Cold earth crumbled beneath her talons, dirt and dust clinging to her underscales as she stalked patiently through the undergrowth. She tried to imagine she was home, practicing her hunting to impress her mother with a catch all her own for when she returned. It helped, marginally, but it was hard to picture herself as a confident predator when she currently felt like a startled gecko, traipsing unknowingly into the jaws of something much more intimidating.
The only thing pushing her forward was the tremble of anticipation through her wings, the thoughts, although distant, that whispered to her mind. They were too far to be understandable, but the occasional word would crack through, familiar syllables filling her with excitement.
It worked! It actually worked!
She had to remind herself to keep her calm, she still had yet to figure out why these dragons were here after all.
The scrollcase pressed against her underscales, a surprising source of cold comfort so close. She'd been in half a mind to leave it behind for this, but the idea of leaving it alone, where anyone could find it and take it made her sick to her scales.
Crawling forward slowly, she began to hear voices. She couldn't tell if they were arguing again, but they at the very least sounded displeased. The two females were exchanging sharp comments, pointed enough to make her second guess her decision to seek them out.
I can't let this enchantment go to waste, not at its cost. And those things I've seen in my visions... if I can prevent them I must.
She thought about the fire in the history cave, watching as Carnelian and Bigtail were dragged from the flames, smoking and dead.
I can't let dragons die because I was too scared to save them.
She could see them clearly now, three huddled forms hissing like agitated snakes.
"Watch your tongue," the older female hissed. It was so immediately startling to hear her speaking understandably it caught Moon completely off guard, "I'll send you right home with your father and do this myself if you don't shut your mouth."
The younger one, presumably her daughter, scowled, lashing her strong tail. "You can't do that! This mission is like, the whole point of me!"
"I very much can." The female drew herself up, large and imposing, "I am your commander, and you'll do as I tell you to."
It didn't take a mindreader to figure out intermediation wouldn't be effective in convincing this dragonet, but the older green dragon didn't seemed to notice.
The smaller one huffed, crossing her arms petulantly. She seemed to have been subdued for a while, before commenting, "I hate it here. The savanna is so creepy, I always feel like I'm being watched."
The quieter male spoke for this first time, neck twisting to gaze across the horizon, "I think that's just the effect of the hives. Did you expect them to be even half as big, Belladonna?"
"No." the larger one snarled, sizing up the distant structures with an expression of distinct distaste the dragonet hadn't quite been able to conjure, "Tree killers, we'll make them pay for every wasted log it took to build those eyesores."
Tree killers, what a horrible name. Who are they calling that? The dragons in the nests? Or hives, if that's what they're actually called.
"Or it could just be guards." The dragonet commented, eye ridge raised sceptically, "Maybe Wasp has already found us, and is waiting to see what we do."
"She wouldn't do that." Belladonna replied, not taking her eyes off the hive, "If she knew we were here we'd already be dead." She fixed her daughter with a hard stare, "And we'd be able to hear anyone coming anyway."
"Not if they were in the air." The younger one mumbled, but Moon was more immediately distracted by the rush of noise that spilled through her head. It wasn't... words exactly, but it felt close, the vague beginnings of feeling and communication.
What is that?
She was too frightened by these new dragons to attempt to move physically closer, but she found herself reaching out her awareness, her mind-reading latching onto anything it could find for the source of this new noise.
With her presence firmly routed in the dragonet's mind, Moon found herself distinctly aware of the whispers passing through it from all around them, hushed murmurs like grass in the wind.
Moon shifted her weight, and heard the sound from beneath her grow louder. It was still indistinct to her, but she thought she heard something like curiosity, or confusion muddling the whispers
Hm?
Without being entirely sure what she was doing, she raised and lowered her talon just slightly, pressing her palm against the rough plants below her. Sure enough interest and mild discontent bubbled up from the spot.
Surely not... Am I going insane, or am I really listening to grass right now?
Suddenly the dragonet's head snapped up, twisting to stare at the exact spot the Nightwing was hidden, her emotions a mirror of what Moon had been hearing.
