The morning sun broke through the dense leaves of the rainforest, one beam shining down onto Cobra's face. She blinked at the sudden light, lifting her face to the sun. The rainclouds of the previous day had disappeared overnight, and the sky was a brilliant blue.
Cobra looked to her left, where her half-brother, Kapok, had curled up against her warm scales the night before. He was still sleeping, the sunlight not having reached his eyes. Satisfied that he was still asleep, she stretched her foreleg out in front of her and tried to match the color of the sky. After a few moments, she managed it, her scales having turned from their normal sandy yellow to a deep blue.
Cobra pulled her tail up next to her, the barbed tip catching on the leaves that covered the sleeping platform she lay on. As she lay back down, she thought about the desert, with its scorching heat and its endless plains of sand stretching to all horizons, interrupted only by cacti and the occasional oasis. She liked the desert, but the SandWings who lived there would always give her weird looks whenever they got a good look at her. Cobra couldn't blame them. As long as she kept her scales pale yellow, she only had a few RainWing features that were easily recognizable, but they were so out of place for a SandWing that they would be fairly easily noticed. The ruff on her neck, her prehensile tail, her curving horns, those were just the differences they could quickly see. Her barbed tail, warm scales and the SandWing frill down her back set her apart from the RainWings as well, but the RainWings were generally pretty accepting of the new and the strange. Except for the occasional double-take, Cobra didn't think they saw her as anything more than a fellow RainWing. As long as she avoided the NightWing village, Cobra could move around the rainforest without feeling self-conscious.
Beside her, Kapok stirred, awake at last.
"Oh, hello," he mumbled sleepily.
"You're finally awake," Cobra said. "Do you know how rude it is when you fall asleep on me, then make me wait for an hour for you to wake up?"
Cobra made sure her scales stayed pale yellow, but Kapok could still tell that she was joking.
"You weren't up for very long," he accused.
"All right, I wasn't," Cobra admitted.
"Of course you weren't," he replied. "Now come on. Once we can get something to eat, we're going to give you another session in venom training."
Cobra groaned. She could shoot venom like any RainWing, but when she did, she had almost no control over how much came out, and her aim was usually very poor.
"Come on, Cobra," Kapok nudged her shoulder to get her moving. "You did pretty well last time. You even hit the center of the target once or twice."
"That was either purely dumb luck, or because I shoot so much venom that it covers half the target," she protested, a flicker of red darting through her scales.
Kapok noticed the brief, silent outburst of emotion on her scales.
"Don't get frustrated when we haven't even started yet," he insisted.
Cobra sighed, jumping into the air after her older sibling. "Fine," she said. "One hour. That's it."
A few minutes later, she was standing in front of a wooden board covered with leaves.
"Now, relax," Kapok said. "Focus on the target, and only spit a little bit of venom."
Cobra groaned silently, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, then another, imagining the target's distance, size, and everything else she could remember about it. She opened her mouth and spat a jet of venom at it. She heard it splat onto the wood, and hoped that it was the target she'd hit and not the tree it was leaning against. She opened her eyes and saw that she'd hit both. A bit less than half of her venom had landed on the target, but Cobra was amazed at how little had appeared at all. Of course, it was still easily twice as much as the average RainWing normally spit, but it was significantly less than she had ever managed before.
Kapok sprayed his venom over hers, and it stopped eating away at the wood. Cobra wiped the now-harmless goo off the target and saw that only about a quarter of the target had been hit.
"That was pretty good," Kapok said, grinning.
Cobra was impressed as well. It was the best she'd ever done.
She walked back to the center of the clearing and took aim at the target again, closing her eyes and concentrating as she had before. She shot another jet of venom, but this time hit the bottom half of the target and liberally coating the ground beneath. Kapok sighed and sprayed the target with his own venom again.
Cobra tried again, this time imagining that she was facing an enemy dragon who was standing in front of someone she knew, preparing to kill her. Maybe this motivation would help her do better.
She sprayed venom at her imaginary opponent, opening her eyes in time to see it splatter on the target. She had covered it almost completely, but a surprisingly small amount had hit anything else.
