The Hidden Kingdom

by Tui T. Sutherland

  Claws seized Glory’s tail before she could get to Kinkajou.

  “Get out of here!” Glory shouted, pointing at the hole. “Go!”

  Kinkajou hesitated, looking beyond Glory at the NightWing guard. For a moment, Glory was certain that she’d disobey and stay to help fight. But then, without arguing, Kinkajou darted for the tunnel and vanished into the darkness.

  Well, good, Glory thought as a spear viciously clocked her in the head. Someone being sensible for once. Unlike my friends. She tried to turn around, but the NightWing threw her into the wall. Stars spun dizzily in Glory’s vision. Don’t pass out. Don’t pass out. If the NightWings recaptured her, she’d never get another chance to use her venom and escape. They’d probably let her starve to death instead.

  Blurrily she saw Clay suddenly drop out of the air, and her heart leaped into her throat. Was he hurt? She staggered a step toward him, but a sharp pain in her back leg stopped her. The guard had stabbed her with his spear.

  Glory hissed angrily and lunged for the spear as the guard pulled it back. He stabbed it at her again, violent and fast, and she felt it scratch her underbelly like a sharp line of bee stings.

  At the same time, Clay landed right in the middle of the fire. Flames licked at his underbelly and wings, and a scorched smell filled the cave. Glory’s scales hurt just looking at him. Even if he healed fast, she knew his skin was burning right now.

  Clenching his jaw, Clay crouched and picked up smoldering coals from the fire in his talons. The NightWing in the air above him didn’t have time to figure out what was coming. Clay flung the coals right in the guard’s face and started grabbing and throwing more as the guard frantically clawed at his snout.

  “Clay!” Glory yelled as her own opponent flung her off-balance. Glory fell backward and the NightWing was on her in an instant, wrapping his strong talons around her snout to force it shut.

  Red-hot coals came flying through the air. Most bounced off the dragon’s armor, and one ricocheted painfully against Glory’s bound wings, but a few found the gaps in the armor and slid inside. The guard let go of Glory and started clawing at his armor, howling with pain.

  Glory had just made it to her feet again when someone grabbed her shoulders. She whipped around with a hiss and barely managed to stop herself from shooting venom in Clay’s face.

  “Quick!” he cried, shoving her onto his back. She grabbed his neck again as he bunched his legs and flung himself over the guards at the hole. One of the injured NightWings lunged for Clay’s tail, but when he saw Glory opening her mouth, he flinched away.

  Clay dove into the tunnel, which spiraled up and around. Glory held on tight, burying her head in his scales as they flew.

  She could hear rain falling up ahead.

  Almost there, she thought. Almost safe. For now.

  They emerged into a sun shower. Rain dripped down through the leaves, but shafts of sunlight still dappled the trees, reflecting flashes of light off the droplets and catching rainbows in the spider webs and waterfalls.

  Clay tipped Glory off onto the ground and flopped into the nearest mud puddle, breathing heavily.

  She sat up, shaking herself, and looked up at the tunnel to the NightWing island. There was no sound of pursuit; no thumping wingbeats, no black snouts crawling out to continue the battle.

  It took her a moment to realize how close they were to the other passage, the one that went to the desert. The first tunnel was in a boulder; this one went straight into the second dark tree, on the other side of the stream.

  She wouldn’t have noticed the hole in the tree trunk if she hadn’t been looking for it. It was above her eye level, carved into the tree at a height where most dragons would have to look up to see it. It was as dark as the tree itself, disappearing into the wood, and it pulsed with such a feeling of not-supposed-to-be-there that she wanted to look away the moment her eyes came anywhere near it.

  “A second tunnel,” she said to Clay. “That is so weird. Do you think there are more?”

  “Wake me when you figure it out,” Clay said. “No, hang on. Never wake me up again. I’m going to sleep for a few hundred years.” He scooped up two talonfuls of mud and poured it onto his head, closing his eyes with a sigh.

