Deathbringer's Winter Turning

Chapter 1: The Newcomers

Deathbringer soared over the NightWing village, checking that everything was working well. He smiled to think of how much better the NightWings were doing now that they weren't living in fear of the volcano – and that they had the best queen of all time ruling them.

A flash of white caught his eye. There, down in the village – an IceWing, accompanied by a SandWing, Moon and Kinkajou. Highly suspicious. And there was that thing about a rogue IceWing planning to assassinate Glory... and this IceWing did look very evil and plotting.

He dived, savoring the thrill of the chase. And then the thrill of the capture! And then the thrill of the interrogation! If he was that suspicious IceWing Glory was looking for after all, the IceWing plotting to assassinate his- his queen. And no one would ever kill Glory. Ever.

He saw Moonwatcher glance up just half a second before Deathbringer smashed into the IceWing. "No, stop!" she shouted. "He's not-" And then Deathbringer was shooting past, pinning the IceWing's wings and forearms with his star-speckled wings and pinning his back legs with his tail. With a forearm, he casually mashed the IceWing's face into the dirt and circled his claws around his opponent's neck. It had been a long time since he fought such a cold opponent, and it startled him for a moment.

"Don't bother struggling, IceWing," he said, slightly gleefully. He loved his new job. "You're under arrest."

This was not met with the reaction he expected.

"Stop it! Get off him!" shouted Moonwatcher, shoving at his side with no effect.

"He's on our side!" said Kinkajou, a little too loudly for Deathbringer's taste. "Or he was, before you randomly attacked him! Now he'll never like us again!"

A little muffled through the dirt, but still unnecessarily loud, the IceWing bellowed, "I wasn't going to anyway! I didn't like you before either! And I'm going to MURDER this NightWing!"

Deathbringer brought his head down so he could see this IceWing's face better. Then he turned to look at the assembled team of dragonets.

"I don't know, he sounds kind of murder-y, Kinkajou," he said reasonably. "And we heard there's an extra-dangerous IceWing on the loose right now, so I think I should stay here until further instructions."

"I'm instructing you!" Kinkajou yelped. "He's not the dangerous one! That's his sister!"

"It's true," added an unfamiliar SandWing with a scar across his snout. "This one is honorable. He's no sneak-in-the-dark assassin."

Now this was starting to get personal.

"Hey, ouch," he said, grinning. "Nothing wrong with assassins. Who said there was anything dishonorable about assassins? They're just not allowed to kill my—" he stumbled for a moment, then recovered magnificently; "My queen. It's my job to stop them and drop some violence on their heads, but I'm not judging them, sheesh."

"He's not here to kill Glory," Moon said. "If he were, he would tell you, and he'd challenge her in open combat."

Now that didn't comfort him at all. The IceWing looked thoughtful for a moment, and stopped struggling, which was a relief. Was Moonwatcher telling the truth? Open challenge didn't sound any better than assassination to him.

"DEATHBRINGER!" bellowed a dragon he knew, loud enough for the IceWing below him to vibrate. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He felt his heart spread wings and soar when he heard Glory's voice, but he quickly assembled a response.

"Saving you, protecting the forest, defending our new home, sitting on a very cold IceWing," said Deathbringer, grinning. "You know, the usual." The IceWing tried to wriggle out so he could see, but Deathbringer gently placed his face into the ground again. Murmurs started to ripple around the village.

"Stop arresting my guests," said Glory wearily, landing beside him and nodding at Kinkajou and Moonwatcher. "It's not romantic or heroic, it's annoying. I've told you this before."

"I know," Deathbringer said, aggrieved. "But look, it's an IceWing. Sunny specifically said there was an IceWing trying to kill all the prophecy dragonets. This is definitely a pin-first-questions-later sort of situation."

"All right, OFF," said Glory, heaving/rolling Deathbringer off the Potentially Dangerous IceWing. Deathbringer landed with a thud in the dirt, got up, and shook it off his wings. "I am going to replace you as my bodyguard if you seriously can't tell the difference between a male IceWing traveling with my friends Kinkajou and Moonwatcher, and a lone female IceWing out to kill me. Pay a little more attention to detail, Deathbringer. Also, by the way, you're one to talk about killing prophecy dragonets."

As soon as he was liberated from the claws of justice, the IceWing leapt up and whipped around to face Deathbringer, teeth bared. He was smaller than Deathbringer had thought, about the same size Glory was. The IceWing flung a beetle into the rainforest canopy, and proceeded to look like he was about to kill everyone here. He also looked like he would use the traditional fighting methods for the ice dragons.

Suddenly, the IceWing leapt towards Deathbringer, claws ready to fight and the hissing of frostbreath approaching. Deathbringer was caught in an iron gauntlet of freezing fear for a second, remembering all the horrible tales of Battlewinner. Was this how he died?

And then Glory was there, blocking his way with one wing and a look of pure fury for one millisecond before it was gone, like the flares of orange and red in her scales. He grinned. She totally cared if he died or not!

Glory inclined her head in a small bow to the IceWing. "We are so honored to have Queen Glacier's nephew, Prince Winter, in our forest," she said. "I sincerely apologize for the outrageous behavior of my brain-dead bodyguard. You should have been escorted at once to my royal pavilion, not attacked in such a disrespectful manner."

Behind her back, Deathbringer grinned again.

"Everyone back to work, right now," she said to the crowd. To the IceWing's obvious surprise, they did, although a few moved slowly on purpose and some grumbled about it. Glory caught Winter's expression of amazement too, and frowned for a second.

This IceWing still looked like he wanted to kill Deathbringer, but maybe he had other things on his agenda, because he stood up and didn't kill anyone, which was a relief.

It was clear he still held a grudge, though. "Will he be punished?" he asked, casting a vengeful look at Deathbringer.

"Oh yes," said Glory, frowning at him too. He grinned and she gave him a look like, act serious.

He nodded and looked sorrowful to the best of his abilities.

"Creatively and firmly," said the queen of the RainWings and NightWings. Deathbringer picked an orange from a nearby tree and began to eat while trying heroically to retain his sorrowful look. He was pretty sure it worked.

Winter got up and walked alongside Glory. Moonwatcher said goodbye to her mother, and her and Kinkajou followed the two royals, who were walking along the forest floor. Qibli cast a look at Deathbringer that he couldn't interpret, then went after them. Deathbringer sighed, finished his orange, and followed.