Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
Dragon scurried across the room, organizing everything as they awaited for their queen's arrival. Futureseer and Sapphire stood there, shoulder to shoulder.
     "What's going on?" Sapphire whispered in Futureseer's ear.
     "I have no idea," he muttered back to her. All Futureseer could tell was that whoever that queen was coming, she was highly respected. Soldiers stood to the side of the hall, but General Falcon stayed to guard Sapphire and Futureseer. Futureseer tensed as he heard wingbeats from the entrance of the hall. Heavy talons landed on the ground and a hiss followed after.
     "Who are these outsiders doing in my kingdom?" A voice growled. Sapphire turned around to see who it was, Futureseer kept his back turned. General Falcon shoved Futureseer's shoulder. Futureseer, reluctantly, turned around instead of wanting to bite the general. His dark navy-blue eyes widened as he saw the large dragon that stood in front of him.
     A large orange SkyWing with yellow scorching eyes stared daggers into Futureseer. She was twice the size of any dragon he'd seen, and had a quartz crown that had rubies and gold embedded into it. She had a pale yellow underbelly that matched her wings.
     "They're the outsiders I sent you the message about, Your Majesty. They strived into our territory along with Ammolite and attacked us head on without any clarification," General Falcon told her.
     That's not true! Futureseer thought angrily. They were the ones who attacked us first!
     "Ammolite," she hissed. "How come there's a NightWing here?"
     "He was working with them. He probably betrayed our alliance in the war," the general answered. "Your Majesty," he added.
     "Hm. Weren't there... four of them?" The queen hissed, staring at both Sapphire and Futureseer. Sapphire was silent the entire time, but Futureseer could see her talons holding her pouch. She was shuffling through it.
     "Ammolite is to be guarded by Whirlwind below the pavilion, and as for the other one..."
     "Speak," the queen growled.
     "Yes, Your Majesty. The other one... got away," General Falcon said. Futureseer could see how much he regretted saying that from the glimmer in his eyes.
     "WHAT?!" The queen roared. "YOU LET A PRISONER ESCAPE?!"
     "She's just a three-year old dragonet. I bet there's nothing wrong with her away. Your Majesty," Falcon added.
    "You still let a prisoner escape," the queen hissed. She emphasized "let" strongly.
     "We didn't let her! She fought us back!" A soldier suddenly protested from the back. Every single SkyWing in the room stared at him. The queen stepped forward.
     "You dare talk back to me?" She hissed, her yellow eyes staring straight at him. The soldier shuffled his feet. "Well?"
     It seemed like the soldier was holding back tears because when he spoke, Futureseer knew he would set his own end. "I never liked you being Queen anyway! First you drive dragons crazy, send dragonets at the age of three into war, and kill dragons of your own when they mess one little thing up?! That's no queen! You never, ever deserved to be queen, Citrine," the soldier spat. 
     If any dragon talked about Queen Moondancer like that, they surely would've been executed quicker than a leaf could fall to the ground, Futureseer thought with a shiver.
     Queen Citrine bellowed in irritation and lunged at the SkyWing who talked back to her. Dragons ran across the room in chaos and Futureseer got separated from Sapphire. Falcon had ran off before the Queen could crash into him when she flew. Claws and talons were everywhere and Futureseer couldn't see anything. He dodged wings and talons and tails as he tried to look for Sapphire.
     "Sapphire!" Futureseer cried out. He had to find her. He had to. Sapphire's scales were dark blue and she would stand out from the colors of yellow, orange, and red scales of SkyWings. Futureseer pushed through the crowd of the panicked dragons, trying to find her.
     Suddenly, everything froze. Futureseer looked up the best he could as he saw Queen Citrine standing on her throne holding the throat of the dragon who dared to talk back at her. His lifeless, cold body dangled in her talons. Citrine wore a look of triumph and pleasure in her eyes.
