Chapter 13

Tears started to roll down Flint's face uncontrollably and she couldn't stop it. Throughout her life, she always had a thought in the back of her mind that her parents never gave up on her and that they still loved her. It was a stupid thought to have but she wanted to believe it so bad. She wanted to feel like she had a place in their hearts, that she wasn't just their tool to kill more dragons with. She just wanted them to love her.

All of that was gone though. Getting a new daughter and forgetting about Flint showed that to her.

They never cared about me. Tears were still rolling down her face and her eyes were getting blurry. I was wrong about everything I knew about them. I thought that they held some compassion in their hearts but no, all they care about is their reputation.

Flint got up from underneath her hiding spot and ran out the entrance, still crying. She had no idea where she was going, she just wanted to get as far away from there as possible. If she could she would have kept on running away from everything and not stop but a claw grabbed her and brought her into the shadows.

"What are you doing?" Vala whispered to her. "Are you trying to get caught?"

"Let me," Flint said. "Nothing I do is ever correct, I am just a waste of space."

"What?" Vala said. "Now who told you that lie?"

"No one," Flint said. "It's just what I am."

"You aren't a waste of space, Flint," Vala said. "You are a key to the massive puzzle that we are trying to solve. All of us are keys and we won't be able to unlock the doors if one of us gives up."

"You're talking about the riddle, aren't you?"

"Yes," Vala said. "The four pathways to be precise."

"Well that's the thing," Flint said. "There are four pathways but five of us!" Obviously I am not in one of the pathways!"

"We don't know who is in any pathways, remember?" Vala said. "But I think your pathway is with your heart. You just have to open it up and stop neglecting it."

"I AM NOT NEGLECTING IT!" Flint screamed.

"Hey, calm down!" Vala said, trying to lower Flint's voice.

"NO!" Flint yelled. "Everything I do just leads to more bad ideas, I am just a roadblock in your guys adventure. You should have never saved me from that arena because now look at where we are. In enemy territory, all of our friends are trapped, and in the middle of a never ending war!"

"Wait, what do you mean by friends trapped?" Vala asked.

"And that's not even the worst part!" Flint said, not hearing Vala's question. "Now I have truly seen that my parents have no love for me so what is left for me in this world?"

"Flint, listen," Vala said. "I know it is hard for you but I used to be in the same position as you, trust me."

"LIAR!" Flint screamed. "Stop trying to feel pity for me."

"No Flint I'm serious!"

But Flint was already running away from Vala. She didn't care what happened anymore. Her whole life was a failure, she wasn't worth anyone's time. She just wanted to go into a pitch black hole and curl up and die. No one would miss her. She wouldn't miss anyone.

She continued to run down the tunnels until she started hearing noises up ahead and saw a bunch of Cavewings in front of her. She slowed her pace down and tried to blend in like everyone else. She tried to stop crying but it was hard so she just put her head down and hoped no one noticed her too well.

This is a massive gathering, Flint thought, noticing that almost all the Cavewings from the tribe were here. I wonder what's going on?

She continued to walk through the crowd and made her way to the front where she saw Queen Obsidian sitting on her throne.

Huh, I wonder what's so important that Queen Obsidian even showed up to it.

"Cavewings, Cavewings, settle down," Queen Obsidian said. "Today we are gathered here for a very special event."

I wonder what special event it is that the queen has to be here, Flint thought. All the events I was ever at never had the queen show up.

"We are here to make a very special announcement!" Queen Obsidian said. "As some of you may have heard, there were reports that the body of a Cavewing was found down in the deep caves."

"What about it?" a Cavewing chimed in.

"Marble, Diamond, come on up here." Flint then saw her parents approach the queen. "If I am correct, you two recognized the body as that of your lost daughter Flint, right?"

"Yes, that's correct," Diamond said.

What! Flint thought. How could they think I'm dead? Don't they know what I look like, I am their daughter after all! Flint took a deep breath. Was their daughter, but still my point stands.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Queen Obsidian said. "But I have heard that you have requested a favor from me."

"Yes," Marble said and held out Chert in his claws. "We would like to have this dragonet legally as our new daughter."

A murmur went through the crowd.

"Can they do that?"

"What about their other daughter?"

"Are they not going to do a funeral for her?"

"Why can't we do that?"

"Hmmm," Queen Obsidian said and got up off of her throne and started pacing around the room. She looked to the crowd and then back at her parents.

What was Queen Obsidian going to do? Flint thought. I thought my parents already adopted her but I guess there is a legal thing they have to go through. And from the looks of it, the other Cavewings don't seem to be happy about it.

Queen Obsidian walked in front of her parents before speaking. "While I am very sorry for your daughter's death and know how much you want a daughter in your family, I can't allow you to do this."

"Wait, why not?" Diamond asked.

"It is a rule that has stuck with the Cavewings for a long time. No hybrids can ever be adopted into Cavewing families."

A gasp went through the crowd.

She's a hybrid? Flint thought. I don't see anything wrong with her.

"What are you talking about?" Marble said. "Chert is a Cavewing! She isn't a hybrid!"

