Queens of Ice

Chapter Two

Blood warning for this chapter

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Moon soared above the icy plains, toward the Diamond Caves. Frostbite had banned her from using the gift of subsistence over a year ago, but even now, he still seemed baffled whenever he saw she was managing to keep herself fed as well as she always had.

She spotted a caribou below and dove at it, killing it quickly. She labored back into the sky, flying west until the sea was visible.

Moon landed at the mouth of the Diamond Caves, and saw that there were three skinny-looking IceWings there already.

She dropped the caribou at their feet. "I can't stay. I told Frostbite I'd only be gone an hour."

They nodded. "Thank you," one female said, with genuine gratitude.

Moon nodded. "It's only the right thing to do."

Moon flew northeast, back towards her mother's palace. She was watching the ground below, mind wandering, when she saw a splash of dark blue on the ice. She flew closer, curious, but her thoughts turned to shock as she realized it was an IceWing corpse, then to dread and grief as she realized who it was.

Arctic's corpse lay splayed across the ice, one wing nearly torn off, the other shredded so badly it looked like strips of paper, fluttering in the wind. His throat had been slashed, and his eyes had been gouged out of his skull.

"No, no, no, no," Moon whispered over and over. She sobbed over her brother's body. This was not simply murder. Whoever had done this had wanted to hurt him as much as possible before allowing him to die.

As Moon lowered her head, she noticed something that did not match the colors of Arctic's light blue scales. She looked closer, and saw, in his crushed palm, another dragon's scale. Gently, she tugged it out, trying to avoid disturbing her brother's body. She rubbed the scale in the snow until the blood was removed and the scale's true colors were revealed. Pale green, with two dark green specks.

Rage kindled in Moon's heart like she'd never known before. She lunged into the sky, roaring her anger to the clouds. She wheeled around and raced for the Ice Palace, faster than she'd ever gone before. The guard at the gates tried to stop her, but she forced her way through the entrance hall, flying with all her speed to the central courtyard. There, through the mist of rage, she saw Taiga, with a line of blood across her shoulder, replacing one of the narwhal spears Queen Diamond had enchanted to cure frostbreath injuries.

Moon let out a roar of anger and dove at Taiga. She collided with her sister and sent both of them rolling across the courtyard.

Taiga cried out in surprise. "What are you doing, ice-brain?" But Moon barely heard her. She didn't even see her sister anymore. All she saw was the bloodstained claws of a murderer.

She slashed at Taiga's eyes and wings, wanting to make her feel what she had done to Arctic. Moon felt something at her back and spun, slamming Taiga into it, clamping her talons around her neck and squeezing hard. She lifted her other claw to blind Taiga, but her sister jerked one claw in the direction of the enchanted spears.

Moon screamed as one of the spears flew across the courtyard and impaled itself in her palm, holding her to the ground. Taiga fell from the moon globe tree, gulping in air. Moon slashed at her, but Taiga scrambled out of her range. Moon inhaled, preparing to blast her sister with frostbreath, but large talons slammed down on her snout, pinning her jaws to the ground.

"What is wrong with you?!" Taiga cried.

Moon tried to throw off her assailant, but his weight kept her stuck fast. He grabbed Moon's snout and, still keeping her jaws shut, turned her to face him. It was Frostbite.