Frostbane

Chapter 1

Everything was in place. Snowflakes drifted gently from the sky and landed on his head as he set the egg in the snow. Every twig snap, rustle, or movement from the woods set him on edge. A flurry of feathers made him tense and look into the air, expecting a squadron of Caeli dragons to burst from the sky and attack.

It was a bird flying to its nest.

Sighing, he packed snow around the fragile shell and backed away, satisfied with his work. Hopefully a Glacies would find it before the Tenebris did. Hopefully his plan would work.

There were several variations of it. If someone of high rank found it, that would be best. That plan was easier, better to work with. However, if a commoner found the egg...

That would be more complicated.

Talons crunched in the snow. He tensed, ears flicking up. They were far away, but still, he whirled and flew away as fast as he could. It would be much better if he weren't caught. That would have been a variation he should have added.

He had many regrets.

As he soared above the frigid waters of the Glacies kingdom, he finally thought about what he was doing.

Placing his egg in the Glacies kingdom? Where a drake could steal it, or where it could freeze before anyone else found it? Pure idiocy, but vital to his plan. In the grand scheme of things, where he placed the egg, his egg, was vital.

But was it really necessary to kill Ede just to plant the egg in Glacies territory?

He shook that thought out of his head quickly.

She was going to put it in the Ignis kingdom.

That wouldn't have worked according to his plans at all.

Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made for power.

-

The sound of wind whistling underneath wings made Thawe freeze in place.

There was someone here.

Looking around wildly, he braced for an attack.

Nothing.

Sighing in relief and in exasperation, Thawe continued his trek through the woods.

He knew it was a bad idea for the Glacies King to walk outside, alone, where anyone would attack him, but after an entire year of being trailed by guards everywhere he went, Thawe just wanted to be alone. After his Queen, Flurris, had been murdered, the Head of the Royal Guard, Blizzard, had demanded that at least two guards follow Thawe wherever he went.

But now, he was alone.

Finally.

Something crunched underneath his talons, and pinpricks of pain sent him lurching back.

Purple, glass-like shards were lying on the ground and were stuck in Thawe's right talon. He picked them out one by one, the cuts beginning to drip blood. Thawe growled and shoved the pained talon under a snow drift.

The icy cold worked wonders for it, and when he withdrew it, the cuts no longer hurt.

Thawe looked down at the bizarre purple glass for a minute, then realized it was part of an eggshell.

What's an eggshell doing all the way out here?

He looked up a ways to discover a small, dark mound, contrasting against the white snow. Thawe limped over to see a black whelp, sitting rather forlornly in a mess of purple shards. It was female, whatever the species, and it had purple and gold eyes.