"Paisland is a small Dieautish-ruled island in the Agorian Ocean." Marie explained, showing the dragonets a large map. She pointed to an island labeled accordingly. "Not many people live there, and most of the island is covered in a large forest full of mountains. Pancho Urbina is an explorer, and he went there, and claims to have found a temple-like structure inside one of the mountains. Which he believes holds the Relics of Hamza."
"The Necklace of Eclis, the Earring of Sola, and the Dagger of Luna." Swordfish recited, and Anthony nodded. Swordfish remembered their powers. Time travel, healing, and "manipulate the building blocks of life." Swordfish was unsure what that last one meant.
"If we can get our hands on those relics… it can change the whole course of the war." Michael said, leaning back in his chair. Polar had brought Swordfish and Rattlesnake back to the homestead where they had been staying. Of course, the dragonets had to sleep outside under old stables. The homestead was meant for humans, but they were meeting outside.
"Who would we give all the relics to?" Blizzard asked. "Probably Queen Hecate." Marie said. "If she had them all, she could contact the Moon Goddesses and gain the mysterious power of Hamza." "But do we want to do that?" Anthony asked. "We don't even know if that's a real thing, and if it is, do we want to bring something so powerful into this world?"
"Well… the commander seems to think so." Michael said, holding a handwritten letter from Commander Seilbrenner on the subject. "But all of Old Monarchy would have to act fast or risk our enemies finding it first. Something like this won't stay quiet for long. People have been searching for the relics since the fall of the Valkskyan Empire."
"What about spies and moles?" Rattlesnake asked, her eyes clear. If you looked at her, you wouldn't have been able to tell she was crying just a bit ago. "If they get word of this, it would be the end of us." "I don't actually think its public Old Monarchy information." Vulture said.
Everyone looked at the Skywing. He was now wearing an eyepatch that covered his wound. An Old Monarchy doctor told him he would be wearing it for the rest of his life.
"Seilbrenner hand wrote this to us. If this would be distributed to lots of people, they would've used the printing press." Vulture said. "Why would he only tell us?" Vine asked. "Because we consist of a man who has used the necklace, and five dragonets from the future. We're valuable to Old Monarchy, or at least, to the commander." Vulture theorized.
"You would get along well with Bai." Michael said, and Swordfish remembered the writer from the capital, who last Swordfish had seen, ran away from the attack on Sainsbury.
"I'm willing to bet he's still alive. He just hasn't written us yet." Marie said, as if reading Swordfish's mind. "The battle was contained to the Dublin Street area."
"Let's get back to what this was about." Polar said, flapping her wings nervously. "If Urbina really discovered the location of the Relics of Hamza, the power each one of those objects holds is incredible, never mind the legendary power you can get with all of them. If any one of those objects is taken, even by us, that power will be released on the world."
Polar took a breath. "I believe that Hamza hid them, not so they can't all be found at once, but so that none of them could be found. Why they would all be in the temple, in the same place, is beyond me."
"What if that's not where Hamza originally hid them?" Swordfish said. "What if… someone else… maybe a bunch of people… found them and put them together?" "You mean… the Daughters of Amrahiem?" Marie asked. "The what?" Vine asked.
"There's a legend… well, more like a fairy tale about a group of eight women from the old northern kingdom Amrahiem. They set out to prove to the King of Amrahiem that women were just as strong as men. They said they would find all the Relics of Hamza, about 800 years after his death. The story says that they found them all, but grew power hungry, and took them for themselves. The power the objects held consumed them. They tried to gain the power of Hamza for themselves, all of them. But the Moon Goddesses saw the evil within them and they evaporated." Marie said. "But that is just a fairy tale."
"But… what if it was based off of a true story?" Rattlesnake questioned. "Many fairy tales in Pyrrhia were based off of true stories. Like the stories about Darkstalker." "Well, our cultures are very different." Polar said. "Many fairy tales and legends are just that. Stories."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a family running down the village road, the dirt crunching beneath their feet. "The Queen is coming!" Yelled a small boy with black hair to Swordfish and the others. "Hugo, those are Old Monarchy soldiers. I think they would know." Said a girl, probably his older sister. "I had no idea." Michael said quietly. "Me neither." Anthony said. "I've been so preoccupied with… everything else I haven't been paying attention to local news."
"I heard she was only passing through." Polar said. "But Aiston rarely gets royal visits, so the residents here are very excited." Vine suddenly got up and started heading in the same direction as the family. "Where are you going?" Vulture asked. "To see the queen." Vine said, her face with an expression like "Duh."
The rest began following her. "Have you ever seen the queen?" Swordfish asked Anthony. "I met Hecate when General Solberg was deciding whether Rainfall could be trusted. She spoke with both of us personally. She told me to get as much information as possible. I still don't know what she told Rainfall." Anthony said.
They eventually reached the main street of Aiston, coming out by a flower shop. The rest of the street was sprinkled with people and dragons who were watching the queen's entourage of carriages go by.
Swordfish caught a glimpse of the Queen inside one of the carriages. She had long black hair and fair skin. She was wearing a simple white dress. "Old Monarchy will prevail!" Someone suddenly cried, and cheers went up around the street. "Make world peace a reality!" Someone yelled. "Dragons and humans are equal!" Another cheer went up. Queen Hecate just smiled, but Swordfish could see a kind of fakeness to the smile. Like she wasn't so sure Old Monarchy would prevail in the end.
"She's on her way down South to see Lochberg." Michael said. "The Verlassenist people are trying to rebuild after the Camaelist attack." Michael had a stressed look on his face. "Most places like that are just abandoned after the Camaelists slaughter everyone and try to burn the whole place down."
Swordfish's mind glimpsed back to the abandoned city he had arrived in. The human skeletons on the ground and the collapsed buildings. The Camaelists really tried to destroy everything they could. Swordfish looked up to the sky. It was unnaturally bright for such a dark world.
. . .
Two days later, Polar woke Swordfish up again. "Come on." She said. "You're coming with me." Swordfish sat up groggily. "What? Why? Where?" He asked quietly. "I'm taking you, Vine, and Blizzard with my group on patrol." Swordfish remained sitting up, blinking as Vine and Blizzard were woken up too. It was early morning and cloudy. Swordfish could feel a slight breeze. He noticed Vulture's eye slightly open, and make contact with Swordfish's. "Why us?" Blizzard asked. "Random." Polar replied, handing Swordfish an Old Monarchy helmet while shrugging.
Not long after, Polar had brought the three dragonets back down towards the main street of Aiston. The town was waking up, but there was already a small group of Old Monarchy soldiers waiting in what looked like an old field nearby, surrounded by old wooden fences. Most of the soldiers were dragons of various tribes, but there were a few humans. In addition to the dragonets and Polar, Swordfish counted six other dragons, and three humans.
"Okay, these are the dragonets that are going to be joining us." Polar said to the group. "That's Vine. That's Swordfish. That's Blizzard." Swordfish didn't know that Polar had some position of power over other soldiers. They appeared to treat her with respect and nodded stiffly to what she said.
"Blizzard? What's wrong?" Vine asked. Swordfish turned to see Blizzard looking up to the cloudy sky. "I… don't know." She said, her voice sounding strange. Her eyes looked wide, and without the sun making her eyes glitter, they looked more like her mask of the pretentious Icewing than the Blizzard Swordfish knew. Vine turned away to look at a squirrel running across the field, and Swordfish caught Blizzard whispering something to herself while looking down.
"Alright. We're going to go patrol around Mount Vemi. This is just a watch." Polar said, and once again Swordfish saw Blizzard's eyes widen. "What is it?" Swordfish whispered to her. "It's nothing." She said. "Just… anxious. That… happens to me." "What do you mean?" Swordfish asked. "I'll just get anxious for no reason. It's been happening more ever since the other you was killed."
"Lieutenant!" A Skywing asked, confirming Swordfish's thoughts about Polar having some level of command. "Why did you pick these three dragonets?" "Because." Polar answered. "Vine is fast and very good at using her Rainwing abilities, Blizzard is a fantastic fighter and has amazing instincts, and Swordfish has adapted to this world faster than any of them." So it wasn't random. Swordfish realized. She ranks us better than Rattlesnake and Vulture.
After some brief introductions, the squadron set out for the patrol. Swordfish kept flying alongside Vine and Blizzard. Swordfish was amazed at the Arnish Mountains that they were flying towards. Lush, green fields and hills rolled beneath the dragons. Swordfish saw Vine looking at the mountain peaks ahead with awe. Like she had never seen anything like them before, which she probably hadn't. Swordfish looked down and saw a herd of sheep, making nervous noises. A dog trotting around the sheep looked up and barked for a brief amount of time. Blizzard smiled down at the dog.
