Chapter Sixty

"Moon!"

Winter's heart leapt to see her, whole and seemingly okay, right in front of him. He and Qibli ran across the bridge, and Moon came to them on the other side. She stood between them and the Darkstalker who loomed in the shadows, eyes like the sharpest ice. But he could've been nothing for the two drakes paid him no mind as they rushed to their friend and threw their wings around her, embracing her. So many hours they'd spent in a state of constant worry for her safety. All the thoughts they'd pushed aside to not dwell on - would she be punished for what happened at the Assembly? Would the Darkstalker enchant her just to upset them? Would she even still be alive? All these worries vanished now that she felt solid and warm in his arms.

"Are you alright?" Qibli asked as they pulled back enough to look into her face.

"I'm fine," she said, though her voice was a little hoarse and Winter could now see that she had dark circles under her eyes - like she hadn't slept in a week. "Please, you both have to listen to me. We need to talk this out."

"This I have to hear." came the Darkstalker's voice, a cold, sarcastic hiss that seemed to echo hauntingly around the room, tricking Winter into think he was everywhere all at once. Now that he had the trio's attention, Darkstalker slithered out from the shadows, his mouth contorted into a sneer as he glared down at his foes. He circled them like a wolf circling the ram, hunting for an opening. Winter turned with him, always keeping his eyes on him, wings up so as to block his friends from view. Darkstalker snorted. "Though protected by Skyfire, I can still guess that these two will take much convincing to commit to peace."

"Then maybe you're not as smart as you think you are." Winter shot back hotly. Qibli thumped him, and the IceWing had to grit his teeth. He couldn't let his temper get the better of him. He'd promised he'd come here to give peace a chance, and that wouldn't happen if he antagonized the Darkstalker into violence. "We came here to negotiate your surrender. To file the terms for peace."

"Oh, and we're off to a cracking start." The Darkstalker laughed scornfully. "Should I call for wine? Honestly, Prince Winter, I had hoped you would be the one chosen to negotiate with your sworn enemy. After all, you're so important to your tribe, you must've been a natural candidate for the task."

Winter's mouth hung open for a second, so incredulous he was rendered mute. "Are you mocking me?!"

Darkstalker waved a talon and the melted heap of brass in the centre of the room began to swirl and dance in the air like liquid. "Oh not at all. Hosting your intruding company is an unparalleled honour. Truly, it has made my night."

"Stop it, the both of you!" Moon growled, head swivelling between them, her brows drawn down in a stern glare.

"Whether you want to be serious or not," Qibli quickly butted in before Winter could say something else. "We at least came to offer the chance for things to end peacefully."

Darkstalker rolled his silver-blue eyes. "Lucky me, especially after you," he scowled in Winter's direction, "threw a spear at me. Unprovoked."

"You enchanted the Queens at the Assembly!" The IceWing retorted.

For the first time, the NightWing looked a little stricken. "That… was a decision made in the heat of the moment. I wanted to be sure peace was achieved."

"By having everyone like you?" said Qibli, disbelieving. "You altered their minds."

"You can't complain, Qibli. I got the idea from you."

Colour drained out of the SandWing's face. "What?"

"When the rebellion first formed in Jade Mountain, you were so quick to assess everyone, so clever in your deductions. But underneath all of that was the thought: How can I make everyone like me? And I thought that was so tragic and yet so utterly brilliant. A spell to make those around me be inclined to trust me. Then I wouldn't have to worry about betrayals and backstabbers."

"B-but, I didn't… I wouldn't have-!"

"Oh you would." Another wave of his talon, and Darkstalker summon the liquid brass to float through the air towards him. It divided itself into eight balls which floated in the air like little planets orbiting around his head. As he came to stalk around them once again, those brass planets floated through the air in a neat row circle around Qibli's head, like he was their sun. "If you had the power - you've already thought of a thousand spells you would cast if you had magic. That's why you hate Turtle for having a power that seems wasted on him."

Winter shooed the planets away from Qibli with a wing. They abandoned him and immediately flew back to Darkstalker, floating around his horns like a crown suspended in the air. That all-knowing glint in Darkstalker's eyes was infuriating, and he felt the furious need to prove him wrong. "Liar! He doesn't hate him!"

But Qibli stayed quiet.

"You shouldn't be offended," Darkstalker continued as if Winter hadn't spoken. "It was a good idea. And I modified it. I didn't change anyone. Just… made them more malleable. Despite what you all might think, I am not a monster! I want what everyone else wants: peace, love, prosperity, my happily ever after."

Winter noticed that Moon's eyes gave a slight shimmer, like she was lost in a sea of thoughts and dreams.

"But," Qibli finally found his voice, "if that were true then why not come clean about everything? Since you've awakened, you've hidden and stalked and been all mysterious."

"Even if I had come out with my intentions written across my forehead, certain dragons ," he levelled another glare at Winter, "would still not believe me."

This time, Winter met his hateful stare head on. "Kind of hard to believe you after everything you've done!"

A real growl was let loose out of Darkstalker. It rumbled through the air like thunder, vibrating in Winter's breastbone and making every scale stand on end. The brass planets above Darkstalker's head began to contort and deform, squeezing and contracting into spikes and thorns. "For the last time, I am not going to defend myself to you or anyone. Those crimes happened two thousand years ago and I refuse to keep being punished for them."

"You gotta admit," said Qibli, that glint in his eye that Winter recognised, a gleam that whispered that his brilliant brain was onto something. "You're the one who keeps saying you've got all this power, that all you want is peace, but you didn't do that two thousand years ago."

The planets stilled and Darkstalker narrowed his eyes at him. "We were at war."

"And the world's most powerful dragon couldn't use a little magic to stop it?"

The large NightWing didn't speak for a minute, his jaw grinding. When he did speak, it was slow and deliberate, like each word was a tooth being pulled from his skull. "Perhaps… I was a little more vengeful than I would like to admit. Diamond hunted my mother, wanted me and my sister dead. Even though he loved my mother, Arctic still secretly wanted to return home. I wanted to make someone suffer for that."

Winter's mind went back to the magical mirror in Queen Glacier's vault. The mirror which showed him all of Diamond's rants and ravings about how much she hated even the idea of Darkstalker's existence. And yet, though it had been horrifying to know she would order the death of two dragonets - her own grandchildren - it seemed like Darkstalker had gotten his revenge for that. He'd haunted Diamond in both her waking thoughts and in her dreams, tormenting her until she went mad. Who was the real victim in that scenario? He wasn't so sure as to the answer.

"And is that what you're doing now?" he asked guardedly. "Making someone else pay because you cannot let go of the past?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb - you tried to kill Queen Glacier!"

"No, he didn't," Moon stepped between them, filling Winter's eyes with the starlight beneath her wings. "That was a set up. Darkstalker had no idea about the assassination."

"You believe that?"

She nodded.

"Then why did the earrings save her life? They're meant to protect the wearer from Darkstalker's magic specifically."

"But…" Qibli murmured thoughtfully. "We did also include in that spell for Glacier to be healed no matter what…"

"Winter, I know that you find it hard to forgive him. You've spent your whole life hating him, even when you thought him dead and dust." Moon came to him, until they were almost nose to nose, so close he could reach out and touch his cold to her heat if he just leaned into her a little. Her eyes were all he could comprehend, emerald and sparkling and pleading. "But I'm asking that you put your faith in me and let this end. Believe in me like you never have before."

He wasn't going to pretend that he wasn't hurt by that, to the point where he retracted from her slightly. But the look in her eyes was sincere. Was there a grain of truth to her words? Possibly? But Winter would like to think that everything he'd done had been for her .

"Vulture is the one that you want," Moon said more seriously, glancing at Qibli. "He's been twisting all of us against one another. This is all his plan."

"No one forces Darkstalker to do his magic," Qibli shook his head. "Not even when you had to give him permission, you couldn't compel him to do any of it. As much as I agree my grandfather is behind this, some of his crimes are on his shoulders."

