The Diamond Society

Years after the Short War war between the SkyWings and RainWings. Decades after the War of SandWing succession. Pyrrhia seems at peace once more. But now a new threat has appeared, unlike any before. A ruthless and mysterious organisation, striking without warning, remaining always a step ahead of the Queens. And this time, the heroic dragons who will face this enemy will find themselves struggling against foes that have no thought of personal gain, and consider their own mission no less heroic. 
==Chapter One: Like The Falcon Falls==
Sparrowhawk wanted to look away, to refuse the horrific tableaux which confronted him, to pretend that all was well in the world. But his loyalty was too strong to let him look away, and the truth was too terrible to ignore. 
My Queen, my aunt, is dead. 
Once again his gaze roved aimlessly over the scene which he had discovered only a few moments ago, moments which seemed to have solidified around him, hardening into an amber prison of Now, from which the mind could not escape. He had touched nothing, because touching it would have made it real, too real to bear. 
There was the low wooden table, the Queen’s favourite, that was engraved so beautifully with birds, suns, mountains. There were the shards of a crystal goblet and decanter, glittering in a pool of impossibly dark red wine on the floor. There was a second goblet, standing incongruously unharmed on the table, its contents half drunk. There was the Queen, his aunt, Carmine, who was dead. There was a simple metal box on the table, lid open. 
Something resembling rational thought broke through the amber prison. Sparrowhawk’s yellow eyes flicked back to Carmine. She lay there on her side, staring at nothing with eyes just as yellow, and until just a few hours before, just as sharp. 
There was something on her left forelimb, he observed dully. Ever so slowly, he lowered his snout towards her corpse, peering more closely, his mind starting to move again, faster, faster. The blood was clotted, darker than her scales, but he could still see two small, perfect holes, her scales pieced cleanly through. 
The tumult that had bust forth inside his head produced a word: snakebite. And snakebite, in turn, provoked a memory. It was a memory that was, for him, half a lifetime old, five years ago, desert heat and dull, unfamiliar formalities and an old SandWing, dripping with jewels, with seared stumps where her wings should have been, saying in a voice filled with mirth and more terrible than any he had heard before or since: “There are snakes in our queendom, little princeling, who would be more than a match for you.”
Snakes more than a match for a dragon. Snakebite. Dragon. Snake. Bite. Dragonbite. 
He listened. Silence. The whole world seemed silent. He turned his head. Then he took a step, two steps, toward the other corpse in the room. 
Sparrowhawk looked the dead dragon in the face, and knew him. It was Plummet, the scion of a minor noble house from the far north, who had been known throughout the palace as Queen Carmine’s Favourite after the tragic death of her husband, the king. He had not been much older than Sparrowhawk. 
Unlike the Queen, Plummet lay on his back, wings extended to the full. His eyes were closed. And there, in his right talon, the crushed body of a thin black snake, held close to his heart. 
There were two types of dragonbite viper, Sparrowhawk suddenly recalled, the memory coming back with an absurd, almost perverse, clarity. There was the larger, patterned variety of the southern deserts, fortunately rare, but even rarer was its smaller, pure-black, northern relative. 
They call it the Merciful Sister, Sparrowhawk thought with a terrible sense of relief, because unlike the southern dragonbite, the northern kills without pain.
Sure enough, the same bites could be seen on Plummet’s neck. Had he used the viper to take his own life, killing it just before the lethal venom did its work? 
Regardless, if he had not killed the snake it was almost certainly the case that Sparrowhawk would right now be on the floor with the other corpses. 
There was something else. One more piece of this dreadful puzzle. Poking out between Plummet’s clenched talon and his muscular, motionless chest, was a piece of paper. 
Trembling, Sparrowhawk slowly reached for the paper. Trembling, he nonetheless managed to pry it free from beneath Plummet’s rigid forelimb, trying not to touch the dead dragonbite viper as he did so. It was neatly folded and, trembling, he unfolded it and read the words written there. 
Sparrowhawk liked to consider himself something of an expert in calligraphy, and in entirely different circumstances he would have paused to admire the high quality of the strokes with which the message was spelled out. 
This is a message from the Diamond Society. 
We have killed Carmine, who called herself “Queen of the SkyWings” for her crimes against her own tribe and others, in particular the so-called “Short War” with the RainWings, and for claiming a title which contradicts all ideals of freedom and justice. 
The dragon who killed her, Plummet, was a member of our organisation. He has freely given his life for our cause: the destruction of all the chains which bind dragonkind, without exception and without mercy. 
Do not attempt to conceal the contents of this message from the SkyWing masses, or from the other tribes. You shall soon hear reports of posters put up in all major SkyWing settlements, proclaiming the good news. 
Our work continues. Know that we shall strike again.
Sparrowhawk, who had been filled with resentment for Plummet, and dislike for his archaic Northern ways, had once mockingly inquired why his parents would name their offspring another word for “fall”. At this question, Plummet had smiled slyly. 
“You are right that it means to fall, but not to fall like a stone falls, prince. To fall like the falcon falls, striking down its prey.”
==Chapter Two: Six Crowns Remain==
==Trivia==
* Sparrowhawk is the son of Prince Cliff and the grandson of Queen Ruby. Carmine is Ruby's daughter and should not be confused with her namesake, who ruled in the time of Darkstalker. 
* The northern dragonbite (the reason this is semi-canon) was created because the scene as I had wrote it required that Sparrowhawk not realise at first what had caused the Queen's death, and the effects of canonical dragonbite venom would of course have been instantly noticeable. 
* This will be updated 1-2 chapters at a time, with no clearly established schedule. 
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Content (WanderingRaven)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)