Back with another one. Still no feedback or answers. Posting the first book was a trial run; I'm going to delete this story and re-post the completely edited version once everything else has been written. This one is just supposed to collect reviews so I can better the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. All credit goes where due.
NOTE: In a few places the wording will be similar if not the same as the Sutherland books. This is done because a re-word would sound silly and the setting, plot, universe, and characters are distinctly different enough to not constitute an infraction of the "no posting the original work with thoughts thrown into the flow of the work" rule.
It seemed like a long time later when Anion finally slunk back into the main hall with Wormhole close behind him.
The enormous Voidwing slithered off to the Guardian's Cave without a word to any of the Dragonets. Anion glanced at them, then turned and headed for the Dragonets' sleeping cave.
Clay hurried after him, and Cyclone broke contact with Tsunami and followed, wincing and stopping in the archway to keep an ear in the hallway's direction.
"What happened?" Clay asked Anion. "What did he say to you?"
"I'm not supposed to talk about it." Anion said stiffly. He sat down in the middle of their cave, his wings askew behind him, and started poking through the scrolls on the floor.
"It's over here." Clay said, nudging a fat, amythest-laced scroll with violet letters that had rolled under his sleeping ledge. Anion hooked it over with one talon, tucked it under a wing, and carried it up to his ledge. He curled up with his tail draped over his nose and started reading.
"Wow." Clay said. "So it was that bad?" Tales of the Voidwings was Anion's favorite scroll, and he always read it when he was upset or fighting with one of the other dragonets.
The tip of Anion's tail twitched. "I have a lot to learn." He said.
"But you already know everything!" Clay exclaimed. "You and Winter have to be the smartest dragons in all of Pyrrhia. Couldn't he tell that with his powers?"
Anion didn't answer.
"I thought he liked you." Clay said. "Surely he said something about what a great and smart and noble dragon you must be because you're a Voidwing."
A long, tired breath whooshed out of Anion's snout. "Yeah." He said. "That's exactly what he told me, actually."
"Oh." Clay said. "Well, that's good, isn't it? Did he tell you who your parents are?"
Anion fidgeted with the scroll, shredding a corner of it between his claws. Cyclone had never seen him upset enough to damage a scroll without noticing – especially his favorite one.
"At least you're not a Lifewing. Poor Flora; she's the subject of all these big dragons' anger." Clay tried. "Did Wormhole say anything about her?"
Anion frowned at him over the edge of the rock. "Not much. He said, 'Don't worry about the Lifewing. I'll take care of it.'"
Cyclone felt a cold chill climb up through the stone floor and spread painfully through his citrine scales.
"What does that mean?" Clay worried. "What's he going to do?"
"How should I know? You know that we're not Animus dragons." Anion poked his nose back into the scroll. "Maybe she didn't live up to his expectations. Maybe he has a replacement. Maybe she'll get to go home. She's probably the luckiest of all of us."
Cyclone couldn't see the Guardians just releasing Flora, not after all the years of secrecy. Wormhole probably had some sort of prison cell or something for her.
"We have to go spy on them." Clay said, jumping to his feet. "We have to know what they're planning." Cyclone stopped him halfway through the cave, and Clay stamped his foot in frustration. "Oh, no, we can't. Wormhole will know we're there."
"Right." Anion said. "He'll hear you thinking all your big, loud, worried thoughts."
"Hey, I meant Wormhole's special eye might show him that we're there." Clay said, mimicking Anion's top-of-the-class voice. "You know that he can't read minds. That's the trade-off for his perfectly clear visions. And you wouldn't know how my thoughts are. They could be quiet and serene."
Anion snorted with amusement, the first happy sound he'd made since Wormhole showed up.
"What are you doing?" Flare's anxious voice echoed across the main hall. "What's that for?" The heavy tread of dragon footsteps reached their ears, along with ominous clanking. "Stop! Wait! You don't have to do that!"
There was an enormous splash.
Cyclone raced to the big cave with Anion and Clay close behind him, ignoring the pain. He skidded to a halt, taking in the scene. Kestrel and Dune were standing on the bank of the river, holding a length of iron chain between their talons. Behind them, Wormhole was on his hind legs holding Flare back with his arms as she struggled to wiggle out of his firm grasp. The other Guardians were behind them: Asha standing there with a sad look on her face; Quicktail grumbling to himself; Glint's sympathetic frown; Shroud studying Wormhole uneasily; Paradise watching in horror; Nebula right next to Wormhole, mimicking his usual scowl; and Fjord looking as straight-faced as always.
