Rainbows In The Dark

Chapter 23

Comethunter

The five dragons flew closer toward the peninsula.

They dove over the mountains. He nearly fell out of the sky when he felt the sting, beating his wings to stay afloat.

"What are you-ACK!" Lavender yelped, nearly bowling into a falcon out of the air.

The three dragonets had less of a reaction to it, but still seem startled by whatever had happened.

"What was that?" Stingray said, looking around her.

"Animus magic, maybe?" Fennec suggested.

Oleander didn't say anything but moved closer to Fennec, which Lavender obviously didn't like.

A feeling of horror and amazement shot through Comet as he saw the Old Nightwing Kingdom ahead.

Surrounding the kingdom was old ruins of an ancient city, but the palace stood with lights surrounding it, even more advanced than the Skywing kingdom.

Bright lights shined from the windows are the winged down to a hill. Lavender landed in between Fennec and Oleander, shooting the Sandwing a murderous glare that he tried to ignore.

"This looks a lot different than I thought." Oleander said. "Mother sends expeditions here everyone few months, but I'd never thought there would be anyone who..."

Fennec looked at her with a sympathetic glance and Lavender suddenly became a quiet seething ball of flames.

"One of us should sneak inside." Oleander said suddenly. "If we can, then we should be able to find out what their hiding in there."

"I think I'll sit this one out." Stingray volunteered, even when she wasn't using them, her fluorescent scales glowed in the dark.

Lavender thought for a moment. "It would have to be someone sneaky. There were Sandwings and Nightwings who kept us guard, so that narrows it down. We have three options."

"There's no way we're sending Oleander in there." Fennec said forcefully.

Lavender gave him an amused look. "I was talking about myself."

"Though I am perfectly capable of sneaking around." Oleander said, that determined streak from her mother showing.

"I'm not the best at this kinda stuff." Fennec said. "I grew up in a more... outspoken type family."

Oleander twined her tail around Fennec's when Lavender turned around.

"I could only go in with my natural abilities. So that means no spears or blow darts..." She frowned. "Then that means we should send in the most sneaky lowlife in our group. A dragon who is so despicable he could fit in with the worst criminals, a dragon who is just a straight-up sneak."

Everyone turned to look at Comet.

"Ouch." He said, looking away from them.

"Yo, my bro." Comet said to the guards as he passed them.

The guards nodded at him and let him by.

"Well, that was easy." He thought.

Comethunter continued through the paths of the hall. He noticed a plaza up above with lights and many dragons moving around inside.

"That should be interesting." He said. "I might find something."

He walked up the stairs until he reached the open ballroom. On the platform, a tall, evil, Seawing waited by the band as though he could throw everything away without a second thought.

It wasn't like you could look at someone and say their evil, but this guy reeked bod mojo. Comet could practically feel his nose twitch.

A bell ringed across the room and the band fell silent, as did the dancing Nightwings,  Sandwings, and handful of Seawings.

The Seawing rose from the platform, spreading his wings and lighting a unique pattern on them.

"That's the royal pattern!" Comet thought. "Our supervillian is a prince? What else..."

From the corner, a bloody-orange dragon walked up the platform, his white underbelly outlining the bottom of his body.

"Ah, me and my big brain..." Comet swore in his head.

Squall faced the crowd, this time he had a visor on with lines of red lights on it.

A Nightwing stepped to their right and stepped on Comet's foot.

"Hey, careful." Comet whispered.

The Nightwing looked back and then his face was filled with relief. "Comet?"

Comet would recognize that voice anywhere. "Silver? What are you-"

"I would like to say that we must make an announcement!" The Seawing said.

Everyone quieted down and looked at him.

"We will be holding an execution here at the end of our party, someone here does not belong!"

Silver and Comet both exchanged a glance, ready to bolt.

The Seawing whipped his head around to Squall. "Squall! You must understand, a hybrid working with Seawings, Nightwings, and Sandwings? You belong to none of their tribes and none of them are hybrids."

Squall radiated fury. "Very well, there is not much I can do. However, I ask one thing: strike me down at exactly midnight."

The Seawing nodded as the Skywing-Icewing hybrid was cuffed. "I'll see you in an hour."

Murmurs echoed across the ball as the music kicked back up, but under all the noise, Silver and Comet managed to sneak out and fly past the guards as they were hidden by the night.