(3rd Pov Tsunami)
Panic.
Screaming.
For a palace surrounded by water, it was surprising how much caught fire so quickly.
Large sections of the canopy collapsed, carrying flaming branches and leaves and debris down onto the Summer Palace. Tsunami saw dragons spiraling toward the lake, their wings alight with flames, shrieking with pain.
The fire bombs were just logs set on fire, but they caused terrible damage as they crashed through the pavilion and knocked SeaWings out of the air.
"The SkyWings found us," said one of the guards, looking skyward in terror. As he said it, they all saw a wing of red and orange dragons soar overhead, dropping more bombs and breathing more fire down the canopy.
"But how?" said the second guard.
"Doesn't matter to me," Cascade said. "I'll stop them either way." He jumped off the ledge and flew over the pavilion, dodging debris. "Father! My trident!" he called before flying through the canopy.
Tsunami thought of the hole left in the canopy when Cascade ripped Webs out of it. Would that have been enough to lead the SkyWings here? So quickly? What were the chances a scout had spotted the hole, reported back, and gathered the forces for an attack only a day later?
It had to be something else.
She looked down and saw the lake water churning as frantic dragons tried to shove their way into the exit tunnel. Only one way in only meant one way out, and it wasn't big enough for everyone at once. She felt sick at the thought of all those dragons crammed into the small space together.
There was one other way - but flying out through the canopy (Like Cascade) and into the claws of the SkyWings, could be suicide.
Tsunami searched the mass of dragons for her mother, but she couldn't see ropes of pears or wings the exact shade of her own anywhere. At least Coral wasn't one of of the shapes with charred wings floating limply in the water.
Blister was nowhere to been seen either.
Shark swooped past with Cascade's trident, yelling orders. Most dragons seemed to panic-stricken to listen to him, but a few rallied around and followed him up into the sky. Surely they would be out numbered, Tsunami thought. Surely they didn't stand a chance.
"Tsunami!" a voice called. She turned around and saw Anemone running up to her, her friends weren't so far behind. "What's going on? Where's mother?"
"I don't know," Tsunami said. How would she get Anemone out of here. Through the flames, and panicking dragons and SkyWings. Could she get Anemone out of here safe.
"Princess Anemone, you need to get out of here," one of the guards said.
"Not out there she's not," Tsunami said. As much as she wanted too, she couldn't trust these guards to get Anemone out of here completely safe.
"Tsunami," Stormcaller said, placing a talon on her shoulder. "I can get Anemone to Coral while you all get out of here." Tsunami looked at him. Could she trust him? Everyday, there was a new, crazy secret revealed to them about him. Could he keep her sister safe?
"I promise on my life she won't be harmed," Stormcaller said. Tsunami nodded. "All right. One of you go with him," she ordered the guards.
"I know my way to the Deep Palace," Stormcaller said, casually revealing another insane secret. "Fine, but you're telling us everything afterward," Tsunami said fiercely.
"Fair enough."
"Wait," one of the guards started. "We shouldn't be letting you go, even with the Princess."
"Defending the palace is more important than guarding the prisoners. Anemone will be safe," Tsunami said.
"But-" one of them said. "But we can't let you-"
"You have to save yourselves," Tsunami said. "And so do we. Trust me, fate wants the dragonets of destiny to survive this."
The guards didn't stick around to argue. They launched themselves off the ledge, and Tsunami saw one fly down to join the crush of dragons around the tunnel, but the other two flew up to fight along side Commander Shark.
Stormcaller picked up Anemone with a talon - much to her surprise, and flew up into the chaos faster than dragon like him should have been able too.
She spun back to the prison island where Webs and Riptide were trapped. Clay was already there, fumbling with the chain on the wall.
Tsunami showed him which way to pull it.
"Can you hear me?" she called to the prisoners. "We're getting you out of there. Get ready to fly."
"Tsunami?" Riptide's voice was lost in the creaking and clanking and rumbling of things moving in the ceiling. Abruptly the water stopped flowing, and Tsunami found herself standing across from the sky-blue SeaWing.
He smiled at her.
"Hey there," she said. "The dragonets of destiny specialize in dramatic rescues, you know. Are you impressed?"
"Very," he said, hopping over the moat to land beside her. Webs staggered after him, landing unevenly on the stone. It didn't seem like a good sign that a thin line of blood was still trickling from his ear.
Another pair of fiery logs crashed past outside, and more screams echoes from below. Riptide faired his wings, looking startled and horrified.
"The palace in under attack," Tsunami explained. "It'll make escape tricky, but-"
"Wait," Riptide said, catching one of her talons. "Tsunami. I have to tell you something. I - I do work for the Talons of Peace."
Tsunami stared at him. Her mother was right about Riptide? He was working with the dragons who'd ruined her life. She'd always hated the Talons of Peace. How could she have fallen for one of them?
"Please listen. I joined them because I wanted to find out more about my father, but they wouldn't tell me anything except that he was safe." He looked down. "I've been working with them for a few years now, passing them information about the SeaWings."
'Sounds like betrayal to me,' Tsunami thought, although she wasn't sure whether she felt more betrayed for her tribe or for herself.
"You and Stormcaller have a very bad habit," she said, "of not telling me some critically important things."
"I know. I'm sorry. I was meeting with one of their agents right before I met you." Tsunami remembered the dragon with black spirals on his scales and the burn marks that covered his back. "He told me to keep an eye out in case the dragonets of destiny showed up in the Kingdom of the Sea."
Tsunami pulled her talon out of his grasp. Riptide had acted surprised to hear the Talons ever existed. He'd pretended not to know anything about the dragonets of destiny.
Clearly he was a good actor, hiding a secret like this while hiding in the tribe all these years. So could she believe anything he'd said to her?
Blood trickled from the two gashes on his side as he moved. "I stayed close to make sure you and the other dragonets were safe." He spread his wings and held out his talons to Tsunami. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth. I didn't think you'd trust me if you knew."
He was right about that. But she didn't particularly trust him now either.
A enormous crash sounded outside ad something smashed into the pavilion.
"We have to go," said Glory, from behind Tsunami. For once, she didn't add anything snide, and Tsunami wondered if she'd overhead Riptide's confession.
"Um," Clay's voice said behind them. "Tsunami? Webs? Do we know this dragon?"
They all turned and saw a large MudWing looming in the mouth of the cave. Her brown wings were creased with soot and there was a burn scar along one side of her tail.
Webs flicked his tail in surprise. "I do," he said. "She's with the Talons of Peace. Crocodile! What are you doing here?"
The MudWing chuckled. "Poor Webs. So wrong in so many ways." She stepped into the cavern and gave the dragonets an appraising look. "These are the brats the Talons are so obsessed with? Scrawny." She lashed her tail. "But the SkyWings want you back anyway. For the next queen to play with, I assume."
"Queen Scarlet is dead?" Glory blurted. "For sure?"
"You can't be working with the SkyWings!" Webs cried at the same time. "Not after that, that thing attacked us,"
"Of course I am," Crocodile said. "After I reported what happened to the Talons of Peace meeting, I was called crazy. They didn't believe me. But, I did get one useful thing out of infiltrating the Talons. I got the chance to follow an idiot SeaWing back to the secret palace we've been searching for all this time."
Webs blanched and his wings drooped heavily, as if a new mountain of guilt had just landed on him.
"Plus, bonus dragonets of destiny," Crocodile said. "I am so getting a promotion."
"What thing is she talking about, Webs?" Sunny asked. Webs didn't answer.
"Is Queen Scarlet really dead?" Glory asked again.
"Nobody knows," Crocodile said with a shrug. "She seems to have vanished. Nobody can even tell the same story about what happened to her."
"Well, lucky you," said Glory. "you're about to find out." She snapped her mouth open and shot black venom straight into Crocodile's eyes.
The MudWing bellowed in agony and fell back, scraping her wings against the cave walls. She claws at her snout, but the acid was already eating into her scales. With another shrieking roar, she shot out of the cave and dove for the lake below.
"Let's go!" Tsunami shouted, spreading her wings.
