The huge SandWings had dragged the confused dragonets out of the crossroads, glaring at any dragons who might have protested. They dragged them through a dusty alley, into a long, low building with a design on the large wooden double doors. On the doors, a golden circle with a wavey line dividing in two was painted messily. Redtail looked at the symbol curiously as she was harshly shoved through the doors.

"Hey! Where do you think you're taking us?" The RainWing lashed her tail, hitting the large SandWing behind Redtail in the snout.

"Shut your mouth," the SandWing through clenched teeth.

He flicked his tail, and another group of SandWings entered the room. He grabbed a leather rope from one of them and walked over to the RainWing. He barked at the other SandWing to hold her back, and then proceeded to tie the leather around her snout. She flared her ruff in annoyance.

"What do you want with us?" Redtail demanded.

"For you to be quiet and do as you're told," said the largest SandWing, who seemed to be in charge.

The dragonets were dragged into a dark hallway with doors on either side. The doors were solid sandstone, with only locks, handles, and barred windows. One of the other SandWings inserted a brass key into the lock and wrenched the door open. One by one, the dragonets were pushed in. Redtail turned around, watching in despair as the cold-eyed SandWing closed the door.

She looked around, taking in her surroundings. The cell was very dusty, with nothing but some straw, a wide bowl of water, and another barred window on the other side. The SeaWing was sitting on the floor, his wings sprawled out, breathing heavily. He seemed to be having some sort of panic attack. The RainWing was scrambling around, trying to pull the leather off her snout, but to no avail.

"Are you alright?" Redtail asked, stepping towards the SeaWing.

He nodded, standing up slowly.

"I'm... I'm okay," he said. "Uh, who's that?"

Redtail looked around the room. In the far corner under the window, there was a very depressing pile of sand and wood. Redtail took a step forward, and to her surprise, the depressed debris was actually a tall SandWing.

"Um... Hello?" Redtail poked the SandWing.

The dragon rolled over, swinging his dust covered tail to face them. He brought himself up with sudden speed and flared his wings, making him look bigger than he was. But the look on his face was of curiosity, not anger or fear.

He was a pale yellow SandWing with a brownish crest. He had a nasty-looking scratch on his neck and appeared to have been in the cell for a couple of days, a week maybe, seeing as his scales were dirty and dust-colored. He had long legs, and could probably leap over Redtail with ease.

"Why are you here?" The SandWing asked.

"Us? Well um, we... Have no idea," said Redtail, backing away from the large dragon.

"Are you here because you offended them? Or because you're... Special?" He asked eagerly.

"Special? Who's special? Not us," said Redtail with a nervous laugh.

"They just sort of scooped us up and shoved us in here," said the SeaWing. "I'm Rapid, by the way. None of us actually know each other."

Redtail looked down at the timid SeaWing. She hadn't even thought of introducing herself.

'He seems to be on top of things,' Redtail thought.

"And I'm Starcaller. Pleasure to meet you," said another voice.

Redtail and Rapid whirled around. The voice hadn't come from the tall SandWing, but from a spot to his right. Seemingly out thin air, a black dragon appeared. He was a NightWing, with the night sky beneath his wings and silver freckles on his cheeks. He had one arm extended in a greeting gesture.

"Where in three moons did you come from?" Redtail yelled.

She flared her wings at the dark dragon.

"Oh. Sorry. You probably just didn't see me. According to this perfectly friendly SandWing here, I can disappear completely in the right lighting. Don't be too surprised or anything, it's not like I can help it," Starcaller said.

Redtail stared at him in curiosity. She extended her wing, poking the underside of his. She lifted it up, and since her wings were bigger than his, he had to stand up awkwardly. Sure enough, only about half of his wing membrane was visible before it faded into nothing. She felt it, making sure the whole thing was there. It was.

"How are you... Doing that?" She asked.

"This, I will be getting to in a minute," said the SandWing. "I'm Springbok. But first, let me help this poor RainWing."

He stepped over to the RainWing, who was still wrestling with her bindings. He drooped his wings and held his claws up, and then reached in to slice away the leather.

"Thanks," said the RainWing, rubbing her orange snout.

"Of course," said Springbok.

"What's your name? As a matter of fact, we might as well all introduce ourselves. Again, I'm Starcaller the NightWing," said Starcaller, pushing past Redtail to smile at the rainforest dragon.

"Harpy," she said.

"I'm Rapid," said the SeaWing.

"I am Springbok," said the SandWing, sitting up.

"Redtail." She said, bowing her head.

They looked around at each other, unsure of what to do. They had all just taken in so much new information. None of them knew each other, except apparently Starcaller and Springbok. None of them could trust each other.

"Can you tone it down, nightlight?" Harpy barked at Rapid.

The RainWing had shifted her scales back to their normal grape-purple and green colors. She was now glaring at the blue SeaWing, wings tensed.

"Sorry... No... My scales have been glowing since I was born. I can't turn them off," said Rapid.

"Really? Is that all that's... Unusual about you?" Springbok asked inventively.

Rapid looked up at Springbok in surprise. He though for a moment before replying.

"Well, I guess I'm good at hunting. I once killed a whale with my tail," he said.

Springbok beamed. He looked at all of them, one by one, assessing them.

"What about you two?" He asked, nodding at Redtail and Harpy.

They looked at each other momentarily. Harpy responded first.

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because," Springbok said. "You might be extremely important in the fate of this free world."

"Excuse me?"

Redtail looked at Springbok in confusion. How could she, a murderer and a traitor, called a freak by her tribe members, be important?

"It's difficult to explain. I'll clear everything up as soon as we get out of this moons-forsaken cell," said Springbok.

"It seems you've been in here for some time. Why haven't you escaped yet?" Harpy asked.

The RainWing looked at him skeptically, cobalt blue creeping up her legs towards her neck.

"I'm not strong enough to break open the doors and escape all of the guards. But you are," Springbok said, looking at all of them.

"Us? Well this wasn't what I had in mind," said Starcaller. "I've already tried the doors. They're rock hard. Literally. And those bars won't move."

"We can do it," said Redtail. "If you two use your fire, we might be able to break the door down. We did that in the SkyWing Kingdom."

"No. Tried that too. It's too strong," Springbok said, thinking.

"Harpy, are there any guards in the hallway?" Rapid asked suddenly.

Harpy glared over at Rapid before looking out the window in the door.

"No. Why? It's not like-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Rapid charged the door, forcing her to leap out of the way with a roar of surprise. He stopped suddenly, spinning on the dusty floor, and slammed his tail into the sandstone barrier. To everyone's surprise, the door crumbled away in a heap of rubble on the other side. The bars fell to the floor with a clank.

"How did you-" Harpy began to ask, but was cut off by the bright SeaWing.

"No time. Come on, they'll have heard that and will be here in minutes," Rapid said, motioning for them to follow him out into the hallway.

Everyone stood, mouths agape. Springbok was the first to leave, a bright smile on his face. The rest followed shortly after.

"Okay, how did you do that?" Demanded the purple RainWing dragoness.

Harpy stood in front of Rapid, her scales a swirl of colors.

"I don't know," said Rapid with a shrug.

"Who cares? Let's go!" Starcaller yelled back at them.

He took off down the hall. Redtail looked back at the others before following him. They barely made it to the end of the hallway before three huge SandWings blocked their way. They had metal plates over their chests and faces, blocking claws and venomous tails. In their talons, they held wickedly sharp spears.

Before Starcaller and Rapid could react, Harpy leapt between them and flared her wings. She unhinged her jaw, and a black sticky substance flew from her long fangs. It splattered on one of the SandWing's chestplates. He looked down in surprise to see the metal melting away into his scales.

Then he started screaming.

Rapid covered his ears. Harpy backed away in surprise. Redtail just stood there, the sounds of pain and suffering bringing back memories of battle and cold blackness spreading up a SkyWing's neck. The other two SandWings stared down in shock as their partner's chest melted away in a dripping mess of scales and metal. The female regained her head first, grabbing her spear and pointing it at the group of dragons. Springbok crashed into her, clawing and biting.

"Run! I'll meet you outside!"

The dragonets ran past the other SandWing, who was frantically trying to help his comrade as he melted into a mess on the floor.
Redtail scrambled around corners and through doors, the other three dragonets behind her. She rounded a final corner and into the long hall that they had first been in. The wooden doors at the end were closed, and she hoped they would open at a simple shove.

'Haha! We've made it!'

Before she could push open the doors and into the harsh, warm light of Possibility, a huge wing blocked her way. She skidded to a halt at the last second, but still crashed snout-first into the membrane. She even thought she had torn it a bit, but it's owner didn't show any pain. Redtail looked up to see the same SandWing who had dragged her here. The dark yellow one with the scars on his face. He snarled down at her.

"You won't be going anywhere," he said.

"You'll have to get through all of us," said Rapid confidently.

The SandWing chuckled. He flicked his tail and about eight SandWings sprang out of what seemed like nowhere and grabbed the dragonets. They started to struggle, and Rapid even managed to knock one out.

"Use the syringes," said the SandWing behind Redtail.

She looked around to see the other SandWings stick the dragonets with small dart-like things. Their struggles grew weaker and weaker until they were slumped against the other dragons, either asleep or dead.

Redtail felt a sharp pain in her neck and looked around to see the other SandWing standing next to her with a syringe. She felt her vision blurring as she crumpled into the dragon's wings.

"Sweet dreams," the SandWing said.

The SandWing scooped up the unconscious dragoness and turned to the other soldiers.

"Get the hammocks. We're taking them to Demolish," said the dragon.

"Callous, sir, the other one escaped. Springbok," said one of the soldiers.

Callous cursed and slammed his barbed tail against the ground.

"Send soldiers to look for him. We have to leave now. Demolish has to see this."