"Here's the deal," Beetle said, as Clay and Reed sat down close to her. "Your siblings aren't under the jurisdiction of the Nightwing military. I didn't think much of it when I heard it last night, but after a bit of thought, I've realized that their situation makes no sense."
"What you have to understand is that the Nightwings are just one big military, nowadays," Beetle continued, tapping her talons on the table in thought. "So any dragon that isn't a member of the kingdom should be put under military control. One of the dragons that I talked to last night? He's the Commander of the Nightwing Armies, which almost translates, in their language, to the word 'king.' He told me that he wanted to help, but that he lost jurisdiction of your siblings to someone else in his government, and that the dragon currently holding jurisdiction over your siblings wants to talk with you, specifically." At this, Beetle nodded her head towards Clay, confusing the Mudwing. What could the Nightwings possibly want from him?
"So, hang on," Reed interjected, staring at Beetle with a bewildered expression. "You talked to the Commander of the Nightwing Armies, who is apparently one of the most important dragons in the entire Nightwing Kingdom, last night? Did you see us coming? Was he already coming? Because I'm certain that this Commander of the Armies does not walk out of the rainforest every day to have a discussion with Outclaws." That was a good point, too, Clay realized. Before, Clay had just been happy that the communications had gone so quickly, but now things were starting to feel suspicious.
Beetle eyed the two Mudwings, before saying, "You know, I trust you two. I think I can explain all this tonight. For now, though, focus on your jobs. Remember, you're on break, not dismissed from work."
"So, uh, I've been thinking," said Reed, a bit hesitantly. "You said that the Commander of the Nightwing Armies couldn't get our siblings out of the Night Kingdom. Does that mean that, maybe, the queen of the Nightwings wants our siblings, and that's why they're stuck there?"
This one question provoked way too much thought from Beetle, especially since it had been a "maybe" question. The hybrid, who had been organizing a couple of things in her temporary room, stopped completely, and looked at Reed, her eyes showing obvious thought. Eventually, she said, uncharacteristically slowly, "In a sense. And don't ask anything more about that, okay? I'm actually not allowed to answer anything about the Nightwing Queen, because if I do they might sever relationships with me and the rest of the Outclaws. The Nightwings are useful to keep in touch with, and so I can't have that."
Beetle turned her attention away from Reed and back to her room. It was a small, guest room, not meant for any permanent living, suitable for a dragon who never stayed in the same place for too long. There was a bed, and a stand with a small bag on it, and Beetle was organizing a few scrolls that she had received throughout the day, but other than that, the room was remarkably empty. The hybrid had brought the two Mudwings here right after Clay's kitchen duty expired, about half an hour after dusk, but still hadn't told them how they were going to magically communicate with the Nightwings.
"So, let me ask you something," Beetle said, lifting herself from her now organized scrolls, signaling the start of a conversation. "Other than killing Blister, how could the Outclaws overthrow her?"
"Kick her out of the Sand Kingdom and stop her from ever coming back?" Reed guessed.
"Sure," Beetle said, turning herself towards the two Mudwings. "Any other way?"
"Isn't there an artifact or something that lets the Sandwing Queen be, well, the Sandwing Queen?" Clay asked, a vague memory on his mind. Yes, it was something that proved the worthiness of the Sandwing Queen, or something in that field.
"Yes," Beetle replied, pleased. "The Eye of Onyx. I'm sure you remember that it was stolen by a scavenger at the start of the Sandwing War. Blister can't be a true queen without it, but, on the other hand, any queen we would put up there wouldn't be true, either. Because of this, both Blister and the Outclaws have been hunting, frantically, for the Eye of Onyx."
"Blister has the advantage, by far. She's got more allies than us, which means more dragons combing Pyrrhia for that one little amulet. But for all her smarts, Blister's stupid. She thinks that force, or manipulation, can get her everything. But sometimes, it pays to be really and truly nice."
Beetle had started making her way over to her bag on the shelf. "There's a scavenger den relatively close to Jade Mountain," the hybrid explained. "About a year ago, when the war was still going on, I figured that place would be the most likely place for the scavengers to hide the Eye of Onyx after they had stolen it. Now, Burn had already come through that den, destroying a good portion of it in the process of looking for the Onyx, but nothing had turned up. That didn't deter me. I thought that maybe the scavengers had managed to hide it from any dragon, and the only way to get it back would be to, basically, ask them for it."
"You asked scavengers for the Eye of Onyx?" Clay asked, incredulously. Were scavengers even smart enough to comprehend a request like that?
"It wasn't easy," Beetle replied, now digging through her bag, looking for something. "They're really scared of dragons, and I even had a couple of them attack me at first. What I had to eventually do is keep giving them gifts, like food and treasure, and they slowly started to listen to me. I showed them a picture of the Eye of Onyx and tried to use signs to communicate, but few of them seemed to even know what the artifact was. I was disappointed, but I kept trying to communicate with them and find any clues related to the Onyx's whereabouts. And eventually, they trusted me enough to give me something stolen from the Sandwings all those years ago, although it wasn't the Eye of Onyx. It was this." With that, Beetle brandished a small, blue sapphire from the inside of her bag.
Reed and Clay sort of stared at it, blankly, for a while, before Reed asked, "Okay, two questions. First, what is that, exactly? Second, scavengers just handed you some treasure? I thought scavengers were almost suicidally protective of their treasures."
