Chapter 3

"So Nova huh?" Vala said. "And you are a guard for the prison?"

"Yes," Nova said.

It was later on in the day when Vala was talking to Nova alone. The rest went to plan, which Vala thought was a waste of time, and she decided to go talk to this new member on their team.

"What made you want to help us out in breaking out Abrax?" Vala asked.

"Well, Abrax is very sweet," Nova said. "I mean it's so unfair that he is locked up in there and I feel bad for him. I want to help him get his life back and he said that there was this group called The Collective that I could help them in breaking him out."

"Don't you have the keys to the cells since you are a guard?" Vala asked.

"No," Nova said. "Usually guards do but that is when they are adults, I'm only a dragonet. In fact I shouldn't even be a guard but they saw potential in me and decided to put me as one."

"Oh, I see," Vala said. "So did Abrax say anything else?"

"No, not really," Nova said. "I remember hearing him talk about this Vala dragon once but I don't know who she is. When I asked him about it, he said to forget about it."

"Really?" Vala asked. "What did he say?"

Why would he keep me a secret from this dragon who clearly wants to help us break him out?

"Oh, I'm not sure," Nova said. "Something about what she said to him about dragons arriving here two-thousands years ago. But it doesn't matter. Say, why do you want to break out this dragon?"

Vala didn't expect this question. She knew the reason and would have happily said it but something felt wrong. This dragon does not know who Vala is even though she is standing right in front of her. Abrax keeping her a secret from a dragon who wants to help out. What is really going on?

"Well, I guess you could say that we owe him a favor," Vala said.

"Oh, what favor?" Nova asked.

"I'd rather not say," Vala said. "It's… personal."

"Oh, I get it," Nova said. "You want to keep it a secret. Well don't worry, I won't bother you anymore about it. Say, have you read some of the recent books in the library? They are awesome page turners."

"Say what now?" Vala asked.

"Books in the library," Nova said. "Books are amazing to read. They tell so many interesting thoughts and ideas. Here let me show you one!" Nova opened up her pouch and pulled out a book about Spikewing traditions.

"Look right here, it says that Spikewings used to have Kings as rulers of the tribe. Imagine that! Kings instead of Queens!"

"Uh, I think that book is telling lies," Vala said. "We've only had Queens as our rulers."

"But is that the truth?" Nova asked. "What if there are secrets that are being held from us? What if they're hidden within these books!"

Ok, this dragon is super weird. I need to get away from her before she shoves her belief about books down my brain.

"Uh, I have to go see what the others are up to," Vala said.

"Can't you stay just a little bit longer?" Nova said. "This book has more interesting facts."

"Uh, no sorry," Vala said and started walking away.

"Oh, look at this tradition between two dragons that like each other!" Vala heard Nova say.

"Huh?" Vala said, turning around and returning to Nova.

"See right here, the two dragons are doing a kind of dance, I guess it's to express their love to each other. Too bad this tradition seems to have been lost to time because I don't see any Spikewings doing it anymore."

Vala's mind flashed back to a time when Abrax was still free. They both were sitting at the edge of a waterfall that went down into darkness.

"Ever wonder what's down there?" Abrax asked her.

"Yeah, but I don't really want to find out," Vala said. Who knows what could be down there? Vala heard terrible stories that dragons had spread about what was down there. Pitch black vision, to even where their night vision didn't work, strange noises in the dark, and vicious beats down there. One dragon who ventured down there came back up with a bite on his leg. He died just minutes later and when the healers checked the bite, they recognized it as a Dragonbite viper bite. From that point on, no Spikewings were allowed to go down there anymore, under any circumstances.

"Just wonder what possible mysteries could be hidden behind all the death and darkness down there," Abrax said. "What if there was a lost treasure that some dragon long ago left down there and forgot about?"

"I think you ate one too many spiders today," Vala said, shoving his side. Abrax laughed and shoved her back. Vala then jumped on him and they both wrestled around until Abrax pinned her to the ground.

"I win," Abrax said.

"Not quite," Vala said and used her tail to trip Abrax and then she pinned him to the ground. "Now I win."

"Ok, ok, you win," Abrax said. "Please let me go now mistress."

