Chapter Fourteen: Lavender
"NO! DON'T! He'll destroy you guys both!" Lavender yelled, but it was useless.
Fatebringer and Copper flew off into the smoke together.
Lavender sighed.
I guess I'll have to go after them then, she thought, as she followed her friends into the smoke.
"Wait up!" the SeaWing said, trying to fly.
"Stay there! It's safe in the Scorpion Den, and you haven't completely healed yet!" Lavender yelled.
She turned back towards the smoke and could see the DeathWing fighting her friends in the distance. She quickly flew towards them, and once she was within range, she blasted a carefully aimed ball of RainWing venom.
"AHHHHH!" the DeathWing screamed, as his face burned.
Lavender shot a second blast of venom at him.
The DeathWing replied by shooting intensified frostbreath at her, but it was extremely off-target since he appeared to be slightly blinded. The frostbreath hit the wall and turned it to ice.
The DeathWing kept on aimlessly blasting intensified frostbreath, until he finally gained his vision back. The DeathWing blasted intensified frostbreath at Fatebringer, who blocked it with two fireballs, creating an opening for Copper to attack. Copper took the chance, and knocked the DeathWing to the ground.
The DeathWing got ready to blast intensified frostbreath at Copper, but Copper jumped away just before the intensified frostbreath left the DeathWing's mouth.
"Whew," Lavender heard Copper say, as she thought, That was too close. We need to be more careful from now on.
Suddenly, a fleet of NightWing guards attacked the DeathWing, first blasting fireballs, and then clawing him. The DeathWing was able to dodge all of the fireballs, and seemed to be skilled at close combat. His claws scratched the guard's faces, and for a moment, it seemed that he would win, but then another group of guards came in, and started attacking him. Finally, the guards got one drop of blood out of him, but it looked nothing like blood. It was dark black, with just the tiniest hint of dark blue in it.
Lavender noted that the blue looked just like IceWing blood, she remembered it from the time when some IceWings had attacked the RainWings and caused a huge war that the RainWings won.
Is the DeathWing somehow related to the IceWings? Or is that just the normal color of DeathWing blood? Lavender asked herself.
She was so caught up in her theory of the DeathWing being related to an IceWing that she didn't see it coming when the DeathWing rammed into her, and knocked her off her talons.
"AHHH!" she screamed as she felt her scales burning.
She blasted venom at the DeathWing's face over and over, and got him all the way across the room. She saw his talons blazing.
Firescales? Wait, but he only has it in his talons, she thought. Never mind, I can think about that later. I should concentrate on the battle for now.
Lavender saw some injured guards and quickly gave them healing potions. She then drank a healing potion herself.
The DeathWing stood up on all four talons, and said, "Don't mess with the DeathWing, you puny dragons."
"Well, I don't care," Copper said, and then rammed the DeathWing.
The DeathWing punched him in the face.
Close combat isn't going to work. We need to fight from long range, Lavender thought, as she blasted some venom at the DeathWing.
The NightWing guards started to close in on the DeathWing, but Lavender knew that it would only be a matter of minutes before they were all fallen to the ground, injured.
"Guys! Don't attack him from so close! He's going to beat you guys in close combat!" Lavender yelled, and some of the guards backed away, but a few stayed close to the DeathWing.
"Who are you to order us around, RainWing?" a defiant guard asked.
"Fine, if you want to die and lose your stones, then be that way," Lavender said to the guard.
The guards sighed and they all backed up.
Then, all of a sudden, fireballs came at the DeathWing from all directions.
"AHHH! NOOOOOOO!" The DeathWing screamed, as the fireballs burned him.
He started rotating while blasting intensified frostbreath aimlessly, but since he was surrounded, most of the guards got hit. Lavender quickly gave them healing potions, but while she was doing so, she also got hit by intensified frostbreath.
"OWWWW! NOOO!" Lavender screamed.
Her wing was frozen extremely badly. Lavender saw Queen Starhunter fly out of the room, just barely avoiding a blast of intensified frostbreath. The DeathWing fought the last of the uninjured guards, and flew off after her. Lavender quickly gulped down 3 healing potions, and went after them, followed by Copper and Fatebringer, who both looked uninjured. It didn't take long before Lavender was breathing heavily. The DeathWing was extremely fast, and he had almost caught up to the queen.
