Author's Note- Jade Winglet, back at it again with the white vans...*cough* I hope you enjoy this chapter. Berry is owned by Howl.
We don't own Wings Of Fire, but we own the OCs.
-Chapter Three-
-Berry's POV-
The RainWing prince had no idea what was going on.
Dragons were running around everywhere, yelling at each other for some reason or another. He craned his neck over the crowd of dragons, hoping to at least recognize someone from Jade Mountain Academy. He just wanted to find his friends, to be assured that he would be safe in this madness…
He heard dragons screeching from above, fire sizzling in the air, almost as if there was a wildfire in the sky. His head shot up and he flared his wings. Were his friends in trouble? He wanted to keep his distance, just to be safe…
He was a rather… strategical RainWing. He preferred to see things from a distance before approaching the main problem, but if one of his friends was in danger…
He shot up into the air, sending sand billowing in small clouds underneath him. He could care less at the moment, for his only desire was to get a better view of the current chaotic situation.
There! Was that… Polar? The IceWing from his winglet was lying on the ground, SkyWings and SandWings surrounding her. They slowly advanced on her while the IceWing just glared at them coldly.
He shot forward, nearly barreling into the guards, but he stopped himself at the last moment. Their attention grabbed by the nearby RainWing, the guards turned their heads to look at the prince. The SandWings had their tails poised up and ready to strike in case any dragon made a wrong move.
More specifically, Polar.
Or maybe even him, if he wasn't careful.
Berry cleared his throat before the guards could make any move. "What are you doing?" he asked, his gaze fixed cleanly on the guards that stood between him and his friend.
At least, Berry considered Polar a friend. She wasn't the nicest dragon, but Berry would still want to protect her. She still had a duty within this world.
She was still a part of his winglet.
A SkyWing guard advanced on him, snarling. "This dragon was the one that murdered Queen Ebony," he hissed, smoke rising from his fangs. "She belongs in jail!"
"She's under arrest!" a SandWing guard added, shooting a glare of disgust at Polar.
"I did nothing!" Polar growled.
"Where's your proof?" the SkyWing guard taunted.
Polar didn't speak after that. Berry wanted to remind the SkyWing guard that he didn't have any proof of Polar murdering Queen Ebony either, but he had something else on his mind.
"Take her to court at least," whispered Berry, desperate to save at least one of his friends. "Let us determine if she is guilty or not."
"You're in her little winglet, are you not?" a SandWing asked, raising his tail. "The only thing her group of friends will do will be to do is use biased information to get her out." He slammed his claw in the sand, sending the grains flying. Berry had to use his wings to shield him to prevent any loose grains from getting into his eyes.
Berry growled, uncovering himself from behind his wings. The prince was a very difficult dragon to convince.
"Please," he begged.
"Please," added another SkyWing. He looked very… different from the rest of the guards. Smoke rose from his scales, and golden veins glimmered in the sunlight, which were just visible beneath his scales. "I mean, not that I'm siding with anyone at the moment. It's just… it would be a better opportunity for all of us."
"Thank you, Wildfire," said one of the SkyWings. He then turned back to Berry, the cold glare back in his eyes. "Fine, then," he spat. "I'll give you your stupid court that you wanted. But you cannot get angry if your friend does not make it out."
Oh, she will, Berry thought, determined to prove to the dragons that Polar was not the murderer. Even behind all of that bitterness, Berry knew that Polar would never intentionally kill a dragon, much less the queen of the SkyWings herself.
But the real question is, who is the real murderer?
Dragons were lined up against the walls of the inside of a building. The building was located not too far from the SandWing palace, and it was used as the Kingdom of Sand's official courtroom. The walls were made out of a sturdy sandstone. The inside obviously looked like a normal courtroom.
At the far edge of the room, in the judge's seat, sat the SandWing queen herself, Queen Jasper.
Berry sighed. He was seated beside two other members of his winglet, Pink-Sand and Dragonfly, who was the MudWing of the Jade Winglet. He needed his friend to have a fair chance at this unfair fight. These dragons didn't have a single scratch of proof, so how could they just jail her unfairly without some sort of debate?
Queen Jasper pointed at a supposed witness to speak with one talon.
The SandWing cleared his throat, his eyes gleaming as he was speaking to his queen. "My queen… this dragon here has murdered Queen Ebony! She's not even a heir, nor was it a fair challenge!" He started pacing around. "Who will be the next SkyWing queen?"
"Enough," said Queen Jasper with a stern authority, "That is not my concern. This should have been solved by the princesses themselves-"
"It would had evolved into a war, though!" the SandWing protested, interrupting his queen, "Just like that war thousands of years ago involving SandWing princesses fighting for the throne!"
"I could care less about this situation. Besides, do you have any actual proof that she did kill Ebony? Any marks that were the sign of IceWing breath? Claw marks in the shape of an IceWing?"
The SandWing shook his head. "But, my queen, there is another step of proof. It was an IceWing- I know it was."
"But was it this particular IceWing?"
"I-" the SandWing sighed. "I don't actually know…"
"Besides," Polar snapped, standing up from where she was sitting. "If I did kill Ebony, it would have left frost marks all over her body. Case closed."
