Hello all. A little late in releasing this. My uploads might be getting a little slower as college is about to start up again, but I do still plan to write for this in the meantime. I hope that I've structured this well enough that it isn't a wall of text this time and is easier to read. It's a little shorter, but I felt I found a good ending point for this chapter. It's nice to see that so many people have enjoyed reading so far, and I hope to continue that trend into the future. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer, I do not own Wings of fire.

"Normal speech"

"thoughts"

"?"

Wither stared at Morrowseer for a long moment, the Nightwing looking accomplished at Wither's shocked look in his eyes, until Morrowseer shivered. It felt like the room was getting cold, before he noticed the growing fury in Wither's eyes. Wither wasn't just mad. He was livid. Furious. All the shock being replaced by righteous anger at the dragon before him. "You lied. You gave false hope to every dragon who wanted this war to end. You manipulated every dragon in Pyrrhia. You... You took their lives away. You took five innocent dragonets from their homes! From their tribes! From their families! You ripped away every semblance of a normal life that they could have had for your own selfish gains! You ruined their lives! You deserve to DIE!"

Black miasma started to leak out from his sealed lips, before it touched the metal band around his snout. The metal made a loud noise like wrenching metal as it started to fade and corrode, rusting in seconds, before breaking entirely. Wither roared in rage as he lunged his entire body forward, only stopped by the chains as the wall behind him became spiderwebbed with cracks. Wither had nearly pulled an entire slab of stone out of the wall, the stake that was already loose coming out entirely, whipping around and clanging onto the stone floor. Morrowseer backed away, a look of fear on his face as Wither roared at him in fury.

Wither settled into a loud growl, glaring at Morrowseer in a way that made the false prophet feel ice traveling down his back. After a few long breaths, Wither stopped trying to reach Morrowseer, starting to calm down from blind fury. "Stop. I need to stop. No good would come from killing him... I need to figure out what to do." "No. He lied. He got the dragonets involved, which got you involved in the first place. He is to blame for all that has happened to you and them. Make him pay." Wither shook his head. Where were these thoughts coming from?

He resigned to look at Morrowseer, letting his Respira fade. "... So, you're the famed prophet... Heh. To think, I've been calling you Barrowsneer for the past decade. I can see my name for you is a bit more fitting." Morrowseer snarled. "Silence. You're strong, but resist, and the entirety of the Nightwing forces will kill you." Wither just stared at him, his expression betraying nothing. "... So, is this the part where you go on a monologue of how great you are or what your plan is? Because I think I've already figured it all out."

Morrowseer's jaw was open as he was about to speak, snapping it closed to hide that... that was exactly what he was about to do. He growled. "Enough out of you. We'll be putting you to work soon enough. For now... I believe a trip to the Dark council will suffice." Wither had to roll his eyes, a snarky tone entering his voice. "Original name. That certainly doesn't sound like something out of a fairy tale villain description to scare young dragonets into behaving."

Morrowseer growled, before turning away to angrily stomp off, Wither finally taking a look around him. Copper pipes lined a majority of the walls, and there were strange contraptions strewn about the place. "... A laboratory. The other one must have been their head scientist..." He settled, knowing he could just rip the rest of the spikes out, but this turn of events actually presented him with an opportunity.

To learn more of the Nightwing's side of the story. To see how bad it really was here. And most importantly, a chance to confront those in charge. He laid his head down, his anger still stewing at Morrowseer. "... You decided to try and play with the lives of other dragons, Morrowseer. I just hope you're willing to pay the price for that arrogance. That debt does not disappear."

Sunny looked to Glory in shock. "You're... challenging to become queen? Won't that mean that you'll need to fight her? To... To the death?" Glory shrugged. "I highly doubt it. Rainwings are too lazy for a traditional succession battle. I don't know what it will be, but I need to do something... If we don't, we have no chance of saving Wither or the Rainwings." Clay nodded. "Besides, maybe having Glory as a queen will get them out of their hammocks for once." Tsunami barked a laugh. "Knowing glory, they'll be chasing their tails for a few days first."

Glory sighed, before looking to Moonwatcher, who had been quiet. "... What about you, Moon? Any thoughts?" Moon blinked, looking surprised as all of them turned to her. "M-Me?" Glory nodded, giving a smile. "I know it's been... a rough start, but you're one of us now, Moon. What you want is just as important. Do you have any thoughts?" Moon blushed lightly, looking to the side. "I-I'm... not sure... E-Ever since Wither taught me to dull out other's thoughts, I've tried not to eavesdrop on anyone, but there was something I noted. There's a dragon, somewhere in the village. She... She mentioned Wither by name in her thoughts."

They all blinked, Sunny being the first to speak. "Really? Who could it have been?" Starflight thought for a second. "... The only one that Wither's admitted he's known. It must be Queen Grandeur." Sunny frowned. "But... didn't he say he hoped not to meet her again? If we mention him, it might get him in trouble." Glory rolled her eyes. "He's already in trouble. Besides, how bad could it be?" Kinkajou popped up in between them all. "Could we go see my friends first? They must have been so worried when I went missing."

Glory blinked, almost forgetting about the little Rainwing. "... Sure. Let's go make sure they know you're safe." Kinkajou beamed, before flying up towards the suntime areas, before her face brightened. "Coconut!" She landed down near a hammock, a Rainwing with almost sickly green scales highlighted with yellow cracking an eye open, yawning. "Kinkajou? Haven't seen you since you ran off from Bromeliad."

Kinkajou frowned. "I was... didn't you look for me?" Coconut shrugged. "I figured you'd be back eventually. Took you a week to end your prank on Bromeliad? About time." Kinkajou looked at him, a hurt expression on her face as Coconut fell back asleep. Glory came up, putting a talon on hers. "I'm... sorry that they act this way. This is what I want to change about the Rainwings. I want them to be a better tribe than this... A tribe that cares about others rather than just passively."

Kinkajou nodded to her, thinking. "... You needed to see Grandeur. I don't know where she is, but Jambu might." She smiled lightly. "Thanks, Glory... I think I'm gonna like you as a queen." Glory blushed lightly while Starflight and Tsunami held back snickers. Even Moon giggled a little at Glory's look of embarrassment. Glory coughed to shake off her blush. "R-Right. Let's go find Jambu."

They had tracked down Jambu, who was taking a nap in a hammock next to Pineapple, both seemingly content with their lazing, until Glory poked him awake. "Huh? Oh. What's up, sis?" Glory gave a small chuckle. "Listen, do you know where Grandeur lives? We need to talk to her." Jambu nodded, rubbing sleepy eyes. "Yeah, I know where she usually broods. She's kinda meaner than most other Rainwings, but she is the oldest dragon in the village and is all too happy to tell stories of her time as queen. Well... When she was the only queen."

He rolled out of his hammock, stretching lightly. "I'll be back soon, Pineapple." The other Rainwing smiled, waving a lazy talon. "Have fun." Jambu nodded, smiling as he stretched his wings. "Come on. Queen Grandeur is this way." He flew off, headed further away from the Rainwing village with the others following after. He weaved through the trees while the other dragonets had to be a little more careful, still not used to flying in the densely packed forest.

Jambu led on until they all came to a platform a fair ways away from the village, isolated from the rest. Laying on the platform was a very old dragon. She had wrinkles in her purple scales, her rough highlighted with sunset orange, a few flower bracelets adorning her talons. She slowly gazed up at them, a scowl on her face. "What do you brats want?"

Glory stepped forward, keeping eye contact with the larger, elderly dragon. "Queen Grandeur?" The elderly dragon huffed. "If you can even call me that anymore. What do you want?" Glory swallowed lightly, putting on a brave face. "Queen Grandeur, I know you are still the true Queen of the Rainwings... And I seek to challenge the queens to take the throne." Grandeur looked at her curiously, before barked a laugh, wheezing lightly.

"Oh, Dragonets these days. You think you're ready to be queen? You're at least a decade too early, worm." Glory frowned. "There are dragons missing. Kidnapped. And the other queens have done nothing about it. You have done nothing about it." Grandeur growled. "Watch your tongue, Dragonet. I can smash you down to the ground easily. Besides, they're missing. Not kidnapped." Kinkajou stepped forward. "No. They were kidnapped. I was one of them. A dragon hit me in the head and dragged me away from the Rainforest, just like all the others."

Grandeur hummed, before scoffing. "Well, I'm not queen Right now. So go bother Magnificent. I'm tired." She laid her head down. Sunny looked at her worriedly. "But... We need to act now... Wither..." Grandeur's head shot up, her eyes wide and staring at Sunny. "What did you just say!?" Sunny flinched lightly, looking at her. "Th-the kidnappers... They abducted a dragon who's been taking care of us... His name is Wither."

Grandeur stared for a long minute, before growling. "That idiotic lizard... Well, I've wanted to have words with him for a long time... Is he hurt?" Sunny shook her head. "We don't know... He was knocked out with a boulder, then taken away. We just barely got Glory and Kinkajou out, but we couldn't find him... We... We don't know what to do, but we need to save him."

