Gilded and Golden

Hello, Hello, and Hello! This is my short story so no stealing. Please enjoy! WARNING: DEATH! (WIP) P.S. please read my pages for Gild, Weald, and Bloodsport before reading.
Bloodsport
=== Weald ===
Gild
== Prologue ==
"I flew into a tree." a young Rainwing dragonet admitted with an embarrassed smile as I was checking if I needed more salve.
Looks like I do need more; too many dragonets come in with bruises from silly antics. I grabbed a vial of a clear liquid and a rag. I walk back over to the yellow dragonet that looks ready to get back to playing.
I pop out the cork and pour a little of the salve onto the rag, gently dabbing the bruise on the dragonet’s head. He winces a little at the pain but then relaxes.
After I finish rubbing the salve onto the bruise the dragonet hops off the bed, “So I’m good to go?” He asks.
“No,” I answer briefly then turn to cork and place back the salve.
“What! Why?” The dragonet exclaims sounding irritated.
I toss the rag into a bin and then write down the dragonet’s visit.
“Why can’t I go play again?!” The dragonet shouts. I turned back to him to see him turning orange.
“You hit your head; I need to keep an eye on you.”
“I’m fine it’s just a little bruise.” The dragonet protests.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Charming.”
“Charming, when you hit your head did you feel tired and/or dizzy?”
“Umm, I felt dizzy. I still feel a little dizzy.” Charming replies a little confused and his orange goes to light blue.
“Alright, then someone needs to watch you. If you fall asleep you could possibly not wake up.” I explain quietly and Charming starts to turn a little dark green. “Sit on the bed and just relax. I have some food you can snack on.”
As Charming’s eyes light up so does his scales. “Okay!” He hops back up the bed and gets comfy while I grab from a basket of fruit I had gathered earlier. I toss him a papaya and he digs in.
As I was about to eat my own papaya, another rainwing walks in. It’s one of Glory’s “guards”
“Weald, Queen Glory wants you.” Says Blissful who’s scales were a concerning color of pale green and white.
I nod and quickly walk to the doorway of another room and knock on the frame.
“WHAT!? YES!? WHAT’S THE EMERGENCY!?” Caiman exclaims as he wakes up from his nap. He rubs his eyes then looks at me.
“Watch.” I say simply then turn away to leave but I hear him say, “Aw man, not more dragonetsitting.”
Blissful and I head out of the Healer’s hut and take flight, well Blissful does and I take a moment to prepare myself. My tail is way too heavy to jump right into flight. I lift off the balcony and awkwardly follow Blissful to the Queen’s Balcony.
Blissful seems to be very scared and worried, but about what? I fly up beside her and give her a small reassuring smile, she relaxes and smiles a little back.
As we reach the Queen’s Balcony, I noticed there were no dragons outside. There are usually dragons coming in and out and waiting to talk to Queen Glory. What’s going on?
We land and walk inside to see Queen Glory trying to help a badly injured Deathbringer who lay on the ground bleeding. There were other dragons around like Jambu and Mangrove.
“What took so long!” Glory snaps as she sees me walk in, “Nevermind just help him. I tried my best to stop the bleeding.”
I nod and start to examine Deathbringer’s wounds. Multiple cuts, bruises, and some burns. I quickly pull-out gauze and tightly wrap up the cuts to stop the bleeding. Deathbringer winces and hisses in pain and Glory, who was watching nervously, seems to have calmed down, she goes over to the other Rainwings and starts talking about scout parties.
What could have happened? These wounds couldn’t have happened by accident. Deathbringer was attacked but by who? Burn wounds would point to Nightwings, Sandwings, Skywings, and Mudwings. What would be the purpose of this attack?
I finished caring for all the wounds and stood up. “Queen Glory, I need to take him to the Healer’s Hut.”
Queen Glory turns and nods, “Blissful and Apple help Weald take Deathbringer to the Healer’s Hut.”
A pale green dragon quickly runs over to help Blissful pick up Deathbringer.
“Careful.” I warn as Deathbringer hisses loudly as they pick him up.
We exit and fly out. I fly close by keeping a close eye on Deathbringer. Caiman will be a wreck, but I’ll need him to be calm.
Before we land, I see Charming fly out. Caiman must have sent him out thinking he waited long enough. As we land Caiman sees us and his scales go white.
“What happened! Oh, my goodness! What do I do Weald?! Do I need to get some gauze? No, you already put- “Caiman says in a panicking voice, but I cut him off by putting a talon on his shoulder. The white goes back to his usual colors of green but slightly pale green, “Your right. I can do this.”
Deathbringer is laid out on a bed, and he hisses in pain. Apple’s eyes are filled with fear and concern. She looks at me, “Will he be okay?” I nodded and she calmed down.
Blissful turns to me her talons have some blood on them, and she looks sick, but she stutters out, “A-anything else we can help with?”
I shake my head, “No, go clean yourselves and help Queen Glory with search parties.” Both Apple and Blissful nod and fly off. Caiman starts grabbing the necessary vials and I walk up to Deathbringer who had opened his eyes.
“I still got my good looks?” He asks his voice filled with pain but humor. I smile and nod. He chuckles but then winces. Deathbringer being awake for this won’t be good. I open my mouth and then gently bite into Deatbringer's arm. I inject some of my venom, just enough to make him pass out. He winces in pain but soon his eyelids flutter close.
I uncork multiple vials of different colored liquids and then I nod to Caiman. One by one he removes the gauzes, waiting for me to finish dabbing in the necessary liquids and then stitching up the wounds. Deathbringer groans a little as we work and after Caiman starts to work on the bruises, and I work on the burns.
After a couple of hours, we finished patching up Deathbringer who was still sleeping. The sun had already set but thankfully we got the technical stuff done.
“Do you need help cleaning up?” Caiman asks but I see the tired look in his eyes. He deserves a break.
“You go sleep.” I say and Caiman looks unsure, but I nod. He leaves for the other room. I get to cleaning and as I finish Queen Glory flies in.
“Is he okay?” She asks, her voice steady but her eyes scared. Queen Glory is good at staying composed even now she was strong but today was draining for her. I nodded and she walked up to Deathbringer who was sleeping peacefully. “Can I stay here for a bit?” She asks without moving her eyes from Deathbringer’s face.
I nod but my eyes drift to Deathbringer, “What do you know?”
Glory turns to me with a sigh, “Very little. He was found like this by one of the fruit gatherers. I sent scout parties but nothing. I am thinking of asking the Nightwings what they know but I don’t want them to think I am accusing them.”
I raise an eyebrow. Glory sighs, “I don’t know what to think Weald. You saw the burns marks, none of the Rainwings could have done this. The Nightwings have been good, but some still aren’t happy about me being Queen.”
“What does Grandeur say?” I ask wondering what Glory’s grandmother think of this.
“She thinks it was the Nightwings, but still, I don’t want to cause any tension with the Nightwings. I am trying to prove to them that I think of them as my subjects, that I want the best for both the Rainwings and Nightwings.”
I twist my head and Glory nods, “Yes even though they kidnapped and experimented on us.”
“Just do what you think is best. Those who are faithful will understand.” I say and Glory turns to Deathbringer.
“Your right, as always.”
I nod but suddenly my stomach growls. Glory turns to me with an amused smile, “Have you not eaten yet?” I haven’t eaten since breakfast. I look at my basket of fruit to see it empty. That dragonet ate all my fruit! I smile a little embarrassed and Glory nods understanding. “Go grab something you deserved it.” I nod and leave. 
I fly off and then land, all this flying is tiring me out quickly. I walk around under the dark canopy that is keeping out light. Suddenly, I hear rustling behind me, and I freeze. What if it’s the dragon that hurt Deathbringer? I quickly whirl around growling, but I am tackled to the ground by a dark figure. I hit the ground with a heavy thud, and I felt the weight of my attacker on top of me.
I look up to see familiar glowing blood red eyes. “Bloodsport what are you doing?” I growl too tired to deal with my best friend.
