Chapter 25

Shall we continue?

Windracer sat down as best he could with his injured leg, his gaze locked on to the RainWing dragonet.

"I wish you could talk," said Poisondart, a blanket of blue-gray, which Windracer guessed indicated sadness, creeping along his wings. "I don't even know your name. I bet we could be friends, especially since I only have a few of those back home. I miss the rainforest. Do you miss your home, too?"

Windracer never thought of the caves under the mountain as home, but his friends almost made it worth living there.

He missed his friends. They weren't there to help him because he'd run away from them, and they didn't know where he was now. How could he escape?

"I know I'm not supposed to visit other prisoners," Poisondart said. "But it gets really boring on my own. There's nothing to do around here except wait around for those black dragons to take you in for a venom test. And I don't mean the kind of venom test like the ones we do, I mean they take us to this fortress and have us melt a bunch of stuff. Weird, right? So far, all I've melted is a pile of leaves. They told me to melt this metal claw-thing, too, but our venom doesn't work on nonliving stuff. And then they had me spit some venom into a bowl and who knows what they want with that."

They're studying the RainWings, Windracer realized. Or, at least, their venom, apparently. But what for? Are they trying to replicate it somehow?

It's either that, or...they want to know how to defend against it.

"Maybe I can find something sharp enough to cut those ropes," said Poisondart, gesturing to the hybrid's bound talons. "Like a really sharp rock, or something. Or I could check one of those really disgusting dead things they feed us for sharp bones. That would be pretty gross, though."

His one-sided conversation was cut short when the sound of wingbeats from outside the cave increased in volume.

"They're coming!" The little dragonet darted behind one of the larger rocks, his scales flawlessly copying their surroundings. "Pretend I'm not here!"

That shouldn't be too hard, thought Windracer.

Three NightWings ducked into the cave, one after the other, crowding the narrow space. Windracer held his ground and stared back at them. At least there was no sign of Morrowseer. He'd have been dead for sure.

The lead dragon had golden wires wound around his horns and down his forehead, each suspending a circle of glass in front of each of his eyes. He was carrying some scrolls and a small container of ink.

The last dragon who came in had a disturbing scar twisted across his snout. Strange bubbles of deformed skin protruded from his jawline, and one of his nostrils was sealed shut, so he breathed in a loud, snuffly way.

The spectacled NightWing cupped his talons under Windracer's jaw. He lifted the younger dragon's head so he was looking him in the eye.

"Fascinating," he said. "He definitely looks more like a SkyWing. Of course, there are those NightWing genetics poking through, especially in the wings. So much to study, and so little time...perhaps I could get special permission from the queen." He withdrew his talons so he could write in one of the scrolls he was holding.

"But what do we do with him after that?" asked the unscathed guard.

"Get rid of him," said the scarred dragon, "Obviously. He's too dangerous to be kept alive, Risktaker."

"Well," said the spectacled NightWing, "He certainly doesn't look very dangerous to me. Nothing at all like the Darkstalker."

"You'd risk our tribe for that, Cleverclaws?" the scarred NightWing demanded. "I heard what he did to that SeaWing. He can easily do that to us!"

You don't think I don't want to? Windracer wanted to say.

"Take it easy, Vengeance," said Cleverclaws. "We all saw in the Obsidian Mirror. He won't harm a fly."

The Obsidian Mirror? Windracer asked himself, only to come up with the answer a minute later. That's what they must be using to spy on everyone. Most likely animus-touched. I wonder who made it.

There was a booming thud outside, and a massive shape blocked the exit. The three NightWings turned to find themselves staring into the glaring eyes of Morrowseer.

Windracer slumped to the cave floor. Da da da, I'm dead.

"Risktaker!" bellowed the enormous NightWing as he stepped into the cave. He smacked the guard's snout with his tail and pointed at the cowering hybrid. "What is that?!"

"The hybrid?" Risktaker answered after a moment's hesitation.

"Why didn't you do what I said?!" Morrowseer roared.

"But I did!" said Risktaker. "You told me you wanted him out of the way!"

"Well," snarled Morrowseer, "What's he doing here?!"

"I dragged him all the way back to this death trap," Risktaker said. "And chained him up with the RainWings. How much more out of the way could he be?"

"Dead, you imbecile." Morrowseer's growl turned into a roar as he spoke. "Dead is what he could be! DEAD!"

Quivering with fear, the guard started, "But he's..." Whatever he was about to say, he lost his nerve before he could finish.

"Let's not be too hasty," said Cleverclaws. His ink-covered talons flew across the scroll as he spoke. "We really ought to study this hybrid. I mean, look at him! The characteristics of two separate tribes merged into one entity! Think of what we could gain!"

"Or lose," snarled Vengeance. "You remember what happened when that idiot SandWing went and mingled with a SeaWing. No gills, no fire, no venom, just a useless little blob of glowing stripes."

"The possibilities are endless," Cleverclaws continued as if he didn't hear. "We could breathe underwater, fly faster than any dragon, shoot venom from our fangs. We could be all-powerful again! We could be...AllWings!"

Windracer sat there in silence, trying desperately to ignore all of the horrific visions that featured dragons like that.

"Stop stalling," Morrowseer demanded. "Queen Battlewinner and I want him dead, and we want it done NOW!"

"Gladly," snarled Vengeance, readying his spear.

"Wait!" Risktaker finally spoke up. "I'll do it. I should have done it in the first place, when we caught him."

Morrowseer opened his mouth to speak, but Cleverclaws cut him off. "Very well, Risktaker. Go ahead."

Windracer did nothing but watch as the guard padded closer to him. This was it, he was going to die. He was never going to see his friends again, he was never going to end the war, and, most important of all, he was never going to get the chance to apologize to Arid.

Strangely, he was still having visions of his future with her and their dragonets - confident Skyfire, loyal Bluemoon, friendly and cheerful Dawnbringer, kind and smart Duskflight, and sweet and funny little Oasis.

But wait, there was one more...a dragonet he'd never seen before. What was their name?

He was never going to find out.

Risktaker was standing over him now, his spear pointing down. The sharp end had three twisted claw-like points and glinted evilly in the reddish light.

But he wasn't aiming for Windracer's heart.

There were latches on the chains that had the hybrid trapped. Windracer had not noticed them before, but, if he had to guess, they were probably the locks that held the chains in place.

It was hard to see exactly what Risktaker did, but the hybrid felt the spear points hook into one of the latches, then twist and pull. The chains loosened, and the NightWing guard whispered one word to Windracer.

"Run."

There wasn't time for the confused hybrid to register what was happening before the chains fell off of him, and the NightWing leaped back.

"He's loose!" Risktaker screamed, flailing around and trying to pass as a surprised and frightened guard.

Morrowseer wasn't fooled. "Seize him!"

Vengeance lunged at Risktaker, who swung his spear at him in response. The tip caught the scarred flesh on his snout and left a small cut.

"Now, Cleverclaws!" Risktaker shouted over the noise.

The spectacled NightWing slipped past Morrowseer and Vengeance, his scrolls and ink left forgotten on the cave floor. He grabbed Windracer in his talons and gently pulled him up onto his back.

"Hold on tightly," he said, "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

He was in the air almost before Windracer could get his talons around his neck. He slipped sideways and nearly knocked Cleverclaws into the lava.

"Mmmmf," Windracer tried to apologize with the metal clamp still around his mouth.

"We'll take care of that later," said Cleverclaws, referring to the clamp.

Then he suddenly halted, a hiss of pain escaping his throat. Both dragons turned their heads back over their shoulders to find Morrowseer clutching Cleverclaws's tail in his talons.

"You're not going anywhere, traitor!" he growled. "Hand over that filthy half-breed or I'll -"

Something black dripped down onto his neck from an invisible source. There was a sizzling sound, and Morrowseer left out a roar of pain. By reflex, his talons released Cleverclaws and flew to his neck, which had started smoking.

"Take that, you big bully!" said the invisible source of the venom, their natural purple and pink color replacing the reddish black of the landscape.

Poisondart! Windracer had forgotten about him.

"He wasn't part of the plan," said Cleverclaws, mostly to himself. He shrugged. "Oh, well, the more the merrier. Follow me!"

Windracer stared at the spectacled NightWing as if he'd just peeled off his scales and revealed a hippo underneath. A quick peek into his mind told the hybrid everything he needed to know.

RainWings chained to the walls, starving and dehydrated, scales colored a sorrowful dark gray, and with several NightWings studying them. Cleverclaws was one of them, but his heart wasn't fully into it. He was quite possibly the only NightWing scientist who saw the RainWings as fellow dragons rather than as test subjects.

Windracer didn't see where Cleverclaws was flying, but he did notice several NightWings standing on a high rock ledge below them. He also saw Poisondart flapping madly to keep up with them.

And there was a NightWing guard flying on their left.

"Wisdom," Cleverclaws said, "Risktaker needs backup, fast!"

"Of course," the guard called back. He swooped down into a u-turn and made a beeline for the cave where they had once held Windracer captive.

"It should be around here somewhere," Cleverclaws mused. "Aha! Down there! Hold on!"

He went into a dive, and Windracer had to adjust his hold so he wouldn't fly right off. He squeezed his eyes shut as the pain from his broken wing and injured leg flared up again.

Then everything was still.

Windracer opened his eyes and found a plethora of NightWings staring at him. Most of them were mothers holding their dragonets, but he saw a few armored guards here and there.

