Betrayal

Shrikethrush hated this city. The way it looked, from its gaudily decorated inner region to its shoddily constructed slums. The way it sounded, from the perpetual hum of steam pipes to the cacophonous bustle of the crowded streets. The lime scaled dragon took a sniff of the air and instantly scrunched up his nose in disgust. The way it smelt.

But the wall. The wall he hated most of all. Towering far above the nearby buildings, the sheer colourless barrier encircled everything, as if it were keeping the whole jam-packed city from flooding out. It was a perpetual reminder that he was trapped here, in this cage called Temple City.

Shrikethrush turned from the balcony, placing his grey-green gaze upon the decrepit room. The cracked plaster walls were caked with years of dirt, its woodworm plagued patchwork plank floor sparsely populated with nothing but a heavily stained mattress and a simple leather bag he had packed earlier. The windows didn't even keep the winter cold out, having been smashed weeks ago by vandals, and the landlord was too lazy or too cheap to replace them. Probably both.

Shrikethrush paced over to the bag and pulled out the object on top with his right paw and looked at it. A black and white photograph in a rectangular, gold painted frame. For a moment, he felt a surge of rage and considered smashing it right then. He tossed the photograph back in the bag and hefted the bag over his neck.

It won't be long now.

The dragon walked through the room's thin door into an only slightly larger and more furnished room.

"Morning, Shrikey! You off already?" a chipper female voice came. Shrikethrush turned to the small blue dragoness sitting at the table on a drab but functional cushion, eating what looked like a decent attempt to revitalise a tin of pressed meat. He was surprised she'd managed to get it out of the cube-like shape it came in.

"Morning, Meri," he said, his previous scowl softening into a more amicable smile. "Yeah, I have that meeting with Cinis today, remember?"

"Oh yeah, it's this early, huh? Well say hi for me. It seems like she never visits anymore, Its been ages since I saw her."

"Sure, I'm sure she'll be pleased to hear it," replied Shrikethrush, but mentally noted that there was a good reason why Cinis didn't want to come to the place they lived at the moment. She did always look out for him...

"Hey, I've got something for you," he said, pulling something from his pack. "I'm sorry we couldn't afford anything for your birthday a few weeks back, but I found this cleaning gutters yesterday. It's a little damaged, but... well, you know... I hope you like it."

Shrike placed an old, battered looking book on the table. Despite its dampness and ripping spine, other than a few missing pages it seemed perfectly serviceable. Its faded cover identified it as a herbalism guide.

"Aww, thanks Shrikey, you're the best brother ever!" Meri got up to hug the greenish dragon, but suddenly collapsed in a fit of violent, rasping coughs. Shrikethrush quickly moved forward to support her weight, clutching her close with outstretched forelegs, his face fraught with concern. Attentively he held her paw and noticed it was covered in blood.

"Have you taken your medicine?" he asked once the coughing had died down, releasing her to stand on her own.

"Honestly, I'm fine Shrikey, it's getting better" the young dragoness attempted to assure him, though the chirp of her voice was gone, replaced by a pained inflection.

"Answer the question," replied Shrikethrush insistently.

"I'm... sorry," Meri conceded ashamedly. "It ran out the day before yesterday. I should have told you, but..."

"But what Meri? You need to keep taking it."

"But you're working yourself too hard!" she blurted, averting her eyes from her brother's stern gaze. "You're out all day working, you don't eat, you barely sleep. I don't want to see you suffering like this because of me.

Shrikethrush let out a weary sigh, but then smiled and ruffled the fin-like frills on the water dragoness' head, startling her.

"Hey, don't you worry about me; I'm not the one who's sick."

"But..."

"No buts. You can worry about me all you want when you're better, but until then just let me worry about you, okay? I'll get another bottle later today."

Meri's expression didn't change, but reluctantly she nodded her head.

"Okay, but... promise me you won't do anything reckless."

"Heh, isn't that a bit rich coming from someone who won't take their medicine?" the green dragon jested. "I'm not exactly going to kill someone for a bit of medicine, am I?"

"That's not what I mean, but I know you. When it comes down to it, you can be very... well..." Meri trailed off. "Just promise, okay?"

"Fine, if it'll stop you fretting, I promise."

