When the three dragons had returned to the front of Evergreen's house, the sun was just inches above the horizon, and the clouds in front were lit up a orange-ish gold, like a SkyWing's scales. The two guards that were guarding the hybrid's mansion earlier in the day were still there, their eyes drooping slightly. Crystal grimaced, thinking about how hot it would be for them in the summer, standing outside in the dry desert sun for the entire day.
Neither of the two SkyWings gave the three any attention, and there didn't seem to be any other SkyWings here to meet them. Schist looked left and right, then stepped up to the guards. "Excuse me," he asked, "do you know where Boulder is?"
He got no response; both SkyWings stood perfectly still. Crystal frowned in suspicion; did something go wrong already?
Torrent moved forward, putting head up against the male SkyWing's face, breathing up against his scales. "Where is Boulder?" he growled.
"He'll be here soon," the SkyWing uncomfortably responded. "Please be patient."
Torrent backed away with a snort, and looked back towards the setting sun. Over in that direction would be the Great Five-Tail River. The sun had just started to dip below the horizon.
Boulder arrived just after the sun had become completely hidden from view, five other SkyWings following behind him. Boulder was a compact, mean-looking SkyWing with a thick scar running from beneath his chin, down his neck, and onto his underbelly, although it was nothing compared to Schist's burns. He scanned over the three dragons like he was judging their chance of success, then turned to the two guards.
"These are them?" he asked gruffly. "Interesting group. Pretty young."
The female guard nodded. "Apparently, Evergreen agrees," she sneered. "Are we ready?"
Boulder nodded, glancing back at the three. "Until we get to Gila, you'll follow my every instruction," he ordered menacingly. "One misplaced step, and you'll pay for it."
"Fine," Torrent grumbled apathetically. If he had to follow some irritating dragon to get to his target, so be it. Schist quickly nodded his head in agreement.
Crystal agreed cautiously. She didn't particularly like working with Evergreen, or crime bosses in general, but it wasn't as if there was a better option here. Hopefully, he'd get them safely to Gila, and all would be well.
Boulder spread open his wide wings as the night began, and quickly pushed down, gaining the lift required. "This way!" he shouted to the others. The five other SkyWings beat down their wings in unison, and took off after Boulder. Torrent and Crystal followed after, with Schist having some trouble with his right wing.
"Stay low!" Boulder yelled behind him as the other dragons flew across the Great Five-Tail River, a faint after-glow of the sunset lighting it up. The many lanterns in the two cities had started to be lit, and tiny specks of light were appearing around the area. The group weren't the only dragons crossing the river at this time — plenty of SandWings and SkyWings were doing the same, possibly returning on a commute. Schist was straggling behind the others, much to Boulder's annoyance, struggling to just keep up.
Eventually, they reached the other shore, and Boulder motioned the nine dragons to touch down in a small clearing. "We're walking the rest of the way north," he told Torrent, Crystal, and Schist. "Stay out of sight."
The nine trudged on through narrow alleyways, dark and empty. A few times, Torrent thought he saw a SandWing or two in the darkness, but they seemed to avoid the group that walked past. Boulder gave them a quick glance each, but other than that, he paid them no heed.
Eventually, their path moved closer to the river's west shoreline, and Torrent saw the water in the distance, looking very appealing to his tired paws. His webbed feet were meant for swimming, not walking, and considering the small number of SeaWings living here, he'd be absolutely invisible underwater. Even if his gills didn't work so well due to Magma's attack, he could come up above the surface if he needed to breath, and any dragons watching would barely notice in the darkness.
Torrent quickened his walking to match pace with Boulder. "I could swim," he suggested, "no one would notice me."
Boulder gave the SeaWing a cold stare. "No," he ordered without providing an explanation.
"I'd be able to get to Gila quicker and more silently," Torrent protested in annoyance.
Boulder suddenly stopped walking, almost causing the SkyWing behind to trip on Boulder's tail. "I said no," he growled. "If you can't follow directions, then you shouldn't be here with us."
Torrent grumbled and returned to his place in the line, and Boulder continued on. The SeaWing peeked out at the ocean again. Not too far a distance from where they were, three large piers jutted out from the shoreline, with a few ships, rafts, and barges tied to it, and small wooden crates full of goods and supplies stacked up nearby. In the black darkness, Torrent could see a small ship in the middle of the river, slowly sailing towards the port.
It wasn't much longer before the nine reached the port, and Boulder motioned them to stop. "Best not get caught," he warned Torrent, Schist, and Crystal, "the authorities here are under Gila's payroll." He pointed a claw to the lantern-lit docks, crates stacked up all around the edges. A few SandWings were sitting around the entrance, muttering and chuckling to each other.
Boulder took his claws and waved them, signaling to the others to follow. The SkyWings quickly followed, with the three others behind. They walked cautiously onto the pier, hiding behind a tower of crates shielding them from the SandWing authorities' eyes. Torrent looked out to the river on the end of the pier, both of the two cities shining behind them. There didn't seem to be anyone looking from that direction, fortunately.
