The Lost Heirs

==Notes==
This is book two of Wings of Fire: The Lost Heir, if it was actually a dragon killing Queen Coral's female dragonets.
----
The murderer of Tsunami’s countless sisters was awaiting trial.
As one of the only living female heirs of Queen Coral, she had more rights than you average SeaWing citizen, and she wanted to see her brother.
“Just so you know.” The guard said, fiddling with his spear. “The prisoner is quite unhinged. No sane or even put together dragon could ever murder a dragonet- no an egg- like that in cold blood.”
The guard, Titan, Tsunami recalled, couldn’t even call her brother by his name, it was always ‘the prisoner’. Like he was some wild creature that finally submitted and was able to be tied down.
The Royal SeaWing dungeons were so different from the ones in the Sky Kingdom. Instead of open air pillars the containment cells were underground with dark stone and rusted steel bars. And behind those bars were the worst prisoners according to Queen Coral.
Walking into the dungeon, Tsunami noticed the first cell was empty, presumably it was for Webs, if and when Coral found him. The next cell contained a pacing SandWing. When he saw her he threw himself against the bars. 
“SeaWing princess!” He shrieked, “Let me out! I did not betray Queen Blister and I have only been a spy for the imposter Princess Blaze.”
Tsunami regarded him with a cold stare. And kept walking. The next prisoner was a SeaWing, she reminded the princess of Gill. Dry, cracked green scales with bloodshot eyes. Tsunami recognized the signs of dehydration, but she never thought her own mother would stoop as low as the SkyWing Queen. The prisoner started laughing hysterically at the sight of Tsunami. 
Tsunami’s uneasiness grew as she approached the last cell. What Titan had said about her brother gave the illusion of a mad dragon like the ones she’d seen previously. But the dragon in front of her was different. Unlike the unstable prisoners Tsunami had walked past, her brother was calmly standing at the bars waiting for her. 
Tsunami sat down to examine her older brother, but also the murderer of their sisters. The dragon she was picturing quickly melted away, Leviathan was tall with blue scales, like hers. His wings were a lighter, pink blue, just like Anenome's. But unlike Tsunami or her younger sister, they would never kill an innocent princess before she was even born.
He towered over Tsunami as she approached his cell. “So,” He said in an icy tone, “This is the sister that escaped my claws.”
Tsunami steeled herself. “Nice to meet you,” She replied in an equally neutral tone, “It’s hard to have an introduction when you are trying to strangle the life out of your younger sister.”
Leviathan shrugged elegantly. “If you hadn’t been in the hatchery at that time, I wouldn’t have had to.”
Tsunami shot to her talons, “What was I supposed to do?!” She cried, “You were murdering our sisters! Innocent dragonets, they hadn’t even hatched yet!”
“And yet they already had more of mother’s attention, respect and love than I had, or any of our brothers’ entire lives.” Leviathan muttered darkly.
“So explain it to me,” Tsunami demanded, “You are going to be put on trial in a couple of hours, so you might as well get it all out.
“I don’t even know why mother’s even bothering with a trial,” Leviathan muttered darkly, “I just think it’s an excuse for her to lay out my entire ‘crime’ and the justify how she will brutally torture and kill me.”
Tsunami got up to leave, but Leviathan’s voice stopped her, “Wait,” He said, “I will tell you everything, if you will talk to our mother about having me painlessly executed in private.” 
Tsunami weighed her options, on one talon, this was a way to get the whole story instead of just listening to Shark and Moray’s twisted version. But on the other talon Coral didn’t want her here in the first place, and she would be very displeased if Tsunami fulfilled the final wishes of the murderer of her daughters.
“All right,” Tsunami sighed, “Make it quick.” I don’t really have to tell mother about our conversation.
Leviathan took a deep breath and began,
Orca was the first and only daughter in Queen Coral’s first clutch of eggs. From the moment she could walk properly she was whisked away from her two younger brothers to stay by the Queen’s side to learn the art of Queenhood.
With Coral devoted to training her next heir, that left no time for the younger two SeaWing princes. Leviathan and Stonefish. Stone didn’t mind the time away from Orca or their mother but Leviathan definitely wasn’t alright with the new arrangement. Gill tried to be there for his two sons, but how could he really? He was King of the SeaWing tribe and head advisor and general to his Queen and wife.
One day at a council meeting Stone had mentioned progress on a battle and that they were pushing the SkyWings inland with some assistance from the MudWings, when Orca had jumped in, “Well if it weren’t for the reinforcements that I insisted were deployed, we’d have never driven them back so far.”
It seemed like Orca had inherited her mother’s sense of main-character syndrome and entitlement. How dare her brother get credit for something that she’d obviously contributed greatly to, it was impossible for her brother’s to actually do anything useful.
That’s when the resentment of Coral began for Leviathan. Biologically, the SeaWing Queen had three dragonets. Coral only had her golden daughter, Princess Orca, only heir to the throne.
Everything changed once Orca turned seven. She challenged mother right away- of course she couldn’t wait, as impulsive as she was I didn’t think she was stupid- Coral killed her obviously, but neither Stone nor I could find it in our heart to mourn her.
Stone had thought that with Orca gone, mother would have some time for us. There was no chance that Coral would ever care about a Prince, not even Gill really. He was her loving, and devoted King/Husband. 
No, Coral jumped right back into creating a new clutch of eggs, hoping one could fill the Princess-shaped hole in Mother’s heart. She was so determined to get a princess she didn’t care at that point she was in charge of an entire tribe. Stone and I were going to have two sisters by the end of the year.
I had to act.
Tsunami raised her talon, like she did during Webs’ history lessons, Leviathan stopped. “I’m sorry, Princess, is there something that your pearl for a brain can’t comprehend, you detritus!?” He snarled viciously. Briefly looking as insane as the guard described.
Having only spent a couple days in the Kingdom of the Sea, Tsunami didn’t know the jargon of the SeaWings, but she knew ‘detritus’ was a lot worse, insulting, and degrading than calling a RainWing lazy or a MudWing sluggish.
“Gill cared,” Tsunami boldly pronounced, “He might have been the King, but he was still your father!”
“Like you know about the weakling that mother called her husband!” Leviathan roared. Tsunami fearfully glanced back at the door to the dungeons. “I remember comforting one of our brother’s after he scolded him. Turtle had been looking for Abalone under dad’s orders. Father didn’t even bother to learn his name. And neither did mother! The SeaWing Princes aren't related to Coral. We might as well be SkyWings. You spent the last six years away from this Kingdom; don’t you dare say you know anything about Coral or Gill because you don’t!” 
Tsunami was speechless, of course she knew nothing about this tribe. She’d only been in the Kingdom for a few days, whereas Leviathan had been here his whole life. She’d been so caught up in defending Coral that she’d not realised who she was talking about. She deflated slightly.
“Why are you defending them?” Leviathan asked, less harshly, “Is it because they are good, or is it because they are your family?”
“You’re my family, too.” Tsunami said ruefully.
“Not for much longer,” Leviathan sighed, “Mother’s going to give me a long painful death, isn’t she.”
Tsunami thought of her mother, her undying willingness to keep her daughter safe and what she did to Tortoise for failing her, what she threatened to do to her if Auklet hadn’t hatched. 
“TSUNAMI!” The SeaWing Princess in question winced at the volume. Queen Coral was fuming as she marched into the dungeons. Once the Queen reached her daughter, she grabbed the pearls around her neck and started to drag her out.
“Hello, mother,” Leviathan said pleasantly. He ignored Tsunami almost choking from the pressure Coral was putting on her neck. “I see you are just as neglectful and abusive to your daughters as well as your sons.”
Coral ignored him and continued to drag Tsunami out. Anemone was harnessed behind her and shot a look at her big brother before being forced out.
Eight guards came after Coral had left with her two daughters. They locked shackles around his neck and talons before half dragging half carrying him to the top level of the pavilion. 
♠♥♣♦
It seemed the entire SeaWing Kingdom had come to watch Leviathan’s ‘trial’. Queen Coral had her two daughters and the rest of the Prophecy Dragonets behind her.
It wasn’t much of an event. No one would be a defendant for the traitorous SeaWing Prince, and even if there had been, Coral would have never let the murderer of her children walk free- even if it was just back and forth in a prison cell.
Blister was less than pleased that she had to come visit when all this family drama was going on, but at least that Coral wouldn’t be so distracted and maybe her secret weapon would finally be ready.
As Coral read out the sentencing for Leviathan: death by the Queen’s talon, the entire Kingdom burst into cheers. The SeaWing Princesses were safe at last! Their Queen was putting an end to this monstrous evil. 
“Oh, and one last thing,” Coral said with barely suppressed glee, “Before I execute you, mind telling your mother and your tribe how you managed to get past my guards time after time.”
Leviathan smirked for the first time during his trial, “I found an algae bloom by the Old Island Palace. There was this nasty biotoxin growing on it that could easily be concealed within one’s food.” He paused, “I’m sure you remember your guards swearing with their last breaths that they were unable to move when they were knocked out.”
Coral looked slightly sick. “Enough!” She snapped, composing herself. She flashed something in Aquatic that Tsunami didn’t recognize. Guards began unshackling Leviathan. The Queen stepped forward, claws extended to land a blow across the Prince’s handsome face. But before she could, a fire bomb dropped through the canopy. 
♠♥♣♦
No one knew where Leviathan went. When the smoke cleared and the SeaWing Army returned to clean up the debris and clear out the dead, Leviathan was not one of them.
The Dragonets had fled, killing the MudWing who’d followed them to the Summer Palace. Queen Coral and her tribe hid with her tribe and her daughter’s in the safety of the Deep Palace. Blister was on the defensive, her allies had taken a massive hit. She needed her secret weapon to be ready and fast.
As for Leviathan, he was somewhere on the continent, free at last from his family.
==Final footnotes==
If you’re confused, Webs never went back to the Kingdom of the Sea. Crocodile found the SkyWing Tsunami attacked at the beginning of The Lost Heir, she followed them and Riptide back to the Summer Palace and then flew back. It took the majority of the original Lost Heir to assemble the MudWing and SkyWing armies.
Webs is never stabbed with Blister’s tail cause he’s not there, but they decide to go to the Rainforest and try to find Glory’s family anyway because the alternative is to basically walk into Burn’s backyard.
Hope that cleared some things up.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Alternate Universes