Wings of Stone: The Lost Tribe

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Hello and welcome to the first book in the Wings of Stone series! I hope you'll like it, we've been working hard on this. The story is currently being edited/re-written. I'll be adding chapters as soon as we finish them.

We are finished with the story! We are currently editing/rewriting Chapter 26. Click here to follow this story and get notified when it updates!

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This story is the property of Flyt and Lyric (formerly known as Prof. Turtle Queen). Harmony and Horizon belong to Kittenjewel101. Please do not steal, edit, or use this without permission. Thanks!

Dedicated to Luis Medina-Estrada and our friendship

Summary

After the defeat of Darkstalker, Pyrrhia was finally at peace. No more wars. No more violent queens. A bright future was shining in front of many dragons. However, that peace didn't last long.

Twenty-one years later, Jade Mountain Academy suffered a loss. A new, horrible, SkyWing queen arose. And a tribe that was hidden in the shadows for over two thousand years have been kidnapping firescales SkyWings for a secret project.

Peaceflyt, a RainWing-SeaWing hybrid, had a mostly normal life, growing up in the Rainforest and attending Jade Mountain Academy under the almost thirty year old founders. Other than a few powers he didn't use and the fact that he was a hybrid, he thought he fit in. He had an unlikely friend, Peak, who was a SkyWing who had control of her firescales. But one seemingly normal morning, Peak disappeared. Peaceflyt had two choices: Stay in the safe harbor of the school, or risk his life to find her.

The Lost Tribe Prophecy

Hidden away

A lost tribe will prevail

If no one can stop them,

No one will avail.

Those unexpected

Will take the challenge

That many seek to avoid

If then they fail,

All will be lost

And lives will be destroyed.

Winglets

Prologue

“Floral, the eggs are hatching!” Topaz flew as fast as her wings could carry her to her friend's residence.

“They are!?” Floral cried, bursting out of her door with her husband, Seawatcher. “Already?”

“Yes! Cliff said they’d be out any minute now! Let's go!” Topaz tugged on Floral’s talons and the trio flew as fast as they could to the Hybrid Hatchery on Sapphire Mountain.

“I can't believe it, Floral,” Seawatcher said, panting. “Our first dragonet.”

“I know!” Floral said happily, pink spots blooming on her wings and body. Topaz rushed in the building from behind her.

“Topaz! They’re hatching!” A MudWing (which Topaz recognized as Beige, the owner of the hatchery) exclaimed quietly. Topaz ignored her and hurried past her toward her bright red and orange egg.

The only reason I knew was because of Cliff’s vision, Topaz thought as she took her newly-hatched daughter and hid her under her wing, so that Beige couldn’t know that she was a firescales. He already knew that she could read minds and tell the future, he didn’t need to know about her other ability… I’ll call her Peak. If Cliff’s vision is right, she should survive this war...

•••

It was a year after Peaceflyt was born when parents announced they were having a family gathering. “You’re going to see you aunts and uncles!” his father had announced. 

Seawatcher was still a soldier, but after talking with some high-ranking officials, he’d been able to get out of battle for a day. Floral was very elated, because she hadn’t seen him for that long since Peaceflyt was born. She informed Peaceflyt that they were having another dragonet soon, within a few months, so Peaceflyt was pretty excited, having heard his parents thoughts about it.

They had the reunion right on the edge of the rainforest instead of in the valley near the mountains, because Peaceflyt had multiple very young cousins who couldn’t fly yet.

After Peaceflyt’s family members greeted each other, he saw a red and black NightWing out of the corner of his eye. He tried to walk away, but the NightWing (who looked maybe two or three years older than him) jumped right in front of him. Surprised, Peaceflyt jumped back and held back a yelp.

Baring her gleaming teeth, the NightWing poised in an attack position. Someone please help me, Peaceflyt thought frantically, panicking. And as if someone had heard his thoughts, another NightWing, this time with black with dark blue underscales, ran over toward the frightening red one. The new NightWing yanked the attacking one’s tail and threw her towards a tree.

"Sorry about that," the new NightWing said pitifully to him. “That’s Deneb, one of your cousins. You should probably avoid her.” She paused, looking down at him. “I’m Milkyway, one of your aunts. I’ll keep Deneb away from you, dear.”

Milkyway left, grabbing Deneb again and keeping hold of her for the rest of the day. From Milkyway’s side, Deneb kept shooting dirty looks at Peaceflyt whenever Milkyway wasn’t watching.

An hour later, the reunion finally ended. As soon as he got the chance, Peaceflyt threw himself into the safety of the forest. His parents didn’t seem to know about his encounter with Deneb. He was still panicking, wondering if Deneb was out to get him again. Calm down. You’re in the forest. You have venom to protect yourself if you really need to. You have parents that will protect you. It’s okay. You’re never going to see her again.

Chapter One

THREE YEARS LATER

Peaceflyt was the type of dragon who always wanted to fit in, but never could. First of all, he was a tribrid. RainWing, SeaWing, and NightWing. I mean, hybrids were more common now than twenty years ago, but they were still a sight to see. Second of all, he had a weird name spelling. Well, maybe it wasn’t weird, it was just different. He did think ‘Peaceflyt’ was cooler than ‘Peaceflight’, anyway.

Third, he was a mind-reader. Mind-readers were also slightly more common now than twenty years ago, since the NightWings moved into the Rainforest and could now have eggs in the light of the moons, but there were still only a few of them.

And finally, he was an ANIMUS. A.k.a. one of the most powerful powers anyone could have. He’d only used his powers a few times for small enchantments, but he still sometimes wished all that power could be in someone else’s talons.

These were some of the things he was thinking about while he was out picking berries for his family.

A sudden voice yelled through the trees, startling him out of his thoughts and making him drop a few blueberries. “PEACEFLYT! It’s time to go to the family reunion!”

“Oh, crap,” Peaceflyt muttered. “Do I have to?”

“Peaceflyt!” Floral yelled again. “You have to come!”

“Fine,” he grumbled. Peaceflyt had had some bad luck with family reunions, given the last time he went to one some dragon almost attacked him.

‘I have to go to another family reunion,’ Peaceflyt thought sullenly. ‘I mean, you probably already knew that, though.’

He knew Peak was flying just above the rainforest, close enough to hear his thoughts. She couldn't go inside the forest, because she had firescales. I mean, I guess she could, because she could control them, but if she got too angry? The rainforest would be burning to ashes.

Peaceflyt glanced out of the out of the forest, where he could see a streak of dark red through the trees. He waved a quick talon goodbye, and headed toward the center of the Rain Kingdom.

He heard a voice as he approached. “Finally! I've been waiting for, like, an hour.” Oh. It's Autumn, he thought. He sometimes wondered why his sister had been named Autumn. She definitely wasn’t LeafWing, and she'd also barely inherited any of her mother’s RainWing traits.

“Autumn,” Seawatcher replied. “It's only been ten minutes.” Peaceflyt stifled a laugh.

“Whatever.”

“Hi, Autumn,” Peaceflyt said as he approached her. “Who are you gonna spend your time there with?”

“I don’t really know,” she replied. “Maybe Lilac. I actually don't want to go, but mom says I either have to go or spend the whole day working for Deathbringer."

“Nice." Peaceflyt paused for a second. Obviously, his mom was joking. She liked to tease him and Autumn. "By the way, there’s this one NightWing who’s black and red and very violent and angry, so... avoid her."

“Well, I can be violent,” Autumn said, looking him in the eye. “Sometimes. What's she like? Maybe we can be frien-"

“NO, no, no, no, I mean like she legit likes killing dragons. I think.”

“Oh.” Autumn looked worried now, and Peaceflyt knew he probably shouldn’t go much further into details.

“Just… don’t make eye contact with her. She’s a red and black NightWing," Peaceflyt warned her. She nervously nodded.

He suddenly got interrupted by Peak's thoughts in the distance. ‘Do I need to melt off Deneb’s stuck-up face yet? Joking- unless I actually need to. Oh, and does your family know that you're an animus yet?’

‘Did I already tell you about that?’ Peaceflyt responded. When he heard no response, he continued. ‘Only my parents do. I think. I don't know if Autumn does.'

He looked over and Autumn was staring at him. “What were you doing? Staring into space again?”

“Uh... yeah,” he said, then slipped back into his conversation with Peak.

‘Okay. I’m going to try to avoid her, obviously. Although I’m hoping she won’t remember me. I mean it has been three years.’

'Yeah, hopefully she doesn't notice you. By the way, are we leaving soon?’ Peak thought. ‘I’m waiting for you.’ 

‘Yyyeah, we ar-'

“Peaceflyt!” Autumn was shaking him. “Mom and Dad are already a quarter mile ahead of us! Stop being slow and hurry up!” She launched herself into the air and flew through the trees.

“Okay, coming.” Peaceflyt joined her and they flew toward the edge of the forest. 'We're leaving,' he notified Peak. 'You're coming with us, right? Where are you?"

‘I’m flying above you. Look up,’ she thought.

He looked up and saw the bright shadow above him. ‘Okay, question answered.’

‘I told you I was flying above you, squirrel brain,’ she thought at the exact same time. ‘Oh, also, don't forget to tell Deneb that I'm above her if she threatens you.’

‘Don't worry. I will if she does,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘I hope she won't, though.’ He looked up at the red and purple shape of Peak in the sky above him and let his wings catch the breeze, carrying him toward the plain by the mountains.

. . .

About ten minutes later, Peaceflyt guessed, they arrived. He hovered in midair for a moment, checking to see where Deneb was, if she was here. ‘There.’ He thought. ‘That’s Deneb. The red and black NightWing in the corner.’ The look on Deneb’s face was hard to decipher, but it looked like she was making a mental list of who to murder first.

Please don't look at me… Peaceflyt thought worriedly to himself as he landed, edging toward Deathmaster and avoiding Deneb’s eye. He changed his scales to black to look more like he actually would fit in. 

Still, Deneb must’ve seen his scales change or something, because she swung her head over to him. OH NO, Peaceflyt’s mind immediately thought.

'Don’t freak out. I’m here,' Peak reminded him, making sure to hover out of Deneb’s sight.

“Well. Look at you,” Deneb said, walking slowly toward Peaceflyt. “A very weird looking dragon. What tribe are you from, anyway?”

“Um…” Peaceflyt started, but didn’t finish. He could hear from Deneb’s mind that she was just trying to distract him in order for her to attack him. Deneb looked seemingly angrier, given that her distraction did not work.

Her brow was furrowed and her claws looked ready for attack. “Where’s a friend to protect you now?” Deneb asked, grinning wickedly.

“A-a fri-” Peaceflyt stuttered, then stopped himself, then scolded himself mentally. He cleared his throat, but couldn’t stop his voice from shaking. “Oh, a friend? I have a friend, all right. In fact, look above you, and you’ll see her.”

Deneb started approaching more slowly and glanced upwards. His friend is probably another freak dragon like him. (Peaceflyt felt like he had been punched in the gut at these words, as he tried so hard to fit in.) They’ll probably not be able to stop me, anyways.

“Oh. Just another SkyWing,” Deneb observed. “I can take a SkyWing in battle. I’ve taken dozens of SkyWings. And your friend will be next.”

‘Is she blind? I’m glowing. Last time I checked, most SkyWings don’t glow,’ Peak thought.

‘I don’t know. She probably just thinks of you as just another dragon she’s going to kill,’ Peaceflyt thought, then added, “She’s not a normal SkyWing, though. She has firescales.”

Deneb’s eyes widened for a split second, and she retreated backwards. Peaceflyt had never seen Deneb retreat from attacking someone before, much less look afraid.

Peak dove toward the ground where Deneb was standing. Peaceflyt honestly kind of liked Deneb looking scared of his friend.

“You weren’t perchance going to attack your own cousin, Deneb, were you?” Peak asked with fake ignorance. Peaceflyt could see she was straining to keep her scales at a mere SandWing level of warmth.

‘She killed her sister!’ Peaceflyt exploded suddenly in Peak’s mind. ‘A cousin would mean much less than a sibling. Probably.’ He stopped, and then quietly mumbled, ‘Well, if anyone means anything to Deneb.’

“Wait,” Peak said, just loud enough for Floral to hear her. Peaceflyt could feel the anger coming up inside her.

‘You never told me that Deneb killed apparently DOZENS of SkyWings!’ Peak thought, outraged. ‘AND she killed one of her sisters! As a dragon with a dead sister, I call dibs on killing her.’ Peak was trying to remain calm, but Peaceflyt could feel the burning fiery rage in her thoughts, and if he looked up, it looked as Peak was like a miniature sun in front of him. 

She took one sharp breath, and she suddenly calmed down. She reached into thin air and her enchanted fireproof cloak suddenly appeared in her talons. Peak put it on. Deneb was still in an attack pose but speechless. No, Peaceflyt heard Deneb think. Is she an animus?

‘Peak,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘How did you calm down so fast? That doesn’t seem like… you.’

‘Years of self-control,’ replied Peak, with a chokehold on her emotions.

In the few seconds where Peaceflyt and Peak were exchanging their thoughts, Deneb saw her chance to attack. She lunged upward at Peak, talons outstretched. Peak, who had either heard Deneb’s mind or just had really fast reflexes, shoved Deneb away without getting scratched, but her talons were slightly heated with annoyance. She cooled her scales down as fast as she could to avoid setting Deneb on fire, and Deneb barely got burnt. Peaceflyt leapt away from Deneb, who was falling toward the ground right in front of him.

SMACK! Deneb’s head hit the ground really hard, and her whole body came tumbling down afterwards. Peak was only about thirty feet in the air, but Deneb’s impact on the ground sounded like she had fallen off a cliff.

“You blatant fool,” Peak said, disappointed in Deneb’s idiocy. She walked over to Peaceflyt, now cooled down.

‘She must have the literal brain of a squirrel to think it was a good idea to attack a firescales,’ Peak added with her thoughts.

‘She probably does have the brains of a squirrel. Maybe like a squirrel that was enchanted to kill everyone,’ Peaceflyt thought, half joking, then looked over to his left. ‘DENEB’ was the first thing he thought of when he saw the NightWing approaching. But this one didn't have dark red underscales. This NightWing only had light gray underscales. 

Phew. Peaceflyt breathed a sigh of relief. It's not Deneb.

“Hello,” Milkyway said, looking at her unconscious daughter on the ground. Oh, good, she thought immediately. Finally I can keep her contained, at least for a little bit. It's really the only way for her to stop hurting innocent dragons, to keep her either contained or by my side. I wonder why Deneb has to be such a difficult daughter. Peaceflyt could honestly NOT see the family resemblance between Milkyway’s kind passiveness and Deneb’s murderous personality.

“Who got her to quit avoiding me for this long?” Milkyway asked Peaceflyt and Peak, tilting her head. Peaceflyt glanced quickly at Peak, and she slowly raised her talons.

“Wow, really? How'd you do that?” Milkyway asked. “Anyway, thank you so much!” She bent down and grabbed Deneb by the tail. “Who are you anyway?”

“Peak,” Peak answered. “One of Peaceflyt’s friends.”

“Nice,” Milkyway responded. “I know I already said this, but thanks.”

“No problem,” said Peak. Milkyway smiled, and walked away happily with Deneb’s tail slung over her shoulder.

’Umm… good job? Apparently?’ thought Peaceflyt, looking at Peak behind him.

‘Thanks?’ Peak thought with exaggeration and sarcasm, smiling slightly.

Peaceflyt could see Deathmaster staring at them from a cluster of trees to his north. He beckoned for Peaceflyt to come over, and he nodded. Now I can spend some time at a family reunion actually NOT almost getting killed, he thought drily.

. . .

Peaceflyt, Peak, and Autumn were talking to Deathmaster, Deneb’s younger brother, and Nightlight, Deneb’s clutchmate. Peaceflyt guessed that Milkyway had hidden Deneb off somewhere, because he'd seen her a few minutes ago, and Deneb wasn't on her shoulder. He honestly wouldn't blame Milkyway; carrying a NightWing almost as big as her for the whole day would be pretty tiring.

“Peaceflyt,” Deathmaster said. “Why did you bring your friend again?”

“She just came along,” Peaceflyt said.

“Um,” Peak interjected. “More like I was saving you from Deneb.”

“Yyyyyeah,” Peaceflyt said awkwardly. ‘Right. Thanks for doing that,’ he thought afterwards.

‘Well, what can I say except you’re welcome,’ Peak sung inside his head.

‘And thank you,' Peaceflyt replied. “So, anyway, Deathmaster-” 

A loud screech came from the East, startling everyone. Nightlight glanced around worriedly. “D-don’t worry, it could be a large group of scavengers,” Deathmaster said, peering out of the trees to the noise’s location. “Sometimes where I live, they have these gatherings and they're really loud.”

“I don't think it’s scavengers,” Peak observed as an angry yell broke the silence again. “I’d better go check.” She stepped out of the clump of trees and met Peaceflyt’s eyes. “Are you coming?”

“Umm…” I don’t really want to… Peaceflyt thought. “Sure.”

They flew over to where the strange noise was coming from, with Peak’s SkyWing-like wings keeping her in front of Peaceflyt. 

They landed right where the noise was coming from. Peaceflyt’s eyes couldn’t see anything as he glanced around, but he heard a cough behind him that made Peak swivel her head around alertly. “Who’s there?”

“Who is that?” a muffled voice said quietly, coming from a small cave three-quarters covered with boulders. 

“Who are you?” asked Peak as she lifted two boulders and threw them aside. Peaceflyt stretched his neck to see what was inside.

“You,” Deneb said roughly and angrily as she slowly lifted her head up. “Have you come to knock me unconscious again? You know, as soon as I get free, I’m getting my revenge on both of you.”

Me? Peaceflyt thought angrily. What did I ever do to her? He turned around and Peak was looking behind her, like she’d seen something. However, she quickly turned around and decided to annoy Deneb instead. “When you escape?” Peak taunted. “Don’t you mean if you escape?” 

‘What if she has help?’ Peak thought worriedly.

‘I’d like to know who would help Deneb,’ replied Peaceflyt. ‘Milkyway might, because she’s Deneb’s mom, but she’d keep an eye on her afterwards.’

‘The Queen of the SkyWings would befriend a sociopath killing machine that doesn’t have the brains to up-rule her.’

‘Hmm. Probably. Peaceful definitely isn’t the word I’d use to describe Ember.’

‘Really?’ Peak thought with exaggerated inquiry. ‘That’s the same dragon that exiled me from MY kingdom! And as a PRINCESS, I can say that MY AUNT is a horrid, non peaceful camel-eating squid-face.’

“PEACEFLYT!” Autumn yelled, running into their conversation. “The reunion’s over, hurry up!”

“Okay! Coming!” he yelled as his sister’s dark purple figure took to the sky. He turned around and saw Peak squinting at something behind her again. 

“What were you looking at?” he inquired.

Peak turned her head back at Peaceflyt. “I thought I saw a grey SeaWing or something behind me,” she said, visibly confused.

“That’s really… weird. The only other SeaWings here are my uncles Seaweed and Oceanclaws and my grandma, Koi. Oceanclaws is part NightWing, like my father, so his wings are kind of blue-gray.”

“The SeaWing I saw wasn’t blue-gray,” Peak informed him. “It was fully gray. Whoever it was dove into the trees when they saw me.”

I hope they aren’t stalking us, thought Peaceflyt. I don’t really want Peak to go over there to investigate either. It could just be a bluish-gray SeaWing, I’m pretty sure there are some of those-

“Peaceflyt, I’m not going to go over there and investigate,” Peak said. Peaceflyt flinched. He thought he had hidden his thoughts well enough for no one to hear. He was normally okay at that, since there were more mind readers in the rainforest and at Jade Mountain, but also normally he wore skyfire, so it wasn’t like he practiced it every day. How much times have other dragons heard my thoughts?

He glanced over at Peak, who was staring at the ground while walking. So this time she hadn’t heard his thoughts. “I can hear Deneb’s thoughts,” she said to him. 

Peaceflyt opened his mind, and immediately hatred and anger flooded through it. ‘I will GET that SkyWing sooner or later… and she and all like her will PAY!’

‘You heard that too, right?’ Peak asked Peaceflyt.

‘Yyyyep,’ he replied.

Peak sighed. ‘Yay! I’m gonna have to incinerate even MORE dragons,’ she thought with heavy sarcasm. 

‘Oh. Great. Have fun doing that,’ he thought wryly.

‘Thanks,’ Peak thought drily.

“Peaceflyt!! We HAVE to go! Literally everyone else is leaving!!” Autumn yelled.

“Okay!” he yelled back, launching himself into the air.

“See you at school,” Peak said to Peaceflyt before glowing and rising into the evening sky, putting up firewalls to all her thoughts.

“Yep. See you at school tomorrow. I’m already pretty tired, actually,” Peaceflyt responded. “Have a good night, and don’t let the Deneb’s bite!”

Peak laughed and flew away.

Chapter Two

The next day, Peaceflyt dragged himself to school, wings draping behind him as he had barely got any sleep last night. He knew he was undoubtedly more popular than Peak, even though he didn’t think he was as popular as some of the other students. Most of the Jade Mountain Academy students were deathly afraid of her, and he was glad no one stared at him like a future serial killer.

‘You had more violent dreams than ME last night!’ Peak said in his mind, referencing the dreams Peaceflyt had about Deneb last night. She always had a firewall around that part of her thoughts. She was always careful of how many of her thoughts could be read, now that so many NightWings with mind reading there were. Peaceflyt couldn’t block his thoughts with fire, so he just kept skyfire on him most of the time. It meant he couldn’t have secret conversations with Peak, but it would guarantee that no other mind reader would hear his thoughts. Currently, he had his piece of skyfire on the outside pocket of a pouch wrapped around his arm. He had no clue why, but it didn’t block his thoughts when it was in that specific pocket. It was something he’d thought about but had never come to a conclusion.

‘Really? Wow, I must be darker than I thought,’ Peaceflyt half-joked.

‘Yeah. I got some Darkst- dark dreams,’ she thought, hearing another mind reader close by.

At the beginning of school, when Peaceflyt and Peak were two and a half, Tsunami made all the mind readers at the school agree that they would stay out of other dragons’ minds. (Apparently multiple students had complained about some mind reading NightWing who was listening in on their thoughts and spreading rumors about their crushes and stuff). So Tsunami had gone out of her way to get some skyfire from the ocean to give to everyone who was a mind reader there. Peak couldn’t wear it, so Tsunami just had to make her promise that she wouldn’t read anyone’s mind.

The SeaWing was greeting everyone again at Jade Mountain again. This was something she’d been doing recently. Peaceflyt wondered why she wasn’t hurrying around the school like she normally was.

“Hi, Peaceflyt. Hi, Peak,” she greeted them. “How are you guys doing?”

“Meh. Okay,” Peaceflyt responded exhaustedly, trying to sound slightly less tired than he actually was.

“Just crashed a family reunion,” Peak answered Tsunami at the same time, seeming thoroughly well-rested.

Tsunami nodded and beckoned them both into the school with a smile, but Peaceflyt could hear a bit of confusion in her mind.

. . .

“I’m just glad that Atacama is fine with sharing a cave with ‘the fiery beast’,” Peak told Peaceflyt when they got inside. “And that Ridge liked my mom and aunt-that-didn’t-disown-me better so he talks to me. Some SkyWings hate me just for hatching.”

“Well, that really sucks,” Peaceflyt said with sympathy. I mean, I personally trust you JUST enough to not wander into my cave and burn me in my sleep.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Peak responded sarcastically.

“Let’s see… what’s our first class?” Peaceflyt muttered to himself, racking his brain. “Oh, right. Duh. It’s-”

“It’s OBVIOUSLY self defense, which you hybrids need around here.” Blizzard, the Jade Winglet IceWing, said obnoxiously as he came up from behind them. “Frigid told me.” He laughed.

“I was just about to say that,” Peaceflyt said, annoyed.

“Why does Peaceflyt need help with self defense, when he has RainWing venom?” Peak asked with venom practically dripping off her words. “And, Blizzard,” Peak said, exercising her royal posture, “Why would a firescales of all dragons need lessons in self defense?” Blizzard started walking faster as Peak emphasized her point by waving her talons.

“Thanks,” Peaceflyt said, once Blizzard was out of earshot. “Let’s go to self-defense.”

Peaceflyt and Peak hurried down the halls to get to self-defense, and saw Frigid and Atacama sparring once again when they got there.

“She’s always gonna win, you know,” Peak told Frigid, and inclined her head towards Atacama.

‘Thanks,’ Atacama thought to Peak.

Poor Clay, having to deal with so much misbehaving students, Peaceflyt thought to himself. That’s probably why he comes in late so much. He took his piece of skyfire out of the outside pocket of his arm pouch and placed it into the main pocket, and at once everybody’s thoughts were silenced to him.

“Hi, Silver Winglet,” Clay told them. “Today, we’ll…” He checked a sheet of paper on the wall. “Today, we’ll be sparring.”

Peaceflyt sighed. He hated sparring. He kind of hated the whole idea of conflict.

“No using… any tribal advantages. Or powers, if you have them. You know the rules, I don’t think I need to go over them again. Why have you two started early again?” Clay inclined his head at Frigid and Atacama. No one answered. “Never mind,” Clay muttered. “Choose your sparring partners. I’ll be in the corner if anyone needs me.”

Peaceflyt saw Pelican walking over to him. “Peaceflyt?”

“Yeah, sure.” Peaceflyt hated sparring, but at least he knew and trusted Pelican. He got into a pathetic fighting position, and Pelican did the same, except his wasn’t really as pathetic.

“Dragonfly?” Ridge asked the coffee-brown MudWing. Dragonfly shrugged and nodded.

“I guess I’ll just spar my shadow again,” Peak joked from a corner of the cave where no one could accidentally tumble into her and get set on fire. While she was watching Dragonfly and Ridge spar, Pelican delivered the first blow to Peaceflyt. He leapt back and around Pelican and scraped his back. Pelican flew above him and got his tail, and Peaceflyt ducked to kick him.

This was basically what happened in self-defense every day. Basically just a lot of fighting, which Peaceflyt, a sensitive dragon, pretty much hated.

Luckily for him, Sunny came in about three-quarters through class and asked to borrow Peaceflyt.

“What?” Clay asked, initially confused. Then he must have remembered something, because his face relaxed. “Ohh. Yeah. Sure.”

Oh no, he thought to himself as he walked toward the cave entrance. Is this an award or something, or did someone blame me for something I didn’t do and we have to talk about it?

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious,” Sunny said when they were in the halls. A wave of worry splashed over Peaceflyt. Did she read my mind? Then he realized that he was currently wearing his slightly-worried face, and she must’ve just seen that.

“Glory- Queen Glory’s ordered that the RainWings at Jade Mountain should be doing venom practice every day, just like in the Rainforest. So she visited over the school break two days ago and helped build this.” Sunny lead him to a room that was open to the mountainside. A cluster of leaves and flowers were draped over the opening, letting the sunlight filter through in green rays. Seven target boards, mimicking the ones in the rainforest, were set up on the opposite wall.

“Hi, Peaceflyt,” Walnut said. All the other RainWings at the school had already arrived at the class and were practicing their venom shooting. Tiki and Paradise, the Gold and Jade Winglet RainWings, were talking in the corner. Tiki looked at Peaceflyt and waved. He smiled back.

“So, basically,” Sunny waved her talons around the room, pointing at different stations. “The targets are for venom practice. You probably already figured that out. And on the other side of the leaf curtain, there’s a ledge if you want to get some sun.

“Plus, you can talk with the other dragons here. So it’ll probably be pretty nice. BUT, you do have to get in at least a little venom practice each day.” Sunny smiled, waved goodbye, and hurriedly walked out the door, like she was busy.

Ok, so now what can I do? Peaceflyt thought. He settled on just going and talking to Walnut.

“Hi, Peaceflyt! How are you?” Walnut asked. “I got here about fifteen minutes ago. I would think it’s pretty late for you to come.”

“Oh. Yeah, it probably is. Did Sunny get you personally, or did she get multiple students to come with you?”

“Oh, she got me with Vine, Tiki, and Paradise. So basically everyone but you, really-” Walnut got cut off by the bell, which signaled the end of class. “I guess Sunny brought you a little too late,” she said, laughing.

. . .

Peak and the rest of the Silver Winglet came out of self defense ahead of Peaceflyt, who ran up to catch up to them.

“Hi, Peak. Did you have fun sparring oxygen?” asked Peaceflyt sarcastically.

“I had fun watching Atacama win again.” Peak smiled.

“Group discussion next,” Peaceflyt remembered. “Let’s see how much we’ll talk.”

“I’m definitely not going to talk until Tsunami makes me,” Peak pointed out.

“Neither am I,” Peaceflyt agreed.

The Silver Winglet headed inside the group discussion cave, where Tsunami was waiting for them.

“Hey, Silver Winglet,” she said.

“Hi, Tsunami,” said Ridge as he sat down on the other side of Peaceflyt.

“You had self-defense before this, right? How’d it go?”

Peaceflyt glanced over at Peak, who was sitting in the back corner next to Atacama. They looked like they always did in self-defense class- attempting to avoid any conversation with anyone else and talking about whatever friends would be talking about.

“Well, most of us participated,” Frigid challenged, glaring at Peak.

“At least I didn’t lose for the millionth time,” Peak challenged back before lapsing into silence.

“Break it up, guys.” Tsunami scowled at them. “This class is supposed to help you get ALONG, not ARGUE.”

She turned to look at Peaceflyt. “How was your venom practice?”

I guess I have to talk now. “I… kind of arrived a bit late to it,” Peaceflyt informed her. “So I didn’t really do much.”

Tsunami cast a look at Sunny.

“I was busy. You know… working on the school expansion,” Sunny quickly said.

“Oh!” Tsunami interjected. “You guys know about that, I think, right?”

“Are there any new classes?” Dragonfly asked shyly.

“Yes,” said Tsunami, grinning. “I can tell you them, if you want.”

. . .

“Peak-” started Tsunami, when group discussion was almost over.

“I know the drill.” Peak sighed. “I actually have to talk now.”

Peak started to take part in the conversation for a bit, but within a couple of minutes, the bell rang, and that was the end of class.

“She didn’t notice me until class was almost over,” Peak noticed after they left class.

“Cool,” replied Peaceflyt.

The Silver Winglet headed toward history, where Webs taught. Webs was the oldest teacher the school had (Peaceflyt guessed he was around fifty years old, but he wouldn’t ask him about his age). About three weeks ago, he’d learned about the SandWing War of Succession, and how Webs brought Tsunami and Queen Glory’s eggs to an underground cave to raise them in order to stop the war. He also noticed that Tsunami got touchy when it came to that part of her life.

Peaceflyt knew that history was Peak’s favorite class, because she could just sit in silence and not get asked to do anything (not counting the rare occasion where Webs would call on someone to answer a question he’d asked). Peaceflyt actually didn’t mind this class much either. Being the introverted dragon that he was, sitting quietly wasn’t THAT bad. And he did kind of like history. But the tone of voice that Webs would drone on could bore any dragon out of their mind if they listened to it long enough.

“Today, we are going to learn about Queen Diamond, an IceWing queen who started an ancient war over her son and daughter-in-law.”

Peaceflyt saw Frigid’s brow furrow. Oh. I wonder if this relates to that Darkstalker dragon.

His thought was proven right when Webs mentioned Darkstalker in his lecture. (He didn't know how he was paying attention enough to hear that).

The rest of class was just like a normal class of history at Jade Mountain. About two dragons ended up snoring, and most of the others attempted to stay awake in case they were asked a question. Peaceflyt thought that Peak and him were probably the only ones to actually find a bit of interest in this class.

A few minutes later, the bell for lunch rang, startling Atacama out of her slumber.

“That was kind of unpleasant,” Atacama told them after walking out of class. “I HATE being woken up. Hey, at least it’s lunch.”

. . .

Peak flew off to eat and hunt alone, like she did every day. Atacama, Sparrow, and Pyramid ate somewhere in the Great Hall when the food arrived from Clay’s hunting group.

Peaceflyt, being half RainWing, didn’t really hunt often, so he just sat with Walnut, Tiki, and a MudWing from the Gold Winglet named Swamp during lunch.

Lunch was pretty uneventful. Tiki, Swamp, and Peaceflyt talked a bit while Walnut went to the Prey Center to get some fruit for the RainWings at the table they were sitting at.

After lunch, it was free time. Peak was still out eating and hunting, and would be out until their next class, Herbs and Healing. Peaceflyt normally spent free time in the music or art rooms, and occasionally the library where Walnut was most of the time.

“Peaceflyt?” asked Walnut. “Can you come to the library with me today?”

“Yeah, I can.”

“I’m not Peaceflyt, but I’ll come too,” Tiki added.

Their trip to the library was relatively normal, too. Peaceflyt and Tiki brought out some board games, and the three RainWings laughed and talked.

Soon, the bell rang, and Peaceflyt headed to Herbs and Healing with Fatespeaker, the very optimistic NightWing teacher.

“I’m back,” Peak said as Peaceflyt sat down, landing gingerly on her dark red talons outside the classroom.

“Hi, Peak! And the rest of you,” said Fatespeaker as Peak walked in. “Today we’re going to be practicing on one of the greatest healing herbs in the Mud Kingdom!”

She pulled out a bunch of what looked like cattails from a cabinet in the back of the classroom, and explained that these were a special type of cattail grown near the Mud Kingdom’s coast.

“Ridge, hand these out, please.” Fatespeaker dumped the plants into Ridge’s talons, and he carefully handed them out to each of the Silver Winglet.

They practiced brushing the cattails in a certain way across the scrapes and scratches they had gotten from self defense class. Peak, obviously, couldn’t do much in Herbs and Healing either, because Fatespeaker was worried about her accidentally burning the herbs she would practice with. “I mean, at least she can learn about them,” Fatespeaker had said when Atacama asked if Peak would actually be doing anything in her class.

The rest of the day was a normal school day for Peaceflyt. At dinner, Peaceflyt sat with Swamp and Tiki, and shared some of his extra food with them.

At the end of the day, he went to his sleeping cave with Ridge, his clawmate. He often wished that Pelican would be his clawmate instead, because Peaceflyt knew him better, but for now, Pelican was stuck with Frigid.

“Hi,” Ridge said about an hour after the sun set. He'd gone out to the library after dinner to read and was just entering their cave for the night. “Are you going to sleep already?”

“I guess so,” Peaceflyt said, getting into a comfortable position. “I just kind of have a weird feeling tomorrow is going to be an eventful day."

Chapter 2.5 - Peak's Capture

It was just after dawn, and Peak was at the lakes as per usual. She’d had the nightmares again. Blood, death, war, and hostages, but Peak was saved by her firescales. The very scales that were enchanted, much like Stonemover’s, but so that she could control them as long as she could control her emotions.

Peak laid down on the boulders surrounding the lakes, when she heard thoughts. There she is. We finally have her. Our informer seems to be correct. The voice sounded male.

SkyWing, again? Peak assumed it was just another SkyWing soldier, sent to attack her. Then she saw the armor.

The dragon had amber-gold colored armor studded with spikes and emeralds. The armor seemed to be immune to heat, and the dragon wearing it had an odd grayish color. It was about the same color as the dragon that she thought she saw in the rainforest.

Peak started flying, heated up her scales and breathed fire at her opponent.

Oh, this ARRR… Peak’s thoughts and low growl ceased right after a blow-dart hit her. She fell unconscious, slipped into the lake, and was carried off to a faraway island.

Chapter Three

Peaceflyt woke up just when the sun was starting to come over the horizon, earlier than he normally woke up. He turned over onto his other side, trying to fall asleep again. It didn’t happen. Instead he just tossed and turned, wishing morning would come sooner.

“Peak said good morning,” Ridge informed Peaceflyt. Ridge woke up as early as Peak usually did, and Peak often left a message. Currently, Ridge was reading something on his side of the cave.

“Okay. She’s at the lakes again, I presume?”

“Yep, that’s where she always is in the morning,” said Ridge. He went back to his book and Peaceflyt endured another half hour of trying to fall asleep. He finally gave up and walked past Atacama and Peak’s cave to get to the library to spend the morning.

After a while, the bell for the first class of the day went off. Already!? Peaceflyt thought, startled. Didn’t I only spend, like, fifteen minutes in here? He quickly grabbed the book he was reading and shoved it into a random spot on the nearest bookshelf. He said “bye” to Starflight and hurried toward self defense.

. . .

“Peaceflyt?” Atacama called from behind him when he was heading to lunch.

“Yeah?”

“Have you seen Peak?” Atacama asked, hurrying her pace to catch up with him. “She left our cave early in the morning like she always does, but I’ve noticed that she hasn’t come back yet.”

“Oh. I haven’t seen her,” Peaceflyt informed her. “Ridge said she was at the lake like usual. She told him when she went there, which was about half an hour before sunrise, I think.”

“If she’s still there, it’s sure taking a long time for her to come back. It’s practically lunch,” Atacama pointed out.

Peaceflyt agreed. “That’s true. Oh, and when she comes back, I’ll tell her that you beat Frigid four times again.” Atacama stifled a laugh.

“What?” the cold voice of an IceWing interrupted from behind them.

“What?” Peaceflyt said, trying to put as much confusion into that word, like he hadn’t said the pale blue IceWing’s name.

“I thought I heard you say my name,” said Frigid.

“Oh… I didn’t, don’t worry,” Peaceflyt lied. The lie seemed to work, as Frigid hurried off with some of his IceWing friends.

“Come on,” said Atacama. “Let’s go to lunch.”

. . .

Peak still wasn’t back by the time dinner came. Peaceflyt was starting to get slightly worried. She normally came back a couple minutes before self defense, the first class of the day. Now all of the classes were over, and she still wasn’t at the school.

Sunny emerged out of a cave and practically ran into him. “Oh, I’m sorry!” she yelped as she looked down at him.

“It’s fine,” Peaceflyt replied.

“Are you worried?” asked Sunny, reading his expression. She is REALLY good at reading my expressions, for some reason.

“Oh… no,” he lied again. “Well, I mean, I was heading to dinner but I think I left something in the library. So… I’ll go get it now.”

Atacama gave him a confused look as he casually walked back toward the library. As soon as Sunny was out of sight, he came back up to her.

“You’re weird,” Atacama noticed.

“Yeah, sometimes I can be,” Peaceflyt admitted with a shrug.

. . .

Atacama walked into the Prey Center just before Peaceflyt was about to go out with Clay’s hunting group. 

“Are you joining us, Atacama?” Clay asked, tilting his head.

“I guess so,” she mumbled.

She’s coming with us? Peaceflyt thought, slightly surprised. She normally either waits for the hunting group or hunts by herself. Then again, I’ve only hunted with the hunting group a few times too.

“Okay, then,” said Clay, vaulting into the air. “Let’s go.” 

The other dragonets who’d joined the group leapt into the air behind him, and this was when Peaceflyt realized that Clay seemed very downcast. He was obviously trying to hide it, but he couldn’t fake the droop of his wings and head when he was flying. His sadness seemed to get worse with flying, so he appointed Hawk, the Jade Winglet SkyWing, the leader of the hunting group for the session, and swiftly flew back to Jade Mountain a quarter way through.

Their hunting route for the day, according to Hawk, was flying right next to the river for a bit, crossing it, flying over the hills, past the lakes, and back to the Academy.

The lakes! Peaceflyt thought. That’s where Peak went! I’m going to ask Atacama if she wants to come investigate with me.

Peaceflyt casually flew over two dragons and ended up next to Atacama. “Atacama, I’m going to check the lakes to see if Peak’s still there. Want to come with me?”

She looked at him in surprise, and when the group passed the lakes, they both dove down towards them without any hesitation, though Atacama made a short stop to kill a mountain goat.

Peaceflyt hovered in the air for a moment, studying the scene. There were six lakes there, two medium-sized ones and four small. Jade Mountain loomed in front of them. And…

“Is that a fire?” Atacama asked, pointing to a small bit of smoke coming up from the trees across the lake. 

Peaceflyt flew closer to investigate. “I think so.” He lowered toward the water, and with one swish of his SeaWing tail, the fire was quenched.

He promptly headed toward the site where the fire had burnt, and Atacama followed suit, landing next to him. It smelled of burnt wood and smoke. It looked like what a normal forest fire would look like. So why did it seem so unsettling to Peaceflyt?

Maybe the first question he had was “how could a fire start here?” It was evening and it had been a completely clear day. And if lightning did strike, someone from the school would’ve heard it. No scavengers lived in this area either, so they’re couldn’t have started a forest fire (Peaceflyt learned at Jade Mountain that scavengers had almost dragonlike personalities and abilities, so they could’ve started a forest fire here if they really wanted to). There was no sign of anything that could’ve started a fire and wouldn’t have put it out… except maybe a firescales who couldn’t put it out.

The only other firescales other than Peak that Peaceflyt knew who ever came around Jade Mountain was Peril, but he was pretty sure she never went by the lakes. So this fire had probably been started by Peak.

He told Atacama what he’d been thinking, and she looked him dead in the eye and told him, “Wow. You might be right.”

