Moonwatcher

She brushed out her long, dark hair in front of the mirror, humming a soft tune and admiring the bright moons which hung low outside her window.

She felt peaceful and full of warmth knowing that she and Qibli had not damaged anything by demolishing their engagement.

"You're free to go where ever you like Moon, you and Winter." He had said, and strangely enough, he had looked peaceful too.

They had all decided, that she and Winter would stay a while longer, as to make sure to lessen the chances of some sort of scandal running amok among the SandWings. 

It would have been some news indeed if Queen Thorns Ward's betrothed disappeared in the middle of the night with the jilted mans best friend.

Moon knew that she wanted to lessen the damage as much as possible. For Qibli's sake more than her own.

It was Qibli himself who had suggested that he send them off publicly.

"If I give you my blessing, my honest blessing, there should be no real scandal. Not a long lasting one anyways." Qibli said.

"I still don't understand why you are agreeing to this so easily," Winter had frowned. Clearly still in a state of shock and confusion.

Qibli had shrugged. "I love Moon, and I feel that she loves me too. But I have come to realize that love does not lie within possession. Moon came to me freely of her own free will, and I accepted her. We were happy. Then I began to grow worried and unsure in her love and tried to contain her so as she couldn't flee. But the tighter I held her the farther away she went. If two people truly love each other, then there shan't be that doubt and concern. You see Winter," Qibli had turned his eyes to the IceWing.

"It doesn't matter how much you may love someone. If you cannot make them grow, and you alongside them, then the union will be doomed in the end."

"I hurt Moon, how can you imply that I'm right for her?" Winter asked.

"Because though you loved her, you were also strong enough to risk loosing her love by disagreeing with her. You didn't just want her to love you, you wanted her to see where she was wrong. I might, for the most part, make Moon happy. Our relationship would be clean and innocent and people would see two people in a healthy relationship. However, on the inside there would be a rotten patch. When we finally had a disagreement, it would be hurtful. We neither of us would know what to do. In the end, to make sure we stayed together, out of fear, one would give up their side of the argument and apologize. It would be forgotten but the problem would never be resolved. It would keep resurfacing again and again until what was pure and beautiful would hide a cold shadow."

"You seem to have thought quite a lot about all of this," Winter said.

"I have. I wouldn't give Moon away to someone I didn't know would have her better than me."

Moon reached forwards and grasped Qibli's warm hand in her own. Her eyes shone with affection, gratitude and warm light.

"I'm the one who can read minds," she said. "But you're the one who can see the truth Qibli."

He looked down, eyes glimmering with tears.

"Can we spend these last few days together?" He asked. "All of us?"

He looked at Winter. Winter looked at Moon, then they nodded.

That night, the three of them slept in the same room, wrapped up in blankets beside each other. 

They talked well into the night of random, pleasant things, and in the end they fell asleep, Moon and Winter, sitting on either side of Qibli, rested their heads on his shoulders, and they all slept, not as lovers, but as friends. Just as they were before.

Deathbringer

His head pounded like a chorus of drums. It was worse than the one time he had gone above his alcohol limit and had woken to the delightful sensation of something like a blacksmith banging away inside his head. Three times worse.

He groaned and opened his eyes, slowly, painfully.

There wasn't much to look at. Grey stone surrounded him. No windows, no light.

He tried to move and found himself unable to do so. His hands were bound tightly behind his back. His knife had been removed, as well as his cloak and his tunic. His back was pressed against the cold hard surface of the wall.

That was when it all came rushing back, along with a sense of hopelessness and fear.

The plan had failed. They hadn't all escaped after all. He was left behind. 

He tasted the bland, rusty taste of blood. The side of his face was sticky and uncomfortable. He didn't have to look to know that there was blood on him. Lots of it.

There was a foreboding clang of a key scraping in a lock and a heavy door swinging open.

Sarai's diamond black eyes glittered with malice and darkness. His twitching fingers tapped an uneven rhythm on the handle of his whip. The thin, black, snakelike rope was coiled at his belt, the glimmering hooked tip shining silver in the torchlight that had accompanied its master.

Ginger followed behind him, stout, round face gleaming with excitement.

"Good morning. How are we today?" he asked in a cheerful voice.

Deathbringer glowered at him.

"Oh now, don't pout m'boy. We're both grown men aren't we? Let's behave like them yes?"

The sweet, condescending manner of which his voice embodied was sickening.

"I just want some information dear, that is all. A teeny, weeny bit of information, surely we can manage that, can't we?"

He leaned forwards, eagerness in his eyes.

"Well?" He prodded.

"Go sard yourself," Deathbringer spat. 

Ginger drew back, the jolly look on his face replaced by one of cool disapproval. 

"What a dirty word from such a beautiful mouth," he said, as though he were actually sorry. 

Then his eyes hardened. "How many people guard Queen Glory?" He asked.

"Three? Maybe, two. Could be a hundred, I wouldn't know."

"Oh wouldn't you," Gingers hands clenched into fists. 

"I'm not telling you anything."

A sharp slap echoed throughout the room and Deathbringer felt his cheek sting from the impact. 

Ginger grabbed his chin in his hands and yanked his head upwards. "I'm going to ask you again NightWing, and this time you had better think before you answer." His fingertips caressed Deathbringers cheek. "I don't want to harm any more of this . . . beauty. But I shall, if I must." His voice was a whisper now, and Deathbringer felt a sick chill run down his spine when he saw the look in the older mans eyes.

"Deathbringer," Ginger said softly. "Tell me, how many people guard Queen Glory?"

Deathbringers mouth was dry.

