Chapter 20

You wouldn't believe how busy I've been. But, new chapter, so, yay!

"Prince Turtle?" Arid repeated in confusion. "Why?"

"I can't explain right now," Windracer said hastily. "But we have to find him, he's the only one who can help!" He dug his talons into his leather bag, searching desperately for the thing he needed to help him find the SeaWing prince.

There!

His talons closed around the blunted spearhead, and he lifted it out of his bag. He held it up near his mouth and quickly said, "Prince Turtle of the SeaWings."

The spearhead twitched and twisted in his claws. It tugged him out of the cave and down toward one of the lower platforms of the Summer Palace, where a lone green SeaWing was sulking.

"Turtle!" the hybrid cried.

The prince looked up at the sound of his name, his eyes widening at the sight of Windracer descending upon him. "Wh-what?' he stammered, "What do you want?"

"Your help," said Windracer, tucking the spearhead back into his bag. "Your sisters are in danger, and I have to save them. Do you have anything that can help me get to the Royal Hatchery without drowning? Any enchanted jewelry, or even a stick or a rock?"

Turtle looked pessimistically thoughtful. "Well...there is this necklace I enchanted to give the dragon wearing it the ability to breath underwater like a SeaWing. I intended it for when Blister came to visit, so she wouldn't have to hold her breath while getting in, but I never figured out how to explain it to Mother without exposing myself."

"Where is it?" Windracer asked. "Do you have it?"

"I know where it is," said Turtle, "But are you sure you want it?"

"I need it," the hybrid insisted, "You're the only one who can help me save Lagoon and the egg, Turtle. I need your help." He could hear the wingbeats of his friends as they searched for him throughout the palace. He didn't want to have to explain why he was seeking out Turtle's help, and he knew Turtle didn't want that either. Not when his secret animus powers were on the line.

Nodding, Turtle dove into the water and swam off as fast as he could go.

Windracer dug around in his bag until he found the stick he'd enchanted to make himself invisible. As aware as he was of the fact that he could have easily enchanted something to allow him easy access to the Royal Hatchery, he feared that with every minute he would have spent finding the right item to enchant and wording the spell as carefully as he could, he would have arrived too late.

Turtle was smart. Windracer could count on him.

The SeaWing prince returned faster than Windracer had thought, with a seashell necklace clutched tightly in his webbed talons.

"I made it myself," the prince explained. "I know it doesn't look the best - "

"It's perfect," said Windracer with a reassuring smile. "It's just what I need." He grabbed the necklace and draped it around his neck. The shells felt heavy and a little disorganized, but they made up for it by sliding coolly across Windracer's scales.

Now to see if it works.

Windracer started for the water, but stopped when he heard Turtle call his name.

"If Mother asks," Turtle said while wringing his claws nervously. "Can you tell her you enchanted the necklace? Can you keep my secret?"

Windracer wasn't sure how to answer that. He wanted to say yes, but he wasn't sure if that was a promise he could keep. He shook his head. "I don't know if I can, Turtle," he said with the utmost honesty. "I hate lying, especially to someone as important as a queen. But I also don't want to expose you. You're the closest thing I have to a friend in this kingdom."

Turtle gasped.

"I see myself in you," Windracer continued, "You're inventive, resourceful, and you try to use your power in all the right ways." He turned away from the water, now facing Turtle fully. "I can't, and I won't, make you share your power with the other SeaWings. That's a choice only you can make. Just listen to your heart, like I did. I can promise you that it won't steer you wrong."

And with that, he dove beneath the waves of ocean water. The salt stung his eyes a little, but he ignored it. He opened his mouth and inhaled, taking in a mouthful of water.

The necklace did its job well. To Windracer, taking in water was the same as taking in air. He could breathe under the sea.

Moving quickly, the hybrid used his wings to push himself through the water, flapping and flailing as hard and as fast as he could. Although he lacked the webs and powerful tail of a SeaWing, he made up for it with his strong SkyWing wings, which pumped through the water in long strides. It was almost like flying.

