Somewhere, someone was screeching in agony. The echoed cries of pure suffering were impossible to locate; the sufferer could be right by her head or in another part of the cavern.
Motion. Fierce, burning pain in her back, her sides, her head. It felt as if she had swallowed frozen, sickly fire. Her insides hurt almost as much as her back.
Her back. Pressure on her wings elicited another yowl of agony, and a returning darkness.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily heaved weakly, her stomach thankfully empty. Her mind was full of dense, clinging smoke, obscuring thoughts, depriving her of anything but pure feeling. She could hear, but she couldn't understand, not when she couldn't concentrate on the words. The sounds were all she understood.
"The wound is clean," a familiar voice crooned softly. "Or as clean as it can be. She is sick. Does your sadistic mate have any other questions?" There was a hard edge to the end of said croon.
"He wants me…" A soft, desperate sob. "No. I cannot. What do I do?"
"You do not intend to obey?" Suspicion.
"I just cannot." Sincerity. Lily almost recognized the words, but another spasm in her stomach ripped them away from her, and she moaned.
"Then you must stay here, but not yet." Reluctant acceptance, a warning growl following close behind. "I need help. She is not healing, not like this."
Lily heaved again, her eyelids fluttering weakly. She wanted to understand, she almost did, but it just wasn't happening. Her body was rebelling, and her mind was occupied by pain and sickness.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily drifted in and out of light sleep, woken all too often by throbbing agony in her back. Her mind was only a little clearer, and she lacked the energy to do more than passively listen, not even thinking about what she heard, or in this case, what she smelled.
"Why?"
"I owe her."
"And Claw?"
"He does not come in here any longer, and many do not dare leave. Not that either of you would know."
"We know enough." A low huff. "Thank you. It is not hard to scrape by, but this-"
"This is what is right. It is getting worse out there."
"I am not surprised. This is not going to last."
"I will bring fish whenever I can safely."
"That is not what I meant."
O-O-O-O-O
Lily groaned as her wings were shifted, numbness dispersing with more of the pain that filled most of her existence. It was less of late, but still immense. She felt as weak as a hatchling, and being rocked onto her side didn't help.
"Sorry, you need to be moved twice a day," a familiar voice murmured. It sounded as if Honey was talking to herself more than Lily. "I do not see why. I could sleep all day without moving at all."
"Try… With pain…" Lily gritted out, failing to make any sense at all with how many words she dropped. Her weak, hoarse attempt at communication did have the pleasant side-effect of stopping Honey's pushing, so she considered the effort well worth it.
"Lily?" A soft, padded paw bopped her nose quite rudely. "You said something?"
"Yes." That sounded halfway-understandable, at least. She would have liked to ask why in the world Honey thought pawing at her nose was an acceptable way of getting her attention, but that was far too insignificant to waste the monumental effort forming intelligible words currently required.
Maybe she could convey her annoyance with a glare, though… She forced her eyes open, and waited while the blurry, indistinct chamber came into focus. It took a worryingly long time…
And in that time, she began to think about more than the current moment, or at least what had led to it. Her back throbbed in time with her heartbeat. She smelled old blood. Her own.
"I will get Pina," Honey barked frantically before racing out of the chamber, scraping by the narrow exit in her haste, leaving Lily alone.
Or maybe not. She was lying on her side, one eye pointed at the ground and the other the low ceiling and a little of the side with the exit. For all she knew, someone was behind her, staring at her back.
Her back. She couldn't ignore it any longer. Something was seriously wrong… and she knew why. She just didn't want to think about it.
She was saved from her own hesitation by the arrival of Pina, who seemed far more harried than Lily remembered, and a little thinner. "Lily, how are you feeling?"
"Confused," was Lily's honest reply. "Terrible," she added as an afterthought. Pain wasn't nearly as important in comparison; the fact that she didn't fully understand what was going on, or why, scared her.
"But better, clearly," Pina hummed in relief, pressing a paw to her nose just as Honey had. "Much better."
"Why?" She couldn't help it; the strange gesture needed to be explained. "Nose?"
"Oh, that. It is an old thing my Dam taught me. Sick light wings have hot noses and cold paws. You were burning up for a long while, but today it seems to be gone. Finally." She heaved a long sigh of relief. "Honey, do you-"
"You tell her," Honey exclaimed, backing away. "I think I will go get Wax." She ignored Pina's growl of protest and left the chamber.
"Ugh," Lily groaned.
"Yes, exactly," Pina snorted. "Are you hungry?"
"No. Talk." She managed a hopeful huff to emphasize that she was asking, not commanding.
"Of course." Pina sat down beside her. "But you should really be resting. I will not talk for long."
