*facedesk* Gosh dangint, I did it again... A Nightwing's silver scales by their eyes signify mindreading, not prophecy... Dangit, Fatespeaker, you screwed me up... Feel free to call me out on those little things. They annoy me to no end when I see them after I upload.
To this entry, might lose some of my few readers with this one... Might get a few more with the new description though. Trying to play the algorithm here, or at least the way I've noticed people read things on this site.
Anyway, to this.
Prairie sprinted through the tunnel, not wanting to wait a second longer to see what was on the other side. He rounded a corner… and stopped in his tracks. The tunnel was pitch black ahead of him. He could barely see past his snout. Only the light leaking in from the rainforest allowed him to see anything at all. Prairie reached around in the area he could see for a loose rock, or a pebble, or something he could enchant to let him see.
This was something he didn't think he'd have a problem with. There was no shortage of twigs and sticks for torches or bonfires. The Rainwings had some kind of glow in the dark moss, not to mention the orbs from the Icewing Gift of Light growing just outside the Rainwing village. Even flamesilk lanterns were starting to make it to Pyrrhia now. Of course, none of that would be needed if he inherited his grandfather's night vision or his mom's fire.
His magic was no good too. The tunnel was almost completely smooth. There wasn't even dust on the ground. Unless he enchanted the tunnel to light up, he wouldn't be able to see. Maybe he should go out and grab a pebble. He'd rather not claw anything off the wall in case something in the magic broke or something…
Wait, wasn't he just panicking about losing his soul? Prairie took a couple steps back and shook his head. He didn't feel any different from one spell. Maybe it wasn't how big a spell was, but how many he cast? Again, that explained Turtle, but not others. Nope. No more spells today. He'd just take it slow, one wing on the wall to take him to the other side. Anyway, his eyes would adjust to the dark after a while.
So, Prairie continued on like that in the dark, leaving the light behind him after another turn. At one point, he left the relative comfort of the wall to stretch his wings across the tunnel. Like the tunnel entrance, it looked and felt like it was big enough to fly through. That would be nice to know for the return trip. His mental map hadn't failed him yet, though it did feel like he wrapped around the same place a couple times. The ground had to be dipping.
Just when Prairie thought the tunnel itself might be the place no dragon had seen before, he saw light ahead. He smiled and ran across the tunnel floor again. The prince rounded a corner and he saw the tunnel exit. Finally! He was going to be the first dragon in… wherever this place was! He sprinted faster than he ever ran before. The light grew brighter, and he thought he saw some trees on the other side.
Prairie spread his wings before he left the tunnel. As soon as he passed the rock walls, he jumped into the air and smiled at this new place… and his smile dropped away just as quick. It was… boring. A sparse forest lay beneath him, but it didn't go much further than the base of the mountain the tunnel let out on. It wasn't even a rainforest, just… leafy trees that could have been taken straight from the north of Pyrrhia. Beyond that, endless rolling hills with the occasional stand of trees. While he'd never seen this exact place before, it looked like the border between the Mud Kingdom and the Sky Kingdom. No strange trees, no purple volcano, no dragon sized prey that tasted like cows.
"What?" Prairie stared back at the tunnel he came through. How literal was the spell? Was it just that particular rock that no dragon had seen before? Was he really somewhere in the Mud Kingdom? Did he word the spell wrong in another way? Did he misspeak? This was supposed to be a cool place! Not… whatever this was.
Prairie stared forward again. He brought his jaw up and half lidded his eyes. Well, this was incredibly disappointing. He just needed to fly north to see a place like this. All that damage to his soul for nothing. He sniffed in derision… That was something he never smelled before. It smelt like something was burning, but it wasn't anything he normally smelt.
He turned around in the sky. No smoke rose from anywhere. Nothing he saw looked like it would produce that kind of burning smell either. As he searched, Prairie noticed little things, like trails in the forest. Those were bigger than any prey he knew of. Some of the land farther away had a weird rectangular pattern to it. He felt a smile creep back onto his face. Maybe this place wasn't so boring after all.
Prairie reached back for his bag but instead grabbed empty air. He turned his head to stare at his bare back. "Of course…" Some adventurer he'd turn out to be. He didn't have any map making tools, water, or food. His pack was back at his aunt's and uncle's back in the Nightwing village. Sure, he saw a couple rivers and there had to be some sort of prey in all this, but that was no excuse. What if he wasn't so lucky where he turned up? He shook his head. He could do a little scouting now and come back later, more prepared.
