Chapter 5: A surprise investigation

Two months later…


Foeslayer is starting the night by hunting once again, not because her family has no other way of getting food, but because it is always better for a dragon to hunt, and also because a fresh meal can always bring happiness to her family.

Flying over the forest, the dragoness spots six black things moving from far away. The dragoness suspect they are nightwings, but doesn't think much of it. After all, even if her house is far from urban area, dragons can still pass close enough to it when they hunt.

As she return with a wolf's corpse in her mouth, she sees the nightwings aren't gone, they are in fact closer than before. Not wanting to gamble with fate, Foeslayer speeds up her flight, hoping to gain enough time when she will arrive at home.

Laying the future meal for her family in front of the house, the nightwing dragoness looks back and realizes this group will arrive in no more than five minutes. So she quickly takes the wolf's corpse inside, closes the door and call out her husband.

- "Arctic, six nightwings are coming to our house."

The icewing must interrupt the loving gesture with his daughter to come at her wife. Descending the stairs a little frustrated, he replies to Foeslayer with annoyance.

- "Are you sure about it? Why would no less than six dragons come to us?"

- "I don't know. Wait… maybe queen Vigilance is behind it."

Arctic growls, anger building up as Vigilance may proves once again to a source of trouble, trying to control their family more and more.

- "I wouldn't put it past her to send them without warning."

- "But now is not the time to let our emotions get the better of us. What do we do?"

The icewing tries to put his frustration aside to think properly for a moment.

- "Knowing the paranoia she has, maybe she ordered a surprise investigation."

- "That sounds so much like her. Well… there is only one way to know." Says Foeslayer looking at the door. Arctic understand and takes a breath before calling out his dragonet very loudly.

"Darkstalker, Whiteout, stay in the house and don't do anything stupid. Your parents are going to check important matters outside."

The two dragonet nod and go to their chamber while the pair of adults dragons open the front door. A minute later, the six dragons all wearing the queen's insignia, land before them, their expression neutral except for the closest one who bears a slight grin.

Looking at the group of six, Foeslayer and Arctic spot cases on their side, probably hosting a weapon like a dagger or a short sword. But before they can really react, the closest nightwing speaks with authority.

- "Salutation soldier Foeslayer and prince Arctic of the icewing, I am Sharpgazer. Queen Vigilance send us to investigate your house."

Foeslayer simply frows while Arctic tries to hide his frustration, his full title being said far outweighed by the potential trouble they represent. Keeping her calm, the dragoness replies in a strong voice.

- "Really? Then prove you are here by order of the queen."

Sharpgazer opens the satchel on his back and takes out a decorated case. Then takes out its content and unrolls it before them.

- "This scroll is the decree of the queen. It orders the investigation of your house, no matter what your protests are."

The dragoness looks at the scroll with utter focus, trying to see a flaw or condition in the text, but sees nothing. Dumbfounded, she looks at Arctic, her expression confirming it is the truth. The icewing has no choice, but still decides to resist a bit, speaking with anger in his voice.

- "Okay, you will investigate our home. But don't do anything unnecessary, and let our children out of that. Because if you do a mistake, I won't stop myself from telling the queen directly."

Sharpgazer stares at the icewing, but he barely has the time to as he fiercely opens the house's front door. Foeslayer follows him inside closely while keeping an eye on the six unexpected guests.

- "Whiteout! Darkstalker! Come to us and stay close to your parents." Says Arctic in a foul mood.

The two dragonets hurry to descend the stairs, Whiteout being more stressed than her brother about the situation. Arriving on the floor and walking toward their parents, the children can see others nightwings entering the place, confirming the new presence they felt.

- "Father, mother, who are these new souls in our nest?" Asks Whiteout more confused than ever.

- "They are the lackeys Vigilance sent to investigate us." Answers Arctic with barely hidden disdain.

