Rain and Night - A Glorybringer Story

Chapter 12

Deathbringer awoke, aware only of the fact that Glory was sleeping a few steps away from his healer's hut bed. The pain in his head had receded slightly, and he sat up. It was no longer an effort to move around.

"Glory?" He murmured quietly. She didn't hear. "Glory?"

Then, the RainWing queen shifted, her fiery orange wings lifting slightly, and then she sat up with a small yawn. Her eyes were alert and like green jewels. She turned around. 

"Deathbringer," she said, with a small smile. Glory quickly stretched and went to check on him. "Are you feeling okay?"

"A bit better," Deathbringer admitted. The memories of last night were still being replayed over and over again in his head. Happiness engulfed him. Glory was clearly still embarrassed. He grinned. "I think I'm well enough to keep bodyguarding." Deathbringer stood up and yawned. 

She shot him down immediately. "Oh, no you aren't," Glory insisted, shoving him playfully back onto the bed. "You're staying in the healer's hut today." The yellow of amusement showed on her ruff and ears, and she didn't hide it well enough. 

"Fine," he grumbled, as a NightWing healer walked up to him to inspect his condition. 

The NightWing checked his temperature, heartbeat, breathing, and said that he was recovering. 

"The poison must have weakened by now," the healer stated. "Tomorrow I'll check again to see if you should be allowed to leave the healer's hut, but today you will have to stay here."The healer nodded at Glory. "Don't let him go outside of the healer's hut yet."

"I'll certainly see to that," Glory said, with an eye-roll at Deathbringer. He flashed her his best smug grin. "He won't be escaping the healer's hut anytime today."

"Okay, Your Majesty," the NightWing healer said, before leaving to attend to a RainWing patient with a twisted ankle. 

Glory and Deathbringer were alone together. She's so regal. 

"Well, I guess it's time I launched an investigation," Glory suggested. "To find out who poisoned you."

He responded immediately. Now that he was feeling better, his thoughts could form clearly.  "I bet whoever poisoned that food or drink wasn't even targeting me," Deathbringer pointed out. "They could have been aiming to poison you, or someone else, and mixed up what was poisoned and what was not."

"Who do you think it is?" Glory asked. 

"Someone working with Fierceteeth," he said. "It can't be Fierceteeth herself, or the SandWings, because they're locked up, so perhaps another accomplice of hers. A NightWing, I suspect." They'll regret ever trying to harm Glory, Deathbringer thought ominously. 

"Well, I'll send down orders to start an investigation," Glory said. She walked to the entrance of the healer's hut and yelled. "Hello? Guards? I know there's got to be at least seven of you here." Slowly, four RainWings revealed themselves. "One of you, send a message to Starchaser in the NightWing village. Tell her to meet me here."

A teal RainWing volunteered and flew off to deliver the message. Soon, a large, muscular female NightWing that seemed to be in her forties appeared, along with a younger NightWing with a bunch of pouches. The female NightWing introduced herself to him as Starchaser and the younger NightWing as Cunning. Midnight joined them.

"Poison?" Starchaser said when she heard the news. The NightWing was surprised. "We knew that someone was ill, but no one mentioned anything about a possible poisoning. How do you know it was poison?" Deathbringer remembered that Starchaser was basically the leader of the NightWing village as he studied her. The younger NightWing he'd seen while traversing the NightWing village with Glory. The one who handed him the fruit. He was Starchaser's assistant or something.

"Well," Midnight said. "It's impossible for his symptoms to rebound that dramatically after the attack, so the only thing that could have caused Deathbringer's illness is some sort of poison. We believe the poison was intentionally administered."

"Yes," Glory agreed. "It may have been someone working with Fierceteeth." At the mention of Fierceteeth, Starchaser showed even more interest. "So we need an investigation immediately."

"Of course," Starchaser answered. "But we can't ask everyone in the kingdom. Who specifically should we interrogate?"

Glory thought for a moment, then said, "Well, Fierceteeth and the prisoners must be interrogated. And any dragons with access to poison, particularly NightWings that may have been in contact with Fierceteeth and her gang."

Starchaser nodded. "Alright, Your Majesty. I'll get that done. Cunning, you stay in charge of the village while I question those prisoners." The young NightWing nodded and they both flew away. 

"I'll just stay here for now," Glory decided. 

"Oh, yeah, total coincidence that you're deciding to stay in the healer's hut, of all places," Deathbringer added teasingly, hinting at her confession last night. Glory's scales turned light pink. He slowly twined his tail around hers, and she didn't resist. The scales on her wings erupted with splashes of yellow. It was rare for her to not even try to control her scale colours. 

"Yeah, totally," Glory muttered, half to herself. She shifted back to her usual regal colours and said, "Well, what do you think we should do when Starchaser finds out who did it?"

"Well, interrogate them and then put them in the prison with Fierceteeth, I guess," Deathbringer suggested. 

"Okay," Glory said. 

(I'M ENDING THE CHAPTER HERE BECAUSE IDK WHAT TO WRITE)