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Queen Avalanche[]
Avalanche, the icewing queen, paced around her den, fiddling with her gold necklace. In the past week, her messenger, orphaned hybrid; Subzero had reported three avalanches and two earthquakes. Avalanche wanted to ask the other tribes if they were experiencing similar problems and had called a meeting.
"Mother"
Avalanche turned around, her eldest daughter, Princess Lemming stood in front of her, with the seawing royals, Queen Clam and Princess Oyster behind her. Oyster looked particularly smug, like she was up to something. Avalanche shook the bad feeling off, this was the same smug face Princess Blizzard often took, and she had never done anything wrong, had she?
Wolf[]
Arctic Wolf wiggled back into the tiny snow den he had built to conceal his icy blue scales from passers by. That seawing princess who came with Queen Clam looks suspicious Wolf, as his friends called him, thought, suddenly wishing he was a moon-born nightwing, so he could read her mind and see what she was up too, he had a bad feeling about this Princess. The young icewing was shaken from his thoughts by a familiar face peeping into the den. "Hello Pika" Wolf said, rolling his eyes.
"Hello Wolf!" Pika giggled, falling over. "Can I spy too?" She asked building another den and shuffling in.
"Are you two spying AGAIN?" A new voice asked, just after Pika had built her den. Wolf jumped, causing his friends den to collapse.
"Yes!" Pika replied, shaking snow off her head. The new dragon, who turned out to be Princess Blizzard, frowned.
"Come with me" she said. Crushing his den, Wolf glared at Pika. Pika looked sadly back at Wolf, who turned around and stormed after Blizzard.
The young Princess led the two other icewings to a huge den draped with icicles and dotted with the silver of ice. It took Wolf a few moments to realise that this was Queen Avalanches den. So where was she? Blizzard shook her head like she was reading his mind, her heavily charmed necklace jingling. "Avalanche is in the royal wing of the palace with the seawings"
"And the nightwings" a voice from the entrance called.
"Lemming!?" Blizzard said, surprised and cleared her throat. "I trust you will keep guard over these two while I go get Hiema- Father I mean" she stammered and ran out of the den.
"What are you two in trouble for this time?" Lemming asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"U-um" Wolf replied, feeling his face grow hot.
The pretty icewing princess tilted her head, still waiting for an answer.
"SPYING"Pika spat, glaring at Lemming "AND IT'S HIS FAULT WE'RE IN TROUBLE!" she continued, pointing a claw at Wolf.
"I thought you were my friend! Besides, you were spying too!" Wolf argued.
"ENOUGH" Lemming yelled, silencing the arguing dragons. In the short silence, Wolf heard muttering from another den.
"The assassination?" He heard one voice say.
"Tonight?" Another voice said.
"Yes"
Wolf turned to Lemming, terrified. She had obviously heard the other conversation too, because her eyes were wide with terror.
"Are you three ok?" King Hiemal asked, walking into the den. "You look like you've seen a dragon sized scavenger!"
"Murderers" Wolf mumbled, still shocked.
"Outside" Lemming continued.
"Tonight" Pika finished. Hiemal growled, obviously getting the wrong idea, he flicked his tail and stormed out of the den, sincerely hoping that these young icewings were not up to any trouble.
Wolf[]
Wolf glanced out the window, wondering how long he had been in his den for, five hours? Six? He wasn't sure, all he knew was that the sun was still shining on the white snow when he had arrived, now was his favourite time of day, well, night. When numerous dragons white and silver dragons fluttered under the light of the moon, like stars and fireflies.
"WOLF! WOLF!" Pika cried, running into his den and banging her head on the wall, shaken from his thoughts, Wolf noticed she had a fresh wound on her neck and was missing an earring.
"What happened?" He asked, grabbing a piece of cloth to put on Pikas wound. The she-dragon shook her head, rejecting the cloth. Seeing that Pika was distressed, Wolf put a wing around her.
"Something happened, Wolf! The tribes are fighting!" She cried. Wolf walked back over to the window, just in time to see a rainwing spit venom at a skywing, the skywing swiftly dodged the blast, only to be stung by a sandwing. The skywing promptly collapsed. Wolf turned away from the window, snarling quietly.
"What do you suggest we do?" Pika whispered, Wolf looked up at her.
"We fight"
Wolf flew into the chilly night air, raising his claws at a vicious looking seawing, who flew away. Wolf cried in victory, a little too soon, the seawing looped around, catching Wolf by surprise and scratching at his back. Trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his back, Wolf whipped around and clawed the seawings face and wings, it tumbled to the ground, unable to fight. Wolf quickly found himself in a rhythm, and for a while, didn't notice the rain. A sudden scream broke this rhythm, realising it was Princess Lemming, he flew over as fast as his wounded wings would take him.
"L-lemming?" He whispered, noticing a huge gash stretching from her chest through to her wing. Lemming blinked at him, breathing heavily.
"Wolf," she gasped, "Take-take care of Pika"
"Lemming" Wolf said again, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. But Lemming wasn't listening, she had closed her eyes and her chest was no longer rising and falling. Wolf was filled with a sudden surge of rage and he flew blindly through the rain, vowing to never return to the icewing kingdom.
Wolf[]
Wolf blinked, seeing the familiar silver-grey stalactites and walls of a cave. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was accidentally banging his head against a rock after running away from home. "I must have passed out" he thought, trying to stand up, but collapsed, suddenly feeling pain in his front leg. Wait, was his foot backwards? He looked at the foot, sure enough, it had been twisted backwards and was missing a claw.
"Hey, Vaquita! Summer! The icewing's awake!" A tiny green seawing called, bouncing around the room, "where did he spring from?" Wolf asked himself, not realising that two other dragons had arrived, until the seawing turned around and sat down. One dragon was an odd looking skywing dragonet with flame-red scales and reddish swirled wings, her eyes were unusually green. Her wings were rather small for a skywing and her tail was rather long, Wolf also noticed that her face was an unusual shape, more like a rainwings snout than a skywings. The other dragon was a seawing dragonet about his own age, her scales were a silvery blue with the same green eyes as the skywing.
"I-I'm Summer," the skywing said shyly, "I'm a rainwing, skywing hybrid"
"I'm Vaquita" the silvery seawing continued.
"I'm Tucuxi! Vaquita's triplet!" The green seawing said, flapping his wings. Vaquita's cheery eyes dulled and Summer wrapped a wing around her. Wolf attempted to stand up again, this time without his twisted foot.
"I'm Wolf" he said, yawning. Summer cleared her throat, trying to get Wolf's attention.
"What's wrong with Vaquita?" He asked. Summer just shook her head, so Wolf turned to Tucuxi, who sighed.
"A Princess Oyster got Vaquita and I exiled, but she let our sister Porpoise stay. Sort of, Porpoise got locked in the dungeon." Tucuxi bowed his head, as if he didn't want to say anymore.
"What happened to you?" Wolf asked Summer. Summer shook her head, mumbling something.
"Hey, Wolf!" Tucuxi called, changing the subject, "Wanna come hunting with me?" Tucuxi's blue eyes dropped, remembering Wolf's twisted foot.
"Of course!" Wolf said, nudging the seawing with his wing. He wanted to come along, even if his leg prevented him from hunting.
"But, your wings. And your foot"
Wolf looked at his wings, they were covered in long blue scratches, one of the membranes was torn.
"Never mind," he said, folding his wings, "I can still walk."
Wolf blinked, adjusting to the sudden burst of light coursing through the cave entrance.
"Welcome to the Skywing Kingdom, Wolf!" Tucuxi called, dancing around the cave and accidentally thwacking his tail on a stalagmite. Wolf was stunned by the number of birds gliding around in the crystal blue sky and the sounds of frogs from the river.
