Wings of Honor: Bad Moon Rising

Chaptwr 9: Day Of Dual Destinies

Grace's POV

"I should go." Moon said as Kinkajou returned with banana still on her face.
"No!" The Rainwing cried. "We're eating together! You haven't even finished your hairy, smelly, carcass thing! Sit!" She pushed Moon back to sitting. "Just for five minutes?" she begged. Moon wanted to argue, but she saw the hint of anxiety that was in her mind. Don't leave me alone, please stay and be my best friend. That, none of us could resist. I wanted to run over and give Kinkajou a hug.
Maybe later Grace.
"Sure, OK." Moon answered, and was rewarded with glowing pink scales.
"Can you tone that down?" Umber, a Mudwing and one of Clay's brothers, asked Kinkajou. As he and Turtle joined them, each carrying a fish. "I mean, it's a very exciting color that I can't say I've ever seen before, but it's a little —"
"Bright," suggested Turtle.
"Noticeable?" tried Umber.
"Eyeball-scorching," offered Qibli.
"This happens when I'm happy," Kinkajou said, not in the slightest offended. "But if you'd prefer something more sedate —" She faded to a vibrant shade of lime green splashed with violet spots. Moon nearly choked on her goat. I had to look away from the sudden brightness.
"Aaaah!" Qibli yelped, covering his eyes.
"I don't actually know you," Umber said to the bright Rainwing. "You might be totally serious right now."
"No, I'm just kidding," Kinkajou said with a giggle, bumping Moon's side. "I can be totally ordinary and boring, don't worry." She shifted her colors again, waves rippling to the same quiet brown as Umber's, and she gave him a large-eyed, "see? boring" look.
"Boring hasn't exactly made it onto my list of words to describe you," Moon said. Not even considering she only used her mind reading, but was protected by context. Suddenly, a bright, icy cold mind entered my field of view.
"Winter!" Kinkajou shouted.
The IceWing paused in the act of sweeping majestically past them. "Yes?" he said coldly to Kinkajou.
"Don't you want to sit with us?" Kinkajou asked. Not at all intimidated. "I mean, since we're your winglet now, and everything." A wave of ice blue shimmered across her scales before vanishing. Moon tried and failed to stuff all the dreamy thoughts from Kinkajou's head into a raindrop. Her bubbly thoughts contrasted to Winter's cold mind.
Winter looked down his snout at the RainWing. "Absolutely not," he said, and stalked away toward another IceWing, Icicle, his sister, perched on a ledge slightly above the rest of the dragons.
"He's so tortured," Kinkajou sighed happily.
"You're a little weird," Moon pointed out.
Yeah. A little.
No she's not. We're all just... different. Came Marvin to clarify.
Kinkajou was about to reply when a hush fell over the cave.
Uh oh. Here comes trouble. I felt a shiver run from Marvin.
All the dragons twisted around and saw a small grey and white SeaWing, Anemone, pace slowly through the door with her head held high, followed by a thin, quiet-looking SandWing. Everyone's minds were thinking of one thing: The SeaWing princess.
Her attitude slightly threw me off.
"Oh, thank the moons," Anemone said, spotting the net of fish, her voice as clear and high as the more shriller birds in the Jungle. "I haven't eaten since we left Queen Moorhen's palace yesterday."
She stepped delicately around a SandWing who was chewing something on the floor to survey the few small fish that hadn't been claimed yet. A number of MudWings, SeaWings, and SkyWings were clustered nearby, various brown and green and red scales side by side as they ate.
"Hmmm. I'd like that one," Anemone said suspiciously sweetly. She pointed at a giant gray fish with a pale, speckled pink belly. A salmon, from Marvin's memory. A NightWing — the one Moon didn't know — Bigtail, I think his name is, already had his claws around the fish, and was lifting it to his mouth/muzzle to eat it. However, he paused and stared blankly at Anemone. Anemone just gazed back innocently, with her chin raised.
