Escape: A Wings of Fire Fanfic - Editing

...Never Lasts for Long

Chapter 16

A week later.

After only a mere week of the happiness that came with no war, rumors spread again. Rumors that said Burn would threaten them.

Please no, Chestnut thought with dread when he first heard of the rumors. We just got out of the war! I don't want to have to keep fighting!

Before going to sleep, they talked about it, as they had talked when the war first began. 

"Burn could very well force us into an alliance," Amber confirmed. "She has the SkyWings, who are known for fighting, and some of the SandWings on her side. We'd have the advantage of knowing the Swamps, but that isn't enough against brute force."

"I don't want Burn to win," Fawn said. "If she's willing to force us now, who says she won't force us later, when she has all the SandWings on her side?"

Silence fell on them. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place, as the old saying goes. We don't help Burn, we're all brutally slaughtered. But if we help her, and she wins the war, we might all get brutally slaughtered anyways, both for no reason.

"Queen Moorhen doesn't really have a choice," Alligator admitted. "It's either we help her, and  the Queen has to watch part of her tribe die, or we don't, and she has to watch most of her tribe die. Burn will try to force us into this alliance, whether we want to or not."

"Which we don't want to," Morass grumbled. "Stuck in an alliance with a princess who we've fought against? How will we fight with the SkyWings when we've killed each other's tribe? We won't be able to trust one another. And we don't even want to fight."

"Does anyone really want to fight?" Fawn asked. "Who would? All that really happens is that dragons die."

"Dragons fight because they're angry," Chestnut said. "Or want power."

"Power's a trap if that's what it does! It makes dragons greedy, and it started a war!"

"Dragon society kind of runs on differences in power. Do you think we'd be able to get this far if we didn't have queens? If not, we have an endless cycle of dragons trying to rule, and never focus on advancing ourselves as a tribe. We need someone in power, if only to stop others from wanting it."

"I suppose so," Fawn muttered. "But still, there's got to be a way to fix this. Dragons shouldn't always be at war."

"No, they shouldn't," Chestnut agreed. "But how do you fix that?"

The sibs agreed to help the Talons of Peace that night.

Another week later, and they were back in the war, as much as most MudWings hated it. But this time, on Burn's side.

They were battling the SeaWings. Chestnut came face-to-face with a dragon who had probably saved his life when they had been on the same side. The SeaWing recognized him as well, and hesitated. Chestnut waited to see what she would do. After a second, the SeaWing flew off to fight someone else - a SkyWing, Chestnut noticed - clearly not able to bring herself to fight him, the dragon who she had saved.

Chestnut had let a few go himself, and wouldn't be surprised if his sibs had as well. How are we supposed to fight dragons we once considered comrade-in-arms? he wondered. We fought together, against the SkyWings and saved each other! I bet a lot of the MudWings and SeaWings haven't been able to bring themselves to kill each other!

On the contrary, the SkyWings and MudWings hadn't been able to trust each other. Chestnut could see it in the way they watched each other closely, as if they wouldn't be surprised if the other tribe suddenly attacked. Or the way the battlefield was split into two parts on Burn's side; one SkyWing and SandWing, the other MudWing. 

How is this alliance supposed to work when the MudWings are forced into it, and neither side can trust one another?

That didn't seem to matter to Burn. She had decided that the MudWings would be on her side, and she had the power to force them. So, here we are, fighting for a terrible dragon who's obsessed with becoming queen.

I hope we can get out of this soon.