Part Three: Freedom and Alliance

Chapter 17

"Come on, we have to get there fast!" Vala said, flying through the trees towards the area she heard the fighting happening.

"Woah, slow down Vala!" Abrax said. "We can't have you charge in by yourself! You would get yourself killed!"

"Ok," Vala said, allowing Abrax to catch up. "But we need our army to be faster!"

"Hey it's our first time on the surface in years," Nova said, appearing from the trees. "We're not used to this amount of light up here and this landscape."

"Yeah, just remember that even if you had been up here, we haven't yet."

"Sorry," Vala said. "But I just don't want my friends to die."

"We'll get to them, I promise," Abrax said and the small army Abrax brought with them appeared behind them. "Everyone this way!" and Abrax pointed to the area where the fighting was being heard. All the Spikewings started to charge towards the fighting.

I hope we are in time, Vala thought and thought back to what she was told about a few hours ago. Her, Abrax, and Nova were in the dream state, talking to King Blade about what was next to do to find Argus.

"I think we have an idea of something," King Blade said. "But we need to have everyone here before we mention it."

All of a sudden, Queen Beta appeared beside them looking panicked.

"Terrible, terrible, terrible," she kept on saying.

"Woah, calm down there love," King Blade said. "What's wrong?"

Queen Beta took a deep breath to steady herself.

"The Drillwing base is being attacked as we speak," Queen Beta said.

"What?" Vala said. "By who?"

"The only other tribe that now has a crazy queen," Queen Beta said.

"Oh no," Vala said. "It can't be."

"Granite is now the queen of the Cavewings," Queen Beta said. "After the death of her mom, Obsidian, she put herself in line to rule and no Cavewing questioned it. Now she has launched a full-scale attack on the Drilling base to try to kill all her enemies in one swoop."

"We have to help them!" Vala said.

"I'll go get the troops ready!" Abrax said and disappeared from the dream state.

"I'll help him!" Nova said and disappeared as well.

"Go Vala," Queen Beta said. "Go help your friends out."

"Okay," Vala said and left the dream state as well.

Now back in present time, Vala was trying to go as fast as she could with the army to reach the battle in time to save her friends. She was starting to get ahead of them but she didn't care. She had a plan to protect her friends and she needed to execute it.

She kept running but then started to have these visions pop through her mind. The first one was her emerging from the trees and seeing the Drillwing village on fire and her friends dead bodies on the floor. She tried to shake herself out of this vision but then another popped up in its place. It was her seeing Tulsi getting killed by Granite before she was able to reach her, or Flint, Prancer, Hunter, anyone. She kept having these visions that she wasn't going to make it in time and she had failed. It was starting to drive her insane but then a voice came through her mind and broke her out of the visions.

Calm down Vala, it's me Moon.

Oh I'm so glad to hear your voice Moon, Vala said in her mind to her. How is everyone?

Good for now, Moon said. But get here quickly, we need help.

Don't worry, I'm coming, Vala said and pushed herself faster through the trees. She finally broke free into the clearing and saw ahead of her the Drillwing village with Cavewings attacking the Drillwings on the outside. She rushed over and smacked a Cavewing off of a Drillwing who looked surprised but happy to see her.

"Thank you," the Drillwing said and went to continue to help out in the battle. Vala then looked around for where her friends were and saw Tulsi and Prancer getting surrounded by Cavewings. She charged forwards and slid under the Cavewings, launching her spikes into the underbelly of the Cavewings and they dropped down, unconscious. She then got up and saw Prancer and Tulsi both looking at her in disbelief.

"Uh, hi?" Vala said and then they both came in and hugged her.

"You're okay!" Tulsi said. "I was so worried about you!"

"I was as well!" Prancer said.

"Hey it's Vala!" Hunter said and Vala saw him and Flint fly down and give her a hug as well.

"You're alive!" Flint said.

"Yes I'm fine," Vala said. "Now please stop strangling me."

They all laughed and released her from their bear hug. Vala looked at all her friends and felt a tear roll down her face. Even after what she did, they were still happy to see her back. Those were true friends.

"I'm so glad that I'm seeing you all again," Vala said.

