Here's the next chapter in a commission for the cutie bat:  jkbscopes123. Following on from this! Expect updates to this as my story commissions open! Thanks for commissioning me!

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 Xenna:

Not once, in her whole life, had Xenna been put down in such a way. Sure, she had past queens hold dominion over her. The past town’s leadership and bands of outlaws, all of whom had held sway over her for a time. Yet through her wit, cunning guile, and manipulation skills, she had always ended up coming out on top. Having the ability to look like anyone she wanted to, packing a venomous bite and a breath of fire often helped that, true. But she had never once failed to use her mind to get what she wanted. Only now, with her home and all she’d built laying in utter shambles simply because of her brother’s own stupidity, she was at a loss as to how to proceed.

I should really just kill them all. She thought, disguised as a vesper dragoness as she made her way down the cell-lined hall of her underground home. I could have taken them hours ago, now their guard is down, it should be no issue.

She had been considering the idea ever since lulling their leader, Violet, into a false sense of security. Yet where her lackeys were lacking in true skill, the princess herself was not so easily fooled. The purple-tinted, royal vesper had her eyes on the disguised bug, Xenna could feel her scrutinous gaze like hot daggers pressed to the back of her neck, and while it was nothing she wasn’t used to, the xeno-drake knew when and when not to act. It could take weeks, but she was sure having Violet believe she was in charge was the best idea for now. So she would play the role of unwilling guide for a time, if only to find her brother, and maybe the means to rebuild her home. 

To think they believe they can just storm in here and ruin everything I built. She thought bitterly, as the pair of them passed several broken cells, the prisoners within long since having fled. I would have loved to see them try and pull this on the queens of old, foolish surface dragons.

Even so, despite her simmering frustration, she set the bubbling pot of angst brewing in the back of her mind aside, putting on her best pleasant helpful facade. If nothing else, she was the best at making others believe the opposite of what she truly wanted, and now was no exception. Regardless of Violet’s suspiciousness. There was at least the fact that the vesper princess was not the worst dragoness to be forced to play, if all turned out as she planned, the vesper would repay her for the damages her raid had caused by becoming her most praised brood host.

The things I would do with a womb like that to breed. The disguised drake masked her primitive thoughts, the most common thoughts of her race as she did all she could to maintain her facade. I’ll make a new hive soon enough, with her as my favorite brooder.

It was almost gleeful to see the princess utterly unaware of such an erotic fate, most dragons should be glad to bear the broods of such a superior race. Insisted, the royal vesper was far too focused on the here and now as she eyed the cells on either side of them carefully, the tapping of her claws on the sleek tile floor the best indicator she was right behind Xenna, before she finally cleared her throat and spoke up.

“How much further is it?” Her voice was level and firm, echoing from the walls of the dank cavern as if the rock itself feared to hold onto her authority. “If you are thinking of leading me into a trap, be warned.”

Such a fool, as if I would be so obvious. Xenna thought, doing all she could not to roll her eyes as she glanced back over her shoulder with a small smirk. She really has no idea who she is dealing with.

“Please, darling, if I was looking to lead you into a trap, there are several we have already passed.” She nodded back to the tunnels behind them. “Don’t worry, I said I’d help you find my brother and your price, I’m a drake of my word.”

The look on Violet’s face made it very clear she believed that just about as much as she believed the disguise Xenna was wearing. Yet the drake expected as much, she’d made her mimicked form obvious for a reason.

“Forgive me if I withhold my judgment on that,” Violet stated bluntly, then snorted. “And I’m not your darling.”

“Whatever you say, darling,” Xenna added with a small huff, nodding ahead as she ruffled her wings and gave a coy flick go her tail. “The cell Xeno had him in is just up here.”

Yet again, Violet looked anything but convinced as she eyed the walls, then the floor as if looking for prints or any evidence to suggest where her prince may have gone. All the while, Xenna was prepared for some kind of betrayal the moment the princess had what she wanted. Her claws were ready and if she could get the royal Vesper in a cell alone, all the better.

