Glory had never liked the Rainwing prison. Not only because it was created by Darkstalker of all dragons, but because it felt like it had been created by him. The walls were dark, the cells were small, and the natural light was so minimal it was virtually nonexistent. If it wasn't for the fact that she made sure her prisoners received basic care and attention, she would have almost considered it inhumane to keep anyone there.

There had been more than a few dragons that had been imprisoned in the structure since its erection, some of them multiple times, but one cell held a far more permanent prisoner. After his role in capturing and experimenting on the Rainwings, her tribe insisted that he remain locked away, far from where he could do them wrong. He'd repented of it, and Glory truly believed that he was trying to make a change, but it was hard to work against popular opinion.

Of course, she felt better since the Nightwing seemed more or less content with his lot. The current prison was much better than his former one, and he'd been provided a small desk and some writing utensils. He'd actually developed some interesting inventions and ideas that he'd shared with Glory in his time there, some of which she'd passed on to other Nightwings and Rainwings to develop.

In fact, he was hard at work on what she imagined was one such project when she and Deathbringer approached, so much so that he didn't even notice that they were there until Deathbringer cleared his throat.

"Oh, Queen Glory," he said calmly, setting down his quill and turning to them, "What an unexpected pleasure."

"Mastermind," she greeted the father of her not-quite-brother, Starflight.

"What brings you here on this fine day—it is lovely outside from what I can tell, isn't it?" he asked her, "Come to see any of my new designs? I've been working on a system to more efficiently move water from the river to the village's center. I think I just about have it figured out, if my calculations prove correct."

"Interesting," Glory said flatly, "But that's not why we're here."

Mastermind tilted his head at her tone. "I'm sorry, have I offended…"

"No, but we have more pressing matters than that," Glory told him, "We have an issue that Greatness told us you may be able to shed some light on."

"Do you recognize this tooth at all?" Deathbringer spoke, jumping to the point as he produced the tooth and gave it to the older Nightwing through the bars.

"Hmmm," Mastermind hummed as he took it, then adjusted his spectacles to take a closer look. He moved it around on the palm of his claw, then raised it up and held it to the light. "Fascinating," he spoke, "Where did you find this?"

"It was in the body of Jambu," Glory told him, her voice still emotionless, "He was found killed yesterday, likely by the owner of that tooth."

"Fascinating indeed," Mastermind spoke, making no mention of her brother's death, "And where was the body found?"

"Southeast of the Night Village," Deathbringer spoke, "And he wasn't the only one. At least one other dragon has been killed, maybe more."

"I see…" Mastermind said evenly, "Well, this certainly does not appear to be any ordinary tooth."

"We've gathered that, yes," Deathbringer huffed sarcastically, "We're questioning dragons to see if someone knows anyone that might have these kinds of odd teeth. It might be a mutation or something."

The older Nightwing shook his head and gave the object in question back to Deathbringer. "I don't think that will do you much good. That is no dragon's tooth."

"Then what is it?" Glory half-demanded, "What else besides a dragon has teeth this big?"

Mastermind was silent for a second, looking them over. "I'm afraid I cannot say."

"Can't? Or won't?" she did demand this time, "Greatness made it clear that you knew something about all this. And I won't let you get in the way of me finding my brother's killer."

The Nightwing raised a claw silently, palm towards her. "I cannot, I assure you. Whatever this is, it's likely unknown to science. Perhaps a new species of some kind. I would love to be able to study it, if so."

"I don't intend for it to live long enough to be studied," Glory hissed, "And regardless, I don't believe you. Whatever or whoever this tooth belongs to was enough to make Greatness fly away in fright. That's no 'unknown' species."

"All the same, it must be," Mastermind spoke, his voice practically nonchalant, "After all, were there not stories from the Rainwings of monsters in the Rainforest? Perhaps they had truth to them."

"The only monsters in the Rainforest were the Nightwings, and you," Glory growled, "There's already been enough of dragons being harmed in my lifetime; I won't let it happen again. Now, will you help us or not?"
"I would very much like to," the prisoner spoke, "But as I said, I cannot any more than I already have. I'm…sorry, Queen Glory."

Glory could do no more than glare at him. With a frustrated snort, she turned and stormed out of the prison, Deathbringer behind her. She didn't even look back until she was outside, the warmth of the sun on her scales.

"He knows more than he said," Deathbringer said once she'd taken a moment to calm down, "I'm sure I can make him talk, if you need me to."

