Here is the next chapter, where someone new is introduced and plans are concocted! I enjoyed delving into Pyrrhia's history here, and I hope all of you will enjoy reading it. It's time for things to pick up speed...
Marble stayed quiet about the new connection she had made as the trio headed into the meal hall. It was vacant for the time being and would remain so until shortly before dinner in a few hours. The doors leading into the kitchen were locked securely to prevent food theft, but the remaining space was free to use. There were various furnishings such as tables, cushions and chairs for seating. In the center of the room sparkled fresh water from the surface of a large circular well. The cadets would draw water from it in the mornings before they went out to train and during their meals. It was very deep, but a grate had been placed inside to ensure nobody could fall in and potentially drown.
"Look, Adder, it isn't like you to be so late all the time," Marble was saying as they walked along, "We... think you might be hiding something."
Adder shook his head and proceeded to the center well, dipping the water-skin in. When it was full he turned back to them. His eyes were guarded and he spoke in a voice sharper than his usual demeanor,
"It doesn't matter if I get a little late now and then. So long as I keep up with everyone I'll be fine, don't worry about it."
He walked briskly to the exit carefully carrying the water-skin in his mouth. Torque, determined, ran around to stand in his path. He wasn't the type to back down that easily.
"Adder, I'm your brother, and Marble is our friend. If there's anything you need help with we'll be there too." he smiled at him hopefully, "We're a legendary trio, remember?"
For a few beats Adder's snout creased as he considered what to do. He let out a breath and relaxed his stance, dropping the water-skin gently into one foretalon. He gestured with his head for Torque and Marble to follow him outside.
After some minutes the three were standing around the back of the meal hall where a long shadow was cast that kept them cool. Adder spoke furtively and with some relief as he revealed the secret he'd been keeping alone for the past fortnight.
"Alright, you guys know how I head off between training sometimes to study and think. Well about two weeks ago I found something... er, uh, someone, and they needed help."
It was not uncommon for the occasional dragon to become lost in the SandWing desert. Now and then SandWing patrols would escort them back to their home borders if they were friendly. Adder's was a stranger case.
"So, I headed to this little rocky oasis that day. It has a small cave against a wall of them that is good for keeping cool. I went to head in to get a bit of shelter from the wind. But I ended up nearly scared out of my scales instead."
On that momentous day it was late morning when Adder had returned to his little hideaway. He'd finished weapons training recently and still ached from fresh bruises. Though he enjoyed wielding the wooden practice weapons, they certainly stung to be hit with.
He stretched his wings with a yawn, passing the small pool of water and dotted vegetation on his way to the familiar little rock cave. Adder's schedule for the day had him up very early and he looked forward to getting a nap before he went back to the cadet compound. He'd put one foot into the cave's soothing shade when he stopped dead.
'Hang on. Something's in here.' he thought with caution, pricking his ears.
Sure enough he heard faint whooshes indicative of relaxed breathing. Whatever it was, it was not small, it was asleep, and further back against the cave's interior.
An annoyed worry flickered absurdly through Adder's caution. 'Oh no, I hope another cadet hasn't found this place...'
Slowly and very quietly he crept inside and triangulated the faint sounds. As he approached it, a few small cracks through which sunbeams filtered gave him an outline of what, or rather who, it was. This was a dragon, about his size, though that was all Adder could make out from his position. He was unsure whether to move closer to the stranger but curiosity eventually drove him forward.
While he was stepping forward the figure shifted in sleep and he froze still. One of the stray sunbeams fell upon the strange dragon's snout and revealed a great shock to Adder. The dragon's scales glittered white as fresh frost on a snout elegantly shaped like a large diamond. An IceWing, in the SandWing desert of all places.
Adder had never seen a real IceWing. It was only thanks to illustration and description from books that he knew what they looked like. One being in the middle of the SandWing desert, hiding out in his own little cave, gave rise to a sudden rush of panic.