The old Queen growled lightly. "He always did have a knack for getting into trouble." All of the dragonets blinked at her, Glory being the first to speak. "... Wither mentioned he knew you once, but never told us how..." Grandeur scoffed. "Of course he wouldn't. Why would he? It's only been about eighty years." She huffed, Glory looking a bit worried. "... Did something happen between you two?"

Grandeur nodded. "Yes, but now isn't the time for it... I'm afraid to say, becoming queen will require you to challenge all of the queens. It's not a fight to the death, but more of a competition based on our culture... I can help you, but you still need to prove yourself to me in these tasks." Glory nodded, before feeling something furry drop onto her neck. She turned, seeing her sloth wrapped around her neck with a happy warble. She smiled, scratching it's chin. "And where have you been all this time?" It chirped, snuggling into her neck.

Grandeur sighed. "Alright... Go issue your challenge. Knowing Magnificent, she'll find a way so you have to challenge all of us, so make sure you have some other friends willing to participate for you." Glory nodded, smiling. "We'll make sure Wither can answer for whatever happened between you." They all flew off, leaving Grandeur to ponder. "You're still alive... after so many years... You haven't changed at all. Always helping, but never getting too close... You have a lot to answer for to me, Wither. If you die, I'll hunt you down in whatever afterlife you have until you answer why you left."

Wither's eye cracked open when he heard talons slowly coming towards him, spotting a Nightwing dragonet about the age of his own dragonets. He looked at her curiously as she tilted her head to peek around, seeing if anyone else was there, before sneaking next to him, not realizing he was awake. "Can I help you, little one?" She squeaked, before smiling. "Oh. How did I not see you were awake?"

He chuckled. "Probably because you were focused on not being seen by other Nightwings." She giggled. "Probably. I've never seen a dragon like you. Not even in one of my visions." He quirked an eye at her, searching for the tear shaped scales, but they weren't there. "... Probably because I'm not all that important. Not important enough to be involved in a vision or prophecy, that's for sure... So, what's the name of the little spy in front of me?"

She chuckled. "I'm Fatespeaker! We just arrived on the island a few days ago... It totally sucks. Smokey skies, the air is hard to breath, and we never got the walrus we were promised! Not even the one I saw in one of me visions!" He nodded. "It makes sense, a volcanic island would have very little living on it... Wait, did you say we? Who else came with you?" She beamed. "We're from the Talons of Peace! Morrowseer brought us here."

Wither's anger towards the false prophet spiked. "... Are the others that were brought here your friends?" She nods. "Yeah... For the most part. There's Viper, Ochre, Flame and Squid. Guess what? Morrowseer says we're the dragonets of destiny!" Wither stared at her, but his talons cracked the stone beneath him. Five more. Five more dragonets that the false prophecy had pulled into the war. Five innocent Dragons force into this scheme.

He took a deep breath to calm down. "Is that so? Well, I hope you make a good choice on who gets to win the war." Fatespeaker sighed. "Morrowseer keeps saying that we need to choose Blister, but I'm not so sure. We've never even met her." He rolled his eyes. "Well, if he's already telling you what to choose, then it's not really a choice is it?" Fatespeaker thought for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah. Good point."

He sighed, before looking to Fatespeaker. "So, I can assume the other dragonets with you are of the different tribes? I can only guess that Flame is a Skywing?" Fatespeaker nodded. "Yeah. How did you know?" Wither looked around, making sure no other Nightwings were nearby. "... This is a secret, okay?" Fatespeaker nodded. "I won't tell anyone."

Wither nodded, before whispering. "There are other dragonets. Another set of five dragonets. Morrowseer has been trying to get them to choose Blister, but they didn't do what he wanted... That's why he got you all. He wants to try and influence the prophecy in his own favor." Her eyes widened. "No way! I knew he felt evil. One of my visions told me so." He chuckled. "Visions among Nightwings aren't very common, you know."

She glared at him. "Hey, my visions are real! Plenty have come true!" He rolled his eyes. "Well yes, if you keep guessing, you'll eventually get something that comes true every once in a while." She was about to retort when talons scraping on stone started coming towards them. She squeaked, before scrambling away as Morrowseer came back in with the other Nightwing from before.

"It really is a marvel at this report. He had a boulder dropped on him to knock him out, and it shattered on his head, blood pooling on the ground from Vengeance's report, but when he was brought in... there was only dried blood. No injuries." Morrowseer scoffed. "That doesn't matter. We have him, and now we use him." Wither looked at them, a look of boredom on his face. "One issue there, Barrowsneer. I have no incentive to do anything for you."

