𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 - 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙

Chapter 9

     Eclipse awoke to roaring and clattering. A dragon stomped into Eclipse, Raven, and Spark's room, and hauled all three of them down the tower and into the throne room.

     "IT WAS THE WOLF! I BET SHE LED HER PACK HERE!" Eclipse heard Lady Crimson roar.

     She could see the bright red royal SkyWing flapping her big wings around and yelling hysterically as wolves poured into the palace. Dread seeped into Eclipse, and she stared into the dust clouds caused by tumbling stones to see Alpha Shadow.

     He was staring right back at her, his blood-red eyes malevolent and full of rage.

     Queen Sunset marched toward Raven, Eclipse, and Spark, looking furious.

     "Wolf," she addressed Raven with a glare. "You brought your stinking pack here with you, didn't you?"

     Raven seemed frozen with horror. Clearly she thought she'd outrun her evil father at last, but now that fantasy was fading away. "N-no! I didn't- I would never!" She squeaked.

     Spark put on a firm, protective expression, and put his wing around Raven.

     Eclipse briefly saw Lady Crane looking sorry, and staring right at her, before she dove into a fierce battle. She was strong and big, so she had a clear advantage over the wolves. When Eclipse saw an actual battle between the warring species for the first time, she started to wonder how the wolves had survived for so long.

     But she didn't wait to find out, because her survival instincts drove her away from the battle to see if the palace had a back door.

     Spark hesitated, watching a big, bright orange SkyWing with ferocious fighting skills driving several wolves out of the palace. Eclipse saw the resemblance between Spark and the fierce SkyWing, and guessed that she was his mother from all the stories she'd heard.

     Eclipse stopped, Raven refusing to leave Spark's side, and heaved an exhausted sigh. She would have to fight this one.

Brushing her wings around Raven and Spark, she ran into the battle, knocking over about a dozen wolves in her wake.    Spark and Raven dove in after her, never leaving each others' sides.

     Eclipse grabbed a wolf by the neck, and rammed him into another wolf. The two tumbled out of the palace.

     A wolf jumped on Eclipse's back, and she howled as the dragon claws the wolf was wearing dug into her spine. She quickly beat the wolf with her wings, and rolled over, squishing it beneath her body. It yowled in pain, crawling away, it's back legs broken by Eclipse's weight. 

     She whirled around, pinned a wolf that was creeping up on her, and bit at its neck. There was a wound, but not bad enough to kill it. She believed that at least some of these wolves were good, and she wanted to give them a chance. Unlike in the battle with the Darkbeasts, where she was certain they were all evil. They had to be... right?

     She caught a glimpse of a wolf slinking off into the shadows toward the throne room, and she howled a warning. Then she sped off after her, Queen Sunset, Lady Crane, Lady Dragonfly, and Lady Crystal at her paws.

     When they reached the throne room, they saw the she-wolf they'd chased there and a few other wolves wrestling a dragon that had many dragonflame cactus bombs. Eclipse froze, realizing what the wolves were doing. They were going to blow up the palace, and everyone inside. Then they would demolish the rest of the city, turning it into ruins of what it once was. That was how it got destroyed.

    "We have to go now," Eclipse barked to the royal dragons.

     She knew of the other continent, Praïsa, and that in the present, most of the dragons lived there. 
     If that's where they are in my time, that's where they're going to go right now in the past. But in the past I wasn't here, so they probably lost a lot more dragons than they're going to lose right now because I'm here.