This was Scarab and Deathbringer's plan:

The only place that could be used as a prison in the RainWing village was the nursery. That was probably where Arid, Qibli, and the Dragonets of Destiny were being kept. Deathbringer would go first and scout around because his scales will keep him hidden. He'll come back with information about where the NightWings are, what they're doing, and who to avoid. Then, they'd both sneak up on the nursery and help everyone escape.

Scarab was aware that it was a very optimistic plan. But she was willing to do anything at this point.

Scarab fidgeted impatiently as she waited for Deathbringer to return. It was getting really dark now. She hadn't thought about how much moonlight the trees would block in the forest. The forest floor was an inky mass of foliage that was indistinguishable from the forest around it. And Scarab stuck out like a sore thumb. 

She tried hiding among the highest leaves to cover her scales, but she wasn't used to tree climbing and lost her balance easily. Curses, Saguaro, why didn't you teach me to climb? 

In all fairness, Saguaro probably didn't know how to climb either. 

Scarab wobbled on the branch and she threw her wings out instinctively to balance herself. This would have been an excellent way of steadying herself had she not been in a tree canopy. Her wing smacked against the branch above her and she was thrown off of her talons. With a flurry of curses and scraped scales, she fell from twenty feet in the tree and landed heavily on a thick bush. 

Great moons. She groaned.

"Did you hear that?" Scarab froze. The sound of two dragons hurrying towards her reached Scarab's ears as she struggled to her feet. "Over here!" Thorns scratched against her talons and tangled her wings, stopping her escape. In the darkness, she felt a sharp claw press against her throat. "Don't move." The shadows spoke to her and she shivered. She couldn't even see them. 

Suddenly, the darkness rippled into patterns of muted green. "Hey! You're Scarab, right?"

"Dude, you really should have confirmed that when she still thought you were a NightWing."

"Well, it's only my first time impersonating another tribe in an undercover situation, okay?"

"Liana?" Scarab's voice was hoarse as she tried to grasp the situation she was in. 

"You took a hard fall out of that tree, eh?" Liana's voice was quiet but clear in the night. She smirked. "You're lucky we aren't actually NightWings."

"Yeah, I guess so. Hold on, how did you guys get out? We thought everyone was locked up?" Scarab asked in bewilderment.

"Most of the NightWings left their post after the other SandWings were taken away. We snuck out." The other RainWing that Scarab didn't recognize explained. Liana elbowed him sharply. "What? She asked!"

"The other SandWings? They're alive? Where were they taken?" Scarab asked immediately. 

Liana sighed. "We were going to tell her gently and helpfully, remember? They're her friends."

The other RainWing looked sheepish. "Sorry,"

"Don't mind Pineapple. Yes, the SandWings looked very alive last time we saw them and they put up a good fight too." Liana addressed Scarab. "But they were taken away from the rest of the RainWing prisoners by the evil looking SandWing with the tattoos."

"How was that any more gentle than how I said it?" Pineapple asked in annoyance.

"Vulture took them?" Scarab panicked. "Why on Phyrria-He better not try to kill Qibli again, I will murder him."

"Hold on, you said 'we' earlier? Who's with you?" Liana asked. 

"Deathbringer is helping me, he's a NightWing on our side. He knows Glory." Scarab explained quickly. "He was going to scout out the village so that we could rescue the others. But he hasn't come back yet and he really should have been back by now."

The RainWings got very quiet. 

"Uh, could this Deathbringer guy have been about this tall with an annoying face?" Liana asked finally. 

"Yes, with pouches around his neck." Scarab replied. "What did you do?!"

"To be fair, all NightWings look the same at night." Pineapple pointed out.

"Great moons!" Scarab buried her face in her talons. "Where is he?" She muttered.

"We left him under some bushes awhile back." Pineapple gestured vaguely behind them. "We only hit him with four blow darts so he should be awake by morning."

"We're all going to die, aren't we? This is how I die." Scarab started untangling her wings from the thorns and vines she was trapped in. The RainWings stepped back as she fell out of the bush in front of them. She righted herself. "What do we do now?"

Pineapple shrugged and looked at Liana. 

"Well, as we said, most of the NightWings seemed to have gathered in the middle of the village. We escaped easily enough. It wouldn't be hard to rescue the others too." Liana said simply.