“I had to get back at you for scaring me.” Bloodsport sneers. I smile and then wrap my wings around him. We stayed like that for a bit till I freed him, and he helped me up.
“Oh, here.” Bloodsport quickly runs over to where he pounced at me and brought back some fruit, “When you didn’t meet up with me for suntime I realized you must have been caught up with work, so I got you some food.”
“Thanks.” I say as I take a mango and starts chowing down. Bloodsport sits beside me and peels a banana.
“I saw Deathbringer get attacked by a dragon.” Bloodsport says nonchalantly. I freeze mid-chew and whip my head to glare at him. “What? Oh, no in a vision.” I raise an eyebrow as I start to chew again. “What? It was just like one of those hazy ones that are unlikely to happen he’s fine.”
Wait, does Bloodsport not know? Well, it would make sense if Queen Glory kept things quiet so that dragons don’t panic or make accusations. “He’s not fine Blood. He was attacked. What did you see?”
Now it was Bloodsport’s turn to freeze. He tosses his banana away and looks at me with shock. How dare he waste that banana. “Wait, he was attacked! But I would have known in the vision if it was the most likely the path! When was he attacked?”
I finish chewing my banana which annoyed Bloodsport but he can wait. “From his wounds I would think before afternoon suntime.”
“I had that vision this morning! This doesn’t make sense, my vision was blurry, it meant that it wasn’t likely.” Bloodsport looked at the ground and I could tell he was furious with himself. I put a talon on his shoulder, and he sighs.
“Who attacked Deathbringer?” I ask gently. Bloodsport turns to me with eyes filled with frustration.
“That’s the hazy part. Deathbringer was sure of his actions but not the attacker, they weren’t sure if they should attack, so I can’t tell who it is?”
I look up at the dark canopy, maybe Deathbringer wasn’t the target…
“I have to go back Blood, thanks for the food.” I say as I get up.
Bloodsport nods, “Alright, get good sleep.” I smile and then raise an eyebrow. “Yes, yes I won’t stay up obsessing about how I failed.”
I frown, why must Bloodsport be hard on himself. I want to say something to him, but I know nothing will help so I just turn and walk away.
As I walk through the now pitch-black forest, I think of  Deathbringer’s wounds. I can figure out who did it or at least narrow it down to tribe or if this was a professional. I hear rustling behind me again, but I don’t freeze. “Bloodsport, I’m not falling for it again.”
But it wasn’t Bloodsport. I don’t know who it was, I saw a face then the ground, and now darkness…
== Chapter 1 ==
“What do you mean he is gone!?” I exclaim after hearing that Weald didn’t return to the Healer’s Hut last night.
“Bloodsport, calm down. I know you care much about him, but we need to keep calm.” Queen Glory says atop her throne. Her sloth Silver clinging to her neck shaking as Queen Glory gently stroked her back. I can sense Silver’s fear, and Queen Glory’s no matter how much she hides it.
I sigh at the ground then look up at Queen Glory, “I know you wouldn’t summon me just to tell me my dear friend is missing. You want to know something.”
Queen Glory nods, “Yes, I want to know if you have had any visions.” Queen Glory wants my visions? She has never summoned me; she basically ignores me. But if this helps Weald than fine.
“I saw Deathbringer get attacked but it was blurry. It was an unlikely future.” I answer already knowing her reaction.
“You saw Deathbringer get attacked in a vision and thought it was unimportant? You thought not to tell me?” I see the anger in her eyes, though she is trying to keep a calm demeanor.
“It was unlikely to-“ I start explaining but I get cut off.
“You thought it was unlikely? Well, apparently it was not unlikely enough. You could have warned me and Deathbringer and Weald would be fine.” The anger in Queen Glory’s eyes leaked into her voice and her scales as they turned red. “Do you at the least know who was the attacker?”
“No, The attacker was unsure of the attack.” I answer coldly and Queen Glory turns completely red.
“They attacked Deathbringer and probably kidnapped Weald and you don’t know who did it?!”
“I can’t control my visions Glory! I-“ I start to yell at her, but she hisses, and I see the terrifying fangs that all Rainwings have.
“Queen Glory! That is how you will address me as your queen.”
I crouch low to the ground, terrified. Though my face shows nothing my mind is blank with the fear of those fangs that can spray acid. She is right, I could have saved them, I shouldn’t have snapped at her. I look up to see her calming down.
“Bloodsport, I also have a mission for you.”
I stand up, now calm. What is this mission?
“I need you to investigate the Rainwings and Nightwings.” Queen Glory explains.
“Meaning you want me to read their minds?” I ask. Is Queen Glory so lost and desperate that she wants me to invade her dragons privacy? Sounds like it.
“Yes, but I don’t want any other dragon to know.” Queen Glory explains, and I nod. “Deathbringer is awake, I suggest you go see if you can find anything from him then tonight report to me.”
“Yes my queen.” I answer and leave. I take flight and head to the Healer’s Hut.
I arrived at the Healer’s Hut as the sun was just breaking through the canopy. I see Caiman looking through Weald’s vials. I walk in and he doesn’t notice me till he looks to see who’s shadow was hanging over him. 
“Bloodsport!” Caiman claims as he fumbles backwards. About every dragon here fears me, knows my name as a curse. 
”I-I am guessing you are here to see Deathbringer.” Caiman stutters as he tries to stay calm. I see into his mind, he wants to stay calm and work hard for Weald. 
I walk past Caiman to Deathbringer but offer him a small smile as I pass him. 
“Hello, Deathbringer I was sent by Queen Glory to ask you some questions.” I say with no emotion with no reaction to seeing how hurt he truly was. 
“Heh, you can tell her I am completely fine and ready to help find my attacker.” Deathbringer says with his usual tone of humor. I can see how he is truly worried for Glory, I see how he hates how he let himself be caught off guard. 
“Deathbringer, I ask to read your mind to see if I can find the identity of your attacker.” I ask and he raises an eyebrow at me. 
”I am sure you have already read my mind, but thanks for asking.” He says with a small laugh that makes him wince. He doesn’t trust me, just like Glory, they both see me as a threat. Don’t linger on facts you already know Blood. 
I nod and start to search his memories, to help get clearer imagery I manipulate the memories to be stronger more realistic. I since Deathbringer’s feeling of betrayal and conflict. He knew his attacker and didn’t want to fight. I see Deathbringer trying to pretend nothing was wrong as I search but I know he doesn’t want to think of the attack. 
Suddenly as the memory started to fade away, I see a mask that was all to familiar. I leave Deathbringer’s mind already trying to see if I truly believe what I saw. 
“Who did you see before the attack?” I ask with extreme speed as Deathbringer grabbed his head to recover from me forcing the memory into his eyes. 
”Uhhh, Hope. She actually wasn’t too far from where the fight took place.” Deathbringer said getting off the bed trying to not let the pain streak through his body. 
I grabbed Deathbringer, “Rest. You being in Queen Glory’s presence will only be a liability and distraction. You can go when Caiman says you can.” I look behind me to Caiman who was watching curiously. When I turned to him, he jumped a little and then waved a little. 
I let go and left to find Hope. 
I soar to the Nightwing village and luckily see Hope coming back from gathering fruit. I land behind and walk up towards her. “Excuse me Hope, I need to ask you some questions.” I call out evenly and she freezes and turns. 
”Oh, hello Bloodsport. What do you need.” Hope says as if she isn’t wishing that I go- oh, nevermind… She feels sorry for me that Weald is missing. That’s…odd. 
”I was wondering after you saw Deathbringer if you saw anyone else soon after?” I ask. Hope close her eyes to think. I see in her mind trees, fruit basket, and then Deathbringer. Hope passes over that bit and then stops at a moment when she saw a flash of red in the forest and saw a face that was pure black with green eyes. I know who that is, and I hate that he is here. 
“Yes, I saw a strange dragon wearing a black mask. It continued on through the woods, it kind of looked like a Skywing.” Hope says after she opens her eyes. 
