Chapter 5

Come on, go faster, faster!

Vala was running down the tunnels, trying to catch up with Nova. She still didn't see her.

How did she get this far ahead of me already?

She started to slow down to catch her breath when Nova pounced on her from behind, taking her down.

"What are you doing?" Nova asked.

"Saving everyone… from you!" Vala said and threw Nova off of her. She then turned around and faced her.

"You are another kind of crazy, you know that?" Nova asked.

"You don't think I was stupid, did you?" Vala asked. "I knew there was something off with you and now you're a traitor and trying to expose our operation to your commanders."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Nova asked.

"You're not going to play dumb with me," Vala said and pounced at Nova. Nova stepped out of the way.

"You are the most self-centered dragon I've ever met," Nova said.

"Shut up, book dragon!" Vala screamed and slashed at Nova's wings, barely missing them. She then tripped Nova up with her tail and pinned her to the ground.

"You are stupid, you know that?" Nova said.

"SHUT UP!" Vala screamed and stabbed her spikes into one of Nova's wings.

"OWWW! That's it!" Nova said and kicked Vala off of her. Then out of nowhere, Nova somehow got behind Vala and pinned her against the wall with her claws right at her neck, drawing some blood.

"Go on, kill me," Vala said. "Show everyone who you truly are."

"What are you talking about?" Nova asked. "Can you just listen for a second?"

"Hey, get away from her!" Nail screamed out. Nova looked towards the tunnel where Vala saw her friends arriving from. She then looked back towards Nova who was looking at her.

"You're making a mistake," Nova said.

"No I'm not," Vala said and then kicked Nova and her friends pinned Nova to the ground.

"Ahh, get off of me!" Nova screamed.

"Stop resisting, we've caught you, traitor," Vala said.

"I'm not a traitor!" Nova screamed. "I'm trying to help you all break out Abrax!"

"Hey Vala, look at what I found in her pouch," Kobli said.

Vala took the paper from Kobli and on it said the location of their secret base and it was signed by Nova.

"Oh yeah, not a traitor, then what's this?" Vala asked.

"I don't know what that is!" Nova said. "I never had anything like that, I don't know how it was in my pouch!"

"Don't try to make excuses," Vala said. "Nail, Kobli, bring her to our jail cell we had at the hideout. We can't have her ratting us out."

"You're making a mistake!" Nova screamed at Vala as Kobli and Nail dragged her away. "I'm no traitor! I'm being set up! You're all making a huge mistake!"

Vala laid down on the floor, tired from running after Nova. She then felt another dragon beside her and opened up her eyes and saw Batik.

"Hey Batik, what's up?" Vala asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to CONGRATULATE YOU ON CATCHING A TRAITOR!" Batik said happily and started jumping up and down. "I SAW YOU. YOU WERE HERE, THEN THERE, AND IT WAS AMAZING! Anyway I'm going to see if Nail needs any help, BYE!"

"Bye," Vala said and watched as Batik hopped away. She shook her head and smiled at how weird that dragon was. Vala felt her face and the blood that was dripping from where Nova cut her. Vala flew over to a stream and washed the blood off of her face. She was doing just fine, except for the headache that her mind was having.

OW, what is going on with my mind? Vala thought and then heard a dragon talking to themselves.

I can't believe that she was able to beat me like that. Well no worries, once Granite gets her part of the mission done and I get my forces up, we will be all powerful, especially with our leader directing us to victory.

Vala fell to the floor and was holding her head. WHAT WAS THAT? WHY AM I HEARING THESE DRAGONS WHEN THEY ARE NO WHERE NEAR ME!

Vala felt dizzy and she passed out right next to the stream. When she woke up, she was in the hideout with Sundew sitting right next to her.

"Finally, you're awake," Sundew said. "I was getting bored."

"Ugh, what happened?" Vala asked.

"I found you fainted by a stream," Sundew said. "I brought you back and waited for you to wake up. Why did you faint there?"

"I… I don't know," Vala said. "It's fine though, it won't happen again.

"Ok," Sundew said. "By the way what was with Nova screaming and kicking while Nail and Kobli had a hold of her."

"Oh we found out that she was a traitor," Vala said and showed Sundew the piece of paper.

"Huh," Sundew said. "I guess this is evidence."

"What do you mean 'you guess'?" Vala asked.

"It just doesn't sound like Nova to be a traitor. She really seemed motivated to help."

"Well she is one so deal with it," Vala said. "Unless you're one as well!"

Vala jumped up at her thought and faced Sundew but Sundew didn't notice her stance.

"Seriously?" Sundew asked. "You really seem to have some trust issues, you know that?"

"No, I don't!" Vala said.

"Ok, whatever you say," Sundew said and walked away. Vala didn't realize she was breathing heavily and slowed down her breath. She would keep her eyes on that dragon just to be sure. Vala then made her way to the jail cell in their hideout. Vala saw Nova there, reading into one of her books.

