Wings of Fire - The IceWing Prince (2)

Chapter Nine

Winter

The healers pavilion near the RainWing village was large, quiet, and sunlit, with curtains of green vines shielding the interior from curious onlookers. And there were plenty of curious dragons - one's Winter could see and ones he could only hear, murmuring and twittering like a council of invisible birds in the trees. The rainforest was starting to give him the suffocating, spine-crawling feeling that he was always being watched.  

Only RainWings were allowed to carry the unconscious prisoner. Glory ordered all the NightWings to stay away and sent Deathbringer and Eclipse to the healers pavilion. 

Eclipse had protested at first, opting to stay with her queen and her sister to make sure it was truly safe. But the queen had told her with Icicle unconscious and in their sight, there was nothing Eclipse needed to worry about anymore. 

In the end Glory needed to remind Eclipse who her queen was and that she needed to obey direct orders. Eclipse had sighed and agreed, winging unevenly towards the NightWing tunnel with Deathbringer soon after. 

Glory didn't object when Winter pushed his way into the pavilion and stood next to his sister, glowering around defiantly. His eyes had caught on dark purple scales in one corner but there was a curtain around her body, blocking his view.

The fight had more than riled him. His nerves were shot and his mind was torn between his sister and the NightWing he'd come to care about. He never wanted to imagine what Icicle could do to Eclipse and now that he'd seen them fight first hand, it made him think about what could have happened had Icicle been completely healed. 

Pushing the thought to the side he glared at the dragons around him. "I'm staying right here," he said. 

"Understood," Glory said with a nod. She turned to survey the others as they edged through the curtain and stood back against the wall, out of the way.

Moon had immediately booked it to Eclipse's side, raising her voice to be heard over the space between them. "Your Majesty - how did you find us?" she asked hesitantly. 

Glory glanced at Kinkajou, her scales shifting to starbursts of royal purple against deep blue, before glancing at Eclipse as well. 

"I left her a trail to follow," Kinkajou admitted, looking guilty. "Eclipse was in on it. Sorry, Moon - but she's our queen. I wanted her there in case we really did find Icicle."

Moon nodded thoughtfully, looking back at her sleeping sister. She had been given a tranq dart, opting to be put out forcefully while they worked on her injuries. They'd removed all the bandages she'd already had on and replaced them, adding new ones as well. "I guess it's lucky you did," she said. 

Winter wanted to disagree, but he remembered the desperate rage on Icicle's face. She had been seconds away from killing Eclipse. And even though he wanted to tell himself he didn't care, he had to admit (only to himself) that he didn't want her dead. 

Besides, whatever she has planned for my sister now, Queen Glory would have been much less merciful if Icicle had killed her friend. 

So it was lucky for Icicle, too, that Glory had found them right then. 

One of the two sky-blue RainWing healers made his way over to Moon and Eclipse. "What happened before this incident?" He asked.

Moon paused for a moment, and then a flash of realization crossed her face. "She had been close to an explosion a few days ago."

"Hm," the RainWing hummed. "Well, along with the slashes across her neck and shoulders, it seems the ribs that had been bruised before are now cracked. She'll need some time before she's able to fully heal."