Nobody has yet to mention the titles of the chapters...
The clouds off in the distance flashed, and distant rumbles were heard that would make any dragon get ready to seek shelter. Clay and Peril watched the clouds with concerned looks on their faces, but it was not because of the storm. They were actually watching for the two dragons that produced the storm, having called for their help. They stood on the edge of a small SkyWing town in the mountains.
The storm seemed to immediately calm down, with Clay and Peril spotting two shapes fly out of the clouds. One was white, the other the colors of the beaches of the Sea Kingdom. The storms left with them in sight.
Winter and Qibli landed in front of the couple, giving the two a serious look. "Starflight said that you needed our help?" Winter asked. Clay nodded his head and turned around, starting to walk back towards the town, with Peril walking next to him and Winter and Qibli following. "There was a SandWing spotted running around that was wearing a hood and cape."
Winter started to get annoyed and was about to complain but stopped when Clay continued, "There were dragon skulls on the cape..."
That made both Winter and Qibli tense up. There had been a ton of false reports about Vulture's gang since they were really the only threat to the peace in Pyrrhia since the war ended. But almost nobody knew about the detail of the dragon skulls being worn on the gang's clothing.
"We came here to speak with the leader of the town to become a trading outpost since it will help all the other tribes not have to drag their items further into the mountains. If I had to make a guess, Vulture is hanging around here to see if it's worth raiding later," Clay explained. "Me and Peril are going to sit in the meeting to make sure it goes smoothly. I want you two to try and find Vulture," Clay said seriously. "If you find him, even if he looks vulnerable, do not attack him by yourself; get backup..." Clay said that last part eyeing Qibli especially.
Glory smiled, feeling the sun on her scales as she flew over the forest around the base of Jade Mountain, almost home from visiting her mother, Deathbringer flying next to her.
"I'm telling you!" Deathbringer exclaimed. "Scavengers are more dangerous than they look!"
Glory chuckled. "Yes, Death, the walking squeaking monkeys are so dangerous," she mocked. Deathbringer looked offended. "I'm not joking; those things are a danger to us if we aren't careful."
Glory remained quiet at that one, remembering how Queen Oasis died and kicked off the war. Her eyes flickered up when she spotted smoke off in the distance. "Are there any dragons that are camping at the base of the mountain?" she asked him, confused.
Deathbringer shook his head, spotting the smoke as well. "Not that I am aware of." They both changed their direction, the smoke not being far off from where they were heading. They both circled around the fire but were confused; it was obviously dragon-made, but there were no dragons around it.
Glory gave Deathbringer a look, and they both nodded, landing in the clearing. Deathbringer froze the moment he hit the ground, Glory noticing his demeanor. "We are being watched..." he whispered. Glory froze as well. She closed her eyes, expanding her control into the woods around them. She felt a dragon watching them from the bushes. She turned red with anger and used her control to have the branches from the trees wrap around the dragon and lift him up.
It was a small pale orange SkyWing with light blue eyes, who shockingly didn't look scared—more amazed than anything. "How did you do that?" he asked excitedly.
Glory went from angry to humored, not expecting the excited smile. Her focus changed when she heard the leaves rustling again, a tiny scavenger bolting out of the bushes and running at the duo, waving around a large scavenger-made claw. Glory scoffed, using her powers, vines shooting up out of the ground and wrapping around the scavenger's arms, lifting it into the air so it couldn't move.
The scavenger started hollering in its squeaky voice, the duo ignoring it when Glory spotted Deathbringer giving her a "I told you so" smirk. Glory rolled her eyes.
The SkyWing's excited face turned to one of panic, and he started thrashing around in the grip of the tree branches. "WAIT, WAIT, please don't hurt her!"
Glory got an amused look on her face again. "Why would I want to hurt the scavenger?"
The SkyWing stopped his thrashing to speak. "I don't know... a lot of dragons seem to think humans taste good?" He shook his head. "Which is very bad."
Glory almost laughed. "Well, I don't even like eating meat, so I don't plan on eating it any time soon."
"Well, if you don't plan on hurting us, can you let us go then?" a voice said to Glory's right.
Glory's head bolted to the side but didn't spot any dragons. "What?"
"I asked if you could let us go?" the voice said, this time Glory noticing where it came from: the little scavenger wrapped up in her vines.
"WHAT?!" Glory yelled, shocked. "How can you speak dragon?" she asked, bewildered.
Deathbringer was squinting his eyes in concentration, but then his eyes grew in realization. "Wait a minute... I know you!"
"Murderbaskets?" the scavenger asked back.
