Chapter Forty Four

Moon rushed out of the study to the window, momentarily forgetting the potential existential crisis behind her. She searched the skies with her eyes even as her mind strained to lock onto those thoughts she had just heard. There! Flying in from the east, a few bright specks of moonlight glinting off of scales. Gold, green, yellow, white and red. And now she could hear their thoughts - it was her friends!

Heart suddenly racing, every nerve aquiver, Moon turned and sprinted down the stairs. She ran through the castle, and when her legs weren't going fast enough, she spread her wings to glide if the width of the corridors allowed it. All the while, questions buzzed through her head faster than she could fully think them. How had her friends found her? What were they doing here? How did they get past the mountains? Who cared! They were here! Oh, it had been so long since she'd seen them. The months had gone by so fast, she hadn't noticed the passage of time until suddenly this reunion seemed imminent and Moon realised how long it had been since she'd seen them. To hear Kinkajou's spirited laughter! Winter's stoic presence that was like a rock to anchor yourself to. Qibli's boundless and infectious optimism. Turtle's comforting quietness. Peril's fiery determination. Her heart felt fit to bursting, the need to see them all was so great!

She burst out of the front doors of the Castle and stood on the great steps, looking to the eastern night's sky. There she saw her friends, their shapes more distinguished, their colours clear. But… how strange. She could only hear the thoughts of three of them. A flash of dusty yellow from the corner of her eye, and Moon spotted two of Vulture's SandWings take wing from the battlements of the castle and head on straight course to intercept the Jade Winglet. Moon's heart dropped into her stomach and she launched herself into the air. She beat her wings as fast as she could to catch up. Her friends, upon seeing the incoming burly SandWings all took up a defensive position, with Peril in the lead, ready to take the thugs head on. In the thoughts of the SandWings, they were debating whether or not to take the "trespassers" prisoner or chase them off.

"Stop!" Moon shouted as she neared. Everyone turned to watch her swoop in as fast as she could, almost throwing herself between the two parties. She could feel Peril's warmth on her back, even when six feet away - how had she forgotten its potency? "These are my guests!"

Their minds instantly registered that Vulture had told them she was to be obeyed - though why was it highlighted that she must be "made comfortable"? They ducked their heads and immediately backed off. Moon waited until they were out of earshot before she dared to turn her back on them and face her friends. When she did, her smile was so wide it hurt her cheeks.

Kinkajou instantly flew at her, wrapping her arms around her and almost tangling their wings together. "MOONY! Ohmygoodness, it's so good to see you! I've missed you so much - have you missed me? Stupid question, of course you have! But oh, I've been so worried! How DARE YOU RUN OUT ON ME LIKE THAT! Don't you know disappearing for months on end might hurt your best friend?!"

Though the RainWing was speaking so fast that Moon had trouble understanding some of what she said, it was worth it just to be able to feel the unapologetic, full-force affection in her thoughts. "I'm sorry, but I'm just so glad to see you!" She turned to the others. "All of you! I'm so-"

She paused. The others looked dreadful. Qibli and Turtle looked like they'd been dragged through a bramble bush backwards - repeatedly. Their scales were dirty, they had shadows under their eyes and scratched here and there. Peril looked tired, her muscles beginning to shiver where they were overworked. Winter was the worst of all; he was dirtied, his scales mottled with bruises and cuts, his eyes haggard, and a trail of fresh blood ran down his neck from a wound - WAS HE MISSING AN EAR?!

"What happened?" she asked, horrified.

Winter averted his gaze. "It's… complicated."

It was only then that Moon realised that she specifically couldn't hear Winter or Qibli's thoughts. There was only a quiet vibration around them, a hum that repelled any attempt she made to look into their beings. The sensation made her scales crawl in a way she hadn't felt since…

And then she saw it, glinting on Qibli's ankle was a crudely crafted bracelet with glints of black stone that seemed to suck up all light into themselves. Moon felt a shiver race down her spine when she recognised the Skyfire. "You found Skyfire…?" She tried to ask the question casually, but the words felt thick in her throat.

Qibli nodded. "We learned it blocks magic, it was the only way Winter could get past the anti-IceWing shield in the mountains."

She looked at Turtle. "That's why you haven't healed him."

"I don't know what other spells Darkstalker has waiting for me and my kind," said Winter, wincing from the pain. "I can deal with this."

"If you won't let magic help you," Moon stressed, "then come with me - there's some medicinal plants in the castle that can at least help to stop the bleeding."

She led the way, flying down back towards the castle. She sensed the others following her, and tried to keep her breathing even. What should've been a joyful reunion had now peaked her anxiety and filled her head with questions. Where had they found the Skyfire? Should she tell them it blocked her from reading their minds? Or should she instead keep her promise to Darkstalker? What caused Winter to lose his ear?

A wave of warmth announced Peril coming up onto Moon's left side, her blue eyes almost aglow in the darkness, as if the overflowing fire inside of her lit her up like a candle. "So, where is he? You know, the Darkstalker?"

"It's just Darkstalker," Moon corrected gently. "And he's waiting for us at the Castle." she looked over her shoulder and saw Winter tensing. "I promise, he's not as bad as you think. Just give him a chance - he's nothing like they say in the stories."

