Wings of Fire: Peace (Completed)

Chapter 16- Kumquat

Sheer's cry of shock was so much louder than the howler monkeys in the morning, Kumquat the RainWing was sure anyone could've heard it. The orange dragon leaped off his hammock and bolted down the hallways to see where it came from. It had come from Ethereal's cave where the pink dragon was shaking by the doorway in front of the limp, green, bloody body of one of Drift's best friends, Clamshell. Kumquat spread one of his scarlet red wings and wrapped it around her for comfort. Strangely, she didn't snarl and curse at him.

"W-hat ha-happened here?!" he heard Empathy's voice and swiveled his head around to look at her as the shock broke into her expression. "We don't know. Go get Cecropia and tell her to wake the others," he said. "Quickly!" The NightWing nodded vigorously and flapped away.

A few seconds later, Cecropia came, followed by Junix, Drift, and Flytrap. "No, no, no!" Drift whimpered. She instantly burst into tears. "Why Clamshell? Why not somebody else?" "What's going on here?" Clay's voice could be heard down the hallway. The MudWing gasped at the sight of the dead SeaWing. "Take him outside."

The dragonets dragged the green dragon outside and laid him in the moonlight. Kumquat followed, his wing still folded around Sheer. She noticed and gently pulled away "How did this happen?!" "We have no idea," Sheer admitted, shuddering. "I just found a card with my name, Copper, Palo, Junix, and Clamshell on it, but by his name, it said done."

"But we just declared war on each other! They couldn't have been sending assassins now!" Kumquat exclaimed. He released his wing from Sheer and stood up, his face turning a deep green and his neck and ruff changing to an orange-purple color.

"Whoever did it, we got to find them," Junix declared. The rest of her sentence was left unspoken. Before we're next.

The dragonets split up and went back to bed, but Drift decided to stay up and grieve her friend. She was also going to send a letter to Queen Coral. They awkwardly glanced at each other. "Is... that a good idea?" Empathy asked. Drift glared at her, her eyes still red from tears. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, guys come on, nothing good is going to come from all of us being sleep-deprived."

After they'd gone back to sleep, near midnight, Clay arrived in the doorway. "Wake up," he hissed. Flytrap shot to a defensive position, his talon darting to one of the pouches on his neck. He grumbled something to himself and went back to sleep. Kumquat rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Why?" he asked, his voice scratchy.

"We need everyone at the Great Hall. Now that we know nobody's safe." He got choked up for a second, then turned away. "Come on." Kumquat rubbed his eyes again and shoved Flytrap's backside. Flytrap whacked Kumquat with his tail and sped up, bounding into the Great Hall.

Seventy-four dragonets, not including the teachers were lying on the stone, shivering. Kumquat and Flytrap went over to the Sapphire Winglet, where all of them were waiting. Junix had her wrist stingers out and Sheer was scratching at the floor. Cecropia was cowering in a corner; so was Empathy. Mandarin and Palo and Copper were sitting, heads together, murmuring.

Clay flared his wings, silencing the dragonets. "I will contact the queens that the school might close... again. If you want to leave, we completely understand. We ask you to give us a few more days until you decide."

At first, Kumquat would've said yes without thinking... but now.... The RainWing flopped down on the cold stone, his scales fading to a deep blue-gray. He heard the others doing the same and heard the scraping of claws and flapping of wings as everybody else settled down to sleep.

Kumquat is standing in a white void. Two feathered dragons are standing in front of him, sneering. "Ssssso," one hisses. He has green scales and pure green eyes. The RainWing doesn't recognize this dragon. He examines his claws, not looking at Kumquat. "Looksss like you found the body; hope you realize who you're up againssssssst." He flicks his weird purple tongue through his teeth.

"Pyrrhia is full of ten tribes, the DreamWings don't stand a chance," Kumquat says defiantly. The other dragon laughs. She has bright pink scales. If he remembers right, this is one of the dragons they have in prison under the mountain. She realizes she recognizes him.

"These are my captors," she growls. She barks another dry laugh. She leaps forward, skin flap pulsing. Kumquat narrowly dodges. The other dragon bunches up his hindquarters and vaults into the air, doing a double-slash across his face. Kumquat clutches his bleeding face and shakes his head, flinging red droplets everywhere. The other dragon comes at him with a balled fist and punches him right in the mouth. He spits a cracked tooth on the white ground.

I can't take much more of this, Kumquat thinks, changing his scales to white. EMPATHY!! HELP! WAKE ME UP NOW!! If she really did hear me, I should be awake by now. The DreamWings threw more punches and attempt to break his tail. It, being prehensile, does not break. They shove him over and he lands on his back, his soft belly exposed. Suddenly, Kumquat's eyes fly open, for real.

The RainWing awoke from the nightmare, panting, eyes wide. He couldn't even speak. He expected to see blood all over, but his orange-and-watermelon scales were unscathed. He breathed a sigh of relief. 

Kumquat had experienced the wrath of the DreamWings in a horrible way, and there was only one way to stop them.

War.