In this unexpected twist to a common ship, S.S.Glorybringer is tossed into rough waters. Even though the war is long since over, the dragonets are all suffering their own fights. Love is a battlefield, that much is proving true for Glory and Deathbringer. While Fatespeaker and Starflight plan a royal wedding, Sunny and Qibli
'I didn't know it would end like this.'
rapidly discover what romance is, Clay and Peril are 'warming up' to each other, and Riptide finally confesses feelings for Tsunami, our favorite sarcastic RainWing queen and infamous but charming NightWing assassin struggle and play with their emotions. But they have to learn just how powerful love, affection, and desire can be.
-FrostbiteOfTheIceWings
Reasons to like this story so far:
Morrowseer confirmed alive
Blister confirmed alive
'What did I do wrong?'
NightWings have their own kingdom
Whirlpool confirmed alive
You'll just have to read it to see the rest! 83
Now I'm sort of trying to fill the space for the pictures... The pics are really pale, but one the top is Glory and on the bottom is Deathbringer.
Chapter I - Starspeaker and the NightWings[]
Glory looked out over her vast kingdom. She had chosen her colors carefully, rolling swirls of sky blue with blues and purples placed in precise patterns on her wings, showing off her pride. This was the day, she told herself, that she would give the NightWings what they wanted.
"So... Yes, it's just between the... Yeah, that's going to work... They certainly won't be happy about their neighbors, though," Thorn was half commenting on Glory's plan, half muttering to herself. Starflight pushed his glasses farther up onto his nose. The dragonets were all relieved to know that he wasn't permanently blind.
"So, let me get this straight. The rocky land between the IceWings and the SandWings is going to the NightWings? That's a lot of land, bigger than the Rainforest Kingdom, but not quite as big as the Sky Kingdom." He turned his head down toward the map he was holding. He breathed out heavily and clawed the wood floor under his talons nervously. Finally, Starflight looked up and smiled. "I think they'll love it. But who would rule the land? Morrowseer and Blister want to spend time together, not have to rule a kingdom."
Morrowseer had escaped the NightWing island and kept a low profile, and Blister was too smart to go to the Kingdom of Sand, where she would surely die. She had sent a decoy in her place and searched all of Pyrrhia to find Morrowseer. The two dragons were now on their honeymoon in the Ice Kingdom, and were hoping to buy a private island to live on in the Kingdom of the Sea.
Glory thought about who would watch over the NightWings. Finally, she had her answer.
"One day, Twilight Sparkle will rule Equestria, as a just, kind, smart, brave, loyal pony. Only once Celestia dies, though. Battlewinner is dead, and her daughter is not fit to rule. But there are two just, kind, smart, brave, loyal dragons in front of me right now. As the dragon currently in charge of the NightWings, I officially pronounce you Queen Fatespeaker and, should he chose to accept it, King Starflight." Fatespeaker gasped and bowed to Glory.
"Thank you, your Majesty!" Fatespeaker lifted her head, beaming. Starflight shared a small smile with the cute purple NightWing before speaking.
"I accept with all gratitude, your Majesty."
In the corner of Queen Glory's hut, scroll and quill in hand, Thorn was eagerly taking notes.
Chapter II - The New Kingdom[]
"Isn't it just beautiful?" Deathbringer eyed the scene of happy, large NightWings, dragonets playing on the rocks, parents hunting and bringing in large, fat prey. But most of all, hidden in the dens deep below the ground where it was safe and warm, Deathbringer knew there lay many, many dark, shimmering NightWing eggs.
"One day, my dragonets will spring from their eggs, leap and romp over these rocks, drag animals home from the woods for dinner," Deathbringer imagined his children having the one thing he could never seem to get. He had plenty of jewels from a well-paying job, excitment hadn't been hard to come across, he had gained more knowledge in his youth than he knew what to do with. No, the one thing the skinny black dragonet on the island just couldn't get his claws on was a family.
"Pfft. As if a dragoness would want to have eggs with you," Glory teased from the rock ledge behind him. Deathbringer opened his snout for a sarcastic reply when a tiny dragonet careened into him.
"Watch out, little guy," Deathbringer helped the dragonet up, but instead of resuming his game of run-around-and-try-to-knock-the-big-dragons-over, the dragonet stared at Glory. Then words tumbled and spouted from his jaws like the lava from the volcano. His talking frenzy mostly consisted of 'Thank you' and 'I love this place' and 'You are so awesome.' Then the NightWing abruptly stopped talking, blushed, ran away, came back and bowed, and ran away again. Then he started talking to his friends excitedly and pointed at Glory, and suddenly the RainWing queen was swarmed by starry dragonets.
Finally, as the sun sank below the horizon, Deathbringer saved Glory from her fan club. "Let's go. Thorn will have a fit if her precious beetle doesn't get what she wants, and Sunny wants Fatespeaker to come over for a slumber party." Glory had another five minutes of each dragon bowing and saying goodbye to her before they could leave and get to Starflight and Fatespeaker's den. Fatespeaker was excited to spend the night with all her girlfriends. She chatted about games and food and wanting to pull and all-nighter all the way to the Kingdom of Sand. Starflight waved goodbye to her even after she was gone from sight.
Chapter III - Sunny's Slumber Party[]
Glory knocked on Sunny's bedroom door. Sunny opened it, beamed, and a pillow flew out from over the golden dragon's shoulder, hitting Deathbringer right in the snout.
"What part of 'girls only sleepover' do you not understand?" Tsunami shouted from inside the room, fighting down giggles. Deathbringer shrugged and walked away, daring to kiss Glory quickly on the cheek before departing. Glory smacked him with her wing, and Tsunami flashed her a toothy grin from across the room. Sunny shut the door.
"Who wants to play truth or dare?" She asked. Peril looked up from the stone tablet she had been reading.
"Dare me," Her bronze scales glittered in the torchlight and her clean white teeth flashed in a genuine smile. Tsunami pounced on the opportunity to give someone an order.
"I dare you to fly all the way to the Scorpion Den and back in ten minutes... backwards, without stopping once to rest."
"You are on. Should I take off backward to?" Peril asked, not giving Tsunami the satisfaction of acting surprised by the dare.
An hour or so and several truths and dares later, Glory said, "Truth." Sunny gave her friend the truth with affectionate teasing.
"Are you in love with a certain NightWing assassin?" Tsunami smirked, Peril raised her eye ridges, and Fatespeaker had a silent jaw-drop moment. Leave it to her not to notice.
Glory slyly dodged the question. "I wish other dragons would stop thinking of him as just a killer. He's really very sweet, once you get to know him." Tsunami didn't buy the dodge.
"So, is that a yes?" Glory didn't see a reason not to admit it, so she abandoned her question-dodging efforts.
"I'm not sure if it's love, but I can tell you that whenever I look at him, or hear his sly, confident voice, or even just smell his sweet, albeit fishy, breath, my head sort of spins and I feel like I just had twelve hours of sun time."
The other dragonets just sat there blinking. After a particularly painful pause, Tsunami broke the silence. "Can you just say yes or no to make it simple?" Everyone burst into laughter, which is why nobody heard the door open.
"I must have misheard, but did you just call my breath fishy?" Deathbringer cast a sarcastic-disbelieving look at Glory. She groaned, doing a mini-faceplant into a pile of pillows to hide the shades of bright pink seeping into her snout.
Chapter IV - A Midnight Together[]
Deathbringer received another pillow to the snout. He was quickly shooed out of the room. Or more rather, Tsunami growled at him and Deathbringer was NOT about to face that snarling blue ball of fury.
Deathbringer spent his time wandering the palace. He strolled through the library, past Oasis' grave, through the treasure room hallway, and finally into Burn's collection tower. He peered into the shadows, and saw a familiar sparkle. Deathbringer looked closer.
Is that... Northstar? That face... Deathbringer knew it all too well. Northstar had been a close friend of his before he took the path of continental protection and Deathbringer took the path of a professional assassin. They had set off for the mainland together, only to take entirely different paths.
Deathbringer looked again at the silent stuffed NightWing. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't Northstar, but it was still a member of his tribe. Deathbringer gently tucked the head under his wing. He lifted his wings and took off, landing just outside the palace. He buried the head under the sand, saying a few words for the NightWing.
"I know not who he was, nor his killer, but the NightWing here, under the sands, is a dark, star-speckled, mystic dragon of my tribe. I honor him."
"Very poetic," Glory flapped her wings, scattering sand around Deathbringer's talons.
"I thought you were at the party," Deathbringer said, annoyed that his crush had caught him being so sentimental. Glory shrugged.
"The others are playing Marco-Polo. In the dark."
"What's the point of that?"
"I have no idea," Glory told him. She said it so quietly it could have been a whisper. Deathbringer knew what would happen before it did.
They two twined their tails together, pressing their wings around their bodies. The wind was picking up, and Deathbringer wanted to give Glory some warmth.
Their snouts found each other's, and their scales scraped together softly. Moonlight caught on Glory's shifting scales, revealing several delicate shades of calm, pale blues and whites. Deathbringer felt a connection sparking and growing into a flaming inferno of love between the two dragons. He felt like he wanted to be in this moment forever.
Chapter V - The Beginning of the End[]
Glory and Deathbringer both pretended that their midnight romance had never happened. They continued with life, but something was different between them, more tense. Like they felt wrong about their kiss.
Glory's colors were stiffer and more stable than ever. Even a series of truly hilarious 'Yo Mama' jokes from Clay couldn't shift the color of her scales by half a shade. Once she was back in the rainforest fulfilling her queenly duties, she felt a bit happier, having the sun time to help her. But she missed Deathbringer, who was helping the NightWings settle in. First came sadness, brushed away by boredom, and finally swept over by a cloud of fury. Wasn't she important to him? Maybe he was trying to get away from her. Her emotions involving Deathbringer shadowed everything else. Though some happy news, brought by Clay, put a bit of surprised orange on Glory's wingtips.
"Glory," Clay walked into the hut one afternoon, clearly suppressing pure excitement, "Come see this." Glory followed him to where Peril was touching down on a tree branch. Glory didn't understand why this was so amazing until she realized that the branch should have crumbled in ashes, not bob up and down with the SkyWing's weight, unharmed.
"Scarlet knew all along," Peril told Clay and Sunny, while Starflight sniffed to check for smoke and Tsunami cautiously put a talon on Peril's forearm. She pulled it back and examined the soft webs between her claws. Suddenly the SeaWing laughed and launched herself into Peril to give the SkyWing a hug of joy.
"Wait... What did Scarlet know?" Glory asked suspiciously.
"She kept me an isolated killer because the only cure for murderous powers like extra fire is love, and deep, deep, heartfelt remorse. One day I saw a white shape on a mountain ledge, a tiny dragonet skeleton. My brother." Peril took a deep breath and let a few tears stream silently down her face. "Some dragons are so cruel. I don't want to be a killer."
"You're not anymore. You really didn't have much choice. Scarlet is a very powerful dragon. True murderers have a choice." Glory said, not realizing that a NightWing assassin who had had plenty of options was listening to her words with shame and sadness.
Chapter VI - Storm of Suffering[]
Deathbringer walked through the lonely jungle and sat down, leaning against an old, red-brown tree. He wanted to cry, but something was holding it in. Maybe his feelings for Glory weren't what he thought they were. A few minutes later, he heard someone call his name.
"Deathbringer! Deathbringer! Come out you lazy, stupid..." Glory's voice trailed off into muttering, "Finally! I've been wanting to talk to you for forever, but I couldn't find you anywhere on the ENTIRE FLAMING CONTINENT. Well, not really, of course." Deathbringer turned away from the emerald green face peering around the tree.
"Hey, why are you mad at me, Mister Grumpy Scavenger?"
"True murderers have a choice," Deathbringer mumbled.
"Stop talking nonsense," commanded Glory, "And stop mumbling."
