It may be my least favorite book in the whole series, (Never read dragon slayer..don't plan to either) but man I love Snowfall so much. Middle children unite
"Why did he leave?" Peril asked, walking behind Glory who was moving through the rocky terrain, past some trees towards the East watch tower which the Nightwing would have gone towards.
They had spent the past two hours trailing Starflight but neither of their noses were as good as his so Glory had to run forward to not lose the scent. Peril had to go slower so as to not catch the entire tree line on fire and Glory routinely had to turn around and signal for the Skywing to keep up. "I don't know, but if he got himself killed I am going to strangle him." She said which Peril responded with a soft grunt of amusement.
She kicked her legs up as she passed by a fallen tree, the two almost entering a long stretch of open grass with no trees or any kind of cover to hide from patrols. Glory winced as she heard wing beats in the distance and without any warning, Peril hissed behind her.
"They'll spot us out in the open like that!" She said, not leaving from her spot. Glory wished Peril wasn't about to be a pain right now. She NEEDED to get to Starflight!
Glory flared her wings, blending in with the grass beneath her. "I'll just stay camouflaged, come on!"
Peril continued to stay rooted to her spot like the tree next to her. "They'll spot me either way! I'll…I'll just meet you at the tower the long way!" She said, turning to run down through the trees before Glory could stop her.
The Rainwing really wished she could shout out in frustration. "Why are the two dragons I'm with so STUPID!" She thought angrily as she began running through the grass. It was NIGHT! Why did she think Skywings would be able to make her out?! And Starflight, doing something as stupid as this…what came over him?! She growled to herself when she saw a pig walking by and she whacked it with her tail without thinking. She heard it snorting before it vanished as the cover of night made her bump into a rock. It has been a few minutes before she could make out the tower in the dark abyss, Glory hoping that Skywing eyes weren't nearly as good as she was told by Kestrel. She could see torch lights in one of the open windows above the canopy of trees but most of the tower was obscured by leaves. She made her way through, climbing the tallest tree and finally getting a good look.
It was a massive stone tower, about double the size of the platforms her friends were stuck on in the arena. The top of the tower was made of wood with a single Skywing walking around in a circle while the four floors beneath it (Each signaled by a window showing the middle of the floor) were blocked off by gray stone, keeping it safe from fire. There was no guards on what looked like the front door but Glory wasn't stupid enough to go through it. She looked out into the distance, away from the tower and grimaced. "No Peril. Guess I'm going in myself."
The closer she got to the tower, the stronger Starflight's scent became which was NOT a good sign to her. She landed at the base of the building before putting an ear to the wall, making out muffled voices about two floors above. She flew to the window, still camouflaged and tried to listen in, her talons clinging to the stone to keep her balance.
"I say we send him back tonight!" A sharp voice closest to Glory said with a sense of arrogance. "Queen Ruby will be pleased to see one of her mother's killers put to justice."
Glory heard the sound of a face hitting the floor as a new voice spoke up, one with much more authority and malice to her. "Ruby is only a temporary Queen until Quee Scarlet is found and we are not doing ANYTHING to that brat until we get orders."
A third voice piped up, one that didn't sound as burly and gruff as the others. "Shouldn't we let him go? I mean, if he's one of the dragonets of destiny…"
The sound of fire being spat out and a table turning over rang in Glory's ears as the second voice spoke once more. "You know the law, we do not speak of stupid dragonet bed time stories. Go take Evening's shift and your punishment is no dinner."
Talons rustiling could be heard as a dragon stepped out of the way and the first voice spoke. "You don't really think Scarlet is alive, do you? You saw how melted her face got. She is definitely de-"
Another smack, much harder this time by the sound of it. "No body, no proof. Until we are sure she is dead, Ruby is not the real Queen!"
Glory bristled and stood rooted to her spot. "So Ruby was in charge. But it doesn't seem like all of her Skywings are completely loyal." She soared down through the different levels of the tower but didn't see Starflight in any of them. There were two Skywings on the third floor, two at the top but one probably left to the fourth floor. So four Skywings "I can take two of them, using my venom on one and attack the other…but four?" She figured her chance at exploring the tower while camouflaged was her best bet. But now she needed to find a way to get in.
She landed at the floor of the tower and checked her camouflage one last time and after feeling good about it, she leaped into the sky and soared down to the top part of the tower. She landed on the wooden platform, hoping the Skywing wouldn't notice and he seemed more interested in trying not to fall asleep. He sneezed and Glory took her chance to fly in through the center opening, landing on the fourth floor. It looked like a trophy room of some kind with different gold and jewels overflowing the barrels and chests inside. If she wasn't on a mission to save Starflight, she would stand and admire them a bit longer. She walked by a barrel of treasure and felt her heart stop as an emerald landed down off the barrel and made a loud thud.