"Deal." Her eyes were already feeling heavy. Whatever sickness had apparently run its course through her, but had left her with no energy at all. Or maybe that was the injury…
"I suppose I will start with Honey," Pina began quietly, settling down beside her. "She and I have been tending you. She takes the days, and I take the nights, mostly."
"Crystal?" She had noticed the distinct lack of her best friend in that arrangement, and her heart filled with dread.
"Sometimes, but she is in and out at odd times, so we do not count on her," Pina hummed. "She brings news when she comes around."
Lily didn't like what she was hearing, though it was a relief. The way Pina spoke of all of this felt like… like things were going wrong all around them. Like Crystal was doing something dangerous, and only checking in on occasion to reassure them that she was still alive.
Or maybe that was just paranoia. But she knew what had happened to her back, even if she shied away from remembering, and she didn't know what had followed. What was more, she couldn't predict what would have followed; Claw was not predictable anymore.
"Claw," she rasped, asking the question Pina probably hoped she wouldn't.
"Not today," Pina said sternly. "You need to recover, not worry about what is going on outside. He will not come here. That is all you need to know."
"No."
"Roll onto your stomach, and I will tell you one thing," Pina offered, stepping away. "Just that."
Lily whined angrily; she couldn't muster the strength to lift her head, let alone that.
"Exactly," Pina replied sadly. "Tomorrow, maybe."
Lily would have argued, but she was so tired, and her eyes were sliding shut of their own accord, though she dreaded sleep. Her worries and anxiety would destroy any chance at peaceful sleep; being left uninformed was torture, though Pina clearly meant it as a mercy.
But she had no choice in the matter; her body betrayed her with ease, shutting down her mind.
O-O-O-O-O
Time passed; Lily slept far too much for her own liking, drank and ate what was provided, and tried to ignore the burning embarrassment of soiling the floor like a hatchling.
She also spoke, and pressed Pina for answers. What she learned was not pleasant.
"He tried to act as if nothing important had happened, saying only that he had found and punished a traitor," Pina recounted, finally giving in to Lily's repeated requests for information. "But people talked. Claw took to roaming the valley, listening for dissent, but that did not help anything."
"Then?" She wasn't about to let Pina trail off and claim that she was done speaking for the moment. She needed to know what had gone on while she was suffering, as she did not remember.
"I was busy trying to keep you alive," Pina continued. "Two or so days after… you… he got it into his head to come finish you off."
"What?" She was becoming numb to all of the anger-driven errors Claw was making, but that was an especially egregious one. Adding to the thing that had everyone talking was a sure way to make it all worse.
"Yes, and I do not know why. When he came here, I stood in the way and…" Pina shrugged her wing shoulders uncomfortably. "I may have denounced him. The few who still stand by him got him to leave for a little while."
"Even worse," Lily mused. She was glad he hadn't just taken it upon himself to kill Pina and then herself. Then something occurred to her. "What about Dew?" And the fledgling; it was no secret that Pina adored Dew's son. It would be just like Claw to take it out on them.
Pina purred smugly. "You think I did not consider that? Within a day of your injury, Dew and I had a very heated, public argument, with Dew vehemently voicing support for Claw."
"Staged," Lily guessed. Pina certainly would not sound so smug if it had been real.
"Dew's idea. We talked about it back when Claw injured one of his mates instead of hurting her daughter for no reason. We decided that if something needed to be done in direct defiance, I would do it, and Dew would appear to cut ties to keep the little one safe. It is not real, but everyone thinks it is, and he pays her absolutely no mind."
"Hurt anyone else?" she asked.
"Not seriously. Plenty have gotten knocked around or clawed by one of his mates." Pina shook her head. "It is getting worse, though."
Lily had no trouble believing that. At this point, Claw might end up deposed before she recovered enough to do anything. What he was doing just wasn't sustainable; even the most submissive light wing in the pack would eventually do something to get away from the constant, terrifying threat Claw was becoming.
But there might be a lot of blood shed along the way. She had to heal and get back out there. Things were spiraling out of control.
O-O-O-O-O
"Lily!" Crystal exclaimed, rushing into the side-cavern and enthusiastically – but gently – nuzzling Lily. It was the middle of the night, judging by Pina and Honey both being asleep, but that didn't stop her from being loud. "I heard you were getting better, but I could not come any sooner…"
"I don't understand," Lily said quickly, desperate for information. She was relieved to see her friend; Crystal had been absent for almost half a moon-cycle, having left sometime while Lily was still sick. "Where?"
"I have been everywhere," Crystal explained, settling down across from her. "How is your back?"
"Painful, but you first." She didn't want to talk about how moving her own wings was a daunting, almost impossible task, or how Pina wouldn't tell her what it looked like, or how she was so weak she couldn't bear the pain moving any part of herself brought to her sensitive back.
"Me first? Okay, fine. Did Pina tell you what I have been doing?"
Lily shook her head, glad she had at least regained enough strength for that.
"Oh… Well, I have been…" Crystal squirmed, looking sheepish. "Substituting for you, I suppose?" she continued. "Going around, talking to people, making sure everyone thinks about how bad things are getting and how it is all Claw's fault, telling them you were only trying to help Root… All of that."
"Oh. Is it working?" She didn't know what to think of that.
"Not really," Crystal groaned. "Everyone just wants it to stop without having to do anything, and I am not good at convincing them to act, especially when I do not have a plan for them to follow. Claw goes around too, undoing my work by threatening and scaring everyone into ducking their heads and waiting for it to be over."
"You have kept them thinking?" Lily asked softly.
"About you, Root, and the danger their loved ones are in," Crystal confirmed.
"You have done well," Lily concluded. It wasn't as much as she could have done, but she wasn't about to complain about Crystal keeping everything tense and preparing people for her return.
Her return. She needed to recover, and fast. Something had to be done, but she couldn't even plan when she didn't know everything about the pack's current state.
"Who supports Claw?" Lily asked.
"I thought you would want to know," Crystal purred. "I have their names. There are five females who follow him around and will not be swayed from his side, and two males. They are the only ones I do not dare approach."
"Who?" Lily repeated.
"The males are Ivy and Feld," Crystal listed with a dark voice. "The females are Diora, Cressa, Grass, Petal, and Clover. Diora and Cressa are the worst of them."
Lily wasn't surprised by most of those names; Feld was not known to her, but the rest were. Ivy was a confirmation of what she had suspected, and both Petal and Clover had helped hold her down while Claw-
She drove that memory down, forcing herself to move on before it fully emerged. Petal and Clover were no surprise, Cressa certainly wasn't, and Diora was almost a given. Grass…
She was disappointed, in a vague, distant way, to hear that Grass was one of Claw's most faithful. "Grass?"
"Right there with them, though she does not do much aside from walk around with Claw."
"Everyone else?" Lily asked.
Crystal growled quietly. "Some think it will pass once Claw calms down, and do nothing in the meantime. Others talk, and wait for someone else to act. A few act."
"Who acts? And how?" That she found interesting.
"Little things. Mist has declared that she is trying for Root, for instance," Crystal recounted. "She is not, and Root does not want her, but he accepted her anyway, to keep her from Claw. Cedar and Ash chose their mates right away, to protect them."
Lily hoped that wasn't all, because while protecting people within Claw's own rules was good, it wasn't enough.
"Pina and Honey, of course, you know about," Crystal continued, shooting the sleeping females a quick glance. "Honey especially."
"No, I don't know about Honey," Lily admitted. "What?"
"Claw sent her in here to make sure you did not recover. She went to Pina and asked for help, and she has been here ever since. She defied him."
"That is surprising." She had been seeing signs of change in Honey for a while now, but she wouldn't have anticipated outright defiance. But being told to make sure someone died was pretty extreme…
"And then you have Flare." Crystal sighed. "He did try. Not that Claw knows who it was. He snuck some of the plant you showed him for Root into Claw's fish, enough to kill, but Claw happened to bite the first fish in half and noticed before he swallowed."
"Flare tried to kill him?" In retrospect, that was a good idea. Forget someone else taking his place; none would be as bad as Claw was right now. Anybody else would be a step up.
"Yes, and now he only eats what Cressa fishes herself. So unless you can convince your Dam to kill her mate…" Crystal trailed off meaningfully, flicking her ears.
"Definitely not. Has anyone tried to attack him?" She would never expect it of the pack without provocation, but Claw was apparently providing plenty of that.
"No, but he fears being mobbed or ambushed. Anyone who sees someone camouflaged is supposed to fire on them immediately. Few do, but that makes getting close enough impossible. He does not come into the caverns for the same reason."
"He's just one dragon," Lily agreed. That held promise, and explained why the occupants of this very chamber were still alive after defying him. She assumed the rest of his mates were free to come and go as they wished, and supplied the necessities to them.
Something occurred to her. "What about you?" she asked worriedly. Crystal was out there making waves and stopping people from hunkering down and trying to wait things out; the way Claw was now, that would put her in danger.
"So far, he does not know anything about what I do," Crystal said hesitantly. "But… I cannot count on that. If you have a better plan, I would love to hear it." There was a sincere longing in her voice. "I would love to have any plan. I am really just keeping things going until you take over again."
"Were you so sure I would live to do so?" Lily asked.
"Yes. We all need you. I do not see any way to fix this while Claw lives."
"Neither do I." Up until recently, she had considered her task one that would take season-cycles, many of them. After Pearl, she had hoped it would only take moon-cycles.
