After resting, Wish felt rejuvenated. Excited, ready to kick some evil butt! He kicked awake some sleepy friends, first. Then he got them coconuts for breakfast, and took them away towards Sanctuary!

They flew for the whole day, stopping at Sanctuary when it was just past noon. At its hottest. They decided to spend about an hour, playing in the river, resting their wings, before getting back up in the air to fly west! Toooooooo the Scorpion Den!

“Seriously, how has your excitement not worn off yet?” Pansy asked him. “We’ve been flying for forever and you seem ever excitable.”

“I just can’t wait to see the look on Onyx’s face when suddenly, as soon as she arrives at the Scorpion Den, BOOM! All her least favorite dragons are there, ready to kick BUTT!!” Wish explained to his friends. He really really really wanted to get back at her for all the trust she misused.

“Technically, not all of her least favorite dragons,” Willpower explained. “I’m pretty sure you mentioned something about her purpose being to END all animus magic, AND that she hates hybrids, so we make up a pretty small mass of her least favorite dragons.” He spat that last part out as Pansy jabbed him in the ribs.

“She still hates us, so she won’t like it. SO HA.” Marmoset said sassily.

They continued to fly, on and on. Talking and arguing and being cool dragons. The reason they had left Sanctuary in the afternoon was so that they could travel the desert at night, not dealing with any kind of scorching heat.

They slept on top of the wall of the Den, taking turns watching the streets for any brown hoods. They didn’t find any, which was a good sign. Soon, they would catch her. And send her to jail! Where she needs to be, because ATTEMPTED MURDER. BAD.

Day broke, and Wish was jabbed awake by Marmoset.

“Whaaaaat,” Wish complained. “I need sleeeeeeep.” He rolled over and tried to tune out the Scorpion Den’s noise. But it was too late, he wouldn’t be sleeping again soon. He stood up as She gestured her head at a hooded SandWing working her way through the crowd. The glimpse of her tail, it was quilled, not barbed. Great. He thought. Just the assassin I wanted to see. Willpower woke up on his own, and noticed the hood on his own.

“Dude, she’s right there!” Willpower says to him. Wish nods, and pokes Pansy with his tail.

“Pansy, wake up. We’ve found her.” Wish tells her. Pansy snaps awake and looks around the streets, finding her.

She was checking out stands, like she was looking for a dragon who she could reliably sell things to. That wasn’t comforting.

“How in the world are we going to stop her from selling something?” Pansy told him. Wish hadn’t thought of that.

“I know a guy,” Willpower says. “A guy who might be able to help.” He sighs, looking at his feet. “His name is Prick. I really don’t feel like talking to him today, though.” His pupils narrow. “He’s the perfect guy for the job, but… HIS WHOLE DANG PERSONALITY IS SO AGGRAVATING! But it’s exactly what we need, because it’s so annoying.”

“Okay, stop debating with yourself and just show us where he is.” Marmoset snaps at him.

Willpower took a deep breath, and ran along the Eastern border. After a few minutes, he jumped off, and into the streets. He was running in a straight line, and he took a right. He immediately stopped in front of an ordinary-looking home. “This is his house.” He said grudgingly.

He opened the door, and walked inside. Followed by Marmoset, then Wish let Pansy go before he did. “Ladies first.” He said sincerely. Upon stepping inside, though, there was an immediate difference in the air. Instead of the dry, smoky, loud atmosphere of the Scorpion Den, Prick’s house was moist, thick, and serene. There were a lot of tapestries. There was even more blue.

THREE MOONS, how can someone be so obsessed with ONE color. Wish noticed that this thought came from both him and Pansy. Pansy must have noticed the shiver of mindreading, and she looked at him, tilting her head.

Wish felt butterflies again, and decided to look around the house instead of meeting his queen’s eyes. Wish now noticed that the thick feeling wasn’t just the moisture concentration, the house was rather crowded, with more blue. Blue china, blue tablecloth, blue wind chime, and. Hmm. Odd.

A mirror, with a twisted gold frame, encrusted with sapphires. Ah, there was the blue. Sapphires. Wish was about to walk past it when he had taken a glimpse of himself inside the mirror.

He did a double take. Wish stared at himself in the mirror, noticing things that weren’t accurate. Wish looked bigger. And older. Wish decided that it was simply a defective mirror, and walked on.

He caught up with Willpower and began to question him. “So, where is he?” He asked.

“If he’s not here, he’s selling things.” Willpower said. “Although he’s probably here.”

“What makes him so annoying?” Wish said.

“You’ll see.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, you’ll notice when you meet him.”

Wish was a little confused. “Does he have a family?”

“Yes, but they live in the palace.”

“Why doesn’t he live in the palace?”

“That’s not for me to tell.”

“What’s his family like?”

“Like a royal pain.”

“I met Queen Scarab, she wasn’t a pain.”

“HA!” an unfamiliar voice yelled from around a corner. “She’s the worst of the bunch!”

“Hoo, boy. Here we go.” Willpower whispered. “Hello again, Prick.”

