The Fallen Prince (Dark Seas Series)

by Riokodragon

As Orca, Crown Princess of the SeaWings, attempts to hide her powers, her family works to uncover her secrets. In the aftermath, one of her remaining brothers sets out into Pyrrhia to stop animus magic for good, joining a thief with Queen Glacier on her scales, a captive-hatched MudWing, and an enchanted stone gryphon. Fic series containing Dark Seas, Stone Cold, and Rising Flames.

140. RF: Part 1: Chapters 4 to 12

Chapter 4

The sun set over the shore of the Great Five-Tail River as Midnight and Ecru strolled through the Crosswinds market. The yells of shouting vendors and the smells of roasted SandWing and MudWing delicacies filled the dry dusk air. Most of the rest of the city was choppily divided between the two tribes that lived in it, but the market was a place that an informal truce held. Not that altercations never occurred here, of course, but it tended to be a mostly safe place.

Yet, things hadn't gotten much better for Crosswinds since Aloe had taken over the palace, now two months ago. Many of the SandWings who'd supported Aloe and had joined her against Queen Sunny's forces had been captured, and were still prisoners of war. While the call for Crosswinds' independence from the Sand Kingdom had united both SandWings and MudWings together, there were plenty of SandWings who didn't like the idea of finally letting MudWings stay for good. The river had also flooded from the sudden rain, and a lot of the buildings on the banks were still being repaired.

But at least for Midnight, Ecru, and especially Gazelle, life had improved. Midnight's enchantment had worked as desired, and Gazelle was healthier than Midnight had ever seen her. After they'd moved back into their old house, the elderly SandWing had as much as either of them on the repairs. Her mind was sharp again, and even the burn scars on her neck and the claw scars on her tail looked like they'd faded. Things were looking up for the three.

"Oooh, maybe we can get that!" Ecru suggested, pointing to a small marketstand. A MudWing waved his paw at her, moving his wing aside so Ecru could see better the three roasted crocodiles on a rack behind him, each of them almost as long as a dragon.

"Hmph," Midnight frowned as she noticed the price. "Too expensive." The jewelry that Torrent had given Gazelle had run out long ago, and most of what they had Midnight had paid for herself.

"C'mon, we are celebrating, right? Gazelle's doing well and you're back in your old house. Not that I'm happy you're gone, of course."

Midnight sighed, considering it. "Well, Gazelle is able to work now, and I don't need to spend as much time caring for her. So maybe we can afford a little extra. Why do you even want crocodile anyways? You don't eat meat."

"For you, silly," Ecru grinned. "I know you like it, but haven't had it in quite a while."

"So you'd be buying an entire crocodile, just for me, with my money?" Midnight asked.

"I'd pitch in, of course."

"Hmm," Midnight mused. "Alright. But we're not buying there, and not a whole crocodile. Somewhere less expensive." She motioned Ecru to move on, ignoring the disappointed look of the MudWing vendor.

The two walked further along the market streets. A few of the stalls on either side of them were already starting to close up. It was dusk already. If they wanted to get something, they needed to soon.

Midnight's eye got caught on a small stall that she hadn't seen before. The shoddily-made wooden posts were caught between a fruit vendor and a SandWing selling fish. The tarp which covered the stall from the sun seemed to be nothing more than an repurposed small blanket, with the low sun shining beams of light through little holes. The wooden stand in front of the stall was covered with an assortment of dusty objects. Old tarnished coins made of an unknown metal, a chipped stone statue of a four-legged animal, green copper twisted into what might have been a tool. Nothing that looked too precious, but who could know?

What really surprised Midnight was the stall vendor herself. Obsidian black scales were visible from behind the assortment of objects. As Midnight peered closer, the vendor raised her head, looking over to Midnight. An older NightWing stared back at Midnight, a huge red scar where one of her eyes would've been. She tsked as she scanned Midnight up and down, judging the hybrid.

"You're a NightWing," Midnight commented, somewhat surprised.

The vendor's ear twitched. "And you're a mongrel," she muttered. "What of it?"

"Nothing," Midnight replied. "Just don't see many NightWings around here. Are you new? What brought you to Crosswinds?"

"No IceWings here," the vendor muttered. "Too hot for them. Barely got out of the rainforest alive. But I got my revenge. I was part of that expedition that ran into Blackice, years ago. One of 'em got my eye then. But I got his guts this time around. It was glorious."

"I'm so sorry about that," Midnight said. She'd heard the news when it had happened. Queen Blackice's attack on the rainforest. So many NightWings killed. Midnight had been mildly worried herself, but like this NightWing, she didn't think that the IceWings would come up to Crosswinds. But no one would've thought they'd go down to the rainforest either.

"Shouldn't have made it out, but I did," the vendor continued. "Most of the other NightWings went for the Mud Kingdom. I didn't. Flew directly to Darkstalker's Teeth, like the old legends say. Dragons these days don't listen. IceWings don't go there. But it got boring and lonely, only one other NightWing there with a strange SandWing. Pretty sure the place is haunted. So I flew back across the desert to here. Brought these goods from there. Lots of interesting ruins. You look familiar, mongrel. Do I know you?"

Midnight shook her head. "Maybe you knew my mother?" she suggested. "Her name was Nightreader." That would be an interesting coincidence. Midnight had wanted to visit the NightWings in the rainforest to learn more about her mother, but she hadn't felt safe leaving Gazelle in Crosswinds, even if Ecru was there to help. And there was always the worry that the NightWings would reject her for being a hybrid.

The vendor thought for a moment. "Yeah. That name rings a bell. Never talked much with her. Much too close to Morrowseer for my taste. She ran off with Stonemover, didn't she? The queen was more angry than the volcano. Still, I envy her. We all wanted to get off that island. So she made eggs with a SeaWing and had you? Where's she now?"

"Dead," Midnight responded, Ecru walking up behind her to peer beneath your wing. "Eight years ago. Funny enough, it was an IceWing who did it."

"Pity," the NightWing replied. She glanced over to Ecru. "You looking to buy? I've got lots of antiques. Genuine NightWing made. Some might even be cursed."

"Cursed?" Ecru asked, her eyes wide open in fascination.

"We're good," Midnight quickly said. "We don't need any more curses."

"Mmm, that's a shame," the NightWing sighed, shaking her head. "Dunno how much longer I'll be here. If things get rough, I'm going back to the Teeth. Plenty of scavengers there."

"Thank you for the talk," Midnight smiled, slowly moving away. "Sorry, things are closing up so we need to get going."

The NightWing nodded as the two headed off again. Midnight glanced at each of the stalls, dragons starting to pack up their belongings for the night. So far, she hadn't seen any more vendors with crocodile.

"She seemed nice," Ecru said. "Except for the scavenger-eating business. I don't see how anyone can eat them. They're almost as smart as dragons!"

"Yeah," Midnight replied, not paying much attention to Ecru's complaint.

Ecru looked over at Midnight curiously. "Something on your mind?"

"Oh," Midnight said, "not much. Just —" she lowered her voice a little bit, glancing around to make sure no one was too close. "— the whole cursed thing is on my mind. It's just like, one little enchantment did so much to improve all of our lives. Gazelle is better, which means now I can leave Crosswinds if I wanted to visit the NightWings or SeaWings. I have this power to do, well, anything. To improve everyone's lives in Crosswinds. To stop Queen Blackice? Why did I wait so long, have Gazelle suffer so much, until I decided to use my magic?"

"Because it's dangerous," Ecru whispered. "I don't blame you for waiting. Animus magic can be really, really, scary, and it can have unintended consequences. You're not wanting to use it again, are you?"

"Nothing in particular," Midnight quickly replied. "Just small stuff. Like I could get us so much money we could buy all three of those crocodiles. And if we, you know, ever wanted to make eggs…"

Ecru smiled, but Midnight could see the concern behind it. "Midnight, you have to be careful. I know you think magic could make all our problems go away, but if you do things wrong, it'll just make many more problems. Every time you use it, it's risking yourself. It risks me and Gazelle. There's a reason IceWings limited themselves to just one enchantment in their lifetime."

"I know, I know," Midnight sighed. "I don't want you to worry. I promise, I won't ever use it haphazardly, and I'll think long and hard before ever actually doing anything. It's just that now that I've used it, now I know for real what I can do, it's like so many doors have been opened to me. So many opportunities. And if things get too bad, and I lose my soul and all — well, there's always Torrent."

"Midnight, don't say that," Ecru frowned. "You're not going to lose your soul as long as you're careful. And Torrent's not going to kill you. I don't want that, and he doesn't want that."

"I dunno, he keeps saying he's gonna," Midnight replied. "He's going to find out that I healed Gazelle, you know. I don't know when he's coming back, but he's seen magic before. He'll know."

"I'm not worried about him," Ecru said. "I'm pretty sure he always knew you'd use your magic eventually, and I don't think he could bring himself to hurt you. There's a reason he keeps giving me scrolls on animus legends and animuses he's killed."

"That's not what he keeps telling me," Midnight muttered. "Ooh look! A crocodile stall! And at a good price! Be right back."

Ecru stayed in place as Midnight ran over to the stall, talking with the MudWing vendor. The SandWing-MudWing hybrid fiddled with her moons earring, sighing. She didn't want to say it, but it was frightening, Midnight wanting to use her magic again so soon. It had only been a few weeks. Midnight didn't seem suddenly more evil, but Ecru didn't think it had been long enough they could tell yet.

Midnight quickly came back to Ecru, now holding a shank of roasted crocodile beneath her wing. "See? Not a whole crocodile, but not as expensive!"

Ecru nodded with a worried smile. "Midnight, have you been hearing voices or buzzing sounds recently?"

"Buzzing sounds?" Midnight asked. "Do you think we have hornets? And no voices except those coming from dragons. Why?"

"Well," Ecru said, "I've been reading a bit more about animus magic since you healed Gazelle. Animuses hearing buzzing noises and hearing voices come up weirdly often. And Torrent mentioned in one of the scrolls he gave me an animus named Sunscorcher, your ancestor, who heard the same things."

"Ah," Midnight replied, somewhat dismayed. "No. I haven't heard anything like that. You read through Torrent's scrolls?"

"Well, yeah," Ecru uncomfortably squirmed. "I don't think you've lost your soul or anything, I just felt like I should be informed. You're not angry, are you?"

Midnight sighed. "No. It's fine. I get it. You're worried about me. That's fair. I'm just don't think Torrent's scrolls are the best to read through if you want an unbiased opinion on animus magic. You don't think I made the wrong choice, did you?"

Ecru shook her head. "No. Of course not. You helped Gazelle."

"So, is animus magic good or evil?"

"Torrent thinks it's evil," Ecru responded.

"Well, what do you think?"

Ecru paused for a moment. "I don't know. There are a lot of legends about animus magic, and strange theories. Some of them think it's evil by nature. That it's some demonic force that's granted to dragons in order to corrupt them and take their souls. But whether it's good or evil, I think it's how you use it that matters."

"Yeah," Midnight replied, concerned. She tore a piece of the crocodile meat off and swallowed it down whole. "Still. If animus magic is evil, what does that make me?" She glanced over to the west. The sun had just dipped below the horizon. "C'mon. It's getting late. Let's go."

The two headed out of the marketplace, Ecru following closely behind Midnight as they traversed the narrow alleyways, the quickest way back to Gazelle's house. Mold and grime still covered some of the lower parts of the houses. They were still near enough to the river that the flood had affected this area. Occasionally, Midnight saw a house that had partially collapsed from water damage. She tried to remember if this was a SandWing or MudWing part of town. It didn't matter much either way. Neither Midnight nor Ecru were fully either.

Ecru is right, of course, Midnight decided. Every use of magic hurts my soul. Still, it was tempting. There were so many wonderful things she could do with her magic. Was her soul really worth that much? Maybe she could try and find a way to limit her uses of magic. Only once per year? That seemed so long apart, but the ancient IceWings only used it once per lifetime. There had to be a compromise.

"Hey, did you hear something?" Ecru suddenly whispered.

Midnight glanced back to the other hybrid, then looked around the alleyway. By now, night had fallen, and it was difficult to see, even with Midnight's feeble darkvision. Buildings rose up around the two, some giving off faint candlelight. Midnight squinted as she scanned. No movement.

Midnight shook her head. "Maybe a rat?"

"Maybe," Ecru replied. This part of Crosswinds wasn't too dangerous at night, but that wasn't saying much.

Midnight continued along the alleyway, now walking slightly faster. Maybe they should've flown back from the market. There wasn't anywhere good to land around Gazelle's house, and Midnight hadn't particularly wanted to broadcast her presence to all of Crosswinds, but it probably would've been fine.

Midnight lowered her head, her breaths quiet as Ecru followed behind her. She shouldn't be nervous. If worse came to worst, she still had her magic, right? She could think up something. Well, not if she was dead. And if she did use it, she didn't know how long she'd be out of commission again. It had taken a couple days to recover from her first enchantment.

Snapping her out of her thoughts, Midnight heard a small rustle from behind her. She whipped her head around, expecting to see an attacking dragon. The only dragon there appeared to be a surprised Ecru. Midnight breathed a sigh of relief. Probably just the wind.

Ecru's eyes suddenly went wide, Midnight momentarily confused by her expression. Midnight opened her mouth to say something, but Ecru was faster.

"Get down!" Ecru yelled, not giving Midnight a chance before Ecru jumped on her, pushing Midnight towards the side of the alley.

Just as soon as Midnight's scales slammed against the side of the alleyway, a glint of light passed in front of her eyes from where they'd been heading, a sharp whizzing sound cutting past Midnight before she heard a clang at the other end of the alley. Ecru let out a scream, and Midnight smelt the tang of iron. Sticky blood ran between her talons and side as Ecru's body hit into Midnight's.

Midnight had only seconds to examine Ecru's wound. An almost perfectly straight line had been cut along the top of Ecru's wingblade and along her side, piercing through the scales and flesh. The wound was thin, but deep. A moment later and whatever had cut through Ecru's side would've cut through Midnight's neck instead.

Midnight turned towards where the flash had come from, further along the alley. Her breath quickened as she saw the shadow of a dragon at the end. What could Midnight do? Use her magic? No, she'd be left defenseless if she fell unconscious. She opened her jaws wide and shot out a small blast of flame. Just after lighting up the alleyway, the flame dispersed into a cloud of noxious smoke, filling the narrow alleyway between them and their attacker. Midnight pushed Ecru to the other side of the alley, right before hearing another clang from behind them as an object wooshed through the smoke.

Ecru winced, gritting her teeth as she felt blood dripping from her side. It had cut through scale, skin, and muscle altogether, but right now, all she could think about was trying to escape. She pushed Midnight with her wing as she struggled to get up, and started back to where the two had come from as fast as she could, making sure Midnight was following behind her.

Midnight heard another clang as the smokescreen started to disperse, this one just a clawlength from her snout. She didn't have time to look behind her. They needed to get out of here. Midnight pushed Ecru towards another alley intersecting this one, pulling her tail in tight. This one went downhill. West, towards the river.

Midnight's eyes once more caught on Ecru's injury as they ran down the alleyway. The hybrid was clearly in pain from it, and with each one of Ecru's steps, more blood leaked out, crimson lines dripping from her sandy scales. What if she'd been poisoned? A humid burst of wind blasted against Midnight's snout.

"Turn!" Midnight hissed. Ecru's tail whipped around as she moved into another alleyway, her barb almost brushing Midnight's scales. Midnight followed, pulling her wings in to keep them from hitting the narrow alleyway.

She glanced behind her. There was no sign that they were still being pursued; no steps of paws on the ground. But that only made things more worrying. They'd barely heard their attacker before, how could the two expect to hear anything now? What if their attacker had taken a shortcut through the maze of Crosswinds' alleys?

"We need to get to the riverbank," Midnight said, her heart racing. They'd be out of the alleyways and in the open, but was that a good thing? Was she making a mistake that would end up getting the both of them killed?

Ecru turned again, their route turning downhill again. Midnight's heart skipped a beat as she saw a shadow cross the path in front of them. Was that their attempted killer? Her claws went stiff as she prepared herself for another attack, not knowing if this was where she was going to die or not. It didn't happen. Maybe a different dragon.

Finally, the alleyway opened up, and the two came out to the riverbank, the Great Five-Tail River rushing far past them. The largest moon was full, moonlight shining down on the bank, lighting their path.

The two walked up to the bank of the river, roaring as it cut through Crosswinds. If their attacker was nearby, there was no way they'd be able to hear his pawsteps. Not that they'd been able to anyways.

Midnight scanned the buildings on the riverbank left and right, looking for any sign of the dragon that had attacked them. Crosswinds was motionless. There was no one there. At least no one she could see. Midnight glanced over to Ecru's wound. Her entire backside was stained red from her blood. She'd lost quite a lot. Midnight had to do something. She had to find a way to get rid of the assassin, fast. Was there an enchantment that could do it? A weapon that would give them an advantage. She tried to think, but her mind was clouded by fear, her breaths short.

No, she couldn't. If she enchanted something to kill the assassin, she could be knocked out, and wouldn't be able to help Ecru's wound. But if she healed Ecru, the assassin would kill them both. Her magic was useless. There was nothing she co —

A movement between the buildings caught Midnight's eyes. A glimpse of metal. She had barely a moment to try and move, turning to the side, before it tore through her wing, barely missing her neck again. Midnight screamed out as metal ripped through her leathery membrane, staggering back.

"BREATHE!" Ecru yelled at Midnight. The MudWing-SandWing hybrid turned and grabbed ahold of Midnight, tackling her, shoving the two of them into the rushing river.

Midnight had just a moment to take in a breath of air before the water grabbed ahold of her, pulling her down into its depths. Her eyes started to adjust to the darkness of the river. Blood spilt from Midnight and Ecru's wounds, a monochrome cloud flowing downstream in Midnight's nightvision. The taste of iron brushed against her tongue.

A stray current suddenly tossed Midnight with it, causing her to tumble, her head almost reaching her tail. She felt the water sneak between her paws, the webbing between her talons and along her spine opening up. Almost instinctively, she paddled her paws, turning herself around.

Scales suddenly brushed her tail. Ecru was being carried by the faster current beneath Midnight, gently going with the flow. Midnight opened her mouth, trying to shout something out to her, but only felt water rush in, her tongue going to her throat to protect her from choking. She waved a paw, trying to get Ecru's attention, but she didn't respond. That was right. Ecru couldn't see here, not at night.

Midnight swooped down, her tail swishing from side to side as she placed her paws on Ecru, grabbing ahold of the hybrid, who relaxed at her touch. Midnight knew that she'd have to resurface herself in a few minutes, but at least until then, she could get the two of them as far downstream as possible. Hopefully out of sight from their attacker.

Finding the fastest part of the current, Midnight wrapped her forepaws around Ecru, holding her close while her finned moved up and down, their webbing almost making them fins. She extended her wings, propelling the two of them forward. Her SeaWing instincts took over, and soon, Midnight and Ecru were rushing alongside the water. The swimming would have almost been peaceful if not for the terror that they were being followed and the taste of blood on Midnight's tongue.

After Midnight felt like she could hold her breath no longer, she headed back up towards the surface, pulling Ecru with her. She stuck her snout just barely above the waves, taking in as large a breath as she could before plunging back. Ecru did the same, and the two continued on through the river.

Midnight tried to think about the layout of Crosswinds. Downstream was unfortunately further from Gazelle's house, but they'd be more likely to lose the assassin this way, rather than trying to swim upstream. There was a place further downstream that the river was still flooded, and its banks reached up to the buildings on the shore. If they got out there, they wouldn't be seen if their attacker was watching from above.

The two kept swimming, Midnight pulling Ecru along, occasionally resurfacing. Every so often, Midnight would glance down to Ecru's wound, ignoring the pain from her own. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but Ecru had lost a lot of blood, and Midnight could tell she was struggling to keep the current from tearing herself away from Midnight. Ecru had to be alright, didn't she? But what if she'd lost too much? No. Midnight didn't want to think about that.

After what seemed like an eternity to Midnight, they reached the flooded area of the river. Midnight tilted a wing to the side and moved out of the current, up towards the northeastern shore. Water parted as she resurfaced, heaving in a deep breath. Ecru staggered up behind Midnight. Abandoned buildings towered up above the two, moon-lit river-water reaching up their sides and splashing their walls. Most of their floors were flooded, and in many of the small inlets, grime and rubbage had been washed ashore.

Midnight stopped as soon as she reached dry cobble, shaking grime from her paws. She looked back to Ecru, struggling just to walk. She crouched down, letting Ecru lean on her.

"Climb on," Midnight suggested. Ecru complied, grasping ahold of Midnight's shoulders and lifting her body onto her. Midnight stood back up, grunting from Ecru's additional weight. She silently thanked Torrent for passing his size onto her — there was no way Ecru could have carried her instead.

"Thanks," Ecru panted. Most of the blood from her wound had been washed from her scales by the river behind them, although there was still a red line where her wound was. Her claws clutched around Midnight's scales, holding tight to them as she kept herself stable on the hybrid's back.

"Are you alright?" Midnight asked. "Give me just a sec, maybe I can figure out how to heal you."

"Heal me?" Ecru replied. Her head was spinning, and it took her a moment to understand what Midnight meant by that. "W-wait, you mean with animus magic?"

"Yeah," Midnight responded. "I'm not a doctor, but you've lost a lot of blood. I don't know how much. You need immediate attention, or you could . . ." Midnight knew that dragons could die from blood loss, but she didn't know any of the details. How much had Ecru lost? How much was too much? Was there any way a non-magical doctor could help her?

Ecru shook her head. "No. Don't. You can't use more magic, not so soon."

"I have to," Midnight protested. "You can't even walk. This is what I'm supposed to use my magic for, right? Saving lives?"

"Please," Ecru said, clutching Midnight's neck and holding her horns against it. "I don't want to lose you."

"And I don't want to lose you either," Midnight responded. If Ecru died, there was no bringing her back with magic. That was one of the rules.

Ecru shook her head. "You have the scroll you healed Gazelle with. It's back at her house. You can heal me with that."

"It's an hour walk with you on me, and we should've tended to your wound earlier than this, and I don't know if —" Midnight choked up a little, "I don't know if you'll make it that far."

"I'll be fine," Ecru whispered. She squinted at the walls of the buildings around her. "I'm still conscious. I'll keep talking to you, just to make sure you know that. I don't want you to have to use your magic again. And if you fall unconscious like last time, I can't carry you back."

Midnight clenched her talons. She didn't like the risk in that. It would be better to just heal Ecru now; she hadn't felt anything different since her previous use of magic. It had to be worth it if it would save Ecru. But if Ecru wanted her to wait, she would. Not because she agreed, but because Ecru wanted it.

"Alright," Midnight said. "We'll go back. But if you fall unconscious or we're attacked again, I'm going to use it."

Ecru nodded. "Deal," she quietly huffed. She laid her head down on Midnight's neck. For the sake of Midnight's soul, she had to stay awake. She started to count out numbers, whispering them to Midnight's scales. Just stay focused on counting.

Midnight took a step forward, up into the city. She was so tired from the swimming already, her legs aching, the cut in her wing burning. But she had to keep going. For Ecru's sake, she needed to get back to Gazelle's house as soon as possible. Once they got there, they'd have the scroll. They would be safe.

Midnight slowly made her way back to Gazelle's house, pushing through the pain in her legs. Her heart raced at every movement in the shadows, every possible glimmer of wings in the sky. If they were attacked again, what could the two do? Midnight could stop their attacker, or heal Ecru, but not both. Something that could bring the two back to Gazelle when touched? Would Gazelle wake up? Could she heal them both there with the scroll?

Suddenly, Ecru's counts stopped. Midnight's blood ran cold, her limbs stiff. "Ecru?" she asked, starting to panic. "ECRU?"

"Hmm?" Ecru muttered, raising her head a tad. "Oh. Sorry. I must have fallen asleep."

Midnight's breath was still quick, her paws shaking. "I thought, I thought —"

"I'm sorry," Ecru replied again, suddenly realizing what Midnight must have thought for that short moment. "Really, really sorry. Keep going, please, I'll keep counting."

Ecru started back at one while Midnight turned her head forward, trying to take deep breaths to calm herself. She just had to keep on going forward.

Finally, Midnight reached Gazelle's house. They'd made it. They'd gotten back alive. Here, they had to be safe.

Midnight pushed through the final steps, Ecru clutching on tight as she muttered numbers. It was hard to see Gazelle's house in the darkness, but Midnight could still tell that the run-down place was home. They'd had to replace the rotting door, and in fact much of the wood in the place, but this was still where Midnight was raised, where Torrent had left her as a wee dragonet.

Leaning back a little, but careful not to drop Ecru, Midnight moved one of her forearms to the pouch against her side, digging through coins until she found her key. She glanced behind her as she unlocked the door, heart racing. Until they were actually inside, they weren't safe. Their attacker could hit her while her back was turned. She kept trying to turn the key, almost breaking it.

Finally, the door unlocked, and Midnight slammed it open, bringing Ecru inside before slamming it back shut, locking it. She breathed a sigh of relief, and set Ecru down on the floor, the hybrid gently sliding off Midnight's back.

"Don't worry Ecru," Midnight said, trying to comfort her. "It's alright. We're here. It'll all be better soon."

Midnight turned, staring directly into a surprised Gazelle's eyes. A candle had been lit next to her, shining dim light on the three of them. For a dragon who might have been the oldest on Pyrrhia, Gazelle didn't look it, at least not anymore. Her dull scales now seemed to flush and glimmer, her muscles ripe with energy.

"You're back," Gazelle whispered. "I was worried when you didn't come back earlier. What happened? Are you okay?" Her eyes followed to Ecru's limp body on the ground.

"We were attacked," Midnight replied. She darted behind Gazelle to the scrollshelf the SandWing had recently repaired, pulling out scrolls, opening them, then frantically dropping them on the ground. "Where's the healing scroll?" she asked, her breath short.

"Bottom shelf, on the left," Gazelle answered. "Attacked? I knew Crosswinds wasn't a safe place for hybrids. We should've left here years ago."

Midnight pulled out more scrolls from the bottom shelf, finally letting out a sigh of relief as she found the right one. She turned to Ecru, making sure to stare directly at her. "Cindime Dybo Ndmi." She paused a moment, unsure if the scroll was having any effect. It had to work, didn't it? It had worked on Gazelle.

The cut on Ecru's back started to close back together, scales mending. Ecru seemed to relax. Midnight began to ease up. Ecru was alright. She was healed. They were safe. "It wasn't a normal attack," she tried to explain to Gazelle. "Not by a gang of dragons. This was targeted by someone who knew how to kill. An assassin."

