The Stolen Dragonet (fic)

===Summary===
Marble has lived in the Sand Kingdom her whole life, firmly on track for a destiny of honor and importance. Alongside her best friends Torque and Adder she has been chosen to one day join Queen Scorpion's mighty army and fight for the kingdom. But after the discovery of a dying dragonet, Marble's life begins to unravel down a path leading far from the sands she knows so well...
==Credits==
Credit for the story and cover goes to myself (Pendrian/Qalamity), credit for the bases I used and edited together in the gallery goes to Joy Ang. This story can also be read at https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13122662/1/The-Stolen-Dragonet if you so wish.
I decided to write a WOF prequel story with some ideas swirling about in my head. If you readers like it, I have an outline for two more stories to come afterwards in a trilogy. It is set primarily in a time several years after Darkstalker's imprisonment and concerns the next generation of dragons as their destinies are shaped. Many characters introduced will be ones of my own creation, but the universe of Pyrrhia belongs to Tui T. Sutherland.
==Prologue - Part 1==
Somewhere deep within a long undisturbed and dusty cave, a miner toiled. He'd been working away at the stone for some time, stopping to take occasional breaks for food and drink. Though he'd been retired for a few years now, curiosity had driven him to excavate the quiet hideaway nonetheless. Upon stumbling inside a few days previously seeking shelter from torrential rain he'd been surprised to discover some odd objects. They appeared to be artifacts of an old civilization, though there was something suggestive of... divergence from standard relics. For example all of them seemed unusually large. The miner had first found a massive urn of some kind of baked clay that was as long as he was tall. Etched upon it were flowing lines that seemed to indicate rivers of some kind. Tracing the engravings for a moment, he realized additional details within the waters. Serpentine creatures were depicted as swimming through the water, their oddly expressive snouts communicating joy in their design. Something marked them as more than mere snakes; long, graceful wings.
'Dragons?' the miner wondered to himself.
Such creatures were popular in folklore and old tales of the land. Mythical though they were, the beasts were regarded with a sort of wonder by the civilization of Pendria. Artists would paint their graceful forms in many styles in more fantastical works. Some family crests, including that of the royal family, included dragons as part of their imagery. Quietly, the miner pondered how the old stories of magical creatures could linger so in their world, despite never having existed outside of those stories.
He'd nearly tripped over the next ancient thing; it lay broken on the ground, obscured by a layer of dust and dirt. As the miner picked up one of the pieces and brushed away the coating of debris he was surprised to feel the smooth texture of glass. Even stranger, within the glass swirled many shades of blue and green in ways he'd never seen. The best he could compare it to were some new kinds of glass art that the court sculptors had been trying to create recently. But they lacked the touch of evident time and mastery with which the broken item before him was made.
Before he could inspect the fractured artwork more closely, the miner's eyes were drawn to a rectangular shape near his feet. Reaching to pick it up, it was evidently some kind of book. Though, like the other oddities, it was very large. By the time the miner was able to drag it upright and set it against the cave's wall it more resembled a door than a book. It took an effort to open; at first he'd examined the leather cover for a title, but found none. After straining his arms to push the cover open he coughed at a great cloud of dust, fragments of paper and bugs that billowed from the tattered pages. To his disappointment, most of the book had been eaten away through a combination of time, nature and insects. But several of the beginning pages remained intact. Tentatively, the miner began to read. As he delved past the introductory note, he began to mourn that he would only be able to get a glimpse into the strange world the book uncovered. He could only begin to guess at the true breadth of the chronicle half-crumbled away by the ages.
Pyrrhia's history is a long and turbulent one. As an island inhabited by dragons, it was always destined to be a nexus of many great and terrible events. Some of these events have become obscured and forgotten in the fog of the far past. Here, in this tome, is one such lost fragment. Though the time itself may have been left behind in memory it was one that resonated through the centuries to come. But there are those who do still remember the ancestors of some of Pyrrhia's most remarkable dragons. To know how they lived and died is to know how the years were shaped. Because after all, you cannot have history without telling a story...
----
The tale begins atop a dark rocky peak shortly after sunset. A somewhat small but sturdy home made of stone and wood rests on the flat, wide surface at the very top. Though it is gray and unremarkable on the outside, through painted glass windows there can be seen colorful flashes that hint at interior beauty. A balcony stretches outside as though reaching for the great view below. The occupants of the structure are few, but they are happy. One was stepping out onto the balcony at a leisurely pace. His scales melded with the night sky; deep hues of black and gray, his wings speckled with points of light like the uncountable stars far above. A simple pair of round spectacles helped to focus his eyes as they scanned the peaceful environment before coming to rest on something on the balcony floor.
He took a breath of the refreshing nighttime air and stepped towards the small treasures that lay nearby. He carefully adjusted his left foreleg as he moved. Gently clutched in it was a delicate, flat object with an oval shape. Upon it's canvas were inscribed uncountable hues of blue and white. Together the colors flowed and mingled to create a single wondrous moment in time, not unlike the great ocean as it is always moving to shape the world. The scene had been painted with great passion, that much was clear. The image formed from the many colors seemed almost real in it's expression. The trio of subjects it was focused around were now right at the talons of it's carrier, who had come to a stop.
The night dragon placed the painting down to rest upon the edge of a large ring of twigs, cotton, and various other fragments of nature. Together they were woven to form a cozy nest for three small, sleeping beings. The dragon before them, their father, smiled warmly at them as though they were already hatched and running about. In the darkness the eggs seemed almost invisible to those without good night vision. Their smooth shells were grey-black, speckled with little white dots as if reflecting the sky. For now they lay very still as the new lives inside slowly grew their small forms.
A new set of talonsteps approached from the house towards the nest. It was another dragon, a female, with an unusual but beautiful combination of features. Her scales were a deep, dark blue that seemed to hint at calm, quiet places far underwater. From her elegant, diamond shaped head to her tail a series of spines the color of fresh snow ran down across her back. The membranes of her wings shared this striking shade; especially evident was a spattering of black spots along the white. The effect was resplendent, if unusual. Her eyes, a deep blue not unlike her scales, seemed to shine as they moved about to take in every interesting sight. She stopped beside the night dragon; her mate, Thoughtful.
The pair smiled at one another and briefly nuzzled. There was not a sound exchanged between them, but their love didn't need to be expressed in words. Together they settled in the cool air to watch over the nest and their precious children. The female, their mother, Whiteout, traced a claw around the painting she had created for them. It didn't merely depict the eggs in their nest, as one may have thought; rising above each egg were faint suggestions of the forms that would hatch from them. Whiteout's claw stopped briefly above one; her shining eyes became mournful. She spoke, in a dreamy way that whispered like a breeze through tree branches.
"The water sleeps now. But the sky will melt it away to the end."
Thoughtful, sensing the sadness in Whiteout's tone, twined his tail around hers in comfort. He didn't know what she might have seen; he didn't have her powers. It was something he'd come to learn about the extraordinary dragoness who was now his mate. She saw things, sometimes, not unlike her brother's powers of future sight. Through their time together Thoughtful and Whiteout had become linked, in a way, with a bond of sympathy. They expressed themselves through colorful artworks, melodic songs and elegant dance. It was almost as if they spoke a language known wholly to them at times when they didn't talk aloud. It was through their knowing of one another that Thoughtful discovered faint but definite powers within Whiteout.
Now and then she would mention something in her mysterious way of wording, feelings interwoven with her speech hinting at what marvels and tragedies might be twirling inside her wonderful mind. At times it worried Thoughtful. It concerned him that these visions could scare her, or make her sad, but he couldn't see what troubled her so. The best he could do was offer comfort when she needed it. That was what he did now, his eyes resting for a moment upon the painted egg below Whiteout's claw. The eggs were safe with them now, as they had always been. But Thoughtful's brow creased in worry as he began to wonder if that could change.
Whiteout lifted her head from the painting and clasped one of Thoughtful's foretalons in her own. She leaned in, resting her head against his. Once again her serene voice wove into the night winds.
"Don't worry, the little lights won't go out. We will let them shine forever, won't we?"
A smile crept along Thoughtful's snout once more. Whiteout could always make him smile, no matter how much of a worry-wart he was.
"We will. The night is our friend; it won't take away our lights."
The pair rumbled faintly in contentment, for despite the horrors they'd been through, the kingdom and family they'd lost, here and now, together, they were home. Nothing in the world could take that from them.
----
The next day, as the dawn spread it's glorious hues of red and yellow across the land, two hidden dragons lay waiting. Both watched the quiet stone aerie with purpose and patience. To the left was a thinly muscled female, her scales rich shades of red-orange not unlike the spreading sunrise. To the right was a stockier male with scales reminiscent of dark sand, speckled with faint brown across his head and wings. Now and then their tails twined together to calm one another as they waited.
The female raised her head slightly to peer at the distant nest. The eggs nestled within were without guard for the time being. She knew their mother would be back soon to fuss over them before she slept; now was the time.
"Let's go." whispered the slender female, her large wings unfurling as she crouched to launch into the sky.
Her partner followed behind as they took to the air. Swiftly the female approached the unguarded nest; the male hung back a distance and watched for disturbances. The female dropped onto the platform as silently as a feather and gave a cautious look around. She used her other senses; no recent scents. No sounds of talonsteps or voices. Her eyes lingered for a moment on the colorful decorations that lined the balcony; glass sculptures of many shapes and sizes, canvases with scenes unfurled in various pigments of the color blue. One of these paintings, a small one depicting three eggs, lay on the edge of the nest.
The dragoness shook her head briefly, her focus returning to the job at talon. Carefully, ever so carefully, she dipped her head down to the clutch of speckled black eggs and listened. Three sets of heartbeats thumped faintly in her ears. She raised a talon and delicately chose just one egg to lift up. Holding it closely to her chest she once more lifted into the air and hovered for a moment. With care she removed a dried fern from her satchel and used it to sweep away any marks left behind from her short appearance. Almost the second she'd tucked the fern back into her satchel she snapped her head up with a start. Talonsteps. Not too close, but certainly approaching her position. The brightly-colored dragoness turned and dove down from the edge of the aerie swiftly; lifting up from the platform would have created a gust and possibly alerted the approaching dragon to her presence.
The male that waited for her within the shadows moved to follow as soon as he witnessed her rapid descent and consequent lift. Within minutes they were far from the sunlit ledge, their wings pumping hard to propel them away as fast as possible. Sitting quietly upon that distant ledge with her tail curled around her remaining two eggs was the victim of their thieving. Though the thieves were long out of sight, her dark eyes stared in the direction they'd gone as if she could see them clearly. She murmured softly to herself in a dreamy way.
"Six legged stinger. Wanderings with water and glass. Safe times..."
She dipped her head from the misty morning sky and slowly curled herself around her remaining pair of dormant children.
----
"Careful; if you drop that, we're as good as dead."
Her male compatriot replied slowly, "When it hatches... what will be done, Dunesweep? Given it's parentage it will probably look just like a NightWing."
"That is for the queen to decide," her reply was brusque, "If she wants to make full use of it's potential it'd be best not to keep it locked away. Although, she'll have a time explaining it's presence."
"Ugh, glad that's not part of our job. I'll be happy to be rid of this fragile nuisance." he looked down upon the dark oval cradled in his claws, snout wrinkled in disdain.
Dunesweep snorted at her mate's annoyance, "Oh hush, Gritclaw. That "Fragile nuisance" will be setting us up quite well indeed with the queen. Animus blood within our tribe can be useful. Jerboa was proof of that, until she defected and ran off to who-knows-where."
"Are you sure about that? Wouldn't animus blood be a bit risky after, oh, I don't know," he paused in his sarcasm before whispering rather loudly, "an insane animus drove away his entire tribe after trying to kill and control them with his powers?!"
Gritclaw winced as Dunesweep hit him sharply with her wing and hissed, "Shhh! We aren't home free yet, dummy. Save your ranting for when we get back. Anyways, of course if any animus dragons are produced through this... project, they won't be allowed to use their powers much, if at all." she sighed, "We got lucky with Jerboa, but now that she's gone we'll need to be careful with any new animus dragons."
"Then what's the mudding point of all this?" Gritclaw asked with exasperation, straining to keep his voice low per his mate's chagrin.
"Simply possessing animus blood within a tribe gives it greater power." Dunesweep replied matter-of-factly, "In these uncertain times an animus dragon can be used as a warning to other tribes... if they tried to attack us, we'd turn the animus loose on them and they'd be goners. After the SeaWing Massacre and what happened to the NightWings nobody would dare try to fight a tribe that holds an animus."
Once more, Gritclaw glanced down at the small, yet significant thing he held as he flew, "A shield against war... or a devastating weapon if one occurs. Clever. Still, it's mother didn't possess the powers of... him. It's unlikely it will be an animus itself."
"That might be a better outcome for us," Dunesweep nodded. "We need to lie low with all the recent turmoil; a new animus would be a little more than unhealthy for our political position. Although we'd have a great weapon, it isn't wise to have all other tribes turn against us right now. We must keep our allies. Once things have died down, an animus in the later generations would be of more benefit."
Gritclaw shook his head with a grumble, "So, even if we succeed in our mission it probably won't bear fruit until after we're dead."
There was a pause as they came to their resting spot, a small, dusty cave hidden within a rocky crag. Dunesweep hovered for a moment to scan for threats. After a minute of silence she gave a nod to confirm their safety and they glided down to land.
The pair squeezed through the narrow entry carefully, making sure to handle their quarry delicately. Gritclaw passed the egg to his mate, who was to keep it for her first watch shift. They had agreed prior that whoever was on watch would hold the egg; this way, if they were surprised, it would be easier for them to escape rather than the one asleep, who would be momentarily vulnerable as they woke.
As he settled down to sleep, Gritclaw gave a sigh. A flash of worry crossed his face as he glanced at the starless dark outside. "I hope this is worth it."
Dunesweep turned and nudged him reassuringly, for a moment dropping her gruff exterior and letting affection shine through. "We'll be fine; The queen chose us for a reason. We are, after all, two of her best spies."
Gritclaw's worried frown dissipated for a moment. A wry grin crossed his snout as old memories glinted in his dark eyes, "I don't know Dunesweep, wasn't it your fault Queen Carmine discovered that we were actually working against her?"
A huff issued from the dragoness as she turned away and swatted him with her tail. "As I recall, it was your clumsy SandWing talonsteps that alerted her guard."
Her mate feigned confusion, tapping his chin with a claw and retorting, "Hmm, I don't know, I seem to remember a SkyWing that tripped on her oversized wing and tumbled through a bunch of noisy gold coins."
Dunesweep rolled her eyes with a smile, bending down to nuzzle her mate, "That may be so... but despite that short-sighted dragon alerting the others we still got her. In all the commotion nobody saw the little snake that bit "her majesty" until it was too late."
A low rumble issued from their throats as they took a moment to be at peace before resuming their dire objectives.
"I'm sorry about getting you exiled..." whispered Gritclaw as he lowered his head and began drifting off to sleep.
His mate lifted her head from his and turned back to her vigil, sitting straight and alert for danger. She kept the precious egg close and curled in one of her foretalons. She replied quietly, "Don't worry... I never liked the Sky kingdom much anyway. Too stuffy."
Dunesweep heard a soft chuckle issue from behind her, followed shortly by deep, slow breathing indicative of a sleeping dragon. With a quiet sigh, she gazed across the dawning horizon and thought of the journey to come.
==Prologue - Part 2==
Shortly before the sun began it's ascent on the horizon, Gritclaw turned from watch to wake his mate. He gave a sleepy yawn as he walked towards her, wayward egg held beside his chest safely. Fortunately it hadn't hatched, nor shown signs of it. That was one of several things Gritclaw had been quietly worrying over as he sat on watch. Always he was cautious of the egg stirring, cracking, hatching, right there in the dusty cave. It would make their mission more problematic if they had to deal with a newborn hatchling.
As he nudged Dunesweep awake, Gritclaw smiled as he thought, for a moment, of home. 'Eggs are nice and quiet. They don't need too much tending, either. I may not have to deal with this egg hatching, but our clutch is due soon... I hope I'll be ready. If we make it home, that is.'
After Dunesweep was sufficiently awake the pair took a short break to eat from their supplies for the remaining flight. Dunesweep kept the egg nestled within the coils of her tail to keep it warm, now and then turning to listen to the gentle sounds deep within the shell. She'd heard from broodmothers that the sounds of an egg could be indicative of many things. With her own clutch to tend to she'd taken to listening to their advice more attentively. If what she'd heard was correct, when an egg was very close to hatching there would be a slight tapping sound, accompanied by swishing fluid. This was supposedly the hatchling's first signs of trying to break the shell with their egg-tooth while the fluid sloshed around due to their restless movement. She was relieved that this was not what she heard when she checked. Instead, there was merely a very faint heartbeat, accompanied by the gentle sound of the egg fluid as it floated around inside.
"The egg seems healthy. I doubt it'll be hatching soon. We should be able to make it back to the stronghold today with little trouble if we don't get attacked." Dunesweep said as they finished eating their breakfast of dried cow meat.
"We ought to head out fast, then." her mate replied as he glanced outside uneasily, "We'll be easy to spot when the sun's come up."
Following Gritclaw's advice, they left the cave almost as soon as they'd finished their meager meal. By the time they were within sight of the Sand Stronghold the noon sun blazed down from high in the sky.
Fortunately for the returning spies the weather was, for the moment, calm. Had there been a sandstorm they would likely needed to have taken shelter and waited it out. Gritclaw broke into a grin as his imposing home neared, yellow-orange figures weaving in, out and around it. He took a deep breath of the fresh, dry air and laughed,
"It's great to be home! The Night Kingdom was such a dismal place. We've managed to loot a lot from it, but I'd rather not go back..." a shudder passed through him as he recalled what Dunesweep and himself had seen when they'd been with a looting group several nights ago.
Once a grand city teeming with wealth, knowledge and life, after the advent of Darkstalker it was left but a mere shadow. With it's inhabitants fled to an unknown place so suddenly there were few sounds save those of lingering animals. Some random belongings lay scattered in the streets, abandoned in their owner's haste to get away. The houses were cold and empty. The school was a silent shell with not a dragon to wander it's educated halls save the SandWing looters.
Dunesweep quietly agreed with her mate's trepidation. Together they had seen perhaps the most grisly sight in that haunted place, the city's single resident that had not fled. The infamous Prince Arctic the IceWing, known to the spies well from their gathered information, had lain dead upon a flat obsidian stage. Though his corpse was well into decomposition it was clear he had died in a most gruesome way. From whispered rumors here and there it was gathered that his own son Darkstalker had used his animus powers to make his father rip out his own tongue and disembowel himself upon the stage.
'And to think, here in my claws I hold the niece or nephew of that monster. I thank the moons it isn't his own child. At least his sister did not hold the same evil within her.' Dunesweep thought to herself, returning to the present time.
As the entrance of the grand Sand Stronghold came into their view, two burly guards flew out to meet them. They were aged, but tough-looking and dangerous. They were adorned in weathered armor of bronze with deadly sharp spears gripped in both foretalons. Many scars scored their pale tawny scales, evidence of victory in numerous harrowing battles. By their similar looks it could be deduced that they were, in fact, brothers. There were few that lived in the Sand Kingdom who did not know of the legendary Snakebite and Stonegrip.
"Gritclaw and Dunesweep. Was your mission a success?" asked one curtly, his face covered in old scars from many past fights. By the deep gash through the left side of his jaw and missing horn it was evident that this was Stonegrip.
In answer Dunesweep briefly held out the small dark egg before quickly tucking it to her chest again. The guard nodded in approval and continued,
"Good. Come, we shall take you to Queen Scorpion."
----
Flanked by the imposing guards the two spies entered the vast Sand Stronghold. Air rushed past dragons bustling about inside as the quartet made their way to the grand chamber of Queen Scorpion. A few of the civilians muttered to one another about the sight as they went about their daily routines. They knew of Gritclaw and his mate, Dunesweep the SkyWing, formerly known as Cloudsweep. In hushed stories passed from ear to ear the secret history had become rooted in the sands of their home.
It was said that the wayward SkyWing first came to the Sand Kingdom some years ago as an emissary from Queen Carmine of the SkyWings to negotiate relations and trade between the two tribes. As it turned out, Cloudsweep was actually sent to spy on the workings of the Sand Kingdom's military moves. Carmine was attempting to figure out how she could perhaps battle over some land for her own kingdom or defend against any incursions from the SandWings. This was first discovered by Gritclaw, who at the time was an agent of Queen Scorpion that had been trained well in espionage. So that she could have a stake in negotiations, and to keep an eye on the other queen, Scorpion had assigned Gritclaw to work with Cloudsweep and act as an emissary to the SkyWing kingdom.
