Legends: Dark Magic

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|-|Summary=
CAN YOU REWRITE A DESTINY THAT'S ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN?
A SkyWing animus, hiding alone in a cave.
A SandWing princess, overshadowed and overlooked.
A NightWing poet who has dreams of a better world.
A story we all know. A legend we've never heard.
This page is a work in progress. Do not edit it without my permission.
|-|Prologue=
==Prologue==
It wasn't every day that an honest, hardworking SkyWing was summoned to the Queen's court. Three moons, it wasn't even every day that anyone was summoned to the Queen's court! Sparrowhawk could not think of what she had done wrong. She'd been obedient, loyal, everything a SkyWing should be! And yet...
The messenger had flown in, swooping high over the heads of the palace workers. They had all been startled at that: almost no other dragons came to the 'low' part of the palace. Altitude stepped forwards slightly, as if waiting to receive a prize. Oh, Sparrowhawk remembered. Altitude's daughter, Buzzard (or Buzzie) had qualified for a flying competition. She had almost certainly won.
But then the messenger brushed right past Altitude and turned to Sparrowhawk. She had a brief flash of hope that it was her own daughter, Storm, whose brilliance was being reported. Storm was a very fast flyer, at least as fast as Buzzie (possibly faster) but she was more likely to use her speed in fights than in races. Oh, she realized again. A fight. She turned in fear towards the messenger.
"The queen..." he said in a dry, raspy voice. Sparrowhawk started. The queen? She hadn't expected that.
"Are you listening?" he asked, and although his voice sounded threatening there was a slight monotone to it that sounded like he had said these words a million times. He probably had, thought Sparrowhawk.
And then he had 'invited' her to the Queen's court to watch a trial, and now she was flying towards it she was having serious doubts about whether this was a good idea, and wishing her partner Eagle was here. He was awful and always grumpy and had a horrible scar over his heart and she didn't love him (she had only been assigned to breed with him) but he would be some protection against the rest of the world.
The courtroom had originally been a hospital. Carmine (Queen Carmine, Sparrowhawk reminded herself) had changed that, and made it what it was now. Sparrowhawk had liked it better under Queen Thrush's rule. She used to go to the hospital all the time, but she had only been to the courtroom once. To watch a trial of a MudWing-SkyWing hybrid, she remembered. What was his name again? Squelch, Squish- no, that wasn't quite right. Anyway, it wasn't important. The hybrid never had a chance at a fair trial. Queen Carmine hated abnormalities. Who was on trial today? Was that how it was going to be?
Sparrowhawk swooped lower, and hovered be the door. For one moment, she thought that it would be easier to run and hide from her queen, and never come back to the Sky Kingdom again. But that moment passed and she took a deep, steadying breath and pushed open the door.
"Sparrowhawk. Ah. How kind of you to join us."
Could the Queen read minds? Was she being sarcastic? Sparrowhawk couldn't tell.
"Thank you, your majesty," she said, bowing low. She righted herself and looked up at the hospital- no, the courtroom. And gasped. Her daughter, Storm, stood on the highest platform surrounded by hundreds of guards pointing spears directly at her heart. Sparrowhawk just wanted to wrap her wings around Storm and tell her everything would be alright, and ask Carmine why in the name of the three moons were a bunch of guards about to kill my daughter?!? And yet she knew she would never be brave enough.
"I suppose you weren't aware," said Carmine, who seemed to be relishing in the words "That your daughter is an animus?"
There was a complete silence. Sparrowhawk couldn't believe her ears. Storm. An animus. Storm. An animus?!?!?!? Everything else seemed to be frozen and... she gasped. Everything else was frozen.
"Mother."
Storm's voice seemed to come out of everywhere, and yet at the same time nowhere.
"Mother!" she repeated again, louder this time, more urgent. "I need a place to hide."
Sparrowhawk gaped at her daughter. Everything seemed to be spinning. "The claws of the clouds," she managed eventually. "Hide there and I will find you later. I love you, Storm. Good luck."
