Lily didn't know this new feeling. It was safe to assume nobody did. It was a mix of excitement, fear, and anticipation. War had begun, one part of the pack pitted against another. No one new entered the cavern. Those guarding the entrance had been relieved by Root's parents and Crystal's Sire. They would not let any in without calling her over to vet the dragon in question. That situation had not come up yet anyway. Strangely, there were no signs of Claw or those who had supported him, at least from the cavern mouth. The sky over the valley was empty.
There was a low rumble of unease echoing through the caves. No one had been seriously injured, but there were shallow cuts and bruises, and an atmosphere of uncertainty.
This was war, though she intended to make it as short and bloodless as possible. First, she needed to know who fought for her. She walked through the cavern, taking a count and seeing who had stood with her.
Crystal walked up to her, her expression solemn. "Lily. It has begun."
"It has." They walked together. "Help me with this. I don't know who was showing signs of supporting us while I was recovering, and I need to try and weed out traitors if at all possible."
"Will there be any?" Crystal warbled uncertainly. "I would not think anyone had the presence of mind to fake it from the start of the fight, and if they fought for Claw at all they were not let in here."
"It is possible," Lily countered. "However unlikely. Besides, I want to see who is here."
"A good point." They continued on. "Where are the fledglings?" Crystal asked after a moment.
"As deep in the caverns as possible, guarded and mostly oblivious," Lily growled. "I will not risk a hit and run raid in which they steal children and use them to force the parents out." She was going to go check on them shortly, but this was more important at the moment.
"That does sound like something Claw would do..." Crystal mused. "Also, we have all the fledglings in here?"
"Most of them. There was no time and no reason to separate which were children of Claw's supporters, and those in the valley were all nearby when the fight started. People picked up any they ran across in the confusion." Besides, the fledglings were blameless, and Lily wasn't about to use them to fight Claw or to pressure his supporters. She needed to represent the moral high ground, and using young as leverage implied threatening them, and that made her far too much like Claw for anyone's liking.
"Then... can we not get their Sires and Dams to stand aside?" Crystal sounded okay with that. "It would lessen the fighting."
"If we wished to exile all of them after this, maybe." Lily shook her head. "We cannot alienate even them. This split in the pack needs to be healed, not made permanent, and keeping their children safe and out of this despite the possible advantage of using them will be a gesture of good faith."
"We have not yet won and you are already planning for what comes after," Crystal rumbled in amusement. "But I see your point in that."
Lily looked to the side, mentally evaluating everyone she saw. Most of them were fine, but...
She stopped in front of a male, one looking off into nothingness, his eyes sad and hurt. "Are you hurt somewhere?"
He shrugged. "Not really. My mate is with Claw."
"It may be she was scared and did not see a better choice," Lily offered.
"We had talked about it. She does not think opposing him worth it, and said she would not be my mate if I did." He looked up at Lily. "Maybe she will change her mind… But I still do not want to see her hurt in what is to come."
"Neither do I," Lily agreed. "If we fight, seek her out and keep her occupied. It will not help or hurt the cause for one fighter from both sides to be occupied, and you can keep her safer by fighting her yourself. Just do not let her win."
"I will. But..." He looked around. "What about after?" A soft whine. "If she would so easily cast me aside for doing what I think is right, I do not know how we could continue as before."
"We will figure that out when the time comes." Lily did not feel at all qualified to give advice on serious issues between mates. At least she knew this one dragon, in particular, was not going to do anything rash, focused on his mate's choices and how to keep her safe. Lily wondered what the female's side of the story was. Was she regretting her choice to support Claw? Was she feeling betrayed and angry?
She made a note of his face and decided to check up on him after all of this went down, and moved on.
Crystal whined sadly. "I wonder how many stories like that we would hear if we asked everyone."
"More than I would like, but it will help when it is time to rebuild." It would be harder for either side to resent the other when people they cared about were there.
"Can we?" Crystal cast a glance at Lily, one full of worry. "If people die, there will be grudges. And a lot of Claw's supporters are actually on his side."
