Chapter 32

Let's hope Grandeur is in a listening mood...

The flight path to Queen Grandeur's not-so-secret clearing led them back to the queens' treehouse. The line had gotten slightly longer - Windracer counted at least twelve dragons standing on the platform.

All those dragons waiting in line to see a queen who won't even lift a claw to help them. They deserve better than that. A rabid goat deserves better than that!

Definitely Arid's thoughts. She was right to be mad. Aside from Queen Moorhen, and possibly Queen Glacier, almost every queen they'd met so far was pretty awful. Yes, Tourmaline was now ruling the SkyWings and Queen Coral wasn't nearly half as bad as Queen Scarlet was or how Queen Battlewinner sounded, but Windracer didn't understand why anyone would actually allow such terrible dragons to sit on their tribes' thrones.

I guess even a terrible queen is better than no queen, he reasoned. Still, it doesn't seem fair to everyone else.

"How much further is it?" Lagoon asked politely.

"We're almost there," Vivid promised. "It's just beyond those trees." She pointed to the stretch of rainforest behind the queens' hut.

There was a snort, accompanied by a small burst of chilling air, courtesy of Subzero. "I don't see why Mr. Moony-Eyes can't use his magic to get all the RainWings back," he said.

"Because magic can't be used to solve everything," Windracer said. "Some problems are better solved the long, hard way instead of taking the easy way out. If I teleported every dragon in that death trap of a kingdom somewhere else, or made the volcano disappear, or something, there could be consequences to those scenarios that haven't been considered. And what kind of spell could I possibly use to, say, end the war? It's just too risky. Not just for me, but for everyone."

"I agree," Vivid cut in. "We need to tell Queen Grandeur about this. It's the right thing to do."

Subzero looked at them both for a solid minute.

Now would probably be a good time to be able to hear what he's thinking, Windracer said to himself. The frostscales IceWing's thoughts were all but lost in a raging mental blizzard, too fast and too plentiful to read clearly. If there was one thing about Subzero that Windracer knew for absolute certain, it's that he definitely wasn't a happy dragon.

"Fine," Subzero finally said, grumbling. "But don't blame me if this whole place gets covered in snow and ice by tomorrow morning. It was your idea to bring a walking and talking snowstorm into the rainforest."

Is that really what he thinks of himself? Ember thought. A living hazard? He can't be as dangerous as he thinks he is. Maybe he's just lonely. I would be, if I had to stay away from all other dragons all the time.

Windracer silently agreed with her. Maybe Subzero would be happier if he had a friend or two. And he still had to talk to the IceWing about his idea for how to help with his frostscales.

"Right this way," said Vivid. She weaved through the tree trunks, playfully scattering some leaves with her tail as she passed by.

Of the eight dragons that followed her, Windracer and Ember had the easiest time navigating through the trees. They were the best fliers. Marmoset and Mango, on the other talon, got tangled up in each other's tails and wings and started yelling at each other for getting in the way.

Subzero didn't even bother trying to dodge the obstacles. Everything he touched frosted over and snapped right off when he pushed through.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Bog said timidly. He clambered over a particularly large branch that he'd crashed into. "This is the RainWings' home. We can't destroy it."

"It was gonna get wrecked anyway," Subzero snapped at him. "The second I touch something, it freezes over. Why bother trying to avoid all this nature that's in my way if it'll freeze at one stray tap of the tail?"

"Because it's a nice thing to do," Arid offered. "Because it might scare the RainWings or hurt the animals. Because the rest of us aren't destroying the trees."

He glared at her, but said nothing.

"Maybe you don't have to," Windracer said. "Freeze something when you touch it, I mean. I can help with your frostscales, but only if you'd like me to."

Subzero still didn't say anything, but, if Windracer was reading his expression right, he looked mildly intrigued.

"I can give you a choice," he continued. "I can cast a spell so you can only have your frostscales when you want them. But that's a choice you have to make for yourself; I won't use my magic for you, or on you, without your consent. You don't have to answer right away, you can think about it for however long you need to."

For an agonizingly long moment, Subzero hovered there staring at Windracer with an unreadable expression. The mental blizzard in his mind had calmed down a little, but it was still too chaotic for Windracer to navigate.

"Alright," the IceWing finally said. "I'll think about it."

When they reached the clearing, Windracer was blown away by the sight.

It was smaller than they'd imagined, about the size of Mayfly's hut, and there were small, elegant flowers everywhere. The sunlight peeked through the overgrowth, casting a warm glow on the dragon lying in the middle of the clearing. She was roughly as big as Queen Coral; her scales were a pale lavender color, seemingly glittering with tiny dewdrops, and her ruff was a pale orange. She was clearly very old, judging by her wrinkled snout and half-asleep eyes.

The moment Windracer saw her, a few new futures opened up in his mind - a white dragonet writhing in pain, a crowd of cheering rainbow-colored dragons, a NightWing clawing his own face off, a purplish-pink and yellowish-orange dragonet chasing butterflies in the sun.

He could hear what she was thinking, too. It's always so peaceful here. Too peaceful. At least none of the other queens will bother me here. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to share the throne after all.

"Queen Grandeur," Windracer whispered in realization.

Vivid nodded at him. Then she folded in her wings and dove elegantly into the clearing, landing softly on the flowers. "Pardon the intrusion, Your Majesty," she said. "But there is an urgent matter we need to discuss with you."

Windracer and the others followed her lead. Half of them came tumbling out of the air, and the other half stamped too hard on some of the flowers.

Grandeur studied them with a sour expression. "Well," she said, "there's something you don't see every day."

Windracer picked himself up and bowed his head at the older dragon. "Queen Grandeur of the RainWings, we are in desperate need of your help. Your subjects are being abducted and experimented on by the NightWings, who are planning to take over the rainforest. We need to put together a rescue expedition to go and save them immediately."

She didn't look nearly as alarmed as he hoped she'd be. "Magnificent is the current queen," she told them. "If you have a problem, you should go see her. Or wait a month to see me about it."

"Magnificent won't lift a claw to help us!" Arid shouted. "We need you!"

"You're the most qualified RainWing queen we know," Lagoon tried. "And we're running out of time. The NightWings could invade any time within the next month, or the next week. Maybe even tomorrow."

Now Grandeur looked alarmed. "That does sound serious."

"You should also know," Windracer said, "that I can read minds. And see the future. And I have animus magic. I heard you thinking about the other queens. You thought that maybe sharing the throne wasn't such a good idea. Can you tell us more about that?"

"It was my idea," Grandeur confessed. "The truth is, I am descended from the original line of RainWing queens. We used to keep track of the royal eggs, but my daughters were useless, so we merged our eggs with the tribe's. I was hoping to find successors who were queens in spirit, if not blood. Unfortunately, it didn't do any of us much good. I dare say even my daughters would have been better queens than those five."

"But if you're the true queen of the RainWings," said Bog, "then you can help us, right?"

Grandeur shook her head. "Magnificent and the others don't see it that way. In their eyes, I'm just an extra who has no more power than any of them. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."

Windracer was at a loss. He couldn't see any future where they succeeded without Grandeur's help.

"Please, Your Highness," Ember pleaded in a broken voice. "We need your help. There has to be something you can do! Anything!"

"There is another way," Vivid said. "It's a bit crazy, but it may be our only hope."

"What are you saying?" Arid asked. She didn't understand where this was going.

But Windracer did. Vivid had been thinking about it ever since she and Hoatzin and Hibiscus had told them about the RainWing queens. He knew exactly what she was about to say.

Vivid spread her wings and stood tall. "Queen Grandeur of the RainWings, I hereby challenge you to a contest for throne and kingdom."

A gasp scattered among the eight dragons like leaves in a windstorm.

"A contest?" Arid echoed. "You mean a duel, right?"

"No, I mean a contest," Vivid said. "We don't fight for the throne."

"That's how it works in every other tribe," Subzero pointed out. "You fight, and whoever survives gets to be queen."

"RainWings used to duel like any other tribe," Grandeur explained, "but then we devised a method that doesn't end in death. A challenger must defeat the queen in a competition. That's the basic gist of it."

"But why her?" whined Mango. "Anyone could have the throne, even me if I wanted it!"

Marmoset pointed at Vivid. "Yeah, why should she be queen?"

"Because Vivid is the smartest and most capable RainWing we know," Windracer said. "And I see literally zero futures where Mango is queen of anything."

