A Brighter Future Ahead
AN: Sorry about not posting this yesterday, but I had a headache all day and didn't feel like doing anything. However, in hopefully better news, I have this week off from school as well due to the coronavirus, so I might have the next chapter of Dragons Change out by this weekend. It's about a quarter-done already, so if I don't have any obligations, interruptions, or writer's block, I should be able to get it done.
Alright, this is a bit of a special chapter as it begins a parallel event chain that happens outside of the Rainforest and Darkstalker's group. This is where things start to get interesting now that outside forces are beginning to be involved.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. My OCs Cobra and Copperhead belongs to me.
Cobra:
Leaving the Rainforest was something she never thought she would do. She had always believed that her place in the tribe would always be secure, but apparently, her mother decided to hire Darkstalker—an outsider—to kill her. Despite her brave face and considerable resources, she knew she stood no chance against him. No one did. Only another animus would have a chance—a small one, but a chance, nonetheless.
That's why she had thought about asking Zephyr for protection, but the Skywing animus that her mother had saved as an egg was still just a dragonet. Copperhead made a point when he stated that she probably wouldn't even help due to her loyalty to Anaconda, and even if she did, her power probably couldn't compare to Darkstalker's.
She couldn't simply hide somewhere in the Rainforest as her mother knew everything that happened within its borders. It wouldn't be long before she was found and her assassin would come calling. And so, with no other options, she left.
Copperhead had suggested going to the Sandwings to pay for protection. It was a sound idea as they were known to do that, but if they received a larger payment for her head…
Let's just say that their loyalty was to the highest bidder.
Going to them held no guarantee for her prolonged survival. The Icewings wouldn't let her in since she was no longer royalty, and so not a diplomat. The Mudwings and Seawings were enemies to the Rainwings, so there would be no safe asylum amongst them. The Nightwings had disappeared. A pity, really, if she had shown up and bartered Darkstalker's location for her safety, they probably would have agreed. The Skywings might be her only chance.
Anaconda had been trying to secure an alliance with them since the massacre—the enemy of my enemy, after all. So far she had had no success with a formal treaty, but the two tribes were known to cooperate with each other. Perhaps, if she stayed out of her mother's way for a while, she would be safe there.
So, that's where she was headed as of now. Unfortunately, she couldn't take the direct approach to Queen Carmine's palace, as that would take her over Mudwing territory. However, despite what the official tribal borders were, everyone knew that the Skywings owned the mountains. If she went west to the mountain range there and followed it north, she would undoubtedly run into a Skywing patrol that she could then barter safe passage to the palace with.
It had been three days since her exodus from the Rainforest and she was now near the midpoint of the Claws of the Clouds mountain range when she saw the first Skywing patrol. The were flying south as she was heading north. Once they saw her, they changed to an intercept trajectory.
They seemed ready for a fight, but once they saw she was a Rainwing, the tension lessened, albeit slightly. She remained hovering in place as they surrounded her, weapons visible but not at-the-ready. The scout captain hovered before her and addressed her with a business-like, no-nonsense voice. "Who are you, and what is your purpose here?"
"My name is Cobra," she began and recognition flashed in the captain's eyes.
"Queen Anaconda's daughter?" he asked.
She nodded and continued, holding up a claw to regain his attention. "My mother wants me dead, but I don't know why. She sent an assassin to kill me which is why I left the Rainforest. I was hoping to find asylum in the Sky Kingdom."
The captain looked deep in thought before motioning down to the ground, "Why don't we continue this conversation on the ground? We can talk over some food." Her stomach growled at the mention of food, and she nodded at his suggestion, embarrassed.
They landed on a small mountain plateau, and they captain ordered four of his nine dragons to go hunt for food. They split up, two and two, and went in opposite directions to better search. Once that was done, he turned to her. "Do you happen to know the name of your assassin? I might know of him."
She looked around the camp and noticed that the others were trying to appear occupied, but they were waiting to hear her answer, too. She shook her head, "I have no doubt that you know of him, but…" She trailed off before lowering her voice, "I don't want to cause a panic."
Needless to say, the captain was as intrigued at her statement as he was suspicious by her refusal to answer. "Well, that complicates things," he said, after a moment. "I'm sorry to say, but I can't bring you with us if you don't tell me. Understand, if you are the target of an assassin, I am putting myself and my dragons at risk to bring you to the palace. If he or she decides to attack you while we are in transit, I would like to know who they are to better prepare for a possible attack."
Cobra looked at him for a long moment. He spoke the truth, and despite her better judgement, she decided to tell him. "You couldn't prepare for him even if you tried," she replied with a hint of sadness.
He smiled, "Don't underestimate us. We may be simple scouts, but all Skywings are fierce fighters." The other scouts in the group cheered in agreement at his statement.
She smiled back at him, "Of that I have no doubt, but…" Her smile fell. "That doesn't mean anything to Darkstalker."
The captain's eyes widened with fear, and the other dragons began panicking, as well, but he shook his head and called the others into order. "The last we heard was that The Darkstalker had disappeared along with the rest of the Nightwings. Do you know something we don't?"
She nodded, "My mother found him with three other dragons on an island south of the Rainforest. I didn't really pay attention to their names, but two were Seawings. The fourth was a female Nightwing that he seemed rather close to."
"Hmm," he looked down in thought. "Were the Seawings male and female?" She nodded. "Did the male have a spiral pattern on his wings while the female was almost a purple color?"
She nodded in surprise, "How do you know all that?"
He turned to two of his dragons, "Go find the others. Tell them we are leaving now." The two dragons bowed their heads and placed their right fist over their heart in a salute. "Prince Fathom and Indigo have been missing since the disappearance of the Nightwings and Darkstalker," he told her. "Come on, we best get you to Queen Carmine as soon as possible."
AN: What did you think? Is it starting to get interesting? We'll see more of Cobra later on, but it's back to the rainforest next chapter. I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review at your own discretion (or if you're feeling generous).
Until Next Time
AdmiralCole22
