Sky City Chronicles

Chapter 6: Betrayed

Betrayed

I flew first to the ruins of Razor's old home, my plan of action firmly planted in my mind. I landed at the edge of the rubble, my wings kicking up clouds of dust as I touched down. I walked over the rubble and through the wreckage of the home, looking for the place that his parents had died. I spied them as I walked past twin piles of rock, the flash of light on bare bone giving them away. I bent down and looked at the remains of Razor's family, but recoiled as the smell of rotting flesh assaulted my nose. I covered my face with one hand while I placed my hands on the intertwined skeletal hands that lay before me, the only visible marks to show where his parents lay. The bones had been bleached white by the sun and picked clean by insects and carrion birds, and they splintered as my claws touched them with only token force.

I pulled my hand back with resignation, knowing that there would be no way for me to bury a part of his parents when I could not even pick up their bones. I turned away and crawled over the rubble near the front door, looking for a piece of stone large enough for what I had in mind. I found it under what remained of the door, a slab of rock about as long as my forearm and about that distance wide. The surface was relatively smooth, with only a single scorch mark blackening the upper right corner. I turned and walked out the opening where the front door had once stood, stopping about three of my lengths from the house. I dug a small pit in front of me and placed the slab in it, filling in the gaps with dirt as I made sure it wouldn't fall over. I walked around to the front and used one of my claws to carve a memorial into the stone. My claw scraping as I carved out a message that I hoped Razor would like, should he ever return here to say goodbye to his family.

I lifted off a minute or two later, my course set for Sky City, the slab now sitting in front of the house with the words 'Here lies the parents of a noble dragon. Murdered in cold blood and left forgotten to rest alone. Let those who visit this place in honor know, that the birth of a hero was forged here in the flames of sorrow.' carved into the rock. As a final measure I had sealed the words into the stone with my flame, and they now showed in stunning white against the blackened surface, the words a testament to all who may see it.

I was stopped several times by patrols on my way into Sky City, but once they knew who I was I got past them without a fuss. As I came over the main gates the Council Hall stood tall before me, no longer standing for my master's power in my mind, but for his corruption and deception. I landed at the main doors and nearly ran into General Sunwing, the golden male who had frequently helped me with my paperwork and command orders.

"Well isn't this a surprise," he said as I walked past, "the wayward General has come crawling back without her prize." He jogged to catch up to me, looking at me sidelong as I made my way through the halls, "So you went out after the prisoners, disappeared for two days, and now you come back with nothing to show for your work?!" He scoffed, "I would think one of Lord Igneous' top generals would be a better tracker than that."

"If I had not gone out after them," I said with controlled patience, "then who would have gone in my place?" I looked at him and laughed, "You wouldn't have left your quarters if the entire place was coming down around your head. You have no idea how the world outside these walls works." I continued walking as he stopped in stupefied shock, but slowed to a halt as he came running back up.

"On the note of outside these walls," he said, catching his breath, "Lord Igneous wishes for you to see him in his audience chambers to report about what you saw outside Sky City. He's very impatient at the moment so don't do anything stupid." With that he turned and walked away, his tail swishing in worry as I looked after him.

I shook my head as a flash of fear ran through my body, "No, he can't know what you've been up to." I assured myself under my breath, "If he did you wouldn't be here right now, you'd be in the dungeons." I straightened and walked up the main stairs to the top level, sure in my story and confident in my abilities to get out of trouble should it come about.