The War's Prophecy

Play-Acting

"What?!" Iceseeker exclaimed. "You can't surrender!"

"Why not?" Cove asked. "She'll kill us either way."

"She can try." Juniper said, in a different voice than Acacia's.

"I refuse to surrender." Equinox said.

"Me too." Scorpio grumbled.

"Same here." Frostblood said. Lily nodded in agreement. Widow roared. "ATTACK!" She shouted.

"Everyone, run!" Frostblood exclaimed. The dragons who refused flew to higher ledges and into the shadows. Widow roared again and pretended to kill the dragons who agreed. "I will get my revenge on those-those-" Her whole body tensed. Her fierce face broke and she burst out laughing. The laughter spread to Juniper. Then to Equinox. Soon everyone in the cave was laughing their heads off. "Alright, you did a good job." Frostblood said to Juniper as soon as she could breathe. "But I still think you're better at being a tree." Juniper sighed. Before she could answer, she heard talonsteps. And loud ones. Hawk stormed into the study cave. "I TOLD YOU TO STUDY!" She roared.

"And we did." Frostblood said. "We were acting out how the war began."

"More like play-acting. You're much too old for games, you little salamanders."

"When were we ever young enough for games?" Equinox muttered.

"All of you go to bed." Hawk snapped. "Now." They all walked out of the study cave and into the sleeping cave, Hawk watching them like, well, a hawk. They each flew up to their own ledges. They were more like small caves above the ground. Juniper's was layered with sheep skin, moss, and leaves. She always hid five scrolls at a time in a little nook in the wall. She also had a small jar of fireflies in a different, more visible nook. She climbed up to her ledge and lay down. Hawk extinguished the torches with a bucket of water from the river. Juniper waited for Hawk to leave, then pulled out a scroll. It was titled , Tales of Infamous Animi, by Plaguebringer of the NightWings. Juniper opened the scroll. She read by the light of her jar of fireflies until she began to feel extremely tired. She put the scroll away in the scroll nook and tried to sleep, but her body just didn't feel like it. She kept trying for a while, then just decided to take a walk and maybe grab a snack. She quietly glided down from her ledge/cave and landed next to the exit.

"You can't sleep either?" Said a voice. She turned to see Equinox leaning out of her cave and looking at her.

"Nope." Juniper whispered. "I just thought I'd take a walk." She quietly tip-toed out of the sleeping cave. Equinox followed. They walked through the central cave. It was quite dark in there, as the torches had all been extinguished. They walked through the tunnel and into the dining cave.

Juniper searched her plant pots for the blackberries. She found them and put some into a bowl. Equinox selected a pigeon. She popped it into her mouth before it could squawk. They went back into the central cave. Juniper stopped dead in her tracks.

"Did you just hear that?" Now she could hear it clearly. The guardians were arguing as quietly as they could, which wasn't actually very quiet. Without thinking, Juniper jumped into the river and swam toward the guardians' cave. She heard Equinox follow her. She tensed as the freezing water engulfed her. They swam to the small gap in the wall leading to the guardians' cave. She slipped through it easily, but Equinox seemed to be having more trouble. Juniper helped to pull her through the gap when she got stuck. They reached the guardians' cave and Juniper poked her nose out of the water and took a breath. Then she put it back under and stuck her ears out instead. Equinox did the same. The guardians were arguing around a fire as quietly as they could, which wasn't actually very quiet. "I don't know!" Riptide shouted. "They just said, 'Morrowstalker is coming'! That's it!" Riptide was one of the dragonets' guardians. He was a SandWing-SeaWing hybrid and was probably the nicest to the dragonets(Him or Jaguar). "After six years, he's suddenly interested?!" Hawk shouted.