Prepare your eyes, because this one's a long one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire.
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.
Flora took a deep breath and slipped into the river after Clay.
Swimming helped warm her a bit, but her scales felt crusted with ice by the time she'd made it down the tunnel to the battle cave. She swam to the far wall, where the rock sloped down into the water. She floated for a moment, feeling the current tug her. Then she inhaled and dove down.
By the flickering light of the torches above, she could see the patch of wall that was darker than the rest. Tsunami was right; this hole was smaller than the gap to the guardian's cave. Though not exactly, it was flatter, but wider. It was more like a snarling dragon mouth, complete with sharp outcroppings like teeth. She could see dim outlines of rocky shapes and her friends waiting for her on the other side.
Flora reached one forearm into the hole and felt nothing but emptiness. Dark water rushed past her, but then she felt Clay's reassuring talon.
She arrowed to the surface and took the longest, deepest breath of her life, hoping it wouldn't be her last. The water closed over her head in an awful finality to it. She tried not to think about that.
Ninety minutes.
With a few swift kicks, she swam back to the hole and grabbed the rocks on either side to brace herself. She folded her wings tightly to her body and snaked her head through the hole. Her shoulders followed, then her wings, scraping painfully against the stone teeth. She slid through with the least difficulty of the other two Dragonets; Lifewings were slender, probably to make flying in a dense jungle easier.
Her friends craned their necks to look at her. The rock pressed closely around them. The river was narrow here and the current was strong. It carried her forward even when she wasn't trying to swim.
She looked up and tried to find the surface with her front talons, but they clawed at a rock ceiling. There was no air here, only a tight channel filled by river. She wasn't even sure if there was space to turn around.
Nobody signaled anything – that would waste energy – her friends only faced forward and pushed through the water.
Flora followed, kicking her back legs and waving her wings as much as she could in the cramped space. Water gurgled in her ears, as if it were laughing at her efforts. Her heartbeat seemed louder than she'd ever noticed before. At this point, she didn't even care if pale green ripples were starting to spread through her scales.
At least she knew how long she had; Nebula had made sure to teach them: Skywings could hold their breath for ten minutes, Lightwings for twenty, Nullwings for thirty, Darkwings for forty, Heatwings for fifty, Voidwings for sixty, Rockwings for seventy, Coldwings for eighty, Lifewings for ninety, and Seawings for one-hundred - if you didn't count their gills.
She didn't know how long they swam through the dark, twisting channel, but after a while her chest began to hurt. She had never actually tried holding her breath for an entire hour and a half before. The Dragonets only knew about their breath capacities only because of what the scrolls said. What if it took practice? What if only full-grown dragons could do it? What if her lungs were too small?
Clay had already been anxious and wincing for a few minutes, as if he had been holding his breath a minute too long. Tsunami stared back at them worriedly. Flora shuddered as she realized that if Anion had come - he would've drowned. Winter had saved his life by convincing him to stay.
I will not panic.
Flora climbed toward the surface for the hundredth time, determinedly setting her jaw. Still only solid rock above her. But – it seemed like the rock was slanting upward. Was it? She reached her wings up to brush against the stone and swam faster.
The channel was definitely getting wider. She couldn't feel the walls on either side of her anymore. Suddenly the rock above her disappeared as well. The strength of the current dropped away. It felt as if she'd swum out into a wide-open pool.
Flora beat her wings, rising up through the dark water, her tail lashing to drive her forward. She was deeper than she realized, far below the surface.
She exchanged glances with Tsunami and Clay, swimming up beside her. Were those stars above her? She nearly sucked in a mouthful of water in excitement. Could they have made it outside already? Something was shining overhead. She could see small spots of light, like the night sky through the hole.
Their heads burst out of the water simultaneously. Clay yelped with glee as he breathed in and out. Flora laughed.
But her voice echoed back to her, bouncing off cave walls. This air didn't feel like the sky - all cramped and stagnant, and she couldn't hear anything beyond the stillness of rock and the fading echoes of her own laugh.
They floated on the surface of the pool. The current was still moving sluggishly somewhere below her talons. Her Lifewing sense of touch told her that this pool was huge and deep, with an underwater entrance and a water-level exit.
Glowworms.
The eerie little insects pulsed with a greenish light. Glowing tendrils hung from several of them, like a shimmering star curtain far above her and around her in the pool's reflection.
"No!" Tsunami yelled, clawing at the water. "That's not fair! You can't just trick us into thinking we're outside and give us glowworms!"
