The Poison Jungle

by Tui T. Sutherland

  “The legend doesn’t say. What it does say,” the queen went on, “is that the first dragons who landed on Pantala encountered something … very strange.” Her voice dropped so low Sundew could barely hear her over the sound of the rain outside. “The night they arrived, as they all slept, the earth below them began to seethe with motion. Tiny legs crawled across their scales — and then more — and then more of them. The dragons awoke suddenly, from their dreams into a true nightmare. They were covered in fire ants.

  “Their shrieks rose up to the three moons and they ran to the ocean, but even as they ran, more colonies of ants boiled up out of the ground and attacked. They marched up the dragons’ legs and burrowed between their scales and dug their mandibles into their skin. The ants didn’t let go as the dragons plunged into the sea; they didn’t try to save themselves. They held on like grim death, until at last the ants drowned.”

  “Yeeeeesh,” Swordtail said with a theatrical shudder.

  “But the ants were only the beginning,” said Queen Sequoia. “The next morning, as the dragons were limping back to their campsite, they heard buzzing in the air, getting closer and closer. When they looked up, the sky was dark with bees. So many bees they blotted out the sun. The bees descended and attacked, all at once, just as the ants had done. And again, the dragons were forced to flee into the bay and hide below the water.

  “The legend says they were saved by their flamesilks, who burned the bees out of the sky.”

  “So the Legend of the Hive is about creepy ants and bees?” Io asked.

  The queen shook her head. “It got worse … and stranger. The swarms of insects kept coming. And the next attacks came from insects that normally don’t work in groups — imagine armies of venomous centipedes, battalions of tsetse flies, swarms of bombardier beetles.

  “They killed dragon after dragon with mindless, unwavering ferocity. Some of the dragons vanished in the night, never to be seen again. Others went down right in front of their friends, suddenly covered in assassin bugs.

  “Of course, the dragons fought back. They’d come too far to run away, and according to the story, they were refugees who could never return to the Distant Kingdoms.

  “So they fought to stay, but it seemed that whenever they struck down one group of attackers, another would instantly appear in its place. The insects were followed by coils of rattlesnakes, a vast pride of lions, murders of crows.”

  The queen lowered her voice again, staring into the heart of the pale flower. “These were not ordinary attacks. The animals moved like a single organism. If a crow was struck on one end of the battlefield, the crows at the far end somehow knew instantly. The snakes attacked simultaneously, targeting their victims with coordinated precision.”

  “But how?” Cricket asked. “This sounds like a myth that’s gotten a little warped over time. Are you saying this plant works on anything? Reptiles, birds, insects, and mammals? How is that possible, scientifically?”

  “Um, I have a more important question,” Sundew interjected. “Who was controlling them?” She realized she’d twined her tail around Willow’s at some point during the story, probably while the ice was trickling down her spine. But Belladonna’s eyes were riveted on the queen, and Sundew couldn’t make herself pull away from Willow’s comforting warmth.

  Queen Sequoia closed her front talons around the flower and looked straight at Sundew. “Nobody knows.”

  “WHAT,” said Swordtail.

  “Three moons. I think my chills have chills,” Tsunami said, shaking her wings out as though she couldn’t feel them anymore.

  “How could nobody know?!” Cricket asked. “Didn’t they find the dragon behind all the attacks?”

  “The tribes never found anyone,” said the queen. “They searched far and wide for years, but there were no other dragons on the continent, as far as they could tell.”

  “But …” Hazel started, then trailed off.

  “What they found was this.” Queen Sequoia opened her talons to reveal the flower again. The seed inside it glistened like a wicked little eye, watching them. “We call it the breath of evil.”

  “Seems a little dramatic,” Belladonna muttered.

  “This vine covered everything,” said the queen. “The legend described it exactly — it is the part of the story that has survived the most intact, as though the storytellers knew how important it would be for us to recognize it if it ever appeared again. This plant was wound around every tree, through every meadow, in every marsh. No matter the landscape, it thrived across all of Pantala.