Moon hastily withdrew herself from the green dragon's bristling mind, heart lurching into her throat as she poised herself to spring backwards should it be necessary.
The dragonet stood, glaring. "Who's there? Show yourself coward!"
The quiet male startled, raising himself cautiously and trying to follow his daughter's eye line.
The movement of the two captured the entirety of her attention, drawing her away from noticing Belladonna.
Several heartbeats passed, enough for Moon to wonder if she'd be able to slink away and come up with another plan when the older dragoness struck, charging forward and digging cold claws into the pack of her neck, throwing her forward into the open moonlight.
Moon stumbled, overbalanced, as she barely caught herself on sluggish talons just before her chin smacked into the ground. She stood there dumbly for a moment, waiting for her brain to process what just happened.
She worried the heartbeat hammering in her ears was dulling her hearing, until she realised the dragons around her had fallen completely silent. Somehow that was worse than the torrent of shouting and accusations she'd been expecting.
Fighting to steady her shallow breathing, she turned to face the dragons as well as she could, which was easier said than done given how spread out the three were.
Moon found herself looking directly at the dragonet, who's anger seemed to have deflated, at least temporarily, "Who-" she mumbled, but her mother spoke over her,
"WHAT IS THAT?"
The question was loud enough to make Moon flinch, ears flattening to her head to mitigate the noise.
Moon couldn't handle being yelled at, the combination of a thunderously loud voice and furious whirlwind of thoughts always made her want to run and hide somewhere.
Cold looks of disdain, social ostracisation, and insults whispered behind closed doors were much more the style of her tribe, and she could handle those. At least if everyone was avoiding her she wouldn't have to hear the nasty things they thought of her and her mother.
The three were looking at her, clearly waiting for a response, but no matter how she tried her mouth remained firmly clamped shut.
The dragonet's eyes hardened, seemingly having found a new reason to be angry, "Hey, she looks like Clearsight, doesn't she? Isn't that just how the old stories described her?"
Hearing that name, from this dragon, so far from where she'd first learned of the ancient Nightwing dragoness was almost enough to convince her she had, in fact, lost her mind.
Clearsight, she was his... girlfriend? Fiancée? Betrayer?
She was surprised by the guilt that last thought still managed to bring out in her.
Well, aren't I as well?
That still didn't answer how these dragons could know of her, but sure enough Belladonna was nodding slowly, tension etched through every muscle. "Yes. Who are you, creature? Why are you here?"
"Nobody!" Was the first answer Moon managed to claw from her petrified throat, though from the way the other dragons bristled it was obviously not a successful one, "I mean, I'm Moon, Moonwatcher, but Moon." Hearing their sceptical thoughts she raised her talons, palms out, "I'm harmless."
Rather unsurprisingly, the additional comment did nothing to alleviate the group's wariness of her. All it managed to call forth was a slight humourless chuckle from Belladonna, who stepped forward threateningly, "Why are you here, why were you spying on us?"
Moon worried her claws together, "I- I just wanted to know what you were doing here." That wasn't exactly untrue, but it sounded like a lie, even to her. She winced, unsure as to how she could make her story sound more believable without revealing her powers.
Belladonna opened her mouth to reply, but her daughter blurted something first: "Sounds like a Hivewing lie!"
"Sundew." the older dragoness flicked only her eyes to look at the dragonet, keeping her posture still firmly leaned towards Moon. "Quiet."
From what Moon had seen she expected a retort of some kind, but apparently with someone else to bear witness Sundew was much less willing to test her mother's authority.
"So, you wanted to know why we're here, in the savanna? You're not collecting that information for someone else?" At Moon's obviously confused expression she elaborated, "You don't happen to be working for Wasp, are you?"
Her voice wasn't nearly as angry as before, but from how low and tense it was, and the dangerous gleam in the dragoness' kiwi green eyes moon knew it was nothing but a mask.
"No," she almost whispered, trying to keep the tremble in her voice from mangling her words, "I- who is that? Is- is she a dragon from the hives?"
At that response Belladonna considered her for an anxiety inducing length of time, enough to make Moon want to say something just for the sake of breaking the silence.
"I should go..." she tried to move, to retreat back into the savanna, but her back talons seemed uninterested in moving at the moment.
She glanced down, confused, only to see the short grass below her had lengthened, grasping around her talons and twining together around her claws in tight knots.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you." With a wave of Belladonna's talon the grass ensnared her front claws, clasping with surprising ferocity between her scales. "You're not going anywhere until I figure out what I'm going to do with you."
She said it so casually, like a dragonet trying to organise their toy collection, that Moon almost forgot to think about the potentially deadly implications if Belladonna couldn't think of anything 'to do with her'.
That was, until Sundew mentioned it. "We should just kill her." Once again, a phrase said so matter-of-factly it made Moon queasy. "I mean, we don't know who she is, she was spying on us, because she is definitely working for Queen Wasp! I say we get her out of the way and get on with the mission already before Wasp realises she's missing."
Queen Wasp?
Moon was so lost in this new piece of information about this continent it took her a minute to realise she'd said the thought aloud.
"Yes." Belladonna said quietly, half a response, half and answer to herself. "That's the thing, with her we mightn't need to go through with the first half of our plan. Dragonet-"
It took Moon a moment to realise she was the one being addressed,
"You are one of Clearsight's kind, yes? Do you see the future?"
Moon's eyes widened just a fraction. She didn't make any effort to hide what she was feeling from these dragons, she doubted she'd even be able to, and Belladonna was clearly enjoying watching her squirm. Maybe that would keep her alive longer.
Do I say yes? I can, but not like Clearsight could, at least from what he said.
Hesitating, she nodded uncertainly, listening unwillingly to the new thoughts about her rushing through the three's heads.
From the male, Can she really? Is this... scrap really as omnipotent as the story's say? Maybe it's like leafspeak, different strengths for different dragons. If it is, is she more like Mandrake or Sundew?
From the aforementioned Sundew, who's anger for now seemed to be equally spread between Moon and Belladonna, at least for now. Sounds like a bunch of four winged lies. We don't need her if we get the book, and she'll just get in the way of the mission.
And finally from Belladonna, who was looking at her with an unmistakable spark of greed in her sneer, Useful of her, perhaps we won't have to risk being caught after all. It would be a shame if she wasn't cooperative, but if she really doesn't know anything about the Hivewings that shouldn't be an issue. And if it is, well, I'm sure we can persuade her.
Moon tried to imagine a raging thunderstorm, carrying all of the noise away in the heavy rhythm of the raindrops.
Belladonna twisted to look at her husband, signalling for him to follow her into the grass. "Hemlock, discuss this with me."
"Am I not included in this conversation?" Sundew barked.
The older dragoness didn't even look back at her, "No. Watch the prisoner. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere."
Prisoner? What joy, not like this is exactly what I was trying to avoid.
"I don't need to watch her!" Sundew called back, but the other two were already gone, "I can just listen to make sure she doesn't move!" As if to emphasise her point more grass began to reach up to snag Moon's tail and hind legs, pulling her down to sitting.
How is she doing that? And Belladonna too. Is- is it animus magic? No, probably not, those would be pretty low odds for both of them to have it, and why bother being stealthy on this "mission" of theirs with a power like that?
She thought for a moment, remembering something Hemlock had said.
Leafspeak? Is that what he called it? That's probably it then. That must be what I was hearing from Sundew's mind too.
She was distracted from her thoughts by the very agitated sounds of Sundew, who was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself and occasionally reaching for a particular pouch around her neck, this one a faded brown instead of the green of the others.
Moon opened her mouth to say something to her, but as the leaf-green dragonet turned to glare at her Moon stopped, looking awkwardly to the ground.
Sundew stopped, crossing her arms. "What are you really doing here? I know you're lying."