With no way to create a physical map, Prairie looked around for landmarks. Of course, there was the mountain itself. If nothing else, he knew his tunnel was somewhere on it. He looked up at the sun. If he felt the heat and judged the shadows right, the tunnel was on the north side of the mountain. Flying a little higher, he saw a creek in a valley on the other side of a ridge. That creek flowed north for a bit… toward… something? It was a bit too far away to get a clear view, but it would be a good trail to follow. He also searched for some trees or rocks that would give him a way to find the entrance if his internal map failed.
Satisfied, Prairie began flying northeast to those strange rectangular places in the fields. Those things were far too straight to be natural. But what dragon would make that? Was it some sort of art that he didn't know about? That wouldn't be too hard. Maybe if he flew higher? Prairie tried gaining height, but his wings and lungs just couldn't take it. Maybe a Skywing could make it, but he was no Skywing. He could outfly anyone over distance. Height was another matter.
Something growled above him, something angry. Prairie slowed to a stop and stared up. A white dragon flew high above him. But… they had to be huge! Their wings extended straight out from their sides. Instead of a tail, a second set of much smaller wings stuck out of their rear end. They had no obvious head either, they might as well have been a dragon's torso with wings. They carried something under their wings too, something that gave off white smoke. Was that what he smelled earlier? Whatever they were, they didn't stop the dragon from flying higher than any Skywing he'd ever met. But most importantly, whoever that dragon was, they didn't turn toward Prairie. They just kept flying with that smoke trailing behind them.
"What?" Prairie laughed to himself. A new tribe? This one looked nothing like the rest. What did they call themselves? Straightwings? Now that he thought about it, he didn't see that dragon flap once. Then again, how could they with those things under their wings? Maybe those things were… wait… were those things their legs? Prairie stared harder at the weird dragon. They had no obvious legs. "What?" Prairie cocked his head. Maybe that dragon wasn't a dragon. Maybe it was an animal that only lived in this place. In that case, this place got even more interesting.
Taking his eyes off the weird animal, Prairie continued toward the strange rectangle fields. As he approached, he noticed almost all of them were surrounded by some kind of dirt trail. These looked intentional, like… Roads! Human roads! There were humans around here! But their roads were only in their cities and between cities. These were just between the different rectangles.
Prairie flew lower for a better look. The humans never did anything without reason. What were those rectangles? Each of them had a plant of different color and height. They looked like grains, bushes, maybe a few fruit trees. Prairie blinked. Farms? Even with the smaller plants, one of these rectangles could feed one of the humans' smaller dens for a long time. Prairie looked up and to the horizon. There were a lot of these rectangles, much more than needed to feed the Indestructible City. No. These couldn't be farms. There's just too many of them.
Something on the ground caught his eye. He faced it and cocked his head. Something moved on the ground on one of the roads. It was red, covered in dirt, and made a weird growling noise. The nose of the thing angled up, then dropped and flattened on the back half. It turned a corner. It moved on dark wheels, but nothing pulled it. Prairie cocked his head. He'd never seen human wagons move without something pulling it, unless it was rolling down a hill. That was a fun day. While the ground there wasn't flat, it wasn't enough to make things roll… and it moved up a small mound as fast as it moved down. "Huh." Prairie shrugged in the air. The animal was probably inside.
The thing jerked around on the ground before straightening out. A few seconds later, it sped off down the road, a large dust cloud billowing behind it. That was… strange.
Prairie took his eyes off the red thing only to see a giant green beast in one of the fields. A large, black, spiked thing rolled in front of it. Those had to be what all the food was for. Very little was left behind it. If that whole field was for that one beast, it ate more than Uncle Clay could.
"That explains it." Prairie looked up and at other fields. More of the same beasts fed in other fields, though some of them had sharp teeth on the front. How they ate with those teeth pointing forward, he didn't know. Maybe they were horns pointing forward instead with the mouth underneath? More wagons rolled on roads, with some in the fields with the beast.
"This place keeps getting better!" Prairie backflipped in joy. Savanna would so like this place. She didn't like humans as much as Winter or that one Hivewing they met, but weird animals? Oh yeah. Pantala had animals with ridiculously long necks called 'giraffes,' though there weren't many around. Just around the edges of the Poison Jungle. For the first time in a while, Prairie wasn't jealous of his sister for getting to go to Pantala first. He found a whole new animal that no dragon had seen before.