Without meaning to a short but loud cry was forced from his throat, destroying any semblance of stealth he'd acquired. The strange IceWing's eyes flew open and they jumped to their feet in a defensive posture. Adder stepped back in brief fear as the IceWing hissed in threat. They forced him out of the cave, in the process exposing their own face in the sun.
Adder calmed at the sight somewhat. This IceWing was a dragonet, about his age, not an adult. They were also in a weakened state which was not too surprising considering where they were. The dragonet's drawn features shifted as they - she - spoke in a voice rough from lack of water,
"Back off, or I'll hit you with everything I've got."
As Adder took in the IceWing's state he relaxed somewhat. She seemed strong, but the desert conditions had not been kind to her. A few bones were showing through her thinned frame. Her scales, which should have been clean and smooth as porcelain, were flaking in places and covered with dust. Some old wounds were scattered along her flanks with a particularly nasty one on one of her shoulders. It was a puncture that looked raw, painful, and possibly infected. Deep blue blood was caked around it, some not yet dry.
Yet despite her damaged state the dragonet's pale blue eyes flashed and sparked with defiance like fiery gemstones. Adder wagered he could fight her alone and likely win, but not without sustaining bad injury. His eyes flicked to her snout as he remembered the deadly frostbreath IceWings were known for. He knew she would not be able to use it in such heat but remained cautious.
Adder slowly held up a talon in surrender. He responded to her in a calm voice,
"Wait, I don't mean you any harm. I was just going to rest here for a bit and I didn't expect anybody to be here," he swallowed to gather his courage, "It's strange for an IceWing to be out in the desert. You look hurt, if you want I could get some soldiers-"
"No!" hissed the IceWing, cutting him off, "I don't want their help. It'll just get me in more trouble." she unfurled her wings in an attempt to look more threatening, "Please, just leave and tell no one I'm here."
Her hostile tone faltered. Adder felt a twinge of empathy for this IceWing. She seemed lost and struggling in such a place as the desert. She was tough, but an injured IceWing alone in the SandWing desert wouldn't last long. Adder sighed and quietly made a decision. He could help her survive until she was strong enough to return home to wherever it was she'd come from. As far as he could tell she was not an enemy to him, just afraid even if she hid it well.
"Well," he began slowly, "I can't just leave you out here. Even with shelter you won't last very long by yourself. The desert is a bad place for an IceWing to be, and you look like you're already hurt."
She narrowed her eyes and growled, "Maybe I am hurt, but that doesn't mean I can't still fight. If you bring anybody to get me I'll use whatever energy I have left against them."
Adder paused and lay down, wary of her lashing tail in the shadows of the cave. He unstrapped his supply pack and held it out to her in a gesture of peace.
"Here, take this. It has a little camel jerky and some water in it."
When she didn't move to grab it he placed it on the ground and nudged it to her. She bent to sniff it with suspicion before opening the covering flap with her snout. Adder was pleased to see her ears perk in pleasant surprise, seconds before she shoved her snout into the pack and noisily devoured the food inside. When she was finished she licked her snout and shook out the canteen. She opened it easily enough and gulped down all the water it held.
Some health seemed to have returned to her face from the respite. Her expression was brighter and more relaxed. She at last turned to look back at Adder, cocking her head as she puzzled over his reasons.
"Thank you. I appreciate the food and water, but I'm staying here," she said, moving to sit down in the cave's mouth, "I can't go to the SandWing Stronghold and I can't go back to where I was, not yet."
"But I can't just leave you here!" Adder exclaimed as he threw up his forearms, "You need help or you won't be able to recover. I know you don't want soldiers to bring you to the Stronghold but..." he fiddled with his foretalons and looked away as he considered to himself.
With a deep breath he turned back to the IceWing and said in one breath, "MaybeIcouldbringyoustuffinstead."
She raised a brow and asked, "What?"
Slower this time he repeated, "Maybe I could bring you stuff instead. I'm the only one I know who comes here, and I promise not to tell anybody about you. The compound I'm training at isn't far and I could sneak you food and water during breaks. It'd be enough to keep you alive and get you strong so that you can leave the desert."
