Silence
It was the silence that Sunny remembered the most.
Rising early the next morning, as the sun peeked over the mountains, she climbed to the top of a hill to gaze down on the army camped below. Soldiers stirred, but the usual sounds of an army were muted, conversations whispered and hushed. A nervous tension hung about the camp as the soldiers readied their gear, assembled into formation, and waited for the order to take off.
A light breeze blew against her scales. She closed her eyes, breathing deep of the crisp mountain air. Her heart fluttered uncertainly against her ribs as potential disasters played out in her mind. Blister, sweeping in with an army out of nowhere. The Sandwings, rejecting Sunny's invading force and fighting to their utter destruction. A dark future, constantly plagued by war, queens clashing with queens as if nothing had been learned, nothing had been gained, from the wars of bygone eras.
Is this our fate? Dragonkind's fate? The hope that normally buoyed her sank in the shadow of despair. To fight, over and over, and never know peace? Will the bloodshed ever end?
She opened her eyes, gazing out over the lonely, desolate dunes to the west. Would they be able to end the bloodshed?
"Morning," came a gruff voice. Sunny turned to see a hulking Mudwing tromp up next to her. She smiled.
"Good morning, Heron. How have you been?"
Heron grunted. "Eh. The troops are fine. Happy that this war is finally coming to a close. I think it's about time we put all this nasty business behind us and enjoy a few years of peace."
"Agreed," said Sunny. "But you didn't answer my question."
"Hm?"
"How have you been? Things have moved along since we first met you in the rainforest." Sunny looked away. "If you don't mind me saying, you seem a lot better than…before."
Heron made a low noise in her throat, somewhere between a hum and a sigh.
"I guess. Finally got to bash a few skulls in. Avenge my brother's death. It wasn't, well…"
"What?"
Heron paused, looking uncomfortable as she crouched next to Sunny. "I thought killing Blister's goons would make Caiman's death better. It didn't. I don't think any amount of killing will."
"I'm sorry," said Sunny. "This war has taken a lot from all of us."
"It has. Which is why I'm glad it's ending. And—well, I'm glad you're the ones ending it." A ghost of a smile touched the big Mudwing's muzzle. "You know, I had my doubts at first. The five of you seemed so unprepared to take on Blister that I thought this was a lost cause to begin with. But now I'm glad I stuck with you. It will be satisfying to see you finally dethrone that snake."
"Thank you," said Sunny. "You and Moorhen have been just as important in this fight. We would have been doomed without the Mudwings."
Heron shrugged. "Appreciated. I wish Caiman could have seen what you've accomplished."
Their conversation was soon interrupted by Tsunami's call to order. It was time.
"Ready to end this war?" said Heron as they headed to where the others were gathered.
"More than ready. See you on the battlefield, Heron."
"Take care, Sunny. If all goes well, we can all go home soon."
As Heron went to gather her troops, Sunny met up with Clay, Tsunami, Glory, and Starflight. They stood atop a rise before the gathered army, all in various states of nervous anticipation.
"Everyone's ready and accounted for," said Tsunami. "The Seawings are prepped, and the other queens have their troops ready."
"Good," said Sunny. "Everyone needs to be in top shape today. Clay, how's the gear?"
"Mended and refitted. All the weapons were checked last night, they should be good." He nodded in a self-satisfied way. "And I made sure we all had a good breakfast. Can't fight on an empty stomach."
Sunny chuckled. "That's for sure. Alright, everyone's ready for battle. Glory, what have your scouts seen?"
Glory's scales turned a slight yellow. "Nothing unexpected. They say Blister's digging in, and her troops are getting ready for a final stand. Something happened at the stronghold yesterday that's really shaken the Sandwings. They look even more scared than usual."
"They probably know how this is going to end," said Sunny. "Either way, their loss is our gain. Starflight, what do you think? How should we approach this?"
Starflight cocked his head, the ends of his blindfold swaying with the movement. "Well, we have the numbers advantage. Our troops are in better spirits than Blister's. I say we just go for it."
"Go for it?"
"A full attack, all at once. Blister has nowhere left to run—unless she wants to try flying across the ocean. If we encircle the stronghold, cut off all their routes of escape, we can easily defeat Blister."
"And end this war. For good." Inhaling deeply, Sunny felt a steady energy thrum from her chest to the tips of her wings as she left the group huddle and faced the army standing ready.
