Heart of the Rainforest

Chapter 13 - Seize

Lionfish immediately leaped to his talons, his tail lashing. Mamba reached for the blindfolds on the floor and threw them at Adder and Lionfish, shoving hers over her head. Equo glanced regretfully down at her flower necklace, which was slightly wilted, and stood next to Tiki. Banggai ushered the others towards the back of the treehouse, poking Lionfish to get him to stop growling.

Banggai stood tall next to Tiki, stretching to their full height, and moments later several large RainWings thumped down outside. Her heart raced as they swarmed in, tearing down the flower curtain on the door, snarling and holding sharp spears. A large female dragon with dark greenish scales and crimson streaks along her wings and tail stood in the middle, her eyes fixed on Tiki's friends in the corner.

"Your majesty," Banggai objected as three RainWings started towards Mamba, Adder, and Lionfish. "With all due respect, please leave them be."

"I didn't take you for a traitor, Banggai." Panther hissed, narrowing her eyes at them.

The orange RainWing glanced at Tiki, then back to the queen. "They're not harmful. They were traveling with Tiki, that's all."

Queen Panther's sharp gaze pinned Tiki to the floor. She hadn't seen the queen personally like this since Banggai had helped her get her treehouse. Tiki could pretty reasonably assume she wasn't the queen's favourite dragon, like most RainWings in the village.

"Everyone thought you were dead." She flicked her tongue in and out, circling around her. "How unfortunate. And you've come back with enemies on your tail."

Tiki couldn't speak. She was paralyzed with fear. She knew they hated her, and it hurt every time she thought about it, so she buried it in blue feathers, but now she was a traitor harboring dangerous enemies, and she didn't know what to do.

"We're not dangerous!" Equo interjected, twining her tail around Tiki's. "They just got out of a terrible prison. None of them wanted to be soldiers. We've been here for days, and we haven't done anything bad!"

Lionfish snorted, but Adder hissed at him to shut him up. 

The soldiers pushed past Banggai and seized Tiki's friends, dragging them out through the door. Tiki watched helplessly as the RainWings carried them away into the village.

"You missed one," Panther snarled at the remaining guards, flicking her tail at Equo. 

Equo grabbed Tiki's arm as hissing RainWing soldiers advanced towards her. They shoved Banggai aside, cornering Tiki and Equo. She was aware her scales were entirely green, but she couldn't mask it anymore.

The queen was here, and her friends had been taken away, and dangerous talons reached fopr Equo.

There was an awfully loud, hoarse shriek from behind the soldiers, and then a large, bright blue bird with a huge hooked beak descended on the RainWings. Akila wasn't big enough to do serious damage, and Tiki realized with a stab of fear that she could get hurt by the RainWing soldiers for defending Tiki.

Through the swinging tails and flashing wings, Banggai caught Tiki's eye. She wasn't entirely sure what the orange RainWing was about to do, but it couldn't be worse than what was already happening. Quietly, they slipped out of the doorway and flew away into the village.

"STOP!" Panther roared. Her scales rippled red and orange and black, and she flared her wings, standing tall above the rest of the dragons in the treehouse. She was frighteningly large, and Tiki instinctively shrank down under her venomous glare. Equo twined her tail tightly around hers. Akila landed on Tiki's shoulder, hissing at the RainWing queen.

"That is quite enough." She stalked towards Tiki until she was standing right in front of her. "You bring enemies into the village, you turn my advisor against me, and you send your bird after the queen? On top of being already spectacularly annoying?"

"She didn't send her after you!" Equo objected. Panther hissed ferociously at her, and Equo shrank back closer to Tiki.

Panther stepped back, her scales shifting bright red and orange and black. The queen flicked her tail, and four large armoured RainWings reached towards Tiki and Equo. They grabbed at their arms, starting to drag them away, out of the treehouse.

"Go find Geelvink," Tiki told Akila as the macaw snapped at the soldier's talons. The bird hesitated, but flew away when she repeated herself.

Queen Panther watched with a horribly pleased expression as Equo and Tiki were taken away. The soldiers kept a strong grip on their arms as they were escorted towards the prisons.

Tiki glanced back at the queen and her guards, watching them fly away, just as a huge, bluish-grey eagle with wickedly curved talons shrieked and attacked the queen of the RainWings with terrifying ferocity.