The Dark Ally
Even Though your Greatest Enemy May be Defeated.
Do not Underestimate the Power of Evil, Dragonets.
Seek the One who has Aided another Great Enemy.
Search for the One who Aids the One who Controls all With its Will.
Evening fell, night was upon them, and as Qibli stood by the hut, Moon, Tsunami, Clay, Queen Snowfall, and Lynx sat around on the beach, trying to think. Sitting with them were three dragons from the Lost Continent known as Pantala. A LeafWing named Sundew, a HiveWing named Lady Scarab, and a SilkWing named Blue. They sat in silence for a long while, glancing back at the hut once every few seconds, then down at the sand.
Finally, Snowfall asked: " . . . Moonwatcher? Is that right?"
"Yes," Moon replied. "What is it?"
"I know you're usually on the soft side of things, but I would want permission, from you, to strangle that SandWing with my bare claws."
"She's your friend, and you are a queen," answered Lady Scarab, "I think you should already have permission to harm that dragon."
"No," said Moon, "we have to go about this peacefully."
"Moonwatcher," said Tsunami, "she is the reason why all of these dragons are here. She helped cause this problem."
"But we should find out why first. We can't just burst in there and demand that she tell us what is going on."
"She probably helped the queen take half our friends, and ninety percent of my tribe under control of that plant," growled Sundew.
"There is no greater threat we face besides the Breath of Evil," said Scarab. "We must act quickly. I fear that we may already be too late to stop the Plant and save everyone."
" . . . You think?" Said Blue. He looked at Scarab with a small glare, then turned back to the ground.
"Look," said Lynx, "whatever it is you guys are dealing with on your continent, and however powerful it may be, I think we should ask her how we can stop it."
"How can we be so sure she does know how to stop it?" Snowfall asked.
"Listen, either way I don't think we'll be able to get enough information out of her, considering after all that has happened," said Clay. "She may know about the attack on the LeafWings, and what the queen has been doing to spread the Breath of Evil throughout the continent, but not everything that is happening now - since the queen's death."
"She probably knows a lot about that," said Blue, "and there's a chance that she also knows about the queen's death as well. . . . She might jump into her head every now and again to check on her progress."
" . . . Blue," said Moon, "I know how you feel, but-"
"No. Matter of fact you don't know how I feel, Moonwatcher. I have never, in my life, felt so devastated, and so worried for someone I care about."
A moment of hesitation, then Clay said: "Okay . . . you're right, we don't know how you feel. Let's just take a moment to catch our breath, and decide how we should go about this."
A moment of hesitation, and Blue forcing himself to calm down, straining his claws.
Scarab was the first to speak: "I would like to make a suggestion: I think I, and Sundew should go talk to her first, to get an idea as to what is going on, and how long she had been working with my sister."
"You didn't know about that before?" Tsunami asked.
Scarab looked at her. " . . . No, I did not. I should have, a very long time ago. My sister always kept secrets from me and Jewel . . . and our mother as well. I just didn't think she would go to these lengths. I should have stopped her, but I knew I was too weak to fight against something that could easily steal my consciousness from my own body."
Sundew glared, remembering her home and her friend. "Alright, then it's settled then. I and Scarab will speak to her first . . . then after interrogation, we'll decide what to do next."
Blue stood up. "I'm coming with you."
"No, you are not."
"And why is that?"
"Because we don't know what we're dealing with here. You could get hurt."
"I'm already hurt, Sundew. My friend was taken by that thing, and only she knows what's going on." Blue pointed a hard claw towards the hut.
"We don't know that."
"But at least we'll know what Cricket is doing."
Sundew hesitated. " . . . No, Blue. You stay out here. We'll ask her about Cricket, and if anything has happened to her, we'll let you know."
Blue grunted, sitting back down.
"I'll go with you," said Snowfall. "I want answers as much as you do, and I know her best. If she doesn't answer you, she might answer me."
Without further discussion, Sundew, Snowfall, and Lady Scarab walked towards the hut, towards the dragon who they thought was their friend, but turned out to be another enemy. Snowfall nodded to Qibli, and he stepped aside, opening the door. The three dragons stood in the doorway for a moment, staring at the dragon inside. They gathered themselves together, then walked inside, Qibli closing the door behind them.
The three dragons sat across from the prisoner, and she looked up at them in disgust.
Sundew was the first to ask a question: "How long have you been working with Wasp?" The SandWing didn't answer, only giving a glare, then looking away. "Listen, I have faced the Breath of Evil head on, and I almost watched my friend die to that forsaken plant. Now tell me, and you'd better answer my question: How long have you been working with Queen Wasp?"
