Overruled

Chapter 9: Memory Lane

Back home... (This is going on while Nicholas is in the Rainforest)

(Italics = Flashback)

David was walking around the palace grounds, trying to think about something other than the events of last week. When he looked up in class and saw that everyone was gone he knew they would be in trouble, just not the kind of trouble they ended up being in.

Jr. and Judith were still unconscious and his father was running the kingdom, kind of. He had been temporarily put in charge by Bladerunner but she still had the final say in most decisions.

Deep down he knew it was Jr's fault. Snowdrift hadn't even seen them till he yelled for her. But he couldn't bring himself to admit it, and neither could his mother. She had barely slept or eaten since the attack and when she did sleep she had nightmares, at least according to Eagle.

David looked up to see that he had made his way to the river. The same river where his family was attacked. He hadn't been there since the week before the attack when his family had had a picnic there. He smiled remembering that.

"Hey mom, can me and Jr. go play in the river?" asked David. He loved playing in the river. It made since considering he was half seawing. Bladerunner smiled at her two water-loving dragonets.

"Sure. Just don't get yourselves killed." she responded.

"Don't get yourselves killed." David whispered to himself, Mother always says that. he thought, She says it as both a joke and a warning. She probably never thought we would actually be in any danger by the river.

The river was a known place of peace in the clan's war. It was the only freshwater source on both of their territories.

Not so peaceful now. thought David. He walked over to the rock where Judith had been resting and sat down. He looked at the river and the ground around it. There was still blue and red blood on the ground, dry but still there. There was also a small grave on the enemy's side of the river.

Probably for the Icewings that were killed. Or at least the one they respected. Not all Icewings were buried after they passed away. Just the ones their king respected.

I don't understand why all of them aren't buried. Most of their clan is the king's own children. They rest is made up of his women and the few honorary members he has. Shouldn't all of them be respected at least in death? He thought.

With a sigh he looked down at his talons to discover that there was a scale in between them. He picked it up and smelled it to try and figure out whos it was. After a while he came to the conclusion that it was Judith's. There was no blood on it. It was also bright yellow unlike her scales normally were.

David and Jr. were playing in the river, seeing who could hold their breath the longest. David's chest started to hurt so he resurfaced and gulped the much needed oxygen. "Cheater." he said as he attempted to catch his breath, "You can't use your gills, it defeats the whole purpose of the game." Jr. resurfaced as well beside his brother, not at all phased by the fact water contains little to no breathable oxygen. Jr. smiled. Both brothers got out of the water as Bladerunner was walking over towards them.

"Are you alright David?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, just out of breath." he said. Bladerunner smiled and nuzzled him. As she walked back to the designated picnic area, Jr. followed her, hoping for more food. David looked over at his sister Judith. She was sitting on her favorite rock with Plum sitting beside her. Plum was an adult Rainwing who, like Judith, enjoyed breaking the rules. She tended to keep her scales shades of pink and purple, although she did change them to full black quite often as well. Judith looked like the sun and was acting like there was no wrong in the world. She was happy being with Plum. They would make a cute couple. He thought. He walked over to the picnic area with a smile on his face.

I should give this to Plum. Thought David. She would like it. David went and got some reeds from the water's edge and proceeded to make a pouch that he could carry the scale in. When the pouch was done he brought it up, touched it to his forehead, and closed his eyes.

"I enchant this pouch to never break."he said. So I don't have to worry to much about losing the scale he thought. "I enchant this pouch to only be opened by me and my parents." he said.

He lowered the pouch and opened his eyes. He looked at his talons. They were glowing again, a bluish green color. It happend every time he enchanted something. His talons were also extremely cold. Colder than usual that is. I really need to talk to someone about this. he thought.

He put the scale inside the pouch and put the pouch around his neck. He walked over to one of the red patches of dried blood. It was the smallest of the two and David knew whose blood it was.

"Nicholas." he said. He sat down by the blood and ran his talons through it. His mind went back to the day of the attack, when they were fighting over food. He smiled. Then his mind went back even further, again to the day of the picnic.

David sat down beside his mother who wrapped her wing around him. He grabbed one of the leftover fish and started eating it. He looked over at Nicholas who was drawing a picture. Starseer was sitting beside him looking at the drawing. Starseer said something that David couldn't hear. Whatever it was, Nicholas reacted to it by repeatedly hitting Starseer while Starseer laughed. They then settled down, looked at eachother, and smiled. David looked up at his mother to see that she was also smiling.

David looked down at the ground and frowned. Two of his siblings were barely alive and one was both scarred and severely depressed even if he did refuse to admit it. The whole family was severely injured. If not physically then emotionally or mentally. David jumped to his talons, picked up a nearby rock, spun around and threw it at a tree in rage.

"Why?!" he yelled, "What did they do to deserve this?!" he collapsed to the ground resting his head on his brother's dried blood. He threw his talons over his head and started crying.

"Why?" he whimpered.
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"The target is in sight sir." said the scout, "What do you want me to do?"

"Knock him out and bring him back to the palace. I have plans for him." said the leader with a wicked grin.

"Yes sir Prince Hailstorm." said the scout as he flew off.

The leader looked down at the dragon below him. While he didn't recognize him, he knew what he wanted to do to him. His grin widened. He flew off back to the palace unaware that in a tree not far away, was a 2 year old traitor in the making.