Part Two: Revisiting the Past

Chapter 9

Flint was running down a tunnel away from a Spikewing. She turned a corner and ran into Queen Helen. She had a vicious look in her eyes.

"Ha, Ha, Flint, look at yourself. You are a disgrace, you can't even protect your friends."

"No!" Flint screamed, "I can protect them, I can't fail."

"Are you sure about that?" Queen Helen said. "What about Prancer and Tulsi, hmmm? Did you save them?"

"I would have! I just don't know what happened to them."

"Well I'll tell you," Queen Helen said. "They're gone and it's all your fault." Queen Helen then turned into her parents in front of her.

"You're a disgrace!" her father, Marble, said. "Running away from your own tribe, no wonder you're weak."

"No," Flint yelled, crying. "You… I…"

"You couldn't accept the truth," her mom, Diamond, said. "You aren't a Cavewing, you don't deserve to be our daughter."

"No, mom, dad, I…"

"Give up!" her parents both screamed at her. "Your life is useless, no one cares about you truly."

"That's not true!" Flint tried to protest, while tears were rolling down her face. "Prancer, Hunter, they…"

"They pity you," Marble said. "They don't really care about you, they just want to keep you around to laugh at you. No one cares about you Flint."

"NO!" Flint screamed.

"You know we're right," Diamond said before they turned away from her and started walking away. "Come back to the tribe when you are ready, at least here you will have a purpose in life, killing Webwings."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Flint screamed, launching herself awake and into the real world. She looked around and saw that she was laying down next to a river with Vala and Hunter watching over her.

"Flint!" Hunter said in a panicked voice. "Are you alright?"

"I… I… I…" she was panting heavily, the weight of the nightmare still hanging over her.

"Shh, calm down Flint," Vala said, comforting her with her wings. "You seemed like you were having a bad nightmare, it's all over now, you are safe."

"Where… are we?" Flint asked, still panting.

"We are at my cave," Vala said. "I come here to get away from my tribe from time to time."

"Does anyone know where it is?" Flint asked.

"Only one dragon," Vala said. "But don't worry, he would never sell us out."

"How are you sure about that?" Flint asked.

"Um," Vala said and Flint saw her look around at Flint and Hunter. "He just won't, trust me."

"Okay," Hunter said.

Flint then got up and slammed her head against the wall. Hunter jolted up and held her with his wings.

"Flint, what did you do that for?" he asked.

She looked up at him and tears started rolling down her eyes. "It's all my fault! It's my fault we are in this mess!"

"No Flint, listen, it isn't your fault," Hunter said, trying to soothe her.

"BUT IT IS!" she screamed. "You tried to warn me about what my jealousy could do to me and now look at where we are! On the run, no plan on what to do next, and two of our friends are gone! How is that not my fault?"

"Listen, we don't know if they are gone or not. Whatever happened to them, I bet we will find them again."

"But what if we don't?!" she yelled as her legs gave out on her and she fell to the floor. Hunter caught her before she hit the floor but she was shaking heavily. "Every action I had made has been wrong. I got us caught! I almost got us killed! And you are here trying to say I did something right? No, I'm not worth any of your time, just leave me here to die."

"Flint, I'm not going to do that!" Hunter said.

"Well, you should, it will only make your journey easier, I'm dead weight."

"Flint," Hunter said and he turned her to face him. "I don't care what you think you are. For me, you are the only thing worth living for in this world. I don't know what I would do if you were out of my life forever. I care about you and I will be with you till the end."

"Really?" Flint said, still crying.

"Yes, Flint," Hunter said. "You may have an attitude sometimes and are having a hard time being with other dragons but I believe that you can be better. I believe that you have the will and spirit to overcome your challenges, and I will be with you every step of the way."

"Th… Thanks," she said and hugged Hunter with her wings. She never realized that Hunter thought of her that way. She always thought that the way she had originally acted around him, that he would have no care for her at all.

It still feels wrong but maybe I could get used to it, she thought.

"Feel any better?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, a little," Flint said.

They then realized that Vala was not in the cavern with them. Flint went out and saw that she was standing by the river.

"You good?" Flint asked.

Vala turned to face her. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she said. "I just wanted to give the two of you time together."

"Thanks for that," Flint said. She then sat beside Vala. "So Vala, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know," Vala said. "I've never been much of a planner, I don't know what you two are going to do now but I think you will figure it out."

"What do you mean?" Flint asked.

"Well, your group obviously is doing something big so I will leave you to it. Me, I don't know what to do. I guess I'll go back to my tribe and hope no one figured out that I broke you out."

They both sat there, staring at the water, while Flint considered what to do in her mind.

Should we allow her to go back to her tribe? What if she was found out, then it would be a death trap for her. But can we keep her safe if we bring her along?

"I think you should come along with us," Flint said. "We are trying to end the war between our tribes and I think you could help us out."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Vala said. "How am I going to be of any use to your goal?"

"Well, you did help us out with escaping your tribe," Hunter said, walking up to them. "That is something that was useful. Also think about how you could benefit your tribe if you help us end the war. Peace could come back to Petonix and we could help your tribe get back in good relationships with our tribes."

"Would that work?" Vala asked.

"We will do our best to help you," Flint said. "We promised Tulsi the same thing with her tribe, just think about it. Your tribe wouldn't have to be in hiding anymore, they could socialize with our tribes and we can be one peaceful continent again."

"That would be nice," Vala said and looked at the river for a while before saying more. "I'll do it."

"Nice," Hunter said. "Now we just have to find out what on earth happened with Prancer and Tulsi."

"Yeah that was weird," Flint said.

"I wonder what happened to them?" Hunter said.

"We'll figure it out," Vala said. "But right now we have to decide, where are we going to go next?"

"Flint come here, I may have an idea of where to go," Hunter said and walked back into the cavern.

Flint caught up to Hunter. "What is it?" she asked.

Hunter looked behind her at Vala and then spoke. "I have an idea of where to go, but I don't know what will happen when we get there with her."

"What do you mean by that?" Flint asked.

Hunter took a deep breath. "Listen, with Tulsi being a Drillwing, at least her tribe wasn't feared and more awed that they were alive. But the reputation of Vala's tribe may not make her safe anywhere."

"Listen, Hunter," Flint said. "None of us are safe while this war is going on. Until we can end it, we all are targets."

"Ok," Hunter said. "I'll tell you where we can go to find help." He then whispered it into her ear.

"That could work," Flint said. "Let's go tell Vala."

Flint and Hunter walked back towards Vala who was still by the river.

"Vala we think we know where we can go next to find help to figure out where Prancer and Tulsi are," Hunter said.

"Oh, and where's that?" Vala asked.

"We are going to the Tuff Resistance," Flint said.