Chapter 27

Beira

"General, the Duelwings have moved forces towards the jungle. They are growing closer to the southern border." A dragon came to her.

Beira scanned the maps with her eyes. "Send a battalion to the south outpost and build up defenses there. Have a group of soldiers make camp around the border and watch for any movements. Have the spies reported back yet?"

"Not yet General." he shook his head.

"We shouldn't assume anything happened. Have General Frost meet with me in the queen's war room." Beira rolled up the map and slid it in between her wing and her body.

She walked down the long halls of the palace, the stone glittering like ice. Beiras' horns were long and stout, pieces broken off in the many battles she fought. Her scales were a light mud brown with a white underbelly and light blue scales scattered throughout her body. Her eyes were a bold red-orange.

A dragon roamed past her as she crossed through a large courtyard. More were rummaging around talking and training.

"Commander Fox," she said to a dragon covered in white armor. "How is the training coming along?"

The dragon turned to face her. "Alright," he said. "Our new trainees are coming up well. They should be ready for their first trip."

Beira nodded. She remembered her first trip to the southern border. It was the first time she had met a Silverwing. She walked past Fox and back into the palace walls. She followed a trail of silver inlaid on the floor. A thin stand branched off at each intersection. Soon she came up upon two wide wooden doors with two guards standing in front of them.

"Icicle. Caesius." she nodded to each of them.

They each nodded respectfully and opened the doors. Inside was a large room with large maps on all the walls. In the middle of the room stood a lone throne. On top of it was the Queen. Her grey-white shine was radiating light as the ice crystals glowed down on her. She was a dark blue with hints of brown and black scales.

"Queen Borealis." Beira bowed, her wings spread.

"General Beira. Your meeting starts soon. Are the others on their way?" The queen asked.

"They should be on their way. General Frost has been notified of the meeting. Generals Snow and Blaze should be here soon.

"Very well." Queen Borealis nodded. "Follow me."

Beira followed behind the queen. She was leading her to a room attached to the throne room. Beira looked inside to see more maps lining the walls. A few of them were only of the Shieldwing territory, showing the border line and the battlements around the kingdom. Small settlements were scratched in every area as well as the capital of the kingdom, where the palace was.

Beira took a seat at the far end of the long table. Soon after a dark brown-blue dragon came in, his horns were broken and his scales told of long battle scars. He had light blue eyes that looked tired.

"General Snow." Borealis said to the old dragon.

"Your majesty." he bowed, his voice creaked with age. He stood up and caught eyes with Beira. "I assumed you were the one to call us here."

Beira was the youngest general, only in her late 20s. General Frost was in his late 70s. He was the oldest of the generals. General Blaze was in her 50s and General Snow was in his 40s.

Beira nodded. "I had reports of the Duelwings moving closer to the south east border."

"Strange." A voice said from the doorway. "They haven't tried there in many years." Her voice was smooth and silky, like a soft fabric being woven around claws.

"General Blaze. It is good to see you. General Snow." Borealis said to each of them as they entered.

They both bowed to the queen. "You as well, your majesty." Blaze smiled. Blaze was an old friend with the queen. They both grew up inside the palace walls. Blaze's father had been a general before her, surviving under Queen Kari. When her father died of sickness Blaze was taken in by Queen Kari and her family.

They both took a seat at the table, looking at Beira. "You may start the meeting." the queen said.

Beira stood up at that. "I have had numerous reports of the Duelwings reaching the south eastern borders. The town of Glaciar was taken by them but we managed to take it back. They have been moving their forces along here." she pointed to the border on the map scrawled on the table.

"We have also noticed them moving away from here, to the town of Flames. They seem to be falling back at this corner." Frost pointed to a small town at the south west point.

Queen Borealis looked at the map with slitted eyes. "What could they be planning?"

"I do not know. And to make matters worse our spies have not reported back in two weeks now." Beira shook her head. "I am worried they may have been caught."

"I will send word to the sisters, if you'd like, my Queen." Blaze looked up at her.

"Not yet. Let's figure out what their plan is first. Those two should only be called for an emergency." Borealis stomped her talon down.

"I believe we should spread out our forces around the southern border." Beira pointed. "Cover more ground than they can. We have the advantage. We know the layout and the terrain."

"I agree, your majesty." Frost looked up to the Queen. "If we move our soldiers there we can stop them before they make it further in."

The queen looked at the two. "How do the rest of you feel?"

"I agree." Snow said.

"I do as well." Blaze nodded.

"Very well." the queen raised a talon. "As soon as you all reach your stations tell them to move onto the Southern border. Meeting dismissed."

