Wings of Fire - Eclipse Burning (1)

Chapter 19

Moon shrieked and Eclipse was sure the rock spear would impale the IceWing through the head or neck. The raindrops all vanished in a instant as the cave erupted into chaos.  

Then she'll be dead, dead, dead, sang one voice in the rising tumult in Eclipse's head. 

But Icicle twisted out of the way at the last moment, and the stalactite shattered against the ground. 

There was a frozen minute of shock. 

Oh, that's interesting, Darkstalker mused. In most of the futures I saw, that worked and she died. This changes . . . many things. 

Eclipse didn't have time to respond to that; as the whole cave echoed with terror and panic.  

"Icicle!" Winter shouted. He spread his wings and sprang toward her, fighting past the dragons who were all stampeding the other way. Icicle was staring at the spot where it had fallen, her heart pounding. Even above everyone else, Eclipse could hear her fury and disbelief. 

Who DARED attack me?

Eclipse began fighting against the sea of dragons as well, pushing her way towards Icicle. Finally, she broke through the last few dragons and trotted over to the IceWings. 

After a moment, no one was left in the prey center except the two IceWings, Qibli, Moon, Eclipse and Clay who had also rushed to Icicle's side. 

"By all the moons," Clay cried. "How did that happen? Are you alright?"

"No!" Icicle roared, lashing her tail. "Someone tried to kill me!"

The niece of Queen Glacier! Qibli thought, and then reprimanded himself. Not the time, Qibli. 

Eclipse climbed onto the ledge, inspecting the fallen stalactite and the ceiling where it had fallen. Claw marks were clearly visible in the rock, as if someone had scraped painstakingly through the spire until it had been barely suspended, ready to fall at the lightest touch.  

"What?" Clay looked up at the other stalactites in the alcove. "But -  no - surely that was an accident. How - and who -"

"That was no accident," Winter said from in front of Eclipse. He was inspecting the scene with her as well and was pointing grimly at the spot where the fallen stalactite had hung. 

"This was intended to murder someone," Eclipse began, "And Icicle is the only one who sits in this exact spot every time she comes into the prey center."

"But who -" Clay said again, searching his brain. She's unfriendly, but not bad enough to kill . . . 

"I'll tell you what else," Icicle spat. "That bomb yesterday was probably meant for me, too. I'm the target. Someone was trying to kill me, and I'm going to find whoever it is and turn them into a glittering ice statue, which I will then beat to smithereens with my tail."

Icicle was the target all along? Qibli and Moon exchanged looks. If she was right, what did that mean?  

Suddenly it clicked in Eclipse's mind. A dragon had awoken late last night. To go for a walk around the mountain. Alone. 

Qibli's brain was rapidly organizing the students into possible categories of IceWing enemies - but Eclipse and Moon shared a look and she felt Moon have an awful sinking feeling. 

"You can't do that, and that's impossible anyway," Clay said again. "No one could have known who'd be in the cave when the cactus exploded. We think it was set to happen before class started - so there was no guarantee that you'd be in there then. If it was an assassination attempt against you, wouldn't they have made sure you were there?"