The Lost Tribe (I am not Tui T. Sutherland).

Chapter One, Traitors in the mist

Daisy

Ten years later

"You can't just saunter in there like you're one of them, and expect to come out alive!" Rose hissed.

"Yes, I can, and I will." Daisy replied, barely a whisper in the soft fog slowly closing around them. "King Frill has parties all the time and plenty of servants come in and out. Alive, I might add. I'll just be another servant, at another party, completely alive and in one piece."

Rose growled softly, "Fine, but I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am." Daisy knew there was no way to argue with Rose without starting a whole yelling fit and therefore getting caught, so she agreed.

"Fine, but don't get us noticed, and that means don't pick random fights with random dragons for no particular dragon." Rose glared at her. Creeping through the long lush grass, the two Silkwings tucked in their wings and hurried off into the dashing palace. As soon as they entered the party room, which was an astronomical marble room, with a roof of glass so you could see the stars above. All of the corners of this room were lined with gold and studded with pink diamonds. Massive salmon colored curtains draped around the windows clipped off to the side with just a little white stud thingy. Wow. Just. Wow, was all Daisy's mind could think of the embellished room. Female Rainwings, Silkwings, Leafwings, and Icewing servants followed their Nightwing and Thunderwing masters obediently with their heads down, fetching fancy drinks now and then. Daisy and Rose rushed over to the drink stand, like any other servant, and pretended to be looking for some fancy drink for their master. A hush fell over the room, and a shiver ran down Daisys spine sending waves of terror through her on a level so high she had never experienced it before. We couldn't have gotten caught that fast. Daisy tried to reassure herself, not the slightest bit comforted. Daisy turned around slowly, and so did Rose, though much faster. What they saw though was no Hivewing guard approaching with a spear, but instead the king himself, seated on his lavish throne, with his azure wings spread wide. The laughing crowd had turned eerily silent, all of their attention now focused on the king.

"Thank you." He thundered. "It has been brought to my attention that there was a couple, a Leafwing and a Skywing, that had an egg without my permission for a hybrid hatchling." A hushed murmur rippled through the watching crowd. "It turned out to be quite a beautiful little dragonet, so I let it live. The parents are now in jail, though, suffering for their crimes." More murmurs rippled through the crowd, some pleased, some not. "However, that is the least of my concerns, what I wanted to tell you was that I have a new personal servant, since Snowfox died of disease." He frowned slightly. "Her name is Maple, and I expect all of you to treat her with utmost respect and appreciation." Like a wildfire, shocked looks spread across the crowd, taking up any room for other emotion. The red-orange Leafwing that emerged from behind the throne was more than beautiful, she was elegant, enticing, divine, alluring, just, magnificent. Her wings were a startling fall orange, shaped more like maple leaves than the standard beech leaf, Leafwing, wing shape. Her eyes were a striking blood red like none Daisy had ever seen, with long curved lashes. As if she were well fed, everything about her had an extra curve to it. Her horns swooped in a majestic arc, while the scales around it were the same startling orange as her wings. Maple's back was covered in shimmery gold scales, as if someone had gotten a bucket of melted gold, and poured it all over her spine. She also had a few scatterings of brown, like the soil in the springtime. In addition to this, she had a little maple leaf wing thingy-mabobber at the end of her tail. The rest of her body was a kind of everyday red, except for her underbelly, which was more of a light salmon color. "Isn't she pretty?" The king mused. Daisy remembered King Frill's last servant; she had always been enhanced with sapphires, blue topaz, and opals, from horns to tail, but this dragon's only adornment was a pair of pink diamond drop earrings. Daisy thought they must have been a gift from the king, they were so fancy and expensive-looking. The red Leafwing ducked her head slightly, evidently embarrassed. "Now," King Frill rumbled. "It seems to me that we have a traitor in this room, two traitors actually, two Silkwing traitors." The king stared directly at Daisy and Rose, then coldly, hardly, he said,

"bring them to me."