The five dragonets, Riptide, and Webs burst out of the cave. Below them, dragons were still trying to shove their way into the tunnel, and the churning mass of wings and scales didn't look any smaller than it had before.
"We can't go that way," Starflight said.
"We'll have to go through the canopy," Tsunami said. They all looked up and saw three red dragons shoot by, breathing fire. But stopped as Cascade crashed into all three of them, impaling one with his trident, biting one in the neck, and hitting the third over the head with his tail. The three SkyWings dropped dead. Then Cascade flew off to continue fighting.
"I don't really love that plan either," Starflight said in a smaller voice.
Tsunami spotted her mother at last. Queen Coral was standing on the library level, casting one look at her scrolls. They weren't on fire yet, but they were the most flammable thing in the palace. If they went up, the smoke would fill the palace and kill even more dragons.
Her littlest dragonet was strapped tightly to the queen's chest. Anemone wasn't with her. Stormcaller was bringing her to the Deep Palace.
As they watched, Queen Coral began flinging her scrolls over the edge into the water.
'She can be a good mother,' Tsunami thought sadly. 'And a good queen.'
She wondered if there was any version of Pyrrhia where they could have grown up as a family, she and Coral and Gill and Anemone and Auklet, normal and happy, with no one trying to kill anyone.
"Mother!" she shouted. Coral looked up at her, relived. "Anemone's safe! She's at the Deep Palace! I have to get going!"
"Thank you!" Coral yelled back. "And good luck!"
Tsunami soared up toward the tattered remains of the canopy. Another flaming log came barreling down toward them, and Tsunami yanked Glory out of its path. It plummeted toward the lake, careening off the pavilion and setting another dragon on fire as it fell.
"Sunny," Tsunami called. "Starflight. Stay below Clay's wings." Clay stretched his fireproof wings out, and the two dragonets ducked underneath on either side of him.
Tsunami surged ahead to scout the sky outside. She flew out past the smoking leaves and nearly collided with a SkyWing. He held a log in his claws and was about to breath his fire onto it before dropping it into the palace. But Tsunami sent him swerving out of the way, and when she saw what he held, she slammed her tail into his side. The log flew out of his claws into the ocean, and he tumbled after it,
Five more SkyWings were flying around if formation to make another pass. Off to her left, Tsunami spotted a wing of huge MudWings carrying extra logs. The SkyWings zipped up to them, took a log apiece, and flew back to the palace to set them alight.
She hissed with anger. This was a brutal, carefully planned attack on a palace full of dragonets and innocent civilians. There was nothing fair or honorable about this fight.
Shark, Cascade, and some SeaWings were fighting another set of SkyWings in the sky to her right. Fire blazed and talons clashed against scales. She wanted to join them. She itched to be over there, slashing and clawing and battling intruders who'd dared attack her family's palace. That was the kind of fighting she wouldn't feel guilty about later.
But the other dragonets were flying up beside her now, and she couldn't leave them.
"That way," she said, jerking her head at the biggest swath of clear sky. From the sun she guessed it was south - south, toward the continent, which was where they needed to go.
Glory shot past her immediately, and as she reached the sky her scales turned pale blue and white, and she shimmered into nothingness. Tsunami couldn't even see a ripple in the air as the RainWing flew away.
Clay went next, spreading his wings to shield Sunny and Starflight. A SkyWing in battle spotted them and swerved in their direction. Tsunami lunged at her, grabbed her snout, and kicked her underbelly as hard as she could. The SkyWing kicked her back, sending bright arcs of pain along Tsunami's fractured ribs. Tsunami lost her grip, and the SkyWing roared a blast of flame at Clay's departing back.
He shuttered as the heat licked along his scales but beat his wings and flew on, the other two dragonets safely protected. The SkyWing blinked with astonishment as Clay's wings faded back to brown instead of turning black or twisting into painful burns.
"Surprise," Tsunami said, and punched her in the snout. The SkyWing crumpled and fell toward the ocean, landing with a splash, landing with a splash and vanishing instantly below the wave.
Riptide soared up out of the canopy, twisting around to make sure Webs was safe behind him. Tsunami turned to fly south and heard Riptide call her name.
