Cavernous Promises

(This is the page for the book titled: "Cavernous Promises". You may be looking for the Main Wiki Page instead). Cavernous Promises is the first book in the Cavernous Promises fanfictions, based off the New York Times bestselling series: Wings of Fire, by the wonderful author, Tui T. Sutherland. The main protagonists are: Acacia, Admiral, Cobalt, Dragonfly II, Locust, and Mallow. The book and cover were officially released on May 8th, 2022, on the world's largest storytelling platform, Wattpad.

Cavernous Promises is followed by A Clash of Blister and Bone.

Summary
Deep beneath the Hives, trouble is brewing...

In the walls of the Hives, a pampered prince is brought screaming into reality as his old life of luxury crumbles around him. A lone flamesilk, her gifts hidden from the powers that be, finds that there is even darkness her own silk won't light. A spy who lives on the edges of the law will shed her old ways and fly straight into the heart of danger to find out the twisted past of her family. A young dragonet, looked-down upon by all those who look to him, will fight free and soar high to find what is truly right. A LeafWing, who is considered a joke amongst his peers, gets caught up in the storm of danger he didn't want to be apart of. A HiveWing, immune Wasp's control, fights out for the light that he feels should be shone on the less-fortunate.

Quotes on the Back of Hardcover
“Well, I say we hop up north, then ask these LeafWings what they know, before heading back down to the Hive, in all our glory,” smirked Locust.

“YOU CAN’T GIVE US AWAY!” roared the LeafWing Cobalt had just burned.

“I don’t see any harm in it, poor little LeafWing,” Locust snickered back.

“I DO! AND I WON’T LET YOU!” Acacia began to growl, in a low, threatening manner.

“Right, this guy needs some paralysing toxins, don't you agree?”

Dedications
[Dimstriix's Dedication] ''And, I’d just like to take this time to dedicate my half of the book to Acer (@Mistwalkers) herself, for being one of only a few friends who has never lied to me, nor talked absolute rubbish about me, and who is just generally an amazing person. Also, thanks for helping me with my identity, mate, something I still don’t properly have!''

[Mistwalker's/DarkSilverShadow's Dedication] ''I would like to dedicate my half of the book to Olivia (@Dimstriix) as she has helped with so much and honestly she deserves it. Thanks for helping me get through the stupidity of the world, and being there since day one of writing. So, cheers mate.''

Prologue
Princess Wasp is shown to be striding around the halls of Cochineal Hive, later to be renamed Wasp Hive, when she stumbles upon Blackjack, the HiveWing dragon she had been looking for, and his unknowing-assiociate, Aspen. She then bribes Blackjack into helping her train to defeat her mother in a challenge for the throne, which she declares the following morning. Cochineal laughs at her remark, but accepts her daughter's challenge anyways, confident that she will win despite Wasp's growing strength.

But her confidence is not enough to save her life, as Wasp swiftly pins her mother to the floor. Princess Scarab enters, shocked at what her eyes perceive, and protests to Wasp about what and why she would do such a thing. Nevertheless, Wasp seems unbothered, as she snaps Cochineal's neck without a moment's hesitation, claiming the throne of the HiveWings for her own.

Part One: Beneath the Hives
Prince Dragonfly the Second is in a specifically-enraged temper. He interrogates Locust and his father, Blackjack, not long after a red SilkWing, known as Admiral, bumps into his talons, heightening his furious ego even-further. Admiral then goes on to confront a mysterious stranger, and as their conversation progresses, he realises that he's talking to a LeafWing, but is drugged before he can alert anyone to their unwanted presence. Later, Admiral wakes up groggily in a leaf-hut, and overhears a conversation with the LeafWing who'd kidnapped him, and another dragon he doesn't recognise. His captor turns out to be called Mallow, and as he is brought out into a large, bushy clearing for trial, yet another clumsy LeafWing stumbles in, named Acacia, who is laughed-at by all of the other present-dragons. Acacia sees Admiral and labels him as a kind face, so he creeps over to him, and the two make a desperate attempt at escape. They nearly make it out of the clearing, but one of the giggling dragons notices, sending the entire flock on them, known as Black Wood, an underground network of LeafWings that survived after the Tree Wars. Luckily, Admiral spots a cave that they can hide in, so they narrowly miss capture. However, their moment's peace is short-lived, as Mallow enters the cave, tying them up in hanging vines with her leafspeak, and threatening to take them back to the rest of Black Wood. Nevertheless, Mallow doesn't get her glory fulfilled, as she is bowled-over by Locust, a HiveWing, immune to Queen Wasp's control, and put to sleep by Prince Dragonfly's paralysing toxin. Locust then orders Cobalt, his SilkWing friend, to cut Acacia and Admiral down from the ceiling with her flamesilk. She does so, purposely burning Acacia as, what she calls, a 'practical joke '. Acacia is not amused, however, when Locust claims that he's going to interrogate both him and Mallow, he becomes rather frustrated, and begins to shout in his distress. Due to this, Locust demands that Dragonfly should use more of his toxin on Acacia, to which the prince refuses, in regards to his social status. Completely-vexed by Dragonfly's inability to cooperate, Locust then turns to Cobalt, and states that she should burn the aggravating HiveWing, to get him to use his toxin. Cobalt's denial maddens Locust even further, so-much-so that he unknowingly storms over to the excess-flamesilk Cobalt used to free Admiral and Acacia, burning himself as he tries to pick it up. Bewildered, Cobalt rushes over to Locust, removing her fiery silk from his talons, leaving him with a permanent, scolding burn on his upper-leg. During this time, Dragonfly tries to edge out of the cave, too, but is stopped by Locust's acid, which he furtherly uses to compel Dragonfly to put Acacia to sleep. With the two LeafWings unconscious, and Admiral wingless, each able-dragonet carries one that is unable to fly, and they decide to head-up north.