"We are too," Tulsi said and they both held each other's claws for a second. Vala wished the reunion lasted longer but then she heard a thought that stood out from the battle and turned and saw Granite start approaching them.

"Ah and here is the final one," Granite said, pointing at Vala. "Finally all of you in one place, just in time for me to dispose of you," and Vala saw a bunch of Cavewings surrounding them, making it impossible to escape.

"Argh, it doesn't have to be like this Granite," Flint said. "Don't destroy our tribe with your actions, you have no right to rule them!"

"Oh be quiet," Granite said. "I hate every word that comes out of your mouth. But no matter, I won't have to hear it for long, after I rip all of your heads off!"

"Interesting," Vala said, stepping forward to Granite. "But you just forgot about one thing."

"What?" Granite asked. "What could I have forgotten?"

"That we have reinforcements," Vala said and at that moment, Abrax and Nova emerged from the tree line with the Spikewing army and they charged at the Cavewings. The Cavewings were caught off guard which allowed the Drillwing to take advantage and get the upper hand. In a matter of seconds, the Cavewings went into a full scale retreat and ran away from the battlefield.

"Hey where are all of you going!" Granite yelled. "Get back here and fight!"

The Cavewings surrounding Vala and her friends saw what was going on and flew away as well, leaving Granite all alone. Flint started to approach Granite and Vala watched in amusement.

"Well, looks like your plan failed," Flint said. "But it doesn't have to go down like this. You can help us defeat Queen Ash. You know that she is the true villain controlling you all."

"I am not being controlled by anyone!" Granite screamed and tried to attack Flint but missed and the Drillwings pinned her to the ground.

"What should we do with her, Queen?" one of the guards asked Tulsi.

"Take her to the jail," Tulsi said. "We'll have a chat with her later."

"You'll never get away with this!" Granite screamed as the guards dragged her away. "Queen Ash will succeed! And she will kill all of you!"

"Wow, that was crazy," Tulsi said as Granite's scream's got further and further away.

"You're telling me," Flint said. "How many times will Granite try to assassinate me?"

"Hopefully, this is the last time," Hunter said.

"Yeah, it should be the last time now," Vala said and then everyone turned to her. Vala knew what they were thinking. "Oh no, not again, you guys!"

"Come here!" Tulsi said and they all piled on her to give her a hug.

"Ugh… can't breathe," Vala said and they all laughed and got off of her. "You all know that I have dangerous spikes on me, right?"

"Yeah, but we know you," Prancer said. "So you wouldn't harm us."

"And you could give us the antidote if you accidentally did," Hunter said.

"Ah, you all are goofballs," Vala said. "But at least I'm a goofball with you," and they all laughed again.

"So what happened to you?" Tulsi asked.

"She helped us all out," Abrax said, approaching the group with Nova.

"Ah Abrax!" Vala said. "I got to introduce you to my friends. The Webwing with glowing scales is Prancer, the Cavewing is Flint, the Drillwing is Tulsi, and the other Webwing with the gold rings on his horns is Hunter."

"Why hello Prancer, Flint, Tulsi, and Hunter, I am Abrax."

"Hello Abrax," they all said.

"So this is the dragon that you are in love with," Flint said.

"Uh," Vala said.

"Well about that," Abrax said.

"What?" Tulsi said.

"Well it's a long story," Vala said. "Maybe we can explain it all inside."

"Sure," Tulsi said. "Let's all go inside the village and you can explain it there."

"And don't worry about the Spikewings," Abrax said "They're with us."

"Okay," Tulsi said and Vala went into the Drillwing village to explain what she had been through.

It was about an hour later when Vala finished explaining everything that she had been through on her adventure. When she finished she looked around at her friends' faces and they were all in shock.

"You went through all of that and still pushed through?" Tulsi asked. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah," Flint said. "Especially when you fought off both evil Queens!"

"But did I hear that correctly?" Prancer said. "You and Abrax are brother and sister and Helen was your mom?"

"Yup," Vala said. "Crazy but we ended up okay."

"And still feel embarrassed, now that we know we are brother and sister," Abrax said.

"But putting all that aside, we chased off Helen and Queen Ash and me and Abrax became King and Queen of the Spikewings!" Nova said, excitedly.

"Still can't believe that the Spikewings used to have kings before your mom ruined it all," Hunter said.