Typical, grumpy Tsunami. "I don't know if you care, gill-face, but at least we're breathing." Flora said, motioning toward herself and Clay, who was still catching his breath.
Tsunami growled and glared at the glowworms unhappily. Clay patted her back.
They followed Anion's advice, resting for as long as they dared, but finally they all took another deep breath and dove.
On the far side of the cave, in the dim light of the glowworms, Tsunami found a the passageway where the river left the pool. The ceiling was still far above, so they could swim and breathe for a while longer.
Flora beat her wings to push herself forward through the water, following Clay, who was following Tsunami. It was peaceful and creepy at the same time, with the glowing dots overhead like a million burning eyes. But it was much preferable to solid rock and no air.
After a while, the current started to pick up again. Flora's wings brushed against rocks jutting out of the river, and the glowworms were fewer and farther between. The darkness seemed to press down like Kestrel crushing her during one of her tantrums.
And then she heard roaring.
Flora's ears perked up. The roaring was getting louder. She looked to the others. Tsunami's expression hadn't changed, but Clay's got more and more worried the louder the roaring got.
Suddenly Flora heard Tsunami crash into a rock, and then Clay. Flora was shoved under the water by a rock of her own before she could help them. Reeling with pain, she spun in the water, flailing for a hold on something.
She crashed into another rock, bounced off, and slammed into yet another. The river was going so fast now that she couldn't stop herself. She was being dragged toward the roaring at top speed. She had no idea where the others had went.
With a jarring shock, she hit a spur of stone and dug in with all her talons. The rushing water whipped past her, seizing her tail and wings with icy, desperate claws. Flora fought her way out of the river until finally she stood, gasping, on bare rock.
She was so far underground that there was no light at all. Even her dragon eyes were useless here. She swept her tail around, trying to feel how big a rock she was standing on. It was big – it stretched farther than she could reach. She edged forward until she was sure she was standing on the bank of the river. A slope beside her rose away from the water.
Flora stomped on the ground, feeling the vibrations echo through the rock. The cave was big, and there were these weird water pits further up the slope. The river was flowing extremely roughly and snatched away the vibrations before she could feel their echo.
But she was still glad she was a Lifewing, so she could even do that. Lifewings' and Heatwings' best sense was touch, Skywings' and Lightwings' best sense was sight, Rockwings' and Voidwings' best sense was smell, Seawings' and Nullwings' best sense was taste, and Darkwings' and Coldwings' best sense was hearing.
She felt a small trickle of a stream bubbling down the slope, joining the river near her talons. She dropped her head, working her brain. The cold was getting to her now – the tips of her limbs were numb and it was becoming hard to think. She could guess what the roaring was, although she had never seen a waterfall. And she certainly didn't want to experience one for the first time in total darkness. Even if she could fly over it, without her sight she'd be sure to run into something and crash. She'd have to flap especially hard to create wind to feel the walls and stalactites.
But she couldn't leave the river – could she?
Flora set one claw in the trickling stream and was surprised to find it was warmer than the river. Where did it come from? Up … surely up meant closer to the surface and the outside world.
She inhaled, hoping to catch the scent of the outside. But the only faint smell was of rotten eggs. Sulfur. Flora guessed.
She set her jaw. The stream had to lead somewhere. Somewhere not over a waterfall. Flora spread her wings to feel the cave walls and crept up the stream, slipping now and then on the slick stone.
Soon she felt a ledge ahead of her. She climbed over it and splashed into a deeper pool. The sulfur smell was much stronger up here. She tried to wade forward, and the water crept up her legs. Suddenly she felt a stinging pain slice through the softer scales of her underbelly. With a hiss, she scrambled back up on the ledge.
Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe she should just go over the waterfall and hope for the best. Or maybe—
A close, agonized yell echoed through the cave, stopping Flora in her tracks. Then the scrambling sounds of a creature – bigger than her – could be heard. Finally, a loud bang echoed across the cave system, and then a flop, as if the creature had hit its head on a rock and blacked out.
Then silence.
Flora tiptoed in the direction of the creature's slow, even breaths. Eventually her talons rested on a familiar Rockwing.
"Clay, wake up." Flora shook his shoulders, but hissed when a strange, sticky substance clung to her scales, sending pain – just like the ledge earlier – rocketing up her arm. She shoved her talons into the stream, letting the water carry the poison away. The poison was gone, put the pain still lingered. At least it wasn't gradually becoming more painful anymore.
