Spirit of War (Bk 2 of Mudwings of JMA)

Chapter 5: Deductions

Cattail and Prim were about to go meet the others, Prim just had to read over her new mail she got that morning. She suddenly shrieked, making Cattail jump and scaring Ember right off her ledge. "THEY HATCHED! THEY HATCHED! THREE MOONS THEY HATCHED!" She cried. Her scales looked like neon pink, yellow, and purple were battling for dominance. "AHH! My eyes!" Ember cried, throwing her wings over her eyes. "Prim calm down, what hatched?" Cattail asked, covering her own eyes. "My siblings! They hatched!" She was bouncing around the room beating her wings together. "Your siblings?" Cattail asked. "Remember how I talk about my siblings all the time? Well I have two sisters and two brothers. But when I left, my mom had recently had three eggs! They hatched! I have another brother and four more sisters. Forge, Summer, Celebration, Violet, and Iris!" "Wait, four?" Ember asked. "There were two twin eggs! Can you believe it? Isn't it amazing! I can't wait to see them, whenever that might be!" Cattail had forgotten that she wouldn't be able to see them until they visited or until she had a break. "Thanks great and you can tell the others but we have to go! We're going to be late!" Cattail pressured. "All right, all right. Lets go." "Bye!" Ember called as they left.

"Cant they hurry up!" Mirage demanded as they waited in an almost complete circle. "I told you, Chasm had to go by the library before you got here and i don't know why your brother is late." Drought said for the fourth time. Mirage snorted smoke but kept quiet. Rattlesnake and Chasm finally arrived, together, with Chasm carrying scrolls. "Pond, do you have the prophecy?" Prim asked. Most of the others had scooted away and were avoiding looking at her because she still hadn't calmed down enough to be visible without possibly blinding someone. "Yeah, right here." She smoothed out a scroll, which then proceeded to roll back into place. "Okay, so first line, any guesses?" Mirage asked. "Yeah, whats a 'shadow of a betraying friend'? That was it wasn't it?" Dragonfly asked. Heads turned to Inkscale. She shook her head. "I don't know. I just say prophecies, not create them." "Well, what about the dragon who met her end?" Dragonfly moved on. "Well clearly it's not some dragon that actually met their end, 'cause that would mean they're dead." Pond said. "Unless it's a zombie!" Salamander cried. Pond shrieked. Delta glared at him. "Or a spirit." Rattlesnake added. "Not helping." Mirage reprimanded. "Maybe it's different end, like end of a career or something? Like an ex queen? We have several of those on the rainforest." Prim offered. "Your right," Avalanche said. "That's the most likely. Better than ghosts or zombies certainty." "Hey!" Salamander cried. "I resent that comment!" Delta rolled her eyes. "Actually," Chasm interrupted. "Rattlesnake might be right. What if 'Spirit of War' is literal, not metaphorical?" "Are we really considering the fact that our prophecy could be talking about ghosts? Seriously?" Mirage asked. "Just saying." Chasm defended. "Moving on... What about 'sibling elements'?" Cattail questioned. "I KNOW THIS ONE!" Prim called loudly making everyone jump. "How do you know?" Chasm gawked. "It's obvious! It the four main elements of life! Fire and heat, water, life, earth, and plants, and wind and air! In the really old folk tale stories, the first dragon queens were sisters. Sibling elements." Prim said. "So we're supposed to bring the four elements together? What unite the Skywings, Sandwing, Seawings, and Mudwings?" Pond asked. "Maybe, I don't know, I'm just sure that's what it means." Prim said with a shrug. "Okay... next one then. 'The world will fall to rage' and 'the queen of blood will be cage'. Any suggestions?" Mirage questioned. "Well, obviously the fall to rag part means war. Like vengeance, personal vendettas, etcetera. The will be the one keeping the war going, like a cage keeping it from escaping. But who's the queen." Chasm analyzed. "Three moon's if I know. What about the one who is not what she seems?" Inkscale asked. Prim tensed next to Cattail. They must be thinking the same thing. "At one point it could have been you, but we all know now. No way your a bad dragon." Ali said, shaking her head. Dreamspeaker voiced what none of them had the courage to say. " Or Poinsettia. She could also be the 'betraying friend'." There was a quick lapse of silence. "Maybe..." Mirage finally whispered. Prim shook her head rapidly, her voice cracking when she tried to speak. "Okay, for 'secrets she keeps to only her dreams' must mean she would never say them, or let them be over heard In any way." Cattail said, shooting Dreamspeaker a quick look. He shook his head slightly. Prim clearly saw, but pretended she hadn't seen. "What about 'can find the four who have faced the queen before? Dragons who have already faced the ex queen?" Drought offered. "Great. We have to unite four opposite tribes, find four mysteries dragons who have already faced, and and apparently failed, an ex queen who's going to bring a huge war with a dragon who lies professionally. Brilliant." Ali said. "Well that just brightened my day." Drought said sarcastically. "Sorry." Ali said with a shrug. "Well, the saviors part is probably us, after all, we received the prophecy. Yellow: Rattlesnake, Mirage, and Drought. Blue: Chasm, Brown; me and my sibs, Black: Dreamspeaker and Inkscale," Avalance was interrupted by Drought. "What about red?" "I can be red!" Prim cheered, her scales melting away into a terrifying red. I looked like she decided to pour blood all over her scales. "Uh, no offense, but I think your the only one here that fits 'no certain hue'." Chasm said. Prim melted her scales beck to normal. "So who's red?" Ali asked. "Ember?" Rattlesnake offered. "I don't know... I don't think so. No offense to her." Inkscale said. "What about the 'saving the land, if only they will stand'? Why wouldn't we stand to stop war?" "It would have to be something really bad." Pond added. "Well that's a terrifying thought." Chasm said. "So this sounds completely easy. Evil ex queens. Mysterious dragons elemental tribes. War. May or may not standing to save the world. Lovely. And when, exactly, will we have time to do this?" Mirage asked. Everyone suddenly seemed interested in their claws. "Er... we won't. We'll have to leave. I don't think these mysterious dragons, or Poinsettia, will just be strolling into Jade Mountain anytime soon." Dreamspeaker finally said. "So when do we leave? And who do we tell?" Pond asked quietly, not looking up. "As soon as possible. Tonight or tomorrow maybe. And no one. The Dragonets of Destiny didn't exactly go around proclaiming their title." Dreamspeaker said. "We're not exactly the Dragonets of Destiny. We don't even have a title. What would we be? 'The Possible Dragonets who May or May not Stop War'? Not exactly catchy. We don't even have definitive proof it's us. It wasn't exactly specific on who it is like last time, and we don't have six years of preparation." Mirage said. "If we're not going to do it, who is? We've got to try. So, tomorrow then?" Pond said. The fact that she was braving up to do this gave every one else the courage they needed. "So we're all in? Now's the time to back out." When no on said anything, he moved on. "Good. Now, Pond, you spend a lot of time in the healers cave right? Think you could go today an take some medicinal supplies? We'll need them." Pond nodded. "Chasm, read up on everything your the closest we've got to a library. Inkscale, I You get anything else, don't hold back. Tell one of us." They both nodded. "Now everyone, we've got to say our goodbyes and pack any necessities. Everyone try to eat as much as you can today, we'll need the strength." He finally finished. "And don't tell anyone." Inkscale added. "Don't tell anyone what? Where are you going?" Everyone froze at the sound of a voice. Cattail slowly turned her head. Ember was standing the doorway. "Uh..." Dreamspeaker said. Yes, brilliant response for someone who took over as leader five seconds ago, Cattail thought. Prim stepped in to save them. Of course it quickly made Cattail want to strangle her. "Don't tell anyone Cattail and Drought are dating!" she cheered. "And were all going to go on a picnic to celebrate!" Prim sound genuinely ecstatic, Cattail was once again impressed by her lying skills. "Impressive Prim, but I don't think that's what's really going on." She said. Prim's face immediately changed to a much more serious expression. "We might as well tell her." Delta said with a sigh. It was a very difficult conversation and, in the end, Ember demanded that either they let her come with them or don't leave at all. In the end they decided that she could be the 'savior of red' and agreed to let her come.

