Jade Mountain was the tallest mountain of Pyrrhia, having surpassed the peak of Agate Mountain after the earthquake two-thousand years ago. The two twin peaks it sported were said to be among the most beautiful in Pyrrhia, although the IceWings had occasionally claimed that some of their own peaks (which no other tribe was ever able to see) were far greater in magnificence. Whether true or not, Jade Mountain had a certain appeal to it â whether it was its height, its proximity to the ocean, or how it belonged in territory controlled by none of the queens. It was far from the war, and a long distance from most other dragons, most of a day's flight from any of the small SandWing settlements bordering the Claws of the Clouds, and further from the Scorpion Den, the closest decently-sized city to it.
Two years had passed since the Brightest Night, and although the four living near the peak of the mountain rarely had anyone else for company, they were happy and content with each other. It was a sleepy night when Nightreader and Torrent's eggs hatched; a light rain drizzled from the skies, and the three moons were barely obscured by the clouds. The cave they had been living in for the last two years was situated midway up the mountain, low enough to be below the snow line, but far enough up that they'd be unlikely to be disturbed by any curious young SandWings who'd decided to take a secret sightseeing tour of Pyrrhia's fabled tallest mountain. Trees partially covered the entrance, although once one knew it was at the bottom of a small cliff situated partway between the two peaks, it wasn't too difficult to find.
The cave itself was cozy enough, and the four had made it their home. A small fire that either Nightreader or Stonemover had started slowly burned towards the front, heating the cave. Vines had been draped over the cave entrance, partially to hide it, and partially to protect it from the roaring winds this high up on the mountain. At the back of the cave, a tunnel led further into the labyrinth of caverns beneath Jade Mountain, which could be either be a fun and engaging playscape for curious dragonets, or a dangerous arena full of drops, places to get stuck, and possibly deadly animus magic, depending on if you were Nightreader or Torrent. Even if he'd checked many times and had never found any hint of tunnels connecting to the enchanted caverns beneath Agate Mountain, Torrent was still suspicious.
Around halfway towards the back of the cave, a nest was situated against the cave wall, made of dirt and sand (Torrent had insisted on bringing sand from the beaches due south of the mountain, where he excitedly planned to take the dragonets for at least four days every cycle of the smallest moon). Three eggs huddled together in the nest, each the perfect size to fit in two paws. The largest was the color of a moonlit ocean, a deep dark blue flecked with hints of gold. The other two were smaller, and similar to each other in color, both consisting of interlocking blue and black spirals covering their entire surface. Their largest difference was where the spirals intersected: whereas the spirals of one of the eggs remained distinct, the border of the colors sharp and thin, the spirals fused together in a midnight blue on the other, and it was different to tell where the spirals of one color began, and the spirals of the other ended.
The shells of the eggs were each thin, and as Nightreader gently brushed a talon over each of them, it felt like they could break with just a little too much pressure.
Nightreader turned her head towards Stonemover and Torrent, who were both watching her intently. "I think they're going to hatch tonight."
Compared to two years ago, Nightreader looked far healthier than after she had just left the NightWing island. Her ribs were longer visible, and the muscles holding her wings up were strong. Prey around Jade Mountain was far better than on the volcano, and the hunting skills Nightreader had been forced to develop on the island just to keep her and her brother from starving had come in use. None of their dragonets would ever have an empty stomach.
Torrent grinned. "This cave will be pretty crowded soon," he laughed excitedly. Nightreader nodded with a smile.
Stonemover's snout turned up, but then he looked towards the cave entrance with a small frown. "Where's Griffin?" he asked worriedly.
"He's meeting with the Talons of Peace in the Neck, remember?" Nightreader answered.
"I know, but I thought he was supposed to be back by now?" Stonemover responded. "He was supposed to return a day or two ago."
"Probably just got delayed by weather," Torrent commented, brushing off his worries. "He can take care of himself, I doubt anything happened. It's too bad he'll miss the hatching, though. I'm sure he'll be devastated."
Nightreader quickly glanced back to the three eggs, then opened her eyes wide. "LOOK!" she yelled, almost making Torrent jump up in alarm. "They're starting to vibrate! I think this one's going to hatch soon!"
Torrent rushed over to the nest, with Stonemover slinking behind him. Sure enough, the spiraled egg with distinct colors was furiously shaking, something rocking it back and forth from the inside. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the surface of the egg, the shell splitting apart to reveal the tiny dark blue scales of a dragonet's snout. As the dragonet pulled back into the shell, the membrane beneath the hard surface came with it. A small paw stretched through the hole that was made, breaking off another piece.
The little dragonet pushed his head through the eggshell again after his paw, breaking the egg apart further. As he got his head fully through the shell, he looked curiously at the three dragons closely watching him.
"Hello, Loresearcher," Torrent greeted the dragonet, stretching out a talon huge in comparison to the dragonet. The dragonet brought his paw on it, then licked it. "That's the name you wanted for him, right?" Torrent asked his mate.
"Mhm," Nightreader nodded affirmatively. She stretched out her own claw, and brushed it gently along the dragonet's scaled head. He turned his head up at her, and wiggled his body, struggling to get out of his. With a crack, the hole widened, and the young dragonet broke free of the egg. He shook himself and spread out his stubby wings, as Nightreader brushed pieces of eggshell from him. He had just barely the hint of vestigial webbing between his claws, and a small fleshy bump on the bottom of his chin. The white dotted scales along his neck were slightly larger than they would be for a NightWing, and appeared to shed a faint glow on Nightreader's dark scales. Hints of gills appeared beneath the large scales running down his neck, but they looked far too small to be functional.
"You're a mother now," Torrent grinned at Nightreader.
Nightreader nodded, and looked back at Torrent, seeing the slight sadness in his eyes. She knew he'd been a father for years before this, but had never been given the chance to see his dragonet. But now, he could.
Suddenly, a sound outside the cave made Torrent tense up, like talons had landed on it. He stood up in a start, and cautiously put his claws on his dagger. "Who's there?" he demanded.
"Just me," a familiar voice answered, and Torrent breathed a sigh of relief. Griffin stepped forward through the vines, into the cave. He looked tired, with a stiff expression on his beak.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" Torrent said. "I was worried for a moment you'd been captured by SandWings or something. Come over, Nightreader and I's dragonets are hatching! You're just in time!"
Griffin slowly nodded, and took a couple of hobbled steps towards Torrent, then stopped, still a few yards from the nest.
Torrent looked at him with a frown. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Griffin shook his head. "Nothing, just haven't been around for a while, and am worried about your dagger disenchanting me." He pointed a talon towards Torrent's dagger.
Torrent cocked his head in confusion. It had been years since Griffin had been worried about the dagger, why was he unsure about it, now of all times? Still, it wasn't a big deal. "That's alright. I allow the enchantment on Griffin to remain enchanted. Better?"
Griffin stood completely still for a moment, then nodded. "Yes." As Torrent turned back to his new son, Griffin walked over to the dragons huddled around the nest, and crouched down, examining Loresearcher. The dragonet looked back, and curiously returned Griffin's stare, as if unsure exactly what he was.
"This is Uncle Griffin," Nightreader introduced. She pointed and looked at Stonemover. "That's your Uncle Stonemover, and the big blue dragon is your daddy, Torrent. I'm your mommy, Nightreader."
Loresearcher looked to each in term, then started to crawl out of the nest, feeling a small rumble beneath him. Suddenly, another scaled snout broke free, this time from the gold-speckled egg. The dragonet, eager to escape her egg, clawed away at the surface until it broke free, allowing her a first glimpse of light. She scrambled out of the surface and immediately stretched her small fragile wings wide, as Loresearcher looked at her, sniffing her tail. He nibbled on the end slightly, invoking a paw-swipe from his sister, although her lack of coordination caused her to fall to the ground. Griffin gently cupped Loresearcher in his talons, pulling him away from his sister.
Nightreader put her snout up against her daughter's, and nuzzled it, the dragonet pawing at her mother's nostrils. Nightreader glanced over to her brother. "This is Midnight," she explained to Stonemover. "She looks a little like you, doesn't she?"
Stonemover nodded slightly, though he didn't seem so sure of that himself. Midnight's SeaWing features seemed somewhat heavier than her brother's â her spine was more clearly webbed, and her scales less organized, close to the pebble-like pattern Torrent had. Similarly, she had dark-blue splotches all across her body that could have been glowstripes, just barely lighter than the rest of her scales. Beneath her deep blue wings were dots of gold, like colorful stars in the night sky.
"Well, I think she looks more like Griffin," Torrent laughed, knowing how absurd the notion was. "Right, Griffin?"
As he turned to Griffin, his expression dropped. Griffin's front talons were latched tightly around Loresearcher's head and body, the dragonet struggling to move. With a blank stare on Griffin's face, Griffin twisted the talons holding Loresearcher's body, a small crack sounding as he broke the dragonet's neck.
Nightreader's expression quickly shifted, first to confusion, shock, and then rage. With a roar of fury, her scales almost bursting from her skin, she leaped at Griffin, claws outstretched. As Griffin dropped the dragonet's limp body, she slammed her paw into his neck, tearing into his flesh with it and holding him up against the wall by his throat.
"YOU KILLED HIM!" she screamed, rage emanating from every sound she made. "WHY DID YOU KILL HIM!?"
Griffin's eyes went wide in confusion as he looked straight into Nightreader's. He clenched his front talons around her paw as the NightWing choked him, attempting to respond but unable to speak.
"Darling, let poor Griffin go," a voice sighed from the front of the cave. "It wasn't his fault. He was enchanted to do it."
Nightreader turned herself towards the cave's entrance, her eyes bloodshot, her teeth totally bared in a snarl. She dropped Griffin, blood dripping from his neck. Torrent gulped as he saw the dragon standing there, his legs shaking in shock. He let out a deep growl. "You."
Crystal laughed, scratching a razor-sharp talon along the cave wall. "That's not a nice way to greet an old friend, is it? It's been, what, nine years? No, six for you, correct?"
Although she looked much the same as when Torrent had last seen her, instead of being cautious and uncertain, Crystal's voice seemed to radiate confidence. She dragged her white talon further along the cave wall, a screeching sound reverberating. Beneath her left wing dangled a leather sheath, where two intertwining snakes forming the handle of a black dagger poked out from it.
"A new mate and now a family, I see," Crystal clucked. "You didn't forget me, did you?"
Torrent seethed, barely able to keep his breath under control. "You forced Griffin to kill my dragonet." His claws tensed up. Whatever his feelings about her had been a moment before, now he was ready to tear out her throat without hesitation.
Crystal snorted. "Not me. Her." The IceWing guestered with a wing behind her. A dragon stepped from behind the vines, her beady black eyes staring straight beyond Torrent with an distatched expression. Unlike any dragon Torrent had ever seen before, her scales were a pale light-blue, like the color of a clear sky over the ocean, and pale white blotches, like fluffy clouds, dotted her wing membranes. Although her horns were curved slightly, wispy-thin spines followed the ridge of her back until they reached the edge of her tail, where they spread out into what looked like a small ball of spikes. Thin white glowstripes covered her neck, body, and tail, and every so often, one seemed to light up at random.
She stepped forward, side-by-side with Crystal, a silver chain hanging from her neck, the perfectly spherical Darkstone swinging back and forward on it. Behind it, her scales seemed to be melted together into a light purple hemi-spherical indent in her neck. Like a shackle, a thick iron band was fused around her left forearm with three chainlinks dangling down from it, a thin line across it indicating where it had been joined around her scales.
"Do you recognize her, Torrent?" Crystal asked, a small hiss escaping from her throat.
Torrent looked at the dragon, her beady black eyes staring straight into Torrent's own turquoise pearls. Was she . . . no, how could she be? His and Crystal's dragonet would have hatched six years ago, but this dragon looked like a full-grown young adult, at least a few years older than that. Still, how many SeaWing-IceWing hybrids were there on Pyrrhia?
"That's right," Crystal smiled. "She's your dragonet. Her name is Aurora. She's been waiting all her life to meet her father, you see."
"Why?" Nightreader hissed, her blood boiling. "Why would you kill him?"
"And Torrent chose you as his mate," Crystal jeered, turning towards Nightreader, quickly examining her up and down. "A poor choice. Your SeaWing mate has let his feelings get in the way of his logic, and his mission. He chose you, even knowing that your dragonets would be the spawn of not one, but two animus bloodlines?
"Torrent, how stupid do you have to be to not realize that at least one of your dragonets would likely be an animus?" Crystal thought for a few seconds, doing the calculation in her head. "I already know from our dragonet surviving the Darkstone process that you have the gene. And if it was also passed onto your mate, as was likely, it's about one in two. If it did occur, you should've known you'd have a big choice to make: allow your animus dragonet to fly free, or decide they'd have to go the way of that sweet little RainWing dragonet you killed so many years ago. Fortunately, Aurora has made that choice for you, and that burden has been lifted off your wings."
"We knew. We didn't care," Nightreader growled. She looked back to the nest. Loresearcher's limp body lay still on the cold cavern floor next to the bleeding Griffin, but Nightreader could grieve later. She still had two dragonets living. Midnight was in the nest, looking at her brother's corpse in alarm, whereas the final dragonet was still in their egg. "Stonemover, protect Midnight and the egg."
Stonemover fearfully looked over at Crystal and Aurora, then back at her sister. Shaking, he stood up, his claws outstretched. Nightreader stepped forward, between the nest and the two dragons at the front of the cavern.
Crystal rolled her eyes, and drew the snake-hilted dagger from its sheath. Now that Torrent had a better view of it, he could that inlaid between the hilt and the blade was a light-blue scale, matching the color of Aurora's. A hole seemed to have been cut through the scale, and a pitch-black pearl was placed inside, nestling close against it. The obsidian blade of the dagger twisted back and forth, like the horn of a SkyWing.
Crystal held the dagger out, almost teasingly. "Well, now you see where that went."
Torrent roared, and charged forwards at Crystal, pulling out his own curved blade. He attempted to stab his dagger into her side, but Crystal side-stepped the blow with ease. Instead of what could have been a fatal swipe, Torrent's dagger barely scraped Crystal's scales, not puncturing hard enough to break through them.
As Torrent ran past Crystal, she swept her claws beneath his wing, dragging her blade through his flesh, ripping through it. Torrent roared in pain, but took the opportunity Crystal's positioning had made. Even as blood started to drip, and the dagger tore in further, Torrent twisted his body to the side, his powerful tail forcefully slamming into Crystal's ribs.
As the wind was knocked from her lungs, the blow sent the IceWing skidding across the cave, towards the hard wall. Without hesitation, Torrent turned towards Crystal, even as his blood dripped on the stone beneath, and jumped into the air, his claws outstretched and his dagger pointing down. Crystal was only saved by her dragonet, Aurora barreling into Torrent as he flew through the air, knocking him off-course and into the ground, the two rolling together, locked in battle.
Aurora wrapped part of her tail around Torrent's as they rolled, the needle-like spines digging into his scales. She ended up on top of him, and swiped a paw, rigid talons out, at her father's snout, claws tearing through scales. Torrent seethed in pain, and grappled ahold of Aurora's forearm with his own, then propped his wing up, turning his dragonet over. Aurora continued to dig her tail spikes into Torrent's flesh, and popped upwards, biting at Torrent's snout with a snarl.
With a lunge forward, Torrent placed his left forepaw on Aurora's underbelly, then swiped his dagger across her neck. She pulled it backwards just quickly enough to avoid getting her throat slit, as the dagger's blade got caught in the silver chain around her neck, ripping it from Torrent's grasp, causing it to skid across the the rock floor. As Torrent reached to get it back, Aurora's claws stretched out, blocking him and tearing into the left side of his neck. Torrent planted one of his back claws on Aurora's wing, folding open as he tore into the membrane, causing her to hiss, releasing her grip.
The SeaWing jumped forward, trying to reach his dagger, but Aurora twisted herself around him, grasping her talons around the base of Torrent's right wingbone, keeping him locked in place. She stomped her other forepaw on Torrent's head, narrowly avoiding Torrent's horns as he bucked his head up.
While Torrent and Aurora fought, Crystal had gotten up, shaking any injuries off, and had walked towards Nightreader. The NightWing hissed, enraged.
Crystal snorted. "Let's make this quick." She feigned a lunge forward, obsidian dagger out, causing Nightreader to rear up slightly, ready to block Crystal. As Nightreader swiped forward at Crystal with a paw, the IceWing easily slid around her, raking her sharp claws along Nightreader's tail, drawing strings of blood from it.
"Don't let her cut you with that dagger!" Torrent roared in warning, before Aurora slammed his head to the ground again, silencing him. He tried to turn over, but Aurora kept her grip on him.
"Easier said than done," Crystal laughed, swiping her dagger in front of Nightreader's snout. Nightreader jumped back in alarm, as Crystal smirked. She held her dagger out, and took a step back, aiming the blade towards the young Midnight in the nest, now behind her.
