"Apparently, Aloe is coming through today," Midnight commented. The hybrid stepped through the small doorway into the crowded room. It was barely big enough for two dragons, much less four. In her claws, Midnight held a small scroll. Slate recognized it as one of the ones that he'd seen posted around the city.
Torrent glanced towards his daughter. "Aloe?" he asked. "Should I know who she is?"
"She claims to be a SandWing princess from the old royal family," Midnight explained. "Blister's daughter, I think."
"I don't like her," Slate proclaimed. "She wants Queen Sunny to step down. This has to be the first time the Sand Kingdom has had a hybrid queen, right?"
Torrent snorted. "Pyrrhia has more to worry about right now than a petty dispute over who gets a pretty crown. I've seen the drought in the east. It's as bad as it is here."
Midnight walked further into the house, and sat down by Gazelle, who was currently in a light sleep on the floor, squishing Slate between her and Torrent. "Maybe the rest of Pyrrhia, but a drought isn't too pressing a concern for a bunch of dragons who live in the middle of a desert. This is important to all of Pyrrhia too, you know. There have been plenty of changes in royal families before, but they almost always end up with someone from the old family marrying into the new one. Most of the queens can trace their lineages pretty far back. Maybe not all the way to the Scorching, but one or two thousand years. From what I heard, Thorn was originally planning to take Smolder as her king for that reason, at least until the Onyx incident. But if Sunny ends up staying queen, and doesn't marry anyone from the old dynasty, that would be pretty monumental."
"What do I care if River knew that her great-great-great-grandma is just as posh and arrogant as she was?" Torrent grumbled.
"Who?" Midnight asked, confused.
Torrent waved a webbed claw. "Nevermind. You wouldn't remember if I told you. Point is, none of this bloodline tracing stuff matters one bit. Personally, I prefer Aloe. Maybe she's Blister's daughter, but at least she's not an animus."
"Sunny is an animus?" Slate questioned, surprised.
Torrent shook his head. "No. Well, I don't think so. No, she wasn't, the Brightest Night was nine years ago, so I would have known if she was an animus. But her father was, which means that if she stays on the throne, the SandWings will have animus blood in their family. Nothing good can come of that."
"The IceWings would beg to differ," Midnight responded.
"They've been lusting after magic since the day they lost it. Sure, they have a fancy wall and a castle that rebuilds itself, but from what I've heard, life there is cut-throat and miserable because of some big animus-touched list they all worship as much as their deity. Doesn't sound particularly happy."
"They have artifacts that can heal frostbreath injuries, and a magic well that feeds starving dragons," Midnight countered.
"But at what cost?" Torrent snapped, baring his teeth slightly.
Slate glanced back and forth between him and Midnight, whose paws almost seemed to be shaking. There was clearly some unsaid communication going on between the two, and Slate didn't want to get involved. He carefully shied away from Torrent, leaning closer to Gazelle. The elderly SandWing breathed heavily in her rest, and shifted her barbed tail from side to side, making Slate slightly nervous. As her tail moved back and forth, Slate noticed a small white scar between her scales, close to her tail's end.
After a few tense moments between father and daughter, Midnight broke the silence, and turned towards Slate. "I'm going to see Aloe with a couple of the hybrid buddies I mentioned. You want to come with us?"
"Huh?" Slate responded, still cautiously glancing at Gazelle's barbed tail. "Uh, yeah, sure." He hadn't really met any hybrids before, other than his mother. What would they think of him? Would they think he was a hybrid, too, or just a MudWing?
"Alright," Midnight said, "let's go." She stood up, and started towards the door.
"Now?" Slate asked, confused.
Midnight nodded her head. "Yeah. She's coming in soon. We want to see what she does. I also told them that Sunny was a hybrid, so they've got a bit of a stake in this too."
Slate nodded, and rose to his paws. He carefully stepped over Gazelle, making sure not to brush against her barb. As he followed Gazelle, Torrent stood up too.
"I'm going, too," the SeaWing stated.
"What, you want to keep an eye on me?" Midnight responded crossly.