Vala snorted at that remark and let Abrax go. "Oh, you know well that I'm no mistress," Vala said. "But who knows, maybe my parents were very powerful dragons."

"Maybe I'm the son of the queen!" Abrax said.

"I doubt it," Vala said. "Even though Queen Helen is terrible, we all know she never has had any eggs yet, so she has no children."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Abrax said. "I wonder why she hasn't though? She needs an heir to inherit the throne when she dies and with no heir the whole tribe will go into panic."

"Well it will be her fault," Vala said. "Just add it on to the list of the bad things she has done as queen."

Abrax giggled and moved closer to Vala. "I've been itching to ask you a question," Abrax asked her.

"And… what's that?" Vala asked, tensed.

"Do you know how to dance?" Abrax asked.

"Huh?" Vala said but didn't have time to ask Abrax what he meant because the next moment, he grabbed her front claws and brought her closer to him. Vala was frozen, still confused about what was going on when Abrax started moving from side to side. Vala, still confused, decided to go along with it and followed his movements. They danced back and forth and Vala felt their tails twine together as they danced.

"Are you ready for this?" Abrax asked her.

"For what?" Vala said and then Abrax brought his claw up and she spun around before he brought his claw back down and she stopped spinning and they were stepping back and forth again.

"Woah…" Vala said. "That… was… amazing!"

Abrax smiled. "Thanks, I read about this dance in a book, I thought you'd like it."

"What book?" Vala asked.

"Oh, you don't read much but it was a book about Spikewing traditions. A dragon allowed me to borrow it so that I could learn the dance."

Vala and Abrax danced back and forth for a while before they stopped.

"Thanks for that," Vala said. "It was… interesting."

"Your welcome," Abrax said and then the vision faded away and Vala was back beside Nova who still had her nose in the book.

Is that the same book Abrax read the dance from? What's the chance that this dragon has the same book.

"Hey, how long have you had that book?" Vala asked Nova.

"Oh, this one?" Nova asked. "Well, if I had to say, I've been holding on to this book for about… four years."

"SERIOUSLY? FOUR YEARS?"

Was it possible that Abrax borrowed this book from her all those years ago?

"Hey, it's a very interesting book," Nova said. "It was just collecting dust in the library because no Spikewings were checking it out so I took it as my own."

"You have to return it!" Vala said. "What if they find out that you have had it for this long?"

"Oh they already know," Nova said. "But they don't care. They don't even like the job that they are in, you know? So they don't bother with one dragon with a couple of books. Or well I guess it's more."

"Nova," Vala said. "How many books do you have?"

"Uh, how about we talk about something else!" Nova said. "So how are we planning on breaking out Abrax?"

"That's what they are figuring out right now," Vala said. "Now back to the original question, how many books do you have from the library?"

"About a hundred?" Nova said, skeptically.

Vala sighed. "You do know how dangerous that is, right?"

"But no other Spikewings were reading them!" Nova protested. "Do you just want these beautiful books to dust away?"

"Do your parents know?" Vala said.

Nova froze at that comment and put her head down. She didn't talk for minutes and Vala wondered what nerve she hit with her.

"Uh, Nova?" Vala asked. "You there?"

"There… they're all gone," Nova said and started crying.

"Woah, hey, take it easy," Vala said, holding Nova's face with her claws and lifting it up so that she could look at her. "Who's gone?"

"EVERYONE!" Nova screamed. "MY MOM, MY DAD, MY BROTHER, MY SISTERS, MY WHOLE FAMILY GONE!" Nova then started hyperventilating and crying heavily.

"Hey, hey, stay with me!" Vala said. "What happened to them?"

Nova wiped away her tears and looked up at Vala. "That killer Queen, that's what happened."

"What did Queen Helen do?" Vala asked but had a feeling she knew the answer. She was there that day but didn't realize who's family it was.

"My family was convicted for being spies for the enemy tribes, even though that wasn't true!" Nova screamed. "But it didn't matter to Queen Helen, she had them all executed. I was only days old at that time but I can still remember it all, especially since Queen Helen picked me up and made me watch the whole entire thing. I SAW ALL MY FAMILY DIE! And then… she… she… she turned me around and made me look… look… look at… at her! And this is what she said to me. 'Ah, aren't you a sweetie? Look at what happened to your family because they disobeyed me? Well it's your lucky day, you won't join the fate that your family had. You had no part in their plans. But just to be sure you won't end up like them, you will be put in special classes. I hope you succeed in them because I have a very special assignment for you if you do.'" Nova was shaking and Vala thought that she was going to pass out. "Do you want to know what that assignment is going to be?"