"How many?" Lily asked seriously, laying out what she was observing. "This is not one side versus another. This is a lot of scared people all making choices in the heat of the moment. I'd bet that less than a third of the pack truly wants to see Claw succeed. Far less. The ones here are just those with enough courage to step up. Those who are a little less brave but no less good at heart are probably sitting in the valley, petrified, trying to avoid notice."
"Yes, but there are those who want him in charge," Crystal growled angrily. "Not everyone is just trying to stay safe. Some would kill for him."
"Like my Dam," Lily agreed sourly. "I know that some of them are just as bad as he is."
Speaking of those close to her... Lily's mind shifted in topic. "By the way, how did you get caught?"
"I messed up in choosing who I spoke to," Crystal muttered with a grimace. "I was speaking to a Dam who had lost two sons... and while she kept me distracted, her mate got Claw and his group. Apparently, she resented her sons for challenging her authority, let alone Claw's authority, so her losses were not quite as severe as I thought."
"I would have made the same mistake." That was the truth. There was no way to know who would be like Root's parents, and who would be like Diora, not when they knew what she was doing.
"Maybe." Crystal didn't look like she believed that. "Anyway, they took me to the plateau, and that was pretty much it until you showed up."
"Did Claw... did he say what he was going to do?" A morbid part of her had to know.
"No, but it was not going to be good..."
Lily shivered, looking around in an effort to get her mind off of that. There were Dew and Pina in a corner, leaning against each other as they talked enthusiastically. She bet they were glad it was no longer necessary to pretend they hated each other.
And there, in another corner on the other side of the room was-
Lily broke off from Crystal, walking quickly to confront the one she was sure should not be here. "Grass," she snarled. "I do not think you are here in heart."
Grass looked up, her eyes defiant. "And why not? I can change my mind, can I not?"
"Lily," Crystal said. Lily ignored her.
"And I can call that a lie just as easily," she retorted. "You are one-"
"Lily!" Crystal slapped Lily with her tail, forcefully getting her attention. "She is the one who got me off of the plateau!"
That took a moment to sink in, and Lily very distinctly felt her rising embarrassment. "Oh."
"Like I said." Grass did not seem too smug about being proven right. Now that Lily was looking, the older female looked more disturbed than anything. "And do not ask me why, because I have no good answer."
"I don't think I need an explanation," Lily murmured. "You acted when it counted. Thank you." She was still going to 'suggest' quite forcefully that Grass stay behind to watch the fledglings with other, more trustworthy light wings when the time came, but that was just caution keeping her paranoid. The odds that Grass would betray something to Claw were low, very low. Claw probably wanted her dead for getting Crystal away.
So many faces, and so many reasons. Grass out of some undefinable urge, others out of fear, some out of hatred for Claw. Lily located Root in the crowd, lying still and silent, and went to him next. She purred loudly as she approached so that he would be aware of her.
"I am impressed," she began truthfully. "But I wonder why you chose to be the one to break that silence. Claw could have had you killed."
"Do not worry, I do not want to die," he reassured her. "But I also do not fear death, and if someone had to risk it to ensure Claw did not intimidate the pack into submission, I have the least to lose." He had not lost his ability to sound so sure of himself, at least.
"Do you?" Lily sighed. "You are not the only one who has lost much."
"But I have lost the most," Root argued neutrally. "That cannot be denied."
"My promise stands," Lily said, changing the subject. "I will find some way to help you."
"I will not object if you do, but I do not think you can do much. Even if you do end up being the next alpha, as this all seems to be building towards that end. I did not see that part of the story."
"As a means for my goals, not an end in and of itself," Lily corrected. "If the pack was better served by someone else taking the position, I would let them. I am the best one for the job."
"Who am I to argue?" he smirked, a twist of the lips below drooping and flat eyelids. "I hope you do not object to my remaining here when the time comes."
"I would object to you going out to meet death," Lily agreed. "You have already fought this fight. We do not send the injured into battle."
"Will you be there?" Root's voice dropped. "I cannot see you, but I can hear others talk."
"I must be there," Lily admitted. "Though if another was in my condition, I would not let them go anywhere."
