Glorious Politics
AN: I'm leaving to go on a trip later today and won't be able to post these chapters when I usually do, so I decided to get them ready and post them before I left. I won't be able to update 'The Good Life' or 'Life is Precious' while I'm gone, though.
Beware of some really cringe adult humor near the end, but other than that...
Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. Nimbus, Sobek, Mistral, and Veneno are my OCs. Bloodwalker belongs to SpyroAndSisuFan. Certus, Solstice, and Swiftback belong to Epsilon33. Bear belongs to Schwanze.
Chapter Forty-One:
Before they left, Glory made one quick detour to have a short word with Greatness, who was still watching her burning house with a completely dejected expression. The fire brigade had smothered most of the flames, but there were still some noticeable hotspots. "Sorry about your house."
And she really was. If she'd stayed somewhere else or even had some guards with her, it probably wouldn't be on fire right now. She felt horrible, and she only felt worse as the roof collapsed with a great crash, sparks flying into the air as the fresh tinder caused the flames to surge again. Not long after, the front wall fell inwards. It had already been heavily damaged by all the fighting inside with sections bowed out or even missing entirely.
Greatness didn't say anything at first, and when Glory returned her attention to the Nightwing, she could see the tears in her eyes. "Everything I saved from our island was in there..." she whispered, and Glory's heart broke at hearing the utter defeat in her friend's voice. "And now it's all gone...again..."
Glad, for the moment, that Mistral had gone ahead at her urging, Glory couldn't think of anything to say other than what she already had. "I'm sorry..."
Greatness sighed heavily before finally tearing her gaze away from the blaze. "I'm glad you're okay, Glory. Don't think I care more about those scrolls than I do you. It's just..."
She trailed off, but Glory knew what she meant. "It's hard to watch everything you know go up in smoke."
The Nightwing nodded before huffing humorlessly. "Guess it doesn't matter. We'll be extinct in a few hundred years, most likely. What does it matter if Pyrrhia has nothing to remember us by when there's no more Nightwings left?" Her tears were falling heavier by this point. Her tribe's future was a tough subject for her, Glory remembered. She had a similar reaction when Glory spoke to her in the Sandwing prison after discovering her secret archive.
There was nothing she could say to that. Whatever words or promises she made would be empty, and both of them knew it. There were only a few thousand Nightwings that escaped the eruption to live here in the rainforest. Others had left the island before then, she knew, but the total number of Nightwings left on Pyrrhia couldn't be more than ten thousand. And even that was being generous. The more realistic figure was around six thousand. It didn't help that some fraction of those were now members of a cult that worshipped Darkstalker as a god, which meant that by the end of this whole debacle, the total number of surviving Nightwings would be even less.
It was enough to have a continuing population if they focused on breeding and raising their numbers, but they weren't, really. The Nightwings as a whole were too scattered, and the results of their previous census showed that there were almost four times as many Nightwing females as males. During the last decades on their island, the males had to sacrifice food to keep the females alive to keep the eggs coming, but even then the dragonets had a ninety percent mortality rate before the age of five. Because of the population skew, there were a lot of Nightwings opting to date dragons from other tribes simply because they didn't have any other choice.
Simply put, Greatness was right. It wasn't a matter of if the Nightwings went extinct, it was when. After everything they had to suffer through, it wasn't Darkstalker or the volcano that would ultimately cause their extinction. It was genetics. It would take several generations, but eventually all of the Nightwings would get bred out of existence. She could already picture how, in a hundred years or so, the awe and surprise a full-blooded Nightwing would cause.
It was an inevitability, she knew. And a lot of Nightwings must've known the same—or been in denial—because none that she knew seemed to care. It was like they just accepted their fate because they knew the odds were against them.
"Well...it's not going to happen any time soon," she told the Nightwing gently. "There's still time to turn things around." Which was technically true. The way things were currently would lead to a single outcome, but if things took a drastic turn? Who knew what could happen instead. Greatness just sighed, so Glory went ahead and told her the other thing she came over here to say. "Make sure they dig the dreamvisitor out once it's safe to do so." The Nightwing nodded numbly, and Glory sighed. She hated to leave her friend in such a poor mood, but Mistral and the others were probably waiting for her at the portal. "I'll see you when I get back, okay?"