"Come on!" Tucuxi called splashing into the river. Wolf stepped forwards, a little more cautiously, the last time he had jumped in a river was in the Rainwing Kingdom as a tiny dragonet. He had become trapped in the current and almost drowned, his father died from a crocodile attack, attempting to save Wolf, who never set foot in a river again.
"Come on, Wolf!" Tucuxi called again, splashing water at him. Wolf stared at his reflection, realising how much he looked like his father until now. He stumbled back from the river, remembering that fateful day.
"What's wrong?" Tucuxi asked, lying in the river, Wolf sighed and began to tell the story.
Steelclaws[]
Princess Steelclaws circled the nightwing school, looking for a particular dragonet. It was believed that this young nightwing had brought a prophecy. "You'll know him when you see him" her mother had said, Steelclaws had wondered what that meant. Wait, that one? She asked herself, referring to the dark blue dragon who was sitting on his own, reading a scroll. Well, I won't find out from up here. She thought, tucking in her wings and diving. Several dragons watched Steelclaws, worried and confused, others hid or flew away. The scroll reading nightwing had dropped his scroll and backed up against a wall, his tear-dropped green eyes wide with fear. Steelclaws took a step towards the dragonet, causing him to whimper in fright.
"Are you Destinyseer?" She asked. The other nightwing nodded vigorously in response. "Queen Pastwalker would like to see you."
"Aahh, you must be Destinyseer!" Pastwalker said cheerfully.
"Yes Queen Pastwalker"
"Now, now, Destiny, no need to be formal" Destinyseer seemed to relax as she said this, "I'm guessing I'm here because of the prophecy."
"So there is a prophecy?!"
Destinyseer nodded and began to recite the prophecy.
Summer[]
Summer shuddered, suddenly feeling the cold of the evening, reminding her of the night she and her sandwing friend hatched, she wondered if this friend was still alive and where she was now.
"Do you ever wonder what Porpoise is up to?"
Vaquita nodded, cradling the abandoned egg they found earlier,
"All the time" she said "Well, I'll keep guard first and you get some sleep" she said, obviously wanting to change the subject. Summer nodded sleepily, wondering why Vaquita had changed the subject and promptly drifted off into a dream.
"Hurry up, Gila!" Summer yelled, skittering down the hallway, "We're going to miss it, we're going to miss it!"
An off-white sandwing with golden scale tips slowly followed her, breathing heavily, "I'm coming!"
"Quagmire! Quagmire!" Summer called, summoning the chocolate brown mudwing, "The brightest night! The brightest night!"
Quagmire shook her head, her deep brown eyes glittering with amusement. "Silly darlings! Nobody misses the brightest night!" She churred, sweeping the two dragonets under her wing. The dream changed, suddenly Summer and Gila were older dragonets looking over a sick-looking Quagmire.
"You are old enough to look after yourselves, now girls" she puffed, obviously on her last few breaths. "Go, go now, before Muskrat returns"
"No," Gila wept "We're not leaving you"
"Please, Gila. Go, I can't leave you two with him"
Summer put her wing around Gila, who gasped and threw her claws around Quagmire, who had died just seconds before.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" A scarily familiar voice called. Summer whipped around, Quagmire's son, Muskrat had returned and was standing by one of the many exits of the cave, growling.
"W-we d-didn't do anything!" Summer cried.
"Really?" Muskrat replied, not believing the hybrid.
"Run, Summer!" Gila called, running towards an exit. Summer darted off in the other direction, knowing that Muskrat would follow Gila, not thinking to stop and help her. Summer had always felt guilty about this.
Summer awoke to Vaquita watching over her, her wings blending in to the blue morning sky,
"Are you alright? You looked like you were having a nightmare! Who's Gila? Who's Muskrat? Were they friends of yours?"
Summer stretched her huge, red wings and stood up,
"It doesn't matter, why didn't you wake me?"
"Really?" Vaquita replied, some scales on her face lighting up, "And I thought you needed some rest."
