Holly's POV

"Legend?', Belladonna scoffed. "What are we, dragonets?"

"This is important", Sequoia said. "Do any of you know it?"

Everyone shook their heads, including Holly.
The queen sighed again.

"It was a tale from long before the time of Clearsight", Sequoia began, flicking her tail for Hazel to sit at her side.

"The legend begins with the earlest days of dragons ariving to this continent", the queen said. "Back when the Leafwing and Beetlewing tribes were still new."

"What's a Beetlewing?", Swordtail asked.

"The Beetlewings were the ancestors of the Hivewings and Silkwings, back before Clearsight and her decendants split the tribe into two different tribes. They were more like Silkwings, but they had some weapons like Hivewings. . . . shooting venom from ther fangs in particular, according to the old stories."

Tsunami jumped as though something had startled her.
"What's wrong?', Holly asked her in a whisper.
Tsunami hesitated.
"Someone I know can spit venom."

"Why did they come here?", Cricket asked.

"The legend doesn't say, but it does say that there was trouble on the other continent. In any case", the queen went on, "the first dragons who landed encountered something. . . . . strange."

Her voice dropped to almost a whisper.

"The night they arrived, as they slept, the earth opened, and millions of legs crawled out. The dragons awoke to a true nightmare: they were covered in deadly fire ants.
"Their screams rose to the moons and they ran to the sea, but, even as they fled, more ants arose and asailed them. The ants ran up the dragon's legs, crawled inbetween their claws and underneath their scales and buried their teeth into their skin.
The ants didn't even let go as the dragons plunged into the water."

Holly shivered.

What could cause that?
A giant ant-bed?

"But that was only the begining", Sequoia said.
"The next morning, as the dragons were limping about, the sky filled with bees, so many bees that they blocked out the sun. The swarm attacked, all at once, just as the ants had done. And again, the dragons were forced to hide under water. The story says they were saved by their flamesilks, who burned the bees out of the sky."

"So, the legend is about creepy ants and bees?", Io asked.

The queen shook her head.
"It got worse. . . . . and stranger. They kept coming. Insects that don't normally come together in groups gathered and attacked them; venomus centipedes, Tsetse flies and bombardier beetles.
Dragon after dragon fell to their power. Some simply fanished, lost to the night, never to be seen again.
"Dragons fought back, of course. They'd come too far to turn back, and the story says that they were refugees who could never go back to the Distant Kingdoms.
"So, they fought to stay, but every time they thought it was over, another army would emerge, each more deadly than the last. The insects were followed by prides of loins, murderous crows."

The queen lowered her voice again.

"These were no ordinary attacks The animals moved like one single being. Snakes attacked simultaniously, targeting their victims with coordinated precision."

"But how?", Cricket asked.
"This sounds like a story that just got warped over time. Are you saying this plant works on anything?"

"Um, I have a better question", Holly said. "Who was controling them?"

She realized that her tail had intertwined with Mandrake's and that their wings were touching.
Hesitantly, she let go.

Sequoia closed her front talons around the flower and looked at her.
  "Nobody knows."

"WHAT", Swordtail said.

"I think my chills have chills", Tsunami said, shaking herself.

"How could nobody know?", Cricket asked. "Didn't they find the dragon behind it?"

"The never found anyone", said the queen. "What they did find. was this."
She held out the flower again. The seed inside it gleamed like a drop of blood.

"We call it the Breath of evil."

"Seems a bit much", Holly commented.

"The vine covered everything", the queen said. "The legend descibed it exactly - it is the part of the story that remains most intact, almost as if the storytellers knew how important it would be. The vine covered every part of Pantala, every marsh, every forest, and every meadow. The dragons soon realized that when they destoryed the plant, the attacks waned. The area slowly became safe to live in. No more attacks. The animals acted like normal animals as long as they lived where it was no Breath of evil."

"I don't like this story", Swordtail said. "Or this plant."

"I can see why Wasp wouldn't want anyone to know about this", Io said. "It would definintly ring a few bells."

"So, how does the legend end?", Holly asked.

"There's not much more", Sequoia said. "It's garbled from millenia of being retold and embelished. I understand it like this: Something tried to kill our ancestors, using mind control to turn wildlife into weapons. Destroying the Breath of evil took away it's power. Once theuy figured that out, the dragons origized expeditions to uproot the plant everywhere on the continent."

"Wait a sec, can we go back to the thing breathing the evil?", Holly said. "The per- dragon controling everything. Even though they never found anyone, whatever it was must have died, right? Once the plants were destroyed, it must have realized it had lost."

She looked at the frightened faces around her.
"Um, right?"

"Of course", the queen said. "This was thousands of years ago."

"But, I guess not all of the plants were destroyed after all", Cricket said.

The queen rested a talon on Hazel's head, and sighed.
"No. Some of the plant survived, deep in the Poison Jungle."

"Where Wasp found it", Cricket said. "She must have heard the legend, and went looking for it, hoping to use it for herself. But why only use it on Hivewings? Why bother with the Tree Wars if she could just control Leafwings and Silkwings?"

Queen Sequoia shuddered.
"I'm sure she tried", Belladonna spat. "Probably doesn't work on a supperior species like Leafwings."

I hate you.

"The point is, this is where she got it from", Sundew said. "So this is where she'll come to get more, if we destroyed her whole supply."

"Not if we strike her first!", Belladonna growled. "We're going to burn down all the hives. I just need some more flamesilk, and Yellowjacket Hive will be nothing more than a pile of ash."

"Wasp isn't going to wait for that", Holly said. "Queen Sequoia's right. She's gathering her forces as we speak. She'll be here long before you can convince Blue to give you any flamesilk; before you could even get to Yellowjacket Hive, even if you had it already."

"We need to act quickly."
Sequoia rose from her throne with a commanding expression.
Holly understood why her subjects would willingly follow her into war, reguardless of how often they lost.

"Belladonna, Wolfsbane and Silkwings." She pointed to Io and Swordtail.
Wolfsbane looked slightly startled that she knew his name.

"You four will come with me. We will gather our strongest warriors -from both villages- and fly to the Snarrling River to get ready for Wasp's attack.
We need to strengthen the forest's deffenses and hold them off as long as posible."

"Um", Swordtail said, "how are we supposed to help?" He pointed to Io and himself.

"By talking to the flamesilk", Sequoia said. "I understand why he is reluctant to burn down the hives, but I hope you can convince him how much we'll need him in battle. Also, you need to contact the Crysalis. If they want to overthrow Wasp, now's the time. If not, they will never be free."

"What about me?", Hazel asked. "Shouldn't I come too?"

The queen's face softened.
"No. I won't be able to think straight if I don't know you're safe. And I need to rest asured that the rest of the tribe is safe, because you're going to be in charge until I get back. If Wasp gets past the border, you need to decide what to do . . . run or fight her."

"Run where?", Holly asked.

"Deeper into the jungle", Sequoia said. "Or", she glanced at Tsunami, "farther."

"Whoa, wait, it's not that easy", Tsunami said. "Can any of you swim or breath underwater?"

"We can swim", Willow said. "But not swim-an-entire-ocean-for-days kind of swim, no."
"Right", Tsunami said. "So how would you get there? I've been trying to come up with a way to bring dragons over here to help you, but I can't think of anything. . . . maybe if my friend Starflight were here, or Qibli."

Ahem", the queen said, taking control of the conversation.
"Tsunami and Hazel, you stay here and come up with a plan. Belladonna, you may choose some of your dragons to help them. . . . Byblis maybe, I understand she's quite smart."

"Yes, I see how much your scouts have told you. No need to rub it in", Belladonna snapped.

Sequoia closed her eyes for a moment then faced Sundew and Holly.
"The rest of you, Sundew, Holly, Willow, Hivewing, you must seek the guardian of the Breath of evil vine. Hawthorn has had fifty years to work. . . . it's a long shot, but he might have found the only thing that can truly save us."

"An antidote!", Holly blurted.

Sequoia arched an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, young dragon, that was my dramatic line. An antidote."

"Something that could break the mind control and save my tribe?", Cricket asked.

"That was our hope and his mission", the queen said.
"But he never returned and I haven't heard from him since. He might be dead or given up."

"Or mybe we'll find him!", Cricket said, practically jumping up and down.

"Don't get your hopes too high", the queen warned.

"So where is this dragon?", Holly asked.

"In the Eye of the Jungle", Sequoia said. "I'll give you a map. It's going to be dangerous, but,", her eyes landed on Holly for a brief moment", I think you are the right dragons to undertake it."

"You might want to leave the dragonet with us", Hazel offered.

Cricket closed a talon around the very quite Bumblebee and shook her head.
"I'd rather keep her with me", she said.
"She'll be fine", Sundew agreed.

"Now hang on", Belladonna hissed. "I'm not letting my daughter go on a dangerous mission with these two. . . . strangers. I insist they take two of my dragons with them"

Holly didn't think "Strangers" was the word she'd been looking for.

"Ugh, no Mother, why?", Sundew groaned.

