Wings of fire #17-Lost

Chapter 14

"So, that's where you think she is?" Gleam asked in a wondering tone. "How did you even figure that out? Seems kind of strange..."

Winter shrugged. "It isn't really that special. Most of the mind control seems to happen on Pantala first, which means that is probably is where Kinkajou is." Why did that logic seem strange? Was Gleam's home void of reason or something?

"Then, where in Pantala?" Gleam questioned. "From what I've heard about it, Pantala isn't a small continent... Do you plan to just search everywhere until we get lucky or captured. Seems very inefficient..."

"Gleam does have a point. We need a more concrete way to do this." Lynx suggested.

"And I have one." Winter cleared his throat and looked the two girls. "I have some... leads that may be able to help us. Just trust me and we'll be fine."

"That seems kind of like a bad idea..." Lynx mumbled. "But fine."

"I'll follow whatever you say, boss-man!" Gleam exclaimed in her playful tone.

Winter nodded. "This will be pretty tough, but we can do it!" They had to do it. Once again, the fate of the dragons rested in Winter's icy talons and he was going to be the one to save everyone!

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The three dragons spent days flying across Pantala in search of what Winter described as the "hiding place". It was the place where Beauty was residing and where Kinkajou along with many others were being held captive. How did Winter know all of this exactly? Well, it went something like this...

A while back...

The three dragons slept in the icy rooms of Queen Snowfall's Palace that Snowfall herself had provided, yelling at them before doing so unfortunately. The next morning they would be heading to save Kinkajou and the three needed much rest beforehand.

"How are we going to find her?" Winter wondered. "There has to be some way..." They had no way of knowing just where the excitable Rainwing had been taken, but still... "I'm so tired... Maybe some sleep and then..."

"Winter! Winter! Open your eyes!"

Winter raised his eyelids as the sound of a voice echoed through his mind. Was someone there? What did they want from him? Couldn't he just get a bit of rest before being dragged out of bed? So annoying...

"Winter! I said to look at me! Are you deaf?"

Winter groaned as he fully opened his vision and looked ahead. He was in a grassy field with the sun blazing down on him. "Horrible weather..." Then, he looked at the dragon in front of him. He was about Winter's size and had scars over different parts of his body. His eyes looked tired and his scales looked dirty. "Oh. It's Knowledge, right?"

The dragon nodded. "Yes. I have come with news regarding Kinkajou's whereabouts. Would you like to know?"

Winter's eyebrows raised and his jaw dropped. "Yes! I was just needing that actually. Do you know where she is?" If he could help, then of course Winter would listen! Icewings weren't dumb like most other tribes!

Knowledgeable smiled, briefly, and then spoke. "Her "hiding place is in the center of the continent. It's a hole that leads to an underground sort of "city" and that is where you will find it. Beware though of the dragons working for her."

"The mind controlled?" Winter asked, seeing conformation.

Knowledgeable shook his head and frowned. "Not quite. It a complicated matter, but the dragons you know of as being controlled by Beauty are in a sort of more complex situation. Once you find Kinkajou, you'll see..."

Winter didn't really understand his words, but decided to accept his statement. Then, he woke up from his sleep in a panic, sweating bullets down his icy body. He took a deep breath and narrowed his look. "Alright then. I'm coming to save you, Kinkajou!"

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Winter, Lynx, and Gleam flew toward the giant hole that was now in sight. "That has to be it, right? Only huge hole I've seen on land..."  Winter observed. "How deep does it even go? I think that the Silkwing once mentioned this place, but no major details were said unfortunately..."  He sighed and kept flying.

"It will be alright, Wint." Lynx assured from his right side. "We will find your friend! I've never known you to be someone to back down from a challenge. Can't say if that's a good thing or not though..." She laughed.

"I hope your right..." The three flew down into the hole quickly, making sure to avoid attention from the dragons that swarmed the air around them.

"Avoiding them is harder than it looks... I wonder how much worse it will be when we get closer to the location..."  Winter wondered. After a while, they hit the stone floor below and closed their wings, beginning to walk down the hall before them.

"It's so dark..." Gleam observed in worry. "If we didn't have shiny scales, we wouldn't be able to see a thing! Creepy..."

"You really are a sheltered one, huh? You haven't even been in something like this once?" Winter asked.

"And you have!?" Gleam exclaimed.

"Well it was mostly thanks to my so called "friends" but I have done things like this."  Winter frowned. "I need some way to save them... I may be an Icewing, but I've learned a thing or two about the helpfulness they present in the past year..."

They soon found a passageway off to the side of the long all and squeezed into it. It was narrow, barely wide enough for Winter to fit in, but he managed as they squirmed through. And then, at long last, they found what looked like a cave of cells that lined the sides of the new room. Winter watched as Lynx and Gleam looked in horror of the scene in front of them. Dragons sat in the cells with looks of misery on their faces. Some were bleeding, some had long scars across their bodies, and some looked like rotting corpses as they laid on the cold floor.

"How awful..." Gleam whispered so as not to attract attention. "What has this Beauty done to all of them?"

"It's a type of torture method..." Winter breathed. "When Ex-Queen Wasp was arrested, she was put through something like this so as to get some answers. She never broke though from what Qibli told me..."

"Sounds ruthless..." Lynx observed. "D-Do you think they did the same to your friend?"

Winter nodded. "Most likely. I just hope that they didn't go to far..."

"W-What do you mean by 'to far' exactly?" Gleam asked.

Winter narrowed his eyes and frowned. "Well... I mean death..."

The two females closed their mouths and nodded as they walked behind Winter through the room. Dragons raised their heads as they saw the three, but said nothing to them. Winter was glad as it seemed they understood what was happening and were willing to cooperate with them.

"Winter..." Gleam breathed. "I-I see rainbow scales..."

Winter spun his head in the direction Gleam signaled and widened his eyes. "T-That's her! I-It's Kinkajou!" He quietly bolted toward his friend and looked in the cell. Sure enough, his friend laid their with her wings outstretched on both sides of her body. She had multiple bleeding cuts and bruises that covered her body, but it didn't look like there were any fatal injuries.

"Now we just have to get her out and get out! Question is how..."