Chapter 4

Stealing gunpowder from Queen Helen. Sounds simple enough, that is if I didn't have a nosy dragon up my tail.

"So I've wondered something," Nova said.

"No surprise," Vala muttered.

"I don't know what you said there but I assume you want to know what I'm wondering," Nova said. "Well, I've been wondering what your name is. I know everyone else's name but not yours. So what is it?"

"None of your business," Vala said. The truth right now was that she didn't want to reveal to this dragon who she was. First off Queen Helen is probably looking for her and the less dragons going around and saying her name, the better. The second reason was that she still didn't trust this dragon since she is a guard for the prison and could be deceiving them all. The final reason was one Vala kept trying to shove away from her mind but it kept coming back. Why is Abrax keeping me a secret from this dragon? What is going on that I'm not hearing about? I swear if I don't get down to the bottom of this then I'm tearing someone's head off.

"Ok?" Nova said. "I guess it doesn't matter. It would be helpful though if I could call you something so that I don't have to keep calling you a Spikewing. Oh, how about Ally?"

"Hmph," Vala said.

"Ally it is then!" Nova said. "I just wish I knew your actual name but whatever. I'm sure I'll get it later."

Yeah right, book dragon, you're not getting my name until I figure out what's going on between you and Abrax.

"So how are we going to get this gunpowder Ally?" Nova asked.

I really want to get away from this dragon but we have a job to do so I guess I'm stuck with her. "We are going to sneak into the stash and steal the gunpowder, plain and simple," Vala said.

"I don't think it will be that easy," Nova said. "From a book I read about the stash, there are multiple guards around it all the time and if any dragon except the queen is found near it, they are taken to the queen for punishment."

"So we sneak past the guards, like I said," Vala said. She wasn't trying to raise her voice but her patience with this dragon was wearing out.

"You know it's not going to be that easy," Nova said. "As a guard myself, I know that those guards will be impossible to sneak by and then we will be caught, locked up, and probably executed so I think we need a plan for this."

"Why does everyone always want a plan for everything?" Vala asked. "Does no one understand that plans take way too long and they are pointless when you need to get things done fast."

"They're not pointless," Nova said. "Plans are the reason tribes win battles. Didn't your friends have plans when they were on their adventures?"

"You mean, use to be my friends," Vala said. "Now they all think I was the dragon who killed Queen Obsidian but I didn't!"

"Wait, Queen Obsidian is dead?" Nova asked.

"Yes," Vala said. "And they somehow found my spikes by her even though I was never near her! How and why would I kill her? One of my friends was a Cavewing!"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Nova said. "I believe you so someone must have been setting you up."

"But who?" Vala asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Queen Helen who else? She easily could have gotten your spikes and killed Queen Obsidian herself and then planted the evidence."

"True," Vala said. "She is sick minded to do that but then wouldn't that be bad for her? She is already in war with the Drillwings, would she want to go to war with the Cavewings as well?"

"Yeah, now that you say that, it does sound counteractive," Nova said. "But who knows Queen Helen's mind? It's psychotic."

"Well anyway we're here," Vala said.

They arrived at the outskirts of the vault that Queen Helen puts her valuables in. To Nova's credit, Vala did see a lot of guards surrounding it, making it look like trying to sneak in regularly wasn't going to work. The only entrance way to the vault was at the front with twice as many guards there than anywhere else. It also was locked and it only looked like one dragon had the keys on him.

"Ok, so that is going to be a lot harder to break in than I thought," Vala said.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Nova said.

"Yeah and then you went on ranting about books like you usually do!" Vala said.

Nova wasn't listening to Vala at that point though. She was looking around at the vault and probably thinking of a plan, which was making Vala more mad.

"Stop thinking about a plan!" Vala said. "I bet by the time you think of the plan, I will have already gotten in there, gotten the gunpowder, and safely returned to you."

"Suit yourself," Nova said and went back to thinking.

Argh, I don't need this dragon, I'll go get it myself.

Vala dropped into a crouch and slowly started sneaking her way up to the vault. She watched the guards and noticed that there was a box that was labeled to go inside the vault right next to her. She waited until the guards weren't looking and quickly and quietly opened the box and got inside before she shut the lid. Whatever was inside felt a little pointy and it was hard for Vala to stand anywhere where something wasn't poking into her. She then quieted down when she heard the guards go in her direction.

