Four sisters. Two Queens. One murder. []
The Queen of the Sandwings has been murdered at her coronation, and it's up to Ibis to solve the mystery...
Chapter One - Speaking With Ancients[]
The smooth rocks clatter against each other in the leather bag. Reaching my talon in, I search through the pebbles. Each one has a word carved into it.
Assassin, Healing, Warrior... I scan the words on the rocks until I find the right one. Detective.
I grab the stone and hurl it at the floor. When it hits the ground, it doesn't shatter, but turns into a dragon. The Nightwing stumbles a bit, getting used to standing after a one-hundred year wait. When she sees me, her eyes widen.
"Interesting. I haven't been used in a while," she says.
"How can you tell?" I ask.
"You're wearing clothes."
I gesture to my violet robe. "We're not primitive lizards anymore," I inform her. "In fact, the enchantment on the Elder Stones has been changed so that you have clothes when you are summoned."
"Obviously, I can tell," she says skeptically.
"This is not the topic we are here to discuss," I remind her.
"Right. Of course. What's the problem?" she asks.
"The Queen of the Sandwings has been assassinated at her coronation."
"By whom?"
"That's why we're asking you. We suspect one of her sisters," I say.
She looks surprised. "Her sisters were there at her coronation? Alive?"
"Remember, we are past that tradition. We have a different, more complicated way of becoming Queen now."
"I see. Do you have anything that can help me identify the murderer?" she asks.
I hand her a scrap of paper. "This is a photograph of the sisters on the coronation day, right after the crown was placed on her head."
"A photograph? What's that?"
"It's a way to preserve an image, much better than a painting," I say. "The dragon who takes the picture, called a photagrapher, has been animus touched so that they can say the word that will capture that image in the paper in an instant."
"Why doesn't it have any color?" she asks, tilting the paper.
"Animus magic is not what it used to be. It's less powerful, less simple. It's not as easy to command as it was back in your day. Maybe someday we will find a way to make colored images with magic, but for now we use this." I explain. "Can we get back to the case?"
She squints at the photo. "What are the sisters' names?"
"The youngest one is Ibis, she's on the left next to the third eldest, Jackal. The sister becoming Queen was named Flare, and the one next to her is Eagle."
"What's with those fancy clasps on their robes?" she asks.
"The robes are animus-touched so that the clasps will represent their personality. Ibis has a flower, Jackal's is a scorpion tail barb, Flare's is a sun, and Eagle's is, well, an eagle. They-" I stop when she drops the photo and her eyes become distant. She's frozen, shivering slightly, and looking through me without seeing.
It's true, I marvel silently. We did used to have visions.
"I see you on the balcony from the photo, looking for evidence... You pick up a knife. Both red and black leak in streams down the blade," she says, then snaps back into reality. "Can you find it?"
"I will return," I say, and fly off to find the knife.
"It's a scatterknife."
"A what?" asks Clearsight, confused.
"A scatterknife. A small, throwable knife that releases poison through the blade if you press a button. It's a weapon as cruel as the animus who invented it. A dragon can throw it so fast that nobody see it, if they practice enough. The poison causes swelling and rashes if you come in contact with it, and you die after a few minutes. It's that deadly."
"So you're saying the murderer used that to kill Flare?"
"Yes."
"Why not use their tail?"
"That would work too slow. And an animus would be able to find out who's DNA was in the venom."
"It must have been Jackal then."
"How do you know?"
"Well, she knew not to use her tail, since it would have been seen in the space between them. Look, Eagle and Flare are standing together on one side and Jackal is next to Ibis on the other. There's a large space between each pair of dragons. And if scatterknives are as fast as you said they are, then she would have thrown it right before the image was recorded. If you look at Jackal, she seems to be glaring right at Flare, who looks like she was already affected by the poison when the photo was made."
"Four moons, you're good at this."
"I was selected to be an Elder. Of course I'm good."
"Thank you, Clearsight. That will be all."
Chapter Two - Ibis[]
Ibis always loved stories. So when she and Flare had found an ancient scroll deep in the Sandwing library, Ibis was thrilled to find out there was something she hadn't read yet.
