Glorious Politics

AN: This was another really fun chapter, which is why this one was also longer than normal. There's a lot of plot development and twists in this, so I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. Sobek, Mistral, and Veneno are my OCs. Shortsail and Mystic belong to Flerovium. Bloodwalker belongs to SpyroAndSisuFan.

Chapter Thirty-Five:

As soon as he heard that, Winter was on high alert. All of them were, really, but it was the Icewing that was taking the point. Mistral was a good distance down the hallway, but he had turned to see what was wrong when they suddenly went quiet. Winter held up a single claw and then pointed to the door. After that, he pointed to Mistral and then down then hallway. Mistral nodded and took off, evidently to get backup. There were guards everywhere, so he wouldn't take very long at all.

Still, despite Winter telling them to stay put, Anemone just huffed and barged through the door. Glory saw something fly through the air and hit the Seawing right in the eyes. Anemone flinched from the impact, and Glory felt horror when she recognized the black liquid that splashed off of her face.

Rainwing venom.

Getting hit in the eyes was a death sentence, but...Anemone was just standing there. The Seawing used a palm to wipe the substance from her eyes and blinked a few times. "Nice try, but that stuff doesn't work on me."

"Well, you can't blame me for trying," a familiar voice responded. "And I honestly expected Glory to come in first. She's there, isn't she?"

Glory and Winter were both sticking to cover on opposite sides of the door. "I'm here, Magnificent! What do you want?" She peeked in just in time to see the familiar pink scales of her newest arch nemesis uncloak in the middle of the room.

"Since my ambush failed, and since you asked so nicely, how about we talk for a minute? We have so much to catch up on." Glory glanced at Winter and saw him shaking his head. She nodded her agreement.

"I have nothing to say to you." Magnificent scoffed, and Anemone began walking further into the room with a growl. The sound of rapid clawsteps further down the hall signaled Mistral arriving with reinforcements.

"Is that so? Do call your guard dog off, Glory. Unless, of course, you don't care to know where your brother's gotten off to." Fear gripped her heart. She'd all but forgotten that Jambu and Pineapple hadn't checked in with her for a while. They always did their own thing, and Jambu was known to forget things. She'd figured they were already back at the rainforest and were just off on their own.

Glory entered the room despite Winter trying to stop her. Magnificent was grinning victoriously on the far side of the room, unmoving despite the approaching Seawing. "Hang on, Anemone!" She stopped about a wing's length from the other Rainwing, but she didn't move away. "What did you mean about my brother?"

"Oh, he's with us, and we're taking good care of him," she smirked.

"If you hurt him—" Glory began, only for Magnificent to cut her off.

"You'll what? Kill me? Feel free, but if anything happens to me—anything at all—Jambu dies. Throw me in jail, he dies. Enchant me, he dies." Her smirk grew darker. "But...we're willing to trade him. He's not too valuable to the cult, after all. They were originally just going to kill him, you know. I stopped them. I knew he could be useful in other ways."

"What do you want?" Glory reiterated. The sound of dragons at the door had her turning and gesturing for them to wait. Mistral was there with three Skywing guards, and she thought she spied Qibli somewhere in the back. The Icewing wasn't happy, but he took her lead. They all stayed put.

With Glory's attention back on Magnificent, the other Rainwing gave her answer. "We want Winter."

Glory could hear the named Icewing growling from outside the room. "We know about Operation: Queen-Maker and your plans with Icicle."

Magnificent just shrugged, completely unconcerned. "Good for you. Am I to take that as a 'no, I don't want to save my brother'?"

"That's not what I said," Glory snapped.

"I thought not. Just wanted to make sure. It's a fair trade, I think. You get your brother back, and we get Winter. Nobody will miss him, after all. He has no home, no tribe, no purpose. What's a dragon like that compared to your last real family member?" Glory grit her teeth, on the verge of telling Anemone to just teleport Jambu into this room and be done with it. But they had to have known that was a possibility and taken measures against it.