Sharpgazer chuckles just a bit at the response, making Darkstalker curious of him. Trying to explore his mind, the gifted dragonet sees he does not take his task entirely seriously, and that he even has an internal conflict about whatever he should decrease his performance, and his report to the queen or not.

Staying longer inside his mind, the dragonet suddenly sees questions about him appearing, and that's when he realizes Sharpgazer is looking at him. Abruptly coming back to reality, his watcher raises a talon before diverting his attention.

- "We'll search trough every room, so please stay calm for things to go quicker." Says another nightwing.

Arctic is about to reply when his wife stops him, telling him not to complicate the situation. The icewing reluctantly silences himself, his broken pride and anger making it difficult to calm himself.

- "I will gladly stay calm as long as any of you don't do anything off limit." Replies Foeslayer still being wary of the group, but knowing she can't stop them.

And so the six nightwings begin their investigation, starting by the room they are in. Staring at all the corners, they progress relatively quickly. Finally, they make a bit of a mess by taking out the carpet and the tablecloth before crudely putting them back a moment later. It has only begun, and Arctic's patience is already put at test.

Smelling the scent of fresh meat, the team now decides to explore the kitchen, stumbling upon the wolf corpse obtained not even an hour before. Suspicious, two nightwings start to roll, poke and cut the corpse to see if there is anything.

Then, the six individuals steadily pull out all the compartments, open all the closet and look at each tool and object. Arctic hatefully scoffs at them as they check even the smallest of thing and produce so many noises by their carelessness at putting back objects.

Finishing the kitchen, the group goes to the staircase and analyses it, passing their paw over its surface to verify if there is a hidden case, button, or anything else. Seeing six nightwings looking at one set of stairs, the icewing can't stop himself from commenting on it.

- "What a great performance! How much are you paid for acting like that?"

- "More than you think." Answers Sharpgazer who hasn't missed the irony in these words.

- "What a waste. If I were a nightwing, that would be one reason to think less of my queen."

- "Like she would care about what you think."

- "So she doesn't care about her subjects? What a revelation! I hope she knows how to run when an angry mob will be at her door."

- "You wish! But an angry group won't be enough to overthrow the queen."

- "Don't worry, I'm sure with creativity one can find a way to knock her out of the throne."

- "One can hope…"

Ending the checking of the staircase, all the dragons ascend it, arriving at the corridor leading to the two chambers. Only spending a moment at inspecting it, the group of guests enter the children's room except for Sharpgazer who stays outside with the family.

While he keeps his relaxed expression, the parents are not amused as the five nightwings investigate in the background, creating a big mess with all objects and papers being quickly moved. Surprising everyone, it is Whiteout who take a step closer and talks to him before everyone else does.

- "Mister Sharpgazer, why are you so at ease? You're imposing, on the top, and fierce, so why are you looking away?"

Sharpgazer is a bit stunned by the dragonet's words, but finds something to answer her in a half joking half genuine tone.

- "Well, you see little one, sometime it's better to take a bit of a break, no matter who you are. Most things can be delayed after all if you're witty enough."

- "But you're not doing that much effort, it's like you don't care that much. How selfish are you?" Replies Darkstalker.

- "Calm down a bit would you. Selfish? That quite a dirty word to use, especially for you. Don't your parents teach you any manner?" Responds Sharpgazer mockingly.

- "We do, it's just that you check all the criteria, and we don't like you." Says Foeslayer bluntly, annoyed by the nightwing's casual behaviour.

After a moment, the group finishes to check the dragonets' room, leaving it and going to the parents' chamber. Foeslayer and Arctic grow more irritated at the sight of them searching trough their most personal space.

Seeing the death glare the icewing casts and the dragoness frowning and showing her teeth, the relaxed one takes a step to distance himself and puts a talon on his side, closer to his weapon case.

- "Sorry we had to do that, but orders are orders."

- "Easy to say that when you're not the one going trough it." Replies the mother who hasn't missed his preparation gesture.

- "Well, in my job you often don't have a place for all of yourself… So yeah, I don't fear investigations because there isn't enough space for something important. Not sure if it is desirable thought."

- "Do you really think any of us will feel sorry for you?" Says the icewing not hiding one bit his hateful expression.

- "No, but it's better you know a bit about my side." The response puts Arctic on the verge of bursting out.

- "And what about mine?"

At the end of his sentence, the icewing's anger finds a way out and feelings about his past shape his next words. Not even his wife can stop him this time.

"Do you know what I had to endure to end here? I lived in a merciless kingdom all my life, where expectations were higher than ever, no one was there or could be there to comfort me but heartless ones and tyrants. Do you hear me? No one!"

Frostbreath loads in Arctic's mouth, forcing everyone to take a step back.

"Then one day, a nightwing come and win over my heart, being the one that could bring light into my life. So I had run with her, to leave everything else I had like a traitor and a coward, breaking forever my pride. And when I thought I could have some peace, the queen sends me trouble like you!"

The traitorous prince snaps, roaring and punching the wall with his talon. The facing nightwing drops his facade and instinctively jumps far away as the impact makes the wall scream and shatter in an unnatural explosion. White and blue lighting appears for a brief moment, the otherworldly mark of magic.

Holding tightly the short sword in his talon, Sharpgazer's eyes are fixated on an opponent he can't make the mistake to underestimate. Foeslayer carefully watches the scene unfold as she is on the side, putting a wing to cover her children.

Darkstalker is terrified, his ego struggling to stand as he never saw his father having such potential for destruction, while his foresight paint a picture of the future far grimmer than before. The possibility of violence is there, without filter nor distance, and it bends the dragonet's mind.

Whiteout is as afraid as her brother if not more. Despite her lack of foresight, she understand the worst that can happen for everyone. She needs to do something, to save father from himself, but she appears powerless and don't know what to do.

An agonizing minute passes and tensions slowly decreases. Sharpgazer takes his time to put away his blade while Arctic calms himself, the adrenaline leaving his blood and muscles are relaxing.

Quickly looking at each member of the family, the nightwing soldier then decides to turn his head and calls out the rest of his team, who stopped their search and prepared themselves when they heard the scream of battle.

- "Everyone, we stop here. Drop everything you have taken, and leave. I'll take charge of the rapport and explain why that happened."

As he finishes his words, the five nightwings exit the room and descend the stairs with him. A moment later, the front door is opened and they take flight, not looking back at the house.

Foeslayer looks at her husband defeated, her voice lower than usual.

- "Arctic, I… How can we continue like that...?"

The icewing takes time before fully thinking about the question and reflecting on himself.

- "I can't. But my anger, it won't go away anytime soon, not as long as our future isn't bright."

The dragoness looks away, not wanting to face the truth, to share the same condition as her husband, but not blaming him either as her heart still burns enough to forbid hurting the lover.

- "Queen Vigilance will be more wary of us, surely more controlling after this accident. Of course, she would try to do that anyway. But it's just…"

Looking at his wife in the eyes, Arctic realizes he has hurt her. Trying to focus on what is in front of him and ignore his bad feelings, he excuses himself in a broken voice.

- "I… am truly sorry for what I've done. There is no excuse for my bursting rage, but can you forgive me?"

Foeslayer now stares straight into his eyes, not being afraid of what he represents anymore.

- "You are forgiven, I accept you. How could we have come this far together if I could not bear mistakes like this one?"

Arctic chuckles slightly in response, and Foeslayer does the same, before both come back to serious matters.

Having watched all the scene, each dragonet learn their own lesson in silence. For Darkstalker, it confirms even further that the future is deteriorating and that he must act fast. The war must end, maybe Vigilance must also be taken out of the picture if she doesn't stop.

For Whiteout, the lesson is to act to save the ones she loves. She knows father, she loves him despite the cracks in his mind and heart, so she needs to save him, even from himself. She can see how he cares about her, that can't be taken away, she will show him light when he will be in darkness.