"Well?" Barrow stood taller, her presence suffocating Wren's thoughts. "Are you going to do something besides standing there? It's time to leave." Barrow's eyes darted all around Wren, sizing her up. Probably trying to look for weaknesses, Wren thought. She attempted to stand tall, not wanting to be called back from her first mission due to looking too cowardly.
"Oh- yes." Wren stuttered, stepping back. She took a quick glance at Deimos, who looked as worried as she was. But at least he could hide it with a mask of lies - when she so easily stumbled over words. She lifted her wings and propelled off of the rocky stone, swooping into the air. She wanted to dive down and stay close to the ground, but she could feel couplets of eyes watching her every move.
Once she was out of distance of the dragons, she dived closer to the ground, reaching her talons out and gently flowing her talons through the grass. Wow… she thought in amazement, curling her claws back in and propelling herself upward. This is so… beautiful. She liked the way the trees curved in many ways with long branches spreading outward. She stopped, plucking a fat beetle from one of them and placing him gently on the ground. He scurried away, hiding in the stalks of grass.
She had never gotten to be out of the company of Barrow's alliance, and, now that she was, she found herself wanting to enjoy every little freedom, even if it wasn't for long.
"Stop wasting your time!" Wren could hear her trainer screeching orders at her like a… like a hippo. Wren threw herself back, laughing so hard she had to gasp for air.
She took off once again, flying for a little less than an hour. She dove back to the ground but noticed something she didn't like. Gooey, brown mud had gotten stuck on her tail.
"Yuck!" She mumbled, trying to scrape it off, to no avail. Great. Now I have to go find a river to wash off in-
"Hey!" Wren jerked around to see a small Mudwing, maybe a little less than a year. "Hey! Terra! Is that you? Oh my moons, it is, isn't it! Swamp has been looking for you forever, we all have! I am so glad to see you; where are you going?"
Wren threw herself into the air, twisting sideways. She flapped her wings as fast with all of her might.
"Terra?" The Mudwing's voice cracked. Wren twisted back, watching tears flow from his face, puddling onto the ground. Was this pity?
Wren turned away. "I have no idea who you are talking about. Go away." She mustered her coldest voice, which was surprisingly hard. Was this the right move? Should she have been nicer? No. Surely her trainer would have approved of what she had said and done. Surely Barrow would have approved.
The poor Mudwing - he curled into a ball, with a soft cry.
As Wren kept flying for a few more days, she didn't forget him. She kept imagining comforting him and telling him it was okay. Could she really be this… demonic? Was being an assassin really worth it?
I guess I don't have a choice… they stole my egg. If I tried to disobey when I was little, they would have killed me. She gazed at the Ice Kingdom - it was so close but so far. I could fly there. I could tell them all about Barrow's plan. I could give myself up. Wren jolted in shock - where did those rebellious thoughts come from? The sight of home?
Wren landed, talons crunching in the unfamiliar white substance as she landed. It was bitter cold, chilling her right down to the bone. She sighed, remembering the small slab of ice she used to make for herself to lay on back with the others in Barrow's alliance. This was just like that, but instead of melting down in a few hours and covering a meager amount of land, it stretched on for miles. It felt…. right, somehow. Like she was finally getting home after being away for so much of her life.
She shook her head, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand - trying to find the IceWings around here. Of course, an easy way to do this would have been to cause some chaos. Then they would probably come running out to check what the fuss was, but that would just land her in prison and with no way to properly complete her job.
Aufeis is a darker gray icewing, a bit of an oddity for his kind. He has white speckles down the back of his neck and a solid white tail and wings. His eyes, as our spies tell us, are a sickly yellow color. Barrow's description rang in her head, that cold and hollow voice… echoing off slick stone walls… trapped underground with fire. She shuddered.
Right. So to find him, I'll probably have to search around a bit first. Tearing her thoughts away from Barrow, she wrinkled her snout, all she really wanted to do was lie in the snow here and relax a bit first, enjoying the cold chill as a lizard might enjoy laying in the hot sunlight.
She lay down, deciding that just a moment of relaxing couldn't really hurt, and that since she didn't know what she was expecting she was just… enjoying it while she could. Her pale brown eyes closed in bliss as the cold seeped into her scales, and she smiled. She turned on her back, rolling around and probably looking a complete fool. But it just felt so good to finally be away from all that heat and into the place she really belonged.