They hugged and Shrikethrush went to leave

Half way to the door, he turned to say one last thing.

"Oh and don't you think you're pulling this again. This time I'm checking to make sure you've taken it."

"Yes, Shrikethrush" Meri droned, flipping open her new book to the first page.

Shrikethrush pushed the door just far enough ajar that he could fit through and stepped out, swiftly locking the door behind him. Seeing that the staircase was clear, he made his way down as silently as he could manage on the creaky stairs.

She's more observant than I'd given her credit for. Or maybe it really was that obvious? Could it be she really suspects... no. There's no way.

Just as he was about to leave through the whitewashed front door, an obnoxious grating voice came from his side, inducing an annoyed sight from Shrikethrush.

"Hey Little, I thought I heard you!"

Little.

When Shrikethrush was younger, he'd been a scrawny mite of a dragon, and much to his annoyance, people had come to call him "Little" Shrikethrush. Even now that he was only slightly shorter than the average dragon of his age, the nickname had stuck and it seemed like everyone knew it.

The door in the passageway to his right swung open to reveal a somewhat overweight, ratty looking ferret. Dirty patches of matted fur poked through the gaps in his ill-fitting, unwashed suit. He only had one and he always wore it as a symbol of mock status. Even though he was only a small-time property owner in the lower-class side of town, Wormtail considered himself a top cat and did everything in his power to convince his acquaintances this was the truth, including charging extortionate rent from his tenants.

Shrikethrush glanced at the large patches of sweat that had seeped through the armpits of Wormtail's suit. He wasn't fooling anyone.

Wormtail stroked his his whiskers with a greedy smile, his other hand fondling a leather purse that jingled with every disturbance, likely full of the coins he'd just finished squeezing from the downstairs occupants.

"Little, my friend, I can't help but notice I still don't have my rent."

Shrikethrush snarled. He wasn't sure if Wormtail kept calling him that to anger him, or if he just couldn't take a hint.

"You'll have your money tomorrow," he replied coldly.

"Well it's funny you should say that, because I could've sworn that's what you told me yesterday," said the ferret impatiently.

"Tomorrow."

Wormtail growled under his breath, but nevertheless went to leave via the front door.

"You'd better have it tomorrow, or I might not be so friendly."

As the door swung shut, Shrikethrush let out a sharp annoyed breath and then left himself. This time it wasn't a lie that he'd be able to pay tomorrow. He'd have the money one way or the other.

Cinis sat smiling by the corner of Ironflow street. Vacantly she hummed an old show tune from her youth as she watched people pass by on their way to and fro. Dragons, moles, cheetahs, badgers. Mercheants, machinists, paupers and all. Cinis had had lived in this city all her life and to say it wasn't perfect was an understatement, but it did have its own individual charm; gritty and raw, but alive and beautiful. People from all over the realms came here for one reason or another and it was the kind of place where anyone from any background could make some kind of living for themselves. She herself was proof of that.

Savouring the unusual scent of fried somethings passing by on a vendor's cart, she caught sight of a familiar green dragon.

"Hey Shrikethrush, over here!" she exclaimed loudly, gesturing him over with her wing and drawing several turned heads from the bustling citizens in the area.

"Good morning master Cinis," the young dragon replied, pacing up to her. The gesture was unnecessary, since he'd spotted her instantly from a good distance; her brilliant orange scales contrasted vividly with the grimey grey brick wall she sat before.

Shrikethrush scratched behind his yellowish, serpent-like horns nervously.

"Do you think it would kill you to be a little more subtle?" He said, eyeing the various other occupants of the streets.

"Oh, worried about spies are we?" replied Cinis, playfully nudging him. "Don't you know the best way to spot eavesdroppers is to draw attention to yourself? Because everyone's looking, they think they can too and let their guard down."

Her eyes scanned the crowd nimbly whilst she continued:

"Then the one who's still looking when no-one else is..." Her eyes locked with another dragon sitting at a table across the street who quickly averted his gaze.

"That's your man," she concluded, frowning as the dragon stood up and walked around the corner. "Besides," she said, suddenly more serious, "They already know who I am."

Shrikethrush twirled to face where she was looking but was too late. The green scaled dragon growled annoyedly. "Well if it's that easy we should chase after them and fight!"

