Chapter Fifty Six

"This is highly irregular!" stammered an old NightWing, bristling with so much outrage it looked like his cracked scales would pop off. He stumbled down the steps leading away from the Palace of Stars and a younger NightWing had to help steady him.

"We are members of the Queen's Council!" yelled another female. "You cannot treat us like this, SandWing!"

Vulture merely blinked slowly, looking to all the world disinterested in their pathetic cries. Beside him, two of his drakes held their spears horizontally, using them to push the crowd of NightWings out of the palace. "You will all be allowed to return in a few days. Once tensions with the other tribes have ceased, you will be allowed to carry on your normal lives. But for your own safety, you must now vacate to other parts of the city. Only a select few will be allowed to stay for security."

"Did the Queen give those orders?" demanded a NightWing male. "Or Darkstalker?"

Vulture levelled a cold look that made the NightWing wilt. "I am giving you the order. Now go." And with that, he left his soldiers to deal with the rabble.

Quickly, the old SandWing made his way through the lower floors of the castle, gritting his teeth as his old knees complained at the amount of steps he had to go up and down from. He ignored it - it wouldn't be long now until all that was made irrelevant. In the inside pocket of his black cape, the Amulet of Concealment thumped against his shoulder, reminding him of its presence with every step he took.

He came to a door close to the kitchens, a door that once upon a time would have been used for food deliveries straight to the larder. Now, Vulture opened it, to find the rest of his soldiers waiting for him in the yard outside, beside each of them was a wooden barrel with a stripe of red paint. Vulture opened the door wide for them, and one by one the soldiers carefully hefted the barrels onto their backs, holding them in place between their wings, and carried them inside.

"I want them placed around the balconies of the throne room. Hide them in the corners of every column and beam." He instructed. One soldier almost tripped on the threshold, jostling his cargo dangerously. "Careful!" Vulture hissed.

He followed them to the throne room, and watched them carry out their secret work. He ordered that twine be strapped to the barrels and lead off in multiple directions - he wanted as many points of interest as possible so that they could be reached no matter where in the castle this drama played out. But he had a feeling that it would happen beneath the glass dome roof, with the stars as witness, either in the throne room or the map room above. For all the cries of logic from most dragons, Vulture knew they were all actors at heart, willing to play to dramatics.

So lost in thought was he, that he almost didn't notice the bumbling footsteps of someone approaching him until someone coughed to get his attention. "Ahem, um, excuse me, Mr Vulture, sir?"

Vulture took a deep breath through his nose and out through his mouth, biting back his irritation as he turned to face Mastermind. He was one of the few NightWings Vulture had allowed to remain in the castle - for a very specific purpose. "Yes? What is it?"

"Um, sir, I seem to be at a loss. I've been combing through the queen's study, but I cannot seem to find what it is you're looking for. I don't think such a thing exists."

The claws of his right talon twitched, itching to do something… But instead, Vulture straightened his posture, put on a cold smile, and with a wing over Mastermind's back, pushed him back down the hallway. "Come, Mastermind. Let's see if we can go and sort this out together…"

Everything around Moon ceased to exist. Her mind emptied as if sucked into a void of nothingness, leaving an almost unnatural cold to settle across her body. A numbness that slowly crept into her soul and sank hooked talons into it, sharp and near painful. She felt a slight ache in her stomach, and as she looked down she saw a scar, new and coloured pink and purple, appear where Blister had stabbed her. In that moment she was grateful for Clay and Sunny's medicine therapy that she'd undergone the last few days, counteracting Blister's poison so that now it was neutralised. Her diamond earring also fell out, the ragged little tear in her ear where her father had hurt her reappearing. She quickly caught it and put it back in her other, undamaged ear.

Beside her, she heard Darkstalker choke on air, his eyes going wide in shock. He spun to look at her, aghast, as if she'd just vanished out of existence and he was desperately trying to find her. Confusion wrinkled his brow, but then he spotted the black ring on her finger. A cold, angry expression came over him as he glared at the offending jewellery. Moon narrowed her eyes up at him defiantly, a silent challenge.

