“Let’s get her out of here as fast as we can,” Glory said. “If they’re all chained to the wall like this, we have extra work to do. Starflight, give me the spear.”
Starflight held the spear out and it was whisked away from him. A Glory-shaped shadow approached Orchid and carefully stuck the points of the spear into the lock on the mouth band.
“Liana, Grandeur, are you paying attention?” Glory asked.
“Yes,” two voices said from the air. Starflight jumped. He hadn’t realized the other two RainWings were with them.
“This is how you undo the locks,” Glory said, twisting the spear. The muzzle fell off with a clank, and Glory set to work on the chains that bound Orchid to the wall.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t care where I was,” Orchid said to Mangrove. “I thought you’d move on and find someone else.…”
“Never, never, never,” Mangrove said fiercely.
“Do you feel the earth shaking?” Orchid asked.
“I think that’s me,” Mangrove said, holding out his trembling claws. “Like all the happiness inside us is trying to burst out.”
Actually, I’m pretty sure that was a real earthquake, Starflight thought. He’d felt the tremor in the earth as well, rumbling up through his talons before it stopped.
“Done,” Glory said, and the spear moved through the air as she handed it to one of the other RainWings. Orchid shook off the loose chains and spread her wings, beaming and glowing like a ball of pink sunshine.
“Orchid, this is our new queen, Glory,” said Mangrove. “She’s the reason we found you, and she’s the dragon who convinced everyone to come get you.”
“It was really thanks to Mangrove,” said Glory. “He’s the one who knew you were missing and wouldn’t shut up about it. If we hadn’t brought an army to save you, he’d have come over here and done it himself.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Orchid said with a half bow.
“That is too weird,” Starflight whispered to Fatespeaker. “Hearing my friend called ‘Your Majesty.’”
“I bet watching her lead an invasion is fairly strange, too,” Fatespeaker whispered back.
“Grandeur, Liana, disguise yourselves as NightWings, take the guards’ spears, and go to the other caves,” Glory ordered. “Show everyone how to free the prisoners. Move as quickly and quietly as you can. Then get everyone back to the tunnel. The most important thing is getting all fourteen prisoners home safe. Mangrove, you and Orchid take a moment to calm your scales down and then you can head back to the rainforest, too.”
“I should come with you,” Mangrove said. “If you’re going into the fortress, you’ll need backup.”
“I’ll have it,” Glory said.
I hope she doesn’t mean me, Starflight thought anxiously.
“But we went to a lot of trouble to reunite you and Orchid, so go be happy with her for a little while. We’ll let you know if we need you.”
Mangrove and Orchid both bowed.
Wings brushed against Starflight’s shoulder and he started back for a moment before he realized it was Glory, heading up the tunnel to the lava river.
“Come on, Starflight,” she said from the darkness. “Let’s go have a talk with the NightWing queen.”
The fortress seemed eerily quiet as they flew toward it. The air felt thick with ashy smoke. Starflight’s nose and throat hurt even worse than before, and occasionally he heard Glory and Fatespeaker coughing behind him.
He rubbed his stinging eyes and stared at the fortress ahead, wondering where an entire NightWing army would assemble. Queen Battlewinner wouldn’t be able to lead it, since she couldn’t leave the lava. Greatness would have to really make some queenly decisions if she was planning to lead their attack.
Had Starflight’s absence been noticed yet? If not, surely at least Morrowseer would have gone to check on Flame and found him missing. How had he reacted?
Maybe he’ll think Flame tried to fly home to the continent, Starflight thought. We’d be in luck if Morrowseer tried to follow him. He really did not want to encounter Morrowseer in the halls of the fortress.
“Please tell me there’s an invisible army with us,” Starflight said.
“I’m your invisible army,” Glory said cheerfully.
“I’m serious,” Starflight said. “We shouldn’t go in there alone, just the three of us.”
“Tell me something,” Glory said. “The dungeons you saw — how do we get them open? Will those spears work on the doors, or do we need keys?”
Starflight closed his eyes for a moment, picturing the dungeon. “We need keys, I think,” he said.
“So let’s start with the queen,” Glory said. “We’ll make her tell us where to find the keys.”