Chapter Eighteen

The SandWing sat on the floor was old, her horns cracked and the dewlap beneath her throat was wrinkled and sagged. She often had to squint in order to see, and her joints clicked loudly whenever she was still for too long. Behind her, two younger SandWings, likely her grown offspring, tried to stand as menacingly as they could. Theirs was a family that had relied too heavily on the respect garnered by previous generations; they hadn't ever needed to prove themselves.

Not like the ones opposite them. Two dragons met the elder on the floor, young and grinning - eager for bloodshed. Behind them was an older male in a chair, shrouded in the shade afforded to him by the high sided buildings that penned this meeting in. At dawn, all civilians that neighboured this alley had been warned not to come near for their own safety. No interruptions would be allowed. And though the citizens of the Scorpion Den were made of the hardiest and lowliest dragons of the Kingdom of Sand, they knew better than to cross the Talons of Power.

"This is hardly neutral ground, as I requested," grumbled the old dragoness. The drake in the chair peered down his nose at her, only the gleam of his eyes and the flash of a gold coin in his claws could be seen.

The young female SandWing grinned. "Oh, we did consider your request, very carefully."

"But then," snorted her broader brother, "we remembered that we don't stoop to your level. You do as you're told, when you're told. Ain't that right?"

Behind the elder, her sons hissed and brandished their tails. But one stern glare from their mother and they quieted - reluctantly. She spat on the floor. "Let us get to the point. For two years, there has been peace between our family and the Talons of Power. We pay what you ask, we stay away from your game rings. But now you have set fire to our establishments. We want an explanation."

Shrugged the young male, scratching his neck. "Couldn't've been us. We were… What were we doin', Rattlesnake? Oh that's right - bugger all."

"It's none of your business, what we do," said Rattlesnake. "We don't owe you anything. It's you who owe us."

The figure in the chair watched as the old she-dragon flared her creaky wings with outrage, nostrils puffing hot air. She looked past the younger enforcers to snarl directly at him, though she dared not move towards him. "You think you can bully us around? Vulture! I was running the western oases when you were still fresh from the yolk! I won't sit here and be lorded over by street-rats descended from gutter-rats!"

Rattlesnake and Sirocco boiled over with fury. They would not stand for insults, and as with all youngsters, they took every slight to heart and had very little trust in patience. They were ready to tear out the elder's throat for her words. The figure in the chair waited until their muscles had coiled to spring, and then gave a loud cough.

They froze, but did not look happy to do so. Rattlesnake, especially, had her brow furrowed and her claws dug in the sand. She wanted to pretend not to have heard him. Impertinent female. When the figure cleared his throat once again, his lackeys knew he meant business, and so moved back obediently.

"Very bold words, Madam Barbary," said the figure. He leaned forward in his seat, moving into the sunlight. Vulture was getting old, with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth and his cheeks going gaunt. But he was not nearly so old as Barbary. He huffed in amusement as his black eyes studied the older female on the floor. "I don't know whether to find you brave or stupid. You can't be stupid. No one would be stupid enough to come into my city and disrespect me in such a manner."

Barbary put her nose in the air haughtily. "You won't touch me."

"No, you wouldn't be that stupid…" Vulture continued as if she hadn't spoken, "unless you had some kind of assurance of safety. Like a powerful business partner, to be exact? Someone who would be very interested in the destruction of my empire in the north of the desert."

Barbary went still, her eyes darting to the roofs on either side of the alley. Vulture looked there too. Of course, she thought she had the rest of her gang up there in secret to spy on the events and jump in when necessary. But he'd known she'd do that. She would've actually been imbecellically stupid if she had come to this meeting with just her sons like he'd asked. He supposed there would be a platoon of enemies up there, had he not ordered his own dragons to intercept them at the city gates. When no rescue seemed to come immediately, Barbary tried to muster her composure, but it was already too late. Vulture had seen her falter, even if no one else had.

"Two days ago," said Sirocco in his deep, monotone voice, "a shipment of ours was struck by the Sand-Boys. They knew the route our thugs would take, what time to expect them, even what was in the cargo."

Rattlesnake took an eager step forward, unable to help herself. "And four days ago one of our soldiers was found in an alley with his throat slit after visiting a brothel. We checked the register - turns out one of your pretty daughters had decided to take up a new career a long way from home. She vanished that same night."