I nod my head in appreciation. I was worried Hope wouldn’t want to be cooperative. “Do you know where they went?” 
”They went east but that’s all I know, sorry.” She says with a small frown. 
“Its okay, you have been a tremendous help.” I turn and leave but I catch a thought from Hope. 
“Poor Bloodsport.” I saw my mother and father, I heard them fighting, and I saw my father fly away. Finally I saw Weald and me laying on a platform, curled together sleeping under the sun. Poor Bloodsport indeed… 
*Time skip* The sun is starting to fall and Bloodsport is off somewhere in the rainforest looking for any sign of the masked dragon. 
”Grrr, where is he!?” I cried out in frustration. I sat down on the grass and fell backwards. All I could see was the darkening sky and the leaves shaking in the cold breeze. I closed my eyes and imagined Weald’s smile, his quiet presence that held all the answers, I imagined him raising his eyebrow urging me to not give up. “I won’t Weald, I will find you.” 
“Sleeping will do you no good.” Said a teasing voice above me. 
My eyes shot open recognizing the voice. I saw a handsome Skywing with green eyes smiling over me. I jumped up and growled. “What are you doing Gild!” 
Gild stepped back and sat down as if I am no threat to him. “No hello, no how are you? No how’s the weather, actually no that’s considered rude apparently.” Gild says with mock offense. 
”Hello, how are you? How’s the weather?” I spit each word laced with mock. 
“Hello to you too and I am good.” Gild replies as if we were old friends, but then he puts a talon to his chest in shock. “How rude of you to ask about this frigid weather.” Gild shivers and pulls his wings against his body to shield him from the cold air. 
I felt cold too but anger was slowly warming me from the inside out. “Why did you attack Deathbringer and why did you kidnap Weald!?” I growl at him. I don’t dare try to read his mind, he knows that I will try that and will place all sorts of terrible thoughts to scare me out. 
Gild adjusts his top hat and then glares at me, “I am offended that you think I had anything to do with this.” He then looks away with a huff, “And here I am being helpful.” 
My anger subsided and curiosity rose up, also some dread too. “What do you mean?” 
Gild smiles and goes over to a bush and drags out a Sandwing corpse. “I killed your criminal!” He says as if he just solved world hunger. 
Anger comes back tenfold since my curiosity has been quenched. “I needed him alive! By the looks of it, he was an assassin and assassins are hired to kill!” 
Gild frowns and looks angry, “Don’t need to start the obvious and anyway I was just helping.” 
I talon palm and roll my eyes in annoyance. I walk over to search the body but Gild gets in my way, his height overshadowing me. 
”My kill, you don’t touch. Unless you say the magic word.” He says with a harsh seriousness that had a touch of humor. 
When dealing with a Gild, it’s best to play along. “May I please search the body?” I ask but annoyance had leaked into my voice making me sound sarcastic. 
“Idiot, the magic word is abracadabra. But for you, I’ll accept just this once.” Gild steps out of the way and I search the bag around the Sandwing’s neck. I also glance at the bloody slit across the his neck. Gild bled this dragon out. 
I see dried lizards and a knife but nothing useful. The best thing to do is take the body to Queen Glory. I sit down and sigh, but I notice Gild reading a scroll while eating the dried lizards I pulled out. “What is that?” 
”Oh some boring thing about an assassin being hired to kill someone.” Gild replies absently but looks at me with a smirk when my eyes go wide. 
”Give me that!” I try to jump for it but Gild steps away and I don’t dare try again. 
“Nah, I’m bored and I want some fun. I want to help you solve this.” Gild says while his smirk grew. Why would Gild want to help me? 
”No give it.” I say with a growl, I want ti try to influence Gild to give it to me but that is dangerous to try on him. 
”Let me think about it… No, I want to have some fun, and solving a mystery sounds fun.” He then suddenly breaths a plume of fire that incinerates the scroll. He lets go and it drifts to the ground burning, till only it’s ashes land. “There now you need me, I read all of the scroll and have it memorized.” He said teasingly. 