Now? This needed to end as soon as possible, whatever it took. Claw was going to keep making things worse to keep his grip on everyone, and every time he struck out, he was hurting another she had claimed responsibility for. He had to go.
And to make that happen, she had to recover. One did not make a final push to unseating a tyrannical alpha from one's side in a dark cave.
"I need rest," she said, repeating Pina's constant advice and meaning it. "I will think about what to do next. Stay safe in the meantime."
"I have been. I sleep in different places every night, spend most of my time in the forest, and avoid Claw," Crystal said. "I used Pyre's cave a few times. You do not mind, do you?"
"No. Feel free to keep doing that." Crystal was welcome to use that place as a safe haven from Claw; who was Lily to deny her that?
"I will. Tonight, though, I can sleep here."
Lily let the slow, soft breathing of her friend lull her to sleep; she knew she would need her strength soon enough.
O-O-O-O-O
"I think you should not move," Honey said doubtfully.
Lily was far too impatient to pay that sort of advice any mind; she was feeling stronger in most of her body with every passing day, and her back needed to get with the program. So long as every tiny jolt hurt too much to bear, she would not be going anywhere, so she needed to be used to the pain.
So, she continued to carefully, slowly walk in a small circle, whining on occasion. Her entire back felt like a raw, fresh wound, and every tiny impact like she had just been cut anew. But she needed to endure to improve.
Each step hurt. Each step also brought her closer to being able to leave the side-cavern, so she bore the pain and did her best to ignore it. The sheer and utter boredom of being stuck in the same place indefinitely was more of a threat to her well-being than anything she could do to herself. Nobody came to visit except Crystal, because if word got out that one was visiting the dragons who had defied the alpha, the alpha might come looking. Nobody wanted to risk being ambushed by the waste pit or pond and roughed up, if not worse.
Claw was progressing too, just in the opposite direction. Lily hated to hear what he was doing to the pack, and she hated that she only got updates on occasion, when Crystal returned. It hurt to not be able to do anything, and she could not in good conscience act through proxies, not when any sort of action could make the one she had used a target. Not now, not when the stakes were so painfully high.
Besides, she didn't need to do anything small to prepare the pack for her real move. Everything was already set; the final maneuver was obvious and unavoidable unless she wanted to languish in this small claustrophobic chamber forever. Claw wanted her dead, and she wanted his position… and his death, too. He was destroying his own power base, and hers was waiting for her return. It would only take the right moment and a forceful push.
And to push, she needed to be able to leave. So she continued to walk, her wings limp against her sides. Walking, and then action.
O-O-O-O-O
"Thank you, Honey," Lily purred, swallowing the fish she had been brought. She had made a conscious effort to be grateful and polite to the female who had been ordered to kill her and instead defied Claw. "For everything, not just this fish."
Honey ducked her head and looked away, making a show of adjusting Wax, who was lying across her lower back, half asleep after a long playtime with the other fledglings. "You are welcome," she mumbled, using her tail to push her son further up, between her wings.
Lily sighed, recalling how she had done that for Burble. She missed him, and she was sure Crystal did too, though nowadays that longing was tempered by knowing just how right Crystal had been to send him and the egg away. This would all have been so much worse with them here; Wax was a pawful on his own, and was almost always a little grouchy from almost never being taken out of the cavern.
Come to think of it, that reminded her of her own time as a fledgling… Though her being stuck inside was laziness on the parts of Cressa and Grass, not fear for her Dam's life.
"I can take him for a while," Lily offered, still looking at Wax. He would be manageable, as tired out as he was, and she wanted to do something useful.
"He has gotten into the habit of sleeping on my back," Honey said sadly. "He likes it, and… You cannot let him do that, can you?"
"No," Lily admitted, "I really can't." Her back seemed to be stopping her from doing anything at all. It was frustrating, to say the least.
"Sorry," Honey said sincerely, her eyes downcast.
"What made you change?" She hadn't meant to ask that out loud, but since she had she went with it. "You used to be so… selfish." And stupid, and airheaded, but those things had not changed as far as Lily could tell; they just weren't showing due to the constant stress Honey was under. Frivolity had no place when one feared for one's life.
"I do not like hurting people, and Claw told me to," Honey said hesitantly. "You made me feel so guilty about it that I ignored what he told me… And then next time I thought about what he wanted… And then there was Wax, and caring for him, and Claw hurts his children if he wants, but I could never do that."
Lily purred encouragingly; she could hear the raw emotion in Honey's trembling voice and half-articulated explanations, and expecting a complex, complete, well-reasoned explanation was unfair.
"I do not want to hurt people. I just want this all to be over." Honey whined sadly. "When will it be over?"
"Soon," Lily hummed reassuringly. She left out the corollary; it would be over soon, one way or another, and given how angry Claw was with Honey's defiance, it might end very badly for her.
