Chapter 9

Bandit

Could there be a dragon in Jade Mountain that knew his human identity? Or were they just interested in him the way that Starflight was interested in Sunny?

He got a mysterious letter from an unknown dragon that said the rock was important, not to take it off, to check out a scroll on a SandWing named Sunburst, and to meet at the entrance after lunch.

Bandit met all the criteria that the letter ordered him to do. But when he got to the entrance, nobody was waiting for him except for a sleeping IceWing.

The IceWing snored like he'd been there for quite a while, almost like he couldn't find the sleeping caves last night.

Bandit gently poked to IceWing to waken him. "Hey, the sleeping caves are back there," he said, pointing down the hall.

The IceWing slowly blinked awake. "Hey Bandit, glad you could meet me," he said.

"Wait, you're the one who gave me this weird rock? Why?" he asked.

"Oh, come on, I thought it was obvious!" he exclaimed. "You know what, let's go somewhere where people can't overhear our secret meeting." The IceWing flew away, and Bandit followed him.

The IceWing stopped at a small lake where a confused SandWing stared at them.

"Welcome to the first dragon meeting of The Fiery Four," the IceWing said. "How about we start with introductions? My name is Malcolm."

Daniel stared at Malcolm. "Where's the fourth member? You. SandWing. Who are you?" he pointed to the confused SandWing.

"Ian, and I assume that you're Daniel?" the SandWing said.

"Yeah..." Daniel said, looking to Malcolm. "Where's Jack? Why are we starting without him?"

"That brings us to the first topic of this meeting: the absence of Jack and where he actually is," Malcom explained. "I requested that Daniel bring a scroll about Sunburst because why not, and he's one of the royal SandWing brothers."

"I keep asking him about you and Jack," Ian said to Daniel.

"I managed to hear something about Darkstalker, and now somehow, he had a brother out of nowhere called Lightwing," Malcolm said, unrolling a scroll to reveal a bunch of words and a picture. "This is where Jack ended up after the earthquake... Bastard..."

Daniel looked at the picture, there was a serious-looking NightWing with Captain Jack Sparrow's hat. "Yup... That's definitely him," he commented on the NightWing.

"Lightwing, brother to the Darkstalker and fierce warrior of the NightWing army, after five weeks of serving the NightWings; Lightwing found himself in a battle against Queen Diamond of the IceWings, Prince Bloodseeker (a witness and survivor of the battle) claims to have seen Lightwing kill General Betelgeuse with frostbreath and proceed to kill twenty IceWings all on his own after becoming the last dragon standing, he then goes along to get himself captured by the IceWings.

While in the Ice Kingdom; Lightwing is made to serve their army for two weeks, an IceWing that the NightWings captured claimed to have seen Lightwing being very happy whilst serving the IceWings, upon returning to the Night Kingdom, he attempts to lure the NightWing army outside the border so the IceWings can ambush them.

When the threat of Lightwing was discovered, he was executed by the Darkstalker himself for his crimes by having a spear driven through his skull. Upon questioning a nearby mind reader; it is revealed that Lightwing was apparently serving the IceWings in benefit of the NightWings, he also apparently sang a quiet and unknown song in his mind shortly before being executed."

When Malcom finished reading, there was another picture; this one being of Darkstalker killing Lightwing. "Jeez, talk about Arctic's Execution, that was arguably worse, because Jack knew damn well it was coming," Ian mumbled.

"That's not even all, the timeline remained unchanged even after the death of Lightwing; Arctic still died the same way, Darkstalker was imprisoned, the NightWings fled to the volcano and from what I can gather, Foeslayer still ended up in the Diamond Trial," Malcolm explained. "I honestly don't think it's possible to do that and survive the spear thing."

"Well... There's a way to check," Daniel mumbled. Both Malcolm and Ian turned to look at him.

"Enlighten us, please," Ian said.

"What about the - uh... The Obsidian Mirror? If Jack found a way to survive, then we'd hear his surroundings... Right?" Daniel suggested.

Ian suddenly looked like he had just realized something. "Shit... Uhhhhhh... Yeah, about that... You know who has it..." he said.

"Oh no... We should speak in reference, just so he can't understand us," Malcolm said.

"What is it about the Obsidian Mirror? Who has it?" Daniel asked.

"We can't take it out of his compound, Darkness of Dragons still needs to stay the same," Malcolm told Ian.

"Yeah, but we can still briefly use it for ourselves," Ian replied.

"Then it's settled, we fly to the compound, use the mirror, and escape as soon as possible," Malcolm said.

"Hey! Why is this sounding dangerous?" Daniel exclaimed.

Malcolm turned to Daniel with a pale face. "Qibli's family."

List of the whereabouts and status of The Fiery Four: (Last recorded)

Jack: Identity: Lightwing, whereabouts: the lost city of night, status: deceased

Ian: Identity: Sunburst, whereabouts: Jade Mountain, status: alive

Malcolm: Identity: Iceclaw, whereabouts: Jade Mountain, status: alive

Daniel: Identity: Bandit, whereabouts: Jade Mountain, status: alive

Suspects for The Fiery Four: All members identified