A/N: HOLY FREAKING SMOKES (and I know that this note isn't helping my situation any), this chapter is LONG. I'm not entirely sure how it even got this long, but boy, is this chapter long. I think this one chapter is one of the longest things I've ever written, ever. I'm going to shut up now before I add even more longness to my long chapter. (Yes, that's literally all I had to say. Great Author's Note, huh?)
The Nightwing war room was the one thing Clay had seen in the Nightwing Kingdom that more or less matched up with his original picture of the Nightwings. It was a dark room with no windows, lit only by carefully placed torches—all in all, very dark and moody and Nightwing-y. Across from the doors from where Jambu had led Clay and Starflight in—Moon had trailed away at some point, probably knowing that she wouldn't be allowed into where the other dragons were going—there was a table where Deathbringer, Beetle, the rest of Clay's troop, and a few other Nightwings and Rainwings were waiting around. Also, directly past the table and across from the doors was a large map of Pyrrhia posted on the wall. A couple unfamiliar markings were drawn on it in various places, although the marks, from what Clay could see, were generally clustered in the rainforest. Jambu pushed Clay towards his troop and then strode over to Deathbringer, who was currently arguing, somewhat harshly, with Beetle.
"And you've known about this for how long!?" Deathbringer asked, loudly, the Nightwing trying (not very successfully) to keep calm despite the obvious, uncharacteristic anger that was revealing itself in his posture. As Beetle fought up a retaliation, Clay ignored the bickering dragons and walked over to his siblings, all of whom were bunched together in a group. Clay quickly glanced over each and every one of them; his Bigwings instincts were demanding Clay to make sure every member of his troop was okay before he turned his focus to something else.
"Look," Beetle had responded, her voice more controlled than Deathbringer's but her posture betraying her irritation, "I was told, when I first showed you my dreamvisitor, that the rest of the things were lost. You never elaborated on this, so I assumed that this meant that they had been lost for a very long time. You never told me you'd recently lost a dreamvisitor, you never told me that you wanted to know where the rest of the dreamvisitors were, and you never hinted that the fact that Blister has a dreamvisitor is almost irrationally important information!"
"Blister!?" Clay shouted, turning his head away from his siblings and towards Beetle as the Sandwing Queen's name was uttered. Clay had enough enemies to worry about! Scarlet wanted Clay and Reed captured, almost to a disturbing degree, and for what purpose, Clay still couldn't guess. Glory had wanted something similar, although at least Glory had been quiet ever since Clay had gotten past her and into the walled village. And now if Blister, the calculating, heartless, and cruel Sandwing Queen, was involved, that meant three power-crazed dragons were after Clay and his troop. At the point he was in, Clay wouldn't have been very surprised if Coral suddenly surrounded the rainforest to the south and starting trying to murder him as well.
"Yeah," Reed said, stepping up to Clay; Deathbringer and Beetle saw this action and decided not to halt their dispute, likely figuring that Reed could fill Clay in on whatever in Pyrrhia was going on while they continued to argue. "I went and talked with Beetle. She told me that there are only three dreamvisitors in Pyrrhia. One of them is in the possession of the Outclaws, another one is lost, apparently, and the last one, according to some defectors to the Outclaws, is, and has been for some time, in the possession of Blister."
"Which would have been very helpful to have known earlier!" Deathbringer called from the middle of his quarrel with Beetle. Jambu took this moment to interject, and he attempted to quell both of the quarreling dragons with some well-placed, placating words. It was a moderately successful gesture; at the very least, it quieted the room just the slightest bit.
Reed didn't respond to Deathbringer's shout, instead continuing, "According to Beetle, there was a planned summit at the Sky Kingdom, where Coral, Blister, and Scarlet all got together to discuss who knows what. If everything went according to schedule, it should have started on the evening we had to stay at Eventide, and it would have ended last night. Beetle thinks that Blister let Scarlet borrow her dreamvisitor after the summit officially ended but before she returned to the Sand Kingdom, although why Blister would share power like that, and why then—who knows?"
Starflight, who had been standing near Clay, had almost fallen over when he had heard Blister's name. Now, however, the Nightwing had recovered, and was glancing around nervously, like he was looking for some sort of opportunity. As Reed finished his speech and Deathbringer and Beetle ceased their argument—well, they ceased yelling at each other—Starflight took the moment to step up. He asked, trying to maintain fortitude throughout his entire question, "So, we are assuming that the dreamvisitor Scarlet used—and the one Blister possesses—is the one that was originally mine?"
