Into the Abyss

The Kingdom of Sand

                          Snowdrift
         It was getting warmer. As Snowdrift and Penguin flew on the terrain started to change. Snow was melting and it was becoming less rocky.
          The Kindgom of Sand was coming up fast. They had passed the Ice Cliff two days ago, camping in snowy caves and eating whatever they could find. Penguin was getting more and more tired and Snowdrift had to admit the time had started to make her wings feel heavy too. Neither of them had done this much consecutive flying.
          He sounds like a beached narwhal, Snowdrift thought as Penguin rasped again. She almost regretted bringing him...almost. She was very glad to have someone to talk to and help hunt. It was also comforting to know she had a little extra muscle (even though Penguin was rather lean) if she needed it. She would definitely want it when she encountered SandWings for the first time.
          During the war both of them had stayed in the Ice Kingdom. Her majesty had said they, and many other dragonets were too young to "waste in this war". They weren't even allowed out for the False Brightest Night.
          "So, ummm, what's your plan?" Penguin asked gliding through a current up to her.
          She thought for a minute, "Uh, find Blaze and ask her where to fly to get to the rainforest?" She tried.
          "Blaze?" Penguin said, wrinkling his snout, "If we cant remember a map of Pyrrhia then she definitely can't,"
          "I'm sure she would have other dragons who do though," Snowdrift pointed out, "besides all we need is a direction,"
          The clouds were starting to thin.
          "I dont know, what about the tunnels?" Penguin tried.
          "I dont know where those are and neither do you," she replied firmly.
          "We could find them..."
          "Yeah right, in the whole desert?"
          "Ok good point," Penguin said defeated. A gust of warm air pushed both of them up, higher into the sky.
          "Woah," Snowdrift gawked.
          "What," Penguin asked. 
          "Did you feel that?" She responded.
          "What?" Penguin asked again, clueless.
          "That gust of warm air that just pushed us up," Snowdrift explained.
          "Oh yeah that's probably because the desert is right there," he shrugged. She looked to see the start of some shrubland and some rolling hills that turned into, on the horizon, the desert. It shone brightly in the morning sun.
          Sand, she thought.
          "Woah is that sand??" Penguin asked alarmed, seemingly reading her thoughts.
          "I think so," Snowdrift called down to him, "I bet we'll be in the Kingdom of Sand by midday! And if I remember correctly, the Stronghold isn't too far into the desert so maybe we'll even be there by nightfall,"
          She glanced down to see a pack of wolves chasing a caribou through the rocky hills. Caribou had always been her favorite, it was extra warm. Meat was the only thing IceWings liked warm.
          Penguin followed her gaze. Once he spotted them he swept down toward the animals. Before they even saw him, he tucked himself into a dive and became a speeding icicle plummeting to the ground. He crushed the caribou under his massive talons and roared at the wolves warning them to stay back. He then flew back up to where Snowdrift was flying. He held it out to her.
          "You look hungry," he said thoughtfully. She smiled at him and took the animal. She ripped off a large chunk and ate it whole tossing the rest to Penguin who ate his piece a little slower. Snowdrift looked back to see the wolves glaring angrily at her, no doubt furious at her for eating their kill. She told Penguin and he laughed.
          "Ha! What's next? The walruses feel bad when we eat them?"
          She laughed too. They both laughed for a long time exchanging jokes and having fun. Even though they could be flying straight into danger's talons.

          "Youch!" Snowdrift leaped back into the air off her talons, "That's hot!" She exclaimed.
          "Well, what do you expect we're in the Kingdom of Sand," Penguin pointed out. They were in sight of Queen Thorn's Stronghold but had decided to land because, Penguin again observed something Snowdrift hadn't. He told her they might be taken prisoner and that if Glacier came looking for two IceWing fugitives Thorn would happily hand them over.
          "I still don't like it," Snowdrift scowled, heat creeping between her scales.
          "There's nothing I can do about that," Penguin said with an unapologetic, almost amused look on his face. She wanted to slap him. "Now come down from their before your glimmering scales get us caught," he called. Snowdrift reluctantly landed. She took huge exaggerated steps towards him to show how hot the sand was. She didn't like the way it felt in her talons, it just shifted around over them like liquid, not hard and solid like ice. A small lizard darted to hide under a shrub.
          I'm hungry, she thought What even is there to eat out here in the desert anyway?
