Chapter Fifty Eight

The Jade Winglet flew south, the dunes of the desert passing by underneath them quickly, the sting of the heat too far away to be noticed. Mostly they flew in silence. Whether that was because their spirits were heavy with the gravity of the situation, or they were simply too focused on flying fast whilst also conserving energy… It was hard to say. The sky was mottled with clouds, blocking out the sun and seeming to keep the world in a perpetual state of twilight. Neither day nor night, neither foreboding or welcoming. Peril once thought other SkyWings saw the weather as a kind of omen. If this was one, then she didn't know how to interpret it. As they crossed from the borders of the Sand Kingdom and into the foothills of the mountains known as Darkstalker's Teeth, each of her friends kept low.

Turtle produced a branch of some kind of flowering tree and whispered words over it. He took point to lead the way, Peril close behind. As they passed through the mountains, she could feel its magic try to work over her, confuse her. But she kept her focus on Turtle, who led the way so that they could pass safely through. When they reached the invisible barrier, a shiver ran down Winter's spine, but he was otherwise alright, his Skyfire and earring protecting him. In the west, the clouds darkened, promising downpours and the rumbles of far-off lightning.

"That's not gonna hit us, right?" Kinkajou asked nervously.

"Probably." Peril said bluntly. She saw no use in sugar-coating it. Not when the situation they were in was already serious. "Best to get where we're going soon, or it's gonna be some interesting flying come nightfall."

"We'll have to split soon," Winter turned his neck to look back at Turtle and Peril. His deep blue eyes were filled with concern and apprehension. "You two know where you're going?"

Turtle held up the stick. "I'll be able to find you once we've got it!"

"Remember - the weapon is only as a last resort." Qibli called, flashing them one last heroic grin. "Good luck!"

Qibli and Winter flew straight south, giving their wings an extra push to head out faster. But Kinkajou hesitated a moment, her scales shifting colours to match her emotions. Then, tightening her jaw, she made up her made and darted back through the air towards Turtle. She hovered right in front of him, and darted in quick enough lick the side of his cheek, and give him a nuzzle. "See ya later!" she called sweetly, and before Turtle could respond, she was zipping away again, beating her wings fast to catch up with the others.

Peril let Turtle watch her go with an equally confused and dreamy expression for a moment or two, then she led the way westwards towards the coast. They flew in silence for a time, the miles both seeming to fly underneath them but to also drag by sluggishly. Turtle enchanted his branch to point them to the location where Darkstalker had thrown the Skyfire, and it apparently vibrated when pointed in the right direction. As they soared along the coastline, Peril couldn't help her thoughts from wandering. She'd never before flown into a situation so cut and dry, where there was a possibility that either she or some of her friends might not come home afterwards. It made her stomach knot - was this what all soldiers felt on the eve of battle? This urge to take your loved ones and flee before it was too late?

She must've been more deep in thought than she realised, as a sudden gust of wind buffeted her off course slightly. It shook her back to the present and she regained her mastery of the air quickly. But Turtle still noticed, as he watched her with a concerned pinch to his brows.

"Everything okay, Peril?" he asked.

"Should I have said goodbye to Clay - before we left, I mean?" The thought of not seeing him again, of not expressing just how much he meant to her for the final time, ate her insides. What was the last thing she'd said to him? She couldn't really remember… Something about what foods would be served at the SandWing fortress? That seemed a rather pathetic note to leave their relationship hanging on. "You and Kinkajou… reminds me that we might not be coming back from this. We should've told the ones we love that we - you know, love them. Just in case…"

"You aren't dying today, Peril." Turtle promised, and there was a determination in his voice that betrayed the anxiety building behind his eyes. Peril could see it: he was slowly coming to the same conclusion she had, and it scared him no matter how much he tried to pretend otherwise. "I'll make sure of it."

"Even if Moon foresaw it?" Peril admitted quietly.

Turtle blinked, stunned. "What're you talking about?"

"A couple of nights ago, I found Moon having a nightmare. I tried to wake her up, but I must've scared her and it triggered a vision or something. She spoke a prophecy - it kinda freaked me out."

"What did she say?"

How could she forget? They'd been on repeat in her brain every time she closed her eyes. "Burn the threads, burn the seeds, Burn your heart to ashen the deeds, A thousand strikes, a thousand burns, Till you fall and burn in turn…"

"Well… that's a lot of burning involved." Turtle gulped, and his green scales looked like they'd gone a little pale - or was that a trick of the dim, stormy light? "But that doesn't mean you're gonna die!"

