The Secret Meeting With the Queens.
Spirit glanced around the underground lake, not seeing anyone she took the scroll from her pouch, breaking the newest seal on the continent. The Seal of the Sevens it was called, representing the seven kingdoms, usually only used to send messages to any of the three Queen on pantala, especially when it concerns pantalans coming to pyrrhia. Leading her to panic slightly as she opened the scroll,
Dear Spirit,
If you are reading this then our message has caught up to you. You are hereby ordered to do the following with no resistance, no questions, and no hesitation. Failure to comply will result in you being detained for suspicion of misuse of Animus magic and failure to report this power. We know you are not an animus as no one from either Moon's lineage or Qiblis lineage has ever had any animus blood within them. Your Instructions are as follows:
1: Memorize this scroll, specifically the instructions, and burn this scroll to ashes once you have this memorized. YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO SHARE EVEN THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SCROLL WITH ANYONE LET ALONE THE DETAILS OF ITS CONTINENTS
2: The night you receive this scroll you are to gather 2-4 days worth of work and lessons from your classes in order to not fall behind completely. Note you are not going to have time to work on your schoolwork during this time, your teachers have already been informed and are currently gathering the needed materials.
3: You are to meet the two guards that have dropped this note to you in the entrance cave at dawn. They will blindfold you and take you to your destination. Any resistance or questioning will end up with you been detained as previously aforementioned
You are also prohibited from telling anyone what is going on, where you are going, why you are leaving. You are also prohibited from explaining any level of detail to anyone when you return. These are not guidelines or requests, Spirit, these are orders. We await your arrival.
Signed, Queens Thorn and Glory
Spirit swallowed a letter like this from one queen was bad enough. But BOTH her queens?! This could only mean she was either being shipped off for being a potential danger because of her animus magic that she didn't even HAVE or she was being executed for some reason or another. She read the scroll over and over and over again until she practically had the information engraved on her brain.
She burned the scroll, leaving the ashes on the ground as she went from teacher to teacher gathering the things she needed from them. Gathering them into a bag she took it with her to meet the guards. Swallowing as she was instantly given two narrowed pairs of eyes. "Is that your schoolwork?" One asked as the other snatched it and opened it up. "Yes." She said nervously.The second guard left for a moment Taking her pouch off she offered it to the duo, which they also looked through. Seeing nothing other than scrolls, ink, quills and her library tamp they gave her the pouch which she put back on.
"These will be here when you return." The second guard said as he came back referring to the bag of her work that he no longer had with her. "A-Alright." She said fidgeting nervously. "While we are flying we will be on both sides of you to steer you in the right directions. You follow us and if you are genuinely confused we will give you some simple instructions. Try to run and we are authorized to detain you.'' The first guard said with a gruff nod.
"Y-Yes sir." Spirit said, jumping as she felt the Second guard begin to wrap the blindfold around her eyes. "S-Sorry." She said sitting still as she tied the blindfold over her eyes. Neither guard was speaking more than necessary, and neither guard was being very sympathetic. But she couldn't tell if it was because where they were going was that top secret, they were both that jaded, or some other reasons.
The duo had Spirit take off first then they both got on either side of her and guided her, somewhere, the blindfold was made of thick camel fur preventing even the three moons lights from illuminating her in any capacity. She wasn't sure how long they flew, as she was too nervous about what she was going to be put through as well as what was going to happen to her when they got to their destination.
"Land, Muddy rock." The female guard to her left said as they began to glide downwards towards a cliff. Landing down on the muddy rocks she had warned Spirit about. She had nearly slipped but had managed to stay upright. The older and rather larger male placed a talon on the back of her neck to direct her in the right direction.
Spirit swallowed as she was taken into a mountain cave. Hearing what sounded like a massive boulder slowly being moved before she was guided inside of the cave. "Take the blindfold off and leave." A voice she didn't recognize said. The blindfold being removed, it took her the time to adjust her vision, jumping as the boulder slammed shut.
