Fatespeaker turned toward the mountains, as if she was thinking about going after Squid. Starflight wished he were that kind of dragon. Would he disobey Morrowseer and chase after one of his friends if this had happened to them? He thought he would for Sunny. He would never let her fly away alone into death. He thought perhaps he could be brave for her, if he ever needed to be.
Not brave enough to escape right now, though, he realized. But maybe they’re coming to rescue me. Maybe I should wait for them anyway.
Or maybe I’m looking for excuses to do nothing.
“Come on, before anything worse happens,” he said gently to Fatespeaker. She wiped her eyes and followed him into the rain-soaked sky.
*
The flight back to the island was even more exhausting than the flight out, and the storm was relentless the entire way. Starflight’s whole body felt numb by the time they touched down in the NightWing fortress. None of the dragonets spoke as they trudged back to the dormitory behind Morrowseer.
“Training at dawn tomorrow,” Morrowseer said, stopping at the doorway. The room was empty; the other NightWing dragonets were nowhere to be seen. He eyed Starflight and Fatespeaker, then turned to go.
“So … nothing to eat?” Ochre ventured in a woebegone voice.
It had now been days since Starflight’s last meal — tiring, energy-sucking days. But he didn’t think he had the strength to eat anything tonight anyway. He just wanted to close his eyes and try to forget the sad, dripping shape of Squid flapping away into the mountains.
“No,” Morrowseer rumbled. And then he was gone.
Ochre sighed pitifully. Viper hissed and marched to the sleeping hollow she’d chosen, burying herself immediately in a thick canvas blanket.
Flame lashed his tail for a moment, studying the room. “Not much better than last night’s dungeon,” he muttered. He and Ochre found spots beside Viper at the far end of the room, and soon the MudWing was snoring. But the SkyWing dragonet sat and stared into the coals, unmoving.
Starflight was half asleep already, but the minute he curled onto his bed, Fatespeaker hopped up beside him.
“Mmph,” Starflight objected sleepily.
“I know what we have to do,” she whispered. “We have to talk to the queen.”
“We?” Starflight asked.
“You and me. Without Morrowseer. Maybe she has no idea how awful he is. I bet he’s lying about her ordering him to kill one of us. I bet he came up with that himself.”
Starflight coiled his tail, feeling uneasy. He wondered how involved Queen Battlewinner was in decisions about the dragonets and the prophecy. Had she ordered their trip to the mainland and the deaths of those SkyWings?
“I bet,” Fatespeaker said fiercely, “that she won’t be too happy with Morrowseer for sending Squid away.”
“Maybe she trusts him,” Starflight pointed out. “Maybe she lets him do what he wants without direct orders. In which case we could get in really big trouble for going behind his back.”
“Or maybe she has no idea what he’s up to,” Fatespeaker pointed out. “And maybe if we talk to her, she’ll let us both live, free the RainWings, stop the experiments, and let the prophecy happen however it’s supposed to without Morrowseer ruining everyone’s lives.”
Starflight tilted his head at her. “That’s a lot of hope piled onto a very slim possibility.”
“It’s worth a try,” she insisted.
He thought for a moment. His brain felt sluggish and confused. He needed real food and he needed sleep and he really needed his friends.
“Maybe we can ask for a private audience tomorrow,” he suggested.
“No!” Fatespeaker said. “Morrowseer won’t allow it. We have to go find her ourselves.”
“She doesn’t want to be found,” Starflight pointed out. “Maybe she keeps herself hidden for a reason.” He hadn’t come up with any good theories about that yet.
“Right, and maybe we need to know what that reason is,” Fatespeaker said.
She had a point. More knowledge would make them more powerful. If they found out something they could use …
“All right,” he said with a sigh. “We’ll go look for her.”
Fatespeaker shook out her wings and smiled at him. “Tonight,” she said.
“Tonight?” Starflight covered his head with his aching wings. “Don’t make me leave this bed before dawn. Please.”
“This is important, Starflight. Sleep now and I’ll wake you later. Deal?”
He sighed again. “Deal.”
He felt her hop off the bed. Listening to her footsteps patter away, his tired brain began spinning in hypothetical circles.
What is the queen’s secret? Why doesn’t she let herself be seen?
He thought of Queen Glacier and how she kept her SandWing ally, Blaze, cozily confined in a fortress built just for her, under instructions never to leave or do anything risky.
What if Queen Battlewinner is being controlled by someone, like Blaze is? What if staying hidden isn’t her own choice?
If something was wrong … if he could help Battlewinner, maybe she could help him in return.
Stop thinking and sleep, he told himself. He could see the thin trail of smoke from where Flame sat, hunched and brooding just like he was.
But despite the exhaustion that seemed to weigh down every bone in his body, sleep was a long time coming for both of them.