Chapter 7

Poor Windracer has gotten in over his head. Lucky for him, there are other dragons out there fighting for the freedom of others.

The battle that would decide the fate of Auburn and the dragonets was set to take place on Queen Scarlet's hatching day, which happened to be the next morning. No doubt she'd be planning for the execution right after the fight, if Windracer lost.

Back up on his rock spire, chained between Ocotillo and Storm, Windracer tried to find his friends among the prisoners. He could see several blue and green dragons who must be SeaWings, but none of the ones close enough to identify were Lagoon. Most of the trapped dragons were SeaWings, IceWings, or SandWings - prisoners of war. There were no bright color combinations that would indicate RainWings, which meant the twins were being kept somewhere else. Only one of the prisoners was brown, and he was nearly on the opposite side of the circle from Windracer. The hybrid couldn't see the dragon's face, but he knew it had to be Bog.

Windracer had considered once or twice to try reading some of the other prisoners' minds like he did with Ocotillo, but his lack of utilizing them for so long made it hard to focus on just one dragon. He'd just gotten lucky earlier. From all across the circle, the thoughts of the other prisoners invaded his mind.

What was that dragon thinking?

A SkyWing with a NightWing dragonet?

The queen's really going all out tomorrow.

I didn't think Windracer had it in him.

That last thought had to be Lagoon or Bog. Or maybe Arid, but he doubted that he was able to hear the thoughts of dragons several hundred feet away.

Then he remembered the way Arid had looked at him when he confronted Queen Scarlet about the fate of his mother. He'd been acting like a completely different dragon, fearlessly defending another in front of someone who could have easily killed him on the spot. Brave, but stupid. Not the kind of dragon he'd want Arid to fall for.

Heavy wingbeats in the distance distracted Windracer from his thoughts. He looked up as a score of SandWings appeared from the west, outlined by the red glow of the setting sun. The largest was in the lead, with the others fanned out in a V formation behind her. They swooped toward the queen's palace, staying in perfect lines, and vanished beyond a distant wall, where Windracer guessed the landing field for visitors was.

Burn had arrived.

She was the biggest and meanest of the three rivals for the SandWing throne. She held the SandWing palace stronghold. Allied with the SkyWings and MudWings, it was no surprise to Windracer that she'd be stopping by, most likely to watch the arena battles with Scarlet the next morning.

We need to escape.

Now.

Tonight.

He couldn't imagine what Scarlet and Burn would do with him and his friends. Chances were, they'd kill them all even if he did win the fight. Windracer shut his eyes tight. Now would have been a very good time for him to have even just one vision of the future. Maybe he could see how they escape, and where they go to get away from Queen Scarlet.

Nothing.

Not a single vision.

Stupid powers.

Or maybe not. There was still his animus magic. But Windracer had never tried any big, fancy spells, mostly out of fear of what it would do to his soul. All throughout history in the scrolls he read, animus dragons went mad after using their powers to excess. But there had to be more to the story than that.

Maybe losing their soul isn't the right way to describe it, Windracer realized. Maybe it's more like...the more they use their power for bad things, the more they feel like they can get away with using their power for anything.

That's not the kind of dragon I am, and it never will be.

But what spell should he use? And how could he be sure that it wouldn't be noticed? He didn't even want to start thinking about what would happen if Queen Scarlet or Princess Burn found out he was an animus.

"Psst."

The voice came from Windracer's left, but it wasn't Storm. After looking around in confusion for a moment, a dragon suddenly materialized next to him. It would be hard for a dragon to make it out in the darkness, but Windracer had inherited the NightWings' excellent night vision. He recognized a long and graceful body with scales colored in various shades of hot pink, a ruff behind their ears, curved horns, and a prehensile tail. He didn't have to guess what kind of dragon it was.

A RainWing.

Stunned, Windracer barely got out a friendly, "Hello."

The RainWing tossed her head a little. "Wanna get out of here?"

Windracer could tell by her voice that she was older than him, maybe around nine years or so. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded yes.

The RainWing went to work trying to cut through the thin wires with her teeth and claws. Windracer tried to help, but their claws weren't strong enough. Getting an idea, the hybrid breathed a small stream of flame on the wires, which snapped in half at the heat. But the metal clips on Windracer's wings were too thick and sturdy for them to remove. Instead, the RainWing flew over him, grabbed him in all four of her talons, curled her tail around his for extra grip, and pulled up as hard as she could. Windracer flapped his restrained wings in an effort to help the RainWing lift off. It worked, but not as well as either would have liked. They were only flying a few feet above the platform, but it would have to do.

Flying to the nearest tower was no walk in the park. It was a miracle the RainWing was able to stay airborne long enough to fly into an empty room near the top of the tower before letting go of Windracer and collapsing in exhaustion. There were some mounted torches on the walls of the room, and they were all lit, providing light. After recovering, the RainWing got a good look at the dragon she'd helped. Her eyes went wide when she noticed that some of his scales were black.

"You're a NightWing?"

