Poisonous Rage

Chapter Seven

Sundew growled and paced, hating being forced to wait, especially for Nettle. She looked up at the sound of wings beating. Nettle and Mandrake landed on the large branch the rest of the group was waiting on with a thump. Nettle folded her wings and sneered at Sundew.

"I hear there's a dangerous mission, and I am to lead it," she said.

"Ha. No." Sundew responded. "There is a dangerous mission, and you are coming along because my mother is angry with me, and knows you are the most infuriating, smug dragon she knows. And Mandrake is here because he's my fiancé, so my mother wants us to spend time together or something. And because he has powerful Leafspeak. Which is the whole reason he's my fiancé."

Qibli frowned. "But I thought you said-"

"Nope! No! No talking! Whatever you are about to say, just shove it back into your head!" Sundew burst out.

Qibli raised an eyebrow but kept silent. "Anyways. I am leading this mission, which means I can tell you what to do. And I say no talking," Sundew told Nettle.

Nettle opened her mouth to speak. "Nope!" Sundew yelled, grinning. Nettle snapped her mouth shut and glared at Sundew. "Ok, now that that's done, I can tell you the mission. We have to go find a dragon who's been exiled to guard the plant that Wasp used to mind-control the HiveWings and see if he's found an antidote. Or if he's dead. He's like a hundred and fifty by now. And he's been living in the jungle for a long time by himself. He might have just gone insane."

Sundew unrolled the map Queen Sequoia has given them. "Ok, so we're here, in the SapWing village. The Heart of the Jungle is here. In the middle. Unsurprisingly. So, we should go the most direct route, which is from the village and past the manchineel trees."

Willow blanched, but Sundew curled her tail around her and the pale LeafWing relaxed slightly.

"Ok then," Sundew said, rolling up the map and tucking it into a pouch on her leg. "Let's go." She took off, powerful wings beating in time with the rage pounding in her heart.

Rage for the HiveWings, for being selfish and cruel.

Rage for Queen Wasp, for being power-hungry and spiteful.

Rage for Queen Sequoia, for giving Wasp her power.

But mostly wanting to rip Nettle's head off and feed it to a dragontrap.

They flew for a while before they reached the very edge of the village and flying became too risky with the possibility of the various dangerous plants hanging from the trees. They landed and began to walk, Sundew's claws sinking into the dirt, her tail curling around Willow's. This is what I love, the LeafWing thought happily. The beauty of the rainforest. The quiet and the peace, the only sound the whispering of the trees. No mother to scream at me, no dragons to bother me, no one except me and Willow.

"Could you walk any slower?" Nettle griped, stomping past them. Sundew closed her eyes slowly, her jaw tightening. Willow gave her an apologetic smile and slipped her tail out of Sundew's so they could walk faster.

A young sundew, barely more than a seed, rested below Nettle's feet. For one gleeful dark moment, Sundew considered using her Leafspeak to tell it to grow and eat Nettle because, oh, the irony, but it passed with a sigh.

They walked for a while without incident. Sundew learned that when Qibli wasn't thinking intensely, he was a pretty funny dragon. Nettle, in her typical fashion, was as abrasive as possible without including herself in the group.

Eventually, they reached the manchineels. Willow flinched when she saw them and shrank back slightly curling her tail in toward herself.

Sundew placed her talon on Willow's, and the pale dragon gave her a weak smile. They gave the manchineels a wide berth, their quiet but sinister whispering filling the back of Sundew's mind.

When they reached the edge of the manchineels, they decided to make camp for the night, the threat of the HiveWings' arrival tomorrow looming over them. Sundew was next to Willow, doing her best to soothe the shivering dragon.

A snort sounded from behind the two. Instantly, Sundew's temper flared and she turned to see Nettle sneering.

"Pathetic. We've got oh-so-great Sundew, the savior of our village, who is using precious time to comfort a SapWing. Your little girlfriend should get some thicker scales. It's just a few trees."

A cold silence was Sundew's only response. Mandrake had once said to her that when she was mad, she let dragons know. It was only when she was calm and cold that she was truly scary.

Sundew advanced on Nettle. The LeafWing rolled her eyes but began to back up anyways. Suddenly, her back talons reached the edge of a cliff and she froze. Sundew stared at her, hatred burning in her eyes.

Sundew took one more step and shoved Nettle off the cliff.