Chapter 14


Be sneaky, be hidden, be safe, Prancer thought.

These were the words that Amethyst gave to them before they went into the caves and towards the direction Hunter saw the Webwings last all those years ago. Again Prancer wished Amethyst could come along but he had to admit with himself that four dragons would be hard enough to sneak through and adding more wouldn't help. Since they were still dragonets they could hide in more spots than adult dragons. Of course that is easier said than done, especially when you have a dragon with you who keeps getting excited about everything because she hasn't been in the caves in her whole life.

"Oh, Prancer, what is that rock called?" or "Oh, Prancer, what animal is that?" or a common one, "So Prancer, how do you live down in these caves?"

All the questions from Tulsi were directed at him, he tried passing her off to Flint or Hunter but she wouldn't talk to either of them, she only kept going back to Prancer. It was fine at first, but they couldn't be sneaky with a jumping dragonet around them, interested in every new thing that she sees in the caves.

"Tulsi for the fifth time, that is obsidian, formed from quickly cooling lava. Now please be quiet, we are about to reach the Webwing territory and we don't need you flapping about with how exciting everything is."

Tulsi looked sad but obliged. "Ok Prancer, I'll do it for you."

Finally, Prancer thought. Another minute of that and I feel like my head would've exploded into a million webs.

"So are we ready for the next stage in this plan?" Prancer asked.

"Yes," Hunter said. "I'll go find a spot where we can set it up."

He took off into the caves and now it was time for Prancer, Flint, and Tulsi to find a place to hide until Hunter came back.

Flint bumped into him.

"What was that for?" Prancer asked.

"Well you are a terrible liar. I knew for a fact that you weren't a spy for the Cavewings when you said it."

Prancer smiled. "Hey at least give me credit for thinking of that on the spot."

Flint laughed. "Okay, let's just get ready for Hunter to return." She walked away to Tulsi to talk to her.

Amethyst's plan was, in fact, quite smart. By carving a semi-circle into the marble and then setting one up at the location you want it and the other facing it at a farther distance, then you can hear the sound from one end of the marble travel to the other marble for you to listen in on whoever was talking. This would be a great way for them to eavesdrop into any conversation by Webwings that were standing by the device and would allow them to hear anything that may help them track down this Tuff group.

They had to wait for Hunter to set them up though, since he was still undercover and their plan wouldn't be ruined immediately. So this gave Prancer some time to think.

Something is going on with Flint and Hunter. Tulsi didn't mind Hunter after he apologized for trapping her but Flint nor Hunter seem to trust one another. I know they are part of different tribes who are going through a war right now but aren't we looking to help each other and end that war? I've never known Hunter as someone who doesn't trust other dragons, he trusted me and didn't betray me. Flint saved me when she didn't have to and helped me out when I needed it. Both of them don't seem to have the attitude to distrust one another but they do. I know what Hunter said to me but shouldn't he see that Flint is different? And why does Flint trust me but not Hunter? This is all too much for me to think right now.

Prancer decided to take a different approach to the problem and walked over to Flint.

"So Flint, what do you think of this plan?"

"Well, it is a great plan, I hope it is going to work," she said.

"It will work, why wouldn't it?"

Flint looked around but Tulsi was busy being distracted by another wonder in the caves. Great, Prancer thought.

"Well, are you sure Hunter is alright?"

"Yes, why wouldn't he be? He helped me escape from the dragons chasing after me. He's been my most trusted friend which was easy since he was originally my only friend."

"Yeah, yeah I know that," Flint said. "I just mean…, can you be sure he is trustworthy from where he comes from?"

That was a weird question. What did that even mean?

"What do you mean by that, Flint?" Prancer asked.

"What I mean," Flint said, "is that he is a part of the royal Webwing family, the ones who started this war to have power over the Cavewings."

Started the war?

"Flint, no offense, but Cavewings started the war."

"Is that what you were told?" Flint asked. "Because I was told that Webwings started the war so maybe your tribe is lying."

"Maybe YOUR tribe is lying!" Prancer said.

"NO, YOURS!" Flint yelled.

"YOURS!" Prancer screamed.

"YOURS!"

"YOURS!"

"YOURS!"

"YOURS!"

Tulsi jumped in between both of them and held their snouts shut.

"COULD YOU TWO PLEASE BE QUIET!"

She looked like she was crying. Prancer wanted to reach out and comfort her but she didn't seem to want that.

"I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED THE WAR! IN MY OPINION, BOTH OF YOUR TRIBES STARTED THE WAR! BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER, WE ARE HERE TO END THE WAR, NOT ARGUE ABOUT IT!"

She released them, had a panicked look on her face, and ran to their hiding spot crying. Prancer and Flint both stood there for a while without saying anything and without moving. Finally Flint broke the silence.

"Hey… listen… I'm sorry… for my outburst."

"I'm… sorry too," Prancer said. He looked over to where Tulsi was. "Maybe we should go check on her?"

"I'll go, you wait here in case Hunter comes back."

Flint walked over to where Tulsi was to comfort her and Prancer waited by the entrance for any sign of Hunter's return. Prancer could tell that it was almost night time because the sunlight through the rocks was fading away.

