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Years of training, struggling, and education had all led her to this moment: a seat on the queen’s high council.
Crosswind’s experiences at the academy flashed before her eyes. Her classmates and her finding rotten fish dumped into their bunks from the upperclassmen, only to get punished with even more chum for retaliation. The sound of her shriek echoing off the mountain side after she’d failed yet another exam, unsure if she would be kicked out or put on academic probation. The golden eyes of a dragon who she wasn’t sure where she stood with, but ultimately didn’t pursue in lieu of her potential career.
The loss, the stress, the blood, all of it was worth it for the caress of the cold stone under her hind legs and the gold medallion that weighed on her chest.
Average-sized for a skywing at the shoulder, what set Crosswind apart from other skywings (besides her athletic build and gold-trimmed horns) were her black-tipped crimson keeled scales. The unique ridges that lined her neck and traveled all the way to the tip of her tail had been brush to a wildfire when it came to the bullies in primary school. As she matured, however, her unique appearance became a massive advantage when it came to being memorable. She reckoned it was how she was able to get a council member’s favor when applying for the academies in the first place. Her ridged horns swooped back like those of an antelope’s, and gave her a regal yet intimidating stature. Her tail faded to black at the end, like it had been charred. The vermillion gradient of the sunset made its home on the membranes of her wings, and the gold decals she had installed on her horns and arms marked her success. They accentuated the scars she’d so tirelessly worked for.
And so, with all that being said, she was at a complete loss for words as to why her first assignment was to negotiate with a lowly Scorpion Den resident.
She tapped one of her black talons on the polished granite desk, irritated. The chamber was open air, with a marble dome that had a massive skylight for sunshine to come through. It was a partly cloudy day, so every so often the room would be cast in dull gray lighting. The magnificent banners of the Sky Kingdom rippled in the soft breeze, each of the surrounding houses’ banners mimicking their queen. The chamber overlooked a sheer cliff face, and the cerulean ocean glittered miles away. The smell of pine needles in the sun wafted into the room from warm updrafts.
The grandeur of her position was muddled by the…scrappiness? Grime? Dirt? Crust? Of the desert dwellers in front of her. She wasn’t even sure what a majority of these dragons were, in full honesty. Unlike most other skywings, she was neutral on hybrids, so the fact they were clearly mixed was the least of her issues. No, her biggest issue was what should have been a piece of parchment to be read and shredded was now her first real assignment.
“So in conclusion,” the eldest dragon said. He was large, both for a sandwing and a skywing, which were clearly his heritage. A fortified barb made of steel adorned the end of his tail, rusted in some areas. His scales were mottled with brown, red, and beige, much like a hognose snake. Parts of his black frill spilled over onto his forehead like the worn threads of a cheap rug. Several of his teeth had been replaced with silver. “We humbly ask that your queen withdraw the troops from our Scorpion Den.”
Crosswind barely raised an eye ridge. “And who is requesting this action?”
The older sandwing looked taken aback. “Um. Eagle. Eagle, leader of the Black Eagles. We’re a syndicate and have seized control of most of the Scorpion Den, and I, as their leader, am asking Queen Summit to withdraw her skywing guards from the Scorpion Den.”
Crosswind blinked. “No.”
“No?” Eagle’s jaw went slack. The two sandwing hybrids beside him looked increasingly uncomfortable, and definitely embarrassed. Crosswind didn’t need a background in diplomacy to figure that out. Eagle stamped his foot. “I demand to see Summit.”
“Queen Summit,” Crosswind corrected. “And, okay, Eagle of the Black Eagles, redundant I might add.” She continued even as Eagle opened his mouth in defense. “I wasn’t finished. Let’s say, against all odds and Queen Summit’s very busy schedule, I manage to get her in this chamber right now. Are you going to give her the exact same speech you just wasted my time with?”
Eagle’s wings twitched as he faltered. “You don’t understand. We—I—It took forever to get this meeting! And for it to only be with a low ranking council member—”
Crosswind unfurled her wings and jetted toward Eagle before his lackeys could make a move to defend him. In a flash, her talons pinned Eagle against the marble floor by the throat, and one powerful flare from her wings sent both of his goons skidding across the floor. “I beg your pardon?” Ringlets of smoke trailed from her nostrils as the gold in her horns glared with the last bit of sunlight before the clouds took over. The choking sounds the sandwing was making were annoying, so she let off a bit of pressure.
