23- Calm Before the Storm
#28 of The Legend of Rift Book III: Downfall
"How many?" Shara frowned with disappointment. She glared at Carmine as he gave her the morning report.
The large red drake looked at the dark orange male sitting with his queen. He winced as he sighed. "Two-thirds of the dragons and three-quarters of the moles have left."
The turquoise Queen sighed. "And how are my armies? I want to start preparing my invasions. There are still several Guardians to finish off..." She looked over at Dark Rift, watching as he clenched a dark crystal to keep from fading from existence. "And one to fix my mate."
Carmine gulped nervously. "We lost a large number of apes in the attack on New Schatten all those weeks ago, and I have heard reports the rest are too terrified of someone..." He glared at the orange dragon. "But, we still have several hundred of them, former troops of Pyrite. The Panthers are at full force, and we are trying to arm them as fast as possible. The cheetahs are out and are demanding Hunter's release. Wyverns are still around but they took a hit from resistance fighters. And the Dread Wings are grouped together to try and find Dragon's Claw."
The Queen simply nodded and pointed at Dark Rift. He sighed and stood up, walking to Carmine and slapping him with his tail. Shara snarled at the large drake. "For a former Guardian, Carmine, how could you be such an idiot when it comes to our military. You get every able-bodied soldier back here so we can account for everyone. Then you may resume searching the city."
A portal swirled open as Silvus stepped out, watching as Carmine stood in an attack pose. Shara and Dark Rift watched him closely as the silver drake walked up to them.
Dark Rift smirked as he saw the still bandaged wing of the light messenger. "Lookin good cousin, but I think it would be better if we just removed the wing altogether. You know, even it out?"
Silvus rolled his eyes. "One, you are not my cousin. You are the combination of evil and destruction. And two, I would prefer you not remove my wing. Breaking it was plenty. Now if you excuse me, I'd like to talk with Shara instead of some ghost farce."
Dark Rift's eye twitched. Silvus smirked and looked at the Queen. "Shara, while you may have royal blood, your murder spree against the Guardians, attack on New Schatten, and the torture of my REAL cousin show you are unfit to lead. I give you this one chance to surrender or we will have no choice but to take the city by force."
The Queen of Warfang laughed in amusement. "Surrender to a bunch of whelps? To you? Don't get me wrong Messenger, I knew you were cute as is, but now that I know you have humour, I'm almost sad I want to remove every scale from your flesh."
Silvus bowed. "Then I'm afraid to disappoint you. I've had plenty of things removed from my body, horns, claw and wing of course, and I have to say I'm not fond of it. So I'm afraid I cannot let you do that."
Shara chuckled. "Well then I must say no to the offer of surrender. If you tell us where Dragon's Claw is, I'm sure we can settle this matter the way we should, that being with you giving me the location of the remaining Guardians."
The Messenger of Light shook his head and slowly turned away. "Then I'm afraid we'll have to bring this Palace to rubble. We'll be here tomorrow at noon. Please don't make us fight, but we will if we must. "He began walking away, reaching into his satchel. A metal clang resounded in the Palace as he dropped a large helmet with a spike at the top." Oh yeah, no point in calling your Dread Wings. Rift personally took them out. Take care now."
A portal enveloped the silver drake and vanished, the only hint of his visit being the large helmet on the ground. Carmine stared in horror while Dark Rift looked at the Queen. Shara smirked and looked back. "I think I know how to make you whole again."
Silvus entered the city of Dragon's Claw with a strange feeling of excitement. He stopped and looked down at his trembling paws. Am I really that pleased with sticking it to them, or...
"Silvus!" Kara ran excitedly up to him. The Wind Guardian tried to slow down, but a paw slipped and she tumbled right into the messenger. She jumped up quickly and wagged as he stood. "I've got some great news!"
The ice drake blinked and tilted his head. "What is this great news you speak of Kara? I've got some news as well."
The white dragoness smiled softly. "You're a dad!"
Silvus stared at her for a moment as the news processed in his mind. With a gasp, he sprinted as fast as he could, arriving at the house minutes later. He flung the door open, seeing the happy faces of Rift, Sithris, and Neala.
