Cold-Claw

Former Prince **Cold-Claw** was an adult male dragon, a descendant of Mother Lune and Estrella, and one of two main protagonists for the third Legends of Mystopia novella, *The Royal Twins of the Lune Mountains.* Before his death, he lived as one of the two royal twins of the Lune Mountains, as the son of Queen Peak and King Alpine, and the twin brother of Frost-Paw. Cold-Claw was the mate of Sunscraper, and the father of Winston.

Cold-Claw was killed by trained assassins sent by Queen Peak after she found out about Cold-Claw eloping with Sunscraper. However, their newborn son, Winston, escapes from the assassins and finds himself in the Sakardan Kingdom.

## Appearance

Cold-Claw was said to have been unnaturally large and muscular, build more like Mother Estrella than Mother Lune, as opposed to most of his family. He had shimmering white scales with patches of dark blue around his eyes and nose. He had dark blue legs, wingtips and spikes, which, like most descendants of Mother Lune, start to fade in hot weather. Cold-Claw had black eyes, the only mark of difference between his twin brother, other than their size.

## Personality

Cold-Claw had a bold and rebellious personality, one that he inherited from his late grandfather. Cold-Claw was very sneaky, as he hid his relationship with Sunscraper for years, and the secret escape tunnel in his cave. He was a fast thinker, and always one step ahead. According to his brother, the only time he ever failed in anything was when he was killed, too absorbed in the hatching of his son to stay alert. This single failure led to his death.

Cold-Claw was also said to have been quite selfish, unlike Frost-Paw. He had a bad habit of hoarding leftover food, instead of sharing it with others. He was often late to join his father on night hunts, preoccupied with other tasks, and his mother called him lazy because of it.

## Biography

#### Early Life

Cold-Claw and his twin brother Frost-Paw were the only children of Peak and Alpine, and grew up lavishly in the Lune Mountains, which were ruled by their parents. Because he and his brother were the exact same age, Queen Peak declared that neither of them could rule, but their firstborn son or daughter would become a potential heir for the Lune Mountains.

#### Meeting Sunscraper

When Cold-Claw was roughly [number] years old, he and a group of other young Lune dragons were sent to travel all over Mystopia. During these travels, Cold-Claw met Sunscraper, an descendant of Mother Dusk and Estrella with dominant Dusk blood. The two fell in love, but Sunscraper was not allowed to enter the Lune Mountains because of her Mother Dusk blood. Cold-Claw kept their relationship a secret, and every few weeks, he flew to meet Sunscraper in the [Kyanitian] desert, where her tribe of wild dragons resided.

#### Escaping the Lune Mountains

In [year], Queen Peak and King Alpine made plans for an alliance between their kingdom and Seagrass, a powerful and well-respected descendant of Mother Senja. But to complete the alliance, Seagrass wanted one of Peak and Alpine's sons to partner with his daughter, Drown. Queen Peak decided to present Cold-Claw as Drown's mate, because of her suspicion that Cold-Claw was seeing someone behind her back.

As soon as hearing this news, Cold-Claw fled the mountains and ran away with Sunscraper, who had recently been orphaned and had no reason to stay with her tribe. The two made a plan to settle in the eastern part of the [name] desert, close to Lake Mystic.

Since he fled his home to escape his duties, Cold-Claw's title of prince was evoked by his mother. Queen Peak kept the news of her wayward son as secret as she could, but word eventually got out to the dragons of the Lune Mountains. While most didn't know *why* Cold-Claw ran away, many of them still demanded that he was killed for his cowardly actions.

#### Death

After Cold-Claw was missing from the mountains for over a month with no return in sight, Peak sent trained assassins after her son and his mate. Their goal was to kill anyone with Cold-Claw as soon as he was spotted. The mission was partially successful; Cold-Claw and Sunscraper were indeed assassinated, but their newborn son (who grows up to become the legendary Winston) escaped by digging deep into the sand and emerging in the middle of a Sakardan outpost, far away from the rest of the assassins.

Cold-Claw's body was returned to the mountains for a proper burial, while Sunscraper's was left in the desert to rot. After hearing about the newborn's survival, Queen Peak sent a new batch of assassins after him, but the newborn had already been taken by Sakardan soldiers to Sakardan Central.

## Relationships

#### Alpine

King Alpine always loved both of his sons equally. He acted like a normal father to Cold-Claw, teaching him how to hunt and command others, for he secretly saw Cold-Claw as a future commander of the Lune Mountain armies, but never as a king.

#### Peak

Queen Peak and Cold-Claw had a fairly normal relationship, with the usual ups and down. Cold-Claw was often disobedient and mischievous growing up, but Peak never stayed angry at her son for long. In *The Royal Twins of the Lune Mountains,* more about Queen Peak and Cold-Claw's relationship as mother and son are revealed through the eyes of Frost-Paw, who states that "they weren't too close to each other, but they were never distant, either."

Their relationship went downwards very sharply when Peak started suspecting that Cold-Claw was visiting someone behind her back. Even though her assumption turned out to be correct, Peak never ended up forgiving Cold-Claw.

According to Frost-Paw in *The Royal Twins of the Lune Mountains,* while the whole kingdom was mourning the death of Cold-Claw, Queen Peak wasn't even shown to be sad in any way. But when she was alone, the queen mourned for the death of her son, and how he strayed away from the future he could have had with Drown.

## Family Tree

One of the most well-known Dragon Families in Mystopia is the family of Queen Peak. Not only is she the co-ruler of the Lune Mountains, her grandson also happens be the legendary warrior Winston.

*[Note: click on the family tree to view it better]*