It was night, and the rainforest was as humid as ever. No sounds could be heard except for the crickets chirping. Everyone was asleep. Two dragons stopped in their tracks, one glancing around.

“There’s nobody around, stop being paranoid.” Said the other.

Pitcher glanced at her acquaintance, eyebrows raised in a curve. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

Alder rolled her eyes, “It’s nothing too major. Besides, we’re under the Queen’s orders.”

Pitcher removed her gaze from Alder and looked through the foliage towards the stars. “But what if the “Queen’s orders” aren’t the best idea to follow?”

Alder growled in response, “Pitcher, would you rather give up your home and family because you didn’t want to follow orders? Like I said, it’s not something they should care too much about. Not something to start a war over, at least.”

She thought about that for a second, then trotted through the woods, as quiet as a mouse.

Alder scurried to catch up, “Exactly. Now, once we get there, you will go in and take it while I stay outside and take guard.”

She nodded.

As they soundlessly made their way through the rainforest they came across a massive concrete block. Pitcher titled her head at Alder, but she looked just as confused.

They made their way around the block, and took a look at the front. There were two floors with three cutouts in a row. Six cutouts total. Inside these cutouts seemed to be bars.

It’s a prison, Pitcher realised.

Why would the RainWings have a prison in their rainforest? And more importantly, how did they have this prison?

She opened her mouth to speak when Alder silenced her with a motion of her talons. She pointed at one of the prison cells, and inside was a sleeping dragon. The dragon had an IceWing’s spikes along their back, and horns like a NightWings. Some of their scales were black, but most of them changed color as they slept.

A WildWing.

Does Toucan hate hybrids? If so, what happened to cause that hatred?

As she stared at the prisoner, Alder tapped her shoulder and jerked her head to the side.

In the direction she had indicated, there was a massive hut made in between trees that must have been intentionally planted. Many big leaves were laid along the outside. Pitcher put her hand on it to push in, but it didn’t budge. It was masterfully built to resist attacks.

Unfortunately, neither of them had leafspeak, so this mission was extra dangerous. Stupid Queen, saving her valuable resources for show more than use.

Around the hut they went, away from the prison. Slowly but surely, they got to the front, but Alder, who was in front, paused for a moment. She turned to face Pitcher, and put up one fist, and hit it with her other open palm.

Their signal for guards.

Pitcher went through her pouch she kept handy for missions like this. It contained all sorts of useful jars and plants that could help if anything goes awry. She pulled out a fume flower, colored like the light of the moon. Alder moved back behind her.

Alder held up ten talons — ten seconds before they jumped both guards. She moved one down, indicating the start of the countdown.

Ten.

Pitcher prepared herself for this. They had to do it silently with nobody watching.

Nine.

She glanced around to see if anybody was watching. Breaking into a random dragon’s house was one thing, but breaking into a royal treasury was another.

Five.

She realized then that there could be many RainWings watching them, blowdarts at the ready in case they get in. Their camouflage scales were her and Alder’s biggest threat to the mission.

Three. Two.

She hesitated a second, feeling scopaesthesia. Then shook her head.

One. She hopped out of her hiding space with the fume flower in her talons. As the guard on her side turned to face her, she shoved the flower in his face. The guard immediately dropped to the ground. She looked ahead to see Alder in the same situation, guard on the ground.

“Well that was easy,” Alder said.

“Hmmm. Almost too easy,” Pitcher agreed.

“Come on, let’s get in there and get out before the guards wake up.”

They trotted into the treasury, ready to grab their treasure and go. The only problem was that the door inside was locked. There were two sides, the one on the left was the one they were trying to go for.

Pitcher tilted her head, “How are we supposed to know which one contains the dreamvisitor?”

Alder growled, “Take a look around, maybe then you’ll understand.”

She inspected the two doors, looking for any clues. That’s when she noticed, the door on the right was covered in flowers, while the one on the left was studded in jewels.

This had to be a trap. Nobody makes it so obvious for burglars which  one to steal from.

“Alder,” Pitcher warned as Alder was picking the lock with a twig. “Maybe you shouldn’t open that one.”

“Why? It’s obviously the one with the dreamvisitor.”

“The RainWing queen isn’t dumb enough to make it so clear which one has it. It’s a trick. I think we should open the flower door instead. Maybe the jewel-studded door is triggered.”

Alder rolled her eyes, “Uh-huh. And what made you think this was the case?”

“It’s like I said, taking out the guards was way too easy,” Pitcher responded. “There’s no way breaking into the treasury is just as easy.”

“Well this lock is tricky enough, so it’s not very easy.”

“Do you trust me?” Pitcher frowned, her eyes glowing.

Alder swallowed, then, without responding, turned to face the opposite door to pick that lock. She spent a good minute or two on the lock, but eventually it gave way, and they were in.

Inside were gold coins, sapphires, rubies, and other treasure. It included some relics that were most likely animus-touched. Although where the RainWing queen got them, Pitcher didn’t know.

“I guess you were right,” Alder said with a faint smile. “This is the one time I’ll say it, but thanks for not getting us killed.”

Pitcher’s smile was far bigger than Alder’s, “Any time.”

“Now all we have to do is find the dreamvisitor, return to Queen Redwood, and we’ll be done for now.”

Pitcher dug through the pile of treasure, but couldn’t find it anywhere. She began to frantically search, desperate to make something of this mission.

“Pitcher, shush,” she heard Alder say. When she turned her head, she saw Alder holding the sapphire star. “We’re ready to go,” she said, “Let’s get out of here.”

They slowly made their way out of the treasury, into the hallway with the two vaults towards the entrance…

…And a dragon emerged from the dark of the night, scales rippling from the dark colors of the forest to a bright pastel pink and purple.

Pitcher stopped walking, staring at the dragon watching them.

“Pitcher, why did you–” Alder stopped, looking up at the RainWing. “Shoot.”

The RainWing stood with great importance, “What do you think you’re doing in my mother’s treasury?”

Oh NO! Pitcher thought. This is the RainWing princess.

Before anybody could say anything more, Alder tossed the dreamvisitor to Pitcher and jumped at the princess. Pitcher juggled the dreamvisitor and almost dropped it before securing it in one of her pouches.

When she looked up, Alder had already made a long slit in the princess’s underbelly side. The princess had done something similar to Alder’s snout. Blood was spilling across the treasury, and Pitcher just stood there, watching.

“I AM PRINCESS AZALEA!! YOU CAN’T KILL ME!” Azalea roared.

Those were her final words as Alder jumped behind her back, pulled out a metal circle, covered Azalea’s snout so she couldn’t make a noise, and slit the circle across her throat. She tried to make noise, but with Alder’s talons around her snout, nothing came out but muffled screams. This lasted until she finally dropped to the floor, covered in red.

Pitcher stared at Alder, looking at the princess in shock. “You– You just–”

“Do you have the dreamvisitor?” she asked, calmly. When Pitcher nodded, still shocked, she finished, “Let’s go then.”

They ran out of the treasury, the door still open, and booked it for the boulder that led to the SandWing kingdom.

They heard roars of fury only when they entered the magic boulder. By that time they were already gone into the night. Heading back to Pantala from the Kingdom of Sand.