She had to hurry to keep up with Clay’s longer strides. He was pacing purposefully through the camp, studying each group of dragons, and she wasn’t sure he was even really listening to her.
Oh! she thought. I’m an idiot. Of course. Of course he was looking for his brothers and sisters. He’d only met them once, but they were often on his mind; he’d wondered aloud about them several times in the last few weeks.
Sunny hadn’t met them, so she couldn’t help him search, but she stayed close on his heels as they walked and walked through the camp, which was even bigger than it had looked from up on the mountain. Here and there she spotted SandWings and SkyWings as well, which made her feel less conspicuous, at least.
Suddenly Clay stopped and blocked her path with his tail. He nodded at a group of five dragons clustered around a fire, drawing formation plans in the dirt.
“Is that them?” Sunny asked softly.
He nodded, then started forward again.
“Reed,” he whispered from the shadows. “Shhh. Don’t call out. It’s Clay.”
All five dragons whirled toward him as he stepped into the circle of light.
“Clay!” yelped the smallest one, quietly. He jumped over the fire and bounced around Clay, stepping on his talons a few times by accident.
“Hey, Umber,” Clay said affectionately, punching the little dragon gently on the shoulder. “Everyone, this is Sunny. Reed is the bigwings; my sisters are Sora and Pheasant, and my third brother is Marsh.”
“Hi,” Sunny whispered to all of them, nodding at each of the trusting brown-eyed faces. “It’s great to finally meet you.” The way they looked at Clay — there was a bit of terrifying hope there, as if they were expecting him to come with extra fireproof scales to protect them all.
“Are you all right?” Reed asked. He was almost, but not quite, as big as Clay, and he held his head up and shoulders back as if he was very aware that he shouldn’t have been the bigwings. But he, too, looked at Clay with hope rather than envy or worry. “We’ve been wondering … we’ve heard rumors….”
“Oh, we’re fine,” Clay said. “Indestructible. Don’t you worry.” He grinned at Reed, nudging his side. “What is all this? Why are you here?”
The five MudWings exchanged looks, as if they weren’t sure whether to answer that question. Would it be treason to their queen? Or loyalty to their brother?
Reed was the one who nodded: Yes. Tell them.
“A huge offensive,” Pheasant said, her voice shaded with anxiety and fear and resignation. “Wipe out as many IceWings as we can in one huge sweep, and hope we kill Blaze while we’re at it.”
“Queen Moorhen is leading us herself,” said Reed. “And Queen Ruby is supposed to bring her troops over to attack from the north. The order that came down was we keep fighting as long as any enemies are left alive.”
“Take no prisoners,” Sora whispered, shuddering. “Kill everyone.”
“Burn wants to end the war fast, before you guys mess everything up,” Umber added. “That’s the word going around the camp anyway.”
“And as long as the SeaWings are still in hiding, she can focus all her energy on the Ice Kingdom,” Reed explained. “On destroying them.”
“Every last IceWing,” Marsh finished. “Unless we all die first.” He stared into the flames of their campfire.
The three moons were not enough to combat the dark that was pressing in around them, like shadow wings folding over their heads. The fire flickered and spat, illuminating amber underscales and dark brown tails in waves of orange light.
“You can’t do that,” Sunny said. She could hear her voice shaking. “All of you against the IceWings — you really might wipe them out. The entire tribe.”
“And so many of you will die trying,” Clay said, reaching one wing around Umber. “It’s so cold in the Ice Kingdom — we were there, just on the outskirts — and it was freezing. Imagine how much worse it’ll be right in the heart of it, or up by Glacier’s palace. Hundreds of dragons will freeze to death. You might — you mustn’t —” He broke off, clearing his throat.
Marsh and Sora shuffled closer to him and he spread his other wing to go awkwardly around them as well.
“He’s right,” Sunny said. “This is a suicide mission. Suicide or genocide, those are your only two outcomes. Clay, we can’t let this happen.”
“What else can we do?” Reed demanded. “We’re part of an army. These are our orders — orders from our queen.”
“You could run away,” Clay said. “Come with us. We’ll hide you.”
“We can, but you know that’s not good enough,” Sunny said to him. “We have to stop this from happening at all.”
“There’s five of us against Queen Moorhen, Queen Ruby, and all of Burn’s army,” Reed pointed out. “Who’s going to listen to us?”
“I’m sure you’re not the only ones who are worried,” Sunny said. She twisted to look at the fires all around them and wondered how many of the sleeping dragons were caught in nightmares about the battles to come.