A Brighter Future Ahead

AN: I had some free time on Wednesday, so I typed this up in just under two hours. It's pretty much a direct continuation from last chapter, and it has a lot more actual stuff happening in this one. I hope everyone enjoys, and I might have a Perspectives chapter finished by next weekend. It'll be the third one I was going to post before chapter 28 of Dragons Change but decided to postpone. Faredir's dreamvisit with Ruby will be the focus of that one.

Anyways, self-advertising aside, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire.

Darkstalker:

Darkstalker believed that every dragon had a limit to their tolerance before their anger got the better of them and they snapped. He had seen it happen to others before, and he had hit that limit himself a few times in the past. And he was fast approaching it.

The Rainwing captain was under the impression that Darkstalker's presence meant that the Nightwing was in command, so she was constantly asking his advice and permission for different things. Most annoyingly, she kept asking his permission to launch a preemptive strike against the Mudwings.

He would deny her every time with the argument that Anaconda sent him up here specifically to prevent an attack—not to instigate one. She would simply huff and walk away but would return every time the Mudwings did something 'suspicious' and ask again.

He only put up with that for so long before he decided to go on his patrols of the perimeter. Of course, as soon as he got back, the captain would berate him, saying that commanding officers shouldn't go anywhere without an escort. Then, without fail, she'd tell him of the latest thing the Mudwings did and ask for his permission to attack again.

With her constant nagging in the camp, and the voices constantly hounding him when he was by himself, he was beginning to lose it. His headache wasn't helping matters, either. He had been here for five days now, and it hadn't gone away since the second night.

He was approaching camp as he had been out on patrol by himself again, and he could already see the captain at the camp entrance waiting for him. She didn't look happy. As he approached, she opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "The answer is still no. I don't care what insults they've been throwing at us or how many times their garrison has gone to the bathroom."

Predictably, she huffed in annoyance at his rebuttal. However, instead of walking away like normal, she continued on anyway. "I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that."

"You say that every time," Darkstalker replied with an eye roll. He kept walking and the captain kept pace with him. "You've cried 'wolf' too many times, Captain."

"Well this time, I actually have proof. One of our scouting parties has gone missing. They were keeping an eye on enemy troop movements but they haven't reported back in." The captain walked in front of Darkstalker and forced him to stop. "That was five hours ago. I sent another infiltrator to see what was happening while you were gone. He hasn't come back yet."

Darkstalker shook his head in exasperation. He was about to lecture her on the fact that they were at war, and it was kind of their job to find and kill their patrols and spies. However, a Rainwing scout ran up to the two of them, a sense of panic in his haste. "Captain! Lord Darkstalker!"

He all but fell in a heap as he reached the two of them. Darkstalker was about to ask who this was when the captain answered his unvoiced question. "That's the scout I sent out while you were gone." She turned to the scout as she continued. "Report, soldier. What did you see?"

"They've been amassing troops without us knowing! The entire Mudwing army must be over there!" He was on the verge of hysterics, and Darkstalker could understand why.

There were only three hundred Rainwing troops in this camp. To put that in perspective, the estimated number of troops the Mudwings could field was close to ten thousand. Darkstalker looked back out the entrance of the camp as if he could see the massive Mudwing army beyond the trees and swamps. "It seems the Mudwings aren't interested in dragging this out longer than they have to. No doubt they wanted to seem the lesser threat so most of our forces would engage the Seawings in the east. But it turns out what we thought to be the main attack was only a diversion. The main attack is coming through here…" the captain reasoned. She shook her head. "We can't possibly hope to stop their advance…so what do we do?"

Both the scout and the captain were looking to him for orders. Darkstalker's talons clenched and gouged furrows into the soft mud. You should have seen this coming, the second voice mocked. What good is the power to read minds if you don't even use it? You could have easily sensed the increase in enemies if you had the wits to think for yourself!

…I'm afraid I'd have to agree with him, the first voice said hesitantly. I know you've had a lot on your mind lately, but…there really is no excuse to miss such a large increase in their forces.

Darkstalker growled. The voices were right. He shouldn't have missed something so obvious, and it infuriated him to no ends to admit that. He turned to the captain who cowered slightly at his furious expression. "Send the fastest flyer you can to tell the Queen the situation. Tell her to send whatever reserves she can. In the meantime…pull everyone back. We'll stand a better chance in the thicker trees." She nodded and ran off, shouting orders as she went.

Suddenly, a cacophony of roars sounded out from the direction of the enemy camp. Darkstalker trembled with rage as he realized what that meant. The Mudwings were mobilizing. This could have been avoided—should have been avoided. If only he had listened when the captain reported unusual activity. If he had struck days ago, they might not be in the mess they were in now.

He glared in the direction of the enemy advance as if he could set them all ablaze with just a look when he felt something wet splash against his nose. And then another wet splash on his back.

To top it all off, it was raining.

He snapped. All of his anger and frustrations with his situation—the captain, the voices, his mistakes, the enemy attack, and now the rain—boiled over. He answered the Mudwings' battle cry with his own furiously savage roar.

New strength seemed to flow through his body, though he felt his control over it slipping. "Uh, Lord Darkstalker? What should I do?" the scout asked, tentatively.

He turned to the scout as he spread his wings. "Stay out of my way," he warned in reply.

AN: I just had a thought. You know how I said in one of the previous chapters that Darkstalker's alter ego was based off of Dark Spyro? So does that make him Dark Darkstalker? Can that be a thing now, because it sounds goofy.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22