Morrowseer growled. "Silence, worm." He gestured for several Nightwing guards to come closer, spears pointed at Wither as the Deathwing scoffed. "First off, that's not intimidating when they all look half starved. Secondly, I'd like to meet this dark council. I'm curious how deep this foolishness runs in the 'leaders' of this tribe." Morrowseer growled louder. "Silence!"

He stalked forward, Wither adopting a bored expression. "Really, if you're trying to scare me into doing what you want, I'll tell you right now that you're wasting your time. Besides, intimidation only works if you were actually... intimidating." Morrowseer growled as some of the Nightwing guards had to hold back their snickers. "Enough! You will be silent or be subjected to punishment! Now silence!"

Wither idly picked a talon in his ear. "You really do like shouting. I thought prophets were supposed to talk mystically and mysteriously, not scream until something happens. What ever happened to having a civil conversation?" The Nightwings were unsure of what to do, but Morrowseer barked out at them. "Grab his chains! We take him now!" Wither rolled his eyes. "I am perfectly capable of walking myself, thank you very much. For someone who sees the future, you'd think you would have some amount of patience."

One of the guards couldn't stop a chuckle, Morrowseer whipping around to glare at him. "No more distractions. We leave now!" Wither rolled his eyes. "Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the barrow." Morrowseer was almost seeing red when Wither simply moved forward, pulling the spikes holding him out of the wall with him. "So... Are we going, or do I get to have more fun at your expense?"

Glory landed on the platform to Queen Magnificent's hut, seeing the small line of Rainwings. None of them looked hurt or in a huge hurry, so she came up to them. "Hello. I hope you all don't mind if I see the Queen really fast? It's urgent, and after I talk with her, your troubles will be addressed much quicker." The one in the front tilted her head. "What do you mean? granted, we aren't in a huge hurry, but what's the issue?" Glory smiled. "... I'm challenging Magnificent for the position of queen... All their positions."

All the Rainwings looked at her in shock, the female speaking again. "You're... challenging to become the only queen? Oh, how exciting! We haven't had a huge event like that in years! This is going to be fun!" She looked to the others, all of them shrugging. "Go on ahead. Tell us how it turns out." Glory nodded, entering the hut.

Magnificent was laying on her pile of woven blankets and other fineries, stroking her sloth lazily. "Oh... Who were you again? It's been so boring today." Glory growled. "It's Glory. And I've found the missing Rainwings. They've been kidnapped." Magnificent seemed less than bothered. "Well, that will at least get Mango off my case." Glory frowned deeply. "It was Mangrove." Magnificent waved a talon. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

She went back to stroking her sloth, about to call out for the next dragon, before jumping as Glory slammed a talon into the floor. "Nearly a dozen dragons have been kidnapped and tortured and you aren't going to do anything!?" Magnificent gained an annoyed expression. "Why? They're just a couple of dragons." Glory grew deathly silent, before speaking after a long minute. "Then it's clear you don't deserve what you have."

Magnificent frowned. "What was that, brat?" Glory glared up at her, determination burning in her eyes. "Queen magnificent. I challenge you for the throne as queen of the Rainwings." Magnificent blinked, tilting her head. "Well, Splendor hasn't been around in a while, so we could give you her spot." Glory nearly attacked her then and there. "No! I need to be queen right now. There are missing dragons, and apparently a missing queen, and you aren't willing to do anything because you're just too lazy!"

Magnificent looked at her in anger, red zipping across her scales. "Careful, dragonet. I might take that statement in a wrong way." Glory growled. "You're supposed to! I've only been here for less than a week, and it's obvious that even though your people are in danger, you do nothing. You don't do anything but listen to complaints! I've met two queens of other tribes, and both would kill you with little to no trouble! You're pathetic!"

Magnificent started to growl. "Watch your tongue-" "No!" Glory stamped her talon again. "You might be queen, but all you really are is a lazy dragon who just wants to be dressed up! All the other queens of the tribes can fight, but you're the kind of dragon who would just say you quit! You're a failure of a queen! If you won't do anything for your own tribe, then I'll take your place and actually do something instead of wasting my time petting sloths and sleeping!"

Magnificent was about to throw her out when a very old rainwing came up. "Your majesty, her challenge does hold merit. She has the right to challenge you for the throne, and not accepting will lead to a major dispute. It would fall to the Tribe to determine which of you will be queen but seen as an act of cowardice to not accept. Luckily, the challenge will take the form of a competition."

Magnificent growled. "Fine, brat. You want a challenge, you've got it... Come back tomorrow so I can determine what the competition is. Then, we can see who is the better Rainwing." Glory nodded. "I'll be sure to give you a commendation when I win." She turned, walking out as Magnificent fumed.