"Wow," Kapok said, clearly impressed even without the bursts of orange and indigo appearing over his scales. "Whatever you did to get that result, keep doing that. We'll work on aim for now, and once you've got that, then we'll work on precision."
They passed the entire morning that way, going beyond the single hour Cobra had reluctantly agreed to. Cobra faced off against invisible opponents, and managed to avoid hitting the surrounding vegetation nine times out of ten. Of course, the tenth time usually proved disastrous for the vegetation.
"That went surprisingly well," Cobra commented as they left the clearing around midday.
Kapok nodded. "Your aim has improved a lot. Of course, I'd still rather be standing behind you than in front of you."
"Ha, ha," Cobra said sarcastically.
They flew in silence for a while before Cobra finally said something that had been on her mind.
"I'm going back to the desert tomorrow. I don't know how long I'll be there."
Kapok turned to her, surprised, and nearly got tangled in a web of vines.
"Why?" he asked, surprised.
"I'm hoping I can find information about my mother. Even if something's happened to her, or even if she doesn't want me, I still want to know who she is."
"Where will you go to ask?" Kapok asked curiously.
"I might try the Scorpion Den. I know it's really a place for outlaws, but since my mother had eggs with a RainWing, I don't think she was exactly a high-ranking dragon. She may have stopped there at one point or another."
Kapok stared ahead at the horizon. "Well, good luck tomorrow, then. Besides, even if you don't find her, remember that you're always welcome here."
Cobra grinned. "I know that. You tell me every time I go."
The following morning, Cobra took off from the western edge of the Rainforest Kingdom and flew east, towards the mountains and the desert beyond. She was carrying a bag full of fruit as payment to enter the Scorpion Den. She didn't know if a dragon still had to pay, but she didn't want to fly all the way there and be turned back.
She rested that night on the northern slopes of Jade Mountain, the cool night breeze washing over her scales. She looked up at the stars, wondering what she would find in the desert. The worst that could happen was that she didn't find anything, and had to return to the rainforest without any new information.
No, she thought. The worst that could happen is that you meet her, and she doesn't want you. That's the worst that could happen.
Cobra closed her eyes, forcing that thought out of her head. that grim thought was replaced by another one.
What happens if I do find her, and she does want me? I'll be forever torn between her in the desert and Kapok and my friends back in the rainforest. What will I do then?
Cobra forced her scales to fade from black to white, something she did to calm herself down. When that didn't work, she spat a stream of venom at the base of the boulder beside her. She heard a second of sizzling as the venom melted the lichen on the rock, but it was too dark to see anything. She spotted a stick resting on the rocks a little ways down the mountain, and went to retrieve it. As she walked back up the mountainside, she breathed a burst of fire onto the stick, trying to set it alight. It took her a few tries before it finally caught, and when it did, she held it close to the puddle of black venom that remained by the rock. She was impressed. She had managed to only hit a small patch of the boulder, at least it was small by her standards. It was still larger than two of her talons combined, but she was still proud of her achievement.
Cobra moved away from the boulder and her great achievement in venom-spraying, and she soon fell asleep.
In the morning, she was awakened by a loud squawking noise. Her eyes snapped open and she saw a bird pecking at her bag of fruit.
"Hey, get away from there," she called. "Those aren't for you."
The bird squawked again and flew off. Cobra stood up and looked around, stretching. She saw the sun in the east, rising above the plains of sand that stretched to the horizon. Cobra smiled, and lifted off, carrying the bag of fruit.
As she passed over the western slopes of the mountain, she could almost feel the air changing around her from the cool, damp mountain air to the slightly warmer, much drier air of the desert. She looked back and saw rainclouds gathering over the forests behind the mountains.
Won't be getting any of that here, she thought.
After a few hours of flying, she saw a cluster of tents and buildings surrounded by a high wall to the north. She had found the Scorpion Den.
"No unknown dragons get in without contributing something."
Cobra was standing outside the Den, facing a tough-looking guard. She kept her ruff flat against her neck, and dug her claws into the sand so the guard wouldn't notice that they were longer than a normal SandWings.