"Warriors," she began, "I stand before you this morning to deliver a simple message. Behind me, within the dunes of the Sand Kingdom, lies Blister's Stronghold. Though she has been weakened significantly, she is still a formidable foe. She will fight to the bitter end, as will her loyal followers. We gave her one last chance at peace, and she threw it away.
"Every one of you standing before me today is here because you believe in a better future for Pyrrhia. A future that isn't ruled by petty tyrants, and steeped in constant war and conflict. You've sacrificed much to get to this point—you've fought, you've bled, you've lost kin and fellow comrades. And now that the final battle is upon us, we, the Dragons of Destiny, call on you to remember what we've fought so hard for. Peace. Prosperity. Freedom. A chance for our dragonets to see a brighter future, where dragons no longer fight and hate, but learn to respect each other. We have our differences, but we are all dragons. And to me, that's all that matters."
She turned to face the dunes, and felt the warm brush of desert air on her muzzle. She spread her wings, and behind her hundreds of dragons followed suit.
"Dragons of Pyrrhia…one last hurdle remains before us. I've been honored to have you by our side, and I am honored to spread wing with you one last time to fly into battle. To the sky, warriors! It's time to end this war."
In the end, it was the silence that Sunny remembered the most. As the dragons lifted off and sped west to battle, their wingbeats fading into the distance, she closed her eyes and listened to the silence. To the dragons that weren't there, whose voices would never be heard again. Caiman, whose sacrifice had saved dozens of his tribe member's lives. Six-Claws and Stonemover, loyal and loving both. And the hundreds of dragons—Sandwing and Skywing, Rainwing and Nightwing, Icewing and Mudwing and Seawing—who had fallen on both sides of the war.
She listened to that silence, the same silence that had accompanied her to sleep every night since the war's beginning. It was that silence that asked if what she'd done, what she and Blister had done, could ever be repaid to those that had suffered.
The answer, truly, was no. Like Heron said, nothing could ever bring back those who were lost, or sooth those who'd have to move on without their loved ones.
But perhaps, when the sky was peaceful once more, she could carry on their names and voices to generations beyond.
Sunny straightened as an idea sprouted in her mind. It would take time and a lot of effort to implement. But then again, nothing she had ever done had been easy, and it was the least she could do for those that had given her their all.
She spread her wings and followed the army into battle.
Like Tsunami's namesake, the army descended in a wave upon the desert. The sky darkened with a thousand pairs of wings as the air shook with their well-timed beats. They swept upon the dusty dunes, enveloping Blister's outposts, swiftly decimating what little opposition remained to stand in their way.
"Forward!" Tsunami cried as they took to the skies again. "To the stronghold!"
The hot desert sun soon grew in intensity, beating down on their backs as they flew. As Blister's Stronghold grew in the distance, so to did the desert's heat, searing its touch into the scales of every dragon. It was as if the desert itself was fighting back against this invading force.
Fast and quick, she thought, already panting from the heat. Can't let us get bogged down in the dunes.
As they approached the streaked and dirty walls of the stronghold, a swarm of Sandwings swirled up from below. Like snakes they slithered from the walls, pouring from the stronghold doors and windows, gathering in the sky like a poised viper. At their head Tsunami spotted a speck of red, and a growl built in her chest.
"Scarlet!" The growl built into a snarl. "We have unfinished business."
The speck materialized into the former Skywing queen, her disfigured face contorted in a gruesome sneer. Tsunami heard a flutter of wings, and out of the corner of her eye saw Ruby pull up some distance away.
"Have you finally grown some courage, mother?" came Ruby's acid greeting. "Or has Blister hidden herself in her stronghold and left you for dead?"
Scarlet remained silent as she hovered in front of the ranks of Sandwings. Tsunami was genuinely surprised to see her actually standing her ground.
This war has changed everyone, she thought.
Then Scarlet spoke.
"Isn't this a thrilling reunion?" she said without an ounce of amusement in her voice.
Tsunami cocked her head. Well, almost everyone.
"I'm surprised you haven't run off, mother," Ruby continued. "You seem to have made a habit of it. What changed?"
"What changed?" The former queen cackled. "You tell me, Ruby. My kingdom, stolen by a heartless daughter. My dragons, enraptured by a false queen. Hunted and humiliated by mere dragonets, really Ruby, must you ask?"