Winter said nothing, his eyes guarded, and with the Skyfire clutched in his talon, Moon couldn't listen into his thoughts to gauge his reaction. She just had to trust that he had faith in her judgement.

"Love the sparkles, Moony!" said Kinkajou's cheerful voice. "Where did you get those?"

She had quite forgotten that she was still all dressed up for the ball. The garments that had made her feel so pretty before now made her feel silly and overdressed. "Oh, um, it's Darkstalker's hatchingday and we… um…"

Peril frowned. "You've been having parties whilst the rest of us have been fighting a war?"

Moon knew Peril might not have meant the words to be harsh, but they still cut into her heart and filled her with shame. She didn't answer, just silently hung her head.

"Um, Moon?" called Turtle, his voice filled with worry. "Just letting you know… don't tell Darkstalker about me. I, uh, have an enchantment, so he doesn't notice I'm here."

"You really think he'd hurt you?"

"Well… I'm not sure… but just play along, for now?"

Moon was a little hurt. She had spoken to them through the communication seashells. They knew her mission here was to turn Darkstalker into a force for good, to get to the truth of who he really was. Did they still not believe in her?

They came down to land on the steps of Border Mountain, Winter and the others landing a little clumsily from how tired they were. Darkstalker was waiting for them in the doors of the castle, and as Moon walked up the steps to him, she saw him at the angle her friends did. Large, imposing, every spike and claw exaggerated in its sharpness, his expression hard to read, his silver-blue eyes bright and uncanny. Even his thoughts were closed off. It was almost intimidating. And yet, as soon as his gaze met Moon's, his expression softened.

"Is everything alright, Moon?" he asked her softly. She nodded. His stare shifted past her to her friends, and Moon turned to realise that her friends hadn't moved from where they landed several steps down. "And these are your friends? We met briefly before."

"Yes," Moon said and opened a wing to them. "This is Kinkajou, Qibli, Peril and Winter. He needs medical attention."

"I can see that. But it is an easy fix," Darkstalker said, and stepped closer to her friends, reaching out a talon towards Winter's head. Just say the words -

But Winter moved away from the offered talon, a slight hiss rattling up his throat. "I'd rather not."

Darkstalker's expression hardened. "Don't be difficult. I can heal it immediately."

"I don't want anything from you," was the cold reply.

NightWing and IceWing stared each other down, filled with cold anger. Qibli ducked closer to Winter and whispered something in his ear. Kinkajou and Peril were bristling, ready for a fight, it seemed. Turtle shrunk behind everyone else, clutching a flower in his talon, eyes wide and terrified. Moon could feel the tension building until she could cut it with a knife. In her mind, she heard Darkstalker speak. I see he and the SandWing have Skyfire.

I don't know where they got it, was all Moon could say.

"Very well," Darkstalker said, withdrawing. "Then let's deal with this the outdated way."

Qibli shifted from foot to foot, looking uncharacteristically anxious. "Moon, there;s something we need to-"

"First," Darkstalker interrupted, "let's see to the IceWing before he drips blood all over my floor."

He turned with a grand sweep of his wings and led the way back into the castle. Moon tried to give an encouraging smile to her friends before leading them after him. Peril hung back at the back of the group, and Moon and Qibli went on either side of Winter to help support him if he needed it. When they stepped through into the Castle of Stars, her friends didn't bother to hide their wide eyed staring.

Peril even gave a long whistle. "This place wasn't at all what I was expecting."

"You've been rebuilding it, haven't you?" asked Kinkajou.

Moon nodded. "Yes. We wanted to have a home for the NightWings to come to, once the war is over."

Qibli frowned. "If they aren't all locked up for war crimes?"

"I think it's kind of noble," Moon was shocked to realise it was Winter who had said those words. "A way to help us move forward after this madness."

Moon smiled at him, appreciation spilling out of her for his words. It felt strange to hear this wisdom from him. It wasn't so long ago that she would've expected to hear him opting for the mass incarceration of her entire tribe, at the very least. He'd hated NightWings, thought they were all evil, and yet… here he was, commending her efforts. She didn't know what had brought on this change in him, but she was grateful for it. Winter met her eyes, and brushed his wing along hers - a cool whisper of touch against her scales. She smiled, flicking her ears back.

"Ahem." came a pointed cough, and she looked ahead to see Darkstalker watching them, his expression almost like a pout. They'd come to the southwestern part of the palace, a place Darkstalker said used to be an alchemy lab. Ancient NightWing scientists and herbalists used to work together here to create poultices and potions and other means of curing the sick and injured. With the castle almost finished, Moon had been making use of the old driers and learning all she could of the local flora and their uses. Even with magic to fix every scratch and bruise (if need be), it was still useful to have this knowledge. The old infirmary wasn't too far from here either.

Moon darted in and immediately began to retrieve talonfuls of the herbs she required. Some fire-weed and white willow bark, as well as a large tail-leaf and ground witchhazel. Coming back out to her friends, she noticed that Darkstalker was sitting very rigidly, and doing his best to hide the icy stare he was throwing at Winter. Qibli and Peril were whispering amongst themselves and Kinkajou was trying her best to comfort Winter (and also shooting nasty looks at Darkstalker in return). Turtle hung at the back of the group, hidden in the shadows.

