The Hidden Kingdom

by Tui T. Sutherland

  “Glory wants to go in there,” Starflight said, rolling his eyes.

  Clay stalked up to the hole, sniffed it, and nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, we probably have to.”

  “No, we don’t!” Starflight cried. He curled his wings in toward his body. “That’s insane! There could be anything lurking in there!”

  “Including the answer to what is attacking the RainWings,” Glory said. “I’m going in. You two wait here.”

  Clay pounced on her tail and sat on it.

  “OW,” Glory yelped, trying to wriggle free. “Get off, you giant lump.”

  “We might be doing this, but we’re doing it sensibly,” Clay said. “As in tomorrow morning, when it’s not almost dark, with backup and a rope and a plan.”

  “Tomorrow morning?” Glory shoved him as hard as she could, but he didn’t budge. “I want answers now!”

  “Sounds like something Tsunami would say,” Starflight said with a smug face that meant he knew she wouldn’t like that comparison.

  “You are so asking to get bitten,” Glory growled. She stared at the boulder for a moment, thinking. Rushing in was the Tsunami thing to do. Glory could be sensible and patient instead. “All right, we can wait until morning, but I’m staying right here to watch this hole.”

  “I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” Starflight said patronizingly.

  “Yeah, but maybe I’ll see something go into it,” Glory said. “Or come out.”

  Starflight backed away from the hole in a hurry, his wings twitching ner vously.

  “I’ll stay with you,” Clay said. “Starflight, bring the others back here in the morning, along with the longest, strongest vines you can find.”

  “And tell Mangrove we’ll be here all night, so he can go home,” Glory said. “Try to be a little sympathetic, if you can muster that. Like, please point out that we haven’t found Orchid’s dead body or anything.”

  “All right,” Starflight said, taking several more steps back. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

  “We’ll try to contain ourselves,” said Glory.

  He flew off into the trees, and as the shadows quickly swallowed him up, she noticed how dark it was already. Especially down at the bottom of the forest; there was probably still a bit of sunshine up in the treetops. But night was coming on fast. She realized she was a bit relieved that Clay had stopped her from going into the hole. She needed to be able to see in the dark like Tsunami or breathe fire like the others if she wanted to explore with no light.

  “You can get off my tail now,” she said to Clay.

  “Let’s find a place to hide,” he suggested, standing up. “Ooooo, and maybe something to eat. Are you hungry? I’m hungry.”

  “Shocking,” Glory said with a laugh. “You know there’s still enough of that fruit left stuck to your teeth to make a whole other meal.”

  “I know,” Clay said ruefully. He ran his tongue across the gummy red bits stuck between his white teeth. “But I kind of wish I had a sheep or a cow instead.”

  “Sorry,” Glory said. “You probably won’t find any of those here.” She spread her wings and leaped into the low branches of a fat gray tree. Vines covered in purple blossoms hung in long loops all over the tree, and another, skinnier tree seemed to be growing up around the fat one, winding its trunk around and around it like a monkey’s tail.

  They found a spot where the branches wove together thickly enough that they could both lie down without worrying about falling off. Through the vines, Glory could watch the hole in the boulder, although it, too, was rapidly disappearing into the growing shadows.

  Clay curled up close to her but not touching her, which she appreciated. She wondered if other RainWings preferred not to be touched, or if that was a special thing of her own, picked up from living with three guardians who hit her almost as often as they looked at her.

  Let’s be fair, she thought to herself. Webs never hurt me himself. He just let the other two do whatever they wanted.

  So whenever Kestrel or Dune felt frustrated — whenever the war was going badly, or someone screwed up in battle training, or there wasn’t enough dinner for everyone, or they just remembered they had a RainWing instead of the SkyWing who was supposed to be in the prophecy — Glory was an easy target for an angry claw swipe or vicious tail thump.

  Well, whatever, she thought. I’m free now, and Kestrel and Dune are both dead. She reached up and stroked the sloth curled around her neck. It snuggled into her talon with a soft warble.

  “How does it feel to be home?” Clay whispered after a while. His shape was just a blacker outline in the dark beside her.

  Glory coiled her tail around the branch. She’d been avoiding thinking about this ever since visiting the hatchery. I did exactly what I told myself not to — got my hopes up so they could be smacked down.

  “It doesn’t really feel like I am home,” she said slowly. “The sun time was great, and I like all the fruit, but the other dragons . . . I don’t know, it’s weird. I thought they’d be more like me, but they’re nothing like me at all.”

  Clay’s wings rustled. “I thought the same thing,” he said. “I thought the guardians and the scrolls must be wrong about RainWings, because you’re never lazy or boring. But I guess you’re just different from the others.”

  “Maybe I’m not really,” Glory said. “Maybe more sun time would make me as lazy as they are.” She remembered the Sky Kingdom again, and the warm, hypnotizing feeling of sleeping in the sun all day long.

  “I doubt that,” Clay said. “Not all RainWings are the same. You’d be different no matter where you grew up.”

  I wonder, Glory thought. And even if I am, what good does that do me? “Not different enough to be part of the prophecy,” she said. “I’m still not a SkyWing.”

  “We don’t want a SkyWing,” Clay said firmly. “Have you thought about what to do next? Like if we all go look for Blaze . . . you don’t want to stay here, do you? With your tribe?”

  I have no idea.

  “Shhh,” Glory said suddenly. “Listen.”

  They both fell silent.

  The rainforest was full of strange noises at night. Hidden birds hooted and squawked; the branches shook and rustled as if animals made of wind were rushing through them. A chorus of burps and gurgles came from the stream, which Glory guessed was a gathering of frogs.

  But now there was something else — something stamping slowly on enormous feet.

  Stamp. Slither. Stamp. Slither.

  The sloth had a stranglehold on Glory’s neck. She could feel it shaking. She was sure her own scales were turning green with fear, and she had to force all her energy into staying black.

  The something made a sniffing, snorting sound.

  Slither. Slither.

  It was near the pond now. It stopped moving for a long moment. Glory wasn’t sure whether she was imagining the great hulking shape she thought she could see, like shadows within shadows.

  Crunch crunch slurp sluuuuuuurrrp crunch.

  Gulping and smacking sounds followed and then abruptly stopped again.

  Stamp. Slither. Stamp. Slither.

  And as suddenly as it had arrived, the creature vanished again. Glory strained her ears, but she couldn’t hear any footsteps retreating into the forest, or the crackling of branches underfoot. Whatever it was had disappeared very close by.

  As if it had gone back into its hole.

  Neither she nor Clay said anything for a long time. She wasn’t sure enough that the slithering thing was gone to risk making any noise. She held as still as she could, even when her legs started to cramp.

  After what seemed like hours, she heard soft snoring coming from Clay’s perch. She adjusted her wings and tried to sleep, too. But every noise made her heart thump fiercely, and all she could do was swim in and out of a drowsy haze
for the rest of the night.

  It was a relief when the sun finally started to drift down through the leaves again. She sat up, rubbed her tired eyes, and glanced toward the pond and the boulder.

  The dead sloth was gone. All that remained were a few tufts of gray fur and some blood-spattered leaves, soaking into the wet, wet ground.

  “

  By the time the other dragonets arrived, Glory had wiped out any trace of green fear from her scales. She waited by the boulder, her wings speckled gray like the stone, as they swooped down to join her. Sunny jumped up to hug Clay’s neck as soon as she saw him.

  “How’s Webs?” Clay asked.

  Tsunami snorted. “I don’t think these ‘healers’ have seen anything worse than a sprained wing or a stubbed claw before,” she said. “They’re doing a lot of peering at the scratch and muttering.”

  “But I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Sunny said. “The RainWings are trying their best.” She turned and caught Tsunami rolling her eyes behind her back. Sunny frowned. “They are.”

  “Sunny, you think everyone’s always trying their best,” Tsunami pointed out.

