Exodus(Journal Of Baobab Of Pantala)

Exodus-Journal 4:Entry 3:A Gift of Gratitude

6,231 A.S. Mid Spring
I met with the queen of the BeetleWings, a week after the dwarves and I formulated our plan to make peace with the BeetleWings.
Brokkr and his small group of followers continued to sulk and build weapons to kill the BeetleWings with if our plan "failed".
Oak and I watched them carefully to make sure there would be no interference from them when we left to try and make peace with the BeetleWings, who would hopefully then try and expand their truce to the LeafWings.
   Oak, myself, Dellingr, and half a dozen of his most trusted members of his company accompanied us to the hills of the BeetleWings' territory.
As we approached the hills, BeetleWings appeared on the hills, looking down at us with spears in their talons.
"Why are you here?" One of the guards demanded.
The dwarves looked to me and Oak for what the dragon was saying.
"We are not here to fight. We only wish to seek an audience with Queen Viceroy in terms of a truce and peace with the dwarves and BeetleWings and LeafWings." I told the guard that spoke.
   "And why would Queen Viceroy want a truce with you dwarves?  It's not like you have anything of value to offer her or our tribe."
   "But the dwarves do have something to offer the BeetleWings." I responded, acting quickly. If I wanted to make peace between these dwarves and tribes then I had to be willing to do what they were not willing to do.
   "We do?" Dellingr whispered with a confused expression on his face.
   "Tribute." I whispered to him.
   Dellingr's eye brows rose up a good inch in surprise.
"You can't be serious. All that we mine go to Farthen Dur for distribution. We can't just give gems and ores away without permission from our Grimstnzborith."
   "But you're the Grimstborith of the Ingeitum and are in charge of this operation. It's your choice whether to give it away or not. Your king will understand, I'm sure." I told Dellingr, who looked reluctant to give in.
   "Fine. We'll do it as long as these dragons stop attacking us." Dellingr agreed with a few other dwarves.
   "Well, are you two-legged scavengers done squawking to each other?" The dragon asked in impatience.
"Yes, we are." I answered. "And we have come to an agreement on what to offer the BeetleWings in return for peace."
"And what is that?"
"Tribute of gemstones and precious metals."
The guards talked amongst each other for a moment.
Then the lead guard looked back at them.
"We have agreed to take you to Queen Viceroy."
   "Thank you." I said to him gratefully.
   The guard just snorted, and lead their small group into the maze of hills where the BeetleWings would be far more superior.
   BeetleWings and the BeetleWing descendants of Clearsight stared at them suspiciously, especially the little dragonets with their bright, large eyes.
   Oak tried to smile at them in a friendly manner, but made most stare back. Although a few of the dragonets smiled and waved back.
   Their escorts led them to a large hill in the middle of the group of hills. The hills was carved out to resemble a palace and was decorated with large, colorful garlands of flowers to replace gems that most queens would have found to decorate their palaces with.
   "I bet Queen Viceroy would appreciate gems instead of flowers decorating her palace." I told Oak.
   "I think she would. As well as the LeafWings. I hear Queen Khaya loves sparkly things, especially green ones. Maybe she too will like a tribute from the Dwarves in return for peace." Oak said.
   "Let's hope so or things could get messy out here if this truce fails."
   As we approached the palace, guards appeared in front of all the entry ways, spears pointed at them.
   Then a roar from the top balcony caught all of  their attention.
   A LeafWing stood on the balcony looking down at them.
   "My mother will see you now." She said.
   Her scales shimmered brightly in the sunlight, making her scales look like that of a peacock's with a little of orange-pink spots near the ends of her dark blue and green wings.
   They followed the princess with their entourage still around them.
   They headed deep into the hill till they came to a large chamber where Queen Viceroy sat on an elegantly carved wooden throne.
   The queen looked regal and imposing upon her throne. Her bright orange scales shinning like gems and her orange and dark blue wings looking like that of a monarch's. Her name suited her well since viceroy butterflies looked like monarch butterflies.
"I am told that you seek an audience with me. What is it you want to talk about?" Queen Viceroy said to them.
I replayed her words to the dwarves.
Dellingr just nodded to me to offer my plan to the queen of the BeetleWings, since she wouldn't understand them; this was why having a Rider in dragon and human, or dwarf conflict was very important.
"Queen Viceroy the dwarves seek peace with you and your tribe and only wish for peaceful encounters for now on. They would like to offer you a tribute of gems and precious metals in return for peace, and for you to relay this to the LeafWings in order for peace as well." I told the queen.
Queen Viceroy didn't say anything for a moment. She seemed to be thinking over what I proposed.
"The promise of this tribute is promising and very beneficial to the BeetleWings. But we would like a little more in return for peace and insurance to make sure we aren't attacked while our guard is down in the promise of peace with you dwarves."
I told the dwarves this, letting them think over Queen Viceroy's addition to the proposal.
"We could stay out of their hunting lands." One offered.
"Aid in fending off the wild humans running around?"
Dellingr hadn't said a thing. He seemed to be taking in the architect and the state of their makeshift spears; their spears were just wooden staves with sharpened rocks on the end.
"I think I have an idea." Dellingr told me and explain his idea to me.
I agreed greatly when I heard him finish.
Turning back to the queen, I said to her, "The dwarves have offered to help you improve your infrastructure of your palace and craft better quality spears for your guards. And to stay out of your hunting lands and aid you in any attacks from the wild humans. If you agree we can begin the truce now and move onward into a brighter future."