"What, exactly, is your condition?" he asked curiously. "I cannot see it with the eyes I no longer have."
"It's kind of hard to describe, and I can't see it either." That was actually ironic, in a way. "My back is ruined, basically, and I am not going to be able to fly because it is healing wrong."
"Healing wrong..." Root snorted. "I still have bad ideas, it seems, though challenging Claw will never be removed as the worst."
"What is it?"
"Would you let me feel your back?" he asked. "I cannot see it, but maybe if I can get an idea, it will help me imagine. It was, as I said, a stupid idea."
"Not that stupid." Lily sat down, nudging Root. "This is my wing. I trust that is enough of a start."
Root stood, his muzzle tracing down her wing. "You know, I must look quite embarrassing, but I at least do not have to deal with the staring."
"No, you do not." She would not feel embarrassed, but a creeping feeling of disgust could be ignored. This was nothing like what Claw had done that night in the cavern...
But it felt like it... and that feeling only grew as Root passed over her weak and fragile skin, a fiery line of throbbing pain following even the slightest pressure. She had to hold herself still, her entire body wanting nothing more than to shy and slink away.
Root was quick, luckily, and soon sat back down. "That is very, very strange. Thank you for letting me... well, 'see', I suppose."
"No... no problem." She backed away slowly, her heart beating fast. Something about that had not sat well with her at all, despite Root's undeniably innocent intentions.
Okay, who else was here? She needed some way to put her mind off of that. Something pleasant.
"I am going to go check on the young ones," Lily decided, stepping over a few tails and working her way toward the passages leading deeper into the cavern. People were crowded around them, grouping up as far from the entrance as possible without leaving the main chamber. Lily supposed there was some sort of subconscious reasoning behind that; not wanting to be trapped deep underground coupled with fear of what was waiting outside.
At that, she couldn't go deeper into the caverns without considering what might happen. If Claw decided to launch an attack while she was out of earshot…
Would he do that? She didn't know; it was a stupid move, but he had already more than proved he was not above stupidity. She would be wise to plan for the stupid things too.
"Attention, everyone!" Lily roared, startling those around her. Her throat was scratchy and her voice hoarse, but in the hushed, tense atmosphere of the cavern she was more than loud enough to be heard by all. "I am going to check on our young. If something happens while I am gone, send someone to get me, and do not let anyone in here without several people guarding them at all times." She wasn't about to rule out either someone belatedly screwing up their courage and coming to join them, or a saboteur sent by Claw to do something nefarious. That would cover both possibilities, and the unlikely scenario of Claw's forces attacking outright.
"Understood!" Flare roared back, spreading a wing out in front of the exit. He certainly seemed all for what was happening. He would be, given Claw had blinded his son.
Lily nodded to him and departed, walking down into the corridor. She would have to remember who had personal motivations for wanting Claw dead, and who Claw wanted dead most of all. Those people were the ones she could trust-
No, she realized, she couldn't trust all of those who fit the latter description. Claw could promise them amnesty in exchange for their help. Sure, it was only really herself, Crystal, Honey, and Pina who were in that category, but the fact remained.
Lily put thoughts of treachery out of her mind once the sounds of squabbling young became suddenly defined and clear. She slipped into the wide entrance of a side-chamber, and took in the scene.
It was partially-controlled chaos, and not entirely happy chaos, either. Lily's eyes were drawn to the few adults in the room. One watched the larger group, the fledglings and hatchlings who were playing happily, but the others were all busy with less enthusiastic children. The occasional sob of terror rose above the happy din.
"Lily," Honey called out, waving a wing from where she knelt in front of a duo of sniffling hatchlings. The remnants of a regurgitated fish lay between them, and it looked as if the meal had calmed them down, if Honey's relieved expression was any indication.
Lily walked over to her, stepping carefully to avoid flailing bodies getting underpaw. "What is wrong with them?" she asked quietly.
"These two? Their Dams and Sires lost them in the confusion out there," Honey explained, "and then somebody grabbed them up before they could get trampled. All the parents on our side have already come here to make sure their little ones are okay," and with that she flicked her tail at the majority of the young, the ones playing happily, "so these two are from the other side."