“I a-apologize,” Eagle stammered. The anger had not cleared from his tone. “There are dragons in my home suffering at the talons of skywings, so you have to understand—”
“No, what you need to understand is that I could turn you in to Queen Yucca at a moment’s notice, since you are leagues beneath Queen Summit’s jurisdiction or energy,” Crosswind hissed. “But I doubt that your queen would even care to bring you to justice, considering how far your little club has come in her territory. So as I see it, you have two options: shut your mouth, snap your wings open, and fly out of skywing territory and back to the dusty hole you crawled out of; or, have fun splattering into a puddle of wet mush at the bottom of this canyon after I rip your wings off.” She flicked her tail, letting the other two know she still had eyes on them. “And for what it’s worth, you three are the last thing I thought I’d be dealing with as a member of this council. Consider the feeling of distaste mutual.”
“Forgive my senior,” one of the lackeys began. His head was bowed in respect, and his comrade followed suit. “His lack of control is not out of ignorance or malice; he failed to explain just how bad the situation is in the Den.” The lilt of the Scorpion Den accent was still there, but it was clear this dragon was no stranger to diplomacy. His voice sounded like it had been degraded over time from smoke inhalation. This dragon was smaller and leaner than everyone in the room, with an oversized tawny gold barb at the end. His scales were a gray color, and his frill was a slightly brighter yellow-gold than his wings and barb. His frilled looked like it had been recently shaved and was only now growing back. A scar trailed down from his lip to his chin, and black earrings and jewelry dotted his ears and eye ridge.
Crosswind halted, if only to see what stupidity had given the dragon enough courage to speak in defense of his witless leader. She narrowed her orange eyes at him, then jerked her chin for him to continue.
The dragon seemed surprised that she’d given him the time of day, then stumbled over his next few words to avoid wasting the opportunity. “I, um, we—” He shook himself, then started over. “We’re not certain what the intent of the skywing guards posted at the Scorpion Den was, but its original purpose has been lost for quite some time. The skywings posted in our home have been taking advantage of and abusing our neighbors and citizens. They’re the reason so many hybrids wander the streets aimlessly and without supervision, be it by killing their parents or creating them.”
“Are you suggesting our soldiers are committing war crimes?” Crosswind raised an eye ridge, and intentionally left her tone blank. This was something of importance. Maybe the meeting hadn’t been a waste of time after all.
“Atrocities,” the elder dragon croaked out. He lifted his tail up, which Crosswind stamped down immediately. “No,” the dragon gasped. “I’m trying to show you. My tail, it’s barbless. I’m the result of skywing occupation.” Crosswind narrowed her eyes in interest, then stepped off the dragon. He gasped and made pathetic wheezing sounds. A heavy clank sounded as he undid the buckles that held his barb to his tail and let the barb fall to the ground. Sure enough, his tail looked unremarkable. “My mother was a sandwing Den resident, and all I know about my father was that he was one of the skywings posted in the den.” Eagle looked off to the side, not needing to say anything else. He didn’t have to.
“Our soldiers were posted in the Scorpion Den to aid Queen Yucca in ridding it of street crime” Crosswind said, her tone still controlled.
“And it failed miserably,” the other lackey spoke. This one had a dark purple coloration with silver splotches along his body, and a golden frill to top it off. Scars littered his face and chest, with one major scar the result of a bad burn from firebreath. Gold jewelry shone on his ears and snout, and Crosswind noticed that his eyes were two different colors. “I mean no offense when I say this, I’m only describing the gravity of our situation.” His accent was a bit heavier than the other two.
Information like this was as valuable as it was dangerous. Crosswind furrowed her brow. Did Queen Summit know about this? Did any of the other generals know about this? Although Crosswind never achieved the rank of general, many of her friends had, and she couldn’t imagine any of them letting this behavior go unchecked. Then again, skywings hardly ever visited the Scorpion Den. No one did, if they could help it. She supposed that was part of the problem. One look at the dragons in front of her should have made it obvious; they were the forgotten and unwanteds of society, it was no wonder outsiders thought they could wander in and take advantage of them.
