Wings of Fire: The First Animus

Chapter 9

Frostbite's POV

She was not dead.

Frostbite's eyes slowly opened. Her vision was blurry at first, but it slowly cleared. She was lying on the ground and above her, a RainWing was sitting on a flowery chair.

Wait- that was no chair. That was a throne. And that meant the RainWing sitting on it was-

"Hello," said the RainWing queen. "I see you are awake now."

Frostbite's confusion slowly turned to anger. "Why did you make me fall asleep?" she demanded.

"Oh, we've had some nasty SkyWings come in lately," the queen explained. "Threatening to burn our rainforest- they aren't nice. I'm Queen Dewdrop of the RainWings. Who are you?"

"Princess Frostbite of the IceWings," said Frostbite, still glaring at Queen Dewdrop.

"State your business," prompted the queen.

"I'm here to come and explore," explained Frostbite. "Do I look like a threat to you?"

"Yes," piped up one of the guards standing next to Queen Dewdrop.

Frostbite glared daggers at the soldier. His scales turned lime-green with white patches on it.

The queen glanced at the guard. "Tell Princess Frostbite who you are," she told him.

The guard bowed. "I am Python," he addressed. "I was the guard that ordered the five dragons that shot you."

"What were the things they shot?" asked Frostbite, more curious than angry now.

"Oh, sleeping darts," said Python, yawning. "Nothing special."

"Nothing special?!" exploded Frostbite. "Tha-that's amazing!"

"Really? You think so?" asked Python hopefully. "I invented it a couple of moons ago."

"Wow! How did you make it?" asked Frostbite.

"There's a type of tree frog that has its skin coated with poison. However, its poison makes dragons fall asleep, not die."

"Cool," said Frostbite thoughtfully. "Wait! How long have I been asleep?" Frostbite rushed up to Python, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Errrr... one day?" he answered.

"WHAT!" screamed Frostbite, clutching her horns. "I only have one week before I have to return to the Ice Kingdom! Flying there takes two days, so I only have five days left, including today!"

"Calm down," ordered the queen, who had been observing the two of them for quite a while. "Let's get back on topic. Frostbite, you came here because you're on vacation, right?" Queen Dewdrop jabbed a talon at her.

"Yes," Frostbite partially lied.

"And you," said the queen, now pointing at Python, "will guide our guest here, Princess Frostbite of the IceWings."

"Understood," said Python, glancing at Frostbite. Their eyes met for one heartbeat, but Python looked away first.

"You may be excused," said Queen Dewdrop, now turning to another guard to talk to her.

Frostbite and Python walked outside of the hut, then flew to the ground, side by side.