Queen Scarlet's eyes were small slits between orange scales. "Now where," she hissed. "did you hear about that particular law?" peril shifted of her talons. "I read about it."
"I bet you did," Scarlet said. "With claws that burn right through paper when you touch it. Someone's been telling you things too big for little dragon ears."
"No!" Peril said quickly. "Nobody-"
The queen was airborne before Peril could choke out another word. Queen Scarlet snatched Osprey up in her talons and shot into the sky. "Stop!" Peril yelled. "It's not his fault!" She leaped into the air and beat her wings, chasing them.
Stormcaller watched the queen rise higher and higher above the arena. Osprey writhed in her claws, his tail hanging heavily below him. Scarlet nearly reached the height of the wire net when suddenly she opened her talons and dropped the old dragon.
He plummeted like a stone. A dragon needed his tail for flying, just like monsters. It balanced out their body and it helped them turn while flying. That's why, while fighting in the air, Stormcaller would always go for the wings and the tail. It was something an old Daimyo Hermitaur had told him, "It's the wings and tails you want to go for. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon . . . is a dead dragon."
Osprey's wings were slow to extend, and when they did he lurched horribly, dragged down by the useless weight of his tail. Peril darted at him, talons out stretched, but he twisted away from her and she stopped, helpless. If she caught him, the burns would kill him just as much as the fall would, perhaps even more painfully. Stormcaller saw her claws reach out again anyway, but it was too late.
Osprey flapped his wings in one last burst of energy, but couldn't right himself. Every dragon in the arena heard the ripping and snapping of bones breaking and wings tearing as he tumbled. He collapsed near the arena wall. Peril landed beside him.
Queen Scarlet fluttered delicately back onto her perch. "I hope this has been a lesson to any dragons who were thinking of teaching my champion bad habits." she said, glaring around the arena.
"He's not dead," Peril said, clawing at the sand.
"He will be soon." Queen Scarlet waved a dismissive claw. Stormcaller gritted his teeth in anger. The elderly were supposed to be treated with respect, not like this. "Now, I won't argue with the Champion's Shield. The champion has asked to stand for the prisoner. I will chooser her opponent, and they will battle at the end of the games tomorrow. if she wins, Kestrel goes free. If not, well I'll have a dead champion, but at least we'll get to execute Kestrel right afterward. All in all, a wonderfully bloody day for me and Queen Burn to look forward to."
Burn was coming, and she'll bring nothing good. "All right," Peril said, staring down at Osprey's last dying spasms. "Tomorrow, then." She reached for Osprey's talons and stopped, her claws hovering over his, agonizingly close but not touching.
"Of course we'll have to lock Kestrel back up." said Queen Scarlet. "We wouldn't want her to try escaping again. You understand."
"Fine." Peril turned and looked at Kestrel. They faced each other as Vermilion dismissed the crowd, and dragons began to pour out of the arena, buzzing with excitement.
When most of the crowd was gone, Kestrel pointed to the chains around her mouth. She wanted to talk to Peril.
"No," Peril said as one of the guards stepped forward. She staired into Kestrel's eyes. "You killed my brother. You left me here. And it's your fault my friend is dead. I may not want you dead, but I don't want to know you." She turned and left the arena. The guards dragged Kestrel away under Queen Scarlet's triumphant smile.
The rest of the day nothing interesting happened. There was no more activity in the arena below. The hot sun baked Stormcaller and the winds tried to play with him like how a dragonet would play with it's prey. It was almost . . . amusing to see the elements try to mess with him but to no avail. Peril never came by to visit Clay, but the guards did, and they brought them food. Clay asked them to bring a message to Peril. But the guard snorted fire at him and quite literally scared the pig right into Clay's talons.
When the sun started drifting over the western peaks, Stormcaller heard heavy wing beats. He looked up as a score of SandWings appeared form the west, outlined by the red glow of the setting sun. The largest was in the lead, with the others fanned out in a V formation behind her. They swooped toward the queen's palace, staying in perfect lines, and vanished beyond a distant wall, where Stormcaller guessed the landing field for visitors was.
Burn was here.
She was the biggest and most ruthless of the three rivals for the SandWing throne. She lived in the SandWing palace stronghold. She was most likely to win the war - and most likely to kill anyone who got in her way. She was the strongest of the three sisters, but compared to most monsters, she didn't stand a chance.