He twiddled his claws as he awaited her reply. She was looking at one of her serrated talons in thought for a while before she gave an answer.
"Why? Why would you help me? For all you know I could be a dangerous enemy who just hasn't attacked you yet."
Adder gave a small smile and said simply, "Because you waited and talked to me instead of hitting me while I was surprised. You don't look mean or terrible, you just look lost." his smile faltered, "I've seen dragons from other tribes who also got lost out here and didn't make it. That's a horrible way to die and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I'd gladly help you survive and get back home, because it's what I would hope somebody would do for me if I was in the same position."
The IceWing's expression was calmer now. She considered him quietly as he raised an open foretalon.
"Hello, my name is Adder. Truce?"
In the end the strange IceWing, whose name was Glacia, accepted Adder's help. Over the course of the following days he would bring her bundles of food and extra water when he had breaks between training. As time passed the two became more relaxed around one another and began to talk together. Adder told of his life as a cadet and Glacia described the great frigid lands of the IceWing kingdom. She remained guarded about her own home and life there but was happy to answer any other queries. She confessed that she wasn't as "Stuffy" as many of the IceWings she knew and that it had caused her a bit of trouble. Adder didn't mind in the least, in fact he rather liked her the way she was. The pair found they got along quite well and Adder was glad that she didn't change her opinion of him when she learned he was a hybrid.
"What matters about a dragon is what's on the inside," she had said, rolling her eyes with a smile, "Corny, I know, but it's what my grandmother taught me and something I've learned over the years."
As Glacia's body strengthened from the help she received, so did her friendship with Adder. Once she was kept fed and hydrated the two had gone to hunt some of the small desert critters that lingered around the oasis. Glacia wasn't the best at it in this unfamiliar land but with Adder giving her advice she was soon able to catch a few things by herself. He also gave her tips on simple day-to-day survival such as staying in the shade from morning to dusk and hunting during the cooler hours of the day. Despite the risk of being caught, he'd even taken some medical supplies to heal her wounds.
By now Adder found he was visiting Glacia more often than in breaks. Instead he snuck off most every chance he got, glad of her company and the experiences they shared. He did feel regret at keeping his meetings from Torque and Marble but rationalized that he couldn't know how they'd react. Adder didn't want to betray his new friend's trust and have her taken away.
It wasn't until over a week had passed since meeting Glacia that Adder began to think he should risk telling them. By all accounts Glacia should have been just about ready to head out now, but for some reason he had noticed her renewed strength waning. He came to realize that the awful puncture wound in her shoulder hadn't healed like the others despite the poultices and bandages he'd applied to it. If anything it seemed to look worse. Now and then a dark bluish-green liquid would ooze from it. Adder told Glacia about it and found that she'd been keeping something else from him besides her origins.
They were laying together beside the little oasis at dusk as she told of the wound. As Adder had thought, it was draining her health despite everything.
"It won't heal, Adder, because it's poisoned." she said gravely, unraveling the latest cloth bandage to reveal the grisly sight.
Adder's stomach dropped at the realization. He should have known, should have seen the signs. He silently cursed himself for not paying better attention in medical lessons.
"But poison can be cured, right? It hasn't killed you so far so it must be..." he trailed off as Glacia shook her head at him.
"I kinda stupidly hoped that if I waited for a bit the poison might just go away." she shrugged, "But it won't. This poison is very slow acting, but it doesn't have an antidote. That's how it was designed."
"No..." Adder shook his head slowly, "There's gotta be some way... I could get some more things from the medical storage, there must be something in there that can help!"
Glacia sighed, "The only thing that could heal this is inside the IceWing palace. I thought if I recovered I could go back and get it. But the poison is already making me weaker again, and if I went back the ones who did this to me would be waiting." she shuffled closer to Adder and nudged him apologetically, "I'm sorry I got you involved. In the end, I'm gonna be as dead as all the other dragons that got lost in the desert."
Adder's eyes shone faintly with a film of tears. The hopelessness of the situation started to drag him down to murky depths of despair. He thought then of his brother, Torque, who always fought through no matter how tough the odds. He drew strength from the will of his brother and pushed back against the sinking sadness. He shook the tears from his eyes and stood up. In a fierce voice he looked at Glacia and declared,
"I don't care what it takes. You're my friend and like I said when I first met you, I am not leaving you to die." he began to pace around as he continued, "If the only thing to get rid of that poison is in the IceWing kingdom I'll... I'll go there and get it myself!"
He stood still, one foretalon raised in a fist, trying to look heroic. Glacia laughed at him, moving to place a talon on his outstretched foreleg.
"That's sweet of you, but even if you did make it to the kingdom it would be impossible for you to enter." Adder relaxed his pose and looked at her inquisitively. She gestured in the air, drawing a large circle with a claw. "Magical defenses surround the IceWing kingdom and kill any non-IceWings that try to pass through the border. We used to have some enchanted bracelets for other tribes when they came to meet, but they were lost many years ago." her tone became angry, "Our tribe has become closed off to the others ever since the war with the NightWings. I was going to.."
Glacia cut herself off and shook her head violently. Adder's expression turned to concern as her own saddened. Hesitantly, he put one of his foreclaws over her own to comfort her. She wiped her free talon over her eyes and smiled at him gratefully.
"Thank you," she said, "for everything." she paused and turned her head towards the small cave. "Gimme a second, I want to show you something."
Adder watched as Glacia was enveloped in the shadows and shortly after exited carrying something in her mouth. As she got closer it became clear that it was a kind of silvery necklace, probably hidden somewhere at the back of the cave. She placed it on the sand between them and traced the round medallion in it's center. The links between consisted of flat plates of silver and a clasp of the same metal. The medallion itself was convex and circular, made of highly polished mother-of-pearl that shone under the sunlight set into a case of silver. It was a beautiful piece that obviously held significance of some sort.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked Adder, who shook his head, "Well, you probably will one day. When you do, it might help make more sense of things. Why I'm here and all."
Glacia picked up the necklace and gently put it into Adder's camelskin satchel which lay on the ground beside them. Closing the satchel, she passed it to him and continued.
"I want you to hang on to this. It should be safer with you than it is out here."
For several beats Adder was silent, staring down at the satchel with an unreadable expression. He slipped the strap over his side and turned to look at Glacia with a fire burning in his eyes.
"I'll take good care of it, but I won't need this for long. I'll find a way to get that poison out. If there's one thing I have been taught it is to never give up, no matter what. So I'm not going to give up on you."
At last, in the present time, Adder had finished his story. He was holding in one talon the silver necklace which he had taken from inside his satchel.
"That's... quite a story." Marble said quietly, peering at the necklace.
"I know it's a lot," Adder replied, opening his satchel again, "But I need both of you to help me. I can't do this alone. I know it sounds dumb but I can't... I..." he sighed, putting the silver necklace away gently, "I can't just let her die. I won't."
Torque smiled at his brother, nudging him with a wing in reassurance, "Don't worry, brother. We three stick together through thick and thin."
Marble chimed in next, "Yeah! A little adventure might be nice, right? I've always wanted to see the other kingdoms."
Her ears perked at a sudden shift in the wind. She turned to peer through the desert and sure enough, caught the telltale clouds of an approaching sandstorm in the distance.
"Come on guys, let's head to the lodging building." she said, gesturing for them to follow, "Some of my books should be helpful and I can explain what I know about the IceWing kingdom."
It was true that Marble had a good deal of knowledge about the other tribes. Being from a different tribe herself she'd always been curious about the rest of Pyrrhia. Since she was small she'd kept books about the seven tribes from the SandWing library and saved to buy her own. The information she'd gathered was one reason Adder had decided to tell her and Torque about Glacia.
The trio scooted past a few other cadets and headed down the central hallway. A few of the other dragonets gave them suspicious glances as they passed. Some of the more snooty cadets privately reckoned the bunch of misfits were off to get up to no good. But this didn't bother Marble, Adder and Torque. They came to a stop beside the doorway into Marble's little room.