She heard a quiet giggle from somewhere off to her right, and her head shot up. She scrambled to her feet in about half a second, it seemed like, but then immediately afterward slipped on the unfamiliar terrain and nose-planted onto a sheet of ice. She groaned. Wow, what a great first impression i'm making on this IceWing.
She felt a gentle talon, cold as the snow itself, lightly press against her own and pull her up. She scowled, glaring into the eyes of… another IceWing.
It was a female, with scales such a bright blue-white they nearly seemed to glow. She had little snowflake-like markings, a dark blue color, framed in odd markings around her cheek and eyes, then speckling down her neck, back, and out ot the edges of her tail. Her snout faded to a brighter blue, and her eyes were like frozen rivers, pale blue but with a hint of something darker lurking underneath.
"Are you okay, clumsy?" The other IceWing smiled, letting go of Wren's talon and smiling slightly.
Wren rubbed her snout, trying to hold up the glaring mask. "I'm… fine." Her eyes flicked to the side, avoiding the other dragon's gaze.
The other dragon just flicked her tail, folding her wings back. "Well, if.. um.. If you wouldn't mind, I have to catch up to dad's patrol. Nice meeting you, clumsy dragon."
Wren paused a moment, a bit stunned that the other dragon was so… well… kind. If she had been back with Barrow's allegiance, she probably would have just been laughed at and, when she got up, been pushed down again.
She stood there, a bit surprised for a moment, before finally realizing another Icewing had appeared behind them.
"Eira!" He growled in a sharp voice. He was almost twice the size of the kind dragon, and much larger than Wren. He was an even brighter color - eye bleeding white. Wren focused on one of the many scars on his chest. "Your father is looking for you! You are already are twenty minutes late!"
"I am going! I just nee-" Eira cried.
"What is wrong with her? Why are her scales so ugly?" The guard growled. "Who even are you? State your purpose and circle." He narrowed his eyes. Wren stood still. What are 'circles'? She wanted to ask. "Hey!" He snapped his talons in Wren's face. "You talk?"
"Y-yes…" Wren stuttered. "I-I am…" Should I lie? No, that would make things worse. It's not like they would know my name, anyway. I was named by the SkyWing who trained me, not the IceWings. "Wren. I am Wren."
"Well?" His eyes darted around at her. "What is your circle?"
Wren paused for a moment, eyes darting side to side. There didn't seem to be a way out of this question. She opened her mouth, struggling to keep a straight face. "I-I'm-"
The kinder IceWing fixed the guard with a glare, a bit of frost-breath huffing out her nose in her annoyance. "Who are you to ask? If she doesn't want to tell us, she doesn't need to. Are you some sort of interrogator or something?"
The guard looked a bit taken aback at first, before huffing out a couple of laughs. "Just like your father, sometimes, Eira. I'll leave it alone for now, but I'm sure you know that Aufeis will ask the same questions."
Eira nodded thoughtfully, while Wren's jaw almost dropped to the snowy ground. Things were starting to click into place, now. So… If he referred to her being just like her father, as well as being just like Aufeis… does that mean that…
Oh NO.
The dragon she had been sent here to kill was the father of this kind dragon, who had helped her out of the snow and only jokingly teased her… What did the guard call her? Eira? She must have looked about as surprised as she felt, because Eira looked over at her with a bit of concern on her face. "Er… are you alright?"
Wren wanted to bury her face in the snow and never look out again. But no, that wouldn't do. She looked up, forcing an expressionless mask over her face. "I'm… fine."
Eira grinned at her, seemingly forgetting about the guard, and starting to keep walking, as if she already knew Wren would follow her. "Is that, like, your catchphrase or something? 'I'm… fine'. You do realise you've said that twice in the space of the few minutes I've known you for, right?"
A smile twitched at the corners of Wren's mouth, but she forced it down. She couldn't get close to this dragon, especially not now. Not like this. For Pyrrhia's sake, she was supposed to kill Eira's father.