  Kinkajou shot out of the treetops and cannoned into Glory. “I’m so glad you’re all right!” she yelped. “I didn’t want to leave you there, but I was so scared —”

  “You did the right thing,” Glory said, ducking to avoid the spear Kinkajou was still swinging around. “Here, give me that. And go look in that hole to see if anyone’s following us.”

  Kinkajou’s eyes went wide. “But what if they are? Then what do I do?”

  “Scare them back to their hideous island,” Glory said, poking the spear at her bindings. “I’ll come help you as soon as I get my wings free. And if I can figure it out, I’ll use this thing to get your neck band off, too.” She nodded at the metal ring on Kinkajou.

  The little dragonet shuffled her feet. “But — um — listen, I — I’m not sure I want to use my venom on any more dragons. It made me feel really, really awful.”

  “Then just pretend you’re going to,” Glory said. She nudged the dragonet toward the tree. “Sit in the tunnel entrance with your mouth open and try to look sinister, all right?”

  Kinkajou perked up. “Sure, I bet I can look sinister! Super-sinister! Just watch me!” She flapped up to the hole, curled her tail around her talons, opened her mouth, and squinted fiercely down the tunnel. She looked more like a decorative doorstop than a guard, but it would have to do for now.

  Glory kept one eye on her as she worked to free her wings. It was a little unsettling that no one had chased them through the tunnel. Maybe the NightWings thought there’d be more dragons waiting on this end to fight them off.

  How long had she been gone? She squinted at the angle of the sunbeams and realized it must be morning. It felt like she’d been trapped in the Night Kingdom for a month, but it had been only a day.

  She had one rope left to untie when she heard voices approaching through the forest.

  “This is a terrible idea! Can’t we discuss it like sensible dragons?”

  “There’s no time! Clay and Glory have been kidnapped by that NightWing assassin! I have to save them!”

  “But we don’t know that he took them and we don’t know that he went through the tunnel or where they might be in the Kingdom of Sand and —”

  “We’re over here!” Glory called.

  There was a pause, followed by some vigorous flapping. Starflight and Tsunami burst out of the trees and soared down over the stream to land beside Clay. A few moments later, Sunny caught up to them. Glory’s sloth was sitting on her head, clutching Sunny’s horns with a startled expression.

  “Oh, I knew you were all right,” Sunny said brightly. She hesitated, squinting at Clay and the mud dripping over his snout. Her eyes took in the wounds slashed along Glory’s scales. “Um — are you all right?”

  “Of course,” Clay said, squishing himself farther down into the mud puddle.

  Silver leaped from Sunny onto Glory’s neck and started tugging on Glory’s ears, warbling a furry complaint. Glory caught her between her claws and stroked her head. “Sorry,” she whispered. “But it wouldn’t have been safe for you.”

  “HRRRF,” the sloth objected.

  “Where were you?” Tsunami cried. “Deathbringer’s escaped! He could be anywhere! He could jump out and try to kill you at any time!”

  “Actually, he’s in there,” Glory said, pointing up at the tree. Her friends all craned their necks to peer at the hole.

  “Another tunnel?” Sunny said. She glanced across the stream and shivered. “I mean, I noticed the weird feeling, but I thought it was still coming from that one.”

  “Where does this one go?” Starflight asked.

  Glory tilted her he
ad at him. “It goes to the Night Kingdom,” she said.

  Starflight inhaled softly and stared up at the tree. She saw the anxiety and curiosity tingling through him as clearly as if his scales could change color, too. His tribe was through there, and his original home. She wondered what he would think of the island — the smell, the scorched air and unfriendly rocks, the horrible smoky cloud that hung over every thing, and the fact that his fellow NightWings were kidnapping RainWings for their venom. All things considered, she thought she’d rather have her own tribe of lazy but not evil dragons.

  “Listen,” she said. “You may want to sit down for this.”

  They decided to leave Tsunami and Clay guarding the tunnel.

  “Don’t let anyone come through there,” Glory said fiercely. “If you even see a hint of a snout poke out, you jab it with this thing as hard as you can.” She handed the spear to Tsunami.

  “No problem,” Tsunami said with relish. She spun the spear between her talons.