Barbary looked scandalized. "You think I'd debase my daughter by having her pose as a whore to gain information on just one of your little shipments? Why would I do that, who would I tell?"

"Gila," said Vulture simply. He loved being the showman. He loved watching how his big reveal of the mob boss in the north caused a flurry of emotions in the old dragoness. "You see, Barbary, those poor sods at the mail checkpoints are good friends of mine. They told me that you had been sending along messages to Gila, telling him all the information about our shipment. Why? Because you wanted someone to keep me busy whilst you sent your thugs to muscle in on my territory. You wanted to try to do the job that you think I can't - all to try and get Queen Blister's favour. Then you'd share the spoils with Gila."

At least she didn't try to deny it. "You haven't found where Thorn or her Outclaws hide. We might as well try."

"And you're welcome to." Vulture leveled his gaze on Barbary, staring unblinking into her eyes, the gold piece flipping between his claws. "In your own territory. And then you'll report your findings to me, because I run your pathetic cluster of oases."

"Your threats don't scare me."

"Because of your little pact with Gila? I'd hate to burst your bubble but… Gila is dead." He lounged back in his chair as Barbary's expression dropped with horror. "You see, my grandchildren are not much: Rattlesnake is vicious and Sirocco is strong, but between the pair of them they can't accumulate two brain cells. But I was impressed with how they handled the situation."

"We drowned him," said Sirocco. "Took him out into the sand, and we weighed him down."

"A small storm upended an entire dune on his head," Rattlesnake finished. "He won't be coming to your rescue."

"So now it circles back to my earlier question, Barbary," Vulture held up the piece of gold to the light, appraising each side. "Are you brave or stupid? We ruled out you aren't completely stupid. But we both know you aren't brave - you never have been. That's why you get your sons to do all your work for you, even so far as to make them kill their own wives and daughters so you won't be challenged for your position. And your sons? Well. I've had a talk with them, Barbary, and I have to tell you… they aren't that impressed."

She spun to face her two sons, who had been rather quiet this whole time. They eyed her, their gazes dark and stoic. She stared at them, mouth gaping like a fish. Vulture flicked his claws and the piece of gold sailed through the air and landed neatly in the eldest son's talon. He nodded.

As one, the two brothers lunged at their mother. She screamed and fought back, but she was old and frail. And as Vulture had explained, she was not a fighter, but she had made her sons into killers. Her wings ripped easily under their claws and her throat bloodied from their teeth. They stabbed her with their tails over and over, until almost all her body's blood had stained the sand red, then black. When they were done, the sons stared at Vulture for a moment, nodded, and then hurriedly left.

"Boss!" hissed a voice.

Vulture glared over his shoulder as one of his hooded Talons rushed into the alley and ran right up to him. He was only appeased when they offered him a pill of chalk. Plucking it from their talon, he threw it into his mouth and began to chew methodically. "Yes, yes, what is it?"

"More soldiers flying overhead, sir!" whispered the hooded dragon. "More of Blister's army returning from their trip east. We should go before…" they gestured their head at the body in the street.

"What on earth has them all going off in such a fuss?" he questioned, more to himself than anyone in particular.

Blister's forces had been arriving back to the desert in their flocks all through the night. Some were faster or stronger flyers than others so they made it home before the rest. Of course, such a stir had been the talk of town, and as a drake of business, Vulture wanted to be sure that this wouldn't affect said business. He'd had a spy in the nearest barracks tell him what had happened. It was mostly nonsense, though the one recurring theme was that a dragon their NightWing allies called "Darkstalker" had emerged and single-talonedly stopped the entire army from exterminating the rebels.

Vulture was sure how much of this was true. But as he chewed his chalk and pondered these rumours, he decided to keep an eye on things. One could never tell when things like this might come in handy.

"WHAT?!"

Qibli winced, the roar of such a strangled voice hurt his ears. The hawk on the ledge didn't appreciate the noise either - Dinner screeched and flapped about on her nest, furious. Sunny growled, exasperated, and tried to calm the bird. Qibli sat back at the edge of the cave, trying to be supportive as Sunny told her father the news whilst also trying not to intrude.

Stonemover tried to sit up, but his crippled back and wings refused to let him do so painlessly, so he ended up half laying, half propped up on his arms. Qibli had learned to be used to Stonemover's disability. The first few times he'd come here, every glance at the torn, misshapen wings had made his stomach churn. The gloomy setting hadn't helped either, it always felt like a tomb. At least Sunny had cleaned the cave of old bones and blown in debris. Stonemover even had blankets, pillows and candles to make him more comfortable. Starlight had lent Stonemover some scrolls for reading to occupy his mind. And with Sunny bringing her father food, he didn't have to rely so much on the scraps Dinner brought him, so he was back to a healthy weight.

When Dinner had finally calmed down, Sunny turned back to her panicking father. She'd told him about the events of yesterday. They'd expected him to freak out about Morrowseer, after all, it had been the threat of Morrowseer finding him in the desert that had led Stonemover to exile and cripple himself here. But instead, Stonemover had panicked over the news of Darkstalker.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Usually his voice was subdued and slow, but where he was trying to talk fast, it was coming out a raspy stutter. "Do you… do you know-"

"Winter seems to think so," said Qibli.

"He sprung up from the ground, father. He's the biggest dragon I've ever seen."

"Then… he's escaped from his… eternal prison." Stonemover collapsed to the ground, so that his arms were free to grab hold of his daughter's talons in his. "Sunny, you must leave. Fly. As far as you can."

She gaped at such a suggestion. "What? No! I won't abandon my friends, or you, or what we're doing here."

"You don't… don't understand." A violent tremble wracked through Stonemover's body. "Take Starflight. Take Fatespeaker. Every NightWing must go. Far… far away."

Qibli stepped forward, brows furrowed as he thought "All the NightWings panicked when they saw him too. Why are you all so afraid of him?"

"Because…" Stonemover released Sunny's talons to stare, terrified, at his own claws. "We made him what he is. He used his magic… he's the reason for Glassreader's spell… So we would never have another him. We escaped him once… but we always knew he'd come back. No NightWing is safe."

Qibli and Sunny exchanged a look. "Escaped him once? Father, what do you mean?"

"The volcano."

"Three moons!" the answer hit Qibli in the face like a punch from his older brother. "He's the reason you left the mainland?"

"Had to. Had to make sure… he never found us."

"But if he was defeated once, he can be defeated again."

Stonemover shook his head. "You… you don't understand. He was made to destroy."

Qibli puzzled over that peculiar statement. Yes, the Darkstalker had looked very frightening when he'd erupted out of the ground. And certainly the idea of an animus meant they were perfect weapons of war. If the NightWings were this scared of him, it only made the ball of dread in Qibli's stomach grow larger. Moon was left alone with this thing everyone was so afraid of, and he couldn't think his way out of this one.

A noise rang in Qibli's ears, making him wince again. The old NightWing was keening loudly. Dinner screeched and flew from her nest and out the hole to the sky. Sunny hurried to her father, who's eyes were wide and his jaw shivering.

"Father… father…" she tried to get through to him but his panic attack was too strong. "Stonemover!" she shouted and grabbed hold of his face, forcing his mouth shut. Shocked back to his body, Stonemover stared up at his daughter. Gently, she pressed her forehead to his. "It's alright now."

"No…" he mumbled around her claws. "No it's not… the Darkstalker-"

"Is gone. He left Jade Mountain without hurting anyone, and Tsunami and me have already retracted his ability to get past the shield. We're safe."

"Stonemover," Qibli said softly, so as not to alarm him. He stepped up beside Sunny, putting a wing around her shoulders when he noticed her shaking. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

He looked glumly at the floor. "Not without permission."

Not without Moon, Qibli corrected in his head. He'd been doing his best to keep her out of his mind, that way it was easier not to sink into despair - at least, in theory. In practice, however, it was hard not to. There was no way to know if she was alright. What if she was being tortured in order to give over permission for Darkstalker to use whatever spell he wanted? The worry had made him stay awake all night studying the map of the continent, trying to figure out where Darkstalker might've taken her. But all he came up with was dead ends and exhaustion.

There was also that prophecy Moon had spoken before she'd collapsed. It had been so creepy. Her eyes had gone white, and her voice had been distorted. Every spare minute Qibli got, he puzzled over the riddle to try and work it out. The entire scenario was so confusing.

"Did the scouts manage to find anything?" he asked Sunny quietly.

The golden hybrid sighed; she knew exactly what he was talking about. "Glory's had them searching since the storm passed. Not one of them has reported any sign of him. It's like he vanished."

"We should be so lucky..." he muttered.

