Wings of Fire: A Dragon of Hive and Silk

Chapter Twelve

Pollen

"No. NO!" Lemongrass shouted at the unmoving body. "AMAZONITE!" 

"Lemongrass, there's nothing you could--" Arrowhead was cut off.

"No. This is my fault. This is all my fault!" 

Pollen walked over to the dead dragon and folded her wings over her ruined belly. She stroked Amazonite. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. Lemongrass burst into tears. 

"We'd better get back to the village. Who-who are Amazonite's parents?" Arrowhead said in mourning. 

"S-Seafoam and Angelfish." Lemongrass picked up Amazonite's fragile body.

Carrying her, he walked away from the clearing, and Pollen and Arrowhead quickly followed. 

"I-I'm glad it wasn't you," Pollen blurted. "Not that I'm happy she's dead, but--"

"Sh, Pollen. I know." 

Pollen turned red and caught up with Lemongrass. "How long have you known her?" 

"Since we were young dragonets." He stared at her with misery in his eyes. 

"How old are you now?" 

"Eight." 

"Oh." Pollen let them walk in silence until they reached the village. 

"Pollen!" Prism shouted. "I heard a scream--" She froze. "Who's that?" Blood was leaking from Amazonite's wing. 

Prism ran over to Lemongrass. "Amazonite?" She cried, shocked. "Wake up-- please wake up!" 

"She's dead," Lemongrass whispered. 

"AMAZONITE!" A male dragon with scales like Amazonite's and a female with deep blue scales came running. "NO!" 

Lemongrass set her down. "I-I tried to save her--" 

"Amazonite!" These must be Seafoam and Angelfish. 

The dragons lay in mourning over their dead daughter. Pollen had to get out of here. What about Larva? Amazonite's death had distracted her from those thoughts, but how could she know her mother was alive? 

She stepped into the room she had awoken in. A dragon appeared standing on her bed. Pollen jumped. It was the dragon who had killed Amazonite. Pollen opened her mouth to scream, but he clamped a talon over her mouth. He dragged her up into the air, and they were in a cave. 

Pollen couldn't see an entrance. Stone walls surrounded her, and the only beam of light was through a tiny hole in the roof. "Who are you?" She asked as soon as he took his talon off her snout. "Why did you-- kill Amazonite?" Pollen was steaming. 

"Little dragonet, I wouldn't speak so harshly to me." The gray dragon smirked, his red wings the color of blood. 

"What's going to stop me?" Pollen shot back. 

The gray dragon pulled at a rope and a LeafWing was pulled into the light. She had a defiant look in her eyes. It was Zamia.

...

Her left arm was twisted, and she was covered in cuts and bruises. "Zamia!" Pollen gasped. "What--" Zamia cut her off, shaking her head frantically. 

"What did she do? What did Amazonite do? Why are you trapping me here?" Pollen asked the dragon. "What's your name?" 

"Zamia was the bait. Now even if you can, you won't leave." He smiled. "Because I'll kill her." 

Zamia glared, but couldn't say anything because of the cloth over her mouth. 

"But why do you want me?!" Pollen yelled. 

"I want your blood, dragonet." 

"You want to kill me? Then why haven't you?" 

"You do not understand." The dragon lifted his talon as if trying to see his own blood. "I want your blood to be drained into me. You'll die, and I'll have what I want." He picked at his claw. 

"But why?" Pollen was growing more scared, and more annoyed. 

"Your parents didn't tell you? Perhaps both of them didn't know..."

"Know what?" Pollen glared, powerless. "Both my parents' are ordinary dragons from Bloodworm Hive."

"Your father was born in Cicada Hive, you idiot. He was snuck from the Hatchery by Lady Scarab. His sister is a lot younger than him. Only she knows the truth." The gray dragon huffed. "Anything ring a bell?" 

"No." 

"Lady Cicada had two dragonets. Lady Scarab took her first one away, trying to learn about Wasp's mind control." He smiled suspiciously at this. "That was your father. His sister Anasa is immune because Lady Cicada begged her sister."

Anasa. The dragon who saved Antennae. "She's my dad's sister?!"

"Yes, you leaf-brain. Your mother, on the other hand..."

"Is what? A traitor? I know. I've heard it," Pollen sneered.

"No. If you don't shut up, I'll make you," the gray dragon snarled. Pollen fell silent. 

"That's better. Your mother, Larva..." he paused, dramatically. 

"Larva is the only living descendent of Queen Monarch."