Wings Of Honor: Heart of Ice

Chapter 10: Into The Wild

I consulted the map of Pyrrha.
The Winding Tail River began high in the Claws of the Clouds mountains, running down past Jade Mountain, out to sea. Near a bend in the river, north of the rainforest and west of Queen Moorhen's lake, there was a human settlement that was believed to be the biggest in Pyrrhia. The Invincible City, as I have grown to know intimately. Unlike most other settlements, this one was not hidden away; instead, it was well fortified with stone walls and defended fiercely, as Winter had told me himself.
"I know some dragons who've hunted there." Deathbringer told us before we left, "but most of them say it's not worth it. You'll just end up getting jabbed with sharp things and pelted with heavy things. There's much easier prey in the river and mountains."
My own knowledge of the City was relayed to Grace. We couldn't tell the winglet about it though, it would undoubtedly lead back to me, our knowledge of the future, and net Moon and Grace in even more trouble with Winter. Conflict we really didn't need right now.
But anyways, that was the new spot the Talons of Peace had chosen for their signals. Apparently, now that Jade Mountain was being watched by too many dragon eyes.
The Invincible City was built fairly high up, built on a cliff overlooking the forest, so that any dragon flying over it would be visible for miles in every direction, and an incredibly difficult place to assault on foot. Again, as I've come to know. I was tasked with its defense at one point.
Winter didn't look too hot flying exposed as we did, even with Grace hanging back and low to help limit our silhouettes. We had no other choice. We couldn't use the same tactics I used last time. I scanned with my glasses. The Talons of Peace were out there somewhere, with someone watching the skies in case of a signal like us, and we needed to find them.
Find them. Find the mountains. Find Scarlet. Find Halestorm. Find my squad. Find home.
We reached the area shortly after midday, landing on one of the clifftops just below the city. A brisk wind buffeted us, reminding me of Gonzales, tossing hawks around far overhead with their piercing cries. The sun was a brilliant yellowish-white in a perfectly clear, blue, sky. Days I remember fondly in my old hometown.
"We could wait until night." Moon suggested. "Then Qibli and I can fly up and signal with fire — trails of flames in the night sky. Deathbringer said that would work."
"Yeah. Glowing fire would be hard to miss." Grace agreed.
"They're not just watching for fire-breathing dragons, though." Winter countered. "I can take care of this part, don't worry." Then he flung himself into the air before anyone could protest.
I ran up to where he left from, watching as he soared away. Grace was right up next to me the next instant.
"Should we follow him?"
"No. Keep watch. Don't risk anyone else more than necessary." This was his decision, and I was not about to risk any others on a bad one.
No.
I ran up as high as I could, Grace even letting me stand up on her back. Yeah, she grew over the past couple days. I dragged out the 8x scope from its holder, affixing it to my Springfield.
Once it was good, I made sure the safety was on before I trained my sights on Winter. He was looking at something. I followed his gaze to the Invincible City. He was looking down into it, way out of range for longbows. Although, I doubt a bow of any sort had the power to penetrate dragons scales. Although, I had no idea how much power it would need period.
Clay, a Mudwing, looked like he could shrug off pistol and intermediate rifle rounds from my other weapons quite easily enough. Although, I have not met a foe that looked like he could shrug off a black tip round from my Springfield A1 rifle.
The one thing I commended, was that the city was built partly underneath a large overhanging cliff that protected it from aerial attack. The cliff itself was inaccessible, aside from a small indent that we made ample use of for the evacuation. There was a wall of stone that protected the other three sides, boxing them in secure.
I traced the walls, landing on the river. The crane over the river that drew buckets of water from the river, then lifted them over the walls and behind them to safety. A remarkable contraption for their technological level.
But I did notice Winter's presence was riling them up. I had that feeling in my gut. That sick, spotted feeling. I noticed a lot of activity on the walls. Men running about with their strange heavy crossbows in tow. Now those looked like they could take on a dragon, but only from close range. Although they could probably take on human sized targets from a 100 or so yards way. Still inside of even submachine effective range, which was 100, out to maybe 150 yards, better closer. And way less then accurate rifle  fire out past 300 to 800 yards. A thousand if I order an area suppression.
But then they rolled something up to the walls. I couldn't make it out at first, but I noticed large planks of wood and rope. When my brain finally put it together, I froze.
It was the ballista. And Winter was flying closer to investigate.
"Stop him." I shouted to Grace as I slid down. "GET UP THERE AND STOP HIM!" I yelled!
Grace, without missing a beat, was up in the air and after Winter. I got my sights up again, spotting a man looking over the wall. He pointed right at me, right at our position.
"Oh crap." I mumbled. Another man had a torch, he leaned over and set the black tipped arrow alight.
"Fuck that!" I got my shit together and ran. It was a hundred and twenty yards back to them, downhill. I ran as fast as I could. Gravity carried me, I only moved my legs. My balance hug on a razor's edge between speed and face planting onto the sharp ground. My boot caught a rock, nearly sending me head over heels, but I recovered and kept going. I started yelling.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY" I screamed as loudly as I could, waving my arms frantically at the tired group huddled together. A big target for a weapon like a ballista. A cold sweat broke out over me. My eyes tearing in fear for my friends. "GET BACK!"
"LOOK OUT!" Winter roared.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blazing arrow. Long as a tree, with more power than a Sherman 76, and it was heading straight for my friends.
"NO!" I cried!
Suddenly, two streams of frostbreath intercepted the spear.
The fire went out instantly as ice crystals grew all along the weapon. The extra weight and sudden force knocked the spear off target. It crashed and slid into the cliff, just underneath Qibli's feet, and then dropped to the earth far below, off the edge of the cliff.
Kinkajou shrieked and Qibli leaped aside, spreading his wings to shield Moon.
It took me half a second to realize... no one was hurt. Everyone was okay!
Winter wheeled over their heads and landed beside them. "Time to move," he barked.
I snapped back into action. "LET'S MOVE! NOW! OUT OF RANGE! DISENGAGE! DISENGAGE!"
"The scavengers are shooting at us!" Kinkajou cried. "That's so mean! We didn't even try to eat them or anything!"
"But other dragons have." Qibli pointed out.
Grace swooped down, I caught her and made a flying mount. The five of us arrowed into the sky and flew way out of range of even long range rifles. I unslung my rifle, unleashing an entire magazine's worth of cover/retaliation fire. I got to see their bewildered faces as strange thunder rained down on them, as the dragons flew away. Thankfully, Grace was accustomed to rifle fire, and held steady. The others? They only had one other experience, and that was a negligent discharge of my Springfield during the Icicle kerfuffle. They ended up a bit more scattered.
Once we were out of sight, they finally started to talk again.
"Is it weird that I'm kind of impressed?" Moon asked. "I had no idea they could come up with something like that."
I chuckled.
"I'm sticking with outraged!" Kinkajou promptly answered. "Hello, I'm a vegetarian! There is SO no need to shoot ME, of all dragons! I should go down there and ROAR at them." Her scales were vibrantly and alarmingly orange, more brighter than anything I've ever seen, not even on high-vis vests. If the Talons had somehow missed Winter's mirror signal, a dragon this vibrantly colored would catch their eye. If not, I will personally dig into him, even if he is a dragon, for missing both sight AND sound of rifle fire.
"What in the world was it?" Qibli asked. He soared in a tight circle, trying to see down into the den.
"A ballista." Grace answered after a while. "A big bow." I don't even think dragons have bows. "Like a Rainwing blowgun, but they use rope instead of your breath to shoot."
"How did it work? How did they make it? Could we make one? I mean, not us, not right now, but maybe one day for Thorn's palace?"
"I've never seen anything quite like it." Winter admitted.
"Can you draw it for me?" Qibli asked Winter
"Um ... sure."
They found a place to wait for the Talons, above the city, in a tiny clearing at the head of the river. Out of sight this time, I made sure of it. Kinkajou and Moon went off to find food, while Winter tried to sketch the weapon in one of the sand banks beside the river.
"But did this pull it back?" Qibli kept asking. He poked at the drawing, scattering sand all over Winter's claws. "Did this part fit into here? Wouldn't they need a piece like this?"