"Hey, I'm smart!" Mango shouted. "I know what two plus two is - five!"

Arid shook her head. "That wasn't correct the first hundred times you said it, and it still isn't."

"Yeah, stupid," said Marmoset. "Anyone with a brain knows two plus two is eight."

Windracer sighed. Here we go.

"Who are you calling stupid, stupid?!"

"You, duh."

"Duh yourself, pineapple breath!"

"Monkey tail!"

"Fig ears!"

"Jaguar nose!"

"ENOUGH!" Grandeur ordered in a loud, authoritative voice.

The twins promptly fell silent.

Grandeur turned to Vivid. "I accept your challenge. However, it is customary that we take a day to prepare the contests. Meet me at the Arboretum tomorrow at sunrise."

"I understand, Your Majesty," Vivid said. She bowed her head at the larger dragon. "Thank you."

No sooner after Queen Grandeur had returned from her not-so-secret clearing, the news of Vivid's challenge to the queens spread through the kingdom like wildfire.

Everywhere Windracer looked he saw two or more RainWings muttering to each other, and anyone who saw the group passing by would stop whatever they were doing and stare at Vivid. Their thoughts were all buzzing around like a swarm of angry bees; it was hard for Windracer to listen.

Fortunately, he'd figured out a trick to handle that. In his first year, he'd toss small stones into the underground river and watch the ripples. The sight was strangely relaxing, especially after long days of training and lessons and studying and getting thrown into the walls by Kestrel. He'd imagine other dragons' thoughts as ripples, whisking them away into the quiet water. And if that didn't work, he had another trick - find the calmest mind and latch onto it.

They landed on the waiting platform, which had reduced to nine dragons. One of them - blue with the seven colors of the rainbow running up and down her sides, legs and wings - stepped toward the group.

"Vivid!" she said cheerfully. "I heard the news. Are you really challenging the queens?" She blinked at the other seven dragons as though she were noticing them for the first time. "Who are all these dragons?"

"They're friends of mine," Vivid replied. "And, yes, I am challenging the queens. Everyone, this is my mentor-slash-friend, Tui."

All around them, the other RainWings started murmuring. Maybe Windracer didn't know too much about the RainWings in the rainforest, but that was the kind of news that would spread quickly - mainly because it meant they'd have some entertainment at sunrise tomorrow.

Four small dragons swooped in from the trees, two yellow, one blue, and one purple. "Wow!" cried one of the yellow dragonets. "Did you hear that?"

The other one smiled from ear to ear. "Sure did," she said, her voice trembling with excitement.

The purple dragonet's scales suddenly changed to an eye-blinding combination of pink and gold, and he darted past the other three, crying, "Windracer!"

From the ripples in Windracer's mind came a string of joyful thoughts, He's okay! He's safe! He's free! Does he remember me? He must remember me!

And remember him, Windracer did. "Poison Dart!"

The little dragonet careened into him, almost knocking him off the platform.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," Windracer said.

"Not as glad as I am to see you're okay!" chirped Poison Dart.

Vivid regarded them with a smile. "Poison Dart told us all about how a dragon named Windracer helped him escape the NightWings. I knew it had to be you, because what are the odds there's someone else out there with the same name?"

"We actually helped each other," Windracer confessed. "And I think he helped me more than I helped him."

"Well," Vivid said, her ruff turning a prideful indigo, "if there's any dragon I know I can trust, it's you. Excluding fellow RainWings, of course."

There was a light thumping sound as the other three dragonets landed on the platform a few feet away.

Poison Dart waved them over. "Paradise, Kinkajou, Tamarin, this is Windracer. He's the other friend I told you about, remember?"

"I remember," said the second yellow dragonet. "I always knew you were telling the truth. You'd never lie to us."

The two yellow dragonets weren't exactly the same, Windracer observed. The one Poison Dart had addressed as Paradise was yellow and white with yellow-orange wings and thin black lines running down both sides of her body. Kinkajou, on the other talon, was bright yellow and pink with a tiny bit of purple mixed in.

The blue dragonet - Tamarin - moved confidently across the platform, keeping her wings up and out like an insect's antenna. Her eyes were a light shade of blue and stared blankly past them at the trees.

"Over here, Tamarin," Poison Dart called, reaching out his talons to grasp hers.

She's blind, Windracer realized. "Hello," he said warmly, reaching out his own talons and patting Tamarin's shoulder.

"Hello," she echoed, reaching up to feel his face and wings. She wore a garland of red and pink and purple flowers around her shoulders. Whatever they were, they smelled amazing.

"I like your flowers," he said.

"Thank you," Tamarin said simply. "I picked them myself."

Kinkajou bounced over, her excitement evident in both her expression and her scales. "Isn't this great, Tamarin?" she said proudly. "We not only get to meet new friends, but we're also going to have a proper queen for once!"

A few of the RainWings exchanged glances, turning an odd shade of light purplish-orange. Windracer recognized it as meaning puzzled or confused; it was a color he saw the twins wear way too often.

"A proper queen?" echoed another of the RainWings. "Is, uh...is that something we need?"

"What's wrong with the ones we've got?" asked another.

"Why don't you ask Gibbon that question?" Poison Dart shot back. "Or Orchid? Or Splendor, or Tualang or Loris?"

All of the dragons were frowning now; several of them glanced around at the trees as if they expected Orchid and Splendor to come sauntering out to be interviewed.

"Hmmm, that's right," Kinkajou said. "Haven't seen them in a while, have you? That's because they've been kidnapped, like I was. And they're still trapped there - except for Tapir and Bright and Orangutan, who died awful deaths, alone and far away from everything and everyone they loved. And the only dragons who's willing to do anything about it are Vivid and her friends. That's why Vivid should be our queen."

"Don't listen to them." A dark burgundy RainWing shouldered her way through the other dragons and glared at Kinkajou. Her tongue flicked in and out of her mouth. "These dragonets are nothing but trouble. For all we know, Poison Dart could have been hiding in the forest for three weeks to spite me, and now he's made up some ridiculous tale just for the attention."

Violent orange shot through Poison Dart's wings, but he stayed at Windracer's side.

"Put a sheep in it, Bromeliad," Vivid said, placing herself between the older dragon and her friends. "It's all true. I was there, too." She turned her attention to the other dragons on the platform - and the ones who were starting to gather in the trees as well. "Listen to me. Our friends are suffering. They're tortured and trapped in caves in a horrible place that smells of smoke and death. There's no fruit. There's no sun time."

Horrified murmurs swept through the branches overhead. "No sun time?" somebody squeaked.

Vivid took a step along the bridge and several of the RainWings quailed back. "This could have happened - could still happen - to any of you. These dragons I brought with me want to help rescue them, but they can't do it by themselves. And we can't do it without them." She lashed her tail. "I know a lot of you would rather sleep than deal with problems, but those missing dragons are from our tribe, and they need us."

She glanced at the queens' treehouse behind Tui and raised her voice. "That's why I'm going to take the throne tomorrow. Not because I want the biggest pieces of fruit or the highest sun platform. I'm doing this for the missing RainWings - and for you, so that you don't have to spend the rest of your lives looking over your shoulders and thinking, Our friends are still lost...and we could have saved them."

Most of the dragons looked confused, but a few had dark purple stripes rippling over their scales - guilt and shame, living right next to pride on the color spectrum.

"So there," said Kinkajou, sticking out her tongue at Bromeliad.

Windracer heard a few dragons snicker.

"What do we do now?" Paradise asked Vivid brightly. "Never mind, I know exactly what you should do - train for the challenge, right?"

Vivid turned her back on her wide-eyed audience and focused on the four young dragonets. "You four go find Mangrove; he could use some good news right now. I have to bring my other friends back to their escort and tell them all what just happened. Meet me at the big landing platform."

Together, the four colorful dragonets shot off into the trees. Ignoring the crowd, Vivid spread her wings and flew away. Windracer was the first of the group to take off after her.

The dragonets' escort was still on the platform where they'd left them, only Inferno was pacing back and forth across the length of the platform with such vigor it was a wonder he hadn't worn out a trench in the wood.

"FINALLY!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw them approaching. "Do you have any idea what it's like waiting here with all these salamander-brains?!"

Carnelian broke off a stray branch and whacked him in the head with it.

"OW! Oh, come on! Seriously?!"

Auburn slinked past her nephew and approached her son calmly. "So," she said, "did you see Queen Grandeur?"

