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The furious roar of a dragon shook the halls of the Sandwing palace before giving away to sudden silence. Three sisters all froze in the middle of what they were doing, ears pricking up. The roar had come from the treasury. The roar belonged to their mother.
Queen Oasis of the Sandwings.
Burn tore down the treasury door, charging into the room growling under her breath. Blister slunk in after her, claws silent on the sandstone floor. Blaze stumbled in last, her neck adorned with necklaces of the finest jewels. All three sisters froze, their dark eyes magnetised to the unmoving body in the middle of an empty room.
The Queen had been killed by something other than them.
The treasury had been robbed.
The culprit was unknown.
“How did she die? I was going to challenge her in TWO days! How could she die-”
“Burn. Stop glaring around for threats. A measly scavenger killed our mother.” Blister hissed, a talon gesturing to the tiny pin-prick in Oasis’ chest where crimson trickled slowly.
“Mother’s dead?” Blaze whispered, sticking herself between her two sisters to get a better view before recoiling in horror.
“Yes, you idiot.” Burn sneered her tail flicking angrily and the other two moved further away to avoid being scratched by the venomous barb. “Mother is dead. And none of us killed her.”
“So dear sisters, who shall be the next Queen?”
“Well isn’t that obvious! I should be the next Queen. I could kill both of you easily, especially you.” Burn swirled around to glare at Blaze who whimpered and jumped back.
“Not so fast, I should be Queen. I am the smartest and therefore the most fitted for governing my territory," Blister smiled at her elder sister, “if you ruled, Pyrrhia would be unlivable within a month with all your bloodlust.”
“Taxidermy is not something to make fun of! I will tear off both your necks and stuff your bodies to display in my room and stick your heads on the palace walls.”
“Revealing your plans is not very wise sister.”
“I want to be Queen too!” Burn and Blister turned to the youngest who had one talon raised as if she wanted to ask a teacher a question.
Not that she ever showed up to lessons.
“I’m the prettiest and everyone loves me.”
“And you could be killed at any second,” Burn grinned at her two younger siblings, “talking about killing, how about I take this throne for myself.” She leapt at Blaze who screamed and ran out of the room hiding behind a pillar as she saw her two sisters follow her.
Blister rose onto her hind legs, swiping at Burns face but before contact she dropped, clawing at the soft scales of her elder sister’s underbelly leaving five lines of crimson erupting in their wake. Furious, Burn darted forwards, grabbing onto Blister and hurling her against the wall. The middle sister sunk to the floor eyes dazed while Burn turned on Blaze. The latter shrieked, racing down the hall, Burn thundering after her but Blaze’s smaller form made it easier to avoid the flames coming her way. Blaze made it to the end of the hall, where a big window stood, before turning her head to see Burn heading her way. She didn’t think, her sisters never thought she even had the capacity to do so, and she jumped.
The glass shattered around her as she beat her wings, racing to flee the palace and her stronger, more battle-trained sisters. She heard a scream of fury, and she realised that Blister had probably faked her dazed state and had taken the opportunity to flee. That was smart.
But it probably hurt crashing into the wall.
And what if it ruined her face?
What if it broke her jewellery?
She shuddered in fright, three moons, she'd never do that.
Up in the air, she glanced around spotting Blister flying East so she definitely could not go there. South would mean saying ‘hi’ to Burn’s maw so that was even worse. West would lead her to the sea, and she had no idea what lay beyond Pyrrhia. The only place to go was North.
North towards the Icewings.
~~~~
After what felt like an hour of flying, Blaze came across a dwelling of Sandwings next to an oasis. An actual one this time. Not like her dead mother. She landed gracefully next to the water, peering into its still surface as if it was a mirror checking if Burn had left any scorch marks on her lovely white sail which thankfully she hadn’t. Her necklaces were still fine, her claws weren’t chipped, her scales weren’t scuffed but she did feel hungry.
Flying made you hungry.
Three moons did she want a roasted lizard to eat.
She waltzed into the town, seeing the hustle and bustle of all the dragons, their tails curled in as to not poison each other, buying food, selling toys to rampant dragonets and...
“JEWELLERY STORE!” Blaze squealed with glee before bounding forwards towards the weird looking Sandwing selling, well, jewellery. All the other dragons in the street moved away from her happily swinging tail, grumbling something about disruptive dragons but Blaze heard none of that.
“Oooooh! What do you have?” The shopkeeper seemed taken aback by the Princess’ excited approach that he blinked at her three times before responding.
“I would have anything for you Princess Blaze. But may I ask what you are doing so far away from your mother’s palace?”
But his words may have as well fell on deaf ears because Blaze was running her talons through a selection of rings, each with a different gem shining brilliantly on it.
“Wow...” she murmured, hunger completely forgotten, “These are so pretty. But they’d look prettier on me...”
The shopkeeper shook his head at her words sighing softly.
“I think this one would look nice on you.” He picked up a gold ring with a ruby in the centre, a smaller diamond flanking each side, and handing it over to the Princess.
Blaze slotted it onto her talon watching it glimmer in the blazing sun of the Pyrrhian desert, “It does look nice on me doesn’t it uhh...”
“Antelope.”
“Yes. I think I’ll have this.” Blaze was about to walk away before she groaned. “Three moons! How am I going to pay?”
Antelope stared at her before sighing once again, “You can have it. It’s on the house,” he started speaking before she could thank him, “but you have to tell me what a Princess like you is doing so far away from home.”
Blaze frowned, “Oh. Well mother died. Burn tried to kill us. I escaped. But I do deserve to be Queen!” She grasped Antelope’s talons with her own, “Tell me you want me to be Queen! Everyone loves me plus I’m the prettiest dragon in all of Pyrrhia.”
Antelope nodded frantically trying not to seem too alarmed at this small minded dragon. “Well Princess Blaze, why are you out here?”
The dragon he was addressing sobered up, letting go of his talons, much to his relief, “I can’t go East because Blister went that way, West goes to the unknown, and South goes back to Burn. And I can’t stay in the Kingdom of Sand because Burn will find me. So, I’m going to the North.”
Antelope patted Blaze on the shoulder before giving what he hoped was useful advice, “Your sisters are probably going to form Alliances with the other tribes, since Blister has gone East, she’s probably going to seek Coral and gain the Seawings as her allies. Burn would go to the nearest tribes, the Skywings and the Mudwings. We don’t know where the Nightwings reside and the Rainwings are just useless.”
“So, you’re saying I should befriend Queen Glacier?”
“Well-” Antelope wanted to bury his face in his talons at the naivety of the Princess but looking at her hopeful eyes he just couldn’t bear to do so. “Yes. You should befriend Queen Glacier.”
“Okay!” Blaze clapped excitedly at the prospect of making a new friend. Who didn’t want to be friends with her? She is the prettiest dragon in all of Pyrrhia after all.
“Thank you for the ring!” She turned around and took flight, “When I’m Queen, I’ll make you my personal jewellery creator to make jewellery as pretty as myself!”
Antelope watched as she glided through the air humming, “DO YOU NEED FOOD? OR A BLANKET? IT IS COLD IN THE NORTH! YOU ALSO MIGHT CONSIDER-”
He broke off after realising that Blaze was never going to hear him.
He was never the shouting type.
All he could hope was that the Princess didn’t freeze to death before she even reached ‘Queen Glacier’s palace.
He probably should also mention to the other Sandwings that there was a war taking place.
Yes, that seemed like a very good idea.
~~~
The wind grew harsher as she flew north, the sun still warmed her scales but with each wing-beat it seemed to cool, the chill sinking into her bones more and more until she had to land, seeking warmth from the lower altitude. But once her paws touched the ground, the sand was...
Cold. It was hard. Her talons were scraping on... Ice?
Had the sand frozen over?
She looked around where she had landed, everything ahead of her was greyish white, the sky was the same and the only spot of colour in the entire wasteland was herself. Her pale gold scales and her gold and ruby jewellery. Behind her she could see the tempting look of sand, she could practically smell the deliciousness of roasted lizards and the feel basking in the desert heat.
Why was she even going to the North again?
