"They called me Dr.Snail and..." "Snail," Interrupted Herring, picking bits of fish out of his teeth with one claw. "Firstly, you've never been called Dr.Snail, you've just been called Snail your whole life. Secondly," Herring started, jumping up off of the stone chair he was sitting on to his feet. "You don't even know how to bandage someone up with seaweed when they get wounded!" Herring had raised his voice higher than he intended, shyly sitting back down. "Herring, I meant it as a joke." Snail placed one talon to his forehead, making a why-can't-you-take-jokes impresion to Herring. "I know it was a joke," said Herring as he slumped into his chair, rough stone and shells stabbing at his camo-green scales. "It's just that - umm - being on patrol during the - umm - night is - uhhh... boring?" Snail slapped his hand against his face and peered through his claws, frowning at Herring. "That... Is a completely different subject!" Snail slammed his fist on the table. "I wish I wasn't on night guard duty with you!" "Hmmph," snorted Herring. "And I-" Suddenly, a deep blue Seawing crashed into their post, baring her teeth and snarling at the two guards.
"Give me the key," said the Seawing, holding out her hand as if expecting the 'key' to appear in her palm. "T-t-the missing p-princess," spattered Snail. His eyes widened, making them look like two, miniature, full moons. "Yes, yes. I'm the missing princes, blah blah blah. Just give me the key and I will leave you unharmed." "What key," asked Herring, tilting his head to the side. "You know what I mean," spat Princess Tsunami, crinkling her snout as if someone had killed a fish three years ago, left it to rot, and dropped it right in front of Tsunami's face. "The key that unlocks the chain around Clay's - the Mudwings - Leg." Snail and Herring exchanged glances. "Spit it out you slimy worms!" Herring gulped, his eyes widening to match Snail's. "We have our orders," yelled Snail as he slapped his hands on the stone table, yelping when a sharp shell cut his palm. The princess sighed, calming herself down to finally speak in a kinder way. "Look, I know you have your orders from Shark but your just going to have to trust me." She placed one taloned hand on her chest, smiling. "That Mudwing is not some old regular Mudwing, he is from the prophecy, he is my friend. Without him we, The Dragonets of Destiny, will fall apart and the prophecy will never be fulfilled. Imagine the stories of the two squid brains who let the Mudwing drown! So - just - give me the key."
The two Seawing guards were frozen for a minute, (that felt like several), then started whispering to each other. Herring and Snail turned around to face the female Seawing. The acidic-green Seawing turned his head to face Snail and bit his lip. Snail snarled at Herring and nudged him forwards towards Tsunami. He glanced at Snail, then at Tsunami, bit his lip harder - drawing blood, hesitated for a moment then finally held out his closed fist. As he slowly opened his talons, a ring of keys appeared in his palm. The keys glittered in Tsunami's eyes, some bronze some silver, some very rusted and falling to pieces, and one a beautiful gold; like Sunny's scales. Herring pointed at the golden one, the keys jingling as he lifted his pointing hand out from under the shiny objects. Tsunami held out her hand and winced as the keys hit her scales. They were colder than she expected. "Thank you," she said, holding the keys to her chest. Tsunami turned around, spread her wings - revealing her royal patterns around the edges of her skin, and dove out of the cave. "Well," said Snail after a few minutes. "That went well." "Well?!" Herring stamped his foot. "Queen Coral is going to kill us when she finds out we let the Mudwing go!" "Herring," Snail shouted, grabbing Herring shoulders. "Shark was the one who gave us orders and besides, that was the queen's daughter. If anything she would reward us." "Oh yeah," said Herring, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Tsunami!" Sunny ran over and gave the princess a hug. "You got it! You got the key!" "Yes I did, Sunny," Tsunami replied, smiling. "Wow," joked Riptide, water splashing around his webbed talons as he approached Tsunami. "I doubted that you would get the keys for a minute." "Hmph," grumbled Tsunami, half laughing. "Urrm," started Clay, interrupting Tsunami's grumpy-laugh. "Can you guys get this chain of me?" Clay gestured to the metal band around his back leg. "Oh, right. Sorry Clay," said Tsunami as she fiddled with the keys. There were around 35 keys on the ring and only one was gold - the gold key to unlock Clay's chains. The darkness of the cave didn't help with finding it either. After a few minutes of searching for keys and sticking them in the keyhole, Tsunami - with help from Riptide - finally found the gold key. "This one!" Tsunami grabben the key ring and grabbed the golden one. She stuck it in Clays keyhole and turned it right,causing the lock to make a clicking noise. The metal band creaked then popped of the Mudwing leg, clanking on the stone floor.