"Well..." Windracer wasn't sure he was the one who should be breaking the news to them. "We did see her, yes. And, before you ask, yes, we spoke with her, too."

"And how did that go?" Killer asked. Was that too forceful? And what's that apprehensive look he's got? I know Auburn wants me to try and connect with our son, but how can I do that if we don't have anything in common?

Windracer had been trying to connect with his father, too. But Killer had a point - there wasn't much in common between the thrice-moonborn animus hybrid dragonet and his muscular and hard-headed NightWing father.

Vivid spread her wings and stood tall and proud, waves of indigo and reddish-orange rippling through her wings. "I've challenged Queen Grandeur for the throne," she declared.

Everyone on the platform stared at her like she'd just sprouted three extra heads right in front of them.

"But why?" Hoatzin said. "You've never wanted to be a queen."

"You don't know that," said Vivid. "It just didn't come up because we were too busy telling Mangrove about where Orchid is and Poison Dart showing up after weeks of absence with a story of how Windracer saved him from the NightWings."

"Wait," said Diamondback, sitting up and flaring his wings. "If you want to be queen, don't you have to kill Magnificent?"

Inferno, who had been rubbing his aching head, practically burst into the air. "Yes! Finally, some excitement around here!"

"Oh, no," Hibiscus said. "We've developed a peaceful way of fighting for the throne. We compete in bloodless contests and the winner becomes queen."

Inferno's expression turned more sour than a basket full of lemons. Oh, for moon's sake!

"Fascinating," uttered Cleverclaws. His talons twitched as he fought the urge to reach for his scrolls. "I wonder...if I could study this unique behavior, perhaps it could be applied to all the other tribes. It would certainly get rid of all the pressure of preparation for such a fateful fight. Say a queen had only one heir, and if she killed that heir there'd be no one left after her to rule the kingdom. Unless, of course, she was willing to choose a worthy successor outside the royal family."

"I don't know," Windracer interjected. "The other tribes have been doing things their way for hundreds of years. Queen Moorhen said so herself when we visited the Mud Kingdom to find Bog's family."

"That doesn't mean we can't change," Arid said. "We're dragons, not caterpillars. We can do things differently if we choose to."

Vivid smiled at her. "Remember when I said I was starting to like you? Well, I definitely like you. Windracer's lucky to have you as his girlfriend."

The two hybrids instinctively glanced at each other, blushing furiously.

Cleverclaws adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to observe you RainWings in your natural habitat. It's very much an improvement from those dark caves on the volcano. I'll never forget how miserable those poor dragons looked to be away from their beloved rainforest."

"And we'll all help out in whatever way we can," Ocotillo said.

"Whatever," Inferno snorted.

Moon shuffled her talons nervously. Windracer made a mental note to teach her his ripple trick later.

"Well, before we save the missing RainWings, choose a SandWing queen and stop the war, first I have to win the challenge," Vivid said. "So right now I have to go train for this contest thing tomorrow. If anyone wants to come watch while the others keep an eye out for the NightWings, it's in the Arboretum at sunrise tomorrow."

"I'll be there," Lagoon said.

"Me too," Bog piped up.

"No way we're missing it!" Mango cheered.

Arid gave a curt nod. "It'll be nice to know a queen we actually like. If you win, of course."

"I will win," Vivid said, her voice full of determination that Windracer could feel as though it were his own. He could hear her thinking about the other rainforest dragons, chained and muzzled and fed rotting prey, imprisoned away from the sun and their own tribe. "I have to."

Part of the reason I created Vivid in the first place was so the RainWings would have a better queen than most of the ones they had. I knew from the start that Mango would be unfit for the throne, and Vivid isn't the same as Glory but she's definitely a better candidate.

I'll admit that I could, and probably should, have done a better job giving each and every one of the dragonets' allies an active part in this chapter. But that's the price you pay when you have so many characters in the same place at once.

If you wouldn't mind dropping a review, by all means. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Auburn - Valka
Windracer - Hiccup
Arid - Astrid
Lagoon - Heather
Bog - Fishlegs
Marmoset and Mango - Tuffnut and Ruffnut
Killer - Stoick
Inferno - Snotlout
Scorch - Spitelout
Frost - Dagur
Malicious - Hroar
Forger - Gobber