Windracer nodded nervously.

The RainWing sighed. "Great. I just escape from being kidnapped by NightWings, and the first dragon I think to rescue happens to be one of their kind."

"I'm not a full NightWing," Windracer said quickly. "My mother is a SkyWing, so..." He paused as he realized what the RainWing had just said. "What do you mean, kidnapped?"

The RainWing stood up and turned around so she was looking Windracer in the eye. "The NightWings have been capturing many of my kind and bringing them to their island to learn more about our venom. They care very little of our wellbeing, and three of my fellow tribe members have died so far. I managed to escape by camouflaging myself to make it look like I wasn't in the cage. Slipped right past the incompetent guards when they opened the door to find me. Turns out they had me captive on a volcano island, so I had to fly across the sea for who knows how long to get back to the mainland. I'd hoped it would lead me to the rainforest, but, as luck would have it, I ended up on the shores of the Sky Kingdom. I didn't know what else to do, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to help a dragon who was trapped like I had been."

"I appreciate that," Windracer said. "And I'm sorry about what happened. Just know this, I'm not like those NightWings, and I never will be. You're safe around me. I'm Windracer."

"Vivid," the RainWing said. "My name, I mean. It's Vivid."

Windracer nodded in understanding. "Listen, Vivid, can you also get my friends? There's a MudWing named Bog, a SeaWing named Lagoon, a pair of RainWing twins named Marmoset and Mango, and an IceWing-SandWing hybrid named Arid being held here with me."

"You sure have some weird company," Vivid said, almost in disgust. "Why are you not with your own kind, anyway?"

"Because of the prophecy," Windracer answered automatically. Then he remembered that the RainWings weren't involved in the war and didn't even know about the prophecy. So he explained further. "Well, actually, it's a fake prophecy. It says a group of dragonets that have hatched on the brightest night will end a war on Pyrrhia that was started by a trio of SandWing sisters who all want to be queen."

"Sounds dramatic," Vivid said. "Good thing us RainWings aren't involved. Then again, everyone else seems to think we're lazy and stupid dragons who do nothing but lie around a lot."

Windracer didn't think that. Especially not with Marmoset and Mango running around the caves pulling pranks on the other dragonets for the six years they had lived there.

"Can you help us escape?" he asked Vivid hopefully.

"I wish," she replied. "You saw how hard it was for me to carry you. Imagine me trying to lift up a MudWing!"

Windracer scanned the room and found a bronze bracelet. "Maybe I can help with that," he said. He reached down and plucked up the bracelet. "Queen Scarlet doesn't know I can do this." He held it in the center of his palm, eyes locked on the jewelry as he spoke loud and clear. "I enchant this bracelet to grant any dragon who wears it super strength, but only for as long as they're wearing it." Without missing a beat, he lifted one of Vivid's front talons and slipped the bracelet on her. It was a perfect fit.

The RainWing lifted her leg to look at the bracelet. "So, you're an animus, too? Interesting."

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Windracer asked nervously.

Vivid nodded. "As long as this bracelet works, I won't." She flapped her wings and flew over Windracer, grabbing his legs and wings and lifting up. This time, she was able to carry him with ease. She gently set him back down on the floor of the room before landing nearby. "What did you say your name was, again?"

"It's Windracer," the hybrid replied.

"Windracer," Vivid repeated. She would definitely try to remember it this time. "Thanks."

The hybrid held up a talon as he searched the room again. Many of the items looked foreign to the Sky Kingdom, presumably objects that were taken off of the prisoners and then thrown into the room without so much as a second glance. He rummaged through a chest and found a blunted spearhead that looked like it had been broken off its staff during battle. He grabbed it and held it up to his eyelevel. "I enchant this spearhead to help any dragon who wields it find whatever they're looking for." He then handed the spearhead to Vivid. "This might also help."

The RainWing stared at him wide-eyed before lifting the spearhead for a closer look. With some hesitation, she stated, "Windracer's friends."

The spearhead twitched and twisted in Vivid's claws, too blunt and worn to cause any form of harm. The pointy end of the spearhead pointed and pulled Vivid in several different directions, as there was more than one dragon it was asked to find, after all.

"Try following it in one direction at a time," Windracer offered. "And don't let any of the SkyWings see you."

Vivid glanced back at him before shifting the color of her scales so that she was almost invisible. "Not a problem."

Silence followed, and Windracer realized that the RainWing had left. With nothing else to do, he sat dead center in the room and let his mind wander.

He wasn't sure how long it had been when his thoughts drifted back to the story of Prince Arctic. If there really was more to his story, then how could he find it?

Eyes lighting up with a stroke of genius, Windracer searched the room a third time to see if he could find anything useful. Some tattered scrolls, several paintings of Queen Scarlet, and an old mirror small enough to fit in Morrowseer's palms. Windracer grabbed the mirror, examining his reflection for a few precious moments before suddenly getting an idea.

"I enchant this mirror to show any requested event from Pyrrhia's past."