But Lily wasn't going to let that happen. Honey was one of hers, and one of the few who had already begun improving. She deserved to be protected.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily walked in front of the exit, standing with her tail to the crack in the stone. She felt a powerful urge to walk right out and go do something, anything other than what she planned on doing, but that was procrastination, and she ignored it.
"What are you doing, Lily?" Pina asked, looking at her oddly.
"Making sure this does not end with you walking out," Lily said candidly. "I need an answer." She had waited long enough. "What is going on with my back?"
"What makes you think I know?" Pina asked worriedly, looking as if she would very much like to leave and postpone the discussion with some convenient excuse, as she had every time before. "I know very little of wounds."
"You know what it looks like, how it was treated, and you suspect you know something I would not like hearing," Lily said bluntly, laying her suspicions out. "That's why you've avoided this conversation for days on end."
"It may still heal," Pina offered weakly. "It has only been a moon-cycle."
"I agree, but I need to know everything you do." She let her wings drop to the ground, ignoring the pain such a thorough movement brought, though only gritting her teeth let her hold in a moan of pain.
"Lily!" Pina barked, rushing to her. "Do not do that if it hurts so much!"
"Watch," Lily gritted. She willed herself to raise her wings, to just lift them back up to their normal place tucked to her sides. They trembled, shaking like leaves in the wind, and only slowly began to rise. It felt like she had another dragon holding them down. The pain in her back and shoulders was immense, and there was a strange tightness that only abated once she had painstakingly brought them back up.
"I see," Pina whined, "and that is bad, but-"
"I can't rest easy not understanding my limits," Lily interrupted, forcing her tense breathing to steady. "Tell me what you know, please."
"Okay… Where do I start?"
"What was done for me after… I was hurt?" She shivered. Thinking of that moment was a bad idea, and she had succeeded in locking the memory away, leaving it in the back of her mind with others such as Pyre's death. So long as she did not dwell on it, she could ignore it. Maybe in time she could even forget it.
"Crystal and I took you back to this chamber, and we tried to clean your back, but there was so much blood… Crystal supplied some sort of plant she said relieved pain, and then Whirl came with a better plant she told us you had shown her mate."
Lily nodded, remembering that. She supposed she should consider herself lucky that knowledge had worked its way back around to help her.
"It wore off quickly, though," Pina admitted. "When it was working, you slept easily. When it was not, you moaned and whined constantly. Then you got sick. Throwing up, bloodshot eyes, delirious… It looked bad for a few days."
"Delirious? I did not say anything odd, did I?" She could imagine it now; her mind compromised, and as a result her spitting out every secret she ever kept. It would only be Pina, Crystal, and Honey who heard, but still.
"No, you just whined and cried for water and Pyre." Pina favored her with a sad, regretful look. "I suppose that speaks well of him. Better than it does me…"
Lily didn't object; Pina wasn't wrong in thinking that. She'd had quite a few people who were supposed to raise her in some capacity, and Pyre was the only one who had wholeheartedly leaped into the task from the very beginning. She saw Pina as more of a friend, not really a Dam.
"We could not do anything for your back aside from occasionally licking it," Pina continued after a moment. "And it looks…"
"...Yes? Is it one big scar?" That was how she imagined it; a patch of grey skin and scales.
"Can you call that a scar?" Pina asked dubiously, arching her neck to examine LIly's back. "It is grey like one, but it is just loose skin. No scales, and it shifts when you do. It looks flat and wrong."
Well, she had asked for the truth. She winced at the mental image Pina's description prompted, wishing the wound at least allowed her to turn enough to see for herself; that was quite a bit worse than a big scar. "It's loose?"
"If you can, push your wing out to the side," Pina suggested. "It will move when you do."
"My wing will just drop." She could barely even lift her wings, holding one extended was entirely out of her reach.
"Let it slide on mine." Pina held a wing flat against Lily's side, offering her help. "I admit, I am curious now."
"Here goes nothing, then," LIly grunted, sliding her wing out. It hurt, as expected, but now that she was feeling for it, she could tell that there was something loose and yet unnaturally tight about the top of her back. It tugged at a few places, sending especially sharp jolts running through her, and then-
"Stop!" Pina cried out, just as Lily felt something resisting. "It is pulling apart!"
"I didn't know it was that fragile," Lily gasped, freezing in place. Her wing wasn't even fully extended.
"Put it back," Pina requested. When Lily did, she winced again. "You are bleeding," she announced, leaning over and pushing her head across Lily's neck to delicately flick her tongue at the offending portion of Lily's back.
Even that light pressure ached, but Lily bore it, far more bothered by the implications of what had just happened. "I can't spread my wings all the way," she huffed.