Cinis shook her head dismissively, cutting through the lightly smoggy air with her asymmetrical G-shaped golden horns.

"They're honourless cowards who hide amongst the common people. We've never caught them in such a way and I doubt we ever will."

Shrikethrush huffed at this response.

"Come on, let's go somewhere more private. I do have some sensitive information I'd rather we kept from our disreputable friends," the orange dragoness concluded and they began to walk. They turned down an alley and travelled further toward the industrial district. After only a few more moments, Cinis regained her more cheerful disposition.

"Well, I should say that technique I just showed you might not work so well for you. A handsome young dragon like yourself, I'm sure you get plenty of stares as it is," she chuckled.

Shrikethrush grimaced at this.

"Hey come on, I don't want to hear that from someone old enough to be my mother,"

Despite himself, he couldn't help blushing a little.

"Hey, I am not that old," Cinis snapped. "Besides, I like to think I'm more like your cool older sister," she said, posing in a way she may have thought emphasised her "coolness" but was more likely just to mess with him.

"Well, you're definitely one of those three words," Shrikethrush muttered.

"See, there's your sense of humour," Cinis laughed and Shrikethrush smiled too.

"I guess I'm one of the few lucky enough to know you have other expressions than a scowl."

That being said, the younger dragon's face was quick to return to a frown. He looked back at her with grave eyes.

"Speaking of sisters... Cinis, Meri's sickness isn't getting better."

The fire dragoness shook her head with concern.

"Is the medicine not helping?"

"It is, but on top of rent and food, we can't afford it. That's what I wanted to talk about; I need an advance on my monthly pay, otherwise... I don't need to be a doctor to tell it'll be bad."

Cinis inhaled sharply between her teeth, her brow knitting in consternation.

"To be honest, you've asked at a really bad time. The treasury's in a real mess at the moment, we're having to cut down expenses everywhere and..." she saw Shrikethrush's determined look and considered.

"You know what? I'll see what I can do. I'm sure we can find something."

"Thanks Cinis, this really means a lot to me, and I'll be sure to pay you back after."

"It's no problem. You know I'm always here for the two of you."

They made a turning into a secluded, cramped alley with overhanging buildings blocking the light. They made one turning, then another and another. Shrikethrush was confident that no-one could have possibly followed such a convoluted route. In this area, the cityscape was made up exclusively of workshops and warehouses with corrugated steel roofs and billowing chimneys that made the mid-morning smog especially thick. Though the sounds of shouts and hammering metal could be heard echoing from nearby streets, their immediate vicinity was vacant of any workers. It seemed that the surrounding buildings were all fairly recently abandoned. The perfect place if they didn't want to be seen.

Finally they came to a stop beside a red brick building that looked no different from those around it, save for a few extra bronze steam pipes that protruded from its front. The heavy iron doors were locked shut, but Cinis wasn't interested in the doors. Quickly she turned a circular handle on one of the larger pipes. It must have been some kind of quick release, as the entire section of pipe came free, swinging away from the wall on wall-mounted hinges, revealing an improvised circular entrance to the inner building.

Shrikethrush peeked into the dark, claustrophobic pipe.

"I'm not going in there," he stated plainly.

"Well excuse me, princess," Cinis mocked, gesturing for him to back away, which he promptly did.

With barely a breath, Cinis spewed a colossal torrent of searing flame, instantly melting away a significant portion of the inner pipe, creating a convenient doorway that only smouldered a little around the edges.

She sighed and blew a puff of smoke from her nose. Shrikethrush supposed the smell of fire and molten metal wouldn't be noticed in such a place.

The elder dragoness stepped brazenly through and Shrikethrush followed more tentatively, careful not to singe himself and making sure to re-seal the pipe behind him.

Entering the building proper, he observed the contents of the room. At a glance it was obviously a steam production factory. Gigantic horizontal cast iron cylinders – boilers – dominated the floor, with bronze pipes of varying sizes sprawling from outlets sporting valves and pressure gauges. Suspended on the floor above were large water tanks and distributed around the walls were empty, black stained skips that were presumably used for coal storage. The floor itself was all iron grates and water channels carved into stone, designed to stop water accumulating by draining it into the sewers below. Shrikethrush thought it somewhat frivolous to waste good steam water, but he wasn't here to question their business practices. It was too perfect.