The pair traveled back and forth from the kingdoms over time as they gathered information. During this period the two had become good friends with one another. Gritclaw was known to be often quiet as his tasks dictated, but he enjoyed how bold and outgoing Cloudsweep could be when they were temporarily free from their duties at parties and other gatherings. She confessed to him over time that she didn't enjoy living and working with her queen as much as she had once thought she would. Cloudsweep found many of the other SkyWings to be rather haughty and too reserved. This was especially true for the higher-ranking ones she would often have to associate with. She had been hatched to a couple of such ranking. Her father Fletcher was a soldier, known for leading a small but effective troop for quick and deadly missions. Her mother Tigerseye was an advisor to the queen, and although somewhat hopeless with tooth-and-claw fighting was well versed in the subtle combat of court life.
Fletcher had taught Cloudsweep his knowledge of combat from an early age, sure she was destined to be a great warrior. Tigerseye meanwhile gave her daughter insight into subtler ways of harming others and drawing information from them. As she approached adulthood she had been honed into a useful weapon indeed, and Queen Carmine took note of this. When Fletcher was killed during an ambush she'd considered replacing him with his daughter. But Carmine was patient. She could see there would be a better and stealthier use for Cloudsweep, who was chosen to be a spy.
She hid it well, but Cloudsweep was not as loyal to her queen as she may have seemed. Even as a dragonet she'd held a dislike for the conniving, selfish ruler who seemed to care little about her own subjects. The way her life was restricted by the many rules of her position did not help either. She'd always been a restless sort, and more than once had wanted to yell at the queen's boring council members to just let her have fun and freedom. During her trips to the Sand Kingdom her dislike for the queen and her ways was merely strengthened.
The SandWings seemed a more carefree tribe, though their military was known for it's rigid discipline and uniformity. They seemed to lack the many stifling formalities and procedures Cloudsweep had to endure in the Sky kingdom. She rather enjoyed being able to joke around and fly through the gusts of desert winds as she pleased whenever she visited without being yelled at to stop goofing off and act like her rank decreed. Upon befriending Gritclaw she began to wonder to herself if she really ought to keep working for Queen Carmine. It was this doubt that lead to Gritclaw eventually uncovering her identity as a spy. Unwilling to put his friend in danger, and hearing her confess her diminishing loyalty, Gritclaw instead suggested to Queen Scorpion that she become a double agent working for the benefit of the SandWings.
Scorpion consented after some discussion, but warned Cloudsweep of severe and brutal punishment should she betray them. From this time onwards Cloudsweep's reports to Carmine were mostly inaccurate, lies woven with a few truths. Meanwhile she began assisting Gritclaw in gathering information on the royal SkyWing court. A plot had formed in Queen Scorpion's mind over some time concerning the SkyWing queen. The revelation that Carmine had been spying on her affairs merely strengthened her resolve.
----
Within Scorpion's royal chamber a plan was woven to assassinate the resplendent and selfish Queen Carmine. The way her death would be delivered was simple enough; a dragonbite viper taken from the Sand Kingdom's own territory. The trouble was finding a way to get it into the queen's chamber at the right time and in the right way. In this Cloudsweep proved immensely useful, for she had much knowledge of the workings within Carmine's court and the layout of her chamber. Over several months the plan was built and a time chosen to strike. After a terrible massacre during a visit to the SeaWing kingdom the SkyWings were primarily focused on the movements of their ocean-dwelling neighbors. It was then that Queen Scorpion gave the order for Cloudsweep to strike and truly test where her loyalties lay.
At first she was to be sent on the mission alone so as not to risk the loss of Gritclaw or the possibility of SkyWing retaliation against the SandWings. Gritclaw convinced his queen otherwise, stating he should be there to keep an eye on Cloudsweep and keep watch for any dragons that could find them before they succeeded.
The SandWing queen agreed thanks to her lingering skepticism of the SkyWing spy in her employ. In truth, Gritclaw had insisted on coming because the bond he and Cloudsweep shared had strengthened into love. Neither of them wanted to be separated from one another in this dangerous task. The mission occurred in the dark of night, with only one of the three moons shining above for light.
All went as planned until the two spies were within the queen's chamber; Cloudsweep had stumbled as she tried to navigate the pile of plundered gold upon which Queen Carmine slept. She almost dropped the box containing the deadly dragonbite viper in the process, but did make a bit of noise as she righted herself. This sound unfortunately alerted a lone guard passing close by the chamber door on his way home from a last-minute shift. He came running to see Cloudsweep beside the slumbering queen, carefully opening a box facing towards her sleeping form. Gritclaw remained hidden behind a nearby pillar and so was not spotted in turn. Realizing that something was wrong the guard gave a mighty yell;
"HELP! SOMEONE IS TRYING TO HURT THE QUEEN!"
This sudden loud noise made Cloudsweep yelp and drop the box, before quickly turning and launching away from the pile of gold. Fortunately for her the agitated snake that slithered out of it's small prison did not target the fleeing spy. Instead, it lunged for the enormous dragoness stirring upon her bed of coins. Queen Carmine gave a terrible thunderous roar of pain as she reared up in shock. She violently shook off the serpent from her foreleg and stomped upon it, but it was too late. It's black venom was spreading like a raging wildfire through her veins. Realizing with outrage she was about to die, Carmine whipped her head around for the culprit. Her sharp amber eyes found the fleeing form of Cloudsweep and she hissed out a single word with her failing breath, full of as much sinister venom as that which had spelled her doom.
"Traitor..."
At this point there was much yelling coming from outside accompanied by flapping wings and clinking weaponry. The guard who had come upon the scene recognized Cloudsweep as she slipped out one of the narrow windows on the chamber's side wall, having smashed the painted glass to get through. Gritclaw had exited before her from the skylight when he heard the guard running, aware that if he was seen it could spell disaster for his tribe. He'd given a warning look to Cloudsweep, but she'd shaken her head and remained. She would not give up her chance to kill the spiteful dragoness who had ruled her tribe for far too long.
In the present chaos the guard rushed up to check his queen, who lay sagging upon her treasure. Her breath became weak very rapidly. By the time the guard had reached her, Queen Carmine was dead. At this point a large group of SkyWing soldiers had come swooping into the chamber to protect their queen. There was a quiet gasp as they focused on her still form.
"Who... who did this?" asked one voice hesitantly, curling into outrage.
The guard beside the queen's body turned his head to peer through the smashed window. Shards of it's colorful pane lay on the stone floor, some stained crimson. Bloody talonprints were evident on the windowsill. His talons clenched the coins beneath him as he began to seethe in anger at his failure. He turned to the momentarily flabbergasted crowd before him and boomed:
"CLOUDSWEEP HAS KILLED THE QUEEN WITH A TREACHEROUS POISON!," he paused and pointed to the smashed window for evidence.
Following his directions, half of the group split off in the window's exiting direction to search for the traitorous Cloudsweep. Many of them would recognize her on sight, given her position and workings for the tribe. Though the soldiers were fast flyers their delay had cost them their target. Gritclaw and Cloudsweep were extremely quick through the air when they needed to be, and at that moment they were pushing their wings to the brink as they made their escape.
----
Eventually, after flying for almost a full day the pair of spies arrived safely back at the SandWing Stronghold to report the outcome of their mission. Queen Scorpion was most pleased indeed, for not only had they succeeded in their assassination, but the SkyWings for now would not suspect the SandWings had a talon in it. There remained a lingering problem to be solved however. Word spread rapidly among the Sky Kingdom that Cloudsweep had betrayed her tribe and killed the queen. She'd been branded as an exile, to be killed on sight if she entered the Sky Kingdom's borders. She could never return to her home.
As a reward for her proven loyalty to the SandWings Queen Scorpion gave the SkyWing residence within her kingdom as a member of her tribe. Cloudsweep was content with this, though somewhat sad that she'd never be able to see her family members again. It stung her to think how ashamed of her they must be, but she shook it off. The next day she changed her name to Dunesweep both to lower rumors and as a final marking of her cutting ties with her old tribe. Scorpion announced her inclusion to the SandWing tribe the same day, cementing her decision.
Though it took time, eventually some of the other members of the tribe acknowledged Dunesweep with a begrudging respect. They knew she had done much and given much for a tribe that was not originally her own. Others remained adverse to her presence, murmuring that no dragon who'd betrayed their own tribe could be trusted. This diminished somewhat after the wedding of Gritclaw and Dunesweep. The ceremony that sealed their love also bound her more closely to the SandWing tribe.
For some months after the assassination the spies were permitted to deal with tasks only within the SandWing kingdom. Queen Scorpion did not want to risk anything while the SkyWings remained embroiled in chaos as they tried to appoint a new queen. Some time after their new queen, Queen Saffron, took the SkyWing throne negotiations once again opened between the SandWings and SkyWings. Though their new political alliance was a cautious one, Scorpion was satisfied that it was now safe to send her two spies back into the fray. Saffron herself was smart, but hesitant. Her lack of decisiveness reassured Scorpion that she would not be a threat for the time being.
For a few years afterwards things were quiet for the SandWing tribe barring minor border skirmishes. Despite the IceWing-NightWing war that continued to rage nearby it caused them no trouble. Queen Scorpion even profited from it; she allowed them to battle within her territory in exchange for treasure and supplies, so long as they stayed away from populated areas. Just in case, she made sure that her two spies kept an ear out for any danger that could come their way.
It was through Dunesweep and Gritclaw that she first learned of the stirrings of power within the Night Kingdom. The son of the infamous couple who had begun the IceWing-NightWing war had been revealed as an animus. To add to this he could supposedly read minds and see into the future. Scorpion had been considering making a pass at the NightWing queen at this time; she was aged, and her growing paranoia made her weak in Scorpion's eyes. But the news of Darkstalker made her wary. She learned too of his sister, Whiteout, but she apparently did not possess any powers and was considered a harmless oddity. Darkstalker on the other talon could prove to be a very real threat indeed.
Time continued to pass like this for a while. The war went on, and the SeaWing animus known as Fathom had come to the Night Kingdom to teach Darkstalker to be careful with his powers. Now and then the two animus dragons made Scorpion think of the animus her own tribe had once had, many years ago. Jerboa had made several useful things with her magic without showing signs of turning evil. In fact, Scorpion thought she'd been a bit soft. But she'd run away and likely died out in the desert.
Whenever Scorpion heard word concerning animus dragons since the SeaWing Massacre they always seemed to be spoken of with slight fear. She acknowledged this fear to be justified in the case of Darkstalker. He used his powers for many things, somewhat frivolously and without caution. He began working for Queen Vigilance, using his magic in the war to terrible effect. As time went on it was even rumored he enchanted things to manipulate his friends and enemies. When information concerning him took a turn for the grim Scorpion pulled out her spies from the Night Kingdom. Something terrible was going to happen there soon. From all she'd gathered about Darkstalker, she was sure. A dragon with so much power at their clawtips combined with a personality like his could spell only doom in the end.
The SandWing queen's suspicions were proven correct in the events of one terrible night. Word spread rapidly that Darkstalker had lost his mind, making his father kill himself as a grand demonstration for his plans to kill the NighWing queen and become king of the NightWings. This display of such terrible power and insanity had frightened the NightWings so badly that they had fled their own ancient city in droves to places unknown. For a few months the rest of Pyrrhia was in a state of fearful vigilance, waiting to defend themselves should Darkstalker turn on their kingdom next. But fortunately for them all he seemed to have somehow vanished shortly after the NightWing exodus.
When they were comfortable that the animus was no longer around to hunt them down the IceWings declared the war between their tribes to be over in their favor. Queen Diamond decreed that as a result of their victory, any NightWing seen near or within the Ice Kingdom would be killed on sight. Unfortunately the hatred fed by the long war would continue to linger for many decades after it's conclusion.
Meanwhile Queen Scorpion, ever shrewd, took advantage of the fear surrounding the abandoned Night Kingdom. She gradually sent in groups of soldiers to loot what valuables they could and add them to her own royal treasury. As they were nearest to the Night City and the IceWings were blocked from entering by Darkstalker's lingering magic barrier the SandWings had virtually no competition as they stole without pause for weeks.
As her wealth grew Scorpion began to think on adding to the might of her tribe. It was through all she had learned through the past years of the NightWings and their terrible animus that she formed a grand plan. A mission, for two of her best spies, to steal a dragon egg and bring animus blood to serve the SandWing Tribe once more.
So it went that the offspring of exiled artists was spirited away to distant deserts in the break of dawn, and a forgotten chapter of Pyrrhia's history began to unfold...
==Chapter 1==
A few weeks after Gritclaw and Dunesweep's fateful return, a single moon waxed bright above the quiet Sand Stronghold. Most of it's denizens were sleeping in their homes after a long day of work in the desert sun. Curled up with their parents were hatchlings, snoozing contently after gleefully rollicking around with their fellows all day. Yet never was the entire population asleep. Stationed outside the walls, or tromping on patrol paths, were many soldiers and scouts. They remained vigilant in the cool night as they dutifully watched for threats to their kingdom. While some may have given the impression of weakness as they dozed or yawned, any enemy dragon that tried to attack would be foolish indeed. The lookouts were the venom-filled fangs of the slumbering Sand Kingdom; swift and deadly if provoked. But this night was fortuitous, for no danger would be troubling them. Instead this night was one that heralded new life for the SandWing Tribe, even if that life was a little different to the norm...
Within the SandWing hatchery a sleepy dragoness was checking and re-checking several nests. The eggs that lay within were orphans, many due to parents that had died in battle or sickness. Sand Kingdom law dictated that orphaned eggs be cared for and monitored in a series of chambers allocated for the specific purpose of their safety and nurturing. Four dragonesses known as broodmothers were staffed to watch over the clutches and keep them healthy. Each one was chosen for the job because of experience with raising eggs and hatchlings; many were widows who had lost their mates and children. This often meant they had no desire to have any more eggs of their own. But the tribe needed their skill and experience, so they were assigned as the guardians of parentless offspring.
The hatchery itself was guarded on the outside by a small squadron who rotated daily. While it was unlikely any enemy tribes would have the audacity to attack the eggs Queen Scorpion was adamant they not be left vulnerable. More common than the threat of enemy dragons were scavenging native wildlife. Jackals, desert hawks and other predators would make off with a dragon egg if given the chance. The guards ensured the creatures wouldn't be able to snatch them from under their snouts. Some enjoyed the would-be thieves as odd snacks to break the monotony of standing watch.
Inside the hatchery there would be two of the four broodmothers awake to monitor their charges. One of these, a slim pale yellow dragoness named Sunbeetle, was incredibly bored. There hadn't been any hatchings for over a week. For the past while her job had been nothing more than walking around the cluster of chambers and fussing over silent nests. What Sunbeetle most enjoyed about being a broodmother was watching new lives being born before her. It always warmed her heart to see the hatchlings as they soldiered on through their first challenge of breaking their eggshell and emerging into the world. No matter how harsh times were, these hatchings reminded Sunbeetle that new hope was always being born. Another bonus was that she often got to name the little boys or girls. Sometimes, though, this would lead to arguments with her co-worker over who's name was better for the hatchling.
Presently the other broodmother awake was a battle-scarred and rough-looking dragoness with scales the color of shadowed sand. She was an intimidating sight to behold for those who didn't know her. Her skin was lacerated with old cuts, gashes and bites. Her rear right leg was twisted and mangled, the result of an improperly healed shattered bone. Most of her face was pockmarked, though her eyes were mercifully both functional. The most shocking of her old wounds were not on her snout, however. Where both of her mighty wings should have been were only scarred stumps rising from her shoulders. She'd lost them from an IceWing interrogation long ago, courtesy of frostbreath.
Yet despite her appearance, the dragoness known as Sidewinder had a soft spot for little ones. After being dismissed due to her inability to fly she'd had children of her own with a fellow soldier. Over the years her hatchlings grew up and her mate passed on. Wanting to have a better purpose in her tribe, Sidewinder applied to become a broodmother and ensure the safety of future generations. Since being accepted she had done her best to care for the lives that had no family left to love them. As the eldest of the four broodmothers Sidewinder was often the one looked to for guidance by her peers. As she would be again on this moonlit night, for one egg in particular was about to hatch...
A long yawn echoed from one corner of the hatchery. Sunbeetle was doing her rounds along the northern chambers as she did almost every day. It was quiet tonight; the only sounds she could hear were the clicks of her own talons on the floor and the whistling breeze coming in from the open windows. Her head jerked up at a sudden noise; after a half-second Sunbeetle relaxed and rolled her eyes. It wasn't any new excitement to break her from the stifling boredom, just a guard snapping up an unfortunate animal for a midnight snack. Her own stomach was silent, but she took a moment to have a quick bite of her own regardless. Strapped along Sunbeetle's side was a brown jackal-leather pouch containing an assortment of dried meats and large insects for her to munch on between meals. Stopping at one of the nests beside her, she pulled out an alarmingly sized dried centipede and crunched on it idly.
The egg in this particular nest stood out from the others in the room. It was no shade of brown, yellow, white or orange like the SandWing eggs nearby. Instead the shell of this egg was deep, inky black, speckled with glimmering white spots. It was difficult to see in the dark thanks to it's color. Sunbeetle watched the small oval expectantly, smiling to herself. She began speaking to the egg, or rather the hatchling inside. She didn't know if it could understand her, but in some cases sound had been known to evoke a response from dragon eggs. Whatever was in there was listening, at least.
"Still haven't hatched yet, huh? Don't worry, we'll be ready when you do. I've made sure to read about NightWing egg cycles. I think you'll be hatching at night, but I'm not sure," Sunbeetle paused to munch on her snack quietly before continuing, "It'll be good if you do, cause it's nice and cool at night."
A sudden sneeze issued from Sunbeetle as she was about to take another bite of the centipede. She shook her head in annoyance, wrinkling her nose.
"Ugh, the dust doesn't vanish in the night though," she laughed to herself, moving towards a nearby closed window, "I wish it did; darn stuff makes me sneeze."
The wooden doors of the small window gave a low creak as they were pulled open to let in fresh air. The slight gusts dispersed the gathered dust, much to Sunbeetle's satisfaction. When she turned back to the egg, however, her face morphed into shock and she dropped her unfinished snack.
A shaft of moonlight from outside had fallen upon the NightWing egg, covering it in a soft silver light. But that wasn't what had shocked Sunbeetle. Instead it was the egg's shell that gave her cause for concern. Suddenly, the shell had changed from white-speckled black to a shining silver not unlike the moonlight streaming through the window. Sunbeetle began to panic, hopping about and looking around frantically.
"Oh, three moons! I never read or heard anything about this... what if it's sick? If I messed up the egg, Queen Scorpion will kill me," she took a deep breath for calm, trying to stop pacing as her tail whipped about, "Okay, okay, calm down. First rule, if something unknown happens, listen..."
The broodmother ducked her head close to the silvery egg, closing her eyes and concentrating. She could hear the usual thump, thump, thump rhythm of a healthy hatchling heart inside. That in itself gave Sunbeetle a bit of relief, and she let out a whoosh of breath she'd been holding. Other sounds accompanying the heartbeat made her perk up in worry again. The tell-tale swish-swish, and quick tap-tap-tap indicating a baby dragon soon to hatch were echoing inside the shell.
"Oh, cripes! It's gonna hatch!" Sunbeetle whispered to herself, partially in excitement and partially in fear.
She abruptly raised her head from the now shifting egg and called out into the chamber at the top of her lungs:
"Sidewinder! It's hatching, and something weird's going on!"
About ten seconds passed with no response and Sunbeetle twisting her tail in her foreclaws in worry. Then, a steady thumping on the ground approached her. Sidewinder had come running on her powerful legs from the southern chamber upon hearing her co-worker's frantic yell. Thanks to years of having to run to get anywhere she was one of the fastest dragons in the tribe on land, and this was no exception.
The elder broodmother came to a halt beside the nest, whipping her head from the egg to Sunbeetle. Her features narrowed, and she snorted before assuming an authoritative stance. Since her days in the army she was used to taking command whenever she was needed and this had served her well in the hatchery.
"Hmm, did you do something to the egg? From all I know about NightWing life cycles I haven't heard anything about their shells turning silver."
Sunbeetle shook her head frantically, "No! I didn't touch it; I just turned around after opening the window and it was like this!"
She gestured to the window with an outstretched talon; Sidewinder narrowed her eyes briefly before focusing them on the NightWing egg.
"Okay, well, we can worry about that later. The important thing is the egg is still alive, and it's hatching," the elder dragoness nodded and stepped closer to the nest, "I'll stay and help you with this one. I've never hatched a NightWing egg, but damn it if I haven't helped bring hundreds of SandWings into the world. I'll do my best to make sure she comes out all right."
"She?" Sunbeetle inquired with surprise, perking her head up from checking the egg.
"Yes. If you listen very closely, and carefully, you can discern whether the hatchling will be male or female shortly before it hatches. It takes some experience, I might teach you someday, but enough of that for now." Sidewinder shook her head dismissively, turning back to the egg, "Be silent, and watch."
As if spurred on by the conversation nearby, the NightWing egg was now rocking back and forth inside the small nest of straw and feathers. The single moon hovering in the night sky outside seemed to reflect it's light off the shell as it moved.
For a moment, Sunbeetle broke the quiet, unable to keep from wondering, "I wonder what name we'll give you?"
A sudden loud crack split the cool night air, followed by a short, sharp cry.
----
Curled inside the shell of the only home she'd ever known, was the hatching baby dragon that the two broodmothers were fussing over. She'd been tucked away cozily for a long time now. The fluid encasing her was warm and kept her nourished. Her senses developed slowly as she grew, but most of the time she silently dozed in a semi-conscious state. The sharpest of her senses was hearing; she could pick up noises from outside, though she often didn't know what they meant. Some of the earliest sounds she heard came from a voice. It belonged to someone, the hatchling knew, and that someone was called mother.
It made the hatchling calm to hear mother's voice. It was a sweet, gentle sound that flowed around her egg like a river of protection. She felt a happiness inside her when she was near mother, for though she did not know what it meant yet, she was loved. The second voice the hatchling heard was distinctly deeper than mother's, though no less soothing. It had a different shape to mother's, coming in rolls and clusters like silent thunder. Yet the hatchling was not afraid, for she knew this voice came from father. Father's voice joined with mother's to enfold the hatchling with a great harmony and peace. It enfolded two others, as well; two beings just like her, growing inside their own shells and their own life-giving liquid. Yet the hatchling could sense that they were not the same as she. Both physically, and mentally, they were different, but they were like mother and father. They too were family; her siblings.
As her faint thoughts floated about they weren't expressed in words, but rather primal emotions and ancient memories. Somehow, she could recognize a tiny bit of the world moving around outside her. It gave her comfort and fostered an eagerness to join that world that grew just as her body did.
Time passed for a while in the company of these known beings. Yet, one day, the hatchling found herself taken to someplace else. Someone had picked her up from wherever she was and flown away. The hatchling didn't recognize the motions of the one grasping her shell. They belonged to someone new and unknown. A voice had attached to this someone shortly after they'd taken her.
It was unlike mother or father in several ways. The voice was female, like mother, but sharper, quicker. The tone and flow was also quite different. The voice swirled around the hatchling's egg before being snatched away in the wind as quickly as it had arrived. A second strange voice joined the first; deep, rough and male. Yet this voice was quieter and less jarring to the hatchling. The someone it belonged to didn't move quite as quickly as his companion.
The pair of strangers spoke often together for some time afterwards. The hatchling sensed they meant her no harm, and so slipped into a calmer and deeper rest for a while. The impressions that came to her then were faint; she arrived at a place distinctly warmer than where she had been. She passed through somewhere with a great tangle of voices before eventually coming to rest in a new nesting spot. From then on the hatchling heard only four voices near her, none of them known to her at first but all of good intention. As she thought in her primitive way about all these confusing things, the desire to learn of what was outside only increased. Her body grew, too, and eventually the confines of her shell became cramped and the nourishing egg-fluid sparse. The hatchling wanted to escape, but it wasn't until the light of one of Pyrrhia's moons shone into her egg that she truly tried.
The glowing silver rays had flooded into her small space suddenly and left a strange song resonating inside her heart that made her shiver. The song promised a gift to help her in the perilous outside world. It wasn't as safe, she knew, as her egg, but it held wonders she couldn't wait to experience. The hatchling accepted the song's promise and began to move inside her shell, pushing at it with what little strength she had. The song that granted her power also drew her to break out and share it with those who needed protecting. Two familiar voices began to respond in her attempts and it encouraged her to keep trying.
One sentence was heard with sudden clarity, from the softer voice; "I wonder what name we'll give you?"
'Name!'
With her first articulate thought, the hatchling pushed with all her might and at last broke from the shell that had cradled her for so long. The singing moonlight glowed upon her glistening dark scales, and she blinked her blue eyes at the sudden brightness before widening them and looking around. For the first time in her short life, she could see.
"Oh, look at her! She's so cute!" gushed the soft voice the hatchling had known; she moved her eyes, and saw that it belonged to a towering yellow dragoness that looked quite different to herself.
"Hmph, all hatchlings are adorable. NightWings are no different." responded the rougher voice the hatchling knew. It's owner was stockier and darker than her companion.
The hatchling, though she was a hybrid, did indeed look just like a NightWing. Her scales were a mix of black-gray with a hint of dark blue. Her underbelly and the membranes of her wings were a lighter gray similar to the silver of her broken eggshell. Her tiny horns and the spines running down her back were white as snow, while her inquisitive eyes were navy blue. A line of lighter gray ran along each side of her face, together with her horns and spines a small reminder of the IceWing blood in her veins.
The darker dragoness bent her head down to the hatchling and soothed, "There there, now, hello little one! I'm your auntie Sidewinder," she paused, pointing at the paler, thinner dragoness, "and this is your auntie Sunbeetle. We're going to take care of you, don't worry."
The hatchling blinked her little eyes at the pair, then moved her snout in her first smile. She didn't really understand what they were saying, but could see they would care for her like mother and father would have.
Sunbeetle cooed at the baby dragon, placing her head in her foretalons and leaning on the edge of the nest, "Awww, look! She's smiling at us!"
"Speaking of which, we really ought to give "she" a name." mumbled Sidewinder, shifting her dark eyes for a moment to peer at the eggshell fragments littering the nest. One small reflective piece was stuck to the hatchling's head in a jaunty manner. The combination of silver on deep black scales reminded the old dragoness of something.
"How about Marble?" she suggested, thinking of the grand stone used for carving intricate statues or great structures. Though not used in the Sand Kingdom, she knew it had been used in the Night City before it's abandonment.
Sunbeetle wrinkled her snout, preparing to argue, but relented upon hearing the hatchling squeak at the name, "Yeah, that sounds fitting. At least she'll have a piece of her heritage in her name, if nothing else besides her scales."
The newly dubbed Marble squeaked again, before beginning to wobble about on the nest's floor as she took a few steps. She nudged at a few eggshell fragments, curious at how they shimmered as they moved. She stopped as a new sensation gripped her abdomen, or stomach to be precise. It was a faintly gnawing but insistent feeling that prodded at her. Her instincts told her it meant hunger; she needed food to give her energy for moving around.
To communicate the predicament to her aunts, Marble began to squeak repeatedly, opening and closing her mouth. Sidewinder smiled, knowing the urgent sounds well.
"She's hungry, hah," the elder broodmother turned to gesture at Sunbeetle's snack pouch, "Got anything in there that Marble might eat? NightWing diets are similar to ours, though they fare better on meat than insects."
Sunbeetle nodded and reached into her pack, "Sure, I think I have some camel jerky in here somewhere..."
She rifled around for a moment before triumphantly pulling out a strip of dried meat. Knowing Marble wouldn't be able to chew such a tough food yet, Sunbeetle began to chew it up with her teeth before carefully depositing it in a small pile near the hungry hatchling.
Marble stopped her barrage of squeaks as a delicious new scent hit her nose that came from the chewed meat. Her little stomach made a grumbling sound and her mouth salivated. This was food, and it would make her strong.
Without any sense of etiquette whatsoever Marble dove upon the pile of meat and began devouring it ravenously. Within a minute it had vanished as if it hadn't been there in the first place. Marble gave a burp, the gnawing hunger having been sated for the time being. She lay down on the soft floor of the nest, fluttering her fragile wings as she curled up. Lethargy began to overtake her similarly to when she'd been inside her egg. Thanks to her full belly and the exertion of hatching Marble was ready to sleep. The song of the moonlight was fading now, but it's gift remained forever with her. It was dormant for now, but soon the power would awaken in her veins ready to be used as a guide for the future.
The two broodmothers watching over the dark hatchling whispered to one another as the hours passed, wondering at the birth of this odd new addition to the SandWing Tribe. They stayed sitting at the nest until dawn came, now and then doing a quick pass to check if any other eggs hatched. No others inside the hatchery would be hatching for a few days, but further away within the Sand Fortress, two mournful parents had just experienced the hatching of their own clutch.
----
Earlier in the night, before the hatching of the egg taken from far away, other hatchlings were getting ready to break out themselves. In the upper segments of the Sand Stronghold were a number of homes. All of these homes were dark and quiet, save one. Yellow candles of beeswax gave a warm glow from inside the sandstone abode of Gritclaw and Dunesweep.
Normally both occupants of the small but tasteful rooms would be fast asleep at this hour when not off on missions. But tonight was an exception, for tonight was when their eggs would hatch. Dunesweep had known since listening that morning that it would be under the blanket of blackness and stars that her children would enter the big, wide, wonderful world known as Pyrrhia. Most SandWing eggs hatched under the scorching daytime sun but a small number did hatch in the cooler evenings. Given that the offspring of Gritclaw and Dunesweep were of mixed tribe descendance, neither were really certain the eggs would follow standard SandWing hatching patterns.
The proud parents weren't so much proud at that moment as anxious. Gritclaw had been pacing back and forth in the nest room ever since the sun set. He only paused for water and to fuss over the nest. He didn't eat, for he felt that if he did he might throw up. Despite having faced many dangers over his lifetime of espionage, none of it had prepared Gritclaw for the responsibility of parenthood. The three precious lives inside the eggs were counting on him and Dunesweep to grow them into their own destinies.
There was a brief pause in the click-clack of his claws on the stone floor as he grabbed a glass of water from a wooden table, one of the few furniture items in the nest room. All it contained were drawers for hatchling supplies, a small table near a window against the wall, and a large, soft bedding stuffed with goose-down made for the hatchlings when they arrived. Close to the bedding was the room's namesake. It was a large nest traditionally woven of sturdy twigs, feathers and covered at it's base with a wool blanket, containing a clutch of three eggs. The eggshells themselves were a mix of brilliant red, fiery orange and tawny yellows.
Curled near the eggs was their mother Dunesweep. Unlike her mate, who's restless energy never seemed to cease, she was much stiller. Dunesweep had sealed away her worries and fears since several hours previous. She could feel them, even now, twisting and writhing, pushing, screaming to get out. But she couldn't let them. For the sake of her mate, and her own fragile, foolish hopes, Dunesweep had to put on the mask of calm.
The anxiety she felt was different to Gritclaw's. The worries of being a new parent were merely the background of more terrible portents. Dunesweep was listening, as she'd been listening for all the hours since she awoke that day and the day before. She felt as though, in a way, she already knew her children. Could see their life force as it thumped and swished and moved beneath the shells.
'Or... the lack of it.'
Once more that little thought poked at her mind, seeking to unravel it. Dunesweep held firm and curled her tail a little tighter around the clutch. Since the previous day she'd known something was wrong. Her clutch had been healthy until now and showing signs of imminent hatching. Two of the eggs remained like this, but one... was disconcertingly quieter. There was no sound of the egg fluid moving within or the hatchling inside trying to break out. It's faint heartbeat remained, but even that seemed to be faltering.
The signs were clear. Dunesweep knew well what they meant from all she'd learned from the broodmothers.
'It was foolish of me to think it would all go perfectly. Hybrid clutches don't always turn out properly. But maybe...'
She sighed, turning her creased yellow eyes once more to look at the weakening egg. It's shell was creamy yellow mixed with tawny brown, almost like a proper SandWing egg. One giveaway of it's difference was the fact the shell had a smooth SkyWing texture rather than that of a rougher SandWing shell. The tiny baby dragon inside was still. Unlike it's siblings, who were diligently pecking away at their shell prisons, this one simply floated without stirring. Dunesweep didn't want to say it out loud or even think it to herself. The news would break Gritclaw's heart as it was already breaking hers.
'The baby is dying. There's nothing I can do.'
Dunesweep steadied her grip on the torrent of emotions threatening to burst through her mouth in a terrible roar. Anger, sadness, resentment, it all came to the fact that she was helpless to do anything at all. The whims of nature were to be trifled with by no mortal beings. Not even dragons.
*crack*
With the potency of a bolt of lightning the sound jolted Dunesweep from her melancholy. Gritclaw had heard it too as it fractured the stifling silence of the room. He'd come running to the nest clumsily, almost dropping the small pouch he'd snatched from the supply drawers. A smile slowly grew over his muzzle to replace the wrinkled frown he'd been wearing for so long. Gritclaw was focused on one of the three eggs, which had a shell reminiscent of amber tree sap. It was rocking back and forth quite vigorously in the nest. A long crack had broken the smooth surface and was growing fast.
Another of the eggs, shell red like the sunset, began to rock about and bump into the amber egg. Jagged lines were spiderwebbing quicker and quicker along it's shell. Every knock with the lighter egg seemed to help both of them break free more easily.
Gritclaw laughed to himself quietly as he watched, 'Not even hatched yet, and they're working together. Or bickering...'
His bright smile slowly faded as his gaze fell to the third egg. It hadn't stirred at all yet. The hatchling inside didn't even seem to be moving.
"Dunesweep?"
The soon-to-be mother dragoness shut her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw at the simple question. As the clamor of breaking shells grew louder, the third hearbeat grew slower. In the chaotic hatching a tremendous smashing sound rocked the nest. Dunesweep listened.
A loud squeak came from the nest, now covered in colorful eggshell. The lonely life inside the unhatched egg had stopped it's heartbeat. Amongst the piercing noise of the two rambunctious hatchlings as they explored their new world, their lost sibling was like an empty hole in a freshly-woven tapestry.
The pair of hatchlings were wrestling on the nest floor innocent to the plight of their parents. One had scales ranging from tawny brown to a light amber, his tiny wings somewhat large for his frame, perhaps a sign of SkyWing inheritance. His face, though not yet developed fully by age, seemed to suggest a SandWing visage. At the end of his tail was the blunt stinger of a hatchling SandWing.
The other had colorful scales reminiscent of his mother with bright mixes of orange and crimson. His wings were smaller than his sibling's though they seemed sturdier. His build was subtly bulkier as well, though he seemed a bit clumsier than his sibling as they wrestled on the nest-floor. His small, sharper features were suggestive of SkyWing influence. Like his sibling he too had a developing stinger on the end of his tail.
The two were brothers and always would be from that moment onwards. As they grew older they would scarcely remember there even existed a third egg in their clutch. When such tragedies of nature befell dragon parents they would typically not linger on it for long. In their primal days they were tough, practical creatures, and some of that long-ago survival sense lingered still.
Dunesweep's eyes vacantly watched her two sons as they enjoyed their first moments of true life. She spoke in a hollow, dead voice to her mate as he stared at the unhatched egg with pain in his black eyes.
"The last egg, it's..." she paused and shook her head sharply, "The baby inside is dead, Gritclaw. We got lucky as it is with these two. You knew as well as I did that this was a possibility. I mourn our loss, but thank the moons above that two of our children survived."
She hated how bland it sounded, as though she'd just mentioned a cactus fruit that'd gone rotten. Dunesweep closed her eyes and let her painful grief burn away inside her until nothing was left but ash. There would be time to mourn later at their offspring's funeral rites.
Something bumped against one of her forelegs, reminding her that there were still two hungry mouths that depended on her now. Gritclaw wordlessly moved beside her and nuzzled his head with hers comfortingly. He looked down upon the colorful pair of tangled siblings as they squeaked with wide mouths for food. Gently, he separated them and reached into the supply pouch he held in one foretalon. At the talons of each hatchling he placed a soft, juicy brown grub. Plump larvae of tatterwing moths were often kept around the Sand Kingdom as food for baby dragons due to their soft texture and nourishing flesh.
While the brothers eagerly gobbled down their first meals Dunesweep suggested in a soft voice,
"We should give them names, don't you think?"
Gritclaw nodded his agreement and pointed to the amber-tawny hatchling nearest to him, "I'll name this one." he stepped away from his mate and leaned down towards his son, a small smile growing on his snout.
"Hello there, I'm your dad! Your name will be Adder, because you'll be as quick and smart as a snake when you grow up. You'll be faster than the rest, I'm sure of it. "
Dunesweep nodded in approval, nudging the newly-named Adder softly with her snout in affection. She turned her head to the right and peered at the red hatchling, who was still finishing his plump meal.
"I'm your mother, little one." Dunesweep said softly to him, "The name you shall have is one from my old home. Torque, that is who you are, my son. You'll burn as brightly as any of those stars up there, I promise."
Though the loss of one of their children still weighed heavy upon their minds the new parents shared an ember of hope between them. Their sons would likely face hardships as they grew, but they would grow with great destinies ahead of them in the SandWing tribe. Intruding on this shared hope, a passing feeling bothered Dunesweep for a moment; it was as though something had caused a ripple in the unknowable and infinite seas of time. As though someone had walked over her grave, though she had not yet been lain to rest.
'Melodramatic thinking, but I can't help but feel like these two might not be as rooted here as I hope... hmm.' she rolled her eyes, 'NightWing superstition is getting to me I suppose.'
Dismissing the odd notion with a shake of her head, Dunesweep leaned down to nuzzle her two hatchlings, who were now seeking affection instead of food with their small squeaks.
Softly, she murmured in passing something she hoped they might remember, "Torque and Adder, no matter where you go or what you do, never forget who you are."
==Chapter 2==
Years after the fateful night of hatchings a new sunrise was spreading across the great island of Pyrrhia. The vast dunes of the Sand Kingdom would soon yield their coolness of the night to the sun's scorching onslaught. Nocturnal animals slithered into their shaded burrows while their diurnal counterparts began a search for breakfast. Near and within the mighty Sand Stronghold the forms of soldiers could be seen flitting in and out, a changing of the guard to relieve the night watchers who had been on duty since hours before. Inside one of the small living chambers of the sandstone fortress, an older dragonet tossed and turned in her bed of blankets. The sun had already fallen through one of the room's windows and onto her dark scales. As she made another twist, her closed eyes were turned to the outside sky. With a startled yelp, they flew open.
Marble, as this dragonet was known, stopped herself from tripping over the smooth stone floor. She quickly untangled herself from the myriad of purple blankets she used as a covering as she often did at sunrise. Marble was getting better at waking up less clumsily, but she hadn't yet been able to wake up on the right side of the bed, as the expression went. For some reason she never seemed able to comfortably wake in the mornings. But the daytime routine was hers, as it was for all other denizens of the Sand Kingdom.
Picking up a glass of water on a nearby wooden table, Marble went about her schedule and mused to herself as she often did. Even when she was a hatchling she'd often take time to think. Before meeting her two best and only friends in the wingery thinking took up most of her idle time. Back then it began as basic ideas, such as why there wasn't much water in the desert, or why SandWings had stingers. Of course there had always been the big subject as well. Right from her moment of hatching, she was different. At first, naive, she'd thought she was a SandWing like all the others. Her scales may have been shades of black and grey but she just chalked it up to being sunburned in her egg (Marble covered her face with a foretalon as she recalled her silly innocent theories). One day, when she asked her aunts why she didn't have a stinger like the other hatchlings, they had sat her down and explained.
Hearing that she was born of an entirely different tribe was a blow to her younger self. But as she pieced it all together, she listened to her aunts and accepted this. The knowledge that she was out of place didn't make her fear. Instead, it merely pushed Marble to work harder. She made a vow to herself the day after the revelation. She'd do her best to serve the Sand Kingdom and Queen Scorpion, no matter where her blood had come from, for it was the Sand Kingdom that was her home, and Queen Scorpion kept the kingdom safe. Her aunts had also told her that she would have much to do when she got older and plenty of opportunities to prove herself.
Marble had chosen her path back then. Fueled by those who mocked and hissed at her NightWing heritage, one thing surged through her blood with fiery vigor. She wanted to fight. Already more restless than other hatchlings Marble was an impatient ball of energy in the wingery. Always her mind buzzed with curiosity, her little wings fluttering as she moved from thought to thought. She could hardly stay still during the more boring lessons such as math and literature. But she always looked forward to gliding sessions during which they learned the first steps of how to fly. Catch-the-prey was another favorite activity of hers in the wingery. As they were too little to catch anything larger or fiercer than desert mice the teachers would use masses of a special sugary dough sculpted after various animals. Thanks to the hard-won recipes of the SandWing royal chef, the dough was very solid and didn't melt under the sun. Catch-the-prey was often played around noon. This was because the young wingery dragonets would have burned out all the sugar by the time afternoon naptime rolled around.
That was another activity Marble hadn't liked much in the wingery. Most all the other dragonets slept clustered together, but pushed her away when she tried to join. Often she was still a little too energetic to sleep anyway; sometimes she'd just lie down and flick her tail back-and-forth in thought before a teacher came by to shush her. Although she loved to learn about the world in the wingery's lessons Marble remained lonely for much of her time there. Several of the SandWing dragonets of her class regarded her as strange in comparison to themselves. They knew she was a NightWing, and NightWings were a mysterious, dangerous tribe. All they knew about her was that her egg had been picked up during one of the raids of the Night Kingdom and brought to the desert. As far as they were concerned, she was out of place.