          "So what's your plan if we dont ask for directions at the palace," Snowdrift asked Penguin. He had frantically insisted they avoid the Stronghold at all costs.
          "We go to the Scorpion Den and ask around, I heard an IceWing lived there," Penguin answered.
          "Oh really? An IceWing would live here?" She asked, her mind wheeling.
          "Someone named Krona, a deserter,"
          "Never heard of him,"
          "That's because he left discretely, not wanting to deal with the war, and THREE MOONS I'M HOT!" Penguin suddenly burst. Snowdrift heard a hiss and then Penguin inhaled, he let the cold build up inside him and shot a breath of ice onto the sand. It immediately started to melt and he quickly jumped on it trying to cover it from the sun.
          "Better?" Snowdrift asked.
          "Better," He replied, "Why don't you seem this hot?"
          "Ouch," she said playfully, "Just kidding I know what you meant, and I'm used to it,"
          "Used to it my tail," Penguin muttered, "You wouldn't even touch the sand earlier,"
          "Ok well the sand is REALLY hot," she shot back, "Besides I actually kinda LIKE the heat,"
          "You're weird,"
          "One Hundred percent," She beemed. He snickered back.
          "Anyway, I think we should wait until dark to get to the Scorpion Den, that way we'll have an ally to help us sneak past the palace,"
          "We will?" Snowdrift asked surprised, "Who?"
          Penguin rubbed his forehead, "Darkness, darkness will make it harder to see us," he explained as if talking to a dragonet.
          "Ooooh, right," Snowdrift realised. She didn't like when he babied her sometimes, "So, now what?"
          "Now we do the fantastic activities that take place in waiting," Penguin answered.
          The rest of the day seemed to take multiple days. The sun dragged across the sky like and overweight polar bear, the heat was intense. The two ice dragons tried, unsuccessfully, to catch lizards for food, failing every time. The wind also beat them like rugs. It was absolutely AWFUL! The sun was finally starting to set when Snowdrift caught a small mouse thing and quickly gulped it down.
          From atop the dunes Penguin called to her, "Well, would you look at that...it's beautiful,"
          "What? I want to see!" She cried.
          "Then get up here! The sun is almost set!" Penguin told her. She scurried up the dune and sat next to him, what she saw stopped her in her tracks and caused her mouth to fall.
          "Wow..." she gaped.
          It was the desert queen's stronghold, the jewel of the desert, the SandWing Palace. The sun was setting just to the left of it casting a warm, nurturing orange glow across the entire landscape. Snowdrift could see small lights in the windows and openings of the palace and courtyard. She could just barely make out the shapes of dragons going about their lives. She also heard the sound of music and smelled strange smells that wafted over the desert just to fill her nose. A small column of rotating wind and sand spun in front of the gates to the walled city. She had always thought the Ice Kingdom was the most beautiful place in Pyrrhia but was starting to have doubts.
          "Its gorgeous," She finally said when she found her voice.
          "Isn't it?" Penguin asked, "Let's take it in a little while longer, but for the future if I'm right the Scorpion den is just a few hours flight east from here,"
          "How will we be getting around the palace?" Snowdrift asked in the ever fading light.
          "We walk," Penguin said.
          "Ugh, fine," Snowdrift complained, Walking is now officially my least favorite thing to do, she thought.
          "Come on, supposedly it gets really cold in the desert at night," he tried to comfort her and nudged his wing with hers. He crouched and headed down the dune. She followed but felt very exposed. There wasn't much cover in the desert except maybe a cactus cluster every now and then. She really hoped they wouldn't get caught. It would be so suspicious to find two IceWings sneaking around the desert palace at night right after a diplomacy meeting.
          She hadn't realised how far away from the palace they had landed. It was fully dark by the time they started to pass it. Only the light of the three moons helped them see. She also hadn't realised how large the palace was. It was at least twice as big as the Ice Palace and about three times as loud. The smells and sounds were more and more tempting than ever and she kept seeing Penguin starting to veer to the left towards the Palace. She thwacked him with her tail spikes when he did this. Although she herself kept stealing glances at the palace. She had to look farther and farther over her shoulder, then, eventually all the way behind her.
          After they had the palace a little ways behind them Penguin whispered, "Alright, time to fly,"
          "Oh fantastic, my legs are killing me!" Snowdrift said, she spread her wings and they both lifted off.