"A contribution to the Outclaws or the Scorpion Den itself?" she asked.
"Either one," the guard answered.
"I have a bag of fruit from the rainforest," Cobra offered.
"Let me see," The guard held out her hand for the bag.
Cobra handed it over, and the guard looked through the fruit in the bag. She pulled out a banana and handed the bag back to Cobra.
"I like the way you think," she said. "Take it to the oasis. One of the Outclaws there will take it. What's your name?"
"Cobra," Cobra answered, taking the bag.
The guard nodded. "The water pool is over that way, Cobra."
She pointed north through the tents.
"Thank you," Cobra said, and walked in the direction the guard had indicated.
She slipped between the tents, almost stepping on other dragon's tails more than once. She heard the merchants calling to dragons in the street, advertising what they were selling. From the sound of it, they sold everything. Sacks of water, different kinds of food, amulets, jewelry, something called brightsting cactus, and some were even offering services instead of goods.
Cobra ducked under a brown-speckled wing and stepped to the side to avoid a tiny dragonet walking next to his mother. She heard a yelp of pain, and rounded a corner to see a large male SandWing standing over a small dragonet lying on the ground.
"We need some brightsting cactus, quick!" he called.
Cobra whirled around and grabbed a chunk of cactus from a stall she had just passed, wincing as its spines stuck in her scales. She ran back to the SandWing, holding out the cactus. She didn't know why he needed it, but decided not to ask as she saw a spot of still-wet blood on the end of his tail barb. He took the cactus from her and squeezed the juice onto a small cut on the dragonet's chest, breathing a sigh of relief as she stopped crying and lay still. Then he turned to Cobra.
"It was an accident, I swear," he babbled. "I had no idea she was there. Please, believe me."
"I believe you," Cobra said, surprised.
"You won't tell Six-Claws?"
"No," Cobra said. She had never met Six-Claws before.
The dragon sighed in relief again. "Thank you. He and Queen Thorn haven't trusted me very much lately."
He slipped out of the alley and into the crowd. Cobra turned back to the dragonet.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"I'm ok," she answered. "Is Addax gone?"
"Yes," Cobra confirmed. "Where are your parents?"
"My mother was supposed to meet me at the oasis."
"I'm headed that way now. Do you want to come with me?"
"All right," the dragonet said, standing.
Cobra suddenly noticed how skinny the dragonet was.
"You must be hungry," she said, concerned. "Here."
She reached into her bag and pulled out a mango, handing it to the dragonet.
She took it gratefully, and bit into it. When she had finished, Cobra walked with her out of the alley, nearly bumping into an annoyed-looking SkyWing.
"Sorry," she said, ducking behind him.
As the little dragonet followed, Cobra realized that she didn't know her name.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Scorpion," she said, curling her barbed tail up and grinning. "Yours?"
"I'm Cobra," she replied, ducking to the side to avoid a large dragon carrying what looked like a piece of roasted camel.
When Cobra and Scorpion made it to the oasis, it was a lot emptier than the rest of the Den. There were only a few dragons under the palm trees, looking slightly bored.
"Do you see your mother?" Cobra asked Scorpion.
Scorpion looked around for a moment before her eyes settled on a dragon standing by the edge of the water.
"Over there," she said, and ran towards her mother.
Cobra watched until Scorpion and her mother were back together, then turned towards the group of guards under the nearest tree. They were talking and laughing together, but stopped when they saw her coming. One of them, his side marred with old scars, stepped forward when she came close.
"Yes?" he said.
"The guard at the front gate told me to bring these to one of you," Cobra said. "It's my payment for entering."
The guard took the bag and peered inside, and Cobra noticed that he had six claws on his foreleg.
Camel-brain, she thought. Six-Claws. Of course.
"Thanks for this," Six-Claws said, closing the bag again. "If you need some water, you can take some."
Cobra nodded gratefully and walked over to the pool. She bent over to drink, and caught sight of her reflection in the water. She saw her pale yellow scales and her curved horns. Her ruff was mostly invisible, but it was her only RainWing trait that was. She was amazed that Six-Claws or any of the other dragons hadn't noticed or thought anything about her was unusual. She took a quick sip of the water, which had stayed cool even as the sun's heat had strengthened.