At first the dragonets who disliked her took to pushing and shoving at her as well as calling her names. "Outcast" had been a favorite mocking call. They jeered about how her real parents had abandoned her because they knew she was worthless, and that she didn't belong in the Sand Kingdom. Some dragonets would have kept their heads down and taken the abuse quietly, but not Marble. She learned to respond to bullies with tooth-and-claw aggression. Eventually this deterred the bullies and made them avoid her out of a mix of dislike and fear. The downsides of this were the fact that nicer dragonets would avoid her as well, not to mention she'd been in trouble more than once with her teachers for fighting.
She was better disciplined now. Marble no longer laid a claw on others when she got mad except in scheduled fight practices. She used the philosophy that if she kept walking a straight line and trained her hardest, someday she'd be a general in the SandWing army. All the soldiers at her command would respect her and obey her orders. That was Marble's final goal, to rise in the SandWing army until she could direct it's entire might against any who would threaten her home. It would be the ultimate proof of her loyalty, and maybe, just maybe, even the ones who called her outcast would accept her as a true member of the Sandwing tribe.
----
With a stifled yawn Marble picked up her camel-leather school satchel and walked out of her small but cozy room. It was one of several similar ones within a section of the Sand Stronghold near the hatchery. The rooms functioned as spaces for orphan dragonets and occasional visitors. Most were the same basic layout, but a few larger, fancier spaces were reserved for esteemed guests.
A few other dragonets Marble's age were also walking down the hallway towards the SandWing school. All were orphans just as she was. Unlike her, they were all SandWings. Many of their parents had been soldiers that had died during conflict. Some had lost theirs to illness or poison. As far as Marble knew, she was the only one of them to have been deliberately left behind as an egg.
Most of the other orphans were civil to Marble. They at least shared in one thing, which was that they had all grown up together without parents. None were what Marble could really call friends, though. Most had their own tight-knit groups and didn't speak with her much. As Marble walked down the hallways a few of the orphans moved away from her as a subtle show of dislike. This was more frequent when she reached one of the main pathways to the school and intermingled with SandWing dragonets from elsewhere in the stronghold.
Before long, though, a smile came to Marble's snout as she spied two dragonets heading towards her from one of the adjacent hallways. At a glance, one might have thought them just another pair of SandWings like the many others around them. But this was not true. A longer look would reveal some strange deviations from standard SandWing build. One had scales hued orange-red, a fiery coloring never seen in SandWings. His head had a different shape to a SandWing's as well. Slimmer, sharper, it showed clear resemblance to a SkyWing's skull structure. The rest of his body was built much like a SandWing; sturdy wings and well-muscled limbs. He strode with confidence in his strength, despite the odd glance he got from some of those around him. His eyes, colored brown, were bright and full of happiness.
The other dragonet walking beside him looked a little less conspicuous. His scales were shades of tawny-amber with a suggestion of his brother's bright orange. His wings were oddly proportioned for a SandWing, being rather large and of a slightly different shape. His build was slimmer and more agile than his brother, which showed as he kept ahead of him. His posture was more demurred, but his wily smile and darting yellow eyes hinted at a playful intellect.
The brothers were known as Torque and Adder, respectively. Offspring of parents from different tribes, they were hybrids. As far as anyone knew they were the only ones in the SandWing Tribe. Marble wasn't a SandWing but was seemingly of standard NightWing genes. Like her, Torque and Adder were regarded differently by their fellows. Less so than Marble thanks to their half-SandWing blood, but they still looked odd enough that the other dragonets knew they were different. Like Marble they had been bullied somewhat during their times at the wingery and school. Some dragonets loved to tease Adder about his oversized wings, or Torque about his mix of Skywing features. Unlike Marble they had mostly ignored the jabs and barbs from these spiteful numbers. Torque was something of an optimist no matter how much of a sandstorm might be blowing around them. Through this he would buoy up his brother whenever they were feeling sad. Adder meanwhile was known for his sharp wit and ability to find ways out of a jam. He enjoyed socializing with others and would often try to ease those around him with jokes.
The pair first met Marble years ago in the wingery, on a sunny autumn midday. Many of the young dragonets were racing around with sugar rushing through their veins from a recent session of catch-the-prey. Torque and Adder were no exception, the latter darting around like a dragonfly and fluttering his wings. He was trying to fly, though even with his large wings he was still too young to really do so. Torque merely ran and jumped around while trying to avoid knocking things with his tail. In the chaos of noise and motion, one dark blur stood out. It was Marble as she zipped by all the other dragonets, laughing joyously in exhilaration of the energy at her command. None of the other dragonets paid her any heed except when they needed to move out of her way.
Her first meeting with Torque and Adder couldn't really be described as such. It was more of an impact; after all, Marble had run headfirst into Torque, who then stumbled and knocked over his brother onto the ground. After a moment of separating themselves from a tangled heap Marble regarded her obstacles with a mix of fierce anger and annoyance. She braced herself for an incoming assault of verbal and physical proportions from the two unknown SandWings, tail lashing and claws clenched in the sandstone floor. But, to her surprise, none came. Instead she received a quiet apology, barely heard over the din, from Torque.
Over the next number of minutes Marble came to realize that the pair were not the same as the other SandWings. She noticed their subtle differences and realized they were the hybrid brothers she'd heard about in passing once or twice. The tension of the moment was broken as Adder greeted her awkwardly and made a quip about their clumsiness. Marble's flaring temper cooled as she came to realize that before her were two other dragonets that were nice to her... that maybe, she could even be friends with.
Since that day the trio had been nigh inseparable as they went about their daily adventures. It was thanks to them that Marble learned to react less to the mean words sometimes directed her way. Her once unstable and explosive anger became a tempered force to be wielded like a spear when times called for it. But with two best friends by her side, Marble found she didn't really need anger's fuel very often. Torque and Adder helped to dim the bad parts of her days and make things brighter.
On this day she was already grinning at the thought of experiencing the upcoming momentous occasion with them. As the brothers approached Marble called out to them cheerfully, "Hey guys! You excited for the choosing today?"
Adder jolted forward, slowing down to walk beside her. He nodded, waving his tail in the air as he spoke.
"Yeah! I can't wait, today's the day we start on the road to become the awesome dragons we're meant to be!"
His brother interjected, having come up to walk by Marble's other side.
"Adder, we've always been awesome. It's a fact. I mean, we all know how well you fly." Torque placed a foretalon on his own chest with a grin, "I, of course, am a master of invention," he gestured finally to Marble, "Not to mention we've got the best fighter in all the six kingdoms on our side. With us three, how can the SandWing tribe lose?"
Marble rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Torque. Of the three of them he gave the most speeches and had the most hope. No matter how much scorn the other dragonets threw at them, he always kept his head high and proud. He was often creating strange models of contraptions, part of his dreams of creating wondrous things to help the tribe. At times he even sounded silly as he spoke of his grand ideas. But his joking and dreaming cheered up both Adder and Marble whenever they were down.
Adder poked Torque with his stinger gently, "I dunno, brother. I mean, how can three dragonets make a difference?" he spread out a foretalon wide in a gesture, speaking ominously as they walked, "What if, right now, a huge swarm of locusts came streaming into the fortress? So huge that it flooded everything! Imagine, the locusts are getting in everyone's faces, eating their stuff, and going right for Queen Scorpion!"
He finished with a dramatic exclamation, which caused a few dragonets nearby to look at the trio with annoyance. A knowing grin spread across Marble's snout as she replied with her own confident answer.
"Why, that's easy. Adder, you'd be able to slip through all those buzzing bugs and fly right to the royal chambers in no time. Torque would be able to shield me with his armored wings as we followed you," she pointed to herself, the crazy scenario playing out in her mind, "and I, of course, would eat every single locust that got in our way. With my teeth and claws I could mow those bugs down like dry grass!" she balled one foretalon into a fist and knocked it flat against her other palm, "Bam! We get to Queen Scorpion just in time, fight off the locusts around her so the soldiers can mobilize, and the day is saved."
Torque was beaming, always one to love a good story. He jumped between Marble and Adder, pulling them into a hug. "All thanks to the legendary trio of Torque, Marble and Adder!"
----
The three best friends laughed together afterwards, momentarily lost in their fun before the gravity of the day's events would weigh on their minds. In no time they'd emerged from the stronghold's compressed hallways and reached the bulky archway indicating the entrance of the SandWing school. Or, to be precise, the final school for dragonets before they were chosen for their training to become what they would be as dragons.
Known as Scarab School, the structure stood apart from the main bulk of the SandWing Stronghold. A large outdoor area surrounded it, the grounds allocated for various uses from flight training to game areas. Inside the building were a number of classrooms used for the teaching of academic subjects. It wasn't the grandest school in Pyrrhia, but it had been around for a long time and produced many fine dragons through it's education.
This day in particular was important, for the eldest year dragonets would be chosen for their lifelong destinies. The choices would be made based on physical and mental grading accumulated through their schooling. Some would become soldiers in training and honed to become great weapons of the SandWing army. Others would go to apprenticeships for integral jobs, such as blacksmithing, cooking, construction and other professions. Yet more would be chosen for diplomatic positions, and the rare few would be trained to become experts of espionage.
Marble, Adder and Torque made their way to a large, barren field of sand used for assemblies. Dozens of other dragonets were already milling about and talking amongst themselves about the upcoming selections. Choosing day always created a stir as the dragonets speculated about what they would be chosen to become.
The trio settled themselves into the disordered clumps and looked around eagerly. The choosing would only begin upon the arrival of three important dragons. For now the field was occupied only by the restless dragonets.
As Marble waved her tail idly, wondering at all the things she could be, a whisper pricked at her happy wondering like a sliver of steel.
"Look, it's the freaks. Bet you they'll be chosen for something boring and out-of-the way. I mean, if I were Queen Scorpion I'd be a little embarrassed about having them around."
A frown creased Marble's features as she recognized the venomous voice. It belonged to a slim male dragonet with pale scales of eggshell-white. A quiet smirk could often be seen fixed on his snout, as if he were privately snickering at a joke only he knew. He was at that moment surrounded by three dragonets of similar age. Their scales were mixes of tan-brown, spattered with spots of darker brown along their sides. Two were female, and one male. They were siblings, born of the same clutch. One of the females with darker scales was known as Terracotta, while her sister was called Scimitar. Their brother, larger and fiercer-looking than both had the name of Shard.
As for the conniving dragonet holding them enthralled, his name was unusual for a dragon. His mother had named him Cyrus. Apparently it had been taken from a very old stone tablet in the SandWing treasury. The tablet told the story of a brave warrior by the same name who rescued his kingdom from the clutches of invaders. But to Marble, the Cyrus she knew held not a drop of the nobility the tablet spoke of.
He'd always held a disdain for Marble and her friends since first meeting them in the wingery. While tolerant of Torque and Adder at times, he downright disliked Marble's presence. He saw her as a danger to the tribe, a thing of potential bad luck. Cyrus knew well the stories of NightWing powers and the downfall of their great city. That one of them was being raised in the Sand Kingdom made him certain that Marble would bring trouble to the tribe one day. Torque and Adder's friendship with her had by association made them, too, out-of-place hazards to Cyrus. He never expressed his emotions bluntly, but instead whispered and gossiped what little poisonous words he could. To him, the poison was his way of trying to push out the misfit trio. He was certain he could drive them away someday.
For the time being Marble and her friends did their best to ignore the spiteful dragonet. Nothing was going to ruin this day for them.
----
Several minutes of idle chatter passed amongst the students. Then, suddenly, a silence spread across the ragtag groups. Dragonets scrambled to line up in neat formations. The three choosers were here.
At the front of the approaching dragons was a figure familiar to the students of Scarab School. A gruff old SandWing by the name of Dustwind had been principal of the school for as long as they could remember. Dictated by tradition he was always present at every annual choosing day. His role was merely to read out the choosings as a formality. The two dragons following behind him held more tangible importance.
The first of these two drew gasps of awe and whispers of admiration from the assembled dragonets. General Cragscale was a massive dragon, even for a SandWing, his hide covered in gnarled scars that adorned his dark tan scales like medals of his many achievements on the battlefield. He was here to select dragonets for positions in the SandWing army. His dark eyes swept along the waiting ranks in calculation as his orderly thoughts moved along. A few of the dragonets, he noticed, were glancing in a way they hoped was inconspicuous at his left foretalon. If rumors were true - and this one was - he was missing two claws from it.
The dragon tailing behind him was a younger female of slender build and light yellow scales. Her name was Scorch, and she was the SandWing Stronghold's quartermaster. She didn't speak much, but inside her mind was constantly going over her plans for nearly every day and night. Her intelligent efficiency and diligent working was what had made Queen Scorpion choose her for the daunting position of quartermaster. Scorch would be overseeing the choosing of dragonets for professions and other jobs centered within and around the Sand Stronghold. Another task, which she would do after most dragonets were chosen, was to inform the very small number of dragonets selected for espionage training of their choosing.
Marble was trying her best not to hop in place with excitement. After today she would properly start down the path towards her ultimate goal. She could practically see it already.
Unfortunately, as the three dragons came to her section of the formation, her thought came true. Though it happened mostly as she dreamed, and very rarely when she was awake, Marble would get strange flashes of scenes both unknown and strangely familiar to her. It wasn't until one of these scenes had come to pass that she realized they were glimpses into the possible future. The visions, as she thought of them, began when she was but a hatchling. The first time one of them came true was mundane enough. She'd dreamed of her aunts surprising her with a new blanket on her birthday. Marble also saw, after they'd given her the gift, that Sunbeetle had bumped a nearby table and pricked her talon on the sewing needle she was holding. Upon her birthday when presented with the blanket she at first thought it merely odd coincidence. But then, as she saw Sunbeetle beside the table, she witnessed what was happening before it had even occurred.
She had opened her mouth to warn her aunt but by the time she did Sunbeetle had already hurt her talon. Marble had been lost in the strange sensation of, indeed, seeing beyond the present and into the future. Since that momentous occasion there were many incidents like it sprinkled throughout Marble's life. She never mentioned a thing about it to anyone, not even her best friends, because from what little she knew of NightWings she got the feeling it would be a bad idea. Supposedly, many NightWings had been born with powers. Some could read minds while others, like Marble, could see the future. But after the exodus of the NightWings thanks to Darkstalker superstition had grown that NightWing powers were dangerous and not to be trusted. Marble kept her mouth shut in fear of what might be done to her if others discovered she possessed such powers.
At that moment her visions pulled Marble out of the past, through the present and into the future. She clutched her head and stifled hisses of pain as the scenes flashed through her mind with the sharp clarity of glass.
Herself, flying proudly with Torque and Adder in a battalion of SandWing Soldiers. Two dragonets she suspected to be IceWings walking down a glimmering staircase together, talon in talon. Another IceWing, an old female, with a mangled wing and terrible hatred blazing in her eyes. Adder walking through desert dunes with a large camel-skin of water, a determined set to his features. Herself rifling through a strange house built of dark wood and stone as if seeking something. One of the IceWings from the previous glimpse, horrified snout splashed with crimson blood and staring at her with eyes she felt she somehow knew.
"Soldiers."
With a muffled gasp, Marble's eyes fluttered open and she returned from her tumble into the thrashing waves of the future back to the calm of the here and now. She staggered in place for a moment. Torque supported her with a wing, eyeing her silently with curiosity and concern.
General Cragscale stood in front of their rows, indicating a number of dragonets with his damaged foretalon. Much of the formation had been moved off to be allocated their choosing by Scorch while a few dozen remained behind. Many of the dragonets stared at Cragscale's terrible scars with open mouths.
The general snorted and addressed them all, waving his grotesque injury in the air, "All right, take a good, long look." he paused, then snatched his arm back, "Got it? Good. Don't worry, you'll have plenty more interesting sights than this to see when you're done training."
As Marble's recent shock faded away she smiled to herself. Many of the dragonets around her were staring at the scarred stumps with revulsion. To Marble, the missing claws were nothing; she reckoned to herself that some of the dragonets would faint if they saw her aunt Sidewinder.
A sarcastic smile grew upon Cragscale's snout as he straightened his back and swept his gaze across them all to announce,
"Congratulations, cadets. You've all been drafted to join the SandWing army."
Head whipping back and forth from her equally awed friends, Marble stifled a whoop of victory at the news. It would be pretty undisciplined to act so silly in front of her soon-to-be commanding general. She decided to distract herself by having a look at the other dragonets she'd be training with. Gazing along the ranks of fidgeting recruits, Marble's rising excitement froze as her sight landed on one dragonet she knew all too well.
"Oh, no..." she whispered in exasperation, covering her face with a talon.
For standing two rows down, a smile positively saccharine with triumph on his snout, was none other than Cyrus.
==Chapter 3==
One scorching summer afternoon in the desert of Pyrrhia, a fledgling army was being trained in the relentless heat. The chosen dozens of dragonets from Scarab school had been allocated their positions. Outside the military wing of the Sandwing Stronghold they were being taught how to handle their first taste of warfare.
Their supervisor was a tough and smart-as-a-whip sergeant known as Addax. He wasn't the smoothest of tongues; taciturn and blunt, he never hesitated to point out when something a cadet did needed improvement. But though some blistered under his searing criticism, it was known that to earn a compliment from Addax was a worthy achievement indeed. He had put many young soldiers-in-training through the wringer, but all those that came out of it were more than ready to wet their teeth and claws with blood on a true battlefield.
The dragonets had been training for a little over a month since their choosing. Their schedules consisted of cycling through various combat and strategical lessons during the daytime. They had scheduled breaks to eat and drink, but these were few. As they were told, an army on the march never stops for long. If the dragonets were to prove themselves worthy they had to hone every part of themselves to a deadly proficiency.
At that moment two dozen dragonets, separated into neat groups of six, were being trained on how to fight an enemy on the ground. Addax addressed them loudly, walking from group to group and now and then making comments on the fights.
"In battle, time passes at an almost extraordinary rate. You could be flying swiftly to defend your post in one second, and the next!", he snapped two claws of his right foretalon for emphasis, "Lying on the ground, dazed and bloody, with one of your wings broken by an enemy spear. Though we dragons are creatures of the sky, the earth is from whence we all came. You must be able to fight if you are grounded to it and without your weapons. Otherwise you'll be as helpless as a baby mouse, and before long the enemy will finish you off or drag you away for interrogation."
For the exercises a pair at a time would fight in each group as the others watched. To ensure they were properly grounded each combatant had their wings bound with strong ropes of braided leather. The rules of victory and defeat were simple enough; they were to continue fighting until one yielded. As they were training any weaponry was made of blunted wood, and they were not allowed to inflict serious damage to vulnerable areas such as the eyes and wings. Bruises and bleeding would pass, but any breaking of bones or serious disabling would be severely punished. The cadets could not be pushed so far as death or permanent injury; come what may in real battle, the SandWing army did not want their new blood thinned and weakened even before they were ready. They would be taught more fatal techniques later, and only on practice dummies.
Currently in one group Marble was having her wings bound in preparation for her turn. Already she was buzzing with adrenaline for the coming fight. It had been tough adjusting to the rigid schedule of the army training to be sure. But Marble loved the instances when she got to learn, or throw everything she had at her training sessions. She'd been working on learning battle strategy as well as combat, because if she was to one day be a leader in the army she had to know how to plan their moves and adapt to any situation. In combat her style of fighting involved carefully controlled, precise attacks. Marble had learned to save her energy, and her anger, for when the time to strike was just right. It was far more effective than simply keeping in a constant flurry of teeth and claws.
Her opponent was one she relished the chance to fight: Cyrus. He had shown great skill in the more academic areas but was no pushover when it came to physical combat either. With his lithe build he relied more on redirecting the enemy's energy against them in a defensive stance. But at times, rather than coming off as an elegant manner of fighting, as some defensive styles were, Cyrus seemed almost vindictive in some of his moves. It was as though he reveled in making the enemy lose through their own strength.
Within a short time both dragonets had their wings bound and entered the fighting circle. There was no clear boundary, but the spectating cadets acted as a distant wall of sorts to keep the fighters confined. All were silent as they watched; it was forbidden to chat during training fights. Afterwards, when they went to prepare for bed, was when the fevered conversation spilled out.
A quiet drumming rose through the dusty air. One of the watching cadets, allocated as the timer, rhythmically banged a small drum of tanned camelhide as a countdown. Upon the tenth drumming the fight would begin.
Slowly, eyes clear and locked to one another, the combatants circled the arena. They were preparing themselves by taking in every detail of their opponent while they had the chance. As Addax had taught them, finding a weakness from the slightest posture change and a wince could lead to an easier victory.
For the moment Marble observed a quiet smirk on Cyrus' snout. As though he knew a weakness of hers already; but giving away your intentions was as much a weakness as a physical one. She wrote it off as a bluff and instead took note of a raw-looking cut on one of his forelegs. A recent enough wound, not serious, but one that would hurt quite a bit if struck.
*Bom*, *Bom*, *Bom*...
