" I hate her scales," Princess Burn growled to herself, digging her talons into a camel she had chosen for dinner. She sat alone in her room surrounded by her friends, her collection of animal oddities, her favorite being a stuffed, pale skywing dragonet. It wasnt necessarily odd, but she liked it anyway. She turned her gaze to the camel and tore hungrily into it, savoring the blood in every bite. There was nothing she wanted more than to do that to her sisters, Blaze the dimwit and Blister the cynical. There was no way either of them could ever be their Mom's successor. Blaze would be too focused on how her scales glittered in the morning sun or the prettiest gemstone in the treasure room and the whole Kingdom of Sand would be thrown into chaos. She probably wouldn't even notice if someone snuck in and assassinated her. Blister, however, was very different; she'd no sooner than sit on the throne then would she start a war for power over every tribe in Pryarih. Burn knew that she was most fit for Queen, she'd take no business in other tribes as well as demand her tribe's fear and respect. Mom had even said that she would make a perfect Queen of the Sandwings. That was her destiny, and though she didn't necessarily like the idea of killing her mother, she would become Queen. Well, until this happened:
"Burn! You're needed at once!" Smolder had shouted as he banged his talons on her door. It was the middle of the night, what in three moons was needed so desperately? "Queen Oasis... Mom... She's dead." Burn's heart stopped.
"WHO IN THE THREE MOONS KILLED HER?!" Burn roared, throwing herself through her door and onto her younger brother, hardly able to keep her talons off of his neck.
"A-a scavenger. There were three of them, two of them got away but we caught the female." Smolder could hardly speak as Burns talons tightened around his neck. She liked the way he feared her, how he withered under her like the useless lizard he was.
A moment later, Burn had burst out laughing. "You honestly expect me, of all dragons, to believe that the greatest Queen to haved lived in the Kingdom of Sand has been killed by," She had to stop to catch her breath, "By scavengers? How stupid do you think I am?" Burn, with scorn in her voice as she finished, let him go and walked back to her camel, but her heart was sinking. She didn't want to believe that her lizard of a brother could be telling the truth, but it was hard to convince herself otherwise.
"I'm not lying, Burn. Three scavengers broke into the treasure room and mom followed them out, but she couldn't take on all three at once." Smolder sat up, looking deeply troubled, but also scared.
Burn felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. Then sadness turned to rage. She roared in fury and scorched every inch of her room with fire. Then, with anger flooding her eyes, she turned to Smolder, who was frozen with shock and fear. A deep growl was climbing out of her throat as she stalked forward, her barbed tail curling up behind her.
She was just about to launch herself at him when a guard came running in, skidding to a halt after seeing Burn so close to snapping. He spoke quickly, afraid to be there any longer than possible. "Queen Oasis has been killed. As it calls, Burn, you must take responsibility for the Kingdom until you and your sisters decide who will be the new Queen." He only stood a moment longer before running out of the room.
Burn couldn't keep a quiet hiss of delight to herself. She was Queen for the night, that was all she needed to hear to calm her. The angry roar of Blister only made it better. Then, she looked at Smolder curiously, why had he come to her first? "Smolder, why did you come here?" She strode toward him, tilting her head. Menace glittered in her black eyes.
"I thought you should be the first to know, Queen Burn." He bowed respectfully. There was none of his usual sarcasm in his voice, and that made Burn hiss with delight. He actually thought that she should be Queen, which was true of course.
"Good. You are dismissed Smolder." Burn said evenly, watching him stand up and nod respectfully. He was worth keeping around, Burn had decided, she would need someone whom she could trust. She had turned to finish her meal, then lay down on the hard, sandstone floor. Tomorrow she would kill her sisters and become Queen of the Sandwings, and that put her to sleep soon enough.
Burn woke up to a lizard rummaging in her room and quickly gulped it down. She would be the official Queen soon enough, it didn't matter how, but she would. She looked out of her broken door at a bowl of fresh water, something that guards had brought to every Sandwing in the stronghold. She thirstily drank the water down then started walking toward to the sound of her sisters. It pleased her that they were so upset about who would be Queen, as they would both be dead soon enough.
She pushed the door open, wary of any of Blister's traps that may have been placed before her entry. All seemed okay, so she had walked in, her tail held high. Every dragon turn to look at her, even Blister and Blaze had stopped their pitiful arguing. She strode towards them, glaring at them with obsidian eyes. She let her pride burst through her scales, know how angry it would make Blister.
"It's about time, you lazy lizard." Blister had scolded, lashing her tail furiously. "We know all know who should be Queen."
Burn let a scoff escape her throat, narrowing her eyes. "That Queen will be me. I am the oldest and most fit to rule and all of you know it."
Blister's eyes gave an eerie twinkle, the kind she got when she was pleased with herself. Burn felt like her scales were being peeled off. What was she thinking?
Blister stood up, slithering towards Burn with an attitude that seemed almost as if she had been planning this moment for months. "We'll see how Queen-like you can be when I'm Queen of the Seawings and Sandwings."
Burn's tail curled and she let out a vicious hiss. "You know you can't do that! It's not right and you know it." Her tail lashed furiously.
"Oooh! I call the Icewings!" Blaze's voice cut in cheerfully, sounding like nails on a chalkboard to Burn's ears.
"No! This is between us. Not the other tribes." Burn hissed at Blaze, barring her teeth." She turned her gaze to Blister, her scales burning with fury. "If you think that you're fit to rule, you can fight me right now!"
