Home is Where the Heart Is

The Aftermath

Winter looked down at his friends as he winged away to the fight over head with his brother at his side. A little piece of him wanted them to acknowledge him as he left, he couldn't stay with them, not with his father dead, his brother, his mother, his few friends like Lynx up there fighting for their lives. He could see the IceWings falling from the sky, more and more falling than the NightWings. He caught a glimpse of Darkstalker and the things he did to the dragons he caught. He had memorized every name on the wall and there were a lot and he recognized each dragon that fell for the most part. He had grown up with these dragons and while there were many he didn't like or hated there wasn't one he wanted to see dead. He couldn't just abandon them in this fight, he didn't know what Qibli would come up with but he hoped it would save his tribe again. 

He split off from his brother in the melee and soon found himself desperately fighting for his life against a NightWing wearing an earring that made his scales impenetrable as every attack Winter threw at him the other dragon shrugged off. The other dragon threw himself at Winter, beating their wings, snapping their Jaws, and clawing at any part of him they could reach. It was all he could do not to be knocked from the sky and fall down to the slopes of Mt. Jade below him even as other IceWings fell to their own death below him. No one was close enough to help him as his wings faltered and he dropped a lower in the air. 

Dragons swarmed all around them over the slopes of Mt. Jade, IceWings were fighting NightWings in open combat and for every NightWing that fell from the skies, two or three Icewings seemed to fall as well. The Icewings for all their superior discipline, coordination, training, and tactics. A tribe that honed the young into warriors as soon as they could fly if not earlier. The NightWings on the other hand simply had something that far outpaced whatever the IceWings could bring in combat, and that was Animus magic. He could see enchanted bracelets, armbands, horn ornaments, and other jewelry. 

His opponent could only be a few years older than him but it was all he could do to endure the onslaught of attacks and he was losing as the dragon fought without any care for injury. That was when he first felt the feeling of whispers in his mind, then the whispers built in strength until it became a roar as emotions and thoughts alien to him swirled and filled his mind. He felt the briefest of understanding and saw the shared surprise in the eyes of his opponent. Magic, a spell was placed on him and all the dragons in the battle, he felt a sudden looming dread as the sensation built up further. He could feel and understand the thoughts and emotions of the dragons around him, fear, fear, fear and hatred. Fear for their families, their friends, and their tribe. Fear of smoking broiling volcanoes and dreadful stories told in icy hatcheries. Hatred born of fear of the others, their enemies. 

Then there was some instinctual urge that demanded he flee but it was too late and the next thing he knew he was in the Ice Palace surrounded by his fellow IceWings. It felt like he had let out a breath he had been holding for too long. Then they noticed him and someone shouted, Winter tried to turn and flee but it was too late. 

He was beaten and pinned down by the dragons who had been standing around him, held in place as he was cuffed, muzzled, and restrained by guards. He saw his father laying limp amongst other fallen Icewings, the bodies having been brought with them and his mother looking on in shock and what could only be anger, if he could guess. The next few hours were a blur as he was dragged off by guards, interrogated and tossed into a cell to await his sentencing. The questions always looped back to the same thing, 'How did you survive the Diamond Trial?' and Winter would always answer the same way. He could have told them the truth but in the end he still cared for his older brother Hailstorm. 

He adored him as he was one of the few dragons who actually seemed to care for Winter as a dragon and not a political pawn. It was his fault that he had already wrecked his brother's life and he wouldn't let it happen again. The questioners never got violent or physical but they stared him down looking for every little flaw and crack about what happened after he was supposed to die and he lied over and over. They could tell he was lying and Winter knew it but it always came back to that question. He knew what they wanted was a confession so he gave it, he said he was a coward and that he played dead faking a mortal wound until he was sure his brother had left. That he had waited in the cave until night and ran away to Mt. Jade.