I woke up instinctually when the moonlight was suddenly cut off from the entrance to my hollow. My mother's face peered down at me with a worried expression. "Aster. Psst! Aster!" she whispered anxiously. Sensing danger, I kept my voice down, too. "What's going on?" I asked. She gestured for me to climb out, Her head on a swivel. "We have to go," she replied, hurrying me as I dropped to the ground below. Her tail kept flicking from side to side nervously, and her ears were pricked. She had her nose up, scanning the breeze for some unseen foe. I noticed her satchel and began to panic. She never used her satchel. If she had it, that meant that it held something important.

"Mom, please tell me what's going on," I asked, worried. I looked from side to side, suddenly seeing the comfortable indigo sky as a deep abyss from which danger could come at any moment. "Follow me," she commanded, turning to the left, off into the trees with her face set in grim determination. Then the panic really began to take hold. She never left the village! Nevertheless, I followed, afraid of what may happen if I didn't. I lifted my nose, trying to tell what she was running from. Yes, that was what it was. We were running from something.

The wind was in our favor, and I could smell them. There were several different scents, but all were unmistakably dragon. "Mom, can we go any faster?" I suggested fearfully. She nodded, slowing down so that she was behind me before opening her wings and taking flight, lifting me off of the ground in her strong arms. We soared over the canopy. "Melt your scales, Aster. Disappear," she instructed. I did as she told me.

She changed the lime green scales on her face and neck to match the sky. With that, the only reassurance I had of her presence was the touch of her talons.

Mom pumped her wings, urging us on at a faster pace. Though I still wasn't sure what was going on, I knew that whoever was after us, for whatever the reason, wanted us good and dead. Who wanted us dead, and why? Was it because of me? I focused on being invisible, closing my eyes as we flew on the off chance someone caught the glimmer of my cobalt blue eyes in the moonlight.

We stayed in the air for what seemed like forever. The wind whistled past my scales, buffeting my mom and me as we went. Eventually, she decided to land, but she had trouble finding a place to do so. The canopy was a blanket of branches and thorns, but eventually, a small crack in the endless wall of trees revealed itself, and we took the opportunity. We slipped between the trees, but there was no space for her to reopen her wings, so we fell into a stream. Hard.

Mom roared in pain, a thunderous sound. Birds took flight around us. The water slapped my scales before I hit the sharp rocks on the bottom, and Mother's weight didn't help. I yelped, but was pushed underwater and pressed between her hulking frame and the rocks. My breath was violently wrenched from my lungs, and bubbles clouded my vision. Thrashing about, I squeezed myself out from under her with a gasp, finally pushing my head above water. Whirling around, I sloshed through the stream to where she lay in the water, her facial features scrunched together in a grimace of pain.

She grunted and softly blinked open her eyes. They were the color of jade, bright and beautiful. She had a full face. Round cheeks, a wide snout, a broad forehead, and big eyes pulled together to form a strong, beautiful dragoness.

"Mom, you need to get up. We can't stay here," I told her, looking around frantically. I was in a state of panic, and I nudged her side, trying to force her up. After only a few moments, she stretched her wings out to either side and used them to support herself. It looked painful, and I watched speechlessly as she bit her lip to keep from crying out. She bit down so hard that a small rivulet of blood dripped into the water. Still, after another few moments, she flexed her muscles and took a few tentative steps.

My mother looked down at me with a gaze of steel. "Come on, this way, " she said, turning. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I would follow her to the ends of the earth. Sloshing through the water, we followed the river. I noted that our scents were dampened by the river and grinned. My mother was a genius. They would have a tough time finding us, now. Whoever they were.

The wind was still with us, but I could barely smell our pursuers. They were getting farther and farther away. That was great! But when mom raised her nose and took a full breath to do the same thing I had a moment before, rather than a look of relief, one of panic crossed her face. "Move faster," she commanded, lumbering at a quicker pace through the water with her stiff limbs. What? I didn't understand. They were getting farther away! I could barely smell them! That was a good thing, right? I felt that all-too-familiar panic start to rise in my throat once more. Along with some bile, which I quickly pushed back into my stomach. "Stay!" I internally commanded it. It protested but a second more before finally settling down. Good stomach.

She started moving faster until we were running full tilt. She rounded a bend in the river and jumped down the rapids. I followed suit. Wait- rapids?? Did that mean there was a waterfall, too?