"What's to stop us from simply teleporting him here?" Anemone challenged, having clearly read Glory's mind.

Magnificent just grinned again. "You're not the only ones with an animus." Every dragon on their side of the room shared an uncomfortable glance at that. Anemone and Turtle had been their trump cards, their aces, against the cult. If they had an animus now, too, things were about to get a whole lot more dangerous. "And ours assures me that the chains they are bound in are completely Anemone-proof. And Turtle-proof, in case you were wondering about that."

Glory glanced at Anemone, wondering if she had caught the name of the animus. This whole thing could be a bluff, after all. Obviously, it wasn't Darkstalker. If it was, they'd know about it. Stonemover was still in Jade Mountain as far as she knew, and he'd never use his magic, anyway. When Anemone sent her a pointed look and shook her head, Glory understood that it wasn't a bluff.

That presented a whole new problem. If they had Peacemaker and an animus, why wasn't Darkstalker back yet? "If you have an animus, why isn't Darkstalker back yet? You already have Peacemaker."

Magnificent hummed at that but answered, nonetheless. "I'll admit that we can't...yet. Lord Darkstalker will return in time once all of the pieces are in their proper places."

"And what does that mean?" Mistral demanded.

She chuckled. "Wouldn't you like to know..." Her expression became more serious, and her gaze locked upon Glory once more. "I'll have an answer now. Winter for your brother, yes or no?"

Glory clenched her jaw in frustration and glanced back at Winter, her eyes full of desperation and guilt. She'd never ask him to do this, but she wanted him to, regardless. She loved Jambu deeply despite his carefree nature and his tendency to visit only on occasion. Like Snowfall, she couldn't just sacrifice a member of her own family for whatever 'greater good' there was.

Winter's gaze remained locked with hers for several long moments before he released a resigned breath through his nostrils. "I agree to your terms," he told Magnificent. Mistral was glaring at her in clear anger, making her wince and look away. In that moment, she swore to make things right in the future. Winter wouldn't be with the cult long. She'd find a way to save him no matter what!

"Excellent..." Magnificent purred. "You two will meet me and my associates at midnight down in the sewers where you were held hostage. Tell anyone you want about this exchange, but if I even think someone followed me, Jambu will die. If anyone else but you two show up at the meeting, Jambu dies. Do we understand each other, Glory?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Say it."

Glory glared at the other Rainwing, her ruff going from red to black in utter hatred. "Yes, I understand."

"Good. Now, I think I would like an escort to the front door. And remember the consequences if anything happens to me." At first, no one said anything. Then, the crowd parted and Qibli walked through, gesturing for Magnificent to go.

"I'll walk you out," he volunteered.

Magnificent grinned at the Sandwing flirtatiously. "Such a gentle-dragon..." As she walked past, the tip of her tail rubbed against Qibli's chin, and the Sandwing shivered in disgust. Then, once she was out of the room, he followed behind her, and the Skywing guards followed behind him.

Glory sighed once they were gone. "Someone should find General Levante. Tell him what happened."

Anemone nodded, her expression distinctly uncomfortable. "I'll go. But, uh...I heard the name of their animus in her thoughts." Glory, Winter, and Mistral all looked to her expectantly. "It's Jerboa. The original Jerboa."

"That's...not good," Winter commented, also looking uncomfortable.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. I didn't realize," Anemone snarked. "Her teaming up with Vulture is just about the single worst thing that could happen."

"Then why isn't Pyrrhia in utter chaos right now?" Glory wondered. "If they have Jerboa on their side, how come Thorn's still Queen? Matter of fact, how come the Sand Kingdom even exists right now?"

It was Mistral who answered, pointing at Anemone. "Because of her."

The Seawing shrugged and nodded. "Makes sense. If they were being too obvious about their spells, they'd know I'd start fighting back with my own. Chances are, they are using spells. They're just more subtle and harder to see."

