Flaming Ice

Even more WoF fanfictions to not finish! Yipee!
== Prologue ==
Four years ago...
As the bright, clear moon rose above the clouds, it glinted off of the bright scales of an IceWing as she flew towards the SkyWing palace. Luckily, the IceWing didn't go near the spiky towers, instead landing on a ridge and sitting down. Chalcedony would wait forever if she had to, for Arashi to return with the egg she'd entrusted him with. Arashi's familiar golden-orange scales suddenly glinted into view from the palace. Chalcedony stood up, excited. As Arashi landed, Chalcedony stopped herself from running towards him. "A-Arashi... where's the egg?" Her voice trembled with fear and anger. Arashi bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Chalcedony." he said, as Chalcedony heard the swift flaps of SkyWings. "You backstabbing, moons cursed piece of rat dung!" Chalcedony snarled, slashing at Arashi's greenish-yellow eyes. He yelped and recoiled. "They- she- Queen Aguna- she would have killed our dragonet!" "That's no excuse!" Chalcedony hissed. "You will never have my love again, and when our child finds out you killed me, they will hate you too. Just wait and see." The SkyWing guards landed, grabbing Chalcedony's wings. "By order of Queen Aguna, you are placed under arrest. We advise you do not resist."
== Chapter One ==
Four years later...
Shinku lowered her head as she walked down the long, echoing corridors. As the SkyWing soldiers and palace workers passed her, she felt their yellow gazes on her. Shinku knew- had known, ever since she saw herself- that she was different. Her scales were very pale orange, her horns straight instead of curved like a SkyWing's ought to be, and her eyes were a deep blue outlining the green-yellow of her father's. Shinku stopped in front of the gleaming doors to the throne room. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. They swung open, and Shinku walked through. She kept her eyes down, even though Queen Aguna's judging, harsh gaze burned at her. “Your majesty.” Shinku murmured, keeping her eyes down. Silently, Aguna gestured to where Shinku’s father, Arashi, sat. Apparently turning in an IceWing trespasser to Queen Aguna got Arashi enough reputation to be granted a high rank. Every time Shinku asked about the IceWing, though, Arashi turned his head away and didn’t answer. She’d always wondered why. Shinku looked around, bored. She understood being kept under permanent watch when in the queen’s presence, but she didn’t do anything! A sudden shimmer to Shinku’s right caught her attention. At first, she didn’t see anything, then there was a movement in the air, and a pair of blue eyes stared at her. The eyes vanished, and Shinku heard footsteps from where they’d been. She looked over at Queen Aguna and Arashi. They wouldn’t notice she’d left. For such an unusual looking dragonet, Shinku was pretty good at blending in. She stepped back, pressing herself lightly against the wall, and followed where she’d heard the eyes walking out of a back door. She looked in, but saw nothing. Keeping walking, Shinku heard the sound of muttering- no, whispering. Rounding a corner into the room, Shinku gasped. An elegant blue dragonet flicked her head around. She looked about a year or two older than Shinku; the strange dragonet was bigger and looked a lot more like a full-grown dragon. Her eyes were unmistakably the ones Shinku had seen, but she’d imagined a RainWing. No RainWing had the webbing of a SeaWing down their back. “Who are you?” the strange dragonet asked, growling. “I- I’m Shinku.” Shinku stammered. “I saw your eyes and- um- I had nothing better to do.”
“How much did you hear?”
“I just heard you whispering, I couldn’t make out what you said!” Shinku stepped back, afraid. Was this dragon going to hurt her? The blue dragon surveyed Shinku. “What are you?” she asked. Shinku recoiled, a little offended at the dragon’s tone. “I’m Commander Arashi’s daughter.” she said. The blue dragon snorted. 
“Yeah right.” she said. “First, you clearly aren’t a SkyWing. No SkyWing, even a fireless, is that pale. Second, Commander Arashi? Isn’t he the pacifist ‘I won’t go into battle ahhh’ dragon?” Shinku smothered a giggle. “Maybe if you tell me who you are, I might explain.” she said. 
“Alright.” The blue dragonet sat down, her shining yellow wings spread out beside her. “My name is Koi. I’m a hybrid from the Rainforest turned spy. I was sent to gather information on Queen Aguna so that my queen, Queen Hyacinth, can more easily know everything. Any questions?” Something about Koi’s matter-of-fact way of explaining things was far too funny for Shinku. “Well, I am apparently a hybrid, at least according to everyone other than my dad.” said Shinku. “However, because apparently it would crush me, they won’t tell me about my mother.”
“Tricksy scavenger-heads.” Koi muttered. Shinku laughed. Suddenly, there was a sound of hard scales on hard floor and armour. “Guards!” Shinku cried. Koi turned to her.
“Come with me.” she said. “You seem like far too much of a normal dragon to suffer here. I have a mission in the Ice Kingdom, which you will probably like more. How does that sound over getting in trouble?” Shinku stood, hesitating. She had been told her whole life that she was meant to be here, and she was lucky to be in the palace- but- this sounded so much more free. “Great.” she finally said. Koi smiled, and took Shinku’s talon. Turning to another door that Shinku remembered led to a balcony (So that’s how she got in. she thought), Koi ran for it, almost tripping Shinku. The two dragonets burst through the door and Koi let go on Shinku and leapt into the air. Shinku followed, and, like every time she flew, felt a burst of energy, like she wanted to just fly and never stop. Surprisingly, even though she must have been a SeaWing-RainWing, two tribes not renowned for flying, Koi was almost faster than Shinku. Almost. Shinku risked a look behind her, but didn’t see any SkyWings following them. Good. she thought. As soon as the SkyWing Palace became a spiky blob in the distance, Koi dived down for a lake. Shinku landed at the edge as Koi hit the water, splashing happily. “That was some pretty quick flying.” Shinku said. “Especially for a SeaWing-RainWing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Koi said, fake offended. Shinku laughed (she was laughing a lot today), and Koi grinned. “So, you- we’re going to the Ice Kingdom?” Shinku asked.
“Yep.” Koi replied. “Although seeing as it’s on the other side of the continent, that gives us plenty of time to get to know one another.” Koi waded out of the lake and shook herself. “I’ll get my stuff from my base and then we can get going.” Shinku followed Koi into the air and down into a cave on the side of a cliff. There was a kind of- deja vu kind of feeling about this place- but Shinku had never been here. Suddenly, as she looked over the edge of the cave, she gasped. At the bottom of the cliff, curled like it had been flung off, was a dragon skeleton.
== Chapter Two ==
Shinku brushed against Koi with her tail, trying to get her attention. All her breath had been snatched away by the skeleton. "What is it?" Koi said, before turning and spotting the skeleton. "What the- was that there the whole time?" Koi asked before flying down. Gulping, Shinku followed. Koi was seemingly examining the dead dragon. "Here's all I have in the second you weren't here." she said. "This is an IceWing. And they were thrown off this cliff."
"A-Alright." Shinku replied. 
"And here, and here, these are spear marks." Koi pointed to scratches along the bones of the ribs and wings. "So, I'm going to say that they were stabbed, then thrown. With the position, I think the fall killed them only just before the stab wounds would have."
"I'm not even going to ask why you know so much about identifying dead bodies."
"It's a talent." Koi stepped back. "But why was an IceWing here? And why were they killed?" Shinku spotted something gleaming on the ground. Walking over, she realized it was a scale. It was faded from the exposure and looked pretty dirty, but Shinku couldn't mistake the colour. "This is one of my dad's scales." she said.
"What?" Koi said. "That makes- actually quite a bit of sense." Koi started pacing. "Arashi got all his reputation from helping kill an IceWing trespasser, right? It only makes sense one of his scales would be here."
"But- I know my dad. He wouldn't kill anyone. That's always been the most confusing part of the story." Shinku rubbed the scale to try and get some of the dirt off. Koi bit her lip thoughtfully. "Huh." Koi said. "I'd always imagined Arashi as heartless, but you would know him better..." Koi stood up, her yellow wings gleaming even without the sunlight on them. "Something about this doesn't add up." she said, walking around the IceWing. "They weren't stealing treasure, they weren't wearing armour so this wasn't an attack..."
"She." Shinku said suddenly. "This IceWing was female."
"How did you know that?" Koi said, impressed.
"Look, the bones of her ribs are slightly larger than normal." Shinku said, pointing, careful not to touch the IceWing. "I'd say she was either with egg, or had recently laid one."
"You're right." Koi stepped back. "But there'd be another, smaller skeleton or egg shards or something if she was with egg." Koi gasped. Shinku turned to her, interested. "What if she tried to run off with the father?" Shinku slowly put the puzzle pieces together.
"You're saying the IceWing fell in love with a SkyWing... but maybe the SkyWing killed her or betrayed her." Shinku tilted her head. "And they can't have been caught and both killed, because there's only one skeleton."
"Again, right." Koi said. Shinku stared at the skeleton. Something was familiar. Then she spotted something. The skull was a very familiar shape- this IceWing had a very similar head shape, beyond just the usual 'we're the same species, of course our heads are similar'. And the wings. Shinku had slightly smaller wings than a normal SkyWing. IceWings had about the second largest wings. Her wings were almost the same shape as the skeleton's. Koi seemed to realize Shinku had noticed something. "What is it?" she asked.
"This IceWing- her wings and head- they look like mine." Shinku replied. "More than just that we're both dragons." Shinku looked into Koi's eyes. Koi seemed to have a sudden idea.