It seemed like only a few moments had passed when Stormcaller saw the lead dragon come winging back over the wall toward the arena. As she flew closer, he could see he muscles rippling in her back like wind over sand dunes. Her poisonous tail was coiled up above her and her black eyes were staring in his direction. Probably at Clay.
She flew right over Clay and kept her eyes on him as she flew in a circle. After a minute, she hissed at him with a forked black tongue. She darted away to circle over Tsunami and Starflight. All four of them stayed still and watched her, until Burn flew away again and disappeared into the palace.
Stormcaller glanced over and saw Clay messing with wire of his right front talon, the one connected to Stormcaller. Then the NightWing realized it was cut. 'When did that happen?' He questioned. The last of the sun was nearly over the horizon. After a few moments of poking the clasp, Clay was able to work the wire off of his leg. Stormcaller thought about doing the same thing but the piece of wire he would have gotten would be significantly larger. Clay ended up with a piece of wire about the size of his tail. It was made of a hard sinewy metal - the same stuff in the bands on his wings. Stormcaller knew it was fire proof because he hasn't seen anyone blast through the wires. 'Peril must have accidentally burned through the wire during one of the times she visited Clay.'
Stormcaller looked around, so did Clay. Most of the prisoners were curled up to sleep for the night. the sun had just set, but there wasn't much else to do up on the rock columns. There were no guards in sight. There must be a welcome banquet happening for Burn.
Stormcaller watched Clay try to use the wire to saw it across the wire that extended from his neck. When he stopped both wire were undamaged. "That won't work." Stormcaller said.
"I know but it was worth a shot." As he slid the wire across each other, an eerie not echoed across the arena, like the lone cry of a bird wyvern or the last hum of a harp string.
Stormcaller watched as Clay slid the wire farther away from him, them closer to his neck, and then he tried the other three wire attached to his legs. The sounds were different - higher, lower - but still with that eerie, melancholy quality to them. 'What is he doing.'
He watched Clay slide the wire across each other until he would find a certain note, then move onto the next wire. It was fully dark now, with only a distant glimmer of moonlight creeping up the mountains. Stormcaller's night vision kicked in, letting him see everything as if the sun was still out.
Oh, the dragonets are coming . . .
Clay paused. Stormcaller knew the song. It was fast and fierce, so you could imagine a hall full of dragons roaring it at top volume. Clay couldn't get between the wires quickly enough to get the notes right and keep that tempo.
They're coming to save the day . . .
The notes echoed around the arena, soft and mournful. It sounded like ghosts of ancient dragons whispering from under the sands.
They're coming to fight ... for they know what's right ... the dragonets . . .
Clay stopped. The last "hooray!" would sound particularly ridiculous as an ancient ghost whisper. Stormcaller could see where this was going. Anytime you would play a normally up beat and happy song in a sad tone to a bunch of sad dragons . . .
"Oh, the dragonets are coming . . ."
Stormcaller smirked. Almost anyone could see where this was going from a mile away. So, he joined in.
"They're coming to save the day . . ."
Clay's head swiveled to look at him, a surprised expression on his face. Stormcaller mouthed the words "Listen," to the MudWing who leaned forward.
"They're coming to fight ... for they know what's right ... the dragonets ..."
Now there were seven voices, including Stormcaller's, all as soft and haunting as the notes from the wires. They slowly faded out, leaving off the last hooray just as Clay had done.
The prisoner were singing.
Clay must have finally figured out what was going on, because he set the wires together and began to play again. This time one voice after another joined in. As the arena began to fill with moonlight, Stormcaller saw the IceWing to Clay's left, with her silvery head stretched toward the sky, singing.
Clay picked up the pace a little for the fourth time around, although the notes still had that eerie, plaintive sound. Stormcaller could tell was filling each prisoner with a wild, hopeful feeling. It seemed like every prisoner in the sky was singing now.
This song meant something, even to dragons hardened on the battlefield and in the arena. they believed in the dragonets and the prophecy.
They were on their sixth time through the song, all of them singing wholeheartedly, when a blast of fire shot through the arena doors below and Queen Scarlet stormed onto the sand with Burn right behind her.
"Stop that infernal noise right now!" Burn roared. If Stormcaller were a lot younger and foolish, he probably would've just yelled "No" and keep singing. The singing broke off at once. Clay quickly hid the wire in a fold of his wing. Stormcaller doubted the queens could see the prisoners very well, up in the dark.
"You," Queen Scarlet growled, pointing at Tsunami. "you," She pointed and Starflight. "And you." She pointed at Stormcaller. "And - well, probably not you, but get down here anyway," she snarled at Clay.
SkyWing soldiers spilled out of the tunnel and soared up to the four dragons. Stormcaller went with them without causing a problem, while Clay flapped around a little, hitting them with his wings to make sure they didn't discover his missing wire. Thankfully, it worked.
When they landed, Queen Scarlet quick to shout out orders. "Bring them this way," she snapped, stomping into the tunnel with Burn. The song was still stuck in Stormcaller's head. He remembered an old song that was sang during the great war. It had the same melody and almost the exact same words, but he couldn't help but smirk as he sang the song old in his head.
'Oh, the Fated Four are coming,
They're coming to save the day,
They're coming to fight,
For they know what's right,
The Fated Four, hooray.'
--------------------------------------------------
Onto the next chapter
--------------------------------------------------
(3rd Pov)
They stopped at Peril's cave. Peril was resting her head on one of the narrow window ledges, probably thinking about the trial, staring out at the sky. She turned and gave Queen Scarlet a cold look.
Stormcaller noticed that the full-length portrait of the queen was gone from the wall. A pile of ashes smoldered on the floor under the spot where it had been. He saw the queen's eyes dart to the empty wall, more smoke curled from her nose.
"Out," she said to Peril.
"This is my room!" Peril snapped back.
"I'm the queen here," Scarlet said. "You do as I say. Go sleep in the arena. If anyone else tries to sing. Fly up and burn out his tongue."
Peril's tail lashed furiously. A moment passed, and then stormed towards the door. The two queens had to scurry out of her path in a very undignified way, and Stormcaller saw a few of the SkyWing guards hiding smiles.
The wave of Peril's heat swept over them, and she hurried off down the tunnel. Stormcaller just gave her a glance as she went by before returning his attention back to the two queens.
"In here," Queen Scarlet said, shoving Starflight into Peril's cave herself. He stumbled trying to jump over the pool of water and ended up with his back legs splashing around for a moment. Tsunami shook her guards away and hopped over the pool, and then Clay and Stormcaller followed.
"You will not interrupt my feast again," Queen Scarlet hissed. "I'm sure you're very amused with yourselves."
"Why don't you just kill them?" Burn asked. She was much bigger than Scarlet; her head scraped the top of the tunnel, and her talons were a bit larger than Stormcaller's own. She wore no precious jewels or chain mail, but her claws and teeth were stained red from all the blood she had shed, and a scar was burned along her left side, below the wing. There was no white to her eyes at all; they were orbs of pure black.
"Because that wouldn't be fun," Queen Scarlet answered. "I want them to fight. We have a whole day of entertainment planned for tomorrow. I have something thrilling for that one." She pointed at Stormcaller. "It's my hatching day after all! I want it to be thrilling!"
Stormcaller was starting to find the word thrilling, annoying. In all his years of being alive this is the second word he ever found annoying, the first being banana.
Burn gave the SkyWing guards a glare, and they quickly shuffled up the tunnel, out of earshot. She lowered her voice so only Scarlet and the dragonets and Stormcaller could hear her. "but if they are the dragonets of the prophecy, then the best way to break the prophecy is to kill them."
"Well," Scarlet said. her tongue flicked in and out of her mouth as she regarded Starflight and himself. She wanted to see them fight. "Perhaps. But that didn't work so well for you, did it? Everyone knows about the Skywing egg - all the SkyWing eggs, in fact."
Stormcaller's brow furrowed as he remember hearing about the event. Burn's tail thumped the floor hard enough to shake the ground beneath them. "On the contrary, that worked perfectly. they don't have a SkyWing, do they? Only four dragonet - the prophecy is already incomplete."
'Scarlet must have not told her about Glory being part of the dragonets. She wants to keep her new "work of art" for herself.'
"And yet our ignorant subjects are always yowling about the dragonets who are going to save the world," Scarlet said. "They believe in it, no matter what they've heard about broken eggs. If we kill the dragonets now out of sight, it does us no good. Even if we hang their bodies from the palace walls, no one will believe it's them."
Burn bared her teeth in a snarl. "The world doesn't need a prophecy. It needs me as queen of the SandWings."
