Lily panted hoarsely, coming down from the blissful height of enjoyment that was being with Beryl. There was sunlight shining through the cracks in the lid of their little hiding place, and she knew they had spent far too long together, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Not when spending the night with Beryl had meant waking up on top of him, nudging him awake, and indulging once more before anything else…

"Best way to start any day," she purred.

His response was to moan huskily, gradually relaxing the paws wrapped around her neck and the one hooked over the base of her tail. His heavy breaths played over her shoulder, though when he leaned back to look up at her, his eyes were bright and alert, for all that he had been sound asleep not that long ago. She felt as energetic as he looked; there was no better way to wake up quickly, either.

"If I had my way, we'd be here all day, too," she said, half serious. She would love for her most pressing concern to be finding out whether she could reliably make his back legs kick by rubbing her stomach on his, as she had discovered earlier.

"Someday," Beryl hummed wistfully, still panting. "But maybe in a dry hole when that day comes. I think my scales are getting soggy."

"Want me to get up?" Lily asked.

"No, but you probably should," he said ruefully, then leaned up to nuzzle her. "Check to make sure nobody is around."

"How romantic," Lily snorted, even as she was pushing herself up to lift the cover a bit and stick her head out. She had to stand on him to do it, but he probably didn't mind.

The forest, bathed in the light of early morning, was empty as far as she could tell. She hopped up and out of the pit, then dangled her tail for Beryl to pull himself up with if he needed it. A moment later, they were both out.

"If anyone asks, we were discussing tactics all night," she told him as he shook himself off. It was a struggle, putting herself back into the 'alpha' mindset, but she forced herself to think that way. They needed a cover, which she had just given him, and…

"And maybe also encourage your brother to abandon this hideout and make another, better one," she added, smelling their lingering scents coming from the hole. That wasn't going to go away any time soon.

"I'm going to go wash myself off in the ocean, and bring some seaweed back to overpower the smell," Beryl explained. "And yeah, definitely getting them to make another. I don't want my little brother playing in there."

"See you later?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Whenever I get the slightest excuse," Beryl promised, nuzzling her briefly before darting away. His entire backside was covered in mud, a fact made all the more obvious when he was facing away from her.

She wasn't exactly spotless, either, and was currently flaunting their activities for anyone who happened to get downwind. She looked down at her muddy paws and sighed. She would have to go to the ocean too, at a different spot along the shoreline to avoid being seen with him. Getting caught washing off would definitely lead to questions she would rather not answer…

But all the subterfuge in the world wouldn't make last night not worth it. Even if it bit into her time as alpha. He was worth it.

O-O-O-O-O

It was four days before Grimmel's next attempted attack. Four days of constant, unending conflict resolution, conversation, and occasional spying, not to mention wondering whether her thoughts were being read or compromised by the unseen presence protecting them all. All leading to nothing of interest, of course; life was mostly uneventful for the light wings under her rule, and she had no way of knowing if the guardian was tampering with her mind.

Lily was surprised by just how simple baiting Grimmel was in comparison to everything else she had to do as alpha. All she had to do was give orders, sit back, and watch as mostly-incapacitated No-scaled-not-prey saw what she wanted them to see. One mind against another, with no pretenses about what was at stake or who was in the right.

This time, Grimmel had sent a much larger contingent of ships; ten in all, three of them the ominous, stone-plated, smoke-belching kind. All were ready for a fight, or so she assumed. A small, clandestine force had failed, so he was seeing if an assault would yield different results.

In truth, it didn't matter how many ships he sent; the guardian may have said that No-scaled-not-prey were harder to affect, but that seemed to be a problem of fine control, not the basic way that left them stumbling around in a haze.

But Grimmel couldn't be allowed to guess that, not when it might dissuade him. Lily watched from the shore as the ships came closer than ever before without slowing or turning away. No light wing force had gone out to stop them yet; Cara was waiting for her signal, and the one who would provide that signal was beside Lily, waiting in turn for her word.

"Fly up and roar at them from a safe distance, like last time?" Spark asked.

Lily was sure she had told him the plan at least twice before now, but she answered without letting even a hint of irritation into her tone. "Yes. Then falter in the air a bit, make it look like you're tired. Come fly back to me and land on the shore, and your part will be done for the day."

"Just checking," Spark hummed. "Aven was telling me she does not know your plan, and I asked around and nobody does, so I wondered if you had changed it."

"No, I'm just telling the people who need to know." That group was small, only Cara, Mist, the dark wings, and a few others. She wasn't getting a big group of advisors like back in the valley, and she certainly wasn't opening her planning sessions to the entire pack. They were safe, and she was handling the issue. That was all they needed to know. They couldn't complain and second-guess her master plan if they didn't know there was one.

'The No-scaled-not-prey are all well within my range, and can see the island more clearly than any ever have,' the guardian said flatly, as always neglecting to give any warning before speaking. 'This is a risk.'

"Spark, go," Lily said, waving a paw at the distant ships. Once the dark wing had taken off, she let an annoyed growl out. "If you were not willing to take this risk you wouldn't be doing it. Second-guessing me serves no purpose but to make me feel as though I am pushing you into things, and we both know you cannot be pushed into anything." She would not be made the receiving end of any sort of guilt trip. If anything, she was going to do her best to turn that on the guardian. One of them had gone back on her word and threatened to mind-control the other, and it wasn't her.

'It was an observation made for your benefit, to impress upon you my willingness to cooperate,' the guardian retorted.

"To soothe my hurt feelings after you made your will clear," Lily said sarcastically, kicking a small spray of sand out in front of her. "Don't worry, I've not forgotten which of us has all the power here."

'I am nothing like the ones you have killed,' the guardian all but spat. If a mental voice could spit, that was. Lily wouldn't put it past the guardian to actually give her a memory of someone spitting if she wanted to, so she supposed she hadn't pushed her too far… yet. Getting a genuinely angry reaction was something, though.

"No, they never possessed even a fragment of your power," Lily said dismissively, leaving unsaid that such power was the only thing separating the guardian from the likes of Claw and Ivy.

A single Deathgripper rose from the deck of one of the smoking ships, flying hurriedly out toward Spark. Spark slowed, apparently judging himself close enough to the oncoming fleet, and dropped into a slow glide forward.

Lily could only see his wings and tail from where she stood, so the first she knew of his roar was when she heard it, long and loud, rising and falling in a way she was almost certain was meant to imitate the guardian's signature noise. She hadn't told him to do that, but she liked the authenticity it added. His subsequent stumble midair was also convincing, though to her it looked a little too easy, too quickly recovered from.

'My cue,' the guardian said, and the thrumming noise that accompanied her efforts began, rising from nothing all around Lily. It bothered her that she couldn't tell where the sound was coming from, but she knew better than to complain. Some things just weren't worth bringing up, and petty annoyance stemming from unsatisfied curiosity definitely counted as such.