It felt like eternity, but Windracer managed to find the Royal Hatchery. More accurately, he found Lagoon and followed her straight to it.

The hybrid had grabbed the Invisibility Stick from inside his bag, so no one saw him as he swam after the princess, into a coral cavern, down a tunnel, and through a set of doors into a room that was shaped like the inside of a large, pale egg. A SeaWing dragon carved from dark green marble stood in the center of the room, upon a stone pedestal. The base of the statue had the word ORCA spelled out in various gemstones.

Nests made of seaweed were tucked into niches in the floor, with wide pathways stretching between them. One clutch of three eggs was tucked against a wall, no doubt containing soon-to-be princes that could never inherit the throne.

Windracer hastened to avoid having the door close on his tail, swimming up to the ceiling of the hatchery. The room was pitch-black, but the hybrid had inherited a useful power from his NightWing father - the ability to see in the dark.

He could see Lagoon holding a narwhal spear to defend herself, and the egg, with. She used it to poke and prod the walls, looking for a secret entrance the assassin could have been using to get inside.

They don't need one of those, Windracer said in his thoughts. He wanted to swim down and tell his friend that she and the egg weren't safe there alone, that she was in mortal danger. But if he startled her, it was very likely she'd accidentally impale him with the spear.

So he stayed and waited, hoping against all hope that for just this once, he'd been wrong.

But every ounce of luck in the world was working against him at that moment.

Scrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaape.

Windracer's eyes instantly darted to look at Orca's statue. His blood ran cold when he saw the statue's head turn slowly to look at Lagoon, who was frozen in shock.

Scrrape. Scrrape. Scrrrrape.

Stone claws curled around the top of the pedestal.

A stone tongue flicked between jagged sharklike teeth.

I was right, Windracer thought with dread. Nobody's sneaking in. The assassin's been here all along.

And then the statue hurtled off the pedestal, talons reaching to snatch the egg.

Lagoon flung herself between the statue and her unhatched sister. Green marble claws raked at Lagoon's neck, heavier and thicker than a real dragon's.

Windracer had guessed it was enchanted to kill only when it was sure there were no guards around - no queen, no one to witness its crimes and stop it from striking again.

But Lagoon was an heir. She wasn't a witness. She was a target.

And as long as Windracer stayed invisible, the statue would continue its assault until Lagoon and the unhatched dragonet were surely dead.

Seeing this as his cue to act, Windracer beat his wings with newfound ferocity, propelling himself through the water toward Lagoon. The SeaWing princess pushed the statue away with all her might, but it didn't go back as far as she was hoping. However, it was enough of an opening for Windracer to grab Lagoon's talons and shove the enchanted stick into her open palm.

Now she was invisible, while he was in plain sight.

Marble Orca, which had been lunging for Lagoon's throat with claws outstretched, was now still and unmoving like an ordinary statue.

The enchantment only worked in secret. It dropped away when the door was opened, or when there was another dragon approaching. Whoever had set the curse - and Windracer had a good idea who - didn't want anyone to look in and catch the statue at its deadly work. Windracer guessed that the spell also alerted the statue when someone was coming, so it normally had time to return to its pedestal. And the statue would remain still as long as anyone else was around - like the queen or her guards. This statue was meant to keep murdering royal female dragonets for as long as it could.

Remembering the egg, Windracer turned around and reached for it. He felt a set of invisible webbed talons brush his, and he realized that Lagoon had had the exact same idea.

Tap tap tap.

The egg cracked down the middle and a small green head poked out. Dark green eyes blinked at Windracer.

Windracer smiled warmly at the newly-hatched princess, leaning in to nuzzle her tiny snout. That was the only way he could say hello.

Beside him, Lagoon released the stick, bringing herself back into view so she could hug her new baby sister.

That left Windracer free to deal with the statue. Leaving the stick to float up to the ceiling, he swam over to the stone statue, laying his talons on its forehead.