"True murderers have a choice!" Deathbringer shouted, his voice ringing through the dense set of trees. He sighed.
"I had a choice."
Deathbringer knew that Glory knew she should have chosen sympathy. She didn't.
"Well, you had a choice. You're a murderer. So what? I like you that way."
"Yeah, you say that. But the amazing, all-powerful dragonets of destiny don't believe in violence, do they? Deep down, everyone knows it's immoral."
"Some dragons fight and kill because it makes them feel good. If you think that's your problem, go hunt. The sloths are off-limits, though." Deathbringer cast a glare at Glory, and she was suddenly outraged.
"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO CARE ABOUT YOUR PETTY MORAL DEFECTS! YOU CAN STOP RIGHT NOW WITH THIS 'WHY AM I SO DIFFERENT AND DERANGED' NONSENSE! STOP BEING SUCH A DRAMA KING! BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T CARE! GO AHEAD AND LEAVE MY KINGDOM IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE LIKE THAT! I HAVE DRAGONS TO LOOK AFTER, SO DON'T BUG ME WITH YOUR PSYCHOTIC MENTAL STATE!"
Deathbringer didn't say a word. He just turned and slunk off into the trees and the relentless storm that had only just begun. Literally. He was already soaked from head to tail.
Chapter VII - Glorclay[]
It took Glory several days to calm down. Once she did, it was because she had realized what she'd done. She'd just kicked Deathbringer out! Glory was the only RainWing not sleeping at suntime. She was the only RainWing who left the village, and was gone for several hours each day. Every night, she cried herself to sleep. She truly wished she hadn't done that, because deep down inside, she truly loved Deathbringer.
One night, Glory was lying in the treetops, staring at the full, half, and new moons in the sky. A rustle of branches sounded behind her, and another dragon clambered through the leaves and sat beside her.
"Clay," Glory began, "What am I going to do? How can he love me after what I did?"
"But Glory, why did you say that? Maybe you're just not meant to be." Glory looked up at Clay's golden-amber eyes, sparkling in the moons' glow. "But I'll ask you this: What is meant to be?"
"Clay... I want to tell you... No, I have to tell you... I know you could never love us as more than siblings, but you take care of us, protect us, and I can't bear to love you as a brother. I love you, but a stronger, more intense love. When I look at you, I see strength. With Deathbringer, I saw cowardice. With you, I see kindness, and I saw only cruelty in him. When I'm with you... I can feel a connection. I'm not sure if you can feel it, but I can."
Before Clay could say anything, Glory leaned onto him, basking beside him in the starlight. She stretched her neck and nuzzled Clay's snout, quickly drawing away as odd waves of color spread through her scales. They looked like swirling rainbow galaxies when mixed with the glittering starlight. She knew, deep down inside, that Clay would never love her that way, but Glory savored this midnight's simple moment.
Chapter VIII - On Jade Mountain[]
Deathbringer swished his tail through the crumbling rocks of the cave. Anger boiled up like the hot lava of the Island of Night. He roared as he blasted a thick plume of fire into the night sky, as if trying to burn up the stars for their crimes. But the stars only reminded him of his own, glittering on his wings, while Glory's scales could change and shift into wonderfully bright swirls of color.
Did she push him away because he was a NightWing? Did she think she was as dishonest and cruel as many members of his tribe used to be? He didn't kill for fun. It never felt good at all. He killed to make a living, killed to help the NightWings get rid of their dangerous enemies. Glory had grown up in a cave, with friends, not having to worry about getting her food. She didn't understand having to live up to any title other than 'lazy RainWing.' Deathbringer was raised to live up to his name, no matter how he felt about bringing death. All she understood was life in a cave. She would never understand life in the Night Kingdom.
The other NightWing in the cave seemed to be following Deathbringer's train of thought, even though Deathbringer had barely spoken a word besides, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"It's not because you're a NightWing. I've heard of what my daughter's friend has done for our tribe. She is very generous. I would want to live there, amongst the dragons of my kingdom, but even if I could move again, Jade Mountain is closer to the Sand Kingdom palace than the new Night Kingdom." Stonemover sighed in a sad yet reminicent way. Deathbringer knew he was talking about Thorn, the new SandWing queen, who now lived in the large palace that had once been Burn's stronghold.
