The Turning Tides Prophecy

Beware the dragons made of ice and silver.

Beware the claws of fire and night,

descended upon those who survive

the battle of the turning tides.

Watch the mountains,

the sea,

the sky,

for the young to wonder,

and those to die.

Forget those that are missed,

for those who fall through the mud,

have a deadly wish.

An aurora,

a cold north,

and the vast sea.

Explored and be,

the darkest depths,

one will rise and heal the rest,

as slow and weary and wise is best.

For the world to fall to fire and water,

and freeze over.

Show your spirit,

your kind,

your courage,

Or all will fall to carnage.

In the rainforest, fire was the most dangerous weapon. All it took was a spark - a small kindling to unleash the deadliest of flames. Where homes in the trees once existed, there would be ash and smoke where dragons would flee and die.

Gelid understood perfectly how dangerous fire was. A friend had been permanently disfigured right beside her, one of two dragons she loved the most had a burn on his face, and she herself had been burnt. But her fear of fire grew more the longer she lived in the rainforest and it didn't help that a tribe of fire-breathing dragons lived in it, too.

And today? She would be liable for it.

When a dragonet was set afire in her class, Gelid saw her world spin and stare at the events that lead to this.

When Queen Firefly asked her to teach a nightwing class about icewing techniques, at first she was anxious but ultimately understood why the rainwing queen called upon her for this. Gelid only had to recall the rainwing and nightwing bodies she saw on the beach almost four years ago to fathom the need to build their skills as warriors and as an entire kingdom.

So Gelid couldn't say no. If it could save a dragon's life, then of course she'd help.

She said to herself that she'd help save lives. When she first saw the young eager faces of young dragonets, she had hope for them but she turned her face away for a moment. That moment was enough for two dragonets to quarrel and shoot fire high into the treetops. A branch above was struck and set on fire; and no one noticed it. Not even Gelid noticed it - the sound was crackling heat was put off when she and another rainwing teacher raced to scorn the dragonets.

"STOP!"

Gelid heard it at the last moment. A branch above cracked and started its descent. Fire swallowed its bark and shot for the fresh bundle of leaves at the end of the branch.

She froze, watching mousily.

It landed with a crash and a crackle, enveloping a dark red shape. Screams echoed throughout the forest and when she realised that the branch fell on a dragonet, it was too late, fire piled and blazed.

Or so it seemed.

Biting her nerves, she lurched forward, inhaling both smoke and air to prepare for a frost breath. She couldn't save the dragonet now but she could stop the fire from spreading.

Just as she was about to breath ice, a head and a pair of talons burst from the fire towards her.

"Help me!" Yelled the shape.

"What in the-" Gelid stepped back in a hurry, feeling her lungs reach for a breath.

It was the dragonet that was engulfed by the fire...but he was fine. Or at least he looked fine.

His dark crimson scales glowed as if he were still on fire and orange embers lined his grey underscales all the way to his tail. Smoke rose from his wings as he turned them over, where orange veins shone through the membranes.

Moss burned and shrivelled under his talons, leaving black marks around his talons and where his tail brushed the ground. Gelid stepped back once more.

Gelid wouldn't have believed it if she wasn't sure but from all the scrolls she'd read.

Firescales.

He turned to stare at her, as though he thought the same thing.

"Back!" ordered the dark mauve rainwing, spreading a wing in front of Gelid and swatting her backwards. "Everyone back!" She ordered, gazing over the other dragons.

"I can help," Gelid said, unsure what she'd do to help but anything was better than nothing. "I can-"

"You've done enough," said the rainwing. She waved to the treetops and rainwings appeared out of nowhere, watching in the branches above. Two came down. "Get me Goshawk. She's an orange skywing, you can't miss her. You, tell Diamondclaws that I need to see her as soon as possible." She pointed to a rainwing and then to the other. The two took off into the trees.

Now Gelid knew exactly what it was like to be brushed off, helpless and unworthy to help. It was her fault.

"Madam Rose?" Asked the firescales' dragonet to the rainwing that bossed Gelid. "Is something going to happen to me?"

"Oh, sweetie," Madam Rose said, in a way that sounded like "You have no idea". "Just stay there for me, please," She said instead.

The dragonet whimpered, sat and curled his tail around his talons.

