Wings of Fire - Cavernous Promises

Chapter 36

LOCUST

Locust walked out of the hive and into the area around the greenhouses. Eventually, the group was in one area, settling nervously around. They were close to where Blackjack, no, Locust's uncle was killed, Locust could see the tangle of vines that showed where his body rested, what's my uncle's real name, if he's not Blackjack, then who is he? Then a rustling in the plants caught Locust's ear, he lifted his head and looked toward where he thought the sound was coming from. Another rustle from the other side. What's going on? Locust whipped his head around looking for whoever or whatever was making that noise. Then a silvery white snout poked out of the bushes to his right. "Hey, you finally got it." chuckled Ghost as she stepped fully out, in the bright light of the sun her scales looked like they were made of molten silver. Then a different voice called out somewhere else.

"Marmalade, I think it came from over here." came the voice.

"Get down." hissed Ghost, pushing them down. Locust wished his armour wasn't as shiny. Then a silver SilkWing stepped into their small clearing, their head turned to look down at Locust, "Marmala-mmf." They began, before Ghost leapt from the ground and clamped her claws around the SilkWings snout. "Comet what's happening?" called another voice, before a crimson SilkWing leapt out of the bushes, their scales were a similar shade to Admiral's, and his wings were a similar shape to Peacock's. Their jaw dropped as they saw the silver SilkWing. "Let her go!" They called, lunging at Ghost. She hissed, puffing out her neck spines and swiping her tail at the crimson SilkWing, hitting them squarely in the chest. Locust lifted up his head, bashing the SilkWing's back with one of the spikes on his head. The SilkWing slumped to the ground panting, dragging himself forward. "You think I'll let them go, when your queen is threatening to kill and capture us, as well as keeping one of our comrades in a perpetual state of near death." hissed Ghost, a pale light beginning to glow in her underbelly. The crimson SilkWing fell to the ground, a tear slipping down their face. Then something caught their eye, "What." they breathed, before grabbing Admiral's wrist and looking at his bracelet, "It can't be."

"What?" asked Admiral, trying to stand up and back away.

"Where?" asked the crimson SilkWing.

"What?"

"Where did you get this?"

"I-I-"

"Where did you get this?!"

"I-I-I, it was with my egg when I hatched."

"It can't be, where's the other?"

"My-my sister has it."

"Comet, we found him!" The crimson SilkWing cried, dragging Admiral behind him.

"What?" yelped Ghost, looking at the crimson SilkWing as if they were crazy, which to be honest they were.

Ghost backed away, swiping her tail, the glow on her underbelly steadily getting brighter. Admiral managed to pull away from the SilkWing, falling back to where Cobalt was standing. "Marmalade, this is madness, you haven't been the same since we lost that egg." mused the silver SilkWing, as Locust noted that the shimmering blue in her wings was close to Peacock's.

"But look at him, he's got my my scales and eyes, your wing shape and antennae, he has to be our son!" paraded the crimson SilkWing, "Son, I'm Marmalade, your father and this is your mother, Comet."

Ghost sidled up to Locust and whispered, "Let's get away from this crackpot, the tunnel's close by."

Locust nodded, feeling uneasy that this dragon, Marmalade, was parading that he'd found his son, his beautiful, handsome son. Everyone was, even his mate Comet, who was looking at Admiral with a longing gaze. They quickly followed Ghost's retreating tail. They came to a small hole in the ground, not quite big enough for an adult dragon to squeeze through. Ghost nodded to it, "This is the tunnel, you should all just be able to fit." she said, before resting beside it and watching them. Mallow shrugged, folded her wings close to her back and dived into the tunnel. She was followed by Admiral, who slid into the tunnel, wings pulled tightly to his flanks. Cobalt followed him, with Acacia closely behind. Locust sighed, pulling his wings as close to his flanks as he could, before walking into the tunnel. The tunnel quickly narrowed to a bottleneck, so tight that Locust had to squeeze through about 10 feet of tunnel before it widened out into an open cave, with a swift sea breeze blowing through it. Dragonfly slumped down behind Locust's tail, panting and looking back. Locust walked to the tunnel, before Ghost called out, "Get out the way, I'm coming through!"

Then she burst out of the tunnel, her body seeming pulled inward. She stood for a second, shook herself down and she seemed to return back to normal. "Let's get a move on, shall we." she said before trotting down the tunnel.

-<●>-

Locust lost track of how long they were travelling for, walking, crawling and occasionally flying through a maze of tunnels, that Locust didn't even know existed. Ghost would find food for them, and lead the way through her tunnels. They finally reached the caves where the CavernWings lived. "Locust, the helm." asked Ghost, holding out her claws. Locust handed her the helm, she examined it, tears beginning too well in her eyes, "Time to wake up Luny, I can't wait."