We kept going, though we slowed down a bit. When we rounded yet another bend in the river, the entire body of water went crashing off of a cliff, bold and intimidating. After nearly careening over it, mom pulled me back and gestured to the cliff face. She pointed down. "You want me to jump down that??" I asked incredulously. She huffed. "Of course not. There's an outcropping at the bottom. I want you to climb down to it. I can't carry you anymore," she replied impatiently. The black dragoness was usually really sweet and loving. What happened? Was this just her survival mode or something?

I began to climb down, carefully placing each talon in a crack before moving my others. She, however, simply lifted off the edge of the cliff on midnight wings. I'm sure it was painful, but I was still envious. Wings would make everything so much easier.

As I reached the bottom with her, I realized what she was talking about. A slab of stone jutted out of the cliff at an angle, and water flowed around it. Still, I couldn't tell why she was so eager to get to it. "And?" I asked, gesturing to the rock. She frowned. "Look again," she suggested, moving forward. I looked but could see nothing for the spray of water. "I don't see anything!" I yelled over the roar of water. Rolling her eyes, she reached into a crevice in the rock, and something clanked, then started clicking. It sounded like metal on metal. When she stepped back, the rock lifted to reveal a cave under it. I stared in shock. How had she known this was here? She gestured to the opening. "Get in."

I did as I was told and my mom followed suit. Inside, the entrance deepened and widened as we went down a small tunnel. At the end of it, there was a large door with a keyhole. I stopped and tried it. Locked. Of course, it was! Why wouldn't a huge, barricade-looking door be locked???

Mother shook her head at me and produced a small, discreet key from her satchel. She unlocked it with a scoff, rolling her eyes. I smiled sheepishly and walked through the threshold. A slight gasp escaped my lips as I stepped into a chamber big enough to fit thirty or so dragons comfortably. What was this cave used for, and why did my mother have a key to it? We lived simply and didn't often indulge in things like jewels. We were unimportant and ignored in Oceanlight. So how in the moons did she get a key to this??

Mom strode confidently past me, obviously familiar with the place. "Stay right with me. Don't wander off," she told me. We walked through the main cavern and into a smaller one to the right.

A massive, scarred black dragon stood as we entered, baring his teeth. He was a typical Nightwing, with a large snout and forward-set eyes. His neck was corded with muscle, and his claws were scraggly and sharp. This was a dragon built for battle. "Iris, what are you doing here and why is that here?!!" He roared, gesturing to me. I hid behind her, tucking my tail. That dragon was fifteen times my size. If it came to a fight, I was out of there. "This is my daughter, Strongclaws, and you leave her out of this! You don't think I know she's not supposed to be here?!" she growled. He frowned, but said no more on the subject.

"I only brought her because it's an emergency. I need you to get a message to the queen. Tell her that the Shadewings are back under operation. They found me and my daughter at our house. We barely made it here," she sighed, curling her talons in barely concealed disappointment and fear.

Strongclaws's eyes widened. "Moons. Them again? I thought they disbanded," he grumbled, his voice rich and deep. "We all did," she snapped. "But right now that message needs to get to the Queen or we're going to have even more problems to deal with!"

"My wings aren't what they used to be. I'll send our latest apprentice. He's much faster."

"Does he know how to hide, though?."

"Well enough."

"Then he'll do, I suppose."

"I'll go get him. Wait here."

Strongclaws turned and left the room, his massive tail brushing along the floor as he walked. I was left in shock. "Mom, where are we? Who is that?" I asked, my voice trembling. She looked down at me, debating whether or not to say anything. Finally, she let out a long sigh. "He's a very old friend, Aster, and he'll help me- help us. That's all." She wouldn't meet my eyes as she spoke.

Strongclaws came back into the room, a scrawny-looking dragonet, no older than four, trailing behind. "Don't die," Strongclaws grumbled at the dragonet, a touch of affection in his voice. He handed him a scroll and satchel, and the small dragonet sped off up the tunnel out. Stongclaws agreed to let us stay for the duration of the night and leave in the morning, and eventually, we went to bed. I felt my mother's body, rigid as stone, and knew sleep would not greet us that night. Our apprehension was too great.

In the morning, though I didn't have the slightest idea how my mother and Strongclaws could tell it was morning since we were underground, she packed a few things into her satchel and we bid him farewell. We left the safety of the cave system and ventured out into the day, the spray of the waterfall hitting our snouts. It was refreshing, and for a moment I forgot we were in mortal peril. "Be very careful, and very quiet," my mother commanded, slinking through the underbrush with me close behind.

