Red As Blood

It's easy to say war is awful. But it's a lot harder to solve these problems without having a war.
 
Red as blood and bright as tears,
Terror struck at those she neared.
Kneel before the Scarlet Queen,
And wait to see what end she brings.
The sing-song voices of carefree dragonets rose up from the courtyard below. Ruby winced at the words of the chant, her eyes instinctively tearing away from where Cliff was jump-roping with the children of the nobles. It was during times like this that she could feel that old fear rising up; that fragile, panicked creature beating inside of her, urging her to fly away as fast as her wings could carry her. 
They were such small, harmless verses sung by such small, harmless dragons; but every time Ruby heard them, she was brought back...she...she was brought...back...back to... 
Before she could dwell on it any further, a voice pulled her out from her mind and away from the window. 
"Your Highness." 
She whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing quick and shallow. She couldn't see properly; her vision had blurred. In front of her was a slim dragon, with an unimpressed look in her narrowed amber—but no, that was wrong. Ruby reached out to clutch the edge of the window for support, trying desperately to shake free from the memories while the dragon in front of her waited patiently. 
Several long moments passed, but at last, she found her voice. "Ah, Swift. My apologies, I—" She wracked her brain for an explanation, some excuse that would dismiss the state he had found her in. "—I was feeling faint. I thought the air near the window would reinvigorate me." Inwardly, she cringed. It was a weak excuse, almost a nonsensical one, given what he had just witnessed; but Ruby had learned how to deliver a lie as though it were truth. 
She stared at him now, her mouth set into a grim line. For several long beats he stared back, unblinkingly. Then slowly, he gave the smallest of nods. His eyes were touched with concern, although his face masked it well. 
It's not her face. She scolded herself. It's not hers. It was ridiculous that she had even mistaken Swift for her; half of Ruby's subjects had amber eyes. It wasn't a trait unique to Scarlet, although the imperious gaze her mother had always cast towards her was.
Scarlet had never looked concerned for anyone but herself.
Scarlet has never looked concerned for anyone but herself, was what was whispered between the servants whenever she passed them in the halls. 
Her ears had burned that first time she heard the statement, and her head had snapped up to scan the hall for whoever dared to so disrespectfully gossip about a dragon they served. She had found the perpetrator and had gotten him fired, but in spite of all that, Scarlet could never could deny or refute what was being said.
She never had spared her concern on anyone other than her own self, but it was not such a scandal as the servants made it out to be. Each of her sisters was concerned with claiming the throne for herself, and each of her brothers was concerned with ensuring his own survival, should any sudden changes be made to the leadership of the kingdom.
So Scarlet did not see why the servants would specifically choose her to complain and snicker about. 
No, that was a lie. She didn't know all of their reasons, but she could guess at least one. Her front talons curled at the thought, forming a tight ball where the points of her carefully sharpened claws dug into her palms. They bit through her scales, but she ignored it. She couldn't think about that; it made her heart ache and her eyes feel so very heavy.
A knocking on the door brought her back to her senses. "Princess?" A soft, low voice called out. Rubellite. Her lady-in-waiting. "The banquet will begin soon. Have you prepared yourself?" 
Scarlet flinched at the sound and raised her head, her eyes darting over to the large mirror across her chamber. The fading light that poured in through the windows illuminated the ornate metalwork of the gilded frame and caused the smooth, reflective surface of the glass to shine. It was a work of art, a thing of beauty. It was so incongruous with the image she saw in it, where a hunched dragonet with bleeding talons stared out from it's depths. 
As she watched, she noted with a distant fascination that the dragonet's eyes were dim and clouded. The area around them was hollow and her face was sunken, her cheeks appearing to have collapsed into themselves. Her forelegs shook and trembled as though jerked about by some unseen force. 
How disgusting. How pathetic. How pathetic.
She was prevented from ridiculing the image any further with another series of knocks on the door; one more urgent than the last. 
"Princess...?" Rubellite was speaking again, her voice soft. Low. It was so soothing. "Princess, have you done what you must? We truly should make haste; the Queen will be vexed if we are tardy." 
The dragonet gave one final, distasteful glare to the image's scratched and bloodied talons before tearing her eyes away from the mirror. She drew in a deep breath and flicked her gaze down, to the vanity table below it. Many delicate bottles and boxes rested on it's surface, all holding tinctures and creams and powders and scents of various sorts.
