Wings Of Honor: Heart of Ice

Chapter 7: Recon

By the time I caught up with Winter and the others, they were gathered around the trunk of a large tree adjacent to a waterfall. As soon as I got within 30 yards, the air went dry and cold, there were no animal sounds, and my gut screamed something was off about this place.
Are you okay Grace?
Yeah. I felt her shiver.
"That's the tunnel to the NightWing island," Kinkajou said softly. I have never heard her that quiet or wobbly before. Shit was serious. Winter squinted at her. She is afraid of the place for a damn good reason.
"You can wait here if you want," Moon said, brushing Kinkajou's tail with her own. "If it's too — too anything."
"I'm all right." Kinkajou said. Flaring her ruffs behind her ears and deliberately turned her scales dark blue. "I just haven't been back since the whole ... thing."
"Whoa," Qibli said, making a connection before anyone else did. "I didn't realize you were — you're one of the RainWings they —"
"Imprisoned and experimented on," Moon finished for him. Me and Grace both looked at her like she didn't drop the bombshell she just did.
"It wasn't quite as horrible as it sounds," Kinkajou said. "Only mostly that horrible."
"Oh, you poor thing." Grace said, before Kinkajou swatted her away. I could see all the bad just on her face.
"But you don't hate them?" Qibli said, echoing what Winter's face said. "That's fascinating."
"Well — they're not my favorite dragons," Kinkajou admitted, squirming. "Except Moon, of course, and Grace, and Deathbringer is usually pretty great. But, you know, they're trying to change. They have to. And with Glory as their queen, they won't do any more awful things."
"We'll see," Winter muttered.
The NightWings did something terrible to her, the village NightWings. Yet... she has already forgiven them already. Commendable. Grace nodded in agreement.
Moon flew up to the hidey-hole and stepped inside, then twisted to look back at us. "Winter, come look at this."
Just inside the mouth of the tunnel was a squashed wet leaf shaped a bit like a handprint. When Winter crouched to sniff it, it looked colder than the tunnel around them.
"Did she go this way?" he asked Moon.
"I don't know," she said. "I still can't hear her, but maybe that's why, if she's at the volcano."
Maybe.
Winter started down the tunnel, we followed second, walking straight into that unsettling wrong-feeling air. I heard the shuffling wings of the others falling in behind him, crouching in close to Grace to avoid scraping the ceiling.
Heat started seeping in as we glimpsed the end of the tunnel, Winter paused. This was worse than the damp rainforest heat, worse than the desert dry heat. This was the kind of heat where Winter wouldn't be able to use his frostbreath, and I would be quickly worn down if I keep my jacket on; meaning I would have to go without protection. And there was something floating in the air. Unmistakable, bits of ash, drifting on a few hot air currents.
Grace hesitated when she stepped into a faint but noticeable layer of ash. Winter emerged into a cave, we followed suit. I drew a cloth around Grace's nose so she wouldn't breath the stuff in, I breathed into my arm.
It was pitch black, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Not enough to use any of my sights. But then, there was a bit of grayish light, running along the walls, like something was blocking it ahead. We sidestepped, Moon emerged behind us and breathed a plume of fire.
What emerged made me jump, I drew my pistol twice as fast. The shape of a huge dragon loomed overhead, its wings outstretched, its talons reaching toward us.
"He's dead," Moon said quickly. "Whoever he is. He's gone — this is just the shape of him left behind." She edged forward and tapped one of the grasping talons. The dragon didn't react. "I wonder who it was."
Somehow, I knew who it was. Starflight told me once: a name. Morrowseer. That name popped into Secretkeeper's mind now and then; Moon didn't know him, only his name.
Winter finally regained his breath, advancing and squeezing around the husk of a dragon. Qibli and an Icewing Kinkajou passed around as well, casting glances. I patted Grace.
"Hey. Grace. You okay?"
She startled back into reality, shaking her head. "Yeah. I'm fine. I won't be able to fit."
