Wings of Fire - Shattered Ice

Chapter 2

Verglas was lead into a small hut that was near the village but still isolated from the other homes.

As he stepped inside, he saw several weapons dangled from the walls, while several pieces of parchment were scattered across the floor and tables. It was rather clattered inside. Verglas noticed a few maps pinned to the walls. Fascinated, he looked closer and saw red lines connecting locations with messy writing scrawled underneath it.

The dragon poured some sort of drink into a cup, and offered it to Verglas, who took it but didn't drink it. He eyed it carefully.

Chuckling, the dragon noticed his reaction. "Don't worry, it isn't poisoned. It's just tea." Verglas nodded warily, then gingerly took a sip. The dragon then cleared his throat.

"My name is Frostbite."

Verglas blinked. "Uh, nice to meet –" Frostbite silenced him as he lifted up a claw.

"I have been watching you, how you play with the other dragonets, and the way you fight. You've got some serious talent, kid. But you move rather recklessly, and I would like to help you improve your tactics."

"Why?" Verglas questioned. "Why would you help me?"

Frostbite blinked at him. "You have quite the future ahead of you. The Queen is looking for dragons like you to recruit when you come of age."

Verglas coughed on his drink. "You're trying to sign me up for the army or something? I don't really think that's your decision to make."

Who is this dragon? Some sort of scout  or general from the palace?

Verglas hasn't really considered his future, as he knew what happened to IceWings at the bottom of the rankings, but wasn't expecting this.

Another thought pricked his mind. Imagine how quickly you'd move up in the rankings! You can get out of seventh circle and move up to sixth, maybe even fifth!

Frostbite stared at him. "All I am interested in doing is training you properly. I can't ignore a dragon with this much potential."

Out of the corner of his eye, Verglas saw something on the ground. It was a long strand of silky material, with two silver hoops dangling from it. His eyes widened

"You're in the second circle? What are you doing all the way out here?"

Frostbite made a deep grumbling sound in his throat. "Correction. Used to be in second circle . I don't know how low I've sunk since my little . . . incident with the queen."

"What happened? What did you do?" Verglas questioned, genuinely curious. 

"Here, have some more tea," Frostbite said suddenly, changing the subject. 

Verglas blinked at him, but didn't ask any more questions. 

Frostbite cleared his throat. "Now, it isn't exactly the army I'm talking about necessarily. There's a somewhat different option I think you'd be interested in." The burly dragon stood up and searched through his mess of parchment laying all over the place. He then picked up one, and showed it to Verglas. 

LOOKING FOR TRAINED ASSASSIN 

If Interested, Please Report to Queen Shard's Palace for Examination

The words were large and bolded. The center showed the picture of a silhouetted IceWing, blue eyes glowing menacingly. 

Verglas's eyes widened. 

Frostbite was watching him closely. 

"I understand if you don't want to. But you have the skill the queen is looking for. This would be a great opportunity. Your movements are very precise and controlled. An assassin if I ever saw one."

"I — uh, I'm not.." 

Bewildered, Verglas took the information in. This dragon only just met me yet he thinks I could work with the queen. But why would he want me to do that? It sounds like he had some sort of argument or something with the queen, why would he want me associating with her?

"When is your hatching day?" Frostbite asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

"It's in two weeks." Now that he thought about it, his seventh hatching day was nearing quickly. Verglas's stomach flipped nervously.

"Hmm. You do realize what this means, ranking-wise? You'd easily move up into one of the top three circles, no question. Though it's clear that you'll probably stay in seventh circle for the rest of your life, you don't have a chance out here. But if you work as an assassin for the queen, that could all change."

He's right. This is a great opportunity.

But why does he want me to do this so bad? Is there something in it for him?

An assassin. That seems like a dangerous profession. Why is the queen suddenly looking for one? Who . . . would I have to kill?

"Your scales" Frostbite said abruptly.

"My — my what?" Verglas stuttered. 

He recoiled self-consciously. Okay sure, he was weird looking. He had silver-blue scales like any other IceWing, but black markings traveled down his back, tipping his horns as well. Some of his scales were a little darker than the typical IceWing-blue. 

Frostbite studied him intently, making Verglas feel uncomfortable. 

"Oh no, that won't do." The elderly dragon shook his head, looking Verglas up and down.

Frostbite was looking at him as if he had only just seen him for the first time."The Queen hates hybrids. Why didn't I notice it before?"

Taken aback, Verglas gaped at him. H-hybrid? I couldn't possibly be —

"Yes, of course!" Frostbite said to himself, as if he had heard Verglas's thoughts. 

"Excuse me? You're calling me a hybrid? Just because I have darker scales doesn't mean . . ." his voice trailed off, suddenly uncertain. 

Frostbite seemed mildly surprised. "You didn't figure it out on your own? You seemed cleverer than that. You clearly have some NightWing in you. Whether you are half NightWing I don't know, but somewhere in your ancestry you must have NightWing blood."

That explains a lot, actually. I never knew my parents, my egg was rescued by an old IceWing before I was born, but she passed away and never told me what happened to my biological parents before she died. 

It must have been a grandmother or grandfather who was a NightWing. If one of my parents was one, I'd have way more darker scales than this. 

Frostbite tapped his chin. "You'd have to come up with a way to cover your scales up somehow."

Verglas frowned, not sure what to say.

Then Frostbite quickly glanced outside. "Gah, it's far too late, look at the sky! Leave now, but come back tomorrow morning. Be prepared."

Flustered, Verglas quickly ran outside, his talons sinking into the snow. The sky was a deep shade of blue, stars sprinkled across it like specks of paint on a canvas. 

Be prepared . . . what could that possibly mean?