Among the Stars is a Fanfic by Rainstorm239. (And, just so you know, Silverstorm is distantly related to Stormseeker)
Protagonists:
Silverstorm
Dreamflight
Lilith
Prologue[]
"Nasty cut there," Skyhealer murmured. She took a handful of seeds and crushed them into powder.
Then she sprinkled the powder onto a bandage and wrapped the bandage around Warwings's wounded arm. He winced.
"Thanks, Skyhealer. This last battle was awful."
"You're lucky you survived," the young NightWing replied. She looked into her warrior brother's eyes for a moment, and then away again.
"How is Courage?" Warwings asked quietly.
"Fine. But the egg is going to hatch soon," Skyhealer answered. "You'd better go. Love you."
Warwings folded his wings. "Love you too. Thanks again." Then he left the room. As he walked towards the hatchery, excited thoughts flashed through his mind. The egg! My egg! It's coming!
Warwings entered the hatchery. Courage was sitting there, her tail over her nose, fast asleep. Suddenly, a small cracking noise came from the egg.
Courage's eyes snapped open. "Warwings! You came!"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he responded. They sat close together, watching the egg. It shook from side to side, and small cracks appeared on different parts of the surface.
A tiny black head poked out of the egg. It's a girl, Warwings thought.
He realized he had been hoping that he would have a son to train and fight alongside. But a regal dragoness is okay, too, I guess.
Suddenly, a guard burst in. "Warwings! The enemy have killed Skyhealer."
Courage gasped. Warwings turned away. They sat for a long time, taking in the news. There was silence. Terrible, empty silence. Skyhealer. His sister. His healer. The one who had always been by his side, even before Courage.
"What will we name her?" Warwings asked after a long silence.
"Silverstorm," Courage said softly. "Her name will be Silverstorm."
Chapter 1[]
Silverstorm finished reading the scroll and rolled it up as neatly as she could.
"Done!" she called to Bittersweet. The stately NightWing carefully took her glasses off her snout.
Bittersweet checked Silver's notes. "Wow. Great job."
"Thanks!" Silver handed Bittersweet the notes. "I want to be a strategy warrior when I'm older."
"You'd make a great one," Bittersweet replied.
Silver looked around. All of her NightWing classmates were glaring jealously at her. They hated when she finished befre them. Bittersweet was a great history teacher, and almost everything Silver knew was from her classes.
"Can I go outside now?" Silver asked.
"Sure! Echosky will be waiting. She's teaching some brand new combat moves today."
Silverstorm imagined that and flew out of the cave. The small island they lived on was a beautiful jungle, populated with colorful birds and fierce wildcats. Delicious prey roamed everywhere, just like always. But Silver wasn't going to eat now. She was too excited for her class.
Echosky was their flying and fighting teacher, and though Silver wasn't very good at her class, she was an excellent listener. She tried, but she just wasn't a warrior.
The island they lived on was called the Isle of Dreams. On it lived a group of about a hundred NightWings who had broken away from their tribe twenty years after the war of SandWing succession.
As Silver touched down into a clearing and went inside the cave.
Echosky was whittling a spear. She tied a sharp metal barb at the end and then threw the spear at a target. The spear sank into the center and stayed there.
"Hi, Echosky," Silver called as she came in.
"Early as always," Echosky laughed, folding her wings.
"Well, I finished before the others," Silver protested. "Where else am I supposed to go?"
"Away. To fly. To explore the continent like all the other dragonets want to."
"But I like it here!" Silver cried. "Why would I leave?" This was another one of the strange things about Silverstorm. The other dragonets thought she was weird because she didn't skip school and fly away to the mainland when she had the chance.
"I don't know," Echosky replied with a smile. "When you grow older, you may have a reason."
"So what do we start with?" Silver sighed.
"Well, let's begin with a fly around the island, and when we return, the other dragonets should be here," Echosky replied.
They went out of the cave and took off into the air. Silver swooped low towards the river. She was right above the glistening water. She dipped one claw in as she flew, making the water ripple and blur her reflection.
Then Silver flapped up to the clouds, making her way towards the sun. Then, when it got too hot, she flew down below the clouds again. Echosky was right beside her, soaring past birds and making loops in the air.
This was how life was on the Isle of Dreams.
Perfect.
Chapter 2[]
When Silverstorm and Echosky got back to the cave, the rest of the class had arrived. They muttered under their breaths. There was one NightWing dragonet who did like Silver.
And that was Dreamflight. Dreamflight liked everyone. She was sociable and chatty, and she especially liked Silver for her intelligence and kindness.
Other dragonets would complain to Dreamflight. Once, Halfmoon had complained. "Dreamflight," she had said, "Why do you hang out with Silverstorm? She's vain and too smart. A scrollworm."
Dreamflight always defended Silver. She was loyal to her friends. So when Halfmoon had made her remark, Dreamflight had simply walked away.
And yet, everyone still liked her.
Today, Dreamflight was sick in bed. Silverstorm wished that her best friend was here.
Silver looked up at Echosky, who was starting her directions for the class.
"Today, we'll be flying around the island. The Isle of Dreams could be attacked at any time, so we need to learn all hiding places or possible safe zones."
Silver followed Echosky through the air with the rest of the class. They flew from Dream Mountain to Star River to Sleep Forest.
Silver didn't really listen to Echosky's long lectures about each area. She just followed the class, staring into space and thinking of reasons why she would ever want to leave the isle.
When they touched down at Echosky's cave again, Silverstorm immediately took off, heading for the fortress.
Silverstorm finally got to her cave. She sprawled herself comfortably on her monkey-hair cushions, and pulled out a scroll entitled The Isle of Dreams.
Silver found the right page and began reading aloud.
"Skyhealer was the Isle of Dreams healer during this period. Her brother, Warwings, had just returned from a battle. She fixed his wounds and let him go. Warwings knew that he had special orders from his father to watch his sister, but his egg was hatching. He went to see his partner, Courage. The egg hatched and a dragonet named Silverstorm was born. Unfortunately, Skyhealer died at the same moment, killed by enemy warriors. Legend has it that her spirit wanders the halls of the main fortress, waiting for revenge."
Silverstorm loved the story because it was about her family and their legacy. But she was terrified of the part about Skyhealer. What if the vengeful healer came back and took out her anger on Silverstorm?
After all, Silverstorm had been the reason Skyhealer had died.
Chapter 3[]
Lilith sat in the cave, her violet wings folded. Being a lone SpiritWing wasn't easy, but she loved talking to the dead.
Lilith watched the old white candle for a moment. It was glowing oddly, but nothing else was happening. Seriously? Lilith thought skeptically.
She breathed an amount of thick smoke onto the candle, and suddenly, a violet flame erupted at the top.
I did it! Lilith thought excitedly.
"Hmm," she said aloud. "Who's going to visit me today?"
"Me!" exclaimed a voice. A purplish-black blur sped into the room. "Hi, Lilith!"
"Dreamflight!" Lilith exclaimed. "But... I thought you had school!"
"I faked being sick to get out of it," Dreamflight grinned. Then her eyes rested on the candle with purple flames. "Ooo, are you summoning the dead?" She flattened herself on the ground and put her chin in her talons.
"Yes," Lilith replied. "But it won't work with any non-SpiritWing nearby. The flame should be going out in approximately ten seconds."
They waited.
Nothing happened. Dreamflight held out her wing. "Earlier I was looking at my scale colors. There's too much purple in my scales. Most NightWings only have tinted purple scales."
"You could be part SpiritWing!" Lilith cried out.
"I do have a lot of visions about death," Dreamflight joked. Then her face went serious. "I was born a month before Silverstorm. I had a vision about Skyhealer dying. Of course, I was too young to know what it meant."
"Your father won't talk about your mother?" Lilith guessed.
"Yep," Dreamflight responded.
"My mother said that she was in love with a NightWing. She told me that after I left our cave, she was going to go find him."
"And maybe that was when they had me!" Dreamflight exclaimed.
"Yes! I was only a year old when I left the cave-"
"-And you're a year older than me," Dreamflight finished.
Suddenly, the cave went dark. All light was blocked from outside by a thin veil of shadow.
"The spirits are coming!" Lilith shouted over the whooshing wind swirling through the cave.
"Is that good or bad?" Dreamflight called.
"Depends!"
