Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

Chapter 16

By thedragonshifter
Pleiades's PoV

It was a tiring journey from the Cloud Kingdom all the way to the Sun kingdom. Throughout the entire time, Pleiades had attempted to escape every moment the she could. She tried to slip out of the multiple chains they had tried to use to drag her with them, but they were too tight. They had obviously used animus enchanted metal tools, because when she touched them, they didn't erode and break. She had also tried to distract the guards around her by throwing large rocks behind them, or 'accidentally' making a tree fall. Though, all of her feeble attempts utterly failed.

On the way, they had traveled in a group comprised of Nova the Sunwing queen, two of her own personal guards, two Sunwing guards assigned to Pleiades, and three Cloudwing guards sent to escort them out of the Cloud kingdom. In the beginning of the journey, the area was just normal, snow covered, foresty, ground. But as they drew nearer to the Red Sanded Desert, where the Sunwings lived, the snow turned into slush and eventually into wet dirt, and the trees began to thin out. She had also noticed a dramatic temperature change as well, for the Red Sanded Desert was known to be scorching hot. Some dragonets say that the sand was red, because the sun gave it a sunburn.

Now, Pleiades could feel the cool night breeze brush over her scales as the huge gates of the Kingdom's main city loomed in front of them. It was only Queen Nova, Pleiades, and the four Sunwing guards standing together, for the Cloudwings had left them at the border. "Let's go." Nova ordered, and began to stride elegantly through the huge gates.

Once again, Pleiades tried to fling herself at one of her guards, but the other one just pulled her back with a growl. If she could, Pleiades would have already shot her acid spikes at every single one of the guards, but they were stuck to her back with a unique, Sunwing made wax-like substance that kept them from moving. The weird substance was also Sunwing poison proof.

After a few moments of trying to escape from her guards, Pleiades eventually gave up and followed Nova into the city, the chains around her legs digging into her scales. Nova led them towards the grand Sunwing palace, which was maybe about twice as big as the Cloudwing's palace. But, instead of floating, the castle just sat on the top of a huge red hill.

The Sunwing palace was a huge structure. It had dark red pillars that stretched far into the dark sky. At the top of the castle, multiple spikes stabbed at the night, reflecting moon like giant crystals. Golden veins threaded in between the dark red- black bricks, and various different gemstones littered it walls, making the castle shine. The gateways were huge, and Pleiades estimated that about ten Sunwings could be stacked up until they touched the top. In front of the gateways was a huge courtyard, and its vivid green colors popped against the red sand.

As they walked into the Courtyard, Pleiades could see a large lake in the middle of of with palm trees scattered around it. The Castle was obviously built around an oasis. Crystal benches were also scattered around the green, flowery courtyard, under luscious colorful trees and overhanging vines.

However, as they neared the castle, Nova led them towards a smaller, older trapdoor at the base. "Throw her in the dungeons for now. We'll get to the fun stuff later." Nova ordered, an almost horrifying smile crossing her red face.

They watched the Queen disappear inside the enormous, scary looking palace. Once more, Pleiades scowled at the Sunwing to her left and lunged toward him, and when the guard to her right tried to pull her backwards, she swung her tail around swiped the orange legs out from under the left dragon.

The orange and light grey Sunwing collapsed to the ground, clutching his legs in his talons, hissing. I can escape! She turned towards the other Sunwing, but was disappointed once two patrolling dragons came to his aid.

In the end, they eventually were able to shove Pleiades into a tiny cell at the back of the dungeon's first level. The event was quickly followed by them slamming the gate closed and hurrying out of the dungeon. Pleiades couldn't blame them, she wouldn't want to hang out in this dungeon as a guard either.

This dungeon was more of a dungeon then the Cloudwing one. There were dragons in every cell that she could see. Most of them were fellow Sunwings, but allot were also from different tribes. From all around her, Pleiades could hear dragons groaning, roaring, snarling, and whimpering, probably from the various Sunwing punishments that prisoners were forced to endure. The guards were also very harsh and were quick to stab any dragon who misbehaved with their long spears.

Though, Pleiades was more concerned with her own situation then the other dragons'. Nova had said that her parents were here and that they missed her, but she also said the she would have a terrible time here. And to Pleiades, that meant that they were going to torture her, and for what? I did nothing to deserve this! I don't even know what the Darkest Flame is! Then, her mind flashed back to killing the two Cloudwings who had done nothing to her in the first place, attempting to kill Hemlock multiple times, and destroying a small portion of the Cloudwings' forest. Or maybe I do deserve to be disciplined for my crimes like this... She sighed and stared at the rocky floor. Nova had also said that my mother was her treacherous daughter, so does that mean that I am Sunwing royalty?

She growled to herself and scraped the floor with her claws. Even if I am a Sunwing princess, it doesn't matter anyway. Nova obviously doesn't care about her own family members. For the rest of her time in the prison cell, Pleiades spent her time staring at the floor, contemplating life, and fearing what was about to happen to her. And when she heard the sound of metal clanking down the aisle and claws clicking on the hard, cold floor, Pleiades could feel her blood run cold.

Nova was smirking evilly from behind a mass of Sunwing guards, trying her best to look intimidating. And as she strode up to the thick metal bars of her cell, she succeeded in her goal. With a creepy smile plastered upon her face, Nova said the words that Pleiades had been dreading the most,"Get ready for the time of your life... In our torture chambers."