Silver sighed as she looked over the dragons that were travelling with her. They had settled in a small valley that was hidden from the outside world, mostly anyway. A small stream wound through it allowing the tired party to drink their fill; though by the time they were done she doubted there would be any water left. They had been flying for a while and many of the dragons there weren't in the best shape.

With a sigh she lay her head down, basking in the sun that had just decided to come out an hour ago. China had been a lot cooler then she expected, and her metal shell had nearly frozen her. The colder she got the harder it was to move, her metal loosing its usual elasticity. Occasionally a groan of complaint would pass through the shell. It was rather annoying, so she was taking her opportunity now to warm it up in the sunlight.

It had been three days since they had broken out of D.E.D, leaving the base in a smoky ruin. Very little had survived the dragons' wrath. A few humans had managed to flee, the leader of the base sadly being one of them, but it would be a long time until they managed to get it up and running again, if they ever did. It made her glad that she had managed to help the dragons, but was a little unsure about what to do now. In the three days they had travelled there had been no sign of the haven whatsoever, and she was beginning to suspect that the place was a myth.

With a small groan she stretched out her wings and sighed out her relief. Maybe she should get back to flying again, just to warm up her joints a little more. Sometimes being a metallic dragon was tiring work. With a huff she got to her feet and flapped her wings, entering the realm of the sky once more. The few dragons around her looked up in confusion but she gestured for them to stay down with a shake of her head. They knew what she meant.

She flew higher into the sky, and ended up landing on the peek of a mountain overlooking the valley they were resting in. It had been hard to hide such a large group of dragons from the human population in china, and they probably hadn't been overly successful, but so far no other humans had tried to hunt them down. None of the hunters from the A.O.D.H had even been mentioned in their travels. It made her a little suspicious and wary but it couldn't be helped.

Silver looked down into the valley of dragons below. The sparkling colours whisked up towards her, reminding her of a gem-riddled cavern, but outside. It had been such a long time since she had been with so many dragons, and free. Oh how she had missed it. Mountains, valleys, there were even a number of caves strewn throughout the range. It reminded her so much of the place that had once been her home.

A feeling of sadness washed over her. How she had missed it. Home. The very thought of the valley she had grown up in made her wings droop and her shell dim. Dragon Valley had been one place where she had been safe. She didn't have to constantly look over her shoulder, or worry about whether she would wake up in the morning still free. And she would still be with her family. She didn't realise how much she would miss the annoying habits of Blaze, or the constant nuisance of Raize. Her father's council had helped her through so much, and her mother had always been there to help her in a mostly male family. Scarlet, the red fire dragon that was her mother. Oh, she missed her the most. And now she would never get her back.

For the first time in her life she a trickle of sadness run from her eye in a droplet of water. It spilled onto the snow-covered peak below her, and she watched it, slightly startled. She was crying? She sucked air into her lungs in a deep breath, trying to stop herself from continuing on that path. She needed to be strong. Not just for the dragons around her but for herself. She was strength, one of the most powerful dragons on the earth. She shouldn't cry.

Dragon tears were rare, and a dragon only shed them when it had experienced too much for an emotional trauma for a single being. And right now that was how Silver felt. She was still young, very young. The wait that had fallen on her shoulders was crushing her and at times she felt as though she was struggling to stand. For a year she had pushed the emotions down and focused on improving herself but sometimes, even for a dragon as powerful as herself, it was too much.

"Dammit," she said to herself as more tears began to fall.

She shook her head and closed her eyes, holding back before the flood of emotions overwhelming her. It hurt, physically hurt. But that was better then mental injury. The pain cleared her head as she finally won the fight. Later. Not now.

Opening her eyes again she gazed around the open sky, taking deep breaths. She opened her wings and lifted herself into the air once more. Flying always cleared her head. It always helped her not to think. That was what she needed at the moment, to not think. Or at the very least think of something else. Trying to distract herself she found a strange dot in the horizon. Fear shot threw her as the thought of planes finally tracking the down came to her mind, but as it got closer she realised it was not a plane.