"There is no other side," Lily said, responding almost without thought. She knew that sort of thinking needed to be quashed before it could take hold; stuff like that would tear the pack in two. "Just people misled by Claw, and people too scared to act, and those of us here."
"But then there are three sides," Honey objected.
"No, just one pack that currently disagrees." Lily didn't intend to start her reign as alpha by throwing away half the pack, whether officially or by letting mindsets like Honey's dictate how the rest of the pack acted. "If there are any sides, it is everyone against just Claw."
"I like that…" Honey sounded unsure. "But make sure everybody thinks that. Claw wants me dead, and you too."
One of the two hatchlings squealed, crawling forward and pushing at Honey's paw. Honey looked down at him. "Sorry," she crooned, "I do not have any more."
That reminded Lily why she was here with the pack's young in the first place. "How are we doing on food, anyway?" she asked.
"It was almost time for a midday feeding for a lot of the hatchlings people picked up in the scuffle," Honey replied worriedly. "We have gotten them all fed for now by bringing up our last meals, but now we are starving, and it will not last. When will we be able to return them all to their parents? We will need to bring them to water soon. And then there is waste, and this is not a very big chamber for so many little ones…"
Lily blinked, blindsided by the torrent of practical considerations. "This isn't going to last," she said, meaning it to sound reassuring, though it came out ominous. "You'll be able to return them all soon."
"And… You are not going to threaten any of them, are you?" Honey asked, looking at the two hatchlings. "You know, to keep their parents out of it… "
"You're not the first one to bring that up, and no, we're not doing anything along those lines. Why does everyone think we might?" It was a sound strategy if one didn't care about how terribly it reflected on them and their supporters, but they weren't stooping to Claw's level.
"Claw will do it if any of ours are not here," Honey sighed. "Wax is here. But we do not have all of them. How could we?"
"I see." And she did; that was going to be a problem. It was entirely possible there was a hatchling or two out there in Claw's grasp. He might send a messenger demanding their parents join him, or even that if they didn't surrender, he would-
No, he wouldn't. She could see easily enough how that would pan out. The majority of the pack's young was here, in their custody. Any threat to theirs could be responded to in kind, and Claw's supporters had far more to lose. He would lose them if he tried it.
Lily wandered away from Honey, lost in her thoughts. She needed a plan. This couldn't last; there would be no long siege. They had no water or food in this cavern system, only one exit, and a brutal enemy with at least a few supporters willing to do whatever he wanted and a larger number of half-hearted followers. If it came down to a siege, either her side would crumble and surrender, or there would be a bloodbath as they fought their way out.
She had to avoid a slaughter at all costs; such a thing would exacerbate the divide in the pack so badly that it would never heal.
It was never a question whether the pack needed to be held together, at least for Lily. She hadn't seen several familiar faces in the cavern, most notable among them Liona and Cedar. She knew neither of those two supported Claw, both from her own impression of them and from Crystal, but they weren't here. They were on the 'other side', as Honey put it. If she had to guess, she would say Liona was terrified, and Cedar was keeping her safe by keeping them out of the openly rebellious group, knowing that Lily's side of the conflict was far less dangerous to oppose.
Not everyone was as innocent as Liona and Cedar; she knew that too. But she couldn't condemn them all together, the good and bad alike. After Claw died…
After he died. Lily left the fledgling chamber and sat just outside in the corridor, trying to reconcile her thoughts.
Claw's death wasn't supposed to be close. It was supposed to be something that came after the conclusion of a long, slow, agonizing decline in his power. Agonizing to him; she had not planned it out, but her words to the dark wing on the subject, improvised in the moment, were a good summary of how she felt it should have gone. A slow, steady push gradually shoving Claw further and further away from his power, undermining him dragon by dragon, and then a possibly violent uprising that would really just be a formality.
She had meant to remove each support, one at a time, until the metaphorical forest was barren and empty to Claw, and then to watch him topple. That was what she had been working toward; a slow, steady, painstaking crawl toward freedom.