"So this is the package," she heard one of the guards say.

"Yup, let's bring it inside before we are punished for being slow."

Vala felt the box lift up off the ground and she almost slammed into the side of the box.

Can't these dragon's walk straight? Vala thought.

Vala felt like it was forever before she felt the box get put on the floor again.

Ok, hopefully I'm in the correct location.

Vala waited until she heard the guards walking away before she lifted the lid up to look outside. Sure enough, she was inside the vault.

Hah, take that Nova, I told you we didn't need to think of a plan, we can just do it on instinct.

"Took you long enough," a voice said and Vala turned around and saw Nova laying down right next to her.

"Wha… HOW?" Vala asked.

"Oh simple really," Nova said. "You see there was this vent that led into here. I learned it from this book talking about the layout of the vault," and Nova showed her the book. "So while you tried your unorthodox strategy of getting in here, I simply just got in here a lot quicker and easier."

"Well the point still stands, I got in here without much of a plan," Vala said.

"Yeah I guess you did," Nova said. "But if you ask me, it was more luck that they didn't open up the box."

"Ow, what was in that box anyway?" Vala asked. "It was super pocky."

"Just spikes that have been collected from Spikewings," Nova said. "I'm surprised you don't know that. Where else do you think the Spikewing spikes go that are collected?"

"Wait," Vala said. "This proves it! If Queen Helen has my spikes in here then it proves how she could set me up and make me look like I killed Queen Obsidian."

"You're right about that," Nova said. "I have a question though. Didn't you run away from your friends after hearing what they thought about you?"

"Yeah, so what?" Vala asked.

"Well running away when you are accused of something would make you look more suspicious wouldn't it?"

"I know that," Vala said. "But I will find proof for them to show that I didn't kill Queen Obsidian."

Oh this is so enjoyable to watch.

Vala looked around panicked but then realized it was the voice in her mind. She decided to not give it any credit and not talk to it at all. Instead she went around, looking for the gunpowder that they needed so that they could get out of there fast before any guards spotted them.

"Ok, where is the gunpowder?" Vala asked.

"Wel, it seems like every box is labeled so find one that is labeled for gunpowder."

"Good idea," Vala said and started looking at the labels on the boxes. Most of them were labeled spikes or equipment but none seemed to be labeled what they were looking for.

"Are we sure it's here?" Vala asked. "Because I don't see it anywhere."

"Weird," Nova said. "Maybe Queen Helen had it moved."

"But where would she move it?" Vala asked.

"Let's see," Nova said and pulled out her book on the design layout of the vault.

"You're still reading that?" Vala asked. "We don't have time to doodle around, we have to find the gunpowder and leave before we're spotted."

Nova looked up from her book. "You know somebody has to teach you patience. Not everything has to be rushed to be completed."

"But it's the most efficient that way," Vala protested.

"No, it's most efficient when you take your time and devise a plan that you can execute."

"I swear if I hear that P word one more time, I'm going to start breaking things."

"You do know that you are more likely to succeed in a mission if you have one though, right?" Nova asked.

"I DON'T NEED A PLAN!" Vala screamed. "I am just fine without one."

"Shh," Nova said. "Don't scream again unless you want the guards to find us."

Vala didn't have time for this. She went and started looking in all the boxes for the gunpowder, ignoring what Nova said about checking the labels. She finally got up to a box that had no label on it and when she checked inside, there was the gunpowder that they needed.

"Ha!" Vala said. "See, look gunpowder! I told you just looking around was better than devising a plan to look at the labels. That was just a big waste of time! This box has no label on it."

"Actually it does," Nova said and turned the box around and Vala saw the label reading gunpowder. "It was just covered up by the other boxes."

"Hmph," Vala said. "Fine, let's just fill up our glass jars with the gunpowder and get out of here."

"Fine by me," Nova said and started filling her jar up with the gunpowder. Vala did the same thing and after a bit, both of them had their jars full with gunpowder. They both put them away in their pouches. Well actually Vala held onto both of them since Nova had books filling up her two pouches that she had on.

Silly weird dragon obsessed with books. She would never do well in the arena games.

"So now let's get out of here," Vala said and started heading towards the front where the exit was.

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down there," Nova said, grabbing a hold of Vala. "We can't just go out that way. Did you forget that it's being guarded by double the amount of guards?"