The SandWing hesitated, then smirked with a scowl. " . . . Heh, heh . . . that's very funny . . . time goes by so fast, doesn't it?"
"Answer my question."
"You don't need to get so riled up, Sundew - Wasp did tell me about your attitude."
The LeafWing pounded her fists against the desk as hard as she could, almost shaking the entire hut, making silence fall. "I don't, have time, for this. Tell me how long you have been working with Queen Wasp, or I will personally make the smallest of plants tear you apart from the inside."
Jerboa's smirk had faded. She glared at Sundew and the other two. " . . . Fine. Been so long. See, my mother knew her before me. Let's just say, I took her place as Wasp's friend - I really do look like my mother, don't I? She was only my friend, and had just become the New Queen of the HiveWings - my mother met her when she went to Pantala herself years and years ago."
"Wait," said Snowfall, "your mother flew to the Lost Continent before we even thought it was real?"
"Yes. My mother probably went out to find inspiration for a new Animus enchantment, but ended up getting lost, and washing up on the shores of Pantala. Queen Wasp thought she was a strange dragon, wondering why she was there . . . but invited her to stay anyway. Mother lived there for quite some time, and when she had found her inspiration, she flew back home, with the thought of meeting Wasp some time in the future . . . or in dreams."
"In dreams?" Asked Scarab.
"Yes. Mother used a Dreamvisitor to talk to Wasp in her dreams."
"What is a Dreamvisitor?"
"It is an Animus touched object," answered Snowfall. "Dragons use it to meet other dragons while they're sleeping. It has been around for thousands of years."
"That's how you talked to Wasp?" Sundew asked.
"That is how mother talked to Wasp," Jerboa said. "She had been in touch with her for fifty years. Then she died, then I took over her role. A few thirty years later, I made sure Wasp was keeping herself safe . . . but then I couldn't communicate with her for some reason. I tried, day after day, night after night, but nothing answered me. Then . . . something did. It was screaming. Wasp's pleads of agony, her cries of terror and begging to be, 'let free' from something that I didn't know what. I soon saw glimpses. Images of her figure, clutching her head and screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to break free, trying to fight back whatever was having a hold of her.
" . . . Then I finally saw it. There was greenery. Vines. Nothing but leaves and vines all around me, until I realized I was looking through someone else's eyes. There was this plant at every turn - the only thing you could see was green. You could smell that Breath of Evil, burning your lungs and taking over your mind. The eyes I was looking through started screaming, and I saw claws cover the face, and roar. It was two thoughts at once. Two personalities fighting back against one another, each trying to overcome the body and soul . . . and at that very moment I realized it was Wasp's eyes I was seeing through. My friend . . . my only friend . . . taken over by that thing. . . . She was always ignorant, I guess. But that doesn't change the fact that she was being controlled by a plant, forced to do whatever it wanted to do. Every night I watched Wasp poison all the dragons throughout Pantala - the HiveWings, at least - and do whatever the Plant could to have the minds of all dragons until the entire continent belonged to nature."
The three dragons exchanged glances, but it was Sundew and Lady Scarab who were most concerned.
" . . . That still doesn't answer my question," Sundew said hesitantly.
"I think you have enough information, don't you think?" Jerboa growled.
Snowfall growled back, a cold fog emanating from her mouth.
"If you don't talk," Scarab said, "then you forget about what the LeafWing can do to you . . . along with other choices of death by me, and your IceWing friend."
Jerboa was once again outmatched, and she had no other choice but to talk: " . . . I was loyal to my friend, as I have been to my mother for the past one hundred years. Just like this situation, I had no other choice but to answer to her commands. I was once again a prisoner to Death, and made sure no one traveled to Pantala, convincing dragons that there was no such thing as another continent, that there was nothing beyond the ocean. It worked. That's all Wasp ever wanted me to do, so she could continue as a tyrant, forcing all the dragons to do her bidding, and made sure no one had their consciousness back. Freedom doesn't exist in Pantala, it never has. It had belonged to the Breath of Evil ever since that continent was formed. I was told by the queen herself not that long ago that a dragon would be flying over here . . . bringing the Plant with them."
Sundew stared at her, fear coming over her body, but quickly pushed that away. "So that's it? For decades you have been keeping dragons away from Pantala, and killing anyone who tried to cross the ocean?"
"Fascinating, isn't it? All of that, just to keep Wasp's empire growing until everyone was under her control - the Plant, I should say. It has orchestrated all of this from the very beginning."
