Conquest : A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

6. Princesses

'Who are you? Tell me!' 

The voice was shrill and of a dragonet's, and the order sounded ridiculous, but it held more authority than ninety-five percent of the dragons on Pyrrhia.

 A small dragon with scales the colour of a red fox's fur sat on the throne of the Sky Kingdom, surrounded by tall, hefty guards five times her size. Her slanted, narrow yellow gaze scrutinised Sandstorm. 

Princess Fox of the SkyWings. 

A pampered two-year-old dragonet with an inflated head and an attitude to boot, but clever - clever beyond her age, and forced to grow up too quickly in the light of her mother's death. 

'My name is Sandstorm,' said the pale-yellow dragonet in a low voice. 'I'm a student at Jade Mountain Academy.' As an afterthought, she added, 'My parents are Qibli and... Moon.' Her voice broke slightly on the last word, but she kept staring straight into Fox's strangely familiar yellow eyes. 

The princess frowned, but several other guards started in surprise. The guard next to her - the pinkish-orange SkyWing who was the leader of the patrol that had caught Sandstorm - actually gasped. 'Aren't they the dragons who saved us from Darkstalker?' questioned Fox, tilting her head. 

In her high-pitched voice, everything she said was utterly laughable, but it was unnerving to think that the owner of that absurdly shrill voice could raze a dozen villages to the ground with a single command. 

'Yes, princess,' said a lanky, rose-coloured SkyWing with a hoop earring in one ear - just like Qibli's - hovering beside the throne. His orange eyes were fixed intently on Sandstorm, but his renewed gaze held grudging admiration, whereas previously he'd stared at her with clear hostility. 

'May I speak, princess?' he asked, tearing his gaze away from Sandstorm and addressing the dragonet next to him, who was so little her talons didn't even dangle a bit over the edge of the fancy throne. 

She imperiously inclined her head an inch, and Sandstorm felt the overwhelming urge to giggle. Hoop-Earring seemed to realise that, for he pursed his snout in a most bird-like way. In fact, he was positively hawkish - no, vulturine. 

'You may be the daughter of a pair of exalted heroes, dragonet, but you're terribly insolent.' I couldn't have put it better myself, thought Sandstorm. That is the exact word I would use to describe you and your princess. 

Without waiting for her reply, Hoop-Earring ploughed on, 'Why were you loitering in the heart of SkyWing territory when you should be in school?' Sandstorm frowned, as if considering the idea. She thought about a sarcastic reply - she really would've loved to shove it up smug Hoop-Earring's snout - but then decided against it.

 After all, there were a hundred of them, and one of her. 

'Well... I was supposed to stay in school, but I -' '- decided to take a stroll through our kingdom,' interrupted Hoop-Earring viciously. He probably understood the implied sarcasm in the frown, and he also probably second-guessed the sardonic reply she'd been about to make. 

Fox glared at him. 'Don't do that! I want to hear. If she doesn't make sense, you can punish her.' Sandstorm frowned again, but this time it was genuine. 

Again, it was galling to think that those words - preposterous as they were, uttered in that same baby's voice - held probably more power than Sandstorm and every dragon Sandstorm had ever known - more than any of them probably had in their entire lives (well, except for Queen Tsunami). 

However, she did feel a little important right then, and couldn't help the smirk in her gaze as it passed over Hoop-Earring's flustered, rather bitter expression. 'Tell the whole story,' ordered Fox. Her pretty fox fur-coloured scales rippled as she leaned forwards, suddenly just another dragonet intent on a tale.