Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 51

By CamsterDragon
Hemlock's POV

Hemlock held Pleiades, surprised at her sudden change of mood. The mix of emotions turned him taunt at first. Surprise, worry, happiness, and confusion were tossed around inside him, hitting his brain like rocks tossed around in a tornado. He tried his best to not let any of them show but worry escaped all the same. He embraced Pleiades's hug, patting her back gently as she cried in his arms. He wanted her to stay where she was, but, at the same time, the close contact with her made his heart hammer inside of his chest. So much so that he could hardly hear anything else. Well, besides Pleiades.

He noticed Ash entering the room out of the corner of his eyes. He frowned slightly. Did he do this to her? But, then he noticed the concerned look on Ash's face and relaxed. What am I thinking? Ash is one of the good guys.

"Hemlock?" said Pleiades's muffled voice.

"Hmm?" He looked down at Pleiades who was looking up at him. There were no more tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Hemlock had been confused up until that point on what she kept apologizing for, but seeing her sparkling eyes, he suddenly understood.

He smiled warmly. "I forgive you."

He held her for a moment longer before he noticed Ash come in the room. Wait... Hemlock quickly leaped in front of Pleiades, shielding her from the two Ashs.

"What the..." Hemlock glared, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two Ashs. Both Ashs seemed just as startled as he was feeling.

"I have a twin?" asks the Ash who had just entered. Ash number two. thought Hemlock.

"I can't read his emotions," said Ash number one, scrunching his brow.

"Well, duh.. I'm you!" Ash number two rolled his eyes. Hemlock thought whoever had decided to impersonate Ash had done a really bad job. He was almost instantly certain Ash number two was a fake.

"Okay, who are you and why do you look like Ash?" Hemlock demanded of the second Ash.

"Wha..? But.. I'm the real Ash!" The fake Ash was starting to twitch nervously. "I'll prove it.. you're feeling... angry?" He shook his head. "No... confused? Frightened? Certain?" If Hemlock hadn't been sure before, he was now.

"You're not fooling any of us," snarled Pleiades, coming next to Hemlock.

The fake Ash was now slowly backing away from them. "You're the animus.. aren't you?"

Hemlock paused in his advance towards the fake Ash. "What?"

"You could see through my lies and you're a Cloudwing." The fake Ash smirked. "It's obvious." His grin grows wider. "Wait till my master finds out. He and my cousin Fig have been looking all over for you and your group of friends."

Fig? Hemlock's eyes narrowed. I knew he was trouble. He noticed the fake Ash sliding ever closer to the door.

"He knows too much," he growled and leaped at the fake Ash. At that exact moment, in a stroke of bad luck, Velocity decided to enter the room. As she opened the door, Hemlock collided with her head on and the two of them tumbled to the floor.

Dizzy from the hit on the head, Hemlock was slow to get back into focus. By that time, the fake Ash was already gone from sight. So, it was Fig who hurt all of these Viperwings. Hemlock growled. I bet all Shatteredmoon had to do was flatter him into being his animus.

"Who was that?" asked Velocity, rubbing her head. "Ash's evil twin?"

Hemlock shook his head. "Fig's cousin."

"Oh!" Velocity brightened. "Then, why did he leave so quickly?"

"Because Fig and him are working for the Darkest Flame," said Pleiades bitterly from behind Hemlock. He turned to look at her. It was clearly a huge shock to her that Fig would do anything involving the Darkest Flame. Hemlock couldn't see why.

"Where do you know him from?" asked Ash, coming out from behind Pleiades.

"The Spiral Kingdom," explained Velocity. "He's an animus."

"Oh, that explains a lot." Ash frowned. "So, he's the one behind the Viperwing deaths."

"Yes," grinded out Pleiades. "He is." She growled. "When I get my hands on him..."

"Let's not be too rash," commented Hemlock. I hate Fig too. But... "He's working with the Darkest Flame now. We can't really attack him without facing consequences."

Pleiades glared at Hemlock. "How can bad dragons like him be protected?!" She paced in a circle. "And good dragons like us are hunted down like we're... criminals!" She stopped pacing, sat down, and sighed. She looked up at Hemlock. He could see the vulnerability in her eyes. "We aren't the villains.. right?"

Hemlock had no idea, but the look Pleiades was giving him.. as though he were the only reliable source of information in this world.. made him want to figure something out. Hemlock racked his brain for a good answer. "I think..." he said gradually. "That we can only judge who we are by looking at those around us and protecting them with everything we have. And." He faltered. "Just trying our best to do what we think is right."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, that makes sense." She smiled, and Hemlock thought it was the most beautiful thing to ever grace this world. "Thanks Hemlock."

"You're welcome." Hemlock was feeling butterflies of joy explode in his stomach at her compliment.

"So," Ash interrupted. "What are we going to do now? Shatteredmoon knows our location."

"We have to get out of here as soon as possible," agreed Pleiades.

"What about my family?" asked Velocity frantically. "The Darkest Flame will torture them if they know they were with us!"

"Not if their too busy looking for us." Hemlock smiled, a plan forming in his mind. "We'll escape the Golden Kingdom, make it super obvious where we're going, and then dart off in another direction when they're lured away from the kingdom."

"That could work," agreed Pleiades. "But, what about Velocity?" Hemlock wished more than ever that he still had his animus powers.

"We can't leave her here," Hemlock firmly stated.

"The sun is rising," pointed out Ash. "We could wait until it finishes and use the sun covers."

"Good idea." Hemlock heaved a sigh of relief. "Alright, let's do this."