Please read this
Okay, this story is the (sort of) prequel to The Darkest Hours. If you are reading this,then i suggest you read that one as well. They don't rely on each other to make sense, but they do sort of connect.
Unlike TDH, this story is not prewritten. I have been working on it, but due to real life, progress is slow. I decided to post this chapterto;
A: show im not dead, and that i haven't abandoned this idea
B:get a little feedback on the idea
C: get some motivation. If there are people waiting on the next chapter, then that will help me want to write.
If you haven't read The Darkest Hours, then please do. And leave a review, too, i still read them. All the feedback helps me be a better writer.
This chapter may seem a little jumpy, let me know what you think i may need to fix.
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It was mid-summer, early evening in the sky kingdom. The sun was beginning to set, starting to turn hazy orange as it slowly sunk toward the horizon. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and two of the moons could be faintly seen high overhead.
The weather was hot too, which was not the normal climate for the sky kingdom. Usually at this altitude, the temperature stayed a little cooler in the summers, but that was normally because of the wind. This year, however, the wind just wasn't blowing like it normally did.
Fortunately, the heat was easy to hide from. A relaxing flight was all it took to cool a dragon down, and shadows of rocky cliffs and personal caves always stayed comfortably chilled throughout the day.
The sky palace on the other hand, was a whole different story. The massive structure had many open windows and doorways, and enough gold had been inlaid in the marble that almost every ray of light was reflected in a gleaming beam of focused heat.
Ceris had to squint as she walked down a corridor, the gold and precious stones set into the marble left glaring light spots in her vision. The light was always worse at this time of day, when the sun was angled to perfectly shine into the palace from a more horizontal angle.
When she finally arrived at a stairway, she sighed in relief as she left the brighter outside corridors, taking a moment to allow her eyes to adjust. She trotted down the steps, two at a time, tracing her wing along one of the walls as she went. She was on her way to the royal cellars, to retrieve wine for a royal dinner. Apparently, Queen Scarlet was throwing an elaborate banquet tonight, something to do with the arrival of burn, and some very high ranking generals. All around her, dragons were hustling to finish their tasks, fetching supplies, doing some minor decorating, and cleaning the already spotless corridors of the spectacular castle. Most of the dragons were just like her, common workers, or gophers, as they were called. They were hurrying to finish their tasks, before the night shift came in to take their place.
At the bottom of the stairs was a large room, a junction of four different corridors and the starway. She trotted across the room, to where the stairs resumed, and continued her descent.
There were three main floors in the sky palace, besides the towers and extra corridors above them. Most of the activity took place on the top two floors, where natural light could illuminate the whole area. But the first level was mostly underground, built into the mountainside.
Ceris had to slow down in her descent as the light rapidly diminished. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the much dimmer torch and firelight. She stopped for a second as her wing brushed over the seam in the wall, where the marble ended and the granite began.
This level was completely undecorated, the walls were hewn from rough grey stone, and never smoothened. There was no real sunlight, aside from over by the entrance, which was out of sight from where she was.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned right and trotted towards the cellars.
There was a lot more open space down here, making it easier to move things in and out.
There were also not as many dragons down here, although there was still a decent amount of activity.
This floor was used for storage. Everything was stored down here. It was home to the cellars, armory, pantries, and royal treasuries. There was also a large forgery, and dungeons.
As she passed the dungeons, she waved at the dragon standing guard at the entrance. It was her uncle, corery, a somewhat unhappy skywing who didn't necessarily take pride in his job. It didn't really matter how seriously he took his job, the dungeons were mostly empty anyway. Most of scarlets prisoners were trapped on those stone pillars, out by the arena.
Corey gave a half hearted wave, and went back to leaning on his spear. He looked tired, and bored stiff.
Ceris continued until she arrived at the entrance to the wine cellars. The entrance was a wide doorway, with two thick wooden doors protected by two guards to keep away anyone who may have wanted to get their fix. Which was silly, in her opinion. Nobody would be stupid enough to steal wine from queen scarlet, of all dragons.
As she approached, one of the guards stepped forward and motioned for her to stop.
"What do you want?" he asked, in a bored, monotone voice.
"I need to pick up some wine." she said. She reached into her standard issue satchel, which always hung around her shoulders when she was at work, and drew out a piece of parchment. She handed it to the guard, who quickly scanned over what was written on the paper. Then he looked up at her.
"Got a class three ID?" he asked.
Ceris nodded, and held up her talon. On her forearm was a leather bracelet, which held a large brass card with her name and identification number stamped into it. The card also showed her rank, officially as a class three messenger.
