Shadowclaw.

He had been the body Parrot had seen.

Glory didn't want to accept it, she just couldn't.

He had been a good friend of hers and part of the royal council. Not only that, Shadowclaw had saved her life by healing her when she had been injured.

The sight of his body tangled and dead on the trees of the rainforest made her insides turn.

His throat had been slashed and there was still blood spilling from his neck. And with Glory's luck his eyes had been open. His dark grey eyes staring lifelessly ahead with surprise in them.

It had been an ambush, he hadn't even stood a chance.

Who would do something like this? And for what? It had to be Darkstalker. Who else would kill in cold blood? She wondered.

Deathbringer and Vigilant carefully took down Shadowclaw's body from the trees and placed him on the ground.

Glory tentatively reached out with her talon and closed his eyes. They unnerved her too much.

She sighed and held back the tears wanting to spill down her cheeks. She had to be strong for her tribe, and mostly for herself.

So the queen stood there for two minutes, simply staring at her friend's dead body.

Deathbringer didn't even try to comfort her, he knew it would be useless. There would be no comfort out of this.

The best all of them could do was move on and take vengeance by defeating Darkstalker once and for all.

Glory called a messenger to go check if Shadowclaw had any family around.
The RainWing messenger came back with the report of a sister, but that was it. The queen ordered for the body to be taken to his sister so that she could decide what to do with it.

Glory was about to head back to the royal hut and rest, but Deathbringer stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Not now Deathbringer," she mumbled.

Shadowclaw's loss was still heavy on her and she just wanted to be alone. Vibrance and Vigilant had already gone home on the queen's orders.

Glory had seen Vibrance shed several tears contrary to her. After all, Shadowclaw had been her mentor. She had taken several lessons from him to train to be a professional healer, and had considered Shadowclaw almost like a father.

"Glory you can't go back up there, it could be dangerous."

She raised an eye ridge in question. "How so?"

Her bodyguard's face hardened and a line creased in between his eyes.

"Whoever killed Shadowclaw could still be around. We need to go back to where there are dragons and where an assassination is less possible."

"You're not the boss of me Deathbringer. Technically I'm your queen, and if I want to go rest in the royal hut I will. I'm not in the mood for your games right now."

Glory's mind was a jumbled mess right now, so she wouldn't realize what she had said until a while later.

Deathbringer frowned and retorted, "I'm your bodyguard. I'm telling you not to go there for a reason. If you want to be alone I know place we can go to."

Glory sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Do you not know the meaning of alone?"

Her bodyguard ignored her and started making his way back to the RainWing village.

Exasperated, Glory sighed and followed closely behind him. He had a point in a way.

They reached the village but Deathbringer kept walking instead of flying. This confused the queen far more than she wanted to admit.

"Uh, Deathbringer...where the heck are we going? Because if Darkstalker finds us it will be totally fine with me you know. Being here on the ground, I feel completely safe."

She thought she saw him roll his eyes. She couldn't see his face well, for she was walking behind him.

He used one of his old lines to address her.

"Wow, who knew sarcasm could grow in a place this warm," he said changing the last word.

Glory only huffed in annoyance.

The NightWing village was soon in sight and the queen almost bumped into Deathbringer as she gazed at the huts above them.

Almost hidden but not completely, were about a hundred of huts that the NightWings had built.

They stood on the trees in somewhat of a grid, and dragons flew around them going about in their business. Most NightWings ignored them, having seen the queen with her bodyguard several times before. Glory also occasionally came around to check up with the tribe of night.

The queen eventually looked ahead to see that Deathbringer had kept walking up ahead. She hurried to catch up and she now walked by his side to set a good image.

Glory saw him smirk and she rolled her eyes in response.

They eventually reached a hut a bit further away from the village and she looked up to see it.

It definitely wasn't impressive.

Dust covered pretty much every inch of the wood and the roof was almost falling down.

"What are we doing here? It doesn't look like the spot where someone would come to voluntarily," Glory said and turned to face Deathbringer.

A determined look crossed his face before he spoke.

"I was thinking, and I believe we should make the first move before Darkstalker does. You saw what he did, and I don't want to wait for another attack."

Glory thought it over in her head.

It was true, they had gotten too comfortable and look at where it got them.

A sadness almost engulfed the queen at the memory of her lost friend, but she pushed it away.

What happened already happened. She couldn't go back into time now, it was time to think ahead of her enemy.

"You're right, but how does this lead up to here?" she said glancing up at the abandoned hut.

Deathbringer's only answer was to fly above, and of course Glory had to follow.

It wasn't until he had made sure the coats was clear before responding to her question.

"This used to be Destinyseeker's hut. I told you how I thought she was partnered up with Darkstalker, and I don't think she covered up get tracks."

Glory's curiosity grew. "What are you talking about?"

Her bodyguard walked up to a wood plank that looked somewhat out of place and pushed forward. The queen went up to help him and soon enough they successfully pushed the plank inward.