"Get that away from you!" Vala said and tried to reach into the cage and grab the book but Nova was faster and grabbed it in her claws.

"No," Nova said. "This is my book, not yours."

"You are a traitor and our prisoner so I'm allowed to do whatever to get you to talk!"

"Talk about what?" Nova asked.

"Who you are working for, what information you can tell us, why did you betray us?"

"You really are believing that I'm a traitor, aren't you Ally?" Nova asked.

"My name's not ALLY!" Vala yelled.

"Then what is your name?" Nova asked. "I still don't know. Why are you hiding it?"

"Why were you hiding being a traitor?" Vala asked.

Nova sighed. "You don't listen. Oh well time to continue reading," and Nova started reading her book again.

"STOP READING!" Vala screamed and tried to take the book from her again but Nova brought it away.

"You have an issue with books, you know that?" Nova said. "Maybe if you read one you would be more happy."

"I DON'T NEED TO READ ONE OF THOSE STUPID BOOKS!"

"Suit yourself," Nova said and continued reading her book.

"TELL ME THE INFORMATION I WANT TO KNOW!" Vala screamed. "Or I'm going to hurt you."

"I don't have any information to tell you," Nova said. "I'm not a bad guy and I wouldn't tell you anyway after you have wrongly locked me up."

Vala got furious and tried to punch Nova but Nova rolled out of the way and slapped her claw.

"OW!" Vala said. "YOU'RE PAYING FOR THAT!"

"Seems like I'm paying for anything that happens to you," Nova said.

Vala felt herself steaming and wanted to charge in there to attack Nova but Nail appeared at that moment and motioned her to stand down.

"Hey take it easy," Nail said. "Go take a break, you've earned one. I'll find a way for her to talk."

"Thank you," Vala said and walked away before she would punch something. "And tell me if she says anything that will help us."

"Oh I will," Nail said.

Vala walked outside and went back to her sleeping spot to rest. Her mind hurt from all the yelling and screaming. But what hurt her mind the most was the continuous words she kept hearing in her head. It was driving her crazy. There was something new this time though. It sounded like she was listening to the dragon's thoughts as well. She heard one thinking about what he would eat today while another one was thinking of the arena games that he was going to watch today. Another one was thinking about how to quiet her dragonet down. But worst of all, Vala heard the thoughts and words of none other than Queen Helen.

Hah, I'm glad to be back here in the tribe. Ok, so what's on my list? Boring queen stuff I know, but one item I'm looking forward to. Time to get over to that dragon.

Vala didn't know how she was hearing this but she didn't care. She knew what Queen Helen meant without saying the dragon's name.

She's talking about Abrax! I have to go rescue him!

"So Vala what are we doing with this gunpowder?" Sundew asked as she approached Vala.

"I can't talk, I have to go save Abrax!" Vala said and ran off down the tunnel.

"Hang on!" Sundew said. "Don't just run in by yourself. Take some backup!" And then Vala couldn't hear Sundew's voice anymore as she went down the tunnel. She knew where the prison was and the route was embedded into the back of her brain. She cut past the main plaza and dodged past Spikewings who got out of the way for her, obviously confused as to why she was running. She was approaching the prison when she felt a presence behind her. She turned around and Queen Helen was in her face.

"Oh well hello," Queen Helen said. "I didn't expect to see you here. What happened? You friends kick you out because of what you did to Queen Obsidian."

"I didn't kill her!" Vala yelled. "I know you did it and I will prove it!"

"Oh, you really think I did that?" Queen Helen asked. "I wish I did but I would never do something like that. First off it's a stupid idea because then I would have two tribes at war with me. But since I proved to Granite that it was you, she is going back to her tribe to help me get rid of all your friends."

"What are you talking about?" Vala asked, pacing around Queen Helen.

"Simple really," Queen Helen said. "Now that Obsidian is dead, Granite can go and become Queen of the Cavewings and with both our armies combined, the Drillwings don't stand a chance."

"She doesn't have the authority to become queen and you know it!" Vala said.

"Oh, I know," Queen Helen said. "But the Cavewing tribe doesn't know. So they will believe her and there is nothing you can do about it."

Vala felt furious at Queen Helen but then noticed something that stopped her in her tracks. The eye that Glory shot her venom at was healed, with no visible scar, almost like it never happened.

"I can see from your look that you noticed my eye, haven't you?" Queen Helen asked.

"How is it healed?" Vala asked.

"Friends help each other," Queen Helen said. "You would know that if you listened to your friends."

"You've teamed up with Dredge haven't you!" Vala said.

"Yes we have," Queen Helen said. "How about that? Me, Cyrus, Granite, and Dredge, all coming together. It's like your group but our group is evil."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Vala asked.

"Because you won't be alive to tell anyone," Queen Helen said and swiped at Vala, catching Vala off guard and having her get sent into the wall. Vala got up before Queen Helen was able to slice at her again and was able to slash Queen Helen's side.