Summer smiled and cradled the silver egg, "We should get going"
Vaquita nodded, "Tucuxi and Wolf are probably wondering where we are"
With that, Vaquita took off, closely followed by Summer.
Wolf[]
Wolf awoke the next morning to Tucuxi snoring beside him, he wondered what Pika was up too, and how Queen Avalanche had reacted to Lemmings death. The thought of this bought tears to his eyes as he walked, as fast as he could, towards the cave entrance. "Hey, that's Summer. And Vaquita, but who is the other dragon?" Wolf thought, the tears clearing from his eyes, noticing the familiar shapes of dragons flying towards him.
"Hey, Tu!" He called. The sleepy seawing appeared beside him, almost instantly. Tucuxi's eyes widened.
"They're back! They're back!" He squealed, running in circles like a tiny dragonet. Vaquita snorted, dazedly at her brother, hugging him.
"What happened to you?" Tucuxi asked, stepping back, spotting a pool of blood was forming at Vaquita's feet. Vaquita, looked at her feet, her eyes glazed over, as if she were dizzy.
"An attack," she mumbled, off balance on her feet, "A war has started."
Summer, who was also wounded, ushered her away from the entrance, Wolf turned to the new dragon, a nightwing, with polished navy scales, grey-blue eyes and neatly trimmed claws. Her star spots seemed to burst out, more like supernovas than stars and she wore silver earrings with sapphire pendants, and then turned to Tucuxi, who seemed to read his thoughts; "Who attacked and why isn't the newcomer injured?"
The nightwing lifted a claw in greeting, just as Summer limped back to the group.
"This is Andromeda" the hybrid said, "She saved us!"
Andromeda smiled, but the smile vanished quickly.
"Wh-what happened to the egg?" She asked. Summer lifted her wing in response, under the wing was a leather pouch, large enough to hold an egg.
"You said something about a prophecy earlier?" Vaquita, who was now covered in white bandages said, from behind Wolf, spooking him, Vaquita stepped forward, curious. Andromeda nodded, taking a deep breath,
"When the Earth shakes red,
Blood will be shed,
When white snow crumbles,
Blood will be shed,
When the mud grows grey and the sea grows quiet,
The rodent will rise,
Beware the dolphins storm,
And the talons thunder,
Beware the flames typhoon,
And the rats thunder.
Frost will rise,
And wounds will be healed,
When frost does rise,
A king will fall."
"What could it mean?" Vaquita asked no-one in particular, her green eyes wide, something clicked inside Wolf's brain, when white snow crumbles, could that refer to the recent earthquakes and avalanches back home? And Queen Avalanches meeting? Wolf decided to keep this to himself, the others didn't need to know this. Yet.
Summer[]
Summer flicked her ears at Andromeda, confused. Rodent? Dolphin? Talon? Flame? Frost? All of this just made her wary of her friends. A vaquita is a dolphin, isn't it? She asked herself, turning to her friend, But so is a tucuxi. And a porpoise is too. But they're so harmless! One side of her brain argued, Don't trust them! The other side argued.
They're my friends, I have to trust them!
Look what happened last time you trusted someone, she abandoned you!
Gila didn't abandon me!
Summer looked up, feeling the weight of several pairs of eyes on her"Are you alright?" Tucuxi seemed to ask with his pretty blue eyes.
"Are you alright?" Vaquita asked, echoing her thoughts.
"Beware the dolphins storm" Andromeda muttered, making Summer wonder if she was reading her mind. Realisation dawned on the seawings face.
"Nonono" Vaquita said, shaking her head vigorously.
Are you reading my mind? Summer asked Andromeda. The nightwings gaze turned away from Vaquita, blinking her grey-blue eyes at her.
You are!
Andromeda didn't respond, instead she turned to Wolf, blinking sadly at him, seemingly discovering something about his past. The icewings eyes seemed to light up a little and then dull again almost instantly. Vaquita waved a wing in front of her face,
"Hello! Lovebirds!"