"I have to help them," he called, lashing his tail toward the fighting SeaWings.
"But they'll put you back in prison," Tsunami protested. "They'll punish you because we escaped."
"Maybe," he said. "Probably. But I have to help if I can. This is my home."
She knew exactly how he felt.
"Tsunami . . ." He paused. "I really am sorry. I hope next time . . . well, I hope there is a next time. When things are better for everyone."
She hoped so, too. She wasn't sure she'd forgiven him, but she wanted the chance to decide. She wanted him to survive the war, and she wanted to meet him again in a world with no Talons of Peace or destinies or secrets to worry about.
But there wasn't time to say all that. Tsunami flashed one of the patterns he'd taught her. All right. Then she added squid-brain, and Riptide smiled before turning to fly away into the heart of the battle.
Webs and Tsunami swerved south together, wings beating side by side. But other wingbeats were close behind them. Tsunami twisted just in time to see Blister lunge out of the canopy and seize Webs by the tail. She yanked him back toward her and stabbed her poisonous barb toward his heart.
"Surprise." A black mass barreled into them, knocking the SandWing off of Webs. Blister fell back and quickly corrected herself. She lunged back forward and stabbed her tail into Stormcaller's chest.
It harmlessly bounced away with a small, tink, noise.
"Double surprise," he said with a smirk. His chest glowed a soft, orange color. Blister quickly closed in her wings and dropped down and Stormcaller released a cloud of flame from his mouth.
Tsunami grabbed Webs by his front talons and towed him after her, Stormcaller followed.
A few wingbeats later, Webs groaned softly.
"Did she get you?" tsunami demanded.
"She missed my heart," he said, "But -" He lifted his wing to show an oozing graze near hit tail. "It's still poisonous," he said.
"We'll find a way to fix it," Tsunami said. "Stormcaller, are you okay?"
"Same as always," he said.
She looked back and saw Blister hovering in the air, watching them go. Her cold, glittering black eyes seemed to follow Tsunami all the way to the edge of the sky.
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Onto the next chapter
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(3rd Pov Tsunami)
Tsunami was on a beach again.
This time it was dark, long after sunset, and small stars shone in the sky like the silver scales on the underside of Starflight and Stormcaller's wings. Tsunami stared down at the waves lapping at her talons.
She wondered if she'd ever see Riptide again. Or Anemone, or Auklet, or her mother.
"I know it's dark," Starflight said uncomfortably behind her, "but-"
Tsunami sighed. "But we should stay under the tree." She stood up and followed him into the woods, shaking sand off her talons. "I'm trying to be more like you, you know," she said to him. "I'm trying to stop and think and use my head and all that smart stuff, but it drives me a little crazy sometimes."
Starflight stumbled on a tree root and turned to stare at her. "Be more like me?" he echoed. "Why would you want to do that? I wish I were anything like you! Especially brave."
Tsunami brushed his wings with hers. "You're all right the way you are," she said. "Someone has to be the thoughtful, careful one. And you made Blister pretty mad - that took some courage. Besides, I don't think this group could handle two of me." In the moonlight, she caught a half smile fitting across his face.
Webs lay on a patch of moss, breathing in a nasty shallow way. Sunny was curled up beside him so her scales could give him a little warmth. Clay was peering at the scratch near his tale, which was still oozing and turning black around the edges.
"We need help," Clay said. "I have no idea how to fix this." His expression was woeful.
"Who would know how to cure someone of SandWing venom?" Sunny asked. "SandWings, I guess," she answered herself. "But I don't know where we'd find one we could trust."
"I don't know how to fix SandWing venom," Stormcaller said, walking up to them. Coming from somewhere in the forest.
"The Talons of Peace?" Starflight asked doubtfully.
"I can't go back there," Webs said. "And you shouldn't either."
Tsunami tiled her head at him curiously. After all these years of being a good foot soldier, obeying their every command, suddenly he'd changed his mind?
"If Crocodile was an infiltrator," he said, catching her look, "there could be others. I don't know who's safe for you and who's not."
"Seriously. Even the 'good' dragons all seem to have plans for us," Tsunami said, thinking of her mother.
