Wings of Fire Legends: Starforger

CHAPTER 6

--Moonight--

She sat up and stretched. Moonlight was not the type of dragon to sleep as long as she wanted. Her
job was too important for that. Yet, looking at the sky, she was beyond shocked to see the sun
almost straigh above her head.
For the first time in her life, she oveslept.
Moonlight started franically packing her stuff. Then, when everything was safely hidden in her
pouches, she ran.
Her wings flapped uselessly at her sides, her breath coming ragged and short. Moonlight was kill-
and-hide kind of dragon, not a runner.
If she told the truth, that was not how she imagined her Big Day. She should've listened to Steel
when he told her what to do.
"You know perfectly well you are not ready, spoiled brat. Train some more. Leave it to next year.
Tell your beloved mentor you are sick or something. He won't care, as all the StarWings I know.
He belongs to the wrong side, after all." Steel said for the fifth time.
Moonlight pointedly ignored him. Steel hissed.
"You think you are so clever, don't you? Just remember, we should be allies, little Nightbringer."
The hybrid looked at him, then went back to her drawing. After a while, she dropped the coal and
signed: 'I am clever, Steel. And that means I don't have to listen to you whinning all day about me
not being ready. Besides, it's not Nightbringer, but Nightriser, and if you still talk to me, you
should know that.' Then she picked up her coal and continued to blacken the paper in her talons.
Jay and Nightrise laughted. "She got you there, Steel-soft." Nightrise said and Jay burst into
another fit of laughter.
She ran faster. She knew she had to respect Steel now. He was, after all, one of the sharpest
Nightrisers ever to be.
"Well, thanks for acknowledging that, Moony." The snake hissed.
Moonlight barely spared him a glance before dodging a fallen tree.
"But, you know, maybe you should've though of that sooner? Maybe when you weren't running
around like an idiot, what do you think, huh?" Steel taunted her.
I really don't have time for this right now. she though to him. Steel mumbled something inaudible.
Moonlight looked at the sun. Despair crashed over her. She wasn't gonna make it. The Nation won't see what she could do now.
"Moonlight!"
Moonlight stopped her desperate dash. She turned in circle Who called her in the middle of
nothing? Her practiced eyes scanned her surrounding. There.
A dragon emerged from behind a tall pine. She was only little bit taller than Moonlight was, her
scales a mixature of gold and silver. Moonligh breathed out in relief when she re cognized the
dragon.
Silverwing, she signed.
Her only friend beamed when she saw her. "Moon-Moon! I haven't seen you in forever!"
Silverwing cried out. Moonlight shook her head.
Please don't call me Moon-Moon.
"Oh, come on! It's Truthbringer's hatching day! And the Dark Nation's celebration! You can call
me Silver-Silver, if you wanna! Now, let's go, the party's boring without you. Nobody want's to
talk to me! Can you belive it?"
Yes, I can.
"Now you're just being mean."
Being mean is the whole point of our job, Silverwing.
Her friend grabbed her talons and grinned. "Just let's go, the ceremony's about to start!" Silverwing
said and skipped away in absolutely dif erent direction than Steel told her the Nation was.
Moonlight growled at the snake. He was bold enough to do a snake equivalent to shrug.
"Mistakes happen, Moony. That's why the Nightrisers don't rule the world."
----
Moonlight was not ready for so noisy place. It was just too loud, and there were too many dragons.
But it was the place where Silverwing was, and that somehow made it a bit better.
"Okay, okay, so, what do you wanna try first? The food or the games? Please say food, please say
food." Silverwing beamed at her, and Moonlight had to giggle at her pleas.
I though you already ate?
Her friend grinned at her sheepishly. "Yes, but there was nobody to eat with."
Moonlight couldn't help but smile. The food, please.
----
There was something about Silverwing that she couldn't quite place. Her only friend seemed
happy, but Moonlight would sometimes find her staring at nothing particular, yet Silverwing acted
as if she really saw there something. The hybrid didn't ask what was that. She was too busy going
over the plan for the last time. "Wanna know a secret, Moon-Moon?" Silverwing suddenly whispered in her ear, scaring the soul
out of her.
I suppose the nickname sticks, then. Yes, I'd like to know a secret. Her talons moved so fast she
doubted Silverwing saw what she signed. But her friend flapped her wings, so Moonlight supposed
Silverwing knew her just too well.
"Okay, okay, but you can't ever tell anybody. Remember how I told you six months ago I was
searching for that thingy from the Oh So Great Mist? Well, guess what! I found it! And you will
never belive it!"
By the thingy, you mean the thing that, I quote, 'holds all the answers we need to uncover the
secrets of the whole universe'?
"Yes, that exactly! And I never said whole. I said about three and half quarters."
Fine, whatever, what is it?
"It's a doll!"
A doll.
Silverwing frowned. Her eyes became cloudy and her front fangs showed. Her scales seemingly
changed shade from vibrant to almost dull. Even though she knew that was impossible, something
in her face made the colors vanish. Moonlight could watch her friend's expressions whole day.