"Sheesh, can you believe those guys?" Marble joked as she unlocked the wooden door.
Torque stuck his nose up in the air and did an impression of some of the more haughty dragonets, "Why, it's an insult to our very honor as dragons!", he turned to look down the corridor and raised his foretalons in mock-threat, "Put up your dukes you miserable rogues!"
His imitations caused the three of them to burst into muffled laughter as they squeezed themselves into the small room. It was a tight fit; Marble sat atop her bed while the brothers stood on either side. From one of the drawers in her little square nightstand Marble took a heavy, well-worn book. She put it down onto the bedcovers with a thump and undid the opening clasp. It was a simple-looking tome from the outside, bound in soft red-brown leather taken from a gazelle in the Sky Kingdom long ago. A basic iron clasp kept the book closed when it wasn't being used.
Marble traced the title of the first page, marked in elegant calligraphy ink.
"The Dragon Tribes of Pyrrhia, by Moss"
She flipped through, past the contents and to the chapter about the IceWing tribe. Each chapter's first page had a black-and-white illustration of a dragon from whichever tribe it was about. In this one a fierce-looking IceWing seemed to be swooping up from the ocean after a catch. A large swordfish was clamped in his razor teeth.
"Okay, IceWings." Marble nodded to herself, her friends leaning in to see the pages better. "They're pretty practical dragons, and obsessed with "rankings" and their positions."
she turned to a page titled The Seven Circles. It had a simple drawing of a circle with yet more circles inside it, six, each one smaller than the last. They were numbered from one to seven and had a small dragon drawing at the top of each. Each dragon had the same sitting pose but was adorned differently. For example, the dragon on the largest and seventh circle held a fish in one talon. In the sixth circle the dragon was holding up a plate which held some kind of food. The dragon in the fifth held sheets of cloth folded in it's forearms. The fourth had a quill in one talon and a marked sheaf of parchment in the other. The third was dressed in formidable armor and wielded a spear. The second wore a few small items of jewelry and carried what seemed to be a small ice sculpture.
The smallest circle, the first, held the grandest looking dragon of them all. It wore a spiky crown and had a veil draped along it's shoulders. Like the second dragon it was wearing jewelry, only it was more intricate. Clutched in one talon was a small, dark thing that was... dripping?
"Is that one holding a... heart?" asked Torque, a claw over the drawing.
Marble nodded and shivered, "I think so. From what I've read here some of the higher ranked dragons can be pretty deadly. I guess the illustrator was trying to put something about that in there, eww."
She poked out her tongue briefly before turning the page. Another illustration awaited, this one of a simple side-on view of an IceWing wearing a necklace. One that happened to look just like what Adder had shown them.
"Hey, look!" Marble exclaimed, pointing to it, "I knew I remembered that necklace from somewhere. According to this, each IceWing wears a necklace according to the circle they are in after their 7th birthday. Younger dragons sometimes wear them in the higher circles as well."
A minute went by as Marble peered closer to study the information with her friends. Slowly, Marble raised her head from the book and glanced at Adder's satchel.
"That necklace Glacia gave you," she said gravely, "That's a First Circle necklace. Whoever she is, she's someone important. You told us she got stuck in the desert and was attacked by someone. The poison is proof that there are probably a couple of dragons that wanted to get rid of her."
Adder gulped and protested, "But she's really nice, not snooty or stuck-up, she's smart, pretty..." he cleared his throat, "My point is, I don't see why anybody would want to hurt her. Unless, like you said, she's important. One thing she told me was how a few IceWing nobles could be ruthless in pursuit of power."
Torque interjected, "Whoever it was, I think they meant to hide it. They poisoned Glacia and drove her all the way to the desert. They wanted her too weak and disoriented to get away. The poison would guarantee her death. If they killed her in the IceWing kingdom, maybe dragons who knew her would have noticed and realized what the attackers had done."
"They tried to get her to die slowly in the desert so that she'd be just another random dragon that got lost and couldn't find their way back." Marble shook her head, angry at the prospect. She'd much rather be finished off quick than be condemned to a slow, agonizing death.
