Warrior - A Wings of Fire Story

Chapter 8

Burn's dangerous gaze whipped straight to Scarlet. Even though there were hundreds of dragons in the feasting hall with her, she suddenly felt very, very alone as she met her gaze. Her feelings for Warrior were completely gone, and she shoved the Sandwing down, quickly unfolding her wings so she didn't see him, but it was too late.

"Scarlet! What on earth are you doing?" She snarled, clearly noticing her hiding something.

"Just spreading my wings." She said with a yawn, "You're back early, decided to join us, have you?"

Burn looked up at something. Queen Scarlet saw Warrior's tail was still in her view! Burn gasped as she squinted, "The sandwing?!" She growled, drawing closer, "Filthy miserable traitor! What is he doing here?!" Her face turned red with rage, almost like a Rainwing would. Just then, one of the Skywing chefs entered the hall, walking to the table, his vision obstructed by a massive, beautiful fluffy cake with many layers. Burn's long lashing tail got in the way of him, and with a yelp, as her poisonous stinger nearly pricked him, he tripped, and the entire cake fell over, hitting Burn with the sweet, chocolatey confection. The entire hall of dragons gasped, going silent. With a fiery snarl, she bounded towards the Sandwing. "You." with a quick movement, she stomped on his tail, sliding him over to her with her talon, growling at him. All the dragons tensed up as she reached down to kill him, but just before she could grab his neck and tear it to pieces...

Scarlet did the unthinkable. She kicked the Sandwing queen. She felt the blow connect, and the sickening feeling of her ribs caving in. If this were another dragon, she would grin, but this was the last dragon she would ever want to strike. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she hit the ground. "HOW DARE YOU!?" She roared her anger suddenly at Scarlet.

"You will NOT touch him!!" She cried, "As queen, I hereby that no harm shall come to this Sandwing!"

"You can't say that!! He belongs to me!" Burn said breath labored.

"Well not anymore." She said.

"I gave you this dragon to imprison, not to make into your own personal... Plaything!!" She shouted, "Give him back to me, Scarlet."

"He is mine and I will not allow you to lay a claw upon him!" Scarlet roared back, shielding the Sandwing protectively.

"L-Look at you!" She cried, "This dragon has made you lose your mind! I was willing to let your strange behavior go unnoticed, but this has just gone way too far. This dragon has you under his spell, Scarlet! Can't you see!"

"You lie! This dragon hasn't done anything to anybody." She held him closer, "He may have done things to you, Burn, but he will never do anything to hurt me."

"You foolish dragon." She spat, "This Sandwing is a traitor, he has given top secret information to Blister, pretending to work for me. I was foolish enough to let him become close to me. He deserves to die for what he has done. We cannot have this dragon alive to take the throne away from me!"

"He does not care for that anymore!" Scarlet yelled. "He lives here now, in the sky kingdom. He is my champion, and I love him so much, he is much better than that boring old Peril."

"Scarlet, what have you become?! This is not you!" Burn said, "Get a grip on yourself, you are not the dragon I allied myself with when the war began. From day one I knew a dangerous and brutal queen like you would be how I got the throne, but now you're nothing but a lovestruck lunatic!! This HAS TO STOP!!"

"I never said our alliance would end, Burn, I am simply saying that you cannot harm Warrior! He's mine!!"

"You can live without your plaything, Scarlet. Let me kill him now while he's in my sight. I don't want to go on another wild goose chase looking for the little bugger."

"Let's put him back in the prison. I won't let you kill him, but at least let him live." Scarlet pleaded.

"Scarlet this has gone far too long. I've put up with this toying around for far too long, but now I draw the line. He's from my tribe, and as the future ruler of the kingdom of sand, I say let me kill him now, and let us be done." Burn said, "Or... I could kill you both if it must be done." She raised her tail... And then screamed in pain as Warrior bit the vulnerable spot on the end of her tail. Glancing down, Scarlet completely didn't notice that Warrior had slipped out of her protective grasp.

"Sandwing no!" She cried.

But Warrior did not listen. As Burn turned her head to snap at him, he kicked her in the jaw, leaping at her and pinning her down on her back, restraining her. "You will not harm the queen!" He roared in her ear. "This kingdom will fall if you do, and we already have a war going on, we don't need another. Now listen here, Sandwing. I have a proposition. Tomorrow night, at night, in her majesty's arena. We fight. If I win, you will leave me and the queen alone, and let her do as she wishes, but if you win..."

"Then I will take you as my prize." Burn said, rolling over and crushing him, pinning him down to the ground, "I accept." Burn got up, wincing in pain at her injuries, and scowled at Scarlet. "Just so we are clear, Scarlet, whatever alliance we have left is hanging by a thread. If you want to keep supporting the winner of the war, I suggest you stop playing these foolish games and just do what you are told." She sighed, "Then again, I am sorry you will have to witness this. Enjoy your last day with your Sandwing, Scarlet. Because tomorrow will be the last day he will see the three moons." With a flick of her tail, all of her Sandwing companions left the hall, none of them looking back at the feasting hall. For the first time in her left, Scarlet felt something she hadn't felt in a long, long long time. Fear. It crept all over her scales like a million spiders, encumbering her mind with many thoughts and worries. As strong as Warrior was, there was no denying that Burn was two times as stronger, and larger than he was. She had a clear advantage. Could her little Warrior really defeat the queen of the Sandwings? Even if he did win, their actions that night completely ruined Scarlet's relationship with Queen Burn. If Warrior miraculously survived the ring, Burn would end their alliance, even if Warrior was dead...