Frowning she narrowed in her vision and let out a gasp of surprise, faltering in the air. It was a dragon. Definitely not one of hers, it was too far out. There was nothing on its head or around its neck, not that she could see anyway, and from its dark blue colour she guessed it was a water dragon. She frowned and began to wing her way towards it. The closer she got the more certain she became that it wasn't one of hers.

When they got closer Silver recognised it as a male. Bigger then her, between twenty and thirty years old. So it wasn't exactly the youngest dragon. The two circled each other suspiciously, sizing the other up. Silver was still wary of the dragon but excitement began to build in her. This dragon wasn't imprisoned, collared or controlled. It was free. And if this dragon was free then he may be able to show her to the dragon haven.

"Hello," she tried with him.

The dragon stopped, causing her to hover as well. They faced each other. He frowned at her, narrowing his eyes. He opened his maw and spoke in a different language, causing her to return the frown. It sounded like mandarin, though she couldn't be to sure.

When the dragon saw that she didn't understand he snorted, and released a grunting growl. Silver blinked. It had been a long time since she had spoken in the dragon language, Drakin, preferring to speak English. The language consisted of grunts, hisses and growls. It was a little rough around the edges and lacked the complicated speech of most human languages, but it was something that every dragon had an innate knowledge of.

"Let us speak in Drakin," snorted the water dragon.

Silver agreed, "That's better. Who are you?"

"I would ask the same question. I haven't seen your species before," he growled, "I would say that you were electric with some sought of armour, but your scales don't match electricity."

"I'm metallic," she said.

"What?"

"A metal dragon. That's my species."

The water dragon faulted in the air, before looking at her in surprise once more. He had heard of metallic dragons, though had never seen one. Apparently they were quite powerful, and from what he had heard they were nearly impossible to defeat in a fight.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Silver, you?"

"Kai," the water dragon spoke.

Silver nodded, "Do you happen to know where the dragon haven is?"

She was being direct, and she knew it, but at the moment that was all she was wondering. If this dragon did know then her work would be finished and she could afford to relax a bit. The dragon tilted his head in questioning at her, seeming suspicious.

"What do you mean?"

"A place where there are lots of dragons. Where we can be safe."

"There are more of you?"

"Well, not of me, but I'm with a group of dragons."

"How many?"

"A little less then a hundred," she said.

"What!" the water dragon gaped at her in astonishment, "We had heard of a large group of dragons moving through out territory but not that many. You have a small army."

Silver shrugged, "We escaped from... one of the dragon hunter bases, destroying it as we went. They had quite a lot of us there so when we got free we made a group and went looking for the haven."

"We could use a large group like that," Kai nodded, "Show me."

Silver hesitated, not knowing if she could trust the dragon. He could easily be another one of the human corrupted dragons from D.E.D, or even just some lone beast that worked for whoever payed him. She had heard of dragons like that, but had never met one.

He saw her hesitation and sighed, "I'm not going to turn you in or anything. If anyone should be worried its me, especially if you have a hundred dragons on your side."

She shrugged and nodded in agreement, "Follow me."

She turned and began to fly toward the encampment where the group had landed. Kai followed her, and she could feel him watching her back. He seemed trustworthy, and her gut was telling her he was, but she also knew he was a fighting dragon. That was evident through the scars he had running down his left flank and the way he had held himself in the air when they had been hovering.

"How old are you?" he suddenly asked.

"Why do you want to know?" she shot back.

"No reason, but I'm just unused to seeing such a young dragoness by herself. Usually at your age most dragons wouldn't even have left the nest," he said.

"I'm seven," she said, "And our valley was attacked. My father and one of my brothers were captured. My other brother escaped, and my mother... she died."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kai said.

Silver didn't answer him and flew around the peak of the snow-capped mountain she had landed on before. The valley where the dragons were resting was just beyond it. A small gasp came from behind her as Kai saw them. She could tell the water dragon was excited.

The dragons greeted her as she came to a landing and cast weary glances at the dragon behind her. She quickly reassured them that he could be trusted, or at least she thought he could. She was glad the dragon didn't speak english, for she was able to talk without worry that he would realise what she was saying.