As he and Atacama explored the area a bit more, they found more clues. Burnt blood, on the forest ground. Vague scratch marks on a couple of trees. A burn mark on a tree that looked like a dragon had breathed it. There was obviously a sign of a struggle. And the biggest clue of all… there was a dark red scale on the ground that almost matched perfectly with Peak’s color.

“Peak. This is where Peak disappeared,” Peaceflyt concluded. “But what happened?” Did someone kill her and hide her? Or did they take her alive? But why? Is it because she’s a hybrid? There’s not enough blood if they killed her anyway. So why would they take her? And where?

“NO ONE CAPTURES AND INJURES MY FRIENDS!” Atacama yelled. “I’LL KILL THEM BEFORE THEY KNOW I’M THERE!” She leapt into the air and flew back to Jade Mountain in a rage, leaving Peaceflyt at the lake by himself.

I might as well go, too, Peaceflyt thought sadly, hoisting himself into the air as well and following Atacama. While he was flying, he had a good amount of time to think. Peak has firescales, so how did anyone get to her? Maybe if they found fireproof armor- I heard there was this one rare metal that was fireproof. The SkyWings or IceWings could be good suspects. Didn’t some IceWings try to kill her family when she was younger? The SkyWings would also be good suspects, because Queen Ember kicked her out of the Sky Kingdom and… maybe wants to capture her or something?

Atacama was nearly at the Academy now, and Peaceflyt was using all of his strength to try and catch up to her. He guessed she was rage flying, because he’d never seen her fly so fast.

“Peaceflyt!” Walnut exclaimed when he finally arrived, stumbling into the Great Hall. “Atacama told us about what happened to Peak… is it true?”

“Y-yes… I think so.” Peaceflyt plopped down on the ground, wings spread on either side of him.

She instantly turned a deep color of gray. “Oh, no… oh, no…”

. . .

Peaceflyt’s wings were like heavy weights to him by the time nightfall arrived. He collapsed on the ground in his sleeping cave, but he couldn’t sleep for hours. His thoughts kept him up all night.

How will I be able to save her? I actually… don’t want to- I mean, I don’t want to go by myself. He sighed. I’m not really that brave. I’m not really great at riddles or questions, sometimes. And I need to be brave for this. And I also need to know who the MOONS-CURSED DRAGON EVEN IS AND WHY THEY WOULD CAPTURE PEAK!

He took deep breaths, and tried to keep his thoughts from overflowing his brain. Luckily, that worked, and he was finally able to finally go to sleep after almost five hours.

. . .

A vision of Peak waking up, confused, in a small cave slowly flooded into his mind in the middle of the night. There was a tangerine orange colored SkyWing who looked about... maybe seven years old next to her, peering out of… a crack in the rocks? Something like that.

Peak jumped to her feet and almost immediately fell, and the orange dragon pointed to something on her side. Even though Peaceflyt couldn’t hear a word the orange dragon was saying, he got the general idea of what she was talking about by reading her lips. Something about a tranquilizer dart.

 “Is this a dream?” Peaceflyt said, taking a step closer to the two dragons. “Peak? Is that really you?”

No one answered. Peaceflyt sighed.

The orange dragon knelt down next to Peak and grabbed on to the blow dart. With a jerk backwards, it was in the orange dragon’s talons. She studied the dart for a few seconds, and then threw it behind her, muttering something that probably would’ve been unintelligible even if Peaceflyt could hear the conversation.

Peak slowly attempted to get up, and when she finally did, she asked the orange dragon something. The orange dragon explained it to her, and from her hand motions, Peaceflyt had a vague guess of where she was. In a prison somewhere.

Peak growled multiple angry things and balled her fists. The orange dragon put a claw up to her snout, pointed to the crack in the rock, and whispered something.

Peak and the orange dragon suddenly jumped back with wide eyes, and practically startled Peaceflyt out of his sleep, even though he could hear nothing. The crack in the rock got wider, and Peaceflyt realized that there was a rock that acted like a door there.

Stony gray talons grasped the door and pulled it aside. A slangry old dragon the color of mountain rock mixed with dirt peeked her head inside and yelled something at the two SkyWings. Peaceflyt caught a glance of an engraved word on the dragon’s arm. ‘Travertine,’ it read.

Travertine? That’s an odd name. As he studied the dragon’s face, he realized that it looked vaguely like a NightWing’s. I wonder if she’s a hybrid.

Travertine's brow furrowed. She muttered something and slammed the rock door on the SkyWings’ faces, so hard it shook Peaceflyt out of his sleep.

It's just a dream… just a dream… don't freak out. You're just dreaming. Peaceflyt reassured himself as much as he could, but he wasn't completely sure that it wasn't.

Chapter Four

Peaceflyt woke about half an hour after sunrise the next day. He was still thinking about how Peak had disappeared, and the thought of that kept him up all night. Surprisingly, he felt a bit more awake than he did yesterday, despite the sleep deprivation. Maybe it was just because of Peak.

“‘Morning, Peaceflyt,” said Ridge, reading the same scroll he was reading yesterday. His corner of the cave was noticeably cleaner than Peaceflyt’s, although there were a few of his items scattered across the floor by his bed.

“‘Morning,” he replied. “Did Peak come by and talk to you this morning?”

“Hmm…” A frown formed on Ridge’s face. “No… I don’t remember her coming.”

Oh, great, it wasn’t a dream, Peaceflyt thought glumly. So she actually got captured or whatever. I wonder if Peak came by and Ridge was too into his scroll. Then again, Ridge isn’t the best dragon at remembering things.

Peaceflyt stretched and wandered out into the halls. Tsunami and Clay were the only dragons in the hall as far as he could see, and they were talking about something.

“PEACEFLYT!” A sudden voice pierced through the air behind him. Peaceflyt jumped.

“Atacama!” Peaceflyt said with a hint of annoyance, looking behind him.

“I love making dragons jump,” Atacama said happily. “You seem really jumpy, anyway. I can't believe you're coming to rescue Peak with us.”

I'm coming? To rescue Peak with them? Peaceflyt wondered, surprised. I mean, I guess it’s better than going by myself. And I do want to rescue her.

Atacama raised her venomous tail barb towards him with a mischievous smile. Peaceflyt quickly stepped back with a face that basically said, ‘are you serious?’

“So, you are jumpy,” Atacama said, lowering her tail. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that. You’re not on my enemies list, so I have no intention of killing you.”

“O-kay. Good to know.”

Atacama laughed. Then she walked off, probably to find Pyramid and Sparrow.

Should I head to self defense? Peaceflyt wondered, checking the time. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be earl-

“Hey, Peaceflyt!” Walnut’s voice said. Peaceflyt turned his head to look at her- them. Tiki was with her too.

“Hi, guys,” he replied. “What's up?”

“Um… so... what are you going to do about the Peak situation?” Walnut inquired, a bit hesitantly.

”Uh… I know this might sound a bit weird,” Peaceflyt said slowly, “but I'm apparently going to go out and rescue her."

“Ok, I can see why it's a bit weird,” Tiki said.

Because I could die. And I'm not that brave, Peaceflyt thought sourly.

“If that were me, I'd probably not go,” Tiki said. “I don’t really know Peak that well, anyway.”

“Can I go?” Walnut asked. “If you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

“That’s fine with me,” Peaceflyt said. “I’m sure Atacama will let you come.”

“Atacama?”

“Yeah. She told me that I’m coming with her,” Peaceflyt explained. At least going with someone else is better than going by myself.

“I think Atacama will let me go,” said Walnut confidently. “In the meantime, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. The bell should be ringing soon. Maybe in about a minute or so.”

“Oh. So I’d better get to class, then,” Walnut said cheerfully. “See you at lunch!” The bell rang as she walked off into the halls, and Peaceflyt decided that he’d better get going.

Better get going before there’s a flood in the halls, Peaceflyt thought. Cold scales whipped by to his right, and he saw an IceWing bump into two more dragons before hurrying into the self-defense cave.

Nice one, Frigid, Peaceflyt thought sarcastically.

. . .

“Clay’s late again,” Dragonfly noticed.

“He’s always late,” said Pelican. “But, yeah. It’s been half the class already.”

I hope he’s fine, thought Peaceflyt. I hope HE didn’t get captured.

Luckily, he heard footsteps around the corner, and Clay walked in. His eyes had bags under them, like he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. His wings dragged across the floor, and there was a frown across his face, which seemed fairly unlike him.

“Are you okay?” Ridge asked, concerned.

“Hm?” Clay looked up at his students, then leapt to his feet. “Oh! I’m sorry. I haven’t gotten anything planned today, I’m such an idiot.” He walked over and checked the sheet of paper on the far wall, which listed the activity for each day in the school year.

“It looks like we’ll be doing… sparring again. Sorry again. We’ll be doing something different tomorrow.”

Peaceflyt sighed. Sparring two days in a row?

It might help in rescuing Peak, a corner of his brain thought. If you have to battle anyon- Oh, no, I might have to battle someone. Maybe I shouldn’t go. But Atacama and Pyramid are going, and they’re good at battle. And I really want to rescue Peak… I’ll go.

“Peaceflyt?” Pelican asked, ending his train of thought. “Spar?”

“Umm… talk first, spar later?” Peaceflyt said quietly.

Pelican thought for a second. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Are you going to come rescue Peak with me- us?” Peaceflyt asked.

“Us? Who’s going?”

“Um… me, Atacama, and probably Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow,” Peaceflyt said, counting on his claws. “I’m actually not completely sure if Pyramid and Sparrow are coming, but I’m guessing since Atacama hangs out with them all day and since they’re some of Peak’s best friends, they’re coming.”

“Okay.” Pelican paused. “I guess I can come. It’s not like I know Peak well, but as far as I know, they’re not teaching anything important in the next week. And I kind of want to go somewhere. Coral barely ever lets me go to new places. Since I’m her youngest son, she has the urge to protect me more than my older brothers. I guess I just have to hope she doesn’t find out I left.”

Oh yeah, Peaceflyt thought. Why did I forget he was the son of the SeaWing queen? “That’s definitely going to make it harder for you to come.”

“Well, I’m going to go anyways,” Pelican said. “When are you leaving?”

“I dunno. Probably soon.”

“Okay.”

“Wait, you do know what happened to Peak, right?" Peaceflyt asked.

“Didn’t she get captured or something? I thought the whole school knew that,” Pelican said. “Unless she didn’t get captured…”

“No, she got captured,” replied Peaceflyt. He paused. “The whole SCHOOL already knows that?”

“I think so,” Pelican said.

“Do the teachers know?” Peaceflyt asked hurriedly.

“No,” replied Pelican. “Probably not. I think if they did, they’d say something about it, right?”

“Yeah,” said Peaceflyt. I hope no one tells them. They’ve had enough drama in their lives. And then they’re going to try and save Peak if someone breaks the news to them.

“Pelican? Peaceflyt?” Clay called out. He sounded a bit more sad and tired, like he was faking his happiness.

“Sorry,” Peaceflyt said. “I guess we have to spar now, then.”

Pelican nodded, and ran at Peaceflyt. They started sparring, and nothing interesting happened. By the end of class, they both had small scratches along their bodies.

“Wonder why Clay’s so down,” Ridge muttered as they walked in the halls. “Guess I can’t talk to him now.” He turned down the hallway toward the sleeping caves.

. . .

Peaceflyt ran into Nightlight as he was rounding a corner toward the group discussion cave. She jumped. Peaceflyt knew that she’d always been jumpy, and he didn’t blame her, having Deneb as her sister. She waved at him awkwardly, and he waved back.

“Just… going to self-defense,” Nightlight muttered, and walked off.

Is it just me, or has she been acting weirder lately? Peaceflyt thought. Or maybe it’s just because she nearly saw me get killed by her murderous sister. That could be it.

“Hey,” a familiar, slightly deep voice said from behind him.

“Hi, Ridge,” Peaceflyt said.

“So, are you really going to rescue Peak?” questioned Ridge.

Peaceflyt paused. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I’m your clawmate,” Ridge told him.

“Yeah, I know. But how did you know?”

“I overheard you and Atacama talking about it while I was walking to self-defense earlier,” the SkyWing admitted. “I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just overheard you.”

“Ok. Try not to talk about it until after we go-” Peaceflyt stopped. “Actually, try not to talk about it at all, but mostly try not to talk about it until after we go.”

Ridge nodded. “Sure. If the founders freak out about it, can I tell them?”

“Hmm… only if they’re sending dragons out to go find us, or if they’re going to try to find us themselves,” Peaceflyt said.

“Okay,” Ridge said. A loud ringing echoed through the halls, which meant the bell had rang and the next class was starting.

“Oop, there’s the bell,” Peaceflyt muttered. He speed-walked down the hall and turned in to the group discussion cave, where Tsunami was sitting with Dragonfly and Atacama.

“Hi, Peaceflyt,” Tsunami said as Peaceflyt sat down. “And Ridge.” Ridge came through the door. “And Pelican,” she said as Pelican hurried into the classroom.

“Who’re we missing?” Tsunami muttered to herself as she counted on her talons. Frigid walked in. “Frigid… wait… he just came in, never mind," the SeaWing said, glancing up at Frigid. So we’re only missing Peak.”

Peaceflyt’s eyes opened a bit in surprise. Oh, right. The teachers don’t know about Peak yet, he thought. He shot a glance at Frigid, and was hoping he either didn’t know, or would keep quiet and not tell the founders. Peaceflyt noticed that he did look a bit happier today. Maybe he does know. Unless he’s happy about something else. I’m just hoping he won’t tell anyone.

“I guess I’ll just have to mark Peak late for now,” Tsunami said. “Anyways, has anything exciting happened to any of you guys since our last group discussion?”

YES, Peaceflyt wanted to shout out. Although my best friend getting captured isn’t really exciting. More just like eventful. He looked over at Atacama and saw that she was staring into space. Maybe thinking about Peak. She was sitting in the dark corner she usually sat in with Peak, although she looked much more lonely sitting by herself.

When no one answered, Tsunami continued. “Okay, someone share SOMETHING. I don’t want to sit in silence here all day.”

Please don’t talk about Peak… Peaceflyt prayed. When no one said anything AGAIN, it was likely that Tsunami would randomly call on someone and make them share. In fact, Peaceflyt could already see her lashing her tail in annoyance, and he decided he should probably talk so Tsunami wouldn’t call on anyone.

“I-” Peaceflyt said, but got cut off by Tsunami. “Ridge,” she said, pointing at the SkyWing.

Phew, Peaceflyt’s mind said. At least I told him to not tell the founders about Peak.

“Umm… I found a pretty cool scroll yesterday,” said Ridge. “It was about scavengers- like, if scavengers were in the place of dragons.” He settled back, indicating that he was finished.

“Nice,” Tsunami said, then turned around to call on Dragonfly, who was raising her talons.

“Why are they doing construction by my sleeping cave?” she asked quietly. “I just remembered about it, and I was wondering how long they were going to do it."

“Oh! That!” Tsunami exclaimed, wings opening. “They’re going to finish working on them tomorrow. I'm supposed to tell you why they're doing that during the lunch break.” She smiled, seeming like she was trying hard not to spill whatever exciting secret she was thinking of.

“Can you tell us now?” Frigid asked.

“No,” Tsunami said sharply, but her face clearly said ‘I WANT TO TELL YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.’

“Peaceflyt?” A soft voice whispered next to him. He turned and saw Pelican looking at him.

“Yeah?” he whispered back.

“I’ve been thinking a little bit,” he said, “and I think I know why Clay’s so sad.”

“Really?” Peaceflyt’s ears perked up a little.

“So you know about Peril and Clay,” Pelican said. “And how Peril’s always said that she hadn’t missed a day at the school for… twenty years or something, right?”

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt replied. He hadn’t seen Peril every day since he got admitted into the academy, but he’d seen glimpses of her walking by in the halls every so often. The SkyWing had even showed up at lunch one time.

“Well, I didn't see Peril anywhere yesterday. And I pass the founder's private cave- you know, the cave where they talk in private, every morning when I walk around the school,” Pelican told him. “And I've seen Peril in there every day since I started walking around the school. But I glanced in there yesterday and didn't see her.”

“Maybe she was… late,” Peaceflyt hoped, not liking the thought that was coming on. “Maybe she didn't come in the morning.”

“Maybe,” Pelican said. “But that was the same day Clay started acting sad. And I know that Clay liked Peril to come best in the early morning before he had to deal with the school.”

“Oh, no…” Peaceflyt’s head was filling of thoughts on where Peak was and what had happened to her. “Do you think…”

“Yeah,” Pelican said grimly. “I think someone is trying to capture all the firescales on Pyrrhia.”

Chapter Five

“Class dismissed,” Tsunami said, after what seemed like an eternity sitting there for Peaceflyt.

He was still thinking about what Pelican had said. Someone is trying to capture all the firescales on Pyrrhia. But why? What’s the point? Are they holding them hostage? Are they- he hesitated. Are they trying to overthrow a kingdom or a queen or something?

Actually, I really just want to know who’s taking them.

“Peaceflyt?” Atacama asked once they left the classroom, catching up to him and Pelican. “I’m thinking we should leave around lunch.”

LUNCH? That’s really soon. Peaceflyt thought, then starting scolding himself. Stop trying to get out of doing things that are out of your comfort zone, Peaceflyt. You’re going to go save her. She’s your best friend, so you should be excited to go and try to find her. You shouldn’t be so scared!

“Oh…” Peaceflyt said, responding to Atacama after an awkward second or two. “Okay. Is it fine if Pelican and Walnut com-”

“Yeah. Sparrow told me about Walnut, she can come with us. And so can Pelican, I guess, if he wants to. Although Queen Coral might be pretty mad if she finds out,” Atacama pointed out.

“She’s been mad at me before,” Pelican said. “And hopefully if it doesn’t take too long, she won’t even notice.”

“Well, okay,” Atacama said. “I guess we just have to go to history before we leave.” She sighed. “I kind of hate school sometimes.”

“We all do at one point,” Peaceflyt said reassuringly. To be honest, though, he thought he was really lucky being able to attend the highest-rated school on the continent. After Jade Mountain was founded, a few other inter-tribal schools popped up around Pyrrhia, but this one was the original. And it was the one that the famed Dragonets of Destiny had founded right after the Great War. So that was pretty cool.

But school could be pretty boring. About 99% of the students collectively agreed that history was the most dull subject. For Peaceflyt, it depended on what they were talking about during class. History of the RainWing queens? Boring. Geography? Not boring.

They entered the history cave, where Webs was standing in his normal spot. He looked a bit more tired today- well, he’d recently looked tired a lot, but today he seemed more exhausted than usual.

He said something along the lines of “Today we’re going to be learning about Queen Vigilance, a NightWing queen who lived a few thousand years ago,” and then pointed at the chalkboard, but Peaceflyt barely paid any attention to the lesson, which was what he didn't do often. Thoughts of Peak and kidnapping cluttered his head, not to mention the thought of going out into a vast continent that was having a war regarding hybrids, his own kind.

Oh well, Peaceflyt thought. I guess I’ll just go with my RainWing look. Luckily, he took after his mother’s RainWing side, so all he really had to do was change his scales to make the wave patterns on his back look like spikes and change his fluorescent scales to match with the rest of his body. He obviously couldn't do anything about his tail, which was obviously a SeaWing’s, or his four gills, but hopefully no one would look too close at him to see that he was a hybrid.

After a while, the bell rang and the Silver Winglet headed off for lunch. Peaceflyt and Pelican found Atacama, Sparrow, Pyramid, and Walnut waiting for them towards the entrance.

“Hey, Peaceflyt. Hey, Pelican,” Atacama said, running up to them. “So, I think we should go pretty quickly.” She glanced around, making sure no one could overhear her. “We can probably catch some stuff for lunch out there, and then we’ll head out across the continent afterwards to see if we can find her.”

“Wait,” said Peaceflyt. “Do we even know where she is?”

Atacama thought for a second, then laughed. “Honestly, no. But we could look for clues across the continent.”

“Wouldn’t that take a while, though?” Peaceflyt asked. “W-what if we took too long, and it would be too late for the firescales?”

“The firescales?” Atacama asked. “Wait, all the FIRESCALES are captured?”

“Um…” Peaceflyt said uncomfortably, looking backwards. “I’m not completely sure, but since Peril apparently went missing yesterday, and Peak was captured two days ago, that’s the conclusion that I came to. I’m not completely sure, though.”

Atacama growled. “I am seriously going to MURDER whoever is doing this. Ok, I want to go right now.”

“Right now?” Peaceflyt asked hurriedly. “Are you sur-”

“Yes, right now,” Atacama said angrily, running over to Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow. “We’re going to leave right now.”

“Really?” Walnut said, alarmed. “Can I at least check on some stuff?”

“Sure,” replied Atacama, not unkindly. “Just don’t take too long.”

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” Pyramid remarked.

Peaceflyt decided this would be a good time to go outside and get some answers to where Peak might be.

Pelican started to follow him, but Peaceflyt put up his talons and mouthed ‘I’ll explain later’. The SeaWing gave Peaceflyt a confused look, but he didn’t protest or try to follow him, to Peaceflyt’s relief. He glanced around to see if anyone was looking at him, and when he saw that no one was, he quickly ran outside and found a medium-sized rock ledge around the entrance, half hidden behind a tree.

He leapt from the entrance to the ledge and checked to see if anyone was outside. No one was in sight. He quickly camouflaged his scales, looking around again, and grabbed a small quartz rock off the ground near the tree. This way, he’d be able to distinguish this rock from other dull gray ones.

Is this important enough to enchant? Peaceflyt thought. Is it a big spell? He asked himself, going through his mental checklist he made a few years ago to make sure he didn't use too much of his magic. No. Is it selfish? He thought for a moment. I think not. I mean, it could save a lot of dragons, so I'd say it's pretty selfless. Is it important? Yeah, I think this would count as important.

He eventually arrived at his last mental question. Is it an emergency? Like a live-or-die situation? He thought of Peak and the other SkyWing, presumably in a cave of some sort, presumably being tortured. I mean, he hoped they weren't being tortured, but he wasn't exactly sure about that. Hmm. Maybe. Okay, I think I can enchant this.

“Enchant this rock to write down the location of any dragon I choose,” Peaceflyt said slowly and clearly. He glanced back worriedly at the school entrance multiple times, afraid that someone might come outside and see a rock floating suspiciously in his invisible talons.

“Where is Peak the SkyWing?” he hastily whispered to the rock.

A moment or two passed. Please work, please work, Peaceflyt silently pleaded. He hadn’t touched his animus magic since he was two, when he enchanted something that could heal him whenever he wanted it to. So he wasn’t completely sure how it would work, or how fast it would go, or if he even did his spell correct.

A message slowly engraved itself onto the rock. WORK, please! Peaceflyt thought, panicking. He was pretty sure Pelican, and maybe Atacama or Walnut, might be wondering where he was now. If they caught him intently staring at a random rock, they'd probably wonder if he was in his right mind or not.

The rock’s message immediately appeared. Startled, Peaceflyt nearly dropped it.

What the… Peaceflyt thought, surprised. Why in the name of the moons did that write so fast- Oh. Worry cleaved through Peaceflyt. I asked it to hurry up. Oh no. I just used my animus magic twice in a day. I guess it was just a small spell. I don’t feel any different. He abruptly shut his eyes, trying to reassure himself that his soul was still intact.

He heard SeaWing talonsteps in the distance, coming out of the school. Is Pelican looking for me? I really hope he isn’t, not right now. Well, I don’t think he’ll find me right now anyway.

The talonsteps slowly faded back into the school, and Peaceflyt looked down at the rock in his talons and studied the message scrawled on it.

“Peak the SkyWing-NightWing hybrid is located approximately halfway between the Sea and Sky Kingdoms,” Peaceflyt muttered to himself, reading the message off the rock. “But where? Maybe I should’ve told this to show me a map. Not like I want to use my power any more today, anyway.”

He looked up and decided that he should probably tell the others what he'd found out. I bet at least one of them will ask for proof, he thought, glancing at the stone beneath him. Maybe I can find a dirt patch and scrape claw marks that face the Kingdom of the Sea. I hope they'll believe me if I did that.

He put the rock in his pouch and leapt off the ledge, his scales still invisible. The RainWing circled the entrance area a couple times, and then found a good-sized dirt patch that had ground nearly as soft as sand, soft enough to easily make talonprints in.

Peaceflyt hovered in the air for a moment on one side of the patch, making sure no one was in eyesight. Then, in one quick swoop with his front arms limp, like he was an unconscious dragon being carried away, his talons swiped against the dirt.

He stopped in midair on the other side and slowly flapped to the ground to inspect if his mark looked authentic. I think it does, Peaceflyt thought. I still hope that Atacama or Pelican or anyone else doesn’t suspect anything. I guess I should probably get back inside.

He quickly visibilized his scales and casually walked back into the Great Hall.

“Hi, Peaceflyt,” Pelican greeted him, then added in a lower voice, “What were you doing out there?”

“Ummm… hunting,” Peaceflyt lied.

“Really?” Pelican arched a brow. “Why did you seem so suspicious about it earlier?”

“I did?” Peaceflyt blurted. Oh, great. Please don't ask about anything.

“Yyeah,” Pelican said. “You didn’t want me to come outside with you and you told me you’d explain later.”

“Oh. Yeah. I- um… was just looking at the weather. Seeing if the flight conditions were okay,” Peaceflyt lied. “But when I was out there, I found a clue to where Peak might be.”

“Really?” Pelican's ears perked up a little. “Can I see it?”

“Let me tell Atacama first, and then I can show all of you,” Peaceflyt said, heading in her direction. “She’ll probably be pretty mad if I tell her there's a clue to finding Peak and I didn't immediately tell her.”

“Yeah," Pelican replied. "True."

“Atacama?” Peaceflyt asked, coming up from behind her. She turned around to face him.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“So… I think I might have found a clue to where Peak is,” he informed her. “And I think she's near the Kingdom of the Sea.”

Atacama paused. ”WHAT!?” She finally yelled. “What would some random SeaWings want to do Peak? Or firescales, for that matter?”

“I have no clue,” Peaceflyt replied, perplexed.

“Okay,” Atacama said angrily. “We’re going to leave RIGHT NOW. I’m going to go check on Walnut.” She stomped down the hall he’d seen Walnut go down earlier.

Pyramid watched her go with a blank expression and turned back to Sparrow. “You know what, I feel like murdering some SeaWings.”

“We don’t really know it was the SeaWings who captured Peak,” Sparrow pointed out. “It could be anyone.”

“I guess so,” Pyramid said. “Oh wait, it could be SkyWings. I didn’t think of that. Queen Ember did banish Peak. And I’m pretty sure SkyWing tradition says something along the lines of ‘whenever we figure out a firescales is about to hatch, we smash their egg.’ I just can’t understand why they’d want to do it now. I don’t think any firescales went into the Sky Kingdom since Peak left.”

“I wonder how they captured them,” Sparrow wondered.

“Wasn’t there that special rock or something that firescales can't burn through?” Peaceflyt asked. “I forgot what it was called.”

“Oh!” Pelican exclaimed. “It was like… tungsten. Or something like that.”

“Oh, yeah,” Peaceflyt agreed. “They could've worn that for armor or something.” He looked towards the hall that Atacama had disappeared down and saw that she was coming back with Walnut.

“Hi, guys!” Walnut said. Pyramid, Sparrow, and Pelican turned their heads to the sound of her voice. “Apparently we’re leaving now, so yeah! I hope we don't get killed,” she added.

“We’ll try our best to not let anyone get killed,” Pyramid reassured her. “Except the dragons who kidnapped Peak, obviously.”

“We’re going to kill the kidnappers?” Walnut asked, with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

“Yeah,” Atacama replied, as if it was perfectly obvious that she and Pyramid were going to do that. “Actually, we should really get going. We can talk while we're flying, but now that I think about it, Peak is probably suffering on an island right now.” And without any hesitation, she ran outside.

Peaceflyt looked at Pelican and shrugged. They both followed Atacama, with Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow behind them.

“Are you guys ready?” Atacama asked, stretching her wings and looking up at the sky when they caught up to her.

“I guess so,” Peaceflyt mumbled.

“Definitely,” said Pyramid.

“Then let's go save some dragons.” Atacama launched herself into the air and the rest of them followed, their wingbeats becoming silent as they flew away from Jade Mountain.

Chapter Six

As they flew away from the school, thoughts clouded Peaceflyt’s head. I hope Peak is okay. I hope she knows we’re coming to rescue her. He glanced over at Atacama and Pyramid’s determined expressions. Actually, I think she knows we’re going to rescue her. I bet she knows her friends would do anything for her. Except me. Because I’m a coward. I wish I could enchant something that would make me more brave, but I’m not supposed to use magic to mess with my personality. Now that I think about it, being brave could probably get me killed easier. So maybe I’ll just not be brave. For now.

From there his mind went to think of all the dangers they might face. Who will we encounter? Whoever we do, I really hope they aren’t mean. Well, there is a war going on, so- Oh, right, duh. He looked backwards at his scales. I forgot to change my scales. I guess I’ll take care of that. He willed his scales to change color, hiding the wave patterns on his back and making his fluorescent SeaWing scales look almost identical to his RainWing scales. He glanced over at his friends flying beside him, and none of them seemed to have noticed.

“Are we completely sure that we know where we’re going?” Peaceflyt asked after flying about ten minutes more. They were currently out of sight of Jade Mountain, and tall mountains were all they could see.

Atacama glanced back at him. “We’re going towards the Kingdom of the Sea, right? So all we’re going to do is…” She paused for a second, thinking. “Fly over some mountains, go over the Mud Kingdom, and fly across the ocean- Oh, yeah." She groaned. "We have to fly across the ocean.”

Pyramid sighed.

“Across the ocean?” Walnut asked. She sighed. “Well, it's not the entire ocean, so I think we can make it.”

“I probably can,” joked Pelican.

“You’re lucky,” Sparrow said. “All of us have to fly across the ocean, but you can just swim across.”

“Yeah. But I hope I don't run into any other SeaWings,” said Pelican.

“Why?” Walnut asked.

“Because I'm supposed to be in school,” he explained. “And since my mom is the queen, I’m thinking if I run into any other SeaWings, they’ll report to my mom that I’m not in school. And then she might notice that you guys are gone from school and are heading towards the ocean.”

“Oh,” Walnut said. “Well, let’s hope that we can make it across to the Thousand Scales, AND that we can make it across without running into any SeaWings.”

What if we need the SeaWings for something? Peaceflyt’s mind worried.

“Are you sure we have to go over the ocean?” Walnut asked. “Can’t we fly over the Tail Peninsula? Wait, never mind. Anything that can get us to Peak quickest would be the best.”

“Yeah. Because it would take way longer to go over the Tail Peninsula,” Peaceflyt pointed out.

“I’m just not built for flying long distances,” Walnut said. “But any route that will get us to Peak fast will be worth it, I think. I just wish there’s something that could remind us that we won’t all die or get hurt on this trip.”

Like a prophecy, Peaceflyt thought. A vision of dragons who were an odd gray color flashed quickly through his head. He faltered in the air. Where did that come from? I'm not a prophet. I don't have visions. He tried to assure himself that he didn't have another power, but the vision of the strange gray dragons seemed unsettlingly real. He pretty much knew that he couldn't see the future, because there were no indications that he ever could.

“Do we know where we're sleeping tonight?” Sparrow suddenly asked. “I hope it's not on top of a mountain or glacier. That wouldn't be the best place to sleep.”

“True,” Peaceflyt said. We definitely should've studied our route before we left. Could we go back to school and borrow a map? He looked back at the miles and miles of mountains. He wasn't even completely sure which direction Jade Mountain was in at that point. No. It would definitely take a while to just get back to school. I guess we'll just have to wing it.

. . .

About three hours later, the sun was starting to go down in the horizon, and Peaceflyt was starting to tire out. Actually, he'd been tired out for a while, but his wings were starting to get really sore at this point. They had stopped multiple times throughout the mountains, resting and talking. They hadn't had much luck trying to find food, given as there weren't many green mountain valleys they could see. So far, they’d only caught a mountain goat, which Sparrow had shared with Atacama and Pyramid, and some fish, which Pelican had shared with Peaceflyt. Walnut had only had a few blackberries that she'd found on a bush a while back.

Peaceflyt looked over at Walnut, who was struggling beside him. He knew RainWings were probably not supposed to fly dozens of miles in a day. She glanced back at him with an exhausted but determined expression, as if all that mattered was rescuing Peak.

And it kind of is. That's the whole reason for this mission, right? Well, I guess all that matters is that we rescue Peak and don't die. That's another good reason.

“Can we… try to find… another resting point?” Walnut said in a strained voice.

“We stopped at one twenty minutes ago,” Pyramid said. “I guess we could try to find another one, but we're right in the middle of a humongous mountain range.”

“Wait,” Atacama said, looking down. “I think I see a cougar down there.” Her voice sounded excited. “I'm going to try to catch it.” She smiled at Pyramid and Sparrow and dove down, extending her claws out to snatch it. She wasn't fast enough, though; it leapt into a thicket of tight bushes where it would be able to hide.

“Talons and tails!” Atacama cursed. “I only had, like, two bites of a mountain goat for lunch, and the second animal I see in hours gets away from me!”

“I can try to get it,” Sparrow offered. “No promises. I’m not a great hunter, but I’m supposed to be able to hunt in the mountains.”

“Sure,” Atacama said. “I’ll take whatever, as long as I get food, because THREE MOONS I AM HUNGRY.”

Peaceflyt hovered in the air next to Walnut and Pelican, watching Sparrow grappling with the bushes below. After a few moments, she came back with the cougar in her talons.

“Yes!” Atacama exclaimed, as Sparrow tossed part of it to her. “Thanks, Sparrow.”

“No problem,” Sparrow said, tossing another piece to Pyramid.

Peaceflyt stared at the piece of cougar in Atacama’s talons, his hungriness suddenly kicking in again now that he could smell food. “Um…” he hesitated as Atacama turned her head to him. “Can I have a tiny bit? I’m also really hungry.”

Atacama looked down at the cougar in her talons and back at him, probably deciding whether she should eat the whole piece to fulfill her hunger or give some to him.

“Fine,” she decided, tossing part of the leg to Peaceflyt.

“Thanks,” he said gratefully, and glanced over at Pelican flapping beside him. “Do you want any?”

“I never really… liked cougar,” Pelican admitted. “But I guess I can try a little bit, since I haven't had food in so long.”

”Okay,” Peaceflyt said. He ripped off a tiny piece and handed it to him.

Pelican hesitantly bit down on the cougar. He made an odd face and swiftly spit it out.

“Ew. Mountain animals,” Pelican said, disgusted.

“EW?” Atacama protested. “Mountain animals are good!”

“Not to me,” Pelican replied. “I like seafood better.”

“I... prefer neither,” Walnut interjected, panting behind them. “I don't... really like meat in general. But then, most RainWings... don't... eat meat. Speaking of which… if any of you see a bush with berries or fruit, can you tell me?”

“Yeah, if we can ever find any plants,” Peaceflyt said, a mix of sarcasm and sadness. “I’ve barely seen any foliage since we left. Not counting the river valleys.”

“Hopefully we'll be out of the mountains... soon,” Walnut replied optimistically.

Peaceflyt thought she was being a bit too optimistic, as all he could see were craggy peaks. But deep down, he also hoped that they could finally land on some flat ground.

“Should we take a rest soon?” Walnut gasped after about a few dozen more minutes of flying. “Actually… I'm going to… land on that spot over there.” She indicated to a small piece of mountaintop ahead of them that was significantly flatter than its surroundings.

She put on a burst of speed and flew to the small snowy plateau, exhaustedly landing there a moment later. She glanced up at Peaceflyt and smiled.

When Peaceflyt landed next to Walnut a minute later, he collapsed on the ground, realizing how tired his wings were.

“Yeah, it's really tiring, right?” Walnut said sympathetically. “Especially when you're small and your wings are meant to be flying through trees. Not like I’m saying that out of personal experience.”

“I get it,” Peaceflyt replied. “I even think Atacama and Sparrow are tired.” He motioned to the dragons with his head, who had just landed and were panting off to the side.

“I want to fall asleep,” Atacama complained. “But I also want to rescue Peak! I want to do both at the same time! Or I wish that I wasn't so tired!”

“Yeah, same,” Sparrow said in between breaths.

Pyramid landed last, next to Sparrow, while Pelican collapsed next to Peaceflyt.

Peaceflyt got up off the ground and sat up. He looked up at the sky. The sun was slowly starting to set, and the sky was tinting orange.

His stomach growled, and he realized how hungry he was again. ‘When will we have our next full meal?’ he thought sullenly. He saw Walnut dozing off to his right and decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a nap just for a few minutes…

When Peaceflyt opened his eyes about ten minutes later, he found Walnut gone. He quickly stumbled onto his talons and looked around.

“Walnut went off to look for fruit,” Pelican told him, seeing his franticness.

“Oh. Okay.” Peaceflyt walked over to the mountainside and looked down. It took him a few seconds, but a glint of yellow finally caught his eye.

She must be concealing herself, making sure she doesn’t get caught. I guess she found some fruit, Peaceflyt thought. He knew that it was hard for many RainWings to conceal their emotions when they were really strong. Walnut, Peaceflyt guessed, was really happy that she finally found some food.

“Peaceflyt!” Walnut said happily. The air materialized and Walnut appeared, running up the mountainside. She held out both her talons, which were full of berries. “There were a bunch of bushes down there, so I got as much fruit as I could!“ She threw some berries into her mouth. “I’m so hungry.”

“Same,” Peaceflyt agreed. He secretly wanted some of Walnut’s berries, but he didn't want to sound forceful.

“You can have some, if you want,” Walnut said.

“Oh. Ok. Thanks.” He held out his front talons and Walnut dumped a small amount into them.

For a while, they just sat there eating the berries. Pelican came over at one point and started talking to Peaceflyt about where to sleep. “I wish this mountain range was less pointy. I mean, if I have to, I can sleep on a mountain, but it would be really nice to have a kind of flat place to sleep. That’s not cold.”

“Yeah.” Peaceflyt looked at the sun setting. We have to go so much farther. “We should probably go before it gets too dark.”

“I agree,” Pyramid said from his left. She heaved herself onto her feet. “Let’s go find a place to sleep.”

Chapter Seven

“MOONS, my snout is so cold!” Atacama complained. “Could we have found a better place to sleep than on a freaking GLACIER?”

I wish, Peaceflyt thought. The group had surveyed the area multiple times and the only place that wasn’t full of rocks or on a steep mountainside was a glacier. It was cold, but at least it was flat. “It was the only flat place I could find!” he protested, shivering.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” she asked.

“Uh-” Peaceflyt stopped, trying to figure out a decent answer to Atacama’s question. “No.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it was,” she replied bitterly. “I’m a SandWing, so if I stay out here any longer, I’ll probably die.”

“True,” Peaceflyt said. “But it’s almost completely dark now and I don’t want to fly any longer because my wings are really tired.”

Atacama looked at her wings, which were huddled close to her body, seeming to realize how tired they were. “Yeah. But I just wish I had something warm, because holy moons I am cold. Hopefully Pyramid and Sparrow will come back soon.”

Peaceflyt sat there in silence with Atacama, Walnut, and Pelican. Pyramid and Sparrow had gone off to do something. Peaceflyt didn’t know what they were doing, but they did whisper something to Atacama before they headed off.

He looked over at Pelican and Walnut, who were violently shivering. Inside, he wished that he could enchant something to keep them all warm, but he resisted the urge. I can’t believe we have to sleep here tonight, he thought. Maybe we should sleep on a rock. It would be warmer than this.

They sat there shivering for a bit longer, when Peaceflyt heard footsteps from behind him.

“GUYS! We found a cave!” Pyramid yelled, with Sparrow behind her. “Maybe we don’t have to freeze to death tonight.”

“YES!” Atacama cheered so loud that Peaceflyt cast a worried glance around them to see if anyone had overheard that. Luckily, as he suspected, no strange dragons came out of the mountains.

Walnut walked up to Peaceflyt, shivering. “Thank goodness.”

The trek to the cave was surprisingly short, and Peaceflyt was surprised that he hadn't seen it during flyovers.

Sparrow stepped aside as Peaceflyt and the others entered. The entrance of the cave was partly hidden by a boulder to the left, and was large enough for Peaceflyt, the tallest of the group, to get in without hitting his head.

“Ahhh,” Atacama said, turning toward Pyramid and Sparrow. “Thank you SO much.” She flopped down on the floor.

“No problem,” Pyramid replied.

“It wasn't that hard to find,” Sparrow added. Peaceflyt felt a tiny bit of guilt set in, as he'd made his friends wait out in the open when there was an obvious cave right where he flew over. I really suck at finding things.

“I’m going to go to sleep now,” Walnut suddenly said, settling down on the floor. “That trip really tired me out and we'll need energy for tomorrow.”

“Good idea, Walnut,” replied Atacama. She closed her eyes and a minute later, she was snoring.

Peaceflyt sighed in exhaustion. I guess I should probably go to sleep too. Walnut was right- if we want to find Peak, we'll need energy. He laid down and closed his eyes, hoping for a long rest. Of course, that didn’t happen.

. . .

Peaceflyt awoke in the middle of the night to angry thoughts bombarding his brain. The thoughts had a tone that Peaceflyt vaguely remembered... He thought for a moment and sat up with a jolt. DENEB! What’s she doing here? He looked around and realized that his skyfire had slipped out of his pouch that it was supposed to be in. That’s why I could hear her thoughts. Thank goodness. Actually, no, I’M LITERALLY GOING TO DIE if she comes in this cave.

He lifted his head up with his ears strained, trying to hear any talonsteps. Normally, he would be pretty tired right after he woke up, but the adrenaline rushing through him caused him to be wide awake.

‘According to Dacite, he was flying through the mountains with some other dragons from that stupid school,’ Deneb thought. Peaceflyt flinched. Deneb’s thoughts seemed closer now, like she was walking on the glacier that they were on before Pyramid and Sparrow found the cave.

Please don't come any closer, Peaceflyt prayed. Please just don’t see the cave. Please fly away.

‘He should be here somewhere!’ Deneb’s thoughts complained.

She means me, Peaceflyt thought, uncontrollably shaking. She's looking for revenge because Peak and I put her in that cage. Another thought shot through his mind. Wait, did Deneb get Peak? Is that why she’s missing? Peaceflyt didn’t have any time to think about that.

Peaceflyt got up onto his feet and quietly walked towards Atacama. He was trying to turn his scales invisible, but since he was pretty much having a panic attack, he only managed to get them slightly transparent. His scales would only turn invisible when he was calm (or at least not freaking out), so seriously freaking out didn't help. He prodded her lightly with his talons. “Atacama? I think-” He froze. Deneb’s thoughts were suddenly right behind him. He whipped his head around and spat venom. He heard an unpleasant splattering sound as Deneb yanked his tail backwards.

“ATACAMA! GUYS! HELP!” Peaceflyt yelled frantically. Atacama’s head shot up in alarm. “Peaceflyt! Why’d you wake me-” She halted, and when she saw what was happening, she immediately leapt to her feet and ran at Deneb.

Why did my venom not work? Peaceflyt thought, digging his claws into the ground so he wouldn’t be pulled away. He forced himself to turn his head around and saw his venom dripping off metal armor. No! She’s wearing armor! How are we gonna attack her? We’re ALL GOING TO DIE!

Peaceflyt tried kicking Deneb as hard as he could, but his claws hit her armor and sent a burst of pain spiking through his body. Deneb looked at him with a mix of pure evil and annoyance and yanked his tail upwards.

“OW!” Peaceflyt cried, a drop of venom unwillingly spilling out of his mouth. He tried struggling away, but Deneb had his tail in an iron grip, and whenever he tried to get away, she just pulled him closer.

Deneb raked her claws against Peaceflyt’s leg as she pulled him to a corner of the cave. She’s gonna kill me. And then she’s going to kill my friends! And she might have already killed Peak!

Deneb threw Peaceflyt on the ground as hard as she could. Tears sprung up in his eyes, and his vision went blurry for a moment. He lay there for a bit, still dazed. When he finally got the energy to lift himself up, he saw Atacama ram headfirst into Deneb’s ribs. Deneb fell to the ground, the wind momentarily knocked out of her. Atacama smiled at Peaceflyt, then at Pyramid and the other dragons.

She turned her head back to Deneb, but Deneb had somehow already gotten back on her feet. The NightWing leapt at Atacama and slashed her face.

“ATACAMA!” Walnut cried. Peaceflyt’s head shot towards Walnut’s voice. She was towards the back of the cave with Pyramid, Sparrow, and Pelican. Pyramid was quietly raising her tail barb, like she would stab Deneb if she came anywhere near her or her friends. She looked like she was waiting for the right chance, but that right chance hadn’t come yet. Sparrow and Pelican were both towards the back, with looks on their faces wondering if they would die. Walnut looked tempted to use her venom on Deneb.

Peaceflyt looked back at Atacama. The claw marks on the side of her head were bleeding, but not as bad as Peaceflyt thought they’d be. She was still fighting Deneb.

She’s actually pretty good, Peaceflyt thought as Atacama slashed Deneb’s face. Deneb had multiple bleeding scars throughout her body. Atacama had more, but Peaceflyt knew how good at fighting Deneb was and was surprised to see that Atacama was almost just as good.

After a while of the two dragons fighting, Atacama got lucky and landed a hard kick in Deneb’s stomach. Deneb flew towards a corner and Atacama ran after her.

“You’re really going to fight for this pathetic mess, sand-snorter?” Deneb said, snarling. She motioned to Peaceflyt.

“DON’T YOU CALL ME A SAND SNORTER, NIGHTWING!” Atacama yelled. She raised her talons above her head and pummeled Deneb’s underbelly, leaving multiple bleeding slashes along her stomach.

‘Am I really about to be killed by a SandWing dragonet? Deneb thought sourly, attempting to dodge Atacama’s claws. How pathetic is that? Her train of thought switched. Except Marble says I’m the strongest dragon she’s ever allied with. I’ve killed hundreds of dragons in battle. I can take on one SandWing.

Deneb’s brow furrowed. Gathering all her strength, she rolled under Atacama’s claws and propelled her foot into Atacama’s stomach. Atacama flew across the cave and hit her head on the opposite wall. “You don’t want to mess with me,” Deneb said as Atacama slipped into unconsciousness.

“Atacama!” Pyramid yelled. She sprinted over to her and checked to see if she was still alive.

Deneb stalked toward Peaceflyt, looking more evil than ever because of her bleeding scratches.

“Long time, no see,” Deneb said hoarsely. “It probably doesn't seem like that to you, but that's because you weren't the one who was locked up in a cage. You weren’t the one planning revenge.” She raked her claws against the stone floor.

Peaceflyt thought this was kind of an overreaction to being put in a cage for half a day until he heard her thoughts. Her thoughts told him that Deneb wasn't used to being defeated, let alone by two dragonets. Her thoughts also told him that she thought Peaceflyt made her look weak in front of her family. He could feel the rage emitting off her.

“Say goodbye, RainWing.” Deneb paused to study Peaceflyt. “Or SeaWing. Or NightWing. Whatever you are.”

Peaceflyt cast a nervous glance over Deneb’s shoulders. Pelican, Sparrow, and Walnut were watching with horrified expressions.

Deneb raised her claws to attack, and Peaceflyt instinctively shot venom at her face. He knew she had armor on, but he was hoping that some venom would slip through the armor. His heart was pounding so hard in his ears, he was surprised he could still hear what Deneb was saying.

“Good try,” Deneb said wickedly. The venom hadn't slipped through the armor.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I failed and I'm going to die.

She brought her claws down on Peaceflyt. He closed his eyes, brought his arms above his head, and prepared to be killed.

Chapter Eight

Peaceflyt couldn’t think anymore. In the second before Deneb was going to snap his neck, every single thought he’d ever had seemed to flash through his brain. He wanted to scream, but his mouth wouldn’t open.

Deneb’s talons landed on his head and shoved it to the ground. They quickly slipped around his neck, and Peaceflyt shut his eyes as hard as he could. He knew if he struggled, it wasn’t going to do anything. He would die anyway.

He felt Deneb’s muscles tense, and tried to shut his eyes even harder. This is it. His heart was beating so fast, he was afraid that he’d die from a blood overdose before Deneb killed him. He was so panicked, his brain couldn’t seem to process anything anymore.

The only thing he remembered was a sudden voice yelling “OH NO, YOU DON’T!” He dared himself to open his eyes and saw a blur sailing across the air from behind Deneb. The blur splattered right on Deneb’s ear- one of the only parts of her body that had no armor. Deneb tightened her grip on Peaceflyt’s neck as her head whipped around in surprise.

She paused for a second, but that second seemed like an hour to Peaceflyt. He now saw what the blur was- venom.

Deneb’s talons shot off of Peaceflyt and onto her ear. She started screaming in agony as the venom got under her armor and started to drip down to her neck.

“OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! YOU MOONS-BLASTED IDIOTS! I AM GOING TO MURDER ALL OF YOU!” She scraped at her armor and screamed even louder as she just pushed the venom further into herself. Peaceflyt immediately got up and ran towards his skyfire. His brain was so flooded with Deneb’s miserable thoughts, it was almost like he could feel her pain.

As he grabbed the skyfire, he took a shaky breath. Deneb was still howling in pain, but at least her agony wouldn’t be invading his head as well as his ears.

Deneb ran outside to the glacier and shot up into the sky, still screaming. Peaceflyt wondered if the dragons from Jade Mountain could hear her.

“Is she gone?” a voice whispered by Sparrow.

Pyramid looked up from Atacama. “I'm pretty sure she is. And hopefully she'll be gone a long time.”

Walnut’s yellow scales slowly appeared, though they looked more white than before. “I've never done anything like that. Should I have done that?” She violently shook her head. “Yes, she deserved that.” Color started slowly returning to her scales.

“Are you okay?” Pelican interjected.

“Uhh… I think so,” Peaceflyt replied. “Is Atacama okay?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully, she’ll wake up soo-” Pyramid was cut off by the sound of yelling from the cave wall.

“GET AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS, YOU FILTHY NIGHTWING!” Peaceflyt’s head darted over to the voice and he saw Atacama slowly getting off the ground. “Oh. The NightWing’s gone. Are you all okay?”

“I guess,” Peaceflyt responded, followed by everyone else in the cave saying pretty much the same thing.

I should probably make sure no one's still outside, Peaceflyt thought. He didn't hear anyone else but Deneb before, but he just wanted to make sure. Also, he was paranoid. He slipped off his skyfire. He couldn't hear anyone's brains outside, except for a faint chatter of some passing dragons, probably SkyWings, going on a hunt for food late at night. Atacama seemed to have the same idea.

“Peaceflyt, do you hear anyone outside?” she asked. Or maybe she'd just noticed he had taken off his skyfire.

“No, just some SkyWings... like a mile away... probably.” He peeked his head out of the cave opening and saw nothing except the vast wilderness of the mountains.

He looked back in the cave, where Walnut was looking at him with concern. Without his skyfire, he knew she was worried about him and his safety. She was also trying hard not to cringe at Peaceflyt’s injuries.

“I’m… fine,” Peaceflyt managed.

“Your leg and your neck are bleeding pretty bad,” Pyramid pointed out. “It doesn’t look life-threatening, though.”

“Good.” Peaceflyt gritted his teeth. The adrenaline from the attack was starting to fade, so he was starting to feel the pain.

Walnut apparently couldn't bear looking at Peaceflyt’s injuries anymore because she quickly turned away and ran back into the cave. Peaceflyt felt sorry for her. He wanted to immediately heal his cuts, but he knew that that would probably make the others suspicious of him.

“Did I ever mention Deneb is my cousin?” Peaceflyt said, to get his mind off of his current thoughts.

“Wait, WHAT!?!?” Atacama suddenly roared. She walked over to Peaceflyt and shook his shoulders. “YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE PART PSYCHO!!!”

Ha, I'm not the one yelling, Peaceflyt thought, amused. “Yeah, I hate being related to her.” He paused. “Do you think I’m part psycho?”

“Yes,” Atacama said, joking. Peaceflyt knew she wasn't being serious, but he still felt kind of hurt.

“Peaceflyt, you aren't,” Walnut said, gathering up her courage and coming up to them. “I know you aren’t. You don't act like it.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I'm not a psycho.” Peaceflyt said, laying down. “I guess I’ll- ow- go back to sleep. Someone should keep watch... though.”

“I could,” Pyramid volunteered.

“I'll go to sleep, too,” Walnut said. “THANKS FOR WAKING US UP, DENEB!” She yelled. “AND ALSO FOR TRYING TO KILL MY FRIEND!” She growled and laid down on the cold ground.

“Peaceflyt. Why was Deneb after you anyway?” Pyramid asked.

“Uh… I think it was because I had a family reunion not long ago- ow- and… Peak and I… well, we ended up in a… fight with her, and Peak ended up throwing Deneb to the ground. And we got Deneb put in a cage for murderers for a little while. I think she might’ve got Peak…” Peaceflyt trailed off as his eyes started to droop.

I hope Peak is okay. I hope they didn't do anything after they captured her. I hope- I hope she's not dead. Moons, please let her be okay.

Chapter Nine

Peaceflyt woke up to claws prodding his back. “Peaceflyt, we need to get going.” He opened his eyes and found Pelican standing over him.

“Ok. What time is it?” He asked, stumbling onto his talons.

“Mid-morning. It's going to be noon in an hour or two,” Pelican replied. “Come on, come outside!” He started to walk outside, before turning around to look at Peaceflyt.

“Wait, how did your cuts heal so fast?”

Peaceflyt glanced away. “Uh… I guess I'm a fast healer.” He didn’t want to reveal that he had an enchanted leaf hidden under one of his scales that could heal any wound or pain the dragon wearing it had. The leaf would only heal when the dragon wanted it to heal. Peaceflyt had secretly healed his cuts overnight. He was only a small dragonet when he'd made the spell; it was one of his first. He'd recently wanted to remove it, because he thought it made him too powerful. But he kept forgetting to do it.

Peaceflyt started after Pelican, who was heading towards the others. He felt a shiver run through him as his talons hit the ice outside. Moons, it's cold. I forgot we were on a glacier.

“Hi, Peaceflyt!” Walnut greeted him. “We were just getting ready to leave.”

“It took you a while,” Pyramid noted.

Yeah, I literally almost got killed by Deneb at midnight, Peaceflyt thought bitterly. “Yeah, I didn't really get much sleep tonight, as you probably know.”

“Oh, and if we meet that Deneb dragon again, remind me and Atacama to capture her, pluck each of her scales and teeth out, and stab each of her eyeballs," Pyramid said nonchalantly.

“I’m down,” Atacama said, smiling.

“Uhh… okay,” Peaceflyt said uncertainly. He walked up to the small ledge of ice where they were standing, and squeezed between Atacama and Walnut.

“Are we ready to go?” Walnut said eagerly.

“Yes,” everyone other than Peaceflyt replied. Walnut expectantly looked over at Peaceflyt.

He shook his head vigorously. “Sure, yeah,” he said. “Sorry, I'm just tired.”

…

Peaceflyt yawned. It was around ten minutes since they'd launched off that icy ledge, but Peaceflyt still didn't feel completely awake. Even with the icy air blowing full force in his face.

“Do we actually know where we're going?” Peaceflyt asked.

“I don't think so,” Sparrow replied.

“I have no clue,” Atacama said.

“The Sea Kingdom should be east of here if we're heading north,” Pelican said. “Are we heading north?” He looked up at the sun. “I’m not an expert, but I think we're actually heading west.”

“Let me see,” Atacama said. She flew ahead of Peaceflyt and started to gain elevation. Soon she was a good fifty feet above him.

“I don't see anything yet up here.” She turned her head around to look down at the others. “But if we're heading in the wrong direction, THAT won't be good.” She laughed.

Atacama kept flying above them for some time. A few minutes later, she came down to their level. “Yeah, we don’t know where we’re going,” she said. “We’re nearly at the Kingdom of Sand.”

“What?” Walnut asked.

“Fly higher,” Atacama told her. She flew up to the height where Atacama had been.

“Wow,” Walnut exclaimed. “We are.”

Peaceflyt, intrigued, followed Walnut. Once he was at her height, he noticed the thin strip of yellow land in the distance and, not for the first time, felt unsure about flying across the continent to save their friend from evil kidnappers. I thought the rescuing would be the hardest part. It probably will, but we won’t even be able to rescue Peak if we end up getting lost and dying in the mountains!

“Do you think we should go the other way?” Peaceflyt asked.

“Definitely,” Pelican said. “Once we get to the Jade River-”

“Oh, wait!” Peaceflyt interrupted. “I think I know which way to go!”

“Really?” Pyramid said, raising a brow. “If we get lost here, we’ll probably die. And if we’re too slow, it might be too late to save Peak.”

“I think I know which way to go,” Peaceflyt said. “I think if we fly a bit to the east, we’ll reach the Jade River-” Pelican jokingly side-eyed him. “-like Pelican said.” Peaceflyt felt a burst of energy through him. Finally, I’m useful for once! All those hours of looking at maps finally helped! Then, anxiety spilled over him. But what if I’m wrong, and we really can’t find our way out of the mountains? Peak will die and it’ll be all my-

“It’ll be okay,” Walnut said, somehow sensing his distress. “I trust you. You’re good at maps.” She smiled at him and changed directions, flying away from the approaching desert.

Peaceflyt took a deep breath and followed her. He looked behind him and saw the others following. He noticed Pyramid and Sparrow looking slightly skeptical, but he tried not to think of it. At least they trust me. Or Walnut.

Two hours later, it was mid-afternoon, and Peaceflyt was starting to get worried. It’s fine, he tried to convince himself, but his negative thoughts overpowered his positive ones. I didn’t think it would take this long, though. What if we do end up getting lost in the mountains? And dying? Just like what Pyramid said? I don't even know if I can even trust myself.

The group had only taken two breaks so far, and they were all getting exhausted. Meanwhile, Walnut was trying to lighten the mood, with little effect.

“Off topic, but would you rather freeze to death in the mountains, or have an IceWing breathe frostbreath down your throat?” she asked randomly.

“Uhh… neither? Can I vote for that?” Peaceflyt said.

“Uh- sure!”

“That was dark,” Pelican said. He looked over at Peaceflyt and smiled. “Neither’s the right choice.”

“Yep!” Walnut said.

They continued flying for a while more, and Peaceflyt was getting even more worried. It would really help if we could get some guidance to where we’re going, he thought. He was pondering whether they'd see another dragon again when he saw a flash in the distance.

What? “Did you guys see that?” Peaceflyt asked.

“What?” Atacama asked.

“That flash?”

“Oh, that?” Atacama paused. “...No.”

“I saw it,” Pelican said helpfully. “It was like… there.” He pointed to an area where the mountains started fading into hills.

“Yeah,” said Peaceflyt. “Can anyone see if there's anything there?”

“I can try, but it might just be snow,” Sparrow volunteered. She squinted in that direction for a good second or two. “I can't see it very well. But I think there might be a dragon there.”

“What?” Atacama said. “I fly for two hours and now I'm going to get confronted by someone?”

“They could be lost,” Walnut said. “Like us.”

“Maybe.”

“I’m going to have to interact?” Peaceflyt muttered. “At least we can maybe get directions,” he said louder.

“Unless they’re lost,” Pelican pointed out. “Which is probably why they’re out here.”

“They might be hunting,” Peaceflyt said. “But if they're lost, at least we can be lost together.”

The group flew a little bit further. When they got closer, they could see the dragon was-

“An ICEWING?” Atacama exclaimed. “What is an IceWing doing down here?”

“I don't know!” Walnut replied.

Oh crap, Peaceflyt thought. What if we're farther north than I thought?

“What if we're almost to the Ice Kingdom?” Peaceflyt burst out frantically.

“Then we'll just fly our way back down,“ Walnut said. “I don't think we're even close to the Ice Kingdom, so we're gonna be fine.”

Peaceflyt squinted at the dragon again, which they were quickly approaching. Wait…

Upon looking, he saw that the dragon had bigger wings and a much thinner frame than a normal IceWing would. The dragon's scales also had a slightly reddish tint to them.

“I think it's a hybrid,” Peaceflyt said. “Half IceWing, half SkyWing.”

“What’s that?” Pelican said, pointing at the dragon. Peaceflyt looked at him, confused. Does Pelican not know what a hybrid is?

“...what?” Peaceflyt asked.

“Is that a dragonet?” Pelican asked. Peaceflyt saw he was pointing down to a small yellow dragon squirming in a small pouch around the hybrid’s neck.

“I think so,” he responded as the hybrid secured the dragonet in her pouch. She flew up in the air and looked around. Eventually her eyes landed on Peaceflyt, who stopped in midair. He looked behind him and noticed that Pelican, Walnut, and the others were hovering next to him too.

“Who are you?” The hybrid said, not unkindly. “Why are you here in the middle of the mountains?” She flew over to them.

Peaceflyt hesitated, but Pyramid covered for him. “We’re supposed to be going somewhere. Why are you in the middle of the mountains?”

“I’m hunting. I thought I saw a cow or something over here, but I guess I was just seeing things,” the hybrid told them.

“By the way, do you know a way out of these horrible mountains?” Atacama said. She looked exhausted and was panting heavily.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” she said, taking pity on them. “I just came from Aspire.”

“What?” asked Pelican.

“Aspire?” the hybrid said, as if Pelican hadn’t heard her right. “The town a few miles from here?”

“There’s a town here?” Atacama said.

“Yeah, it’s a little bit over those hills.” The hybrid pointed behind herself, where lush green hills lay.

Peaceflyt had a vague feeling he’d heard of a town called Aspire before. “Are we near the Rain Kingdom?” he made himself say.

“Kind of,” she said. “After these hills we’ll be at the Jade River.” (I was right! Peaceflyt thought proudly.) “Aspire’s right across. And if you fly a bit… maybe half an hour, you’ll reach the edge of the Rain Kingdom.”

“Oh! I think I might’ve visited Aspire before then,” Peaceflyt said. He had a vague memory from a year or two ago of dirt paths, small houses, and a really big river, though he forgot why he went there.

“Oh, that’s cool!” the hybrid exclaimed. “What’s your name? I might’ve met you before there."

“Uh… Peaceflyt,” Peaceflyt said uncertainly. “I’m traveling with friends- this is Pelican, Walnut, Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow…” He pointed to each of them as he said their names.

"Oh, I guess I haven't met you before. I feel like I'd remember seeing another hybrid. By the way, I’m Harmony,” the hybrid said. “I’m half IceWing and half SkyWing. Why’d I tell you that? Anyway, who cares. She's Horizon.” She took the small dragonet out of her pouch and held her, so they could see her better. Horizon was a very small SandWing with one defining feature: she had no frill down her back. “She’s cute, isn’t she?”

Horizon babbled something. “She’s probably hungry,” Harmony said.

“I’m hungry,” Atacama blurted.

“AH HUNGY,” Horizon exclaimed, imitating Atacama. Harmony laughed. “Well, then, we should probably go.” She secured Horizon back in her pouch and flew off east.

Peaceflyt looked at Pelican. His expression was tired, but clearly said, ‘Why not? We’ve been flying for hours and have nothing else to do.’

Walnut flew forward first. Peaceflyt and Pelican followed. Peaceflyt looked back and saw Pyramid, Atacama, and Sparrow exchanging unsure looks and reluctantly following. He knew that they only really truly trusted each other. They also trusted Peak, his brain interjected. But I have to make them trust me. I need them to trust me.

Peaceflyt caught up to Walnut, who was now flying next to Harmony. Harmony was talking about her life being a guard. “I’m not doing it now, obviously,” she said. “I’m on a break. I’m just visiting Aspire to see a friend.”

“Nice!” Walnut replied. “Where'd you get Horizon? Did you adopt her?”

“Well, I protect her, if that counts,” Harmony said as the dragonet rolled over in her pouch. She said something after that, but Peaceflyt couldn't hear it due to a sudden gust of wind.

“We’re almost there!” Harmony yelled so the others behind them could hear her. “Usually it gets windy on this side of the river, so this probably means we're close!”

She was right; a minute later, Peaceflyt could see a large river separating the hills they were flying over with a great grassy plain. The same plain that Deneb had tried to kill Peaceflyt in a few days ago. That incident happened closer to the forest, which was far off in the distance, but Peaceflyt still couldn't stop thinking about it until they landed by the river.

“Welcome to Aspire,” Harmony said, grinning at him as their talons touched the ground.

“Yeah. I've been here before,” Peaceflyt said. “I remember this.” He paused, taking in the surroundings: the dirt paths, the small houses, and the river. Harmony had lead them to a little market area on the river’s edge.

“By the way, thanks for getting us out of the mountains,” Peaceflyt said, smiling.

“No problem. Hybrids need to stick together these days.” Harmony took Horizon out of the pouch and put her on the ground, where she happily ran around for a bit until she stopped and sat expectantly at Harmony's talons. Harmony laughed. “I guess I should get going soon. I'm supposed to meet someone. Anyways, you can explore and stuff… it’s not a big village, so if you need help or anything, just find me.”

“Ok,” Peaceflyt said.

“I’m just curious, but where are you guys going?” Harmony asked.

“We’re going to… meet someone,” Peaceflyt lied. It was only kind of a lie, though, as they were going to ‘meet’ Peak. And by meet, they were going to attempt to get her out of captivity.

“Yeah,” Pelican interjected, catching on. “A friend. But she's not here right now.”

“Oh, okay,” Harmony replied. “Well, I guess I'd better get going. Bye!” She picked up Horizon and hurried off into the streets of Aspire, making sure to not touch any buildings. This was when Peaceflyt noticed the small amount of steam coming off her scales.

“Is she a firescales?” Pelican asked quietly.

“Maybe,” Peaceflyt responded. “Or maybe she's some other subcategory of that. She looks like a steamscales.”

“A what?” Atacama asked, whispering.

“Steamscales,” Peaceflyt said. “I don't know much about them but I think they just emit steam or something.”

“Oh,” Atacama said. “Well, since she's gone, what do we do now? Actually, I've got a good idea about what to do. I need to eat because THREE MOONS I AM STARVING.”

Behind her, he saw Pyramid and Sparrow silently agree.

Peaceflyt pointed to what looked like a food stand in front of them. “Ok… let's see… there's a stand over there that's selling-”

“BY THE THREE MOONS, THAT STAND IS SELLING WAGYU!!” Atacama yelled, noticing a wagyu beef stand on their right. Peaceflyt nearly burst out into laughter. “UM, CAN I-”

“Atacama, calm down,” Pyramid whispered loudly.

“Actually, can I have one since you're already there?” Sparrow said.

“Give me one too,” Pyramid said.

“Same for me,” Peaceflyt and Pelican said at the same time.

“I’m going to go to another stand and see if I can find any fruit,” Walnut said. She walked off, leaving Atacama and the wagyu salesdragon, who looked like a SkyWing with white dots scattered across him.

“Oh.” Atacama coughed and cleared her throat. “Ok, can I have… just a second.” She counted all of the dragons behind her. “Can I have five wagyu, please?”

“Yeah, sure…” the salesdragon said, looking under the stand. He grabbed some wagyu and slapped it on the counter. “Do you have anything, or are you new here?”

“What?” Atacama asked.

“Unless you're new here, you need to pay.”

“Uh… this is our first time visiting here,” Atacama said, confused, leaving out the part where Peaceflyt had been here before.

“Okay, then,” the salesdragon said. Seeing Atacama’s puzzled face, he added, “Aspire is a pretty small town. Everyone here knows each other personally. And we’re always welcoming to visitors. So my policy is that if you’re a first-time visitor, your first order will be free. A lot of other stands here have that same policy as well.”

Atacama nodded, but she was focusing on the wagyu on the counter.

“You can have it,” the salesdragon said, picking it up and handing it to Atacama.

Atacama ran over to Pyramid and immediately dug into hers. “MOONS I’M STARVING,” she said through bites. She finished very quickly, and afterwards asked, “Pyramid, do you mind if I take a little bit of yours?”

“I’m fine with that,” Pyramid said. Atacama ripped a small piece off the next slice of wagyu and put it in her mouth. She gave the rest to Pyramid. After she finished chewing the small bit of wagyu she ripped off of Pyramid’s slice, she handed out the rest of the slices to Sparrow, Pelican, and Peaceflyt.

“I never actually tried wagyu before,” Pelican explained, looking at Peaceflyt. “I would really go for some squid right now, but apparently none of these stands sell that. And I'm too hungry to go dive for anything.” He took a bite out of his wagyu and made an odd face. “It tastes.. different than I thought it would. But it's okay.”

“I haven't had wagyu in a while,” Peaceflyt said, taking a bite out of his slice. “I forgot how good it was.”

“Isn’t it?” Atacama said, running over to him. “Pelican, you don't like it?” she said, looking at Pelican's face.

“Not very much,” Pelican said much to Atacama’s horror, “But it's okay.”

Atacama laughed. “Okay, I was gonna say!”

She went back to Pyramid and Sparrow, who were having a conversation about their favorite types of meat.

Suddenly, Walnut appeared from behind Peaceflyt. “Hi!” she said happily. “I just got some berries from that stand. They're really good.” In her talons were some multicolored berries, which she popped into her mouth. “Do you want any?”

“Sure,” Peaceflyt said, extending his talons so Walnut could pour some into them. He dropped one in his mouth.

“Oh, yeah, these are really good!” Peaceflyt exclaimed. “What are they called?”

“There’s huckleberries, blueberries, and cloudberries,” Walnut explained. “They were called ‘berry medley’ on the stand."

“Cool,” Peaceflyt said, chewing one. “I don't think I've had cloudberries before.”

“The fruit vendor says they're pretty rare, and only come from the northern part of the Sky Kingdom and a bit of the rainforest,” Walnut said.

“Oh, well I guess that's why I haven't had them before,” Peaceflyt replied, popping another berry in his mouth.

. . .

After they were done eating and talking in the market area, the group was faced with another question: where would they sleep?

“I don't know!” Peaceflyt said when everyone looked at him to answer that question. “I barely remember my visit here!”

“Well, there must be places we can stay at,” Pyramid said.

“The salesdragon did say it was a small town, though,” said Sparrow.

“I hope we don't have to sleep on the streets,” Atacama said. “That would be bad.”

Peaceflyt and the others decided to head into the dirt roads branching off from the market area. Apparently the market area was the main area of the town, because when they went further away from it, houses became more sparse.

Eventually, they ended up back right where they started.

“Great,” Peaceflyt said sarcastically. He paused and looked at some passing MudWings, seeing if they were also visitors who didn't know where to sleep. No, they look like they live here, Peaceflyt thought. He looked away for a second and thought, Wait.

He tried to look at the MudWings again, but they had rounded a corner.

“What are you looking at?” Pelican asked.

“I thought I recognized one of those MudWings,” Peaceflyt replied.

“Really?” Pelican said. “Why?”

“I thought I might've talked with one of them before.” Peaceflyt, confused, continued walking and caught up with Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow, and Walnut, who were ahead of them.

“Weird,” Pelican said.

They headed back out of the market area, now seeing if there were any abandoned homes they could sleep in. They didn’t have any luck, and ended back up at the market area again.

“What could we do?” Atacama said in agony.

“We could try to talk to someone,” Walnut suggested.

“Fine,” Atacama said. “But only because we’ve been looking at homes for two hours.”

Walnut walked in front of the group, heading back down a street that they’d been on at least four times. Peaceflyt ended up at the back of the group. If we have to talk to anyone, Walnut should do it. She’s good at making friends.

Peaceflyt was just finishing up that thought when he saw the MudWings again, specifically the one he recognized.

He looked at him, wanting to see his face so he could see him better. He didn't actually expect the MudWing to notice him, so when he did, he nearly jumped.

“Peaceflyt?” the MudWing said.

Pantanal? Peaceflyt thought, surprised.

The MudWing, a little bit smaller than Peaceflyt, came running toward him. “PEACEFLYT! Hey! Why are you here?”

“Uh… just stopping by for a night,” Peaceflyt said, awkwardly.

“Oh. Who are all these dragons? Are you with them?”

“Uh… yeah. Pantanal, this is Atacama, Pelican, Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow,” he told him, gesturing to each one of them accordingly.

“Who’s he?” Pyramid asked, pointing at Pantanal.

“Pantanal,” Peaceflyt explained. “We're in a band together.”

“You're in a band?” Atacama asked, surprised.

“Yeah, but we don’t meet up much. Why are you here?” Peaceflyt asked Pantanal. “Are you on vacation?”

“No, just visiting some relatives,” he said, waving his talons.

“Do you know if there's anywhere to sleep here?” Walnut piped up.

“You can come visit the place I'm staying at. Though it's probably going to be way more cramped with six more dragons. I can show you the way there, but I don't know if my aunt will want you to stay. Come on.” Pantanal led the group down multiple side streets, and eventually they wound up on a street they hadn't been on before.

“Here’s the house,” Pantanal said. In front of them was a structure about twice as tall as Peaceflyt. It looked as if it was made of a mix of hardened mud bricks. A few cloths were draped over the entrance like a curtain.

“You can go,” Pantanal said quietly, motioning with his tail for Peaceflyt and the others to go inside first. They did.

“Hi, Melospiza, I’m back!” Pantanal called, walking into the small house behind Sparrow, the last in line.

Just inside the building, a MudWing nearly twice the size of Pantanal was sitting behind a small makeshift stone desk. “Hello, Pan-” the MudWing paused, noticing Peaceflyt and his friends.

“Six more dragons? Four more tribes?” the MudWing said, visibly shocked. “This is a small home, Pantanal! How could we possibly-”

Pantanal broke her off. “I’m sorry, but they're travelers that need a place to sleep! And I know one of them! Just for one night?” he pleaded.

“This is a small house!” Melospiza repeated. “I’m sleeping here! You, Dogwood, and Mudpool are also sleeping here! How can we possibly fit six more dragons?”

Pantanal didn't seem to have an answer. “Please?” he asked.

Melospiza thought for a moment or so. “Fine! But only for tonight. Also,” she turned on Peaceflyt and the others, “No annoying me, especially when I'm sleeping. I get my own corner to sleep in, so I expect you don't go in it and intrude on my privacy.”

Peaceflyt, Pelican, and Walnut nodded quickly.

“Where are Dogwood and Mudpool, anyway?” Pantanal asked. “They’re my siblings,” he mouthed to Peaceflyt.

“Hunting. But that doesn't matter. What are your names?” Melospiza asked suspiciously, turning on Peaceflyt.

“That dragon’s Peaceflyt, he’s in a band with me,” Pantanal explained. “And… uh-” He looked at Peaceflyt for help.

“Walnut, Pelican, Atacama, and Sparrow,” Peaceflyt said quietly. “They’re my friends.”

“They’re friends of Peaceflyt,” Pantanal repeated. “And Peaceflyt is a friend of mine.”

Melospiza looked indifferent. “You can show them the mats, Pantanal,” she said. “But they won't all be able to fit.”

Pantanal nodded, and gestured for them to follow him to the back of the house, where three worn blue mats lay.

“You can take this one,” Pantanal said, nodding at Peaceflyt. He pointed to the center mat. “I know you, so I feel like you should get one.”

“What?” Atacama exclaimed in protest. “Just because you know him?”

Pantanal nodded. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Fine, then I call this one,” Atacama said, walking over to the mat to the left of Peaceflyt and lying on it. Pantanal glanced at them, and then left for another corner of the house. Sparrow and Pyramid were looking intensely at Peaceflyt’s mat in the middle. They probably want to be next to Atacama, Peaceflyt thought.

“Can I have the last mat?” Pelican asked Walnut, to Peaceflyt’s right.

Walnut hesitated. “Aw, but I really want it.”

“Hey, but I haven- ...never mind,” Pelican said. “You can have it. I can sleep on the floor.”

Walnut looked at Pelican with sympathy. “If you really want it, you can have it,” she said.

“No, you can have it. You might need it more.”

Walnut looked defeated on whether or not to take the mat, but just then, Pantanal came back with what looked like a large surface of dirty rubber in his talons.  

“I found an extra mat!” he announced. He laid it flat on the ground in front of Peaceflyt’s mat. It looked old; the once-blue color was faded. It also was dirty and had multiple tears across it. Pyramid and Sparrow inched away from it towards Atacama, who was still laying on her mat.

Everyone hesitated, but eventually Pelican asked, “Can I have it?”

“Sure,” Pantanal said. No one seemed to object. He started towards the entrance of the house, but paused when he heard an angry yell outside of the building. Peaceflyt’s ears perked up.

What’s going on? Peaceflyt got off his mat and walked towards Pantanal, who was now looking outside. He looked troubled.

“LEAVE!” a familiar voice roared. Peaceflyt peeked his head out of the entrance, and saw two MudWings flailing toward them. He couldn't see what was behind them, until...

Harmony!

The hybrid dragon behind them was baring her teeth at the MudWings. In her arms was Horizon, who’s wing looked-

“Broken!” Harmony cried. ”You BROKE HER WING!”

Chapter Ten

Pantanal immediately ran out of the house. “Pantanal, no!” Peaceflyt cried. Don't get involved!

He ran right up to the larger one of the MudWings. “DOGWOOD!” he yelled. “What happened?”

Dogwood shook his head, indicating that he would talk about it later. “Go back in the house,” he scolded.

Peaceflyt pulled his head back inside the house as Pantanal ran in.

“I’m sorry!” Dogwood cried from outside. “It was an accident!”

“But look what you did to her!” Harmony held Horizon up. The dragonet was crying, and her left wing looked slightly off.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Dogwood repeated. “I didn’t mean it!”

Harmony ignored him. “The nearest decent hospital is in Possibility. Great,” she grumbled. She put Horizon in her pouch and flew off as quickly as she could.

Peaceflyt looked outside again and saw a whitish-red blur in the sky. Dogwood and the other MudWing glanced nervously at it, then hurried inside the house.

“Dogwood! Mudpool!” Pantanal exclaimed, running up to them. “What was that?”

Dogwood and Mudpool sat down near the mats, where Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were talking. “An accident,” Dogwood said, as Pantanal sat down next to him.

Mudpool held back a laugh.

“No, it was!” Dogwood objected as Peaceflyt sat down next to Pantanal.

“Ok, but what actually happened?” Pantanal asked. “And don’t say ‘an accident’.”

Dogwood went off, explaining what he and Mudpool had been doing for the past hour. Melospiza, who turned out to be Pantanal’s aunt who’d lost all her siblings in the Hybrid War, had come over to listen. Dogwood was just at a part in his story where they’d somehow killed a bunch of impalas with makeshift bows and arrows (“Because we got distracted and wanted to mess around,” Mudpool added) when Peaceflyt felt a tap on his shoulder. Surprised, he turned around, but the dragon who tapped his shoulder was just Walnut.

“Hi,” she whispered, waving. Peaceflyt saw something blue behind her, but it was just Pelican, who’d also come over to listen. They both sat down next to him as Dogwood was getting to the interesting part of the story.

“So after that, we flew back. And then right before I landed, I thought I saw a bird fly under my wings. And I was still flying, so I obviously had to keep using my wings. But it turned out it was a dragonet and I guess I crushed its wing with mine,” Dogwood said. “And you know what happened next.”

“So you didn't mean it,” Melospiza said.

“No. Well, it wasn't my fault the dragonet flew right where she could get hit.”

“I can still see why that hybrid got so mad, though,” Pantanal added. “I think she's watching out for that dragonet. But I think she needs to keep a closer eye on it.”

“She is watching out for that dragonet,” Walnut stated. “We met them coming here.”

“Really?” Pantanal asked. “What were they like?”

“They were pretty nice,” Walnut said. “If it weren't for them, we’d still be lost in the mountains.”

Dogwood suddenly looked slightly guiltier. Mudpool nearly laughed at him again. Peaceflyt smiled.

. . .

The rest of the evening seemed to pass by uneventfully, much to Peaceflyt’s delight. He didn't need any more unneeded stress in this already stressful mission.

For most of the time, Peaceflyt, Walnut, and Pelican just talked with Pantanal and his siblings. Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow occasionally joined in too, but they mostly had their own conversation.

From talking with Pantanal, Dogwood, and Mudpool, Peaceflyt had found out some things about the siblings he didn't know before. They were hatched right by the ocean, but eventually moved closer to the Rainforest to avoid flooding that was happening there. That was where Pantanal had met Citrus, a RainWing, and Copper, a SilkWing. Citrus was Peaceflyt’s younger cousin, so she’d convinced him to come meet her at a marketplace just outside of the Rainforest. When Peaceflyt arrived there, he’d met Copper and Pantanal and got to know them. Another dragon, a SandWing named Arabian, started arriving at those meetings later on, though Peaceflyt didn’t know too much about her. Together, they formed a band called the Copper Dragonets. (Or at least, that was the most popular idea for a band name because they couldn’t think of anything else). Citrus played the flute, Pantanal played either the trumpet or trombone, Arabian played drums and other percussion-like instruments, and Peaceflyt played the piano. Copper was the lead singer, but occasionally Peaceflyt would have to be a backup singer in case Copper didn't show up to meetings.

So far, the band had composed one song, which they hadn't named yet and were still working on practicing.

“On that subject, have you practiced the song recently?” Pantanal asked Peaceflyt.

“No…” Peaceflyt replied. “I probably should have, though. Have you?”

“I was hoping you wouldn't ask that,” Pantanal said, with a small laugh in his voice. “I haven't touched a trumpet since our last meeting.”

“So you haven't practiced for like two months?”

“Yeah.” Pantanal laughed louder. “I probably need to practice if we're actually gonna finish it. Too bad I didn't bring my trumpet here.”

Their conversation was cut off by Melospiza, who announced that she was going to read and she expected everyone to be quiet. She also ordered Mudpool and Dogwood to make dinner with what they killed from their hunt earlier.

