FIC COLLAB 01: Scarlet's Story.

==Author's note:==
NOTE: I HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS FIC MAKES SENSE ( I think it does) BUT. THERE WERE SO MANY WRITERS THAT THINGS MIGTH HAVE GONE....DOWNHILL. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. THIS WAS WRITTEN FOR FUN...
hello dear reader. Boiled Egg's here. the fic you're about to read is a HUGE collab. And of we acknowledge that Wings of Fire and it's characters all belong toTui Sutherland. Now a big thanks to ALL of our authors, no matter if they just contributed with a line, or with half the story. here EVERYBODY
'Dusk, Stratosphere the Hivewing, Twisted Flower, Carolinecats21, Orchid and Monarch the Rainwings, Sabotage the Noctol, A Fandom User, Shiba Creations, Spirit978, Golddragon, Megmeg64, Glacy Glace, Sparkthehivewing. Halo 65, Shappire the Rainwing Seawing, Junola the Silkwing, 
(I think I noted everyone down, but I might have forgotten someone. SORRY IF I DID. Just Edit your name in.)) 
Special thanks to Dusk. 
THANKS. THANKS. THANKS. THANKS. YOU. SAVED. OUR. COLLAB. YOU DESERVE AN HONOR MEDAL FOR THAT
I spell checked this thing. But you know...There still might be mistakes arround. have to go to sleep now... So I will finish posting the fic here tomorrow ((Well...Maybe someone can do that while filling the gaps while I het some beauty sleep? XD. Spell check it if you do that kind act, please))
==PROLOGUE==
The queen of the sky was furious, as well as at a loss of what to do. Both the queens of ice and night were demanding that she give up large portions of her kingdom to them, or they would declare war on the Sky Kingdom. Queen Crimson had responded to their quite threatening letters as kindly as they deserved, suggesting that they meet somewhere, preferably outside of her kingdom, although that was highly unlikely. The IceWing and NightWing queens, Northwind and Battlewinner respectfully, reluctantly accepted, but only if they were to meet in the Sky Kingdom. So here she was, flying to the outskirts of her kingdom towards two queens who want nothing more than to take her kingdom, kill her, or both. 
A flash of white caught Crimson's attention. When she turned to peer at it more closely, she realized it was an IceWing, its shiny white-blue scales catching the sun as they beat their wings a few feet above the tree canopy. It appeared to Crimson that it was being chased by something, as it frequently turned its head around to look behind it. Then she finally caught sight of its pursuer. 
It was a NightWing, or so it appeared to be, its black with a hint of purple scales standing out above the forest. Crimson's heart leapt at the thought that the negotiations had dissolved into this kind of disarray that she won't have to give up any of her kingdom to either tribe of dragons. But that feeling passed in a moment, replacing it with guilt. Yes these dragons wanted to steal her land, but she wasn't that kind of dragon, one that could stand by and watch other dragons be killed for no reason. For that reason, she dove after the IceWing, her guards following suit.
The IceWing saw the approaching SkyWings, then thinking they were after her as well, plunged through the tree canopy. Both the NightWing and the SkyWing entourage followed her through the canopy to the forest floor. A scene of chaos unfolded promptly 
The NightWing had reached the forest floor only seconds after the IceWing and already had her cornered against a tree. Crimson took this in a second and knew what course of action to take. 
"Unhand her!" She called to the dark dragon with all of her queenly majesty. The NightWing turned to face the newcomers, but kept the whimpering Ice dragon pinned to the tree."And why should I listen to you?" She asked finally."I'll give you two reasons." Crimson replied. "The first being that you're in my territory and I am the queen here, and the second," she nodded to her guards and they lifted their spears accordingly. "Being that if you don't, my guards will run you through." 
The opposing dragon didn't seem in the least afraid, although one fact seemed to surprise her.
"Queen, you say? Well, I guess we have royal gathering then." Smiling at the look of astonishment on the Sky queen's face, she revealed her identity: "I am Queen Battlewinner." Crimson hastily repressed the urge to bow; three moons! This was her kingdom, if anyone should be bowing, it was Battlewinner! 
"But what about this one?" Crimson asked, still unsure how it was 'royal gathering'. The IceWing wasn't Northwind, that was for certain. But she did seem familiar somehow. 
"I'm surprised you haven't guessed already." Battlewinner taunted "This, your majesty, is Princess Glacier, daughter of Queen Northwind, heir to the throne, as well a spy." 
"I'm not a spy!" Glacier suddenly cried out "I was just doing what my mother said, asking for peace in the inevitable war." 
"War? What war?" Crimson asked, knowing the answer, but dreading it. Glacier suddenly clapped her talons over her snout, realizing just how much she had revealed. 
"Why, don't you know by now, or are you just as stupid as you look?" Battlewinner asked Crimson. Crimson clenched her talons, forcing back the retort that rose in her throat. She was the queen here, yes, but that didn't mean she had control over the situation. Her guards felt her unease, but weren't sure what to do, as they wouldn't dare attack without a direct order to do so.
"The war between the NightWings, IceWings, and-and SkyWings." She finally said softly. 
"Well done, your majesty!" Battlewinner faked a bow. "Well done, indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to deal with this spy." She turned to face the trembling dragonet, and as she did, Crimson made up her mind. 
"No." She said quietly, but still loud enough for the NightWing to hear her.
"Excuse me?" Battlewinner asked, sounding truly baffled "Crimson, do you realize that you are not in the position to be making demands?"
"No." Crimson said, louder this time "No, I don't see why I can't be making demands, this is my kingdom, you know. Unless you had already forgotten." She nodded to her guards; this was their order to attack, but only if the NightWing queen were to resist. "So what will it be? Attack a helpless dragonet and suffer the consequences? Or leave her be and go back to wherever you came from?" She never got the chance to answer. Just then, a dozen IceWing guards came through the leaves to land on the shaded floor. Battlewinner didn't hesitate. She drew in a quick breath and was about to exhale her fire, when the closest IceWing guard to her shot a blast of frostbreath down her throat. She gasped as the ice spread down her throat and immediately froze her insides. Knowing all was lost, she turned to reach for the Glacier to slit her throat, three of the guards tackled the queen out of reach of the IceWing princess. Battlewinner roared in fury and clawed at her assailants, but her movements were becoming sluggish as the ice continued its path of destruction throughout her body. The guards dodged easily, then one clawed her snout with his serrated claws. The NightWing roared with pain and glaring at Crimson she screamed: 
"This is all your fault! If you had just stayed away, none of this would have happened! Your bloodline shall be cursed; all your heirs will be weak or not even hatch at all; not one of your daughters will inherit the throne!" Then with one final look of hatred, she took off towards the ocean. Two IceWing, as well as SkyWing guards were about to follow her when Crimson called out to them. 
"That won't be necessary."
"But, your majesty, she has cursed you, as well as endangering the heir to the Ice Kingdom." The IceWing captain, Frigid pointed out, obviously trying be respectful. 
"That I know, but to attack a dying enemy, it's not right."
"You're worried about right in a time like this?!" Frigid was mad now. "With all due respect, you're not my queen." With that he took off, taking all the IceWings with him.
((the otherr half of this hapter is lost in space and time XD. ))
==CHAPTER 1==
Darkness.
That was what surrounded her at first. It was her first sensation...
Darkness.
She hated it.
She strongly hated it.
The pull for light, the pull for... anything shiny.. Was too much to handle. She suddenly felt her limbs jerking wildly, trying to grab hold of anything and pull, break the surface... no luck. That was unfortunate.
She still tried, and eventually, she felt her talons give her capsule a satisfying crack. A few noises rang in her ears. She kept thrashing around violently, until more and more light flooded her vision. This... noise... it was music to her.
“It’s out, mum, it’s out!”
“Hush, Maroon, I can see.”
“It’s out!”
The next thing she knew, her world was upside down.
“Oops.”
“Maroon. LET. THE. EGG. BE.”
“Sorry...”
Finally, she was out though. On a cold surface, and with dragons hanging out from the sky, sure, but she was out. Tons of dragons, all flying graciously in the sky. She wanted to do same.
Beauty was the one thing that met her vision.
Shiny, beautiful red scales attracted her attention. They she noticed that there were two ENORMOROUS dragons, one a bright red, the other a nice orange. And there was a third, much less impressive, and smaller grey dragon. Which of them was her mom?
\"Well. She needs a name. Congratulations on your daughter, General Quartz\" the Red Dragon said.
\" Thanks, Queen Crimson. I was thinking about Cliff... Or Peak. Maybe Pumice or Eagle...What your Majesty think of those?" The orange one said. The Queen opened her mouth to say something, but then the little dragon just made a face
\"NUUUUU \" she blurted in, surprising the big ones "THOSE ARE AWFUL NAMES!"
\"MAROON!\" Queen Crimson yelled, baring her teeth at the dragonet, that cowered a bit.
\"Don\'t worry, your Majesty. So, princess Maroon. What do you think I should name my dragonet?\" Quartz asked, leaning in closer to the princess. \"You want... Me? To do something important?\"
\" Yes. A very important one\" Quartz said, and got a somewhat dirty look from the Queen, and then added hurriedly: \"But your Majesty has to approve it, of course\"
\"Urm... Okay\" she said, then gave a few steps towards the little dragonet, that snapped at her. The princess jumped back. \"...Uh... What about Cerise?\" She suggested looking hopefully at her mother. Crimson and Quartz exchanged a glance, both of them pressing her lips hard not to laugh.
\"...Princess Maroon... Quartz\'s dragonet is orange. Just like her. Cerise is shade of RED\"
\"Oh. Okay. So hum...\" Maroon used one of her claws to scratch her head a bit. \"Ah! I Know. What about Scarlet?\"
Quartz and Crimson both started laughing soundly. Which clearly made Maroon mad. She bared her teeth at then. \"WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT? SCARLET IS TOTALLY A SHADE OF ORANGE!\" She barked. The older dragons just laughed her heads off at that comment, what made the little gray dragonet fold her arms in an amusing way. 
After a while, the orange pinkish Skywing wiped out a tear from her eye. \"Well, your Majesty. I think Scarlet would make for a great name\"
Queen Crimson didn\'t seem very satisfied with it. \"General Quartz. Are you sure? That name may not be very fitting...\" She said with a displeased posture. 
\"Well your Majesty...As Princess Maroon said. Scarlet is a shade of \'\'orange. \'\' A unique, one of a kind shade of orange\" Quartz said, then reached out and picked the orange angry dragonet up. Then she looked at Crimson. \"Your Majesty. I have been concerned over Beryl\'s eyesight worsening over the last months. So I believe that, to Protect Princess Maroon from the curse, she will need a new full time bodyguard. And since my last assassin got his guts ripped out of him yesterday, we are in need of a new one, too\" Then she turned to the dragonet, and said in a sweet voice, nuzzling it. \"Welcome to the world, Scarlet. You\'re destined for greatness\"
==CHAPTER 2==
Scarlet was in a nice cell, with bands around her wings. She was there quite unfairly. It was Princess Maroon\'s fault, NOT HERS. But of course, that princess right now was following with her day as if NOTHING had happened and as if her Crazy Claws mother hadn\'t throw her BEST FRIEND in a ugly cell. And... Why wasn\'t Maroon visiting her? Had she forgotten how special and unique their friendship were? Had she finally given in to her mother\'s awful sense of the world?
Scarlet picked up a rat by the tail, then impaled it on the gate spikes. It gave a very satisfying cry before went dead. Now, each rat had a spike, and each spike had a rat.
She gave one last look at the gate, then walked a little to back. The place was full of dumb eagles and hawks that ventured too far into her cell and got mauled. As her mother was always saying... killing animals are a nice practice to killing dragons... It\'s Almost the same. Also, as far as she knew, she was the best Assassin in whole Sky kingdom... And...If there was a better o e than her... He wouldn\'t be for much longer...
A thing that was bothering Scarlet was that there were two days since she got throw in a cell, and Maroon hadn\'t came to see her yet. Was everything alright with her? Had Queen Crimson did something? Probably. She was ALWAYS saying things as:
\"Maroon, what are you doing? Why Is Scarlet having her meals with you and your siblings? Maroon, your disaster, Scarlet is NOT allowed in meetings with the council UNLESS I TELL HER TO CAME. Maroon... How many times do I have to tell you? Scarlet is NOT invited to our diplomatic missions. She is an assassin...\" And the list of Ridiculous things the Queen would say go on and on and on... Good thing Maroon never listened to such nonsense, and they were the best friends ever, and nothing would EVER change that...The only problem with Maroon, is that.... She\'s a bit... Clumsy and weak. That is why she needs someone Strong, and powerful, and beautiful, and capable of killing, she needs someone just like Scarlet to protect her.
She paced around a bit more, then looked a the blue sky above. She could see few Skywings in the distance and quite a few birds, that she was hoping that they would get with her strike range.
After a few moments of no birds AT All coming into range, Scarlet gave up and sat down, inspecting the cell around her. Really, though, it wasn’t too bad. What was the worst part was knowing she was in here, even though it wasn’t her fault, or idea in the first place.
She looked back out through the bars of her cage and saw a particularly grey and small SkyWing form getting larger and larger as it came closer to the dungeon. It was going VERY SLOWLY though and was shaking quite a bit as she flew. It almost seemed as if they weren’t supposed to be here. Scarlet thought about who the Queen would send to see her, a little confused.
