As much as Crystal despised Avalanche, the SkyWing was true to her word. Crystal was able to avoid SkyWing patrols and towns by following the map, even if the journey took her a little longer than she hoped. Eventually, she made it to the east coast, north of the border between the Sky Kingdom and the Mud Kingdom. She had traveled all the way across Pyrrhia, and felt a hint of accomplishment at this feat. It wasn't something she had ever expected to do in her life.
It didn't take her much searching up and down the coast before the young IceWing found the town Avalanche had told her about. She gulped and gripped the Darkstone around her neck tensely as she saw wisps of smoke rising in the air. She saw their source below: the charred remains of houses and dragons.
It looked like it had been a couple days since the town had been set aflame, and only a few open fires remained, dying out and clustering around the few remaining fuel sources. Crystal hoped that the dragons who had done this weren't still around, which seemed pretty likely, considering the lack of movement below. She landed at the ground, and observed her surroundings.
The rancid smell of charred dragon remains filled her nose, making her feel almost nauseous. It wasn't long before she spotted a casualty: a young SandWing with her scales half-melted off. Crystal looked away and grimaced. This looked like the work of SkyWings, not MudWings. They used their fire freely and destructively like no other tribe. The SkyWing army had gotten to the town before Crystal: fortunate for her, but deadly for the dragons living here.
She passed the remains of a house, with three dragons inside: a SandWing, an IceWing, and a dragonet that looked like it belonged to the two. She turned away, not wanting to see the carnage. She had been fortunate Boreal had taken Crystal on as his apprentice: it meant that she didn't have to see much of the war, and little of its horrible effects. The only battle she had witnessed was while she was in the northern parts of the Sand Kingdom on a mining operation with Boreal: the infamous Battle of Devil's Eye and the betrayal of Princess Blackice. She didn't care to witness that massacre again. She remembered once falling prey to the clamor of excitement and the fervor of war. Of IceWings saying their farewells to their mates and dragonets, proud to be fighting for their queen. After that battle, after she saw IceWings turning on their own SandWing allies in a reckless slaughter, Crystal saw the war for what it truly was.
Crystal moved on through the town, looking for survivors, but the only thing she found was more scorched bodies. Yet, a few of those bodies were clearly those of SkyWing soldiers, laid splayed out on the ground in battle armor. It give her some sick perversion of hope: at least the dragons here didn't die without fighting back, they took out a few of their attackers first.
She continued on to the center of the town, but still didn't find any survivors. The SkyWing army was thorough, that enough could be said of them. Suddenly, she noticed a dragon on the ground, a young SeaWing with bright green scales and black spirals across his scales. Crystal walked over to him to get a closer look: he looked like the dragon Avalanche had told her to meet with. Well, it seemed a bit too late for that. The odor of scorched and rotting flesh emanating from the SeaWing was enough to tell her that he was long gone.
Suddenly, Crystal noticed a movement out of the corner of her eye. She whipped around, worried that one of the SkyWing soldiers could've returned. She peered around, and saw a small cat jumping into the bushes, a brown tabby with vivid blue eyes. Crystal relaxed her muscles, it was no threat. She had seen cats once or twice while on a mining operation with her father, and thought they were cute, but she obviously couldn't bring them back up north: they'd freeze to death within days. Apparently some of the other tribes kept them as pets. She wondered if this one was the pet of one of the deceased dragons living here. Was it scared? Sad? Or did it even care? She had no idea what cats thought.
Crystal took one last look at the dead body of the SeaWing and opened her wings, planning to take flight and get out of this wretched place, when she suddenly heard a voice from behind her.
"Excuse me," it spoke, as if apologizing for interrupting her.
Crystal jumped around in alarm, claws outstretched and ready to use her frostbreath. A NightWing scurried back in alarm, a young male slightly older than Clarity. "I mean you no harm!" he quickly yelled.
Crystal hissed, but backed down. What's a NightWing doing here? she wondered. She doubted he was in cahoots with the SkyWings. As far as she knew, the NightWings had no alliances with any of the tribes. Had that changed?
The NightWing was around average size for his age, with silvery-black scales covering his body. In the fading sunlight, they all seemed to glow with a slight orange tint, except for a muddled grey one behind each of his eyes. He tried to give Crystal a faint smile, but it was clear it was a facade for sadness. She didn't blame him if he was a survivor of the SkyWing attack.
"Did you live here?" she asked cautiously, attempting to show a little sympathy.
The NightWing shook his head. The cat which Crystal saw earlier walked out of the bushes, and started rubbing itself against the NightWing's scales, purring as it did so. "I didn't live here," he replied, "but I had a friend who did." He glanced over at the dead SeaWing on the ground, as if indicating to Crystal who said friend was. "You're Crystal, right?"
Crystal nodded, frowning. "How did you know my name?" she asked.
"Fracture told me you'd be here," he replied.
Clarity's mate? Crystal wondered. Did Avalanche tell Fracture I was coming here? "And you are?" she asked.
"Trustbreaker," he replied grimly.
Crystal snorted, almost a laugh. "Trustbreaker? You must've had awful parents for a name like that." She thought she recalled Avalanche mentioning a dragon named that.
Trustbreaker shook his head. "It was of my choosing. A penance, if you will."
"Al-right!" Crystal said with a surprised expression on her face. This NightWing was starting to creep her out a little. "And . . . you're here to see me because . . .?"
Trustbreaker shook his head again. "No, I came here to pay my respects to my dead friend."
Crystal thought about it a moment. How had he known the town had been burnt down already? It could've only been a day or two, based on the fires still burning. Maybe Fracture stopped by Avalanche's place, flew directly to the town after it had been attacked, and immediately went to find this NightWing? She supposed it was possible, Fracture was a pretty quick flier the last time she had seen him in the Ice Kingdom.
"Well, I'll leave you too it," Crystal replied uncomfortably.
Trustbreaker nodded. "Before you go, Fracture told me to ask you to give something called the Darkstone to me. Do you know what that is?"
Crystal hissed, and wrapped a claw around the Darkstone. "If you want it, you're going to have to take it," she growled. "I'm not giving it to some random NightWing I just met, even if he claims to be friends of my brother-in-law." She sized up the NightWing quickly. He didn't look like much of a fighter. She could take him on if he attacked. Could Queen Battlewinner somehow have found out about the Darkstone and wanted it for herself? Did she want to destroy the IceWings with it? Crystal wouldn't let her.
Trustbreaker nodded again, with a sad look in his eyes. "He said you'd probably say that, but he just wanted to make sure. He told me to warn you that keeping it would only cause pain and suffering."
"No," Crystal hissed.
The NightWing sighed solemnly. "Okay," he replied. "That's all."
Crystal frowned. Was he just going to give her up like that? If he knew what it did, why would he just let her go? Wouldn't he want it for his kingdom, or even himself?
Trustbreaker went to the SeaWing's body, the cat following closely behind. He sat down and started murmuring something too quiet for Crystal to hear. The cat want up to the SeaWing and tore its claws into the some of the body's melted scales, tearing out bunches of scorched flesh with its teeth.
The young IceWing turned away. She wasn't really sure where else to go now. She couldn't go back to the Ice Kingdom. Maybe Avalanche would be willing to help her again. It wasn't a conversation she was particularly looking forward to, but it was her best bet. She opened her wings and soared west, back towards the SandWing-SkyWing border. She glanced back at the weird NightWing and his cat as she flapped into the air, gaining height, just checking to make sure she wasn't followed. She wasn't.