Candy missed a wingbeat, nearly tumbling into the sea below.

"What are you - what war?"

The three dragons all stopped in their place, looking back at her with curious expressions. Except for Night, who looked suspiciously guilty. What are you not telling me!?

"The . . . the war. It's alright that you might not have known yet, it's pretty new."

It's alright that I might not have known yet!? No, it's not!

"Is it in Nigintia?" they nodded. "Is it because of my parents' deaths? I mean, I knew they were good rulers but . . ."

"Good rulers? You don't even-" he stopped himself, snorting out a puff of smoke. Candy swore she saw little star-like speckles floating in the smoke.

"What's the matter? Did I do something wrong?"

"It's not you that did something wrong," He snorted again before sharply turning back to face the direction they were heading. The Sandskinks both shrank back somewhat, desperate not to be a part of their unexpected fight. Candy stared down at the ocean below them. A tiny part of her wondered if falling down into its watery depths and never coming back up would be easier.

Candy was so deep in thought, she didn't notice land until they were flying over it. Despite the troubles she'd had there, the craggy, misshapen rocks that stuck out of the sea of Dragon Teeth rock were a strangely welcoming sight.

Only at that moment, something pricked her thoughts. It sounded like . . . a wheeze. As if someone was having a hard time breathing. She looked around the group, about to ask them about it, suddenly realizing it was coming from Silver, who flapped with more effort than the others.

She dipped under Scorpian, coming up on Silver's other side.

"Are you alright?"

She immediately regretted asking the second he answered, talking between strained breaths.

"It's - all - good," fortunately for both of them, Scorpian spoke for him.

"Ever since he hatched, Silver's always had weighted scales. Trust spend countless hours trying to figure out why, but we never did."

She opened her mouth to add something else but closed it again in silence.

"Why don't we land down there," Night startled the three of them, speaking for the first time in a while. Before any of them said a word, he dipped his wing, gracefully swooping down towards the rocky surface below.

The other three followed, all of them silent as they focused on landing carefully on those unpredictable, sharp edges that made up the majority of Dragon Teeth rock's surface.

The second her talons landed on the ground, a shiver went up Candy's spine.

"What's wrong?" To her surprise, the other three were all staring at her. She would've been flattered that Night was staring at her so worriedly if it hadn't been for the constant feeling of fear that spread through her.

"Oh, uh . . . when I ran away from Sun Tree town, a storm caught me and threw me here . . ." she didn't add the part of the most painful moments of her life, stepping towards the forest. She regretted it as her talon sank into a thick pool of liquid. She squeezed her eyes shut, pulling it quickly out, guessing already what it was.

"Nymphs' island! Is that blood?" the group closed in to see what Candy had stepped in. She opened one eye, peeking down at the puddle she'd soaked her talons with. Her stomach lurched when she set eyes on it, but she couldn't look away. Sure enough, a small puddle of crimson blood sat nestled in a gap in the rocks. Candy pulled her tail close to her. That wasn't from me, was it!? No, nope, no. I - I crashed over there, and there, and there so . . .

The thought didn't exactly reassure her.

"Who's is this?" Scorpian bent down, sniffing at it carefully as if it would jump out and attack. The ruby liquid felt like a disease on her talons, on she desperately wanted off her.

Simultaneously, the four of them lifted their heads, surveying the earth around them. For obvious reasons, Candy hadn't noticed it in the storm. Spread over the jolty surface, turning the deep brown color to mahogany, was blood. Pooled in especially deep crevices and leaking down tall peaks. It took everything in her not to throw up.

Candy didn't have to look at herself to know that she'd turned a dull white. None of the dragons spoke for a moment, letting the sight soak into their thoughts and fears.

"There was a battle here," Night said solemnly.

"Recently. This blood is fresh," Silver added.

"Can we please just get out of here?" Candy looked longingly towards the sky above, ignoring the ache in her wings. Silver still wheezed with every inhale and exhale.

"Yeah . . . let's-"

"Where are the bodies?" Night was wrapped up in his own mind, consumed for the moment in his thoughts. His observation made everything worse - although Candy didn't know how that was possible.

She shuddered from tail to wingtip. The blood that stained her talons seemed to leak beneath her scales, all the way to her soul as if it was taunting her.

"Night, please," he perked up at the sound of his name. She'd snapped him back to the present. He glanced at the sky, then to Silver.

"Will it be easier to walk, Silver?"

The bigger dragon nodded.

"Then we'll take the forest, come on," he carefully made his way over the jagged surface in the direction of the forest.

Feeling the grass under her talons, Candy was able to relax slightly. Wiping it clean definitely helped. But the moment her wings drooped a little, the sight of the bloody ground popped back into her head along with a sharp stab of a headache.

For some reason, she felt slightly guilty, wishing she wasn't a princess, and that she'd grown up just like any other dragon shifter, and suffered the same as everyone else. But I didn't, she thought ruefully.

She took a deep breath, following the others into the forest. It was much denser here, with less sunlight as the leaves packed together, fighting each over for sunlight.

