"Tell me what you know about the prophecy."
The SeaWing glared, but said nothing. He also kept far back in the cave.
"Tell me," Peril insisted, reaching out towards him with her burning talons. She didn't actually want to hurt him, and had no intention of doing so, but of course he didn't have to know that.
"What does it matter to you?" he growled.
"It's in Queen Ruby's interest to know about other tribe's interpretations of the prophecy," Peril growled back. "Now tell me before I have to burn your eyes out."
"You went rouge. Again. You're not asking for Queen Ruby."
"You're smarter than you look," Peril shot back. "Then again, that's not hard."
The SeaWing bristled but again said nothing.
Peril sighed. "Look, you're supposed to be on a patrol, aren't you? The longer we're here, the greater the chance of something slipping by and you getting blamed. So answer my questions, and you can go. What do the SeaWings know about the prophecy?"
"Five dragons are said to bring about the end of the world as we know it, at the very least," he said quickly.
"What do you mean?" Peril said, alarmed.
"The prophecy doesn't say exactly what they'll do, but it's pretty clear that it's not good."
Peril took a deep breath. "What about the dragons in the prophecy? Does anyone know where they are?"
"We had the red-scaled blood-egg MudWing in our prisons for a short time, but he somehow escaped," the SeaWing growled in frustration.
"One last question," Peril said. "Who delivered the prophecy?"
"Some NightWing prophet. That's all I know."
"I could have worked that out myself," Peril grumbled. "Fine. Go."
She stepped to the side and the SeaWing shot past her into the air, racing in the direction of the Summer Palace.
Peril crawled deeper into the cave, thinking hard. If there was a blood-egg MudWing in the prophecy, then along with Firestorm, that made two out of five dragons that she knew about. Who were the other three? Where were they? What could she do about any of it, even if she knew? Who delivered the prophecy, and did he or she know more than they were telling? Why would there be a prophecy saying that Firestorm and four others would start a war?
I have no idea about any of the others, but I know Firestorm's not a killer. She would never try to end the world.
Another thought ran through Peril's mind, and she laughed grimly.
"It would be more likely to be me who ends the world than Firestorm," she muttered, curling up in the back of the cave. "It's not her who destroys any living thing she touches."
Peril sighed again, her blue eyes sliding closed. It seems neither Coral nor Ruby tell their soldiers anything, Peril thought. She had picked up Firestorm's habit of not using titles for dragons she didn't like very much.
Will Queen Moorhen or Queen Thorn tell their soldiers more? Their tribes would probably be the least mistrustful of me, as at least some of them were allies in the war. It's possible Ruby hasn't gotten the news of my desertion to them yet.
Peril soon dropped off to sleep, her nightmares beginning again. Scarlet chased her through the flaming hallways of the Sky Palace, laughing evilly. As Peril ran through the palace, she saw rooms full of charred corpses. The dragons she'd killed in the arena. Peril knew she was dreaming, but couldn't shake herself awake.
She ran towards an open doorway, seeing blue skies ahead, but as she reached it, it became the door to the arena. She skidded to a stop on the blood-soaked sand. She looked around wildly. The seats were filled with more charred corpses, and Scarlet was standing on the queen's balcony, looking down at her. Peril tried to fly, but saw her wings were bound. To her surprise, Scarlet flew down from the balcony and landed on the sand across from her. Peril crouched low, keeping her eyes on Scarlet's face. She knew it had been destroyed in Glory's venom attack, but now it looked undamaged.
Scarlet smiled. "Ah, Peril. How nice to see you again. I was going to bring you here to the arena, but you came on your own. How considerate of you."
Peril drew back, staying out of the fallen queen's reach.
Scarlet shook her head sadly. "All these dragons want their revenge, you see. I think I'll give it to them. It will be very thrilling."
The corpses stirred in the stands, rising up to stare at Peril through a haze of smoke.
Peril tried to stay calm. "They can't do anything to me. Isn't that why you made me your Champion?" she spat the last word.
Scarlet grinned again. "What a pointless display of bravado. That may be true, but they're already dead. Your talons of fire can't hurt them either. Unless you can be the wonderful monster you used to be, instead of the pathetic lump of scales you are now..."
Peril winced at the words. Then, a thought crossed her mind.
Why should I care? She's nothing but a deranged, sociopathic coward!
Scarlet shook her head and turned away, about to fly back to the balcony. As she did, Peril caught sight of a glint of blue between her talons.
"I'm pathetic?" she cried before she could stop herself. "I'm not the one who is so scared and cowardly that she has to use a dreamvisitor to speak to dragons!"
The crowd stilled. Scarlet turned around.
"What did you say to me?" she hissed. "I am your queen! You do not speak to me in that way!"
"You forfeited your kingdom when you ran away after Glory's attack scarred your pretty face," Peril retorted, putting emphasis on the words Glory and ran away.
Scarlet hissed and shot a blast of flame at Peril's face, but Peril didn't flinch.
"You ran away. You handed over your kingdom to your daughter, Ruby. You want it back, you'll have to challenge her for it. And let me tell you, she won't give it to you easily."
Scarlet growled. "Has your dear cousin been teaching you to be so brave? Is she listening to this right now?"
"No," Peril said hotly. "This is me, not her."
A sudden thought struck her.
"Are you involved in this?" she cried.
Scarlet looked taken aback, but quickly worked her face back into a sneer.
"What are you talking about, you whimpering idiot?"
"The prophecy. The one that says she and four other dragons will end the world of Pyrrhia. Are you planning to cause some chaos, blame it on them, then take back the throne from Ruby? Are you even smart enough to think of something like that?"
Scarlet hissed in anger, but Peril thought she saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes. Peril leaned forward, forcing herself to see Scarlet's scarred face, forcing Scarlet to show herself her surroundings. The arena faded away, and Scarlet's scars revealed themselves in all their horrible glory.
The clamps fell away from Peril's wings and hit the ground with a clank. Peril scanned her surroundings, lifting up into the sky. She saw Jade Mountain to the south, and the dark dunes of the desert to the west. She turned to look down at the mountain Scarlet had been on, but suddenly the scenery fell away and Peril jerked awake.
"What are you doing in the Kingdom of the Sea?" the dark blue SeaWing growled, pointing a spear at Peril.
Peril ignored his question, looking around. There were three other SeaWing soldiers in the cave, all wearing armor and holding spears. The SeaWing she'd interrogated must have informed Queen Coral.
"What are y-" the SeaWing began again, but that was as far as he got.
Peril grabbed his spear, shoving the butt of it against his chest. He stumbled back, and one of the others started forwards towards her. Peril planted her claws on a metal plate of his armor and shoved him into the wall of the cave. She pulled her talons away before the metal burned off. The soldier would live. The other two stumbled out of her way as she walked towards the entrance. She leaped into the air, turning towards the southern part of the Claws of Clouds mountains. Peril heard the patrol taking to the air behind her, but they'd never catch her in the sky.
Peril flew all day, hitting the mainland over a MudWing village just as night fell. She scanned the ground below her, looking for a place to spend the night.
Perfect, she thought, spying a rock sticking out of a mud pool a good distance away from the village and the trees.
Peril landed on the rock, a few wisps of smoke rising from the rock as a patch of lichen turned to ash under her claws. She curled up on the rock, noticing two of the moons were more than half full. Good. Any dragon who wanted to land on the rock would be able to see her and know to stay away.
Peril closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to come.
She found herself standing in the arena of the Sky Palace, but the sand was clean and dry, the stands were empty, and her wings were free. She flew to the queen's balcony, and saw two thrones instead of one. She recognized the throne Scarlet always sat in, and recognized the other as the one Burn had used. She walked past into the palace, but a noise made her turn. The first thing she saw saw Scarlet, perched on her throne. The queen opened her mouth to speak, but Peril spoke first.
"Don't even try," she hissed.
As Scarlet sat there, stunned, Peril turned to the other throne. Burn sat there, glaring. The black lines of dragonbite viper venom curled from her ankle to the center of her chest. Peril stared back, not at all sorry she couldn't have saved the cruel SandWing princess. Burn's tail arced up like a scorpion's, but before she could strike, Peril grabbed it, forcing it down.
"You are dead," she said firmly, and flew away, soaring past the empty stone prisons surrounding the arena. The dream faded away.
Peril woke in the morning, the sun already high in the sky. She stood on the rock, stretching. She saw a distant MudWing patrol in the sky, but frowned as a pale blue shape joined them. The dragons flew back down to the ground, followed by the blue dragon.
