Queen Scarlet shot through Starflight's mind as he leaped over the desk. She's come for us.
"Find somewhere to hide," he cried to the small group of dragonets. He stumbled forward, talons outstretched. "Don't let her see you." Which way to the Great Hall? he thought frantically. I have to get there I have to protect them.
No way I'm waiting here and hiding while dragons could be in danger. Eclipse thought.
"Who?" Kinkajou yelped. "Who are we hiding from?"
Sora curled into a ball on the reeds, trembling. Horrible images were lurching up from the mud puddle in her brain: dragons on fire, dragons screaming, spears bristling, a little brown dragon bleeding from her neck as she plummeted to the ground.
Eclipse crumbled forward, clutching her head. The images weren't just coming from Sora; all over the school, dragonets who'd been in the war were hearing the alarm and having awful flashbacks. She could barely think straight through all the violence banging inside her head.
Raindrops, Eclipse thought frantically. Think of raindrops.
That won't work here, Darkstalker said. Everyone is too panicked. Find the calmest voice and anchor yourself. Focus on it. It'll help if it's someone who knows what's going on.
How am I supposed to find someone who knows what's going on when I can't hardly think at all? Eclipse shouted.
Eclipse heard rushed talons scraping against the rocky ground and forced her eyes to open. Starflight was hurrying away to the Great Hall, his wings brushing the rock walls on either side, his talons reaching forward anxiously.
Eclipse pushed herself up and quickly darted after him, a palm still clutching her head. Behind her she could hear Moon start after her.
"Aren't we hiding?" Kinkajou asked.
Eclipse couldn't focus on what Moon answered with as she followed Starflight and guided him from time to time out of the tunnel and into the Great Hall.
Moon and Kinkajou burst into the hall only a few moments after her and Starflight.
A SkyWing stood in the center of the cave, staring wildly around her with eerie blue eyes. Smoke rose from her shimmering metallic-orange scales.
Most students had fled, but Winter and Icicle stood in one of the tunnel entrances, glaring at the SkyWing. Carnelian was there too, watching curiously. Two other dragons had apparently fainted before they could run away, a SeaWing and a SandWing Eclipse didn't know.
Whoever this SkyWing was; it wasn't Scarlet.
"It's not Scarlet," Eclipse said to Starflight. She had regained some composer and could stand on her own now, without clutching her head. Although there was still a painful spasm pounding in her head.
Eclipse stepped forward, lowering her head threateningly towards the SkyWing. Whoever this dragon was, everyone was fearful of her. And she looked dangerous.
"It's not?" she heard Starflight say behind her.
The SkyWing turned her head and met Eclipse's eyes, the eerie blue sending shivers down her spine. The SkyWing bristled and hissed at her.
"Peril!" Clay shouted as he hurried into the cave, moving fast despite his limp. "You came!"
Eclipse backed off, still shivering with adrenaline and ready to fight whoever this smoking dragon was.
Oh, great, Tsunami thought, coming in right behind him.
Peril instinctively shrunk away from Clay, but the wall of flames in her mind cooled for a brief moment as she looked at him. Eclipse caught a stab of fierce, desperate love and guilt, and then the fire swallowed everything coherent again.
Eclipse backed to where Starflight, Moon and Kinkajou sat, standing in front of them just in case. She felt Moon entwine their tails and Eclipse relaxed some.
Clay didn't seem to notice her pulling away; he took one of Peril's talons and pressed it between his. A sizzling sound and burning smell rose from his scales where they touched, but when he let go, the burn healed over almost instantly.
"When we didn't hear from you, we assumed you weren't coming," Tsunami said.
"I thought I could find her," Peril said, tearing her gaze away from Clay. "But she's nowhere. I don't know where else to look. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Clay said wholeheartedly. "We're glad you're here."
That's only true for him, Moon thought. Not remotely for anyone else. Peril's lucky she doesn't have mind reading.
Almost every dragon that knew she was here was brimming with hostility, fear, fury, or, in most cases, all three.
"We don't have a group for you," Tsunami said, folding her wings back. "We didn't know you were coming, so there's a SkyWing in each winglet already."
"I don't have to stay," Peril mumbled. She edged back a step, toward the outside.
"But I want you to," Clay said. "If Scarlet's looking for you, too, we'll all be safer together. Don't worry about the winglets, we'll figure it out." He shot Tsunami a frown. Don't scare her away. She deserves a second chance.
Tsunami rolled her eyes, but a memory of Peril saving Clay's life kept her from saying any of the rest of the snappish things in her head. "I'll go ask Sunny where we should put you," she said instead, and swept away.
