Chapter 9
"Well, well, what do we have here?" the Drillwing in front of them said.
There were three Drillwings in the cave as far as Prancer could see. The male one in front of them seems to be the oldest out of the bunch and the leader. The other two were females, one of them looked to be Prancer and Flint's age, the other one very young and was hiding under the other female Drillwing's wings.
"Looks to be a Webwing and a Cavewing that we found together," the older female Drillwing said.
"Odd," said the male Drillwing. He yanked the rope off of Prancer's snout.
"OW!" Prancer yelped.
"Tell me Webwing. What are you doing out of the surface with this Cavewing? Did your fighting bring you two out to the surface?"
Prancer was too stunned to answer. Drillwings! They were real and out here on the surface! Where have they been throughout the war?
"Hmm, won't want to talk, Webwing?" the male Drillwing said. "That's fine, maybe the Cavewing will say something instead.
He was about to pull the rope off of Flint's snout when Prancer snarled and snapped his teeth at the Drillwing, missing him but making him back up.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN LAY A TALON ON HER!"
The male Drillwing wasn't startled by this outburst, instead he smiled and looked amused, "Oh, really? A Webwing wanting to protect a Cavewing? Does that mean your idiotic war between your two tribes is over?"
"NO!" Prancer yelled. "But you will never hurt her while I am here."
"Are you quite sure about that Webwing? I could just drag you to a sinkhole while you are still tied up and throw you down it. What would you do then?"
Prancer didn't answer and the Drillwing smiled, knowing he had him.
"Ah, now you see you hold no power in this situation. Now what are your names? Don't even think about lying or avoiding the question because it won't end well for you."
"My name is Prancer and she is Flint. So now what, are you going to kill us?"
"No, why would we do that? I mean we are much more honorable than both of your tribes."
"What are you talking about?" Prancer asked.
"Oh silly Webwing, has it not clicked to you, I can see your Cavewing friend has figured it out."
Prancer turned his head and saw Flint with that expression on her face when she discovered something important.
The Drillwings took the rope off of Flint's snout for her to speak. "Wait, is it because…"
"Your tribes were the one to try to get rid of us," the Drillwing finished for her. "Yes, and now your tribes are trying to get rid of each other. How ironic."
The older female Drillwing spoke up for the first time from her spot at the entrance. "Father, don't we have some more important business to attend, like figuring out who set off that signal. It wasn't Amethyst."
They knew Amethyst! Prancer thought.
"We were the ones to send out that signal for you guys," Prancer said.
"Oh yeah," the male Drillwing said, "And how do we know if that is true or not?"
"Well…," Prancer started but was having a hard time pushing the words out of his mouth. Should I really be telling my secret to these Drillwings who we thought didn't exist at all. I need to act tough and act like I have fangs. But then, they will see I don't after a while so there is no point. "You see, I have no fangs because I am Half-Webwing and Half-Cavewing."
The Drillwings looked at him with wide eyes.
"And," Prancer continued. "Amethyst is my mom."
The Drillwings were silent for a moment before the male one spoke up. "How do we know you aren't lying, you could have just pulled out your fangs to make us believe that, what other proof do you have?"
Prancer didn't have any. Being a hybrid only gave him no fangs, it didn't give him anything good.
He looked over to Flint and saw her glowing up her scales for some reason. Why was she doing that, he wondered but then he realized, Oh wait, if I'm half-Cavewing then maybe I have fluorescent lights like Flint. Prancer tried to do whatever to see if he had them but nothing worked. He was about to give up, when all around him, he started to glow bright. He looked around his scales and saw the white spots throughout his scales that showed where the fluorescent light was coming from. Hmm, so I do at least have one good thing for being a hybrid. I have my Webwing webs and I have Cavewing lights. At least now these Drillwings will know I'm not lying.
The Drillwing in front of them studied him for a long time, almost as if wondering if what he was seeing was true or not. Finally he decided to speak.
"It looks like you aren't lying. Well, well isn't that a first, to see a hybrid between the two tribes. Tell me, Prancer was it? Tell me, what did you have to do to make sure the two tribes wouldn't kill you on sight?"
Prancer was too scared to answer, not knowing what would happen if they knew the truth but he then felt Flint's rough scales on his and it soothed him down. Flint is here to help me out. She must sense how nervous I am and is comforting me. Thank you Flint.
"Well, you see Drillwing… do you all have names, this would be much easier than calling you Drillwing's all the time."