When the dragon came closer, though, Scarlet smiled, even though she really, wanted to be mad at this dragon. Maroon smiled at little, but mostly look nervous as she talons touched the cold, hard floor of the dungeon.
\"Hey... Urm... I Tried coming here to visit you... More than once... But my mom ordered the Guards guarding your cell not to let me in... So...I had to figure a way to go past them... So I just dunked sleep powder in their food... And you, little miss, needs to label you assassin vials better! What if I had poisoned their food? Or myself?\"
\"Sleeping powder IS a kind of poison" Scarlet said... Oh, how she loved to be right! She got amused by huge-eyed look she got from her friend. Then she decided to say something before the princess started to panic "You? Princess Maroon? Putting sleeping powder in the Guards breakfast? Who are you and what you did to my friend?" Scarlet joked. She knew there was a good reason for Maroon not to be visiting her. And of course, this reason had to involve the Queen.
\"I learnt with the best\" Maroon said laughing a bit, and Scarlet inflated her chest with pride, while she blew beautiful smoke rings.
\"Oh, I came here to tell you that I have a gift for you when you get out...\" The princess said, then started looking for things in the pouches in her neck. A good minute went by. \"Urm... It’s here somewhere...\" she said. A few more minutes went by, when she couldn\'t find it, she just took the pouch off and flipped it up side down and started to shake it like crazy. A vial with a yellow powder, some scrolls, a few coal rocks and some random feathers fell from her pouch. In the end, a nice gold necklace with three beautiful rubies fell from it. The treasure immediately caught Scarlet\'s eye. She had quite a few gems and earrings, the most beautiful were always gifts from Maroon, the rest was all traded by. But there was something more about that necklace...
\"Here" Maroon said, picking it up. The gems gleamed in the sunlight. "I will give it to you as "I'm-Sorry-That-I-couldn't-Prevent-you-from-being-locked-up-for-a-thing-that-was-my-idea\" Gift...Soon as you're free... Tomorrow, right?" Maroon asked tilting her head to the side in a funny way.
“Tomorrow.” Scarlet said. “You’re right. Who is guarding you now, without me?” Maroon rolled her eyes.
“Beryl.” Scarlet’s face scrunched up into a look of disgust. Beryl was at least a million years old, with the way he acted. He never used his fire for ANYTHING, and where was the fun in that?
“That old cuckoo bird can’t tell you from me!” Scarlet yelled in outrage.
“Of course he can’t, he’s blind as a bat. Anyway, I have to go now. Bye Scarlet!” Maroon bustled away, waving her tail as she disappeared around the corner.
Scarlet tried to sleep, so tomorrow could come even faster...Too bad it was still middle of the day...
==CHAPTER 3==
“Hey you! Prisoner!” A muscular guard walked up to Scarlet, scowling. His scales were cherry red with some orange. “How’d you like to come out of there?”
“How would you like to be poisoned during breakfast?” Scarlet muttered. The guard unlocked the gate and let her out. “Do you work for my mother?” She asked.
“General Quartz? Yes, why?”
“Oh, wonderful. The termination of your position will be...thrilling.” She sped out of there as fast as she could before he said anything else. That was a rather fun word, thrilling.
Scarlet flew back to the castle to reunite with Maroon. She found her in the library, reading a scroll.
“Hi!” Scarlet whispered. Maroon kept about a mile before fluttering back down, noticing her.
“Scarlet! You’re out!” Maroon smiled. “Come on, let’s go, I need to tell you something.” The two dragons left the library and flew for a bit, before Maroon landed in a quiet grove just outside the Sky Kingdom.
“Okay, so, um, today-“
“What’s bugging you” Scarlet interrupted. “Come on, spit it out!”
“OKAY! So Queen Cactus was challenged to her throne by Princess Oasis yesterday.”
“So? What’s that have to do with anything?” Scarlet asked. Maroon was fiddling with her talons, and looked visibly distressed.
“And Oasis won.”
“Again, so?”
“Oasis is afraid of Skywings!” Maroon wailed. “She’s going to pledge war on us, or turn everyone against us, or something awful like that! I’m worried \'because...\' Scarlet looked Maroon dead in the eye and said
\"...Maroon, your anxious naive thing, listen up: She can\'t just declare a war or NOTHING. For more impressive than that seem, you mother has enough brain to keep Skywings out of the Sandkingdom"
The princess stopped pacing, for a bit, then looked at Scarlet. \"I know. You didn\"t let me finish...\" she said \"...And... Even so... Oasis can just MAKE UP a reason and INVADE US. But uh... what I was saying that I was worried about is that mother invited Queen Northwind of the Icewings and her daughters to a dinner. I think to form an alliance in case Oasis decides to invade us... and THAT is what I\'m worried about
\"Icewings?\" Scarlet asked, following the Princess in her best soldier march, just as her mother, General Quartz had taught her. "Well... Their frostbreath can be a nuisance, but they\'re guests. \"
\"Well... They\'re... Too cold...\" the princess said wincing.
Scarlet rolled her eyes. Maroon could be her best friend, but still was a princess and very,, spoiled. "Maroon, is a little cold....\"
\"You have no idea what "cold" feels like to ashscales... It feels as if they\'re draining my life away from my body. And After greeting them, I will fall sick, and I\'m not looking forward to that... Why mother insists in it being me? I have sisters. PICK ONE OF THEM"
"Maroon... Queen Crimson will kill us both with we disobey her rules again. I cannot... an WON'T go the royal meeting with you. I will be with my mother standing near the door. Anything just yell and I will go to your rescue... And, all your other sibling will be there too..." Scarlet said in her best matter of fact tone. "My final awnser is a big NO" She said as both of them walked down the corridors. Then her friend stopped in her tracks as if had hit an invisible wall. 
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" She said, jumping on top of Scarlet. 
"You forgot, didn't you?" She said, but with kindness. 
"No! Well... The news thew me off a bit. BUT HEY! Remember that I promised to get you gems for you to embend on your scales as you had been whishing? SO. HURRY!" The princess said, then bolted out of the palace. 
''
Today will be simply...Thrilling Scarlet tought as she followed her friend. 
Scarlet strode through the many balconies of the Sky Kingdom, Maroon fluttering beside her. Every dragon was having all too much fun. Some useless floppy dragonets were practicing flying, and a pair of ugly crimson dragons were gossiping in the sunlight. 
The activities were all too pleasant for Scarlet’s tastes. Today was going to be her day, her birthday for that matter, and she hoped to remain unbothered.
"What are you going to get?" Maroon asked. Garnets, bloodstones, carnelians..."
"I'm thinking rubies. Beautiful, sparkling, rubies." Scarlet could just imagine the pristine gems making her stand out in a crowd.
"Oh, that'll look great with your scales. I would get red spinels maybe...or maybe red sapphires. What do you think would look best?"
"Anything, really." Scarlet grinned at her friend. Maroon smiled.
Scarlet finally got to the building she was looking for, proffering to walk because it was that much more intimidating to stride among dragons who were less important than you. And they knew they were, with her having the princess in tote.
There was two dragons in the building, one of which was a petite niece of the queen, named Sangria. Scarlet hissed at her, envying the sparking bloodstones on her cheeks.
"Don't, Scarlet. She's my cousin." Maroon nodded to Sangria, before she quickly left, her talons twitching. It made sense. Sangria was afraid of anything that breathed.
“C-can I help you?” The dragon at the front of the room spoke up.
“Don’t stutter in front of me. Don’t you know it’s rude?” Scarlet loved taunting dragons, especially with smoke fizzling out of her nostrils, just to scare them. Maroon hated it though. She'd have to make sure not to do it again. “I’d like some rubies embedded in my scales.”
“Of course, ma’am.” The dragon began bustling around, going through drawers and extracting tiny rubies.
When he was finally done, Scarlet sat down on one of their silly little mats, and the dragon got to work. Maroon watched him work excitedly.
First, he would cut tiny holes in between her scales. Then, he would use tweezers to insert a ruby inside the hole. Then he would wipe away any blood.
The little pain Scarlet felt was nothing compared to how beautiful she would feel once the rubies had set in.
Once the dragon had finished putting rubies above her eyes, he asked if there was anything else she wanted.
“No, this is fine for now." Scarlet walked back over to Maroon, who was bursting with excitement.
"Happy birthday!!! You look great, that color is great, it's just great." Maroon peered at her now sparkling face.
"Are you sure you don't want any?" Scarlet teased.
"Moons no, it'd hurt. I'm happy for you, though!" The two dragons walked out of the building and headed for their favorite platform.
"It doesn't hurt THAT bad. Haven't you wanted to do it since you were a dragonet?"
"Scarlet, you knew me as a dragonet. Come on."
"But it's so pretty! I feel alive!" Scarlet flared her wings flamboyantly, and Maroon laughed.
"I'm glad you like them." Ruby looked out at the sun, which was high in the sky. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and fluffy clouds that looked like sheep.
"If I ever have a dragonet, I'll name her Ruby. Then she will remind me of today." Scarlet knew that she wanted to remember today.
"I have to go." Said Maroon suddenly. "There's another royal meeting today." 
"Again? That's the third time this week!"
"I know, I'm sorry. My mother wants someone to challenge her for the throne before she up and dies."
"But she's only twenty-four! She's only been queen for eleven years!"
"I know. I don't want to challenge her yet, and neither do my sisters." Maroon sighed. "But she's persistent." Maroon stopped for a moment, then her voice dropped to a whisper. "Don't tell anyone, but my sisters and I actually made a pact that we wouldn't challenge her until she was thirty, at least."
"Makes sense! I mean, come on."
"I know. Anyway, I really have to get going. Bye Scarlet!" Maroon took off for the palace, her shape getting smaller and smaller until she was a small dot.
"Bye." Scarlet whispered. She decided to go to the training field and practice fighting, pretending that each mannequin was the queen.
== CHAPTER 4 ==
Moorhen
Moorhen stared out of her bedroom window. It was a Beautiful a sunny day, with busy Mudwings going about their everyday chores. But she wan't paying attention to the world. She was staring into the nothing, thinking about how the Skywings are mercilessly murdered her mother, Queen Lilypad, and her sibs because they were in lakes at base of the Mountains. Lake that belongs to the MUDWINGS Her sister, Goose, walked beside her.
"What're you looking at?" Goose asked. "Coot, Duck, and Grebe are waiting for us."
Moorhen flicked her tail. "Nothing," she replied. "How are our plans with the SkyWings going? Is our attack almost ready? How long until general Swamp leads the troops?"
"Tomorrow," Goose said. "Tomorrow we attack. They won't stand a chance."
== CHAPTER 5 ==
Scarlet
It was a night quite like any other, but it had a certain feel to it, like something bad was about to happen, and the world was holding its breath. Scarlet had been told by the general, her own mother, that the MudWings might try to invade the Sky Palace that night.
Scarlet walked with her employer through the halls along the edge of the courtyard, her mind unconsciously paying careful attention for any potential threats and marking everything in her mental map.
"Scarlet."
Princess Maroon's voice brought Scarlet back to her senses.
"Yes, your majesty?" Scarlet answered.
"I expect that you have heard of kingdom-wide emergency that the queen has declared." Maroon stopped walking, so Scarlet stopped too. Then Maroon turned to face her.
"The queen has requested that you be transferred to the army."
A moment passed by, then two.
"Has the queen finally lost her mind? Scarlet asked pleasantly. "You would, as her daughter, know if she had."
Maroon laughed, then out of character, she sighed. Scarlet found herself frowning, what was troubling the princess?
"No, she hasn't lost her mind, it's just that she's becoming more and more obsessed with treasure and hasn't paid much attention to me or my siblings, which is why she would rather you be protecting the treasury than her own daughter"
Maroon started sobbing and Scarlet reached out to comfort her.
"I would never leave you, despite what the queen says."
"Then you will be put to death." The queen came out from behind a pillar along with other members of the court. "Your majesty." Scarlet changed tactics immediately. "It's not what it sounded like."
"Then exactly what was it that I heard, because it sounded quite like treason."
Scarlet held her tongue, knowing better than to argue with the queen. Apparently, the princess did not.
"I must be firm on this point, mother." Maroon said to the queen. "That I must have my bodyguard."
"You won't need your bodyguard where you're going, that is, the dungeons." Queen Crimson turned to her guards. "Seize her!"
"No!" Scarlet lunged at the nearest guard, grabbed her by her outstretched talons, and threw her into the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Scarlet was then pinned down by the remaining two guards. "Hmm." remarked the queen. "Always a troublemaker, this one. Captain!" She barked. A dappled red and orange dragon climbed out of the fountain. "Yes, your majesty?" She asked, shivering slightly from the cold fountain water.
The guard shook herself out of the font, then took a few steps forward. Maroon was shaking in panic and fear, and when one of the guards got too close to her liking, she jumped out of the balcony.
Scarlet muttered "Oh no..." and dove after Maroon. Of course, the princess could fly, but... Well... Her wings were known for failing her. Her whole body but the internal organs were known for failing her. One day in her life, long ago, Scarlet wanted to be a Maroon, a princess that didn’t need to fight and got anything that she possibly wanted. But today, she couldn’t pity the princess more.