"Oh settle your scales, sister. You know as well as I do that I couldn't win a fight against you. You got mom's strength, but I got my dad's brain. We all know what he did." By now, every dragon in the room was staring. Everything about the way Blister had said those words rubbed Burn the wrong way.
"If you were half the lizard your father was, you'd have the sense to see how cactus brained you're being." Burn scowled, her claws itching for a fight. Blister growled deep in her throat, glaring at Burn hard. Burn was begging silently for Blister to make one move, one small move and she would kill her without hesitation.
Blister flicked her tail dismissively, "At least my father had some traits, unlike your boring father. Mom said he was a peasant, and seeing you now, I don't think she was lying, especially because she stooped that low."
That was it. Burn couldn't hold her itching claws back any longer. She launched herself at Blister, hissing with fury and rage. Blister ducked, shock taking over her body as Burn slid onto the sandy floor. Burn growled and quickly got back up, hissing furiously as she stalked toward Blister. Blaze, who was staying relatively quiet, took cover behind two shocked guards as Burn lunged again. This time, Blister was ready with her tail barb dangerously above her head, hissing angrily. "If it's war you want, it's a war you'll get!" Burn roared as she lashed out, grazing Blister's scales. Blister stepped away and whipped her tail at Burn.
Pain roared through Burn's neck, sending her back a few steps with shock. She touched her neck softly and looked at the black liquid draining out of the wound. Burn roared with fury and let out a fiery blast at Blister then lunged out at her, slashing at her neck and face and beating her with her wings. Blister screeched with pain and tried to back away, but then, everything faded.
Burn was just a dragonet, along with Blister and Blaze. She and Blister were play fighting in the sandy courtyard of the Stronghold while Blaze and Mom were talking about the royal treasury. Burn hit Blister's side, knocking her over then pinned her down. "Momma! Momma look! I'm going to be the best fighter!" Burn called, baring a wide grin as Queen Oasis turned her dark gaze on the young dragonet. She smiled and nodded, her pride glowing off of her pale yellow scales. Blister pushed Burn off and hissed, jumping at her again with rage in her eyes as she scratched at Burn's neck. Burn easily pushed her off but didn't account for Blister's tail as it came down hard on her head. She fell forward and Blister jumped on her, attempting to pin her into the sand. Burn watched her gaze up for her mother's approval, but she had just frowned at the younger dragonet. Burn saw Blister's defenses falter and jumped up, launching her sister into the air. Their wings were still too small to fly, so she fell to the ground with a soft thud.
"Good work, Burn!" Queen Oasis called, smiling. Burn felt as close as she could to soaring and ran up to her mom, beating her with her small wings. "You'll be a fine Queen, my little onyx." She said, pulling the the light colored dragonet closer with her talons. Burn cooed with glee, unable to see Blister looking at her with jealous fury. Burn never understood why Blister was so mean to her, Mom loved her children all the same right?
Time flooded back to Burn, and as she regained her vision, she could see the havoc she had reeled. Blister was on the ground shivering with pain and shock, or, if it was Blister. It was, wasn't it? Burn prodded the dragon with a talon, she twitched a little, but was obviously in too much pain to move. She swiped the blood from off of her neck and breathed in slowly, this was not Blister. Burn bowed her head, speaking softly to the dragon, "I'm sorry." Then she looked around, every dragon in the room was staring at her. She picked out Blaze and narrowed her gaze, enjoying watching her youngest sister flinch with fear. Blister was nowhere to be seen, she must have escaped when she had blacked out, Burn thought. She cursed and turned to face the frightened crowd, singling out Blaze. "You have until midday until you follow this dragon here. Gather your things and get out with whoever wants to spend the rest of their lives with you. This is my Stronghold now and anyone who wants to challenge me for it do it now! You will not leave without scars, I promise you that."
No one moved, shocked by Burn's message they all stood like statues. Burn thumped her tail hard on the sandstone floor, dismissing the dragons as she had seen her mother do so many times before storming out of the large room. Smolder was running down the hall towards her, out of breath. He paused in front of Burn, bowing his head though still panting.
"I... I chased her as far as the far eastern oasis. I made sure she wouldn't be back soon." He panted, keeping his head down.
"Blister?" Burn asked, admiring his loyalty to her.
"Yes. Is there anything else I should do, Queen Burn?" He asked, slowly catching his breath.
Burn opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a roaring pain raced through her neck. She smothered a groan of pain, suddenly feeling very light headed. "Burn?" Smolder gasped, looking at his oldest sister with horror. "Burn!" The last thing Burn saw was her younger brother reaching out to her before everything faded to black.
Burn woke in her bed, wanting everything to be a bad dream. She wanted to walk out of her room and eat breakfast with her mom and hear her talk about the odd things in her life. She wanted her mom to give her oddities that she found on her trips out of the Stronghold. She wanted everything to be normal.
But she also knew what had to be done. Her sisters needed to be dead and Burn would stop at nothing to get them there.
"Smolder?" She called hoarsely, her body aching.
He poked his head through the door, peering at Burn sympathetically. "Yes, Queen Burn?"
"How long have I been asleep and how many guards are around?" Burn asked.
"We have quite a few guards left and you've been out for three days."
Burn nearly jumped out of her scales. Three whole days she had spent sleeping! She tried standing up, and although painful, her stiff muscles softened. "Gather a party, we have Queens to visit."