She straightened up again, and turned back to the stalls and tents of the Scorpion Den. As she passed the guards, she thanked Six-Claws again before ducking back into the crowd. She spotted a bored-looking dragon in a stall set slightly back from the others. She walked over, almost tripping over another dragon's tail on the way. When she reached the stall, the dragon perked up, looking surprised to have a visitor.
"I'm looking for a dragoness who lost an egg about six years ago," Cobra started. "Would you know anything about that?"
The vendor leaned forwards. "Look," he said. "That was one of the last years of the war. A lot of dragons lost eggs, either taken by one of the warring sides for soldiers or by the Talons of Peace. Queen Thorn herself was said to have lost an egg about six years before the war ended. I'm going to need more detail than that to give you anything."
"She would have been spending time in or near the rainforest before then," Cobra pressed. "Does that help?"
"If you don't have a name for her, or know any of her family, then I can't help you, but you might want to try Coyote. He runs a stall at the east end of the Den, sells things that he claims are animus-touched. He might be able to tell you something."
"Thanks," Cobra said, turning away to try to find Coyote's stall.
Three days later, Cobra was leaning against the inside wall of the Scorpion Den, ready to give up. She felt like she had asked every other SandWing in the Den, and had learned almost nothing.
I should just go home, she thought, but she couldn't make herself leave.
"Tomorrow morning," she told herself. "If I don't find anything tomorrow morning, I go home."
She turned around, looking for somewhere to spend the night.
The next morning, Cobra woke up at the edge of the oasis, blinking as a slight breeze blew sand into her eyes. She stood up and walked back into the maze of tents, hoping she could ask a few dragons before the streets became too crowded.
As she walked past an empty stall, something collided with her. She lashed out with her tail instinctively, narrowly missing the startled face of the SkyWing as he reared back.
Cobra stumbled back, hoping her scales had stayed sand-colored.
"Oh, sorry," she said. "I didn't see you coming."
"That's fine," the SkyWing said.
Cobra turned and walked down the mostly empty streets, feeling the dragon's eyes boring into her. She realized that it was the same SkyWing she had almost run into on her first day in the Scorpion Den. As she turned around a corner, she saw that he and another SkyWing were talking to Six-Claws.
Her curiosity piqued, Cobra snuck around behind the stalls, allowing her scales to change to match the sand and stones around her. She crept into one of the stalls near the trio just in time to hear the first SkyWing finish.
"-has to be her, Six-Claws. You know it does."
"But how do you know, Falcon?" Six-Claws asked.
"I had a hunch the first time I saw her. Her horns aren't curved like yours, or those of any other SandWings. They're more like a SeaWing's. Or a RainWing's. Her claws are much longer than a normal SandWing's. And just now, you saw the red flash on her scales for a second."
Camel dung, Cobra thought. So her scales had changed.
The other SkyWing spoke up. "I've been following her while she's been here. She has a ruff on her neck as well."
Why were they following me? Cobra wondered.
Falcon had begun speaking again. "She's part RainWing, just like the prophecy says. You have to order your guards to kill her if they see her."
Cobra knew that there was no way she was still camouflaged after what she had just heard. She was so stunned that she was amazed her scales weren't literally glowing orange. She hoped that none of them would look over in her direction. She'd be caught in a heartbeat.
"Absolutely not," Six-Claws said firmly. "I will not have a dragon killed based on a hunch. Even if we knew for sure, I would never kill a dragon for something they might or might not do. Neither would Queen Thorn."
Falcon breathed a stream of fire in frustration.
"She is likely the most dangerous dragon in the prophecy, even without the other four. She could probably kill a quarter of the dragons in your precious Scorpion Den in one night. Would you risk that?"
Why do they think I could ever do that? Cobra wondered. Not for the first time since the conversation began, she wished for the power to read minds.
"She's been here for three days already. Maybe more. If she's really as bad as you say she is, wouldn't she have done something already? The queen doesn't trust NightWings very much, therefore I don't either," Six-Claws argued.
"Then what about the fourth dragon? She's part NightWing. Do you trust her not to see the world die, as the prophecy says she and the others will do?" Falcon hissed.
Cobra couldn't bear to hear any more. She leaped up from the stall and charged towards the oasis. Falcon's head whipped around.
"Get her!" he roared to Six-Claws and the other SkyWing.
Cobra raced into the open space around the oasis and leaped into the sky, trying to get her emotions under control enough to camouflage herself. Behind her, she saw Falcon and the other SkyWing leap after her. To her relief, Six-Claws stayed on the ground, a conflicted look on his face as he stared up at her.
Cobra veered left to avoid a jet of fire from Falcon's mouth, her scales refusing to turn from green to pale blue to match the sky. She knew she could never outfly the SkyWings, so in a desperate maneuver, she turned around and flew at Falcon. His eyes widened, and he dove before he got anywhere near her.
They're scared of me, Cobra realized, and dove at Falcon's companion. He too dove out of the way.
The realization of their fear took the edge off her own, and she was able to turn her scales blue enough to hide herself. She flew back east towards the rainforest, but stopped before she got there, resting on one of the mountain peaks as her exhaustion caught up with her.
"If there is a prophecy that says that I'm meant to be a killer then I should avoid other dragons," she said aloud. "How else can I prevent fate?"
Fated to be a killer or not, Cobra wanted to live, and she knew that chance was slim if she was caught. She spiraled down to the forest just east of the mountains, shivering as the rain-wet leaves dumped their loads on her head.
She rested in a clearing, her thoughts chasing themselves in a circle.
What would Queen Glory do if she found out? She doesn't believe in prophecies. But if I'm really such a danger, then would she risk it? What about the NightWings? They would almost certainly believe it. I would never survive if one of them saw me. But Glory is queen. What would she do? Would she send Deathbringer after me?
The mere thought of the NightWing assassin hunting her sent a chill through her, and Cobra shivered.
Would Deathbringer come after me on his own if he knew? Does he know even now? And he's not the only assassin. How many of the other tribes know about this? What will they do? How scared are they? How can I possibly survive?
As the sun rose to its zenith, Cobra fell into a fitful sleep. She didn't normally sleep when the other RainWings had their sun time, but she was so tired from her long flight that she fell asleep anyway.
When she woke up she felt a little better, but still unsure about what to do next. she only knew that she couldn't go back to the rainforest. She would surely be imprisoned, if not killed, and if she managed to avoid that, she would only be a danger to the dragons around her. Cobra decided to stay in the forests for a while, until she could decide what to do next.
She decided to go hunting to take her mind off things, and went looking for a rabbit or some other small game. After a few minutes, she heard cows mooing to the north. Curious, she followed the sound and saw a scavenger den through the trees. Now that she was closer, she heard chickens squawking as well.
Perfect, she thought.
She camouflaged her scales- easy now that she was calm- and crept towards the village, trying to locate the chickens. Finally, she did, on the north side of the den. She grabbed one and crept north again, killing the bird quickly. She ate it as she continued moving north, keeping a wary eye out for any other dragons. When Cobra found a small clearing made by a fallen tree, she stopped. The dirt and roots pulled up had created a small hollow underneath, just big enough for her. The roots would provide decent shelter once night fell and deepened the shadows. Even with her pale scales she would be hard to see in the dark. She decided to stay here for the night, then move on in the morning if she had to. She had just curled up in the roots when she heard a snapping twig from close by. She froze, listening hard. There was another snap, then a rustling of leaves. Then, a voice spoke.
"Hurricane, you're not very stealthy for someone who's a fugitive from nearly every dragon tribe."
"Oh, like you're so silent yourself," a second voice shot back. "Find me a river and you'd never know I was there. Besides, this area's practically empty of dragon life-" The voice suddenly stopped as a light blue dragon stepped into Cobra's line of sight. She looked like an IceWing, but something was off about her. Another IceWing appeared behind her, a paler turquoise color, who also froze as he saw her. For a long time, none of them moved, but Cobra's mind was frantic.
Please think I'm just a SandWing, please think I'm just a SandWing, she begged silently, concentrating hard to keep her scales from becoming bright green with fear.
Finally, one of the IceWings turned to the other.
"Is it her?" he asked quietly.
The other dragon nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on Cobra, who shrank back instinctively. She raised her tail, displaying the barbed tip.
"S-stay back," she stammered. "Just leave me alone."
The strange IceWing took a step back, spreading her wings.
"Calm down," she said.
She turned to the other dragon. "Where's Firestorm?" she asked.
"Still back with Caiman at the river," he replied.
"Well, go find them," the female said.
The male IceWing gave her a worried look, but obeyed, leaping into the air and flying west. The female turned back to Cobra, who tried to stay calm.
"Bringing your friends to help you kill me?" she asked warily, still keeping her tail raised.
"What? No! I'm Hurricane, and that was Frost. Why do you think we'd want to kill you?"
Cobra ducked the question. "You don't know about the prophecy?"
To her surprise, Hurricane laughed. "Oh, we know about it, all right. It's been giving us a lot of grief for a while now."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that we're the first four dragons in the prophecy. Therefore, almost every dragon we've met has wanted to kill or capture us. The SeaWings actually had Caiman for a while before we freed him."
"You're not making any sense," Cobra complained.
Hurricane opened her mouth to answer, but stopped as Cobra heard the sound of wingbeats in the east. As Hurricane turned to look, Cobra shifted her scales to hide, but didn't dare crawl out just yet.
Frost had returned with two more dragons, one of them almost supporting the other. There was a red-colored MudWing and a SkyWing with one black wing and black scales covering her tail and back legs, and extending up to her right shoulder. As the dragon landed, wincing, Cobra saw that the black on her shoulder was actually an old burn scar.
Hurricane turned back to Cobra, but a look of confusion crossed her face as she realized that she could no longer see Cobra. She opened her mouth to say something again, but the SkyWing cut her off.
"She's still there," she said, stepping forward.
Cobra tensed, preparing to run, but the SkyWing stepped back again.
"We're not going to attack you," she said calmly. "I'm Firestorm, this is Caiman, and you've already met Frost and Hurricane."
Cobra didn't respond, and Firestorm sighed.
"I know you're freaking out about the prophecy, but it's fake. We've had it confirmed for us by the same dragon who pretended to deliver it."
"What if he was lying?" Cobra had to ask.
"He wasn't," Firestorm said. "I saw it in his mind. He did have a vision, but it was of the five of us defeating him. He freaked out, and wrote the prophecy to try to get us killed first."
Cobra slowly let her scales fade back to yellow.
"You can read minds?"
The MudWing, Caiman, nodded. "It took me a while to figure that out, even with the prophecy saying she was a telepath. I guess somehow Fatespinner knew she was and put it into the prophecy to make sure the SkyWings knew it was her."
"Wait, how can you read minds? And who is Fatespinner?" Cobra blurted out.
"Fatespinner is the NightWing who made up the prophecy," Hurricane explained.
"And I can read minds because my father, Vengeance, was a NightWing. My mother was Crag, a SkyWing," Firestorm explained. "And Hurricane's mother was a SeaWing and her father was an IceWing, since you were wondering."
"Oh," Cobra said.
"Come to our campsite," Hurricane offered. "We can explain a little more there."
"I think I'll walk back," Firestorm said.
"All right," Frost said, jumping back into the air. Cobra, Caiman, and Hurricane followed, and Firestorm turned and walked through the trees.
"I just realized we never asked you your name," Hurricane said.
"It's Cobra," she responded.
At the river, they landed and Cobra saw a small fire pit and a few depressions in the sand. Hurricane landed half in, half out of the river where she seemed happy to stay. Caiman lay in the wet sand at the water's edge, and Frost landed on a rock that stuck out over the water. A few minutes later, Firestorm emerged from the trees, sitting down just under the canopy.
Frost spoke up. "You probably have a lot of questions."
"Some," Cobra admitted.
"Well, go ahead,"
Cobra thought for a moment, then spoke.
"How many of the tribes know about the prophecy? And how are they taking it?"
"Every tribe except for the SandWings and the MudWings know about the prophecy, at least as far as we know," Firestorm said.
"Even the RainWings?" Cobra asked. "I lived with them for the last few years. If they knew about the prophecy, wouldn't Queen Glory have done something sooner?"
"I'm not sure about that, but Fatespinner faked delivering the prophecy in Queen Glory's throne room. If she didn't tell the tribes, Fatespinner definitely would have. He would've wanted the news to spread as fast as possible," Firestorm answered.
"As for how they're taking it, well, the SeaWings imprisoned Caiman without explanation, one IceWing freaked out and attacked me, having already told Queen Glacier, but later he was with us when we found the exact wording and figured out it was a fake from there. He said he would tell her what we had figured out. Given that and the fact that most of us hate NightWings, we're not sure what they're doing now. As for the SkyWings, they seem to be going to the extreme with it. Queen Ruby gave Fatespinner her personal attacker to hunt us down," Frost reeled off.
Firestorm leaned forward, showing Cobra her burn scar. "Spark, a SkyWing with too much fire. That's Ruby's attacker. Ruby abused him until he lost his mind. All he ever knew was pain, and now he wants to attack anyone he sees. The only reason Fatespinner, or anyone, can control him is through an animus touched bracelet. This scar is an example of what he can do." She pointed at the burn on her shoulder.
The questioning session continued into the night, and eventually Cobra and the others fell asleep by the river.
In the morning, Cobra was awoken by a voice she didn't know.
"All five of them. This is not good. We have to take them in."
Cobra opened her eyes a slit and saw a group of SandWing soldiers standing around them. She kept still, feigning sleep, and listened to them talk.
"Be very careful. You know what the prophecy said. They're dangerous, but not invincible. You, and you, make sure the SeaWing can't escape down the river."
Firestorm, Cobra thought urgently. Wake up, but don't move. We've been found.
I know, Firestorm replied, sounding tense. What do you think we should do?
Can you wake the others? Tell them what's going on? I think there's only about eight of them. We may be able to fight our way out.
No. If we do that, then we may as well be confirming that Fatespinner's prophecy is true. That's the last thing we want.
What do you say we do then? Cobra challenged.
Listen. If we come quietly, Queen Thorn might listen to us if we ask for an audience. We may be able to convince her the prophecy is fake.
Fine. Wake the others and tell them your plan.
There was a minute of quiet from Firestorm. Then, she spoke again.
All right, Cobra. Pretend to wake up.
Cobra yawned, stretching her front legs. She opened her eyes just in time to see the SandWing leader spring over her and grab Frost by the wings. He placed his tail barb against the IceWing's neck.
"He lives as long as you don't try anything," he called across the clearing as Cobra jumped up in surprise.
"Walrus dung," Frost muttered, carefully not moving.
Firestorm stopped faking sleep as Hurricane and Caiman stood as well. A SandWing near Hurricane swung her tail barb against Hurricane's neck as well, and a third pressed a spear against Caiman's shoulder. The other five faced Firestorm and Cobra warily. Cobra arched her tail instinctively, but Firestorm pushed it back down.
They have orders to take us alive, she said in Cobra's mind. But they're scared and desperate enough to kill us if we fight.
Cobra slumped, realizing there wasn't anything she could do.
The SandWing holding Frost spoke again.
"Queen Thorn has orders for us to take the five of you prisoner. Try anything, and the IceWing dies. Are we clear?"
Firestorm sighed. "Clear as springwater," she said.
The SandWing motioned to the five others, who stepped forward holding chains. As they placed them around Cobra's mouth, she turned to glare at Firestorm.
You'd better have a plan, mind reader, she thought.
Firestorm nodded as another guard put chains around her legs.
I had no idea when I wrote this what Qibli's mother's name was. That a RainWing hybrid shares her name is completely coincidental.
Silver the Shadow Cat: Spark is a firescales SkyWing found by Fatespinner and [spoiler]. Fatespinner uses him kind of as a guard/enforcer. He didn't really get developed much as a character in this- I don't know how he wasn't killed when he hatched, or what happened to his twin.