Part X: 25 AWSS

For his efforts in retaking Sleet, Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general in the Icewing Army. Meanwhile in the capital, more and more changes were happening to the government. Divides between the moderates and radicals, already heightened by the execution of the queen, reached their breaking point. Soon after the recapture of Sleet, an attempted coup by the moderates ended in failure. Several moderate Assembly members were arrested and imprisoned, and the radicals soon held total power. Leading the Icewing government was the newly formed Committee of National Safety, headed by the radicals' leader Blizzard. This committee was focused on stopping threats from inside the Icewing Republic, as it worried that royalists may be scheming to seize power. The government was paranoid that the country was full of traitors, and the punishment for treason was death…

Pine was only slightly worried as he sat in the courtroom, waiting for the ruling from the tribunal. His "offense" was nothing too serious—he had had a few too many drinks a few nights ago and made a few statements in public that weren't very positive towards the current government—but he knew that other Icewings had been executed for similar occurrences. Still, he had a friend in the Assembly who knew the tribunal judge and had assured him that he would have him excused.

Looking at the faces of the other dragons around him in the courtroom, Pine knew that he was lucky to have such connections. The Committee of National Safety wasn't tolerating any dissention from any dragons, and pretty much anyone who they perceived as being anti-revolution they had executed. He couldn't help but wonder just how many of the other dragons in this room committed even lesser things than he did…and probably at least half of them were going to be headed to the headslasher. He had heard more than one story about how one dragon had a personal grudge against another and dealt with it by reporting their enemy to the Revolutionary Tribunal, resulting in the other dragon being executed for something they (probably) didn't even do.

The situation was worrying…very worrying. Pretty much every Icewing in the capital had to watch exactly what they said and to who, or they risked their necks. Most of the dragons lived in near constant fear nowadays, except for the soldiers or the radical leadership. It seemed to Pine that the current Assembly had become much more concerned about silencing dissent than they were about actually helping the dragons they were supposed to serve. He had never really liked the monarchy—Glacier had been a decent enough queen, while Snowfall was worthless—but at least ordinary dragons weren't being tried and executed on a daily basis like they were today.

His attention shifted from his musings to the judge, a rather large and bluer-than-average female, who was entering the room after deliberation. Due to the number of dragons accused of "crimes against liberty" recently, the accused were all brought to trial at once, given a few minutes of defense per dragon after charges were read, and then the next one would go. The judge then retired to review the cases before returning to pass judgment, going right down the list of those tried. It didn't seem to give many dragons a fighting chance to defend themselves and prove their innocence, but that didn't really seem to matter; the tribunal tended to simply assume that all dragons accused were guilty.

The judge walked up to and stood next to a podium in the front and center of the room. Rather unceremoniously, she pulled out a scroll and started to read. Going alphabetically, she gave the names of the dragons, followed by their guilt or innocence and their punishment. Several were found innocent, a few received warnings, but the majority seemed to be found guilty. Of those who were, most were sentenced to execution, but a few were to be exiled. Pine had only heard of these rulings, he hadn't ever attended a session of the tribunal even though they were public, and he was appalled by how dragons seemed to be sentenced to death so wantonly.

After what seemed like forever (although it was likely only a minute or two), Pine's name was read. He was extremely relieved to hear that he would only receive a warning; it seemed as though his friend had come through for him. The ruling haven been given, he was free to leave even as other names were still being read. Needless to say, he left rather quickly.

He stepped out of the courthouse and into the snow outside. It was a rather warm day in the Ice Capital, but he didn't mind one bit as he began his walk home. He was just happy to be free.

His newly found mirth was crushed, however, as he reached the city square. Once the center of trade and grace in the capital, the square had become the place where all of the public executions were held. Icewings used to line the streets and cheer as traitors' lives were ended, especially on the day the queen was executed here, but now only a few watched on as the executioner did his or her job. Today there weren't too many dragons slated to be killed, but those who were about to meet their fate were standing shackled in a line next to the headslasher. Due to the small number of bodies lying around, Pine could see that the executions had only recently begun, and he looked in the line of doomed dragons to see if there was anyone he knew who was about to die. He was relieved to see that there wasn't.

He closed his eyes and turned his head away as the blade fell, ending the life of another unfortunate Icewing. He looked back to see the body being removed and the basket that held the now-severed head be replaced. Even though the headslasher had a trough that was supposed to catch the blood once the head was off, the snow around the machine was clearly stained with it.

While just a minute ago he was mirthful, he was now filled with sorrow.

Are these the rights of dragons? He though, Is this the liberty and freedom we Icewings have fought and killed for? Have we killed a monarch just to kill each other?

He let out a sigh, then looked back at the executions. He had by now reached the other end of the square, where he could leave this sight behind, but for some reason he couldn't take his eyes off of it. Maybe it was because he was so close to sharing these dragons' fate, maybe he wasn't thinking clearly because of his sudden sorrow, but he couldn't help but look on at some of their final moments.

As he looked on, however, another dragon caught his eye. This dragon stood in the square unbound by the shackles that held the condemned, and appeared to be watching the executions intently—not with grief like Pine but rather…satisfaction?

The other dragon looked familiar, and it only took Pine a moment to identify him: it was Blizzard—the unofficial leader of the Committee of National Safety himself. He stood there watching dragons die without a hint of sorrow or remorse. It looked to Pine like Blizzard even enjoyed the killings. Of course, it was Blizzard who had pushed so hard for these executions to be so numerous and public; the government had determined not too long ago that fear would become "the order of the day" in order to "protect and serve the loyal majority". Pine had previously been supportive of Blizzard, back when the revolution was about actually helping the Icewings and not killing them, but now he wished that his leader would meet the same fate as those that he was watching right now.

Pine turned his attention away from Blizzard and back to the prisoners. He felt a desire to help them, to free them and let walk free like he was. He wished that he was strong enough to overcome the soldiers that guarded them, strong enough to actually make change. He wished that he could do something.

He couldn't, though.

Before the blade fell once more, he finally turned away and resumed walking home.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire