Secrets of Mystery, A Wings of Fire story

Chapter nine

Chapter nine: Queen of Sky

The walls were peeling with gold. Dragons were rushing around the large throne room using their claws to dig out the precious minerals. Peregrine looked up and there she was. The red dragon on all the latest scrolls, the queen of her mother's enemies, the queen of SkyWings. As soon as the workers saw the dragons they scurried out of the room.

"Who are you?" She asked. Peregrine noticed that between her talons an impatient little dragonet played with her claws.

"We are your subjects." She answered, "We have come from Possibility."

"And why is there a giant lizard on your back?"

"His name is Dragon. He's my pet."

"Can I help you with anything?"

"Well- uh" She looked under her wing at Flight for help. He mouthed Foeslayer to her, "Well on our travels we met a NightWing named Foeslayer. She almost killed us. She also claimed to be the mother of someone named Darkstalker."

"Darkstalker! Are you certain?" Queen Ruby flared her wings, startling the little dragonet.

"Mommy! You scareded me! I not likish them. That one looks crankermonstery." He squeaked pointing to Spector.

"I assure you that is what she said." Peregrine said waving her talon.

"Along with tremble and die in my presence." Flight added unhelpfully.

"You must be joking. Darkstalker and Foeslayer lived thousands of years ago, before the Scorching!" Queen Ruby said rising up to her full height. Peregrine decided to look scared, just to see the effect.

"Please! Your majesty of wonderfulness! It is all true! This is all I know!" She threw herself at the red dragon's claws and flung her wings over her head, "I mean not to worry you! Only to warn you! She hates SkyWings! Just like my moth-" She abruptly closed her mouth, but she had said too much.

The queen pulled her dragonet closer, "Who did this to you? Who made you look like SkyWings? GIVE ME THE NAME NOW!" she roared. The dragon spread her wings wide to reveal rubies studded in between the scales. They made a diamond pattern down her wings.

"I- I cannot!"

"You will!"

"I wont!"

The glittering red dragon lunged and grabbed Flight by the neck; "Speak or I kill your friend now!"

"No! He was our captive! I forced him to stay with us! He had nothing to do with our mission."

"WHO TURNED YOU INTO SKYWINGS?"

"My mother!" Peregrine yelled for the sake of Flight.

Queen Ruby's shoulders relaxed, "That is all I needed to know." Then in one swift motion she sliced a long tear through one of Flight's wings and flung him out a nearby window.

"NO!" Peregrine shrieked and swiftly changed to her DreamWing form so she had armor, "You monster! My mother was right! You are all heartless murdering beasts!" She dove out the window, but she was too late. Flight's broken form lay still on the rocks far below. She whirled around and growled with rage. The SkyWing queen looked so surprised she nearly fell of her throne trying to get away from Mystery.

"Wha- what are you?" she gasped pressing herself against the wall. She clutched her dragonet close to her chest. He whimpered and buried his face in his mother's shoulder.

"I will have all SkyWings in my teeth!" Mystery snarled, "Vault! Vision! Virus! Spector! Guard the doors, no one gets in or out until I am controlling the kingdom!"

"Answer my question. What in the three moons are you?" The Queen asked hysterically, "Are you a hybrid?"

"You don't remember seven years ago? Some unimportant hybrid who just so happened to claim to be a DREAMWING?"

"Seven years ago my memory was severely messed with."

"OH REEAALLLLYY?" Mystery found this an extremely unlikely story, but hey, she was in rage mode, nothing could hurt her more than Flight's death.

"Yes really! An animus dragon took my memory as a different dragon, Tourmaline, and turned me into Ruby. Once I broke the spell, I decided that I liked to be Ruby better."

"Likely story. Now you share the same fate as Flight." She lunged at the queen but a guard knocked her away. Wait there weren't any guards in the room! She thought struggling to keep the claws away from her neck. She looked at her attacker and realized it was Vision pinning her down.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Spector roared, "SHE WAS ABOUT TO FINISH THE MISSION!"

"Mystery," she said in a calm voice, "Stop and think about how you would feel if you were in her situation."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING NOW!" The raging yellow dragon threw Vision into a wall with a sickening crack. Then she once again leapt at the queen who was shooing her dragonet behind the throne. Ruby shrieked and darted away. Mystery realized that the queen didn't know what she could do. She shot a blast of flames at her face and clawed her neck. The red dragon slashed her claws at Mystery's snout missing by an inch. She tried to claw at her underbelly but the queen's claws snagged painfully on the metal armor. Within minutes of the first talon swipe, Mystery had the SkyWing queen under her talons.

"Why did you kill him?!" The princess sobbed, "Why did you make me settle for death? You know I can't let you do it again."

"I'm sorry, I thought he was an old enemy and when you said he was my captive I was so certain you had forced him to make you SkyWings."

"Wonderful job, now I have to kill you."

"No please! My baby needs me!" This line shook a memory in the back of Mystery's mind. It kept telling her something was wrong. A familiar thought, heard through the shell of her egg. Her Mother's voice. Not Queen Cyly. Her real mother, Secret of the DreamWings. Always mentioned as Secret the Coward, or Secret the traitor. But to Mystery she would always be Secret, her real mother. All the memories came flooding back to her. The SkyWing's nightmare, her stepmother's spells, her reluctance to kill the SkyWings. The spell, the spell made me forget my own mother and obey her! Mystery's thoughts ran wild. If a mind reader was standing next to her, their brains would have exploded.

"Your right! Vision, Vault, Virus, Spector! Letsend this nightmare once and for all!" And with that she flew out a windowtowards the north, towards home