"I have no idea!" Winter finally erupted. "I was a little busy saving your scales!"
"That's true." Qibli said, sitting back and giving him a delighted smile. "You totally saved my scales. I knew we were best friends. Did I say thank you yet?"
"No." Winter grumbled.
"Thank you." Qibli said, entirely too sincerely for Winter. Me and Grace were dying internally at this point in the exchange.
"Well." Winter said, "I would have done the same thing for anyone, you know."
"I know," Qibli said. "I like that about you."
Winter saw, with surprise, that he meant it. I'm pretty sure I even saw a bit of a blush too.
"And actually, the arrow goes like this. And the rope goes like that." Grace attempted to correct Winter's sketch, then abandoned it to make a new model. "So these beams are springy, so when you pull them back, they store energy. That energy is released into the arrow when it's fired, sending it forward."
Qibli studied the three detailed drawings. Top, pointing to the left, dead ahead. He eyed Grace in awe. "How do you know so much about this? I've never seen these before!"
Grace shrugged. "It's not very complicated. It's pull back and go. A gun is much worse. Don't make me draw that for you."
I chuckled, setting the big scope back into its case. I noticed Winter looked peeved. Qibli was still studying the drawings intently, acting more giddy than a kid in a candy store.
"You would get eaten alive in the Ice Kingdom," Winter pointed out. Qibli shrugged.
"Maybe not. I survived the Scorpion Den," He stated. "And my family. They would not have saved me in this situation, if you're curious. More likely they'd have grabbed the spear and stabbed me themselves."
"Mine would have waited to see if I could save myself, and then stood there shaking their heads in grave disappointment when I didn't." Winter said. I looked on at him. "Taking notes on all the things I did wrong. 'Stood in the wrong place. Allowed spear to penetrate scales. Bleeding too much.' And so forth."
Qibli laughed. "They sound great." Me and Grace exchanged "umm no" glances.
"They are," Winter said quickly. "That's how IceWing parents are supposed to be. I'm very lucky."
I shivered. He was not lucky... at least... not compared to my situation. For once, I felt bad I grew up with a caring family. Sure, they was a little strict at times, but they molded me to be a good person. To talk things out instead of defaulting to violence. To never back down if the fight is worth it, to push through. Most important of all, they taught me good values, not just Christian Catholic. God, Family, Country, World; those were my four most important values. And I was still fighting for all of them.
Qibli gave Winter a strange look. "I guess they did something right." He said after a moment. "I mean, for you to be so determined to rescue your brother. If I were in a SkyWing prison, my brother would definitely not come to rescue me. To be fair, I wouldn't go rescue him either. Pyrrhia would be much better off with him locked up where he can't hurt anyone."
A cool breeze sent little ripples across the surface of the river. Mini waves. Winter stepped over his sketch and waded into the water, rinsing the sand off his claws. Gold and silver fish darted around his talons. The water looked freezing cold, and was crystal clear. He stared at the running water for a while.
"I have a sinister older sister, too," Qibli offered.
"Icicle's not older than me," Winter said, making me raise an eyebrow. She looked older, and was slightly taller. "We were in the same hatching. And sinister is a bit of an exaggeration."
"Mmm-hmm." Qibli said skeptically. Me and Grace only nodded, hers with a sideways look about it.
Winter sighed. "My parents will probably be so proud of her. Up until the part where she failed — which they'll see as my fault — and then got caught by RainWings — also my fault. Going home is going to be excellent in all the ways. I can't wait."
"It'll be all right, because you'll be bringing Hailstorm with you." Qibli said confidently. "So they'll have to forgive you."
Will they? Winter clearly wondered.
"They will." Grace affirmed. "Marvin will make sure of it. Didn't even need mind reading for that one." She chuckled.
Before I could even ask what she meant by that, I caught a quiet splash, just over the loud trickling sounds of Winter in the water. Winter heard it too., spinning in a circle and scanning the river. I barely had time to draw my pistol.
Suddenly he spotted something swimming through the water toward him, moving fast.
Before another thought, a dragon lunged out of the water, straight for his throat.