Wings Of Fire: Heart of Oak

Oh No

A/N: Yes, that chapter title is a referance to the song at the begining ^^

Holly's POV

Holly froze.
She couldn't move.
She wanted to run, to hide in a cave, and scream until her lungs gave out.

"Mandrake, no!", she yelled.
But it was already too late.
Mandrake's root had grown too, not as much as Sundew's had, but big enough to recongnize.

"What?", Mandrake said.
  "Sundew, this is the Breath of evil!"

"Maybe Hawthorn just gave us the wrong chest?", Cricket said nervously.

"No", Sundew said.
"I think Hawthorn knew what he was doing. I don't don't why or how."

Geers in Holly's brain started clicking.
"We have to warn Queen Sequoia", she said quickly.
"These roots will only make things worse."

"But Inchworm!", Cricket said.
"He was cured!"

"I don't think so", Holly said grimly.
They'd left Hazel and Willow with him.
If Wasp was still inside him . . .

"If the antidote doesn't work, Blue's the one they'll come for first!", Cricket said in a panicked voice.

"We'll stop them", Sundew said, lifting into they air.
"Mandrake and Holly, you two stay here and destory the plants. And I mean REALLY destroy them."

"They can try", said a new voice from the opposite side of the stream. "But it won't make much of a difference. We're spreading across the jungle as we speak."

Hawthorn stood on the other side of the bank, moving away the Pitcher plants with his leafspeak.
Next to him, trapped by Holly's least favorite viper in the world, was Willow.
It's fangs were bared, and it's coils were tight on the Leafwing's neck.

Sundew hissed and stepped forward, but Hawthorn stopped her by making an antaginizing "Ah, ah, ah" sound.
"If you dare-", Sundew growled.

"I know, I know, you'll do something terrible and violent to me, but it will already be too late. So, how about you stay on your side of the stream, we'll have a little talk, and maybe your love will surrive, more or less. Maybe you will too. And you, disposable Leafwing", he said, indicating Mandrake. "I can see you. Don't even think about sneaking away. And Sundew-"

Hawthorn growled and the viper moved closer to Willow's neck.

Sundew sank back down to the ground; Cricket and Mandrake did the same. Holly, with a look of difiance, did so too.
As soon as they touched the ground, Breath of evil vines crawled around their talons, tying them down.

"There", Hawthorn said.
"It would be a shame if you warned Sequoia. My magnificent plan ruined by a quartet of idiots? I don't think so."

"That's Desperate Idiots to you, you two-faced son of a gorgon", Holly muttered under her breath.

"What plan?', Sundew asked.
"So you tricked us into burning a pile of roots. Congrats! If you think that means Sequoia won't be ready for the incoming army, YOU'RE the idiot. She'll be ready even when the pyre does nothing. We're stronger than you think, and so is this jungle!"

"Oh really? I know how strong this jungle is. Maybe even more than you do. It has been my home for thousands of years. It was so close to killing me, but then Hawthorn came along and rescued me. He's been so helpful, I think I'm going to keep him until he rots and I can't move him anymore."

"But . . . aren't you Hawthorn?", Cricket asked.

The dragon sneered.

"The outer skin is, yes. All these years he though HE was in control, that I was just another voice inside his head, his beautiful carved seed, whispering back to him."
He held out the egg shape and Holly realized what it really was: the Breath of evil seed.

"Such a clever scientist", he went on.
"Imagine what he might have discovered if he had more test subjects other than himself. Aren't I lucky he didn't."

The vines around their talons tightened.

"Wasp", Sundew growled.
"So you've been here this whole time. I should have guessed."

Hawthorn threw back his head and laughed again.
"Wasp, really? No, no, no, she's perfect ally. I let her go about her evil deeds because it helps me, but in the end, she's my puppet too.
One day she'll realize I've hollowed out her brain, and she's in no more control than her subjects."

What the hell IS this thing?

"Then, who are you?", Cricket burst out.

Hawthorn's face went very still.
"I am the rightful owner of this continent", he snarrled.
"It was all mine, every bug and living thing that ever lived. I ruled it all. And then YOU came, with your oversized brains and your tallons and claws. And you stole it from me.
"All this time, I've waited for my chance to reclaim what was rightfully mine. I've bided my time and planed my vengance. Even trapped in the jungle, I knew I'd find a way. I had no idea it would be this easy. You foolish dragons came looking for me! You fed me to your enamies! You let me spread and in doing so, you have brought about your own undoing. You will be no more trouble than my obident snakes."

"We will always be trouble", Sundew said. "You can't control the Leafwings, and you can't control me."

Hawthorn grinned so wide it looked like Captain America had slashed through his face with his shield.
"You are pleasantly stupid. You really haven't figured out the next part of my plan? Let's see, how did you put it 'when the pyre does nothing'. Well, of course the pyre does something, you splintery twig."

Cricket gasped.
"What?", Mandrake asked.
"What does it do?"

"Hawthorn had very powerful leafspeak", said the thing infront of them.
"He almost stopped me. He took advantage of one of my weaker shoots, who would do anything to live, and he modified that branch of me only to work on Hivewings.

He stabbed himself in the neck, and chortled as the blood trickled down from the cut.

"I could work with it, though. It was a start, but not what I needed. I wanted everyone.
So once I was finally inside him, I got him to fix me. All his little chains are gone. I took thousands of years, but I am back.
And now . . . I will have everything I want."

He streached his wings and closed his eyes, breathing deeply.
"The fire has been lit", he murmured. "They are breathing the smoke. Oh, I see your mother, Sundew. The queen will soon be mine. Too bad the Crystalis aren't here. . . . but I'll get them soon enough. For now, I have these two sweet Silkwings."

Oh no.
Blue and Swordtail.
Sequoia.
Nettle.
I could have saved them.
I might have saved them all.
This is my fault.

Holly felt herself shaking.
She wanted to dunk the world into a bucket of gasoline, light it on fire, and watch it burn to ashes.
What was the point of being sent here if she couldn't save her friends?

"Next question", Hawthorn said. "Which of you should I infect first?"

A/N: A *Cliff hanger!
*See what I did right there?
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Wordcount: 1231

Renx out!