Rain and Night - A Glorybringer Story

Chapter 27

Glory woke up and yawned. It was a beautiful day in the rainforest, despite all the worries she had right now. Fierceteeth had convinced the NightWings of something, and that caused them to break away from her. But that wasn't much of a loss. Starchaser and a few NightWings chose to remain with Glory. Those NightWings included Secretkeeper and Deathbringer. 

Glory looked around. Deathbringer wasn't in the room. Strange. He was probably going to leap out from behind a tree or something to try and scare her. She smiled. 

But soon, she realized that he wasn't hiding from her for fun or anything. Deathbringer was nowhere to be seen. Glory spotted Starchaser and decided to ask if anyone had seen Deathbringer. 

"Starchaser?" Glory said, landing on the small platform. "Have you seen Deathbringer anywhere?"

"No," Starchaser replied, shaking her head. "I haven't. But some of the RainWings might have, if they were up early or something."

"Thanks," Glory answered, before flying off. Where the heck is that idiotic smug goofball? 

After asking around, she discovered that no one else had seen him either. Worry was rising up inside of her. What if he was kidnapped? Taken hostage? She was chilled to the bone by that idea. Fierceteeth would most definitely want to take Deathbringer hostage. He was a valuable hostage to have, being so close to Glory. 

"Call the scouts, please," Glory ordered the RainWing next to her. "Tell them to meet me at the Royal Pavilion." The orange RainWing beside her nodded and quickly flew off. A few minutes later, the little team of around ten RainWings were gathered before her on the Pavilion. 

"Hello," Glory said calmly, curling her tail around her talons. "Have any of you seen Deathbringer?"

The scout leader, Banana, shook his head. "Nope," the yellow RainWing said. 

"I did see a purplish NightWing around here," Heliconia offered hopefully. 

"No, Deathbringer is more blue," Glory corrected, shaking her head. "You might have seen Starchaser or someone else."

"Well, I don't think I saw any NightWings," Papaya reported with a carefree shrug. Glory's wings turned deep orange with frustration. Ugh, where is that idiot Deathbringer? If he snuck off as a prank I'm going to be so mad at him. 

"I haven't seen any either," Rasberry said. 

Glory sighed and closed her eyes. Still no sign of Deathbringer. If even her scout team hadn't seen him anywhere, than there's only one more dragon to ask. Fierceteeth. 

If she's taken him hostage, she would've told me. But maybe she's imprisoning him  and trying to convince him to take her side ... but he'd never.

"Starchaser?" Glory said, opening her eyes. The dark purple NightWing stepped forward to face her. "We need to go and ask Fierceteeth about whether she's seen Deathbringer. Or if she's taken him hostage."

"Yes, Your Majesty," The NightWing replied. "Do we need to take any dragons in case of an attack?"

Glory thought for a moment. She didn't want to seem paranoid and afraid, but Fierceteeth had already tried to assassinate her. "We'll take a few invisible guards. And a few visible ones."

"Okay," Starchaser said, as she flew off to fetch a few guards. A few minutes later, she returned with around nine RainWings. "Three of you, remain visible. The rest, camouflage yourselves." The guards did as she said and six of them disappeared. 

"Let's go," Glory said, and they all took off in the direction of the NightWing village. But, befoer they even reached it, they were stopped by a wing of bristling guards. 

"Halt!" The one in the lead shouted, making them all freeze. "Why have you come here?"

Glory steadied herself. "I have come to speak with Queen Fierceteeth."

The NightWings eyed her suspiciously. "Very well. We'll take you to her pavilion, but don't try anything." With that, the four NightWings took positions around them and promptly escorted them to the NightWing Pavilion. As they flew, Glory noticed many NightWings giving her resentful looks. Gullible fools. I guess they believed the lies that Fierceteeth told them. 

Finally, they arrived at the NightWing Pavilion. As soon as they landed, Glory tensed. 

On a luxurious throne, surrounded by flowers, sat Fierceteeth.

And sitting behind Fierceteeth, tail swishing from side to side, eyeing Glory with pure hatred ... was Deathbringer.