"It's also possible that Jerboa is a recent addition to their numbers," Mistral pointed out. "Perhaps they only needed an animus because we had one of our own. To even the fight, so to speak."

"So...what? They won't use theirs if we don't use ours?" Actually, it made sense now that she said it out loud. The round of unanimous nodding meant the others thought the same way. "Great...so we have an animus cold war to worry about now."

"But I thought Jerboa's hut was hidden. How did they find it?" Winter brought up a good point. The hardest part about freeing the original Jerboa would've been finding her. Once they were there, however, there wasn't much Boa could've done. She'd met the Sandwing animus once before. Her service was pledged to no Queen, but Thorn had her respect. That's how Glory had met her and learned her condition.

"There's a number of dragons who know where her hut is: Thorn, Blaze, Qibli, Moon, myself. I never told Deathbringer, so that's him out." She hummed in thought. "I suppose Mastermind might have known, but it's more likely that the mole in Thorn's palace found out somehow and told them."

There was a short moment of silence as they all digested this new, dark turn before Anemone shook her head and stood to leave. "I'll go find Levante. Thorn needs to know about this, too."

Once the Seawing was gone, Glory also stood, planning to follow Anemone's advice and tell Thorn about this whole mess. "Queen Glory..." She winced at Mistral's tone, and she turned in time to see Winter put a claw on the other Icewing's shoulder.

"This is my choice," he said quietly. "Snowfall already said she would do the same thing for her family, so you cannot blame Glory." Though he was clearly unhappy, Mistral nodded, accepting his friend's wishes.

Glory wasn't much of a hugger, even if she was starting to get better. The fact Winter was risking his life to save her brother was reason enough for her to wrap him in a tight hug, which he returned. "We'll find you, Winter. I swear it."

"I know," was his simple response. "I trust you." A short pause. "I sacrificed everything by saving Foeslayer. Now this..." He chuckled humorlessly. "I'm way too selfless for my own good."

He began to pull away at that, and she let him go. However, what happened next took both of them by surprise. Winter stood and turned to the other Icewing, clearly about to say something, but Mistral cut him off when he pulled him into a hug. It would've been a normal sight for Glory, one friend saying goodbye to another, if not for the look of utter shock upon Winter's face. It was a short hug, and Mistral's expression was as hard to read as ever when he pulled back. "If you die, I swear I'll never forgive you." He turned and glared at Glory, but Winter shook his head, reminding him that it wasn't her fault.

After that, Mistral stormed out, and she watched him go, feeling horrible for this. "Notice how she said associates?" Winter's observation brought her out of her thoughts. "If it was Sobek, wouldn't she just have said his name since we already know his involvement?" She nodded, finding that that made sense. "The one thing we didn't consider is that they might've split up. What if Sobek isn't even in the Sky Kingdom anymore? What if it's just her?"

"Where else could he be? Or maybe his injuries actually were too severe?" Maybe the reason no one had heard anything about him in the time since the incident in the sewers was because he died somewhere in a forsaken corner of that underground labyrinth.

"Possible but unlikely," he replied. Then, he sighed. "You'll need to find someone else to go find Crystal now. And I know Bloodwalker is already there, but I'd keep a watch on Greatness. She's the only source of information we really have right now, so—"

"So they might try to kill her," she finished his thought. When he nodded, she sighed. "I would like to have one day without bad news. Is that so much to ask?" He just shrugged. "Come on, let's go brief the others. Thorn and Veneno definitely need to know. So does Snowfall."

Those were a rough couple of conversations. Snowfall, like Mistral, was angry but couldn't blame Glory for making a decision she herself would make. Thorn's reaction was arguably worse. "I know what it's like to lose someone, Glory. What happened to Jambu is regrettable, but practically speaking, you should not be giving them what they want. Not only that, Winter is a much more valuable asset than Jambu. This is not a good trade." As if the situation wasn't hard enough, Thorn's clear disappointment was almost too much.

Both, however, were highly disturbed by the news of Jerboa's involvement and their theories surrounding how she was freed. Qibli had returned by then, and he gave them all a bit more insight into the situation. "Vulture is afraid of animus magic. He knows what it can do. I think Mistral's theory is right. He only bothered securing an animus of his own because he's afraid of what Anemone is capable of. He's better at doing things the old-fashioned way, with eyes and ears around every corner, than we are. If we're afraid to use magic in case he and Jerboa retaliate, then he has the advantage again."

"Crafty, old bastard..." Thorn muttered venomously. "He's forcing us to play his way." She growled in frustration and rage, a sound that started low in her throat before turning into an outright roar as she slammed a fist onto the wooden table. There was an audible crack, though it was from the table splitting, the relatively thin wood breaking from the blow. The entire room went silent save for Thorn's heavy breaths. After a few seconds, the Sandwing flexed her claws with a frown. "Apologies... Qibli, would you be so kind as to find me some ice? I think I might've broken something."

"S-Sure." Glory glanced at him, though he left before she could ask if he was alright. It wasn't like him to stutter like that.

"I have a...bad habit of punching things when I get angry," Thorn told Glory, having seen her concern. "It makes him nervous when I do. He's never said anything, but I believe it reminds him of Cobra." She looked down at her injured claws again. "That's really starting to hurt now," she chuckled, though it was clearly forced.

"Good thing you weren't wearing those claw things," Glory tried to joke.

Thorn snorted. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it." She sighed, and Veneno, who'd been standing off to the side until now, took a seat by Thorn. "Finding that mole needs to be our top priority," the Queen told her. Then, she turned back to the rest of them, sparing a short glance to Winter. "And since Winter will be unavailable, someone else will need to go find Crystal."

"I would suggest sending a Skywing," Winter replied. "Speed is of the essence right now, so sending a fast flyer is a smart idea."

Thorn nodded. "I like that. I guess Ruby will have her chance to help, after all."

"Well, that depends," a new voice interrupted them. General Levante walked in just then and sat down on Glory's right, giving her a polite smile before turning to the others. Anemone came in behind him and sat between Thorn and Winter, who was sitting on Glory's left. "Queen Anemone filled me in on what happened, but it sounds as if there has been a new development. What, may I ask, do you need Queen Ruby's help with?"

"Someone still needs to find Crystal," Snowfall told him. "Winter suggested we send a Skywing since you're the fastest fliers."

Levante nodded in understanding. "Luckily for you, Queen Ruby had an idea that she wanted me to present to all of you." At their curious yet slightly wary expressions, he continued. "She proposes a task force made up of one dragon from each tribe be created to deal with the cult. Since they are a threat to all of Pyrrhia, all tribes deserve to be involved. And since the initial investigation started in the Rainforest, that it where they should operate out of."

"I think that's a great idea." Thorn was the first one to speak, but she seemed to speak for all of them. Snowfall was nodding in agreement. Anemone appeared to be impressed, albeit begrudgingly. And Glory herself agreed, too. "With one dragon from each tribe, this task force will have access to each tribe's natural abilities. In this case, a quick flier." She nodded at Veneno. "Veneno will be the Sandwing member of this task force."

"And since he would never forgive me if I chose someone else, Mistral will be the Icewing," Snowfall said. Glory couldn't help a hidden smirk at that. That sounded about like her favorite Icewing.

"As much as I would love to join it myself, I need to focus on my Kingdom. Mother isn't Queen anymore, so it falls to me to keep the Sea Kingdom in one piece." As sad as Glory was to hear that, she had an idea as to who Anemone would choose, and she was fine with him, too. "But I do think you need an animus just in case, so Turtle will be your Seawing."

All eyes turned to her, so Glory was the next to volunteer her dragons—or dragon, rather. "Bloodwalker will be our Nightwing. Other than Deathbringer, he's the best assassin I know. As for the Rainwing...I volunteer myself."

"Uh...I don't think that's the best idea, Glory." It was Anemone who spoke, but everyone else was nodding. "I think the whole point is to have someone other than Queens working on this."

"Then Greatness can run my Kingdom in the meantime!" Glory snapped at her. "Sobek joined the cult because of something I did. Magnificent joined because she hates me. Deathbringer joined because of how I treated him. They already captured and tortured me once, and now they have my brother! They made this personal! I'm not going to sit by and let others do this when they clearly have an interest in me!" She glared at everyone in the room, daring them to argue with her. "I'm the Rainwing and that's that."

Every dragon in the room save one still seemed skeptical. "Can't argue with that!" Veneno chuckled. In a more serious tone, she continued. "She has every right to fight if she feels she needs to." Thorn glanced at the older Sandwing and then sighed, eventually nodding in acceptance.

With that decided, Levante nodded. "Queen Moorhen has yet to be informed, but I suspect she will agree to this. She's becoming much like your mother was in the later years of her reign." That last bit was directed at Anemone. "Most of her duties are carried out by her siblings now, though she still deals with foreign affairs herself."

"In other words, we don't know who our Mudwing will be yet," Snowfall clarified. "And who had Queen Ruby chosen to be our Skywing."

At Levante's smirk, Glory guessed who it was before he even said anything. "She's sending Peril."

"Well...I feel our chances of success have just increased exponentially," Thorn nodded appreciatively.

"I thought you might like that," Levante grinned. "As for your Crystal issue, I can send Horus and a detachment of my most trusted soldiers to secure her and get her to safety. Say the word, and they'll be gone within the half-hour."

Thorn was the de-facto leader of this little meeting, but she, like everyone else, turned to Snowfall. It was her sister, after all, so it was only right that she be the one to make the decision. "Do it," she nodded. "And tell Queen Ruby that she has my thanks."

"I'll see that it's done," Levante nodded, standing as he prepared to leave. "I'll also be sure to inform Queen Moorhen of this development, and Peril will be up here shortly. After the earlier intrusion, I think we'll all feel better with her nearby."

Just as Levante was leaving, Qibli came back with a bowl of ice and a doctor, who Thorn allowed to examine her hurt claw. Since Thorn hadn't made a big deal out of it during her time there, Anemone hadn't noticed that anything was wrong. "What happened to your claw?"

"Hurt it," was Thorn's simple response.

"I don't feel that anything's broken," the doctor deduced. Before he could continue, Anemone pulled off one of her armlets and held it out to Thorn, who took it cautiously but didn't put it on.

"You'll probably need that." There was a distinct sense of 'why' in Thorn's expression. "If Glory gets something to help her detect potential attackers, you should have something similar, too. It's enchanted to make the wearer immune to any kind of poison, including Sandwing venom. It also increases your natural healing rate."

With that explanation, Thorn put it on without any further argument. "Thank you, Anemone. I'm sure this will be quite useful."

As that was going on, she spied Qibli and Winter over on the other side of the room. Their voices were low, but she didn't need to hear the words to know what was being said. They were saying 'goodbye'. She watched as Qibli's gaze fell to the floor as he nodded, and then, surprisingly, Winter was the one that brought the Sandwing into a hug. She'd honestly expected it to be the other way around. Still, the fact they even had to say goodbye was weighing on her. Maybe Thorn was right. As much as she hated to think it, maybe surrendering Winter was the wrong thing to do, even if it would save her brother's life.

She looked down and sighed at the thought. Though, she was taken by surprise when a pair of white claws entered her vision, and she looked up into Winter's eyes. "It's my choice," he reminded her gently.

"I know, I just..." She just felt guilty because she preferred he risk his life instead of watch her brother die. However, she couldn't bring herself to tell him that.

