Fly High (Ninjago Dragon AU)

Chapter 6: Deceptive Wyrm

Today, Echo asked why there's nobody else in our woods. I think reading about towns and people made him curious. He's too young to understand the whole truth— how would I even tell a child that he would be captured or killed if he ever set foot in a town? Or that I was forced to leave my home, or risk being executed, simply for my interest in his kind? I ended up telling him that a wicked queen had cursed me to live alone in the woods, with only a single person for company— a version of the truth he could understand. Someday, I'll have to tell him the whole story, but once he's older.

- From the journal of Professor Julien, noted dracologist (current whereabouts unknown)

Cole's brow furrowed. "Humans this close to the den..."

"Three of them, about a quarter-mile away." Kai repeated. "They were chasing her, so they might have traveled a bit." He jerked his head at Harumi, who was standing a little ways back.  She glanced up as he mentioned her, then edged a little closer to Lloyd. Her tail brushed his, and he started, blinking in surprise.

Kai wasn't sure why that annoyed him. 

Cole bit his lip, thinking. "Everyone, come out here," he called after a moment. "I know you're all listening anyway." 

Nya's head popped up out of her spring, Zane crawled out of his pillows, Pixal appeared in the mouth of her sleeping cave, and Jay dropped down out of a little alcove in the ceiling he'd apparently been bracing against the walls of. "Aw, c'mon!" he exclaimed. "How'd you know?"

"I've met you," Cole replied dryly. "Anyway, until further notice, everyone stays inside the den unless getting food. We can't risk leading any humans back here."

"Uh, how long exactly are we gonna be on lockdown?" Nya asked, the fin on her tail twitching back and forth.

"Until further notice. I don't know how long this'll be," Cole replied.

Jay groaned loudly. "I'm gonna go stir-crazy!" 

"Better stir-crazy than dead or captured," said Cole grimly.

——————————————

Three weeks trapped inside. Jay couldn't take it anymore. He knew it was risky, but he had to stretch his wings. Surely a little flight couldn't hurt, especially if he stayed below the trees. Luckily, he'd been living in the Den since he was six, and knew most of the secret ways out. The bigger dragons, like Cole or Kai, wouldn't look twice at this hole, but for someone as small as him... 

"And where are you going?" Jay froze, then slowly turned, his ears flattening back guiltily. Standing at the corner of the alcove he was in, webbed claws on her hips and wings tilted back, was Nya. It didn't help the situation that he wasn't sure whether his heart skipped a beat because he'd been caught sneaking out or because of the fact that he'd developed a crush on the water dragon over the course of the last few months.

"Er... nowhere. Just, erm, hanging out." He grinned, hoping he didn't look too guilty.

Nya's ocean-like eyes narrowed. "You're sneaking out, aren't you?" Her webbed ears flicked out so the top edges of her crests were parallel with the ground.

"Whaaaaat? No! No way! I'm just— uh— yknow?" He spread his claws in front of him and tried to smile innocently.

She looked at him skepticallly, then turned and leaned out of the alcove, then turned to him again. "Everyone's distracted. Quick, let's go before they notice."

Jay blinked. "What?"

Nya grinned. "I'm so not letting you sneak out without me! Now let's go!" 

Jay grinned back, then climbed into the hole and wriggled through to the outside. He sucked in a breath of fresh air, sighing happily at the scents of the forest. A moment later, Nya crawled out of the hole after him. Jay blushed. With the sun on her raven hair and turquoise scales, she looked even prettier than usual. She ginned at him. "C'mon, let's get some exercise before we're missed!" She spread her wings and swooped off the ledge, flying just below the forest canopy. A heartbeat later, Jay took off after her.

Suddenly, Nya's eyes went wide, and she pulled up to land on a branch. Jay opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but she put a finger to her lips, then mouthed "hide". He perched next to her, and after a moment, he heard it too. Voices, and footsteps.

"We don't even know if it's this way!"

"Be quite or we'll be heard!" Jay stifled a gasp as a group of humans, all dressed in leather armor, came into view. There were eight, nine— definitely more than a dozen, and they were heading toward the Den. 

"I found the trail," said the leader, bending down to pick something up. Jay nearly fell off the branch as he realized what it was.

The human held the jade green feather high, examining it. "The wyrm's done her job well," she remarked. 

Nya's claws dug into his arm. He turned to look at her, and she flicked her ears back toward the Den. Her meaning was clear: Let's book it. Jay nodded, and they dropped quietly to the forest floor and slipped away through the bushes. Now that he knew what to look for, Jay realized there was a clear trail of feathers leading toward the den— too many to be an accident. A minute out from the Den, Nya grabbed three of the feathers.

"What're you doing?" Jay asked.

"Proof," she replied grimly. "They won't believe us otherwise. They trust her." 

Jay had known what the feather trail meant, but that was the first time it really sank in for him: Harumi had betrayed them. Together, he and Nya spread their wings and shot back to the Den as fast as they could. As soon as they burst in, Cole confronted them. "Where were you?! You were supposed to stay inside—"

Jay took a moment to catch his breath, then shouted, "Humans are coming!"

CLIFFHANGER!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!! Incidentally, from this point on we'll get a few other PoVs than just Kai and Lloyd, such as Jay here, and I'll be developing a few other couples besides. The next few chapters are gonna have some scenes I've been literally planning since this fic was first a concept, including some arena fights and the introduction of several characters. See you later, and watch the skies for Chapter 7!