Torrent shook his head. "Not you. But the last time a dragon vying to be queen came through Crosswinds, things got a little bit messy. I feel like I should be there, just in case I need step in again."
Midnight shrugged her wings. "Suit yourself. C'mon, let's go. She'll be here soon."
Leaving Gazelle behind to sleep, the three walked through Crosswinds, the eyes of SandWings and MudWings following them closely, dragons whispering behind them. Having lived here all her life, seeing Midnight wasn't that unusual a sight, but Torrent was something different. Not only was he a SeaWing, a bright burst of blue in a sea of varying shades of browns, but a few of the older residents of Crosswinds recognized Torrent from nine years ago. Occasionally, one or two would try and approach him, but a growl from the huge SeaWing quickly caused them to back off.
The three soon reached the Great Five-Tail River, although right now, it didn't deserve the title of 'great,' or even that of 'river.' As Torrent approached the edge, a small jet of water suddenly appeared from thin air at the edge, splashing onto the dry ground below. Torrent quickly jumped back, and glanced around, checking to make sure no one else had noticed. Slate was staring with wide eyes, but fortunately, he seemed to have been the only who had seen it. Torrent glanced down to his side, towards his dagger, and sighed.
"Let's fly over," Torrent suggested to Midnight and Slate. "It'll be quicker."
Midnight nodded in agreement. "Probably a good idea. I normally swim through the river when there's water in it, but I guess that's not happening today." She spread her wings apart, and let a burst of wind lift her up as she leaped down into the riverbed. Slate went next, soaring into the air. Torrent followed behind the two of them, careful not to get too close to where the river should have been. That might become useful when he needed to drink next, although it would certainly attract more attention than desired.
Eventually, the three reached the edge of the city, where a line of SandWings and MudWings were standing, staring at the southwest horizon. Small yellow blemishes in the distance started to slowly grow, slowly growing into SandWings.
"That's all?" a MudWing commented, unimpressed.
There were maybe a hundred dragons in the distance, all flying barely a wingspan apart from one another. A prominent SandWing flew at the front, with a pattern of black diamonds covering her scales. Aloe. As the group approached the edge of Crosswinds, they started to circle down in unison. A large plume of dust came up as they reached the ground, swallowing the crowd of dragons who had come to watch.
When the dust settled, Slate looked around at all the dragons who had gathered here. Unsurprisingly, it seemed to be mostly SandWings. That made sense; it was the future of their kingdom which was at stake here. A number seemed to be whispering back and forth to each other, judging the arrivals. Still, Slate couldn't find any other hybrids.
"Where are your friends?" Slate whispered to Midnight.
Midnight's eyes quickly darted around. "Trust me," she answered, "you'll know them when you see them."
Three SandWings walked forward from the group that had just landed, Aloe just behind them. One of the three raised her head high, light glancing off her sail. Her scales were unusually non-uniform, with brown dotting her sand-colored background of scales. Similar brown spots appeared on her wing membranes.
"Hello, City of Crosswinds!" the SandWing in front opened, almost yelling. "I have come to you today to present your rightful queen, her majesty, Queen Aloe!"
The SandWing stepped aside, allowing Aloe to step forward, the princess brushing against her announcer's wing as she moved into the spotlight. If Aloe was expecting applause, she didn't get it. A few members of the crowd whispered among each other, some more joyful than others.
Aloe herself smiled quietly, remaining still and almost motionless in front of the crowd. She seemed to be somewhere around Torrent's age, but her eyes seemed to light up with an almost youthful quality that the hardened SeaWing didn't have. Her scales were a extremely pale yellow, almost as white as an IceWing's, although the barb on her tail as opposed to spikes confirmed that she was a SandWing. Her dark black eyes and diamond pattern contrasted against her pale scales, almost bulging out against them. A thin crown rested on her horns, and around each of her four ankles was a thick golden band embedded with small purple and red gemstones. A silver chain hung from her neck, on it a golden pendant in the shape of a dolphin slowly swinging back and forth.