The queen panicked, and dived into a room, closely followed by the DeathWing.
"Give me your stones, Queen Starhunter," Lavender heard the DeathWing say as she entered the room.
"No, we are the NightWings, we shall not give up our stones!" Queen Starhunter yelled and she shot a fireball at him.
The DeathWing avoided it, and then stabbed her with a stinger that had suddenly came out of his wrist.
It must be a venomous BeetleWing stinger. It certainly looks like one, Lavender thought, as she blasted venom at the DeathWing.
The DeathWing turned around and deflected it with a blast of intensified frostbreath. He then came over and hit her with his tail, sending her flying into Copper and Fatebringer.
"I said, give me your stones, Queen Starhunter," the DeathWing told the NightWing queen.
"Fine, take it… here is the Night Stone," Queen Starhunter said. Lavender struggled to get up, but she finally did, and to her dismay, saw the Night Stone inside one of his gauntlets, along with the Leaf Stone, the Beetle Stone, and the Sand Stone.
"Where are the mind-reading and Prophecy Stones?" the DeathWing asked Queen Starhunter as Copper rammed into him.
The DeathWing kicked Copper away, and then deflected a fireball from Fatebringer using intensified frostbreath.
"The Mind-reading Stone is with my best mind-reader, Thoughtknowing, and the Prophecy Stone is with my former top seer, F-"
Queen Starhunter suddenly collapsed due to the delayed effects of the venomous stinger from the DeathWing.
The DeathWing tried to go out the door, but Lavender thought, We can't let him go outside, or he'll take the stones.
They quickly stood in front of him, and then Copper dived in and hit him on the face. He then hit him hard with his metal tail, and sent him flying into the wall on the other side of the room. The DeathWing blasted intensified frostbreath at them, and while they dodged it, he flew straight through the gap that was between Copper and Fatebringer.
There's no way we can let him get the Mind-reading Stone, Lavender thought, as she turned around and blasted venom at the DeathWing.
She quickly flew after him, and fired a lot of RainWing venom, but the DeathWing was able to dodge them easily. He then dived down, and Lavender saw him ask something to a NightWing. He then quickly flew off, dodging another venom blast from Lavender.
Oh no, I think he just got instructions on where to find the stonekeepers, Lavender worried.
She flew as fast as she could, but she was exhausted within minutes. She could barely fly, but the DeathWing was still going at his usual fast pace. Finally, he swooped down, and then pinned a NightWing to the ground, until finally the NightWing gave him the stone before Lavender could fly down and blast venom at the DeathWing.
"Where is the former top seer?" Lavender heard the DeathWing ask as she flew down and rammed into him.
The DeathWing kicked her in the face, and then punched her. He then hit her with his tail, making her fall to the ground.
"The former top seer is outside the kingdom. He was banished from here about maybe 2 weeks ago," the NightWing, who Lavender thought was called Thoughtspeaker, said.
"Yup, that's right RainWing, I'm Thoughtspeaker," Thoughtspeaker said.
"Oh, so you can read minds and stuff?" Lavender asked.
"Yeah," Thoughtspeaker said.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Lavender heard Copper yell as he and Fatebringer flew down and rammed the DeathWing, knocking him off his talons.
Fatebringer then punched the DeathWing in the face, but suddenly 500 SandWings appeared out of nowhere and shoved Copper and Fatebringer off of him, and then surrounded them while the DeathWing flew away.
I should go after him, but then Copper and Fatebringer will be in danger, Lavender thought, and she decided to stay and help her friends. She blasted venom at the SandWings, whose numbers were thinning quickly. She then kicked two that had come too close to her, and then started kicking and punching SandWings left and right, until finally there was a path for Copper and Fatebringer to go through.
They quickly escaped, and then they flew off towards the Scorpion Den. They fended off most of the SandWings, and at last they had reached their new home: the Scorpion Den. Lavender quickly ate some mangos and then she lay in her bed and realized she was exhausted, and then she knocked out.