The sisters covered their wings with their heads and crouched on the cave floor.
Shadows danced on the cave walls, some dragons with spears, others flying scavengers. There was even one of a dragon chasing a pig.
Finally, the wind died. A single dragon, transparent and yet still colored, stood before them. She was beautiful and young, with shinier scales on the undersides of her wings.
Her eyes were dark and sad, and she had a dejected look about her. Around her neck was a black pouch with a gold clasp that Lilith recognized as a healers' carrier.
"Skyhealer?" Dreamflight gasped. "You're the Skyhealer?"
The spirit closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them again. Her voice was cold and sweet and sad all at once. "Yes," she whispered.
Chapter 4[]
Lilith gaped at the spirit. Then she remembered that she was a SpiritWing performing a ritual.
She breathed a wisp of smoke onto Skyhealer's spirit, and the transparent figure flew to the back of the cave and waited there.
The next shadow rose from the candlelight and stretched into the form of a dragon. This was a dragon with pale red scales (when dragons turned into spirits, their scales became paler than usual). She had a permanent scowl etched on her face, but when she saw Lilith, her frown softened.
"Carnelian?" Lilith squinted to see through the smoke.
"Hey, Lilith," the SkyWing replied. Then she saw Dreamflight. "Who are you?" she scowled.
"A friend. I read a scroll about you," Dreamflight answered in awe.
"There's... a scroll about me?" Carnelian whispered.
"Queen Glory ordered it a few years ago," Dreamflight explained.
"Carnelian, stand back," Lilith ordered. A new shadow sprung up from the candle and grew into an elegant royal blue SeaWing with beautiful white pearls strung all over her. Lilith bowed. "Queen Pearl."
The SeaWing bowed back. "Lilith."
"Who are they?" Dreamflight asked.
"My mentors. I currently have five. Well, six, now that Skyhealer came."
Who's next? Pearl, Carnelian, Skyhealer...
Another shadow grew into a dragon. This one was a beautiful multicolored RainWing. Currently her scales were shifting between amber and yellow.
"Hi, Bright," Lilith greeted. The RainWing had starved herself to death while captured by NightWings. Bright shot Skyhealer and Dreamflight dirty looks.
The next shadow was an enormous MudWing. His name was Lott. He was burly and quiet, and a scar tore across one of his brown wings, making him walk awkwardly.
The final shadow was a jumpy, nervous IceWing named North. He had a scroll pouch around his neck in spirit form, and he was always spouting facts.
"Dreamflight, meet my mentors."
Dreamflight studied each of them with curious violet eyes. Her eyes watched Pearl curl up in the air and rest her snout in her talons. Pearl was the first mentor Lilith had ever had.
Queen Pearl was intelligent and peaceful and wise, just like a queen should be. Lilith had told her all about the SeaWings' royal family, about Tsunami the dragonet of destiny/general of the SeaWing army, and Queen Anemone, Tsunami's younger sister.
Anemone, who was an animus, sometimes appeared to Lilith in spirit form. She wasn't dead, of course, but she did have an animus talisman that let her turn into a spirit.
After challenging her mother for the throne and winning, Anemone had fired every council member (she decided she didn't need help) and made her sister the general.
"Why are you bringing a NightWing in here?" Bright shot at Lilith, her voice loaded with enough venom to kill an elephant.
"I'm part SpiritWing," Dreamflight explained.
Bright's shoulders relaxed. "What about her?" She gestured towards Skyhealer.
Skyhealer spoke in a quiet, serene voice. "When a group of NightWings broke away from their tribe, I was their healer. I was killed by the same dragons that imprisoned you."
"They live in the Rainforest Kingdom now," Lilith said abruptly. "The NightWings, I mean. They're learning to be better dragons."
"Doesn't mean I have to trust them all," Bright snapped, folding her transparent wings.
"Fair enough," Skyhealer said, and for the first time, a hint of a smile showed on her face.
"Alright," Lott interrupted. "I don't mean to break this up, but we've got work to do."
"Work?" Dreamflight's grin faded. "I came here to not work."
"Then leave," Pearl told her. "Go for a fly or something."
"Okay," Dreamflight shrugged. "See ya later, Lilith."
