swamp. "There's a pair of Mudwings headed this way, but they'll never see us in this weather."
With the rolls of thick gray fog hanging over the mud, wreathing the stunted trees around them like smoke around a dragon's horns. The sky was gray in every direction, and the rain continued drizzling down unrelentingly. There was no question, a dragon could barely see their own wing tips in this, let alone another dragon.
"We should still hide." Starflight points out anxiously. "We're only a day's flight from Queen Moorhen's palace right now. If we get caught -"
"More prison." Clay sighs.
"Let's do our best to avoid that. I think twice is enough for you guys." Phantomtide nodded.
"Glory," Tsunami suddenly scolded. "Bright yellow scales are the one thing they might see. Go back to camouflage."
Everyone looked at her, and saw the starbursts of gold that had appeared all across her scales. Though that changed within a few moments, when she blended in with their surroundings.
"Aaaand she's gone." Tsunami chuckles.
"She's still there." Sunny piped up, edging closer to Glory and bumped into one of her wings. "See? Right there?" She stretched out a talon, then felt around in the air for a moment, then gave up.
"I think I smell someone coming." Starflight whispers suddenly, swiveling his head. He shuddered from horns to claws.
"Don't panic." Tsunami whispers back. "Clay, you hide me and Sunny. Starflight, find a shadow and do your invisible petrified-Nightwing thing. Glory, you can shield Webs." She glanced to try and see Opal and Phantomtide, only to see nothing. The hybrid already went to a shadow, hiding the Skywing with his wing and body.
"No, thanks." Glory replied immediately. "I'll take Sunny."
"But -" Tsunami started, then they saw Sunny disappear, covered by Glory's camouflage.
"Yikes. That was so weird. Like Sunny just got eaten by the fog." Clay's stomach grumbled woefully at the word eaten, and the Mudwing shuffled his big feet in embarrassment. Starflight peered at the spot where Sunny had just been, twisting his claws in the mud.
"She's fine." Glory says. "Go follow orders like a good dragonet, or Tsunami might fling you to the eels." The Seawing frowned in the direction of the Rainwing, as the Nightwing slunk away and found a dark tree hollow where his black scales melted into the shadows.
Right after Starflight hid, everyone heard the tramp-squelch-tramp-squelch of enormous claws marching through the swamp towards them. Clay went to shepard Tsunami up next to Webs and spread his mud-colored wings to hide them both.
"I don't like this patrol," A deep voice grumbled, sounding like it came two trees away from their position. "Too close to that creepy rainforest, if you ask me."
"It's not really haunted." said a second voice. "You know the only things that live there are birds and lazy Rainwings."
"If that were true," said the first voice, "then Her Majesty would let us hunt in there. But she knows it's not safe. And you've heard the noises at night. Are you telling me it's the Rainwings screaming like that? Not to mention the dead bodies."
"That's not some kind of rainforest monster. That's the war. Some kind of guerilla attacks to scare us."
"All the way down here? Why would the Seawings or the Icewings come all this way to kill one or two Mudwings here and there? There are bigger battles going on everywhere else."
"Let's go a bit faster. They really should let us patrol in threes or fours instead of in pairs."
"Tell me about it. So what do you think about the Skywing situation? Are you for Ruby, or do you think…" Their voices faded into the mist as the two Mudwing soldiers sploshed on.
Phantomtide glances in the direction the voices went, before noticing Sunny was standing there, looking confused and worried into the area around them. Glory had slipped off under the cover of her camouflage, and the others crept quietly out of their hiding spots.
"Glory…" Sunny shook softly, looking at the trees.
"She better not get into trouble." Tsunami sighed a bit, "Let's wait here -"
"Glory!" Sunny suddenly yelled, only for Clay to cover her mouth.
"Shhh. We're still hiding, I think." The Mudwing says, as the others glance at each other, waiting for Glory to come back.
She does shortly, shifting into view.
"We need to move. Something killed the soldiers."