When the Trees Stood

Wings of Fire: When the Trees Stood 
A fanfiction by Fennecthesandwing21
This fanfiction is set before the beginning of the Tree Wars and has four protagonists: Plum , Pancake , Madrona, and Cinnamon.
==Prologue==
Wasp traced her claw along the spine of the book. It felt cool to the touch, and she shivered with delight.
So much power, encased in those delicate pages. Not the power she had dreamed of as a hatchling, but a different power. A stronger power.
She smirked coldly. It was all hers. Her secret, her book, her tribe. Her continent.
No one else knew what she knew... Apart from that worm.
The librarian, an old dragon with dark orange scales and tired green eyes, watched her nervously.
"Your majesty," he addressed her, bowing slightly, "I assume your mother told you..." 
"Of course she did. I know everything." Wasp snapped at the old dragon, who nodded quickly. 
"She would not want the tribe to kno-" 
"And the tribe will not know the secret. It is between you and me, though perhaps that sentence will shorten a little to just me if you continue with your stuttering warnings. I am your queen, and you will obey without question." Wasp snarled and her wrist stingers flicked out of her arms.
"Yes, yes, yes, of course your majesty! " Earwig bleated in a silly little high pitched voice. "I-i'm afraid I have somewhere I need to be-" 
"Leave then."
Earwig, the librarian, scuttled out of the room. What a useless old dragon. Wasp would have to take care of him sometime... But for now she had more important things to focus on.
Queen Cochineal had always been far too soft for Wasp's liking. Of course, the rest of this tribe thought she had been terrifying. But they hadn't yet seen Wasp's spiteful powerlust.
The new ruler of the HiveWings, Queen Wasp, placed the book back onto its stand and closed the wooden case with a small thud. She strode out of the temple, and looked around in disgust. The book belonged in the centre of her hive, not here. 
There were guards, of course. It was hers, and she couldn't afford for it to be stolen. But the temple was in the midst of some sparse forest, near enough to her hive, but nowhere near close enough for her liking. 
Another problem she would have to fix. If she planned carefully enough... Perhaps she could fix all of her problems at once. 
She already knew what she was aiming for. Domination of the continent, control over the whole of Pantala. How to reach that goal? She was working on it. But luckily for her... It was a plan that would come into fruition very, very soon.
Oh Mother. You were a fool if you thought I would bring peace to the tribes. I'm going to be more successful than you ever thought I would be. And no one is going to stop me.
Wasp smirked as her hive came into sight. Soon, it wouldn't just be this hive that she controlled.
And if she succeeded, which she was certain she would... Why not the whole world?
----
Queen Monarch watched her tribe. Peaceful and happy, just like always. 
They didn't know her secret. So she had to act normal as she glided over the village of webs and vines. 
She had always been proud of the cities her tribe had made long before she was hatched. Everything woven from silk, with occasional poles of wood or bamboo to hold up a structure. Their communities could stretch across vast areas of forest, nests hanging between trees like hammocks and webs woven above to keep them protected from the weather. It was beautiful, the way the sunlight glinted off the thick silk, dappling their lives with rainbows and light.
It wasn't until Monarch met Aphid that she realised just how lucky she and her tribe were. The HiveWings had been a proud tribe, once. With hives spread out across the continent, much like her cities of silk. But the HiveWings had grown cold towards the other tribes. They had fought them, and taken control of the Book of Clearsight. 
The LeafWings had fought back, destroying all of the Hives but one. The Main Hive.
Since then, everything had been peaceful. The tribes kept to themselves. There was no sign of war.
And then Aphid came.
A tall, slim HiveWing with pale green and gold scales that sparkled in the light reflected from the silk. Monarch had fallen in love with him as soon as she saw him.
A queen, in love with a dragon from another tribe? And not just any dragon, a dragon thrown out of the hive for treason.
It was on that day, the day that she met Aphid, that she learned of Queen Cochineal's death. Her daughter, Wasp, had taken the throne. 
According to Aphid, Wasp would destroy the peace that lay across Pantala like a tranquil blanket. But how could she? Why would she?
Monarch ignored the rumours, and carried on ruling her tribe as though nothing had happened.
It terrified her when she realised she was with egg. Aphid had been staying in her silk palace for months, and she knew already that he was the father. And because of that, she knew she could never tell her tribe that she had an heir.
Now, she was flying towards the hatchery. It was the eggs hatching day in a few weeks, and she wanted to be sure it was healthy. She had disguised her visit as a royal check up, and only Aphid knew what her real purpose was.
Monarch reached the hatchery with a sigh of relief, and pulled back the silk curtain covering the entrance. A delightful coolness swept over her as she stepped into the shade. But despite the quiet, calm atmosphere, her heart pounded and her stomach lurched.
The egg was gone.
----
The LeafWings had always been notoriously good at finding out what was going on in Pantala. So it came as no surprise to the HiveWing messengers that Queen Sequoia already knew of Cochineal's death when they arrived at her palace to deliver the news.
