Chapter 1

5,016 AS

The Central Administration office was a dreadful place to be. A square stone building that lacked all personality and charm near the center of the city that constantly flew the new Jade Imperial flag, in the Scorpion Den was nearly deserted. Only a few guards and low ranking scribes shuffled around the poorly lit building most days, many wishing they could be anywhere else. Most of the high ranking officials preferred to either take residents in expensive hotels on the outskirts of the city with private security or avoid the city at all cost. However, it was still the city's CA, and thus, by royal decree, was immensely important as a storage center. Leading to the locals name for it: the Scorpion's Filing Cabinet.

"Stop fidgeting." A female Sandwing dressed in the green Imperial plate armor order said, addressing her male counterpart. They both looked to be eight years of age, old enough to be drafted into the Jade Army's ever expanding ranks.

"Sorry," the male Sandwing said, adjusting his armor, "It's just that this helmet is a size too big, the neck piece keeps coming off, and-"

"Hey, cut the chatter." A voice from within one of the barrels the two pulled on a sled said, "We don't want to be searched."

"A talking barrel is going to get us searched." The female growled.

"Shh!" The male hushed, "Checkpoint up ahead."

The three fell silent as they approached two other guards (one of which was evidently drunk) guarding the entry point into the CA. "Halt!" The sober Sandwing guard barked, his armor gleaming in the afternoon sun, "What is your identification and cargo?"

"Private Beetle and my compatriot is Private Dune," the male pulling the sled answered, "and our cargo is fruit."

"Great," the inebriated guard slurred, "More food for those fruit munchers. Sands, can't they eat normal food?"

"Come now," the sober guard said, shaking his head, "We must see to it these barrels are checked."

"Take us for Talons do you?" Private 'Dune' asked.

"Of course not," the sober guard reassured, "Standard practice, I assure you. It'll only take a second."

"Ah, okay then," Private 'Beetle' remarked, "protocol."

"Yes, now stand asi-" In an instant, the sober guard found himself on his back, overtaken by 'Beetle'. 'Dune' meanwhile rushed the inebriated guard, knocking his head hard against the very building he guarded. The inebriated guard slumped, his eyes closed.

"Look into my eyes." 'Beetle' hissed, restaining the remaining Sandwing guard. The guard stopped struggling, staring blankly at 'Beetle'. "You feel relaxed, calm, trusting."

"I am relaxed, calm, trusting." The guard parroted.

"Now, when I snap my talons, you'll collect your fellow guard. He is very drunk and banged his head." 'Beetle' continued.

"Banged his head."

"Yes, you checked our cargo and let us through. Nothing is wrong."

"Nothing is wrong."

"One, two, three." On three, 'Beetle' snapped his claws and got off the guard. The guard blinked, shook his head, smiled, and repeated the phrase "Nothing is wrong" as he picked up the knocked out guard and carried him off.

"Quibli," 'Dune' said as she moved to him, "I will never get used to you doing that."

"I know," the voice from within one of the barrels huffed, "Its creepy."

"Ah, come on guys," Quibli deflected with a deviant grin, "I can't help my charming personality." 'Dune' gave him a stern look and he relented a bit, rolling his eyes, "Fine. I suppose you have a point about it being somewhat questionable ethically, doesn't make it any less useful." The two then picked up the sled and moved inside. As they passed through into the main hall, sounds could be heard, as if they were being followed by invisible beings. The two dragons quickly moved the sled with the barrels through the empty kitchen and into the large pantry. The footfalls of invisible beings followed them in. The two dragons then took the barrel with their hidden friend off the sled and moved it out of the pantry. Three dragons suddenly appeared in the pantry, their scales a solid gray color, as typical of Rainwings in service to the Jade Empire.

"The fruit's all yours." 'Dune' said, shutting the door hard as the three Rainwings began to tear through the barrels and into the fruit. "Winter, now!"

The young Icewing needed no further command as the barrel he hid in practically exploded. It took only a few moments for Winter to get his talons under him to stand at full height. No longer was he the small dragon of two years that cowered during the Sandwing invasion, but a fully grown dragon of eight years, standing a good foot taller than his Sandwing counterparts. He wasted no time now that he had his wits, letting out a fearsome but controlled blast of ice, coating the doorknob and freezing the locking mechanism.

'Dune' moved forward and smashed the knob with a mighty wack with her tail. Winter then applied more ice to the door for good measure. "That should hold them for a while." He said, pleased with his job.

"We still need to be quick," Quibli cautioned, "No need to leave anything to chance."

"Agreed," Winter said as he stretched his body out, "By the sands was that barrel cramped." He followed his friends out of the kitchen and accepted Quibli's extra scimitar.

Fortunately there was little need for such securities, as they had planned their mission well. Most of the staff was off celebrating Reunification Day and those who were on duty where mostly accounted for. The only hole in there plan was a few scribes might come in early from the festivities (doubtful) or if a foreign dignitary was visiting ( a near impossibility). So Winter and his company ran through the empty stone halls uninterrupted.

"Strange how quiet it is," 'Dune' commented, "Not even a scribe or guard? Talk about low security."

"Well, her Imperial Highness isn't exactly worried about her oh so loyal Sandwings is she." Quibli jested, laughing a bit to himself.

"Yes," Winter growled, "instead she sends her armies out to subdue other tribes."

"Well, I guess she does that." Quibli relented, eyeing Winter uneasily, "You okay? You seem less...chill."

Winter took a deal breath, letting the pun go, "Sorry, its just that, for the first time since...that day, I have the opportunity to strike back."