Swordfish was still in awe at the mountains. The sheer size of them was like the mountains in the Sky Kingdom, which Swordfish had only ever seen once, when he was flying for his life from Adnachiel. He hadn't got to appreciate them before. "Are there mountains like this in the Ice Kingdom?" He asked Blizzard. She shook her head. "Only glaciers. We don't have these forests and streams running down them." Swordfish took another look around as the sun rose above the beautiful scene. "It's gorgeous." Vine said in awe. "Ye dragonets enjoying the view?" Asked a Rockwing with a thick accent, smiling. "This part o' the country is beautiful, ain't it?" "It is." Swordfish replied.
Polar lead the squadron forward, and up the mountain. Swordfish saw the streams running down the mountain, splashing over the rocks. The water looked clear and fresh. Swordfish took another look at the view, the sunrise chasing away the grey clouds and dreariness, and once again, Swordfish felt an immense anger towards those who wanted to destroy this beautiful world. Swordfish saw Blizzard and Vine both looking at the sunrise too, and wondered if they were thinking the same. Vine looked determined, an expression Swordfish didn't see too often on her, and Blizzard looked… sad. Swordfish even wondered if he had seen a single tear trickle down her face.
Swordfish finally decided to say something. Blizzard was his friend right? He couldn't just stand there with her strange tears and weird anxiety. "Blizzard… what's wrong?" Swordfish asked quietly, enough so that Vine couldn't hear. "…What do you mean?" Blizzard asked after quickly wiping away the tear. "Why were you crying?" Swordfish whispered. Blizzard didn't say anything. She looked back at the sunrise. "I was just… thinking about how the Scorching will destroy all of this." Blizzard whispered, and then she slightly cringed, a look of frustration passing over her face. "Really?" Swordfish said, surprised. "I was thinking about the same thing. Well, almost the same thing."
"Mmm." Blizzard said quietly. She fell silent again. "You know, I'm really glad I was able to open up to you and the others." She said after a while. "I had lived with my family for so long… my parents, Frostbite and Icecap, were your typical pretentious Icewing parents, and I was constantly having to compete with my cousin for recognition in the family. That's how I got into the third circle." "Your cousin… Could her name possibly be Frost?" Swordfish asked.
Blizzard reeled back, almost hitting a Nightwing that was flying with them. Blizzard had a look of shock on her face. "Watch it!" The Nightwing said gruffly. "That name… How do you know that name?" Blizzard asked, her voice shaken. She looked like Adnachiel had just appeared in front of her. Swordfish paused, wondering if he shouldn't have said anything. "I found a scroll in Rainfall's room when we searched it once." Swordfish said quietly. "Who's we?" Blizzard asked, still shaken. Her eyes began darting around.
"Me, Cedar, Rattlesnake, Darkseer, Vulture, Delta… and Savanna." Swordfish remembered, shivering a little bit when he realized that he had been scared of the hooded dragons being back in Rainfall and Frigid's room back then, not knowing that the one with the knife had been with them right there. The Outclaws weapons maker had been lying to them right there.
"Anyway, I found a scroll there with drawings in them, and there was this Icewing. She looked like you." Swordfish continued. "I didn't think anything of it, except where Rainfall could've met an Icewing in the Rainforest. But when Sloth… Anthony, I mean. When he told me about Hamza and Rainfall, he mentioned that Rainfall had left the Rainforest, and lived somewhere multi-tribal. He said Rainfall used to talk about his friends, Frost the Icewing and Swiftwind the Skywing." Blizzard looked like she was shivering, despite being an Icewing in a climate much warmer than her home.
"So, I mean, I was shooting in the dark." Swordfish said, gesturing with his mobile rifle as a little joke. "But… you do look like kind of like her. The drawing in the scroll." Blizzard stopped shaking, and Swordfish felt her tail poke his. He wavered for a second, and then wrapped his around hers. She made sure she didn't poke him with her spikes. "She is my cousin." She whispered. "Frost is my cousin. The daughter of my mother's brother."
Swordfish was suddenly jolted back to what was really going on when a woman riding on the back of a Nightwing called out. "Lieutenant Polar! Nightbreaker is having a vision!" The Nightwing she was riding on suddenly shrieked. "Let's land on that point!" Polar ordered, changing the squadron's course and going down toward a rocky point surrounded by thick pine trees.
When the group landed, Nightbreaker got down on his knees and began breathing heavily. "Dragons." He said. "Aniwing… Icewing… fighting." "Angela can you get the telescope?" Polar asked. "Watch for anything in the distance." "Yes ma'am." One of the humans said, and reached into her bag to pull out the telescope. Vine suddenly changed her scales to match the environment, and then switched back to a neutral green and blue. "What did you do that for?" Blizzard asked. "I'm not sure." Vine said honestly, looking at her scales with curiosity. Blizzard then looked up to the sky once more as a large flock of birds suddenly took to the skies, taking down some pine needles with them. The needles hit the ground at Blizzard's feet, like arrows hitting the ground, marking a spot.
