Ashes and Smoke☆☆☆Chapter 4

Instructions

Getting arrested was not on Dragonfly's schedule. The plan was simple, go to the hives, get everything she needed, and maybe even have a little fun. The Pyrops Festival was the one time she could blend in and not get noticed. Scale painting was a popular tradition among hivewings, so her tan and peach coloring wouldn't be unusual. She could hide her wingbuds pretty easily, and no one looked at her long enough to see that she only had one pair of hivewing wings. This year, she had stayed a little longer than the times before. An hour wasn't going to hurt, right? Well, one hour turned to two hours, and two hours turned to three, and before she even realized, it was time for the sky-dance. It didn't take long before some of the guards noticed a hivewing that wasn't mind controlled. They grabbed her and straight to jail she went. Dragonfly sighed and shifted her weight. The moons had long ago risen in the night sky, and she was starting to get impatient. If they were going to kill her, why didn't they just do it already? She had tried to strike up a conversation with her cell mate, but the dark red dragon had been, and still was, a sobbing mess. Dragonfly didn't even know her name, let alone what she did to get in here. From the way she was crying, Dragonfly could tell that she had never had broken the law before. She sighed again and leaned her head against the small window, their only sorce of light in the room. Dragonfly had given up on sleep because of the red dragon's crying, and it was really starting to get to her. She prepared herself for another couple hours of staring out the window and sighing dramatically every so often when she heard a noise. The handle of the rooms door was wiggling, like someone was trying to open it. She heard the click of a lock turning, and the door swung open. A blue talon beckoned them from the shadows. "Come on!" A voice whispered. "Do you want to get out of here or not?!" Dragonfly started for the door, but turned back to look at the red dragon, who had yet to move. She grabbed the red dragon's wrist and pulled her the door. Following the blue dragon, who she could now see was a silkwing, they rushed through a maze of hallways until they reached a large stained glass window. Pulling on a latch, the blue silkwing flew out the building before turning back to look at them, the look on their face asking " Well, you coming?" All right, mystery silkwing, Dragonfly thought. Let's see what you have in store for me. ○●○•○●○ Ant didn't really know what was going on. The couple of hours had been spent in a sad, blurry haze where the only thoughts circling around in head was "What's wrong with me?" When that weird hybrid had grabbed her, she was shook out of funk enough to run with her, but now that she was out in crisp night air, she realized what she was doing. She was running, or rather flying, away from the hives. She was supposed to a perfect student, a perfect daughter, so why was she leaving her home with two dragons she didn't know? Ant stopped flying, her wings buzzing as fast as her thoughts. She should turn back now, go back to that cell. But then what? A voice in her head whispered. Be killed, or put under the mind control again? Be forced to live a life you don't want? That rebellious part of that snuck into restricted areas and danced in secret yearned for a chance to be free from her usual life. So she would leave. Yet their was one last thing she wanted to settle. "Wait." She said, her voice raspy from crying. The other two dragons startled to a halt, surprised. "I need to say goodbye to someone first. The blue silkwing that had let them out of their cell huffed. "Well, make it quick. We don't have all night." Ant flew down to the lower levels of the hive, where a window to Beetle's room was. She had snuck out many times before to talk to before and she knew the route by heart. Landing precariously on the window frame, Ant rapped lightly on the glass. She heard a rustling noise, and Beetle appeared at the window, pulling it up. "Ant?" He slurred. His eyes widened when he saw her tear-streaked face. "Are you okay?! Termite said you had been arrested! He's lying, right?" His face crumpled when she said nothing. The silence stretched between them for a few seconds, louder than any noise could be. "I'm leaving. I can't stay here anymore." Beetle turned and grabbed a beautiful silver ribbon of his desk. Handing it to Ant, he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "It was going to be your hatching day present, but now...." Ant tied the ribbon around one of her horns. They clasped each other's talons one final time. Ant whispered "Goodbye" and flew away. As the lights of the hive faded behind her, she saw that she could see Beetle waving at her. She waved back until the hive was out of sight and turned her gaze to the moonlit savanna.