"Bye," Lilith called as her sister flew away. "Alright. Let's get started."
Chapter 5[]
Dreamflight flew up into the clouds, making loops and flipping over in the air.
Everyone thinks I'm stupid, she thought. 'Go for a fly', really?
She landed neatly on a cliff and looked out at the ocean. It was rippling peacefully in the afternoon light. The Isle of Dreams wasn't that big of an island, but Lilith had chose it for her resting place for the month because it was quiet and secluded.
Dreamflight was glad that she now had family. Her father was always very busy with his job (patrolling the island borders) so she was usually alone. No one knew her well enough to know that she was faking being sick.
But now, after Lilith had basically sent her away, she felt alone again.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Dreamflight's head. She knew what was happening. A vision.
She threw herself to the ground and put her wings over her head, blocking out all light and distractions. Sunlight. Water. Pearls. Not the right vision, Dreamflight thought.
Then she concentrated on opening up her mind. More sunlight. A forest. Heat.
Opening it and spreading it out to see what was inside. A sandstorm pulling dragons up from the air.
The pain stopped, and the vision started becoming smoother. It was a forest, and swarms of sand were ripping trees up from the ground.
Yikes, Dreamflight thought.
Then, raging fires burned through the mountains, turning grass brown and mountains an awful black. It showed waves rearing up from ocean and pulling dragons out of the air. The last image was of a SkyWing with a cruel snout that had a horrible twisted scar slashed across it. His scales were a darker red than usual, with small white speckles along his tail. He roared, and a lightning bolt flashed through the air.
Dreamflight felt the vision end and plunged into a sleep of infinite darkness.
When she awoke, the sky was a little darker and the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.
Oh no, Dreamflight thought. Silverstorm is heading for my cave right now! She can't know I was here!
Dreamflight lifted off into the air, her flying a little wobbly because her head was aching. She swooped down towards the fortress. When most dragons heard the word fortress, they thought of a huge building of black stone with lava rivers and volcanoes, not unlike the old NightWing island.
The Dream Fortress was different. The halls were lit with special multicolored glowing flowers called glow buds. Chandeliers of every type of jewel hung in the comfortable caves.
The center room of the fortress which was for meetings had an indoor waterfall. The nurseries had the softest cradles and the fuzziest blankets. For younger grades in the education program there was an enclosure full of live prey for them to practice hunting on.
Dreamflight flapped her wings a little harder, propelling herself farther forward. She spotted Silverstorm on the opposite side of the fortress, coming in through the north entrance. Dreamflight flew lower and soared in through the south entrance.
She stumbled down the brightly lit halls, somehow made it to her cave, and plunged into her bed. She folded her wings inward under the covers and closed her eyes.
A minute later, she heard a knock.
"Come in," Dreamflight groaned, trying to sound groggy and exhausted.
"Hey, Dreamflight," Silver greeted, folding her wings. Her eyes fell on the dirty claw marks on the floor. "Dreamflight," she said slowly. "What exactly did you do today?"
Chapter 6[]
Uh oh.
Dreamflight reached into the lying part of her mind. Convincing lie, convincing but not far-fetched.
Then she had an idea. "I got out of class to explore," she lied.
"Oh." Silverstorm looked a little suspicious. "Do you know everything on the test tomorrow?"
"Test?!" Dreamflight plunged her face into her pillow. "I forgot about the test!"
"If you don't pass it, you have an extra year of studying!" Silver flared. She often got worked up about things like this.
"While everyone else gets their first job." Dreamflight put her face in her talons. "You'd better go so I can study."
After Silver left, Dreamflight pulled a few scrolls out of her rack and began reading them. But no matter how many scrolls she read, she still couldn't understand the history lesson.
On top of that, Dreamflight was still thinking about the vision. Obviously it meant mass destruction, but the question was when it would happen. Hopefully it was something that would happen in the next century so that Dreamflight wouldn't have to worry about it.
She rolled over on her bed, thinking. She wondered if there were other NightWings who had the vision as well. Reluctantly Dreamflight went back to reading her scrolls.
She yawned when she read about the Scorching (seriously, it was thousands of years ago, why worry about it now?) and almost fell asleep while reviewing Queen Moorhen's rise to the throne (she wasn't a MudWing, so she didn't see why she had to read about their queen).
