Wings of Fire: Overcast

Chapter Fourteen

What Iceshard really wanted Eclipse to do was also what she really, really didn't want to do. Learn manners, and to follow orders. Of course she knew how to do those things, but it was so boring. No adventure at all.

So she'd given him a flat no, and Iceshard looked at her like she was some crazy maniac. "You can't say no!" he spluttered, mortified. "Following orders is a basic skill, Aurora!"

"Do you follow orders? Did my grandfather?" she questioned.

Iceshard shrugged. "Am I supposed to know who your grandfather is? You didn't even know who mine was, and he was a First Circle dragon."

She clamped her mouth shut. She'd let it slip. She'd expected him to know who Prince Arctic was, and of course he did, but she wasn't his granddaughter in this disguise. She covered up her blunder with one of her dashing smiles.

Iceshard didn't return the smile. He was too stiff for his own good. Then again, she was Eclipse, and with the NightWing tribe she was the stiffest of them all. Pretending to be somebody else, someone not a NightWing, with no expectations... It made her feel free.

He didn't know who she was, but she knew who he was, and he was earnest and meant no ill. Still... She was going to betray him one way or another. Rescuing Foeslayer alone was an insult to their kind. It would look like an IceWing from the tribe had freed her.

A disloyal IceWing. There weren't many of them out there. Even Arctic had only been swayed by love, and deep in his heart, he'd been loyal to Foeslayer first, but after her were the IceWings, not the NightWings.

"Aurora... This attitude is going to get you killed by the queen," Iceshard said steadily, breaking the silence between them.

Eclipse winked. "You think I care? I can handle the queen."

Iceshard shook his head disbelievingly. "No, you can't. She's Queen Diamond. Queen of the IceWings. An animus."

"Who... Let me think... Isn't supposed to use her power?' Eclipse asked casually.

"Not supposed to - but she will if she thinks you're a real threat! She used her magic to summon Foeslayer and imprison her, and she'll imprison you alongside that NightWing if you keep misbehaving!" He sounded like he genuinely cared, and the mask had dropped again. Psh. IceWings - sentimental and oblivious. Then again, he didn't know she was an animus, so she couldn't exactly blame him.

"I can handle myself," she promised, but he didn't look convinced.

"You have to follow orders, Aurora. Please." His voice dropped down a notch, turning into more of a hoarse whisper.

Eclipse laughed softly. "Begging now, are we?"

"Not we - I am. I don't want to see y- a valuable soldier wasted because of her attitude," Iceshard stated boldly.

Had he been about to say that he didn't want to see her hurt? Maybe he had, or maybe she was guessing too much. She only winked again, and he slammed his tail down on the ground so hard, the ice cracked.

"This isn't a joke, Aurora! The Ice Kingdom needs every soldier we can get. You want to become the Queen's bodyguard? Well, this attitude won't cut it! You have to behave, Aurora. Behave. Listen to me. I outrank you. You know that, right?"

"Does it matter?" Eclipse asked sweetly.

"Of course it does! If you can't even obey me, then how will you obey the Queen?"

"Why would I obey you?" Eclipse found herself getting angry. "To what avail, Iceshard? All of you want to own me - all of you. and it stinks of lies and betrayal. Can you blame me for taking my life into my own talons? Can you?"

"Don't you trust anyone?" Iceshard asked. "Queen Diamond is a good queen. A little blinded by revenge, I'll admit, but otherwise, she's an amazing ruler. And I... I will never compare to them, to her, to any of the queens of princesses or princes or whatever, but I still... I'm still a First Circle dragon."

"That's all that matters to you? That you're highly ranked? Well, so what? No one cares, Iceshard. No one cares! You're a First Circle dragon! Sure! So what? Does that mean you can parade around the square with your snout in the air pretending you're better than everyone else?"

"Do I look like I do that?" he asked, so quietly that she almost didn't hear him. She frowned. "Do I parade around?" he asked softly, and more gently than she expected. She shook her head slightly, feeling guilty about her earlier words. "I'm bossed around by other dragons too, Aurora. It's part of life."

"It's not part of mine." She spoke as softly as him, but he heard her perfectly clearly. "I'm not like the rest of you, and I never will be, and that's fine by me." She was starting to sound like a true IceWing, and she wondered if she could permanently fit in with this tribe. "I'm different, and that's not bad."

Iceshard was quiet for a moment, then said, cracking a smile, "You can't be a soldier like this."

"And who said I wanted to be a soldier?" Eclipse asked coolly.

"You didn't, but you have to be," Iceshard pointed out. "You're one of the few remaining eligible IceWings in the kingdom for war."

"Aw, that's sad. I'm a girl, doesn't that count for anything?"

"No."

"You're heartless."

"Yeah, maybe I am, but that doesn't change anything."

"Fine, you have your way. What do I need to do?"