Queen Peregrine stood over a large map of the Pyrrhia, sizing up everything. High Stone was way too the north for her taste. She had known for her whole reign; winter was coming soon. Queen Peregrine remembered the words her mother had said before she had killed her to become queen of the SkyWings.
"I suppose I should thank you for taking the throne. " Those words had haunted her dreams for years and she had wondered what they meant. Queen Peregrine shuddered, then scolded herself. How can you be scared of a season? Besides, you have to be strong for your tribe. But I am, she thought. Winter was coming, and only the Ice Claws would survive without much damage.
Long summers, long winters, Queen Frost had said. Queen Peregrine, for once, didn't know what to do. She had led the Sky Claws through so many battles and hardships, only to tremble at the thought of winter.
Queen Peregrine walked outside of the room to a balcony, gazing over High Stone, the capital of the SkyWing Kingdom. Spreading her wings, the queen leaped into the air and folded her wings into a steep dive down away from her chambers, the highest tower in High Stone, reserved for the queen of the SkyWings.
At the last moment, the queen sharply pulled back her wings, slowing her descent. She then swerved right, under an archway. Queen Peregrine landed softly on the ground, claws clacking on the polished marble floor. SkyWing buildings were open to the air and had plenty of openings for dragons to swoop into.
The sun shone down on her back as she stepped forward regally into the room. A guard spotted her and bowed her head.
"My queen," she said. Queen Peregrine recognized her as Swift, one of her daughter's guards. "Shall I fetch Garnet?"
"Yes, please do so." Swift bounded through the marble hall. She returned shortly, with Garnet accompanying her.
"Yes, Mother?" Garnet gestured with her tail. "Let us go somewhere else to talk." Garnet led the queen to another room. Garnet arranged her wings to a more comfortable position and wrapped her tail neatly around her forelegs.
"Why do grace me with your presence now, Mother, after leaving me to my studies for so long?" Garnet asked an edge to her voice yet sounding bored at the same time.
Queen Peregrine ignored her question. "Your studies go well? Is Wind teaching you well enough?"
"Yes, yes," Garnet said, flicking her tail, obviously annoyed. "Why do you want to talk to me, Mother?"
"I want you to will lead an army to the Kingdom of Sand, to claim it. After all, you're twelve and old enough to lead an army."
"And why?" Garnet pressed.
Queen Peregrine narrowed her eyes.
"I don't tell dragonets things like that."
Garnet hissed, loudly. "Since I'm twelve and 'old enough to lead an army,' why can't you tell me why you want the Kingdom of Sand?"
The queen studied Garnet's eyes, not just looking, but truly trying to see why she wanted to have that information. But the true reason for her to send Garnet? Her kingdom would be enveloped in snow when winter truly came. The kingdom had experienced winter before, but all that was just, in a way, winter playing around.
Inside her mind, though, the true reason was that her daughter would not be able to challenge her. If Garnet won the fight, she wouldn't be able to realize the danger. That could wipe all the SkyWing tribe off the face of Pyrrhia
Silence enveloped the room.
"Fine, then," Garnet snapped.
The queen stepped under an arch to enjoy the sun.
The land had been in summer for twenty years now. After twenty years of the sun and warmth, it was hard to imagine winter coming.
Yet she could feel it, no matter how much she wished to deny it. A cold presence was stirring.
Winter was fast approaching, and not even the IceWings would survive.
Author's note: Okay so in this world SkyWings are blue and their scales color depends on what time of the day they were born. There are also FlameWings, which are real SkyWing colors. Also animus dragons appear more frequently in ALL the tribes. i'm sorry if some of the fight scene are bad.