Glorious Politics

AN: Before the chapter, I want to take a moment to say a few things here.

Has anyone heard of Fiverr? It's a website for freelancers to do business, and I recently signed up for it. A have a few gigs published right now if anyone is interested in checking them out. My username there is the same as on here (admiralcole22). Money's a bit tight for me right now, so if you want to support me and get an original story or commission a short WoF fanfic you'd like to see done, check it out. I'd really appreciate the support, and you'd be getting something cool out of it, too.

Second, Glorious Politics is one of four fanfictions I'm currently writing, and each one is for a different fandom. If you're interested in Godzilla or want to see Ghidorah as a good guy, check out The One Who Lost His Way. Another one, titled The Good Life, is a crossover of Zootopia and the Bad Guys, two movies I thoroughly enjoy. And my newest fic, Life is Precious, is a LoTR au where Smaug survives and is basically hoodwinked by Gandalf into being bound to a mortal (thus being forced to become an ally to the free peoples of Middle-Earth).

Self-advertising now done. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. My OCs Horus and Mistral belong to me. Bloodwalker belongs to SpyroAndSisuFan.

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

After her talk with Greatness, Glory went to collect Mistral and tell Thorn they were heading back to the Rainforest for now. Qibli and Moon still weren't back, so she wanted to check up with them and see how the investigation into Greatness' potential wrongdoings was going. The fact she was being forced to investigate one of her best friends was hard to accept. She highly doubted the Nightwing had done anything. Unfortunately, Mistral wasn't willing to let things be, and her greatest fear right now was having to choose a side.

She didn't want to lose Mistral's trust and friendship, but Greatness had been a loyal and faithful friend for over a decade. If she was going to choose anyone, it should be the Nightwing. It was an obvious choice to make logically, but her heart wasn't so easily convinced. Hopefully, though, that choice would never have to be made.

Other than that, however, she needed to talk to Bloodwalker. The assassin would be the best choice to take DB's old position, but she was uncertain if he would agree based on her treatment of his cousin. There was also the potential that Deathbringer may be compromised if Thorn's theory was proven true. There was no way of knowing if Bloodwalker would stand against his cousin for her when she would ultimately be responsible for Deathbringer's fall.

After walking through the Sandwing outpost to the tunnel, they arrived in the rainforest once again, and Glory was reminded that she needed to order construction of her own outpost on this side. Never again would those tunnels be used to undermine her Kingdom's security. It was her own fault for not taking care of the problem yet, but she would take the appropriate steps to fix that mistake soon enough.

As they walked towards the Nightwing village, Glory decided to address the issue at claw. "You said yesterday that I had your trust, right? So can I trust you, too? Can you remain unbiased during this investigation, or do you need to step back?"

"My personal feelings will not compromise the investigation into the cult," was his automatic response. "She already confessed to killing my parents and ruining my life, which means she's already guilty. Whether or not we find evidence to incriminate her for treason is irrelevant." The fact he was able to say that with a straight face and no emotion whatsoever was disconcerting.

And it didn't ease her concerns one bit. "Okay...that's your professional, rehearsed response. So what's your actual answer?"

His pace slowed, and he eventually stopped, studying her intently. "My actual answer? She's guilty, so stop trying to protect her," he snapped. "I already warned you not to, did I not?"

So he wasn't going to remain unbiased, then. She huffed, glaring back at him. "Yes, but this isn't any Nightwing we're talking about. In fact, I believe we already had this discussion, did we not?" He frowned at how she mockingly mirrored his own words. "I'm not going to let her be killed if she's found innocent of these allegations."

She saw how he tensed at her declaration, and his expression darkened significantly. "Even after hearing the truth, you'd still choose her, a murderer, over me?"

The question brought forth a growl. This is exactly what she didn't want to do, but if he was going to be a stubborn ass about this, she'd give him the same in return. "You said that you believe in duty to tribe before duty to self. So yes, I would...because it's my job to protect my subjects from the likes of you."

He recoiled as if physically struck, clear surprise in his expression, before snarling, "And this has nothing to do with the fact that she's your friend, I take it?"

She just narrowed her eyes at the insinuation, not backing down from his growing anger. Instead, she posited him a challenge. "Well, wouldn't you do the same if someone was trying to go after Frost? Or Snowfall?" Or me, she silently added, knowing that was probably assuming too much. His anger seemed to wane, and he looked away in thought. "Look, Mistral, I already told you that I sympathize with you. I want to help you, but I would rather you not force me to choose between two of my best friends."

