Talons of darkness
Chapter 1
Sparrow
Sparrow sighed as he stared out the large window on the west wall of his bedroom, staring at the beautiful sunset, a mix of red, gold, orange and pink, starting at the line of forest to the north, stretching out to the southern fields that could just barely be seen over the walls of the kingdom.
He watched as servants walked and flew in the streets below, carrying bowls of fruit, platters of meat and bread, pitchers of water and buckets of fish. There was a clattering sound as two of the savants collided sending fruit and venison everywhere. They both stood and looked around, clearly disorientated, before they locked eyes and started growling at each other. a guard stepped away from her post to separate them, and several of the sounding bystanders helped pick up the food that was rolling everywhere.
Just then the quartz door of his room burst open and his older sister, Razorclaw, came hurtling inside, flapping her wings as though she was flying.
Razorclaw was a pretty dragon with sparkling black scales as dark as the midnight sky, a long, elegant snout, huge wings doted on the underside with pale blue scales, blood red underscales, curving red horns that where just a few shades darker than her underscales, pale gold eyes with little flecks of darker gold in them, a blood red ruff, and gleaming black claws that looked like they had been carved out of black diamonds.
Sparrow himself had scales blacker than the night sky during a thunderstorm, dark, dark, red underscales, an elegant snout, much like Razorclaw's, huge black wings with sparkling silver scales scattered around the underside, lightly curved horns like his sister's, only his where the same dark red as his underscales with vanes of sparkling silver twisting around them. His curved claws where a glittering silver, he had a dark red ruff shot through with silver, and glowing red eyes with flecks of silver.
"Razorclaw," Sparrow said, turning from the window to look at her. "Why are running around like a human with its head bitten off?"
"Oh! I didn't expect to see you awake!" Razorclaw said, coming to a quick stop.
"Well, it is sunset," Sparrow said, turning back to the window. "And we are nocturnal dragons."
"I know, I know," Razorclaw said in her usual hurried voice. "It's just… lately you've been in a pattern of staying of for nights at a time and then crashing like a dragon with its wings shredded."
"Yeah, I guess that is a fair point," Sparrow said with a sigh. "Anyway, why are you here? Not that I don't love seeing you."
"Oh! Um, yes. I came here for a reason, now what was it?" she muttered to herself.
She paced around in a circle for a moment with one of her claws tapping against her snout. "Ahh! Yes!" she said, coming to a halt. "Queen Silence said that she wants to see you."
"Why?" Sparrow asked.
"I don't know, she didn't say," Razorclaw said.
"Oh, wonderful," Sparrow said, stepping away from the window. "You can go now."
"Okay, just be there as soon as you're presentable," Razorclaw said, turning and walking out the door, shutting it behind her.
Sparrow sighed as he walked toward a sparkling pool of water. He had learned that if the queen wanted to talk to him it would be best if he showed up with clean scales that sparkled in the light. He hissed as his sensitive scales made contact with the icy cold liquid.
What could the queen possibly be summoning me for Sparrow thought. I mean, I haven't done anything wrong lately, unless you count putting a little nightshade in Shadowteeth's food. It hadn't been enough to kill her, nightshade never was, but it did make her sick for a couple of days. Or it could have been the whole 'accidently splashing water on the scrolls' incident. Sparrow had to sit through a two-hour lecture on being careful whilst handling scrolls. Maybe it's because I walked through Mightyscale's garden again, but I don't think anyone saw that. Mightyscale was the tribe's main herbalist and her garden produced most of the herbs that were used in the healing center.
Or maybe I'm not in trouble and she just wants to chat, maybe she just wants to say happy hatching day, he thought as he climbed out of the freezing water. The queen sometimes did that for important dragons. Ha, that's about as likely as Razorclaw getting rid of her 'precious' feather collection.
Sparrow sighed as he walked along the long winding halls of the highest palace in the kingdom, nodding at some of the high ranking aristocrats.
He paused as he neared then throne room, wondering if he should really be responding to the summon or if he should be flying away as fast as he could, screaming in terror.
Just as he was about to turn and walk away he heard a rushed voice shout his name. he looked up to see Darkspark -one of the queen's main advisers- standing in the center of the hall.
