One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

52.

I kick and squirm, muscles burning—but the sticky goo just clings stronger, and I barely manage to move a few inches.

And then, right when I think that this is it, by all the moons, it lets me go—and drops me out onto the dirt on the other side. I lie there for a moment, gasping for breath.

"Epiphany! You're okay!" Gaze is covered in the goo, stuck between her scales and clinging to her wings. But she's alive, and that's all I have time to really consider.

"It takes more than that to take me out," I say breathlessly as she helps me up. The black goo clings to her wings, and I can faintly feel its residue on my talons.

"I thought they were with you!" I scan over the barrier and notice a ripple, a few feet over. I lunge for it, gripping someone's talon. Gaze follows suit, grabbing onto Way's wing and helping me heave him out. I can't figure out why he's so heavy, until I see Precocious, clinging onto his talon.

By all the moons, they're helpless.

Way bursts into a coughing fit, spitting up some of the goo onto the ground. Precocious gasps for breath, collapsed. I look down at my talons, watching the sticky residue the barrier left squirm off of me in tiny droplets, and shudder.

Gaze and I exchange a glance. I'm not sure what it means, but if I had to guess, I'd say good job there. Or maybe just, thank you.

"What was that?" Precocious asks after catching his breath.

"It was like—like it was this close to killing us, and only decided to save our lives at the last moment," Way says gingerly. " Could your vision not have warned you about that part?"

"Well, I never actually saw us going through it. Just that we ended up on the other side. And it was... fuzzy. Probably only the most likely path. I'm still figuring it out, okay?"

"Well, that's reassuring," Way huffs.

Gaze rolls her eyes. "Well, if you have a better option, let me know."

I roll my eyes and brush a little goop off Precocious's forehead. He murmurs a quiet thank you.

My wooden leg looks fine, and I still have my locket, Scorpion's dagger, and my bag—the barrier thankfully left those alone. Good. I let out a breath. It's hard to scope this place out very far, with only distant light to see by. The stars are gone, the sky is gone—everything has vanished. I try not to look up, to keep my breathing steady. Just when I've managed to calm down, grounding myself in reassuring Precocious that everything will be fine while Gaze and Way bicker, a shimmering projection appears--a dragon with twisted horns and purple-tinted scales, triangle star patterns on his wings and sharp bones.

For a moment, I think I must be losing my mind.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Nyx, travellers. My name is Sharp-eyes—and despite what you may think, this is my rightful domain. Come to the palace for inspection. It shouldn't be hard to find."

And then he's gone. Thankfully, my friends look equally baffled—it was real, as real as any of this is.

"Sharp-eyes," Gaze growls.

"He looked like my dad! And my mom!" Way exclaims. "Does that mean he killed them?"

"I—I don't know. I'm sure they're not dead, Way—he's smart enough not to do that." Gaze doesn't look so sure, though, resting her talon on his shoulder. "Come on. Let's go."

"Why are we just following his orders? Didn't we come here to take him down?" I challenge.

"If we don't come to him, he's just going to come to us. But, like, with even more reason than before to be angry," Way says quietly.