Time was almost up. Marble tensed her muscles and took a deep breath. She was locked in; all that mattered was the arena and the two fighters within. The final beat of the drum sounded; the sparring had begun.
----
For a few seconds all to be heard was a calm silence before the raging thunder of battle. Then Marble leapt, shattering it as though bursting through glass.
She flung herself forward at one of Cyrus' back legs in an attempt to try tripping him up. Like a striking desert snake he snapped away, giving a few quick bites to Marble's bound wings. He hissed as she glared at him angrily, goading her to attack. Marble stood her ground. She'd long learned it was a bad idea to act out of reckless anger.
Rather than rushing towards Cyrus Marble spun around, swiftly dragging her tail through the sand in such a way that it flung up an obscuring cloud towards the enemy. He rolled to one side, avoiding most but not all of the pesky granules. Marble saw her chance as he shook his head, third eyelid flicking across to clear away the debris from his eyes.
Ducking and throwing her weight forward, Marble shoved Cyrus in his midsection and momentarily knocked him down. He swung an outstretched talon at her snout and caused her to draw back. While she was disoriented he clung to her form, biting and clawing every part of her body viciously. Though it wasn't doing her serious damage every scratch stung like the bite of a desert glass ant. Thinking back to the wound she'd seen earlier, Marble shook and writhed in the sand to knock off her clinging opponent. She saw the vulnerable foreleg swing away from one of her wings; in that moment, she shot herself forward and bit down firmly.
A muffled growl of anger came from Cyrus, but to Marble's bewilderment his snout wasn't contorted in pain for very long at all. In fact, he had that same subtle smirk from before the fight. Marble heard a whoosh in the dry air and felt a soft breeze along her back. Her eyes widened as, too late, she realized her mistake.
A sudden prick on the back of her neck caused her jaw to clench. The sharp tang of dragon blood caught her tongue, her teeth having bitten deeper into Cyrus' leg out of sudden anger and pain. Then, rapidly, another quick stab, and another and another in quick, almost vicious, succession. Within half a minute Marble's grip relaxed along with the rest of her. Now she knew why Cyrus had been so smug; he wanted her to see the cut on his leg, and while she was focused on it, to sting her from behind.
Throughout the years Marble had been stung a fair share of times, mostly by accident. She had built up a minor resistance to SandWing venom, but still felt it's effects worse than the SandWings she'd grown up alongside. A sting or two would not usually mean the end of a spar but four or more was pushing it. SandWing venom had a strange numbing effect on her; she suspected it was an odd way of her body slowing the venom's lethality. Marble had never had the venom in her veins long enough to find out. The numbness was typically worst early after the sting; within a few hours it faded to be replaced by the common twinges of pain most experienced. She'd learned to be more careful of stingers during her spars thanks to these lessons. In some ways, her fighting was oriented more like that of another tribe because of this. But every now and then, she would make a mistake.
'Stupid, stupid... Cyrus is all about playing tricks and setting traps and I fell right in! Come on, I need to fight through...'
Marble removed her teeth from Cyrus' foreleg and backed away, shaking herself into awareness. Her body was beginning to feel numb. But Marble was nothing if not stubborn and she would certainly not let Cyrus have an easy victory. If she was going to go down in this spar, she was going down fighting.
Spitting out a gob of blood onto the sand, Marble growled and used her remaining strength to push into the sky. It was exerting thanks to the heavy ropes holding back her straining wings; her muscles ached through the numbing venom. In the bright desert sunlight the shiny black scales along her back and wings flashed briefly as she contorted in the air. It was something Marble had learned to take advantage of during a fight after watching scarab beetles fly about with their reflective carapaces. Most SandWings had rough scales that did not reflect light to better help them blend into the environment. NightWing scales were smoother, allowing better speed and agility in the right conditions.
With a muffled "Ooof!", Marble landed heavily upon Cyrus, who had been unable to move enough thanks to Marble's scales reflecting the sun into one of his eyes. The acrobatics had drained much of Marble's dwindling energy, the rest of which was rapidly being sapped by the SandWing venom.
As her muscles slackened they also became quite heavy. Cyrus was unable to move far, writhing about in the sand like a snake in an attempt to extricate himself. With a last great heave Marble once more bit down onto the same bleeding foreleg she'd already wounded. Anger was seething inside her, growing from the knowledge she had lost to Cyrus, of all dragons. Her teeth cut deeper into muscle as she swiped her claws weakly in an attempt to stop him from getting away.
But soon enough, as Marble could move less and less, he crawled out to stand triumphantly over her. Her jaw slackened and he was able to release his foreleg, though not without a few growls and winces. Cyrus shook his marred leg once freed, scattering small red droplets across the ground. There was a somewhat grisly wound left by Marble's teeth; a little deeper, she guessed, and she may have hit bone. Marble felt a small ember of satisfaction that she at least did some damage, even if she had, she knew, lost in the end.
She looked up at Cyrus, staring at her with a carefully neutral expression.
"Do you yield?" he asked, formally and without much tone.
Marble moved her sore jaw, shifting her head about to face him.
"Do you yield?" he asked once more, something dark glinting behind his eyes.
"I yield..." Marble squinted at him and croaked out a reply as best she could under the venom.
"The spar is over; Cyrus is the victor." announced the timing dragonet beside his drum, nodding at Cyrus before hitting the drum once.
In spars where the defeated was unable to move themselves out of the arena it was customary for the victor to help move them along with another cadet if necessary. Supposedly it was meant to be a show of good sportsmanship, though with Cyrus Marble knew it was anything but.
Cyrus offered a talon as if to help her up; he withdrew it with a lighthearted chuckle and said;
"Oh, silly me," he turned to one of the watching dragonets, a well-muscled male with flecked tan scales, "Crater, could you assist me with this?"
The dragonet obliged, moving into the ring and hoisting Marble up alongside Cyrus. Though he had won, and taken his chance to quietly gloat with his little joke, Marble knew that having to ask for help even in something as small as this stung him. Cyrus hated to show any weakness; much as he would begrudge it Marble was a heavier weight than he could move alone. With the burly dragonet's great strength aiding him Marble found herself out of the ring and into the small infirmary hut in no time.
----
Shortly after having her wing bindings removed Marble's sting wounds were treated easily enough with juice squeezed from a brightsting cactus. The plant was common around the SandWing Stronghold and kept in good supply by the tribe to counter SandWing venom.
Marble bit back a wince as she rubbed the juice in slowly; she'd done this process many times, but always it would burn a little on application. She suspected it might have something to do with the acids inside the cactus juice. Upon the cot Marble was laying she mumbled to herself quietly as feeling returned to her body, which ached a little from the spar.
"If only I was better in medical class. Then I'd try to change this dumb antidote to be less painful."
She thought back to it, for a moment. Early in their training the cadets had been put in a variety of classes to select them for splinter groups. Medical had been one of them; Marble felt as though she half-slept through most of it. While some other cadets worked with great enthusiasm and seemed to find the fix for every cut, sprain, and disease, Marble found she just wasn't good at it. Half the time she'd select the wrong antidote for an infection or wrap on a bandage without applying the added healing poultice.
Still, she reflected as she looked around the small but neatly-cleaned hut, she did appreciate the work done by medics. Without them casualties in battle and war would be far higher.
'My job will be to end lives and theirs will be to save lives. We'll all be doing our best for the tribe, though,' Marble nodded to herself and rolled over in the cot to push herself upright.
Though unsteady on her feet she was able to walk well enough. She exited the infirmary hut and idly observed ongoing spars on her way back to her ring. Some were fighting close-quarters with slashing claws and quick bites while others strafed and leapt around their opponents as they waited to strike.
A new spar had already begun in Marble's ring. She nudged into the front row of cadets and blinked upon seeing the pair of fighters. One was the large dragonet she'd seen before; Crater. The other was more familiar to her.
Torque was battling mightily with the bulk of his opponent. Though he himself was strongly built, Crater still seemed yet larger. The pair met and separated like clashing blades, giving a powerful blow before pushing back to give another.
Marble watched, rapt, as her friend gave a great leap and landed upon Crater's back. Knocking his head with his tail to stun him, the hybrid looked as though he might win this match. Marble smiled brightly at the thought and the venom's twinges of pain took a backseat for a little while.
Unfortunately her renewed happiness had an adverse affect she didn't anticipate as the spar progressed. Torque had almost gotten a proper grapple upon Crater, who looked somewhat dazed. Marble grinned and craned her neck to get a better view. As she moved, the sun reflected briefly off the dark scales on the edges of her wings. At the fringe of his vision Torque caught this small flash of light and instinct made him look up quickly. But, oddly, he met his gaze with Marble's jovial grin and kept it there for a few seconds longer than the short glance he was meant to do.
Crater felt his opponent's grip loosen just a little, but it was enough. In a movement surprisingly fast for a dragonet of his size he pushed himself from Torque's grip and reversed their positions. Now it was Torque who lay immobilized in the sand, confusion giving way to embarrassment. Crater's grip was solid as a sandstone block and just as heavy. Seeing with reluctance that the fight was over, the hybrid called,
"I yield. Crater is the victor."
The timing dragonet nodded and hit his drum once to signal the spar's end formally. Crater relaxed his hold and respectfully helped Torque to his feet.
"Well fought," he said in a voice that rumbled like a rockslide, "You might have beaten me, had you not been..." he leaned in and finished quietly, flicking his brown eyes towards Marble, "Distracted."
The burly cadet ended with a sly wink; Torque flexed his wings beneath the bindings self-consciously, a habit of his when ruffled. He nodded to Crater and the pair exited the ring. After having his wings unbound Torque made his way to Marble, looking back once or twice at the ring behind him.
Upon joining her the two backed off a bit from the other cadets and began to chat, as they typically did. Adder was usually with them but his group had already finished their set of spars earlier in the day and were on break time.
Marble quirked an eyebrow at Torque, giving him a friendly cuff on the shoulder. His mood seemed more muted than usual. "Hey, don't worry. Win some, lose some, either way, I'm pretty sure the next time you fight that guy you'll kick his butt! Looked like you nearly had him this time."
Torque shrugged his wings, "Yeah, I think I need to work on my focus. At least he seems nice though. I can beat Cyrus usually, but fighting him isn't all that fun." he shuffled his front talons, meaning to put one on Marble's shoulder but deciding against it, "I know you would have won today if it wasn't for his slipperyness."
"Slipperyness?", Marble snorted, "All right, I admit I screwed up, he got me with a bluff and I fell for it." she nudged Torque with a smile, "Still, you need to keep a closer eye on the fight. I saw you in there; you had him and then you looked away. I think my scales flashed in the sun a bit, I'm sorry if it hurt your eyes."
She cocked her head at him inquisitively, recalling Crater's hushed exchange with him at the end of the spar. It was obvious he'd noticed the mistake as well. Though he seemed to understand it better than she did.
"Yeah, I think I just spaced out a bit." Torque nodded, meeting his friend's dark eyes briefly before smiling at her, "Don't worry though. This is what training is for, so we can learn from our mistakes, right? Whenever I mess up and learn it means I'm just a little closer to becoming a soldier!"
With the mood lifted the pair of friends eased into laughter and jokes while now and then looking back at the ongoing spars. In a short while they were both dismissed to eat, drink and rest. Addax passed them briefly with curt assessments of their sparring performance. He first glanced to Torque, speaking briskly.
"The point of today's training was not to rely on your wings. You use them quite often in your spars, but even our wings may not always be there to aid us. All things considered you were doing alright against an opponent of formidable size for a while, but your focus slipped and you lost." He snapped a foretalon close to Torque's snout for emphasis, making him blink, "Focus! With it, you'll always have a fighting chance. Without it, even the greatest opponents expose weaknesses. Remember that."
Quick as a whip he turned next to Marble with his piercing gaze and added,
"As for you, you should have known better. Cyrus may not have muscle but his mind is as sharp and deadly as any dagger. You must be watching all of his movements, not just one."
Abruptly, Addax turned away from them to one of the sparring circles. As he began commenting on the spar in progress Marble ruminated on her failures that day while she headed back to the cadet compound with Torque.
----
The cadet compound of the military wing consisted of a few sturdy, large sandstone structures clustered together with a small restroom facility further away. The largest of these contained sleeping rooms for each cadet. The building was rectangular and divided so that every training cadet had their own room, albeit that room was very limited. There was just enough space for a basic single bed and plain nightstand. One thing the dragonets had been learning was that when on the move, an army would often have to settle for the night in any number of places. Whatever small crags or trees there were for shelter had to be made the best of. They were beginning to adapt to the idea of practicality over comfort.
Across from the lodging building was a smaller one of similar shape. It was the spacious hall where the dragonets often took morning and evening meals consisting of simple but nutritious fare such as locusts and cactus grubs. Mixed in with these meals was a little vegetation and something nicknamed by SandWing soldiers as "Scorpion hide". It had been introduced as a long-lasting food resource for the SandWing army some years ago by Queen Scorpion under the name of "Storage Rations". It consisted of specially dried and salted strips of meat taken from the large, hardy hares that commonly lived among the dunes. It's texture was notoriously difficult to chew through, hence the nickname created by the soldiers. It's flavor was salty and rather pungent, not very palatable but easy enough to keep down."Storage Rations" were begrudgingly acknowledged as a success for their great use in long campaigns where other foods would be more cumbersome.
Usually, when cadets were on break time, they spent it on the training field adjacent the lodging building either playing games or practicing combat skills. The field was simply a wide swath of flat sand with a few shriveled plants here and there. Lined up in two rows were target dummies constructed from heavy sandbags, rope and sticks. On this warm afternoon the field was buzzing with activity of dragonets that had finished their training for the day.
Two cadets lingered on the fringe of the noisome chaos. Marble and Torque were peering around in search of the third and missing member of their trio. Typically Adder was very punctual and knew his schedule by heart. It was common for him to already be there to meet Marble and his brother at the end of the day. Lately, though, Torque had noticed Adder seemed to be slipping in this regard. He told Marble of his observations as they took to the sky to get a larger field of view.
"He completely missed us after breakfast last week," Torque began, counting on one talon, "then a few days ago he didn't even show up after training until almost lights-out," He raised a third claw and shook his head, "and yesterday he was ten minutes late for battlefield logistics. Late!" Torque exclaimed as he threw up his foretalons, "My brother is never late."
Marble rode a few gusts of wind as she circled around alongside her friend. With so many other cadets down below it was difficult to discern Adder through it. His scales were not as easy to pick out of the sand as Torque's bright coloring. She raised her voice over the wind and said,
"I can't see him yet," she turned herself towards Torque, "You're right. It's really weird for Adder to be disordered like this. I'd bet my wings that there's something bothering him."
"I agree, he used to get like this sometimes when we were younger and the other dragonets made fun of us," Torque replied as he whirled around in the air, "When we find him I'm gonna ask. Adder doesn't usually keep things secret from us... I hope it isn't something bad." he furrowed his brow and looked away.
A shout from Marble snapped him back to face her. "Hey! Found him, he's down by the other side. C'mon!"
She folded her wings to dive, then flung them open and glided down to the other end of the field. Torque followed behind and almost crashed into his landing brother.
"Ack!" Adder exclaimed in surprise as he dodged to avoid an impact.
Both brothers ended up clumsily rolling to a stop on the ground. A few nearby cadets snickered quietly at them as they passed. Marble impishly stuck her tongue out at them when they weren't looking.
"You need to look where you're flying, Torque." said Adder as he got to his feet and brushed off the satchel he was wearing, "When we're soldiers there won't be room for clumsiness."
A scoff came from his brother as he shook out his wings, "Not like you dodged me super smoothly either. Besides," he added, moving to stand beside Marble, "If you'd been here on time we wouldn't have had to be up there looking for you."
Adder sighed and shrugged apologetically. As he moved to walk with his friends, Marble's eyes seized on something in one of his foreclaws. It appeared to be a large and empty water-skin. Such an object was standard around the SandWing Stronghold for mobile hydration. Still, something about it sparked in Marble's thoughts.
'Adder, walking through the desert with a camel-skin pouch...'
Her ears perked with realization. Adder had indeed been keeping a secret of some sort. One of the fragmented visions she'd had earlier that day seemed to suggest he was going off somewhere alone at times. It would explain his recent lack of a grip on his schedule, though the question remained as to where he was sneaking to and why.
==Chapter 4==
Marble stayed quiet about the new connection she had made as the trio headed into the meal hall. It was vacant for the time being and would remain so until shortly before dinner in a few hours. The doors leading into the kitchen were locked securely to prevent food theft, but the remaining space was free to use. There were various furnishings such as tables, cushions and chairs for seating. In the center of the room sparkled fresh water from the surface of a large circular well. The cadets would draw water from it in the mornings before they went out to train and during their meals. It was very deep, but a grate had been placed inside to ensure nobody could fall in and potentially drown.
"Look, Adder, it isn't like you to be so late all the time," Marble was saying as they walked along, "We... think you might be hiding something."
Adder shook his head and proceeded to the center well, dipping the water-skin in. When it was full he turned back to them. His eyes were guarded and he spoke in a voice sharper than his usual demeanor,
"It doesn't matter if I get a little late now and then. So long as I keep up with everyone I'll be fine, don't worry about it."
He walked briskly to the exit carefully carrying the water-skin in his mouth. Torque, determined, ran around to stand in his path. He wasn't the type to back down that easily.
"Adder, I'm your brother, and Marble is our friend. If there's anything you need help with we'll be there too." he smiled at him hopefully, "We're a legendary trio, remember?"
For a few beats Adder's snout creased as he considered what to do. He let out a breath and relaxed his stance, dropping the water-skin gently into one foretalon. He gestured with his head for Torque and Marble to follow him outside.
After some minutes the three were standing around the back of the meal hall where a long shadow was cast that kept them cool. Adder spoke furtively and with some relief as he revealed the secret he'd been keeping alone for the past fortnight.
"Alright, you guys know how I head off between training sometimes to study and think. Well about two weeks ago I found something... er, uh, someone, and they needed help."
It was not uncommon for the occasional dragon to become lost in the SandWing desert. Now and then SandWing patrols would escort them back to their home borders if they were friendly. Adder's was a stranger case.
"So, I headed to this little rocky oasis that day. It has a small cave against a wall of them that is good for keeping cool. I went to head in to get a bit of shelter from the wind. But I ended up nearly scared out of my scales instead."
----
On that momentous day it was late morning when Adder had returned to his little hideaway. He'd finished weapons training recently and still ached from fresh bruises. Though he enjoyed wielding the wooden practice weapons, they certainly stung to be hit with.
He stretched his wings with a yawn, passing the small pool of water and dotted vegetation on his way to the familiar little rock cave. Adder's schedule for the day had him up very early and he looked forward to getting a nap before he went back to the cadet compound. He'd put one foot into the cave's soothing shade when he stopped dead.
'Hang on. Something's in here.' he thought with caution, pricking his ears.
Sure enough he heard faint whooshes indicative of relaxed breathing. Whatever it was, it was not small, it was asleep, and further back against the cave's interior.
An annoyed worry flickered absurdly through Adder's caution. 'Oh no, I hope another cadet hasn't found this place...'
Slowly and very quietly he crept inside and triangulated the faint sounds. As he approached it, a few small cracks through which sunbeams filtered gave him an outline of what, or rather who, it was. This was a dragon, about his size, though that was all Adder could make out from his position. He was unsure whether to move closer to the stranger but curiosity eventually drove him forward.
While he was stepping forward the figure shifted in sleep and he froze still. One of the stray sunbeams fell upon the strange dragon's snout and revealed a great shock to Adder. The dragon's scales glittered white as fresh frost on a snout elegantly shaped like a large diamond. An IceWing, in the SandWing desert of all places.
Adder had never seen a real IceWing. It was only thanks to illustration and description from books that he knew what they looked like. One being in the middle of the SandWing desert, hiding out in his own little cave, gave rise to a sudden rush of panic.
Without meaning to a short but loud cry was forced from his throat, destroying any semblance of stealth he'd acquired. The strange IceWing's eyes flew open and they jumped to their feet in a defensive posture. Adder stepped back in brief fear as the IceWing hissed in threat. They forced him out of the cave, in the process exposing their own face in the sun.
Adder calmed at the sight somewhat. This IceWing was a dragonet, about his age, not an adult. They were also in a weakened state which was not too surprising considering where they were. The dragonet's drawn features shifted as they - she - spoke in a voice rough from lack of water,
"Back off, or I'll hit you with everything I've got."
As Adder took in the IceWing's state he relaxed somewhat. She seemed strong, but the desert conditions had not been kind to her. A few bones were showing through her thinned frame. Her scales, which should have been clean and smooth as porcelain, were flaking in places and covered with dust. Some old wounds were scattered along her flanks with a particularly nasty one on one of her shoulders. It was a puncture that looked raw, painful, and possibly infected. Deep blue blood was caked around it, some not yet dry.
