Chapter 2

As Hide made his way to the gate, he saw dragons hiding in the shadows. The gate was pure Silverstone, with four different gates. The north, south, west, and eastern gates. Hide began to glide down to the ground, staring dead into a small, black dragon's emerald, green eyes that stuck out like a sore thumb. Hide's ears bent back, hearing the beats of wings flapping towards the gate.

A Teal-gray dragon was leading three dragonets, all the color of an ocean. Their scales shimmered in the rising moon's light.

The dragonets landed with grace, their wings drooping slightly on impact, soon folding inward toward their torso's. Their tails had fins at the end, which were slightly swaying in curiosity.

"Siren? Who do you think is going to be picked by the prince?" One of the dragonets asked. She was the color of a lake at sunrise, with twinkling scales, and a vibrant Yellow-green flashing spots along her wings, and torso.

"I have no clue, hope it's Anemone though, she's beautiful." The dragon who answered to 'Siren' said. The dragonet had the color of the deepest parts of the sea, and light blue flashing spots along the edge of her face, and neck, looking like freckles.

"Yeah, but she's terrible. She's probably going to steal their riches and kill the queen." The first one said.

"I'm right here you two." a royal blue dragon said, flapping her wings to grab their attention. She had beautiful, navy blue flashing spots, which when flashing at the other two dragonets, turned a beautiful sea blue.

Hide watched one more dragon land behind them. She was huge, at least fifteen scavengers tall, with kelp, pearls, and silver chains all over her body.

"Mother, Siren's accusing me of using this opportunity to steal this kingdom's riches and kill their current queen!" Anemone said, kicking the gravel on the ground.

"Don't be so dramatic. If Queen Kastra hadn't requested you, you'd be left with the eggs at our hatchery." The large dragon said, looking around.

The large dragon's eyes fell on Hide as if he were fresh meat.

"Well, look who's here girls. The Prince of the Moon. Pleasure to meet you, your highness." she said, bowing her long neck.

The three dragonets suddenly looked towards Hide, surprised.

Hide bowed his head at the large dragoness.

"Wait, mother how long has he been here?" Anemone said, looking slightly anxious.

"The whole time, Miss Anemone. The entire time." Hide said, smoke rising from his mouth as he spoke.

"No need to get snappy. We're just confused on how much you heard" Siren said, her wings slightly twitching.

"Uhm. Shouldn't we be kind to him? And I'm only throwing this out there... one of us is getting married to him?" The first dragon said, her ears drooping.

As Hide listened to the dragonets, even though he could only see them in the glow of their spots, and the faint glow of the torches at the gate's entrance. The one who had just spoken sounded very soft. Her voice was as soft as a sheep's wool, and as loud as a cricket. The Dragonet named Siren was very loud. Her voice was assertive, and could be mistaken for a war general's command. Anemone's voice was prissy. It was what Hide thought of when he imagined how these dragonets would speak to him. It was whiney, and annoying.

"Why force us to bow to this prince? He's probably a queen's dragon." Siren said, her tail lashing.

"Girls! This alliance is important." The queen whispered to her daughters, her long neck coming in between the three of them.

Hide began to grow annoyed at their actions. They looked familiar but acted in a totally different light than he'd remembered.

"Ladies, I apologize, but I have royal business outside of the kingdom. Surely you understand." He said, looking at the risen moons behind them.

"I suppose. But please, you'll have to pick between my daughters. The light blue dragon you see, is Pearl." She said, her wing slightly extended to point to the first dragon, who's sapphire eyes were locked on the gravel at her paws.

"And, well you saw Siren. My deep blue baby, and also, the largest egg in our royal hatchery." The queen said, her wing folding in slightly to point to siren, who was in the center of the four of them.

Siren's yellow eyes turned to look into Hide's. Hide was shocked to realize her eyes were much brighter than anyone else's in that group. She looked angry to even be standing on gravel, and would much rather be in the water right then. She kept eye contact until the Queen of the Ocean cleared her throat.

"Her eyes, they were crafted from the water god Neró. You see, our god of water, is made up of many colors, just like our reefs. And well, our god had yellow eyes, just like my dear Siren." The queen explained.

"How lovely. Now please move on to Anemone, I have urgent work to attend to, and I must be punctual." Hide lied.

"Very well. And onto Anemone. Her royal blue scales have been a hit with our males. They're always using their flashing spots to attract her, but none have seemed to be as impressive as she wishes." She said, her wing finally folding back, to point to her left, where Anemone stood.

"And I'm Queen Kaia. Pleasure to meet you, Prince of the Moon." She said, putting a claw on her chest, a smile sprawled on her face, as she introduced herself.

Once Queen Kaia finished her self-explanation to Hide, he sprinted past her, and towards the open gate. He pushed past guards who had been posted there. Arison had a habit of leaving his worst guards behind to guard the gates when he was out with the Queen or watching Hide, and tonight was no different than it had been for years.

Hide saw Alaina, a weak dragonet, barely able to stand with the armor she was forced to wear. She was a dark purple dragon, who looked similar to Arison, like a distant cousin.

He pushed past her, waving, as his smile was plastered on his face. She smiled back, in a confused manner.

Hide ran into the town, just outside of the walls. The dragons who lived there, were either prisoners that were sentenced to a lifetimes work, or very poor dragons, who never lounged. They fed everyone living in the inner walls, and they only ever got the leftovers. Hide had always felt bad for them. He knew he'd been living in the place causing these elders and dragonets in poverty, to remain this way.

As Hide ran past the huts, made of cobblestone, and granite, he spotted Arison, and his underlings. The best of their respective classes, of course.

Hide scanned the area, trying to find a safe place to hide. He soon flung himself into a large, evergreen bush. He watched Arison land, just as gracefully as his mother would have. He let a small black dragon off of his back, and lightly pushed them forwards. Hide looked closer, took one look their emerald, green eyes, and knew. This was Arison's family. The sniffing dragonet. The dragonet specially trained to hunt dragons that had ever escaped or had been convicted of a crime by the queen.

This dragonet had never met Hide, but he'd seen him being thrown around by Arison every once and a while. The dragonet had welts all over his black, shimmering scales.

Their eyes flew on the bush Hide had been hiding in, and he knew this was it.