"Drag Banana out into the sun if you have to," Beetle was ordering Hvitur. "He needs sun, and I refuse to let him just hurt himself without doing anything about it. So make sure he gets sun, even if you have to sit on him while he thrashes around."

Clay took a moment to glance back at Beetle, who was conversing with the three base commanders - Webs, Kestrel, and Hvitur - who were standing slightly outside the entrance of the Outclaw base. After a few more words and orders, Beetle, along with Clay and Reed, would lift into the air, away from the base, and towards the rainforest. Clay couldn't help but feel nervous, even if Beetle was coming with them. Apparently, Beetle had talked with the dragon who had Clay's siblings under his control, and had argued for their release. This mystery Nightwing had eventually agreed, on the condition that Clay would at least come to the rainforest and talk. Beetle had accepted the offer, saying that she knew that those terms weren't even that bad, on the additional condition that she would come with the Mudwings as an escort. "I know the rainforest," Beetle had assured them. "I've been there before. I promise you'll be safe with me."

"Kestrel," Beetle transitioned now, bringing Clay back to the present. "How are Skywing patrols looking?"

"Scarlet's dispatched a few patrols down here," Kestrel answered. "That being said, most Skywings sent after these two were sent towards the Mud Kingdom. They're still searching for them there, although it won't be long before Scarlet realizes that they didn't go back to Moorhen and sends troops towards the Night Kingdom, looking for them."

"We'll be in the rainforest by the time that happens," Beetle said, before turning to Clay and Reed. "And we'll have bigger things to worry about. That being said, Skywings pose the greatest threat to our journey until we make it to the rainforest. Our goal is to avoid any detection. If we are detected, we will not keep going to the rainforest, we will instead turn around and retreat back to here. Warm up your wings, now."

"Stay alive," Kestrel said, in a rough, yet surprisingly not-completely-aggressive tone.

"It was a pleasure," Hvitur added, bowing his head slightly.

"If you ever need refuge from anyone - if, for example, Scarlet continues to pursue you after you make it home to the Mud Kingdom - the Outclaws will welcome you," Webs said, nodding.

And in that second, Clay couldn't help but feel that everything he'd ever heard about the Talons, and about the Outclaws - that they were horrible, murderous anarchists - couldn't have been true. They might be violent, but wasn't Blister violent, too? If a dragon was to be violent, why not work to any ideal such as peace? So what if their ideas were radical? Sometimes, weren't radical ideas necessary?

"Dragons!" ordered Beetle, opening her wings, her bag with the dreamvisitor - and a couple dozen throwing claws, as well - within fixed like a necklace on her body. "Take off now! Circle around, then follow my lead!"

Clay noticed the air get warmer as he flew farther south and out of the mountains, and he watched the signs of autumn slowly disappear. It was a dull flight, really, with Reed and him both too nervous to talk, although Beetle tried to encourage conversation. One thing Clay did do was take a lot of time to think about Beetle. Once again, dragons were surprising him. Beetle was supposed to be a dangerous killer, acting merciless towards anyone in her way, but all Clay could see was a relatively nice dragon with a rough, Outclaw-forged exterior. In a sense, she wasn't that different from Peril. And after that thought, more thoughts about Peril kept forcing themselves into Clay's mind. Had she avoided trouble from Scarlet? If so, what was she doing now? If not, then what would Scarlet have done with her? And before Clay knew it, he had flown over a mountain, and the rainforest was in front of him, a big green mass sprawling out and out, forever and forever and forever…

Beetle suddenly ordered, "Fly low, you two. There are Skywings over there." With that, the Sandwing hybrid lowered herself closer to the ground. Reed and Clay followed.

"Yes, I don't think it would play out very well if a group of Skywings saw us," Reed said. "Where are they, though? I can't see them."

"To your right," Beetle said, gesturing. "They're still pretty far off, and I doubt they saw us, so don't worry too much."

Clay looked over his right shoulder. Past all the mountains and cliffs and trees, he saw a couple of vague, red shapes in the air at least five miles off, but they were definitely Skywings.

The two Mudwings and the hybrid landed near the edge of the rainforest. There were sounds of so many animals emanating within, and the place was just so big, that Clay couldn't ever imagine himself finding his way to some hidden village without a guide, which, thankfully, Beetle had arranged for during the previous night with her dreamvisiting.