Yet despite her damaged state the dragonet's pale blue eyes flashed and sparked with defiance like fiery gemstones. Adder wagered he could fight her alone and likely win, but not without sustaining bad injury. His eyes flicked to her snout as he remembered the deadly frostbreath IceWings were known for. He knew she would not be able to use it in such heat but remained cautious.
Adder slowly held up a talon in surrender. He responded to her in a calm voice,
"Wait, I don't mean you any harm. I was just going to rest here for a bit and I didn't expect anybody to be here," he swallowed to gather his courage, "It's strange for an IceWing to be out in the desert. You look hurt, if you want I could get some soldiers-"
"No!" hissed the IceWing, cutting him off, "I don't want their help. It'll just get me in more trouble." she unfurled her wings in an attempt to look more threatening, "Please, just leave and tell no one I'm here."
Her hostile tone faltered. Adder felt a twinge of empathy for this IceWing. She seemed lost and struggling in such a place as the desert. She was tough, but an injured IceWing alone in the SandWing desert wouldn't last long. Adder sighed and quietly made a decision. He could help her survive until she was strong enough to return home to wherever it was she'd come from. As far as he could tell she was not an enemy to him, just afraid even if she hid it well.
"Well," he began slowly, "I can't just leave you out here. Even with shelter you won't last very long by yourself. The desert is a bad place for an IceWing to be, and you look like you're already hurt."
She narrowed her eyes and growled, "Maybe I am hurt, but that doesn't mean I can't still fight. If you bring anybody to get me I'll use whatever energy I have left against them."
Adder paused and lay down, wary of her lashing tail in the shadows of the cave. He unstrapped his supply pack and held it out to her in a gesture of peace.
"Here, take this. It has a little camel jerky and some water in it."
When she didn't move to grab it he placed it on the ground and nudged it to her. She bent to sniff it with suspicion before opening the covering flap with her snout. Adder was pleased to see her ears perk in pleasant surprise, seconds before she shoved her snout into the pack and noisily devoured the food inside. When she was finished she licked her snout and shook out the canteen. She opened it easily enough and gulped down all the water it held.
Some health seemed to have returned to her face from the respite. Her expression was brighter and more relaxed. She at last turned to look back at Adder, cocking her head as she puzzled over his reasons.
"Thank you. I appreciate the food and water, but I'm staying here," she said, moving to sit down in the cave's mouth, "I can't go to the SandWing Stronghold and I can't go back to where I was, not yet."
"But I can't just leave you here!" Adder exclaimed as he threw up his forearms, "You need help or you won't be able to recover. I know you don't want soldiers to bring you to the Stronghold but..." he fiddled with his foretalons and looked away as he considered to himself.
With a deep breath he turned back to the IceWing and said in one breath, "MaybeIcouldbringyoustuffinstead."
She raised a brow and asked, "What?"
Slower this time he repeated, "Maybe I could bring you stuff instead. I'm the only one I know who comes here, and I promise not to tell anybody about you. The compound I'm training at isn't far and I could sneak you food and water during breaks. It'd be enough to keep you alive and get you strong so that you can leave the desert."
He twiddled his claws as he awaited her reply. She was looking at one of her serrated talons in thought for a while before she gave an answer.
"Why? Why would you help me? For all you know I could be a dangerous enemy who just hasn't attacked you yet."
Adder gave a small smile and said simply, "Because you waited and talked to me instead of hitting me while I was surprised. You don't look mean or terrible, you just look lost." his smile faltered, "I've seen dragons from other tribes who also got lost out here and didn't make it. That's a horrible way to die and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I'd gladly help you survive and get back home, because it's what I would hope somebody would do for me if I was in the same position."
The IceWing's expression was calmer now. She considered him quietly as he raised an open foretalon.
"Hello, my name is Adder. Truce?"
----
In the end the strange IceWing, whose name was Glacia, accepted Adder's help. Over the course of the following days he would bring her bundles of food and extra water when he had breaks between training. As time passed the two became more relaxed around one another and began to talk together. Adder told of his life as a cadet and Glacia described the great frigid lands of the IceWing kingdom. She remained guarded about her own home and life there but was happy to answer any other queries. She confessed that she wasn't as "Stuffy" as many of the IceWings she knew and that it had caused her a bit of trouble. Adder didn't mind in the least, in fact he rather liked her the way she was. The pair found they got along quite well and Adder was glad that she didn't change her opinion of him when she learned he was a hybrid.
"What matters about a dragon is what's on the inside," she had said, rolling her eyes with a smile, "Corny, I know, but it's what my grandmother taught me and something I've learned over the years."
As Glacia's body strengthened from the help she received, so did her friendship with Adder. Once she was kept fed and hydrated the two had gone to hunt some of the small desert critters that lingered around the oasis. Glacia wasn't the best at it in this unfamiliar land but with Adder giving her advice she was soon able to catch a few things by herself. He also gave her tips on simple day-to-day survival such as staying in the shade from morning to dusk and hunting during the cooler hours of the day. Despite the risk of being caught, he'd even taken some medical supplies to heal her wounds.
By now Adder found he was visiting Glacia more often than in breaks. Instead he snuck off most every chance he got, glad of her company and the experiences they shared. He did feel regret at keeping his meetings from Torque and Marble but rationalized that he couldn't know how they'd react. Adder didn't want to betray his new friend's trust and have her taken away.
It wasn't until over a week had passed since meeting Glacia that Adder began to think he should risk telling them. By all accounts Glacia should have been just about ready to head out now, but for some reason he had noticed her renewed strength waning. He came to realize that the awful puncture wound in her shoulder hadn't healed like the others despite the poultices and bandages he'd applied to it. If anything it seemed to look worse. Now and then a dark bluish-green liquid would ooze from it. Adder told Glacia about it and found that she'd been keeping something else from him besides her origins.
They were laying together beside the little oasis at dusk as she told of the wound. As Adder had thought, it was draining her health despite everything.
"It won't heal, Adder, because it's poisoned." she said gravely, unraveling the latest cloth bandage to reveal the grisly sight.
Adder's stomach dropped at the realization. He should have known, should have seen the signs. He silently cursed himself for not paying better attention in medical lessons.
"But poison can be cured, right? It hasn't killed you so far so it must be..." he trailed off as Glacia shook her head at him.
"I kinda stupidly hoped that if I waited for a bit the poison might just go away." she shrugged, "But it won't. This poison is very slow acting, but it doesn't have an antidote. That's how it was designed."
"No..." Adder shook his head slowly, "There's gotta be some way... I could get some more things from the medical storage, there must be something in there that can help!"
Glacia sighed, "The only thing that could heal this is inside the IceWing palace. I thought if I recovered I could go back and get it. But the poison is already making me weaker again, and if I went back the ones who did this to me would be waiting." she shuffled closer to Adder and nudged him apologetically, "I'm sorry I got you involved. In the end, I'm gonna be as dead as all the other dragons that got lost in the desert."
Adder's eyes shone faintly with a film of tears. The hopelessness of the situation started to drag him down to murky depths of despair. He thought then of his brother, Torque, who always fought through no matter how tough the odds. He drew strength from the will of his brother and pushed back against the sinking sadness. He shook the tears from his eyes and stood up. In a fierce voice he looked at Glacia and declared,
"I don't care what it takes. You're my friend and like I said when I first met you, I am not leaving you to die." he began to pace around as he continued, "If the only thing to get rid of that poison is in the IceWing kingdom I'll... I'll go there and get it myself!"
He stood still, one foretalon raised in a fist, trying to look heroic. Glacia laughed at him, moving to place a talon on his outstretched foreleg.
"That's sweet of you, but even if you did make it to the kingdom it would be impossible for you to enter." Adder relaxed his pose and looked at her inquisitively. She gestured in the air, drawing a large circle with a claw. "Magical defenses surround the IceWing kingdom and kill any non-IceWings that try to pass through the border. We used to have some enchanted bracelets for other tribes when they came to meet, but they were lost many years ago." her tone became angry, "Our tribe has become closed off to the others ever since the war with the NightWings. I was going to.."
Glacia cut herself off and shook her head violently. Adder's expression turned to concern as her own saddened. Hesitantly, he put one of his foreclaws over her own to comfort her. She wiped her free talon over her eyes and smiled at him gratefully.
"Thank you," she said, "for everything." she paused and turned her head towards the small cave. "Gimme a second, I want to show you something."
Adder watched as Glacia was enveloped in the shadows and shortly after exited carrying something in her mouth. As she got closer it became clear that it was a kind of silvery necklace, probably hidden somewhere at the back of the cave. She placed it on the sand between them and traced the round medallion in it's center. The links between consisted of flat plates of silver and a clasp of the same metal. The medallion itself was convex and circular, made of highly polished mother-of-pearl that shone under the sunlight set into a case of silver. It was a beautiful piece that obviously held significance of some sort.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked Adder, who shook his head, "Well, you probably will one day. When you do, it might help make more sense of things. Why I'm here and all."
Glacia picked up the necklace and gently put it into Adder's camelskin satchel which lay on the ground beside them. Closing the satchel, she passed it to him and continued.
"I want you to hang on to this. It should be safer with you than it is out here."
For several beats Adder was silent, staring down at the satchel with an unreadable expression. He slipped the strap over his side and turned to look at Glacia with a fire burning in his eyes.
"I'll take good care of it, but I won't need this for long. I'll find a way to get that poison out. If there's one thing I have been taught it is to never give up, no matter what. So I'm not going to give up on you."
----
At last, in the present time, Adder had finished his story. He was holding in one talon the silver necklace which he had taken from inside his satchel.
"That's... quite a story." Marble said quietly, peering at the necklace.
"I know it's a lot," Adder replied, opening his satchel again, "But I need both of you to help me. I can't do this alone. I know it sounds dumb but I can't... I..." he sighed, putting the silver necklace away gently, "I can't just let her die. I won't."
Torque smiled at his brother, nudging him with a wing in reassurance, "Don't worry, brother. We three stick together through thick and thin."
Marble chimed in next, "Yeah! A little adventure might be nice, right? I've always wanted to see the other kingdoms."
Her ears perked at a sudden shift in the wind. She turned to peer through the desert and sure enough, caught the telltale clouds of an approaching sandstorm in the distance.
"Come on guys, let's head to the lodging building." she said, gesturing for them to follow, "Some of my books should be helpful and I can explain what I know about the IceWing kingdom."
It was true that Marble had a good deal of knowledge about the other tribes. Being from a different tribe herself she'd always been curious about the rest of Pyrrhia. Since she was small she'd kept books about the seven tribes from the SandWing library and saved to buy her own. The information she'd gathered was one reason Adder had decided to tell her and Torque about Glacia.
The trio scooted past a few other cadets and headed down the central hallway. A few of the other dragonets gave them suspicious glances as they passed. Some of the more snooty cadets privately reckoned the bunch of misfits were off to get up to no good. But this didn't bother Marble, Adder and Torque. They came to a stop beside the doorway into Marble's little room.
"Sheesh, can you believe those guys?" Marble joked as she unlocked the wooden door.
Torque stuck his nose up in the air and did an impression of some of the more haughty dragonets, "Why, it's an insult to our very honor as dragons!", he turned to look down the corridor and raised his foretalons in mock-threat, "Put up your dukes you miserable rogues!"
His imitations caused the three of them to burst into muffled laughter as they squeezed themselves into the small room. It was a tight fit; Marble sat atop her bed while the brothers stood on either side. From one of the drawers in her little square nightstand Marble took a heavy, well-worn book. She put it down onto the bedcovers with a thump and undid the opening clasp. It was a simple-looking tome from the outside, bound in soft red-brown leather taken from a gazelle in the Sky Kingdom long ago. A basic iron clasp kept the book closed when it wasn't being used.
Marble traced the title of the first page, marked in elegant calligraphy ink.
"The Dragon Tribes of Pyrrhia, by Moss"
She flipped through, past the contents and to the chapter about the IceWing tribe. Each chapter's first page had a black-and-white illustration of a dragon from whichever tribe it was about. In this one a fierce-looking IceWing seemed to be swooping up from the ocean after a catch. A large swordfish was clamped in his razor teeth.
"Okay, IceWings." Marble nodded to herself, her friends leaning in to see the pages better. "They're pretty practical dragons, and obsessed with "rankings" and their positions."
she turned to a page titled The Seven Circles. It had a simple drawing of a circle with yet more circles inside it, six, each one smaller than the last. They were numbered from one to seven and had a small dragon drawing at the top of each. Each dragon had the same sitting pose but was adorned differently. For example, the dragon on the largest and seventh circle held a fish in one talon. In the sixth circle the dragon was holding up a plate which held some kind of food. The dragon in the fifth held sheets of cloth folded in it's forearms. The fourth had a quill in one talon and a marked sheaf of parchment in the other. The third was dressed in formidable armor and wielded a spear. The second wore a few small items of jewelry and carried what seemed to be a small ice sculpture.
The smallest circle, the first, held the grandest looking dragon of them all. It wore a spiky crown and had a veil draped along it's shoulders. Like the second dragon it was wearing jewelry, only it was more intricate. Clutched in one talon was a small, dark thing that was... dripping?
"Is that one holding a... heart?" asked Torque, a claw over the drawing.
Marble nodded and shivered, "I think so. From what I've read here some of the higher ranked dragons can be pretty deadly. I guess the illustrator was trying to put something about that in there, eww."
She poked out her tongue briefly before turning the page. Another illustration awaited, this one of a simple side-on view of an IceWing wearing a necklace. One that happened to look just like what Adder had shown them.
----
"Hey, look!" Marble exclaimed, pointing to it, "I knew I remembered that necklace from somewhere. According to this, each IceWing wears a necklace according to the circle they are in after their 7th birthday. Younger dragons sometimes wear them in the higher circles as well."
A minute went by as Marble peered closer to study the information with her friends. Slowly, Marble raised her head from the book and glanced at Adder's satchel.
"That necklace Glacia gave you," she said gravely, "That's a First Circle necklace. Whoever she is, she's someone important. You told us she got stuck in the desert and was attacked by someone. The poison is proof that there are probably a couple of dragons that wanted to get rid of her."
Adder gulped and protested, "But she's really nice, not snooty or stuck-up, she's smart, pretty..." he cleared his throat, "My point is, I don't see why anybody would want to hurt her. Unless, like you said, she's important. One thing she told me was how a few IceWing nobles could be ruthless in pursuit of power."
Torque interjected, "Whoever it was, I think they meant to hide it. They poisoned Glacia and drove her all the way to the desert. They wanted her too weak and disoriented to get away. The poison would guarantee her death. If they killed her in the IceWing kingdom, maybe dragons who knew her would have noticed and realized what the attackers had done."
"They tried to get her to die slowly in the desert so that she'd be just another random dragon that got lost and couldn't find their way back." Marble shook her head, angry at the prospect. She'd much rather be finished off quick than be condemned to a slow, agonizing death.
A sudden knock on the nightstand made Torque and Marble jump. Adder held a fisted foretalon on it, looking at the opened book with a drawn expression. He looked at his brother and friend with conviction and said,
"I know. We've seen those strangers who got lost. Their bodies all shriveled and thin, some of them just skeletons after the vultures got them. I didn't really think too much about them until I met Glacia. A little while longer how she was and she'd end up like that, too. Far away from anywhere she knew, alone and knowing that every day brought her closer to death." he sighed and placed his foretalon back on the floor, "I was really happy when she started to get stronger. I thought I'd helped save her, that she'd get to go home safe. I'd miss her, but she belongs in the Ice Kingdom, especially if she's important to them. But now..." he lowered his head and fell silent.
Torque nudged his brother with a wing and smiled at him, "Don't worry, brother. Together we'll make sure to get rid of that poison and save her," he raised his head, a sudden idea brightening his eyes, "After all, as soon-to-be soldiers it'll be our job to dispense justice to the villains and bring peace!"
A laugh issued from Marble, who was turning the pages of her book. "It won't be as easy as just flying around and kicking bad guy butt, Torque. We need a way to get in quietly. That way we can get this."
She was pointing to a small illustration on a page titled Animus-Touched Objects of The IceWing Kingdom. Several items were listed with grand names such as "The Gift of Elegance" and "The Gift of Order". The one Marble's claw was hovering over had the name "The Gift of Healing".
It appeared to be a pencil-sketch of five spiraled, pointed long cones that the three dragonets thought were some kind of shells. As marble read the accompanying paragraph they were revealed to be the horns of a creature called a narwhal.
"Listen to this," Marble said, before narrating a segment from the paragraph.
"The Gift of Healing is the animus gift of Princess Diamond. She enchanted the horns of five narwhals to heal frostbite wounds when touched to them individually. I have discovered a secondary, more potent effect. When all five horns are touched to a wound at once they can heal anything; venom, poison, grievous injury, so long as the dragon they are used on is not dead. I have caught rumors that the Princess used a bit of her power to add this second effect later on in an attempt to make them more useful, though I can't confirm it."
A minute of quiet passed as the trio mulled over this information. Marble already knew about the Icewing tribe's old animus bloodline. The animus "Gifts" were created early in the life of an animus as something useful to give the tribe. It was the only time in their lives that they were allowed to use their magic. This way, the dragons would not "lose their souls" and become dangerous. Adder had learned of these traditions only recently from Glacia, while Torque only knew the basics of animus dragons.
"So that's it!" Adder exclaimed, moving forward and tapping a claw on the drawing, "This is what Glacia wanted to go back for. I bet she knew about the extra healing because of her ranking. She told me that dragons in the higher circles were sometimes entrusted with secrets, like this."
"And here's our ticket past "The Gift of Defense"," Marble added, moving her claw over another illustration of three bracelets. Once more she read from the paragraph underneath it.
"The Gift of Diplomacy is one of the older animus gifts. The maker of these three enchanted bracelets has been lost to time, though some speculate it was one of the royal family. Each bracelet allows the wearer to pass safely by The Great Ice Cliff regardless of their tribe. It also keeps them at a warm temperature even in the most frigid climates. The bracelets were intended to help cement relations between the other tribes and allow visits. They are not used as much in these recent times, but there can be no doubt that this gift is one of the most important to the IceWing tribe."
Marble tutted and tapped the illustration, "But, the bracelets were stolen from the IceWings along with Prince Arctic by the NightWings. That started their war, but this book looks like it was written when Queen Diamond was still a princess. Luckily," she smiled, flipping through several pages to a new chapter, "I know where they ended up. Sort of."
==Chapter 5==
Torque and Adder peered at the detailed sketch on the new chapter's first page. The title was like the others, spelling "The NightWing Tribe" in large flowing letters. The illustration beneath was of a NightWing on some kind of balcony. He was looking up past magnificent stone spires to the star-speckled night sky with a thoughtful expression. Marble already knew this chapter well from poring over it for many hours. With all the mystery surrounding NightWings, the book was like a reservoir of information.
"The Night Kingdom." she said, flipping to the next page which had a grand picture of the Night City in it's prime. "This is where the bracelets were taken. I know our tribe has already picked it pretty clean over the years, but I don't think they found them. Nobody ever knew where they went after the NightWings took them and I'd bet it's stayed that way."
She found herself staring at the great buildings in the illustration. It was nagging at her mind, as though there was something she should be remembering but couldn't quite find. Marble blinked the feeling away and returned to the present task.
"So you mean, we have to head into the Night City and find those bracelets which'll get us past the deadly ice wall of death, right?" Torque said, wrinkling his snout doubtfully, "But what gives us a better shot at finding it than the SandWing looting parties? I've got my magnetic detector but I'd bet there's a bunch of metal all over the city."
Marble replied, "The bracelets were taken by the NightWings that visited the IceWing palace just before the war. They were most likely kept hidden by them somewhere or given to the queen. The palace would probably be the first place to look."
"The looting parties scoured the NightWing palace. Every bit of it. If the bracelets were there they would've found them, I'm sure." Adder said, "Maybe the NightWings that took them did keep them. If that's true they'd be hidden in their homes somewhere. If they were under floorboards or something like that the looting parties probably would've missed them."
Torque frowned and winced, "Searching every house in the city, huh? Maybe I should bring my magnetic detector..."
"Not every house," Marble replied matter-of-factly, "Just the ones near the palace for the nobles. The four dragons that visited the IceWing palace were all part of "the council" as the story goes."
"So we'd even have to check Foeslayer's home?" asked Adder.
A beat of silence. All of them knew the significance of the name. Foeslayer, the young dragon who fell in love with Prince Arctic and spirited him away. She was the mother of Darkstalker and his sister.
Marble shrugged and tried to brighten the mood, "Heck, maybe she had the bracelets. I'm pretty sure the place isn't haunted like rumors say. Come on, the freezing ghost of Prince Arctic floating around there dripping ectoplasm and screaming at bystanders?" she rolled her eyes at the thought.
As Marble closed the book with a dull thump and redid the clasp, Adder stood tall and addressed the others.
"Well then. It looks like we've got a starting point."
