The Silver Scales

The Silver Scales Chapter 9

   A Peaceful Sleep for One, an Earful for Another.

(A/N just a quick short chapter to satisfy anyone who likes my stories, finals are coming up and regular updates will happen once finals are done!)

Spirit cooked up the tea, she had never really tried tea before, but if it would get her the sleep she needed then she didn't particularly care how she got it. She was so sleep-deprived by this point she was close to just asking for some sleep darts to put herself to sleep. "Mmm... It smells nice at least," she said, sniffing the warm tea before putting the cup to her lips, the tea was surprisingly good, it was smooth, warm, and almost instantly she felt the stress of tonight's sleep melting away. The warmth built in her chest as he climbed into her hammock, almost instantly falling asleep once she got comfortable.

"Hey." a voice whispered. "Hey." Mindreader and Avalanche rubbed their eyes, grumbling to themselves as they looked up at who was trying to get their attention. "WH-?" "SHHHH!!" Alligator cut off Snowstorm as he poked his head into the cave, glancing at Spirit, he saw she had tried the tea and was sleeping peacefully once again thanks to the tea. "Come on," he said to the other two, beckoning for them to come with him. Tired, but wanting him to leave they decide to go with him and talk about whatever he wants to speak about so they can get back to bed.

"What is it?" Mindreader asked as they walked into a cave, seeing Treefrog and Wavegiver there as well. "The other day I was collecting some things from a nearby forest." He began, only to become cut off. "For Spirit's tea, yeah so what?" Eagle said, the crankiest out of the six as he was already tired without any sleep tonight. "Well, if you let me finish, I was collecting some of the ingredients and was about to come back when someone grabbed me from behind, what felt like a dagger to my throat. He was asking all these questions about what I was planning on doing to her and saying he wouldn't let her be harmed. But the strangest part was that he didn't have a dagger, his right talon was almost like it was replaced with a crab claw or something. I know that sounds crazy but maybe we should keep our eyes open."

Avalanche rolled her eyes. "I'm going back to bed, and you should lay off the food if you are going to be thinking some dragon has a moons-forsaken crab claw for a talon," Avalanche grumbled, leaving the cave without another word. "You think he is dangerous?" Mindreader asked, wondering who could want to harm Spirit, she was a friendly dragoness who rarely if ever angered anyone besides Eagle, who didn't even attend this meeting. "I don't know." Alligator said with a shrug. "He seemed more focused on keeping Spirit alive, he only really interfered when he thought I was collecting deadly nightshade. He thought I was trying to poison her so he grabbed me and interrogated me." Alligator

"Mmm, Well if he was making sure she was going to be ok what is the problem?" Treefrog asked. "I mean she hasn't done anything to harm her yet that we know of. But it would be a good idea to keep our eyes open just to be safe." He agreed, and the half-asleep Wavegier nodded in agreement.

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!" Queen Maelstrom's clicks and whistles that she and her subjects used to communicate could have been audible to outsiders with her level of fury and pitch in her speech. She was towering over her son, her wings spread to make herself seem bigger as she demanded answers. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" she slapped the back of his head with her tail, trying to get her son to answer her.

"We needed to ACT!" Abyss Shouted back. "You are so worried about being known that you are passing up our best chance at finally being reunited with the wider world! What if this is the one who is prophesied to do it and you are letting us ignore her!!" Abyss didn't back down from his mother, this was a recurring argument they had as of late, but he wanted to be able to show his mother that he was capable of leading the tribe into a bright future since she was not leading them in the right path.

"I say when we meet hear, not you!!" Maelstrom barked back. Her barred teeth gleamed in the small light they had, not either of them could see. "You step one talon on the surface again before I say it is time and you are DONE I will jail you for treason and disobeying your queen's direct orders! Am I CLEAR?" She pushes her face close to her sons, uncomfortably close.

Having no other choice, Abyss finally backed down. "Yes, Mother." he mumbled, looking away form his mother as she turned to leave, leaving him alone for a moment to think. He couldn't let his mother make them wait forever. Maybe it was time he challenged her gpt the throne...