Wings of Fire: The Hidden Kingdom | ✔️

~ The Hidden Kingdom: Chapter Five ~

Hare turned away and gagged, forcing back anything that dared try to come up. The RainWing was a sad gray color, and she looked about as dead as the bird Hare had killed.

"What are you doing to her?" Fatespeaker cried. She bolted into the room and lifted the RainWing's snout gently in her talons. The trapped dragon barely responded.

"This one is done for the day," Mastermind said. "We were testing to see whether they run out of venom at some point, if they shoot it for long enough, but she fainted before we could get any really useful data."

"She needs water," Fatespeaker said, glancing around the room, then looking straight at Starflight. Starflight nodded and hurried off.

Anger rose in Hare until she couldn't contain it any longer. How dare the NightWings treat other living dragons as nothing more than toys? Hare turned on Mastermind, snarling her teeth.

"What is wrong with you?" she spat. "Have you all gone mad?"

"This is crucial to what we're doing," Mastermind told her as Starflight returned with a pail of water. "Our plan will not work without running a few tests first."

"Tests?" Hare hissed. "On living dragons? What in the name of the dark rainforest could be so important that you hurt innocent dragons?"

"That is NightWing business," Mastermind argued.

"Then leave RainWings out of it!"

Hare whirled around and stomped over to Starflight and Fatespeaker. They were helping the RainWing drink from the pail, and Fatespeaker was simultaneously unclamping one of her wings. When the RainWing was finally done, Starflight put the pail on the ground.

"What's your name?" Hare asked the RainWing. The gray dragon weakly lifted her head. "It's Orchid."

"Oh!" Starflight gasped, then quickly lowered his voice so only the few dragons gathered could hear. "Mangrove is looking for you. He's coming, he won't give up until he saves you."

"Really?" The faintest hint of a smile crossed Orchid's face and a shimmering pink appeared on her wingtips. "What about Apple?"

Starflight and Hare exchanged a look. "Apple?"

"Yes." Any sign of happiness on Orchid began to fade. "My daughter? I'm assuming you've been to the village, since you've seen Mangrove. What about Apple, or my granddaughter? Are they looking too?"

Hare shifted uncomfortably. "Um, we didn't hear about anyone named Apple. I'm sorry."

Orchid stared at her sadly. "Nothing at all?"

Hare shook her head.

Orchid looked away. "Oh. Well, at least Mangrove is looking."

Hare placed her talon on Orchid's shoulder. "They'll come," she promised. "Mangrove and the other RainWings. Queen Glory will make sure of it."

Orchid's eyes widened in horror. "Somebody killed Queen Magnificent? I thought she didn't have any daughters."

"Magnificent is still alive," Starflight assured her, adjusting his glasses. "Glory is our friend, we grew up with her. Magnificent simply passed down the throne to her."

Orchid sighed. "Yet another queen who was given the throne in an improper way. If this keeps going on we may as well be as bad as the rumors say. Does this Glory even have royal blood?"

"Uh..."

A black dragon suddenly shoved past them and quickly clamped a muzzle around Orchid's mouth. Orchid's eyes went wide, her scales flaring green and red with anger and fear. The new dragon was wearing a helmet like Mastermind's, making his face impossible to see. He put a silver chain around Orchid's neck, then unclamped her other wing. The RainWing slumped to the ground. The NightWing put on a new set of clamps on her wings, ones similar to the ones Glory had when she'd returned from here.