"What was that?" The first voice asked.
"Not sure. Eveaning, go check." The authoritative voice said and a snort was the response but a dragon could be heard walking up the stairs. He was bright orange and looked a bit older than the dragon on watch. He looked around and found the emerald and his talon just barely missed Glory who took her chance to dart down through the stairs into the third floor which looked like an eating room of some kind.
She hid in the corner, her scales now light gray to match the candlelit stone next to her while her talons were brown. She stared at the three Skywings and noticed how beat up the first dragon was. His face was bruised and he had a large slash on his left eye along with his jaw seeming to not be connected correctly, or at least it had gotten hit pretty hard at one point. The second dragon was much less hurt looking with only some scars on her talons and one under her mouth. "Nothing up there. Just a piece of treasure fell." The third dragon muttered, sitting on the third spot as they drank some kind of tea from the smell of it. "So how do you three feel about that new guard?"
Glory wanted to sneak down to the next floor but she heard the first dragon speak. "He's a runt. I don't know how he even got past training. A real fight would do him some good." He growled.
The second dragon shook her head. "He's new, cut him some slack, Dagger. Once he drops the prophecy nonsense and I start training him he'll be easier to be around." She said.
Glory took her chance as the three yawned and landed in what looked like a storage shed. There was still no sign of him and Glory was getting frustrated. He HAD to be here! She ignored what else was in the room and flew down to the bottom floor, seeing five beds around it and still nothing. No Nightwing hidden in the corner or anything. She bit her lip to stop a furious growl from bubbling up. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and she almost gasped, seeing Peril's wing crouched behind a rock. She flew out of the front door, still camouflaged and showed up behind her, flying by two trees.
"Ack!" Peril yelped as Glory materialized in behind her. "Glory?"
"Yes. Next time, don't run off!" Glory said, fluffing her wings to stretch. "Ok, so they have Starflight but I couldn't find him. I flew through the entire tower and still nothing. Where do Skywings keep their prisoners?" She asked quickly, keeping her voice down.
Peril blinked in confusion before looking at the rocks. "I uh, I think they have trap doors under a dragon's bed. Not sure which one would have it but it's so they don't have to worry about dragon's trying to save them."
Glory had never heard of this before in any scrolls and Kestrel never brought it up. "Not that she ever taught us anything useful. A terrible teacher as usual when this information might have helped." She looked over Peril to the tower. "Ok. So here's the plan. I'll look for Starflight under the beds, you get ready. If I need backup, I'll scream or something and you run into the tower, fire blazing. Ok?"
Peril looked happy for that plan. "Do I finally get to do something?" She then looked nervous, staring at the tower as well. "Against Skywings…I-ok, yeah. I can do this, can I? Would Clay want me to fight Skywings?" She asked nervously, a look of uncertainty covering her face.
Glory groaned. "Yes, we are doing it to save Starflight. I'll be right back, be ready." She said and flew to the entrance of the tower, looking up to make sure no one had left their spots and saw a shadow in the treasure room. She entered and looked under each bed, finally seeing a latch on the most well kept bed and she cautiously moved the bed, taking care to make sure it barely made any noise. "Good thing it's cotton only." She opened the latch and then closed it, going down the dark tunnel.
Lining the walls was moss and dirt with wooden posts positioned to keep the dirt from caving in. She stepped on sharp rocks which made her stick her front claw up in pain. She took caution after that to watch where she stepped and after a few seconds of walking, she reached a room with no light. "Starflight?"
A muffled gasp was her response and Glory felt her cheeks fill with joy before remembering that she was supposed to be angry at the stupid Nightwing. "What were you thinking?!" She hissed, feelin around in the dark until she grabbed the vines keeping his claws behind his wings. "Sneaking off in broad daylight so stupid Skywings could catch you. And I thought you were the smartest of us." She mumbled and an apologetic grunt was his second response.
She finally removed the cloth keeping his mouth gagged and gasped for breath. "G-Glory!" He cried happily. "I-it was so scary…there were so many and they just came out of nowhere! I thought I could get by without being seen but they got me and I thought they were going to kill me then they put me in here." He spoke quickly but was cut off when Glory wrapped the small Nightwing in a hug.
