The Smuggler: Chapter Three: Dragonfly's Story

Chapter Three

Dragonfly's Story

    Moth's jaw dropped open. "The WHAT?"

    "You heard me, Moth. The Distant Kingdoms. Home of Clearsight." Dragonfly looked at his astounded expression. "Okay, maybe that wasn't the beginning. Let's see, what was?" She thought for a minute, then said, "I think it was when Beetle paralyzed me and pushed me off the cliff.

    "I'm an orphan, and because you haven't mentioned your father at all I'm guessing that you lived in an orphanage too, since you probably wouldn't go live with your mother. There were a few mean dragons in the orphanage, the orphanage was terrible, by the way, but the worst of them all was undoubtedly Beetle. I'm not sure where he went wrong. There were whispers that his parents were killed as they led an attack on, what was it, Tsetse Hive? Anyway, we were in Bloodworm Hive, and Beetle definitely had some of his parent's ruthlessness. He wasn't out to bully or tease, no, no. He was out to kill.

    "This job was made easier by the stingers on his teeth. He would paralyze dragonets. First the wings, so they couldn't fly. Right after the throat so they couldn't call for help. Then the arms and legs. I even heard a story about him digging his teeth into a dragonet's neck for so long that the blood combined with the venom made it impossible for it to breathe, and the dragonet died soon after. Everyone in the orphanage, even partly the 'teachers', lived in constant terror of him.

    "One day we were out by the ocean by a cliff. I was standing at the edge, not paying attention to anything. My mind wandered, thinking about Clearsight struggling through the storm to save our lives, and watching a piece of driftwood, when Beetle's teeth sunk deep into my wings. One of his goons tackled me and I screamed until Beetle then bit my neck. I knew what was coming after he paralyzed my arms. He would get my legs, then kill me somehow. So I decided I didn't want to die. I managed to kick the dragonet off me somehow with my tail and legs, but then Beetle grabbed me. But as I lost feeling in my legs, I slipped and crashed into the water. Literally the only thing I could move now was my tail. I thrashed around as best I could until my tail wrapped around the piece of driftwood I had been watching. I managed to pull myself up, but could only watch, coughing up seawater, as the mainland slowly disappeared from view.

    "I slept for a long time. When I woke I could mostly move, but I had no idea where to go. I couldn't see anything anywhere except for ocean. Gradually, without food or water, I became weaker. It was like being paralyzed all over again. I mostly slept when I wasn't wondering where in the entire universe was I. Then one night there was a storm. It seemed like the ocean was coming up to swallow me. I kind of thought that in my tired, delirious mind. I did my best to stay on the driftwood, but then it cracked coming up a giant wave. I slipped and fell off. I was too weak to get up, and so I sank. Spots were dancing in my vision but I can promise you that I saw a dragon sitting at the bottom of the ocean. He was green with two wings, like LeafWings, but had gills and parts of his scales were glowing faintly. And also, he was underwater."

    Moth gasped for a second time. Dragonfly's story was so unbelievable, with the not-LeafWing dragon and the dragonet who tried to kill everyone, that it had to be true. "Was he a dragon from the Distant Kingdoms?"

    "Yes. He looked up as I fell in and I swear he screamed. He opened his mouth and tons of bubbles came out. He stared at me for a few seconds, and I stared at him, feeling like screaming too, before my vision darkened, but I was pretty sure I saw him jump up from the bottom of the ocean and swim towards me with webbed talons.

    "When I woke up, I was in a dark room. My head hurt, and I could hear voices coming through the door. There was an unfamiliar female voice saying, 'I just don't know. I've never seen a dragon like her before.'

    "'No kidding,' said someone else, male. 'Four wings! Seriously! What's up with that?'

    "'And that reddish-orange color,' continued the female voice. 'Seriously, what-Wait. One second.'

    "The door to the room opened and a dragon walked inside. I stared at her because she looked almost exactly like Clearsight."

    Moth frowned. "Clearsight? Really?"

    "Yeah. Two bat-like wings, black scales, and silver scales under her wings like stars. There were two silver teardrop scales by her eyes. She smiled at me. 'Oh, good. You're awake.' Another dragon followed her inside. I hadn't seen anyone like him either. He was a pale yellow, like sand, and had a stinger on his tail which I learned later was poisonous. Not paralyzing, just poisonous.

    "By now I was freaking out, and started to inch towards the wall. The black dragon sighed. 'You don't have to be afraid. We're not going to hurt you.'