Even though Dreamflight found it terribly boring to read about this things, she did enjoy exciting stories of battles and wars and amazing warrior dragons.
She studied on and on for hours, looking up names of heirs and writing summaries of battles. At last, Dreamflight was finished. She slipped her last scroll into its rack and realized her stomach was practically crying out for food.
Dreamflight left her cave. When she closed the door, she noticed another dragon coming down the hallway.
"Father!" Dreamflight wrapped her wings around him, smiling. Then she remembered that she was part SpiritWing and he hadn't told her. But if she revealed that she knew, she would have to tell him about Lilith.
"Where are you going, Dreamflight? It's a quarter to midnight!"
"R-really?" Dreamflight stammered. She looked out the window. Stars were splattered across the dark blue sky. "I didn't realize. I'm actually going to hunt because I didn't have dinner."
Her father nodded. "Be quick. And stay safe." Then he went into his own cave.
Dreamflight flew outside, wondering about many things. One question came to her. If I had to choose, would I want creepy ghost mentors and be a SpiritWing, or see painful glimpses of the future and stay a loyal NightWing?
Dreamflight swooped down into the forest. She smelled something very delicious. When she moved towards the smell, a rabbit jumped out of the bushes. Dreamflight killed it with a swipe of her claws and began eating it.
She sat at the base of her tree, thinking about the question. Dreamflight didn't like the idea of dead dragons. It scared her. On the other hand, she couldn't stand her stupid visions. They were always very painful, and it wasn't even worth it because the images were usually vague and made no sense.
Would I want to be normal, though? Normal like Halfmoon or Starwing or Silverstorm? Dreamflight began chewing on the last piece of rabbit. No, Silverstorm isn't what you'd call normal. She's a genius, good at everything... except fitting in.
Dreamflight didn't really care about popularity, which was probably why she was popular. Most dragons valued being sociable, but Dreamflight thought that it was a natural characteristic. Some dragons were extroverts, and some were not.
She smacked up the remaining scraps of her dinner and flew back towards the fortress. There was one thing Dreamflight really hated about her life.
Keeping secrets.
Chapter 7[]
Nothing starts your morning like a psychotic bird with absolutely no vocal talent.
The chirp was so loud that Silverstorm fell out of her bed. Three moons, she thought angrily. That bird had better stay away unless it wants to become my breakfast.
Silver then pulled herself up from the ground and dumped her tangle of blankets onto the bed. She left the cave. As she walked down the bright halls of the fortress, Silverstorm thought about last night. She had only slept for a few hours. The rest of the night she had studied.
Silver was suspicious of Dreamflight. The cheerful NightWing was hiding something, and Silver was definitely going to find out what.
She flew to the forest and caught four lizards. Two of them she ate right there. The third she was saving for the fly to Bittersweet's classroom. The fourth she would give to Dreamflight.
When Silver got to Bittersweet's classroom, she slipped into the seat next to Dreamflight's and passed her the last lizard. "Thanks," Dreamflight whispered.
The class was starting. Bittersweet passed out the tests and paintbrushes to write with.
Silverstorm began at once. The first question was simple. What were the names of Queen Oasis's daughters?
That's easy. Silver wrote down the names of Blister, Blaze and Burn.
Who was Morrowseer?
Silverstorm answered every question perfectly and turned in her test to Bittersweet. Then she returned to her seat. Dreamflight was still working on the test. Her handwriting was spidery and curled across the page like a night wind.
Silver's writing was neat and small, and never messy. Dreamflight dotted her last period and turned in the test.
Silverstorm found a scrap of paper on the ground. With her paintbrush, she wrote: Are you ever going to tell me what you were really doing yesterday?
Silver slipped the paper onto Dreamflight's desk. Dreamflight saw the paper, and her face went serious and worried. She glanced over at Silver, who glared right back.
Dreamflight lifted her paintbrush very slowly and began to write.
When she was finished, she passed the paper back to Silver.
She really doesn't want me to know, Silver realized.
The note read, Not now. After Echosky's class.
Silverstorm noticed something outside. It was a cloud of black smoke, moving slowly upwards. Silver jumped up from her seat and ran to the window.