The queens, still bickering amongst themselves, didn't even seem to notice Darkstalker's distraction. Not until he turned his head away from Moon and roared into the sky. Everyone else went quiet, looking at him, Glacier looked like she'd almost leapt out of her scales, suddenly poised for attack. Now that he had their attention, his voice returned to its previous calm - even if it now sounded slightly strained to Moon's ears. "I suggest we all take a quick recess to cool off and come back in an hour with clearer heads." He interrupted with a smile, though it was all sharpened teeth and did not quite reach his eyes. There was anger simmering beneath those darkened scales, yet Moon was unphased. Darkstalker didn't even wait to hear the few protests, just stood and turned on his heel. As he stalked away, he coldly whispered to Moon as he passed her: "I think you and I need to have a little chat."

Moon would be lying if she said she didn't feel a chill run down her spine. She looked over to her friends, to Qibli and Turtle watching her with worry. The urge to reach out her mind to them, to hear their anxieties and know their intentions, was strong. But the Skyfire was like a prison around her mind, sedating her into being confined to herself. As such, she had to just trust that they would leave this up to her and not do anything rash. Fortifying herself, for she knew this conversation had to happen, had been partly wishing for it, but her old ways of not liking confrontation came swimming back. It made her want to shrivel up and try to fix the situation. But no. She was different now. She wouldn't cower, she would make her stand and she would hold her ground. Anything less was a disservice to herself, to her friends, and even to Darkstalker himself. This needed to happen.

Following him, she allowed Darkstalker to lead her back through the gardens until they found a secluded spot. Almost like a courtyard, surrounded by desert hedges, trimmed neatly, and colonnades on two sides. Darkstalker stood at one side of the courtyard, his back to her, one claw tapping on the white paving stones underfoot. Moon stood still and waited; she felt strange, the fuzz around her entire being making her feel like she was detached from gravity and likely to fall into the sky, unanchored, if she didn't try to root herself in place.

"Are we not friends, Moon?" Darkstalker asked. His voice sounded conflicted, like he was unsure whether to be angry or hurt. Slowly, he turned to look at her, and when those silver-blues found hers, looking so lost and wounded, Moon felt the urge to pour out her heart to him, but he spoke before she could. "Why would you… Skyfire? Do you fear me that much?"

"It was the only way I could think of to get your attention," she mumbled. But then she remembered her courage and lifted her head to meet his gaze. "You enchanted the Queens. Used your magic to influence them."

"Only after Glacier showed up and started to turn them against me," he argued. "It was only something small, just to get them to trust me. You want me to admit I panicked? Fine! I panicked and made a little spell. It was the only way to ensure peace."

"Peace?" she echoed, incredulous. "How can you say you want peace after what you did to the IceWings?"

Darkstalker clamped his mouth shut tightly, but he couldn't stop the growl that rumbled out through his chest. Eyes screwed shut, he reached up and pulled on his ears in frustration. "Am I doomed to be haunted for the rest of my life because of mistakes I made two thousand years ago?!"

"I'm not talking about two thousand years ago - I'm talking about what you did to Glacier!"

He paused and gave her a queer look. "What are you talking about?"

"The NightWing assassin," she explained. "The one you sent to kill Queen Glacier a week ago."

"I did no such thing!"

"He said 'The Darkstalker sends his regards'." Even to say the words aloud felt like a betrayal, like he had hurt some secret place in her soul. "He stabbed her with a poisoned blade. It was a race against time to save her."

His eyes grew distant, Moon guessed he was either looking into the futures or piecing together the puzzle. More than anything she wished to take off the ring and reach out to his mind, to see the truth of his heart there. Darkstalker's wings abruptly snapped open, a vision of galaxies and starlight before her, and his expression looked like he had come to an answer. "That's why she's so hostile… But why…?" He stepped closer to her, one talon reaching out to her beseechingly. "Moon, I swear I did not do this!"

"Then who did?"

"I don't know! Maybe a NightWing with a grudge? Maybe a fanatic who thought I would reward them? But I gave no such orders." Closing his wings again, he began to pace in front of her, back and forth across the courtyard. "I need to salvage this. This must be why the timelines are all screwed up! But I can't see how to fix it! Those blasted earrings are blocking them from my sight!"