The North was cold, her muscles hurt from flying, she was hungry, she didn’t have anyone with her. Maybe it would be better to just stop going forwards, the wind would cut at her face, and her jewellery might even snap from the cold. But she would get a new friend! That thing was obvious, who didn’t want to be friends with her? Blister and Burn were sure to soon realise how amazing she’d be at Queen, with her beauty and popularity. There probably wasn't even need for an Alliance as the war would soon be over. But having a new friend wouldn’t hurt.
She padded on, the air she breathed getting colder and her body became number and number. Once she got terrified that she had left her tail behind and had whirled around to check exhaling in relief. Her breath created a mist in the air which intrigued her. She’d never seen this before, maybe it was just a thing that happened in the North.
Blaze breathed out a tiny bit of fire to see even more of the mist thing in the air. She breathed out more fire, this time moving her head in a zigzag pattern. A zigzag pattern followed made of mist and Blaze giggled. On she went drawing out of mist, her laughter being carried away by the wind, leaping around like a dragonet who had just been given a new toy to play with. A dragonet that had played so much she didn’t know where she was. A dragonet that had played so long it was dark, missed dinner and was cold.
It was freezing at night. Colder than the desert at night even. The ground burned her paws. The air scalded her scales. It hurt to breathe. She stopped moving. Maybe if she went to sleep, she’d wake up. Maybe she’d find herself back in her bed. Waking up to the sun instead of... this.
It wasn’t so cold anymore. The air didn’t hurt so much anymore. But then again, she didn’t feel much anymore. Her eyes began to close.
“Beauty sleep can’t hurt...” she mumbled, “It’s never hurt before...”
Her breathing slowed as snow began to fall in the Ice Kingdom.
~~~
Blaze’s eyes opened to a shiny, light grey dragon with light grey spikes running down its back and light grey claws tapping on the ice. Really, couldn’t Icewings have just some variation in colour?
‘Blaze you can’t judge so quickly, you’ve only met one Icewing.‘
'But this one is boring'
'So? BE NICE! Introduce yourself dummy.'
“Hi! I’m Princess Blaze of the Sandwings and I want...” Blaze trailed off, realising she was lying in a warmish room with a fire and she was wearing this silver and sapphire ring on her left ring talon. “Ooooh! This ring is very pretty but it doesn’t really look the best with the rubies,” she grasped it with her claws to pull it off before she was stopped by the Icewing.
“Stop.” The Icewing’s voice was unsurprisingly cold but Blaze couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. They could at least sound a little sympathetic, she was going to be the Queen of the Sandwings after all and no-one could forget that she was the prettiest dragon in all of Pyrrhia. They should be thankful for rescuing her!
“Awh, why? It doesn’t match my colour aesthetic. But I guess you Icewings don’t usually have such a wide range of colour.” She moved to take it off again, but serrated claws gripped her wrist stopping her once again.
“No.” The Icewing’s breath was colder than her, well Blaze guessed she was female, voice and it sent shivers down the Sandwing’s back. “The Queen’s orders.”
“The Queen?” Blaze perked up, “Like Glacier?”
The Icewing stared at her with obvious, to every dragon except Blaze (not that there were any other dragons in the room), in her eyes but still nodded.
“Oh! Can I see her?” The Sandwing stood up, walking to the door.
“Wait-” but before the Icewing could say anything, Blaze had opened the ice door and had started to skid into the corridors of Queen Glacier’s palace. But because she was Blaze, even skidding on ice turned into a graceful thing. She even didn’t stab any Icewing guards with her tail when trying to keep her balance. But when she had regained a sense of walking the Icewing who was in her room had found her.
“Princess Blaze-” And Blaze was off again, she didn’t even stop to register why she didn’t feel cold or when she passed their courtyard there was a big ice tree with glowing orbs growing from it. She especially did not register the Icewing chasing her. Though she did notice that the Icewing was moving quite a lot smoother on the ice than she was.
That was unfair.
And so, the Icewing soon caught up to her. Face very, very grim.
It reminded Blaze of the look her mother would get when she got caught slacking from lessons and she was going to get punished. Blaze did what she always did when that happened.
She hid.