But then one of her plans had worked too well. Root had survived, and Claw had begun to spiral. While she was out, he had burned the metaphorical forest down around himself in the name of keeping his power.
She had to wonder whether that was inevitable. He had started to make bad choices when Pearl humiliated and grounded him, and hadn't stopped; that might have been the point of no return. Maybe any threat to his rule would have ended like this.
It didn't matter, though, because like it or not, they were here. Claw wasn't going to be deposed in moon-cycles or season-cycles; this was going to end in days at the most. She wasn't going to spend a long time slowly building support, Claw had built it for her by becoming a monster none could ignore.
She felt like she had been gliding in the air, looking at a distant cloud, only to blink and find herself in the middle of it. This was not how she had meant for things to go.
But this was what she had to work with. The time was now, not some point in the distant future, and there was no backing away from the end. Claw would only get worse, and there were too many lives at stake, too many in imminent danger.
They needed to kill Claw. Then she needed to pull the pack together, and somehow weed out those who were as rotten inside as Claw, like Cressa, without splitting the pack apart in the process. And she needed to take control, though that seemed like an easy task at the moment, with a third or more of the pack looking to her for leadership in a time of crisis.
The future had snuck up on her; life without Claw was near. The thing she had looked to as her reward, the end of the struggle, vengeance for Pyre and Granite and all Claw had hurt. Why was she reluctant to embrace that?
"Time's up," she growled, closing her eyes. The cold hatred in her own voice was fitting; it was meant for the one she was speaking to, though he could not hear her. "You brought this upon yourself."
Claw was going to die. That was the goal, the way to protect her people. He needed to die soon, however it could be accomplished, and with minimal bloodshed on either side. For that, she needed a plan, and she didn't intend to move from this spot until she had one.
One more plan, and the one she hated above all else would be gone. The pressure was immense, not in the least because a part of her was still looking for ways to return to the long, relatively safe path of undermining a forest that had already burned to ash. To go back to the plan.
Instead, she set herself to deciding how the large, central tree would topple, now bereft of all but a few weak supports. By fire, claws, and cunning, but how?
O-O-O-O-O
Lily wandered out into the main cavern, the workings of a plan firm in her mind. Some of the details were still nebulous, but the overall strategy was sound. Simple, too, which was almost inevitable with how little time she had to work with.
She noticed the many light wings who saw her and didn't look away; it was a startling contrast to before her injury, back when people were still trying to pretend she didn't exist, or was just another dragon not worth thinking about.
She would be lying if she claimed she liked the change; they were all looking to her because she had led them in defying Claw, and now was responsible for leading them back out again.
"What are we going to do?" a female cried out, voicing the question that was no doubt on everyone's mind. A muffled chorus of general agreement followed her question like an echo.
Lily was slightly bothered by the fact that only one person spoke up; they had all just chosen to set themselves against the alpha, so surely they had enough courage to ask their own questions? It was useful in that she wasn't beset by a flood of frantic concerns all at once, but it still bothered her.
"I have a plan," she replied confidently.
"A way to get everything back to normal?" the same female sniffled.
"No," Lily replied sternly. "Normal isn't what we need right now. We're going to fix things and make life better."
"We are not going to use our defiance to make Claw act better?" a male asked timidly. "Because I sort of swore to follow and not fight him. All of us did."
"An oath given under threat doesn't count as an oath," Lily said, repeating Pyre's words almost without thought. "And no, we're not doing that. It would never work, anyway."
"But we are trapped here," someone objected. "And he will punish us all."
"He cannot do that if he is dead," someone else said harshly. "We have to kill him or we are all going to die."
Lily sighed, waiting out the wave of worried exclamations. She noticed that more than a pawful of Claw's mates seemed appalled by that, but they would bow to the necessity once she laid it out.
"Who among us deserves death?" Lily called out, the crowd quieting as they processed her words. "I know Honey does not. Pina does not. Others do not. But Claw will see it happen, and as brutally as possible. Does anyone deny that?"