"What?" Vala asked.

"BEING A PROFESSIONAL EXECUTOR FOR DRAGONS SHE WANTS GONE! SHE'S GOING TO PUT ME IN THE SAME SPOT THAT MY FAMILY WAS MURDERED BUT HAVE ME BE THE MURDERER! I… I… I… I can't do… do… do… do that." Nova then dropped to the ground and was breathing heavily.

Vala didn't know what to say to comfort Nova. She was there that day when she was less than one year old. She was with a group of Spikewings who were also orphans. In fact that day was where she met Kobli, Batik, and Nail. They are all orphans as well and no Spikewings wanted to take care of them. The orphans had made this group to help each other out, they called it the Orphans and the adult Spikewings that ran it were orphaned when they hatched as well so they knew what the orphans were going through. Vala knew Queen Helen despised the dragons for helping out the orphans, in her eyes Spikewings should learn to hunt and fight for themselves if they had no parents but she had no power to disperse the group. If she did, she would have a revolt against her. So she allowed the group to stay, but made sure to avoid them at all costs and tried her hardest to keep them out of meetings.

This meeting was different however. Queen Helen personally invited the Orphans and made them stand up front in front of everyone else. It was like she wanted to send them a message. So Vala had a front row seat of the massacre that happened to Nova's family. After that day, Vala got together with Nail, Kobli, and Batik and they started The Collective to bring Queen Helen out of power. Vala just hoped that when they show it to the tribe, that the tribe would band together with them and not follow Queen Helen's rule.

"Is this why you are helping us?" Vala asked Nova. "To get back at Queen Helen."

"Yes," Nova said, lifting her head up. "She has controlled my life for way too long and it's about time someone did something to get back at her. I WANT TO PERSONALLY KILL HER MYSELF!"

"Hey, what is going on out here?" Sundew asked, walking out to them. "It sounds like a massive argument and if that's the case then count me in. I love yelling."

"No, it's not an argument, Sundew," Vala said. "Nova is just telling me about her past. Hey Nova, if it makes you feel any better, all of us are orphans as well."

"You… are?" Nova asked.

"Yes," Vala said. "Everyone in this group was orphaned when they hatched."

"Even you?" Nova asked, pointing to Sundew.

"Uh, no," Sundew said. "Remember, not a part of this continent, live on a different continent. But I wish I was orphaned at birth, I hate my parents."

"Ok then," Vala said. "But anyway Nova, we've all been through what you have been through. Maybe not the amount of intensity you have been through but to an extent. Kobli never knew her parents and was picked on by girls all her life. That's why she always has a boyfriend, so that he can protect her from them. But most of her boyfriends only stay for a few weeks and if they are lucky, a couple months."

"What about Nail and Batik?" Nova asked.

"They knew their parents when they hatched but their parents left them after seeing them hatch."

"That is honestly terrible," Sundew said. "Why even have the child if you are just going to abandon them?"

"I don't know," Vala said. "But they found each other a few hours after they both hatched. I guess they just clicked together and have never left each other's side for all these years. To be honest, I think they have a thing for each other."

Sundew laughed. "Well there is nothing wrong with that. I myself may have a certain liking to a dragon. She has helped me out more times than I can count."

"So you see Nova, we all have gone through similar situations, you aren't alone in this."

"Thanks," Nova said. "This makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one."

"So now that you two are done with that, we've figured out a plan," Sundew said.

Oh great a plan. "Ok, what is this plan?" Vala asked.

"Well it isn't easy to just go in there and break Abrax out so we're going to have to gather some supplies first," Sundew said. "And we all have been assigned partners in certain tasks. Nail and Batik are together, I'm with Kobli, and you Vala will be with Nova."

Great, I'm with the dragon that loves books. "Ok, so what is our assignment?" Vala asked.

"We're going to need some gunpowder for the mission," Sundew said. "You two have to go to Queen Helen's stash and steal it from her."