"Is that what you tell yourself? That everything you had was unjustly taken from you?" Ruby's claws raked the air, as if she could claw her mother from here. "That you were the victim and everyone else was bullying you?"
"You started this, Ruby. You and those cursed dragonets. Don't pretend you didn't."
"Maybe we did." Tsunami turned to see Peril swoop forward, her blue eyes pale and confident. She stared down the opposing force, and as one they all shied away, cringing and whispering among themselves.
They don't know she's lost her firescales. Tsunami smiled at the unexpected advantage.
"But if we took everything from you," continued Peril, "it was because you took everything from everyone else. Their freedom, their dignity, their lives. You tossed dragons into your arena and watched as they killed each other for your entertainment. You turned an innocent dragonet into a killing machine so you would always keep your throne. It was you who was the bully, Scarlet, whether you admit it or not."
Peril banked around and pulled up to Ruby's side. She gave Peril a nod, and Peril returned it.
"Well then," said Scarlet. "You have your truth and I have mine. And that's the way it's going to be."
The old queen gave a final crooked grin.
"I have nothing left to lose. And besides, I'd rather die by the claw than rot in some corner of this wretched continent. So I suppose this is it. It's been nice knowing you all, but truly, I am done with this world.
"Sandwings, attack!"
The two armies rushed forward, howling cries of battle.
They clashed, for the final time.
Hours passed beneath the burning sun. Claw clashed against scale, fire burned against hide, dragons fought and bled and died. As the battle continued it descended from the sky to the dunes, and the sand was soon painted with the blood of the wounded and fallen.
Up above Sunny circled, taking it all in. Taking in the bloodshed. Taking in the pain.
She hated it, the pain and grief of war. But she wasn't going to sit back and let others suffer and sacrifice on her behalf. So she followed them to the battlefield, and oversaw the fighting, coordinating with Tsunami and the others as necessary. Clay and Starflight were helping the healers, while Glory was coordinating the Rainwings and Nightwings, who fought at the edge of the battle, hounding the Sandwings and filling gaps in the defense.
She saw her mother, Thorn, along with Qibli and Smolder. The Outclaws swept from around, attacking the rear, sowing chaos and confusion in the Blister's ranks. She saw Moorhen, with Heron by her side, forging a path through the center, forcing the Sandwings back. Above, Ruby and the Skywings circled like a flock of sharp-eyed falcons, swooping down to rake the Sandwings, zooming back up out of their reach before they could retaliate. And she saw Tsunami, there at the forefront, fighting with the Seawings as they swiftly pushed Blister's forces back up against the sealed gates of the stronghold.
They were like a well-oiled machine, a single organism fighting with one mind and one purpose. Sunny found it breathtaking. To see these different dragon tribes, fighting as one, unified despite all their differences…
It was more than just peace she strived for now, more than just an absence of war. As Sunny gazed out over the dragons, over past enemies now turned comrades, she knew that this was what she wanted dragonkind to be. One race. Whole. Fighting together for a common vision.
Then she saw the Sandwings, alone and suffering, as they fell one by one. Her hopes fell as she watched her tribe make their desperate last stand.
How could they be whole when some still fought for tyrants?
A howl went up from the center of the fighting. Amid the throng of thrashing bodies was Scarlet, collapsed before the stronghold gates, bloody from head to tail. Dragons around stopped and watched as she lay on her side, flanks heaving and coughing up blood, feebly trying to retreat from Ruby and Peril as they pressed in on her.
"Scarlet of the Skywings," said Ruby, her voice echoing to all present, "we have beaten you here on the steps of Blister's Stronghold. You have nowhere left to run or hide, and the Skywings demand your death. Do you have anything left to say?"
While Sunny landed silently and made her way through the spectators, Scarlet coughed and gazed up with a scowl on her muzzle.
"What…is there left to say?" She shifted, then slipped, falling heavily on her side. "We've both killed…so many. Like the arena, all over again."
Her eyes got far away. "Those…those were the days. Simpler times. Then you, and those hatchlings…bah!"
Scarlet lay her head down, her breath rattling as she gasped for breath. More dragons parted as Tsunami made her way to where Ruby and Peril stood. Sunny joined her.