  The little SandWing huffed a small snort of flame. “So? Everyone is! Why wouldn’t they be?”

  “Yes, dear,” Tsunami said, not unkindly.

  “Hallooooooo!” a voice interrupted. A pink comet streaked through the trees and thudded down beside the dragonets. Glory jumped back and flared her ruff at Jambu as he bowed to all of them, grinning.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I heard what you were up to, and it sounded like fun,” he said brightly. “So I took the day off to see if I could help. Brother and sister, working as a team! Awesome, right?” He craned his neck to see the hole in the boulder behind her. “Oh, freaky thing! No wonder it feels so weird in this part of the forest! Most of the RainWings avoid coming anywhere near this pond. But no one’s ever reported a mystery hole before, I don’t think. So what’s the plan?”

  “The plan is I go in,” Glory said. “And everyone else waits here.”

  Well, nobody liked that plan. Tsunami wanted to go first; Clay wanted to go together; Starflight was still in favor of not going in at all. Even Jambu started whining about not wanting to be left behind.

  Glory folded her tail over her talons and waited for them to shut up.

  Sunny sidled up to her. “Maybe we could compromise,” Sunny suggested quietly. “Maybe you could take someone with you. Someone with fire, maybe, who could help you with the darkness in there.”

  Unfortunately, that was a good point. Glory didn’t love the idea of blundering into total darkness alone, and if she was right, and it was a tunnel, there was no way to know how long it was or how lost she could get.

  “Like, maybe —” Sunny started to say.

  “All right!” Glory shouted, silencing the others. “All right, fine, different plan. Clay and I go in first and see what’s in there.”

  Sunny looked disappointed. Glory wasn’t sure why; she was doing exactly what the SandWing had suggested.

  “What about me?” Tsunami said, bristling.

  “You hold the other end of the vines,” Clay said. “If we yank on them three times, it means we’re in trouble, so either pull us out or, if you can’t, come in and get us.”

  Glory didn’t love the idea of having a vine tied around her shoulders, but she was outvoted. As Starflight tightened the knots, she untangled her sloth and passed it to Sunny.

  “Here,” she said. “Watch Silver for me while I’m gone?”

  “Aww,” Sunny said, brightening. “Pretty name.”

  Glory hadn’t meant to say it out loud. She didn’t want the others to notice that she was starting to like the weird little mammal. “Well, you can call it whatever you want,” she said.

  “Hrrrrgle,” the sloth disagreed, but it flopped across Sunny’s back with a blissful expression. It must like the SandWing warmth of her scales, Glory realized. What if it doesn’t want to come back to me? She shook out her wings. Then it’ll be Sunny’s problem, I guess.

  “Let’s go catch a monster,” she said to Clay.

  “Remember, three tugs,” Clay said to Tsunami. He squared his shoulders and marched up to the boulder alongside Glory. She knew he must be remembering the awful noises and dark creature from the night before, too. She was glad he’d followed her lead of not telling the others about it. Starflight didn’t need another reason to try to stop her from going into the hole.

  “Let me go in first,” Clay whispered. “So I can light the way.”

  Glory nodded reluctantly, and he stepped forward into the darkness. She followed right away, nearly stepping on his tail.

  He breathed out a plume of flame, and they saw a stone tunnel stretching ahead of them, then turning abruptly to the right.

  “That’s impossible,” Clay whispered. “This tunnel is much longer than the boulder. And it’s not going down into the ground . . .”

  “Some kind of magic?” Glory guessed. “Maybe animus magic?” Glory couldn’t think of anything else that could have made a tunnel like this. Unless there were mystery creatures with powers similar to animus dragons.

  When she was four years old, she’d gone through a phase of reading all the animus dragon stories and hoping she was one, so that she could enchant Dune’s dinner to eat him. Of course, no powers had ever manifested, and it was probably lucky they hadn’t, given what they’d learned about that kind of magic from Tsunami’s sister Anemone in the Kingdom of the Sea.