A sudden knock on the nightstand made Torque and Marble jump. Adder held a fisted foretalon on it, looking at the opened book with a drawn expression. He looked at his brother and friend with conviction and said,
"I know. We've seen those strangers who got lost. Their bodies all shriveled and thin, some of them just skeletons after the vultures got them. I didn't really think too much about them until I met Glacia. A little while longer how she was and she'd end up like that, too. Far away from anywhere she knew, alone and knowing that every day brought her closer to death." he sighed and placed his foretalon back on the floor, "I was really happy when she started to get stronger. I thought I'd helped save her, that she'd get to go home safe. I'd miss her, but she belongs in the Ice Kingdom, especially if she's important to them. But now..." he lowered his head and fell silent.
Torque nudged his brother with a wing and smiled at him, "Don't worry, brother. Together we'll make sure to get rid of that poison and save her," he raised his head, a sudden idea brightening his eyes, "After all, as soon-to-be soldiers it'll be our job to dispense justice to the villains and bring peace!"
A laugh issued from Marble, who was turning the pages of her book. "It won't be as easy as just flying around and kicking bad guy butt, Torque. We need a way to get in quietly. That way we can get this."
She was pointing to a small illustration on a page titled Animus-Touched Objects of The IceWing Kingdom. Several items were listed with grand names such as "The Gift of Elegance" and "The Gift of Order". The one Marble's claw was hovering over had the name "The Gift of Healing".
It appeared to be a pencil-sketch of five spiraled, pointed long cones that the three dragonets thought were some kind of shells. As marble read the accompanying paragraph they were revealed to be the horns of a creature called a narwhal.
"Listen to this," Marble said, before narrating a segment from the paragraph.
"The Gift of Healing is the animus gift of Princess Diamond. She enchanted the horns of five narwhals to heal frostbite wounds when touched to them individually. I have discovered a secondary, more potent effect. When all five horns are touched to a wound at once they can heal anything; venom, poison, grievous injury, so long as the dragon they are used on is not dead. I have caught rumors that the Princess used a bit of her power to add this second effect later on in an attempt to make them more useful, though I can't confirm it."
A minute of quiet passed as the trio mulled over this information. Marble already knew about the Icewing tribe's old animus bloodline. The animus "Gifts" were created early in the life of an animus as something useful to give the tribe. It was the only time in their lives that they were allowed to use their magic. This way, the dragons would not "lose their souls" and become dangerous. Adder had learned of these traditions only recently from Glacia, while Torque only knew the basics of animus dragons.
"So that's it!" Adder exclaimed, moving forward and tapping a claw on the drawing, "This is what Glacia wanted to go back for. I bet she knew about the extra healing because of her ranking. She told me that dragons in the higher circles were sometimes entrusted with secrets, like this."
"And here's our ticket past "The Gift of Defense"," Marble added, moving her claw over another illustration of three bracelets. Once more she read from the paragraph underneath it.
"The Gift of Diplomacy is one of the older animus gifts. The maker of these three enchanted bracelets has been lost to time, though some speculate it was one of the royal family. Each bracelet allows the wearer to pass safely by The Great Ice Cliff regardless of their tribe. It also keeps them at a warm temperature even in the most frigid climates. The bracelets were intended to help cement relations between the other tribes and allow visits. They are not used as much in these recent times, but there can be no doubt that this gift is one of the most important to the IceWing tribe."
Marble tutted and tapped the illustration, "But, the bracelets were stolen from the IceWings along with Prince Arctic by the NightWings. That started their war, but this book looks like it was written when Queen Diamond was still a princess. Luckily," she smiled, flipping through several pages to a new chapter, "I know where they ended up. Sort of."
An adventure is brewing and Adder has made a new friend. Glacia was in fact mentioned very briefly in the Darkstalker book, though she was not given a name. It'll be interesting if anyone can figure out exactly where she fits in the IceWing kingdom. In the next chapter the trio will make some decisions and prepare for their new mission...