She followed after Eira, slipping and sliding on the unfamiliar terrain. They came to a small hillside, dotted with small mounds of snow but mostly slick ice all the way up and down both sides. Peering over the top of it, and clutching the slippery ice with slightly trembling talons, Wren could see a large encampment. She tilted her head, studying it. "Have you ever been here?" Eira asked.
"Y-yes!" Wren lied. She jolted her head away and looked at the valley nearby. Stupid Wren! She thought. You are going to give yourself away!
There were icy buildings dotted around a "valley" of ice. It looked pretty heavily fortified, with guards keeping watch on all of the obvious entrances and some serious-looking soldiers sparring in a little icy area she assumed was a makeshift arena.
Eira narrowed her eyes for a moment, as a playful smirk flashed across her face. Wren only got a split-second's warning before Eira whisked her tail under Wren's front talons and sent her sliding back down the snow-hill. Wren curled her talons into the ice, a sharp grating noise coming from it before she slowed to a stop in the middle of the hill. For some reason, she felt like laughing, like playing like a dragonet again. The way she used to when no-one was looking back with Barrow's alliance. Before…. before...
"Ha! You thought you could push me around. Joke's on you, Eira!" Wren smirked, straining not to slide further down the hill.
"Oh… really? Then how about THIS!" Eira lobbed a snowball at Wren, which bounced in a powdery puff off the slick hill and then into Wren's face. She blinked several times, shaking the snow off her nose, while Eira slid down the hill after her and pushed Wren down all the way. Wren grabbed onto her tail and pulled her after her, and they landed in a jumble of talons and tails at the bottom of the hill in a thick drift of powdery snow.
For some reason, Wren couldn't stop laughing. She tumbled down and sneezed several times, the snow flying off the end of her nose.
"EIRA!" A roar sounded from above. A huge dragon swooped down. He was a odd, dark gray Icewing who was… who was - Aufeis! "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
He glared with all of his might are Wren, who was fighting the urge not to shrink into a little ball. Eira stepped in front of her. "Wren did nothing wrong! It was my fault. I-I took her out of her class to play with her!" Eira was very good at lying - Wren could tell. Does she suspect me?
"Go to your room. I will be speaking with Prince Vale. He's someone who finally will be taking my complaints." He stepped in front of Wren. "And for you. What is your current rank?"
Eira stepped forward slightly, seemingly unruffled by Aufeis' angry outburst. She looked at Wren thoughtfully for a moment, and Wren again wondered what exactly she was thinking behind those icy blue eyes. "She's a.. Third circle IceWing, father."
Wren blinked. Why is she doing this? Does she know something's not right with me? If so… why this… why not just try to kill me like any other normal dragon would do to someone who didn't seem like they were in the right place, or doing the right thing.
However, Wren was glad of the opportunity. She had no idea what these "circles" were, but she was going to take advantage of Eira's helping her out. She stepped forward, unsure what was customary to do, and made a small, almost bow-like gesture. "Y-yes, sir."
An idea flashed in the depths of her mind, and she paused a moment, sorting out her thoughts. It was probably worth the risk. "I seek to j-join the Royal Guard, sir, and train as one of y-your…" She looked over at Eira, hoping the other IceWing would help her out.
"Apprentices?" Eira suggested, stepping forward. "Yes, father, she wanted to see you. That's why I took her out of school."
Aufeis looked bemused for a moment, before shaking his head slightly. He did seem a bit calmer now, though. "Then why did you say you took her out of class to play with her?"
Although Aufeis didn't seem like the smartest dragon at first, more like one of those guards all-muscle and no-brains, he was figuring this out pretty fast.
Eira nodded, this time, turning her head away in what was really guilt for lying to him but could have also been interpreted as embarrassment. "Well… yeah, that was part of it… You see, she had made this game where you take some of the snow and..." Eira started piling snow and mumbling to herself.
Aufeis rubbed his forehead with one of his talons, sighing in a way that gave him the "why me" expression. He turned around, and called out behind him.
"You know what? I don't have time with this right now, anyway. I have a meeting with Prince Vale to discuss certain…. Issues." He narrowed his eyes at Wren when he said this, and she fought the urge to shrink into a ball again. "And I'm going to be late for it. Don't think I won't speak to you both about this… tomorrow."
Eira nodded, dipping her head and smiling slightly at Wren. She then turned, and, with a light flap of her wings, took off and headed toward one of the tents down near the bottom of the little encampment.
When Eira left, Aufeis turned towards Wren. "You. Where do you live."
"I-I stay in the house near the castle-" Wren signalled to a tiny house, to the west of the castle.
"Take me there." Aufeis growled. "Now! I don't have all day." He showed his fangs to Wren, a row of wickedly sharp, polished teeth. "I wasn't kidding about the meeting with Prince Vale."
Oh, three moons. Gah, no. Think, Wren, think!
But she couldn't think. Aufeis was already growling at her, and if she suddenly changed direction or tried to run he would realise she wasn't who she said she was, and he would likely throw her in the IceWing prison immediately. Then again, if she did go with him, she could end up knocking on an empty house and be questioned on why she lived alone, or knock on an occupied house… and… well, she didn't think all IceWings were as nice in the covering-for-you department as Eira was.
Three moons, this is very very bad.
She furrowed her brow, tail swishing back and forth across the snowy ground. Darn it, i've been trained to lie. So why am I freezing up? I can do this...right?
"Are you sure you want me to take you all the way over there, sir? I wouldn't want to inconvenience you… or… make you late for your meeting with the prince."
Aufeis paused to consider this for a moment, before decisively nodding. "We're going toward the palace anyway, and if you'd stop wasting time I won't be late."
Wren paused a moment, thinking. But she couldn't come up with anything else to say or do, so she just shrugged and tried to act nonchalant over what was really her having a small nervous breakdown. She turned, swooping into the air with her wings, and didn't check to see if Aufeis was following her.
She nervously wrung her talons as they flew, and, when they eventually landed outside the little igloo-like house, she had to fight a wave of panic.
Aufeis moved forward confidently, knocking on the little sheet of ice that was being used as a door, and nodded to her. She heard footsteps approaching from inside.
Oh NO
The door was opened by a pretty little pale white IceWing, without any other tones mixed into her scales. She looked at Aufeis with a bit of boredom on her face, as if she wasn't used to seeing him around and certainly wasn't surprised he'd shown up at her door with a strange, dull-scaled IceWing having half a panic attack behind him.
Aufeis looked at her, and smiled. "Ah, wonderful. Someone was home. Does this dragonet belong to you?"
The pale IceWing looked at her for a few seconds, rolled her eyes, let out a yawn and a bored, "Nope", before shutting the door in both of their faces.
Aufeis turned on her, lips curling up in a snarl.
"How are you going to explain that, little mystery dragon? I'll leave you to think of something, and it better be pretty good, to get out of this. But I need to see Prince Vale now."
Oh thank the moon and stars and all of Pyrrhia that he isn't going to interrogate me now.
She breathed a sigh of relief as he launched himself into the air again, spiraling directly toward one of the larger ice palaces.
(Timeskip to night time)
Wren rolled over onto her side, the scratchy ice brushing up against her scales. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by the snow and ice. She had closed her pale brown eyes, and was about to drift off, when suddenly she felt a talon gently reach out and touch her shoulder.
Almost without turning around, she knew who it was. Eira. She shivered slightly at the touch, it seemed however cold the snow around her was, Eira's scales were colder.
"Mmpf," she half-growled into the snow, for she had just gotten comfortable and realised that her journey earlier had really tired her out.
"Shhh, Shivertalons, I want to show you something."
Wren lifted her head.
"Shivertalons?" Wren rolled her eyes. "That is the WORST nickname ever." She sleepily picked up a hunk of snow and threw it at her, missing by a mile. "Anyway, why did you wake me up?"
"Aw, come on. You know you love my nicknames, after all… it takes a special snowflake to come up with something that creative."
"Bah, I don't want to hear it." Wren settled back into the snow, slowly drifting away into a deep slumber. She snuggled her wings in closer to her body and curled in her tail.
A glimmer of mischief appeared in Eira's bright blue eyes, and she tilted her head to the sideways, leaning forward conspiratorially.
"Get up, Shivertalons, or I'll… tell everyone about your little secret." She laughed.
Wren almost jumped out of her scales, scrambling backward into the ice as her face switched from sleepy to terrified. She was awake now.
"Just kidding. Jeez, calm down." Eira wrinkled her snout at Wren. "Well, whatever it is you're hiding, it must be something pretty big to get that reaction. Anyhow, you're up now! Let's go!"
"H-how… what?" Wren turned to face the other dragon, extremely confused. If Eira didn't know her secret, then how had she…
"Come on! You're obviously hiding something! I mean, your face when Snowstorm - that's the guard from earlier, by the way - asked you what circle you were in. It's like you had never heard of them before. And the way you didn't know what to say, when Aufeis asked you those questions." She tilted her head to the side. "Come to think of it, you showed up out of nowhere, too. Suddenly there, as if blown in by the latest blizzard. I've never even seen or heard of you before."
"I-I-" Wren froze in terror. She knew someone would ask eventually; but…
"Oh, alright," Eira nudged her. "I won't pester you with questions. Just-" Eira looked down at Wren's talons, then looked her straight in the eye. "-just tell me if something is going on. I'm worried for you."
She's worried… for me? I've hardly even met her, and she knows I have secrets, too. How could one dragon be so kind and trusting all at the same time?
She looked at Eira curiously, who was staring up into the night sky, speckled with tiny white stars that reflected back the same color as the pale shining snow below. The other dragon turned to her, and, with a little smile, said quietly.
"Besides, you're not the only one with secrets."
Wren frowned. Surely Eira couldn't possibly mean herself, after all, she was the daughter of the very leader of the royal guards, a dragon who had to be an example to others younger than her. Eira surely couldn't have anything as big to hide as Wren… could she? No. That was ridiculous.
Eira scooted closer, so their wings were brushing now, and looked over. The starlight sparkled and reflected in her already bright blue eyes, making them seem to glow.
"Anyway, are you up for a little trip?"
"To where?" Wren asked, still a bit cautious to follow the other IceWing anywhere.
"A place I'm not supposed to be, and you're not supposed to be. How does a little adventure to the princes' palace sound?" Eira grinned mischievously.
"What for?" To Wren, it seemed like a pretty bad idea. After all, neither of them had been invited anywhere near the palace. And if they were caught, it would be an awful lot of trouble both of them, but mostly she, would be in.
"For fun, of course!" Eira bumped her wing, winking and grinning. "It's absolutely amazing on the inside, besides, I can tell you about circles and all the other stuff you seemed kind of… confused about… while we're there!"
Wren tried to hold her smile back, still too tired to be thinking completely straight. She wasn't exactly sure why she was agreeing to this, but now that Eira had pointed that out, it did sound quite fun.
Eira nodded, before, swooping off with a laugh. Wren took off after her, with a halfhearted begrudging sigh, her wings stirring the sparkling snow below her into a flurry.
Eira glided above the assorted ice buildings, scales glimmering in the moonlight. Quite suddenly, she swerved toward a large, dark, jagged-looking icy palace.
Of course, it wasn't the actual icewing palace, but it was close enough. It had been built for a royal sibling several decades ago in honor of some memorable feat, but now it belonged to the two IceWing princes, Vale and Haze.
It was quite the formidable structure, made completely of ice stretching up toward the sky in long jagged icicles. They seemed to glow from the inside out, a faint light resonating from a few of them. It was very intimidating, with it's slick ice on all sides and a few gaping black-looking crevices for windows and doors.
She fumbled a few wing-beats, and had to backtrack, as Eira had turned quite sharply and spiraled gracefully into one of the rooms dotting the top tower on one side. She felt a stab of anxiety over going into the palace, but pushed it aside and spiraled not-so-gracefully through the same window.
It was very dim inside, hardly any light at all compared to the bright snow and moonlight outside. She blinked her eyes a few times, waiting for them to adjust, before looking around. The room was very smooth, different from the jagged exterior, and there were several finely-knitted tapestries decorating the walls. They all portrayed battle scenes, dragon tribes at war. Probably some history, there.
She reached up a talon to touch one of the finely-woven IceWings, who was exhaling frost-breath into the mouth of a NightWing. Eira's tail spines clattered behind her, and she jumped slightly, too caught-up in the moment to remember the other IceWing was there with her.