. . .
Rattlesnake woke up to see Vulture was the only other one there. He was already awake, and watching a flock of birds take to the sky. "What? Where did everyone go?" Rattlesnake asked after a yawn. "Polar took them on a patrol." Vulture said, throwing a small stone at an old metal barrel across the yard. The collision made a ding!
"Why did she take them on patrol and not us?" Rattlesnake asked. "I don't know." Vulture replied, and his talon started to up to his eyepatch. "Hey! Stop!" Rattlesnake yelped. "Right!" Vulture said quickly, yanking his talon away from his eye wound. "Force of habit."
There was silence between the two of them and Rattlesnake's mind wandered back to when she had yelled at Swordfish in the forest. She felt kind of bad about it. He hadn't done anything wrong, but she had all those pent up emotions. And she just couldn't accept him as Swordfish, when Swordfish had died. That all felt like so long ago. So much had happened since that day. The day where everything changed.
"Well, I'm gonna go get breakfast." Vulture said, and got up to leave. "Wait." Rattlesnake said, and Vulture stopped. He turned and looked at the Sandwing, concerned. "What is it?" He asked. "How… How are you able to see this Swordfish as a 'replacement?' Do you not see anything wrong with it?" Rattlesnake asked honestly. Vulture thought for a second. "Well… I'll admit, it's really weird. I can only imagine what he's going through, seeing his whole world ripped to shreds, and only being able to live in a copy for the rest of time. But… I say it's better to have him, even if it's a different one of him, than to not have him at all. He's like a doppelganger with all the same memories." Rattlesnake looked up to the sky. "But he doesn't have all the same memories. He has memories of us trying to kill him. The Swordfish we knew had memories of dying in the healing center." She said quietly.
Suddenly, Marie came running down the small hill leading towards the old stables the dragonets had been staying in. She slipped on some mud and landed on her knees. "Whoa!" Vulture cried. "Marie! Are you alright?" Rattlesnake asked, getting up and jogging over to her human friend. Marie got up on her own, and Rattlesnake saw the look of concern on her face. "What is it?" Vulture asked, seeing it too.
"Black Star." She said. "They're coming."
. . .
Twenty three hours earlier.
Daniel Seilbrenner sat at his desk, wondering who to tell about Pancho Urbina's discovery in Paisland. If the story of the Daughters of Amrahiem taught anything, it's that this much power can even corrupt the good.
He had already decided to tell his friend General Baumgarten down in Hemsbury and Captain Wraith, who had used to be a lieutenant before the Battle of Sainsbury, where he lead troops with courage and honor, and received a promotion, and Seilbrenner's liking. Suddenly, a name popped into his mind. Conwell. He and those Pyrrhian dragonets probably had no idea what had happened. He began to write a new letter when General Solberg walked into the room. Seilbrenner quickly got rid of his paper.
Henrik paused, and looked at Seilbrenner. "I hope those weren't letters about Urbina's discovery, commander. That should be treated with utmost importance and secrecy." Said the General in his deep voice. "Oh, no that was just a letter back home. To Evie." Seilbrenner lied. Evie was his fiancé back in Sutten, his hometown.
"There have been rumors about a spy in Old Monarchy." Henrik said, looking out the window. Outside, there was a small riot on the street. This was an Old Monarchy military building in Sainsbury, and there were people protesting the rather damaging tactic used to defeat Black Star's tanks. The old general closed his eyes. In the past, he would have tried defending the military's actions, but with this war, the war to end all wars, he wasn't sure if what happened was right. But it had to be done.
"A spy." Seilbrenner repeated, scratching at his small beard. "For who? The Camaelists? Black Star?" General Solberg shook his head. "I'm not sure. Besides, it was just a rumor." The general fell silent. "But… Seilbrenner… If there was a spy… would you have any guesses as to who it could be?"
Seilbrenner thought for a moment. "Well, if this is a spy that leaks valuable enough information that there's even a rumor about them… I would have to say that they have access to valuable information, so they wouldn't be just any soldier… And my guess would be that they aren't affiliated with Black Star, because if they were, they would've timed their attack here better… Which narrows it down to a dragon…" Seilbrenner thought to the letter to Conwell he had kicked underneath the desk, and a thought dawned on him.