“Oh! Camel turd! Good to see you!” Camel turd? Wish thought. A charming-looking SandWing came around the corner and hugged Willpower with his wings. “What’s new, old friend?”

“Well, Wish is new-ish.” Willpower says, not daring to talk about Wish’s powers. “Marmoset and Pansy are new-er.” Willpower nods at each dragon. “You remember Wish, right?”

“Yes, yes, I do.” Only then did Prick notice Willpower’s wing. “My boy! What has happened to your flight appendage! It’s cured!” The SandWing pokes Willpower’s wing.

Marmoset just now noticed what was happening. “Hey!” She jumps at Prick. “Claws off! He’s not an object!” She snarls at him.

“No, Marmoset, it’s fine.” Willpower says to her, with his wings over her. There were butterfly-like feelings in both their heads at that moment.

The NightWing loosens up, slowly. “Who is this?” She asks after a while.

“Only his favorite dragon in the whole world.” Prick jokes. “He loves me, so much.” Wish was confused, again. What? Love?

“Suuuuuuuuure.” Willpower says, not believing his own words. “Whatever.”

“So.” Prick starts. “What’s new with Wish?” The SandWing looks him up and down. “He’s looking shiny, if anything. Dressed to impress, perhaps?”

Wish had instantaneously turned that down. “Oh, no. Not me. Not intentionally, at least.” He reached up and brushed the earring. It twinkled in the room. Only then did he notice that Prick was wearing the same earring. “Where might you have gotten your earring, Prick?”

“Oh, it’s a family heirloom. This one belonged to my great-grandfather, Qibli.” He said. That was intriguing.

“I would have assumed it cost a fortune at the market, it looks splendid.” Pansy said. She poked Wish with her tail. “Speaking of the market, we need a favor.” She said.

“Oh?” Prick replies, interested.

“We need you to do anything in order to sell things to a dragon. Except, you will just bring her to the Oasis midway between here and Sanctuary.” Willpower tells him. “She will be looking for weapons and information, and she is the only SandWing with a brown hood, that I know of.”

“Why would you need my help?” Prick asks, putting up a bargain.

Willpower thinks for a second. “Favor for a friend?” Prick raised his brow. “For a best friend in the whole world?”

Prick was not convinced. “For my life.” Wish said. That did the trick. “She wants to kill me and everyone I know. Please.” Wish looks him in the eyes, and tries his best to be sincere.

“Okay, I’m in.” Prick says, at last. “What do you need me to do?”

 

* * *

 

It was EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL to sit and wait at the oasis the rest of the day. He waited, looking West for a while. Then he paced, followed by some more looking. Then they realized that the oasis was an open one, so they were able to find some fish for lunch. However, the vegetarian of the group had decided to have coconuts from the trees, like they tasted good or something. These coconuts were most definitely not ripe, and very sour.

After the luxury of a few fish to eat, Wish looked off to the West again, waiting for Prick.

Pansy came by him and sat down. She didn’t say anything, she just sat there, with Wish, like a good friend. After an hour or so, Wish spoke up.

“Am I doing the right thing?” He turned and asked Pansy. “I feel like we’re sending Prick into a death trap. And even if he succeeds, then what? How are we going to stop her? What if-” Wish stopped himself to think about it. “What if you get hurt?”

Pansy put her wing around Wish and pulled him into a hug. “We’ll win. We always do. What could stop us?” Wish was getting butterfly-firework-bonfire feelings. This time he embraced them.

Wish leaned into his  queen’s hug. “You better not die. I would be so furious with you.” He tells her.

She hugs him tighter. “You should be the one not dying. Because I would be even more furious with you” Pansy admits. Wish let out a little laugh, before Willpower came over and ruined the moment.

“Hey, Wish.” He says. Pansy and Wish let go of their hug and look at Willpower. “How are we going to fight Onyx when she gets here?” He seems worried, too. “She almost killed you. And now she has your vine, so she’s going to be rearing up and ready to kill.”

Wish thought for a moment. “Well, she’d sell her knife for gold, definitely.” He says, thinking it over. “Then it’s just a matter of who’s stronger. AND we have numbers, so she should probably give up before she gets hurt, or she’s stupid.” Then Marmoset joined in.

“She was changing.” She says. “She was thinking of other ways to kill you without feeling bad about it. Although she dropped those when she was walking through the Scorpion Den.” Marmoset looks Wish in the eyes. “When she’s in jail, you could try again.”

Wish looked down and sighed. “I will give her one more chance. But, by the moons, if she misuses my trust again I will make sure she cannot hurt anyone with neither teeth nor tongue.”

Twilight was beginning to fall, and Prick still wasn’t coming. Wish and his friends were worried at this point. Just as Wish and Willpower were gathering palm fronds for beds, they saw a dragon approaching in the night. He was running across the sands, not flying.

As he ran closer, the figure turned out to be Prick. Although, he was alone. A while later, he collapsed just outside of the oasis.

He failed.