"An assassin?" Gazelle asked, frightened. "Like someone paid to kill you?"

Midnight nodded. She glanced over to the house's windows, already boarded up. "Maybe. The dragon tried to kill me, not Ecru. Ecru got her wound by pushing my out of the way. I didn't get a good glimpse, only wings in the shadows." She looked over to her wing. Now that she'd started to calm, she could no longer ignore the pain from the slice in it. She raised up the scroll again. "Cindime Dybo Ndmi."

Immediately, the wing membrane started to bring itself back together, the wound quickly closing up. "Douse the candle. We could be attacked. We need to take watch tonight."

Gazelle nodded, and with a quick puff, the candle was out.

"Ecru, are you alright?" Midnight asked, still worried. "Did the scroll help you get your blood back?"

Ecru nodded, Midnight's darkvision letting her see the motion. "Yeah," Ecru huffed. "Much better. Honestly, I think I feel better than before I was attacked. Maybe I had a cold or something."

"Great," Midnight sighed. She walked over to Ecru, and wrapped her wings around the hybrid. Ecru rested her head in the crook of Midnight's neck and wingblade, her heart still quick. They were alive, but this wasn't over.

"I can watch," Gazelle suggested, getting on all fours. "You two need to get some rest."

Midnight nodded. She would be thankful for it. She and Ecru walked over to the woven rug in the center of the house's one room, and laid down on it, Midnight's wing still over Ecru. Midnight wasn't even sure she could sleep tonight.

"Oh," Ecru suddenly said. "The crocodile. We lost it."

Midnight hadn't even thought about that. She must have dropped it after they'd been attacked. Maybe it was still there, back in the alleyway. "It's fine," Midnight replied. "I'm not hungry anyways."

Ecru murmured something, bringing herself closer to Midnight. Hopefully, they'd make it until the morning.

Chapter 5

Rain. There had been so much rain. Like the Eye of Onyx had caused Pyrrhia's skies to just store up their rain during the weeks Calamity had used the weapon. Pyrrhia's weather was a spring, and this was the consequence of pulling too hard on it.

The boundaries of individual mountains were faded, clouds gathering between each of their nooks and crannies. Far below, the dragons and their prey would both be wet and cold, huddling together for warmth and dryness. No SkyWings or birds flew above, the dark skies occasionally let up by a flash of lightning. A burst of thunder shook through the palace. Water poured from the heavens, as if a god had accidentally knocked over a bucket, and now could do nothing but see their creations below drown in the aftermath. What would they think? Would they feel sympathy? Pity? Would they do nothing but shrug their wings, and decide to start over again on the world? Or maybe the bucket wasn't even knocked over by accident. 'Good riddance,' the god would say. 'Too much suffering in that world.' Then the god would wash their claws clean of the blood, and go back to whatever gods did for fun.

These were silly thoughts. Aurora knew better than to think of gods. To a scavenger, a dragon was a god. With a single bite, a dragon could decide a scavenger's fate. It was life or death in the scavenger's eyes, but to the dragon, it was just another meal. Similarly, to a dragon, a queen was a god. And to a queen? An animus was a god. Aurora saw the way that Queen Scarlet looked at her. The fear in the queen's eyes. The dawning knowledge that she'd let something far more terrible than even her into her palace. That her life was in Aurora's jaws, and that to Aurora, she was little more than a scavenger.

And what was a god to an animus? Aurora knew. She'd seen it. She'd been hatched to it. It's power flowed in her violet blood. The great IceWing animus queens knew. They worshipped it. They feared it. But just like it, Aurora wasn't of this world. That gave her an advantage. And given enough chances, even a scavenger could kill a queen.

Aurora placed her paw out. Raindrops gathered in her sky-blue scales, forming a puddle. More dripped down her horns, gathering on the end of her snout before falling down, hitting the stone beneath. From there, they gathered in rivulets, crawling down the side of the rocks before spraying off the cliff's edge, into the forests below. And then, they were gone. Their brief encounter with Aurora was gone. Just her presence had diverted their path, changed their futures.

"I can hear you talking about me," Aurora said, her voice cracking through the rain.

Even though her head didn't turn, the two SkyWings, hiding beneath the safety of the palace roof, knew they'd been caught. They quickly scampered away, frightened by the mere rumors of what Queen Scarlet's new advisor could do. Aurora didn't follow them. Why would she? Right now, every SkyWing in the palace was talking about her. The hybrid with mysterious powers who'd shown up one day, who'd walked through her chains and had been made Queen Scarlet's advisor.

Even without looking, Aurora could tell that most of the SkyWings on the same part of the balcony as her were either staring intently, or attempting to hurry past her on their duties, avoiding any sort of glance at her striking blue scales, standing out among all the reds and oranges. She didn't care. The SkyWings could think what they wanted of her. A queen doesn't care what a scavenger thinks.

Even so, Aurora hated this place. Everywhere she looked, there was another dragon. Another striking glimpse Red, orange, yellow. She didn't see the difference. None of them were anything like her. None of them were hatched in the same world as her. Here, she was living among aliens, creatures who resembled her only in shape. The Crystal Caverns had been empty. Pristine. Untouched. Nothing like this place, where she couldn't go a minute without hearing pawsteps, or being woken from her sleep by the sound of chattering dragons. Were these were the creatures Calamity had tried so hard to save?

"AURORA!" a voice screeched, jarring Aurora out of her thoughts. The hybrid turned around with a glare. The voice belonged to the one dragon in this palace she was supposed to pay attention to.

Queen Scarlet trotted down the inner balcony, head held high. Six SkyWings flanked her, shuffling on two legs with their claws holding onto a cloth above the queen, protecting her from any stray raindrops. A seventh crouched behind her, his neck strained from the weight of a heavy metal box chained to it. Two more SkyWings darted in front of Scarlet, using fine silk rugs to cover and soak up any puddles that would dare to stand in the queen's path. One looked nervously at Aurora as he approached her, but quickly turned away, afraid of what would happen if Queen Scarlet's paws got soaked on his watch.

"Your majesty," Aurora grumbled. She lowered her head in some half-hearted semblance of a bow. "Do you want something?"

"I've had to walk all around the palace looking for you!" the queen snapped, baring her fangs. The little bit of skin that was left on the right side of her face peeled down, exposing more of her jaw than Aurora cared to see.

Aurora wondered somewhat, purely out of curiosity, if she'd be able to heal the queen's venom scars. She probably couldn't restore any sort of nerve function without Calamity's guidance, but she might be able to hide some of the damage. Not that she particularly cared to spend that much time and effort on Scarlet's vanity. From what she knew, the queen's wounds were well-deserved.

"I'm sorry to make you walk," Aurora responded, not really that sorry. She was surprised Scarlet walked at all instead of just having a procession carry her around. The hybrid flicked her tail back and forth, waving the ball of spikes on the end through the air. "I assume this is something urgent?"

"Yes!" Scarlet hissed, narrowing her amber eyes. "Terribly urgent. The rain has been such a downer lately, and we've had to cancel all the arena battles!"

Aurora openly rolled her eyes. That didn't sound urgent. Her eyes caught on one of the SkyWings in Scarlet's precession, who seemed to be staring at her with a look of morbid shock. "That's unfortunate."

Queen Scarlet bristled, her wings whacking two of the dragons carrying her water-cover. Aurora didn't change her expression. The fate of all Pyrrhia is at risk, and the only thing this dragon cares about is having her bloody games. Aurora had little but contempt for the SkyWing queen at this point. Yet, Calamity had given her orders, and even if it meant putting up with Queen Scarlet, she had to follow them.

"You're my advisor!" Queen Scarlet growled, irritated. Aurora should have been sniveling in fear at being reprimanded, like all the other SkyWings in the palace did. She'd make sure someone got reprimanded, even if it wasn't Aurora. "You can't be my advisor if you don't give me advice!"

"Well then," Aurora sighed, "what advice do you want?" Calamity had told her to be Queen Scarlet's advisor. Not her slave.

Queen Scarlet's claws tensed up, and she whipped her tail back and forth, smacking the dragon behind her in the eye. He stifled a squeal, and Aurora noticed a small grin cross Scarlet's face at the sound of his pain. This wasn't about the rain. It was about Scarlet needing to have power over Aurora.

"You're my advisor," Scarlet snapped. "If I knew what advice I wanted, I wouldn't need an advisor."

Aurora's eyes caught on another SkyWing, this one not in the Queen Scarlet's precession. Around the balcony, more and more dragons had paused their work, or paused their pretending to work. They were watching the confrontation, wondering what would happen. She didn't like all the stares.

"If you want advice on how to have fun while it's raining, then you should ask your old advisor," Aurora answered. "I'm not the right dragon for that."

Scarlet bared her teeth again, the rubies over her eyes flickering as they moved. "I have a policy against not letting dragons in the arena go."

Aurora shuffled her left foreleg, the chainlinks on her cuff clinking against each other, glowstripes lighting up at random. She glared back at Scarlet, baring her own teeth just enough to give the queen the faintest hint of white fangs. Aurora placed one paw forward, and saw the queen take a small step back. Every other dragon nearby could see it too. Smell the scent of fear coming from their beloved queen. SkyWings giving Aurora horrified glances, exchanging quiet whispers. Queen Scarlet was afraid of Aurora, and now everyone knew it.

"Then here's my advice," Aurora responded. "Change that policy."

Queen Scarlet stared back at Aurora. Aurora waited, wondering how the queen would respond. She didn't seem used to taking no for an answer. Would she back down? Get angry? Break out in tears? Aurora was almost curious.

"Just get rid of the rain," Scarlet finally growled out. "That's an order. I'm celebrating my reascension tonight with a feast. I don't want it to be raining."

Aurora snorted. She didn't particularly want to comply with this wretched dragon's instructions, but Calamity had told her it was important they worked together. And refusing a full-on order would definitely run contrary to that. The fate of Pyrrhia was far more important than Aurora's distaste for Scarlet.

"Fine," Aurora responded. "Give me the Eye."

Queen Scarlet narrowed her eyes. "Grouse. The box."

The submissive SkyWing behind her stopped rubbing his bruised eye and quickly walked forward, almost tripping from the weight of the heavy metal box around his neck. He plopped it down on the ground in front of Aurora, and turned to Queen Scarlet. A huge iron padlock clanged against the box. Aurora stared down at it.

"Your majesty," he gulped, turning around with a bow. "The key, please?"

"I don't need it," Aurora said, not giving Scarlet a chance to turn around and get it. The hybrid placed a paw on the box. Without any resistance, her paw sank through the metal, into the box. An easy trick that Calamity had helped her learn long ago.

The watching SkyWings let out a collective gasp as Aurora's paw came out of the box, a golden chain between her claws. Even Queen Scarlet seemed impressed as Aurora pulled the chain up, the smooth Eye of Amethyst appearing from through the sheet metal, dangling from Aurora's paw. Most of the SkyWings here had only heard rumors of Aurora's powers. Aurora didn't care. This was nothing but a useful parlor trick. None of these dragons had any idea what magic could really do.

"It's not right that you can use it, but it'll kill me," Queen Scarlet grumbled, her jealous gaze focused on the Eye. "I'm the queen. You're not even a SkyWing."

Aurora shifted her weight up, standing up on her hind legs. She raised her paw towards the sky, the Eye of Amethyst in it for all to see. Small bolts of electricity arced between the amethyst and Aurora's scales, and the faint smell of ozone entered Aurora's snout.

"There's a lot in this world that isn't right," Aurora responded. A faint violet glow pulsed through the amethyst, and a brisk breeze whipped through the balcony, spraying rain against Scarlet's snout. The queen turned her head, her venom-scarred face fully exposed to Aurora. The breeze strengthened, and for a moment, it seemed like the SkyWings were all going to be thrown over the inner edge of the balcony.

Then as soon as the breeze had started, it ceased. The downpour of rain began to dry up, grey clouds parting to make way for the sun. SkyWings stared up through the open-air roof of the palace in wonder, the golden veins in the palace floor glittering.

"I can't believe we had something like this in our treasury the whole time," one of the SkyWings holding up Scarlet's cloth whispered. Queen Scarlet tossed her a glare, and she stiffened up before bowing her shaking head to the ground in apology for talking without the queen's permission.

"Hmph," Queen Scarlet muttered, hiding her fascination. "It's not that amazing. If I was an animus, I could do better." She turned to Aurora. "Now put it back."

Aurora placed her paw back through the walls of the box, returning the Eye of Amethyst to its container.

"I expect to see you at my feast," Queen Scarlet glared at Aurora. "Don't try anything funny there."

Aurora nodded, turning back to her cliffside perch without Queen Scarlet's dismissal. The Claws of the Clouds stretched out before her, the sun now shining down above Sky Kingdom.

---

The feast was open to the sky, just like most everything else in the Sky Kingdom. Just that was strange to Aurora. She'd spent so much of her life in the tunnels of the Crystal Caverns, cozy and quiet. Here, it was all open. The sky was so huge, it made her dizzy when she looked up at it. An enemy could attack her from any direction, and Aurora would have nowhere to hide, no tunnels to turn into. Well, she could always phase into the ground, but at least when you got deep into the Crystal Caverns, that could be even more dangerous.

The banquet's location was pretty enough. Three long tables had been set side-by-side, and each had circular stone slabs alongside them, seats for Queen Scarlet's guests to sit in. And she had plenty of guests — it seemed like every dragon in the palace was here. Red and orange scales blended together from Aurora's point of view, the banquet tables a mess of flapping wings and shouting voices. Aurora again felt a hint of longing for the Crystal Caverns, silent and serene.

Her eyes glared towards Queen Scarlet, who was seated at the head of the center table, perched on a more embellished seat, a large cloud-shaped pillar much like her throne, a comfortable cushion between the queen's scales and the hard stone. A fine silver tray with long legs was placed on the table in front of her, where it would raise her food up so she could eat perched above the rest of the feast, her bejeweled scales and her venom-scarred face visible for everyone to see.

At the moment, Queen Scarlet wasn't eating, her tray and every other dragon's plate empty. Most of the dragons seemed to be chatting it up with friends. Queen Scarlet herself seemed to be having a conversation with the only other dragon at the feast who wasn't a SkyWing, a yellow SandWing with black diamond across his wings and scales. He glanced over at Aurora as he saw her, but turned quickly back to Scarlet.

Aurora grunted, irritated. She didn't like being around so many dragons. Right now, all she wanted to do was go back to her room in the palace, or even better, back to the Crystal Caverns. But with Crystal and Calamity gone, there was no one left for her in the Caverns. And she needed Queen Scarlet's help — Calamity had told her that Scarlet would be the key to challenging Queen Coral, and that she'd need to be patient, waiting until the time was right for the challenge. Aurora was tired of being patient. How would she know when the time was right? And after she took the SeaWing throne and activated the Eye, like Calamity had told her was necessary, how would she know what to do then? She sighed. She just needed to trust that Calamity had done what he'd needed to.

Aurora glanced around the tables, feeling a gurgle in her stomach. Some feast this was. There was no food. Her eyes caught on a few large carts toward the edge of the tables. Exotic meats from all over Pyrrhia, roasted so finely that the smell just barely reached Aurora's nose from here. That's what she was looking for.

The hybrid took off, soaring over the banquet tables as SkyWing eyes stared up at the sky-colored dragon. She landed next to the carts, spooking the SkyWings tending to them with her unexpected fall from the sky. She took a whiff. She was hungry, and it smelled so good.

Aurora reached out to the nearest plate on the cart, and grabbed the hunk of meat on it. Some sort of leg. Bison? Scavenger? Alligator? Aurora wasn't sure, and she didn't particularly care. She immediately tore into it, sharp fangs ripping through soft flesh and crunching through bone. After gulping down the meal, she grabbed out at another one of whatever she had just eaten, paws sticky with juices. Before taking a bite out of it, she glanced back. The crowd of SkyWings had gotten strangely quiet, and their eyes had turned to her.

"What?" Aurora growled, digging out a chunk of meat between her fangs with her tongue.

A blood-red SkyWing standing beneath Queen Scarlet was the first one to speak. "Y-you can't eat yet," he said nervously.

Aurora narrowed her eyes. "Why?" she snorted, her eyes glancing towards the hunk of meat in her claws. "Are you going to try and stop me?"

The blood-red SkyWing shuffled his wings, flustered, and took a frightened step back. "No! I just-" He glanced up to Queen Scarlet, looking to her for support.

"I just asked a question," Aurora muttered, confused. Red juices dripped from her blue jaws, and she licked them up with her tongue. She turned back to her second leg, about ready to eat it. Why was everyone still watching her?

Queen Scarlet let out a raucous laugh, piercing through the silence. When no one else took up her laugh, she glared out at the crowd of SkyWings.

"Laugh!" she ordered. Immediately, the crowd went up in an uproar, all laughing as loud as they could.

Aurora stared, absolutely bewildered. What were these dragons finding so funny? She went back to her second leg, quickly crunching through it and gulping it down.

"Quiet!" Scarlet shouted suddenly, and the crowd went silent. She glared at Aurora. "No one else eats before me."

"That's stupid," Aurora replied loudly, swallowing down her second leg. She turned back to the cart, tempted to get a third.

Queen Scarlet snarled. "Those are orders, you savage. You eat with everyone else. Vermillion, give her your seat."

The blood-red SkyWing quickly nodded, and scampered off to an empty seat further down the table. Scarlet put a paw out to the now empty seat next to her, clearly expecting Aurora to sit down there.

Aurora glanced back to the cart again, and grumbled. She needed to stay allies with Queen Scarlet, no matter how inane her rules were. She trotted over to Scarlet's pillar, and plopped herself down on Vermillion's seat, pouting as she stared directly across at the SandWing.

The SandWing quickly scanned Aurora up and down, an expression of mild amusement on his face. "I see you're also not from around here," he opened, trying to give the blue hybrid a friendly smile.

Aurora's response was a glare. She wasn't interested in small talk with this unimportant dragon.

"Not particularly talkative, is she?" the SandWing said, looking up at Queen Scarlet.

"Peril was much friendlier," Queen Scarlet lamented. "Aurora, meet Smolder. Smolder, this is Aurora."

"Prince Smolder, at the moment," Smolder grinned. "I'll enjoy my royal title as long as I can, at least until Aloe gets booted out of the palace." The SandWing reached his paw over the table, offering it to Aurora to shake.

Aurora stared at the SandWing's paw, unsure what to do with it. "What do you want?" she growled.

"Nothing, just a little conversation," Smolder replied. "It's nice seeing someone else like me here, a stranger in the Sky Kingdom."

Aurora glared again. "I'm nothing like you."

Smolder opened his mouth to respond, but Queen Scarlet interrupted him. "Don't bother," she sighed. "She's not going to open up."

Aurora narrowed her gaze, staring into the SandWing prince's dark eyes. A simple dragon who knew nothing of what was at stake, just like the rest of them.

"Ooh, food!" Queen Scarlet said gleefully as a SkyWing brought her a plate full of garnished meats. She quickly dug in, while more food was placed on the tables.

Aurora stared down at her plates. She was still hungry, but the raucous noise of dragons around her made her almost nauseous. She slowly started to chew through a slab of meat as the dragons around her all conversed. Aurora could only catch glimpses of phrases through the mess. Smolder and Scarlet were discussing something about SandWing politics. The nondescript SkyWings at Aurora's sides were talking about a recent arena battle. Aurora didn't care, and she could barely even hear.

The hybrid looked down to her plate, and licked up the last little morsels from it. Now what? She thought about leaving again, but Queen Scarlet had wanted her here. She needed to stay, for whatever stupid reasons.

Aurora traced a talon in a square around her silver plate, bored and exhausted. What was that colorful metal she liked? She tried to remember its composition, the crystalline structure. Years of instruction from Calamity had made using her artifact this way almost second-nature. Where she moved her talon, a layer of square-shaped metal started to arise from the silver plate, oxidizing into beautiful rainbow colors, glimmering across its surface. More of the metal started to grow at Aurora's will, the square expanding outwards. More squares started to grow from her intentionally-placed imperfections, her bismuth crystal now looking like a bunch of cubes stacked placed each other, pushing each other out of the way in a mess as disordered as it was beautiful. Colors shifted from side to side of the shimmering surface as Aurora moved her snout, checking her creation from all sides.

The sound of talking dragons started to quiet again. Aurora raised her eyes. Everyone in her vicinity was staring at her work, jaws open in amazement at her use of magic. With a snort, she quickly covered the bismuth crystal with her paw, turning it to water with a splash.

"What?" she growled, her eyes darting between the staring dragons until it landed on Queen Scarlet.

Queen Scarlet winced as Aurora's creation collapsed in her paw. Such a beautiful crystal would've been good for her collection. "Most of the dragons here haven't seen such magic before," she snorted. "If you're going to show off in public, expect a few stares."

Aurora grunted, causing Queen Scarlet to roll her eyes. The queen glanced out over her subjects. It was about time for her speech.

"Attention!" Scarlet screeched out, silencing the already quiet crowd. "For those worms whose heads have been buried in rocks, this is a feast for my Reascension Day! Two years ago, on this very day, I challenged my ungrateful daughter to the throne. I easily won, tossing that brat off the mountainside, and retook my throne, putting an end to the chaos and horror of my soft-scaled daughter's short reign."

There were some nervous murmurs of agreement at this point. Queen Scarlet continued.

"Now, this Reascension Day is special for not one, but two reasons! The first reason that the dragon whose completely unprovoked attempt on my life caused me to lose the throne in the first place is now dead! Glory's head has been torn from her torso, and the RainWings that followed her now cower in terror!"

Scarlet raised her paws, and a large cheer arose from the crowd. She smiled, happy to see all her subjects in agreement.

"Unfortunately, the dragon who killed Glory was not me. Queen Blackice stole that chance from me, and won't even give me her severed head. Also, we need more prisoners for our arena, since my daughter released most of my stock after the war ended. So, I've decided to declare war on the IceWings."

Nervous whispers started to be passed around the crowd. Another war? So soon? Who would die this time? Scarlet narrowed her eyes.

Aurora started up at Queen Scarlet, shocked. This was wrong. They were supposed to go to war with the SeaWings, not the IceWings!

"Great, now that we've got that out of the way, it's time for me to say the second reason why this Reascension Day is so thrilling!" Scarlet shouted. "We have a very special guest with us tonight, someone who was very important to my victory over my daughter. Let me introduce my new advisor and champion, Aurora!"

The SkyWings started to applaud while Aurora stayed sitting on her stone seat. She didn't like this attention. Everything she'd done before for Calamity had been discrete.

Queen Scarlet's glare turned to Aurora. "Stand up so they can see you," she hissed.

Aurora reluctantly stood, her eyes darting around the crowd. So many SkyWings. And the noise. All their mismatched claps, their yells, their flapping wings. It was giving her a headache. She could feel herself getting dizzy, the scales and voices all blurring and melding together. She needed to get out of here.

"Thank you!" Queen Scarlet shouted. "That's all, you wretched lizards. Go back to doing whatever stupid things you do."

Queen Scarlet glanced back to Aurora. She was already gone, the tips of her horns disappearing into the ground.

---

Aurora phased out through the wall of one of the palace's balconies, making a SkyWing shining the floor scream and fly away in surprise. Aurora took a deep breath, talons shaking. With everyone at the feast, the palace was almost empty, except for a few stray dragons. Good.

The hybrid looked around the balcony, trying to orient herself. Where was her room? The palace was odd. In the Crystal Caverns, no two surfaces and caves were the same. The tunnels were constantly shifting, but to an experienced set of eyes, there were even patterns there. But the palace felt like a hall of mirrors, with symmetric square blocks Aurora could never tell the difference between. It was disorienting.

"Are you lost?"

Aurora turned around, looking up at a bright orange snout. A SkyWing Aurora hadn't met before. Or maybe she had, and Aurora just didn't recognize her.

"Yes," Aurora replied, looking up to face the SkyWing, who stood a good heads-height over her. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"The name's Cyclone," the SkyWing replied. She turned her head from side to side, revealing a huge claw scar over her right eye, where the eyelid looked like it had been fused shut. She lowered her good eye towards Aurora, carefully examining the hybrid. A metal plate of armor covered the SkyWing's back, rattling as she moved. "You're Aurora, aren't you?"

Aurora stared back, unresponsive. This was unusual. Most of the SkyWings who'd known her name here ran away at first sight. "Yes."

Cyclone smiled, her expression devoid of the usual fear and terror that plagued the SkyWings here, even when they weren't near Aurora. Aurora looked up to her scar again. It wasn't that of some quick claw wound in battle, it was deep and straight. An intentional mutilation. Here was a dragon who'd seen violence, one who wasn't afraid of death.

"I saw you use your magic down at the banquet," Cyclone continued. "It was pretty. Not a lot of dragons here have seen anything like that before. Have you noticed?"

Aurora was silent. Was Cyclone threatening her? Aurora couldn't tell. She glanced behind her, trying to figure out where in the palace she was.

"It's impressive," Cyclone said. "I can see why Queen Scarlet took such a liking to you. Her previous advisor had similar powers, although he hid them well."

At this point, Aurora wasn't really listening anymore. She peered around Cyclone. That was where she needed to go, right? "I don't care," Aurora replied. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much," Cyclone said. "I'm not looking for your help, if that's what you're asking. Or your magic. It only causes trouble. You're like me, and like him, an outsider who ended up working for Queen Scarlet. I'm just curious about the mysterious new hybrid who talks back to Queen Scarlet without fear."

"Alright," Aurora responded. She started to walk around Cyclone, in the direction she thought her room was. Was it this floor, or the floor below?

"Hey, wait up," Cyclone said with a frown, armor jingling as she trotted after Aurora. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"No," Aurora growled. Why was this dragon bugging her? "To me, you're some random SkyWing. You're unimportant to my goals."

"See, you've already started to answer me. Now I know you've got goals," Cyclone teased. She let out a deep laugh, grinning.

Aurora snorted, swishing her tail back and forth. She flexed out and ruffled her wings, when she suddenly felt Cyclone's paw brush her wing membrane.

Aurora immediately tensed up, her claws scratching the floor. She jumped back with a hiss, her teeth bared. Cyclone's paw fell through Aurora's wingblade, passing through it as it phased through her.

Cyclone caught herself, her paw hitting the ground in her surprised. She looked over at the growling hybrid, fangs out.

"Relax," Cyclone said, her grin fading. "I'm not your enemy. I just wanted to give you a warning. The Sky Kingdom isn't a friendly place to outsiders. No matter how much magic you've got, you'll need friends to survive here."

Aurora glared at Cyclone, the hybrid starting to close her jaws. She frowned. That was right. Her quarters were on the floor below this one.