"Here's where we stop and wait for our escort," Beetle said, her eyes still half on the Skywing patrol in the distance as she moved a bit closer to the rainforest. The three dragons walked under some tree cover, hiding themselves from the Skywing patrol, which Beetle was still mumbling about. "They're so far out…" she said, distracted. "They're almost on Nightwing territory. That seems rash, even for Scarlet."

"You're telling me," stated a voice, and Clay jerked his head over to see a Nightwing coming out of the rainforest, his figure becoming more defined as he left the rainforest's shade. He was slightly larger, and therefore probably older, than Reed and Clay. As he came into the sun, loose-fitting metal armor covering a good majority of the Nightwing's body shined, although his wings and head were still uncovered with metal. He also was carrying a bag similar to Beetle's, in the same fashion as the Outclaw, and, for some reason, Clay felt his eyes drawn to a bracelet that the Nightwing wore. It was silver and was worn with the Nightwing's armor, having emeralds, sapphires, and the Nightwing emblem emblazoned on it: likely a military symbol of some sort. Clay looked a bit harder, and saw a shiny black stone in the Nightwing's bracelet as well, right in the middle of the emblem, although Clay had never seen anything like it before.

"Scarlet's acting completely unreasonable, and we can't do anything about it," the Nightwing muttered. "'Give me information!' Well, okay then, as long as you- 'Oh, give me more!' Oh, well, all right, here's more, now can we- 'Oh, that's not enough, why don't you hand over your weapon design?' But, Scarlet, we- 'No buts, or would you like me to burn your precious home down?' You know, I'm starting to see why she's one of the most hated queens in Pyrrhia."

Beetle turned her eyes to the Nightwing. "Hi, Deathbringer," she greeted, not reacting to the Nightwing's outburst. "Thanks for this. I'm sorry for-"

"Don't be sorry," Deathbringer interrupted, focusing on Beetle, the two obviously having made an acquaintance before. "Pleasure's all mine. Although, personally, I would rather have brought the Mudwings out here, like you said, but a certain someone wants to talk with these two a little too much, not caring about our biggest indirect allies' possible demise. But, as it stands, I figured I'd give you the best protection the Nightwing Kingdom can offer as we make our way to the castle." It was comforting to Clay to know that, at the very least, some Nightwings seemed to fulfill Beetle's philosophy, and didn't seem to want the Mudwings to go war, and were likely to help his siblings get out of the rainforest and back home.

"I mean, my daily life is filled with so much peril and moments of almost dying," Deathbringer was continuing, "that I thought, 'What's the harm of putting myself in even more danger?'"

"The fact that you're the most important dragon in the Nightwing Kingdom, Mr. Commander of the Nightwing Armies, and the fact that if you die, very bad things will happen?" asked Beetle, raising her eyes at him a bit.

Deathbringer laughed, at the same time glancing at the two Mudwing brothers, analyzing them in about a second. "The most important dragon in the Nightwing Kingdom? No, that's not true, I can't even get five random Mudwings back to their home. Honestly, Beetle, I just think you're worried about me."

Beetle sighed, a bit of annoyance in her tone, and Deathbringer caught it. "Oh, you know it's true," Deathbringer said, suggestively. "You just can't ignore me. It's that Nightwing blood of yours, it's telling you to-"

"I, quite frankly, don't care what my Nightwing blood tells me to do," Beetle interrupted, with a tone of voice that made Clay think that Beetle had been through the routine before. "Deathbringer, I'm here to get these two's siblings out of your kingdom. And I'd appreciate it if you could get us started towards that goal."

Deathbringer smiled, then glanced back at the Skywing patrol, still flying in formation miles away. His smile quickly faded, before he said, "Yes, it would be very bad if those Skywings saw you, one of the most wanted dragons in Pyrrhia, here, on our territory. The last thing we need is a war with the Skywings. We've got enough on our claws as is."