"Tsunami!" She yelled. "Clay's hurt! He needs your help!"
"Right here." Said a voice remarkably close. Flora heard a sound that could only mean Tsunami was flicking her tongue in and out, trying to taste Flora in the air. "Where are you?"
Flora's tail touched Tsunami's, and she sighed with relief. "Over here." She said, yanking the Seawing closer with her prehensile tail. "Shove him in the water, it'll wash the poison away."
"Alright." Tsunami said as she dragged Clay to the river by his front talons, avoiding his rough tail. Flora looked down and realized that her glowscales were dimly lit, reacting to the pain of the strange substance and covering a small area around her in a slight green glow.
Tsunami dumped him in the water, splashing it over his head, shoulders, and wings. He woke up with a gasp as the rest of his body plunged into the river. Clay thrashed, and the current nearly dragged him away. Tsunami yanked his head into the air and shouted. "Quit struggling! I'm saving you!"
Clay went limp and let Tsunami shove him under again, but then he suddenly lunged back to the surface. "Tsunami! Wait, where's Flora? Is she safe?"
"Seriously Clay, stop moving!" Tsunami whacked his tail back into the water with hers. "I don't know what this brown stuff is, but it smells awful, and I think it's trying to dissolve your scales. You stay in the water until it's all gone."
Flora moved his claws to the rock and helped him hang on against the fierce current while Tsunami poured more water over his head. "And it's alright. I'm here."
Clay sighed with relief. "No more glowworms, though."
"Oh, I can beat that." A moment passed, and then Tsunami's stripes began to glow blue along her body, she even turned on whorls of light along her snout.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Clay said.
"Because of the cold." Flora answered, lighting up her own scales. "It slows you down - more if you've never experienced it – and that includes your brain."
"What was that stuff?" Clay asked, his glowscales copying Flora and Tsunami. The whole cavern was covered in glows of green, blue, and orange.
Tsunami flicked her tongue through the air and grimaced. "I don't exactly know, but there's way too much of it to walk up there."
"So, we can't go up the rocks." He said. "What do we do about the waterfall?"
She grinned. "We dive right over it!" She said. "How high could it be?"
"And how many sharp rocks could there be at the bottom?" Flora countered. "I'd like to see what we're jumping off of first, please."
"All right, let's go check it out." She said, releasing him and leaping into the water. The current whooshed her away, and he had to let go of his rock to follow her quickly.
Flora dove into the water after them. She saw Clay slam into another boulder and cry out for Tsunami, but she was already halfway over the waterfall.
Flora was flung into a small, totally-harmless pool. Well that's anti-climactic. She thought with a chuckle. When she broke the surface, her gaze rested on poor, worried Clay.
He was clutching tightly onto a stalactite, holding on for his life.
Tsunami whacked his foot. "Watch out, Clay!" Her voice teased. "It's really dangerous! You might stub a claw!"
Clay opened his eyes. The waterfall crashed along beside him, cascading into a foamy pile of bubbles only a short distance below his dangling back claws. Tsunami was splashing and somersaulting in the pool, flipping waves at him with her tail.
"Hang on tight!" She cried. "Whatever you do, don't let go!"
"Ha ha ha." He said. He stirred the water below him with his tail, then let himself drop. "You knew how short it was." He said accusingly.
"Maybe." She said with a grin. "All right, yes. I'd just gotten to the edge when I heard you yell and went back for you."
"Lucky I'm not the type to suffer and die in silence." Clay said, but for some reason he still looked worried.
"Come on, the river keeps going this way." Tsunami said. Her webbed talons swooped through the water, shooting her out in front of them. Flora followed her though the pool into another narrow channel, with rocky banks on either side.
"But –" Clay cocked his head, and his ears twitched. "I think – that can't be all the roaring, then? Is there more up ahead?" There were weird echoes in the caves. Flora couldn't tell if she was hearing the roar of the small waterfall magnified, or if there was something else. If only Winter had come with: Coldwings' best skill was perception and that stacked on their great sense of hearing. Lifewings' best skill was stealth, Darkwings' best skill was agility, Rockwings' best skill was strength, Skywings' best skill was speed, Nullwings' best skill was melee, Lightwings' best skill was range and that counted their breath weapon, Seawings' best skill was resistance and their scales were all armored, Voidwings' best skill was intelligence, and Heatwings' best skill was endurance so they had a lot of stamina.
Tsunami suddenly spread her wings and spun to a halt, gazing up at the ceiling. "Did you see that?"
"What?" Clay asked.
"It was a bat!" Tsunami excitedly slammed the river with her tail, submerging Flora and Clay in a tidal wave of water.
She came up gasping for air. "A bat? Why are you drowning me over a bat?" Once a bat had blundered through the sky hole. It had flapped around pathetically until Flare begged Dune to catch it and set it free. Flora was half convinced that Dune had eaten it instead, but at least he'd done it where Flare couldn't see him.
"Because it must have come from somewhere." She said. "Bats go outside to hunt. So if bats can get in and out, I bet we can, too. We must be close."
"Bats are a lot smaller than we are." Flora pointed out, but Tsunami had already started swimming.
"Look!" Tsunami yelled from up ahead. "I see light!"
Flora beat her wings quickly, trying to catch up. It helped that the current was getting faster again – and that Clay was practically pushing her.
But then – was the roaring getting louder, too?
She came around a bend in the river and saw a circle of silvery light in the distance. The dark outline of Tsunami's head was barreling toward it.
Flora couldn't believe her eyes. It was moonlight, just like she'd seen through the sky hole. There was really a way out, and they'd found it.
She and Clay were speeding along now, barely using their legs to paddle as the river whisked them toward the light.
Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoed through the cave, and Tsunami disappeared.
"Please be another joke, please be another joke, please be another joke . . ." Clay prayed. Flora tugged him along with her tail, swimming as fast as she could. The moonlit entrance yawned in front of them, and then, abruptly, they shot out into open space.
The river plunged out of the cave and straight down a tall, sheer cliff.
Flora's wings flew open and she banked, catching the air before she fell.
She was flying!
Flora had flown before – short hops around the caves, dodging the stalactites and flapping in circles – but that was nothing, nothing compared to this.
Everything was so big.
The sky was everywhere, it just went on and on and on, like nothing could ever fill it up. It was night, but the light of the three moons was dazzling after a lifetime of caves and sputtering torches. Craggy mountain peaks bit into the sky all around her.
And the stars!
Flora had thought she knew stars from gazing out of the sky hole. She'd never known how many there were, or how they looked like a silver net cast across the dark.
She felt like she could keep flying up and up forever, all the way to the moons. She wondered if any dragon had ever tried to do that.
This is what we've been missing all this time . . .
Her scales went completely pink and gold.
"Can you believe this?" Clay called to Flora, who was spinning in the air. "Tsunami! Isn't it amazing?"
There was no answer.
Flora lashed her tail to stop spinning and hovered. She glanced down and spotted Tsunami, far below her, flapping in a frantic downward spiral.
Something was wrong.
It looked like only one of her wings was working.
Clay twisted into a dive and barreled toward her, and Flora followed. She tucked her emerald green wings close to her body as she plummeted past Clay. The waterfall and the cliff shot past at lightning speed. Was she falling too fast? The ground hurtled toward her, she had no idea how far away it was, or how soon she would reach it. She'd never dealt with distances like this before.
Would she be able to stop? Would it hurt when she did?
But she could see Tsunami below her, still struggling, so she knew she hadn't hit the ground yet – comforting.
Flora passed her and instantly flared her wings open. Her body slammed upright like she'd run into a wall, and then a moment later a heavy Seawing landed on her from above.
She tumbled, nearly losing Tsunami over her head, but Clay reached them and grabbed her shoulders, beating his wings in wide arcs. They weren't strong enough to lift her, but at least they could slow her fall to a half-glide.
Tsunami let out a yelp, and then Flora felt something like claws snag her wings and tail. The three lost their hold on each other as they fell through the trees, smashing branches and ripping off leaves before they thudded to the earth.
Tsunami's tail was flopped across Flora's snout. She pushed it aside and scrambled off of Clay's belly, creaking with pain. Tsunami rolled off of him and onto her back, letting her wings flop out to either side. Close up, Flora could see that she was right. One of her sapphire-blue wings was crooked, as if it had been wrenched out of her shoulder.
Clay touched it with one claw, and they both winced. "What happened?"
"My wing got caught in between two boulders, and the current forced it free." Tsunami said. "I think I dislocated it."
"DIRT!" Clay yelled suddenly. "I'm standing on dirt!" He stabbed his claws into the ground, and they sank right into the earth.
Flora stepped into his line of sight to look at him. "Yay?" She said.
"It's amazing!" He cried. "Feel how soft it is!" He seized a handful of dirt and flung it at her.