Glory stared in amazement and wonder at the contents of the room.

Clippings of scrolls were pinned on the wall with small knives. Scribbles that looked like chicken scratch were written down on the pieces of papers.

A dark oak wood desk sat in the center with a burned out oil lamp at the side. Many scrolls also adorned the top of the desk.

A musty and ugly smell filled the room due to several mice droppings on the floor.

Deathbringer seemed less perturbed about the sight and told Glory, "This is where I believe Destinyseeker and Darkstalker planned their schemes. Last time I was here she was talking to a glowing scroll. It reminded me of the crown so I figured she was working for Darkstalker."

Glory nodded in understanding and tentatively walked to where the scrolls were carelessly open on the desk.

She looked at Deathbringer with confusion.

"These are all just scribbles. But it also looks like a code, come check it out."

He walked over and the surprise on his face confirmed Glory's thoughts.

"You're right, this is a secret code the spies from the island used to disguise their messages. It avoided any problems and it worked fairly well. Now that I think about it, I think Destinyseeker was taking trainings to be a spy. Doesn't surprise me, she wanted any roll that would get her out of the volcano to go avenge her parents."

Glory tilted her head. "Her parents?"

Deathbringer sighed and did his best to explain the life of his former friend.

"When Destiny was about three, her parents went on a big mission to try and get more IceWings out to the battlefield. Their plan had been to stay on the border of the kingdom to wait for a small army. They hadn't counted on being greeted by the queen herself. They had just wanted to leave a few notes to try and provoke more motive to fight. When they encountered the queen, she demanded they be executed. She didn't even let them say the planned cover story. In less than a minute their heads were rolling on the ice..."

The RainWing queen looked at the floor in thought.

"How do you know all this?" She asked Deathbringer.

His answer was easy enough. "My mother knew them well and thought that their mission would succeed. We had planned on going with them after our first assassination, but as you know that didn't work out. So I went by myself to see them and gain experience. I had been hidden by a huge mount of snow so the IceWings didn't spot me."

Glory didn't cry, but her scales did turn a light blue.

"I didn't know she had such a dark past, but I'm glad she had you there for support."

Deathbringer managed a small smile before turning back to the scrolls.

"I'll see if I can read these scrolls, I took a couple of lessons on being a spy before my mother said I was supposed to be an assassin."

His face paled as he read a scroll that looked pretty old.

"Tomorrow, they're planning an ambush tomorrow. And by the looks of it, it seems Destinyseeker wasn't the only one that Darkstalker has in his talons. According to this, another two NightWings are working with him."

Glory's worries grew. "So what do we do? Can't we counterattack this?"

Deathbringer looked over the scroll before sighing in defeat.

"No, not unless we can find a scroll with their location. I don't think there is one though. Destinyseeker wouldn't be that stupid."

Glory paced around the small room. Her thoughts raced all over her head. She grinned mischievously as an idea came into her head.

"What if we let them attack?"

"Let them attack?! Are you crazy?!"

Glory shrugged. "I've always been crazy. It's not my first crazy plan. Anyway, what if we pretend we know nothing of this? And before they lay a talon on us, we charge towards them. It should take them back for a couple of seconds."

Deathbringer frowned as he waved the dusty scroll in front of her face.

"Hello? We have two more dragons we need to worry about! Did you not hear what I said? Daaam, no offense your majesty, but you need your head checked."

Glory simply chuckled and smirked at his remark.

"We have two more friends too in case you didn't remember. Vibrance and Vigilant will be more than glad to take the other two if I read them well. I just hope that their opponents aren't too good of a fighters."

Deathbringer checked the scroll once again before contradicting her worry.

"I know these guys, they're not really much. They had a grudge on me for killing a friend of theirs a while back. I still can't figure out how they actually liked Vengeance. He had a boulder for a brain like my mother used to say."

Glory looked at him incredulously. "I've never heard of you killing someone before."

Deathbringer shrugged. "I'm called an assassin for a reason, the dragon wasn't much to be honest. It was either him or me staying on the island. And we both know what would have happened if I did," he said with a smug look on his face.

Glory rolled her eyes.

"We wouldn't have met and bla bla bla. Yeah I know, it's just that you never seemed like the killing type to me."

Deathbringer chuckled and grabbed more scrolls for them to analyze later on in the night.

"Let's go, we have work to do and I don't want to stay in this place for long."

"Agreed," Glory said , "it gives me the creeps too."

They flew back to the RainWing village to organize a plan and look for their friends.

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This was a longer chapter so I hoped you enjoyed it a little bit more.

And while you wait for the next chapter make sure to read the Holiday special book. It's guaranteed to satisfy you.

Please vote and comment, I really appreciate your support.

To vote just tap your screen and click on the tiny star on the bottom left corner. That's it. Yes I'm talking to you Gabs.

Okie Dokie

Love isn't what you say, but what you do.

-Sofi

P.S anyone know someone who always brings food to class?