There was no answer again, so Glory left with a heavy sigh. "About time." The sudden interjection into her thoughts made her jump a bit in surprise, but she relaxed when she saw it was her favorite Icewing, who had suddenly appeared at her side.
"I thought you were with the others?" She hadn't seen him around when she was talking with Greatness. Either he'd hidden behind a tree or something or he'd just been out of the light's radius, and she just couldn't see him in the shadows.
"I started heading that way, but then I decided it was safer to make sure you had an escort. If Sobek was here, who's to say there isn't someone else?" That was a good point, she had to admit. Too often she would throw the blame on someone for something going wrong and not consider the fact that there was the potential for more than one dragon being at fault.
"In that case, thanks for waiting." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small smile appear on his face, but he didn't say anything, merely contenting himself with walking next to her in silence.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the portals. The area around them was still mostly empty, but with the outpost approved and plans soon to be drafted up, hopefully that would change pretty soon. Maybe she could ask Thorn about having some stone delivered...
Then again, it was probably in her kingdom's best interest to start up her own quarry.
The group was mostly silent as they went through the portal with Glory and Veneno at the head of the procession to make sure the Sandwing guards knew who was coming through. They were quite surprised to see so many dragons come through at such a late—or early—hour, but once they saw why they were here, they were more than willing to send a messenger ahead of them to the palace.
Surprisingly, Veneno shut down that offer. "That won't be necessary. We'll be telling the Queen ourselves. Go back to your posts." Even though she was on assignment in the rainforest, Veneno was still a high-ranking officer, so the pair of guards saluted and returned to their posts inside. When she caught Glory giving her a curious look, Veneno's eyes twinkled like the stars above in the desert sky, a mischievous smirk playing across her face. "Thorn is going to explode when she sees this dirtbag, and it's going to be glorious."
As their group followed behind them, some of the closer dragons either snickered or sighed at the pun. Turtle and Peril were of the former category while Mistral was of the latter. "Was that intentional?" the Rainwing wondered with a playful smirk.
"What do you think?" Glory just chuckled before looking behind them.
The outpost was rather well lit with braziers at regular intervals. Because of that, she could see Bear and his Mudwings taking up an escort formation around their prisoner. Honestly, she couldn't tell what was drawing more looks from the Sandwings that they passed, the heavily-armored troop of Mudwing soldiers or the Sandwing fugitive they were guarding.
Not that she blamed them for staring. Sobek was supposed to be the best of the best, so seeing him actually get caught was probably a shock to those who'd only heard stories and rumors about him. As for the Mudwings, well, she'd definitely be surprised to suddenly have a troop of elite Icewing warriors coming through the portal into her kingdom. It's just not the visitors she—or they—would expect to come out of those portals.
They made for the main gate since there was a no-takeoff or landing rule in the outpost, mostly because the streets were too narrow. All of the buildings were made purely out of sandstone, so it was easy for the garrison to survive aerial attacks. And with the streets too narrow, attackers couldn't effectively land in large numbers within.
Trying to land on the roofs just made whoever it was a ripe target for the large ballistae mounted in the towers flanking the main keep. They were brand-new weapons, those, based off scavenger designs. It was one of the most important things Sanctuary had developed by studying the little creatures. Of course, they were ridiculously complicated mechanisms from what she understood. Only the most talented tinkers and engineers had been able to recreate them from the designs, and so far only the Icewings and Sandwings had managed it, though she was absolutely certain the Skywings weren't far off. Or maybe they already had made some and were just keeping their existence secret. As for the other two tribes, she wasn't sure. Coral probably didn't care enough to order their construction, but now that Anemone was in charge, she didn't doubt that the Sea Kingdom would soon have their own ballistae.
Point being, this outpost, small though it was, was highly defensible. The keep was almost entirely dug into the massive dune with sandstone bricks holding the sand back, and the terrain was sloped so that buildings further away from the keep were lower than the keep itself, giving the weapon systems mounted at the top a clear line of sight over the entire place.
"Doesn't matter how many times I walk through here, I'm still impressed," she told Veneno, who looked around at the outpost with clear pride. It was a too bad her own outpost wouldn't be so grand, but Mightyclaws and Greatness would figure something out. The one problem was that neither of them were military engineers. "I'd love to borrow the team who built it to build an outpost in my kingdom."
"No shame in asking," Veneno shrugged. "I'm sure Thorn would let you, but you might want to consider building it with your own dragons. I doubt you want your fortification designs to end up in another kingdom's archive."
That was a good point. She'd need to come up with her own team to build it, though that could wait. Greatness would probably handle it, anyway. Needless to say, she didn't expect a volunteer so soon. "I could offer some advice, I suppose. One of the things all Icewing officers need to have is a solid understanding of military engineering."
Once she was past her shock, she smiled at Mistral. "I think I'll accept that offer."
By that point, their group reached the main gate, which was clearly cumbersome to open. Even with two muscular Sandwings on each side pulling with all their might, the door was slow and difficult to move. Why became clear quite soon. The wood for the door was about three feet thick and reinforced with iron. With it being about twice the height of even Mistral, each door probably weighed two or three times the average dragon, if not more.
There was an impressed whistle from near the back of the column. "Definitely an impressive place..." Glory glanced back to see who it was that spoke since she didn't recognize the voice. It was one of the Mudwings, who Bear was already glaring at for speaking out of turn. What concerned her more was seeing Sobek's slight smirk. He was muzzle, so he couldn't talk, but she knew what he might say if he could.
No fortification can save you from an enemy already on the inside.
That was the whole point of them being there, wasn't it? Thorn had a mole in her ranks. Already, two of her most dangerous prisoners had been busted out, and there's no telling what other damage had been done, what information had been leaked. How many others could be working for Vulture? Even one of the dragons from Qibli's old squad had been corrupt.
With that worrying thought on her mind, they took flight to the palace, the Mudwings flying in a three-dimensional diamond formation to completely surround Sobek. Until then, he'd been wearing restrictors on his wings to prevent him from flying off, so they had to remove those for a short span. Once they landed in the palace courtyard, the Mudwings were quick to replace the chains on Sobek's wings.
More braziers lit the stairs up to the main doors and the palace entrance itself, which was firmly shut and guarded by four Sandwings, one of which had run inside. Most likely, he was spreading the message that a rather large group was here, though if they were bringing a direct superior such as Six-Claws or Thorn herself, Glory couldn't say.
All she could say was, "Wait here," as she, Veneno, and Bloodwalker—he was still technically her bodyguard—approached the palace gates. The rest of the group stayed behind at the base of the stairs, the dark city nothing but a silhouette behind them.
The remaining three Sandwing guards watched the three approaching dragons warily, but that quickly turned to surprise at seeing not only their old commander but the Rainwing Queen. "C-Commander Veneno, ma'am," the oldest one, who couldn't have been more than twenty, stuttered. "And Queen Glory?"
"Good to know your eyes are working properly." No longer did Veneno wear a playful smirk. Instead, her expression and tone was stern, a mask she was used to seeing on several high-ranking officers, such as Bear and Mistral. "Are you going to let us in or what?"
"Uh..." Seeing as her comrade couldn't speak, one of the other guards provided an explanation.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, Your Highness," she began, bowing politely to both in turn. "The palace is on lockdown. No one gets in or out after dark. Queen Thorn's orders."
"But we sent the Private to go get General Six-Claws," the third and final dragon said. "He, Queen Thorn, and Prince Qibli are the only three that can provide overrides."
"Uh huh...and not the Commander of the Outclaws." Veneno's gaze narrowed at all three, showing her skepticism and displeasure at being kept waiting.
It was the third guard, the youngest of the three, who was brave enough to answer. "Well...you've been gone," he said quietly.
Before anything else could be said, the doors opened, revealing a rather tired-looking Six-Claws. "Apologies for my appearance and if I'm a bit short, but I've only had about six hours of sleep in the past three days. What do you two need and why are you here at such a..." He trailed off, looking at the moons, and corrected himself, "...at such an early hour?"
