The Dark Mother. A Wings Of Fire Fanfiction.

A Queen Worth Serving.

"What, huh?" Queen Thorn blinked at Patch and the others. She quickly stammered and straightened herself. "Oh right, thank you. Uh, as you were. Actually report please."

Patch blinked back at her for a moment. He knew she was a leader before becoming queen, but she seemed completely out of it. She had only been queen properly for four days now. Her coronation being three days after the Brightest Night. It seemed she was trying to change her gang habits to queen and commander habits.

She leaned over and whispered to a dragon next to her. "This is going to take some getting used to, Six-claws."

Six-claws, the traitor, as Patch remembered him from his training days. Used to be a general in Burn's army. He was revered amongst the few remaining veterans from those days early in the war. Still, Patch was unsure how he felt. Abandoning his post, leaving his soldiers without a command, it was cowardly.

He suddenly realized that both Six-claws and Thorn were starring at him expectantly. He repeated his salute and barked his response perfectly like he was trained too, even if he was still unsure about the whole thing.

"Your Majesty, the rebels called the Death Stingers were located during our patrol flight. We engaged and suffered no ill effects." Sandstorm mumbled something and Dustdevil punched his shoulder. Patch carried on without missing a beat. "It seemed like some kind of courier exchange, Your Majesty. Only two of them were here and they were talking before we intercepted them."

"May I ask why you let them go, if there were no fatal injuries?" Six-claws approached. He inspected Patch's spear and saw the blood. "You outnumbered them two-to-one. Not to mention we are in the desert. I find it hard to believe you could have lost them."

That's when the tension was felt. Patch gripped his spear and Thorn noticed it. She made a step forward but stopped. Snakebite stepped back in line with the rest of his winglet. She was a small one, but fast, able to fly circles around a Skywing. He looked up at Six-claws. The glare in his dark eyes told Patch that he was being interrogated on the spot.

"Sir, I am not a traitor." He barked in Six-claws face. The reinstated general blinked at him. "I am loyal to the Sandwings and will do my duty. I made a call for my team and they listened."

Six-claws tilted his head slightly and smiled. "You care for your gang that much?" He asked. Patch nodded to him. "I'm not doubting, but I need to know why you just stood here aiming your spears at nothing."

Patch swallowed hard as he discovered he would have to explain the impossible. "When we engaged, there was a moment when we surprised them. Then they fled on the ground, but when they passed over a dune, they were gone without a trace to be seen. No sight, no tracks, not a sound. I believed there was an animus, sir."

Thorn and Six-claws exchanged a concerned look. The queen had stepped closer and thanked him and his friends. "This will need further investigation. Please return to the palace and rest up. I would like to speak to you about this around nightfall."

Patch bowed his head to her. He and his winglet flew back without a word being said. Not until the fortress came in sight. Snakebite flew up to his side and looked at him sternly.

"What?" Patch cocked his head at her. She was starting to give him a funny look.

"Don't be nervous. Camel spit." She signed with her claws.

"Who you calling camel spit. Cactus licker." Patch grinned at her. She had lost the strength to her voice awhile ago due to a fight against opposing Sandwings during the war. One got a good shot with her fire and struck Snakebite in the neck. They managed to save her but it damaged her throat severally. She could still speak, but not carry her voice, so she wasn't very conversational in the air, but she was still useful and a great scout for the group. Her senses were the sharpest, she was the scrapiest, and she wasn't a quitter. They all learned sign language so they could continue to work with her.

"She's got a point, Patch. I think the Queen is going to request you alone. Don't say anything you'll regret. I heard she used to string up her gang mates by the tails if she didn't like how they were serving her." Dustdevil chuckled evilly on his other side.

"I met that Sunny dragonet when she was here, no mother could be that cruel with a daughter like that." Sandstorm said aloud from behind.

Patch agreed but for a different reason. As they approached the fortress walls, they saw the workers being put to good use in cleaning the walls of the blood and viscera that had been collecting over the past two decades. The grounds were looking better, gardens being planted, or replanted apparently. And a few ambassadors from other tribes walked about sight seeing as they awaited the new queens return.

He wondered what would happen. Tonight, he had been questioning it for a week now. Was Thorn a queen worth serving? Was it right to serve a queen who was literally a criminal in the Scorpian Den, just because the Dragonets of Destiny didn't agree with either of the three princesses.

He hanged his head a little in defeat. He couldn't argue. Things were turning out better than dragons had hoped. At least so far.

(Well i fell a week behind in updating this. I'm going to try to upload new chapters every Friday or Saturday. Even if your new, please leave comments and opinions. I'm really enjoying writing this story so far!)