"Darkstalker," Moon began slowly, daring to hope that all her secret wishes had been proven right. But she couldn't give in, she had to keep pushing him, had to get to the bottom of all this. "If you didn't do this, then why did you call this meeting? Why enchant the queens? Why, if it wasn't all part of some bigger plan? All these things together look-"

"Suspicious?" he finished for her with a hiss. He stopped his pacing, fixing her with a guarded look in his eyes. "Is that what your friends have told you? Put ideas in your head that I have some grand design? That I'm some monster?! Moon, did all those months we spent together mean nothing to you?"

"Of course they did!" she exclaimed hotly. "I didn't want to believe you would do this - any of it! But I need to get to the truth."

He turned to her fully, sitting upright and folding his wings against his body tightly. He made himself look as if chiselled from stone, unreadable, unreachable, watching her carefully for any sign… but for what, Moon did not know. "And what will you do with the truth? Will you actually accept it, or will you follow your little idiot and run away from me - just like you did in the dream we shared."

"I didn't run away, I was awoken. I wanted to reach back to you but you'd already shut yourself away. The Dreamvisitor couldn't reach you." That dream, and everything she had witnessed in it - it was like an elephant in the courtyard with them that they had both been ignoring up until now. But it needed to be addressed. "And I think it's time we talk about what happened in that dream."

Darkstalker turned his head away. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Oh really?" she pressed, getting a little angry herself. "So we shouldn't talk about what happened to your father? Or the fact that you've been lying to me all this time?"

"I didn't lie," he protested, facing her again. "I admitted to murder. I admitted to killing Arctic and Vigilance. The details of how I killed them shouldn't be important."

"Not important?! You made him your puppet, made him obey your every command!"

"And I was wrong! But you've seen my past, Moon, you know what he was like, you know the abuse I suffered. From him, from the keepers, from Vigilance!" He took a moment to breathe, rubbing the palm of a talon over his face and snout. "Yes, I regret the way I killed them, but I don't regret the fact they're dead! They deserved it."

"And I deserved not to know? You get to keep your biggest sin a secret? I warned you, Darkstalker. I told you what would happen if I found out you lied to me again."

He was struck silent, his mouth falling open, frozen. Moon had never seen him look so lost, so scared and desperate. "So that's it? We're done?"

"It doesn't have to be." She dared to walk to him, to gingerly touch her claws to the back of his talon. Oh, how she wanted to go back in time, to just a few weeks ago, when they'd been happy, she'd been ignorant, and she knew unequivocally that she trusted him more than any other dragon in the world. The want to have him hold her, to wrap her up in his wings and listen to the music of his mind almost consumed her. "Just prove me right that you didn't do this."

"Then trust me!" He took hold of her talon in both of his and bowed over it, pleading. "Trust me, and I'll do anything you ask. Please, Moon, you can't go, not until I've explained everything."

"Explain what?"

"That I love you."

Silence.

Moon stared into his eyes, so big, so silvery - like two of the moons right in front of her face, captivating her. Earnestly they cried out to her, showing her even without her telepathy a depth of emotion she could not comprehend. She felt paralysed, unable to move, unable to make sense of what he had just said. It felt unreal, like some big practical joke, but at the same time it felt like a natural truth that had always been there, not secreted away, merely unobserved until it was finally spoken aloud.

"I…" Words struggled to form in her mouth. Her heart began to race in her ears and her breathing came quickly. This monumental shift in her universe felt too abrupt, too new. It felt safer, less big, just moments ago, and so her brain went into denial - this couldn't be right, because if it was then that meant everything had to change and she wasn't ready for that. "That can't be… No. You're just confused."

"I am not."

"No. It's because I look like Clearsight. That's why-"

"No, it's not." He seemed to know of her turmoil - perhaps he read it in her face. Gently, tentatively, he reached out one talon to brush the back of his claws along the side of her jaw. "Clearsight wasn't here, you were. Clearsight didn't help me through my grief, you did. Clearsight didn't believe in me - you did. It's you, Moon. You, your kindness, your ability to see goodness in all dragons, even ones like me. You're the only dragon in this world who understands me, who has loved me for me. You weren't afraid of the monster, or worshipped the animus. You saw me."