Peril shrugged. The prophecy had freaked her out before, yes. But now she felt an almost sad acceptance about it. "Maybe. Maybe not. Just can't get the words out of my head, you know? Makes me appreciate what's here and now. So, if things go pear-shaped and I end up a pile of cinders after all, I just wanna say thanks. Thanks for being my first friend."

Turtle set in his jaw, and Peril recognised it as the face dragons made when they were trying not to cry - had she said the wrong thing? But then Turtle was winging towards her, crashing into her, wrapping his arms around her as… hugged her? Of course, they quickly lost altitude as Peril's wings alone couldn't hold them up forever. But she didn't notice at first, her brain too busy realising that someone other than Clay had touched her. Turtle was cooler than she expected, and softer. Her wrapped around her, was squishy in a way that comforted unexpectedly. She could hear the sizzling of his scales but he didn't seem to mind, at least not right away. They were about a hundred feet from the waves when Turtle suddenly let go and the pair of them had to scramble to regain height.

"Oh don't be a silly fish. Scales like diamonds or not, you'll still cook." Peril coughed, trying to clear her throat of a lump - where had that come from? But Turtle was smiling at her, and she couldn't stop herself smiling back. "Now come on, let's go kick destiny in the teeth."

The late afternoon sun might've been warm if Moon had felt it. Alas, it was hidden behind the gathering stormclouds, creating an atmosphere as bleak as she felt. She stared out the windows of her chambers, looking down upon a slumbering city. Not even the attempt to sleep had crossed her mind, her body too wired and her head too filled with anxiety to even try. Instead she stayed in her rooms all day, her mind ticking over everything that had happened, and how she might still resolve this situation.

Though being locked in her room had been incredibly insulting at first, Moon had made no attempt to escape. She could have gone through her windows or burn down the door if she really tried, but she chose not to. If there was to be any chance of peace, she needed to stay, to get through to Darkstalker somehow. And that meant staying in her room until the time was needed.

Besides, it wasn't exactly wasted time. At her windowsill, she spun the Lying Stone with a flick of her talon and watched it twirl. She contemplated it, as she had been doing for hours. It was part of the prophecy, she was certain of it. But how to use it? Was she meant to try and expose Vulture's lies with it? Confirm Darkstalker's innocence to the Queens with it? So many possibilities and not enough information to go on.

A knock at her door. Moon blinked, coming back to the present. She didn't recognise the mind on the other side of the door. The mechanism of the lock turned with a loud click, and then the door swung open. A NightWing poked her head inside. She was probably around seven years old, her black scales having an undercurrent of blue to them, to match the blue of her eyes. There was silver teardrop scale by her eye, but Moon could not sense any power from her… Maybe she was like Fatespeaker, who had come close to hatching underneath a full moon, but had not quite made it. Her power slumbered, and it made Moon sad to think this dragoness would never know her own potential.

"Um, hello? Lady Moon?" The dragon called, looking around the room. A gold hoop earring hung from her left ear, large enough that it swung about when she turned her head. It matched a gold semi-hoop that hung between her eyes.

To answer the stranger, Moon cleared her throat as she stood. She stowed away the Lying Stone in the folds of her wings, out of sight.

"Oh, wow, hi!" the dragoness came bounding over with a wide grin. "I'm Truthseeker, by the way. I've been wanting to meet you for ages."

Moon frowned. "You have?"

"Yeah! You were there when Blister went down. Please tell me it was gruesome. No dragon deserved it more than her. I mean, I know your dad went down with her, but still. She had it coming."

This dragon's mind was very scatterbrained, Moon realised, kind of like Kinkajou. Her whole attention was focused on the things that brought her joy, whether that be a passion or something that had sparked her interest. "Your name's Truthseeker, right?"

"Three moons!" she gasped with an excited smile. "You totally can do the mind reading thing!"

Moon didn't have the heart to point out that she'd just introduced herself by that name. "How did you get in here?"

"Oh! Yeah. Lord Darkstalker gave me the key. He wants you to meet him in the map-room above the throne room? He told me to come get you." Truthseeker made a face as she realised her mistake. "We should probably go do that…"

Following the younger NightWing, Moon walked quietly through the halls of the castle. Every step they took seemed to echo off the bare walls. It reminded Moon of when it had been only her and Darkstalker in the kingdom, and those echoes had become commonplace. But now it felt alien. Why were there so few dragons about? She could only hear the thoughts of three NightWings close by, the rest were a few SandWings here and there. It was as if the entire palace had been emptied.