She dae as Maroon wings had trouble keeping her aloft, and the princess crashed on a few tents making the market in front of the palace. Guards were leaving from every tower, their wing beats could be heard from miles away, and their dark shapes were blocking the moonlight.
"Princess Maroon!" Scarlet yelled. The grey dragonet looked up in alarm to her, then took off again, joining her bodyguard in the sky. "I know a place where we can hide..." she said.
"Oh... Do you? Why do I find that impressive?" Scarlet said, and she was bit torn. She should obey the Queen orders, take Maroon back, and go guard her treasury. But she couldn't. Simply couldn’t. She heard a loud click accompanied with a bang, and turned her head sharply to the side, wondering how scavengers had brought their crazy giant bow and arrow invention this close to the palace. She tried pushing the princess out of harm’s way, but the two of them got hit with a net, and plummeted down the skies onto the forest below.
They rolled a bit, hit quite a few branches, then just stopped. She and the Princess were angrily trying to get off each other, and off of the net.
"Hey, Dragonfly, look at this! I have killed two birds with a single stone..." A green Mudwing said, looking at the angry dragonets inside the net. Maroon had her talons on Scarlet's face, Scarlet had her tail om the princess face, and both of them were making angry noises.
The reddish brown Mudwing, the one that appeared to be named Dragonfly, approached the two. "Interesting catch... I have never seem such a greyish Skywing before... And I wonder why she has no horns..." he said, still having a look. Scarlet looked he back.
"Three moons, Lichen.... You didn't get ANY Skywings... I bet these are the Queen daughters... The weak weakling, Maroon, if I'm not mistaken, and.... I don't know who that one is. She is too Orange to be Russet..."
"It still is Kite or Jade..." the green Mudwing said. "Good news to you too. Different of your fellow Skywings captured by us, you will get to live to see another day! Queen Moonhen will be so happy on making a deal on your lives..." he said, and Scarlet gave him the ugliest look ever. She wanted to rip his face off. Feed him to her poisonous snakes. Make him regret to have captured her in first place.
== CHAPTER 6 ==
"You're wrong," Scarlet snapped, pushing Maroon's talons off her snout "Daughters of Queen Crimson?" Scarlet scoffed. "We wish. And what, are SkyWings not allowed to go flying now? That's what we're made to do, isn't it?"
The green MudWing hesitated. "She could be right," he said after a moment.
"I don't know," Dragonfly said. "I say we don't trust a word they say and take them straight to the dungeons, until the queen can see them."
Maroon shivered slightly at Scarlet's side, and she chanced a glance over. Her washed out gray wings were shivering, and Maroon's eyes were darting between the MudWings and Scarlet. She met's Scarlet's eyes for a moment, then looked back at the MudWings.
Scarlet growled and shifted under the net, throwing out her wings to cover Maroon as best she could from the looks of the MudWings.
The MudWing laughed. "Now that's just pathetic," he said.
"Stop!" Scarlet shouted. "You'll get no ransom for this one!" She lowered her wings and jerked her head to Maroon. "She can hardly fly and would die before Moorhen could see her. And no one would want her back. She's clumsy as a hippo."
The MudWing leaned forward. "What about her parents?"
"She doesn't have any parents," Scarlet snapped. "She's an orphan. Not even the owners of the orphanage will want her back. She doesn't help with anything, she only makes it worse."
Beside Scarlet, Maroon's shivering stopped. Scarlet could feel the glare Maroon was sending her, even though Maroon was not very good at glaring.
"She complains all the time," Scarlet continued, "Never thankful for what she has. No one would want her back." Scarlet hoped Maroon knew that she was faking it all to save her life. "Not even me."
"Then why were you flying with her?" the green MudWing asked. "And you," he said, turning to Maroon. "Why aren't you offended?"
"It's my job to follow her around," Scarlet snapped. "I don't like it though."
"And I'm not offended because she's right," Maroon said in a small voice. "It's not like this is the first time it's been said to my face. Everyone is always saying things about how I'm not useful and complain too much. But my sister here, Gale, is not at all useful. Why, she's nearly as bad as me!"
Scarlet started and turned to look at Maroon incredulously. Her eyes were sparkling slightly.
"What?" Scarlet roared.
Maroon nodded. "Yeah, haven't you heard everyone talking about you, Gale? How you're completely useless?"
"She's lying!" Scarlet roared. There was no way the MudWings would possibly release them both. But if they had one valuable prisoner, then they'd be more likely to release a useless one. "I am one of the most valuable dragons in the Sky Kingdom!" Scarlet had to tell the truth. It was the only way she could save Maroon. Even if it meant she might die.
"Oh really?" the green MudWing taunted. "What, are you the queen or something?"
Scarlet threw off the net in that moment and stood up, throwing her wings wide. "I am Scarlet, the Sky Kingdom's best assassin. Leave the weakling and I will come with you."
The MudWing cocked his head. "I thought you didn't care about her," he said.
"I want to be rid of her," Scarlet snapped. "I don't want to be stuck in a MudWing dungeon with her whining."
One of the MudWings stepped closer, a dangerous thing to do when Scarlet wasn't trapped anymore. Scarlet swiped her claws at him and they nicked his broad snout. He yelped and jumped back, holding a talon to his bleeding snout.
"That was a warning," she hissed. "Do it again and I might just hit your neck."
"How do we know that you're the best assassin?" the other MudWing asked.
"Because I can do this." Scarlet lunged forwards and reached to slit the green MudWings throat. But the something hard smacked the back of her head and she fell off course.
"Alright, I believe you."
Scarlet sat up and growled at the normal MudWing.
"I almost didn't have time to block you," he said, waving his tail slightly. "Most of the time I can tell in advance whether a dragon is going to attack or not." He peered at Maroon. "Your – friend? Sister? Whatever she is – didn't help you."
"I told you she was useless," Scarlet snarled, getting onto her talons. "Absolutely useless in a fight, not to mention everything else." Scarlet stalked over to Maroon and she flinched away. Scarlet opened her wings, as if to shoo her away, but she leaned forwards to whisper in Maroon's ear. "I'll be fine."
Maroon started and looked up at her.
"I'm your bodyguard. This is what I'm supposed to do." Scarlet gave her a gentle smile, one of the few real ones in her life. "There's no better way for me to go out." Scarlet knew that, as the best assassin, her life would not be saved. There was no need to let the SkyWings keep their best assassin. Scarlet knew that as soon as they got the okay from Queen Moorhen, she'd be gone.
"No." Maroon stepped forwards. "Scarlet, please. Just let me come with you. We'll find a way out of this."
Scarlet shook her head. "There is no way out of this. Now go!" She shooed her away with her wings. "I don't want you here! Can't you be grateful for what you have for once?"
Maroon blinked the tears out of her eyes and turned around, spreading her wings and taking off with faltering wingbeats. But they were determined. And she was actually flying.
Scarlet gave a smile and watched as Maroon ducked behind a mountain ledge.
Then Scarlet spun around and knocked the two MudWings down with her tail. She leapt to the brown MudWing, knowing to take him down first, as he had stopped her attacks the first time.
But then, an instant later, there was a dragon on her back. They tore her off the other MudWing and bared their teeth. It was the green MudWing.
"You know, I could've killed you when you attacked me," he said. "But I knew Dragonfly would help. Then I knew that you'd go for Dragonfly first, thinking he was the better of us. But," the green MudWing shrugged, "you were wrong." Then he lunged forwards with outrageous speed, clawing at Scarlet.
Scarlet dodged most of his attacks, but he dodged all hers too. She realized that he was her equal in fighting, if not better.
At one point, Scarlet noticed the other MudWing getting up and preparing to attack.
"No!" the green MudWing yelled, much to Scarlet's surprise. "I don't need any help!" He looked like he was rather enjoying himself. "It's just you and me. No cheating, no unfair advantages. Just skill on skill."
"We don't have time for this, Lichen!" the other MudWing said.
"Be quiet!" Lichen snapped.
He swiped at her again and Scarlet dodged, raking her claws along his already bleeding snout. That took him from enjoying it to ending it.
He gritted his teeth and growled softly. "Alright," he said. "This was fun, but now it's just getting annoying." And before Scarlet could do anything, he whipped his tail around, hitting Scarlet in her head, throwing her a few feet, knocking her out almost instantly.
I'm sorry, Maroon, Scarlet thought on her last vestiges of consciousness. I thought I could take them. Just be careful. Please.
Then the darkness rushed in upon her and Scarlet had no choice but to let it consume her entirely.
== CHAPTER 7 ==
Maroon
Maroon beat her wings determinedly, glancing behind her to see Scarlet watching her go. Scarlet had sacrificed herself for Maroon. Maroon knew all those things she said weren't true, but it still sent pangs of sadness throughout her.
"I will come back for you," she whispered. "I promise." Then she ducked behind a mountain ledge, landing and gasping for air.
But she walked over and peeked out from behind the ridge. Scarlet was battling with the green MudWing, who Maroon was fairly sure named Lichen. The other MudWing was getting up slowly from the ground, rubbing his neck. Then he tensed and Maroon could tell he was about to attack. She barely kept from shouting to Scarlet to watch out. But surprisingly, Lichen himself stopped the other.
"No!" he yelled. "I don't need any help!" He grinned. "It's just you and me. No cheating, no unfair advantages. Just skill on skill."
"We don't have time for this, Lichen!" the other MudWing, Dragonfly, Maroon thought, said.
"Be quiet!" Lichen snapped. He swiped at Scarlet with greenish claws and Scarlet dodged easily, raking her claws along his snout. Even from where Maroon was perched, she could see that it had already been bleeding. And that was the moment the battle changed.
"Alright," Lichen growled. "This was fun, but now it's just getting annoying." And in a movement so fast that Maroon could hardly see it, he swung his tail straight at Scarlet.
She'll dodge, Maroon thought in the moment she had. She has to.
But she didn't. Lichen's tail connected firmly to Scarlet's head and she flew a few feet through the air before she landed with a thud and didn't get back up.
Maroon barely kept from crying out in horror. She wouldn't let Scarlet's sacrifice go to waste.
Maroon shook the word sacrifice from her head. There was no way she'd let her die. Maroon knew what she had to do.
Maroon turned and flew towards the palace, towards the dungeons, and towards her mother.
As hard as flying was, Maroon powered through it. Scarlet's life was depending on it. And Maroon would do anything to save Scarlet's life.
• • • • • 
Maroon felt like it took her far too long to reach the palace. She headed straight for the soldier's barracks and landed there. Well, "landed" is a far too graceful term. "Collapsed" would be a better way to describe it.
"Someone get me General Quartz!" she gasped. "Please! It's urgent!"
"I'm here!" Quartz rushed over. "Tell me, Maroon. What's wrong?"
"We were –" she gasped. "And then – I don't know how it happened – and then Scarlet –"
Quartz grabbed Maroon's shoulders. "What about Scarlet? Where is she?"
"I – I got scared," Maroon blinked the tears out of her eyes. "And then some MudWings shot us out of the sky."
"MudWings? This close to the palace?"
Maroon nodded. "Scarlet protected me, but now they have her prisoner." Maroon dissolved into tears. "If only I had just stood up to my mother," she cried. "None of this would've happened! Scarlet might die because of me!"
"Maroon," Quartz said softly.
Maroon sniffled and looked into Quartz's orange eyes.
"Scarlet can take care of herself," she said firmly. "I know she can. Being her mother, I know what she can endure. And she can endure far worse than the MudWing dungeons."
Maroon swiped at her eyes. "I know," she said softly. "I'm just so worried for her."
"Well, I think she can hold on until you rescue her."
Maroon started and looked up at Quartz.
"You did come here so we could rescue her, right?"
Maroon nodded enthusiastically. "I just didn't think my mother would let me."
"That's why we won't tell her," Quartz said, walking over to a wall of weapons.
Maroon gaped at her. "But that'd be disobeying her!" she gasped.
Quartz shrugged. "You've already disobeyed her once. You're not in the dungeons, unless I've imagined this entire meeting. And technically you're not disobeying her. We haven't asked her if you could go, so therefore she hasn't told you no. You're just going without permission." Quartz grabbed a spear off the wall and tossed it to Maroon.
Maroon fumbled with it, almost impaling herself on the sharp end.
"Or maybe not." Quartz walked over to Maroon and took the spear away from her. "I think you'd be more likely to hurt yourself than anything or anyone else."
Maroon nodded. "Yeah. But what should I have then?"
"Nothing." Quartz inspected the spear's tip. "I think you'll just stay behind the guards."
"But I want to help!" Maroon protested. "I know I may not be much help, but I can at least try!"
Quartz paused. "Alright. What do you think you'd be best with?"
Maroon hesitated. This was one of the frequent moments she wished she had fire. Then she wouldn't need anything. She'd have her claws and fire. But Maroon didn't have fire, and could hardly fly, so her claws wouldn't be much use. But those seemed the least likely thing for Maroon to murder herself on.
She tried to give a self-confident smile, but she suspected it looked more like a grimace. "I think my claws will be fine."
Quartz glanced at them dubiously. "Alright," she said. "If that's what you think would be best."
Maroon nodded grimly. "It is."
Quartz turned to the room of dragons around them. All of them were watching Maroon and Quartz interestedly.