Storm took off without a second glance back at her mother. Sparrowhawk watched her go, an awful feeling of loneliness and loss creeping up on her. As the world came back to life around her, she whispered a few last words to her daughter.
"I'll come back for you, Storm. I'll always come back for you."
|-|Part One=
==Chapter One==
Sandstorm
The daughter of Queen Scorpion should be showered in gold, riches and coconuts. She should be performing her incredible solo dance at the Full Moon Festival, dressed in a shimmering veil with matching crystal tailband. Dragons should be clapping. The whole of Pyrrhia should be clapping. She should be treated like she was already Queen, standing on a platform far higher than all her sisters. She should be praised. She should be loved. She should be noticed.
She should not be fleeing for her life at top speed in the bleakness of an early morning rain shower. 
Sandstorm figured that after about two hours of nonstop flying she could allow herself a small break. Of course, that was what she had told herself fifty heartbeats ago when she had spotted a small dry cave, and twenty heartbeats before that when it had started drizzling. Droplets of ice-like water coated her every scale, and didn't even do a thing to remove the tiny shards of grass and soil that dug into her exhausted wings. No dragon in their right mind would be out on a day like this. Except, of course, her. Wait, no. That's a good thing. I don't want anyone to know I'm out here. I can't let anyone know I'm out here.
But it was hard to remember that when she was so hungry and so tired and THREE MOONS, what was that THING doing stuck to her talons?! Every inch of her usually perfectly polished scales was covered in muck, and filth. She could hardly recognize herself. 
Hold on a second- what was that?!?!?!
A blood curdling screech cut through the monotonous dripping. Like the one Blizzard made when mother slit her throat and she died there, out on the sands, just another failed challenger. But she wasn't. She was my sister. 
Is it one of my other sisters, then? If it's Sidewinder- well, no actually, I don't care about my creepy younger sister who's always giving me the evil eye. But if it's Rattlesnake... or Viper... or Viperling. ..
No, she realized. I'm much too far away to hear anything from the arena stronghold. She breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe fleeing the stronghold wasn't as urgent as Rattlesnake had implied. Maybe she could go back safe and unhurt and feel her mother's warm wings around her telling her everything was okay. But how could everything be okay without Blizzard?
A party that Sandstorm hadn't been invited to. Her sisters slipping into their beds beside her, unusually subdued. Sirocco's eerie almost blue eyes on her in the dark. Sidewinder's deadly tail swinging to and fro. The light, reflecting off Viper's pale yellow scales, making her look scarily like an IceWing. An empty bed where Rattlesnake should have been, but she had fallen in love with another SandWing and had abandoned her twin Viper for her dragonet Viperling. And Blizzard, muttering the same phrase over and over again. She's a liar. She's a liar. She's a liar. She's a LIAR. And she will pay...
Another screech, and Sandstorm backed further and further against the rough stone ledge. Where even am I? she wondered. Where is here?
Two days later and something still wasn't right with Blizzard. Her normal scrollworm sister was acting super strangely. But none of the royal SandWing had quite realized how bad it would turn out to be until they reached a corner and saw Blizzard in the arena lashing out at Queen Scorpion with her poisonous tail. A royal challenge.
She knew that she wasn't in the Kingdom of Sand any more. She was somewhere colder and very, very wet. The rainforest! was her first thought, but a split second later she realized she must be in the Sky Kingdom. Those mountains up there were the Claws of the Clouds! The thought made her feel a tiny bit better. She would rather be among friendly SkyWings than venom-spitting RainWings. But she would still rather be home.
"You're a liar!" screamed Blizzard, as she clawed at her mother's throat. "You lied to them and you lied to me!"
"I could squash you like a lizard and you know it" hissed Scorpion dangerously.
"I hate you! You're a liar and a coward! I'll tell them the truth! I'll tell them all the truth and then you'll be sorry! You'll be sorry the.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Scorpion's tail slit straight through Blizzard's throat, ending her life in a blood-curdling scream of agony.''