“We can go get the impalas, if no one stole them,” Mudpool said. “We caught a few more things while hunting, but Dogwood kept eating them.”

Dogwood looked embarrassed. “I was hungry!”

“It doesn't matter,” Melospiza said matter-of-factly. “If no one stole the impalas, go get them. If someone did steal them, go and hunt some more until you catch something decent.”

“Ok.” Dogwood and Mudpool both nodded. They hastily ran outside and took to the air. Melospiza watched them leave, then went to her stone desk and grabbed a scroll from underneath it. She walked over to her corner of the home, which was decorated with a few drawings of her siblings, and sat down to read.

“What were we talking about again?” Pantanal asked. “Oh, yeah, music.”

Him and Peaceflyt talked for a while more, until Dogwood and Mudpool came back with three impalas speared in their talons. “Nobody stole them,” Mudpool announced.

“Okay,” Melospiza said, not looking up from her book. “Good job. Now are we going to have it raw or prepared?”

Dogwood looked at Mudpool. Mudpool shrugged and dumped the impalas into the floor.

“We have visitors, why don't you prepare it?” Melospiza suggested.

“Sure,” Mudpool said. “Dogwood, can you drag them to the desk?”

Dogwood nodded curtly, and picked up the impalas. He walked over to Melospiza’s desk and dumped them there.

Pantanal looked at Peaceflyt. “I might have to go and help.” Peaceflyt nodded, and Pantanal got up and walked to Melospiza’s desk, where Dogwood was skinning them.

Soon, dinner was ready. Pantanal, Dogwood, and Mudpool had the impalas prepared on a smooth red cloth on the ground. They had been cooked with the siblings’ fire and had different types of seasonings scattered across them.

Melospiza was the first one at the food. She bent down, inspecting it.

“Looks good,” she said. “You’ve outdone yourselves.”

“You told us to prepare it for our guests,” Dogwood pointed out.

“Yes, but I wasn't expecting it to look this good,” Melospiza said. “You, Mudpool and Pantanal aren't that good of chefs.”

Pantanal, who was standing on the opposite side of the food next to Mudpool, jokingly rolled his eyes at Peaceflyt and smiled.

“If no one minds, I'm going to start eating,” Melospiza announced. She sat down and clawed a medium-sized chunk out of one of the impalas.

Walnut looked at her with disgust. “I'm going to go get some fruits from outside,” she said hesitantly. “Do you want any?” she asked Peaceflyt.

“Sure,” Peaceflyt replied. She looked back at him, smiled, and hurried outside.

Peaceflyt turned his head back on the meal in front of him. Pantanal, Mudpool, and Dogwood were already eating along with Melospiza. Sparrow was too, but she kept running over to Atacama and Pyramid after she got her pieces. Peaceflyt also noticed that Pelican wasn't eating.

“Hi,” Peaceflyt said awkwardly, sliding up next to him. “Are you… hungry?”

“Yes,” Pelican replied grumpily. “I just wish I'd get to have some seafood for once today.”

“You could always go outside and ask someone if there's anything in the river,” Peaceflyt said. “There are probably SeaWings here. Maybe.”

”I’ll just go and dive in the river and see if I can see anything,” said Pelican. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Sure,” Peaceflyt said. “But first I'm going to grab a little bit of the impalas, because I'm hungry and there might be nothing there.”

“Okay,” Pelican said, as Peaceflyt ran to the impalas on the ground. He nearly ran over Mudpool as he bent down to get a piece. “Sorry,” he murmured.

Peaceflyt got back up and walked to Pelican with a large chunk of impala in his mouth. “I’m ready,” he said as he swallowed his food.

Pelican smirked at him. “Okay,” he said.

The two walked outside and down the streets Pantanal had shown them up when they first arrived. They reached the river surprisingly soon without getting lost. Peaceflyt didn’t see Walnut, so he assumed she went another way to get the fruits.

Pelican and Peaceflyt walked down to the rivers’ edge, which was still in sight of the market. “Do you want to go in first?” Pelican asked.

“No, you go,” Peaceflyt said, beckoning to the river. Pelican nodded and dove in, and Peaceflyt, closing his eyes, soon followed.

As soon as Peaceflyt couldn’t touch the riverbed, he opened his eyes. For a few seconds, he couldn’t see Pelican and panicked, but it turned out that was just because the water was really muddy. He squinted, swam further into the river and found him.

‘Hello,’ he flashed in Aquatic. He couldn’t actually fluently speak Aquatic, because it was physically impossible for him to do. Since he was a hybrid SeaWing, he hadn’t inherited all of the stripes needed to speak it.

‘Hello,’ Pelican replied, spotting him. ‘Come.’ He gestured downwards.

Peaceflyt swam towards the SeaWing. When he got there, Pelican plunged down further.

What? Peaceflyt thought, unsurely. He slowly followed him, looking out on all sides.

Suddenly, he saw some flashes of light in front of him. It was Pelican, saying something about fish.

Peaceflyt tried to figure out what he was saying. He got close enough to Pelican to see his face in the dark water. This river's deep, he thought subconsciously. Pelican flashed the thing about fish again, and Peaceflyt, unsure, flashed ‘What?’

Pelican flashed it twice more before he realized Peaceflyt didn't know what he was talking about. Instead, he lit up all his stripes and pointed under him.

Peaceflyt looked down. Right under their tails, a school of medium-sized fish were swimming. Apparently they didn't know that two huge dragons were just above them, because they seemed in no effort to swim away. Peaceflyt curled in his tail to make sure it didn't startle the fish.

Suddenly, Pelican dove into the school, stabbing multiple fish at once. He swam back up to Peaceflyt with a fish on each claw. Peaceflyt gave a talons-up, and swiftly tried to swim after the now-escaping school of fish. They were surprisingly fast, and Peaceflyt only managed to catch two before he decided that it was a waste of time chasing after them.

He swam back to Pelican, who was waiting for him. He'd already eaten one of the fish on his claws. He pointed up to the surface, and Peaceflyt nodded. Both of them burst up through the surface of the water and flew back to the house.

When they got there, Walnut was back. She was sitting on her mat with fruit in her talons, waiting for them.

“Oh, hi!” she said, noticing them. “I see you went fishing!”

“Yeah, we did,” Pelican replied, sitting down and dumping all the fish he'd caught on the ground.

“I was wondering where you were,” Walnut said, looking at Peaceflyt, “but no one knew. But Pantanal said that you went off with Pelican.”

“Yeah, he really wanted seafood,” Peaceflyt said jokingly. “So I came with him.”

“Okay, but I caught, like, half the entire school of fish!” Pelican said expressively. He picked one of the fish off the ground and ate it. “And I really wanted seafood.”

Peaceflyt stuck one of the fish on his claws in his mouth. “Could you tell what fish that was?” he asked Pelican.

“I don't know! It was dark!” he replied. “I'm just glad I don’t have to eat more land animals.” He ate another of the fish.

Peaceflyt ate the second one he'd caught, and then headed to the impalas which everyone was crowding around. He peeked over Pantanal’s shoulder and noticed that most of it had been eaten.

“Oh, you can have some,” Pantanal said, noticing him and moving aside.

“Uhh… thanks,” Peaceflyt said hesitantly, walking up to grab some.

After eating the bit he grabbed, he walked back to Pelican and Walnut, who were having a conversation.

“Oh, do you want any fruits?” Walnut asked, turning to Peaceflyt.

“Sure,” he said. Walnut went over to her mat and grabbed some apples.

“I found an orchard a few roads away from here,” Walnut explained. “All the fruits high up were gone, but most of the ones close to the ground were still there. Apparently everyone who lives here is tall. I guess it's good that I'm short.” She leaned forward and handed an apple to Peaceflyt.

“Thanks,” he said, biting into it. Walnut walked back to her mat, grabbed an orange, and ate quietly. Peaceflyt and Pelican looked at each other and decided to join her.

. . .

Nightfall came quickly. Peaceflyt and Pantanal decided to go out for a flight just to stretch their wings and talk, right before the sun set.

“So have you seen Copper recently?” Peaceflyt asked him. “Or like anyone?”

Pantanal laughed. “That’s what I was going to ask you,” he said. “But no. The last time I saw him was during our last practice. Have you seen anyone?”

“Uh… not since our last practice either,” Peaceflyt responded. “But I did see Citrus a few days ago in the rainforest.”

A few days ago, Peaceflyt thought. He had a hard time believing that only three days ago, he’d been at school with barely any worries at all. Was it three days? Or four? However long it was, it seemed like weeks ago to Peaceflyt. Back then, his only worries were about school and friends (and Deneb, his mind interjected). But at least he didn't have to worry about his best friend dying. Or him dying. Or five more of his friends that were coming with him dying.

Pantanal must have noticed his worried face, because he put one of his talons on his shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

Peaceflyt snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Chapter Eleven

Pantanal and Peaceflyt flew back to the house just as the sun went down over the horizon, and Walnut and Pelican were waiting for him there.

“Hey, Peaceflyt! Hi, Pantanal,” Pelican greeted them as they swooped down outside. “How was that?”

“Good,” Peaceflyt said. “Very inspiring.”

Pelican laughed. He and Walnut led them back inside the house. Peaceflyt noticed the cloth that the impalas were on was gone. Melospiza was still reading in her corner, and Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were talking on the mats. Dogwood and Mudpool were playing with what looked like a wooden board game of some sort.

“Hey, Pantanal! You’re back! Want to play this with us?” Dogwood smiled and beckoned him over.

“Oh. Umm...” Pantanal glanced at Peaceflyt. “Yeah, sure.” He walked over to their game, sat down, and grabbed a piece.

Peaceflyt, Pelican, and Walnut headed toward Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow and joined their conversation, which was apparently about something Sparrow had seen. The conversation changed topics quite frequently, and they were having so much fun talking that they didn’t even realize that it was eventually practically midnight. Peaceflyt only noticed this when he heard Pantanal and his siblings fall to the ground, asleep.

“You know what, I’m getting pretty tired too,” Atacama yawned after Peaceflyt mentioned that. She slid into a lying position on her mat and within seconds was snoring loudly.

“Did you tell her that we were supposed to share the mat?” Sparrow whispered to Pyramid.

“Yeah, but I don't know if she remembers,” Pyramid replied. “If not, I guess we'll have to wake her up.”

“I guess so,” Sparrow said. “Anyway, I’m gonna go to sleep.“ She laid down on the floor next to Atacama. “‘Night.”

“‘Night,” Pyramid replied, doing the same.

“I should probably get to sleep as well,” Peaceflyt told Pelican and Walnut. Walnut looked half-asleep, but she managed, “Yeah, me too. Goodnight,” before she fell onto her mat next to him.

Peaceflyt and Pelican both laid down on their mats and exchanged goodnights. Peaceflyt was just about to drift off to sleep, when-

“AAAAAAGH!” A sudden burst of pain shot through Peaceflyt’s head, causing everyone to wake up. Pelican and Walnut immediately leapt to their feet.

“THREE MOONS!” Pelican cried. “Are you okay!?”

“What in the moons was that?” Pyramid and Atacama both groggily stood up and looked at Peaceflyt, confused. Sparrow soon followed. Walnut, worried, put a talon on his arm. “Peaceflyt?” she said, her voice wavering.

But Peaceflyt didn't respond. He collapsed to the floor, eyes blank. He couldn't hear anything except for a deafening rushing noise in his head.

“What’s happening? Peaceflyt! Can you hear me?” Walnut asked desperately.

Still no answer. Peaceflyt didn't move- he couldn't.

“Peaceflyt!” Walnut cried again. “Please hear me!”

There was a long silence. Then he breathed in, and an ominous voice unlike his own came out of his mouth.

Hidden away

A lost tribe prevails

If no one can stop them

No one will avail.

Those unexpected

Will take the challenge

That many seek to avoid

If then they fail,

All will be lost

And lives will be destroyed.

The room was silent for a second. Then the color returned to Peaceflyt’s eyes and he heaved in a breath. He got up and saw everyone staring at him, worried.

“Peaceflyt! Are you okay?” Walnut asked as Atacama exclaimed, “What was THAT?”

“Uhh…”

“Um… Peaceflyt, was that a prophecy?” Pyramid asked. “That sounded a lot like a prophecy. Yep, definitely a prophecy.”

“Uhh… yeah, maybe. Give me a second, that gave me a headache.” Peaceflyt laid down again and rubbed his head. Apparently prophecies gave you headaches. That sounds like something Tsunami would say.

After his headache went away, Pyramid continued. “So as I was saying…”

“Uh… yeah. It probably was. A prophecy.”

“You never told us you could tell PROPHECIES!” Atacama exclaimed.

“I didn't know that I could!” Peaceflyt said. Everyone stared at him, so he decided to explain.

“Uh… yeah. So, basically, I was born under the three moons, right? And I'm part NightWing- you could probably tell because of my wings. So that gives me the powers of mind-reading and prophecy. But apparently when I was born, the second moon was kind of blocked out by a tree. So my parents didn't think I'd be able to tell prophecies. I didn't either, but apparently I can, because I just did.”

Walnut looked at him in awe. “Wow,” she breathed. “That’s cool. I kind of wish I could do that.”

“I wish I couldn't,” Peaceflyt told her. “It’s kind of painful, actually.”

I could tell,” Atacama interjected jokingly.

“I think I’m gonna go back to sleep,” Sparrow said, laying down again.

“Aren't we gonna decipher it?” Pelican asked.

“I don't know,” Pyramid said. “My brain’s too tired to be deciphering anything right now.”

“Maybe we can do it later,” Atacama suggested.

“It sounds important, though. I mean, 'all will be lost' and 'lives will be destroyed' sounds kind of ominous,” Walnut said.

“Also the part about there being a lost tribe,” added Pelican. He walked over to Peaceflyt. “How did that feel?”

“What?”

“Giving the prophecy?”

“Well, I couldn't move. And then there was this really loud rushing noise in my head. And then all of a sudden, my voice was speaking, but I couldn't control it. I do not want to do that again.”

“Well, that sounds scary,” Pelican said.

“Hopefully it won't happen again,” Walnut reassured him. She turned around and saw Pyramid and Atacama lying on the ground.  

“I’m going to join Sparrow and sleep,” Pyramid announced. “If we’re going to leave tomorrow, we’re going to need a lot of it.”

“Yeah. Same with me,” Atacama added. She yawned and closed her eyes, and soon they were both dead to the world.

“I think we should go to sleep now,” Walnut suggested. Peaceflyt and Pelican both nodded, and they both laid their heads down and closed their eyes.

Peaceflyt had a dream. In his dream, he saw himself on a rock in the middle of the ocean. He looked around, but there was no one in sight. He realized that he couldn't even see himself. He must've been invisible. He felt his brow furrow in his dream, like he was thinking really hard. He felt a pang of surprise and happiness when he saw Walnut, Pelican, and the others hovering behind him.

Suddenly, the dream switched. He was flying toward the Sky Kingdom. He could hear dragons talking behind him- Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow, and Peak. He turned his head around to look at them. As soon as his eyes landed on Peak, he nearly burst out in excitement. PEAK! He yelled. But Peak couldn't hear him. She kept talking with Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow like nothing had happened.

Peak? Peaceflyt repeated. Still, she didn't look over. He flew to her and held out a talon to tap her. But as soon as he touched her, she vanished into thin air. He watched as Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow disappeared along with her, one by one. Peak! Peaceflyt called. Atacama! Pyramid! Sparrow!

...Anyone?

He then saw a load of gray dragons traveling toward him. He felt a pang of dread and tried to fly away, but they were faster than he was. As they got closer, he saw a murderous glint in their eyes. The dragon in the lead stretched their talons out at Peaceflyt’s neck. When the dragon’s claws landed there, his vision faded to black, and he disappeared as well.

Chapter Twelve

Peaceflyt woke up the next day feeling surprisingly awake. He got up off his mat and saw that everyone else was still asleep. Except for Pantanal and his siblings, who must've left to go somewhere.

Peaceflyt decided to go on an early morning walk. The air was crisp, though it smelled a little dirty. He noticed that barely anyone was out even though the sun was up. He walked around Melospiza’s block and returned to the house to find Pantanal and his siblings there.

“Good morning,” Pantanal greeted him quietly when he came in.

“‘Morning,” Peaceflyt whispered. He walked up to him and awkwardly stood there for a while. Eventually he asked, “Would Melospiza get mad if I borrowed a scroll from her bookshelf to read?”

Pantanal thought about that. “As long as it's on the middle shelf, I think you'll be fine,” he finally answered. He pointed to Melospiza, who was snoring loudly in her corner. “If you’re quiet, she won't even notice. She normally wakes up around mid-day.”

Peaceflyt nodded. He walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed a random scroll from the middle shelf, like Pantanal suggested. He turned it over in his talons and saw that it was about the history of the Jade Plains, which were apparently the plains Aspire was in. Peaceflyt actually kind of liked random history, and the scroll wasn't too long, so he decided to sit on his mat and read it until his friends woke up.

Pelican woke up first just as Peaceflyt finished the book. They sat there and talked until the others awoke. Soon, Walnut, Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were all up. Pyramid pointed out that it would be good to leave early so they could have a head start, and everyone else agreed. So right after a short breakfast, Peaceflyt bid goodbye to Pantanal and his siblings, and they all left before Melospiza woke up.

Their current plan was to try and reach the shore of the Bay of a Thousand Scales within the day. They were planning on staying the night there, unless they were fast and able to reach an island.

The flight out was uneventful. Peaceflyt had a vague idea of where they were going, and when he saw mud, he knew they were in the right place. Not the light brown mud near the Rainforest, but the reddish orange mud that only existed by the coast. They continued flying until Sparrow spotted a huge lake in the distance.

“We’re already at Queen Moorhen’s lake?” Peaceflyt exclaimed. “It’s not even noon!”

“Well, kind of,” Pelican said. “It nearly is.” He pointed up at the sun, which was high in the sky.

“Oh. Ok. But still, that was fast!”

“Yeah, it was,” Atacama agreed. She looked back at the lake and got blinded for a second. “AH!” She screamed, covering her eyes.

“What?” Pyramid said, glancing warily around. “Did you see someone?”

“No, I saw something,” Atacama said. “The sun is really bright shining on the lake.”

“Oh.” Pyramid laughed. “True.”

They flew closer to the lake and decided to land on a grassy area across from Moorhen’s palace, where they decided they would eat and take a break.

“I’m going to dive for fish,” Pelican announced. Peaceflyt nodded, and Pelican dove into the lake. He came back up very quickly with six fish in his blue talons, which were shining in the sunlight.

“That was fast,” Peaceflyt observed.

“Yeah, I'm just that good,” Pelican joked, and tossed a fish to Peaceflyt. He caught it in his talons and promptly ate it.

Just as Peaceflyt was about to thank Pelican, Pelican handed two more fish to him. Peaceflyt, surprised, said, “Oh! Thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Pelican replied, eating his remaining three fish. “If you want more, you'll have to get them yourself.”

“It’s fine. I'll have some other food,” Peaceflyt said indifferently. He walked over to a nearby apple tree and whacked it with his tail. About a dozen apples came cascading down, along with a large branch that hit him on the head. He yelped in pain, and immediately thought how dumb that must've looked. He glanced around, but luckily no one was looking at him. He rubbed his head and grabbed the apples off the ground.

“Hi, Walnut.” Peaceflyt walked over to her and handed her about three quarters of the apples he had. “You can have these if you want.”

“Oh, thanks!” Walnut said happily. “That’s a lot! Are you sure you don't want more?”

“No, I'm fine. I already had some fish.”

“Oh, okay,” Walnut said. “But this is still a lot. I don't know if I can eat all this.”

“We could always save some for later,” Peaceflyt suggested, and Walnut seemed fine with that. She started eating, and Peaceflyt wandered over to Pelican, who had just finished his fish. He was standing right next to Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow, who were all sharing a cow they'd found somewhere.

“Oh, hey,” Atacama said, noticing him.

“Hi,” Peaceflyt replied.

“Do you think we should maybe get more out of view of the palace?” Atacama asked. “In case someone sees us?”

“Sure,” Peaceflyt said. “But where could we go?” He looked back at the land around him. It was mostly open grass with a small tangle of bushes and trees off to one side.

“I don't know! It was just a suggestion,” Atacama answered. She turned back to Pyramid and Sparrow, who were discussing what might've happened to Peak.

“I don’t think she’s dead. Peak’s definitely not the type of dragon to accept death,” Sparrow was saying.

Pyramid and Atacama laughed like Sparrow had said a joke. “Well, she won’t accept death from anyone except herself,” said Pyramid.

“Definitely,” Atacama agreed. “I wouldn't be surprised if she was burning her prison down. Or wherever she is right now.”

They continued talking for a while until Atacama suddenly froze.

“Atacama?” Peaceflyt asked unsurely.

“There are MudWings coming this way RIGHT NOW,” she whispered loudly.

“From where?” Pyramid breathed.

Atacama slowly lifted her right talon and pointed behind them. “I can hear them,” she muttered. Pyramid cursed under her breath.

“We need to hide,” Walnut said, just as the MudWings came into view. There were two of them walking their way, chatting about something. They were both holding spears, so Peaceflyt guessed they were guards for Queen Moorhen patrolling the lake. And he figured they probably wouldn't be very peaceable if they saw a bunch of dragons from different tribes, including a hybrid, right across from their queen's palace.

Peaceflyt’s mind was racing. He ran to the tangle of trees and flung out his wings. Walnut ran towards him and ended up next to him. “Walnut, open your wings and go invisible,” he whispered. She did.

Peaceflyt beckoned the others over. “Atacama, Pelican, get behind me. Pyramid and Sparrow, get behind Walnut.”

Pyramid and Sparrow hurried to where they’d last seen the RainWing and crouched there. Atacama and Pelican did the same behind Peaceflyt, and he promptly went invisible. He was desperately hoping that he was fully invisible and that no one's wings or tail would stick out from behind him. Luckily, as the MudWings approached them, they took no notice.

“This is boring,” the one on the left said. “This is the seventh time we've been around the lake. We haven't even seen anything.”

“Yet,” the other replied. There was an awkward silence, until he continued, “Yeah, it is boring.” They continued trudging towards where Peaceflyt and the others stood. Though his heart rate was skyrocketing, Peaceflyt held his breath and tried not to move a muscle.

“By the way, did you hear about that MudWing at the school at Jade Mountain?” The first one said, fiddling with his spear. “The one that got killed?”

“Yeah, I think so,” the other replied. “Do you know what happened to him?”

“From what I heard, there was this dragon, I forgot what tribe, whose daughter was killed by a MudWing near the school. Who apparently looked like the one that died. So the dragon went out to avenge their daughter, but… they got the wrong MudWing.”

“Wow.” The second one paused. “My condolences to them. Do you remember the MudWing’s name?”

“I forgot,” the first one said, stopping right next to Peaceflyt. “Something like Marsh or... Bog?” The MudWing shrugged and continued walking with his partner.

As soon as they were out of view, Peaceflyt slowly and carefully slipped his skyfire out of his arm pouch, trying to not make any noise. He was now very interested in this story. Someone died at school?

He could hear the faint chatter from the MudWing guards rising up again from far away, and he decided to concentrate his mind on their minds. Who is it? He saw a fuzz of brown in one of their minds, and concentrated harder.

They seemed to be talking about something else now and were far in the distance; Peaceflyt could barely hear them. He almost stopped paying attention to their minds when he saw a familiar face in one of them. It seemed like one of the guards had remembered the dead MudWing’s name, just as Peaceflyt recognized the face.

“Swamp,” the guard said suddenly to the other. “That was his name. He was a new student, too, he arrived at the school just last year.”

Swamp? It took a while for Peaceflyt to comprehend. He couldn’t even form the thought for a few seconds. It was SWAMP? Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. Swamp? Was it really not anyone else? Was it really Swamp? He was trying to stay invisible, but it was hard to focus on doing that when he was in a cold sweat.

Swamp? The one Swamp? My friend Swamp? He's dead? Color flooded back through Peaceflyt as he closed his wings and laid on the floor.

“Peaceflyt?” Walnut asked, concerned, fading back into color as well. “Are you okay? What's wrong?”

“Swamp,” Peaceflyt whispered. “He’s dead.” He couldn't bring himself to cry, not right now. He was still in a state of shock.

“Swamp?” Pelican exclaimed in surprise. “The one from school?”

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt said.

“How do you kno- oh,” Pelican said, noticing the skyfire on the ground next to Peaceflyt’s arm.

“They also said it,” Peaceflyt managed.

“I didn't hear them-”

“They were really far away when they said it.” Peaceflyt’s chest heaved in sorrow. “I’m sorry. I have to take a break.” He walked over to the lake and dove in. There, he could have more time to himself and his thoughts.

He’s my friend! Why did he have to die? He never did anything to deserve that! He was always super nice! All the MudWings at Jade Mountain are nice! Why would someone kill one of them? That idiotic murderer, don't they know they just killed an innocent dragonet? This train of thought continued for a while and he let himself cry. But eventually when he felt better, he decided to go back up to the surface.

“Are you okay?” Pelican asked as rose out of the water.

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt lied. He looked at his arm and realized that his skyfire was still off and he was subconsciously listening to his friends’ minds. From what he could tell, Walnut and Pelican were distressed about Swamp’s death. They weren't as close to him as Peaceflyt but still knew him. Meanwhile, Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were mostly just surprised, as they didn't really know him well. But the news of his death brought to their attention Peak, and if she was still alive.

Oh yeah, Peak, Peaceflyt thought, momentarily distracted. He picked up his skyfire and put it back into his pouch, muting everyone's thoughts. I really really hope she's still alive. I don't want there to be two deaths. How will I deal with that? He stood still for a second, thinking about that, when he overheard Sparrow say something.

“Where even is Peak?”

Oh, yeah! Peaceflyt thought, an idea striking his mind. I could use my location rock. Why didn't I think of that? Maybe it would help. He reached inside his pouch and pulled out the rock, which was under a few other animus-touched objects. It still had the engraving on it from the first time he asked it where Peak was. I’m glad no one stole it, he thought. Then they’d know where Peak was. They probably wouldn’t know who Peak is, though. But still.

“Erase,” he said. The message on the rock promptly disappeared. Then he put his mouth up close to the rock and ordered, “Tell me where Peak the SkyWing is right now.”

A second or two passed, and then a new message began etching itself in the rock. “Peak the SkyWing-NightWing hybrid… is currently in the middle of the ocean… between the Sea Kingdom and the Sky Kingdom,” Peaceflyt read as the message appeared. “Obstacles have kept the exact location hidden.”

Obstacles? Peaceflyt thought. What obstacles? Can't this work through anything? Did I not enchant it right? Unless this prison is more high-tech than I thought.

He walked over to where his friends were standing and extended his arm so they could see the rock. “I kind of found out where Peak is. Again.”

Everyone's heads immediately turned towards him. “Really?” Atacama said excitedly. “Is it any different?”

“It’s just worded different,” Peaceflyt explained. “But there's a little bit more info.”

“I gotta see this,” she said excitedly, running up to Peaceflyt. He held the rock up so Atacama could read it.

“Peak the SkyWing-NightWing is currently in… the middle of the ocean… between the Sea Kingdom and the Sky Kingdom,” she read slowly.

“So basically the same as last time,” Pyramid observed. “That helps.”

“Wait, there's more,” Peaceflyt said. “It says ‘obstacles have kept the exact location hidden.’ Isn’t that weird?”

“Well, if it can get through anything, yeah,” Pyramid said.

“See? I thought it could get through anything! It's enchanted!”

“Hopefully it’s nothing too serious,” Walnut interjected.

“What if the dragon who made the prison made it protected from animus magic?” Pelican asked.

“Then they'd be dangerous,” Sparrow said. “They'd have to be an animus dragon.”

“Or they kidnapped one and forced them to enchant it,” added Pyramid with an extremely concerned face.

“That would be bad,” Peaceflyt said.

“We do know that she's still in the same place, though,” Walnut said optimistically. “Last time it also said she was between the Sea and Sky Kingdoms. So at least we know she isn't being moved.”

“That’s true,” Pyramid said. She looked around for Atacama, but realized she wasn't next to her anymore. “Atacama?”

“We gotta go,” a voice behind Pyramid said. Pyramid whipped around and saw Atacama impatiently waiting there.

“What are you-”

“We know where Peak is. The middle of the Sea and Sky Kingdoms. So we should go! Come on!” She flew up in the air and hovered there, waiting for her friends to join her.

“That makes sense,” Sparrow said, and she and Pyramid both took off and flew over to her.

Atacama looked expectantly at Peaceflyt, Walnut, and Pelican. Walnut looked at Peaceflyt and said, “I mean, she has a good point.” She joined them as well.

“Yeah,” Pelican said. “Why not? Let's go.”

Peaceflyt nearly felt an anxiety attack coming on. We're going to the ocean. We're getting close. WHICH IS GOOD. But that means I'm closer to death than ever. I might die. While trying to help a dragon in a prison. Maybe I should just fly back from here-

DON'T think that way! Don't think like a coward! Don't be selfish! Your friend’s life depends on you! Multiple of your friends’ lives depend on you! He looked at the faces of Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow, and Walnut hovering in front of him. If he left now, they might get killed by something in the Sea Kingdom Peaceflyt could easily protect them from with magic. No matter how much he wanted to abort the mission, he knew it was too late. Plus, looking into his friends’ eyes, he knew he would do as much as he could to prevent their deaths. And that meant going.

Peaceflyt took a deep breath. “Ok, I’m ready.” Pelican gave him a reassuring smile, and they took off north with Walnut, Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow.

Sea Kingdom, here we come.

Chapter Thirteen - Peak's Perspective

It had been about three days since she’d been kidnapped. She had at first used her mind reading, and then her eyes, to determine that these dragons weren’t SkyWings. These mystery dragons called themselves StoneWings. The mind reading was useful to figure out that she was on an island, a small one. Her mind reading had a small radius, and the populated area of the island seemed to barely go out of that.

Peak had disguised herself with magic as soon as she regained consciousness. Thankfully, she had still been inside of a bag, so no one knew she was the banished hybrid princess. She didn’t have to waste her soul as her scales were already enchanted to disguise herself as a regular SkyWing whenever she willed them to.  She didn’t actually know why she could do this, it was always something she could just do.

She was still the same bright orangey red, but instead of her royal purple scales there were the same bright orange scales that adorned her face. The NightWing body parts she had had been swapped for SkyWing ones. Her eyes were still the exact same, harsh, bright violet. Peak thought her disguise worked well.

There was a commotion from above and Peak’s guard yawned. Peak thought to check her thoughts, to see what was going on. Sounds like that NightWing the Queen likes is back again.

Traitor! Peak thought, judging the NightWing. What kind of an idiot would betray an entire continent for untrustworthy dragons who kidnapped dragonets?

Peak’s question was answered when she heard a familiar NightWing’s thoughts. I’ll kill those dragonets. And for those Peaceflyt, the other RainWing, and that SandWing, I’ll make their deaths slow. And no one will even try to stop me when I’m awarded with my power. She saw an image of Deneb being thrown to a wall and then getting venom splattered on her.

Peak smiled a little. So Deneb met my friends. That seemed to go well. If she meets them again though, that squirrel-brained camel turd will lose her breathing privileges.

Sadly though, Deneb’s arrival meant that her posture could be recognized, if that was a strong way she recognized Peak. Especially combined with the fact that her disguise didn’t change much about her frame, basic bone structure or even really her face, she needed to be even less easy to recognize.

Peak made her posture more casual, more the way that the other firescales held themselves, like they weren’t trying to be noticed. Peak looked similar to the way SilkWings used to, back when they were under the control of HiveWings. Peak was not liking this already.

Peak wished in the moment that her powers were just a little bit stronger, then she could peer directly into Deneb's mind and know what was going on. For example, Peak would like to know why Deneb decided to work for Queen Marble. It was probably because of murder reasons or something, but Peak wanted to be sure. Peak’s powers were strong enough to get her the information that the StoneWings have a magic tracking artifact. Good thing that the StongWings’ thoughts about magic artifacts were too prideful to be successfully subconsciously hidden. Sadly, this meant that she couldn’t strengthen her powers or enchant a scroll to answer questions.

Thinking about Deneb made Peak think about the vision she'd had about her friends. She didn’t think that she’d seen that cave at Jade Mountain, or that Deneb would be able to get to wherever here was from Jade Mountain this quickly. But that means…

Did my friends come looking for me? Peak thought about it for another moment. Yep, they’re dumb enough to. They’ll get themselves killed for me, won’t they. I swear to the moons above that I will kill them if they die. No one is dying for me ever again.

. . .

The island Peak was on was almost entirely made of tungsten if you dug deep enough. It was extremely difficult to melt in its raw form, even for a firescales, and it was much harder when it was refined and treated. Which of course, is exactly what the StoneWings use for their armor and weapons. Great.

Peak, despite having mindreading, had no idea why the StoneWings needed the firescales badly enough to kidnap two widely known firescales, herself and Peril respectively. They usually stole firescales soon after they were hatched. Unfortunately, Peak only had as much information as the general public had. The higher ranking a StoneWing was, the harder their thoughts were to read. Almost like having to keep so many secrets from lower ranked dragons had even made their thoughts more secretive. Peak hadn’t ever even heard a thought from Queen Marble. She honestly wasn’t sure if she was just that secretive or didn’t think at all. Peak’s guard, Travertine, was complaining in her thoughts. Again. This was really one of her least favorite things, not being able to remind everyone that she still heard the snarky comments, even if you only thought them.

Peak was brought to the end of a tunnel. She slipped a little at the sharp downward angle that she wasn’t allowed to fly down. Peak briefly wondered if the firescales who grew up here could even fly properly or at all.

She tried her best to stay calm enough to keep her temperature low, so that she could melt the stone. She didn’t know what the StoneWings’ plans were and she didn’t care. She wanted to delay them to buy time, but mostly out of spite. She would not help them do whatever they were doing as much as she could.

Beside her, Peak noticed Cinder shuffle closer toward her, as inconspicuously as possible, while melting the stone. He and Peril were the only ones so far with a will to escape. He was a pretty candlelight orange with bright turquoise eyes. His eyes were a much more typical color than her violet eyes. Cinder had, like most of the firescales, been raised on the StoneWing Island. Being taught their rules, having to follow their standards. Even when those standards meant being treated like furniture that could melt stuff. Peak wondered how difficult it must have been to realize how wrong everything you were taught was. It must be so hard, because most of the firescales hadn't even realized that there was anything wrong with how they'd been treated.

Most of the firescales Peak had spoken to thought that this was normal. Or even worse, that this was the best quality of life that they could find or that they deserved. Even without magic, without mind reading or foresight, the firescales could’ve broken out of the island’s prison if they just believed that they deserved better. Peak knew that she’d probably have to use her magic because the mindset that these dragons were in could take years to break, but she still hoped that a few of them would at least consider escape.

Peak was forced to stand by at the end of the tunnel and melt it for hours. Her feet ached, and her legs felt stiff from the lack of movement. But she knew that if she tried to stop or stretch her legs, she’d get poked with a spear and told to get back to work. Peak tried to avoid spears in general since her aunt stabbed her and then abandoned her, but the world had other plans. A few hours past noon, the firescales had their short, half hour break while the StoneWings had a meeting.

After stretching her legs, Peak went over to where Peril and Cinder were talking. Peril seemed to be in the middle of a hushed angry rant of threats.

“Peril, I understand that you want to escape to see your boyfriend, but we need a plan, not a massacre,” Cinder said, trying to ease Peril into cohesiveness. She got quiet after she heard the word 'boyfriend', making Cinder's plan successful.

Peak was about to tell the two of them about the vision of her friends when Blare, one of the other firescales, came up to them. “I know you're planning to escape,” she whispered. Both her body and her voice were shaking slightly. “Can I.. will you… please take me with you.”

Peak made eye contact with Blare for a moment. She was beautiful, her crimson scales that glowed a little in the dark, her eyes that looked like liquid sapphires. Peak blinked and looked away, a little bit flustered.

“We’ll take you and whoever else wants to come,” Cinder said kindly.

“We appreciate all the help we can get and everyone who will willingly come,” Peak started as she smiled at Blare, “But we’re taking everyone. I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

“We could always leave with a trail of blood behind us,” Peril suggested, trying to look convincing. Both Cinder and Peak gave Peril a scolding look.

Peril sighed and nodded, finally relenting. Peak was then unlucky enough to hear the thoughts of her least favorite firescales. Peak understood that Kindle had been lied to and manipulated, but she would tell the StoneWings about anything that was even barely breaking the rules. Not just big things like escape plans, but things like saying that you dislike your guard or your job. Kindle’s thoughts also reminded Peak of how the StoneWings tried to rename firescales to flamescales. It took Peak a lot of energy to ignore it and not try to correct it.

‘Those stupid flamescales better not aggravate their poor guards. They’ll only make the rest of us, who actually try to follow the rules, lives’ harder. Between Peak and Peril I doubt there’s much intelligence with the size of their egos. Peak even acts like she’s some kind of royalty. She’s going to ruin Cinder’s future at this rate. Poor unsuspecting little dragonet. I can only imagine the lies she must be telling him.’

Kindle’s thoughts were like claws on a chalkboard. They were so difficult to listen to without reacting. She really had the most annoying thoughts set in stone. Peak would still save Kindle, obviously, but she was not happy about having to willingly be near her. It would be difficult saving the firescales who liked to be at the StoneWing island for some reason.

Another thing that confused Peak was why everyone was calling firescales “flamescales”. Did StoneWings do this to separate the firescales here from any that they didn’t take to the island? Was it so that if dragons from the continent came to the StoneWing island they could say that firescales and flamescales were different from each other? Or did they just choose to not do any research?

Peak had a feeling that the meeting was coming to an end, but that feeling was not always reliable. More often than not, she was worried about the StoneWings coming up without her hearing their thoughts. The StoneWings’ blocked thoughts scared her. They had snuck up on her more than once.

Some of Peak’s friends here had been told about her mind reading. She had told Cinder and Torch, Peak’s roommate, about her mind reading and Peril already knew from working at Jade Mountain Academy. Obviously, all of them had sworn not to tell any of the StoneWings. Peak hadn’t told anyone about her small ability to see into the future, but she had had to tell them about her animus magic for escape plan purposes.

Cinder looked at Peak and thought ‘Meeting’s over.’ Cinder was much more reliable than Peak. He always made sure to point out to her that the meetings were about to end because he knew that she got caught off guard by it happening unexpectedly. He was surprisingly considerate and sweet for being raised in such hostile conditions. A lot of the firescales here were better than they seemed at first glance, even if they weren’t as good as Cinder. They were definitely all worth saving.

“GET BACK TO YOUR STATIONS!” boomed the voices of several StoneWing guards. Peak jumped a little. She still wasn’t used to being yelled at and ruthlessly ordered around. She was still royalty, even if exiled, she was treated like she was at least a little important.

StoneWing guards went to the firescales that they had been assigned to. Peak walked back to the tunnels as slowly as she could without being yelled at for it. The slope of the tunnel was still too steep, even if Peak got the most level spot in this part of the tunnel this time. She started to melt the hard rock again, and felt it soften against her scales. She did like the feeling of hot, soft rocks and metals. She hadn’t for a long time. Not since being stabbed during her exile. Being a firescales, the metal melted on and under her scales. She had a weird scar from it due to it never getting to heal properly and never really getting all of the molten metal out.

Peak’s friends had all been sent to melt metals for jewelry and trade, so she couldn’t see any of them. She felt mostly alone without being able to have subtle communications with them.

After the long hours of melting a path to an unknown location for no apparent reason, Peak was finally allowed to rest. The steep walk up the tunnel pained her stiff and sore legs, but she made it to her and Torch’s small cave. It was barely big enough for the both of them to lay down about a foot apart. The rock under them didn’t melt because they weren’t trying to melt it, melting rocks was long and uncomfortable.

Torch was bigger than Peak, since she was seven and Peak was four. She was a bright orange dragon with teal blue eyes. Her horns were an almost black brown. Torch was sweet and shy. Peak knew she was lucky to get her as a roommate rather than someone like Kindle or Firestorm, who were constantly in a foul mood.

As Peak curled up to sleep, she felt pangs of longing for her friends. She wished she had a dreamvisitor, like she’d read about in school, so that she could talk to Peaceflyt, Walnut, Atacama, Pyramid, or Sparrow. She’d even settle for Sunny, Clay or Starflight, just to talk to someone she knows again.

Then Peak got a painful, sudden headache. If that isn’t my luck… Right after she thought that, she saw her friends flying towards the island, this time no one attacking them. Peaceflyt seemed to be leading the group. It was nice to see him taking charge. He usually sat back and followed.

Another vision? What, have they been building up for a year or something? Peak hadn't had visions for a year until she was kidnapped. Maybe it's the new trauma of being kidnapped. 'Hey Peak, guess what, you only have visions when you're in mental pain, isn’t that awesome?' Peak shook her head. That would suck. It’s probably just a really inconvenient coincidence, but this is not fun. It’s nice to know my friends are getting closer, though. Are they getting closer? I don't know where this place is, are they going the right way? They must have some way of knowing, right? Peaceflyt’s smart, I’m sure they’re fine.