"It has to be," Deathbringer said, turning to Starflight; Beetle didn't object, instead dropping her head in what looked like regret. "I'd be able to accept the possibility that Blister had managed to find the third dreamvisitor if the recent defectors from the Tears of the Rain could tell us where our old dreamvisitor actually is. But since every account we've gotten says that our dreamvisitor has appeared to have been removed from the rainforest, I'm starting to think the defectors knew more than they realized: Our dreamvisitor isn't in the rainforest. It's looking like Glory gave Blister our old dreamvisitor, as well as the support of the Tears of the Rain, and Glory got, in return, the promise of allies that will one day 'return her to her rightful place as queen.' That, and a couple of Sandwing-built explosives and weapons every now and then, of course."
Starflight fell back, grimacing, returning to his worried state. Clay shot the Nightwing scientist a glance, attempting to ask Starflight about the dreamvisitor without saying a word. The Nightwing saw and responded in a murmur, leaning a bit towards Clay so his words wouldn't be so loud, "I used to roam around the Nightwings' old island a lot, especially when I was trying to think of weapon ideas. My dad would encourage it, saying that a good bit of exercise gets the brain pumping. I would fly around our kingdom, or I would walk around the half-destroyed forest on our island, or I would explore the ruins of the old parts of our castle, always looking for some sort of weapon-based inspiration. During this time, I kind of, uh, well, this sounds really bad, but I saw and then dug a dreamvisitor out of someone's dead body."
Starflight shuddered like he had shuddered when he had recounted his near-death experience with his crossbow, at least suggesting that the Nightwing hadn't enjoyed the occurrence. After this, Starflight continued, "It was my secret treasure for a while; I managed to hide it from everyone and keep it to myself until after the eruption. I took it off the island, yes, but Fierceteeth eventually found out about it and took it from me, saying that it was the property of the Nightwings, not mine. Then Glory killed my sister and stole the dreamvisitor from our treasure room, and Glory took the thing with her when she was consequently ousted. We didn't know what Glory had done with it after that, especially since no one in the rainforest seemed to know where the thing went, but now it appears, especially since we've figured out that Glory has possession of explosives only regularly made in the desert, that she gave it away as part of a deal with Blister, likely an alliance of some sort."
"Which means that there's a good possibility that Glory's been giving away information about us for… Three Moons, she could have allied with Blister right after the rebellion..." a Nightwing Clay didn't recognize, who had been listening in on the conversation, added. She had trailed off, but now she regained her voice. "This trade doesn't only mean that Blister has allied with the Tears of the Rain and is therefore an undeniable enemy. It means that Blister knows we're weak. It means that Blister knows we can only squirm in her grasp. Blister knows that she can destroy us whenever she wants to; we're living only on borrowed time."
Starflight nodded, and then started discussing something with this unfamiliar Nightwing in murmurs. Occasionally, one of the Nightwings would gesture to the map, but Clay couldn't catch any words, so he broke away from the conversation and turned back to his silent troop. Each Mudwing was looking fearful; a few of Clay's siblings had resorted to grasping another sibling's tail for comfort. Clay wanted to reassure them, but he didn't know what to say. He tried to think optimistically: Scarlet couldn't possibly just have a line of dragons around the rainforest; there had to be breaks in this… siege?
This was a strange siege, Clay realized. Scarlet had surrounded what was literally one of the most plentiful habitats in the entire world. How exactly did she plan to strangle the Nightwings with her 'siege?' And why would she try to strangle the Nightwings, when a few well-placed bolts of fire would burn her enemy's home around them, likely overwhelming the dragons she was attacking? If Scarlet wanted to, couldn't she just destroy the Nightwings? Maybe, Clay thought as his chest lifted a little, Jambu had just been using dramatics in order to get Starflight and Clay's undivided attention. Maybe Scarlet was doing something else, something uncharacteristically less aggressive, by surrounding the rainforest—after all, hadn't the Nightwings bargained for immunity from Skywing attacks in return for the crossbow? Maybe the only thing Scarlet actually wanted was to keep dragons, maybe even just Clay's siblings, from exiting the rainforest. Of course, that wouldn't make Clay's situation much better, considering that, well, he and his siblings wanted to exit the rainforest.