"Isn't it great having our own kingdom back?" Truthseeker asked, bringing Moon back to the present. The young dragoness seemed completely unbothered by anything. "I can't wait to learn everything about our history. There's gotta be records around here about some of the greats! I mean, I want to ask Lord Darkstalker but I think it'll be too awkward to ask about his mom."

Moon almost missed a step in her surprise. "You know about Foeslayer?"

"Of course, she's like… my biggest hero." Truthseker snorted as if this was the most obvious answer in the world. "Growing up, I only ever had one scroll that mentioned her. But now, walking the halls she walked - I'm bound to find something out about her."

The memories Darkstalker had shared with her came rushing back into Moon's mind. Foeslayer, who had given everything of herself to her tribe, who had worked to carve out her own piece of happiness… It had never occurred to Moon that someone some part of her story had lived on enough that two thousand years later, dragons would give her the reverence she deserved. But for more than her deeds, as a tribute to the dragon that had given her life for her son, Moon wanted her to be remembered for the person she was. "She was a great dragoness. She took pride in her work. She never had patience to read a full book. And gooseberry pie was her favourite." And she loved her dragonets more than anything.

"Mine too!" Truthseeker smiled so widely, her eyes shining with excitement, and Moon knew she'd made the right choice.

They soon reached the side door in the throne room and went single file up the spiral staircase. A silence fell over them as they ascended and came out onto the long corridor. The great double doors were open and Moon could see the cartographer's room beyond, suspended above the throne room. Darkstalker was within, the music of his mind broken… fragmented… lost.

"Well, um, good luck?" Truthseeker suggested awkwardly. Moon offered a reassuring smile as her companion left. She didn't want her to worry about her. She needed to do this.

She entered the cartography room, the glass roof above offering no comforting illumination due to the storm clouds. Instead candles had been dotted all around the balcony and the many desks. They bathed Darkstalker's back in fierce orange and yellow glows that seemed to make every spine and claw exaggerated. He was busy looking over documents that were laid out in front of him, eyes darting from word to word. He was almost frantic in his mannerisms, like he was searching for a clue to a puzzle and only had a limited time to do so. From the bags beneath his eyes to the slight twitch in his cheek, Moon could guess that he hadn't slept at all during the day. It was such a contrast to the smooth and collected way he'd appeared at the Assembly, one could easily believe he hadn't slept in a few days.

"So, I'm out of time-out now?" she said to announce her presence.

Darkstalker turned his head to look at her, then cast his eyes downward guiltily. "I'm sorry, Moon. I never meant to belittle you like that but… I needed time."

"And now that you've had time?"

"Please don't be difficult," he groaned, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple like he had a headache. "I need you, Moon. Everything is falling apart between my claws and I can't stop it!"

"Vulture not giving out the sage advice you expected from someone so reasonable and sane?"

He slammed a fist onto the desk, making it shudder. He spun to face her, holding his head between his talons. "Damn it all, Moon! My head's falling apart!"

"And he's using that!" she stressed, drawing closer. She softened her tone to a plead, bringing herself close enough to touch if he would only reach out to her. "Darkstalker, please, can't you see that Vulture is turning you against everyone? He wants you to isolate yourself, he wants you to see everyone as an enemy."

"I know! But I can't deny that so much of what he says is now true. They all hate me, Moon! The other tribes, they're uniting against me and the NightWings. And now… now I don't know how to stop it without drastic action."

Drastic action? Darkstalker looked so stricken when he said those words, like the idea was making him ill. It made Moon push - she could still do this, she knew it. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can still fix this. We can show them the truth…" Slowly, she subtly reached for her wing, to pull out the Lying Stone, to show him-

Darkstalker snorted and shook his head, his gaze growing dark as he stared out through the glass ceiling above them. "The only truth they'll understand is if I'm removed from existence. Permanently this time."

"Then why not run away?" she said gently, choosing against using the stone yet. "You could disappear, Darkstalker. Your parents almost escaped the machinations of tyrant queens. Think of what could've been had they succeeded. You could've lived a normal life - you can have that still! Clearsight went to the Lost Continent, so can you. The NightWings will be safe, and you will be free."

