The five dragons immediately rushed back to the blue-shingled house, for fear that they might have been seen. At the door, Griffin was waiting, worried out of his mind.
"Thank the moons you're alright!" he breathed in relief as the five entered, his sharp talons visibly shaking. "Is anyone hurt?"
Griffin swiveled his feathered neck over at Schist, checking for injuries. The MudWing shook his head. "Avalanche was the only one who really got hurt," he muttered with a glare at the SkyWing.
Avalanche was definitely wounded, but she walked as pridefully as before, if not more so. The wounds on her chest and underbelly that Evergreen had caused were shallow, and the blood had quickly clotted and stopped dripping. The rest of the red spots on her body was either her bright scales or blood that her own — Evergreen and Sturgeon's blood was clearly visible on her claws.
Griffin turned to Torrent as the SeaWing stepped through the doorway. "I killed Gila," Torrent notified Griffin.
"And after killing her and a SeaWing ambassador, Avalanche burnt down Evergreen's mansion," Crystal explained. She looked around the small safehouse. Fortunately, they didn't have too many belongings to put in order.
"Oh, blame me, will you?" Avalanche hissed. "You ungrateful hatchlings, you're the ones who got into trouble with Evergreen in the first place, and I had to save your tails!"
"Just stating the facts," Crystal replied back, without emotion. "Not passing judgement."
"You didn't have to kill Sturgeon!" Schist roared at Avalanche, filling the void Crystal's non-judgemental stance had opened. "You can't just go around killing dragons whenever you want!"
"Pyrrhia's been in war for the last seven years," the SkyWing snorted. "The queens can go around killing whoever they'd like; I don't see why it makes a difference if I do it too."
The scarred MudWing stomped on the ground. "So you think it's alright if dragons just kill each other whenever? Sturgeon was innocent, he was just following his orders as ambassador."
"Innocent?" Avalanche laughed. "Innocent dragons don't get caught up in the mob. Maybe he should've stayed in his place if he wanted to keep safe."
"It still doesn't mean he deserved to die!"
Avalanche tossed her wings back and forth. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I had to do it. We've lost enough dragons already, we can't lose anymore. Trustbreaker understands." She peered back at Trustbreaker, looking for support. He uncomfortably nodded; they had lost enough dragons already.
"Crystal said you were part of some peace movement," Schist barked back, narrowing his eyes, "yet you're just killing more dragons?"
"Sometimes, dragons have to die," Avalanche snorted, "this war isn't going to be stopped by asking the SandWing princesses to talk out their differences. Unless two of them are buried in their graves, the fighting will just go on, and more and more dragons will have to die for them. If a worthless SeaWing has to be killed, then so be it."
"C'mon, you're not going to get any further with her," Griffin spoke softly to Schist.
"Yeah," Crystal agreed, "and we don't have time to talk. The authorities could be here looking for who started the fire any second now."
Avalanche shook her head. "We've got time. Gila and Evergreen had most of the authorities under their pay, now that they're both gone, there'll be a bit of panic before they can get organized enough to come after us."
"Oh," Crystal replied, "so, do we need to go after all?"
"Yes," Avalanche hissed, "you still have to go, it's not like the authorities will suddenly stop existing. I don't want you here anymore, and it's long past time I get out of this dump anyways. I have some arrogant NightWing to meet with anyways, apparently he refuses to meet with IceWings, so I don't exactly have a choice in the matter."
"Fine," Crystal acknowledged, not caring to hear Avalanche's griping. She pulled together her stuff, and pulled a silver chain out of her back, the Darkstone swinging from the end, emitting its strange glow. It was still there, much to Crystal's relief. Trustbreaker glanced over at it, and Crystal gave him a glare. She tucked the Darkstone back in her pack, and swung the bag beneath her left wing. "Let's go."
The other five did the same, pulling together their belongings. For the clutter around her house, Avalanche seemed to have little she actually cared to bring with her, just a few fine pieces of SkyWing jewelry. Trustbreaker set out a small bowl of water and another one of meat, for any of the cats who returned to the house. As they walked out the door, it was just barely dawn, and the weather was overcast, a gloomy faint light revealing the cities. Smoke was still rising from the cinders of Evergreen's mansion.
"Let's get out before anyone sees us," Avalanche growled. Crystal muttered something in agreement, and Trustbreaker parted his wings, the cat Sapphire nestled gently in his fore-claws. The six took off into the morning air.
"Where are we going?" Schist yelled at the dragons ahead of him.
"Just south of the cities," Trustbreaker explained, "a large hill along the Five-Tail River, neutral territory. We'll stop there."
The flight out of the SkyWing city was tense, but breathtaking. The sun slowly rose over the mountains to the east, casting long shadows onto the city below. Torrent made sure that Griffin flew directly over the SeaWing and Avalanche, so that his small figure would be blocked from below by their wings. The six weren't alone in the airspace, SkyWings and SandWings were starting their morning commutes, but they fortunately flew high enough that no one noticed Griffin or bothered them.
Far beneath them, Crystal saw the same crowds of dragons that she and Torrent had seen when they had gone out into the city, but this time, from above. A mixture of pale yellows, reds, and oranges started to crowd the streets, pushing past each other to get to wherever they needed to. The six continued on, unbothered by the dragons below as the sun rose into the sky.
The scenery began to shift as the group left the cities behind them, the buildings became sparse, along with the dragons inhabiting them. Eventually, the hill that had been mentioned appeared, a glorified mound of dirt on the east side of the river. The six tucked in their wings slightly and began the descent to the hill.
As soon as they had landed, Avalanche stated, "I'm going to leave now."
"Oh, you are?" Griffin asked, pretending that he was going to miss her.
"Yeah, you think I want to stay with you any longer?" she snorted.
"What she means," Trustbreaker explained, "is that she has to meet with an important NightWing, and should be off." He stared at Griffin a little closer. "And I will be parting ways too, Fracture wanted to speak with me soon."
Griffin ruffled his feathers in discomfort. The NightWing had read his mind there; he had been wondering if Trustbreaker was going with Avalanche or if he'd have to stay with them.
"Tell him I said hello," Crystal replied, slightly irritated, "and make sure you let him know that I saved Schist's life with the Darkstone. Do it smugly."
"Using animus magic is nothing to be proud about," Torrent muttered, "it was a last resort." The IceWing turned to him and gave Torrent a glare, but didn't comment.
"I will make sure to notify Fracture of everything," Trustbreaker stated, almost like it was a vague threat. Sapphire turned his head to Griffin, who gulped as the cat peered into him. "If anyone needs me, I will be at a town called Crosswinds on the Great Five-Tail River after I'm done with my meeting, south of here."
"Thank you for everything," Schist grumbled, as if he wasn't quite sure how thankful he was. Torrent stretched his wings, impatient for the two to leave so that he could continue on south.
Avalanche and Trustbreaker spread their wings back open, and the NightWing cradled the blue-eyed Sapphire in his claws. With a blast of air, the two dragons were off into the sky, each heading in different directions. From the sun's morning position, Crystal could tell that Avalanche was heading to the north-east, into the Sky Kingdom, whereas Trustbreaker went to the north-west, along the SandWing-IceWing border. Without looking back, the two dragon soared in their respective directions, until they became just small specks nearing the horizon.
"Well, I'm sure disappointed in my sister's choice of friends," Crystal snarkily commented, making sure the two were out of hearing range, "Avalanche was worse than a starved polar bear."
"Oh, come one," Griffin replied, trying to make a smile with his beak, "they weren't that bad, were they?" Torrent tossed his wings back in forth, as if he was debating this. Griffin looked over to Schist for backup, but the MudWing gave none.
"I hope I've got better choice in friends than her," Crystal said, glancing at the three others around her. They were much nicer than Avalanche, and not at creepy as Trustbreaker. At least, that's what the IceWing hoped.
"So, where to?" Griffin asked Torrent. "Hopefully somewhere where I won't have to be stuffed in a house that smells like cat piss?"
Torrent rolled open his enchanted map, and laid it out on the ground as the others crowded around. He pointed a webbed talon to a green dot, in the western side of the rainforest. "I think that's where we should go next."
"The rainforest?" Schist commented, with a little surprise.
"What about here?" Griffin asked, pointing a talon to a large mountain on the map in the south of the Claws of the Clouds. On it, a grey blemish stood out, indicating another animus.
"Jade Mountain?" Crystal wondered.
Torrent shook his head. "No, Jade Mountain has two peaks. That's Agate Mountain, I think. I thought about going there first, but we'll want to stay along the Claws of the Clouds anyways, so that we remain in neutral territory, and it's not much further to the rainforest. And if there is an animus in the rainforest, they should be pretty easy to take out; chances are they're just a RainWing. Maybe we can catch them sleeping."
Crystal nodded in agreement. Griffin opened his beak a little bit, as if to say something in protest, but closed it, thinking better of what he was going to say.
"Then we're settled?" Torrent asked, looking over at Schist.
The MudWing shrugged his wings up a little, not really liking the plan. "It might be nice to see the Mud Kingdom, even if it's not much of it and it's far away."
"Great," Torrent smiled, glad everyone was in agreement. The SeaWing opened his wings. "In that case, let's get flying."