"Okay, so let's start with your report as usual and then we can move on to my news," said Cinis, initiating their formal meeting. Shrikethrush nodded and began his report.

"Its been mostly quiet the past week or so. No sightings or direct mentionings, but I did hear something that could be connected to them. I was working cleaning shifts at the Sunken Steamboat and I overheard one of the patrons talking about an unusual order of steel. Apparently they'd received orders of several grades of steel in mass amounts to be shipped to an out of the way area outside of the city. It sounded like a dead drop to me so I tailed him back to his house and on the next day to the steelworks itself. It's called Ardarm Brothers and co."

"Hmm, that's interesting. It sounds a little conspicuous for them, but on the other hand they could be getting reckless," Cinis pondered. "It might be nothing, but if the Brotherhood needs a lot of steel, it could be a good lead. I'll send someone to check it out when we get time. Nice work."

She cleared her throat and continued.

"Now on to the main course! The big news is that for the first time in over 20 years, the dragon heads are re-uniting! Here in Temple City, only one week from now!" She flashed a brilliant toothy grin and handed him an envelope.

"The exact location is in here. Secret, of course, so destroy it once you're done memorising it."

Shrikethrush nodded and accepted the letter, tucking it in his leather bag.

"Oh, I can't wait for you to meet everyone," Said Cinis elatedly. "I bet you and old Dusky will get along like a house slowly burning; he's a no-fun serious-face too. It'll be just like old times, I bet none of them have changed a bit!"

"But why now? Why choose to meet now after so long?" asked Shrikethrush, ignoring the not so subtle jab.

"Hmm," the elder dragoness replied. "Well, I'd like to be optimistic and say it's because we finally have a good way to strike back at the Brotherhood, but... I'm afraid to say it's more likely that we're running out of ideas. The fact that there's been less activity recently probably means they're planning something, but we have no idea what, so it might be time to pool all our resources and try to figure out what we can, no matter the risk."

Shrikethrush tapped the ground impatiently with a claw, a look of muted distress etched upon his face.

"Hey, it isn't so bad," Cinis reassured him. "I know it might seem hopeless, but we've been fighting the Brotherhood for centuries. This is nothing we can't handle."

"Yeah, I guess you're right... hey, I've got something for you," Shrikethrush reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a black glass bottle. "To thank you, for all you've done for us."

"Aww, thanks sweetie!" said Cinis, accepting the bottle gratefully. "Oooh, and it's rouge, how did you know?"

"Hah, I wouldn't expect you to remember that particular occasion," he replied slyly. "Can you try it? Just so I know how good it is before you forget that too?"

"Oh, well I shouldn't, I am on duty after all. Then again, I'm sure just a taste wouldn't hurt."

Shrikethrush watched as she popped the cork from the top and began raising it to her mouth.

"What if you did catch one of them?" Shrikethrush blurted. "What if you could find out where they were?"

Cinis stopped and sighed.

"Shrikethrush dear, I know it's frustrating to wait, but it's just not possible. It's common practice for the Brotherhood to carry cyanide pills, and even then the lower ranked members are several layers removed from anyone significant in the chain of command. It might offer a short term advantage for us, but in the end we still have to wait, anticipate and react when they make their moves. It's the fate of anyone whose purpose is to defend rather than attack."

"And there's no way we can get any kind of public support."

"The more people who know about us, the more we become common knowledge, and as soon as that happens, we're instantly in more danger. Not to mention we can't afford to have the ulterior motives of the elders or the royals weighing down on us."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Shrikethrush sighed, casting his gaze to the floor dejectedly.

Cinis took a sip from the bottle and her face scrunched up.

"Hmm, it's a little bitter," she commented.

The green dragon chuckled half-heartedly and looked up wearily.

"You know, I did have a run in with the Brotherhood about a week ago," he stated.

"Really?" Cinis exclaimed, "What happened?"

"They came to our home, Cinis. They know about me."

"But how? We were so careful," Cinis deliberated.

"Were you?" Shrikethrush asked accusingly. "You knew full well they'd figured out who you were, but you still had no qualms meeting with me. You were never careful enough and that's your biggest weakness."

