Wings Of Fire-What If

What If #16

This is a question me and Musicdevil talked about the other day. Whatever happened to Burn's Weirdling collection?
The truth is out there...

The sun set on the dunes surrounding the Sandwing palace,the setting red sun turning the interior walls,made of marble, look as if the palace was on fire,a memory for those who had lived long enough to see the War of Sandwing Succession.
A Sandwing guard,by the name of Maleefowl looked down from the walls,watching a supposedly "blind" Sandwing beggar exit from the palace's north courtyard into the desert. She was sure he could find his way to the next settlement full of dragons susceptible to the acting this beggar used,the requirement of his kind.
A fellow Sandwing guard trotted up to the battlements in the direction of the guard on watch,signalling that it was,thankfully, her three-hour long guard shift's end.
She waited until the other guard was near her position, and then hurried down the narrow stone passage. She stopped at a opening large enough in the wall to fly, and glided down into the courtyard.
She descended through a fortified entrance into the downstairs area,the place where the servants,guards,and other staff of the palace's berths were located.
A late dinner was left on the kitchen table,a low little thing where whoever was eating would have to lay down to even try to look respectable while eating. The servants always joked that they ate like queens,laying on cushions.
A few leftover lizards sat there,and Maleefowl helped herself eagerly to a couple.
"Well,don't someone look a little hungry." Said a voice from the area of the rock lined fireplace.
The comment came from the Head Service dragon, the practical chief of the downstairs dragons,a handsome old Sandwing by the name of Nightjar. He had served the house many years,and it was rumoured he had been a young servant in the last days of Queen Oasis forty years ago,and had been a soldier of one of the Sister's armies for seven years of the war,seeing action in the battle of the Great Ice Floes on the side of Blaze.
He grinned,showing sharp white teeth,and his eyes were full of merriment.
"You earned those lizards,by the Moons!"
"Thank you,sir." Maleefowl answered back.
"By any way,would you mind doing another dragon's duties? She'll be back tomorrow from her well-needed rest,you know she hasn't used her four-day break for months now."
"I'd be happy to,sir."
"It shouldn't be to long a job,you know."
"It wouldn't take long,so I wouldn't mind,sir."
"Thank you. It takes a burden off my shoulders,you know. Well,I better be off for my own rest."
The particular position he was talking about was a fairly simple one,but a important one. She was to patrol the palace two times,making sure everything was secure for the night.
She finished the lizards,looked a little longingly at the small shelf of popular scrolls given by the queen for the servants's use. She told herself that was for only after her current assignment.
***
The first check revealed endless empty room after room full of rugs and tapestries; some were bare,unused storage rooms , and others resembled prison cells.
Mallefowl had supposedly taken the turn into one of the entrances that led into the lower level,back to the servant's area,but now was in a area of stone,and the only light was from a torch on the wall,almost burnt down to a stub of remaining desert weeds. Past the flickers of the dying light a veil of pure black darkness lurked, a piece of the night outside beyond the palace. She looked for a rack of torches (usually located near the torch that was but itself). She was successful,although the torch had evidently hadn't been used in a while,as a few small,thin spiders fell out when she shook it out thoroughly.
She breathed fire on it,and unfortunately had lost her orientation. She kept her mind calm,and headed back past the torch.
She had gone only a few feet before she found marble,extrodinarily dusty,in fact. Across the hall, a large breathed door made out of luxurious cedar wood shined in the moonlight in the windows. The door met the description of the north entrance into the servants hall! What she found was a little different than what she expected,as a corpse set on a stand was set in the middle of a hall full of horrors. Stairs extended to various levels full of bones and decaying Icewings and Mudwings,almost every tribe, all set in a permanent state of death.

I could give horror a try,eh? Have a nice day!
Maleefowl's story was good in the end,I'm glad to say,but it still affected her. The collection was eventually ordered to be buried honourably, a week later.