Claws of time

Chapter 16- Assassination

There were some movements behind the curtains, and I craned my neck to see what caused it. I noticed an IceWing standing behind the curtain with a grim look on their face. I stared at them confused, I didn't know of any other IceWings that were here, except Darkstalkers father, Arctic, I assume that's him, so why does he look so grumpy? Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a dragon tore through the curtains, vaulted into the pavilion, and drove a spear into Darkstalker's heart. A bolt of steel flashed past my face, as the shrieks of the unnamed NightWing rang out, mixed with the sound of ivory pieces cascading to the floor. Fathom's guard roared and slashed at the attacker's face, as Fathom was attempting to jump in and help, but by the time he did the assassin was dead. It all happened so fast. I looked at Darkstalker, he was completely unharmed, and there was no blood. "That's impossible!" the unnamed NightWing shrieked, nearly in hysterics. "He killed you! I saw it! He killed you!" Darkstalker spread his wings, revealing the glimmer of the ice scales underneath. "I guess he missed." "He didn't miss!" The unnamed NightWing backed away, pointing at Clearsight. "You saw it, too. Didn't you? Didn't you? That spear should have gone right into his heart." "I-" Clearsight glanced at the gathering crowd, then at Darkstalker again. "I don't know what I saw." The unnamed NightWing roared with frustration, darted out of the pavilion, and shoved her way through the gathering crowd until it swallowed her up. "It's nothing," Darkstalker said. "Really," he added to all the watching dragons. "This pathetic lizard tried to kill me and failed. Nothing to panic about." he stepped around Fathom's guard to see the body. "I would like to know who this is, though." "And why he tried to kill you," Clearsight added. Darkstalker glanced at Fathom's guard, "Too bad he's dead and can't answer any questions." Fathom's guard shrugged. "Sorry." We all looked at the dead NightWing, "I don't know him." Clearsight said as she edged away from the body. Whiteout and Thoughtful had run back over to see the commotion and Darkstalker looked up at them, "Do either of you know him?" He asked. "I do," Thoughtful said. "By reputation, anyway. His name is Quickdeath and he was... well, you can guess." "An assassin." I said studying Quickdeath's body. "But who would've hired them to kill you? And what if they try again." "We'll figure out who hired Quickdeath," said Darkstalker. "That's easy. And then we stop them from trying again." His eyes went cold and hard, like onyx beads. "Trust me, that'll be even easier."
We all flew back to the palace and went into Fathom's room. Clearsight immediately started arguing with Darkstalker. "What did you do?" she demanded. "Um, survived a deadly assassination attempt?" Darkstalker said. "Hooray for me?" "Listener was right," she said. "That spear hit you exactly in the heart. There's no way you should have survived it." "You sound awfully disappointed," Darkstalker snapped back. "Is that why you didn't warn me that was going to happen? Because you were hoping it would succeed?" Her face twisted in outrage. "You jerk," she cried. "I don't know everything, all right? Minor timelines sometimes become reality before I know it, especially if someone is trying to surprise me. And I'm glad you're not dead, but I want to know when you made yourself invulnerable and why you didn't tell me about it!" "Isn't the more important question who tried to kill me?" Darkstalker shouted. "Shouldn't we all be like, wow, great idea, Darkstalker, we're so glad you're alive, now let's get on with hunting down the actual bad dragon in this situation?" I stepped in between the two, "C'mon, let's not argue right now, that's not going to solve any issue." Fathom quickly crossed the room and started digging through his trunk and pulled out the soul reader, pointing it at darkstalker. "SERIOUSLY?" Darkstalker shouted. "I'm the good guy here! What is wrong with you?" "You shouldn't have used your magic," Fathom said, "That's a huge spell, invulnerability. It could have tipped you over all by itself." The hourglass was spinning slowly, slowly, white and black grains mingling and diverging. I held my breath, awaiting to see what the result would be, seeing how Darkstalker had been acting, combined with the prophecy, I was sure it would be filled to the brim with the white sand. "Well, it didn't," Darkstalker snapped. "It so happens I enchanted my scales before I made the soul reader, so you'll find that your little hourglass will give you the exact same result as last time. But thank you all so much for your faith in me." The hourglass stopped, one quarter white sand, and three quarters black, just like the first time. I looked at Darkstalker with suspicion, Indigo was probably right. How had he enchanted so many things, and nothing has changed his soul in that amount of time? Clearsight had a troubled look on her face, I wonder if she caught on his trick as well? "There," Darkstalker said. "See? Now can we get on with tracking down my killer?" "Not with magic," Fathom said quickly. "I know that's what you're thinking. Please, Darkstalker, we can find another way. You don't need to spend your magic on this." "It's a tiny little spell," Darkstalker said dismissively. "And then we'll know for sure. I'm not wasting time doing detective work, when I can get the answer at the tip of my claws." I shook my head, "I agree with Fathom. Darkstalker you've been using an awful lot of magic lately." Darkstalker frowned at me, "Fine. Besides, I know who it is." Clearsight was pacing in front of the fireplace, her wings shaking. "Darkstalker-." she started but he interrupted her. "Isn't it obvious?" Darkstalker asked. "He's wanted me dead since the moment I hatched." Fathom and I looked at Darkstalker and Clearsight confused.