Hunter has been gone almost the whole day, it shouldn't have taken him this long right? Prancer looked back at Flint and thought about what she said. Is it true that Hunter would turn us in? What am I thinking? Hunter is my best friend, he wouldn't betray me like that right?

Luckily Prancer didn't have to think long about this because Hunter appeared at the entrance of the tunnel.

"Hunter!" Prancer said excitedly but also quietly.

"It's done, I just waited there longer to make sure it works and it does."

"Good so let's get going," Prancer said.

"Hold on one sec," Hunter said, holding Prancer back with his wings. "We can't just go in there right now, Webwings are still wandering around. We have to wait until it's night time to sneak to the area."

"But how will we see?" Prancer asked.

Hunter smirked. "First off we have Flint with her fluorescent scales and didn't I hear you could do that as well."

With a sigh Prancer lit up his scales to show Hunter.

"I still am a little nervous with them, you know. What if I accidentally shine them when a group of Webwings is by us?"

"Don't worry, you will be able to control them, come one, let's get ready to go at night time.

They went back to where Flint was with Tulsi. It seemed like Flint was able to calm Tulsi down because she wasn't crying when they got to her but she still did have some water in her eyes.

"You better Tulsi?" Prancer asked.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, "Yeah, let's just get ready to go."

Hunter gave Prancer a "what happened" look but Prancer didn't want to explain it to Hunter right now. He would have that conversation with him later. Right now they had to get ready to sneak past the whole Webwing army without getting caught and try to listen in for this group that may not even show up.

No pressure, Prancer thought.

Finally night time arrived upon them. It was pitch black so Flint and Prancer took the lead lighting up the pathway, while Hunter directed them on where to go.

I hope no Webwing is awake right now because it takes one dragon to see us and then we will have the whole entire army on us. I want to say I would take them all on, but even I have to realize how impossible that task would be. He looked over at Flint. And only to think that a few days ago, I wanted to wipe out her whole tribe. But how would that make her feel? Maybe not all Cavewings deserve to die, BUT SOME DO BECAUSE THEY KILLED MY SISTER! I don't care how long it takes, I will avenge my sister's death.

They finally reached the area that Hunter set up the listening device at. It was at the top of an inclined rock that if you stood at the top, you could see the entire cavern. It was a great spot to wait and listen in for the group.

Is the group still active though? I mean it has been three years. The group could have been found and destroyed. There was no way to know if they would even reach any lead with this.

Prancer hoped they could figure something out because it was only two more days until Digger's deal was officially over.

"We're here," Hunter said.

"Ok, so now what do we do?" asked Flint.

"We wait," Hunter said.

"Seriously, we have to wait and hope we hear them talking?" Flint said. "That's how we are going to do this?! How do we even know anything will happen? What if nothing happens, huh? Then your whole big idea was a WASTE OF TIME! LIKE YOUR TRIBE!"

"Oh yeah, well at least I am not a part of a tribe THAT LIES AND STEALS FOR WHAT THEY WANT!"

"Oh you wanna go?" Flint said.

"Yeah come on Cavewing," Hunter said. "I bet I could take you on."

Prancer jumped in between the two arguing dragons to try to get them to calm down. Prancer held back Flint and Tulsi held back Hunter.

"Guys, calm down!" Prancer said. "You have to be quiet, we don't want to wake the other Webwings."

"But her tribe is the reason we are in this mess!" Hunter demanded.

"No, his tribe is the reason!" Flint shot back.

They both kept arguing and Prancer knew if he didn't do something right now, they would wake up the whole entire cave system.

"STOP RIGHT NOW!" Prancer demanded. "Just stop and listen to yourselves right now. This is what the war has done to our tribes, it's broken us a part. Don't you want it to go back to how it was, where we could live in peace?"

Prancer looked over at Tulsi.

"Where all three tribes could live together without wars? Isn't that what our mission is right now? Not this bickering about who started what or why. We are here to do what no other dragon can do. We are the only ones who will have a chance to end this war once and for all. If we can't work together, then what does that make us? Well, I'll tell you, it makes us no different than those Webwings and Cavewings who are fighting and killing each other every day. We have to team up to end that so let's not let anything get in our way from that goal, deal?"

Hunter and Flint both looked at each other.

"Deal," they both said in unison.

"Good, now let's get back to the goal. I don't care how long it takes for something to happen, but I will wait here for days if I have to if it means I find this Tuff group."

"Ok, we'll wait with you," Flint said.

"Good, now we can all take shifts at the device, that way we are all rested up and we won't miss anything if someone says something about our group. Tulsi you go first, then I'll be next, then Hunter, Flint, and back in that order."

So they went in that order, throughout the night and into the morning. So far they had heard nothing about this mysterious group. Prancer was starting to wonder if they even still existed when Flint came down from the rock in a hurry.

"There here," she said. "The Tuff group, there right below us."

"Good so let's follow them," Prancer said.

"There's something you should know first though," Flint said but was answered when Prancer looked down to the ground below them.

In the alleyway below them, were dragons that most likely belonged to the Tuff group. It was the dragons that caught Prancer's attention. Down there, in the group, were not only Webwings but Cavewings as well.