The Hive’s Sting

## Blurb

For nine years, the powerful young HiveWing called Sting has never had a reason to kill anyone. Sting hates using her natural weapons, but one night when Queen Carpenter and King Goliath sneak into her home to kill her in fear of being overthrown, Sting accidentally kills the King. Her mother packs herself and her dragonet up and they move into a small hut on the edge of the Poison Jungle. But Sting doesn’t want to live in hiding, she want’s her old home back in Scarab Hive, with it’s music and colors. She forms a plan to get it back, but will it be enough? Or will Queen Carpenter find her and finish what she started?↵

## Prologue

Wings flapped all over Pyrala. But that wasn’t bothering Sting. Sting was bothered by the wings that flapped right outside her door. And the voices that belonged to them.

”No, we can’t let her live,” a snakelike female voice hissed. Wings flapped again, the sound sending shivers down Sting’s spine.

”But she could do so many things for us!” A make voice insisted. Wait. Sting knew that voice, it was King Goliath! So then the other voice had to be... no. Queen Carpenter would never come to Scarab Hive. She hated all the bright colors and beautiful paintings.

”This one dragonet could overthrow me in two heartbeats,” the female voice hissed, “never, in all my years of ruling this tribe, I have *never* seen a dragon so powerful. Not *once,* Goliath.” It had to be Carpenter now.

”Fine, you’re the queen,” responded Goliath. The door creaked open. Sting huddled lower in the shadows. She had so many natural weapons, but hated using them. She had before though, but only once. A dragonet from school had been making fun of her unwillingness to fight, and attacked her. Sting had stabbed him in the leg with her tail stinger. He couldn’t move for days.

“Just bite her and leave,” ordered Carpenter. King Goliath stepped forward, baring his teeth.

Sting shot out of the corner, heading for the door, but Queen Carpenter stepped in her way. Sting flipped around, but Goliath was standing there. He and Carpenter started circling her. Sting slid out her wrist stingers and bared her teeth. It was a threatening tactic she had used many times, but never actually backed up. The leaders of the HiveWings weren’t falling for it though, and Sting soon realized that there would only be one way out. She would have to fight.

As quick as lightning she flashed out her tail and drove the stinger into Queen Carpenter’s side. The Queen froze and stopped making noise. King Goliath advanced toward Sting, his teeth bared. Sting didn’t know if he had the deadly venom like she did, she just didn’t want to take the chance, so she flew at him and but his neck. He fell to the ground. Sting quickly ran to the window embedded in the treestuff wall and flung it open, making sure there were still silk webs below. The SilkWings had helped them construct nets around the Hives so any dragon that couldn’t fly for some reason would be safe. Sting pulled the motionless King and Queen over to the window. She thought that King Goliath might be dead, but didn’t have time to be sure. She grabbed him by his tail and flew out the window. He pulled her down for a moment before she let go, but then fell to the web with a soft thud. Sting moved on the the much smaller and stiffer Queen, dropping her right next to him.

Sting had to tell someone, or else she would be found out. She only knew one dragon who wouldn’t turn her right in. Her mother would understand, and the family would move somewhere safer.

## Chapter One

The dead boar that Sting was carrying over the mountains weighed a fair amount, and her wings were getting tired. But if she stopped to rest someone from the Sky Kingdom might spot her. Even with her stingers and venom teeth and acid spraying wing claws, the SkyWings were a big threat. They had themselves allied with the RainWings, who had sleep darts. The SkyWings most likely had paralysis darts too, since they bordered the LeafWings, who were friendly enough, even if they weren’t exactly allied. She flew over the forest at the edge of the mountains and dropped to the ground next to a small tunnel in the side of a cliff. Sting pulled the boar onto her shoulders and walked down it, her footsteps echoing eerily around the damp space.

She emerged, after what seemed like a lifetime, on the other side of the tall, rocky hill. She stepped out onto lush grass, enclosed in a dome of tightly woven vines and sticks. There was a rocky hollow where several other animal carcasses were piled, and a fire lit in the middle. Across the dome was a wooden hut and a greenhouse. Sting’s mother was roasting something that looked like a cow over the fire. Next to the fire lay a glass bottle and a pair of tweezers, probably used to store and lift the flamesilk that had been used to start the fire.↵

”Sting!” Sting’s mother, Dauber, cried, “I thought you had been captured!” Sting shook her head.

“No, but I caught us a boar,“ Sting replied. Dauber looked thrilled.

“I’ll roast this up with the cow,” she grabbed the boar in her jaws and set it next to the fire, turning the cow over again.

”Yes, that should be fine,” she said to herself, flying above the fire and expertly pulling the stick off, along with the cow. Sting and her mother both liked their food cooked. Sting walked over to the pool at the edge of the dome and dipped her talons in, wincing as the cold water soaked them. She washed them off and flew over to the wooden hut. Sting got to her room and opened up a drawer, digging through it until she found a small emerald, about the size of a SandWing’s tail barb. She sat down on the floor and looked at it.

When Sting looked at the emerald, it was almost as if she and her mother weren’t living in hiding. It seemed like they were back in Scarab Jibe, with all it’s colors. It gave off a little heat.

*Maybe it’s enchanted by an animus so the dragon that looks at it feels safe.* Sting thought. There weren’t any animi on Pyrala that she knew of, but she didn’t get out much. Sting curled her claws around the emerald and put in in a small pouch. She slipped the pouch into the bag that she kept at the side of her desk that she used whenever she went outside the dome. If it was enchanted, she could use some luck.

”Sting!” Her mother called. Sting turned toward the door, thinking dinner was ready, but there was fire spreading around the dome and wingbeats flapping everywhere. They weren’t her mother’s wing beats, they came in beats of one, not two. They couldn’t be SilkWings or HiveWing, since they had four wings. They had to be SkyWings, the sound was heavy and long, as they had larger wings than any other tribe on Pyrala.

Sting grabbed her bag and put all her golden bracelets in it, then took off down the hall and out of the house, where SkyWings were circling around the dome, blowing flames everywhere.

## Chapter 2

”Mother!” Yelled Sting, leaping into the air. She slid out her wrist stingers and bared her teeth, lashing her tail. “Nobody move!” She snarled, and the SkyWings, seeing that she could take may of them on, stopped blowing flames everywhere. Dauber looked relieved.

”You can take me with you, just leave my mother!” Sting called to them desperately. She flew down to where Dauber stood, now looking as if she’d been struck by lightning.

“Go back to the Hive,” said Sting, “I’ll find a way back.” Her mother nodded, tears glistening in her eyes. Sting turned and flew up to the biggest SkyWing since she was probably the leader of the attack.

“I’m ready,” she said simply, flying down to the ground and folding her wings back. She sat down patiently and looked straight into the eyes of a younger red SkyWing, choosing to accept that she would be taken instead of her mother, who had fled into the burning bushes. The big SkyWing nodded her head and all the rest of the fiery dragons took out what appeared to be a RainWing blowgun.

“Fire at will,” she said and darts whistler through the air. Sting gasped and fell over as countless sleeping darts pierced her scales. They didn’t stop, but just kept coming. Sting felt more tired than she ever had before, as if all the energy in her body had been sucked out. She shuddered and blacked out.