Eira was beside, her, and looked over at her, her eyes still just as bright even in the dim lighting. "Come on, I have to show you something," she breathed, wings folded down tightly to either side of her small frame.
Wren turned away from the tapestry, allowing herself a lingering glance at it before slowly moving out of the room after Eira, talons clinking against the ice in an annoying and odd way. She wasn't used to disguising her movements on such a brittle and… well… clink-y substance.
They moved through several more icy chambers, each decorated in it's own unique way, and some completely empty but ornately carved. Wren would be completely lost as to where they were or how to get out if it weren't for Eira there beside her, quietly narrating each work of art or purpose these rooms served.
Finally, they came into a larger and more lit-up cave. There were intricate ice sculptures of the icewing palaces here, the layout of the training area she had been brought to, and even little carvings of dragons out of the ice. She breathed a sigh and bent over the little creations, eyes open wide in wonder.
Eira smirked from next to her, that look perfectly saying 'I told you so'.
"See, Shivertalons, what did I tell you? Worth it, right?"
"U-um, yay, I mean, yes. Yes. Yeah, it was." Wren stammered for a moment, before closing her jaw. OH. MY. MOONS. I NEED TO GET A HOLD OF MYSELF! Why am I stammering like a moron? Nopenopenopenope. I'm just going to keep my mouth closed for the rest of eternity now.
Eira looked a bit surprised for a moment, before bursting into giggles.
"Okay, then, let's get going so we can see the rest of the palace before it's time for training!" The pale blue IceWing took a step toward the door on the far side of the hall, and Wren followed.
Halfway toward the stairs, Wren's wing brushed against one of the spears standing propped up casually against the wall, and it went crashing to the ground with way too much noise than was necessary, in Wren's opinion. The two froze for a moment, remaining absolutely still. There was a shifting of scales from somewhere down the hall in the general direction of where they had come from.
"Who's there?" A rough, gravelly voice called out from around the bend, and they could hear footsteps approaching.
Wren was the first to unfreeze, stumbling as she almost tripped in her rush to get down the stairs. They were slippery, and she had to grip them with her talons so she didn't go skidding all the way down right away. Eira was close behind her, she could hear the mad scrabbling of her talons on the ice.
Eira paused to look back and check how far off the guard was, if they were visible at all. They weren't, but the momentary distraction caused her to lose her grip on the step. Her talons shot out from under her, and she went slipping and tumbling into Wren.
Wren tried to turn around and get a grip on the icy steps again, but it was no use. The two of them were already tumbling down to the bottom of the steps, and absolute tangle of talons and tails. On the way down, Wren couldn't help but try to turn her back to the impact, knowing Eira was a bit smaller than her and probably could get hurt a bit easier.
When they finally landed at the bottom of the steps, both of them were almost completely out of breath. Though a bit bruised, neither of them were badly hurt. They lay there a moment, dazed, before Eira sprang up.
"Hurry! Come on, come on, we've got to get out now!" There was a look of fear and exhilaration in her eyes, and she pulled Wren to her feet. They darted along one of the more narrow passageways at the base of the stairs. After making a few sharp turns, they tumbled out, breathless, into the air.
Wren's heart jumped as they started to freefall, but it lasted less than a second before both of them landed smack in the middle of an enormous powdery snow-drift that had accumulated outside one of the windows in the lowest story of the palace.
There was a slightly shocked silence after the initial landing, before Eira was the first to break the silence. She burst out laughing, breathless giggles escaping her mouth as she curled into a little ball on the powdery snow.
I was sent here to kill him, to kill Aufeis, to kill her father, to kill the leader of the Royal Guard of the IceWings.
I CAN'T.
I just… can't do it… it's so pathetic.
Because of this dragon, I can't bring myself to even… complete one mission. I really am a failure. To Barrow. To Deimos. To Eira. To everyone.
Wren, for the life of her, couldn't tell you why she started laughing too. But she did. She laughed with her, lying in the powdery snow outside of an IceWing palace, in the middle of the night. She laughed even as she felt her world, everything she knew, shattering around her. She laughed with her, laying by her side, knowing she probably would never get the chance to do so again.
I either tell her, and she'll hate me.
Or I kill him, and she'll hate me.
