The group of dragons landed outside one of the many caves that branched off inside the palace. Sunny landed on an outcropping above the main hallway, clinging to the side of the rock and staying as still as she could.
She couldn't see into the cave from where she was, and she didn't dare lean forwards.
"Out." she heard Scarlet say.
"This is my room." Peril's voice snapped back.
Oh no... What are they going to do to my friends?Sunny thought, just as Scarlet spoke again.
"I am the queen here. You do as I say. Go sleep in the arena. If anyone else tries to sing, burn out his tongue." she growled.
She couldn't see Peril's reaction, but the silence said enough. A moment later, Peril stormed out, passing underneath where Sunny was hiding.
"In here." Scarlet barked, shoving Starflight into the cave, and out of Sunny's sight. Tsunami and Clay followed shortly after, leaping over what sounded like a pool of water from all the splashing. Soon, the only dragons in her sight were Scarlet (who still looked a bit lop-sided), Burn, and the guards that had escorted them all there.
"You will not interrupt my feast again. I'm sure you're very amused with yourselves." Scarlet hissed.
"Why don't you kill them?" Burn said, in a voice that sent shivers down Sunny's spine. The massive SandWing shifted on her feet, her talons making an ominous clanking as they hit the rock. Her barbed tail swept through a pile of ash on the floor, setting off miniature explosions of what looked like charcoal-coloured mist.
"Because that wouldn't be fun." Scarlet replied, "I want to see them fight. We have a whole day of entertainment planned for tomorrow. It's my hatching day! I want it to be thrilling."
Sunny watched as Burn gave the SkyWing guards a glare, and they retreated out of earshot.
Burn lowered her voice, and spoke again. Sunny couldn't make anything out but the last two words. "... kill them."
Oh no. Sunny thought, panic seizing her. I have to do something.
But Scarlet looked doubtful. "Well. Perhaps... But that didn't work out so well for you, did it? Everyone knows about the SkyWing egg - all the SkyWing eggs, in fact."
Sunny almost breathed a sigh of relief at the implications, but then realised what had been said after, and worried about that last bit. What does she mean? What happened?
"On the contrary, that worked perfectly. They don't have a SkyWing, do they? Only four dragonets - the prophecy is already incomplete." Burn said, her tongue flicking in and out.
"And yet." Scarlet sighed. "Our ignorant subjects are always yowling about the dragonets who are going to save the world. 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, "The world doesn't need a prophecy." she spat. "It needs me as the queen of the SandWings."
"But listen." Scarlet said smoothly, holding up a talon. "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 their faith in the prophecy. It'll all be over. Much more powerful than making them disappear, hmm? Don't you agree?"
"And what if they win?" Burn growled.
"They won't." Scarlet said confidently. "But of course, killing them ourselves is a solid backup plan."
"Excuse me." Sunny heard Tsunami's voice say. "You know we're right over here, right? Don't you want to hatch your evil plans somewhere more secretive?"
There was silence, and Sunny could almost hear the tension and anger in the air.
Scarlet stood there, furious, and then pulled something out from under her wing. There was a scattering noise of rock against rock, and then Burn leaned forwards, breathing fire onto where the things had landed. There was a fwoosh and a wall of fire burst up, blocking the dragonets inside from getting out.
Scarlet chuckled, "Sleep well, so you'll be thrilling in the arena. I thought I'd get to play with you for longer, but I guess you all have to be dead by sunset tomorrow." She sighed. "No one lets me have any fun."
With that, she swept out of the cave, head held high with self-importance. Burn gave one last glance at the flames, before following Scarlet down the corridor, passing under where Sunny hid.
Once the footsteps faded to an echo and died altogether, she dropped down onto the cave floor, stretching out her muscles which had gotten sore from staying in the same position for ages.
She could hear her friends talking to each other from the other side of the flames. She questioned whether to use her magic to put out the fire, or if she should try to get in to talk to them another way. Were there even windows in that room? How would she know she was sneaking into the right one? Aside from the fact there was a massive wall of fire and dragons that weren't SkyWings in it. Actually, come to think of it, Peril's room would be far away from other dragons, right? To make sure she didn't hurt anyone.
I guess that's why its not so busy h- Her thought was broken off by searing agonising pain on her tail. She whipped around to see Peril stumbling in confusion. She- she trod on my tail- Sunny wanted to scream, it hurt so bad. How much of her tail was burning?
"Reveal me." she choked, and through eyes full of tears and the stinging pain she saw first Peril's shocked expression and then the burning mess of her tail. There was a smouldering pit in her tail, like a gouged out eye socket. There was another, thinner wound a bit further along. It burned, more than Kestel's fire ever had.