"Oh come on, a couple guards can't stop me," Vala said.

"You're very arrogant," Nova said. "Even if you got through the guards, the others would sound the alarm and then our cover would be blown. Not only will you be punished but so will I as well. Have you forgotten that I'm with you in this mission as well? You know the punishment that they give out to the girl dragons for going against the Queen."

"Yes, I know them," Vala said, thinking back to when she had to spy and catch dragons from the other tribes so that Queen Helen could kill them.

"So then let's go back through the vents that I went through to escape unseen."

Ugh, a stupid plan. "Fine," Vala said. "Bring me over there."

Vala followed Nova over to one of the walls in the vault. It looked like a regular wall with no vents in it whatsoever.

Ugh, is this dragon crazy as well? Vala thought. But then Nova pushed some boxes away from the wall and a vent came into view.

"Here it is," Nova said, taking off the cover to the vent. "You go in first and keep going straight. I'll be right behind you."

Vala reluctantly started crawling through the vent. It was a tight space inside but Vala was able to wiggle her body around and crawl forward. After a while she saw the opening to the caves and she crawled faster and opened up the vent at the end. She then landed on the ground, outside and away from the vault. Vala looked back and saw how the vent was embedded into the rock wall and how it went inside the vault.

"And we're here," Nova said, appearing from the vent and closing it behind her.

"Yeah, we're here," Vala grumbled.

"Hey I still haven't heard it from you," Nova said, bumping Vala's side.

"Heard what?" Vala asked, annoyed.

"The thank you for getting us out of there."

"I could have gotten out myself," Vala said.

"Uh huh," Nova said, her face not looking a little bit impressed. "You would have gotten yourself out and into a jail cell is what you would have gotten."

"Are you mocking me?" Vala asked.

"No… no, no," Nova said. "Just thinking you need a little common sense."

"I DON'T NEED COMMON SENSE, ESPECIALLY FROM A DRAGON LIKE YOU!"

The air around them felt tense. Neither of them spoke for the next few minutes and they then both started walking back to the hideout silently. Neither one of them even made a peep on the way back.

"Ah, there you two are," Nail said when Vala and Nova got to the hideout. "What took you so long? It should have been a quick in and out job."

Vala and Nova didn't talk and instead just motioned to each other before going their separate ways and leaving Nail confused. Vala went to rest, she was upset with Nova.

How dare that dragon think she knows more than me! If she ever got into a fight with me, I would beat her with no sweat. All she knows is books, nothing good in a fight.

Vala found a stalactite to hang from and flew up there and fell asleep, upside down. She was just going to try to relax before she blew a fuse and wanted to kill something. She was starting to get some sleep, but she felt a nagging thought in the back of her mind. She tried to get rid of it but after a while, she realized that it was a conversation she was hearing.

Get going on your mission and you better bring back what I want.

Ok… just please don't hurt them while I'm gone. I know you hate them but they can help us find what we want.

Ok, ok, fine, blah, blah, blah. Just go!

The conversation then ended in Vala's mind. She was super confused. She didn't even know who was having this conversation this time, it didn't even sound like Dredge.

What is going on? This has happened before. It can't be a coincidence that they just forgot to tap out of my mind so how am I hearing these conversations?

Vala then had another thing bouncing around in her mind. This one felt weird though, the dragon wasn't talking to anyone. It almost sounded like they were talking to themselves.

Can I trust her? Of course I can, she promised me so much if I follow her plan. I just wish I knew what the plan was but I bet it's a good one. Oh, I can't wait to get back and rise to power. And then we all know who I'm going after with the army to get rid of.

Vala shook herself awake, trying to get the voice out of her head but she could still hear the dragon going on. Vala felt like she knew who the dragon was based on these comments but knowing the dragon got her even more confused.

How am I hearing what Granite is talking about? What is going on with my mind? This is super confusing.

Vala tried to fall back asleep multiple times but she just couldn't, so she took a walk around. She was walking around when she almost bumped into Nova but was able to duck into an alcove before she spotted her.

What's she doing us so late? Vala thought.

She realized that Nova still had her guard armor on and seemed to be looking back and forth, almost like she didn't want anyone to see her. She then went off down the tunnel that led to the prison.

I knew it, she is trying to sell us out! She is a traitor!

Vala then took off after her, determined to stop her and save everyone.