----
The next morning at breakfast was when Marble, Torque and Adder began formulating their plan. They'd gathered at one of the corner tables and were whispering to one another. Each of them had a large clay bowl of fried locusts and cactus grubs that they ate from periodically.
"I'd love a good adventure, seeing the other tribes and lands of Pyrrhia and everything," Marble was saying, "But we can't exactly waltz up to Queen Scorpion and say: "Hey, we need to go get some magic bracelets from the NightWing kingdom. Then we can go to the IceWing kingdom and get some magic narwhal horns to heal a poisoned IceWing we found in the desert." she threw up her foretalons in exasperation, "I've asked over the years for trips to other lands and every time they say no. My aunts tell me it's because the queen doesn't want her NightWing running off." she speared a locust with a claw in irritation.
Torque unfolded one of his wings and gave her a side-hug, "Hey, don't worry. You're an awesome dragon, not just some pretty jewel Queen Scorpion can keep under her claws forever." he found himself smiling like a dope when he saw Marble brighten at his words.
"Yeah," Adder replied, grabbing one of the locusts from his bowl, "This wouldn't be the first time we've broken the rules either. If we do this, it'll just make us even more qualified to be soldiers." he raised the locust in the air as though it was flying, "How many other cadets can say they went all over Pyrrhia and bested dangerous foes to save a dragon's life?"
"I don't know," Marble said, grabbing Adder's locust suddenly, "Even if everything goes great, can you imagine Queen Scorpion when we get back?" she puffed up her chest, stuck her snout in the air and gave an imitation of the SandWing queen's raspy, piercing voice,
"You three broke the rules and snuck off to another kingdom? You could have been captured and used against us! The secrets of our tribe would have been lost! That you did all this foolish nonsense for one dragon, preposterous!"
"Buuut," Torque sidled in, "Because of your immense courage and dispensing of justice, it is clear that you three are ready to become worthy soldiers in the SandWing army!"
Marble and Adder looked at him doubtfully, crunching on their meals. Torque shrugged nervously, "Okay, so maybe it wouldn't go like that. She might give us punishments too. But, guys, do you really wanna be stuck at the compound for the rest of the year? We'll learn a heck of a lot if we go out into Pyrrhia and experience it for ourselves. Old scrolls and boring teachers can only get us so far."
"I'm in, obviously." nodded Adder, placing his foretalon flat in the middle of the table, "I'll save Glacia no matter what."
Torque placed his foretalon beside his brothers in agreement. They looked to Marble for her decision.
"Well," she said, "It'll be dangerous, and exhausting, and we might not live through it." a grin widened across her snout as she placed her foretalon down and exclaimed, "Count me in!"
----
A week passed as the trio worked on their plan between training. Navigation would have to be done with the help of some maps dredged up from Marble's archives as well as a few taken from Torque and Adder's parents. The furthest any of them had been from the SandWing Kingdom were a couple of it's borders. They had confidence that with the help of maps they'd be able to find the Night City without too much trouble.
The first step of their journey was to find a way to sneak off to the NightWing border without being caught. All borders of the SandWing Kingdom had regular patrols rotating around them. Since the desertion of the NightWing Kingdom, however, the patrols around that section were more relaxed. Very few looting parties went across it these days as much of the ghost city's wealth had been plundered years ago.
The trio deduced that it would be best to cross the border late at night. Patrol shifts there ended a while after sunset and would not be replaced until sunrise. Some of the more superstitious guards left earlier if they could help it; few of them wanted to guard the gateway to a dead kingdom on a cold, dark night. In this window of time Marble, Torque and Adder would slip past the border into the NightWing Kingdom. From there they'd navigate to the Night City using their maps. From what they'd learned the city itself was more or less in the center of the kingdom. Given the fact that all it's occupants were long gone, the trio wasn't worried about being chased off or attacked. But they agreed to remain on the lookout for any SandWing parties that might enter the area. If they found them they'd be dragged back by their ears to the compound and disgraced instead of honored.
Over the week supplies were gathered for the trip. Each one of the three would be carry three packs with them: One for food, another for water, a third for navigation equipment. The food would last them a few days at most, but there was a pretty good chance they'd be able to catch enough to eat as they went. The same went for water; streams, ponds and the like were dotted around the NightWing Kingdom. The supplies in their packs were to be conserved in case they found themselves stuck; or worse, lost. The navigation equipment was really nothing more than sheafs of parchment on which were scrawled various maps, while Torque had his magnetic detector as well. Marble also had her hefty book, The Dragon Tribes of Pyrrhia, and a compass she'd nicked from her aunt Sunbeetle. She felt guilty about taking the small thing, but reasoned that she'd return it when they came back and that her aunt probably didn't need it at the moment. Marble would be leading the three of them due to her deeper knowledge of the NightWing Kingdom and better navigation in the dark.
They had all decided to leave on the last night of the week shortly before midnight. Because their rooms were spaced apart somewhat in the lodgings building each of them had set up small clocks issued to each cadet. Somewhat recent inventions, they had been based off the simple hourglass. Each clock encased a small one, which was connected to a system of notches and weights. When the hourglass turned over as all the sand fell, the force would tick up the notches by one. The notches in turn were marked by a line on the rim of the clock-face that moved to show what time of day it was.
Shown on the clock-face were sections for dawn, dusk, noon, and the rest for day and night. A button on top of the clock allowed cadets to set an alarm with a second line. This would wake the trio up in time for them to gather their things, meet up and fly out to the border. Hopefully without being noticed by any soldiers or nosy cadets.
----
On the night of the trio's devious plan, Marble lay awake on her bunk. For the past few hours since lights-out she'd been trying, and failing, to go to sleep. Her whole body was buzzing with energy in anticipation of what she'd be doing tonight. She kept flicking her tail and fidgeting her claws as she thought about the plan over and over. Now and then she'd turn her head to look out the little square window behind her at the night sky. It looked the same as it had when the sun had first set, she thought.
'Urrrgh. Three moons, this is killing me!'
Marble rolled off her bunk and checked the packs she was wearing for what must have been the twentieth time. Food: Check. Water: Check. Stuff so that we don't get lost: Check. She fluttered her gray wings, aching to get outside and fly around to relieve her boredom. She wished that her friends were closer, but she guessed they'd probably be asleep anyway.
"Like I should be!" Marble grumbled to herself, picking up her pillow and covering her eyes with it as though it would magically put her to sleep.
A sudden BRRRRRRING sound made her jump, dropping the pillow and almost falling over. She perked her ears towards her small metal clock, which was buzzing and ringing across the nightstand. She slammed a talon over it both to silence the alarm and stop it from tipping onto the floor.
"Yes!" Marble whispered to herself in triumph, hopping about in excitement.
Carefully, she creaked open the door of her room and peered out into the corridor. Unlike the SandWings she could see quite well in the dark, even a bit better than she sometimes saw in the day. Right now she saw that the corridor was empty of dragons as she'd hoped. She stepped out into it and closed the door gently behind her. A minute passed as she tapped her claws on the ground, worrying that Torque and Adder hadn't woken up.
But her fears were allayed as two more doors opened a ways from her own. Adder stepped out first, rubbing his eyes and adjusting one of his pack-straps. Torque emerged from his own room seconds after with a quiet yawn. They caught sight of one another in moments and started heading out of the building slowly.
When they were outside, in the cool night air, the trio gathered together and whispered against a wall. They'd checked for nearby dragons and found none, and so began their plan in earnest.
"Alright, follow me," Marble said as they finished talking, "If I see any danger I'll stop. Keep flying with me until we're at least several minutes past the NightWing border. Then we can land, check if we were followed, and get our bearings."
Torque and Adder nodded, lifting off into the air after her. They flew at a quick pace but not too fast so as to keep quieter. Marble would have been very difficult to spot; her scales practically melded with the darkness around them. Torque and Adder stood out more but a SandWing would have to look hard before they noticed them. They flew for several minutes in total silence, Marble always scanning around them for any stray dragons. Luck was in their favor that night, for they reached the border without incident. There was a near miss at the border, though. Two soldiers were still at their post, playing what looked to be chess with one another. Since they were distracted with their game the trio managed to slip by, just. One of the soldiers had almost seen them as he argued over his turn with the other.
Even so, Marble lead for a while more past the border without a sound. The landscape below them had morphed from vast dunes of sand to swaths of forest and rock. A silvery stream running past some of the sheltering trees was where the trio chose to make their stop.
"I think we made it." said Adder, panting and bending down to drink from the stream.
"So do I, but I'll do another sweep just in case," Marble responded, swooping up into the air and doing a slow circle above.
She landed shortly, looking relieved. "Yep, we made it. There's nobody around and I don't think we've been followed. Phew!" she sat down beside the water, strangely energized by the night flight.
Torque was shuffling about along the stream's shore and flexing his wings. Marble went over to sit by him and gave him a nudge,
"Hey, you alright? I know this is a little crazy, what we're doing, but we should be safe from here. The NightWing Kingdom is pretty much empty, remember?"
"I know," Torque responded, sitting down, "I'm just a little worried about our parents back home. I don't want them getting in trouble because of us."
Marble placed a foretalon on one of Torque's and tried to reassure him. "They'll be alright. They've done tons of things for Queen Scorpion, and this mess was all done by us. My aunts should be okay, too. Whenever I got in trouble the queen mostly yelled at me." she shrugged her wings and rolled her eyes at the memories.
Torque wanted to say something, but found his throat was a little stuck. His heart seemed to be thumping fit to launch from his chest and was spreading a sweet, nervous heat throughout his body. He cleared his throat, forced his wings to stop moving and did his best to respond.
"Y-yeah. Yeah, I hope so. My parents are tough anyway, and so are your aunts. When we come back, everything will be okay."
Marble looked at him with a smile so wide Torque thought his heart would burst.
"I'm glad you're coming along, Torque. Together we'll kick butt and save the day, right?"
The hybrid nodded, her surety clearing away his fears like a fresh gust of wind. "Right."
----
After the exertion of their flight from the SandWing Kingdom the three dragonets were quite exhausted. Marble nominated herself to keep watch while Torque and Adder sunk into a deep and much-needed sleep. She reasoned that she could see better in the dark, and really, she wasn't that tired.
For a few hours Marble explored the small clearing to ward off boredom. The land was very different from the desert she'd grown up in. Lush grass waved at her talons, old trees with rustling green leaves bent in the wind. The river gently bubbling past served to complete the picture, Marble thought. She spent some time simply enjoying the new environment, a happy smile on her snout. It helped to calm her down and forget, for a little bit, the worries and danger still ahead.
'It's almost like an oasis back home with all these plants. But they get rain to help them grow too, not just the river.' she mused to herself, laying down and observing her wavering reflection in the water.
Despite having knowledge of the lands of Pyrrhia from school and books, for Marble it could not compare to the real thing. It thrilled her to imagine the other wondrous places she might yet visit someday. Still, despite her excitement, she found her eyelids beginning to droop and had to stifle a yawn more than once. Even her endurance could not outlast the tolling call of sleep; despite all her attempts to stay awake, Marble eventually succumbed to the warm, dark blanket of slumber.
It wasn't until some time past sunrise that she woke. Adder had shaken her awake as he just had Torque, who was still yawning and rubbing his eyes as he stood up. After shaking away the bleariness left from her dreams, Marble realized her lapse and apologized to her friends.
"Oh, geez," she sighed, rubbing her eyes, "I shouldn't have fallen asleep. Sorry, guys, I think I overestimated myself."
Adder smiled and shrugged, "Hey, don't worry. None of us got much sleep last night. Heck, I'm surprised we didn't drop out of the sky on our way here!"
He grinned and Marble found herself relax and smile in turn. Adder was always good at keeping things light with his jokes, able to make them laugh even if they were covered in mud and sand-flies.
"Still," she continued as Torque walked over to them, "If we're gonna be soldiers one day we need good discipline. Imagine if someone came to attack us while I was snoozing at my post, it would be a disaster!" she exclaimed, turning to the river and dashing a foretalon through it in frustration.
Her stern-faced reflection rippled and distorted in response to her bout before settling back to it's steady motion. Torque appeared in the waster beside Marble, studying the water and remarking,
"We did our best and that's all we can do. Sometimes we slip up, but we learn, right? The next time we have someone on watch, we'll rotate so we each get our turn to watch and then to sleep." he grimaced, "We should've done that last night, but we were knocked out too quickly to think about it. Look on the bright side: in the end we weren't attacked and we all got some rest."
Marble nodded and turned, her will bolstered by her friend. "Honestly, I'm not even sure who would attack us. None of the sentries spotted us, and-" she paused suddenly, her eyes growing wide in shock.
Before her friends could wonder at her surprise, she explained in hurried tones and pointed at the sun rising above the trees, "It's way past roll-call! They'll know something's up by now back in the Sand Kingdom. Once they realized we've left they'll search the borders! We have to go, now, put distance between us and the desert so that we can't be found."
Her lethargy vanished, replaced by anxious energy that compelled her to run. She hopped about as Torque and Adder agreed to fly away from the encroaching threat. Checking their supplies, they each refilled their waterskins in the river and took several long drinks while they could. Having stretched their wings and charged with new-found urgency, the trio left the refuge of the clearing and continued their journey to the mysterious Night Kingdom.
----
After the first several minutes of frantic flying and backwards glances, the trio started to relax. The three of them were enthralled by the scenery below them, which was so different to the barren desert. Everywhere they looked was green, green, green. Dense clusters of trees were broken here and there by glistening streams and ponds. The water shimmered with migrating fish as they pushed their way upstream. The trio could hear the animals hidden in the forest, too; birdsong, barks and whistling deer calls created a rich thrum of life.
Marble continued to consult her compass while they flew. As it stood, they'd fly during the day and find a place to sleep each evening. Because of the abundant prey beneath them they'd also be hunting now and then for fresh meat. It would help to conserve their bag supplies and keep them well nourished. Due to the abandoned and general spooky reputation of the Night Kingdom Marble expected they'd be safe enough from any strangers. But the instincts drummed into her from training reminded her to be ready for the unexpected.
'I can't think of anybody else who'd be headed this way,' she thought, glancing at the compass in her foretalons, 'After the years of our tribe's looting there'd be nothing left that wasn't well hidden. The NightWings are long gone, and I'm pretty sure no dragons would want to live in their empty homes. At worst we might run into someone passing through to another place.' her eyes narrowed, 'If that's the case, we need to hide from them. It's best that nobody knows where we're going and why.'
It was past noon when the trio decided to land for a rest and meal. Marble's lack of sleep the night prior was beginning to show, and all three of them were hungry from their flight.
Adder peered off into the thick trees, ears perked.
"Trouble?" asked Torque, walking up beside him.
"No, prey. I can hear a few deer ahead. Probably feeding..." he turned to his brother, a smile growing on his muzzle.
"Oh boy, I know that look," Torque said with a roll of his eyes, "What do you have in mind?"
Marble missed the exchange, having already fallen into a doze beneath the cool shade of one of the many trees. When she did wake up, it would be to the absurd sight of her friends dragging over a deer carcass. Well, what was left of it.
"Agh, next time, we should both take it from the air, Adder." she heard Torque grumbling through a mouthful of venison. He was an alarming sight, his red scales seeming to be dripping right off of him; but of course, that was just the deer's blood. He was splattered head-to-tail in the stuff, while his brother was much neater in appearance. Only his snout and foreclaws were stained red.
The deer itself seemed to have had every bone in it's body broken and twisted as if by great impact. It was almost torn in half along the torso, only a flap of skin and sinew holding it together. All in all it seemed a pretty rough hunt, Marble thought.
The hunters themselves were quite battered as well. Torque was quite badly bruised on his chest and neck with a few cuts across his shoulders from sharp hooves. Adder was not unscathed, also bruised and sporting tears in his wings with a few raw cuts dangerously close to his eyes.
The pair noticed the third of their trio had awakened and her look of concern. She abruptly stood up and helped them drag the kill beneath a thick oak tree. They lay down beside as Marble awaited an account of the hunt. Adder began slowly,
"I guess, ultimately we underestimated our prey. Deer were fast, but we figured that since they aren't as hardy as the camels back home they wouldn't put up much of a fight when we got them."
Torque shook his head and snorted, "A mistake. We've been taught about the dangers of fighting other tribes, but I don't think we've been lectured on other environments and their hazards yet. The plan was for Adder to drive the deer towards me from the air, then I'd grab it and crush it's neck with my jaw."
Adder continued, pointing at one of the deer's shiny black hooves, "She ran like we planned, but stopped before she hit Torque. She became panicked, but suddenly stood her ground and started kicking and slashing like mad with her hooves." he tapped a cut beside one of his eyes, "Cut me up pretty bad in the front and gave us both a good battering."
There was a nod from Torque as he finished, "In the end there was a lot of struggling and it wasn't exactly a clean kill. But you know the hunter's code, meat won is not meat wasted. Besides, from what I've heard deer meat is supposed to be really tasty!"
Marble smiled, then sighed, "I'm glad you guys got this for us, but next time we need to all go together, and be careful. No matter whether it's prey or not, we have to consider that a lot of the animals around here could be dangerous to us in some way." she looked once more at their wounds and stood up, "I'll get some water and help you wash those wounds. We can't make healing poultices out of the plants here without knowing what they are, but I'd rather you two don't die of an infection."
----
The trio had decided to stay the night in the small clearing. After all, flying in unknown territory sore and sleep-deprived was asking for trouble. The deer's flesh had proven just as tasty as suspected, tender and rich in flavor. The meal and subsequent sleep had reinvigorated the dragonets and they readily resumed their course shortly after dawn.
As they flew on, the terrain below them turned to thick, dense trees. Looking down upon them made the trio uneasy; down there was so unlike the open dunes of the desert. Just thinking about being beneath the unbroken shadowy blanket of leaves and branches made them feel trapped. Fortunately, they eventually passed the great forest into mountainous territory. A great river split the land below, bordered by rocky cliffs and pine trees.
Between marveling at the scenery Marble glanced at the compass in her talons. The sun was setting and painted the blue sky in streaks of bright orange and dark purple. It would be time to rest soon; they'd flown all day.
Adder gave voice to her thought, "We'd better find somewhere to settle down for the night. Look," he said, pointing down near the river's shore, "I think that's a cave at the foot of the cliff. It should make a better place to sleep that out in the open."
Marble concurred; a harsh wind had begun blowing a little while ago, and a glance up at the clouds proved they looked none too friendly either.
The three of them circled down to land beside the river, each filling their waterskins after taking a drink from the fresh water. Torque, who held their map, was studying it as he looked around at the picturesque environment.
Suddenly, he exclaimed in excitement, "Oh, I think we're getting near the Night City! I'm pretty sure this big cliff is one of the landmarks. Here," he said, pointing with a claw at one of the sketches.
His companions quickly came to peer over his shoulder at what he referred to. It was an ink drawing of a tall cliff, with a sharp point jutting from it's edge. Above in cursive was written "Stoneclaw Cliff".
"You're right," Adder nodded, "It looks like the Night City is west of here, I'm guessing another day's flying. Whew," he grinned, "This trip's been just breezy so far!"
Marble was about to agree, when her ears twitched at a sound from behind them. She whirled around, startled, to face the mouth of the cave they were going to shelter in. Her friends did the same at her alarm, now also hearing the noise resonating from the dark maw. It was a strange sound, a sort of scraaape, thump, scraaape, thump.
By the volume of the sound and the vibrations in the ground, whatever was making it was quite large. The dragonets braced themselves for a fight, poised silently as they waited.
Then, the creature came into the day's waning light, lifting it's head to sniff the air. It's ears twitched towards the trio, and slowly, it turned it's head towards them.
Marble fought to hold in a gasp at the sight. Standing before them, clad in scales almost granite-grey with age, was another dragon. But what was most shocking was what kind of dragon he was. He had a build that suggested great strength in his youth, but his large frame now looked frail, skin sagging upon once-mighty bones. His scales were rough-looking and reminiscent of smoke. His wings were pitch black and speckled with white like the night sky, tattered like moth-eaten curtains. As could be expected from an old dragon, his snout was very wrinkled and his horns were quite battered.
Strangely, his eyes remained closed even in the sunlight. In his left foreclaw he gripped a large, polished staff made of some kind of dark red wood. He seemed to be using it to support his weight; it explained the thumping noise as he walked. He now seemed to be moving it about on the ground, as if feeling for movement
"Ah, visitors." his deep, creaking voice cried, sounding surprised but pleased, "It's been so very long..."
==Chapter 6==
The dragonets tensed, each of them momentarily dazed.
'A NightWing...' Marble thought with awe, easily recognizing the features she'd seen countless times in books and in every mirror she'd looked.
None of them had prepared for running into a NightWing. All of Pyrrhia knew that the tribe had vanished entirely to lands unknown, years ago. As far as anyone in the remaining six tribes knew Marble was the only one left behind.
But clearly this was not so. The evidence, old and feeble as he was, stood before them.
As he felt the ground with his free foretalon, the NightWing's expression changed and he called out to the trio.