Peak drifted off to sleep, dreaming of her friends flying towards her.

Chapter Fourteen

Peaceflyt and his friends flew across the Mud Kingdom without any trouble. They saw a surprisingly small amount of MudWings out, but Pelican just suggested that most of them were probably relaxing in mud and that was why they couldn't see them.

Soon they were right above the coast, and Pelican was beelining for the beach. It was good timing, too; Atacama had just strained one of her wings and needed Pyramid’s help to keep flying. Peaceflyt nearly felt like his wings were going to fall off as well.

He was about to fly down and follow Pelican when he heard a strained “OW!” from behind him. He whipped his head around in surprise.

“Atacama!” Walnut yelped from next to her. She ducked under Atacama’s arm and tried to support her, but it didn't really help that much. Walnut was only around three-quarters as big as Atacama, so it was only a few seconds before Walnut gave into exhaustion and flew out of her arms.

“Owww, my stupid wing!” Atacama groaned. “Why do we have to fly so far?”

“We are flying across an entire continent,” Sparrow pointed out from behind them. “And it’s to save Peak.”

“Yeah, but I can't even be there to save her if I can't fly,” Atacama said bitterly. “Why haven't you helped me with my wing?”

“I’m only a little bigger than Walnut,” Sparrow responded reasonably. “Also I’m feeling pretty tired.”

“Well, we could land on the beach,” Pyramid suggested.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Atacama said through clenched teeth.

“I’m doing that right now!” Pelican’s voice objected from below them. Oh yeah, I was supposed to follow him, Peaceflyt thought obtusely. He dove down to Pelican’s level, and the others followed.

Pelican pointed down to an empty area of the beach that was partly blocked off from view by trees. “We should land there,” he said. And with that, he swooped onto the beach.

Peaceflyt looked at Walnut. She stopped in midair and shrugged. “We’ll be safe there. No one will notice us.”

“Probably,” Peaceflyt added. “Unless we’re too loud.”

“They probably won't care too much,” Walnut said. “The dragons living here probably have to deal with a lot of loud dragonet screams on the beach.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Peaceflyt laughed and descended towards Pelican, and she followed close behind. “Hi, Pelican,” he said as his talons hit the sand.

“Hey,” he said, smiling. He raised his snout in the air, smelling it. “It’s really good to be back at the ocean. The only bad thing is that my mom might catch me.”

“Right,” Peaceflyt said. “Hopefully that won't happe-”

He was cut off mid-sentence by a thud behind them. Pelican, Walnut, and him looked back in surprise. There, they saw Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow lying in a heap on the ground.

One of them cursed. “Ow.”

There was a surprised pause before Walnut ran up to Atacama, who was unfortunately at the bottom. “Atacama!” she shrieked. “Are you okay?”

“It’s my STUPID WING!” she yelled angrily. She tried to move it and winced. She looked up and glared at Sparrow and Pyramid, who were struggling to get off her. Eventually, they tumbled off, leaving Atacama lying pathetically on the sand.

Pyramid was the first to her aid. “It’s definitely a sprain?” she asked, jumping onto her talons.

“Probably, but I'm not an expert. All I know is that it hurts.”

“Okay.” Pyramid sat down to think. “Do any of you remember how to treat sprains from Herbs and Healing? I remember a little bit, but all I know for sure is to rest it.”

Everyone's eyes looked expectantly at each other, but they all eventually landed on Peaceflyt.

Great, he thought. I’m supposed to remember. I guess this is the downside of being the 'smart one'. He racked his memory, but came up with close to nothing.

“Uhhh… you could try putting it in water?” Peaceflyt said uncertainly. “I think it might help if the water’s cold, but since we're in the tropics I don't think it is.” He walked over to the water to dip a claw in. As he expected, it was warm.

“Is the water warm?” Pyramid asked. Peaceflyt nodded.

“It would help if we had an IceWing,” Sparrow said, mildly joking.

“You could try just going in the water until we figure something out,” Walnut suggested. Atacama gave her a slight smile and said, “Sure.” She dragged herself over to the water and plopped down in the shallows.

“Ahh, this is really warm.” She said contently. “I wonder why Fatespeaker said we needed cold water. This water could totally heal my wings.”

Well, maybe it's different for SandWings, Peaceflyt thought.

“So is there anything else that can heal sprains?” Pyramid asked. After a long period of silence, Pelican volunteered.

“Uhh… you could try wrapping it?” he said unsurely. “I think a little pressure is good, but not too much.”

“Okay,” Pyramid said, pacing. “But we don't have anything to wrap it with.”

“We do,” Walnut interjected. Suddenly, Atacama, who was still in the water next to her, leapt up and pushed Walnut to the ground with her front talons jokingly. Walnut yelped in surprise and Atacama stifled a laugh.

“Yeah, we don't have anything,” Atacama said, turning serious.

“Do we?” Peaceflyt asked, unfazed. Atacama and Walnut had been best friends before they went to Jade Mountain, so he was used to seeing Atacama push Walnut around.

“We do,” Walnut said. “It's a piece of seaweeeeed…” She hesitated, seeing Atacama shoot her a look out of the corner of her eye that clearly said ‘don’t say anything’. “Sorry.”

“Whatever,” Atacama said indifferently. “Yeah, there's a piece of seaweed over here. I just didn't want to touch it because it's so slimy.”

“But it might help your sprain get better,” Walnut said encouragingly.

Atacama made an odd noise in her throat. “I’ll pass.”

“But we have to get to Peak as soon as we can!”

That changed her expression. “Yeah, fine. But only for a little bit.”

Walnut smiled. She grabbed the seaweed from under the water and her and Pyramid tied it around the sprain on Atacama’s wing. When they were done, Atacama grimaced. “I really don't like this.”

“Why?” Peaceflyt asked.

“It feels weird! It's all slimy and wet and gross!” Atacama tried to shake the seaweed off, but it was tight around her wing. Peaceflyt looked back at Pelican, who was frowning at Atacama. He knew what he wanted to say.

“How gross is it?” Peaceflyt asked for him.

“It’s disgusting,” Atacama said, annoyed. “Can you please take it off?”

“Sure,” Pyramid said. “But we might have to stay here longer.”

“That’s fine, as long as I don’t have to feel this anymore.” Atacama lifted her wing up and Pyramid walked toward her. She slowly untied the seaweed. When she was done, she threw it off to the side and Atacama breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Atacama shook her wing a few times to get the feel of seaweed off. Then she got up out of the water.

“Wait, you should be in there longer!” Walnut exclaimed.

“No, I'm fine,” she said. “My wing feels a little better now. I hate flying.”

“Yeah, me too,” Pyramid said.

“Me as well,” Sparrow added.

“But at least it's going to be worth it when we save Peak.” Atacama smiled and tested flapping her strained wing. She flinched.

“Uh oh,” Pelican said.

“It's fine. It doesn't hurt as much as before. Thanks for the advice, Peaceflyt.” Atacama nodded at Peaceflyt, who was currently pretty surprised.

Wow, my advice actually worked? I just guessed! Maybe I can help on this mission!

“No problem,” Peaceflyt replied.

“Are you sure you can fly for a long time though?” Walnut asked, concerned. “We might not hit an island for a long time!”

“I can probably fly for a while on my own. And if my wing does give out, someone will have to help me. Or I can just fall into the ocean.”

“But... you're not going to do that, right?”

Atacama pondered that question. “Well, I’d need to catch up with you guys. But falling into the ocean is tempting when your wings are numb.”

“Okay,” Walnut said unsurely. She walked over to Peaceflyt. “Are you ready?”

“To leave?” Peaceflyt said, startled. “Uhhh… yeah, I think.” It's going to be dangerous, the sensible part of his mind interrupted. Yes, I KNOW it is, but I don't want to think about it! Shush! He yelled at himself and quelled his thoughts.

“Pelican, are you ready?” Peaceflyt asked. Pelican nodded.

“I’m waiting for you guys,” he informed Peaceflyt. “Is everyone ready?”

“I don't know. Me and Walnut are,” he said. He walked up to Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow. “Are you guys ready?”

The three of them looked at each other and hesitantly nodded. “For leaving?” Atacama said. “Dang it, we have to fly more,” she repeated for the tenth time. She looked at Pyramid for her to respond.

“Yeah, I think we're ready,” she said coolly.

“They’re ready?” Pelican asked Peaceflyt.

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt replied.

“Then let's go!” Pelican vaulted in the air, followed shortly by the others. Then they flew off into the vast sea where, somewhere, their friend was waiting to be rescued.

Chapter Fifteen

The group made good progress, and luckily Atacama’s wing didn’t impact her flight too much. The most she ever did was complain once in a while. Then again, it was a long flight, and Peaceflyt felt like complaining as well. He thought about her statement about falling into the ocean, and Peaceflyt was feeling like that was pretty accurate to him. His wings were dead, and he could breathe underwater, so why not? He felt like diving under the water to swim with Pelican, who was ahead of them and keeping a lookout for any possible dragons coming their way.

Actually, he did dive under the water and swim next to Pelican for a bit. But once his wings started feeling more awake, he decided to fly back up and check on Walnut and the others.

They made good progress, going from the beach to the first island they saw in the Bay of a Thousand Scales in only a few hours. Peaceflyt was glad the journey was uneventful; he didn’t really like being in the middle of action, and they’d had a good amount of it so far.

When they finally landed on the island, which had a large rock formation in the middle of it, it was later in the afternoon and everyone was exhausted from flying so much. So as the group settled in, they mostly chatted and rested.

About an hour later, Atacama pointed out that she was hungry. “I want some wagyu! Or lizards. Lizards would be nice, but wagyu is the best.”

“Wagyu is the best,” Peaceflyt added. But we can't have it right now. Because we're in the middle of the ocean, and pretty much all the food here is fish. I mean, there might be some small animals here, but not as much as the mainland. Atacama and Pyramid and Sparrow and Walnut are gonna have a hard time. Why didn't I think of this? This is why I don't think I should be saving the world. But then a picture of Peak came into his mind, and he remembered. Right. I’m not saving the world, I’m saving my friend.

As Peaceflyt finished his train of thought, he saw Pyramid pounce on a rock near him, which made him start. As she lifted her claws, he could see a dead lizard impaled on one of them.

“I found a lizard,” Pyramid announced. “I didn’t think there would be any lizards in the Kingdom of the Sea, but apparently I was wrong.” She slid the lizard off her claw and tossed it to Atacama.

“Apparently so,” Atacama said, catching it. She tore the tail off and handed it to Pyramid, then promptly ate the rest.

“I wonder if we’ll get to Peak today,” said Sparrow. “Maybe we will tomorrow.”

“That would be amazing,” Pyramid said. “I bet she's killed at least one of her captors by now. Or at least tried to, since these dragons seem to be immune to fire. If they weren't, Peak and Peril would've definitely escaped.”

“That's pretty scary,” Walnut added. “Her kidnappers are immune to fire and maybe even animus magic!”

Holy moons, they are. That’s really scary. And we'll have to meet them soon. I get to meet Peak soon. Unless she's dead… DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT. Don't think about that. Part of Peaceflyt’s brain was thinking about how he was going to die in the hands of kidnappers tomorrow, and part of him was just telling his brain to shut up.

“Well, we also have fire and animus magic,” Atacama said confidently. “Maybe we can out-spell them. I wouldn't count on it, though.”

“Wow. A group of dragonets is even with skilled kidnappers,” Sparrow whispered. “Those are good odds.”

. . .

After a bit more talking about their chances of getting out of Peak’s prison unharmed, the group was up in the air again, continuing along the chain of islands that were part of the Bay of the Thousand Scales. They passed over at least five small islands, and while they were doing so, Peaceflyt had lots of time to think.

I haven't had time to think with all this stuff going on. I feel like I've been in an action scroll for the past few days. Peaceflyt tried to distract himself from the fact that he was heading into certain death by looking at the scenery below him. Wow, I haven't been here in a while. It looks amazing, but not like anything changed.

Peaceflyt had only been to the Sea Kingdom once, when his father, Seawatcher, had taken the family there on a vacation. So he vaguely knew his way around a few islands. However, Pelican grew up in the Sea Kingdom and lived there most of his life, as the youngest son of Queen Coral. So he definitely knew his way around.

Peaceflyt often asked him why he was born nearly 30 after most of his brothers, and his response was that his mom wanted one more heir. Luckily, she only had to have dragonets once for that to happen, as her last heir came in the form of Princess Azurite, Pelican’s twin. Like most of Queen Coral’s daughters, Azurite was given extra special treatment because she, one day, might inherit the throne. So far, none of Coral’s daughters had challenged her. Tsunami didn't want to and was too busy running a school, Anemone was an animus and didn't feel like being queen, and Auklet still felt too young, even though she was an adult. So that mainly left older Auklet and Azurite.

But even though Azurite got special attention from the Queen, Pelican still got more than most of his brothers. His dad, Tide, who Queen Coral enlisted to have Pelican and Azurite with, often took him out to explore the kingdom. So Pelican was probably the group's main guide into not getting lost.

“Except I haven't explored with him in a long time,” Pelican had explained. “Because I’ve been at the school.”

Peaceflyt didn't think that would be much of a problem because he’d never dreamed of exploring the Sea Kingdom by himself as a dragonet. But now he had to, to save his best friend.

Thinking about Peak took him into his thoughts about possible death. It'll all be over soon. We're getting close. He realized that could have two meanings: this mission would be over soon and Peak could come home safe, or Peaceflyt and his friends would die at the hands of her captors. He didn't like the thought of that, so he tried to distract himself by looking down at Pelican.

However, he found himself looking into Pelican’s eyes. He was looking up at him and motioning that there was a dragon coming their way. Great.

“Pelican says there's a dragon coming,” Peaceflyt called out to the others, who were flying around him.

“Uh oh,” Atacama said. Peaceflyt looked down at the ocean and saw two pairs of flashing scales. He guessed Pelican and the other SeaWing were talking to each other. I hope he's nice.

Peaceflyt faded his scales and tentatively flew towards the two, and he saw Atacama, Sparrow, and Walnut follow. He made sure to look as little like a hybrid as possible by lifting his SeaWing tail out of view, just in case this dragon was on the hybrid-hating side of the war.

As they approached the surface of the water, the SeaWing stopped talking to Pelican and looked at each one of them suspiciously. Peaceflyt tried to not fall out of the air in fear when the SeaWing focused on him. When his eyes finally passed him, he let out an internal sigh of relief. Maybe we'll be in the clear.

Then, suddenly, the dragon's eyes locked on Sparrow. Sparrow instinctively flinched back. But the dragon didn't look away. His eyes stayed there, narrowing menacingly.

A second later, a blue blur flashed in front of Peaceflyt’s eyes as the SeaWing launched himself at Sparrow. Sparrow screamed as his claws latched onto her scales and dragged her underwater.

Atacama and Pyramid both let out an anguished cry and dove in the water immediately, despite not knowing how to swim.

“No! Stop!” Walnut cried. “Peaceflyt, they can't swim! They're gonna drown!”

They are, Peaceflyt thought, not knowing what to do. “I need to get under the water,” he said frantically.

“Good luck,” Walnut said, swallowing. “Don’t die.”

Peaceflyt nodded quickly and dove in.

Underwater, he could see things much better. Pelican was startled off to the side, not sure if he should interfere. Sparrow, Pyramid, and Atacama were trying to attack the SeaWing, but they were losing. The SeaWing was in its natural environment and could easily fight off the three dragonets.

Peaceflyt could tell Atacama and Pyramid were running out of air because their fighting started getting slower. Right when he thought they were going to drown, the SeaWing slapped them both out of the water, and they flew up into the air, gasping for breath.

As soon as Atacama had gotten all of the water out of her throat, she yelled, "PEACEFLYT! STOP HIM! Remember the fighting techniques Clay taught you!" He could barely hear her, though, because one, he was underwater, and two, adrenaline was coursing through his head like it did when Deneb attacked.

"Yeah, I know!" Peaceflyt bellowed back, accidentally swallowing a mouthful of water. He knew she probably couldn't hear him, so he just nodded, hoping she would see it.

Then he heard choking coming from Sparrow's direction. The dragon was choking her. Peaceflyt swiftly swam around the huge SeaWing to get a view of her, but as soon as he saw her face, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Three moons, she's gonna die, Peaceflyt thought hysterically. She's going to die. He floated there, frozen in fear, until he heard Pyramid let out a scream of agony. I need to do something.

‘LET HER GO!’ Peaceflyt flashed as bright as he could at the attacker.

The attacker seemed unfazed. ‘And what will happen if I don't?’ he sneered. Peaceflyt tried to think of a good answer, but came up with nothing. He didn't want to attack the dragon either, as he was practically three times his size.

Suddenly, Pelican appeared at his side. ‘He said, LET HER GO!’

‘Ah, fine, whatever,’ the SeaWing flashed, letting go of Sparrow's neck. 'She looks like she's already dead anyways. Maybe I'll do the same to this feisty SandWing?' He reached up out of the water and grabbed Atacama's tail, pulling her in.

"Get off me!" Atacama shrieked, trying to pull her tail away. When that didn't work, she kicked him as hard as she could in the face. The SeaWing fell back, disoriented, but got back up.

‘This one's trouble,’ he flashed, grinning maliciously. He turned around and smacked Atacama with his tail as hard as he could. She got knocked unconscious, flew out of the water and landed on the surface with a huge splash. Sparrow, who was still floating, got pushed further underwater by the splash, and Pelican immediately came to her aid, rushing her up to the surface.

‘Get out of here!’ Peaceflyt yelled at the attacker. He suddenly realized that by using his fluorescent scales to speak Aquatic, he was revealing himself as a hybrid. He cursed in his head. It's too late now.

‘Why do you care so much about these dragonets?’ the SeaWing sneered again. ‘You know what? Maybe you'll be next, hybrid scum.’

Peaceflyt felt like a sword had pierced his heart. Hybrid scum. He hadn't experienced many derogatory comments about being a hybrid yet, so when someone did insult him, he felt deeply attacked. But he ignored his feelings and acted like nothing had happened.

‘I care about them because they're my friends,’ Peaceflyt flashed, swallowing his fear. ‘And I’m not going to let you kill my friends.’

He closed his eyes and extended his arm out towards the attacker, who was rambling on about murder. ‘What if I don't care- what are you doing?’

‘I said I'm NOT GOING TO LET YOU KILL MY FRIENDS!’ Peaceflyt thrusted his arm forward, and almost immediately, the attacking SeaWing was blown backwards out of the water and up into the clouds. For a second, Peaceflyt was afraid he'd blasted the SeaWing too far up, but luckily, a few seconds later, he heard a faint splash in the distance.

There was a long silence. Then eventually, Peaceflyt, high on adrenaline, decided to swim up to the surface and check on Atacama and Sparrow. He didn't know what to say. “Are they okay?” he asked awkwardly, looking at them.

When no one answered, he realized that everyone was staring at him, wide-eyed. Except for Atacama and Sparrow, who were still unconscious.

Oh, no, Peaceflyt thought. Now I have to explain my animus powers to them.

“Uhh… I… never mind,” Peaceflyt stuttered nervously, not knowing what to say. “Don’t talk about it. Uhh… since you know what I can do… just a second.”

With that totally wonderful speech, Peaceflyt decided he should probably heal Atacama and Sparrow. He scanned the water and grabbed a small piece of kelp floating around.

Then, he went through his mental enchanting checklist.

Is it a big spell? No. Is it selfish? No. Is it important? Yes. Is it an emergency? Yes. Peaceflyt thought about how the two of them could die soon if he didn't take action again.

He took a deep breath and looked down at the kelp in his talons. “Enchant this kelp so that it fully heals whatever dragon it touches,” he commanded. There was another silence, and Pyramid, Pelican, and Walnut looked even more dumbfounded.

“Wait…” Walnut breathed, failing to get more words out.

Peaceflyt ignored her and flew over to where Sparrow was floating. I hope this works, he thought. He pressed the enchanted kelp on her scales, and for a second, nothing happened. Did I do this wrong? He started panicking, and right when he thought he was about to break down, Sparrow’s eyes snapped open.

She screamed and started flapping her wings to get herself in the air. But once she noticed her friends near her, her shoulders relaxed, and Pyramid flew into her for a hug.

“What just happened?” Sparrow asked, with a hint of worry in her voice. “All I remember was a SeaWing attacking me… he choked me…”

“I don't know, but you're okay and the SeaWing’s gone now,” Pyramid reassured her, shooting a cautious look at Peaceflyt over her shoulder. “Peaceflyt, do the thing to Atacama now.”

Peaceflyt nodded and went over to where Atacama was. He pressed the kelp onto her like he did to Sparrow, and luckily, it worked. Atacama’s eyes opened, she screamed at the now-gone attacker, and then she looked up in gratitude at Peaceflyt. “Thank you,” she said, smiling. “I was LITERALLY GOING TO DIE. Tell me EVERYTHING that happened.” She started flying towards Atacama and Sparrow when she suddenly stopped in midair. “Wait, how did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Did I wake up that quickly by myself?”

“Uhh…” Peaceflyt awkwardly looked away. Oh no, oh no, oh no. I don't want to tell them. But I have to tell them.

“Peaceflyt, it's okay,” Walnut said reassuringly. “You can tell us anything. Even though I don't know how in the moons you did that.”

Peaceflyt smiled at her. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, was it like some secret SeaWing power?” Atacama asked. “Just joking. That crazy SeaWing would've used it to murder me and Sparrow if it was. Not like I'd ever let that happen, though. Let me take a wild guess… you have animus powers.”

“Uh-” Peaceflyt stopped, shrinking back a little bit and flushing. Just say it, urged his brain. They need to know.

“Yeah,” he said, sighing. “I do.”

For the second time, everyone stared dumbstruck at him.

“You have animus powers?” Pelican asked, astonished.

“Y-yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys.”

“It’s okay! I can't believe it!” Walnut exclaimed. “You’re an animus!”

“And you never told us?” asked Pelican.

“Yeah... I- I keep it a secret. Please don't talk about it, it's weird hearing other dragons talk about it. I don't want anyone to talk about it.” Other than Peak. She's the only one I've told.

“But why?” Atacama asked. “You have infinite power in your talons! Why are you keeping it a secret?”

“I dunno. Just because,” Peaceflyt said, failing to come up with a good answer. BECAUSE I have infinite power in my talons, and I don't know what to do with it. Because I could fix all the world's problems and I don't. Because if any power-hungry dragon found out, I'd be their prisoner.

At the thought of ‘power-hungry dragon’, a picture of Deneb popped into Peaceflyt’s mind. He was about to dismiss the thought when he realized something.

Deneb is power-hungry, and she said she would get revenge on me and Peak, he thought, connecting the dots. I think she already got revenge on me in the cave. Or tried to. But she hasn't gotten revenge on Peak yet, unless… she KIDNAPPED HER! Peaceflyt was starting to freak out. Did Deneb do all this just to get revenge? Probably! But why? And why is she hiding in the middle of the sea? There's NOTHING THERE!

“Peaceflyt, are you okay?” He felt a talon on his shoulder, and he whipped his head around in surprise. Walnut, who was there, flinched backwards.

“Oh! Sorry,” Peaceflyt apologized, noticing he was hyperventilating. “I was just thinking.”

“Yeah, you do that a lot,” Pelican said from nearby.

“Yeah, I do.”

“By the way, we found an island that's really close to here. I think we're gonna rest there.”

“Okay,” Peaceflyt said. “That’s a good idea.”

“Atacama and Pyramid and Sparrow are already ahead of us,” Walnut explained. “So are you ready to go?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

“Then let's go!” Walnut and Pelican flew forward, and Peaceflyt decided to follow. But his head was busy thinking.

Deneb is the kidnapper. I should probably tell them she is so we can prepare. But why did she capture Peril and the other firescales, and how? Does she have an animus working for her? Or is she the animus? Peaceflyt nervously hung on that thought for a moment, when he realized that couldn't be true. If she was an animus, we'd all be dead by now. But STILL! Maybe she has help… that wouldn't be good. I don't like this at all.

He looked around and realized how close they were to Peak, who was probably within fifty miles of where they were now. That means we're also close to Deneb. Why can't I ever avoid her? I need to see Peak again, but the last thing I want is to see Deneb.

Chapter Sixteen

Peaceflyt, Pelican, and Walnut eventually caught up to Atacama, Sparrow, and Pyramid, and they all flew silently until they arrived at the next island. Peaceflyt got the feeling that Sparrow was shocked from the incident and Atacama was angry beyond words, and luckily Pyramid respected that by not talking to them. It was a little awkward, but it gave Peaceflyt more time to think.

He mostly thought about his decision to announce his powers to his friends, and wasn't sure if it was a good or bad idea. Walnut kept trying to convince him that everyone thought it was really cool and they'd keep it a secret. But as much as Peaceflyt wanted to believe her, part of his mind still didn't.

Soon, the group reached another island. It was pretty small, and was mostly sand and grass with a few palm trees in the middle. As they landed, Sparrow and Atacama started talking again.

“I am going to MURDER THAT DRAGON,” Atacama growled. She dug her claws into the ground. “I swear.”

“Don’t worry, I can help,” Pyramid said.

“Thanks,” Atacama replied. “How about you, Sparrow?”

“I still… don't know how to feel,” she said hesitantly. “I almost died.”

Atacama, sympathizing, stepped toward her, but Walnut beat her to it. “It’s okay, Sparrow,” the RainWing said. “We’re gonna be here for you, no matter what. And that SeaWing is going to pay!”

Sparrow smiled sadly. “Thanks. But I'm still scared. I feel like he's out to get me now.”

“You shouldn't worry! You have us to protect you,” Atacama said proudly. “He won't be out to get you, or any of us.”

“Also, he can't do that when he's dead,” Pyramid added. “Thanks to Peaceflyt, he'll never hurt you again.”

Did I really kill him? Peaceflyt thought. Or is she just exaggerating?

“I didn't want to kill him,” he admitted quietly. “I just got scared.”

“That makes sense, but WHY?” Atacama exclaimed. “He deserves to die!”

“I don't want to go down a dark path like Darkstalker. I don't want to be a murderer.”

“You’re not a murderer!” Walnut said defensively, stepping closer to him. “We don't even know if he's dead!”

“I guess not,” Peaceflyt mumbled, looking down. “I only did it in self-defense.”

“I know,” Walnut said quietly. The group sat there for a few moments in silence before Pelican finally spoke up.

“...Are we ready?” he said hesitantly. “The Summer Palace is close.”

Peaceflyt nodded. “I'm ready.”

“We’re definitely ready,” Atacama said, motioning to her friends next to her. She looked at Sparrow, who was shaking in fear, and corrected herself. “Well, I’m ready.”

“Why are you so eager to go? Is it because we're so close to finding Peak?” Walnut asked.

“Well, yeah,” Atacama explained. “But it's also because Pyramid saw the SeaWing fly towards the Summer Palace. Maybe we can finally meet up with him and…” She grinned at Pyramid. “Get revenge.”

“That’s the reason I don't want to go,” Sparrow said quietly. “I don't want to see him again.”

“It’s okay,” Pyramid said, putting an arm around her. “We’ll protect you if we see him. He might not even be there. But we have to leave soon if we have any chance of finding Peak.”

“I know.” Sparrow said. “Thank you.” She paused and looked at the others. Eventually, she said, “I'm ready.”

. . .

Only a few minutes later, the Summer Palace came into view. Well, the ruins of it, as it had been destroyed more than 20 years before Peaceflyt was born. There had been multiple attempts to rebuild it, but none of them had been successful so far.

As they approached the ruins, Pelican began talking about his experiences there.

“I remember once I came here with mother and Azurite,” he explained. “Actually, she was originally going to just come with Azurite, but at the last minute she decided to take me as well. But I've only been as far as the shore. Mother just left me there while she was off doing ‘dangerous business.’”

“How old were you?” Peaceflyt asked.

“I don't know. Two?” estimated Pelican. “That’s probably why I wasn't allowed to go that far. But Azurite got to go with her, lucky squid. No one has told me why she was allowed to go on a mission and not me.”

“That’s weird,” Peaceflyt said. “Maybe Coral wanted her to see something secret.”

“Maybe, but why'd she bring me along?” Pelican wondered. “She could have left me back at the palace.”

“I don't know,” replied Peaceflyt, looking at the ruins ahead of them. “Since you only went as far as the shore, are you sure you'll be a useful guide?” He smiled.

“I’m sure! I can be a useful guide, maybe,” Pelican protested. “I've studied it from the air, and Mother made me read about it before its destruction. So I might know some way around.”

“That’s good,” interjected Pyramid from beside them. “At least someone knows their way around this vast nothingness of sea.”

“It’s not that bad, especially underwater,” Pelican argued. “But you’ll probably never see it underwater, though.”

“I kind of did, when I was attacking that SeaWing. But I wouldn’t want to see it again.” Pyramid shuddered.

Suddenly, Peaceflyt felt a tap on his shoulder. He pivoted around and saw Walnut huddling under his wing. “Peaceflyt, can you do your magic thingy again?” she whispered.

Peaceflyt looked at her, confused. “Uhh… I only use my powers in emergencies, like if we're gonna die.”

“We might,” Walnut said, shuddering. She pointed down to the shore of the island, where Peaceflyt saw a large SeaWing with a rip in his wing. He felt a chill run down his back. That's the dragon that attacked us!

“Oh, moons.” Peaceflyt instinctively turned his scales invisible and looked back at his friends. He saw Sparrow flinch and speed up when she noticed.

Please don't see us, Peaceflyt begged, spreading his wings to try and make sure the SeaWing didn't notice the wing of dragonets flying above him. Right when Peaceflyt thought they were going to be in the clear, though, the SeaWing’s eyes shot up.

“Rotten papayas,” Peaceflyt cursed under his breath. “We’ll have to land on the other side of the island.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sparrow said, her voice wavering.

Peaceflyt dared to glance down again and saw that the SeaWing’s eyes were following them. “He might attack us again.”

“Well, I’m ready to fight him!” Atacama announced. She looked over at Sparrow and nudged her with her wing. “We won't let you get hurt. The only one that's gonna get hurt is him!”

“Atacama, don't draw his attention!” Walnut whispered.

“Too late,” Pyramid said. Having overheard Atacama, the SeaWing was now staring with complete hatred at them.

“L-let’s land,” Peaceflyt suggested, stuttering. He and Pelican looked at each other and dove to the sand on the opposite side of the island, where the waves were roaring. The others soon followed.

“Are we safe?” Walnut asked quietly as she touched down.

“I don't think so,” Pyramid said, looking over at Atacama. “He’s already mad! You just made him madder!”

Atacama opened her mouth to respond when they all heard deep yelling from the other side of the island.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE AT THE SUMMER PALACE!? ARE YOU HERE TO DESTROY IT AGAIN??”

“WHAT ON PYRRHIA ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” Atacama roared back. “IT’S ALREADY DESTROYED!” Peaceflyt flinched. That was the wrong thing to say, Atacama.

The SeaWing on the other side let out a fierce battle cry that lasted an awfully long time. Then Peaceflyt realized it was getting louder.

He’s coming for us, he thought in a panic. He shoved his claw in his arm pouch and dug out his healing kelp. He stood there, frozen, next to Pelican and Walnut, as the SeaWing ran across the island at full speed. When Peaceflyt finally saw the dragon, he didn't know what to do. He looked around frantically and saw Walnut’s face looking up at him.

Right. In an emergency, use your magic, Peaceflyt thought. He picked up the nearest thing he could find, a stick, and frantically thought out his enchantment. Enchant this stick so that whenever it’s in my talons, it creates a force field protecting who I want to protect.

As the SeaWing approached with bared teeth, Peaceflyt worried that he hadn’t worded the spell well enough. The stick was in his talons, but he couldn’t see or feel any difference. My friends are going to die. My friends are going to die and it’s gonna be all my fault.

The SeaWing was now only a few dragon lengths away from them. He was charging at full speed toward Atacama and Sparrow, claws and teeth bared. And nothing seemed to be stopping him.

Suddenly, Sparrow screamed. Peaceflyt's head whipped over to look at her and he saw Atacama jump in front of her, tail barb up and ready. He tightened his grip on his stick, hoping he would notice some difference. But nothing happened.

Until it did.

Right before Atacama had the chance to stab the SeaWing with her tail barb, he slammed into Peaceflyt's force field. He stumbled back, yelping in pain as blood spurted out of his nose. Eventually, he collapsed to the ground.

“Is he still conscious?” asked Pyramid. She walked up to the SeaWing and examined him. “I think he might be.”

“Camel spit,” Atacama cursed. “I should knock him unconscious.”

“No, don't!” Walnut yelled. “That would make it seem like we're up to something!”

“But he totally deserves-”

All of a sudden, a wave twice as tall as Peaceflyt cascaded over the dragonets. Walnut and Sparrow, who were already shaken up, screamed in terror, while Atacama and Pyramid ran backward to avoid getting wet.

Peaceflyt ran backwards as well to Atacama and Pyramid, not because he was afraid of the water, but because he was afraid it would be another attacker, like the crazy SeaWing’s friend. Why is the whole Sea Kingdom out to get us? What have we done? He noticed Pelican, the only one still under the wave. Pelican, MOVE! It might be an enemy!

But sadly, Pelican couldn't hear his thoughts, and the most he did was step back a bit to avoid getting hurt by the cascading water which was now crashing over him.

Peaceflyt looked back and closed his eyes as the spray hit him. When he turned back around, he expected to see another dim-witted brawny SeaWing looking to attack them. But what he saw couldn't've been more wrong. Queen Coral?

The elderly queen of the SeaWings rose majestically out of the water, immediately eyeing Walnut. “Did you say you were up to something?”

Walnut, frozen in surprise, seemed to have lost her voice for a moment. When she finally got it back, she stuttered, “No! I mean, no, we’re-”

“Wait.” Coral's voice cut her off. “Pelican?” She said apprehensively, turning her gaze to him. “Why are you out of school?”

“Uhh… I can explain,” Pelican stammered.

“You’d better!” the queen shouted angrily, landing in front of him. “Your older sister has been worrying like the moons disappeared! She thought you got kidnapped!”

Pelican looked down at his talons, ashamed.

“And please explain to me why there are two SandWings, a SkyWing, a RainWing and a hybrid in my territory! And an injured SeaWing!” Coral motioned to their attacker, who was now sitting up staring at her. “This is very suspicious, and my own son was caught in the act!”

“I-I’m sorry,” Pelican managed, sliding closer to Peaceflyt. “It’s… a long story.”

“Then explain it to me!” Coral yelled. She took a deep breath and continued, “Underwater, so these other dragons can't correct your story.” She gazed at each of them warily.

“Our stories will be the same!” Atacama yelled in protest. Coral ignored her and walked into the waves.

“They probably will,” muttered Pelican. Then, in a louder voice, he said, “Fine. But can Peaceflyt come?”

The queen turned around. “Who’s Peaceflyt? The hybrid next to you?” She turned to look at Peaceflyt and he froze, startled.

“Yeah. He’s half SeaWing. His dad is Seawatcher, who’s fighting in the Hybrid War.”

“I’ve never heard of this ‘Seawatcher’.”

“He’s a hybrid,” Peaceflyt explained, forcing himself to speak. “He fights in your army.”

“Oh. Well in that case, sure, Peaceflyt can come,” Coral said. She motioned for them to get into the water, and they both swam in.

Peaceflyt and Pelican looked at each other, exchanging worried looks. Then they twisted around and saw that Coral had suddenly disappeared.

’Where’d she go?’ Peaceflyt flashed dimly.

‘I don't know. Maybe she went back there,’ Pelican replied, pointing at the beach. They both floated there for a bit, waiting, until eventually Coral appeared again with the injured SeaWing behind her.

Pelican looked at Peaceflyt, concerned. ‘Uh oh.’

‘I’m back,’ she announced, swimming up next to them. Then she stopped and folded her arms. ‘Pelican, explain yourself.’

Pelican looked at Peaceflyt with worry. ‘You’ll have to talk, because I can't speak Aquatic well,’ Peaceflyt flashed.

‘Okay.’ Pelican gulped, pausing for a moment. Peaceflyt could see him trying to form the best explanation of their journey in his head.

‘So… I was at school, but then a SkyWing Peaceflyt knew his whole life went ___. So we thought she might’ve… went to the Sky Kingdom. Then some of the SkyWing’s ___ from school came to try and ___ her and we both went with them.

Then we came over here because we thought she might be over here.’ Pelican glanced around nervously. ‘Uh… and…”

‘That’s enough,’ Coral flashed with a stern expression. Pelican swallowed. Peaceflyt didn't understand everything he said, but he got the gist of it. My best friend went missing, we went off to find her and we ended up here. Maybe she is here, Peaceflyt thought.

‘I’ll send a few ___ out, then,’ Coral flashed. Peaceflyt looked at Pelican and mouthed, ‘What did she say?’

‘Scouts,’ Pelican mouthed back.

‘I do NOT want my son and his friends killed!’ Coral continued. ‘That is why I'm sending scouts out! Also, Tsunami would be ___ sad if some of her students died.’

Peaceflyt’s mind quickly flashed back to hearing the news of Swamp’s death. Get it out of my head. Get it out of my head.

‘You don't need to send them out,’ Peaceflyt flashed quickly on behalf of Atacama and Pyramid. ‘It would be nice. Though.’

‘Well, it’s all your ___, because Pelican is not going with you,’ Coral flashed.

‘WHAT?’ Pelican yelled.

Peaceflyt tilted his head. ‘Can you…’ he pointed to his mouth. ‘...that?’

The queen looked uneasy. ‘What?’

Luckily, Pelican came to his aid. “She says it's all your decision to send scouts out, because I'm not coming,” he said, trying his best to speak underwater.

‘Wait, why?’ Peaceflyt asked.

‘Because my son is not going into dangerous SkyWing ___ without a team of ___ trained fighters,’ Coral expressed, pulling Pelican into her wings. ‘He is going back to school.’

‘Mother-’ Pelican protested.

‘Don't argue,’ Coral flashed. ‘You’re going back.’ Pelican’s brow furrowed, and Peaceflyt could tell he was holding back a yell.

‘Oh, but before we head on our way, why don't you explain… what's your name?’ The queen turned to the scarred SeaWing on the side.

The SeaWing grunted and flashed something that Peaceflyt didn't understand. Pelican pointed at the seagrass below them when he saw his confused face. Seagrass.

‘Explain why Seagrass has a torn wing, Pelican,’ the queen demanded.

Pelican stayed silent. His eyes glanced around wildly, and Peaceflyt could tell what he was thinking. He doesn't want to explain in front of Seagrass.

Peaceflyt was just gathering up his courage to tell the queen that Pelican wanted to speak in private when he finally spoke.

‘Uh… Seagrass…’ Seagrass scowled at Pelican. ‘Has a torn wing because… he ___ attacked the SkyWing we were flying with. So then two SandWings we were flying with… attacked him. Then he attacked them-’

‘I attacked the SkyWing because she could've been one who destroyed the Summer Palace!’

‘Seagrass, that was over twenty years ago,’ Coral flashed angrily, like she was explaining something to a dragonet. ‘That dragonet was no older than five. Also, why did you attack the SandWings, who were the same age? You attacked ___ DRAGONETS!’

Seagrass hesitated, trying to come up with an answer. ‘Self-defense,’ he eventually said under his breath.

Coral sighed. ‘Here, Seagrass. Come with me and Pelican to the Deep Palace. I'll make sure your prison ___ isn't too bad.’ She grabbed Seagrass by the arm and was just starting to pull both of them away when she turned around.

‘Good luck… Peaceflyt. Be careful. Make sure your friends are careful, too.’ The queen smiled at him and Peaceflyt gave a talons-up.

‘Bye, Pelican,’ he flashed.

‘Bye, Peaceflyt,’ Pelican replied sadly. ‘See you back at school, I wish I could come!’ He turned toward the deep sea for a second, then turned back. ‘Good luck.’

Peaceflyt smiled. ‘Thank you.’

And with that, Queen Coral whisked them into the waves, where they soon became invisible.

Chapter Seventeen

Peaceflyt took one look at the ocean and sighed. He swam back up to the surface, where Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow, and Walnut were waiting.

“Hello!” Atacama said excitedly. “Did it go well?”

“Wait, where's Pelican?” asked Walnut. Atacama and Pyramid both looked at Peaceflyt, confused. Walnut walked over to the water and examined it.

“Uhh… Queen Coral took him. I don't think she wanted him to help rescue Peak.”

“Why?” asked Atacama.

“She thought it would be too dangerous.”

“Oh. I can see that.” Walnut looked back up at him.

“So now we're like the five dragonets of destiny,” Pyramid said. “We have the perfect amount of dragonets and we also have a prophecy.”