If the moons crashed to earth and shattered the whole rest of their planet, leaving only them to float in space, Moon would never have noticed. All that existed for her were his magnetic eyes and the pounding of her heart. But whether that was in trepidation or something else, she didn't have the wisdom to know. "But, Darkstalker, I…"

"You don't have to say it back," he murmured softly, drawing back to give her space to breathe. "But I had to tell you. Had to make you see why you matter so much. It was fate! Do you think it a mere coincidence that you, Clearsight's reincarnation, was here, alive and in the place where I needed you most right as I awakened? You, the only dragon in the world who could hear me, who had the ability to free me, and we just happened into each other? No. That kind of coincidence doesn't exist."

Hadn't Moon and Turtle said these exact words hours ago? And yet to have those suspicions confirmed, it once again felt daunting, like the curtain that had shrouded Moon's purpose was finally pulled back - a gigantic leap she had to cross with no wings to catch her. What could she say to him? Her world was spinning backwards and she had no clue what was up or down. Did she feel the same - the question was resounding in her mind, unwilling to be ignored. She didn't know what love was - only a fleeting crush she'd felt with Winter before all this mess began. Winter had never said the words, not like this. And yet, even in her panic to find an answer, there was a softness to Darkstalker's voice, a warmth to his touch, a look in his eyes. It seemed to reach into her soul and pull out something deep there, like a pearl from the bottom of the ocean. Abruptly, she recalled Midsummer's night, at the ball in the castle, when she and Darkstalker had danced. She'd felt like she'd been in a trance, happy and filled with more emotion than she'd ever felt in her life. Was that love? And even if it was, what could she do with it, now that they'd come so far into a wilderness of danger and uncertainty.

Movement caught her eye behind Darkstalker. In the shadows of the colonnade, she saw white-blue of Winter's scales first. And then beside him she spotted Qibli, Kinkajou and Turtle. They were skulking low, as if stalking prey. Winter reared on his hind legs, and Moon saw a spear in his talons, ready to be thrown. Her stomach dropped into her toes. She ripped her talons out of Darkstalker's and tried to push past him, wings wide to get their attention. "No, wait!"

But Turtle had already hunkered over the spear and whispered something. The moment he did, Darkstalker's eyes went wide and he whirled around, looking through the shadows. "There's magic here - I felt it!"

He spotted her friends right as Winter threw the spear. Darkstalker pushed Moon and himself aside, the spear landing squarely where he had been moments before. He jumped back to his feet, ready to confront them. But then with a roar, Peril descended from the sky in a blaze of bright flame. She bathed him in fire, and tried to strike him and touch him with as much of her as she could. Darkstalker tried to duck his head away from the blast, his scales sizzling in her heat but then instantly repairing. Blindly, he snatched hold of Peril's shoulders and pushed her back into the shrubs - which instantly burst into flames.

Kinkajou leapt as if out of thin air, her scales dropping their invisibility so that she seemed to appear from nothing. She landed between Darkstalker's horns, trying to push his head down, even if her weight was not substantial enough to do so. Darkstalker snarled and shook his head vigorously until Kinkajou, unable to keep her grip on him, was thrown off. She landed with a heavy thus and skidded half way across the courtyard. Moon ran to her side, mortified, but breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Kinkajou was a little dizzy but otherwise okay. A roar drew her attention back to the scuffle, and she realised that Winter and Qibli had attacked together, holding on to Darkstalker's arms to stop him from swiping at them.

There was a rumble underneath them and then stone broken through from under the courtyard, huge and dense. Off to the side, Turtle had his talons pressed to the floor and was whispering. The stone slabs fell on Darkstalker - Winter and Qibli managed to leap out of the way just in time. They slammed into the NightWing, pushing him down, pinning him with their enormous weight against the floor. Darkstalker was helpless. He tried to force his way up physically, but was stuck.

"No-No!" he yelled in panic. He began to writhe like a rat caught in a snare, twisting his body, bucking his back, his talons scraping the floor to try to dig his way out. Moon didn't need to read his mind to know his claustrophobia had overtaken him. He was imprisoned just like back under the mountain.

"Stop it!" She yelled in outrage. "Let him go - I was getting through to him!"

"Didn't look that way," Peril grunted as she managed to finally untangle her wings from the now barren and blackened bushes.

"Moon, this is for the best," Qibli panted. "Just until we can be sure everyone else is safe-"

The stone slabs exploded into a thousand pieces, making everyone duck, and Darkstalker burst free. Wild eyed like a feral animal, he twisted his head this way and that, breathing ragged. "Who did this?! Someone's hiding from me! I enchant my eyes: let me see the unseen, reveal the dragon who has hidden himself!"