  “But the dragons from the Distant Kingdoms soon discovered that when they destroyed this plant, the attacks waned. When they cleared all the vine from an area, that area gradually became safe to live in. No more attacks. The animals began to behave like normal animals, so long as they lived within the perimeter the dragons made, where there was no breath of evil.”

  “I don’t like this name,” Swordtail said. “OR this plant. I just want that on the record: I don’t like it at all.”

  “I can see why Queen Wasp doesn’t let us hear that story,” Io said. “It might ring a few bells, even inside a dense HiveWing skull.”

  Sundew saw Cricket wince and tuck the sling a little tighter around Bumblebee.

  “But … how does it end?” Willow asked. “The Legend of the Hive, I mean.”

  “There’s not much more,” Queen Sequoia said, spreading her front talons. “It’s all garbled from millennia of being passed down. This is how I understand it: something here tried to kill us when our ancestors arrived, using mind control to turn the wildlife into weapons. But destroying the breath of evil took away its power. Once they realized that, the tribes organized expeditions to uproot the plant across the whole continent.”

  “Hang on, can we go back to the thing breathing the evil?” Sundew said. “The dragon — or dragons — that controlled everything. Even though the tribes never found it, it must have died, too, right? Once the plants were destroyed and it realized it had lost.” She paused and looked around at the range of frightened expressions. “Right?”

  “Of course,” said the queen. “This was a very long time ago. Thousands of years.”

  “But I guess the plants weren’t all destroyed after all,” said Cricket, lifting her head to face Queen Sequoia.

  The queen rested one talon on Hazel’s head and sighed. “No. Some of it survived, hidden deep in the Poison Jungle.”

  “Where Wasp found it,” Cricket said slowly. “She must know the Legend. She must have gone looking for it, hoping she could use it herself. I wonder how she figured out what to do with it. And if it once worked on any animal, why does she only use it on HiveWings? Why bother with the Tree Wars if she could also mind-control the LeafWings and SilkWings?”

  Queen Sequoia shuddered.

  “I’m sure she tried,” Belladonna spat. “Probably doesn’t work on a superior species like LeafWings.”

  Sundew caught Io rolling her eyes.

  “The point is, this is where she got it from,” Sundew said. “So this is where she’ll come to get more of it, if we really burned up her whole supply.”

  “Not if we strike her first,” snarled Belladonna. “We’re going to burn all their Hives. I’m planning our next attack now. We just need a little more flamesilk, and Yellowjacket Hive will be a pile of ash before you can blink.”

  “Wasp isn’t going to wait for you to do that,” Cricket said. “Queen Sequoia is right. She’s gathering her army right now. She’ll be here before you can convince Blue to give you any more flamesilk … before you could even get to Yellowjacket Hive, if you already had it.”

  “We must act quickly.” Queen Sequoia rose from her throne with a commanding expression, and Sundew could suddenly see why a whole tribe would have followed her into battle over and over, no matter how often they lost.

  “Belladonna, Wolfsbane, and the SilkWings,” the queen said, pointing 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 Snarling River to prepare for Wasp’s attack. We need to strengthen the jungle’s defenses and hold them off as long as possible.”

  “Um,” Swordtail said. “I mean, that sounds awesome. But … how exactly are we going to help?” He pointed to himself and Io.

  “By talking to the flamesilk,” Sequoia said. “I understand his reluctance to burn down Hives, but I hope you can convince him how much we’ll need him in battle when Wasp attacks. Also, one of you must contact the Chrysalis. If they want to rise up and overthrow Queen Wasp, now is the time. They must bring their dragons to fight alongside us, or Wasp will win, and they will never have a chance to be free.”

  “What about me?” Hazel asked. “Shouldn’t I go with you?”

  The queen’s face softened, looking down at her great-granddaughter. “No,” she said. “I won’t be able to think clearly with you there. I need to know you’re safe here, and that the rest of the tribe is safe, too, because you’ll be in charge of them. If Wasp gets past us, you’ll need to decide what to do … fight her, or run.”

  “Run where?” Cricket asked.