"You don't have to say anything else," he assured her. "But will you do me a favor?" She nodded, promising that she'd do whatever he wanted. "If I...If I don't make it, will you tell Moon that I'm sorry? For everything. And..." He trailed off for a moment, and she thought she could spy some moisture in his eyes. "Tell her that I love her enough to let her go. She found happiness with someone who deserved her more than I ever did, and that's...that's all I ever wanted for her...even if it wasn't me who gave it to her."

Glory nodded. "I'll tell her," she promised. There was absolutely no way she would ever forget those words. "But she deserves to hear that from you, Winter. If you have no other reason to stay alive, do it for her."

"Winter?" Both the Icewing and the Rainwing turned to see Snowfall standing off to the side. "Will you walk with me a while?" He nodded silently, and the two cousins left the room.

That's about the time when Thorn yawned. "As much as I would prefer staying up, I don't think I can go another night without sleep." She and Veneno stood, though the younger one stopped in front of Glory, pulling the Rainwing into a hug and planting a kiss atop her head. "Be careful. Wake me as soon as you get back. If I wake up on my own in the morning, I'll assume everything went wrong." After another kiss, Thorn sighed and tightened her hold. "I love you."

"Love you, too, mom." One of Thorn's arms disappeared for a moment, and then Qibli was there, hugging his adopted mother and sister. The odd little family remained in that group hug for a few more moments before Thorn pulled away. "I'll be careful, I swear. See you guys in a little bit, okay?"

Thorn, Qibli, and Veneno all left after that, leaving her and Anemone alone in the room. She looked at the Seawing curiously. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily. I have an idea, though I'll admit it's high risk."

Anemone explained her plan of using Winter's necklace to follow them into the tunnels. Once Jambu was brought out and safe, she could take off the necklace, take out the cultists down there, and end up saving everyone. She also explained that there were any number of things that could go wrong. First, they could have an enchantment to detect animus-enchanted objects nearby. Second, if anyone survived, they could tell their story to Vulture and then they would have to worry about Jerboa's retaliation. Finally, the biggest risk of all was that Jerboa herself was down in those tunnels.

"I'll think we'll stick with the current plan," Glory denied. She took a few minutes to think about it but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth the risk. Either Jambu got killed anyway, in which case, what was the point of doing this? Or an ancient animus with about the same sort of morals as Darkstalker would be sicced on them. Neither case was particularly good.

"Yeah, I suppose that's probably a good idea..." Despite admitting that herself, Anemone didn't appear satisfied. "I'm not used to being in a situation where my magic can't actually help."

"Still, thanks for trying." They shared a small smile, and they both stayed up talking. Once it was time to go, Glory would find Winter and they'd leave for the exchange, but for now, she just tried to enjoy spending time with her favorite Seawing.

Tsunami would be so jealous if she knew that...

AN: I believe someone once asked me if the cult would end up having an animus, and if I remember right, my answer at that time was not yet. Well...they do now. The original Jerboa is back, at least according to Magnificent. Who knows? Maybe it was a bluff that no one caught.

Another reviewer correctly pointed out the fact that Jambu was still in the Sky Kingdom alone a few chapters back, and uh...yeah. This is why we haven't heard from him in a while. So kudos to that reviewer for somewhat predicting that something might happen to Jambu.

And we also get a little 'Council of Elrond' type thing there at the end. I assume everyone noticed that there was no Mudwing named? I think I sense another OC submission coming on...

If anyone is interested in having their Mudwing OC star in this story, I'll need a name, gender, age, physical description, personality, and a brief background. My only rule is no hybrids, and I have a reason for that. This character needs to be someone than Moorhen can rely on and personally chooses to join the task force, which in my mind, means a full-blooded Mudwing.

And speaking of OC submissions: Epsilon33, if you're reading this, I swear I haven't forgotten your Nightwing character. He'll be showing up in the next two or three chapters guaranteed. And you can hold me to that, I promise.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22