Chapter 14

A missing princess is coming home.

Riptide paced across the beach, lashing his tail in a long swooshing trail through the sand. The morning light allowed Windracer and his friends to get a good look at him for the first time. He had sky blue scales, dark blue horns, a pale underbelly, and dark blue eyes that were nearly black in appearance. He also had several scars - an old bite mark on his tail, claw scars across his underbelly, and slash marks across his snout from Lagoon. If Windracer had to guess, Riptide was probably a couple years older than he was.

Finally, Riptide stopped pacing and gave them a hopeful look. "Do you know Webs? I heard he was with the Talons of Peace, and I really want to meet him."

"He left when Queen Scarlet and her guards captured us," Bog explained. "We haven't seen him since." The MudWing's voice wavered with a hint of sadness.

Windracer wasn't surprised at that. Webs was pretty much the nicest out of the three guardians. But the hybrid didn't want to be caught thinking any ill thoughts about "Auntie Kestrel," as the twins sometimes teased him about. "Is Webs a friend of yours?" he asked.

Riptide shifted nervously. "Not exactly."

"An important general?" Lagoon guessed.

Riptide shook his head. "Not even close."

"Then why do you want to meet him?" Arid asked, her tone carrying an almost unnoticeable bit of annoyance.

Riptide cast his eyes down at his talons, half-buried in the sand.

"Webs is my father."

Windracer's eyes widened in surprise. Webs never mentioned that he'd had dragonets. Then again, that probably wasn't something a member of the Talons of Peace would go bragging about, with the war going on and everything.

"I joined the Talons of Peace because I thought they could help me find him," Riptide explained, looking every which way to avoid the eyes of the other dragons. "But they wouldn't tell me anything except that he was safe. I've been working with them for a few years now, passing them information about the SeaWings. Queen Coral sees my father as a traitor to the tribe because he stole one of her eggs. Being his son, you can probably imagine how well she treats me."

"That's ridiculous!" Lagoon blurted. "I mean, sure, Webs could have done better with us, but he had a good reason, didn't he?"

Riptide shrugged. "Maybe at the time, but the prophecy is fake, isn't it? At least, that's what Windracer said in his message."

"It's true," Windracer admitted, albeit reluctantly. "I know I may have hurt a lot of dragons out there who believed in that prophecy, but I had to tell everyone the truth. What Morrowseer is doing is wrong, and if no one else is going to do anything about it, then I will."

"Wow," Riptide said. "I don't say this to a lot of dragons, but I'm impressed."

"He's right," Ocotillo said with a smile. "Your spirit is very admirable, Windracer."

Arid said something very similar to that in her head, which made Windracer shift his talons sheepishly.

"Before I forget," said Lagoon, "Can you lead us to the SeaWing Palace? We need to speak with Queen Coral, I mean, my mother. It's rather urgent."

Riptide gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course. I should warn you, though, the guards aren't very trusting when it comes to outsiders. And I mean that in the best possible way."

"As long as we can still speak with the queen," Windracer said. "We need all the tribes to work together if we want to end this fight. Queen Tourmaline and Queen Moorhen are already on our side..."

"Tourmaline?" Riptide repeated in confusion.

"Scarlet's daughter," Arid explained. "She took over the SkyWings after her mother was killed."

Riptide jumped back in surprise. "Scarlet's dead?! What happened?"

Everyone turned to look at Windracer, who shifted in the sand and scratched at the scales on his neck nervously. "It's...kind of a long story."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to tell it on our way to the palace," said Riptide. "It's about a four day flight from here, as long as you know where you're going, of course. Just follow me."

The sky-blue SeaWing sprang into the sky, with the other dragons close behind.

Windracer told his tale to Riptide as they flew, day in and day out. The Bay of a Thousand Scales turned out to be further away than any of the dragonets had anticipated. Windracer had been studying the map of Pyrrhia since he was little, but it was hard to fit that picture over the enormous world below him.

