Ice and Night

Chapter Eleven

Darkseeker

I flew faster than I ever had in my life, worried about what had happened to our beloved academy. Violetsight and I combined our enhancing abilities, making the whole group fly faster than normal.

We reached the mountain quickly, landing with a loud thump.

We saw most of the other winglets, and the dragonets of destiny gathered by the entrance, facing our group. They were focused on a clearing behind us, and we moved back by them. Violet and I took positions by Sunny, our spines bristling.

Three SandWings flew from the explosion, casting us with cold glares. One was massive with scars covering her. One had a diamond-like pattern along her back. The third was small, but I could sense great strength from her. She had black swirls running down her legs, and a brown satchel around her neck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dragonets of destiny take a few paces back, fear in their eyes. I faced the unfamiliar dragons again, confused on why the dragonets feared them. A few other dragonets, including Dawnslash had fear or anger in their eyes.

I nudged Sunny, whispering, "Who are they?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you kidding? Two of those SandWings are Blister and Burn. Blister and Burn. The two SandWing princesses who pretty much caused the twenty year war."

"Then who's the third one?" I asked.

"Don't know," she replied simply.

I turned back to the trio, narrowing my eyes and assessing them. From what I had heard, Burn was big and loved to fight, so she was probably the large, brawny one. I had heard of the infamous diamond-like patterns and snake-like eyes of Blister, so I figured out who she was. The third was a mystery, but deep in her eyes held the emotion of anger and the need for revenge. Needless to say, they all were threats.

Burn landed first, a look of triumph on her face. "Well, well, well. Guess who's back from the dead."

Starflight's voice piped up from the back of the crowd. "W-what are you doing here?"

Burn's expression shifted into a smirk. "Our new ally." She gestured to the unfamiliar SandWing.

Blister and the SandWing landed, and came up beside her. Blister spoke next, her cold and calculating tone making me even more on edge. "We've come with a proposition. You give us the dragonets of destiny, and we spare your stupid little academy."

I took a step forward, only feeling anger and agitation. "Hey! Our academy isn't stupid, and you're definitely not getting the dragonets!"

"Not now!" Violetsight hissed.

I backed down, observing their reactions. Blister kept her cold glare, while Burn looked over Violetsight and I as if we were some kind of treasure.

Oh moons.

"Really?" Violetsight hissed.

I started panicking as I forgot one last detail about Burn. She loved collecting odd creatures. Lynx told us about her weirdling tower, having visited it during an assassination. We probably did look like a pile of treasure in her eyes.

Blister ignored us, and turned back towards the dragonets. "I'll give you one day."

The three of them then flew off in the direction of the old Night Kingdom. Tsunami stepped out in front of all of us, and we all huddled closer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Violetsight take a step closer to Firen.

"Are we going to go down without a fight?" Tsunami asked angrily.

All of the more hostile dragonets replied with a unanimous "No!"

Seeming satisfied with our answer, she continued, "Alright then. Blister's given us one day's time, and I doubt that they're alone. They're probably building an army, and we need to build our own." She turned towards Chrysanthemum and Smokefeather. "You two. Go get Queen Glory and tell her to bring as many fighting dragons as possible she turned towards Auklet and Aquastar. "Do the same to Queen Coral." She told Ripplescale and Sepia to get Queen Moorhen, Sunset and Pronghorn to get Queen Thorn, Alba and Changbai to get Queen Glacier, and Ember and Falcor to get Queen Ruby.

Puddledrop stepped forward. "I-I can get Mayfly. She's one of the best doctors in Pyrrhia." Tsunami nodded and she flew out towards Possibility.

"Darkseeker and I can do a lot of damage in the fight." Violetsight told Tsunami, stepping forwards out of the crowd.

"Great. Actually, anyone with battle training, step over here." Tsunami gestured to her left.

Dawnslash, Lavender's Wave, Moonshade, Barracuda, Peregrine, Arctic Ice, Nightshadow, Mango, Arid, Luna, Dolphin, Adler, Snowfrost, Firestone, Firen, Firesky, Violetsight, and I all moved to Tsunami's left.

Tsunami then gestured to her right. "Anyone who has any healing experience and isn't already in the fighting area, come over here."

Siamang, Hearth, Cerulean, Hydra, Galaxy, and Tundra all went to her right.

"Those of you who haven't picked a side, come with me. We're going to learn how to fight." She left the rest of us to our own antics.

Hydra took charge of the healing group. However, there were multiple dragonets who wanted charge of the fighting group, myself and Violetsight included.

"Alright!" Firesky interrupted our bickering. "Demonstrate your abilities and we'll pick who's the leader! We don't have time for this! Actually, let's have two battalions, so we'll have two leaders."

We grudgingly agreed. Barracuda, Moonshade, Snowfrost, Violetsight, and I all wanted to be the leaders. Barracuda showed great strength, using her tail to smash a few large rocks for demonstration. Moonshade had a lot of strength, fire, and incredible mind reading talents. Snowfrost showed impressive precision in her ice breath. When it was Violetsight and I's turn, most of the fighters were stunned. They had never seen anything like it. Firen and Firesky declared us the leaders of the battalions without any protest.

We divided into the battalions and I got Dawnslash, Lavender's Wave, Moonshade, Firesky, Mango, Nightshadow, and Snowfrost. Violetsight got Barracuda, Peregrine, Arctic Ice, Arid, Dolphin, Adler, Luna, and Firen.

I took the right side of the cave while Violetsight took the left. I went over basic strategy, what to do if a comrade is hurt, and what to do if some of the other dragons in Violetsight's battalion were hurt.

Once I had finished, we were pretty much just waiting for the other dragonets to get back with the queens so we could divide them up into our groups.

Queen Moorhen was the first to arrive, and Ripplescale went to the healer group while Sepia went to Violetsight's group. Queen Coral arrived next, and Aquastar went to Violetsight's group while Auklet went to mine. Queen Glory came followed by Queen Ruby. Smokefeather went to the healer group, Chrysanthemum to my group, Ember to Violetsight's group, and Falcor to mine. Puddledrop arrived with Mayfly and a few others, and followed her mom to the healer group. I saw that Dawnslash had a mildly relieved expression seeing her go to the healer group. Queen Thorn arrived, and Sunset went to my group while Pronghorn went to Violetsight's. Queen Glacier finally arrived, and Alba went to Violetsight's group while Changbai went to my group.

"So. . . you said Burn and Blister are back?" Queen Thorn asked.

I nodded, and she had an uneasy expression on her face. Queen Glacier, Queen Moorhen, and Queen Coral had irritated expressions while Queen Ruby and Queen Thorn had the same uneasy expression.

After a few moments of quiet talking, I heard the thump of another pair dragons landing on the stone. We all turned towards the dragons, expecting the worst, but it was only Violetsight and I who were shocked.

It was Lynx and Stonestep.