Chapter Thirty Two

"SeaWing eyes," Glory said smoothly. She made sure her disguise stayed in place as she began to circle the clearing. The strange NightWing easily fell into step opposite her, smiling cockily for all the world to see.

"Drat," he said with a snap of his claws. "I always seem to forget about the whole dark-vision thing. Your tribe usually doesn't have anything else special - no offence."

"I could drown you. How's that for special?"

Impossibly, his grin got wider. "One thing at a time, love, I might like that."

Glory blinked, nearly missing a step. Did he just flirt with her?! She had to stamp on the impulse to let her scales shift colour. "Don't get cute with me. You're too close to SeaWing territory and NightWings aren't very welcome anywhere right now. So why are you here?"

"You think I'm cute?" Before Glory could snap a remark (or bite him), the NightWing snorted and sat back on his haunches. "If it's any consolation, I think it's equally cute you think you could threaten me. My tribe would come looking for me if anything were to happen to me."

"And in the meantime you'd be locked up in one of Queen Coral's coastal dungeons," if he wanted to play that game, then she'd play. "I'm sure your tribe would come for you… but after the rising tides would drown you. So tell me what you're doing here and I'll let you go. Win-win."

His tail swished along the ground, a playfully calculated action. "Alright. I'm waiting for someone. Well, actually, a few someones."

"Who?"

"Can't tell you that. NightWing business. I'm on an assignment."

Glory raised a brow. How insufferably arrogant could a dragon be? She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised; he was a NightWing after all. "I didn't know NightWings had 'business'. I thought you just skulked around in the Rainforest you stole, getting yourselves fat on stolen resources and congratulating yourselves on knowing everything - and all the thievery you commit."

She expected him to get angry (in fact she wanted him to be angry), but instead, he threw his head back and laughed. "Wow, that was oddly personal!"

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"Well… you're not." He studied her a moment, and Glory thought he'd finally act the enemy she wanted him to be. But instead, he abruptly stalked closer, eyes never leaving hers as if he were searching her soul. "Where's your sense of awe? Your fear of our powers?"

She scoffed. "You don't have any powers. Or else you'd have been infuriated at all the thoughts I'm having about you right now."

"Why would I be mad at your reverence for my stunning good looks and swoon-worthy charm?"

"Swoon-worthy?" It was Glory's turn to laugh. It wasn't as forced as she wanted to admit. What was wrong with her? "Please. I'd rather gut my own eyes out than fall for a NightWing spy."

The NightWing reached up and plucked an apple from the branches above. He rolled it across his wing before flicking it at the tip. It sailed through the air to land neatly in Glory's talons. "Not a spy, actually. I'm more direct in my work."

"Then you're an assassin."

To Glory's shock, he bounced on his toes like a dragonet. "Oh, another surprise! You're not secretly half NightWing are you?"

But she wouldn't give in. If he truly was an assassin, then she had to be extremely careful. She'd need to watch his every move. "NightWing soldiers normally work in groups. They never stray far from one another. That means you're either a spy or an assassin."

"I could be a defector come to join the valiant rebellion?"

"The NightWings know where our- uh, the Rebellion's hideout is," she hastily corrected. "You would've gone straight there."

"Very clever," again he gave her that impressed grin that made her unsure how to feel. "No. I admit. I'm here to look for a few key members of the Rebellion. My hunt led me east."

"What makes you think anyone important is out here?"

"Word on the wind says that key MudWing and SeaWing commanders were meeting along the coast to settle recent disputes. Only the Dragons of Destiny could referee such a meeting amicably. I missed the meeting itself, sadly, but I was hoping to catch them on their way back."

Glory lashed her tail, wings half unfurled. For extra effect, she made the scales she'd disguised as SeaWing markings to go brighter blue, to make it look like they were glowing. "I won't let you get to Princess Tsunami."

The NightWing stared as if she'd gone mad. "I'm not a fool. I know Tsunami's reputation. They're calling her the best warrior of her generation. I'd kill her in her sleep, or perhaps poison. Either way, I'd target her when she wasn't aware of me - and I was at a safe distance. No. I was hoping to catch Queen Glory if she was about, have you seen her?"

It took everything inside Glory not to react, to not allow her scales to show her flash of fear. Her brain rationalised it away. The RainWings directly opposed the NightWings so it would make sense to target their Queen. he obviously didn't know who she was, or he'd have attacked her by now. "I wouldn't tell you even if I had, murderer."

"I take offence to that, madam! I do not go around killing as I please - only the ones who need to die."

"Then who decides who needs to die? Why kill at all if you can't even make the choice on who lives or dies?"

