Chapter 11

Let me tell you guys, the adventure isn't the only thing that will be progressing in this chapter.

After his accidental confession of his feelings for Arid, Windracer no longer felt like mingling in a large crowd of dragons. So, he went outside. The tower where the banquet was being held had a balcony, which gave him a very nice view of the setting sun. He sat down and watched for what seemed like an eternity when a certain IceWing-SandWing hybrid padded out next to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

Windracer was startled, he hadn't expected her to follow him. Unable to form words, he just nodded.

Arid took it as an invitation to sit with him, so she did. "This is actually my first time seeing a sunset," she said. "It's really beautiful."

Suddenly able to form words again, Windracer sighed. "It sure is." He wasn't referring to the sunset, though. His eyes were locked on Arid. He quickly looked away when Arid shifted her gaze to him, but she had already seen.

Chuckling to herself, Arid shifted closer to Windracer. "So, you're in love with me?"

"Yes," Windracer admitted. He thanked his lucky stars his scales were too dark to show any blush. "Ever since I was old enough to start noticing females. And I didn't tell you because...because I believed I wasn't the kind of dragon you'd be interested in."

"I never really thought about being in a relationship," Arid said. "Bit hard to, with the guardians always breathing down our necks and preparing us for that prophecy. You could have told me, though. It's not like I would have ripped your wings off, or anything."

Windracer gave her a nervous smile. "That's not the only thing I haven't told you. A while back, I had a vision. Well, it was actually more of a dream, and it's become a much more frequent thing recently. We were together, and...there were dragonets." When she didn't reply, he quickly summed it all up. "I had a vision of us having dragonets."

"I know, I understood you the first time," Arid said assuringly. "When did that first happen?"

Windracer looked away sheepishly. "Not long after I started crushing on you."

Smiling, Arid laid a talon on his shoulder. "Can you tell me about them?"

"Oh?" Windracer turned to look at her. He'd only just heard the names of their future dragonets from a dream he'd had last night. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to share this information with Arid, he replied, "Well...there's Skyfire, the telepath. Then there's Bluemoon, the king of ice. Then there's the twins, Dawnbreaker and Duskflight. And the last one..." He paused for a moment, then finished, "...the last one is named Oasis."

He hadn't expected Arid to still be there when he finished. The smile she was giving him made his insides turn into mush. "They sound nice," the female hybrid mused. "I can't wait to meet them."

Windracer was sure he had imagined that. "Really? You...you're okay with all that? I mean...I thought you would have...I never really told anyone about that vision, because...I was afraid of what you'd think. If you didn't love me back..."

"I did love you," Arid admitted. "But more like a brother. Then we got older, and I started noticing that..." She hesitated. Which was odd, because she never hesitated. "...that I was seeing you differently. You were always so nice and considerate of others, putting our needs before your own and defending us from the guardians' insults. Then you started being brave, protecting your mother from Scarlet and trying to convince Frost that there was another solution other than fighting. And what you did for all of those dragons out there caught in battle, fighting for a throne that isn't theirs, you told them all the truth and sought to give them hope in a way none of us could even imagine." She moved her talons down off of his shoulder, finding his and clasping them tightly. "You have all the qualities that I admire, Wind."

Speechless to say the least, Windracer gazed down at their intertwined talons. Her white scales and serrated claws reminded him of the IceWings, specifically Princess Sleet. He didn't want what happened to Frost's sister to happen to Arid. Morrowseer would be coming for him, Windracer knew that, did he really want to risk being with Arid now of all times?

"Arid, I..."

He stopped, a small wave of thoughts that weren't his own invading his mind.

Is he going to say it? Why does he look so depressed? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to talk to him...

Knowing those thoughts were Arid's, Windracer quickly stated, "I want to say it, I really do. But, Arid, if Morrowseer, or some other dragon who might want us dead, found out about this, and something happened to you, I...I just couldn't live with myself." He forced himself to look her in the eyes. Her beautiful, blue eyes...

"I love you," he blurted out. The rest came tumbling out of his mouth like an avalanche on a mountaintop. "You're all I think about and I want to be near you and it hurts when I'm not, and everything I do, I think, what would Arid want me to do? And I think you're the only dragon who sees me the whole way I am and likes me anyway...When I found out you were half IceWing, I couldn't bring myself to dislike you, because I knew you more than I knew IceWings. I don't want you to hate me because of what the other NightWings are planning, you know me more than you know NightWings, you know I'm not like my father's tribe. Don't look at me like I'm one of them, like I could ever do what they've done. I know, it's a lot to take in, but...I had to tell you, in case something happens to either one of us, although if anything happens to you I don't know how I'd be able to breathe or think or do anything ever again, and...please, just feel free to stop me at any time..."

Chuckling, Arid held up a talon to silence him. "Windracer, stop. Three moons, I didn't think you cared about me that much."

"I always have," Windracer blurted out. Then he clamped his jaw shut with his talons. How many more things was he going to say without thinking? Hopefully not much else, he was already as embarrassed as one could get.

Arid didn't seem to mind his accidental outbursts, however. Then again, she was probably more prepared after what he had let slip earlier in the ballroom. "I love you, too, Windracer."

Stupefied, Windracer released his jaw, lowering his talons to the floor of the balcony. "But...Morrowseer..."

"Doesn't have to know," Arid finished. "We can keep this between the two of us, until we feel it's safe enough to go public."

A secret relationship. That sounded both interesting and risky. Windracer was too caught up in the thrill of Arid loving him back to stress about the idea. "Alright," he finally said. He glanced back into the ballroom behind them. "So...would you, maybe...like to dance, or...something?"

Arid grasped his talons in her own, her face breaking out into a huge smile. "Why, Wind, I thought you'd never ask."

As the new couple padded back into the ballroom, talons intertwined, they failed to notice the blue SeaWing that had been spying on them from inside. Lagoon trotted away from the doorway that led to the balcony, muttering under her breath, "Finally."

Queen Tourmaline called the dragonets to the throne room that was once her mother's rather early the next morning. Windracer started to bow, but Tourmaline held up a talon to stop him. "You don't have to do that."

"I'm half SkyWing," Windracer remined her. "You're as much my queen as you are to my mother."

Tourmaline caught herself smiling. "Very well. If you wish, you may bow." The hybrid obliged. He stayed there until the queen stated, "At ease."

Windracer stood up at her request. "May I ask why you have brought us all here, Your Majesty?"

"You don't have to call me that," Tourmaline said. But she went along with it anyway. "We've received a message from the Mud Kingdom. Apparently, Queen Moorhen is interested in meeting all of you. She wishes to speak to the dragonet responsible for the speech across the continent."

Bog suddenly brightened up. "Maybe while we're there, we'll find my family!" he exclaimed. "I've always wondered what my parents are like."

"Dim and hungry, like you."

That comment came from Kestrel, who was standing off to the side with Auburn, Ocotillo, Storm, Scorch, and Inferno. Windracer wondered how he didn't notice them earlier..

"While you're at it," Lagoon said, unfazed by the SkyWing's insult, "Tell us what you know about our eggs and where we came from."

Kestrel snorted. "Well, there's no surprises with you. Webs stole your egg from the SeaWing queen's own hatchery."

"I'm royalty?" Lagoon asked, looking surprised and thoughtful.

Kestrel ignored her question. "My sister brought us Windracer's egg." She glared at Auburn as she said that. "Dune found Arid's egg in the desert, hidden near the Scorpion Den. And the glutton over there came from somewhere around the Diamond Spray Delta, near the sea, where the lowest-born MudWings crawl." She then looked at Marmoset and Mango. "I have no idea. Webs scrounged you two up somewhere after we lost the SkyWing egg. I never cared where, because I knew you weren't important."

Auburn went to join the dragonets, looking hurt and disgusted by her sister's words. "I'll go with you to the delta," she told Windracer. "I've waited far too long to see you again, I'm never letting you out of my sight."

"But, the other dragons..." Windracer began, but Auburn cut him off.

"Listen to me," she said. "I'm not ashamed of you, or of where you came from. If other dragons have a problem with it, that's their problem. It's not against the law to be with a dragon from another tribe. It just...hardly ever happens, that's all. Usually each tribe keeps to itself. Which makes you rare, but not illegal, or taboo, or anything like that. Don't ever let any dragon make you feel like you shouldn't exist." Auburn spared a glance at Kestrel before she brushed her front talons over her son's head and horns and cupped his snout. "Windracer, you are perfect just the way you are. Powers and all."

I second that, Arid thought in her new boyfriend's general direction. He smiled at her to show he heard it.

Ocotillo went to embrace his daughter. "That goes for you, too, Arid." Storm folded her wing over the two of them, expressing those words even more so.

