The Night and Sky Collide (Partly Quinter)

Chapter 7: The Stronghold

The Stronghold got bigger and bigger, as they got closer and closer. The Icewings that were chasing them, backed off when they saw where they were going. "Finally! We're almost there!" Skyfire exclaimed in exhaustion. Qibli smiled brightly. "Yes! I can't wait to eat something! I haven't eaten in literally ages!" Stargazer cried. Skyfire looked a lot more.. Grumpy? Tired?... Than usual. They landed near the entrance, Qibli in front (Since he lived there).

There was a big Sandwing guarding outside the Stronghold. When he saw Qibli, his eyes widened, and a smile appeared on his face. "Qibli!" The dragon said, rushing over to Qibli. "Hey, Six-Claws!" Qibli smiled. While Qibli was explaining the events that happened, Winter, Stargazer and Skyfire just stood there, impatient and partly grumpy because of the unbearable heat of the Sun. "CAN YOU HURRY UP!?" Skyfire suddenly screamed. Oh god. There better be an oasis in the Stronghold. I REALLY don't want to deal with a screaming Skywing right now. Stargazer thought, shooting a glance at Skyfire. Six-Claws seemed to just noticed the three of them there. "Who are you?" He asked, eyeing Winter dangerously. "I'm Skyfire, AND PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE AN OASIS!" Skyfire pleaded. "Calm down, you're acting like a newborn dragonet." Winter complained, rolling his eyes. At this point, smoke was rising from Skyfire's nostrils. "Winter, please just NOT. I don't need to deal with two moping dragons right now." Stargazer hissed. Six-Claws stood there, confused. "Uhm.. Come in?" He invited them inside. Skyfire grunted and layed there in the sand. "C'mon. Do you want to be left here?" Stargazer motioned her wing towards the door, which Six-Claws was unlocking.

"Too lazy." Skyfire groaned. Winter just walked inside with Qibli. "I swear, if I have to drag you or something.." Stargazer said, partly menacingly. "Carry me then. I'd like to see you try!" Skyfire challenged. "Alright then. You asked for it." Stargazer warned. The Nightwing easily picked up the Skywing and carried her on her back. Stargazer carried the groaning mess of Skyfire inside. She was.. Tired... Yes, definitely tired. Six-Claws led them all to an oasis inside one of the rooms of the Stronghold. "Yes! Finally!" Skyfire cried in relief, when she peeked over Stargazer's shoulder. "Alright, off." Stargazer demanded. "Nooo.. Can't you just carry me there?" Skyfire groaned, once AGAIN Stargazer did. I definitely prefer normal Skyfire, than grumpy Skyfire. Stargazer's mind whispered.

She carried Skyfire to the edge of the oasis, but then.. SPLASH! She yeeted Skyfire into the water. The Skywing quickly rose to the surface of the water. "What was THAT for?!" She yelled, although she DID feel better when her scales and the water met. Winter shot a glance at Qibli, and she knew what was going to happen next. SPLASH!! Qibli got yeeted into the water. He immediately rose up to the surface, next to Skyfire. "WINTER!" Qibli yelled at the Icewing. Winter burst into laughter. Qibli's hair was all wet, and it drooped to the side of his head. Suddenly Winter and Stargazer glared at each other. "Just sit back, and watch them tackle each other." Skyfire muttered relaxed to Qibli. He smothered a laugh, and nodded.

Winter charged at Stargazer, who seemed to know exactly what he was going to do already. She dashed to the side, leaving Winter to ALMOST... AND I say ALMOST, crash into the wall. He quickly spun around, shooting daggers with his eyes at Stargazer. She had a mischievous grin on her face. POV SIX-CLAWS: watching the fight "What kind of dragons has Qibli brought?" He took a sip of coffee. It was honestly pretty entertaining. POV THE FIGHT: Stargazer was right at the edge of the oasis, while Winter seemed to think he won. Too bad, you won't win. She thought.

Winter charged about to push her into the pool when suddenly.. SHE BACKFLIPPED OUT OF THE WAY AND WINTER FELL INTO THE OASIS. He rose up to the surface of the water, water sputtering out of his mouth. "HOW?!" Winter yelled. Stargazer just grinned victoriously. "How!? I trained my whole life to fight!" Winter argued. Stargazer shrugged and said: "Moral of this story is: If you plan to train someone to fight, teach them to do a backflip first." Skyfire and Qibli smothered their laughter, while Winter was fuming. Stargazer jumped into the water to join her friends. As refreshing water hit her scales, she felt a MILLION times better. She rose up to the water next to Winter, and nudged him gently with her wing. A small smile was drawn on Winter's face. A small, but genuine smile of happiness. "Okay, now can you teach me to do a backflip?" Skyfire asked in awe. Stargazer smiled and nodded. Skyfire made a 'YES!' look. That was when they realized.. Six-Claws was watching the whole time. Stargazer just slowly dove underwater, Winter looked away from Six-Claws' glare , Qibli looked embarrassed, and Skyfire stared at Six-Claws menacingly as if to say 'You better not tell anyone about this.'

