The Silken Seer

Chapter 10

Queen Wasp was possibly the most terrifying dragon Clearwing had ever met.

She'd only ever seen the queen once before, during one of her annual Nest visits. The teachers at Gossamer Academy had ushered all of the students outside and had them stand in a perfect line. Normally they'd never have been able to manage it — it was like trying to get actual butterflies to fly in a straight line — but with the threat of the queen coming to inspect them hanging over their heads, none of the dragonets had moved a muscle.

None of them, of course, except for Coal.

He'd complained the whole time, only snapping his mouth shut when Wasp leaned over him to glare with her fathomless black eyes. Clearwing had felt like one of the dragons from Misbehaver's Way, with paralyzing HiveWing toxin running through her veins. Wasp had spoken to the teachers about "properly disciplining and punishing mischievous dragonets" for hours.

For weeks afterwards, Clearwing had dreams (not prophetic dreams, she thought, she hoped) about the queen coming back and stabbing Coal through the chest.

Oh, she realized. That was the only time I've ever cried in my sleep.

She suddenly registered what that meant for her friend. She had cried in her sleep while she was dreaming of the future.

Oh no.

I'm sorry I can't help you, Coal.

The HiveWings had marched her up and out of the dungeon, through the halls of Queen Wasp's mansion, and finally into her throne room. The yellow-and-black-striped dragoness sat atop a dias, two HiveWing servants (not SilkWings) fanning her. Probably because, even after all this time ruling over the two tribes, she still only trusted her own dragons fully.

It was like in a dream. Clearwing blinked, startled.

Suddenly the room was crawling with vines. They grew up the walls and across the floor and tethered the queen to every HiveWing in the room, and probably the entire world. She herself was being strangled, but she didn't even seem to notice. The dragonet blinked and the vision ended.

"So," the queen said, "you're the one who took my flamesilks?"

All the words Clearwing wanted to say caught in her throat. She sat there, in silence, her blue eyes wide.

There was a long, painful silence as Clearwing's stomach twisted into knots.

"Yes," she finally choked out. She almost stepped on her own tail for saying that, but the queen was still pinning her to the spot with her gaze. Clearwing had just sealed her fate with less than a syllable.

To her surprise, Wasp didn't kill her right then and there. "I'll let you live, but only because you brought my weapon with you." Panic surged through Clearwing's veins, but she still couldn't move a muscle.

Oh no. No, no, not Coal. He's not a weapon! He's a dragon, just like you or me. Her eyes met the HiveWing queen's. Okay, maybe not like you. But she still couldn't say any of that out loud. She just lowered her gaze back to the floor beneath Wasp's talons.

"Don't you have something to say about that, SilkWing?"

She gritted her teeth, claws curling and digging into the polished wood floor. Something sparked in her chest.

"He's not a weapon," she growled, surprising herself once again. "He's my friend. Hurt him or use him like one of your HiveWing puppets, and you'll have me to deal with."

Dragon of chaos, tangling the webs.... Too many eyes and too many threads, the voice mused. That was never Clearsight.

That was you.

The queen let out a startled laugh. "You think you stand a chance against me? And the entire HiveWing tribe? And your supposed friend?"

Clearwing lifted her gaze.

"I said don't."

"Make me."

"Your Majesty!" a guard came running in suddenly, his wing badly torn. "The other prisoner! He's escaping!"

"Impossible," Queen Wasp hissed. She flicked her tail at the guards holding Clearwing. "Take her back to her cell. I'll deal with the black one myself."

She rose up from the throne and stalked out of the room. All of the HiveWings other than the two with Clearwing followed her, their eyes the color of pearls and snakeskins.

She and the HiveWings watched silently as the final black-and-yellow striped tail disappeared around a corner.

Finally her guards started moving again, and Clearwing let out a roar, slamming her tail into one of their faces. He let out a yelp and bumped into the other HiveWing.

These were obviously not the dragons that knocked out Coal.

Clearwing spread her new (and massive) wings, leaping awkwardly into the air and landing squarely on the second guard's back. She knocked over the first guard, and Clearwing lept back off of her, shooting her dark silk out of her wrists and wrapping them up. Then she bolted from the throne room. She needed to get out of here, fast.

Tightly pressing her wings to her sides, she continued running through the halls, startling many of the SilkWing servants who were wandering around, muttering about "whole-Hive commands" or what have you. Clearwing didn't have time to stop and form their stories first; besides, she could probably guess that Wasp had rounded up all of her Hive to chase after Coal.

Finally the SilkWing dragonet reached sunlight; a large hole that was probably supposed to be a doorway opened up to the outside in front of her. She darted out into the sunlight, spreading her wings.

She was standing on one of the silk bridges between the Hives; this one, if her memory was working properly, led to Jewel Hive.

She took off into a run, hoping no one would notice a SilkWing with nearly-black wings sprinting across the silk bridge as though her tail was on fire.

Finally, after what felt like days of running but was probably less than an hour, she sank her claws into the treestuff floor of Jewel Hive. She looked down into the Glitterbaazar below, full of dragons covered in sparkles and jewelry, buying new capes and necklaces and headdresses. Clearwing sighed, but a spark of hope had ignited in her chest.

It was time to prepare for the rescue.