The rain had eased up. Sandstorm slowly unpeeled her wings from their position, wrapped around her body. She shivered slightly. It will be warmer when I start flying. It wouldn't be, though, and she knew it. These rocky mountains and their unpredictable air currents were nothing like her beloved Sand Kingdom, where the wind mainly existed as something that could rustle the leaves of a palm tree. But even the high desert winds were warm, and nothing like this ice cold demon that grabbed at her and forced her in strange directions. I just want to go home.
Queen Scorpion held the dead body of her daughter between her talons. "Jerboa!" she cried.
Jerboa (the secret SandWing animus) was sitting near the front of the arena with an odd, almost pitying expression. Her head snapped up. "Yes, your majesty?" she said, stretching her wings in a leisurely manner and scattering sand over the dragons sitting next to her.
"Jerboa. I want you to make me... a charm. Yes, a charm. But this is to be no ordinary charm. I want to make it the charm that will show the rightful heir to the throne. Do you understand?
"Yes, your majesty."
"The rightful heir," Scorpion repeated, relishing in the words. "Not just the royal blood, but the royal... spirit. I will have Sandstorm try it on, I think..."
Me? thought Sandstorm. But I'd never be a good queen and I know it. Why me?
"On second thoughts... all of my daughters shall try this on."
"Yes, your majesty. May I go now, your majesty?"
"Yes." Jerboa turned and started walking towards the exit. "Oh and Jerboa..."
"Yes, your majesty?"
"I want it to kill. I want it to kill all of those who are not the rightful heir."
"Yes, your majesty."
And then it was morning, and then Rattlesnake was shaking her awake although it looked far too dark out to be allowed and Sandstorm was forced out of bed and into the world. All because her mother wanted to kill her.''
Sandstorm knew that as soon as dawn came, a search party would be sent after her. Her sisters would all be killed. But thanks to Rattlesnake, she had a headstart on the monster.
It wasn't until the colours of dawn were beginning to flood the mountains that Sandstorm heard the scream again. It occurred to her to wonder, am I fleeing from a monster... to a monster?
----
==Chapter Two==
Storm
"THREE MOONS! WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING!?!?"
Storm was yelling at her mirror again.
"Just show me the dragons I actually WANT to see! IT ISN'T THAT HARD!"
What's the point of being an animus, she thought rebelliously, if your magic mirror doesn't do what you want? Just a few seconds ago, it had been showing her a royal challenge between Queen Carmine and Princess Hawk. Now it was showing her some stupid SandWing princess cowering near the Claws of the Clouds. Wait. A SandWing in the sky kingdom? What's that about? She would have to figure that out later. There were more important things to focus on. After all, she had plenty of time on her hands. She had had plenty of time on her hands ever since her tribe abandoned her. And now her mother had abandoned her. No. I'm not going to think about that.
Yelling at her mirror some more would help, she decided.
"Ever since I enchanted you to see the dragons most important to my future, you have failed miserably! You haven't shown me Buzzie once-" No. I'm not going to think about that, either. "And now you show me the start of the first royal challenge, but you don't even finish it! No, instead, you have to show me some random SandWing who no-one cares about! Ergh!"
Storm stomped away, almost sweeping the mirror off its rock ledge. She had a lot of days like this, where the only talking she did was shouting at random objects to avoid thinking about certain dragons. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
"I enchant this mirror to show me Carmine and Hawk of the SkyWings, until I command it to revert to its original enchantment." Animus magic was like that. You had to be very specific if you wanted to get a good result. She had learnt that during the early days of her banishment. There wasn't a lot else to do.
"The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen!" exclaimed a bright orange dragonet who didn't look to be much older than her. "Queen Hawk! Queen Hawk! Queen Hawk!" chanted the crowd of watchful SkyWings.
Storm scanned the mirror for any sign of the two dragons she wanted- no, needed- with her whole heart. Stop thinking about that! she told her mind stubbornly. It was hard, though. She couldn't help it on days like this, when the fine ice-like rain coated the Claws and the river running through her hideout was almost flooded and there really wasn't much she could do. Wait- no. That is a problem I can fix.