An awkward shuffling of paws and a few whines were all that she heard in reply; anybody who would argue that wouldn't be in this cavern.
"He plans to torture and murder them," Lily concluded. "He has murdered dozens of fledgling males. He tortured multiple light wings," herself and Root, but she didn't need to specify, "abused a fledgling, and forced himself upon several unwilling females, including his own daughter. Not to mention that he is ruling through fear, threatening hatchlings, and acting like a sadistic tyrant! We all know he will not step down peacefully, and I for one am not willing to depose him only to find him standing above me with his teeth buried in my throat because we showed mercy to one who deserves none."
"Agreed!" Whirl roared from her place guarding the entrance. Flare snarled wordlessly, also fully supporting her.
"We could exile him," one of the males offered timidly.
"And we could forever fear him sneaking back in and taking vengeance on whoever he finds first," Lily retorted, stomping her paw for emphasis and holding in a wince at the shock paining her back. It was hard to forget the constant pain that spiked whenever she stretched or was jolted, but somehow she had managed.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a scuffle at the entrance to the cave. Everyone froze, all eyes turning to the conflict even as Lily quickly made her way there, fighting through the lingering pain. Was this the beginning of an attack?
No, clearly not. A single male was being detained, his expression frustrated and embarrassed. She knew that face.
"Ivy," Lily growled. "You have a lot of nerve, showing up here." Claw had known what she did with Ivy, forcing him to swear to her. There was only one way he could have known. Ivy was a known traitor.
"I know, I know, but I had no choice," Ivy whined. "It was speak or die! I had no choice but to make him think I was going to come to him anyway so that he would let me live. I am still loyal to you, we agreed I would obey him first, and then you!"
He seemed sincerely sorry... but she knew he always did to whoever was the immediate danger. "And if I choose to not believe you?" she asked, forcing a disinterested tone and staring between the four light wings surrounding him.
"I bring proof," Ivy spluttered, totally disarmed and frightened. "I have information. Everyone still believes I follow Claw."
She considered that, and the consequences of letting Ivy, and Ivy alone, into a hub of her supporters. "Bring him in, and do not let him leave unless I say personally."
Ivy nodded happily even as he was allowed through. Lily kept a safe distance back, letting Flare stand between her and him at all times.
"And he is not to go anywhere alone or to leave the central cavern," she added, thinking of the hatchlings and those Claw wanted dead. "Flare, find someone to take your place at the entrance, and do not let him leave your sight."
Whirl laughed cynically. "A good idea." She seemed as avid as her mate about the cause.
Ivy was either genuinely unconcerned by the restrictions or acting unconcerned. Lily knew he was a good actor, so she didn't rule either out.
"So," she began once Ivy was securely trapped at the back of the main cavern, "talk."
"Claw is angry," he began quickly. "But he is not willing to be the one to start the fighting, not when you defend the fledglings. He understands most of his supporters have children in here."
It made sense, in a twisted way, that Claw would be forced to start taking the feelings of his people into account now when he needed them and had relatively few. She was almost disappointed to have it confirmed, though; he would be weaker if he still didn't care in the slightest for anything but his own whims. "What does he intend to do?"
"He will be sending a messenger," Ivy revealed confidently. "Sometime today. They will tell you to send out the fledglings of his supporters so that the children are not involved."
"No," Lily said immediately. "The children are already safe. Splitting them up does not help."
"I am not the messenger," Ivy objected. "And besides, he does not expect you to agree. The messenger is supposed to also offer amnesty to anyone who brings you to Claw, alive or dead."
There was a murmur at that. A disbelieving one, not a considering one. Lily scoffed. "Does he really think anyone would try that?" She was glad everyone could see and hear her scorn; it would help dissuade any otherwise tempted to consider it.
"Yes. He will be waiting in the forest tonight for that delivery. After that, no one knows. He refuses to explain anything else."
"I can guess," Lily growled. "But he will not get the chance. Aside from that, I doubt he really plans to pardon anyone. It is not his way." Another blow to the idea, just in case.
"I do not know what he plans, I just know what he told his supporters when they asked." Ivy glanced around. "I must go before his messenger arrives. I cannot afford to be seen here."