"But listen," Scarlet said smoothly "If we put the dragonets in the arena, everyone can watch them die. They'll see how weak they really are. They'll lose all faith in the dragonets, and more importantly, in the prophecy. It'll be all over. Much more powerful than just making them disappear." The SkyWing queen cast a sly look at he guest. "Don't you agree?"
"And what if they win?" Burn demanded
"They won't," Scarlet said. "But of course killing them ourselves is a solid backup plan."
"We're right here," Stormcaller said with a bored expression.
"Don't you want to hatch your evil plan somewhere more secretive?" Both queens glared at the him and Tsunami. Stormcaller did nothing while the latter just glared back.
Scarlet opened a pouch slung under her win and scattered several round black rocks across the mouth of Peril's cave. She opened her mouth and breathed on them, and the rock all burst into flames. In moments, the dragonets (Not Stormcaller) were trapped by a wall of fire.
"Sleep well, so you'll be thrilling in the arena," Queen Scarlet said. "I thought I'd get to play with you longer, but I guess you all have to be dead by sunset tomorrow." She sighed. "Nobody lets me have any fun."
Stormcaller listened to the queens' fading talon steps as they left the cave. 'Well this is just insulting,' he thought as he looked at the wall of fire. Stormcaller turned his head just as Tsunami cannoned into Clay. "Ow!" the MudWing yelped as the SeaWing tackled him into a hug.
"I'm glad you guys are alive," Clay said pulling Starflight into the hug. They embraced each other for a moment. Stormcaller just watched. After a while he spoke up. "We need to figure out how to get you guys out of here."
They all broke out of the hug and faced one another. "You're right," Starflight said before looking at Tsunami. "That was pretty smart, with the song. I have no idea how you managed to pull a melody out of your ear after being completely tone-deaf your entire life."
She blinked at him. "I didn't do that. I thought you did!"
"It was me," Clay admitted. He drew out the wire and slid it across the floor. Starflight picked it up a peered at it. 'Don't they want to get out of here?' Stormcaller thought.
"How did you break that?" Tsunami asked. There was an underlying tone of awe in her voice. "I had help," the MudWing admitted. "That dragon who was just here - Peril. Her touch can burn through it. She did that by accident."
Starflight reached up and fingered the bands on his wings, looking thoughtful.
"That dragon is psychotic," Tsunami said. "Didn't you see her decimate that SandWing? And she's Kestrel's daughter, which kind of makes sense."
"Yeah," Starflight said. "No wonder Kestrel always hated us. I bet the Talons of Peace thought she'd want to be on dragonet-minding duty after what she'd lost. But we just reminded her of her dead children everyday."
"Peril's alright compared to just about every psychotic dragon I've met." Stormcaller said. "And how many is that?" Tsunami asked. "Quite a few."
"Peril's kind of nice when she's not killing someone. She said she found Sunny."
Starflight's head shot up. "Where?"
"Can she get to her?" Tsunami demanded. "Can she set her free?"
"I don't know if Peril will help us," Clay said. Stormcaller felt a presence behind the wall of fire. "I haven't talked to her since the trial. I'm afraid she's mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you." Peril stuck her head through the wall of fire and looked at Clay. Tsunami jumped back with a hiss of alarm. Starflight crouched and froze, watching Peril with large eyes. Stormcaller didn't react at all to her sudden appearance.
"Oh, good," Clay said to Peril. Stormcaller wondered how much of their conversation he had heard. "Where have you been?" Clay asked. "I didn't want to put you in danger," Peril blurted. She flapped her wings, and the fire whooshed higher around her.
"Come inside," Clay said. "it's weird talking to someone on fire."
Clay moved off to the side as Peril hopped over the pool into the cave. Tsunami and Starflight both backed up to the windows, staying as far away from Peril as they could. Stormcaller only mover over a few steps, but to most he looked dangerously close to Peril. "It's not so weird once yo-" Stormcaller stopped. For a split second there, he felt a surge of dragon energy. It was the thing he'd been trying to figure out for years now. Why was it happening. That surge had been just as strong as his grandfather's, if not stronger. But what he really wanted to know was where the bolt of red, draconic lightning had struck.
When he came back to his sense he realized that they were all looking at him, as if he a turned bright pink for a second. "What were you saying?" Tsunami asked. Stormcaller turned his back to them with a face that looked deep in thought. "Nothing," he said.