"Tell me," Ginger whispered in his ear. "Tell me, and I'll reward you. Name it, whatever you want, it shall be yours."

"Anything?" Deathbringer breathed.

"Anything." Ginger trailed his fingers slowly down Deathbringers neck.

A moment later, a shadow fell across Deathbringers eyes. Ginger saw it and began to pull back, but not fast enough.

Deathbringers head smashed into the mans own. There was a thunk as bone crashed into bone and Ginger pulled away with with a howl, blood streaming out of his nose.

"Like I said, go sard yourself." Deathbringer hissed. 

"You beast!" Ginger snarled. "My nose! Oh my beautiful nose! It's broken . . . good god, it is broken!" He fumbled around in his pocket and drew out a handkerchief to hold to his bleeding nose.

Then he started to laugh. "Well, It's not like I expected it to be easy. I shall have to work on you. It is better that way, more fun." He turned to the door.

"Sarai, do what you can to convince him, I'm off to get this," he gestured towards his nose, "taken care of. Be sure to keep him alive though."

"As you say."

The door was shut, and Deathbringer was left alone with the SandWing.

"I won't tell you anything." Deathbringer informed him stubbornly. "You will have to kill me."

"That's what they all say, " Sarai began uncoiling his whip, calmly. "But they all talk in the end, you'll be no different."

Deathbringer closed his eyes, awaiting for the stinging lash of the whip.

However it didn't come. Instead he felt the binds on his hands become loose and fall away.

Surprise opened his eyes and he brought his freed hands up to his eyes.

"Why did you-" a blunt blow sent him into the wall, knocking the breath from his lungs. He lay there, stunned while he struggled to draw breath.

"There's no fun in torturing a rabbit that's been chained up," Sarai grinned, towering above him. 
He grabbed a handful of Deathbringers hair and pulled him upright.

"What do you say, Rabbit? Shall we play?"

Stars danced in Deathbringers eyes as his head was slammed into the wall. He slid to the floor.

"Are you tired already? Is the Rabbit too tired to play?"

Deathbringer lifted a hand to his head and brought it away, covered in blood.

Sarai sat on him, legs on either side of his waist, hands clasped around his throat, squeezing.

Deathbringer clawed at the fingers constructing his airway. His vision blurring. Somewhere inside, a voice cried out, "Please! Let this be the end, finish me!" 

His lungs begged for air, the strength seeped from his limbs.

"Beg me," Sarai hissed in his ear. "Beg me to let you live."

"Please-" Deathbringer choked. "Please-"

Merciful oblivion seemed near.

Then the hands were gone. Sarai stepped away from him, a strangely unsettled look in his eyes.

Deathbringer lay on the ground, gasping.

"You're weak." Sarai said quietly. Then abruptly, his voice rose to a startling pitch.

"You're weak!" He kicked Deathbringer in the ribs. "Weak! Weak! Weak!" He dropped to his knees, grabbed Deathbringer by the shoulders and shook him, a wild, terrified look in his eyes. 
"They'll destroy you! They'll rip you to pieces! They'll tear your soul from the body!"

Deathbringer didn't have the strength to push him off, but he didn't need to. Sarai staggered off him, clutching his head and whimpering like a dog.

"Velvet," he sobbed. "Velvet I'm sorry. Please Velvet, he made me do it! It wasn't me! He did it! He did it! He always does it! You know it wasn't me, you know I would never do it."

He huddled on the floor, hugging himself and rocking from side to side.

"It's okay Velvet, it's okay, don't cry, I'll protect you." His voice was soft now, calm and young.

"I won't do it again. You won't leave me Velvet, will you? No, you won't you promised that you wouldn't. It's okay Velvet, I'll keep you safe. He won't hurt you again. Velvet? Velvet I-" 

"GET OUT!" His voice screeched. He grabbed his head in his hands and slammed into the wall repeatedly. "Get OUT! I HATE you!"

Sarai seemed to jolt out of himself. He froze, straightened, and moved with stiff movements towards the door, not pausing even once to look back at the person laying on the ground.

He was gone.

Deathbringer couldn't bring his body to move. He shut his eyes tight and gritted his teeth against the pain that hummed throughout his entire body. 

The last thing he thought before the darkness claimed him was two things.

Glory, I'm sorry, I miss you.

And, 

Who the hell is Velvet?

A. N PLEASE READ

Who is Velvet indeed? That will become clear soon. Also in case anyone is wondering, Ginger likes men.

I would just like to take a moment to warn all of my readers about something before you decide to continue reading this book.

My imagination is dark, and is growing darker. So is this story. There will be a lot of mentions about blood, violence, abuse, mental disorders and disturbances and things like that.

If you are uncomfortable with this sort of thing, please don't feel obliged to continue reading. I know I'm really taking this story off the "Wings Of Fire" idea, which you may find annoying, but I can't help it.

I'm older now, than when I first read W.o.F, and all though I still LOVE the characters, the usual story isn't quite as interesting anymore. I hope you at least sort of get what I mean? 

I don't want to just let go of the characters, but I have to make the story grow up a little with me in order to still take interest in it while writing it. 

I've become extremely interested in psychology, more specifically, criminal psychology, so I've been adding some of that kind of thing in here.

Once again, please try to understand, and if you feel that you aren't comfortable with any or some of the subjects in here, then don't read. I can't make you, so you be sure to pay attention to how you feel. I have read things I wasn't ready for out of curiosity and got very deeply disturbed afterwards.

Anyways, it's not going to be that  crazy, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention anyways :)

Also this story does 100% have a happy ending. As much as I like all the tragical, dark stuff, I am a sucker for happy endings, so just in case you were worried, there you go :)

Sorry for the long Authors not btw