  On the one talon, the ability to manipulate and enchant any physical object, Glory thought. On the other, say good-bye to your soul.

  She squeezed past Clay and set off down the tunnel. He stayed close enough to brush her wings with his snout.

  “I thought the scrolls said there hasn’t been an animus dragon in generations,” Clay said, scratching his head. “But between Queen Coral’s daughters and this being here, I guess I remembered wrong.”

  “No, that is what the scrolls said — but remember, that was in the histories written by NightWings,” Glory said. “NightWings can’t stand animus dragons because animus power is much cooler than what they can do, and NightWings would rather be the only magically powerful dragons out there. So maybe they lied.”

  “Or they didn’t know that it runs in the SeaWing royal family,” Clay said. “Or perhaps any dragons who do have animus power make sure to keep it hidden so they won’t be forced to use it, like, for the war or something.” He breathed out another spurt of fire, and they saw the turn a few steps ahead of them.

  “This tunnel might not be an animus thing either,” Glory said. “Maybe there’s some other kind of creature who can do this type of magic.”

  Clay didn’t answer, but she felt the shiver that ran through his wings.

  At the turn, Glory leaned forward to glance around the corner. Even before Clay could use his fire, she saw light — enough light to realize the tunnel turned again to the left, and that was where the light was coming from.

  They crept to the next corner and peered around it.

  Another long tunnel stretched ahead of them, and at the end of it waited an outline of bright sunlight — much too bright for the floor of the rainforest.

  Clay and Glory exchanged glances.

  “Did we miss something?” she whispered. “I thought this tunnel would be much longer. Also that it would have, you know, a monster in it.”

  “It must have come from out there,” Clay said, nodding at the circle of sunshine.

  They slid along the tunnel, keeping an eye out for hidden entrances, but as far as Glory could tell, there were none. There were only the long, smooth stone walls leading to that brightness, which got more and more blinding the closer they came.

  She paused at the doorway, blinking, and realized that sand was piled up outside as hi
gh as her shoulders, nearly blocking the exit. She dug into it, shoving sand aside until there was a hole big enough to crawl through, then poked her head out.

  The sun beat down on her scales, but not in the same way that it did in the rainforest treetops or in the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. Here the heat was dry as ancient bones, sucking all the moisture out of her scales, and there was no breeze that she could feel.

  Grains of sand trickled between her talons. As her eyes adjusted, she realized that the sand stretched, endless and pale, to the horizon ahead of her. There were no trees. The sky was aggressively blue and cloudless. A sickly stench of death hung faintly in the air. There was nothing but desert as far as the eye could see.

  Clay squished himself up beside her and stuck his nose out into the blazing heat.

  “Yowch,” he said.

  Glory’s ears twitched. Out in the sky, a pair of tiny dark shapes appeared, approaching fast.

  “Hide,” Glory ordered, shoving Clay back into the tunnel. Throwing off the vine rope, she wriggled out of the hole. She stretched her talons across the sand and focused on her scales, watching them blur quickly into the pale brown-gold-white colors. Camouflaged, she stared up at the approaching dragons.

  They were two SandWings, swooping lower as they got closer. For an uneasy moment, Glory thought they must have seen her. But they whooshed past without even glancing down, and she realized they were aiming at something beyond and behind her.

  Moving cautiously, Glory crept out another few steps and turned around.

  On this side, the hole was hidden in a dune surrounded by a semicircle of dull green cacti. Each cactus was half as tall as a full-grown dragon, with tiny thorns as sharp as fangs. A few dusty white flowers bloomed between the prickles.

  Beyond the cactus sentries, the dunes slanted down to an enormous structure in the distance. The two SandWings spiraled into it, vanishing behind the thick sandstone walls. There were no windows that Glory could see. There was only the solid block shape, like a monstrous brick dropped on the sand.

  Wait, she thought. There was something dotting the top of the walls — small dark shapes at regular intervals, fluttering now and then in the very slight breaths of wind.