Turning back around she took on Starflights ability to turn into a statue as she stared at the 6 queens and one guard for each of them from their tribe.
Glory was the furthest away from her, at the head of the table with Deathbringer looking over the entire group as well as the door. To Glory's right was Ruby, she had a large Skywing that was nearly her size behind her holding the hilt of his sword. Next, heading clockwise, was Moorhen who looked like her eldest brother was behind her with a massive warhammer that could crush her just by laying it on top of her. Closest to Spirit was Snowfall, her guard had to be besides the door so he didn't block the limited space for movement. The guard didn't seem to have a weapon, but it looked like there was a handle of some sort just above her shoulder. Next to Snowfall was the Seawing queen Coral, who notably had the narwhal spear on her tail pointed at Spirit. Her guard was sporting armor as well as a club made from the lower jawbone of a great white shark. And finally was Thorn, with her guard wielding a black onyx sword. And everyone's eyes were directly on her
"Well I'm dead." She said after a few moments of silence. "And what makes you think that if you haven't done anything wrong?" Snowfall asked, her cold voice eerily similar to her mothers. "Unless of course you have done something wrong and in that case maybe you should start talking." She said approaching the cowarding hybrid.
"Snowfall, that's enough!" Coral snapped, grabbing her by the horn and dragging the smaller queen back to her spot. Causing the queen to snap her teeth at the older queen. "Don't you touch me. If she has that reaction why should we presume she is innocent?"
"And what in the three moons would YOUR reaction be in her position?" Moorhen asked her, rolling her eyes at the Icewing. That caused her to pause, glancing at the large mudwing queen. Huffing in annoyance as she fell silent. "Exactly." Moorhen said. "Why was your reaction that, young one?" Moorhen asked Spirit gently, who was staring wide eyed at the spot that Snowfall had been standing before being dragged away.
"B-Because I highly doubt that I am being called in front of ALL of the queens unless I've done something wrong." She stammered, looking between each of the queens nervously. She was unaware about what her parents had told them. "And I know that Cactus has been spreading rumors that I am an animus that hasn't reported it." She said with a shrug, either one of those could be the reasoning behind it.
"Good guesses on both accounts." Moorhen said, snapping her claws. Both she and Ruby ducked as her brother threw his hammer straight at Spirit's face. Spirit shrieks and closes her eyes as Instinct takes over and she holds her talons up. The rune on her right talon, the rune that represented metal, glowed as the hammer suddenly stopped dead in its tracks, floating in the air mere inches away from her head.
The queens all had a straight face, with hints of surprise only in their eyes. The guards however instantly got on the defensive. Deathbringer pulled two of his disk weapons, the Skywing, Icewing, and Sandwing each pulled their swords. And the Seawing guard pointed the shark club at Spirit.
She instantly yelped and threw her talons up in a surrendering gesture, her rune falling dark again as the hammer fell to the ground with a loud THUNK. Her ears flattened against her head as she trembled with fear. Moorhen's guard walked over and picked up his weapon before settling back in his spot, each guard putting their weapons away and returning to their statue-like state.
Spirit slowly lowered her talons as the guards holstered their weapons, looking at the queens again she noticed they were all still staring at her. This only occurred because she no longer had the Hammer, and while Spirit didn't know it they had orders to never speak, and never move. The guards in that room were the most trusted, but that didn't give them any authority to do anything but sit, watch and protect the 6 queens of Pyrrhia.
Spirit swallowed, well the cat was out of the bag. Now she had to pray she wasn't going to be locked up for not revealing her power. "Do you have anything to say before we start talking?" Thorn asked her. She was usually the friendlier one out of the 6, but they all had stone faces and cold eyes. Which made sense, this WAS a serious matter, after all. "I… uh… I wanted to tell you all, But… I was worried that You would want me to use my power for something I didn't want to use it for." She said softly. Hesitating before adding. "And I didn't want to be tested on." She admitted.