Her eyes followed the smoke. A tree, one of the lush tall ones, was ablaze with bright orange flames.
Chapter 8[]
Now Silver's classmates had begun to notice.
"Forest fire!" Starwing shouted.
Or is it a jungle fire? Silver reasoned. Then she snapped herself back to attention. NightWings were screaming and flying away. Now a sandstorm was pulling into the area.
Wait a minute... a sandstorm? How would a sandstorm get this far? How could it have survived going over the ocean?
Silverstorm turned to Dreamflight. The violet dragon was pale with horror. She spread her wings and flew out the door.
What was that about?
"Everyone go!" Bittersweet shouted.
Silver flung her scroll pouch over her neck and flew outside. The beautiful island was now littered with burnt debris. The fire was spreading towards the fortress, while the sandstorm was tearing up trees.
Silverstorm remembered Echosky's lesson yesterday. Aha! There's a cave not far from here. I can hide there.
She flew over the fire. The sandstorm was farther behind, a little slower than the flames. Panic washed over Silver. What if I don't make it? She pumped her wings harder.
The sky was getting dark.
Oh no. Rain! I hate rain. And storms!
It was true. Ironically, despite her name, Silver despised storms.
She flapped harder, but suddenly, her life very literally flashed before her eyes. She saw herself (in third person view) hatching from an egg. Her mother cradled her close.
Then she saw herself learning how to fly, her wings wobbling as she lifted into the crisp morning air.
Now Silverstorm saw herself when she had cut a wing a few months ago.
When the vision cleared, the flames were nearly next to her. Please, please, please let it rain, Silverstorm prayed. (to who, she wasn't sure) She had never, ever had that thought in her life.
Lightning flashed through the sky, and thunder shook the whole island. The rain began, but it didn't put out the flames. Instead, it made the fire turn a violent shade of red and grow taller.
Magic! Wonderful. More danger. I really, really hate rain.
Thoughts whirled through Silver's head as she flew towards the cave. Just a bit farther... The fire was close to her tail now. She could feel the heat warming her scales. Maybe a little too hot.
Silver threw herself into the cave and crashed into the hard-packed ground. Her scales were now coated with dust, and they ached as if she had slammed into a rock wall.
Standing right in front of her was a dark purple dragon with violet eyes. "Oh great," the dragon muttered.
Then something slammed into the back of Silver's head, and everything went black.
Chapter 9[]
Lilith felt bad.
"What if we gave her a concussion?" she winced.
"I'm sure it was just a minor bruise," Dreamflight replied dismissively. "I know my own strength."
They had laid Silver down on a bed of moss. The spirits were floating around in various corners of the cave, while Dreamflight and Lilith sat in the center of the cave, watching Silver.
"What was that?" Lilith blurted. "Sandstorms and fires?"
"Maybe Silver knows something," Dreamflight suggested. "We can wake her up."
"Why did we have to knock her out, anyway?" Lilith folded her wings.
"Because she thinks SpiritWings are extinct. She'd go crazy and fly out into the storm. I know Silverstorm."
Lilith sighed. Pearl floated over to her. "As a queen, I had to do certain things to ensure dragons' safety. I had to kill my grandfather to save my family. I'm sure Silverstorm will be fine."
Skyhealer had been quiet the whole time. She glided over to Silver. "So this is my brother's dragonet. She's beautiful."
"She has your snout," Bright grinned.
"You think so?"
"Definitely," Dreamflight nodded.
"What about you, Dreamflight? Did you learn anything about this?" Lilith asked.
Dreamflight suddenly seemed very interested in the floor.
"Well?" Carnelian scowled.
"Yes." Dreamflight put her snout in her talons. "I had a vision about a storm destroying Pyrrhia." She told Lilith about a bunch of natural disasters destroying the six kingdoms and a SkyWing at the end of the vision.
"This SkyWing... what did he look like?" Lott inquired.
"He had an awful scar across his snout." Dreamflight closed her eyes. "His scales were a darker red than most SkyWings. And there were white speckles along his tail."
"An animus!" Pearl interrupted. Her normally regal demeanor was now jumpy and excited. Her pearls bounced as she flew around the cave, apparently thinking rapidly. "And he's causing all the storms!"
The others were thunderstruck.