The entitled little—
"Uh." Said Bigtail. "This one?"
"That one," said Anemone. "It's my favorite kind."
"This one that I'm eating?" he said.
"You heard her," snapped her SeaWing escort. Pike, he was a secret guard for Anemone sent by Queen Coral. He was on the skinny side, but almost as big as Bigtail, had combat training, and who had quite hostile thoughts. Moon recognized him from a scuffle yesterday.
"But ... I'm eating this one." Bigtail said in a tone of deep confusion, and trailing softness.
"Oh, but I would like it very much." said Anemone, in not at all an order-suggestion.
"Anemone —" Tsunami appeared and tried to interrupt, stepping forward.
"Don't you know this is the SeaWing princess?" Pike snarled. He shoved himself into Bigtail's face, then flexed his webbed talons in a "give it to me" motion. "The heir to the throne! Give her the fish. Now."
"Uh —" Bigtail mumbled in confusion. She's not my princess, though. His brain mumbled.
At least show some respect. I'm sure there's other salmons.
There isn't. I saw.
Oh. Then, you're not being nice to me. I'm sorry but no.
I smirked. Clay hurriedly limped over from the other side of the room. A tense silence had drifted over the room, specifically Pike, Anemone, and Bigtail. They had everyone's, but the attention of the oblivious RainWing Coconut, who was currently obsessed with his bundle of grapes.
"Hey, this is an understandable mistake." Clay tried to defuse the situation, gently scooting Bigtail away from Pike, to Bigtail's hilarious face. "We haven't posted any prey center rules yet, but we will. Basically whoever gets their claws on it first, they get to eat it. If we find that doesn't work, we'll revisit the rules in a couple of weeks. But that's how it is right now. All right?"
Pike scowled with a low growl. "But the princess wants that fish!"
This one's going to be trouble. Clay thought. He sighed.
"I do," Anemone agreed with Pike's demand. She looked up at Clay with large blue eyes. Eyes that were spoiled and stunk of expectation. "Mother would want me to have it." Tsunami recoiled imperceptibly in understanding.
"There's lots of other fish," Clay tried to compromise, "and you're welcome to join us in the evening when we go out to catch more in one of the mountain lakes."
"That'll be fun," Tsunami said, elbowing her sister. "I'll come, too. There are some awesome lakes I want to show you, not far from here."
Anemone blinked. She looked from Clay to Tsunami, and then narrowed her eyes at Bigtail, who was starting to chew on her fish's tail.
So that's how it's going to be? I don't like this at ALL! Anemone thought, but she more diplomatically said, "Oh. Very well."
Moon noticed how the unreadable Turtle had a small smile across his face, before quickly returning to contentment. That Turtle, he's a real mystery.
Suddenly, I saw an opportunity. Pike had gone back to the fish pile.
Turn that fish into a large, fresh salmon, in all respects.
I saw one of the fish blur and morph into a fresh, pink salmon. Pike quickly spotted it and nabbed it, returning back to the site.
"You can have my fish, princess," Pike said, handing her the salmon that he'd already started slicing lengthwise with his claws.
Anemone looked down her snout at it, then shook her head. "I'm not actually that hungry after all. Come on, Ostrich." She swept out of the cave, deliberately avoiding Clay. The SandWing behind her glanced around, thinking disappointed hungry thoughts, but hurried after the princess.
Pike hissed at the belligerent NightWing. "You'll pay for this, Bigtail," he snarled at him. "Nobody disrespects the SeaWing princess."
"Time to cool down, Pike," Tsunami said sternly.
Pike hissed again, but slunk off with his salmon.
Careful Grace. I saw what you did there. Appeasement will quickly spawn expectation. Expectation can grow into guilt. And then you'll be indebted to someone for something forever.
Really? Just for a fish?