She ran to the nearest door yanked it open and dived into the room breathing heavily. For a brief moment she thought it was fine as the Icewing didn’t come in.
Then she looked around where she was and she saw around 10 unfamiliar Icewings sitting around a rectangular table, each more terrifying than the next. And at the head of the table sat a tall, annoyingly gorgeous, dragoness; scales like the snow and eyes like blue ice. Blaze looked at the silver crown studded with sapphires that perched upon the dragoness’ forehead and thought it looked annoyingly pretty. The crown.
Not the dragon.
But the dragon was annoyingly pretty.
Wait...
A crown?
Blaze’s eyes widened in delight.
“Queen Glacier!”
10 pairs of cold eyes stared at her, each one wanting to kick her out of the room or kill her for interrupting the meeting with their Queen, not that Blaze noticed, each one wanting to complain but they would not do so. At least not until their Queen said they could.
“What is she doing here?” Queen Glacier’s voice was cold like the other Icewing, but it carried a sense of authority, and it made Blaze feel like she might do anything the pretty Icewing told her.
“She ran out of the room you provided for her your Majesty.” The Icewing that was chasing her had come into the room, Blaze could see that her wings were shaking but it surely couldn’t be from the cold. Icewing’s surely didn’t get cold!
“Then how did she end up here?”
“Well, I- I tried to stop her but she kept swinging her tail and I was afraid that-”
“I was trying to find you and I have!” The Sandwing gave a small smile towards Glacier whose face did not even twitch. “You see, my mum is dead, me and my sisters are fighting and I need you.”
The Icewing who was chasing to her stifled a laugh.
“I need you to be my fri- ally in the war.” Blaze walked closer to Glacier and the Icewing seemed even prettier up close. That was very annoying. No-one was prettier than herself! Her thoughts were stopped when Glacier raised her arm.
“Council dismissed,” she waved a claw to the door and all ten Icewings filed away, “And you Khione, you may go back to Princess Blaze’s room. Make sure the fire is still alight.”
Said dragon exited the room, but not before giving the Sandwing a small smile.
So the Icewing who she woke up to was her attendant?
Khione was a pretty name.
Were all Icewings shiny?
Were all Icewing’s so intimidating?
Why didn’t she feel-
“So, Princess Blaze.” The Sandwing blinked. “Why should I be your ally?”
“Huh?” she asked, her head turning to the side, confused, “Why wouldn’t you want to?”
Blaze felt her heart clench, someone didn’t want to be friends with her? Was she not pretty enough? Did she find her ugly? Did she not like her? Why did no one here seem to like her?
No.
Everyone loved her, they’re probably just pretending because they’re jealous of her beauty.
“Do you even have an offer to attempt to bribe me into becoming allies with you?” Glacier’s voice made her feel dumb. And she only managed the shake of her head as a response.
“Did you even think before you came here?”
Blaze stared at the Icewing Queen’s talons, the serrated edges becoming blurry with every passing second. She wasn’t prepared, was she? She’d only come here because she couldn’t go anywhere else. And because that shopkeeper had told her to make a new friend...
“Are you crying?”
Blaze shook her head furiously, still not making eye contact with Queen Glacier, “I’m not crying.”
This is embarrassing. This isn’t how you make a friend! She’s disgusted by me isn’t she. Disgusted by the prettiest dragon in Pyrrhia! But she’s so gorgeous too! It's NOT FAIR! HOW ARE ICEWING’S SO GRACEFUL ON ICE? WHY DID NO ONE SEEM TO WANT TO BE HER FRIEND?
“I am sure you are.” She felt cold talons frame her face and she shuddered at the contrast between them and her warm scales, “we can discuss terms tomorrow.”
Her talons fell away from Blaze’s face as she glided past her to the door. The latter looked at her with ‘no’ tears in her eyes as she wondered if she was going to be left alone to navigate the palace.
“Come, let me show you the route to your room.”
Glacier strode out of the door, nodded to the guards who were switching patrol before pausing when she heard no movement behind her. She looked back at Blaze who was staring blankly at her. “Princess Blaze?”
The Sandwing Princess blinked like a confused sheep before padding after the Icewing.
Maybe not all Icewings were always cold after all.