"Then what do you say about this?" Queen Obsidian said and ripped off the blanket that Chert had on her back. Once the blanket was off Flint could see what Queen Obsidian was talking about. Yes, Chert's scales were Cavewing scales and her face matched the shape of a Cavewing, but the rest of her body didn't match. Her wings were sharp and she had no fluorescent scales on her body. But Flint saw the main thing that gave Chert away. Her horns were curled and pointed straight at the end. Chert was a hybrid between a Cavewing and a Drillwing.

A panic set in down below and all of the Cavewings flew out of the cavern down the tunnel. Flint decided to hide behind some rocks and watch what was going to happen.

"You traitors!" Queen Obsidian yelled. "Why would you bring such an abomination to your family?"

"We just wanted a strong warrior!" Diamond pleaded. "Our other daughter was a disappointment!"

Flint's anger boiled inside her and she really wanted to go run in there but she felt Hunter's compassion and decided to stay put. She looked back to them and saw Obsidian's guards had her parents chained on the floor.

"You have brought disappointment to the tribe!" Queen Obsidian said. "You were a mighty warrior family, I looked up to you but you have done the most severe crime. For that you get the worst punishment."

"Please," Diamond pleaded. "Well make it up to you!"

"SHUT UP!" Queen Obsidian screamed and sliced one of Diamond's wings which made her scream in pain.

"Please have mercy!" Marble said.

"NO MERCY FOR EITHER OF YOU!" Queen Obsidian yelled and gave Marble a bunch of slashes across his face."

Both of her parents screamed in pain while Flint stood by, frozen to the ground.

I have to go in there and help them, they're my parents! But they don't care about you now, do they? SHUT UP, even if they are bad I can't watch them die! They wouldn't do the same for you and you know it. A scream rocked Flint out of her thoughts and she saw Queen Obsidian approaching Chert with her claws drawn.

"Don't touch her!" Marble screamed but one of the guards chained his snout shut.

"We can't have abominations like you run around now can we?" Queen Obsidian said. "No, it is time to get rid of you."

Flint saw Queen Obsidian raise up her claws above Chert.

"NOOOO!" Flint screamed and ran and smashed into Queen Obsidian. She rolled and kicked with her before hoping off and landing in front of her parents and Chert.

"Flint?" Diamond said, perplexed, most likely from seeing her lost/dead daughter standing in front of them.

"Hello to you too," Flint said, annoyed. "I'm glad you cared about me."

"Wait, Flint, it wasn't like that, we…"

"Nice try," Flint said, "but I heard everything you said. Now just shut up while I save you from the mess you got yourselves into."

Queen Obsidian stood up and looked at Flint and Flint saw recognition flow through her eyes, most likely remembering her.

"You, you!" Queen Obsidian yelled. "You were the dragon that led me to the meeting with the Cavewing queen!"

"Wait, you did what Flint?" Diamond asked.

"Not now, Diamond," Flint said, refusing to see her as her mom anymore. "Yes I was that dragon. You two could have ended the war you know. What is the point of all of this fighting? Why do we want to find this artifact, why can't we share it?"

"Because the Webwings want to use the power for themselves!" Queen Obsidian shot out.

"Oh, yeah," Flint said. "Because one of my friends I made happens to be a Webwing."

"What?" Diamond said.

"And they said that they are in this war because they think our tribe wants to use the power for ourselves."

Flint saw Queen Obsidian stop and think about the words she just said. Flint hoped that maybe it would be enough to help stop the war.

Please, please think about it. Don't you want the bloodshed to stop as well?

But then Flint saw Queen Obsidian's eyes turn vicious.

"THEY'RE LIARS!" Queen Obsidian roared. "GUARDS GET HER!"

Flint dogged out of the way as two guards charged her and kicked a third guard in the face, sending him into the wall. She turned around and charged at Queen Obsidian who smacked her with her tail. Flint skidded across the floor and smacked into the wall.

Ow, that hurt.

She got up and saw Queen Obsidian smiling.

"I may not be able to kill you right now but I can kill this dragonet," Queen Obsidian said, lashing out at Chert.

"NO!" Flint yelled, jumping in front of Chert and feeling her wings get slashed by Queen Obsidian's claws.

OWWWWWWWW, that really hurt!

Flint tried to get up but felt guards pin her down and start chaining her up. She turned and saw Queen Obsidian standing over Chert.

NO, NO, NO! Come on Flint get up!

"HELP!" Flint screamed.

"Ha, no one will help you," Queen Obsidian said but when she went to attack Chert, something zipped by and moved him out of the way.

"What?" Queen Obsidian said and then turned around and Flint saw Vala standing there. She then saw Vala shoot her spikes into Queen Obsidian's neck and saw Queen Obsidian fall down unconscious. Flint then saw the guards around her start charging Vala.

"Vala run, get Chert out of here!" Flint said.

"But what about you?" Vala said.

"Don't worry about me, just run!" Flint yelled.

With that Vala turned around and grabbed Chert and flew out of the cave while three Cavewings chased after her.

Please make it out, Flint thought. Please get Chert to safety. The last thing Flint saw was a Cavewing guard standing over her, knocking her out, and stuffing her into a bag.