The smallest things are always the biggest problems. Marvin shrugged
Now, after covering some business with Tsunami, Clay began walking towards the Jade Winglet group. Umber lit up with positive hopes as Clay limped over to them.
"Hey!" Clay said in a warm voice, as he nudged his little brother. "Where are Marsh and Sora?"
"Coming over now." Umber said, while waving his wings to get their attention.
I looked around my corner and saw the two approaching. Sora seemed subdued, and Marsh was more fidgety than Private Gosling.
Poor Sora.
Her mind was a jumbled mess of small scraps of thoughts.
Like a jigsaw puzzle thrown across the floor.
Are we safe; miss Reed; I saw her; can't sleep; not safe anywhere; oh, Crane, I wish you were here.
The broken MudWing took a deep breath, then started some sort of ritual. Wait! The same mud ritual I saw last night. Drowning all her worries in mud, until the surface was only a smooth and peaceful swamp, with the occasional ripple and flinch from Sora.
She's like me, Moon thought.
While everyone here was nervous, considering the first day of school, Sora's was more deeper, to the point where she was almost prettified, and it concerned Marvin.
PTSD. Or maybe shell shock. Whatever it is, Sora's not right.
Moon also noticed her, how she wanted to escape school as much as she did.
Or at least, the way I wanted to escape yesterday. Now ... Well, guess I have to admit now I'm wondering if maybe my Mommy was right. Maybe school wasn't so terrible after all. Poor Sora. She needs a crazy, enthusiastic clawmate like Kinkajou to take care of her. Or maybe I can help her. Maybe because I know how scared she is — maybe I can make her feel better. Maybe that's one good thing I can do with my powers.
I smiled.
"This is my brother and sister," Umber said to the Jade Winglet. "Marsh is really fast — you should see him fly. And Sora knows everything; she's the only one who ever practiced her reading." He beamed at them both as if they were the most special, perfect dragons in the world. Clay agreed.
"Hey." Qibli greeted them, his mouth still half full with goat meat. He looked as though he wasn't paying any particular attention, but a part of him whispered, That's the MudWing sibling bond. Loyal like the Outclaws are to Thorn, probably more so. Wish I had a brother and sister I liked that much. Actually a brother and sister who didn't actively try to kill me every time they see me would be a dramatic improvement.
Before I could even comment on my own, Moon spoke up.
"I'm Moon, remember?" She said to Sora, trying to look and act friendly and nonthreatening. "Would you like some?" She held out goat leg.
Sora gave her a shy smile. "Thank you." She took the leg in her claws, tore it in half, and gave the other half to Marsh.
Woah. Forgot how strong dragons are.
Yeah, I could break your femur like a toothpick.
Don't... put that image in my mind.
I didn't, but I considered it now.
"Who's in your winglet?" Umber asked. "Marsh, you're in the Copper Winglet, right?"
"Yeah. That's my clawmate." Marsh answered, nodding over towards the oblivious RainWing, Coconut.
I'm willing to bet if I accidently uncloaked then recloaked right in front of him, he wouldn't even bat an eye.
Don't.
Ha, Qibli thought. That's perfect. Put the slowest, least threatening dragon in the world with the most nervous. Not even this twitchy MudWing could be scared of that sloth masquerading as a dragon over there.
Marsh looked around, twiddling his claws nervously. "I don't remember the other names yet."
"That's all right, you'll figure them out. Sora?" Clay backed up his sister. "Anyone really nice?"
She fiddled with the meat in her talons, pulling out tufts of fur. "There's a RainWing in my winglet who seems nice — she's blind."
"Tamarin!" Kinkajou cried, suddenly filling my head with colorful memories. "Oh, you must be in the Gold Winglet. She's my best friend!"
Moon was unhurt by her remark. She figured Kinkajou, of all dragons, would have other best friends. I chuckled when Moon guessed she would have six more by the end of lunchtime.
"A SandWing named Onyx," Sora said, counting on her claws.
