Fire and Ice

Chapter Three

Opal stood in shock for a minute and then leapt in after her. The cold, icy water made his scales feel prickly. His heart beat in his ears but Dryas was nowhere to be seen. He quickly dragged himself onto the dock, it was odd. He was an IceWing yet still felt uncomfortable when it was freezing cold. But the warmth also made him uncomfortable even though he had firescales. He never could quite place it.

He slowly stood, tail lashing behind him. "I'm going to kill whoever did this.." He muttered. Just then a shining, silver blade shot right past him and stuck itself in the wooden dock. Attached to the blade was a note.

Opal's heart raced and he practically fell on his face, scrambling to get the note. When he obtained the piece of parchment he noticed the scratchy writing. It read;

When the night has lasted three days time,

A trove will be revealed

Fire and Ice will follow the chime

Where a secret is concealed

Friends and foes are not what they seem

But all Fire and Ice wants is a chance to redeem

Blazes burn and Frostbite spreads

If fire and Ice will not find itself dead

Opal, If you want her back then find us where we are, In one day. We'll be waiting.

-The Scales of Power

Opal turned the paper over in his claws, what could it mean? Was it a prophecy or just a riddle? He felt a fiery heat crawling up his back from his tail to his snout. He quickly dropped the paper so that it wouldn't catch fire as his scales burst into flames.

What do the Scales of Power want with me? How do they know my name?

He let the flames on his body extinguish and picked up the note. The edges were ripped and yellowed, as if the note were decades old.

Nobody can see this, especially not the queen. She'd have me locked up because she thinks I'm just her weapon. She thinks she can keep me in her claws but she's just as scared of me as she is of the Scales of Power.

He yanked the dagger out of the wood and leapt into the air. It should be about midnight by now.. Opal angled toward his father's tower. I wonder what the quest is, surely she won't try to make it impossible.

He landed in the snow right outside of the tower and right as he folded his wings, the door swung open. He jumped back in surprise, but it was only the Queen.

Queen Caribou slowly stepped out and slammed the door behind her. "Greetings Opal. I see you're..ecstatic to receive your assignment?" she hissed, clapping her sharp claws together. He nodded slowly, eyeing her suspiciously as a devious smile spread across her snout.

"Well then, I need you to find and expose the current base of the Scales of Power. Then I need you to bring me the Diamond of Tahr from wherever they've hidden it. Those brats stole that valuable animus-touched object from us decades ago." She growled, rolling her eyes and gesturing to her long elegant neck with her claw.

The Diamond of Tahr? I've never heard of that one.. Tahr, Tahr? Tahr.. probably an IceWing animus if the object was originally ours but it's odd I've never heard of him.

"Never heard of The Diamond of Tahr? Judging by your expression, it would seem you've never even heard of Tahr." Caribou murmured. Expression? Am I making a face? Is it that Obvious? Oh no "Well I suppose I could waste time explaining- but really I don't have such time. Let's just say it's a valuable animus-touched gemstone hidden safely inside of the base of the Scales of Power." she said, flicking her claws and then admiring the shining, curved tips of her talons.

"Where?" Opal asked, tail lashing in the snow. He tried to curve his wings around his talons to hide the dagger and the note, but the Queen didn't bother to notice what he was holding anyways.

"No idea, all we know is that it's hidden in their desert base." she growled. "When do I need to get it by? Is there a specific deadline or is-"

"I want it by the second Black Sky. Got it?" She hissed, but before Opal could answer she whirled around, cape blowing in his face. He hadn't noticed that she was wearing a flowing, silk cape with white fox fur on the shoulders and silver chains dangling off of it. Her crown matched the chains, twisting elegantly around her horns and embedded with diamonds. Of course she was wearing all of her matching jewelry to show off to the visiting Seawings.

Suddenly, screaming and loud crashing noises leaked from the palace. IceWings and Seawings flooded out of the doors, screaming and running for their lives, But from what? Opal lifted into the air and soared toward the commotion, trying to figure out what was going on.

Through the windows, he saw a flash of Blood red scales. He dodged past several panicked party guests to get inside. As Opal entered, he was immediately hit with a plume of fire and knocked against the wall. His vision was clouded by smoke and his lungs felt clogged.

The heat didn't affect him though, fire pulsed through his very own scales at that moment. His managed to stand though he was dizzy, his wings flared outward to try and balance himself.

He squinted and saw the attacker, a smaller dragon, about the same size as Dryas. A Skywing but with black spots on his wings and lining his snout. The tip of his tail was black as well.

A NightWing- SkyWing? Most likely from the Scales of power but I've never heard of him.

Furious yellow eyes met his and a moment later he realized that the mystery attacker was only a talons length away from him. "You!" the dragon hissed in a raspy voice, flexing his claws and flaring his giant wings.

Opal tried to straighten his face, he basically towered over the Skywing. A sharp claw dug into the side of his head, unbelievably strong. His claws came up to meet it and tear it off but it was nearly impossible.

The SkyWing's grip only got tighter, and tighter. "WHAT ARE YOU-?!" Opal yelped, straight face breaking and wings flailing back. Deep blue blood trickled down the side of his face and sizzled in the flames at his feet.

The SkyWing had fireproofed his scales prior to the attack. As if he'd known about the IceWing's secret weapon. As if the Scales of Power had known about Opal. "So you're the pathetic rat she wants, ey?" his attacker growled, his talon still digging into Opal's face.

"Pathetic!" he hissed, lifting Opal up by his neck and slamming him against the unmeltable ice walls again. "AGHHH!" he screamed. The SkyWing dropped him and Opal knelt on the ground, wings tented around himself and neck craned down. His vision blurred and he lifted a claw to his face only to see it covered in a violent deep blue.

"What do you want from me?!" he asked desperately. He hated this feeling. He wasn't in control any longer. He was the one begging for mercy. He was the prey rather than the hunter.

"Oh, I don't want anything to do with you! But my very powerful and extremely unforgiving leader does!" The dragon hissed, flicking Opal's wing with his tail. Opal remembered the note and began blindly searching for it. His claw found the old parchment and lifted it above his head.

"ONE DAY!" he roared. The SkyWing paused for a moment, then snatched the note in his claws and read it over. He muttered something, folded the paper up and stuffed it in his neck pouch.

As the Skying did so, Opal stuffed the dagger in a hidden pouch under his wing. That would be useful later. "Hmph. Well. I know we took your friend but I didn't know we were letting you find us. Eh, too late." The SkyWing stopped in front of him, lifted a fist above his head and then it all went black.