Tempest Unleashed

Chapter 21: This Again?

When I woke up, the sleeping cave was empty other than the bedspreads, the bed niches, and me. I trotted over to Winter's cave to check on him, but there was no one in there. I checked Turtle and Umber's cave. Again, no one. Where did everyone go? I thought frantically. Did they go to class without me? Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind, and hissed in my ear, "No sudden moves, or you'll be the only SkyWing and the only Jade Winglet dragon left here." I growled, "What ... did you do ... with my friends?" The hissy voice laughed, a sound like a den full of snakes hissing and stopping over and over until the voice stopped laughing. When it finally did stop laughing, it replied, "You'll see." It dragged me into the shadows, where a metal cage was waiting for me. I thought furiously, Oh, COME ON, this again?! They threw me into the metal cage and slammed the door shut, locking it in the process. The hissy voice whispered, "Never mess with Prince Gannet, or else there will be consequences." I decided to play the oldest trick in the book, making my enemy feel bad about themselves. I thought, A little bit mean, but it should do the trick. I scoffed, "Where did you get all your lines, The Evil Mastermind's Guide to Evil?" I could clearly see the other dragons' shoulders shaking with laughter from that comment. I thought, If I keep this up, the other dragons will eventually burst with laughter and the Hissdragon should be humiliated enough to run away, as long as I don't make any mistakes. I continued, "I mean, seriously, 'Never mess with (insert name here), or there will be consequences.'? Come on, that's the oldest saying in there." The other dragon's cheeks were starting to puff up with air, ready to release it all in one laugh. One more, then I'm free. I finished loudly, "I mean, it's so old that it was here before Methusula was born!" The other dragons erupted with gales of laughter, and the Hissdragon ran away. Free! I thought triumphantly. I decided to tell a few jokes while I unlocked the cage. I told a few old jokes and I told a few jokes I'd made up on the spot. "Why'd the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide! What's a pirate's favorite elective in school? Aarrrrt!  What did the pirate say on his eightieth birthday? Aye, matey! (I'm eighty!)" The other dragons were still cackling when I finally unlocked the cage, opened it, and yelled over the gales of laughter, "That's all, folks! Thank you, and good night!" Suddenly, the other dragons stopped laughing, and they all said at the same time, "Please don't go! We can't go home empty-handed!" I turned around, and we made a deal that if I went with them, that I would only fly above them, and tell jokes for as long as I could. I knew that they were going to the Sky Palace, but I agreed anyway. It was raining outside and the sky was grey, but none of us minded. For a while, they couldn't breathe because they were laughing so hard, but when we reached the Sky Palace, I ran out of jokes. "DJ, can you come down and pretend like you complained the whole way here?" They called up to me. I replied, "Yeah!" They called me DJ because I didn't tell them my real name, and DJ stands for Dragon Joker. I swooped down to them and they "threw" me into the cage and pretended to lock the door. They lifted the cage and brought me in. Queen Falcon was finishing off a rabbit carcass when we entered. I hissed, bared my tail barb, and clawed at my captors. The queen seemed amused by this display of aggression, then realized something. "Whirlwind," she said to one of the dragons that laughed the most at my jokes, "I thought I told you to knock her unconscious when you captured her. Also, where is Eagle?" Ah, the Hissdragon's name is Eagle. I thought. Whirlwind gulped, and replied nervously, "Sh-she told w-w-wonderful jokes a-and sh-sh-she f-frightened Eagle a-away." Queen Falcon leaned back in her throne, a smug smile on her face. She told Whirlwind, "Let me try to understand this. You kept her conscious because she told wonderful jokes? And she frightened Eagle away, this little whelp frightened Eagle, the best warrior in the Sky Kingdom, away?" Whirlwind gulped, and responded, "Well, she's the m-most dangerous d-dragon in Pyrrhia, ever since Darkstalker went a-away, she has been." Suddenly, a blood red SkyWing with amber eyes slick with rain slammed the door shut behind them and sat at the side of the queen. Queen Falcon looked down her snout at him. "Eagle." Eagle bowed his head, and replied in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, I bring news. The school in Jade Mountain is missing a winglet, so they tell me. I thought I was kidnapping dragons from different winglets, causing a school-wide panic, but this will make them even more frantic. An entire winglet gone missing in the middle of the night will cause a panic as wide as Pyrrhia, for in each winglet, there is one of each tribe of dragon." Queen Falcon looked at her talons, and muttered, "Hmm." Everyone was quiet while waiting for her response to this information. She suddenly called, "Thank you, Eagle, your services are no longer required. Guards? Guards, please dispose of Eagle outside, I don't want blood on my clean floors." Eagle's eyes widened, and he started to turn around to fight the guards, but he turned too slowly. The guards grabbed him by his elbows and dragged Eagle outside, who was screaming bloody murder. When the doors closed, the screams continued for a very short time after that. From my point of view, I could see their shadows, and one of the guards was behind Eagle still holding him by his elbows and twisting his arms behind his back, while the other guard was standing in front of Eagle. As Eagle's screams continued, the other guard stepped forward and slashed his talons across Eagle's throat. The screaming suddenly stopped as Eagle's shadow's head lolled back and the guard that was holding him dropped him to the ground. The two guards strode back to the door, and the guard that had slit Eagle's throat had bloody talons, while the other's were fairly clean, other than a few droplets of blood that had rolled down Eagle's back onto her talons. I winced as the slit-throat guard shook his bloody claws and blood splattered all over my face and wings. I was sure that blood on my face and wings made me look fierce no matter what the circumstances, but I didn't like murder, and I still don't. I growled at him, and he noticed, and replied to the growl, "Oh, does the wittle-bitty dwagon not wike bwood? Well, too bad." Queen Falcon didn't like anyone talking to me like that (for whatever reason), and she swooped over to the guard that had slit Eagle's throat, grabbed him, and dragged him outside through a window. As I watched, she shredded the guard's wings, flew up to a greater height, and dropped him. As he fell, he screamed, but when he hit the rocks, the screaming immediately stopped. The queen landed next to my cage, and I asked her, "Why did you do that?" She dragged one talon along my jaw as she passed and answered, "Well, I can't have anyone hurting my chance at ruling Pyrrhia in any way, now, can I?"