Queens of Ice

Chapter Twelve

Days passed. Moon shut herself inside the cave, only going out when she absolutely had to. She tensed at every noise, and dug her claws into the ice at every involuntary twitch her body made. Her dreams continued to plague her, always ending with the image of Taiga's broken spear looming in front of her.

One night, when the spear grew again in front of her, Moon stared at it, willing it to shrink, forcing her dream to mimic what had actually happened. She thought about every detail, then jolted awake as an idea struck her.

The broken end of the spear hadn't been her imagination. She had really seen it, on that night. So why would Taiga threaten her with a broken spear... Unless it hadn't been broken when she came in.

Moon remembered feeling a sharp pain behind her front leg before turning around to see Taiga waiting for her. But Taiga was a powerful animus. She shouldn't have needed a spear. Unless the spear had been enchanted.

When Moon had broken into the palace, she had left the enchanted bracelet behind. She hadn't been wearing any jewelry that Taiga may have been able to get her claws on. So maybe Taiga had enchanted the spear, to first make its tip break off and stick in a dragon's scales, then to put the dragon's movements, or lack thereof, under her control.

Moon reached behind her leg, prodding at her skin for anything that felt wrong. After a few minutes, she felt a hard lump under her scales that moved as she pushed it, while her ribs stayed still.

Moon gritted her teeth and slashed at her own scales, opening a cut over the hard lump. She felt around with her claws, trying to push away the pain, until she felt the hard object. She dug it out of her skin, throwing it onto the floor of the cave.

Moon bent down to look at the thing, wincing at the throbbing in her side. She picked it up with two claws, holding it away from her, then rubbed it in the snow to remove the blue stain. It was definitely the tip of a spear. Her guess, at least that part, had been right.

Now, to figure out where I am, Moon thought.

She flew out of the cave and circled in the clear sky, scanning the ground for landmarks. Far, far to the north, she saw the Great Ice Cliff stretching from the rising sun in the east to the west. To the south, she saw an old building that she assumed was Blaze's old stronghold from the War of SandWing succession.

That's what it's like now, for Taiga and me, Moon thought suddenly. Aurora died without either of us challenging her, and now the tribe is split into factions loyal to each of us. We haven't gotten the other tribes involved, but other than that, it's the same.

Moon shook her head and pointed herself north. She soared over the Ice Cliff as the sun broke the horizon, and flew as fast as she could over the high cliffs and the blue, blue lakes dotting the landscape beneath her. Moon flew higher as the day progressed. Not high enough to be conspicuous, but not so low that she could be recognized. When she began to see more dragons ahead of her, she dove into the sea, swimming along the coast.

I'd like to see even a SeaWing beat me here! she thought as the freezing waters carried her further north. The salt stung the cut on her side, but Moon didn't care.

At noon, she judged herself to be far enough north, and climbed out of the water again. She flew high into the sky, flying towards her tree. There was only a single guard at the base, and Moon glided into the tree's upper branches. She eased herself quietly down, feeling her wound healing as she went, until she was directly above the guard. She dropped onto his back, pinning his face to the ground so he couldn't see her. She wrapped her claws around his throat until he passed out, then pulled the bracelet off his rear leg. She left the guard's unconscious body by the tree, then flew back up and into the thin clouds. Taiga must know something was wrong by now.

Moon flew quickly through the clouds, flying east, away from the palace. She stopped only once at a village, to call in a favor.

The next day, she landed at the edge of the forest near the Diamond Caves, and quickly caught and killed a caribou. She ate her fill. Then she waited.

After a while, she saw an IceWing flying above her in the clouds. The dragon plunged from the sky and killed a large white fox, which she then ate in a few quick bites. Before she could fly off, Moon stepped out of the trees.

"I don't suppose you could do me a favor?"

The dragon turned. "What?"

Moon held out the bracelet she had taken from the guard at the tree. "You've seen these, right? Taiga gives them to her guards, and it gives them powers normal IceWings don't have."

The other dragon nodded. "So?"

"Well, it also gives her the power to see what they see and hear what they hear. And I need to get a message to her."

The dragon's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you stole it."

"Well," Moon said slowly. "Sort of."

The other dragon backed away quickly. "No! If she finds out I helped a traitor, she'll kill me! She'll kill my dragonets!"

Moon grabbed her wing. "She won't find out. Not if you don't say anything and don't look at yourself while you have it on. She may be an animus, but she's still just a dragon."

"Look," Moon pressed, when the other dragon didn't respond. "You know Taiga is perhaps the worst queen the IceWings have ever had. She's a psychopathic killer. She's worse than the SkyWing queen Scarlet. If we can stop her, isn't it worth the risk?"

"All right," the IceWing said reluctantly. "Just get it over with quickly."

Moon handed her the bracelet, and she slipped it onto her leg without looking. When she looked at Moon again, Moon spoke.

"Taiga," she said. "You must know by now that I'm not dead, and that you've lost your source of information from the resistance. I want to speak with you. Meet me at the edge of the forest by the Diamond Caves."

Moon held up a necklace that was a replica of the one Taiga had enchanted. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed yours is a fake yet. You want the real one back, come and meet me. If you don't personally come by noon tomorrow, I'll assume you don't want to talk, and I'll do everything I can to make your reign short and miserable."

Moon nodded at the other IceWing, and she reached back and took off the bracelet. She tossed it back to Moon with a shiver.

"I hate those animus-touched things."

"Me too," Moon agreed. "Tomorrow, you can stay and watch if you want, or you can go back home and forget you ever saw me."

The dragon turned to leave, then hesitated. She pointed at the necklace. "Is that the real one?"

Moon shook her head. "It's fake. I wanted to be sure I could get her to leave the palace."

"Whatever you're doing, I wish you luck. Or at least that you survive."

Moon nodded as the dragon flew away.