Messengers, or go-fers as they were called, were just basic workers around the castle. They cleaned, moved things, and did other manual tasks that were necessary for maintaining the castle and assisting the upper class of dragons who lived and worked there. But, only class three messengers were allowed to do things like handle food, and deliver important messages. In order to become a class three messenger, a dragon had to work as a messenger for several years, and have a clean record.
It wasn't any real accomplishment, and the position came with no extra benefits. But, ceris appreciated the privilege she had to do other chores besides dishes.
The guard looked over her card, and glanced at the parchment in his talons again. Then, he walked over to the door and banged on one of the big iron hinges with his spear.
"Hey! Cumulus!" he yelled, "we need a crate of number sevens."
Ceris sat back on her haunches and waited as another skywing came to the entrance, took the parchment from the guard and read it for himself. This was something that could annoy her, if she thought about it. Why couldn't they just look at the paper, and give her what the chef had ordered? Did they really need to triple check everything? The longer they took, the longer it took before she could go home. But, everyone in the castle was always very cautious. If they messed something up, it could mean the end of their jobs, or worse. Queen scarlet was far from forgiving, and often enjoyed an excuse to torment dragons for her amusement.
Despite being a class three messenger, ceris was not allowed inside of the cellars. She had to wait while the cellar keepers retrieved the specific wooden crate of wine, and recorded on another piece of paper what had been taken, at what time, and by who. The cellar keeper read her ID card twice before he finally handed her the crate.
"Be careful," he said, "there's six bottles in there, and they can't handle being jostled."
Ceris nodded, impatient to get on her way. This was her final task of the day, and she was more than ready to go home.
The crate was narrow, and had rope handles. She had to carry it with one talon, which left her walking somewhat awkwardly on the other three. She wished she could just fly back to the kitchens, but there wasn't nearly enough room for her to spread her wings and take off. Besides, if she did that, she could very easily destroy her fragile cargo if she tried to fly around corners and avoid other dragons. And a mistake like that could have some very ugly consequences.
As she hobbled back the way she came, watching the crate hanging from her talon, ceris suddenly became aware of a commotion up ahead.
She heard shouting and roaring, and crashing chains. It almost sounded like a whole bunch of dragons had gotten into a fight.
As she rounded the corner by the dungeon entrance, she found her way blocked by a small crowd of dragons.
Several other workers, like her, were standing back and watching as eight soldiers were dragging an irate seawing towards the prison.
The seawing was a deep bluish green, female, and by a rough guess, maybe in her early twenties. She was fighting against two soldiers who were pulling on the chains attached to a harness around her shoulders, evidently trying to reach one of the soldiers who was walking away from the group.
"Give him back!" the seawing screamed, "give him back to me!"
"Shut up and keep moving." snarled one of the soldiers, "you're blocking the hallway."
"No!" the seawing shouted, "give me my son!"
Cerises eyes went from the seawing to the soldier who was pushing his way through the crowd in the opposite direction. In his arms was a tiny green seawing, who couldn't have been more than six months old. The little dragonet was crying and screaming for his mother, trying to squirm out of his captors talons. But the soldier held the little dragon tight, and ignored the yelling all around him. He disappeared through the crowd, never glancing back at the scene he had just left behind.
The seawing mother roared and tried to lunge towards the crowd, attempting to follow that soldier. Another skywing pushed her back, and then used his spear shaft to knock her legs out from under her. The seawing collapsed, and before she could rise again, the soldiers grabbed the chains and drug her across the floor and into the dungeons.
Ceris watched them go, and noticed her uncle Corey stepping in behind them. He swung the iron barred door shut as the last soldier disappeared through the entrance.
The shouting got quieter as the seawing was drug farther into the dungeons, her voice fading into echos off the stone walls.
All around her, the other skywings talked among themselves about what had just happened as they began to go about their duties once more.
Ceris couldn't help but shiver at what she had just witnessed. She was disturbed to see the seawing mother forcibly separated from her son, and the look on the little dragonets face was enough to shake her to her core.
Ceris shook herself as if she had just climbed out of a lake, trying to push aside her thoughts. She picked up the wine again, and began to trot towards the stairs, attempting to focus on other things.
The sun had gone down, and the darkness of night was rapidly filling the mountains. Ceris trotted down a stony path that ran along a cliff face. She was carrying a bundle of fish meat, wrapped in a brown waxy paper. After she had delivered the wine to the palace kitchens, she had hung up her satchel and left the palace, winging down to the market to buy some meat for supper.