Deathbringer turned and started to lead the way into the rainforest, with Beetle following. The hybrid gestured for the Mudwings to follow, and then Reed and Clay followed the two lead dragons. As Clay moved forward, however, he heard a stick snap and instinctively turned to view the cause of the noise, thousands of possibilities rushing through his head: random animals, another Nightwing that had been hiding in secret, a Skywing soldier that had snuck up on them, undetected. The Mudwing didn't see anything, but he couldn't have imagined it, especially since Reed looked over at where Clay's eyes were, too. Clay squinted just a bit harder and saw the smallest bit of uncharacteristic pink near where the sound had originated from, and the Mudwing leaned just the tiniest bit forward…

"Control, Heliconia," Deathbringer called from almost right next to Clay, scaring the Mudwing half to death. At what point did Deathbringer sneak up right next to him? "If you make a mistake, don't keep making more."

"Sorry, sir," came an almost squeaky voice, the pink Clay was looking at vanishing back into the scenery again. But now Clay could see the signs of Rainwing camouflage - slightly wavering light, minute differences in the details of the scenery, slight color changes around the body of the dragon - and he realized, with a shock, that Deathbringer had known all along about the hidden dragon. Was this Rainwing his partner?

"It's okay," Deathbringer said, addressing the hidden dragon, turning back to the rainforest. "Just work on it." Deathbringer retook his lead at the head of the group, and led the three other dragons towards the interior of the rainforest, not even bothering to explain the hidden Rainwing to his group.

Deathbringer led the way, and the Mudwings and Beetle had half-walked, half-crashed through a vague path in the rainforest for about half an hour. Heliconia hadn't followed, as far as Clay could tell, but the Mudwing couldn't help but search for other Rainwings, feeling confusion rise as he thought more and more about the hidden dragon. Using Rainwings for manual labor was one thing, putting them in the military was another. No, it wasn't another thing, it was another, completely different - as different as the sun and moon - and absolutely unexplainable thing. Clay's thoughts brought a question - well, many questions, actually - to his head, but then Deathbringer turned, and looked Clay and Reed directly in the eyes, and knocked Clay away from his thoughts.

"Now that we're away from that patrol, we need to talk," Deathbringer said. "Clay and Reed, right? Listen to me, going through this rainforest is incredibly dangerous. There are about seventy different species of plants, animals, or fungi that can do anything from making you puke to making you hallucinate to making your jaws get stuck together to killing you, even. Stick to the path, though, and you shouldn't run into these natural threats. Your main worry is actually the Tears of the Rain, a rebellion group calling not for the removal of Nightwings from the rainforest, but for an annihilation of the entire Nightwing tribe. If they see you with me, they might find you guilty by association and attempt to kill you. Running into them is unlikely, but to stay safe, I need you to promise that you'll follow my every order, you hear me?"

Clay and Reed had nervously agreed, and Deathbringer had turned back towards the way they were going. The group walked in silence for a few minutes before Deathbringer shouted, "Duck! Now!" Clay and Reed almost immediately hit the ground - Clay's heart pounding in fear - before he looked up and saw Deathbringer grinning. "Good," he had said. "Listen to me, and we should easily get to the river by night, if not the castle itself."

The Nightwing opened up after that, although Clay couldn't get any specifics about the Nightwing Kingdom from him. There was something about Deathbringer that made Clay nervous. Maybe it was the fact that he kept glancing around every minute or so, likely searching for something - something like other, less friendly hidden Rainwings. Maybe it was the fact that Deathbringer moved like a fighter, and seemed to be in an almost perpetual defensive stance. Maybe it was the fact that he was a Nightwing who obviously was hiding secrets - like the fact that he wasn't above working with Rainwings.

And apparently, Heliconia wasn't the only Rainwing working with Deathbringer. Deathbringer had been explaining why they weren't flying over the rainforest to their destination - apparently, there were too many Skywing patrols for the Nightwing to be comfortable - when the Nightwing suddenly swung his tail back, blocking Beetle and the two Mudwings' path, and yelled, "Reveal!" before he produced a shiny, steel weapon from his bag. In the next split second, a Rainwing revealed itself, flashing a dark blue, then a bright yellow, before turning its scales to a darker purple shade. And in the next split second, Deathbringer had flipped the weapon back into wherever he had produced it from. The process was so fast that Clay was still comprehending what had just happened when Deathbringer spoke.

"Prismatic," he said, recognizing the Rainwing. "Why aren't you at the river?"