Andromeda cleared her throat,
"Before I left, Destinyse-the prophecy bringer had a vision"
Vaquita sat on her haunches, flinching,
"Go on"
"He saw a sandwing, one with diamonds in her face and flames riding up her forelegs"
A flutter of recognition fluttered up Summer's spine, she didn't know who this sandwing was, or how she knew her, but she knew her.
"What was she doing?" Tucuxi asked
"Just sitting there, by the Scorpion Den"
"Does that mean we need to find her? Wolf croaked.
"Yes" Summer replied, "We need to find her"
"Who thinks we should go?" Andromeda asked. Summer raised a claw, followed by Vaquita and Tucuxi, Wolf raised a wing.
"We should start now, find her sooner" Wolf said, seemingly understanding Summer.
"I will walk with Wolf" Tucuxi said,
"We all will" Summer replied
Wolf shook his head, "You should fly"
"We can't fly either, Wolf, It'll hurt us more" Summer replied, turning to Vaquita.
"I can- I can fly ahead and bring her back to you" Andromeda said, flying off.
So it's settled, Summer thought, Andromeda will fly and Tucuxi, Wolf, Vaquita and I will walk. It shouldn't be too hard!
Wolf[]
The journey to the Scorpion Den took much longer than it should have, it took a week to get where they were now and had run out of rations two days ago. Each of the dragons were growing more exhausted, thirsty and hungry by the minute. Wolf's throat was dry and scratchy and his stomach clawed at him like a bear.
"I just want to lie here and sleep forever" Tucuxi groaned, dragging his wings on the ground.
"We should nearly be there now" Vaquita replied, blinking dust out of her weary looking eyes. Summer flopped, breathing heavily, and looking up at the sky.
"Andromeda?" She asked, the dragonets had not seen the nightwing since she got her flying head start for the Scorpion Den.
We have to, keep going, Wolf thought, pushing himself forward, despite his exhaustion, for Lemming. For Lemming. He turned around, expecting his new friends to be right behind him, but no. Summer was asleep, her slowly healing wings stretched out, glittering in the sun, Vaquita was asleep under Summers wing and Tucuxi under his sisters wing. Maybe we should rest, just for a little while. Wolf curled up next to Tucuxi, the small group sticking out of the ginger desert sand like a seawing in a family of mudwings.
"Wake up" a gruff voice called, poking at Wolf's neck, Wolf blinked, awoken by the spear he was poked with, he looked around. He and each of his friends were surrounded by two sandwings, each, all holding spears.
"Get up" his other guard said, poking him with her spear. Wolf obeyed,
"Good"
"Where are you taking us?" Tucuxi asked. His guard, an off-white sandwing with a bandage around his tail, snorted in response.
"Keep walking, icewing!" Wolf's first guard ordered, pointing his spear at him, "To Queen Tumbleweed, seawing. She will decide what to do with you."
"It's Tucuxi!" The little seawing growled.
"QUIET!" Tucuxi's guard yelled, jabbing him with the spear, Tucuxi yelped.
"Go stuff a viper down your throat, Mesquite" Wolf's guard retorted, rolling his eyes "We don't even know why they are here!"
"Of course we do, they're here to kill Queen Tumbleweed, Coyote!"
"Enough, Mesquite"
The group remained in utter silence until the beautiful sandwing palace was in view,
"S-so" Summer stuttered, gaining a glare from Mesquite, Coyote growled, intrigued by what Summer had to say,
"D-do you know a-a Gila?" She asked. Vaquita tilted her head, looking a little worried.
"Yes, yes we do," Coyote, replied, Summer's eyes widened, "But we can't tell you where she is."
"W-why not?" Summer replied, Coyote shook his head,
"Because-"
"It's not their place to say." A new voice interrupted. Wolf looked in the direction of the voice, where a huge, ginger-brown sandwing stood regally,
"Dear little dragons, I am Queen Tumbleweed" She cackled. Wolf had a bad feeling about this queen, like this meeting with the sandwing queen was going to go horribly wrong.