She shook her head. "No. At least, not yet. I think he's said all that he will, for now."

"If you think so…" Deathbringer paused, "What was he saying about monsters in the Rainforest?"

"Hmmm?"

"Mastermind said something about there being monsters," he clarified, "What was that about?"

She cocked her head, a little confused. "I thought you of all dragons would know. When dragons had gone missing—or worse—during the time the Nightwings were planning to invade the Rainforest, it was pinned on some sort of monster. Of course, we realized that it was actually the Nightwings, like you, coming through the tunnels and taking them prisoner. That and killing any other dragons that came too close."

"Killing dragons?" Deathbringer asked, "We weren't supposed to do that. We were specifically ordered not to, unless it couldn't at all be avoided."

"Well, you did," Glory told him matter-of-factly, "My very first day in the Rainforest you killed a pair of Mudwing soldiers that were on patrol."

"I certainly didn't," Deathbringer was quick to respond, "And I don't know of anyone who would have, especially with our orders. You must be mistaken."

"I'm not," she told him bluntly, "Someone killed them, and it wasn't the Rainwings. They don't kill; they wouldn't have had any reason to kill."

"So…it was a monster?" Deathbringer asked.

"No!" Glory exclaimed, then paused, "I mean, I don't think so. There has to be a rational explanation, right?"

Deathbringer produced the tooth and raised it in front of her. "Well, it's looking less and less likely that this is a dragon tooth. Something is killing dragons, and I don't know if we can discount the idea that it might not be a dragon."

"Still…" Glory stopped, then shook her head, "Even if it is, it doesn't really matter. We know that whoever—or whatever—it is has been prowling the southeast Rainforest. All we need to do is go in and eliminate the one responsible."

"I'll lead the team myself," Deathbringer nodded, "We'll take a larger group; it's already proven it can take on three at once."

"Organize it, then," Glory told him, "Get our best fighters together and have them go to the Nightwing Village. I'll meet you there."

"As you wish," Deathbringer gave a small bow of his head, then took off.

Glory did the same a few moments later, going a different direction. She had some business to attend to in preparation of her own, and it had the potential to take her a while. Finding dragons could be difficult, and she needed to call in a favor. Fortunately, it ended up going faster than anticipated—and relatively painless-and it was only a matter of a couple of hours before she was once again in the Nightwing Village.

She saw the group of dragons even before she landed. There was Deathbringer, of course, and Caiman was with him. Also there were two other Rainwings that she recognized as Lemur and Tarsier, good dragons that had proven to be able to fight, as well as a Nightwing named Preykiller.

The five dragons were standing near the town hall, looking down at something. Glory noted that they were close to the unfinished construction site, and she intentionally heeded Greatness's warning from earlier and kept a wary eye on the rickety structure.

"Is this everyone?" she asked as she approached, the dragons looking up and at her before all (besides Deathbringer) bowed their heads.

"It is," came Deathbringer's answer, "I believe the five of us should be up to the task."

Glory looked them over again. Deathbringer, she knew, was more than competent at any task she could assign. Of the Rainwings, she trusted Caiman, but she didn't quite know too much about Lemur and Tarsier other than that they'd excelled in their fighting training all the way back when "General" Tsunami had been prepping them to invade the Volcano Island of the Nightwings. Deathbringer had seen fit to continue that training, and they'd seen some rotations as guards when they weren't on any business assigned by him. Preyhunter, the only other Nightwing besides Deathbringer and the only female in the group, had been a soldier in the Nightwing army and had plenty of experience. Glory had been a bit wary of trusting Nightwings with leadership and guard positions with all that had happened, but she'd won her over through her loyalty and eagerness to serve.

Still, the dragon—or whatever it was in the Rainforest—had proved it had no problem taking out groups of dragons. Glory couldn't help but feel a little concerned.

"Are you sure?" she asked him, "There are more dragons that could help…"

Deathbringer shook his head. "Larger groups can be more complicated, and members can get lost easier. I don't want us to spend more time looking for each other than the killer."

"But you'll just be searching from the sky, won't you?" she asked.

"I wish," Caiman grunted, and motioned for her to look at what they had all been looking at earlier. She approached and saw a large map of the Rainforest splayed out on the group. There were three large markings on it, each southeast of the Nightwing Village.

She looked at Deathbringer in confusion, and he tapped a claw on one of those marks. "These are where we've lost dragons," he told her, "Jambu here," he pointed to the farthest mark, "Tapir here," his claw moved closer, "And this is where the group looking for Tapir that went missing was. Notice anything?"

