Chapter Five

Cobra winced as everyone started asking him questions at once. Trying to stay calm, he noticed Whitetip looking at him strangely. Resolving to find out what it was about later, he turned his attention back to the others.

"Look, I know that this is really startling, but just let it go, ok?" He asked everyone. They all stopped talking and and looked at each other, then Nightreader nodded.

"Okay, now, don't talk and I might be able to figure out how to help us escape unnoticed." Cobra said, turning and walking a couple of steps away.

Okay, so the real problem is who the spell affects. If I make it affect everyone who is not of the Crystal winglet, we might lose some possible allies. He thought, sitting down. However,if I make the enchantment affect only the Dragonets of Destiny, Fatespeaker, and anyone else who teaches here, then that might work. But then I would also have to remove any mention of our winglet from any written records.

"How's it going?" A voice behind him asked and he flinched, chastising himself for letting someone sneak up on him.

"Jeez, you sure are jumpy." Lantana sat down next to him. "You weren't just joking when you said you were an Animus, right?"

Cobra shook his head. "That was the truth." He muttered. "No, shush. I need to focus to cast this spell correctly."

Lantana obligingly fell silent and Cobra focused as hard as he could, thinking Enchant the Dragonets of Destiny, Fatespeaker, and any other dragon who teaches at Jade Mountain Academy, along with any written records, to completely forget any information regarding the Crystal Winglet or any dragonets in it.

As always, as soon as he had finished casting the spell, a chill shiver seemed to work its way through his body. Repressing a shudder, he stood up, Lantana following his lead. Walking over to the others, he gave a little nod.

"You did it?" Frostbite asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I did." Cobra answered, meeting Frostbite's gaze.

"Well, let's get going before somebody sees us." Nightreader said, going over to one of the library's windows and slowly cutting away the leaf that covered it. Everyone flew out, but before Nightreader followed them he pointed at Cobra, then at the leaf.

Nodding, Cobra followed his friend out the window before touching one talon to it. As if it had come to life, the sliced edges came back together and mended, leaving behind no trace at all.

"Now what?" Lilly asked, hovering in place.

"I guess we start searching for a way to stop the prophecy from coming true." Whitetip responded, looking around. "Only question is, where do we go?"

"I'm seeing us go that way." Nightreader said, pointing towards the northwest. "So I guess we go that way."

"That's the best lead we've gotten so far." Shadowstalker grumbled as they all flew northwest. "So why do I feel like something bad is going to happen soon?"

Cobra looked down at the mountainous landscape in midair, he glared at Nightreader

"I don't see anything that is helpful in our search, Nightreader." He said accusingly. The NightWings only response was a shrug.

"I can't tell you why we came this way. That not how my visions work." He responded.

Before Cobra could fire a snappy response back at him, Lantana, who had decided to explore on the ground, yelled up to them "HEY! I don't know if it matters, but I just found a skeleton!"

As one, the winglet dove and landed around Lantana's find. Cobra paced around it, eyeing the skeleton.

"What tribe is it from?" Whitetip asked, glancing around nervously.

"I..I think it's an IceWing." Frostbite said softly, stepping closer to it. "Though I don't know what an IceWing skeleton would be doing here."

Cobra glanced up from the skeleton and noticed a river running nearby. Walking over to it, he looked up at the nearby mountain then back at the skeleton.

"He must have been thrown off the mountain." He said, keeping his voice silent.

"Hey guys?" Lilly said, her voice quavering slightly. "Look at this."

Cobra looked just in time to see the MudWing gingerly holding an old shard of eggshell. He walked over and peered at it closely.

"I think it used to be red." He announced. "But it's hard to be certain since it's so faded."

"SkyWing eggs are red." Shadowstalker offered helpfully.

"I'm going to explore up the river." Cobra said. Before anyone could object, he walked over to the river and started following it as it wound its way through the mountains. He rounded a corner and stopped as he saw a hole in the side of the mountain.

"Hey guys! I found something!" He yelled over his shoulder. He heard his friends coming towards him so he ducked through the hole and very nearly went right back out.

Right in the entrance to the cave system was another skeleton. It was in slightly better condition since it wasn't exposed to the elements, but Cobra automatically Knew what tribe it was from.

"Why do we keep finding skeletons?" Nightreader asked from behind him.

"I don't know, but this one's a SandWing." Cobra replied. There wasn't any reply from behind him, so he took a few more steps until he could clearly see that there were three tunnels and a cave branching off of there little entrance.