She walked out to the Rainwing line, who all looked at her with stars in their eyes. "That was awesome! I've never seen her that mad before." An older Rainwing nodded, scoffing at the hut. "It was about time someone called her out. Good work, Young one." Glory nodded to them. "Rainwings are being hurt... It's about time someone in charge cared about that."

They all nodded to her as she flew back to the Dragonets at the healing hut. Moonwatcher still had a headache, and the healers had a lovely herbal tea that was supposed to help. She landed down, Sunny running up to her. "How did it go?" Glory smiled. "About as well as I had hoped. Now... I need to know everything that might happen." Jambu nodded. "Grandeur talked about this sort of thing. Last time it happened was when she became queen."

He settled, scratching an itch on his back. "So, the competition is gonna be divided into five parts. Each one is a basic task of Rainwing society. There's a treegliding race, A fruit gathering competition, camouflage contest, venom shooting, and flower picking." Glory looked at him, eye twitching. "... Okay, this is more stupid than actually just fighting her."

Jambu chuckled. "Yeah, well, Grandeur said that, since there's five queens, Magnificent will probably try to get a way so all five participate. But, since our rules need to be fair, You need to choose four more dragons to compete on your side. My guess is Magnificent will try to get you to choose your friends since they know little about our ways." Glory nodded. "So I need others..." Moon raised a talon, blushing lightly when everyone looked at her.

"W-Well, we have some Rainwing friends. There's Kinkajou, Mangrove and Jambu here... We'd just be short one. I'm not very good at flower picking, and I think Mangrove is pretty good at collecting fruit. I can glide through trees pretty well, but I think Jambu would be better." Jambu smiled. "Thanks for the compliment." She nodded, until Kinkajou perked up.

Glory looked at her expectantly. "Yes, Kinkajou?" She beamed at her. "I know exactly who would be good at flower picking. I have a friend who tends the royal garden. She loves all of the flowers and hates it when Queen Fruit bat uses the garden on her turn. She tears the whole thing up. But... My friend, Tamarin... You should probably know that she's blind." Glory thought for a moment. What would Wither say?

She nodded, looking to Kinkajou. "Go tell your friend that we might need her help. In the meantime, Jambu." She turned to her brother, looking determined. "Go get Mangrove. I need you both to teach me as much as possible before tomorrow." He nodded, flying off as She looked to the others. "... Sorry you all can't do anything. I... I just really want this to work."

Clay smiled, his tail folding over hers. "Don't worry. We understand... We should probably set up people to watch the tunnel." Glory nodded. "You and Starflight keep an eye on it. I might need Tsunami's tongue for lashing Magnificent when we win." Tsunami chuckled. "That sounds awesome." Glory looked up at the slowly moving sun. "I hope this works... Wither. Be safe."

Wither followed the Nightwings, the guards nervously pointing their spears at him as he dragged the iron spikes behind him, the metal scraping across stone as they went through narrow hallways. Wither didn't seem afraid, even if he was internally worried, but not because of the Nightwings.

"These dark thoughts have gotten more frequent and intrusive... Where are they coming from? Ugh. I hope this doesn't prove to be a problem." They went through a cave entrance into a large council room. He and Morrowseer were on a platform in the middle with a single walkway leading out, surrounded by the molten blood of the volcano. He looked down at it, noticing the flowing melted rock, and how fast the current was, before looking up.

Rows and Rows of Nightwings laced the outer ring of the chamber, with a single dragon sitting on a throne, next to an oddly shaped dome-like structure in the wall, with holes carved into it. The Nightwing next to it spoke up. "The dark council has commenced. We will now proceed with our issue of today. What do we do with this dragon that Blister has adamantly insisted has the power of bringing back the dead."

Wither sighed at that last part, knowing Blister was going to be a major problem. He sat down, looking directly at the dragon leading the council. "Well, I have my opinion, but feel free to try and convince me to do anything for you. But know this. There is one thing I hate more than anything else in this world, and that is dragons who think they can toy with the lives of others..."

He settled his glare on the lead dragon. "So please. Go ahead. Do try to convince me why I should aid a tribe of conniving schemers who have given every single tribe in this war a false sense of hope with a false prophet and a fake prophecy."

There you are. A little shorter than my goal, but things have gotten a little hectic. I do hope you all enjoyed reading it so far. I hope it's to your liking, and I am hopeful of the direction this story is going. More drama to come. I do hope to have more action scenes, but that's for a later time. Anyway, if you enjoyed, feel free to follow, and if you have suggestions, or just want to give opinion, feel free to review. I'll see you all next week.