Aloe carefully scanned the crowd, her eyes suddenly stopping as she reached Slate. Slate gulped in fear, feeling a chill squirm down his tail, until he realized that Aloe wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were focused on Torrent and Midnight. He breathed a sigh of relief. Of course she was looking at them; there weren't that many SeaWings or NightWing-SeaWing hybrids in the crowd of SandWings and MudWings. Slate looked towards Torrent, who seemed to have stiffened up. His teeth were almost bared, and Slate started to hear a low growl forming in the SeaWing's throat.
Aloe suddenly turned away, breaking the eye contact between them. She smiled again. "Good afternoon, Crosswinds. For those of you who haven't heard of me already, I am Aloe, daugh—"
"Go back to wherever you've been hiding!" a voice suddenly shouted from the crowd. "We don't want you!" A large SandWing stepped out, followed by around a dozen dragons behind him. "If you were supposed to be queen, your mother wouldn't have been fried to a crisp!"
Aloe's expression didn't change, a small smile still plastered on it. The group of SandWings continued walking towards her, causing a few of her guards behind her to step in front of Aloe.
"What has your family done but cause war and strife?" the SandWing challenger roared. "Sunny and Thorn were ones who ended your stupid war. I'd much rather Sunny be our queen than you."
Slate glanced around the crowd, hearing murmurs of disagreement. He was almost surprised, until he remembered something about Crosswinds. One of the advantages of living here was that it wasn't technically SandWing territory. A lot of the SandWings who had moved here in the last two years were those who weren't happy with Queen Thorn's rule, and still supported the old royal family. That had to be why Aloe had come to Crosswinds in particular. She'd known that she'd find supporters.
The group of challengers walked forwards threateningly, even closer to Aloe, who kept her faint smile up. More of the SandWings behind her walked in front, preventing the challengers from getting within attacking range. Slate shrunk back a little. It was getting tense. What if there was a fight? A battle? Would Slate get caught in it?
However, after a few moments, the challengers seemed to back off. Their leader took a few steps back, spitting on the sand in front of Aloe in insult. Slate let out a sigh of relief.
It was a moment too soon. One of the SandWings in the back of the challengers suddenly jumped forward with a roar. "FOR THORN!" he yelled out as he charged, trying to stab his barbed tail towards Aloe.
Three of Aloe's guards suddenly came forward to meet him, making sure their queen was safe. One grabbed his tail as his barb grazed the guard's side, causing her to yell out in pain. The other two grabbed the attacker's wings trying to throw him back. In retaliation, more of challengers rushed towards them, roaring out battle cries. SandWing guards came to meet them as a skirmish ensured, dust being kicked up from the dry ground. The announcer pulled on Aloe's wing, hurriedly trying to get her to step back from the fight, but Aloe pushed her back and stretched out her wings, not budging even as claws, teeth, and barbs flew around her.
The SandWings in front of Slate started to move from side to side, causing Slate to step back in order to avoid getting too close to their deadly barbs. He could tell that the dragons were tense, ready to shred their neighbors apart at a moment's notice. Slate stepped closer to Torrent, ducking beneath the towering SeaWing's wing. As the crowd started to shift nervously around them, Torrent stayed still, growling slowly as his eyes focused on Aloe, dust clouding his vision.
It wasn't long before the skirmish ended, Aloe's forces victorious. Each of the challengers was being held down by two or three guards, Aloe herself not having budged from her original position, the end of her tail curled carefully around her announcer's. Not a single scratch had landed on her scales. Slate looked out again from beneath Torrent's wing, almost afraid to watch. Was Aloe going to execute her opposers in front of the crowd?
Aloe looked down at the challengers, her smile turning into a frown. "As everyone can see, these dragons attacked me, unprovoked. Attempting to take the life of a dragon like that, especially royalty, is a grave offense in the Sand Kingdom, punishable by death." Aloe uncurled her tail and raised her pale barb into the air, twisting it from side to side, as if it was itching to be used. The SandWing in front of her gulped, his talons shaking.
However, Aloe set her barb back onto the sand. A surprised murmur rose through the crowd. "Weak," Slate heard a SandWing not too far from him grumble. "I was hoping to see more blood." Slate moved away from her, a little closer to Torrent.