"Sorry to keep you from your beauty sleep, old friend, but I think Thorn's going to want to see this." Veneno stepped aside and pointed to their group waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Even from here, the braziers produced enough light to illuminate everyone, and that included the Sandwing chained up and guarded by twelve Mudwing soldiers and their mountain-sized Captain.
Six-Claws was silent for several seconds, clearly surprised, but he simply nodded and turned to the four other guards. "Open the doors and let them in." Then, he looked at the young Private, barely more than a dragonet. "And you, go wake the Queen and tell her to meet us in the throne room."
"Wake the Queen?" she repeated quietly, an almost horrified look on her face. When both Veneno and Six-Claws glared at her, she quickly composed herself and saluted. "Yes, sir!" And then she was off, running down the hall towards Thorn's bedroom.
Glory turned to Bloodwalker to ask him to fetch the rest of their group since she didn't want to shout. Or, at least she would've done so if he was where she remembered. Looking about in confusion, she eventually found him at the bottom of the stairs. Mere seconds after she saw him, he started leading the rest of the group up. Not to say he was a better fighter than DB—because she actually didn't know who was better—but Bloodwalker was certainly a lot stealthier than his cousin.
"So what's with the Mudwings?" she heard Six-Claws asked as they waited for the others to get up here.
Glory decided to answer that herself. "Queen Moorhen chose Captain Bear to represent the Mudwings in our cult-hunting task force, and apparently he came with extras." Veneno snickered at her way of explaining it, but Six-Claws just shrugged, dropping the subject altogether. The poor dragon seemed too exhausted to even try to make sense of her explanation.
Once everyone was ready, the Sandwing General led them into the palace, the doors shutting behind them with an audible bang in these empty hallways. As he'd told the Private, Six-Claws led them to the throne room. Glory wasn't sure of the reasoning behind that decision, but she decided not to question it, especially since Veneno wasn't.
They'd only been in the empty throne room for a few minutes before everyone in the entire palace found out simultaneously that Thorn was awake. "WHERE IS HE!?" It was distant, an echo from another part of the palace, but it was still loud enough to hear with crystal clarity.
"I don't think I've ever heard her that pissed before," Veneno muttered.
That made two of them, and as she looked around, she saw that several of the others seemed surprised, too. Turtle even appeared nervous despite knowing Thorn was a friend. The one noticeable exception, Sobek—the dragon she thought would be more terrified than anyone else here—was both calm and collected. He didn't care that he was probably about to die in the next few minutes, and that raised a massive red flag.
"Sobek isn't scared," she whispered quietly to the Sandwing next to her.
Veneno glanced at her curiously before turning to study their prisoner. Any hope that she was just overly paranoid went up in smoke went she agreed. "No...he's not. Something's not right..."
Before either of them could discuss Sobek's lack of a reaction any further, the throne room doors were flung open with a loud crash. And there, standing in the threshold, was Thorn. Clouds of smoke trailed from her nostrils with each heavy breath, a sign of how hot her fury was. Obsidian eyes locked on Sobek the moment he came into sight, and she all but ignored everyone else as she stalked straight up to the traitor that had been brought before her in chains.
Muzzled as he was, Sobek couldn't say anything, but his defiant glare never left his former Queen's. The stare down only lasted for about ten seconds before it abruptly ended with Thorn jabbing him in the neck with her barb, to the shock of almost everyone present. Only Veneno and the other gathered Sandwings weren't taken by surprise in some way or another.
Glory watched as Sobek's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body collapsed to the floor. "Take this trash down to the incinerator," the Sandwing Queen commanded, not a single ounce of regret or guilt in her tone.
"Shouldn't you have questioned him, first?" Peril wondered. She was one of the least affected by the sudden execution, but even she seemed a bit taken aback.
Thorn didn't immediately answer, opting instead to watch her guards drag Sobek's body out of the throne room. Already, though, Glory could see her calming down significantly, her breaths becoming more even and her expression not quite as hard as before. "He's too dangerous to let live," the Sandwing Queen eventually answered. "And he'd never talk no matter what we did to him." She huffed, the first signs of anything other than anger taking over her expression. "It's what I trained him to do." She huffed again, that moment of pseudo-sadness gone in an instant. "Besides, that was far too satisfying. Most importantly, however, with him gone, that's one less dragon trying to hurt my daughter." Glory couldn't help but smile at that until Thorn returned to business. "Speaking of, what happened? Is everyone alright? He didn't hurt anyone?"
"He nearly killed Bloodwalker, but Turtle healed him," Peril reported. "And I took some minor injuries in our fight, but nothing life-threatening."
"And I'm fine," Glory volunteered, knowing that's what her mom cared about most. Then, she turned to the Nightwing in the room. "But we are going to discuss how you didn't die. That was a fatal wound. Nobody should've lasted more than a few minute max after being stabbed in the lung."
With all eyes on him, Bloodwalker sighed. "It's an old animus enchantment. I can't actually feel pain anymore, which is why I never went into shock after being stabbed. So even while I was dying, I couldn't actually feel anything."
"Animus enchantment?" Mistral was glaring at the Nightwing. "From where?"
"'From whom' might be the better question," Veneno supplied.
Bloodwalker sighed again, knowing he had no choice but to answer with everyone waiting for him to. "The dragon who cast it died a few hundred years ago, but the object that grants the boon is still around. I'll not say more than that. I swore to keep its whereabouts a secret to..." He trailed off, a sad look coming to his eyes. "...To its previous guardian."
Glory frowned at that, not knowing what he meant or who he was talking about. Looking around, she wasn't the only one unsatisfied, but a few didn't seem to care all that much. Taking their example, she dropped the issue, as well. If Bloodwalker said he wasn't going to say anything more, she believed him.
"So...what now?" Turtle's question lingered in the air for a few seconds, and everyone turned to the Sandwing Queen.
Thorn was staring at Turtle, though it honestly looked like she was more staring through the Seawing as she contemplated the answer to that question. "Six-Claws, show the Mudwings to the barracks. They can stay there for the night. Veneno, take the rest to the guest rooms. Explanations and other business can wait until the morning."
"Yes, Your Highness," and "You got it," were the respective replies from Six-Claws and Veneno.
The two groups began to move out, the Mudwings, save Bear, following Six-Claws out first. Just as Veneno started leading the remainder out, Thorn spoke up again. "Glory, could you stay behind for a minute?"
Everyone except Bloodwalker and Mistral kept walking to make sure everything was alright, but the Rainwing waved for them to go ahead. Once they were gone, she turned to her mom. "What's up?"
Thorn smiled fondly at her. "I wanted to take care of something first. I doubt I'll be able to sleep, otherwise." Despite the possible negative implications behind those words, Thorn seemed happy, excited even. Glory decided to just go along with it, knowing it probably wouldn't be bad or take too long if Thorn wanted to do it now. "They're in my room," she explained as the two walked out of the throne room side-by-side.
"What is?" Thorn just smiled at the question, a reaction that told Glory to 'wait and see'.
Once they arrived at Thorn's personal room, a pair of Sandwings standing guard outside, Thorn immediately made for her desk. Glory followed, admittedly curious. "It's been a bit hectic lately, and I was going to send these through to you tomorrow morning, but since you're here, I was hoping you could..." Thorn trailed off in what appeared to be embarrassment. Glancing at the twin scrolls on the desk that the Sandwing had opened, Glory gasped, her eyes widening, when she saw what these scrolls were.
Adoption papers...
"T-This is really happening..." she breathed, suddenly overcome with emotion. It was something she'd already been told, by Thorn, was already drafted, but seeing it in front of her like this was...like a dream.
For her entire life, she'd always felt like something—or rather someone—was missing. Grandeur filled that spot for a while, but after she passed, the hole just seemed bigger. Only recently did it get filled again by someone she honestly hadn't expected but would never complain about. Thorn wasn't perfect by any means, but no parent was. And at this point, Glory was happy to even have one.