. . .
Nine hours later.
Suzu Tanaka stood back as General Zane Jergens kicked the bloody Grasswing in the face again. The Camaelist messenger groaned and spat up some of her blood on the ground. George Machato snickered behind her. "Look at her. An elusive Grasswing, tied down and beat bloody." "I'll ask one more time." Said General Jergens. "What was on the paper?"
Suzu's group had taken Brittaney Colens and Calvin Abrams to the village of Pila, and another group of soldiers had offered to lead them back. The group Machato led had eventually ran into General Jergen's elite squad themselves, and while travelling back to the base as a group, they had found a Grasswing messenger, flying without an armband, which means they weren't Old Monarchy. Not that it mattered anyway. But when the messenger saw the Black Star soldiers, she took a paper out of her satchel and ate it. Grasswings didn't have fire, so she had to improvise.
"You'll never know." The Grasswing spat through gritted teeth. "It's so important… I'll die to protect it… Do your worst you human filth." The Grasswing began breathing heavily. "I will gladly die to protect my husband and my sons." Suzu felt a pang of admiration for the bravery of the messenger, but she beat it back as soon as it came.
General Jergens looked up at the afternoon sky, and then looked back down at the bloody dragon at his feet. "Do you know who I am?" He asked, strangely calmly. The Grasswing looked up at him. "You're the commander of the entire Black Star military." She spat. "Zane Jergens."
"Listen." Zane said. "What is your name?" He asked, kneeling down to see her better. "What is he doing?" Suzu heard a soldier mutter. "Beetle." She replied. "Well, Beetle." Jergens said. "If you tell us what was on the paper, I can grant you the status of Honorary Human." Zane said. Suzu had to keep herself from gasping loudly. Honorary Human was the title given by only the highest commanders of Black Star. It pardoned any dragon named it from the crimes of the rest of their race. It had only been used very few times, and the dragons who were granted it, lived far within Black Star territory, away from the Camaelists and Old Monarchy. They were still considered evil, but were able to live. There were only ten of them alive.
"For my family too?" Beetle asked, hope in her eyes. Zane nodded and smiled. Suzu saw light tears begin to fall from the Grasswing's eyes. "You can live far away from the war, and be able to live as a family within the world."
When the Grasswing's bonds were removed, she stretched her wings and looked around at the soldiers nervously. They all had rifles pointed at her. "Okay. An Old Monarchy explorer named Pancho Urbina found a temple on Paisland, which he believes could hold the Relics of Hamza." Suzu's eyes widened, and everyone around her had similar reactions.
"But the Camaelists have a high-ranking spy within Old Monarchy, who received a handwritten letter earlier today describing this. He told me to report it directly to Camael himself." Beetle said. "Really?" Asked Jergens. "Yes." Beetle affirmed. "Where on Paisland?" Jergens asked. "The Great Oak Forest, in a mountain." Beetle replied.
"Damn… and Old Monarchy knows." Jergens said quietly. "I never thought I would be thanking a Camaelist informant." He chuckled. "Beetle… thank you." Said the general. Beetle gave him a chipped-tooth grin. "No, thank you. This war made me realize family is more important than winning." She said. The Black Star soldiers began to put their weapons down, when Zane Jergens stepped back. He drew in a breath.
"Fire!" He commanded, and Suzu only saw a flicker of the betrayal on Beetle's face before she was fired with bullets from all sides, her wings getting ripped apart and her flesh shot away.
. . .
Present.
General Wraith of the Camaelists walked through the smoke. He made sure not to step in any of the bodies strewn about. He had heard that Polar had planned to take the dragonets from the future out on a patrol, and staged the perfect ambush.
"We apologize to all our dragon brothers and sisters who had to perish for this to happen." Wraith began reciting. He stepped over the body of a Nightwing. "But know that you did not die in vain. Your kind will soon be free. We will break the chains of mankind. For freedom of dragonkind, this is a necessary evil." Wraith licked his teeth with his forked tongue. "If only you hadn't tried to protect those three humans. What a waste of dragon life." He kicked the head of a Skywing, whose throat had been slit open and their body burned.