For the first time in their conversation, the strange NightWing seemed to lose his cheer. He became stiff, his expression purposefully neutral. "It's my job. It's to make my tribe safe."

"And let me guess," Glory remarked scathingly, "your targets, like Queen Glory, pose a threat to your tribe? You cause chaos amongst the ranks of your enemies? That's your justification?"

He wouldn't look her in the eye. "If it keeps NightWings alive, then yes."

"And the poor RainWings who will die without their Queen? That doesn't bother you?"

"I try not to let it."

"Because you know it's wrong."

He looked at her then, incredulous. "And who are you to decide my entire way of life is wrong? Because you say so? Are you the authority on moral superiority? I've seen the world, I know how other tribes work. We all do horrible things."

"The NightWings meddled in the war so they could steal -"

"Yes, because our dragonets were dying in their shells and the rest of us were starving." Somewhere in the forest a pheasant shrieked. Glory stared at the NightWing. He seemed to realise what he'd said and shrugged his wings, as if the fact didn't phase him. "And SkyWings throw any genetic oddity off of cliffs. SandWings kill each other over every scrap of gold or water. IceWings are IceWings. And MudWings and SeaWings let their poorest scrounge in poverty to keep the elite comfortable. Do I want something different for my tribe? Sure. But that won't happen until the tribe is back on its feet and no one has any idea on how we do that - except for Morrowseer, apparently."

Despite the rational side of her brain arguing against it, Glory felt her anger and hate leave her slowly. Instead, all she felt was confusion. After everything the NightWings had done, she should hate every single one of them. But this one… she couldn't. He hadn't told her a lie, the situation the NightWings were in were dire. But was that justification enough for them to do what they did? Were they just as lost as the RainWings, only they lashed out first? But that didn't give them a free pass to do all the horrible things they did. She sighed, knowing she wouldn't outthink this conundrum today. But it was something to think about at least.

The silence had stretched on. The NightWing across from her was watching his own claw trace circles in the dirt. She said, "What about the RainWings?"

He looked up. "What?"

"What do the RainWings do that's so terrible?"

"Well… look at them. They were practically helpless before Queen Glory. She took a tribe of lazy sloth-cuddlers and gave them direction and purpose."

Glory felt the corners of her lips twitch into a smile. "You almost sound as if you admire her."

"Anyone who earns the personal hatred of Morrowseer himself is instantly my hero." He chuckled. He seemed relieved the conversation was back to being light-hearted. "But don't tell her I said that, I have a reputation to uphold."

"I would. But I don't know if she'd care about some random NightWing with no name."

He threw his wings up. "Oh how silly of me, where're my manners! The name's Deathbringer."

Glory had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing in his face. "Deathbringer? That's a bit on the snout, isn't it? Even for a NightWing."

"What can I say? Dear old mum wasn't as imaginative with her names as she was when creating my dashingly good looks." He winked.

And now, Glory felt herself reach an impasse. This NightWing, Deathbringer, was her enemy, he was actively hunting her. So she should kill him. Or capture him for further questioning. And yet he wasn't a bad dragon. In another life, they might have been friends, even. So… what to do?

"I got the fish!"

Tsunami's voice catapulted through the forest like a clap of thunder. Both Glory and Deathbringer startled at the sound. There was a second where they made eye contact, and Glory felt as if all her joints had been glued together. Deathbringer leapt into the shadows of the forest, and in an instant, he vanished. Glory watched him leave, puzzled with herself as to why she let him go. She was still staring after him when Tsunami came bustling into the clearing.

"Hey, I said I…" and then she touched the disguised RainWing's shoulder, turning her so that she could look her over with concern. "Glory? What's wrong?"

Over and over again, Vulture told himself that this had better be worth it…

He flew in a way to make it appear incredibly lazy, but in truth he was highly alert to every movement and sound. These mountains were not natural, his mind whispered. He could feel the stone walls press in on him, loom over him, confuse him. But he kept an eye on Picker ahead of him. Should she make one wrong move, he would gut her himself. Behind him flew a dozen of his personal soldiers. Around a quarter of his force. These were the ones he trusted to obey his commands without question. The rest would be summoned as soon as he knew the truth behind all these wild claims of Picker's.

He'd drilled her for information throughout the day. Vulture wanted to know everything she knew about this 'Darkstalker' and his magical kingdom. He'd managed to separate the fact from the wild adulation, yet still much of it was a mystery. But what he had managed to gleam from her pickled brain… was still very intriguing. So he'd brought with him his best soldiers and they'd set off yesterday evening and flown through the night til they reached the mountains that formed the Sand Kingdom's southern border. Vulture had been irritable and prepared to kill Picker right then. Everyone knew there was nothing beyond those mountains, just endless chasms. But Picker swore she knew the way through, and so he'd followed.

Though, considering how long they'd been going through this maze, he was still tempted to kill her. He reached into the pouch tied around his left arm and chewed on a chalk tablet. To ease his mind, he consoled himself that if Picker led him on a wild goose chase, if nothing else, he would find the place where she always seemed to find her interesting trade.

"These mountains give me the creeps," his grandson, Sirocco whispered behind him with a shudder.

"SandWings don't come this far south," agreed another soldier.

"I feel dizzy, like my brain keeps wanting to go one way then the other! I don't know which way's north no more!"

"I'll smack north back into you if you swerve into me like that again!"

The quiet arguing was getting louder. Vulture turned his head to glare from the corner of one dark eye. "Enough." The youngsters fell silent. They knew better than to whine against his wishes.

Right on cue, Picker turned a corner and the mountains suddenly fell away. Vulture felt a shiver rush across his scales, and that spell of confusion his soldiers had complained of vanished. Forests immediately met his sight, wild and untamed and teeming with life. Even the air tasted different. As the dragons passed over, birds threw themselves into the air with a shriek. A crunch sounded behind him. Obviously Sirocco had helped himself to one who had strayed too close.

Picker glided down and alighted herself upon the edge of a plateau. Vulture landed on her left side, Sirocco on her right, the other soldiers behind. "Behold!" she said with a flourish of a wing. "Mi Master's kingdom!"

In the valley below, sprawled a vast city. Like the Scorpion Den, it was secured by walls on the northern side and divided by streets and squares with neat buildings filling everything in between. The outskirts of the city lay in ruins, overgrown, with great columns and statues toppled over and broken. Yet they still left a whisper of grandeur in their wake. The city centre lay at the feet of a singular mountain, and that was more intact, with what looked like newly paved roads and buildings still whole and functional. On the slopes of the mountain, was a great, imposing castle with tall spires and flying buttresses. Candlelight glittered within its windows. Vulture's eyes widened as he gazed upon the impossible. No one knew this was here. How? How could all of this have gone unnoticed?

"Snakes and sands," he grunted. "For once, Picker, you aren't a raving lunatic."

"The master lives in the castle, he does," Picker bounced on her claws, pointing. "There he builds. There he sits as king."

Vulture's mind was ticking through all the information and putting it in its neat equations in his mind. No one knew this kingdom was here, not for several generations. The mountains must have some magic about them - the way they confused their prey was not natural. And such splendour as displayed in the city told of the obvious wealth attributed to this land. "He must be something special to have hidden all this away for so long…"

"See! I was tellin' the truth, I was. Master'll be pleased Picker's back! He likes to know what the other tribes is doin'."

"Is that so…" he eyed the frail-minded female, her eyes focused solely on the castle. "Sirocco?"

"Yes, grandfather?"

"I think it's time you got a new tattoo."

Without waiting a moment, Sirocco grabbed hold of one of Picker's horns and slammed her head into the ground. There was a loud crunch as her snout and cheek bones broke from the collision. She screamed and tried to wrestle free, but Sirocco planted one heavy leg on her skinny back, turned her head to the side, and stabbed his barbed tail into her stretched neck. Her body instantly went limp. Blood and venom flowed onto the rock, Picker's last words little more than a gurgle.

Moon awoke, eyes heavy and brain filled with fog. There was a shiver across her wings, and she felt disturbed. The day had been incredibly warm and made her sleep fitful, and when she had managed to fall into slumber, her dreams had not been pleasant. She'd seen her mother, Secretkeeper, as she'd last seen her in the rainforest years ago through the wall of flames, telling her to escape as she fought off Morrowseer. And then Moon had seen her alone in a dark room, calling out to her, reaching for her. Moon had tried to go to her mother, but she'd always been just out of reach. When abruptly, the sole candle that had been by her mother's side had gone out, cutting mother and daughter apart for good.

Another shiver passed down Moon's spine. She curled in on herself a little tighter. It had been a long time since she'd dreamed of her mother. Darkstalker had assured her that in his visions, her mother was still alive and treated fairly, merely imprisoned. The back of Moon's eyes burned with unshed tears. All at once she felt like a lost dragonet, she felt herself to be a traitor to her mother's memory. Why hadn't she done more to free her? Could there be something she could do?