“Oh yeah,” Peaceflyt realized. So am I the unexpected hero in the prophecy? Does this mean that if we fail on whatever's going to happen, lives will be destroyed? Great. No pressure at all. “Do you think the prophecy includes Pelican?”

“I don't know,” Pyramid said. “Maybe. I think there were six dragonets that helped save the world from Darkstalker when he came alive twenty years ago.”

“Yeah, I think there were. Do you guys want to go rest on that island?” Peaceflyt changed the subject, pointing to a tiny area of land just a short distance in front of them.

“Uh… yeah!” Walnut said enthusiastically, raising her fist. “Let's go and leave this place! And those bad memories!”

With that, they all rose into the air, and in about five minutes, reached the next island.

I wonder if Peak can hear my thoughts, Peaceflyt thought as Atacama and Sparrow landed. Unless she has her skyfire on or she's too far away. He hovered in the air for a second, waiting for a response, but nothing happened. Okay, so she either has her skyfire on or she’s too far away. She's probably too far away. He flew down with Walnut and Pyramid and landed next to them.

This island looked similar to the other small islands they'd been on. It had a group of trees in the middle, a collection of boulders, grass, and sand. The shadows cast by the boulders were fairly long, as the sun was starting to set.

“I hope we’re going in the right direction,” Peaceflyt thought out loud, trying to crush his worries about getting lost.

“Don’t you have visions and magic? You could easily use those to find out what direction Peak’s in,” Pyramid pointed out.

“But it doesn't matter, because we're probably going the right way,” Walnut said. Pyramid gave her a look. “We are! Peaceflyt can even check his location rock if he wanted!”

“Uh… yeah, I can do that,” Peaceflyt said. His talons awkwardly fumbled into his arm pouch, but before he felt the rock, he heard Walnut yelp in pain.

“OW!” She jumped back and shook her talons.  “Moons… that hurt…”

Peaceflyt, startled, walked over to her. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” she said, looking at the ground annoyed.  “But something burned me.”

“Burned?” Atacama asked. “What could burn you?”

“I don't know,” Walnut replied. She bent down and carefully looked through the grass. Then she stopped and cautiously reached her talons in.

“What is it?” Peaceflyt asked, looking over her shoulder. Walnut ignored him and carefully lifted a small purple circle into the air.

“Is that a scale?” he asked.

“It looks like it,” Atacama said, walking closer.

“Why would there be a purple scale on an island in the middle of the ocean?” wondered Pyramid.

Wait, Peaceflyt thought. ‘In the middle of the ocean.’ That's where the rock says Peak is!

“Uhh… so the scale burnt you?”

Walnut looked up at Peaceflyt, confused. “Umm… yeah. It looked like a NightWing’s, but then I thought ‘how many NightWings are out in the middle of the ocean?’ I thought it might've been Peak’s, but there are a lot of dragons who have purple scales, so it could've been anyone’s.”

Walnut handed him the scale and warned him to be careful because it was still hot. Peaceflyt took it, and luckily, it wasn't as bad as he thought. It was about the temperature of asphalt on a cloudless sunny day.

“I think it is one of Peak’s scales,” Peaceflyt said after examining it a bit. “The purple looks really familiar, and also it's steaming a little bit even though it was covered by grass. So it's probably from a firescales, and I'm pretty sure not many NightWings come here and… set their scales on fire, I don't know.

A grin spread across Walnut’s face. “So that means we're close to Peak?”

“Probably,” Peaceflyt said, smiling. “The scale would probably be, like, at most a few days old because it's still steaming.”

“YES!” Atacama yelled, jumping up and down in happiness. She turned and shook both Pyramid and Sparrow’s shoulders. “WE’RE ALMOST TO PEAK!!!”

Or we’re close to her, Peaceflyt thought. I really, really hope they didn't move her.

“That means your rock was right!” Pyramid smiled.

“Oh, yeah!” Peaceflyt exclaimed. “I should probably check it again, just to see.” He dug it out and whispered, “Where is Peak the SkyWing-NightWing?”

The message slowly etched itself onto the rock again, and to his content, Peak hadn't moved. But what if she's dead? his brain thought. What if she already died and we're rescuing a cor- SHUT UP! DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT!

Peaceflyt took a few deep breaths and tried to get the thought of Peak dying out of his head. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

“Wait,” Sparrow said suddenly. “Who would bring Peak to the middle of the Sea Kingdom? A SeaWing?”

“Maybe the one that almost killed you did it,” Atacama suggested. Sparrow shivered, and Atacama apologized. “Sorry, I won't mention that.”

“Thanks,” Sparrow said timidly, edging a little closer to her friend.

“Also, did the SeaWing that almost killed all of us go with Queen Coral or escape?” Pyramid asked.

“He… went with Queen Coral. He's going to be put in prison,” replied Peaceflyt.

“GOOD,” Atacama said angrily. “I hope he ROTS in there.” She clenched her talons.

“Uh… I don't think Queen Coral will put him in there for life,” Peaceflyt responded hesitantly.

“Well, then I hope he has a HORRIBLE LIFE and would RATHER BE DEAD than ALIVE!”

“That’s so rude!” Walnut protested. “Every dragon deserves happiness. Some just more than others!”

“Well, HE doesn't,” Atacama grumbled.

Sparrow suddenly turned to look at Peaceflyt. “...How bad was he hurt?” She hesitated. “My attacker.”

“Probably- probably pretty bad,” Peaceflyt said softly, regretting his decision to hurt the SeaWing with magic. “I think his legs were injured and he had scratches all over. So probably pretty bad.”

“He also had a torn wing, but he deserved it,” Pyramid growled. “He deserved more, for almost killing Sparrow.”

“You think that SeaWing deserved more? Even though he nearly died?” a sarcastic voice behind Pyramid asked. Sparrow and Walnut screamed as Pyramid whipped around fiercely to face the strange dragon.

“Yes, he deserved more,” Pyramid said through bared teeth. “Why were you stalking us?”

“I can explain,” the voice said, stepping into view. Now that Peaceflyt could see the strange dragon, he was thoroughly confused. The dragon didn't look like any tribe he'd seen before, and there were multiple reasons why. One, the dragon was larger in frame than most other dragons he'd seen. Two, there were odd patterns on the dragon's neck that Peaceflyt didn't recognize. But most importantly, the dragon's scales were as gray as mountain rocks. Atacama was the first one to point that out.

“Why are your scales so weird and gray?” she asked.

“It’s their natural color,” the strange dragon said dismissively. To Peaceflyt, it sounded like that line was rehearsed, but he wasn't going to go up there and ask if it was.

“Anyways, sorry for stalking you.” The strange dragon held up her talons in defeat. “I was just on patrol, and then I saw some SeaWing flying through the air. I was confused, so I came over here to try and investigate. And then I found you group of dragonets.”

The dragon was wearing a strange amber colored armor with spikes that were studded with emeralds. Peaceflyt noticed that there was an engraving on the armor that read “Syenite”. The engraving looked oddly familiar, and then he remembered that he'd seen an almost identical engraving in his vision of Peak before he left. Is this dragon helping guard Peak?

Syenite must've noticed Peaceflyt staring at the engraving, because she quickly hid her arm. “By the way, how did that SeaWing even get blown into the air?” she asked, trying to distract Peaceflyt from her accessories.

“Uhh… it was…” Peaceflyt looked around panicking, trying to avoid the fact he was an animus. “It was a punishment… from the queen.”

“What queen?”

Peaceflyt looked at her confused. “The queen of the SeaWings?”

“Oh, okay.” Syenite looked down at her talons, then back up again. “Also, what tribe are you from?”

Peaceflyt hesitated. Can she not tell that I'm a hybrid? “I’m a… RainWing.”

Syenite looked confused. “A RainWing?”

“Yeah. We live in the Rainforest,” Walnut filled in. “You didn't know that?”

“No,” Syenite said.

This is really weird, Peaceflyt thought. She doesn't know what a RainWing is? Maybe if I take off my skyfire, I can read her mind. And maybe get some answers to where Peak might be. He casually reached into his arm pouch like he was checking something. As soon as he found the skyfire, he grabbed it and held it in his talons. Then he rubbed his talons on his neck and let the skyfire fall to the ground. He was hoping Syenite would just think he was scratching himself, and, surprisingly, it worked. Peaceflyt could now hear her thoughts and she didn't notice a thing.

“You two look different, though,” Syenite said to Peaceflyt and Walnut. “And you’re sure you’re from the same tribe?”

“Umm… Yeah, we’re just- I’m just from a… different part of our kingdom,” Peaceflyt lied. Walnut hastily nodded.

“Oh.” The gray dragon looked disappointed. “Okay.” I wish I could go out into the continent more. It's not like I can, I'm not ‘high-ranked’ enough. Marble just wants to keep me here so I can patrol and guard those flamescales. I feel kinda bad for them.

Peaceflyt jumped a little in his scales. Wait, WHAT? Did she say flamescales? Is she talking about the firescales? This gray dragon is guarding them? What if she’s guarding Peak? Does that mean she's alive? He tried to hide his grin, but Walnut took notice and grinned right back at him.

Suddenly, Syenite leapt into the air. “Sorry, I can't stay any longer and make funny comments. I have to go.” She looked at the dragonets one last time and swiftly flew off to the west.

What are those dragons even doing in StoneWing territory? They're not supposed to be here! What if they find the island? Syenite worried. I've only seen one SeaWing come this close in my entire life! Why are there suddenly like five dragonets?

Syenite’s thoughts then shifted a bit. Those dragons looked pretty weird, too. There were ‘RainWings’ and a… SkyWing? And also two other yellow dragons. The RainWing-ish one looked kinda like the red NightWing the Queen decided to ally with recently. And something about the colorful little weird one reminds me of Granite. Her thoughts faded away as she escaped Peaceflyt’s range of mind-reading and headed presumably towards the ‘StoneWing island’.

Peaceflyt snatched the skyfire off the ground and put it back in his pouch, dazed. He felt like he was given the answers to everything at school, but out here, he had to slowly piece everything together.

“What did you hear?” Walnut asked quietly. Peaceflyt jumped, and then realized that all of them had been keeping quiet so Peaceflyt could read Syenite’s thoughts.

“Uhh… a lot. I figured out something.”

“Really? Wow, good job,” Pyramid remarked sarcastically. “I’m kidding, what was it?” She tilted her head.

“The gray dragon knows where all the firescales are, and she's a guard for them.”

“Wait, WHAT?” Atacama and Pyramid screamed in twin shrieks of horror. “WHERE ARE THEY??”

“I don't know,” Peaceflyt admitted. “But they're close. Because Peak’s scale is still steaming, it's probably new, and also I heard that gray dragon barely ever goes out into the continent. And also, we're in their territory.”

“Really?” Atacama said gleefully. “Did you hear more?”

“Uh, yeah, I think. There was something about ‘StoneWings’...”

“StoneWings?” Walnut asked, excited. “Is that an actual tribe? Did we discover a lost tribe??”

“I mean… maybe. The dragon’s scales were gray and she looked weird, so maybe the rest of her tribe or group also look like that.”

“That's actually awesome!” Walnut grinned. “A new tribe!”

“Well, if that's true, hopefully we don't have to kill all of them rescuing Peak,” Atacama said.

“It might be too late for that, they already captured her and a bunch of other random firescales,” Pyramid pointed out. She shrugged. “I’ll make some poison, just in case…”

“Only just in case, right?” Peaceflyt asked uncertainly. “Like, only if they try to murder us all, right?”

Pyramid raised a brow. “You’re very non-violent,” she noticed.

“That’s not really a bad thing,” Walnut pointed out.

“Not really,” Peaceflyt muttered. He was about to space off when he realized there was something he should probably tell the others. “There’s something I should probably tell you guys. About the StoneWings.”

“What is it?” Walnut asked.

“Do you remember my crazy cousin? The NightWing that attacked us in the cave?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she’s allied with the Queen of the StoneWings.”

“Wait, WHAT??” Atacama exploded. “So that means she's helping her capture Peak? I'm going to kill her…”

“That’s fine with me,” Peaceflyt said nonchalantly. “We need to keep dragons safe, so I don’t mind.”

“Also…” Sparrow looked worriedly up at the sky, which was starting to turn orange. “Peaceflyt? When we go to sleep, you should make your force field. In case any other weird gray dragons find us.”

“Oh. Yeah, good point,” Peaceflyt said. He reached into his arm pouch and pulled his force field stick out of it. His eyes couldn't see anything, but he felt a presence, so he knew it was working.

“I don't think I've told you yet, but this is my enchanted force field stick,” Peaceflyt announced, waving it around a bit. “I enchanted this when the SeaWing attacked. It makes a force field around the dragons I want to protect, so tonight I'll just make sure it protects all of us.” He carefully put it down on the sand in between his talons.

“Wow, that’s cool,” Sparrow said wistfully. “I wish I was an animus.”

I don't, Peaceflyt thought. Sometimes I wish I wasn't one so I wouldn't have to worry about my soul so much. I guess there are positives and negatives to it.

“Yeah, actually, being an animus would be kind of cool,” Pyramid said, while Peaceflyt was silently praying that no one would ask him to make them into one. Luckily, the conversation quickly changed to other things, so Peaceflyt didn't have to worry.

The whole evening went by pretty quickly, and as the sun fell lower in the sky, they all decided to forage for dinner. Peaceflyt caught a few fish and Walnut found a few berry bushes, while Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow found some strange looking lizards that apparently tasted like chicken. As soon as it got dark, they scouted for a good place to sleep, and found a decent one not far away. It was on the beach and sheltered by palm trees, so no one would see them if they were flying above. They all decided to hang out there and talk until they got too tired.

Walnut was the first to fall asleep, shortly after they found the spot. The others were in an intense conversation about what was happening back at the school when Peaceflyt turned around and saw Walnut sleeping on the ground. She must be tired from the flight, we traveled a LOT today. Peaceflyt thought back to the morning, when they were still on the continent. Were we? Did we travel that much? Tired, he decided not to think too much of it, and decided to lay down to rest his sore wings. He was about to drift off to sleep when he realized he should be holding his force field stick. Oh yeah, he thought, pulling it out of his pouch sluggishly. Suddenly, he felt its presence again, and knowing that he was now safe, fell asleep with Atacama, Sparrow, and Pyramid chatting over him.

Chapter Eighteen

Peaceflyt awoke early the next morning, before the sun came up. Everyone else was still sleeping, so he decided to walk out towards the ocean. He realized his skyfire pouch had fallen off his wrist, but he was too tired to secure it back on. He could do that later.

When he turned around, he vaguely saw the outline of the force field dome that his enchanted stick created. Luckily, the dome was barely visible, and the only hint that it was there were some wavy refractions around the edges.

Wait, how did I get out of the force field? Peaceflyt wondered, pausing for a second to turn around. Isn't it supposed to block anyone who goes in or out? He stared worriedly at it, then realized something. Maybe since I'm the owner, I can pass through. That makes sense.

He turned back to face the vast sea, his stick still in his talons. He wondered which direction the strange StoneWing had come from. Northwest, he remembered. He looked around cautiously. Will anyone notice if I do a little spying mission? I don’t think so, it’s still pretty dark.

After some debating in his mind, he decided to go. His scales rippled against the background and faded from view as he leapt into the air, scanning the northwest. For a while, he couldn't see anything, but eventually, he could make out a tiny shape. It was a rock in the distance, covered by fog.

It's really small, though, Peaceflyt thought. But hopefully I can land on it and get a better view.

The night air was windy, and Peaceflyt kept getting blown to the sides, so it took longer than he thought it would to get there. But he eventually arrived, and was finally able to put his talons down on the seaspray-soaked rock. After making sure he wouldn't slide off, he narrowed his eyes and tried to see through the fog.

About a half mile ahead, he could see what looked like a gray building on an island, though he wasn't sure. He assumed that it was a StoneWing palace. He could also see a dragon, presumably a StoneWing, circling around it. He decided to check his scales just in case the StoneWing saw him. Luckily, they were still invisible, so he didn't have to change anything.

I really don't want to get caught, he worried.

‘Well, you might want to double check that your cousin isn’t a mind reader then,’ a familiar sarcastic voice rang in his head. ‘Actually, don’t worry, I already did.’

Peaceflyt froze for a second. Then, after realizing who it was, his face lit up. ‘Peak! Is that you?’

‘No, of course not, it's just the other mind reading firescales,’ she thought sarcastically.  ‘Nice to see- well, hear your thoughts again. OH, COME AT ME, YOU MOONS-BLASTED SQUIRREL BRAIN! I WILL-’

‘Uhh… I hope you're talking to another dragon and not me.’

‘My guard’s just being aggravating again.’

‘Oh. Okay,’ Peaceflyt looked down, smiling. ‘Also, if you're wondering, Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow, and Walnut are here with me too. They're still sleeping.’

‘I knew about Atacama from a vision I had. I did hope that the others came too, though. Also, I am definitely killing Deneb after this, if you don’t feel up to it.’

‘Okay, that’s fine with me. But Pyramid already said she wants to do that. And Atacama, I guess, but I don't really care.’

‘Deneb would feel so hurt if she knew you thought this low of her,’ Peak thought sarcastically.

Peaceflyt nervously chuckled. ‘Yeah, she would. It's good she's not a mind-reader,’ he replied. ‘By the way, is she on that gray island? The one with the building?’

‘How’d you know?’

‘I’m on a rock by it. I’m guessing that's where you and the StoneWings are.’

‘Pretty much, yeah. At least I think so, it’s not like I’ve gotten to fly around and explore the area.’

‘Have you at least been able to get out of where you're being guarded?’

‘Well, everywhere I’m allowed to go is guarded, but there are multiple places. It’s been hard not using animus magic and accidentally killing a guard with my thoughts. Speaking of magic, they have something to detect it, so I’d suggest not using it. Or only using it at the last second.’

‘Okay.’ Peaceflyt tucked that thought away. ‘But are you okay? Do you know why you were kidnapped?’

‘I’ve been worse, but I could be better,’ Peak responded. ‘The StoneWings have an animus, or had one recently, based on their thoughts. Most of the firescales are perfectly fine being here, which doesn’t help. And surprisingly, I wasn’t kidnapped for some dumb political thing. They just can’t dig holes themselves, so they need firescales to melt them for them.’

Peaceflyt felt a little dizzy for a second from absorbing that information. ‘That’s weird,’ he thought afterward. ‘So the StoneWings have an animus that could probably kill us all if they wanted to. And you were kidnapped to help dig a hole? Maybe only firescales can dig it if they only captured firescales. Have you ever thought about why they're obsessed with giant holes to nowhere?’

‘Everyone who knows is a toadstooled fly who blocks their most important thoughts. Literally, I’ve spent days melting a tunnel for no apparent reason. Even my guard doesn’t know.’

‘That’s pretty weird. It must be really secret, then. I really hope they're not gonna like… take over Pyrrhia or something.’ He shivered at the thought. ‘How many firescales are there with you?’

‘It's not a very fun crowd, so I’ll only mention the ones worth mentioning. There’s Peril, Cinder, Torch, Inferno, Blare and Sunfire. Only Peril, Cinder, Blare and I are plotting an escape. There are a few others here, like Kindle, who you have to watch out for. She’ll report anything even vaguely suspicious. Like Peril’s first attempt at escaping. She told the StoneWings about her plan. It might’ve worked if Kindle wasn’t a snitch.’

‘Oh, great. Is Peril okay?’

‘They couldn’t really do too much, because Peril is funny and a lot of firescales like her. It wouldn’t bode too well for the StoneWings if all of their prisoners suddenly hated them.’

Peaceflyt smirked. ‘Also, when you get the chance, you should tell Peril that Clay misses her.’

‘Now that is some very dangerous information. If Peril knew that, she’d become a force so powerful that she might explode the entire island.’

‘Oh yeah. Then don’t, I guess.’

‘Ha! You misunderstand, know this means that I have to tell her just to watch the carnage!’ Peaceflyt could almost see the mischievous glint in her eyes. He stifled back a laugh to make sure no possible StoneWing guards would hear him.

‘By the way, are there any StoneWings there that are actually nice?’

‘Based on their thoughts at least, there seem to be some who are okay. I can’t be sure if they actually are good or if they just don’t like Queen Marble.’

‘Oh, okay.’ There was a short silence while Peaceflyt was trying to figure out what to ask next. ‘So is Kindle the only firescale we have to worry about? Or are there more?’

‘Kindle is the worst, but you might also need to look out for Firestorm and Firework. They don’t really want to escape and might be hard to rescue.’ Peaceflyt saw a bright orange dragon and then a bright red dragon flash in his mind. Peak paused for a second. ‘Oh, also your cousin’s like a major traitor and is working for Queen Marble.’

‘Wait, really? She's actually working for her?’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘How do you know? Did you see her?’

‘I’ve been hearing her thoughts for days. She’s staying in a much nicer place than me, closer to where the queen is. I think that when she attacked you and the others, she was on her way here, wherever here is. Do you know where we are?’

‘Uhh… we’re on an island in the ocean. Kind of in the middle of the Sea Kingdom and the Sky Kingdom.’

‘That seems like a long way from Jade Mountain. The StoneWings must have really strong tranquilizer darts,’ Peak joked. ‘I only woke up when I was almost at the island.’

‘Wow,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘Do you know how long it took you to get there? It took us like three days.’

‘I think it took over a day at least. They may have had to put me out multiple times to make sure I didn’t wake up, so I really don’t know how long it took or how long their knockout-darts last.’

‘I think RainWing darts can last up to a day or two without it being deadly. I don’t know how the StoneWings would steal them, though, because they’re big and gray and can’t be invisible. Maybe they made them.’

‘There was that one StoneWing who tried to attack me back at your family reunion. Maybe they were trying to steal both the darts and me.’

‘Oh, yeah.’ Peaceflyt shivered, partly because of the cold and partly because it freaked him out to think that a StoneWing had gotten so close to him.

‘I think that was a ruder way to crash the party than what I did, though, so your relatives probably think I’m great by comparison.’ Peak seemed to only be half joking.

‘Yeah,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘They might. I don’t think anyone expected you to show up, though. Except maybe the weird StoneWing.’

‘Did that StoneWing just see me and with no plans attack me or already know my schedule? If they knew and your relatives didn't, that'd be a pretty awkward conversation to have.’

‘Yeah, it would. It would also be pretty creepy. The StoneWings could be listening to us right now!’ Peaceflyt didn’t mean for Peak to hear the last part, but he was just so used to having skyfire on that he didn’t notice.

‘It would be, and I’m technically being watched right now. Not very well though, my guard’s pathetic. Remember to follow my advice to the letter when getting through here to help me get everyone out. This place is very complex.’ She paused for a second. ‘Do you have any other questions before you go?’

‘I don’t think so. I might come out here again with Walnut, to scout and stuff. Plus, the sun is starting to come up, so I’d better go back soon, or Atacama might think something suspicious is going on.’

‘Alright. Come back at sunset today with Walnut and we’ll do it.’

Peaceflyt shivered again. ‘Uhh… yeah. The rescue. I can do that.’ As much as he wanted to see Peak again, he was honestly really scared of going into the StoneWing palace, even if he was invisible. Thoughts of himself getting locked up by guards flashed through his mind. Then he reminded himself that Walnut was coming, and he wouldn't be alone, which comforted his fears only slightly. He looked at the sun coming over the horizon and realized Walnut and others might be waking up, so he quickly spread his wings and lifted off the rock. ‘Uhh... thank you for responding to me. I'll see you!'

‘See you soon,’ Peak responded.

As Peaceflyt flew away, he was shaking from being simultaneously excited and anxious. I’m really glad I didn't get caught, he thought to himself once he was out of Peak’s thought range. That would’ve sucked. He glanced back towards the shrinking gray island and saw no signs of life other than the singular guard circling the palace. After wistfully staring at it for a few seconds, he turned back around, caught the wind, and flew as fast as he could back to the island they’d landed on. I finally found Peak, he thought as the island came into view. They'll be so excited when I tell them.

Chapter Nineteen

“REALLY??” Atacama and Pyramid roared, scrambling out of their sleeping positions. “YOU TALKED TO HER?”

Peaceflyt nodded, smiling, as Walnut squeaked something from behind him. “What… guys, I'm still sleeping-”

Suddenly, Sparrow burst through the palm trees with a dead rabbit in her talons. “You found Peak?” She looked over to Atacama, who was grinning widely.

“YES! HE DID! AND HE TALKED TO HER YESTERDAY!”

“WHAT?” Walnut yelled, jumping to her talons. She clapped the front two together excitedly. "YOU DID?"

“Yeah, I found Peak… kind of,” Peaceflyt said. “I know where she is, at least.”

“Well, where is she? What did you talk to her about?” Walnut smiled up at him, awaiting an answer. “THIS IS SO EXCITING!”

Peaceflyt smiled back at her, feeling her excitement seep into him. “Uhh, she's on an island with a gray building kind of close to here,” he explained. “And she told me everything- well, not everything, but a decent amount of stuff that's going on there. As much as she knew.”

“Ooh! Can you tell us?” Walnut asked eagerly.

“Uh… yeah, sure! Let me see if I can remember what she told me.” He stopped for a second, and, gathering up his thoughts, explained everything Peak had told him on the rock. Atacama and Pyramid excitedly grinned at each other when Peaceflyt told them she had a vision about them, and frowned when he told them about Kindle.

“So there will be some toadstooled flies there,” Atacama remarked.

“Those moons-blasted StoneWings,” Pyramid growled under her breath. “So your murderous cousin is working for them. And they BRAINWASHED a dragon into following them! Did Peak seem un-brainwashed?”

“She seemed pretty normal,” answered Peaceflyt. “She was annoyed, though.”

“She SHOULD be!” Pyramid started ranting to the four, but Peaceflyt didn't listen to it because he felt Walnut tug on his arm.

“Peaceflyt? I have to ask you something.”

“Uh…” She dragged him away from the others. “Okay.”

“Next time you scout, can I go with you?”

“Oh. Uhh… sure.” Peaceflyt glanced back at the others and noticed Atacama mischievously smiling at them. What's that for? He tilted his head at her, but she didn't give any explanation. Uhh… ok. He turned back to Walnut. “Just as long as you're invisible, because I would not want to see another one of my friends almost dying. I’ve had enough of that, thank you very much.”

“Thank you!” Walnut grinned at him, then ran towards Atacama. “I get to go scout with Peaceflyt,” she announced proudly.

Yes, very fun, going into enemy territory to scout, thought Peaceflyt. Although he was kind of confused why Walnut would want to go scout, he felt comforted by the fact that he wouldn't be alone while doing it.

“If she dies on your scouting mission,” Pyramid told Peaceflyt, “then I’m killing you. Just a heads up.”

Oh, fun, he thought.

Walnut exclaimed, “I will NOT let you kill Peaceflyt, even if I’m dead. So don’t even think about it.” She stared angrily at Pyramid, who was exchanging a glance with Atacama like they had a secret joke.

Peaceflyt looked at the two, confused. “Why are you making those faces?”

Sparrow snickered. “We’ll tell you later.” Atacama, Pyramid, and her all smiled at each other and exploded into a laughing fit.

“Why are you guys laughing??” Walnut asked, confused.

“We’ll tell you later!” Sparrow said, barely able to hold in her laughter.

Oh, moons, I hope they're not laughing about me, Peaceflyt thought.

“Why don't we scout around midday?” Peaceflyt asked Walnut, trying to break the awkwardness.

“Yeah, sure! That sounds good!” She smiled and threw a rock into the ocean, studying to see how far it went. “How far away did you scout yesterday?”

“It wasn't too far, but it wasn't too close either. Like you can't see it from here.” Peaceflyt motioned out towards the area he'd flown last night. “But we can probably make it, we just have to be invisible. And not make any noise.”

“I’ll try not to make any noise when you hear Peak, but I don't know, I might break that promise,” Walnut said. “Because how can you NOT scream in happiness when you find your missing friend?”

“Good point,” Peaceflyt noted. Then, in a quieter tone, he leaned over and added, “But still, try to be as quiet as you can because I don't want us to get kidnapped too. Then only Atacama and Pyramid and Sparrow could save us and they don't know where the island is.”

“Oh, yeah.” Walnut looked over at the others, who were still laughing their heads off. “I’ll try my best to be quiet, then. I don't want them to get in trouble too. Even though they keep LAUGHING for some reason.” She glared at them.

Hearing Walnut’s comment seemed to make them laugh harder. But eventually they simmered down and started a new conversation.

“I hate feeling left out,” Walnut grumped. “I wish they could tell us what's so funny.”

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt agreed, though he had a guess as to why they were laughing. He noticed Walnut often liked to be near him, so he guessed they thought she had a crush on him. Which would be kind of weird… just because they were friends didn't mean they liked each other. But he dismissed the idea and sat down to look at the sea.

. . .

Midday came quickly, and Peaceflyt was still wondering why Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow burst into fits of laughter every time they looked at him.

I really wish I knew why. I mean, I could always take off my skyfire, but I don't want to lose it, and I promised to not invade their thoughts.

Peaceflyt walked up to the three. “If you're not gonna tell me now, tell me later today, please, or I might take my skyfire off,” he said, irritated.  

“Have you forgotten that half the reason you wear skyfire is because of my violent thoughts?” Atacama replied, changing the subject.

“I guess that's a little true,” admitted Peaceflyt. “But I still want to know!”

“Well, we’re not gonna tell you right now,” Atacama said, eyeing both Peaceflyt and Walnut. “We’re still gonna tell you, just not right now.” She started laughing, as if imagining what Peaceflyt’s reaction was going to be when he heard whatever was so funny.

Peaceflyt rolled his eyes and walked away with Walnut, who was staring up at the sun.

“Peaceflyt, it’s midday,” she reminded him. “We’re going scouting, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Right.” He sighed internally, not wanting to get so close to the island again. Luckily, we’re both RainWings, so we probably won’t be seen. “Before we go, I need to leave my skyfire pouch here, so I can talk- exchange thoughts with Peak.” He stopped and glanced around for a place to hide it, his eyes eventually landing on a coconut tree in a grass patch near the shore. He flew up to it, took off his pouch, and stashed it in between the tree’s fronds. Then he darted towards the ocean, free of anyone else’s thoughts.

“Walnut!” he yelled, beckoning for her to join him. “Let’s go!”

Walnut leapt upwards and flew up beside Peaceflyt, who was stopped in the air. “I’m so excited,” she said happily. “I can't wait to talk to Peak.”

“Well, I can show you the way to her prison. Or at least where I scouted yesterday.”

“Okay!” Walnut grinned.

The two of them started flying slowly towards the island, Peaceflyt in front and Walnut tailing closely. “Also, just so you know, I can hear your thoughts now, so be careful what you think,” Peaceflyt said. “I’ll try my best to block them out, but some thoughts might still slip through.” It probably wouldn’t be a problem when they got near the island, due to the amount of dragons thinking there, but he thought he should still tell her. It was a miracle he could make out Peak’s thoughts last night, and it was probably only because he was so used to hearing them.

“Okay,” she replied. “Most of my thoughts aren't that bad, but I'll try to not think as much as normal.”

“Ok. Cool.” Peaceflyt nodded and nervously smiled at her, and she smiled back like always. She smiles a lot, Peaceflyt noticed. It's almost like she thinks everything's going to turn out okay and we'll all live happily ever after. Which would be really cool, but first… he shivered. We have to rescue Peak.

Eventually, the two approached the rock Peaceflyt had stood on earlier. It looked the same, but luckily, it was less sea-foamy. Peaceflyt carefully lowered himself onto the rock before he remembered Walnut had come with him. They couldn't see each other because they'd become invisible during the flight, but they could still feel each other's presence.

Peaceflyt flew off the rock, glancing in the general direction of Walnut. “Oh, uhh… it's fine, you can sit on it,” he whispered. “I’ll go in the ocean, since I can swim.”

“Are you sure?” Walnut asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt nodded. “Also, if you want, you can just think your thoughts at me and I can respond.”

“Okay,” Walnut said. Then she thought, ‘Can you hear this?’

Peaceflyt’s face materialized for a second as he nodded and smiled. Walnut’s eyes were wide with surprise. “That's so weird!” she said under her breath. “It’s so weird having you hear my thoughts!”

Peaceflyt almost laughed. “It probably is,” he whispered, smiling. He lowered himself into the ocean. “Anyway, I’m going to see if Peak can hear me.”

‘Good luck,’ Walnut thought. Peaceflyt was already completely submerged and Walnut couldn't see him, but he still smiled. It was also weird for him to hear other dragons’ thoughts. (Not counting Peak’s).

‘Peak,’ Peaceflyt called out. ‘Walnut’s here now. She wanted to come with me. I can help you guys talk if you want.’ He focused his mind in the island’s direction and heard a faint humming sound. He hadn't noticed it before, probably because he wore skyfire, but he assumed it was the faraway thoughts of dragons he wasn't paying attention to.

He stuck his invisible head out of the water to check how Walnut was doing. She was doing a pretty good job at staying invisible, but he could see a few scales on her underbelly yellow with excitement.

“Walnut,” he whispered. “I’m trying to reach out to Peak right now.”

Walnut jumped in surprise and almost slipped off the rock. “Okay, but next time can you swirl the water around or something before you talk?” she hissed. “You scared me!” She paused for a second, looking down at her talons. “Sorry if that was mean.”

“It’s fine,” Peaceflyt said. “I can do that.” He looked at the surface of the water, ready to go back under, when he heard Peak.

‘Walnut’s there? It’s midday, the plan I have wouldn’t work right now. The firescales are too separated,’ Peak thought.

‘Walnut wanted to scout, and I said maybe we could go around midday,’ Peaceflyt replied. ‘I kinda forgot and- Uhh… well, I guess an extra scouting mission won't hurt.’

‘A heads up would’ve been nice, just don’t get caught. We’re outside at the moment, but now would not be an opportune time to try to escape because we’re about to go back inside. Oh! We could sort of introduce everyone to each other. So some of the firescales will at least know the bare minimum about the dragons aiding in their escape.’

Peaceflyt smiled, and bubbles floated from his mouth to the surface. ‘Yeah, we can do that! I only brought Walnut, though. She’s scouting with me because… well, we’re the only ones who can turn invisible. It would be weird if Atacama or Pyramid or Sparrow came, because then there would just be a random SandWing or SkyWing chilling in the middle of the ocean. The StoneWings would be so confused if they saw that.’

‘They’d only be confused because their squirrel brains cannot understand that SandWing tails are clearly dangerous.’

As if on cue, Peaceflyt heard a noise above them. He glanced upwards and spotted a StoneWing circling in the air. They had a wickedly sharp spear that looked like it could skewer anyone it came in contact with, and it perfectly matched their ambery colored armor. Peaceflyt wished he could find a way to remind Walnut not to make any noises, but luckily she was staying quiet. Phew.

‘Peak, I can help you and Walnut talk if you want,’ he thought as the StoneWing circled back onto the island.

‘Alright, I’ll help you and your gi-’ Peak made throat clearing noises in her mind. ‘Walnut talk to everyone who’s helping with the escape plan. The current list is Cinder, Peril, and Blare.’

‘My what!?’ Peaceflyt thought indignantly. ‘You were going to say girlfriend, weren’t you? I’m just her friend.’

‘What? Nooooo… I would never…’

‘No. I swear you were about to say girlfriend. Moons. That was probably what Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were laughing about.’

‘Really? It could be about something else,’ Peak thought. ‘Moons, aren’t I lucky that Walnut can’t hear this conversation? She might kill me herself. Not literally, of course, she’d just use strong words, but that scares me more than anything the StoneWings have done so far.’

‘Yeah. Anyway, you said you can help us talk to the other firescales?’ Peaceflyt thought, anxious to change the subject.

‘Are we getting nervous now? Changing the subject suddenly?’ Peak teased him. It was startling sometimes how good she could be at reading dragons she knew well.

‘Oh, please. Stop talking- thinking about that.’

‘Try and stop me,’ Peak thought sarcastically. She paused. ‘Actually, I do have to stop sadly because Cinder says that time is running out. Shall we introduce you and your... Walnut to the firescales?’

‘By all the moons.’ Peaceflyt scowled, pressing his claw to his temple. ‘Fine, let’s do it.’

‘Cinder says hello and that Walnut has a nice name. Blare just said hello, but she’s pretty shy so that’s on par with usual behavior for her. Peril said that you need to get us out of here soon or- arson is a crime, Peril, and so is mass murder. Give me a moment to converse with her about voicing violent tendencies in front of our enemies.’

‘Okay,’ Peaceflyt thought, amused. ‘I’m gonna tell Walnut we’re talking.’

He stretched his arm up to the surface of the water and swirled his talon around to alert Walnut. Then, making sure he didn't make any noticeable waves, he lifted his head out of the water.

“Walnut,” he whispered. “I’m talking to Peak right now.”

“You are?” She whispered in an awestruck voice.

For a second, Walnut’s body glimmered bright yellow in excitement, and Peaceflyt was worried the StoneWings would see it. Luckily, though, no one was in sight, so he assumed they hadn't been noticed.

“Can I say hi to her?” Walnut asked excitedly.

“Uhh… yeah,” Peaceflyt whispered, wishing Walnut wasn't so loud. “What do you want to say?”

“Tell her that I say hi and ask her if she's okay,” Walnut said.

Peaceflyt closed his eyes, concentrating. ‘Walnut says hi, and she wants me to ask you if you're okay.’

Almost immediately, a response came. ‘Tell her I say hello and that I’m doing… Uh, I mean I think I’m doing about as well as you’d expect for a kidnap victim. Ask her how she and everyone else has been.’

Peaceflyt opened his eyes and saw Walnut’s half-invisible face smiling at him. “What did she say?” she whispered loudly.

“She said… hello to you, and that she's… doing about as well as you'd expect for a kidnap victim,” Peaceflyt said. “She wants to know how you and everyone else have been.”

Walnut thought about that. “We’ve been doing good!” she exclaimed. “Well, mostly. We ran into a NightWing that turned out to be Peaceflyt's cousin that tried to kill us in a cave… she tried to hurt Peaceflyt and Atacama, but we made her go away by spraying venom on her. We also ran into a SeaWing who attacked Atacama and Sparrow, but luckily Peaceflyt saved the day and enchanted a kelp to heal them.” She grinned at Peaceflyt, who was relaying the information to Peak. “And also luckily, Queen Coral came and arrested the SeaWing, but she also took Pelican.”

‘I only knew about Deneb’s attack… Good thing we all know how to fight due to self-defense class. Well, except for me. But I really don’t need a class, so it's fine.’ Peak’s thoughts paused for a few seconds before attempting to lighten the mood a bit. ‘I think our friend group is one big trouble magnet. I get kidnapped, you guys get attacked multiple times, Peaceflyt’s cousin is a traitor who wants him dead, and Pelican somehow gets grounded during this. We’d better get some good luck from here on out.’

‘Yeah, we’d better,’ Peaceflyt thought sourly, repeating what Peak said to Walnut. ‘I really hope nothing bad happens when we rescue you, because that would really suck.’

‘It would.’

Walnut raised her head in thought. “I never thought about all the bad things that have happened so far,” she said slowly. “Only the good things. But Peak’s right. We'll need luck when we rescue her and her friends. And… it'll turn out okay in the end, because we're the good guys and the good guys always win.” She smiled, though this time it seemed a little forced. Peaceflyt wondered if sometimes she wasn’t as happy as she let on.

“It’ll be okay,” Peaceflyt tried reassuring her. “It- it will turn out okay. We can rescue Peak.” He didn't completely believe everything he said, considering a bunch of things could go wrong at any time. But he felt bad for Walnut and didn't want her feeling down, especially because she was the dragon keeping everyone's hopes up.

“Yeah,” Walnut said slowly. She looked at Peaceflyt and her voice gained more confidence. “Yeah, we can rescue Peak. She and her friends are depending on us.”

And possibly all of Pyrrhia, Peaceflyt’s subconscious thought, remembering the prophecy.

“Maybe after we rescue them we can bring all of them to Jade Mountain with us,” Walnut suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Peaceflyt said. But first we have to rescue them.

Suddenly, Peak's thoughts interrupted his mind. ‘Peril just had a great idea on the part of my plan that I’ve been struggling with, how to sneak you guys in. It’s really obvious now that I think of it, but in my defense I’ve only been planning this with you and Walnut in mind for less than a day. You and Walnut can sneak in invisibly. This destroys so many of the issues of my earlier plans.’

‘Well, I was going to do that anyway. If we went in there and weren’t invisible, we’d be caught really fast. Good thing Peril stopped you from overthinking. But what if we accidentally bump into a StoneWing? We’d either have to get killed or wait for someone to fight them away because we’re not good fighters. So I think we should go on more scouting missions to see how to get in and-’ Peaceflyt’s thoughts were starting to speed up, so Peak interrupted him.

‘First of all, you both have RainWing venom. Second, the others and I know this place well enough to guide you through it. I honestly doubt that you’ll bump into a StoneWing if you look where you’re going.’

‘I don’t know if you remember, but RainWing venom doesn’t melt metal, which StoneWings are covered in, so that’s a problem. I mean, a well-aimed shot could soak through the metal or something, but it wouldn’t hurt much. Also, we might bump into StoneWings when we turn corners,’ Peaceflyt worried.

