Shattered Souls

Rove Again

Skye opened the door to the room. He, Calico, and Bullet had been living there for almost a month now, and it was good. Very peaceful, and known by most of the guards. Nothing like the other commanding Hives. Lady Yellowjacket had asked him to attend a court meeting, so he left early, to get there with some time to spare.

Lady Yellowjacket and her court was gathered, and Skye joined the court, who surrounded a very beat up dragon. He wondered what happened to him, until he realised the missing eye, snapped horn, and torn wings. He took an inward gasp and stepped back.

Lady Yellowjacket gave him a comforting glance before she began to talk.

"The dragon here is Rove. He has come to ask for safety, after visiting most other Hives-"

A loud bang sounded on the door. The bang became louder, until the door completely broke down, and HiveWing spilled into the throne room, Ermine and some of the security guards chasing after them.

There was sudden chaos, until Lady Yellowjacket shouted. It was a loud, commanding, 'STOP!'. Everyone froze.

"What is going on here!?"

From Skye's viewpoint, he could see at least four or five Hive rulers. He shivered as he recognised Lady Tsetse.

It was Lady Tsetse who spoke.

"This dragon came to our Hives to ask for safety, and when we declined him, he left in a fuss, tearing up the treestuff and breaking the Hive and all the work the SilkWings did building it for us!"

"Ah..." Lady Yellowjacket nodded. "However this is no reason to tear up my own Hive."

Lady Vinegaroon grabbed Rove's arm. "Then let us take him away."

Lady Mantis stopped her. "This is Yellowjacket Hive. Lady Yellowjacket has the right to decide what happens."

"Exactly right. And I have a dragon here who has a connection to Rove that goes back quite a long way, so if you will kindly wait outside, I would like to speak with Rove and this dragon."

Lady Tsetse smiled. "You have the wonderful Distant Kingdoms hybrid don't you? Well kindly hand him over. He belongs to me now."

Calico and Bullet had been watching, and Skye looked on fearfully as Calico joined the Hive rulers.

"I'm sorry, it is not my place to speak here, but Skye is his own dragon. He doesn't belong to anybody."

"Calico!" Lady Tsetse swung around. "You little vermin! Are you saying you want him for yourself?! Well then I'll just have to kill you."

Calico took a step back. Lady Yellowjacket and Lady Mantis held Tsetse as she tried to connect blows to Calico's head.

"Well then we'll all just fight for him, won't we?" Tsetse stopped, brushing off her talons.

Both Lady Mantis and Lady Vinegaroon left to the other side of the room, not wanting to be part of the fight. Lady Cicada also stepped back.

Lady Yellowjacket however, stood her ground. "Skye has the right to be free. I will fight for that."

And with that, the two rulers jumped at each other, fighting to the death. Bullet flexed his talons.

"Ah, been so long since I've been in a proper fight," brandishing his knives, Bullet lept into the fight.

Calico reached out to stop him, but Skye held her back.

"If anyone can win this, it's Bullet," when Calico went to protest, he continued. "I know they shouldn't be fighting, but it's the only way Tsetse might back down."

"Yeah, ok..."

Talonsteps reached Skye's ears. He turned to see Vespa and a group of soldiers come through.

Calico hid behind Skye's wings, but it was too late.

"CALICO!" Vespa's shout made each and every dragon freeze, and Calico didn't move.

"I SEE YOU BEHIND HIM COME OUT!"

Calico shyly stepped into view, about to speak, but Vespa beat her to it.

"YOU HAVE BEEN GONE FOR ALMOST TWO MONTHS! I SEARCHED EVERY HIVE FOR YOU! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I HAVE BEEN?"

Calico cringed slightly. "Look I-"

"DID YOU NOT REALISE THE IMPACT YOU LEFT ON THE HIVE?!"

"Well not really," Tsetse said. "I for one, did not care."

Skye heard Bullet growl, and he stabbed his knife right through Tsetse's heart. He stood up, brushing the blood from his scales.

"What? I'm a wanted murderer I do this every day. Besides nobody liked Tsetse."

The other rulers murmured their agreement, but they kept their distance from Bullet.

"Well now who's going to be ruler of Tsetse hive?" Vespa's voice, now quiet, rang out through the room. "Tsetse had no sisters, aunts, or daughters who can inherit it."

"...You rule it then," Lady Vinegaroon said. "You were Tsetse's most loyal guard, and you know the Hive better than anyone else."

Vespa looked horrified at that, but slowly nodded.

"Then I officially proclaim Tsetse Hive to become Vespa Hive!" Lady Yellowjacket said. "Now everybody out I want to speak with Vespa, Calico, Bullet, and Rove."

They all gathered around.

"Now Bullet," Yellowjacket started. "I am going to pardon you for killing Tsetse, because she deserved it, but you may want to lie low for a while. But onto Skye and Rove."

Rove glanced at Skye, shuffling away.

"Now Skye, you attacked Rove on the way to Mantis Hive is this correct?"

Skye nodded.

"Ok. Can Rove explain to me exactly what happened."

"Well we were flying peacefully there, and he suddenly attacked me! You can see what he did to me," Rove extended his wings as proof.

"Skye, is this correct?"

"No. He yelled at me the whole way, then broke my bracelet. It was then that I attacked him."

"Was this bracelet of any importance?"

"Yes. It was the last thing my parents left me before Rove killed them."

"Anything else you would like to add?"

"Yes. After he killed my parents, Rove took me prisoner, to show me to the Hive like a treasure, to reassure his friends that he was the greatest dragon in all the Hives."

"Well, taking that information, Rove, I hold you guilty. You will now be in jail for the rest of your life."

The guards took Rove away, his screams sounding under the floor, where the dungeons were.