"She can't stay here!" Winter suddenly barked, stepping forward. He jabbed a claw at Peril. "That dragon killed more than twenty IceWing prisoners. She was Queen Scarlet's favorite weapon. It's one thing to force us to work with deceitful NightWings and lowborn SandWings, but a straight-up murderer? No one is going to stand for this."
"As much as I hate to agree with sparkly IceWings," Eclipse started. "He's right. That dragon is a danger to everyone here. One misstep and she could kill someone."
Eclipse caught a mix of anger and admiration trickle through Winter's mind.
"A lot of dragons have done things they need to be forgiven for," Clay pointed out. Just around the corner, Eclipse felt Tsunami hear him, pause, and wince. "Especially in the war. The agreement between the queens was amnesty for everyone, no grudges, no revenge."
Easy for him to say, Winter thought bitterly, and the IceWing from the mountains shot through his head again, this time along with the word brother. "Fighting in battles, following orders from your general, that's normal warfare," he said. "Killing prisoners while they're chained up, or forcing them to fight a monster - how is that forgivable?"
"It's not." Eclipse said, glaring at Peril. The images she was getting from the dragons around her; watching Peril burn her victims and slaughter dragons; it made her weirdly angry. She'd never met this SkyWing. So why did she care so much about what she'd done?
Peril seemed to be shrinking and burning hotter at the same time. Her weird eyes glowered between Winter and Eclipse through the smoke.
"Even Queen Ruby hasn't agreed to pardon that dragon," Icicle pointed out in a smooth, high-pitched voice. "She's been banned from the SkyWing palace, hasn't she?"
"All the more reason to welcome her here," Clay said. "Where starting over and second chances are the whole point." He smiled at Peril again. She lashed her tail and ducked her head. "Come on, let's go see the others," Clay added diplomatically, waving Peril toward the tunnel where Tsunami had disappeared.
Icicle turned to Winter as they left and hissed, "I'll send a messenger to Queen Glacier tonight."
The gong sounded twice, echoing through the tunnels.
"Time for history," Kinkajou said cheerfully. "Come on, Winter!"
Icicle gave him an amused look. How adorable, a RainWing with a crush on my brother.
Winter shifted his wings uncomfortably and started after Kinkajou. She thinks it's funny, but if she knew what I've been feeling - who I've been thinking about. . . He slammed a wall of ice down over his thoughts, almost hard enough for Eclipse to feel the vibrations in her own skull.
Eclipse stopped Moon, giving her a pointed look. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable leaving you right now."
Eclipse noticed Winter glance over out of the corner of her eye.
"I'll be fine," Moon said gently. "I'll be with dragons who can protect me."
"Kinkajou can't protect a mango," Eclipse dead-pinned. "And I'm pretty sure Winter would rather slice your face off than anything."
Moon sighed. "Eclipse -"
"No," Eclipse interrupted her, "I'm going with you to History. No arguing."
"Alright," Moon breathed.
Kinkajou questioned her briefly before becoming exited with the fact Eclipse was tagging along and began jumping towards the history cave.
The history lesson cave was far down inside the mountain, at the intersection of the three winding narrow tunnels Eclipse and Ostrich had wondered down. There were fewer fire globes along these tunnels; the ones here were shades of orange and blue, and they were interspersed with flickering torches.
Eclipse noticed Kinkajou edged quickly past the open flames; the RainWing also didn't love the claustrophobic closeness of the walls or how much darker it was this far down.
Once they stepped inside the familiar cave walls covered in maps enclosed around her, Webs standing in the center of the cave.
Eclipse trotted over to him, ducking her head and nudging herself into a position where the others couldn't see or hear what she was saying.
"I have permission from the founder of the school to be here with Moon," she lied. "She's a little shaken up after the whole Peril mishap."
"Ah, I see," Webs nodded in understanding. "Glad to have you join us."
Eclipse trotted back over to Moon, finding her shaking her head in disappointment. Although, an amused smile began to grown on her face.
As everyone circled around Webs, Eclipse sensed he was the one who'd chosen this space, and that he preferred the dimmer, more underground feeling. Moon noticed he was the SeaWing who'd brought the fish in the net.
He was a lot older than the prophecy dragonets and trails of regret ran underneath all his thoughts, even when he was mostly focused on the lesson he was about to give. Eclipse mirrored Moon's thoughts and wondered why he was here and how he'd gotten that scar on his side.
Moon's winglet filled in, and so did Sora's. As each dragon entered, Eclipse slipped their minds into background rain noise. Or she tried to. Many of them were wondering who she was and why she was here. Eclipse could care less about the confused thoughts they were having. She knew why she was here and that was all that mattered to her.
Eclipse noticed Icicle and Sora sat on opposite ends of the cave and didn't speak to each other. The other NightWing was the male named Bigtail, the one Pike had growled at; she remembered they were clawmates. That would be an uncomfortable cave to sleep in tonight.