‘If you want to play it that way, I don’t know if you remember that you just so happen to have the ability to melt any StoneWing that you happen to somehow meet’s bones with your thoughts if you need to. Not to mention that there’s this whole thing called looking around the corner before you turn, not sure if you’ve heard of it. You’ll both be fine.’ Peak was trying, and succeeding, to be convincing, as Peaceflyt’s resolve crumbled.

‘Okay. But STILL! We could die at any point in this rescue! The StoneWings could catch us at any moment!’ His thoughts got more frantic and sped up as he continued worrying. He took a breath and tried to compose himself. ‘Sorry,’ he thought sadly. ‘I guess I haven't been through this much pressure before. I really want to rescue you, but then again I also don't want to go into enemy territory and maybe get killed because that would just make you disappointed… UGH.’

‘I’m not going to be disappointed in you if you die, Peace. Not even if you fail and live. I’d be mad at whoever dared hurt you.’ Her thoughts were softer now, more comforting.

‘I’m sorry, I was just trying to make an excuse, I’m a MESS right now, I’m just REALLY WORRIED-’ Peaceflyt realized he was shaking and willed himself to stop. He took a deep breath. ‘Okay. I’m actually sorry this time. I’ll do it. When do you want us to come?’

‘Again, it’s okay, and the guards change shifts right before noon and midnight. It’s past noon now, so come right before midnight.’

‘Okay. Right before midnight. We can do that.’

Chapter Twenty

When Peaceflyt got back to the island, the sun was high in the sky, and Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were still laughing. He wasn't even on the ground yet, because he was grabbing his skyfire pouch off the palm tree, but he could still hear their giggles whenever they looked at him. Walnut was on the ground, trying to convince them to tell her what was so funny, but it wasn't working.

Peaceflyt attached his pouch to his arm and flew down next to Walnut, which made the three laugh harder.

“You’re laughing because you think Walnut has a crush on me,” Peaceflyt said irritatedly. “Peak said something about a girlfriend- well, she was going to say it, but she stopped.” He looked at them, annoyed.

“We don’t think Walnut has a crush on you,” Atacama explained, laughing. “She does have a crush on you.”

WHAT?? Peaceflyt froze, and Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow started laughing harder. He felt like a palm tree had fallen on him and he was stuck under it. “Wait… really?”

“Yeah,” Pyramid managed to say, laughing hysterically.

Panicked, Peaceflyt glanced at Walnut, who was light red from embarrassment. She looked like she wanted to run into a corner and hide, but couldn't.

They ship us. Peaceflyt tried to remain calm outside, but he was dying inside. That's why they were laughing, because they know Walnut has a crush on me. I don't even have one on her, and they're gonna be shipping us for years! And also, SHE HAS A CRUSH ON ME!

He could almost hear Peak’s voice teasing him. “How didn't you figure this out? It was right in front of your face the entire time. The pieces were laid perfectly before you and yet you chose to ignore them.”

He almost shot back, “I thought that, but I never knew she actually had a crush on me!” But he decided there were better things to do than yelling at a voice in his head. He tried to ignore the subject, as he didn’t want to be on it anymore.

He turned to Walnut, who was trying to avoid eye contact with him. “Uhh… one of the firescales, Cinder, said you had a nice name,” he said awkwardly.

“Oh,” she replied quietly, glancing at him. “Umm… that's nice.” She stared out at the ocean and cupped her talons, as if she was calling out. “Thank you, Cinder!” she shouted half-heartedly.

“Also, uhh… I have to ask you something.” Peaceflyt casually walked down the beach, away from Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow, and beckoned for Walnut to follow. She did, and they walked silently together.

As soon as they were out of hearing distance, Peaceflyt asked, “Is it fine with you if we wake up at midnight tonight?”

Walnut looked at him, confused. “Why? What do you mean?”

“That’s the time Peak wants us to come.”

“Peak-?”

“We’re going to see Peak today. She wants us to go rescue her and the firescales.”

Walnut paused, her eyes wide as she processed the information. “Wait. WHAT!? Really? We’re going? Tonight? I’m coming with you??”

Peaceflyt smiled. “Yeah, really. We’re both gonna rescue her. At midnight.”

“I, wow, are you nervous? I’m a little nervous, haha.” Walnut laughed and shook her talons. “Especially because you can’t use magic and not go unnoticed. I mean, I can’t wait to see her, but I’m just… a little nervous. Is anyone else going to come with us?”

“No. Having a random SandWing or SkyWing just waltzing into the StoneWings’ secret prison would kind of be a giveaway that something suspicious might be happening.”

“Oh, yeah. Do we need to train or anything? Or prepare? I don't feel very prepared.”

“Uhh… I don’t know. We could practice… fighting or something.”

“So like sparring? Maybe we should practice sparring. You can go against me. I can be tough if I want,” Walnut said earnestly.

Peaceflyt had never previously thought of the little RainWing as tough, but their recent adventures had proved him wrong. “O-okay, only if you want to.” He had never sparred with Walnut before, mostly because Walnut was three-quarters his size and seemed too nice to fight, but he decided they both might need to practice if they wanted the rescue mission to go successfully.

“Good. Maybe. We need as much practice as we can get,” she said. She looked at Peaceflyt awkwardly for a second. “Should we start?”

“Uhh, sure,” Peaceflyt said. “You attack me first.”

“Okay,” Walnut said. She dove towards his back legs, claws extended. Peaceflyt kicked her off easily, but she got back up and started slashing her claws at his tail. He swung his tail to knock her away, accidentally flinging her into the ocean.

Oh, no. Peaceflyt ran into the waves, grabbed her arm, and dragged her back on land. “Sorry about that, Walnut.”

She spit out some sea water and laughed. Apparently not much of it had gone into her mouth, because she sounded normal. “It’s okay,” she told him, coughing. Just don't do that again.”

“I’ll try not to,” Peaceflyt replied, checking her for scrapes from underwater rocks. Luckily, she was unscathed.

“Well, that was a first for me. First time fully submerged underwater, I wonder how many RainWings can say that.”

“Probably not much. Unless you’re including me. Then again, I’m not fully a RainWing,” Peaceflyt noted. “Do you want to keep sparring?”

“Maybe we can spar the air this time,” Walnut suggested. “That way we won't hurt each other.”

“Yeah, I guess we could do that.” Peaceflyt shrugged. “Maybe it’ll help.”

As it turned out, sparring the air did not help. Apparently, not being able to actually fight another dragon didn't really improve fighting skills very much. Peaceflyt felt a little bad for Peak, who always had to spar the air at Jade Mountain Academy. At least Peak had other ways to defend herself, though. Most dragons didn't.

After a while, Peaceflyt and Walnut decided to rest, and sat in silence for a bit.

Eventually, Peaceflyt asked, “Do you think we should do venom target practice? In case we can't fight? I don't think sparring the air is helping very much.”

“Sure,” Walnut said. “I really don't want to hurt anyone, though.”

“Me neither,” Peaceflyt admitted. “Hopefully we won't have to. But just in case.”

Walnut nodded, but then looked confused. “How do you want to do it? We have no target boards here.”

Peaceflyt looked around, and a bush caught his eye. “Uhh… we could practice on leaves. Like… we could maybe line them up and shoot at them.”

“Yeah, we could do that,” Walnut shrugged. “I mean, I don't have any better ideas.”

.  .  .

Sometime later after Peaceflyt and Walnut had finished target practice and they had all eaten dinner, Peaceflyt found Walnut at the edge of the shore.

“Hi,” Peaceflyt said, looking into the sunset.

“Hi, Peaceflyt.” Walnut paused, admiring the view. “I can’t believe that during the next sunset, Peak will finally be back.”

Or we’ll both be dead, or trapped on the island, he thought with a cold sweat. But hopefully not. “I know.”

Suddenly, Walnut screamed, and Peaceflyt saw a rush of sandy yellow scales shake her out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to face the attacker, but he only saw Atacama, with a mischievous smile creeping onto her face. “Enjoying the romantic sunset?”

“It’s not romantic,” Peaceflyt snapped. “But it is a nice sunset.”

“Awww, they’re so cute together, Atacama!” Pyramid walked up to her.

“Three moons, stop talking,” said Peaceflyt angrily.

“Ok, we’ll leave so you can have your moment together,” said Pyramid, and her and Atacama broke into laughter that faded as they walked off.

“They’re so annoying,” Peaceflyt muttered under his breath. “I’m going to go get a snack. I’ll be back soon.” He dove into the water, feeling the coolness of the sea surround him as he submerged. He saw Walnut stare down into the water as he descended.

He swam downward and spotted a fish. He grabbed it in his talons and ate it in one bite. While he was eating, something caught his eye. On the seafloor, he saw a large blur of green and gray surrounded by stone on every side except for a small hole near the bottom. What could that be?

He narrowed his eyes, hesitating to move any closer, in case it was some kind of trap set up for any SeaWings who got too close to the StoneWing Island. But curiousity won him over. Nearby fish swam out of reach as they saw Peaceflyt nearing them, revealing a small white dragon bone.

Weird, he thought. He didn’t give it much thought after that. He caught another fish and ate it and paddled up to the surface of the water. Well, that was kind of creepy.

“Hi,” said Walnut. “You’re back.”

“Yep,” he responded.

“While you were swimming I thought about the plan and I might go to sleep a little early, because we’re going to have to wake up at midnight.”

“That’s true.” Peaceflyt watched her walk away on the sand and choose a comfortable spot to sleep. “Maybe I should go to sleep, too, actually,” he said to himself.

Atacama walked up to them and watched them quizzically. “Why are you going to bed so early? Actually, I don’t really blame you guys. Now that I think about it, I kind of want to lay down, too.”

Peaceflyt laid down on the warm sand, staring at the sunset. He felt so vast out here. All he wanted to do was go back home, with no worries. He knew he probably would have more worries than he normally would have anyway. He also knew he might be dead or captured tomorrow, so he tried to enjoy watching the sunset and looking around at his friends. His eyes drooped, and he started to drift into a dreamless sleep.

.  .  .

Peaceflyt felt talons on his shoulder, shaking him softly. “Peaceflyt? It’s almost midnight,” Walnut’s voice whispered.

He opened his eyes slowly, but they kept wanting to close. He stumbled onto his feet, still tired. “Okay,” he said hoarsely. “How long ago did you wake up?”

“Probably about a minute or two ago,” she said quietly. “One of Atacama’s wings just decided to fall on my face. It was really annoying, and then the inside of her wing got caught on my nose spike and then I got up.”

Peaceflyt looked at Atacama, and if she wasn’t asleep, she was doing a good job of pretending to. Pyramid and Sparrow were lying with their eyes closed near her.

“Are they awake?” asked Peaceflyt quietly.

“I don’t think so,” Walnut whispered. “Actually, I think Atacama might be awake, but I know Pyramid and Sparrow aren't.”

“Okay. Well, let’s still be quiet for whoever’s actually asleep.” They crept across the island so the others wouldn't hear their wingbeats when they took off. Luckily, the island was small, so it didn’t take long.

“You ready?” asked Peaceflyt. He was really nervous, but he didn’t want to admit it.

Walnut smiled anxiously at him. “Yeah. I think so. I'm just kind of scared.”

“Don’t worry,” he responded, even though he was probably more nervous than her. He spread his wings, and Walnut followed suit. They leaped into the air simultaneously, made their scales invisible, and flew into the clear night sky towards the rock Peaceflyt had talked to Peak on a night ago.

He slid into the water, and heard Walnut’s talons quietly tap against the rock. Hey, Peak. We’ve made it. We’ve come to rescue you.

Chapter Twenty-One

‘And the others, I’m presuming? Or am I just that special?’ Peak thought.

‘Yeah. The others too.’

‘Where are you now? I need a description of your surroundings to lead you in.’

‘I’m on the rock- well, in the ocean by the rock right now,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘But I think I see an area where we can land. Give me a second.’

He carefully lifted out of the ocean and tapped Walnut on the shoulder. “Walnut, it’s me. We’re going to fly to that area over there.” He pointed his barely visible talon towards a small patch of rock on the island. “Oh, also, can you carry my skyfire so I can talk with Peak?”

“Sure,” Walnut’s voice whispered. Peaceflyt stuck his arm in the ocean and grabbed his skyfire. They both visiblized their talons so Peaceflyt could drop it into hers.

“Are you ready?” Peaceflyt asked quietly, hovering in the air.

“I think so,” Walnut whispered.

Peaceflyt quietly started towards the island, and heard Walnut lift off behind him. They flew in silence most of the way, and Peaceflyt was surprised how close the island was, even though it seemed so far away. Eventually, they both landed quietly on the hard gray rock with a small thunk.

‘Okay, we're here,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘We’re on a little patch of rock by a tree.’

‘Be more specific. What does it look like? I asked for a description of the area, not a quick note of the surrounding area.’

Peaceflyt narrowed his eyes at the tree. ‘Uhh… the tree has a stone carving of a dragon's head. It's to the right of us. There's also a small patch of grass under it-’

‘Look for a tunnel in the ground. When you find it, go in and turn left. Wait for further instructions there.’

‘Okay.’ Peaceflyt looked down, scanning the ground.

“What are you doing?” Walnut asked.

“We’re supposed to find a tunnel,” Peaceflyt replied. Eventually, his eyes landed on a medium-sized boulder by a wall that looked like it was covering something. “I think it’s over there.” He pointed at it, forgetting he was invisible. “Uhh… it’s by the wall,” he said quickly. “Follow me.”

They both walked towards the boulder, making sure to not make any sound. When they got there, Peaceflyt cautiously put his talons on it. “Should I try to push it?”

“You could ask Peak,” Walnut whispered.

“I guess,” Peaceflyt replied. ‘I think I found a tunnel, but there's a boulder on top of it. Should I open it?’

‘Well you see, in order to get into a tunnel blocked by a boulder, one must first move the boulder.’

‘I know THAT. But is it safe to open? Will it trigger any alarms?’

‘The StoneWings with power and high ranks think so highly of themselves that they’re certain that no one would ever dare to try to free their prisoners. So no traps. It's also punishable by death, so I’m pretty sure that probably helps dragons not do it.’

‘Okay.’ Peaceflyt tried not to think about the ‘punishable by death’ part of that sentence, as that would just worry him more. He took a deep breath and slowly pushed the boulder aside. It scraped loudly against the ground, making him flinch, but he didn't stop until the hole was big enough for them to fit through. He looked around cautiously for any StoneWings that may have overheard the scraping, but luckily no one had seemed to hear it. Good.

“Okay, follow me,” he whispered to Walnut. “Try to close the boulder when you're in.” Slowly, he tiptoed in, and Walnut followed suit. When he was a good distance into the tunnel, he heard a faint scraping noise behind him. He looked back and saw the boulder slowly rolling back over the tunnel’s entrance. Eventually, it fell into place with a muffled thunk.

He heard talonsteps running up from behind him. “I did it,” Walnut’s voice whispered.

“Good job.” Peaceflyt nervously smiled. I hope we didn’t close off our only way to escape.

As they continued down the tunnel, Peaceflyt was freaking out. He tried to breathe as quietly as he could, but his heart was beating fast, so it was hard to. Eventually, he saw a fork in the tunnel and stopped. ‘Left is the right way to go, right?’

‘Yep.’

He turned to Walnut behind him. “Okay. We're gonna go left,” he whispered. Peaceflyt turned left, and hoped Walnut was going the same way. He habitually glanced behind himself to check before realizing she was invisible. Luckily, he heard her talonsteps, so he knew she was there.

They walked a bit further down the tunnel. To their luck, they hadn't seen any guards yet, which was good. ‘We’re in the second tunnel. Uhh… we're still alive, so that's a good thing.’

‘Very good, in fact. Keep heading down that tunnel until you see a cave. It’s shaped like an irregular oval.’

‘Okay- AH!’ Peaceflyt spotted what looked like the guard they’d met on the island, except her scale color was a little darker and her snout was a little shorter. She was strolling along the tunnel, coming the opposite way. Peaceflyt froze in fear, and Walnut ran into him. The guard stopped in her tracks, surprised by the sound. Oh no.

Peaceflyt frantically glanced around and spotted a large rock by his tail in the wall. He hit his tail against the wall so the rock could fall out. Please let this work, please let him think that the noise came from the rock and not Walnut… He was in luck, as the guard grumbled at the rock and continued down the tunnel.

As they walked deeper underground, Peaceflyt was starting to feel claustrophobic. The tunnel was big enough to fit several dragons side-by-side, but everything seemed so closed in and secretive that it made the tunnel seem smaller than it actually was. That feeling stuck around even when they turned a corner and a big cavern appeared in front of them. ‘This is weird. Uhh… Peak, I think we’re here. Well, we’re by the cave, I think.’

‘Unsurprisingly, there’s another left in your near future. Go to the third opening from the farthest left exit of the cave. Then go to the second opening on the right side of that passage, and you’ll be almost there. Can you remember all of that?’

‘I hope so,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘That’s a lot of instructions.’ He walked around the cave, trying to comprehend what Peak said. ‘Second opening, left side…’

‘Third opening, left side. Then it's the second opening on the right side.’

Peaceflyt shook his head, confused. ‘Okay, third opening, left side.’ He went down to the third opening, and heard Walnut’s talons behind him. He could practically sense her excitement. He hoped that her scales weren't turning yellow, but he was too concentrated to check. ‘Okay. So now the second opening on the… right?’

‘Mhm.’ Her thoughts were almost singsongy, letting through excitement and anticipation.

Peaceflyt almost smiled. He turned right and went into the second opening there. There were six mostly flat boulders on either side of the cave the tunnel let into. Peaceflyt could hear breathing and movement from behind them. ‘Okay. What do I do now?’

‘Congratulations, you made it to me! My cave is the farthest one on the right side, so you’ll need to open that one first. Then we’ll do Peril’s, second on the right, Cinder’s, third on the left, and Blare’s, farthest on the left.’ Peaceflyt could hear someone standing up far down the right side of the cave, followed by Peak’s mostly quiet laughter. He could almost see the grin on her face.

A smile crept onto his face as well. “Walnut, we’re here,” he whispered excitedly.

She was silent for a second, before her whole body suddenly exploded into bright yellow scales. “We ARE?” she yelled. She ran up to him and grabbed his arm. “Where is she? Is she behind one of those rocks??”

“Yeah, she is,” he whispered, flinching at her loudness. “By the way, try to stay quiet and keep your scales invisible, so no guards know we're here.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” she said, much quieter. She tried fading her scales back into nothing, but some yellow still shone through.

“It’s okay,” Peaceflyt said. “Your scales don't have to be completely invisible. Just try to not make any noise, okay?”

“Okay,” Walnut’s voice whispered. “So what do we do now? Do we open the caves?”

“Well, we’re gonna open Peak's cave first,” Peaceflyt replied. “Somehow. I'm gonna talk to her for a second.”

‘Hey, uhh… how do you open the caves? Also, are there any guards in there?’

‘You need to get a key to open them. There's no guards in here luckily, but there are some on the way out if this goes poorly.’

‘Okay. So we might only see them while we're escaping.’ Peaceflyt wondered how the StoneWing guards would react if they saw two colorful dragons leading all their firescales out of their captivity. He guessed their reactions wouldn't be good.

He started towards Peak's cave, the farthest one on the right. ‘Is anyone else in your cave with you?’

‘Just Torch, my cave-mate, and she's sleeping right now. I’m taking her with me. Whether or not she wants to go, she is.’

‘Okay,’ he thought. ‘Would she come anyway, if you didn’t force her to?’

‘The world may never know.’

As Peaceflyt and Walnut approached the cave, they heard more shuffling noises. Peaceflyt peeked through a crack in the rock-door and caught a glimpse of a reddish-orange dragon on the ground, who Peaceflyt assumed was Torch. However, his heart leapt when saw Peak's reds and oranges, though in her disguise she lacked purple.

‘Peak,’ he thought, barely able to contain his excitement. ‘I’m right outside your cave right now. I can see you.’

‘Wait, how?’ He could see her shoot a quick glance at him. He could hear her thoughts jolt in excitement. It sounded like she sat up, and by her face appearing in the crack, she had moved over to the door. ‘It’s really you.. And Walnut. I… I didn’t honestly expect you to be here,’ She took a deep breath from behind the rock-door. ‘Have Walnut go to Blare’s cave, then Peril’s, and have her tell them that you're here.’

‘Okay. What will I do?’

‘Get a key. You can get them from one of the guards.’

‘Uhh… okay.’ He turned around to face Walnut as he whispered, “Okay. Peak wants me to tell you to tell Blare and Peril we’re here. Blare’s cave is the farthest on the left and Peril’s is… the second on the right. Can you do that?”

“Yeah. Maybe. I want you to come with me, though,” she murmured, and looked down at her talons.

“Umm… sorry, I can't. I have to get a key to open the caves. But I believe in you. Show them how stealthy you can be.” Peaceflyt smiled, remembering the hide-and-seek games the RainWings had played together at Jade Mountain, which Walnut had always won.

She showed her scales to smile at him for a second, and then walked off. “Thank you. Bye,” she whispered.

“Good luck,” Peaceflyt replied quietly. He quickly glanced around, in case any guards were eavesdropping, but luckily he saw no one. He heard her tail slowly slither away on the rock.

He turned to direct his thoughts to Peak. ‘Do you have any idea where guards might be? The one I saw earlier had no key.’

‘Hmm, that guard must have been low-ranked then. Maybe try their break room? It’s down the hall back into the cave with the most openings, go down the furthest pathway on the right and you should at least find someone,‘ Peak thought. ‘By the way, the key is a sharp jagged rock. The guards with the sapphires or emeralds instead of the rubies on their armor should have it. The jewels are a status symbol. Ruby is for ordinary guards, sapphire is for the highest ranked guard in the group, emerald is for generals and white moonstone is for royalty.’

‘Okay. So… I guess I'll just… stalk the guards then?’ Peaceflyt made a face somewhere in between a smile and a frown. ‘Er, not the guards, just an enemy general.’

Peaceflyt slowly tiptoed away from Peak’s cave, so as to not alert anyone about his presence. As far as he knew, Torch was still asleep in Peak’s cave, and had no clue about what was going on. He wondered how she’d feel when she woke up and found out that she suddenly might be able to escape. If we can even get that far.

Peaceflyt glanced around the cavern as he walked. He couldn't see any dragons visibly, and the only other one he could sense in there was Walnut, who was whispering through the crack in Blare’s cave. He sat down right next to a tunnel, trying to not make any noise, and waited to see if any dragons would come.

‘You should probably actually start looking for generals. I don’t think many dragons would come through here right now, as it's the middle of the night, but some will definitely be asleep,‘ advised Peak. ‘I’ll go wake Torch.’

‘Argh, fine.’ Peaceflyt grumbled and got up. ‘But are there any places other than the break room I can look? I don't really want to go there.’

‘I don't know where all of them stay, but I do know one general sleeps in a cave off of this one. There's a short tunnel at the right end of the cave that should lead you right there. Be careful, though. I don’t know how deeply she sleeps.’

‘Okay. So… tunnel on the right end. Dragons with emeralds. Stealing something important from them. Okay.’ He took a deep breath, trying to keep his trembling body calm. ‘I've got this.’

‘Yeah, you do!’ Peak chuckled quietly in his mind and seemed to be giving him a mental thumbs-up.

Peaceflyt cracked a small smile, then took another deep breath. He started towards the right end of the cave, where he saw a tunnel, smaller than the one he and Walnut had arrived in. He stopped in front of it and peered inside, spotting no guards. He quickly glanced behind himself and quietly stepped in.

Peak was right, the tunnel was short. He could see the small cave it led to as soon as he entered. He could also hear something from it. Snoring. Which meant the general Peak was talking about was probably in there right now. Peaceflyt stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard it.

‘I think the general’s sleeping in there right now,’ he thought to Peak, trying not to show any fear.

‘That’s good. It would be a lot harder if she was awake,’ she replied.

He inched his way down the tunnel, slowly approaching the cave. As he neared it, the general's snores seemed to get louder and louder. Eventually, he reached it and peeked inside. A large dragon with medium-dark gray scales was laying down to his right. Through her snores, Peaceflyt could hear her mumbling about stuff like “plans”. Plans? What does that mean? Is she talking about plans for the firescales? He decided not to enter the cave yet and listen. He could almost see Peak next to him, agreeing.

He stuck his head a little bit further into the cave and was able to see the general's face clearer. Her brow was furrowed and her face was scrunched up as if she was annoyed. Her words were slurred together, which made them hard for Peaceflyt to decipher. “ARRRRGH ssso stupid, Marble whyy ARRGH I don’ WANT tooo that, don’t even KNOW if ARRGHH how are ttth bones even HELPFUL to the plan…” The general started whispering too quietly for Peaceflyt to hear after that, and he couldn't make anything else out except for the words ‘animus’ and ‘stupid’.

‘She’s talking in her sleep right now. Something about a plan and bones and an animus,’ Peaceflyt thought, hoping Peak would hear him. He didn't want to go in the cave just yet, as the general still looked angry and he didn't want to get his face clawed off if he accidentally woke her up, so he decided to study her instead.

At first, he didn't notice anything that unique about her. She was wearing the same gray, emerald-studded armor that the dragon they met on the island, Syenite, was wearing, though hers was a bit bigger to fit her frame. There was a spear and helmet on the ground next to her, which Peaceflyt assumed she'd put aside to sleep, and a bunch of scrap metal and rocks there as well. He could see the key, a small sharp rock, wound around her forearm with a thin string, too. But other than that, Peaceflyt assumed she looked like any other StoneWing general.

He tried studying her more as she kept mumbling, but he didn't see anything else that made her stand out. He was about to pull his head out of the cave when something on the back of her talons caught his attention. Engraved in her scales there was a name and birth year. The name read ‘Breccia’ and the year was ‘5005’. Huh, so she's… 28 years old, he thought.

Suddenly, the general fell silent in her sleep, and Peaceflyt felt a pang of worry. I have to do it now. I have to get the key, he thought hurriedly. It's my best chance, while she's asleep. He gathered up his courage and slowly crept into the cave.

How the heck am I supposed to get that key? He thought to himself as he approached her. Taking it off would definitely wake her up. I could use venom if I was careful, but I don’t want to risk it and aim wrong. Maybe I could just…

He spotted a piece of metal plate armor that looked like the same type of metal Breccia’s armor was made of. He spat a tiny bit of venom on it, and nothing happened. That’s good, he thought. Normally RainWing venom didn’t melt metals, but he hadn’t seen this type of metal on the mainland before.

He spat a little more venom on the metal plate and carefully picked it up, making sure he didn’t accidentally spill venom on himself. I’ve got this… he thought, scared but determined. His talons were shaking so much, he was afraid he would either drip venom on himself or on Breccia.

He continued quietly approaching the general, who was still sleeping, and carefully lowered the plate with the venom down towards the key’s string. I’ve got this… I’ve got this. But I swear, Peaceflyt, don’t mess it up.

He tilted the metal plate, and the venom slowly slid toward the string. Please don’t let this go wrong. The first drop of venom fell perfectly on the string, and the string, being fabricated from milkweed, slowly started to sizzle and melt. Peaceflyt sat still, letting the venom drip onto the string, until the sharp rock fell off. It fell right outside the drops of venom, so Peaceflyt could get it without getting venom all over his talons.

I hope Breccia doesn’t notice until later, Peaceflyt thought. He quickly tiptoed out of the cave with the rock in his talons. He was halfway down the tunnel when suddenly, a piercing shriek came from Breccia’s cave, and Peaceflyt barely stopped himself from yelping in surprise. He knew he was invisible, and he couldn’t make himself any more invisible, but he wanted to. He ran to a dark corner and stood still.

Walnut came rushing out of where the firescales’ caves were. She was still mostly invisible, but he could see one or two of her scales turn green with fear and hear her talons click and clack frantically as she scrambled to find him. Peaceflyt decided to let a few of his scales flicker back to their normal color so Walnut could see where he was.

Walnut saw them, and, not knowing exactly where he was, ran into him. She fell over, and Peaceflyt worried that other dragons might hear her. Then he realized practically no one could hear anything above Breccia’s agonizing screams.

He could barely make out Peak’s thoughts with how unusually quiet they had become, as if she was afraid of what he would, or if he wouldn’t, reply. ‘What’s happened? Are you and Walnut okay?’

‘We’re okay, but something happened to the dragon I took the key from.’ He signaled to Walnut to stay where she was, and he quietly ran to Breccia’s cave to see what happened.

Peaceflyt peeked his snout into her cave and saw Breccia, shrieking on the ground in the same position she was sleeping in. She was gripping her right talons so hard he was afraid they might fall off. Then, for a second, she loosened her grip, and Peaceflyt could see one of them had fallen off. It was laying in his pool of venom.

The venom! Peaceflyt should've known. It must have leaked towards her in her sleep and dissolved her talons. The venom pool seemed bigger, too. If it wasn’t for her armor, the venom would’ve already melted through her neck and face.

Breccia shook her talon (well, the remains of it) violently and a tiny drop of venom landed just over an inch away from Peaceflyt, who jumped away from it. He ran back towards the firescales’ caves with Walnut.

‘I used my venom to melt off the key, but some of the venom leaked onto her talons. So now she’s going insane and freaking out, and venom flew off her and almost melted through my tail,’ he informed Peak.

‘Would it kill you to be careful?’ Peak responded jokingly, her thoughts being louder again, though still almost wary.

‘Well, sorry. I didn’t spray that much venom so I didn’t think that it would totally melt her whole talons. Plus, I’ve studied how much RainWing venom can melt different parts of bodies. Maybe StoneWings are diff-’

‘While that is very interesting, we can chat later. We have grander tasks of higher importance on a rapidly approaching deadline waiting.’

‘Oh, yeah. What should I do with the key, though? Open the doors?’

‘Yes, open the doors.’

'The doors are the rocks, right? Like, that's where I put the key?'

‘Yes. There should be little stone dragon heads in the rock by the keyhole. Insert the key around there, towards the right side of the door.’

‘Okay.’

He walked over to Peak’s door and inspected it. He didn't see any holes at first, but he did notice a faint, horribly carved dragon head towards the right (that looked suspiciously like a NightWing’s). He saw an oddly shaped hole in the rock, right in its right eye. He was glad he saw the hole, because at any other angle he probably wouldn't be able to. ‘I’m guessing this is the entrance to your cave. And exit.’ By now, Breccia had stopped screaming bloody murder, and from her grunts it sounded like she was trying to get up. Peaceflyt couldn’t sense any other StoneWings coming to help her, which was good for them.

He looked back in Walnut’s direction and heard shuffling in most of the firescales’ caves, meaning most of them were awake. I’ve got to do this quickly, before any StoneWings come to… murder me.

His grip on the key tightened, and he shoved the key into the hole.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Peaceflyt shoved the door open, and he grabbed the key before it fell out of the keyhole. He could sense a few firescales watching him through the cracks in their doors. They all seemed surprised, and the only one who didn’t was Peak.

“Finallllllly,” Peak said in a bold voice. “No more being locked up. I mean the claustrophobia.” She strutted out of her cave, her bravado seemingly already back. She straightened her posture into something that closer resembled that of a dragon of royal descent as she dropped her disguise. There was no hiding who she was now. “Fancy seeing you here, Peaceflyt.” He distantly realized that even in her disguise, her eyes hadn’t changed from their bright violet color and sharp shape at all.

Peaceflyt let his scales slowly fade into view until they were just enough to be seen, but still mostly invisible. “Hey,” he said awkwardly, knowing some of the firescales were watching him. He saw Walnut’s scales fade a little bit next to him. “I’m Peaceflyt, I think most of you already know, and this is Walnut.”

“Who some of you also already know,” added Walnut.

“That’s cool, actually,” interjected one firescale from behind a rock. “The fading scales thing. I’ve been stuck here my whole life, so I wouldn’t know. Oh, I’m Cinder, by the way.”

“I think I recognize you two,” a voice Peaceflyt recognized as Peril’s said.

“Yeah. We’re from Jade Mountain,” replied Walnut. 

“Well, they are students at Jade Mountain,” Peak said at the same time.

“Jade Mountain Academy,” Cinder said wistfully.

“OH! How has Clay been?” Peril asked, seeming excited.

“He’s been… kind of depressed, so he’ll be very excited to see you,” replied Peaceflyt. At that sentence, Peril couldn’t contain her excitement (“YESS”), but luckily she didn’t break out of her cave and burn everything down.

“Let’s get to the whole escaping part of the escape plan now,” Peak reminded everyone. “If you want to leave enslavement and eternal torment, come with us.”

“DON’T LISTEN TO THESE TRAITORS! THEY’RE TRYING TO GET US ALL KILLED. THE STONEWINGS DESERVE THEIR POWER. THEY SAVED US!” Kindle was at it again, pounding on the door of her cave. Simultaneously, six firescales sighed in their thoughts.

“If by saved you mean enslaved, then yes. If you want to be brainwashed and stay on this miserable island forever, too bad. I. Will. Drag. You. All. Off. Of. This. Horrible. Island. Even if it takes away my soul," Peak growled.

“Hand me the skyfire,” Peaceflyt whispered to Walnut, who gave it to him. “Thanks. Go to the island, and tell Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow that we’re going to be there soon. Remember, you go to the rock and keep going straight in that direction.”

“Okay.” She started into a side passage that led outside. “Can you come with me?”

Peaceflyt glanced at Peak and the other firescales behind their doors, and knew Peak would probably need help with them. “I’m sorry, I have to help Peak,” he said. “But you’ll do fine. I believe in you.” They exchanged quick smiles, and then Walnut turned a corner and was out of sight.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m certainly leaving a trail of destruction in my wake.” Peril said.

“As much as I’m sure we’d all love that, Peril, I don’t believe that will be a possibility with the nature of how we’re leaving. Peaceflyt, please unlock the rest of the doors. Animus magic doesn’t work inside them.” Peaceflyt jumped slightly, wondering if Peak might have just revealed him as an animus. Luckily, the firescales didn't seem to have much of a reaction.

“Sure thing.” He took out the key, which was enchanted to unlock the prison doors.

“You have access to animus magic?! And didn’t help the StoneWings with it!? Ohh, wait, I forgot that I was talking about the most stuck-up dragon here,” Kindle snapped with a snarl, rounding on Peak.

“Now, now Kindle. You wouldn’t dare speak to a princess of the SkyWings and last living heir to Topaz and Shadowtrail like that.” Peak revealed her true identity to the rest of the firescales, even though her appearance would definitely have done that anyway when they got back to the mainland. Something about the cheshire grin on her face told Peaceflyt that she wasn’t finished yet. “Nor would you behave in such a manner towards an animus dragon,” Peak didn’t mention exactly how many animus dragons there were, but whether it was in order to protect Peaceflyt or if she was just too caught up in taunting the deep red dragon to notice, Peaceflyt couldn’t tell. “Mhmm, but then again, you were never very bright,” Peak mused, humming to herself.

‘They were going to find out about my magic when I managed to get Kindle of all dragons off of the island anyway, not to mention I’m gonna teleport us, so I figured I might as well be flamboyant about it.’

‘I mean, you might as well, I guess,’ thought Peaceflyt, walking over to a random door and shoving the key into the lock. With his luck, the dragon in that cave was Kindle, who promptly rushed out to squabble with Peak. He put the key in the locks one by one, and the dragons came out accordingly: Cinder first, then Peril (who almost knocked Peaceflyt over), then 3 other firescales named Inferno, Spark, and Raptor, then Blare, and then 3 more firescales named Ignite, Sunfire, and Firestorm.

Kindle was trying to get the StoneWing-loyal firescales to join her, which unfortunately for her was only one firescales; Kindle herself. Firework, another firescales, didn’t seem to want to leave his cave, but as soon as he saw that Kindle was attempting to round the StoneWing-loyal firescales up against Peak, he quickly walked out his door. Peaceflyt guessed they were enemies, or didn’t like each other.

As everyone gathered in the hallway, right before they were about to leave, Peak realized Torch was still sleeping in her cave. She ran over and shook her awake.

“What’s going on?” Torch said drowsily, lifting her head.

“We’re escaping,” Peak said.

“NO, we're NOT!” Kindle interrupted loudly.

Torch got on her talons and shook her head. “Okay. We're escaping.” She walked out into the hall with Peak.

Once everyone was in the hallway, Peak looked down at her talons, cleared her throat and said, “I enchant you to teleport everyone in this hallway to the island where my friends Pyramid, Atacama and Sparrow are.” Peak was talking to a medium sized, rectangular amethyst crystal, which had mysteriously appeared in her talons.

A moment later, all of the firescales, along with Peaceflyt, were standing on the small island where Atacama, Sparrow, and Pyramid were. Walnut was there keeping watch and yelped in surprise when they appeared in front of her. Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were just talking on the beach but they all turned their heads when they heard Walnut.

“WHO ARE ALL THESE DRA- PEAK! What’s HAPPENING?” Atacama yelled at top volume.

“Well, we freed everyone… and teleported here. We’d better get going, we’ll probably be getting chased sometime soon,” Peak explained quickly. “Which way to the mainland?”

“Um… I’m pretty sure we go south,” Peaceflyt told Peak.

“Well, try not to get too far behind us SkyWings, you slowpokes,” Peak teased. “But then you do know the way, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She lifted herself into the air and began to rapidly fly away.

Peaceflyt lifted off and took after her. “Otherwise, you’d be flying into unknown land and getting lost in the Sea Kingdom. You lucky SkyWings, with your big wings.” Peaceflyt smiled and beat his wings hard, and Peak caught up in under three seconds. “See?”

Peak laughed, and called to everyone who was still on the island. “Come on. Get into the sky!”

Cinder lifted off with all the other firescales, followed shortly by Atacama, Pyramid, Sparrow, and Walnut. “Who are these dragons?” He called, mentioning the two SandWings and the SkyWing that he had never met before. He’s probably never even seen a SandWing before this. Huh.

“Who are these dragons?” Cinder called, mentioning Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow.

“These are my friends. Atacama, Pyramid and Sparrow.” Peak said and pointed accordingly.

“Hello,” said Pyramid to the firescales, then turned to Peaceflyt. “So I’m guessing that when you and Walnut snuck off into the middle of the sea, you did your little rescue thing and found Peak and a bunch of other dragons.”

Peaceflyt’s wings almost stopped working for a second. “Wait, what? How do you know about that?”

“I heard you take off. I was awake,” Pyramid explained. “So was Atacama-”

“And my wing is still a little sore, thanks to your nose spike,” Atacama interjected, shooting a grumpy look at Walnut.

“It wasn’t my fault!” yelped Walnut. “It was your fault that your wings got caught there.”

“I was trying to wake you up! I heard you say something about waking up at midnight. And I assumed it was romantic, so I tried to help out. To be honest, as much as I love seeing Peak again I’m a little disappointed.”

“Well, then it was EXTRA your fault!” Walnut shot a look at Atacama and turned to Peaceflyt. “I think I’m done arguing.”

“Good for you,” he said, as Cinder flew over to him. 

“Hi… Peaceflyt. You are, uh, Peaceflyt, right?” Peaceflyt nodded, and Cinder continued. “That invisible scales thing was so cool.”

“Oh. Thanks. All RainWings can do that.”

“Whoa! That’s cool. I have a lot to learn about… pretty much everything. Hey, maybe you can teach me about some stuff!”

“Hm. I guess I can teach you about some stuff, if you want. I’m not that good of a teacher, though,” Peaceflyt said truthfully.

“Oh. I don’t mind. The StoneWings were horrible teachers, and the only thing they taught me was how to be loyal to the StoneWings and how to behave and dig tunnels and stuff,” Cinder said before continuing in an almost guilty voice. “Obviously, I failed at that.”

“Which is a good thing,” Peak reminded from ahead of them. 

“I know now. Peaceflyt, can you at least tell me the kingdoms and tribes and queens and powers?” Cinder asked politely.

“Sure.”

“Cinder is a very curious dragonet, you’re not obligated to answer all of his questions.” Peak said, smiling.

"But I hope you will." Cinder laughed.

.  .  .

They flew along the islands in the Bay of A Thousand Scales, and entered mainland Pyrrhia just before midday. Peril seemed very excited, Cinder seemed amazed, and the other dragons seemed to just be glad they weren’t flying over sea. Peaceflyt was just glad he was back on his home continent. “Wrong direction, Peak,” he called, as she started traveling southeast instead of southwest. She saw him and flew in the correct direction.

“Do you guys want to go straight to Jade Mountain?” asked Peaceflyt.

“Yes,” Walnut, Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow said at once.

“DEFINITELY,” Peril and Cinder yelled with much more enthusiasm.

“Okay, that’s where we’re going, I guess, then.” I wonder how the teachers will react to 13 firescales just arriving at their school. Actually, I guess they’ll know two, so that’s only 11 unknown firescales.

