Chapter 17
"How are the defenses looking?" Tulsi said, walking up to Hunter who was talking to Flint. It had been a full day and was closing in on the second day ever since Queen Ash made her act of war against them.
"The tribes are in position all around the village," Hunter said. "Thanks to the peace treaty that we had, we were able to get every tribe to come together to help us out."
"Good," Tulsi said. "And what about you Flint?"
"Queen Aurora and I have gotten the Cavewings and Webwings together to patrol any underground caves that could lead to the village as well as set up traps in them in case Queen Ash and her army comes down them," Flint said.
"Good, I've gotten my Drillwings to set up traps in the forest all around the village and to be the main line of defense against Queen Ash and her army," Tulsi said.
"And what about the Spikewings?" Hunter asked.
"Well, Vala said that with Abrax and Nova, they have the Spikewings as defenders in the village in case Queen Ash's army breaks through and they can use their spikes at long range against her army. And since Queen Ash is going to be attacking at sunrise, it will still be a little dark allowing them to use their night vision to their advantage.
"Good," Hunter said. "So everything is prepared and everyone is ready for Queen Ash's attack."
"Yep," Tulsi said. "Now where are Prancer and Vala? We should gather them together right now to go over the battle plan."
"They were talking to Dredge in the center of the village last time I saw them," Flint said. "Let's go over and see if we can find them."
"Sure, lead the way," Tulsi said and Hunter followed them both to the center of the village. On the way there, Hunter saw every dragon that they passed by preparing in one way or another for the incoming attack. They passed a family of Drillwings who was boarding up their house and passed a set of Spikewings who were putting on armor provided by the Webwings. Hunter smiled because for the first time he was seeing what they had set out to do, achieve peace throughout the tribes and end the war between them all.
And now we are going into another war, Hunter thought. And this time it is with a magic-wielding, psychotic dragon who has been deceiving everyone all this time.
They walked into the center of town where Prancer and Vala were still talking to Dredge. Hunter saw Tulsi go up to Prancer and give him a big hug and Hunter decided to stand right next to Flint and drape his wing over her.
"What are you talking about?" Hunter asked as they joined in on the conversation.
"Oh, well we are discussing with Dredge how we can use the artifact to our advantage," Prancer said. "If Ash got her powers from it, then can we get animus powers as well?"
"Are we sure that's a smart idea?" Flint asked. "We have seen that dragons who have animus powers are unpredictable and dangerous."
"Well not all of them," Moon said, landing beside them all with her group of friends who Hunter knows have been staying here to help them out.
"Yeah Turtle never wanted to use his magic for evil," Qibli said. "And there were other dragons like Jerboa and Stonemover who either saw the error in their ways or knew how dangerous the magic was. Not every dragon can be labeled the same way when they have animus magic."
"You're one to talk since you wanted animus magic at one point," Winter said.
"Aw, but I didn't best buddy because I thought of all of you," Qibli said and wrapped Winter with one of his wings which only made the Icewing mad and wiggle out of the embrace with a frustrated look on his face. Ocho then landed by the group with Abrax, Nova, Deathbringer, and Queen Glory and Hunter saw Winter's face blush as he went and stood right next to Ocho who allowed their tails to twine together.
"Ok so everything is ready," Ocho said. "The dragons who were willing to fight are ready and the rest who didn't want to fight are hidden safely in their homes."
"My Rainwings are hidden around the forest ready to announce and ambush the enemy," Queen Glory said.
"Your majesty," Deathbringer said. "I think we should get you somewhere safe before the attack."
"Thanks for the offer but no," Queen Glory said. "I'm not going to sit this one out when I can do something to help."
"Thanks, Glory," Tulsi said. "I'm glad that you're staying and again thanks for all the lessons that you taught me."
"Hey, that's the duty of queens," Queen Glory said. "We have to help each other rise up."
"This is going to be one bloody fight," Queen Snowfall said. "But luckily Queen Ash didn't decide to grab the animus bracelets so we have that to help us out."
"Where are they?" Hunter asked.
"I've got them," Sundew said, appearing beside Hunter and making him jump a little.
"Oh, I've always wanted to do that," Sundew said. "But yeah I've got them and I will take a team out at dusk to try to find Queen Ash so that we know which direction she is coming from with her army."
"Who are you taking?" Hunter asked.
"Well Qibli and Moon will be coming with me, as well as Kobli and Gimlet," Sundew said.
"Are you sure you are going to be safe?" Hunter asked. "What if Queen Ash finds out what you are doing? She won't hesitate to get rid of you all."
"Don't worry," Sundew said. "We will be fine. Besides I have some flamesilk and paralysis juice that should either stop her or slow her down."
"Where did you get that from?" Hunter asked.
"Oh from some special dragons that came here to help defend," Sundew said and two Silkwings and a Hivewing landed by Sundew.
"Meet Blue, Luna, and Cricket," Sundew said. "They will stay here in the village to help defend as the last line of defense."
