Wings of Fire • Dragon of Secrets [2]

Chapter Twenty-one

Brisktail glided down for a soft landing, trotting over to the base of the tree. He looked around as he walked, noticing a few things. There were more guards posted around the lake, a few marching around. Their armour clanked noisily and it must have been disturbing the residents. The ice in the lake had been broken, the water freezing over at odd angles and hinting at the disturbance. Lots of turtle shells and clay pots were also lying around the lake. Brisktail didn't know what they were for; then he realized they had to have been fighting the fire with them.

     He didn't pay much attention to anything else. His compass was pointing straight to the Mother Tree, specifically, its roots. Brisktail would have to fly up and go inside to find his friends.

     He gently flew up to the lowest opening, climbing in and folding his wings to keep himself small. He chuckled to himself at how Quickclaws would have had a hard time moving around in the cramped space.

     Brisktail let the compass lead him. It pointed to the left and he headed for the tunnel it directed him to. The patterned floor sloped downwards and Brisktail remembered that he was headed for the prisons. He hoped his friends hadn't gotten affected by any of the PineWing's poison on the cell bars. That sure had been painful.

     He reached the prisons quickly. He saw two PineWings on duty and he touched their helmets, murmuring "Sleep," so that they wouldn't feel him passing. They slumped to the ground slowly. With then out of the way Brisktail was able to step over them to walk into the room. He looked up.

     Sure enough, his friends were behind bars. There was Quickclaws, sitting in a cell to small for him and sleeping sitting up. Thunderclap was next to him. Next to Thunderclap was Lightningtail, and beside her, Rainwind. Brisktail's eyes softened as he saw her. The last time they had seen each other he had been mad at her over her setting off the second explosion. He felt a little guilty, part of him whispering it was her fault and the other half of him left feeling conflicted.

     He sat down in front of them, flicking his tail. If he tried to help him escape now they could be out and free. They would thank him. Maybe Rainwind would forgive him.

     But something wasn't right. Brisktail had seen the PineWings close to the estuary and he had overheard their whispers. They wanted revenge for his misgivings. If he helped his friends escape now, Belladonna might attack the bay and the SwiftScales couldn't handle another attack - especially not from dragons who made you scratch yourself to death.

     He also needed to confront Windwhipper. He couldn't do that with his friends – they had no idea what was going on and he couldn't catch them up without the scrolls he had left with Swansong; his scales itched at the thought of the Queen knowing about his magic. 

     But if he was honest with himself... he didn't want to confront Windwhipper with his friends. He didn't want them to see what he was capable of.

     Brisktail was about to turn back when a breeze filtered through the tunnel. It must have made his head feel funny because he felt a sudden urge to wake one of them up and tell them something. What if something went wrong while he was trying to stop Windwhipper? He needed to know they would have his back.

     It was an easy choice. He looked at Quickclaws, Thunderclap, and Lightningtail in turn and enchanted them to sleep. No one else was around to hear him so Brisktail could talk with Rainwind alone.

     How will I do it? He mused to himself. I can't just appear here. She'll ask questions about how I got here, how I knew where they were; useless and pointless things no dragon cares about.

     An idea came to him. He didn't know from where but he felt that if he appeared to her as a dream she might take it as a message from the Sun Chasers and believe him. He'd have to take off his pebble for that.