Deathbringer's Winter Turning

Chapter 2: Icicle

Glory walked along the forest floor, talking to the Jade Winglet. Winter certainly wasn't being too friendly or open-minded after Deathbringer's idiotic – but kind of sweet – arrest. He was trailing behind them now, looking not repentant at all.

"So Sunny told us most of it, but I was hoping you could fill me in on the details,' she said to the group of dragonets.

"I can!" Kinkajou offered, bouncing up on Glory's right. "Winter's sister, Icicle, who is, like, wicked scary, by the way, was secretly conspiring with Queen Scarlet because it turns out Winter's brother is, like, actually alive, not dead like everyone thought, and Scarlet's totally got him locked up somewhere, so Icicle was going to kill Starflight to get him back, except then Moon and Qibli and Winter completely heroically stopped her and it was apparently amazing and I missed the whole thing! Can you believe it? And so then Icicle flew off and we figure she's coming here to kill you, so we're here to completely heroically stop her again and also find out what she knows so we can rescue Winter's brother ourselves. Also, hello, school is awesome, how are you?"

Glory frowned at the tiny, chipper RainWing. "You're in as much trouble as Deathbringer," she said sternly. "What were you thinking, leaving school without permission? When everyone was already in such a state? Do you know how worried Sunny and Clay have been?"

Kinkajou froze, with explosions of dark blue expanding across her scales. A thunderstruck expression came across her face. "Oh no!" she said, actually sorrowful, unlike a certain NightWing who was following with an intrigued expression.

Stop thinking about him. This is more important.

"Didn't Turtle tell you guys?" asked Qibli.

"Yes," Glory said sarcastically. "And that certainly helped. Good news: Four of your students have gone off to find a dragon who just tried to kill you, in order to find another dragon who has tried to kill you about ninety dozen times. Oh excellent, thanks, Turtle. Now we don't have to worry at all. I mean, we were hoping somebody would take care of the vengeful and deadly Queen Scarlet for us. Preferably a bunch of five-year-olds. Very reassuring indeed."

Moonwatcher oddly ducked her head for a moment. "Sorry, your Majesty," she said, also looking genuinely sorry. "This felt... urgent." She glanced sideways at Winter, who got a very odd expression on his face for a second.

"It is urgent!" Kinkajou burst in. "We think Icicle is coming here to kill you next!"

"That's what I said," offered Deathbringer, from the back of the procession, looking bemused. "Ahem, ahem."

Glory looked at Kinkajou, hoping it wasn't true. Not so much because there was a crazy assassin after her, but because Deathbringer wouldn't be forgetting that anytime soon. "Do you really think so?" she asked.

"Absolutely," said Qibli. "You're her only target left. I'd wager a month of lizards on it."

"That would be irritating," Glory said. "If Deathbringer turns out to be right, I mean. It makes him really insufferable." Behind her, Deathbringer grinned again. She wished he would stop doing that. It was very distracting.

"I am here to search for my sister," said Winter in a voice that sounded like he practiced it every day. "I just need to make sure that no one interferes while I do so." He cast a glare at Deathbringer, who put on a repentful face again in a split second.

"I think we can do better than that," said Glory. She looked around and tried to identify whose shimmering shadow was sitting on that tree branch. "Banana?"

"No, thanks," said Winter grumpily, but Kinkajou and Moonwatcher were also looking at it, guessing.

"Actually, it's Heliconia, your Majesty," said the RainWing, materializing out of thin air. Winter and Qibli looked startled – she guessed they had never seen RainWing camouflage before.

Glory flicked her tail. "Heliconia, please tell my scout captains to meet me at the pavilion as soon as possible."

Heliconia's scales began fading from pink to blue. 'But I can't leave you unguarded, your Majesty," she said sorrowfully.

"I think seven guards are quite sufficient," said Glory, waving her claws at the clearing boundaries, where the air slithered and flapped to keep up with them. "One might call it overkill, in fact. One might even infer that somebody doesn't think he can do his job properly on his own. Also that he must think I'm either blind and deaf or recently hit on the head, that I wouldn't notice the addition of five more dragons following me around." She cast a look over at Deathbringer.

"The whole point of a top secret invisible guard," Deathbringer said severely to Glory, his eyes gleaming, "is for them to be invisible and secret. Therefore it is extremely unhelpful for certain queens to go pointing them out and discussing them loudly with the entire rainforest."

Glory ignored him. "Go now," she said to Heliconia, who nodded and flapped away, disappearing into nothing as they went. She saw Winter looking grudgingly impressed as he tried desperately to spot the other six RainWings hidden in plain sight.
"The pavilion is a short flight this way," she said, nodding in the direction of the palace. Well, to call it a palace would be a little extravagant. More like a larger hut with a throne and everything. "I built it half way between both villages for anything official. Follow me."

She spread her wings and flew, feeling sunlight radiate off her every scale. Alongside her, Qibli and Kinkajou dodged and wove around the trees, although not very successfully. But the little NightWing dragonet, Moonwatcher, was better than all of the rest of them combined – including her, she admitted grudgingly. She slipped between every obstacle with a talent Glory hadn't seen on any other dragon.

Winter was clearly thinking the same thing, but in a different way, judging by the way he kept on looking at her with something in his eyes that Glory recognized. Above them, Deathbringer soared, turning patches of sky into night with his star-specked wings. A black leather satchel was slung around his shoulder, like it always was. Glory smiled to herself. As heroically idiotic as Deathbringer could be, being near him always felt like sun-time to her. She had an idea that Winter felt the same about Moon.