"Ho, there! No need to be afraid, I don't mean any harm." his wizened features crinkled into a smile, "I may not be able to see you, but I can feel you shaking from here!"
Marble blinked as a realization came upon her, 'He's blind. No wonder he kept feeling the ground, he can detect us moving through vibrations.'
The dragonets glanced at one another, unsure. In a show of peace, the old stranger relaxed and lay down. He spoke to them once more, his tone cordial.
"I know it may be a surprise to find an old thing like me living out here still. I don't know why the three of you are around these parts, but I'm willing to bet you aren't a raiding party." he lifted his snout to the air, in the direction of the fierce wind. "Day's gettin' old as me out here. Guessing you three were gonna rest in my cave!" he chuckled, a warm and pleasant sound. "Well, don't fret. I'd be glad of the company if you're still thinking about it."
There was a pause; Marble was the first to ease her stance, speaking at last.
"How can we be sure you're not our enemy?" she asked in a neutral tone.
The NightWing craned his neck towards them, "Well, there's three of you and one of me. Not to mention it seems you are all young and fit, while over here I'm a dusty old bag of bones."
The statement was true enough; though he was large, age had rendered him weak. Time was something that even the mightiest of dragons could not overcome.
Marble was inclined to agree with the stranger. The odds were in their favor in a fight, and truth be told she was positively burning with curiosity at what knowledge this dragon held about NightWings.
She relaxed herself and looked to her friends; they'd been leaning towards acceptance themselves.
"Alright," muttered Torque, sighing, "The old coot's got a point. He probably has food and some bedding in there, and I don't wanna be out here when the weather turns nasty."
Adder nodded, folding his wings so they weren't buffeted about by the strong winds. It wouldn't be very safe to fly as the weather got worse and it wouldn't be calming down till the next day at least.
"Okay, we'll take you up on the offer." he said to the NightWing, who smiled warmly.
"Excellent! Come in, come in, those gales will shred your wings if you stay out in them - and I should know!" he laughed, flaring one of his bedraggled wings for emphasis.
----
Marble had to admit, as she followed the NightWing into the cave, that his home was certainly cozy. A steady warmth filled the interior, generated by a wood-fired oven carved into the cave wall. There was also stone furniture, similarly carved, including a table with chairs and a large slab with animal skins that she supposed was a bed. Near the table was a wooden cupboard that looked as ancient as it's owner, worn smooth from years of use.
Off to one side was a pile of animal skins, some scraped and tanned. The old NightWing moved to take some from it and set about creating three makeshift beds for his guests.
"It's not much," he said with a shrug, "But it's home. I wish I could provide better, but I don't often get company these days."
"Don't worry," said Torque, warming his wings by the fire, "Sleeping outside is a lot worse."
"Indeed, and I suspect you've been doing that for the past few days." the stranger had finished his work and moved his head near the dragonets with a wry smile, "You three are travelers of some kind, right? You're carrying supplies and I don't know any other reason dragons would be around this moon-forsaken place."
Before any of the dragonets could answer, he continued,
"Not going to the old Night City are you? Only crows and bad memories live in that place. There's nothing left to loot, either. I don't believe in it being haunted by specters, but there is such a thing as ghosts of the past..."
Marble frowned, hesitant to admit their purpose. But this old hermit was of no threat to them, and anyway, what else could they be doing? She didn't think he'd believe her if she said they were just traveling around for the sight-seeing.
She glanced at her friends, and each of them nodded after a moment. So, together they sat down beside the fire and told the old stranger of their mission.
They left out some parts, such as Glacia and their sneaking out of the Sand Kingdom. The trio simply told the NightWing that they were on a mission to the Night City and that it was important.
He remained silent as they spoke, his expression turning grave. He ran a foretalon over his walking staff in thought for a moment. A sigh escaped his nostrils as he realized the determination of the dragonets. He would not be able to dissuade them from their quest. Instead, he would do what he could to help them with his knowledge and then send them on their way.
"Quite a tale, that is. I see that I can't stop you from going onward." He rose to his feet with a nod, "So be it. I'll try to help you with what information I have knocking around in this old brain." he tapped his head with a smile, "But first," he turned and opened the wooden cupboard nearby, "We ought to have a meal."
As if on queue, Torque's stomach growled loudly. He smiled sheepishly, "That's a good idea, we haven't really had a chance to eat today."
Suddenly, the NightWing gasped, "Oh, where are my manners! I haven't even introduced myself!"
He turned, a stack of clay plates in one foretalon, and placed the one holding his staff against his chest.
"My name is Equinox, pleased to meet you."
Adder was the first to respond in kind, gesturing at Torque with a wing. "I'm Adder, and this is my brother, Torque."
"And my name is Marble." finished Marble, wondering at the strange-sounding name of their host. It was certainly different to a traditional SandWing name, that was for sure.
Equinox hummed tunelessly as he set out the plates upon the stone table and turned back to the dragonets when he finished.
"Hmm..." he mumbled, feeling the ground and twitching his ears. "Curious," he said, "A SandWing.. or... a SkyWing? and-" he stopped still suddenly, head turned towards Marble, "How very strange! Another NightWing?"
Impressed, Torque exclaimed, "You can tell that without seeing us?"
"Indeed!" Equinox replied as he turned back to the cupboard, "I've never been able to see through my eyes, and so I learned to see through my remaining senses. I can tell what kind of dragon another is by the weight of their movement or the sounds that enfold them. I need time to analyze them, though, which is why I couldn't tell what kind you three were at first."
"Well, you're right." Adder interjected quietly. "Marble is a NightWing, like you. Torque and I are... uh, well, we're SandWing-SkyWing hybrids."
"Ah, that explains my confusion! It's been a very long time since I last met a hybrid, and this is the first time I've met one from those two tribes."
The brothers had braced themselves for some kind of insult but Equinox only seemed to be delighted at the revaluation. He was a strange old hermit, they concluded, but a nice one.
----
Within an hour the table had been set for their meal; salted orange cuts of a fish known as salmon, served with heaping clumps of it's eggs or "roe". It was all new to the dragonets, who had never even tried fish let alone seen one before leaving the desert. With some gentle encouragement from Equinox they dug in and were pleasantly surprised. The flesh was rich, fatty and very tasty with the addition of salt. The eggs had a strange texture and popped as they chewed, bursting with flavorful juice. Marble lamented that they'd probably never get to have such food again once they returned home. Moons knew they'd probably never be allowed to leave the Sand Kingdom for a very long time after this escapade.
The trio chatted with their host as they ate. They discovered that he hadn't always been a hermit, but had lived in the Night Kingdom with the rest of his tribe until shortly before it's abandonment. He talked of being an advisor and even getting to speak with the queen on important matters now and then. In his youth he had been a teacher. When a war with the MudWings broke out, he became a tactician. While his blindness barred him from fighting he had wanted to be involved in some way.
The dragonets continued to listen raptly after their meals were eaten as the old dragon told his tale. He spoke of being brash and eager to push back the enemies of his tribe, and of coming to realize the true horror of war as he grew older and learned of what it was causing. Eventually he withdrew and took on his job of advisor, settling diplomatic or trade disputes instead of matters of the battlefield.
"War is an ugly thing," he said, "But to young dragons it wears a mask of nobility and glory. It is only when they fight, when they find themselves surrounded by the screams of their friends and holding back their own spilling entrails, that they see it for what it is. But, like it or not, war is in our nature, and it will come and go. I suspect you three will have your own battles in the future and I encourage you to remember who you are. As you fight monsters, beware that you do not become ones yourselves."
His short speech rattled the dragonets. Thanks to the harsh, blunt nature of their training they knew something of the reality of war. Still, they could only hope they would be ready to face the horror that Equinox described when the time came. The most frightening thing was that they might lost themselves in the carnage.
Perhaps seeing the somber snouts of his guests, the old dragon changed the subject. At their request he told them the history of the Night Kingdom as he remembered it. They knew the important points from their education and what was written in Marble's book, but that was all. Equinox regaled to them the glory days before the war with the IceWings, when the kingdom thrived and grew. The Night City boasted some of the grandest and most advanced architecture in Pyrrhia for the time; it was not unknown for builders from other tribes to visit and study their making. Some of the most notable structures were the Queen's Palace, the famed school and the great NightWing Library.
Equinox's expression shone as he described his old home. He may not have seen the majesty with his eyes, but he knew every inch of the city from all his time spent there. Marble was in awe as she imagined such a wondrous place, a place that would have perhaps been her home if things had been different. Not for the first time she wondered how the NightWings could have left it all behind. She knew the story of course, all the tribes did; but Darkstalker was gone, so why had they never come back?
She voiced her question, and Equinox frowned.
"Well, I wasn't there when it happened, but I was there when everything that led to it was set in motion. You see..."
He went on to give some detail on the story of the dreaded Darkstalker. His parents, in a way, started the IceWing-NightWing war. According to what the dragonets had learned Prince Arctic the IceWing had fallen in love with a visiting NightWing called Foeslayer. Because he was valuable to his tribe, as an animus, when he left with the NightWings it was seen as stealing one of their most powerful assets. An act of war. It was from these tumultuous events that Darkstalker and his sister, Whiteout, were born.
"Alas, thanks to the war, and Arctic's isolation, their love soured. Their children grew up among domestic fights as they struggled to get on. Even so, nobody suspected what Darkstalker would one day become. He was merely viewed as a very gifted dragonet among his peers. Part of it had to do with his powers."
Marble blinked, thinking about what little she knew of so-called "NightWing Powers". Given that she possessed some herself it had always been an intriguing subject for her. Even so, it had taken her a lot of searching before she properly understood it.
From what she had scraped together some NightWings were born with either the power to read minds, or the power to see the future. Very rarely, some were born with the power of both. Darkstalker had been one such dragon. It was one of the reasons he was so frightening in stories; he could read your every thought and see what you would do before you did it. On top of being an animus like his father this made him nigh invincible. Nobody knew how he'd been defeated, or if he'd merely vanished.
"Ultimately," Equinox finished, "It came down to possessing too much power and simply being who he was. He began to believe he could mold the world however he saw fit with little thought to those he affected. It is a miracle indeed that he is gone. I don't wonder that my kin fled our home and never returned; after it all came crashing down, the powers that some had were no longer seen as gifts. Instead they were dangers, needing to be smothered lest they be wielded for evil. It shattered something that was part of the core of our society and I believe that, wherever they are, they're still rebuilding it."
----
Eventually the dragonets grew sleepy as the night set in and wore on. What they'd learned from the old NightWing hermit turned about in their minds even as they settled into bed. For each of them it was exciting to think that the three of them would be going to the city that was a nexus of such rich history, even if it was long abandoned. The thrill of adventure to come bolstered their resolve and strengthened their hearts.
Marble had the most difficulty sleeping. In this short time she'd learned so much about the culture of her kind. Growing up so different from her peers had made it difficult to learn much about the culture of the tribe she'd originally come from. In a way she was learning about herself, and her ancestors. While she pictured the great spires of the Night City in her mind once more, she started at a sudden sound.
It came from the slab that Equinox slept on; he seemed to be twitching in his sleep. As she was about to write it off as normal and go back to attempting to sleep, the twitching grew more violent, almost as if he was fighting an invisible foe. He flared a wing and growled angrily, muttering something under his breath. Marble waited in the flickering light of the fire, stock-still. His eyes flew open and shocked her with their startling whiteness. They flickered about frantically despite their lack of vision. After a few minutes, with a startling suddenness, Equinox ceased his struggling. He turned over and returned to snoring quietly as before.
With a sigh of relief Marble turned over in her bed and closed her eyes. Something about the old dragon's disturbance seemed oddly familiar, but she shrugged it off. She was tired from the day's events, and began to drift off into her dreams...
----
It was a clear, windless night. Marble flew smoothly along on her way without hindrance. She looked down, mesmerized at the grand, spiraling stone architecture below her.
'The Night City? We're here already?'
Her mind felt confused and foggy. She swept her gaze around and took in the vast ruins of the once prosperous city. There was little real structural damage anywhere. Instead dark moss and creepers steadily grew to enfold what footholds they could. But though it was near-untouched, the utter silence of this place gave the greatest impression of ruin.
Marble lowered herself down to land upon the ground. The paved stone was cold beneath her talons; she looked around for her friends, but she was alone. Before her was a grand-looking stage of some kind, probably once used for important events. An ominous feeling of foreboding swept over Marble as she moved to climb upon it.
She looked down.
"Three moons... what.. who was that?"
Her friends had appeared suddenly at her side, yet she was not startled. For some reason she felt as if they'd always been there. Adder was the one who'd spoken, covering his mouth with a foretalon in horror.
Torque wasn't faring much better; he merely stared and shivered, nauseous.
'I can't blame them, really.' Marble thought. The sight before them was certainly grisly, doubly so in this haunted place.
Sprawled at their talons was the desiccated skeleton of a dragon. It would have been impossible to tell which tribe it belonged to, if not for the dark blue blood soaked into the ground all around it. It was lying in a pose that suggested a painful death, jaw open as if still screaming. Some of the ribs were broken but otherwise the bones seemed almost pristine. Nothing had dared to touch it in all the years it lay among the dust, it seemed.
"That must be what's left of Prince Arctic..." Marble said with a wince. She felt as if she wasn't speaking in the same instance as her thoughts for some reason.
She felt a sudden sensation of being thrown rapidly forward by a strong wind; she was flying again, but this time in a frantic chase.
"Come here, you damn ghost! If there's any loot left in this City it's mine!"
A harsh, gruff voice was yelling at her from behind. She couldn't turn her head to see; it felt like her body was out of her control. In the corner of her eyes she spotted her friends flying in the same direction. To her alarm they seemed to be bleeding. Now that she thought about it, she hurt pretty badly herself.
A new voice responded like a boom of thunder, and Marble felt something large whizz past behind her.
"YOU SHALL NOT HARM THEM!"
Marble turned around to face her pursuer and whoever had just come to their aid. She was so shocked she thought her mouth ought to have been hanging open if she had any control over it.
The doddering old hermit Equinox seemed to be doing battle with a massive, grizzled SandWing. They clawed and bit at one another, roaring. With a sudden burst of light the SandWing breathed a burst of fire at his enemy. Equinox attempted to dodge the blast, but at such close range and slowed as he was he did not succeed. His left wing caught ablaze and left him floundering in the air. Intending to take his foe with him, he grabbed onto the SandWing and brought them both crashing down.
Marble shot towards them with a roar, a ribbon of blood streaming behind her...
----
Echoing the end of her dream, Marble awoke from the vision. The noise startled her friends awake and had them tense for an ambush. They relaxed when the bleariness of sleep left them and they realized that all was well. Equinox was already awake and had been preparing dried salmon, but now looked at Marble with a curious expression.
Smiling sheepishly, she apologized for startling them and merely said she'd had a nightmare.
"Whatever that was, it sounded intense." Adder replied, yawning and stretching.
"Yeah, for a second there I thought we were about to be murdered or something!" Torque added.
Equinox had returned to preparing the salmon and shrugged his wings dismissively, "Ah well, nightmares are completely harmless. Better to fight imaginary foes than real ones, eh?"
The trio agreed with him, packing up their things and checking their supplies as they woke. Equinox insisted they not leave without breakfast and some additional supplies. He had some salmon jerky stored for tough winters and argued that they certainly needed it more than he did. He also gave each of them a blanket of animal hide so that they would at least be warm when they slept outside.
Breakfast was a tasty affair of fresh salmon along with something Equinox had called "Century Eggs". The dragonets had been appalled before he explained that it was just a name for the meal and that they weren't really a hundred years old. They were duck eggs wrapped in a mixture of clay, salt and ash, left to age for several months. The process caused some kind of chemical reaction which transformed the egg into a strange but delicious meal.
Afterwards, the trio said farewell to the hermit and thanked him for his hospitality as they gathered their things outside the cave. The weather had calmed some and would be easier to fly in today, to their relief.
"It was a pleasure! I hardly ever get company these days. If you ever need a place to rest and you're traveling through I'd be glad to accommodate you three." Equinox smiled, waving with his staff.
The dragonets took off, waving and calling out "Bye!", "Thanks again!" as they turned to resume their course towards the Night City.
When they were out of sight, the old NightWing sighed and returned to his cave. He settled down before the stone fire to think. He drummed his claws upon the stone floor and muttered something over and over under his breath. He had a bad feeling that he'd be meeting up with the dragonets much sooner than expected, and not under good circumstances...
----
Throughout the next day the trio didn't speak much. They were each made quiet by the anticipation of nearing the first big step of their quest. The Night City would be the first they'd see of another tribe's home. After all they'd read and the illustrations they'd seen they had a feeling it would be quite a sight. Lesser was a creeping chill down their spines; after all, they'd probably be the only living souls in the entire city except for a few animals. There was something very wrong about a once-populous place being so empty. It was like visiting the corpse of something once living.
Torque and Adder had noticed that something seemed to be bothering their friend. Marble had been silently brooding over her disturbing dream since they'd left. Over the years she'd learned that her visions did not always come true, at least not in the expected way. She really, really hoped that would be the case this time.
'Otherwise we could be flying right into danger. I don't know why a SandWing would be in the city so long after it's been looted. He said something about loot though, so maybe...'
She shook her head and sighed. Perhaps if they moved carefully they wouldn't even run into the dragon. After all, it was a big city. It was difficult to keep herself from warning her friends about him. On the one talon, she didn't want to freak them out with her weird NightWing visions which, by the way, she'd been having for years. On the other she didn't want them getting hurt, or worse. She scrunched her snout worriedly,
'Equinox caught fire, for moon's sake! We don't really know him, but he seemed nice and I don't want him to have his wings melt because of us.'
Eventually Marble concluded she'd just have to warn them in a more general way, even if it sounded like she was worrying for nothing. Better safe than sorry.
She chose her moment when they landed after sunset beneath a rocky overhang. They were eating some salted salmon for dinner when she brought up the subject.
"Looks like we'll get to the Night City tomorrow for sure," Adder was saying as he pored over the map. "It looks like it's past the canyons we're in right now."
Marble interjected, "When we get there we should be careful. I know it's a ghost city and all, but we don't know what might be there. Maybe some dangerous animals or... even other dragons."
Torque eyed her skeptically as he munched a strip of fish, "Any sane dragons wouldn't come near the place after it's been looted. Every tribe thinks it's haunted and bad luck."
"Maybe," Marble shrugged her wings, "But it doesn't mean the occasional nutjob or lost dragon doesn't pass through. If we can get there, others can too."
Adder closed the map and picked up his food, adding, "I guess we can be stealthy. If we see someone we can hide behind a pillar, or in a house. We probably shouldn't make too much noise either."
Torque winced and replied, "Ooh, about that..." he dug into one of his pouches and pulled out his metallic detector, "This thing isn't really quiet when it's in use."
The device was a curious-looking thing. It consisted of a short wooden rod that was partially hollowed out. In the middle was a small bell tied with string to the top of the hollow point. Another string tied it to the bottom part of the rod; specifically to a small but powerful magnet that was encircled by a clay bowl. When the magnet hovered over a metallic object, it was attracted to it. This force pulled the string and subsequently caused the bell to ring when something metal was below the magnet.
To demonstrate, Torque took a piece of iron he had in the same pouch and held it under the detector. The bell began to ring rapidly, and certainly not quietly. Silently pleased at his work, he quickly put the iron back and the bell fell still again.
"See? When we go looking for those bracelets and run into anything metal, it's gonna make a lot of noise." Torque concluded as he packed away his invention.
Marble agreed; the bell would broadcast their presence to anyone nearby. Still, they would only need to use it in the higher-up part of the kingdom if all went according to plan.
'Which it probably will, right?'
"Well, since we're gonna be searching up high where the council lived, maybe it won't attract much attention." she shrugged her wings with a smile, "I bet we'll just end up scaring some birds instead!"
"I just hope they don't peck us," Torque said with a frown, "They've probably built nests. I've been attacked by desert hawks before, and it hurts!"
Adder laughed and nudged his brother, "And that's why we stopped going egg-hunting. Not worth the pain."
Marble smiled to herself as she ate the last of her food. Perhaps she really was worrying for nothing, after all.
"Well," she yawned and stretched, "We can worry about deadly attack-birds tomorrow. If they bother the legendary trio, they're gonna regret it!"
"They'd probably make good snacks to keep up morale," joked Adder as he gulped down his last bit of fish.
The three of them took out their blankets and lay down close together to sleep. It was a chilly night, but with so much awaiting them the next day the dragonets barely felt it. Marble smiled to herself, letting the lure of sleep dull her fears.
'Tomorrow, our mission begins...'
===More to come...===
==Gallery==
Marblependrian2.png|Marble's appearance.
Torquependrian.png|Torque's appearance.
Adderpendrian.png|Adder's appearance.
Glacia.png|Glacia's appearance.
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Genre (Mystery)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)
Category:Fanfictions