Chapter 4

A Hiding Place

"My talons are tired," Iceberg complained. "And this water is all muddy and goopy."

"I like it," said Salamander. "I can feel the mud under my talons. I've always missed mud." The amber dragon was suddenly standing up straighter, his scales suddenly shinier.

"I hate mud," said Iceberg.

"Well, we can't fly," said Falcon, sloshing through the water. Surely this river wasn't pleasant for him- he was a SkyWing-IceWing hybrid, after all. But he never complained.

"BLOORG, this is so disgusting," said Bloodspiller.

Suddenly Falcon's head whipped up, his pale orange scales flashing. "Quiet," he whispered frantically. "Everybody quiet." He looked around, his eyes darting from place to place.

Suddenly a small voice called out, "Who are you?" Pelican looked over at the trees, where the noise had come from, but she saw nothing.

"Don't answer," Falcon whisper-shouted.

"I- I know you're there," the voice cried out, her voice wobbling. "Please don't hurt me."

Pelican met Falcon's eye. He shook his head slightly. Pelican turned around, regret beating in her heart as she called out, "We come in peace."

From the trees, a tiny figure slowly walked out. She was even smaller than Treejumper. "Please don't hurt me," she repeated, whimpering. But when she looked up, her eyes widened.

"You're hybrids," she breathed.

Pelican couldn't help it; at the sight of the dragonet, a tiny gasp escaped her. The tiny dragon had dusty black scales and bloodshot eyes. The undersides of her wings had several scattered silver scales and she also had a few scattering her tail. Her underscales gleamed green.

"You're a NightWing," Pelican gaped. "A secret NightWing."

But what astonished her most was the dragonet's wings. They were horribly deformed, covered in dark burns and looked as if it had been marked with lava. The dragonet followed Pelican's gaze and sensitively twitched them back to seem smaller.

"Pelican, you idiot," Salamander groaned. "We don't have time to be socializing with a treachorous NightWing! You told them who we are! She'll turn us in."

"You're hybrids," the dragonet whispered. Her breathing got shallow. "Are you gonna eat me? Are you gonna kill me? Are you gonna hurt me, like the Darkstalker?"

"The Darkstalker," Iceberg wondered. "Who's the Darkstalker?"

The dragonet relaxed.

Pelican eyed her lean build. She was almost as skinny as the hybrids, all of whom were fiercely thin. "Do you want some food?" she asked.

"What are you doing?" Salamander cried.

"No, Pelican's right," said Falcon. "Look at her wings! She's an outcast, like us. She could join us, if she wanted to." The dragonet curled her wings sensitively.

"I'm Startail," said the dragonet. Pelican looked down at her tail and noticed she had several unusual silver scales speckling them. Oh. Startail. "And who are you guys?"

"I'm Pelican," said Pelican. "The white one is Iceberg... she's super friendly. The orange one is Falcon," she continued, smiling at the pale orange dragon. "Salamander is the amber dragon, Treejumper is the purple one, the crimson one is Bloodspiller, and that's Catfish."

"Pelican." Said the dragonet. "Iceberg. Falcon. Salamander. Tree...jumper? Bloodspiller. Catfish." She peered at the blue dragon. "Are you all hybrids? This one looks completely normal."

"Okay, Catfish is pure SeaWing, but the rest of us are hybrids," said Iceberg, giving Startail a wide grin. The young NightWing gave her a tentative smile. "I know dragons say we're evil, but we're not. They're judging us unfairly, and if you'll excuse me, I think you might be used to that sort of treatment."

"Because of my wings?" Startail asked. "Actually, I am." She sighed softly.

"Come with me," said Startail. "Please, we're starving."

"We?" Treejumper inquired.

"Me and my friends," said Startail. "Hurricane and Cerise. We're scared to venture out too far into the forest. We might be caught!"

"We can't come," said Salamander immediately. "We won't be lured into another trap."

"Do you remember what it was like to be starving?" Iceberg asked, glaring at him. "We have to help them. They're like us!"

"Are the other two... like you?" Salamander asked, eying Startail's wing.

Startail flinched. A second later she nodded. "Come. Help us!" she pleaded. "I saw you have food. If you share with us, we'll help hide you."

"Alright," said Salamander, his back stiffening. "But if we get caught in a trap, it's your fault, Iceberg." He swished his venomous tail through the air. "You too, Pelican," he added. Pelican stiffened.

"This way," Startail called, taking off through the trees. Iceberg immediately trudged after her. After some hesitation, Pelican followed. The others followed after her.

The forest was dense, but it slowly cleared out until the trees stopped around a few mossy boulders. "Right here," said Startail. She reached out a talon and pulled aside a boulder. Behind that was a large boulder with a hole just large enough for Salamander to squeeze through.

"This is where you guys live?" Salamander asked, disgusted.

"It's bigger on the inside," said Startail. She ducked inside; a moment later, a talon stretched out, and a muffled voice called, "Come on in!"

Iceberg shrugged and squeezed through. "Ooh, it really is huge," she said, her voice muffled too. "Clever. C'mon guys! It's cool in here!"

Pelican ducked through. It took her eyes a moment to get used to the light. A few musty torches hung from the walls.

Once her eyes adjusted, she looked around. Behind her, Bloodspiller was crawling through. The boulder appeared to have been covering some sort of cave. On the left, moss hung down, covering a doorway to what appeared to be a new room. On the right was another.

"Cerise! Hurricane!" Startail called. "C'mon out, you won't guess what I found!"

From the doorway on the left ducked out a friendly-looking SeaWing. His scales were deep blue, and his scales flashed in a friendly way. A long scar slashed down his wing. He looked to be about seven years old.

"Hurricane is mute," said Startail. "He talks in Aquatic... Cerise and I have had to learn it over the years. He just said..." she frowned.

"He said, 'Startail, what have you done now, bringing hybrids here?'" Catfish finished, frowning. Hurricane's scales flashed again. "Now he says he wasn't trying to be mean," said Catfish.

Catfish flashed his scales back.

Hurricane flashed his scales once more. "He said, he can understand you when you speak normally," said Catfish. "Sorry, Hurricane."

Hurricane smiled.

"Here, I'll get you a key of Aquatic," said Startail. "Cerise and I made it."

The little NightWing ducked under the second doorway. A moment later, she and a small red-pink SkyWing came out.

"Startail, you brought HYBRIDS into our secret hiding place?" She rasped. Her voice was low and husky. She was small, looking to be about six years old, with a dark red underbelly and a small gold ring on her horn.

"They have food," said Startail, tossing Pelican the scroll.

"No catch?" Asked Cerise suspiciously.

"We were prisoners," said Pelican, emptying the leather pouch of the remaining berries. "But Catfish helped us escape."

"Prisoners?" Cerise asked.

From the hybrid hunts? Hurricane flashed.

"Yes," Iceberg admitted.

"Just great," said Cerise moodily. "You invited a few Darkstalkers into our secret hiding spot! We can't trust them! What were you thinking?"

Pelican peered at Cerise. For a moment, she saw nothing wrong with the SkyWing. But when she turned around, Pelican caught sight of her tail. It was heavily bandaged, and underneath the bandages she could see that her tail was crooked, leaning to the left.

Hmm, Pelican thought. Does that affect her flying? She wanted to ask, but it seemed rude.

"Those berries poison?" Asked Cerise.

"No," said Falcon, lifting his chin. "And we came here because we know what it's like to be in hiding, and we know what it's like to be starving, and-"

Cerise nodded, and Pelican thought she saw a glimmer of understanding there.

"That's Falcon," said Startail. "The gray one is Pelican, the friendly one is Iceberg, that's Bloodspiller and Treejumper; the one talking with Hurricane is Catfish; and that's Salamander."

Hurricane popped a few berries into his mouth.

Yum! Where did you find these? Hurricane asked, flashing his stripes excitedly. He speared the blueish-purplish berries.

"In the woods, by the river," said Bloodspiller.

Hey- gray dragon, said Hurricane.

"Me?" Pelican asked, checking the scroll to make sure she was right.

Yeah, Hurricane flashed. You're part SeaWing, right? Can your scales light up?

"Only a few," said Pelican, flashing the scales on her snout. "I only have the ones by my snout, and I don't even know what they mean. I just used them on dark nights when everybody needed light."

Oh, those, said Hurricane. They mean a question. That's "who," that's "what," "when," "where," "why," "why not," "how," and "can".

"Thanks," said Pelican, smiling as she lit up her stripes. "But I can't exactly speak Aquatic with just a few questions."

You have some on the underside of your tail, said Hurricane.

"Oh, yeah, what do those mean?" Pelican asked. She lit up all the stripes together, and Hurricane burst out laughing. Pelican tried to keep a straight face. "What did I say?" she asked, confused.

"You'd rather not know, actually," said Catfish.

"Now I'm really curious," she joked.

"Guys, the sun's going down," said Startail. "Can the hybrids stay here for the night?" She looked around at Hurricane and Cerise.

Why not? Hurricane flashed. This time Pelican recognized it without the guide because it was one of the stripes she had.

Why not? Pelican echoed.

You've got it, said Hurricane. Catfish, Salamander, and what's-his-name, you can sleep in my room.

"It's Falcon," said Falcon, leaning over to check the guide.

"Okay," said Cerise, shrugging. "And the rest of you guys, follow me and Startail." She paused. "Did you guys see all the moons last night?"

"Yeah," said Pelican. "It was pretty amazing."

A real wonder.