"I'm just sorry it took me this long," Thorn whispered apologetically. "I'd been debating adopting you for years now, but...I was honestly scared to ask—thought you might think I was weird or something." Glory tore her gaze away from the papers to give Thorn, the dragon soon to be her official, adopted mother, her utmost attention. "Sunny always talked about how independent you are, so I thought you would be fine. It wasn't until our discussion before Sobek's trial that I started considering it more deeply."
Glory looked back at the papers, paying special attention to the date this time, and what she saw caused another gasp. They were dated to about a week after that day, which was several months ago at this point. "Why then?" Then, she came up with a more important question. "And why wait to ask me?"
"Because I realized that day that you needed somebody, Glory. You said it yourself; you were lonely. I know this is a bit different than what you meant, but when it came down to talking to someone about what was troubling you, you came to me." Thorn wrapped a wing around Glory and pulled her close, smiling fondly down at the younger dragon, who leaned into the embrace with a contented sigh. "That's not something I take lightly. And as for your second question...Qibli was still a young dragonet when I took him in, and it took me until his eighth hatch-day to make it official. You're ten years older than he was at the time. You're a fully-grown dragoness, Glory, and one of my fellow Queens. It was an easy decision for me, but it was one I couldn't take lightly. It took me a long time to think about and attempt to work through the potential ramifications, both cultural and political."
"In other words..." Glory began with a small, mischievous smirk, "You didn't want dragons to think this was a political move to grab power and influence over my Kingdom or some weird, sexual fantasy of yours."
Thorn winced hard at that, looking very disconcerted. "That's a...crass way of putting it, but not entirely inaccurate. I mean, how many dragons do you know that have adopted a fully-grown dragon with absolutely no blood relation, whatsoever?" Short answer? None. "And please never say anything like that around me again. I'm your mother now, and that is a deeply disturbing thought."
"Sorry." She wasn't. It was kind of funny, though she would admit it was disturbing to contemplate as anything other than an inappropriate joke. "And technically you're not my mother until I sign these." Thorn blinked at her, her expression showing both confusion and a bit of indignation. "So do you have some ink I can borrow?"
Thorn huffed, grabbing the requested materials from her desk. "Someone's in a mood."
"I'm just really happy, and my teasing nature is coming out," she explained, signing the documents where she needed to.
"I've never heard of your 'teasing nature'," Thorn absently commented. "Sarcasm, definitely, but not teasing."
Glory's reply was immediate, and it took Thorn completely by surprise. "That's because I've never been happy."
"Oh, Glory..." From both her tone and her expression, it was clear Thorn was conflicted on whether she should be laughing at a joke or legitimately worried.
"It's a joke," she assured the Sandwing, her new mom. "And done."
Thorn looked over the twin documents and smiled, rolling one up and giving it to Glory. "That's a copy for your Kingdom's archives. Now, daughter, I think it best that we get whatever sleep we can before the morning."
"Sounds good, mom." Both giggled at the other's antics. "See you in the morning." Thorn gave her a kiss atop the head before releasing her and wishing her a 'good night'.
What she saw when she left the room, however, was not what she expected. Instead of an empty hallway—save for the two guards, of course—there was a Sandwing out there waiting for her. Veneno beckoned her to follow, so she did. "Everything go okay?"
"Yeah," she nodded, though she didn't add anything else. Seeing as how Veneno didn't say anything else, either, Glory figured she wasn't really in the mood to chat right now. Still, she was curious about something. "Was escorting me your idea or...?"
"Mistral's. He just asked me to come get you because me waiting outside the Queen's room was less suspicious than him doing the same." She looked around the hallway, paying special attention to the shadows. "Your Nightwing friend is somewhere around here, too, but since I can't see him, he must be really good at his job."
"He is," she confirmed.
"The two of them are right, you know. None of us should really be alone, but especially not you. The rest of us can fight back against attackers. Even Turtle has his magic. You, though..." She trailed off, but her point was made. Glory wasn't offended since she was speaking the truth, but she was a bit curious as to why Veneno was the one saying this stuff. She'd expected this sort of lecture from Mistral, but not from her. "I know you've got Bloodwalker guarding you, and Mistral's going to do what he can, but those two alone can't guard you all day, every day. You need extra guards." Glory opened her mouth to argue, but Veneno cut her off. "I'm not talking normal, run-of-the-mill guards like the ones patrolling the palace. I'm talking dragons of Bloodwalker's, or even Diamondback's, caliber. Someone who can stand and fight against dragons like Sobek. And since you lost Anemone's bracelet—"
"I what?" Glory looked down at her arm, and sure enough, it was gone. The last time she remembered taking it off was... "The argument I had with Mistral..." Veneno looked at her curiously as dread began to overtake Glory. "We had a fight in the Skywing Palace. I took it off and gave it to Mistral briefly, but then he took it off and threw it on Thorn's bed. I forgot to put in on before I left. And she never mentioned anything about it, either."
Veneno held out a wing, which made Glory stop, and then the Sandwing faced her fully. "Stay here. Bloodwalker, watch her." Veneno went back the way they came, leaving Glory in an empty hallway, though the Nightwing was supposedly in the shadows somewhere. A few minutes later, Veneno returned with grim news. "She never saw it."
That left a single explanation. "Someone stole it..." Veneno nodded before motioning for the lot of them to continue walking. "It had to have been Magnificent. She was there in the city, too, and she'd already snuck into the palace once."
"Well, I have no idea what she plans to do with it, but that just means it's even more crucial for you to have guards. Since Qibli and Moon haven't been doing anything, I'll assign them both to night shift." That was definitely a comforting notion. With Moon's mind-reading to give him extra warning and Qibli's natural combat abilities, the two would make a great team. "As talented as I'm sure Bear and his Mudwings are, I'd rather you stick with dragons we know we can trust—dragons with a more personal stake in keeping you safe than just being ordered to."
Honestly, that was her preference, too.
They arrived outside a room, but before Glory could enter, Veneno stopped her. "As much as I would like to say otherwise, my combat abilities aren't anything special. Above average, I'd say, but that's nothing compared to dragons like Cobra and Sobek. This little walk down the hallway has convinced me that Bloodwalker should be one of your night guards, too. Mistral and Peril should be your day guards, so if the group has any need to split up, you'll stick with them, and me, Bear, and Turtle will be the other group. As for the other Mudwing guards...that's up to Bear, I guess."
"You put a lot of thought into this," Bloodwalker observed, having just appeared suddenly next to them. He gave Glory a bit of a scare, which she felt silly for.
"I've had to. She's not just the Rainwing Queen anymore. Now, she's my granddaughter, and I'm not going to let anything happen to her." Glory smiled, hugging the older Sandwing, who returned the gesture without hesitation. Once she pulled away, she turned to Bloodwalker. "Keep her safe. I'll go wake Qibli and Moon." And with that, she was off to do just that.
"I guess that's part of the perils of having someone out for your blood." The Nightwing next to her didn't say anything, and when she glanced at him, he was staring at her as if she was weird. "What?"
He shook his head as he opened the door for her. "Nothing."
She walked in, thanking him for holding the door for her, and the door shut behind her softly. A single candle was lit on the table to reveal two things. First, the bed was empty. Second, there was an Icewing sleeping at the foot of it. She smiled at the sight. Instead of taking the bed for himself or waiting for her to arrive so they could discuss it, he'd been kind enough to just take the floor. Didn't stop her from feeling a bit guilty, though, so she quietly made her way over to the bed and grabbed a small pillow.
She wasn't going to not take the bed, but she figured she could sacrifice one pillow to make him a bit more comfortable. Rubbing his head, he blinked awake, though he was clearly still half-asleep. "Raise your head," she told him softly. He did, and she stuffed the pillow under his cheek. He was back asleep in an instant.
She smiled at him. All that excitement earlier must've tired him out. Best not to keep him from resting, so she just kissed his snout and made her way to the bed. Within a few minutes, she was nearly asleep herself.
But then the warning bells rang...
AN: *evil laugh* Yes...another cliffhanger. These dragons just ain't catching a break! At least there's some good to go with the bad, though. Thorn has officially adopted Glory, and Veneno is doing what she can to grow closer to Glory and make sure she's safe.
Also, I'm interested to hear everyone's theories about what's about to happen.
Until Next Time
AdmiralCole22