Jade Mountain's Next Generation

Chapter 16 - Freeze

  I woke to the bright sunrise.

Oh, and Indigo shaking my shoulder with a scared expression.

And I knew why, but it didn't help.

There was frost glistening on the tree I had been sleeping on, and it clung to the tips of my wings as I yelped and rolled away.

"I think you're okay..." She said, spinning me around. "But..." Tears shone in her eyes. She pointed at a dragonet curled up in a tight ball. The dragonet looked like she was a SkyWing, but glowing scales lit up randomly. Aquatic.

"That's Tornado. She was only three. She was my duty." She looked me in the eye, her face furious. "We have to kill him."

Sahara jumped to her feet. I flinched, not knowing she was awake. "Yes, we do. Igloo is yours to kill, but I call dibs on killing Queen Snowfall." I nodded. It felt wrong to be standing by and working out who gets to kill who, but they deserved it. They were killers too. No one was innocent in this game. In the matters of life and death, you had to be able to strike back. Or else the game is over, and you've bet your life and happiness.

"Darkshine." It was the first time she'd used my full name. Her voice was deadly serious. "I don't like this. We're being watched."

I turned. Sure enough, Winter was watching us. I glared at him. An IceWing, any IceWing to hurt was better than nothing. What are you thinking? I said to myself. Winter didn't deserve to be hurt. He wasn't like Igloo and Snowfall and Hurricane. He wasn't a murderer.

"It's just Winter, Indigo." I told her. "We have to wake everyone anyway." And then I remembered Rose and Copper and Alligator, dead or dying. I added Tornado to the list of dragons that Igloo had killed, but instead of starting to cry, like before, I just felt hot fury bubbling in my stomach. He wasn't going to get away with this.

We woke the others, and Sunny immediately sent everyone to the rainforest. Excitement mixed with the anger. I was about to see my parents again. Light flew over and joined us, smiling uncontrollably. "We get to see mother!" She said, flipping in the air. It was hard to think about Igloo and Rose when I was going home, but I realized that the ice was racing us there. It was enchanted to kill all NightWings and hybrids. My family was in danger, and I was scared for them. I might not get to them in time. I needed to warn them, before they froze.