With little ceremony, she stuffed the fire-weed and willow bark into Winter's mouth. "Chew on this. It's spicy, but it should help you deal with your pain." Ignoring his grunts of protests (but he dutifully began to chew anyway), she delicately pressed the witchhazel to his wound and wrapped the tail leaf around his head. "I'm sorry if this hurts, but it'll help to stop the blood flow."

Her work done, Winter pulled back, a slight grimace to his expression. He continued to chew for a moment, nodded and swallowed. "Thank you." His blue eyes met hers, and something soft passed through him. "I'm really glad to see you're okay."

Darkstalker snorted loudly. "Of course she is. As if I would ever pose a threat to her!"

"Well," Qibli shrugged. "So long as you pinky-promise."

"And besides," Peril shot back, "You're not the one we're worried about."

Moon tilted her head. Through the fires in Peril's mind, she spied an image of her father, brooding with eyes full of rage. It made her stomach coil with dread. "What do you mean by that?"

Her friends all exchanged a look, Peril and Kinkajou were desperately not thinking about something, and Qibli and Winter's Skyfire blocked her. Qibli took a careful step towards her. "We came to warn you, Moon. You're in danger."

"It's your dad, Moony," said Kinkajou, her scales taking on a slight fearful greenish-white. "He's coming for you."

Moon's heart leapt in alarm. "What?! How - he doesn't even know where we are!"

"Yes he does," said Winter heavily. "We found Fathom's last Sanctuary. He had a journal that detailed where to find the Night Kingdom. Morrowseer captured us and took it."

"That's how Winter lost his ear," said Qibli. "Your father was going to use us as bait to get to you."

There was a loud rumble, and it took Moon's jumbled mind a moment to realise it was Darkstalker growling. "That idiotic SeaWing! Of course he would lay out all the ways for our enemies to find and exploit my kingdom. Traitor!"

At the back of the room, Turtle slunk a little further into the shadows, one foot already out the door.

Peril's tail lashed back and forth. "He had his NightWing goons chase us most of the way here. We don't know all his plans, but we know he's coming for you, Moon."

"He's lost the element of surprise and he knows that," Qibli said. "But that won't stop him. You need to come away with us, back to Jade Mountain where he won't be able to get to you."

"Preposterous." Darkstalker shook his head. "Moon is quite safe here. I've been monitoring the situation in the Rainforest, and none of my visions have foretold of Morrowseer planning to come after Moon. He wouldn't even dare to try."

Kinkajou puffed up her ruff, turning an indignant red-orange. "Well, if you were watching so closely - why didn't you foresee what happened to Moon's mum?"

Moon turned to the RainWing, wings trembling, the ball in her chest growing tighter. "What are you talking about?" Her friends were silent and once again exchanged a look. Darkstalker was frozen to the spot. Moon burst. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?!"

Winter stepped towards her, and in his blue eyes Moon saw a storm of sadness and guilt. "Moon… I-I'm so sorry. We didn't mean for it to happen but… your mother was in the prison cells with us. When we escaped we tried to bring her with us."

"We were cornered," continued Kinkajou in a small voice, her scales turning grey-blue. "The NightWings were gonna catch us."

"She tried to hold them off," Qibli said, unable to look her in the eye. "But there were too many and she…"

Cold talons took hold of hers. Moon hadn't even realised she was shaking until Winter gave her claws a gentle squeeze. "I'm so, so sorry, Moon. But she…"

He didn't have to finish. Moon saw it in Kinkajou's head when the little RainWing couldn't keep the memories back anymore. Of her mother stood on top of a cliff, cutting the rope to a bridge so that they could escape. She'd been stabbed through the stomach, and the NightWings were bearing down on her…

She ripped her talons out of Winter's grasp and took several steps back. She shook her head even as tears began to stream out of her face. "No, no no no. It's not true - NOT TRUE! We would have seen it, we would've had some warni-" But then she looked at Darkstalker, desperate for him to side with her, to confirm that this was surely not true. But he was silent, his eyes downcast and his expression filled with guilt. Moon felt as if she were a pane of glass that had just shattered into a thousand pieces. "You… you knew?"

He looked at her with the most pained expression she'd ever seen. "I didn't see it until it was too late. And I tried to tell you. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't-"

She didn't want to hear anymore. Before a sob could wrench itself out of her throat, Moon spun on her heels and ran. She ran from Darkstalker, she ran from her friends, she ran from them all.

Turtle wandered the halls of the vast, black-bricked castle, telling himself over and over again that he was not lost. He'd slipped out of the other room when they'd begun to talk about Morrowseer and Fathom. The way Darkstalker's eyes had changed at the mention of his one-time friend… it had frightened Turtle. It reminded him of the day Darkstalker had risen out of the earth, the hate in his eyes had chilled him then just as it did now. So he'd quietly snuck out. That wasn't to say he knew where he was going now… the SeaWing didn't quite know what he was looking for, or had a particular destination in mind.

After a while, he began to notice that the walls of the castle looked less… polished, less new. Things were more broken, vines growing through the windows, cobwebs and rats in the corners. This must be a part of the castle Darkstalker and Moon hadn't rebuilt yet. Turtle paused by a broken window, closing his eyes against the gentle summer breeze that tickled against his scales. He could smell distant flowers, so different and more pungent than what he was used to back at Jade Mountain. He wondered how the others were faring. Tsunami was undoubtedly worried about him, he'd been gone too long. She and the other dragons of destiny were fighting the war. Did Deathbringer reach them in time? Were they preparing even now?