"OW, why get over here!" Queen Helen said and whipped her tail at Vala. Vala just got out of the way in time but then Vala felt a sharp pain in her left wing and looked at it and realized that Queen Helen threw a spear at her and it stabbed right into her wing. Vala watched as the blood fell down onto the floor and she felt weak trying to keep herself up. Queen Helen then pounced on her and smashed her to the ground.

"DIE YOU WORM!" Queen Helen screamed.

Vala kept getting pounded into the ground by Queen Helen but was finally able to roll out of the way and tried to fly away but couldn't get the spear out of her wing. All she could do was stand there and watch as Queen Helen approached her.

"You time is up," Queen Helen said, but before Queen Helen could finish her off, something smashed into the side of Queen Helen and staggered her.

"What?" Queen Helen said, looking at who it was. Out of nowhere, a dragon came flying and kicked Queen Helen right in the face, sending her staggering back. The dragon then landed in front of Vala and she couldn't believe her eyes. It was Nova, with her full guard armor on.

"Happy to see me?" Nova asked.

"How… did you escape?"

"We let her out," A voice called out and Nail, Batik, Kobli, and Sundew landed at her side.

"Why?" Vala asked.

"Because I wasn't a traitor," Nova said. "And you need my help. It looks like your running in blindly got yourself into trouble again."

"What is the meaning of this?" Queen Helen asked, getting back up after Nova had knocked her down.

"It's over Queen Helen," Nova said. "You thought that you could control us, control me but not anymore. We are here to take you out of power."

Vala thought that was a great speech but Queen Helen started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Nail asked.

"Uh guys look!" Kobli said and Vala saw as Spikewing guards landed all around them and boxed them in.

"You really thought I was alone?" Queen Helen asked. "I always have my personal guard ready to defend me."

"Uh guys what do we do?" Batik asked.

"We get Vala out of here!" Nail said and kicked a guard away who approached him.

The next few moments was mayhem as Vala watched as the guards attacked her friends and she couldn't do anything but watch. Nail and Batik fought side by side as Sundew helped out Kobli with two guards. Vala saw as Nova approached Queen Helen. Queen Helen motioned her guards not to attack Nova.

"This one is mine," Queen Helen said and approached Nova. Vala could tell that the air was tense around the two dragons.

"You will pay for what you did to my family!" Nova said and slashed at Queen Helen.

Queen Helen dodged out of the way and smacked Nova into the wall. "Oh really?" Queen Helen asked. "Look at yourself, I gave you a special job position and look at how you're repaying me. By helping out these traitors."

"You're the traitor to our tribe!" Nova screamed and shot her spikes at Queen Helen hitting her wings.

"You want to play this game?" Queen Helen asked and swung her tail at Nova. Nova dodged out of the way but immediately afterwards, Queen Helen swung at Nova with her claws. They hit Nova directly on and gave her a slash across her face but bounced off the armor that she had on. Nova screamed in pain but continued and dodged out of the way of Queen Helen's next attack and slashed Queen Helen's underbelly. She then jumped up and pinned Queen Helen's wings with her spikes. Nova was about to go for the killing blow but Queen Helen picked up a rock and smashed it right into Nova, knocking her out, and sending her flying, stopping right beside Vala. Vala dragged herself over to Nova and tried to see if she was alive.

"Nova? Nova!" Vala said but got no response from her. Vala still felt a pulse from her so she was still alive but was knocked unconscious. Vala looked around and saw her friends starting to get overrun. They were all lumped together and the guards were pushing them away.

No, no this can't happen, there has to be a way to save them.

Vala noticed a spear on the ground and something flashed through her mind. She knew what to do and picked up the spear and used all her strength to charge at Queen Helen.

"Take this!" Vala said and threw the spear at Queen Helen, stabbing right through one of her claws.

"AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Queen Helen screamed. "Guards get her and lock them up!"

Vala saw the guards turn away from her friends and start approaching her.

Good, I want them to do that. "Get out of here!" Vala yelled to her friends.

"What about you two?" Sundew asked.

Vala looked over at Nova. "We'll figure something out, just go!"

"Ok, come on, let's get out of here!" Sundew said and they all flew away, leaving Vala there with Nova as guards approached them.

"Come on Nova, wake up," Vala said and felt tears start to roll down her eyes. "Wake up please."

The guards grabbed Vala and started to chain her up.

"LET ME GO!" Vala screamed but then went silent as Queen Helen got herself free from the wall and walked over to her.

"Oh, I'm going to have fun with you two," Queen Helen said.

"You'll never get away with this!" Vala screamed.

"I already have," Queen Helen said. "Take them to jail, I'll figure out what to do with them there."

Vala saw them start dragging Nova away who was still unconscious. Vala tried to reach out for her but a guard hit her on the head and she started seeing darkness.

No… must protect… friend, and then everything faded to black.