Without warning, Aurora phased through the balcony floor, suddenly dropping below. Cyclone stared down as Aurora's blue scales sank beneath her. The SkyWing shook her head with a sigh.

"What are you doing with her, Scarlet?" Cyclone murmured to herself as she started to walk away. "Looks like you've bit off a bit more than you can chew, this time."

Chapter 6

Sunny shuffled down the stairs towards the dining hall, sending back glances every few moments towards the SandWing behind her. She sighed, seeing his close gaze on her. It was almost impossible to get any privacy in the Outclaws' stronghold. Kudu required that one of her SandWings was watching Sunny at all times, even in the stronghold. She claimed it was for Sunny's protection, but Sunny sometimes wondered if it was to make sure she didn't leave. She'd tested that a couple times in the weeks she'd been here, but the SandWings assigned to watch her had just followed her out of the stronghold without a fuss. Still, she hadn't gone beyond the borders of the Outclaws' territory in this whole time, into the rest of the Scorpion Den. She wondered what they'd do if she tried to go that far.

Kudu herself had behaved roughly the same since Sunny had arrived. Mean and vindictive. Sunny had found friends, of course. Acacia had remained as helpful and loyal to Sunny as before. Cheetah had done a great job of defusing uncomfortable situations with Kudu. Even some of the SandWings Kudu had placed to watch Sunny had opened up to her.

And of course, Sunny still had Clay. She'd suggested that he go back to Jade Mountain Academy, but he'd stayed with her all these weeks. It made her wonder if he still had a crush on her. Although she was happy for the comfort and safety of the MudWing, she was still worried about the Jade Mountain Academy. The two had learned of Queen Blackice's failed attack on it a few days after it had happened, but there was still the risk that she'd attack again. And how were the students doing? They were all probably frightened out of their minds, stuck in the school knowing that a roaming IceWing soldier could pick them off if they just took a step outside.

Then there was Glory. Neither Sunny nor Clay had believed it when they first got the news. It wouldn't have been the first time they'd been tricked into thinking Glory was dead. And Queen Blackice had refused to allow anyone to closely inspect the head — so it could've been enchanted. But time had gone on, with no sign of Glory anywhere. And Queen Blackice's telling of her death matched up. After she'd left the SandWing palace, she'd been captured as she'd come out of the rainforest and taken to the old volcanic island. There, Queen Blackice had torn her apart, leaving only her head intact.

A horrible way to die. Sunny still whimpered, imagining her sister's last moments, her fear and abandonment. And Sunny felt like she deserved some of the blame for it. Had she seen the warning signs, had she captured Aloe, had Glory stayed overnight at the SandWing palace instead of going back, maybe she'd still be alive. Sunny hadn't just failed the Sand Kingdom, she'd failed her sister, and all of the Dragonets. Clay had tried to assure her that she was in no way responsible, but Sunny just couldn't get the thought out of her head. What if she had done something different?

Just thinking about Glory brought tears to the Sunny's eyes. She quickly wiped them away, hoping the SandWing behind her hadn't seen. She had to move on, from Thorn and now Glory. Like when Dune and Kestrel had died. She'd gotten over that, eventually. She had to stay strong, like a queen would.

Sunny stepped down into a ray of sunshine peeking through one of the boarded windows, glimmering off her golden scales. She squinted as she entered into the mess hall, sun in her eyes. Around twenty dragons were sitting around two stone tables, raucously conversing with each other, laughing and chatting as they banged their talons against the stone. Sunny turned back and forth, trying to find Clay. Once her eyes caught his, the MudWing waved a food-stuffed paw, beckoning Sunny over.

Sunny quickly waddled over, resting her hind down on the cold floor as she folded in her wings, scooching between Clay and the SandWing sitting next to him. Her gaze landed on Kudu, who gave Sunny a glower. Sunny ignored her, turning to Clay.

"These are good," Clay said with a grin, handing Sunny what looked like a huge green pepper. "They're peppers, stuffed with pork."

Sunny nodded thankfully, and gave the pepper a sniff. It didn't smell bad. She took a small bite out of it, and it was thankfully not as spicy as she'd worried. Or maybe she'd just gotten used to the spicy foods in the Scorpion Den.

"Thanks," Sunny smiled, taking another bite. She chewed it slowly. How long would they be here? How long would it be before Sunny returned to her home at Jade Mountain? If she ever returned, that was.

Sunny glanced up as she saw another SandWing walk into the room; Cheetah, carrying a small cloth sack. Other Outclaws suddenly started to crowd around him excitedly, blocking out Sunny's view. What was going on?

Cheetah dropped the sack, spilling its contents on the floor. Sunny, curious, tried to peek around the mess of scales and wings to see what had been in it. She caught a glimpse of a parchment papers of all shapes and sizes, with dragons' names written in ink on the front. "Letters?" she asked, realizing what they were.

Cheetah pushed his way through the crowd until he reached Sunny. He waved two letters between his talons. "This one's for you, Sunny," he said, handing her the letter, "and this one is for Kudu."

Kudu looked at her letter, examining it closely with a frown. She handed it back to Cheetah, unopened. "Check for poison," she ordered him.

Sunny winced. She'd already started opening her letter. She glanced down — no sort of powder or anything like poison on it. If there had been, it would've been too late already.

Cheetah nodded with a smile. "Of course. Give me a second." The SandWing quickly pushed his way back through the crowd, before disappearing out a doorway.

Sunny looked down at her letter. She might as well read it. Her eyes scanned down to the end, opening wide at the name.

"It's from Six-Claws," she whispered excitedly to Clay. "He's alright!"

Clay peered over the letter as Sunny read it. "It's an update on what's happening in the palace," Sunny explained out loud. "Even though Aloe got control of the palace and brought a lot of her SandWings inside, Six-Claws' forces and most of my army have surrounded it. They're keeping it under siege. And look! Apparently Six-Claws has been negotiating with Aloe's general, Leopard, and she's told him Armadillo is still alive, just being kept as a hostage!"

"That's great news!" Clay remarked.

Sunny nodded. At least that was one dragon's death she wasn't responsible for. Her smile suddenly faded. "What about Creosote?" she asked. "The letter doesn't mention him."

"They wouldn't bother taking a lowly guard hostage," Kudu snapped. "He's probably dead by now."

Sunny's gaze turned back to the table, and she placed down the letter. If she hadn't been so lizard-brained and had realized the battle with Aloe was a ruse, how many dragons would still be alive? Creosote, Glory . . .

"It's alright, Sunny," Clay said, putting a wing around the hybrid. "We've got them surrounded, right? Maybe this will be over soon."

"Doubt it," Kudu muttered. "You're not winning at all. Sieges against SandWings are useless; Aloe could last years in the palace with just a little food and water."

Sunny whimpered. This wasn't any better at all. How had she messed up being queen so badly?

"It'll be okay." Clay tried to comfort Sunny again.

"No it won't," replied Kudu. Clay shot her a look. She wasn't helping here.

Sunny kept her head down as Cheetah walked into the room, Kudu's letter in his paws. "No poison I could find," he said, passing the letter over to her.

Kudu carefully peeled the letter open, squinting as she double-checked Cheetah's work. When she started reading it, her already dour expression wrinkled up, her tongue flicking out, irritated.

"Whoever sent me this just wants me to pass it on to Sunny," she grumbled, passing Sunny a cold glare.

"Oh," Sunny sighed. "Who is it from?"

Kudu quickly scanned down the letter, her eyes opening wide as she saw the name written at the bottom. Her expression seemed to change to one of surprise, her jaw dropping far enough Sunny could see each of her chipped fangs.

"It's from Jackal," Kudu quietly said.

"Jackal?" Sunny asked. Who was that? Why were they sending Sunny a letter, and how did they know she was here?

Kudu scoffed. "Of course you don't know who Jackal is," she snorted, almost angry at Sunny for not knowing. "Jackal was the leader of the Outclaws before Thorn. She disappeared after handing off her position. No one has seen or heard from her since, so we all just assumed she was dead. But if she's coming back now . . ."

A glint of greed and excitement passed through Kudu's gaze. "I'm going with you," Kudu grinned. "I want to know what Jackal wants."

Sunny shuffled uncomfortably. Wasn't the letter for her?

"Jackal wanted to meet with Sunny," Clay quietly reminded Kudu. "I think it's her choice whether you can join her or not."

Kudu let out a snarl, baring her teeth at Clay. "I've waited over a decade for this. I've been protecting you for a few moon cycles, the least you can do is let me join you."

"It's fine," Sunny sighed, not wanting to provoke yet more conflict. "She can join me." What is Jackal like? she wondered. The dragon who'd been leader of the Outclaws before Thorn. Would she be like Sunny's mother? Or entirely different?

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cheetah asked, a concerned expression on his snout. "Look at the meeting place. It's practically on the other side of the city, almost to Talons of Power territory. What if someone sees Sunny?"

"We'll disguise her," Kudu snorted. "It won't be hard."

"What about Clay?" Sunny wondered.

"Bringing a MudWing would attract far too much attention; he stays," Kudu ordered. "Jackal isn't the type who wants eyes on her. Even when she was leader, she stayed in the shadows and worked through her subordinates."

Sunny uneagerly complied. She didn't really want to be stuck alone with Kudu, but Clay would attract more attention than just an odd-looking SandWing.

"She wants us to meet her later this evening," Kudu snapped at Sunny. "Meet me back here in the afternoon. Don't be late."

---

The meeting venue itself wasn't particularly inviting. Sunny looked up to see a daunting building, crumbling like most of the rest of the Scorpion Den. Shattered windows had been boarded up. A wooden plank had been nailed across the doorway, but left enough space for a dragon, even one Kudu's size, to creep in beneath. Even compared to the rest of the Scorpion Den, the building was unfriendly.

Sunny heard a crack, and her head twisted to the right. She saw a flash of yellow scales further down an alleyway, and heard the voices of dragons. Were they being followed?

Kudu's head turned as she saw the SandWings passing, but she quickly looked back to the building, ignoring the other dragons.

"Do you think Jackal lives here?" Sunny quietly asked, trailing behind Kudu. "This doesn't look very comfortable."

"Of course not," Kudu scoffed. "She's been hiding out for over a decade. She's not going to risk someone prying through the mail and discovering where she lives."

Kudu lowered her head and crunched her wings up, crawling beneath the board over the door. Her fin rubbed against the top of the wood, and Sunny winced as she saw a splinter poke into Kudu's fin.

"Hurry up," Kudu growled as Sunny walked up to the doorway, hesitant to enter into the dark building.

The small hybrid barely needed to duck, and quickly passed under the plank, joining Kudu on the other side. A long hallway extended out from the doorway, mortar crumbling between the walls. With all the rain, mold had started to grow on the inside of the cracks, filling the hall with an unpleasant moist smell.

"Where is she?" Sunny whispered anxiously.

"She's not going to come out until she knows you're here," Kudu growled.

"What if she doesn't show?" Sunny asked. "What if she wanted me to come alone."

Kudu's already grouchy face contorted into a snarl. "She'll want to see me," Kudu hissed. She raised a forearm, showing off the golden bracelet on it. "She knows I'm the leader of the Outclaws."

Sunny shuffled uncomfortably. Kudu didn't want to show it, but Sunny could tell that Kudu herself was worried Jackal wouldn't want to see her. Sunny hadn't meant to increase her nervousness.

Slowly, the two walked down the hallway. Every so often, Sunny would hear a shuffling sound in the distance. Just a rat, or were there other dragons in this building? She didn't know.

Finally, Kudu reached the end of the hall, in front of a single rotted door. Without hesitation, she shoved it open, walking into the room beyond. Sunny scrambled to catch up, not wanting to be left alone in the dark corridor.

The hall opened up into a huge room, stories high. Faint light coming in from holes in the roof and walls allowed Sunny to see, just barely. Her eyes landed on crates stacked up one to three high against the walls of the room. Was this some sort of warehouse?

Kudu paced into the center of the room, growling as she whipped her head around. "Jackal?" she hissed. "Where are you? We're here!"

Sunny walked over to the crates, her curiosity getting the best of her. Something seemed weird about them. An odd smell. She took in a couple deep breaths through her nose. It was oddly like dragon fire, the same sort of sulfurous smell that lasted in her mouth after she used her fire-breath. But there was no warmth or fire around here.

Sunny looked down at one of the crates, the only one in its stack. The smell was definitely coming from the crates. She peered closer, putting her snout against the wooden top. There was an odd black powder smeared on the top, but nothing like dust. That was really odd. Why wouldn't there be dust if these crates had been abandoned here? It meant this place wasn't abandoned. And someone had moved these crates. Multiple dragons had. That's why Jackal hadn't appeared — it wasn't a dragon who'd been missing for over a decade who'd sent the letter. This was a trap.

Sunny turned around, about to yell something out to Kudu in warning, when she felt something sharp poke against the back of her neck. Her scales suddenly tensed up, her heart starting to race. She took a frightened glance behind her to see a scaly tail poking out through the top of one of the crates she hadn't inspected, lifting up its lid. The SandWing's barb was positioned directly behind Sunny's skull. The threat was clear. If she spoke, or moved, she'd be killed instantly.

Sunny's talons shook as she stared back at the unsuspecting Kudu. What could she do? They'd walked right into a trap. More than anything, she wanted to yell out and warn Kudu, but she couldn't do that. She stared at the SandWing, hoping that Kudu would turn and see her, notice the barb, and realize what was going on.

Suddenly, the door that Sunny and Kudu had walked in through slammed shut. Kudu turned instantly, and Sunny knew that it was too late to give out a warning. Crates against the wall started to open, and the heads of cloaked SandWings poked out, golden medallions hanging from their necks. Six, maybe more. Sunny and Kudu had no chance.

Kudu turned back, baring her fangs at the now approaching SandWings. She brought her tail in the air, swinging her barb through the air in front of her as a warning. The SandWings kept approaching as Kudu started to back away, closing a circle around the SandWing. Sunny wanted to yell out as the circle began to tighten. Surrender! she wanted to scream. But with the barb against her neck, she could barely make out more than a squeak.

Kudu suddenly let out a roar, charging towards one of the SandWings. She swung her tail, barb flinging behind her and hitting a second in the neck as she tackled the one on the edge of the group. Her fangs immediately went for the cloaked SandWing's neck, blood gushing onto the black fabric, Kudu's talons tearing through flesh. For just a moment, Kudu's ferocity almost convinced Sunny that she might have a chance.

Sunny's hope faded as quickly as it came. The four other SandWing pounced at Kudu, trapping their comrade beneath their claws. Wind picked up their cloaks, hiding the scene in a mess of black as their tails repeatedly jabbed forward, Kudu letting out a cry with each stab. Their claws raked into her, and whenever the cloaks lifted up, Sunny saw a mess of yellow and red. She started to turn her head, wanting to look away, but the barb against her neck pushed harder, reminding her not to make any movements.

Fortunately, it was over as quickly as it began. Kudu's roars turned into yells, before finally falling silent. The SandWings backed away, dragging their cloaks through a pool of blood. Kudu's corpse was left behind, a mess of red and gold laying on top of the just as dead SandWing beneath her. The cloaked SandWing she'd stabbed in the neck was lying by her side, also not getting up.

"So do each of them get a four part of a skull?" a low, whiny voice asked.

Careful not to move her head, Sunny's eyes shifted towards the sound, emanating from the entrance to the room. Two SandWings walked in through it. Each had similar cloaks and medallions to the other SandWings, except with their hoods off, revealing both their faces and the tattoos of skulls along their neck. Sunny squinted, not fully able to see them in the low light. "Qibli?" she asked, confused.

"Oh shut up," the second SandWing hissed. As the two walked closer to Sunny, she could clearly see that her original guess had been wrong. These two SandWings were far larger than Qibli, and far more menacing. "I'm nothing like that traitorous scum of a brother. If I ever get my paws on him, he'll pay for Mother's and Grandfather's lives ten times over."

The first SandWing nodded with a grin. "Gonna kill him ten times. First I stab him with my barb. Then Rattlesnake stabs him with her barb. Then . . . who stabs next?"

"You shut up too," Rattlesnake hissed. "First off, I'm the one who gets to stab him first. And you can't actually kill a dragon ten times. You don't get ten tattoos for killing Qibli. He's not worth ten dragons. Not even worth one."

"You're Qibli's siblings," Sunny whispered, shaking. "Rattlesnake and Sirocco. He's told me about you."

"All great things, I'm sure," Rattlesnake snorted. She looked behind her wing, over at Kudu. "Wow. This plan worked out great. The leader of the Outclaws dead and the queen captured. Vulture would be proud of me."

"Of us," Sirocco butted in.

"You didn't do anything," Rattlesnake snapped. "Well, our part of the deal is done. Let's take Sunny back. I'll bet Aloe will pay a fortune for her. Cloak her."

Sirocco pulled off his cloak with a grin, putting it over Sunny's snout before she could get out another word. A paw pushed her head to the ground, her eyes stinging from the scent of Sirocco's unwashed scales as Sunny's vision went dark.

"Get her out of here," Rattlesnake's muffled voice said. "Then light this place up."

Chapter 7

Midnight stood on the banks of the Great Five-Tail River, paws shaking uncontrollably. She looked up to see the roofs of Crosswinds towering above her, their peaks reaching up to the moons, staring down at her like the gaze of a three-eyed dragon.

"Ecru?" Midnight yelled out, her voice shaky. "Ecru? Where are you?"

There was no response, Midnight's voice only echoing through the alleyways. "Ecru? Ecru? Ecru?" the echoes squealed back at her mockingly.

Midnight's head whipped around as she thought she saw a flash of scales behind her. Where she looked, the view seemed exactly the same, buildings preventing her from seeing any further. "Ecru!" she yelled again.

Midnight suddenly felt a claw grab ahold of her tail, and she let out a scream. She turned, expecting to see the assassin's claws clutching her. Instead, her tail was as normal as always.

"W-who are you!" Midnight shouted. She tried to turn, but wherever she looked, the buildings of Crosswinds blocked out her view. "Show yourself!"

Midnight felt a pulse of air against her snout, and started to hear the slow breathing of a dragon. She looked around, trying to find where it was coming from, but to no luck. Where was she?

Midnight glanced down, staring at her forelegs. Red lines appeared on them, blood gushing from the wounds. It crawled up and down her legs until her dark blue scales were coated in a sticky red. "Stop!" Midnight screamed. "Go away! I'm an animus! I'll curse you!"

The breathing suddenly stopped, and everything seemed to go quiet. Midnight looked down again. The blood was all gone.

Midnight felt a tremor creep up her skull, her snout clenching up in pain. Her ears started to ring, a high pitched buzz creeping into her brain.

H͓͉̖̦͈̰͎̐̽̍̾̒̆͘͠ȅ̴̝͇̥̬͉̬̦̬̊̊̃͟͞ļ͎̝͙̺̞͈̒̌͊̒̈́̆̚͘͜p̶͚͚̣̯̓̍͗̓̀̇ͅ

"What?" Midnight asked, unsure where the buzz was coming from.

Three moons, why are your thoughts so loud? I can hear you all the way from Crosswinds. Just wake up already.

Midnight's eyelids fluttered open, her heart racing and her breath short. She stared up at the roof of Gazelle's ceiling, light shining against her scales.

"Midnight, are you okay?"

Midnight turned to see Ecru's snout over her, one of the hybrid's paws on her scales. Midnight tried to take in a deep breath.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Midnight tried to smile. "Just a nightmare."

Ecru nodded, relieved. "What was it about?" she asked.

Midnight didn't really want to relive it so soon, but she knew that Ecru put more faith in dreams than her. "Not really symbolic or anything," Midnight explained. "Just about being attacked last night. There was the assassin I couldn't see, then I had blood all over my forelegs, then there was some buzzing. And someone told me to wake up. Was that you?"

"Me?" Ecru asked, confused. "Er, no, I don't think so."

"Huh," Midnight mused. "Do you think it means something bad?"

Ecru pondered this for a moment. "Well, you reliving last night seems normal at least," she answered. She frowned, curling her talons.

"You look concerned," Midnight said.

Ecru shook her head. "No. It's nothing."

Midnight nodded and rolled over, getting onto her belly before standing up on all fours. "Well, that's good," Midnight laughed. "I don't want it to be prophetic. One attack was enough."

Ecru frowned again, glancing towards the boarded windows of the house. "Do you think we're safe here?" she asked quietly. "The assassin is still out there. Even if they give up, whoever sent them after us won't."

Midnight looked over towards Gazelle, who was quietly reading a scroll as the two talked. If Midnight was in danger here, then so were Gazelle and Ecru. She had do something about it, if not for her own sake, for theirs.

"No," Midnight replied. "They might know that we're here, and they could attack again. Even tomorrow night."

"We should investigate," Ecru suggested. "I want to figure out who attacked us."

"You don't think it was Aloe?" Midnight asked. "She knows who I am and has a pretty clear incentive. I helped Torrent escape her."

Ecru thought for a moment. "I don't know," she responded. "Given the news and the siege at the palace, Aloe has far larger problems than you. I could see her going after Torrent, maybe, but not you. Also, I don't think the weapons were coated in venom. SandWing assassins normally do that."

"You don't think the assassin was a SandWing?" Midnight asked, surprised. She supposed it wasn't that strange. There were plenty of MudWings in Crosswinds, and that included assassins. Even a few SkyWings. "But why would a MudWing want me dead?"

Ecru shrugged. "Maybe they don't like hybrids? Or NightWings? Or maybe they found out you were an animus."

Midnight shook her head. "How would they find that out? I don't think anyone but us three and Torrent knows."

"Torrent has his map," Ecru suggested. "What if someone else got ahold of it, or someone has something like it that could find animuses? "

Midnight thought about that for a moment. Someone other than Torrent, hunting animuses? That made things far more dangerous. She wouldn't have even been able to use her magic anyways if the assassin had been protected from it.

"Alright," Midnight decided. "I still think Aloe is the most likely culprit. But we should investigate."

Ecru grinned, almost excited to be solving this gruesome mystery. "There might be clues back where we were last night," Ecru said. "Maybe the assassin dropped something."

"Do you think it's safe?" Midnight replied with a frown. "The assassin could be lying there in wait."

"I don't think we'll be attacked in broad daylight," Ecru said. "There will be other dragons around."

"Hmm," Midnight thought, fretting. What if they were attacked anyways? What if the assassin followed them back to Gazelle's house afterwards? It would be safer for them to just stay here. But they had to do something — they couldn't just be basking lizards, waiting to be snapped up. "Okay. We'll go search. But keep your eyes peeled."

Ecru smiled. "Great! Race you there?"

Midnight gave Gazelle a quick wave goodbye before exiting their house and heading to the nearest clearing. She hesitated a moment as Ecru opened her wings, getting ready to take off. Was flying a good idea? They could be spotted easier. Maybe they should walk again?

Ecru took off, and Midnight let out a sigh. She couldn't live like this, afraid that every action she took would end up getting the both of them killed. She spread her wings and took off after Ecru towards the alleys where they'd been attacked.

---

The two landed just uphill of the alleys they'd been attacked in last night, the sun high in the sky, illuminating the crevasses between the buildings. Midnight stared at the roofs. They weren't towering to the sky like they had been in her nightmare. The wind on her scales and the faint smell of sewage told her this was real.

"I shouldn't have stayed in Crosswinds after what happened with Torrent and Aloe," Midnight muttered as the two walked downhill, trying to remember exactly where they'd been attacked last night. "I should've known it wouldn't have ever been safe here."

"Where would we go?" Ecru asked. "Possibility?"

"Maybe," Midnight sighed. "Maybe Jade Mountain. That's where my uncle is." Torrent had warned her not to go to Possibility, afraid that Crystal would find her there. Was that still a concern? The drought was over, which probably meant that Torrent had triumphed over Crystal. But Midnight hadn't seen her father since — one of Midnight's neighbors mentioned seeing a SeaWing while she and Ecru had been in hiding. Which meant he was still alive. Why had he come back?

Midnight made a sudden turn, freezing up as she saw the alley beyond. Even without the streaks of blood, she was able to recognize it as the alley where they'd been attacked. She gave a quick glance behind her, checking for other dragons. Only Ecru was there. At this time of day, there were no shadows to hide in.

"Here we are," Ecru frowned, peering down at her own blood stains. She looked over at her back, where she'd been sliced open. The healing magic had done its job well; there wasn't even a scar left.

Midnight closed her eyes and sighed. At the moment, there was nothing to be worried about. She walked further along the alley, looking back and forth for any clues. A few more drops of blood here and there. But nothing that looked out of place.

"I can't find anything," Midnight grumbled. "Just a bit of blood. No thrown weapons."

"How do you think the assassin attacked us then?" Ecru wondered, walking over to Midnight. "What if they used their mind to slice us open?"

Midnight snorted. "That's silly. Not even the NightWings have claimed that they could do that. And I'm sure I saw some flashes of something metal go by me. It's more likely that the assassin just picked up whatever was thrown at us after we swam off."

"Covering their tracks," Ecru mused. "That's not good. How many things were thrown at us?"

Midnight tried to think back. There were two in the alleyway, one down by the river? No, that didn't seem right. There were more, weren't there? She sighed. "I have no idea," she replied. "It wasn't really something I was keeping track of."

Ecru frowned, tapping a claw against the ground. "Alright," she said. "How about we retrace our steps, and see if we can find anything else?"

Midnight nodded, and the two headed down the alley, trying to retrace their steps from the night before. There was little but a few splotches of blood from where they made their dash downhill. Eventually, Midnight and Ecru reached the banks of the Great Five-Tail River.

Midnight dipped a paw in the water, opening and closing her talons to let it rush against her webbing, small pebbles catching against her claws. She turned around, facing the buildings of Crosswinds.

"This was where we were," Midnight stated. "I think the assassin was . . ." she waved a paw, pointing to a large breadth of area between the buildings. ". . . somewhere in that direction."

Ecru paced back and forth along the riverbank, her snout to the ground. "Can't find anything here either," she sighed. "No sort of metal weapons."

"I'm sure the assassin threw something at us," Midnight assured Ecru. She looked from the buildings to the river. "What if it fell in? They might not have been able to retrieve it."

Ecru thought for a moment. "It would've gone downstream. It could've gotten caught by something, but if it didn't, it's long-gone."

Midnight nodded. "I can see underwater alright, so I'll go down and back and see if I can find anything."

Midnight jumped into the water with a splash small for a creature of her size, wings opening up like huge fins. She swam down towards the bottom of the murky river, scanning it and the nearest side for any sort of object. Nothing here. She hit her tail against the bottom of the river, trying to clear away dirt just in case it had gotten buried. All it did was kick up more dirt and scatter a few tiny fishes. Midnight shook her head. Maybe further downstream?

Midnight slowly swam downstream, weaving and scanning left and right, looking for anything interesting. A piece of bone sticking out of the dirt caught her eye. Not really what she was looking for — she didn't think she'd had a bone thrown at her. As she swam on from the bone, something at the bottom of the riverbed glinted. Something metal and circular, just barely poking out of the dirt.

Midnight didn't want to get her hopes up. What if it was just a coin? It could've fallen out of Midnight's pouch. Yet as she got close to it, it became apparent it was a lot larger than a coin, closer to the size of a dragon's paw. She wrapped her paw around it, then gave out a small yipe, bubbles rising up above her. She glanced at her paw. The object had cut the inside of it, and a little bit of blood was coming out from a thin red line. This was definitely whatever the assassin had used.

More carefully, Midnight pinched the flat edge of the object with her talons, and carefully pulled it out from the riverbed, displacing dirt as she did so. A thin silver disc shaped like a flat ring was exposed, with a blunt inner edge and an outer edge sharper than an IceWing's claws. Midnight frowned. She hadn't seen anything like it before.

Midnight rose back up to the surface, taking a deep breath as she broke through it. She quickly swam back over to Ecru, holding the disc in her claws. "Found it!" she yelled out victoriously.

Ecru held out a paw and grabbed onto Midnight, helping pull her out of the water. The dripping wet hybrid placed the disc down on the ground, letting Ecru get a look at it. Sun glinted off the metal, distorting through drops of water left over from the disc. This was what had almost killed them.

"It's so sharp," Ecru whispered, tilting her head as she stared at its edge. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"And light," Midnight whispered. "Someone trained could throw something like this fast, and far."

"You could put it on your tail too," Ecru commented, poking her tail through the center of the ring. "Then swing it around. It'd be sharper than an IceWing's spikes."

"Dangerous," Midnight muttered. "And well-crafted. Someone spent a lot of time on this. Which meant whoever hired our assassin probably has a lot of money. Hence why I think it's Aloe."

"The SandWing treasury was almost barren after the war," Ecru reminded Midnight. "And how would Aloe get funds out of the palace? I don't think she'd risk it just to kill you."

"Maybe," Midnight replied, not convinced.

"We should ask Gazelle," Ecru suggested. "She's been around forever. There's a good chance she's seen similar weapons."

Midnight hadn't considered that before. For Midnight's entire life, Gazelle had been losing her memory. Midnight often forgot that Gazelle had been alive for so long, and that she held a wealth of knowledge and experiences from that.

"Good idea," Midnight replied. She carefully picked up the metal disc, placing her tail through the hole in its center so that its blunt inner edge pressed into her scales.

"Remind me not to twine tails with you," Ecru joked. "I think I'd lose mine."

Midnight smiled half-heartedly. It was a bit too soon since the attack last night for her to make jokes like that yet. "Alright," she said, opening her speckled blue wings up. "I think we've found all we can."

---

Gazelle lifted the silver disc up above her snout, squinting as she stared closely at it. "Hmmm," she mused.

Midnight and Ecru looked up at her patiently, waiting to hear the ancient SandWing's words of wisdom.

"Nope," Gazelle replied, shaking her head. "Sorry. Haven't seen weapons like it before."

The two hybrids gave out a mutual sigh. "Alright," Midnight grumbled, taking the weapon back. "Thanks anyways."

"If you're looking to find an assassin, might I suggest the Scorpion Den?" Gazelle said. "Someone there might have some idea what this is, or where it came from."

"The Scorpion Den?" Midnight replied, concerned. Gazelle was right. If they wanted to find a dragon who knew who this weapon belongs to, the Scorpion Den was the right place to go. "But it's dangerous. Filled with theives, spies, plots, and . . . well, assassins."

"It's our best lead," Ecru quietly said. "I've heard that the rumors are a bit exaggerated. The Scorpion Den isn't that bad, as long as you keep your head down and don't get involved with anyone bad."

Midnight shook her head. "I don't know," she stated. "I don't want to put you in more danger just for me."

Ecru frowned, flicking her barbed tail back and forth. "This isn't just for you," she snapped, a hint of anger in her voice, "the assassin could have very well been after me, or the both of us. Staying alone would be more dangerous. And even if they were just after you, I'm not staying back just to see you get hurt. I've been involved in this from the start; I'm not going anywhere."

Midnight uncomfortably shuffled her paws. She was the animus, not Ecru. She could probably defend herself. She looked down into Ecru's eyes and sighed. Ecru wouldn't leave her alone unless Midnight said she could come. And it would be less scary with Ecru coming along. "Alright," Midnight agreed. "Just stay safe. Gazelle, will you be alright by yourself?"

The elderly SandWing chuckled. "I've been doing much better since you healed me. I took care of myself for quite some time, I don't think I'll have many problems. I think it's you that you need to worry about."

"If the assassin comes back?" Midnight asked, still concerned. She knew that Gazelle had been capable at one point, but Midnight still wasn't sure. It felt like most of her life, she'd been taking care of Gazelle, not the other way around.

Gazelle craned her neck high, until her horns touched the ceiling. Midnight had forgotten how large the ancient SandWing was. Gazelle whipped her tail around in front of her, flashing her barb and her scar-less tails. "I can defend myself. You should take the healing scroll."

Midnight wasn't sure of that — the assassin had been almost invisible. Gazelle couldn't fight someone she couldn't see. But hopefully, with Midnight and Ecru gone, the assassin would leave Gazelle alone.

"Alright," Midnight reluctantly replied. "I'll take it with me." If they ran into the assassin again, they might need it.

"We should go as soon as we can," Ecru suggested, "just in case the assassin comes back tonight."

Midnight nodded in agreement. "So we leave now."

Gazelle smiled. "Let me get you some food and water for the trip. I know the flight isn't that long, but you're not a SandWing. You need to stay hydrated in the desert."

Midnight smiled and went to the scrollcase, rummaging through it, looking for where she'd hid the healing scroll. She pulled it out, opening it up. Just this one enchantment had saved their lives multiple times over.

Midnight rolled the scroll closed as Gazelle finished up, and handed Midnight two leather pouches. One with food for the trip, and the other heavier, a filled waterskin. Midnight took them and strapped them over her back, letting them hang beneath her.

"Thanks," Midnight said. "We shouldn't be too long. A few days there and back, maybe a week at most."

"That's good," Gazelle gently smiled. "Stay safe, and be back soon."

"I will, I promise," Midnight replied. "Thank you. For everything."

Gazelle nodded knowingly. With a last look back at her, Midnight left their Crosswinds house, side-by-side with Ecru. The sun was already dipping down in the sky, getting ready to set. Midnight took a deep breath. It was time to finally leave Crosswinds.

Chapter 8

Tiger's head swirled around, everything moving and blurry. One of her paws clutched up as she put it out for support. It felt like the whole world was moving our from under her, swaying and rolling her back and forth. The RainWing closed her eyes tight, trying to blot it out.

"You're finally awake?"

Skytaker's voice pierced into Tiger's head like ice, finally bringing her to consciousness. Tiger grumbled groggily as she opened an eye. The world started to become brought into focus. She could see two crimson figures of Skytaker, strange lines behind the hybrids. As Tiger squinted, the two Skytakers became one, and the lines coalesced into shining black bars. Beyond that, pitch-black darkness filled with specks of white light, like stars in the sky.

"What took you so long?" Skytaker snorted. "We've been waiting forever for you to wake up."

Tiger placed a paw on her head. We? Who else was there, Sepia? She started to remember what had happened. They'd gone down into the rainforest, and Queen Glory had been there. They'd been shot with sleeping darts. That explained why she was still so tired.

"We?" Tiger asked groggily. "Oh. Ermine was there. Where is he?"

Skytaker rolled their eyes, and pointed a talon to behind Tiger. Tiger followed it until she saw Ermine, quietly huddling against the bars, the tip of his snout pointing between them. The RainWing glanced around, trying to figure out where she was. A quick look made her realize they were in some kind of cage, large enough to fit three dragons in. The black bars rose up straight in a circle around the three, until they curved and met up above them, forming a loop where a chain ran through, hanging the cage from a ceiling far above. That explained the swaying feeling.

Tiger glanced down to the floor of the cage, the same black material as the bars. A small hemispherical white stone was embedded within it, giving of the light that allowed them to see the cage at all. She gently ran a claw against the black stone. The surface was strangely smooth and glassy. The cage was made of obsidian.

"What's going on?" Tiger asked Skytaker.

Skytaker shrugged their wings. "No clue," the hybrid responded. "We haven't seen any other dragons since we woke up, although sometimes we think we can hear the sound of other dragons in the distance."

They moved their paw towards the outside of the cage. Tiger gave it a closer look. It was all black outside, with the faint speckles of light. Likely from other cages with similar light sources. It was as if they were hanging in the middle of a moonless night sky. A small burst of wind caused the cave to sway, as if confirming this.

Ermine let out a nervous whimper, causing Tiger and Skytaker's attentions to turn to him. "What if Blackice captured us?" he asked nervously. "We'll all be dead."

"That's stupid," Skytaker replied confidently. "It was clearly Glory who kidnapped us, not Blackice. We saw her."

"What if Blackice reanimated Glory somehow, and made Glory her slave?" Ermine wondered, folding his wings in to protect him from the wind.

Skytaker seemed to consider this for a moment. It would explain why Glory had been acting so weird.

"I don't think that's possible," Tiger explained, looking around at the other points of light. Were they in some sort of huge underground cavern? If they were, there had to be walls at some point, and the lights would be dimmer in one direction unless they were at the center. "Even animuses can't bring dragons back to life."

"There are rumors," Ermine whispered, his teeth chattering, "that Blackice discovered mysterious magick during her exile to the far north. That she's seen things that would make a dragon's head explode."

Tiger let out a snort in disdain. That sounded more like a story that older dragonets told younger dragonets to scare them than anything based in truth. "I don't think that's true, but I know Queen Glory well. I think this is odd behavior for her."

"Kidnapping us is a little more than odd," Skytaker muttered sarcastically. "And where did she take us? I'm pretty sure a place like this doesn't exist in the rainforest. Unless there's some secret RainWing prison that no one's told me about."

"It doesn't as far as I know," Tiger confirmed. "Look at the cage. It's made of obsidian, so maybe it could've come from the NightWing's volcanic island. Although obsidian isn't really a suitable building material, so I'm surprised something like this could've been constructed at all. See how flat the floor is?"

"See?" Ermine suggested. "It's magic. There's even a moon globe that's not actually a moon globe." He pointed to the glowing white hemisphere with the tip of his tail.

Tiger sighed. She hadn't really wanted to consider magic as a possibility. It made everything confusing and nonsensical. Logic, reason, and deduction no longer seemed to apply.

"Alright," she conceded. "Maybe an animus did construct this. I can't see another way an underground, or even above-ground, chamber this large could've been constructed by mundane methods. Maybe I'd be able to identify the age of the construction based on its architectural style if I saw more of it, although animuses tend to defy their time's zeitgeist."

"It's not the time to identify the architectural style," Skytaker muttered, lifting their paws up and down anxiously as they started to pace around the cage, rocking it even more. "We need to get out. We've been taken prisoner! Do you think I could melt the obsidian with my firebreath."

Tiger shook her head. "I disagree. We need to figure out what's going on first. Why did an animus build a ginormous secret chamber where dragons are being kept prisoner? Even if we get out of this cage, where will we go? How will we get out? We'd probably just end up captured again, or even worse, dead."

"We could also be dead if we wait," Skytaker retorted. "Glory, Blackice, or whoever is behind this might be planning to keep us alive. I don't know about you, but I'd rather die trying to escape than being killed as a prisoner. I'm gonna melt this thing."

Without another word, Skytaker turned their snout towards the bars, and took in a deep breath, preparing to shoot flame at it. Right as they were about to exhale out fire, the cage suddenly lurched, almost causing the three to fall over. Tiger noticed the chainlinks clanking, the specks of light in the sky moving downwards. Their cage was rising.

"Oh no," Ermine trembled. "We're being pulled up. They figured out Skytaker was trying to escape, and now they're going to kill us!"

"I didn't even do anything," Skytaker pouted, glaring up at the chain. They looked back at the bars. It was too late to try and melt them now.

Slowly, the cage rose above the other lights, only seeing the black ceiling of the chamber above them, and a growing light up where the chain was hanging from. Tiger patiently waited as they were pulled up, until it was clear that the light at the ceiling was from a lit chamber, the colorful snouts of dragons peering over its edge.

Finally, the cage reached the top, and the three dragons were pulled up into almost blinding light. As their eyes adjusted, they saw a ring of RainWings circling them, all staring at the three silently. One RainWing took ahold of a large circular slab of stone, and pushed it beneath the cage, sealing the circular hole that the cage had been pulled out of, hiding the prisons beneath.

Another RainWing turned a nearby crank, and the cage lowered down to the stone. He walked over to the cage, and held out a key, touching it to the cage's bars. Immediately, the bars of the cage started to slide, opening up the side of the cage.

Tiger stared. How were they sliding? There were no grooves for the bars to move in, and they'd been fused together at the top of the cage. Magic? Had an animus created this entire dungeon?

The room the three were now in was far more welcoming than the cold darkness beneath them. The walls were painted a clean white, dressed with purple and gold fabrics. A faint light seemed to shine from all around them, but as Tiger moved her paw, she couldn't tell where its source was. There were no shadows cast by her paw, leading to an intense feeling of wrongness wherever she looked.

"Move," the RainWing with the key grunted, glaring at the three dragons, still inside the cage. "Follow me."

Tiger quickly complied, taking a step out of the cage onto what seemed like a rug. She carefully lifted her talons up, not wanting to accidentally tear the fabric. She started to walk after the RainWing, Ermine quickly catching up to her so not to be left behind. Tiger glanced back to see Skytaker was still in the cage.

"I want some answers first," Skytaker growled, baring their fangs. "Where are we? Why did you dart us? Where's Glory?"

The RainWing leading them frowned. "You'll get answers soon," he said. "Come on. The Empress is this way."

The Empress? Tiger wondered, confused. She hadn't heard of anyone called that before. And why were there so many RainWings? Is this where they'd all disappeared to, after the IceWings attacked the rainforest?

She looked around at the other RainWings guarding them, just standing by and staring as the three walked along the rug, down a hallway. Tiger stared at their faces. Why were none of them familiar? The rainforest was big, but not that big, and she'd lived most of her life. She should've at least recognized someone.

Finally, her gaze landed on dark purple scales. "Mangrove!" Tiger said, finally seeing a dragon she recognized. "What's going on?"

Mangrove's snout furled at the mention of his name, and a hint of confusion crossed his expression, hints of orange forming on the tip of his nose. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but a glare from the RainWing leading the three shut him up.

"Mangrove," Tiger said again, trying to get his attention. She was slightly frantic. She hadn't known Mangrove well, but being completely unresponsive was out of character for him. "Are you okay? I'm happy you got away from the IceWin—"

"Quiet," the RainWing leading them hissed. "Move along. No talking."

Tiger shut her mouth, giving Mangrove one last hopeful glance. He said nothing, only staring with the same blank gaze as the rest of the RainWings. Hopefully, this would all be sorted out soon enough.

Skytaker's pace suddenly quickened, allowing the hybrid to walk side-by-side with Tiger. They gave Tiger a cautious glance. "The Empress," they whispered, before turning their gaze down to the rug.

Tiger followed it. Ahead of them, the rug brandished the figure of another RainWing she'd never seen before, her scales a regal violet, embellished in gold stars and spirals like a SeaWing's wings. Her snout seemed to stare up from the rug, like her golden eyes were watching the three approaching dragonets. A crown of golden leaves and vines rested upon her horns. Certainly befitting whoever the Empress was.

Two wooden doors blocked the end of the hallway, neither with any sort of handle. The RainWing leading the three stood in front of them, not opening the doors. Tiger looked down to his paws. A circle of golden paint glittered on the floor around him, the RainWing in the center.

"Well?" Skytaker asked, confused as to what was going on. "Are we visiting the Empress or not?"

"Wait," the RainWing growled.

Skytaker rolled their eyes, tapping their tail against the tassels of the rug. Suddenly, the two doors opened up, seemingly on their own. The RainWing walked out of the circle, through them.

"Magic," Ermine whispered.

Tiger frowned. Was the Empress an animus? She hadn't realized the RainWings had any.

The wooden doors led into a strangely circular chamber, the decorated walls curving around. In the center of the small room, another golden circle was painted on the ground, which the RainWing leading them quickly stood in. The three walked in after the RainWing leading them, Tiger glancing back. The other RainWings, including Mangrove, had all stayed behind. She gave him one last look before the two wooden doors closed, no dragon having touched them.

The room suddenly gave out a lurch, and Tiger put out a paw to keep herself balanced. Were they moving? Tiger stared around at the room, quickly swiveling her head around. She couldn't tell anymore, but it had felt like they'd suddenly changed speed, like if your wings caught a burst of wind while flying. Was it just the room, or the whole . . . palace? She didn't know they were in a palace for sure, but it had dungeons, nice rugs, and an Empress. So it was probably some sort of palace.

After about a minute, the room gave another lurch, and the two doors swung open, revealing a red rug, leading up a staircase. Tiger looked back to the RainWing.

"Move," he growled again.

She sighed, and complied, followed by Ermine and Skytaker.

The stairwell was short, and as the three reached the top, Tiger felt a familiar warmth reach her scales, and looked up to see the glint of sunlight above her. The RainWing dragonet sighed in relief. She'd been worried she'd be trapped underground or in a strangely uniformly lit corridor forever. She was glad to see the sun again.

"It's hot," Ermine complained quietly to Tiger. "And humid. Like the rainforest."

The staircase opened up into what looked like a huge greenhouse. Short plants and grasses covered a large floor, almost but not quite creeping up into the red rug that marked their path. Tiger touched her talon to a violet flower on the side of the rug, letting the smooth petals touch her scales. Beyond it was a small field of grasses and flowers, ending in a wall of huge triangular glass panes, matched together at the edges. Tiger looked up from there, to see that the panes had been placed in order to create a huge hemisphere, surrounding the greenhouse's floor. The sun shone from high in the cloudless sky, glinting and reflecting off the panes.

Out from the edge of the greenhouse, Tiger could see that they were positioned in some sort of tower, far above the surrounding land. A ring of steep green hills rose up around the edge, the palace built in the center. Tiger could just barely see four more towers below the edge of the glass, one for each cardinal cardinal direction. Separate wings of the palace, perhaps? Whatever this place was, it was larger and more magnificent than any description of a queens' palace she'd ever read. Befitting for a RainWing titled the Empress.

Lush green forests reached out beyond the steep hills, until they flattened off into white sandy beaches. Beyond that, crystal blue water stretched out to the horizon, gentle white waves lapping against the surface of the beach. Not a cloud or storm in sight. Wherever this was, it seemed like paradise to Tiger. Was this where the RainWings had escaped to after leaving the rainforest? Was this their new home? If it was, Tiger didn't blame them for staying hidden, not wanting the Blackice's IceWings to ruin it. Still, there was something odd about it. Some sort of déjà vu.

"It's beautiful," Skytaker quietly said, staring out at the island alongside Tiger.

Tiger nodded, trying to think. What was bugging her about it?

"Eh," Ermine muttered. "It's alright. Seems too warm for me."

Tiger traced out one of the coastlines with a talon. She could've sworn that she'd seen the coastline somewhere else before. The southern edge of the rainforest? No, that couldn't be it. This was an island. What islands had she visited before? She'd been on a few trips to one of the islands off the southern coast, but this couldn't be it.

"Keep moving," the RainWing leading them growled again. "Don't keep the Empress waiting."

Tiger started walking down the red carpet, towards the center of the greenhouse throne room. She tried to think. What other islands had she visited. The only one she could think of was . . . the volcanic NightWing island.

Tiger's head immediately turned back to the side, staring at the coastline. It matched, at least she thought it did. And the steep hills she seen surrounding them — those weren't hills. This was the center of a volcano's crater.

"It can't be," she whispered out loud, provoking a confused glance from Skytaker and a glare from the RainWing leading them. Tiger shook her head. She'd been to the volcanic island not that long ago, when trying to rescue some of the NightWing library to take to Jade Mountain. It had looked nothing like this. Solidified lava flows, smoke and smog, and not a touch of green anywhere in sight. How could this be the same place?

Ermine's words rang in Tiger's head. Magic, it had to have been magic. Had an animus done this? And if so . . . how much of their soul had that animus lost?

Tiger's gaze turned down the red path. The plants and grass seemed to shrink further on, until the path split into two pieces, separating to make way for a huge glass orb, floating just above the ground. Its surface was milky-clear, and Tiger's eyes seemed to be instantly tranced by it. The three walked forward, staring up at the huge orb, multiple times the size of the largest dragon.

"What is that?" Tiger asked the RainWing leading them. As her eyes scanned to the top of the orb, she saw curved glass lenses, floating and slowly turning in the space above it, going all the way up to the top of the greenhouse.

"Keep moving," the RainWing growled again.

Tiger sighed. She wouldn't get any information out of this dragon. Maybe this Empress would be more open.

As the three circled around the orb, Tiger took another gaze out onto the island below. Were there options other than animus magic for what had happened to it? Maybe they'd somehow travelled far into the future — it would explain all the RainWings she didn't know, and how this structure that had clearly not been on the NightWing island the last time she'd been there had appeared. But then, why was Mangrove here? And how was Queen Glory alive?

As she turned around the final stretch of the orb, the two red carpets rejoined, and came to their end. In front of the three, a mass of vines grew up from the ground, twisting and braiding each other in order to form a huge throne. The rug Tiger had walked across earlier had been unable to capture the sheer beauty and formidability of the dragon sitting there. The Empress gazed down at the three from the throne, violet scales highlighted with glittering golden stars and spirals, as if the metal itself had been placed there. Her golden crown of leaves sparkled in the sunlight, the same color as her piercing eyes.

Queen Glory sat impatiently at the left side of the Empress, the tip of her tail flicking as she saw the three approach, a mild frown appearing on her snout. She looked much the same as when Tiger had seen her before her supposed death — blue-green scales with frills the color of the sunset, eyes the colors of emeralds. Yet, something seemed different about her. For one, Tiger noticed that the black circle tattoo that she'd seen on Glory's neck back in the rainforest was now missing. But it wasn't just that; why did Glory look so annoyed to see Tiger? She'd never been a ball of joy, but she'd been patient with Tiger at least. And it was odd to see her clearly below the Empress, had Queen Glory given up her throne? Tiger wanted answers to what was going on here.

"Welcome, dragonets," the Empress said with a smile. Tiger looked up to her. Who was this RainWing? "I'm so sorry for your unkempt welcome to my domain. I am Empress Liliana, ruler of this place."

"Who?" Skytaker suddenly asked. "I haven't heard of you before."

A flash of irritation quickly crossed Empress Liliana's face, the scales behind her golden eyes slightly orange. She sighed.

"Empress Liliana," the Empress replied. "I normally don't grant dragons an audience with me, but I felt awful about your mistreatment and thought you deserved some explanation. You're not prisoners here, but guests, and I really hope we didn't get off on the wrong foot."

Foot? Tiger wondered.

"Are your guests normally drugged and put in cages?" Skytaker questioned.

Tiger gave them a glare of warning. Were they trying to make enemies with Empress Liliana?

Liliana sighed again, tapping her talons on her throne of vines. Even with her regal appearance and her brilliant scales, Tiger could tell she had emotions under there. And Skytaker was quickly turning them to anger. Had she been Queen Scarlet, she might have thrown them in the arena already.

"Again, that was a horrible misunderstanding," Liliana continued. "Glory."

Glory looked up at her name being called, making eye contact with the violet empress. "Yes, your majesty?"

"Apologize at once to the dragonets," the Empress ordered.

Glory frowned. "Your majesty," she replied, "I did what I thought was right. I knew our Tiger, and thought she'd be useful. She's quite the —"

"Quiet," Empress Liliana ordered with a snap of her tail through the air, silencing Glory. "This isn't the place to discuss such matters. Apologize."

Tiger saw Skytaker toss her a concerned glance. She nodded. She'd heard what Glory had said. Queen Glory thought Tiger would be useful. Normally Tiger would have been unconcerned with this, even proud to be of use to her queen, but with all the strangeness that was going on, Tiger was unsure.

Glory gave out a huff, and turned her head towards the three dragonets, looking at Ermine, Skytaker, and finally Tiger in turn. "I'm sorry," she grumbled.

Liliana smiled, light bouncing off the gold in her wings. "There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" she said to Glory, almost patronizingly. The Empress turned back to the dragonets. "Are you satisfied?"

"No!" Skytaker shouted out. "Why did you drug us in the first place? Where are we? What's going on?"

Liliana opened her mouth, almost like she was surprised with the number of questions Skytaker was asking. "Please, I'm sure you dragonets are very confused right now, but one question at a time."

Tiger took the chance to ask hers. "Is this the NightWing island?" she quickly asked. "Why is it all green?"

The Empress thought about this for a moment, and Tiger could see her concerned expression turn to one of surprise. "That was two questions," Liliana smiled, her eyes devoid of menace. "Not one."

"Sometimes the answers to two questions are intertwined like two tails stuck together," Tiger retorted. "If I ask both at once, I might understand more."

Liliana shook her head and smiled again, pearly fangs grinning. "You don't need to be humble, my dear. You asked the second question because you already knew the answer to the first one." She turned towards Glory. "I see what you meant. She's quite impressive."

Tiger shuffled uncomfortably. She didn't like the two RainWings treating her like this, especially when she was still in the dark.

"Alright," Empress Liliana said. "I'll answer your question, but prepare to be shocked. The three of you have in fact been taken to a different world by General Glory, one much similar to your own in some ways, but also quite different."

Tiger stared up at Empress LIliana, gold veins glittering through her violet scales. A different world, Tiger wondered, starting out the edge of the greenhouse at the greenery of the volcanic island. Was that true? It made more sense than any of the other explanations she'd considered so far, but it was so out there. Like a dragonet's dream.

"Another world?" Ermine squealed. Tiger could see his shock in his eyes, how the IceWing dragonet's worldview had been shattered. Before, he'd only known of Pyrrhia, and while huge, he could manage thinking of the entire continent as a place. His actions, or the actions of any other dragon, could easily reach the most desolate corners of the continent. But to learn that there was more than that, so much that would always be out of his reach, might be shocking. Tiger was long past that revelation — she'd stared up at the stars from the treetops since she was no larger than a dragon's paw. She'd studied the ancient NightWing scrolls, and knew how they were able to track and predict their movements if one didn't include the strange days of the Scorching. She knew that some scholars had thought that the stars in the sky were the same as Pyrrhia's sun, and that they circled or were circled by their own worlds, where other dragons might live.