After walking for a while, Candy finally decided to speak.

"Night?"

He glanced over his shoulder, seemingly calmer than before. Don't ask it. Don't ask it. Don't ask it. It won't be worth it and you'll find out ev-

"What did I say to make you so angry, in the sky above the ocean?"

She was afraid he'd get all mad again, and his spines would bristle and he'd blow fire at her or something, but instead, he simply sighed. It was the sigh that told more than most words. The one that told of heartbreak and tears and pain, the fact that he'd carried the burden of something terrible for a long time all alone. And worst of all, the weight that it left on its users.

"I'm sorry about that, Candy. I just . . ."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Something told her he wanted to say, "you didn't know your parents. Not like I did." Wait, why would I ever think those exact words? Do I know something? Deep down?

It was a painfully confusing thought, so she put it aside to keep her sanity in this stretch of the forest.

"Your parents . . ." Here he goes. For some reason, he glanced at the twins, who looked at each other at the same time. Candy's mind flashed to their story. Their words. Something about the queen and king hating their kind. Our kind, she corrected herself. "Do you really believe they were good rulers?" Now that she was thinking about it, Candy had never known how her parent's had ruled. Night pushed deeper, jarring her with his words. "Good parents?"

Candy stared down at her talons, mostly to avoid the inquisitive stares of her friends. Without really thinking about it, she shook her head. As much as she'd missed her parents when she'd found out about them . . . the little fire inside her was still there, waiting to become a sea of flames. Much good it did her though.

They continued on in silence, the sound of the forest creatures humming around them. Candy saw a deer and some bunnies here and there, but she wasn't hungry.

She was looking down, lost in thought, so she didn't realize that they'd stopped and bumped into Scorpian's tail.

"Sorry," when she looked at the Sandskink however, Scorpian's focus was on something else, her big ears pressed forward, and her frills flared outward. "What . . . what is it?"

"Nothing, let's just keep going," despite her words, Candy saw the cautiousness in her friend's form and expression. They walked a little forward, then without warning Scorpian hissed, about to shout a warning, but it was too late. For a terrifying moment, Candy's surroundings melted into a blur of tan, green, and black.

Then she was suddenly hanging in the air.

It took a moment for the pieces to fall together in her head until she realized she was hanging in the air, in a chainmail net.

PERFECT!

She roared in her head. The four of them were squished together in the net, thinking over all the ways they could possibly escape.

"What do we do?" Candy tried to twist into a more comfortable position, only making them all more uncomfortable. Her snout was pressed against the net at the bottom of it, her neck twisted painfully around so that her legs pointed to her left and her wings, tail, and the rest of her body were squeezed against the others.

They each took turns (some at the same time) trying to get in a comfortable position, but most of the time, it only made things worse for all of them.

"Scorpian, you saw this coming. Tell me-"

"I did not see this coming! I just thought I saw the construction of it," she hissed to Night - and the other two just for the record. 

"Congratulations, you were right," Night didn't try to hide his words. Candy assumed by the direction of his voice that his head was somewhere above the others. It felt strange to Candy to fell the others' scales on top of hers. Scorpian and Silver had warm scales, easily heated by the sun, and quick to catch heat, (Silver's were especially hard to the touch) but Night's were more close to Candy's.

Scorpian growled at him - Candy had a feeling her frills were flared, and she could feel her back bristling - a motion that vibrated through the others in an especially strange and somewhat unpleasant way.

"Guys," Silver cut in, trying one more time to shift his position, to no avail. "You really want to be fighting while we literally couldn't be any closer?"

Candy was thankful for him doing something. The other two just snorted out smoke in resentful agreement.

None of them tried turning into their human forms, already knowing it'd get them nowhere. It might even make things worse, especially if the human one of them was crushed and killed by the weight of the dragons.

A bunny hopped by, right under them as if it was taunting them. They could feel whenever someone's stomach growled. It was mostly Silver's stomach that rumbled. Despite what she'd heard in the stories, friends did not grow closer in situations like this. In fact, Candy was sure it pushed them - figuratively, unfortunately - farther apart.

They each tried to get free, only making things worse by struggling against the chainmail net. Finally, they gave up, waiting for their captor to come and get free by them.

After a few timeless hours, Scorpian spoke. 

"Silver and I never had a real home," she spoke softly, but her words drew all of their attention with a quiet kind of aggression.

"What? I thought you said . . ." Candy thought about Trust - their adoptive mother. She both felt and heard her sigh.

"She wasn't . . . Trust was a war captain. In other words, she loved us more as soldiers than anything."

"We practically grew up on the battlefield. She did protect us, but . . ." Silver finished for his sister, his voice just as gentle as hers.

"I'm so sorry," Candy was at a loss for words. She didn't think any of them could see her very well, but she let a deep blue run through her scales anyway. The twins seemed to be in a sort of daze. Candy realized it must feel good to finally tell someone.