     "Anyone else want to fight for him?" she announced. No one spoke. "Good. Don't you see what happens if you defy your queen? You end up dead. D-E-A-D. No dragon has stood up against me in a while, and if you agree with him, you might as well jump off of a cliff." Every SkyWing bowed or lowered their heads. Because of this, Futureseer could see above the heads of some SkyWings and easily spot the dark blue dragonet in the crowd.
     He carefully shuffled through the crowd hoping he wouldn't get caught as he made his way toward her. But soon, Sapphire vanished from view. As he went, he realized a few SkyWings were not bowing but turning their back away from their queen.
     Perhaps more than just one dragon doesn't like the idea of following this queen, Futureseer thought.
     Suddenly, a talon grabbed his shoulder. Futureseer, jumping back and turning around ready to fight stopped midway as he realized that Sapphire was the one who grabbed him.
     "Sa—!" Futureseer began. Sapphire put a talon over his mouth. She pointed toward an opening from the crowd.
     A chance for escape, he realized. Sapphire beckoned toward him with her wing and disappeared into the crowd. Annnd... she's gone again.
     Futureseer shuffled through the crowd, trying to keep a low profile. As chaos was swirling everywhere, he managed to find Sapphire once again and escape out of the crowd. The two dragonets had found the pavilion. Futureseer was about to take off into the air with Sapphire, when suddenly a talon grasped his shoulder once again.
     Moons, I don't want to fight more SkyWings again! Futureseer thought worriedly as he turned around, ready to fight. There stood a SkyWing soldier. Futureseer reached out at him with his claws when suddenly, he was tackled to the ground.
     "Wait! Don't hurt him!" a familiar voice protested. Futureseer regained his balance, opening his eyes. There stood the strangely colored SkyWing with the green eyes, Ammolite.
     "What are you doing? There's an enemy soldier right there!" Futureseer muttered. Ammolite shook her head. The other SkyWing shuffled towards the group, his brow furrowed in an anxious expression.
     "Whirlwind's with me. Falcon picked my best friend — other than Amber — to guard me. He must be stupid, not knowing our friendship — Nah! That old SkyWing is just as dumb as a squirrel!" Ammolite laughed. Futureseer's tail twitched. He never heard a SkyWing use phrases like that. "What's the matter?" Ammolite asked.
     "It — It's nothing. I just never really heard SkyWing's use phrases like 'dumb as a squirrel.'" Futureseer explained. Ammolite nodded in acknowledgment, when suddenly, a thought appeared in Futureseer's head. "Anyways, I wanted to ask. How come you didn't use your fire when the SkyWings found us?"
     Sapphire had shuffled closer to them, engaging into the conversation. Ammolite sighed. "Well, it's a long story."
     "I, uh— I think we should go somewhere more private," Whirlwind spoke up. "The chaos in the throne room isn't g— going to buy us time f— forever." Futureseer nodded.
     "We should head to the wingery, there's barely any guards there," Ammolite suggested.
     No one to guard the dragonets? Futureseer thought wonderingly. It was a little strange that fledglings and dragonets weren't being watched. Then, a sudden thought appeared in Futureseer's mind.
     Then again, Queen Moondancer did start sending dragonets into battle. She might have convinced the other queens to as well. Maybe the dragonets are training or something elsewhere, Futureseer guessed.
     The dragonets — and Whirlwind — took off from the pavilion, heading toward the wingery. The four quickly arrived at the entrance of the wingery. It was quiet, with few dragonets there. The young SkyWings weren't paying attention to them, they looked busy — almost as if they were training. Ammolite told the others to what as she walked in. A crimson dragonet broke out of his focus and ran up to her.
     "Ammolite!" the young dragonet exclaimed. Ammolite broke into a hug, wrapping her wings around the tiny dragonet. "Where have you been?"
     "It's a long story, I'll tell you when you're older,"Ammolite simply said, avoiding the question.
     "But I like long stories!" the dragonet complained.
     "You should continue training, I have to do something," Ammolite told him. He sighed and reluctantly walked away. Ammolite turned around, beckoning toward Futureseer and the others. They walked inside the wingery.
     An older dragon — Futureseer guessed who was training the dragonets — flew down to them. Futureseer's muscles tensed anxiously as the unknown SkyWing approached them.
     "You're alive?" They asked Ammolite in surprise.
     "Obviously," Ammolite said, rolling her eyes. The other SkyWing was about to open her mouth but Ammolite talked first. "These are my friends." She waved a wing at Futureseer and Sapphire. Whirlwind shuffled to the side.
     "Sapphire, can you explain to her how we met? Like, everything, how you were traveling with Amber and found me wounded," Ammolite asked. Sapphire quietly nodded and walked away from the group beginning her explanation. Futureseer spoke up.
     "So, why couldn't you use your fire?"
     Ammolite exhaled deeply. "Well, I'm not any normal SkyWing." She pointed to her unusual green eyes. Futureseer nodded in acknowledgment. "A day before I hatched while I was still in my egg, an animus dragon enchanted my egg so that the dragonet who hatched out of it would lose their natural ability to breathe fire. I think my eye color is influenced by that. I don't know what the reason was for, but here I am!"
     She expanded her wings in a sheepish smile. "Oh," Futureseer said. That answered his question. Suddenly, another question rose in his throat. "Do you where Silverthought — erm, the NightWing fighting us from earlier is at?" Ammolite shook her head. Futureseer's shoulders slumped.
     The other SkyWing that Sapphire was explaining to came back, her eyes gleaming in a new sense of realization.
     "So you're Amber's friends and you stumbled upon Ammolite while looking for her. Interesting," she said. Futureseer and Sapphire nodded. "I'm Garnet. I'm training these dragonets to prepare for the war under Queen Citrine's orders. And you are?"
     "Futureseer from the Night Kingdom— kinda. I live in a forest now but I was born there," he immediately introduced himself.
     "I'm Sapphire," the dark blue dragonet from Futureseer's left said.
     "You don't seem like any ordinary SeaWing," Garnet acknowledged. Ammolite listened into the conversation while Whirl wind was chatting with one of the dragonets.
     "That's because I'm a hybrid," Sapphire said. Garnet's eyes widened in surprise. "You may know my NightWing parent, Nightroar?" Garnet blinked once, then twice.
     "You're the daughter of the Emerald and Nightroar?" Ammolite suddenly shouted. "B— but those were the two who started this whole war!" Sapphire rolled her eyes. Futureseer spoke up to support her.
     "Technically the Queen Moondancer and Queen Azure started the war for thinking their own dragons were planning against their tribes," he said.
     "Which wasn't the case by the way, my mom and Nightroar were in love with each other and some random SeaWing or NightWing thought they were conspiring together, told their Queen, and wha-zam! This war started," Sapphire added. Garnet nodded in admiration.
     "I can't believe I'm talking to the daughter of Nightroar and Emerald," she said.
     "Please stop referring to me as that. Just call me Sapphire," Sapphire said, shuffling away. Garnet nodded. Futureseer spoke up.
     "Do you—?" A loud burst of flames cut his words and fire started bursting out of the tunnel that connected the wingery and SkyWing pavilion. Futurseer jumped back as Sapphire ran, pushing a young, confused dragonet out of the way. Ammolite's eyes widened in shock and Garnet grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back. The only dragon that got hit by the flames was Whirlwind.
     "Whirlwind!" Ammolite shouted. A loud flapping of wings echoed after the fire had died down and scales of orange and red zoomed by Futureseer.
     What in the moons is happening?!
     "The IceWings! They're here!" He heard one voice shout.
     "Gather the prisoners!" Futureseer heard a familiar voice that was Falcon's order.
     "Queen Citrine will have this all under control!" He heard another said. Just then, Futureseer was pulled into the chaos by talons unknown.