Prologue
"The Twin Dragonets"

It's funny how dragons go about choosing things. They always try to convince themselves that there is a "right" and a "wrong" choice. This isn't always true.

Kestrel was staring into the eyes of death.

She crouched with her newborn twins at her side. The Diamond Spray River rushed past them. On the other side of the deep water stood Queen Scarlet herself. Kestrel met her gaze defiantly. The queen's guards surrounded them, ready to move in at their tyrannical leader's command.

"Today's your lucky day, Kestrel," the queen purred. "How about I soften the deal? You kill one of your defects - yes, only one, and you and the other will get to live."

Kestrel blinked. Was Scarlet really willing to spare her? She doubted that Scarlet would remain true to her word, but Kestrel would do anything now.

The hardened SkyWing soldier felt a flutter in her chest. Some kind of aberration in her usual stiff and emotionless way of living. Love. It faintly crackled and sparked within her. This force was not common in Kestrel's life, and never before had she experienced it so intensely. Kestrel was not the kind of dragon who loved or cared or held others tenderly.

Yet here she was, facing off with her queen and gripping two defective offspring like they were the most precious things in the world. Pitiful.

"I'll give you...hmm...three seconds." Scarlet grinned down at her prey. The gems embedded in her scales glistened sickly.

Three seconds.

Two SkyWings, born of the same egg.

One choice.

"One...two...three," Scarlet counted down, as airily as she would to a misbehaving dragonet. Her tail twitched thoughtfully. Kestrel saw her glance back at her soldiers as she leaned in. "Well, Kestrel?" the queen snarled. "Time is up."

I can't. Kestrel's head jerked back stiffly. The thought stabbed at her already weakened heart. Again, that ugly word appeared in her mind. Love. Love had already stolen so much from her. Now it froze her in place and refused to release her.

She admitted defeat. She gave into the notion of love.

She set down her son and rose up to face Queen Scarlet, her forefeet balling into fists. A smile flitted across the queen's face. She'd been expecting this.

Kestrel looked at the SkyWing guards. She had to proceed carefully - even in this dire moment, she kept a sense of reason. If I attack, they'll just kill us all. Scarlet will punish me either way...But...maybe I can spare one...She closed her eyes and sank back down to her feet. Shame and disgust welled inside. This was what had become of the best of the battalion? A pathetic dragoness forced to choose between two children she should have never had?

Stay strong. Stay strong. Even now, Kestrel stuck by her motto.

Kestrel studied her children. She marveled at their innocence. Now she would need her hard-hearted logic back.

The boy...he was the weaker one. While his sister burned twice as hot with the fire she'd stolen from him, he wasted away as cold as a stone. His eyes still closed, he gasped weakly. His twin shrieked and batted her wings. The choice was obvious...

"Time. Is. Up. Kestrel." Scarlet let out an agitated burst of flame.

Rage exploded within Kestrel. It wasn't like a battle-craze. No, this kind of anger was singed with grief.

"Fine!" The Kestrel cried, distraught. She grabbed her unnamed dragonet, her little son, born without fire, and in one smooth motion, plunged him into the deep river waters. He screamed and struggled as she forced his head under. Kestrel forced herself to look away. Every garbled shriek was like a stab to her heart. When she felt him go limp, she released his fragile body to the river's swift current. And it as over. Her flash of sorrow faded back into soldier-like calm.

Scarlet watched, unenthused.

"There," Kestrel said with just a hint of a sob. "I - I did as you asked. Now let me and my daughter go free."

The bejeweled SkyWing queen let out a little giggle. "Oh, hold on. I think I've changed my mind." She turned to her guards. "Bring this stupid traitor back for trial." Her eyes glinted maliciously at the remaining twin. "Kill the fiery one."

"NO!" Kestrel lunged forward. She reacted instantly, grabbing the dragonet and spreading her wings to take off. The moment she touched its scales, her own skin erupted in agony. Smoke rose Kestrel's flesh was burned deeper and deeper with each moment she held the child. She suffered through it by a mix of her soldierly discipline and newfound maternal desperation. She started to fly, but the pain was just too much to bear.

She watched, helpless, as her last dragonet slipped from her grasp.

The soldiers, seeing that she had dropped the dangerous creature, charged her with their weapons aimed to kill. She knocked them aside with a sweep of her tail and rose back into the air.

The pain in her charred flesh was unbearable.

Now she had no choice. She'd lost both of them. All she could do was flee and try to save her own life. Stay strong. Stay strong. Kestrel had to keep going. That was just her way. Love had been a mistake, a near fatal one. She vowed to never succumb to it again.

She flew as fast as she could, easily losing the armored SkyWings and their enraged queen.

Her son...dead by his mother's own claw. Her daughter...by now surely dead by Queen Scarlet's. Kestrel had failed the only two dragons she ever cared about.

Her wounded claws clutched to her chest, she flew off into the fading light.

But even on the coldest of nights, hope can start a fire.

Moonlight was already glinting off the sands of the Diamond Spray's banks by the time an injured SandWing came limping along them. Her barbed tail dragged behind her, still coated with the blood of SkyWings.

A small, motionless lump caught her attention. She squinted at the distant shape. It was further up the river and, if it was an animal of some sort, seemed to be in a very sorry state. She slid toward it, her eyes filled with tired curiosity.

It was a dragonet. A badly injured SkyWing dragonet.

Sidewinder frowned. She was definitely not squeamish, but seeing a baby dragon in this state would horrify anyone. He was bleeding profusely and gasping for air like a fish out of water.

It's still alive! Sidewinder gently rolled him over, amazed that the youngster still clung to life. "You're tough," she muttered. "Like me. Too bad you're one of those black-breath SkyWings." She chuckled harshly. The dragonet was unusually cold. She guessed that it was just from being the river so long.

Her mind began to race. How could a parent let this happen? Sidewinder assumed that even a SkyWing wouldn't have been stupid enough to let this happen. An older dragonet could have gotten lost and fallen into the river, but this one was just a baby, barely out of his egg.

A twinge of empathy hit her. No, no, no. I can't risk taking anyone in. Especially a SkyWing!

Among the SandWings, Sidewinder was a loose cannon. The SkyWings knew her as an enemy assassin. There was enough trouble in her life already; she was in no state to be taking in extra mouths to feed.

But if she left him here, he would certainly die.

"Maybe you're tough enough to make it out here," she murmured. She picked up the dragonet, wincing as the movement reopened a few of her own wounds. He let out a small croak. Sidewinder smiled. "We'll see."

Whether it was out of toughness or sheer luck that I survived, I'll never know.

My name is Dross.

I am the flameless SkyWing. I was born cold. If you care to listen any longer, this is my story.