Author's Note: Sorry for the two digits delay, with the new Mario & Luigi releasing recently, Iiii kinda was busy with that and watching other people play it, but huh, at least this here is the longest chapter so far in This book?
— Chapter 12 —
Qibli
Qibli observed as Oracle turned visible once more and slowly picked up the mirror. His eyes were constantly looking in all directions and ready to act in case that sprung some trap or mechanism they somehow didn't find.
What he did not expect was to see Oracle suddenly start stumbling and move shakily for some seconds after holding the mirror while he was bringing it to the pouch, and then Qibli's eyes widened when the Nightwing started falling to the ground, he instinctively tried to reach out to him, but of course couldn't touch him as he was still invisible. Oracle fell and the Obsidian Mirror slipped out of his talons, hitting the ground and instantly shattering as if it were just glass?
The mirror was fake bait, that's why there weren't any visible traps nearby! His mind quickly raced, thinking about everything going on in a second.
Qibli quickly turned visible again, practically lunging to the small dragonet as he brought his talons to Oracle's body, checking for a heartbeat, a pulse, he had to see now that his friend hadn't just dropped dead in front of him.
He cannot be dead, not like this, I refuse to think so.
After a few seconds, he found a pulse and he felt a wave of relief wash over him, he legitimately thought he would be forced to see his friend dying, and then he'd have to report the terrible news to everyone else later on.
He quickly tried an idea to move him out of the way, talons wrapped the most he could around his body, then thought of the words to turn invisible, hoping that the other dragon would count… But all that ended up doing was having his talons phase through the Nightwing who remained tangible, clearly he didn't count as an object.
As he was about to try something else, Qibli immediately realized something, he heard several footsteps approaching this building, and the sound of a door being opened.
They're here, they must have heard the glass breaking, and they are going to find Oracle, what do I do? I can't leave Oracle to my grandfather, that's literally one of the things we talked about that would be the worst, but I can't carry him out either, and…
His eyes widened slightly as he quickly realized something. The scroll!I
He quickly turned visible once more next to Oracle, a talon heading for the pouch on his neck. And that is when the door opened and three cloaked dragons came in, looking straight ahead and spotting them before quickly moving around and over the traps towards their direction, tails raised and their posture ready for a fight.
A barbed tail was coming right at Qibli's way, but he managed to get the pouch off of Oracle and then with a single thought he vanished, making the stinger pass through empty air and greatly confusing the cloaked dragons.
"He vanished," one of them grunted, his hooded head quickly turning around as he must be listening to the surroundings.
"And he might as easily re-appear, keep your eyes open," another one muttered as he drew a short blade from somewhere within the cloak, sharp eyes staring at every spot.
"Left this one behind though, and the description fits the Nightwing that the boss had been looking for," the last one hissed as she inspected Oracle, leaning closer to him.
"Hah… Did this runt believe that he could just come here and do whatever he wanted? At the residence of Pyrrhia's mightiest?" The first one said, dismissively pressing a talon on the membrane of one of Oracle's wings.
"Careful with that," the third one hissed again. "I am not taking responsibility and getting my throat slit if you break it before we bring it over."
The dragon who stepped on the wing stared at her then took a step back. "And the other one… Must've been Cobra's offspring, based on the intel. About time he came to visit his family…"
"Heard that one was decently smart, so perhaps smart enough to realize trying to sneak around here any longer is a death wish, and he left," the one wielding the blade said.
"The boss won't be happy that he's got away, but at least we're bringing him this one. You carry him back," the third one ordered the first cloaked dragon as he was closest to the dragonet.
I can't allow Oracle to be taken, the moons know what they might do to him. Qibli instantly thought, and as that dragon leaned down to start picking up the Nightwing, his guard was lowered so Qibli took that moment to materialize on his side and quickly pierce through the cloaked dragon's side with his tail barb. Making him let out a gasp as he got stabbed and then stumbled to the side.
The other two didn't waste any time on being surprised or trying to help out their co-worker. The one holding the blade immediately moved forward and swung, hitting only air as Qibli vanished again then appeared below him to slash at the underbelly with his claws, making him recoil in pain, then he disappeared when the cloaked dragon sent a talon down to him.
