Wings of Fire - Cavernous Promises

Chapter 17

LOCUST

Locust glanced over Dragonfly, well he's learned something at least. Locust strode over to the pile of armour, on the rock and began to put it on. When he was a young dragonet, he had wanted to join the line of soldiers that attended Queen Wasp, he'd wanted to wear their armour and hold their weapons. But now, he knew better, but here he was going on a mission against the queen, wearing armour trimmed with precious metals and studded with gems and made with a metal he hadn't even heard of. He lifted himself off the ground and stretched, the armour didn't even phase him, it was like air had been bewitched to sit like armour on his scales.

"Guys we should get going!" he called back to the group, who were still puzzling over Cobalt's gift. Maybe it's only useful in combat.

"Already?" whined Acacia.

"Oh, okay." murmured Admiral.

"I kinda wanted to see what Cobalt's thing did, but oh well." sighed Mallow. They walked to the edge of the rocky platform, Cobalt muttering something under her breath as she passed. Dragonfly stood where he was glaring at Locust, "You don't get to choose when we leave!" he snarled.

"I'm sorry, but we should get going, the sooner we get the helm thingy, the sooner we can all forget about this ordeal." Locust growled back, "Now come on, let's go."

"Yes and the sooner I can throw you into the dungeons." replied Dragonfly, kicking off the ground, his wings thrumming in the air. Locust glared at him, before walking to the rest of the group and kicking off the ledge. The rest of the group followed. Locust flew ahead of the rest of the group, he glanced over his shoulder, seeing Mallow gliding swiftly behind his tail. Alright, next stop Vinegaroon hive, we'll take it slow, reassure any family that we're okay, then hop from hive to hive, working our way to Wasp hive.

-<●>-

It was almost night by the time they got to Vinegaroon hive. They settled on a small ridge looking out to the hive. "How are we going to get Acacia and Mallow into the hive without them being noticed?" asked Admiral, leaning against a rock.

"What about... capes?" said Dragonfly, flicking the tattered purple one on his shoulders.

"NO!" the rest of the group shouted in unison.

"I tried that and Admiral saw me." replied Mallow, "Maybe, we could use things like sticks, mud and other things to make us look like SilkWings."

The group looked at her with matched shocked expressions. "Just a thought." Mallow added with a shrug.

"That's an... excellent idea!" Admiral said with a grin, "Actually wait here I'll go get someone who can help with that."

At this, Admiral turned and flew off toward the hive. Locust watched him fly to one of the doors in the hive wall before he walked in his red tail-tip sinking into the darkness of the hive. Locust sighed and sat down, "Thanks for nothing Mallow, now we've just lost the guy with our only way of getting into the Queen's palace." he hissed at Mallow.

"Look, it's not my fault he went to get someone to help us, or did you not notice. Do you think you could just run in there with a crudely made disguise and not expect to get noticed. I'd rather get a disguise done by someone who has experience, rather than some egotistical prince, a nervous SilkWing, a clumsy LeafWing and some dragon who thinks fighting is the best option." snarled Mallow. Cobalt flinched back at Mallow's words. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you." Mallow added. Locust slumped down and glared at Mallow, flicking his tail tip and growling. He then shifted his weight and tucked his legs beneath him, instead of pushing them to the side. Despite his armour being weightless, it was still armour.

They waited a while before Locust heard the thuds of two dragons' wingbeats. Soon a brown and orange SilkWing flew in, landing amongst the group along with Admiral.

"Guys, this is my brother Oakleaf." Admiral explained, gesturing to the SilkWing, "He's an expert of disguises, when we were young dragonets, he would make excellent HiveWing disguises and we would creep into HiveWing meetings. It was fun, we only got caught once and that was when Mystic went into metamorphosis. We manage to get away though"

"Mhm," said Oakleaf, "So who'd you need the disguises for?"

"The LeafWings." replied Admiral.

"Oh no. There is no way in the entirety of Pantala that I'm doing that." replied Oakleaf, shaking his head.

"Look, Oakleaf, this is very important, we're on a mission to help a dragon in need and the LeafWings have to come with us, you wouldn't want a dragon to die because of you." Admiral explained.

"Okay, fine, but we have to go to our cell to make them." sighed Oakleaf.

"Alright! Progress." growled Locust, dragging himself to his claws, "Admiral, if you ever do that again, I swear I will claw your antenna off."

Admiral gulped, before glancing at the group.

"One question, how are we going to get Mallow and Acacia to the hive without them getting noticed?" asked Cobalt.

"Well, we have a... hole in the back of our cell, big enough for a full grown dragon to squeeze through." Admiral explained, he paused for a second before continuing, "Maybe if Mallow and Acacia use the Night Whistle to get to the hole then maybe we can do this without getting noticed."

"Good plan." replied Mallow, "Acacia, you blow it first."

Acacia looked at the whistle with apprehension, before putting it between his teeth and blowing. His form suddenly faded from view. Mallow paused and looked at the group, "Ten minutes, okay?" she explained. She then blew on the whistle and faded from view. Oakleaf's jaw dropped, "How...?" he murmured.

"Come on, clock's ticking. We have to get there quickly." Admiral replied, tugging on Oakleaf's arm. The SilkWing responded and nodded, "Alright, guys come on." he said before kicking off the ground and gliding toward the hive.

Locust followed the two SilkWings carefully, they looped around to the back of the hive, where a small hole was present covered by a dirty carpet. Admiral swopped up to the hole tapped on the edge of it five times, before waiting. Eventually a voice called "Password."

"Wasp sucks and Vinegaroon hates SilkWings." whispered Admiral. The rug was pulled aside and a pinkish-purple SilkWing appeared, "Admiral! You're safe! And you have wings!" they squeaked, looking at Admiral with wide pink eyes.

"Yes, yes, I know, now please let us in, it's urgent." replied Admiral in a hushed voice.

"Okay!" replied the purple SilkWing and they pulled their head aside. Admiral grabbed onto the edge of the hole and pushed through. Oakleaf followed, then Cobalt gulped and slipped through. Locust flew forward, but was pushed backward by something, probably Mallow, or Acacia. Locust waited a bit, before grasping his claws onto the side of the hole and pulling himself through. He entered into a dimly lit room where about three or four other SilkWing dragonets were settled, all looking at him with their eyes wide. Locust pulled himself fully through the hole and settled down, then Dragonfly dragged his way through snorting indignantly.

There was a crash to his right then a voice of an older dragon echoed, "Admiral?"