Queen Viceroy looked at them carefully, her bright orange eyes roaming over all of them.
Then as she opened her mouth to speak, something slammed into the ceiling of the palace, crashing through and sending dirt and rock crashing down on them.
Dragons screamed as flaming barrels were dropped down through the hole, catching anything flammable on fire.
The guards were in array, searching for their queen and princess.
I found myself and the dwarves safely underneath Oak, protecting us from the rock and dirt threatening to bury us all alive.
   I could sense the strain coursing through Oak as he struggled to hold the dirt and rock up.
   Using magic, I cleared all the ruble away from us and off of Oak's back so he was free.
   Once free, I went out from underneath Oak, and searched for the queen and princess.
   I saw dragons rising out from the ruble, roaring in anger at what had happened.
   Rocks and dirt were shoveled away as they searched for their queen and princess, ignoring the fire burning in the chamber.
   Casting a spell, he put out the fire, and started searching for the queen and princess with his mind.
   Oak soon joined in the search too, as did the dwarves to give themselves a good impression that they were just trying to help.
   Queen Viceroy was soon dug out, and was a raging mass of teeth and claws.
   "I knew we couldn't trust you dwarves! All you do is lie, betray, and kill!"
   "Your Highness, we can't find Princess Aglais." One of the guards told the queen before she could continued on with her rant.
   The queen looked around desperately with her bright orange eyes.
   It then hit me that Aglais might be Queen Viceroy's only daughter and heir. Which meant that she might be injured somewhere underneath all of this ruble.
   Closing my eyes, I reached out my mind in search for the princess.
   I ignored all the roaring and crashing around me as I focused on finding Aglais.
In the chaos around me, I heard the faint whisper of a thought, and quickly traced it.
Opening my eyes, I rushed over to the spot where the faint mind was located at.
I started digging up the dirt, searching for the dragon trapped underneath all the dirt and rock.
Oak and Dellingr joined me, excavating more dirt than I could on my own.
A shimmering wing soon appeared out of the dirt. It had to be Aglais's.
Oak yelled to the guards that they found her, and three guards rushed over, shoving them out of the way as they dug their princess out from the earth's cold grasp.
As Aglais was extracted from the dirt, I noticed that one of her wings were broken looking and there were a few scratches and burn marks against her beautiful scales.
"My beautiful daughter!" Queen Viceroy cried shoving everyone out of her way as she grasped her daughter's limp head in her talons. "You did this! You demons of the mountain! I'll kill all of you with my bare talons! Guards! Kill them! All of them!"
The guards attacked the dwarves, pinning them to the ground and preparing to kill them all. They left Oak and I alone clearly in fear that the Riders would exact revenge if they found out they murdered Oak and I.
"Wait!" I called to the angry queen. "Don't kill them. I can save your daughter, if you let me."
Queen Viceroy whipped her head around to glare daggers at me.
"How do I know you aren't just lying to save your little friends lives?"
"Cause I want peace just as much as anyone, and I promise you that I'll help you find the culprit." I told her quickly, already sensing that Aglais's mind was slowly slipping away.
Queen Viceroy looked at me carefully before giving in.
I walked over to Aglais, and laid a hand on her first wound, healing it with a spell and so on with the next ones till her scales were completely unblemished and her wing was fixed. Even thought she was still unconscious, she would still survive.
"Well, is she okay?" The queen demanded.
"Yes, she is, Your Highness, and I shall keep my promise to you to find the culprit as long as you spare these dwarves, who have done no wrong to you now."
"I'll considered this when you come back with results and the culprit or culprits. Now go, Rider and you better come back with whoever attacked us."
I nodded, and Oak and I rushed out of the chamber, and out into the tunnels of the palace.
I kept my mind open, listening for whoever had attacked the BeetleWings.
"I don't sense anyone yet. You?" Oak asked.
"Nope." I responded.
Then I heard a voice speaking about blowing something important to the BeetleWings up.
I latched onto the thought, and found that it was Brokkr and he was heading for the hatchery.
Fear raced throughout me as I told Oak about Brokkr's plan.
"If he blows the hatchery a whole generation of BeetleWings will be lost, including whatever eggs Viceroy and Aglais have in the hatchery. Then Viceroy really will want to kill all the dwarves."
"We have to stop him at all costs." I told Oak, running down to the deeper part of the hill-palace.
I could hear Brokkr's mind getting closer and closer by the second as we headed deeper into the hill.
Then we turned to arrive in a large chamber with eggs in large nests dug into the floor.
The dwarves were placing explosives in each nest with a black cord connecting them all so they could detonate the nests from far away.
"Brokkr, stop!" I yelled to him, making all the dwarves freeze in place.
All the dwarves with Brokkr looked to him for what to do next.
Brokkr just glared at me.
"You cannot stop us. We will destroy these eggs and weaken these demons at any cost." Brokkr said, and dropped a match on the black cord, setting off the explosives in the nests.
"NO!" I yelled, and went to use magic to stop the explosion when the ceiling above the entrance collapsed.
Despite my dire circumstances, I tried to at least save a few of the eggs. I used a spell to bring a nest of eggs over to Oak and me just as the ceiling collapsed on us, burying us under the ruble.
   I didn't know how long Oak and I were stuck under all that ruble, but I did know that I felt like I was slowly suffocating in the darkness.