He looked to her then, a bit of genuine surprise in his gaze, before looking deeper into the forest, the burned area just visible from here. A small trail of vapor left his nostrils as he exhaled in what was most likely frustration. Without a word, he continued walking towards the remains of the Nightwing village. She took some solace in the fact it was less a silence born of brooding anger and more from inner conflict. He knew she was right, and he absolutely hated it.

There was nothing left to say right now. Instead, she could only hope that he would eventually come around. So, with a sigh, she trailed behind him, allowing him his space for now. Once into the Nightwing village, it became clear that the scale of the devastation wasn't as bad as she'd initially thought.

It was bad, yes, but it could have been a lot worse. More than half of the village was gone, the trees in those areas burnt husks. It was the south and east quadrants that suffered the worst damage. The north quadrant had a few scorched houses, but most of the buildings and trees there were fine. The western quadrant, where Greatness' house was, remained mostly untouched. It made her wonder if that was deliberate.

All of that was concerning, obviously, and it pained her to see all the Nightwings shuffling about in the ruins. Many were probably trying to salvage what they could. Some wore new burns, but most dragons didn't seem bothered by any of their injuries. Their time on the volcano probably meant many were accustomed to such wounds.

She'd have to start relief efforts soon. There was probably an angry mob outside of her pavilion already, wondering why she hadn't done anything yet. A few Skywings milling about or lending a claw here or there reminded her of the other problem she needed to address. There were so many things she needed to take care of soon, and there was nothing she could do about it except be resigned to the fact that they had to get done. Without Greatness to lend a claw, it would be that much harder, as well.

There was a more immediate issue that took the two of them off guard when their destination came into view. A rather sizable group of Nightwings were standing outside Greatness' house, preventing two particular dragons from entering. "This...might be a problem," she muttered, looking over the crowd. The general mood seemed upset, though not to the point of aggression.

"Oh, thank the stars!" Qibli walked over to the two of them, leaving Moon to try and negotiate with the other Nightwings.

"What is this?" Qibli sighed at the Icewing's question, looking back at the crowd for a brief moment.

"Apparently, they caught wind of what we were doing yesterday and decided they didn't like us outsiders trying to impugn their Princess' honor." Mistral took a few calming breaths at that. "They won't let us back in."

"Clearly..." was Glory's response. With Greatness unavailable to assure the crowd everything was fine, that task fell to her. So, with that in mind, she walked up to address the Nightwings, who all looked thankful for her appearance.

"Queen Glory! We caught these two trying to snoop around Princess Greatness' house!" one, the leader probably, spoke up. He was an older dragon, in his fifties if she had to guess, and clearly loyal to the last Nightwing royal.

"They're not snooping. I asked them to search her house." Mass confusion seemed to hit the crowd. They were wondering why their Queen had ordered such a thing. "I received some information about the attack—" she began, only for another dragoness to cut her off.

"Princess Greatness had nothing to do with that if that's what you're implying!" The crowd seemed to agree, and Glory held up a claw to pacify them.

"I'm not implying anything. Trust me when I say I share your belief. I highly doubt Greatness did anything wrong." Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Mistral opening his mouth, but she shot a glare at him. He remained silent. "But there's a process to follow, and I need to make sure the information I have actually is false."

Some of the Nightwings seemed to be coming around to her side, but there were a few, such as the old dragon who first addressed her, that were still skeptical. "And where's our Princess at? Can she back up your claims?"

"Greatness is in the Sand Kingdom right now, and she'll remain there until this matter is resolved." The underlying message was that Greatness was under guard, but she didn't want to explicitly say as much. "So the faster we finish, the sooner she comes back."

The old dragon seemed to confer with his colleagues for a few minutes before turning back to Glory. "We'll let you in, Queen Glory."

Not good enough. "And my colleagues?"

Another few moments of conferring. "Moon and Qibli can go in, too. We at least know them. But the Icewing stays out here! He's had it out for us ever since he arrived!"

Mistral looked about to argue, but Glory beat him to it. "That's fine." The Icewing stared at her in confusion and slight shock, so she addressed him next. "Go wait in our office. And maybe figure out who's been running my Kingdom since I left."

He studied her for a moment, his expression hard to read. Then, however, he nodded and walked away. With Mistral gone, the crowd parted enough to allow her, Qibli, and Moon entrance.

It didn't take long for Qibli to point out her word choice once the door was closed. "Our office?" he smirked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, our office. He's been in there every day for nearly two months now, and most of the scrolls and stuff in there now are his." Plus, and she'd never tell anyone else this, she'd chosen that specific word for another reason. It was a little hint to Mistral that she enjoyed his company and was willing to share her office with him. Knowing him, and judging by his expression before he left, the Icewing had caught it.