"You would rip the skin apart again," Pina agreed, pulling back. "Badly. It would set your healing back by a lot. I do not know much about wounds, but that is obvious."
"I know." But would her back always be that fragile? No, surely not, the new skin would harden and grow strong, like the pads of her paws. That was just obvious. Pyre's wings had sported seamless, tough skin where the membrane should begin, and she had no reason to think she was any different.
But… If it grew strong, and she couldn't accidentally pull it apart...
She wouldn't be able to spread her wings all the way. That would mean no flying. No gliding, even, because only fully extended wings caught the air in the right way. She would be grounded. Permanently.
A part of her wanted to force her wings out as far as they could go, screech in pain, and leave them like that until her body healed again, correctly this time. She didn't want to lose another choice because of Claw, and whether or not to fly was a pretty big one.
But on the other paw, her pack needed her, and they needed her as soon as possible, not in a few moon-cycles because she wanted something she had never really cared about before now. She had lived without flight before, and barely thought to use it except as a convenience when she did have it. She could survive being permanently grounded, probably better than anyone she knew. Pyre had survived it. Claw was surviving it, though she often had trouble remembering that he was missing a tailfin, given she hadn't seen him in a while.
"Lily?" Pina rumbled worriedly. "Does it still hurt?"
"Yes, and I'm not doing that again," she decided. If she needed something done with flight, she had plenty of friends to help her. Healing well enough quickly was more important than healing perfectly.
She just wished it didn't feel like Claw had stripped one more choice from her life.
O-O-O-O-O
The chamber was crowded. Lily wouldn't normally have considered four adults and one fledgling enough to do that, but she was sick of the dingy little side-cavern, so she suspected her perception was skewed.
"Really?" Pina asked incredulously. "I would never have thought it of them."
"They told me personally," Crystal confirmed. "They are leaving tonight, under the cover of a romantic night under the stars. Claw has not set the ledges off-limits, so none will think anything of it."
"I wish them luck," Lily said vehemently. "They do know how to survive on their own, right?" Danda and Ash were not the first two light wings she would pick to leave for any length of time; they, like her, had never known anywhere other than the valley.
"I asked the same thing. They have plans…" Crystal looked down. "But they refused to tell me. The only one who knows is Liona, and Danda had a very public falling-out with her a few days ago to make sure Claw does not suspect her."
"That's catching on," Lily murmured. She knew Crystal had been spreading that tactic around, as it seemed to work perfectly on Claw, but nobody aside from Pina and Dew had used it until now. "Not their parents, though?"
"I know I would not tell my Dam if I were going," Honey volunteered. "Just in case."
"Neither would Lily or I," Crystal agreed, grimacing slightly. "They reassured me that they knew how to live on their own."
"Then I agree with Lily. Luck to them." Pina shook her head. "Everyone will know they left as soon as it is noticed that they are missing. Do you think others will follow?"
"Not for a few days, at least," Crystal said grimly. "Claw will make sure of that. Most of the males will do what he says just to keep on his good side, and he will set them to patrolling the air above the valley night and day."
"If he does not send everyone chasing after Danda and Ash instead," Lily countered. She agreed with Crystal's assessment, but Claw was too unpredictable to rule that less sane, more obsessive alternative out.
"He might do just that," Pina agreed. "He did for Pearl."
"Pearl had just given him a well-deserved humiliation, though," Crystal countered. "Danda and Ash are just going to slip away."
"Did they say why?" Honey asked quietly, holding Wax close to her chest. He was awake and intently listening to the conversation, though Lily had no idea how much he understood. It didn't matter, as even if he repeated their words, everyone present was more or less marked for death anyway. Crystal was the only one who could still go out into the valley without much fear, and that would change if Claw remembered her existence.
"Danda thinks she is with egg, or will be soon, and they are afraid it will be used as leverage," Crystal said bluntly. "They are not wrong to fear that. I know some of the pairs with hatchlings have gotten scarily specific threats from Claw aimed at their young. He is branching out to try and keep control."
Lily winced; another step toward the point where she would have to act. She felt confident that when the time came, she would be ready, but it was coming soon, and her back was still scarily vulnerable and pain-ridden. The end of Claw's reign was coming, but she didn't know if she would live through trying to end it her way. Not when she was this weak.
The conversation continued, turning to slightly lighter things, but Lily didn't pay any attention. Her eyes roamed from face to face, stopping briefly on each in turn. Honey, Crystal, Wax, Pina. Here were four people she was supposed to protect, four people Claw would do his best to torture and kill on a whim. Four among scores.
She had to intervene at the right time because if she did not, Claw's reign would end in blood and tears as the pack finally turned on him because he was just too cruel and vile to let live. Reaching that point would require far too much pain and death. She had to hope she would be strong enough to be the bloodless catalyst instead…
Or, if things went wrong, the bloody final straw.
