#sleetgale

He could hear the creatures of the shade whispering and hissing in his ear. As much as he wanted them to, they wouldn’t infect him. They wouldn’t let his blood turn black, his mind burn with darkness.

Even the evils of this place rejected him. He growled at the thought. The lesser creatures of this place should be begging him to join them. At least he knew that there was one dragon who would stand by his side. Sleetgale.

Oh, his beloved Sleetgale. They would take him in.

The last time that he was here, the Shade monsters seemed less... wily. Something was certainly up as he reached the cliff face leading up to Focal Point where Sleetgale’s Clan resided.

More black clawmarks covered the face of the cliff than usual. Naperone was about to go in when he heard a THUMP beside him. A Coatl in copper armour had landed a few feet away from him.

“What’d you see?” Asked one of the dragons flying above. Naperone flattened himself upon the ground in fear as his tongue flicked, trying to catch his scent.

A deafening, eldritch screech pierced the air and made Naperone jump and the Coatl roar in fear. A loud CRASH silenced it and the squeaking and crunch of ice could be heard. The other two dragons above the Coatl landed.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine... Gods, I almost felt my heart jump out of my chest...”

“We should go back and have Kymorghulis check you just in case. “

“I can’t wait until the King returns and we don’t have to worry about these things anymore...”

The voices retreated to the inside of the crystal cavern. Their king was gone? That huge, monstrous brute was why these things’ gumption and bloodlust had increased? Naperone smiled devilishly. This would be easier than he’d thought.

He slid into the crystal cavern and waited for a larger dragon to walk by to shield him. A minty-coloured, scrawny-looking Guardian walked past, talking to a golden Pearlcatcher, to preoccupied to notice Naperone skittering beside them them. He saw a stone and jade-striped Tundra with an Imperial with moon-like scales and armour standing at the highest peak of the clan, looking down. Naperone scoffed, wondering how such a soft creature could think itself so might above these peons. A pawn leading the pawns.

He jumped into a barrel as they departed, tipping it over and blending in with the rocks inside as he peered through the hole  to try and find where Sleetgale and their coven were when he felt himself be hoisted into a carriage.

“Now y’all’re sure ya don’t wanna spend the night? With the King gone and all, them Shade monsters wouldn’t think twice to eat a couple of Centaurs like yerselves.”

“No, we’re fine. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Yer welcome, but b’careful out there.”

Naperone growled as he felt himself leaving the Clan. No, no, no! He needed to stay inside! He needed to find Sleety!

Luckily, he’d been practicing that ‘Earth magic’ since Sleetgale had told him about it. With it, he made a rock fly up and crash into the wheel, making his barrel bounce and roll away as the carrage collapsed. As dragons went to help the centaurs out of their harnesses, no one saw Naperone slither away. When he saw one of Sleetgale’s coven enter a den, he bolted over to it. Sure enough, they were in there.

“SLEETY!” He yelled and tackled them as they were pouring something into their cauldron.

Sleetgale’s vial shattered against the floor and oozed out as They attempted to register what was going on.

“What’re you doing here?!” They exclaimed incredulously. 

“Oh Sleetgale, it was awful. I got wrongfully banished from this place in Light and everyone was so mean to me, but you’re here now! Here with me!”

“GET OFF!” They shouted, pushing him away. Naperone looked like a kicked puppy, triggering Sleetgale’s guilt. 

“Naperone... We need to talk.”

Oh, no. No, no, no.

“About what? We don’t have to talk about anything!”

“Yes, we do.”

The sternness of their tone frightened Naperone.

“S-Sleety...”

“Naperone... I led you on.”

His heart sank.

“I have a mate. I’m sorry, but I never really loved you.”

Never... Really loved...

“I wasn’t trying to be malicious, but that’s no excuse. I-”

Before they could get out another word, Naperone screeched and jumped on top of them, mouth agape, ready to snap around Sleetgale’s throat. Before he could do so, a huge, dark claw threw him out of the den. Naperone lay there dazed for a few seconds before looking up to see two Imperials helping them up.

He was about to go for them again, but a collective screeching and the claws of many dragons dragged him to the center of the Clan. Naperone faught the whole way over, but his captors didn’t seem to care. He was thrown down in front of the Tundra and her guard who dropped from the ledge in front of him.

“What is the meaning of this?!” The Tundra demanded as Naperone was flattened under a rogue Ridgeback’s foot.