  “Deeper into the jungle,” answered the queen. “Or … perhaps farther.” She turned her gaze to Tsunami.

  “That’s what I’ve been saying!” Cricket yelped. “Right, Sundew? I said we should escape to the Distant Kingdoms!”

  “Hey, whoa,” Tsunami said, spreading her wings and looking alarmed. “It’s not that easy. Can any of you swim? Or breathe underwater?”

  “We can swim,” Willow said. “In the river. Maybe not like you swim, though. All right, probably nothing like you. Not, like, swim-across-an-entire-ocean-for-days-and-days kind of swimming, no.”

  Sundew realized that her mother was glaring narrowly at Willow, and also realized, a half second later, that she still had her tail twined with Willow’s, and oh dear, that probably had something to do with the look on Belladonna’s face.

  Well, too bad, she thought defiantly. I’m not letting go now. I’m not ever letting go of her again. If this is it, all our truth spilled over the table, then this is my truth: I choose Willow. Even if she is a SapWing, and not Mandrake. MOM.

  “Right,” Tsunami said to Willow. “So how would you all get there? Sorry, it just … it seems unlikely. I’ve been trying to think about how we could bring other dragons over here to help you — if we decided to do that,” she added quickly, glancing at Sundew, “and I can’t think of anything. Maybe if my friend Starflight were here … or Qibli. Hmmm.” She crinkled her snout. “I might have a way to ask them, though.”

  “What?” Swordtail asked. “HOW? HOW WOULD YOU DO THAT?”

  “Distant Kingdoms super dragon magic,” Cricket whispered, her eyes shining.

  “Ahem,” the queen said, taking over the conversation again. “So. Hazel and Tsunami, you’ll stay here and try to formulate a plan. A way to get to the Distant Kingdoms, if we need to, or another solution in case Queen Wasp reaches the village. Belladonna, you may send a few of your dragons to work with them. Byblis, perhaps; I understand she’s quite clever.”

  “Yes, I see how much information your scouts have gathered. No need to rub it in,” Belladonna snapped.

  Queen Sequoia closed her eyes, lifted her chin, paused for about the amount of time it took to count to ten, and then turned her gaze directly on Sundew.

  “The rest of you,” she said. “Sundew, 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 maybe he finally found the one thing that could truly save us.”

  “An antidote!” Cricket blurted.

  Sequoia arched an eyebrow at her. “Yes,” she said. “That was my dramatic line, young dragon. An antidote.”

  “Something that could break the mind control?” Cricket said, too excited to be chastised. “A way to free the rest of my tribe?”

  “That was our hope, and his quest,” said the queen, “but he never returned. I have heard nothing in all these years. So perhaps it was impossible … or perhaps he is dead.”

  “Or perhaps we’ll find him and save everybody!” Cricket bounced on her talons so enthusiastically that Bumblebee woke up with a snort.

  “Don’t get your hopes up too high,” the queen warned. “After all this time on his own, I’m not sure he could possibly still be alive.”

  “Not to mention,” said Io, “that even if you do cure all the HiveWings, they might still decide to fight for Wasp with their own free will.”

  This finally did make Cricket’s wings sink. “They won’t,” she protested. “I’m sure they won’t. Some of them won’t, anyway …” She trailed off, worrying one of her claws.

  “Where is this dragon?” Sundew asked the queen.

  “In the Eye of the jungle,” Sequoia answered. “I’ll give you a map. It’ll be a dangerous journey, but I think you’re the right dragons to undertake it.”

  “You might want to leave the dragonet with us, though,” Hazel offered.

  Cricket closed her wings protectively around Bumblebee, who shoved them aside to peek out again. Her eyes were enormous, and she was quieter than Sundew had ever seen her.

  “I’d rather keep her with me,” Cricket said.

  “She’ll be fine,” Sundew agreed. “We’ll keep her safe.”

  “Just a moment,” Belladonna hissed. “I’m not letting my daughter stroll off on a suicide mission with only these two … these two strangers alongside her.” She cast a vicious look at Cricket and Willow (especially Willow, Sundew thought). “I insist they take two of my dragons with them.”

