The gemstone war

Ability Testing

Rosefire squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. Evelina, Otter, her home, would she ever see them again?

The door opened with a bang and Queen Lily burst in, followed by the guards. "Grab her," she said, surprisingly calm.

"NO, LET ME GO!" Rosefire bellowed.

The Queen called five more guards to grab Rosefire. "You will never leave this castle except for battles, and during those battles, you will be tied to one of my guards."

Rosefire immediately went quiet.

She remained quiet as the guards took her into another room. Other dragons, HiveWings especially, were positioned all around the room. A RainWing let out a scream and went limp on its spot on the wall.

"What are you doing with all of them?!" Rosefire cried.

A guard immediately put a chain over her snout so she would shut up.

"MMLMMMTMMPH!" Rosefire growled.

"SHUT UP!" yelled the guard.

"HMPH."

"SHUT UP!" Then, quieter, "or I'll kill you."

Rosefire then went quiet.
Thankfully, the dragons put a hood on her at one point, so that she couldn't see what they were doing. Eventually, one of the HiveWings let out an exclamation.

"Look, the rat we prodded with her tail is reacting with symptoms of poisoning."

"Great. Let's show the Queen so that she has even more reasons to abuse this dragonet."

"Look, I know you aren't happy about it, but it has to be done." They started to unchain her from the golden tree.

A sigh. "Agreed."

***

In the throne room, Queen Lily was still gloating inwardly when the guards came in.

"MMMLMPH." Rosefire immediately announced.

"SHUT UP!" The guard yelled at Rosefire, not wanting her to get him in trouble, or worse, have to hurt her for the Queen.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Queen Lily snapped at the guard, her eyes still closed.

"Sorry, your majesty," the guard responded.

The guard through the chain off Rosefire's snout so she would stop mumbling.

"Now Rosefire, how do we use you in MY army?" Queen Lily said innocently, despite an evil grin on her face.

The room went silent for a minute.

Finally, one of the guards responded. "A powerful poison was discovered in her tail spike," he admitted hesitantly.

"Great," Lily said with a smirk.

"NO! Please! Don't use me in your army! I just want to go home and be with my mom!" Rosefire said, choking on her words.

"Oh, you poor, baby," Lily pouted, a look of false concern on her face. Then she grinned. "I DON'T CARE!"

The guards took her back to the tree and started to chain her back up. Instead of putting her in the throne room, the tree was brought into a small cave under the palace.

In Rosefire's eyes, the tree seemed to be glowing. But if she asked any questions, that awful, tight chain would be put back on her snout. She really didn't want that, it would hurt, and she would get no answers.

The guards glanced at each other, before leaving. Rosefire wanted to call out, to beg them not to leave. But she was alone.

She lay there for at least an hour thinking about Otter and her mom. Would she ever see them again?