Chapter Text
Umber had never in his life asked to be anything, much less a hero.
Sure, Umber had always pulled his weight among the sibs. Of course he did. Sibs helped each other, took care of each other, pulled each other up. But, well, he was the youngest and he wasn’t particularly good at anything, not like how Reed could fight or Pheasant could weave fishing nets. Mostly Umber had helped whoever needed him when they needed assistance, but he couldn’t do anything on his own. Reed was the one who protected them all from the IceWing and SeaWing raids, the one who patched them up when they were hurt, the one who shouldered the burden of being bigwings. Reed was the best of them, save Clay, and, well—this was Clay. The dragon who had saved the world. Who could possibly measure up to that?
“Umber,” Sora said nervously beside him. She was fidgeting with her claws; her scales looked duller than usual. The two of them sat on a sandy beach, the waves gurgling around them as they approached, then whispering as they receded. Behind them was the jungle at the edge of the continent, and in front of them was the sea, an endless expanse of deep blue against the pale sky. Gurgle, whisper, gurgle, whisper… The ocean made him feel…
“Umber?”
Umber startled and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said, “just thinking about things.”
“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” Sora said. Her shoulders were hunched, her wings folded in on themselves to make herself look smaller. “This is the end. There’s nothing left.”
“I—that can’t be right,” Umber said. “Surely there’s some spot on the continent, somewhere no one can find or hurt us.”
But deep down, he knew his sister was right. All the Pyrrhian queens wanted Sora’s hide; she had, after all, blown up a peace school and was responsible for the death of two dragons. She had chosen to run, and Umber had decided to follow her. Sibs were loyal to each other, after all. But after the first night when Sora had woken up screaming, shaking with fear… Umber realized he had to do more than be her younger sib.
And that terrified him.
“Umber,” Sora said. “We have to—what if we have to go to the Lost Continent?”
“That’s a myth,” Umber said. “You know it as well as I do. We might as well be looking for the queen’s ancient lost scepter.”
“Then, I don’t know,” Sora said. “Maybe there’s a small uninhabited island somewhere out there.” She unfurled a wing and gestured widely at the sea. “Maybe we’ll find something, anything, anywhere that’s safe.”
“I…” Umber looked up as a large V formation of birds flew overhead. He envied them. They didn’t have worries or responsibilities like him. “Maybe we can ask for forgiveness from Glory again. She seems nice, maybe she would reconsider…”
He trailed off. Then his eyes shot open and he straightened. “Sora!” he cried. Sora jumped back.
“What is it?” she asked. She twisted her neck to stare into the forest. “Is someone there?”
“I—no, Sora,” Umber said. “Those birds. Look at them. They’re not migratory birds, Sora. They’re flying south. They have to be flying somewhere, right?”
Sora let out a gasp. “You’re right. Where are they going?”
“To a landmass, I bet,” Umber said. “I can’t believe no one has figured it out before. Or maybe they did but didn’t care, or they followed the birds to wherever their destination was, then never left…”
“Umber,” Sora said firmly.
“Right, right.” Umber stepped forward and spread his wings. His scales shone in the light. “Then I guess we follow them, to their destination.”
Sora turned to face him. “What if you’re wrong, Umber? What if they aren’t headed anywhere at all? Or our stamina runs out long before the birds stop? What if there are giant squids, Umber?” she asked, sounding particularly horrified at the last thought.
Umber turned to face her. “Sora. I know you’re my sister, but—but—are you kidding me? Giant squids? Those aren’t real, they were made up by, I don’t know, bored cartographers doodling on maps or superstitious sailors who’ve had too much to drink. We certainly won’t run into any of those on our journey.”
“But what about all those other things?”
Umber shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll die,” he said with a bravado he did not feel. He saw the expression on Sora’s face and said, “Sorry. It’s just nerves.”
He had been the same after Crane’s death. Nervous, twitchy, a little too eager to make jokes.
“Alright,” Sora said. “But Umber, for both our sakes, I hope you’re not wrong.”
The kraken attacked at dusk.
When the sun began to dip below the waves, Umber had spotted a school of fish swimming close to the surface; some were even leaping from the water. He wasn’t sure why they were swimming like that, and besides, he and Sora had limited supplies. Snagging a fish or two would have helped with their situation.
