(Book 2) Legends of the new world: Silent death

Chapter four: imprisoned

Shade was alone in his mind, trying to figure out what went wrong, and how he could fail so easily. Suddenly, Shade returned to consciousness, and saw Velkhana, Valomyr, and Namielle watching him. Shade struggled to move, but found himself immobilized. One of his eyes looked at his body to see that he was covered in his own webbing, with only his head free. "I can't believe we are keeping him alive after what he tried to pull" Valomyr said to Namielle. "Look, he obviously is being sent by someone to assassinate Velkhana, the best we can do is to figure out where he came from." Namielle said. Valomyr shrugged, and went back to angrily glaring at Shade. Namielle looked at Shade, and began to question him. "Who are you, and who sent you?" Namielle said, a quick volt of electricity shooting through her claws. "Why should I tell you." Shade said. "Because if you don't, I'm going to let Valomyr tear your head off." Namielle said. Shade took one look at Valomyr, and decided that taunting the three elder dragons any further wasn't the smartest idea. "My name is Shade. I was sent by Queen emerald and lord Alatreon to kill Velkhana." Shade said. Velkhana, who's wing had begun to heal, wasn't surprised by this, knowing that Alatreon would do something to take revenge against Velkhana for killing Shara ishvalda. "But why? What do you have to gain by killing Velkhana?" Namielle said. "Because my very life depends on it." Shade said. "So this "Queen emerald" is blackmailing you to do her bidding?" Namielle said. "Not exactly. She and Alatreon are trying to access this strange "secret weapon" that could help jade colony survive." Shade said. "And what is this secret weapon?" Valomyr growled. "I cannot say. But the queen is using it as a way of empowering her soldiers, in case of an invasion." Shade said. Velkhana was revolted by what she heard. Velkhana already hated Alatreon for what he did to her, but this was going to far. "Then we must destroy it." Namielle said. "Even if you wanted to destroy it, it would be suicide to try invading jade colony. Queen emerald is more ruthless than you think." Shade said. "Shade might be right actually." Velkhana said. Valomyr and Namielle both turned to Velkhana with a look of confusion. "We cannot enter jade colony today, we will have to wait for an opening." Velkhana said. "She does have a point actually! Shade, what's the closest entrance to jade colony?" Namielle said. "I'm sorry, but I cannot betray my queen." Shade said. Namielle gave a look of frustration to shade. "Well, we will have to look for it tomorrow." Velkhana said. "Why wait for tomorrow? Velkhana and I could just scout out the tunnel entrance and see if it is unguarded." Valomyr said. "You do have a point Valomyr." Namielle said. "Well, we might as well scout out the tunnel while we still can. Valomyr, follow me." Velkhana said. "As you wish" Valomyr said. The two elder dragons spread their wings and took flight, eager to find a way into jade colony. The only inhabitants left in Velkhana's den where Namielle and Shade. "Well, it looks like I'm stuck watching you for now. Don't try anything." Namielle said, pointing a claw at Shade. "Well as you can see, you bounded me to my own webbing. So unless you cut me free, and I'm pretty sure you won't, it is impossible for me to escape." Shade said. Namielle chuckled slightly at this. Shade may have tried to kill her and Velkhana, but Shade was like a replica of Namielle, the only difference being that Shade was a nerscylla. Namielle sat down, keeping a watchful eye over the spider assassin. After a few hours had passed, Namielle looked to the den entrance to see Velkhana and Valomyr entering, with both having minor gashes. "What in the sapphire star happened to you?" Namielle asked. "We found the tunnel to jade colony, but we were ambushed by some strange bug creatures." Valomyr said. "That would be a seltas" Shade said. "What the heck is a seltas?" Namielle exclaimed. "A seltas is a Brain-dead beetle that is controlled by its queen." Shade said. "That's one way of describing you." Velkhana said, which caused Valomyr and Namielle to desperately hold back their laughter. Shade rolled all eight of his eyes, and went back to staring at a particular vespoid that had flown into the den. Having not eaten in days, Shade decided to try one of his abilities. Shade opened his mouth, and his pincers suddenly shot forward. Shade clamped his pincers down on the vespoid, making a sickening crunch as the wasp was crushed. Shade then retracted his pincers and consumed the mangled insect. Shades eyes then noticed the three elder dragons staring at him in disgust. "How else am I supposed to eat?" Shade said. "Umm... let's just rest for now." Valomyr said. "Agreed" Namielle said. The three elder dragons then flew up to separate parts of the den, resting on some ice platforms that Velkhana had made in recent times. As the three elder dragons slept, shade looked to the darkening sky, and remembered the threat that Queen emerald had made. "One day. I only have one day to bring these elder dragons to queen emerald." Shade thought to himself. Shade was conflicted. He couldn't understand why he was suddenly reluctant to kill them. Because of this, shade began to devise a plan. one that would both save his life, and spare him of having to end theirs.

A group of seltas were guarding the weapon that Queen emerald had planned to use with Alatreon. They seltas were silently watching the weapon, studying its properties. Suddenly, they heard the thundering footsteps of Queen emerald. "How goes the progress of readying the weapon?" Queen emerald asked. "All is going according to plan my queen, but we noticed something... off about the weapon." One seltas stated. "And what would that be." Queen emerald said, leaning closer to the seltas with a glare on her face. "The weapon seems to have signs of life in it, although we can't be certain." Another seltas said. "Well, so long as the weapon isn't actually alive, we won't have to worry about executing you all." Queen emerald hissed. "Don't worry my queen, we have it under control." Another seltas said. "Good." Queen emerald said. As Queen emerald stormed off, she wondered about the possibility of the weapon being a living entity. "If this is a living creature, I could possibly have a second assassin at my command, if shade does not fail me." Queen emerald said, giddy at the thought of power flowing through her body.