Claws of time

Chapter 20- Puppet master

Darkstalker finished writing his spell, "Now," Darkstalker said to his father. "Stop talking." Arctic opened his mouth. And nothing came out. "Never use your magic again," Darkstalker said pleasantly. "Never attack me or my friends ever again. Don't try to escape." Arctic clutched his throat. His tail was lashing like a snake on fire. "Great glaciers and narwhals! You enchanted your own father?" I called out in surprise, trying to mask the fear behind my own words. Darkstalker smiled pleasantly. Fathom looked at Darkstalker with distrust and fear, while Clearsight buried her face in her talons. Was she crying? What did it matter now, Darkstalker had control over Arctic, what if he chose to control other dragons next? "Release Whiteout from the spell you put on her," Darkstalker went on, ignoring me. Arctic's claws reached toward his daughter, although he was clearly trying to fight them. He seized the golden glass shell necklace around her neck, pulled it off, and smashed it. Whiteout let out a gasp. She shook her head, blinking like mad, then looked around, taking in the scene as if she'd just woken up. "Oh no," she cried. "It's too late. The sand is falling." "You're all right, Whiteout," Darkstalker said, reaching to take her front talons in his. "I saved you." She touched his snout gently with hers for a moment, then stepped back. "I'm grateful to be unfrozen," she said. "But I'm sorry for winning." "Don't be," he said. "We both won. We're going to have the greatest future I can give us. All of us." He swung his head to include Fathom, Clearsight, and I, then rolled his eyes. "Calm down. I saved the day. It was amazing, didn't you notice?" "Saved the day!" I cried, "You're delusional. You just enchanted your own father! It's one thing to enchant yourself, but this is just... it's not right!" Darkstalker rolled his eyes again, "Oh please, calm down, it's totally fine." I shot a look towards Clearsight and Fathom, looking for support on my side, surely that can see how insane this is. "Let me see," Clearsight said, holding out her talons.
Darkstalker shrugged and slid his scroll toward her. Fathom stepped around him and read the spell over her shoulder. "No," Clearsight breathed. "See, I hate to break it to you guys, but enchanting other dragons is BAD. We can all agree on that, right?" Darkstalker pushed past me, packing up his belongings quickly, "Follow us back to the Night Kingdom," he ordered Arctic. "Keep up. Don't try anything. Don't even think about anything except flying, one wingbeat after another, until I tell you you can land." Arctic was still and silent, unblinking and calm, it was eerie. "Maybe we should rest first," Clearsight said hurriedly. "Whiteout looks tired, right, Fathom? We could all sleep for a while, maybe find something to eat. Maybe talk about ... everything." "I have things to do." Darkstalker huffed impatiently and he spread his wings, "We're going now." "Darkstalker," Clearsight said. "Please don't do what you're about to do. Please stop and look at the timelines with me- we can still find one that's safe and peaceful for all of us." "I know we can," he said. "We're on it. Accept your destiny, my love. We're the ones who bring peace, once the throne is ours. And who's safer than the king and queen?" I shook my head, "This is absolutely insane..." I thought to myself with dread. I spread my wings and followed behind Fathom.
The sun had set, and the desert was cold now, reaching a freezing point, and it felt fantastic. The weather was deceiving though, the air felt cool and crisp, but we were all flying toward our doom, if this was a story I was writing, I would write on the scroll, "Thunder and lightning crashes all around while the world crumbled below because for some reason we're all following a psychotic dragon to what is probably our inevitable death." I chuckled a little at the dramatic scene I had conjured up in my head. Maybe I could sneak off and find Lostthought and ask her what I should do when we reach the Night Kingdom. We flew closer to the border to the Night kingdom, and I stopped for a moment to check and make sure the earrings were in place, they were and so I continued to follow behind Fathom. Darkstalker twisted himself in the air to look at Arctic, "You will land beside me and stand there quietly until I tell you what to do next." We landed on a stage set up in the middle of the plaza, the moons shone palely overhead, two of them were almost full and one was needle sharp. I looked at the crowd below at the NightWings that carried about their day like nothing bad was about to happen, because they most likely don't know, which is odd since most have the foresight abilities. I was searching the crowd looking for Lostthought or her sister, where was she when I needed her? Clearsight came up behind me and nudged her wing with mine, "Hey, can you take Fathom back to the palace and stay there with him in his room? He doesn't need to see this, and neither should you. Also, tell him I have a plan to stop Darkstalker, we'll use his scroll to enchant something to stop him." Clearsight waved her talons at me, and shooed me away. I hurried myself over to Fathom, "Fathom, Clearsight wants me to take you back to the palace. I'm supposed to stay with you, but I need to go find somebody first. Do you think you can make it to the palace by yourself?" Fathom nodded. "Also, Clearsight has a plan to stop Darkstlker, she's planning to enchant something to stop him." "Alright, and please be careful Shiver... something tells me Darkstalker's not going to be so merciful to Arctic and I don't want you caught up in it somehow." I met Fathom's stormy green eyes, "We're already caught up in it. We just have to find a way to survive it." Fathom looked at me anxiously, "Now get to the palace!" I said, pushing him off in the direction. Fathom spread his wings and took off quickly, and I turned and snuck out into the crowd. "My friends," Darkstalker called in a booming voice. "You're about to see something no dragons have ever seen before.
Gather your families; everyone come watch! This is the most important day of your lives!" "Thank you for coming!" he called to the crowd. Darkstalker sat down on the stage as more NightWings piled into the plaza whispering amongst each other, gathering around to get ready to watch whatever spectacle Darkstalker was about to put on. I couldn't focus on him, however, I had to find Lostthought and figure out a way to stop Darkstalker, just like in the prophecy.