A Brighter Future Ahead
I didn't plan for this to take this long, but I was working on one of my other stories and just kept putting it off because of it. I really do want to finish this story sooner rather than later, though, because I'm really excited for my Glory story. Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. My OCs Trench and Cobra belong to me.
Darkstalker:
He sat there staring at the door until he no longer heard the sound of Fathom's clawsteps echoing from down the hall. Only then did he finally open the door as quietly as he could. He could sense two dragons in the room, but he couldn't identify them since they were asleep. Trench was no doubt one of them, but he had no idea who the second dragon could be.
Which is why he was on guard.
He may be a mind-reading, future-seeing animus with a massively powerful weapon floating around in the nether waiting for him to summon it, but he wasn't cocky. Every dragon was a potential threat until proven otherwise.
As he stepped into the room, he took a moment to observe the décor. It was…lavish. It wasn't the kind of room he expected a normal military leader would have, yet it told him everything he needed to know about Trench. Everything from the expensive wooden furniture that was undoubtedly of Mudwing origin to the four-poster Skywing bed to the crystal Nightwing chandelier led him to believe that this commander was quite full of himself. Nothing in this room was cheap or even native to the Sea Kingdom. Trench appeared to like his luxuries.
All in all, this 'commander' was in it for the money and power and not any sense of duty or patriotism to his tribe. Darkstalker sneered to himself. It was dragons like this that made Pyrrhia a worse place.
Deciding he had wasted enough time, he crept closer to the bed. As he got closer, the stench of sex reached his nostrils, and he wrinkled his muzzle in disgust. Apparently the second dragon was a consort of some sort.
That theory, however, was immediately thrown out as he peaked through the thin curtains and saw a familiar face. He sent Fathom on a pointless errand, it seemed, since Cobra was right here.
And she was sleeping with the enemy.
He snarled at the sight of the Rainwing embracing the Seawing in her sleep. Here he was thinking she had been a prisoner this whole time when in reality she was actually aiding the enemy! Meaning she was just as guilty—if not more so—for Clearsight's death. Anaconda had once asked him to kill her daughter, and he had foolishly spared her life. Today he would correct that mistake.
With a brief thought, his dagger appeared in his waiting talons. Just before he stabbed the traitorous serpent in her wretched heart, he paused, a new idea forming. He glanced between the two intertwined dragons. More specifically, he focused on their faces—Trench's peaceful expression and Cobra's faint smirk.
His original idea had been simply to pound the information out of the Seawing—maybe using a spell or two to coax him into divulging—but this situation could play to his advantage. If these two cared for each other as much as they seemed to, maybe he could 'persuade' Trench to give him what he wanted by threatening Cobra. And if that didn't work, he always had his original idea to fall back on.
Getting into position next to Cobra, he struck. He yanked her off the bed by her horns, eliciting a scream from the surprised Rainwing, and then wrapped her in a headlock with one of his arms, the dagger coming to rest against her throat. She froze, giving a soft whimper as she felt the blade at her throat. Trench had bolted awake upon hearing the scream and was in a battle stance on the other side of the bed. Upon seeing what was happening and just who was responsible, the Seawing sat down and held up his claws in a calming gesture. "Darkstalker…don't hurt her," the Seawing pleaded.
"That depends on you," he growled back, though he actually had no intention of letting either of them leave this room alive. Of course, they didn't need to know that. "Who sent that Nightwing to kill Clearsight?"
Trench was silent, glancing down at the dagger in Darkstalker's claws. "I take it that means you didn't steal that dagger."
"Steal?" Darkstalker questioned.
Trench nodded. "That's right. It was stolen from the Palace. We never sent any Nightwing to kill Clearsight."
Darkstalker studied him for a moment, digging through his thoughts which were wide open, surprisingly enough. Though, that was probably so he would know Trench was telling the truth. From his thoughts, he learned that Diamond had nothing to do with the assassin, either. But that didn't make sense. The only other tribe that would send an assassin would be the Nightwings themselves, but Vigilance wouldn't kill Clearsight no matter what. She was too valuable to the Queen. Though, to be sure, he planned on asking her directly. "Where are the Nightwings hiding?"
Trench shook his head. "I don't know. Their Queen came by a few days before the Icewings arrived offering her help, but she never told us how to contact her. In fact, she threatened war with us if we killed Clearsight." Darkstalker narrowed his eyes at that. He could tell Trench was telling the truth, and Cobra was remembering the same thing, as well, so he had two witnesses to Vigilance's obsession with Clearsight. If she didn't send that assassin, who did? "Did you maybe consider that assassin's target wasn't originally Clearsight?" the Seawing asked. "If she was, they wouldn't have needed that dagger."
That was a good point, actually. Maybe he was the assassin's original target, but then they switched to Clearsight. The question is why? "You've been very helpful," he instead responded.
"You don't have to do this, Darkstalker. You let me go once before. I swear I won't cause any more trouble!" Cobra tried to beg for her life.
"I won't either," Trench swore. "I was blinded by my ambition before, but I'm through with all of this. You won't see either of us ever again, I swear."
"No…I won't," he replied before slicing Cobra's throat open. Trench watched the body of his lover drop lifelessly to the ground with wide eyes. He then closed his eyes and bowed his head in acceptance, not fighting back as Darkstalker took his life, too.
Darkstalker just stared emotionlessly at the two corpses. They deserved what they got. It was by their actions this war was started and Clearsight killed. But he wasn't done here yet. He still had two other dragons to kill before this night was through. He turned and headed to the door, though it opened before he got to it, revealing Fathom and another dragon…
AN: Hmm...I wonder who that other dragon could be? We'll find out in the next one in any event.
Until Next time
AdmiralCole22