The fact she came down here with me alone proves her stupidity already. That. Or her desperation. Both were things the shapeshifter knew she could prey upon. It’s all just a matter of time and patience, Xenna. You know that.

She knew such things better than anyone as the two of them finally came upon the cell. The door had been broken into, seemingly from the outside, just like the rest, while at least three vesper guards were cocooned within by green resin, another knocked out cold. One was strung up on the wall like a fly in a spider’s web, while the others were pinned to the floor by the stick, green bands.

“Well, well, looks like these ones did a great job,” Xenna observed coyly, sure that any guard that could be bested her whelp of a brother wasn’t a guard worth their weight in scales. Or fur, in their case.

Regardless, Violet shot her disguised guide a sour look as she glassed about, as if searching for a trap, before shoving past, and into the cell. That was it, Xenna had her, she could just step back and cocoon the doorway, trapping all four of them inside.

No, no, Xenna, not yet, let her really think you are on her side, let her give you all the information you need first too. The drake stole away her baser instincts, leaning against the wall with a casual disinterest as Violet moved to the aid of her cocooned guards. She can’t even find them without me, anyway.

“Soldier, are you all right?” the princess asked the guard pinned to the floor, kneeling beside him as she asked urgently. “Tell me everything, what happened?”

The guard coughed and spluttered, grasping at the resin bounds of his neck. They were tight, not quite enough to choke him, but enough to impair his speech. Xenna could see the obvious marks that had covered his nose too, the work was sloppy, applied in a rush. Undoubtedly the work of her brother given the resin’s emerald-green hue.  

I swear, the moment I get my claws on that bug, he’s gonna be sorry! She thought, well aware she was only in this mess because her brother had bitten off way more than he could chew, yet at the same time, her maternal side did just want him back. Don’t think that far ahead, focus on this here and now, you know how it works.

“Release, him, now!” Violet called, looking back up at Xenna as she rested a foreclaw on the pinned guard’s restraints. “Like you did the others, I know you can.”

“I can, but you’ll have to ask a little nicer than that, princess,” Xenna cooed, cocking her head, and fluttering her pale blue eyes. “Or is that how you talk to all of your soldiers?”

The pined guard looked far more confused than the princess, as the royal vesper frowned and snorted a huff of ice vapor. Yet after only a small snarl she relented.

“Please, let him go,” she asked reluctantly, and with a sweeping motion Xenna knelt beside the guard, licked one forepaw, and passed the wet appendage upon the resin. “It works on goo that’s not yours too, I see?”

“Perceptive as always,” Xenna cooed as the resin bounds started to fizzle, then melt, electing a gasp from the soldier as he lurched upwards. “Xeno and I are brood mates, I can still melt his resin, and vice versa.”

Perceptive indeed. Xenna noted, very sure Violet was stashing that new information away just as easily as Xenna had given it to her. Trust me, princess, you’ll only hear what I want you to hear.

She was sure that dynamic was mutual, the lack of trust went both ways, only she was fully aware she was far better at manipulation than the blunt, brash, and bold princess. Even so, as the guard hacked and coughed, catching what breath the bounds had been keeping from him, he staggered up. Violet cradled the back of his neck, looking on in worry for a few moments before his deep breaths finally slowed and he pressed a forepaw to his heaving chest.

So, she cares about them a lot? It was another thing Xenna stashed away in the back of her devious mind for later, noting that Violet didn’t even spare her a glance as she tended to her fallen wingmate. Isn’t compassion just the easiest thing to manipulate? 

She knew that better than anyone, those souls who cared about one another were far weaker to the ploys of dragoness like her. Yet that was just another thing she stashed away in the back of her mind as the soldier finally cleared his throat and gasped.

“Princess, i–is that you?” he stammered, looking up at her as if he had seen a ghost. “There was an imposter, how… How do I know?”

Violet blinked, seemingly taken off guard by the muttering accusation, while Xenna rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what had happened.

Xeno, you sly bug, quick thinking though. She inwardly remarked to herself, as she coughed and added.

“Look at her eyes, are they the same as what you saw?” she asked, and the two vespers looked at each other, then at her.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” the guard asked, and Xenna frowned, only for Violet to snap his attention back to her with a jolt.

“She’s an informant, now, tell me about the last fall of the blood moon, only soldiers of my wing know that,” she pressed, and the pair went on reciting oaths about frozen valleys and red moons in the night.

Xenna pretended to look as disinterested as she could, casually inspecting a fuzzy foreclaw, and frowning at the long, clumsy talons. Yet she noted every detail of the oath, something she was pretty sure Violet would come to regret letting her in on.

Obviously not as careful as I first thought. She noted, seeing her compassion for her soldier as yet another weakness. This is going to be no issue at all.

Even so, seemingly finally convinced that he was in fact talking to his true princess and not some imposter like Xenna’s brother, the soldier opened up.

“There was an imposter, they looked like you… But it was wrong, the eyes were off and they spoke nonsense,” he elaborated, seemingly still troubled by the experience.

“Someone you know?” Violet deadpanned, looking at Xenna, but the shapeshifter merely shrugged as she responded simply.

“Xeno can mimic the same as me, probably trying to trick them into standing down. Obviously did do a good job.” The soldier and the princess both frowned at her, while the latter muttered bitterly.

“Then I’d hate to see what a good job is.” Xenna could barely hide her smile as she picked up on those words, false ears twitching atop her head.  

Oh, don’t worry, I’ll show you that soon enough, princess. She thought as Violet went on questioning.

“No mention of where they’re going, was my brother with them?” The guard nodded and shook his head respectively, and the princess frowned. “Night curses, where can he go, the only place left is into the desert, or south again.”

At that revelation, Xenna’s attention piqued. She knew the desert better than anyone, and by extension, so did her brother. If the runaway prince had any will to make Xeno guide him the same as his sister was trying to force her into the same role, she knew exactly where they’d go.  

“Now, now, that is a question, isn’t it?” she mused, tapping her forepaw to the tip of her furry muzzle in mock thought. “The desert is a vast, dangerous place, your prince will probably be dead long before you find him.”

“Then I’ll bring father back a body,” Violet hissed, staggering to her feet as she nodded to the stumbling guard “Help the others down, we make ready to pursue.”

“You’ll end up a corpse all the same. The sun will cook you, that’s if the sand boars don’t just eat you.” Xenna counted out the dangers on a foretalon as if they were the simplest things in the world. “Then there’s quicksand, razor storms, sulfur fields…”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Violet huffed, running a claw over the back of her neck. “We go at night, make ready for plenty of supplies.”

“And the manticores will hunt you,” Xenna corrected, before adding coyly “There’s no safe way across the desert.”

Violet scowled at the disguised vesper, looking the fake form up and down, much to Xenna’s smug satisfaction as the princess finally asked.

“What way do you know of?” Xenna smirked ear to ear as she casually flicked one of her foreclaws free of sand.

“I know the safest way, not through the desert, but under it,” she responded, and Violet’s frown deepened.

“The lost empire of Scarbi, you’re kidding right?” she asked, almost with a laugh, but Xenna made sure to shoot her a look that told her she was anything but joking as she added.

“With an attitude like that, you’ll never find your brother. Because you can be damn sure that’s the way Xeno will have led him.” The humor evaporated from the royal vesper as she eyed Xenna suspiciously, then sighed.

“And you know the way through?” she asked, and the shapeshifter nodded, her smirk returning.

“Not to mention how to track my brother, and where he will most likely seek to enter.” She leaned against the wall, nodding to the soldiers strutting with the resin. “Though you’ll have to travel light and in few numbers… And of course, it’ll cost you.”

“Of course it will, what doesn’t cost me a wing and a leg?” Violet moaned to herself as she looked at her soldiers, all of which were finally free. “Fine, we do things your way, but I think you’re gonna step one paw out of line and I’ll…”

“Kill me? Yes, you’ve made that pretty clear,” Xenna cooed, then added. “But if you insist, it’s right this way princess.”  

She made a sweeping motion to the door, mimicking a making bow as Violet huffed and stepped through. We’ll see who ends up getting one over on who yet, princess.

*

It had been some time since Xenna had been under the intense heat of the true desert sun. The vast wasteland was a harsh sea of sand, bones, and death, as far as the eye could see upon the shimming horizon of heat. Yet where many would simply wander for an eternity in the cruel wilderness, doomed to die and add to the countless skeletons that littered the vast dunes, she knew exactly where she was going.

Violet had insisted she walk at the head of the group, and so she had for the day and a half they’d been out here. Flying in the desert was just asking to get cooked, the relentless sun on unfurled wings was as sure a way to be struck down by heatstroke as any. While Xenna’s own form mimicked her companions’ she had a notable layer of sleek fluids on her back, an adaptation subtle enough as to not show off her true form, yet just enough to keep the sun’s harsh gleam from cooking her.

The same could not be said for the true vespers, dragons hailing from high mountain peaks were way out of their depth here. Yet she could not tell whether Violet looked upon her wax-coated back in disgust, or envy. True, it was not the prettiest sight, but if nothing else Xenna considered herself practical. When she had to wear a pretty face to entice in fresh prey, so be it. When she had to coat her fake fur in waxy resin to avoid the sun, that was what she would do.

And yet she looks at me like I’m the monster. I’m not the one who upturned her whole livelihood. True, to Violet, it probably looked like a syndicate of hives and kidnapping was not the most feasible livelihood, yet that was the case with all surface dragons. We’ll just see, she’ll find out just how efficient such things can be soon enough.

Devious thoughts had not left the shapeshifter’s mind since they had departed the city. Violet had refused to let Xenna get aid from any of her contacts, reciting that if she wanted repaying for the losses, she had to do things alone, and the princesses’ way. Sure, Xenna had planned to use such contracts to blindside the royal vesper at the first chance she got, then she could really search for her brother. The lost prince should surely have been a fitting bargaining chip, along with his sister. Yet Violet was a worthy opponent, she was always just one small step behind the shapeshifter.

There’s more than one way to swat a bat. She thought, certain folks got lost out in the sands all the time. I could just wait for them to cook to death.  

Looking back at the five or so vespers left, drooping like wilting flowering as they panted and huffed, cooking like fresh crabs in their armor. She didn’t imagine she would have to wait too long for that to transpire.

And lose the value of one royal to the desert? No thank you. She was swift to remind herself as she led the way over the peak of another vast dune. I still mean to come out of this richer than before.

“How far is it now?” panted the princess as she crested the dune behind Xenna, loose sand slipping away under her paws. “You said we could make it before dawn.”

“And you said you could move at twice the pace we have been going,” Xanna countered, looking back. “You should have lost the armor, like I suggested.”

“I told you the last thing I will allow is you an opportunity to stab me in the back,” Violet stated bluntly, glowering at the shapeshifter. “Just lead the way and do as I say.”

“Oh, of course, your highness,” Xenna countered, stooping into a low bow, before graciously plopping her butt down on the sand dune.

“What are you doing?” the royal vesper asked, as her guards came to a stop on the peak behind her. “We’re cooking out here!”

She stomped a forepaw in the dust and Xenna’s eyes fixed on the offending limb faster than lightning. She jabbed her own foreclaw at the princess, forcing the soldiers to lurch to her aid as she decaled in a hushed tone.

“Don’t disturb the sands.” She eyed each of the guards dangerously, pretty sure they were well aware she could still kick their tails like last time.

Violet, on the other paw, gave her a suspicious look, her eyes narrowing as she softly set her forepaw down, ushering her guards to relax with a wing too.

“What game are you playing, what are we doing here in the middle of nowhere?” she asked, and Xenna leaned back, loose sand shifting under her weight as she nodded to the vast desert ahead of them. 

“Take a look, it’s right about now you can actually see it.” As if awaiting her permission to do so, the sun stuck its full height above the desert sky, and upon the shimmering horizon emerged a huge shape.

As if bleeding into reality between the ripping lines of heat that radiated from the hot sands, the monolithic structure of sandstone and sun-baked rock appeared like a ship upon the desert. Mirrors upon its elegantly-carved flanks shimmered like gold, while a pyramid-like peak gleamed like a snowy mountain top at dawn. If it had not been a sandy ruin, Xanna may have been impressed, but the hall of cartography was something she’d already seen a hundred times. Her companions on the other paw, looked on in slight bafflement, even the princess appeared impressed.

“What is that?” Violet asked, her mouth a little agape as Xenna stood and shook sand from her wings.

“That is the Scarbi hall of cartography, the only place with a map of the change ways, a map you could understand anyway,” she elaborated, earning a scowl from the royal vesper.

“You could have told me that was our destination,” she huffed, but Xenna shrugged and led on regardless.

“Like you would have believed me.” She flicked her tail, smirking back over her shoulder. “But let’s not delay, your highness, like you said, you’re already cooking out here.”

*

The vast halls within the great ruin towered far above the group as they stepped down the steep slope of sand. Xenna didn’t care to admit it, but being out of the sweltering sun was at least a relief as she shook off her gooey protection with a burst of sapphire change fire, much to the chagrin of her companions. The blue flash did have the added effect of lighting up the halls, displaying the many faded murals and monstrous insectoid statues that loomed all around them like silent guardians. Bones littered the dusty flood, faded marble tapping under their claws as every crumbling entrance arch cast a bright beam of sun and bled a mound of sand. It was as much a tomb as it was a temple, but it mattered not to Xenna as she glanced back.

“The map chamber is just ahead, follow me,” she called, leading on as Violet nodded back to her wing.

“Light the way and watch our backs, any trouble, call it out the moment you see it.” The group uttered an obedient yes ma’am. Offering stoic wing salutes at her orders and they all fell in behind the shapeshifter.

“How long has this place been here?” the princess asked, gazing up at the towering ceiling as scorpions and spiders scurried away from her soldiers’ flame light.

Xenna’s ears twitched at the chittering movements as she fixed her eyes on the hall dead ahead, where a dull light radiated.

“Longer than anyone cares to remember, my kind once served the Scarbi, before they were overthrown,” she elaborated, stepping up to the far end of the hall.

“No need to guess who was involved in the overthrowing,” Violet muttered back, only for Xenna to thrust a wing in her path.

The guards lurched uneasily yet again, yet before any of the vespers could react, Xenna flicked a claw at one of the floor tiles, setting off a flurry of darts from one of the walls, where they swiftly impaled a skeleton to the opposite.    

Violet was stunned for a second, seeming utterly baffled as some kind of mortality appeared to flash before her eyes. Then she glanced at Xenna as the shapeshifter cooed.

“Don’t judge a drake by her looks, darling.” She ducked into the shadow of the arch, leading the vesper to the central chamber. “Come on, that should be the only trap left armed.”

“You’re sure of that?” Violet asked, and Xenna rolled her eyes, assuring that if there were any more, they were not hers. “Oh yes, because that fills me with confidence.”

Regardless, with one nod to her guards, the princess was swift to follow their guide into the central room. The great chamber was just as monolithic as the rest, having been spared the same level of ruin by its relatively protected position at the heart of the temple. Four vast halls converged like the points of a star, while monstrous statues loomed between each, peering down over the center of the room with silent stares.

Xenna was pretty sure none of the vespers had seen a Scarbi before, let alone a statue of one, as big as they were. It was almost cute to see such naivete, but she was swift to rest on the large, squat table of stone at the center of the temple. Upon it, carved from pure gold and studded at significant points with gems, was a map of winding tunnels and a huge underground chamber, forming the lost city under the desert. Xenna breathed a small breath of cyan flame, illuminating the display for all to see as Violet stepped over, her wandering expression awash with blue light.

There’s still some of that adventurousness the princess of Noctstiriacus is famed for in there then? The shapeshifter noted, recalling her history books as the princess placed a forepaw on the rim of the map table.

“So this is the lost city of Nexus?” she asked, and Xenna nodded, jabbing a forepaw at one point marked by green gems.

“The only parts we need to know about.” She placed a forepaw on the gems, then nodded over to another set of gems only a few meters away. “We’re here, and if I know Xeno, he’ll have gone in over there.”

“This is too much ground to cover, and with all seven of us, it’ll be too risky,” Violet reasoned, and Xenna rolled her eyes.

“Going across the desert will not be any easier,” Xenna responded, but Violet lifted a wing tip to her snout, seeming to think deeply.

“Maybe we don’t have to, all we need to do is work out where they’ll come out,” she responded, and Xenna cocked her head.

That’s like asking where a mole is going to pop up next. She thought, but outwardly she just rested a forepaw on the map, asking casually.

“That depends on where your brother is going to want to go, Xeno will probably take him there,” she suggested.

“Anywhere he can go to get away from me,” Violet muttered, seemingly more to herself as she was lost in thought.

“By the hive, I wonder why,” Xenna muttered, earning a scowl from the princess as she looked up from the map.

“What’s beyond this desert?” she asked, and Xenna shrugged, counting on a claw as she listed.

“Let’s see; death, death, the ocean…” She smirked and the royal vesper huffed a small puff of icy vapor. “Of course, the only real option is Estonia.”

“The eastern kingdoms across the great scorch band, he’d really run that far?” Violet once again seemed to be talking to herself more than anyone else as she studied the map, at least until her eyes snapped back to Xenna. “And how long will it take them to get there?”

Xenna cocked her head, drawing a wing tip over the lines of the map as she slowly made her way around the squat podium’s edge. The old ways of her kind, invisible to the eyes of others lit up upon it like glowing bands of blue fire, instinct telling her just how to navigate the impossible catacombs.

“About three weeks, give or take. Taking in resupply times and the likes,” she informed, and Violet looked unsure.

“Resupply, you mean there are others down there?” she asked and Xenna rolled her eyes at the sheer lack of knowledge.

“Of course there is, there are whole shanty towns down in the ruins, those who know how to get there and want to disappear.” She tapped a foreclaw on a blue gem. “The reservoir here is where I’d say they’d stop, then the exit to Estonia is over there.”

She nodded across the map, and Violet’s eyes followed, where a set of pale gems masked the edge of a golden mountainside.

“And you can lead us there? Preferably not going underground?” Violet asked, and Xenna huffed.

“Yes, but you’re really going to have to up the pace and drop the armor,” she was quick to inform the princess again, earning a sigh. “Of course, unless you want to risk the catacombs.”

“No, we make for the exit they’ll take to intercept,” she declared, then turned. “How soon can we leave?”

“Eh, may be some time,” Xenna mused as she stepped out past the royal vesper and into the ruined halls.

“Oh, and why’s that?” Violet asked, ears folding as she looked past the shapeshifter and out into the wall of swirling sand that had formed outside. “Oh, by the night!”

“What did I tell you, the desert is unforgiving,” Xenna muttered, inspecting one foreclaw. “We can leave as soon as the sandstorm subsides, darling.” 

“I swear to all the moons, if I were not stuck with you I’d…” Violet huffed, turning away from the shapeshifter, and stomping off into the shadows, while Xenna smirked from ear to ear.

She thinks she’s so tough, but bested be a little sand. Xenna thought, sure anyone like Violet should have least reached the desert first as she scuffed forepaw at the sandy floor. This is going to be so easy, it is not even funny.

All she had to do was keep playing her role, and in no time at all, she would have both royals in her talons. Then she could rebuild all the hives she wanted, just like the queens of old.

Queen Xenna, really does have a nice ring to it.