  Sundew guessed immediately where this was going. “Ugh, noooo, Mother, why?” she protested.

  “Either you don’t go,” Belladonna said firmly, “or you take Mandrake and Nettle with you.”

  “I think I should be in charge,” Nettle announced as Sundew spread the map out on a tree stump in the center of the SapWing village. The rain had finally stopped, so the stump was slightly damp, but the map was drawn on a large waterproof leaf. It was also, in Sundew’s opinion, not the most helpful map she’d ever seen, but Queen Sequoia said this was all the information she had.

  “Ha,” Sundew said without looking up at Nettle. “No.”

  “But I’m the oldest,” Nettle hissed. “So I have the most experience in the jungle and I have been training for a mission like this my whole life and I am a natural leader.”

  “Ha HA,” Sundew snorted. “Outvoted. Four to one.”

  “You didn’t even ask them! They might vote for me!”

  “Nope,” said Willow.

  “Sorry, no,” said Cricket.

  “Meboo bope!” Bumblebee chimed in enthusiastically from her sling.

  “Oh, whoops, five to one,” Sundew said. “Maybe she is smarter than she looks,” she added to Cricket. She held out her palm and the dragonet whacked it delightedly.

  “MANDRAKE,” Nettle demanded, swelling up with indignation. “TELL HER I SHOULD BE THE LEADER.”

  “Sundew, why would you do this to me?” Mandrake asked plaintively.

  “Because if she’s mad at you, maybe she’ll stop harassing me for a nanosecond,” Sundew pointed out. “Willow, what’s the farthest you’ve been on this map?”

  Willow pointed to a cluster of squiggles northeast of the village. “The manchineel grove. I got too close to it once on a hunt, and my father dragged me back here and lectured me for a week about it.”

  Willow’s father had turned out to be a kind-eyed pale green dragon with a lot of nervous energy. Sundew had only met him for a moment as the queen swept him into her entourage and he paused to wish Willow good luck. Sundew had noticed with a twinge of disappointment that Willow hadn’t said my girlfriend in that introduction. Of course, that probably required a slightly longer conversation, involving some confessions about sneaking off into the jungle at night.

  Sund
ew needed to have a similar slightly longer conversation with Mandrake, but not in front of Nettle, and not when they only had a day to find the antidote and bring it back to stop Queen Wasp.

  Priorities, Sundew. Focus on the mission.

  Totally not just avoiding something enormously awkward, no.

  “There’s not a lot of detail in this map,” Sundew observed. She wished she’d had time to restock her pouches. They felt unfortunately light for such a dangerous expedition. She rechecked her list in her mind, hoping what she did have would be useful.

  “Most of us haven’t gone past the manchineels,” Willow said. “They’re scary death trees.”

  “I’ve read about them, but I’ve never seen one,” Cricket said, pushing up her glasses. Her tail was doing its so-curious-I-can-hardly-stand-it twitch-dance.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Sundew said. “No time for research today, Miss Brainy. We’ll go around them.” She rolled up the leaf again and glanced up at the trees. The SapWings were frantically busy, hopping from tree to tree, shouting suggestions at one another, and gathering in small worried groups to whisper before splitting up again. But there were still a few of them who had stopped to peer down curiously at Cricket and Bumblebee — the first HiveWings most of them had ever seen.

  Which is thanks to us, the real LeafWings who scared off all of Wasp’s raiding parties … or tricked them into getting eaten.

  “Find something more productive and less nosy to do!” she shouted at the closest peeping LeafWing. He jumped and scurried away up the tree like a startled squirrel.

  “Oh my goodness,” Willow said. “Must you be so terrifying?”

  “It’s my special skill,” Sundew said. “And he deserved it.”

  “Did he, though?” Willow said thoughtfully.

  “Could you please keep being the one dragon I’m not furious at right now?” Sundew said. “Come on, everyone, let’s go. Willow, you lead the way for now, since you’re the most familiar with the jungle around your village.”