"I'm going to get some fresh air," Deathbringer blurted. The shadows of the cave mouth were starting to make him uneasy. They reminded him of Glory, who absolutely hated the dark. Deathbringer leapt into the sky, circling the mountain twice before landing on the larger of the two peaks. It was here that he'd flapped around Glory a few months before, protecting her from getting tail-thumped by Tsunami while the blue SeaWing teased him. They'd been talking about building a school in the mountain, but Deathbringer wouldn't be able to teach dragonets anything. His only skill didn't fit with the new Pyrrhia, where dragon tribes now lived in peace with each other.
Talons clicked on stone as a dragon landed behind him. At first, Deathbringer thought it was Sunny, feeling a soft warmth fall in rays along his back. But a glance over his shoulder told him it was Peril.
"I don't think of you as a killer," She whispered, her blue eyes wide with sympathy. She leaned in close, but that's all Deathbringer remembered when he woke up on the mountain, Peril nowhere to be seen. As confused as Deathbringer was by her momentary appearence, he was starting to like her.
Chapter IX - Road Trip Plans[]
Glory didn't feel like talking as the moons crossed the sky above her head. Clay talked. Glory listened. She found it soothing. She didn't have to think about Deathbringer or feel guilty about him in any way. Clay talked about everything. He talked about food. He talked about Scarlet's arena. He talked about plans for the school. He talked about animus dragons. He talked and talked until there was nothing left to talk about. Slowly, Glory's scales changed from dark blue and violet -- the colors of sadness and shame -- to a calm cream white, with touches of rose. But at last, Clay brought up the subject Glory most wanted to talk about. It hurt her heart a bit to think about it, but Glory needed to talk to someone about it.
"So... How are things with Deathbringer?" Clay asked. It would have sounded almost casual if there hadn't been a smidge of fear in his voice. Glory doubted very much that Clay's fireproof scales would protect him from a venom attack, and she knew that he was afraid she would snap with anger and want to lash out at someone. But she did the opposite. She brightened her cream colors to underline her calmness and spoke in a steady voice.
"I'm afraid our ship might have hit an iceberg. It's sinking like a drowning SandWing."
Clay bit back a laugh. "Don't you think you ought to find him?"
"I doubt he wants me to find him," Glory answered simply.
"What if he gets hurt, or lost?"
"He can survive without me. He's proved that." Glory carefully controlled her voice, not letting Clay hear the bitterness in it.
"Well, I'm sure you two will end up back together," Clay said. "Peril and I are trying..." Something caught in Clay's voice as he paused, stopping himself. "Um... Trying to patch up our relationship. We, uh, had a fight the other day." Glory wasn't quite sure that that was what Clay had been going to say. Apparently, Clay could see the suspicion etched in her face, or else he could read RainWing colors fluently, because he hastened to change the subject.
"So, I heard Queen Thorn's going to the Kingdom of the Sea to see Tsunami's mom. She's taking lessons from different queens, right? Why not go with her? Tsunami and Sunny are going, and Grandeur seems a little bored. She says she'd like to fill in for you again, to add a bit of excitment to her life."
"Where will you go, Clay? I don't want you to be all alone here." Glory stalled, giving herself a moment to think. A trip to the Sea Kingdom would be a nice distraction.
"I've been wanting to see Starflight. He's traveling to the Ice Kingdom to get a few more history scrolls for the school, and I'm going to give him some company."
"I guess I'll go with Thorn. Don't tell Tsunami, but I've had a bit of a craving for squid ever since we left the Sea Kingdom."
Clay left for breakfast as Glory flew into her tree hut to pack. This trip was the perfect distraction from a certain NightWing.