"Yet, I am not the correct dragon to deal out this punishment," Aloe calmly claimed. "When my announcer, my general, and great friend Leopard tried to introduce me to this city, she styled me as Queen Aloe. But I don't think that's true. Just because I'm part of the royal family and granddaughter of Queen Oasis does not automatically make me queen. I have neither challenged the queen, nor have I earned the respect of the Sand Kingdom's constituents. Nor is Crosswinds under the jurisdiction of the Sand Kingdom. I have no right to punish these dragons."
Aloe quickly glanced over her wing to Leopard, who seemed be grinning happily, with a proud smile on her snout. "Let these dragons go," Aloe quickly ordered. Leopard nodded, and with a flick her her tail, Aloe's guards slowly let the challengers rise to their paws, and led them back into the crowd. "The City of Crosswinds can choose if these dragons are punished, and how so," Aloe continued. "It is no crime to support Sunny or Thorn. Even if tradition dictates that they are illegitimate rulers, they are brave and honorable, and have done much for this kingdom."
"What about the Eye of Onyx?" Slate overhead a SandWing near him whisper to her friend. She was right. Wasn't the Eye of Onyx supposed to decide who was the rightful queen or not? That was what Slate had heard after the war ended, at least.
"I would also like to make a final announcement," Aloe said. "I have asked Sunny to abdicate the throne and recognize me as the rightful queen of the SandWings, but as of yet, she has not given me a response. So, I would like to officially announce that I am challenging Sunny for the throne."
There was a sudden burst in discussion among the crowd. "Queen Sunny isn't going to accept," the SandWing near Slate muttered. "She's not going to recognize that the old royal family has a right to the throne."
"Queen Thorn did," her friend replied, "wasn't that what happened with Onyx?"
Eventually, the discussion quieted down. "Also," Aloe said, "there is a favor I would like to ask of all you. Because we're not technically in the jurisdiction of the Sand Kingdom, I would like to ask the city for permission to stay here for the next few nights, along with my small group of SandWings. I will do my best not to cause any troubles, and I hope that we're not too much of a burden on you."
There was a fair amount more discussion throughout the crowd. Eventually, a SandWing stepped forward. Slate recognized her as the one who'd threatened him a few days ago, the one with the smudged tattoo on her neck.
"You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like, your majesty," she answered, bowing her head. "If you need to make camp somewhere, the riverbed is dry."
"Impala doesn't speak for me," a MudWing near Slate quietly grumbled, "or any of the MudWings in this city, for that matter."
Aloe smiled as Impala stepped backwards, the crowd continuing to converse. "Thank you," she responded gratefully. "I will be sure to remember Crosswinds' hospitality. That is all I have to say for now," she finished.
Aloe bowed her head, sunlight glittering off her pale scales. Without another word, she turned around, and walked back into her group of SandWings, Leopard trailing behind her. Her guards closed in behind them, until the princess disappeared. The crowd of SandWings and MudWings started to shuffle and disperse.
Midnight glanced over towards Slate, who had stepped out from beneath Torrent's wing. "Well. What do you think of her now?" she asked.
Slate snorted. "She seems pretentious and strict." To be fair, she didn't seem as bad as her mother and Burn. She didn't kill the SandWings that had attacked her, like either them would have done. Still, there was something about her Slate didn't like.
Midnight nodded. "I don't like her much either. I've never met her, but I had a friend who was there when Thorn was made queen. From what she's said about Queen Sunny, she seems nicer, and more true to herself. But it doesn't matter who the queen of the SandWings is, as long as she's not an animus. Right, dad?"
Midnight turned to Torrent, who was glowering, staring into the group of SandWings that Aloe had just disappeared into. "Dad?" she asked, waving a paw in front of his snout. "You okay?"
Torrent turned to his daughter. "Did you see what Aloe was wearing?" he snarled.
"The gold bands around her ankles?" Midnight questioned. "Pretty cute, if you ask me. I'd ask her out if she was a bit younger and not an evil scheming princess."
"No," Torrent grumbled, "not that. Her necklace."
"It was a golden dolphin with ruby eyes," Slate suddenly spoke up. "That's a little weird, right? She's a SandWing princess. They don't have dolphins here in the Sea Kingdom, do they?"
"It's my sister's!" Torrent snapped, digging his webbed talons in the dry ground. "She wore that necklace all the time. That and her amethyst bracelet, the one which she enchanted to detect magic. She loved it."
Torrent's animus sister, Slate recalled.
"You're saying that's Orca's?" Midnight asked, surprised. "Maybe there were multiple ones made?"
Torrent shook his head. "No. An aristocrat had it designed especially for Orca. It was a egg gift. It was originally supposed to be an orca, but there was some kind of miscommunication along the way, and it ended up as a dolphin. It was one-of-a-kind."
"So, how did it end up in Aloe's talons?" Midnight questioned.
Torrent growled, and glared towards where Aloe could have been. "Orca gave it to our brother, Rift, when he went off to participate in the war under Blister. She told me she didn't enchant it when I asked her, but I knew she was lying. I never found out what she did to it, though."
"It's animus-touched?" Midnight exclaimed. "And you don't know what's on it?"
"I'd originally thought it was a protection spell, or something like that," Torrent explained. "But clearly, it wasn't. Because Rift died. He was killed in battle by SkyWings."
"And now Aloe, Blister's daughter, somehow has it?" Midnight snorted. "Sounds pretty suspicious to me. Who saw Rift die? Let me guess — Blister?"
Torrent growled. "I know, I know. There was suspicion at the time, but it wasn't like anyone could do anything about it. Mother attacked Blister. Dad even tried to get her to pull out of the war. Angler kept trying to convince Mother that Blister killed him herself. He made a huge deal about it. Orca almost used her magic to do something, although Griffin and I barely convinced her not to. But Mother dropped the subject, and that was that. The life of a single prince wasn't worth it."
Torrent stared back over towards Aloe's SandWings, trying to catch a glimpse of the princess herself. They were moving towards the riverbed, starting to set up camp. "I'm going to kill her." He placed a paw on his dagger.
"What?" Slate asked, surprised. "You can't just kill Aloe. She's a princess!"
"Your point?" Torrent muttered. "Princesses die all the time."
"No," Midnight said, stepping in front of her father. "Please don't kill her. That sounds like a really, really, bad idea."
"Fine," Torrent conceded, "But I need to disenchant that necklace, at least. And she better tell me what happened to Rift. Angler deserves to know that, at least. Then I'll decide whether or not to kill her."
Midnight winced. "That's not much better. She has guards. Lots of guards. You can't just go in there and interrogate her!"
"Watch me."
"Please, please don't," Midnight groaned, "you'll get killed. And if you die, who's going to keep me from using my evil animus powers on the rest of Pyrrhia? I'll enslave all of dragonkind if you do it."
Torrent stared at his daughter for a moment, considering his options. "Fine," he answered, accepting Midnight's argument. "I won't do it. But just so that you don't enslave all dragonkind."
"Thank you," Midnight sighed.
Slate glanced between the two. The frightening part about the exchange was that Midnight probably could have actually enslaved all dragonkind if she'd wanted to. Slate should probably try and stay on her good side.
"Slate," Midnight said. "C'mon, let's go find my friends."
Slate hurriedly nodded. "Yes ma'am."
"Dad, you're coming with us," Midnight ordered Torrent, "I need to make sure you don't get into trouble."
Torrent gave her a glare, but didn't argue back.
Midnight started to walk off into the dispersing crowd, weaving her way through SandWings and MudWings. Slate and Torrent followed, Slate stepping carefully to make sure he didn't get too close to the SandWing barbs blocking his path.
Midnight was right about her friends. It wasn't long before they found them. There were three hybrids, standing in a small circle, discussing among each other while the SandWings and MudWings around them gave them plenty of space.
"Hey!" Midnight yelled at the three, causing them to turn around. They smiled as they saw her.
"Hey, Midnight!" one of the three, a SandWing-MudWing hybrid, greeted. He looked somewhat like Fawn, more MudWing-like, with the same ivory horns as Slate, and part of a small fin between his spines. "Who are these two?"
