Part VII: 23 AWSS

At the same time as the Icewing Insurrection was occurring in the Ice Capital, the Skywing army was busy burrowing under the Icewall. The Duke of Burnswik was certain that the insurrection would mean nothing in the long run, and he began his long march to the capital through the snow to reinstate the queen. In addition, the Duke had the aid of several squadrons of Sandwings, as they joined the war against the Icewings. Seeing the approaching coalition army, a call went up throughout the Ice Capital and surrounding areas for a force to defend the new government.

The field of battle is a terrifying thing. Many dragons praise the glory and honor that come from fighting in a war, but while that fighting occurred, everything took second place to one's own survival. Just a few miles outside of the Ice Capital, the two armies clashed in a fight to determine rulership of a kingdom. The Icewings had the advantage of fighting on their own land, and they fought for it desperately.

Frozenheart slashed his claws through the neck of a skywing while simultaneously whipping his tail towards a foe below him. A screech of pain rang out as red blood sprayed on him from the wound he just inflicted. A second later, he felt the dragon's tail tear into his right hindleg as the Skywing lashed out in its fall from the sky. He could feel his own blood running from the wound, but he could tell that it was only a scratch and stayed flying. He only had a second's respite before another dragon bore down on him.

Of in the distance, he heard his commander shouting for them to push forewords as he grappled with a fierce looking Sandwing. His enemy's teeth snapped shut inches from his eye as Frozenheart swung his tail into the Sandwings, enabling him to keep the barb away from his body. They locked arms and their talons tore into each other as they began to fall from the sky, the joining of their tails and ununified flapping of their wings preventing them from staying airborne. They continued their fight as they fell, and Frozenheart felt his opponent's hind-talons dig into the same leg that had just been injured. Persevering through the pain, he had the presence of mind to flip over so that the Sandwing's body was below his, right as they slammed through the branches of a massive pine tree, searing several limbs off. The resistance of the tree did almost nothing to slow their decent, and they crashed into the snow below. Only Frozenheart emerged from the snowbank, limping and trailing both red and blue blood.

He shook the snow off himself and took stock of his situation as the battle continued to rage overhead. Gingerly, he placed weight on his right hindleg before letting out a hiss of pain; it was probably broken from the fall on top of the deep lacerations the Sandwing had given it. His wings, too, were in a poor shape. Branches and needles from the tree had torn all sorts of holes in his wing membranes and it hurt to stretch his right wing out more than halfway. He highly doubted his ability to fly, even just the short distance to the medical tents.

A rustling of trees and bushes not far away distracted him from his injuries, and he looked over to see a red skywing emerge and stand a short distance away. Frozenheart hissed at the other dragon, but the Skywing didn't retreat.

"Very impressive fall you had there," the red dragon, a male, said, "I saw the whole thing. Of course, having just fallen from the sky myself a few minutes ago certainly gave me more appreciation for your predicament."

Frozenscale said nothing, but he noticed that the Skywing looked about as bad as he did, if not worse. His left forearm was bleeding and kept off the ground, and one of the large red wings was limp and dragging behind him. His tail had evidence of being hit by a small amount of frostbreath, and a long but shallow cut rang half the length of it. Frozenscale figured that, if it came to it, he could probably kill this threat.

"Fox?" the Skywing said, confusing Frostscale until he realized that the other dragon was holding out his injured hand, offering some charred meat to him. Frostscale shook his head and the other dragon ate what must have once been a furry animal.

"I landed next to its den," the Skywing explained after he had swallowed. "Scared it half to death and it tore out of its hole. I let loose my fire on instinct and just about incinerated the thing."

Frozenscale sighed and looked at the Skywing. "Why haven't you attacked me?" he asked. It seemed like a logical question.

The Skywing gestured with his head to his arm and wing. "I figured I'm done with fighting for the day, and it looks like you are too. I thought that we might make an agreement: if the Skywings win, then you be my prisoner, and if the Icewing win, then I'll be yours. It seems like a better alternative to dying, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose so," Frozenheart answered. He didn't really like the idea of being a prisoner if the Icewings lost, but if they did then he would likely end up as one anyway. "Very well," he told the Skywing, "We won't kill each other."

"That's good," the Skywing said, "I wasn't looking forewords to dying today," He paused for a moment. "I doubt that you particularly care, but my name is Silverwind."

"I don't," he said, but then added, "I'm Frozenheart."

A weird sort of silence fell between them as neither really had anything to say. Only the sound of the battle overhead could be heard. Frozenheart never really expected to talk to his enemy at all, let alone make small talk.

"So…" Silverwind said, "How'd you end on the battlefield?"

Frozenheart let out a huff, "I was defending my country from invaders, such as yourself." He felt the need to add that last part. The Skywing didn't seem phased, and Frozenheart asked the question back to him.

"I'm a career soldier myself," Silverwind answered, "My father fought as a major under General Thundercloud in the War of Sandwing Succession, and I'm following in his wingbeats."

"Thundercloud, huh?" Frozenheart said, "I remember hearing about him. Fought in the east against the Seawings. He just about knocked Blister out of the war, didn't he?"

"Yeah, that's him." Siverwind let out a small sigh, "He 'died mysteriously' two weeks after driving the Seawing army all the way back into the sea. I personally think it was the Nightwings who killed him; they've admitted to interfering in the war to make it last longer. Anyway, without him in command, a seawing counterattack took the army by surprise. My father was captured and spend two years in a Seawing prison before getting released in a prisoner exchange, which only happened about twice throughout the whole war with Queen Scarlet in command."

"I heard a lot of horror stories about Scarlet," Frozenheart said, "Frankly, I'm a little surprised that your tribe didn't beat us to revolution."

"Scarlet was pretty bad," Silverwind admitted, "…although I was a just a young dragonet at the time. Ruby is a good queen, though, and I doubt many dragons would be willing to do what you Icewings have done." He paused to look as another dragon off in the distance fell from the sky. The battle had been gradually moving southeast so that they were no longer directly under the fighting. "At any rate, I don't particularly love or hate your abolition of your monarchy, but the other queens certainly hate it. I'm just a soldier going where he's told."

"A soldier who's unafraid of Icewings, it seems," Frozenheart probed, "You sure didn't seem too phased about approaching me. How'd you know that I wouldn't just attack you on sight."

"I didn't…well, not really," the red dragon said, "I know an Icewing who lives in the Sky Kingdom. He used to be a member of the Talons of Peace in the Sandwing War, and he now works as a fish catcher in the north. I've talked to him several times and he always seemed like an average dragon, so I figured that the rest of you couldn't be too much different. It was a calculated risk."

They both went back to staring at the battle in the distance. A few specks in the sky to the north began to grow larger, and Frozenheart could recognize them as Icewing reinforcements. At about the same time as he was able to be certain of that, he saw the dragons in battle separate and a large number begin to fly south.

"Looks like my tribe is retreating," Silverwind said with a little dismay, "Can't say I'm too surprised, though."

"Neither am I," Frozenheart said, even though he actually was a little, "Come on, the medical tents are a few miles north. I'll make sure you get patched up before you head to a prison. Remember, this was your idea."

Siverwind gave a grim smile. "Thanks."

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire