King of The Dragons (Wings of Fire X Monster Hunter)

Part 3: Chapter 25, 26, & 27

Part Three: A Throne in the Treetops

(3rd Pov Glory)

"You mean you want a turn being queen?" said Magnificent, tilting her head in a puzzled way. "I'm sure that could be arranged, if you insist. I can talk to the others and try to fit you in between Grandeur and Exquisite next year.

"No, I need to be queen now," said Glory. She tried not to think about how much bigger than her Magnificent was, or how many years older she must be. 'I'm sure she's never had any battle training or faced a SkyWing's claws every morning for six years.' "Because if you won't rescue those RainWings, I will, whatever it takes. Even if it means taking the throne from you."

"Oh, wow," Kinkajou breathed.
"I don't see how you could possibly do that," said Queen Magnificent. She looked down and started rearranging one of her flower necklaces.

"It's not very complicated," Glory said. "We fight. Whoever survives gets to be queen."
The other RainWings in the room all gasped.
The queen's scales shimmered white and green. She stared at Glory. "You would kill another dragon to be queen?"
"That's how it works in every other tribe," Glory pointed out.
"Not here," said Magnificent. "That's barbaric."
"What's barbaric is abandoning dragons of your tribe when you could save them," said Glory fiercely.

Queen Magnificent waved her front claws airily and addressed herself to Kinkajou and the blue-green dragon. "I'm sure no RainWing would follow a queen who got her throne by violence. Agreed?"
The blue-green dragon shrugged but Kinkajou puffed her chest and glared at the queen. "I'd follow Glory anywhere," she said.

"It's not the RainWing way," Magnificent protested.
"As far as I can tell, the RainWing way is to lie around and do nothing," Glory snapped. "So why don't you do that, and I'll just go ahead and be queen. After all, no one really wants the job, right?"

"Maybe I just don't want you to have it," said the queen with a growl.
"There is an old tradition," interjected the ancient dragon suddenly. "If anyone wants to hear it." The old RainWing chuckled as they all turned to him. "Don't look at me like that, Maggie. It's the fair thing to do, and it gives you as much chance, if not more, of keeping the throne."
"What is it?" Glory asked.

"A contest," he said. "Legend has it that dragons once vied for our throne like any other, but over time the RainWings devised a new method that did not end in death, If a challenger wished to take the throne, she had to defeat the present queen in a competition - and the queen had the right to choose the nature of the contest."
"That sounds exhausting," Magnificent said peevishly.

(Vied; meaning struggle, fight, and/or battle)

"It sounds fair to me," said Glory. Typical RainWing nonsense, but honestly, becoming queen without any killing would be fine by her. "What kind of contests did they have?"

The old dragon squinted into the air. "Let me think," he said, counting on his claws. "Once there was a gliding race through the treetops. And when I was a very young dragonet, I saw a camouflage contest - one would hide while the other tried to find her, and then vice versa. The winner was the one who found the other the fastest."

"A game of hide-and-seek to become queen," Glory said. "Why not."
She hoped someone could tell that she was a bit shaken. She was pretty sure she'd be better at a fight to the death than she would be at tree gliding or flower picking or whatever Magnificent would come up with. But if she wanted to be queen of the RainWings, she'd have to start acting like one. Keeping her scales evenly red, she turned to Magnificent. "Go ahead and name your contest, Your Majesty."

Magnificent narrowed her eyes. "I want a day to think about it," she said.
"That is customary," agreed the old dragon.
Glory lashed her tail. The kidnapped RainWings might not have a day. Who knew what the NightWings would do now that they'd been found out? What if they killed all their prisoners to hide the evidence? Or what if they were gathering an army and shoring up their defenses right now? A quick, overwhelming attack, before the NightWings could prepare - that's what Glory had been planning.