Sequoia was well aware of the now prominent threat of invasion from the HiveWings. Princess Wasp, or Queen Wasp as she would be known now, had always hated the LeafWings. And, though this had been far less of a bother to the self centred tribe, the SilkWings.
She hadn't been queen at the time of the destruction of the hives, and the theft of the book. In fact, Sequoia hadn't even been alive. But she felt like she had been, and she knew everything there was to know about the rocky relationship between the two tribes of Leaf and Hive.
The tribe relied on her as their queen and protector. They believed she would make their tribe great. And she would. Or at least... She would try.
But she was always suspicious of the HiveWings, much more so now that Wasp was leading them. Cochineal had been a good-for-nothing liar, and from what Sequoia had heard, Wasp was about a hundred times worse.
Why didn't those pesky HiveWings just SORT OUT THEIR TERRIBLE ROYAL BLOODLINE?
Sequoia hissed as she made her way out of her palace. She had often been scolded for her short temper as a dragonet, but despite that, little bursts of fury weren't exactly uncommon for her.
A small, pale green LeafWing stumbled up to her, eyeing her angry expression warily. "Queen Sequoia," The LeafWing bowed, and only half lifted up her head when she came back up, "There are HiveWings here. They wish to speak with you." 
"Well, tell them that they had better hurry up and this better not be a waste of my time. " Sequoia said bruskly, her eyes darting around the forest until they caught sight of a flash of yellow, orange and black scales through the foliage.
The LeafWing nodded, and scampered away to let the HiveWings know as the queen settled herself down in a regal pose in front of the palace.
There were three HiveWings, two of which were a dark yellow with black stripes (average HiveWings then), and one of which was blood red with black splodges all over his wings (not so normal then). They bowed as they approached Sequoia, which surprised her slightly. Perhaps some HiveWings had manners after all.
"Queen Sequoia. We have come to inform you that Queen Wasp would like to offer you... A proposal." The red one said in a deep, sincere voice.
"Yes? What is it?" 
"Our Queen would like to request a shared rulership over both of our tribes." The HiveWings stepped back a little, wings unfolded slightly, as though they knew that they might need to take flight at any moment in the face of the LeafWing queen's fury.
"WHAT?!?!"
== Chapter 1 ==
Plum winced as she heard the voice of Queen Sequoia through the trees.
She was used to it by now, but she still pitied the subjects of her queen’s fury, having experienced it herself quite often as a young hatchling. Her egg had been abandoned, and Plum had grown up without a mother or father, instead learning to stay on the good side of the Queen as she roamed the palace.
A servant had found her and brought her back into the large structure, woven from vines and flowers. When Plum hatched, she had been a male. But she changed gender soon after that, though no one had ever explained to her exactly how or why. 
And so she grew up in the palace, a sort of servant to the royal LeafWings. 
Surprisingly for a dragonet who had been told to mind her own business and stay out of the way, Plum had grown exceptionally good at eavesdropping. And what master of eavesdropping would ever be able to resist the temptation of listening in to this particular conversation... 
Plum slipped between the branches of the trees, keeping a close eye on the Queen, who was just visible up ahead. 
A claw pinned down her tail, and she turned to see an autumn red dragon smirking at her. 
“Cinnamon.” She hissed, glaring at the other LeafWing, whose tail was twitching in amusement. 
“Heya Plum-girl.” Cinnamon grinned again, then jumped up to the branch above Plum with a small thump. 
”I am trying to be stealthy.” Plum groaned as Cinnamon jumped higher, rustling leaves with her russet wings. 
”Hmm? What was that?” Cinnamon’s face poked down from the canopy. 
Plum rolled her eyes and continued, attempting to ignore the rustles from the branch behind her as Cinnamon followed. 
Much as Plum acted like she was fed up with Cinnamon (which she kind of was), they were best friends. Cinnamon lived in a cosy treehouse with a perfect family, close to the palace. Her mum would bake little treats for them both, and Plum would occasionally stay the night at Cinna’s treehouse when things were... rough in the palace. 
The two were as close as sisters, and just like sisters, had a tendency to annoy each other at random times. 
”OF COURSE NOT YOU FOOLS!!!!” 
Cinna giggled slightly, and Plum frowned at her as they came within earshot of the Queen. Well, at that point in the argument, anywhere in the forest would have been within earshot, but they were close enough to watch as well as listen to the raging queen. 
”IS WASP SOME KIND OF MUD DWELLING TOAD WHOSE BRAIN GOT LEFT IN HER EGGSHELL?!!?!” 
”Yeesh. What ruffled her scales?” Cinnamon raised an eyebrow at Plum. 
”Apparently Wasp wants to rule two tribes. Us as well as the HiveWings. I mean, can you believe it? Why... how... she must be mad!?!” 
”Alright, calm down! We don’t need two angry Sequoia’s!” 
“Oh, ha ha, you’re soooo funny.” Plum glared at Cinnamon, who simply smiled at her innocently. Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)