The glass of the mirror shimmered for a moment, as though it were responding to the spell. Now all Windracer needed to do was test it out. The young hybrid raised the mirror a bit higher and requested, "Show me what happened to Prince Arctic of the IceWings." When nothing happened, he quickly added, "Please."

The results were instantaneous. His reflection in the mirror swirled out of focus and was replaced with an image of an IceWing, nearly 7 years of age, sitting and conversing with a female NightWing - Foeslayer, Windracer realized. Judging by all the snow, he guessed they were somewhere in the heart of the Ice Kingdom. This must be when they first met.

The next image showed Arctic and Foeslayer in a mountainous terrain with canyons and caves, a coast lined with rocky black-sand beaches and littered with tide pools and half-flooded caves. The two weren't fighting, they were talking with each other, and as Windracer watched, they would occasionally turn their heads and nuzzle each other's snouts.

Prince Arctic wasn't stolen by the NightWings, Windracer realized. He fell in love with one. He could see it in Arctic's eyes. It was the same look Windracer had whenever he looked at Arid. With a new curiosity, he asked the mirror, "Please show me what happened to Queen Diamond."

The following image showed Queen Diamond forcing her son into an engagement with an IceWing he wasn't in love with. The next image showed the queen furious over the fact that her son eloped with a NightWing. Then it showed her feeding lies to all of her subjects, that Foeslayer, coveting the power of the IceWings' animus dragons, had kidnapped Arctic so that her tribe could benefit from these powers as well. The final image showed Queen Diamond killing Foeslayer by slashing her throat with her serrated claws.

So, it was all a misunderstanding, Windracer thought to himself. The IceWings all believed Diamond's lies, and assumed the NightWings stole Prince Arctic from them. That's why the two tribes hate each other so much. But what can I do to fix that? How can I show them it was nothing but a lie?

He didn't get a chance to figure it out, as Vivid suddenly entered to room with her vibrant, colorful scales. The moment Windracer lifted his eyes to look at her, the images in the mirror faded. "Did you find them?"

"I found where your RainWing friends were being kept," Vivid replied. "In a room in one of those other towers nearby. I brought the MudWing and SeaWing there, those other two are being held in some sort of cage. I promised I'd bring you there to them."

Windracer took the spearhead Vivid was still holding, uttering, "My leather bag," under his breath. The spearhead twitched and twisted in his talons before pulling him into one of the piles of the prisoners' belongings. The bag he had been wearing around his neck when he first stepped out from under the mountain was half-buried in the pile. He grabbed it quickly, stuffing the mirror and spearhead into it along with the Doubling Bowl, the beaded bracelet and the Invisibility Stick (they were all probably left there on the assumption that there was nothing special about them). He hung the bag around his neck before turning to Vivid. "Now I'm ready."

Vivid flew over Windracer, lifting him up with ease. Within seconds, the two were outside, the RainWing flying herself and the hybrid towards one of the towers. It didn't take long for them to get there, and the moment Vivid set Windracer down on the floor of the tower's room, a certain MudWing was squeezing him in a tight hug.

"Windracer! You're okay!"

The hybrid sucked in a breath as best he could. "Air, Bog, air!"

Bog quickly let go of his friend. "Sorry."

Lagoon was the next to greet Windracer. "That was a very brave thing you did, standing up for your mother like that."

"Wish I hadn't done that," Windracer muttered. "All of our lives are on the line if I fight tomorrow." He scanned the room, but found no traces of a certain female hybrid. "Where's Arid?"

"Scarlet has her in the palace," Vivid answered. "Would have been impossible for me to free her without being noticed, even if I did camouflage myself." She pointed a talon over their shoulders. "But your twin friends seem alright. Wish they'd stop babbling so much, though."

Indeed, Marmoset and Mango were quite fine. Well, as long as you counted being held in a sort of birdcage "fine." And that didn't really work for Mango. "This is worse than being inside the egg."

Her brother snorted. "How do you think I feel?"

"Will you cut your complaining already?!"

The shout hadn't from Vivid. Or Lagoon. Or Windracer. And definitely not from Bog.

The RainWing twins weren't the only ones being held prisoner in that room.

There was an IceWing in there with them.

Once again we start "spinning away from the canon," as Cottonmouth25 put it.

Windracer gets his first look at Darkstalker and Pantala, and starts embracing his powers a little more. For the record, I don't really believe in the "animus dragons losing their souls" theory. I really think it's more like, they use their powers for bad things and then think they can get away with anything. Good thing Windracer uses his magic for the good of others, and takes the time to word his spells carefully. It really seems like a Hiccup thing to do.

Also, Vivid is not a counterpart to anyone in the HtTYD series, she's kind of an original character.

Auburn - Valka
Windracer - Hiccup
Arid - Astrid
Lagoon - Heather
Bog - Fishlegs
Marmoset and Mango - Tuffnut and Ruffnut
Killer - Stoick
Inferno - Snotlout
Scorch - Spitelout