Before long, they reached a gap in the towers, where they would be in full sight of the SandWings. Boulder quickly poked his head around the corner, and signaled for the others to stop. When he saw an opening, the small SkyWing took it and ran across the gap. The rest of the dragons still behind, he used his claws to signal when they should run past. Before long, the five SkyWings that had come with Boulder were past, and no one had gotten caught so far.
Crystal was next. When Boulder set down his claws, she nimbly ran forward, with only a quick glance at the SandWings, oblivious to her presence. She reached the other side of the gap, and quickly tried to calm her heavy breath.
Schist stepped forward next, and looked up. A large net was strewn between the two crate towers, and smaller boxes and crates hung from the netting by thick ropes. One of them looked to contain a fruit of some sort, he couldn't tell the contents of the others. A harness was tied to the net at each corner so that it would hang beneath the dragons carrying it. It looked like some type of carrying net — if the goods were light enough, dragons might be able to carry it together in flight, a lot faster than using a boat or dragon a raft.
Torrent poked Schist, making sure to touch his left side, not his burnt right. The MudWing turned back to attention, Boulder was motioning for him to go. He quickly ran forward, hurrying across the gap to the other side. When he was clear, he took a breath of relief. It looked like he hadn't been caught.
It was now Torrent's turn. After what felt like far too long, Boulder motioned him forward. The large SeaWing ran forward in a rush, his tail hitting the planks below in his haste and making a muted thumping sound. Torrent tensed up, lifting his tail to avoid it hitting the ground again, and continued forward until he reached safety. Boulder gave him a quick glare, then turned back to watching the SandWing guards. Torrent frowned. If worse came to worst, they could take on a couple of SandWings, right? There were only two of them, and nine of his group.
Fortunately, it didn't come to that. After a moment, Boulder nodded, and the SkyWings in front continued on, still hidden by the crates.
The nine continued across the pier, the cities to their right, off the end of the dock. They soon reached the end, where Boulder pointed a claw to their left, at the end of the crate line. Crystal was the first to look around it. She saw a number of dragons in the faint lantern-light: a MudWing had out a large barrel of some sort, and Crystal was unable to see inside. A SandWing looked over it, grinning slightly, with jewelry around his neck and claws reflecting the faint light from the lanterns, and two silver snakes around his horns. He dipped his claws in the barrel, and what might have been a fine black sand fell through them as he pulled them out. Gila.
Crystal looked back to Torrent, and mouthed 'that's him.' Torrent touched a talon to the amethyst on his dagger, warm to the touch, confirming Crystal's observation.
Maybe twenty or so more SandWings were positioned in a semi-circle around Gila, and the small boat Torrent had seen earlier was behind the MudWing, on the other side of the pier, a large number of the barrels on its deck. More MudWings were on it, idling about as the one in front talked to Gila.
Crystal turned back to Boulder. "There are too many of them," she started to whisper.
Boulder put a claw out to silence her, then grabbed what looked like a small black disk from a pouch beneath his wing. He suddenly threw it over the end of the pier, into the ocean below. Black bubbles started to foam out from where it splashed in.
Crystal heard shouts from the SandWings and MudWings; Boulder had exposed their location. She turned to him. "You exposed us!" she started to hiss, thinking the SkyWing had betrayed her. She stretched out his claws, ready to go down fighting, and opened her mouth to prepare frostbreath.
He shook his head and pointed a dirty claw to the water, stained black by whatever he had thrown in. Suddenly, thin metal tubes that had been invisible in the darkness started to rise out of the river, red, orange, and yellow SkyWings holding them in their mouths. There were maybe fifty, although with so many dragons hidden in the water, it was hard to tell. The SkyWings charged out of the water and onto the pier, meeting the SandWings and MudWings to engage in battle.
"You have your chance," Boulder hissed at Torrent, Crystal, and Schist. "Make it worthwhile." He ran out from behind the crates with the five SkyWings, ready to join the frey.
Torrent pushed past Crystal into the open. It wouldn't do any good to hide anymore. The groups had engaged in battle, the SkyWings with more forces than the SandWings and MudWings combined. He saw a few shots of fire blasted and howls of pain stemming from them, lighting up the pier, but the majority of the battle was fought with claws and teeth for fear of setting the dock aflame.
"Look," Schist whispered, pointing a talon to the wooden boat. As the MudWings had abandoned it to fight alongside the SandWings on the pier, more SkyWings had climbed over the side, some with harnesses and nets similar to the one Schist had seen across the crates. As the MudWings realized what was happening and attempted to return to the boat, the harnessed SkyWings were quickly attaching barrels to the ropes on the net, as unharnessed SkyWings fought off the retreating MudWings.
