Dark Snow

14

Woohoo! I have been working sooooooooo hard on this, and I have, like, six chapters completed. Without further ado, on with the story!
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     Taking a deep breath, Blackice followed the SandWing through the flap and into a whole other section of the tent. Obsidian was crouched over a wooden table, rolling open a scroll between her claws. A small wooden chest filled with paper lay open at her feet. The SandWing that had brought Blackice in dragged a large cushion into a corner of the room, and curled up on it, her tail over her nose, and black eyes fixed on Blackice. Blackice curled her claws into the sand, waiting patiently. Without looking up from her scroll, Obsidian motioned to a pillow not far from her. "Please, have a seat." Blackice slunk over, swept the sand off the pillow, and sat lightly, ready to spring up if necessary. Obsidian continued to read, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a whole other dragon was waiting for her to talk. Finally, the SandWing in the corner broke the silence with a sharp squeak of alarm. Blackice's head snapped up to see her pounce on something that had fallen in the sand, then yanked whatever it was onto her claws. Obsidian had also looked up, with a look of horror on her snout. Blackice was surprised. Despite having never actually met Obsidian before, she didn't seem to be the kind of dragon that was scared of anything. Obsidian leapt over the desk, scrambling toward the dragon. "Jackal, what did you do?" She demanded, hopping around the SandWing, who had started to cry. Tears poured down Jackal's snout, and she motioned to the pillow she had been sitting on moments before. Blackice turned to look at it, and bit back a gasp. The fabric had been sky blue moments before, and now it was shining gold. Obsidian looked down at it, then looked at where Jackal was sitting in the sand. Except it wasn't sand. The ground where Jackal had touched it was now made of tiny golden pebbles. Blackice stared back and forth between Jackal, the pillow, and the sand, confused. Obsidian circled Jackal, before sitting down next to her and wrapping one wing gingerly around her. "Shh, it's ok," she murmured, taking Jackal's talons in her's. "Just tell me what happened." Jackal calmed down a bit at Obsidian's touch. She hiccuped, trying to make a sound. Finally, she was able to form words. "I didn't mean to," she whispered in a voice that Blackice had to strain to hear. "I was just playing with them, twisting them around my claws." Jackal held out her talons, and Blackice got a clear look at her claws. Wrapped around her wrists and claws were length after length of golden ribbon. Jackal pinched a loose end with her claws, wrapping it tighter and tucking the end in. "One just slipped off, just a little," she continued, "and before I knew it, it came off, and I... and I," she broke off, starting to sob again. Obsidian nodded, making more shushing sounds before gently letting go of Jackal to move toward Blackice. "Sorry about that," she said, flicking her deadly tail. "My sister is very sensitive about her... abilities." She eyed Blackice up and down, examining her unnatural white wings and her ruff of extra horns. "I must say that I'm sorry about the fuss, but we didn't know that Jujube dealt with hybrids," Obsidian said, looking Blacice straight in the eyes as she spoke. Blackice nodded. "I was rather surprised myself when he offered for me to join him," she replied curtly. Obsidian turned toward the small wooden chest, rifling through the pages of paper. "Coyote probably told you about me, and the rest of our family," she said as she examined a piece of paper. "Yes, he did," Blackice said, craning her neck to try to see what Obsidian was looking for. "He told me about Fennec, and Sahara, and you." "But he forgot one." Obsidian looked up, her penetrating black eyes staring straight at Blackice. She suddenly became aware that Jackal had left the tent, leaving the mess of gold sand and pillow behind. "Who?" asked Blackice, already knowing the answer. There was a long silence. "You might be wondering what is wrong with our youngest sister," Obsidian said, finally pulling out a piece of paper from the very bottom of the trunk. "To know that, you have to know the whole story of me and Coyote's dragonethood." "But I already know," Blackice interrupted excitedly, finally able to follow along easily. "No, Coyote didn't tell you the whole thing," Obsidian said with a sly smile. Blackice cursed Coyote and the whole Scorpion Den under her breath. She was tired of being led in circles, like the camels scavengers sometimes rode around the desert. But she took a deep breath, and decided to listen to what Obsidian had to say. "I am one of the youngest out of my four sibling," Obsidian said, laying a couple pieces of loose paper back in the trunk and closing it gently. "The order that we hatched in was my oldest sister, Sahara, who is nine, Fennec, eight, then me and Coyote, seven. We were in the same hatching." Obsidian grimaced. "I know I'm young to lead a gang of criminals, but Thorn knew what she was doing when she chose me to keep this rat's nest under control. Anyway, when I was two years old, my mother laid one last egg. No one really knows what was wrong with it. Maybe it was cursed by an animus, or maybe it was just a strange disease, but the dragonet that came out of it, Jackal, my sister, cause everything that she touched to turn to gold. Solid, real gold. Of course, the perils of having a dragonet like that are very great. My parents didn't care about the rest of their odd dragonets, because my older siblings were all..." Obsidian trailed off, running her claw along the wooden table, leaving a carved line. "Abnormal," she finished, sighing a little. Blackice nodded, remembering Fennec's bright green eyes, and Sahara's oddly shaped pupils. "Me and Coyote were the only 'normal' ones, but we were also the only dragonets that were the same age. Anyway, when my parents discovered Jackal's ability, they didn't see a young dragonet that needed help, or a disgusting creature, like some dragons saw. They saw a way to get rich." Obsidian fell silent. Blackice realized that Obsidian was reliving memories that she had probably locked away. After a long while, Obsidian took a deep, shuddering breath and continued her story. "I remember I came in to my house one night, and Jackal was chained to the ground, laying on a carpet. She wasn't allowed to walk off the carpet, and she wasn't allowed