"Starflight is driving us up the walls trying to figure out all this." She waved a talon vaguely. "We have no idea what Darkstalker wants or where he's gone, and because we don't know, we can't prepare."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"We've all agreed that there's nothing we can do - except take precautionary measures. Though that doesn't feel like much."

Anything had to be better than nothing, Qibli guessed. Tsunami and Sunny had done the right thing by retracting Darkstalker's access to the mountain. It was obvious that he'd been inside the shield when it was first erected, so had no need for an invitation. At least now they knew they were safe from him should he decide to come back. What's more, they also needed to keep Morrowseer and Blister on the forefront of their minds and prepare for future attacks from them. His mind spun through suggestions he could make to Glory later on how to command her troops when they were out in the field. Maybe they should also study the pit Darkstalker erupted from, it might have clues to -

A soft rumble drew Qibli's head up. Stonemover was purring to Sunny, trying to get her attention. She had her back to everyone, her head bent. Her father tried to nudge her with his nose, his green eyes anxious. Sunny sniffed loudly and drew her head back up straight, forcing a smile for them. Now Qibli felt awful. Here he was, wrapped up in his own problems that he forgot Sunny had her own troubles. What would Thorn think of him for letting her daughter suffer like this? He twined his tail with hers, careful of his venomous barb.

"I'm sorry." Sunny tried to wipe away her tears, but that only seemed to cause them to come faster. "It just… it feels like everything's falling apart!"

Qibli reached for her. "It's not-"

"Don't treat me like I'm a dragonet - the others do that enough!" She stepped away from him, her face contorted with rare anger. "Morrowseer found us, he knows we're here and could come for us at any time. The shield will keep him out, but what are we supposed to do? And then there's Scarlet, who can get to any of us in our dreams. And now… this!"

She flopped to the floor beside her father. Stonemover looked at Qibli helplessly, and then back down at his daughter. There wasn't much advice the SandWing drake could give. Usually the heart of the Dragons of Destiny, Sunny was always the one to cheer everyone else up. Qibli had always been inspired by her to see the bright side to everything. To see her like this… it broke his heart.

"I just thought… if I believed hard enough… it would turn out alright." She covered her talons over her snout to hide her face. "But Morrowseer was right. Fate isn't real, the prophecy isn't real, so everything I'm doing is a waste of time."

Qibli wanted to reach out to her, let her know that everything was going to be alright. But would she mind that, or find it an invasion of her personal space?

"Sunny…" Stonemover whispered.

She looked up, face streaked with tears. Expression torn - as if he were in the same internal debate as Qibli - Stonemover slowly reached his arm around her and pulled her in close against him. There was a terrible creaking sound, and then his wing was dragged along the floor. He ground his teeth against the pain, but the old NightWing forced his useless wing to move and cover his daughter like a blanket. Sunny leant into her father's neck, and he embraced her back.

Qibli watched them with awe and envy. Stonemover's evident love of his daughter moved him. He wondered what it would be like to have a parent who loved him that much, who comforted him when he needed it. It was best not to dwell on what he wished was true, he decided, and instead just be happy for Sunny.

"I'm… sorry," Stonemover said as he let her go.

"Don't be." Sunny smiled. This time, when she wiped away her tears, they stayed gone. "It's alright. Thank you."

"If… If anyone can do this… it's you."

It wasn't long after that that Sunny and Qibli decided to leave and let Stonemover rest. As they made their way out, they heard the shriek of a hawk as Dinner returned, evidently waiting for them to leave and stop bugging her master. Qibli loved being around other dragons, loved attention and making friends, so it kind of baffled him how Stonemover could be so content with just a bird for company most of the time. Ah well, to each their own.

Though he could've easily gone faster than Sunny, he decided to walk alongside her, slowing his usual pace in order to match hers. Everything was so busy most of the time, that it had been a while since they'd had some time together. He remembered when he'd first met the little weird-looking SandWing, his initial jealousy when it'd turned out she was Thorn's daughter. Of course, he'd thought no one could be good enough for Thorn, until he went with Sunny on her trip to find her father. She'd impressed him, and had wormed her way into his heart without even knowing. Thorn hadn't even had to try very hard to convince him to watch over Sunny as her unofficial protector whilst he was with the rebellion. She was the sister he'd always wanted.

"You received any messages from your mother?" he asked, trying to make the mood light.