He laughed to himself and continued flying north. Almost immediately, Prairie stopped and dropped his jaw. How hadn't he noticed that before? A whole bunch of human buildings sprawled a few minutes flight in that direction. There were so many, and so spread out. The only human dwellings he'd seen from the air before were in the Indestructible City. All others were hidden underground or in heavy tree cover. While most of these dwellings had trees, it didn't look like they were meant to hide anything. If they were, they did a terrible job of it. Even more of the wagons rolled in and out of the city. In fact, it didn't look like this place had any defenses at all. No walls, none of their various long rage weapons, nothing.
"Whooooooaaaaaa…" Prairie blinked. As cool as this was, maybe he shouldn't be the one to first talk with these humans. That was a job for his sister, mom, or grandma… Aaaaaand that was another problem. How was he going to explain this to any of them. He dipped his head at the thought of it. He'd rather see Auntie Glory and Uncle Deathbringer angry than the other three disappointed… though Grandma Thorn would probably get pretty angry too… and his aunt and uncle wouldn't like another tunnel in their kingdom.
With that unhappy thought, it was time to leave. Prairie turned around and flew back south to the mountain. While the trip was fun, it was really something he wasn't supposed to do. He wasn't even supposed to fly across Pyrrhia alone. This place? Not even close. Not to mention the magic for the tunnel… he still didn't feel evil. If anything, he was a bit hungrier than when he left the rainforest. As if it heard his thoughts, his stomach growled for attention.
"Okay, okay." Prairie rolled his eyes and searched the ground. There had to be some sort of prey down there. He straightened his wings and glided down toward the tree tops, gliding only a tail length above. The prince started sniffing and licking the air. Deer? Definitely deer, maybe moose. Something smelled off about them, but he couldn't place it. He could also smell human, though not nearly as many. More burning too, but no smoke.
He caught the smell of fresh deer and looked down fast enough to see one between the trees. His prey targeted, Prairie backflipped again and positioned himself over the deer. He nosed down and pulled his wings in. At the last moment, he stuck out his front talons and crashed down on his dinner. He crushed his prey beneath his weight. The deer didn't even have time to scream.
Prairie stepped off his kill and licked his lips. It was smaller than he thought it would be, maybe a few months old… but with long, five pointed horns. That was different. Either way, he had an early dinner, or maybe a contribution to the meal his aunt was preparing. He wouldn't be able to drag a full sized one that far through the tunnel. Flying wouldn't be too bad.
The wind shifted and he smelled something different. Prairie turned toward the scent. At first he didn't see it, then he saw a pale face in between some trees. A human was there watching him. "Oh, hi," the dragon said.
The human shot to their feet and yelled something at Prairie. He didn't speak human as well as the rest of his family, but he thought he heard the word 'stay.'
"Oh, I can't stay. I've got to go back." Prairie flicked his barbed tail toward the mountain.
The human yelled the same thing and took a step back. They pointed a wood and metal stick at him. Some sort of greeting?
Prairie blinked. Well, it didn't look like he had a choice. He was going to need to talk to these humans. There was one thing that he had been taught to say. He smiled at the human. "Hello. I'm P-"
The stick flashed and banged. A lot of something slammed into Prairie. The prince screamed and jumped away. Whatever it was stung like a thousand scorpions. He turned around, swinging his tail at the human. The thing banged again. More of whatever it was flamed into his rear end. Prairie screamed again and jumped into the air. He could still move his tail and wings. He could still escape.
Prairie continued to scream and cry as he flew toward the mountain. The pain came in waves. It felt like whatever it was dug itself deeper with every flap. What was that? One of their arrows? Tears blocked his sight as he flew. Why did the mountain have to be so far away?
He flew along the river, low to the ground. The humans here were dangerous. Maybe if they didn't see him… Another human stepped out of the trees, another of those boomsticks in their hands. Prairie screamed again and flew higher. They were everywhere!
The tunnel entrance came into sight. Prairie flapped harder toward it. He was almost home. He flew into the tunnel and kept his wings level. As the light faded, he tried to rely on the map in his head… but that was fuzzy too. He made the first turn no problem, and the second. On the third, his right wing brushed the wall and crumpled. Prairie instinctively pulled his wings in and rolled as he hit the ground. He gasped as the pain raced through him again.