Glory noticed that Deathbringer seemed to get embarrassed, and she recalled a strange story he told her a while back about a talking scavenger who kept on calling him by the wrong name by accident and needed his help.
"You're kidding..." she said annoyed. "I thought you said you were dreaming it?"
"I thought I was as well!" he exclaimed. "I thought I drank something that night that made me have a weird dream!"
The duo's heads turned when the scavenger started talking again. "Well, I'll have you know, I am very real and STILL TIED UP!"
Glory looked embarrassed. "Sorry..." she said while undoing the wrappings around the two. "If you don't mind me asking, how are you a scavenger that can talk in dragon?"
"We are actually called humans and—" she was cut off by the SkyWing, who still had an excited smile on his face. "I taught her, so how did you do that thing with the trees and vines?"
Glory pinched the bridge of her snout, already feeling a headache coming on. "Look, I got a friend who would really love to meet you two; he should be back later today."
Icicle was standing next to Crane as they were standing around a table, Queen Ruby sitting on the other side of it with a drink in her right talon.
"We have talked to all the old advisors, and even they don't know what happened to Hailstorm," Icicle said, trying to not show how frustrated she was starting to get. "It seems like Scarlet had been bragging about his capture forever and showing him off, and the next day, Hailstorm hadn't been seen at all, like he just disappeared."
Ruby nodded her head. "That is strange. Mother always made a show out of killing her prisoners, especially the important ones, so I doubt that she killed off Prince Hailstorm," she said, pausing to take another sip of her drink. "I have no idea what Mother would do with him to where he just disappeared."
Icicle resisted slouching in her chair from frustration, being more proper than that. "You don't think she sold him or gave him to someone else, do you?"
Ruby put the drink down onto the table, shaking her head as she did so. "I almost guarantee you she didn't; she never got rid of her 'thrilling presents,' and she hardly ever talked with anyone outside of the Sky Kingdom besides Burn."
"Does she have any secret allies that even you didn't know about?" Icicle asked, trying not to sound too proper and hide her desperation.
Ruby remained quiet at that question, thinking about how to respond. She lifted the drink back up to her lips and finished it off, sighing as she put it back down onto the table. "Not too long ago... we found something that not even her top advisors knew about..."
Crane and Icicle's eyes grew. "What was it?"
Ruby's frown deepened. "A room, a secret room hidden behind the throne. It's just that we didn't find anything really alarming in there."
Icicle stood up from the table. "May we please look?"
Qibli was flying over the small town, searching the alleys from above. The meeting was now underway. Clay and Peril were currently talking with the town leaders, and if Vulture was going to try something... it would be now.
Qibli had a scowl on his face just from the thought of his grandfather. "Why do I have to be related to him of all dragons..." he mumbled to himself. "And why would Vulture even bother with a place like this? He didn't really need to rob the trade caravans; he was probably one of the richest crime bosses to ever live."
His eyes shot to one of the alleys, spotting movement. He growled, already losing the place where he spotted movement and went to land, tucking in his wings as he landed so he could fit in the tight area. He looked around and inside the windows of the buildings in the alleys, but grumbled even more when he didn't spot anything.
Qibli froze when a voice spoke that sounded like it came from all around him, not letting him tell where it came from. There was only one dragon that he knew could do that, and what the voice said confirmed it.
"Hello... grandson."
Qibli started to frantically look all around him for the voice but couldn't find anything. "Where are you?"
The voice sounded amused. "Around... nice to see you after so long."
Qibli growled, still frantically looking all around. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just tending to some business that needs to get started," the voice said, starting to have a menacing tone to it.
Qibli started gasping as he panicked. He needed to get Winter's attention. He wasn't stupid; he shouldn't even be talking with his grandfather.
"It's a shame that you never took up our offer to rejoin your family," Vulture said, pretending to be upset.
Qibli closed his eyes, drawing in a storm to make its way over to the town. Already being able to hear the thunder in the distance, Qibli kept his eyes closed, but he needed to stall now. "Thorn and my friends are my family now."
"I can respect that. I would try to stay close to the most powerful dragons in the world too..."
Qibli growled in offense. "I am nothing like you!" The storm seemed to mirror how he was feeling, the thunder roaring in rage.
"And you see, grandson, that's where you are wrong. I have friends who are powerful as well..."
Qibli froze as he heard something land next to him, rapidly opening his eyes but almost melting in relief when he saw the familiar white shape of Winter standing next to him.
Winter was giving him a concerned look. "Is everything okay?"
Qibli went to answer but was cut off when a large flash went off, a loud explosion filling the air on the other side of town.