"Why thanks for the help," Hunter said.
"You're welcome," Luna said. "It's an honor to help out with your freedom."
"Ok, everyone," Tulsi said, making everyone turn to face her. "We should all get a good night's sleep because tomorrow is going to be the toughest day that any of us will have ever faced."
"Got it," everyone said and went off to go to bed. Hunter got up into his web and he felt Flint jump in and snuggle right next to him. He smiled and turned around to face her to where their noses were touching. He wrapped his wing over her and twined his tail with hers.
"Goodnight," Flint said.
"Goodnight," Hunter said, closing his eyes and allowing himself to fall into a deep sleep. Many challenges have come up in his life, but he was about to face his toughest challenge yet, and if he had to be honest with himself, he was scared. He didn't know what tomorrow held for them and nightmares started to flash through his mind. Queen Ash burning the village down, Flint dying right in front of him, Prancer stabbed in the back, murder, death, murder, death, murder, death, murder, death, MURDER, DEATH!
Hunter screamed himself awake which woke up Flint and made her quickly shoot up and grab Hunter.
"Hunter, what is it?" Flint asked. "Are you okay?"
"N… NO!" Hunter said and started crying heavily. I… I… I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU!" and Hunter embraced Flint in a hug where he was gripping onto her like his life depended on it.
"Hunter, it's okay, we'll be fine," Flint said.
"But… but Queen Ash…, and what… what she did to me… she could do the same to you or worse!"
"Hey, hey, listen," Flint said. "That won't happen, you hear me? Nothing bad will happen, we will make it through this together."
"But… are you sure?" Hunter said, wiping his tears away.
"Yes, I'm sure," Flint said. "Do you need something to reassure you?"
"Well maybe…" Hunter said. Flint blushed and leaned in to whisper to him.
"Ok then, if you need some reassurance then here it is," Flint said and kissed him on his cheek, unexpectedly. Hunter didn't expect this at all and he felt himself blush as he turned to look at Flint.
"Did you… huh… what?" Hunter said at a loss for words.
Flint giggled. "Get some rest sleepyhead," she said before giving him another kiss on the cheek and then laying down facing Hunter before falling asleep. Hunter was at a loss for words as he stared down at Flint and then touched his cheek where Flint had kissed him. Realizing it wasn't a dream he smiled and leaned down and kissed Flint on the forehead.
"Goodnight," he said to her before falling asleep next to her into a peaceful dream this time.
Nice and peaceful.
Nice and peaceful.
Nice and…
WOOOOOHHHHHHHH! WOOOOHHHHHHHH!
An alarm woke Hunter up from his sleep and he looked around quickly and saw dragons rushing around, getting into their battle gear and platoons. Hunter then saw Flint wake up and see everything that was going on as well. Then Tulsi appeared in front of them and ran to them quickly through the crowd of dragons around her.
"Quickly you two, get up!" Tulsi said in a panic. "Sundew and her group have spotted Queen Ash and her army approaching from the forest!"
Hunter immediately shot up after that information and helped Flint up as well and with a nod to each other, they both separated to go to their platoon. Hunter wished that he could be by Flint to protect her in this battle but he had to help his mom out since he was assigned to her platoon.
She'll be fine Hunter, she can take care of herself, Hunter thought to himself to calm himself down. He needed to focus on the battle coming up right now and couldn't get distracted. Hunter ran to the entrance of the village and found his sister Lily with their mom going over their attack plans. He saw his mom smile as she saw him but immediately put back on a serious face as he approached.
"Okay son, you are going to be in your sister's group behind my group," Queen Aurora said. "You will defend us from any dragons who attack from the sides."
"Got it, your majesty!" Hunter said. His mom smiled and quickly turned and ordered out commands to the rest of the platoon there which consisted mostly of Webwings but also some Cavewings as well.
"Okay everyone, we know what our battle plan is right?" Queen Aurora announced to the platoon.
"YES MA'AM!" the platoon shouted in unison.
"Good!" Queen Aurora announced. "Let's go and everyone stay in formation! If Queen Ash wants a fight, then we'll give her a fight!"
The platoon cheered at the speech and they marched out of the village and into the forest where Queen Ash's army had been spotted. They continued to march on, going around the traps that were set up and Hunter decided to have a quick talk with his sister.
"Hey Lily," Hunter said, walking beside her.
"Hunter this isn't the time for a conversation," Lily said, keeping her focus on everything around them.
"I know," Hunter said. "I just want to thank you for being an amazing sister."
Hunter saw Lily break her concentration and look at him with some tears in her eyes.
"Why… thank… you," Lily said. "I've always worried that I wasn't good enough. And I'm sorry for how I treated you and our other brothers and sisters when we grew up."
"Hey it's okay," Hunter said. "We just should look out for each other now and forget about the past."