"Okay, Lantana and Shadowstalker, you check that one." He said, indicating the tunnel closest to the entrance. "Lilly, you and Whitetip take the one opposite it. Frostbite, you take the third tunnel. Nightreader and I will check out the cave."

All the dragonets nodded and they started exploring the spaces they had been assigned. Cobra and Nightreader walked forward into the cave and found themselves looking at...a cave.

"I was expecting something a bit more….exciting." Nightreader huffed.

Ignoring his friend, Cobra breathed a small plume of fire and it glinted off of something on the ground. He walked over to it and knelt, picking the thing up.

"What is it?" Nightreader asked.

"Chains." He replied, his mind racing.

They heard talonsteps behind them and Frostbite entered the cave. Cobra dropped the chains and stood back up.

"All that was down that tunnel was the smallest library you can ever imagine." The IceWing grumbled.

Nightreader shot Cobra an incredulous look, but pieces were starting to fit together inside Cobra's mind.

"We found another cave that had a place for a fire in the center, with the river running through it." Lantana said as she and Shadowstalker walked into the cave.

Lilly and Whitetip walked into the cave and everyone looked at them. Whitetip looked at Lilly, then said "Our tunnel ended in a cave that seemed to have been used for battle training. There were multiple scratches all over the ground and a bunch of smashed up stalagmites."

"I think I know where we are." Cobra said, causing everyone to look at him. "Think about it. It's got a really secret entrance that I'm sure could be blocked off, there's a small library and a battle training cave, and there is also a separate cave from this one that was obviously meant for dragons to live in."

"I see where you are going with this." Nightreader said, a slight grin on his face. "You think we've found the cave system where the Dragonets of Destiny were raised.

Cobra shrugged. "I'm open to other suggestions and ideas." He said. Nobody seemed to have another answer, so he added "And it seems to fit what we've heard about where they were raised perfectly."

"I still feel like something bad is about to happen." Shadowstalker muttered. "The past should be left alone."

"I disagree." A new voice said, one that sounded strangely familiar to Cobra. "In fact, I have some past business that I need to settle with your SandWing."

They all turned to look at the entrance of the cave as a SkyWing entered. He looked normal until his face emerged from the shadows of the entryway. His lower jaw was at a slight angle to his upper jaw and didn't match up with it correctly. He glared at all of them. But when his gaze swept over Cobra, his eyes flared with rage.

"Remember me, SandWing?" He hissed, and Cobra shuddered, his mind flashing back to the exact moment his talon had met that jaw and done that to this dragon.

"Y...yes." Cobra stammered, shaking slightly. "I..I..I remember you."

"Good. I wouldn't want you to die without knowing who killed you." The SkyWing snarled.

Frostbite narrowed his eyes at the SkyWing. "If you want Cobra, you have to go through us first." He hissed.

"You misunderstand me. I'm not going to kill you." The SkyWing said, his voice cold. "You get to fight for your life."

"The Arena is closed Inferno." Shadowstalker spoke up. "And even you can't change Queen Ruby's mind about that."

"I don't need that Arena." Inferno growled. "I have my own. And I'll drag you there if I have to." He snapped two of his claws together and all of a sudden SkyWings began pouring into the cav. The Crystal Winglet grouped together, ready to defend themselves.

"You can't win." Inferno said. "These are my followers, dragons who believe in revenge. I call them my Blazing Talons." He pointed at the winglet and his dragons surged forward.

Cobra snarled and touched one of the stones on his neck. He pointed in a random direction and a spire of stone shot out of the ground, slamming into any enemies that were in it's way.

Lantana vanished and a few seconds later one of the SkyWings screamed as something black splattered all over his scales.

Frostbite breathed wide swaths of his frostbreath, causing a lot of SkyWings to back away from him.

But eventually, the sheer numbers of their enemy overwhelmed them. Cobra was working on defending Lilly, who had been knocked out by a SkyWing, when he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. As he turned, he felt something hit him hard on the back of his head, followed by a burst of light that spread across his vision. Slowly, his vision faded to black.

A/N:

So, now it starts to get interesting. We have the Crystal Winglet capture d by the Blazing Talons, which are led by a vengeful Inferno. We can only imagine the horrors that lay in store for Cobra and his friends. Now, which of the dragonets do you want to see first?

1) Cobra

2) Nightreader

3) Shadowstalker

4) Whitetip

5) Frostbite

6) Lilly

7) Lantana

And to help you decide, here is the OC that the dragonet you choose will be facing off against:

Name: Firestorm

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Description: A good sized, heavily muscular SkyWing with red scales

Jewlery: None

Other: Like fighting and has never been defeated in combat before