"Gosh, I hope Blaze is better than the other two," Sunny said fervently. Starflight winced but didn't argue with her. "We can probably find her with the IceWings," he said, "but we'll have to be very, very careful this time."
"Agreed," Stormcaller said.
"Yeah," Clay said. "I vote not getting locked up ever again."
"Maybe we should try a different approach," Glory suggested. "Maybe this time we could try not barging in and yelling 'We're the dragonets of destiny! We're awesome and special! We'd make terrific prisoner!' Just an idea"
"Do you know what we're supposed to do?" Sunny asked Webs hopefully. "Did the Talons have any plans about how we could fulfil the prophecy?"
"If they did," Webs said, "they didn't share them with me."
"Awesome," Glory muttered. Tsunami glanced at her. The Raining's scales were shades of black and dark green, blending in with the dark forest around them. An idea struck her.
"I know who might help Webs with the poison," Tsunami said.
"Who?" Clay asked.
"The RainWings," she said. Glory twisted around to give her a sharp look. "Think about it," Tsunami went on. "They have venom, too, obviously. They must do something about what to do when you poison the wrong dragon."
"True," Starflight said. "Even if it's a different kind of venom . . . that's a good point."
"And then we can look for Glory's family," Tsunami said. "Which I think is only fair."
Glory's face was expressionless, but small puffs of rose were blooming in her scales. Tsunami guessed that meant she was happy, since it wasn't a color they saw very often on her.
"Are you - are you sure?" Glory said. "That's what we should do next?"
"Absolutely," Sunny said. "We should definitely go find your home, Glory."
"I bet it's beautiful," Clay said in his sweet, earnest way. "And your family will be so happy to see you."
Webs let out a small groan, but when they turned to look at him, he closed his eyes as if he'd fallen asleep. Tsunami was sure he was pretending, but what they did next wasn't up to him anyway.
"It's also closer to here than most of the other tribes," Starflight pointed out. "We have to cross the outskirts of MudWing territory, but the rainforest should be basically due southwest of here."
"I know that," Glory said crossly. "You're not the only one who can memorize maps, Starflight."
"Perfect," Tsunami said. "That's what we'll do."
"After we rest?" Sunny asked hopefully.
Tsunami thought she could keep flying, all night if she had to. She wanted to put as much distance between them and Blister as possible. She wanted to shove all the dragonets ahead of her all the way to the rainforest without stopping.
But she looked at Sunny's tired eyes and Starflight's drooping wings, and she settled herself close to Web's tail. "After we rest," she agreed. "And, after Stormcaller explains himself." She looked over at the NightWing in question.
"Fine," he said. He sat down and his tail swayed across the grass as he looked up at the sky for a moment. "I did a lot of research on the history and legends of all the tribes. Each tribe has their own beliefs on how the tribes were formed, and all of them are different. Except for one detail."
He looked at them. "All the tribes say there were strange dragons that help them form the tribes. Strange dragons with even stranger abilities."
"What do you mean by strange?" Starflight asked.
"They're . . . not like normal dragons," He reached under him wings and produced his satchel, something Tsunami had thought he left behind in the Kingdom of the Sea. He reached in an pulled out a scroll with a blue wave pattern along the ends. Stormcaller rolled it out and showed then a drawing. "Some where like this," he said.
The image was of the grey, dragon-whale with large horns that Tsunami had seen on the door to the Royal Hatchery. Starflight studied the picture meticulously. Stormcaller pointed to another picture. It looked like a long, coiled up crocodile with blue scales on it's back, tan scales on it's underbelly, and orange claws, eyes, and spikes that were on it's back. It reminded Tsunami of Cascade. The resemblance was uncanny.
"I eventually discovered that there are some dragons who were like these strange dragons, perhaps even their distant relatives. We're able to sense one another," he said. "It's kind of like having deja vu that you already met them."
"You said 'we'. Are you one of them," Glory asked. Stormcaller nodded. "I haven't been able to find anything that I could be related to, but I'm still looking," Stormcaller continued talking. "We like fighting, and wining the fight makes you stronger. In a mental sense, that is. Which in turn can make you physically stronger. That's why Cascade attacked me, he wanted to be stronger."
