Cherry gobbled down her food and dashed out of her bedroom, running down the dark hallway to get to the entrance hall.
Starflower was waiting for her. "Okay, follow me to the others," she said, and they walked through the tunnel farthest to the left. Cherry was hopping up and down really fast, full of energy.
Can't this tunnel end already? She thought.
The tunnel opened into a giant room, like the entrance, but the ground was a glossy black and looked like it was made out of some type of rock. Maybe obsidian, she thought. It looked like a mansion, there were clothes and pottery woven from twigs, leaves, and sap. There was a beautiful painting of a purple blossom tree, hanging on the wall.
"It's lovely!" Cherry exclaimed, surprised at how nice caves could be.
"Yes," said Starflower.
"Where are the others?" Cherry asked.
"They'll be here in a moment," Starflower said, eyeing the door. Cherry took the time to look more closely around the room. There was a chest laying in the corner. But when she stepped closer Starflower pulled her back.
"Wait," she said. Her eyes darted around the room, her tail quivered. Then, three dragons stepped in. She recognized the first two. The two dragons were Stonefly, the HiveWing, and Snowstar, the IceWing. But, the last dragon she barely recognized as the green dragon who showed her to the bedroom the night before.
"Hello again Cherry. Sorry I never really introduced myself, I am Pine, a RainWing," he said.
"It's nice to meet you," said Cherry.
"Nice to meet you too."
"My name is Cherry, short for Cherryblossom," she said.
"I know, we know all the names of the dragonets of prophecy," said Pine calmly. Cherry whipped her head around to look at Starflower.
"What!? There is a prophecy?!?! Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't the time," she proclaimed, "also, they will be introducing themselves, we need you all to have a good bond with each other," said Starflower.
"Wait who?"
"The other dragonets of the prophecy, we haven't gotten them here yet."
"You mean kidnap!" Cherry snapped, "And why can't you tell me now?"
"It will be easier to tell all of the dragonets at once," said Pine.
"Why are you being so vague? I'm not a little anymore! Who even are the other dragonets? I have the right to know this stuff!" Cherry screamed.
The guardians stepped back. Pine and Starflower turned orange and red. Stonefly wore a pitying look. Snowstar just looked hurt. She stormed out of the room. Her anger carried her towards the entrance. But then she heard voices arguing so she turned around. It was Starflower and Pine.
"You haven't told her anything this entire time?!" Pine yelled.
"Of course not! I was under orders from you not to!" Starflower shouted madder than Cherry had ever heard her.
"Well I thought you would have broken it at least once!"
"DO I SEEM LIKE A RULE BREAKER TO YOU? I FOLLOW YOU DAY IN AND DAY OUT AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME!" Starflower screamed, running out of the room and pushing past her. Pine ran after her, yelling. Cherry sighed.
Cherry turned to Snowstar and Stonefly. "So, what do you want to do?" asked Cherry.
Stonefly started, "Uh-" then they heard distant echoes from the tunnel sounding like Pine's voice saying "GUYS COME DOWN HERE!"
Stonefly immediately ran towards the sound, and when Cherry tried to follow, Snowstar tried to grab her, but she was ready for this. She smacked Snowstar with her tail and bolted. She ran past Stonefly, and all the rooms, but when she reached Pine he looked calm and he was staring at the entrance. Cherry tilted her head, following Pine's gaze. There was a dragon standing there, Cherry looked harder and realized it was a dragonet. She took off and glided deeper into the tunnel. When she reached him she realized who was holding him.
"Starflower!" She cried, flinging herself into Starflower. She lost her grip of the dragonet, and he tried to run. Cherry tried to stop the dragonet, but he dodged and kept running. Then Pine and Stonefly stopped him at the beginning of the tunnel. They grabbed him and turned him around.
"Why did you bring me here!" he screamed, thrashing and kicking. The guardians dragged him back to the main room. When they got there Starflower pulled her aside.
"What were you thinking! You could have cost us a dragonet! Don't you know what we're doing!?" She whisper-screamed, looking around the tunnel before continuing. "Just trust us please, trust me," she finished.
Cherry filled with rage. How am I supposed to know, you have been keeping this secret from me for my whole life! Cherry shook her off and stormed down the hall.
She kept walking. She wanted to head to her room and go back to sleep. When she got to her room, she was surprised to see that the rest of the guardians were all hovering over the dragonet. He looked livid, his eyes narrowed.
Cherry sighed and said, "Let me talk to him, he and I are in the same position." Pine nodded, Stonefly shrugged, and Snowstar smiled. They all backed away and left the room.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" asked the dragonet fiercely.
"One, I am Cherryblossom, but my friends call me Cherry. Two, I am like you, taken here for something I am not sure about," She replied coolly, "anyways, what's your name?"