O-O-O-O-O
It was morning, presumably. Lily had nothing to go on but Pina's word, as her own sleep patterns were sporadic at best. She was just beginning her walking exercises when another light wing darted in, almost knocking into her.
It was Moss. Lily's heart began beating faster before Moss even opened her mouth to speak. She hadn't seen Moss in so long, and she knew that Crystal was not on good terms with her Dam. Her presence was bad.
"Claw caught Crystal," she blurted out, confirming every dreadful suspicion. "He is talking about her 'betraying the pack!' He is going to hurt her!"
"And you've come to me because…" Lily prompted, her voice rigid and icy even to her own ears. She couldn't think rationally, not with the sheer terror that first statement had brought, and taking it out on a somewhat deserving light wing was the fastest way to compose herself enough to plan.
"You tried to help Root, and she is your friend, and everyone is saying you always know what to do," Moss blurted out obliviously. "I sheltered you from Claw, return the favor! What more do you want?"
"Since when has what I want mattered to anyone?" Lily growled rhetorically, then snorted. "That she is my friend is more than enough for me to act." She didn't have time to question why Moss cared now, after not speaking to her daughter for moon-cycles on end; imminent torture was probably enough to break through any stubborness, and unlike Cressa, Moss cared for her daughter. "Come," she barked as she hobbled for the exit, then struggled out of the side-cavern.
She would not allow Claw to do this again, not to Crystal. There was no more time to prepare, and no more time to waste. She would force it, here. One final push. Claw was doing the only thing he could to hold onto power short-term, but too much fear was helping Lily, not him, and he could do nothing about that.
Or maybe he could. Maybe he would just kill her the moment he caught sight of her, kill Crystal, and hold control simply through lack of resistance. She might only accomplish dying with Crystal. But that was a risk she could take because it was only a risk to herself. Claw had gone too far, too often, to retain power. He would fall, sooner or later, with or without her, and this was a chance to arrange things to the benefit of the pack, and her best friend, so it was worth taking.
This was all only to justify her drive to rescue her friend, but that did not make it less true. Either way, she refused to consider what would happen if she lost Crystal. What she might do.
She walked slowly and awkwardly through the caverns, as fast as she was capable of moving. As she went, other dragons stopped what they were doing, and began to follow her. There were no words, no questions. It was as if everyone was waiting for this. Even dragons she was pretty sure wouldn't support her in this followed, to bear witness if nothing else. Fledglings also followed.
That forced her to break the silence. "Those of you who are not willing to stand against Claw, stay here and protect the fledglings. They should not be in the line of fire."
Several Dams broke off, herding protesting fledglings back, deeper into the caves. That was good. It got them out of the way. Those who lived in the valley would not be so lucky, but Lily could not do anything so easily for them. This was going to happen now, and she did not have time to do any more.
She limped out of the cavern and made her way to the plateau, the group of females following behind her like the rising tide. They supported her in one way or another, and now they were here.
They drew near. Claw was ranting, screaming at the crowd, Crystal physically pinned by two females and a male, members of Claw's most devoted. The others of that little group stood around him on the plateau. She had always hated his gloating, for dragging out his tortures by remaining poised to inflict them, but it had all been worth it for precious time here.
This was the first time Lily had seen Claw since he maimed her, and her new opinion of him was even less favorable. He had fallen completely in the time she was out, had lost whatever shred of intelligence he harbored to rage. Defying him was the way to reveal him, it seemed, and now he was revealed to all, ranting and raving at the terrified crowd.
"This ends now," Lily growled. "Roar, please. My throat is not strong enough to be heard."
A dozen voices roared defiance around her, totally drowning out Claw's ranting. And then there was a dangerous silence as Claw slowly turned to stare murderously at the newcomers.
Lily for once did not let him speak first, stepping forward and glaring at him. "Once again, you go too far," she said quite clearly, her voice stern. "You are a danger to the pack. Let her go, now."
A beat of silence followed while his narrow eyes settled on her. Those around her shifted, some flinching and others digging in, preparing to weather an assault. Lily did neither, noticing the instinctual reactions around her and refusing to allow herself to show weakness. There was enough of that in her appearance already.
"And why would I do that, traitor?" Claw was on the verge of violence; not in the sense that he might still refrain, but in that any moment might explode into an attack. "Your word is nothing. This is my pack, and I do as I please."
"Is it? Is it really?" Lily made a show of looking around, turning her head what little she could, then addressed all the other light wings present. "Is this his pack? Are you all objects to be claimed against your will?" She stepped forward, holding her head high. "You are done, Claw. Your own actions force them to defy you, force us to defy you. There is only so far fear can take you..."