Beetle smiled. "They didn't just hand me their treasure. I managed to project how useful this would be to me, and how desperately I needed it, and there was also a small trade, as well. They're actually quite smart, scavengers, and, like I said, they like me quite a bit now. In fact, I went there a few weeks ago, and they had drawn a big mural of me on one of their little huts. They think of me as some incredible, friendly dragon, one that they can trust, and I certainly am not going to do anything to make them lose that trust." Beetle had grown a smile across her face at the telling of this story, and Clay saw some excited youngness in the way she spoke. Clay realized something that he could only find amusing: Beetle, the feared Outclaw, had a soft spot for scavengers.
"As for what this is, well, it's an old animus-touched object: a dreamvisitor," Beetle continued. "It lets you go into other dragons' dreams, as long as you've met them before. That's how I've been communicating with the Nightwings. It's how I talk with my mom and coordinate with her when I'm always moving around. And it's how you're going to communicate with your siblings."
With that, Beetle almost shoved the artifact into Clay's claw, saying, "I want you to talk to one of your siblings, and ask them if everything really is okay. If it is, I'll figure out what's going on and get a prisoner release tonight, I promise. If not, then I'm going to being yelling at a couple Nightwings tonight, and that prisoner release might not be so smooth. Just think of one of your siblings, and shut your eyes. They should be asleep already."
Clay, a bit overwhelmed, quickly thought the first name that came to his mind - "Crane," the sibling he was most worried about - and did as instructed, and suddenly, with a bit of a lifting sensation, found himself back in the Mud Kingdom. Clay took a look around. There weren't any huts, and instead just some mud and marsh plants and more mud; it looked almost like his old patrol zone. Clay could hear a river close to him, and turned his head towards it, and, surprisingly, found Crane staring at the body of water, looking a bit downcast.
"Crane!" called Clay, feelings of joy quickly filling him. She was okay; she looked perfectly fine. Clay's youngest sister whipped her head around and stared at him. Clay ran towards her, wanting to embrace her, but when he made it to Crane, he found himself phasing through her with a bit of a twist in his stomach.
Crane, confused, backed away from Clay, and asked, "What, what is-"
"Crane, it really is me," Clay replied, regaining himself from the surprise of just having gone through his sister. "I'm using a dreamvisitor - it lets you go into someone else's dream."
At this, Crane's mouth turned up in a smile, before it suddenly disappeared, and she asked, worriedly, "Is Reed… is he really dead? The Skywings told us he was dead…"
"He's fine; he's here with me," Clay responded, to Crane's joy. "Look, Crane, we're both at an Outclaw base in the southern part of the Sky Kingdom, trying to get you out of the Night Kingdom - long story, there. One of the commanders here wants me to ask if the Nightwings are treating you well, because she's not sure they are."
"We're being treated fine," the younger Mudwing said, softly. "But they won't let us leave. I think they know about your scales, Clay, and they're trying to draw you in, because they want to know about them. They're worried about the Skywings, and any defense they can get against them or their fire is sought after, desperately."
Of course, Clay realized. The Nightwings were a tribe of mind-readers and future-seers; how could they not know about his scales? That was why the Nightwings were interested in him coming over to the kingdom, because they wanted to experiment on him, and use him.
"Well," Clay said, not knowing where else to take the conversation, "we'll try to get you out of there and back home. I promise. Don't give up hope."
"You really are Clay?" asked Crane, stepping forward as Clay stepped back. Clay noticed the edges of the trees around Crane starting to blur; his sister was waking up. "And Reed really is okay?"
"Yes," Clay smiled, trying his best to make Crane feel safe and confident. "I really am your Bigwings, Crane. I mean, we're in a dream, but I'm not part of it. I'm the dragon that saved you from that Icewing, who comforted you after your fire hit and killed that Sandwing a year before Burn died, and I was that dragon who chased after you, straight into Scarlet's talons, in order to rescue you. I'll help you, and Sora, and Marsh, and Umber, and Pheasant with any risk to my life. I promise you, Crane, that I am Clay."
With another smile from Crane, and a quick "Thank you," Crane's dream suddenly flushed white, and Clay felt himself lifting away from his sister, and soon he was falling back into the Outclaw base, Beetle and Reed watching at him.
"Crane says that she and the rest of the troop are being treated fine," Clay said, knowing what the question would be, only vaguely noting that he had fallen to the ground sometime in the process of being in Crane's dream. "But they aren't being released because of my scales - the Nightwings want to study them."
"Your scales?" Beetle questioned, raising her eyes.
"I'm fireproof," Clay admitted, not seeing a point trying to hide it from the Outclaw now. "It's a rare Mudwing trait. And, apparently, the Nightwings want to develop something from my scales, or at least try, to defend against the Skywings, who-"
"Give me that!" Beetle interjected. Her face had contorted more and more with fury as Clay spoke, until she had angrily ripped the dreamvisitor from Clay's talons. She muttered a name Clay didn't catch before slumping over, going into someone else's dream. Clay noticed the hybrid jerk a little almost consistently, as if in an argument within the dream. Eventually, after a good many minutes, Beetle blinked, but held up her talon before falling back into the trance again, apparently directing herself to someone different. After a few more minutes, Beetle opened her eyes again, and took a breath. She had fallen to the ground in her trance as well, and now she got up, staring at the two Mudwings.
"Remember when I said you didn't want to waltz into the rainforest?" Beetle asked, with a sigh.
"Yeah," Reed replied, taking a moment to glance back at Clay.
"Well, guess what?" Beetle replied. "If you want to get your siblings back, then we're going to waltz into the rainforest tomorrow."