"Why should I tell you?" He questioned, staring her down.
"Well I told you about myself, you should tell me your name, at least," she answered.
"Fine," he slumped, "my name is Shard."
"How did you end up here? I was kidnapped by Stonefly, the Hivewing," said Cherry.
"I was kidnapped by Starflower. Well, sort of, I was walking by and she pulled me into the tunnel," he replied plainly, rolling his eyes. He grabbed the sack from the floor. Something small crawled out of it.
"Oh you're okay!" he said cheerfully. When it crawled fully out of the sack, Cherry realized it was a tamarin. "You stay in there until we get out of this mess," Shard said. He put the gold lion tamarin on his little tree trunk chair. "Bye my little friend," he said and then Shard walked away. Cherry thought What was so special about the lion tamarin?
"Why is the tamarin so special?" Cherry asked, following him.
"My dad gave it to me before he died fighting for me. That's also why I hate the Hivewing Queen," Shard replied. "Queen Honeybee sent troops of Hivewings and Sandwings looking for me when she heard about the prophecy."
That's so sad. Cherry thought sympathetically. I wonder if that happened to anyone else?
"Well I'm going to go to bed," Shard said. He walked to his bed and curled up into a ball. While Shard was sleeping Cherry tried giving the tamarin a strawberry. She shrieked when it bit her claw. Apparently Shard's tamarin likes eating claws more than strawberries and she went to sleep.
"Cherry! Shard! Wake up!" A voice called, loudly. But, as she opened her eyes she realized it was Stonefly. She stood on the edge of her bed, looking worried. Then, she saw Starflower and Pine in the doorway. Stonefly ushered them in. It seemed that they had been looted by scavengers. Almost immediately Shard rushed to their room. He scrambled to find his pet to find it eating the strawberries Cherry had on her scrolls.
"Urgh your tamarin messed up my scrolls!" Cherry said.
Shard promised he will make a silk cage for his tamarin and tie it to his arm. By the end of the day somehow Shard made a way to tie it to his back like a backpack and put papaya and strawberries and a few walnuts in the sack. Snowstar and Starflower were looking for more food and weapons because they were raided by scavengers and Pine was looking for something and left the cave.
At the time Shard was helping with the garden they were sharing so Cherry decided to play a prank on Stonefly. She asked Shard and he said later he was looking for a water spring for his strawberry bush. She waited and thought of pranks while Shard looked for a spring. When Shard found some water for his plants Cherry thought of the perfect prank.
Cherry told Shard the plan of him putting silk all over Stonefly then Cherry would stick mangoes all over her. Shard thought there were holes in the plan but Cherry was already picking mangoes.
Stonefly was watching for when Snowstar and Starflower would get back. Shard took Raspberry the tamarin and stomped his foot. Stonefly looked at Raspberry and walked to put him back to Shard's room. Shard came out from the corner and shot silk all over Stonefly while Cherry snuck up behind Stonefly and threw mangoes at her.
"It's the mango monster!"Cherry giggled. Then Cherry noticed Shard was right, how do they escape the wrath of an angry Stonefly?
Shard said, "Run!" as Stonefly flew after them. Shard said to follow him and Cherry ran as fast as she could to keep up. Where is Shard going to hide me? Cherry thought. Cherry closely followed him and flew to the spring he had found in the canyon with Stonefly not far behind them. He told her to shove him down the spring Cherry did it immediately and pushed herself down with him. Under the small spring was an enormous underground lake with damp lighting of what looked like-
"Shard you're a flame silk!" Cherry said, amazed.
"Yes, I know," he said calmly. "I figured it out when I accidentally shot a fruit with my silk. He gestured at the melted fruit. "Quick, I heard Stonefly, I found a tunnel leading to the canyon. It's probably how the scavengers got in." Cherry heard mangoes plopping then rippling the lake, she flew as fast as she could while Shard protected her by shooting his fiery silk at Stonefly.
Stonefly roars and speeds up to them and Shard shoots flamesilk at Stonefly's horns and Stonefly shrieks as she falls into the lake. They had made it! Cherry thought, but when they came up they were met by Starflower, both angry and disappointed.
"Why did you hurt Stonefly?" Starflower scolded Shard and Cherry.
"We were just playing a little prank," said Cherry.
"YOU BURNT MY HORN!" Stonefly shrieked.
"Go to bed. I just got word from Pine that he has found another dragonet and is bringing him here," said Snowstar. Stonefly glared, and followed them out.
"NEVER. DO. THAT. AGAIN," Stonefly said, trying to stay calm. Cherry and Shard walked along the basin of the canyon and went to their rooms.
This chapter is barely edited and super choppy.
It's also mostly a filler.
What's your opinion of Shard?