“My Queen!” The autumnal Imperial witch shouted for her, running from the Coven’s den with Sleetgale and the dark Imperial, “he attacked Sleetgale and tried to kill them!”

“Sleetgale, do you know this Spiral?”

“...Yes.” They said begrudgingly.

“He was mistreating his familiar so badly, and we were called on to help. So I hypnotized him.”

Hypnotize?! What?!

“NO! NO!” He screamed, struggling. Sleetgale didn’t bat an eye. He wouldn’t have this. He wouldn’t stand for it. He slipped out from the Ridgeback’s grasp and went for Sleetgale again, but the queen headbutted him so hard, he went flying. She walked over to him and placed a paw on his chest.

“If you wish to fight someone, fight me instead.” She growled.

Naperone went for her eyes.

Before he could touch them, Naperone’s neck was bitten and he was thrown down again. The Clan gasped when they saw his blood was blue, but did not dare intervene. Battles were sacred among the Stjerneklartians and to interfere would be an insult. He coughed, teeth bared, and rose back to his feet. When Tsuki charged him, he snaked around her body and bit and scratched wherever he could, but the pain of past battles had strengthened her pain resistance -  she had faced the claws and teeth of creatures much more powerful than this worm.

She threw him in the air again, then grabbed his head in her claws and slammed him back into the earth. Naperone wove his tail between her legs and tripped her, flipping her on her back and gaining the upper hand. However, he misjudged just how much fluff was on her soft underbelly and got his claws tangled in the fluff that Tundras were so mocked for but saved their life so many times over. He was hit with a barrage of pink arcane bolts to his face. Their power burned and tingled and made Naperone see stars as Tsuki rose to her feet and grabbed his horns.

She dragged him to a crystal that jutted up from the ground. Naperone watched as his face was slammed into it over and over and over again until a CRACK sounded throughout the chamber. He could feel one of her claws had let go of one of his horns as the other swerved his head around to reveal...

The large, shattered-off fraction of his other horn.

Naperone would have screamed if he could. This was not only his horn but his crown. How, how could a mere mortal have ripped his crown from his head?! Maybe... Maybe it wasn’t the same here... Maybe... Oh Spirits, please...

The Moon Queen dragged him to the crystalline chamber and her Clan followed. She threw him at the foot of its mouth and waited for him to rise up. he coughed up a bit more of the cobalt blood as he faced the proud Tundra who held his bloody horn in her claw.

Although her red blood trickled down her fur and cape, his blue sanguine stained her maw, claws, and chest.

The crystals in the Clan had ceased to glow, but the eyes of every dragon glowered back at him.

“Naperone,” The great Tundra Queen called out to him, “You are hereby banished from Clan Stjerneklart and our territory. Tonight you may leave if you survive, but if your claws ever touch our lands again, if your wings beat in our skies, you will not escape our fury. Your body will be thrown to the Shadelings within our forests and caves after we are finished with it to do as they so please with your empty shell.”

Naperone only growled at her, searching for Sleetgale who was beside one of the rogues that helped capture him. A great growling noise pulsated throughout the Clan and the interior of each dragons’ chest lit up with magicks the colours of their glowing eyes.

Naperone realized what would happen if he stayed. He attempted to lope away, but it was too late.

The magicks that brewed within the dragons that wanted him gone reached their boiling point and they all fired upon him as he attempted to run for his life.

He could feel the magicks burn, cut, poison, and crush him viciously as he ran. Then he felt it. A huge chunk of ice hit is back leg and break the wing on it. He screamed as he ran into the Star Wood Strand and the Shade monsters were waiting for him now - as they came to meet him, the barrage of magicks intensified, making them back off. Naperone saw his chance and hid within an Extinguished Jackelope hole.

He heard the explosions outside and the screeching and rampaging of the Shade creatures to find him. He didn’t want their black blood anymore, he just wanted his blue blood to stop coming out from betwixt his scales.

He wanted to be angry.

He wanted to plot revenge.

But as Naperone thought about that, he started realizing what had all just happened.

His crown was broken.

He had been beaten within an inch of his life.

He had made a very dangerous enemy.

And the one he loved was just using him all along.

Yes, Naperone would be angry. Yes, he would plot revenge.

But tonight, he was scared. More scared than he had ever been in his life.

And the most heartbroken.

Tonight, he cried in a dirty hole within the ground, hiding from horrible monsters and dragons who sought forth his demise.