A small noise alerted him, a sniffle. Curious, Turtle quietly crept along the corridor. He didn't want to give himself away, but it sounded like someone was crying. Peaking around the corner, he saw a little SeaWing, sat by one of the broken windows, a torch by her side to offer her some light. She was dressed almost comically in mountains of fabric and jewels. Her scales were pale blue-grey and her wings were pink. Her bioluminescent scales shone dully with her sadness - and on her wings were familiar spiralling patterns, the royal SeaWing patterns.

"Anemone?" Turtle blurted before he could stop himself.

His little sister spun, her eyes widening as she saw him step out from behind the corner (there was no point in hiding once he'd already announced his presence). She quickly rubbed her eyes and nose to dispose of the evidence of her tears. "Turtle? What're you doing here?"

Was it really her? It had been so long since he'd last seen her. It felt an immense guilt wash over him for having forgotten his vow for so long. For almost the entirety of her first few years, he'd watched over her, made sure he could minimise the exploitation of her powers as much as possible. It was why he'd stuck so close to the Summer Palace, Mother's favourite place to be. But when he'd fled the Kingdom of the Sea with Tsunami, he'd thought Anemone would be okay without him. And yet, here she was, and he'd had no idea she'd been here this whole time.

"My friends and I came to warn Moon - war is coming." he said at last. Anemone rolled her eyes. "What're you doing here? I thought mother would-"

"I escaped her. I wanted to learn from a real animus and fulfil my destiny." She said, throwing her head back and puffing her chest. But then she relaxed with a big, bitter sigh. "Though… that isn't quite playing out how I expected."

"You came here to find Darkstalker?" Turtle couldn't help his stomach lurching a little. How long had Anemone been here, exactly? "Do you even know who he is, what he's done? Anemone, he fought our ancestor, he hates SeaWings."

"No he doesn't! He's been my mentor, my teacher. He couldn't hate me, no one hates me."

Turtle clamped his jaws shut to stop himself from answering back too snippily. It would do no good to point out that everyone loved Anemone because they were under orders to love her. Instead, he took a breath and motioned to the torch in the moonlight of the fractured window. "Is that why you're here, crying?"

"Sometimes I like to come here to think." She trailed a claw in a lazy figure of 8 through the gravel on the dirty floor. As she continued to speak, her movements became more jagged, more aggravated. "I'm getting tired of his attention being divided. I came here to learn everything I could about magic, about my purpose. I thought we'd have a bond over that, you know? A kinship. Only an animus could truly understand me."

Another wave of guilt threatened to drown Turtle. All these years hiding away his secrets out of fear… and he didn't stop to think how isolated she must've felt. "Anemone, I-"

"But at every turn," and she slashed her talon through the dirt, "all he can seem to focus on is her."

"Moon?"

"She's always in the way. Always trying to steal him from me. And he plays into it! I know they talk to each other in their heads, but she's not special! She's not like us, so why is he so obsessed?!"

"I think he has more in common with her than with you." At the outraged glare she threw his way, he hurried to clarify. "They were both going to be used by their tribes, both set apart from everyone else, both of them… odd. They only had each other in their darkest moments. It's only natural that they'd gravitate towards each other…" And as he spoke, Turtle realised the revelation for what it was. After reading Fathom's journal, of knowing the world that shaped Darkstalker, and how Moon described what she was trying to accomplish here… Suddenly Turtle wasn't afraid for Moon at all.

Anemone swished her tail angrily, regaining his attention. "You don't think I'd understand any of that? I was supposed to be our tribe's saviour! But then mother took us all to the Deep Palace and hid us away from the world."

"To protect you," he argued. "Anemone, so many SeaWings have died in this war, and mother wants you to be safe more than anything-"

"I don't want to be coddled!" She shouted, and slammed a fist into the stone ground. From where she struck, a magical shockwave splintered out, cracking open the marble like glass. "I want to be free and to find my own way. You have no idea how easy it is for you and our brothers - you get to go and do whatever you want, play whatever you want, be whatever you want!"

"You don't think I'd give all that up in a heartbeat if it meant mother would look at me for even a second the way she looks at you?" Turtle snapped, abruptly angry and hurt and sad all at the same time. "She spent so long grieving her eggs, trying to have an heir so her kingdom wouldn't fall. And when she finally had you, she still couldn't love her sons the same because she was so scared of losing you. I would give anything for mother to love me like that!"

Anemone opened her mouth to argue, but no sound came out. Her eyes grew furious and she turned away, but she did not refuse him. She could not. Perhaps it had never occurred to her to look at her situation from his point of view. But as she turned her back on him, as he watched her wings tremble with pent up emotion, Turtle felt his righteous anger fade. He was supposed to be trying to connect with her, not try and compare their pain - it did neither of them any good. They'd both suffered in different ways, and trying to find who had it worse was pointless. If she was going to trust him, he had to try something else.

"I'm sorry." he said eventually, softly. He reached out to brush her wing with his. "Anemone, please. I understand why you came out here, but maybe it's time to step away and think for a moment. If you don't want to go home to mother, then come back with me to Jade Mountain. Get some time away from Darkstalker and get some perspective. You don't need an animus to understand you. I-"

She snapped out her wing, throwing his away violently. "As if you could ever hope to understand what it means to be me!"