The third one stared forward, and instead of trying to attack somewhere she just ran for the door of the treasury and went outside, starting to call out to the others, which meant that at most… Qibli had about one minute before there were too many.
He appeared again next to the one he had already hit with his tail and then quickly charged at the cloaked dragon, he already wasn't very stable so that was enough to throw him forward to the ground, snapping several strings and activating traps as several darts were fired over with some hitting his sides. And at the end of the fall his head touched one of the marked tiles, pushing the concealed sharp spike up from the ground which pierced the chin and went through the head in a bloody manner.
The sword wielder clearly tried to be fast for an attack before he might just disappear once more, as he blew fire directed at Qibli this time. But right as the fiery stream was about to touch his head he was already gone, just to appear nearby the next moment and blow his own fire towards his foe's talons, burning them and getting the sword to drop as he proceeded to punch him and make the cloaked one stumble on tripwire, getting darted down too.
Without losing any time, Qibli went back to Oracle, thankful this time for the Nightwing's very small size, although he was very certain that this would still be an incredible struggle. Wrapping his talons around Oracle and flaring open his wings, he tried to lift the smaller dragon up to the air with him.
It was possible to move Oracle upwards, he was significantly smaller, and his vegetarian diet had surely made him noticeably lighter than how other dragons would be, but Qibli still had his doubts about being able to carry even such a dragonet all the way outside.
The way out was mostly free from the strings due to breaking many of them earlier with the two dragons he threw down, and he was able to hear the shouting of the third dragon, alongside the silent approach of many more, he had to hurry.
Carrying Oracle, he began to fly for the treasury's door, quickly making his leave from the building and reaching the courtyard, where he was received by about twenty cloaked dragons all standing menacingly outside and staring right at them, everyone looking ready to leap, fly and fire if he tried something.
At the front were two of the dragons that Qibli hoped he would never have to see again ever since he moved to the palace. Looking older than he last remembered then, with cloaks like everyone else, and a few dragon skull tattoos lining up their bodies, there were his siblings.
"Brother, didn't expect to see you again in such conditions, with you acting in such a dumb way. Isn't that out of character for you?" Sirocco said with a grunt, eagerly eyeing Qibli, as if looking more than ready to strike every single part of his body that he could reach.
"Maybe he never was as smart as brilliant as he thought he was if he thought of something like this. Although grandfather would probably be disappointed to learn that," Rattlesnake said with an amused tone and a cruel smirk.
"You two have… Grown a lot," Qibli commented at his siblings, subtly looking around as he searched for any escape route, but there were just too many cloaked dragons, and even more were appearing.
"Unlike you, you might've gotten taller with age, but you still look as weak as always," Sirocco said, flexing a talon slightly.
"Talking about growth, that Nightwing you're carrying is juuuust adorable, isn't he? So small looking, wouldn't it be a teeeerrible thing if something happened and he just… Broke?" Rattlesnake added with even more cruelty, staring at the Nightwing he was carrying.
"Don't even think about it," Qibli warned, still clutching Oracle, but he was actually struggling with coming up with a brilliant escape.
"Have to agree with my grandson there, you better were not actually thinking of destroying that Nightwing, or else there would be issues," another voice spoke up from the very back as it approached, and now Qibli actually felt his blood freezing.
Grandfather was stepping out from the main building, walking towards them without a single worry in his expression, and the cloaked dragons were quickly splitting up to let him pass.
"Grandson, I knew you would turn around sooner or later, perhaps not in these circumstances, but you still came back home," Vulture said to him.
Now things were truly dire, with grandfather present as well, coupled with everyone else around. And Qibli felt that Vulture by himself was as much of a danger as all these other cloaked dragons together.
"Hello, grandfather," Qibli said, his eyes scanning all over, but he could see Vulture's eyes were doing the exact same thing, ready to put forth countermeasures.
