Wings of Fire: The Hidden Kingdom | ✔️

~ The Hidden Kingdom: Chapter Fourteen ~

Two hours later, the army was ready to go. The chosen RainWings gathered around the tunnel. Those who weren't going were ordered to stay behind and guard the rainforest.

Hare couldn't fight her rising terror. She dug her claws into the mud by the stream. What if Blister was there? She wasn't very fond of her, but would she be able to fight her aunt if they came face-to-face in battle? After all, they were family.

But Blister was cruel and hated her friends. Hare decided she'd be able to do it, for her friends.

"Are you okay?"

Tsunami sat beside Hare, her eyes glittering with concern.

"I'm just nervous," Hare admitted. "I'll be okay."

"It's okay to be scared," Tsunami assured her. "It's perfectly normal. I'm scared. You'd have to be crazy not to be."

Hare looked at the other side of the stream where everyone was gathered. Glory was helping her tribe put the finishing touches on everything. Dainty and Nightingale were working together to finish tying up a few pouches. Hare swallowed hard. What if this was last time she ever saw them?

"We're taking a big risk tonight," she murmured. "I just pray that everyone will come back okay."

"That's all we can do." Tsunami pulled Hare in and gave her a hug. "Make me a promise, okay? Promise me you'll be okay. Keep yourself safe. Don't do anything you don't need to. Please, Hare."

Hare leaned closer to her friend. "I promise. You do the same."

Tsunami laughed lightly and rested her head on Hare's. "I promise."

They stayed like that for a few moments, then Hare found herself walking over to Glory with Tsunami by her side. The queen of the RainWings flared her wings and the clearing fell silent.

"You know I don't like giving speeches," Glory said, "so I'll just say this. We're going to save our fellow RainWings, and we're going to make this rainforest safe, and we're going to do it like real RainWings."

"For the rainforest!"

Cries of agreement followed, multiple dragons chanting the phrase.

"Let's go kick some NightWings," Tsunami cheered, nudging Hare. Hare smiled at her. "Let's blow that island!"

Jambu hopped up to the hole and slid in; Glory followed immediately behind him, and then Mangrove, Liana, Vanilla, and three other RainWings armed with blowguns. Vanilla was one of the first to be sent in because of Kookaburra; her need to protect her son would be enough to drive her forward no matter the conditions.

According to the plan, Starflight and Fatespeaker were next, so that once the guards were knocked out, they could lead the RainWings to the prison caves and the fortress. Hare was supposed to follow and bring a few dragons to go retrieve Viper. She crawled into the hole after her NightWing friends.

It was stifling in the tunnel, and eerily quiet. It eventually tilted down, and Hare crept along as fast as she dared.

Ahead of him, she heard a quiet zzt, and then another, and then seven more in rapid succession. Sleeping darts fired from blowguns, straight out of the shadows, hopefully knocking out all the guards by the hole before any of them noticed and sounded the alarm.

Next, Hare heard a muffled thump as one RainWing after another jumped into the cave, and then she saw the flicker of firelight. A moment later, she climbed out of the tunnel and felt the warm rocks scraping below her scales.

Nine NightWing guards were lying around the cave, each looking as if he or she had just fallen asleep all of a sudden. Their chests rose and fell peacefully; their spears rested harmlessly on the ground nearby.