The legend was about five dragonets, all destined to end a great war that was spreading across the continent. This story was from thousands of years ago, back when dragons didn't wear clothes. Back when Skywings were only orange or red. Back when animus magic was so simple, you could do anything you wanted if you had it. Some Nightwings even had mysterious powers, proven by the Elder detective Clearsight.
Ibis and Flare would read the scroll over and over, and laugh at the illustrations of dragons with no clothes until Eagle came in and lectured them about how primitive naked dragons were not funny. This made Flare and Ibis laugh even more.
But what Ibis liked most about the scroll was the dragonet named Sunny. Smaller, quieter and misunderstood by all the other dragonets, she was just like Ibis. Sunny had ended the war despite the fact that she was smaller and less powerful.
So when Flare died, Ibis decided it was up to her to find out who did it.
Chapter Three- Jackal[]
Jackal looked up when the three Nightwings came in, followed by her sister, Eagle.
"Princess Jackal of the Sandwings, you have been accused of murdering Queen Flare. Do you deny it?" said the Nightwing on the left.
Jackal was speechless. "...Murder? I-"
She was cut off. "Jackal, how could you do such a thing?" said Eagle, shaking her head.
Jackal felt a spear jab her back. One of the Nightwings grabbed her shoulder.
"I didn't do it!" she cried when she regained her voice.
"Sure you didn't," said the dragon with the spear, ignoring her.
"Don't deny it," said Eagle. A tear ran down her cheek. "I thought we were all together," she sighed. "and you tore us apart."
Something heavy hit the back of Jackal's head, and everything went dark.
Chapter Four- Ibis[]
"What do you mean, I can't see her? She's my sister."
"Jackal's room is under inspection. You can't come in without a pass."
"Why are you inspecting it?"
"Haven't you heard? The case has been solved."
"What?"
"Jackal murdered Flare. You should g-"
"Out of my way." Ibis shoved the guard away and opened the door.
The room was silent, and a few Sandwings bustled around, opening drawers, searching through papers. None of them payed attention to Ibis. One Sandwing wearing an orange robe and amber earrings was carrying a stack of papers. She didn't notice when one of the papers slipped off the pile and slid to the floor. Ibis picked it up. It was a copy of the photo taken at Flare's coronation.
"Huh..." she wondered, staring at it. She waved it in the air. "Hey, I think you dropped your..." she trailed off. The Sandwing had disappeared to another part of the room. "Nevermind..."
Ibis slipped the photo into her pocket and left.
Chapter Five- Information[]
"Princess Ibis," I say, bowing. "I'd like to ask you some questions about Jackal."
Ibis stays quiet, not facing me.
"Do you know anything about why she might have murdered Flare?" I ask.
"Jackal's not a murderer!" she whips around to face me, tears in her eyes. "Just leave me alone."
I walk out the door, and it's halfway closed when she mutters, "Go to the dungeon. You can ask her whatever you want to."
"Thank you," I say and leave.
Chapter Six- Ibis[]
As soon as the Nightwing closed the door, Ibis realized she shouldn't leave him alone with Jackal. She had been looking at the photo, studying something odd in the picture. She took one last look, then ran out of her room and down the long stairs to the dungeon.
Halfway down the stairs, she could already hear the shouting. When she arrived she saw the prisoners cowering and covering their ears from Jackal's yells. The Nightwing was keeping a safe distance from Jackal's poisonous tail, and taking notes on a scroll. The sight filled Ibis with rage.
"GET OUT, YOU MOONSPLITTING SCAVENGER-BRAINED LUMP OF CAMEL SPIT!" she screamed as he calmly wrote in his scroll. Ibis dashed over to her cell.
"What are you doing?" she whisper-shouted to Jackal.
"I'm letting that idiot know that I didn't kill Flare," growled Jackal.
"You know dragons like him will take advantage of anything you say!" Ibis turned around to see if the Nightwing had heard her, but he had left. A papyrus scroll was lying on the floor, and she picked it up. "Three moons, these are his notes!" she exclaimed, quickly reading a few words.
Chapter Seven- Jackal[]
"Can we use his notes for something? Maybe you can find out why he thinks I'm a murderer," Jackal suggested.
Ibis quickly stuffed the paper into her pocket. "I'll be back tomorrow. For now I'm going to study this issue..."
Jackal watched as her sister ran up the dungeon stairs and disappeared. Please succeed, Ibis. Prove them wrong, she thought.