Frozen Flame (WoF Fanfic)

Frozen Flame: Chapter 1

High in the sky, above the mountains and grasslands of northwest Pyrrhia, a hawk soared. She was a large, tawny brown hawk with acute eyesight and talons like knives. She soared with her wings balanced on the wind, staring down at the earth. No rodents. No birds. Everything was quiet on the SkyWing border.

Suddenly, a whip of wind slammed the hawk to the side, powered by a huge pair of blood-orange wings. The dragoness snatched the hawk out of the air, it's wings and neck crunching beneath her strong claws. She hovered briefly to admire her kill, and spiraled back down to earth. As she descended, she looked out onto the beautiful terrain below. A scorching desert to the east, a humongous mountain range to the west, and cold, dark ocean to the north. A large city of sandstone buildings could be seen on a grassy plain, its edge connecting with the desert. It was early in the morning, and dragons had not yet begun their flight into the city.

'Good,' thought Redtail.

The orange and red sky dragon angled her wings and swooped down to earth. She landed in a green clearing in the center of a woodland, at the base of a craggy mountain. She carried the hawk into a cave positioned in the treeline, bordered by bramble and shrubbery. She set it down in a pile of various other creatures, and padded to the back of the cave. She sat down, sighed, and poked at her measly handmade fire.

Redtail was a 12-year-old SkyWing with orange scales and red guard scales. Unlike other SkyWings, her horns were pale grey and her eyes were a frosty blue. Her wings had strange white marks on the borders of the membranes, similar to a light dusting of snow. She was tall for her age, and had a long, snaking tail that wound around her back talons as she sat.

She was raised in the SkyWing Kingdom under the rule of Queen Scarlet, and her only duty was to serve her queen. Her father, who, unlike other dragons, had deeply worshipped the queen, to the point of selling his daughter's egg to a SandWing working for Burn as a request from Scarlet. His mate had died shortly after laying the egg, fighting against IceWings in the War of SandWing Succession. He waited several months before he received his egg back from the same SandWing, but the white SkyWing egg had hints of blue and orange on the shell. When the dragonet hatched, she was strong and had piercing claws, and her father, Robin, often ended up with scars on his snout after fighting practice with little Redtail. He abandoned her shortly after she grew to the age of fire-breathing, but Redtail did not like to think of such things. Robin later died in battle, meeting the same fate as mate.

Redtail was denied a position as a soldier, and took up servitude in the palace. She worked as a maid, cleaning things and organizing princess Ruby's scrolls. But she could be quite nosy, and Scarlet quickly grew annoyed. At age 11, Redtail was allowed to fight in her first battle. It was in the marshes with the MudWing army, against three squadrons of IceWings.

'Stop thinking about it. It's over. And I can never go back...'

It was seven months after Redtail 's first (and last), battle in the SkyWing army, and she now lived separate from her tribe and found company and supplies in the nearby city of Possibility. Every week, she would go and check out the latest deals, without actually buying anything, look at the beautiful jewels and stones the SandWings were selling, and occasionally sell the prey that she had caught. She was a good hunter and had earned several pieces of gold bartering with SandWing merchants. She was careful to avoid the SkyWing side of the city, staying in the desert area despite the scorching heat. Today was her day to go to Possibility.

She scooped up half of the prey in her pile, strode out of her cave, and lifted off into the air. She ascended about fifty feet into the air before turning in a full circle, looking for dragons who might see her. A pair of SandWings circled to the south, but they were far enough away that she couldn't see them bothering her. She spiraled up, higher and higher, past the clouds, before leveling out and gliding towards the bustling city. She flew towards the prying eyes and snatching talons that awaited her, wondering what she might hear today. She recalled the surprise when she heard from everyone that Queen Scarlet was dead, and then again when Burn and Blister were killed and Thorn, a non-royal SandWing, became the new desert queen. She had heard other bits of conversation; some believed that Scarlet was alive and looking for revenge; others that the Dragonets of Destiny had killed her. Redtail never knew what to think of the Dragonets, seeing as they had wreaked havoc where ever they went.