That jerk! How can I find Weald now!? I can’t possibly work with a murderer, even now I should turn him in but killing him myself sounds so much better! 
“Are you just gonna stand there growling, or are you going to let me help.” Gild says annoyed. 
Gild is my best bet, I can’t use any of my mental abilities on him and if I take him to Queen Glory for interrogation it will be pointless and dangerous to the Queen’s safety. But it’s dangerous for my own safety to work with him! “F-Fine!” I spit out with frustration and Gild smiles. 
“Great! We start in the morning, you go get some good sleep. We’ll meet back here.” Gild then walks back into the shadows he had slithered forth from, leaving me with a corpse of the attacker of Deathbringer. 
*Time skip* The moons are almost at the highest point in the sky and Bloodsport had arrived at the Queen’s pavilion with the dead Sandwing. 
”So this is the attacker?” Queen Glory asks looking the dead body over. We are alone in the silent torchlight, when I arrived Queen Glory was awake and seemed to be waiting for me. 
”Yes, I found him dead. Killed by blood loss, he bled from the slit on his neck.” I answered with a straight face. 
”Karma got him, but I would like to know his talon killed him.” Queen Glory looked at me, she believes I know who killed him. 
”I am sorry my Queen, I have no idea.” I answered with a lie and Queen Glory looked disappointed. I can’t let her know about Gild. 
“Do you have any leads?” She asks as she walks back to her throne and sits. Silver was asleep on the side of it. 
“Nothing certain but I think I can go to the Scorpion Den to find something.” I reply trying to give myself an excuse to disappear with Gild. 
“Quite the distance and quite the assumption.” Queen Glory says as she stroked Silver’s back. 
“Its the best I have. Deathbringer knew this dragon when he was attacked, possibly from his assassin days? Maybe others know him.” I answer, Queen Glory isn’t the easiest to deceive and I can’t help but respect her for that. 
”How long will you be gone?” 
“I do not know?” 
”What will you do once you find the one who hired the assassin?” 
”Report to you.” 
”Will any dragon know of the attack on Deathbringer and/or Weald’s disappearance?” 
“No.” I answer and Queen Glory nods with approval. 
“Leave in the morning. Sleep is important.” She says and I nod and turn to leave. But I sense Queen Glory’s stress. 
I look back and catch Queen Glory’s eyes, “Sleep is important, you should rest too my Queen.” She smiles and I leave for a lonely rest. 
== Chapter 2 ==
“Ugh, I have better not been stood up.” I complained as I waited for Bloodsport. I was sitting out in a clearing as the sun was just starting to rise, eating a capybara. 
“Yes it’s me Gild, let me tell you about myself. I am a handsome roguish fellow who kills for fun, sometimes for money. I am pretty tall and pretty handsome if I do say so myself, also a great dancer. Now you may be thinking ‘ugh, I hate this guy, he’s totally going to betray Bloodsport.’ Well let’s say you may be right or you may be wrong. But how bout you wait to know me first before you jump to conclusions. I could be jumping to a conclusion that you are just a capybara head that I am talking to out of boredom, but hey I’m being polite and making conversation while you stare!” 
“Who are you talking to?” Says Bloodsport walking out of the brush. I toss the capybara head behind me and stand up. 
“No one! Now stop stalling, let’s go solve a mystery!” I exclaim opening my wings, but Bloodsport sits. I turn to him, my tail lashing. “Come on! Don’t you want to save your friend?” 
“First tell me where we are going.” Bloodsport says with his impassive face that just makes me want to rake my talons down it. 
The scroll didn’t say much actually about the one who hired the assassin who’s name was Sandviper. It just told him to be discreet and to kill Deathbringer. No idea why kill Deathbringer, I would kill the queen and watch the panic unfold, but hey you do you. 
“I’ll give a hint. It starts with a s and a new with a d. Oh! And it’s two words.” I say while fixing my top hat. 
Bloodpsort rolls his eyes. He opens his wings and takes flight to the direction of the scorpion den. I smile and follow suit. 
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (PhantomHeroJ)