"Sparrow, Queen Silence told me to escort you to the throne room," Darkspark said. "You know, make sure you actually get there,"
"Oh, I'm glad she has so much faith in me," Sparrow said in a sarcastic voice.
"Well, her actions are rather justified, I mean, you have been known for skipping important meetings," Darkspark said.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a screw-up," Sparrow said with a sigh.
"You're not a screw-up, you just need to learn more responsibility," Darkspark said.
"I am a screw-up and I always have been, that, at least, was clear since the day I hatched," Sparrow said.
"Why must you be so hard on yourself?" Darkspark said, shaking her head.
"Oh, I don't have to, but I want to," Sparrow said.
If Darkspark wanted to say something she didn't. they turned a final corner and got to the long corridor line with sculptures and tapestries of wolves, bears, humans, owls, and various famous dragons. At the end of the hallway there was a large double door with serious looking guards holding spears on either side of it.
"Well I guess you can go ahead without me," Darkspark said. She turned and walk away, heading to one of the many balconies used for taking to the air.
Sparrow took a deep breath and then started walking down the hall toward the door. He paused at the halfway point to look at a new tapestry of a dragon killing a human. The human's face was the perfect image of terror, and the dragons was a mix of fury and anguish. It looked as though the scene had been frozen in time, an exact picture of what the earth used to be like before dragons had united and formed the various kingdoms and tribes. Who ever made it was obviously a very talented artist.
He continued his walking till he got to the door where he was stopped by the guards.
"State your name and business!" the guard on then left said, pointing his spear at Sparrow.
"My name? Sparrow, And my business? Responding to a summon from the queen. Honestly do you guys have to do this every time? You know my name and you know the only reasons I go to the throne room is to talk to Razorclaw or respond to a summon by the queen," Sparrow said with a huff of annoyance.
"Sorry Sparrow, but its protocol, you know that," the right guard said, dipping her head in an apologetic way. "Anyway go right ahead."
"Thank you," Sparrow said while pushing the door open.
Sparrow felt around 20 pairs of eyes go to him as he stepped into the throne room. Sparrow cringed as he walked forward towards the queen, he hated it when a lot of dragons payed attention to him.
Sparrow bowed before the queen as she laid her cold silver-green eyes on him. The throne room lapsed into a tense silence as the queen regarded Sparrow with a cool interest.
"Sparrow," Queen Silence said. "You may stand."
"Thank you, your majesty," Sparrow said, coming out of the bow.
"Now, now sparrow, such formalities are not necessary right now," Queen Silence said.
"Yes, mother" Sparrow said, dipping his head in a respectful manner.
"Now, as much as this has been a lovely little catch up session, I need to talk to you about something," Queen silence said.
"And what would that be?" Sparrow asked.
"That would be a matter of politics," Queen Silence said. "You see, one of our diplomats has… unfortunately passed, and we need a replacement."
"Okay, what does that have to do with me?" Sparrow asked, though he had a good idea of what his mother was going to say next.
"You see, I want you to be the replacement," Queen Silence said, her mouth twitching up in the corners to form a slight smile.
"with all due respect mother," Sparrow said. "Why?"
"Because it will give you a chance to redeem yourself," Queen Silence said. "Sparrow, I know you're talented, after all, you're the one who stopped those two wings from having a mini war in the courtyard last week. And you stopped those two dragonets from fighting." She leaned down so the she was eye level with Sparrow. "Sparrow, you're a peace keeper, I know you don't like it when dragon fight, which is what makes you perfect for this position."
She straightened back up into a sitting position. "You will meet me in the courtyard at midnight tomorrow so that I can give you details on the job," she said.
"Okay," Sparrow said.
"You may leave now," Queen Silence said in a soft voice.
"Yes, mother," Sparrow said turning around.
"Oh, and one last thing," Queen Silence said.
"Yes?" Sparrow asked, turning his head.
"Happy hatching day, son," Queen Silence said, a warm smile on her face.
Sparrow turned and left without another word, looking like he was going to cry, and knowing that this was the happiest he had been in a long time.
So you did remember… Thank you, he thought.
A/N I have a couple of things to say, first: I hope that everyone likes this. Second: I will be updating this fairly infrequently, so I'm sorry about that. Third: I'm sorry about any spelling or punctuation mistakes and it would be greatly appreciated if you could point them out in a friendly manner so that I could fix them.