At this point, Deathbringer and Beetle appeared to have apologized to each other under Jambu's eyes. They shook claws, nodded, and then Deathbringer turned to the map while Beetle moved over to Clay's troop, walking over towards Reed, who after his talk with Clay had almost huddled away from the map, as if he didn't want to believe what he was seeing. Beetle surprised Clay by sliding her tail towards Reed, giving Clay's brother extra support as Reed smiled and twined his tail around hers. Deathbringer looked at the map, sized it up, breathed a couple times while trying to think of what to say, and then turned back to the dragons in the war room and shouted, "Listen up!"
The hushed conversations floating around the room now sank, and Clay edged a bit forward with Sora, Beetle, and Reed, trying to view the map better. Clay could see the details of the chart now, and focused around the Nightwing Kingdom: Around the entire outer edge of the rainforest, except for the boundary towards the ocean, was a light orange shade, likely representing the Skywing force. The orange looked like it had hastily been shaded without a care for accuracy, which might have been comical if the dragon who had done it hadn't been dead serious. Along with this orange shade were purple shades, all drawn within the rainforest, along with a dark purple X, drawn in the middle of a large area of purple; Clay couldn't but think that this had something to do with the Tears of the Rain. There were also black marks, generally X's or circles, scattered throughout the rainforest, including a large, black box with a circle drawn around it, which Deathbringer quickly identified as the castle and the village for the uninformed Mudwings presented.
"Let's start with this," Deathbringer said, gesturing towards the orange shade surrounding the rainforest. "This—presumably—looks much worse than it actually is. Scarlet can't have dragons covering everything around us. That being said, every report we've got has made it appear as if pretty much everything is at least being surveyed, hence the shade over the entire boundary. We don't know the specifics of Scarlet's strategy, or how she's divided her forces—Three Moons, we're not even entirely sure what Scarlet is doing—but we're having our Rainwing patrol force watch them, and we'll try to figure some of this out. Now, these are only guesses made after very brief discussions, but we think that the highest concentration of Skywings will be between the rainforest and an area around Moorhen's palace, as well as in between here and Jade Mountain. On the other claw, the few places where we border the Sky Kingdom that don't lead to Jade Mountain, as well as the easternmost parts of the rainforest, will be comparatively unguarded. If you'd be willing to take the risk, you might be able to sneak past the containment force where Scarlet has less Skywings. Then you could fly farther into the Sky Kingdom or around the rainforest near the ocean, depending on where you exited, before you turn and fly to either Jade Mountain and the Outclaws or back to Moorhen. At least, you would be able to do that if there wasn't another issue present.
"Here's the problem: the Tears of the Rain. If Glory has allied with Blister, that means Glory has allied, either indirectly or directly, with Scarlet. That's why Glory wanted you two, Clay and Reed—it has to be because she wanted to impress Scarlet. Anyway, my theory is that Glory will have her Tears spread out, covering Scarlet's holes, as best as her organization's size will allow—with a couple exceptions; I'll explain later—and they'll waiting for someone to leave the rainforest. If one of the Tears spots you, that Rainwing will run forward and tell Scarlet's forces, and Skywings will congregate around your area of exit and ambush you as you leave."
"But it's still a possibility?" asked Marsh. "Leaving the rainforest?"
Deathbringer paused, and then said, "We've got better ways for you to get out of here. But if worse comes to worse, then yes, you could try to sneak past all of the Tears of the Rain and all of Scarlet's troops and out of the rainforest, although with all the dragons out there, I wouldn't want to try."
"I have a question. Exactly how many dragons in the containment force—Skywings, I mean—are we dealing with here?" Clay thought the words had come from one of what could only be the Rainwing and Nightwing generals present before he realized their true origin: Sora, who had been looking at the map, back in the Sandwing War, helping to strategize again. Deathbringer looked at Clay's sister before he shook his head and shrugged, despairingly.
There was an uncomfortable pause where Deathbringer didn't continue, and then Beetle, rising up away from Reed, said, choosing her words carefully, "Deathbringer and I have talked, and we haven't been able to pinpoint anywhere near a specific amount of dragons from the reports we've received. However, from what we've been able to estimate, this attack is huge. There could be anywhere from fifty to eighty-five percent of Scarlet's entire military surrounding the rainforest."
"Eighty-five percent," Reed repeated, his eyes going wide in shock as Beetle's statement rebounded across the room, his reaction mirroring a good number of the other dragons' reactions. Then Reed started laughing, incoherently, not mirroring the other dragons' reactions and instead drawing worried stares from every dragon in the vicinity.
"Eighty-five percent," Reed repeated through his rambling chuckles. He looked at Clay with incredulous eyes, still laughing, and now officially freaking Clay out. Pheasant and Crane both stepped up to Reed, both likely wanting to help, but Reed didn't notice, nor did he notice when Beetle turned around to look at him with concern; Reed only took notice of Clay. Reed asked, almost deliriously, "She really wants us dead, doesn't she, Clay? She wants us dead, and she wants our siblings dead, and she wants our tribe dead, and she wants the dragons who've helped us dead, and—No! No, she doesn't want us dead, she wants us deader than dead, erased from ever existing, so dead that our souls are smashed into nothing, so dead that—"
"Reed!" Beetle barked, the sudden yelp scaring Clay. Her voice soothed a bit as Reed's laughing rant stopped, although Clay's brother didn't acknowledge Beetle past that. Beetle said, not necessarily without harshness but not in an abrasive tone, "Look at me. This isn't about you-"
"Yes it is!" Reed shouted, turning his head towards Beetle. Despite his outburst, however, the second Reed seemed to realize that Beetle was talking to him, Clay's brother's temporary insanity faded. Reed flinched back as his brain processed what was in front of him, almost slumping over, looking like he had been slapped (which, honestly, Clay had been debating about doing in order to get his brother to calm down). Reed's voice also lost its irrationality and instead was filled with a miserable tone, which Clay figured was somewhat progressive, although not by very much. Reed's breaths turned heavy as he leaned towards Beetle, managing through the use of short phrases as the Mudwing tried to regain himself, "Yes it is, Beetle… Scarlet hates us… and she does wants us dead… and… look, you've helped us so much…" At this point, Reed's voice cracked, but he was able to continue, "but maybe we should just… go to Scarlet… and let her kill us… and save everyone else…"
The whole room had gone silent. Reed was close to another breakdown, although this one would be marked by tears, not a surge of madness. Then Beetle did something completely unexpected: She moved closer to Reed and rubbed her head past his, stopping near his shoulder: a supportive and almost affectionate nuzzle, kind of like a hug. Reed started a bit as Beetle did this, but then he just lowered his head to Beetle's shoulders. Reed's breaths were still shaking, but Clay's brother was clearly feeling better from Beetle's support. "Why… why..." Reed stammered. Beetle held out one of her talons, and Reed took it, supporting himself further. Reed took a moment to regain himself before he was finally able to say, "I know. I'm not going to her, but... I just... Why does she hate us so much? What does she want from us? Why won't she just leave us alone?"
"Reed," Beetle said, moving her head away from Reed's shoulder so Clay's brother could hear her better, "this isn't about you. This offensive is too big—it was clearly conceived long before your siblings were ever taken by Scarlet. Three Moons, Scarlet doesn't even know you're here, remember? So calm down; this isn't about you or your siblings. This whole separating you and your siblings thing—for Scarlet, that's just a bonus."
"Yes, let's talk about that," Deathbringer said, directing Clay's attention away from his brother and back to the map. The Nightwing commander had just been observing Reed and Beetle, who had now separated from their embrace, although their tails were intertwined again. Deathbringer now broke his gaze, looked around, tried to find the right words, and then said, "This is a huge, almost insane offensive against the Nightwings. There's no way something this big was launched just to keep Clay's siblings away from their eldest brothers. There's just one major issue: As an actual attack, this makes no sense.
"As a siege, it's not only pointless—we live in a rainforest, by all the moons—but it's also too widespread for Scarlet to effectively support for, well, the time it would take for a siege to be beneficial. If it's an offensive, Scarlet isn't actually attacking us—once again, making her actions pointless. And if this is only a containment, not only do we run into the same support problems, but I also ask: What in Pyrrhia is Scarlet trying to contain? We hardly leave the rainforest; we contain ourselves. I suppose that one could argue, like Reed, that Scarlet has simply gone insane and really doesn't want to let Clay and Reed get their siblings back. But I don't care how rash or sadistic or evil or just how plain crazy Scarlet is, that queen isn't stupid. Invading Moorhen's territory right next to Moorhen's own palace—declaring war with the Mudwings, more or less—and then placing what appears to be the majority of her army not only away from her own palace, but in a position where those Skywings will be unable to protect their queen in the event of a Mudwing attack, especially if Moorhen has her northern force go on the offensive—basically, leaving herself and her control center wide open to a counterattack from the Mudwings—I don't care what anyone says, that isn't Scarlet. Something else has to be up."
Clay almost didn't catch the words; he was too busy focusing on the ones about Scarlet. But then the Mudwing's mind rewound, and he heard the words echoing: declaring war. The declaration of war between the Mudwings and the Skywings—the event Clay had hoped would never happen.
Scarlet had invaded Moorhen. The Skywings and the Mudwings had to go to war, and Clay hadn't been able to do anything about it. Clay hadn't failed his siblings, but he had failed his tribe. Clay tried to make himself feel better, tried to tell himself that even if everything had gone perfectly, then it still wouldn't matter; Scarlet would still have attacked his tribe one day. It didn't help very much.
"I still can't help but think that this is only an absolutely insane distraction of some sort," Beetle suddenly said, uncurling her tail from Reed's and walking up towards the map.
"If so, it's a pretty big distraction," a sky-blue Rainwing—likely controlling his scales—replied. Clay turned his eyes to the dragon and immediately noticed two things about him: A bracelet on that dragon's arm with another black, shiny stone in it—did that mean he was another council member, maybe?—and a visible scar near his throat, which only caught Clay's attention because it didn't really look like a battle wound; it looked like someone had cut into him in a controlled manner, perhaps as some form of surgery.
Beetle glanced at the Rainwing but didn't say anything to him, walking to the front of the room to join Deathbringer. She then turned her head towards the congregation of dragons, and continued, "I don't know what else it could be. This offensive is unsustainable, almost idiotic, and seems more compulsive than anything—seems. But this was launched right after Blister, Scarlet, and Coral discussed things—war plans, perhaps?—with each other for days. Blister and Coral are part of this attack. I can't help but think that, somehow, this is all directed at Moorhen. Once Moorhen focuses on trying to get Scarlet out of her kingdom, Coral is going to spearhead her from the north, and I suppose after Coral is engaged with Moorhen, Blister might attack from the west, or something..."
"If this a distraction directed at Moorhen," one of the Nightwing generals objected, "why has Scarlet bothered to dispatch troops against us in her own territory? Wouldn't it make more sense for Scarlet to concentrate all her efforts around Moorhen, not spread them out so that Skywing troops are covering their own kingdom? No, the pattern of Scarlet's troops gives a clear message: The Skywings are attacking us."
"No, it's not a distraction," Jambu suddenly said from near the doors, where he had moved to as Deathbringer and the others had talked, his scales hinting at the smallest bit of dull yellow, as if he had just been hit with an epiphany. "This is a blockade between us and Moorhen."
Clay found that this statement was fairly obvious, but Jambu continued to explain, stepping closer to the table, "Blister wants Moorhen destroyed. If Blister is allied with Glory, then the Sandwing Queen wants us destroyed, too. If the Mudwings and the Nightwings—and the majority of the Rainwings—were to ally with each other, that could drop a tree onto Blister's plans. Therefore, it's likely that Blister ordered Scarlet to do this because she doesn't want us to ally with each other.
"Blister likely wants to get rid of one of us so she can focus on the other, and she expects that defeat to be quick, or she wouldn't have, basically, ordered Scarlet to launch something so big that it keeps her out of what is quickly going to become a massive war. Now, Moorhen may not be able to win this war, but she'll be able to fight Blister's coalition for quite some time. But what about us? What if Coral does attack Moorhen from the north in order to cover Scarlet's weakness, but what if that is Moorhen's distraction, meant to keep the Mudwings from helping us? And what if Blister attacks us? The two tribes Blister wants gone can't support each other, because Scarlet is preventing travel between the two kingdoms. And if Glory has been leaking Blister information, then Blister knows that we won't be able to defend against a large Sandwing force for long. Blister knows that we'll get destroyed without much resistance, and she had Scarlet use such an impractical long-term maneuver for this reason only—because Blister knows that Scarlet only has to hold this huge blockade for a number of days."
There was a moment of tense silence as Jambu finished and let his frightening words reverberate. Eventually, Umber spoke up, saying, "So, basically, Scarlet isolates Blister's enemies from each other. Coral attacks Moorhen to distract her. Blister attacks the Nightwings and either forces them into submission or decimates them quickly. Then Scarlet's troops will be free to leave their position surrounding the rainforest, and... then…?" Even though it was phrased as a question, Clay was pretty sure Umber already knew the answer.
"Glory—placed back in control of what's left of the rainforest as the new Rainwing Queen—will join Blister and Scarlet against Moorhen," Sora stated, understanding the plan and giving her interpretation of it. "They don't have to worry about the Nightwings or the Rainwings intervening anymore, so all three of them are free to group together and join Coral against our queen. Moorhen will get overwhelmed. Moorhen will be forced to surrender. Moorhen will be executed, publicly and humiliatingly. Blister then replaces the true Mudwing royal family with dragons she can manipulate. And then, Blister and her coalition will rule Pyrrhia."
