Wings of Fire: Overcast

Chapter Seven

Eclipse and Darkstalker flew off towards the SkyWing palace. It was a long way to fly, and though either of them could have enchanted something to take them there immediately, they decided against it. A nice good fly around half the world was bound to clear their heads. Eclipse sighed s Darkstalker talked and talked. 

"All right, shut up already, we're almost there," Eclipse snapped. His constant chatter was really starting to annoy her.

"That's weird. Does it not work on you?" Darkstalker fingered the earring on his ear.

Eclipse gave it a flat look. "You mean my inner desire to be charmed by you?"

"Yes, that's - wait, what? How did you know?" Darkstalker was trying his best to crane his neck to look at the earring.

"I know because I cast a spell to prevent any unwanted animus magic from working on me," Eclipse said flatly, continuing to fly towards the SkyWing palace. Darkstalker mouthed something wordlessly from behind her.

Finally, they landed. There were two guards waiting for them, one bright red like Eclipse herself, another pale orange. They were both male, and both stared at Eclipse's SkyWing disguise in absolute fascination.

"What... What's your name?" they both asked at the same time.

"I'm Sienna," she answered in the silkiest tone she could manage.

"Sienna, why are you here?" one of the guards - the orange-scaled one - asked.

"Just visiting the queen. My mother was a friend to her mother, although I'm not sure if Her Majesty has heard of me before; our mothers lost contact years ago." 

Eclipse looked into the future, and this answer satisfied the guards in most of the timelines.

"Very well, what about him? I'm Fire, by the way," the orange-scaled SkyWing said.

"I'm Crimson," Darkstalker piped up.

"I'm Rory," the other SkyWing announced. "I'll take you to the queen - Fire, continue standing guard, I'll have Morningdew replace you."

"Morningdew is incompetent!" Fire snarled. "I will take them to the queen, and you will continue standing guard alone!"

"What's with the aggression?" Eclipse asked innocently in her silky tone, and both SkyWings shut up immediately, giving her their biggest smiles.

"My deepest apologies, Sienna, we should have asked you," Rory said calmly. "Who would you rather accompany you?"

"Well, this Morningdew seems rather free, and I wouldn't want to distract you from your jobs, would I?" Eclipse asked pleasantly.

"Actually, we don't need a guide! E- Sienna knows the way, her mother brought her to visit when she was younger."

Eclipse's SkyWing disguise looked maybe ten years old, not too aged at all, still young for a dragon. Darkstalker looked maybe fifteen.

"Oh, you do need a guard or you won't be allowed to enter the palace," Rory said. "I'll call Morningdew, shall I?"

Eclipse nodded curtly, and Rory flew off, soon returning with a female SkyWing. Morningdew was scarred and looked like a seasoned fighter, and looked grumpier than Rory or Fire.

"Get moving," she growled to Eclipse and Darkstalker before taking off into the air.

"Who put a lizard up her nose?" Darkstalker asked bluntly.

"That would be no one; we don't eat lizards, Crimson," Eclipse said pointedly. Darkstalker was ruining their entire disguise!

"Is he not from here?" Morningdew asked disapprovingly.