Starflight unrolled the scroll a little further to look at more pictures. One was a blue and orange fish with wings . . . and . . . are those legs? The second was a large, purple angler fish with spines on it's back like a pufferfish. And the third was the most dragon-like. With an orange head, and horns that went off to the side. It also had large, droopy, orange and black wings. It had bioluminescent stripes along it's body. It was like a SeaWing, but if they had evolved to live in deeper waters.
'What are these things?' Tsunami thought.
"Are any of these dragons still alive?" Starflight asked. Stormcaller shook his head. "None that I know of," he said.
"I . . . might have met one," a weak voice croaked. Tsunami craned her neck to look behind her. It was Webs. He was staring off into the woods as if he was looking for something.
"Before I went to the Kingdom of the Sea, I was still in the river I had escaped in, I didn't know what to do," he said. "The Talons followed me there and were going to kill me." Sunny gasped. "Then we heard a noise in the woods. Nautilus sent someone to go find what it was. Then they screamed, then it killed them."
Webs took a ragged breath. "It said 'I will ask you something, and depending on your answer, I might let you live.' It asked us if we knew what had happed to his 'Lord.' He said his lord was 'The Black Dragon, Fatalis.'"
Tsunami didn't know what a Fatalis was either. She glanced back at Starlight, hoping he knew the answer. Starflight noticed her gaze and shook his head. She looked at Stormcaller. He looked puzzled.
Webs went on. "No one knew who or what a Fatalis is, and it didn't like the answer. Nautilus asked it to show itself, so it did. I only had a moment to blink and a tree was suddenly set on fire." Webs started lightly shaking. "It - it was bigger than Morrowseer. It's scales were backwards and it had two massive horns. A SkyWing tried to fly away, but a rogue bolt of lightning took it out of the sky. Then it started to glow red, so I ran into the river and dove in. Nautilus and Crocodile did, too."
Webs took a heavy breath and closed his eyes. "When we got out, everything was on fire. We . . . we didn't find any survivors."
No one said anything for a long time. Only looking at Webs and thinking. 'What could it have been,' Tsunami thought. She looked over at Stormcaller, and the other dragonets did, too.
Stormcaller studied the ground for a moment before digging in his bag, pulling out few more scrolls and setting them off to the side, each one with a different design on their ends. One had ice and snow, another had sand dunes, and the last had fire. He reached into his bag and pulled out a black scroll that looked as if it had been set of fire. He slightly unrolled it and laid it on top of the scroll they first looked at.
On the scroll was the drawing of another odd dragon. This one, more dragon-like than the rest. It had backwards facing, sharp looking scales covering it's entire body. It had two large wings and a beak like mouth. It had a patch of spikes on it's chest and on it's head were two massive serrated horns, each one the size of it's head.
Sunny gasped at the sight of it. Starflight looked both nervous and intrigued. Tsunami shuttered. Even the sight of the dragon looked nothing short of terrifying. The drawing was slightly larger than her talons, so imagining it being bigger than Morrowseer added to its scariness.
'If we met this thing," Tsunami thought. 'Could we survive?'
END OF CHAPTER
A/N
Hey everyone I'm done with my break. Hope you liked the chapter
I wanted to make Obsidian become a sort of side antagonist that only showed up it the prologues and/or epilogues and I can't fit him into book 2s epilogue or book 3s prologue, so I put him here.
Anyways.
The dragonets of destiny have just escaped the Kingdom of the Sea and Blister's clutches but have discovered a knew threat lurking in the shadows, looking for its master.
Will these dragonets encounter this beast?
Will they find it's master?
Will they manage to stop the war?
Will they find a way to heal Webs?
Will they find out how Stormcaller keeps hiding his bag from everyone?
Find out next time on Dragon Ball-
I mean,
Find out next time of King of The Dragons.
Okay, quick side note. Stormcaller was lying when he explained the whole 'ancient ancestor dragons' thing.
Just letting you know (just in case)
Let me know if you have any question or comments
See you all next chapter
bye