"I enchant this river to STOP FLOODING!!" she yelled. The water obediently subsided and all that was left of it was a tiny trickle of running water. If only her other problems were as easy to fix. Maybe, though, now Queen Hawk is in charge, it will all be different. Maybe under Queen Hawk, it will all be better.
----
==Chapter Three==
Storm
The wind was howling and the rain was torrential. She knew she could easily enchant herself to feel a little warmer, or the storm to stop, but she didn't feel in the mood. She knew without even having to speak that her voice would be croaky and strangely-pitched from lack of use. If Buzzie were there beside her, she would make a crack about Storm being in a real storm. If Buzzie were there beside her, she would have blankets and a drink of boiling water infused with honey and lemongrass. If Buzzie were here, everything would be better. Stop it. She's not, Storm's treacherous mind whispered. But I need her. I need her.
Storm's mirror flickered for a second, and Buzzie's face came into view. She was out in the sun- in the sun, Storm thought enviously- and was playing around with an older male SkyWing. Wait, what?! Who's he? Why is he with Buzzie? If he's trying to...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash from outside the cave. Storm rushed to the entrance. A bright orange dragon was streaking towards her cave and had just knocked a precariously-balanced chunk of rock. Storm's pleasure at seeing her had been completely wiped away by her carelessness.
"Mother. How nice to see you again. Aren't you the one who always lectures me on caution?"
"Storm! It's great to see you."
"At long last. IT'S BEEN THREE WEEKS, MOTHER!"
"I'm sorry, Storm," Sparrowhawk replied, making her way into Storm's cave. Which she had not been invited into. "It's just that things came up."
"What things?"
"Just..." Sparrowhawk shifted uncomfortably. "Things."
"And you couldn't possibly get out of them." Storm continued in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "You couldn't possibly go and visit your lonely daughter who's been worrying that you're dead or imprisoned or lost, or worse!"
The dead bit was a lie, Storm had known all along that Sparrowhawk was alive and well, but telling her mother that was not a good idea. (Sparrowhawk had a few crazy ideas about animus magic making you go mad, or some such superstitious knowledge. There were a few things that Storm had enchanted her cave to hide from her mother's view.) Anyway, it sounded good, so Storm liked it.
"Storm- I'm sorry. I just couldn't-"
"Lie to my father. Lie to your friends. Lie to anyone. I'M NOT ASKING MUCH, MOTHER! Just a TINY white lie, a TINY one, and then everything would be better!"
Sparrowhawk's face crumpled into despair. Storm instantly felt bad. What would Buzzie do, if she were here? She would... say something about how she didn't mean it? So that's what I'm going to do.
"Aw, mother. I didn't mean that." Storm went over to Sparrowhawk and awkwardly wrapped one wing around her mother. "I'm just tired and hungry, that's all." She tried to shake off the sarcastic undertone. "Now, is that Altitude's berry concoction that I smell?" Now she just sounded high- pitched and creepy. She decided not to care.
"Actually, no!" Sparrowhawk said, all good spirits returned. "This is Buzzie's! You remember, Altitude's daughter. We had her over to play a couple of times. This is her berry concoction, and I hear she's shaping up to be a very fine chef."
You remember, Altitude's daughter. We had her over to play a couple of times. Storm couldn't think of any words that could cut into her more. On the other hand, though, Sparrowhawk was bringing Buzzie's concoction, which Storm happened to know, from first hand experience, was extremely good.
"Anyway, I'd best be going. Long way to go! I'll leave you this, then." Sparrowhawk said cheerfully, dumping an old sack down by the corner of the cave. She walked straight through the table that Storm had enchanted to hide from her and out of the yawning cave entrance.
"No! Mother, wait! Please don't go yet. Please!" Please don't leave me, she meant, really, maybe. Please stay with me always.
"I'm sorry, Storm." Sparrowhawk swirled gracefully around in midair. Show-off, thought Storm grumpily. "I'll come back soon. And this time, I mean it!"