"The Breath of Evil is alive?" Scarab asked, confused.
"More alive than any other plant in the world. Wasp took a very important piece from it when she discovered what was at the bottom of the Pit. I imagine she regrets that day for the rest of her life. . . . Poor creature. Now the Breath of Evil has her, and it never lets anyone go. Your mind is not yours when it has you . . . the Plant is your mind from then on, and you can only watch destruction happening around you." Jerboa gave a sadistic smile, and laughed.
Sundew was disgusted by this, and turned away to gather herself for a moment.
"You know something, Jerboa?" Snowfall said, and the SandWing stopped laughing. "I thought you were my friend. I thought I could put my trust in you. You convinced me that there was no Lost Continent as you have convinced everyone else. I followed a rule you believed in, and I believed in as well because of your words. . . . I now feel betrayed. Rejected. I thought I was a good queen, but because of you, I became a tyrant. A monster as wicked as the Breath of Evil itself." She screamed that last word, and the room went silent.
Snowfall stared Jerboa down, then tears filled her eyes. She turned, covering her face with her arm, pressing herself against the wall.
"Snowfall?" Sundew asked. "Snowfall, are you alright?"
" . . . Alright?" Snowfall said that one word slowly, threateningly.
Sundew lifted an arm to put her hand on the IceWing's shoulder, but then Snowfall spun around, lashing her claw, almost knocking Sundew to the floor. Snowfall grabbed Jerboa by the shoulder blades, digging her claws into her scales.
"You sit there, and laugh at me?" Snowfall screamed. "You think you can laugh behind my back and make a fool out of me? I am the queen. I trusted you."
She roared in the SandWing's face, and Scarab saw ice build up inside her mouth; she was going to kill her. Thinking fast, the HiveWing grabbed Snowfall by the waist, putting her arm in front of her face, preventing her from breathing her ice.
"Let go of me!" The queen screamed.
Sundew joined in as well, grabbing Snowfall and pulling her out of the hut. She too wanted to kill Jerboa right then and there as much as she did, but knew if they did, they would not know what was going on back at Pantala. The dragons closed the door, and took a screaming Snowfall back to where the others were, leaving Jerboa stunned, locked in her own home once more.
A few yards away from the hut, Blue had snuck away from his friends, and hid himself in some bushes to try and hear the conversation going on inside the home. Unfortunately, he could only look through the window, and had not heard much, until there was screaming that is. He had taken a moment to calm himself down while sitting there, thinking about his home, his friends, his family . . . and her . . . .
Blue suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped up, ready to attack, but quickly stopped himself.
"Oh," he said, "it's just you."
It was Moonwatcher. She smiled at him, and he shivered when he forgot she had three eyes.
Blue sighed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you," Moon said. "I saw you walking over here. What are you doing?"
"You watched me leave? Don't you think that's spying?"
"I was worried about you."
"I worry about myself, and you should as well."
"That's not the way we treat each other around here."
"You say that as if it's a threat."
Moon stared at him, then sighed. "I just want to help you."
"Well, you can't."
"I can, and I won't stop until I do."
"And how will you do that?"
" . . . I want to talk."
"About what?"
"About that girl."
Blue was taken aback. "What girl? What are you talking about?"
"You keep mentioning someone you care about. Does she live back on Pantala?"
"I never mentioned anything about some girl."
"You seem to care about her a lot."
"How do you know that?"
Moon was hesitant, then took a deep breath, gathered herself, then said: " . . . I can read minds."
" . . . What?"
"It's true. I can read minds. It's a NightWing thing. When a NightWing is hatched under one full moon, they will be given the ability to read minds. If they are hatched under two full moons, that dragon will have the power to predict the future. If a NightWing is hatched under three full moons, they will have both of those gifts. That happened to me, and . . . I want to use it to help dragons. Even the ones beyond the ocean."
Blue stared at her, a mix of emotions filling his brain. " . . . You can read minds?"
"Yes. I just thought I should tell you. I want to help."
"You said that already. Many times, in fact."
"It's true, Blue. I want to help the best way I can, and I will do anything in my power to save your home."
" . . . How can you save our home if we can't even find a way to kill the thing that threatens the only home we have?"
" . . . I don't know. But I'll find a way."
"You can't."
"I will."
"There's a fat chance you can save yourself in this situation."