"Soldiers," she said, though her voice carried to the back of the room. "Choose your weapon. We're heading to the MudWing dungeons to rescue my daughter, Scarlet, as well as any others we can."
A soldier raised a talon tentatively and Quartz sighed. "Yes?"
"Um, how are we supposed to go to their dungeons if we don't know where it is?"
Maroon wanted to smack herself. Why hadn't she followed them? Then she could've found out exactly where they'd be.
Quartz smiled. "Actually, we do know where it is. A spy of our reported seeing it and all our captured soldiers a few weeks ago."
"What?" someone roared. "So why haven't we gone to rescue them? All that time, our fellow SkyWings have been suffering!"
Roars of agreement swept through the crowd but Quartz threw out her wings for silence.
"The queen refused," she said. "She said that we wouldn't send dragons over there."
"Why not?"
The room erupted into roars of agreement again and Maroon covered her ears.
"She did not state a reason," Quartz shouted over the noise.
"So if the queen said no, then why are we?" someone in the crowd piped up.
The cave fell awkwardly silent. "Well," Quartz finally said, "I believe that we have to save them no matter what the queen says."
"Are you sure we're not just going there because Scarlet, your daughter, was captured?" someone else exclaimed.
Quartz reared up onto her back legs and spread her wings. "I was planning this the moment I heard we knew where the camp was," she roared. "Scarlet was the last straw! And why does it even matter? Do any of you even want to save your comrades?"
"I do!" someone roared. "Who's with me?"
And steadily, every dragon in the room said they'd go.
They all filed past Maroon to the weapons wall, each on of them plucking the weapon that fitted them best, then went back to wait.
"Alright," Quartz said a few minutes later. "Does everyone have everything they need?"
A few dragons held up spears with others blew out plumes of flame.
"Alright. The flight is only about a quarter of a day, at most. If we leave now, we'll arrive an hour past midnight. A reasonable time to attack."
A number of small laughs ran through the crowd.
Quartz spread her wings. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go save our fellow SkyWings."
Cheers ran through the crowd and SkyWings began to file out of the exit, throwing themselves into the air.
Maroon followed Quartz as she left. "Thank you," she said.
Quartz turned to smile at her. "While she may be your bodyguard, she's my daughter. And a mother will do almost anything to ensure their dragonet's safety."
Maroon gave a soft smile back. "I know."
Quartz glanced at Maroon's wings. "Are you sure you can make it?"
Maroon nodded. "For Scarlet, anything." Then she opened her wings and flew out into the air, taking deep breaths. "We're coming, Scarlet," she whispered. "Just hold on."
Then they all started to fly away from the palace, which was gleaming in the sunset, Maroon thinking about her last statement. She'd do anything for Scarlet. Was that true? Would she give up her life for Scarlet?
Maroon fixed her eyes stubbornly on the horizon. If it comes to it, she thought, then yes.
== CHAPTER 8 ==
Moorhern
Moorhen was having a roasted deer with her sibs about an hour after sunset when someone barged into their tent in the camp.
Moorhen looked up and recognized the dragon immediately. It was Lichen, one of her spies.
"Lichen," she said, standing up. "What news do you have, and it'd better be a good reason for you to be off your post."
Lichen coughed nervously. "It is, Your Majesty."
"Well, hold your tongue and wait for me outside. I should like to finish my dinner."
Lichen nodded several times in rapid succession, then stepped out of the tent.
"Don't do it just for us, Moorhen," Goose said. "We're fine. And I think it seemed rather important."
A few of her other sibs nodded and Moorhen consented, sighing. "I'll be back in a bit though. It shouldn't take long."
"Take your time though," Goose called as she left.
Moorhen laughed softly, then regained her majestic composure and stepped outside the tent.
Lichen was sitting there, fidgeting with his claws, glancing over in the directions of the dungeons.
"What is your report?" she asked. But then she glanced up at the moons which had risen. "Also, you're early by about a half moon cycle."
"This is important," Lichen said. "Come, let me show you."
Moorhen paused. "This sounds as though it's not just news," she observed.
"It isn't," Lichen said. "We got a prisoner at our post, me and Dragonfly. And if she is who she says she is, then the tide of this war is going to turn."
"How so?" Moorhen asked, but she followed as he started to lead the way towards the dungeons.
"She claims to be Scarlet."
Shock broke through Moorhen's royal composure for a second, but she quickly covered it up. "Very well," she said. "I suppose I could look at her."
If it truly was Scarlet, Moorhen knew for sure that the tide of the war would change. Some of their best soldiers had been found dead in their beds, either with their throats slit, or for some inexplicable reason that could not be found on their outside. And all of these killings had been credited to Scarlet, which she had been heard to take gleefully.
Moorhen followed as Lichen led her around the dungeons and to a mud pit nearby.
"We didn't put her in the dungeons yet," Lichen explained. "We thought, 'now why throw her in there when we're just going to have to take her out to kill her.' It was just an idea."
Moorhen saw Dragonfly lying in the mud puddle, his eyes closed, looking very much at peace, completely ignoring the spitting mad orange SkyWing that had her wings, talons, and snout bound. She was lying on the dry-ish ground next to the mud puddle, wriggling like a fish out of water.
Moorhen took one look at her and knew that it was Scarlet. She had seen her at the SkyWing palace, always at Princess Maroon's side, so therefore always at royal gatherings.
Moorhen gestured to Lichen to take off the ropes binding her snout. "Just be ready to put them back on," she ordered.
Lichen nodded and unbound the ropes, quickly drawing his talons back. A good thing too. The moment the ropes were off, Scarlet snapped at Lichen's talons.
"Tell me, Scarlet," Moorhen said, leaning forwards, "how do you like the Mud Kingdom?"
"It's very muddy," Scarlet snapped. "And in case you didn't know, I hate mud, so therefore this is my least favorite place on Pyrrhia." Scarlet gave a smile. "Just thought I'd let you know."
Moorhen growled softly. "Well, Scarlet, you get the privilege of skipping out on my dungeons. Usually that's where I put all the prisoners I keep to trade." Moorhen smiled at Scarlet. "But I'm afraid there will be no bartering with your life. There's no reason to let the SkyWings have their most dangerous weapon back."
"I know," Scarlet snapped. "I'm not dumb, you know."
"Really?" Moorhen said. "Because I think it was rather dumb to be captured when you knew you'd lose your life."
Scarlet barked a harsh laugh. "Don't all soldiers have to be ready to lose their lives?"
"I suppose," Moorhen said. She heard laughing coming from her tent and glanced over. She didn't want to murder Scarlet tonight. It didn't feel like the right time. "You know what, Scarlet?" Moorhen said. "I've changed my mind. I'll allow you to spend the night in my dungeons. I'll kill you in the morning. And now if you'll excuse me, I must go finish my dinner, then put the finishing details on my invasion."
Scarlet's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, yes." Moorhen smiled at her. "Did I mention that I'm planning one of those? Actually, it's already planned. We just have to execute it soon. Tonight, to be exact." Then she turned to Lichen. "Bind her snout back and take her down. And make sure she's in the three s's cell. I'm sure she'll enjoy that."
Lichen nodded. "Of course, Your Majesty." He reached to put the ropes back on, but Scarlet snapped at his talons.
"What are the three s's?" she asked, but then Lichen got the ropes secured around her snout.
Moorhen smiled at Scarlet. "They're just a fun bit of torture that we have in the dungeons. I hear you have fun of your own at the Sky Kingdom."
Scarlet glowered at her.
"Alright, fine. And to answer your question of what they are, they are spiders," Moorhen lifted one claw, "snakes," she lifted a second, "and scorpions." She lifted the third. "The three s's. They're not enough to kill the prisoners, but it's certainly enough to make them go crazy. I hope you enjoy it down there." Moorhen watched as Lichen dragged her through the wet earth down to the entrance to the dungeons.
"Dragonfly, was there anyone with Scarlet when you caught her?"
Dragonfly opened his eyes, hesitating for a long moment.
"Well?" she snapped impatiently.
Dragonfly pulled himself out of the mud. "No one, Your Majesty."
Moorhen nodded. "Good. No one will think that it was us who took her until we've already wiped them out and won this war."
Dragonfly nodded. "Yes, that's right, Your Majesty."
Then, she turned back to her tent, eager to get back into her sibs' presence and tell them about the good news.
Moorhen stepped into the tent and her majestic composure collapsed in an instant. "Guess what news Lichen brought me?" she said excitedly.
"That the SkyWings want peace?" Goose said hopefully.
"No," Moorhen said dismissively. "They captured and brought me Scarlet!"
"Scarlet?" Grebe stood up. "The Scarlet? Like, the assassin?"
Moorhen nodded. "The very one."
"This will change the war!" Coot said eagerly.
"Did you kill her?" Grebe asked.
Moorhen shook her head. "I said I'd kill her tomorrow after our invasion. Subject her to the three s's for a night."
Grebe nodded appreciatively. "Alright. Sounds good."
All her sibs agreed. Moorhen smiled at them all. "Alright, now once you finish your deer, go get some rest. We'll be leaving an hour after midnight so we can get there at first light."
Goose got up and went to leave but hesitated at the tent flap. "What about you?" she asked.
"I have to get the invasion in order," she said. "I'll be up for a while. Just try to get some rest before I get there though."
Goose nodded, the gems on her head glittering in the torchlight. "Alright. Goodnight, Moorhen."
Moorhen nodded. "Goodnight, Goose."
And one by one, Moorhen's sibling filed out of the tent.
Then Moorhen left the tent herself and headed toward's her general's.
"General Fen," Moorhen said as she walked in.
The deep brown dragon, with hints of mahogany red peeking through, jumped from where she was eating her dinner.
"Y – yes, Your Majesty?" she stammered.
"What needs to be done for the invasion to be ready?"
General Fen thought for a moment. "Well, there's nothing I can think of. The IceWings have been briefed of what to do and our troops have known for the longest time. I think we're good."
Moorhen nodded. "Good. If there's anything else needed, they can ask you. I'm sure you can handle whatever it is."
General Fen put up a forced smile. "Yes, I'm sure I can, Your Majesty."
Moorhen smiled back. "Now, if you'll excuse me." She ducked out of the tent and headed to her own.
Moorhen stepped inside and immediately felt more at ease. All her sibs were lying down in a circle, leaving the middle for Moorhen.
"That didn't take too long," Goose remarked.
Moorhen smiled. "There wasn't anything for me to do. And if there is, I'm sure Fen can take care of it."
Grebe nodded. "You bet she can. I've never seen a more resourceful general. Or a prettier one."
Moorhen grinned. "So when are you going to ask her to be your partner?"
Grebe flared his wings from where he was lying. "Whoa, I am not even close to that stage. I've hardly ever talked to her!"
"Sure you have," Moorhen said. "You talk to her all the time in war meetings."
"That's different!" he protested. "What I mean is that I've hardly ever talked to her on non-war topics or places. No friendly chats or anything."
"Well, I'll take care of that once we're done with this invasion," she said. "I'll arrange a meeting with her."
Grebe's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Moorhen nodded. "Of course."
Duck nudged Grebe's shoulder. "Alright!" he said. "I'm sure it'll go great! Although," he tapped his snout thoughtfully, "once she gets to know you and figures out how annoying you are, maybe not. . ."
Grebe pushed Duck's shoulder. "Stop it," he pouted.
Duck laughed. "I was just kidding," he said. "I really shouldn't joke about that sort of stuff, though. Don't want to jinx myself."
"Yeah, don't," Moorhen agreed. "I like Everglade."
Coot sat up. "I thought we were supposed to be trying to fall asleep," he whined. "And even if you guys aren't, I am."
"Coot's right," Moorhen said, and Coot beamed at her. "We don't want to be tired during our invasion."
Goose nodded and moved out of the way so Moorhen could make her way to the middle of the tent. When she did, she laid down and curled up, pulling her tail in to give her sibs as much space as possible.
But even so, they gave Moorhen as much room as she wanted, settling a few feet away her.
Moorhen smiled, closing her eyes, knowing that she'd do anything for her sibs.
 • • • • • 
Moorhen woke up at a quarter past midnight. She yawned and stretched her wings, then carefully made her way around her sibs. But even so, Duck woke up.
"Moorhen," he said groggily. "Are you okay?"
Moorhen nodded. "Of course. Just go back to sleep," she whispered.
Duck nodded, rested his head on his front talons, and was snoring softly almost immediately.
Moorhen smiled at her sleeping sibs, then stepped out of her tent.
The camp was agitated, as she could tell the moment she stepped out. Multiple dragons were awake and pacing. Well, most of the pacing was done by the IceWings that they had to help them. MudWings didn't usually pace.
Moorhen went and ducked into the war tent. Many of her best soldiers and officials were already in there.
"Is everything in order?" she asked.
Everyone in the tent looked over. Several bowed, nodding.
"Good." Moorhen looked up. "Do you ... hear that?"
A few dragons in the tent exchanged looks. "What sound, Your Majesty?"
"It sounds like ... wingbeats." Moorhen strained her ears and she could very clearly hear wingbeats. It sounded like there were at least several dozen.
"Captain," she said. "Is there a wing of dragons coming in tonight?"
The Captain shook his head. "No. Every wing of dragons should've reported back. And every one was accounted for."
"SkyWings!" someone cried from outside. "SkyWings!"
Moorhen whirled and dashed out of the tent, her eyes scanning the sky. She could already see white and brown shapes clashing with red ones.
But two shapes darted towards the dungeons. One was a rusty gray, though the other was a red. Moorhen thought that the first's color matched Princess Maroon's rather well, but Crimson would never let her daughter go out into battle.
"MudWings!" Moorhen cried. "To battle!"
Then she lifted off into the air, along with other MudWings who flew to help Moorhen in the battle. This was where they needed to fight. She wasn't going to question how the SkyWings knew where they were yet. She had to focus on this front. They outnumbered the SkyWings by a lot, but they were powerful fighters. They had already taken down the front line.
But just then, a group of IceWings swooped down and, in unison, shot a wall of frostbreath. At least five SkyWings were covered up by the ice and fell to the earth, shrieking in pain.
Moorhen smirked as another SkyWing fell to the ground. They were winning.
== CHAPTER 9 ==
Maroon
Maroon wanted to die. They had been flying forever and her wings were past the point of felling like they'd fall off and had reached the point where they just made her utterly miserable.
But whenever she wanted to stop, she thought of all the horrible things that could be happening to Scarlet and that kept her going rather well.
"Alright," Quartz finally said, much to Maroon's relief. "We're here."
They all landed on a nearby rock ledge and Maroon let her wings sag and brush the ground, walking over to the edge of the ledge to get a better look at the camp.
The moons were high in the sky and Maroon, even though they were a fair distance away, could see their light shining onto the dragons in the camp below. But . . . Maroon noticed something. There were a few dragons that reflected the moonslight as though they were part of it. White, with flecks of pale blue.
"I– Ic– Ic–" Maroon stammered, her breath catching in her throat. "Ice– Ice–"
Quartz turned to Maroon. "Are you okay, Maroon?"
"IceWings!" Maroon blurted. "I– Ice– W– Win– Wings!" The name made her teeth chatter so much. They were so cold. It terrified Maroon.
"IceWings?" Quartz rushed over to where Maroon was standing. "Where?"
Maroon pointed with a shaking claw to the group she had seen. They were sitting in the darkness, though they were the shiniest thing for miles, with the way the moons reflected off of them.
"Three moons," Quartz whispered. "Why are the IceWings here? They have no reason to be. Unless. . ." Quartz scanned the camp below for a moment. "Oh no. They have their entire army prepped for battle." She whirled around. "This is going to he harder than we thought. Their army is ready for a reason I don't know, so we don't have the advantage of them not being ready."
A few SkyWings squared their shoulders, their eyes determined, while others looked like they wanted to do no more than run away. Maroon couldn't help but agree. She felt as though she could already feel the frozen air around the IceWings' scales surround her. She shivered.
"Those of you that want to," Quartz said, "you are welcome to go back to the Sky Kingdom. But if you choose to stay, then you will be remembered far into the future as a part of the small group of dragons that took on the MudWing and IceWing forces. And those of you that don't stay," Quartz's eyes hardened, "will be remembered as the dragons who ran away. The ones that didn't help. Because they didn't want to. Step forward, those of you who wish to go."
No one stepped forward for a long moment, but then a timid looking red dragon did.
"I know," he said softly. "I know you think that I'm a disgrace. But," he turned to look at everyone. "I have eggs waiting back at the palace. And a mate. I don't want to give that up. Please, I know that it's selfish, but you have to understand. I could never give my life when I have a family waiting at home for me. So I'm sorry and I hope everything goes well." The dragon gave a respectful nod to everyone, then turned and flew back in the direction of the palace.
Quartz watched the dragon leave, then turned back to the rest of the SkyWings. "Anyone else?"
No one came, but as Quartz turned away, an orange dragon stepped forward. "Wait!" she called.
Quartz turned to glare at her.
"I wish to leave for the same reasons," she said. "My eggs are due to hatch any day now, and my mate already died. I can't leave them with no one. I thought it'd be fine, as we had the element of surprise, but now we don't have that. They're ready for us, and there are far more of them than there are of us."
"Well there'd be more if you stayed," Quartz said coldly.
The orange dragon squared her shoulders and laid down her spear, nodding to everyone, then opening her wings and flying towards the palace.
"Well, I think we're done here." Quartz turned to the MudWing camp. "Everyone ready? We'll go down there and head to the dungeons, which are over there."
Maroon looked to where Quartz was pointing and saw a tunnel that led into the ground.
"Maroon will go in, along with someone else, and free the prisoners. Does anyone volunteer?"
A red dragon in the middle of the crowd raised their talon. "I will," he said.
Maroon relaxed slightly at the sound of his voice. "Tornado." She hadn't realized he was there.
Tornado pushed to the front of the crowd and to Maroon.
"Alright," Quartz said. "Thank you, Tornado. And if everyone is ready, I think we're ready to go."
The group of SkyWings nodded.
"Alright," Quartz said. "Then let's go free some prisoners." She lifted off into the sky and was followed by the other SkyWings.
Maroon lifted off with some difficulty and Tornado grabbed her talon. "You okay?" he asked.
Maroon nodded. "Yes, of course." She flew towards the entrance to the dungeons, Tornado flying quietly at her side.
And that was when they were spotted.
"SkyWings!" someone cried. "SkyWings!"
Maroon chanced a glance to Quartz and the other soldiers.
They flew forwards with confidence, attacking the few MudWings that flew up in hopes of stopping them.
Maroon turned away, focusing on the entrance to the dungeons.
There were two guards sitting at the entrance, and they saw them approaching and had spears pointed at them.
As they neared, Tornado drew in a breath and she knew he was preparing to breathe a plume of flame onto the two soldiers, but Maroon brushed her talons against his.
"No," she whispered. "I have an idea."
Tornado gave her a curious look but let out a long breath, whips of smoke curling out of his mouth.
Maroon landed in front of the two soldiers and they brandished their spears at them. Maroon held out her talons to show they were empty.
"Whoa," Maroon said. "We're not here to fight. We're here for an exchange."
The two MudWings exchanged glances. "What are they doing then?" one of them asked, jerking his head to the battle.
"An argument," Maroon said dismissively. "They'll get over it."
"Who are you going to give us?" the other MudWing asked.
"Actually, Queen Moorhen said it'd be up to you," Maroon lied. "She said that you two have been faithful guards for awhile and should get to choose."
The two guards exchanged another look. "Our brother!" the second blurted. "Marl, our bigwings. He was captured in that battle two moons ago."
"Alright," Maroon said, nodding. "We'll get Marl and send him over once we get back to the palace."
"MudWings!"
Maroon whirled to see Queen Moorhen lifting off into the air.
"To battle!"
The MudWings at the entrance to the dungeons brandished their spears again.
"You lied," the first snarled.
"Please," Maroon stepped forwards. "I just want to save my best friend. And I promise, if you let me through, I will let Marl go. I promise."
The second lowered their spear, but the first hesitated. "But won't we just be killed by Queen Moorhen for treachery?"
Maroon hesitated. "I suppose that's true."
"Knock us out," the second MudWing insisted. "Then we can pretend we didn't talk at all. That you just knocked us both out before we could do anything."
The first MudWing hesitated a long moment before nodding. "Alright. If it means we get Marl back, then yes."
Tornado stepped forwards. "Alright then. Which one of you want to go first?"
The second stepped forward. "Anything for Marl," she said.
Tornado grabbed one of the MudWings spears, flipped it over to the blunt end, then jabbed it down hard onto the MudWing's skull. She crumpled to the ground in an instant.
The first MudWing looked horrified and quickly stepped forward. "You'll need these." He wrestled a keyring off his neck and thrust it into Maroon's talons. "Just make sure Marl gets back."
Maroon nodded. "Of course. Tornado?"
Tornado nodded and knocked the MudWing out with the blunt end of the spear again.
"Not so hard," Maroon hissed. "They didn't deserve that."
"Their still our enemies," he growled softly.
Maroon turned away and hurried down into the tunnel. It sloped harshly downwards and curved every once in a while.
Then they made it into a larger room with pits on both sides, two guards posted there, one on each side of the tunnel.
Tornado shot into action, knocking one of the guards out with his tail while the other, he knocked out with the spear that he had kept.
Maroon took a deep breath, then continued down the tunnel.
They passed pit after pit, most filled with deep mud that had SkyWings in them with their wings banded, rendering it impossible for them to get out of the mud. Each SkyWing called for help, but Maroon turned her back on them. Scarlet was her first priority.
Maroon made sure to check every pit, but she didn't see Scarlet yet in the dim torchlight.
But finally, in a darker hallway than all the others, they found another guard, standing specifically at one pit.
"This has to be it," Maroon whispered.
Tornado wasted no time and leapt onto him, but the MudWing threw him off in hardly a second. The MudWing reached towards Tornado's neck, but Tornado pummeled his underbelly with his back talons, making the MudWing grunt and step back.
And in the next instant, Tornado leapt onto him. The MudWing latched his teeth onto Tornado's forearm. But Tornado just gritted his teeth and reached to the MudWings throat, snapping his neck in the next instant.
Maroon hurried over to Tornado and pried the MudWing's jaw open, letting Tornado pull his arm out.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
He was breathing hard and had a few minor cuts all over him. The worst was where the MudWing had bit him.
Tornado gave a slow nod. "I should be. Is Scarlet in there?"
Maroon hurried over to the edge of the pit and peered down. She thought she could see orange scales at the bottom, but she wasn't sure. "Scarlet?" she called.
There was no answer for a moment. "Maroon? Is that you?"
Maroon almost cried with relief. It was Scarlet, and she sounded okay. "I'm coming down to get you," she told Scarlet.
Maroon carefully left the ledge and flew slowly down to the bottom. Scarlet got clearer the farther she went down. She didn't appear to be hurt. Just a little muddy.
Just as Maroon was about to land, there was a harsh voice. "Don't land!"
Maroon started and shot a foot or two up. "What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"There's stuff down here. Just give me the keys. I can get my wings unbound myself."
Maroon pressed the keys into Scarlet's outstretched talons. That was when she noticed that Scarlet's talons were shaking slightly.
"Scarlet, are you okay?"
Scarlet nodded quickly. A little too quickly for Maroon's liking.
Scarlet fumbled with the key for a moment, trying to insert it into the keyhole. But her talons were shaking too much and she ended up dropping the keyring.
Scarlet swore and bent down, stumbling slightly as she grabbed the keys. "You do it," she said. "I – I can't."
Maroon took the keys from her and slid it into the keyhole and twisted. The metal band opened and fell from Scarlet's wing.
"Why can't you do it, Scarlet?" Maroon asked as she reached to undo Scarlet's other wing.
"Because every single cursed creature in this pit is venomous," Scarlet snapped. "I didn't realize until I had to do that. I mean, I assumed they were poisonous, but I didn't expect it to affect my talons."
Now Scarlet was rambling. That poison must've done far more than just affect her talons. Scarlet never rambled.
Maroon got the other clamp off and flew out of Scarlet's way. "Alright, Scarlet. Come on, we have to go."
Scarlet nodded and stretched her wings wide. She leapt off of the ground. Everything seemed to be going well, but about halfway up, Scarlet swerved and hit the wall, falling back to the bottom of the pit.
"Scarlet!" Maroon cried. "Tornado, she needs help!"
There was a red blur as Tornado dove down into the pit. Maroon followed, nearly as fast as Tornado.
Scarlet pulled herself to her talons just as Maroon got there. Tornado was hovering a foot above the ground.
"Scarlet, give me your wing," he said.
"No." Scarlet gritted her teeth and tensed to fly again.
"Scarlet, just accept help for once in your life, please!" Maroon cried.
Scarlet turned and blinked at Maroon. Even Tornado looked startled.
"Just ... please," Maroon said softly.
Scarlet blinked at Maroon, but stretched out her wing and let Tornado take it.
"Up we go," he said, opening his wings and taking off.
Scarlet flapped her one open wing and helped a bit.
Maroon went to fly at Tornado's side. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wish I could help."
Tornado looked at her. "You have, Maroon. You had the idea to try to trick those MudWings, you came all this way just to help. We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. If you hadn't flown back to the palace just to ask for help, we wouldn't be here. So you've helped Maroon, far more than you think you have."
Maroon couldn't help but smile. "Thanks."
He nodded. "You're welcome."
They reached the top of the pit and Tornado set Scarlet down gently onto the floor.
Maroon walked over to Scarlet worriedly as she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
"Will you be alright?" Maroon asked.
Scarlet nodded. "At least, I hope so."
Tornado walked up to them. "Hate to break this up, but we have to go. We have no idea how everyone is holding up."
Maroon just realized that they didn't. Everyone could be dead, she thought, and we have no idea. Maroon nodded. "Yeah, let's."
They all started dashing down the tunnels and towards the breath of fresh air that was wafting in. Maroon saw a shaft of moonslight falling in through the exit, but she couldn't hear anything.
Maroon ran out, her breath catching in her throat, expecting to see some horrible image of death. And she did, though not as much as she had expected. SkyWing bodies littered the ground, but Quartz and at least five other dragons were still fighting. But even as Maroon watched, a SkyWing fell to the ground, completely incased in ice. Maroon shivered slightly.
