Chapter Ten: Remembrance

Crystal stretched out her wings and flapped them a few times to loosen her muscles as paws sounded in the hall. It was early, the sun only beginning on rise on the far end of the island. Folding her wings gently against her side, Crystal stepped away from the door and waited for it to open. The steps grew louder, and then passed. Crystal sighed, small flecks of ice escaping with her breath. It had just been another servant, probably a Cleaner or a Cook. Turning away from the door, Crystal set her head in the window and looked down into the jungle. Some wild cats were bounding together, scaring several parrots who flew upwards in a small rainbow.

Crystal yawned, and then tilted her head downwards. There were four floors below her, each floor with twenty rooms, and the opposite wall of the castle was also dedicated to servant quarters. If Crystal was remembering correctly, about the time of the Cleansing there would be roughly two hundred and forty servants in the castle. 

 

The next Cleansing was in fifteen years, which meant she had fourteen years to get out of the castle. She could technically get out just before the Cleansing, but that would be cutting it far too close. The longest time frame she was willing to accept was thirteen and a half years. If she couldn’t’ get out by the time fourteen years passed, then her chances might be better going through the Cleansing.

More steps rang through the dusty air, and Crystal pulled her head out of the window. Shaking out her feathers to clean them of the dust that had settled, Crystal turned back towards the door as it swung open.

In the doorway stood a pale orange viper with scars littering his body. Crystal couldn’t help but shudder as she wondered what could give a Fire Dragon such bad wounds. The ruling dragons on the island had much thicker scales than the Ice Dragons did, and they were completely immune to fire injuries. 

The viper didn’t say a word, simply stepped to the post in the center of the room, lifted a key and unlocked Crystal’s chains. “Let’s go.” He growled, tugging on the chain sharply. Crystal stumbled forwards, and he glared at her. Crystal flinched back slightly but was unable to do anything else as the viper dragged her out of the room and through the halls.

Crystal was forced to scramble up the stairs, as the viper’s unrelenting pace didn’t change as he began the climb upwards. Thankful for there being only one flight of stairs to climb, Crystal shot a glare at the back of the viper’s head. When she got out and back home, she’d be sure to warn all future servants about this scarred viper. Of course, if she had her way, there wouldn’t be too many servants joining the castle in the upcoming years. 

The vow Crystal had made eight years ago still burned brightly in her mind, as clear as the day she’d worked out just what she would do for her kind.

Crystal’s jaws split into a deep yawn as she curled into her snowy bed. The white powder felt softer than usual tonight, maybe because she’d spent the whole day practicing her racing. Crystal liked to run, it helped her feel free, like she could do anything in the whole world.

A small breeze, let in from the windows of her family dome, washed over Crystal’s bed, causing some of the snow to trickle onto her scales. Crystal huffed, and stood, stamping her paws to pack the now loose snow back into the bed. Turning in a circle to check she’d got it all, Crystal lifted her head towards the window in her portion of the dome and wondered how much trouble she’d get in for icing it. 

Crystal was still learning how to use her ice, it was especially hard for her because she’d been Selected, but she could get out little swirls of it, if she let out enough swirls, maybe it would stop the wind from wrecking her bed.

Crystal could feel her ruff lowering as she realized that, even if she could get enough ice, there was no way it would last through the whole night. Hopping out of her bed, Crystal fluffed out her wings and padded past the wall of ice that separated her part of the dome from the other rooms.

“Crystal.” Crystal froze, and slowly turned her head towards the shimmering gray form of her father. Her mother had been a Selected, but her dad hadn’t. Her mother had only been allowed to have a mate, and Crystal, since she’d been let out on an honor-release. 

Her father, who had dull gray feathers, the same color as his scales, lowered his neck so he could look right into Crystal’s eyes. “Why are you out of bed, my little gem?” Crystal turned towards the part of the dome where her nest was and let out a soft whimper-like noise. She didn’t know any real signs yet, she wouldn’t even start learning until next year, but she did have a few vague gestures that tended to get her point across.