"Hey, quit that!" Flora protested, defending herself with her wing.
Clay flattened himself to the grass. A worm burrowed past his nose, and he snapped it up. "It's so soft!" Clay cried, jumping up and shaking himself. Flora and Tsunami ducked the shower of dirt that flew off him. "I bet I could dig in this!"
Flora gawped at him as he dug with all of his talons and even his wings. In a few moments, he was under the ground and buried like he wasn't even there. "I don't think most dragons get this excited about being so dirty." She said. The Rockwing poked his head out from the ground.
"I bet my kind do." Clay said, ignoring her sarcasm. "I've never been this comfortable in my whole life." He sighed happily, rolling in the loose dirt and sinking so that only his nose – on top of his head so he could still breathe – was showing. But at first glance, his nose just looked like a brown stone.
"Wow." Tsunami said. She stuck her front talons in the loose soil. "And we're not even at the Rockwing plateau yet. I wonder if I'll be this excited when I get to the sea."
"You will." Clay said, popping his head back out of the dirt. "And when you can fly. Can we fix your wing?" He tilted his head, studying her injury.
He climbed out of the ground like some kind of sandworm-monster to get a better look.
The waterfall poured down a cliff that towered over them, with even higher mountains beyond. The three moons were low in the sky. Flora guessed it would be morning soon, and then they could look for the smoke signal that would lead to their friends. But Tsunami couldn't fly, she'd be stuck down here … easy pickings for hostile dragons flying by.
Flora glanced up at the sky, remembering that they'd popped out into a world at war. It seemed so peaceful here. From the way the big dragons talked, she'd imagined the entire world as a giant battlefield. It was strange to be in a quiet clearing, with no sights or sounds of war or even other dragons anywhere nearby.
But she knew the Talons of Peace – and, by extension, the Dragonets – had enemies everywhere. Three of the Heatwing queens distrusted the Prophecy and would kill anyone who got in their way. And there was a whole list of dragons who might do terrible things to the Dragonets of Fate, if they ever found them.
Tsunami twisted to look at her dislocated wing. "I'm sure I can fix it." She said. "I saw this in a scroll once. It just needs to be banged back into place. Maybe if I run myself into a tree." She glanced around the forest, then suddenly charged at the nearest solid tree trunk.
Clay leaped out of the mud and pounced on her tail, yanking her back before she crashed.
"Ow!" Tsunami stormed. "Get off! I can fix it! This will work!" She snapped her teeth at him.
"Stop being a grump. Smashing yourself into a tree is a terrible plan." Flora said.
"Can I look at it?" Clay asked.
Tsunami settled down on the grass, grumbling, with her wings spread out. Clay circled her, then stood back and looked at the uneven line of her wings and shoulders.
"If you can stay still," He said, "I think I can shove it back into place."
"Is that a good idea?" Tsunami asked, flinching away from him. Flora stepped back, hoping to avoid any blue talons in her direction.
"Better than running yourself into a tree." Clay pointed out. "Dig your claws in and brace yourself."
Tsunami clutched the ground and closed her eyes. Clay felt gently along her shoulder with his front talons. He lightly touched the spot where the bone had slipped out of its socket. Then he grabbed and shoved the bone into place in one quick, strong movement.
"OW!" Tsunami roared, rearing back. Her powerful tail whipped around and slammed Clay into a thicket of prickly bushes.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Clay yelped, floundering free. "I really thought that would work." He stopped. Tsunami was turning in a circle, flexing and extending both wings. They looked perfectly matched again.
"It did work." She said. "It's a little sore, but I can move it now. Pretty fierce, Clay." She helped disentangle his tail from the branches. "Sorry I whacked you."
Clay opened his mouth to respond, but Flora heard footsteps. She suddenly seized his snout and held it shut while making a shushing gesture toward Tsunami. She raised one talon, her ears twitching. Clay tried to swivel his head around, but Flora's grip was too tight.
Something was crashing through the forest toward them.
"Not big enough to be a dragon." Tsunami whispered. "I think."
Flora could hear a huffing, panting sound and the cracking of branches. It sounded more prey than predator. Clay pried her talons off his snout and whispered, "Maybe we can eat it."
A short, pale creature – a scavenger – stumbled into the moonlit clearing in front of them. The top of its furry head was barely as high as Clay's elbow. It had two long, thin legs and two dangling arms that ended in floppy, clawless talons. One arm held something that resembled a spear, and the other was wrapped around a bulky sack.