Liliana nodded. "Yes, that's what I said. Welcome, dear dragonets, to my wonderful world, Antigonia."

Antigonia, Tiger thought, whispering the name under her breath. Even if she'd suspected that there were other worlds before, she'd never before considered that she might ever touch one with her own paws. Tiger slowly lifted her paw up, flexing her talons. Toxin would be so excited to hear that Tiger had been to another world when Tiger got back to Jade Mountain.

"Wait just a second," Skytaker said. "If you're from another world, does that mean we've been abducted by aliens?"

The Empress let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, I'm not sure I'd call us aliens. At least from what General Glory has reported to me, the dragons of Antigonia are the same species as the dragons of your world."

More than just the same species, Tiger wondered. Antigonia seemed to have many of the same dragons, like Glory, Mangrove, and apparently Tiger herself. Were there only RainWings? Or were the other tribes also present?

"How did you get to Pyrrhia?" Tiger asked. "There isn't air in the space between stars, so how could you fly?"

"Pyrrhia?" Liliana questioned. Her grin seemed to have suddenly faded.

"It's our world's name," Skytaker answered.

Liliana frowned. "Of course it is," she replied. She quickly doused her grimace, and returned to her mild smile. "I'm actually not quite sure where Antigonia is in spatial relation to your world. In fact, I used my magic to get from Antigonia to your w - to Pyrrhia."

"Magic?" Ermine asked, quickly perking up at the mention. "You're an animus?"

So Ermine was right after all, Tiger thought. There is animus magic involved.

"A what?" Liliana asked, a puzzled grin on her snout. "An aminus?"

"Animus," Ermine quickly corrected her. "Dragons that can use magic. They can enchant things to have whatever property they want, but if they do it too much, they start to lose their souls."

So that's another difference between this world and ours, Tiger pondered. Was Liliana an animus, or did the RainWing have some other sort of magic? And if she was an animus, and she'd used magic to create this tower and travel between worlds, what did that mean for her soul? Tiger looked up at the shining Empress. Was there evil in her gaze?

A few of the scales on Liliana's paws started to change from violet, to blue, and finally to green. The confident Empress's expression turned to a look a concern. "More dragons with powers like mine? Are there many of these animuses on Pyrrhia?"

Ermine shook his head, not thinking twice before he answered. "Not many, your majesty. I only know of one, but she's a jerk. The Ice Kingdom used to have a lot, but now they're gone and we've been trying to get more for forever."

Tiger noticed Skytaker shooting Ermine a glare. She wondered why. Had Ermine given away too much information? The Empress seemed friendly enough, but Tiger understood why Skytaker would mistrust her.

"Oh dear," Liliana pondered. "That's quite alarming. It explains much about the state of your world. For uncivilized dragons to have the same powers as I do, I'm surprised your world hasn't torn itself apart by now."

"Uncivilized?" Skytaker asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The Empress shivered, closing her wings around herself. "Oh yes. From what Glory has told me of Pyrrhia, it's a horrible place where dragons are constantly at war, where violence rules over reason and logic. I've heard you even still perform the barbaric practice of eating humans - er, I suppose you call them scavengers." Liliana appeared disgusted at even the mention of this, looking slightly queasy. "Quite abhorrent. Those days are long gone from Antigonia, and now, humans and dragons live side-by-side, and even hybrids like you can roam free!"

Skytaker averted their eyes from the Empress uncomfortably. "Things are getting better," they replied, "it's alright for hybrids in Possibility, or at Jade Mountain."

Liliana tsked, shaking her head disparagingly. She turned to Glory. "No, no," she sighed. "I think that he — she —"

"They," Tiger quickly interrupted.

Liliana frowned slightly. "— that they'll be much safer here in Antigonia. Not just the hybrid, but the RainWing too."

"Wait, I don't want to stay here!" Ermine quickly protested, not realizing that Liliana hadn't included him. "I want to go back to Pyrrhia!"

Tiger glanced over towards Ermine. Of the three of them, she was surprised Ermine was the one who wanted to return so soon. With Queen Blackice in charge, he had no place to return to in the Ice Kingdom, and he'd never seemed to have found a home in Jade Mountain.

Empress Liliana sighed. "Are you really sure you want to go so soon? You just got here. And from what I've heard of your world, it's not a safe place for dragonets like you."

Ermine opened his mouth, a bit hesitant.

"Yes!" Skytaker blurted out. "Pyrrhia is our home, and Jade Mountain too. That's where our friends are! Of course we want to go back!"

Liliana tapped a golden talon on her vined throne, slowly moving it back and forth. Tiger waited patiently, staring directly at the Empress' eyes.

"Alright then," Liliana finally replied, lifting her talon. "I can return you, but it may take some time. The magic is a bit finicky, and it took quite some time for me to find a world with living dragons at all."

"Can we explore Antigonia until then?" Tiger asked hopefully. This was a whole different world than Pyrrhia. Even if they were going back, Tiger wanted to take her chance to learn as much about it as possible.

"No," Liliana quickly replied, shaking her head. "Most certainly not. I can't risk letting dragons from Pyrrhia roam free here. Your barbarism could cause quite a lot of trouble, and I don't want my subjects being . . . exposed. The three of you will remain as guests in the palace for the time."

"Please, your majesty," Tiger pleaded. She'd probably never get another chance like this again. "I promise we'll behave. Well, I promise I'll behave."

The Empress shook her head. "My word is final. You are not to leave the palace. Now, I would love to chat more with you children, but I have a lot to discuss with General Glory, particularly about this animus magic. Prismatic, can you take them to our nicest guest room?"

"Yes, your majesty," the RainWing who'd led the three in said with a bow. He turned to the dragonets with a glare. "Follow me. The Empress wants to be left alone."

Tiger sighed, her head drooping, and started to follow Prismatic. She glanced back towards the glittering entrance. What else could she say?

Skytaker and Ermine reluctantly followed, returning back around the huge orb on the red carpet they'd walked in on. After they got about halfway around it, Skytaker sped up to Tiger, matching their pace with her.

"Guests are able to leave anytime they want," the hybrid muttered, just quiet enough that Prismatic couldn't hear. "We're not guests. We're prisoners."

Chapter 9

Queen Scarlet scratched her talons along the stone surface of her throne. One of her guards winced, her claws creating a screeching noise almost as horrible as the despots own voice. The SkyWing queen's tail twitched back and forth, her body tense and impatient.

"Where's that moons-bewitched mongrel?" the SkyWing queen hissed, glaring at one of the guards.

The young guard let out a small whimper. "Y-your majesty, would you like me to go search for Aurora?"

"Sure," Queen Scarlet snorted. "She's probably still asleep in her room. Fetch her at once."

The SkyWing quickly bowed, his metal helmet almost falling off his snout. "O-of course, your majesty, right away." He started towards the doors of the throne room and cast aside a glare from one of the other guards, jealous that she had to stay with the queen.

As soon as the SkyWing reached the two great doors, he let out a scream and dove to the side. Aurora's blue snout poked halfway through the door way as the hybrid phased into the throne room. After her head, two disembodied paws stepped in through the doors, followed by the rest of Aurora's body, tail twitching through the doorway, chainlinks clinking against the throne room floor.

"Finally," Queen Scarlet muttered, with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, "you're here."

Aurora walked forward, until she stood beneath the throne, staring up at Queen Scarlet's talons. Crumbling stone rose up on either side of Scarlet's platform in the shape of clouds, giving Scarlet the funny appearance of just lying on a cloud.

Scarlet glanced back towards the doors, the guard who'd dove out of Aurora's way getting back on his paws.

"Don't do that in the future," Scarlet ordered Aurora, "the weird passing through doors and walls thing. It creeps me out, and you even scared my guards, although a mouse would probably scare these cowardly dimwits."

"Your palace has too many doors," Aurora replied. "My advice is that you remove them."

Queen Scarlet narrowed her eyes, glaring down at the sky-colored hybrid. Aurora hadn't exactly refused to obey her order, but certainly hadn't responded with the 'yes, your majesty, of course, please don't kill me' that she expected of all her subjects.

"Advice not taken," Queen Scarlet snapped. "I installed these doors a few years ago, when I moved my throne inside. It makes it harder for enemies to shoot venom at you if there's a closed door between you and her."

The two guards exchanged a glance. Queen Glory might be dead, but Queen Scarlet seemed to have a permanent fear of RainWings. Not that they blamed her; everyone was constantly reminded by the venom-scarred side of her face. When Queen Scarlet added in the doors, she also removed most of the mirrors in the palace. Where she'd previously spent hours gazing at her own beauty, now Queen Scarlet couldn't stand the look of herself.

Aurora flicked her tail back and forth, long spines sailing through the air. The guard closest to Queen Scarlet kept her eyes focused on the end of Aurora's tail, just making sure it didn't get too close. Close to the guard herself, of course — if Aurora decided to attack Queen Scarlet, the guard doubted there was anything she could do to save her queen's life.

"Well?" Scarlet growled. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Aurora stayed silent, her tail still swishing. Did Queen Scarlet want her to tell her she'd stop phasing? That was stupid.

Queen Scarlet set out an exasperated sigh. "It's my hatchday," she hissed at Aurora. "You're supposed to say 'Happy hatchday, Queen Scarlet!' I was even kind enough to remind you since you're new here, even though every one of my subjects has my hatchday memorized in accordance with the law. Do you know the penalty for forgetting my hatchday? It's —"

"—death," Aurora said, interrupting the SkyWing queen. That was the penalty for everything in the Sky Kingdom. Being thrown into the arena, which was basically the same thing as death. "Happy hatchday, Queen Scarlet."

Queen Scarlet gritted her teeth, muttering something to herself. "You're welcome," she snorted. "Now, as is tradition, we're having a set of special arena battles today in my honor. I'm quite excited, and I won't let your forgetfulness ruin my special day."

Aurora sighed. Why did Queen Scarlet call her here for this? She was supposed to be her advisor, not the head of her party planning committee. It wasn't like Aurora had ever had a real hatchday herself. Time ran strange in the Crystal Caverns, and a day there could be a year on Pyrrhia. There was little point in keeping track.

"I've called you here because I want this hatchday to be particularly thrilling," Queen Scarlet continued. "Glory is dead, so we have multiple things to celebrate! So, I'm having you participate in one of the battles."

"What?" Aurora asked, unsure if she'd heard that right.

"It should be no danger at all for you," Scarlet said. "With your magic and all, I don't think you'll be in danger. Don't worry, you're not disposable to me. But think of the action! Few SkyWings will have ever seen anything like what you can do before, and we've never had anyone like you in the arena! A hybrid too, that's certainly a bonus."

"I'm not doing it," Aurora growled. "I'm your advisor, not your slave."

The two guards gave each other a glance. Someone refusing to follow Queen Scarlet's orders never ended up well.

Queen Scarlet frowned, turning her head down to glare at Aurora. "Of course you will!" she huffed. "You're my subject, and I'm the queen. You have to follow my orders."

Aurora's claws tensed up, scratching against the stone floor of the throne room. The white glowstripes on her body and legs started to flash, quickly lighting up and turning up. "I'm not your subject," she hissed, "nor your spectacle."

Queen Scarlet's eyes opened wide, her glare turning murderous. The guards gulped as they saw her claws stiffen up, her teeth baring. The queen's patience with Aurora had just about run out.

"It's my HATCHDAY!" Queen Scarlet yelled, spittle landing on Aurora's snout. "Either you are loyal to me, or you are my enemy! If you refuse, I'll have to-I'll have to—"

Aurora wiped the SkyWing's sulfurous spit off her scales as Queen Scarlet struggled to think of a punishment. It wasn't like she could throw Aurora in the arena — the hybrid would just phase out and escape.

Aurora glared down at the ground. She could escape this all right now. Just leave the Sky Kingdom behind, and go find some caves nearby to live in for the rest of her life, where no one would bother her. She could spend the rest of her days making beautiful sculptures from rocks, ones that would never reach the light of day or the eyes of any other dragon. Bright lights flickered across her scales. It would be so easy.

No. She couldn't do that. She had a duty, one that had been ingrained in her since before she hatched, from her mother's whispers to her egg. A duty to Crystal, to Calamity, and to all of Pyrrhia. Calamity had told her — she was the only one who could save them now, and to do that, she needed to be allies with Queen Scarlet. Activate the Eye of Amethyst, give Queen Scarlet the Darkstone, and obtain the SeaWing throne. That was her role to play in Calamity's plan. And if she flew away now, there was no one left who knew of the Horror that awaited them beneath Pyrrhia. Crystal and Fracture were dead. Calamity was trapped. And even if Ink had found something out before Aurora had taken his pale eye, he was dead.

"Fine," Aurora muttered.

"What was that?" Queen Scarlet hissed. "Give me enthusiasm."

Aurora grit her teeth together. "I said I'll do it," she hissed. "I want you to enjoy your hatchday, your majesty. I'll fight in your arena."

Scarlet's mood changed faster than a stray wind, her growl immediately shifting to a sadistic grin. "Good," she smiled, "I knew you'd come around to the idea. I'm sure you'll love it, who doesn't enjoy the thrill of battle; the fire coursing through their veins?"

Aurora swished her tail, remaining silent. She didn't. Her mother might have enjoyed it, but Calamity had trained Aurora to kill quickly and effectively. To never give her opponent a chance to fight back. To only fight when necessary for survival, whether that was her own, or all of Pyrrhia's.

"These will be the most thrilling hatchday battles I've ever had!" Queen Scarlet boasted. "Once she hears of it, that traitor Peril will be so jealous of the arena. She'll be regretful she betrayed me, and will come back to me, begging me to let her fight again as my champion!"

Aurora sighed, glancing back and forth to the two guards. If Queen Scarlet wanted her to play the part of one of her SkyWing subjects, then what choice did Aurora have?

---

The raucous cheering and roaring of dragons seemed to come from all sides, penetrating Aurora's ears. The hybrid squished her head between her forepaws, trying to block out the sound. Why were there so many dragons? Why did they all have to be so loud? She hated this. How was this Queen Scarlet's idea of a fun hatchday celebration?

A loud roar cast itself over the crowd, and suddenly, the arena fell silent. Aurora took her paws away from her ears, looking out over the arena. There were so many dragons in the stone seats surrounding the sandy pit, even more dragons than in the palace at its busiest times, somehow even more dragons than at the Reascension Feast. Every unfamiliar snout in the crowd was just a generic SkyWing to Aurora, colored in the shades of fall, or the shades of fire. Their faces blurred, although some of that might have been the smudged and scratched glass in front of the queen's balcony.

"I hate having to look through this thing," Queen Scarlet muttered, tapping a talon against the glass. When she lifted her talon up, Aurora noticed a small blemish in the glass, made from her sharpened talons.

"It keeps you safe though, doesn't it?" Aurora glanced to her right to see Smolder, craning his neck around her to talk to the queen. "And we need that, today of all days."

Aurora peered through the glass at the now crowd. If they needed it for their own safety, shouldn't there be a shield in front of the crowd, too?

"Yes, yes," Scarlet grumbled. "I know that better than anyone else."

The queen suddenly stood up, and let out a quick cough. She let out a roar so loud Aurora had to turn her head away again. Why was everything so loud in the Sky Kingdom?

"Are you all ready for my hatchday celebrations?" the queen yelled out to the crowd. She paused for a moment as the crowd let out another cheer, making Aurora feel slightly dizzy. Queen Scarlet smiled at the applause, basking in the attention, spreading her wings out. Aurora glanced up at her, the venom-scarred side of her snout visible. It only seemed to make the queen appear more threatening.

"Vermillion!" Scarlet screeched. "Get down here!"

The blood-red SkyWing quickly flapped down from above the arena, short of breath as he landed in the sand. Aurora squinted as she stared at him. Had she met that dragon before? She wasn't quite sure.

"Today!" Prince Vermillion huffed, glancing around at the crowd. "We have some special guests in the arena! As a hatchday present to my mother, I bought her prisoners from Queen Blackice! RainWings that were captured in the attack on the rainforest! In our first battle, we'll see how us SkyWings would have fared if we'd led an attack!"

The crowd looked up, and Aurora followed their eyes to see SkyWings unchaining a number of RainWing and SkyWing prisoners, maybe half a dozen of each. Aurora stared up at them as the guards flew them down. Most of the RainWings had metal rings around their snouts. That was right — RainWings shot venom. Aurora knew that. She'd been captured by Queen Glory's guards not long ago, and one of them had hit her with venom when they'd tried to prevent her escape. It worked on organic materials like dragonscale, but was ineffective against metal.

After setting the SkyWings and RainWings down on opposite sides of the arena, the guards unlatched the RainWings' muzzles, letting them fall to the sand before the guards flew off as fast as possible, not wanting to get shot with venom themselves. But the RainWings didn't try to attack — Aurora noticed that they all stayed huddled together in a group, terrified of what was to come. Aurora frowned. She could tell that the RainWings she'd fought had been given at least minimal battle training, but these dragons weren't fighters. They were frightened civilians. The SkyWings, on the other paw, had their claws out and teeth bared. Aurora wasn't sure what exactly they'd been imprisoned for, but they knew that surviving the arena was their only chance at freedom.

"Alright, you vicious monsters!" Vermillion yelled out at two sets of dragons, in opposite corners of the arena. The SkyWing prince already had his wings out, and was flapping to get away. "Claws up, fire and venom ready! Fight!"

As soon as Vermillion called fight, the SkyWings charged forward. Aurora's eyes focused on the red and orange dragons, rushing forward as fast as they could. That was smart — the RainWings could shoot venom further than the SkyWings could shoot their fire, so they needed to close the gap as quickly as possible.

Aurora turned to the other side of the arena. The RainWings should have been shooting their venom across the arena, making sure none of the SkyWings got close. But these dragons weren't trying to kill their opponents — did the RainWings know anything about how Queen Scarlet's gruesome arena worked, and how they were able to win their freedom? Instead, the RainWings dispersed, trying to run away or find an escape. Colors shifted across their scales as one-by-one, they started turning invisible.

The crowd started jeering. "Where's that venom? RainWings are cowards!"

Aurora grimaced. The RainWings might have been invisible, but the SkyWings had already been tracking them, and any one of their movements kicked up sand from the arena. Their camouflage might have worked well in the rainforest, where there were plenty of non-uniform colors among the trees for a RainWing to hide in, but not in the dull, monotonous arena. Even from here, Aurora could see pawprints in the sand and dust clouds, outlining the shape of hidden RainWings. Sunlight glinted off of the metal that bound their wings.

The hybrid's eyes glanced over to Queen Scarlet. The queen's snout was pressed up against the glass, her eyes wide-open. What was the point of the arena? Was she trying to learn RainWing battle tactics? If so, this seemed like a non-ideal way to do it.

Aurora's head suddenly jolted back to the arena as she heard the first blood-curdling scream, almost drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. There was a flash of red down in the arena, as a SkyWing pounced one of the invisible RainWings, ripping into the poor dragon's neck with fangs and claws. A second SkyWing tackled the same RainWing, wrestling with the other one for the honor of the kill. Aurora's gaze shifted again as she saw a flash of flame not far away, two RainWings that had been invisible hit by the blast, their locations revealed. More SkyWings took them on. The arena had become a blood-bath.

A quiet whisper snuck into Aurora's ears. She turned towards Queen Scarlet, her eyes locked on one of the RainWings being torn limb-from-limb. The queen's teeth were bared, eyes wide open, paws shaking against the glass. Words formed from the queen's mouth.

"Die Glory, die Glory, die Glory" the queen whispered over and over again, her fangs grinding against each other as her talons screeched against the glass.

Aurora gave the arena another look, her stomach turning as she saw life draining out of another RainWing. The crowd let out another cheer. This was pointless, senseless violence, fueled by Queen Scarlet's lust for power and revenge. Were the dragons in the crowd the ones that Aurora was trying to save? Dragons who used each others lives as their own entertainment?

And Aurora had been the one who'd put Queen Scarlet back on the throne; who'd made these arena battles to continue instead of putting an end to them by letting the battle between Scarlet and Tourmaline take its natural course. The hybrid's throat suddenly felt dry, her scales warm. She looked down at her paw to see her talons shaking, glowscales flashing. What was going on with her?

Aurora let out a short growl through her fangs, shaking her head. She'd put Queen Scarlet back on the throne because Calamity had told her to. It had to have been the right thing, vital in his plan, or else he wouldn't have had her do it. This arena battle — it had to be somehow important, somehow needed to save more lives. Aurora couldn't experience shame and guilt, not now, not with Calamity gone. She just needed to follow the plan. Just for a little longer.

The hybrid took in a deep breath, and turned back to the arena. At this point, the fight seemed to be over. The SkyWings, talons stained with blood, stood over the corpses of RainWings. Aurora glanced over them. Strange. There seemed to be one more SkyWing than had been brought into the arena. She passed over the SkyWings with another glance, noticing one with a strangely curled tail, small fins behind her ears, and oddest of all, without blood on her claws. A RainWing who'd disguised herself as a SkyWing in the turmoil. Not that it would help her much.

Vermillion fluttered above the arena. "The SkyWings have won!" he shouted, invoking a cheer from the crowd. "Not much of a surprise, of course — everyone knows how lazy and stupid RainWings are."

Aurora noticed a snarl from Queen Scarlet out of the corner of her eyes. She didn't seem particularly happy about that comment; if the dragon who'd ruined her face was lazy and stupid, what did that make her?

"But that's just the start of our battles!" Vermillion continued. "Only one dragon today gets the chance to earn their freedom by proving themself the strongest. It's time to see allies become enemies! Prisoners! You'll now fight each other until only one remains! Claws up, fire ready! Fight!"

Just because they'd fought against the RainWings each other didn't mean there was any sense of camaraderie among the SkyWings. They turned on each other instantly. Aurora didn't want to watch, but her eyes were focused on the sole RainWing. Maybe she'd be able to get out still?

No such luck. One of the SkyWings chased after her as she backed away, cornering her against a wall. He pounced, and that was it for her. Aurora turned away to see Queen Scarlet, having calmed down since the RainWing fight, a vicious grin across her snout.

This fight seemed to be over almost as soon as it had begun. Only a single SkyWing was left standing in the middle of the arena, blood that wasn't his own dripping from his claws. He let out a roar, lashing his tail across the sand. The crowd burst into applause.

"Congratulations to Falcon for that thrilling battle!" Vermillion exclaimed as the applause died down. "I expected nothing less from one of the most vicious serial killers the Sky Kingdom has seen in years! I know my bets are paying off tonight!"

Falcon let out another roar, baring his fangs at the crowd.

"But we can't let such a villainous dragon go free so easily, can we?" Vermillion asked the crowd. "Certainly not! I wouldn't be able to sleep at night! If Falcon wants his freedom, he first needs to get through Queen Scarlet's new champion!"

Whispers of confusion and unease started to go through the crowd. Queen Scarlet hadn't had a champion since Peril; they hadn't heard anything about a new champion.

"Welcome Aurora of the Hybrids, Queen Scarlet's Champion, to the arena!" Vermillion yelled out. The crowd erupted into an uneasy cheer.

"What?" Aurora exclaimed, standing up. She turned to Queen Scarlet with a glare, teeth bared. "I'm your advisor. Not your champion."

"No reason you can't be both," the queen snorted. "You said you'd participate in an arena battle, didn't you? Hurry up and get down there, the crowd is waiting."

"I'm not your champion," Aurora snarled, glowstripes flashing on and off.

Queen Scarlet glowered. "Just accept it. It's my hatchday! And this is your hatchday present to me!"

Aurora's talons tensed up. She hadn't agreed to this. She opened her mouth to argue, but after a short hesitation, closed it. She needed to stay allies with Queen Scarlet. For Calamity's plan.

Aurora turned, and spread her wings open, walking through the glass panel and gliding down to the arena floor as the crowd looked on in wonder. Her landed in the sand, only a few tail-lengths away from Falcon.

The SkyWing grinned as he examined Aurora. "A hybrid?" he sneered. "What are you, some sort of freak? What's that chain on your foreleg? Does Queen Scarlet drag you around by it?"

Aurora kept her expression stiff as she stared up at Vermillion. The crowd's roars were making her dizzy.

"Look at you, you're weak," Falcon goaded. "I've killed plenty of dragons, but never a hybrid. I'll have fun tearing you apart."

"Alright!" Vermillion yelled. "Let's see if Falcon can earn his freedom! Claws up! Fangs ready—"

Falcon rushed forward with a roar, leaping at Aurora's neck. Just as his claws were supposed to make contact with her scales, they passed through her, feeling no resistance at all. Falcon's eyes went wide, the SkyWing's confusion the last thing he'd feel. Aurora glared up at Queen Scarlet's balcony, making eye contact with the queen through the glass pane.

"—fight!" Vermillion finished.

The fight was already over. Aurora stepped out of Falcon, walking towards the edge of the arena. All the color had drained out of Falcon's scales, leaving behind a shimmering grey. Falcon's body landed on the sand with a thump that reverberated through the arena, his claws still outstretched. His body made no movements as Aurora walked away, his corpse solid metal, standing still in the middle of the arena.

The crowd went silent, shocked at the display of magic. Aurora had finished even before Vermillion had told them to fight. Worried whispers passed around.

A muted voice reached Aurora's ears as she reached the edge of the arena. "That wasn't violent enough!" Queen Scarlet screamed. "I want more blood! More gore! Release the rest of the prisoners! I want to see her fight them all!"

Aurora stepped into the wall of the arena without another word, the last thing Scarlet seeing of her being a flick of her tail.

---

A knock sounded on the door to Aurora's chambers. The hybrid glared from the small bed she sat on. Who was that? She didn't want company after the arena battle today. Maybe if she pretended she wasn't here, whoever was knocking would go away.

Another knock on the stone door. Aurora's talons scratched against the wall of the chamber. It was probably one of Queen Scarlet's guards, planning to take her to the queen so that Scarlet could reprimand her. Aurora had known Queen Scarlet would be angry at her leaving the arena after such an anti-climactic fight, but she hadn't cared at the time. She still didn't. And it's not like Queen Scarlet could actually do anything about it. She couldn't hurt Aurora. Aurora had no friends or family that Scarlet could take prisoner. Well, she still had family, but she wasn't even sure herself where Torrent and Midnight were. Nor did she care.

"Go away," Aurora growled after hearing a third knock. "If Queen Scarlet wants to scold me, she can do so to my snout."

