Queens of Ice

Chapter Nine

"We have Orca, Iceberg, Walrus, Blizzard, and Avalanche in this group," Beluga introduced Moon to the other dragons in the hidden room. "And there are other groups, too, but they won't tell us who's in them. If we get captured, we can't tell what we don't know. We can't directly stop her, but we've been doing what we can to keep the queen from hurting dragons in the Ice Kingdom too much."

Avalanche nodded, stepping forward. "We think the queen is giving her guards enchanted items that give them certain abilities, like seeing in the dark. We don't know that for sure, but it seems likely. One guard caught a dragonet trying to use the tree you made, Moon, without a moon globe, on a night with thick clouds. There's no way he could have seen her otherwise. But I can't imagine she has much animus magic left to use. She's lost so much of her soul already."

Moon looked at her. "You don't know? For her gifting ceremony, she enchanted a necklace so a dragon could use animus magic without losing her soul. Maybe she's using that."

Iceberg, the dragonet she'd seen on the healing tree so long ago, perked up. "Any dragon?"

Moon thought back, then shook her head. "No. Only a royal IceWing."

Walrus, her brother, growled in frustration. "Caribou dung."

"But if we got the necklace, you could use it," Orca said hopefully.

Moon nodded. "Unless she enchanted it again."

"Even if you can't use it, we'll be better off if she can't use it, either," Blizzard offered.

Moon opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, they heard a thumping and a scuffling from above.

Orca dove on the moon globe, twisting it to dim its light, then blocking the rest with his body. The seven dragons sat silently in the darkness. The faint light shining through the ice above barely illuminating the room. Moon saw moving shadows above her, then leaped back as the ice ceiling shattered into a million shards. Three large IceWings poured into the room, and chaos ensued. One moved straight towards Iceberg and Walrus, the largest cornered Orca, Blizzard, and Avalanche. The third turned on Moon and Beluga.

Moon didn't wait for him to get close. She dove under his belly and dug her claws into his scales. He yelped in pain, and Moon used the opportunity to kick his legs out from under him. He went down on top of her, and Beluga hauled him off and kicked his head into the wall. The guard recovered with surprising speed, and kicked Moon's wing. Moon rolled away, then used the claw on her other wing to lash across his chest. He turned on her, and Beluga took advantage of his distraction to snap his neck. He crumpled to the ground, and Moon and Beluga turned to the other guards. They jumped on the one that had Iceberg pinned to the floor. Moon sank her teeth into the skin of her wing, and Beluga buried her teeth in her back leg. Iceberg squirmed out of her grip, dove under the guard, and jerked her head back so the tips of her horns speared the guards' scales. He roared in pain, and Moon shot a blast of frostbreath onto his shoulders. He pulled away and ran, following the larger guard that had been attacking the other three.

Orca limped over to the guard Beluga had killed and pulled a bracelet off his back leg.

"This is enchanted," he grunted. He tossed it to Avalanche. "Here. Try it."

Avalanche fit the bracelet over her back talons and blinked. She walked over to the moon globe that had rolled into the corner, and blocked its light.

"I can see," she breathed. "This is it. This is what gives the guards whatever powers the queen wants them to have."

"We should take the necklace tonight, yes?" Moon asked. "Before she has time to regroup or prepare herself."

Blizzard nodded, wiping away some blood from a gash above his eye. "I can get past the guards, and—"