Bigtail glanced at Moon and then quickly away, as if he didn't want to be associated with her. Pike slid past him, glowering, and nearly flicked Bigtail's nose with one of his wings.
She was surprised to see Carnelian not acknowledging the other SkyWing. He had a horrible scar across his snout, as if he'd been in battle, like her. Eclipse let go of Carnelian's raindrop for a moment to check on her mind.
Flame, she heard Carnelian scoff, shooting him a glare. Talons of Peace.
Ah, that explained it; he'd hidden with the underground peace movement instead of fighting in the war. Eclipse wondered where he got the scar, but brushing against his mind gave her a strong, queasy feeling of overflowing rage so she decided to stay out of it.
Kinkajou spotted a small blue and gold RainWing and dragged Moon and Eclipse over to her, excited sparks going off in her mind.
"Moon, Eclipse, this is Tamarin. Tamarin, Moon and Eclipse are our new best friends. Moon's super funny and Eclipse is so strong! Can Tamarin touch your faces?"
I'm super funny? Moon thought. In what universe? Eclipse smothered a laugh.
"It's alright, I don't have to," Tamarin said, smiling. Eclipse noticed the pale film across Tamarin's eyes and remembered the RainWing was blind.
"You can." Moon let her talons touch Tamarin's, and the RainWing brushed her claws gently across Moon's scales, horns and snout.
"I don't mind either," Eclipse offered a bit stiffly. She didn't entirely like unknown dragons touching her but in this case it was alright. Tamarin slowly reached over and found Eclipse's scales. Shivers ran down her spine as Tamarin drug her claws across her snout, cheeks, and horns.
"Have you figured everything out yet?" Kinkajou asked Tamarin. "She had the rainforest all memorized, but of course this is a whole new place," she added to the sisters. Tamarin lifted her claws from Eclipse's face and settled back into a sitting position. "So Queen Glory arranged for her to come early and spend a few days walking around all the tunnels. I bet you know Jade Mountain better than anyone now."
"Ha," Tamarin said. "Well, I'm getting used to it. It's useful to have walls, in a way."
"I can't wait for suntime, though," Kinkajou said. "Moon, Eclipse, after this we're going to go sleep in the sun for the rest of the day. Want to join us?"
"Uh - no, thanks," Moon said.
"Yeah, it sounds nice but - uh, I think I'll pass." Eclipse smiled.
"Everyone sit!" Webs ordered.
A muscular SandWing a lot older than the others darted into the cave and sat down next to Tamarin. "Hey," she whispered. "Did I miss anything?"
"This is my clawmate, Onyx," Tamarin introduced.
Onyx had very black eyes and little black diamonds embedded between her pale yellow scales all along her wings. She wore a metal amulet around her neck and branching black lines were tattooed on her horns and neck. Her gaze was sharp, studying the others in the cave, and her mind was like shifting sand. Eclipse tilted her head and realized Onyx was as hard to read as Turtle. Nothing came from her mind but that same weird, quiet fuzz.
Can you read her at all? Moon questioned Eclipse.
No, it's the same fuzz Turtle has. Eclipse answered.
How is she doing that? Darkstalker? Can you read Onyx and Turtle? Are we just not powerful enough? Moon questioned.
A pause and then, No. They are both impenetrable to me as well.
Really? Are they just really good at shielding?
I'm not sure. I've never seen a mental shielding advanced enough to block me, and who would have trained them? But perhaps my powers have grown weaker over time. Or perhaps this kind of shielding evolved over the last two thousand years.
Eclipse watched Moon study Onyx, then glance over to Turtle. The two dragons had nothing in common that Eclipse could see. How could they both be the only dragons immune to mind reading?
"Some of you might know who I am," Webs said, clearing his throat importantly. "For those of you who don't my name is Webs, and I used to be part of the Talons of Peace. You may have heard of my son, Riptide, who is the new leader of whatever the Talons of Peace is becoming. I was one of the guardians who raised the dragonets of destiny. I taught them the history of Pyrrhia, and now they've asked me to teach it to you. So, we'll start at the beginning, with the Scorching."
"I have a question," Icicle interjected.
"Already?" Webs said, ruffled. "I haven't even begun yet."
"About that SkyWing," Icicle pressed on. "The one who burns everything she touches. Have there been other dragons like that in history? Aren't they terribly dangerous? I mean, even frostbreath doesn't work on her. So how have tribes dealt with dragons like that in the past? Is there a way to kill her?"
"I feel like that's more than one question," Eclipse mumbled to Moon who smothered a grin.
"That's. . . rather a gruesome topic for our first day," Webs sputtered.
"I'd like to know about Thorn," Onyx spoke up.
