Wings of Fire; Crowns of Betrayal

Chapter 12

Scorpion's eyes burned, screwed tightly shut. Her thoughts clashing like clapping thunder as her arms continued to itch with small pin pricks under her scales, body shaking with raking shivers of adrenaline.

"Don't look!" Funnel cried, smiling at her. She held the princesses face, wings flared out and blocked Scorpion's view of the world around them. "Don't look, don't look, don't look-"

"Search the palace grounds!"

"FIND THAT ICEWING!"

"You highness, your highness! She's not breathing, her throat's been slashed!"

"Someone get Tamba and Imabli, GET THE ROYAL MEDICS!"

"Put pressure on the wound-"

"Would that even help-!?

"Mamba! Mojave! Go alert the royal guard, get the queen. This whole stronghold will be put into another lockdown! MOVE!"

Voices merged in the back of her mind, splitting her head with their shrill cries and barked orders that shattered any silence after Scorpion's horrified screams.

Jackal was dead, her sister was dead behind Funnel's wings. Her sister's corpse bleeding out onto the sand. Jackal was dead, and it was all her fault. Scorpion's tears started up again.

Funnel's already wide eyes stretched open even more, shouting over her shoulder. "Shadowsplitter!"

Everything after that was a blur.

Herbs and pollutes itched her nose, stinging her already sore eyes. Bringing up one of her talons, she rubbed at them with her broad wrist, the irritated skin meeting soft bandages laced in cobwebs. Tamba and Imbali were quick to treat her once she came staggering through the door, Funnel and Shadowsplitter supporting her on either side. Her memory grew fuzzy with all the panic that filled the air and rushed through her veins, draining Scorpion of any energy she had left after the fight. A hollow feeling was carving away inside her chest as the SandWing's face twisted in unease and discomfort. Scorpion's thoughts were a storm of mixed emotions like a haze: hopelessness, anger, grief, betrayal.

"The saddest part about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies, it comes from those you trust the most. It will hurt, and it might for a long time, but the pain you feel today, is the strength you're going to feel tomorrow." Rattlesnake's voice rang like an echo in her mind, cutting through the seemingly endless daze, slowly dragging her back out into reality.

"-she alright?"

"I don't know."

She opened her eyes, staring at the warm torch light illuminating the large sandstone bricks that now looked like clay in the dark, her gaze unfocused. Funnel was there, along with Shadowsplitter. The two were somewhere off behind her, out of sight, yet Scorpion's could feel their eyes running along her back. What were they still doing here? Tamba and Imabli had left in a rush, grabbing as much supplies as they could carry before taking off for the arena.

"Can you.....can you hear her?" Funnel asked.

There was a pause.

"No," he said. "Not really. A little, but...no."

Silence.