They flew for more than a day, flying low near the shore for most of the time, so that they could easily duck in case they saw someone approaching, only halting to eat or sleep. And even while resting, at least one of them would stay awake to watch the skies. When Ashley had woken up in the middle of the night, he had found Starflight looking away, deep in thought.
"Contemplating your life choices ?" He had asked.
"I have... so many questions." Starflight had answered.
They both sat there, staring at the limitless horizon without saying anything for long minutes. There was no noise but wind and waves continuously washed the coast. Occasionally, it was possible to hear a fish skim up at the surface.
"Everything is so unknown, I feel tremendously out of place."
"I can understand that feeling."
"What do you mean ?"
"For you may not be the average Nightwing, neither am I the average Scavenger."
Starflight had nodded in acknowledgement, almost imperceptibly, silencing once more.
"I've only seen rocks for most of my life. The world feels so foreign to me."
Oh, you don't say, Starflight. If only you knew. Ashley had almost considered breaking it to the Nightwing and sharing his situation with him, at least partially, to try to ease him in his thought, but quickly discarded the idea. It would have more likely raised more questions and disbelief.
On their way, they had asked more questions to Ashley about himself and scavengers. They first had to tell what he had already explained to Starflight, and the reaction had been quite something. Starflight was actually deeply interested in the Scavenger subject beforehand, reading tons of scrolls about the weird two-legged furless creatures, as Glory worded it.
Turns out, most of what those scrolls would teach you was the endless different ways to get rid of scavengers and how to prepare them as meals. Figuring that the fate of humans that weren't killed on the spot was to be cut into pieces of salami and minced meat had brought quite the horrific sights into Ashley's thoughts, hence why he found it so hard to sleep. The images of tables filled with people prepared with their ribcages open and limbs ripped from their bodies to be served as sausages just wouldn't leave his mind.
To say that he couldn't find any appetite since then would have been an understatement, He had never felt so emotionally sick since, well, always. The fact that he could have suffered such a fate just a few days ago didn't ease his state either. He had realized how incredibly lucky he had been to be chosen for a quick death in Scarlet's arena, and even more so that the dragonets had accepted him in their party.
The dragonets' reaction, however, happened more gradually, slowly piecing the puzzle together as they started to understand Ashley's point of view. For years, they had been told that Scavengers were nothing but an invasive species that would regularly act in ways that made so little sense that their instincts must have evolved backwards. They were told that like all animals, Scavengers could be extremely territorial, and be dangerous when travelling in packs, but that even alone they could harm a dragon if one was not careful enough, and so it was one more reason to dispose of any Scavenger in the vicinity the fastest way possible.
But never had they been so wrong, Scavengers, or Humans, were people, just like dragons, caring for their families and friends. Of course, they would be aggressive to any dragon menacing their homes, of course, they would attack them alone if they had lost everything, of course, they would jump everywhere and climb to find escapes so they wouldn't get eaten, of course, they would travel between different towns to trade goods and news, and of course, some of them were stupid enough to consider stealing the dragons their valuables a good idea.
But the dragons never paid attention to it. They never even tried to consider it, and if they did, society would put them back on the right path. To them, it was inconceivable that such a different and smaller species could even be able to have cognitive thoughts.
As a result, humans have been oppressed, disrespected, hunted, mistreated, and so much more for hundreds of years, if not thousands.
It was just against all the values they were taught to fight for.
Not only were they supposed to stop the war, but to them, it also meant putting an end to the atrocities, any atrocities. And their silence after Clay had asked how many times Scavengers had been abused had been the most haunting thing Ashley ever heard, not even the birds dared to break it.
The decision was unanimous. They decided to help the scavengers as well. Now, how to do that, they had not a single idea. For now, they would stick to their original plan and go to the Sea Kingdom to meet Tsunami's mother, the Seawing Queen, and on the way, they would think about what could possibly be done. To no one's surprise, Sunny was the most enthusiastic about that idea.
"What do you know about Nightwings ?"
And here it was, the obvious question he had been waiting to get from Starflight. To be honest, it would have been foolish not to expect it, knowing Starflight's curious nature when it came to his tribe.
"Well, more than I wish to share." He had chosen to answer.
"And what can you share ?" The dragonet had asked, almost pleading.
"Well. First, you need to know that most scrolls about Nightwings are written by them, especially the ones that praise them." Starflight had grown some concern on his face, but he could see him slowly lying forward without realizing it. "They are a bit... narcissistic, and maybe a bit over prideful too, in my humble opinion. When it comes to history, well, they certainly have been powerful at times, but they are a bit overconfident nowadays. And I bet they find themselves so cool for being so mysterious and secretive."
