Hearts of Fire and Ice

Chapter Thirteen~ Icecap

The chains bound me to the floor tightly. They were covered in frost, and the crystals of ice were slowly spreading and becoming thicker as the metal chains continued to touch my blue scales. 

I couldn't move a muscle. I knew I was in a special cell in the SkyWing prisons, chained to the floor, a gag over my mouth, unable to speak, move... I could barely even breathe. The guards weren't the friendliest to me. 

After the SkyWing guards captured me a few hours after I murdered Crimson, they took me to a room in the SkyWing palace, where I was chained and kept there until Queen Ruby arrived. Ruby arrived, and she had Jasper with her... and then she ordered the guards to move me to this special prison cell and chain me up again. 

So, now I'm stuck here. The SkyWing prisons are located on the mountain top, and in the distance I can see the palace. Below is the notorious and deadly SkyWing arena... the same place were countless IceWings like myself were murdered. 

I heard a footsteps in the hallway outside, the sound of a key turning in a lock, and the clank of my prison cell door swinging open. Two massive SkyWing guards strode in, followed by a dragon I never wanted to see again... Queen Ruby. 

The guards were both very large, and armed with pointed spears, and the evening sunlight reflected off of their bright red scales. "Shall we remove the gag on her, Your Majesty?" one of the guards asked Queen Ruby in a deep, gruff voice. 

Ruby nodded. "Remove the gag, but be careful. This is one special prisoner. She is to be kept alive!" 

I saw both of the guards towering over me. One reached out with his talons and began to remove the gag that was tied around my mouth and face. The other kept his spear at ready, in case I decided to lash out. 

As soon as the gag was removed, I began to cough and shake violently. There was a sharp pain in my side, and I felt blood drip down my flank and freeze as it met my icy scales and cooled. The guard with the spear had stabbed me to keep me still. 

"Moons!" One of the guards exclaimed. It was the same guard who had untied the gag. There was a thin layer of frost on his talons. "She's freezing! I've never seen an IceWing do this before!" 

"Shut up," the guard with the spear hissed to his friend, "It can't be that bad!" 

The wound inflicted from the spear hurt like the moons. I was coughing, and the frosty metal chains still bound me tightly to the stone floor of the prison cell.

Queen Ruby nodded with satisfaction. "Perfect... Now let's see if our prisoner will speak to us."

Ruby stood up from where she was sitting over near the door to the cell and walked over to the spot where I was chained. I was still coughing like mad from having the gag over my mouth for so long. 

"Can somebody get her to stop coughing so I can speak to her?" Ruby commanded. 

"Easily, Your Majesty," the guard with the spear replied. The next thing I felt was another sharp pain in my side. I gasped for air, coughed a few more times, and then finally my breathing became steadier. 

"Good, good..." Ruby nodded again. "Now then, IceWing..." she spat out the word lie it tasted disgusting. "I've got a few questions for you. These two guards found you flying through northern SkyWing territory headed east towards the MudWing kingdom, and you were flying alone... how unusual. There were also reports of my eldest daughter, Crimson, in the IceWing kingdom... and that she had frozen to death! Only an IceWing such as yourself would be able to commit such a crime..."

Queen Ruby was pacing back and forth as she was talking to me. The guards were smirking and chuckling ver in the corner of the cell near the door where Ruby had been sitting earlier. The guard with the spear had it at the ready, and knowing him, he would probably use it again sometime soon. 

"Okay," Ruby continued, "Now, my first question for you, what is your name? Answer me!" 

I knew that I had to give her the truth, otherwise Ruby would order the guards to kill me. "I... Icecap!" I coughed, barely able to speak. 

"Icecap... so your name is Icecap." Ruby murmured to herself. "Okay, Icecap... I know that you murdered Crimson. You're the only iceborn IceWing I've ever seen before, and the fact that you were flying away from your home kingdom... Why did you kill my daughter?" 

"It... It was an accident!" I stammered, coughing and shaking. 

"Liar!" Ruby roared. "Tell me the truth this instant!" 

"That... Is the truth...Your Majesty!" 

"You're telling me you didn't mean to murder my eldest daughter? My favorite dragonet?" 

Oof. No wonder Jasper hated his life. Ruby definitely favored her daughters over her only son if she wasn't afraid to admit that she liked Crimson like that. 

"Yes... It's the truth... I never meant... to harm..." I could feel myself growing weaker the more I had to talk. The wounds on my side were so painful... It was using up so much of the energy that I had left. 

"Tell me exactly what happened. I want the truth!" Ruby hissed again. 

"She... She came out of nowhere... attacked.... my sister... self-defense... never meant to kill..."

Ruby frowned, "She attacked your sister? That still doesn't explain enough. Why would Crimson be in the IceWing Kingdom in the first place?" She whirled around to look at the two SkyWing guards. 

The guards both shook their heads. "We have no idea, Your Majesty, don't look at us!" They said at the same time. 

Ruby turned back around to face me. "We'll hear from you later. But just for now..." She turned to face the guards once more. "Remember to change her chains, they're awfully cold, and I think we should use a hot metal clamp instead of a gag. She won't be able to use frostbreath that way." Then she beckoned to the guard with the spear. 

The guard smirked, strode forward, raised his spear... And then everything went black.