"Clay, wait!"
Hare didn't realize she'd fallen asleep again until Starflight's voice woke her up.
"Tsunami needs help!" Clay cried. Hare looked up and saw him shooting out of the cave.
"What's going on?" Hare asked, sitting up.
"Tsunami's being chased by a SeaWing," Sunny cried.
"A Sea- What?"
Hare hurried to the edge of the ledge that lay outside the cave, which was located on a cliff. Tsunami was hovering in the sky, facing a sky-blue dragon. Tsunami was bristling while the other dragon looked confused. Clay hesitated and froze in the sky, keeping his eyes fixed on Tsunami. Hare flew out to join him.
"What's happening?" Hare asked.
"I don't know," Clay admitted. "I'm going to go look."
Clay took off in Tsunami's direction. The other SeaWing yowled and shoved Tsunami into the water. He darted forward and began fighting with Clay. Clay was clearly holding back as the two dragons grappled. Hare shot forward and barrelled into the SeaWing's side. The dragon was caught off guard, but he was quick to recover and began to fight back.
Hare climbed onto his back and bit down hard on his shoulder. She slammed her spiky tail into his side.
"Hare! All of you! Quit it!"
Tsunami shot out of the water and ripped Hare away from the dragon.
"He attacked Clay!" Hare cried, reaching out to try and slash at the dragon one last time. Her claws hit air as Tsunami pulled her away.
"MudWings are our enemies," the other SeaWing snapped.
"Not this one," Tsunami snarled. "He's my friend."
The SeaWing stared at Tsunami with wide eyes. "Friend?" he repeated. "Are you mad?"
"Not as mad as you, fighting with Blister's niece," Tsunami scoffed. "Learn some respect, squid-brain. Is that any way to treat your ally's family, or the dragonets who will save you from this dreadful war?"
"Save us? You mean-"
"Yup, that's right." Tsunami puffed out her chest. "We're the dragonets of destiny."
"Riptide," Sunny said. "That's a funny name."
"I like it," Tsunami said. "It's fierce and scary, like mine."
Hare scoffed and ran her claws through the sand again. Riptide was pacing on the beach. His sky-blue scales glittered like metal in the sunlight. He had claw-mark scars along his underbelly, and there were scratch marks on his snout. Hare assumed they were recent since they'd only just stopped bleeding, most likely from Tsunami. He looked only a couple years older than her friends.
"Alright," Riptide said. "So you were all raised by the Talons of Peace under a mountain, and you were never allowed to leave. Then you escaped."
"And instantly kidnapped," Tsunami added.
"Right, kidnapped." Riptide flicked his tail, sending sand flying. Hare hissed and pulled away. "I still don't understand one thing, though. How did you end up with the niece of Blister?"
It felt odd hearing that. Her whole life Hare had been the daughter of Burn, but now she was being called the niece of one of her mother's enemies. It was strange.
"One of Burn's soldiers brought her to Morrowseer, and he brought her to us," Tsunami explained.
"The soldier was good friends with one of our fellow guardians when he was a member of Burn's army," Kestrel explained. "He knew he could be trusted with the egg."
Riptide eyed Kestrel cautiously, then stopped pacing and faced Tsunami. "And Burn was okay with this?"
"My mother didn't know," Hare said, her voice a little sharper than she meant. "She had no idea where I was until Scarlet found us."
"Right," Riptide said with a small nod. "I assume she wasn't too happy?"
"Of course not," Hare snorted.
"I can't say I blame her," Riptide said. "I don't think Blister would be happy to find out you were raised by the Talons, if you were her daughter that is."
Hare glared at him. "Well I'm not her daughter, I'm Burn's."
And I always have been! Three moons, just refer to me as that!
"Your name surprises me," Riptide said, ignoring her comment. "Your family all have sinister names. Burn, Blister, even the moron Blaze has a threatening name. And you? You're just . . . Hare. The rabbit."
Hare bristled and got to her talons. "Do you want to see how rabbit-like I am?" she snarled.