But instead of letting Crystal lead him into her room, Crystal’s father shook his head. “I’m sorry little gem, I’ve got some friends coming, can your mother help you?” Crystal frowned and turned back towards her father. He always came to help her if she needed him, what was so important about his friends coming over?

The sound of claws pounding on ice broke Crystal’s confused look as she turned towards the soft blue cloth that covered the door. Her father hissed slightly and quickly nudged Crystal towards her part of the dome. “Never mind, I’m sure it can wait until morning, go to bed little gem. I’ll see you when the sun rises.” Crystal stumbled backwards with a whine, but her father didn’t seem to notice, he was already crossing the short distance to the cloth and slipping his head through it.

Crystal huffed and turned towards her part of the dome. Claws barely tapping on the ice, Crystal reached the opening to her part of the dome right as her father allowed the dragons who’d knocked inside. “How did it go?” her father asked one of the dragons. Crystal paused and turned, seeing Shimmer, a glittering white vixen whose egg had hatched a few days ago, revealing twins. Crouching to blend in with the snow, Crystal watched as Shimmer shook her head sadly. “They performed the Silencing on one, but not the other.”

A sound of sympathy escaped from her father’s throat as the other dragons stepped into the dome, quickly filling up the space. “At least you’ll have a chance to have another egg,” snapped a jet-black viper “They took my son and the only way me and Icicle will have anymore is if he washes out!”

“Calm down you two, we aren’t here tonight to fight, and you know it.” Crystal’s father said, using his soothing voice. “We’re here to try and find a way out.” 

The black viper and Shimmer exchanged a glance, and then nodded. “Well, now that the drama’s over, I thought I’d let you know that my sister, who works in the town library you remember, well, she heard a rumor, about a message left for the Ice Dragons.” The speaker was a pale white viper with blue feathers. “In the eye of the Fang.” 

Crystal tilted her head with a small frown. The Fang was the mountain on the southern tip of the island, there weren’t any eyes in it, what was this viper talking about? “Left for us? By who?” the black viper looked confused. Crystal guessed he was wondering about the eye too.

The white viper shrugged “Who knows, I’m just telling you what she told me. And mind you, she didn’t want to tell me.” Shimmer tilted her head slightly “If there is a message, what’s it about, and where’s the eye? It’d have to be pretty high up the Fang to not be found so far.” Crystal’s father nodded “It’d take quite a while to get up there, no one would be able to get away for long enough.” Shimmer’s wing feathers ruffled, and she said “Well, what if we…” 

“It won’t matter what we do.” The black viper interrupted “They’ll catch on. Besides, we don’t even have definitive proof that the message even exists, let alone an eye!” Crystal’s father scraped his claws on the floor “Then all we can do is wait.” Shimmer nodded “Wait, and hope that things turn out for the better, at least good enough for someone to fly to the top of the Fang.”

The white viper nodded “In that case, I suppose tonight’s meeting is over?” He phrased it as a statement, but his voice was questioning. Crystal’s father nodded, glancing out one of the windows “Yes, it’s getting dark, curfew begins soon, and I’m sure none of you want to be trapped here for the night.”

As the adults began to leave, Crystal backed further into her room and stepped softly into her bed. Shuffling around so that her head was facing the window, Crystal looked up at the moon that was rising steadily into the sky. 

The Fang was supposed to be only three, or maybe four days flight away, if her kind wasn’t allowed that much time off, then things had to be worse than her parents let on.

Fixing her eyes on the full moon, Crystal silently vowed that one day, she would find a way to make things easier on the Ice Dragons. Selected could be freed from duty when they were released from the castle, which meant if she got out when she was still young and strong, she’d be able to fly to the Fang, and find its eye, whatever that meant. She would find the message and rescue her kind. 

She would keep them all safe, which meant she had to be the smartest, the fastest, the absolute bestest at everything.

And then she would finally win freedom for her kind.