"Been a few years since you've visited, hopefully you saw all the changes and extra decorations. And I can see that you've acquainted yourself with my Talons," Vulture said, glancing behind Qibli slightly, as if looking to the dead dragons in the treasury with a clearly non pleased expression. Although Qibli had a feeling it wasn't due to two of his henchmen dying, but more due to the chance of his treasure getting stained.
"Your Talons?" Qibli asked, glancing at the many black coats surrounding him, none of them making a move unless ordered, just waiting in silence.
"Oh yes, you know the Talons of Peace? Well I've always considered that the name they took upon themselves was too good to be left with such a little group, so I took it upon myself to improve it. Grandson, meet my Talons of Power, the greatest militia in the Sand Kingdom," Vulture announced.
Hearing these words immediately hit Qibli with realization as his mind remembered something the very next second.
Beware the talons of power and fire… Grandfather is part of Moon's prophecy? Did Oracle know?
"And on that topic, you should know that I want both you and your small friend there to join the group, although we'll need to tailor a new size for his cloak," he said as he looked at the small dragon, then to his group as if giving them permission to laugh, so there was some light chuckling.
"You want us? And what exactly do you expect us to do?" He questioned.
"Cobra selling you was a glaring mistake, but it's not all bad considering how much useful information you have. I want you to tell me everything about Thorn, her palace, her guards, her weaknesses. And to teach my Talons any and all passwords used to reach her. And as for what I want from your friend… Well, I believe we both know his utility surpasses that of most dragons."
That's when Qibli realized with horror that his grandfather clearly knew for certain about Oracle's prophetic powers, even if he wasn't revealing them directly in front of the crowd.
"So now, get on the ground, place your friend down, and then we can talk more about business inside," Vulture commanded.
His grandfather was getting onto the next steps, the time for just chatting was over now, and he was ordering Qibli to give himself in.
He knows about Oracle, and I am currently holding the scroll and I don't know yet if he knows about it or not… But even if he doesn't, a very quick look at it should tell him instantly of its function, I can't let him have such power.
But what do I do? Oracle still lives, I can feel his pulse, but I don't know if he might wake up within the next hour or the next day, and if grandfather was told about what I've been doing at the treasury he will suspect I have an Animus object and take whatever I have on me, including my earring…
If I try to fly away with Oracle, they'll reach us immediately, I am slower and can't move as fast, and they might directly kill us for trying to do that. But on the other talon, if I want to protect the scroll from my grandfather, then I would have to…
His gaze went down to the small Nightwing that he was still carrying on his talons, as he felt extremely uncertain about his next actions. To escape his grandfather and get to safety without the scroll being immediately taken, it meant that he would have to leave Oracle behind so he could turn invisible.
Abandon him, here of all places? Where grandfather wants him to be? I can't just ditch Oracle, Vulture will try hard to get a use out of him, and I fear Oracle's going to end up even more scared…
But if I get both of us captured, then my grandfather will have both Oracle and the scroll in his grasp, I cannot see any paths to escape with him right now.
Vulture was already glaring daggers at him for not immediately complying with his command, any longer and he'll get actually angry. But he seems to want Oracle's power, so killing him wouldn't make sense, Qibli will just have to make sure of that before actually leaving the place.
He gave an apologetic look to the knocked out Nightwing, already feeling terrible about this. It's not even just the fact that his grandfather will capture Oracle, but that he, Qibli, will have to make the act and outright place him down to leave. After how they've been hanging around and talking these days, confiding to each other and both helping the other to feel better.
I can't believe I'm doing this, and I wish I weren't. I'm really sorry, and I promise I'll come back to save you as fast as I possibly can.
He gently lowered Oracle down to the floor, the Nightwing still in his unconscious slumber. Vulture gave an affirmative gesture to that and some cloaked dragons were starting to step closer now.
And then Qibli quickly turned, flapped his wings to show he's about to fly the opposite way, then he vanished, earning a grunt from his grandfather, and with a quick order coming from him, everyone quickly moved at once and looked around, several taking off to the air.
Qibli meanwhile had barely even moved from his previous spot, just hovering on place to be able to see and hear whatever happens immediately after, if Oracle is about to be killed right here and now, then he'll have to appear once more, but otherwise he can observe some time before going back to the palace for help.