"Either you don't go", Belladonna said firmly, "or you're taking Nettle and Mandrake with you."

Right before they left, Holly approuched Mandrake.
"Can I talk to you?"
Mandrake nodded and looked at her expectantly.
"Alone, I mean."
"Oh. Sure."

They turned a corner and went into a nearby room.

It seemed to be a mini liberary, but it might have been a forbiden one. There were books in the far corner of the room with chains tying them to the shelves, but a few of the were lying on a small mahogony table and on the floor.

Holly shut the door and took a deep breath.
He was going to despise her after this, but keeping it from him had to be worse than that.
"There's something I need to tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"Of course", he said without a moment's hesitation. "I promise."

"I-I'm not really sure how to tell you this, but I'm not. . . . . from here."

"What do you mean?"

"I-I, what I'm trying to tell you is. . . . I'm not from this world, I wasn't even a dragon to begin with."

"What are you talking about? I've known you my whole life!" Mandrake's face was now filled with concern.

"I was just going about my life, when I fell, and I landed here, as a dragon."
Holly held up her necklace.
"I think it's because of this. Hazel and I figured out that it was enchanted to bring me here.
I don't know why you and Sundew seem to have known me for your whole lives. Sometimes I get glimses of you and me together, but then I remember where I came from and know it's impossible."

There was a minute of unbroken silence.

"So, if you're not a dragon, what were you before?", he asked slowly.

"A scavenger."

"A what?"

"Oh, they're those monkey things", Holly said with a twing of embaresment.

There was another momentary silence.

"So, if you're from another world. . . . . . . then why are you here? HOW are you here?"

"We think I was brought here to help with the war", Holly said. "But we're not quite sure how."

"Um, would this be yours, by any chance?", Mandrake asked.
Holly gasped.
He was holding her backpack.

"Where did you get this?", Holly asked, taking it from him.
"I found it in the jungle, right before the panther attacked. I didn't look through it, so everything inside should still be intact."
Holly unzipped the front, and gave a squeal.

"What?", Mandrake aksed.

"My MP3 Player!", Holly said triumphantly.

"What does it do?"

"Well, in my world", Holly said, "you can put these over your ears ", she pointed to her headphones " and plug them into here and you can listen to music!"

"Wait, if you were a scavenger before, why is all this stuff dragon-sized?", Mandrake asked.

"Hmm", Holly said. "Must be part of the enchantment."

She looked at Mandrake and saw that his shoulders were slumping.
"What?"

"It's just. . . . I know it isn't your fault, but we grew up together. You were my best friend, the dragon I came to when Nettle wouldn't leave me alone, or when I hated talking to anyone else. And now, I guess all of this means. . . . "
He huffed.
"That means our midnight stargazing missions never happened. You never came to me to rant about Nettle like I've thought this whole time. We never stayed up past hours to catch bugs. It was only me."

"Well", Holly said slowly, "I'm not exactly great at talking either. I have the social skills of a five-year-old, but it's not like anyone's helping me with that, so I guess we have that in common. I'm probably not the greatest per- dragon to come to if you need advice, but if it helps, I wouldn't mind you coming and venting to me, if you need."

Mandrake looked her in the eyes.
"Thank you", he said, with a sheepish smile.
He looked away, turning his gaze to the cluster of flowering ivy growing on the side of the bookshelf.

Holly let go of her breath.
She'd expected him to yell at her.
She thought that there was one of two things he might do: he'd either play the silent game and hate her for the rest of his life, or he'd laugh and think she was kidding, before realizing that she was serious, and then hating her.
But he didn't.
It didn't seem to matter to him.

Mandrake pulled away abruptly, blushing.
That was when Holly realized that he'd been holding her tail between his claws.

"Wait, were you just-"
But she was interupted by Belladonna calling for all of the Seekers (or the Fellowship, as Holly had taken to calling them in her head, even though Nettle didn't seem like good company) to set out on their journey.

When they walked outside into the glaring sunlight that was seeping through the trees, they were greeted by Nettle's iconic scowl.
She looked like she was giving them the evil eye.

Dude, she's like a Sith!

Then, instinkively, in her best inpression of Darth Vader, Holly said, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Nettle growled.
"I find your lack of dignity disturbing!"

"Welp, you're not wrong", Holly said with a shrug.

She turned to Mandrake.
"My worst fears have been confirmed", she said with a straight face.

"And what are those?", he asked with a grin.

"It's going to be a looooooooooooooong trip."

A/N: YES, I FINISHED IT!
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Wordcount: 2495

Renx out!