"See if you can move him?"
Grace grabbed hold of the dead dragon's feet, trying to break them free. But they were firmly cast into the stone. Grace was not about to mutilate him, so she stopped with a sigh.
"No good. Time to bring out the big guns." Before I could even understand what she meant, she cast her spell in a whisper. "I enchant this dead dragon to move out of the way, to the open place in the cave."
With the rumble of stone, Grace backed up and let the husk through. He came to rest, facing us, giving a clear path through. Grace shivered.
"You okay?"
Grace sniffed. "Yeah, fine."
We finally emerged to a sight that looked like a firebombed town, only worse. The floor was uncomfortably warm, like it was lava once, which would line up with what I read on the Nightwing Exodus. Winter and the others were flying around, Grace extended her wings to join them and get away from playing the "floor is lava" for real.. The view only worsened. The island couldn't have been a thousand square miles, most of the land dominated by... what I can only describe as a recently erupted volcano. The ocean surrounded us at all sides, lava rivers still flowed down the mountain, hissing into strange, dark pools, bordered by white mist that wafted into the air.
In the sky, huge dark clouds of soot, silt, and noxious gases. Lightning streaked across them, occasionally striking the ground with the report of a 155 gun. Everything smelled of sulfur, fire, in one word: death. This island, and everything on it... died. It was like Pompeii.
I couldn't imagine anyone living here, at least... not without being scared for life. (That lined up with Mightyclaws at Jade Mountain.) How would any self-respecting parent ever raise kids in this place. I couldn't let Grace stay here now! No wonder Moon was raised in the Rainforest. The real question was: why had the Nightwings stayed here in the first place?
I could see on Winter's face he thought they were likely afraid to disobey their leader, their Queen. Either by discipline, or by fear; probably the latter. No one would willingly submit themselves to this, not even the marines. Unless it was for combat, or something personal; those are the only two reasons I, or anyone, would put themselves through this.
"Oh!" Kinkajou gasped, soaring up beside him with Moon and Qibli. "Look, their fortress — it's totally destroyed!" She pointed to the smoking volcano.
Sure enough, In the dark outline of the volcano, there was an even darker, more boxy, outline. I made out some detail: bricks. It was a castle fortress, but it looked like it was under a 24 hour bombardment of 105s, then slammed with a tsunami.
Or our Tsunami had dropped by and leveled the place herself.
Everything looked worn, if not: destroyed. One caught my eye: a bottom half of what looked to be a large tower, probably where the dragons leaned to fly. I imagined they learned like birds (Unlike Grace), where they were pushed off a tower and... kind of forced to learn to fly before they hit the ground. Hopefully with some padding or some coaches to prevent casualties.
Grace's shivers brought me back to reality. Look at this place.
"I had no idea," Moon said. "I mean, I've seen the island in their heads, but I never felt this — Mother never said — it's so horrible."
"Holy smoking vipers." Qibli said. The SandWing swooped down toward a river of molten lava and then back up to Winter. "If I ever had nightmares, they'd be about this place from now on."
"I think this might take care of my nightmares," Kinkajou said. "Imagine having your home devastated like this. Poor NightWings."
"Poor NightWings!" Winter suddenly exploded. "Are you serious? What is wrong with you? Don't you remember what they were doing to your tribe — to you? How they planned to steal the rainforest and probably kill you all?"
Kinkajou flinched away from him, covering her eyes. "I know," she said in a small voice, "but isn't it still sad?"
"They deserve this," Winter spat. "After everything they've done, the NightWings deserve to lose their home like this."
"Hey! Nobody deserves this!" Grace scolded him.
"How can you say that?" Moon asked. "How could any tribe deserve this?"
"Seriously," Qibli said. "What did they do to the IceWings to make you hate them so much?"
Winter twisted away from them, flying toward the volcano.
How could he think that? Grace asked me. I finaly decided to uncloak.
"I don't know. Nobody deserves this. You couldn't wish this on anybody. This... this is worse than combat." And it really was.
Then Moon lifted off, going after Winter. Before anybody could say anything,
Grace spread her wings and went back into chamo. Re-cloaking myself, we faded into the sky. I looked back and saw a bewildered Qibli and Kinkajou exchange glances.
We quickly passed Moon and caught up to Winter, Grave flying as silently as she could. We caught him scanning the landscape, banking around in a left hand circle.
"Winter?"
He turned and spotted Moon following him. "Please tell me," she said. "I really don't know what the NightWings did and I think — I think I need to." She flicked her tail anxiously. "Does it have something to do with Darkstalker?"
"It does." Winter said, watching Qibli and Kinkajou flying over to join us. "But it begins with his thrice-cursed mother, Foeslayer. She approached the IceWings under the guise of peace, to offer us an alliance against the SkyWings, and instead she abducted our prince."
"What for?" Qibli asked. Grace uncloaked next to Moon, she knew we were there. "You know, all the IceWing princes I've met have been kind of grouchy. Why would someone want one around enough to steal him?"
Winter glared at him. "Because Prince Arctic was our last animus."
Me and Grace gasped, the rest gazed back blankly, as though they'd completely missed the humongous bombshell he'd just hurled at our feet.
"Our last animus," he growled. "Don't you know anything? Not every tribe has animus dragons. IceWings haven't had any in centuries ... and you know why? Because the NightWings stole that power from us.
"That's crazy." Qibli protested. "You can't steal a power like that."
"You can if it's genetic," Winter explained. "The NightWings never had an animus dragon until they took Prince Arctic. Now they have them, and we don't." He took off, flying in a wide circle around the volcano as he eyed the lava-strewn slopes. Me and Grace exchanged nervous glances.
"Wait!" Moon said, catching up to him. "What are you saying? That Foeslayer ... and Prince Arctic ... they had eggs together? A NightWing and an IceWing?"
"Sounds twisted, doesn't it?" Winter hissed. "Especially when you realize that Arctic would never have agreed to it — would never have betrayed the royal family that way — unless Foeslayer threatened him with something terrible. But whatever she did, it worked."
Moon's wings missed a beat and she nearly fell out of the sky. The same with Grace to catch her. "Winter," she cried, "are you saying Darkstalker's father was an IceWing?"
"Not just any IceWing," Winter snarled. "Prince Arctic, the very last animus ever hatched in the IceWing tribe. Father of the Darkstalker, the first NightWing animus. They planned it that way."
Grace only had a quiet gasp.
"That's ... complicated and devious." Qibli said.
"Congratulations, you've just summed up NightWings." Winter said bluntly to him.
"But couldn't Arctic go home after that?" Kinkajou asked. "I mean, once they had his eggs, couldn't the NightWings let him go? Why didn't he go back to the IceWings and have more eggs there?"
Winter saw Moon falter again and realized that somehow she knew the answer.
"Because Darkstalker killed him." Winter said. "His own son murdered him to make sure the IceWings never got their stolen power back."
"That's not —" Moon cried, and then checked fire. "I mean — that's not the reason I heard."
"Well, it's the truth," Winter said.
Grace made a weird motion with her head.
You okay Grace?
Yeah.
Then what's wrong?
Me... wanting to set the record straight.
The volcano rumbled threateningly and spat a small shower of sparks into the air. We were flying over the far side of the island now, from the animus tunnels, but there was still no sign of Icicle.
"But," Qibli said cautiously, "is it that big a deal? I mean, I hear animus dragons are more trouble than they're worth." Que an angry glare from Grace. "Don't they go crazy after a while?"
"That's true," Moon said. "I read about a SeaWing animus who murdered almost his entire family."
Grace scowled, but payed attention.
Stay silent Grace.
Ohhhh Hohhh, believe me.
"But we knew how to handle them," Winter scoffed. "We perfected the use of animus power. IceWings were the first tribe to figure out that too much use can damage the dragon's soul. So we were very careful with our animus dragons. We bred them into the royal line, watched each potential animus from hatching, and trained them carefully so they would understand their limits.
"Each IceWing animus spent years planning his or her one great enchantment. They could use their power just once, to create something that would benefit the whole tribe. Prince Arctic was only days away from his gifting ceremony when the NightWings kidnapped him."
"Wait," Qibli stole my branchline idea. "What happened if an animus didn't do what he was told? What if he wanted to use his power for something else? Or what if he didn't want to marry whatever princess was chosen for him?"
"I don't understand the question." Winter said, it flew directly over his head. "It is obviously an honor to marry into the royal IceWing lineage."
"But if you take away all of a dragon's choices ..." Qibli trailed off.
"Stop being obtuse," Winter shouted. "You are missing the point entirely. Prince Arctic was our animus heritage, and everything would be different if the NightWings hadn't stolen and killed him."
That still makes no sense. If it was in the royal bloodline, wouldn't there be other animus heirs? Like how the British Royal crown works? How far back does this go really?
"I'm just wondering if there's another side to the story," Qibli suggested, shrugging his wings.
"No," Winter said. "There isn't."
Grace and Moon exchanged worried looks.
"What I'm wondering is why you're still so mad about it," Kinkajou interjected. "It sounds like it happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Isn't it time to move on? Who cares about all that ancient history?"
"It's not ancient history to us," Winter growled. "We still live with the consequences every day."
"But you can't blame the NightWings who are alive now — it wasn't their idea," she pushed back. "And it's not like you can get your vengeance on Foeslayer or Darkstalker."
Moon dropped suddenly down toward the fortress. Grace made a split second decision to follow her. Oblivious to what the hell was going on, I just held on as tight as I could. We followed her to the mouth of a caved in tunnel, she was squinting, peering into the darkness.
We reached her first. Grace walked up against her and spread her wing around her.
"You okay Moon?"
I heard the wingbeats of dragons just behind us.
"I don't think this is right." she said as they all landed next to her. "This isn't the lost city of night in the prophecy."
That wouldn't explain your actions Moon.
"It isn't?" Kinkajou said. "Why not?"
"There was a city before this one," Moon said. "The NightWings used to live somewhere on the continent, back in Darkstalker's time."
"Ooohhhhhhhhhhhh." Grace interrupted, then shut up just as quickly.
"But they fled their city after he was — once he was gone — and they came here. To hide from him, in case he ever came back." She cast an odd, worried look towards Winter. "I think that's the city we need to find. The ancient one, the one that's really lost."
"Oh." Kinkajou said. "You couldn't have maybe mentioned that a bit sooner?" Evidently slightly annoyed at the wasted trip.
"Sorry," Moon said. "I was hoping this would work."
"So we don't have to go look for a dreamvisitor in there?" Qibli questioned with relief in his voice, nodding toward the tunnel. "Because I am all in favor of not going into the creepy smoking lava-filled tunnel."
"Me too," Moon agreed, "except that I thought I heard ... maybe ..."
"Icicle?" Winter demanded. "You think she's in there?"
At that instance, me and Grace reenabled our mindreading, listening.
"I'm not sure," Moon said, but at almost simultaneously, there was a strange scrrrrrrrape sound from deep inside the volcano. I fricken wiped out my pistol at the sound.
"Oh dear," Kinkajou whispered. "Now I'm really wishing we had saved the ancient evil dragon stories for somewhere less spooky."
It was an angry mind, dazzling me with her bright and glistening thoughts. I focused more on spotting through other means.
Scrrrrrrrrape.
Scrrrrrrrape.
Scrrrrrrape.
I fumbled for my flashlight, shining it down the tunnel.
Winter was sure a moment before, the rest of us turned to him with wide eyes.
We saw the glint of silver-pale scales shimmering toward him as a figure crawled slowly out of the dimly lit tunnel.
It was Icicle. We'd found her at last. Or was it our last?