"That was not the smartest choice to make," Vulture said to the air in case that Qibli was listening, which he was, and then the old Sandwing turned his head to Oracle.
"Bring the Nightwing to my office, I'll have a talk with him, everyone else will keep their eyes open and remain in groups," he ordered, and two cloaked dragons immediately went to pick up Oracle and walk. Vulture passed by, glaring at the dragonet for a few seconds before swiftly snatching the earring off his ear.
Oh, with no other accessories on him, he just immediately realized what the object would be, this is bad.
And then he and the other two dragons began to walk back into the main building, and Qibli quickly flew after them, feeling some quick relief about the fact that Oracle isn't being killed right now.
The next hour was spent waiting inside Vulture's room, which meant he had to keep looking at his grandfather, who was looking down at Oracle while sitting on a very refined chair.
Then Oracle finally woke up, and Qibli wished he could appear right now and escape together, the Nightwing looked petrified and terrified. But with Vulture holding the earring, it was far too dangerous to try to snatch it back from him and give it back to Oracle before either of them gets impaled.
And when Vulture and Oracle talked, that's when Qibli learned of some unsettling truths. Grandfather knew about the Nightwing residing in the Sky Kingdom, confirmed further that he knew of his foresight, he knew about the venom, and he knew about the scroll.
Just for how long has he been spying on us!? What else could he possibly know? Qibli thought in bewilderment, things being as bad as they could be currently, and it sadly made him realize that with the old dragon's knowledge, Qibli's choice might have actually been truly the right one.
There was a moment where Vulture's barbed tail was far too dangerously close to Oracle's face, but at least it was coupled with the words that he didn't actively want to kill the Nightwing unless forced, which was very good to hear.
Then Vulture guided Oracle out of the room, and the moment they stepped outside, like a large Nightwing extending their wings of darkness, there were several cloaked dragons moving slightly behind and by the sides of Vulture, completely surrounding Oracle as they headed back to the courtyard.
"Do you know what an Oubliette is? It's always been a word that I've fancied, sounding so nice for being something not so much," Vulture casually asked Oracle, who nodded shakily, and Qibli had a bad feeling about this.
When they reached the courtyard they headed towards the circle of potted trees, and right in the middle was a trapdoor with metallic bars, positioned in such a way between the trees that barely any light from above even could slip through.
Vulture smoothly slipped out a key from his cloak and held it as he opened the trapdoor fully, his Talons of Power around all the sides of Oracle to prevent any actions.
"Here's your temporary residence, or permanent depending on how you act. If you show your worth, then we may negotiate a better living place," Vulture said with a condescending tone, pointing at the oubliette with his tail, signaling to Oracle to go down there.
The Nightwing shakily and nervously approached, peering down at the unsettling sight for several seconds, which clearly wasn't of Vulture's liking as he just pushed him into the hatch as Oracle yelped, then he fell on top of a flat rock positioned there.
"I'll come back for you in a few hours! Get yourself acquainted with this place, and then you'll reveal to me some interesting stuff," Vulture announced, closing the trapdoor and locking it again.
Qibli quickly phased through the floor to see Oracle from up close, the Nightwing looked absolutely defeated, scared as his eyes constantly looked all over the place, and talking about his eyes, it looked as if he was about ready to cry but was trying to hold that back.
I'm getting you out of here, I'll try for this to not take over a day, but I will not be letting you remain trapped here after everything.
He couldn't show himself to Oracle right now to cheer him up or calm him, as there were already about three guards right by the trapdoor, all of them looking down while barely even blinking.
Giving one more glance to his captured friend, Qibli took off, phasing through the ceiling and then flew faster than ever before, heading straight back to the Sandwing Palace.
The flight took significantly less than an hour, the images of what happened in grandfather's compound, and the thought of Oracle being held there and possibly going to face horrible things soon were enough to make his flight speed a constant until he saw the palace.
He knew that he had to be fast, so Qibli just went through the walls without slowing down at all, and when he was heading towards the throne room, he turned visible again and landed on the ground on an empty hall then rushed towards the guarded door.