Onyx? Onyx! Why does that name sound familiar?
Wasn't that the SandWing with Anemone? No.
I don't know. I don't know anyone outside the Jade Winglet, Grace.
I rolled my eyes.
"That SeaWing over there, Pike. His clawmates: a NightWing called Bigtail, and a SkyWing with a bad scar across his snout."
Flame. The one other I know outside of the Jade Winglet.
I cracked up. Then hushed at the bad context.
"And my clawmate." She nodded at the far wall, at the IceWing seated on the ledge next to Winter. Icicle. They were both gazing disdainfully down at the eating dragons. Above them, and all over the roof honestly, sharp, twisting stalactites studded the roof of the alcove where they sat.
I would be nervous as hell sitting under there. Sure, it looks cool. But they could be sabotaged quite easily. Just a knock, and you could skewer somebody.
A bad memory of Marvin flashed through our link, before he beat it into submission with a broom, like it was a spider.
"Winter's sister?" Qibli asked. I knew already he was already trying to create a bromance with Winter. They had a thing for ticking each other off. "Then you and I are in the same tent, friend. Is she as stuck-up as her brother? Has she mentioned being in line for the IceWing throne yet?"
Sora blinked at the perched IceWings. Ripples shuddered across the mud puddles in her mind, but she refused to let whatever was under there escape. "Her name is Icicle."
Woah. Marvin suddenly said.
Woah what?
That look. I've seen that look. That's the Wessly look.
Wessly? You mean your deranged sniper?
Wessly is not deranged, Grace. He's just... got a personal vendetta against the Axis. But-that's-besides-the-point, Sora has that look. That look of death. Keep an eye on her. She's convicted to kill somebody.
Icicle. That what she said, that's when there were ripples.
So that's her target. Keep close eyes on her.
"To be honest," Clay admitted, "from what we'd heard about Icicle, we figured we had to put her in the same cave as the nicest, least offensive dragon we could think of, so there wouldn't be any casualties the first week of school. I hope it's going all right, Sora."
She dropped her gaze to her claws. "It's fine," Sora said.
No, that's not fine. Sora's gonna kill Icicle the first chance she gets. She's bunked with her. She literally only has to wait until tonight to kill her, if she's smart. She'll likely make a move before than. From that look, this is personal.
I shivered.
"Let me know if not," Clay said warmly. "It's really important to me that you be happy here."
That's kind of down the drain at this moment.
Stop thinking so negatively Marvin!
I'm just being a realist Grace.
Yeah? At least be a positive realist.
Sora nodded at Clay, thinking of her brothers and sisters.
"Don't we have history together next?" Turtle asked. "Our winglet and your winglet together?"
"Do we?" Umber said, suddenly delighted.
"I think so," Qibli said. But I could see that he already had the day's schedule memorized, plus a detailed layout of the school map in his head. But he was pretending to still be figuring things out with the rest of them. Trying to be more relatable that Qibli.
"I have to go to the library first," Moon suddenly said to Kinkajou. "But I'll catch up to you." She stood up and paused, listening to the uneasy rippling quiet in Sora's mind. "Um ... do you want to come with me?" she asked Sora.
The MudWing blinked at her in surprise. "I do," she said, standing up. As they headed out of the prey center together, we could hear the reactions stirring behind them.
That was nice of Moon. Umber thought.
Aw, maybe they'll be friends. Went through the limping Mudwing's mind.
Does she like her better than me? Kinkajou thought forlornly.
Of course not.
My boring little clawmate with a NightWing? came an icy thought from an elevated corner across the cave. What's that all about?
I felt Marvin pat me.
Follow Moon and Sora. Keep your distance though.
Okay.
Hugging the wall, I slipped past two walking SandWings as they went to get another meal. We quickly caught up with Moon. She was busy trying to concentrate on raindrops, until she realized they were halfway to the library and they haven't said a single word.