Webs emerged from the river, dragging a writhing, hissing ball of blue scales, sending a wave of anger, regret, and sadness all throughout Cyclone as soon as he saw her. Kestrel and Dune threw the chain around Tsunami's neck and wrapped it around one of her legs. The three Guardians hauled her over to one of the rock columns that stretched from the floor to the ceiling high above. Kestrel flung the chain around the column twice, binding Tsunami with barely three steps to move in any direction.
Dune took the two ends of chain and blasted them with a plume of flame. The metal melted into a bubbling mass, welded together.
Tsunami was trapped. And he could've stopped that.
"Maybe some time away from the river will teach you to be grateful for what you have." Kestrel growled.
If he'd never left her to follow Anion then he would've been able to do something! If he couldn't stop the Guardians, then he could've at least been with her when they did that! Another eruption of anger washed over him. "Let her go!" Cyclone recovered from the shock and charged across the cavern. He grabbed the chain and let go at once, hissing with pain at the searing heat. He looked at Tsunami worriedly, then whipped around and growled at Kestrel, Dune, and Wormhole, hate burning in his eyes and cloud curling around his horns. His throat hummed at the charging of electricity.
"You'll regret this." Tsunami snarled. She clawed at the chain around her back leg, but pulling on it tightened the loop around her neck. With a hiss, she stopped struggling. "When we're free – when my family hears about this – when the rest of the world finds out how you treated the Dragonets of Fate—"
"All your big dreams of your wonderful family." Kestrel mocked her. "They don't care about you. When it's time to fulfill the Prophecy, you'll be alive, and the Talons of Peace will have you, and that's all that matters."
"Why are you doing this?" Flare cried. "Tsunami's one of the good ones! She's wonderful! If anyone can save the world, it's her."
"Actually, Heatwing," Wormhole rumbled, "the dragonet you should believe in is Anion over there." He nodded at Anion, still rooted in place by the sleeping cave. Anion ducked his head and Winter brushed her wings against his. "Voidwings are natural leaders. You do what he says, and you'll be alright."
Cyclone glanced over at Anion and saw Flora standing in the archway of her own sleeping cave. Wormhole narrowed his eyes at her.
"I'll be back tomorrow." He said to Nebula. "To make sure everything has been … dealt with."
"We understand." Nebula said. Asha and Dune rolled the boulder aside. Wormhole ducked through the gap and disappeared into the blackness without a backward glance.
"This is for your own good." Webs said, stopping in front of Tsunami. She raked her talons at him, and he stepped back. "We only want to keep you safe. Maybe this isn't the perfect way, but—"
"But the Dragonets don't know what's best for them." Dune said as the boulder thudded back into place. "You need us, whether you like it or not."
"You were all awful today." Kestrel said. "No dinner for any of you. Go to bed, and I don't want to hear a squeak out of anyone until morning."
"Really? What else are you going to do to me?" Tsunami challenged her. "What if I feel like singing all night?" She started howling in an off-key voice. "Oh, the Dragonets are coming! They're coming to save the day! They're coming to fight, for they know what's right, the Dragonets, hooray!"
"Your fault." Dune snarled at Webs while all the other Guardians but Kestrel left for their sleeping cave. "I told you not to teach them that horrible bar song."
"Paradise helped." Shroud pointed out.
"OH, THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING!" Tsunami bellowed even louder.
"We have more chains!" Kestrel yelled at her. "We could throw one around your snout if you would like me to force you to be quiet."
Cyclone looked to the nicer Guardians, wishing they were brave enough to do something.
Tsunami paused, glaring at her mutinously, then took another breath in and opened her mouth.
"Or we could chain up one of your friends." Dune offered. "Perhaps Cyclone would want to spend the night chained to the column in front of you. He complained to Wormhole today, too."
Cyclone immediately glared at Kestrel, inspecting her scales and looking for weak spots. He hissed at her and bared his teeth. He wanted so badly to see her golden blood all over the floor for doing this - all of this. She treated Tsunami the worst and Cyclone hated that. He hated it so much. Claw marks were beginning to show on the ground where he was scratching at the floor impatiently.
Tsunami snapped her jaws shut and lay down with her head turned away from all the dragons. Her gills fluttered furiously, but she kept quiet.
"Much better." Kestrel said. She stomped off to her tunnel, her sun-yellow scales flaring brightly in the fire's reflection. Webs followed her with his wet tail leaving a darker trail behind them.
Flare pinned Dune's tail before he could go after them. "Please don't leave her like this." She said. "I know you're not that mean."
Dune shook her talon off. "We're doing what we have to." He went after Kestrel and Webs, the rest of the Guardians having already entered their cave.
As soon as they were gone, Cyclone tried tugging on Tsunami's chains. They were hopelessly strong.
"Clay, you know what you have to do." Tsunami whispered. "Go, quickly!"
"No." Clay said. "I'm not leaving you."
Cyclone looked Tsunami in the eye. "I'll do it." He said. "I doubt their conversation would go on for more than ten minutes." It was his fault that she was trapped. It was his fault for leaving her in the river to follow Clay and Anion. He could at least do this for her.
He ran into the river and dove in before any of them could protest. Through the water, he could hear the muffled echo of the others as he swam against the current to the rock wall.
He found the gap that led through to the other cave, and he ducked and squeezed through.
Slowly he paddled to the surface and poked his ears out into the air.
This wasn't the loud confrontation they'd heard the previous night. This time, the ten big dragons were huddled around the fire, whispering. None of them glanced at the river as Cyclone floated closer.
"When tomorrow?" Quicktail asked.
Glint leaned toward the fire, baking her scales an even brighter white. "He'll be back by midday. It has to be done by then." Her tail was coiled in a tight knot beside him. "He doesn't want to see her again."
Cyclone clenched his talons and bared his teeth underwater. They had to be talking about Flora.
"Well, I'm not doing it." Paradise said.
Fjord shot her a withering look. "No one thought you would."
"Wait." Asha said, puzzled. "If he wants Flora dead, then how will the Dragonets fulfill the Prophecy?"
"He has another Lifewing hatched on the Brightest Night. He doesn't fit the other critera in the Prophecy, though – or else he'd be the real Wings of Life." Nebula said. "Snake. Wormhole had him raised to be like a Voidwing – just in case ours was unsatisfactory."
"Which is just the case." Shroud grumbled.
They all went quiet for a moment, staring into the fire.
"So, how and when?" Dune said in is no-nonsense military voice. "Drowning would be the simplest." He glared at Webs.
"I joined the Talons of Peace to stop killing dragons." Webs said. "I won't argue with Wormhole, but I'm not doing it myself."
"Besides, I don't think he could hold her underwater for ninety minutes." Nebula pointed out.
"It has to be me. I'm the fastest." Kestrel said in a choked, tense voice. "She's just a Lifewing, but she still might get away from you all. They have a talent for stealth." She nodded at Dune's missing foot and the long scar that ran through his mangled wing.
"But can you go through with it?" Asha asked. "Isn't it too much like – I mean, we all know what happened—"
"That was totally different." Kestrel snapped. "Flora is just a Lifewing. I don't care about her. I don't even like her." She shot a blast of electricity at the fire so it blazed up and the reds were mixed in with the yellows from electric fire.
"If you're sure . . ." Paradise started.
"I'll do it tonight while she's sleeping." Kestrel said. "I can get in there and break her neck before the others know what I'm doing, especially with the bossy one safely chained up. Clay would try, but I can easily take care of him. Who I'm really worried about is Cyclone. He's not stubborn and bossy like Tsunami, he's dangerous." She shifted her wings. "You all saw him earlier, glaring at me like he wanted to tear my throat out because I chained his girlfriend up. He's not afraid to kill."
Cyclone had heard enough. He sank down below the surface and swam toward the gap in the wall, trying to keep his glowscales from pulsing in anger.
Another one down. Also, I don't think you need an account to leave a review.
Cyclone: She's not my girlfriend.
Ray: Sure... Sure.
Tsunami: *glares at Ray* I'll cut you.
Thanks for reading!