A Brighter Future Ahead
AN: I have some BIG news before I get into the chapter. I am currently editing and, in some cases, revising the entirety of Dragons Change. So far, I've done through chapter 11, but I just wanted to inform everybody that a lot of stuff is going to be rewritten, too. I've already rewritten an entire scene from chapters 3, 4, and 11, and I've adjusted other scenes from chapters 5 and 6. In my opinion, it reads a lot better, and each chapter has a notice at the top saying just how different the chapter is compared to how it used to be. Going forward, most, if not all, of the interactions between Moon and Winter are going to be completely changed, so there's going to be a decent amount of rewriting going on. The story is going to remain the same, though, so don't worry about it becoming a completely new story.
Anyways, now that that's over with, this chapter is the first one from Trench's POV. I'm going to say right now that I didn't really like it, but it's still getting posted because I didn't have any other ideas for it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. My OCs Trench and Cobra belong to me.
Trench:
The Commander had enough on his mind without that annoying Rainwing bugging him continuously. He had to get a reception for the Icewing representative together in less than a day, but his 'charge' wouldn't shut up. Finally, he couldn't take any more of her inane babbling, so he ordered two guards to escort her back to her room.
Next, he found one of Lagoon's old party planners and ordered him to prepare a reception for their incoming Icewing guest. He was sure Pearl would make an appearance at some point during the talks, but she had made it clear that he was in charge of negotiating with the Icewing representative. And he was a bit nervous about that, honestly. He'd been in charge of other negotiations, too, but he always hated having to deal with Icewings. They had less of a sense of humor than even he did, and they would take insult at the slightest things.
That, and the last peace-talks were a bit…messy.
He didn't know which was worse: that blithering idiot of a Rainwing or a no-nonsense, stuck-up Icewing. Probably that Rainwing…At least the Icewing will gone a day or two after he arrives. But, in any case, he wouldn't have to worry about either of them until tomorrow as he had the rest of the day to himself.
He decided to spend his free time in his private suite. It was located within the Palace itself, and it was in the same wing as the royal quarters—just one level down. Back when Lagoon was still running things, he hadn't been the top officer in the Seawing army—actually, he wasn't even close. When Pearl took over and started replacing her mother's council with her own, she had chosen him for her military advisor. Within a year, she named him the Commander of the entire Seawing military.
And dare he say, he liked his position.
He still remembered what she said when she gave him his quarters. 'To keep you close in case I need you,' is what she claimed. And it would make sense…if he weren't the only one of her advisors to be given a special room directly below the Queen's.
So, yeah…Pearl liked him a bit more than just as an advisor. He didn't mind it, though. He liked and respected her. She may be young still, but he could tell she would make a fine Queen one day. He hadn't gone through advanced combat and tactical training expecting to have a chance at being the King, but he wasn't going to complain. He could think of much worse fates.
Finally making it to his room, he went inside and sat at his desk. He had a few reports to go through, but the only one of note was from the Mudwing Commander. It seemed that they were preparing their entire force for the assault on the rainforest—just as Trench had asked them to.
He had been keeping both the Skywings and the Rainwings distracted with raids on their borders to keep their attention away from the Mudwings. Apparently, it was working because the report said that there was a garrison of a mere three hundred Rainwings at the enemy camp. By all accounts, the assault should be a simple matter.
The mention of a single Nightwing at the enemy camp worried him, though. He hadn't expected Anaconda to send out her ace so soon in the game. But the more he thought about it, the wider his smirk became. The Rainwings were accomplished spies, but their military might wasn't quite as awe-inspiring. There was a sizable force of Rainwings currently engaged with his Seawings on the eastern coast, yet there were only three hundred at their northern camp.
He laughed incredulously as he finally figured it out, "She doesn't have any more troops!" She sent up Darkstalker because there was no one else for her to send!
He grabbed his map of Pyrrhia that he had been using to plan the war with and laid it out in front of him. On it, he had labeled estimated number of troops for each Kingdom and where they were known to be deployed. Currently, he had just under five thousand Seawings assaulting the eastern coastline. He estimated that there were around seven thousand or so Rainwing defenders fighting back. Another thousand of his troops were raiding along the Sky Kingdom, but he also had about four thousand troops in reserve.
He drummed his claws on his desk and frowned. Seven thousand seems too small, though. Perhaps she actually does have another force in reserve… But even if she did, I doubt it would be enough to stall the Mudwing advance. His frown deepened. She couldn't have sent Darkstalker to fight off an entire army on his own…right?
He looked up to rest his eyes for a minute and noticed that the sun had already set. He huffed. I'll revisit this again later. With nothing else to do for tonight, he laid down and went to sleep.
When he woke, he immediately set to work. And by that, it meant he walked down to the banquet hall—which Pearl had graciously lent to him for the meeting—to make sure everything was set up properly. He could smell cooking coming from the kitchens, and the decorations seemed to be in place. It all seemed to be a bit much to him, honestly, but Icewings did love their formalities.
Speaking of which, their representative should be here within the next few hours. Just to make sure he wasn't needed, he decided to stay here to supervise. A few hours later, he noticed Pearl walk in looking…more than a little anxious. "Something wrong, Your Highness?" he asked.
She looked around the room as if it were sorely lacking before turning to him. "The sentries have reported that the Icewings are about an hour away," she said.
He furrowed his eye ridge in confusion at something she said. "Icewings?" She nodded. "I thought there was only going to be one?"
She shook her head. "There's seven of them…but that's not the worst part." He turned to her, his attention now fully on her. She was worried about something, that's for sure. "Queen Diamond herself is at their head."
Trench let out a slow, heavy exhale. Things were about to get a lot more interesting.
AN: So Queen Diamond makes her appearance. I think Pearl's about to realize she's a bit in over her head, but I guess we'll see...
Until Next Time
AdmiralCole22