Nightreader roared, and charged at Crystal, doing exactly what the IceWing had wanted. Crystal stepped to the left, avoiding Nightreader's reckless charge, while keeping her claws holding the dagger out in front of the NightWing. Grabbing the back of Nightreader's neck, Crystal, brought the blade of her dagger against Nightreader's throat.
"Torrent! Don't you want to see your new mate die?" Crystal called, pressing the blade into Nightreader's scales, not hard enough to break into the flesh beneath. Nightreader stayed motionless, knowing Crystal could kill her in a swipe. She looked at Torrent sorrowfully, knowing what was about to happen.
"CRYSTAL, LET HER GO!" Torrent screamed. He desperately attempted to struggle forward, towards Nightreader, but Aurora didn't budge. He turned to Crystal, his breath a panic. "It's me you want! Please, kill me instead, she hasn't done anything to you!"
Crystal tsked. "Torrent, you're so self-obsessed, thinking this is about you. You have nothing to do with it. Believe me, this is far from personal. You're just a soldier in Calamity's war, and you've served your purpose quite well. But now it's time it's time to discharge you, and someone needs to clean up the little mess you've left behind." She glanced towards Midnight, seeing the remaining unhatched egg, the limp body of Loresearcher behind her, and Stonemover frozen in fear in front of them. "Unfortunately, that means a couple dragonets have to die, and you made the mistake of having them. It's the only way. I hope you understand."
Crystal stared down at Nightreader with a toothy grin, flicking her tongue out. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun raising your dragonets in the next life. Maybe you'll even be able to predict me coming!" While touching the black pearl in the dagger with a talon, she dug the blade lightly into Nightreader's throat, just barely enough to draw blood. Torrent struggled to get free from Aurora as the first drop fell, and Nightreader's dark scales nearest the incision started to turn a crusty grey.
"STOP!" Torrent cried out, desperately trying to get free. With a twist of his neck, he chomped his teeth into Aurora's shoulder, ripping out a hunk of flesh. Aurora momentarily let go, and Torrent reached for his dagger, but by that point, it was too late.
A crust of stone started to spread from Nightreader's neck, covering her body scale by scale as she looked onwards, shaking as she felt her body becoming enclosed, her flesh turning to rock. The transformation rose up her snout, and the last part of her body Torrent could see were her frightened eyes, the color draining out of them as they turned into a uniform grey. As the life left her body, Crystal took a step back, leaving Nightreader nothing more than an empty statue.
Torrent roared in grief, and turned as Aurora again attempted to pin him down, slashing at her ribs with his dagger. The tactic worked, and it cut through inches of her flesh, causing her to rear back in pain. Torrent started to get back up to his paws again before Aurora relentlessly attacked again, trying to tear through his wing membranes.
Crystal gave Nightreader a pitying glance before turning back to the nest. Stonemover's eyes were wide, and he stood frozen in fear, still looking at what was left of his sister. As Crystal walked forward, Stonemover suddenly stepped in front of her.
"I w-won't let you pass," he whimpered, shaking as fear flooded through him.
"Your bravery is futile," Crystal snorted, twisting her black blade from side to side, just the slightest drop of blood on its surface. "I haven't been ordered to hurt you. But you can die if you want to." She stepped forward, dagger out, causing Stonemover to take a step back, almost onto Griffin.
As Aurora tore at Torrent's wing, he feigned a strike at her snout, causing her to take a step behind Torrent. Putting all his strength behind the attack, Torrent twisted his body around, swinging his bloodied tail into Aurora's side, knocking her over. As she struggled to get up, she coughed out a splatter of a purplish blood. Torrent turned on her, ready to finish her off, when he saw Crystal attacking Stonemover.
With a rapid slash, Crystal drew her dagger across Stonemover's side, just a hint of blood pouring from it as the stone started to climb up his body, his glossy grey scales becoming muted tones. Torrent roared, and flung his dagger across the cave. His aim was on-target, andiIt landed in Stonemover's side, causing him to yell in pain. Although much of his scales and wings were already covered with the crumbling rocky sheen, the stone stopped spreading across him.
Crystal glared at Torrent tensely, the two locking their stare for a moment. She held her dagger out threateningly as Torrent took a step forward. Suddenly, she turned towards the entrance of the cavern, Torrent following her eyes. Aurora had moved there, and soft rain dripped down her scales, washing away violet blood.
"Griffin," she ordered, like she'd already figured out the solution to this puzzle, "bring me the remaining egg."
Griffin had no choice but to comply as his muscles went stiff. With Stonemover barely able to move, and Crystal between Torrent and the nest, there was no one able to stop him. Walking over Loresearcher's dead body, he picked up the final egg, blue and black stripes melding together, and staggeringly carried it to Aurora. She calmly watched her father, seemingly bewildered by him.
Torrent charged at Crystal, narrowly avoiding a swipe from her dagger. "Why?" he growled, taking a step back. "What do you want from me?"
"It's cute you still think this has anything to do with you," Crystal hissed. She playfully swiped at him with her dagger, causing Torrent to take another step back. He just needed to get close enough to Stonemover, and he'd be safe from it.
As Aurora carefully stared at Torrent, Griffin held the egg beside her, shaking. The situation was hopeless. Nightreader and Loresearcher were dead, Stonemover was practically trapped, and Griffin himself was under Aurora's control. Torrent couldn't take both Crystal and Aurora on, and would be dead within moments. Griffin's beak tightened. He was so useless. This was all his fault. If he hadn't allowed himself to get caught, this would never had happened. Why hadn't Fracture been at the Mausoleum?
Fracture's words echoed through Griffin's head. You will stand outside these doors three more times. Once to kill, once to grieve, and once to live. His prophecy had come true. Griffin had gone to the Mausoleum's entrance to meet with the Talons, and Crystal and Aurora had ended up coming out from it, the latter enchanting him, forcing him to kill Loresearcher. Griffin thought back to his first meeting at the Mausoleum. Fracture had given him the small wax statue of Schist, and had told Griffin to keep it safe and close. Griffin had done just that, but this had still happened. It was still in the leather satchel at Griffin's side.
Suddenly, Griffin realized what he had to do. While Aurora was focused on Torrent, Griffin reached his talons into his bag, feeling for the statue. After six years, it was much more of a blob than a dragon now. Griffin tore off what might have been Schist's two wings, and rolled the wax between two of his thin talons, melting it slightly. Moving so slowly that Aurora wouldn't notice, Griffin raised his talons to his ears, and put a ball of wax inside each. The room became quiet.
"Torrent, Nightreader, I'm sorry," he whispered before latching his claws around the egg, spreading his wings, and jumping from the cave, taking off into flight.
Immediately, Aurora turned around to see Griffin attempting to make his escape. "Griffin, I order you tâ"
"LAALAALAA I'M NOT LISTENING!" Griffin shrilly screamed, the wax with the high-pitched noise drowning out Aurora's command, Griffin unable to hear any sound she made. "OH, THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING, THEY'RE COMING TO SAVE THE DAY!"
Aurora snarled, and opened her own wings wide, jumping into the sky after Griffin as Torrent took another step back from Crystal. Crystal, startled, looked over at her daughter, attempting to follow after Griffin. In her sudden moment of distraction, Stonemover's claws clenched around Torrent's dagger, pressing one against the emerald to make sure the stone wouldn't continue spreading. Gritting his teeth, he pulled it from his flesh, blood running from the wound, Stonemover quickly tossed it over at Torrent.
The SeaWing caught it by the handle, and turned towards Crystal with a menacing glare. As Crystal turned back and saw what had happened, she gulped, and took a step towards the exit. Torrent took a step forward, his claws tight around his dagger, blood dripping from his wounds. Crystal gave a short glance towards Midnight, but decided the risk wasn't worth it. Torrent charged at her with a roar, but she ducked to the side, the SeaWing's dagger grazing the scales on her back. She swiftly turned and fled towards the exit of the cave, spreading out her wings to take off into flight.
As Crystal attempted to make her escape, Torrent started to go after her, opening his own wings, but suddenly stopped as Crystal lifted off. He folded his wings in, and glanced back towards the back of the cave. Midnight was still in the nest, her small head just barely poking from it. Stonemover was beside her, a stoney sheen covering his scales, talons soaked in blood as he clutched the wound from the Torrent's dagger. A statue stood where Nightreader had once been. Torrent looked his gaze back towards the exit of the cave, into the sky above, where Crystal was flying away, then walked back towards the nest.
He crouched down by Midnight. She shied away from his touch at first, but quickly changed her mind nestling herself within his webbed paws. Torrent still had one dragonet, and he needed to protect her.