Jade Mountain's Next Generation

Chapter 18 - A Plan

I felt myself slam into scales. All the wind was knocked out of me, and I took a few minutes to gasp for breath before opening my eyes.

"Stormchaser?" I asked. "What? You thought I'd just let you die? When we have an IceWing to kill, and you have dragons who can't live without you like Light and Queen Glory and Indigo?"

I blinked. "Well, we can't do this without you."

I stared at him for a second, and then made a mistake and glanced down. Instead of seeing NightWings, I saw dark blue lumps. And I saw one IceWing standing in the middle with a smirk on his face. He exhaled frostbreath in every direction, coating the NightWings in more ice.

"That little–" I hesitated, trying to think of a word horrible enough. "IceWing." I decided.

"I think that should be a new insult." Light said, coming to hover next to us. "IceWing."

"HEY. IceWings are very dignified and impressive. The other tribes should honor having us to help them." Chill, the IceWing in Light's winglet, joked. Light giggled, but it wasn't funny. My father had just been frozen by an IceWing and Chill was making jokes about it. I noticed Stormchaser glaring at him as well.

"Hey!" My mother's voice shouted. We were high enough that we didn't have to worry about Igloo hearing us. "I know you lost people in that attack. I lost my king. King Deathbringer."

"But we don't need to be upset. I think we should send an attack party to try to kill him and another group to try to get the earring and reverse the magic." The NightWings and the RainWings began to give cries of assent. Stormchaser opened his mouth to join them, and I shook my head. "It won't work. Igloo has the earring. Ice will kill them first." He nodded. "What should we do then?"

"Sneak away. Light will get Cascade to help us, and we can kill him. Stormchaser and Light can distract him enough for us to get close. We'll have to get me and Indigo to stick together so that I can melt us out of the ice if I need to. I hope I can. Sahara, you'll stick with Cascade. She'll talk to him, knock him out if necessary. You have to hide nearby just in case. And then we can kill him, steal the earring, give it back to Indigo, stop the ice, and find Hurricane... somehow. Someone can kill him then. And then Indigo can get us to Queen Snowfall, and Sahara will kill her."

"Sounds like a plan. So... what do we tell the Queen?"

"We don't. Obviously." I said. "She'll say it's too dangerous. And then we'll all die. This is the best plan."