A sheet of green leaves suddenly plummeted from above, blanketing the fire behind the dragonet. Smoke rose in a puff.

Gelid couldn't help but feel sorry for him. What would I do if he was my dragonet? What if something happened to Climate? Moons, I wouldn't know what to do.

There wasn't anything for Gelid to do so she gathered the other frightened dragonets, including the two that started the fire. She told them to stay put until Madam Rose gave them something to do.

She circled back to check on the firescales' dragonet in case anything else had happened but all she saw was the dragonet trembling and Madam Rose waiting patiently near him, eying him as if he was about to take-off to set a bush on fire.

What will happen to him? If they think...no, Queen Firefly wouldn't allow that. Would she? Would she let an innocent dragonet die because he's a little different?

Gelid brushed the thought off, shaking her head.

She spread her wings and turned herself in the direction of the palace, just about to take off when the sight of a small pale-coloured dragonet next to her feet made her flinch.

The dragonet squealed a sound that hurt Gelid's ears.

"Pretty dragons!" Said the dragonet in a high pitch voice.

Gelid stepped back, observing the young dragon. The dragonet looked like a rainwing but her head and neck was thick with spiky scales. Her horns were small, curved icicles and a line of thin spikes went down her back. Apart from some golden scales under her black beady eyes and a line under her wings, she looked almost like a pure-white icewing. But perhaps she turned that colour because she saw Gelid.

"You look like me!" Said the dragonet to Gelid with gleaming eyes. She had a narrow face for an icewing. "And they look a bit like Mother!" She squealed again, this time, at Madam Rose who didn't hear her.

"SILVER!" Boomed a voice that rattled the branches and trees.

Gelid felt her scales stand up as she scanned the trees, trying to figure out why that voice sounded so familiar.

Silver ducked down, perturbed, watching the trees where the voice came from.

Between a set of trees, a large lavender and pale blue shape flapped through the air.

"WHAT DO I ALWAYS SAY TO YOU?"

Mist - Queen Mist descended down gracefully, landing a wing length from Gelid. She glared at Silver, who was squirming and wrapped her tail around a hind leg.

Squinting, Gelid saw another small icewing beside Queen Mist. He looked like Silver but his wings were thin and his underscales were the colour of the sky.

"Well? Do you have an answer for me?" Queen Mist interrogated.

Silver looked at her talons and folded her wings close. "Not to go flying off without permission," she said in a low tone.

Gelid felt pity for the dragonet. She definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of such a glare and tone.

Almost reminds me of my mother. Almost.

"That's right. Now what did you just do?"

"I flew off without permission. But I had a good reason! I-"

Queen Mist interrupted. "What else do I say to you?" She asked, agitated.

"Not to talk back," Silver sighed. "But-"

"No buts. Go to your father. I can't deal with you right now," Queen Mist ordered. She watched closely as Silver walked carefully by her and then towards Pale, who was beside a tree well behind her.

"Yes, yes, always listen to Mother," said the male dragonet closer to Queen Mist. "She is the queen." There was something in his tone that didn't sound like teasing. No, more like he detested Silver but perhaps that was just Gelid's imagination.

"You too," Queen Mist said to the dragonet in a calmer tone of voice.

The dragonet nodded obediently. "Yes, Mother." And he walked with his chin in the air and graceful steps towards Pale.

Queen Mist sighed, eyes closing for a moment before finally reaching Gelid. She stepped closer beside her.

"Who are the little ones?" Gelid finally asked, nodding towards the dragonets and Pale. She had a guess but didn't want to say.

"My dragonets," She answered. I knew it. "Princess Silver and Prince Brinicle," she introduced, pointing at Silver and then the male dragonet.

"They seem like a handful." I wonder if Climate would be like them if we raised him in the rankings. It would be the proper way to raise him...but something about that doesn't seem right. I was born into the rankings but Swan wasn't, he wouldn't have a clue about it.

Queen Mist clicked her teeth, sending an unnatural shiver down Gelid's spine, for some reason. "Silver is. Brinicle...not so much," she said slowly. "She's too rebellious. She doesn't listen to me. She's another kingdom to deal with."

"I understand. Raising a princess wouldn't be easy, especially knowing that she...um, well, might be hostile in the future."