Peril coiled her tail close to her and dipped her head as Clay approached her. "I was afraid the queen would hurt you like she hurt Osprey," Peril said miserably. "I shouldn't even be talking to you. if she finds out I like you, she'll de something awful just to punish me."
"Can you help us escape?" The MudWing asked Peril hopefully. "I wish," she said. "That would make her madder than anything. But I can't get you through that fire." She flicked her tail at the wall of flames, giving Stormcaller an idea. It would only take a few minutes. So he left without the others realizing.
"Could we use the water to put it out?" Starflight asked. He flinched as Peril turned to look at him.
"No - those rocks have to burn down to embers. They can't be put out any other way."
"What about Sunny?" Clay asked. "Is there anything you can do to free her? We have to rescue her before Burn takes her away."
Peril's blue-flame eyes narrowed. "You talk about Sunny a lot. Is she really that important?"
"Yes!" all three dragons answered at once. Peril's tail twitched and she had a displeased look on her face.
"Peril," Tsunami interjected. "Listen. Sunny is like a little sister to us. To all of us."
Starflight looked down at his talons.
"Think about your brother," Tsunami went on, "Wouldn't you have saved him if you could?"
Peril's expression shifted, and she nodded. "A sister. Yes. I understand. All right, I'll help."
"Where is she?" Starflight asked. "Is she all right?"
"She's in a kind of birdcage," Peril said, "hung over the feasting hall. Everyone will be celebrating out there all night tonight, but tomorrow, while they're watching the arena, I can sneak in and get her."
"Oh, thank you!" Clay nearly twined his tail around her, but he remembered at the last second not to touch her.
"What about Clay and Starflight?" Tsunami asked. "I can survive in the arena, but they can't"
"I can survive in the arena!" Clay protested.
"And how do you plan to do that, exactly?" Tsunami asked. "Do you happen to have secret venom in your claws or something?"
"I know what to do!" Starflight cried, jumping to his feet.
"In the arena?" Tsunami said skeptically.
"No, right now," he said. "I know how we are going to get out of here."
-----------------------------------------------------
onto the next chapter
----------------------------------------------------
Starflight pointed to the flames rising from the black rocks, and was about to say something but stopped. "Wait. Where did Stormcaller go?" Tsunami asked. All the dragons looked around to realize that the NightWing was missing. Then a pure white talon came out of the wall of flames and picked up one of the black rocks making a small opening in the flames.
"Did someone say my name?" Stormcaller said sticking his head through the fire. Much to the surprise of the dragons, he was completely fine.
"How are you not burning!" Starflight asked is shock.
Stormcaller shrugged. "This fire isn't that hot."
The dragon that was shocked the most by the statement was Peril. Stormcaller kept moving the black rocks out of the way and not once did he seemed phased by the fire. He moved the rocks until there was a big enough gap for the dragonets to jump through. Peril went first, and then Tsunami, and then Clay, and then Starflight.
"We'll have to save Glory, too." Clay stated as Stormcaller started to put the rocks back.
"Glory?" Peril's brow creased in a frown.
"The RainWing. Queen Scarlet's new artwork," Clay said.
"Oh," Peril said. "Her. She's very beautiful." She narrowed her eyes at Clay. It was starting to get obvious that she liked Clay.
"Let's run away now and worry about that later," Tsunami said. "Is there someplace we can hide?"
Peril snapped her wings open. "Below the waterfall. There's a cave only I know about."
"There," Stormcaller said with satisfaction as he looked at the rebuilt wall of fire. "Now she'll have no idea we escaped."
"Can you get these off out wing?" Starflight whispered, pointing to the bindings. Peril gave him a hard look.
"Maybe," she said. "But maybe I'll wait until I know you won't leave without saying good-bye."
Tsunami glanced over at Stormcaller, and much to her surprise he had pried off one of his wing binds and was currently trying to get the other off.
"We wouldn't leave without out friends," Clay promised. Peril scowled.
"Which way to the waterfall?" Tsunami asked.
Peril nodded up the tunnel and slithered off, leading the way.
"Stop making her mad," Tsunami hissed in Clay's ear as they followed.
"Me?" he said, genuinely surprised. "What did I do?"
"Well, you're a handsome idiot," she said affectionately. "And I'll tell you later."
Stormcaller shook his head and sighed. Shortly before they reached the central hall of balconies, the tunnel turned left and began to rise. Peril signaled for them to all move quietly, and they crept toward the sound of dragons shouting, singing, and smashing things.