Of more interest was the first barrage of light wing blasts coming from the empty air all around the ships, and the lone Deathgripper currently bucking its rider off. Lily almost felt sorry for that particular No-scaled-not-prey; they would be facing a long fall, their mind addled but not totally disabled, and at the end an impact just as deadly as falling on solid land.

Then she thought about what that No-scaled-not-prey and its brethren did to her people, and to any others they decided to attack, and she didn't feel sorry anymore. Even the Deathgripper currently bucking it off deserved more of her sympathy; at least said dragon was a mentally stunted servant, not an independant, willing participant in what Grimmel did.

Thought of Grimmel forcing Deathgrippers to serve him reminded her of something far more important. "Were there any light wing captives aboard?" she asked the empty air around her.

'None this time,' the guardian replied.

"Pity," Lily huffed. She had plans for that, of course, it would have been stupid to assume Grimmel would send all of his captives in after the last four had been liberated without doing anything useful. But having every light wing still unaccounted for stuffed away in some dank trap at the bottom of one of the ships currently being assaulted would have been a huge weight off her shoulders. They were the last real concern, aside from her overall plan for Grimmel's forces… and the guardian's ultimatum about not killing, though that was not a problem so much as a frustration to be tolerated.

She turned away from the spectacle, and by extension Spark, who was getting close, and began walking back to the pit and her people. There was more to be done… Always more to be done. All she could hope was that the results of her next ploy wouldn't take too much time, so that she could sneak away with Beryl again soon.

O-O-O-O-O

"There's no overall plan yet, I'm dealing with them as they come," Lily said, lying so blatantly she almost expected to be called out, even though she was talking to a fledgling barely old enough to understand her. "Everyone will be safe." At least that was true.

"But why?" the fledgling asked, his bright green eyes gazing up at her hopefully.

"Why will we be safe? Because everyone is brave and the guardian helps make the bad people stupid." Lily purred reassuringly. "Don't worry. Go play, listen to your Dam and Sire, and everything will be fine."

"Yes, alpha," the little male chirped, scampering away before she could correct him. Not that she felt the need to; back when she had taken over, she had avoided being called alpha because of the extremely negative connotations Claw had left the title with. Those had faded with time, or at least her dislike for the title had. She still hated Claw himself, but being called alpha was dissociated enough that it didn't bother her anymore.

In fact, being called alpha was reassuring, now that she thought about it. It meant whoever was speaking was acknowledging her authority. That was why she insisted Holly and her sisters not call her anything else for the time being, to reinforce what she was to them.

Thought of Holly had her looking up from her place by the edge of the pit, but the other female was still absent. Not knowing where she was felt like an itch on her back, right under the scar where she couldn't scratch. She could be doing anything.

"You look like you want to bite someone," Crystal observed from nearby. Most of the pack was out enjoying the late afternoon sun either by the pit or the shore, and she was with Thunder and Lightning on a patch of grass that had somehow gone unclaimed until they arrived.

"I'd settle for having an eye on them," Lily said truthfully. "But barring that, I wouldn't mind biting them."

"Is it Storm?" Crystal asked. "Her and Root's roaring woke me early today. I am almost certain she tries to aggravate everyone whenever possible."

"That's just how she works," Lily said, feeling fairly confident in her assessment. Storm's reputation seemed mostly self-inflicted; she probably could be less obnoxious if she cared enough to try.

"Yes, and I refuse to fall for it… but if a chance to annoy her back comes along, I plan to take it," Crystal said firmly.

"We could make that chance for you," Lightning offered slyly.

"It would be easy," Thunder agreed. "But it will get you into a running battle of wits, and that might not end so well."

"I can hold my own," Crystal snorted, apparently unbothered by the implications of her getting into any sort of fight with the female who had raised her children. Lily didn't think said children minded, so it was probably fine, but she definitely would have been more careful about that, were she in Crystal's place.

"You bet you can," Lightning rumbled sleepily. "We should make it fair… Thunder, go help Storm be annoying."

"You do it," Thunder shot back, rolling onto his back and letting out an obviously fake snore. "I am sleeping."

"No taking sides before there are sides to take," Crystal snorted.

"Probably best… we might need to all help Storm drive Whirl off soon…" Lightning looked over at her brother and copied him.

"Where is Whirl?" Crystal asked, looking over at Lily. "I have not seen her all day."

"Scouting," Lily said simply. Whirl had all but demanded to be one of those sent out to look for the missing light wings, a group that of course included her mate. Lily had complied… by sending her with the group that was going to sit in the forest and wait to intercept anyone looking for the initial meeting point, like she and Beryl had been. She hadn't wanted Whirl anywhere near the real scouting mission…

Who would hopefully be returning any time now. Given the time between Grimmel's attempted incursions, and how each one seemed to know something had happened to the last, they couldn't be that far away. Not for a flying light wing, anyway. She had sent them out to follow the latest repulsed attempt at an attack, camouflaged and wary. They would be fine. More so since they didn't have a worried, somewhat frantic Dam along looking for her mate.

"Not stuck on her darling overgrown hatchling who could not possibly have anything better to do than be coddled?" Thunder asked sarcastically. "Or so I hear."

"Apparently not," Lily said firmly. She wasn't about to laugh at mockery of one of her fledglings… even if it was somewhat amusing. Whirl could definitely stand to hang back and let her son breathe a little on a day-to-day basis.

Three light wings flew overhead, one roaring loudly, and Lily looked up, even though she knew they weren't the scouts she was waiting for. They had come from the wrong direction and weren't camouflaged-

But the larger patch of blurs passing in front of the sun was another matter entirely. Lily knew it was pure chance she had seen them, but she was still pleased with herself. She stood and shook herself, ignoring her back's constant aching in favor of ensuring she was fully awake. The sun did wonders for counteracting the chill of the season when one was sitting next to a huge pit emanating hot air to aid it.

Said hot air ruffled her tailfins as the camouflaged light wings dropped down, landing in front of her. "Lily, we are back," one of them barked.

"She knows that," Cara snorted from somewhere else in the group. There was a moment of shuffling noises, unseen paws moving to accommodate someone pushing their way up to the front of the group, if Lily had to guess.

"We have some good news and some bad," Cara said bluntly, her voice closer than before. "The good is that all the ships seem ready to move, and all are there. We think."

"The count is the same as it was before," added another voice that Lily was surprised to hear. She kept her surprise to herself, of course, and resolved to follow up on it after Cara's report.

"There were no traps or holding places on the shore where they have set up," Cara continued. "Nothing there at all, actually. Some trees were knocked down, but otherwise they were not leaving their ships."

"Which means that any prisoners they have will be on the ships, not left behind," Lily reasoned. It wasn't the outcome she had hoped for; hypothetically, any light wing stuck in the ships would be fine once said ships were brought close to the island, but getting any other prisoners free proactively would have felt better. Safer.

"If anyone is left," Cara huffed.

"You did well," Lily hummed, choosing to ignore that particular bit of pessimism. Not that she disagreed; it was possible the rest of her fledglings were dead. It was also possible they were captives, though, and she could do something about that, so she was going to assume that was the case. "Go rest. I'll have need of you all soon enough. Except you, Silva."

"Yes, Lily?" Silva asked. The others departed, some walking away and others flying, leaving her.

"I don't remember you being one of those I sent out," Lily said calmly.

"I wanted something to do, and Cara said I could come along if I listened to her," Silva explained, not sounding at all guilty. "I thought since she was in charge, it was okay."

"It was," Lily conceded. She had cut back on Cara's responsibilities and by extension her authority, but picking who went with her on an important scouting mission was still allowed. "I am just surprised she chose to take you along at all, given how dangerous it could have been."

"I can handle myself," Silva huffed. "And some real danger would have been a welcome change of pace."

"I didn't think you were the sort to chase danger," Lily hummed. She highly doubted Silva was a thrill-seeker; there would have been signs of it before now.

"When I am fed up with trying to talk someone around and just want to claw at something, maybe," Silva said stubbornly.

"Diora?" Lily asked knowingly.

"Diora," Silva conceded. It sounded as if she had sat down. "Every conversation with her is the same thing. First it starts all nice, then it goes to pointing out what I have 'missed', then trying to get me to side with her against someone I care about, then acting all hurt and backtracking when I point it out… we cannot ever talk without it going that way! Every single time, she brings it back around to Pearl!"

"That sounds very frustrating," Lily hummed, looking around furtively. Aside from Crystal and her children, nobody was within easy hearing distance. She wasn't likely to get a better situation if she took Silva for a walk, what with the fledglings running around in the forest, so she didn't bother.

"It is, it really is," Silva growled. "I cannot even talk with Pearl about it, because she will be so smug about how she told me it would be this way. She was right, but I do not need it rubbed in my face."

Lily doubted Pearl would actually do that, but Silva obviously wanted to vent, not be contradicted, so she didn't object.

"And it is not just that Diora is trying to make me hate Pearl, or Herb or Thorn, or everyone I know," Silva continued angrily. "She never admits anything is her fault. Not even something as tiny and unimportant as dropping a fish. Everything is the fault of someone else… probably Pearl. She actually managed to turn her tripping on a stone into a talk about how Pearl was a terrible daughter."

"I totally get how you feel," Lily murmured. "Keep in mind, I've been dealing with her for as long as you've been alive."

"But she is not your Dam," Silva said.

"Mine tried to kill me," Lily said bluntly. "It could be worse."

"It could, I get that," Silva conceded. It sounded as if she had already known about that, which was interesting given it had happened after Pearl left, meaning one of Lily's fledglings had shared the story at some point…

"I think I am done with her," Silva continued. "If we leave, or if we stick with your pack, I do not want to deal with her anymore. Do you think you could make that happen?"

Lily squinted at the blurry form in front of her. She hadn't expected that. "After all this time, you want to give up?" she asked.

"After all this time, I am entirely certain there is no reason to keep trying," Silva countered. "I am not an idiot, I know I am just a way to hurt Pearl in her eyes. It is not like I do not have a perfectly good set of parents already."

"You do have that," Lily agreed. "I can tell Diora to not bother you, so long as you make it clear to her, personally, that you feel that way." That way, everyone would see what was going on, and Diora wouldn't be able to spin it in her favor.

"Thanks," Silva sighed. "Any advice on how to apologize to Pearl without getting told I should have listened?"

"Yes," Lily hummed. "Don't assume she's going to say that. Just go to her and tell her what you told me." Unless her friend had changed even more than it seemed, she wouldn't gloat, or anything like that. Pearl just wasn't that sort of person.

"Maybe you are right," Silva mumbled.

"You will not know until you try her advice," Crystal called out lazily.

"You were not supposed to be listening!" Silva barked.

"You know us, we are always listening," Thunder retorted.

"And now I want to break something even more," Silva huffed. "Thank you, Lily. For listening. I did not mean to take up your time ranting about my problems."

"It was no problem," Lily hummed. It really hadn't been a problem; she would rather hear about Silva's issues now than when they all came to a head and started causing real issues for the rest of the pack. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen now.

"Still, thank you anyway." The shimmering blur that was Silva departed, leaving Lily alone with-

"Alpha?" a light wing called out. "Are you busy?"

"Not at the moment," Lily replied, noticing that at least three other light wings were lingering nearby, waiting for her to be available. "What's on your mind?" She hadn't planned to spend the rest of the day solving menial little problems her people brought to her, but it looked like that was what she would be doing. It was better than sitting around and waiting for Grimmel to make his next move, at least. Not nearly as good as sneaking off with Beryl, though...

"Once we can leave-" he began, only to stop and wait until he was closer. "Once we can leave," he repeated, "once the No-scaled-not-prey are gone, are we going back to the valley?"

It wasn't the first time Lily had been asked something along those lines, but it was the first time she felt comfortable giving a real answer. "No, it wouldn't be safe," she said gently. "We're going to find a new home, somewhere just as good, where the No-scaled-not-prey can't go."

"The place under the pit?" the male asked, gesturing a wing at the massive sinkhole.

"Yes, actually," Lily hummed.

"Holly told us all about it when we first got here," the male said, nodding his head. "That sounds like a good idea, if we cannot go back to the valley."

"It makes sense," Lily agreed, fighting to keep her happy, reassuring purr from turning into an annoyed snarl. Holly, again. Even if she had been helpful this time, inadvertently preparing the pack for the real plan, it had probably been self-serving when she'd actually done it. If Lily hadn't shown up in time, Holly had probably planned to take everyone underground with herself as alpha.

"Can I tell my mate?" the male asked. "Or is this a secret?"

Lily wanted to say that she certainly wouldn't be telling the male any major secret if she wanted it kept that way, but she knew that was just her annoyance at Holly redirecting itself. "You can tell anyone who asks," she said. "Spread the word, actually. There's no reason for people to wonder what we're doing next." The end of this stay on the guardian's island was drawing near, after all.

O-O-O-O-O

Clouds filled the sky, providing a grim grey backdrop to the approaching ships. Light wings lined the shore, dozens of them, all of those willing and able to fight, or fly as distractions.

Lily paced in front of them, meeting the eyes of each one as she walked. They were separated into groups of three, one leader and two followers. Every three groups had another leader to coordinate them. Then there were the dark wings, who were grouped up in a much less organized clump further down the shore. Beryl was talking to them; she'd found the time to pull him aside and give him the rundown of what she meant to say, and he was going to pass the word along. It wouldn't do to look like she was trying to claim authority over them.

Three more light wings, their camouflage already wearing off, landed nearby and rolled in a lingering pile of snow to drive it away completely. Aven and her two companions then ran up to Lily, panting heavily. "The missing ship is back where they were all waiting, it does not look like it is coming."

"Right, thank you Aven," Lily said curtly. "Tell the dark wings and then join the line." She was glad to know the whereabouts of the one ship that hadn't come with all the others, but that did make all of this a little harder. She would have liked to have Ember, Herb, and Thorn along for the real fight, but they had already volunteered to deal with the missing ship if it showed itself. She trusted them to be able to handle themselves, Ember especially, outside of the guardian's influence.

"Yes, alpha," Aven barked. She darted away to pass on the message, and Lily continued her pacing. She met Crystal's eyes and purred at her, then moved on to Whirl, who looked unhappy, and then Pina, who was calm. The only people not present were either too young to be flying with the rest, or parents staying back. Lily had absolutely no intention of any of her people dying or even getting hurt today, but she would be a fool not to prepare for the worst anyway.

Aven's trio joined the line, and Beryl flicked his tail in Lily's direction, acknowledging that he had gotten the message. Lily nodded to him, then took a few steps back so she could look at everyone at once.

"You all likely know that we have been helping the guardian drive off the No-scaled-not-prey when they came close to the island," she announced. All eyes were already on her, so she continued without her usual wait for attention. "This wasn't necessary for safety, the guardian had it covered, we were doing it to let them know we're here, and that little probing attacks won't be enough."

Not that she had told most of these light wings anything of the sort; the vast majority of her fledglings didn't know what she had been planning, they just followed orders. It was easier that way, now that everyone was used to being split into groups and put under someone's command. Less confusion and second-guessing everything. But most of them had probably worked out as much by now.

"We were up there, every attack up until this one, telling them a story, a lie," she continued, pacing once more, unable to stand still. "We were showing them that we were here, that we were responsible, that we were not strong enough to kill them, that a golden dark wing was in charge, responsible for the confusion."

There were a few laughs from her fledglings at that; everyone liked Spark, but he was the furthest thing from the powerful leader Lily was making him out to be.

"The more ships they sent, the longer the guardian waited before stopping them," Lily explained, "making it look like Spark was strong, but not strong enough. That enough force could break his defense and get to us."

"That is the story we have been telling them," she concluded. "And it is, of course, utterly false. None of it is true, but they believe it, or something close enough to it for our purposes. According to our scouts, those ships out there right now? That's all of them. Exactly what we've been waiting for."

"They will come into the range of the guardian, expecting a fight." She shook her head, as if in dismay over how stupid the No-scaled-not-prey were. "We're going to lure them all close to the island, as close as we can. Take no risks, listen to those I've put above you, and pretend the Deathgrippers are dangerous. Their riders still are. Put up a fight, draw them close, act like you're defending the island." None of that was strictly necessary if all went well, but Lily was not about to depend on Grimmel swallowing the bait without noticing anything. They had to play out the charade he expected.

"What are we doing?" Crystal asked, though she knew very well.

"Getting them close enough that the guardian can affect them all at once," Lily answered. "Bringing them onto the shores, just barely," because the guardian had said she would do her best work once they were on solid ground, "so the guardian can make them forget this island. Then we'll let them leave, and they won't come back."

'There will be no slaughtering the No-scaled-not-prey, just bringing them in, ensuring all are brought to the shore, and then sending them away,' the guardian interjected.

"We're just here to be bait, and then to guide the two-legged idiots off the ships and back onto them again," Lily summarized, not quite sure whether her people could hear the guardian or whether the admonishment had been meant for her alone, given a lack of reaction. "Everyone understand?"

"Why do they need to be on the shore?" Aven asked curiously.

"So the guardian can do whatever it is she does with as little effort as possible," Lily replied. "I don't get it, and I don't really need to. She's given me her requirements to make this work, and I'm telling you what I know." She didn't hide the annoyance in her tone; her fledglings were more than welcome to know that she wasn't happy about having terms dictated to her.

"And what I know," she continued, "is that this isn't going to be a fight, or a slaughter, or anything like that. This is going to be a trick, a bloodless trick. I don't want to see a single one of you hurt. They think they're coming here for some big battle, but really they're coming here to be dealt with, the way you or I would deal with a fish that we're intent on eating. It's not going to be anything resembling a fair fight."

A ragged cheer went up at that declaration, and she let slip a proud purr. She was happy with that little inspirational speech; it had the right tone for all of this. None of this was going to be fair in the slightest; they had the biggest mental paw in existence, as far as she knew, and they were about to watch it squash their enemies, then help it clean up the mess. Metaphorically, of course; there wouldn't be an actual squashing. Even if she would have preferred one.

O-O-O-O-O

What felt like a short time later, but was actually about half the day, the complicated deceit Lily had designed was put into play. She stood on the shore, her eyes closed, and resisted the urge to lean on Beryl, who was there beside her.

"Describe it?" the other male near her requested. "Or can the guardian let me see as well?"

'It is no strain to let all three of you see, should you wish it,' the guardian hummed. 'I am not doing much else.'

"That's why I stayed back," Beryl rumbled, casting Lily a knowing look, since Root wouldn't be able to see it. "If you can, let me see with whoever has the best view of it all at any given time."

'And relay any of your comments to whoever you wish, yes, you have said,' the guardian said. 'This is not how I usually do things.'

"Well, of course not," Lily said coldly. "You're used to being the one who calls the shots." She would have to be, having so much power and a duty to make her use it constantly. Acting as a mental go-between was probably a new experience.

"It makes sense, though," Root said quietly. "Being able to coordinate from afar, to see what is going on and pass messages instantly, that is a big deal. Since you cannot interfere immediately anyway…"

'You will get to see, and if there are adjustments that need to be made, I will pass the message along,' the guardian said with what Lily assumed was a mental sigh.

Lily held in a snort; she hadn't even known Root had asked the guardian about passing messages until shortly after Storm had brought him to the shore, but she appreciated it, if only because it seemed to annoy the guardian. She didn't anticipate needing to give any last-moment commands as the battle commenced, but it was a useful safeguard. Anything to make this even less fair for Grimmel.

'You will be seeing things in a moment,' the guardian mentally huffed. 'Remember, there is a delay.'

"Show me Storm's point of view," Root requested, settling down in the sand. His sightless face was pointed out to sea, slightly to the left of the approaching fleet.

Lily began to remember things that weren't happening, and knew it had begun. She hadn't requested any particular view from the guardian, but she knew she was remembering one of her attacking fledglings, flying in loose formation with two other camouflaged shapes. The wind in her warm scales was nostalgic, but she was used to the captivating quality of the memories now, and set those feelings aside easily enough.

The ships were approaching in two waves, moving along the water in ways reminiscent of how light wings flew together, at least to Lily. Two of the smoke-belching ones led the first wave's charge, a few more lingering behind, moving slower to match the wooden ships. Deathgrippers flew above the ships, waiting to engage in the air above their territory, floating and mobile though it was.

Lily didn't see the moment each Deathgripper passed into the guardian's range and was immediately taken over, and she didn't see the effects, though she knew it had to have happened by now. They continued to circle, their riders oblivious to the fact that their mounts were no longer on their side… and no longer under the control of their own simple, brutal minds. It would have been satisfying if she didn't know the same could be done to her on a whim.

