Wings of Fire; Claws of Betrayal (EDITING)

CHAPTER THREE

"'Gone'? What do you mean, 'gone'? They can't just be 'gone'," Blue snapped, getting to her talons. 

"They are, though," Elk protested. Blue could tell he was barely holding himself from wailing like a dragonet.

"They've probably gone hunting or something," Blue suggested. "After all, we didn't eat the whole day yesterday." Her belly growled as soon as the word 'eat' left her mouth, and was suddenly reminded of her hunger. There had been no sun yesterday, which meant she couldn't have fed on its rays like normal RainWings did.

"I know, and that would be a reasonable answer, apart from the fact I was up before they were," Elk growled.

Blue had no answer to that. She stared at him, abashed, jaws agape, trying to think of a reasonable explanation for this. But there wasn't one.

"Anyways, what would make Gleam want to hunt with him?" Elk hissed. Blue detected a small hint of jealousy in his tone of voice. 

"Didn't you see them go?" Blue demanded. "You said you were up before they were, after all."

"I was," Elk agreed. "They were both asleep. I was hungry, so I decided to go hunt. When I came back, they were both gone, and you were the only one in the cave. Anyways, Gleam wouldn't want to hunt with him," Elk repeated himself.

"Well, maybe she woke and saw that you were gone and wanted to go hunting but didn't want to go alone. She knows I don't hunt so she might've awoken Deathwish so she could have some company," Blue suggested.

"Yes, but him?" Elk said. "I would've rather went alone than go out hunting with a NightWing I've only met not even a day ago."

"How about we wait for them?" Blue said. "Suppose they have gone hunting? Let's stay and wait, then if they don't come back for a while we can search the area."

They waited in silence. Some time passed, and there was still no sign of Gleam or Deathwish. Blue began to get worried.

"Let's go look," Blue said. "Maybe they got lost somehow."

They exited the cave and went off in separate directions to look. After quite a while, Blue gave up in looking for them and returned back to the cave, hoping that Elk had found them. But her hopes were dashed - when she got back, Elk was on his own.

"But where could they have gone, then?" Blue worried. 

"I don't know, but I'm worried for Gleam," Elk said, his snout crinkled in concern. "What if she's hurt?"

"I doubt anything could hurt her," Blue reassured him. "Hello? Anger-power thingy? She'll kill anyone before they can even get close to her."

"True. But still. Suppose the attacker knocked her out before she could get mad?" Elk said, refusing to be comforted. Blue left it - if he didn't want to be reassured, then that was his own choice.

"What will we do?" Elk continued. "She hasn't left a sign. We don't even know where to start looking for her, or Deathwish." He began pacing. Blue had to press herself against the back wall to avoid being trampled. Then Elk gasped dramatically and stopped. He turned to face Blue. "Suppose Deathwish took her?"

Blue stared at him. "Why would he do that?"

"Scarlet is looking for Gleam," Elk explained. "Scarlet's so rich, she could've bought the whole of Pyrrhia if the other queens let her. She's out for revenge on Gleam. Even if she can kidnap her herself, why get her talons dirty when she could just pay someone to do it for her?"

Blue continued to stare at him as the SandWing went on, "Deathwish told us he was an assassin, but assassins don't leave their kingdoms unless they have orders. His order must've been to find and capture Gleam. That's why he was so desperate for us to go with him to the Sky Kingdom. He wasn't lost, he was just trying to capture Gleam!"

"That's why he specifically asked to go to the Sky Kingdom," Blue added. "To make his mission easier, because it wouldn't make it any easier if he asked to go the Mud Kingdom. And we were so stupid, we took him here. Oh, why didn't we just say no and continue on our journey to the rainforest? We were so close. If only we had refused to take him to the Sky Kingdom. If only we convinced Gleam to say no." If only I hadn't pointed out Deathwish's sleeping body, Blue thought guiltily, remembering that it was her who had seen and pointed out Deathwish. It's all my fault, and if we never find Gleam, I'll never forgive myself.

"My question is how Scarlet got her talons on the NightWings," Elk said thoughtfully. "How did she get into contact with Deathwish?"

Blue shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care. All I care about right now is finding Gleam."

Elk nodded briskly. "Right. Me too."

"But where do we start looking?" Blue wondered.

"Easy. The place where NightWings have been spotted," Elk responded.

Blue looked at him. "Which is where?"

"You told us I think two days ago that there had been NightWing sightings in the rainforest, remember? If we want to find Deathwish, then we can start looking where the last NightWing before Deathwish was spotted," Elk explained. "We have to look in the Rainforest Kingdom."