Cleverclaws lowered the hybrid off of his back and onto the ground. "Help me get these off of him," he told the guards, tugging at the restraints on Windracer's wings.

Windracer's snout contorted in discomfort as one of the guards worked his broken wing free as gently as he could. Another guard hooked his spear into the latch on the clamp that held hybrid's mouth closed, and gave it the same twist and pull Risktaker had with the chains. The clamp slipped open and fell off, and Windracer let out a croaky, "Thank you."

"Our pleasure," said one of the guards.

Cleverclaws adjusted his glasses as he examined the hybrid's wounds. "That wing will be an easy fix," he said, "But that bite on your leg...which NightWing did that?"

"Morrowseer," Windracer answered automatically.

Cleverclaws shook his head, tsk tsk tsking. "It looks bad. Probably infected. We need to get him to a healer right away."

"Why?" Windracer wheezed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're the only hope we have," said one of the NightWing mothers. She was holding her dragonet tightly to her chest, even in spite of their protests of being squished.

"It's true," said Cleverclaws. "Queen Battlewinner and Morrowseer are ruthless. They're too concerned about making our fake prophecy come true. They don't see how much we're really suffering right now. We'd hoped you'd be able to help us."

So there is still hope for the NightWings, Windracer thought with relief. "I want to," he said, coughing on the smoke. "Really, I do. But I don't know how I can do that." Then he remembered something. "Risktaker! He needs help!"

"Don't worry," Cleverclaws assured him. "He and Wisdom are among the best soldiers we have. They'll be alright. Now, we need to get you fixed up."

"The healers won't take him here," said one of the mothers. "Not with the threat of the queen hanging over their heads."

"Then we'll take him through the tunnels," said another NightWing. "Find a healer we can trust. It's the only other option we have."

Windracer strained to look at her. It was hard, due to the lack of light, but he could see a diamond necklace contrasting against an ugly scar that rippled down her chest. She lifted her talons to claw at the necklace nervously, as if she was afraid no one would believe what she had said.

"Princess Greatness is right," said Cleverclaws, "We have to get him off of this island."

"Princess?" Windracer repeated.

"This was all my idea," she said. "Cleverclaws helped plan it, but I thought of it. We recruited the most trustworthy guards we knew to gather all of the mothers and their dragonets. We were going to look for you, but Risktaker told us they were bringing you here, so we had to improvise. My mother can't know about this. She'd kill me if she ever found out."

"No, she wouldn't," Cleverclaws argued. "You're the only heir to the throne. A kingdom without heirs is a disaster waiting to happen."

Greatness tugged at her necklace. "But I don't want to be queen. Being queen is awful!"

Windracer opened his mouth to speak, but a groan of pain escaped instead.

"We'll have to cross that bridge when we get there," Cleverclaws decided. "Right now, he's our number one priority."

"Poisondart," said Windracer, pointing. The RainWing dragonet had changed his scales to match the color of the NightWings, but he was still recognizable. "He needs to go home. To the rainforest."

"That's where we're going," said Cleverclaws, lifting the hybrid onto his back again. "There's a magic tunnel that leads from here to there. Your little friend can go home, and we'll head out through the other tunnel to the Kingdom of Sand and look for that multi-tribe town on the river. I hear the doctor there is one of the best in Pyrrhia."

Magic tunnels, multi-tribe town, doctors...so many questions were buzzing around in Windracer's head, but he was too tired and in too much pain to ask any of them.

"Sleep," Cleverclaws advised, "You'll need your rest."

"My bag," said the hybrid between tired pauses. "There's a spearhead...I enchanted it...to find what I'm looking for."

"I have it here," said Risktaker's voice. He and Wisdom landed a few feet away, the hybrid's leather bag resting safely in the former's talons.

Exhaustion was starting to overwhelm Windracer. He tried to settle onto the scales of Cleverclaws's back, but he was in too much pain.

He missed his friends. He wanted to be eating boar with Bog, talking with Lagoon, cuddling with his mother, yelling at the RainWing twins for pulling another prank on him, like sneaking worms into his dinner.

But mostly he missed Arid. He missed her scales leaning against his, her blue eyes watching him while he talked. He wanted to tell her about everything that happened today - about the kidnapped RainWings, the Obsidian Mirror, the horrible living conditions of the NightWings, and the revolution that was being led by Princess Greatness.

He wanted to tell her all about Poisondart.

And Vivid.

And...

His eyes closed, and sleep came for him.

Before you even ask, no, the NightWings are not trying to trick Windracer. This revolution is the real deal, no traitorous schemes at play.

I can't make any promises, but there may be at least one more chapter before my wait for the Runty SkyWing triggers a more long-term hiatus.

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