Others were stepping up, stepping forward, joining her with stony eyes and growls. Mates of Claw, males and females from the valley, all stepping forward. Even a few older fledglings were taking the risk, making their defiance public.
"...Before they realize that the only way to remain safe is to stop you, to end your rule." She shook her head. "Fear drives them, now. Fear, and guilt, because we should have all stepped up long ago. This is overdue." This was it.
"You are no alpha of anything, Claw." Lily snarled viciously, knowing that her role in this was not one of combat, but wishing she could strike personally anyway. "Surrender. And you," she said to those who guarded him and held Crystal, "should stop helping him. You cause unnecessary difficulties in this shift in power."
Claw laughed, though there was a sharp edge to his tone that promised pain. "I rule. You do not. And I, the alpha, am going to execute this traitor, and then you." He glanced around the crowd. "All of you who stand with her too. Still want to stand with her?"
A pause. This was the moment of truth.
A voice broke the silence. "Yes." It was Root, who stood between his Sire and Dam, his eyelids up, displaying dark, empty sockets that looked scarcely less healed than the last time she had seen them. He was not quite facing the right direction, but that did not spoil the resolute image he projected. "The fear of you now is not a question of 'if', but 'when'. This is the only way. I stand with her."
Others remained where they were, continuing to defy. A few even stepped forward, despite the threat, now confident enough to add their voices to the crowd.
Lily felt a flush of pride. Her fledglings were learning, they were improving. This moment, and others recently, restored her faith that people could get better, that they could change. Maybe not everyone, and maybe not without prompting and help, but they could. This would never have happened had she not started them on this path, but this was also not all her work. It could not be, for she had been out of commission for moon-cycles, moon-cycles of a terrorizing, brutal alpha, and fear. Fear for oneself, fear for others, fear for the future.
They were improving.
There was a sudden scuffle on the plateau, infighting among those who supported Claw most of all. Before anyone could react, two bodies fell from the rise, hitting the ground with twin thuds. Crystal and another, both of whom disappeared into the crowd. It seemed Claw's strongest supporters were faltering too.
Not all of them, not even many of them. Just one, but that one had saved Crystal.
Lily purred as Crystal came up from behind her. "So, Claw? What now?"
"Now?" Claw was looking around wildly. "Now, I call upon all loyal pack members to... to..."
"You can't think of anything," Lily determined smugly.
"Yes, I can." Claw snarled viciously. "All who are loyal to the pack, to the sky!" He leaped into the air, flapped wildly and erratically to little effect, then slammed back to the plateau.
Everyone froze, trying to understand. There were a few muffled laughs in the crowd. Claw had forgotten he was grounded.
Lily knew what he was going to do before he had even made it back to his paws. The rage, the embarrassment... She didn't want Claw's rule to shed any more blood, and there were fledglings here.
So, she acted first. "All who oppose Claw, to the caverns! We protect the young!" It was a way to separate out those who did not support him, to get the vulnerable ones to safety, and to isolate Claw. To demonstrate just how outnumbered he was... or to show Lily if the opposite was true.
"Attack!" Claw roared, firing into the crowd. "Kill the traitors!"
Chaos erupted, fighting and running dragons in every direction. Far less fighting than running, and what Lily could see was non-lethal combat, claws and teeth absent, but still. The pack was at war with itself...
Claw was coming for her. She could see him working his way through the crowd, dealing out brutal blows at anything in his way. His eyes were fixed on her.
"Lily, go!" Crystal and Whirl stepped in front of her. "To the caverns! You are not in any condition to fight him!"
"Okay!" Lily wasn't going to argue the obvious, but she wasn't able to move much faster than a hobbling run. Claw was going to catch up, he was going to hurt someone-
A body hit her side, and then another on her other side. She scrabbled uselessly with her paws, sandwiched between them and now moving... much faster?
"Stop struggling!" An impossible voice, given the situation. "I need to feel the pressure from my Sire on the other side to know where to go!"
It was such a strange thing to say, but Lily understood what Root meant, and how he was helping carry her away, much faster than either of them could go on their own. Root's Sire had her other side, providing eyes, and both of the males were providing strong, unhindered and unpained legs for Lily. Between the three of them, they could go fast.
It probably looked ridiculous, but that was secondary. They made it to the cavern, passing by fights and fleeing dragons on both sides.
As she passed into the darkness, Lily did not let her guard down one bit, though she had seen reliable females at the entrance, stopping anyone who looked like they supported Claw in the fight. It was safe in here...
But the pack was at war with itself. The chance had been taken, and now they needed to somehow take Claw down with minimal casualties. She didn't even know yet who had more supporters in this last struggle.
Her head spun as Root stepped back to let her stand on her own power. She had just wanted to overthrow Claw, to make the pack safe, but the situation had spiralled wildly from her grasp in no time at all. War had begun, and the end was here.