"I might," he tried to say. "If you just let me-"

"Urgh, you're just like Moon, always interfering, always trying to patronise me! I am not a hatchling, so both of you can stop treating me like one." She reached out towards the torch, but her talon passed over the flame. The fire snaked its way along the webbing between her claws and around her wrist. "Maybe I should show you and that NightWing guppy exactly what I can do. Maybe then you'll get out of my face!"

Turtle was so horrified by her quick turn to threats that he had to take a step back. "Is this really what you've been learning here? How to hurt other dragons so long as it gets you what you want?"

"If I have the magic to do it, why not?"

He couldn't allow this. Turtle didn't know if this was just power going to Anemone's head, if she'd always had this mean streak buried down, or if Darkstalker had purposefully brought it out. It didn't matter. He couldn't allow her to walk away and hurt his friend - or anyone else she deemed to be in her way. He stepped into the doorway to the left of her, blocking her way back into the castle. "Because I won't let you."

"You boring lump of kelp! You ruin everything! If what I do bothers you so much, why don't you just leave me alone!"

"Because you're my sister, Anemone. I know I've been a crappy brother recently, but I still care about you. Magic is not the way for you to solve all your problems."

"You only think that way because you're a wimp who's too afraid to even try for what he wants. But I'm not like you. I'm getting exactly what I deserve." She threw out her wrist, and the flames that danced along her scales flew at him like a whip. They wrapped around his neck and felt solid as she used them to pull him aside and throw him to the floor. Turtle coughed, and tried to get up. What had just happened? "As one last favour to you, brother, I'll enchant your stupid NightWing friend to fly back to you. Once I enchant Darkstalker to hate her, there'll be no need for her to stay here and interfere anymore. All his knowledge, all his attention, all his power will be mine. It's like I told him, the age of the animus is here. And I'm going to make it happen."

In that moment, Turtle felt fear for more than himself. He feared Anemone, what she might do to Moon in her misplaced jealousy, or what exactly she might try to do to enchant Darkstalker. And more than that, he feared for what would happen when her plan inevitably failed. For Darkstalker was the most powerful dragon to ever live, there was no way Anemone would be able to enchant him to be her puppet. And when it failed, what would he do to her in vengeance? No! He couldn't let that happen. He had to save his sister, even if it meant from herself. And in that moment where he was not fearful for himself anymore, his power rushed through his body to immediately answer his call. He whispered a spell and abruptly, thick vines erupted between the cracks in the bricks and blocked Anemone's path. "Stop!"

Anemone froze, staring wide eyed at the vines in front of her face. "But-but how?!"

"I… I'm an animus too," Turtle admitted. Anemone spun to face him, expression panicked. "I'm sorry, I should've told you sooner. I wanted too, but I was scared of being found out."

"No!" came a high, strangled sound from her throat. "I'm the SeaWing animus! Me!"

"Yes and that's because of me." The words were tumbling out of his throat, faster than he could stop them. All the secrets, all the lies, they just came spilling out of him after so long being hidden away. "When you were a year old, mother arranged a talons of power ceremony, to see if any SeaWing dragonets had animus magic. Like they used to do in the days of old. I was too scared of being discovered, so I…"

"You what?" she demanded. "Tell me!"

"I enchanted you to have animus magic as well. Everyone would be more focused on you and I could go back to being invisible. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this - any of this - to happen. I tried to watch over you as you were growing up, tried to make sure Blister wouldn't use you as her weapon. I wanted to make sure you didn't suffer because of me. But then, Whirlpool discovered me, and that's why I left the Kingdom of the Sea."

"All this time…" She seemed lost, her eyes blank, searching her memories and reevaluating every time he hovered over her, every time she would grow annoyed at his seeming obsession with watching over her. But then she shook her head, fangs bared. "No. NO! You didn't do this to me. You did not create me! You don't get to come in and take everything away from me!"

She pointed a claw, and one of the rings on her claws began to glow. There was a rumble, and then a force of air shot out of her ring and hit Turtle square in the chest. It knocked him back several feet, and winded him. He sat there a moment, mouth hung open, pain lancing through his entire body, and tried to remember how to breathe. When finally he regained himself, he slowly pushed himself up, cradling his chest.

Anemone was almost unrecognisable to him. The light of two moons streaming through the broken, fang-like edges of the windows cast half of her body in shadow, only her bioluminescent scales piercing the darkness. She brandished the torch in her talons, the flames accentuating a dangerous glint in her large, glaring blue eyes.

"You don't know anything!" she hissed at him. "Crawl back home, brother! I'm fulfilling my destiny!"

Turtle spread his legs into a wider stance, and slowly flared his wings. He didn't want to do this. Did he really have to fight his own sister? "Then you leave me no choice."

He launched himself at the little SeaWing. They grappled across the floor, battling to pin the other to the ground. Of course, Turtle had the advantage of size, age, and strength, though he had to admit, Anemone's viciousness was giving him a run for his money. But he managed to pin her down to the dusty marble, his claws digging into her shoulders. She screamed and writhed in pain. Turtle reached for her head, to silence her so that she might listen-

"Pebbles!" she screeched. "Hit my brother! Get him off me!"

All the pebbles, stones and crumbled pieces of brick all rose into the air as one and shot straight for Turtle. They pelted him relentlessly, all along his back and in his ribs. One struck him in the side of the head and Turtle cried out as white-hot pain blinded him for a moment. He stumbled off his sister and reached for his head. He could feel something hot and sticky on his claws.

"Glass!" she shouted again. "Fly at my brother! Cut him into a thousand pieces!"

The broken pieces of the windows pulled themselves from what remained of their sills. They glinted like daggers and pointed themselves straight towards Turtle's heart, and flew like arrows straight towards him. With a cry of fear, Turtle slammed a talon onto one of the large bricks beneath him. "Shield me! Don't let a single piece of glass touch me!" The stone lifted itself out of the ground - it must've weighed at least a ton! It stood firm in the path of the flying glass, allowing each one to imbed itself into its surface or shatter completely. "Anemone! We don't have to fight like this!"

"Yes, we do!" she shrieked back. "I'm not letting you take away the only thing that's MINE. Stone! Turn on your master, hit him again and again, until he's nothing more than a flattened pulp!"

Turtle could only watch in horror as his shield turned against him, flying high into the air before rushing down to him with the force of a meteor. He only just managed to get out of the way in time, the stone slamming itself so hard into the place where he had been, a dust cloud erupted around it, causing him to cough. The stone rose again, and Turtle trembled to realise that his sister really meant to kill him. What had happened to turn her this way? Was she always like this? As the stone came at him again, Turtle knew he wouldn't be able to dodge this time. All he could do was think, to shout inside his own mind: Make my scales as hard as diamonds! Make my bones unbreakable! Make it so that no matter how hard that thing hits me, I won't feel pain!

The stone slammed into him with enough force it felt like the entirety of Jade Mountain had fallen onto him. And yet he felt… nothing. There was no pain, not even a scratch. Had he really just enchanted… himself? The stone slammed into him a second time, then a third! On the forth, he caught it in his talons and commanded: "Stop!" and it fell to the ground.

"Argh! Do I have to do everything?!" And from the bracelets on her wrists, came a bolt of lightning that shot down the corridor straight into Turtle. He didn't have time to get out of its way. It slammed into him and though he felt the burn of it, the shock that tried to stop his heart and tear him asunder, molecule by molecule, he still felt no pain.

Blindly, trying to shield his eyes as best he could to the electrical onslaught, he reached out a talon in Anemone's direction. He pictured her, in her many layers of fabric and too many pieces of jewellery. "Fabric! Wrap around my sister! Make her unable to move or speak, yet still let her breathe. And so long as you're touching her, she cannot use her magic or the magic of any enchanted object!"

The lightning ceased. Turtle looked up at Anemone's indignant scream as her own outfit wrestled against her. It wrapped itself around her, tying her wrists and ankles together, pinning her wings to her side, and clamping her jaws shut. She wriggled on the floor like a fish washed up on the beach, her eyes thunderous. Catching his breath, Turtle wobbled over to his sister, who glared at him hatefully.

"Now would you please listen to me?" he asked. "I didn't want to hurt you. I never wanted to steal anything from you. I just…"

"And what seems to be going on here?"

The two SeaWings startled and turned towards the sound of the voice. A SandWing stood in the doorway - the magical vines that Turtle had summoned now smouldering ashes on the floor. He was old, his snout thin and the flesh under his black eyes wrinkled. All across his body were black tattoos of dragon skulls, making him look more like a leopard than a dragon. His expression was unreadable, but Turtle got the impression that the SandWing was taking him apart inside his head and dissecting every inch of him. Kind of like what Qibli did but far creepier.

"Whilst I wouldn't normally get in the way of two siblings settling their differences," said the SandWing, walking forward and cutting Anemone free of her bonds with a single claw. Anemone climbed to her feet, and was it Turtle's imagination or did she look a little frightened? She wouldn't look the SandWing in the eye, and her earlier bluster had vanished. "Perhaps you shouldn't bring the castle down around us whilst you do it. Darkstalker would expect better of you, princess. Should I inform him of this-?"

"No." she said quickly. "No, there's no need for that."

"I thought not. Perhaps you should return to your room, Anemone, and reflect on your behaviour. So long as there is no repeat of this outburst, I don't see why I should tell Darkstalker of this." Anemone gave her brother one last look that he couldn't interpret, before scurrying off into the bowels of the castle. Turtle wanted to call after her, but then the SandWing was walking towards him, a cold smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "And you… I don't think we've met. You're a SeaWing Prince, I can tell by the wing patterns. But more than that, you're here with my grandson - don't look so surprised, my soldiers told me as soon as you arrived."

This dragon was the reason behind the SandWings they'd seen earlier? Why was his stare, his smile - like he knew everything about Turtle from just a mere look and was toying with him to reveal what he knew - so unnerving? How long had this dragon been watching the fight? Did he now know Turtle was an animus too?

"Maybe we should head back to your friends," said the old SandWing. He opened one wing, gesturing to the same exit Anemone had taken. "This castle can be a bit of a maze if you don't know your way."

Unable to voice a sensible reason to protest, Turtle slowly headed in the direction that was pointed out to him. The SandWing followed behind him, and only spoke to give directions as they travelled along the many corridors and staircases. The SeaWing's hackles began to rise, a sense of pure dread demanding he turn around and face this obvious predator. Now he knew how a seal felt out in the ocean, knowing it was being stalked.