"You two are no better than a pack of hounds," Glory snapped. "Quit your bickering, and let's focus on the task at claw. We need to find the way to the SeaWing palace, remember? Or did you forget that along with your sense of peace?"
Hare turned on Glory and bared her teeth. "He started it!"
"You're just looking to pick a fight," Tsunami said. "Now sit down and clamp your jaws together before I do it for you."
Hare was about to argue back, but an image of the Place of Lost Souls flashed through her mind.
I'm no better than them.
Was that what Mystery was trying to warn her about? Hare felt her heart drop.
"You need to know what you'll have to face." Was she referring to me? Am I going to become so much like those cruel dragons that I'm going to have to face myself?
Hare sat down and quit talking.
"The palace, huh?" Riptide said, tilting his head. He looked off thoughtfully for a few moments, then shook his head. "Oh, no, I couldn't. Maybe I could just bring you." He pointed at Tsunami.
"Nope, we're all coming with you," she said.
"You don't understand," Riptide said. "You can't. You may have grown up with peaceful lives and not know how strained things are between the tribes, but the rest of us know. This is a war, Tsunami. If I bring that MudWing and SkyWing back to the palace, they'll be killed."
Kestrel laughed quietly. "It won't be the first time the leaders of a tribe have wanted to kill me."
Nobody paid her comment much mind, but Sunny shot her a sympathetic look.
Tsunami turned away with a haughty huff. "Then you can tell Queen Coral that you found her daughter but refused to bring her home."
Riptide made a squeaky sound of offense. "You're the one who's arguing!"
"We're going to the palace," Hare announced. "And don't get your tail in a twist," she added as Riptide opened his mouth. "I have a plan."
"Well it better be a good one," Riptide said. "If this plan fails, I may as well rip out my own teeth."
"Yuck!" Sunny cried. "That's not a real punishment, is it?"
"The world's a lot scarier than the Talons made it seem," Riptide said, shooting a look at Kestrel. Kestrel narrowed her eyes a little. "Well don't think we made anything seem peaceful," she snapped. "Because trust me, we didn't."
"Especially Hvitur," Starflight said with a shudder. "As if his scars weren't enough to show us how horrifying this war is."
Kestrel looked down at the sand sadly while the other dragonets looked at Hare. Hare could suddenly feel the burning pain running through her side as though all her wounds from fighting with Hvitur were still fresh and there. Not many of the wounds had scarred, but there was one running down her side.
"I hope you know you're putting my life at risk here." Riptide walked to the edge of the beach. He reached into the water and pulled up a talonful of seaweed. "The MudWing and SkyWing need to be blindfolded." He looked around at the others. "Actually, it'd be better if they could all be blindfolded."
"Oh, yes, blindfold me," Glory said sarcastically. "If you don't I might round up a group of scary RainWings to sleep on your roof."
"Fine, not the RainWing," Riptide huffed.
"Or the NightWing," Starflight said. "There's no point in keeping secrets from us. I could just use my powers to figure out where your palace is."
Hare forced herself not to make a face. The dragonets all knew that Starflight didn't have any of the mindreading or future-seeing powers of the other NightWings, but she didn't dare say anything. If the SeaWings thought Starflight had powers, it might be useful in the future.
Riptide sighed. "Or the NightWing."
"It's fine if you blindfold me," Sunny said. "I don't mind."
"Keep those away from me," Hare snapped, stepping away from Riptide. "I'm not having seaweed wrapped around my eyes. I'm no SeaWing."
"Obviously not you," Riptide snapped. "Do you have any idea how it'd look if I showed up to the palace with Blister's niece blindfolded?"
"Is that all I am to you?"
"That's all you'll be to most dragons until this war is over, get used to it."
Hare glared at Riptide as he wrapped a blindfold around Sunny, Clay, and Kestrel.
"I'll guide Kestrel," Hare offered, bounding up beside the SkyWing.
"Sunny can ride on my back," Tsunami said, ducking down so the little SandWing could clamber over her wings and settle on her back.
"Then Glory and I will guide Clay," Starflight said.
"Great, so we're all organized," Riptide said. "Let's get going then."