Wings Of fire: Shadowstalker

Chapter 41: Royal Reunion

Two days of preparation and two days of travel later, the group arrived at the rainforest. As they made their way through it, Shadow felt quite nervous. If his father was there, then he would have to confront him. The fear made him tense and nervous, but he was ready. Today was the day he would see his father again, after nearly two months.

All the thick vines and branches were hard to weave around for him and Tempest. The others had an easier time managing through the trees. Shadow knew Nighthawk and Lobster were familiar with it, due to having lived there for a while. Occasionally they spotted a rainwing or two. Most of them were still fleeing, the rest were sleeping. Nighthawk had tried to convince them to help fight, but they disagreed and kept fleeing.

"We're getting closer to their village." Nighthawk called and flapped with them. "Just be ready for anything." Turtle and Kinkajou flew beside Shadow, both seemed determined yet nervous. Seemingly out of nowhere a nightwing patrol flew towards them. There were five, and they froze once they saw the war veterans. Without hesitation Tempest and Lobster charged the soldiers, and Nighthawk shot at them. Quickly and quietly they were defeated and the group moved on.

"Just about there.. keep quiet, I see Darkstalker just ahead.." Nighthawk whispered to them.

A large gap in the canopy above shined light onto the entire village, which was riddled with Nightwings. The platforms and huts were occupied, and several weapon caches were scattered about. Shadow could see Darkstalker sitting in the center with several council members. He'd shrunken himself down and was now just a head taller than Shadow. It seemed he'd recruited a new general to take Bloodstrikes's place. The king turned his head towards the trees with a small grin.

"Ah.. there you are.." Darkstalker let out a low growl. "Get out here, no one has to get hurt. Not yet anyway.." He demanded. Behind them, several Nightwing soldiers appeared behind them with spears. There was no other choice but to confront him, so Shadow went first. The prince swallowed his fear and carefully flapped towards Darkstalker, who glared at him.

"Son." He lowered his head down to him as the others followed behind. Shadow stared up at him, tucking his wings in close. His father was inspecting him closely and menacingly. "You've been busy.." He growled. "Damaging my campaign to make the world better, making allies, doing all sorts of fantastic, well thought out spells. And for what? To stop me? When you could be helping me?" He hissed.

"I'm not helping you.." Shadow started. "Look what you're doing to all these poor dragons! They're running from their home."

"Because they are weak! Cowards! I took their queen, turned her and that annoying Assassin into statues for my throne room. They didn't want to help, so I did what was necessary." He gestured to two stone dragons, one being Glory, the other Deathbringer. Shadow was horrified.

"You can't do that to them! You can't have this kingdom!" Shadow yelled, standing up and lashing his tail. "It's not yours."

"Oh? And who's going to stop me? You? I doubt it. And those washed up war heroes, they won't be able to either. I will say, I am impressed you bothered to try." Darkstalker hissed and circled him slowly, causing the platform to shake and creak. They both knew it wouldn't be able to hold the weight of two giants for long. "I knew you'd come here, by the way.." He growled and picked up his snout chin. "And your little Animus tricks? Brilliant! Very brilliant, I must say!"

Shadow jerked his head back quickly with a small hiss. "My friend is dead by the way.. in case you didn't know. It's because of you.." He grumbled sadly.

"Oh how sad. All of my friends betrayed me."

"Probably because you were always trying to enchant or manipulate them." Shadow huffed and growled. "I'm not letting you take this kingdom, or any others for that matter.."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Darkstalker lashed his tail and paced around him some more. "I can't be harmed, let alone killed, your magic won't work on me." He grinned and stood in front of him once again. Shadow stared at him blankly, for he was unsure of how to stop him. After a long pause, the prince broke the silence.

"I know. You're scared. All you care about is power, and becoming some unkillable supreme leader of the world. I can too. I can do all of those things very easily if I wanted to. But I don't, because I'm not evil. I'm not a monster like you." Shadow stared up at him. His heart beat fast as they had a long quiet stand off. With a low snarl, Darkstalker paced towards him.

"Now that's just rude.. calling me a monster." He spat with a snort. "Now, how is this going to end, hm?" He asked, picking up his snout with his claw. "Am I going to have to kill you, or will you help me? This is your last chance."

Shadow stared at him silently, holding still as the hot rainforest sun beat down on his back. There weren't many options. He glanced around the opening where the village was. The eyes of everyone were focused on the two Nightwing royals. Each second of silence and staring made him feel all the more tense. As he looked around more, he noticed Kinkajou had disappeared from the crowd. This was likely to get the pieces to the scroll. Darkstalker lowered his talon towards Shadow's throat, and he tensed up more.

"Father.. I challenge you to the throne of the Nightwings."