"If you get yourself killed I will murder you, I hope you know that." She said though it sounded like she meant it. "Ok, come on. Hopefully they haven't seen that the bed was moved." She said, leading him down the tunnel and as they reached it, she heard yelling up through the passage, making Glory stop in worry. "No, Peril!" She flew out with Starflight behind her and she heard what sounded like fighting outside. The first dragon was facing her from the window, preparing a blast of fire but before he could react, Glory bared her fangs and spit her venom at his throat, causing him to buckle over and gasp for breath while Starflight jumped back at the venom.
"I-Is he d-dea-"
"He will be soon, now we have to go. NOW!" She shouted and forced Starflight out of the tower where two Skywings were fighting Peril, avoiding her while trying to jab her with spears. Glory tackled the bigger Skywing but was met with sharp claws slashing her side, almost making her bend over. She realized that Starflight didn't follow her and she was facing the larger dragon alone as Peril was focused on Evening.
"Stupid Rainwing." She growled, shooting a blast of fire at Glory who just barely rolled out of the way. She lunged at the Skywing and tried to throw her off by ducking under her claws and scraping at her stomach, drawing blood and making her cry out in pain. "I'll kill you, brat!" She roared and slammed her claw down, pinning Glory down.
She prepared to crush the Nightwings jaw but was stopped when a weak blast of fire hit her wing, making her turn in annoyance to see Starflight who looked about ready to turn to stone in fear. Glory wished she spit another dose of venom but she felt like her teeth were exhausted from the last spit so instead she took the chance to throw a jagged rock at her, hitting her eye and forcing the Skywing to let go. She slithered out and stood back up, preparing to strike once more as Evening yelled out in pain. This distracted the Skywing long enough for Glory to leap for the spear, attempting to knock it to the side while Starflight rolled out of the way,
Glory, now close enough, lashed her talons against the Skywings throat but not being able to pierce her scales. The dragon was about to blast her with fire but got stopped when smoke emitted from her back, Peril latching onto her. Glory took her chance to get out of the way and Glory thought she saw a shadow fly out of the tower and that was when she remembered about the fourth Skywing. "Stay here." She growled at the other two and took off, her wings bright red as she pursued that dragon.
The air was cold and tasted like smoke but she pushed it aside as she forced her wings to fly faster. The Skywing didn't look as quick as most and even seemed to be slowing down as he probably thought he was safe. Glory tried to camouflage so he wouldn't see her and her thought veered as hard as her wings. "If he gets to more Skywings he can bring reinforcements. I can't let him alert the Queen that we're still in her kingdom. I can't let him escape." in seconds she was on top of him.
Glory let her scales flash many different colors to distract him and she tackled the Skywing in the air, forcing him to carry her weight while unable to fight back, which didn't mean he wasn't trying. He swiped a claw towards her in an attempt to get him off. "W-WHO ARE YOU!?" He screamed, kicking her away and looking more scared than angry.
Glory let her scales return to her normal colors. "The wrong dragon to steal a friend from." She was about to continue the attack but stopped as he yelped.
"W-Wait! Y-you're the N-Nightwings f-freind?" He said quickly, his breathing growing intense as his wings flapped wildly. "I-I didn't want to h-hurt him, p-please! H-he's a dragonet of d-d-destiny, right?"
Glory narrowed her eyes at him. Could she reveal Starflight like that? Did he know that the Mudwing was dead and the prophecy couldn't come true? Was he worth keeping alive at this point? "So what if he is?"
He looked elated. "H-he's going to help end the war, r-right? I want that too!" He cried, looking frantic. "Q-Queen Scarlet h-had my sister killed because her egg was supposed to hatch o-on the brightest n-night and I'm glad she's gone but please don't tell the others at the tower because they will kill me for saying that."
Glory realy wanted him to shut up. "The others at the tower are dead. They tried to kill Peril."
He looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. "D-dead? But she's a traitor! We-we have too…I couldn't…"
Glory realized he maybe didn't have to die…on one condition. "You want the war to end, right?" He nodded, looking ready to cry. "Then that Nightwing needs Peril. It's her job to keep him safe. So if you really want this war to end, you WON'T tell Queen Ruby that he's still in the Kingdom of the Sky. You WON'T tell other Skywings that Peril is helping him and you WON'T tell anyone that I'm with them. Do you understand?"
He didn't look so sure. "I-I can't not tell them about the tower…they know I was positioned here…"
Glory considered this. She turned back to the tower and felt her mind get struck by a spark. "How about this? You wait a day, maybe here, then you fly out to find the first Skywing patrol you can see. Bring them to the tower and tell them that you were ordered to find help. We'll be long gone and you can claim that you were ordered to leave."
