Cursed: Chapter Seven: Investigation

Chapter Seven

Investigation

    "It can only be two things. At least, that I know of." Winter had invited me over to his den that night to talk things over, and I had reluctantly agreed. Maybe Guardian guy wouldn't want to spy on me if there was a dragon right next to me. But something told me it was going to be harder than that to shake him off. Now Winter and I were sitting, discussing the observatory crisis.

    "But it's possible it's something you've never heard of before."

    "It's always possible it's something I've never heard of before." I leaned back against the wall, picturing Bull's body. "But in this case, I doubt it."

    "What do you think they are?" Winter asked doubtfully.

    "See, that's the thing. The only two things I know that have black venom are, one, RainWings. But it can't be them," I added, as Winter opened his mouth to protest. "They don't actually sink their fangs into their prey. They spray their venom instead. And plus, they're vegetarians. What in the moons would they want with a scavenger?"

    "So, not RainWings."

    "For now. It's a slim chance, but it may be a RainWing. But anyway, it's probably something else." I frowned, rubbing my forehead. "I've heard them mentioned before at Jade Mountain, but I don't know much about them. I'm pretty sure they have black venom, though. Do you have any scrolls here? I should probably check."

    Winter got up and walked over to a corner of the den. "I think so? Maybe Moon left some here. Riptide's thinking of building a library, so he was asking a few dragons if they had any scrolls they didn't mind giving. What do you need?"

    "Preferably something on reptiles."

    Winter pushed away an animal hide from a pile in the corner and pulled out a scroll from the pile. He squinted at the title and muttered, "Nope." He turned and got the rest of them, sorting through and muttering, "Nope. Nope. Nope." until he got to the bottom and made an "aha" sound. He pulled out a yellow scroll and unrolled it, coming back to spread it on the ground in front of me.

    I blinked at the letters, realizing there was one part I hadn't thought through. "Well, I can't actually read Dragon, but thankfully it's illustrated." I ran my finger along it, peering intently at the detailed illustrations, hoping I could find it. "Here. Could you read this?"

    Winter leaned forward. "This one?"

    "Yeah."

    "Uh, dragonbite vipers. These deadly snakes usually reside in the Kingdom of Sand, thriving in the hot, dry climate. They come in multiple colors, and are thankfully rare, probably due to the fact that they are hunted all over the continent. They are famous for being the only type of snake able to kill a dragon with a single bite. One of these snakes was responsible for the death of Princess Burn the night the dragonets of destiny chose Queen Thorn to be the next queen of the SandWings. Their venom results in a slow and efficient death, starting as a black starburst..." Winter trailed off, seeing what I was getting at. "You think a dragonbite viper killed him?"

    "I think it's the most likely solution. Snakes are small and this one apparently can kill pretty silently, which would explain why no one heard anything. But if this snake is still in the observatory, we could have a big problem." I bit my lip and met Winter's gaze. "And not just for the observatory folk."

    Winter's eyes widened and he closed his wings tighter around his body, which dragons tend to do without noticing when they're nervous.

    "Have you seen anything?" I continued.

    Winter raised his wings in a helpless gesture. "No? I wasn't aware I should be on the lookout for dragonbite vipers."

    I fingered the clasp of my cloak nervously. "It'll be dangerous for them to be living in such close quarters with a deadly snake. You, too. Do you have anywhere you can keep them until we find it?"

    "Uh, no. I guess I could make another one. But that would take too long."

    "Yeah." I leaned back on my heels, running through every conversation I had heard between dragons. "We need someone who can help keep them organized. Someone who speaks scavenger. I can't do it if I'm dragonbite viper hunting. And I don't know any scavengers who'll help."

    "I think I know who could help," Winter said. "Prince Smolder has a scavenger that he calls Flower. Maybe she could help? She seems pretty happy."

    I nodded slowly, biting my lip again. "That might just work."

    Prince Smolder arrived at Sanctuary two days afterwards, escorted by a few SandWing soldiers, as a precaution. Flower was riding on his back, holding on tightly and looking confused. He landed on the outskirts, where Winter and I were waiting. "Hello," Smolder said. "The messenger said there was trouble at the scavenger observatory?"

    "Yes," Winter said with a respectful dip of his head. "I think that a dragonbite viper might be loose there, and I was wondering if Flower would be willing to help contain the other scavengers while we move them to a safer location until we find it."

    Smolder gave Flower, who had just slid off his back, a doubtful look. "And you think she'll be able to help?"

    "I'm hoping so."

    Smolder shrugged. "Well, I'll be back in a week to check on how things are going. She's used to having free rein and usually eats nuts, fruit, and things like that."

    Winter nodded. "I've had a scavenger before. I'll do my best to protect her."

    "Thank you," said Smolder. He gave Flower a reassuring look and flew off.

    Once he was out of earshot, I came forward. "Hey."

    Flower turned, startled. "Oh. Hi."

    "I'm Hazel."

    "Rose."

    Rose? Smolder must have gotten her name wrong. "Yeah, well, Winter and I kind of have a problem and I was wondering if you could help."

    Rose blinked. "Winter? The ice dragon?"

    Oh, right. She didn't speak Dragon. "Yeah. I speak Dragon. Just a little heads up."

    Rose's face lit up. "Oh, you speak Dragon! I met someone who spoke it once, but she didn't have a lot of time to teach me before she went off somewhere. So, what problem?"

    "Well, have you ever heard of dragonbite vipers?"

    "Here." Winter opened the door to the observatory. "You should probably get them out quickly before any more of them die."

    I made a face at him. "Thank you, Mr. Cheerful. Very helpful." I sighed and turned away, rolling my eyes. The observatory folk looked very nervous, and I knew why. One of them had just died. Who was saying the rest of them wouldn't? "Hey, everyone! Listen up!"

    The villagers jumped and looked up. They looked pretty confused to see Rose there, standing next to me without looking completely terrified, which I guessed most people looked like when they first arrived.

    "This is Rose from the SandWing -sorry- desert dragon palace. She's here to help you all move to a safer location until we can get this thing sorted out."

    "Can we go back home?" someone asked hopefully.

    Rose stepped forward. "Not right now, but maybe in the future. We'll be moving you to Winter's cave in the meantime. I'll do a roll call every morning, noon, and evening, so don't even think about trying to sneak off. Also, any attempts to murder, slay, assassinate, or any other version of kill a dragon will immediately be stopped. No one's killing any dragons on my watch. In my experience, that really doesn't end well. Got it?"

    I hid a grin. I had a feeling that Rose was just right for this job. I turned and gave a thumbs-up to Winter. He nodded but I could see a flicker of worry in his eyes. I personally agreed with him. We weren't out of the danger zone yet, and we wouldn't be until we had hunted down the dragonbite viper. But some sort of tingling in the back of my mind told me that even that wasn't the climax of my story. There was something bigger. My curse.