Moon stopped herself, anger beginning to rise, but she quickly pushed it back down. She gathered herself together, then found the words to say: "I want to tell you something: When I first went to Jade Mountain Academy, I met a dragon who wanted nothing to do with anyone around him, and only had conflict as a passion. I saw something inside of him, though. I saw happiness. A life with friends he never had. A life without fighting, without having to deal with his royalty, or anything he hated from his past. . . . But he let it get the best of him. He did things I never thought I would see someone do. He was my friend. I saw a bright future for him, but he refused to live that life. I think about him, sometimes. I think about his future, his life . . . what he could have been . . . .
"I watched someone tear themselves apart over something they had been fighting their entire life. I watched him get corrupted by that anger, by all that rage, and vengeance he had built up inside of him his whole life. I don't want it to happen again, I can't bear to see it anymore. I don't want you to hurt yourself . . . your friend wouldn't want to see you like this, Blue. If you care that much about her, then she could feel the same way about you."
Moon placed a hand on Blue's. He looked down at it, then at her. "You would risk your life to save an entire continent populated with dragons you never knew existed?"
"I want to save everyone in whatever way possible. They care about me, I should care about them. That's what we call the Power of Wings of Fire."
Blue pulled his hand away, and looked the NightWing directly in the eyes. He turned back to the hut, and through the window saw Jerboa sitting at the table. He thought about his friend, the first real one he ever had, back home, on Pantala. She didn't even know him, but she became his friend anyway.
Blue took a moment to think, then Moon said: "Maybe you and I could go talk to Jerboa together, to make sure your friend is alright."
The SilkWing craned his neck to look at her, then back to the hut . . . thinking about his friend.
Before he knew it, Blue was walking next to Moonwatcher towards the hut, all the while he felt uneasy for some reason. He shouldn't feel this way, he should be angry, and satisfied to finally get vengeance on the dragon who tried to take over his Wing. Instead he felt mixed feelings, as if this was a bad idea. He kept walking anyway, telling himself that he will get answers as to what is going on back on Pantala.
Qibli was still guarding the door. "Moon? What are you doing here?"
"Blue wants to talk to Jerboa," Moonwatcher replied.
"Did the others allow this?"
"No."
"Then I can't let you in."
"Qibli, please. Blue is really worried about his friend, and Jerboa is the only dragon who knows what is happening on Pantala right now."
"No, Moon. I can't let you in with that monster."
"She's not a monster, Qibli, she's just broken."
"She is still a danger to all of us."
"Qibli, Blue deserves to know if his friend is alright. Please let us in."
The SandWing stared at her, then at the SilkWing. He sighed. " . . . Alright. But you can be in there for five minutes, and five minutes only."
"We'll be alright, Qibli."
Hesitantly, Qibli unlocked the door, and Blue felt a heat of anger rise inside his blood as he stared right at Jerboa. The two dragons slowly walked in as Qibli shut the door, but did not lock it. Moon sat down calmly, but Blue stood, eyeing the SandWing with anger and irritation.
Moon looked up at him. "Are you okay?"
Blue was silent for a while. " . . . Yes . . . I'm fine." He sat down, not taking his eyes off the dragon across from him.
Jerboa slowly lifted her head, and wickedness was clearly exposed on her face.
"Jerboa?" Moon started. "Do you remember me? I'm Moonwatcher."
" . . . Yes," the SandWing snarled, "how could I forget you?"
"This is Blue. He wants to know if his friend is alright. You have a connection to Queen Wasp, do you still have that connection?"
"Connection? Heh, heh. I use a Dreamvisitor, snake-face."
"Don't you say that to her," Blue growled.
Jerboa turned her head to him. "What? Did I hit a nerve?"
"Cut to the chase already."
"You're hilarious. It makes me wonder how that HiveWing found you to be a kind friend for someone who has been alone her whole life."
"If you insult her in any way, so help me I will-"
"Are you threatening to harm me for insulting her? Do you have feelings for her or something?"
Blue growled once more, then lifted his arm, producing flamesilk from his wrist. "See this? This is flamesilk. If you haven't gotten the message, this type of silk can burn anything it touches, and if you go so far as to curse my friend, I will personally strangle you with this."
"Goodness, what's with all the death threats lately?"
"Blue," Moon said, trying to reassure him, "it's alright. Just sit down." The SilkWing looked at her, forcing his anger to die, and sat down, pulling the flamesilk away and dousing it. "Have you used your Dreamvisitor lately to try and talk to Wasp?"
"I did, but the dragon I was talking to turned out to be something completely different."
"Did they say anything to you?"
"No. In fact, she was unaware of my presence. I didn't even try to talk to her because she was so out of control. The Breath of Evil had a stronger hold of her than it ever did with Wasp."