Chapter X - Peculiar Confessions[]
Peril visited daily throughout the next week. She acted more mysterious than even the darkest, shadiest NightWing. She popped out of shadows or dropped from the sky. Deathbringer didn't find these sudden appearances annoying, though. He quite liked her company as he traveled toward the Island of Night the long way. It was nice to have someone to talk to. And when he didn't feel like talking, Peril would just fly alongside him silently until she disappeared once more.
When Deathbringer asked her why he didn't remember anything from the night on Jade Mountain, Peril answered with a simple, "Not true. You remember everything."
"Do you mean to say that you knocked me out?"
Peril just shrugged her wings, drifting up and down in the air a little. Then she made and sort of growling sigh. "I panicked, okay? You had this crazy-weird look in your eye and I wasn't going to take any chances."
"What does that mean?" Deathbringer asked, startled. But Peril didn't speak for the rest of the day.
The next day was total silence. It was one of those days where Deathbringer had too much on his mind to talk about. Peril, however, had too much on her mind to not talk about.
"Oh, Clay could have picked any dragon for this job! Why pick me? I'm not any good at all that tactful romance stuff!" She blurted out, flexing her claws and flaring her wings, nearly knocking Deathbringer out of the air.
"Woah, what's the matter?" Deathbringer put an arm around Peril's shoulder. But she started to tremble violently, and they had to land. Grass crunched beneath his talons as he started to land.
"This is all my fault!" Tears were streaming down Peril's snout now. Deathbringer held her until she stopped crying. "I don't want to do this to you anymore," she told him after she had calmed down.
"What do you--" Deathbringer started, but he was cut off by a shrill scream and rough talons wrapping around his snout.
Chapter XI - The Dinner Party That Wasn't[]
Glory's scales were sliver and white-blue for the occasion. Large island flowers had been tucked with care behind her ears and horns. Beside her, Tsunami was examining her reflection in a small pool of water with a scowl. She had been draped heavily with pearls, with strands of tiny diamonds lining her wings like NightWing stars. Glory pushed away her thoughts of Deathbringer and focused instead on Sunny, who was decorated with rubies and onyx.
"Why do I have to wear these stupid bits of carbon, anyway?" Tsunami growled. "I'm fine with the pearls, I really like them, but diamonds just aren't for me. They're too pointy and they look like teardrops. It's so depressing."
"Don't fold your wings like that, then. Keep them open," Glory suggested, demonstrating. "Show them off, don't try to hide them. It really was awfully nice of your mother to lend us these."
"I heard a rumor that Queen Moorhen was coming. Four queens in one place! Wow!" Piped up Sunny from behind her. The little golden dragon was twitching her tail so the rubies wrapped around it caught the torchlight and sparkled like flames. "And they're going to have a lot of important SeaWings there to greet Moorhen and Glory and Mother. Remember Whirlpool?" Sunny added casually, though with an odd, faraway look in her eye.
"Yes," muttered Tsunami, ducking her head. They'd found out a few days earlier that her almost-murderer had survived the eel attack.
I bet he'll be there, thought Glory. I wonder who else.
She never found out. The lights went out as Glory was tugged into the shadows, something hard and smooth banging painfully against her head.
Chapter XII - Unexpected Villains[]
Deathbringer woke to the familiar smell of ash and smoke. Where was he? The sulfurous smell in the air said that it was the Night Island, but that couldn't be possible. Why would he be back? Who would bring him here? Deathbringer vaguely remembered the flappy webbed talons closing over his snout and the sting of something small and sharp being shoved into his back. What would a SeaWing want with him? And why would they use a RainWing sleeping dart to knock him out? The only SeaWing in the rainforest that knew Deathbringer was Tsunami, but the NightWing firmly pushed that thought away. She didn't have any motive, and besides, she was actually nice when she wasn't trying to bite you.
Deathbringer shifted and suddenly became aware of a weight on top of him. Warm and heavy and soothing. He glanced up to see what -- or who -- it was, and caught a glimpse of Peril through the ash-choked air. She raised a claw to her snout and pointed toward the fortress, which they were lying a few yards away from. Voices could just be heard issuing from it in the silence. Slowly, Peril crept toward the building, gracefully lifting herself off the shadowy stone, and slowly, Deathbringer followed.
