The CloudWings

31 - A Tearful End and a New Beginning

Lightbringer's POV

Before Lightbringer could get her head around everything that was happening at once, they were surrounded by CloudWings. Drizzle's wings steamed and hissed in the water, keeping the CloudWings farther from her than the others. 

"You think I can burn our way out of the circle?" Drizzle whispered, nudging Lightbringer. 

"Don't. Not yet," Lightbringer whispered back. "There's no need to kill anyone unless we ourselves are attacked first."

Drizzle fell silent, but plumes of steam continued to rise from her wings.

Suddenly Hibiscus spoke. "Crystal, you don't need to pretend anymore. Remember? Stratus's dragons will set us free if they believe us. Where is Stratus, anyway?" She looked around the room, then at Crystal.

"What do you mean?" Crystal just stared blankly. "What are you talking about?"

Lightbringer could tell Hibiscus was making an extreme effort not to reveal herself as the traitor, but it was a little obvious by now. 

"You know, uh, the, um, the plan?" A tinge of worry and frustration appeared on the edge of Hibiscus's voice.

Crystal stared at Hibiscus. Then, as if the truth had just dawned on her, she cried, "Oh! It was you, wasn't it? It was you. I remember now."

All the dragons in the cave turned to stare at Crystal, then Hibiscus. 

"I'm no longer supporting Stratus," Crystal said, plainer than a cloudlessly blue sky. "I switched sides a while ago."

"WHAT?!" Hibiscus shrieked. "No! How could you?!"

"I thought I heard someone mention my name," a velvety yet cold voice asked behind them. A flutter of wings and a cloud of bubbles appeared as all the dragons in the cave whirled around at once. Of course, it was Stratus standing in the doorway.

"What are you waiting for?" Stratus snapped impatiently. "Capture each and every one of them! Preferably alive, but not necessarily."

A flurry of movement and scales filled the cave. Lightbringer could see nothing more than the swirling of water and bubbles, along with the occasional claw or wing dangerously close to her face. Stratus continued to shout out orders to the CloudWings above the din. "Get the SkyWing first! Be careful of the firescales and try not to die! Seal the other end of the tunnel so they can't escape, and then block this entrance!"

After a long struggle, the wildly churning water in the cave became stiller. Lightbringer saw that Stratus had formed long ropes from cloud and air, which Drizzle had been bound with. 

Crystal instantly leaped up. "Let her go!" she cried, starting toward Drizzle and Stratus. She hadn't even taken one step before a splash of black venom landed on her scales, burning and dissolving them. Everyone turned to look for the source and soon found Hibiscus standing in the corner, pride coating her fanged smile. 

Crystal fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Her eyes began to cloud, but as Drizzle screeched "HELP!" through her cloud muzzle, Crystal suddenly seemed to regain consciousness, if only for a moment. As her blast of frostbreath hit Stratus's talon, Crystal whispered, "So this is the end, isn't it? Don't let Hibiscus get away with any of this. I'm glad I switched sides in this battle." She suddenly looked up at Mist. "You're the new IceWing queen. Tell them it was my decision. They'll trust you. " 

The cave fell silent for a moment, everyone's faces illuminated by the cold glitter on the ice statue that had once been Stratus.

"Awkward silence," Sandstorm whispered. "Oh oops, I just broke the awkward silence." 

Glade poked her with a talon and whisper-yelled, "Don't you know the difference between serious situations and awkward silences?" 

Sandstorm replied, "It's still awkward anyway..."

"Both of you stop!" Drizzle snapped. A tear rolled down her snout, steaming and hissing as it traveled down its smoldering path.

It was impossible to tell whether Crystal was amused, annoyed, or simply in pain. She stared with glassy eyes up at her sisters. "There are so many things to be done," she muttered, almost to herself. "So many additions to the IceWing palace that haven't been built yet. So many ideas for improvement that float only in my mind, like melting icebergs on a rising sea. They'll be lost forever... no one will ever find them again. They'll all die with me."

"Don't worry about all this," Lightbringer murmured. The least she could do was to make sure Crystal didn't die worrying about all the things she hadn't been able to accomplish as IceWing queen. "We'll take care of everything. We'll figure out the improvements and additions, maybe add a bit of our own. We'll help Mist set up. We'll make sure she's happy and settled. We'll even live in the IceWing kingdom until things are normal again." She hoped that would prevent Crystal from forcing herself to spout a long list of IceWing rules and her plans for the kingdom. "I'll even get the ideas from your mind and bring them to life for you, if you want." 

Finally a wisp of a smile appeared on Crystal's face. "It's okay. You don't have to; I trust you guys for the most part. But don't mess anything up," she whispered. "Hope you enjoy your stay at the Ice Kingdom." Then, as if to herself, she muttered, "Looks like the party has to end sometime."

Her last breath hung in the air like an icy cloud for a moment, as though it still clung to the last whispers of life, then disappeared into the shifting blue light filtering into the cave.

Later, when all of Stratus's CloudWings had been driven out of the tunnel, Puffin led them to the shore. For a moment, they all stood silently on the beach, the wet sand crunching and sifting beneath their talons. 

Glade broke the silence. "What are we going to do about...about...you know...um...well...Crystal? I mean, she deserves a proper resting place and all... Should we take her to the IceWing kingdom? I feel like that would be what she would have wanted." She stopped, as if she had realized her words were like overchewed resin-gum, flavorless and rambling. "I guess we should probably go there first, maybe, or check the CloudWing palace for any of your belongings, Mist."

Mist simply said, "It's all right. I don't want any of those things anymore. I don't need reminders of my past life. Now I am no longer trapped and caged, so I don't need any reminders of when I had been."

They silently lifted up Crystal's body and carried it for the long journey to the Ice Kingdom.