Eventually, they came around a corner and came face to face with a younger, brighter, familiar SandWing. Qibli saw Turtle and his wings drooped in relief. "Turtle! There you-" But when Qibli spotted the older SandWing behind his friend, he froze. Turtle got really worried when he realised that Qibli looked scared.

"Ahhh, grandson," said the old SandWing. "How good it is to see you, after so long."

"Grandfather? You're here?" Qibli asked in a shaky voice. His eyes darted about, as if he was expecting other dragons to jump out of the shadows. "What're you doing here, what is it you want?"

"I'm not here for anything. I've had an epiphany, grandson. I'm turning over a new leaf, turning my focus onto bettering this world instead of always taking from it."

"Ha! I'll believe that when I see it."

There was a terrible glinted in the old SandWing's eyes, and Turtle took several steps closer to Qibli to be safe. "You should join me, Qibli. You were always the smartest of Cobra's brood - so much like me when I was your age. I was quite upset when I discovered your mother had sold you."

"I doubt that, Vulture. And I'm nothing like you." Qibli shot back. "And you should get out of here while you can, grandfather. This place isn't for you."

"Oh, I won't be doing that." Vulture shook his head with a grin that reminded Turtle of a dragonet who had a big secret he wanted others to beg to know. "Like I said, I'm making the world a better place, Qibli. You want to do that, don't you? That's why you joined the rebellion, to stop the war and make everything better for everyone? I see how far that's gotten you. Isn't it frustrating when things don't progress how fast you're wanting them to? Maybe you should get back to me when you finally get a taste for true revolution."

"Revolution? Revolution for what?"

Vulture didn't answer, just smiled and walked away.

Sobs tore out of Moon so ferociously, she was having trouble breathing as she flew through the air. She'd run from the Castle, and was now flying to the edges of the city. Far enough away where she might be able to completely block out Darkstalker's voice in her mind calling out to her, begging her to come back, to hear him out. She didn't want to hear it. In her desperation to escape his words, she pulled on the shield around her mind and slammed it down with all the force behind her sorrow. It finally silenced him, and perhaps had she been of a sound mind, she might've realised that that was the first time she'd consistently kept him out of her head. On any other occasion she might've celebrated that achievement. But now, it only evoked a feeling slight satisfaction that she'd managed to keep him from intruding on her solitude.

There was a small plateau by the edge of the eastern forest. She landed ungracefully, allowing her wings to collapse and not even bothering to lift her neck. The NightWing lay on the cool stone and allowed her tears and her cries to overcome her. She curled up as tightly as she could and buried her face in her talons. The grief consumed her, turned every inch of her body into a conductor that sucked up all the pain in the world and made her feel it all in one huge tsunami-like wave.

Her mother was dead… her mother was dead…

After two years imprisoned, two years where Moon could've done something to save her but had been too cowardly to even try. How much must her mother have suffered? How long had she been trapped and waiting for someone, anyone, to help her? Moon had literally been sat here with the most powerful dragon in the world and she hadn't used him to save her mother! The visions had tried to warn her, she realised that now. Her powers tried to tell her of the impending doom but she'd been too blind and stupid to understand. And now Secretkeeper was dead.

Once again, she was back to being a small dragonet in the rainforest, pinning for the mother that was never coming. It was her mistake that got them caught by her father, and Secretkeeper kept away as punishment, and now Moon had betrayed her again by not being there for her. The tears came harder, the heartbreaker all the stronger. All that time waiting for the time to come where she and her mother could be together at last, and now it would never come. It was too late, and as much as Moon wanted to blame Darkstalker, she knew she couldn't. The blame for this situation lay entirely on her shoulders, and the shame of it burned her.

"I'm sorry," Moon whispered. She wasn't entirely sure who to; the air, the moons, the spirits, her mother? "I'm so, so sorry…"

In the midst of her grief, and with the wall down around her mind, Moon did not notice the shadows amongst the trees. She did not hear the quiet footsteps creeping closer towards her. Nor did she hear the minds of her stalkers get too close. Not until something hard and heavy smashed into the back of her skull and her world turned black.

Winter was reluctant to admit that his pain was actually manageable now. The poultice Moon had given him had stopped his bleeding, and though the spicy roots had made his eyes water, it had indeed helped to stop his pain. All of which was good, because he felt like he needed all his wits about him in order to keep an eye on Darkstalker.

After Moon had run away, Darkstalker had followed her up until the throne room, where he'd abruptly stopped, muttered something about Moon "blocking him out" and had sulked here ever since. He paced back and forth across the dias in front of the black throne. Winter, Peril and Kinkajou had followed him - they had no idea where Moon had gone and it seemed more practical to wait for her here and keep an eye on the giant NightWing in the meantime. Qibli had slipped out to find wherever Turtle had wandered off to.

"Shouldn't we at least try to go and find Moony?" asked Kinkajou, her wings unable to settle with worry. She'd managed to find a bowl of various fruits native to this region (she said she'd found them in the ballroom?) and was eating some in order to try and recoup her energy.

