Aloe dragged a pale talon along the empty riverbed. Even though there had been water there only a week ago, the ground was now dry and cracked. Was this what the desert was like? Even though it was her true home, she wasn't sure if she liked it. The Sea Kingdom seemed so much nicer, with its warm, sandy beaches, its salty wind. So long as you could swim, prey was plentiful. Even if she'd only been gone less than a week, she somehow missed it already. It was funny. Her mother had kept her prisoner there all her life, and now, she justwanted to go back. She swung her golden dolphin pendant back and forth. There weren't dolphins in the Sand Kingdom, were there?
She raised her head upwards, where the white fabric of her tent blocked her view of the moons and the night sky. She wasn't quite sure why they'd still put up tents — it wasn't like it was going to rain anytime soon. Maybe it was to give her a little bit of privacy.
As the entrance flap flew open, Aloe turned towards it, suddenly alert. She stretched out her claws, and raised her barb from the ground. The huge SeaWing she'd seen in the crowd earlier was standing in the entrance, the shadows of the small lantern in the tent cast against him. He ducked his head and walked into the tent, barely hiding the rage in his expression.
Aloe relaxed as the entrance flap shut itself behind Torrent. Her barb lowered to the ground, and she smiled. "You were at my speech today, weren't you," she calmly opened, "it was a bit surprising to see a SeaWing there, so far west. How did you enjoy it? I hope I didn't bore you. I wanted to make a good first impression."
Torrent snarled as he walked closer, scanning Aloe up and down. He was able to get a much better look at her from up close than behind a crowd of dragons. Her scales were pristine, completely scratchless, and the light of the lantern reflected in them. She no longer had her crown on, but still wore a bejeweled golden band around each of her ankles, and the dolphin pendant hung from her neck, its ruby eyes staring into Torrent. There was no mistaking it. That was the exact pendant that Orca had worn.
"Where did you get that?" Torrent growled, pointing a webbed talon at Aloe's chest.
She glanced down, surprised. "This?" she asked holding up the pendant, light reflecting off its ruby eyes. A slightly frown crossed over her snout, but it quickly faded. "It was a gift from my mate. Do you like it?"
"You're lying," Torrent hissed, taking a threatening step towards Aloe, his webbed paw kicking up dust. Aloe didn't budge. "It belonged to my sister, who gave it to my brother."
"Are you certain of that?" Aloe asked, moving the pendant between her talons, flicking her forked tongue between her clean teeth. "Is that all you wanted? To ask me about the pendant?"
"No," Torrent said, drawing out his dagger from its sheath. "I know it's enchanted. I'm going to destroy it."
Aloe swished her tail up and down, brandishing her barb to Torrent. A hint of fear passed her snout, but she quickly replaced it with confidence. "You said it was your sister who gave it to your brother? I wonder how it got to me, then. It's funny how things like this get passed around."
"Give it to me, or I'll rip it from your corpse," Torrent ordered, rage rippling through his talons. This wasn't just destroying a potentially dangerous artifact. This was for Rift.
"You have a lot of audacity, threatening me in my own tent," Aloe snorted. "I still am a princess."
"So that's a no." Torrent suddenly leaped forwards, his talons wrapping around his dagger. Aloe didn't move, only half-heartedly jabbing at Torrent with her barbed tail. He easily evaded, and the blade of his dagger flashed across Aloe's neck. She suddenly ducked to the side, and the blade missed the pendant, instead striking a bit above, ripping across Aloe's neck, her eyes opening wide in shock. It tore through scale, and narrowly missed an artery before Torrent pulled the dagger from her flesh.
Aloe let out an ear-splitting screech, and suddenly bolted, trying to scramble away from Torrent. As she turned her back to the SeaWing, Torrent took the opportunity to slam a paw into the back of her neck, pinning her to the ground. She continued to yell out, not thinking to use the dangerous barb on her tail. Torrent quickly grabbed her tail with his hind paw, making sure it was immobilized.
"You have poor fighting skills for a dragon who so confidently declares a royal challenge," Torrent commented. Blood dripped from the wound on Aloe's neck, staining the dry dirt beneath her red.
The entrance to the tent was suddenly ripped open, and Leopard charged in, alerted to Aloe's screams. She quickly realized the situation as four SandWing guards came in behind her. She stuck out her right wing, ordering them not to approach. She met Aloe's eyes, seeing the pain and terror in them, then looked up towards Torrent.
"Don't come any closer, or your princess is dead," Torrent growled. Oops. He was outnumbered here. If he didn't play this carefully, he wouldn't get out of this alive.
Leopard didn't approach. The wound on Aloe's neck told her that the SeaWing definitely wasn't bluffing. The two held an intense stare for what seemed like forever, neither dragon willing to move. Torrent suddenly broke it, and scrambled towards the opposite side of the tent, ripping through it as he kicked up dust behind him.
Leopard stood still for a moment, before turning back to her guards. "Catch him," she ordered. "Rhyno, stay behind." Three of the four SandWings rushed forwards through the hole in the tent Torrent had made.
Leopard quickly walked over to Aloe. "Are you alright?" she asked frantically, looking at the wound on Aloe's neck. It was bad, but not deadly. "Are you safe?"
"I'm fine," Aloe said, wincing. "I'll be alright." It would definitely leave behind a nasty scar behind. She supposed that wasn't too strange for a queen.
Leopard glanced towards the dolphin pendant, red blood staining the gold on it. "How did he . . . ?"
"I don't know," Aloe admitted. "He said the pendant used to be his sister's. He knew it was enchanted, and wanted to destroy it."
"Oh no," Leopard replied, alarmed. "If it doesn't work—"
"I'll think of something," Aloe answered. "From what I've heard of Sunny, I might be able to defeat her, even without magic. That would be the honorable way."
Leopard shook her head. "No. That's too risky. Rhyno, get her bandages."
"Wait," Aloe said, just as the guard was starting to leave the tent. "After you do that, get me some scrollpaper and ink. I need to prepare a letter to my mate. And find me a list of SeaWing princes and princesses."
"This is a bad idea," Slate grumbled, carefully climbing down the edge of the riverbed. A few rocks tumbled down beneath him as he moved a hindpaw, into the makeshift camp at the bottom. "We're going to get caught."
"We might," Midnight answered bitterly, not offering any of the reassurance that Slate was hoping for.
"What happens if we do?" Slate asked. "Aloe won't just kill us, right?"
"Probably not," Midnight replied. "She gave that whole speech about Crosswinds not being under her jurisdiction, so she might give us up to the authorities here. Or, she might just kill us and hide our bodies."
"If we get caught, will you use your magic?" They were getting close to the bottom of the riverbed, a distance upstream from the tents.
Midnight pondered this for a moment. "Maybe," she responded. "Although I don't know how much help it can be. I don't exactly have a lot of practice, so I'm not sure I could enchant something quickly or anything large; it would be a distraction at best. Torrent might kill me for it, if I did."
"I hope you're joking about that."
"I'm not," Midnight firmly answered. "He might."
Slate sighed. "And you still want to save him? Even though he's all that's preventing you from helping Gazelle?"
Midnight stiffened up, almost slipping down the side of the riverbed. "I mean . . . yeah. He's still my father. He's a horrible father, but he's not that awful a dragon. And he means well, perhaps too well. He knows what happens when an animus loses too much of their soul, and doesn't want that to happen to me. Regardless, I'd never be able to forgive myself if he died."
As the two reached the bottom of the gully, Slate looked over towards the camp. It seemed still. "Maybe Torrent just went back to your home?"
"He's not the type of dragon to give up so easily," Midnight replied, golden dots sparkling beneath her wings. "I'm sure he's down there. We just need to find him before he does something stupid."
A sudden yell came from the center of the camp, soon followed by a clamor of dragons. "Too late," Slate muttered. "Can you see him?"
"Maybe," Midnight replied, seeing a large figure burst out of the large tent in the center of the camp, more figures suddenly running after him. "Yep," she sighed, "that would be my dad. C'mon, this way."
Midnight started to run towards the camp, seeing more dragons starting to collect near Torrent. "Wait, you want us to go towards them?" Slate asked, alarmed. "Won't we get caught?"
"They're too busy with Torrent to notice a couple of shadows," Midnight answered. "Hurry up, I need you. Don't fly, they'll spot us more easily."
Slate did as he was told, slightly nervous as to why Midnight needed up. They quickly ran up towards the side of the camp. Midnight's view was too blocked by the tents to see Torrent, but from the shouting of SandWings, she was able to infer an approximate location for where he was. "He needs a distraction," Midnight said, turning over towards Slate.
"Oh," Slate replied, "oh no." He gulped, wondering what Midnight was plotting.
"It's hot enough for you to breathe fire, isn't it?" Midnight asked. "Set some stuff aflame."
Slate winced, and glanced around the edge of the camp. All of the guards nearby had gone after Torrent. Hopefully, they'd get out in time. He walked up to one of the tents, and slowly opened the flap. No one was inside. Putting the cloth flap up near his snout, he let out a small burst of flame. The tent immediately caught, fire quickly spreading around it.
"Burn a few more," Midnight said. "Quickly, before they come over here."
Slate walked over to two more tents, and glanced inside. Fortunately, no sleeping dragons were there. Even if he hated Aloe, he really didn't want to accidentally burn any sleeping soldiers in their sleep. Slate quickly shot an arc of fire across the tents, lighting them up. By now, the fire from the first tent was starting to spread.
