Chapter 6

                                    

                                          
Clearwing never imagined that she would see Wasp Hive in person. It loomed over the savanna, with soldiers swarming around it and watching it.
                          
"So this is it," Coal said. Over the course of the few days they'd been walking through the savanna together, he had gradually returned to himself from his dangerous-and-terrifying-but-also-kind-of-cute phase. "Okay, I'll admit, it's bigger than I thought it was." He was sitting next to Clearwing, gazing up at the city. "So, how do we do this?
                          
Clearwing thought for a moment. "Just walk up to the doors and ask to come in?"
                          
Coal shook his head. "They wouldn't let us in, even with intimidation. We have to find another way in..." 
                          
Clearwing thought for a moment. Then it hit her. "Could you burn a hole in the side of the Hive?" 
                          
Coal looked at the doors. "Sure, but what do we do then?" 
                          
"Umm... find the warehouse and free the flamesilks?" She hated how much that plan sounded like something Coal would make up on one of their midnight walks, but there weren't a whole lot of other options at this point.
                          
"You know what, let's work with that for now." Coal got up and started walking toward the Hive. Clearwing followed, keeping close to his side and watching for guards as the two darted between greenhouses.
                          
When they got to the Hive's wall, Coal burnt a hole in it that was just big enough to crawl through. 
                          
"The guards didn't see us, I don't think," Clearwing reported, peering out of the hole. "With luck no one will even notice this. Let me just..." She sidled up behind a large tower of crates and pushed it in front of the hole. She stepped back to admire her work. 
                          
"There," she said, turning back towards her friend. "Now where do we find the flamesilks?" 
                          
Coal was looking at the rows of warehouses. He was focusing on one in particular. "The one on the end has a lantern on it. It has to be where the flamesilks are being held."
                          
"That makes sense, actually," Clearwing replied, taking a step towards the warehouse. "I can't believe they treat the flamesilks like... like objects that can be useful for producing fire, and nothing else. And we've got another problem; how do we get in? I bet there's at least five guards in there and if even one escapes, he'll tell his friends and then the entire Hive will come raining down on us." 
                          
Coal was walking toward the warehouse. "I'll get us in, you get them out," he said. Clearwing sighed and followed him, glancing back at her wingbuds for a moment. Was it just her, or did they seem more unfurled than they did yesterday? How long had she and Coal been out in the savanna? How soon was her metamorphosis??
                          
She paused and ducked behind a crate, giving her friend the all clear to do whatever he was about to do. It wasn't what she expected, honestly. He just knocked.
                          
When nothing happened, he knocked again. "Okay, plan B," he said, stepping back. When he was far enough away, he turned and straight-up rammed the door, bursting it open just enough to get in. An elderly HiveWing got up, but was knocked out by Coal, who dragged him behind a crate before signaling to Clearwing.
                          
The SilkWing dragonet delicately stepped over the unconscious HiveWing, crinkling up her nose. But she didn't say anything, and instead peeked inside the warehouse. WAY more than five pairs of eyes glared up at her through the darkness. With a yelp, she smacked an approaching HiveWing with her tail, tipping him off-balance, before diving down behind him and immediately being blinded. 
                          
"Ack!" Clearwing blinked furiously, her eyes watering. "Why is it so bright ow." After a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the brightly illuminated cavern, and she looked back at Coal. A few more unconscious HiveWings lay at his feet, and he looked entirely too pleased about that. The black dragon padded down the steps and stood next to her, making a clicking noise with his teeth. 
                          
Ten SilkWings sat on ledges around the room, in the middle of eating or spinning or sleeping. Clearwing saw in dismay that they were chains connecting them to their ledges, and keeping them from moving about the cave. She saw in their pasts that the chains had been added after Luna escaped, and Clearwing felt a wave of guilt flood over her.
                          
"Okay, we're here to get you out of here so let's move now before Wasp knows we're here," Coal said, breaking the spell. He hadn't noticed the chains.
                          
"Coal," Clearwing facepalmed. "How thick are you? They've got chains! Unless you can burn through metal, they aren't going anywhere-"
                          
"I can burn through metal," a purple-blue SilkWing said, his eyes wide. "But I'm not sure if my silk can burn through this." A thread of glowing silk spiraled out of his wrist, but the chains were arranged in a way that made it so he couldn't get the silk to hit the metal at the right angle. Clearwing darted forward, gingerly lifting the filament with the tips of her claws. Before it could burn her too badly, she dropped it on the chain and it began to sizzle. An awful burnt-metal smell filled the air, and then the SilkWing's right talon was free. 
                          
"Thanks," he said honestly. 
                          
"No problem. It was his idea." She tipped her head at Coal, who was grinning now.
                          
But that's where things went south.
                          
"We could've burnt through this stuff all this time and we didn't!? What is everyone, a bunch of monkeys?" A SilkWing said.
                          
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have started so many arguments and distracted us, you overgrown lizard!" another said. Coal flinched, just enough for Clearwing to notice but not enough for the flamesilks.
                          
"Stop, you'll be fine in a moment, just get everyone out!" Clearwing said, trying to calm them all down.
                          
"To be fair, it was you that asked about that and the guard said no!" shouted another dragon, completely ignoring Clearwing's attempt. 
                          
"Keep your business to your own cave, tree licker!" Smoke was starting to pour out of Coal's nostrils.
                          
"SHUT UP, FRITILLARY!" all of the other dragons roared at once. The arguing continued, even louder this time.
                          
Coal had reached his tipping point. He breathed a blast of fire brighter and hotter than Clearwing thought he ever could, melting three chains and just barely missing the tails of the dragons they were attached to. The SilkWings froze when they saw it. 
                          
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his voice echoing across the cave like he was some sort of outraged god. "I don't care about old grudges or new problems, I just care about getting you out, so work with me here, and unlock your moonblasted chains!"
                          
The blue-purple SilkWing (His name is Blue, Clearwing realized with a start) had been quietly burning through the rest of his chains throughout the entire argument. He looked like he dealt with these sort of shouting matches a lot. 
                          
"I'll get them started, and they can do the rest on their own," he volunteered. Clearwing nodded at him, her eyes shining. "You do that." 
                          
Blue went around the cave, burning through every dragons' chains. At last, his talons hovered over another SilkWing's. Clearwing saw that his name was Admiral. They're father and son. Some strong emotion that felt a bit like anger vibrated off the quiet-looking SilkWing, nearly knocking Clearwing over. Admiral had done something that made even a dragon as kind as Blue angry at him. 
                          
"I'll do it," a brown-gold-white flamesilk said, nudging Blue aside with her wing. 
                          
"C'mon, hurry!" a fidgety-looking pink dragon said. Finally, Admiral's chains broke and fell away, freeing him and allowing the flamesilks to leave. Clearwing walked over to Coal, her blue eyes darting around worriedly.
                          
"Hey, Coal," she said, "what's the plan now?"
                          
"We head north," Coal said with a glint in his eyes. "To find the LeafWings."