Chapter 10
The Rain Forest
It had been the most incredibly exciting, informative, and frankly puzzling day that Oleander that ever had. When Oleander had woken up in the morning, she not even imagined dragons could read minds. Now, she knew that there is a war ravaging Pyrrhia, there is a prophecy about dragonets who would end it, however, this prophecy is fake and a plot to conquer the Rain Forest and kill her whole tribe. Oh, and some dragons could do magic? Who knew? Somewhere in this whirlwind of information and action, Oleander had made friends with six dragons from tribes that she did not even know existed a few hours ago.
"So…" said Oleander, who was for probably the first time in her life unsure of what to say next.
"It is a bit confusing, but it is nice to know that there are other dragons in our situation," said Sandstar, a kind but naïve dragonet, who Oleander and all the other dragonets had decided within minutes of meeting her that they would adopt as a little sister.
"I would not say that we are in the same situation, but thanks," said Oleander, somewhat comforted by Sandstar's words.
"What do we do now?" asked Sandstar, hesitantly.
There was a long silence, Oleander closed her eyes and wait for someone from the group to start making plans. But no one said anything, Oleander opened her eyes and saw that everyone was looking expectantly at her.
"What?" asked Oleander puzzled.
"What should we do?" Crane prompted.
"Why are you looking at me?" asked Oleander confused.
"Because," said Frostbite with a look that said, 'are you stupid or something?', that he was rather good at, "you are, the sort, of the self-elected leader of our group."
"Since when," Oleander challenged.
"Since you first appeared," said Slipstream in a matter-of-fact tone, that seemed to be his favorite tone, "you made us all sit done and tell our stories one at a time without interruptions. When you asked informative questions and looked like you had a plan. But if you do not think you are the leader that let us vote. Everyone in favor of Oleander becoming our leader raise your talon above your head."
Six talons raised into the air. Oleander stared at them. Nobody had ever listened to her, let alone followed Oleander before in her entire life. So, this was a new development on top of everything else they had been through that day. It was also far past sun time and Oleander was very tired and her scales begged for the warm sun and a nap. But this was not the time to sleep. She had her tribe and all the other tribes to save, but how?
"Who else knows that the prophecy is fake?" asked Oleander deciding that gathering information was a good place to start.
"Only us, the Nightwings, and Blister," said Nightshade, helpfully.
"What would the Nightwings do if the Dragonets of Destiny did not do what he says?" asked Oleander, genuinely curious.
"The Talons of Peace have an alternate set of dragonets," said Nightshade, "but they hate each other, so there is not much hope for them."
"Okay then, which sister would be the best queen?" asked Oleander trying to gain time and information.
"Burn is horrible, cruel, and loves to stuff odd-looking dragons. So, it would probably be best to keep Sandstar away from her," said Inferno gruffly.
"Blaze would be killed within a day of crowning and even if she did live, she couldn't rule a penguin let alone a kingdom," said Frostbite contempt thick, in his voice, "I have seen her, as a healer, a few times and she has a much the brains of a snowbank."
"I don't think my mother would be a good queen either," said Sandstar looking at the ground, "she would probably kill all the dragons who were fighting against her."
"Are there any other children who could rule?" asked Oleander searching for other options.
"No," said Sandstar, "not that I know of."
"What about you?" asked Slipstream curiously.
"Me?" asked Sandstar, "moons above no. I couldn't rule any better than Blaze. I am a terrible leader and a hybrid. Sandwings don't really like mixing tribes. Also, only a few dragons can say for certain that I am actually her daughter, and not adopted or just an imposter."
"Is there any way another Sandwing could rule?" asked Nightshade.
"Yes," said Sandstar uncertainly, "there is an old animus touched artifact that I read about, it is called the Eye of Onyx. It was enchanted by an old Sandwing animus called, Jerboa, I think, it was meant to choose the best possible queen. Apparently, it has been used to find new Queens when there are no heirs."
"So theoretically, someone else could be chosen to rule?" asked Crane, this sounded promising.
"Yes," said Sandstar, "but it was lost when Queen Oasis was killed."
"Okay," said Oleander sardonically, "so if we found this long-lost artifact like we don't even know what it looks like, we could end the war?"
"Yes," said Sandstar innocently.
"But we aren't the Dragonets of Destiny," said Crane, pointing out a rather large hole in their plan.
"What do you mean?" asked Oleander puzzled.
"We know now that the prophecy is fake, but all the other tribes believe in it," Crane explained, "so if other dragons that are not the Dragonets of Destiny tried to end it, they wouldn't believe us."
"Could we pretend to be the dragonets?" asked Oleander hopefully.
"No," said Nightshade shaking his head, "we are all obliviously too old or too young."
"Or in my case," Slipstream supplied, "the wrong color. The Seawing egg must be blue and the Seawings egg color tells you what color their scales will be."
"So," said Oleander, "to end this war, we need to find these dragonets and a long-lost artifact?"
"What about your tribes?" asked Nightshade anxious.
"I don't know," said Oleander, "maybe we could come to some arrangement to share the forest."
"They wouldn't like that," said Nightshade after a moment of thought, "but if they had no other choice then they might agree out of desperation."
"Does anyone know where these dragonets even are?' asked Frostbite trying to get back on target.
"I know their approximate location," asked Sandstar, "they are in a cave system in the Claws of the Cloud Mountains."
"Great," said Inferno sarcastically, "because Queen Scarlet just 'loves' me so much."
"Well," said Oleander decisively, "you will just have to avoid her. Because we are going to the Sky Kingdom."