Peril glanced over her shoulder at Clay, who was concentration on moving his talons carefully over the rock, gold-laced floor. "Hey," she whispered. "Once you're free ... what are you doing to do?"
"We'll go find our parents," Clay whispered back. "I've never been to the MudWing Kingdom. I can't wait."
"Really?" Peril said. "You'll go straight there? Just the six of you?"
"Absolutely. As soon as poss-" Clay started, and then Tsunami trod heavily on his tail. he squelched a yelp of pain and made a face at her. When he looked up again, Peril had hurried ahead.
Stormcaller guessed they had climbed two levels, circling behind the balconies, when they reached an open doorway as tall as five dragons and just as wide. They hid around the corner of the tunnel and peaked out.
The doorway led out onto a flat half-circle plateau between the cliffs, packed with SkyWings and SandWings and lit by floating globes full of fire. Most of the SkyWings were wearing gold or copper or precious jewels that sparkled in the firelight. The SandWing desert dragons looked rough and common next to them, and many of them stood awkwardly as if they would rather be charging into battle than making polite conversation at a party.
Statues of Queen Scarlet in different regal poses were scattered about the floor, some carved from marble, some of gold, others of smooth black rock with rubies for eyes. Tables around the outside were piled high with food, and several kinds of prey were also running frantically between the dragons' claws. A low rock barrier kept the prey from escaping into the tunnel, and all around the plateau were steep cliffs going either up or down, so they were trapped.
Stormcaller saw a SkyWing pause mid-conversation, smash a mountain goat, pop it in her mouth, and continue chatting with the SandWing opposite to her. He also spotted a couple of humans among the prey. One was trying to climb the cliff; the other was crawling under one of the tables trying to hid like the pathetic little worm it was.
Queen Scarlet lay on a tall golden throne, looking down at the other dragons. Another, shorter throne was set up nest to her for Burn, although Burn's enormous height brought their heads to almost the same level. Burn kept shifting and scowling as if the fancy curved seat was uncomfortable. When he looked up. Stormcaller noticed a large birdcage hanging over the center of the space. It was held aloft by wires like the ones on the prisoners' legs, strung between tall poles on either side of the plateau. Occasionally a dragon or two would fly up and circle the cage, peering in, and then fly back down to the floor.
Crouched inside the cage with her wings over her head was Sunny. Her golden scales glowed dully in the firelight, as if she were just another piece or treasure.
"Stop," Tsunami whispered as Clay started forward. "I know. I want to go get her, too."
"But if we we do it right now, it's suicide," Starflight agreed. "Better to let them think we'd leave without her. If they know we care about her, they'll use it against us." Clay's tail lashed in frustration. Stormcaller knew what it was like to be in his situation.
"But she's all alone," Clay whispered. Stormcaller couldn't see Glory anywhere.
"You guys cross first," Peril said. "Crouch low and run, and hopefully they won't spot us." Stormcaller went across first. Darting to the other side. The others followed one at a time. They huddled around the next bend, waiting for Peril.
"Sorry," she said when she caught up a few moments later. "I had to wait for the queen to look away."
From here the tunnel branched in several directions. Peril took one look leading down under the cliff where the feast was. The torches were spaced farther apart as they went along, so the tunnel grew darker and darker. Soon Stormcaller could hear roaring up ahead. It was the sound of the waterfall.
They emerged on a narrow ridge halfway up a tall, craggy cliff. By the light of the moons, they could see straight down to a glittering, winding river far below. The waterfall pounded ahead of them, loud and fierce and the wind carried bursts of cold spray into their faces.
Starflight pressed himself back against the cliff. "Are you sure you don't want to unbind our wings now?" he said closing his eyes.
"You'll be fine," Peril said. "It's easy to climb down from here. I've done it when my wings are tired. See? The cave's right there."
Clay and Stormcaller peeked over the edge and saw a small gap between the cliff side and the waterfall. It was a journey that they could make with bound wings, even though he had taken his off.
"I see some claw holds," he said. "And you guys can rest on that boulder halfway -" He stopped. He could sense multiple dragons approaching their location, and he heard their wingbeats too.
Clay spun around. "Hide," he said, frantically pushing Peril toward the tunnel. Stormcaller followed until he realized what was going on. "If they find you helping us, the queens will kill you, champion or not."