Sunny smiled. "Yes. Her latest letter was about how she wants to send Sixclaws' dragonet, Ostrich, to live with us."

"That'll be great." He grinned. "When I didn't obey the rules, I was grounded to watch over Ostrich when she was a hatchling - she's adorable."

"Mother says it'll be safer for her here behind the shield."

Qibli studied Sunny's face for a moment. "You think she's in trouble."

"No. Mother always says she's fine." At Qibli's snort, she rolled her eyes and smiled. "I know. I think she knows how frustratingly vague that statement is and uses it anyway."

"Tell me about it. Sometimes I swore she used to say things like that just to stress me out. She enjoys my pain."

Sunny moved a wing between them to try and hide her giggle. "You know, sometimes I wonder what it would've been like if Dune hadn't stolen my egg. If I'd had a mother all along." She tried to put on her most daring face, but it only made her look constipated. "I might've been an Outclaw too."

It was very hard to swallow his laughter. "You would've been the best Outclaw."

"You think so?"

"Yeah…" he couldn't help it, and sniggered. "Right up until you wanted to hug everyone."

She shoved him, making him laugh harder. He swiped a wing at her, which she ducked and dashed underneath him to give him a kick in the stomach. The air rushed out of him and he hunched, groaning. Damn, he'd forgotten that she was fast - and good. Maybe she would've made a decent Outclaw after all.

They laughed together for a moment. Sunny's smile was as bright as her namesake as she helped him up. "You and I would've been real siblings, Qibli."

He bumped her shoulder with his. "We kind of are, aren't we?"

"I guess we are," she said, and Qibli felt grateful for being able to make one person happy. "When are you next writing to Thorn? She asks about you, you know."

"She does?" He asked a little too eagerly.

"Yeah. She says to stop sending daily reports."

"Nah. Thorn loves it when I bug her like this. She only complains for the sake of appearances."

They walked on in comfortable silence. For a moment, Qibli lost his own imagination in what might have been. But that was cut short when they rounded the next corner and nearly got trampled by a marching Winter. The tragic look on the IceWing's face was enough to remind Qibli exactly of what was going on in the real world. He felt guilt for forgetting about everything bad that was going on, even if for only a few minutes just to make Sunny smile.

"Prince Winter," Sunny said with a bow of her head. "Is everything alright?"

Getting over his surprise at seeing them in the corridor, Winter put on his business-as-usual scowl. "Sunny, I demand to know what it is you and the Dragons of Destiny plan to do to get Moon back. By sunset, she'll have been a full twenty-four hours in that monster's claws. We need to do something."

"We've been a little busy-"

"Then we'll go right now," he moved as if to herd her the way he was going. "I feel like I should help make our strategy-"

Before Qibli could jump in to stop Winter's bullying, Sunny dug in her feet and pushed one talon on the IceWing's chest. "No. You won't."

"What?"

"Winter, you need to give us time," Sunny said firmly but diplomatically. "Glory explained that we cannot go charging across the continent. We have allies that are in need of us. Would you rather we leave them open to attack because we're too busy trying to figure out where Darkstalker is, let alone trying to take him on?"

The prince seemed a little ashamed of his own thoughtlessness. "I… n-no, that's not-"

"I understand you're worried about Moon. We all are. But we need a plan, we need information. Give us a couple of days to come up with a plan - one that won't endanger our allies, and then I promise we will help you in any way we can."

Qibli couldn't stop himself from smiling proudly. For the smallest, non-threatening dragon he'd ever met, Sunny was turning out to be quite authoritative.

"That…" Winter tried to come up with some response, but conceded with a heavy sigh. "I suppose you have a point. I apologise, Sunny."

"We should get going," Qibli said, stepped up beside his friend. "Time to check on Kinkajou and Turtle in the infirmary."

Sunny nodded. "Yes, of course. I heard that the healers said Turtle can leave - must've looked worse than it actually was. See you later!"

Qibli and Winter said their goodbyes and watched Sunny walk down a different tunnel towards the Prey Centre. The pair waited a moment, to be sure that Sunny was definitely out of earshot.

They looked at each other and nodded. "Come on, let's find Peril."

As planned, they found Peril and immediately made their way to the infirmary as a group. As they came into the sunlit cave, they saw that there was only one of the RainWing healers present. The room was filled with the heavy fragrance of burning roots that made Qibli want to sneeze. Kinkajou was laid exactly as they had last seen her the day before, on the furthest bed, scales gone milk white. Turtle sat by her bedside, a bandage wrapped around his shoulder.

"Hey, Turtle!" Qibli greeted cheerfully as they came inside. "Glad to see you're up and about! How're you feeling?"

"Better." He gave them a half-smile. "Tsunami's here any chance she gets, her worrying would be sweet if she wasn't so murdery about it."

"Did you cast a - ohfff!" Peril grunted when Winter poked her ribs with a metal prong. Even that brief contact made it turn yellow with heat. SkyWing and IceWing glared at each other before she realised what he meant. "Err, I mean, did you do some, err… special SeaWing treatments? Is that why you're okay so quick?"

Turtle eyed Healer, but he seemed too focused on sorting through his stash of herbs. "Um, yes? The wound wasn't very deep, and just a little special SeaWing treatment helped it along nicely."

Turns out the Healer had been listening, he snapped his claws as if striking upon an idea. "Ahhhhh so that's how he did it… Thought I was losing my coconuts for a second."

None of them could talk freely with him here, Qibli realised.

"Hey!" he called out, jogging over to the small RainWing. "Bullfrog, right? I know you've been at this for hours. Why don't you go get some sleep, alright? Don't worry about Kinkajou - we'll watch over her. And if anything changes, we'll come get you straight away."

Bullfrog thought about it for a moment, but the heaviness of his eyes decided for him. "That… that would be nice…" he yawned and slowly made his way out, mumbling to himself. "I've been missing out on my suntime…"

Qibli followed him to the entrance, smiling widely the whole time to reassure him. RainWings weren't great at interpreting subtle expressions. He carefully watched Bullfrog walk away and go down the corridor until he was out of sight. Only then did he get to work.

"Okay, he's gone," he said, pulling the curtain of vines across the entrance. "Turtle, what happened?"

"Soar nearly took a chunk out of my neck," Turtle groused, pulling off his bandage so that they could see the injury that had scabbed over, nearly healed. "At the time, I just enchanted the wound to stop bleeding. And then when the others found us, Tsunami was so worried, I couldn't heal it right away or she'd be suspicious - so I made it seem not as bad as it was, and healed overnight. Blamed my fatigue on terror. Which wasn't a lie."

"Can you heal Kinkajou?" asked Winter.

He nodded firmly. "Sure. I haven't been left alone with her until now in order to try. The healers were with us all through the night. They think it's internal damage." The SeaWing leaned over Kinkajou's body, his face pulled with misery. "I can't bear to see her like this…"

"Winter, keep a look out." Qibli said. For once, the IceWing didn't grumble about being given orders, and did as he was told. "Turtle? Use this," He reached up and plucked a flower from one of the vines overhead and gave it to the SeaWing.

Turtle cupped the flower in his talons and closed his eyes. "I enchant this flower so that when I place it in Kinkajou's mouth, she will be completely healed of all her injuries and be as healthy as she was two days ago."

Carefully, he opened her mouth and placed the flower on the tip of her tongue. Letting her mouth close, he stepped back, spine stiff as he waited for something to happen. Poor Turtle, Qibli thought, always thinking that something bad was going to happen every time he moved. A tense moment of silence fell over the group as they waited. Would the spell work? Was the damage too great for even magic to heal? Qibli didn't think so, magic was said to be able to do almost anything. But what if -

Kinkajou suddenly bolted upright with a loud gasp of air. Qibli and the others jumped. The RainWing's scales popped through all the colours of the rainbow, some in alarming shades. But then, her scales settled on cloudy blue mottled with green - confusion. She peered down at them, a frown on her face. The whole group stared at her, waiting to see if it really was Kinkajou back to normal.

"Hey everyone…" she said, looking at them all with a big frown. "Was there a party? Did I miss all the fun?"

They all swarmed around her bedside, with big smiles and merry voices. "Welcome back!" someone shouted. "What do you remember?" said another voice. "Are you okay?"

"Whao, whao, whao…" Kinkajou tried to push them back, but her scales had returned to their usual pink and yellow radiance. She touched her head, as if checking that it was supposed to be sore, and getting confused when it wasn't. "Last thing I remember, we were fighting the bad guys - OH! I'm as thick as a rock! What happened to Morrowseer! Did he get in? Did we venom-blast his face off?!"

Winter looked relieved. "Good to know all her memories are still intact."

"Yes, well done, Turtle," said Peril in a voice that was kind-of sarcastic, eyeing the SeaWing next to her. "Makes me wonder what else you could fix."

Turtle looked up at her, wounded, and Qibli all of a sudden knew why they hadn't been speaking for the past few days. But it was obvious Turtle felt guilty, it was written all over his face. "Peril… I…"

"Forget it," she turned away from him, pretending he didn't exist. Smoke billowed out her nostrils.

"Guys!" Kinkajou shouted, waving her talons in the air. "I'm still over here all clueless and everything! Tell me what I missed!"

So, the group took it in turns to bring Kinkajou up to speed. They explained why Soar attacked her, how she'd been used as a hostage against Moon, and everything about Darkstalker. That had needed a little explaining, as Kinkajou had almost forgotten the legend that Winter had told them that snowy night. All throughout, Kinkajou listened intently, which was rather unlike her to not interrupt them with her usual talkative behaviour. But she did take this very seriously.

"Okay." she said, stamping her foot, angry red and black colours spreading over her scales. "Soooooooooooooo we need to get Moony back."

"That's what I've been saying!" cried Winter.

"We can't." Qibli shook his head. This was the one point where he agreed with the Dragons of Destiny's decision to not go charging off. "We don't know where Darkstalker's taken Moon."

Kinkajou scoffed. "Back to their creepy island, obviously."

"Yeah," said Peril, "isn't that why the NightWings are in the rainforest right now? Their last home got blown up."

"No. Stonemover said the NightWings went to the island to get away from Darkstalker the first time. If he's gone anywhere, he's gone to their old kingdom… and we don't know where that is."

"And it's not like we could go strolling through the wilderness to look," said Turtle solemnly. "The SandWing/NightWing alliance already found us once. Who's to say that they haven't left soldiers out there waiting for another opportunity?"

Winter growled. "You sound like the Dragons of Destiny. Making excuses."

"Turtle's got a point, freeze-face," Peril shot back. "It's too dangerous. And if Clay and the others say to stay, we should listen to them."

"He promised he'd be back…" Qibli murmured. He was merely thinking out loud, but when the others looked at him curiously, he explained: "Darkstalker. He said he was going to come back, eventually. I wonder why he didn't talk to you, Turtle? If he's meant to be a mindreader, then surely he'd know you were an animus. If I were him, you would've been my biggest concern, not Winter. No offence."

"Um…" the SeaWing fiddled nervously with the bag that always hung around his neck. "That might be because I made him think I didn't exist?"

"What did you do?" Kinkajou asked.

From his pouch, he pulled out an ordinary stick. He gripped it firmly in his claws, like if he dropped it, the world would end. "When he came out of the ground… I watched his eyes. He saw me… and I got this funny feeling… like he hated me. Hated me as much as he hated when Winter gave him orders. So I enchanted the first thing I could reach. I made it so that he couldn't see or hear me, couldn't hear my thoughts or in the thoughts of others… I wanted my whole existence erased from his perception and memory. So long as I hold this stick, I don't exist to him."

Qibli had to bite his lip and look away, pushing down all those feelings of jealousy. He'd had to do this a lot since he'd discovered that Turtle was an Animus. It just didn't seem fair. Qibli knew he was smart, it was the only thing he had going for him. But he wasn't special - he didn't have the title or good looks like Winter, or the special powers like Peril and Moon. He couldn't even get his own mother to love him. How often had he wished for something like Animus-magic? The good he could do with it; he was clever enough to avoid any bad spells. But instead, he got nothing, and a dragon like Turtle got all the power instead: a cowardly dragon who wasted his powers on staying hidden and unnoticed rather than do something worthwhile.

And then, Qibli felt the usual stab of shame he always did when he let his thoughts get away from him like this. It wasn't Turtle's fault that magic had chosen him. And he wasn't being a good friend by thinking these thoughts about him. It was a good thing Moon wasn't around to hear how bad he was.

"That's amazing!" Peril exclaimed. "You can sneak up on him and stab his brains and he wouldn't even know!"

Turtle looked like he was going to be sick.

"Peril…" Qibli said, "1, just no. 2, he's immortal."

"It's still clever." Winter eyed the stick as Turtle put it away in his pouch again. "Can't we enchant something like this for Moon? So that wherever she is in the world, the Darkstalker will just forget she exists?"

"That would backfire VERY easily," Kinkajou said before Qibli could. "Think about it. It's easy to get rid of Darkstalker's memory of Turtle - he's not met him! But Moon? He'd have gaps in his memory of the past day or so and get suspicious. And what about if he's got Moon locked in a dungeon? He'd, like, forget he has a prisoner and not feed her!"

The reminder that Moon was likely in a cell somewhere, miserable and alone, whilst they were here free and content, sobered them all.

Winter looked pained. "If we can't free her, then couldn't we come up with some way to check she's still alive, at least?"

Qibli's mind finally clicked, and his eyes went wide. "Hey! I have an idea!" he yelled, bouncing from foot to foot excitedly. When he'd been a dragonet, wishing with all his might to be a secret animus, he'd read every scroll he could on animus dragons and their mysterious objects. It'd been his own little obsession. He thought that if he learned enough, he might uncover the secret to unlocking his own powers - but alas, nothing of the sort happened. "One of the famous old animus objects was the Obsidian Mirror! Legend says you just had to speak someone's name and you could spy on them. We could do something like that for Moon, give her a way to communicate with us!"

Kinkajou's wings flung wide in dazzling shades of happy pink. "Then she could tell us where she is!"

Winter also jumped on the idea. "We could make it so that she can hear us and talk back to us, like talking through a crack in the wall."

"Oh! And we'll make it like your stick, Turtle!" said Qibli. "So then Darkstalker can't overhear or read in her mind our plans to free her."

"Stop!" Peril shouted. They all looked up at her, surprised. "Stop for just one second. You're all forgetting one important thing… what about Turtle's soul?"

To our dear allies, the Queens of Pyrrhia,

We bring to you dire news. Morrowseer of the NightWings and the pretender Queen Blister have discovered the location of the Rebellion. They did not breach our defences and were forced to retreat from our territory, but this development does mean that our operations are now at risk. We will be conducting a thorough investigation to prove that we can still effectively assist you when you seek to call upon us. Rest assured, we shall not let this little set back stop us from achieving our goal.

But there is more news. News that we find hard to believe but feel that we owe you a warning. Morrowseer and Blister brought with them almost their entire forces to bear down on us. And they were only scared off by an unforeseen event that we didn't know was possible. A giant NightWing erupted out of the earth and attacked our enemies. One of our allies, Prince Winter of the IceWings, has identified him as 'Darkstalker', an old NightWing animus. Whilst the legitimacy of these claims has yet to be proven, what we do know, is that the mysterious NightWing attacked his fellow tribemates as well as the SandWings, but is not our ally either. He kidnapped one of our rebels and has since disappeared without a trace.

If any of you have information regarding him, please tell us as soon as you can. And should any of you happen to find Moonwatcher of the NightWings, please help her to escape his custody and return to us. We also hope to count on your aid when making our stronghold secure again.

Remember, we can get through this. Together.

Signed by the Dragons of Destiny: Clay of the MudWings, hero of the SkyWing Arena

Princess Tsunami of the SeaWings, the teeth of the sea

Starflight of the NightWings, survivor of the northern flames

Sunny of the SandWings, founder of the Great Rebellion

And Queen Glory of the RainWings, slayer of Battlewinner

Glory read over the message one last time, before rolling it up and sealing it closed with a wax seal. With a deep, fortifying breath, she took the letter to the RainWing scout that was sat on the ledge leading into her cave. She handed him the precious cargo, along with three copies of said message. One for each of their allies. The messenger nodded before flying off, his scales rippling to let him vanish completely from sight.

"It should take about two days before those messages reach all of the Queens," she said.

Behind her stood Tsunami and Starflight, the ones who had helped her to compose the letter. Tsunami did not look pleased at all. "Those who were on the fence about joining us, like my mother and Moorhen - I don't see how this is meant to win them over."

"Was it wise to tell them about Darkstalker?" asked Starflight. He had recovered quite well from his ordeal against Icicle. "If the IceWings fear him as much as Winter implies, this could provoke a bad reaction from them."

Glory nodded. They both had valid points, but this course of action was the most obvious to her. "News spreads quickly. They would've heard about him sooner or later. It's best they find out through us rather than hold our lies against us later."

"Well," sighed Starflight. "All we can do now is wait."