Moon knew the exact moment when Turtle finally became visible to him, when the spell lifted and he finally beheld him. His eyes went wide in shock. "Fathom!" he snarled, a blast of flame shooting out of his mouth to envelop Turtle in fire.

"No!" Moon screamed. "It's not Fathom!"

Darkstalker's flames ceased. He stared at the spot, pupils mere pinpricks, like he'd seen a ghost. Everyone watched, anxious, as the smoke cleared. Would they sea a seared corpse, a pile of ash? Instead, Turtle was huddled on the ground, wings over his head. Feeling the absence of heat, he slowly peeked out and sat up. Kinkajou ran to his side, scales going white and pale blue with worry. She marvelled at him, as he looked over his completely unharmed scales. "Turtle? How?"

"My fight against Anemone - I didn't realise it worked that well…"

"Turtle…? Yes, it's all coming back to me… Fathom's descendant." Darkstalker murmured, watching Turtle closely, scrutinising. He looked like he was going to be sick, stricken with some heavy emotion in his strangled voice. "You look just like him. Is that it then? Is this Fathom's revenge for what I did…?"

With Kinkajou's help, Turtle stood. "Fathom never wanted revenge. He loved you till the end."

"And yet here you are," Darkstalker took a step back and to the side, uncertain. "Come to deal with me just like your ancestor did."

"No," Turtle shook his head, a fleeting moment of bravery. "I-I don't want to fight. But I won't let you hurt my friends."

"Or anyone else for that matter."

Moon gasped and spun. There, from the shadows on the roofs perched dragons - all the Queens and their envoys, surrounding the courtyard. At the lead were the Dragons of Destiny, marching into the courtyard, tails lashing in agitation. Behind them was Blaze and Moorhen, Coral even further behind, still clutching Anemone. On the roof was Glacier and Ruby. How on earth did they get here? Darkstalker should've sensed them - heard their thoughts before they got close! But then she noticed in each and every one of their ears dangled a gold and amber earring. The Dragons of Destiny must've handed them out whilst she and Darkstalker were distracted. On each of the queens was a face like thunder. They must've realised what had happened to them, and now they had come for revenge.

"Darkstalker of the NightWings," Sunny announced in a voice that carried to the ears of all the dragons present. "You are hereby charged with the attempted assassination of Queen Glacier -"

"The murder of Prince Arctic-" said Tsunami.

"And the attempted subversion of the sovereignty of each of the seven tribes." Glory stepped forward. "Surrender and you will be shown mercy."

"Stop," Moon tried to step between everyone, opening her wings wide. Even without her foresight, she knew this would all go horribly wrong. "This won't end well!"

"Not for him!" Glacier barked and launched herself, shooting like an icy arrow straight for Darkstalker.

She collided into him with the force of an asteroid. Darkstalker folded under her, at first Moon worriedly thought from the strength of the blow. But then realised it was intentional, as Darkstalker fell onto his back, Glacier atop him, and then immediately kicked up with the momentum to flip them back and reverse their positions. He roared in her face, spittle flying from his sharp teeth. General Ivory flew straight after her queen, a dagger in hand. Eyes wide, Darkstalker hopped back from the first swing, before catching Ivory's wrist and twisting it until she cried out in pain and dropped the weapon. With a snarl he threw her aside.

That was when Moorhen and her two siblings charged, using their strength to barrel him over. Darkstalker scrambled to get out from under them. He was still taller than them but the three MudWings had a very clear weight advantage, even one-on-one. When they tried to grab him again, Darkstalker picked up a handful of sand and threw it into Moorhen's face and eyes. To her brother, he blasted a jet of flame that had the drake leaping back, and when the sister tried to grapple him again, Darkstalker managed to sidestep, grab her and throw her. Otter slammed into a column, her weight cracking the stone work.

"Hey!" Blaze whined. "That stonework probably cost a lot, you know!"