    "'It's not so much that as the fact that I've never seen anyone like you before,' I replied, my voice still weak.

    "The yellow dragon shared glances with the black one. 'And we've never seen anyone like you.'

    "I blinked. Never seen a HiveWing? 'Where am I?'

    "'A house beside the shore, where Turtle brought you in,' said the black dragon.

    "I didn't know why a turtle had 'brought me in', but that hadn't been my question. 'No, I mean which continent?' My head was spinning. 'Is this the Distant Kingdoms?'

    "'Pyrria,' the yellow dragon said after a moment of confused silence.

    "'That's not what she means.' The black dragon frowned and rubbed her temples. 'I don't know, Qibli. She's thinking of another place, one that I've never seen before, with no trees and different dragon tribes. Wait. The founder is Clearsight? I must be getting that wrong.'

    "'No,' I replied. 'That is creepy. How are you doing that?' And that's how I met Moon and Qibli of the Distant Kingdoms."

    Moth yawned, and then reddened. "Sorry! I didn't mean to! It's not boring or anything! It's just-"

    Dragonfly nodded. "Your Metamorphosis. That's fine. Do you want me to keep going?"

    "Yes, please."

    "Right. It turns out that yes, I had landed in the Distant Kingdoms. A turtle had not brought me from the sea, it was the underwater dragon, Turtle. He's from the SeaWing tribe. They breathe underwater and communicate underwater with their glowing stripes in a language called Aquatic. Moon, the black dragon, and Qibli, the yellow dragon, are from the NightWing and SandWing tribes. Moon can actually read my mind, which was how she learned about Pantala. Their friends, who they introduced me too later, are Turtle, his sister Anemone, Kinkajou the RainWing, and Winter the IceWing.

    "IceWings are ranging in color from blue to white, and can breathe frost breath, which can freeze a dragon to death. RainWings are cool. Their scales can change color and they can shoot venom from their fangs."

    "Whoa," murmured Moth. "Are there other dragon tribes?"

    "SkyWings and MudWings. SkyWings are red or orange, and have a reputation for being bad-tempered. MudWings are brown and loyal to their siblings above all else. NightWings, SandWings, and MudWings, can actually breathe fire. Cool, right? Moon and Qibli were showing me around Pyrria when I realized something. Not only were there trees, there was no dominant tribe. No tribe that everyone hoped was dead, like the LeafWings. No slaves, like the SilkWings. And no terror-ruling, law-enforcing tribe like the HiveWings. I felt a wave of shame wash over me. Moon noticed and realized that I was sad because I finally realized that everything in Pantala was wrong. So we made a plan.

    "We call it Operation Metamorphosis. Partly because we thought we would probably be helping more SilkWings than HiveWings, and partly because after your Metamorphosis, there's a big change. Silk, to help build a world where dragon tribes are equal, and wings. Wings to fly and leave the old world behind." Dragonfly smiled at Moth. "I hope you don't mind that we didn't include anything about flamesilk."

    Moth was definitely feeling more tired now. "No, it's fine."

    "Turtle and Anemone, did I mention that they're magic? Anyway, they helped a lot. Combining their magic they were able to create a boat for me to go undercover and help other Pantalan dragons to safety. To summon the boat, you whisper into this shell," Dragonfly nodded at the shell on the shelf, "Operation Metamorphosis is underway, and touch it to the water."

    "How many dragons have you helped?" Moth's words were starting to slur and he could see through a hole in the rock wall that the sun was setting. Almost time for his Metamorphosis.

    Dragonfly bit her lip. "Well, you might be the first."

    The first? "Then you don't know how it's going to happen?"

    "Well I haven't tried out the summon the boat thing, if that's what you're asking, but it seems like it worked."

    That wasn't exactly what Moth had meant, but he could feel a prickle under his wrists as the flamesilk prepared to show itself.

    Dragonfly noticed. She stood up and helped him to his feet. She led him to a small dip in the ground and Moth sank into it. He looked up into her face. "Please help my brother and sister. Peacock and Julia. Julia's Metamorphosis is in ten days."

    Dragonfly paused for a moment, then said, "I should be able to reach her before or a bit after, then."

    Moth breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back. A wave of drowsiness washed over him and flamesilk started pouring from his wrist. But he thought that before he was covered by the blackness, Dragonfly leaned over to him. "I will help your family, Moth. I will help them as much as I can." Then his eyes closed as the flamesilk wound around him, hoping and hoping that Julia and Peacock were safe.