Chapter Text
Prologue
Useless Prince
Waves lapped gently against the dark shore. The moon’s pale light reflected off the white sands of the beach. A small crab hurried out of the way as a deep blue dragon rose up from the water. He had a ghostly white underbelly that extended upwards in small bands like a skeleton. The dragon shook and thousands of water droplets sprayed onto the beach causing several more of the small creatures to scuttle away. The dragon slowly stretched out his sleek limbs, then gazed up at the stars quietly blinking in the dark sky.
It’s so peaceful tonight, he thought.
His wingtips brushed against the soft sand and he took in a deep breath of the fresh salty breeze. The crabs, apparently used to this routine, continued about their business scuttling across the beach and over the dragon’s pale claws.
His mouth opened up into a face-splitting yawn, his teeth glowing bright in the moonlight. I should just spend the night here. No one will even notice I’m gone, like usual. He had spent the last half hour swimming and fighting sea currents to get to the isolated island. He discovered the Island while out fishing by himself, and an annoyingly fast squid had kept slipping out of his talons. It was a small island completely surrounded by soft white sand and had a ring of shrubs and small trees growing around the base of a rock cliff in its center. He had never come across it before, and it seemed like if anyone else had, they hadn’t come back.
The only other dragons he’d told about his quiet beach were his brothers. Well, the ones he was close to anyways. He glanced around searching for the cave in the cliff side he had slept in on some of his previous night visits. The entrance was mostly hidden behind some of the small shrubs growing off of the beach, but the dark opening was right where he had last seen it. The dragon made his way to the entrance, letting his achy wings drag in the sand behind him and letting out a couple more yawns on the way.
I’m starting to wonder if that swim is even worth it. His limbs were exhausted. The Summer Palace, the Deep Palace, and the old Island Palace, as well as multiple other islands in the Bay of a Thousand Scales, had been combined together to create a new large Palace simply called the Sea Palace. Since the Palace had expanded to cover so many islands, it was almost impossible to find some peace and quiet in the Sea Kingdom anymore. This island was his own private paradise.
As he stumbled into the cave, his tiredness instantly evaporated. He noticed much too late the murmuring sounds of other dragons talking. A group of brown scaled dragons snapped their heads in his direction. Gathered together in a semicircle, they had clearly been discussing something, and he was not invited.
MudWings were a rare sight in the Sea Kingdom as many SeaWings still openly antagonized them over the attack on the Summer Palace during the War of the SandWing Succession. Despite this, MudWings, along with all other Tribes, were welcome to live in the Sea Kingdom and at the Sea Palace. Queen Coral had made many attempts to bring the two Tribes closer, yet most MudWings still avoided the Sea Kingdom.
They stared at each other and just as the first flares of panic started shooting into the SeaWings stomach, the darkest MudWing shot from his place and slammed into him.
A scream ripped out of his mouth and the MudWing quickly pinned the SeaWing down using his weight, crushing any remaining air left out of his lungs. His scream abruptly faded into a hoarse whisper. The largest MudWing rose from her place, her tail swishing angrily, and grabbed the SeaWing’s snout in her talons, holding it shut to avoid any more screaming.
She turned to the others and barked out an order. “Search the area. He might not be alone.” The two other MudWings rushed to the cave’s entrance and spread their wings, taking flight.
“Let go,” the SeaWing desperately pleaded in Aquatic, his scales lighting up in panic. “Let me go!”
The large MudWing looked down at him and chuckled softly. She tightened her grip on him, her talon tips pressing into his snout. “Oh darling, the last thing I’m going to do is let you run back home and tell your precious Queen about what you just overheard.” She brought her snout down to his level and looked him in the eyes. “We’re going to keep this a little secret between us, okay?”
The SeaWings blood turned to ice. S-she understood me?
Aquatic was a language only spoken between SeaWings by flashing their bioluminescent scales. Rarely did dragons from other Tribes learn Aquatic, since they could never speak it themselves.
He started violently shivering, the reality of the situation settling on him. His peaceful escape had turned into a nightmare he would ever wake up from.
Why tonight. Why did I come here tonight. Why didn’t I just leave? I wasn’t even paying enough attention to hear them talking. I’m so useless. And now I’m going to die because of it. Even when I’m about to die I’m useless. I could have just left. Why didn’t I just go back home. Why?
He faintly registered the sound of a loud thud behind him, quickly followed by another. The two MudWings lumbered back into the cave after having searched the island, one of the dripping water onto the cave floor.
“Nobody.” One of them grunted.
The SeaWing pressed his eyes shut, tears ran down his cheeks. “Please.”
“Sorry darling, I can’t have dragons running around telling all my secrets.” She whispered into his ear.
The weight suddenly lifted off him. The talons let go of his snout, leaving pinpricks of blood behind. The SeaWing took in a desperate gulp of air, filling his lungs, and lifted his head to meet the red-hot glow of an open maw.
Screaming tore through the night, echoing on the calm waters of the ocean.