Wings Of Fire: Heart of Oak

I Find your Lack of Faith Disturbing

Holly's POV

"Legend?', Belladonna scoffed. "What are we, dragonets?"

"This is important", Sequoia said. "Do any of you know it?"

Everyone shook their heads, including Holly.
The queen sighed again.

"It was a tale from long before the time of Clearsight", Sequoia began, flicking her tail for Hazel to sit at her side.

"The legend begins with the earlest days of dragons ariving to this continent", the queen said. "Back when the Leafwing and Beetlewing tribes were still new."

"What's a Beetlewing?", Swordtail asked.

"The Beetlewings were the ancestors of the Hivewings and Silkwings, back before Clearsight and her decendants split the tribe into two different tribes. They were more like Silkwings, but they had some weapons like Hivewings. . . . shooting venom from ther fangs in particular, according to the old stories."

Tsunami jumped as though something had startled her.
"What's wrong?', Holly asked her in a whisper.
Tsunami hesitated.
"Someone I know can spit venom."

"Why did they come here?", Cricket asked.

"The legend doesn't say, but it does say that there was trouble on the other continent. In any case", the queen went on, "the first dragons who landed encountered something. . . . . strange."

Her voice dropped to almost a whisper.

"The night they arrived, as they slept, the earth opened, and millions of legs crawled out. The dragons awoke to a true nightmare: they were covered in deadly fire ants.
"Their screams rose to the moons and they ran to the sea, but, even as they fled, more ants arose and asailed them. The ants ran up the dragon's legs, crawled inbetween their claws and underneath their scales and buried their teeth into their skin.
The ants didn't even let go as the dragons plunged into the water."

Holly shivered.

What could cause that?
A giant ant-bed?

"But that was only the begining", Sequoia said.
"The next morning, as the dragons were limping about, the sky filled with bees, so many bees that they blocked out the sun. The swarm attacked, all at once, just as the ants had done. And again, the dragons were forced to hide under water. The story says they were saved by their flamesilks, who burned the bees out of the sky."

"So, the legend is about creepy ants and bees?", Io asked.

The queen shook her head.
"It got worse. . . . . and stranger. They kept coming. Insects that don't normally come together in groups gathered and attacked them; venomus centipedes, Tsetse flies and bombardier beetles.
Dragon after dragon fell to their power. Some simply fanished, lost to the night, never to be seen again.
"Dragons fought back, of course. They'd come too far to turn back, and the story says that they were refugees who could never go back to the Distant Kingdoms.
"So, they fought to stay, but every time they thought it was over, another army would emerge, each more deadly than the last. The insects were followed by prides of loins, murderous crows."

The queen lowered her voice again.

"These were no ordinary attacks The animals moved like one single being. Snakes attacked simultaniously, targeting their victims with coordinated precision."

"But how?", Cricket asked.
"This sounds like a story that just got warped over time. Are you saying this plant works on anything?"

"Um, I have a better question", Holly said. "Who was controling them?"

She realized that her tail had intertwined with Mandrake's and that their wings were touching.
Hesitantly, she let go.

Sequoia closed her front talons around the flower and looked at her.
  "Nobody knows."