Ceris lived in a small cave with her father, a skywing named shale. He worked in the big palace forgery, building weapons, armor and tools. Shale always got home later than she did, and so it was normal that she would prepare something to eat, every night. Normally, this meant that she would go to the market, and buy whatever was the cheapest. Most of the time, that meant living off of mountain goats or wild pork. Food was a little hard to come by in this heavily populated section of the mountains, and it certainly didn't help that a lot of it was being sent abroad to feed the skywing armies at the various fronts.
Ceris had decided to change things up a bit. This time around, she had seen a new kind of fish being advertised, and despite the extra cost, she had decided to try it.
She arrived in front of a door in the cliff face. It was a stout wooden door, set on large iron hinges that were driven into the stone. Her father had made it when he had first bought the cave. Well, bought wasn't quite the right word. It was more like he had purchased the privilege to live there, as long as he paid the taxes on the place, and providing that somebody who had more favor with the queen didn't decide to kick them out.
Shale had built the door when he had first moved in. the old one had been so flimsy, as he had said, a dragonet could walk right through and rob them blind. Although, it wasn't like they had anything of true value. Really, the only thing worth stealing was a table, and probably the door itself.
Ceris drew a broad, simple key from the bracelet holding her ID card, and unlocked the door. She went in, and swung it shut behind her.
The moment the door closed the cave became instantly dark. But, as she had done a thousand times before, ceris plucked the torch hanging on the wall and lit it with a small puff of flame.
The glow of the torch illuminated a hallway, which went straight for a little ways before ending in a tiny living area.
On the left of the halfway, just before the living area, was an opening, a doorway to cerises room. On the right side, only two dragon lengths from the door, was another opening, which was the entrance to the kitchen, the largest room in the cave.
To say that the tiny home was snug was a bit of an understatement. Claustrophobic was much more appropriate. But, ceris and her father had gotten used to living in the tiny cave. In fact, ceris was thankful that her father had given her her own room. Most of the time he slept in the kitchen, beside the table.
Ceris stepped into the kitchen, and lit the torch on the wall.
The firelight lit up the area, illuminating a natural rock shelf that acted as a counter, a table big enough for two dragons, and a small draw well, which was in the corner farthest from the door.
The draw well was the only advantage of this little cave. Most other skywings lived without a source of water, and had to make trips to a stream or a community well.
But ceris had access to an underground stream that always stayed refreshingly cold in the summer, and never froze in the winter.
Ceris dropped the fish on the table, grabbed a large wooden bowl from the small collection of dishes, and unwrapped the meat. The vender had included two smaller parchment bags filled with different spices, and had instructed her to mix them into the fish before eating it. Ceris had no idea what the stuff in the two little bags was, but the smell made her mouth water as she dumped them into the bowl. She added the fish, and began kneading the mixture, making sure to properly coat the meat. She had her suspicions, of course, that the spices were meant to cover any taste that indicated the fish was going bad. It was difficult to move raw meat for long distances without having it spoil. The best way to keep it fresh, without salting or smoking it, was to ship live animals, or to follow a river. There was no way to freeze the meat in the summer, so to keep it cool, the dragons transporting it would carry the meat in a steel box. When they stopped for a meal, or to rest for the night, they would sink the box in the river and retrieve it when they began flying again.
Of course, that meant the job of transporting meat was a very tiring one. It was also a little dangerous. If any bandits saw a group of two or four skywings camping by a river, they knew there was a literal box of goodies nearby.
Ceris looked up as she heard the door open. She couldn't see the entrance from where she was, but she knew who had just come through it.
"Hey dad," she said, looking back down at her work, "how was your day?"
Her father strolled through the kitchen entrance and came up beside her. He leaned over her shoulder to look at the food in her talons.
"By the look of what you're making there, i'd say it's getting better." he said. "What is that stuff? It looks good."
"It's some kind of fish, from the ocean. Apparently they took over a seawing base, and now we can buy seafood."
"Really?" asked her father, "it wasn't too expensive, was it?"
Ceris shrugged.
"A little. But I wanted to try something different. You can't live on mountain goat alone, you know."
Her father shrugged, stepping away from the table. He crossed the room and started turning the well crank.
"Well, you can, but it isn't pleasant." he said, "although it sure beats the heck outta scavenger meat, that's for sure."
"I've never eaten scavenger before." said ceris. She divided the amount from the first bowl to a second, and sprinkled each with some salt.
"Count yourself lucky." said shale, "scavengers don't have very much on them, and they are almost too much trouble to deal with. They're the only animal that will stab you with little spears, and with the amount of noise they make, it's almost better to just go hungry."
He returned to the table with two tin cups of water, setting one in front of ceris as she pushed one of the bowls in his direction. "On the bright side," he chuckled, "their little spears make an excellent toothpick when you're done. I bet if I replicated those things, I could sell a million of 'em."