"Great, now let's get out of here," Midnight ordered, already running back upstream. Slate rushed after her, hearing more voices of shouting dragons as the fire spread across the camp. He winced. He didn't feel too much remorse for burning Aloe's camp, although he hoped nobody got hurt.
As the two of them sprinted upstream, away from the flaming camp behind them, Slate glanced to his left. Maybe a dozen SandWings were chasing after Torrent, who was only five or six tail lengths ahead of them. He had bleeding scratches on his scales, but fortunately, didn't seem to have any barb wounds. One of the SandWings glanced back at Slate, and the two locked eyes.
"Um, Midnight?" Slate spoke up. "I think they've noticed us."
"Great," Midnight muttered. "C'mon, this way." She veered to the left, towards the group of SandWings.
"That's the wrong way," Slate winced, still following her.
As the two got closer to Torrent, Midnight shouted out to him. "Hey! What were you thinking, you dumb squid-swallower, barging into Aloe's camp?"
"I don't know why they're angry, I didn't even kill her!" Torrent roared back. He gave the SandWings a quick glance behind him, then suddenly lit up all his glowstripes. The vivid contrast of the burst of light against the night caused the SandWings to momentarily go blind, and a few tripped over one another. Still, they quickly recovered, getting Torrent only a few more tail-lengths ahead. "I'm completely fine. I've gotten out of worse before."
"You're being stupid!" Midnight shouted. "You've got a dozen dragons after you, you'll be ripped apart!"
"Go on without me!" Torrent roared back, "I have a plan! A good one!"
"No!" Midnight yelled.
"Maybe we should go on," Slate suggested, "they'll catch all of us if we don't."
"They'll catch all of us even if we do," Midnight snapped. "We won't be able to fly to Crosswinds before they get in the way."
"Hey!" Torrent shouted. "What did I tell you? Get away! I don't want you to get hurt!"
A couple of the SandWings, overhearing the shouting match that was going on, stayed back from the crowd going after Torrent. They suddenly turned towards Midnight and Slate, and started towards them.
"C'mon," Slate urged Midnight. He spread his wings open, and let the wind sneak beneath them, lifting him into the air.
"You better not die!" Midnight growled at Torrent as she followed Slate's lead.
Torrent snorted. "Hey, sand-for-brains!" he taunted the guards behind him, turning around and stopping in his tracks. Pulling out his dagger, he threw it point-side down into the dry riverbed, around halfway between him and the SandWings. "Y'all forgot the first rule of fighting a SeaWing!"
The crowd of SandWings suddenly stopped their chase, almost running into each other. They quickly glanced down to see what Torrent had thrown, unable to fully see it in the darkness. A few cautiously stepped towards it, unsure if it might be dangerous.
"Never fight a SeaWing underwater!" Torrent shouted. There was a moment of confusion among the guards, when suddenly, a deluge of rapid water burst from the area surrounding the dagger, slamming into the SandWings. The flood of water pushed them down the empty riverbed, back towards the flaming camp. The dagger quickly broke free of the ground, and shot down the blast of water, flooding every point it passed. Left behind was an empty riverbed, the dirt now drenched.
By the time the flood had reached the camp, carrying Aloe's SandWings with it and putting out the flames Slate had created, Torrent was in the air. "Hurry!" he shouted at Midnight and Slate, who were watching from above the riverbed. "I told you to escape!"
"You hurry!" Midnight yelled back, as Torrent flew up to meet them. It wouldn't be long before the dagger passed by the camp, and Aloe's forces recovered enough to go after them. They needed to hide themselves in Crosswinds before them.
The three quickly dove into the bank closest to Gazelle's house, and landed on the edge. Torrent could see SandWings in the riverbed, the great wave of water having passed over them. Hopefully, it would be a while before they got up.
"How did you do that?" Slate asked, amazed at the show of magic. "Can your dagger create water, too?"
"No," Torrent answered hushedly as the three walked into the alleyways of Crosswinds. "It negates magic around it if I let it. The drought curse is what caused the Great Five-Tail river to dry up, and I had to allow the curse to work in order to get down into the riverbed. I just stopped it from working again afterwards."
"What about your dagger?" Slate questioned. "How will you get it back."
"It's enchanted to return to me," Torrent snorted. "Sometimes, much to my ire."
"You said you didn't actually kill Aloe," Midnight snapped, as the three turned a corner. "So, was all that for nothing?"
"Pretty much," Torrent admitted. "I tried to disenchant the necklace, but she got away. She didn't even tell me anything useful."
Midnight shook her head with a sigh. "Great," she muttered. "Next time you do something fish-brained like that, don't count on me to rescue you."