We had been on the move for almost the entire day, sneaking quietly through the jungle, when she suddenly stopped. Her ears flattened and her nostrils flared. I sniffed at the air and wished I hadn't. The smell of rot and death and blood permeated my nose. I felt my scales go pale green. I didn't want to know what it was. My mother did. She crept slowly toward the smell, much to my dismay, and I followed her. What was mother thinking? Typically, it was best to run away from the smell of death, right? Not according to Mom, apparently. We reached a clearing surrounded by papaya trees. There lay the body of the apprentice that had been sent to deliver the message to the queen. It was utterly mutilated. His intestines had been torn from his abdomen and lay strewn all over the ground. The scales on his throat had been cleaved so aggressively that the surrounding flesh had been torn, rather than cut. I thought I was going to puke.

My mother again lifted her nose to smell the air. Then, she carefully peeked her head out into the clearing. She didn't see anyone, so she went out to look. It wasn't very far from the trees, maybe a dragonlength. Why did she go out there? What did she hope to gain?

When she bent to examine the body of the poor apprentice, a lithe dragoness materialized out of thin air and plunged her claws into my mother's side. Blood gushed from the wound. Mom stumbled away from the dragoness in shock, gasping for breath. A second later, a larger dragon dropped from the trees and bludgeoned her in the head with his tail. She gave me a panicked look, fear wild in her eyes. She cried out in pain. Tears pooled at her eyes as she crashed to the ground an arm's length away from me, bleeding profusely. My eyes were wide with dread and fear. I could've reached out and touched her.

Another two dragons, a dragon and a dragoness, stepped out of the trees. The second one walked up to my mother. She mouthed to me, "Run," but I didn't move. I was rooted in place. Panic had rendered my body numb. The second dragon sliced open her throat and I watched as my mother's blood gushed out of her body. It pooled at my talons, sticky and hot.

"That should be all of them, right, Boa?" Asked the first dragoness. The one who had killed my mother responded, "It should be. We were tracking a small Rainwing and a medium-sized Nightwing."

The largest of the group spoke up. "Still, we should split before someone comes looking for them," he said. "Yeah, that's probably best," the smaller female agreed. She was the only one who hadn't really participated much, and the group knew it. "Say, Wren, you don't like to get your talons dirty, or what?" Seethed the larger female. I felt like I recognized her from somewhere, but I wasn't sure. "I like it just fine, Banyan. You guys just had it covered, was all," Wren defended. It hit me like a boulder. Banyan was the dragoness who got me in trouble a few weeks prior for my thievery back home. Why was she with those three meatheads? Why had she just participated in the murder of my mom?? "Besides," Wren continued, "Burdock didn't really get his talons dirty, either. He just whacked her. Any meathead could do that."

Their argument faded into the distance as they walked away, and I finally willed my limbs to move. I dragged myself toward her. "Mom?" I asked weakly. "Mom, come on. We've got to go. You can't stay here," I said, nudging her with my nose. She didn't respond. I cradled her head in the crook of my arm. She was limp. "Come on, mom," I tried to coax, stroking her scales. I traced her face. "It's okay, mom. It's gonna be just fine, you'll see. We'll get somewhere where we can live without bad dragons, and you can make my favorite snack again. You know, the fruit salad? With bananas and canteloupe and mangoes? And you're gonna scold me for stealing too much, so I could steal less, even! But if you don't get up, we can't do any of that. So you have to get up, mom. You have to get up now," I pleaded, hearing my voice crack. I was covered in her blood.

I shook her a bit. "Mom, seriously, come on!" I shouted. Her mouth fell open limply and I jerked away like I'd been burned, dropping her on the ground. There it was, undeniable proof. She was dead, well and truly. I stared, wide-eyed, at her corpse for a minute more before crouching at her side. With a deep breath, I tugged her satchel from underneath her and gently lifted her head so I could slide the strap away from her neck. I did the same thing with the satchel that the apprentice had been carrying. Whatever was in those satchels had to be important.

Slipping the bloodstained satchels onto either side of my neck, I climbed one of the nearby papaya trees and opened the one Mother had been carrying. It held very little, just a scroll, a waterskin, and my mother's good luck talisman, a little smiling monkey carved out of stone. I unrolled the scroll to find a map, with different villages marked and names written out next to each location. Hibiscus, Elegance, Bluegrass, Heron, Starseer, Fox, the list went on. They weren't all in the rainforest, either. Some were up north in the Kingdom of Sand, and a few were even in the Mud Kingdom.

The closest to me on the map was a village called Vinesburrow, with the name Chrysanthemum scrawled hurriedly next to it.

I stole a glance down below at my mother and the apprentice, at the grass and foliage, no longer green, but red with their blood. It was a horrible sight. My mother looked so weak; nothing like the strong dragoness I knew. And that dragonet had been so young.

I clenched my eyes shut, fighting tears. It was time for me to leave.