Unfortunate Royal (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Eight

Snowstorm flew off, ignoring how sore his whole body was because of what Moondrift did to him. He looked down and saw her face, emotionless and cold, the kind of beautiful Snowstorm didn't like. But he was certain of one thing; he definitely hates Darkstalker now and wants him dead for good.

Snowstorm didn't want to be all by himself again, even if Moondrift was just his friend or lover, he wanted someone to be by his side, instead of going solo. I'll find Spectral, she was the only other dragon who I could say is my friend, and now she's missing too. So I'm going to find her.

He looked at Moondrift, who caught his attention and glared coldly at him while the animus was gathering NightWings. Then I'm going to free you from the spell Darkstalker cast on you. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you back.

***

"Spectral?" Snowstorm called. "Are you here? Or are you really just Wither again and try to trick me? Please be here, I don't want to be alone now that Moondrift's gone!"

No one answered. Snowstorm was standing in the center of the NightWing Village, which was nearly empty because Darkstalker had taken most of the tribe with him to moons-know-where. There were only a dozen or more NightWings left that didn't go with Darkstalker, but they ignored Snowstorm and carried on with their business of trying not to murder him just because he was an IceWing.

I'll keep looking, Snowstorm thought, I'll keep looking for her, and if I can't find her, I'm taking back—

A dragon pounced at him and tackled him into a shadow underneath some giant leaves. Snowstorm felt dizzy, nearly having his head slammed into a tree. He blinked at the dragon who just attacked him.

"Moondrift?" Snowstorm groaned. "Did Darkstalker change his mind and sent you to kill me now?"

Moondrift clamped his snout with her talons and looked at him in the eyes. "Shhh, Darkstalker might hear me or see a vision of me doing this! Is there one day where you can shut up?"

She got off him as he stood up, confused. "I don't get it," he said softly. "Darkstalker put a spell on you and said he won't take it off you!"

"Well that would be correct," Moondrift said, "if he had actually put the spell on me,"

Snowstorm sighed in relief, reaching out to hug her again. "I thought I lost you. But how did you do it? How did you block the spell from him,"

"I was trained to do many things, Snowstorm," Moondrift said. "Learning how to block an animus spell from controlling my mind was one of them; it took me years to do. What Darkstalker was trying to do to me, I nearly fell under it because of how powerful he was, but he might realise I betrayed him any second now. So come on, are we looking for Spectral or the entrance?"

"I was looking for Spectral," Snowstorm answered. "Can we try to find her first? I think she might be a good friend to have around, and she has been really nice to us. When we find her, she can help us look for the entrance. Don't judge me, but I trust her on this."

"We have to double check if it's not Wither first," she said. "Or maybe that shadow dragon has held her captive or trapped her somewhere."

Was she? Snowstorm thought. He didn't want to be responsible for a dragon's disappearance. He wanted to find Spectral so bad he hasn't thought about it being Wither in disguise again. And now that Moondrift has tested him once if he was lying, Wither would definitely learn from his mistakes and look like he was telling the complete truth that he was Spectral.

Snowstorm shivered at that thought. He wasn't even sure why Wither was really here. Had he already found the entrance to the underground system, or is he pretending to be Spectral so they could guide him to it?