"Pale makes it easier. Besides me, he has the highest rank in the kingdom."

"He deserves it," Gelid agreed. "How old are they now?"

"A little more than a year and a half. Brinicle is a week older than Silver, which is probably why he's the better one."

"Don't say that!" Gelid contested. "They're young. They'll learn."

"I hope so, for someone's sake," said the icewing queen. "You know, you sound like Blizzard. I've been thinking about her lately often."

"Something she said in particular?"

"More like everything she's said about me. She always said I'd be a good queen. I wasn't sure at first and I'm no-more convinced now."

"Well, the kingdom isn't on fire, I take with proof," added Gelid. "I'd say you're doing a good job."

"Speaking of the kingdom, when do you plan on coming back? You do plan on coming back, don't you? I could always use another trustworthy dragon beside me," Said Queen Mist. "Or an adequate bodyguard if I feel the need."

Gelid ran a talon over her brow, furrowing at a thought. "I don't know. I said I might come back and you said I was always welcome but I never promised it. Climate's almost a year old now but to put him in the rankings so late...it wouldn't be fair."

"On the other dragonets?"

"On him. Him and Swan. Swan always said he was related to an icewing but it might not be enough to get him over the Wall. And besides, where would he fit in the rankings?"

"I see you've accumulated thought about this. Apologies."

"Don't be, don't be," Gelid assured. "So why are you here? Are you here to discuss the training initiative with Queen Firefly?"

"That and to introduce her to Silver and Brinicle. As our most trusted allies, I only hope to keep that relationship."

"And the furthest allies you can get."

Queen Mist gave a short, low chuckle. "Indeed. But I was also hoping to catch a show from Swan. He only did one not long ago, from what I've heard."

"I'm afraid you're gonna miss out. Swan's last show for the year is going to be in Riverwatch. We plan to head there next month."

While Gelid and Queen Mist conversed, Silver couldn't help but feel the conversation was about her.

It wasn't a mystery that Queen Mist frowned upon one of her dragonets. It also wasn't a mystery that that dragonet happened to be Silver.

Silver always heard everything Mother said. Everything. And it always hurt her that Mother said those things. She was just being...what was the word again? The word meaning the urge to look at new things...

Curious!

Silver was just being curious. What was wrong with that?

It wasn't everyday she came to the rainforest. It was so pretty! There were colours here she didn't know existed. Animals she didn't know existed. Beautiful dragons she never thought could exist.

If she was going to be queen one day then she was going to be the friendliest queen! The best one! The best one before Mother of course. Mother was a good queen.

Why not start being friends now? She wanted to know all the pretty dragons. She wanted to know all about them so when she was queen, they were going to be her greatest friends!

No one would ever pick on beautiful dragons like them.

"Mother's angry at you." Brinicle poked her shoulder and he smirked.

She didn't like Brinicle. He was always following Mother, always beside her unless she ordered him away. He always did what he was told to do and he had a perfect rank that never moved down, only up, unlike hers.

There was a way he always had his chin in the air, like there was a snowflake on the tip of his nose that he wanted to look at. And he usually always did it around Silver.

Silver never did anything like that. She wanted to look at a dragon face-to-face. Eyes-to-eyes.

"So what? She's always mad at me," Silver said.

"Don't say that," Father said. He was the one that never said awful things about her.

"It's true. Mother expects the best from us, especially me because I'm her favourite," Brinicle added.

Most of the time, Silver had to resist the urge to slap him and poke his eyes.

"Your mother doesn't have favourites. Neither do I. I think you're both fantastic dragonets with promising futuress ahead of yourselves," Father said brightly.

Brinicle snorted. He didn't say it but he didn't need to. I'm Mother and Father's favourite. Don't you forget it. Ever, my little sister. Never ever forever.

There was no way she could argue against that. She knew he was the perfect dragonet but she had one argument in her mind that she wanted to save up. She was the icewing princess. Brinicle was a prince. Princes never got the throne. She was going to. One day she'd challenge Mother and win.

Then and only then, would she finally get the satisfaction. She might not be perfect like Mother and Father wanted but being queen meant that imperfections were irrelevant.

"What are we doing?" Brinicle asked Father.