Moon genuinely didn't know what to say to that. She obviously couldn't give herself away, especially to dragons as dangerous as these seemed, she might as well have just handed him back his magic with her own two claws. But she didn't like lying, it made her feel ill, intentionally deceiving other dragons, it made her feel as though she was as wretched as everyone always said Nightwings were.
She shrugged noncommittally, "Hiding, running away." she laughed breathlessly at the absurdity that she of all dragons had been left to guard the world's most powerful enchanted object, and had simply ran away.
I mean, really universe, couldn't you have chosen someone even a little more competent?
Sundew looked her up and down, her expression substantially more interested, "Oh? Running from what?"
Something else she couldn't answer. She folded her wing around the leather of the scrollcase, drawing strength from its even thrumming. "Something terrible. I- I couldn't... I had to leave. It wasn't safe there."
She didn't elaborate, and much to her thanks Sundew didn't ask her too.
They sat in silence for a while, Moon eventually laying down to rest her feet.
"What tribe are all of you?" Moon questioned, genuinely curious.
Sundew looked down at her as though she'd lost her mind, before replying accusatively, "What tribe are you from?"
"I'm a Nightwing," Moon said easily.
I doubt that would mean anything to these dragons. I am surprised they know about Clearsight but not the name of her tribe though.
"...I'm a Leafwing." Sundew said eventually, as though she really would've preferred not to. "How do you not know that?"
Moon met her eyes, her turn to be confused. "How would I? There's no Leafwings where I come from, the same way there's no Nightwing's here."
"Where do you come from, the distant kingdoms? They don't know about us back there?"
"If that's what you call it," Moon agreed, "And no, we don't."
Sundew shifted her curved, leaf-like wings, staring off at some undefined spot behind Moon, "Oh. I kind of always imagined that all of you could see the future, like Clearsight could, and knew what was happening to us but decided not to help anyway."
"What happened to you?" Moon tilted her head to the side, resisting the urge to check the Leafwing's mind for what she was talking about, "What-"
"None of your business!" Sundew suddenly snapped, tail lashing angrily, "Not like you lot were any help anyway!" And with that she stomped off, presumably to find her parents.
Moon winced, I guess that's a sore spot. She sighed, resting her head on her talons. So much for staying hidden. At least these dragons don't know who I am, maybe if I help them they'll let me go.
She knew it was an overly optimistic idea, but one she couldn't help but cling to. It helped, marginally, but she still couldn't help imagining any number of horrors the Leafwings might be planning.
And she tried to remember Qibli, how he'd imagined her powers used as a tool to protect others. If she could, wasn't it right to help dragons?
Her heart ached at that thought. Her friends, they felt so distant now. Did they think about her? Hopefully not, she didn't deserve that, not now. She'd apologise one day, for running off, but what her visions had shown her if she returned, if any of the number of awful outcomes she saw in her nightmares came to fruition, she didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive herself.
So I'll wait for now, and if I need to run away from here as well I will. Secret, hidden, safe. As long as he never gets his magic back, as long as no one else uses it, surely this is worth it.
Glacier was surging forward, spear clasped tightly as she charged towards her opponent. The Nightwing braced to meet her, expression unreadable until suddenly she dipped sideways, grabbing the length of the spear and tugging it sharply towards herself, twisting it almost completely out of Glacier's talons. The Icewing tried valiantly to hold on, but she was beaten back by star-scape wings, her grip giving out to the cacophony of scales knocking against scales. She was prodded back by the blunt end of the weapon, which was flung away, slamming into the wall and dropping uselessly to the floor.
"I know you don't need that, and besides, if you have a weapon in the challenge she'll have one too, and I know nothing of modern weapons to train you against. Fight me properly."
Glacier growled, lashing out with serrated claws. A black talon closed around her wrist, throwing it sideways and knocking the Icewing off balance. She turned, trying to catch her opponent with a lash of her tail which cracked through the air right were the Nightwing had been standing. Foeslayer lowered herself from her dodge, ramming her shoulder into Glacier's chest and nearly knocking the younger dragoness flat. The princess staggered back, winded, and the Nightwing stepped back, allowing her a moment of reprieve.