Quibli nodded, "Well, don't get your hopes up. Most likely it will be useless census data or-"

"Guard!" 'Dune' said, turning to them, "Quick, in here!" The trio swiftly entered a nearby room. Closing the door, Winter leaned against it, listening intently."

"Did you hear about the new contraption they developed? Some sort of giant bow?"

"Yeah, I've actually seen it. Don't know exactly how effective it'll be. Takes too long to load."

"Yeah so I was thinking, what if they made them really small, like so anyone could hold and fire it."

"Ha! A miniature ballista, how would that even work? Perhaps leave the thinking to the scribes…"

Winter continued to listen for a few more minutes, but the guards where far out of ear ear shot. "Coast's clear."

Quibli let out a sigh of relief, "That was a close one. Good call Onyx."

'Dune' glared at him, "You're not supposed to use my real name on missions sand brain!"

"Sorry," Quibli said, "But no harm, no fault. Come on, let's look around in this room."

Winter gazed across the plain room. It had a few bookshelves packed full of censuses and tax codes, a small desk towards the middle of the room with a few papers and an abacus on it, and a small cactus growing under the window. "Great, a tax collector's room. You can feel the depression in the air."

Quibli started to look over the bookshelves while Winter and Onyx continued on to the desk, "Tax returns, tax codes, tax notes, nothing but boredom and depression here."

"Focus," Onyx chided, "If there isn't anything of note, we'll move on."

Winter sifted through tax notes and trade agreements, eventually coming upon a prison manifest, "Hey, here's something!"

Quibli and Onyx turned to him, "What is it?" They asked almost in unison.

"A prison manifest," Winter explained, "For the Fortress. Some high class prisoners there."

Quibli peard over his shoulder, scanning the document, "I recognize some of these names. They have a few Talons locked up."

"I wonder if Orca knows about the three Seawings on the registry?" Onyx commented, taking one of the pages of the manifest.

Winter gasped, "They have a Nightwing!"

Quibli and Onyx looked at him with disbelief, "No way!" Quibli said, now looking at the spot Winter was, "But how?"

"One must have got caught outside the Shroud." Onyx suggested.

"Well obviously," Winter said, "though I didn't think those sand bellied snakes ever left there little kingdom."

"Sand bellied snakes? Really?" Quibli shook his head, "See, you're trying way to hard there."

"I wonder what the Empress is going to do with her." Winter thought allowed, ignoring Quibli.

"Her?" Onyx questioned.

"Yeah, 'Nightwing: Female. In good health. Silver scales under eyes. Estimated to be about eight years of age.'" Winter read.

"Hmm, a Nightwing could be a great asset to the Talons."

"And now we know where their holding Talons, and who's been captured," Quibli added.

"You know," Onyx continued, "If we were to infiltrate the Fortress…"

"Absolutely not!" Winter huffed, "We would be caught before we set one claw upon the thing. Besides, Vulture will get worried if we're not back soon."

"Oh darn," Quibli sighed, "I forgot my coin pouch. He'll be hard pressed to believe we went out for groceries."

"You two aren't thinking big enough," Onyx said, "We have here something that could turn the tide in our favor. A Nightwing! Imagine having that kind of power on our side!"

"And just how are three dragons barely older than dragonets supposed to infiltrate the Fortress?"

"Well," Onyx said, clearing her throat, "We've gotten this far, haven't we?"

"Correlation is not causation," Quibli quipped, "Regardless of what we decide, we need to-"

"Just hold on a sec, I need to get something from Scribe Sandheart's desk." The voice came from the other side of the door.

For a moment they all froze before Onyx pushed them to action with a quick command to hide. Winter quickly dashed to the nearby closet and dove behind the door. The closet was, surprise surprise, filled with more documents and tax books, likely stored for posterity's sake. Winter heard the door open and a dragon enter, humming a small tune he didn't recognize. Curious, Winter bent down and peeked through the keyhole out into the room.

His vision was mostly obscured, and he was only able to make out the outline of the desk and a dragon walking towards it, still humming his tune. Winter heard the dragon pull up the seat and begin to look through the piles of papers scattered on the desk. "I wish Sandheart didn't have so many tax filings." The dragon muttered in a distinctly male voice, and Winter agreed with the sentiment on tax papers. Why any dragon in Pyrhia need this much paperwork was beyond him.

The dragon sifting through papers sighed in frustration. "Hey," A voice called from beyond the door, "Everything okay in there?"

"Yeah, just struggling to find the manifest," the dragon responded, "You go on without me. I could be a bit."

"Okay. Remember, be at the hotel by five. Don't want you going off and getting into trouble like Hightide."

"Me, get into trouble," the dragon sitting at the desk feigned insult, "Impossible."

The other dragon beyond the door chuckled and walked away. The dragon sitting at the desk sighed and continued to shift through papers. Winter sighed silently, thankful that the other dragon was gone. Now, if their luck where to hold, the other dragon would leave, and they could make a quick exit.

"This could take years," the dragon at the desk complained, putting aside more papers, "I wonder if he filed it." The dragon seemed to take some time pondering. Then the dragon unexpected reached into the small pouch he carried around his neck and fetched a piece of coral, "I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner!" He exclaimed, "Find the Prison Manifest for the Fortress."

To Winters shock, the coral zoomed out of the dragons hands and towards his hiding spot. Reflexively, he clenched his talon, and found that the manifest was still there. "Ah ha!" The dragon laughed, "That probably saved days of searching, even if Sandheart had helped."

Winter began to panic. He was squeezed between a filing cabinet and a stack of books. He tried to reposition himself so he could grab his scimitar, but before he could the closet door was flung open and a stunned Seawings stood slack-jawed.

"Uh, Wa-" Bang!