Lake and Alpine were climbing up a steep slope, careful not to slip and roll the long way down. Granite, Maple, and Copperhead were down in the wooded valley below setting up camouflage and a small experimenting area.

  The duo on the mountain was after the whole point of the expedition. Maple had spotted the cactus growing on the slopes an hour ago - Lake ordered the group to begin setting up camp whilst he and Alpine collected samples of the presumably explosive plant.

  Lake was having a few regrets though as they traversed the rocky landscape - it was a lot more difficult than Lake thought it'd be. Unfortunately, he needs to be present when the samples are collected.

  What's worse is that they were well above the treeline, and therefore completely exposed. Any dragon could spot them, swoop down and pluck them up from the ground. He was especially anxious after seeing the ice dragon earlier.

  Keep going. You need to do this.

  So upward they went, coming ever closer to the plant, unaware of the Icewing watching them closely.

  *****

  Winter had been following the scavengers for a few days now in the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. They finally stopped at the base of a mountain, where two of them had split off from the group to climb the mountain. The others stayed behind and hid themselves in the trees like they had the past few nights.

  He was lucky - the trees were thinner in density at the higher elevation, so it was much easier to observe the scavengers. He had to always find the right angle to peek through the canopy, unless he got close, which he couldn't risk now. The three scavengers left behind were seemingly setting stuff up.

  He noticed some of the weird objects from when he'd looked at what the scavengers bags held. He could finally figure out what it was all meant for. He had been racking his brain for a few days trying to come up with something, yet he still blanked.

  He looked down at his talons. He still had the black rock and piece of metal that he accidentally stole. He couldn't get close enough to return it. The ones who kept watch were more vigilant now.

  Winter looked back up the mountain. The two who went up were coming back down, this time with bags filled with something. He could only assume it was more of the cactus that each one held in the crook of their arm. Some of the plants on the mountain were diced up and cut down - presumably so they could reach what they wanted.

  What is that? What do they need it for?

  *****

  Lake and Alpine returned to the camp triumphantly brandishing the cacti in their possession. Each one was as large as a person's torso - they could only carry two in the backpacks they brought and one in their arms, giving the group a grand total of six. They had to put on leather gauntlets so as not to be harmed by the plant's spikes.

  "We were lucky - no dragons are in the vicinity." Alpine said. "Now what do we do with these?"

  "Maple, grab a knife, tweezers, and a bowl. We need to examine the inside of one of these things." Lake ordered. The master and apprentice got to work, starting to cut open one of the cacti.

  "What do we do?" Granite asked. Neither of the two responded. "What do we do?" Granite repeated, a little louder this time.

  Lake looked up from his work. "Hunt for dinner, and get a fire going. Have some torches in there so they'll be burning - we'll need the light when it gets dark, as well as the flame for some later tests.

  He returned to cutting open one of the cacti, taking samples of specific parts, peeling its shell and scribbling notes. He and Maple were talking excitedly with one another over each new detail and arguing over theories on what it was for.

  "I don't understand any of that." Granite grumbled. "Alpine, will you get a fire going for his majesty?" he snarked. Lake didn't even notice the jab.

  "Yeah, I'll take care of it. You go catch us something good." Alpine responded. Granite nodded and grabbed his bow, heading off into the woods. "Copperhead, help me collect some firewood."

  *****

  Winter had been watching the scavengers for hours now. Hidden behind some bushes, he could see the entirety of the valley down below. The scavengers had a few rabbits roasting over a fire. Now he finally knew what the thing he accidentally stole was - he saw one of them striking the two pieces to create sparks and start a fire.

  So it's a lighter. That's really cool - that they're able to start fires without having any of their own like most of the tribes.

  Two of them were still working on a cactus - they had skinned it, cut it into slices, wrote down notes (So cool!), and studied it still.

  Winter didn't understand what was so interesting about the cacti. Were trying to figure out if it was edible? They were clearly studying it - it was almost sundown, and they hadn't stopped what they were doing, even as the others invited them to eat the rabbits.

  Winter saw one of them walk over to the fire and grab a stick from it - the end was still alight as they walked back to the cacti.

  Do they plan to burn the cactus?

  The cactus grew all over these mountains - he'd seen it multiple times as he traveled.

  Why would they...

  Winter's eyes widened. The cactus could only grow at high altitudes. The fire. The scavengers were clearly interested in studying it.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Dragonflame cactus!

  It all made sense now. Cutting it open, the metal bowls filled with different pieces, the intent to light it. They wanted to study its properties, why or how it explodes. Did they want to weaponize it?

  They have no idea what it can do!

  Winter thought back to the history cave explosion back at Jade Mountain Academy. How the whole cave was destroyed. How Carnelian and Bigtail were burned beyond recognition. How Moon tried to save all of them from going in.

  How I exposed her powers, he thought guiltily.

  He couldn't let that same fate befall the scavengers. They were literally playing with fire - a much more volatile version of it.

  I have to stop this before it becomes a tragedy.

  But I'll scare the scavengers away! They'll drop whatever this is and bolt.

  But isn't that good? They won't hurt themselves if that happens.

  They came here to study it - they want to use it for something. Will you get in the way of them learning?

  Will I let them kill themselves?

  Stop dithering and make a decision!

  Winter shook his head with a growl. He leapt from his hiding spot, unfurled his wings, and soared down to the scavengers.

  *****

  "Alright Maple, are you ready?" Lake asked. Maple nodded. They were about to begin the explosive tests now. They would first figure out what actually explodes. They had managed to separate the plant into three distinct parts - the shell and two kinds of insides. Both humans agreed it was likely one of the two inner parts of the plant that detonated, but they were going to start with the shell anyways - They had metal bowls with a tiny sample of each part - just in case it was more volatile than what they thought. Maple held the torch at arms length as he lowered the head towards a bowl with a piece of the shell, ready to ignite it.

  Fate had other plans.

  "DRAGON!" Alpine shouted. Maple's and Lake's eyes shot to the sky. When someone shouts a warning, it means it's too late - the dragon was coming their way, and you had to run.

  Oh no.

  There it was - a white dragon with spikes stretching down its back, soaring down to their location from a mountain slope. It landed in front of the group. Maple fell back as a gust of wind from its wings slammed into him. He backed up as quickly as he could, fear overtaking every nerve in his body. Lake was completely paralyzed - he didn't move at all. Both stared at the towering creature in front of them.

  We're going to die. That is a dragon right in front of me and I can't escape and it's probably hungry and WE'RE DEFINITELY GOING TO DIE!

  How could they fight those things? They were too powerful - none of their weapons are capable of hurting them. All they had was knives, bows, and a small campfire with some torches. The dragon's eyes were locked on his mentor - it was about to eat him, he knew it. There was no way for Maple to stop him - this whole expedition to come up with a new weapon would fail and they'd die and...

  Weapon?

  Maple looked towards the cacti that were on the ground. There was one between him and Lake - the torches were right behind him.

  If these plants are truly capable of what we've been told... maybe...

  Maple twisted behind him and grabbed a torch. He scrambled to his feet and bolted towards Lake, scooping up the cactus as he ran in front. He let out a yelp as his hand was stung by the few needle-like spikes still on the cacti sample. His heart was pounding wildly as he ran towards the dragon.

  "HEY!" he shouted at the dragon pointing the torch to him. It looked at him - and its eyes visibly widened as Maple brought the torch's flame close to the cacti. It took a step back as Maple got closer.

  Thump-thump.

  Thump-thump.

  The dragon stepped back.

  If I can threaten it with this - if it even knows what it is - I might be able to get it to back of.

  Or else I blow us all to kingdom come.

  A small piece that they would've tested wouldn't do much damage - the whole cactus would blow the dragon to smithereens, or he hoped, at least. Unfortunately, it would take him and Lake as well. The dragon was clearly aware of what the cactus could do - there was visible fear on its face as it roared at Maple.

  Please let this work.

  Please let this work.

  Please let this work.

  *****

  Winter landed near the scavengers right as they brought the flame closer to the pieces of the minced dragonflame cactus. The reaction was immediate. Two of them had already run away. One was behind the fire, paralyzed with fear. So was the one right in front of him. The one behind was backing up with his eyes locked on Winter. Winter was watching the one in front of him - didn't think about what to do at this point. Should he try gesturing that the cactus is dangerous? No, they were too frightened to listen to anything.

  I should've stayed at Sanctuary and learned some Scavenger from Wren and Sky like Qibli did.

  He was too excited when he heard how scavengers were actually with dragon-like intelligence. He started searching for the nearest scavenger den to try and communicate with them - rudimentarily, sure, but he still wanted to try. At least he stopped the scavengers right here from hurting themselves.

  A shout shook him from his thoughts. He tore his gaze away from the scavenger in front of him to see the younger one holding a full dragonflame seed pod and a torch dangerously close to it. Winter involuntarily took a step back as the scavenger ran to stand between the other scavenger and Winter.

  "What are you thinking?" Winter shouted. "That thing is dangerous! Don't do that!"

  It wouldn't... would it? Kill itself to kill a dragon?

  The scavenger just shouted back, bringing the fire closer to the cactus. if Winter didn't leave, now, The scavenger may very well actually kill all of them. Winter lowered his head to be eye level with the scavenger.

  "Don't." he whispered.

  Another series of shouts from the scavenger. The shell of the explosive plant was starting to blacken and melt.

  It's serious. It'll actually kill itself just to take my life.

  Winter backed up one step. Then another. And a third. He unfurled his wings - not to quickly, so as not to startle the scavenger into prematurely setting the cactus on fire. It had brought the torch away from the organic bomb now that Winter was backing away. He was about to take off when he remembered something. He reached his talon into the pouch around his ankle and pulled something out. He put it in front of him. Then he took off and flew back to the mountain he came from, leaving the scavengers behind, hoping they wouldn't just kill themselves during their experiments.

  *****

  "STAY BACK!" Maple shouted at the dragon. There was nothing stopping the dragon from using its fabled ice breath, from lunging and chomping down on Maple, from using its large claws to rip him apart - this was the closest Maple had ever been to death.

  Thump-thump.

  Thump-thump.

  Thump-thump.

  He held the torch closer to the cactus in his arm. He didn't want to die - either by a dragon killing him or by sacrificing himself. He hoped the dragon wouldn't call his bluff. The creature lowered its head and looked Maple in the eyes. It released a quiet growl.

  Thump-thump.

  Thump-thump.

  Thump-thump.

  "I said STAY BACK!"

  The dragon raised its head.

  Thump-thump.

  It took a step back.

  Thump-thump.

  Another step.

  Thump-thump.

  And another step.

  Thump-thump.

  Maple could almost swear he saw some kind of complex emotion in its expression - Worry? Sadness? Longing? - as the dragon spread its wings. It paused for a second.

  Crap. It changed its mind. It's going to kill us. I'm actually going die here.

  The dragon reached into a pouch around its ankle.

  What?

  It pulled a small object out and set it down in front of it. It then took off and flew back to the direction it came from. Maple was astonished. He just scared away a dragon. He just scared away a dragon.

  "Maple!" a voice sounded from behind.

  Thump-thump.

  Maple's vision darkened. Unconsciousness gripped his mind as he fainted and collapsed on the ground.