They continued for some time toward Jade Mountain. The route Peaceflyt, Atacama, Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow had taken to rescue the firescales didn’t go straight from Jade Mountain to the Kingdom of the Sea, as they got lost in the mountains and then made a pit stop at a town. However, as soon as Peaceflyt saw a river flowing south, he recognized it as part of the river they had flown over to get to Aspire. 

“Jade Mountain is just down this river,” Peaceflyt pointed out. 

“Finally!” Atacama yelled. “I can finally go to sleep without worrying about everything!”

Peaceflyt saw two firescales leave the group and fly off to the east, one bright red and one copper-yellow. “Who are those?”

“They’re Raptor and Spark. They make humor’s very existence a controversial subject,” replied Peak before continuing in a more jeering tone, “Hey, Firestorm, you should leave, too.”

“No. I’m not going to leave. I have nowhere to go, so I’m just stuck with you idiots,” The bright red dragon snapped. 

Okay, mental note, stay away from Firestorm, Peaceflyt thought, and looked down. Under them was the town of Aspire, the town that Peaceflyt had met Pantanal, the town where he had recited the Lost Tribe Prophecy.

“Well, let’s get there sometime soon,” Atacama suggested.

“We’re almost there, Atacama,” said Peaceflyt. “See, there’s Aspire.”

“Um, didn’t it take two days to get there?”

“That’s because we got lost in the mountains for a day, remember?” Peaceflyt reminded her. “Oh hey, there’s Aswan.” The SandWing from the Jade Winglet was flying to Jade Mountain. Luckily, she didn’t see the wing of dragons, most of which were unfamiliar firescales. Peaceflyt thought that they were lucky they were following a nicer dragon.

They followed Aswan back to the Academy, which took about half an hour or so. Once the mountain was in sight, everyone stopped at once. “Wow,” said Cinder, mesmerized.

Peaceflyt stared at the looming shape of the mountain. It had only been a few days, but it seemed like an eternity. All he was thinking about was how glad he was to be back.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Peril paced the rock outside the entrance, dark smoke rising from her scales. “I’m going to go in, because Clay’s in there, and it's been so long since I last saw him, and I'll tell him everything that happened, and I'll tell him how much- NEVER MIND, I’LL JUST GO AND STOP FREAKING OUT.” She smiled awkwardly at them and happily ran through the entrance into Jade Mountain Academy.

“We might as well go, then. Oh, sorry, not you, Cinder, we’ll have to explain what happened first,” Pyramid said as Cinder started walking forward. He came back with a shrug and a pout while Peaceflyt, Peak, Atacama, Walnut, and Sparrow walked in.

Peaceflyt heard a sudden yelp of delight from the main hall. “PERIL! Where were you? I was so worried!” That was definitely Clay.

“There’s a lot to explain,” Peril said truthfully. “First, I want to say that I was worried too, and that I would burn down the whole world for you, ESPECIALLY THOSE STUPID DRAGONS WHO CAPTURED ME. But I also want to let you know that Peak and Peaceflyt and Walnut and… those other dragonets are back.”

“REALLY? Where are they?” Clay asked excitedly.

“We’re right here,” Peak said, stepping into view.

“TSUNAMI!” Clay yelled. “The missing students are back!” Tsunami ran towards him from one of the caves with multiple students protesting.

“So. We came back. Like alive and stuff. With like nine firescales. Have fun with that,” Peak told Clay and Tsunami and then turned a corner.

“She disappeared again, didn’t she,” Pyramid said, checking around the corner. “Yep, gone. She must be exhausted after being kidnapped and everything.”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Peaceflyt asked, noticing the decor in the building. The whole hall was filled with ribbons and balloons, which would probably explode if the firescales got too close.

“What? Oh, yeah, you guys came back right in time! We’re expanding Jade Mountain!” Clay looked at Tsunami, grinning.

“We’re adding one more winglet, and we’re also adding Pantalan dragons,” Tsunami explained. “Clay, I think I see some SilkWings coming! I’ll be back in a second.” She ran toward the entrance of the school. Peaceflyt hoped she wouldn't see the firescales outside yet.

“We’re so glad you guys are back, we’ve been wondering where you were! Pelican told us that you were going to rescue Peak and Peril, and I was worried sick. We had no idea when you were going to come back.”

“PEACEFLYT! YOU’RE BACK!” Pelican ran out from behind Clay and threw himself toward Peaceflyt. “I missed everything exciting, didn’t I?”

Peaceflyt laughed. “Yeah, I guess. Well, I mean, you were there for the part where I almost got killed, and for the part where Atacama and Sparrow almost got killed, but you missed the part where we actually rescued the firescales.”

“Moons!” Pelican snapped his claws. “Anyway, it’s been pretty boring here without you.” He leaned in to whisper in Peaceflyt’s ear. “One of the only entertaining things was how Tsunami was freaking out over expanding the school.” Pelican glanced toward Tsunami, who was now frantically trying to keep excited students inside their caves while she brought the new SilkWing students in.

Peaceflyt looked around the main hall. He saw Sunny up on a ledge trying to quiet the students. Starflight and Fatespeaker were below her, and Webs was in the history cave, poking his head out. There was also a big lump in the corner that was covered with a blanket.

“Well, Atacama and I will be in the art room if you need us,” Pyramid told Peaceflyt and Clay.

“Don’t need us,” Atacama amended.

“I’m coming too!” Walnut happily chirped in response as she trotted after them.

“Okay, I’ll try not to,” responded Peaceflyt.

“I guess I’ll go too, since everyone else is going,” Sparrow decided.

“Okay, I’ll just stay here with Pelican, then,” Peaceflyt said as they left. He turned to Clay. “Wait. Should I introduce the firescales to you guys?”

“Oh yeah! You should. Clay, most of them are really nice, so don’t be worried,” said Peril, who saw the hesitant look that crossed the MudWing’s face.

Clay coughed. “Oh. Okay. Go ahead. Bring them in. Just make sure they don't cause a fire.”

“Okay,” Peaceflyt said. He turned to Pelican. “Stay here.”

Peaceflyt ran out of the entrance and nearly ran into Cinder, who was peeking inside. Cinder let out a shriek.

“AHH! Oh it's just you, umm hi Peaceflyt,” he stammered. “I thought I was gonna burn someone that's why I screamed, uhh sorry about that you just startled me.”

“It’s fine.” Peaceflyt smiled. “Except my left ear feels slightly deaf right now. But other than that, it’s fine. Oh, also, Clay said you guys can come in the school now. Probably just as long as you don't get too close to the balloons and ribbons.”

“R-really?” Cinder’s eyes were full of wonder.

“Yeah.” Peaceflyt looked at the other firescales. “Anyone else want to come with us?”

. . .

A few minutes later, Peaceflyt led Cinder, Ignite, Sunfire, Torch, and Inferno inside Jade Mountain. The other firescales sat outside, glaring at the ground and awkwardly staring around.

“If you have no home, you might as well come in,” Inferno said, beckoning them toward the inside.

“Yeah, like I want to be stuck inside more caves with little dragonets,” Firestorm grumbled. He picked up some dirt and threw it at a tree, but it missed and hit Firework.

“You annoying stones-for-brains,” Firework said angrily, and picked up a stick that immediately set on fire. He broke it in half, and threw one half at Firestorm and one half at Kindle.

“HEY!” Kindle yelped. “Why’d you do that? I did absolutely nothing!”

“Well,” mumbled Firework. “You’re annoying and stupid, for one.”

“EXCUSE ME? Why do you, out of all dragons, think I am stupid?”

“Shut up, idiots,” Sunfire scolded them. “This is a great way of introducing yourselves to the rest of the world.” Sunfire paused, and then muttered, “This happened all the time in the StoneWing prison,” to Peaceflyt.

“Here they are!” Peril announced, really loud, as they walked in the door. Everyone turned toward the door, and Peaceflyt felt very awkward as almost every single eye in the school turned toward them.

“Oh. Well. I don't have all of them,” he said to break the silence.

“Wait. You’re back!” Sunny ran toward them, just now realizing Peaceflyt had gotten back. “We were so worried! We sent out search teams and everything! We- who are all these firescales?” Her expression went from excited to worried in less than a second.

“Don’t worry, these are the firescales I was imprisoned with. Oh, yes, I was imprisoned, not dead or whatever you might've thought,” Peril explained, catching the look on Sunny’s face. “Luckily, these are mostly the firescales with decent personalities and none of them will burn down the school.” She paused for a moment before ominously adding in a joking tone, “It's made of rock anyway..”

“Okay,” replied Sunny, but she still looked skeptical. The fact that you can’t easily burn down a mountain seemed to console her.

“I’m Cinder,” Cinder practically burst out. Peaceflyt could see him trying (and failing) to contain his excitement. “I don’t have any home on this continent because I was raised somewhere else. I know this is weird but… can… can I please join the school?” He looked up hopefully at Sunny at Clay. They looked at each other.

“Well,” Sunny said carefully, “We’ll think about it. We actually have an empty spot for a SkyWing in one of our new winglets, so maybe that will actually work. Also, I don't want to talk to Queen Ember anytime soon...” She looked at Clay and Tsunami who had both pulled a face at the SkyWing Queen’s name that suggested she was very pleasant to deal with. “Are you two okay with Cinder joining?”

Clay and Tsunami both nodded. “As long as he doesn't burn anything down,” Tsunami said.

Cinder nearly spontaneously combusted in excitement. “Thank you so much!” He ran outside and did multiple delighted flips in the air. Tsunami watched him silently, then carefully turned her head toward Peaceflyt.

“This is probably not the best time to say this,” she said, “but we have some.. bad news too.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

As it turned out, the thing in the corner covered with a blanket was a bronze statue of Swamp. The founders placed it next to four other statues of deceased Jade Mountain students. Two of the statues were of a SkyWing named Carnelian and a NightWing named Bigtail, both of which were killed in an explosion about 20 years ago. The statues to the right of them were of a SandWing named Barren, who apparently had drowned in an underground lake 17 years ago, and a SeaWing named Anglerfish, who died in his sleep about 5 years ago.

Clay and Tsunami stepped onto a rock ledge that they used as a stage, and Tsunami thumped her tail to get everyone’s attention.

“As you know, two days ago, the Gold Winglet suffered a casualty. Their MudWing, Swamp, got killed by a SkyWing right outside this school. No, Frigid, it was none of our resident SkyWings. It was a SkyWing who was planning revenge on a MudWing for killing their daughter, but they mistook Swamp for the MudWing they were targeting.” Tsunami looked at Clay, and he continued.

“Let us have a moment of silence for Swamp.” Clay bowed his head, and all the other students did the same. Peaceflyt heard faint crying coming from near the entrance, and saw three MudWings huddled near each other. They must be his sibs. It must be really hard for them.

Peaceflyt’s head was filling with thoughts again. Why was it Swamp? Why does it seem like all the good dragons die or face really bad trouble? A tear fell down his face. And I was too busy on a mission to save one of my other friends. I could’ve saved him with my magic. I saved one friend, but I lost another. STOP BLAMING YOURSELF, PEACEFLYT. There was nothing you could do without losing a lot of your soul.

Clay lifted his head back up and sighed. “Well, enough bad news for the day. So… I’ll let Sunny take it from here.”

Clay stepped aside as Sunny took his place. “So. Some of the good news is that some of our students came back!”

“Which ones?” Tahiti, the SeaWing from the Gold Winglet asked.

“Um… Peak, Peaceflyt, Atacama, Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow. And another firescales.”

“Wait. Isn’t there only one firescales in this school?”

“Well… a firescales is joining the new winglet.” 

“WHAT?” Svalbard yelled. “Not ANOTHER one! We already have one, and she’s horrible enough on her own!”

“You’d better shut up before Peak gets back. She’ll actually kill you for talking to Cinder like that,” An orange female firescales said from the doorway.

“WHY IS THERE ANOTH- WHY ARE THERE FIVE FIRESCALES RIGHT THERE? IN THE SCHOOL?” The IceWing was starting to sweat.

Then Peril let out a hiss and told him that it was in his best interest for his safety to speak kindly to others. Svalbard shot the firescales a glare and looked down.

“So… to get back to the Jade Mountain Academy stuff, I am going to announce the name of our new winglet,” Tsunami announced. “A few days ago, we had a vote for the name. So, the new winglet is going to be called the Sapphire Winglet!” There was some polite applause from the students.

“The new students in the Sapphire Winglet have already arrived. I’m going to announce their names and they’re going to come up in front of you all. I’ll go down the list. First is Snowfield the IceWing!”

A light blue IceWing, slightly shorter than Peaceflyt, walked up next to Tsunami, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Next up came a taupe MudWing named Hippo, who looked shy and only made eye contact with another MudWing by the door. She was followed by a kind-looking NightWing named Stormchaser, a RainWing with a serious face named Congo, a SandWing named Ra, a confident looking SeaWing named Azure, and Cinder, who smiled at Peaceflyt from next to the founders. 

“And now, we’re going to introduce the Pantalan dragons to each of your winglets,” Tsunami said. “Each winglet is going to have a SilkWing, a HiveWing, and a LeafWing. Each of you, group into your winglets. Well, if you’re here, that is.”

Peaceflyt followed Pelican, who was walking over to Dragonfly and Ridge. Frigid looked like he wanted to walk away, but Ridge kept shooting him glares and pulling him back whenever he tried.

“All of the SilkWings, HiveWings, and LeafWings have arrived, and now we’re going to separate them into each of your winglets,” Tsunami announced. There was some excited murmuring from some of the students, a lot of them probably hadn’t seen any of those tribes before. 

“First up! The new students in the Jade Winglet will be Tuscany the SilkWing, Ladybug the HiveWing, and Magnolia the LeafWing!” Tsunami motioned the brown-orange SilkWing, the light green smiling LeafWing, and the red HiveWing with black spots to where the current Jade Winglet was standing. 

“Next up! In the Gold Winglet, let's welcome Turquoise the SilkWing, Tarantula the HiveWing, and Foxglove the LeafWing!” The turquoise colored SilkWing walked over to Swamp’s former Winglet, and was followed by the brown-yellow HiveWing and scowling LeafWing.

“In the Silver Winglet…” Peaceflyt was wanting to see what dragons were going to be in his winglet. I hope they’re nice and non-violent.

“In the Silver Winglet, let’s welcome Bluebottle the SilkWing, Centipede the HiveWing, and Aspen the LeafWing!”

Bluebottle, Peaceflyt thought. I swear I've heard that name somewhere before. He looked at the light blue SilkWing. She doesn't look familiar.

“Hey, everyone!” Centipede said excitedly. “This is SO weird! There's a bunch of dragons that look so… well, different!”

“These new dragons look 'so… well, different,” Frigid mumbled under his breath, but luckily Centipede didn't hear him.

“Centipede, please talk about your thoughts later, instead of right now when we’re in the middle of a ceremony,” Bluebottle said, irritated. Centipede frowned at her and shut her mouth.

“... Copper the SilkWing, Cockroach the HiveWing, and Hydrangea the LeafWing in the Copper Winglet,” Tsunami announced.

Wait. Copper’s here? Peaceflyt thought, and as if Copper had heard his thoughts, the coppery-orange dragon looked his way and smiled. “Hey, Bluebottle! Hey, Peaceflyt!” Ohhh. Right. Bluebottle is Copper’s sister. That makes sense now. Peaceflyt smiled and waved back as Copper walked over to the Copper Winglet.

“Tortoiseshell the SilkWing, Stinkbug the HiveWing, and Oleander the LeafWing will be in the Quartz Winglet,” Tsunami droned on, as the green SilkWing, the excited HiveWing, and the leaf green LeafWing headed toward Walnut’s winglet. Peaceflyt noticed that she had come back from the art cave, and was now greeting the incoming dragons.

“And last but not least, Ray the SilkWing, Cerana the HiveWing, and Pine the LeafWing will be in the Sapphire Winglet,” Tsunami finished, putting down the paper in front of her. “Starflight, did I really have to read off that script? It seemed kind of boring, like something you’d say. But then again, you DID write that script. Maybe you should’ve been speaking.”

Starflight looked slightly offended, but not as offended as Peaceflyt would look if he were him. He guessed that Starflight’s friends teased him a lot about that. “You are Head of School, Tsunami, so it only makes sense that the Head of School is speaking about the changes, not the librarian.”

“True,” Tsunami said, and swept the script away with her tail. “ANYWAY, today is going to be a free day, because of all the changes. I have other things to attend to, so you can explore and do whatever you do on free days.” She walked away toward a storage cave that the students weren’t allowed in. 

His talons took him toward the art cave, but Walnut caught up to him before he could step foot in there.

“HI!” She said loudly, startling him. “We should go to the library. Just to hang out and talk.”

“Good idea,” replied Peaceflyt. I do need something to distract myself from all the evil things in the world, now that I think about it. Maybe I can find something good to read.

“Hi, Starflight!” Walnut said cheerfully.

“Hello, Walnut,” replied Starflight. “Who’s with you?”

“Peaceflyt.”

“Okay,” Starflight said. “My friends have been freaking out about you being gone. We thought you might’ve gotten kidnapped or something.”

“Peak got kidnapped,” Walnut explained. “And then Peaceflyt and Atacama and Pyramid and Sparrow and Pelican went out to look for her. I bet Pelican already explained it to you, so I don’t think I need to retell it.”

Starflight laughed. “You can if you want to,” he said, but Walnut shook her head. “It’s fine.”

“Walnut,” Peaceflyt said. “I’m gonna go look for scrolls.”

“Okay,” she replied. “I’ll come with you.” 

Peaceflyt scanned the scroll racks, looking for anything interesting, although nothing really caught his eye. I should still read something, though, or else I would look awkward. He looked right and saw a scroll about firescales. I don’t remember seeing that one. Maybe it’s new, he thought as he grabbed it off the rack.

He tucked the scroll into his library card and skyfire pouch and headed toward the tables, and realized that an unfamiliar MudWing was there. He turned around, pretending that he’d wandered the wrong way, but as soon as he lifted up his talons to walk toward Walnut, he heard the MudWing say “Hey.”

“Hi,” Peaceflyt said, slightly startled. Why do I not recognize him?

"I’m Mudslide,” the MudWing continued. “I’m in the Gold Winglet. I just got here.”

Ohh, Peaceflyt thought. He must be the MudWing replacement for Swamp.

“You look like one of those overpowered dragons,” Mudslide noticed. “You know, the ones that are hybrids and have, like, a bunch of powers.”

CRRRAP. I HATE being called overpowered. “Oh. Yeah. I mean- I… I’m the RainWing in the Silver Winglet,” Peaceflyt stuttered, changing the subject. 

“Huh. Cool,” said Mudslide, who seemed like he didn’t notice the change in conversation. He went back to his scroll and tapped his tail on the ground in what sounded like a beat to a popular song.

I guess I’ll leave now, Peaceflyt thought. As he turned around, he realized just how tired he was. Actually, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a nap or something. He searched around for Walnut, but wherever she was, she was out of his view. Carefully, he put the scroll about firescales back on the scroll rack where he found it and walked out of the library.

As he walked down the halls toward his cave, he only saw a few dragons, to his surprise, and most of them were Pantalan dragons. He did hear Peril explaining their adventures to Clay as he walked by the Great Hall, and saw Pyramid, although she didn’t see him.

He turned the corner to his cave. Ridge was against the wall, reading, and his bed was slightly messier than usual. Otherwise, the cave looked like it had before Peak got captured. Before anyone knew there was a secret tribe of dragons.

“Oh. Hi, Peaceflyt,” Ridge said monotonically, putting his scroll down. “I was wondering where you went.”

You were WONDERING? Peaceflyt thought angrily. I almost died, the whole school was freaking out, and an equivalent of a whole winglet was missing, and you were just WONDERING? Plus, that bored voice really helps. “Oh, yeah, we just, you know, were just rescuing Peak and a bunch of other firescales from a prison.”

Ridge jumped up excitedly. “OOH! That sounds like fun. You should’ve told me that so I could’ve come. I can be very helpful.”

“Yeah,” replied Peaceflyt. “Next time we go on an adventure like that, I’ll tell you.”

“Oh, okay! Thanks!” Ridge took his scroll and walked happily out of the cave entrance.

Could he tell I was being sarcastic? Peaceflyt thought, settling on the floor. That's weird. Ridge isn't normally like that. Maybe he just wants to prove that he's important or something.

He closed his eyes and relaxed his wings, and fell asleep.

. . .

Peaceflyt woke up later that afternoon when Peak returned. “Peaceflyt, why is everyone sad and… why is there a statue of Swamp next to the statues of deceased students? Don’t tell me…” No, no, no, no, no, no. Peaceflyt realized with a jolt that she wasn’t wearing her skyfire.

“He… he’s dead. He got killed.”

Peaceflyt got sucked into Peak’s mind and saw a flash of blood, the face of an IceWing who looked upset at what they had to do, and horror inscribed onto the face of a dark red SkyWing. 

What was that? Who are those dragons? Are those what her nightmares are about? Peaceflyt thought.

“I’ll… be back in the morning…” Peak told him. She then blocked her thoughts with a wall of fire, and clouded her emotions with smoke.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I’m surprised she didn’t even notice any of the new dragons, Peaceflyt thought as she left. Then again, I guess she was a prisoner just less than a day ago… there's been a lot going on the last few days, so I don't blame her if anything else is on her mind.

He watched her walk down one of the tunnels toward her cave with Atacama, who came out of the art room to follow her, and he ducked his head back into his cave, hoping to get a little more sleep. Right after he closed his eyes, he heard two sets of talonsteps approaching, and hesitantly opened them again to see who they were.

“Hey, Peaceflyt,” Pelican said as he and Ridge came into view. “I thought you'd be asleep.”

“I was earlier for a couple hours,” Peaceflyt said wearily.

“More like the whole afternoon,” Ridge noted. “Every time I came in here since then, you were fast asleep.”

“Yeah. You know, crossing the continent twice in a few days is quite tiring,” Peaceflyt replied, stretching.

“That makes sense,” Pelican laughed as Ridge sat down in the cave with a scroll. “I can leave you alone until tomorrow morning if you need.”

“That would be cool,” Peaceflyt said, his eyes drooping. “Hopefully I'll… be more awake by then.”

“Yeah,” Pelican said. “Anyway, I'll probably be in the main hall if you need me. Have a good night,” he jokingly said as Peaceflyt drifted off once again.

. . .

He slept in late the next morning and practically ran into Peak, who was walking outside his cave.

“Wow, you literally just woke up after sleeping all day, yet you look like you haven't slept in days.”

“I know,” Peaceflyt responded. Some days I do look like that. “I’m going to the library before school starts. I saw this random scroll yesterday that I might read.”

“And here I literally haven't slept in days and look well rested… How!” Peak questioned. “I’m serious, some things make no sense.”

Because RainWings need more sleep than SkyWings? Peaceflyt thought, although he didn’t say it out loud.

“Well, I’ll go with you. There was a scroll on SkyWing history that I wanted to look up…”

“Cool. The scroll I’m looking for is also related to SkyWings, too.” Peaceflyt started toward the library and Peak followed.

“Hello, Peak and… Peaceflyt,” Starflight welcomed them as soon as they entered the library.

“Good evening,” they both responded, walking towards the scrolls.

Peak went over to the SkyWing legends area, and Peaceflyt went over to the area where Starflight had featured some scrolls for the day. Peak almost immediately picked up three, and after several calming deep breaths, walked over to Starflight to check them out.

She grabbed her fireproof cloak out of seemingly thin air and put it on, then sat down and began reading as Peaceflyt found the scroll he’d seen about firescales. She never told him how she managed that trick. He handed the scroll over to Starflight to check out and then joined her at her table.

“Hi again,” Peaceflyt said, settling in and opening his scroll.

“Hello,” Peak said, though she didn't look up. She was scouring for information, going through her scrolls and carefully examining each line. She didn’t usually read like this, instead opting to read slower and calmly, probably so she didn’t burn something and get banned from the library. Peaceflyt was about to ask her what was wrong when her eyes suddenly widened. “There!” Peak exclaimed. “I knew I remembered something like this. ‘A NightWing cursed with the gift of animus magic once sought to conquer all of the great SkyWing tribe, and would’ve won our lands if not for the Prophet of Grey Scales who came from far off lands and calmed the NightWing into a deep slumber, after he had laid only half of his curse, saving us all.’ Well, that’s vague. At least we know what the ‘Prophet of Grey Scales’ means. I’m not liking the look of the rest of this, though.. I mean, malicious animus magic? No thank you.” She paused for a moment. “Anyway, my mom bought this scroll for my brother... Good thing I remembered it, I guess. This might just be the earliest mention of a StoneWing in history.”

“Wait.” Peaceflyt was caught off guard on many levels, one of them being that Peak never mentioned her family. “What!?” he exclaimed once what she said settled in. “I never knew that! ‘A light gray dragon’... that really does sound like a StoneWing.”

“Unfortunately for us, I assume… I wonder why the NightWing listened to the StoneWing? Especially with the StoneWings’ Keep The Tribe Hidden agenda going on.”

“I have no clue,” replied Peaceflyt. “Maybe the dragon or tribe was powerful. If there was a war there, maybe the gray dragon was like a… commander or a queen or just someone intimidating. Was there a war there?”

Peak looked at one of the scrolls, one of her talons extended and nearly brushing the scroll as she searched. “Kind of. ‘The invasion of the Grey Scales into SkyWing land lasted for many moons, seemingly stretching on eternally, until all of the SkyWing tribe had been touched by the war. The worst of the invasion was their hold on the Bay of a Thousand Scales and The Battle of the Claws of the Clouds’ Mountains, where even some NightWings seemed to take their side.’”

“Oh, okay,” said Peaceflyt. He paused. “Actually, when we were in the Bay of a Thousand Scales coming to rescue you, I saw this dragon bone on the ocean floor. I think it might've been from the war. It was covered in seagrass and looked really old and when I first saw it it scared-”

“Wait you- What?!” Peak interrupted, eyes snapping up from her scroll in an instant. Peaceflyt jumped, startled.

“Uhh… I saw a dragon bone,” he replied quieter, wondering why Peak was yelling. “Umm… I forgot to mention it? I don't think it's that important. There was a lot of stuff happening.”

Peak gave him a look he couldn't decipher. “I think it might just be,” she said. “Remember how the StoneWing guard you stole the key from kept talking about a plan with bones?”

Peaceflyt paused, digging through his memory. “Oh yeah.” He felt dumb forgetting about that.

“And I don’t remember if I told you, but I also overheard some conversations when I was still in the StoneWing prison that definitely had the topic of dragon bones in them.”

“How did you hear those? With your mind?”

“Most of them. Though I was able to hear a couple of them physically while I was out melting stone, at least if I stood next to certain walls. I really only heard them while I was melting those stupid tunnels..”

“Okay. Why were you even melting tunnels again?”

“For the StoneWings’ armor, apparently. I don't know why we did it so much, unless they just wanted to torture us by keeping us busy and bored. They have enough armor for several armies, I’ve seen caverns filled with spare equipment.”

“Maybe they're… uhh… saving it for the future?” Peaceflyt guessed. “Or maybe there's some secret motive behind it they don't want you to know.”

Peak stared into space, eyes sharp. Peaceflyt, with his skyfire on and unable to hear her thoughts, wondered what she was thinking. After a moment, she suddenly gasped. “What if we were digging tunnels so that they can recover the bones of that animus? For whatever their plan is!”

Peaceflyt shivered with excitement, feeling like they’d just uncovered something big. “Actually, that makes sense! Is there any mention of anything like that in your scroll? Like a plan?”

Peak looked back down and scanned the pages. “From what I can see, not really… right here it says, ‘After the war, the NightWing was dead and the Gray Scales disappeared into the ocean where they have remained.’ Maybe the NightWing was the Gray Scales’ most powerful ally, if they fled into the ocean the second they died?”

“Maybe. I wonder how they got allied.”

“Yeah, me too... Maybe they bonded through self isolation and living on secret islands?”

“Maybe. I’ll check in my scroll to see if there’s anything about their alliance,” Peaceflyt said, scanning his scroll. He finished it, and immediately went over it again. “There’s nothing about how or why they were allies in here, at least as far as I can tell. The only thing they mention about the war is that firescales were used to attack the NightWing and Gray Scales.

"And to think my dear aunt hates us so, when we were on the front line of the greatest invasion of SkyWing territory ever.”

Peaceflyt leaned over to look at Peak’s scroll. “By the way, do you think that half-finished curse is still going on? The one you mentioned earlier?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think animus magic comes with an expiration date, but it’s also never been tested. Animuses throughout history are known for finishing their work, not leaving them incomplete,” Peak said.

“True,” Peaceflyt replied. “I wish we knew what the curse was, though.”

“If only.” Peak took off her cloak, and it vanished. Peaceflyt looked around, but it had fully disappeared, as usual with Peak’s assortment of disappearing items.

“Uhh… how do you vanish things like that? Like where does your stuff go? You’re not using your magic every time, are you?” Peaceflyt asked.

“Oh,” She met his eyes for a moment before looking away. “I, uh, don’t have to use my magic for it. The items I vanish go to this small cave without an entrance... I think it's teleportation? I don’t know, someone else made the enchantment.” Peak said, much more hesitantly than usual for her. It was the most she’d ever said about the topic. She started to radiate a bit more heat.

“Who-” Peaceflyt started to say, but stopped when he noticed her scroll was beginning to catch fire. “Um- Peak. Your scroll-”

Peak immediately dropped her scroll, which rolled onto the ground. The fire stopped, but it still smelled like smoke. She shot up, shaking the table. “I didn’t-” She turned towards Starflight, “I’m so sorry, I’ll find another, I-” She nearly ran out of the room, avoiding anything and everything flammable.

“Is.. everything alright?” Starflight asked from across the cave with concern.

Peaceflyt cursed himself in his mind. I shouldn’t have asked about that. I forgot about… I shouldn’t have asked about that. He got up and walked over to where the scroll laid. It was burnt around the edges where Peak had been grasping it, but it was otherwise in decent condition.

He slowly bent down and picked it up and headed to Starflight’s desk. “Umm… Peak accidentally burnt this scroll… the one about SkyWing history.”

“She burnt it?” Starflight asked in a slightly strained voice. “What condition is it in?”

“Well…” Peaceflyt hesitated. “It’s not too bad,” He heard Starflight breathe a little sigh of relief, “But it’s still kind of singed around the edges.”

“Okay,” Starflight said. “Can I have it?”

“Yeah.” Peaceflyt handed the scroll to Starflight, who began to rotate it in his talons to get a feel for how badly it had been burnt.

“Okay. Luckily, it doesn’t seem that bad, and from what I can tell, most of the text is still intelligible, so I think I can put it back. I should still see if I can get a new copy from Queen Ember, I think that was our only copy…” He walked out from behind his stone desk and toward the shelves holding the scrolls.

Peaceflyt glanced toward the entrance to the library and saw a few dragons walking by. He could hear the click-clacking of talons on stone walking toward the classrooms and realized that the school day was starting soon.

Quickly, he passed Starflight and went to the table he and Peak had been sitting at. He grabbed his scroll and put it back where he’d found it.

“Bye, Starflight, I have to go,” Peaceflyt said, walking out of the library. “Class is starting soon.”

“Oh, okay. Have fun,” Starflight said.

Peaceflyt stepped into the hall and joined the rush of dragons going to their morning classes. He followed his muscle memory along his usual path to his self-defense class, glancing at the walls every now and then without really paying attention to his surroundings. This path was longer than the main route, so not many dragons used it. That day, it was near empty; there was no one in sight, in front or behind him. Or so he had thought.

“Hi,” a muffled voice said suddenly, right next to him.

Filler

Peaceflyt jumped, startled, and his scales immediately went invisible. He looked around frantically but saw no one.

“...Clay.”

Still shaken, he kept his scales invisible, but relaxed a little. Oh. They’re not talking to me. That’s good. Where did that come from though? He calmed down a little and realized that it must have come from one of the closed-off staff rooms on the other side of the wall.

“How’s it going?” Clay asked. Peaceflyt noticed Fatespeaker and Starflight were behind him, heading toward the cave the other dragonets were in.

“Well, don’t you think it’s weird to have a bunch of other tribes here now? AND we’ve got a whole new winglet,” Tsunami’s voice said.

“Yeah,” Starflight said, probably walking in with Fatespeaker. “We may have to add Pantalan history, right?”

“Hi, Starflight! Hi, Fatespeaker,” Sunny’s voice said. Clay started talking again, but Sunny abruptly cut him off.

“So… since we’re all here, I've got some news to share to you,” she declared. “About SkyWing stuff.” I bet if it’s about the queen, Peak will want to know.

“Since we're in SkyWing territory, and since we have a SkyWing here, I want to tell you something that Queen Ember said. About certain dragons,” Sunny continued.

“What certain dragons? Is it something to do with me and the other firescales?” Peril asked angrily.

“Um… yes,” admitted Sunny.

“ARRRGHH!” Peril yelled loudly, startling Peaceflyt and making a passing LeafWing jump. “She’s probably going to say something about how we're too dangerous to live and have to be killed, right?”

“Peril,” Sunny said slowly. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but yes. She did say that. She ordered almost all of her guards to search and kill any firescales they see.”

There was silence in the cave.

I’d better go, Peaceflyt thought quickly, checking to see if anyone was watching the area he was standing in. When he saw that no one was, he un-camouflaged himself and started toward the self-defense cave again.

An sudden unholy scream came from the cave behind the wall, and Peaceflyt nearly leaped out of his scales. “Peril!” Clay’s voice yelled.

“NO. I AM NOT LETTING ANOTHER DUMB DRAGON CAPTURE AND KILL ME. I AM GOING TO INCINERATE THEM, AND THEN INCINERATE THEIR ASHES, AND THEN INCINERATE THEIR ASHES’ ASHES.”

“PERIL!” Clay yelled again. “Calm down. And please try NOT to incinerate them.”

“Fine! Fine. Yeah, I guess I’ll try not to incinerate them,” Peril said, calming down a bit. She opened the cave door (a large rock) and headed down the self-defense room.

Wait, she’s coming to self defense? Peaceflyt thought, slightly surprised. Peril had never been to the Silver Winglet’s self defense class in the time he was at school. I... guess I’ll just go in the cave before she gets there, then.

He ran quietly into the cave. No one was in there yet, as far as he could see. Not that there were much hiding places in there. Peril hadn’t seen him yet, so he camouflaged himself again. Now he could silently sit in the cave without anyone noticing.

Actually, maybe I’ll go out as soon as Peril gets in, so she wouldn’t see me suddenly materializing right in front of her. She’ll probably get surprised and maybe yell at me. She’s probably not in a good mood, anyway, from what I heard, Peaceflyt thought.

He silently ran outside the cave, and Peril passed him, even though she didn't know he was there. Peaceflyt could see her brow furrowed and he had a feeling she was struggling to keep her anger in.

Once Peril was inside the cave, Peaceflyt casually walked toward it again- and then he felt talons on his tail, followed by a yelp of surprise. He whipped his head around.

“What the-” Pelican started, surprised, as Peaceflyt changed his scales back to normal. “Oh!” He realized, laughing. “Hi, Peaceflyt!”

“Hey!” Peaceflyt replied, starting to laugh.

“Were you just standing out here?” Pelican asked, smiling.

“No,” Peaceflyt lied. “Um… I was just heading to self-defense.”

“I have a feeling you weren’t actually doing that,” observed Pelican. “Why were you standing there?”

Peaceflyt hesitated, flipping through his head for excuses. “I was waiting for Peak,” he settled on, which now that he thought of it, wasn’t that much of a lie. He did kind of want to tell Peak what he had overheard.

“Why? Do you have a crush on her?” questioned Pelican mischievously.

“No, no, no,” Peaceflyt said quickly, shuddering. Do I act like I have a crush on her? I hope not. “Let’s go to self-defense and talk there.”

“Okay, fine.” They both walked into the self-defense room, where Peril was glowering at everything.

“Have I told you I hate everything?” she said sharply to the two dragons, making them jump. “The STUPID new SkyWing queen wants to kill me and your friends. AGAIN! When will firescales ever NOT be a target?”

Peaceflyt and Pelican retreated backwards, as practically the whole cave was now seething with her smoke.

“I can’t see,” Pelican said quietly in his ear.

“Well, me neither,” replied Peaceflyt. “We just have to wait until she calms down. I think.”

All Peaceflyt could hear were heavy, angry breaths, and what seemed like talonsteps outside the cave. Talonsteps? Who is it? Peak? Atacama? Clay?

“Who did thi-” Clay’s voice said. “Peril? Are you there?”

The smoke slowly cleared. “Yes. Sorry.” She lifted her head to meet Clay's. “I’m just angry.”

“I know.” Clay limped over to her and put a wing over her, then noticed Peaceflyt and Pelican staring at them. His eyes went wide for a split second, and he then turned his attention to Peril and continued to reassure her that she was, in fact, a firescales, with good fighting skills and she could probably fight off captors sent by the SkyWing queen. This seemed to cheer her up a bit, but Peaceflyt’s mind was thinking of the few ways she could die.

“Crap,” Clay muttered, turning his head. Peak and Atacama were in the cave entrance, staring at him and Peril. “Sorry. I was getting ready for class.”

“Peak!” Peaceflyt ran toward her, leaving Pelican’s side. “I have something important to tell you.”

“Same, but I'll let you tell her,” Peril muttered, barely audible.

“Can you come with me for a second? If you don’t mind?” Peaceflyt beckoned to a corner of the cave.

Peak hesitated. “Okay, fine.”

“So… I was on my way to self defense,” Peaceflyt started as Peak arrived in the corner with him. “And then I heard the Dragonets of Destiny talking with Peril about your aun- the SkyWing queen.”

“And?” Peak questioned. “What did they say about her?”

“That... she is sending out guards to kill firescales.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“WHAT?” Atacama yelped. “AGAIN? WHY! I’LL KILL HER BEFORE SHE KNOWS I’M THERE!”

“How did you know!?” Peril loudly inquired.

“I- well…” Peaceflyt tried to come up with an excuse without saying he was eavesdropping, but obviously failed, as Peril was looking at him with a skeptical expression. “I accidentally overheard you guys. Don’t worry- I don’t think I heard the whole conversation.”

“Peaceflyt? What’s going on?” Pelican said, appearing right next to him. 

Peaceflyt sighed. “Queen Ember wants to kill all of the firescales again. I really hope we don’t have to go on another rescue mission or whatever. It was kind of… nerve racking, I guess. AND I had to fly practically across the whole continent. I mean, I’m pretty sure Peak won’t be killed, with all of her powers.” Then again, she DID get captured and kept prisoner on a hidden island for a few days, a part of his brain thought. 

How would she know that she would get captured? The other part of his brain thought.

“Oh no,” Clay said. “Not again. Why do firescales always have to capture everyone’s attention nowadays? Is there a new prophecy about firescales or something?”

Peaceflyt awkwardly glanced at Peak and Pelican and took his skyfire out of his arm pouch. ‘Should I tell him?’

‘Well, it can’t hurt to tell him, as far as I can tell,’ Peak responded.

‘Okay.’ Peaceflyt walked up towards Clay. ‘This probably isn’t going to go well.’

‘Good luck,’ Peak responded as he walked towards Clay.

“So. Actually. I guess I have to tell you that there is a prophecy,” Peaceflyt explained. “Um… I don’t know if it’s about firescales, but it’s about something kind of… ominous.”

“Oh no,” Clay said, anxiety spreading across his face. “It- I should tell the others. Wait, can you tell me what the prophecy is?”

Peaceflyt took a deep breath in.

“Hidden away

A lost tribe prevails

If no one can stop them

No one will avail.

Those unexpected 

Will take the challenge

That many seek to avoid

If then they fail,

All will be lost

And lives will be destroyed.”

Clay stared at Peaceflyt with wide eyes. Peaceflyt could hear the rush of his thoughts, but could only make out a few of them. Is this serious? Oh no, it is serious. Wait, he can see the future?

“Oh. Um… kind of. I mean, I can kind of see the future,” Peaceflyt said. “I mean, I had a prophecy. But I normally don’t really… see the future.”

“Oh,” Clay said, calming himself down, but Peaceflyt could still hear the slight bit of panic behind his voice. “I’ll be back. You can… spar for now. We'll do something different tomorrow.”

“That’s fine with me.” Atacama shrugged. Frigid ran at her, and they instantly started sparring.

Peaceflyt looked over at Peak. “What are you going to do? I don’t want to see you get killed. Actually, I’m pretty sure you won’t, but you’ll still be in danger.”

“I think it’s pretty clear what I have to do,” Peak straightened her posture. “It’s time to challenge my aunt. ‘Those unexpected, Will take the challenge, That many seek to avoid’. I’ve been an outcast, banished most of my life, It’ll be unexpected for me to challenge her. The next phrase literally uses the word challenge. And the ‘many seek to avoid’ part, all possible challengers stay away from my aunt. And if I fail, lives will be destroyed.” She took a breath. “Wish me luck. I’m going to kill my aunt.”

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BTW i actually edited the page. Those who do paste their names here pls (only edit here not the rest of the wiki this is the only place u can edit: the edit credits tab-no other place)