Whether or not anyone aside from her fledglings knew it, the Deathgrippers were no longer anything more than a distraction.

"Any captives in the ships?" Beryl asked, his voice startling Lily. She was used to remembering things she had never experienced, but doing so while someone else was next to her was new.

'None in the ships moving forward,' the guardian reported. 'Those hanging back are still outside my range. They need to be drawn in.'

"Already planned for that," Lily murmured, remembering - in the real sense, recalling something she had actually done - her contingency plans for if some of the ships held back. The guardian wouldn't do much of anything until they were all within range, and her people would do their best to bait the reluctant ones forward. There was no need to have the guardian convey additional instructions.

Lily had anticipated being immensely nervous, but to her surprise she was nothing of the sort, not even as the dark wings roared their defiance, drawing the attention of any No-scaled-not-prey who had somehow not noticed them until now. She wasn't nervous. This wasn't something to be nervous about.

Spark, a flash of gold even without the sun to reflect off his scales, roared loudly, multiple times. Nothing happened, of course, and that was the point. He drooped mid-air, acting as if he might fall then and there, then turned around. Lily recalled shifting up so that Spark wouldn't fly right into her as he retreated, his every movement screeching failure for all to see.

Lily was yet again impressed by how good Spark was at playing his part, and she was going to tell him as much once this was over. She couldn't have asked for a better performance.

The golden dark wing who seemed to be responsible for the confusion had roared, failed to do anything, and then retreated. She had a pretty good idea of what that would do for the enemy's morale, and thus their willingness to push forward. It likely wouldn't be enough on its own, but as one more push in the right direction, it was perfect.

She remembered her camouflage wearing off, the warmth permeating her scales fading away. The same was happening to others all around her; they were flying high, in the middle of the cold season. Camouflage didn't last long at all under those conditions.

The Deathgrippers all moved, abandoning their places above the ships to engage, now that they could see an enemy. Lily noticed that some of the riders were flailing around, clearly distressed. They weren't expecting their mounts to take initiative.

Light wings to either side of her peeled off, groups of three engaging each of the Deathgrippers, flying around and picking off the riders with ease. Meanwhile, Lily's light wing bent into a dive, the wind whistling around her, and quickly cut the distance between herself and one of the lead vessels in half, pulling out just out of range of their rocks and nets and whatever else they were sending up.

There was more, memory of swooping down and firing and pulling up again, not doing much damage because of the distance and because she wasn't trying. Lily did her best to ignore it for a moment, looking out at the distant fight in real time. "Beryl, how's it going?" she asked.

'Are you done observing?' the guardian asked.

"No, keep it going, just taking a break," Lily muttered. "Beryl?" she said again, poking him with her wing.

"That's-" Beryl barked, blinking rapidly. "That's something," he continued in a more normal tone of voice. "You want to know how it's going?"

"Yes, I do." She could have asked the guardian to show her the same thing she was showing Beryl, but there wasn't much point to that. Beryl was more than capable of telling her the important parts.

"Everything is going exactly as planned," Beryl said. "Nobody is getting close enough to be attacked from the ships, everyone is doing superficial damage and acting like they're trying to keep the ships away from the island, the Deathgrippers are faking it and losing like intended… I think the ships in the back are pulling anchor, they might be within range soon if they decide to move forward."

"They are, Storm can see them moving," Root chimed in. "Pulling up the heavy things and spreading the big wings, I mean. I think that means they are moving, but she is not staying in one place long enough for me to be sure."

"Does Storm know you're borrowing her memories?" Beryl asked dubiously.

"Just what she senses, it is not that bad," Root rumbled. "Besides, she can see. She would not mind."

'The first of the backup group has entered my range,' the guardian announced.

Lily felt a rush of excitement. Just like that, the dangerous part of their plan was almost over. She went back to remembering the fight, forced her way past all of the time she had missed while talking to Beryl, and got to the current moment, or what passed for the current moment, just as a Deathgripper swiped at her head.

She remembered ducking and flying away, not bothering to engage the mind-controlled dragon, which was good. She got a quick look at the two lines of ships, then remembered flipping around to focus on one of the smaller ones in front.

The No-scaled-not-prey were enthusiastic about firing the moment she came anywhere close to being within reach. She dove and dodged just as enthusiastically, clearly not all that concerned with actually doing anything to them. Just drawing their attention was enough.

In what felt like no time at all, she felt the memories cease. 'They are all within reach,' the guardian said. 'It is over.'

"I was not done watching," Root grumbled.

"But I guess we know what's going to happen next," Beryl said, leaning toward Lily. "I really expected something to go wrong."

"I didn't," Lily murmured, looking out at the approaching ships and flashes of white flying around them. "This was never meant to be up to chance." The hard part was over, just like that.

O-O-O-O-O

Airlifting hundreds of No-scaled-not-prey, all of which were confused and slow but definitely still trying to be hostile, was not a simple task. Herding them off their ships once they reached the island was the plan, but it relied on the ships actually making it there without any intelligent direction… Which, in retrospect, had been a mistake. A small one, but still a mistake.

Thankfully, Lily didn't have to figure out a solution. Beryl had come up with one almost as soon as they realized that the ships weren't going to go anywhere without intelligent No-scaled-not-prey keeping them working.

"Grab them by the shoulders, here and here," Beryl said, instructing a dozen light wings. The No-scaled-not-prey he was demonstrating with tried to swat at his paws, flailing with its grubby, blunt claws, and failed to so much as draw his attention. "They usually have false scales around here, so yank them around a little to make sure they're not going to slip the moment you pick them up."

Being shaken around made the already slow No-scaled-not-prey even slower and more confused.

"Then just take off!" he said, matching words with action and departing with the No-scaled-not-prey. The dozen light wings took off with him, following him out to one of the smaller ships. Another group passed them going the other way, each bearing their own unwilling passengers; he had given the same demonstration three times now, showing as many light wings as he felt comfortable while they tried it for themselves.

"Anywhere over here," Crystal called out, flying in front of the incoming group and leading them down to the shore. "Down, hold on to them, do not let them run off…"

Lily eyed the collection of light wings and clumsily flailing No-scaled-not-prey, watching for any issues. There were none, and each of the captives slumped in turn, their flat little faces going slack as the guardian reached out to them.

"Okay, that is all of them," Crystal said once the last one had fallen asleep. "Now put them over here, and go get more from the same ship." She was a veritable flurry of motion, directing the group of light wings as if their lives depended on getting it exactly right.

Another group flew in, and Holly was up in front of them, leading them off to another part of the shore. Several of the incoming group had no captives, and when Holly saw that, she waved her tail at Cara, who took off with three others to search the ship they had come from. The guardian could tell them whether there was anyone still on board… but the guardian wasn't able to say if there was anything non-living that they would want to see.

"Ember is back!" a female crowed. Lily turned around and saw Ember flying in from over the island. He made straight for her, dropping down with a muted thump.

"We sank the ship," he said bluntly. "But only after checking. There were no prisoners there."

"We've not found anyone either," Lily sighed. She hated what that probably meant, but she wasn't going to accept the outcome until someone found proof. Grimmel didn't seem like the kind of person to just throw away potential advantages, but at the same time she definitely thought him capable of slaughtering his prisoners if he didn't see any reason to keep them alive… He certainly hadn't cared that much about keeping her alive when he had her captive.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Ember said, bowing his head for a moment. Then he looked over at the activity on the shore beyond them both. "What's going on here?"

"We forgot the No-scaled-not-prey couldn't keep their ships going while tripping over their own paws," Lily explained. "It's under control."

"You're clearing them out, bringing them here, ship by ship…" Ember trailed off for a moment, observing the activity. Lily turned to look, and saw Beryl leading his group back, directing them to another patch of shore.

"Making sure to completely clear each ship, and then putting all of them back where you got them," Ember finished. "And then what?"

"Then, once they're all unable to remember any of this, the guardian goes back to just the normal amount of meddling, and they sail away without really thinking about any of it," Lily said. "Once they're out of range, it'll wear off, and they'll have no idea what happened."

"Clever, especially the organization involved," Ember said.

"Beryl's work, mostly," Lily admitted, hiding her pride and appreciation for him under a pretense of mild amusement. "He jumped in the moment we realized something needed to be done."

"He does that sometimes," Ember rumbled. "But other than that, this whole thing worked exactly according to plan?"

"Yes, it did," Lily confirmed.

"I'm not sure I believe that," Ember said solemnly.

"Well, I'm not lying to you, so…" She shrugged her wings, ignoring the pain in her back as was her habit, and gave him an unimpressed look. She didn't know what he was getting at, but he was either going to let it go or tell her.

"I mean…" He shrugged his wings right back at her. "Doesn't this seem too easy?"

"We tricked them into walking into a massive, unbeatable trap the size of an island plus a chunk of ocean," Lily said dryly. "I don't think any of this was easy, our plan was just that good."

"It doesn't feel like it's over, is what I'm saying," Ember huffed. "I have no explanation for why I feel that way, I just do."

"You feel that way because it's not over, it's just over for us," Lily guessed. "Because we're sending them back out into the world." He was right, if that was what he meant; it wasn't over. Someone else would be stuck dealing with this massive collection of ships and homicidal No-scaled-not-prey. Not the Deathgrippers, the guardian was keeping those, but everything else was just being sent away, not dealt with permanently.

"Yes, that's what it is," Ember agreed. "Probably. I still think I'm going to fly around and watch over everything for a while, though. Just in case something does go wrong."

"Be my guest," Lily said. "I'm going to-"

"Alpha, we found something!" Cara all but dropped out of the sky, landing so hard that sand sprayed away from her in all directions. "Something bad."

"Bad as in dangerous right now?" Lily demanded.

"No," Cara whined, shaking her head. "Bad as in… we are not sure, but we might have found Flare and the others."

"You're not sure?" she asked, her heart sinking like a stone. That couldn't be good.

"You have to see it," Cara said quietly. "Can you have the guardian bring you out on a Deathgripper?"

"I can handle that," Ember offered.

"Yes, I'm coming, thank you Ember," Lily said. She had to see… if only to be sure.

O-O-O-O-O

Lily dug her claws into the wet wood of the ship, doing her best to ignore the constant movement. She didn't remember whether she had noticed or even cared about the ground moving under her the last time she had been on one of these things, but she definitely noticed now.

The ship was empty and silent, being one of the first cleared of No-scaled-not-prey. It looked… strange, missing all of the moving parts and danger that it was supposed to have. Like an empty cave with drawings on the wall-

"Down here," Cara said, knocking a loose piece of wood aside and revealing a dark passageway down into the ship. She slipped into the opening, the tight wooden walls barely far apart enough to fit her, and Lily made herself follow, though part of her wanted to turn around and ask Ember to take her back to shore.

The smell of blood filled the air as Cara knocked another loose piece of wood aside at the bottom of the little passageway. She stepped out into a slightly more open space, then turned to look back. "Here," she said quietly, before moving to clear the way.

Lily squeezed past her, ignoring the unpleasant sensation of wood on her scales, and tried to make sense of what lay in the small chamber beyond her.

The room itself was familiar; it was just like the first place she had awoken after being taken captive, a long passage with bars, meant to hold prisoners and Deathgrippers. It wasn't currently holding anyone, of course. Instead, each separate space held folded white things, flat and square, and pieces of-

Lily turned away before the image could be burned into her mind, but it was probably too late. The folded white things were scales but not just scales, skin too, and Pearl had told her about how Gold had died, and why. She knew what she had been brought to see, though she wasn't surprised Cara didn't entirely understand. She hadn't heard about Gold.

"How many?" she asked, her voice rough as she strained to keep her composure.

"If this is them… all of them." Cara growled, but it was a sickly, unsteady sound Lily knew was barely covering a whine. "Is it?"

"Has to be," Lily said. The scent of blood in the air was far too strong for her to smell anything else, let alone the usually subtle scents of a light wing, so she couldn't be sure… But there weren't any other light wings around.

"It is not some sort of trick?" Cara asked. "White scales made with the white mud they used on the Deathgrippers?"

"It's not a trick, they have no reason to trick us," Lily sighed, turning to climb back up and out of the ship. She felt like the walls were slowly closing in around her. Even in what was supposed to be a bloodless victory, she had lost people. Flare, the rest of Mist's group, the rest of Flare's group… all dead. Gone before she could do anything, captured and slaughtered, possibly before she even found out they were captives from Whirl.

"Let's just go," she huffed, addressing Ember as she pushed her way out of the wooden passage. The swinging bit of wood had swung closed again, so she shoved it out of the way, then sank her claws into it and tore it off entirely.

Ember said nothing, possibly because he could tell Lily didn't want to talk, and instead just tilted to one side to let her climb on. He was in the air before Cara even made it out of the ship.

"Even when we win, we lose," Lily muttered to herself. "Some of us lose." She was glad they would be going somewhere free from No-scaled-not-prey after this; she was sick of dealing with them, sick of thinking about them. They could go be someone else's problem.

"Lily," Cara called out, catching up to them as they flew back toward the island. "Do you want me to tell Whirl, or…"

"If you feel up to it, you do it," Lily said brusquely. "Tell everyone who was missing a family member."

"I do not know who else-" Cara began.

"Ask Holly," Lily interrupted. She was sure Holly would know, if only because she always stuck her nose where it didn't belong. "Do it now."

"On it, alpha!" Cara barked, pushing ahead. She didn't have to fly very hard to do so; Ember wasn't all that fast in his Deathgripper form with her on his back. Soon it was just the two of them, flying and riding in silence.

A group of light wings passed them, several looking at Lily curiously as they went. They were going for more No-scaled-not-prey, and as Lily looked back, she saw they were headed for one of the big smoke-belching ships. Moving all of the No-scaled-not-prey individually was slow, but they were making progress.

Ember set down right by the tideline and immediately shifted back to his normal self once Lily got off. "I'm going to go check on Pearl and Thaw," he said before taking off again.

"You do that," Lily muttered, looking around for Beryl. She felt like talking to him, seeing him. He would help take her mind off the people who had relied on her and died for it-

Her gaze passed over the latest group of No-scaled-not-prey being held in place, but a shock of white fur drew her attention.

It was Grimmel, without the faintest shadow of a doubt. She stalked closer, eyeing the one who had hunted her and Beryl so fanatically.

He looked worse than the last time she had seen him; one of his limbs, the one that usually held a false claw of some sort, ended in a collection of complicated little bits that definitely was not normal. His eyes looked crazed even as he blinked repeatedly and swayed in place, held by Aven, of all people.

Lily turned to the side, keeping him in her peripheral vision. She made a point of studying the sand in front of her and not thinking about Grimmel. Instead, she was thinking about that one ship with the separated body parts of her fledglings.

Destroying that ship wasn't what she was supposed to do; the idea was to make as little an impact as possible, so the No-scaled-not-prey had a harder time realizing anything had happened. Something as obvious as destroying a ship would be noticed. Not remembered, but noticed. But she wanted to destroy the ship.

She inhaled, contemplating blasting the sand to work out some of her anger. A blast began building up in the back of her throat and down in her chest.

She wanted to make sure that said ship never helped hunt her kind down again, or dark wings. Especially dark wings. The rest of the ships could and probably would go after dark wings if the chance presented itself, but that particular ship was fanatic about it. Destroying that ship would be useful, even if she couldn't destroy them all-

Before she could think any more about it, she whirled and spat out the shot she had been preparing, firing right toward Aven. Her body clenched and froze a heartbeat later, and she couldn't move, but it was too late.

Aven reeled back with a yelp as she was splattered with gore, and the light wings all around her shrieked, leaped away, and generally freaked out at the sudden explosion in their midst. Some of the No-scaled-not-prey they had been holding fell, others stumbled away. None of that mattered.

What mattered was the bloody, scorched splatter of meat and shiny things and wood that had been Grimmel. The lower half of his body was still there, but the upper half, the part Lily had aimed for in that brief moment, was totally gone.

She couldn't move, but she felt a vicious purr building up in her chest all the same, a feeling of immense satisfaction.

'I said no killing,' the guardian growled at her. 'I said it, you agreed, and now you've done this…'

Lily felt her neck and head loosen, which in itself was a disorienting sensation she would be freaking out about if she didn't have bigger things to worry about. "I did, and I'm still going to hold to that," she said as calmly as she could manage. "Carry on, everyone! Sorry about that!"

Aven stared at her, eyes wide. The rest of the light wings in her group were staring too.

"Keep moving," Lily said. "I was just getting rid of their leader."

"I thought we were not supposed to kill them?" Aven asked plaintively, breathing in short huffs and trembling from nose to tail. Her left ear was twitching, shaking off something unidentifiable that had landed on it, and she looked as if she was about to howl and flee as fast as she could run, or break down whining.

"That was the one that had a thing about hunting down dark wings," Lily said, explaining herself both for Aven and for the guardian still immobilising her from the neck down. She had taken her chance - barely thinking about it except under the guise of thinking about the ship, in case the guardian was looking at her thoughts - and now she had to hope that it wouldn't ruin everything.

"And the rest of them?" Aven asked in a quiet voice.

"Keep doing what you're doing," Lily told her. "I promise not to attack any of the rest."

'You break your word,' the guardian growled.

"You said my people could kill in self-defense while this was going on," Lily muttered. "That one specifically would never have stopped hunting Beryl and I. I took his paw and the last thing he'll remember would involve my pack at the valley, he would put two and two together. It was self-defense, and only a single death at that. You've killed more today just counting the riders you helped throw off the Deathgrippers."

'What pretty words you use to justify yourself,' the guardian growled. Despite her words, Lily was suddenly able to move again. 'No more. Give me no more reasons to say you have proved false.'

"We're pretty much done here," Lily huffed. "I don't plan on it."

She waited for a while, watching as Aven went to the ocean and frantically rolled in the shallows, and the rest of the group caught their wayward No-scaled-not-prey and got on with the task at paw. The No-scaled-not-prey went limp just like before, and Lily assumed that meant the guardian was still participating.

"What just happened?" Beryl asked, coming up behind her. He knew to shuffle a bit, enough to make noise and alert her to his presence well in advance, so she had known he was coming. "I heard a blast, but then everyone just kept going like nothing happened."

"I saw Grimmel and decided to make an exception to the general policy of not killing these worthless sacks of flesh," Lily said a little more viciously than she had intended. "We found Flare and the others. What was left of them."

"I see…" Beryl murmured, coming up beside her. He didn't touch her, they were under far too many eyes to do anything like that, but his presence was reassuring anyway. "Thanks for that. Is the guardian going to throw a fit about it?"

"She's not happy with me, but that's all," she said. "For now."

O-O-O-O-O

A long time later, well into the night, the ships were a series of oblong blots on the horizon, or had been when Lily finally turned away from the shore and headed back to the center of the island. Confused, leaderless blots with missing memories. That might not be enough to stop them from coming back, once they chose a new leader and tried to work out what had happened.

Lily was intent on not being around if they did come back. She had fulfilled her end of the deal, if an ultimatum could even be considered a deal, and now she was going to move on before the guardian could decide to spite her and take it back.

"Fledglings, with your parents, stay on the ground, don't get too close to the edge," Holly was barking from somewhere nearby, trying to instill order in the chaos of the entire pack preparing to move on. Lily hadn't told her to do that, and didn't like that she was doing it… but there were more important things to deal with, and Holly wasn't the only one attempting to organize things, just the only one Lily hadn't asked to do so.

An argument broke out between four light wings nearby, but Mist leaped in - literally leaped, startling them into silence for a brief moment - and broke it up before Lily could even think about intervening.

Two dark wings pushed out of the milling crowd, orange and black. Lily beckoned to them, and they joined her on one of the boulders overlooking the pit.

"Any guesses as to how we're going to go down?" Beryl asked, stepping up beside her. "I think the big hole is a misdirection. There will be some tiny, nondescript cave somewhere on this island that actually leads down to this underground world."

"I think there will be some hole in the side of the pit that reveals itself," Ember rumbled. "But guessing is not why we're here."

"We're here to ask for the way to be opened, and to make sure everyone can go down," Lily huffed. The first part was likely, but both she and Ember had reason to wonder whether the guardian would let them through. Ember because of what he was, and her because of what she had done. The guardian had said nothing to her after their initial confrontation over it, but silence was not exactly acceptance. If she was going to be refused, it would be now.