"But surely..." North's voice trailed off. "Surely he would've gone mad by now, using all that magic?"
"He looked pretty mad to me," Dreamflight joked.
"But was he in control?" Skyhealer asked quietly. "Could he use his magic properly?"
"Well... yes."
"Then he must have a way to stop the madness," Pearl said thoughtfully.
"Stonemover... Princess Sunny of the SandWings' father. He transferred the madness to his scales so instead of losing his soul, he turned to stone," Carnelian explained. She looked a little less grumpy.
"But this SkyWing, he could move. His scales were perfectly fine." Dreamflight lashed her tail.
"We're going to find out who he is. If anyone can figure it out, we can."
Chapter 10[]
"So let me get this straight," Silver muttered. "You're a SpiritWing, and Dreamflight is your half-sister?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Dreamflight folded her wings. "Oh, also, I can see the future."
"Excuse me?" Silver flared her wings and lashed her tail.
"Well, small glimpses. I saw this coming, but I was hoping that it would happen later, so I wouldn't have to worry," Dreamflight explained.
"Can you summon more spirits?" Silver asked Lilith.
"Um, sure. Who do you want to see?"
"My aunt Skyhealer."
"I'm already here," said the quiet spirit, floating down to study her niece.
"Wow! You're so pretty!" Silver smiled. Then she clapped her talons over her mouth. "Well, I mean, prettier than Mother."
"Your mother was... let's just say she and I didn't get along."
"She's always saying your death was her fault," Silver offered.
"Really?" Skyhealer looked mildly interested.
"I guess when a healer dies, everyone feels bad. Sometimes I wish I hadn't been born so Father could protect you from your enemies."
Skyhealer looked shocked. "You shouldn't ever think like that!" she said.
Silver shrugged. Then she pulled a scroll pouch off her neck. "I think I have a scroll on animus magic."
"I'll read up on it," Lilith decided. "The spirits will keep an eye on the storm, and Dreamflight, try to have more visions."
"What about me?" Silverstorm blinked her dark eyes curiously.
"You read the other scrolls." Lilith unrolled her own and began to read. Pearl floated over silently.
"You do realize that Silverstorm is incompetent?" the SeaWing pointed out regally.
"Let her help. She's great at studying," Lilith protested.
Suddenly, a huge thunderclap sounded from outside. "The storm!" Lott shouted over the roaring wind. "It's coming!"
"We can't escape!" Dreamflight yelled. "It's like it's trying to capture us!"
"Well, duh!" Bright called. "It's an animus-touched storm!"
"GO!" Pearl screamed, all of her dignity forgotten.
"Go where?" Dreamflight shrieked back. It was as if the storm was turning them on each other.
A huge curl of wind snatched Dreamflight up from the ground. The others could only watch in horror as she was pulled into the storm. Then, all at once, everything stopped.
Chapter 11[]
When Dreamflight awoke, her head hurt so badly she considered running into a wall to knock herself out again.
The only problem was, there were no walls. Mountains ringed the area, and the sky was bleak and cloudy. Chains locked Dreamflight to the ground.
The Sky Kingdom, Dreamflight thought. Then she smacked her face with her talons. Of course! The dragon in her vision was a SkyWing! Of course his plan was world domination!
Dreamflight had read about this kingdom countless times (it was one of the only interesting topics to her), and had always dreamed about visiting it. But not in this way.
There were about a hundred rock spires, all in a circle around the arena. Down in the arena sands, two dragons were chained to the ground, growling at each other. They weren't fighting, just snarling.
Winds blew in from every direction, dropping dragons of every tribe on spires. Dreamflight watched as one wind deposited an unconscious SeaWing on the spire next to her. As soon as the SeaWing landed, the chains on the spire clinked threateningly and cuffed themselves to his wingtips and talons.
Why is he capturing all these dragons? Dreamflight wondered. The box where the queen usually sat was deserted, and the golden chair she usually sat in was not occupied. When Dreamflight studied it more closely, she realized with horror that the white satin cushioning the chair was tattered and splattered with blood.
What happened to Queen Ruby? Dreamflight shuddered to think what that insane animus could have done to the poor queen.
[Cutting Briar out of the story, she's active in a different fic]