Wings of Fire: Peace (Completed)

Chapter 14- Drift

I'm sorry in advance that I made Drift's second chapter 14 instead of 13 like the other time!

Drift landed on the soft grass of Jade Mountain's meadow. "Oh, thank goodness! Drift you're back! I was so worried! If you do that again, young lady, I'm having you fitted for one of Coral's harnesses!" Tsunami scolded as she lifted her dragonet in a back-breaking hug. "M-Mom! Ow!" The smaller SeaWing croaked and winced. "Mom, this is important, we got captured by DreamWings and now they're really mad at us, can we go see the prisoners please?" "Fine," the royal blue dragon lead her daughter through the dark hallways and into a room with two chained dragons in the corner.

The female barked a laugh and flicked her tongue, "Need us now, do you?" She sneered. Tsunami flicked her tail angrily and snarled, "Shut up and listen, glitter girl, tell us what we need to know and we leave you alone. Capiche?" The female bared her fangs and leaned against the wall. "Fine," she growled and rolled her eyes, "What?" "We were prisoners of your dragons and we escaped, so now they're really mad, how do you guys declare war formally?"

"So there's this thing we do where we send birds, a specific kind, and they tell us where the war is being held and who you're allied with and all that nonsense, say we get here, and we discuss the thing we are fighting for and stuff, and then it's just, well, war. Anything else? If not, can you bring us a goat or something? Griff and I haven't eaten in days!" The DreamWing next to her, a male whose name must be Griff, nodded in agreement.

Drift sighed and nodded. Then went hunting to please the prisoners as a silent thanks for the information. Goat, goat, goat, there! The SeaWing pelted to the ground in a downward spiral and snatched the animal in her talons. It made a last bleat for mercy as she swiftly killed it. She was tempted to take some for herself but didn't. She flew over to the entrance and dragged her fresh-kill through the tunnels and passed it to them.

She flicked her talons to get the red off and turned to her sleeping cave where Junix and Cecropia were stretching their wings and cramped muscles. "How'd it go?" Cecropia asked, while Junix just grunted and went back to gnawing on her shackles again. "Those are still on you?" Drift yelped. "Yep," the HiveWing muttered in reply. "Wow. Did you have Kumquat melt them?" "Oh. I never thought of that," the yellow and freckled dragon stood up and hurried out of the cave. "So, where's my answer? How did it go?" "Okay. She wanted food in exchange, I gave her some. She gave me the answers. She says that they send a bird, I don't know what kind yet, and tell them where the battle is, why they're fighting, who they're allied with, and how and when they'll stop."

"Huh," Cecropia huffed thoughtfully. "Well, the teachers have dismissed us and are prepping for a supposed war with the DreamWings right now... so what do you wanna do?" "Hrmm, get that war message out? Attack some dream dragons? Kill their queen?"

"Jeez! Not that last one! She already has Glister as an heir! That would just make it worse! She was nice to us!" "Well, then what do you suggest, smarty-McSquid?" "Go play outside?" "Okay," Drift stood up and raced out of the cave.

The blue dragon slipped into the small pond and looked around. There were a few sardines and cod in it, along with some clay dirt. She remembered with a snort of bubbles her first day that she had crashed into this same stuff and felt the small bump on her nose with her webbed talon. Drift dug her talons into the dirt so she wouldn't float back up and took a rest for a moment. Where was Riptide? At Sanctuary with Winter? He talked about that IceWing quite frequently. She didn't get the feeling he was a very nice dragon. Splash! another dragon jumped into the water. She looked around and saw her friend Barracuda the SeaWing from the village.

Hi, Barracuda! she flashed. Hi, Drift! How's it goin'? Okay... she said. Hrmm, I feel like something is going on. Drift pried a clam from the bottom and tore it open, wanting to eat the stuff inside as it was edible, unlike the shell. Barracuda snatched a sardine and leaned back as he chewed and swallowed. So? he flashed. Well, It's a long story: First, we were looking for the DreamWings and they caught us, then, we escaped, we caught a patrol guy and dropped him off at the Scorpion Den, then we went to Possibility and tried to destroy their sacred rock, decided not to, and now we're back here, what a waste of time, right? The other SeaWing's green eyes widened.

Gosh! he flashed. Yeah, Drift agreed, nodding. Well, son of a starfish, we're all gonna die, aren't we? Not necessarily, the princess shrugged, If we fulfill the prophecy, we won't. Barracuda rolled his eyes and hoisted himself out of the river. The smaller blue dragon followed and flew around looking for Cecropia. Where is she? she thought, starting to get worried. Then she spotted her uncle Turtle atop to mountain chatting with Kinkajou. "Uncle Turtle?" she said. "Yes, Drift?" he replied, looking up at her. "Have you seen Cecropia from my winglet? Yellow scales, purple wings, pink eyes?" "Oh, she's over there," he pointed at the SilkWing on a tree with Palo. "Thanks!"

Drift dove down and stretched out her talons to land on a thick branch. "What're you doing?" she asked. Cecropia pointed at the birds circling above them, they were hawks with russet brown scales and white under feathers speckled with brown again and sharp beaks. The yellow dragon took off her bag and flipped through the cards inside that had watercolor drawings with writing scratched below it. She then passed a card to the SeaWing with an exact match of the hawk drawn on it. It read:

Common Buzzard

Description: Large bird with broad, rounded wings, short neck and tail, medium tan to dark brown feathers with white underwing feathers tipped with dark brown
Class: Bird of Prey
Diet: Small animals like rabbits, shrews, mice, and other birds

"Birdwatching," Cecropia whispered as Drift handed the card back to her. "Cool!" she whispered back. "I think I know what bird DreamWings use as war declaration: pigeons. The only reason the buzzards are here is because pigeons live here as well. See? Look!" A medium-sized gray bird with green and pink neck feathers was pecking at the grass by a grove of trees. "We have to get him before the buzzards do!" the blue dragon hissed. "Ha! Those are so hard to catch you don't even know, Drift."

Drift rolled her eyes, "Why can't I be invisible?" she groaned. SQUAWK! They heard the pigeon squawk as someone grabbed it and started to lift the bird toward his mouth. "STOP! Don't eat that pigeon!" she called as she dove down from the tree and dashed over. "Wait- why?" he asked, lowering it. "We need it for a messenger!" "Huh?" he glanced down at the bird. "DreamWing business, don't ask. Please, can we have it? I'll catch you something bigger instead!" "Hmm, alright," he gave her the bird and sat down.

Drift sighed in relief and ran inside the mountain and burst into the library. "Scrolls! I need a blank scroll, Fatespeaker!" she gasped. "Oh, um, okay," the NightWing dragoness shrugged and fumbled through a drawer behind the Librarian desk. "Here." She handed her a small roll of parchment. "Thanks!"

The SeaWing tied up the bird with a strand of willow leaves so it couldn't open its wings as she slammed the roll of parchment on her desk and started to write:

To the DreamWing Queen:
Declaration of war
Who: You versus the tribes of Pyrrhia and possibly Pantala.
Where: Jade Mountain.
When: You decide.
For what: Ruling the Kingdoms.
When to stop: You decide.

Your signature:

My signature:

Drift narrowed her eyes and realized she would have to get all the queens' permission first. That would be difficult. She sighed and started to write letters to Queen Moorhen, Queen Thorn, Queen Coral, Queen Ruby, Queen Snowfall (who most likely would back out), Queen Glory, Queen Jewel, and Queen Hazel.

A few days later, only Queen Snowfall declined, so she had sent the letter to the DreamWing queen, who had agreed. They only had a few days until they would actually fight, so all they had to do was wait.