Foeslayer spread her wings, opening up her arms as though she was including the entire frozen audience in her disappointment, "Come on, hit me!"
Anger raged like a wildfire inside Glacier's chest, and she quickly scanned the Nightwing for an angle of attack. From the position the older dragoness was holding herself, Glacier could see she was intentionally leaving her chest wide open. If she sprung for it, she'd either be soundly beaten and chastised for falling for bait so obvious, or congratulated for seeing an opening. Even if it was the latter, she wouldn't accept such a false victory.
Glacier snaked forward, and the Nightwing eyed her carefully, awaiting the expected attack. Glacier hissed, imitating the sound of frost-breath gathering, and she saw Foeslayer's face tighten, no doubt readiying a swing to knock her down and a lecture playing on her tongue.
Before the Nightwing had a chance to strike, or anticipate her actual angle of attack, Glacier threw herself sideways, clamping down hard on Foeslayer's wing. The dragoness let out a strangled shriek, pulling herself up onto her hind legs and shaking her wings wildly as pain blistered from the sensitive spot, but Glacier hung grimly on. The Nightwing smashed her wing into a nearby frozen dragon, sending Glacier toppling to its feet.
Foeslayer stumbled back, obviously off her game, and from experience the Icewing knew it was essential to keep her off balance. She used the frozen dragon as a springboard, kicking off of it and landing roughly on the Nightwing's broad back, sharp claws scrabbling for purchase against smooth, dark scales as she scrambled up the larger dragoness' neck. Foeslayer toppled sideways with the added weight, grunting as she pushed to get her talons beneath herself. Before she could Glacier grabbed her head in her talons, grasping tight to her spines and pulling it back before slamming her face with all of her weight into the ground. A loud crack bounced around the large space, and Foeslayer stopped moving.
Glacier stood from her position kneeling on the Nightwing's neck, still holding out her talons wearily.
Oh dear, did I take it too far? Or is this a trick?
She circled slowly, watching for movement, or ensnaring ice. After a moment she heard a groan, and a reassuring cloud of steam as Foeslayer rolled herself over, sitting up and touching her snout lightly as blood dripped from it, "Nice work," She chuckled, a smile cracking her lips. Her teeth quickly stained red, making her look manic, "You broke my nose."
Glacier sighed, moving to pull the Nightwing up, "I don't actually have to hit you, you know. I'm fine being trained with just practice moves."
Foeslayer was already shaking her head before she'd finished speaking, "No no, it's not near the same when you're hitting full force, and besides, not like any of it is permanent."
Glacier glanced at the ragged hole in Foeslayer's wing guiltily, disappearing between the rows of ancient dragonets to retrieve the fallen spear.
"You've really been improving." She heard the Nightwing call.
The princess lifted the spear, testing its weight was even in her talons. She knew Icewing spears were some of the most carefully made and sturdy weapons of all the tribes, but with the force she'd occasionally seen the Nightwing capable of she wouldn't be surprised if one of these visits she found the poor thing bent in half. "Not nearly as much as I should be. You would beat me easily if you didn't give me time to pause, or used your fire."
"Fire's too much of a hazard, if I burn you I bet you'd have a lot of explaining to do." Glacier returned to the centre of the cave, passing over the spear without a word, "Besides, what I use to attack you with isn't the most important thing."
"Oh? What is the most important thing then?"
"Keeping a handle on those emotions of yours."
Glacier was minorly offended by that, crossing her arms with a frown, "I'd like to think I'm quite good at hiding my emotions."
"I know you are sweetness, but that'll do you no good if they're rampaging around up there." Foeslayer tapped the Icewings forehead with the hilt of the spear, and Glacier batted it away with a playful laugh.
"Alright cleverclaws, aren't you the one always telling me to get angry?"
"I am, and it's good advice at that. Anger is good, it's dangerous; gets things done, but you have to know what to do with it. You must be able to channel it properly, lest your training fail you as rage takes hold. Anger is a fickle beast, but one you must learn to tame if you want to reach your full potential."