They managed to make it to a small rocky island shortly after night fell, but Windracer knew they were still a long way from the bay. For a few days, they stopped whenever they saw an island, ate a seagull or fish if they could catch any, and then flew on. Lagoon had tried diving into the ocean several times and was disappointed to discover she couldn't swim as fast as she flew.

It was around four days later when the group got the first clue indicating that they were close to their destination.

A formation of blue and green dragons - fifteen or more - flew toward them, with huge wings and bared teeth. Windracer could hear them hissing.

"Here comes the welcoming committee," Riptide grumbled. "The advance guard. They make sure no one even gets close to the Summer Palace."

A few moments later, they were surrounded. The flapping wingbeats filled their ears and pushed the air currents around.

"Riptide," growled the lead dragon. His scales were a green so dull it was almost gray, like stone where moss had been scraped away. He had tiny bone-pale eyes that never seemed to blink under a knobbly protruding forehead, and his horns twisted strangely toward each other. Unlike Riptide, he bore no battle scars. Which either meant he stayed away from fighting, or he was a very skilled fighter.

"What are you dragging home now?" he snarled.

Riptide looked him straight in the eyes. "I've found the missing princess." He gestured to Lagoon, or more specifically, her wings. Curious, Lagoon looked down at herself. Under her wings, when she lit them up, the luminescent stripes formed spirals around the outer edges. Starbursts shaped like webbed dragon footprints branched away from the lines in the middle.

Windracer examined the pattern with wide eyes. He'd never noticed that before. Most of the other SeaWings, he examined, had smaller starbursts and no spirals. Only the lead dragon's patterns matched Lagoon's. Windracer pointed at the dragon. "Who is he?"

Riptide winced. "This is Shark," he said. "Commander of palace defense and brother to the queen."

Now Windracer understood why Shark and Lagoon's patterns matched. They were both of royal blood.

Shark eyed the dragons suspiciously. His eyes flashed dangerously at the sight of Bog, Auburn, Arid, Storm and Ocotillo. "What are they doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"We're here to speak to Queen Coral," Windracer said. He ignored the chills he felt from Shark's gaze. "I'm Windracer. The animus hybrid with NightWing powers." When Shark didn't respond, he nervously asked, "You have heard of me, right?"

Let it be known that being locked in a cell within the SeaWing prison was NOT the answer Windracer had been hoping for.

It wasn't like the prison in the Sky Kingdom. Instead of bars, the cages had channels of water each as wide as two dragons encircling each prisoner, trapping them on islands of stone - some large enough for multiple dragons, some with barely enough room for one. More water poured from grooves in the ceiling down to the channels, creating cascading walls around the island.

And all the water walls and all the moats glowed the same bright blue and gave off the same fizzling, crackling sound. Electric eels slithered and swam in all the moats, providing all the water with a shocking surprise for any dragon who would dare try to escape.

The SkyWing-NightWing hybrid sat sulking in the dead center of his cell, the only sound accompanying him being the water running down from the ceiling. "Well, that went well," he grumbled sarcastically.

"I'll say," Arid said from a nearby cell. "But hey, at least they didn't kill us."

"Please don't jinx it," Bog pleaded from his cell. "I'm allergic to being executed."

Somewhere far off, the RainWing twins scoffed. "Where'd you hear that from?"

"I guess I should have known coming here was a bad idea," Windracer said. "I'm sorry everyone."

"Don't be," came Auburn's comforting, motherly voice. "Your intentions were pure, son. Some dragons just have a harder time seeing that."

"I know I did," Storm chimed in from her cell.

"To be fair, I wasn't entirely sure they'd let us in myself," Ocotillo admitted.

The only voices Windracer didn't hear were Lagoon and Riptide's. Of course, the two SeaWings were the only ones spared from being thrown in the dungeons. It was anyone's guess where they were now.

But even with the other dragons comforting him, the only thing a depressed Windracer could even think of doing at that moment in time was sit on his tiny little stone island and wait for something to happen.

Believe me, something will be happening very soon.

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