A Heart of Frozen Shadows ~ A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 1 ~ A New Mission

(🔼 The Beach Palace)

Love is for the weak. Love will kill you. Do not love. Other dragons are nothing but pawns, and you, the chess master. Use others, but do not love them.

Frigid repeated Storm's mantra in her head as she sprinted through the halls of the SeaWing's Beach Palace, leaving a trail of confused dragon in her wake.

"She went this way!" a guard yelled from somewhere behind her, and Frigid ran even faster.

She smashed her way through a pair of polished-coral doors, and into a courtyard full of shocked dragons, who by the look of things, had been having a party before she interrupted.

Frigid paused long enough for her to hear murmurs of, "it's her, the Shade," move through the onlooking crowd, before spreading her wings and leaping into the sky.

Hours of rigorous training allowed her to fly almost as fast as a SkyWing, so she wasn't especially worried about being followed, although she didn't glance over her shoulder once or twice.

After a few minutes of flying, Frigid deemed herself far enough away from the palace to land, and immediately sought out a stream to drink from.

After she was finished, Frigid lay down on top of a large Boulder and began to wait.

Fortunately, she didn't have to sit there long, because within minutes, a rustling sound burst from the nearby underbrush.

Immediately, Frigid snapped into a battle stance, her teeth bared and her eyes searching. When she saw who it was, however, she relaxed.

"Hello, Father," she greeted, adopting a military position.

"At ease, daughter," Storm replied, a smile on his face. "Did you succeed in your mission?"

"Yes, Father," Frigid responded, still in the same position. 

"I said at ease, and I mean at ease," Storm sighed. "Sometimes even you have to relax. That's an order."

Frigid relaxed her stance, but only reluctantly. 

"So, how was your mission?" Her adopted father asked.

"Good. It was easy to locate Ambassador Papaya, and even easier to dispatch him." Frigid smiled despite herself.

"Oh, my little Shade," Storm said affectionately, referring to the name Frigid had been given by her victims.

"Any news from the front?" Frigid asked, her eyes bright with sudden interest.

"Queen Garnet and Queen Viper are at odds with each other. If we press our luck there, we may get them to break their treaty. Rumors are also coming in to us from our spies in the rainforest that Queen Firefly is planning something big. Our plan to make the NIghtWings revolt doesn't seem to be working so we've abandoned it. That's it." Storm sighed not the worst news we've had, but certainly not the best, either."

"Not like the time I got the IceWings and NightWings fighting for a brief time over an insult to Queen Glory's memory," Frigid grinned cruelly.

Storm barked a laugh. "Now that was a good one!"

They sat like that for a moment before remembering why they were there. 

"What is my next mission?" Frigid inquired, closing her eyes.

"Oh...your next mission is to locate and dispatch Kelp, a RainWing/SeaWing hybrid," the IceWing replied

"Reason?" 

"Kelp is used by Queen Firefly to torture prisoners. Killing him would certainly enrage the RainWing queen, and furthermore, make her distrustful of the MudWings, who've always openly disapproved of her use of him."

"Complications?"

"Kelp has the power to take wounds on any dragon within his line of sight and move them onto another dragon. He can use this to cause pain to you."

"This will make it challenging, but not impossible," Frigid smiled. "Anything else?"

"No," Storm replied. "But - good luck."

Frigid nodded at him once, before spreading her wings and disappearing into the clouds, a shadow against the vast whiteness.