Always - Moonbli

12. Plans and Promises

Qibli

It seemed to Qibli that the Jade Winglet and their friends were a magnet for trouble.

As soon as they set talon outside the base, they met with another storm.

And if that wasn't enough, it got so bad after a while they had to hide in a cave to escape the crazy lightning.

Yeah, he should've stuck with Queen Thorn.

The only good side in this was that they couldn't find a big enough cave, so they went off in pairs to search for shelter, and Qibli was  partnered with Moon.

His insides were dancing the conga, and quite literally because flying in a storm is no smooth sailing.

'There.' Moon pointed at a crevice in an otherwise flawless cliff face. 'Y-yeah,' agreed Qibli, his teeth chattering because of the cold. 'Let's h-hurry.' It turned out to be quite cosy and a tad too cramped for him to breathe normally.

His wings were pressed against Moon's, her tail was lying across his flank and her head was resting on his talons. Her cool scales were strangely comforting, rising and falling steadily next to his own. 

'What do we do now?' asked Moon.

It took several heartbeats for Qibli to gather up his courage and reply. 'I don't know,' he admitted, his voice unusually calm and steady. 'We've got to go to Agate Mountain, but... I have no idea what we'll do there.' 

'I guess we find the nearest cave or something,' suggested Moon without any real conviction. Her expression brightened as if she was about to say something, but then she drifted back into listlessness. 

Qibli gently unstuck his wing and drew it over her. 'Hey.' She looked at him. 'It's going to be great.' ''It's going to be great' isn't a phrase in the dictionary of the Jade Winglet,' joked Moon, the sparkle returning in her eyes.

'Okay, yeah, but I'm adding it now.' Qibli paused. 'Besides, you've got an amazing SandWing Outclaw who's Thorn's right-wing dragon on your side.' 'You mean General Six-Claws?' said Moon innocently, concealing a smile.

Qibli groaned. 'You're an impossible dragon.' 'Takes one to know one,' trilled Moon, laughing, all despondency gone. He smiled inwardly. It made him all warm on the inside when he made her laugh, when he joked with her, when she smiled at him being him.

Three moons, I'm in serious trouble.

Moon's question brought him back to the ground with a jarring thud. 'How are we ever going to stop him?' she said miserably, lapsing into the helpless despair they'd gotten accustomed to. Qibli decided not to point out that they had two supervillains to defeat - clearly Moon was more worried about Darkstalker.

'We can,' he said firmly. 'Darkstalker - he might've been a good guy, but that was over two thousand years ago. Now he's a sociopath with dreams of world domination - no longer a friend. He wants you to feel regret, doubt whether or not to kill him - that's his natural power, his silver tongue. Moon, you can't get trapped in his web.'

Qibli paused to see the effect of his words. She still looked downcast, but more determined. 'We've got to end him,' he said quietly. 'We must and you know that.'

Moon's head shot up and she frowned, her eyes gleaming in the darkness. She glanced at Qibli, looking slightly panicked. 'What -?' he began, but was cut off by a talon clamping over his snout. 'Quiet!'

'There're other dragons just outside this cave,' she elaborated. 'They can't see us, but...'

And then Qibli heard it too - voices, raucous and loud, beyond the little entrance of their refuge.