Chapter 20

Qibli

Qibli was watching the new dragon carefully. His trust for her didn't go very far. Maybe perhaps a talon at the most. She had tried to kill Kinkajou. And the Silverwing. Also not to mention Qibli himself.

Qibli was sitting next to Moon as night crept closer. He could just barely see the slightest part of the sun now. He wondered how many days it had been since they left Pyrrhia. It's had to at least been about a week.

"Qibli you have one of those looks Moon has when there are too many dragons." Kinkajou interrupted his thoughts.

"Just thinking about home," he replied.

"Where is your home?" the Changewing asked.

He watched the grey dragon walk closer on silent talons. Her face was scoured with bright yellow, green and pink stripes. Not the stealthiest but neither was Kinkajou.

He gave her a hard look. "Don't worry. I'm not going to fly off and try to find it." she rolled her eyes.

Moon placed a talon on one of his. "We live on Pyrrhia. Sundew and them live in Pantala." Moon pointed a wing towards Cricket.

"Interesting." she nodded. "I must ask. This 2,000 year old animus. Were they from your continent?"

Moon tensed. "Yes. He was."

"I see." Goliath rubbed her arm with one talon.

"Are you an animus?" Turtle asked.

"Yes. It's not highly known though." Goliath answered slowly. "It's from my fathers side. His great great great grandfather was an animus. He was the one who enchanted the volcano to erupt every 500 years."

"Why would someone do that?" Moon asked.

"He saved the tribe. The Volcano was restless before he enchanted it. It erupted almost every day, killing off dragons who got too close." Goliath explained. "It was a death sentence to the whole tribe."

"I remember learning about that." Calypso said.

"So do I." Brimstone agreed. "Wasn't his name Pyrite?"

Goliath looked at them. "You were taught about him?"

"Wait. Pyrite was a Stonewing." Calypso thought out loud.

"Yes he was." Goliath lifted a wing. "So is my father." Under her wing were scales shaped as stones. Large scales went around her belly to her other wing.

"You're a hybrid?" Sunny asked.

Goliath put her wing down. "I'm more Changewing than Stonewing."

"Do you think others will be after us?" Asha asked from behind the group.

"Once Alistar realizes I haven't checked in, yes. But they won't be as good as me. We can leave before they would even get a whiff of us." Goliath tapped a talon on the ground.

"We could still go to the Crystalwings." Calypso suggested.

"You didn't hear, did you?" Goliath looked at Calypso. "They were attacked by the Silverwings. Went into hiding before they could have any casualties."

"What? When did this happen?" Asha gasped.

"About a week ago." Goliath told her.

"We could still hide out on their islands, right?" Brimstone asked.

Goliath pulled a rolled up scroll out of a satchel around her neck. She unrolled it on the ground, showing the others. A large land mass sprawled over the scroll. It was a map.

"The outer islands should be safe." Goliath pointed to a chain of islands. "We can't hide in the Shimmerwing kingdom. I already told him that was where I was going to look."

Calypso looked at the map. "We could make our way towards the Folded Hills."

Goliath looked at the map. "That would be a lot of traveling. Are you and all your friends ok with that?"

"We should be fine." Sunny looked towards Goliath.

"Alright. We can leave tonight. Darkness is our best option." Goliath said.

"Where are the Folded Hills?" Moon asked.

"Here." Goliath pointed to a large area. "The Duelwings live there. I have a friend there that can help. From there I can make it back to Changewing Island."

"Wait, you're leaving us?" Sunny looked at her.

"I have to. I have to get back to Matrix." Goliath explained.

Brimstone started motioning with his talons. Calypso looked at him and sighed. "We can't come with you."

"What?" Moon asked. "Why?"

"If Alistar learns we aren't at the palace he'll think something is up. I'm not taking any chances that he finds out about any of this." Calypso looked at her brother.

"She's right." Brimstone said. "Plus our mother would freak out if we didn't return."

"I'll come." Crescent walked next to Calypso.

"What? No you can't. What about your father?" Calypso turned to him.

"You let him know I'm ok. He'll just think I'm out on another Salmon run." Crescent put a talon on hers. "I want to help them."

Qibli thought for a moment. "Turtle your writing slates."

"What?" Turtle fumbled.

"Your writing slates! We can leave one with them." Qibli walked over to Turtle.

"Oh." Turtle began to dig through his satchel and pulled out the two familiar slates. He handed one over to Calypso.

She looked at it with a skeptical face. "Thanks. I think."

"That ones enchanted so that when you write on it it shows up on this one. See." Turtle scribbled a line on the one Calypso was holding. He showed her the one he was holding. The same scribbled line showed up on the slate.

"Woah." Calypso looked at the slate.

"This way you can tell us how the meeting goes. And also what's happening." Qibli said.

"It's one way though." Turtle looked at the slate. "I can't write back. Only you will be able to."

"Thanks." Brimstone said to Turtle.

"We should head out in the next hour or so." Goliath looked at the sky.

"We should go back now." Calypso looked at her brother.

"Thank you." Asha stepped up to them.

Brimstone and Calypso smiled. They both opened their wings and took off.

Qibli watched as the two turned into small dots in the darkening sky. He looked back at Moon and gave a sad smile. He wrapped his tail carefully around hers. How were they going to save all the tribes?