The Truth About The NightWings

All Hail Queen Glory! ...Or not?

I burst out back at the rainforest panting, clutching Bamboo tightly, whose eyes were still wide with fear.

The events of the past few minutes were a blur: the volcano exploding, running toward the beach, blurting out "Queen Glory!" as I passed the other NightWings. 

Bamboo let out a squeak of pain, and, realizing that I'd been holding him too hard, I gently set him on the ground.

I watched as the other NightWings came out of the magic tunnel. One by one, they burst out, each panting. Some looked at their surroundings in wonder, whispering, "So the rumors are true!! There really are trees taller than dragons. Not the rumor about the sky being blue, though. It's black."

"Look at all this food!!" One dragonet exclaimed, holding up a coconut proudly from the top of a  palm tree. 

Others were less enthusiastic. Older NightWings were huddled in groups, grumbling about their new situation. 

"I can't believe this, " one of them muttered angrily. "Imagine, living under a RainWing, of all creatures!!! And that poor excuse of the SkyWing replacement, no less..."

"Shut up," another one growled. "At least we get to live somewhere."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to live as a ser-"

I tuned out the conversation. What was I thinking? 

How were we supposed to do this? 

If this was their reaction to Queen Glory ruling them, then how in the three moons was I gonna convince them that Queen Battlewinner was a fake?

How in Pyrrhia was I going to convince them that I was the rightful heir?

What made me think that I could change anything? Me, a five-year-old NightWing dragonet who's always kept her down?  

Before I could think any more of these depressing thoughts, someone cleared their throat dramatically. 

Instantly, everyone stopped chattering and turned their heads simultaneously, like something out of a scroll. 

Queen Glory flicked her wings, her scales a royal blue shot through with veins of gold. She looked regal, and everybody, even the grumbling elderly dragons from earlier, looked at her in respect, waiting for her to speak.

"NightWings," the RainWing queen began. "Your queen is dead. Your island is destroyed. Now you have two options. You can either fly off, find another island," she motioned to the sky, "or you could listen to what I have to say."

No one stirred. I caught one dragon looking at the sky hopefully, ready to take off, but she stopped when another NightWing gave her a look. 

"Contrary to what you think," Queen Glory continued, "I will not be the one ruling you." There was a collective gasp of disbelief. "That was just a cover to get you here. In reality...well...I'll let Stargaze of the NightWings tell you this rather shocking development."

Everyone's head slowly swiveled to where I was standing. I gulped, feeling the pressure of all those eyes staring at me. 

"Um," I started. "So. Hi."

Total silence. 

I took a deep breath, then tried again. 

"A couple of weeks ago--actually, a month ago--I was in the library, looking for scrolls on dreamvisitors, when I found this very interesting scroll." I held it up for everyone to see.

In case you're wondering, yeah, this is something I picked up after my conversation with Spelllcaster--I mean, Twilight.  I had Queen Glory hold on to it for me; she handed it to me as I passed her on the way back to the rainforest. 

"This was written by Spellcaster. Sound familiar?" There was a murmuring of agreement, with several glances at the dragon in question, who looked like she wanted to die. "So, anyway, this is a NightWing Lineage scroll, and this writing  states that..." 

I proceeded to tell them about Spellcaster's scroll, then outlined my journey to find out the truth. (If you don't remember any of this, read the first 12 chapters.) 

"So," I finished, "basically, Queen Battlewinner was a fraud. Technically Spellcaster is the rightful heir, but since she doesn't want the job, I'm taking it for myself."

During the entire time as I talked, everyone had been quiet. Now, though, protests were rising up, like lava in a volcano just before it explodes.

"Why should we believe anything you say?"

"You're just a dragonet! What makes you think you can rule our tribe?"

"Stargaze, stop being ridiculous and get down from there!"

Uh-oh. 

"Oh, dear, " a voice said from behind me, sounding dreary and old, like it was scraping against stone. 'I feared...this...might...happen. Good thing...I'm here...to fix things"

I whirled around, meeting the gaze of the dragon who had just spoken. 

"What are you doing here?"