The Peace of the Stars (Book 3 of The Hybrids Rising Trilogy)(Complete)

Chapter 10:

"Spruce, I know you wouldn't do this. You wouldn't kill me. Remember me, Spruce? Remember Searipper?" "My Master was clear. I am under orders to kill you, and two others, a SkyWing MudWing hybrid, and a NightWing SandWing hybrid." "But why, Spruce?" "My name is Infernodeath! As for why..." the SkyWing's mouth twitched upward into a cruel smile, not unlike Tidepool's, or the prison guards when they managed to hit Starsand with their horrible feathery things. "The Master wants you dead. He hates you, because you escaped."

"But you escaped, too, Spruce. Why would he send you after us, instead of the Shadow-dragons?" "Those of whom you speak have an unspeakable name, given by the Master  himself. We call them either Shadowwalkers or Shadekillers. They are incapable of killing mercilessly the first time." "That's what they're called? Shadowwalkers?" "Yes, Half-breed-" "No calling me HALF-BREED!!!!" Searipper shrieked, flying towards the SkyWing and slamming her tail into his stomach, earning a loud "OOMPH!" from him. "Yes, that's what they're called. Now, shut up and let me kill you!"

"No! I'm not stopping! Spruce, please. I know you're in there, somewhere. Come back to me. Come back to your little Stormbrander. Please." "No! Spruce is- Spruce is dead! He will never come back! Ever!" Starsand noticed that everyone had stopped fighting, and instead they were watching the exchange between Searipper and Spruce, or as he was calling himself, Infernodeath.

The SkyWing shook his head violently, and growled, "Spruce is dead." "No, he's in there. I know you are, Spruce. Come out, please. Come back to me. Please. Come back to Stormbrander, come back to me, Spruce. I miss you." Starsand was aware that Sunset and Sky were on his other side. "I need you to come back. It hasn't been the same for me without your dry humor, and your face greeting me every morning. Please come back, Spruce. Come back to Stormbrander. I miss you. A lot."

Searipper fell silent, watching Infernodeath. The SkyWing shook his head violently again, and slammed his yellow eyes shut. He scratched his neck in silence, his face contorting and twisting like his head was full of bees. When he opened them again, he said, "Searipper? Is that you? Is that you, my little snooper, my little Stormbrander?" "Yes, it's me. And I'm not so little anymore, Sprucie." "Aw. Yes. You're here." "NOOOOO!!!" a raspy voice screamed from above. A dark blue-gray blur shot towards Searipper, but Spruce jumped in front of her and took Tidepool's slash to his throat. "Enjoy dying, Half-breed." Tidepool hissed.

"SPRUCE!!!" Searipper shrieked, her eyes widening, then narrowing into slits. Tidepool laughed. "I'll enjoy killing you!" Searipper roared, and shot two streams of fire-water into the SeaWing's eyes, then slashed his throat, and kicked him towards the ground, where he landed on a pile of sharp rocks with a CRACK, and died several seconds later. Searipper, meanwhile, was grabbing Spruce and trying to get him to stay alive. Finally, she roared at one of the members of the Phantom Brotherhood to go get a healer. Several seconds later, the dragon came back with a RainWing carrying a bag of stuff.

"Hold him down. This is gonna hurt." the RainWing said. Searipper, Starsand, Sky, Grain, Borealis, and Sunset held the SkyWing to the  ground even as he thrashed and roared, trying to get them off. Finally, it was done. Spruce had some pretty bad looking stitches in his throat, and all the dragons got off of him. "Thanks..." "Kookaburra. My name is Kookaburra." "Thanks, Kookaburra."

"No problem. Mind if I come with your group? I can't go back to my tribe. They banished me for not accepting the RainWing NightWing hybrids in the Rainforest." "Yeah," A SandWing with a scar on his snout added. "I think we all got banished from our tribes. We've got no place to go." "So, can we come with you?" Searipper hissed in annoyance, looking at Spruce with worry in her eyes.  "You seemed to have interacted with Spruce before. When, and why?" Sea growled, standing over the limp, unconcious SkyWing.

"I first 'met' him when Tidepool and a SandWing guard named Roadrunner-" "That's me." the SandWing from before said. "Roadrunner, shut it. So, anyway, as I was saying before Roadrunner interrupted me, I first 'met' him when Tidepool and Roadrunner brought him into the healer's office. He had a bad slash to the throat, but it had missed the main artery, so Spruce was alive, but barely. Tidepool told me to help him, and I wondered why Tidepool wanted to keep a hybrid, of all dragons, alive. I asked him why, and he told me, vaguely. So I basically figured out that he wanted me to bring Spruce back from the brink of death and then he would force Spruce to work for him. I had nothing to do with that, I just fixed him up."

"Why should we forgive you, or any of you, for what you did to the hybrids who are still inside of that base, for what you did to us?" "I do not know how to answer that, ma'am. I suppose it's because we're all dragons, whether we're multi-tribed or not." "Maybe. I suppose I forgive you. But that doesn't mean that the other hybrids inside the base have. Got that?" "Yes. We understand." "Good. Now, you guys need to help us free the hybrids. MOVE IN!!" Sea roared.

After several hours, all the hybrids were free, the skeletal bodies huddled together in big piles next to small fires, trying to keep warm. Near the outer edges, the former members of the Phantom Brotherhood huddled in the shadows. Star watched off to the side, as Sea walked over to Spruce's still, sleeping form, touching the SkyWing hybrid's side lightly. Spruce's face looked like he was being tortured in his sleep, but when Sea came over and touched him, he must of sensed it or felt it, because his face relaxed.

"Stormbrander? Is that... is that you?" the SkyWing mumbled, cracking his eyes open a little bit. "Spruce... I didn't mean to wake you, I just wanted to see how you were doing." Sea replied. Star said nothing, but instead just watched.

"I-I had a bad dream. I was in the Brotherhood's base, and Tidepool was sitting on a throne above me. I had chains weighing down my talons, my neck, and my wings. I couldn't unfurl my wings all the way, and a SandWing, big, brutish, like the guards, and female chained me to the floor. She bowed to Tidepool, a-and I-I bowed, too. Like I knew what he wanted from me. Tidepool said, 'So, Cactushide, is our new addition ready?' The SandWing bowed her head and said yes, and then Tidepool said, 'So, Infernodeath, how do you feel about dying?' I wanted to tell him that my name wasn't Infernodeath, it was Spruce. But instead, I said, 'I am afraid, Master.' in a monotonous voice that didn't sound like me. Tidepool seemed to stare at me for a few seconds, then said to the SandWing, 'Take him to the labs.' To me, he said, 'Infernodeath, you failed me.' I wanted to bite his head off right then, and scream that I wasn't working for him anymore, but for some reason, I shouted for Tidepool to give me another chance, that I wouldn't fail him again. But the SandWing kept dragging me out the door, and brought me to the labs, where they all started beating me up. It went on, until you managed to wake me up."

"Oh, Spruce. I understand. Believe me, I know."