Chapter Four

"Oh no…" Tide said, running inside back into the Tribe of Nature. "They're here; Abysswing's here!" She exclaimed. That sent a ripple of panic down the refugees, but, strangely, the Tribe of Nature wasn't surprised.

Abysswing and his allies landed. "Give us the refugees and we'll leave you in peace!" Abysswing boomed.

"Stop being so dramatic," Starfruit rolled her eyes.

"You two know each other?" Tide asked, surprised. Then the revelation hit her. We've been lied to. We're trapped.

"Never," Glacier growled. "If we go down, we go down fighting!" She screeched. With that, the refugees seemed to develop courage and rushed forward. Abbyswing stood there for a second, shocked. Then he attacked, side by side with the Tribe of Nature.

Tide looked around, seeing many dragons battle, and surprisingly, some Tribe of Nature dragons on their side. She let out a battle cry and started fighting. She was surprised. She'd never seen the refugees in battle before, and it seemed they were good. Glacier moved as fast as lightning, darting in and out. Snow was fighting with battle techniques Tide had never seen before. Cherry's scales turned red, and she was using her venom well. Danger kept butting into other dragons, setting their scales on fire. The dragonets were ushered away by Sunlight, who didn't come back to fight. She was too busy assuring the dragonets that everything would be fine.

Tide found herself fighting side by side with a Tribe of Nature dragon. He nodded at her. A flurry of wings erupted in Tide's face. The achingly familiar green scales clawed her. "Stingray!" She yelped. Stingray's face snarled at her.

"You!" Stingray snarled at her. "You messed up everything for me!" Her hardened sister lunged at her, pinning her down.

"Stingray…" Tide pleaded.

The Tribe of Nature dragon who was fighting alongside her looked at Stingray with no emotion. "Don't kill her!" Tide yelped at the dragon, who looked at Stingray with murderous intention.

The Tribe of Nature dragon rolled his eyes and threw Stingray aside as Stingray continually clawed at Tide. The Tribe of Nature dragon pinned down Stingray. "Don't come back." He hissed. Stingray growled and they got into a heated fight. Stingray won.

Stingray was attempting to bite at Tide's throat when a big brawny shape blocked the attack. "Quail!" Tide shouted in surprise.

"I won't let you kill her!" He yelled, and they started fighting, clawing at each other with no mercy. Tide looked gratefully at Quail, and dashed into the flurry of fighting dragons. Abysswing was fighting beside Starfruit. Starfruit looked at Tide, with malicious eyes. Tide felt betrayed. How she respected Starfruit.

They started fighting fiercely, and Starfruit was about to kill her when a dragon leaped on Starfruit and stabbed her. Starfruit turned around. "No...not you….Beech…" She let out a strangled gasp, and died.

"Thank you." Tide said. She recognized this dragon as the Tribe of Nature dragon she had been fighting alongside earlier. Beech nodded, a look of grief in his eyes.

"I didn't mean to kill her…" Beech murmured. "I didn't realize…" He shook his head. "No time to worry about the past," He muttered, not meaning for Tide to hear.

"Thanks for saving my life," Tide said awkwardly, stepping back into the fight. The swarms of Abysswing's goons were all over. The refugees fought tirelessly against their enemies. Stingray was viciously fighting Quail, giving him fatal wounds. They were greatly outnumbered, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Glacier fighting Abysswing with extreme skill. Abysswing got wounded, but so did Glacier. Their fight was heated, but it seemed like Glacier was starting to win. Abysswing, who didn't seem to want to die, let out a cry. "Retreat!"

The Tribe of Nature dragons flew away with Abysswing, except for Beech, a stranger, and Thistle. Thistle approached Beech. "How dare you!" He growled.

"I'm sorry…" Beech said. "I didn't see her. I had to save Tide." Beech muttered.

Thistle snarled. "I don't care! Stay away from me. You are no longer my son." With that, he flew away, following the others.

"I'm so sorry." Tide said, sympathetically. Quail was panting hard after his fight with Stingray.

"She's still alive." He said solemnly. Tide wasn't sure whether to feel relieved and anxious at that news.

"Is anyone a good healer?" She asked, looking at all the wounded dragons.

"I can help," Snow said in that quiet voice of hers. Tide stared at her. Snow shrugged. "Yeah, my mother taught me." She said casually.

"Alright." Tide raised her voice. "Anyone who's injured, go to the healer's hut! Snow will help you there!" Quail blinked gratefully at her.

"We'll head for the other continent soon. Right?" Quail rasped.

"After everyone's healed. Then we'll go." Tide replied. Suddenly it started to rain. Hard. Water soaked the ground in a matter of minutes. The island turned into the Mud Kingdom, all boggy.

"This feels like home." Quail breathed.

A Tribe of Nature dragon who stayed walked up to me. "You and your… group may stay until your injured are well. And no longer." He rasped. Beech's eyes widened.

"And what authority do you have over the tribe, Oak?!" Beech argued." You aren't even female." Oak sniffed.

"You don't exactly have authority either, exile!" Oak growled.

"What makes you think that?" Glacier piped up. "Everyone else left with Abysswing, you're the exile. Did they not want you?"

Oak glared at them. "They don't want me; I accidentally fought Abysswing. But I will not let you dragons stay here."

"We won't stay long," Tide promised. Oak gave a curt nod. The rain started to pour down harder.

"Let's go inside!" Quail shouted over the rain. The two dragons trotted inside a ramshackle house. Tide and Quail curled up together. They stayed there in an awkward silence.

"So…" Tide started. Quail looked away quickly. "Um, goodnight."

"Yeah." Quail replied. "Goodnight." Heat washed over her and Tide fell asleep.

"Wakey wakey, lovebirds!" Glacier teased. Quail and Tide jolted awake.

"We're not lovebirds!" Quail protested sluggishly, yawning. Tide blushed. Glacier rolled her eyes. Spike and Dust poked there heads in they hut.

"Sure." She replied sarcastically. "Snow's done with healing everyone. Come on, Oak's yelling at us to leave." Tide glanced outside the hut.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Tide could hear Oak yelling.

"We'll stay just a little longer, let everyone sleep for a while, not everyone is awake yet," Snow tried to bargain with Oak. Oak huffed.

"Fine." He groaned. But if everyone's not awake in an hour, I will yell at them to wake up." Oak growled. Tide shuddered.

"Man, that dude is tough." Quail winced. Snow popped her head out of a hut.

"Everyone's ready." Snow called. Beech sighed. He jerked his head to the sky. It was like he was telling me to 'get out of here'. Tide, the refugees, and the Tribe of Nature dragons who helped them opened their wings and took to the sky. Quail was flying behind Tide.

"Hey Tide?" He asked. Tide looked at him. "I don't think we should go to Pantala." Sunlight jerks her head around.

"What?! We have to go there." She exclaimed. "It's the only way we'll escape Abysswing." Glacier narrowed her eyes.

"Well, think about it," Quail said. "If we go to Pantala, we'll be endangering thousands of innocent dragons." Tide narrowed her eyes. Snow tipped her head side to side thoughtfully. "I think we should make a stand on a different island."

Before Tide or anyone else could answer, Beech flew up to them.

"I'm so, so sorry." He murmured.

"You don't need to be sorry," Quail said.

He looked up at them. "I don't think you'll think that after…" He took a breath. Tide was having a nagging suspicion that something bad was going to happen.

Beech whirled around, grabbed a knife and plunged it into Snow's heart. Snow fainted of blood loss, and she started falling down into the ocean.