She stopped in the mouth of the tunnel, staring at him. Clay turned and saw Tsunami and Starflight wearing matching shocked expressions, while Stormcaller seemed interested.
"How did you do that?" Peril whispered.
"Do-" Clay started, and then took his talons off Peril and looked at them, surprised.
"Stop gawping," Tsunami ordered, shoving Clay at the tunnel. Stormcaller rushed in. "Everybody run."
"I don't think so," said Queen Scarlet's chilly voice behind them. They all turned slowly and saw the SkyWing queen descending from the cliff above, her bejeweled wings spread wide.
"Thank you, Peril," the queen said nastily. "You may be excused."
Peril had sold them out. The SkyWing gave them one last look, specifically at Clay and fled up the tunnel.
Queen Scarlet smiled at the dragonets as SkyWing soldiers began to rain from the sky. "Going somewhere?"
The guards encircled the group of dragons. Starflight looked scared, Clay looked hurt, Tsunami was furious, and Stormcaller was glaring at Queen Scarlet. The latter only smirked.
"Don't do that Scarlet," he said.
"Why wouldn't I? You're my prisoners after all."
"Very well then." the NightWing said raising his white talon. "You leave me no choice." his chest began to give off a red and orange glow, while his talon started to glow white. The queen's eyes widened. "Not only do NightWings posses the ability to read minds and see the future," Stormcaller said. "If trained correctly, they also have the ability in charge up their fire to it's maximum power. It's so hot that It will incinerate everything in its way."
The dragonet's eyes widened with fear and surprise. They were in between Scarlet and Stormcaller.
"You wouldn't. You wouldn't end your own tribes prophecy to end the war." Scarlet mocked.
The glow from Stormcaller chest began to get brighter and travel up his neck. "There's always more ways to end the war. The NightWings can just do it themselves and say the that the dragonets of destiny did it."
Smoke began to pour out of his nostrils as the glow had traveled all the way up his neck. "Let us go peacefully, or the SkyWings lose their queen, and the prophecy will end right here. Smoke came out of his mouth as he spoke. The SkyWing guards exchanged a few nervous glances. "Wait! You ca-" Tsunami started. "Quite!" Stormcaller barked. He glared at Tsunami, his eyes looked cold and lifeless. As if two amber stones were placed into a statue for its eyes. It was the gaze of someone who had killed with their own claws and had seen the loss of war first hand.
The gaze of a killer,
the gaze of beast,
the gaze of a monster.
"So Scarlet ... what's it going to be."
'He had to be bluffing ... right?' Clay thought.
"3,"
'He wouldn't kill us. We're friends ... right?'
"2,"
Scarlet didn't move
"1."
and
Stormcaller was bluffing.
He opened his mouth and smoke poured out, covering him in seconds. All the dragons stepped back in fear of what the smoke could do. There were two thumps and when the smoke cleared. Stormcaller was gone and there were two unconscious SkyWing guards.
It took a second for everyone to realize what had just happed before Scarlet roared in rage. "SEARCH THE CASTLE AND BRING ME HIS HEAD!"
END OF CHAPTER
END OF CHAPTER
A/N
I will not be able to update for a while after to day
I hope you enjoyed the chapter
Thanks for the 454 reads
Thank you for reading my story
Also one quick thing I forgot to specify, is how tall everyone is, and I feel like this is important so I will tell you.
So Sunny and Moon watcher are around 17.5 feet tall (5.3 meters)
Starflight is about 20 feet tall (6.09 meters)
Tsunami and Glory are about 23 to 25 feet tall (7.01 to 7.6 meters)
Clay is about 28 feet tall (8.5 meters tall)
Kestrel and Stormcaller (as a dragon) are about 35 feet tall (10.6 meters)
Grandeur, Burn, Moorhen, and Morrowseer are about 60 to 70 feet tall (18.2 to 21.3 meters tall) and are shortest to tallest in that order.
Now, Darkstalker. Somewhere in the books it says that he is three times the size of a full grown dragon, not the size of a mountain. So he is anywhere from 105 feet (32 meters) to 210 feet (64 meters). So I took the height that is the exact middle of 105 and 210. So I say Darkstalker is about 157.5 feet tall (48 meters).
(also I putting Fatalis' height to be the same as Darkstalkers (157.5 feet (48 meters)) for reasons you will eventually find out)
I will eventually be back
Goody Bye