It – no, she – spotted Flora, Tsunami, and Clay, dropped everything she was holding, and shrieked in a long high-pitched note.
"It's a scavenger!" Tsunami cried with delight. "Look, Clay! Our first time outside, and we're already seeing a real live scavenger."
"It's little – like five-year-old dragonet little." Clay said. "And look, it's scavenging something right now."
The scavenger was making complex noises at them, waving its arms at the sack and the claw. Some of its movements were almost dragonlike, as if it was trying to communicate with them.
"Maybe it wants us to have whatever's in here." Clay said, lifting the sack. He opened it, and a pile of jewels and trinkets tumbled out, bouncing and sparkling across the grass. Flora saw three large rubies and a scattering of white diamonds among the gold shapes.
"Treasure!" Flora cried. She picked up a silver medallion with a spiral carved into it, studded with tiny emeralds. "Can we keep all of this treasure?"
"Certainly not." Said a new, feminine voice. "Not unless you want to fight me for it, which I don't advise." An icterine-yellow air dragoness, slightly bigger than Clay, landed soundlessly in the clearing behind the scavenger. Wreathes of clouds coiled around her horns. As the scavenger shrieked again, she bent down and bit off her head.
"Blech." She said, spitting it out again immediately. The head bounced across the grass as the body slowly toppled over, blood pouring out of its neck. "Now, that's just unfair." She said. "First of all, thieves are always trying to steal my beautiful treasure. And then they aren't even delicious when I catch them." She poked the body. "All stringy and tasting like fish. Yuck."
"Who are you?" Flora asked. She turned the medallion over between her claws, trying to decide if it was worth fighting for.
The dragoness stared at her, her bright yellow eyes narrowing to slits. She had icterine scales, sunglow accent scales, and unusually scarlet armor scales, eye ridges, spines, and horns. Her underbelly and wing membranes were the color of straw. A golden glow ran down her back, and her yellow-black, forked tongue was darting in and out of her mouth. Flora noticed that a fine coat of golden chain mail, hung with rubies and amber drops, was fitted around the dragoness's torso. A row of tiny citrine gems were embedded between the scales of the eye ridges over each of her eyes, and more citrine gems edged the top of her wings. Whoever she was, she had a lot of treasure, which meant she must be important.
"You don't know who I am?" The dragoness said. "How upsetting, I'm really very hurt. Either I need to get out more, or you're not a very good spy, are you, Lifewing?"
"She's not a spy!" Tsunami said. "We don't even know where we are. We've been – held prisoner, kind of, and we just escaped."
The sky dragon tilted her head at the others. "A Seawing, Rockwing, and a Lifewing together." She said. "Let's see. I know you're not from my dungeons, unless I'm getting horribly forgetful . . . so who was holding you? Blaze? I don't think she has prison camps. Wouldn't fit her everybody-love-me act."
Clay took a step back. "Flora." He said quietly. "Just give her back her treasure, and let's go."
"A Rockwing using his head." Said the air dragon. "You don't see that very often." She slid menacingly toward Flora, stepping right through the scavenger's blood and leaving red claw prints on the grass. Small sparks of electricity flickered in her nostrils, and a steady stream of clouds poured out and gathered more thickly around her horns.
"All right." Flora said, holding out the medallion. "We don't want any trouble."
"Oh, neither do I." Said the yellow dragoness. "That's why it makes me so sad when trouble keeps coming to me." She reached out and grabbed Flora's talon with the medallion still in it, squeezing hard. Clay started forward, but the dragoness sent a bolt of electricity at him so he had to duck back. Tsunami positioned herself behind the dragoness, who glared at Flora. "Nobody touches my treasure."
"We didn't know." Flora said calmly. "We don't even know who you are."
"Oh," The dragon hissed, "didn't I say? My name is Vulture. But I highly recommend you call me Your Majesty if you want to live."
She was standing face-to-face with the queen of the Skywings.
She was smaller than Flora had expected – smaller than Kestrel – but she knew they shouldn't underestimate the Skywing queen. She'd held on to her power for thirty years, despite fourteen brave, foolish, extremely-dead-now challengers – all of whom were adults, Scarlet's siblings and cousins. She was one of the longest-lived and deadliest queens in Pyrrhia. Not to mention one of the worst possible dragons to get her claws on the Dragonets of Fate, especially since she was allied with Burn, who hated the Prophecy.
And she probably had anger issues, considering the fact that she was Cyclone's mother.