Former Outclaws were guarding the room, and when they spotted him moving in such a rush and with his expression, they moved to the sides to let him pass right away, although one of them leaned closer to say something.
"Before you go there, you should probably know that the Queen is not very happy, about you in particular."
Qibli already imagined that would happen, considering the actions that he and Oracle took without any warning, so now he had to pay the consequences even further with an angry Thorn, which is not exactly the best sight when you're at the receiving end of that anger.
He entered the room, and there was Thorn discussing something with several other Sandwings, Sunny was present as well too. And then the moment that Thorn heard the door open and looked his way, she immediately stopped talking to that group and walked to Qibli at a frightening pace.
"Qibli! You slimy blob of desert iguana's turd! What did you think you were doing? Escaping without any warning and going there? Never in my life I would've considered you as the type to act so rashly." Thorn reprimanded right away, glaring at him.
It felt strange to Qibli, being the one that Thorn is this angry at. He'd seen her getting angry many times before of course, and admittedly he had frustrated her a few other times as well, but today would be the first time it reached this extent.
And looking up to the queen, seeing her anger perfectly mixed in with worry in her expression and also expressive eyes, Qibli had the decency to look down in absolute shame, knowing a lot of mistakes were made.
"Queen Thorn, I'm really sorry for all the worries that we have caused, and I really should have thought it through, and for that I've already had to face the consequences," Qibli admitted.
Before Thorn said a lot more, Sunny had approached quickly as well, her face showing worry and relief.
"I was so worried when I read the news, but I am so glad to see you're fine! Despite my worries, I was sure you'd be able to come through," she said a bit cheerfully.
"Well huh, not everyone might have fully come through, admittedly," Qibli said, just feeling even worse now that he'll have to talk about how this stunt ended.
Sunny took a moment to realize what he might mean, but Thorn realized right away, looking around for a second and clearly seeing the absolute lack of Nightwings.
"Oracle," Thorn quickly said. "Qibli, where is he right now?"
Qibli decided to not waste any time now that the topic reached there quite fast, right now was not the time for lamenting, but the time to discuss how to save his friend. And with this particular topic it didn't matter whether he talked or wrote, Vulture would know anyway that certainly he'd go to Thorn for help with rescuing someone with foresight, what mattered was hiding what they'll do to act in response.
"He got captured, and is currently imprisoned over at the Scorpion's Den, I escaped but he was put to sleep before that," Qibli explained, much to Sunny's clear dismay, and Thorn facepalmed with a talon as she turned to the other dragons that were on the back of the room.
"Okay all of you, scramble for now, we require privacy for this conversation," she ordered firmly, and everyone else quickly left the room.
"Please tell us what happened during your absence," Thorn told Qibli next, turning back at him.
Qibli immediately started to explain the bases of what they did, showing off quickly the spell of the earring with the thought commands as he vanished and reappeared, then finished by telling how they were baited in Vulture's treasury and Qibli had to leave Oracle behind or else everything would be worse. He omitted mentioning the scroll, of course, although Thorn gave him a bit of a look due to just conveniently having such useful items.
Thorn looked as if she was having a headache, which made perfect sense when one considered everything. Sunny wasn't looking much better as she frowned and looked worried for Oracle.
"Not even one day…" Thorn complained, before grabbing a scroll now to talk in a more secretive manner.
Making a rescue should be a priority, we cannot allow Vulture to have access to visions of the future. But at the same time, making a rescue there out of all places will be extremely dangerous, Vulture appears to have a large following based on what you said, and if he feels threatened he could easily take hold of Oracle first as a hostage.
Qibli considered that and nodded, going anywhere close could put Oracle in an incredible risk, Vulture would not be beyond threatening to kill a dragonet if it helped him for leverage.
And then Thorn let out a sigh, looking tired.
"I am to blame as well. I should have done something before this happened. It's been six months since the Eye picked me, and what have I done so far? I neglected our home for so many years, I basically allowed Vulture to keep growing in power without opposition, and now this happened because I didn't take care sooner of what is the biggest threat to our kingdom."