Father looked at Mother and the other icewing with grey and blue scales. "Waiting for your Mother. She's catching up with an old friend. Then we'll go introduce you two to the queen of the rainforest."

"Queen of the rainforest?" Silver gasped. She imagined the most beautiful dragon in the world. She was going to friends with her, then all the pretty dragons and then the whole continent. "Yay!"

"It's not the queen of ice. Mother will always be the best," Brinicle said to Silver.

"I know that but it's still exciting," Silver responded. Brinicle rolled his eyes. "I'm just so excited to be here. Everything is so much better than I ever thought. Just - just smell the air." Silver took a deep breath in.

"Ugh, smells like mud and rot," said Brinicle.

Silver sighed as she released her breath. He was right, again. But the ice kingdom doesn't smell like mud and rot. Why can't you be happy experiencing new things?

"I just see a bright new day. Come on, you lumpy sea lion." She nudged Brinicle, who hissed back. "We should be happy to be here."

Meanwhile, in the sky kingdom, anger festered in the heart of a skywing.

"Give that scroll to me," General Gale ordered.

The young pale red skywing at the doorway looked conflicted, glancing at him and at the satchel around her neck.

"Sorry, Sir, I have orders to bring this to-"

"To Prince Cliff, I know. I'm not changing anything. I simply want to go over it. I'll return it to you briefly and you can go on your way and complete your job," he insisted.

The messenger looked more convinced by then. She unlatched the satchel, then stared at the scroll stuffed into it.

"Give it 'ere," he then pressed, hiding hints of impatience under his teeth.

The messenger cautiously stepped toward his rock slate of a table and placed the scroll carefully, stepping back afterwards.

Gale unfurled the scroll, careful to not make any tears with his metal claws.

The words were a blur at first and light from the surrounding torches around him glared into his vision. He had to stare for some time for his eyes to finally read the words but even then, the black ink looked more like snakes than actual words.

There was needless information that a freshly hatched dragonet could've anticipated.

Hideout in the mountains...Five known accomplices...Highly dangerous...Do not approach alone...

When he was done, he rolled it back up and passed it to the messenger who then returned it to the satchel.

"When you see Prince Cliff, tell him that I'm on it."

"Uh, Sir?" Asked the messenger, her tone confused.

"Tell him that I'll find Auklet. Consider it a personal goal to find the...dreadful worm. I'll sniff her out and bring her to justice," Gale said firmly.

"But Sir, Prince Cliff already has sent search parties everywhere. I'm sure he'll find her."

"He's sending skywings that barely know where or what to look at. Whereas I know some dragons who can do some infallible work."

"But Prince Cliff has been running this for months."

"Aren't you just a messenger?"

"I - um, yes but-"

He shook a talon at her. "Then tell him about my proposition. He'll consider it, if not, even accept it," said Gale. "Go now, time is at the haste and the longer we all wait, the longer a fiend like Auklet is free in the world."

"Yes, Sir." The messenger stepped back but paused at the doorway. "Oh, how are the eyes, Sir?"

"My eyes? Uh, hem, yes, my eyes are fine." He cleared his throat. "Leave me now."

The messenger turned right out his room.

Not long ago, Gale's eyes had been infected. He wished he could've blamed the illness at the fault of the seawing he saw but alas, that was not true. He scratched himself with a claw near the eye and the very next day, his eyes were burning. For two weeks the infection stood and the skywing doctors did nothing to aid him.

Gale even resorted to clawing his eyes out (there are very visible scars across his eyes) but was stopped at the last moment when a rainwing doctor consulted him. Not long after, the infection was gone and his eyes, though permanently blurry, were usable once more.

His metal claws were the fault of this.

You see, when Gale was born, he hatched without any claws or horns. His father, who once specialised in smithing, had forged him metal claws, giving him the opportunity to claw through the ranks and become the dragon he was then. A general

He had his father to thank for that.

Except now, Gale thought. He's dead.

I knew bringing him into that battle would be the end of him but I didn't think literally. Perhaps I was too lenient, thinking he could deal with anything himself. Little did either of us know just how dangerous seawings are.

Auklet's dangerous.

If it wasn't for her then you'd still be alive.

I'll avenge you. I'll bring that monster into justice.

No.

I'll be the one to kill her.