"I did what I thought I had to," said Darkstalker. "You would do the same in my shoes."

"I'm nothing like you."

"You're just like me, Qibli. You have big ideas and lots of them, not just one or two in a lifetime like some dragons. You want to change things - all the things that are wrong with the world. You know you could do it if you had the chance. So why shouldn't I?"

"The world's not perfect, but that doesn't mean you get to switch things around because you want to!" Winter argued. But then he saw that Qibli was getting taken in by the words, his eyes flittering back and forth like he was reading the possibilities in front of him. Winter grasped his shoulders and shook him gently. "Don't let him get into your head."

"So dragons should just suffer because a change to the status quo upsets you personally?" Darkstalker pressed. The brass planets floated down to them and on their surfaces came images to demonstrate his words. "I could make a world where there are no more dragonets starving in back-alleys. No more soldiers hurting from the wounds of war. No more conflict. Magic could do all of that… but you won't let me dream." The planets began to crack and then crumble, falling to the floor in a rain of dust that was then swept away with the breeze of their breath. "So instead I have to content myself with the prospect of disappearing into the void and never showing my face again. If you let me."

Moon stepped back from her friends. Darkstalker scurried to stand behind her, his long tail looping around them both and resting just an inch away from her own, though not touching. "Darkstalker has agreed to leave Pyrrhia tonight. If you let him, he can go and live in peace somewhere far away, alone and untroubled. The Queens wouldn't have to worry about him, it would look like he vanished just as he did before. There could be peace."

Qibli's brows shot up in surprise. "You would really leave Pyrrhia? For good?"

"There are futures," Darkstalker said thoughtfully, "where I go about my business peacefully, and there are futures where certain clever gnats continue to annoy me for an interminable amount of time."

"Something to aspire to - annoying, clever, gnat-ness." the SandWing muttered with a shrug.

"This is a solution for lasting peace," said Moon. "For all of us."

Darkstalker's tail finally moved that inch closer, as if to twine with hers. "Moon and I would leave tonight and fly -"

Winter wasn't having any of that. He stomped forward and used his wing to push Moon behind him. "She's not going anywhere with you. I won't let you keep her as your hostage."

"I am not-!" Moon tried to argue.

"Out of everything, that is what you heard?" Darkstalker hissed. "Pathetic. They must breed into IceWings a new form of oblivious paranoia!"

Moon jumped in between them and threw open her wings with a roar that seemed to shake the glass in the domed ceiling. "Enough! This. Stops. Now! I am no one's pawn and I am no one's excuse for bad behaviour! I am not going to watch the dragons I love tear each other apart. Not when this is our chance to stop all the fighting, once and for all. Darkstalker, if you really love me, then settle for peace tonight. Vanish into myth once more, and let all of us - yourself included - heal."

"He what?" the IceWIng squawked, but then Moon rounded on him and her eyes were as deep and as sharp as the purest jade.

"Winter," She took a breath to regain her composure. "Let him leave, and I swear I will do whatever is needed to keep him in line. He will tell only me of where he's gone and I will visit him to make sure he's keeping his word."

"You shouldn't have to be chained to that duty!"

"I will do it if it means the worst future of all is avoided."

From the look on her face, he knew she wouldn't let the conversation drop until he made a decision. Winter thought about it but he couldn't help but feel his anxiety build at the idea. Let the Darkstalker go into the wilderness to potentially be a threat later? That sounded like madness. Yet, hadn't he wanted to give peace a shot, to trust Moon? He hadn't listened to her up until now, and where had that gotten them? He honestly didn't know what a peaceful solution looked like. Maybe he'd wanted Darkstalker to surrender and come into custody, have him stand trial for all he'd done and face some kind of justice? Had that been unrealistic or unfair? But his mind couldn't comprehend any other alternative to have some consequences dealt . This solution felt too easy, too likely to go wrong. But what other choice did they have? Darkstalker had to agree to whatever they asked, so it had to be something that worked in his favour - even slightly. But maybe Winter could help to negotiate terms that would make him feel more secure.

Finally, he gave Darkstalker a level stare. "Do you swear to leave and never harm the IceWings - or any other tribe of Pyrrhia again?"

"I am not a bloodthirsty warlord." he snorted.

"I want you to swear it. Magically."

"Winter?" Qibli whispered.

The IceWing ignored him, he had to be unwavering, stay this course so as to not appear weak. "Swear it magically that if you ever harm another Pyrrhian, ever try to change them again, ever try to repeat these crimes I'm forgiving you of… then your magic is forfeit."

Darkstalker snarled. "I will not be forced back into chains!"

"If you truly don't have evil intentions, then this promise should be easy. If you're going far enough away, you shouldn't ever see a Pyrrhian again. So what's the harm?"

"And what's to stop you from going back on your word and hounding me regardless?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

"Ha! A likely story."

"Do it, or you'll have to kill me before I let you walk out of here. And then Moon will never forgive you, and Glacier will be sure you're hunted to the ends of the earth."

"Winter!" Moon barked, outraged. He tried not to look at her, tried to keep his heart contained. He would apologise later for using her as a weapon, but not when the Darkstalker was glaring murderously down at him, talons shaking.

There was a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity as Winter held his stare, trying hard to mask the fear growing in the pit of his stomach, as Darkstalker scowled down at him. His lips peeled back over his teeth and for a second, it looked like the giant NightWing would lunge forward. But then he clamped his jaw shut and forced a single word out through gritted teeth. "Fine."

Hiding the sigh of relief as just clearing his throat. Behind him, he heard both Qibli and Moon also let loose the breath they'd been holding. Winter held up his talon, to offer that they shake on this like true gentlemen. Even when his every scale crawled at the idea.

Darkstalker shook his head. "I cannot make the pact if you are wearing Skyfire. Take it off so that I can see into your mind and know if you're lying."

The IceWing paused. Relinquishing his Skyfire would leave him vulnerable. Could this be a trap? Was the Darkstalker just waiting for him to let his guard down so he could enchant him into being a mindless slave? Qibli seemed to have the same idea, tensing. But there was no way for them to make this deal without doing this one task. Winter had just asked Darkstalker to trust him, so perhaps he should lead by example? Slowly, not losing eye contact, as if he could catch some sign that Darkstalker was performing some secret spell, Winter reached for the chord of rope that held his Skyfire around his wrist and sliced it off.

The moment the Skyfire left his scales and clattered to the floor with a loud ring, a tingle rushed across Winter's scales, and Darkstalker froze. His silver-blue eyes widened and he stared at Winter, incredulous. His talon contorted into a claw with shock, inches from Winter's.

"That's not possible-!"

A crash of shattering glass sounded from above, and then a roar sounded. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

They had reached the inner city. Whilst the outskirts still looked to be partially in ruins, the city centre looked as if it had never been abandoned. Glory had to admit that she didn't know what she had been expecting when they'd found the lost City of Night. Caves, a city underground, or another large square and foreboding fortress, or even another volcano? Instead she found a sweeping city with silver roads and stone buildings and canyon homes in the distance. Everything looked so… normal . It was easier to harden her heart to the plight of NightWings when they were mere shadows that lurked on a poisoned island and came to hunt and steal for their very survival like animals. But when everything was so mundane , Glory couldn't quite ignore the fact that lines drawn between them were blurring.

She followed in formation with the other Queens as they flew with their warriors straight for the grand castle built into the side of the singular mountain that loomed over the city. She told herself that she had agreed to this in order to minimise the damage, that she was here because she could make a difference. But the others hadn't listened the few times she had tried to curb their anger on the way here. And at this point, she felt unable to turn back, that talons were already stained with guilt from what was to come.

They heard shouts go up across the city as NightWings looked up and saw them flying overhead. One NightWing, a male, flew up in front of them and blocked their path. "Halt!"

"Surrender!" Moorhen ordered. "We are taking this city and the Darkstalker."