There was silence as the weight of everything hit the dragons present. Then Marsh, likely trying to shine some light on the situation, asked, "What about Glacier?"
"I have no idea what is going on with Glacier," Beetle replied from up front. "She won't support this offensive. I mean, Glacier won't care about what happens to the Nightwings, but she won't just let Blister destroy the entire Mudwing tribe without doing something. Maybe Blister just gave up trying to control Glacier, and is content to just let the Icewings live how they want, as long as they stay up north and away from Blister. Or maybe Glacier has agreed to turn a blind eye to what Blister is doing in return for immunity from whatever Blister decides to do next. But I think those are unlikely possibilities—I really want to think that Blister has something planned that will force the Icewings to her side."
Clay found himself a bit frightened after he heard this remark. What could Blister even do to the Icewings? They lived too far away from any other tribe and too far north to even be touched. If Blister could control the Icewings, couldn't she control anything?
Jambu, who hadn't ever stepped down from where he had moved to speak, let the few new conversations fueled by these new topics end, and then he continued, "Blister will attack us through our desert tunnel. She won't fly over the rainforest to us for the same reason Scarlet didn't just rush in and kill us: Because they know we have a highly-trained and exceedingly deadly Rainwing and Nightwing force that can be mobilized against them, and Blister rightfully believes that an attack through the tunnel will minimize the damage that force can do. If I had to guess, the attack is coming soon, maybe later today. All Blister has to do is amass her forces, and then she'll strike."
The dragon who Starflight had been talking with earlier now demanded Jambu's attention, and then other worried conversations sparked up, and as dragons talked, Beetle turned back to the map and stared at it for a bit. Then Beetle mumbled, "That's not right." Dragons turned their eyes to her as they caught the words; Beetle turned back to them, slowly, and in thought. "This doesn't make sense, but the attack can't come today." All other words disappeared as the dragons in the war room stared at Beetle, likely wishing for the hybrid to give them some hope to hold on to.
"Look, if Blister was smart—which she is—then she would have attacked you almost at the same time that Scarlet surrounded the rainforest," Beetle said, louder now. "It would have been completely unexpected, and you wouldn't have had time to defend against it. But Scarlet dreamvisited these Mudwings early in the morning, which means Blister likely didn't get her dreamvisitor back until some time around dawn, which means she didn't leave the Sky Kingdom until after the sun came up, which means Blister probably isn't even in the Sand Kingdom yet. I doubt that Blister will launch this major of an attack without being present at her own kingdom—Three Moons, this might even mean that Blister hasn't even prepared troops for her attack yet—and that means that we have time. But I have no idea why Blister would let her attack be delayed like this—it almost choreographs her next move, and that's not Blister."
"If I had to guess," Starflight said, not unlike he had spoken at dinner the previous night, "Blister did not expect us to figure out the intricacy of this offensive—it's very possible she didn't even expect us to figure out her involvement with Scarlet's actions. How would we, the dragons that never leave our rainforest, ever figure anything out? As it stands, we only know as much as we do because one of the most knowledgeable Outclaws in the entire organization happened to be visiting—in a place that hardly ever has visitors. Without Beetle, we might have suspected Blister's involvement with Scarlet's actions, but we couldn't have concretely known that Blister was allied with Glory, we couldn't have known that Blister had been at a summit planning the final details of our demise with all of her allies, and we couldn't have known that Scarlet's actions were just foreshadowing a dual offensive against us and Moorhen until Blister came in and killed us all. Also, we have to remember that Scarlet has a love of theatrics. The idea of squeezing the 'superior' Nightwings, choking them, watching them flail and try to save themselves without an idea of what is truly going to happen to them—that might have been too 'thrilling' of an opportunity for Scarlet to pass up."
Jambu nodded, showing agreement with Starflight's theory, and continued with, "So, we believe that there will be an offensive from Blister, but that it will not be immediate. It still seems strange that the attacks appear to be layered like this, but at this point, I say we don't worry about it and instead try to work with it. I still doubt that there will be much of a delay; it could easily take less than a day for Blister to gather the forces she needs in order to destroy our tribes. However, if Beetle is correct, then we have, at the very least, about a day before Blister floods in here and destroys us. So, in other words, it is quite possible that we only have tonight to set up a defense against Blister. We have to act immediately."