Lily smiled and looked up at Hunter but then Hunter saw her eyes dart to something behind him. Before Hunter could ask anything, he saw her eyes turn to fear as she pushed him to the side. Right afterward a fireball crashed right by the area where Hunter was standing and exploded into the ground, disorienting the platoon. Hunter quickly gained his composure and when he looked around he saw the carnage as Lavawings had quickly surrounded them and started attacking. Hunter looked for his mom but couldn't see her in the battle and then looked at Lily who was down beside him and had a spear impaled into one of her legs.
"Lily?" Hunter said, dropping down to help out his sister.
"Uh… uh… brother… is that… you?" Lily said. "What's going on?"
"Listen, there is no time to explain but we need your help!" Hunter said before reaching and grabbing the spear. "This may hurt a bit but just hold on." Hunter started to pull the spear out of his sister's leg and she screamed in pain and instinctively attacked Hunter but Hunter dodged it and pulled the spear out of her leg and quickly wrapped the wound with a bandage from his pouch. Lily looked down at her leg before looking back at Hunter.
"Thanks," Lily said. "And sorry."
"No problem," Hunter said. "Now get up, Queen Ash's army is all around us!"
Lily got up and Hunter quickly looked around for their mom again and saw her far away from them in a mass of fighting dragons. Hunter and Lily quickly ran over there to try to help but two Lavawings jumped in front of their path and blocked them.
"Brother go!" Lily said. "I've got this!"
Hunter nodded and dodged around the Lavawings which Lily distracted to prevent them from going after Hunter. Hunter then kicked a Lavawing back who was charging him and got up right next to his mom.
"Mom, how do we get out of this?" Hunter asked over the chaos of the fighting around them. Hunter kicked an opposing Lavawing down and looked around and saw that they were losing ground as the Lavawings continued to strike down any dragon in their path and the armor that they were wearing was hard to deal with.
"I don't know!" Queen Aurora shouted over the loudness of the fighting. "But we need to group up! EVERY WEBWING AND CAVEWING COME TO ME! MAKE A PROTECTIVE CIRCLE!
Hunter saw the Webwings and Cavewings quickly come and make a protective circle around Queen Aurora but it didn't stop the Lavawing's attack and as they were pushing in Hunter looked and saw Queen Ash in front of them all. Hunter saw her army break through the circle and start attacking every dragon around, leaving Hunter and his mom vulnerable to Queen Ash.
"Aw, how sweet it is that I get to meet you again like this," Queen Ash said. "You should have taken the deal I offered you. At least then you wouldn't have had to go through this bloodshed that is going on."
"SHUT UP!" Hunter said and swung at Queen Ash, but Queen Ash simply teleported behind him and knocked him to the ground.
"Pathetic," Queen Ash said to Hunter.
"GET OFF OF MY SON!" Queen Aurora shouted and quickly charged at Queen Ash, catching her by surprise and knocking her to the ground. Lily quickly ran over and helped Hunter up off the ground.
"Thanks," Hunter said to Lily.
"No problem," Lily said, and they both turned and went to help their mom against Queen Ash.
"We're coming, mom!" Hunter yelled, and they both got to Queen Aurora and knocked Queen Ash off her. Queen Ash staggered back for a second before gaining her composure and looking up at them with a smile on her face.
"While I would love to stay and fight you, I've got an artifact to find," and Queen Ash started to fly away.
"No, you don't!" Queen Aurora shouted and tried to fly after her.
"I guess I'll have to teach you all a lesson then," Queen Ash said and turned around, and out of nowhere a massive blast appeared and struck Queen Aurora right out of the sky.
"MOM!" Hunter and Lily both yelled and quickly ran over to the spot where their mom fell. Hunter felt to see if their mom still had a pulse, and she did, but it was weak.
"Mom, please wake up," Hunter said, tears rolling down his face. He looked over and saw his sister crying as well. He went and comforted his sister with his wing. Hunter looked up and saw Queen Ash in front of them, smiling. Hunter wanted to charge at her, but he looked around and saw that Ash's army had them beaten as every dragon was either killed or injured, and the Lavawings went and surrounded Hunter and his family. Queen Ash landed right beside Hunter and admired the blast that she created.
"Ah, I love my magic," Queen Ash said, looking down at Hunter.
"You monster!" Hunter said and tried to attack her, but she simply lifted her claw and froze Hunter in his tracks, and pushed him to the ground. Hunter tried to get up but stopped as Queen Ash grabbed his sister and held her claws at her throat.
"I would stop if I was you," Queen Ash said. "You wouldn't want your sister to get hurt as well?"
"You're a monster!" Hunter said. "You'll pay for all of this!"
Queen Ash laughed and threw his sister down right next to Hunter and pinned her to the ground right in front of him.
"I think you are in no room to make those empty threats," Queen Ash said. "But I like your furiously. Reminds me of myself."
"I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!" Hunter screamed at her.
"Oh, it doesn't matter what you say," Queen Ash said. "But I've got an artifact to find and a village to burn. So goodbye, Webwing," and Queen Ash and her army left, leaving Hunter and the remaining Webwings and Cavewings in a field of destruction.