The image of the dragonet. The face that was caving into itself. The limbs that were shaking, the drops of blood trickling out from marks made by her own claws. It took a moment for Scarlet to find the voice to respond. "Yes." She winced as it cracked. Cleared her throat to try again. 
"Yes, I am nearly done." 
"I am nearly done," Swift announced, trailing behind her as the two made their way down the winding stairs of the tower. "The hall is decorated, the menu arranged—I've even received letters of confirmation from every noble this time. Speaking of which, Lady Thrush has declined to attend. She says the joints of her wings ache too fiercely in her old age to leave the manor." Ruby nodded as the other dragon continued to prattle on. 
A series of large, evenly spaced windows lined the walls around the staircase, and from these, SkyWings could fly in and out of the building as they wished. They passed by one now, and Swift sent a sidelong glance to the courtyard below. "All that is left is ensuring Prince Cliff behaves in a manner befitting his status." He muttered softly. 
Ruby came to a halt. She turned her head to stare at where Swift was standing behind her. "What was that? I must have misheard you." Her voice was light and her smile reassuring, but any dragon with an iota of sense would notice the seething glint in her eyes. 
And any dragon with an iota of sense would know that defying one's queen was a dangerous, dangerous thing to do. Yet Swift forged ahead in his usual overwhelming disregard for his own well-being and safety. 
"Prince Cliff is as mannerless as any common dragonet that I have come across. You spoil him, Your Highness."
Ruby could feel her talons curling, the sharp points of her claws digging up into her scales. "I do not see why I should not." She replied. "Especially for a banquet celebrating his hatching-day, of all days." 
She tried to keep her chin up and her gaze level, but she could feel that creature inside of her again; that small, frightened creature, wavering in it's stance. Her breathing came out ragged. It seemed to echo at an unnatural loudness in the space between them.
The corners of Swift's mouth pulled down, and the wrinkles lining his forehead deepened as he scowled. Ruby quietly sighed, knowing that the other dragon was preparing to launch into a lecture; one that he had given so many times, Ruby had unintentionally memorized it, word for word. 
Swift opened his mouth and began, "He is the prince, Your Highness. He is a representative of our tribe, and save for you, one of the most closely-watched individuals. Being the son of our Queen, everything he does and says with reflect back onto you and your reign. We cannot have him acting as he currently does in front of all the nobles." 
A dull thud resounded in Ruby's ears. "He may be the prince, but he is also a dragonet. I intend to treat him as such."
"Your Highness, you cannot coddle him forever. He must learn of what is expected of him; of his duties and obligations to the kingdom. Instead of holding a banquet that encourages him to indulge in mindless frivolities, why not hold one of proper standing, as an opportunity to further educate him on the upper echelons of society? It would be far more productive—"
"Stop."
"Stop."
Scarlet held up her talons, signaling for Rubellite to stand down behind her. The other dragon complied with the demand, although the scowl displayed on her face continued to express her discontent. Scarlet internally rolled her eyes and scoffed. She would need to speak with Rubellite about obtaining better control over her facial expressions. Not right now, though. 
Right now, the SkyWing princess had more important matters to attend to. 
She levelled her gaze at the graceful orange dragon who stood before her in the hall, surrounded on either side by several gossipy ladies-in-waiting. They were effectively blocking her way to the banquet. Scarlet felt a growing seed of ire dig it's roots deep into her heart. She could feel a cutting remark rise up her throat.
No. She tamped it down. These dragons were watching her, waiting to see how she would react. She smiled at them, raised her chin. "Dearest sister, could you be so kind as to instruct your entourage to clear the hall?" She directed her question towards the orange dragon, infusing her words with all the sweetness she could muster. 
Sard tilted her head at Scarlet. "Sister," She murmured. "You're quite late. Mother grew impatient, you see, so I offered to retrieve you for her." Her golden eyes drifted towards Rubellite. "It appeared that the servants were unable to work in a timely fashion, even when the Queen herself emphasized the need for it today. I did not trust them to do the task." 
Scarlet felt her heart temporarily stutter to a stop. Her thoughts whirred about in a frantic dance, but she smiled pleasantly. "If that's the case, I do sincerely apologize for troubling everyone." 
As though she could sense the anxiety building up in her little sister, Sard narrowed her eyes and leaned in close to the smaller dragon. She studied Scarlet's face, her eyes as harshly bright as two gold coins. Scarlet kept a smile firmly plastered onto her face. "Is...something the matter, sister?" She managed.
Sard blinked. "You seem to have attained some degree of control at last. Good." She drew back. "Good, but it is not enough. I will speak plainly: Mother is angry. I had thought you would have had sense enough to be punctual, at the very least, but you've failed even that single expectation of mine."
Scarlet gritted her teeth. "I care so little for your 'expectations' of me that I can't even pretend to care. Are we going to go to the banquet or not? I thought you came to bring me to her?" 
Her sister slowly shook her head, releasing a long, soft sigh as she did so. "Ah, little Scarlet. You may be an unsightly failure, but I would have to be absent of all compassion and goodwill to lead you directly to mother." Her gaze was filled with pity. "Return to your room; say you are ill. That you have the Puff-cough. I'll convince the physician to forge the results of a diagnosis—"
"What?"
"What?" Swift asked. Ruby glared at him, a warning as clear as speech crossing over her face, but he forged on.
"Are you unable to accept this fact? Or have you not noticed?"
A threat crossed over her face; a quiet, deadly anger darkening her eyes and stilling her features. Swift clamped his mouth shut and bowed his head. "I...I do apologize." He mumbled, the admission sounding a tad forced. "It is not my place to speak as I did."
Ruby lifted her head and shot him a glare. "It was not." She agreed. 
"Skip. The. Banquet." There was a deliberate, prolonged space in between each of her words. "Moons above, even you cannot be this dimwitted."
Scarlet bristled. "I—dimwitted? What are you saying?! Did you think you could actually convince me to skip the banquet? I'd have to be a real dimwit to do that; you know it will be the talk of every discussion, when the baseborn princess failed to attend one of the most important gatherings of the year—!" She clamped her mouth shut; fuming, quaking with frustration and shame. 
She'd failed. She'd let her composure slip, she'd said too much. Clenching her teeth together, Scarlet lifted her chin and stared straight ahead. She waited for that condescending tsk Sard would always give whenever she bore witness to a blunder of hers, perhaps followed by a comment about how the Queen should be made aware of it.
There was an uncomfortably long silence. When at last Sard filled it with sound, it was neither to criticize her or admonish her. To Scarlet's surprised, her voice was...weary. As though she were in mourning. 
"I thought that you of all dragons should be able to understand." 
Her scales were polished and her eyes like gold coins. On her head she wore a crown set with carnelian stones, and around her neck hung several heavy necklaces. 
It's easy to say war is awful. But it's a lot harder to solve these problems without having a war.
 
Red as blood and bright as tears,
Terror struck at those she neared.
Kneel before the Scarlet Queen,
And wait to see what end she brings.
 
The sing-song voices of carefree dragonets rose up from the courtyard below. Ruby winced at the words of the chant, her eyes instinctively tearing away from where Cliff was jump-roping with the children of the nobles. It was during times like this that she could feel that old fear rising up; that fragile, panicked creature beating inside of her, urging her to fly away as fast as her wings could carry her. 
They were such small, harmless verses sung by such small, harmless dragons; but every time Ruby heard them, she was brought back...she...she was brought...back...back to... 
Before she could dwell on it any further, a voice pulled her out from her mind and away from the window. 
"Your Highness." 
She whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing quick and shallow. She couldn't see properly; her vision had blurred. In front of her was a slim dragon, with an unimpressed look in her narrowed amber—but no, that was wrong. Ruby reached out to clutch the edge of the window for support, trying desperately to shake free from the memories while the dragon in front of her waited patiently. 
Several long moments passed, but at last, she found her voice. "Ah, Swift. My apologies, I—" She wracked her brain for an explanation, some excuse that would dismiss the state he had found her in. "—I was feeling faint. I thought the air near the window would reinvigorate me." Inwardly, she cringed. It was a weak excuse, almost a nonsensical one, given what he had just witnessed; but Ruby had learned how to deliver a lie as though it were truth. 
She stared at him now, her mouth set into a grim line. For several long beats he stared back, unblinkingly. Then slowly, he gave the smallest of nods. His eyes were touched with concern, although his face masked it well. 
It's not her face. She scolded herself. It's not hers. It was ridiculous that she had even mistaken Swift for her; half of Ruby's subjects had amber eyes. It wasn't a trait unique to Scarlet, although the imperious gaze her mother had always cast towards her was.
Scarlet had never looked concerned for anyone but herself.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (LivVirtual)
Category:Work in Progress