Glacier stood watching her for a moment, a slow smile spreading across her face, "You stole that speech from somewhere, didn't you?"
Foeslayer frowned, "What makes you think that?"
"You're not nearly grand or insightful enough for something like that. When have you ever said 'lest' before?"
Foeslayer bit the inside of her lip to steady her smile, attempting to keep some semblance of sincerity. "I'll have you know, I am very insightful if you actually listen to me."
"Right, are you imparting your ancient wisdom down to me?."
"I'm not ancient." The Nightwing complained, genuinely offended, "I'm only fourteen."
That caught Glacier so off guard she had to pause to allow her brain to process that statement, "You're what?" She scanned the Foeslayer's expression, but found no humour there, "How old were you when you had your dragonets?"
"Seven," Foeslayer said questioningly, as though she wasn't sure if this was a test, "Why?"
"Seven? Why so young? Could you not have waited a few years at least..."
"Young? Is it? Maybe by your standards, but Arctic agreed we were old enough and well, I doubt my mother would have let me put it off any longer."
From the way Foeslayer's eyes hardened at the mention of her mother Glacier doubted asking her to clarify what she meant would do any good.
"How old are you then?" Foeslayer asked after a moment. Her words were slow and unsure as though she was trying to think of anything to get the topic away from herself.
"Eleven now, my twelfth hatching day is coming up soon."
"Oh well, happy early hatching day, if I don't see you before then." She smiled faintly.
"I'll try to," Glacier promised, "It'll be harder than usual with-"
"Don't bother." Foeslayer interrupted, chuckling, "Not like I'll know the difference anyway."
Even after all these years Glacier couldn't tell if Foeslayer's surprisingly cheerful demeanour related to her situation was her expertly hiding her true feelings behind a smile or being simply in denial.
"You should probably be heading home aye? Not that I can tell what time it is but I'd imagine it's getting quite late."
It was. She thought if she hurried she'd be able to stay for a bit more sparring, but a quick glance at the quickly darkening scarlet pool collecting at Foeslayer's talons was enough to convince her to give it a rest.
With a quick nod, Foeslayer flashed her a final grin, twisting the spear and stabbing it directly through her heart. She yanked it out with a grunt, passing it to Glacier as she fell on stiff talons. Ice sprang from the shackles, branching like feathery claws across across dark scales. It crossed and strengthened, knitting together in a cold crystalline shell.
Glacier stared at the weapon in her talons, sighing. This was always the unpleasant part, cleaning off the blood before returning home. She moved slowly to the edge of the cave, where a deep chasm carved through the ice, and the rush of water echoed from somewhere below.
She could travel first to the surface, and clean the spear to glimmering in the snow and close ocean currents. From experience however, she'd found the blood far too hardened by that stage, and nigh impossible to remove from the deep nooks and crannies of the steel. Instead she had begun to clean it in the cave itself, despite how unnerving the possibility of getting lost in the dark labyrinth even further below Foeslayer's prison.
She ruffled her wings, and before she could psych herself out any longer dropped down into the yawning mouth of the precipice, the darkness swallowing her whole.
Queen Glacier didn't know how long she'd been lying awake in her bed. It might have been just minutes, or several hours, time seemed to tick to a crawl left alone with her thoughts.
These were no longer nightmares, they didn't startle her to waking while her heart hammered like a pack of frenzied orcas. All they felt behind was a muffling miasma of guilt and regret.
I shouldn't feel bad about this, I can't feel bad about this.
Thoughts like that did nothing to help, only further leaving her feeling like possibly the worst, lowest dragon in all the kingdom.
I couldn't help her, she's beneath us, she's the enemy.
She wasn't then. She was a mentor, a trusted confidant for things she needed to speak of before she met Jerboa, and even after when the Sandwing would disappear for months at a time. So what changed?
I did. I matured. I realised it was not befitting a Queen to show sympathy towards such a wretched, lowborn creature. Who am I to destroy the one thing allowing young Icewings a final chance at redemption?