"General Tsunami," said Ruby. "I know you and your friends have had a history with Scarlet. Would you like to do the honors?"
Tsunami hesitated, then looked to Peril, the unspoken question in her eyes. Peril gave a small, barely perceptible nod.
"I will," said Tsunami.
She stood over Scarlet. The former queen looked on, her body slumped in resignation.
"Are you happy now, dragonet?" Her eye rolled in its socket, her voice raspy, barely audible. "Got your revenge finally? Go on. Kill me…like you killed Gill."
Tsunami placed a claw against Scarlet's exposed throat. She winced, whimpered. Tsunami took a long, deep breath.
"I made a promise once, Scarlet," she said, low and calm, "I made a promise that one day you'd receive justice for what you did to us. That day has now come. The reckoning, at last."
A dusty wind whispered among the silence. A thousand dragons watched, enrapt; a thousand pairs of ears heard Tsunami's next words.
"At first I did it for Gill. Gill, mate to my mother Coral, and the father I never knew. The father you forced me to kill after you drove him to madness."
Startled murmuring spread through the crowd. Scarlet blinked in shock, not knowing until now the true extent of what she'd put Tsunami through. Only the Seawings remained silent, their heads bowed in respectful deference to the memory of their late king.
"You will never know, or understand, the pain I suffered Scarlet," Tsunami continued, pain etched into her expression. "Every day, every night. I hated you with every fiber of my being. I wanted to rip you to shreds, make you beg, make you kneel before me as you are now."
She released a pent-up breath, her wings laid gently by her sides. Sunny quietly laid her tail over Tsunami's and offered a small squeeze of support.
"But now, as I stand here with my claws over your throat…" Tsunami bowed her head a moment, closing her eyes as if sorting her thoughts out. "Now, I don't hate you. I don't want to. I saw hatred consume what was left of you Scarlet. Your hatred of us morphed into a hatred of Peril, of your daughter, of your own tribe. You left your tribe to die, all because you couldn't overcome your hatred. I won't let that happen to me. I fight for peace."
Tsunami increased the pressure on Scarlet's throat, and as the Skywing struggled for breath she said, "So wherever you go after this world, remember us, the Dragons of Destiny. Remember what we fought for. And maybe, in some other life, you can leave your hatred behind."
A single slice, and it was done. As Scarlet's life bled out into the sand, Sunny reared up on her hind legs and yelled:
"Is there anyone else who fights for this tyrant? Is there anyone else who fights for Blister?"
She waited, and not a single soul responded. Around her, one by one, the Sandwing soldiers of Blister's army knelt and lowered their heads in surrender. A cheer went up, first among the Sandwings, and then through the rest of the dragons around them.
"Dragons of Destiny! Dragons of Destiny!"
As the crowd roared, Sunny said to Tsunami, "Gather the others. I want everyone together when we confront Blister."
As Tsunami flew off, Sunny turned to the gates of the stronghold, to the bloodstained walls that she'd seen a year ago. The walls that kept others out, and reminded them all of the war, and what it had done to the dragons of Pyrrhia. The idea poked Sunny's mind again, and she could almost see it all, playing out before her.
But first, she had one last tyrant to dethrone.
They heaved the doors to the throne room open and entered into a well-lit chamber. The walls were smooth and bare, broken only by windows set at even intervals. A long carpet of fine silk lay before them, stretching all the way to a stepped dais at the end of the room. A massive skylight sat against the far wall, letting in a swath of sunlight that fell on a sandy-colored dragon sprawled across plush pillows. Sunny could see a line of black diamonds trailing down the dragon's back.
"Blister!"
Blister raised her head, languidly uncoiling herself and standing before them. Her black, beady eyes drilled into them even from a distance.
"Dragonets. Welcome," she said calmly, as if greeting old friends. "You've breached my defenses and reached the inner sanctums of my stronghold. I assume Scarlet's 'last stand' failed spectacularly?"
"Essentially," said Glory. "What's it to you?"
"Always the acerbic one, are you, Rainwing?" Blister flicked her tongue. "I told her not to bother, but she refused to listen. Judging by your relatively clean appearances, you let those lackeys of yours handle my soldiers, yes?"
"We didn't have to," said Tsunami. "We offered them surrender, and they gladly took it."
