Winterwatcher! - Light in the Dark

❄️ Chapter 21 ❄️

A/N: Last chapter we saw Moon fall into the Master's trap.

And things will only get messier...

Winter had a choice:

- he could go back to his friends and find a way to free them. Then they could work out a plan together.

Or:

- he could go after Moon.

He went after Moon.

Winter waited, his IceWing senses on full alert, until the coast was finally clear.

The volcanic tunnels were eerily quiet. Winter tried to make his talonsteps as small and silent as possible. He felt bad for ditching Qibli and the others, but something told him that this was the right decision. At least he hoped it was.

His scales felt all drippy and uncomfortably sticky from the heat of the volcano. Honestly, if Winter were to pick an evil base to hold a mind-controlled army, it would be somewhere not stifling hot. He was beginning to feel sorry for the dragons who formerly lived there. Although he still did believe that some of them deserved it, the island was a horrible place. If Mother or Father could hear him now...

The tunnels and chambers he passed were mostly built from the NightWing Fortress's ruins. Parts of the volcanic mountain had caved in to form pits and rooms, all of which were currently empty.

As he ventured deeper in the direction Moon had disappeared to, it finally sunk in that Winter had no idea where he was supposed to go. The tunnels branched off occasionally or either went down further or up slightly, so Winter decided to follow his IceWing instinct and guess the correct path. He couldn't hear any sound of a massive meeting being held. No booming, powerful voice or cheering, dangerous crowd. If he was even going in the right direction, any possible sound from the Master's army base was blocked out by tumbling rocks or steaming pools of lava.

Winter was beginning to wonder how many more tunnels there could possibly be, when he suddenly collided with black scales. Three pairs of black scales.

He stumbled back and landed in a classic IceWing defence position, his sharp claws poised for attack. The NightWings before him snarled. Winter was screwed.

"It's you!" The lead NightWing said, less threateningly and clearly annoyed. She flicked her tail and her brothers arched their backs to be intimidating.

Winter recognised them. Stardust and her brothers, Daze and Glaze, from the rainforest. They were part of the crew that brought him and his friends in.

Up close, Winter realised that she had a strange silver underbelly, unlike anything he had seen before. Her eyes were a piercing dark blue, similar to her brothers'. She was small but quick and her eyes constantly flickered around her surroundings as if she was searching for danger. Daze was taller and broader than Glaze. The twin brothers had long, pointy horns that stuck up higher than they probably should. Their necks were speckled with silver flecks.

Stardust clearly had a bad temper. "What do you think you're doing, IceWing?"

"Yeah, IceWing!" Daze said, earning a look from his sister. From what Winter knew, they liked to complain... a lot. They also said some pretty shady (and hilarious) things about the Master back in the Rainforest.

Winter didn't know how he was going to get out of this. She obviously was in a bad mood and would turn him into the Master any second. Fighting wouldn't do any good; Daze and Glaze were probably stronger than they looked. And giving up would only put his friends in danger. Plus, he still had to find Moon and make sure she was safe. What would Moon do? Stay calm. Keep them talking.