"Yes, so we're going to destroy the desert tunnel," Deathbringer ordered, nodding to show his agreement with Jambu but otherwise taking command. "We cut off Blister's direct attack route; we stall. Then we make some changes to our foreign policies."
Deathbringer suddenly lifted himself up, as if some fire had struck him. His voice, which had never been weak, was empowered, becoming as authoritative as any queen's. His posture, which hadn't ever been slumped before, straightened itself into the posture of a true leader, a king, a queen. In that moment, Clay understood why Deathbringer was "the most influential dragon in the Nightwing Kingdom," why Deathbringer "was practically the king." Because even before any words left his mouth, it was clear that the Nightwing's orders would be followed. Deathbringer declared, "We are not only going to ally with Moorhen, but we are also going to ally with the Outclaws. The dragons threatened by Blister must band together, or we will all be destroyed. And in order to procure these alliances, we are going to stop hiding."
Deathbringer started walking, a controlled stride, not nervous pacing. His power didn't fade at all with the movement, instead, it seemed to grow from the action. "We've known for months that Moorhen was in danger, that Blister has been slowly bringing her claws around her throat. And what did we do?" Deathbringer stopped here, turning towards the dragons present from the side of the room to the right of the doors. "We did nothing."
"We did not try to help Moorhen, even when we knew both her tribe and ours were threatened by the same menace. We did not try to stand up for the Mudwings when Scarlet was abusing them; we didn't try to do any good, and perhaps make ourselves look unlike the monsters we've been in the past while doing so. No, we hid from Pyrrhia. We focused on our own problems, and by doing that, by trying to remain like the mysterious Nightwings or the hidden Rainwings of old, we have doomed ourselves. We wanted to believe that we only had to focus on our own problems; we wanted to think that Glory was our only enemy—we wanted to think that we had already won peace. We didn't want to see the whole picture. We didn't want to see that we needed allies, that we couldn't live isolated from the other tribes forever. We didn't want to realize that Glory could maybe be doing the things we weren't, that Glory was preparing for something beyond a conflict in the rainforest, that Glory was slowly exposing us more and more until we had lost our biggest defense of secrecy."
Deathbringer started moving again, striding to the other side of the room now. "But feeling sorry for ourselves, muttering how stupid we've been, locking ourselves away in shame—that isn't going to help. That's what Glory wants, that's what Scarlet wants, and that's what Blister wants." Deathbringer paused and stared at one of the side walls, having made it to the other side of the room, and then he turned around with newfound passion. "They want us to lay down! They want us to surrender! They want us to let them come here unopposed, so that they can burn the home we've worked so hard to make, so that they can massacre our friends and our mates and our families, and so that they can control the dragons that will survive like a second coming of Fierceteeth! Well, listen to me! We are not going to give them what they want!"
The Commander of the Nightwing Armies made his way to the map again, walking with an air that said he wasn't finished. Beetle had sat down during Deathbringer's speech, so now the Nightwing stood alone. He made to the map, then turned towards the dragons in the room, and stated, calmly, but growing more impassioned with each word, "Now is the time to change. We are going to give up our secrecy, we are going to join together with the other dragons in Pyrrhia, and we are going to fight. I do not care if I die, if I die fighting. No one should care if they die, if they die fighting! If we don't fight, we'll die anyways, so why not fight and take a few of them with us!? Why not show them that we're not worthless!? Why not show them (Deathbringer, now fervent in his speech, gestured back and forth as he listed qualities that were known to pertain to both the tribes present—qualities for the Nightwings elicited a point to the left, for the Rainwings, to the right) that we're not evil, that we're not lazy, that we're not heartless, that we're not idiotic, that we're not murderers, that we're not ignorant fools, that we fight not simply to kill others, but to protect the dragons we love like any other tribe!? Why not show them that we are not dragons that deserve to be driven extinct, that we're not demons crawled out from hell or that we're more than dumb beasts!? Why not show them that we are Nightwings!? That we are Rainwings!? Why not show them that our tribes can work together!? And why not show them that this coalition, this alliance, this union of Rainwings and Nightwings will not be eradicated from Pyrrhia without a fight!?"
Nothing, nothing, nothing but sentiments of zealous agreement filled Clay's ears.
"Carambola!" Deathbringer said, turning to the Rainwing who had spoken before; the dragon, who was now smiling with fresh will in his eyes, his scales turning red-orange with new determination, snapped to attention. "Not only do you know the rainforest better than anyone else, but you know the Tears of the Rain, and you'll know how to get around them. Get out of here and get to Moorhen. I'd say go east, unless you want to risk flying past the Skywings. Once you get to Moorhen, beg for an alliance with her. Tell her everything. I honestly don't care what you do, but make that alliance."
Carambola nodded, asked something about weapons and a scroll proving his authenticity, then strode out of the room when Deathbringer responded. Deathbringer turned towards Beetle, but the hybrid was ready. "I'll talk with my mom," Beetle said before being asked anything. "If you can stop Blister from attacking you using that tunnel, we can probably get Outclaw forces to make it very difficult for Blister to ever get a major strike to the rainforest. Scarlet and Coral will be a problem, but we'll try and figure out how to deal with them."
Deathbringer nodded, then turned to Starflight. "I need explosives," Deathbringer ordered. "And firebombs, now that I think about it." Starflight nodded, but he didn't leave. He motioned that he needed talk with the commanding Nightwing, but Deathbringer held up his claw, telling him to wait.
Deathbringer now pointed towards a black X not far from the symbol for the Nightwing palace on the map and called the Mudwings to attention. "This is our desert tunnel," he said, addressing the Mudwings. "It's an animus-made portal that'll take you to the Sand Kingdom, initially made in order to help us communicate and work with Burn." Clay's mind had a jolt; the Nightwings did have an animus, which meant there were animus dragons in Pyrrhia.
"We're going to block it tonight, and it won't be easy for anyone to remove that blockade for a very long time, so your only chance to go through it is tonight, during our attack against it," Deathbringer said, removing his claw from the map and staring Clay in the eyes. "Now let me tell you something, Mudwings. I said that the Tears of the Rain would be spread out, with a couple of exceptions. This is the main exception. The Tears of the Rain, perhaps Glory herself, will be waiting for us there. They know about the tunnel, and Blister has probably ordered Glory to protect it until she's ready to come destroy us. But that's a mistake. We can't fight off an army from Blister or Scarlet, but we can fight off the Tears of the Rain. And I doubt Blister or Glory even realize that the tunnel can be blocked the way we're going to do things, which means we have just the slightest hope of this attack working." Deathbringer then mumbled, under his breath, "And maybe, if Glory is there, I'll get the chance to finish her this time."
Dragons, mainly Mudwings, nodded. Clay didn't fancy rushing past Glory again, but it seemed better than rushing past Scarlet. Beetle, however, seemed to be just the slightest bit unnerved. "When are we doing this?" she asked, a bit worriedly. "Because I'll have to get an Outclaw force to hold the other side, and I won't be able to organize that until dragons have fallen asleep."
"Midnight, I think," Deathbringer replied. "It'll be symbolic—it's both the middle of the night and the start of the day." Deathbringer suddenly showed the smallest hint of jealousy as he said, "But that shouldn't matter, should it? I'm sure you'll get the best security the Outclaws can offer to protect these Mudwings, which means you'll get him to hold the tunnel on your end. And he'll be asleep at noon, just like he always is."
"Oh, Three Moons, are you still sore about that?" Beetle asked, her worry suddenly disappearing into amusement. "Deathbringer, no matter what you call yourself, you're basically a king now! I'm pretty sure that trumps anything Mangrove's ever done."
"I never killed Blister," was all Deathbringer replied with, not necessarily with envy or dry anger, and instead with an almost joking nature. "And I don't care what you say, I did not win our fight. Mangrove managed to get away from me, even if he had to play dead, and I don't consider that a win…"
"Oh, Three Moons, Deathbringer," Beetle said, looking exasperated, "let the whole rivalry with Mangrove go. You're not an assassin anymore, he's not really an assassin anymore, and both of you are on the same side nowadays. You two don't even dislike each other; I saw you talking and laughing with him when you came to the Scorpion Den. Just forget about the whole 'who's a better assassin?' thing that you have going on with him, and you two could become, like, the deadliest duo in Pyrrhia."
"Whatever," Deathbringer replied, obviously not letting the whole rivalry with Mangrove go.
Jambu came over around now, nodding towards Deathbringer. The Nightwing nodded back, leaving the Mudwings to go talk with Starflight, asking, somewhat humorously, if someone had written down part of his speech, because "honestly, that was some good stuff coming out of my mouth" (apparently, one of the Nightwings had). Jambu sized up the Mudwing troop, then said, "Okay, I'm going to give you all a brief rundown on rainforest fighting techniques: Rainwing detection, maybe some tree gliding lessons, probably some crossbow-firing lessons, stuff like that. You have to be ready for tonight, because you're walking straight into a war."