Still, she’d known many of the dragons sent to the Scorpion Den for assignment. The thought of them doing any of what Eagle and his goons implied was nothing short of horrific. She felt the need to defend her friends’ honor and skywings as a whole. They were a noble tribe and held to high standards. None of them would ever stoop so low, right?
“I’ll talk to my fellow council members about this,” Crosswind stated. Eagle’s shoulders squared up and he held his head high in pride, as if he was the main cause of change.
“Thank you,” the old dragon said. “When the Scorpion Den has a larger political presence, we may be able to move past the offenses skywings have committed in our territory.”
“I’m going to remember that and decide whether I want to tell Queen Yucca about it later,” Crosswind said. Eagle sagged once more. “You are dismissed.”
Eagle and the silver-splotched dragon strutted off to the exit, but the lithe dragon stayed.
“You’re bold,” Crosswind remarked. She tilted her head to get a better look at him, but didn’t notice anything she hadn’t seen before.
“Trying to figure out what I am?” he asked.
“Trying to figure out why you’re still here,” Crosswind finished. “Your heritage is not interesting to me.”
“Please believe us.” Desperation tinged the dragon’s voice, although only slightly. He stood as still as a soldier at attention. Quieter, he continued. “They’re doing terrible things to us. All the troops from different tribes are. You know Yucca doesn’t care.”
Crosswind considered him once more. He had to be only half her age, and practically half her size. She wondered what the dragon had to go through to have the perseverance and nerve he had now.
“I do,” she said, matching his volume. “But I’ve known these skywings my whole life. You can imagine how hard it is for me to believe they’d commit the acts you accuse them of doing.”
The dragon stiffened even more, and she was sure that if he had any fire to breathe, its smoke would have wreathed his horns. “Hard to believe? Or don’t want to?”
“Tell me why you’re running with those thugs.” Crosswind pointedly dodged his question. “You’re clearly leagues smarter than they are, and could easily snake your way up Yucca’s royal or military system if you chose.” They both shared unique appearances; Crosswind’s traitorous curiosity was getting the better of her.
“I fail to see how that’s relevant.”
“I’m asking you dragon-to-dragon, not ambassador to ambassador.”
After a moment, the dragon answered. “I believe in the Scorpion Den for the sandwings. We were there first, we’ll be there last. Other tribes have only polluted what we used to call home. That’s why I run with the Black eagles” His intonation was almost robotic.
“Is that how you feel?” She continued to prod, to see if she could worm out the real reason.
“Is that how you feel?” he shot back. “Skywings are so noble. Skywings are the strongest, the fastest, the smartest. That’s how you feel, right?”
Crosswind puffed out her chest indignantly. “And what if it is? Would that be so wrong? I had to claw my way up this system, make sacrifices I can’t take back because of the way I look. I still pass as a skywing, albeit a weird looking one, but you? What sandwing would call you one of their own? This self hatred—it’s—it’s—” she breathed a jet of flame. “Pointless. The drivel your leader spat, all I could think about was ‘How could someone have so much self-hatred? To hate their scales every waking moment?’” At once, it felt like she was talking to herself.
“It’s not about self-hatred,” the other dragon began weakly. It seemed he was on the edge of realization, the same place she was. They were both toeing a line they did not want to understand. “It’s…I care about my dragons. I want better for them.”
“I do, too.” She felt the weight of her words in her chest, and meant it. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” the lithe dragon said. His accent came through thicker, probably reaching his limit for masking it. “Alright, I’ll get off your scales.” He turned to leave, tail barb floating behind him.
Before he left Crosswind’s field of vision, she called out once more after him. “I never got your name.”
The dragon looked back over his shoulder, the ghost of a smile on his snout. “Not sure I want that in Yucca’s claws.”
“Dragon-to-dragon,” Crosswind reiterated. “I don’t know how, but I feel like we may cross paths again. Life has a funny way of reuniting unlikely dragons, and I think having a council member in your pocket couldn’t hurt.”
After a moment of silence, he answered. “Leopard. Call me Leo.”
Crosswind smiled and nodded. “I’ll remember it.”
In the cool breeze, Crosswind listened to the sound of fading wingbeats as she wrote her after-actions report. She decided some details were better left out.
---
Queen Summit was an impressive dragon, nearly one-and-a-half times the size of Crosswind. Her ruby red scales had faint tiger-like stripes running the length of them in a blood red hue. A white blaze coasted along the top of her snout, much like a horse’s. Small patches of white bit into her scales all along the length of her body, almost like rose petals on a sunset river. Her unique appearance had given Crosswind the confidence to pursue her own dreams when she was a dragonet.
Her icy blue eyes always caught Crosswind off-guard, and those very eyes were glued to her like a hawk to a field mouse.
“They claimed that our soldiers were abusing their positions of power,” Crosswind said. “I think we should send one of our captains along with a scribe undercover to see the whole picture. I’m sure some of our allied sandwing spies could do a report in the beat of a wing as well. “
Queen Summit laid across the cool granite of her throne like a lizard in midday heat, but her stature was anything but lazy. It was clear from the tension in her muscles that she was ready to spring at a moment’s notice. The night air sang through many of the open windows of the throne room, sending an occasional shiver down Crosswind’s spine. She had always run cold.
“I struggle to see how this investigation would benefit us,” Queen Summit said. Her tone was flat. Not even Crosswind could pick apart the meaning behind it. “We have enough problems on skywing territory as is.”
Crosswind blinked. The Queen had to care; the skywing’s reputation was at stake, and potentially the lives of other dragons. “What kind of message does this debauchery send to other tribes? This is damaging to our reputation and values; what does it say to the other tribes if the queen can’t control her troops?”
Queen Summit lurched off her throne, towering over Crosswind. Crosswind shrank back instinctively, tempted to take back her words. Something in her refused to let her do so.
“I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that and give you the benefit of the doubt,” Queen Summit growled. “I know this is your first official case, and if you don’t listen closely to what I’m about to say, it could very well be your last.” She ran her talons over her raised neck spines to compose herself. “It seems you are under the impression that I’m unaware of certain things under my command. That is entirely false. There is not a single footstep, wing flap, or smoke trail in my skywings that I am not aware of. Including the affairs of my troops in that desert cesspool.”
Crosswind opened her mouth to ask questions, but found she could put none of them to words. How could a queen let these atrocities happen under her watch?
Queen Summit seemed to read her mind, and her eerily pale eyes flashed. “There is a balance in ruling, as you’ll come to find out if you stick around long enough.” She paced around Crosswind, almost sizing her up. “In order for these dragons to obey my every command, I have to let them think they’re breaking some sort of rule. To give them the illusion that they have control.”
Crosswind thought about her younger years at the academy, and how her and her friends got away with alcohol runs in rural outposts. The risky midnight adventures that left them singed and sore, running from enemy troops on borders. Had none of them been organic?
Queen Summit cracked a wry smile. “I’m sure you’re reframing some old memories now.” She halted her pacing as soon as she was in front of Crosswind again. “I don’t agree with or endorse the actions of the troops in the Scorpion Den. I’m sure no sane dragon would.” The starlight caught in her eyes, giving them a raptor-like glow. “But this is a fact that all queens know, and this is a fact that all queens use. If Yucca wanted the Scorpion Den gone, it would be. If any queen did, it would be. But it serves a purpose for us: Our troops are welcome to use the landscape and citizens there as their personal playgrounds, as long as we get to use the crime-lines and muddled law to our advantage. There’s only so much bureaucracy can do.”
“I don’t…” Crosswind couldn’t formulate a response. All that echoed in her head was the skywing academy honor code. Noble, strong, true. The three words she’d lived by for most of her life. In her early years, Queen Summit was the three laws come to life. The dragon in front of her was a far cry from the idol that she knew.
“If you want to be successful in this field, there are less savory things you are going to have to put up with and even embrace,” Summit hissed. “Something I thought you understood. I didn’t select you for nothing, council member. And I expect an uneventful report from the meeting you had today.”
It felt like thousands of windows had shattered inside of her, but Crosswind nodded her head and bowed.
“Good,” Summit said. “But don’t expect me to forget this transgression so easily. My eyes are on you now, Crosswind. It would be a disservice to you if I told you I wasn’t suspicious.”
“Yes, my queen,” Crosswind responded. Her stomach dropped.
“You are dismissed.” With a flick of her tail, Summit retreated to an alcove behind her throne.
As Crosswind left the throne room, she was sure the servants in the hallways were looking at her with far more intent than before.