Beating Wings (EDITING)

16 : The White Castle ✏️

    It was sun-rise when we arrived. Queen Hyla was expected to arrive at moon-rise that night. We all landed in the village, and snuck over to the White Castle East Gate so we wouldn't be spotted from the sky.

    The Castle itself was magnificently huge. It was made entirely out of white marble, white quarts, and other white stones. It was protected with dragon guards on each tower in the Castle. The guards here were the Queen's top security and wore white armor with silver markings engraved in. This was the castle for all Sulona, so of course it was grand.

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    "We have to get inside somehow without altering the guards." I whispered, hidden in the bushes with the army.

    "There isn't very many." Trufor noted. "I have dragons in my team who can take care of them without a sound."

    "Let's just find a way to sneak past them and get inside." Nota suggested.

    "Ha." Senvir huffed. "The only way in is to overwhelm them and take them all out before they can get backup."

    "Zepth?" Cretus faced me. I sat in silence for a moment, then spoke to them.

    "I think we should split up." I instructed. "Trufor, you take this gate with your dragons. Cretus and Senvir, you go to the South Gate. Nota and I will go around to the North Gate. Try to get in without alerting any guards. We'll meet back up on the inside. Trufor, do you think you can keep your army here in case we need backup?"

    He bowed. "Certainly."

    "We'll meet you inside." Cretus bowed, and she and Senvir dove into the bushes and vanished.

    "Good luck." Trufor told them as Nota and I turned and went the other way.

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    "So how exactly are we getting in?" Nota asked me once we arrived at our entrance point, the North Gate.

    "Not sure..." I whispered to her. "There are only two guards stationed here. We could try taking them by surprise?"

    "Sounds good to me." Nota nodded. "I'll take out the one on the left."

    "Okay. Go around them and attack from behind."
    I turned away from Nota and crept around through the bushes. I was right behind my target, and saw Nota was too. I nodded once, and we charged.

    I lashed out with my claws, scraping the guard across the face. Spinning around, I smacked him into the castle wall with my tail, knocking him unconscious. Nota looked up from her passed out guard and grinned.

    "Let's go." I slipped inside the giant door.

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    Once inside, they were greeted by a large, white hallway. It had paintings of past rulers of the Sulona Kingdom along the wall, each one centering a Dragon King of the past, until we reached the end of the hall.There was a portrait of a snake-like dragon sitting on a crystal white throne. It was the only painting of a queen; Queen Hyla.

    I looked away from the paintings, trying to forget about the arena where I could have easily been killed by that monster.

    "Zepth!" Nota called out in a loud whisper.

    "What?" I snuck over to Nota, who was hiding around a corner.

    "I heard a voice." Her eyes looked frightened at the fact it might have been a guard.

    "You heard a what-" I stopped when hearing a loud moaning noise. I turned to my friend. "It sounds like someone's hurt!"

    I spun around to find a staircase that led down into the cellar. Without hesitation, I ran down the steps with Nota right behind.

    As we descended, the weeping got louder. It was a female, and she was sobbing.

    "Hello?" I called when we reached the bottom. Ahead of me lay a hall of a few iron-barred cells. I walked past the first one, which was empty. There was only a wooden board hanging off the wall and a little oil lamp that barely lit up the small space.

    I kept walking down. The second cell contained a bone, but nothing else. The sobbing grew louder and louder. I walked deeper down the hall. In the very last one was the cause of the sound.

    An adult dragon sat inside. She was plated by elegant deep red and wore dark claws and horns. She turned towards the movement outside the cell, and her crying ceased.

    "Mother?!" I gasped.