On the way back, Prim seemed somewhat gloomy. "What's up?" Cattail asked. Prim sighed. "Family day was next week. My mom was going to fly with most of my family to see me, but I guess it's going to be a while longer now. She's going to freak when she finds out I'm gone. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to convince her to let me come here. She's way paranoid about letting any of us leave her side." "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't think about that. I don't have any family that I care about at all that's not here. Are you going to be okay?" Cattail asked. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just disappointed." Cattail thought for a moment. "Why don't you tell me about them? Maybe it'll help." "Okay..." Prim said. "What about your dad?" Cattail started. Prim smiled slightly. "My dad's one of the kindest dragons you'll ever meet. He reads dragons very well, and everyone who meets him loves him. Well, everyone but my mom. She hated him. He annoyed her. But he was persistent and eventually he won her heart. My mom
... She's strong and stubborn. The kind of dragon that would die for others without a second thought, but if you try the hurt her family there not a place safe anywhere from her. She sarcastic with a quick temper, but wise all the same. She's a good mother. Rosey, my sister, is loyal to a fault to me. She thinks I can do anything. Scarab is sweet, not a violent bone in her body. Even though she's the most Sandwing of all of us. And Venom is a pain in my tail end. He's annoying and my arch rival. Of course it wouldn't be any fun any other way. Then there's Spiral... he's a push over but a genius. A walking, talking scroll." "They sound sound wonderful." Cattail told her. "They are..." Prim said. "It must have been hard to leave them. I couldn't do it. My family is everything I've ever known. I wouldn't be brave enough to leave it all. It's impressive you could do it." Cattail added giving Prim a searching look. Prim continued to look forward with a distant expression. "It was... but I've got to get used to doing the hard thing." Prim said, almost like she wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. "Why's that?" Cattail asked. Prim shook her head, like she was trying to clear it. "My mom has one of the higher the positions and she expects one of us to take over eventually, and, no offense, but I'm the only one fit to do it so far. Spiral will probably be a librarian or scribe, Rosey a solider, and Sunbeam a nursery worker or healer." "What about Venom?" Cattail questioned. "He wants to take over but I'm never letting that happen. I'm... er, competitive." Prim finished. Cattail couldn't help but laugh.

A/N
Hello! Look, I updated! It's a miracle! Anyway, I literally only updated because of a message I got from an awesome reader. I'm lazy and loving 8th grade with its zombie apocalypse's and magic tricks, and ruining my uniforms by dumping acrylic paint on it, and doubling my parts in the wiz, and etc.... But seriously, I've got no excuse. Even if I did I wouldn't use 'em. So... sorry if this is crappy. I'm trying my best and I didn't do my usual read through/office word thing I usually do because I wanted to post it. I'll do that later. If you read the whole note, thanks, if not, I seriously don't blame you.
Ps, any ideas or predictions on what the prophecy is talking about?
Allons-y!
-Crimson