  “We’ll be back soon,” Glory said. “With an army of RainWings.”

  Tsunami and Starflight exchanged glances, and Glory flared her ruff at them. “I know what you’re thinking,” she snapped. “So don’t say it.”

  “It’s just —” Starflight said. “I mean, is that a good idea? RainWings aren’t very . . . army-like. The NightWings would crush them easily.”

  “Especially if any of them look into the future and see you coming,” Sunny said.

  “They didn’t foresee me escaping,” Glory pointed out. “They’re not all-powerful. We can stop them and rescue the others.”

  “Maybe it’s a misunderstanding,” Starflight said, resting his front talons on the tree. “Maybe if I went through and talked to them . . .”

  “Then maybe you’d end up in a lovely lava prison, too,” Glory said. “Or dead. Let’s not forget that you might be one of the dragons Deathbringer was sent to kill.” She spread her wings, letting them shimmer into the colors of the cobweb rainbows. “But feel free to stand here worrying about it all day. I’m going back to get my tribe, with or without you.” She beckoned to Kinkajou and leaped into the air.

  It was a relief to use her own wings again. She stretched them wide as they soared up to the highest branches. Silver clung to her shoulders, making happy furry noises. Kinkajou took the lead with an eager flick of her tail. Glory had figured out how to get the band off with the NightWing spear; it had left a painful-looking dent in Kinkajou’s neck, but the little dragon was too happy to mind. Bursts of pink and yellow spiraled through her scales, getting brighter the closer they got to the village.

  “Have they been looking for me every day?” the dragonet asked, looping back to circle around Glory. “Did Bromeliad just have a heart attack when I disappeared? I can imagine her face.” Kinkajou pursed her snout in a hilariously accurate impression of Bromeliad. “That dragonet got herself kidnapped on purpose! She’s always been trouble!” Kinkajou giggled. “I hope she wore out her wings looking for me. Grumpy old cow. Gosh, won’t everyone be excited when I finally turn up!”

  “Um,” Glory said, “don’t be upset if there’s no welcome-home party.”

  “There’s Coconut!” Kinkajou cried, spotting a small dragon lounging in a hammock on the outskirts of the village. “Aw, look how exhausted he is. We took gliding lessons together all last year. I bet he’s been helping to search for me. Coconut! It’s me! I’m back!” She swooped up to the hammock and poked it vigorously with her tail until the emerald-green dragon inside sat up, blinking.

  “Hmmm?” he said. “What?”

  “I’m back!” Kinkajou said, wrapping her wings around him and nearly knocking him out of the hammock. “I’m all right! I made it home!”

  Coconut disentangled himself politely. “Kinkajou?” He squinted at her. “You went somewhere?”

  “I’ve been gone for almost three whole weeks,” Kinkajou said. Her smile faded as the other dragon shook his head. “Didn’t you miss me?”

  “Erm,” he said. “I’ve been very busy.”

  “I bet,” Glory said disgustedly. “You, be at Magnificent’s pavilion in one hour, and bring every other RainWing you can find. We’re having a tribe meeting.”

  “A what?” Coconut said.

  “And if you’re not there, I will know, and I will personally come tie you into this hammock so you’re stuck here forever,” Glory said. “Go start telling everyone. Go!”

  Coconut flailed out of the hammock and flapped away, looking confused.

  Glory steered Kinkajou toward the center of the village. The dragonet’s wings were drooping and speckled with blue-gray.

  “Disappointing young dragons who count on them,” Glory said. “Seems to be a RainWing specialty.”

  “Someone must have looked for me,” said Kinkajou.

  “Yes — I did,” Glory pointed out. She saw the queen’s treehouse up ahead and veered that way. Starflight and Sunny hadn’t caught up yet. Maybe they were busy talking about how this plan of Glory’s would fail. Or maybe they were checking on Webs again, as if that was at all important compared to saving the RainWings.

  The line to see Magnificent was shorter today; only two dragons sat on the waiting platform, and neither of them looked particularly upset. Glory swooped right past them and dove through the vine curtain, skidding to a stop on the wood floor.

