Tempest Unleashed

Chapter 24: Mother

I threw myself into Cactus's arms, and let out only one sob without letting any tears fall. Another dragon stepped stiffly out of the shadows. I straightened, dried my eyes, and bowed my head to the SkyWing dragoness that was stepping out of the shadows. "Mother. How are you?" I asked. My mother, Crimson, was never known for her tolerance of female dragonets. She wanted desperately to become queen, and if she did and she had female dragonets, they might fight her for the throne, and she might die. So, whenever she had female dragonets, she threw them out onto the streets when they were old enough to hunt for themselves instead of scavenging from their mother's prey. If they scavenged too long, they went missing, and Crimson would show up at market with several necklaces with teeth strung onto them. Dragons would ask her what had happened to her female dragonets and where she got the teeth necklaces. Crimson would always reply, "Do you know what happens to dragons who ask too many questions? If you don't stop asking questions, you will soon enough." No one ever ignored her threats because they would go missing, too, if they did. Crimson replied coldly, "I'm very well, thank you. I see you've remembered your manners. Have you kept away from other tribes?" "I've tried my best, Mother." "Good. And your posture around me and other important dragons?" "Never forgotten, Mother." My friends burst in, and Winter growled, "Where's the intru-" My mother's head snapped towards him, and she squinted and eyed all of them. She snapped, "I thought I heard you say you've been trying your best to stay away from other tribes, Tempest. Did I hear you wrong?" Trying my best to stay unemotional and collected, I replied in a monotonous voice, "No, Mother, you did not hear me wrong, I've been trying my best to stay away from other tribes, but I can't seem to get rid of them. They follow me around like death follows disease." She hissed, and seemed to think that she taught me to not show emotion too well. I let a sliver of a smile shine through, but only for a moment, which, when that moment was up, I showed no more emotion and shut and locked the door in emotion's face. However, my mother had caught the smile sliver, and she hissed at me, "Haven't I taught you not to show emotion around peasants?" For such a small dragon, she seemed utterly terrifying in that moment. I droned, "Yes, Mother, you have, I must be forgetting my lessons." She triumphantly smiled, the only show of emotion that she had ever done before any of her female dragonets in ages. Crimson bared her claws, and said, "You know what to do." I turned around and presented my back to her. She stepped forward and slashed her claws across my back, where multiple, barely visible scars remained. Those scars were completely reopened and new ones were made as my mother clawed at my back viciously, and I could hear my friends audibly cringing as she did. When she was done, my back was a mess of blood. The thick red liquid dripped off of my tail, and I looked absolutely horrifying with my black horns and bloody back and tail barb. My mother hissed, "Now will you remember?" "Yes, Mother, I will remember now, Mother." "Good." Winter stepped forward, growling, "You can't just - " "I can't just beat up my own dragonet like that? Is that what you were going to say, stupid IceWing?" Crimson hissed with delight in her eyes, as if she were going to ... Oh, no. I whispered at my mother, "Mother, don't do it, please, we could use him for something. We could trade with the other queens, and they would give us riches and wealth for their tribe mates." Crimson paused to consider this, and Cactus, who I forgot was there, agreed, "I agree with her." After a moment, she turned to me, and replied, "Good thinking for a dragonet of your age." Crimson then turned back to Cactus, and barked, "Tie them up." Winter looked a little bit hurt, as if he were thinking, "How could you?" I winced, and thought, This isn't what I meant by 'use them', I meant 'maybe we could just not hurt them or tie them up and just let the queens know that we have one member of their tribes, and if they don't respond within this time, then we put one scratch on them, and if they keep not responding, we'll just keep scratching them up.' I didn't mean this. Moon, please tell Winter what I thought. Please make sure he doesn't hate me. Please make sure that he knows that I love him. Moon nodded, and later, I could hear her speaking to Winter gently, and when she reached the part about me loving him and making sure he doesn't hate me, I could hear him say, "Why would I hate her? She did nothing. None of us had any idea that they would be here. Also, about the 'her loving me' bit. Could you tell Tempest that I love her, too? For her sake?" Moon nodded, and Winter went to sleep. Something moved in the shadows, and I stared into them. When the shadows moved again, I could make out the shape of my mother. If she was listening to Moon and Winter's conversation, then she knew that Winter and I were in love. She grinned in the darkness, and slipped away sliently.