"That's what you said last time. And the time before that. And the time before..." Storm's words were being snatched away from her by the howling wind, and the rain coated her face and felt like sharp, icy tears. She gave up and went back inside.
The sack contained an awkwardly sewn flask of berry concoction- Buzzie was never very good at needlework, Storm remembered. It also contained a bunch of new scrolls (reading was one of the only things you could do in the cave) and a few one-player games, handmade by Sparrowhawk herself- her name was etched out in the wood. There was also a card. Storm walked into her room and placed it with all the rest of her treasures, in her memory box. She looked around at the walls of her cave. They were filled with drawings of Buzzie, etched into the walls. Mainly by animus magic, but there was one that Storm was painstakingly hand-carving. She added a few more scales, and then closed her eyes. The day was becoming a nightmare. She settled back and sipped Buzzie's concoction, a taste of sanity in the crazy, cold world.
----
==Chapter Four==
Riddlesolver
Riddlesolver was among the thousands of NightWings who had witnessed Arctic's death. He was also one of the few dragonets to witness Arctic's death. Some of the dragonets had cried. Some had run away. Some had hidden their eyes. Some had cheered. Riddlesolver went home and wrote a poem. The poem had won the NightWing annual poetry award. Which Riddlesolver was now about to collect.
He wasn't nervous- not at all- just 100% terrified. He'd never been on a stage before, preferring to leave that to the more outgoing dragons in his class. He'd never even wanted to enter his poem- it had been a big mistake to show it to his dad. He really didn't want to walk up to collect his award in front of all the NightWings. Even if it would make him the youngest NightWing in history to win that category. Still.
The announcer, Scrollreader (Riddlesolver couldn't help but laugh at the irony of his name), had just finished reading off all of the Highly Commended entries. "And finally, can the youngest poet in the history of our awards please come up to collect his trophy?"
Riddlesolver waited backstage, his wings trembling. 
"We welcome to the stage..."
His heart pounded, twice as loud as it normally did.
"Riddlesolver!"
This is it. 
He made his way out onto the stage, the crowd chanting his name. He could see his father and little sister holding up a giant sign. He could also see his stepmother, her tail twined with his dad's, but for once he didn't even care. Just to be here, up on the stage, was the best feeling in the world. He couldn't believe he'd never done it before. Maybe he could sign up for drama club at his school, when he got back. That would be cool. Tunesmith, the NightWing composer, was waiting with his prize, a towering trophy in the shape of a scroll.
"Well done, Riddlesolver!" whispered Tunesmith, as she stuck out a talon for him to shake. "This trophy is very heavy, so I'm not sure if you can manage it. Do you want to try?"
"No, thank you," he whispered back, aware of the thousands of eyes following him. This was the best! 
"Sure," she replied, flashing him a grin. She handed him his certificate, and he climbed offstage, sad that it was all over.
Scrollreader followed him off, and whispered in his ear "The Queen wants to see you. Right now, if you can."
He could not have found any better words to dash Riddlesolver's good mood. "What?" he managed eventually.
"She's in the cave over there." he replied, and brushed cheerily past him.
He walked, utterly terrified, to the cave Scrollreader had pointed at. He wished his dad were with him. He wanted his mom, in a deep way, although he had never met her. All he knew about her was that her name had been Nimble, and she had died when he was still in the egg. Most of all, he wanted Clearsight, that sweet, kind, wonderful dragon who had captured his heart while he was in her class. He had never really let go, even after all this time, even after moving to the island. Even after she disappeared.
Part of Riddlesolver still thought he could go back to the old kingdom and she would be there, waiting for them all to come back. He knew this was ridiculous, of course, but he couldn't help his wishful thinking. He liked the island, though. He especially liked the forests that surrounded Crag Mountain, and the plentiful prey and the ocean stretching out on every side. It was beautiful. He had written several poems about it, actually.