"So...what are we looking for exactly?" Moon wondered, looking around the ground floor. Greatness' house was the largest in the Nightwing village, even sporting a small upper level and a cellar.

While not nearly as large or extravagant as Ruby's or Anemone's palaces, the decorations and relative size, like her own pavilion, were indications enough of a royal's house. Most of the furniture was a bit more elegant than the simple stuff most Nightwings owned, and there were nice ceramics like vases and platters on display. An old tapestry hung on one of the walls, horribly faded, but legible enough to make out the old Nightwing Kingdom's seal from two thousand years ago.

Right in front of the entrance was the living area with a firepit in the center. To the left was a small library of scrollshelves along the wall with a desk there for either reading or working. To the right were a few display cases with a few trinkets, probably important to the Nightwings in some way. The second floor was Greatness' bedroom, and the cellar not only had stored food, but also several different types of alcohol. While not an avid drinker, Greatness was known to enjoy a drink every now and then.

"Nice place," Qibli commented, looking around. A dozen dragons could mingle in here without much difficulty, so it was pretty spacious. Glory had been here a few times before, but Greatness didn't usually host guests.

"Alright, well...I guess we split up. Qibli, you take her bedroom. Moon, the cellar. I'll look around her desk." Splitting up to search their assigned areas, Glory's first step was to search all the documents on her desk. After a few minutes, the worst thing she found was a rather sweet-sounding letter from a secret admirer.

She had no idea what that was about, but she'd keep it in mind for now, at least.

The rest of the stuff on her desk was stuff any leader would have: letters from citizens with either complaints or suggestions. There was even one requesting an outpost around the tunnels from a week ago. Apparently, Glory wasn't the only one aware of the need. Requisition requests, inventories, itineraries, scheduled events made up the rest of it.

The drawers were equally nonincriminating. One was full of inkwells and empty scrolls. The other had a few paperweights, some candles, and a coinpurse. A quick search of the underside revealed no hidden codes or compartments.

Moon came back up after a few minutes. "Nothing strange down there except her taste in drink. I mean, Seawing wine? Really? Doesn't even compare to the Skywing stuff." Glory just snickered and went back to her search.

"How are we supposed to find missing documents?" she wondered aloud. "By the very definition, missing things can't be found." With the desk searched thoroughly, she turned her sights on the scrollshelves. Half of them seemed to be archived administrative things. The other half were more for personal use, history scrolls and old stories and the like.

Qibli came down about ten minutes later and stared at one of the walls suspiciously. "Something's not right here..." Glory and Moon just waited for him to explain, which he did after a few more moments. "The loft continues that way about six or seven more steps." He pointed straight at the wall when he said that. "And I didn't see an overhang while we were outside."

"Secret room?" Moon wondered, to which he shrugged.

"Really?" Glory was a bit more skeptical about the idea. "What is this, some kind of cheesy adventure story?"

"Well...I found her diary. I didn't read it, though!" he quickly added at Glory's dangerous look. "The first and last pages can tell a lot about a dragon, and a found the name of a particular scroll written in the margins."

"Which scroll?" Moon asked, looking at the hundreds sitting on the shelves.

Qibli studied them for a few more minutes before saying, "This one," and picking it up. A string was attached to it, one that disappeared into the wall. A loud clank sounded when he pulled it far enough, and one of the bookshelves swung inwards like a door. Qibli just gave the Rainwing his most smug look.

Glory didn't care about the smug Sandwing, though. She was more interested in the secret room and why Greatness even needed a secret room. Upon entering, the room at first mirrored the study save for the contents of the shelves. "Okay...yeah, this is worth asking about."

Qibli was looking at one of the shelves, his expression serious. "Mastermind's journals, Morrowseer's backlog of special operations, reports from said operations. Why does she even have these?"

"Look," Moon called their attention, pointing at an empty lockbox. "Wonder what was in there." It was a small lockbox, probably big enough to hold some jewelry. Based on the story Greatness told them, she had an inkling of what might have been in it.

"Mistral is not going to be happy about this..." Qibli and Moon looked at her in confusion. "I think it might have been one of the Icewing's Gifts of Diplomacy. Greatness stole one thirteen years ago, but she never said what happened to it." A similar train of thought struck. "Check the dates on Morrowseer's scrolls. Look for a gap in times somewhere around two or three years before the end of the war."

