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“Great moons, where did you come from?” Deathbringer called out, with an air of incredulousness, to the mysterious dragon in front of him.
She appeared to be female, maybe about his age, and she was pretty. Not as pretty as a Nightwing, he admonished himself. Deathbringer had always thought of Icewings as cold, harsh creatures. The dragon in front of him was none of that.
She looked warm. Her scales shimmered in the moonlight, not like an Icewing, but like a… oh. She was a Rainwing.
The mysterious dragon was too smart to be anyone but Glory.
“Where do you think?” She said, “and I’m asking the questions here. What are you doing in the Ice Kingdom?”
Deathbringer gave her a wry grin. She was definitely not an Icewing, if the lack of restraint in her voice was any indicator. Icewings were haughty, regal creatures. “Technically, this isn’t the Ice Kingdom yet. Or didn’t you know that?”
He watched her shoulders rise just a little. “You’re close enough,” the other dragon, Glory, said. “Explain yourself.”
Oh, he was not about to do that.
“It will be Ice Kingdom territory one day. If Blaze wins the war, that is. She’s promised Queen Glacier all the land you can see from here to the southern horizon…” “Alright!” Glory barked. “…Basically, where the desert starts. I suppose you know all that, but it’s interesting. Isn’t it.”
He could tell she didn’t know any of this. If she were an Icewing, she wasn’t a very good one. He continued.
“That’s a lot of land Blaze is willing to hand over. And not exactly useful land to either tribe, so what would Queen Glacier want with it? Do you think there’s treasure under these rocks? That would be my guess. A diamond mine, perhaps?”
He paused, looking at her for a cue to go on. She stayed silent. “Maybe you know. Maybe all you Icewings know, and are wisely keeping it a secret from Blaze and her Sandwings.”
He watched a patch of red bloom around her ears. Oh, Glory, he thought. And that was when he noticed it. Right below her ear was a white soulmate mark. His soulmate mark.
He clenched his jaw to keep from gasping, instead focusing on the light blue scales overtaking the red, once again concealing the white mark below it.
“Answer my questions, Nightwing, or I’ll take you to Queen Glacier, and you can explain yourself to her.”
Glory was getting frustrated, he noticed.
Glory- the dragon he was sent to kill. His enemy. The prettiest dragon he’d ever met. His soulmate. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. You wouldn’t want the rest of my tribe to come looking for me.” Glory snorted at that, a small, musical sound that made his stomach tense.
“And you really don’t want to sit in a dungeon made of ice until they show up, which would most likely be sometime after you froze to death.” He stayed silent. “Tell me what you’re doing here, and perhaps, I’ll let you go.”
“Alright, I’m waiting for someone. A few someones,” he said. “Who?” She asked. “I can’t tell you that. Nightwing business, I’m afraid. I’m on an assignment.” He grinned, a wry expression of all the things he wanted to say to her, but couldn’t.
“I didn’t know nightwings had business. I thought you just skulked around in your secret location congratulating yourselves on knowing everything and doing nothing.” He snorted, looking up at her to find a small smile on her face, before she looked down at her feet and sighed.
“Nobody talks to us like that!” Deathbringer exclaimed, overcome by the sudden urge to see her smile again. “Where’s your sense of awe? Your terror of our powers?”
“If your powers were that impressive, you’d do something to stop this war. Also, I’m the one with the, uh, freezing death breath here.” Venom. She’d been about to say venom.
He felt a prickle of guilt in his throat, as he thought of the Rainwings his tribe had held captive. If Glory knew his part in that, if she knew about it at all… “Maybe we’ll help stop the war someday. Maybe we haven’t picked a side yet. Like the dragonets of the prophecy.”
Maybe he could tell her? Maybe he could help. No, he thought. Kill her. Rip out her throat. For the greater good. But was it really for the greater good if an innocent dragon had to die?
“That old thing? I don’t believe in prophecies. Sorry, I know they’re a Nightwing specially, but seriously- if you can actually see the future, why be all cryptic and vague about it? Why not just give us a prophecy that’s like, oh, by the way, Blister is going to win the war, so give her the crown now, and don’t even bother fighting about it. Skip all the death and bloodshed, and leave a bunch of poor dragonets out of it.”
He snorted. “Blister? Why not Blaze?” Her eyes widened. “Blaze? Oh! Yes. I meant Blaze.” He chose to ignore her slip-up, instead working out a way to tell her- tell his soulmate- that he’d been sent to kill her. And that she was his soulmate, and that- ok. One thing at a time, he thought.
“You feel sorry for the dragonets? That’s interesting. I’ve seen a lot of that around Pyrrhia, actually. Everyone expects so much of them, but they also think it’s a heavy burden for five young dragons. I wonder if the dragonets would be surprised by all the sympathy for them.”
“I bet they would,” she said, slowly. “You haven’t seen any sign of them here. Have you?” He asked. “Rumor has it they were heading for the Ice Kingdom next.”
Her eyes widened. It was a habit of hers, he’d noticed. Was it a Rainwing thing? Like the venom, perhaps? Don’t be ridiculous, he berated himself. It’s not like you want to study her- another twinge of guilt hit him.
“Really? Why?” She asked. “To meet Blaze, I suppose,” he said. “So, are they here? In Queen Glacier’s dungeon, perhaps?”
He grinned at her, batting his eyes. “No, no sign of them. Not at all,” she said.
“Are you sure?” He asked. Just jumping right in? Bold choice, he thought. She tensed. “What do you mean by that?” He stood up.
“I know who you are, Glory.” Her scales began to shift into shades of what he recognized to be fear. She lurched towards him, opening her mouth, and- “stop!” She stopped. “I don’t want to kill you. I’m supposed to, but-”
She growled. “But, what?” His heart skipped a beat. He looked at the spot under her ear. The sun was beginning to rise, and he could tell she could see where his eyes were pointed. He followed her gaze to the same spot under his ear, and watched as her scales turned to a shade of shock.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh, indeed.” He chuckled. She grabbed him by the ruff of his neck in one swift movement, and began to drag him away with her. “What- where are we going?” He asked, incredulously. “You wanted to meet the dragonets? Well, today’s your lucky day.”