He looked like it would work, staring at her uncomfortably. "I can do that. But, why is a Rainwing helping a dragonet of destiny? I'm just curious…My name is Eagle, y the way…not that that's important…
"Because I can. Now go, Eagle." She growled and he did so, taking off and Glory took her chance to fly back to the tower, still feeling the ashy air in her throat. When she landed, she saw a dragon covered in ash marks that Peril was standing over. She looked…sad? Starflight on the other hand was breathing heavily, muttering something and didn't notice that Glory had made her arrival.
"Welcome back." Peril mumbled, glumly. She tapped the dragon, making steam rise up from her scales. "Got rid of both of them. There was one inside the tower but he looked dead when I went in there so I didn't bother. Want to go in there an-"
"PLEASE stop talking." Starflight moaned, his wings holding his head. He looked about ready to send back the food he had eaten that morning.
Glory shook her head. "It's alright Peril. We need to get moving. That Skywing said he'd wait for a day to get more Skywings so they can check the tower. He wants the dragonets to succeed so he's giving us time to escape." She said this hoping it would inspire confidence in the two. All it seemed to do was make Starflight maon in despair and Peril snort out a flame. "Guys, we HAVE to go!"
"I-I know…" Starflight muttered, finally getting up. "I just…I didn't want this…" He said, staring at Glory, or more correctly, at where her fangs were.
Glory tried to smile at him but forcing it was a lot harder then actually having her face contort to the right shape for it so she dropped it and just gave him a sad but comforting look. "I know, I didn't either but they were going to kill you one way or the other. Besides, the youngest one is still alive and he wanted to keep you safe."
"Ok…I'll try…" He muttered, walking towards her but not looking at Peril who seemed to take notice and stood back. "This way, come on." He said and led them down through the path, going back into the trees. "It shouldn't take too much longer, just a few minutes and we can reach the river. I told you this path was better."
Glory scoffed. "Better at getting captured maybe."
He winced and continued, figuring now was not the time to bring that up. They finally got out of the trees just as the sun started peaking out, making Glory happy that they would no longer have to bump into trees, rocks or anything elsse. Starflight seemed unhappy at the sun's presence but that could just have been because he was tired.
At last, they made it. Glory could hear the sound of rushing water just past the hill and she bounded ahead, remembering how much she missed a cool drink after a long night which they definitely had. She reached the water and ducked her head down, taking sips of the freshwater against her tongue and making her feel way more refreshed. It felt wonderful, so wonderful that she had started splashing the water onto her scratches from the battle and implored the others to do the same. Peril snickered but did dip down to drink it, causing steam to rise. Starflight was nervous but eventually conceded, bending down and getting a drink of his own.
Within the next two hours, Glory had caught a deer, bringing it to the others and letting them all chew down on it. Glory put part of it on a stick and handed it to Peril, letting the Skywing get an actual taste. "Ok guys, I think we should sleep during the day again." The Rainwing said between deer bites. "I'll stand watch this time. You get some sleep."
Peril didn't look troubled by this and fell asleep rather quickly. Starflight seemed to wait for the Skywing to start snoozing before looking at her as if she was a nightmare come true. He then looked at Starflight, gazing at her sadly before coiling up and let out low breaths. Staring at him reminded her of the times he would get into an argument with Tsunami and pretend to fall asleep in a huff, only for Clay to comfort him later while Sunny wandered off to try and calm Tsunami down.
Glory waited for him to actually fall asleep before looking up at the rising sun, suddenly wishing she didn't take the first watch. The sun was starting to hit her scales through the leaves and it felt like her hunger was diminishing. If she could, Glory would try to draw the perfect sunrise, a beautiful orange and red covered sky as the yellow light entered through leaves as if they were poking holes through it. The real world was so much more beautiful than what the guardians had shown them. Being trapped under the mountain had robbed them of a wonderful world they should have been a part of. Because of them, Clay never got to experience that world and all it had to offer. She would find a way to avenge him.
"Clay always said we had to stick together. Clay always said we were a family…why did I never return the phrase?" The guardians were awful, they made her wish she had the strength to destroy the boulder and strangle Kestrel. Clay's loyalty made her life so much better. Him and Sunny always tried to stop the other three from fighting. Without him, she wondered how awful they would all treat each other. What if they had gotten another Mudwing in his place? Would they have cared about the others? Was it just a Mudwing thing? "No, It's a Clay thing." She knew there was no way they could have gotten a better big brother to be with them.
"And that's why I have to find Sunny." She thought darkly, spitting her venom at a wandering lizard. "So we can serve justice." The lizard dissolved in front of her and for a moment, she wished it was Morrowseer.