          The flight to the Scorpion Den seemed like minutes after all the walking. It probably helped that they were sharing jokes and talking all the way there. And luckily for them as soon as they had lifted off they could make out the lights of the bustling city the horizon. Snowdrift could see it was also walled like the palace. The city had winding alleys, ramshackle old buildings, weathered canopies and many tattered tents which had lost color baking in the sun. And in it scales of pale yellow to white glinted in the torchlight. It was beautiful.
          "Wow, we can not just land in there haha, it is way too crowded," Penguin observed, "Gate time I guess,"  The alleyways did look too narrow to land in. Instead they aimed for the gate with two SandWing guards stationed outside. One of them had rattlesnake like patterns on his scales and had a scratched up back sail. The other one, a female, had a couple necklaces amd bracelets that looked very cheap on and was more amber in coloring. When they touched down the one on the right seemed to jerk awake, she must have been dozing.
          "Hello--," Snowdrift started.
          "Two IceWings huh?" The rattlesnake patterned guard asked loudly, "What are the odds of you being out here?" He mused. He was a younger dragon but still older than Snowdrift, she guessed he was nine.
         "Well we're--ACK!" Snowdrift was suddenly cut off as something huge landed heavily on her back. She was whipped around by her attacker to face him. With her back pressed against the sand she felt not five but six wickedly sharp talons pressing against her throat. They gleamed in the moonlight. Penguin hissed and she wondered why he hadn't helped but saw the SandWing had his poison barbed tail pointed at Penguin's chest.
          "What are you doing here?" The six-clawed dragon growled deeply and not so gently, "What business do you have in the Scorpion Den?"
          It was Penguin who answered, "We're here to connect with uh and old erm, family member," He said not very convincingly, "His names Krona,"
          "Krona?" The young male SandWing asked, "That old wheeze bag?"
          "Quiet, Boulder!" The large SandWing barked, "What do you need to speak with him about?"
          None of your business! Snowdrift wanted to shout but was afraid that if she did the SandWing would rip out her throat.
          "Just some friendly family matters and stuff, we would also like some directions," Penguin said calmly, "We come unarmed and would just like to speak with him," He said holding up his talons to show his innocence. He flinched when the SandWing's tail inched closer.
          The SandWing looked over them both a but then eased up a little. He let Snowdrift get up, finally, and said, "Very well, take as long as you like, you're welcome here at the friendly Scorpion Den," he hissed a laugh, "Boulder, thank you for the alert," The young male SandWing straightened up, his rattlesnake patterns seemingly rippling in doing so. The large six-clawed dragon turned, "Tumbleweed would you please go get Keter to escort these IceWings thought the city to Krona? That weasel knows that part of town best," The female SandWing, Tumbleweed, saluted and then flew off over the wall.
          A few moments later the large gates opened. Tumbleweed came out followed by a wet-sand colored dragon who Snowdrift guessed to he Keter. The dragon stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her glimmering blue scales. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, as if planning something, studying her. It made her want to recoil. He walked up to her, a little too quickly.
          "Well hello," he said in a nice voice, "I'm Keter, I'd like to welcome you to the Scorpion Den," he said with a warm smile. She started to rethink, maybe he was friendly. But his eyes, his dark, snake-like eyes and the way he looked at her made her feel uncomfortable. She found herself edging towards Penguin who caught on and stepped between the two. He was much taller than Keter but just as slim.
          "Hi Keter, I'm Penguin and that's Snowdrift," he said gesturing towards her with a wing flick. She thought she saw a hint of annoyance in his eyes toward Penguin. Then it vanished.
          "Snowdrift..." Keter said, his black tongue slithering in and out. He turned his head to the side revealing a backwards "S" shaped tattoo over his left eye. He smiled again, he was handsome but not Snowdrift's type.
          "You'll be taking them to your part of town," Sixclaws reminded them from behind. Snowdrift jumped forgetting he was there, so still like a snake ready to strike.
          "Ok Keter, take us to see Krona,"
          The gates closed noisily behind them. As soon as they did Snowdrift instantly felt claustrophobic. The streets were so thin, new smells cluttered her nose and she could hardly see a dragon length ahead of her.
          Apparently, all of these dragons here live for the night life, she thought.
