Holly's POV
"No, stop!", Holly yelled, struggling to hurry over to them.
The Leafwing had pinned Cricket to the ground, his claws around her neck.
"Have-to-immobilize-her", he said breathlessly.
"No! No, stop it now! She's Cricket! She's on our side! She can't be mind controled! Let her go!"
"Just to be safe", the Leafwing insisted.
"We're friends of Sundew!", Luna burst out.
"I swear, if you don't let go of her right now-", Holly threatened.
"You're friends of Sundew?", he asked, finally letting go.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
A fire swept through Holly like an unquenchable sea.
"HOW THE FU-"
"Sky, can you get off of us now?", Wren's voice said from underneath Sky's talons.
"What is that?", the Leafwing cried.
"Where are you from?"
"Who are you?", Luna asked.
"I'll do you one better", Holly muttered, "why is Pokeweed."
"You-how-how do you know my name?", he stuttered.
"It's a long story. I'm Holly. This is Umber, Cricket, Luna, Sky, Wren, and Axolotl.
Sky and Umber are from the Distant Kingdoms. They're here to help us defeat Wasp and the Othermind."
Pokeweed gasped when he saw the humans.
"You have a cave-monkey! Two cave-monkeys! Seems a shame not to share them, especially when food is so difficult to find."
"No! They're not for eatting!", Holly said, gritting her teeth.
"They're not monkeys either. These are humans, and they're not mindless animals."
"No earring!", Axolotl said, peeking from behind Sky's foot.
"Oh, you taught it to talk! Must have been pretty hard", Pokeweed remarked.
"No. I'm not a parott", Wren said forcefully.
"I can speak dragon, and I'm just as smart as you are."
Pokeweed looked skeptical.
"Strange. Very strange. Why are you down here?"
"We're looking for an abyss", Holly said.
"We think it might have something to do with the mind control and how to stop it."
"Hmm. I'll take you to Hemlock. We'll see what he has to say about you."
"Hemlock? Like Sundew's dad?", Cricket asked.
Pokeweed was silent for a second.
"Yes", he said, looking at Holly.
He led them on, deeper into the tunnel.
He wasn't very good at listening- at least not to Cricket and Luna, but he seemed to know where he was taking them.
He was also RIDICULOUSLY slow. Holly felt like every three minutes, he was sneaking off to search for food. To be fair, he really did look like he was starving. His ribs were clearly visible against his skin, and his eyes were hallow in their sockets. Holly wondered how long he'd been down here, and if all of the refugees looked like he did.
Finally, he led them through a long passageway that went on, leading to a large cavern.
Three small Silkwing dragonets were sitting near the entrance, eyeing the newcomers curiously.
"Wow", one of them said, looking at Bait.
"Mommy, look! A glow-bean! And a flamesilk!"
The dragonet next to her looked at Luna's twist of flamesilk jelously.
"She has a fire hat! I never get to wear a fire hat! No fair!"
"No, stupid!", the other one said.
"It's a crown! I bet she's a fire-queen!"
"What do you mean glow-bean? That is obviously a fire-pet!"
"Thank the moons", an older Silkwing said, walking up to them.
"We've been in the dark for so long now."
The third Silkwing dragonet, a small, purple dragon, walked up to Holly and Luna.
He was wearing two heavy wristbands that looked way too big for him, and he had a shy expression on his face.
"Hey, little guy", Holly whispered.
"Hi", he said softly, looking up at Bait.
Dusky.
A tall, pale-yellow Silkwing approuched them.
"I'm Holly, Sundew's friend. I'm here with my friends Luna-"
"Luna?", the Silkwing asked, as, the dragons around her moved aside respectfully.
"Tau!", Cricket cried, running out of the tunnel.
The other nearby dragons hissed as the Hivewing threw her arms around the Silkwing.
"Cricket!", she gasped.
"How are you here?"
"It's a crazy story", Cricket said.
"There's a lot for us to tell. Is everyone here? Who's in charge?"
Tau protectively put a wing around the Hivewing and turned to the other dragons.
"This is Cricket, she's the one who put up all the signs about Wasp's lies. She's the one who can't be mind controlled, and has been fighting Wasp longer than most of you have."
"Who's in charge depends on who you ask", Tau said.
"Some say Hemlock's in charge. Morpho being Morpho, thinks he's the boss of everyone, as always. Others think we should look up to Lady Jewel and Lady Scarab.
"As for who's here, most of the dragons hiding down here are from Bloodworm Hive and Jewel Hive."
"But we don't have to listen to Hivewings any more", a pale green Silkwing said.
"Lady Jewel is the reason all of you escaped", Tau said loyally.
"You don't have to love her, or bow to her, but you shouldn't hate her."
"Are any of the Cicada Hive Crysalis here?', Luna asked.
"No, no one from Cicada Hive", Tau said.
"Oh, hello, visiters from the outside world. Please tell us you bring good news", a Leafwing said, approuching them.
"My name is Bryony. This is Grayling." She indictated a gray-blue Silkwing who was at her side.
"And this grumpy face is Hemlock."
"This isn't my grumpy face", a tall, dark-green Leafwing said.
"This is my defencive face."
He turned to Holly.
"Pokeweed says you know Sundew. Is she al lright?"
"She was, last time we saw her", Holly said regretfully.
"We had to split us, and we we were planng on meeting up wth her a few days ago, but we haven't seen her. We left her a message, and we hope she finds it, and follows us here."
"We've been to the Distant Kingdoms", Cricket said.
"We brough with us dragons who can help us, and underground monkeys who can talk -they're called humans- and a vision about an abyss that we have to find."
Tau looked too shocked to speak.
Bryony and Hemlock glanced at each other in astonishment.
"Let's sit", Bryony said, indictating a cluster of boulders.
"We want to hear everything."
Holly began to turn to the tunnel, wanting to speak with Sky and Umber, but Dusky clung to her foot.
"Hey, is it all right if I-"
"Please let me stay with you two", he said softly.
"I'll be so quiet, you'll forget I'm here. I can be very quiet", he said, lowering his voice even more.
"I can be very good."
"Won't somone be looking for you?", Holly asked.
"Where's your mom?"
"Gone", he said saddly.
"It's just me."
Holly wondered if that meant taken by Wasp. . . . . or something else.
For the first time, Holly looked down at Dusky's wristbands. One of them read:
"Bloodworm construction crew."
What?
That can't be what it sounds like, right?
He's so small!
He can't be much older than Bumblebee, can he?
But maybe that's why he has these wristbands. He doesn't have any parents, and he replaced them by doing their job.
Oh, you poor sweet dragon.
The things I would change, if only I was God!
"It's just me", he said again.
"Just Dusky, alone in the dark."
Luna held out her talons and brought forth a string of flamesilk. She tied the ends together with loving care, and put the bracelet on Dusky's wrist.
"This is the kind of flamesilk that doesn't burn. The glow will never give out."
"Thank you", he said shyly.
"Will it stop the whispers?"
"What whispers?", Holly asked.
She almost imediately wished she hadn't asked.
"The whispers in the dark", he said quietly.
"They say . . . . ' You are mine . . . . little dragon.' "
A/N: And there you go, guys!
Happy Easter, and I hope to get the next chapter out soon!
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Also, I now have 95 followers.
WHAT.
Wordcount: 1269
Renx out!