Lotus

Chapter 36

Sienna didn't offer any other explanation. She didn't have to. We already had a bad feeling about it, and it didn't help that the feeling got worse as we went closer to its source.

Though I wasn't sure if I wanted to see what was going on myself, I decided to go anyway, mainly because I couldn't let Gemini go on his own. Sienna was reluctant to leave her siblings, but Bemire convinced her that they would be alright. 

"Those two are going to need your help more than we do," he said.

Sienna just nodded, and told them to take care of themselves. We then took off, flying deeper into MudWing territory. The three of us stayed silent the whole time, a tense feeling hovering between us as we moved quickly through the air.

It wasn't long before we started hearing clamoring and shouting, which slowly started getting louder as we flew closer to the large crowd of dragons. The sick feeling in my stomach grew with the noise, making me almost want to throw up. We didn't have time for that, though, so I pushed the feeling down and focused on the situation in front of us.

It was hard to tell exactly how many dragons there were, but I could easily see that the MudWings, SkyWings, and IceWings were standing apart from one another. The groups weren't quite close enough to touch, but still close enough to keep whatever they were circled around in its place.

To get a better view, we found a small hill a little ways away and climbed up it. We peered over the tops of the dragons' heads, looking for what they were surrounding. I felt Gemini stiffen next to me, and Sienna took in a short breath. Then I saw what they were looking at.

It was Halcyon and Cassiopeia.

Halcyon was laying on the ground, barely moving. He was bleeding profusely, though it was hard to tell where the source of it was. Cassiopeia was hunched over him, clutching him close to her. She had tears streaming down her face, and she was whispering something to him.

I could barely breathe anymore. I tried to suck in any air, but it seemed like there was none left around me. My lungs started to feel like they were going to stop working completely when I felt some movement next to me.

"Gemini, no," said Sienna. He had started to move forward, but she pulled him back. "You could end up making things worse." He struggled against her grip, clearly ignoring her words. She then looked at me. "Kamala…"

I felt the air return to my throat again as I tried to help Sienna hold him back. "She's right, Gemini. You know she's right."

His eyes met mine, and I could see his pain in them. Seeing that almost made me want to let him go. However, after a moment, he stopped fighting us and turned back to the crowd, not saying anything.

I turned back towards the other dragons as well, my heart pounding loudly as I saw them start to fight one another. A SkyWing pushed back a MudWing after she started moving in on Cassiopeia. An IceWing clawed at a SkyWing for being too close to him. Others started shouting, trying to be heard over everyone else. Then, as a MudWing fell roughly to the ground, blood pouring out from the side of his head, pure chaos ensued.

I watched in horror as dragons were flung to the ground, blood and ice seeping everywhere. Screams of pain were like knives in my ears, but I couldn't get myself to move to cover them, as much as I wanted to. Both Gemini and Sienna were frozen in their places as well, shock and pain across their faces. Gemini then broke out of the stupor, calling out.

"Cassiopeia!!"

For a brief moment, I thought I saw a crimson head look up and towards us, her eyes widened. It was then lost in the sea of fighting dragons. Gemini must've seen it too, since he started pushing forward again. Sienna and I grabbed him and tried to keep him back, but it was no use. He pushed us aside and dove into the crowd.

Sienna and I looked at each other, and she nodded, knowing what I was silently asking her. We then took off after him, hoping that we wouldn't be too late.