Wings of Fire: A Mage from Another World

Ch.11: A Discussion with Scarlet

It was morning of the next day, and the sun's rays hit Phoenix, waking him up. He stretched with a yawn and sat up, forgetting for a moment of his whereabouts. "Oh, right... I'm still in the sky prison... in the Sky Kingdom.." he huffed, looking around at the other sleeping dragons.

A few Skywing guards caught his attention, and he had a feeling they were coming to fetch him and Clay. "Psst! Clay!" he turned to the sleeping Mudwing, glaring at him when he was still sleeping. The blue Skywing grabbed a small rock from his pillar and threw it at Clay, hitting him in the head. "Ow! What?" "Wake up, sleeping beauty! Skywing guards coming this way!"

In an instant Clay shook his head to fully wake himself up, stretching and yawning afterwards. A couple of guards flew towards Phoenix's pillar, unchaining the wing braces. "Private audience with the queen. Don't try anything, now." the orange red guard stated, to which Phoenix only nodded at. The yellow orange Skywing chuckled, getting a grip onto him. "Heh, for a Seawing hybrid you're surprisingly compliant!" Phoenix was now being carried to the throne room, passing by a very familiar Seawing. "Phoenix?!"

With Clay, the guards were practically the same in terms of attitude. "Private audience with the queen." the crimson-red dragon said. Clay stared at him, nervous about what Scarlet could possibly want. "Is that a good or bad thing?" The red-orange guard growled, getting a hold onto Clay once he was unchained. "Shut up."

"I-I don't know because I was never a prisoner before, or-well... maybe I technically was since I was kept under a mountain. But this is way windier... And, well... there's also the queen, so that's new." Clay began to rant with questions, making the guards snarl with irritation at him. "Does she normally meet with the prisoners? Like, maybe right before letting them go?" "I said shut up!" said the orange-red guard, turning to the crimson dragon. "Why couldn't we get the blue Skywing? He was less talkative than the Mudwing here." Clay kept his mouth shut, wanting to see where he was being taken.

Just then a roar was heard, and then it was joined in by one of the guards. "Keep her still!" Clay saw it was Tsunami fighting off the guards, but they were airborne while her wings were clamped. "Should I have fought them too? But... our wings are clamped, so we can't fly away." he thought, looking back to the palace where he was being taken.

Once they landed on the entrance, Clay immediately noticed Kestrel in one of the cells. "KESTREL!" he yelled, in turn making the Skywing guards become even more irritated. "One more word out of you and there will be an unfortunate accident." For the rest of the way, Clay kept silent.

The guards then threw him into the throne room, where Scarlet was at. Standing up Clay saw Starflight and Phoenix. The Nightwing was bowing to the Skywing queen, all while Phoenix just had his head down. Clay could tell that he was glaring at Scarlet. "Are you two alright?" he asked worriedly, but Starflight just held a talon to his mouth in a shushing manner. "He's trying to tell you that it's rude to speak before the queen in her own throne room." Scarlet spoke, glancing down at Clay with a grin. "Just what do they teach dragonets these days? Bow."

Clay hastily bowed, all while apologizing. Scarlet then turned to Phoenix, completely ignoring his glare. "As a Skywing halfbreed, I expect you to show the same respect for the queen of your own tribe?" Phoenix puffed some smoke, but bowed. "Oof! Let me GO!!" Tsunami was then thrown into the room, all with her yelling. "This is an outrage!! We're the-" "Dragonets of Destiny. Yes. Very thrilling." Scarlet interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You know, not everyone wants the war to end. I, personally, find it very thrilling." She then turned to the prison cells. "I get a lot of contenders for the arena from the battlefield. And it's the perfect distraction for dragons who might have challenged me for the throne. It saves me the trouble."

Tsunami sneered, lifting her head. "So it's alright for dragons to have died all over the world?" Scarlet only stared at her smugly. "As if you know anything about that." She then straightened herself up, glancing at each of the dragonets in the room. "Have you ever been in a real battle before? Have you seen the hundreds of dead dragons? Do you know anything, at all, about this war?" the Seawing glanced to the side, not expecting those questions. "We've... studied it. We know it's awful." She then shot a glare at the queen. "Innocent dragons are getting hurt!"

"It's easy to say that war is awful, but hard to solve our problems without one." Scarlet flicked her tail, lifting her talons up. "Who should be the next Sandwing queen? Burn? Blister? Or... little Blaze?" she lowered her head slightly, staring at Tsunami. "I would love to know what you have decided from the wisdom of your little underground cave." Tsunami snarled, glaring at Scarlet. "That was not our fault!! We wanted to be out in the world instead of some cave!"

Scarlet chuckled, lifting her chin up. "That's what you think. Hilarious. As if you would survive being out in the world this long." She leaned forward, closer to Tsunami. "Your guardians did tell you about what happened to all those Skywing dragonets on the brightest night, right?" Phoenix winced at hearing this, having a feeling that he knew what had happened to those dragonets. "I won't go into details, but it was... very sad."

Clay then stood straight, glancing at Scarlet. "Excuse me? I have a question, your majesty!" the Mudwing took a step forward, all while Starflight tried to get him to be quiet by stomping on his tail. "Where's Sunny and Permafrost? Are they alright?"

Scarlet sat back on her throne. "Ah, the odd looking Sandwing and the little halfbreed. I think Burn will like them very much." She grinned as she explained to Clay what would become of his friends. "She collects curiosities. You should see her palace! It's quite horrifying, full of two-headed lizards, and seven-toed dragon talons, and stuffed scavengers with weird pale skin." Phoenix shuddered, not imagining himself in a place like that. "I think your little friends will fit in perfectly." The queen turned to Phoenix, pointing a talon at him. "He would fit in nicely, too, but it seems like he has great potential in the arena."

Tsunami growled worriedly, and she could tell that Clay and Phoenix had the same thought. "You can't give Sunny, Permafrost or Phoenix to Burn!" Scarlet chuckled, flicking an ear. "I can do whatever I want." Clay turned to Glory, concerned that she wasn't moving. "What's wrong with Glory?" "Nothing at all. She's quite perfect, if you ask me." the Mudwing exhaled, moving to sit next to his friends. "Why is the all sleepy?" Scarlet huffed, amused at his questions. "Rainwings are naturally sleepy. Have you not noticed? But then again, Mudwings are naturally stupid."

Phoenix growled silently, lifting his head up. "You have got to let us go! The prophecy-" "Oh shush! The Seawing's spunkiness was starting to bore me, but you seem to be worse. My hatching day is tomorrow, and I want a thrilling arena!" She stared at the Seawing, Skywing and Mudwing. "But I want to see at least one of you fight today! So tell me," she puffed some smoke from her nostrils, staring curiously at the dragonets. "Which one of you is most likely to survive the Nightwing?"

"Me!" Clay, Tsunami and Phoenix answered at the same time. Scarlet huffed in amusement. "Adorable, but seriously." Tsunami turned to Clay with a serious expression. "You're delusional! I beat you all the time!" Clay shook his head, looking just as serious. "A Mudwing would be way more exciting than just another Seawing, wouldn't it?" Phoenix lightly slapped the back of his head. "Or a Skywing, especially a blue one. I don't think they have ever seen a blue Skywing fight before."

"I love your enthusiasm, dragonets!" Scarlet exclaimed, then gestured to Tsunami and Starflight. "Guards! Take these two away." She then turned to Clay and Phoenix, wearing a malicious grin. "As for these two, prepare them for the arena."