"You can't-!" His words of protest were smothered as Moorhen's warriors flew to either side of him and took hold of his talons and wings, holding him up in the air between them and subduing him, no matter how he struggled. Glory opened her mouth to speak, to argue that this was not necessary. But for some reason she couldn't find the words. Then the NightWing managed to contort himself enough that he could throw his head down towards the ground and shout as loud as he could: "To arms! We're under attack!"

Glory watched in horror as NightWings, both young and old, cried out in fright and others flew up to meet them. The alarm spread quickly, and soon black wings were coming up to meet them on all sides. The fighting began in earnest, wings crashing, teeth flashing, talons swinging. The young RainWing Queen tried to duck aside out of the thickest of the fighting, but one NightWing came for her. She dodged around him and kicked the small of his back as she passed. It felt wrong to use her venom in this case. No longer the defender, she was now the invader. And although she wanted to say the NightWings deserved this, that she hated them… she couldn't.

What was the saying? An eye for an eye makes the world blind? Well, she felt pretty blind now, as her vision was filled with star speckled wings and eyes filled with desperation. But she pushed on, she fought because she had to, because if she didn't then someone else would kill her. Over and over, she reminded herself that they were there for a reason - had to be there for a reason!

In the midst of it all she saw SandWings - some sporting tattoos of dragon skulls - join the fight. Moorhen killed one almost instantly when he tried to strike her down with his barbed tail - she spun and clobbered his head with her massive fists, breaking his neck in a heartbeat. The fighting around Glory suddenly got a lot more vicious, and she didn't know how they would get through this. It felt like a trap, that they'd been lured towards the castle, only to be outnumbered on all sides.

Where were her friends? She had to find Sunny and the others!

Turtle and Peril flew towards the Castle from the west, following the enchanted stick to lead them to their prey. Turtle had thought he'd been clever, as he knew asking the stick to find Darkstalker would be pointless as he would have protected himself. Qibli and Winter were wearing Skyfire and so were invisible. But Moon was the only one of them unprotected and so she was the magnet pointing his compass north. The stick pointed towards her location, which was in the centre of the castle.

With the sword clutched between her talons, Peril led the way. She discussed with him how they were going to approach. Stealthily? Stay out of sight until they felt they were needed?

But then they came to a domed glass roof, and through it they could see Moon, Darkstalker, Qibli and Winter in a room below them. They saw Darkstalker hovering over Winter, claws at the ready to strike. Turtle heard Peril gasp and saw her face go from panic to anger in an instant. Before he could stop her, she tucked in her wings and dove straight for the glass. She swung the sword and used it to break the glass ahead of her, leaving it to shower in a deadly rain around her as she fell through.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she roared. She landed just to the side of Darkstalker and Winter, and brandished the sword with a wide swing. Turtle watched as if in slow motion as he landed behind her. The very tip of the sword sliced into the back of Darkstalker's hand, the scales parting and dribbling little red ribbons. Darkstalker yelped in pain and leapt back, examining his hand in horror. He watched as the wound instantly closed and healed itself, but still his eyes remained wide and terrified.

"Skyfire?!" he whispered, disbelieving, his eyes fixated on the menacing black weapon pointed at him. And then, he gasped and backed up another step, true panic in his eyes. "I can't see them! I can't see my futures anymore!" His terror morphed into rage frighteningly quick, and he lunged towards Peril, claws reaching for the sword. "Give me that!"

Peril tried to back away from him, and when he still came far too close, she swung the sword again. Darkstalker dodged and paused his advance for a moment. Turtle could see it written across his face - Darkstalker was frightened of this sword and would do anything to avoid it touching him. And for the first time in years, he had to really fight. For so long he'd been invulnerable and immortal and despite the fact that his talon-to-talon combat skills were amazing, that security had made him never care before. But now he needed to - for his life literally depended on it.

Turtle spotted Moon try to get between them, her expression horrified. "No! Peril, stop!"

The SkyWing tried to swing the sword once again, but Darkstalker snatched hold of her wrist and shoved her with his shoulder. They fell to the ground together with a heavy thud, the smell and sound of sizzling scales filling the air as Darkstalker's scales burned and then mended themselves over and over. Peril kicked and struggled as Darkstalker tried to wrestle the sword away from her.