"What- how-" Peril stammered, her ears flattening against her skull. "I didn't mean-"
Sunny's panicked twitching talons grasped around for something - a piece of coal. She lifted it up and almost pleaded under her breath. "Please heal me. Heal my injuries."
She dropped the rock as a sweeping sensation of exhaustion overcame her, and she shook her head, trying not to throw up.
Peril had gone quiet, and from the fog in her mind, Sunny couldn't tell if she was still there.
After the nausea vanished, Sunny lifted up her tail to examine it. It looked spotless, almost as if nothing had happened. The adrenaline was still pounding through her veins, and she looked up shakily.
Peril's expression was changing, flicking between confusion to panic, and settled on firm confusion. "You need to explain what happened right now. What. Was. That?" she hissed.
Sunny looked around to see if the commotion had attracted any attention, and noticed that Scarlet hadn't bothered to post any guards to make sure the three dragonets in the cave didn't escape. The corridor was empty.
"I was making sure my friends were alright." she said simply.
Peril's eyes narrowed. That obviously wasn't the answer she wanted. "Why didn't I see you?"
"I was hiding? Really well?" Sunny tried.
Peril said nothing.
Sunny sighed, giving in. "I have a special necklace that lets me become invisible to everyone. I was using it to spy on Queen Scarlet and keep an eye on my friends."
Peril looked at her for a while, and then shrugged. "I'm going to talk to them. I don't know if Cla- they're ok."
Sunny nodded. "Are you going to maybe uh... set them free?"
"I don't know," was her response. And then she turned and poked her head through the fire.
There were shocked exclamations, presumably from the dragonets and she heard Peril say something she couldn't quite make out.
Sitting down, she wondered if she should bother hiding herself again. There wasn't anyone here at the moment, but there was bound to be at some point. Better safe than sorry. "Hide me." she whispered, and she vanished immediately.
She sat and thought for a bit, trying to listen in to the conversation every now and then, to no avail. The roar of the flames was too loud. She tucked her wings in, absent-mindedly tracing the crevasses of rocks beneath her.
Her mind wandered, and she thought back to the strange dreams she'd started having since she'd first arrived at the SkyWing Palace. What did they mean? She'd have to ask Starflight when this was all over. She was so deep in thought that she missed Peril completely walking through the fire and disappearing from view, leaving her completely alone in the corridor.
She only realised that when the flaming coals moved, and a pair of flaming talons reached out from the fire, pulling the rocks aside completely.
"Reveal me." Sunny said quickly, and to her delight, she saw faces she hadn't seen properly in ages - her friends.
"Sunny!" Clay cried out quietly, running to her and scooping her up into a big hug. "You're ok!"
"How did you get out?" Starflight asked Sunny in a concerned tone, as Peril moved the coals back in place. "Scarlet has the whole place on high alert for you from what I heard."
Sunny glanced at Peril, and met her blue eyes. "Peril helped me. When the guards at my cage changed, she burned through the lock and let me out." She didn't feel comfortable lying to her friends, but then, hadn't she done that enough already?
Peril nodded, in a mildly convincing way. "I've moved the coals back so Her Majesty won't know how you got out." She whispered, glancing back at her room. Sunny saw that she looked a bit dejected, and she wondered what had happened. She hadn't looked like that before she went into the flames. It could be because she was disobeying her queen, but for some reason that didn't quite feel like the right answer.
"Can you get these off our wings?" Starflight asked, pointing to the bindings on their wings and ankles.
Peril gave him a surprisingly irritated look. "Maybe. But maybe I'll wait until I know you won't leave without saying goodbye."
"Maybe I can try to get them off instead?" Sunny whispered hopefully. She lifted up one of Tsunami's talons and tugged at it, trying to break it. Tsunami pulled her talon back, looking a bit taken off-guard.
Peril scowled.
She doesn't want them... us? to leave. I think it's about Clay. Sunny thought, noticing how Peril always seemed to look at him, in a sort of you're-going-to-leave-and-I-don't-want-that way. I could be wrong. It might just be because she doesn't have many friends. Let's just hope... let's just hope she doesn't do something to keep us here.
"Which way to the waterfall?" Tsunami asked.
Peril nodded up the tunnel, and then slunk off without another word.
Sunny followed quietly, walking alongside Starflight. He seemed distant, his face concerned but pensive.
"Stop making her mad." She heard Tsunami whisper to Clay.
"Me? What did I do?" Clay responded, sounding confused.
"Well, you're a handsome idiot." Tsunami said, not accusingly. "I'll tell you later."
Clay turned his head away, and Sunny caught his expression. He didn't seem to notice or get what she was pretty sure everyone else did. She wanted to tell him, but now wasn't the time.