Come back to life, he thought at it. Leave all of the princesses unharmed. Go straight to Queen Coral, wherever she might be, and tell her who enchanted you to smash those eggs.

The statue gave a jolt before pulling back, looking from side to side as if it had just woken up from a deep sleep. Then it darted for the doors, throwing them open and disappearing down the tunnel leading out of the hatchery.

Its killing days would soon be over.

Bright morning light filtered through the canopy, casting puddles of green sunshine all across the Summer Palace. Windracer watched the little emerald-green dragonet whose life he and Lagoon had saved romp on the beach, kicking up sand and pouncing on crabs.

"What's her name?" Arid asked. She leaned into Windracer's side for a moment, allowing him to feel the pleasant mix of her hot-and-cold-radiating scales.

"I'm trying to think of the perfect one," Windracer said. "Queen Coral said it was up to me. But, what do you think, Lagoon?"

"You should know what I'm thinking," said the older princess. "You can read my mind."

He could, and he was. The name Lagoon wanted to suggest was near perfect.

Wingbeats sounded in the air above them, and they all looked up to see Coral, Anemone, and Blister circling down from the Summer Palace pavilion.

The green dragonet scampered up to Anemone as soon as she landed and tackled one of her talons. Anemone laughed and flipped her over playfully. The baby princess yelped, struggled upright again, and started clawing her way up Anemone's leg.

"Have you picked a name?" Queen Coral asked Windracer.

Exchanging a smile with Lagoon, Windracer asked, "What do you think of Auklet? That's a kind of seabird, right?"

The queen nodded to confirm that fact was correct. "Orca's statue has been destroyed," she said with a sigh. "It was so beautiful, too. I can't believe Orca was an animus and hid her powers from me. We'll have to examine all her other carvings, too."

"We're sure it was Orca, right?" Lagoon asked.

Coral shook her head. "The statue came to me during the Council meeting, moving around like a real dragon. It said Orca, plain as day."

"That was me," Windracer said, "I reanimated it and ordered it to tell you who had enchanted it."

The SeaWing queen eyed the hybrid with interest. "But how did you know it was her?"

Windracer gladly jumped right into his explanation. "It occurred to me when I remembered you saying that animus magic runs in the royal SeaWing family. Being an animus myself, and reading so many scrolls about animus dragons, I was aware of the capabilities of those who possess that power. And then when you told us that Orca had sculpted the statue of herself in the Royal Hatchery, it all made sense. Orca carved that statue and dedicated it to the hatchery shortly before she challenged you for the throne. She'd expected to win, so she was setting up a way to get rid of her possible heirs and challengers. That way she'd be free to rule the SeaWings for several generations."

"It explains her last words," said Coral sadly. "She said 'I did this all wrong. You're going to rule forever, aren't you, Mother? You should thank me. No one can stop you now.'" The queen looked down at Anemone and Auklet, playing in the sand. She stroked Anemone's head with a wistful expression.

"Impressive," Arid said, nudging Windracer. "You should consider becoming a detective."

Windracer only smiled, absently patting his leather bag where the stick and seashell necklace were safely tucked away.

"So, now what?" Bog asked hesitantly.

"You all come with me, of course," said Blister. The diamond patterns on her side writhed as she stepped closer.

"You can't tell us what to do," Arid said boldly.

"I am your choice," Blister hissed. "The Ni - the Talons of Peace want me."

Windracer stared at the sinister SandWing princess suspiciously. Was she about to say...?

Storm and Ocotillo brushed past their daughter, facing Blister with fire in their eyes. "You threaten our daughter, you threaten us, too!"

Auburn quickly joined them, placing herself between Windracer and the SandWing princess.

"We will never choose you, Blister," Windracer called out from behind his mother's wing. "You will never be the SandWing queen."

Blister bared her teeth and raised her tail, ready to strike. "Oh, yes I will!"

And suddenly, a firebomb crashed through the canopy above, followed by several round cacti.

The Summer Palace was under attack.

The battle against Orca's statue would have been a lot shorter if Tsunami were an animus. I'm just saying.

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