He had come to the mouth of the cave now. There was no noise coming from inside it, nothing at all. Perhaps she's gone. Or perhaps it's all a joke, and my dad will be there yelling "Surprise!". Or perhaps I'm totally desperate.
There was no getting around it. He strode up to the hole and walked boldly into it.
Queen Vigilance was every bit as terrifying and beautiful (or even terrifyingly beautiful) as everyone had told him. He wanted to scream and run as far away as he could and yet his talons were glued to the ground. She seemed to be amused at his discomfort. "You are Riddlesolver?"
He could manage a nod.
"And that poem was all your work? All of it? Not even a tiny part of anyone else's words?"
Her gaze was intense, like fire burning into his scales. He nodded again.
"Are you paying close attention? This is crucial."
She must have me confused with some other dragon. I could never do anything important or crucial for my tribe. He nodded.
"Now, Riddlesolver. I want you to write me a prophecy."
----
== Chapter Five ==
Sandstorm
She had been on the run for three days by then. Three soggy, wet, miserable days full of endless mountains and muck and stubbed talons. To Sandstorm, it felt more like three years. She still couldn't quite believe it. Every morning she would wake up and wonder why she could hear hawks screeching and feel rough mountain stone beneath her instead of the hustle and bustle of the palace workers and the soft silk sheets. She would think she had fallen out of her bed, and wait for one of her sisters to come over and give her a coconut slice. And then it would all flood back- the cold and the misery and the deaths and worst of all the mud. It was wet and sticky and got everywhere and got all over your talons and scales and gems. However did MudWings survive? It made Sandstorm wonder. She realized that she really didn't know very much about the other dragon tribes. Maybe I should find out more about them... before I walk into the lair of the SkyWings. 
It wasn't exactly an appealing prospect. Sandstorm had, of course, attended diplomacy lessons with the rest of the princesses, but her memory was slow and she had usually spent those lessons daydreaming anyway. I don't even know the SkyWing Queen's name. She knew she should remember it. Royalty should know royalty, or anyway that's what her mother always said. It begins with K, doesn't it? Kite? Kestrel? Oh, never mind. It's not like I'm going to run into a queen anyway.
If anything, that was an even more daunting prospect. She had lived all her life among royalty, and had never interacted with anyone who wasn't at least minor nobility. Does that make me spoiled? She had read, in the scrolls that Blizzard used to love before Queen Scorpion had declared them "unsuitable for reading", about princesses who had to be taught not to be spoiled by commoners. But she'd never thought of herself that way- so what if she'd led a comfortable life? Stupid, stupid, taking everything for granted...
She could hear her mother's disapproving voice inside her head- she could almost see her mother standing in front of her, looming over her like she always did, blocking out the sun... And there were her sisters, too, all of them shaking their heads and backing away from her like she was some sort of monster...
It was raining now, harder, but in the distance Sandstorm could see a cave. Just... keep... flying... she tried to tell herself, but the voices in her head were incredibly loud and it was impossible to move, impossible to breathe, impossible to...
The next thing she new she was in a cave with a dragon standing over her holding a warm cup of- what was that? It tasted like berries and sunshine and warmed her up to the core- and she spluttered, standing up.
"That's right, no need to thank me for saving my life," said a sarcastic voice from what seemed like a long way off. Sandstorm blinked. Standing in front of her was a SkyWing. A very beautiful SkyWing, with deep, orange, eyes and shimmering dark red scales, but still very much a SkyWing.
"That was a joke, by the way." the SkyWing said. "You can laugh."
"Um..." said Sandstorm, unsure how she should react. "I'm sorry, I would laugh, but right now I'm pretty scared and tired and I miss my home, and I'm not really sure what to say or how to act because even though I've been to several lessons on it I'm still not very good at polite conversation. Or, um, any conversation at all, actually."
"Woah, slow down." said the beautiful SkyWing. "And it's good that you're not good at conversation either. I haven't had a proper one for years." She spoke matter of factly, but Sandstorm could trace a strange, overwhelming sadness in the SkyWing's eyes. "The name's Storm, by the way" she said eventually.