"Alright, I feel better now. Let's go." Scarlet threw open her wings and flung herself into the air. Tornado quickly followed, and Maroon lagged behind. But she flew up into the air after them both.
"There they are!" Quartz shouted, although there didn't seem much need to, as the SkyWings were all grouped closely together. "Retreat!"
The SkyWings drew back and fled, Scarlet, Maroon, and Tornado following.
Tornado sped up to reach Quartz, passing Scarlet, who seemed to be flying a little slower than normal.
Suddenly, an IceWing came out of nowhere and shot a blast of frostbreath at Scarlet. And in that moment, the world seemed to slow around Maroon.
She'll dodge, she thought despairingly. She has to. But it was going too fast. Maroon knew that Scarlet couldn't. It was up to Maroon to save her, for once.
"No!" Maroon cried. And without another thought, she put on a burst of speed that she didn't know was possible for her and grabbed Scarlet, blocking the frostbreath with her back and wings.
The IceWing flew away, thinking their job was done and Scarlet stared in horror at Maroon.
Maroon didn't feel anything at first. But then the cold hit. Maroon was cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold. Colder than she had ever been.
Maroon smiled at Scarlet and started to fall. Her wings decided that they just didn't want to work.
"No!" Scarlet sounded so far away. And she was disappearing from Maroon's sight. Maroon wanted Scarlet to be by her side, warming her.
Scarlet grabbed Maroon's talons, stopping her fall.
Scarlet was hardly warm. Her talons gave Maroon an infinitesimal amount of warmth.
Maroon didn't notice, but Scarlet held Maroon tighter than she ever had before, taking her and setting her down gently on the ground.
"Scarlet," Maroon breathed.
"I'm right here," Scarlet whispered. "Just, please Maroon, stay with me."
Maroon shivered, the cold extending through her talons, tail, and wings.
"I saved you," Maroon whispered. "You were always my bodyguard," she smiled, her shivering disappearing, "but in the end, I saved you."
"It was supposed to be me!" Scarlet cried, tears dripping down her snout. "Why did you have to take it?" Scarlet's tears dripped onto Maroon, freezing instantly.
Maroon reached out weakly, and Scarlet grasped her talon tightly.
"Don't leave me, Maroon, please!" Scarlet pulled Maroon close. "Please, you can't leave me!"
Maroon reached up and brushed the tears out of Scarlet's eyes. "You'll be fine," she whispered. "You always are. But me, I'm weak and useless. I could never do anything. But you, Scarlet. You are destined for greatness." The world was fading in and out of view in an odd sort of way.
"And you will be too!" Scarlet cried. "Just hold on, please! You are anything but useless! You are the best friend anyone could've ever asked for! Please, Maroon, don't go!"
Maroon smiled. Then she remembered a promise she had made. "Release Marl from the dungeons," she whispered. "I made a promise."
Another tear slipped off of Scarlet's snout and she shifted to wipe it off Maroon. The rubies above her eyes caught the moonslight and winked at Maroon.
"Ah." Maroon reached up to brush the gems lightly. "I'm glad I took you to get those. They make you look so beautiful. Like a queen."
The cold extended up her neck and Maroon closed her eyes, shivering weakly.
"No, no, no. Maroon, don't leave! Hold on, please! You can't let it win!"
Maroon drew in one last shuddering breath, then fell into the darkness, though there was a light at the end of the tunnel; warm and bright. Maroon smiled softly, and then she was gone.
== CHAPTER 10 ==
ScarletScarlet didn't like the poison. It made her all slow and disoriented, though she had felt much better once she had gotten some fresh air.
But as she felt a blast of cold air, she knew that it didn't matter and that it would be the end for her. She would die a cold death, one that so many dragons had suffered.
Scarlet almost closed her eyes and gave up, allowing the frostbreath to consume her.
"No!"
Scarlet's eyes flew open and suddenly Maroon was in front of her, staring into her eyes. Scarlet could hear the frostbreath crystalizing on her back and wings.
The source of the frostbreath darted away, smirking slightly, but Scarlet didn't even try. She stared into Maroon's dark eyes in horror. Maroon had just saved her?
Maroon smiled softly at Scarlet, then her wings were incased in ice and ceased to beat. Maroon started to fall, letting go of Scarlet.
"No!" Scarlet cried. She tucked in her wings and dove after Maroon, grasping her talon tightly. Tighter than she ever had before. But unable to stop their fall entirely, she made a slow decent to the ground below them.
All her life, as a soldier, she was taught to hardly show emotions. She had only cried once in her life, but now tears were breaking the surface. Maroon, her best friend, was dying to the thing that she hated most.
Scarlet set Maroon down gently on the grass.
"Scarlet," Maroon breathed.
"I'm right here," Scarlet whispered, refusing to let go of Maroon's talon. "Just, please Maroon, stay with me." Scarlet couldn't lose her. She'd been there all her life. Scarlet had always looked out for her, but the one time it really mattered, Scarlet had failed.
Scarlet watched in horror as the ice spread across Maroon's wings, tail, and talons.
"I saved you," Maroon whispered, her voice worryingly weak. "You were always my bodyguard but," she smiled, her shivering disappearing, much to Scarlet's worry, "in the end, I saved you."
"It was supposed to be me!" The tears broke through and slipped down Scarlet's snout. "Why did you have to take it?" Scarlet's tears dripped onto Maroon and froze almost instantly. She wasn't fighting anymore.
Maroon reached her other talon out and Scarlet grasped it tightly. Both of them were so cold. Scarlet wanted to give her some warmth.
"Don't leave me, Maroon, please!" Scarlet pulled Maroon close, throwing her wings around her, hoping Maroon would feel the warmth. "Please, you can't leave me!"
Maroon pulled a talon out of Scarlet's grasp and wiped the tears out of Scarlet's eyes. Scarlet leaned into her talon. "You'll be fine," Maroon whispered, so quietly Scarlet could hardly hear. "You always are. But me, I'm weak and useless. I could never do anything. But you, Scarlet. You are destined for greatness." Maroon's eyes lost their focus.
"And you will be too!" Scarlet cried. "Just hold on, please! You are anything but useless! You are the best friend anyone could've ever asked for! Please, Maroon, don't go!"
Maroon smiled. "Release Marl from the dungeons," she whispered. "I made a promise."
Another tear slipped off Scarlet's snout and onto Maroon, and Scarlet leaned down to wipe it off.
"Ah," Maroon said softly. She reached up and brushed the rubies above Scarlet's eye. "I'm glad I took you to get those."
Scarlet panicked. Maroon was nearing the end.
"They make you look so beautiful," Maroon continued. "Like a queen."
The ice started to cover Maroon's neck and she shivered weakly, her eyes starting to close.
"No, no, no. Maroon, don't leave! Hold on, please! You can't let it win!"
But it was no use. Maroon took a deep shuddering breath and her eyes closed fully. And then she released her last breath, a small smile on her face. And then she was gone. Scarlet didn't even have to check.
Scarlet stumbled back in horror. "No," she whispered. "Maroon, you can't be gone! You can't be!"
Someone walked over and put a talon on Scarlet's shoulder. "You'll be alright." It was Scarlet's mother, Quartz.
"No!" Scarlet wrenched herself out of her mother's grasp. "This is your fault, mother!"
Quartz stepped towards Scarlet. "Scarlet, we both know that not true."
"Oh really? I think we both know that that's not true!" Scarlet felt horrible, saying those things, but she couldn't seem to stop them. She had to blame someone other than herself. "You were the one who allowed Maroon to come, weren't you?"
"Scarlet, please, I know that coping with loss is hard, but –"
"I'm not done!" Scarlet's voice sounded shrill, almost hysterical, even to herself. "You didn't have to come! You could've obeyed the queen and put Maroon in the dungeons! I wish you would've! I was fine with giving up my life, as long as it was for Maroon! It was what I was supposed to do!"
"Well I wasn't fine with you doing it!" Quartz roared. "While it might have been fine to you, it was not fine for me, and I am your mother!"
Scarlet opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. Her eyes filled up with tears, and Scarlet collapsed onto the ground, sobbing.
Quartz walked over and laid a talon on Scarlet. "I know it's hard, sunbeam. But some things in life are hard and we just have to push through."
Scarlet leaned against her mother. "But why did it have to be her?" she sobbed.
"Because that's where it hurt you the most," Quartz said softly, stroking Scarlet's head, putting a wing over Scarlet. "But when you endure this much hardship, wonderful things are bound to happen. Just you wait."
"How could anything ever be fine?" she cried. "Maroon is gone!"
Scarlet sobbed into her mother's shoulder for a few more minutes, but then sniffled and wiped the tears away.
"There." Quartz smiled at Scarlet. "I knew you were strong. Now let's go. We'll travel as long as we want to, then we'll stop."
"Wait." Scarlet got up and went over to Maroon's body, grabbing a large stone and carving into it. The work was painstaking, but Scarlet did it anyway.
'Here fell Princess Maroon, daughter of Queen Crimson.
She fell in the bravest and most noble way possible; risking her life for her friend, taking the frostbreath for her, even though she hated the cold more than anything.'
Scarlet, feeling that the work was incredibly bad, set the stone above Maroon's head. It felt unfinished, but Scarlet didn't know what else to put on it. She couldn't easily explain how good of a friend she was. That was something that couldn't be put into words.
Quartz smiled at Scarlet. "Well done, Scarlet."
Scarlet swiped away a tear angrily. "It could certainly be better," she snapped. "Could we please just go?"
Quartz nodded. "Yes." She turned to the remaining soldiers. "I want you to carry Maroon's body. We're going to inform the queen of her daughter's death."
The soldiers nodded and Scarlet turned away as they lifted Maroon's frost encased body.
Quartz nodded. "Good. Now we leave. We'll aim to get there as fast as possible. Hopefully by sunrise."
Scarlet nodded. She knew she could do it. Well, normally she could. She wasn't sure if the poison would affect her flight too. But she suspected it wouldn't. Scarlet wanted to fly to the other end of the continent without stopping, just to try to make the pain disappear. Fly away, just hoping the memories would disappear.
But at the same time, she never wanted to forget Maroon. She didn't want Maroon to have sacrificed her life for Scarlet, but then she forgot her in return.
Scarlet opened her wings a flew up into the air, ignoring whether or not the other dragons were coming.
You will never be forgotten Maroon, Scarlet thought, heading back towards the palace that she could see in the distance, lighting up the night. I'll make sure of that.
 • • • • • 
Scarlet was thoroughly exhausted by the time they made it back to the palace. Her mother noticed, though Scarlet hadn't been expecting her not to.
"Do you want to go see the queen?" she asked. "You look like you could use some rest."
Scarlet shook her head. "I'm going with you," she said determinedly. As much as she wanted to sleep, she knew that, if she even could fall asleep, she'd be haunted by nightmares. And she knew she would be for a long time.
Quartz nodded. "Alright, but I don't want you to have any part in the conversation. Understand?"
Scarlet gritted her teeth and gave no answer.
"I said, do you understand?" Quartz hissed.
"I will intervene where I see necessary," Scarlet said, trying to stay calm and not lash out. But, with the queen, it would more than likely happen. She always found Crimson aggravating, but she knew she would even more so than normal. She had trouble not lashing out at her own mother, who she usually found calming and understanding.
Quartz nodded. "Alright. I just want you to know that you have no obligation to stay. If you wish to leave at any time, you are welcome to."
Scarlet nodded. "But I won't."
Quartz smiled. "I know."
They landed in the hallway by the throne room and Scarlet winced as she heard the soldiers land behind them. She had almost forgot that Maroon's body was being carried by the dragons behind her.
Scarlet took a deep breath and followed her mother into the throne room.
Much to her surprise, Crimson was already in the room.
"Scarlet!" she snapped. "Where have you been? Anyone could've stolen my treasure!"
Scarlet bit her tongue and blew a plume of smoke out of her snout instead of answering.
"And where's Maroon?" she continued. "You went after her, and I haven't seen her yet. And she's certainly not in the dungeons, WHERE SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE."
Quartz stepped forwards. "I have some unfortunate news to bring you, Your Majesty."
Crimson's yellow eyes narrowed on Quartz. "Very well."
"Your daughter has ... met an unfortunate end."
Crimson shot up out of her throne. "What?" she roared. "How did this happen?" Her eyes locked onto Scarlet. "This is your fault, isn't it?" She stepped forwards. "I knew that one day it would happen."
"No!" Quartz stepped out in front of Crimson. "It was my fault that Maroon lost her life. I took Maroon to the MudWing camps without your consent."
Crimson's pupils constricted. "You went to the MudWing camps? Even when I specifically told you no?"
Quartz nodded. "No one is too blame but myself. Don't punish Scarlet, or anyone else for that matter."
"Why should I listen to you?" Crimson hissed.
"Because it is my final wish."
Scarlet started. "Final?" she whispered.
"Alright," Crimson said. "But it will indeed be your final."
"No!" Scarlet dashed over to her mother and threw her wings around her. "Please, you can't go!" She didn't care if she was acting disrespectfully around the queen. Crimson could go eat cow dung for all she cared.
Quartz pulled Scarlet close. "It's alright," she whispered. "This is my choice."