"I'm not Queen Scarlet," a voice boomed through the door. "I'm here to fetch you either."

That perked Aurora's curiosity, just a little bit. Most of the SkyWings in the palace seemed to avoid Aurora unless they were ordered to talk to her.

Aurora got up from the stone bed, and opened the door, wondering who it was. After it was open, Aurora was left looking up at a huge SkyWing, with a scar over one of her eyes.

"Do I know you?" Aurora asked, peering around the SkyWing to see metal armor on her back. She looked familiar.

"We talked after the Reascension Feast," the SkyWing replied with a smile. "I'm Cyclone, remember?"

Aurora looked up at Cyclone blankly. "No. What do you want?"

Cyclone let out a hearty laugh. "That's what you said to me then, too! Well, I saw what happened in the arena today—"

Aurora growled, and started to close the door on Cyclone. She didn't want to hear it.

"Hey, wait!" Cyclone said, putting her head between the door and its frame, stopping Aurora from slamming the door with her skull. "Ouch. I just wanted to say I thought what you did was pretty funny. Turning him to lead? Good style."

"Osmium," Aurora muttered, correcting Cyclone.

"Either way, Queen Scarlet still hasn't figured out how to move him," Cyclone chuckled. "For now, he's just stuck in the middle of the arena."

"She'll just order me to get rid of him," Aurora snorted. "I'll turn him to water or something."

"Either way, it was quite interesting for a rebellious act," Cyclone grinned. "Made quite the impression on me, as I'm sure it did on the rest of the arena. Why did you decide to participate in the arena in the first place?"

Aurora squished the door on Cyclone's head a little bit more, making the SkyWing wince. Aurora sighed. It didn't seem like she was planning on leaving without getting some answers from Aurora.

"She ordered me to," Aurora growled. "I didn't want to. I think it's disgusting, the way all of you treat dragons' lives as entertainment."

"Don't worry, you're far from the only one," Cyclone answered with a smile, twisting her stuck head a little bit. "We're all under orders to watch her arena battles, and to cheer and all. If we don't go, we might end up being the spectacle rather than the audience. But what I'm wondering, why didn't you just refuse her order? Based on what you did in the arena today, I doubt Queen Scarlet could actually make you do anything. Does she have hostages? Or is it something else?"

Aurora frowned, not offering a reply to Cyclone's question. Why was this SkyWing so curious about her? Did she want something from Aurora? Could she be part of the Talons of Peace, working against Calamity?

Cyclone waited a moment, still offering a smile out to Aurora. She moved her head again. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"Why?" Aurora questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, having my head squished in your door is a bit uncomfortable," Cyclone replied. "I just want to talk. I think I might be able to help you."

Aurora stared directly at the SkyWing, her scarred eye pressed against the doorframe. Was that her only intention? Helping? Aurora didn't think she needed help. What could Cyclone do that Aurora couldn't?

"You're having trouble working with Queen Scarlet, right?" Cyclone continued. "She's not an easy dragon to stay around long, especially if doesn't think she can control you. I know her well."

Aurora tapped her tail on the stone floor. She didn't have Calamity's guidance anymore. She didn't want help from an outsider, but the stakes were high, and Aurora couldn't fail this mission. If Cyclone could help keep Aurora as Queen Scarlet's advisor, it might be worth it to let her help.

"Fine," Aurora hesitantly agreed, letting the door open.

Cyclone let out a sigh of relief, shaking her neck before shuffling into Aurora's chambers, glancing around it. There wasn't much there. It's not like Aurora had belongings, or needed any treasure.

Aurora closed the door behind Cyclone, quickly turning to cautiously watch the battle-worn SkyWing. If she tried anything strange, she knew by now what Aurora could do.

"So," Cyclone asked again, sitting down on the cold stone floor, "why are you following Scarlet's orders?"

"I need to stay on her good side," Aurora answered. She saw no reason to hide the truth. What could Cyclone do with it? "It's what Calamity told me I had to do."

"Calamity?" Cyclone curiously asked. She hadn't heard that name before. It didn't sound like a normal dragon name — possibly a NightWing?

"My father," Aurora responded. Torrent may have been her father by blood, but Calamity was the one who'd raised her. "I'm following the instructions he gave me before his . . . death." Was death the right word? He was already dead.

"So you're joining Queen Scarlet as part of a dying father's last wishes thing?" Cyclone asked, almost amused.

"No," Aurora responded, giving Cyclone a stare so cold that it sent a shiver through the SkyWing's scales. "I'm trying to prevent the end of the world."

For a moment, Cyclone wondered if Aurora was joking. Her expression and tone made it quickly obvious that she wasn't. Cyclone's expression of amusement turned to worry and shock.

"The end of the world?" Cyclone asked, her tone becoming a hushed whisper. "What do you mean? What's going to happen? How long do we have?"

"You don't need to worry about it," Aurora replied. "It's not your concern. You'll be dead long before it happens."

Cyclone frowned. "That's no reason for me not to worry. What about my loved ones? I have a dragonet, will they be alright?"

"They'll also be dead." Aurora said. "And your dragonet's dragonets. Even if I succeed, every dragon on Pyrrhia will die. That is just the natural course of your world."

"Ah," Cyclone said, uncertain. Weren't there other reasons to be worried about the end of the world? The destruction of all dragon civilization, everything that had been built in the last five millenia. Why did Aurora care? Was she immortal? Cyclone would've believed it, given the powers she'd shown already. "So, what's with your magic? Are you using an enchanted artifact? Or are you an animus yourself?"

Aurora remained silent.

"You're free to not answer if you don't want to," Cyclone said, trying to bring her smile back.

"No," Aurora replied. "I'm debating whether or not I should tell you. It's probably fine. Calamity would have warned me if you were important. I'm somewhat of an animus, although I'm not quite sure about the permanency of my powers."

Cyclone nodded, considering this. "So you have an artifact that lets you use animus magic?"

Aurora opened her mouth, slightly surprised how accurately Cyclone had guessed how the Darkstone worked. She nodded.

"I know more about this stuff than you'd think," Cyclone grinned. "Had an old flame with something similar. Magic isn't foriegn to me."

Aurora squinted. That explained some of Cyclone's boldness in talking to Aurora. Did that mean that Cyclone had encountered someone else with a Darkstone? The last Aurora had heard, Polar had the second Darkstone. Was there a third Aurora hadn't known about?

"And you used an artifact to do what you did in the arena, correct?" Cyclone pressed. She gave Aurora a quick glance. Aurora didn't have anything else in the room, so there weren't many options for enchanted artifacts. "So which one is which? Is the black stone on your necklace the one which lets you walk through walls, or is it the shackle around your legs?"

So her friend doesn't have a third Darkstone, Aurora decided. If the friend did, Cyclone would've known that the Darkstone was what gave Aurora animus powers. "The shackle."

"Curious design," Cyclone laughed. "Odd fashion statement. Most animuses just choose jewelry or weapons; something a bit less conspicuous."

Cyclone's interest in Aurora's aesthetics seemed like an oddly trivial subject, but Aurora answered anyways. "It's partially symbolic," she explained, giving her paw a shake so the three chainlinks rattled. "It keeps me chained to my body and to your world. It also has the advantage that I'm able to feel it constantly. It and the enchantment on it was my design, but my father helped me with the project."

"Chained to your body?" Cyclone asked.

"Just as I'm able to change things around me, I'm able to chain my own body," Aurora explained. She put her forepaws out in front of her, and touched the tips of her talons together. Her talons suddenly began to grow as she pulled her paws back, until her claws were almost as long as her forelegs. Cyclone stared in wonder. Aurora quickly moved her paws back together, her talons shortening to the natural length. "I made variety of modifications when I was younger."

"Really?" Cyclone asked. "Other than the hybrid stuff, and your strangely flashing glowscales, you look like any other dragon. I would've expected stuff like super-hard scales, or giant tail-spines. Is it internal stuff, like increased stamina?"

Aurora shook her head. "Mostly not battle modifications. The changes I made were usually for my own comfort. Primarily my endocrine and sex organs, but also things like horn size, vocal chords, and snout structure."

"How did you do that? It sounds complicated," Cyclone questioned curiously. She glanced down at Aurora's metal cuff. What was the enchantment on it? If Aurora had wanted to chain her body, why hadn't she just done what Soar had done, and write down enchantments? Was there something different about the way she did animus magic?

"I can't do the reverse process on you, if that's what you're wondering," Aurora answered flatly. "Dragon biology is very intricate. It took years and many attempts, a lot of which would have destroyed enough of my internal functionality that it would've killed me if I hadn't had Calamity around to heal me. You're staring."

Cyclone glanced away from Aurora's cuff. "Sorry," she laughed. "I'm just surprised. You're not the first dragon I've met to be dissatisfied with their body's sex like that. A shame that you can't repeat the process though; my dragonet — well, they're not really mine, but they might as well be — has similar feelings."

Aurora looked confused. "You don't?" she asked.

Cyclone shook her head. "There are certainly things I dislike about my body," she replied, pointing a talon to her mutilated eye, "but that's not one of them. It's not very common as far as I can tell, although I suppose dragons wouldn't talk about it here. The Sky Kingdom isn't particularly tolerant of differences."

"Huh," Aurora replied, with mild surprise. "I just assumed all dragons were like that, and I was just lucky enough to be able to change myself."

"Really?" Cyclone laughed. "How many dragons do you know?"

Aurora put out one of her forepaws, and counted on her talons. "Two. Maybe more now. Until a few months ago, I hadn't had any extensive conversations with anyone but my parents. Why?"

Cyclone frowned. Only two dragons in her entire life? Aurora's expression indicated that she didn't see anything wrong with the number.

"That's horrible," Cyclone frowned. "Why would your parents keep you isolated like that?"

"I have a purpose," Aurora explained. "I needed to be trained for my destiny."

Cyclone shook her head. "It's still awful. Keeping a dragonet trapped like that, not letting them be around other dragonets — destiny or no destiny, that's no way to treat a dragonet."

Aurora's tail twitched. Cyclone seemed to be judging Crystal and Calamity's parenting, but the SkyWing didn't understand. Aurora was needed for the plan. She had to have been isolated, for the sake of Pyrrhia. "Did you socialize your dragonet?"

"Oh," Cyclone chuckled, mildly uncomfortable. "Not much, but I didn't really have a choice." Cyclone saw Aurora's expression, accusing her of hypocrisy. "It was different though! I only took care of them for a year before taking them to a better home, and we were on the run during much of that time."

Aurora twitched her tail, staying silent.

Cyclone sighed. She'd asked Aurora a lot of questions about herself, she should probably give something in return. "Are you curious?"

"Yes," Aurora stated.

Cyclone glanced back towards the door, just to make sure it was shut. "Alright," she replied in a hushed voice, "but you have to keep this secret from Queen Scarlet, or any other SkyWing for that matter. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Aurora answered again.

Cyclone nodded, glancing back towards the door again. "Years ago, back before Ruby took the throne, my dragonet had been imprisoned here in the palace. Well, they weren't mine yet, but that's besides the point. I used to be one of the highest-ranked SkyWings here, General Cyclone. After we all thought Queen Scarlet was dead, a friend and I freed my dragonet, and I took them far away from the Sky Kingdom, where we'd be safe. I regret not having done it earlier. It was the best year of my life. But after Queen Scarlet came back, I decided to give my dragonet up to a home where they'd be able to be around other dragons their age. Someplace safe.

"Afterwards, I returned to the Sky Kingdom, but the friend I mentioned was gone. Queen Scarlet demoted me and took my eye as punishment for ignoring her and not trying to rescue her after her supposed death."

Cyclone sighed, looking directly into Aurora's eyes with regret. "I suppose that maybe I do want something other than just talking with you. I want to warn you about Queen Scarlet. You might have powers, but she's dangerous. Everyone close to her — me, Soar, Vermillion, Peril, and far more dragons than I can count — ends up hurt, doing things they eventually regret. If you're not willing to stay away from her, and get out of the Sky Kingdom now, at least stay wary of her. Since she rose back to power, she's been more fickle than ever, afraid everyone around her is a traitor or a RainWing in disguise."

Aurora frowned. Queen Scarlet might be a horrible dragon, but Aurora didn't exactly have a choice, did she? She had to work with Queen Scarlet for the plan to succeed. Even if Aurora lost her soul from it, her course was set. This was how she could save Pyrrhia.

"Thank you for letting me talk," Cyclone said with a smile. "I hope you heed my advice. But please don't tell Queen Scarlet that we've been chatting. She hates me enough already, and might get even more suspicious."

Aurora nodded, and Cyclone glanced back to the doorway.

"I should probably get going now," Cyclone continued. "But you can talk with me anytime you want. Alright?"

Cyclone waved her paw in a quick goodbye, then got up and opened Aurora's door a crack, checking that there wasn't anyone on the other side watching. As soon as she knew it was clear, the SkyWing left the room, leaving Aurora, once again, alone.

Chapter 10

"And I thought Crosswinds was hot," Midnight muttered, lashing her tail to cool herself down. "It feels like my scales are going to melt."

"At least we finally made it," Ecru suggested optimistically as the two walked through the unguarded gates to the Scorpion Den. "I'm just glad we're not flying across the desert anymore."

"We still have to go back," Midnight complained with a huge sigh. "You're not the one with black scales."

The flight across the desert from Crosswinds had been uneventful for the two. No assassins, no battles. Midnight a paw on her pouch, where the silver disc they'd found was kept inside. The Scorpion Den was supposed to be a hive of assassins and villainy; someone had to knew where it had come from.

Beady black eyes turned as the two hybrids stepped into town, scanning Midnight from the shadows of the road. Dragons seemed to step out of her way as she passed.

Midnight sighed. "So much for trying to keep a low profile, I guess?"

Ecru remained quiet, keeping close to Midnight. Compared to Midnight, she just looked like a strangely colored SandWing here. Her tattoos and jewelry barely stood out among the SandWings, many with weirder tattoos than her own or necklaces clearly meant to be threatening. But to most of the dragons here, Midnight looked like a NightWing, quite the rare occurrence in the middle of the desert.

Midnight scowled. In Crosswinds, most of the dragons were so used to seeing her around they barely gave her a second glance. Now half the Scorpion Den will have heard rumors of a NightWing or a NightWing hybrid passing through by sundown. If their assassin was trying to find them, they wouldn't have a very hard time.

"C'mon, let's hurry," Midnight muttered. "I want to get out of here as fast as possible."

Ecru nodded. "Where should we start?" she asked.

"An assassin's guild would be best," Midnight replied in a hushed voice, "but I'm not keen on going around asking everyone where to find all the assassins."

"Maybe a market square?" Ecru suggested. "I think I saw one on the flight in."

Midnight nodded in agreement, and the two were off, Ecru trying to remember where the market had been. Glares and whispers seemed to follow Midnight wherever she went, but it was either they travel down busy roads, or they walk down dark alleyways, and Midnight wasn't keen on getting attacked.

Eventually, the two reached the marketplace, dragons yelling as the scents of cooked and raw meats filled the air.

"Doubt that there'll be any crocodile here," Ecru joked as the two skirted around the edges.

Midnight smiled. The nearest crocodile meat was probably in Crosswinds. "Any idea what we're looking for?" she asked.

Ecru squinted, and placed her paws on Midnight's back, trying to use her to get a better view over the market. "Over there!" she suggested, pointing to a small store on the edge of the market square, with a tilted sign nailed in over it. "Weapons. Maybe they sell the disk thingies!"

Midnight nodded, and the two kept walking around the edge of the square. Midnight kept her body against the walls of buildings when she could, trying to get some cover from the sun. Was this how NightWings were supposed to blend into the shadows? She didn't think she was doing a very good job at it, based on the number of eyes watching her pass.

As the two reached the weapon shop, Midnight's eyes suddenly locked contact with a SandWing, sitting just outside the door of the shop. He raised his eye ridges up, and Midnight saw his coiled tail twitch. She frowned. Was that just his curiosity, or a sign of aggression and a threat?

Ecru walked past the SandWing, giving him barely a glance, and pushed open the door to the weapon shop, letting Midnight inside. For such a small room, Midnight was surprised at the amount of sharpness in here. Every shelf seemed to be covered in blades, making it difficult to Midnight to carefully scooch past the entrance without being poked. The weapons ranged from metal claw extensions to a huge spear much longer than any dragon, stretching from one corner of the wall to another. Midnight wouldn't even have been surprised if the shop had animus-touched goods, although likely hidden in the back.

The shopkeeper glanced up from behind the desk at the far end of the room, an older SandWing with a small glass monocle over one of his eyes. His expression turned to a frown as he saw Midnight. "What do you want?" he asked cautiously. "I don't like browsers."

"Er," Midnight replied, staggering towards the shopkeeper, twisting and turning to avoid being poked by one of the numerous blades between them. "I've got a weapon I'm trying to identify, and thought you might be able to help."

"That's all?" the shopkeeper asked, relaxing a little bit. "I suppose I can do that. Show me."

Midnight pulled the silver disc out from her bag, and carefully placed it on the counter. The shopkeeper immediately stiffened up.

"That's a chakram. An assassin's weapon," he growled at Midnight. "We don't sell to assassins here. And certainly nothing like that."

"Ah," Midnight replied. That was disappointing. He might have been able to tell them who the assassin was if he'd sold it. "You don't happen to know who does sell stuff like this, do you?"

The SandWing snarled, and Midnight saw his tail flash behind the counter. She took a step back.

"I don't care what you've gotten involved in," the SandWing glared. "But I don't want to be swept up in it. Get out. Now!"

Midnight winced as he bared his fangs at her. Grabbing the disk from the counter, she turned around with a sigh, and carefully shimmied out of the shop, meeting Ecru at the front.

"Well, that didn't go exactly as planned," Midnight grumbled.

Ecru shook her head. "Maybe there's a weapons shop for assassins somewhere else?"

A loud coughing suddenly caught Midnight's attention from nearby. She turned to see that the SandWing who'd been loitering outside the shop was just getting up.

"Pardon me," he said with a sly smile, "but I overheard bits of your conversation inside. You're looking for an assassin? I might suggest visiting the Talons of Power."

"The Talons of Power?" Ecru said, surprised. "Wasn't that the group that tried to overthrow Queen Thorn?"

"Yeah, a few years ago. They still have power over much of the city, and generally have good prices," the SandWing grinned. "Their headquarters is due east of here."

"We're trying to find a particular assassin," Midnight quickly clarified. "Not hire one."

"But thank you anyways," Ecru added. "We'll certainly go check them out."

"My pleasure," the SandWing yawned, before sitting back down by the store's entrance.

The two walked away, Ecru drifting slightly off towards the east.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Midnight asked. "The Talons of Power aren't nice dragons. We could get hurt."

"As long as we're their customers, they wouldn't harm us, right?" Ecru asked. "And what other leads do we have? There might be assassins there who know who the chakram belongs to."

"Alright," Midnight cautiously agreed, turning down the path to the east. But what if our assassin is there? Midnight worried. What if they were walking into a trap?

Before Midnight knew it, the two were standing in front of a huge archway, a black gate slightly open before them. Two bored-looking SandWings stood in front of the entrance, each with a small medallion hanging from their necks, engraved with a vulture. They turned as Midnight and Ecru approached.

"Halt," one ordered half-heartedly. "You're not allowed in here."

"This is where the Talons of Power are, right?" Midnight asked, trying to peek beyond the gate. "We want to talk with someone there."

"For what?" the guard asked with a sigh. "Rattlesnake is very busy at the moment."

"We're looking for an assassin," Ecru replied. "Someone told us to come here."

The two guards looked at each other, trying to figure out who had to do the work of going all the way to the interior compound and back.

"Fine," the second guard grumbled. "Hand over weapons."

Midnight winced as she pulled out the chakram. "I need this," she said. "I have to show it to Rattlesnake."

The two guards glanced at each other again, and shrugged.

"I'll hold it for you," the second guard said. "Can't have anyone trying to assassinate Rattlesnake. I might get fired."

Midnight looked carefully down at the silver disc. Right now, it was their only lead; she didn't want to part with it. But how else could they get in? With a sigh, she handed it over.

"Thanks," the guard grumbled, pinching it between her talons so not to get cut on the edges. "Follow me."

The guard led the two hybrids past the gate, into the interior courtyard. Dry, cracked dirt spanned what might have been a garden, with the occasional weed poking up. The plaster on the mansion beyond the courtyard peeled from the sunlight.

"Looks deserted," Ecru commented, peering into the house to see if anyone lived there. No movement at all.

"Hard times. They keep reducing my wages," the SandWing guard grumbled. The guard made a sudden turn before they reached the house, pushing open the gate to a small alleyway, leading behind it. "We used to blindfold dragons if they came this way, but it's a pain trying to lead them down here if they can't see."

The alley twisted and turned. Midnight shivered. It was like the alleys of Crosswinds they'd been attacked in, only even more cramped. What would she be able to do if they were attacked in here? Magic her way out somehow?

Finally, the alley ended in a tall wall, a door made of the same bricks slightly ajar. Had it been closed, Midnight doubted she would have seen it herself. A secret door — although it was a bit less secret when it was left open like this.

"Don't touch anything," the guard ordered the two as she let them through the door. Two more lay beyond, these ones with small indents arranged in lines on them. Statues lined the hallway beyond, their eyes now just holes. There were probably jewels there at one point, Midnight guessed. Were they stolen, or pawned?

The walls of the complex seemed to have been carved out by talons, with scratch marks on almost every surface. Hints of the gold that used to be there still remained, small slivers glinting in the dim light. At one point, whoever had lived here had been as rich as a queen.

The two were brought up to a pavilion held aloft by once beautiful columns. Midnight walked carefully across the uneven floor: some of it was still lined with cracked marble tiles, but other parts had the tiles peeled from the surface. Dirty mirrors covered the ceiling. What might have been an impressive palace in its full glory looked like a dump.

Two large SandWings sat on small cushions in the center of the room, fabrics ripped and torn by talons. Each had a cloak resting by their side, and one seemed to be waving his wing around to try and cool himself from the desert heat. More SandWings rested around the corner of the room, their cloaks still on, vulture medallions hanging from their necks.

"Hey," Midnight whispered to Ecru teasingly, "they've got tattoos like yours!"

Ecru glanced at the necks of the two SandWings in the center. Each were covered in tattoos of dragon skulls. She rolled her eyes back at Midnight. "Yes, except my tattoos are just heads, not skulls."

Midnight grinned, and glanced over to the guard. The guard let out a loud cough. "Rattlesnake," she spoke, "you have guests."

One of the SandWings in the center twisted her head towards the three arrivals, glaring down menacingly.

"We're busy," Rattlesnake hissed. She squinted as she saw Midnight. What was a NightWing doing in her palace?

"They're looking for an assassin," the guard quickly explained. She sighed, irritated that she'd come all this way. "I can escort them out . . ."

"What's a NightWing doing, hiring an assassin from us," Rattlesnake asked, mildly amused.

The second SandWing suddenly spoke up. "I think she's a hybrid," Sirocco suggested, "her paws are funny."

"Shut up; no one cares what you think," Rattlesnake snarled at him. "Alright, NightWing. We're both very, very busy right now, so make your request quick. Who do you want dead, and how much will you pay for it?"

For the leader of the Talons of Power and a queen of assassins, Rattlesnake was surprisingly unintimidating. Maybe it was the palace crumbling around her, or the way her guards seemed to be tired of her orders.

"We're not trying to hire an assassin," Midnight explained once more, "we're just trying to figure out who hired one to try and kill me."

"Oh," Rattlesnake frowned. "It wasn't us. We haven't had any requests regarding NightWing hybrids. So you can go now."

"You should ask the Outclaws!" Sirocco exclaimed. "Their leader just died in a tragic fire accident."

Rattlesnake glared at her brother. "If by 'accident' you mean 'she got on my nerves too many times', then sure. We're the ones claiming full responsibility for her death, remember? We want everyone to know it was us." She turned to the two hybrids. "Why are you still here?"

Midnight sighed. She and Ecru hadn't come all this way just to be told to leave. She opened her mouth to say something, but Ecru got there first.

"There's something else," Ecru pleaded. "We have a weapon from the assassin, and are trying to get it identified. We thought that you would be an expert on weaponry, and that you might be able to tell us where it's from."

Rattlesnake snorted, not impressed with the flattery. "Does we look like a charity? I don't do favors for dragons unless I expect to get something in return."

"I'm willing to pay," Ecru said, pulling out her pouch. "I have money."

"You don't have to," Midnight quickly said to Ecru. "You don't have much, and I'm sure we can find someone else that will help us for free."

"Shush," Rattlesnake snarled at Midnight, immediately interested in the prospect of money. "Let her speak. Is that all you've got?"

Ecru winced. She hadn't been planning to offer the entire pouch. "Yeah," she replied. "It's not much, but I hope it's enough to get a little of your expertise."

"We don't need it!" Sirocco interrupted again. "We'll be drowning in treasure again as soon as we take Sunny to Al—"

"SHUT UP!" Rattlesnake yelled at Sirocco. "Don't say stuff like that to outsiders. Funny-looking SandWing, show me what's inside your pouch."

Sunny? Midnight wondered. Queen Sunny? Was she here?

Ecru walked forward, and presented her pouch to Rattlesnake. The SandWing panned through it, unimpressed. Rattlesnake had seen far more treasure in her time.

"You were right, it's not much," Rattlesnake rudely replied, grabbing the pouch from Ecru's paws. "But this shouldn't take long. Where's the weapon?"

The guard brought over the chakram, carefully passing it to Rattlesnake. The SandWing dangled it between her talons, looking at it closely.

"Haven't seen anything like this in a while," Rattlesnake commented. "Mother used to use them, but I've never seen anyone else able to. It's not her, mind you. She's dead."

Ecru looked up at Rattlesnake expectantly. Rattlesnake glanced down with a sigh. Clearly, she expected more than that.

"It's not SandWing craftmanship," Rattlesnake decided, tapping the chakram. "The metal's a weird alloy, and it's too flat and sharp. It's much lighter than Mother's too. I've seen a few weapons similar to it in my time, and they were all NightWing-made, so that's my guess. NightWing-made." She passed it back to Ecru, not particularly caring if Ecru was the one holding it rather than the guard.

"Is that all?" Midnight growled, annoyed that Ecru had payed so much just for that. "Can't you tell us more for the money we gave you?"

Rattlesnake glared at Midnight, baring her fangs. "I have a no-refund policy," she snarled. "This is some NightWing-versus-NightWing affair. If you want me to know more, maybe you all should stop being so secretive."

