Wings of Fire • Dragon of Loyalty [4]

Chapter Twelve

"We need a way in on her meetings," Brisktail said after a lapse in the conversation, "And I know just the thing."

     He reached into his pouch and pulled out his invisibility pebble. He murmured a spell and it cracked into five pieces.

     "Brisktail!" Rainwind cried.

     "You broke it!" exclaimed Thunderclap.

     Brisktail shook his head. "I changed the enchantment and then, yeah, technically I broke it but only so that each of us can have one. That way we can all turn ourselves invisible whenever we want, not just me controlling it."

     Rainwind nodded, finally understanding. She wouldn't have made it out of the cave without his help and if they were to sneak around in the future they needed a better way to hide.

     "We should gather the shells now, too. We don't want to be gone too long," said Quickclaws. He rolled up The Trials of the Young Queen and held it out to Rainwind. "Here you go."

     As she reached out to accept it, the slip of parchment Rainwind carried around fell from her claws. She had completely forgotten about the omen!

     "What's this?" asked Brisktail, scooping it up. Rainwind tried to snatch it back but stopped short at his horrified expression. He looked up at her, his eyes wide and the horror melting to anger. "Well!? Were you ever going to show this to us!?"

     "Sorry, I forgot, we were so busy talking about other, more important, things," Rainiwnd countered.

     She tried to snatch the parchment but Brisktail held it out of reach. He waved it around. "I'd say this is the most important thing of all. You should have said this... when did you get this?"

     Sighing, she braced herself. He would be mad "When... Stratusstream gave me the scroll..." Rainwind answered in a small voice.

     "Six days- you had this for six days and didn't think to tell me?"

     "It was hard to get away-" Rainwind growled, but thankfully, Quickclaws cut her off.

     "What does it say?" he asked. Brisktail grumbled something under his breath but passed it over and Quickclaws read it aloud for Lightningtail and Thunderclap to hear: "'There will come a dragon whose heart will never waver. With their sharp mind they'll cure their blindness and stop the battle so they can save her.'"

     "Um..." said Thunderclap.

     "This is the next omen?" Lightningtail asked.

     Rainwind sighed and nodded. "Yeah, there's nothing else it could be. I found it tucked in the scroll when Stratusstream gave it to me."

     "...And withheld this information from us ever since..." Brisktail muttered and when Rainwind's ears caught it she hissed at him.

     "I'm sorry, okay? I've had a long day, I'm tired and stressed and I forgot. I didn't mention it before today because I wanted all of you here when I told you. At the same time." Brisktail still looked like he didn't understand – he was still glaring at her. What wasn't he getting?

     "What could it mean?" asked Lightningtail, Sunchaser bless her, trying to diffuse the argument. Brisktail huffed and ignored her and Rainwind decided she had better things to do than let her mind get hung up on male dragons. She shrugged in answer to Lightningtail's question.

     Quickclaws tilted his head, handing the parchment back to Brisktail. He scoffed but pouched it. "It mentions a battle and saving someone from it. A 'her.' Actually, two dragons are mentioned... I think. Darn, this is the most confusing omen we've got so far. Maybe Lightningtail or Swansong have to be saved when Windwhipper comes to try and attack them again? That would cause a battle."