  The RainWing queen jumped, and her sloth leaped onto her head, looking startled.

  “I found them,” Glory announced. She glanced at the dragons Magnificent was meeting with — a young RainWing whose blue-green scales looked like he was trying to match Tsunami’s, complete with white dots to mimic her pearls, and a shrunken old dragon with a silvery tinge to his ruff. “I found the missing RainWings, Your Majesty.”

  “Oh, call me Maggie,” said the queen. “What missing RainWings?”

  “The ones you sent me to find,” Glory said impatiently. “Like Orchid, and Queen Splendor — and Kinkajou here.”

  “Oh,” said Magnificent. A shimmer of dark purple rippled through her scales. “Marvelous! I’m so pleased. Do go tell Mangrove. It’ll be so nice not to have to deal with that head ache anymore.” She turned back to the other RainWings.

  “No, no, listen,” Glory said. “They were abducted. We have to go rescue them.”

  Magnificent blinked at Kinkajou.

  “Except her,” Glory said. “I mean, we got her out. But the others are still there. We need to get the tribe together and organize an expedition to save them.”

  “An expedition?” Magnificent echoed. Her eyes wandered to a lizard that was crawling slowly through the window.

  “Save them from what?” asked the blue-green RainWing.

  “From the NightWings,” said Glory. “They’ve been kidnapping RainWings and holding them prisoner.” She hissed, remembering the gray dragon’s tail thumping sadly along the ground as the NightWings carried him off.

  “You want us to fight other dragons?” said the queen. “How would we do that?”

  Glory clutched her head. She knew her scales were vibrating with furious sunset colors, but she needed all her energy for arguing with the queen. “With your venom,” she said slowly. “With your camouflage. With your claws and teeth. With anything that will save your fellow tribemates.”

  “We’re not fighters,” the queen said, as if she were explaining the three moons to a very small dragonet. “RainWings aren’t built for it. We’re a peaceful tribe.”

  “So what do you suggest?” Glory snapped. “Ask the NightWings nicely to give back the dragons they stole? Because kidnapping dragons certainly makes them seem like a pretty reasonable tribe. Open to negotiations and all that.”

  Queen Magnificent examined her claws for a moment, then picked up her sloth and scratched it under its chin. “Well, let’s think about this sensibly. Do we really need to get them back?”
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br />   Glory felt as if she’d just been dropped in the NightWings’ volcano. She stared at the queen. “You mean — you would leave them there?”

  “Whoa,” said the blue dragon, staring at Glory’s scales. “I’ve never seen anyone turn that color red before.”

  “It’s only a few dragons,” said the queen with a wave of one talon. “Right? Five or six?”

  “Fourteen,” said Kinkajou. “Not counting the three who already died there.”

  Even Mangrove didn’t realize how many were missing, Glory thought. She felt another wave of anger. Three dead before anyone even went looking for them. Were they waiting to be rescued? Did they believe someone would come for them, or did they know there was no hope?

  “See? Only fourteen,” said Magnificent. “It doesn’t really make that much difference, does it? There are plenty of other dragons in the tribe.”

  For a moment Glory was speechless. She had never, ever, not once in a million years, imagined there could be a queen who would let her subjects die without lifting a claw to save them. If the queen didn’t even care, what chance did any RainWing have?

  And there was nothing Glory could do. She wasn’t part of the prophecy, she wasn’t a normal RainWing, and she couldn’t save the RainWings on her own, no matter how much she wanted to. Without the queen, with no army, she was as useless as a sloth.

  She wanted to scream a million things at the queen: What is wrong with all of you? Don’t you have any loyalty? Or empathy?

  Someone should care when a dragon disappears.

  And then she realized exactly what she wanted to say.

  She spread her wings and pointed at the larger dragon. “Queen Magnificent, I challenge you for the throne of the RainWings.”

  “You mean you want a turn at being queen?” said Magnificent, tilting her head in a puzzled way. “I’m sure that could be arranged, if you insist. I can talk to the others and try to fit you in between Grandeur and Exquisite next year.”