"Go," Lily growled. "And thank you for the information." She would not burn her ties with him quite yet.
Ivy was escorted out by several quite hostile light wings. Good, now she could speak her mind.
But someone else spoke first. "He lies. He must lie. That is too specific." Crystal pawed at the stone floor angrily.
"Not that specific," Lily mused. "He could very well be telling the truth." She understood quite a bit of this and knew that there were two possibilities. "I know a way to check."
"How?" someone asked hopefully.
"Simple. We wait and see what this messenger says. If they contradict Ivy, it is likely he lied. If they do not show up, he was the messenger, and Claw is clever. If they arrive, confirm everything Ivy said, and leave, then we do not know either way." She rumbled neutrally, projecting an air of calm. "I do have a plan, and it does not depend on Ivy's words. My plan also does not involve us attacking our estranged friends and family, not with the intent of killing."
There were several sighs of relief. That decision had been an easy one; even aside from keeping the pack whole, she had seen how ineffectively everyone had fought at Claw's command, and knew she couldn't elicit any more genuine effort. Better to outright support her peoples' disinclination than to order them against it.
"Except for Claw, of course." Lily looked around. "Those of you who feel comfortable with the idea of killing him personally, come see me. I must know who is willing to do it, and who is not. There is no shame in not wanting to take a life, not even his, but none can deny it needs to be done if this is to end."
No one questioned why she would not be doing it. Not even the stupidest dragon in the entire pack could accuse her of shirking her duty, given she could barely keep herself moving at any pace faster than a slow walk. She did not intend to look weak, but it was inevitable, given her injuries. Every movement hurt.
It spoke volumes of how bad Claw was that no one questioned the need for him to die. Lily moved out of the way and took careful note of who approached her about doing the deed.
Flare was first, walking up to her with a twisted scowl on his face. "I can do it. I know how to fight."
"Do you?"
"I know the very basics," he clarified, "and I think that is enough if there are enough of us. My son will be avenged."
"You're in," Lily granted. She might have worried about the ramifications of a male killing the alpha if this were to be single combat, but the specifics she had already planned would make it impossible for anyone to use their participation as a way to take power.
Then there was someone she hadn't expected at all, someone with both a gentle personality and plenty to lose. "Dew?" she warbled uncertainly.
"I take it this is not going to be a fair fight?" Dew asked.
"Never that." She wasn't going to share the details until she could get all her volunteers alone, as her plan relied partially upon surprise and thus secrecy, but she had no intention of giving Claw the slightest chance of survival. She might have been able to participate directly if she could run; it wouldn't require much skill with combat, just sharp claws and fire and a willingness to kill.
"Then I am in," Dew confirmed. "I am fighting for a lot of things, and I cannot imagine not being there for the end."
Lily nodded. "Good for you." She flicked her head at Crystal as she approached from the side, having been expecting her presence. "And I know you want to."
"Of course," Crystal purred darkly. "You did not need to ask. One of us should be there, and you cannot. "
"And you," Lily continued, looking at the last volunteer. "You too?" Mist's Sire was there. She didn't know him well at all, not compared to most of the other volunteers.
"I will make sure my daughter is safe, and this is needed," he growled.
"It certainly is." She waited a few more moments, but nobody else seemed eager to step up, and four light wings was enough. "Follow me. I want to fill you all in on what, exactly, I want you to do when the time comes."
O-O-O-O-O
The messenger arrived just before dusk. Lily had been loitering near the entrance in anticipation, so she was there from the start.
It was Cressa. Of course, it was Cressa. Who else would Claw send? She walked confidently up to the entrance and stopped just short of the guards, looking in.
"I come in peace," Cressa intoned self-importantly. "I am to deliver two messages."
Lily walked to the front of the crowd. "Speak and leave."
"So ungrateful, daughter." Cressa shook her head. "To go against both Sire and Dam..."
"I am sorry, what was it you said to Pyre so long ago? It seems you would be quite familiar with disowning one's Sire." Lily snarled. "I at least have more than enough reason. Get to your point."