"Only after routing them soundly, I'm sure." Blister spat. "Pssh. Pathetic bunch. So much for faithfully serving their queen."
"You aren't their queen," said Starflight. "The Sandwings won't fight for a tyrant like you."
"Oh? Have they chosen someone else already?"
"Not yet," said Sunny, stepping forward. "But once this is over, we will let them choose who will rule them, as it should have been all along."
"And whoever they choose, it definitely won't be you," said Clay, thumping the floor with his tail.
Blister stepped down from the dais, her clawsteps muffled by the carpet. The Sandwing bore a peculiar expression—at once amused and sad. Mirth, mixed with sorrow.
"And will it be better, as you say?" Her voice was so quiet that all five of them had to lean forward to hear her better. "How are the Sandwings to know that you've given them a brighter future?"
She paced back and forth, her barbed tail slithering against the carpet with a wispy noise, her wings raised and tucked behind her back.
"You call yourselves the Dragons of Destiny. You follow an old prophecy that has been proven false, one that claims that the five of you, and you alone, can bring peace to Pyrrhia. Have you? All I see around me is war. Bloodshed on a massive scale—swamps filled with bodies, mountain slopes covered in the dead. Weeping widows and orphans, ordinary dragons ripped from their homes and families to fight a war they never wanted.
"I claimed my throne, and you refused to recognize my rule. I asked you to submit, and you resisted instead."
"You threatened to kill us," Tsunami interrupted. "There was no asking involved."
"So we fought," Blister continued, ignoring Tsunami's outburst, "and like rabid animals over a carcass, we tore this continent to pieces in our quests for dominance. Tell me, young dragonets," and here she faced them with a self-satisfied grin upon her snout, "what quest for peace involves invading a tribe's kingdom by force?"
"Your delusional." The tassels of Starflight's blindfold quivered ever so slightly as he raised his head. "We're freeing the Sandwings, not invading them. We're fighting your greed, not taking Pyrrhia for our own."
"Is that how you see it? You are the great heroes fighting the terrible evil queen? I'm no fool. I've lived long enough to know how things work. And it's not that simple."
She swept to a standstill, gracefully sitting down and wrapping her tail around her legs. Blister inspected her barb, tracing a talon along its gleaming, black edge.
"The Icewings are in turmoil right now. Their queen is dead, all those in power have fled or vanished. Their kingdom is now caught in its own civil war, and more dragons die with every passing day.
"The Skywings have lost so many of their own. They face an uncertain future with a young, inexperienced queen who employs the services of a monster executioner."
"Peril is not a mon—"
"The Nightwings," said Blister, smothering Clay's protests, "oh, how they have suffered. First they lose their home, and then they are taken over by a Rainwing upstart, who abandons them at the first sign of trouble."
Glory turned scarlet. "Would you like to be acquainted with my venom? I can give you a face to match Scarlet's."
"As if the threat of violence could bother me when you've already destroyed everything I cared about." Blister appraised Glory with thinly veiled contempt. "And you accuse me of cruelty."
Blister went on. "But let's not forget the tribe that suffered the most: the Sandwings. Your Sandwings, Sunny, for whether you accept it or not their fate is tied to the consequences of your actions. All they wanted after twenty years of war was some peace. Instead they've been forced to fight a war that has decimated their numbers. Do you know how many Sandwings there are left, Sunny? Do you know how many of your own tribe you have slaughtered?"
Sunny felt their eyes on her, heard the silence of their voices. She didn't know the exact number, and odds were she never woud.
In the end, did it matter? Too many had died already. Too many wouldn't see the world she wished to build, the peace she wished to create. Their blood was on her talons, and no amount of washing would clear it away.
So she wouldn't wash it.
With bloodied talons, she would help rebuild. She, and Blister.
"I didn't destroy the Sandwings, Blister. We did." Sunny prowled forward, and even Blister was forced to her claws. "We are both responsible for what has happened to this tribe."
"Is that what you believe?"
Sunny smirked. "You have your truth and I have mine. So said a certain Skywing." She raised a claw and jabbed it at Blister. "But you and I know…we know that there is only one truth. We just have different ways of seeing it. This war is ours, and only we can heal what we've harmed. I can see that clear as day. Whether or not you do is your choice entirely.
"Blister, you once refused my offer of peace. Well, here I am in your throne room, and I'm going to offer it to you again."
Tsunami sputtered. "Wait, wait, Sunny? You can't be serious?"
"I thought we were here to stop Blister, not give her a ticket to freedom," said Glory.
"Quiet, I've got this." Turning back to Blister, Sunny said, "We will let you live on one condition—that you help us rebuild the Sand Kingdom, and the rest of Pyrrhia. Undo what this war has destroyed, and you will see that we've truly believed in peace all along, and that our dream will benefit dragonkind far more than your ambitions.
"It's your choice, Blister. Atone for what you've done…or die, and take your tyranny away forever."
Blister looked away, silent and still. For an eternity Sunny heard nothing but her heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears. Under the bright light streaming in from the skylight the pale scales lining Blister's thin frame were dull and coarse, her eyes lifeless. Dry and withered, she was like the shed skin of a viper, its owner—the old, conniving Blister—long gone.
"All you see is a tyrant." Her words after such a long silence seemed abnormally loud. "Just another snake trying to steal another throne. How easy it is to label me evil, and move on from it, as if I've no other purpose but to stand in the way of the great heroes."
She refused to meet their eyes, yet all could hear the aching bitterness broiling deep in her voice.
"I could never be like any of you, bright and optimistic, ready to go out and shape the world. How could I? All I knew from the second I crawled out of my egg is that everyone hated me. My sisters, they never trusted me. Burn threatened to kill me on multiple occasions, and Blaze was constantly terrified of me. Even Smolder and my other brothers couldn't stand my presence. But my mother…if you knew the things she said and did to me…"
She whipped around, and they all tensed. Tsunami growled, but Blister went on, caught within her own tale.
"It's true that I wanted the Sandwing throne ever since I was young. It's true that I learned to be cunning and manipulative, for I didn't have Burn's brute strength or Blaze's natural charisma to aid me. But I wanted that throne for more than just personal gain. I wanted to rob Oasis of the one thing that she hung over me, every day and every night. The one thing she claimed I would never get, no matter what I did or how hard I fought."
Blister turned her back to them, facing the dais.
"It was the only way I could surmount her. The only way I could spit in her face and say, 'Look at me now. Look at the daughter you tried to destroy.' After all I went through to win this throne, keeping it from the likes of you five seemed easy."
She began laughing, her voice dead of emotion. With slow, deliberate steps she turned back to them and wrapped her tail around herself.
"But you became my downfall in the end. A viper is only as deadly as its bite, and it seems mine was not enough to stop you. Had I known the trouble you would cause me down the road I would've had Morrowseer kill you all in an instant. But all of that is just sand blown away in the wind, isn't it?"
She raised her barb up, and laid a claw over it.
"So when you give me a choice to either die, or seek atonement—to leave this world, or live to see this peace you've dreamed up—it's not a choice, really. My mother is in another place right now, laughing at my misfortune. If there is no way for me to silence her…then I might as well go to her now."
Too late, Sunny realized what was going to happen.
"No, wait—"
Before anyone could stop her, Blister took the tip of her barb and rammed it into the soft underside of her throat. The wickedly sharp point pierced scale and flesh with sickening ease, and Blister cried out in pain, stumbling to one side as black venom began spreading swiftly from the wound.
"What is she doing?" said Starflight.
"She stabbed herself! With her own barb!" Clay leapt forward, but stopped short. "What do…what do we do?"
Before Sunny could respond, Blister—coughing, with blood dripping from her neck—lifted her head and grinned at them.
"Oh, the dragonets are coming…"
By now the five of them had gathered around Blister, who'd slumped over onto her side. Sunny, snapping out of her shock, wrapped her claws around Blister's barb, trying to yank it out, but the dying Sandwing held on with a vice-like grip as more and more venom poured into her neck.
"They're coming to save the day…"
"She's injecting herself with all her venom," cried Sunny. "Help me, someone!"
"They're coming to fight…for they know what's right…"
"Sunny." Sunny barely felt Glory's claw on her shoulder, ignored the sorrow in her voice. "Sunny, stop. There's nothing we can do."
"…the dragonets…"
Panting, horrified at what she was seeing, Sunny stared into Blister's eyes, green into inky black. Those eyes saw nothing anymore, gazing far off into the distance as one final breath escaped between Blister's parted jaws.
"…hooray…"