"Escaping on your own is very different from rescuing an entire tribe." Scarab rubbed her sore arms. "And why are they all gathered like that? Did you see anything when you left?"

The RainWings looked at each other. 

"It looked related to what we said earlier about your friends..." Pineapple was interrupted by another hard elbow from Liana.

"You're actually the worst at breaking bad news." Liana snapped. 

"What about them?" Scarab asked anxiously.

"They were tied up in the middle of the platform and a ton of NightWings were standing around them." Pineapple paused and glanced nervously at Liana before continuing. "The big SandWing with the tattoos was talking to them as well as a really freaky big NightWing."

"His name is Morrowseer. Glory's mentioned him." Liana added.

"Morrowseer. Freaky." Pineapple shivered. 

The name meant nothing to Scarab, but it definitely didn't comfort her. "They were tied up?" She repeated what Pineapple said.

"With chains." Pineapple glanced at Liana again but she only glared at him.

"We need to hurry then! They could be killed!" Scarab remembered what Deathbringer had said about them probably not being executed because they'd be better as bargaining chips. But execution was still a possibility. Both RainWings went pale. 

Scarab started running in the direction of the RainWing village, moving awkwardly around bushes and trees. Her golden scales shone in the dark and her wings scraped against rough tree bark. She didn't hear or see the RainWings pass her until Liana's voice spoke into her ear. "Moons, Scarab, how have you survived in the forest this long? Just follow us. And try to be quiet." 

Scarab glimpsed a ripple of blue as the RainWing passed her and shifted back into camouflage. The RainWings skillfully swooped through gaps in the foliage and curled around the trees. Scarab tried mimicking their movements which was easier than it would have been if she was the size of a normal dragon. She was careful not to lose sight of the flashes of dull colour that guided her through the dark.

"Can you just quickly confirm for me that you didn't murder the queen's boyfriend and leave him in a ditch somewhere?"

A flash of yellow laughter lit the air where Scarab could only assume was Liana. Pineapple looked appalled and frightened at once. 

"Me? Never. He's fine." Liana chirped. Scarab couldn't help but laugh. Poor Deathbringer.

The RainWing village quickly came into view as they got closer. Red firelight sifted through the leaves and shadows loomed across the ground. The three dragons crouched on the ground looking up at the shadows underneath the platform. 

"So what's the game plan?" Liana nudged Scarab with a semi-transparent wing. "Wings blazing?"

"There are not nearly enough of us for 'Wings Blazing'." Scarab said dubiously. "I'll distract everyone by showing up on the platform while you guys rescue the RainWings."

"What? They'll kill you!" Pineapple whispered in horror. 

"No they won't. They want  me to show up. I'll be fine." The RainWings looked hesitant at first but then slowly nodded and started slipping away into the dark. "Oh, and please please please, be quiet and subtle? That would be great."

Liana gave her a thumbs up and disappeared. Pineapple followed her and Scarab took a deep breath. Here we go.

___________________________________

When Scarab landed on the wooden platform, she caught everyone's attention immediately. Vulture stood up and smirked. Scarab held her chin high and tilted her wings to look bigger. Midnight dragons surrounded her and stared.

"Scarab," Vulture purred. "Scarab the Fierce."

Scarab glanced at the center of the platform. Arid and Qibli were bound and gagged, eyes wide. Arid was pulling against the chains and growling. Qibli was screaming at her with his eyes to run, run as fast as you can away from here. But Scarab didn't move and met her father's eyes.

"You know that's what me and Saguaro used to call you?" Vulture continued. "You lived up to it well."

"Let them go." Her voice was sharp as steel and fueled with poison. "Or I'll kill you where you stand."

Vulture didn't look scared. Or smug. He looked proud. Scarab glanced at the hulking NightWing behind Vulture and didn't flinch at his glare.

"Oh, but wouldn't you rather know what our plan is?" Vulture's voice was sincere, like a normal dad letting a normal daughter in on a normal secret. "It's very interesting."

"Let. Them. Go." Scarab couldn't say anything else, because she couldn't stop thinking about how this was the dragon who taught her how to fight. And how this was the dragon she had greeted with a smile every morning. And how this dragon had protected her whenever she got her tail stuck somewhere it shouldn't be. 