"I- I see." He had paused for a moment. "Do you know why they don't tell me anything ?"
"They don't trust you, at least, not yet."
"About what ?"
"They have plans regarding the war, and they want you and your friends to behave the way they want it to make those a reality."
Starflight hadn't answered to that, neither did he speak afterwards, clearly considering the hundreds of ways this could end wrong. Eventually, Ashley took the watch, allowing the Nightwing to take some rest. For his part, the human knew he would not find sleep.
Turns out, great stories sometimes become really scary once you are experiencing them.
But now, the group was standing on a beach, and the dazzling Sun was heating their back from high in the sky. On the horizon, the blue sky was merging with the sea like in a surreal painting.
Ashley had set his awkward feet on the ground, resting his limbs from holding to a dragon for multiple hours of flight. He wriggled his toes in his boots and stretched, feeling heavy.
In front of him, Tsunami was standing, small waves crashing into her webbed talons. She sank her claws in the sand, stretched her whole body and deployed her wings to catch the wind, smelling the salty air. Her lighting scales blinked from joy.
"Let me guess." Glory said mockingly beside Ashley. "You guys, that's the smell of freedom."
"Freedom smells a lot like fish." Starflight said from behind. "Which, to be clear, is kind of nose-curlingly awful."
"I love it." Tsunami said, looking in the distance with envious eyes.
Ashley looked at Starflight, who was glancing at the sky worryingly.
"Shouldn't we stay under the trees ? What if a patrol spots us ? I mean-" He stopped and took a deep breath. "We must stay under the trees. All right. Yes. Everyone back into the trees right now ! Wait, should I do that- ?" He looked back at Ashley with agitated eyes, but no one else paid attention to him anyway, despite Sunny, who gave him a pitying glance.
The dragons were taking their breath back, and Glory was spreading her wings to catch sun rays, creating hypnotic patterns of magenta and gold on her scales. Tsunami, for herself, was watching the ocean with deep interest, as if she had never seen it before.
But she actually didn't. It must be such a foreign sight to her despite her origins. Ashley looked at the Seawing with studying eyes. She was clenching her talons as if she were holding something in her paws, and her face was showing a scowl.
"Hey, Ashley !" He turned around to see Clay walking to him, holding something in his talons. "I got you a bird and cooked it." The Mudwing said with a smile.
"Oh, thanks." Ashley said. "That's lovely."
He had a moment of hesitation before grabbing the prey from Clay's talon, seeing the creature's carcass, which he almost immediately dropped.
"Aaaaaah, it's hot !" He cried, juggling with it for a few seconds before grabbing it by one of its remaining feathers, resulting in a laugh from Sunny.
"Oop, sorry, eh eh, it didn't seem to me." Clay said with an embarrassed face.
"It's fine, no worries."
They stood there for a moment, Ashley holding the bird from the tip of his fingers, waiting for it to cool, and slightly disgusted too.
"You eat a surprisingly high amount of food for such a little creature." Clay said. "I mean, compared to us, of course." He awkwardly added.
"Well, we're among the most energy-hungry species after dragons, after all."
"Oh, I see." Clay said with a confused expression. He looked at Tsunami and noticed her deepening into her thoughts. "Excuse me."
The Mudwing walked to her and stood at her side.
"You know what I love ?" He said mournfully. "Fish. Lots of fish. Big fish I can eat, not these little wriggle-scraps." He said, showing the small fish in the water as his stomach loudly growled.
Sunny giggled. "Clay, it's only been a day since you caught that enormous pig for all of us."
"Wasn't enormous." Clay said, raising a claw. "That was the smallest pig in the whole world."
"You should have eaten my carrots." Sunny said, walking to him and casually climbing up his back to peer up at the ocean. From afar, two of the moons were faintly disappearing from the mountains.
"I'm serious, everybody." Starflight cried. "It's not safe out on the beach, not with all the Mudwings and Skywings looking for us." Ashley saw him standing far from the waves, trying to get sand out of his talons.
He looked at the dragonet's friends and noticed Tsunami grunting. She looked very reluctant to follow Starflight's orders. There was no questioning that. And she looked rather pissed at Starflight's remarks, and he could understand why. The Nightwing, while obviously concerned for his friends, did not stop fretting and complaining during the last few days. It was nice to have someone worry about them, but stopping every few miles just to make sure no one noticed the group seemed a bit of an overprecaution to Ashley. He would have argued that it made them more likely to be found even. But he wouldn't dare to speak up against any of the dragonets for now. He had just met them and wasn't sure about how much they accepted him.
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"Why are you so worried ?" Tsunami asked Starflight. "If they do recapture us, won't your Nightwing friends come swooping in your rescue again ?"
Starflight shook his wings with indignity. "I'm not worried for me." He said. "I'm trying to keep all of us safe."
"I'm keeping us safe just fine !" Tsunami protested. "When have I ever led us wrong ?"
"Well." Glory started. "There was that one time we got captured by Skywings and their queen nearly killed us all..."
Tsunami smacked her tail on the water and sent a cold salty wave at Glory, who hissed back and jumped away like an angry cat.
"Stop it !" Sunny cried. "Stop fighting, all of you. Clay, stop them." She patted the Mudwing's head to turn his attention away from the fish in the water.
"Oh yes, let's hear from our bigwing." Glory teased, sitting down in a shifting shade of yellow. She yawned at Tsunami, displaying her venom-spitting teeth.
Ashley couldn't help but let out a sigh. Ugh... Kids...
"Hey." Clay said, turning around and pushing Tsunami's wing with his own. "It's all right for Starflight to worry. We don't even know if Queen Scarlet is alive or dead. But-" He looked at his friend. "I know you want to find the Seawings as fast as possible. So let's find them instead of fighting about it, and then we can get to safety sooner."
"Aww." Glory said. "So wise and big."
"I think he is." Sunny said defiantly, wrapping her forearms around Clay's neck in a friendly manner.
Ashley heard a loud thump as Starflight sat down on the sand, unhappily waving his tail around his talons.
"Alright, alright, let's settle that already." Ashley stepped up, catching everyone's glance. "We don't want to stay here anyway, the frontier is probably the path of many patrols after all, and if we want to meet the Seawings, they probably aren't searching for us, nor are they waiting with a feast prepared in our honour."
"A feast ? I'd love a feast !" Clay cried, scaring a bird into the air. "There was a feast at the end of the story ! When the missing princess got home, her parents were so happy they made a feast. They ate a whole whale. That was a good feast. I bet I could eat a whale. Do you think we'll get a feast ?"
"The Missing Princess was just a story in a scroll." Starflight interjected. "We have no idea what we'll actually find in the Kingdom of the Sea."
"That's true." Clay's wings dropped. "It might not be what you're hoping for, Tsunami. Like finding out my mother sold me for a cow."
"Hey," said Glory. "It was at least two cows."
"Hmmm. Comforting." Said Clay.
Tsunami was gritting her teeth in discomfort now, which Ashley seemed to be the only one to notice. When she noticed him, she straightened up. "I could just dive in and look for the Seawing palace." She suggested.
"Out there ?" Starflight asked.
"Where else do you suggest I find the Seawings ?"
"Swimming in the ocean is not like swimming in an underground cave river." Starflight lectured. "There are strong currents and unpredictable waves and, and big things with teeth-"
"I'm a big thing with teeth." Tsunami cut, grinning at him.
Starflight sighed. "But that's beside the point. It's not safe. What if we lose you ?" Tsunami rolled her eyes to the sky.
"Starflight, cheer up." Sunny said. "Tsunami can do anything. And how is she supposed to get home to her family if she can't go into the sea."
"Oh no !" Clay jumped, sending sand everywhere and nearly dislodging Sunny. Ashley dodged a crab sent in his direction.
"Ow ! Stop that !" Glory commanded, covering her head to protect it from the sand.
"What about us ?" Clay continued. "I didn't think of that ! Tsunami, we can't go with you to the Seawing palace. We can't breathe down there ! How can we stick together if you're underwater?" He clawed at the water, splattering the beach. "What are we going to do?"
"Seriously ?" Glory asked Clay. "All of those geography classes, and not a single one sunk in?"
Clay turned to Glory, confused. "What ?"
"Yeah, so, the Seawings have a palace specially designed to receive non-aquatic dragons." Ashley said calmly. "Especially useful for guests and allies. Like a Sandwing heir, for example."
"Oh." Clay sat down. "I didn't know."
Starflight sighed with despair. "We've seen that in class, Clay... See ? You should have studied more." He said. "It's on an island somewhere in the Bay of a Thousand Scales."
Sunny patted the Mudwing's shoulder. "Hey, I didn't remember that either." She then turned her head to Starflight. "So we go there, right ?"
"Not easily," Starflight responded. "Both Seawing palaces, underwater and on land, are well hidden. That's how they've lasted so long in this war, even though they don't have fire like the other tribes. Nobody can find them to attack their homes."
"Sounds like the Nightwings." Glory said at the same time as Ashley. They both looked at each other with a startled look.
"It's nothing like the Nightwings !" Tsunami cried. "Seawings aren't trying to act all mysterious and pretentious. They're just being sensible about guarding their home."
"There are over a thousand islands to search, but it's still probably-" Starflight stopped in the middle of his speech and looked up at the sky. "Does anyone else smell fire ?"
Ashley's mind shot wide awake, and he nearly jumped to his feet.
"Three moons, Starflight. I'm not hiding in the trees every time some little thing spooks you." Tsunami said.
Ashley watched the sky frantically, searching for the incoming threat he remembered was approaching.
"Wait, I think he's right. I hear wingbeats." Sunny said, then she looked at the human. "Ashley ?"
There, Ashley spotted movement in the sky coming from the mountains. Multiple red dots appeared in the direction of the Sky Kingdom and were growing in size, there were about half a dozen of them. Dragons were approaching their position.
"Skywings !" He shouted, pointing a finger at the cluster of reds.
"Oh no ! Hide !" Starflight cried, jumping to the trees, immediately followed by Ashley.
"Quick, into the water !" He heard Tsunami order. But Glory ignored her and buried in the sand, shifting her scales' colours into a pale yellow. Sunny refused the Seawing's proposal and hastily flew past Ashley.
Starflight's tail disappeared behind the trees, but Ashley wouldn't be fast enough to catch him or Sunny, and the red dragons were closing in at a fast pace. Well, maybe he wasn't as fast as a dragon, but he had other advantages. Being smaller and more agile, he took it upon himself to jump into a cluster of bushes on his path and hide inside. And for good measure, he put on his hood to shade his face.
He laid on his back, his vision obstructed by branches, the khaki green of his clothes hiding him from the sky. Closer to the waves, Tsunami jumped in the sea, while Clay was finishing to bury himself in some mud.
He didn't have to wait for long, after just a few seconds, he heard a loud whoosh just a few meters above his head, then followed by another, and then three, each time a massive shadow passing over him, but he could only see a red blur speeding over the beach when he looked up.
He relaxed and laid his head on the ground, looking up, but he felt a tingling sensation of wrongness. Am I forgetting something ?
He looked to the side, Sunny was just reaching the trees, and Starflight grabbed her to pull her into their shadows. Just then, he heard another flap of wings, much heavier this time, and he nearly jumped from his position.
Hovering right above him was an orange Skywing, looking straight at Sunny's direction. His flying looked much slower, and he looked older than his pairs, also being bigger. His left wing showed a teared-up scar on the membrane that took the shape of a claw, and fire was sparkling from the nostrils of the dragon.
Ashley held his breath, staying completely immobile, staring at the creature looming over him.
Oh no- He looked from the dragon to Sunny and Starflight's position back and forth. The Skywing was scrutinizing their direction. He probably noticed a movement. Did he see them ?
Ashley shifted slightly, searching the ground with a blind hand. He managed to catch a small boulder the size of his hand, and he firmly tightened his grasp on it. He looked toward the sea, Tsunami was slowly rising from the water, emerging her blue wings out into the air.
The Skywing slowly opened his mouth, smoke pouring out of it. Ashley cracked and threw away his rock. The object flew away and shattered in a cracking noise against another boulder, distracting the dragon, which immediately faced the direction of the noise. Ashley used the moment to turn around and face up with his whole body, reaching a hand to his gun.
But the dragon heard the noise and quickly looked down. His gaze searched for something under him, but it took a few moments to lock his eyes at the position where Ashley was lying.
The two of them stayed like this for a moment. Ashley wasn't sure if the dragon had seen him. His gaze looked slightly off, but he felt something new, something never experienced before : the urge to jump as fast as possible and run away from this creature at all costs. His whole body was tensed up, and his legs were ready to jump in case of any suspicious movement. At the same time, his right hand readied to reach for the weapon. His eyes were wide open, drying for not blinking, and he heard his own teeth gritting against each other.
This was a predator, and he was the prey.
His heart was beating hard. He wasn't even sure if he was still breathing. All that mattered now was the orange flying monster above him.
He didn't even let himself swear to his stupid actions. He just waited.
And right when the dragon flinched and threw its head up, he heard a loud splash and a blurred area of blue came bolting through the air, all claws forward, and collided against the Skywing in a furry.
Tsunami leapt on the dragon and slammed her tail on his head. She whirled around him and jumped on his back. The Skywing fell a few feet, directed toward the water, which he nearly fell in. But in a burst of wind, he fought back and started taking more height, throwing his head in all directions to get a bite on Tsunami. The Seawing tried to destabilize him by kicking him in the shoulders and wings, and by trying to grab him down by the tail, but he was too big, and too strong, quickly gaining back his ground as he recovered his composure.
The Skywing snarled and twisted, opening its mouth to let out a burst of fire against Tsunami, who barely escaped it. She tried to slam him more and more with her tail, pushing him to the ocean, but the Skywing's wings were beating stronger and stronger, making a tornado of the place.
Ashley had to use his hand to protect his eyes from the sand. The wind had taken off his hood and was whirling his hair up. The red dragon was gaining a non-negligible amount of height and seemed to be recovering its breath, probably wanting to call for the other dragons. He saw Clay taking off to his left, launching himself toward the scene.
Tsunami sank her teeth under the Skywing's tail, in the more vulnerable spot of it, to which he responded with another blast of fire, which struck her in the side of her neck. Tsunami's response was delayed, but she reacted by sinking her teeth even deeper, getting a loud roar out of the dragon. At the same time, Clay landed on the elder dragon, putting himself between its snout and Tsunami, weighting him down.
Ashley stood up on his feet, shielding his eyes from the Sun with his valid hand, backing away from the scene that was unfolding in front of his eyes.
The three dragons continued to fight erratically, Tsunami driving the Skywing to the sea and Clay protecting her from his fire with his scales. They hit the water at a speed that would have knocked anyone of normal constitution out, splattering water everywhere around him. Once in the water, the Skywing couldn't do anything, his wings becoming much heavier and harder to move, and forbidding him to use his fire.
Tsunami made a quick job of swimming to the dragon's head and forcing it underwater. She and Clay held him that way the time he was thrashing and throwing his body around, until he stopped fighting and fell limp.
When they let go of him, the dragon's body started drifting toward the seafloor.
Ashley looked at the scene, Tsunami was showing him her back, looking down at the surface in front of her in a hesitant posture as the Sun reflected its warm light on the waves.
She eventually plunged into the water and pulled the Skywing back to the beach, helped by Clay. Ashley walked toward the shore, looking at the horizon where the other Skywings had left. He heard steps behind him as one of the dragonets joined him.
The surroundings had suddenly reached calm again, with only the noises of waves, wind, a few birds, and Tsunami and Clay carrying the inanimate dragon. When they reached the ground and dropped the body on the sand, Glory immediately jumped forward.
"What is wrong with you ?" She snapped, materializing beside Ashley and glaring at Tsunami. "Why did you do that ?"
"Oh, you're welcome." Tsunami said. "Just saving your life, as usual."
"By attacking random dragons ?" Glory cried. "In another moment they would have been gone ! And what are you doing?" She jabbed Clay, who was thumping the Skywing's chest with her wings.
"Uh..." Clay mumbled. "Fixing him." He said, continuing to do what looked like a dragon version of a cardiac massage.
"What ?" Glory cried. "You can't let him live !" She tried to grab one of Clay's forearms, but Tsunami shoved her away."We don't have to kill him." The Seawing said. "We'll tie him up and leave him here."
"Great." Glory responded. "How about a trail of cow parts, too ? And a map of where we're going ? Or perhaps we could set this part of the forest on fire, just to make sure everyone knows how to find us. Would you like me to spell out 'DRAGONETS WUZ HERE' in giant rocks ?"
"Fine !" Tsunami huffed. "Here he is. You kill him."
Glory looked at the dragon, Clay was still thumping on its chest. "I don't kill dragons who can't fight back." She eventually said with disdain.
"Why not ?" Tsunami said harshly. "Just splat some venom on his face and melt him, if it's that easy for you."
Glory clenched her talons in the sand, bubbles of purple spreading on her scales. "Why don't you ask the Scavenger instead ? Their species hates dragons from what I know."
"I don't." Ashley quickly jumped in. "And I dedicated my life to fighting for the innocent that couldn't, not harming the powerless." He said with a visible scowl.
Tsunami and Glory both gave him an odd look while he heard the stomps of Sunny and Starflight land behind him.