"You should all get going," Kestrel said, a little too eagerly. "When you realize you need me, you can send a message through the SkyWings. Not that I'll come running, mind you." She glared at her nephew. "You deserve all the trouble that's coming to you, Windracer."

The SkyWing-NightWing hybrid couldn't remember the last time Kestrel had called him by name. Call him crazy, but to him it was worth more than a thousand goodbyes.

Tourmaline gestured to the throne room exit with her wing. "Please, you may go. I wish you luck. If you ever need shelter, you are always welcome in my kingdom."

Windracer gave a slight bow in appreciation. "Thank you, Tourmaline."

With that, Auburn, Ocotillo, Storm and the dragonets left the room. It led straight out into the open air, as it was the Sky Kingdom, and Windracer was the first to spread his wings. This was the first time he had ever really flown, and it was exhilarating. He whooped and laughed as he flew this way and that, even performing loop-the-loops. For the first time in his life, the young hybrid's dreams and wishes of doing something big and legendary and helpful seemed like they belonged to this world instead of his imagination.

But most of all, he felt free.

He caught a glimpse of his mother and Arid, both smiling at him proudly as they followed him through the air. Lagoon wasn't too far behind, while Bog was flapping his wings more frequently and the twins were constantly pushing and shoving trying to out-fly the other. Ocotillo and Storm were in the middle of the somewhat sloppy formation, their wings overlapping by nearly three feet.

Windracer shifted his gaze to the sky, blue and gold and bright. He wasn't sure how they would fulfill his prophecy and end the war. He didn't know how the other dragon tribes would react to them. He knew that Morrowseer and the SandWing sisters would be hunting them down.

But he knew what he was here to do. Stand beside his friends, and lead them through thick and thin, no matter what. Visions of pained dragons and fritghening foes flashed before his eyes, but he ignored them. Whatever was coming, they would face it together.

Big Heroic Destiny, here we come.

Somewhere hidden deep within the rainforest that was the kingdom of the RainWings, a NightWing mother was rejoicing.

"There's another NightWing with powers," she said. Her dragonet watched her with wide eyes. They'd both heard the message sent by Windracer, but while the mother was quite happy, her daughter was rather confused and frightened.

"There's another dragon out there like you," the mother said, her voice more gentle and calm.

The dragonet shook her head. "I'm nothing like him, mother." That wasn't entirely true. Like Windracer, she had a silver teardrop scale on the outside corner of each eye, signifying her mind-reading powers. That wasn't all, she could also see the future.

"We need to find Windracer," said the mother. "I know he'll help us. You won't be alone anymore."

The dragonet stared into her mother's eyes, fearful and sad. "But what if we don't?"

The mother NightWing clasped her daughter's talons tightly within her own.

"We will find him, Moon."

Elsewhere, in a part of the rainforest not far from where Moon and her mother were hiding, Vivid was relaxing in a tree. She'd found her way back after escaping the Sky Kingdom, though she regretted leaving the dragonets behind.

The RainWing's eyes drifted down to the bracelet that was still on her forearm. The bracelet Windracer enchanted to give whoever was wearing it super strength. If she'd had time, she would have given it back to him before she left.

"Hey, Vivid!"

The RainWing lifted her head to see another of her kind, ten years old and the color of chocolate, swooping down from the treetops above. She smiled. "Hello, Hoatzin."

"I'm glad you're safe" Hoatzin said, smiling back at his girlfriend. Then he noticed something on her arm. "Is that a bracelet?" he asked.

Vivid nodded wordlessly.

"Who gave it to you?" Hoatzin asked, his eyes narrowed.

Vivid guessed he was suspecting that she was having an affair with someone else. She gave him a reassuring smile before gazing down at the bracelet. She could still remember how awful it was being held captive by the NightWings on their horrible volcanic island, it would probably haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. But Windracer was kind, helpful, and respected Vivid as a dragon rather than an object, like most others outside the RainWing tribe did.

Realizing that she'd yet to answer Hoatzin's question, Vivid looked him in the eyes and stated clearly, "A friend."

Frost ended up flying right into Burn and her soldiers while trying to escape the Sky Kingdom. Now he was being held in the SandWing princess's stronghold. The strongest SandWing soldiers he'd ever encountered were pinning him against the wall. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't get free.

Burn stared the IceWing prince down. "Morrowseer's prophecy may be fake, but there can only be one queen of the SandWings. I want you to go to Queen Glacier and get her and the IceWings to side with me. My sisters won't be able to withstand armies from three tribes."

"The IceWings will never follow you," Frost snarled. "Now let me go, or you'll be sorry!"

"Sorry I haven't done this sooner," Burn grumbled. She turned to her soldiers and said, "Put him in the tower, and keep him there until I figure out what to do with him."

The last thing that went through Frost's head before the SandWings knocked him out was how in all of Pyrrhia had he gotten himself into this situation.

Queen Glacier sat upon her throne, looking over the NightWing that she had been keeping in custody. He was being restrained by two guards, of course. Beside the queen was a set of smaller thrones for her daughters, three of which were attending - Crystal, Snowfall, and cute little Mink.

"Tell me again why you came to my kingdom," Glacier ordered the NightWing.

The black dragon sighed. "Morrowseer sent me. He wanted me to kill the queen and make the kingdom fall. But I'm through taking orders. What Morrowseer is doing is wrong, and I won't follow him any longer."

"How do we know he's telling the truth?" asked one of the guards, his grip on the NightWing firm.

"The message sent by the dragonet is no laughing matter," Glacier said. "No animus would waste their powers on something that wasn't so serious. I should know, IceWing royalty used to have animus dragons, and they were never ones to waste their magic." She glared at the NightWing. "Killer, was it?"

The NightWing nodded wordlessly.

Queen Glacier looked back at the guards. "Take him beyond the borders of the kingdom and release him. After what we've all heard, I'm sure he has better things to do than play the role of an assassin."

"Mother, you can't!" Snowfall cried, standing up on her throne.

Glacier ignored her daughter's shouts of protest. "While you're at it," she told the guards, "Find the dragonets of destiny. I wish to have a word with Windracer personally."

Nodding obediently, the guards escorted Killer out of the throne room.

"How could you do that, Mother?!" Snowfall shrieked. "He's a NightWing! He tried to kill you!"

"If what the hybrid animus said is true," said Queen Glacier, "We need to end this meaningless feud. We can start by giving him a second chance."

"And who knows," said Crystal, "Maybe they'll find Sleet and Frost while they're at it."

Glacier stared at the spot where Killer and the guards had been moments before. "One can only hope."

"I miss them," Mink said, her wings drooping sadly. "I hope they're okay."

"So do I," sighed Glacier.

The whole way to the area where the Ice Kingdom ended, Killer paid no mind to the guards escorting him. His thoughts were on the message Windracer had sent to all the dragons of Pyrrhia, including him.

Killer shook his head, a disbelieving smile curling his snout. "I have a son..."

Kestrel hadn't been completely honest when she said she wouldn't come running to save the dragonets. The moment she heard they were in potential danger, she up and left the Sky Kingdom in search of them.

She immediately regretted her actions when she found out it was a trap set by Blister and Morrowseer. The SandWing princess held Kestrel in her talons, with Morrowseer towering over both of them.

"Trust me, you're the one," he said. "We've chosen you to be the next SandWing queen."

Blister regarded him with glittering black eyes. She was smaller than Burn, with a long, cunning face and a black diamond pattern running down her spine. She had an eerie stillness about her, like a venomous snake about to strike. Unlike Burn, she had no scars. She was much too clever to do any of the fighting herself.

"The facade is over," Kestrel snarled. "We all know your prophecy is fake. I couldn't care less myself, but I still won't let this war drag on until the end of time."

Blister sneered at the SkyWing. "You won't have to."

Kestrel didn't have time to register the devious princess's words as Blister plunged her venomous tail barb straight into the SkyWing's heart. In mere moments, she was dead.

Blister released Kestrel's body, which Morrowseer then pushed off the cliff they'd been standing on. Both dragons watched the dead SkyWing fall into the ocean waves below.

"There's one more," Morrowseer said. "A SeaWing named Webs. If he made it out of the mountain, he'll be looking for them, too. We need him dead before we can dispose of the dragonets, especially that half-breed."

"Not a problem," Blister said. She stared out at the pounding sea below them. "What's a few more dead dragons here and there on my way to the throne?"

Morrowseer smiled. "Then we understand each other."

"Kill the dragonets," she said with a wicked grin, "And we'll both get everything we want."

Yay, Aridracer! (Just made that up)

Both friend and foe will be looking for the dragonets, now. Let's hope the former finds them first.

And just to clear the air, the protagonists from the second arc (minus Peril) will appear in this story. I'm very much looking forward to when Windracer meets Moonwatcher.

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