Vulture seemed unfazed. "You might have heard that there's a war going on. A fairly significant one at that." He took one small step towards her. "We want to win this war."

The NightWings shifted around her and she flared her wings. Stay back.

"If we win this war, I can be a king. And you can be a queen." 

"You aren't in this war." Scarab spat.

"Not yet." Vulture admitted. "But I like playing my cards right. An alliance here, a favour there, and suddenly, everyone's a winner." He paused as if waiting for a question. He didn't get one. "By helping the NightWings take the Rainforest, we've doubled our army and strengthened a vital ally."

Scarab hated how he said we.

"Now, with the Dragonets of Destiny in our control, we have the perfect leverage and dragon power to defeat the other tribes. You would be queen." Vulture's voice was honest and clear. He wasn't trying to hide his motives from her. He thought she'd follow him. 

Vulture stepped towards her again. In the edge of her vision, Scarab could see the tension rising in Arid's shoulders. 

"You held my friends here so I would come. You hurt them so I would come."

"Your friends do not know how to cooperate." Vulture's voice was cold. "Do you?"

Scarab didn't answer. Vulture's tail flick was barely noticeable. 

Three NightWings lunged from the outside ring and grabbed Arid. They pinned her wings and arms, holding her still and as far from Qibli as her chains would allow. Two other NightWings grabbed Qibli and pressed claws to his throat. 

"No!" Scarab jumped forward but immediately stopped when the talons tightened around Qibli's neck.

"You've grown soft. That's not a teaching of mine." Vulture walked around to Qibli's side and brushed his talons across his wing. "Remember, fire held closest burns the hottest. Especially when you let your heart get involved." He slashed his talon downward, tearing the end of Qibli's wing membrane. Qibli's scream was blocked by the metal clamp around his snout, but was just as visible through his whole body as he clenched every muscle in pain. Blood dripped from the gash in his wing and from Vulture's claws.

"No! Stop! I'll help you, just don't hurt them!" Scarab wanted to lunge at the dragons around Qibli, but a quick glance at the claws under Arid's throat displayed very clearly what would happen if she did. 

"Wonderful." Vulture flicked the blood off of his talons as if he only just stepped in a puddle instead of casually shredding a dragon's wing. The NightWings around Qibli dropped him and he slumped onto the floor. The NightWings around Arid didn't move.

Scarab looked in desperation at Qibli, but his eyes slid shut as he took shuddering breaths. She looked at Arid in the same way and was met with eyes full of pain and fury. 

"Let Arid go too." Scarab flexed her talons against the wood and stared at Vulture. "I won't help you if they're hurt."

Vulture looked briefly annoyed before signalling the NightWings to drop Arid. The black dragons immediately stepped back and out of the scarred SandWing's range. Arid lunged towards Vulture, straining taught against her chains and seething. 

"Arid, no. Please," Scarab pleaded, stepping closer to the tall SandWing. She felt her body restraining against dry sobs. "Please,"

Arid looked at her, and a thousand words passed between them in a single second. Arid lowered her head and backed up until she was hovering over Qibli protectively. 

"They'll be taken care of as well as you cooperate." Vulture said amiably. "You hurt us, you hurt them. Simple?" He didn't wait for an answer. He spoke to Morrowseer in a hushed tone that was still easily audible. "Take them back to the prison."

No, no they can't go there yet. If the NightWings saw that the nursery was empty or if they saw the RainWings trying to escape, there wouldn't be enough time to get away. She needed to distract them longer.

"No, actually, I'd like them to stay. For now." Scarab said boldly. She looked at Arid's questioning face and gave her a look that hopefully said DON'T LET THEM TAKE YOU TO THE NURSERY.

"Oh? Why?" Vulture didn't sound against the idea, but rather genuinely confused.

"Because, uh, I missed them." Scarab said the first thing that came to mind. "A lot. It's been awhile since we've seen each other and I enjoy the company."

Vulture looked like he was about to say something like Really? You like their company? Here? I literally just slashed a guy and am talking you through my plans for world domination and you want some company?

But he didn't get to say any of that because as he opened his mouth, his eyes widened and he slumped to the floor limp with a dull thud.