Rift was silent but nodded his head in the direction of his and Kardia's room. The silver dragon gave a small smile of appreciation and stepped to the door. He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening it. What he saw made his heart leap for joy.
Laying curled up on his bed, his mate. He hadn't seen Kardia looking so peaceful in many months. There was almost an aura of affection emanating from her. A small cough from the messenger finally awoke the sleeping dragoness. She smiled, motioning him over. He cautiously approached.
Once he was right next to her, Kardia lifted a wing, showing an egg of deep blue. Light reflected off of it, almost saying that this egg would be the most valuable thing he would ever have. He and Kardia had added one more into their family.
Silvus didn't bother hiding the tears of joy as he curled up with his mate and egg. They were one.
Shara starred from her throne in curiosity as a group of moles continued working on a large slab of marble. She smirked, knowing that before the battle tomorrow, her mark would be left on the Realms for generations to come. She couldn't help but feel a small amount of worry though. While Dark Rift was just a combination of supernova and dark magic, he had plenty of energy to be fully sentient, with everything working. That should have included reproduction, but she was still without an egg.
Dark Rift nuzzled against her. "Come now my Queen, let us enjoy this night together. I have a warm bath waiting for you."
The turquoise dragoness looked at the ground. Maybe my mate needs to combine again with Rift? Dark magic could be tricky at times, even for the masters.
Shara smiled back at her mate. "Yes, let us enjoy our night. Come tomorrow, we will be quite busy celebrating our victory."
Neala yowled softly and snuggled under her blankets, smiling as her parents each gave her a kiss. She felt a bit nervous, knowing tomorrow that the fate of her new home and likely herself, rested on her parents and Uncle Silvus. "Please promise me that you'll come back."
The orange drake in the middle nodded. "I promise you that I will make sure we all come home. I was taken away from you once before, I won't let it happen again."
Sithris leaned over and placed his goggles on her head. "You keep these safe for me, okay my little tinkerer?"
The young dragoness giggled and nodded quickly. She looked at Kara. "Mommy, please kick that mean lady's butt for killing Uncle Zappy."
Kara chuckled softly and nodded. "If I run into her, you can bet Mama is going to set her straight." She chuckled to herself. Though, considering I have Rift and Sithy, I don't think I'm one for setting things straight. "Now we're depending on you to protect Aunt Kardia and her egg, alright? We'll make sure to finish things for good."
Neala nodded in understanding as her little eyes closed and she fell asleep.
Outside, Silvus motioned them around the table. He rubbed his neck and sighed. Everyone able to fight has volunteered. "You three will go there first. Get them all charging, and..." He handed Sithris a crystal." Call me. I'll teleport over. What are your guy's plans?"
Kara looked at her two mates and sighed. "I'll stay with you on the front line Silvus. The resistance could really benefit from having a Guardian with them."
Rift licked her cheek softly and looked at his cousin. "Shara and likely evil me will be in the Palace. I'll go after them."
Sithris' tail wrapped tightly around Rift's. "And I'M sticking with him." He glared at his mate's shock. "No, I'm not losing you again. Besides, someone needs to help even the odds."
Rift sighed in defeat, paw rubbing the bandana around his neck. "I should argue, but I rather you be with me in case Shara tries anything. You win this time. Just try and move out of the way this time. I rather not get impaled again."
Silvus shook himself. "It's been rough these many months." He hung his head." We... especially I, have made many mistakes. We've lost friends and family. Zapras had a long life ahead of him. We'll make sure to get them back for that. But for now, we rest. We have a long day tomorrow." With that, the silver drake left, joining Kardia and their egg in a deep slumber.
Sithris quickly ran into their room and came back with a gold ring. "It took a few days, but I figured you could go for a new ring since Shara destroyed the old one. It's good to have my pest back."
Rift smiled softly and let his two mates slide it to the base of his tail, sighing as their paws began roaming elsewhere. "Thank you two, but I still can't. Not while she's still haunting my dreams."
Kara and Sithris both nodded in understanding, leading the orange drake into the bedroom. Once he was curled up, they wrapped around him in comfort. Rift smiled slightly and looked at them.
"Malrak, yth re ir, Sithris vur Kara."