Queen Vulture let go of Flora's talons and slipped the medallion over her own neck. She turned and ran one claw down Clay's snout.
"Now you, Rockwing, make me curious. We're on the same side. So why didn't you recognize me?"
"Like she said—" Tsunami started. Queen Scarlet silenced her with a flick of her tail.
"I like to hear the Rockwing speak." She said. "All rumbly and deep and nervous."
"We, uh . . ." Clay stammered. "We've been underground awhile . . . kind of always . . ." Tsunami made a face at him behind the queen's back.
Clay glanced up at the mountains. Flora followed his gaze and realized they were outlined with a golden glow. The sun was coming up. They needed to go rescue their friends, and quickly, before Kestrel took out her anger on the dragonets she could find.
"We're just passing through." He said to Queen Scarlet. The rows of gems over the queen's eyes arched disbelievingly. "I mean – it was an honor to meet – a – it was very—" He paused. "We have to go."
"Already?" Said the queen. "But that's heartbreaking. I hate being abandoned mid-conversation. There's so much more I want to know about you." She brushed the tip of her claw along the bottom of Clay's chin. "I think the only place you should go is back to my palace in the sky. Doesn't that sound thrilling? Don't say no, it'll hurt my feelings. You're just what I've been looking for."
Clay stared up into her unfriendly golden eyes. Behind Scarlet, Tsunami raised the scavenger's spear. Her eyes met Clay's. If they attacked the Skywing queen, they'd instantly have a new, powerful enemy who hated them.
But they couldn't tell her the truth about themselves. She'd take them captive or sell them to her ally Burn or kill them just to mess with the Prophecy. And they couldn't go with her either – they had to get back to their friends.
Flora nodded slightly, and so did Clay. Do it. We have no choice.
Tsunami stabbed the claw through Queen Scarlet's tail at the vulnerable spot, driving it straight into the ground beneath.
The queen roared with fury and pain. She whipped her head around and blasted electricity in all directions.
"Fly!" Tsunami yelled. She rolled under the waving arcs of electricity and shoved Clay's tail. The three spread their wings and bolted into the sky with Queen Vulture's lightning searing their claws. Tsunami flapped to the left of Clay, and Flora to the right.
"It won't take her long to get free." Flora called. "Quick, we have to lose her in the peaks."
They flew past the top of the waterfall, where the river flowed out of a hole in the cliff. They flew up and up until they reached the top and whooshed out onto a rocky hill-land studded with yellow-leaf trees and goldenrod bushes. Even up here, the mountains loomed over them, impossibly high and unbearably big. The peaks zigzagged to the north and south like crooked dragon teeth, a jagged row that went on and on and on.
The scale of everything kept overwhelming Flora. How could they ever find their friends again in all of this? And even if they did, what could ten dragonets do to save a world this big?
Tsunami led the way, staying low and swooping around trees, diving into chasms where they found them. Sunlight spread across the mountains, dazzling Flora's eyes. She wasn't used to so much brightness – and this was only dawn. The ferocity of the midday sun was still ahead.
"Here!" Tsunami called, jerking her head toward a dent in the side of the mountain. They spiraled down to land on the ledge outside a small cave. From here they could look over the rocky plateau, with valleys and mountain peaks spread out around them. The roar of the waterfall was a faint rumble in the distance. There was no sign of Queen Vulture.
"I can't believe you did that." Clay said to Tsunami.
"I had to, didn't I?" She asked, but without her usual conviction so that she sounded like Cyclone. She scratched at her gills, looking worried, then slipped into the shadows of the cave to check that it was empty.
A beam of sunshine hit part of Flora's wing, and it spread through her scales, warming each one it touched. It felt as though the sunlight was feeding her. She closed her eyes and turned to face the rising sun. The heat soaked down through her scales until even her bones felt warm at last. She wasn't hungry or cold anymore. She smiled in content.
"You should see yourself." Tsunami said from the cave. "You're practically glowing."
Flora opened her eyes and glanced down. Rosy pink swirls ran through her bright pink scales. Cobalt streaks zipped through, like zooming dragonflies. All of the colors seemed brighter and more vibrant, with extra shades hiding in between.
She looked over to Clay. She could see orange glints beneath and between his amber scales. Even the browns seemed richer and deeper, like the mahogany trunk where Webs kept the most delicate scrolls. "Huh." He said.
"You're so pretty." Tsunami joked, emerging into the light. The sun made her look bejeweled, like a dragon made of sapphires and oceans.