With a roar, Qibli and Winter (who paused for only a moment to snatch up his Skyfire bracelet and put it back on his wrist) leapt into the fight. Winter landed on Darkstalker's shoulders and reached up to yank on his horns, forcing his head back. "Get off of her!"

Qibli launched himself into the side of Darkstalker's neck, and in time with Winter swivelling his head to the side, they managed to push Darkstalker off of Peril. The NightWing rolled and used a wing to fling Qibli aside, before he reached up and grabbed hold of Winter too and threw him away as well. The pair landed in a heap, and Turtle and Peril came to them, to check them. Turtle had only a second to react as he heard the telltale intake of breath, before Darkstalker let loose a blast of fire at them!

Make a protective bubble around us so those flames won't hurt us! Turtle thought as he threw up his talons as if to catch the fire. The flames seemed to hit against an invisible shield and rolled over them harmlessly in an arc. When the flames ceased, Darkstalker was glaring at Turtle hatefully. "I should've known! Assassins! Traitors!"

And then he charged at them. The Jade Winglet fought for their lives. Darkstalker tried to get at the sword but one of them always managed to get in his way, until either he batted them aside or his magic flung them away. They did manage to get in a few good hits, but every injury they inflicted, even with the Skyfire sword, instantly healed the moment it was no longer touching him. All throughout, Moon was shouting and screaming from the sidelines, begging them all to stop. But her cries fell on deaf ears. She tried to grab hold of Darkstalker, to make him listen, but he pushed her aside.

He saw that Darkstalker had ahold of Qibli by the tail at one point, and Turtle thought of a spell to have the stone come alive and clamp around Darkstalker's wrist, pinning him to the floor like a manacle. Darkstalker released his prey with a yell and glared at Turtle. He snorted, and the stone imprisoning him turned to dust. "Here we are once again, Fathom! Come to finish what you started - are you here to kill me?!"

"No! That's not what I-"

"I'm sorry for what I did!" Darkstalker was looking at him in such a way… like he wasn't speaking to Turtle but to something inside him. "But I'm not ready to die yet!"

Winter had the sword this time, and thought to flap his wings to gain a height advantage so that he could swing down onto Darkstalker's head from above. But Darkstalker spun and smacked Winter out of the air with his tail. The force was enough to knock the air from Winter's lungs and he dropped the sword. Turtle ran forward, unthinking, a spell on his lips to catch Winter before he crashed. Darkstalker saw him coming and thought him a threat. He picked up the sword, the spells falling away from his body, revealing the scars that criss-crossed his back and his wings, how one of his eyes was missing! He came at Turtle with the sword, and Turtle froze as certain death came for him.

It happened in an instant. One moment Turtle was facing down his doom, and the next, black wings unfurled in front of him and Moon stepped in between him and Darkstalker, hiding him behind her wingspan. Darkstalker pulled himself back just in time, the tip of the Skyfire sword only an inch away from her heart.

Darkstalker's talons were trembling, causing the tip of the sword to shake. His one silver-blue eye was wide and pleading with her, filled with horror at what he had almost done. "Moon… please move…"

"No. Kill us both and let history repeat itself." She said in a voice that was both defiant and yet filled with grief. "Prove that I was blind to ever trust you."

He gave a little gasp, and then as if snapping out of a dream, he shook his head and threw sword aside. It landed with a clatter somewhere near the door. He turned back to her, his spells returning, two eyes now watching her with hurt. "Blind?"

There was a moment of stillness, where Moon and Darkstalker stared at each other in that way that led Turtle to believe everything was being shared between their minds. Darkstalker seemed to deflate, the fight leaving him. Moon stepped away from Turtle, and held up something she held in her talon, words forming on her lips.

But then the doors burst open with a bang, and an old NightWing with a hooked snout and wearing a ruby amulet stood there, and pointed to the window. "Lord Darkstalker! The other tribes are here! They're attacking! They're going to kill us all!"