And if she was refused, she wasn't sending anyone down. They would just keep travelling, searching for somewhere new to live. They didn't need to go down, it was just a somewhat more promising place to explore, being inherently free of the danger that had driven her pack to seek a new home in the first place.

If the guardian refused Ember, on the other paw… She didn't know what would happen then. Members of his family might come along anyway, for a time, or they might all refuse.

Thinking about what might happen wasn't going to bring her any closer to finding out what the situation actually was, so she shook herself, tried to clear her mind of everything but her determination, and leaned out over the pit.

"The No-scaled-not-prey have been drawn in and dealt with," she proclaimed. The clamor of her fledglings behind her died away somewhat, though some people still spoke. Not everyone cared to see her making a speech, not when they probably wouldn't hear whatever response she got.

"It was said that we would all be allowed down into the realm you protect once this was so," she all but roared. "Where is the way down?"

'You do not fear that your impulsive treachery would invalidate our deal?' the guardian asked coldly.

"I killed one No-scaled-not-prey," Lily muttered under her breath. "My people killed more in self-defense on any of the attacks you aided. It was proactive self-defense."

'I'm sure you don't really believe that,' the guardian growled, the ground rumbling with her as she spoke. 'But I am not about to punish the many for the act of one. You all may pass.'

"No tricks, no special conditions, no things we would want to know now, rather than when they come back to bite us?" Beryl demanded, cluing Lily in to the fact that he could hear the guardian too. Judging by the complete silence behind her, everyone could. That was… potentially inconvenient.

'Nothing major, young alpha-to-be,' the guardian promised. 'Any who live close to my range may be called on to defend this island, but you all seem unlikely to linger. Be wary of the deepest depths, for they harbor much that is dangerous, and be aware that there are other guardians, other places to enter and leave. I will not help you once you leave, and I will not hinder you. Not even your Sire who is so dangerous.'

"And we appreciate that," Ember rumbled. "My family may very well come back this way at some point. Will we receive passage back to the surface if we do?"

'So long as you and your son harbor no thoughts of violating the secrecy of my realm, you will be allowed to go,' the guardian assured him.

Lily let out a hidden sigh of relief. No danger of Beryl's family deciding to remain above, then. They would continue travelling with her pack. That was one potential headache, or maybe heartache, done away with before it could happen.

'Any other questions?' the guardian asked, her voice clear and kind. Lily didn't think said voice had ever sounded so approachable and welcoming for her.

"Where are we going?" someone called out. Lily thought it was Aven, but she wasn't sure.

'Down,' the guardian rumbled. The entire island was shaking again, more than before-

Lily stumbled backward, away from the edge of the pit, before the shaking could knock her off balance. Rocks were tumbling down inside, dropping into the boiling pool. It felt like an earthquake, or what Pyre had described one as being like, and she had to wonder whether he knew what it was like because he had been here, felt this same thing.

It wasn't just the little rocks dropping off, either. She could see the far side of the interior of the pit, and the actual walls of the depression were shifting, sliding along, rocks that shouldn't have been connected moving together without breaking, cracks forming at angles but otherwise nothing shattering.

"Scales," Beryl breathed, just as the stone Lily was watching slid away completely, revealing a hollow depression in the side of the pit, one big enough to fit her entire pack, draped in deep shadows.

Something was rising from the center of the pit, dripping boiling water, a pillar of stone growing out of the ground. It stank so badly Lily could smell it from where she stood when the wind changed, and she resisted the urge to step back again. Something was bothering her, entirely apart from the sheer impossibility of what she was witnessing, a bit of confusion that wasn't resolving itself.

The pillar, maybe a quarter the diameter of the pit it was rising from, rose to level with her, with the ground, and kept going. It was slowly turning, chunks dropping off-

A slab of granite thicker than Lily's body dropped off, and underneath was a pale, cracked stone. That stone flicked to the side, moving of its own accord, and a milky white eye bigger than her entire body stared right at her. Blood veins large enough to see in uncomfortable detail crossed the corners of the elliptical eye like draped spiderwebs, giving it a very unsettling look entirely independent of its size.

'The way is open,' the guardian in front of her growled, the ground shaking as the massive dragon reared upright in the pit.

Lily leaned forward, daring to look down. The guardian's body was straight and bore no wings, no limbs of any kind that she could see, like an enormous snake. Rocks crumbled with every twitch, and the boiling pool itself was entirely gone, making way for the massive body to stand out of it.

She glanced back up at the very top of the guardian, and with a moment's search, spotted her nostrils. They flared, letting out air so hot she could see it shimmering; not smoke, just pure heat.

The guardian had stopped once roughly level with Lily and the ground, and now stood motionless, save for the white eye twitching every so often. Where its body had once lay hidden, a sloping path wound down the interior of the pit for a ways, and then disappeared, leading into the rock at a steep slope that looked walkable, if barely. The way down.

"There will be food and water down there, right?" Ember asked, seemingly nonplussed by the spectacle in front of him.

'Enough so long as your people do not linger,' the guardian confirmed. There was no visual sign of her talking, even though Lily could now see her head.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Beryl asked.

"Nothing." Lily turned to face her pack. Everyone was staring in her direction, looks of pure awe and a little bit of intimidation on their faces. If she ignored what was behind her, she could pretend they were looking at her like that.

"Scouts forward first, don't get lost and don't go too far," she called out. "Parents with fledglings, you'll go next. Cara, your group will walk in front of them, for protection. Everyone who isn't a fighter, scout, or guard, help keep the fledglings in line." She was thankful everyone was already more or less on board with the idea of going underground to find a new home; it might have been a nightmare, trying to explain everything now.

Light wings flew ahead, and others began the walk, sorting themselves out with ample help from those Lily had appointed - and Holly. She glared at the other female when her back was turned, suspicion fueling her anger. Holly still needed watching.

But not right now. Lily stalked up to the edge of the pit once more, looking out at the revealed pathway the scouts were landing on. She wondered whether they would have issues scouting ahead on paw, usually their endurance was tested in flight-

She blinked, and they were gone, the last one's tail flicking out of sight as they pressed forward. "I guess I don't need to worry," she rumbled to herself.

The guardian looked down at her, a pale white eye staring sightlessly in her direction. She felt it on her back as she turned to go join her fledglings. Beryl was there, Thaw by his side, and he beckoned for her to walk by them. All was well, they were going to find a safe home, and then…

And then, she would deal with Holly, and find a way to make sure Beryl could stay with her pack, and a way to make it safe to be with him openly, without undermining herself…

Grimmel might have been gone - and she was glad she had taken that chance instead of bowing to the whim of the guardian - but there was still far too much for her to do.

End of Book 2

Author's Note: Thanks to my beta reader for somehow getting through this whole chapter in under 16 hours. No thanks to me, who had so much trouble writing this that I didn't get it finished until yesterday evening. Tune in next week for the beginning of the third and final part of this story!