"Tested?" Glory asked, followed by Coral saying, "Forced to use?" Spirit couldn't help but give both of them a sassy raised eyebrow. "Really?" She said, "With what Mastermind did to the rainwings and what you did to your own daughter? You seriously don't know what I'm talking about?" She asked, looking between the two queens.
"Watch your sass, dragonet." Coral hissed warningly, she didn't need to be reminded what she made her daughter do. "I was trying to win the war." She said, earning a snort from the hybrid. "So were the Skywings and they used their prisoners of war as gladiators. So were the three princesses and they killed each other. So were the nightwings and they were willing to kill, imprison and experiment on the most innocent and peaceful dragons on the entire continent shall I go on?" Spirit asked, ignoring her demand to watch her sass.
"Actually yes because I think that's it." Snowfall said, looking at Coral with a slight smirk. "Don't even get me started on your tribe, your majesty." Spirit instantly said, causing the queen to look back at her. "You have a gift of defense that is practically useless because even if you were driven out of your tribe no one would be able to survive there permanently, you have a gift of order that predetermines their lives so that there is no originality within your tribe and they don't get to decide their own futures, your DIAMOND TRIAL predetermines who DIES because the PARENTS are cynical enough to decide which dragonet is worth less so they kill that dragonet. Not to mention you killed Foeslayer for over two thousand years for something she didn't even DO! Mainly because he wasn't stolen, they fell in love and DARKSTALKER Is the one who killed him by enchanting him to disembowel himself. Your tribe is military and you don't even CARE who you kill within your own tribe to keep it that way!!" Spirit nearly shouted, her sides heaving as she finished her rant. Each queen was staring at her, but none of them looked more dumbfounded than Snowfall herself. Mainly because her tribe kept those secrets tight to their chest.
"And in case you're wondering, Winter sends his regards." She said flatly. "But silly me you don't CARE do you?" She glaring at the queen, her ear flicking as she heard the Icewing behind her drawing his sword. Instantly she threw her left talon back, the rune representing earth glowing as a spike of the rock besides her shot outward and pointed it right at his throat. "Attempted assassination as well?" She asked the queen with narrow eyes.
Snowfall hissed, irritated at both of them now. "I didn't tell him to do that." She growled, glancing at him and he put his sword away. She moved her talon back down and the rock returned to its normal position. "Don't accuse me of being naive, Snowfall if you're willing to kill your own cousin you have no qualms about killing a random hybrid." She spat.
"Watch your-" Snowfall began only to suddenly lose her voice, her right horn glowing with the rune of sound. "I'll watch my tone with you when you do a complete revamp of your camel dung mound of a tribe." Spirit snapped, the queen's throat glowing just above where her vocal cords are. Snowfall glared at Thorn and Snowfall. "We will be discussing this at a later date." Glory said, Snowfall fasting a cocky glare at the hybrid.
"I'm talking about YOU, Snowfall." Glory said as Spirit released Snowfall's vocal chords of silence. Just in time for the queen to shout. "ME?" at the queens. "Defense is one thing." Thorn said. "Killing your own for no other reason than they don't do what YOU want them to is another. Not to mention the thousands of years worth of killing one dragon for a crime she didn't commit could lead to a war all on its own." Glory added. "Now shut up, and sit down." Glory hissed, the 5 queens all glaring at the Icewing queen.
Reluctantly she sat back down. "Alright." Thorn said, looking at Spirit. "You will of course be writing to Snowfall a letter of an apology for threatening her guard." She said, "Now let's get started, before we waste any more time." Thorn said simply.
(A/N alright everyone who made it to this point I'm gonna have to finish the meeting between the queens and Spirit in the next chapter, because this chapter is already 5 and a half pages long on google docs XD I really hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you continue to do so as I keep writing this book!)