"Um," Moon broke the silence. "The library is great, isn't it?"
Sora nodded.
"I like the leaf windows," Moon added.
Sora nodded again.
"Me too," she whispered.
Is this what I seem like to everyone else? Moon wondered. Shy and really hard to talk to? Maybe I should try a little harder. It's easy to talk to my mystery friend ... but I don't have to hide anything from him. I guess I couldn't, even if I wanted to.
You poor tortured soul Moon. I wish I could go and give you a hug.
All in good time.
The first thing I noticed about Starflight, wasn't that he had a piece of cloth around his eyes.
He's blind?
Yeah. Wounded in a volcano. Really sad story, I'll tell you later.
He sat up from behind his desk as we all stepped in. He set aside like a long, flat piece of stone with some letters carved into it. "Hello?" He asked tentatively.
"It's Moon and Sora," Moon announced.
"Oh, hi," he said, not quite relaxing. I think I heard three set of footsteps. Sending a hot flash through me and Marvin, but he thankfully dismissed it as a passing student. "Sora, I found that scroll on IceWings for you." He slid a scroll across the desk with his claws, definitely grabbing Marvin's attention.
Sora glanced at Moon, ducked her head, and mumbled something along the lines of "Figuring out my clawmate." She took the scroll and scurried over to her spot by the windows.
That's pretty sus.
"How are you, Moon?" Starflight asked. "How was class this morning?"
Terrifying. "All right — interesting," she said. "Do you have any scrolls about dreamvisitors?"
He tipped his head, frowning a little. "I'm sure we do. Why? You didn't — I mean, you haven't been visited by someone, have you?"
Not her specifically.
"I'm just curious." Moon answered quickly. "Someone mentioned them, um, in class, and I don't know anything about them."
Nice save.
Starflight slid out from behind the desk and started walking along the shelves, touching carvings here and there. "If you ever do see a strange dragon in your dreams, let me know, all right? Especially if she's a SkyWing."
A viciously scary orange dragon dressed in dark smoke flashed through his mind. Nobody we knew.
"A SkyWing?" Moon said alertly. "Why?"
Starflight sighed. "Queen Scarlet — ex-Queen Scarlet is out there with a dreamvisitor, and she hates us. I worry sometimes that she'll start scaring our students in their dreams." And that's far from the worst she could do. He thought anxiously.
That's not bad. Bad for us, but that's pretty smart to do.
"How did she get her dreamvisitor?" Moon asked.
"We're not entirely sure," Starflight said. He tilted his wings back and scratched his head. "She must have found it while she was imprisoned in Burn's weirdling tower, and Burn must not have known it was there. My theory is that Scarlet found it in or on this NightWing dragon corpse she disemboweled, somehow."
Disemboweled? What's that?
DO NOT SEARCH FOR THAT! Bad. Very bad. Muy mal. Just... don't.
What!
It's where they take out your gastrointestinal tract. They rip out your guts.
Eww!
Yeah.
"Oh." Moon said, not at all scared. "Does anyone know where the other two dreamvisitors are?"
To her and my surprise, Starflight nodded. "We know one for sure — it's right here in the school. I think Sunny has it this week. She got it from a scavenger, who stole it from the SandWings. And we're pretty sure the other dreamvisitor was lost in the volcano. I found it in the NightWing treasury, but someone stole it from me shortly before the island exploded."
Really? Marvin, you knew!
Yeah, I even got to use it. Really useful piece of equipment, even got dreamvisited by Moon once, but it does have its flaws. I'd rather use radios.
I see.
A list of reasons started flowing through his mind. Two way, broadcasting messages, while also maintaining private communication, better reception and range, less fiddley, doesn't require the recipient to be asleep.
"You don't know who?" Moon asked back.
Starflight shook his head, flashes of guilt ran through his mind. "Here." He brushed his talons across a section of the wall, and then pulled out a scroll, holding it for her. "This should be The Animus Histories. It's about several animus-touched objects, but the dreamvisitors definitely have a section in there."
