Wings of Ice- A Wings of Fire AU

Prologue

Hvitur clutched the SkyWing egg closer as the huge SandWing princess stalked closer, her tail barb raised menacingly. The smooth white-gold-red egg was warm, almost hot in his talons, and the dragonet inside was shifting restlessly. As Hvitur opened his mouth, the frostbreath building up, Burn snarled to her guards, "Bind his snout. Quickly!" The two guards grabbed a length of smouldering chains from a firepit nearby and wrapped the blisteringly hot chains around his mouth. His screams were muffled by the chains forcing his snout shut, and the cold frostbreath quickly disappeared inside his throat. "Your majesty," one of the armoured guards said. "He was carrying this egg."

Burn took it and held it up to the flickering firelight. Red and gold shimmered under the thin white eggshell, and there was already one thin, tiny crack along the top of the shell. "Yes," Burn hissed, "This is not from the Ice Kingdom, is it, IceWing? This is a SkyWing egg." Her forked black tongue flicked in and out, and her eyes glittered like obsidian. "You thought you could get away with this egg, didn't you? Scarlet is not a fool. She knows what happens in the Sky Kingdom. One of her guards near the border reported a thief with silver scales... an IceWing. I decided to find you and add a little violence to my visit." Her tail rattled on the smooth stone, and the rain slid off her wings and into Hvitur's eyes. She loomed over him, her muscles rippling powerfully under her sandy-yellow scales.

"Blaze hates any dragons younger and prettier than she is, so I don't see why she'd send you to steal a SkyWing egg. But I have another guess. You're one of those insipid underground peacemongers."

"The Talons of Peace? You mean they aren't a myth? They're real?" one of Burn's guards asked, her black eyes glittering questioningly.

"Yes," Burn replied, snorting fire and smoke into Hvitur's eyes again. "A few worms crying over a little blood." The princess then turned to the closest guard. "Unwrap his chains. He won't be able to use his frostbreath until his scales cool off completely."

Hvitur snarled as the guard removed the burning chains. Wincing from the pain, he hissed, "Haven't enough dragons died for you yet? For the past twelve years, all of Pyrrhia has suffered. The prophecy says-"

"The prophecy says, blah, blah, blah. I don't care about some mumbo jumbo about six dragonets. No prophecy gets to decide what happens to me or what I bow to." Her venomous tail flicked up, an inch away from Hvitur. "So tell me, ice dragon, is this egg part of your precious prophecy nonsense?

Hvitur went still. Burn continued, "Hello? Is there a legendary Dragonet of Destiny inside, waiting to end this big, bad war?"

"Leave it alone," Hvitur snarled. Burn turned her attention back to Hvitur, her tail raised and her eyes glittering menacingly. "So tell me, IceWing. What happens to your prophecy if it only has five dragons?"

"You wouldn't!" Hvitur choked out. "No monster would ever harm a dragonet!"

"No 'Wings of Sky' to help save Pyrrhia." Burn continued, a mock sadness plastered to her face. "I guess that means you should be terribly careful with this one, important egg- Oops!" Burn dropped the egg, letting it fall straight down the ravine. As Hvitur dove after it, catching it just moments before it hit the ground, Burn shouted something that Hvitur couldn't quite make out. The egg felt much hotter than before. Hvitur almost dropped the burning hot egg in shock and pain, but he scrambled into the hidden tunnel. As he listened to the shouting of Burn and the wingbeats above, the egg rocked violently in his talons. Another crack shot out from the top of the eggshell, and a thin trail of smoke rose from it. What? Hvitur thought, Did I steal the queen's firescale egg by accident? And the other egg... Hvitur slid the pale silvery sling off his back, grateful that it was the same colour as his scales and looked like a part of his back. Hvitur unwrapped another egg, this one colder than ice. The sling was partially frozen, and his talons felt numbingly cold as he set down the SkyWing egg to peer closer at the stolen egg. Silver and cobalt blue shimmered along the smooth curve of the egg, and the inside was dappled with frost. I better get this egg inside and warm it up, fast, Hvitur thought, tucking the frosted egg back into the sling and picking up the burning hot egg. Kestrel met him in the entrance cave, smoke pouring from her snout and making Hvitur cough. "What happened to your face?" Kestrel snarled, her tone fierce and angry, even though her eyes were concerned.

"SandWing guards," Hvitur replied, wincing in pain. His jaw hurt ten times as much now that the danger had passed. Kestrel spotted the two eggs and wordlessly led him over to the nest in the center of the planned study cave, where the moonlight flowed brightly through a small hole at the top of the cavern. Hvitur had made sure, as they were finding a location to raise the Dragonets of Destiny, that the sky hole was big enough to let sunlight and moonlight in, but too small for even the smallest dragonet to squeeze through. The bright moonlight shining through illuminated four eggs; one an ebony-black that had hints of silver along the curve of the eggshell, one a deep blue, one the colour of dragon blood, and the last a pale golden shell. Hvitur laid his two eggs down in the soft nest made of moss, dry grass, and goose feathers. The SkyWing egg rocked violently, knocking over the IceWing egg. Hvitur gently tipped the IceWing egg back upright.

Everything was going to be fine. He had escaped with both eggs, and the six dragonets would grow up to save Pyrrhia.