"When I told you we were hunting with her, and that's how we got caught . . . well, the truth is, we were fighting in a battle, and it wasn't in Emerald forest," she sighed again, this time a little bigger. "That's the battle she- the battle we lost her in. She'd gone. So we fought for her, I think it was more for revenge than anything, honestly. Anyway, that's when the guards found us and trapped us."

They didn't say anything else, the momentary silence good enough. Candy was positive they knew that she and Night stood for them, even if they didn't say anything.

"I - I'm sorry for being a princess," since they were all sharing deep truths now, why shouldn't she?

"Don't be! It's not like you chose to be or anything."

"Thanks, but I mean, I wish I never was a princess. I wish I'd grown up in the hard and impossible life - like you guys," she felt like she was nudging someone, but she wasn't sure who. Night, maybe? 

Night inhaled to say something - they could all feel it - but a sharp and sudden sound pulled their attention with it. Mostly all they could do about it was listen, except Silver, who was facing the direction it had come from.

"Silver, what do you see!?" Scorpian asked harshly, in an attempt at a whisper. Candy could feel their breathing pick up, along with her own. Whoever was right by her underbelly, she could even fell their heart beating, almost matching the pace of hers.

A stick cracked then a branch was moved, then a few more stick pops, then Silver growled, his rumble slightly rattling Candy's bones. A laugh, quick and chirpy emerged from the direction of all the noise.

"What's wrong, little Sandskink? Are you in need of help?"

Candy opened her mouth, letting the scents of the forest swarm inside. She could smell the speaker's scent - a dragon for sure.

"What do you want?" he snarled, trying to move again and squishing Candy against the net in the process. She really wished she could see what he did, or at least be in his position rather than being slowly crushed by the three of them. Silver's weighted scales didn't help. 

There was that itchy laugh again - the one that made Candy want to rip her ears off.

"I wouldn't test me, hatchling. Especially seeing as I'm the one who set that trap in the first place."

"Well you lost your deer so, cut us loose," Night sounded slightly strained, making the same mistake Silver did by trying to twist into a comfortable position. More sticks cracked beneath the stranger's talons as she walked around to the other side of the net to see the others. She laughed again the moment she saw them. 

Candy got a good look at her now, mostly her lower half but if she really strained her eyes she saw her whole body. She was a large, thickly built dragon, black all over with splotches of dull orange dancing over her scales. Her snout was especially stunted, but it looked like it was meant to be that way.

What kind of dragon is that?

"What's a Gilawing doing all the way out here?" Night growled, subtly helping Candy out. So she's a Gilawing. Okay.

The dragon smiled, a strange thing to see on her cruel, stunted snout. She ignored his question, almost tilting her head at them in a twisted kind of pity.

"As I said, I'm the one who set the trap, but believe me when I tell you," she glanced at pointedly at Night with a smirk, "It wasn't for deer."

She let it sink in for a moment before continuing.

"No, I've gotten just what I asked for."

Great. Trapped again. Without any hope of escape, no less, Candy - forgetting the same mistake her friends had made already - tried twisting to get comfortable. Or to at least come off less vulnerable and helpless, the very two words that described how she felt. At least Silver's head was in the air, where her head should be.

"What? Are you telling me you asked for four dragons of exactly our appearances?"

A different smile came across the Gilawing's face. One that told Candy she was all too happy Night had asked the question.

"No. I asked for a group of hatchlings who would seem just pitiful, and helpless enough for bait," without another word, she swiveled around, walking back under the net, out of Candy's view. Candy was so angry at her words, she thought she might explode into flames.

Pitiful hatchlings!? We might be stuck, but that doesn't mean we're pitiful!

She wriggled in her place, determined to show the Gilawing she was the exact opposite of her painful words. The Gilawing's voice sounded in the direction they'd first heard it, startling everyone but Silver.

"Now, seeing as we've run out of tranquilizer darts, and it will be impossible to get you where I want in that net, I'll make things easy for all of us."

After a few minutes, there was a large, wheeled wagon directly beneath the net; its top opened like a box to reveal the empty, less-than-spacious inside.

All four dragons - inside the net - blew angry fire at anything near them, determined to get the Gilawing or her workers. Just as she was preparing to cut the net free, Night spoke, confidently and in a sure-of-himself way.

"Wait, I know you," The Gilawing paused, her talon hovering over the rope that held them up. She smiled at Night expectantly. "You - you rule a village not too far from here. You're Queen Glade, aren't you?"

The Gilawing smiled with a tilt of her head in approval.

"As true as that is, flattery won't get you anywhere. If you really know where I'm from, you know I'm not a queen. Not by a long stretch," she muttered the last part, but not quietly enough. Without warning, she sliced down, cutting the rope clean in half. 

For one, anticipatingly painful millisecond, the net hung in the air. Then it dropped and fresh pain blossomed anywhere something touched Candy.

She roared and hissed, clawing at the chainmail net. It was suddenly yanked out from under them, scratching their scales as it went. The roof was closed over their heads by the time they realized the net had just been pulled away.