Rage rose inside of Blue, but remembered to calm himself, and managed to avoid a scene.
"Is she alright?" Moon asked.
"Alive, yes," Jerboa replied. "Mentally, no. The Plant is wrapped around her entire brain. It has never had a host like her before, and since she is weak, it will be easier for the Plant to control the body."
"She is not weak," Blue said.
"For goodness sake! You are very emotional, aren't you? I say something random, and you struggle to control your anger."
Blue pounded the desk as hard as he could, but Moon quickly took action: "Blue! This is not the way to go."
"She's not giving us any information whatsoever," Blue roared.
"Your friend will be alright."
"What if she's not? What if she's dead?"
"She can't be."
"But what if it's true? Maybe this SandWing is lying to us. Maybe she knew about Wasp's plans for world domination, and knew the Breath of Evil would take my friend?"
Moonwatcher was hesitant for a moment, considering what Blue had said. She looked at Jerboa. " . . . Did you want any of that to happen? Did Wasp plan to do this from the beginning?"
Surprisingly, Jerboa showed a hint of sadness in her face. " . . . She did tell me that she will do anything in her power to become queen. After her mother died, Scarab decided to take the throne because she was the oldest of the siblings. Wasp hated that idea infuriatingly, and set out to find something to overthrow her sister. Eventually she learned about something deep below the surface, lying miles beneath the talons of all the dragons of Pantala. It lied in the Pit. Wasp took a few guards with her down into the darkness, and what she found will haunt the dragons of the Lost Continent for the rest of their history.
"Wasp came back acting stranger than ever. Her movements were off, and walked stiffly, like a disabled dragon. Her eyes were pale white and she talked in a raspy hiss. She was not herself anymore . . . she was not a dragon anymore. These strange actions struck fear in the dragons, and chased even Lady Scarab herself away from the throne, leaving Wasp to become queen. For over fifty years, Wasp's consciousness had been battling against the clutches of the Breath of Evil, trying to free herself from its grasp ever since. But she couldn't - the Plant was slowly killing her on the inside.
"After that happened I had never spoken to Wasp, rather I talked to the Plant. I did try to contact her in a dream, but all I saw was the Plant. No Wasp, no HiveWing . . . she was not my friend any longer. I sometimes go back to her dreams, seeing all that she had done. I learned something however. I believe there are two centers to the Breath of Evil."
"Centers?" Blue asked.
"The main thing that keeps the Plant alive. It has a brain and heart. When Wasp took a piece of it all those years ago, she didn't realize that she had taken the brain of the Breath of Evil."
" . . . The brain?"
"Yes. If you can kill it and the heart, the Plant will be killed. . . . But I think the host will die as well."
Blue went silent. " . . . The host will die if it dies?"
" . . . Yes. But, frankly, a dragon like her would be useless to the tribe anyway."
That statement was the main thing that made Blue snap.
He jumped, grabbing Jerboa by the throat, screaming: "Don't you dare say that about her. She didn't have any friends until she met me. I was the only friend she ever had, and there was no one in her life she ever cared more about than she did for me. She was the only friend I ever had, without her I am nothing but a pathetic excuse for a SilkWing everyone says I am. Don't you dare say my friend will die to my face again. She is being held by her will to that plant. She was my friend. Her name is Cricket."
"Blue!" Moon screamed. "Stop!"
Blue roared at the top of his lungs - he was going to kill Jerboa. Suddenly the door opened. Sundew, Snowfall, Scarab, and Qibli rushed in and pulled Blue away from Jerboa. The SandWing slumped backwards, coughing for air, hand to her throat, claw marks left in her scales. Blue was pulled away from the hut, Qibli slamming and locking the door behind them.
"No!" Blue screamed. "Let me back in."
"Blue," Sundew cried, "calm down, it's not worth it to kill her!"
"She is worth it to this whole situation."
The three dragons held Blue in a tight grip. After a moment, they were finally able to calm him down. The dragons stepped away. Moon stared at the SilkWing with worry and sadness.
"Blue?" She said. "A-Are you okay?"
"You know what, Moon?" The SilkWing growled. "You may be able to read minds, but that doesn't make any difference about any of this. You can't understand my feelings for my friends and family, even if you know everything I am thinking. You can't help me . . . you can't even help yourself." He growled again before turning and stomping off.
"Blue," Sundew called, but received no answer. "Blue."
It was not worth it. He was already gone.
Moon watched him leave, wishing she could help him in some way. Except, after everything that has happened, and everything she had heard from him and Jerboa, she felt a loss of hope for the first time in her life.
