Wings of Honor: Deciding Destiny

Chapter 15: This We'll Defend

"Qibli!" I called out
"Qibli!" Qibli!" I heard friendly voices behind me.
I shivered. He wouldn't just disappear like that, not without telling someone. It was like he just vanished... teleported. Only... nobody saw. I trembled to think he was in Goldman or Darkstalker's custody. Even I knew Qibli would be dangerously smart on Darkstalker's side... if Goldman didn't kill him first.
We had to find him, fast.
"QIBLI!" Marvin's voice shouted louder than the others, not just because he was on my back. He anxiously split his attention from scanning with his binoculars to glancing at his enchanted compass, honing in on the missing SandWing. "QIBLI!"
The fear felt like I was swallowing tin, this sharp and piercing feeling that you couldn't stop from slamming you head on, sending you spinning for a moment.
"QIBLI!" I shouted again, trying to meet Marvin's volume, taking a sharp breath and an equally sharp exhale. I was scared.
"Qibli!" I heard Moon's distant voice behind me. I knew she was just as scared, maybe more than me.
I closed my eyes for a moment, hoping this wasn't what was true.

"Hey. Where's Qibli?" Kinkajou's curious if slightly concerned voice pierced the silence.
And in that silent moment, we all opened our eyes, frozen. And like we all shared the same thought, we looked amongst eachother.
"I don't see him," McManus said, a statement.
"Where did he go?" Vaquero questioned.
"Qibli?" I will never forget Umber's quiet call, the panic setting in.
"Qibli!" Then Moon called.
Then all hell broke loose, 15 dragons and 3 humans all scrambled arround to look for him.
"I don't see him nearby!" Marvin quickly spun arround with his enchanted scope.
"I got no tracks, no nothing!" Travers added.
The panic and fear gripping my lungs, my heart rate increasing.
Then everyone began to call out for him.
No response.
"Where is, Qibli?" I said breathless. The one who stopped the war, the one who saved us all. "Where is he?"

I took another deep breath, stifling the panic that recent memory stirred in me once more. I let the emotions, the stress, exhale as smoke through my nostrils. Feeling the cool air, the rushing wind, the warm body on my back still searching. I chuckled, knowing Qibli would have added a joke here that would have shocked me right out of that fear.
But... he wasn't here.
And that fear ate at me from the inside. Fear of where he was, what our enemies might possibly be doing to him. The fear... of losing such an important person, not just to me.
"Travers here. Nothing close to the south." His voice chimed out over the radio.
"Likewise, nothing northwest. We'll expand the search." McManus' voice rang out as well.
All of us spread out in all directions, searching for Qibli. Travers and Umber ran radio south, McManus and Sora took a radio northwest, while Marvin and I took the northeast towards the mountains. Between us three, Vaquero's flight, and the Jade Winglet scoured the skies to close the gaps. It was a massive dragonhunt, searching for any sign of Qibli.
Anxiety fueling my mind, I immediately tried to deduce where he might have gone.
Qibli's smart. He wouldn't have let himself be taken without leaving some kind of trace.
But then I realized who we were fighting.
Darkstalker would have means of outright killing him. Qibli wouldn't dare test him, not if he wanted to live. Goldman wouldn't be better. He'd probably know to check if Qibli left any tracks. He knew how we would search.
I swallowed my metallic-tasting spit.
So if Goldman knew how we would search, then where would he go to hide from us?
Marvin sighed, his mind also beginning to tick away. He's not subtle. Goldman has had the upper hand this whole time, he'd rather fight. Marvin scoured the area with his glasses. Look for any defensible position.
I looked arround, gliding to try and provide a stable platform to search. I eyed everything I could, although I didnt have any magnified optics like Marvin did. He took long range, I had short. Still, most of everything was blended into the tree cover, a sea of forest. I looked for depressions, hillsides, anywhere that could possibly hide Qibli and Goldman, definitely not Darkstalker.
Wait a minute, Darkstalker would want to be there. And Goldman's still likely under his spell!
I turned my attention to look for larger depressions, large enough to hide the monster of a NightWing. Large enough to hide me.
But then I sensed a presence flying up to me. I looked over to see Moon taking wingman beside me, her eyes glistening, tears catching the wind. Her anxiety rubbing off me, the pressure on my chest, the terror of losing another friend fogging my mind.
"You... you haven't heard anything?" Moon's voice crackled.
"Nothing yet!" Marvin yelled
Moon nervously swallowed, gasping for air. "I don't... I don't know-"
"Hey!" I cut her off. "We're gonna find him. I promise." I said strongly.
Moon paused. She knew I hadn't seen the future, she knew that wasn't a prophecy. She knew I couldn't guarantee it. A white lie.
And yet, one that was important to her as guaranteed my survival as well. What if Qibli died? What would happen to the timeline? Would we have a time to go back to? How would Marvin react? I swallowed.
We all saw how he reacted when Kinkajou got hurt, after the rescue at the Invincable City. How would he react if he lost our entire squad?
And then another thought shook me to my very core.
How would Marvin react if he lost a whole timeline?
It started in my heart, forcing a shaky breath from my lungs, spreading to a shiver to my feet and talons, all the way to my wingtips and to the tip of my tail.
It would destroy him. No matter if it was his fault or not, it would destroy him.
That utter fear crept into my talons, the icy cold, colder than wind chill alone should be. I tried warming up my claws a little, continuing to scan.
But then an intense migraine quickly began to form, rapidly overtaking my mind.
"Mar-" I whimpered, before the red out.