Dim, yellow-orange light spilled from one of the rooms. The council chamber, where lava had boiled, bright and scorching, underneath Deathbringer's talons the last time he had entered the room. He listened from the shadows as a low growl spoke, though Deathbringer couldn't hear any of the words properly. He inched closer leaning through the archway to hear, and suddenly, the same strong, webbed talons as before seized him and tossed him into the room. Deathbringer unfurled his wings too slowly as he fell, and though his front talons caught onto rough stone before he could fall into the bubbling liquid fire below, his back legs dangled without a claw-hold, and his weight was too much for the thin ledge of stone he was gripping. Deathbringer only had to feel the crumbling rock for a moment before he was grabbed by the arms and hoisted up onto the ledge and into the area next to the queen's viewing screen, away from the fiery abyss. The reflection of the lava gleamed in moss green eyes as Deathbringer looked up at his savior.
Glory was here. And she had saved him.
Deathbringer opened his snout for a witty remark, but Glory just shook her head and pointed at the doorway. There, looming out of the shadows, was a handsome green SeaWing and a huge, powerful NightWing.
Chapter XIII - Good Actor, Bad Actor[]
Glory glared at Morrowseer, the dragon who'd had her marked for death since the moment he'd laid eyes on her. She'd known that it would come back to bite her, but she'd trusted him anyway. She's let him walk away from the mess he'd made, alive and unpunished. And now here he was, glaring right back at her.
And here was Deathbringer, every wonderful star-speckled scale of him. What on Pyrrhia was going on?
She had woken up on the NightWing island, Clay beside her, and followed him into this room, where voices could be heard. She'd been thrown across the lava, Deathbringer joining her only seconds later, with Clay suddenly mysteriously missing. All of this was utter madness.
"Well? Going to tell us why we're here?" She hissed at Morrowseer. She recognized the other dragon as Whirlpool, with his gigantic golden earring glowing in the firelight.
"Yessss," Morrowseer hissed back, anger seeping into his voice. Not enough to present anger as a weakness, but enough to show how mad he was. "You're here partly because I want what I was supposed to get. Treasure. Lots of it. I'm not greedy, but my darling Blister and I are low on funds. The other part is revenge. I'm not the vengeful type, but every once in a while, someone, or should I say, a few someones, mess up my plans so horribly, they have to be dealt with. And, as you most likely don't know, there may be a certain dragon who faked her death by dragonbite viper who may be calling for the heads of a certain band of dragonets," he paused to give Glory a particularly scary look. Glory didn't react. She kept her scales a calm pale blue. "You, on the other talon, are wanted by Glacier, for trying to kill Blaze," he added to Deathbringer. "Two of the prophecy dragonets, an infamous assassin, and Scarlet's champion should earn me a nice reward. Enough to satisfy my fiancé..."
"And enough to pay me for my services," Whirlpool cut in in his thick, oily voice. Morrowseer cast him a sharp look.
"I thought we agreed that the only payment you needed was Blister's influence with Coral," the NightWing stated coldly.
"I've changed my mind. I've been thinking, and now I'm sure of what you've done. You've offered me a SkyWing and handed me a RainWing instead. You see, will Blister still...?"
"WAIT ONE MOMENT," Glory interjected. It had taken a few moments for Morrowseer's words to sink in. "Who else have you kidnapped?!" Suddenly, smoke was starting to build in the room. It had seemed smokier than usual when Glory had entered the chamber, but not so much that it was hard to breathe. She could hear several dragons coughing, far more than the four in the room. Dark shapes fluttered away from the holes in the ceiling, eliminating the dim, mysterious darkness of the room as a few beams of weak sunlight somehow managed to poke in from the smoggy sky.
The smoke was blinding now. Glory stumbled into the air, snatching Deathbringer's arm and hoisting him behind her as she aimed for one of the sky holes. From the cave, she heard a low voice bellow, "Stop the smoke! Stop! Cut! CUT!"
Another voice yelled, "This is not how the future king dies!"
Another, "Clay! Get out of here!"
