Day 127: The Mistral Ball
Sentence: New Dragon, Art
Sentence: New Dragon, Art
He arrived in the middle of the night, popping into the city with a loud clatter as his long tail flailed around. A grin stretched across his face as he took in his surroundings. The long, winding, empty streets called to him. With a loud hoot, he took off, dashing at full speed and ricocheting off of buildings.
Karma was unprepared for the newly arrived spiral hitting her at full speed. The two noodly bodies got wrapped up in a knot, but before she could make some scathing remark, he slipped free, leaving her alone and confused in the street.
Friehalt took a big breath as she stood before the palace. Friday stood at her side, tail pressed against her back in reassurance. A few feet away from them, Clarissa stood, eying the palace with determination. Kael and Corinn were back at the camp, looking after the eggs.
“I don’t want to do this,” Friehalt gulped.
“You’ve got this, and I’ll be with you the whole time,” Friday promised.
“You’ve got nothing to fear,” Clarissa growled. “We’ll just strut in there and show them who owns the place.”
“Are you sure it’s the best idea for you to go, Clarissa? Don’t they want to arrest you?” Friehalt asked, not for the first time.
“Oh, I promise, I’m not going to make an appearance at the party. I just want to see where they took my family,” Clarissa glared at the top of the palace and made a rude gesture in mirror’s cant.
“Okay, we’ve got this,” Friehalt repeated to herself. “We’re going in.”
Without a moment more of hesitation, Friehalt pushed through the big double doors and stepped inside.
Clarissa split from the couple fairly quickly, darting down the corridors she had grown up in. The halls seemed strangely deserted as Friehalt and Friday made their way towards the ballroom. The ridgeback was trembling, terrified of how the Black Market dragons would react to seeing her again.
It wasn’t difficult to find the ballroom. The sound of celebrating dragons was easy to follow down the echoing stone corridors. Friehalt and Friday stepped into the ballroom and looked around. Jett was lounging on a lavish seat on a stage, above everyone else, Scoril at his side. He had a glass in his hand and was downing the contents happily. The skydancer at his side was keeping an eye on everything. When she caught Friehalt’s gaze, her eyes narrowed, and the ridgeback wanted to disappear into the wall. She did nothing, however, leaving Friehalt and her mate to mill around the party.
The room was not nearly as crowded as it could have been. It was clearly made to house a city-full of dragons. But the dragons present seemed to be having a good time, or at least were putting up the appearances of doing so. Colourful banners and kites hung from the ceiling, and an enchanted wind was blowing through the room, ringing bells as it went. It was very jarring for such a carefree flight to be celebrated in such a heavy-handed way, but Jett clearly wanted to make his power known.
“You have some nerve, showing your face here again,” a familiar growl sounded behind Friehalt. She spun around, seeing her sister glaring at her.
“Ah, Fallstar!” Friehalt pasted a fake smile on her face. “It’s a pleasure to see you again! Have you met my mate, Friday?”
“Don’t try to cover up your treachery,” Fallstar growled. “You abandoned us, and now you have the nerve to show your face here?”
“You’re just bitter because Jett hasn’t made you one of his Shade-touched heirs yet, aren’t you?” Friehalt snorted, surprised by her own boldness. “Go pick a fight elsewhere, you have bigger things to worry about than me. I am simply making my allegiance to King Jett known.”
Fallstar snarled and turned back into the small crowd. Friehalt could tell her sister was desperately trying to keep an eye on her in a not-obvious way.
“She seems charming,” Friday snorted.
“We’ve never really gotten along, it’s not too much of a loss,” Friehalt shrugged, glancing around. “What do we do here? I don’t know what the Shadowbinder wants of me.”
“Just wait and see, maybe things will become clear later,” Friday suggested.
Just then, a coatl brushed past the couple, holding a squirming spiral in her talons. The spiral was light purple, and had a skeleton pattern across his scales. He was hurling a number of choice curse words at his assailant, who seemed entirely unfazed by the fight he was putting up.
Friehalt watched in interest as the coatl made her way up to the throne and threw the spiral on the floor, holding him in place. Friehalt nudged Friday, and the two moved closer.