"I agree," said Peril, catching a banana Kinkajou softly threw to her. The smell of the banana cooking in her claws engulfed the trio. "I could go out there and find her in no time-"

"No." They all jumped at Darkstalker's voice suddenly echoing around the large hall. He cast his weird silver-blue eyes on them, and Winter had to stop himself from giving an involuntary shiver. "She wants to be left alone. And I think you lot have done quite enough damage already."

Kinkajou's frill puffed up indignantly. "Well maybe we wouldn't have had to if you'd told her as soon as you knew."

"I was going to tell her! I was just waiting for the right time."

Winter's brows drew down. "She deserved to know."

Darkstalker's lip curled into a sneer. "And you are an expert on what she deserves? Does she deserve to be separated from me? Do you still believe I'm a fairytale monster waiting for my chance to gobble up the world?"

"Big ancient dragon in a spooky abandoned castle throwing ghost parties?" said Peril with a shrug. "Kind of checks the mysterious-villain list."

Darkstalker cocked his head, his eyes studying the SkyWing intently. Winter immediately wanted to shield her from view, to shield all his friends from view. There was a crawling sensation along where his ear should've been, and he was reminded of when Morrowseer looked at him so intently. He had to take a moment to calm his heartbeat.

"You mind, Peril…" Said Darkstalker softly. His voice was so different from what Winter remembered. No longer the rasp of the dead, now his voice was rich and deep and soothing, like it was weaving its own spell to put one's senses to sleep. "Since you've come back from the Sky Kingdom it's less of a raging inferno in there… how curious."

Peril looked at her friends for help. "Um, thanks?"

"Whilst I used to wonder what on earth Moon saw in all of you," the NightWing cast a pointed sideways glance at Winter. "I now see your devotion to her for what it is. Though your little friendship-group might be doomed, I will not doubt that you are important to her. That is why I will not cast you out for making her cry tonight."

"Doomed?!" Kinkajou jumped up, incredulous. Winter caught hold of her tail and pulled her back down. "We're not doomed!"

"As with the Dragons of Destiny, the dream of uniting the tribes as one is just that… a dream. All of you are too different. And yet…" his brows frowned, like he was trying to puzzle something out but couldn't quite get to the bottom of it. "Something about your group irks my brain. Like there's something I'm missing-"

Abruptly, he froze; muscles went rigid and his eyes went wide and unfocused. Winter felt every scale and spine on his body seem to stand on end. A whisper seemed to pass through the room, a noise that seemed to be just outside of his ability to hear.

"Wh-What's happening?" Kinkajou asked, her scales changing all kinds of colours in her alarm.

"Hey!" came a voice behind them, making them all jump. Peril even went to throw herself at the voice, only to check herself when she realised it was Qibli and Turtle. The SandWing pointed a thumb at their green friend. "Found him. But you guys aren't going to believe this; my grandfather's here! This can't be… Hang on, what's wrong with him?"

He pointed up at Darkstalker, just as the huge NightWing seemed to snap out of whatever spell he'd been under. He blinked, and his breathing returned with a gasping pant. His wings trembled and his tail twitched with agitation. "They have her… NO!"

Roaring in rage, Darkstalker leapt off the dias, ran across the throne room and burst through the doors. Dumbfounded, the Jade Winglet ran after him. They followed his path through the entrance hall and out of the great front doors.

"Fire and dust!" Peril cursed. "What's going?!"

"It's Moon," Qibli exclaimed in alarm. He leapt into the sky too, winging after the large NightWing that was already so far ahead. "The NightWings must've got her! He just saw it!"

Winter was right on his heels. "Then let's go! We have to help!"

They all flew into the air as fast as they could. Yet Darkstalker had a wingspan so large and a pace so fierce that he seemed to always be just too far ahead, even for Peril. Still, they flew as fast as their wings could carry them. Though their muscles all complained, they carried on regardless. Turtle suggested enchanting something to make them faster or to at least relieve their suffering, but that idea was shot down because of the Skyfire - it would render magic useless for both Qibli and Winter.

"Peril!" Winter called to the SkyWing, having to shout to be heard over the wind. "You need to head to Jade Mountain!"

She was so shocked by his request that she almost missed a beat of her wings. "What? No way am I leaving you guys again!"

"No, he's right!" shouted Qibli. "Go to Jade Mountain! We're going to need help from the rebellion!"

It was clear the SkyWing did not like this idea. She'd already left them in the hands of the NightWings before and they'd all suffered because of it. Yet, the logic was sound and she couldn't argue with it. So with, a snarl of frustrated resignation, she turned and headed north east. It didn't take long for her to become little more than a speck of red and gold on the horizon.

"But why, Qibli?" asked Turtle. "Even without his magic, Darkstalker should be more than a match-"

"But that's just it!" stressed Qibli, and Winter was astonished to see really worry in the SandWing's eyes. "Morrowseer knows Darkstalker would come after Moon. I don't know how I didn't see it sooner. She was never the target, she's just the bait!"

It all clicked into place and Winter felt like an utter fool. The implications were too frightening to comprehend all at once. "Three moons, no!"

Kinkajou looked ahead at the smudge on their horizon that was Darkstalker. "He's already too far ahead! We can't warn him!"

"And he's in no state of mind to heed any visions," said Turtle, wringing his talons.

"We've just got to keep going," said Qibli, "and hope we get there in time to stop this mess!"