Prairie pushed himself up, not putting any weight on his front right leg. His back left also hurt terribly but it wasn't completely unbearable. He limped down the tunnel toward the Rainforest. The only sound came from his whimpered breathing and water dripping to the stone… or maybe that was just his blood. He began to feel tired. His dad told him being tired while this hurt was never a good sign. He needed to stay awake. Just keep moving…
Prairie turned another corner. He saw light ahead. The rainforest. Finally. He jumped as hard as his screaming legs allowed and spread his wings. They felt so heavy as he sped toward the tunnel exit. He could almost smell the trees and animals. He just needed to go… a little… farther…
The prince flew out of the tunnel and crashed onto the rocky ground beneath him. He panted hard as he stared straight ahead. Rocks, trees, the sound of water in the distance, he was back in the rainforest. He raised his head. A bunch of dragons flew above him. Some black, some blue, others green. "Help…" Prairie tried to scream, but he could barely hear himself. Still, one of the black dragons stopped in place. The other dragons stopped soon after. Did that one… "Help…"
The Nightwing dove for him. A second later, a deep blue one dove faster. After that one, the whole group flew toward him. Prairie sighed in relief. Help was coming. The blue dragon flared her wings and landed hard in front of him. She grabbed his head and made him look into her eyes. Even though she had a new scar on her face, Prairie couldn't forget that face. "Auntie Tsunami…"
"Stay with me, Prairie," Auntie Tsunami ordered. "Look at me. Tell me what happened."
Prairie cried in his aunt's talons. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"Three moons," another voice said. Prairie thought it was Uncle Riptide. "Dragonflame cactus?"
"The pattern's not right." Gentle talons brushed the scales by his front injury. That could only be his cousin. Despite the almost featherlike touch, it added to the pain.
"Deathbringer!" Auntie Glory's Queen voice started, "take some guards. Find who did this."
"You three!" Prairie didn't see who Uncle Deathbringer called on. "Fan out. Report any dragon you see!" Several dragons took off.
"Moon, do you see anything?" the Rainwing Queen asked.
"I do…" Moonwatcher said quietly. "Right in front of us."
"…Oh…"
"Prairie! Look at me!" Auntie Tsunami ordered. "Who did this to you?"
"I'm sorry," Prairie cried. "I won't use my magic again. I won't use my magic again."
Auntie Tsunami jerked her head back then shook it. "That doesn't matter. Who did this to you?"
"Dart!" Gentletalon announced. A prick slammed into Prairie's side, this one so light Prairie almost missed it. Still, Prairie's eyes grew heavy.
"Not a dragon…" Prairie's eyelids fell over his eyes. "It was… human…" His eyes fell shut, and all sound and pain disappeared.
Human. A human did this to Prairie. Or was it multiple? Glory stared at one of the wounds. No shafts from their arrows. The points he bled from looked too small for the arrowheads as well. Was it from a trap? The humans sure liked their spikes. But something was wrong with that. Gentletalon would figure it out.
She raised her head and stared into the tunnel. Like the other two she knew about, there was no light inside, though this one looked wider than the others. Someone on that side just tried to kill Sunny's son, someone with a weapon that could severely injure a dragonet. At least the first lines make sense now.
Glory faced her Seer. "Are they coming back?"
Moon nodded. "Gazer's rounded them all up. They'll be back."
"Gentletalon," Tsunami started, still holding Prairie's head, "what do you need?"
"I need arms and wings to get him to the hospital." Gentletalon reached into her bag and pulled out several green bandages. "I don't have nearly enough of these." She growled. "Getting all these things out is going to be a challenge."
Tsunami glared at two of her guards. "You two. Help Gentletalon get him back to the village."
One of them blinked nervously. "But… your highness…"
"I gave you an order, soldier! Do it!" Tsunami gently laid Prairie's head in the doctor's talons. The two Seawing guards hoisted Prairie up to their backs. Together, the three of them lifted off and carried the wounded dragonet away.
Deathbringer and his guards landed soon after. "Of course, I saw that." He gestured at the tunnel, his usual cocky smirk missing some of its light. "I just thought it was too obvious."
"Uh, huh." Glory gestured with her head to where Prairie most likely came from. "Find whoever did this. If they're from the Indestructible City," she didn't stop her scales from turning red, "we may have a much bigger problem to deal with."
Deathbringer dropped his act and scowled. "Don't remind me." He, his mind reader, and his two favorite Rainwing guards walked into the tunnel, the Rainwings holding a wing to the Nightwings' sides to help them through the darkness. She heard the footfalls of several more dragons follow them in. The Royal Rainwing guard. Glory wasn't sure if she wanted them to be more aggressive or if their camouflage was enough.