"It's fine, we have another lead now, right?" Ecru quickly said to Midnight. She wasn't sure how much longer Rattlesnake's hospitality would last. "Thank you for helping us, Rattlesnake."

"Hmph," Rattlesnake snorted. "Great. Now go."

Ecru turned around, ready to leave, Midnight hesitantly following her as the guard headed back with them. Midnight frowned. It was NightWing craftmanship? Why would there be a NightWing after her? Right now, the NightWings were living on the border of the MudWing territory, trying to stay safe from Queen Blackice's forces. Why would someone order Midnight assassinated? Had they realized she was an animus? In that case, why hadn't the NightWings asked her to try and help them in their battle?

And then there was Sirocco had said about Queen Sunny. Was Queen Sunny in the Scorpion Den? She couldn't be allies with the Talons of Power — they were the group that had tried to overthrow her mother. Were the Talons trying to keep Aloe in charge? Was Sunny here, in the compound?

"What's the matter?" Ecru asked Midnight, seeing her expression. "We know it's NightWing-made, right? That has to narrow it down."

"Not just that," Midnight whispered, lowering her voice so the guard behind them didn't hear. "Didn't you hear what Sirocco said? They're giving Queen Sunny to Aloe."

"They could be trying to capture her," Ecru said, "but I don't think we want to get involved in royal politics. Sunny is smart, right? She'll be alright."

Midnight shook her head. "I don't think they're trying to capture her, I think they already have. That's why they've been talking about being so busy. And you heard what they said about killing the leader of the Outclaws, right?"

"Yeah," Ecru replied quietly. "Maybe they have her." She paused for a moment, starting to get concerned. ". . . Midnight, what are you planning? This is a bad idea."

"I have to do something," Midnight muttered. "Queen or not, Sunny is my cousin. I can't just leave her here to die."

"Please try not to get us killed," Ecru gulped. "Rattlesnake might have seemed nice, but these are murderers and assassins. They'll definitely kill us if we try and free her."

"Maybe I can trade something for her," Midnight replied, an idea popping into her head. "I'm going to try and talk to Rattlesnake again."

Midnight suddenly turned, walking back towards the pavilion. The guard opened her mouth to ask her to stop, but Midnight interrupted her. "I want to make a deal with Rattlesnake about something else!"

The guard sighed, and looked towards Ecru. She couldn't stop both of them on her own. Ecru shrugged, and went after Midnight, the SandWing guard following along again.

Rattlesnake seemed quite displeased when they burst into the pavilion again, interrupting her conversation with Sirocco. "What now?" she hissed. "I don't have time for you."

"I want to make a deal," Midnight replied, walking up to Rattlesnake, close enough that some of the hooded dragons around got up, worrying she was going to attack. She glared into Rattlesnake's eyes, both of them at the same level. "I overheard you saying that Queen Sunny is here. I'm willing to trade for her."

Rattlesnake gave Sirocco a sharp glare, making sure her brother knew this was his fault.

"Trade what?" Sirocco sneered. "We saw how much money you had. There's no way you'll pay more than Aloe will."

"My brother is right for once," Rattlesnake said. "A piece of the SandWing treasury and prestige with the new queen? I doubt you have anything worth more than that."

Midnight took in a deep breath. Was she really willing to offer this? If it was to save Sunny, she thought she was. "Not money," she replied carefully. "I've got . . . connections. If you've got favors you want done, priceless artifacts you want delivered, or anything else like that, I can offer you it."

"Midnight!" Ecru exclaimed, suddenly realizing what Midnight was offering them. She couldn't use her magic, especially not for these dragons. What horrible thing would they want her to do? "You can't—"

Rattlesnake stared back at Midnight, carefully trying to figure out what exactly Midnight was offering her, and if she could hold up to the deal.

"Can you bring Mother and Grandfather back?" Sirocco asked quietly.

For a moment, Midnight saw a hint of grief pass over his snout. Was that what he wanted, more than anything? It was better than riches or murder. Midnight almost agreed before remembering the first rule of animus magic. It can't bring back the dead.

"Er, sorry," Midnight replied awkwardly. "Anything but that."

"Anything?" Rattlesnake spat, her eyes narrowing on Midnight in suspicion.

"Not anything," Midnight quickly backtracked. She started to feel a lump form in her throat. "Anything within reason. Good reason. I have morals too, I won't kill dragons, er, get dragons killed."

"Aww," Sirocco muttered, "but that's all the fun favors! Ooh, can you make Grandfather's palace beautiful and wealthy again, like before he died? That would be nice. It used to be so much prettier."

Rattlesnake's eyes glinted with greed as they scanned Midnight again. Midnight gulped. Rattlesnake had figured out what exactly Midnight had meant by doing 'favors.' She'd realized Midnight was an animus.

Rattlesnake flicked the end of her tail twice, and the cloaked dragons surrounding the room all got up at once. What was she going to do?

"Y-yeah, sure," Midnight hurriedly replied as she took a step back. "I can do that. Restore your palace to its original glory. You give us Sunny, and I'll do that for you."

Rattlesnake flicked out her tongue, pausing for a moment to think about Midnight's offer. If she accepted it, the wealth they'd lost would be returned to them, their compound and home restored. It was tempting, and safe. But on the other paw, in front of her was an even better deal. What if the Talons of Power had their own animus to do their bidding? Rattlesnake could have everything she'd ever wanted. They'd be the most powerful group of dragons on Pyrrhia — far greater than anything Grandfather had ever imagined. It was riskier, but how could Rattlesnake pass up a chance like that? Her sharp talons danced across the floor, covetously reaching towards Midnight.

"We can also come back later, if you want more time to think about it!" Ecru squealed, realizing that the cloaked SandWings were starting to move towards them. "See you later?"

"What? No, this is a great deal!" Sirocco exclaimed, grinning happily. "Sister, we have to accept! The compound restored? Lots of treasure! Even more than what Aloe will give us!" He looked confused as he saw the cloaked SandWings walking towards Ecru and Midnight.

"Shut up, you dimwit!" Rattlesnake snarled. "How do you think she's going to restore the palace?"

"Um . . ." Sirocco replied, trying to think of ways to restore the palace, "her connections?"

"No," Rattlesnake hissed, "with magic. She's an animus."

Midnight took another step back, before glancing behind. Two of the cloaked Talons were behind her, flanking Ecru on both sides.

"Really?" Sirocco asked, surprised. "Those are real?"

Rattlesnake rolled her eyes and groaned. "Yes. What do you think killed Blister?"

"Oh," Sirocco replied, thinking about it for a little as he scratched the side of his head. "Yeah. Right. What if she's lying about her powers though? I thought that's what the NightWings did."

"I'm not taking that risk," Rattlesnake hissed. "This is why I'm in charge." She pointed a talon at Ecru. "Grab her."

Midnight whipped around, and immediately, two of the cloaked SandWings grasped ahold of Ecru, their tail barbs pointing up at the hybrid's neck. Ecru froze up, her eyes staring at Midnight, pleading for help.

"Let her go!" Midnight growled at Rattlesnake, her heart racing. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"I'm not stupid," Rattlesnake snorted. "If I let her go, you'll use your magic to kill us or escape. Now don't try anything funny, or your girlfriend dies. Agreed?"

Midnight glowered. This is my fault. I should have listened to Ecru. We should have made a plan, and now Ecru's in danger because of me.

"Sirocco," Rattlesnake ordered. "Throw the animus in the oubliette. Keep constant watch on her."

"But howwww," Sirocco whined. "The oubliette is dark. I can't see anything from above."

Rattlesnake groaned. "Throw a light down there or something. I'll keep the other one here right by my side, so that if anything goes wrong, I can kill her." She glared at Midnight as she said this. "I'll deal with the them after we get Sunny off. I can't have two schemes going on at once, can I?"

Chapter 11

The oubliette was surprisingly only the second-worst prison Sunny had been in. First place had to go to Queen Coral's 'guest rooms,' where Clay had almost drowned. The birdcage she'd been held in while in Queen Scarlet's palace had been pretty bad, but at least she'd been fed well, and she'd even managed to make some friends, so that was third. And the SandWing palace, where Smolder had kept her during her short stay there, hardly counted.

Still, just because no one was drowning in the oubliette didn't mean it was comfortable. Sunny barely had room to stretch her tail out from end to end in the small room, and there was little light coming in from the grate far above. Murky water smelling of sewage rose up to her paws, although it had the odd effect of keeping her cool in the hot desert air. Still, if they had another sudden torrential rainfall, then the water might rise above her head. It seemed unlikely in the desert, but the possibility still lingered over her head. If that happened, the oubliette would definitely rise to number one on the list. Sorry Clay.

Sunny glanced up towards the grate far above her, locked down in case she tried to climb the narrow walls. What was Clay doing, right now? She'd only been gone one night. Had the Outclaws realized that Kudu was dead? Or did they just think that Kudu and Sunny's meeting with 'Jackal' had gone on for the whole night?

Clay would be worried, Sunny knew that. But how worried? Would he be worried enough that he'd try and figure out where she'd went? What if he tried to pose a rescue mission? Sunny wanted to be rescued, of course, but would Clay put himself in danger? Of course he would. What if the Talons of Power were prepared for the Outclaws? What if Clay died?

Sunny's fretting was disrupted by a sharp yell from above the oubliette.

"You don't need to push me! I'm going down willingly. Hey! Don't touch my stuff! It'll curse you if you open it. Do you want to die of your limbs falling off? I didn't think so."

The gate clanked open, and a rope was tossed down. Were they letting Sunny out? Did that mean they were bringing her to Aloe?

No. Another dragon was being thrown into the oubliette. The light from the grate was blotted out by another dragon's scales, the other prisoner slowly climbing down the long tube. Sunny backed up into a corner as the second prisoner reached the bottom of the rope, and splashed into the water.

"That feels nice," Midnight sighed as shook her wings, letting the water touch them. "It reeks, but at least I'm not going to get heat stroke here."

Sunny looked over the new prisoner. Dark blue scales, webbing, and a love of water. A SeaWing? But no glowstripes. Did that mean . . .

The light above them was suddenly blotted out again, the grate screeching as it put back over the oubliette. Midnight and Sunny glanced up to see Sirocco's snout pressed against the metal, his eyes wide open and focused Midnight.

"What are you doing?" Midnight yelled up at Sirocco.

"Rattlesnake told me to keep constant watch on you," Sirocco proudly replied. "I practiced my staring contests recently! I always beat Rattlesnake."

Midnight rolled her eyes and huffed. "I think Rattlesnake meant for you to order your guards to keep watch over me."

Sirocco shook his head slowly, keeping eye contact with Midnight. "Rattlesnake told me to watch you! Cause you're a sneaky animus and she only trusts me to keep you from cursing her."

Midnight shook her head and turned to Sunny with a glance saying something like 'look at what I have to deal with.' Upon seeing Queen Sunny, Midnight's eyes opened wide in surprise, and she suddenly bowed her head, her snout touching the surface of the rancid water.

"Your majesty," Midnight said quietly, raising her snout to shake off the water, "it's an honor to meet you. I was hoping that we'd meet while I was heroically freeing you from your captors, but it looks like my rescue mission failed."

"Oh, er, thank you," Sunny chuckled. She didn't even know this dragon, but she was quite appreciative that she'd tried to rescue her. "You don't have to bow though, or call me 'your majesty' or anything like that. Just Sunny is fine." Sunny winced. Here was another dragon who'd tried to help her, and ended up getting hurt from it. "Sorry about you getting captured for my sake."

Midnight shrugged. "Sorry for failing. To be honest, my plan wasn't very well thought-out." She glanced up at Sirocco. "I'm pretty sure they'll kill me or my mate if I try and use any magic. I'm Midnight, by the way. I'm Stonemover's niece."

Sunny let out a small gasp. Stonemover's niece? Did that mean this hybrid was her cousin? Sunny hadn't ever really considered the possibility that she'd had extended family other than Stonemover and Thorn. She'd known it was possible, of course, but she'd never really asked. Thorn had been orphaned, and Stonemover wasn't really the talkative type. Up until her mother's death, Sunny had just been content with having two not-awful parents: it was more than the rest of the Dragonets' families.

"I'm Stonemove—" Sunny started to say excitedly, before Midnight shushed her with a talon in front of her snout.

"Shhh," Midnight interrupted, pointing her talon up to Sirocco. "He's watching."

Sunny looked up. True enough, Sirocco's eyes were still focused on Midnight. If the SandWing learned out that Sunny and Midnight were related, that could mean that the secret of Sunny being a hybrid might get out. Although from what Qibli had told Sunny about his brother, Sirocco wasn't really the type of dragon who could put two and two together.

"I'm Stonemover's dragonet," Sunny whispered giddily to Midnight. That was silly. Midnight probably knew that already. It was why she'd told her she was Stonemover's niece in the first place. But Sunny couldn't help it.

Midnight glanced up to Sirocco again, still staring. He didn't seem to care at all that they were whispering. Midnight could probably enchant something without him realizing it. But how could she rescue both herself, Sunny, and Ecru? And what if she fell unconscious again?

"I know," Midnight replied.

"I didn't realize I had any other family," Sunny quietly continued, "much less other hybrid relatives. Do you live in the Night Kingdom?"

Midnight shook her head. "No. I don't remember my mother, and haven't seen Stonemover since I hatched, so I don't know much about my NightWing relatives. I've got quite a lot of family on my father's side though." Midnight thought for a moment who was included in that — the SeaWing royal family, Crystal and Clarity, Fracture . . . "Although I'd stay away. He and his side are a bit of a mess. I try not to keep in contact."

"Oh," Sunny replied, mildly disappointed. But at least she'd found a cousin! And a hybrid one at that! "You're an animus? Did you get that through Stonemover?"

Midnight shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Could have come from either side, or maybe both. Not something I have a ton of experience with though, so I don't know if it'll be any help in getting us out of here. Last time I did something, I kinda blacked out." She looked up towards Sirocco again. If he'd heard anything she'd said, he hadn't reacted.

"Maybe we could go to Jade Mountain after this is over!" Sunny suggested happily, momentarily forgetting that both of them might not get out of this alive. "I could take you to visit Stonemover. We have other animuses there too you could meet."

"I know," Midnight smiled, remembering all the blotches there on Torrent's map. "Although I'm also a little busy at the moment. Truth be told, I didn't actually come to the Talons of Power so I could rescue you; it was just coincidence that you were here. I'm looking for an assassin who tried to kill me."

"Huh," Sunny said, thinking. She didn't really know much about assassins, the only one she knew was Deathbringer, and he seemed nice enough. "Maybe you can ta—"

A loud thwack of scales on metal sounded from up above, and the two hybrids suddenly looked up to the grate on top of the oubliette. Sirocco's head had been whacked hard against the grate, and he was no longer staring at the two. Someone pulled him off the grate before unlocking it. The rope fell down the tunnel, reaching Sunny and Midnight's paws.

"Hello!" Ecru called, peering down into the oubliette. "Is it rescue time?"

Midnight grinned. "What took you so long?" she teasingly yelled back up as she grabbed ahold of the rope, using that and the small walls of the tunnel up to climb up towards Ecru.

"Had to make them think I was running for the exit," Ecru replied, giving a glance over towards the compound. "Wasn't quite sure where they put you until I saw Sirocco. Did you know there are some very angry spirits haunting this compound?"

Ecru put her forepaws in Midnight's as she got to the top, helping her out of the oubliette and into the courtyard above, surrounded by a ring of palm trees. "They'll see us leaving if we try and fly out," Midnight commented.

"I'm pretty sure they'll see us anyways," Ecru replied nervously. "I wasn't super discrete in my escape." She looked down into the oubliette, to see Sunny down below, deciding whether to climb up or not. "Ooh, who's that cutie?"

Midnight thwacked Ecru lightly with her tail. "Don't flirt with my cousin," she snorted with a laugh.

"It's not everyday I meet a queen," Ecru grinned. "Your majesty, please start climbing. We can't rescue you as long as you're in there."

Sunny grabbed ahold of the rope and started climbing up the oubliette. She was grateful the walls were dry — if they'd been wet, she'd probably slip on them."

"Seriously though, how long do we have?" Midnight asked. She grabbed ahold of her satchel, checking that the chakram and the healing scroll were still there.

"Not long," Ecru answered. She glanced to her side. Sirocco was starting to get up. That was good — Ecru hadn't wanted to hurt him. But the courtyard would probably be the next place Rattlesnake would look.

Midnight followed Ecru's glance to Sirocco, and walked over towards the SandWing, putting a paw on his throat. "Don't move," she said threateningly. She looked back towards Ecru. "Looks like we have a hostage now."

"If we can get to the Outclaws, they'll protect us," Sunny suggested, climbing over the edge of the oubliette.

"Do you think we can outfly the Talons?" Ecru asked. "I doubt they're very aerodynamic in those cloaks of theirs."

"STOP!"

Just as Midnight was opening her wings, she looked back to the door of the compound. Rattlesnake had just stormed through it, quivering with rage. Cloaked SandWings started pouring into the courtyard behind her. If they got into a fight, the three hybrids had no chance of winning.

"You stop!" Midnight shouted back. She clenched her talons around Sirocco's neck, making the SandWing whimper. "He's your brother or something, isn't he? You let us go, or he gets it."

Rattlesnake glanced down at her brother, staring back up at her with pleading eyes. Her snout suddenly turned up, into a cackle of laughter.

"Seriously?" she snorted, as if Midnight's threat was just a funny throat. "You think I care about him? You'd be doing me a favor if you tore out his throat. All he's done since I took over the Talons is mess up my plans and pretend we have the same authority. Just surrender already, so we don't have to do this the hard way."

Midnight looked to her left and right as the cloaked SandWings started to come forward, surrounding the three on both sides. She pressed her talons into Sirocco's scales, expecting at least some reaction from Rattlesnake. There was none.

"She's not bluffing," Sunny quietly whispered. "Their other brother goes to my school. He's told me about them, and they'd kill him in a heartbeat."

Midnight growled, and loosened her paw. There had to be something they could do to escape! Midnight was an animus — there had to be something her powers could do.

"Stand down," Midnight hissed, the SandWings starting to close in on them. She reached towards her satchel and pulled the chakram out. "All of you. If you don't, I'll enchant this weapon to hunt down and kill every dragon who's ever worn a vulture medallion."

Rattlesnake's grin suddenly faded. Ecru looked over towards Midnight, worried. She wouldn't actually do that, right?

"You're bluffing," Rattlesnake snorted. "I don't even know if you have magic, and you don't seem like the dragon who'd commit mass murder. NightWings are liars, and I never saw any of it." She glanced at the cloaked SandWings, who'd all gone still. "Get them!" she snapped.

"Is that a risk you're willing to take?" Midnight asked, looking around at the cloaked SandWings. "Wanna find out how much of my soul I have left?"

Rattlesnake stared back at Midnight, the air tense. A few of the other Talons of Power started to back away.

"Your choice," Midnight said. "It's just your entire organization and your own life at stake." She held the chakram up high, so that all the SandWings around could see it. "I enchant this chakram to—"

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH!" Rattlesnake yelled, her talons shaking, eyes wide with fear. She snarled, her fangs twisting with rage. "Have it your way. Get out of my sight."

Midnight smiled, and put the chakram back down. "Good choice. Next time you try and overthrow the royal family, maybe consider what happened this and last time first. Ecru. Sunny. Let's go."

Sunny breathed a sigh of relief. Was that it? Had they escaped? She hurriedly opened her wings wide, glad to be able to stretch them all the way out, and took off into the warm desert sun. Ecru followed. Midnight waited until the two were in the sky before flying up to meet them, keeping the chakram in her claws to remind the glaring Rattlesnake what could happen if she tried to follow.

"The Outclaws are this way," Sunny quietly suggested. "I should get back there."

"We'll go with you," Midnight replied. "I don't want Rattlesnake to try and nab you on the way back if we leave."

Sunny nodded, and started towards the west of the Scorpion Den, glancing behind her every so often. Midnight and Ecru were still there, and no one else seemed to be following. Just by looking at Ecru's expression, Sunny could tell that things between them had gotten tense. Sunny understood. Her father had left her mother out of fears that he'd lost too much of his soul.

"You weren't actually going to do the enchantment, right?" Sunny meekly asked Midnight after a while. "I know the Talons of Power are bad dragons, but killing them all . . ."

"That guard who let us in seemed nice," Ecru said quietly, her words almost getting lost in the wind.

Midnight shook her head. "No, of course not," she replied, glancing towards Ecru. "The whole thing about losing my soul was also a lie. I've only done one enchantment in my entire life. But Rattlesnake didn't know that. To be honest, I'm not even sure I could enchant something that . . . big."

Midnight looked over to Ecru again. She still seemed worried. Midnight sighed.

"Look, even if I was able to enchant something to kill them all, there's no way I would ever do something like that," Midnight assured her. "Just because they're bad dragons doesn't mean they deserve to die. If she hadn't let us go, I would have enchanted the chakram to lightly touch the snouts of everyone around to make them fall asleep."

"I know, I know," Ecru replied, trying to smile. "Don't worry, I think you did the right thing."

Ecru glanced back towards the compound, now far behind them. It had been scary seeing Midnight like that. Even if it was just Midnight acting, Ecru was terrified that one day, if Midnight wasn't careful with her powers, it wouldn't just be a performance. That she would become the evil murderous animus in all the legends, the ones that Torrent believed it was every animus's destiny to become. And if Midnight continued down that path, was there any way Ecru could stop her? Or would Midnight be lost, forever?

Chapter 12

The Empress's guest room was the nicest prison that Skytaker had ever been in. To be fair, Skytaker had only been in two other prisons before — the hanging cage in the enormous cavern beneath Liliana's palace, and another cell in the Sky Kingdom that Skytaker didn't remember. The chambers were spacious, covered with beautiful rugs that Skytaker kept catching their claws on, and fitted with three beds too large for a fully-grown dragon. A scrollshelf filled with stacks of bound scrolls (apparently called 'books') took up much of one wall. Smaller chambers spread off from the back of the room, giving the three dragonets space from each other if needed.

Like most of the palace, the room was furnished with purple and gold. Two curtains parted to reveal a huge stained-glass window, giving the three a colorful view over the island. Skytaker had tried to break through it early on, in hopes of escaping, but the glass hadn't cracked. Neither their firebreath, Ermine's frostbreath, or Tiger's venom had made a scratch. Ermine guessed that it was enchanted, much like the tapestry of Empress Liliana hung directly across from the beds, her eyes looming over the dragonets as if watching their every move. Skytaker had tried to pull it down multiple times, and had even ripped it to shreds, but it always reappeared, in perfect shape, within a day.

At least the three weren't only confined to the room. The door out was usually unlocked, although there had been a few times which one of them had tried to open it and it hadn't budged. The three seemed free to roam the palace, although none of the RainWing guards or servants ever said more than a few words to them. Still, the palace was particularly difficult to navigate. The only way that they were able to get between floors was the circular room they'd been taken through when they'd arrived. It also seemed to operate magically — if one stood in the center and thought of a particular room, it would let them out on the floor the room was on. Unfortunately, that meant that the three could only go to floors that they already suspected existed. Just by guessing, they'd found rooms such as the dining hall, the library, the kitchens, the armory (guarded by RainWings), and even the exit (also guarded by RainWings). But the dragonets knew there had to be far more rooms in the palace than the ones they'd seen, and they had no way to get there unless they already knew what they were looking for.

At this moment, Skytaker was coming back from one such search. They'd managed to find the palace's ballroom, which seemed to be filled with strange music that appeared to emanate from everywhere at once. Not particularly useful for an escape, unless they wanted to challenge the Empress to a dance-off.

The hybrid looked around the guest room. The windows were open, and the room was lit with colored sunlight. Ermine was lying on his bed, wings spread out as he fiddled with his talons.

"Where's Tiger?" Skytaker asked Ermine, not seeing the RainWing.

Ermine lifted his head up, avoiding the piercing eyes of the Empress on the tapestry. "She's in the library," he grumbled. "She finished all the scroll thingies in here so wanted to get more."

Skytaker snorted, flicking their tail. "It's just like her to check out the library while we're all imprisoned."

Ermine sniffled, taking a peek out the window. "It's not so bad," he replied optimistically. "The food is better than at Jade Mountain. Even if we can't leave, at least we're safe here."

Skytaker snorted. Ermine might be content just being alive here, but Skytaker wasn't. "We're still captured," the hybrid argued. "Everyone back in Pyrrhia has to be worried sick about us! We've been gone for weeks. Four of them, in fact."

Ermine shook his head. "There's no one worrying about me," he said glumly. "My parents are dead."

"Hey, I don't have any parents either," Skytaker replied. "I'm talking about everyone at Jade Mountain. My winglet, the teachers. My friends. They probably think we're all dead by now. Poor Sepia. Although I'm sure Changbai's secretly a little happy they don't have a clawmate anymore."

Ermine was quiet for a moment, the IceWing's face downcast. "I don't have any friends."

"Wait, really?" Skytaker said, surprised. "I know you and Changbai don't get along, but I thought you hung out with the other IceWings a lot."

Ermine shook his head. "Not anymore," he sighed. "They all started hanging out with their own winglets."

"Well, what about you?" Skytaker asked. "Newt's your clawmate, right?"

Ermine let out another deflated sigh. "They don't like me."

Skytaker gave the IceWing dragonet a glance of pity. Did he really not have any friends waiting for him back at Jade Mountain? Skytaker hadn't really know Ermine that well — until now, they'd never had a reason to get to know him.

"Hey, if you want, I can be your friend when we get back," Skytaker suggested. "I'll introduce you to the rest of the Silver Winglet. That way you have something to look forward do."

Ermine looked over to the crimson hybrid, a little glimmer of hope in his eyes. It quickly faded. "If we get back."

"When we get back," Skytaker assured them. "I still have plans for what I'm gonna do in Pyrrhia. I'm not letting some glittery RainWing stop me."

They glanced back to the doorway. "I think I'm gonna join Tiger in the library; see if there's anything useful there. Like a really big book I can throw at the Empress's head when she isn't looking. Wanna join?"

Ermine looked over at the tapestry of the Empress, eyes looking straight at him. Hopefully, she hadn't heard that. "Yeah, alright," Ermine replied. He didn't have much else to do.

The two headed over to the moving circular room. By now, Skytaker had a pretty good idea of how it worked. They stood in the golden circle outside its doors, and waited for it to arrive.

It wasn't very long before the doors opened up, and the two trotted into the circular room, Skytaker taking their place in the center of the room, standing in the gold circle, Ermine right next to them. The doors shut again, and Skytaker imagined a library in their head. The room started to move again, taking them to their destination.