"You seem to know more than we do," Moon pointed out as Qibli followed Glory's instructions. "What are you expecting to find...or not find?"

Qibli used a claw to wipe off some dust, squinting at something on the shelves. "Apparently these scrolls have labels. All the ones marked QM are gone."

Glory sighed. "That," she replied to Moon, gesturing for them to leave. Once out of the secret room, Glory found no mechanism that would close it. Pushing it closed was surprisingly easy, and the shelf went into place with a solid clank of hidden mechanisms relocking into place. "Nobody says anything about this." It wasn't a request, and both of them seemed to recognize that.

They left after that, the crowd allowing them to pass back out. Glory gave them baseless assurances that everything was alright when, in reality, her mind was spinning. Why did Greatness have all of these documents? The Nightwing had assured her that all sensitive Nightwing materials from the war had been 'taken care of'. In hindsight, that didn't necessarily mean 'disposed of'.

She needed to hear Greatness' explanation before she decided on what to do because there was no way of knowing how many other dragons knew about that secret archive. First, though, she needed to check in at her own pavilion and make sure everything was alright. Moon and Qibli headed back to the Sand Kingdom since they were done, but they assured Glory that they wouldn't say anything until she gave the all clear.

Upon arrival at her pavilion, there was a noticeable lack of an angry mob that she had half been expecting. Outside, Skywings stood guard, with yet more patrolling the perimeter. Inside, Horus, Anemone, and Mistral were in discussion. Mistral was the first to notice her arrival. "Find anything?"

She didn't respond. Instead, she turned to Anemone, who seemed thankful she was back yet annoyed she had been gone for so long. "Sorry to keep you waiting so long, Anemone. I'd honestly assumed you would have left by now."

"I figured you didn't want him in charge," was her response, pointing at Horus for emphasis. "At least they come in use, though."

Before she could ask what that mean, Horus interjected. "My Skywings are helping any Nightwings who are injured or homeless. The Arboretum will be used as a temporary shelter while new houses are being built. I've already sent word to Queen Ruby requisitioning more supplies and troops for the effort." Glory frowned at that. She didn't want more Skywings in her Kingdom. "I'm not trying to undermine your authority if that's what you're concerned about," he continued. "This isn't a power play. Your Kingdom does not have the infrastructure or supplies to deal with such a large attack. I am simply making sure your dragons have the help they need."

"I appreciate the thought," she replied, though she was clearly still unsatisfied. "But the Sand Kingdom is literally a thirty-minute journey away. Thorn has already offered additional support. I don't need or want your help." Horus was about to argue, but Glory continued with a fierce glare. "The fact you are here without my permission, and sitting at my desk I might add, already undermines my authority. I want all of you out of my Kingdom by the end of the week." He went to speak again, but Glory cut him off once more. "I swear if you say that you're 'just trying to help', I'll ask Anemone to enchant you to shut up."

"I'll do it, too," the Seawing Queen grinned.

Horus glanced around the room, and upon seeing no sympathetic faces, sighed. "Alright...I can retract my request for additional troops and supplies since the courier hasn't left yet. But until I have orders from my Queen telling us to leave, I can't go anywhere."

"Correction: you won't go anywhere," Anemone snapped. "I can send you all back with a mere snap."

Normally, the Rainwing Queen wasn't one to do something like this, but it seemed she was left with few choices. "Then tell Ruby to pull the lot of you out and stop interfering in my Kingdom! Refusal to do so means war." There were several gasps at that, and Horus was staring at her in shock. "Tell that to your Queen. Now get out."

The Skywing did, indeed, leave, and both Mistral and Anemone were left to stare at her skeptically. "So you don't want to go to war with the Icewings, but you're somehow fine with going to war with the Skywings?" Mistral shook his head. "I'm calling your bluff right here."

"Of course I'm bluffing," she replied, making Anemone sigh in relief. "But I'm hoping Ruby doesn't call it. Even if she does, I hope she realizes how serious I feel about this."

"If she agrees, though?" Anemone challenged.

Glory just shook her head. "Ruby's like me. She won't risk war—even the threat of war. She may have the most powerful tribe on Pyrrhia, but she's not her mother. She won't throw away lives over something like this."

"You're risking a lot over this theory of yours," Mistral spoke, though he clearly disapproved of her gamble. "And I really rather hope you're right. As you said, war will benefit the cult, and that's the last thing we need."

AN: So Glory's finally getting fed up with stuff. Will Ruby call the Rainwing's bluff? Or did Glory just make a huge mistake?

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22