The four flew into Crosswinds after dusk, when it would be much harder for the watchful eyes of the SandWings and MudWings in the town to spot the three dragons and the gryphon overhead. While the city was technically neutral territory, it was far from hospitable to either SeaWings or NightWings. As they came closer to the city, Griffin saw the shadow of the town from the holes within the net he was carried on. Smoke coming from fires within Crosswinds distorted the view of the stars and moons overhead.

"There," Torrent said, something catching his eyes. "I can see a makeshift camp in the distance, on the other side of the city." He pointed a webbed talon into the distance, towards a shadowy blob. "There are dragons running about it, setting up tents. I think that's where Burn is staying."

"She's early," Gazelle commented. "Princess Burn is supposed to be coming directly from a meeting with Queen Scarlet at her palace. She wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow morning."

"She must have left early," Torrent muttered with a frown. "Now we'll have less time to survey the surroundings and plan."

Gazelle shook her head. "This is good," the SandWing croaked. "Erosion was also expecting her majesty to arrive later, so she might have to change some of her plans."

"We could warn her!" Griffin suddenly suggested, yelling up from the net so that the dragons above could hear him. "Maybe she'll call off the fight."

Torrent snorted. "Doubt it," he replied, "I've never met her, but from the stories I've heard, Burn isn't exactly the 'call off the fight' type. But if Burn is prepared for Erosion's challenge, that could screw up Erosion's plans." He turned his head towards Gazelle. "You're the only SandWing here. You would be the one going."

"I should go," Nightreader suddenly spoke up. "Burn is much more likely to listen to me, a mystical future-seeing NightWing, than an ordinary SandWing."

Gazelle looked over towards her. "Are you sure?" she asked, concerned.

Nightreader nodded. "This is what us NightWings are trained for from birth. Influencing dragons like Burn with powers and lies. It'll be no problem."

"Maybe a princess like Blaze, but Burn?" Torrent spoke up, skeptical. "I'm sure you've heard the tales of her ruthlessness and unpredictability."

"Burn is rash, but she isn't stupid," Nightreader explained. "She's gotten this far in the war. She won't risk angering the NightWings."

Gazelle and Torrent looked a little worried, but neither protested. "We can get Griffin some more Brightsting Cactus while you're gone," Gazelle commented.

The four stayed silent for a moment before Griffin broke it. "We should land outside of the city!" he called up. "I think I see the Talons' safehouse not far from here!"

Nightreader left the safehouse at dawn, flying towards the camp on the east side of the city. She didn't bother trying to stay hidden — she was no Quickstrike, and doubted she'd be able to get close to Burn without being spotted. Unfortunately, that meant that it wouldn't be long before rumors of a NightWing in Crosswinds spread all the way to the Night Kingdom, but it wasn't like they'd be interested in Crosswinds anyways, considering what Erosion was planning to do here. That would definitely ruin Morrowseer's careful plans. But, it did mean that Nightreader would want to be out of Crosswinds as soon as she got her brother back, so that no NightWings would come looking for them here.

Nightreader spread her wings wide as she flew over the NightWing camp, slowly gliding down towards it. A number of SandWing soldiers hurriedly conversed with each other as they saw the approaching NightWing. As she touched her paws on the ground, a few nervous soldiers surrounded her, holding spears out.

She smiled, pretending like none of the weapons could even touch her. No doubt, some of the soldiers were attempting to cloud their minds, believing falsely that she could tell what they were thinking. She stared directly at one of the guards who looked especially anxious, a brownish-yellow SandWing with a few missing claws on one of his hind legs. From his expression, doubtless he had something he was trying to hide. Maybe he'd killed an ally in battle, or secretly had treasonous opinions about the war.

Nightreader smiled at him in particular. "Don't worry," she said soothingly, "I'm not here for any of you. The NightWings have a message we need to deliver to Princess Burn."

A few more SandWings had appeared nearby, whispering to one another, wondering what the NightWings would be telling their queen.

"Give it to me," a soldier with a chipped horn suggested, "we can pass it on to her."

Nightreader snorted with indignation. "That won't be necessary. This is for Princess Burn's ears and hers alone. Our message is quite urgent, and I doubt the princess would be happy to hear that it was delayed." She looked back towards the quiet SandWing with the missing claws, silently threatening that she'd expose whatever secret he held.

"Er, yeah," the SandWing with the missing claws stuttered. "We'll take you to her majesty right away." He turned around, avoiding Nightreader's eyes, his scales shaking as he led her towards a large tent within the center of the camp.

Nightreader continued after him, a few of the other soldiers staying a cautious distance from her as they followed. She held her head high as she paced through the camp, not bothering to so much as glance at the SandWing soldiers staring as she passed. Back in the Night Kingdom, she remembered practicing this pose and walk time and again with other dragonets. Emanate arrogance and superiority, she remembered her instructor telling them, make sure every dragon knows you're that much better than them, and that they're not worth your time. Although most NightWings never had much contact with the outside tribes, they'd worked for centuries, maybe millenia, to cultivate the NightWing image and the mystique surrounding them. That and their line of animuses was all they had. And after this, they wouldn't have the latter.

As they approached the tent, the guard walked up to the entrance. "Your majesty," he called out, voice shaking, "you have a visitor. She's a NightWing. She says she has a message to deliver to her in."

There was a short pause, and the guard hunched his wings together, almost hiding his head between them. Nightreader realized that he was far more scared of Burn than of Nightreader herself. Glancing at the missing talons, Nightreader wondered how he'd gotten that injury. The cut looked far too clean to have been done in battle. A punishment, maybe? NightWings punishment was usually closer to 'dipping heads in lava' than cutting off talons, but Nightreader had heard some of the kingdoms mutilated criminals like that.

"Let her in," a voice growled from inside the tent. "I think I know what she wants."

She does? Nightreader wondered. That seemed unlikely. Yet, if there were future-telling IceWings, she supposed there could be mind-reading SandWings too, although she'd never heard of Burn being able to do something like that.

There were only two dragons inside of the tent when Nightreader entered. The first wasn't difficult to recognize. Princess Burn was larger than Morrowseer, and somehow even more intimidating. Scars from battle covered her golden scales, and each of her muscles pulsed with energy, as if they just dying to crush the next hapless dragon who approached. Burn stared down at Nightreader with black, beady eyes, with absolutely no hint of fear of Nightreader's possible powers within them. She had nothing to hide, and any dragon who attempted to judge her or her actions would become a lifeless husk beneath her blood-stained claws. Any interest she had in the NightWing was purely curiosity, as if she wanted to rip Nightreader apart to find out what made her tick, or place her on a shelf somewhere.

The second SandWing was far smaller than Burn, and appeared to be fitting a set of chainmail on the behemoth SandWing. A pattern of black diamonds studded his scales and wings, and he had a slightly concerned expression on his snout as he looked towards Nightreader. Prince Smolder, Burn's brother.

Nightreader gave a quick glance back, to see that the soldier who had led her into the tent had already fled. Burn didn't seem to have any worries about being left with only her brother and a possible enemy. If Nightreader had been an assassin, it wouldn't have been hard for her to throw two chakrams and slit the two's arteries, then be out of the camp before they bled to death. Brave and overconfident. Or maybe Burn knew the risks, and just didn't care.

"A NightWing," Burn scoffed, eyeing Nightreader's dark scales instead of directly looking into her eyes. "Are you here about that idiotic IceWing I killed? It appears that Morrowseer's prophecy can't come true without a SkyWing dragonet. How unfortunate."

IceWing? Nightreader wondered, confused. SkyWing dragonet? The Dragonet Prophecy? Did Burn mean she'd killed Hvitur? Nightreader winced a little, thinking about the friendly IceWing she'd met back in Possibility. Hopefully, his end had been as quick and as painless as possible.

"Prophecies tend to work in mysterious ways," Nightreader answered, holding her scales still in an attempt not to show fear, "but I'm not here to quibble over Morrowseer. We wish to warn you that we have foreseen an attempt on your life during your fights in Crosswinds."

Burn cocked her head, staring at Nightreader for a moment, this time, valuing her horns. She let out a bellowing laugh in response. "I already know there will be attempts on my life. It wouldn't be much fun if there weren't any. Smolder, how many assassination plans have we uncovered already?"

"Three, your majesty," Smolder sighed. "Not including the SeaWings you're fighting."

"Three," Burn snorted, looking back towards Nightreader's talons like she wanted them for herself. "And now you've ruined the surprise of a fourth. I was hoping this would be exciting."

"Your highness," Nightreader pleaded, "you need to heed my warnings. This will be a magical attempt."

"Don't tell my what I 'need' to do," Burn growled, baring her teeth, fangs stained brown with blood. She flicked her tail back and forth, drawing a worried glance from Smolder. "I'm not scared of any dragon, animus or not. Have the NightWings chosen a side?"

"No," Nightreader answered, "but thi—"

"Then you're still our enemies," Burn continued, raising her barbed tail as Smolder ducked beneath it.

Smolder rolled his eyes, though Burn was too focused on Nightreader to see it. "Your majesty," he interrupted, "I'm totally not saying you shouldn't kill her, but if the NightWings joined one of your two weakling sisters, that could turn the tide of the war. And not in a good way for us."

Burn flicked her tail around and placed the barb on Smolder neck, making the prince squeal slightly. She gave him a stiff glare, then dropped her tail to the ground as Smolder stifled a sigh of relief. "Then take the NightWing prisoner," she ordered. "If her prophecy turns out to be as false as Morrowseer's, we can ransom her off to the Night Kingdom, or if they're unwilling to pay, she'd make a fine addition to my tower. I have SeaWings to kill. Make sure the crowd is as excited as I am when you introduce me, or you'll be joining the SeaWings."

Nightreader gulped as Burn went to trying to place her chainmail on herself, and Smolder stepped towards Nightreader with a pitying glance. Well, things could have turned out worse. Sure, she'd be drowned in lava if the NightWings decided they wanted her back, and stuck in Burn's 'weirdling tower' if not, but if she was lucky, maybe Erosion would cause a big enough distraction for her to escape, and somehow get her brother back at the same time.