An IceWing? Peril thought. They hate NightWings. Maybe-
Peril lifted off from the rock, landing on a bare patch of earth a short way from the group of dragons. She couldn't get any closer, as they were in a small stand of trees, but she heard words like "prophecy", and "destruction".
After a few minutes, the IceWing lifted off. Peril followed slowly, waiting until they were out of earshot of the MudWing village before calling out to the IceWing.
"Wait," she called. "I want to ask you something about the prophecy."
The IceWing turned, surprised. When he realized who she was, his eyes narrowed in hatred.
"You," he hissed. "You were Scarlet's Champion in her arena, weren't you?"
Peril hung her head.
"Yes," she whispered.
"My sister, Stormur, died in that arena. She was a good fighter, too good to be killed by any normal dragon, so it must've been you who killed her. Why should I tell you anything?"
Peril closed her eyes. She remembered Stormur. She had won three of her matches with barely a scar at the end. Scarlet had planned to make her fight Peril eventually, but-
"It wasn't me who killed her!" Peril cried. "Stormur was killed by the NightWings. Scarlet was going to make all of her IceWing prisoners fight two of the dragonets from the prophecy, but a bunch of NightWings came, took the NightWing, and killed all of the IceWing prisoners. That's the truth, I promise you."
The IceWing glared back at her. "Even if that's true, why should I tell you anything about the prophecy? Why don't you go ask your own queen?"
He turned away.
"Please!" Peril cried. "I have a cousin who's in the prophecy. Ruby exiled me because I helped her escape when she sent her guards after her. I don't know where she is now. I'm worried about her."
The IceWing looked back at her. He must've seen the desperation in Peril's eyes, because the hard look in his softened. He hovered there for a long time, a conflicted look on his face. Finally, he sighed.
"Come down," he said, turning and flying to land on a patch of grass. Peril landed on a patch of gravel nearby.
The IceWing took a deep breath and spoke.
"When Queen Glacier first heard about the prophecy, she reacted the way you'd expect her to: she pulled her army together to try to find the five in the prophecy. But a few days later, the same dragon who'd told her about the prophecy came back. He said that he had seen the exact wording of the full prophecy, and that from that, he thought it was fake. He said the prophecy was very specific about the prophecy was really specific about the dragons, but incredibly vague about what they would do or why dragons should fear them. He said- what was it? He said it was more like 'A complex plan to take attention off yourself and to get rid of certain dragons without getting blamed'. Queen Glacier was willing to believe him, because she hardly trusts NightWings at all."
"Do you think it's fake?" Peril asked hopefully.
"I'm not sure what to think about it, but I trust the queen enough to obey her. She's told us to not do anything about it yet, until we can find out more. But I'm not sure what she'd do if she found one of them."
"Do you know where any of them are?" Peril asked.
"The MudWings said they thought one or more of them had been seen just to the east of here, and that the SeaWings said that they had captured another one."
"The one the SeaWings caught was a blood-egg MudWing, but I was told he had escaped." Peril said, remembering what the SeaWing had told her.
"And no one knows where they are now?" the IceWing asked.
"Not as far as I know."
"All right," he started to lift off, but paused. He took a deep breath, and turned back to Peril.
"If you do find your cousin, tell her to be careful." he said.
He jumped into the air, flying west over the marshes. Peril watched him go, then turned and lifted off herself, flying towards the southern mountains.
She flew for another few days, before resting at the western edge of the rainforest. She was resting in a small cave formed by tall rocks leaning against each other. As she started to fall asleep, she heard voices outside.
"Is it true they've been caught?"
Peril moved towards the entrance, peering around the rocks. She saw a MudWing, but couldn't see anyone else. When another voice spoke, however, she caught sight of an old RainWing.
"I've heard that the SandWings have found all five of them, but I don't know if that's true. You know how most RainWings are."
"Grandeur, I know you wouldn't repeat it if you didn't think it was true," the MudWing replied.
Grandeur nodded. "I don't think the SandWings would lie about something like this."
Peril pulled back into her cave, her thoughts chasing each other around inside her head.
What do I do now? Do I keep looking for Scarlet? Do I try to help Firestorm? Or-
Peril sneaked another look outside her cave.
Grandeur is still here. Do I ask her to take a message to Glory about what I've learned about the prophecy? What would Glory do if she knew? Is she doing anything now? What would Queen Thorn do to Firestorm, if she even has her? What can I do to help my cousin the most?