          All too often her talons would get squished or her tail would get stepped on or worst of all her scales would brush up against warm SandWing scales and the startled dragon would jump back from her cool blue scales and cause a ruckus. She decided to stay close to her larger companion, Penguin. He made it a little easier to make it through the crowd without getting squashed or lost. She also thought she'd lost Keter a couple times but he assured her he could see him.
          "He's right there, don't worry," He would say.
          Eventually, after a lot of twisting and turning through alley after alley, they arrived at what seemed to he a more residential area. There were less dragon here and it was quieter and a lot of the street vendors were sleeping in their stalls. She could see a few dragonets playing and as they passed an alleyway she got a nasty look for 3 very large MudWings. The group of dragonets started to rush towards them.
          "Watch your money," Keter said, raising his venomous tail. Snowdrift clutched her jewel pouch. The dragonets avoided Keter but crawled through Penguin's legs and ran around Snowdrift's tail. She caught Penguin giggling as one of the dragonets brushed his underbelly.
          "You think they're cute now, but wait till you're broke because of em," Keter growled.
          "Are you," Snowdrift began to ask.
          "Almost," he answered before she could finished, "Luckily for me I have a good gig going right now, working for a dragon named WhiteTip maybe you've heard of her?"
          "Nope," Snowdrift said, she looked to Penguin who shook his head.
          "Well she's fighting to make a city somewhere in the Bay of a Thousand Scales," He looked a Snowdrift significantly, "Where ALL dragons would be welcome," he added smiling.
          "How do you know those dragonets steal money?" She said quickly changing the subject.
          "Because I was one of em once," Keter grumbled seemingly annoyed.
          "Oh? And how did that work out?"
          "Aren't you supposed to be asking Krona your questions?" The sand colored dragon hissed.
          They were silent the rest of the way until they came up to an exceptionally old building. It was colder here. A grumpy looking SandWing came out of the entrance. He just stomped by even as Penguin tried a happy little wave.
          Oh poor little Penguin, Snowdrift thought affectionately.
          "Krona lives here? With SandWings?" Penguin asked.
          "Well he's the only IceWing who lives in the Scorpion Den so he doesn't get his own home building," Keter answered.
          "Well he should," Penguin muttered.
          Snowdrift caught Keter mumbling about how stuck up IceWings were. "Dont you all share igloos?" He said.
          "Actually we don't live in igloos and WE," he pointed at him and Snowdrift, "live in the Ice Palace itself," Snowdrift remembered the days she was in the fifth circle and he was in the second, it seemed so long ago.
          "Fascinating," Keter said, obviously not fascinated. He then went into the building and led them up to the third floor. They stopped in front of a large door with small ice crystals forming along the edges. A familiar gust of cold flowed out from under the door.
          Keter wrapped loudly on the door, receiving grumbles from down the hallway. He yelled anyway, "Hey Krona you got some friends out her that wanta talk to ya!"
          "Go away, I don't have any SandWing friends!" A grouchy sounding voice said from inside.
          "Oh but these are IceWings," Keter mused.
          Silence from the other side of the door. The a rustling followed by the sound of multiple locks clicking. The door opened and an IceWing almost the color of polar bear fur stuck his head out. He scanned Snowdrift and Penguin.
          "What do you two younglings want?" He said sourly.
          Snowdrift stepped forward, "We just want to talk to you and ask a few questions,"
          "About what?" He grumbled but opened the door a little more. Snowdrift could now see inside, there were telescopes and maps hanging from walls, books and bookshelves and the light even came from a small yellow moon globe plant.
          This poor old dragon does miss the Ice Kingdom, Snowdrift thought.
          "About...umm, geography?" She tried, it wasn't entirely untrue.
          Krona's face immediately softend up, "Oh of course! Come in, come in, so nice to see young dragons interested in this subject. Not enough are you know," he said giving a smile and letting them in.
          "We have money for your services too," Snowdrift offered opening the pouch of jewels. Krona politely declined but she noticed that Keter's eyes lit up when the jewels were shown. She didn't like it. Once inside Snowdrift could really see how cluttered and small the space was. Three dragons and all if Krona's stuff made it seem even smaller. Scrolls, books, telescopes, maps, papers, ink, all of it everywhere.
          "You, SandWing, get lost!" Krona said slamming the door on Keter's face, "Make yourselves at home," the old yellowish dragon said kindly.
          Snowdrift couldn't believe it, she was closer than ever to Queen Glory which meant Jade Mountain which meant she might actually get to her dream!