Animus Sunny (A Wings Of Fire AU, NOT MADE BY ME)

Chapter 24

They all walked in silence, following the tunnel up and around until Peril stopped and whispered, "We need to be really quiet here."

The group nodded, and they all moved onwards, towards the sounds of partying dragons. Sunny found herself crouching closer to the ground, as if that would make her quieter.

Peril looked back and at Clay, who was staring at the floor. "Hey." she asked. "Once you're free... what are you going to do?"

"We'll find our parents. I've never been to the MudWing Kingdom. I can't wait." Clay responded, his face lighting up.

"Really?" Peril asked, her face hardening. "You'll go straight there? Just the five of you?"

"Absolutely, as soon as poss-" his answer was cut off by a yelp, as Tsunami stamped down hard on his tail.

He really needs to know... Sunny thought, looking at Peril's expression. She looked hurt, but it wasn't entirely obvious. Sunny watched as she turned and continued walking.

Tsunami and Starflight gave each other a look, and then glanced at Sunny. She shrugged, and they turned back to follow Peril and Clay.

They reached a huge doorway, and Peril motioned for them to hide. The four of them pressed against the wall as Peril scanned the party. "Tuck low." she commanded under her breath. "They shouldn't see you. Head for the opening in the wall, and jump down."

Sunny heard Clay's stomach growl, and she realised that she could smell food. Immediately, she began to feel hungry and wondered how long it had been since she'd last eaten. Sunny saw the cage she'd spent the last few days in hanging empty above the hall, and realised just how small it looked from the outside. She couldn't see much of the party, but from what it sounded like there were way too many dragons in one place. She heard occasional bleats of goats, which made her wonder how much of the food served at the banquet was still alive.

Tsunami was first to go, moving quickly and keeping her body low to the ground. Then Clay, then Starflight and finally Sunny. She didn't have the best scales at all for staying hidden, and hoped no one had spotted her.

She ducked behind a pillar and saw the opening in the low wall that Peril had referred to. They stood and waited, and a moment later Peril joined them.

"Sorry," she said. "I had to wait for the queen to look the other way."

Then, without another word, they all went through the gap in the wall in single file and followed a narrow path down. As they walked, a constant roaring noise became more and more apparent. This must be the waterfall Peril was talking about.

Soon, she could feel the humidity in the air and they emerged onto a cliff edge. From here, she could see a wide panorama of the Sky Kingdom, distant mountains frozen in an endless race for the sky. The moons were bright, but none of them were full. The rivers far below ran like liquid silver, slinking through the cracks in the rocky terrain below.

The wind blasted fine water droplets onto her face, and she kept having to wipe her eyes so she could see.

Sunny looked over at the rest of the group and saw Starflight pressed against the wall. "Are you sure you don't want to unbind our wings now?" he asked, closing his eyes.

"You'll be fine." Peril said, not very reassuringly. Sunny felt her stomach flip uncomfortably at this. "It's easy to climb down from here. I've done it when my wings are tired. See? The cave's right there."

Sunny's ears pricked up and she heard something faint over the sound of the waterfall. She strained her ears to try and catch the sound, and then it hit her: wingbeats. A moment later, the rest of the dragonets looked up too.

"Hide." Clay said, shoving at Peril into the tunnel. Sunny's jaw dropped. She turned to Clay as he continued, unaware of what he had just done. "If they find you helping us, the queens will kill you, champion or not."

Peril's expression matched how Sunny felt, and as she looked at Tsunami and Starflight she saw they'd noticed as well.

"How did you do that?" Peril whispered in utter confusion and amazement.

"Do-" Clay began, and then looked down at his claws in surprise.

"Stop gawping." Tsunami snapped, breaking everyone out of a shocked trance. "Everybody run."

"I don't think so." came Queen Scarlet's voice from behind them.

Sunny whipped around and met the gaze of a furious queen. She's found me- I can't hide- She'll know- her brain sped up into panic mode. She grasped at her necklace, knowing it could do nothing if she wanted to stay safe.

"Thank you, Peril." Queen Scarlet said, grinning with all of her teeth. "You may be excused."

Sunny's jaw dropped open. No way... She betrayed us.

Peril glanced at Clay, her face full of too many emotions for Sunny to keep up with.

But... she wanted to keep Clay here, didn't she?She thought, trying to organise her brain back into sensible, linear thoughts again. She found it hard to think from Peril's point of view, as she'd just doomed them all to certain death, but she could sort of see where she was coming from.

But that didn't matter anymore.

"Going somewhere?" Scarlet grinned, tipping her head down at the dragonets with a smug smile. SkyWing soldiers descended from the sky, landing behind her, surrounding them so there was no escape.