Around an hour later, the group of dragonets are flying over a serene view of multiple hills. Locust begins to notice that he can see flashes of white in his vision, but plays-it-off as ' the light of some rock '. He also notes that the hillsides are dotted with lots of dark splotches, presumably caves, and that he can hear the instantaneous beat of a bird's wings behind him. Then, out of nowhere, something slams into him from above, causing him to drop Mallow. He panics, and begins to wrestle his attacker, registering the fact that they have a tight grip, as if 'four dragons were stabbing him at once '. He makes-out the disorientated screams of Dragonfly, Cobalt, and Admiral, not long before a vial is shoved beneath his snout, and he loses grip on reality.

Locust wakes up later, only to find himself chained to the ground in a barren-looking cave. He spots the other five dragonets, and ponders what or whom attacked them. To answer his question, a large, white dragon strides in, unlike anything Locust's ever seen before. As the dragon gets closer, he calls for more of his kind, and Locust realises that they're more pale-orange than actually white. The new dragon introduces himself as General Skull of the CavernWings, and mentions several times about a continent known as Pyrrhia, and unique, native dragon tribes that are foreign to any of the dragonets. Much to Locust's annoyance, the new 'CavernWings ' chain his tail to a stalagmite, preventing him from using his acid. General Skull then asks them if they know anything about a ' Crystal Helm ', to which Cobalt and Admiral shake their heads. Locust mocks the newcomers, resulting in General Skull firing a destructive beam of light over the tops of the HiveWing's horns, known as a ' cave flare '. The CavernWings march out of the cave, leaving the dragonets on their own. Cobalt notices that her pet parrot, Spike, followed the kidnapped dragonets, and he flies over to her, and starts pecking ruthlessly at her wrists. Cobalt then remembers that she's a flamesilk, and burns-herself out of her chains, gliding swiftly out of the cave exit, and along a passageway, to try and find the keys. Cobalt overhears a conversation between the CavernWings, but doesn't pay much attention, as she spots the keys hanging on a crook in the wall, and quickly returns to the other dragonets, setting them free, one-by-one. Although, before she can unchain Acacia and Dragonfly, their captors thunder back into the cave, General Skull pinning Cobalt to the floor, remarking that "she needs to be watched." The silvery CavernWing, known as Ghost, then drags a small SilkWing-CavernWing hybrid into the cave, called Mica, and orders her to keep watch. The others then exit, leaving Mica and the other dragonets alone, once again. Mica tries desperately to get everyone to introduce themselves, but Mallow has other ideas, and she tricks the tiny dragonet into exiting the cave, smothering her in vines as she leaves. Additionally, Mallow unlocks their chains with her leafspeak, and tells everyone to run. They bolt outside of the cave and down a passageway, leading to a miniscule hole in the wall, where daylight can be seen. Mallow attempts to convince Admiral to squeeze through the hole, as he's the only one without wings, but Admiral is weary, as silk begins to sprout from his wrists, encasing him in a cocoon. Dumbstruck, Mallow pesters Cobalt if they can get him out, and Cobalt responds that he's in metamorphosis, so they won't be able to communicate with him for the next five days. Realising that they're trapped, the five dragonets are hastily rounded-up by the CavernWings, and brought to see an ' ancient-looking ' dragon, named Lunate, who is a ' Ghost Speaker ' - a dragon that can communicate with the dead. The CavernWings then explain that they need any information the dragonets may have on the Crystal Helm, to help free Lunate from a coma. General Skull continuously elaborates further upon their home continent, Pyrrhia, and decides that the group of dragonets are "more valuable" than they originally thought.

After perceiving the horror of Lunate's condition, the dragonets are taken into a 'training hall ', whilst Admiral's cocoon is hurried away into a dark-looking cave.