"Well, then why don't you?" asked ceris, taking an experimental bite of the fish. It tasted very, well, fishy, and definitely didn't need any more salt.
"Oh, you know how it is." sighed shale. "I have to make weapons and tools, and if i take any material, even scrap, scarlet would yank my arms off."
Ceris shrugged.
"Pity. we could use a little extra money. Maybe we could buy some new living quarters, sell this place to uncle corey."
Shale snorted.
"Yeah, right. My brother can barely buy food for himself, let alone maintain a home. I think he's better off as he is, sleeping outside all summer."
"But what about the winter?" asked ceris, "don't you think it would be nice to not have to deal with him living in the kitchen? That alone would be well worth the money to me."
Shale shook his head.
"Yeah, yeah, i know. But I can't afford that, I barely scraped up enough to get this place."
"Well, i could help. I don't make very much but-"
"No, no, I'm not going to use up all of your money too." said shale, "if anything, i need to look into helping you get a place of your own."
Ceris rolled her eyes.
"Dad, i don't want to have my own place. Im only thirteen, you know."
Shale nodded.
"Yeah, i know. Give it three years, you'll be itching to move out and get on with life. Unless you find a mate with his own quarters, you're gonna need a place to live."
Ceris smirked.
"And when that happens i'll take you with me, because you won't have enough money left to pay taxes on this place."
Shale shook his head.
"I'd make do. I've always gotten by, I doubt that would be any different."
"Right. And by make do, we mean you join uncle Corey out in the streets."
Shale groaned and kneaded his forehead.
"Ugh, that's enough to give me nightmares. I can barely take ten seconds of his whining, let alone living like he does. How on phyria did he ever become a prison guard?"
Ceris took another bite of her fish.
"Well," she said, through her mouth full, "it's not like it requires any skill. Basically, you just stand there with a spear, and try to stay awake. Which, he does only half the time. I frequently catch him sleeping when i bring him his meals."
Shale shook his head.
"It's a wonder he hasn't been executed yet."
Ceris nodded. They ate in silence for several minutes. Then she remembered the events from earlier.
"You know, something weird happened today." she said, causing shale to look back up at her, "scarlet got some new prisoners today."
"Anyone we know?" asked shale. Ceris shook her head.
"No. it was a couple of seawings, I think it was a mother and her son, the guards separated them and threw her in the dungeon. I don't know where they took the dragonet."
Shale gave a weary sigh.
"Oh poor things," he said, "at least they're not in that wicked arena. Although, that doesn't necessarily mean they are any better off."
"What do you think scarlets up too?" she asked, "i don't see what she could want with a tiny little dragonet."
"Leverage." said shale, "she's gonna use that poor dragonet against his mother. That's exactly what she did to your mother."
Ceris's talons faltered as she was reaching for her cup.
"What?" she asked, "Scarlet did what to mom?"
Shale shook his head, looking away from her, at the wall. Obviously, he was thinking about things of the past. By the look on his face, they weren't pleasant memories.
"You were only two weeks old." he said, "your mother was accused of treason, or whatever scarlet felt like charging her for. I don't know if it was true, but scarlet threatened to kill both of us in front of her if she didn't confess."
Ceris inhaled. She didn't want to hear what happened next, even though she already knew how the story ended. "Well, as we know, she could never stand to see that. She confessed, and scarlet killed her. And she almost killed you and me as well, but fortunately, by some miracle, I convinced her to spare us." he sighed. "At that point, I didn't really care if she killed me. I had already been on thin ice, and when she killed your mother, i would have just let her kill me too, except that i wanted to protect you." he shrugged, gesturing to the little cave around them. "So here we are."
Ceris leaned back.
She had known that her mother had died by scarlets talon, but shale had never gone into the specifics of what had happened that day. He hadn't meant to hide anything, it was just that there had never been any need to. It made her feel terrible for her father.
And what disturbed her the most, was that the same thing was going to happen all over again. Earlier that day, when the seawings had been drug into the palace, ceris had only shook her head in pity for the unfortunate dragons, just another two of many who had met similar fates at the talons of scarlet. She had grown calaused to that sort of thing, terrible things happened to dragons in the sky kingdom every day. The best way to handle that knowledge was to not think about it.
But now she was thinking about it. And it bothered her. No, it disturbed her. She shook her head, trying to push the thoughts aside.
She quickly finished her food, then stood and gathered the few dishes, trying to busy herself with the little task.
Shale didn't move, or say anything. He continued to stare at the wall, lost in thoughts of other times.
The subject had effectively ended their short conversation. They said nothing more to each other that night.
Thank you blackberryavar for helping me out with this.