Claws of time

Chapter 18- Regicide

I was awoken sharply by the sounds of shouts and fast wingbeats. I lifted my head in the direction of the noise, it was coming from outside. I stood up quickly and walked over to the window and saw Clearsight fighting her way past some NightWing guards, while Queen Vigilance watched with a furious expression. "What in three moons is happening right now?" I wondered aloud to myself. I grabbed my pouch off of the table where I sat it, and hurried my way through the door and down the hall. I noticed Fathom running down the hall of the palace as well, heading towards the outside. "Fathom!" I called to him. Fathom stooped for a moment and turned around, "Shiver, do you have any idea what is happening outside?" I shook my head, "I wish I could tell you, but I just woke up." I ran up next to Fathom as we both ran out the door. Clearsight was already way ahead of the guards, Fathom and I would have to catch up fast in order to find out what was going on. We both spread our wings and hurriedly chased after Clearsight. "I hope it's nothing too serious. Why would Clearsight be in trouble with the Queen?" Fathom said anxiously. "Usually when some dragon is arguing with the queen, it means something bad happened." Fathom gulped and beat his wings faster to catch up with me. Once we finally caught up with Clearsight, Fathom flew up to her side. "What happened?" he called. "I heard shouting- I saw you and the queen out my window- are you alright?" Clearsight looked at Fathom with worry and fear in her eyes, "We have to stop Darkstalker," she cried. "He's on his way here to kill the queen." Fathom faltered for a moment, and so did I. "Lostthought's prophecy was real, and it was coming true... I should've warned Clearsight sooner, but I didn't think it would come this quickly!" The three of us sped up our flying as fast as we could. "I see him!" Fathom cried, adjusting his flight path. Darkstalker was beating his way toward the palace, menace radiating from every scale. Not many NightWings were out now, in the middle of the day, but those that were swerved wildly to get out of his way, then gathered to whisper together as he passed. "Darkstalker!" she yelled. He paused and hovered in place, looking around as the three of us swooped up to him. Clearsight pointed to the roof of the library, and the four of us soared down to land on an open flat spot between the graceful spires. "I'm not going to let you kill the queen," Clearsight said as our talons touched down on the roof of the library. "She started it," Darkstalker said, his mouth quirking unbelievably into a little smile. "She's an idiot," Clearsight said, "but we can stop her from trying again. We can go back to the way things were." "Yes, please, Darkstalker," Fathom said, pressing his front talons together. "Can you really see that?" Darkstalker asked Clearsight. "She'll never trust either of us. You'll always be in danger, and therefore so will I, because I care about you, and Vigilance will use that against me." He paused, looking her over. "Unless I enchant your scales, too." His talons reached for a bag slung around his neck. "He has his scroll with him, oh this can go wrong in so many ways." I thought to myself anxiously. "No." Clearsight said sharply, making the rest of us wince. "I don't want any more spells on me, Darkstalker. I can't believe you betrayed me like that." "Like what?" he said innocently. "The earrings!" she cried. "You put a secret spell on me! You messed with my power, Darkstalker. Don't you see how wrong that is?" Fathom took a step back, his face crumpling into shock and sorrow. "That explains so much." I thought to myself again, "This is why she couldn't see the assassin, or anything bad that was happening." I looked at Clearsight and noticed the lack of her moonstone earrings. "Oh," Darkstalker said, flipping his tail dismissively. "That was such a little spell. I just wanted to keep you focused on the happy futures, like we talked about. I knew you couldn't do it on your own, no matter how much you promised me you would. So the earrings faded back all the dark paths, that's all. I was only trying to make you happier, Clearsight." He tipped his head, looking for a moment as though he really meant it, as if he cared about her more than anything and had been trying to help. "That's why I didn't see Quickdeath coming," Clearsight said. "Between the earrings and Allknowing trying to trick me- that's how I was taken by surprise. What if all my predictions about the war have been wrong, too, Darkstalker? While I'm handing out all these rose-colored prophecies, dragons could die in the real future." "I was double-checking your work," he said, smiling. "Don't worry." "You arrogant porcupine!" she shouted. "This has been delightful," he said. His wings flared open. "But I have a queen to kill." "Stop!" Clearsight leaped at him, tumbling him backward on the roof until she had him pinned down. "I'm not going to let you do that!" "Why not?" he asked. "I'll be a great king. Can't you see that? We'll be the strongest tribe in Pyrrhia. Our kingdom could stretch from shore to shore. You and I, side by side, bringing harmony to the whole continent, with our dragonets inheriting the throne after we're gone." "After we're gone?" she said bitterly. "You won't ever let that happen. It's a short step from invulnerability to an immortality spell. Have you done it already?" Darkstalker didn't say anything after that, which answered her question. "If Darkstalker was immortal now, how could we stop him? Magic maybe if we had to... but what if he made it so no magic can affect him?" I thought to myself anxiously. Darkstalker sat up abruptly, knocking Clearsight away. "Whiteout," he said in a strangled voice. "Your father has her," Clearsight said, touching her forehead. "He's taken her and they're flying ..." "North," Darkstalker finished. Murder glinted in his eyes. "He's taking her to the Ice Kingdom."