Wings Of Fire: Whisper In The Shadows (book 1)

Chapter 2- Desert

They say that only those who you trust can betray you.

I think that's a load of camel dung.

I don't trust anyone and I never have, except once, and that ended up killing my brother. Yet somehow, I have been betrayed over and over, for things so feeble such as vengeance, money or simply hatred.

This time however, betrayal is just what I need for this plan to work.

"So you're going tonight at midnight right?" Frigid confirms. "At the left gate to the palace?"

I nearly roll my eyes. If I wasn't feeding this naive Icewing fake information, I would definitely not trust this slimy dragonet. It was almost too obvious that he would betray my plan.

"Yes, Frigid." I sigh. "And you will be by the back entrance to guide me through the castle."

Frigid nods obediently.

"Well," I say. "It's nearly midnight, you should head to our rendezvous." I order and fly off over the icy wasteland.

Of course I know that instead of going to the back entrance, Frigid will go to the palace guards first to tell them that I'm going to 'break in.'

But I won't be at the back entrance, waiting to be ambushed, nor will I be at the left gate either. I'll be in the Icewing registry, stealing my brother's file.

Repulsion floods through me as I look down upon two dragonets flying and swooping around each other with matching grins emblazoned on their snouts. Icewings, one day I'll murder them all.

I know I can't blame all of them for something out of their control but it feels good to hate them.

To avoid being sighted, I have to swerve around the main part of the kingdom and fly over a frozen lake to avoid the main villages and clearings.

At one point, a very injured and bloody Icewing flaps wonkily past me and I have to dive into a nearby tree to avoid being seen. The dragonet doesn't seem to notice me and instead mutters something about fish loudly as he flies off unsteadily.

When I get closer to the palace, I land silently in the middle of a snowy forest and begin to make the rest of the way on talons.

The evergreen trees brush against my sandy scales, dripping half melted snow onto my back. I can't tell if I want to shiver and curl up in a ball by a fire or dive around in the slush and cover myself in ice.

It's a very confusing feeling that comes with being an Ice, Sand hybrid and I scratch at my scales in aggravation.

I've gotten used to the feeling of my scale-bafflement from being in the desert, but here in the icy tundra, it's completely different.

Finally I reach the outskirts of the palace walls and I scurry behind a building facing the main square.

It is just past midnight so the streets are ghostly and empty, except for a pair of stragglers lurching disorderly, coming home from a tavern.

I wait until the drunken Icewings have passed before I sneak around what looks like a library and step onto the threshold of the registry.

Just as I expected, the many guard posts that are spotted around the outside of the buildings are empty, the guards that usually occupy them probably hidden away at the entrance to the palace, waiting to ambush me.

But I'm not at the palace, no. Instead I'm creeping down the barren hallways of the archives, filled with hundreds of files. Each one with information about every single Icewing living in the Ice kingdom.