After Polar had spoken, dragons muttered amongst themselves.
"She does have a point," Dragonfly pointed out. "Who are these SandWings to tell us that a dragon that clearly can freeze things on touching and left absolutely zero trace of frost on Queen Ebony that she was the murderer?"
"I know," whispered Berry.
"Order!" Queen Jasper commanded. The court went completely silent.
"If that is the case, then this IceWing is obviously animus-cursed, but innocent," she went on. "If you have any true problems with this supposed Queen murdering, then go to their kingdom instead." She slammed her talons on the table. "Case closed."
That quickly? Berry wondered in awe.
"B-but, my Queen, we can't have such deeds unjustify-" The SandWing's snout shut as soon as Queen Jasper shot an intimidating glare.
"Case. Closed. Do I have to make myself clear to you," Queen Jasper groaned, and pulled out a large scroll from under the regal judge's table, she opened it and examined it for a bit, and rolled it back up, "I want my fastest SandWing messengers to send this scroll, that explains the ordeal we are having about Queen Ebony's death, to the SkyWing princesses, and they'll deal with whatever it takes to put a queen on that throne. But, this scroll explains that I am in no way shape or form associated with her murder. I don't want a war on my talons, SandWings already have too much with the wars."
She handed the scroll over to two agile-looking SandWings, who both looked eager to get their mission underway. As soon as they finished bowing, they both bolted out of the courtroom.
Polar shifted in her seat. "Can I leave now?" she asked.
"How do we exactly know that you're-"
Queen Jasper snarled. "Leave. Let the princesses deal with this." She turned to Polar. "If you are found guilty, then you will be sentenced to prison for who knows how long. Leave, everybody."
Berry waited out of the courtroom, he leaned tightly on the wall, nervously fiddling with his medallion. The prince saw his expression on the shiny blue sapphire in the center, a worry-sickened RainWing was staring back at him. They haven't released Polar yet, it's been over thirty minutes. And, that wasn't the only thing he was worried about. His aunt was the queen of RainWings, and certainly she would've heard the tragic and sudden death of Queen Ebony.
She might as well ship me off back to the rainforest, and I have to go back on those boring diplomatic mission again….And, I only had been here a month….Aren't I lucky.
He frowned, his long tail curling up. Would Auntie Utopia seize him from his friends? She wouldn't. Would she? He ran through his thoughts once more. It was a possibility, she wasn't exactly a 'normal' RainWing queen; lazy and outgoing. She always would skip suntime, and was the most bravest dragon he knew. And, she was half NightWing.
Her royal blood only traced down from her RainWing side. And, a few hybrid queens had been scattered here and there through history since Darkstalker's reawakening, but most queens that were hybrids kept it as a well tight secret, only to been exposed when they were long dead. It was assumed only five queens had ever been hybrids. Utopia wasn't really the type to spill out such a secret, only Berry and his mother (a pure RainWing, because she is the half-sister of Utopia) and Utopia's children knew.
The hissing of ice snapped him out of his 'mini-trance' as he saw a very grumpy Polar walked out onto the sand, which instantly turned to solid slabs of ice. The constant hissing with every step she took, made him shiver, quite literally. Polar loudly growled, "I can't believe after the QUEEN OF SANDWING's decision, they STILL don't let me leave!"
Berry sheepishly shrunk down. Polar's outbursts were one thing he wasn't used to yet, but still, this was his clawmate and new friend. "At least they let you out. Was it that bad?"
"You're telling me. I got tackled by a fire-scales SkyWing, who somehow got into the royal guards," Polar's voice lowered, "If you ask me, I would've locked that freak up. And, the best part, the guards rumored that there was no dragon at all...Saying it was an animus. Like, how many animi are there? Five? I don't know, or care."
"But, your a fire-scales...of sorts…..and you live and learn perfectly fine. Why do they have to be locked up? Anyways, at least your not in chains, or worse, killed. I am happy you made it out, and it was so kind that Queen Jasper let you free!" He grinned, but Polar looked insulted.
"What, are you saying I'm a freak too?! 'Cause, you're taking that fire-freak's side!" Polar snapped. The sound of hissing grew louder, and Berry shook his head vigorously.
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that. It's just- nevermind… So… who do you think murdered Ebony? I feel like we are not going anywhere until they figure out whodunit."
"Well, it's not me! That's all I care about. I can't believe I'm saying this….but, I can't wait until we can go back to the academy…. Because I'm pretty mad that I didn't get to see their stupid play, and get accused of regicide!"
"Well, I think it was a.. a... spooky SandWing… or maybe a MudWing? I have a feeling, I just know it. Maybe, maybe. It was one of the SkyWing princesses after all. Who knows! I definitely want to know, so we can get out of this heat…. It's worst than the rainforest." Berry knew that was one thing he could agree on with himself, it felt like it was a thousand degrees outside. Actually, he couldn't determine if it was the heat or the sudden realization, but he had a brilliant idea.
What if… We hunt down the murder…. Then… We could go back to the academy… Problem solved! And, we will be heroes!
He grinned slightly at Polar, going over this idea in his head multiple times. Maybe he and his 'group' could forward with this seemingly bright idea!
Author's Note- Oh, Berry...You crazy little bean.