Midnight gestured to Torrent with a wing. "This is my dad, Torrent. I think I've mentioned him to you a few times. Swampy, you've met him, right?"
The oldest of the three nodded. He seemed to be somewhere between Torrent and Midnight's ages, and didn't seem at all SandWing. His scale colors were completely non-uniform, with misshapen blobs of brown and black spread across them, and had large conical horns on his head. "Yeah, very briefly, years ago. He helped free me from Erosion."
Torrent squinted at the dragon. "You were one of her animuses?"
The hybrid grimaced. "Unfortunately. Not a fun time. I'm Swampswimmer, but please just call me Swamp."
Torrent frowned as Midnight gestured towards Slate. "And this is Slate. He's a hybrid, too, the son of one of my dad's old friends."
"Nice to meet you," the third dragon smiled as she grinned, another SandWing-MudWing. Her scales were a light brown, and she looked somewhat like a stocky SandWing with curved horns. Three silver moons dangled from her ear as she turned her head, her neck covered with tattoos, not of skulls, but of animal heads, and a small golden ring of a snake wrapping around itself hung from a chain on her neck. She flicked her tail back and forth, a fully-functional barb at the end.
"Dad, Slate," Midnight continued, "these are a few of my unsibs. Swampy already introduced himself. This here is Brahminus, Brahm for short," she pointed towards the hybrid who looked sort of like Fawn, "and the other one is Ecru."
"Wow, all I get is 'the other one'?" Ecru chuckled.
Midnight rolled her eyes, and gave Ecru a quick nuzzle on her neck. "Yes."
Ecru scoffed, and wrapped her tail around Midnight's. Slate stiffened up, seeing Ecru's sharp barb so close to Midnight's scales, but Midnight didn't seem to be worried.
"So, what do you think about Aloe?" Midnight asked Ecru.
Ecru snorted. "It was ridiculous. Did you hear what she said? 'Because Crosswinds isn't technically within the jurisdiction of the Sand Kingdom.' You know who she's pandering to."
Midnight nodded in agreement. "She's a good speaker."
"And I'd bet a gold piece that the whole fight was staged, just to make her look good," Ecru continued. "You saw what happened, right? Sunny's supporters were going to back down without a fight, until some random SandWing from the back attacked Aloe. Making Aloe's enemies look violent and angry, while Aloe gets a chance to show she's not evil and violent like Blister or Burn. Great Ice Dragon, she really is her mother's daughter."
"Okay, but did you see Leopard?" Midnight commented, lowering her voice slightly. "She was like, brushing against Aloe every chance she got, and Aloe was trying super-hard to pretend she wasn't there. They're together, right?"
"Oh yeah, totally," Ecru responded. "But Aloe can't show it. With Blaze gone, Smolder is the only dragon in her family who isn't dead, and he's hiding out in the Sky Kingdom. Both Oasis and her mother killed all their sisters, so her nearest relatives are fourth-cousins. Feathered Spirit save us, if she doesn't have dragonets, we'd have another stupid succession crisis. Of course, that assumes she displaces Sunny somehow."
"Of course," Midnight answered. "Hey, Slate, didn't you want to ask about how it's like being a hybrid in Crosswinds?"
"Oh, er, yeah," Slate replied. "My mom's a hybrid too, and I was thinking we could move here. My aunts and uncles are really nasty, and Torrent gave my mom a bunch of my dad's treasure, so now we won't have to rely on their pension anymore." Slate turned to his right, hoping to smile at Torrent in gratitude, but where Torrent had previously been standing, there was now a large SeaWing-shaped hole. "Er, where's Torrent?"
Midnight blinked for a few moments, scanning the surrounding dragons for SeaWings. "Camel dung," she muttered. "He's gone."
"He's not a particularly reliable parent, is he?" Brahm said, tapping his talons together.
"That's one way to put it. I think he's going to try and kill Aloe. He thinks she killed his brother or something like that. I need to find him before he gets himself killed."
"Jerboa's luck with you," Ecru laughed, untwining her tail from Midnight. "I can't say I'd be much help."
"Slate, come on," Midnight winced, "we can talk later. It's getting late, and it'll be harder to find him once my color-vision turns off."