She sighed. It would do no good to think herself into a hole, she told herself. It had just been a dream, not a vision, so there was nothing to worry herself over. There was no way to free her mother yet, as she was being kept in the heart of NightWing occupied rainforest. Even if she asked Darkstalker to magically undo her mother's chains and unlock her cage from this distance, she would be caught in a moment by soldiers, and even if she escaped, she wouldn't know where to find Moon, and the rest of the world hated NightWings right now.

That was why Moon knew she had to keep pushing Darkstalker to join her in ending the war. If they could help to stop the war faster, the sooner her mother could be free.

Putting on her silver earring, Moon opened her drapes to allow the moonlight to bask her rooms in its silver glow. It made her smile, just a little bit, calming her soul. She went down to the dinning hall, where she and Darkstalker usually ate their meals. As she entered, she snapped her claws, and the chandelier above lit the room. But she found no food on the table, none of the hares Darkstalker had caught at dawn or the fruit Moon had picked - they'd set it aside for breakfast. Darkstalker always rose before her, and would usually have the food they'd prepared ready for when she came down. But tonight, there was nothing.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, Darkstalker appeared from another doorway. His lips were pressed together to try and downplay his smile. A sign that he was excited about something and itching to show her.

"Darkstalker, what's the matter?" Moon asked.

"I have something to show you."

He took Moon's talon in his and ushered her out the door, snapping his claws so that the chandelier would darken. He led Moon through the castle and back towards the throne room. Into a side door, he led the way up a tight spiralling staircase that came out onto a long corridor. Around the corner was a set of large double doors. He pushed them open and Moon was met with a balcony… Staring over the railing, she realised that they were above the throne room. The glass roof was just above her, close enough to touch with a wingtip if she stretched. A short bridge led across the length of the throne room below, to another balcony. Here were desks filled with old documents and calculations. Circular windows were cut into the wall, a broken telescope dusty and forgotten and limp on its tripod.

"What is all this?" Moon asked in wonder.

Darkstalker grinned at her reaction. "This was once a place of learning. The Queen's scholars would sit here and track the heavens, and would consolidate all their knowledge of the world. Cartographers would come here to hand over their maps, so that their Queen could build this…"

In the centre of the "room", was a bronze sculpture. It was spherical in shape, with markings on its face. It took Moon a second to recognise the shape of Pyrrhia - this was a map. Upon recognising it, Moon's brain hurt as she received a flash of an image. Of this very globe melting and crumbling under the touch of a talon. Just as quickly it was gone again. She shook her head, confused. Where had she seen that vision before? She couldn't understand it.

Darkstalker was looking at her, so she shook off the odd vision and said, "Is this our world?"

"From what we knew in the ancient days," he nodded. "See how this half of the globe remains uncarved? It was once a young Queen's dream to see if the legends of the Lost Continent were true, and to have its likeness carved here. And any other lands that could be found."

"Do you think the Lost Continent is out there?"

"I believe there might be something. I've never been interested enough to care…" He traced a claw across Pyrrhia, coming to a stop of the Talon peninsula where the Night Kingdom lay. "During the War, Vigilance used this to help her plan her strategies. It was how she reminded herself of the world of night she wanted me to build for her…"

His voice trailed off, lost in the bad memories of his youth. Moon stepped closer and took his talon in hers. She gave it a gentle squeeze until he met her eyes and smiled.

"Anyway!" he brightened. "I brought you here, because I had an idea on how to solve our little problem. We'll play an old game my teachers used to use on me. We'll come up with scenarios for Pyrrhia and with all the visual aids, we can determine the best course of action logically."

That did sound like a good idea. Moon came close to the globe, excited. "Alright, let's try!" She stared at the map, and could easily imagine all the different nations and their territories. "What if we went to the rainforest; we'd tell the NightWings they don't need to fight a war over the rainforest - they have a kingdom here, ready to reclaim that no other tribe occupies."

"Like I told you before, Moon," said Darkstalker. "The NightWing tribe is too fearful. The moment they see me, they will be in fear of me and will likely not trust a word I say. Your father and their young Queen currently hold their loyalty, and the war has made them defensive. If we were at peace, maybe I could use time to my advantage to win their trust. But right now, if we wanted to take charge of them to get them to stop, we would need to remove the current power structure."

"You mean remove my father."

He was silent, and Moon felt her stomach grow heavy with shame. It was so conflicting, to still feel some sadness at the thought of having to destroy her own father, even when he did evil things. Darkstalker twined his tail around hers to offer comfort. "We wouldn't kill him… But Moon, you know he can no longer be afforded his freedom. His crimes, his ambitions… he could never be trusted."

"I know." She nodded, determined to play this game to its fullest. "So we'll have to try something else. Draw him out? If we contacted all the Queens, we could converge onto Blister and my father would have to come to her aid. One great, defining battle? Five tribes against two would surely win."

