Wings of Fire: A Dragon of Hive and Silk

Chapter Three

Thanks @theshadowphantom for making this chapter art!

"So, about this prisoner," Pollen said, after hours of flying. The sun had risen and dipped across the sky. They had been flying all day. "Wouldn't you know if he was part LeafWing? I mean, you keep track of your tribe, right?" She was seriously regretting this decision. Moons, her wings hurt.

Pyracantha sighed. "Well, that's what I said. No one really knows how. My guess is that a bunch of LeafWing families fled and he's from one of them. I don't even want to know the story behind those wings. Some kind of mutation?" She shrugged.

Trees glistened in the distance. "C'mon," Zamia said. Her cold attitude had faded when her brother had shown up. "I'll take you to the mad prisoner. Clearsight forbid Pyracantha misses her little game of tree gliding." Pyracantha glared. 

While Pyracantha and Ginkgo flew to a group of trees covered in glowing things, Zamia and Pollen flew across the flat lands next to the huge lake, and to a dark grove. Zamia landed gracefully in a tangle of vines,  while Pollen awkwardly landed, folding her weird-shaped wings. Zamia laughed. "This way."

"What was making the glowing lights?" Pollen asked, still wary of Zamia. Her and Pyracantha had chatted for hours, but they were still all strangers.

"Foxfire and honey mushrooms," Zamia explained. "They're bioluminescent."

They trudged through the swamp. It smelled terrible. Ginkgo trees, Pollen thought idely. "Is it right to keep someone here?" She asked.

"We hope the trees will help him snap out of his state," Zamia explained. "We planted these after the Tree Wars, before I hatched, when Elder Khaya saved some seeds. We don't want types of trees to go extinct."

"That's still wrong."

Pollen heard shouts. "LET ME OUT! I NEED TO BE IN THE WATER! I'M A SEAWING! LET ME OUT!" Then his voice changed. It was deeper.  "GET ME OUT OF HERE! I want to go to the Summer Festival! You said all LeafWings are welcome! What about me?"

They approached the cell, a metal cage, out of place in the trees. There stood a dragon, fuming with anger. He had bat-shaped wings, a green color that reminded her of the ocean but couldn't pass for a LeafWing. He had a few golden scales close to Zamia's, but his seemed to glow, unlike her dull gold colors. And he had much more. 

Pollen walked up. "Who are you?" She asked. 

"Oh, this one has potential! She's a lot nicer than you lot of LeafWings. Queen Az-- dirty HiveWing, get away from me! You already tried to wipe us out now you do it ag-- ure would never stand for this!" 

He paused in a sentence, said another one, and continued. Like he's two people. And who is the queen he mentioned? Queen Az...ure. Azure?

"I just want to know your name!" Pollen said. Moons, had the LeafWings even bothered?

"--ain?" He finished. "Oh, my name?" He thought for a minute, like he'd forgotten his own name in his madness. "Um...Lemongrass."

"You're a hybrid, like me," Pollen said. "I'm a HiveWing-SilkWing. You're a LeafWing... SeaWing?" Weird.

"Yes," he growled. "I am a SeaWing. And I should be in the WATER! The LeafWings are a cruel, evil tribe! Queen Wasp was right to wipe them out-- so you're part SilkWing, eh? I don't care. Anyone part HiveWing is as evil as Queen Wasp. She was wrong to wipe us out. WRONG!"

"It's like he forgets the other half of him," Pollen said. "And doesn't know he's a hybrid but changes dragons!" 

Zamia gave Pollen a sad look. "We thought you could help him. We thought you could fix him." 

"Hybrids don't have this eternal chaos," Pollen said flatly. "I don't know if you realized, but I'm perfectly sane."

Zamia gave her a teasing smile. "No, you're not. I mean, what sane dragon would follow three strangers to a forest miles away?" Pollen whacked her with her tail. 

"Um, Lemongrass," Pollen tried. "What's a SeaWing?"

"A SeaWing? I'm a LeafWing! What the three moons is a SeaWing?" He flared his wings, but they bumped the walls of the cage, causing him to growl and hold his wing in front of him. Seeing his SeaWing wings, he said, "You don't know what a SeaWing is? Ha! We are a tribe, and we live in the ocean, not in this wretched forest!"

Pollen shook her head. "I don't know how I can help you." 

"Help me? How about letting me out of this cage? That would b-- HiveWing, LET ME OUT NOW! I am telling you! I curse your tribe and spit on your faces!" 

"Pollen," Zamia said. "We should go."

They flew off, leaving Lemongrass cursing the HiveWings, then cursing the LeafWings, then falling silent. 

...

"I want to help him. What do you think happened?" Pollen asked after a while.

Zamia shrugged. "We hoped another hybrid could help him. Clearly, Lemongrass has been through a traumatic experience. He mentioned a dragon named Amazonite. He seemed to love her. His mother, his mate, his crush. We don't know. But he wouldn't speak his name until today. You did good, Pollen." 

"Where are we going?" 

"To see the Elders. We have a friend for you." Her voice was somewhat sneaky.

"Who?" Pollen asked.

"An escaped SilkWing," Zamia said. "Antennae asks literally everyone she meets about a dragon." She shook her head. "I swear, this is the weirdest forest ever. SilkWings, LeafWing... SeaWing hybrids, and now a little lawbreaker." She grinned. "Welcome to the club of being born illegally."

"By what name?" Pollen asked. "I mean, the dragon she's asking about?"

"Hm. Pollen, do you know a dragon named Larva?"

A/N

Um, yes, she does.