to touch anything unless told to. From time to time, my parents would bring her objects to touch and turn to gold, so they could sell them. Eventually, Sahara couldn't stand going home every night to see her youngest sister chained up, forced to turn objects to treasure for their greedy parents. Something, maybe the rule-follower in her, snapped. Don't ask me how, but one night, when I was five, and Jackal was three, Sahara broke her loose from her chains. She woke us up, and told us we were getting out of the house, and never coming back. So we followed her. We were, I don't know, halfway out of the walled courtyard that surrounded our house when our parents ran out, intercepting us. Remember, we were a lot younger then," Obsidian said, running her claws through the sand, gouging huge lines in the ground. "Sahara fought hard. She wanted for at least me, Jackal, and Coyote to escape. I honestly didn't want to attack my parents. I was young, naive, and deep down, I truly believed that they actually loved us." Obsidian took another moment to collect her thoughts. "I was wrong," she whispered, in a voice Blackice could barely hear. A cold look came into her dark eyes. "Sahara and Coyote attacked my father, and Fennec defended Jackal from my mother. I didn't know what to do, but when I saw my mother slash her claws across Fennec's shoulder and knock her down, I rushed to her aid. That entire time Jackal, who was no older than three years old, her tail barb barely fully developed, had to watch as her parents and captors hurt the only dragons she'd truly loved." This time, when Obsidian stopped talking, she got up from where she was seated and started pacing. The sand shifted and moved as she walked, carving a path into the ground. She seemed to be struggling with something internally, and Blackice waited for her to talk again, twitching her tail tip. Obsidian paced for quite a while, her eyes closed. Finally, Blackice gave up on being patient. "I don't know about you," she said, "but I don't have all day to watch you walk around a tent and mope." Obsidian stopped with a huff. "I think that she just... broke," she whispered, blinking quickly. "She just threw herself at my mother, without saying anything, and stabbed her with her tail. Multiple times. It's kind of hard to explain what happened, but her scales started to turn gold, and Jackal's venom spread to every inch of her body, freezing her into a golden statue forever. The same happened to my father when he tried to grab her, she tried to set him on fire. She created these beautiful, mesmerizing golden flames, but when they touched his scales, they not only burned, but also turned everything they touched to gold. In less than a minute, the dragons who had raised us were two golden statues twisted in horrific positions of agony in the middle of the only home that we had known." Obsidian's voice softened. We fled, to the only place that made sense, the only safe place in the Scorpion Den. Thorn welcomed us, gave us shelter, and offered us the choice to join the Outclaws. After she became queen, she needed someone to run the Den, and she chose me." Blackice watched her as she sighed, as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Obsidian trudged to the desk, sitting down and tapping her claws against the wood. Blackice had a burning question she had to ask, but she bit her tongue, not wanting to be rude. Obsidian picked up the leaf of paper that she had removed from the chest, spreading it out on the table. "What's that?" Blackice asked, moving forward. "It appeared in the Den about eight years ago, before I was born," Obsidian explained, moving the paper closer to Blackice. "Thorn collects these, for future references in case the dragon comes wandering into the Scorpion Den." Blackice frowned at the paper, reading the words printed neatly on the yellow page. Wanted, it read, by order of the Queen of the IceWings, Queen Glacier. If seen or found, contact Queen Glacier immediately. Reward of treasure. Underneath the words was a picture of a dragon, an IceWing. She had diamond earrings in her ears, and her eyes were silver. Her scales were a blue so pale it was almost white. Underneath the image, in thick black letters, said Permafrost, Second Circle. "Do you know her?" asked Obsidian. "Yes," Blackice whispered in a choked voice. Blackice brushed her claws over the paper, blinking back tears. It was a face that she never thought she'd see again, yet here was her mother, staring at her after three long years. Obsidian gave a small nod. "You can keep it, if you want," she said, pushing the page towards Blackice. She carefully rolled it up, setting it gently in the pouch around her throat. "Now, if you'll excuse me," Obsidian said, pulling aside the curtain that led to the other room in the tent, "I have to speak to my siblings to figure out what to do with you." Obsidian frowned thoughtfully. "We can't send you back, even though Jujube will probably be searching for you. You know too much about the Scorpion Warriors, and myself." "I would never say a word," Blackice said. "But still," the SandWing said, motioning for Blackice to follow her, "Leading a gang of criminals creates trust issues for some dragons." Obsidian led her through the meeting room, then held the flap to the outside open for Blackice. She stepped outside, into the stifling heat. "Have a good day," Obsidian said, before closing the flap again. Blackice blinked several times to adjust her eyes to the brightness, and spotted Coyote a little ways away. He was trailing his claws in the oasis water, gazing down on something that glinted in the sun. He turned around as she approached, stumbling a little on the hot sand. "Hello, Blackice," he said cheerfully, casually draping his tail over whatever he had been looking at before. "I see you're still in one piece." He gave a nervous laugh. "Why wouldn't I be?" She asked, confused. Coyote averted his eyes for a moment, before saying, "You're right. I was just being stupid. Come on," he said, changing the subject. "How about we go for a little walk, and you can see the market." He stood up, hastily picking up the object he had hidden, and stuffing it in the pouch tied around his neck. He started across the sand, and Blackice followed slowly, wondering what he had been hiding. Why has he been acting so strange lately? She asked herself, remembering all of their encounters over the past few days. It's not like him at all. As the bright sun began to sink in the sky, Blackice followed him into the market.