"Thanks." Moon said. She wondered to last night. Could I have heard Queen Scarlet in someone's dream last night? Another awful thought followed that one. She hesitated — but she had to ask. "Could a dragon ever use a dreamvisitor to talk to someone while they're awake? I mean, like in their heads?"
Now Starflight looked really confused. "No, that wouldn't make sense," he said. "The way they're enchanted is to get into dreams, nothing else. Why do you ask?"
"Just a story I heard once," Moon answered.
I promise you, little Moon, I am no SkyWing.
The dark, lumbering voice of Darkstalker surprised us.
Then who ARE you? Moon thought back fiercely, but to no answer. She took the scroll over to a ledge by the biggest leaf window and curled up leaning against a wall covered in cloths with pretty pictures all over them.
I took the opportunity to look at Sora. She was reading her book on IceWings, trying to decipher something. I felt Marvin slide down from my back.
Keep an eye on Moon. I'll watch Sora. Don't get too close, stay vigilant.
Of course.
Normally, I would be interested in books that would include stuff like animus touched stuff, and some of it was really cool! Like the Seawing Summer Palace. Like... that would be an amazing feat! If only Albatross didn't kill half his family as a result of that. And also Darkstalker. How Fathom discovered he was an animus, and was sent to help guide Darkstalker. And the whole purpose behind the dreamvisitors. Like how Marvin said, they couldn't beat radio, but it was still a really cool idea. Moon didn't want to give up any dreamvisitors if she had any, but If I could, I would immediately give one to Marvin. We get eachother, and he can think his way out of a whole bunch of situations. And maybe one to Kish or McManus. They're strong leaders and they know what they're doing, they could probably help me if something bad happens. The rest was hyping up Darkstalker. It's not like I already saw in Marvin's mind how big of a threat he is. What startled me was his sudden commanding voice to Moon.
Read the section on Fathom.
On Fathom? Why? To find out what he did with his dreamvisitor?
I noticed Sora shifted, but kept her eyes to her scroll, still drowning out her thoughts in mud and words.
Just read it.
His voice sounded cracked. An emotion I couldn't discern. Moon compared it to an egg shuddering just before it cracked. I found a similar sound, my egg when I hatched in Marvin's memory. It was kind of similar.
What do you know about Fathom that I don't? Moon wondered as she navigated the scroll.
Apparently something worth giving an order to you Moon.
I payed close attention now. Ya-da-ya-da-ya-da, traumatized by massacre... sha-sha-sha, sent to befriend Darkstalker... could convince his powers were dangerous, sounded warning. Wait. Used his power just once? "To enchant an object that could stop Darkstalker, since nothing and nobody else could. Whatever the object was, it must have worked, as Darkstalker disappeared and was never seen again." I mumbled silently to myself.
How sad, Moon thought, studying the picture of a worried-looking SeaWing that resembled Turtle in a few ways. He must have felt awful, doing that to his friend. I wonder what he enchanted.
There was a moment of silence. Then, it felt as if an earthquake rumbled Jade Mountain.
It was a bracelet. He said, softly and barely intelligible.
Moon blinked. What?
A bracelet. A wrist cuff. Enchanted to put me to sleep forever. Since I
couldn't die — that story about making myself immortal is true — they had to come up with something else.
Moon felt a sweeping numbness, like ice swept across her scales. I felt cold all over. As if the darkness of the world was trying to push out the light I had inside me.
I knew it, Darkstalker went on. I knew when she pulled it out — right before she put it on me, I thought, Fathom must have touched that. He broke his sacred oath to his sister, just to betray me. But I wasn't sure until now.
What are you saying? Moon asked, drawing ridge lines into the stone below her with her claws.
I'm saying, nice to meet you, Moon. My name is Darkstalker.
I gasped as quietly as I could.
She knows.