Crimson narrowed her eyes at the two of them. "Hmm," she said. "Touching. Very well, I suppose I'll allow you two some time together. How about," she tapped her snout thoughtfully, ". Then I'll hold the trial and execution. After all, I've already made up my mind."
Scarlet went to object but Quartz grabbed her tightly. "No, Scarlet. Be grateful for the time you have."
Scarlet whirled around to look at her mother, tears streaming down her snout. "I can't lose you too!" she said in a desperate whisper.
Quartz nuzzled her softly. "You'll be fine. I know you will. Now come on. We should get to bed."
"No!" Scarlet cried. "Please, I don't want to spend my last few hours with you sleeping!"
"Trust me," Quartz said. "You need it. You know you do."
Scarlet knew her mother was right. She could feel the exhaustion sinking into her bones. But she was prepared to overcome that, if it meant she could have more time with her mother.
"We'll have all day tomorrow," Quartz assured her. "We'll do everything that we always wanted to. And we won't think about it."
Scarlet swiped the tears out of her eyes and nodded reluctantly.
"Alright." Then she turned to the queen. "Thank you for the time you have granted me. I promise I will be at the trial ."
Crimson smiled. "I know you will. Such a wonderful General you are, always obeying orders, no matter what they are. Maybe you should try to teach your dragonet some of that obedience. She obviously got none from you."
Scarlet growled softly but Quartz tugged her away down the hall to her room.
"We can run away!" Scarlet said desperately once they were in Quartz's rooms. "Please, mother, I can't lose you too!"
Quartz shook her head. "I'm sorry, Scarlet, but no. If we ran away, Crimson wouldn't stop until she found both of us. At least this way I know that you'll be safe. She'll have no reason to hate you. Just promise me something."
Scarlet wiped a tear away. "Anything," she whispered.
Quartz grasped Scarlet's shoulders. "Stay away from the queen. Stay out of her sight. Don't draw her attention. The further you stay away from her, the better."
"We can figure something out!" Scarlet whispered. "Just, please, don't leave me!"
Quartz nuzzled her. "I don't have a choice." She laid down on her bed and opened her wing to Scarlet. "Come on," she said. "Just like old times?"
Scarlet smiled softly and laid down next to her mother. Quartz covered Scarlet with her wing and Scarlet leaned into the warmth. It had been so long since Scarlet had slept at her mother's side. Now she wished she had done it more. Then she would've had more time with her.
Scarlet felt a tear slip down her snout and she shut her eyes tightly.
As much as she didn't want to, Scarlet knew she couldn't stop the exhaustion from taking over. So Scarlet fell asleep, not at all ready for the dreams that came to torment her.
 • • • • • 
Scarlet woke several times with tears streaming down her snout, and even though the sun had risen, she'd always keep falling back asleep.
Scarlet started awake and blinked rapidly, trying to get the tears out of her eyes. And then, strangely enough, she couldn't remember a single one of her dreams.
That's probably better though, she thought.
"Ah, Scarlet."
Scarlet turned to look at her mother. Quartz was smiling at her from the bed. "You're awake."
Scarlet got up off her mother's wing. "I should've been up earlier though," she said. "I'm sorry."
Quartz smiled at her and got up. "No, don't apologize. You needed your rest. Didn't appear as though you had very good dreams though."
Scarlet shook her head. "I don't remember them," she admitted.
Quartz walked over and stroked Scarlet's head. "That's probably for the better, sunbeam."
Scarlet nodded. "I know."
"Now," Quartz said. "I thought we'd do a lot of stuff today that we never really got to do, me being the general and all. But I have one requirement."
Scarlet nodded. "Alright."
"We won't mention anything about me being gone tomorrow. I want us to pretend it's not going to happen."
"Pretend?" Scarlet protested. "Please, why do I have to pretend that everything is normal? I don't want to be living something fake, especially when you'll be gone tomorrow and I'll never see you again." Scarlet fell into tears. "First Maroon, and now you."
Quartz laid a wing on Scarlet. "Sunbeam, no one is worth your tears. Maroon did it all by choice. She was fine with giving up her life for yours. And me, it's voluntary too. I'm doing this so you have a chance. So don't waste the day crying. They won't change anything."
Scarlet took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped away the tears.
Quartz smiled at her. "There. Now I thought we'd go hunting first. Get ourselves some breakfast."
"I'm not hungry," Scarlet said. Then her stomach growled.
Quartz laughed. "I think your stomach begs to differ. Now I don't care if you're hungry or not. You have to eat and that's that."
Quartz lead Scarlet down the hall and to the nearest exit. When Scarlet looked out, she realized that it was nearly midday.
"Why didn't you wake me before now?" she asked. "We would've had so much more time together."
Quartz smiled. "You needed your rest."
"I can rest some other time," Scarlet protested. "I have all the time in the world to rest, but now only half a day with you."
"Technically a day and a half."
Scarlet looked at her mother confusedly. "What? The queen said tomorrow at dawn."
Quartz nodded. "Yeah, that means that we have the remainder of the day, and all night. I thought we'd stargaze," she said in answer to Scarlet's questioning look.
"Stargaze," Scarlet echoed. She'd only ever done it by herself. Her mother had never had the time.
"Now come on. Let's go try to catch ourselves a cow or something even larger."
Scarlet smiled softly and followed her mother as she leapt out into the sunny sky, down towards the green forest. She knew that even though that day would probably be one of the best, there would be a shadow hanging over it, reminding Scarlet of the events to come.
 • • • • • 
Scarlet consented to her mother's wishes for the remainder of the day, as they hunted, flew, and bought fruit from vendors. But finally, as they went to the best place to stargaze, Scarlet couldn't stop herself.
They landed on the mountain and Scarlet whirled on her mother. "Please, you can't leave me."
"But the queen said so," Quartz said. "And everyone has to obey the queen."
"Crimson can go die for all I care!" Scarlet cried. "She's vile, cruel, and doesn't care a speck for anyone other than herself!"
Quartz smiled softly at Scarlet. (Someone else’s part, I don’t know who, sorry) "Scarlet, the queen is not killing me because she is evil. She is just doing her job. I failed her. I should die. You know that. I know that. Everyone knows. There is a law that states that,” she said, nuzzling her daughter.
"But somethings are out of our control..." Scarlet protested, with tears coming out of her eyes.
"Oh, Scarlet... I will tell you what I always do: Nobody is worth your tears, but the Queen" She said, covering he daughter with a wing.
Scarlet said nothing, but there were so many things she wanted to say. So the two just spent the night, their last night together ever, talking about the stars, about love, just being good companions ro each other. And hoping that dawn would never come. But it did.
(Dusk) And so, the moment the sun had risen, guards came up to where they were watching the sunrise.
“You must come with us, General Quartz,” one of them said.
Quartz stood up. “Of course. I was just about to leave.” She hesitated before leaving and turned back to Scarlet. “It’ll be alright,” she whispered.
Scarlet nodded. “I know,” she said.
Then Quartz flew away towards the arena, which was glowing in the sunrise, followed by the three guards.
Scarlet stayed there instead of going. She could go, to see her mother get executed if she wanted, but she preferred to remember her mom as the strong general and powerful fighter she had always been, not as a bloody pulp as the Queen would leave her as. Which was quite unfair. Quartz could snap Crimson’s neck in a heartbeat if she wanted. But she wouldn’t. There was that small part of Scarlet's heart that hoped her mother would, but the rational part knew that everyone was blind loyal to the Queen. They were nothing more than an expendable cavalry of loyal, dumb, idiots.
== CHAPTER 11 ==
A few months had passed. Scarlet was in her room, grieving her mother and her best friend. CrImison had put her in quite a few leave nobody alive sort of combat with Mudwings and Icewings. But somehow, she survived, and now was back... Well just because the healer in her party ordered her to go back and have a rest when she started hallucinating Nigthwings every where, wearing fantastic jewel encrusted armors saving her from death.... Maybe only nigthwings would be fine, but she also saw flying scavengers, gigantic flowers and multicolored dots in her vision.... And since the healer found that she didn't seem to be drugged or poisoned, she just got sent home. Too bad her home was the palace. She was in her room, with her head on the wall, grieving.
This wasn’t fair! Her friend, her best friend in the world was dead. DEAD! And what did she get in return? A happy ending? No happy endings end with death. To live in a better place? Without Scarlet, there WAS none! Scarlet let out a loud snarl and slashed at a rock. She was far too angry to notice that she had broken one of her claws. My friend is dead... Her mother was dead. She was all alone in the world.
Scarlet felt hatred, fury, and loneliness fill her thoughts. Nothing she hasn’t felt before, and she certainly had never cried about these feelings, but she had to drop on the ground to sob. Maroon... SorryI couldn’t save you... Mother, I'm sorry too...
Within no time, a knock was heard on her door.
” Scarlet, the queen wants to see you.” A light, matter of fact voice reached her ears. Once she processed what he had said, she shook her head. “I’m busy.” She growled at the door. A moment of silence. “Scarlet, the queen is not happy with you as it is. I advise you not to make her angrier, as you are the reason her daughter is dead.”
Scarlet felt a spark of burning rage build in her chest.
” If you could actually do your job, then I think that your friend would be alive right now.”
A small flame, climbing her heart.
” Were you even her friend? I don’t think friends let their friends die.”
With aloud roar, Scarlet leaped at him. “SHUT UP,” she wailed. “I DON’t CARE, JUST SHUT UP! YOU DON’t KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO Lose SOMEBODY YOU LOVE, YOU SPOILED RICH BRAT!” She had him pinned. A cruel idea sparked in the darkest part of her mind suddenly.
He’d pay for making her sad.
” Maybe somebody who loves you can know the sensation.”
Silence. Then, it was broken. “Excuse me?” Scarlet felt a wave of pride at the waver in his stupid, carefree voice.
“Let’s see If she can remember the feeling of loosing somebody, and the grief that follows it. For now, I’ll just tell you what it’s like. It’s like somebody RIPPING at your heart” With that, she dug her talon into his throat, feeling warm blood cover her talon. A shrill shriek filled her ears. “Then, somebody lights a fire right there...” Scarlet opened the wound further, and breathed a large amount of fire into it, relishing the sweet, delicious sound of a long scream followed by another. Now, she just had to wait.
” The fire slowly, ever so slowly spreads into your body, becoming increasingly more painful. You can try to treat it, but it won’t go away. When it does, it’s because you treat it yourself. Nobody else will do it for you. Then, there’s a ball of ice from your treatment. You’d expect it to melt, right? But no. The hate. The ball of ice... it just grows bigger and bigger. You grow colder and colder.” Eventually, the dragon’s screams died down. She grimaced. “I guess you didn’t live past the fiery part of the grief. Pity,” she growled sardonically.
I sure hope he even had somebody who loved him.
Scarlet then took a deep breath, and dragged the guard's corpse all the way to the window, and threw him out of it. Hopefully, nobody would notice that he went missing. She then cleaned the mess, while she imagined how Crimson's life must be... Having control of life and death of all her subjects... being untouchable, able to do any and everything she wanted. Scarlet then imagined a life like that... She had  a glimpse of that life while she lived with Maroon... The princes had asked all her servants to serve Scarlet, too... The kitchen had one scroll for each member of the royal family, listing their food dislikes. And scarlet had one, too. She also was never listed for the first front of guards... That always ended in a bloodbath... Had a higher education than most Skywings (okay, many lessons were boring, but it was a privilege nonetheless) But those little things couldn't compare to actually being one. She wished to be a princess so bad...
When she finished, she just burnt any evidence that she had just murdered someone in a nice bonfire. She watched it burn for a while. Well. Dragons are violent. That's the way they solve things.
Then she put her best poker face on, and marched down the halls to the throne room. Quite honestly, she always tough that those halls could use a little more treasure... More gold, more gems, something that would dazzle whoever got in the room. After all... She was the Queen. What use would be her treasure if it kept locked in a room all the time? Scarlet sure would make better use of it if she could...
She arrived at the two looming oak doors of the throne room. Guards that she knew by name sat imposing on either side of it. She went in. Queen Crimson seemed much bigger on her throne, with the afternoon sun shining behind her, and the mountain peaks and sky visible from the HUGE window behind her. 
"Oh Scarlet..." The Queen began. She told the orange dragon on how her name was a mistake. On how letting her live a privileged life for taking care of Maroon was a mistake. And in the end explained that she would have to find another place to live within two weeks, since her services were no more needed at palace.
Scarlet bit her tongue through the whole conversation. Even though, she considered the possibility of talking back, getting executed, then meeting with both her mother and Maroon in heaven. Maybe getting a spear through her heart wouldn't hurt THAT bad...
But well. She loved herself too much to do that. She was going to wait patiently till her turn came... Hopefully, in some sort of epic battle that would make she remembered...
She didn't remember bowing to Crimson. Scarlet didn't remember coming out of the doors, or descending to the lower levels of the palace. She was just walking mindless arround. That is. Until someone talked to her.
"I have heard that the Queen booted you out"
Scarlet jumped a bit at the surprise. She looked to her side. The corridor was badly lit, shielding the other dragon from view, but she guessed it was a guard. One with a rather plump tail and what seemed to be a few sparkles here there. Due to treasures, she guessed, but with some imagination, that dragon looked somewhat like a Nigthwing...
WELL. No matter who that dragon was, wasn't going to live very long.