As if her voice called him back from the brink, he tilted his head back to her and stared into her eyes for a while. It was like he could see the endless tides of the stars there, where anything was possible. "Yes, I could… would you come with me? I don't want to be alone again, Moon. What if I run somewhere far away and I'm all alone?"

Of course, she knew what he meant. She could see in his mind, had experienced it in the two years she'd known him. He was so very desperately lonely. It ate at him like a void, whispered to him all the ways he was separate, divided, othered. From a lifetime of being not quite one with his peers, to two thousand years in darkness, to six months unable to converse with a single soul... it was no wonder he was adverse to voluntarily experiencing that again. He was perhaps the loneliest creature in all the world, and it broke her heart. She reached out her talon, to hold his claws in hers. "Oh Darkstalker…"

"You could come with me, or visit - I would always tell you where I go. You promised me once that we would always be friends, that you would always be with me. Even in all this mess, I can still see a future where we can be happy."

She contemplated it, tried to imagine it. She just wanted this path of darkness to stop; she hadn't actually thought about what might come after. What future did she want? Could there be a happy ending for her, even after all this?

Perhaps she took a second too long to answer. For she watched as something shifted in Darkstalker's eyes and he went from adoring to cold and guarded in the space of a heartbeat. "But no… I don't suppose you would want that." He withdrew his talons from hers, and stepped away stiffly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, confused.

"Perhaps you want me to run away so you can save yourself the trouble." He murmured, turning his back to her. When she opened her mouth to argue, he held up a talon. "Please, spare me the excuses. I know what you planned. I overheard everything that you and your precious little idiot said on the summit of Jade Mountain."

"On the…" her words trailed off as the horrifying realisation became clear. "You-!"

"You were going to run away," He said in a voice that sounded so broken, so hurt, it pierced her like a blade. "You were going to run from me and never come back, never give me any explanation as to why. How could you do that?"

"It's not what you think! Winter was just-"

A growl rumbled through his chest. Darkstalker walked past her to the large metal globe, tracing his claw gently along the coast of Pyrrhia's head. "Yes. Winter has such a way with words doesn't he? That boy has a very penetrating voice, you know. I'm perfectly willing to be reasonable and accept that it's all his fault. Yes, it's him I blame… and it's him I'm going to punish when he comes to take you back."

Moon's heart leapt. She ran to him, grabbing hold of the edge of his wing, desperate. "No! Darkstalker, please–"

"I trusted you!" he snarled, shaking her off. "I trusted you to treat me like a civilised being and come back with your answer. Was our friendship all a lie, that you could be persuaded to leave me like that so easily? All these months I've worshipped you. And you wouldn't come back… you wouldn't even come back and say goodbye." His voice faltered, tears brimming in the corners of his eyes. "There was nothing I would not have done to make you happy, nothing at all." (*)

A lump of emotion threatened to choke her. "I never meant to hurt you." Was all she could muster to say.

He looked back at the globe with an air of sad inevitability. "It doesn't matter anymore, does it? The cards have been dealt and all we can do now is play the hands we have been given."

"Darkstalker, you need to listen to me-"

"Maybe it's not even your fault you chose him," he spoke as if he could no longer hear her, no longer see her. "You're just following the pattern. Everyone either betrays me or leaves me. And those that don't… end up suffering because of me. Do you think my sister cursed my name when the assassins came for her? What about Fathom - it was my fault he suffered and still he loved me anyway, the fool! My mother's dead, Clearsight's gone - and now even you are leaving me. I'm always going to be alone."

"No," She couldn't let him plunge down this hole, or else he would be lost to her forever. "Darkstalker, you are not alone, I promise-"

"Is that what you'll tell Winter when he comes for you?" He retorted. "When he tries to be the shining hero, the prince charming, come to save the damsel from the terrible monster! I don't need to see the future to know that that is exactly what your little idiot will do."

She wanted to argue, but even she knew that her friends were likely on their way here to rescue her. They were tenacious and loved her. They already believed Darkstalker was the mastermind behind all this woe, and they would stop at nothing to make sure she was safe. It frustrated her that they couldn't trust her to see this through on her own, but it warmed her heart to know they cared that much.

"What will you do when they come?" she demanded in a quiet voice. "Darkstalker, you can't hurt them, they're my friends."