"Yeah, I know, it's strange. But it just gives off the 'I am important' vibes, and it's from Mist's age,
that is confirmed. I don't know what it was supposed to be, but maybe when I get a night's worth of
sleep, I will be wiser."
How long did you sleep tonight? Moonlight asked, almost scared to know. Silverwing grinned, and
the dragonet relaxed.
"Two hours this week, why?"
She was never going to relax again.
Because your whole life depends on it! You could die!
"Awwww. You care about me, how cute. Don't worry, I am not dying anytime soon. Anyway,
maybe tomorrow I will show you the Mist-erious Doll. Get it? It's Mist's, so Mist plus mysterious. I
am hilarious."
Sure thing. So, do you wanna play the games, or do-"
A loud whistle echoed around them. Every dragon went silent.
"Fellow assassins!"
Oh, right. Every dragon except for Truthbringer.
"Welcome to the tenth celebration of the Dark Nation! And my hatching day! Cheers!" he yelled
atop his lungs.
The dragons clapped politely. "I see everybody is excited! Well, since you are here, lets go through the very exciting stuff that's
gonna happen in next six days! And today, of course.
"So, today, we will go through the special ceremony! Tomorrow, only for dragons older than ten
years old, will be drinking day! Free mead and wine for everybody! And for those who aren't ten
years old yet, beer! The day after tomorrow..."
Moonlight stopped listeting. What was the point, if everything went accordingly to her plan? There
would be no tomorrow for the Nation.
"Don't you think he's cazy, giving immature dragons an alcolohic stuff? On the other talon, do you
know any grown-up assassin who wouldn't mind giving me their wine?" Silverwing whispered in
her ear. Moonlight flinched, but didn't bother to answer. He thoughs were elsewhere.
She was just about to pull out her daggers when Truthbringer flapped his wings.
"Let the ceremony begin! What is it about? Listen well, and you might know!" he hollered.
Moonlight froze. Her instincts told her to wait, even though Steel was screaming at her to kill kill
kill.
"A new hierarchy shall be put in the Nation! From now on, we will not be equals. Gods, I hate
equality. From today, there will be Elite assassinss, Pretty good assassins, Good assassins, and
Idiots. Don't get your hopes up, considering the fact you are all idiots, there are only three Elite
assassins. Some Pretty goods and Goods, but the rest of you are idiots in position Idiot."
He waved at the crowd, expecting clasping and cheers. Everybody was silent.
"Yay!" Silverwing next to her beamed. The dragons erupted into wild laughter. Truthbringer
waited until the laughting died out, then coughed.
"And since some of us are excited, let's know who are gonna be the highest ranked dragons. First
Elite, my niece, Flight of StarWings!" Truthbringer annouced. Moonlight saw Flight join her uncle,
the StarWing smilling happily. He took a red silk cloak from a pile next to him that only now
Moonlight realized was there the whole time, and threw it around her shoulders. She smiled even
more.
"Now, do you wish to work alone, or do you wanna sidekick or whatever it's called these days?"
"Yes please. I'd like Crimson, my boyfriend, to work with me." she said gently. Truthbringer
grinned.
"So be it. Moving on, second Elite, please cheer for Light of MistWings!"
The same process, the same red cloak, same question, just different answer. Light wanted to work
alone.
"And now, the last Elite! Hold your breath, one more of you is gonna be covered in red. That was a
joke about being an assassin, if nobody understood. Anyway! The last, and the youngest.
Moonlight of StarWings and MistWings, join us!"
She did not expect that. There were many dragons who were older - well, everybody here was
older than her - and many dragons who deserved to be Elite more than she did. Or maybe
Truthbringer knew about her plan. A sudden wave of cold washed over Moonlight. Maybe it was
somehow part of his plan to get rid of her. Moonlight stood there, paralyzed with fear, everybody staring at her, until Silverwing gently
pushed her to Truthbringer. Her body started working again.
Once again, he threw a red cloak around her shoulders.
"Wanna have a sidekick?" he asked.
She nodded without a moment of hestitation, pointing at Silverwing. That dragon made her smile,
sometimes even laugh. Silverwing understood her, she wasted her free time just to tech them both
their own sign language. She helped her, and was always there for Moonlight.
Truthbringer nodded. "Silverwing of MistWings and DustWings, you are now Moonlight's
sidekick! Now that we have the Elites sorted out, the other positions. Cloak-handlers, you should
have dragon's position memorized by now. So, blue cloak to Pretty goods, green cloak to Goods
and white to Idiots!"
----
Silverwing daanced around her. "Could you belive it? I am Pretty good! This cloak is basically
telling me that I am good at killing!"
Moonlight frowned. That's not something you should be proud about.
"Ah, shush, I can be proud of whatever I wanna be proud of." her best friend said. Moonlight just
shook her head.
"Ladies," Truthbringer appeared at their side, and they both jumped. "I am walking around, telling
everybody their next mission. Silverwing, you gotta kill my ex-girlfriend. Ask Flight about details.
And Moonlight? For you it's Princess Royalty of StarWings."