"Yeah, but it all turned out alright," Vala said. "Besides now we can have that treaty between the Spikewings and the Drillwings that Blade and Beta tried to accomplish before."

"Yeah, let's go do that now," Tulsi said. "King Abrax and Queen Nova, you can follow me to the meeting room."

"Ok Queen Tulsi," Abrax said and they all three left to go sign the treaty which left Vala, Hunter, Prancer, and Flint there.

"Well I'm glad that everything is finally turning out alright for a change," Prancer said.

"Yeah, about time," Flint said. "Though now the Cavewings will have nobody to lead them."

"Maybe you could lead them?" Hunter suggested. "I mean you are supposed to be the one leading them."

"Yeah I guess I am of the royal bloodline," Flint said. "I just don't know if they will believe me."

"Oh they will," Hunter said. "I'll make sure of it!"

"Oh stop it you," Flint said, giving Hunter a playful flick with her tail. "You can't threaten them."

"Even if they try to attack someone as beautiful as you?" Hunter asked and they both blushed at each other.

"Wow, I never saw you two so affectionate to each other," Vala said.

"Well we just click together," Flint said. "Like how you and… oh right," Flint said.

"Yeah I know," Vala said. "I liked Abrax but that was because I didn't know we were related."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Flint said.

"Oh it's fine," Vala said. "I'm saving all my hateful feelings for my mom to hear when I get my claws on her."

"What a terrible mom to have," Hunter said. "I mean I know my mom tried to kill us before but that is when she was being controlled, she is actually loving and caring on the inside."

"Uh, speaking about your mom," Vala said, pointing behind Hunter where Queen Aurora was standing.

"Woah, hi Mom!" Hunter said, surprised. "I didn't know you were here!"

"Yeah I decided to stay here for a while," Queen Aurora said. "If we are to defeat Dredge and his group, you need my help."

"Oh, thank you mom," Hunter said.

"Your welcome," Queen Aurora said and then looked at Vala. "You know it's been a long time since I've seen a Spikewing. Interesting how they have changed."

That's because of what your tribes did! Vala thought in her mind and wanted to scream out but didn't. Attacking the Queen of the Webwings wasn't going to help them at all. They needed more allies, not enemies.

"Well yeah, we had to evolve to survive down in the deep caves," Vala said. "We evolved and have night vision now to see when it is dark."

"Interesting," Queen Aurora said and then asked a weird question. "Do you have a skyfire on you?"

"A what?" Vala said but didn't see Hunter and Flint trying to warn her with the shakes of their heads.

"She doesn't have a skyfire?" Queen Aurora asked Hunter. "That means Dredge will figure out that I am out of line! He is going to control me! I can't let that happen!"

"Woah calm down there queen," Vala said. "Dredge may not be as bad as we think."

"What?!" Queen Aurora said. "How can you say such a thing? He has killed innocent dragons for power! He has used all of us! How can he be good?"

"Now listen, I know this sounds crazy," Vala said.

"Vala, this is crazy," Flint said. "Dredge threatened to kill Hunter in front of me so that I did what he wanted."

"He blackmailed me," Prancer said. "Told me not to tell anyone else or he would kill them."

"Yeah, how could Dredge have any hint of good in him after all of those deeds?" Hunter said.

"Well there is more to him than we know," Vala said. "For starters…"

Then all of a sudden a scream went throughout the village.

"Intruder in the forest!" a Drillwing guard yelled. "He attacked us!"

"Huh, what's going on?" Vala asked but then her question was answered a second later when lightning struck from the sky and into a batch of trees outside the Drillwing village.

Oh no Thunder! Vala thought. I told him to stay put until we were ready to introduce him. Why is he attacking?

Vala had no time to question or tell her friends where she was going. She had to get to Thunder before something serious happened. She flew out of the village and towards the lightning strikes that were still happening. All of a sudden, as she got closer, the strikes stopped and everything was silent. Vala came out of the trees and into the clearing and what she saw in front of her shocked her.

In front of her was Thunder and his scales were bleeding like he had been in a fight. But Vala was more shocked at what was lying on the ground in front of him.

In front of Thunder, on the ground motionless, was the dead body of a Drillwing.