The Camaelists had shrouded their attack in smoke, making it almost impossible to see too far ahead. Suddenly, Wraith saw a large Rockwing, still alive, but injured. He was on the ground, shaking. "You're wrong." He said with a thick accent. "This world can be inhabited by both dragons and humans." Wraith walked over to the Rockwing. "Are you still so blind? You survived this only because you are dragon. Do you not thank your thick Rockwing scales?" "Don't talk about being dragon when you kill so many innocents. Dragons and humans alike." The Rockwing growled. Wraith narrowed his eyes, and then bent down, and dug his talons deep into the weak spot on a dragon's stomach. Not even Rockwings were immune to that. The Rockwing gasped, and then turned and looked at Wraith. He stared right into his eyes. "Old Monarchy forever." He gasped out, and General Wraith dug his claw in deeper, and the light drained from the old Rockwing's eyes.
"General, we have them both secured." Said a Skywing. The Skywing led the General through the smoke to a tied up Icewing and a tied up Rainwing. Wraith grabbed the Rainwing's head and pulled it up. She was unconscious and bloody, yet Wraith remembered her. He had asked her if she was fresh out of school before the Battle of Sainsbury. "Oh yes. General Stone would definitely like her." Wraith hissed. "You know he has a thing for these young Rainwings." The other Camaelists snickered.
"You're disgusting." Spat the tied up Icewing. It was Lieutenant Polar. "In every way. You're a traitor, you kill without remorse, and that dragonet is six!" Wraith walked up to Polar, a dragon he had fought side by side with. "Well, what are you going to do?" Wraith asked, tauntingly. "You're all tied up!" "You're right. I can't do anything." Polar said, smirking. "But she can."
Suddenly, Wraith heard the noise of wingbeats behind him. He turned around to see an Icewing dragonet descending out of the smoke towards him. She fired with her mobile rifle at General Wraith. The Aniwing called the strange power inside of him and activated the animyre. The Aniwing ability. Time slowed down, but Wraith did not. He stepped out of the way of the bullet, which was still coming at him at a fast rate. Wraith observed that the bullet would have definitely killed him if he hadn't stepped out of the way. It was a perfect shot.
Wraith used the rest of his animyre time to get as far away from the Icewing as he could. He could feel his strength fading as time ran out. Suddenly, he snapped back to real time.
Blizzard fell in surprise as Wraith disappeared out from under her and over to her left. Blizzard hit the ground face first and was then picked up by the throat by an enormous Mudwing. "Nice try, insect." The Mudwing growled. Blizzard aimed her gun again, but the Mudwing grabbed her arm and threw it to the side. The bullet was fired off into the smoke. Blizzard heard a muffled "No!" From Polar as the Mudwing ripped the rifle off Blizzards arm and threw it to the ground.
Blizzard felt the talons of the Mudwing begin closing around her throat. She found herself gasping for air, and the world turning dark and fuzzy. She swung with her spiked tail, but it didn't have enough strength to it, and merely slapped the Mudwing. He closed his claws harder.
"Stop." Ordered Wraith suddenly. "Remember, we don't outright kill dragonets Lizard." Blizzard was suddenly thrown to the ground, and then knocked unconscious by Lizard's tail banging her on the head. "Let's just take the Rainwing and go." Wraith said, and the Camaelists began to leave, taking the captured Vine with them. "You have earned a special place in Hell, Wraith." Polar called, still bound up among her dead soldiers. Tears fell from her face in sadness and anger. "Why would I go to Hell?" Wraith called back. "When God is on our side?" Wraith put out the order, and the Camaelists began lighting the whole place on fire. Polar and the dragonet would die as an "accident." Polar screamed after Wraith and his soldiers as they flew away. "OLD MONARCHY FOREVER!" And the flames engulfed the horrific scene.
. . .
Blizzard was not unconscious. She was only acting. She couldn't be defeated that easily. She knew it was impossible. But she could still get injured. She had to get out of the flames as fast as she could. She got up and looked around her at the burning trees and smoke. The dead bodies of the squadron she had been flying with no more than an hour ago were littered all over the place. I wonder if Polar is still alive? She wondered, but she could not see the lieutenant anywhere.
Blizzard got up and began flying through the smoke. If she was correct, she had seen what had happened to Swordfish. She flew out of the smoke and flames and looked further down the mountain. It looked like nothing had happened down further, but she could small chips taken out of trees and a small branch missing. She traced the path until she saw a large blueberry bush with a large indent in it. She flew down to it, coughing from the smoke.
She pawed through the bush until she came across the unconscious Swordfish. He had fallen off the outcropping when the attack started. He might have gotten a mild concussion. "Hey!" Blizzard said, shaking him awake. "Come on, we need to go save Vine!" "W…what?" Swordfish asked, shaken awake. "What happened?" Blizzard grimaced. "Betrayal."