When Umber had swooped in, claws outstretched to grab a particularly juicy-looking prize, a large tentacle had shot out from the ocean and wrapped around him.
“Umber!” Sora cried, veering upwards in shock. She circled helplessly as Umber thrashed in the hold. His claws dug into the white flesh, but it was like trying to cut through a block of rubber. Umber sank his teeth into the sucker-laden tip, but that didn’t do much either.
Tasty…
No, why was he thinking about the taste of calamari right now?! “Sora!” Umber shouted, trying to pull the tentacles off him. A futile effort; they wrapped around him tighter and tighter, the round suckers attaching themselves to his scales. Soon he would be unable to draw breath. “Sora! Help!”
Sora drew closer, then yelped as another dark tentacle emerged from the ocean, trying to swat her from the sky. “I’m sorry, Umber! I—I can’t get close!”
Umber looked down. Under the surface he could see something gigantic, stretching his perception. The kraken was at least a dozen dragons in length, and in the dimming light Umber could make out one large, black eye staring back at him. It was a hateful eye, filled with malice.
“I don’t know, use your fire breath or something!” Umber said, his wings twitching as he tried to unfurl them in his panic. The tentacle wrapped around him was tightening. “You bombed a classroom and tried to assassinate an IceWing, Sora; surely you can do something!”
“I had tools then, okay?” Sora said. She drew as close as she dared and sucked in a breath, her maw glowing with fire. She fired a blast of brilliant orange flame at the base of the tentacle, burning it with a loud hiss. Steam rose as the tonguelike plumes made contact with the ocean. Umber caught a whiff of roasted squid.
Crocodile teeth, Umber! Use your wits! Anything!
The fire didn’t look like it did much else, however. Umber wheezed as he felt his chest constrict further, panic digging into the edges of his mind like IceWing claws. “Sorry!” Sora shouted, trying to shoot fire again, but the kraken’s extra tentacles kept her away.
Umber couldn’t breathe anymore. He glanced down again and this time he saw the kraken’s enormous beak, dark and glistening and wide open, ready to snap him up. He wished he could have used his last breath to apologize to everyone. For being weak, for being a burden, for failing, for…
Something red flickered past the periphery of his vision. Umber heard a terrible scream, too awful to be from any dragon. Then claws were gripping at him, sliding off the wet tentacles as they struggled to grip him. Was Umber falling?
“MudWing! Help me!”
Umber heard the voice as though from far away. A loud rush of wind surrounded him as though he were in a hurricane, or perhaps the beating of wings. Thinking the voice had called for him, he struggled as the claws pried the suckers away with loud pops. Moons, did it hurt.
“Gah! Ow! Stop that,” he said, wriggling harder.
“I’m trying to save you, you big wallaby,” the other dragon responded. Whoever it was, they spoke with an unfamiliar accent. That’s not Sora, Umber thought. The last of the suckers was pried away, and Umber found himself being supported by Sora and another dragon midair, the latter of whom was behind him; from his peripheral vision Umber could see the large, loose tentacle he had been ensnared in earlier. The other dragon was carrying it. Had they cut it off the kraken? How was that possible?
“Can you fly?” Sora asked. “I know it’s a bit awkward, but—”
“Y-yeah,” Umber said as soon as he had caught his breath. “Is the kraken gone?”
“Back to the depths from whence it came to lick its wounds,” the other dragon responded. “But you sure you’re alright?”
When Umber nodded, the other two dragons let go. He yelped and immediately righted himself midair with a whoosh of air against his wings, then circled around to meet the other two. When he laid eyes on the other dragon, his jaw dropped.
The other dragon was very, very handsome. He had scales that were a deep, vivid red, like polished garnets or maple leaves in autumn. His enormous wings were a tangerine-shade of orange that faded to a soft yellow at the edges. To Umber, he seemed as though a piece of the surrounding dusk itself, cut free from the sky and given shape. And judging from the slime-coated sword he held in one talon and the kraken tentacle in the other, this was indeed his rescuer. Just like how Princess Dolphin saved Oarfish from the kraken, Umber thought. By doing fierce battle with… oh moons why am I thinking about Angelfish’s scrolls right now stop it stop it! This isn’t one of her romances!
“I…” Umber said, faintly aware that he was flushing. “Guh?”