"You don't know your mother, do you?" Koi asked. "And you don't know who she is?"
"No." Shinku said, her blood running suddenly cold. "What are you saying?"
"This dragon didn't die more than half a decade ago, or her bones would be gone by now." Koi was somewhat excited now. "How old are you?"
"Four years."
"You must see this too, right?"
"No. No no no. This- she can't be my mother!" Shinku opened her wings.
"Where are you going?" asked Koi, her voice curious but full of panic.
"I'm going to talk to my dad." Shinku replied.
"Wait!" Koi cried, but Shinku had stopped listening. She flew back the way that Koi had led her. She had to know if this was true. She had to.
== Chapter Three ==
Shinku soared through the mountain air. The skeleton couldn't be her mother... could it? It would explain why I never knew her. her thoughts muttered. But- Dad wouldn't kill anyone, let alone a dragon he must have loved. This was confusing Shinku. She really needed answers. The familiar, intimidating shape of the SkyWing palace loomed into view. As Shinku soared closer, she could see gleams of orange and red swooping around the tower. Before, she would have thought nothing of them, but even a couple of hours after leaving, a burst of fear beat through her. Suddenly, a couple of the gleams broke off and started flying- towards her! Shinku stopped mid-air as the trio of SkyWings flew up. "Shinku. It's you." one, who Shinku recognized as Andesine, her father's second-in-command, said. "You have some nerve!" a second, who Shinku didn't recognize, hissed. "Running off with an assassin! Do you have any idea how much you worried the Commander?" Assassin? Shinku thought. Koi isn't an assassin. Is she? Shinku pondered this thought as she flew with the three SkyWings. As the palace loomed ever closer, Shinku spotted Queen Aguna and Arashi pacing on a balcony. Shinku attempted to dive ahead of the SkyWings, but she couldn't quite overtake them. Which made sense. A trio of fully grown SkyWings vs my smaller wings on me, a four-year-old possible hybrid. Of course I'm slower. As they soared closer to Aguna and Arashi, Arashi leaped into the air and hugged Shinku. Shinku wasn't sure whether or not to pull away, but thankfully that problem was solved when Arashi let her go. "What were you thinking?" he murmured. "You've had me and the queen worried sick!"
"Dad- Father, I need to talk to you alone." Shinku replied, just as quietly, but putting as much of her emotion behind her words as she could. Arashi turned to Queen Aguna. "If you must talk alone, talk in your chambers." the queen said.
"Thank you, your majesty." Arashi replied, bowing, then diving back onto the balcony. Shinku followed, realizing it was the balcony into her father's room. "Did you go to the ravine?" Arashi asked as Shinku landed. This practically confirms it!!! Shinku's brain shouted, but she tried to ignore it as she stayed silent. Arashi clearly understood her silence. "Did you see the skeleton?" he asked. Shinku nodded, and Arashi sighed sadly. "I hoped you'd never find out about that." he said. "It was the worst thing I ever had to do." See? He regrets it! Shinku said to herself. At least, the tiny, optimistic part. The rest was listening properly as Shinku took a step forward. "I know who it was." she said. At least, I hope I do. It'll be quite embarrassing if I'm wrong. Arashi closed his eyes as Shinku continued. "Why did you kill my mother?" She could hear the edge in her own voice. The anger. The confusion. The sorrow. Arashi sighed again.
"I didn't want to." he said, "But, you should hear the whole story." He sat down in front of the large desk that occupied practically an entire wall. Shinku was always hitting her wings on it. "It was during a- tenuous time between the SkyWings and IceWings. There was disputed territory between our kingdoms, pretty far north. Once, there was a fight at the border. There- I met her." He sighed for a third time. It was very hard for Shinku not to shove something up his nose to make him stop. "Her name was Chalcedony. Like me, she didn't want a war for a couple of mountains. I was then an ambassador to the SkyWings as well as a low soldier, so I thought meeting with an IceWing was alright." He turned his head away from Shinku. "I didn't know how wrong I was. When she had our egg, she gave it to me. She'd planned to move to the SkyWing Kingdom with the egg. But- Queen Aguna caught me with it. She made me confess. So I made her a deal. If I could keep the egg safe and unharmed, I would take her to Chalcedony. I thought she'd be imprisoned, traded with Queen Flurry." He was silent, clearly remembering that day. "I was wrong. Chalcedony was executed, there and then, that night on the cliff. I was promoted to commander for my 'service'. And you hatched." Shinku stood silently, feeling the anger flow through her body. How could Arashi have done something like that? Why would he? She took a step back. "N-no- Shinku, wait!" Arashi called, as she ran to the balcony and took to the air, wanting to get as far away from her mother's murderers as possible.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (TyphoontheMonsoonWing)
Category:Genre (Adventure)