The Drillwing in front of them didn't look amused but spoke up.
"Fine, I will tell you our names but after that, no stalling, you got that?"
Prancer nodded his head.
"Ok then my name is Digger and those two over there are my daughters. The older one is Tulsi and the younger one is Briar. Now tell me Prancer, what did you do to not get killed by both of the tribes."
"Well Digger, I didn't do anything, my parents helped keep me a secret of what I truly was. I didn't even know what I truly was until a few days ago when I met my mom, Amethyst for the first time."
"How is that possible Prancer?" Digger said. "You just said that your parents helped raise you."
"Well, Amethyst didn't raise me. Instead my father Hopper and a female Webwing named Frisky raised me with Frisky pretending to be my real mom to keep me safe. Amethyst knew this would be better if I was raised inside the tribe and not having to hide from everyone."
"So you had a fake mom raise you with your real dad to keep you safe. Then what are you two doing up on the surface away from both of the tribes."
Prancer then told them the rest of the story, to how he told his best friend Hunter about him having no fangs, to sneaking into the queen's library, to escaping from Java and his soldiers, watching Frisky die protecting him, to making a web across a sinkhole to get across because of his damaged wings, to being caught by Flint before he fell into the hole, to finding his true mom, to now being on the surface to find them to ask for their help in ending the war between their two tribes.
After Prancer finished telling the story, it was quiet in the cave for a long time before all of the Drillwings started laughing.
"Hey what are you laughing about?" Flint said.
"Oh," Digger said, having to stop himself from laughing, "it's just that, do you expect us to really help YOUR tribes stop fighting. They were the ones who tried to get rid of us in the first place, why should we save them, when they never had helped us."
"But… But… Amethyst said you would be able to help us." Prancer pleaded.
"Well, it looks like she forgot about what our true mindsets are on both of the tribes down there. We will NEVER HELP A WEBWING OR A CAVEWING. I PERSONALLY WANT TO DESTROY THEIR TRIBES!"
Prancer got started by this accusation. It sounded exactly like what Prancer should be thinking right now being next to a Cavewing, wanting to kill them all but ever since he met Flint, that fury has started to shrink, not all the way because SOME CAVEWING was responsible for his sister's death but Prancer knew that Cavewing wasn't Flint.
"Listen Digger, I know I can't imagine what terrible things our tribes must have done to yours to where you have to hide on the surface from us and aren't allowed to be in the caves but please we need your help. You guys are the only dragons who could help us end this war. Maybe if we are to get rid of whatever is causing the war then the tribes will go back to being peaceful and I guarantee you, Flint and I will help your tribe be allowed to live back underground with us and that our tribes will apologize to you."
Digger snickered. "It's a sweet thought Webwing but even if we did agree to help you, how would we know where the missing artifact is that the Webwings and Cavewings are fighting over. No one knows where it is, if they did, this war would be over already."
Flint spoke up. "Well no one knows where it is possible because they haven't been working together." Prancer knew where Flint's idea was going and he liked it. "You see only Webwings and Cavewings have looked for it and they only have help from their own tribes."
"Well yeah that obviously, Cavewing," Digger said. "You know both of them are at war?"
"Yes, I do but listen up. If Prancer and I can help each other out, then maybe you can help us out to find the lost artifact. What if the reason the artifact hasn't been found is because in order to find it you need a dragon from each of the three tribes and since all three tribes hate each other, that's the reason why the artifact hasn't been found yet."
There's Flint, using her brain to get us out of a sticky situation. Prancer had to admit that having friends may not be the worst thing. I remember when I just wanted to run out and kill any Cavewing that I came across but ever since I met Flint, she has shown that brains can help out in situations as well. Even though I would enjoy stabbing all these Drillwings in the face for kidnapping us.
"Yeah," Prancer said, "And think about it. Don't you ever want to be back in the caves where you all belong? If you don't help us, then you may never be able to live out that life ever again."
The Drillwings thought for a long time. Prancer thought that they weren't going to buy it and just leave them there, tied up. Eventually, Digger turned around and walked over to Prancer.
"How about this Prancer. I will send my oldest daughter Tulsi with you so that she can help you out with your goal. However, if you haven't made any progress in five days from now, she will be coming back to me and you will not get anymore of our help."
Digger then stood right in front of Prancer, looking into his eyes.
"So Prancer, is it a deal or not?"
"Deal," Prancer said.