"In an all out assault, most definitely. But that won't happen." He pointed a claw to IceWing territory. "Since my 'resurrection', the IceWings have barricaded themselves behind the Great Ice Wall. They would sooner attack me in the hopes of ending their ancient enemy, even if it cost them this war. Because of Glacier's absence, Ruby is too busy securing her own borders. And Coral hasn't had an active role in this war since the burning of the summer palace."

Moon stared at him. "You seem really well informed."

"Most of it is prediction," he snorted. "Always try to anticipate your enemy's every move, my dear. And also, I had a lot of time on my talons whilst under Agate Mountain, studying distant possible futures was the only way to pass my time when you were otherwise occupied."

She wanted to argue that he shouldn't call the other tribes his enemies. But decided it wasn't worth arguing over semantics. "Alright… then why shouldn't we reach out to Queen Coral? If Princess Anemone is coming here to learn from you, that would give us a way to get into her good graces. We could convince her to join the war."

"SeaWings are good fighters, but put them anywhere near the desert heat and they'll dry out quicker than a water droplet and become useless to us. Likewise, Blister won't put her troops near the water, where the SeaWings would win every fight put against them. It was how Blister was able to oppose Burn for so long. The SeaWings fought her battles in the east whilst Blister's armies stayed in the west."

"What if you and I were to go to Jade Mountain, offer our services as seers for the cause?"

"That will cause more upheaval than good. The entire foundation of the Rebellion relies on the link they have with the IceWings. And the IceWings will not support the Rebellion if I am associated with it."

"It feels like we're going in circles…" Moon sighed, frustrated. Her eyes lingered to the rainforest on the map. Her dream came back to her. "What if… is it possible to use magic to transport someone? Can you cast a spell that would bring a dragon from halfway across Pyrrhia to here, in a moment?"

Darkstalker's brows furrowed as he thought deeply. He scratched his neck, visibly torn on how to answer. "I… honestly don't know. To move a dragon in an instant… that kind of magic would need to be extremely specific, and would require experimentation. I've told you that magic can go awry if not properly controlled. Would we be opening a hole in space and time that would suck the dragon in and pop them back out somewhere else? How can we be sure that won't cause them harm? There's every chance our prey could appear in front of us missing arms or with their organs on the outside."

The image of her mother, broken and dying from misuse of magic Moon had endorsed, made her want to vomit. She closed her eyes and banished such a thought. That idea had been her last hope of getting her mother to safety quickly. Was the situation truly this hopeless? There had to be another way!

Darkstalker noticed her quiet discomfort. He reached out a talon and traced the tip of a claw against the silver scale by her eye, as gentle as a feather. "But, if you're serious, I'm sure we can try? We can spend my one spell a day to perform experiments and see what works."

Moon's drew in a sharp breath, eyes wide. "But the city - it still needs repairs… You'd do that?"

"If this is important to you, then it's important to me." His words filled her with such warmth she couldn't stop herself from diving into his arms to hug him. She felt him stiffen, surprised, before he hummed that familiar soothing melody and wrapped his wings around her. His mind brushed along hers, a balm to her troubled thoughts. You'll see her again, Moon. I promise.

He knew her well enough to know what she'd really been thinking. His vow made her smile, and she hugged him harder. The hopelessness she'd felt just moments ago vanished. She had Darkstalker on her side - the situation was never hopeless.

Let's see if this works… came the thoughts of someone unknown, slithering into their joined minds and leaving a burning cold on everything it touched. Darkstalker? I heard you could read my thoughts. I've come to meet the master of the Lost City of Night."

The pair of NightWings froze for a moment, taken by surprise. Slowly, they pulled apart and Darkstalker was the first to move away, to answer these mysterious summons. As he went, Moon could hear him mutter to himself: "It's hardly a lost city if everyone keeps popping in."

Launching over the balcony, the pair descended to the throne room floor and quickly made their way to the entrance hall. Darkstalker threw open the doors, his body language telling Moon that he was on edge. On the front steps of the castle stood an old SandWing, wearing a dark cape across his wings and covered in the tattoos of dragon skulls to make him look leopard-like. Behind him stood a dozen SandWing males, each with various amounts of skull tattoos. Moon felt a burn in the back of her mind, a foreboding feeling that she should go in the opposite direction of wherever these dragons stood.

"Ah. So the rumours are true." said the old SandWing, smirking as he eyed Darkstalker over his hooked snout. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Darkstalker. I am Vulture of the Scorpion Den, and I've heard so much about you…"