Moon watched, helpless, on the verge of hyperventilating. Darkstalker was outnumbered and barely keeping ahead. He didn't have his telepathy to warn him of the incoming moves, so he had to trust solely in his battle training and his old spells that enhanced his strength and durability. Ruby joined Moss, and together they tried to land as many blows on Darkstalker as possible. He tried to hold up his arms to shield himself from the strikes, and though each one should have sliced him to ribbons, his scales proved to be impenetrable. Even then, Moon cringed at the horrible sounds those blows made - some of them should have broken bones and it hurt her to think of the pain he felt.

"He is invulnerable!" Ruby shouted to the others.

Darkstalker took her moment of distraction and seized hold of her. Whether magically enhance, or if the adrenaline was just overloading his strength, he picked Ruby up as if she were a toy and threw her into Moss. Moss and Ruby went tumbling back into Moorhen, the three dragons crumbling in a tangled pile of limbs and wings. Darkstalker tried to back up, wings opening, as if to find refuge in the sky. But before he could, Tsunami ran alongside his flank in his natural blindspot, and launched herself at him. She struck his shoulder and used it to launch up towards his head, wrapping her arms around his head and her tail around his neck. The sheer weight of her (as SeaWings were all built rather densely) dragged his head down to slam into the ground. Darkstalker tried to claw her off, but Tsunami wriggled around just enough so that her main body was out of his reach. She clamped her arms around his snout and her talons over his nostrils, trying to suffocate him into unconsciousness.

"Stop it!" Moon screeched, she tried to rush forward but Winter's cold talons and wings closed around her, holding her back. She tried to push him off but his grip was firm. "Let go of me! Someone's going to get hurt if they don't stop!"

Sunny also looked distressed. "Surely there's got to be a better way?"

"If he won't come quietly," said Qibli, watching the fight with an examining eye. "I don't see another way."

"I can do it!" Moon argued fiercely. "Get them to stop and I'll-"

One of Darkstalker's talons managed to find and get purchase on Tsunami's tail. He pulled with all his might, dragging her off his head, allowing him to open his mouth wide and take in a desperate wheezing breath. He struck out with a backhand, making Tsunami spin from the force. Clay was there in an instant, roaring furiously as he dove to protect his sibling. Peril was at his side, they both tried to strike with fire. Darkstalker rolled out of the way, but as he came to a stop, vines sprouted out of the ground and tried to entangle him, guided by Turtle. They weren't enough to hold him completely still, but it did manage to take up his attention as he ripped them off one by one.

Blaze shrieked shrilly. "They're ruining my palace!"

Wingbeats, and everyone turned to find Thorn coming into land, breathing heavily as if she had just flown as fast as she could. "We got the signal! What's going on?"

Qibli went to her. "We're trying to-"

Seeing Darkstalker in one spot for more than a second, Glacier rushed to her feet across the courtyard and picked up the spear Winter had thrown earlier. She hefted it and threw it with a yell. Reflexively, Darkstalker dodged, ducking underneath the spear as it sailed past shoulders… through the courtyard… and impaled itself right through the chest of Queen Blaze.

Everyone froze, staring in shock.

Blaze looked down at herself, even as her step began to wobble and blood began to dribble from the corner of her mouth. "G-Glacier…?"

And then she crumbled to the floor. Dead.

No one moved, dismayed and horrified by what had just happened - Glacier most of all, who stared at Blaze's body like it was an illusion that would disappear in a moment. It was in that single moment of startled stillness that Moon had time to think, and to realise that this wouldn't stop. The queens would keep fighting, and Darkstalker would keep struggling. Not unless she changed the tide. "Darkstalker!"

Her yell got his attention, snapping his head in her direction. As he watched, she took off the Skyfire ring and let it drop to the floor. She let their minds slam together, a cacophony of bruises and worry and longing and fury all rolled into one. Through it all, she pushed one thought very clearly into his mind: Take me home.

And whilst the Queens were still aghast and confused, Darkstalker seized the moment and obeyed. He held out his talon, and Moon felt gravity be cut from her as she was ripped right out of Winter's grasp and sent flying through the air straight towards him. As soon as she was within reach, Darkstalker snatched her up and held her close against him, wrapping his wings around them both. He whispered some words Moon couldn't quite make out, and then, suddenly, there was a bending, warping feeling to the universe. Dark veins cracked along the air around them, a wind picked up out of nowhere. The world collapsed inward, into a bright light and then sudden darkness…

And Darkstalker and Moon vanished.