Tsunami shook her head and faced her friend. "Sorry, Glory. I think we're going to have to postpone our logistics talk."
"For once, I actually believe you." Glory stared at the pool of blood. She had definitely seen worse. Depending on how long Prairie had those injuries, he should survive. "What kind of human weapon could do this?"
"What kind of dragon weapon could do this?" Tsunami glanced at Moon. "Have you seen anything?"
"Maybe…" Moon shifted on her feet.
"A new tunnel in the forest, a curiosity to be sated," Glory quoted.
Tsunami's jaw dropped. "Wait, that sounded like a prophecy. Moon, what did you do?"
Moon gave Tsunami a worried look. "I… had another vision a few weeks ago."
"Arg. Moon. You know how much I hate prophecies."
"And you know I can't control them." Moon glanced at her queen.
Glory looked around herself. She counted fifteen invisible guards, so about half her guard went with Deathbringer. "My guards can keep a secret now. Go ahead."
Moon nodded and stepped forward. Her eyes turned white and glossy.
A new tunnel in the forest, a curiosity to be sated
New friends and enemies to be created
Skies anew, wings of scale will feel
But must share the air with wings of steel
Wrongs to be righted, rights to be wronged
The pain of a tribe to be prolonged
Act on hate, act on fear
War again shall come near
So much land turned to pyre
While peace is the only desire
Power reluctant deflects power projected
Only then will the innocent be protected
Those wronged will act on ire
And the wicked shall fall 'neath steel and fire
Moon shook herself off and her eyes returned to normal. "Like Glory said, we now know the first line and likely part of the second."
"Wings of… Steel?" Riptide asked. "How? Steel can't fly."
"Some new kind of armor?" Tsunami asked. "It's not like tribes haven't tried to armor their warriors' wings."
"That's what we're thinking," Glory said. "The question is, are those the friends or enemies?"
"That's one thing, but…" Tsunami looked around before stepping forward. Her snout stopped right by Glory's right ear. "Prairie's magic? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Not here," Glory whispered back. "Not with so many around." That wasn't her secret to share, though she was just as curious, if not a little mad.
"Your Highness," a voice said behind Glory. The queen turned to face her Captain of the Guard. The Nightwing stepped forward and glared into the tunnel. "We should move back to the village. It's not safe here."
Considering the number of guards, visible and camouflaged, Glory doubted that any human could get through them, but she saw her point. "Okay. Let's go." The queen jumped into the air first with Riptide following close behind his mate. Their guards flew up and fell in around them.
"Someone's… going to need to tell Thorn," Riptide said as if he had been stabbed.
Glory felt the same thing. She glanced at Tsunami. The Seawing stared at the trees below them. It looked like she was holding back tears. Glory didn't know how she was going to later. "This happened in my kingdom. I'll send Kinkajou to tell Thorn. I'd go myself but I need to know what's going on. I'll use the Dreamvisitor to contact Sunny and Oak." She ran through the calculations in her head. Pantala would just be waking up, and both Sunny and Savanna were early risers. It would be another day before they knew what happened. Oak would know tonight and might be in the Rainforest before the next night.
"What can we do?" Tsunami asked.
"Get Gentletalon the help she needs and hope Deathbringer brings back something useful."
"Arg…" Tsunami bared her teeth. "I hate waiting. I miss the days when I could go out there and do something."
"We all do, Tsunami," Riptide said. "Such is the burden of leadership."
"Then why is Deathbringer out there?"
"He's the best spy we have," Moon said. "He knows what we need to know." She winced. "I still don't trust other Rainwings with that." As much as Glory hated to admit it, Moon was right. Too many of her tribe were still aloof to the world. Maybe in a few more years, they wouldn't be called lazy Rainwings anymore.
"Until then, I have to try to figure out how to convince Thorn to not send half her army into that tunnel." Glory sighed. "That's going to take some doing."
"That, and figuring out what the rest of the prophecy means," Riptide offered. "I'd prefer to know what it means before things start happening around us."
"Take it from me," Glory started, "I was the subject of one, and a victim of another, and a practical bystander for yet another. Whether we like it or not, things are going to happen. We just have to be ready when they do."
Poetry. Not exactly my thing. Hope the flow of that one isn't too terrible.
Some of my long-time readers might know this ending author's note reaction, but not typically for this team. *deep breath* DOWN GO THE BILLS! V-I-K-I-N-G-S! SKOL, VIKINGS, LET'S SKOL!