The room suddenly gave another lurch, breaking Skytaker's concentration. The doors swung open, and Skytaker's blood ran cold. Empress Liliana stood outside the two doors, smiling calmly as she saw the two.

"Hello, dragonets," Liliana greeted them as she stepped into the center of the room, the points of her sharp glittering talons barely touching the floor. The door closed behind her, the red carpet to her throne disappearing behind it.

"Y-your majesty," Ermine stammered. When he'd first met Queen Glory, Ermine had found it odd using Queen Glacier's title for a RainWing. But with the Empress, it was different. Her glittering presence was formidable and intimidating. Whereas Queen Glory had spoken to the Jade Mountain students like they were her friends and equals, in Empress Liliana's presence, Ermine knew he was just a subject under her command.

"This room is awfully convenient for traversing such a big palace, isn't it?" Liliana observed. "Just think of where you want to go, and you're there."

Skytaker flicked their tail. Personally, they would've preferred an open column instead of the room, so that dragons could just fly up and down from floor to floor. Although, they supposed the moving room would be a lot more useful for dragons who couldn't fly, like Toxin. Open air sure would have made it easier to explore the palace though.

"Where are you going?" Empress Liliana asked Skytaker with a smile.

"Oh, er, just the library," Skytaker gulped. "Lots of scr-books there. Love reading! The bigger the book, the better!"

If Liliana was suspicious, she didn't show it.

Ermine glanced back and forth between the two. "Let her use the circle first," Ermine whispered nervously to Skytaker, "she's the Empress." He knew that would've been the correct thing to do for Queen Glacier.

Skytaker glared at Ermine as the room started moving. She wasn't their queen. In fact, she'd been the one to kidnap them all in the first place! They didn't owe her any respect.

"It's quite alright for the hybrid to go first," Liliana said, overhearing Ermine's whispers. "I have a difficult meeting coming up. A little bit more time to prepare myself won't hurt."

"Yeah," Skytaker grumbled, trying to focus on the library. They wanted to get away from the Empress as soon as possible.

An uncomfortably long amount of time passed before the room came to a stop, and the doors opened on the library corridor. Skytaker rushed towards the doors, Ermine following behind them.

"Farwell, dragonets!" Liliana called out with a wave of her paw as the doors closed on her. As soon as they shut, Skytaker turned around and stuck their tongue out mockingly. Ermine's eyes opened in surprise. How could Skytaker so such rudeness to the Empress, even when she wasn't in sight? Weren't they afraid?

After their bout of rudeness, Skytaker started to head back down the hallway towards the library. Ermine thought for a moment, and quickly flicked their tongue out defiantly at the doors before scrambling back towards Skytaker. A small grin formed over the IceWing's melancholy expression. Defiance to royalty felt surprisingly good.

Skytaker pushed open the doors to the palace library. Even Ermine's eyes opened wide in wonder as he saw it. Just like everything in the palace, the library was grandiose. Bookshelves lined a huge corridor, splitting off into smaller corridors. Even more bookshelves lined a golden balcony above the two dragonets. Every shelf was stuffed with books, each book itself stuffed with bound scrolls. Ermine found it hard to even believe that this much knowledge could even exist.

Skytaker and Ermine walked down the corridor. "Tiger?" Skytaker yelled out, his voice echoing throughout the library. "You here?"

"Shush!"

Skytaker looked down one of the smaller corridors. At its end was a small wooden desk, where Tiger appeared to be hunched over a book, her wings curled up.

"There are so many of them," Ermine whispered, pulling a tome out from a shelf as they passed, pausing to read its cover. "Fly Lobby Litigation." What did that mean?

"Really looks like your kind of place," Skytaker commented, scanning around at all shelves. "But you shouldn't be wasting your time here when we're trying to escape. Unless one of them has a map of the palace, they're all—"

"Useless," Tiger finished for them. "I know."

Skytaker raised an eyeridge, surprised that Tiger agreed with them. They'd take it. "I explored the palace a little bit more," they said, "I found a place that lets me look over the edge. I could only see one way in and out — the entrance that's guarded by RainWings constantly."

"I'm not just reading for fun," Tiger told them with a glare. "I was trying to learn more about Antigonia to see if I could learn anything that might help us. It's worked before."

"But all the scroll books here are useless?" Skytaker replied.

"Not entirely," Tiger sighed, "but most of them are. Ermine, show them."

Skytaker turned around to see Ermine frowning, the IceWing rapidly flipping through the book. He glanced up. "She's right," he replied, "it's more nonsense than Webs's scrolls."

Ermine threw the book down on the ground, landing open to a section in it's middle. Skytaker looked down to read it.

Resolution possession discovered surrounded advantages has but few add. Yet walls times spoil put. Be it reserved contempt rendered smallest. Studied to passage it mention calling believe an. Get ten horrible remember pleasure two vicinity. Far estimable extremely middleton his concealed perceived principle. Certainty listening no behaviour existence assurance situation is. Because add why not esteems amiable him. Interested the unaffected law friendship add principles. Indeed on people do merits to. Court heard which up above hoped grave do. Answer living law things either sir bed length. Looked before we an on merely. These no death he at share alone. Yet outward the him compass hearted are tedious.

That was enough for Skytaker. The hybrid shook their head, unsure if they were reading this right. "Are they all like this?"

"Not all of them, but most," Tiger replied glumly. "A lot are jumbled and nonsensical like this. Some are worse, so bad you can't make out words."

"Could it be code?" Skytaker suggested.

"It's possible," Tiger said. "I tried a few things, but I couldn't find any meaning. The only ones that are readable are dated 4993 years after the Scorching and later. A year after Queen Oasis's death."

"Are those ones useful?" Skytaker asked.

Tiger shrugged her wings back and forth. "Depends how you define useful. Most of those ones seem to be praising Empress Liliana. Thanking her for bringing peace and prosperity to all of Antigonia, she's a wonderful ruler, we'd all give our lives for her, blah blah blah, and so on. It's really vapid."

"Maybe she is a good queen? Or empress?" Ermine suggested.

"Doubt it," Skytaker muttered. "Everyone there is probably too afraid of her to say anything bad about her."

Ermine shuffled uncomfortably. Dragons in the Ice Kingdom were allowed to say bad things about Queen Glacier, it was just considered really rude, and you could be dropped in the rankings. But it wasn't like she beheaded them or anything. Did Liliana do beheadings? Probably.

"I finally found a history book though," Tiger said. "It took way too long, but it might be helpful. It's clearly propaganda, but maybe there's some truth."

"How is a history scroll going to help us escape?" Skytaker sighed.

"I don't know," Tiger hissed, her orange stripes suddenly darkening to a shade of red, her black and red scales matching Skytaker's. "But we've been doing things your way, and so far it's gotten us nowhere."

Skytaker winced. Tiger wasn't wrong. Nothing Skytaker had done so far had worked. "Okay," they apologized, "sorry."

Tiger took a deep breath, her red scales turning back to their resting orange. "I don't know if anything in the book is going to help us," she continued, "but knowing more about Antigonia and the Empress can't hurt if we want to escape. The first thing I found was a map of Antigonia."

"If we escape the palace, that could be useful," Skytaker suggested, trying to get onboard with Tiger's strategy. "We don't know which way land is from the island."

Tiger nodded. "That's what I thought. Although I'm not sure how much I trust this map."

"Why?" Ermine asked, curious. "Is it incomplete?"

"It's better if I show you," Tiger answered, pulling the book off the desk and onto the floor, placing it in front of the other two dragonets. She opened it up the cover, where a map sprawled across the inside of the front cover and the next page.

Skytaker squinted, unsure exactly what they were seeing.

"It's like someone took a map of Pyrrhia, tore it up, and put it back together again," Ermine whispered.

Tiger nodded. Many of the coastlines on the map were familiar, but in all the wrong places. The Ice Kingdom had been turned to its right, and placed on the east coast of the Sky Kingdom. The Sea Kingdom had been split up haphazardly, part of it where the Ice Kingdom had been, and another part in what might have been the Sand Kingdom. The map seemed to been split about halfway across on the left page, leaving a huge rectangular gap of ocean in the middle of the continent. The small peninsula that had been at the southwest corner of the Sand Kingdom now appeared in two places, both tilted, and in one place the coastline jutted out as a straight corner. The Claws of the Clouds had been rotated, the entire mountain range disconnected. Only the southern parts of the Ice Kingdom seemed unchanged, the head decapitated.

"Are you sure this isn't just some weird joke?" Skytaker asked. "I'll admit I'm not an expert on geography, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like this."

"I think the palace is here." Tiger said, pointing towards a small island just north of a rotated MudWing coastline placed around where Possibility should have been. "I recognize it from some of the maps of the old NightWing island."

"That's not far from the mainland!" Ermine exclaimed. "We could even fly there in maybe a few hours!"

"If we got out of the palace," Skytaker replied, "and if this map is actually accurate."

"It checks out with the rest of the history in the book," Tiger said. "There was even a battle along a perfectly straight coastline once. No one seems to care how weird it is though."

"A battle?" Skytaker asked, surprised. "You mean the Empress has enemies? She doesn't control all of Antigonia?"

"She does," Tiger explained. "The book starts with her taking over in 4993. But there weren't any battles. It was completely peaceful. All the queens literally just . . . gave up their power to Empress Liliana, who basically appeared out of thin air. And thereafter she ruled Antigonia."

"What?" Ermine said, shocked. "No. That's a lie. IceWing queens would never give up their throne to a RainWing."

"That's what the book says," Tiger grimaced. "Not just that. Apparently Liliana can speak to scavengers too, and they all did the same thing. All their leaders gave up their powers to her, and suddenly she's Empress of Antigonia."

"Scavengers have kingdoms?" Skytaker snorted with a laugh.

"Apparently they do here," Tiger continued. "I'd believe it. Have you seen a scavenger den before?"

"Winter took our winglet on a field trip to see one once," Ermine grumbled. "He wouldn't let us eat any though."

"You said there was a battle, though, right?" Skytaker asked. "If everyone just 'peacefully' decided Liliana should be their ruler, why was there a battle."

"After Liliana took power, there was a very short war," Tiger said. "A group of rebellious dragons and scavengers combined tried to fight Liliana. They were utterly crushed. Massacred. But the leader of the rebellion apparently escaped, a NightWing. The book calls him 'The Trustbreaker' and apparently the Empress has been looking for him ever since."

"Spooky name," Skytaker commented. "Hey, if this 'Trustbreaker' is still around, you think he can help us?"

"If I were him, I'd have gotten as far away from here as I could," Ermine muttered.

"If the Empress can't find him, I doubt we can either, especially from within this castle," Tiger reasoned. "But I found this."

She flipped through the book again, until she came to an illustration. A huge orb, with glass lenses floating above it.

"Hey!" Skytaker said. "It's that thing that's in the throne room!"

Tiger nodded. "There aren't many details, but it's called the Obscura. Apparently the Empress uses it to keep peace on Antigonia, but I wasn't able to figure out what it does."

"Peace," Skytaker snorted, sarcasm dripping from their voice. "I'll bet it's some sort of horrible weapon she threatened all the queens with. We should go check it out!"

"That sounds like a terrible idea," Tiger said skeptically.

Skytaker snorted, and turned towards Ermine.

"I'm with Tiger on this one," Ermine said. "What if we get caught?"

Skytaker shook their head. "She's gone, remember? She was in the moving room with us." They looked around at the other two, still skeptical of the plan. "C'mon! This might be the only chance we get. You both want to escape as much as I do, don't you?"

Tiger exchanged a glance with Ermine. She hated just the idea of sneaking up into the throne room while the Empress was gone, but Skytaker was right. They might not have another chance. "Alright," she agreed. "We'll go with you."

Ermine sighed. It was too against one. "Fine," he grumbled. "But it's your fault if we all die."

Skytaker grinned. "Then it's settled. C'mon, let's hurry!"

Tiger placed the book back on the shelf, remembering its location. She didn't want anyone else to realize what she'd been reading. She quickly trotted after Skytaker and Ermine, Skytaker already in the golden circle outside the moving room.

The doors opened again. It was empty. Ermine let out a sigh of relief as Skytaker ran to the circle in the center.

"Throne room," Skytaker said, thinking out loud. "Greenhouse thingy. Obscura."

The room gave a lurch, and started moving upwards.

"What do we do if the Empress is in there?" Tiger asked. She glanced towards Skytaker.

"Can't - talk," they responded, putting their paws to their skull. "Must - focus - on - room."

Tiger rolled her eyes. She'd figure something out.

The doors opened up, revealing the red carpet. Skytaker blinked in surprise.

"Wow," the hybrid said. "I can't believe that actually worked. I thought it would be locked or something."

"Don't need to lock your rooms if everyone is too scared of you to disobey," Ermine quietly said as the three stepped out onto the staircase up.

The throne room was fortunately empty when the three dragonets arrived, just a faint wind blowing through the greenhouse.

"There it is," Tiger whispered, looking up at the huge orb, far larger than any dragon. It's milky white surface seemed to shift around, and the lenses above it slowly rotated.

Skytaker walked up to the orb, raising their head up. "So, what exactly do you think it does?"

"It might be cursed," Ermine gulped. "I wonder if the Empress has lost a lot of her soul."

"I'd bet all of it," Skytaker grumbled. "I bet she's done something horrible to Glory, to make her like that."

Tiger walked around the orb, staring into the clouded surface, obscuring whatever was inside it. She squinted, trying to see what was beyond the strange clouds. "Not just Glory," Tiger responded. "All of Antigonia. The messed-up map we saw — all of it could be the result of some horrible spell she put on the entire world."

Ermine's eyes opened wide. "The entire world?"

Skytaker thought about that for a moment. "I don't know," they responded. "Not to defend the Empress, but if she put a spell on the entire world, how come she needs whatever this big orb thing is to keep peace?"

"What if the orb thing is the spell?" Ermine asked.

Skytaker squinted, cocking their head at the orb. Suddenly, they opened their jaws, and shot a blast of fire at the orb. When the flames cleared away, the orb was completely unchanged. They sighed

"This is a different world," Skytaker pointed out as they took a step back. "It could just be really weird compared to Pyrrhia."

"If the Empress enchanted the entire world, she'd have lost all of her soul, and then some," Ermine gulped. "There'd be nothing left of her. That's what my grandmother told me. There was an IceWing prince who tried to make a Gift as large as the world, but instead, his body turned into a lifeless husk. After that, I never took too much polar bear again."

"What?" Skytaker asked, not quite sure how the two were connected. "Well, it doesn't matter. Maybe this thing has all of the Empress's powers in it. If we destroy it, we could stop her!"

"Then how could we get back to Pyrrhia?" Ermine asked.

"Good point," Skytaker sighed. "Tiger? Any ideas?"

They looked over to the RainWing, who had been strangely quiet. Her eyes were focused on the Obscura, her snout almost pressed up against the orb. Like she was in a trance, she raised her paw up, moving it towards the orb.

"Tiger, don't touch it!" Skytaker yelled out. They started running towards the RainWing, but they were too late. Tiger's paw touched the orb, and it immediately started to glow, blinding white light forcing Skytaker and Ermine to turn away.

When the light had faded, the orb was no longer clouded, it's surface now a sky-blue. Tiger, on the other paw, had turned a dull grey, her paw held up against the orb, her eyes staring directly into it. The lenses floating above the orb started to spin faster, moving closer until they were aligned directly above the orb. The Obscura had been activated.

"Tiger!" Skytaker shouted, walking towards the RainWing. The hybrid looked over towards Ermine. "What does this color mean?" they asked, almost frantic. "Tiger never turns a uniform color!"

"I don't know," Ermine whimpered. "I'm an IceWing."

Skytaker huffed, and continued towards Tiger. "Tiger, are you alright?" they asked. What had the Obscura done to her?

"Quiet," Tiger hissed, her eyes still focused on the orb. "I'm fine. I'm just . . . trying to focus. It's weird. It's like I'm in two places at once."

"What is it doing?" Ermine asked. "Why is it blue now?"

"I don't know," Tiger growled. "It might be the sky. Or the ocean. I'm not sure. Ermine, stop asking questions."

The surface of the orb suddenly shifted, and the lenses moved. Ermine's eyes suddenly went wide as he saw an image of himself in the orb, Skytaker standing besides him. He moved a paw, and the image on the screen seemed to move with it.

"Hey, it's us!" Skytaker said, pointing at the Obscura. "Look, there's the orb and Tiger!" Another orb was on the image of the image, and another image on that image. Skytaker shook their head, blinking. "Weird. Tiger, how did you do that?"

"I'm not sure," Tiger said, her eyes focused on the orb. "All I did was think of Ermine. I can see the rest of you now, even though I'm also looking at the orb. It's strange."

"Try thinking of another dragon," Skytaker suggested. "Um . . . how about Tsunami?"

The image suddenly shifted again, turning dark. An obsidian cage just like the one the three had been in appeared on the orb.

"Let me out!" Tsunami's voice roared from the orb. Her image appeared on it, her claws around the bars of the cage, fruitlessly shaking them. "I'll kill you!"

"Wait, she captured Tsunami too?" Ermine asked.

"It might not be our Tsunami," Skytaker replied. "Just like there's a Glory here too."

"I want to see if Toxin's here," Tiger said. The image changed, lenses turning above. Toxin's image appeared on the screen. The RainWing-NightWing hybrid appeared to be walking through some sort of village in a clearing, the image following her movements. Other dragons of all tribes were walking from side to side around her, their heads down, voices quiet.

"She's got both wings," Skytaker pointed out. "So she isn't our Toxin."

The three tried a few more dragons next. Some of them didn't have an image appear for them — Skytaker wasn't sure if that meant their were Antigonian counterparts were dead, or if they just didn't exist. Most seemed to be in villages like Toxin, some in larger cities with a strange amount of scavengers. All of them had their heads down, nervously glancing from side to side every so often. A few others were in the dark cages beneath the palace, usually solemn.

"I think I understand what the Obscura is," Skytaker said finally, as the three stared at a sad-looking Sepia, "and how she keeps peace with it."

Ermine looked over to the hybrid for an explanation. Tiger's eyes stayed locked on the orb, her scales still a uniform grey.

"It's a way for her or her subordinates to spy on dragons, anywhere, at any time," Skytaker explained. "If she finds someone acting out of line, she has her RainWing guards throw them in the dungeon for a while. That way she can prevent insurrections and rebellions."

"She can't spy on everyone at once," Ermine replied, doubtful.

"She doesn't have to," Skytaker continued. "As long as everyone thinks that she's watching them, and knows that she could, they won't do anything that attracts attention, like plotting a rebellion."

"How come Glory and the RainWings work for her, then?" Ermine asked. "I don't think they'd go along with that."

Skytaker frowned. That was true, Glory didn't seem like the type of dragon to follow Liliana willingly. "She's still an animus, so I'll bet she's brainwashed them somehow. That's probably why the queens gave up their powers to her."

The image on the orb suddenly shifted again. Ermine jumped as he saw Empress Liliana appear on the screen. He let out a sigh of relief as he realized she couldn't see him back.

The Empress was standing in the center of the moving room, slowly taking her somewhere. Skytaker frowned. She couldn't still be there, after all this time, could she?

The moving room suddenly stopped, and the doors opened, revealing the red carpet leading up to the throne. The Empress was coming back.

"Quick!" Skytaker yelled out. What would she do if she caught them? They glanced around, looking for a place to hide. "Hide behind the throne!"

Skytaker and Ermine suddenly ran towards the throne, when they realized that Tiger was still on the Obscura. "Tiger!" Skytaker hissed. "We're out of time."

Tiger's paw started to shake. "Skytaker," she said, a hint of fear in her voice. "I can't move."

Skytaker opened their mouth, glancing towards the red carpet. They didn't have much time before the Empress was here. They ran back towards Tiger, and grabbed ahold of the RainWing's tail, trying to pull her away. For a moment, she wouldn't budge, her paw stuck to the surface of the orb, but with a sudden lurch, Tiger popped off the orb, rolling into Skytaker.

The orb stopped glowing, going back to its cloudy resting color. Tiger's legs shook as she tried to get up, black and orange colors starting to return to her scales. She fell flat on the ground, not having the strength to walk.

"Ermine, help me carry her!" Skytaker hissed at the throne as they tried to get under Tiger's front paws, the RainWing grasping onto her.

Ermine poked his head out from behind the vines, hesitant. If Empress Liliana caught him, he'd be dead. But if he just hid behind the throne . . . No. He shook his head. He couldn't just leave Tiger and Skytaker out there to be caught.

The IceWing ran back out, and lifted Tiger's hindlegs onto him, grabbing ahold of one paw. The RainWing winced, her belly on Ermine's sharp spines. Skytaker and Ermine walked towards the throne of vines as quick as they could without dropping Tiger. Ermine's heart raced. Was that the glittering violet Empress he saw behind him out of the corner of his eye?

The two finally reached behind the throne as the Empress walked around the Obscura, Ermine swishing his tail in at the last second. Skytaker breathed a sigh of relief, as they set Tiger down as quietly as possible.

Ermine put his eye up to a small hole between the vines making up the throne. The IceWing felt his teeth start to chatter as the Empress approached, golden crown glistening over her violet scales. Every step brought her closer to the throne. Ermine stared. She was going to find them.

"Your majesty!" a dragon's voice barked. Empress Liliana suddenly whipped around. Ermine glanced to his right. Skytaker had their eye through another crack, and was holding Tiger up so that the RainWing could see.

General Glory poked her head from around the Obscura, heading towards Empress Liliana. "We brought him up."

The Empress remained still at this, and Tiger's eyes were drawn to her tail. Red, green, blue, purple, and finally, black. Anger, fear, sadness, guilt, and hate. Her emotions were hidden from Glory, but not Tiger. Tiger stared. What could make the stoic Empress feel all that?

Empress Liliana's paws went to her crown, adjusting it. Her body went stiff, and she held her head aloft.

"Bring him in," Liliana ordered.

Glory bowed, and beckoned behind her. Behind the Obscura, six spear-wielding RainWings walked forward, a hooded NightWing in the center of the spears.

"Take off his hood," Liliana ordered, her talons clenching. "I want him to see me."

One of the RainWings ripped the blindfold off the silvery-black NightWing. He stared up at the glittering Empress, eyes wracked with fear. He turned his head back and forth. "Where am I?" he asked. "What is this place?"

"It's my palace," the Empress hissed, lashing her tail against the throne, startling Ermine. "I built it after you betrayed me. I've waited so long to see you again, Trustbreaker."

The NightWing blinked, no hint of recognition in his eyes. "Trustbreaker? Who are you?" He suddenly saw Glory behind him, out of the corner of his eye. "Your majesty!" he said, turning around and bowing. "I'm so glad you're safe! Where are we? How are you alive?"

Empress Liliana was silent for a moment, as the colorful scales on her tail faded away. ". . . really? You . . . don't remember me?"

The NightWing looked over towards Empress Liliana. "Er, I don't," he responded. "I'm sorry, you must have the wrong dragon. My name is Duskwind, not Trustbreaker."

The scales on Empress Liliana's tail started to turn a dark red. Liliana took in a deep breath, and they started to return back to violet. She let out a sigh, and walked forward, the guards letting her get close to Duskwind. She put her paws on his head, causing him to nervously stiffen up, and tilted his neck to the side, squinting as she stared at his eyes.

The Empress took a step back, looking over towards General Glory. "This is the wrong one. He doesn't have the silver scales. Apparently there's a Duskwind on Pyrrhia too."

Glory lowered her head to the ground. "My sincere apologies, Your Majesty. This mistake won't happen again."

Liliana shook her head. "No. It won't."

"He could be useful," Glory suggested. "Might he know things that our Trustbreaker knows? We could predict his movements."

Liliana squinted at Duskwind, considering this. "Doubtful. They must be far different dragons by now, except in appearance." She gave out another long sigh. "I'm sorry about this all," she said to Duskwind. "It appears we nabbed the wrong dragon."

"Haha," Duskwind laughed, very confused at the entire situation. "It's, uh, no concern. Can I leave now?"

Empress Liliana smiled. "No."

She suddenly opened her jaws, and a burst of venom shot from her fangs, so fast Tiger could barely see it. It hit directly into Duskwind's eyes, and the NightWing started screaming in agony as the venom ate through his flesh, his voice echoing through the greenhouse. The dragonets wanted to look away as his face melted away, but couldn't.

Empress Liliana took a step back as the NightWing kept screaming, and the guards raised their spears. Blinded, Duskwind tried to run, only impaling himself through the chest on one of the spears. He put his claws up to his snout, trying to smear the venom off it, but it only made things worse, his talons and paws dissolving with it. Liliana only grinned as the NightWing suffered, and Tiger saw hints of yellow run through her tail.

Finally, his screams subsided, the venom finally reaching into his brain. He flopped down limply onto the spear, little left of his face but bone and flesh.

"That was satisfying," Liliana commented. "Dragonets, you can come out now. I know you're there."

Skytaker stared at the Empress, blood running cold. Had she known the three were behind her throne the entire time? The hybrid slowly walked out into the open, followed by Tiger and Ermine.

"How did you know we were there?" Skytaker asked quietly. Had they not hidden as well as they'd thought?

"Tiger used the Obscura," she answered, smiling gently at the three. "It's magically connected to me." Liliana chuckled. "You're quite lucky, you know that? Few people other than myself ever get to experience it. It's quite something, isn't it?"

Tiger stared up at Liliana with a glare, quickly glancing towards Duskwind's corpse, red blood leaking out of where he'd impaled himself onto the crimson carpet.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," the Empress tsked, shaking her head. "Dragonet's shouldn't be exposed to such violence."

"Who was he?" Tiger asked pointedly. "Why did you kill him if he wasn't even the right dragon?"

Liliana's smile morphed into a slight frown. "Your world's version of an old lover. No one important. Haven't you ever wanted to kill an ex?"

Tiger stayed silent, refusing to reply to Liliana's question.

The Empress laughed. "You're probably too young to understand such matters. But Pyrrhian or Antigonian, this dragon is extremely dangerous. I needed to make sure he was out of the way, permanently."

She sighed as she looked over at Duskwind's body. "General Glory, escort the dragonets back to their room, then come with me to the war room afterwards. We have important matters to discuss. Dragonets! I'm letting you off easy this time since I didn't tell you not to, but no more snooping around, and don't use the Obscura again."

Glory walked over to the three, glaring down at them. Tiger sighed. Back to their room it was.

As the three were escorted back by Glory, Empress Liliana glared down at what was left of Duskwind's face. "You cant hide forever, Trustbreaker," she growled, her tail pitch black. "And when I find you, you will pay for what you stole from me."