“Are you still in shock?” the handsome stranger asked, his handsome brows knitting together. “I have some smelling salts in my bag.”
“Oh no, he just gets like that whenever he has a crush,” Sora said. “He reads a lot of Angelfish.”
“Who’s Angelfish?” the stranger asked.
Umber squeaked, his cheeks burning even hotter. “Sora!” he said, shaking his head. “I—I like the scrolls, okay? You don’t have to judge.”
“Angelfish is this SeaWing writer whose scrolls are popular across the continent. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of her. I mean, everyone knows who her characters are,” Sora said. “Even I’ve heard of Princess Ray, Princess Dolphin, Princess Cove…”
“Let’s go!” Umber said, looking around, trying to find something that would save him from this debacle. There was nothing but endless ocean in all directions. “Let’s keep going south, Sora! Let’s talk about literally anything else!”
A small smile touched Sora’s face, and Umber’s worries evaporated in an instant. He had made her smile. She didn’t do that very often anymore. “Of course, Umber,” she said.
Umber turned back to the stranger. “By the way, where did you come from?”
The stranger, who had returned the sword to its back scabbard, glanced at him. “Ah, sorry for not introducing myself. Our meeting was a little chaotic.” He gave Umber a smile, one that made his stomach do flips. “I’m Mulberry.”
“I’m Umber, and this is Sora,” Umber managed to say. “We’re… exiles, looking for a place to call our home. We’re not welcome anywhere in Pyrrhia.”
“Ahh,” Mulberry said. “Just as I thought. I know just the place.”
Umber’s breath caught. Just our luck. “Really?” he asked. “Where?”
“South from here. It’s where I’m from,” Mulberry said, removing a compass from one of the pouches on his body. He held it up as the needle spun, then pointed. “It’s not very far from here. An island, a refuge. We accept all those who come here, no matter their pasts.”
Moons.
“Hear that, Sora?” Umber said with a large smile, turning to face his sister. He swooped forward so he was closer to her. “We’re going to a place of refuge. We’ll be safe.”
Sora looked skeptical, though Umber didn’t know why. “Sure,” she said in that soft voice she used when she was nervous. “Lead the way, Mulberry.”
As the SkyWing flew off, Sora nudged Umber with her tail before he could follow. “I want to talk to you. Privately.”
That was how the two of them ended up trailing behind, a little ways behind Mulberry. “Umber,” Sora said, “I know you have a crush on him, but don’t you think he’s a little suspicious?”
“What do you mean, Sora?”
“Well, not only does he know where we are, he happens to get here at the exact moment the kraken attacks us out in the middle of the ocean. Isn’t that a little convenient? And he happens to be from a place that sounds perfect for us?” Sora asked.
“I mean, maybe it’s just luck,” Umber said, though he didn’t sound sure even to himself.
“And look closely at him, Umber. He’s not really a SkyWing. Look at his wings, for instance, they’re shaped oddly. There’s that weird protrusion at the end of his tail. And his horns, they’re the same color as his scales, Umber, not like any of the SkyWings we’ve seen. Are they covered in, like, a really thin layer of skin? Like skin horns?”
“Skin horns,” Umber said flatly. He watched Mulberry wind the kraken tentacle around his neck like a scarf; it wasn’t a good look, but Umber still thought he was attractive. “Sora, and I’m not saying this to be mean, but that all sounds a bit paranoid. So what if he is a bit odd-looking? He saved me from being eaten by a giant squid.”
“Which I was right about,” Sora said. “Superstitious sailors with too much to drink, my tail, Umber.” But Umber knew from the glimmer in her eyes that she was just teasing him.
Umber let out an exasperated, if exaggerated sigh. “Well, it turned out all right in the end, didn’t it?” He faced forward to look at Mulberry again, who was far ahead of them. The sun had set and the moon and stars shone brightly, coating the sky. In the moon- and starlight, Mulberry looked even more beautiful. He wished he could’ve come up with a confession to surprise Mulberry with.
“Besides,” he said, “if it turns out this island is dangerous, we can always leave.”
“Hmm,” Sora said. She didn’t say anything else. Umber mulled over their predicament as they soared over the dark waters. The two MudWings were either headed for their salvation, or towards their own destruction—and Umber might not be able to tell which was which until it was too late.