With the echo of that thought repeating in her mind -- sometimes in her own voice, or in Tidi’s voice, or in her Mator’s voice -- Coquina moved. She stepped carefully, eyes flitting between the earth as she dodged twigs and branches, and the sky where the Teffré sat. Her green-scaled assignment.
She circled the tree within a minute or less, until she could see every spine that glinted from the Teffré’s back. Slowly, precisely, she moved forward, letting her wings unfold a little with every step.
All she had to do was ascend that tree. As soon as she was through the canopy, it wouldn’t matter how much noise she made. She just had to--
Blood. So much blood. It pooled around the body of a green dragon, a Teffré, a guard. Green scales edged with red, stained forever. Amber eyes lifeless, as dark and dull as the night sky.
Coquina blinked, hard, feeling aches dig into her skull as the image embedded itself in the back of his mind. She couldn’t chase it away. It lingered, leaking blood over all her thoughts, freezing every one of her scales in place.
Pressing her fangs together in an attempt to force the sickening image away, she looked back up at the guard above her. She flinched. The bloodied dragon in her mind settled over the one before her, flashing, showing a body crashing through the trees. Her own white tail slashed across his chest, slicing the ridges between his scales, sending blood splattering across the trees.
She shook her head, and it was gone. He was alive again, perfectly stationary and untouched. Yet. Her chest tightened, and she knew she couldn’t make herself move.
If she continued, what she had seen would happen. And no matter how weak it was, her heart clenched at the thought.
Dipping her head, she backed away, carefully moving her feet away from the tree while her eyes remained fixed on the guard. Her determination had vanished. She had no drive to commit murder, not anymore.
Selen had stolen light in the hopes of making the world like her. She had succeeded in the opposite way. Coquina would not make the same mistake as the demon of the moon.
For all the light in the world, she would not kill this dragon.
In that instant, one decisive action was switched for another. Perhaps there was another way -- a way to remove the guard from his post without killing him. Even as the thought shot through her mind, another image flashed over the dragon above. Her tail lashing into his head, sending him thumping to the forest floor. No, not even that. She could catch him before he fell. It wouldn’t even hurt him much, just enough to secure him into unconsciousness for long enough to move him.
Maybe she could hide him in a bush. Maybe she could take him into Viridium territory and tie him up, as if he’d been kidnapped or just attacked while soldiers moved in. A similar effect, but one that did not result in murder.
With the idea grasped firmly in her mind, Coquina flicked out her wings, ready to fly through the canopy. But before she could even flap them once, one wing collided with a tangle of brambles, forcing a yelp from her snout.
The sound seemed to fill the silence of the nightly forest. Along with the thrashing of her wing caught in thorns, it was impossible for her to go on unnoticed any longer. The guard’s amber eyes snapped towards her, widened, then narrowed in fury.
He opened his jaw wide. Heat lit his fangs with a tinge akin to his focused eyes. Flames were building at the back of his throat, and any second now, he would release them, forming an alarm call that would destroy every step of secretiveness Hiedium had built up over the decades.
Coquina had destroyed that. Her attempted act of goodwill had destroyed her leader’s every plan.
She was so distracted, frozen by her own failure, that she didn’t notice the blur of scales at first. Not until they engulfed the green-scaled guard, muffling his call, transforming his mighty flame to mere smoke and sparks.
A tail, spiked and patched with grey and brown, coiled around the guard. The spike at its tip sliced straight through his back, protruding from his chest soaked in blood. The light faded in the guard’s eyes as his struggling muscles fell limp, wings dragging through the branches as he collapsed to the forest floor. His attacker’s aim had been purposeful, piercing his heart easily.
Bile rose in Coquina’s throat. She didn’t move, but the guard was right before her. There was no looking away. Somehow, seeing his death in real life, rather than in a distorted vision, felt so much worse.
It had happened. She’d tried to prevent it, but it had happened regardless.
Swallowing hard, she tore her gaze from the Teffré’s broken form and looked to identify his attacker. A weakened gasp jerked her head back.
She met eyes with Fresto. Her Subil had followed her out here.
“Why…” The question died in her throat. She knew why. She couldn’t be trusted to do an adequate job. And she’d proved them right.
Fresto said nothing. He only ripped his tail from the guard’s body, dislodging several green scales in the process, and spread his wings. Their short battle had torn down several branches, creating an opening in the forest large enough for them to escape through.
He jerked his head to the side, his expression cold, not fully looking at her. Then he was airborne, a spec of grey and brown amongst the black of night.
Coquina didn’t quite feel awake. Perhaps this was all one horrible nightmare, and soon she would awake, free from the sight of blood. And its stench. That metallic tang filled the air in clouds, making her feel as if she were inhaling blood itself.
But it wasn’t a nightmare, and she had to leave before any other guard caught her standing beside the corpse. Staggering past him, gaze unfocused and yet somehow taking in every detail of the dead dragon, she forced her wings to unfold. Dimly, she was aware of scratches stinging on her right wing, the results of the brambles. But she paid them no attention as she leaped into the sky.
The light was stolen, a life taken. She hadn’t been the one to take it. But somehow, deep within her, Coquina had the sickening feeling that she’d face the consequences regardless.
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