Yet another, "I'm not leaving without you, Peril!"
Something clicked in Glory's mind, but she didn't have time to find out what. She and Deathbringer were out of the council chamber, hovering over the smoky scene from a safe distance, but Glory dove back toward the fortress, yelling as she plummeted toward the smoky cavern, "They're still in there! We have to save them!"
Chapter XIV - The Final Ship[]
It was several days later that Whirlpool and Morrowseer had recovered enough to tell the story, aided by Peril, with her tail curled tightly around her talons, and Clay, grimacing as each truth unfolded itself.
It had all been an act. Deathbringer only needed the words of others to reveal the mistakes of the play. Peril's slip up. The smoke malfunctions. Everything was falling into place.
Clay and Peril had put on the act, trying to let Glory and Deathbringer save each other along the way, but also showing them that there was more to their relationship than they had thought. Morrowseer had agreed to play a convincing villain, in exchange for a small token of payment: treasure, which truly was to help him and Blister settle their affairs.
Whirlpool had been in it for the theater experience, as he was writing a scroll about the director of a play falling in love with an actress who was supposed to fall in love with an actor. It was going to be, as Whirlpool had said, "Quite a hit with all the crazy ships going on!" A small crowd of dragons had gathered in Battlewinner's throne room to see the show, so Whirly could have a live audience.
NightWings had huddled around the roof of the fortress, blocking the light from the sky-holes for an eerie effect, and SkyWings had blasted fire around the room at regular intervals to keep it smoky and mysterious. Deathbringer thought it was a far too elaborate plan, and it put several dragons in danger. And it didn't even work.
Deathbringer had stormed from the healer's hut with rage, Clay calling after him that it had all been the latter's fault, and that the others had no idea it could go wrong.
Glory's quiet wingbeats slowed to a halt and the thick branch under Deathbringer sank with her added weight.
"What was the point?!" Deathbringer raged. "We can handle this stupid relationship on our own!"
"The thing is..." Glory said slowly, "Maybe we can't."
"What are you talking about?" Deathbringer said in a slightly quieter tone.
"Look... I'm a RainWing queen. You're the NightWing assassin that tried to kill me."
"So?" Deathbringer snapped hotly.
"So, it would have made the perfect fairy-tale ending. You could write every part down in a scroll and have millions of fans adore your work. But in reality, that kind of thing isn't meant to be."
Deathbringer stared at the stars climbing the horizon as the sun disappeared on the opposite side, pulling up its invisible curtain to reveal them.
"I guess so," He agreed quietly.
"Maybe we're meant to be. Maybe we're not. I know that much. But I have no idea what those two scavenger brains were trying to do when they set this up." Glory shook her head in confusion.
"I think I know," Deathbringer told her, his snout still turned toward the horizon.
"This might be the last time I see you," the handsome black dragon said boldly. "Don't ask where I'm going, I don't know yet. But you'll need a goodbye present before I go." He turned and enclosed Glory in his wings, rubbing his snout on hers. When they broke apart, Glory offered a confused look and opened her jaw to speak. Deathbringer put a claw to her snout to shush her.
"They were trying to make us grow up," he told her as starlight hit her scales and turned them into swirling vortexes of lavender and rose. "This is where out story ends, I think. It's time to write a new one. I don't know if I'll come back," Deathbringer opened his wings and glanced around the rainforest. "But I will never forget you, Glory, savior of tribes and stealer of hearts." He spread his star-speckled wings and took to the sky. It was only then that Glory found her voice.
"Wait! Don't leave!" She called to him. The NightWing craned his neck back around.
"I have to." he said, in a voice that carried to her but wasn't loud enough to spoil the moment. He turned around and set off once more, letting the wind catch his words. "It's for the better."
When Deathbringer flown quite far away, far enough to leave, yet close enough to stay, he heard a muffled roaring in the distance. It could have been the wind. It could have been dragons fighting. But he liked to think it was Glory, calling to his departing figure to tell him she loved him. Deathbringer didn't know.
He never found out. He didn't need to. He had finally grown up.
THE END