"Oh, um, I'm Sandstorm," replied Sandstorm, thinking of so many questions she would like to ask the SkyWing, but not sure where to start. "So you live on your own? Why? And how did you find me? Are you going to... turn me in? And is this cave really your home? And..."
"Hold it!" said Storm, cutting through her sea of questions. "It's my cave. You answer my questions, and then you get questions of your own."
----
==Chapter Six==
Riddlesolver
At first he thought he must have misheard her. He protested, insisting that he didn't have prophecy powers, and she must have confused him with someone else. Who there was to confuse him with, he didn't know. All the seers and mindreaders had been exiled after the tribe had come to the island.
It wasn't until later, though, that he realized she had been deadly real. 
But a prophecy wasn't just something you made up! It was something special, something that told you what they future would hold! Something NightWing scholars poured over- sometimes for just days, sometimes for years- to figure out it's meaning. Something that thousands of dragons thought about. Something that brought hope to the most hopeless situations. Something real.
The queen had been very clear: he was to deliver his prophecy by the next full moon, which left him only four nights to complete it. If he breathed a word about it, to anyone, he was dead. He hadn't even looked at the description she had handed him. 
He walked home, wings drooping. His tail dragged through the dirt, leaving a muddy trail behind him. All the excitement of the morning had disappeared, and left an empty hole in his heart. He reached his house, and was surprised to hear what sounded like... music? 
Tentatively, he pushed open the door, and was immediately met by a 2-year-old dragonet barrelling in to him, making awful high pitched noises and knocking his certificate and the Queen's scroll onto the floor. The certificate just lay there until Foresight picked it up, with her typical forced smile and suspiciously high pitched laugh. But the Queen's scroll rolled across the floor and bashed into a table leg. There was a moment of silence- complete and utter silence- and then the whole table toppled over onto the scroll. A jug of water smashed, and a wet puddle seeped over the rough flagstone. Peaches and plums and kiwis and all sorts of fruit from the RainWing market traders splattered on top of it, looking like drops of blood on the grey surface.
"DREAMDANCER!!!!!!!!!" screamed Riddlesolver, picking up the scroll and (not very successfully) attempting to wipe off the muck onto his scales.
"Sorry!" she said, not looking particularly sorry. 
As Foreseer beckoned her over for "a talk", he ran to his room and slammed the door shut tight behind him. 
The damage wasn't as bad as he had initially thought. Half of the scroll was waterlogged, but the words were still readable. He sat down at his desk and started copying them.
'TOP SECRET! FOR NIGHTWING OFFICIALS' EYES ONLY!
Prophecy I: Rise of the NightWings.
Prophecy I (there are more? he thought weakly) should contain the promise of a new NightWing future- one in which the tribe does not have to hide. It should be written in the typical prophecy format, and should be cryptic enough that the meaning is not immediately obvious.
Signed:
Queen Vigilance
----
==Chapter Seven==
Storm
After years of being alone, it was weird to have another dragon in her cave. Not nice, but not terrible either. Just... weird. 
And Sandstorm wasn't just someone, she was an exiled SandWing princess! Coming here, of all places! Putting Storm in danger to save her own scales! It was outrageous!
And yet Storm didn't have the heart to turn Sandstorm away. Maybe she was just weak, like her father had always suspected. Maybe all her years of being told "stay in your cave", being forced to just watch the world from a mirror, were finally getting to her. Maybe it was just a "rebellious phase" she was going through, like she'd heard Altitude say about Buzzie when watching over the Sky Kingdom (though what "rebellious" things Buzzie had been doing Storm couldn't figure out). Or maybe she was just needed someone there by her side, holding her hand.
Mother would say that she was there for me. But she's not. What would she say about Sandstorm? It doesn't matter. She won't come for ages anyway. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it.
More flying in soon! 
Thanks for reading, comment below if you enjoyed it, or have any ideas on how to improve it :)
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Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (BuzzieOfTheSkyWings)
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)