Qibli's mouth hung open in surprise for a moment, and with a quick look he could see that Sunny was shocked as well from hearing Thorn make such a statement, her confidence wavering for a second.
"What? You're an incredible queen, the Sand Kingdom has improved so much since you took the throne," Qibli quickly assured.
"You've done so much for communication and managing peace with the other kingdoms after the war, I don't blame you for not being able to focus on that city;" Sunny said with full honesty.
"And yet my home might just be even worse off than it was before," Thorn said with a shake of her head. "Either way, it's not the time right now, we have to deal with the actual matter at talon."
Qibli began to write down again, starting to have the concept of an idea already in mind.
We need to save Oracle, but at the same time my grandfather also knows so much and is such a threat that if possible we should put a stop to him as well if we can. Yet with Oracle there, doing either path would be extremely cumbersome, so Oracle would need to be placed into safety before moving onto Vulture.
Thorn read that and began to write a response. But how do we achieve that? He's locked up deep enough into the compound that there would be enough traps and time for Vulture to just get him.
That was the biggest hurdle. Qibli could try to go back while invisible and attempt an escape from the inside, but if he could just do that, he would have done so earlier. The danger of Vulture managing to capture him to have both Oracle and Qibli at reach was massive, and he would be on the lookout specifically for him, ready to do something the moment he turned visible.
And… He has the scroll, but without Oracle or anyone else to help with the spells, he felt doubtful about just using it, because what if it is just like the Nightwing said, and Qibli just messed up with magic? Even with the restrictions, the scary thing is that he had imagined plenty of spells that could be done as work around for many things with smart wording, the same reason why his grandfather getting the scroll would be so terrible, workarounds are far too possible. And so he was afraid of his own ability, thinking of how he utterly failed the test given by Oracle that other night to see if he could be trusted with power.
So instead, he had an idea, with someone that might be able to help and it'd be completely unexpected from Vulture's side.
Has Sunny told you about the OTHER companion that we brought along to the Sand Kingdom? Qibli wrote, and Thorn immediately looked at Sunny, who gave a sheepish smile and wrote something quick.
I thought it would be something super ultra secret so, it slipped my mind mentioning that? Sunny admitted.
Well, there should be a Rainwing nearby with us, sent by Queen Glory herself to help us. Qibli explained, and Thorn actually looked slightly baffled.
There's been a Rainwing this whole time in the palace and nobody ever noticed or caught a hint of it!? She wrote.
Apparently not! So, that's great for us, because it means this Rainwing is truly very good at camouflaging and going around unnoticed, so if we manage communication with them without revealing out loud our secret weapon to Vulture, then they might be able to just go into his compound unnoticed and save Oracle, and when we get signal that he's safe, we could launch an offensive upon Vulture and rid the Scorpion's Den of that organization.
Sunny and Thorn examined his message for some seconds, and the queen gave Qibli an approving look, followed by a nod.
That might just be our best bet, I don't want to deal with Vulture imprisoning any more dragonets and spying all over us, so if we can truly manage a plan to stop him as early as possible, then we should follow it whenever we can. Queen Thorn wrote.
Alright, we should try to explain the plan to the Rainwing without talking at all. Which… Might be a bit hard, I got a Rainwing friend back at the academy, and it sounds like that tribe doesn't really bother writing or reading? So getting them up to date, alongside giving a description and location of where to go might be tough. Qibli wrote back.
Thorn considered it for a moment with a slightly furrowed brow, before simply some words. True, but I know that if someone can come up with a way to even go around that issue, that's you. And I'll help you with all I've got… Then we'll get onto the topic of discussing your previous stupidity when Oracle is back with us.
Qibli grinned at this and gave Thorn a grateful look, and then he stood as he thought of how to proceed with this. He felt the pouch around his neck and then he questioned himself some more. He didn't believe that he could be trusted yet with magic and anything big, but maybe at least just one small spell to get things started should be fine, that's how he should try to progress with magic. Start small, no matter how much he wants to think big, that is the only way.