If Glory Missed

Chapter Nineteen - The Fourth Heir

Onyx drove straight towards the crowd before any of the others could stop her. This wasn't their fight, it was hers.

She was immediately circled by the group of SandWings. Well, immediately after they got over the shock of her landing in their ranks, that is. Hundreds of SandWings had their barbed tails at the ready, and every single one of them had an eye trained on Onyx. But she had expected this type of reaction towards her arrival.

"Hello fellow SandWings, my name is Onyx and I..." she held her head high and wings spread wide, "Am the fourth heir to the SandWing throne."

Cries of outrage and shock rippled through the army, but the only dragon Onyx noticed was the one who stood at Blister's side. This dragon looked like Blister's twin, with the same pale scales and black diamond pattern running down his back. And although they weren't twins, they were unmistakenly brother and sister. This dragon was Prince Smolder.

My father, Onyx thought coldly, remembering all the times as a young dragonet that she had wished this dragon would show up. That he would find his daughter and embrace her in his wings. But he never did.

The look on his face was one of pure disbelief and joy. Onyx thought it really didn't suit him, especially seeing how menacing his nearly identical sister looked beside him. And all those pouches and keys, who did he think he wa--

"Onyx?" The dragon known as Smolder stepped towards her as the crowd parted and grew silent. Only now were they realizing just whose daughter this was.

"So it's true?" whispered one.

"I thought Oasis killed Palm!" shouted another.

"I had heard rumors, but..." a freckled SandWing remarked in awe.

"I always knew you were alive." That voice was Smolder's. "I looked everywhere, but I had no idea where you might be, where you might have--"

"Oh, save it Smolder," Onyx spat. He stopped in his tracks, an injured adorning his face. "If you had really cared for me, for mother, then you would have never -- NEVER -- stopped looking for us." She stared the SandWing down so intensely, that he was forced to break eye contact and hang his head in shame.

This entire time, Blister hadn't spoken a single word, but now she broke her silence, "Hmm, so I have a niece then. How lovely." Her tone of voice couldn't contradict her words any more than they did at this moment. Both dragons knew that this reunion would be cut short; one of them was going to be dead by the end of the night. "Well, I can tell that you are much more like me than my idiotic sister Blaze, so you know how this is going to work."

It wasn't a question but Onyx replied anyway. "Burn is dead and we both know Blaze is as fit for the throne as a shark is for land, so it's up to us to fight to the death. Here and now. No tricks, no getting other dragons to fight our battles for us," Blister narrowed her eyes at this last remark. "Just the two of us in a duel for queenship."

"But what about the Eye of Onyx?" Smolder interrupted, breaking free from his daze. "You-you can't fight without it."

Is he trying to protect me? Onyx shook her head. It's too late to start acting like my father, Smolder.

"We can and we will," Onyx objected, digging her claws into the sand in preparation. Blister ordered the surrounding dragons to form a circle for them to fight in. The princess wanted to get it over with, so she was going to have the fight happen right where they stood.

Onyx could see her friends stuck behind the mass of SandWings. Most of her other companions had the same level of concern for her, but Clay looked particularly worried. Almost like he actually cared.