The Rainwing spoke in a feminine voice, saying, "Deathbringer, sir, the Eventide Bridge was destroyed just minutes ago, and I've been sent to inform you."

Deathbringer gave the Rainwing a "are you freaking serious?" face, before sighing in frustration. "Of course it is," he mumbled. "I don't even know why we keep bothering to repair the thing, considering it gets destroyed every other month. Tears of the Rain?" he raised his voice, addressing the Rainwing with his last sentence.

"No," Prismatic answered. "It was part of the remnants of the Eclipse."

At this, Deathbringer looked at Prismatic incredulously. "Really?" he asked. Prismatic nodded, a bit of disbelief in her posture as well, and Deathbringer waved his claw with obvious thought overtaking him. "Okay. Dismissed," he said, and the Rainwing nodded before fading back into the scenery.

Clay was very confused about the fact that he had just witnessed a Rainwing and a Nightwing talking together like equals, because he was pretty sure that wasn't how things worked, but Beetle was interested in something else, saying, "I thought you destroyed that group."

"We did," Deathbringer responded, glancing up at the trees. "But there's still a couple members roaming around, causing havoc wherever they can. Three Moons, of all the times they could've picked for a resurgence, they had to pick today…"

Deathbringer spent a while mumbling things about stuff Clay didn't understand, and kept leading them in the original path they had taken. Reed eventually spoke up, asking, "Uh, what is the Eclipse?"

"Terrorist group," Deathbringer answered, simply. "Almost the antithesis of the Tears of the Rain. They're a bunch of Nightwings who still haven't been humbled by everything our tribe has been through recently and still think the Rainwings should be wiped out. For now, that's all you need to know. Three Moons, as things stand, we won't get past Eventide - and I won't get to explain anything to you two, properly - until tomorrow."

"Eventide?" asked Clay. "And what do you mean, explain things properly?"

"Eventide's our base at the river," Deathbringer replied. "Meant to protect the bridge over the river, although it isn't super successful at doing that, as you just heard. As for your second question, well, the Nightwings still prefer secrecy. We feel like we should save our secrets from you until he get you into the actual Nightwing castle, where we have better means of detecting spies - because we have such a problem with espionage here. But don't worry about that, you'll get a better answer to your first question in just a couple seconds; Eventide's coming up soon."

As Deathbringer said, only about fifteen minutes later, the two Mudwings came upon a bit of clearing. A river cut through the land in front of the group, and Clay quickly saw why the Nightwings needed a bridge: the tree cover would make it almost impossible to fly across. Branches were jutting out over the river at almost every elevation, meaning a dragon would have to fly incredibly close to the water to have a straight shot at getting across. If a dragon messed up the smallest bit, his or her wing would hit the water, and that dragon would probably be knocked into the river. Clay thought maybe they could swim across, but with another look he saw that the current was extremely, almost unbelievably fast - and who knew where the river led?

There were two stone buildings on the riverbank, one on each side of what had been a bridge a couple hours ago, but was now a plank of wood jutting out into the water for about twenty yards, at which point the wood turned black and charred, parts of this section still smoking as a few distant dragons - members of which tribe, Clay couldn't really tell - tried to quell the flames, and all the bridge past it gone, until the other side of the river, which was at least half a mile away. Clay could barely see a similar situation on the other side of the river unfurling, with just slightly less smoke coming of that side of the bridge compared to the side he was on.

There was a Nightwing soldier by the bridge's remains, nodding at Deathbringer as he approached. This Nightwing was also wearing metal armor similar to Deathbringer's, although instead of carrying a bag like Deathbringer's, the soldier had a crossbow strapped to his side, which brought a couple painful memories back from the Skywing Kingdom. The Nightwing spoke with Deathbringer for a couple seconds before the group's Nightwing escort turned back to his group.

Deathbringer told his group that a few Nightwings had swam down the river and shot fire on the bridge from underneath, in the middle the structure, destroying a good majority of the structure before the dragons at Eventide could put it out. "At this point, you have two options," Deathbringer said. "You can either wait for the bridge to get fixed - a week and a half, I'd say, of waiting. Or we can teach you how to cross the river the hard way."

"Is the hard way faster?" Reed immediately asked.

Deathbringer smiled. "If you learn fast. The art of branch jumping is not to be taken lightly."