Shadowing Peaks - A Wings of Fire Fanfiction [Book I]

Prologue

Three years earlier. . .

Queen Python took off her crown and tiredly dumped it on the carved wooden arm of her throne. She sighed and started massaging her dark brown temples, trying to dispel the headache that she'd been plagued by for the past two days.

I'm running myself ragged, trying to think of ways to stop Alligator from taking the throne, she admitted to herself. I need a break.

"Fawn?" She called, her voice hoarse and croaky from talking to hundreds of dragons.

"Yes, sister?" Fawn, the oldest of Python's siblings replied, poking her head around the doorframe at the far end of the throne room.

"Can you please take my crown back to its pedestal in the treasury and postpone any meetings I have in the next three hours?" Python requested.

Fawn came up and took the bronze and amber crown, looking at her worriedly. "How about I postpone the meetings for the next eight hours?" She suggested. "You look like you need a good sleep."

Python sighed. "Yes, I probably do. Now, let me be."

Fawn nodded and made to leave, but just before she reached the door four wing-lengths away, she hesitated and turned back around. "You're worried about Alligator, aren't you?" She guessed, her voice low and gentle.

"Yes," Python sighed. "I just can't think of any way to keep her away from the throne."

"You could send her away," Fawn offered, slowly approaching the throne again. "Get her to go on a 'vacation' to the other kingdoms; it'll keep her out of your scales for a while."

"But for how long?" Python protested. "She'll have to come back at some point, and I can't live forever."

"Then kill her when she challenges you," Fawn said. "Then you'll have to deal with Tawny, but she'll never want to be queen."

"Exactly!" Python cried, sitting up straight. "I can't kill Alligator because Tawny would be a terrible queen! Anyways, you know I have no hope of winning against her."

"True," Fawn admitted, looking at the ground. "But. . . what if you found someone who could kill her?"

Python narrowed her eyes. "Fawn, what are you suggesting?" Her voice was thin and firm.

"Maybe. . . Maybe you could hire an assassin," Fawn replied meekly. "You know, get them to kill Alligator, make it look like an accident."

"Fawn, you know I won't do that," Python growled. "I want to take out Alligator myself."

"But just pretend for a moment," Fawn insisted. "Say you hired an assassin, and they managed to kill Alligator. What next?"

"I panic because that means Tawny would have to take the throne," Python hissed.

"Then get the assassin to kill Tawny too," Fawn cried. "At the same time, if you want to divert suspicion."

Python groaned, leaning backward to rest her head on the back of her throne. "Tawny is a ditzy idiot who'd be a horrible queen, but she doesn't deserve to die. Anyways, if she did, that would practically hand the crown over to Heron, as she's the last of my daughters."

"And what's wrong with that?" Fawn inquired. She was now standing right next to Python, leaning over to be mere inches from her sister's snout.

"She'd be a good queen, but she's incapable of having dragonets," Python explained. "There'd be no one to become queen after she died. You know this already." Suddenly her head snapped up, wincing at the bolt of pain that ran through her neck. She looked down at her sister, who was more than three heads shorter than her. "What if. . ." she trailed off, her eyes glazing over as she dove into thought.