Glory frowned. "The attacks are moving north, towards the Nightwing Village."

"They are," Caiman agreed, "Whatever is killing them is coming closer. By my estimation, if it continues to move at the current pace from when Tapir went missing to the group looking for him, it will be here in a matter of days."

"I see…" Glory didn't like the sound of that. She still wasn't convinced that they were dealing with anything but a murder (although it seemed Deathbringer had spread the idea it may not be a dragon they were dealing with). "So, what does this mean? You can't just search from the sky?"

"We can't count on it," Deathbringer told her, "You know how dense the jungle can be. It's a wonder the searchers had any luck finding Jambu and Tapir. We could look for days overhead and never spot anything from the air, especially if our target is hiding."

"So, it's to the ground," Caiman continued for him, "We'll track 'im the old-fashioned way. Start around the area the search party went missing, then work north towards the Night Village. We'll search for tracks or any other indicators and see if we can't find the owner."

"Sounds very time-consuming," Glory commented.

"It's necessary, though," Deathbringer assured her.

She tapped her tail, glancing at the faces of the party that would be risking their lives here soon. Familiar eyes looked at her as they waited for their queen to give the word to execute their mission and, hopefully, find her brother's killer.

"Very well," she said, slowly, "But I'm coming with you."

It was Deathbringer that reacted first. "Absolutely not," he told her, clearly not caring about her royal title in that moment, "We don't know what we're facing."

"I'm not a helpless dragonet," she bit back, "I was taught how to fight and defend myself since hatching. I'll be fine."

"But you're the queen," he insisted, "You have a duty to stay here and protect your subjects, not put yourself into harms way. And who will run the kingdom while you're away? We have no idea how long this may take."

"I've already asked Grandeur to look after things while I'm gone," she told him, "And that isn't a request."

"Glory…" there was exasperation in his voice now, "Please, just…"

"I'm your queen, and I say I'm coming," she told him, and that was that. He sighed, gave her a slightly worried and distraught look, but said nothing.

"I also want Mastermind to come," she said after a small pause, "He knows who or what is out there, or at least more about it than we do. He may prove useful."

Deathbringer still seemed upset, but Caiman nodded. "You heard the queen," he said to Lemur, "Go get Mastermind!" The other Rainwing nodded and rushed off to fulfill the order.

"Anything else?" the green scaled Rainwing asked her.

She paused, hesitating. She hadn't planned on this, but with what she had just been told…well, she didn't want to risk anyone else if they failed. "How long do you think it would be before the killer arrives here, to the Nightwing Village?" she asked, "Assuming continued movement north, I mean."

"Hard to tell," Caiman shrugged his wings, "Three days, maybe a little less than two if the pace is consistent."

Glory sighed. "It may be an overreaction, but…" she shook her head, "I want the Nightwing Village evacuated."
"Evacuated?" Deathbringer asked.

"Yes," she nodded, "I don't want whatever—whoever—it is to attack anyone here or on the outskirts. It will only be for a matter of days. Have them move to the Rainwing Village."

"What do we tell them?" Tarsier asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Whatever gets them to move," she told him, "Tell them it's to build comradery between the Rainwings and them. Tell them there's a problem with the water. Tell them the town hall is going to fall and we don't want it to hurt them," she pointed to the unfinished structure, "Just make them leave for the next few days."

She got a chorus of "yes, my queen," from the gathered dragons as all but Deathbringer dispersed to do just that. She watched them go, already spreading the word to nearby Nightwings as she felt Deathbringer walk up beside her.

"You really don't need to go, you know," he told her, his voice a little grim.

"I know, but I want to."

"If this is about wanting to get away from being queen for a while, to have more excitement…" he trailed off as she shot him a glare.

"I'm doing this to find Jambu's killer," she told him, trying not to let the spark of anger inside her come out in her voice, "Nothing more."

"But you don't need to sacrifice your duty to do it," he went on, more cautiously, "We can handle this. You won't avenge your brother by putting yourself in danger."

"I know," she gave a huffing kind of sigh, "But Deathbringer, I need to do this. I need to see this through, so I can know that no one else dies without me knowing I could have done more."

Deathbringer's gaze softened a little. He gave a slow nod. "I understand," he said, "I'll do my best to keep you safe, Glory."

She smiled, softly. "You always do."