A few of the nets took off, the SkyWings carrying the barrels upwards and towards the eastern shore of the river. Torrent saw a brave MudWing take into flight, and after evading one of the nets' escorts, clawed into one of the SkyWings, tearing into her wings as she screamed in pain. He grabbed ahold of her, and unable to hold up the weight of the two of them, the three other SkyWings attached to the net started falling towards the river beneath. Realizing they would be unable to recover, the SkyWings quickly attempted to unlatch the harnesses holding them to the net, and two were able to do it in time. The third desperately attempted to get it to release, but was unable to as water flooded into the barrels and he was dragged underwater with the other SkyWing, who had latched ahold of the MudWing, attempting in vain to drown with her a dragon who could hold his breath for an hour. Before long, the MudWing rushed back out of the water, blood seeping from his scales and staining the water around him.
Back at the ship, more SkyWings were attempting to take off with the barrels, with limited success due to the now aware MudWings, who had crowded aboard the ship. As another MudWing reached one of the harnessed SkyWings attempting to lift off, the SkyWing shot a burst of flame at her, narrowly missing the MudWing, but instead hitting a barrel that one of his allies had tied to her own net.
The MudWing that the SkyWing had aimed at yelled in alarm and attempted to scramble towards the edge of the ship into the water beneath, but was far too late. The barrel suddenly burst open, spreading burning wood and flame across the ship, creating a giant hole in the center of the deck to the hold. The battle suddenly stilled for a few awful moments, dragons suddenly realizing what was going to happen. Suddenly, the entire ship was blasted open, torn apart from its belly, along with the dragons that were on or too close to it. It was followed by the loudest noise Torrent had ever heard, a huge bang.
Crystal suddenly grabbed Torrent and Schist, trying to pull them back behind the crates as a piece of flaming wood flew over them, into the water below. Torrent looked back at the scene of carnage, unable to hear what Crystal was yelling at him as a high-pitched noise rang through his ears. Parts of the pier were now set aflame, but the dragons were still fighting above their fallen comrades. A large part of the ship had landed on a net, and weighed the SkyWings down as they desperately tried to get free of the now flaming net. A SandWing on the pier had been impaled through the leg by a flaming piece of jagged wood, and screamed in fear and horror as the fire crept up her scales while she was pinned to the dock. Mutilated and charred corpses of MudWings and SkyWings sunk beneath the water where the boat had stood.
Moments later, the intense ringing and pain in Torrent's ears subsided, and he glanced around the dock. Gila was still there, outside of the continued fighting, nervously playing with a small amulet around his neck. Torrent took out his dagger with a swift motion, and walked towards the SandWing, stepping over the body of a SandWing with a piece of his throat hanging out from his limp neck.
Schist looked back towards the fighting from behind the crates. Boulder was still there, hanging out by the edges of the fight. By this point, it was clear who was winning. Even with all their losses, the SkyWings still outnumbered the other dragons, and with most of the MudWings gone, the SandWings had started to flee from battle. He stepped out nervously, Crystal behind him, and followed a fair ways after Torrent, shying away from the slowly spreading flames on the end of the dock.
Gila glanced over towards Torrent, the large SeaWing close to his location, and suddenly flipped a small rotating piece in the amulet he was wearing. Almost instantly, the roar of battle stopped, and the remaining SandWings and SkyWings froze in place, along with Crystal and Schist. Torrent glanced around at the rest of the pier. Even the flames were no longer flickering, as if they had been frozen in ice. The impaled SandWing's screams stopped and she went still, unable to move. Torrent and Gila were the only ones still moving around on the dock.
Gila started to casually make his escape, before realizing that Torrent had remained completely unaffected by what he had done. The SandWing nervously backed up, and placed a claw around one of the silver snakes wrapped around his horns.
"Save it," Torrent snapped, continuing towards Gila. "It won't work."
Gila tried anyways, pulling the silver snake off his horn and throwing it a few feet away. It suddenly transformed, the metal growing and twisting into a full-sized dragonbite viper. It reared up and hissed, then charged towards Torrent, aiming to attack.
Torrent continued walking forward, unfazed. When the viper got within a few feet of up, it suddenly shriveled up, returning to its silver horn bracelet form. As Torrent walked past, he pressed the emerald on his dagger and touched its point to the small silver snake, disenchanting it permanently.
Gila gulped, and continued walking backwards. "Look," he pleaded, "whatever Evergreen is paying you, I'll pay you double. Triple. Name your price, I'm richer than she is."
Torrent snorted. "I'm not interested in money."
Gila smiled, moving further away from the end of the burning pier, the fighting dragons upon it still frozen and unmoving. "Well then, what are you interested in? I can do anything for you, you know. Money, fame, power, whatever you'd like, I can help."
"I want you dead," Torrent growled, lunging towards the SandWing, dagger out. Gila tried to touch a green diamond on one of his numerous necklaces in response, but he was too late, and the enchantment was blocked. With a single swipe, Torrent dragged his dagger across Gila's leg, creating a small spurt of blood which immediately solidified into stone. Gila opened his mouth to scream, but was only able to get it a short way open before the greyness crawled up his scales and into his mouth, fully turning the SandWing animus to stone.