"I don't think I was meant to see that." He said, "I'll go get Thorn." He added, before walking off, and shutting the door. "Well that was.. Embarrassing." Winter muttered under his breath, although they all heard him. Skyfire nodded. Stargazer rose up to the surface again, next to Skyfire. "Should we wait for Queen Thorn here?" She asked, before stepping out of the oasis to dry off. Winter decided to do the same, he delicately stepped out of the oasis, water droplets rushing down his scales. Qibli and Skyfire followed, getting out of the water and drying themselves off.

Around 5 or 6 minutes passed, until Queen Thorn walked into the room. I hope this queen isn't as terrifying as the ice one. Skyfire thought. Queen Thorn eyed Winter, but decided to not do anything yet. "Hello. I am Queen Thorn. Thank you for helping my advisor, Qibli, escape from the dungeons of the Ice Kingdom." Queen Thorn said, a small smile on her face. "But may I ask," She continued, "Why are you traveling with an Icewing?" She finished. Stargazer and Skyfire looked at each other for a moment then turned back to Queen Thorn. "We sort of.. Uhm.." Stargazer nudged Skyfire to say 'You say it!' Skyfire sighed. "Well.. We pretty much kidnapped him?" She said slowly. Thorn seemed slightly surprised, but let out a small chuckle. "Well, I didn't really expect dragonets like you two to do something like that." She told them. She walked over to Winter, but still making sure he has his, ahem, royal personal space. "Prince Winter of the Icewings. May I ask, do you wish to go back to the Ice Kingdom?" She didn't want the war to become worse. Winter looked down at the ground, and shook his head.

Queen Thorn let out a small sigh, but said, "If that's what you wish." She turned to Qibli, a smile on her face. "Qibli, there is a guest room next to your room, can you please show them the way for me?" Qibli nodded, and Queen Thorn gave him a quick hug. Qibli led the three down a long hallway which immediately gave Skyfire a quick flash back on how she and stargazer met winter and she let out a little snicker. "What's so funny?" Qibli asked, he arched his neck around to look at her. "Nothing, sorry. Just some memories." She said, smothering another giggle. Stargazer figured out why Skyfire was snickering, and let out a small laugh herself.

Qibli just shrugged and continued walking. The hallway was lively looking. Windows letting in some lights. It was less intimidating than the Ice Palace hallways. Finally, they reached two doors, which was where Qibli stopped. "We're going to have to share rooms." Qibli explained to them. Stargazer made an evil looking grin and glanced at Skyfire, who was making a very similar face at her. "Me and Skyfire will share a room, while you and Winter can share your room." She replied. "Why do I have to share with the Cactus-Licker?" Winter objected. There was basically a whole plan in Stargazer's mind already, and Winter asked the right question. "Well, because I'm Skyfire's emotional support," She started, "Plus, you'd make the room cold, while the heat radiating from Qibli would make the room a neutral temperature." she added.

Winter sighed, and accepted his fate. Qibli and Winter walked inside their room first, leaving the two dragons snickering about their plan. "I hope it works." Skyfire hoped it would. They went into their room, and shut the door. The room had a window and a large bed in the corner. There was also a long table and some storage compartments. There were also some scrolls stacked neatly on the scroll rack. The bed had about 5 or 6 pillows and the blanket was really soft. "This is cozy." Skyfire claimed. Stargazer nodded. She took a pouch off her neck and hung it up. "I didn't know you had a pouch." Skyfire said, while watching Stargazer hang the pouch on a hook. "My friend Snowflake gave it to me." Now Skyfire was confused. "Who's Snowflake?" She asked blankly.

Stargazer realized that Skyfire didn't know any of her friends. "She's one of my friends. I'll introduce you to them at some point." She replied. Wait... That means Sandstorm is here! It's been a while since I've seen h- "Stargazer!" Skyfire's voice blasted her out of her thoughts. "Huh? What happened?" She asked. Skyfire sighed, mainly because she would have to explain her plan all over again. "The walls of the Stronghold seem to be pretty thin. We can hear snippets of Winter and Qibli's conversations. So we can eavesdrop on them is what I'm saying!." She repeated her string of words.

"Ooooh. Okay." Stargazer replied.