"You mean Queen Thorn," Qibli snapped.
"It's unprecedented, right?" asked Onyx, ignoring him. "There's never been a queen in history who hasn't descended from the royal family. Isn't that true?"
"Well, not exactly -" Webs tried.
"Queen Thorn is the best queen the SandWings have ever had," Qibli flared loyally. "If you think you could do better, maybe challenge her for the throne."
"But that's my point," Onyx said sharply. "Does this mean now anyone could take the throne and become queen? Could that happen in the other tribes, too? I mean, it sounds like asking for chaos and rebellion everywhere. That's all I'm saying."
"Er, but it's rather an unusual - I mean, given the Eye of Onyx - and the situation with the three sisters - this is hardly an appropriate -" Webs flapped his wings around, his mind spinning.
This might be a good chance to get some answers, Darkstalker whispered.
"Are we going to learn about the NightWings?" Moon blurted out. Eclipse's eyes widened and she bristled. "I mean, historically, like, maybe two thousand years ago? Like, where they lived, or um -" Where they buried the Darkstalker? How am I supposed to nonchalantly ask THAT question?
Eclipse cleared her throat, glancing at Moon. This was not a good chance to get answers, not with all the hostile minds and eyes now glued to their backs.
"We may learn about NightWings, but not today," Webs said grumpily. "As NONE of this is RELEVANT to TODAY'S TOPIC, which is the Scorching. Ahem." He gathered up a bunch of scrolls and thrust them at Turtle. "Give these out, one to each dragonet. We'll begin AT THE BEGINNING. That means over five thousand years ago, before there were tribes or kingdoms, back when scavengers swarmed over the whole continent. Unroll your scrolls to the first map, please."
Eclipse took her scroll from Turtle stiffly; Moon sighing as she got hers.
It was worth a try, Darkstalker observed.
You said there was something you needed, Moon thought.
Yes. If you can find it, and bring it to me, then I could free myself.
But we'd have to find it and then find you, Eclipse pointed out. That seems like a lot of running around.
While that is true, it would be worth it if I could see the sky again.
Moon thought of the general reaction to Peril. If they were so terrified of her, how would everyone react if they brought back the creature from their nightmares? They would hate them even more than they already do for bringing him into the light again.
Moon furrowed her brow. Wait. . . why can't you use your animus power to free yourself now?
There was a long pause before Darkstalker finally spoke again. I can't, he said.
Why not? Eclipse questioned.
He chuckled sadly. I was too smart for my own good.
"There are many stories about life before the Scorching," Webs intoned. "After so many thousands of years, it is hard to know which ones to believe."
What do you mean? Moon asked.
I had a truly brilliant idea, he answered. After what Albatross did - the massacre - we realized that animus magic took a little of your soul every time you used it. So I gathered all my power and put it into a kind of - vessel. Do you see what I mean? If the power wasn't in me, it couldn't turn me evil. I could use the vessel to cast my animus spells - as many as I wanted - without ever being affected.
I thought this would prove to Clearsight that she didn't have to worry about me. I would always be myself, and what happened to Albatross would never happen to me.
Of course, that means I need my object of power in order to use it - and of course I didn't have it with me when Clearsight betrayed me. Wherever I am now, it's not here. But if I had it back, I could get myself out. You wouldn't have to do anything except find me, and bring it to me.
Please. I need your help. I know you don't trust me, Eclipse, but I just want to be free. After two thousand years. . . can't you imagine? Is that so much to ask?
Eclipse flicked her tail anxiously. Transferring the animus power to an object - that did sound like a brilliant idea. Had any other animus ever thought of that?
Maybe he wasn't evil, but Eclipse still didn't think he was good either. He was betrayed for a reason. There had to be a reason.
It's not that simple, Moon thought. We have no idea where you are or how far. And this object could be anywhere on the continent.
I'll help you, he promised. Any way you need. Please don't take away my only hope. Please tell me you'll at least think about it.
"Most of the pre-Scorching stories would best be describes as 'legends' or perhaps even 'fairy tales'," Webs was droning on. "It is unlikely that scavengers were ever capable of being as organized or advanced as some of these imaginative fictions would have us believe. Stories often change and grow over time."
Like Darkstalker's story? Moon thought. Everything we know about him was passed down by those who defeated and feared him. Maybe there's more to it. But how would I know?
Moon glanced around the cave - at her winglet, at these new friends who had accepted her so far. If they found out about their powers, would they be afraid of them? The same way Clearsight and Fathom ended up fearing Darkstalker? Would they think the sisters were dangerous or cursed? Was her dreadful mother right, that they'd reject them and maybe even want to kill them?
Eclipse sighed, draping her tail over Moons.
Alright, Darkstalker, Eclipse said. We'll think about it.