Now things were different. She'd known of course it was a possibility the trial would be called upon during her lifetime, but never could she have expected her family members to be the ones partaking. She was going to lose one of her nephews, and she knew it would almost certainly be Hailstorm. She was aware her brother would try to tip the scales in his eldest son's favour, perhaps even telling him exactly what was necessary to achieve victory, but that would only faster lead to his downfall. Winter, as cautious and unsure as he was, would almost certainly hesitate when attacking the prisoner, allowing Hailstorm the opportunity to strike first, and be struck down just as quickly. Off course all Icewings since the outbreak of the war had been trained for battle, but they were no match working separately against such a formidable warrior as Foeslayer.
It had taken a while for it to sink in, even while Winter exited the caves alone, with his best imitation of a resolute expression, for her to realise she had allowed that to happen. She could've rid her kingdom of the Diamond trial at any point over her decades long rule, yet she had allowed it to persist, and how her nephew was lost amongst the hundreds of frozen faces below.
She sat up, stretching out her wings.
I can't bring him back, but there's still someone I can save.
She twisted her moonglobe just bright enough to illuminate the room, heading towards the door that separated the rest of her chambers. Inside was a small private living room, with two more branching doors. Glacier had never used this room herself, it was far too small for more than a few dragons, and the large, enchanted, one way windows cast odd, watery light across the chamber that didn't quite feel right.
To her left was a bathroom, the grand, pristine bath enchanted to fill with clear, perfectly cold water whenever she whimmed it.
Ahead of her was her destination, her library. Much to the excitement of her younger self, she had found it to be made of two rooms. The first was packed with scrolls written by ancient authors, with everything publicly known at any point in history about their enchantments, even if forgotten by most now, packed inside. This room had a window to the outside, the one connected to it that only the sitting Queen could enter, did not.
She entered the second room, pausing to ensure the door latched securely behind her.
The windows here were also enchanted, uncomfortable broken light illuminating the shining manuscripts. These were the writings of Queens past, notes and observations about the perceived and presumed effects of their enchantments, from dragoness' who actually had experience in using them.
Many of the more interesting scrolls were the most ancient few, with notes from animus Queens about what their chosen enchantment did in exact detail. These were the ones she was interested in.
She'd been coming here for the last several weeks when she had the time, all of the scrolls she'd been referencing unfurled neatly on a desk to the side of the room.
All of Queen Diamond's writings about her enchantments were completely indecipherable to her, even the script foreign to her, and it was taking quite a while to translate them to a form of Icewing she understood. Even partially translated some of the rather extensive notes on the Diamond trial made no sense to her, but she thought now she understood the important part, releasing Foeslayer from her shackles. Or at least, half of that important part. She frowned, tapping the pages lightly.
As it turned out, both of the shackles were enchanted separately, and were also made to be removed separately. The right shackle was easy enough, it was the one binding Foeslayer to that cave, and could simply be removed with frost-breath. The other held a long list of enchantments, the only one she'd been able to decipher so far being that it was the one that froze her moments before death, healing her of her injuries and allowing for her to be reanimated.
Glacier thought this odd, that it was so much easier to remove the shackle keeping her prisoner, but Diamond seemed unconcerned by the idea Foeslayer might attempt an escape of the kingdom with only that shackle removed. It made her wonder what the other enchantments present on the left shackle could be, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could delay freeing the Nightwing.
Besides, I'll need her out soon for my plan to stop that Nightwing thief before she does something irreversible with that little weapon of mass destruction of hers. And well, if anyone could confirm the rumours about Darkstalker's sudden reappearance, it would probably be his own mother.
She eventually decided she'd do her best to translate what she could of the remaining texts tonight, and make the trek to the caves tomorrow.
Glacier sighed, tidying some of the more unsightly piles of parchment.
Am I out of my mind for doing this?
She honestly couldn't tell, which was a foreign and uncomfortable feeling for her. She was usually very comfortable in her understanding of her emotions, a useful trait rather lacking in most of her tribe. With this however, she couldn't even begin to start guessing how she felt. But she could sense, somewhere buried deep, that this was right.