Beira stood up and left the room with hurried byes. She had to go and see her brother and her sister in law before she went to bed for the night. Beira traveled through the palace. Its shimmering walls glowed as it became dusk. It reminded her of the shining ice spiders surrounding the hidden gem lake.

She thought of how all the other kingdoms had tall spires as well. The White Kingdom had the Sandstone spire lining the ocean border. The Shimmer Kingdom had a single spire in the ocean. The Kingdom of Silver had three spires near the palace. It was odd.

Soon she came to a corridor that was lined with doors. All the nobles and royals lived here, aside from the queen. She stopped at one on the left side and knocked.

"One second." a voice called from inside.

"I'll get it." A small voice called. Small talons opened the door.

"Aunt Beira." a dragonet jumped into her arms.

Another popped its head around the corner. "You're here." she bundled into Beira.

"Oof." Beira stumbled as they both grabbed her. "Azraq. Caelum. You've both grown so much." She picked them up and walked inside.

A limping dragon came through and scolded the dragonets. "Get off your aunt."

"It's fine Robin." she said to him. "I haven't seen them in ages anyway." She hugged the two.

"Beira. It's good to see you." another dragon said from behind Robin.

"You as well, Celeste." she nodded to the Princess.

Celeste was Queen Borealis's niece. But she thoroughly explained to the queen that she definitely did want to be next in line for the throne. Instead it was her sister, princess Hyacinth, who would be handed the crown.

"We missed you so much." Azraq groaned. "Do you have any new stories for us?"

Beira noticed the look from Robin. "I don't think You should tell them any war stories. Last time they had nightmares for days."

"I agree. How about the legend of magic? Our mother told us that when we were younger than them." She looked at him.

"I don't see why not. It was always a good legend." He nodded.

"Come on. Let's go sit." Caelum pulled at her wing.

"Alright I'm coming." She followed the dragonet. Caelum looked exactly like her father. A Light grey blue with darker blue scales scattered across her body as well as his signature brown stripes. Azraq looked more like a mixture of his parents. His tail was the only part of his that was striped with brown. He had splotches of brown down his neck and belly and an almost teal color to his scales.

Caelum and Azraq were seated on a small cushion big enough for the both of them. Beira moved to an open one next to the.

She looked at the. "The legend of Magic is an old legend, dating back thousands of years before Pyrite."

The dragonets looked up in awe. "Wow."

"It is said that a secret tribe called the Magicwings would only come out when the tribes need help. Their queen, Queen Ambrose, had promised to only appear when most needed. It's said that they went into hiding soon after the legend of the scorching happened."

"Wait the scorching?" Azraq interrupted. "Wasn't that a made up story about the other continents?"

"It is another legend, yes, but if it was made up we have no way of knowing." Beira gave him a look. "But as I was saying, the Magicwings had a power no other tribe or animus had. They could do anything with their magic. It is said that they built the spires to protect us from outsiders. They looked like a mirage, always shifting from place to place. They had no spikes on their backs, only their two horns strutting out."

"It is said that they would enchant objects and keep them on their bodies, usually a necklace or something, to use them again. They called them Magical Charms. They would usually be ancient bones or some kind of gem that could fit in the palm of a talon." Beira cupped her talons together.

"What colors could they be?" Azraq asked.

"What did they eat? Where do they live?" Caelum jumped up.

"Enough with the questions." she waved her talons at them. "It's only a legend. I don't know anything else about them."

"I think it's time for bed. Little ones." Celeste picked them both up.

"Aww. But I wanna stay up." Azraq complained.

"Yeah. We have to play Magicwings." Caelum groaned.

"You can play tomorrow." Celeste began. "Besides, you're going over to see Aster and Cypress tomorrow."

With that the two dragonets shut their snouts with happy faces. Beira watched as Celeste took the two to their room. She smiled as they both waved to her as their mother closed the door behind her.

Robin slides next to her, sighing. "I swear I'm getting grey scales here."

"Hm. You are getting on in older years." she sneered at him with a smirk.

He smacked her with his tail. "Ha ha. Very funny."

She smiled and looked out the window. The sun was gone and was replaced by glowing stars and a single moon, the other two slowly following.

"If only the legend was true." her brother said. She looked at him. His eyes were full of sadness. "With everything going on with us and the Duelwings and now the SIlverwings. I'm worried."

"I know how you feel. Queen Borealis told me Queen Azule sent her an invitation." Beira said.

"An invitation to what?" he asked her.

"The Queens Council." She answered.