“What do we have here?” Jett asked, getting to his feet and looking down at the spiral.
“This is the hooligan who has been causing all the ruckus today, sir,” Kass said, respectfully. “Permission to take him out? He was stealing from one of your citizens.”
“No, not yet, he might prove useful to our court,” Jett held up a hand.
“Wait!” A blue spiral suddenly yelled, eyes wide, and rushed towards the captured spiral. She cupped his head in her hands and stared deeply into his face, examining the facial structure with her horizontal eyes.
“What do you want,” Jett spat. “You’ve made it clear you don’t want anything to do with me, Seaberry. You have no right to interfere now.”
“Jett, this is my son,” Seaberry snarled, glaring protectively at him. “Don’t you dare take him away from me, the city has already done enough!”
“Get your hands off me!” The spiral spat, hitting his mother away. “I don’t know you.”
“No, but I’d know you anywhere,” Seaberry said softly. “I didn’t think you’d come back, when the city took you away. I had to raise your sister on her own, without any siblings, carrying the loss of you on my shoulders alone.”
“Wait,” Jett’s eyes gleamed with interest. “Are you saying that this is Karma’s clutchmate?”
“Yes,” Seaberry’s eyes flashed. “But you’re not taking him.”
“I can make my own choices, lady!” The spiral snorted. “It depends what this fine fellow has to offer me!” He grinned a toothy grin. “I’m Kip, at your service!”
“Kip, my son,” Jett grinned crookedly. “How would you like a place in my courts?”
“A prince!” Kip’s eyes widened. “Now this is something I could get used to!”
“Well, in that case, welcome home!” Jett said, nodding for Kass to release him. The coatl reluctantly obliged.
“That skydancer doesn’t seem very happy,” Friday remarked, nodding at Scoril.
“No, she wouldn’t be. She’s Scoril, Jett’s mate. I mean, she’s aware he’s had relations before her, but she doesn’t like to think about it much,” Friehalt commented. “She’s endlessly loyal to him, it’s a pity he doesn’t return the favour. That could come back to bite him pretty hard someday, she’s pretty powerful.”
Then something clicked.
“What if she’s what we need?” Friehalt turned to Friday excitedly, bringing her voice down to a low whisper. “Jett doesn’t seem up to anything sinister this festival, maybe the Shadowbinder wants us to identify possible allies! Build up a resistance! There’s no way we can take him down on our own!”
“And Scoril would be a valuable ally, if we could get her to turn against Jett,” Friday observed.
“Yeah, that’s the difficult part,” Friehalt agreed. “But something tells me she’ll only let herself be pushed so far. Jealousy and heartbreak are powerful emotions. If we swoop in at the right time…”
“Then Jett loses a powerful ally.”
@CleverDual @HauntedWhale @Disillusionist @AlchemyFox @Tirtouga678 @catmeow1 @Leopardmask @Midwinter @chantric @Dynami @ShinyDecidueye @tigressRising @REEEEEEEEEEEEEE @Stitched @Willnotgogently @Sabariel @MisterMylez @Skystrider @Starongie @icetail0912 @myriadofstars @Aetherstorm @Weredogalism @Nargeorgicorn @WeaverofLies @herobrinna @secretlylying @Azurepocalypse @GoldictheHedgefx @CobaltMoon @Tiffkaboo @Orodruin @SkullGeist @Violeteevee @Amaluna @DragonPrincess27 @Dakala @Drachenschwinge @Glassowary @GrinningWolf24
And we are now caught up with my Pinkerton pulls! This is exciting! I have no way of knowing what's coming up!
The reason why Kip has been reintroduced to the story is because he spent a while in CleverDual's clan before coming back to me in a lair purge, so I figured that would nullify his dead coin flip as a hatchling. I moved him up in my pending dragon order, because I figured it was important for him to be in this pinkerlocke, not the next.
Also, here's today's art pull! It's Kass and Bohrium!
With such storied parents, I'm always excited to see nest results in this thread.
Your plans for the upcoming Pinkerlockes are really interesting too. Do you have any thoughts yet on what your next Flight will be?