Cinis eyed the bottle.

"Hold on, you can't afford wine... you're broke, you said so yourself... Shrikethrush, you didn't-"

"You'd have done better to not let a poison dragon handle your drinks," he muttered resignedly. "The way I see it, I have two choices. Continue feeding them low level information and hope they don't decide to kill me and Meri once they lose interest in me, or prove myself to them."

Cinis went to move, but her limbs burnt beneath her and she found she was unable to support herself, collapsing to the ground. She attempted to call out, but her lungs wouldn't expand and all she could manage was a pathetic wheeze.

"No-one will hear you. You know that. You picked this spot for that reason."

"Shrike...thrush. You should've... told me," she rasped, reaching towards him with the edges of her vision blurring. "I could have... protected you."

"No, Cinis. You couldn't even protect yourself. A war is coming. The brotherhood has an army, they've shown me. And what do you have? You've shown yourself to be the weaker side, and if I'm going to protect Meri, I need to be on the winning side, not the side that can't even afford to act on their own knowledge. Not the side that's too soft to even notice the dissension in their ranks."

"Shrikethrush... I... trusted... you..." the slumped dragoness whimpered as blood began to obscure her eyes.

"And that was your first mistake," he replied, as Cinis' body went limp, and never moved again.

Shrikethrush dragged the corpse over one of the metal grates in the floor and closed his eyes, focussing his energy into a single point, which he brought up through is neck and ejected from his mouth as a concentrated glob of acidic green ooze that landed on Cinis' brilliant orange scales, beginning to eat away at them immediately.

As the volatile substance spread slowly across her body, the dissolved flesh dripped through the grate, until barely anything remained. The only parts resistant enough to withstand the acidity for any length of time were the horns. Before they could be broken down, Shrikethrush reached down and plucked one from the ground. These golden horns, with such unusual asymmetry. Cinis had told him before that they'd made her a target for a great deal of insults and bullying when she was younger. Turning this one in his paw, in a way it was quite beautiful.

Shrikethrush heaved and had to plant his feet more firmly as he vomited violently, the putrid bile mixing with with the dissolved sludge of his former friend.

Stowing the horn in his bag, he went to leave this dreadful place, but noticed the framed photograph he'd placed in there earlier. Finding he couldn't stomach this either, he threw it on the ground, the glass shattering instantly. As Shrikethrush left, shutting the pipe behind him, the acid reached the edge of the frame and in seconds the image of a smiling family was no more.

Shrikethrush turned a corner and was confronted by a group of hooded dragons. Their darkened faces and unclear, cloaked forms made for a sinister impression.

"What do you have to report to us?" The dragon in the centre asked unceremoniously.

"Cinis is dead and I can tell you the locations of all the other members of the Dragon Head."

The cloaked figures flinched, taken aback by the unexpected development. For a few moments they whispered among one another.

"And your proof?" the middle dragon came again, presumably the spokesperson of the group.

Shrikethrush withdrew the distinctive horn from his bag and threw it upon the ground. The cloaked figures were clearly impressed.

"And this details the location of the meeting point of the Dragon Heads in one week from today, but you'll need me to decipher it," continued Shrikethrush, brandishing the sealed letter. "I only have one condition."

"And what's that?" the unknown dragon replied cautiously.

"Let me join you and serve your cause."

His mouth was the only part of the dragon Shrikethrush could see, and now it twisted into a many-toothed smile.

"Very well then, welcome to the Brotherhood of Shadows."

A/N:

Once again this took me longer than I'd hoped, but it's an improvement at least. Maybe one day I'll get to the point where my readers don't have to re-read the entire story every time a new chapter comes out to remember what story they're even reading :P

There'll probably be a lot of chapters like this from the POVs of side-characters whilst I set up the plot, but don't worry, it won't be a different character *every* chapter (I say, having written three chapters from the perspective of three different characters).

I feel like I'm definitely getting more used to writing in this format, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see what you guys think.

Thanks as usual to Telekinetic Moose for being my beta reader, and thank you for reading!

Feel free to leave a review; I always love to hear what you guys think, and I got some really encouraging messages last time, so thanks for that!

The next chapter will be "Cold Feet" and we'll be getting back to Aura and co, so see you next time!