Cressa snarled right back at her. "You hold fledglings hostage. Return them to their families."
"We intend to keep all the pack's young safely out of this," Lily countered. "They are not hostages and will not be used to either side's advantage in this conflict. I would tell you to reassure the parents with that, but I know you will do no such thing." She suspected Cressa would tell them that she was a monster who was even then actively torturing their children, just to depict her in as bad a light as Claw regularly depicted himself, but she trusted both her own reputation and the fact that many of the other side's family and friends were with her to disprove that blatant lie for her.
Cressa blinked, surprised. "Why yes, exactly right."
"Good," Lily purred, though she didn't want that to happen. If she implied she wanted Cressa to do that, then her contrary, spiteful Dam might do the opposite.
Cressa blinked and shook her head, seemingly confused, and visibly dismissed the idea, continuing to speak after a pause just a little too long to have been intentional. "And that brings me to my other point." She raised her voice. "Any who kill or incapacitate Lily and bring her to Claw will be pardoned! You know where to go!"
With that she sprinted away, apparently not wanting to risk being attacked with her message now delivered.
Lily turned to look at the crowd behind her. "So, did anyone else catch it?"
"Catch what?" Whirl asked curiously. "She said exactly what Ivy said she would."
"Almost," Lily agreed. "But she messed up, and she pointed a wing right at Ivy in the process. She said we would 'know where to go' to deliver me to Claw. And how, exactly, would we?"
A general murmur of understanding. "We wouldn't," someone said confidently.
"Exactly," Lily praised the anonymous dragon. "Unless, of course, someone else happened to tell us... Also, it explains why Claw asked for a heavy delivery so far out of the valley. He expects us to ambush that spot, and his counter-ambush will pen us in, no flight and no way out save for through them." It all made perfect sense, not even including the obvious incentive Claw had to move the fight to somewhere nobody could fly, thus negating his own disadvantage.
Aside from the obvious, this also meant that Ivy was actually helping Claw. Her opinion of him could scarcely sink lower, but she tried to keep in mind that Claw and possibly Diora undoubtedly pressured him into it. It was entirely possible that he was still just serving the more terrifying master, and would like nothing more than to see Lily win and free him of Claw, not to mention continue his protection against Pearl and Diora; which now that she thought of it must have lapsed by now...
Ivy had too many intertwined superiors and motivations. Lily sighed. She had absolutely no way of knowing who he actually wanted to come out on top because he switched sides so often, most of the time against his own will. It was possible he was still redeemable, someone to work with in the future once the more dangerous influences over him were gone.
"So? What do we do?" someone asked, drawing her attention back to the present.
"We spring the trap... on them." Lily purred. "I know how to make use of this now that we know the full story." Her plan would work for this with little to no modification; Claw had just specified the when and where of the conflict, and she had the method ready.
At nightfall, they would strike.
Author's Note: I find it amusing to taunt all of you; why else would we spend a whole chapter on the pause between conflict and more conflict? Character development, foreshadowing, necessary groundwork to make what comes next realistic? Nah, I just like drawing things out.
On another, more serious note, last week I read a story (and when I say last week, I mean it took me a whole week to get through it). A few of the themes and tone in it reminded me a lot of this story (to say nothing of the guy in chapter 3 who both can burst into flames and turn into a dragon, which I've only just now noticed is a pretty huge parallel to this series), to the point where I was glad I hadn't read it prior to plotting out and writing this, so that I don't have to wonder how much I accidentally copied.
Those of you reading this, I have to recommend Worm, the web serial easily found by searching 'worm serial', but I do so with warnings. Do not start reading if the violence and darkness in this story are as much as you can stand; some of what happens in Worm is objectively far worse, though not in the same ways. Do not start reading until you have a lot of free time; it's approximately 1.7 million words long, and putting it down is hard. (That's my excuse for not doing any writing over the last week, and I'm serious. Every spare moment went to reading.)
That being said, Worm is an epic in every sense, and an amazing journey. I recommend it to anyone who can stomach the gritty, realistic violence and horror depicted within.