"Which is quite unfair. All these years, you have devoted your life to protect her daughter, and it's like that she re tributes? What a dreadful Queen she is" The voice said, and again, made Scarlet jump, this time in alarm. She craned her neck around to make sure NOBODY else had heard that.
"You're right. She is dreadful indeed. But say such things will get us killed. Now excuse me. I have to find  a home" Scarlet said, then proceed to keep walking down the corridor, her head low. Killing this dragon was not worth it. Especially when they both seemed to have similar opinions on similar matters.
"I bet you would make a wonderful Queen. With all that you have endured, you seem to know how to lead a strong army" the mystery dragon spoke. Scarlet stopped dead in her tracks. Sighed. Then replied:
"I was not born to be Queen"
The dragon laughed. "The Queen is under a curse. A Nigthwing curse, mind you. I must remind you that Nigthwings are extremely  good seers, and are never wrong. All her daughters are weak and need a body guard. Tell, me, Scarlet? What happens if a Queen dies without being challenged?" The dragon said creeping closer. For a second, she thought to have seen stars glitter on that dragon's wings, but they were gone so fast she wasn't sure of they were actually there in first place.
"All the Queen's heirs, daughters, sisters, nieces and granddaughters have to fight to the death to see who is the next Queen" she said, getting a little closer to the dragon, that stepped back, and seemed to palm something.
"Yes. And I have heard that your mother was pretty close to Prince Falconet. Unfortunate for us, he is dead, and nobody knows if such rumors are true..." The dragon said, then was gone. For a few minutes, Scarlet just stood there, thinking she was hallucinating. But then, a grim smile sprouted on her face as a plan grew in the back of her head.
== 
CHAPTER 12 ==
A few weeks earlier, Crimson had gone blind, and was feeling terribly sick. Nobody knew why. Nobody but Scarlet, the had mixed the Royal tea sugar with high doses of arsenic. That poison was known as the "princesses poison" or "heir poison" for a reason. it was really hard to track, expecialy if it was applied in small doses over a extended periold of time. Many Queens jad died that way before, and Crimsons time semmed to be cammimg to an end. it was time to make her move. 
Scarlet just went into the Royal library. And lit a torch on the wall to light her way. The Guards at the door? Well. Dead. In a way. They were asleep. But the Queen would find they sleeping in their job in the morning, then they would be dead. They were expendable, Weren't they? So she could use their expandability, too. Not just the Queen. She went right for the loyal line scrolls. Read, read, read, and found a Prince. Brother to the Queen. An ashscales, like Maroon, that died of cold after Icewings plastered a few of the palace's wall with their frost breath. Then she picked all the scrolls she could find with her family line on it and spent the night rewriting those.
But of course, she was no idiot. She was not writing them with her "worthless mass calligraphy". Maroon had taught her how to write the Royal way, the way it looked like it came from a printing device... Well. If one existed. It didn't. But she could bet the letter forms would look like that. She wrote the prince's name on her birth certificate, on her mother's partner spot, everywhere. Then she just burnt the original ones to ashes. Left the library. And went on with her day.
She never thought that the boring law lessons with Osprey she had to accompany Maroon with would have such great usefulness in her life... If she remembered correctly, when a Skywing Queen died without being challenged, ALL her possible heirs must fight to the throne. And soon... She would be niece to the Queen...
== CHAPTER 13 ==
A few more weeks, and Scarlet had been rushed back to the palace as one of Crimson's true heirs. The Queen's condition was getting worse. and worse. and worse. So Scarlet decided to go pay her a visit. 
"Hello, your majesty..." Scarlet said, a wicked grin on her face. Crimson opened her eyes, even though she couldn’t see any more.
"...S... Scarlet...?" Crimson said, her voice was barely a whisper.
"Oh, Queen Crimson... You lived a long time, ruled for 18 years, a feat not achieved by many Queens... And you would have lived my much longer if you hadn't murdered her in cold blood... Now... Do you know what will happen tomorrow after you have taken your last breath? All your heirs will fight each other for the throne. And since tomorrow is my birthday, I think it would be more than fitting if I got myself a nice gift... And I was thinking about giving myself your kingdom. Your line may have ruled since the Scorching, Crimson, but it ends with you. And then, my line will begin, and will last a long, long time..." Scarlet said.
Queen Crimson seemed utterly shocked, and tried to say a bunch of things, but couldn't. Her own body wouldn’t let her. Scarlet, as wicked that may seem, she felt happy.
"... And I. Will be the longest ruling Queen the Sky Kingdom ever saw... Now, tell my Mother that I love her when you meet her in heaven, and tell Maroon that she is still and will always be in my heart. " Scarlet said and left the Queen chambers. In the morning, as predicted, the Queen was dead. She heard the guards screaming in panic and rushing around.
== CHAPTER 14 ==
The next morning was a blur. She was wakened by guards, and dragged to the Arena under the rising sun. She could hear the crowd cheering, and felt her heart thud. Scarlet didn't know that so many dragons would be here. That... Was expected. After all, they were going to see to who they should give their blind loyalty to this time. She griped the cold sand under talons, making some noise. Then breathed a plume of fire to warm her up.
Soon Sangria, Kite, Russet, Jade and Celestial and were all dragged to the arena, too. Scarlet had never noticed before, but now that Crimson's children, all the four of them, were next to their cousin Sangria, was when she noticed they really looked cursed. They seemed weak. They seemed unfit to this violent dragon world. The heirs were like Maroon, like a butterfly or a flower: Something fragile and dedicated, that could be easily crushed.
A dragon, probably Sparrow, the Royal advisor, was listing the rules and dramatically explaining Crimson's life and demise. It was not long before she said the unfortunate words:
"Claws up, fire ready, FIGHT!" and the whole arena turned into hell. It was not long before two droped dead. She didn't see properly who, but also didn't know if she wanted to. 
Can I do this? Scarlet thought, No you idiot! You are Scarlet. You are a monster who can kill anyone she wants. It began to rain and the white floor became slippery. Neither dragon moved, "This is the time I've been waiting for." Jade hissed, "I've always wanted to kill you since I saw you for the first time." "Well this dream will be crushed by only one thing..." Scarlet growled, blood trickled down her face making her look more menacing, "Mine." Full of rage and sorrow for her sisters, Jade sprang at Scarlet, Just to be tackled by Celestial. She used this opportunity to run. Was no coward, but there more chance of she turning out alive if she let someone else do most of the work for her. Soon, the dragons cheered, and Scarlet supposed one of the two was dead. She didn't even have the time to think who, when she felt a sharp pain on her tail tip, and was dragged backward by Sangria. Scarlet gave a roar of pain, then turned back. They struggled for quite a bit, but soon Scarlet was able to snap her jaws shut at Sangria's jugular, then just dropped the dead body on the sand, and panted a bit. The crowed cheered louder than before, and she realised that she and Jade were the only ones standing. Scarlet looked around for the princess, but couldn't find her. Then, she noticed something with the corner of her eye, and ducked as fast as her reflexes would allow. Then she felt and heard a wood handle break on her head She saw some colourful dots in her vision, and saw the tip of the spear sink on the sand. If she hadn't ducked, that would have cut her neck open. She didn't have the time at moment, but later in life, she always wondered who was the guard who had dropped his spear in the arena. Jade looked frustrated. She dropped the spear handle and jumped at Scarlet, mouth open and claws ready. Scarlet somehow stretched enough the pick up the other half of the spear of the spear with her foot talon, but then closed her eyes expecting the worse, since she got it a tad too late.
== CHAPTER 15 ==
Scarlet was griping the broken spear so hard that she tough that it was going to break. She kept her eyes closed, waiting for Jade to finish her off, then when nothing happened, waited a little longer. And longer. Then she opened her eyes, so she what had happened, and she lost her breath when she did. Her neck was inches away from the Princess' powerful set of teeth and jaws, but the Princess had also impaled the roof of her moth on the broken end of the stick, which was poking out of her right eye.
Scarlet breathed heavily for a moment or two, then gently tapped Jade on the snout. She was dead. Thanks the Moons, she was dead. Then, she just flipped the green Skywing over, and stood up. with difficulty, but still stood up. at the same moment, all the dragons in the arena began cheering. And Clapping. And throwing gems on the arena floor, creating a rain of sparkling shining things.
"All hail the Queen! All hail the Queen!" all the skywings stared chanting. And drumming their feet. And being overall happy. A battle like this was so different of one at war... She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking on Maroon's last words, that she was fit to be Queen. Then Sparrow said loud and clear. "Scarlet, Niece to the Queen, has fought bravely with all the other possible heirs, and is the sole winner. Skywings, we have our new queen" Then she flared her wings, and flew just to were Scarlet was, holding a nice stream of rubies connected by golden chains.
"May I?" Sparrow asked.
"Yes, you may" Scarlet replied, then bowed (well... She wasn't keen on bowing to ANYBODY. But this was a Skywing tradition, and she was 120% sure Maroon was going to came back from the dead and give her the biggest scolding ever for not following it), so Sparrow could place the chains around her horns. When that was done, Scarlet got back up.
"Long live the Queen!" Sparrow said, then bowed.
"LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!" the audience repeated, and row by row, from bottom to top, they too bowed. The prisoners bowed. (Well... Honestly. The Guards forced them to...). Everybody in Scarlet sigh bowed. To her. They were loyal to her. They would blindly obey her, just like they blindly obeyed Crimson, and every Queen before, and every Queen after.
"Came. Follow me. I'm Sparrow, your personal assistant, council, and bodyguard. Happy birthday, your majesty. " The Skywing said, then guide Scarlet, Actually, no, she guided QUEEN Scarlet back inside.
The Queen still didn't know what to think of all of this. How ironic it was that she had a bodyguard. Or how she suddenly had mattered. Yesterday, nobody cared about her. Today, anyone would give their lives to protect hers. She felt... Happy. Important. Needed.
Sparrow did a good job explaining the basics, a few laws, her basic duties and what the subjects expected, the basic things, along with some terrible dad jokes, that is, but still in a hastly manner. A bit boring and dis necessary, but great anyway. Not soon after the basic explanation, finally something Queen Scarlet was looking forward to:
A look into Crimson-... HERS treasure rooms.
"So this, is the Treasury of the Great Hall. It's the nearest to the Throne room..." Sparrow said, using a bunch of clinky keys to open a bunch of noisy locks. The doors opened. And revealed hills upon hills of gold, jewels, medallions, cups, statues and whatnots.
She got meamerized by all those shiny, sparkly things. "Can.. Can I touch it?" She asked out of being used to do so. She Always had to ask Maroon to touch her treasures to avoid offending the princess. But then she wanted to jump into a bottomless bit of shame as soon as the words left her mouth OF COURSE SHE COULD TOUCH IT. 
SHE.
WAS.
THE.
QUEEN.
She could do WHATEVER SHE WANTED (as long as it followed a bunch of boring traditions and ran the kingdom... She could do it, right? It was just like a big, vast army... She had some experience leading those). Sparrow was holding hard to not laugh, but she ended up chuckling a bit. Scarlet felt like snapping her neck, but oh well. She couldn't exactly go murdering dragons because they found something funny. How many times hadn't she laughed off Maroon? "Well, your majesty. I suppose so. All the treasures in here and on the other Treasuries are yours. You decide what to do with it" The bodyguard explained.
Scarlet walked up to the pile, and picked up a coin. It was solid gold, and very well detailed. Then she picked gold cup that had gems encrusted in it, and beautiful drawings of fish that actually seemed to swim on a golden sea. Then she just scooped as much treasure as she possibly could on her arms and talons and hugged it tightly, then simply threw her self at the pile, and rolled in it. The coins and gems made clinking sounds every time she moved, and it was so pleasant to hear that... To have her scales touch that. To have that. She rolled or her treasure. She got to actually swim in it. She threw it in the air. She had quite some fun. (and she too was a bit of mature and childish and rubbed her... Urm... erm... Her... Base of the tail (...that will do?) on the face a statue version of Crimson when Sparrow was not looking). When she was done playing with all her gold, she joined Sparrow at the door again.
"That seemed like fun. I guess your majesty is the only Royal I know who haven't seen this much treasure... Well. Let's go. There are still 4 more treasuries for me to show you. And this one was smallest" Sparrow said with a smile.
Scarlet's brain suddenly clicked in place. "... There are... Others?... Bigger than this?" She said, looking around. This one seemed impossibly big. This was the only treasury she had ever know. So she still had... More? Tons more? "Oh my... More gold... More treasure. I'm rich. I'm so... So... So... rich.. Sparrow, I want you to go there and pick two... No. Five. Uh. No. Seven. Yes. Seven things to yourself. Medallions, cups, anything that you want"
"...Your... Majesty...? You want me... To... Take your treasure...? Why? " She looked Scarlet with a somewhat concerned face.
"Consider it a gift. Because I can" Scarlet said, then had to INSIST and ended up ORDERING Sparrow not to pick the least valuable things on that pile.
== CHAPTER 16 ==
Well. It's one in the morning. And Apparently I forgot ro place this chapter on the manuscript now I have to scavenge for it ((facepalm)). Good nigth. 
Category:Literature
Category:Wings of Fire
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Unfinished)
Category:Semi-cannon
Category:Fiction