Flora squinted out at the mountainside. There were crags and holes and rocky outcroppings that might lead to tunnels everywhere. She had no idea what the outside of their home looked like. They could see a lot of the mountain from here, but no Heatwing smoke signal yet.
The sun had nearly cleared the horizon now, climbing slowly up the sky and chasing away the three moons. Flora saw several yellow and gold shapes camouflaged against the sky around the mountain peaks.
This was definitely Skywing territory. Winter and Anion were right about where their secret cave was. But Flora had no idea how they'd escape the mountains now that the Skywing queen was probably hunting them in a towering rage.
Tsunami seized her shoulder and Flora flinched. "Over there!" She cried, pointing.
A thin column of red-ish, Heatwing smoke was starting to rise from a hole partway down the slope. Flora flung herself into the air and swooped over the hole. It was enclosed and partly hidden by a thicket of yellow-leaved branches, so she couldn't land next to it. But it was open to the sky and looked like the shape of the sky hole. It had to be the others.
Tsunami and Clay swept up beside her. They all hovered around the smoke, trying to peer down into the hole.
"They must be right there." Clay said. "Right below us!"
The smoke smelled of old paper. She felt a twinge of pity for Anion, burning some of his beloved scrolls.
"So we're close, but we have to find the entrance." Tsunami said. "The tunnel must come out somewhere nearby." She spiraled down to the rocky ground outside the bushes. Flora landed beside her.
Clay stayed up in the air, circling. He was looking at the rocks as if he were mapping out the cave system onto them. "Here." He called to Tsunami, swooping down to land. "The boulder blocking the exit should be right below here. So the tunnel to the outside would go that way—"
"The ravine." Flora concluded. A crevasse cut through the rocks a short distance away. When they peered down into it, they could see a stream running over pebbly gravel and sandy mud. "The entrance must be down there." She hopped down to the bottom of the ravine, keeping her wings spread to slow her fall. She felt a wave of anger wash over her. Here was sunlight and warm fresh air, this close to their cave. Why hadn't the guardians ever brought the dragonets outside? Even small trips to this ravine would have made life so different.
She knew they'd say it was for safety. They'd say it was to protect the Dragonets, in case distant Skywings spotted them.
But Flora thought it was really because the guardians didn't trust her and her friends. They didn't trust them not to fly away. They didn't trust them to act smart and avoid drawing attention to themselves. She dug sharp gashes in the mud with her claws. The Dragonets never even had a chance to be trustworthy.
Tsunami and Clay thumped down beside her and Tsunami nodded at a mossy pile of boulders up ahead. "Let's check there first." They squished and splashed down the stream.
Clay suddenly flared his wings to stop Flora and Tsunami from going any farther. "Look!" He said. "Dragon tracks!"
Fresh dragon prints were stamped into the riverbank, with the deep line of a tail dragged between them. They disappeared suddenly as if the dragon had lifted off into the sky.
"They came from the caves." Tsunami said. "And look, they're Skywing tracks – it must be Kestrel."
"There are prints leaving, but not coming back." Flora said, her voice rising with excitement. "Maybe she went out looking for us this morning. If she's still away, this is our best chance to get the others out." She started running down the riverbank, following the line of prints to where it began. "Come on, guys, hurry!"
The tracks led right to the tumble of boulders. When they climbed up onto the large rocks, they could see down into a dark tunnel in the side of the ravine. It was almost entirely hidden from view unless you looked from the right angle.
"This is it." Flora whispered.
"Why didn't she hide her tracks better?" Clay worried. "What if it's a trap?"
"It's not." Tsunami said confidently. "Kestrel doesn't know we're coming back for the others. She doesn't think like that. If she were one of us, she'd escape and leave everyone else behind without a second thought."
That sounded true to Flora. Kestrel never believed that dragons should keep their word or care about other dragons. "She was in a hurry to find us, that's all." Flora pointed out. If Kestrel hadn't bothered to be cautious, she must be really angry with them.
Flora lowered herself into the tunnel, and the others slid down beside her. They edged forward as they lit their scales to light the way.
The tunnel took a sharp right, then a left, then went down at a steep angle for a few steps. But soon it straightened out, took them around another corner, and ended – at an enormous gray boulder.
Flora's heart thumped hard in her chest. They'd really found it.
She was looking at her prison from the outside.
And there we go. Hope you enjoyed. We'll be back to Cyclone the next chapter and for the rest of the book.
Thanks for reading!