"Who's this?" asked Zepos, walking up to them.

"Kai, he's from the dragon haven we've been looking for," Silver explained.

"Really!?" the electric dragon looked at Kai with new found interest.

"Yeah. He can lead us there."

"Told you it was real."

Silver rolled her eyes and turned to Kai, speaking in Drakin, "So can you take us there? To the Dragon Haven I mean."

"If you mean Sky Mountain then yes, I can take you there," the water dragon said.

"It isn't run by humans is it?" asked a light green healing dragon who had been listening to the conversation.

Kai turned to her and shook his head, "No. While it is required we co-operate with them we run our own operation."

"You co-operate with humans?" she snarled.

"It is necessary. We have a deal with the government of this land. They leave us alone if we give them scientific data. Also humans help us build and give us updates on our enemies movements," Kai explained, "You are still free to do as you wish, as long as you obey and respect our laws and leaders."

"Sounds just like another prison," the green dragon said, looking at Silver.

"You may not like it but I agree with co-operating with humans. Its better then going it alone," Silver told the dragoness, "Even with our numbers we won't survive much longer out here, especially with the amount of enemies we have, who without a doubt have much more dragons at their disposal then we do. We won't last the week."

"But Silver," it was another dragon this time, a male fire dragon, "What if it is a trap. What if this dragon is just like Tetrad and his dragons."

"He isn't," Silver looked at Kai, "He's a fighter, a dragon who's used to hardship, and a dragon like that wouldn't accept humans as his leaders."

Kai titled his head at Silver in surprise. She smiled slightly at him. She had always been a good judge of character and often knew whether to trust someone or not. Occasionally she got it wrong but this time she was nearly certain she hadn't.

"If you don't want to come, then that is alright. Go. Find your own way," Silver said to the healing dragon, "But this is our best hope at the moment. For once I would like the opportunity to sleep a night without worrying whether or not I will be in chains when I wake up."

The healing dragon hesitated, before nodding, "Fine. We trust you Silver."

Silver smiled and nodded before saying to Kai, "Lead the way."

* * *

The dragons flew for about ten minutes over a large mountain range. The further they flew the higher and wilder the mountains got. Freezing air made every breath they took look like smoke, creating a small cloud in the air. Snow had started falling around them, making even the fire dragons shiver.

Silver looked over at Kai jealously. He didn't seem to be affected at all by the cold and merely continued flying as if there was nothing to worry about. The shell on her back was so cold it nearly hurt but she continued to go on, hoping they were nearly there.

Suddenly Kai took a sharp turn to the left and dove towards the ground below. Frowning Silver followed after him, as did the rest of the dragons. They levelled out in amongst a valley that sheltered them from the cold winds. Kai didn't slow and turned a sharp corner into another valley. Gritting her teeth Silver and the rest of the dragons followed, trying not to crash into each other with the limited space.

The valley opened up, revealing more mountains travelling forever into the horizon. Silver sighed, wondering which one was Sky mountain and if they were even close yet. With a snort she continued to follow the water dragon that was leading them. Suddenly a large ripple went through the air and the endless mountains out in front of them fell away into nothingness. Silver gasped, coming to a surprised stop.

Laying out in front of them, hidden by whatever had made the sky ripple, was a large crater spreading for kilometres in either direction. Sunshine pieced through the clouds, lighting up the spectacle for the new dragons as they saw the largest mountain any of them had seen. It occupied the centre of the crater, shooting upwards like a giant spike from the ground. The very width of the mountain was something to be amazed at, covering the area of a large human city. The peak of it pieced the clouds ranging around the top, obscuring it from view.

Murmurs ran through the dragons as they entered the area as well, finally seeing what Silver was seeing. It was amazing, and the fact that it could be hidden so well. She wondered how they did it. It probably had something to do with mind dragons.

Other dragons milled around the mountain, some in groups and others by themselves. There were hundreds of them, far more then the group Silver was leading. There were probably more then what there had been at dragon valley. She looked at Kai who was waiting for them, shock written on her face.

"Welcome to Sky Mountain," he said with a grin.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Sorry it took so long getting out. Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. Next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator