Wings of Fire: A New Regime (Book 3)

Chapter 9

There was, in fact, only four dragons were down in Aconi’s dungeons. There was, of course, Iodine, Cloudy, and Bermuda, but the name of the SandWing turned out to be named Bleach, who was old and worried about his family.

He talked a lot- Bermuda suspected they had been the only other prisoners to ever be down here so far. He had been captured when the Glass had attacked him. He had been flying through the Claws of the Clouds mountains when he was captured. Aconi had apparently been testing out taking prisoners, because what kind of queen didn’t take prisoners. He wasn’t a valuable prisoner, unlike the other three of them, but here just to act as an example to others. Which kind of sucked.

He wouldn’t talk much about his past- but Bermuda heard him mumble some names in his sleep, like “Mouse” and “Adobe”. She thought they were names. For all she knew , he was just dreaming about a mouse in his adobe.

It didn’t matter though. He hadn’t even tried to think about escaping, so he didn’t offer much input to Bermuda’s scheming. 

Cloudy was talking quietly with Iodine and Bleach. Bermuda laid in the small ray of sunshine that shone through the cell. She still felt cold from Aconi’s spell- it felt like her natural heat wasn’t working as well as before.

Bermuda wasn’t really part of the ongoing conversation, only listening in now and then. She rolled onto her back, propping her head on her arms, like a pillow. The window in there cell was too tiny for Bermuda to get through, and that glass was probably insanely thick. Too thick to shatter with out a ton of commotion. 

She stood up, and then up her hind legs as she stretched her neck to peer out the window. She squinted against the bright sunlight. There wasn’t a cloud on the sky- and Bermuda could see mountains and pinetrees spiking the landscape. They were on an outerside of the palace, and fro the distance to the ground, Bermuda suspected they were relatively close to the ground. It was mid-morning, the sunrise fading as the sun climbed up the horizon. Usually, there were never dragons flying in the sky. Today, Bermuda could see Glass and purple RainWings dotitng the sky occasionally. Bermuda could see the ocean just beyond the mountains, but barely.

Despite her SeaWing blood, Bermuda wasn’t all too fond of the water. She thought is was probably a SandWing thing, to dislike getting your scales soaked.

Her father, a SeaWing, used to take Bermuda fishing on their little boat. She remembered watching the silvery fish flicker below the surface, glimmering like stars in the night sky. Her father knew she didn’t like getting wet, so she’d sit on the boat holding a crossbow while her father swam through the water. He’d chase the fish through the waves towards Bermuda, and she’d catch them with the crossbow. They’d bring their daily catches back home, and their mother would fry them up for dinner. It was a simple life.

Not so much anymore; she was a prisoner to a magical all-powerful tyrant, with no way to tell her parents she was okay.

I wonder how they’re doing, Bermuda thought. She didn’t remember if she even told them her friends and her were leaving. Unless Rosetta, Aconi’s mother, made it back to the underground village, there was no way they’d know where she was.

I’m going to be grounded for the rest of my life, Bermuda thought ruefully.

She missed them. It was probably an awful feeling they had right now- not an idea where their only daughter was. To them, she might as well be dead.

Bermuda sighed and dropped down from the window. She turned around to see Iodine standing outside of the door to her and Cloudy’s cell.

“Moons above! How did you get out?” Bermuda exclaimed.