"I don't plan to hurt them," was his honest answer. He wiped away the tear that had strayed down his cheek. "But I'm so tired, Moon. I'm tired of doing my best and it never being enough. I do what I think is right, but still my mistakes are held against me, no matter how I try to make up for it. I won't hurt them, but if they seek a fight I won't back down from it. And if all the other tribes are so adamant to make me their enemy, if they will not leave the NightWings alone, then I guess I have no choice."

Those words rang in her ears with the same finality as a prophecy. "No choice…?"

"If they want to make me their villain, then I will be. I will become the nightmare they feared all along."

"What does that mean?"

Through the circular window at the other end of the room, Moon could see the sun dipping below the storm clouds to sink into the horizon. Sunset had come. Darkstalker held up his talon, and from the desk Moon had seen him at earlier, a single piece of parchment rose into the air. It floated across the room into his claws. After a moment, Moon realised that she recognised it from a few hours ago - the same parchment Vulture had given Darkstalker when they'd arrived in the Night Kingdom.

"This was Vigilance's last decree," said Darkstalker in a voice that was devoid of emotion. Again, Moon saw that sickened look in his eyes. "The ultimate spell. What I was made for, according to her. A spell of eternal night. Quite genius really - it works around all the ways another animus might subvert my magic. Those earrings that protect dragons from me directly, not even those will save them from this. It says I need to make this world unlivable for anyone but NightWings. Continental domination… just like she wanted."

Darkstalker placed his talons on either side of the globe. Where he touched, there was a hiss in the air and then the brass globe glowed and began melt. Moon watched as the globe liquified like butter in front of a fire. Horror grew in her as she recognised the image - she'd seen something similar to this in her vision, when she'd received her prophecy. Did that mean this was it? The cataclysm she'd been hoping to avoid all this time was here?

"Darkstalker," Moon tried to say, but her voice was shaking. Bile threatened to rise up her throat. "That spell… it's horrific. You can't seriously be considering this?! If you do this, this will be the mistake you can never take back. It'll haunt you forever. Thousands will die."

He turned back to look at her and sighed, resigned. "I've been running my whole life from my purpose. I was made for this horror, Moon. The whole reason I exist is for this, to do the terrible things that will bring my tribe peace."

"No it's not! You were not made for this!"

"Then what?!" he cried. "What am I here for, Moon? Every abuse I have suffered, every heartache, every loss, it must be for a reason. It must be worth something! I am the most powerful dragon in all of Pyrrhia, able to do anything -!"

"And I was made to be my father's secret weapon to win his war!" she yelled back fiercely. "What good were my powers if not to further his ambitions? We are not tools , Darkstalker! We are more than our powers, we are more than what they designed for us! Our destiny is shaped by no one but us - you taught me that. We can be whoever we want, together even."

She went to him, grabbed hold of his talons and pulled him down to her level. She held his face between her talons, so that his shining, pleading eyes could look at nothing but her. Tenacity had never been her strength, but now she called upon a might inside herself she didn't even know she had, to pull him back from this fatalistic, self-destructive brink. How could it be that the fate of the world rested upon the bond that lay between them? Perhaps that was what all this had been building to. All the time she had spent in the Night Kingdom, the reason for her powers, why it was her that had found him instead of anyone else… It was because this was her destiny. To save the world not with armies or magic, but with compassion.

"You don't want to do this spell, I know you don't, otherwise you would've done it already." She pressed her forehead to his. "And you don't have to. Just stop. Stop all of this, and it will be better. I promise."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath that made his entire frame shudder. Moon closed her eyes too. She felt his mind probing at hers and she graciously allowed him in. That music that usually encompassed him seemed distant, faltering, like a music box slowly winding down to its last note. She sang it back to him, offering him that same comfort he had given her many times before. Their minds melded together in an act that was both beseeching and oddly intimate. It was like Darkstalker was searching for an anchor inside her brain to tie his sanity to. If that was what he needed, she welcomed it. And as he searched her, she too searched him. She sought to find if he truly intended to use this spell, or if there was still a chance to save them all.

"Your friends will be here before midnight." Came Darkstalker's tired voice abruptly. Moon's eyes snapped open to find him watching her sorrowfully. He withdrew his head from her touch and stepped back. Moon felt abandoned, like a child who didn't know what to do with herself now. Darkstalker took a long, fortifying breath. "If you convince them to seek peace… if they allow us to leave… then I won't cast that spell. But if they seek war… then my talons are tied, and Vulture will have his new world."