Just a one-part chapter this time, people! See you next week.
Cobra heard Frost's shout, and wondered what he was thinking. Hadn't they been planning to wait for Snow to show up before they made a run for it?
Frost appeared in the prison room just as Cobra heard the door to Peril's cell open. A second later, the SkyWing was standing in front of Cobra's cell. She pressed her talons against the lock.
"Once you're out, go find Snow," Peril instructed. "Help her find her brother, then get out of here."
Cobra nodded as Peril swung the door open and stepped out of the way. Cobra jumped out, camouflaging her scales as she left the prisons. She raced up the tunnel and into the deserted main cave. She looked around wildly, realizing that she had no idea where to start looking for the IceWing dragonet.
"Snow!" she hissed.
A small white head poked out of one of the other tunnels. Cobra raced over and grabbed her, hiding Snow under her wing. She struggled for a moment before Cobra stopped her.
"It's me," she hissed. "We're escaping now. Did you find your brother?"
Snow nodded. "I can take you to him, but there are two guards in front of his cell. Complete overkill. We'll have to fight to get past."
"Just tell me where to go," Cobra said.
"Down the furthest tunnel on the left, then take the fourth on your right."
Cobra obeyed, with Snow giving her directions as needed. she didn't slow down until Snow ordered "Stop! The guards are just around the bend."
Cobra stopped, placing Snow on the ground behind her. "Wait here," she ordered.
Snow may have protested, but Cobra wasn't listening. She crept around the corner, still camouflaged, and sized up the guards. One was Greatclaws, the NightWing who had chained them up after they had been captured from the cave. The other was a SandWing she also recognized. Bobcat, the dragon from Thorn's palace who had taken her to the throne room.
All right, she thought. They're both pretty hefty, which means I can't just sneak up and knock their heads together. Bobcat is probably more dangerous, so I'll try to take care of her quickly, before Greatclaws realizes what's going on. I can knock her to the ground, then knock her out. I can use Greatclaws' weight against him if I can get him to charge me, and if that doesn't work, I can use my teeth... I'll only use my venom as a last resort.
Cobra crept forward, stepping lightly to be as quiet as possible. When she was about halfway down the tunnel, Greatclaws sniffed suddenly. Cobra froze, wishing she could camouflage her scent as well as her scales. Fortunately, Greatclaws relaxed. Cobra started moving again after a few seconds of agonized waiting. When she was nearly there, she slid to the right side of the tunnel, towards Bobcat. She sprang, landing on the SandWing's shoulders. Unfortunately, Bobcat didn't fall under her weight. Cobra tried to knock Bobcat's head into the wall, but she was torn off Bobcat's back and pinned to the floor. She knew she was no longer camouflaged, because a look of recognition appeared on Bobcat's face, and she dug her claws into Cobra's scales. Then she snarled, bringing her tail up to strike. Beside her, Greatclaws crouched, ready to pin Cobra again if she managed to escape. Just as Bobcat brought her tail down, Cobra flicked her tail up, forcing the barb to the side. At the same time, Greatclaws stiffened in pain. Bobcat was distracted for a moment, and Cobra blew a burst of fire at her face. The flames were never strong enough to do much real damage, but it surprised Bobcat long enough for Cobra to throw her off. She turned to see what had hurt Greatclaws, and saw Snow, her teeth clamped into the vulnerable spot on his tail. Cobra saw the telltale sheen of frostbreath around the spot where Snow's teeth were.
Behind her, Bobcat was getting to her feet. Cobra jumped at her, her claws landing on the SandWing's head. The force of her weight knocked Bobcat's head into the ground with a muffled crunch, and at that moment, Cobra heard a squeak of pain. Greatclaws had managed to pull Snow off his tail and was pressing the dragonet hard against the wall. With one claw, he was holding her snout out of the way, and with the other, he was preparing to slice Snow open. Cobra jumped on the NightWing's shoulders, kicking him hard. She knocked the breath out of him, and slashed at his forearm with her claws. His grip on Snow loosened, and she dropped to the floor. He threw Cobra off and she hit the opposite wall of the tunnel. Greatclaws turned, the back of his throat glowing as he prepared to blast Cobra with fire. Cobra lashed out with her tail and clubbed him hard on the brow, opening a small cut in the process. Greatclaws stumbled back, and Cobra kicked out, connecting solidly with his face. He slumped, unconscious.
Cobra turned to Snow, who was gasping for air.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Snow nodded, glancing at the cut on Greatclaws' head.
"Oh, he'll live," Cobra said. "I didn't poison him."
Snow nodded again. "How- how will we get the door open?" she gasped.
Cobra turned to look. "Two guards, but they make the door out of wood," she noticed. "Gyrfalcon, if you can hear me, stand back."
She hurled herself at the door. It didn't fall in, but one more strong shove pushed it open. Inside, a small IceWing was pressed against the back wall. His scales were white, and his wings and back were speckled with darker gray and blue.
"Gyrfalcon," Snow raced past Cobra, embracing her brother. "We're here to free you. We're getting out of here. We can go home, to the Ice Kingdom."
"First we need to get out of these caves," Cobra said. "Can you carry him?"
Snow nodded, crouching low to let Gyrfalcon climb on her back. When he was clinging on tightly, Cobra and Snow raced for the main cave. When they got there, however, Cobra nearly collided with a large NightWing. She stared. There were over a dozen dragons in the cave, surrounding her friends.
Firestorm stared into the distance. Ahead, she could just see the spires of the SkyWing arena. They were only a few hours away. She stared back at Scarlet, hating the sight of the former queen. She had lived in the Sky Kingdom for less than a month under her rule, but it had been enough to show her that Scarlet had been a terrible queen. Actually, that had been obvious from the second day. Scarlet had staged a battle between a SeaWing and a SkyWing. The SeaWing had been a seasoned soldier; the SkyWing barely full-grown. She had never stood a chance. Firestorm had tried to distract the SeaWing and give the SkyWing an edge, but all she did was prolong her death. The SkyWing had been bleeding from a dozen gashes before the SeaWing finally smashed her head with his tail and killed her. When the battle was over, Scarlet had pronounced it 'thrilling'. Firestorm had seen that she had no regret over the SkyWing's death, nor did she care that she had killed one of her own subjects. From that moment on, Firestorm had found the Sky Palace vulgar, when a day ago she had thought it beautiful.
Then again, almost any palace could be beautiful compared to the NightWing fortress, she thought bitterly.
"NightWing! Move!" Scarlet ordered.
"Getting used to having dragons to order around again?" Firestorm retorted. "Or are you just looking forward to having your precious arena again? It must have been so boring for you, living with Fatespinner and not having a fight to the death every day to watch for your amusement."
Scarlet glared at Firestorm. "One day, you might be in one of those battles, NightWing, so you'd better watch what you say."
Firestorm ignored her, thinking about all the places she'd been in her life. When her mother, Crag, had laid her egg, it looked flawed, because it was so much darker than a normal SkyWing's. Scarlet had wanted to destroy it, but Crag had begged to let it be spared. She asked her sister, Kestrel, to take care of the egg if anything had happened to her. After Crag was killed in battle soon after Kestrel had been forced to flee, Kestrel snuck into the Sky Palace, then escaped with Firestorm's egg, which was close to hatching. She took it to the Talons of Peace, the only safe place she could think of. Firestorm only knew this from putting together pieces she had found in some of the Talon's minds.
About a year after Firestorm had hatched, Kestrel had been assigned to guard the Dragonets of Destiny, and Firestorm had been left with the Talons. She stayed for almost five years, until she had discovered what the Talons were willing to do for 'peace.' She had fled, roaming Pyrrhia for several months before she found herself on the northern edge of the Sky Kingdom. It was there she met a Deathbringer, who took her to the Night Kingdom. He had been the one who convinced the queen to allow Firestorm to stay. Even though her experiences on the volcano hadn't been pleasant, she was grateful to him for supporting her. After realizing what her father, Vengeance, was doing, she had tolerated the Night Kingdom for another year before fleeing back to the continent and being found by one of Queen Ruby's patrols.
I've seen more than most dragons get a chance to, she thought. Even though it wasn't always fun, I should be grateful.
Now they were no more than a few peaks over from the Sky Palace. Scarlet decided to call a break.
"NightWing, you, Vulture, and the MudWing are going to go in on a reconnaissance mission. You will go in and get a look at what kind of defenses my daughter has up. Return by sunrise, and then you will lead the rest of us to the throne room."
Firestorm glared at Scarlet, then at Vulture, but obeyed, flying off the ridge towards the Sky Palace. Caiman and the large SkyWing followed, and she led them to the crack where she had nearly run into Peril just a few weeks ago.
It feels like forever, she thought.
She glanced at Caiman. I'm going to try to lose Vulture. Preferably in someplace where he'll be caught and imprisoned. After that, we leave the Sky Palace and fly south to meet up with the others.
He gave her the barest nod to show he understood. She led them up the narrow tunnel she had darted down to escape the guards, and once Caiman had emerged, she grabbed him and ran to the left. She heard Vulture roar from behind them, but ignored him. If they could get away fast enough-
Firestorm ran around a corner and collided with something hard and orange.
"Just my luck," she muttered. She had run straight into Eagle, one of the same guards who had been chasing her out of the Sky Palace.
"Watch-" he snapped, but cut himself off as he saw her black scales, then looked up to see Caiman behind her. His eyes widened, and he slashed at Firestorm's face. She twisted to the side in time to avoid major injury, but he still managed to open two cuts across her face. She ducked under his claws and rammed her shoulder into his underbelly. She heard a grunt as the breath was knocked out of him. Caiman shoved Eagle off her, pinning him to the floor. He held his claws around Eagle's neck until he stopped struggling and lay limp.
He's not dead, he thought, glancing at Firestorm. She nodded, and turned down the hallway to keep running. Instead of an empty corridor, there was a corridor blocked by Vulture's bulk. He grabbed Caiman and held his claws to the MudWing's neck.
"And just where did you think you were going?"
When Peril had burned through the lock of Hurricane's cell, she had immediately run for Cougar's cell, inspecting the lock. After poking her claws inside the keyhole for a moment, she gave up.
"Cougar, breathe your fire onto here," she instructed. "Maybe if we heat and freeze it enough, the metal will be brittle enough to break."
Cougar obeyed, breathing fire onto the lock. It glowed a dull red, and Hurricane quickly cooled it with her frostbreath. They repeated this over and over, until Cougar lost patience and slammed her shoulder into the door. The metal cracked slightly, and Cougar slammed her shoulder into the bars again. Eventually, the lock loosened enough and Cougar was able to get out. By this time, Peril had burned through all the doors except Blizzard's, and Frost had enchanted that lock to open itself.
"What?" Hurricane said defensively. "It's not the fastest way, but it works."
Blizzard smiled slightly. "Shall we get going? Someone's bound to have heard all that noise you two made."
Hurricane stuck her tongue out at him, and turned up the tunnel. She allowed Peril and Blizzard to slip ahead, as they were probably the best fighters they had. As she passed one room, Hurricane hesitated. The bed was a rock ledge, covered by different furs. A lot more than the other rooms had.
Scarlet's? she thought. Or Fatespinner's?
Acting on a whim, she ducked into the cave and looked around quickly. A map of the Sky Kingdom on one wall, probably useless. A tapestry of Scarlet? A tribute to her vanity. A blue gleam coming from just behind where it met the floor? Hurricane swept the tapestry aside, snatching the dreamvisitor that was now in plain sight.
She raced back into the hallway, catching up with the others. They made it halfway across the main cave before Fatespinner's loyal followers made it into the room.
"Don't move," a SandWing growled.
"And if we do?" Peril challenged, stepping forward.
"You won't do anything, SkyWing," he said. "When you came to break Queen Scarlet out of Queen Burn's tower, you hid for days, waiting for a diversion so you could get her out without harming any dragons. Why should it be any different now?"
"A lot can change in three years," Peril retorted, but Hurricane could see she had lost some of her nerve. "Now I have something to fight for. And by the way, Burn was never queen."
The SandWing hissed, ready to spring, when a voice stopped him.
"Wait," Fatespinner hissed. He stepped into the ring formed by his dragons. "You're not leaving here alive."
Hurricane noticed three long gashes across his face that were still bleeding. She also noticed that Fatespinner seemed to be glaring at Frost especially strongly. Hurricane glanced at her friend's tail and saw that some of the spikes were tipped with red.
"Those cuts are going to leave scars for sure," she noted, turning to Frost. "I assume those were your doing?"
Frost nodded, not taking his eyes off Fatespinner.
"Well done," Cougar approved.
Fatespinner hissed in anger, taking another step forward.
"I gave you a chance," he seethed. "A chance to be among the most powerful dragons on Pyrrhia. And you threw that back in my face. Now you will die here, and the vultures will feast on your carcasses." He gestured to Spark, who stepped forward. "If there's anything left of them."
Suddenly, there was a scream from behind him. Fatespinner whirled around, and even Spark seemed surprised. In the entrance of the leftmost tunnel, a NightWing was slowly sinking to the ground, revealing Cobra standing behind him, her tail barb red with blood.
"Well?" she shouted.
Hurricane understood, and leaped to her right. She slammed her tail into a SeaWing's head before he could even turn around. All around her, the room exploded into chaos.
Caiman sulked behind Vulture. After their ineffective escape attempt, the SkyWing had stationed himself between Firestorm and Caiman to 'keep them from getting any ideas'. Caiman had protested, saying that as their escape attempt hadn't worked, there was no reason to change anything. Unfortunately, Vulture hadn't been gullible enough to fall for it. He had blasted a stream of fire at Caiman's face, and by the time the burns faded, their guard had planted himself between them. He had refused to let them speak to each other, and would occasionally snap at Firestorm's tail in case they were communicating telepathically. That didn't stop them from doing so.
Do you have a new plan? Caiman thought.
No, Firestorm said, followed by what sounded like a mental sigh. Do you?
If we led him to a troop of guards, then ducked out of the way so they only saw him… Caiman began, but Firestorm cut him off.
Won't work. Vulture was a spy for Fatespinner. The SkyWings won't see any reason to imprison him.
Hmm, Caiman thought. Then an idea struck him. Then why do they need us? Caiman cried in his mind. All we can do is get them caught.
Ahead of him, Firestorm stumbled. Vulture nearly tripped over her, then he snarled and brought his claws down on her tail.
"Don't try it," he growled.
Firestorm glared back. "Paranoid, aren't we?" she hissed. "Since when is it against SkyWing laws to trip?"
Vulture glared for a second more, then let her up. Firestorm snorted, turning ahead.
They continued moving forward, hiding occasionally when Firestorm sensed guards. Eventually, the tunnels became wider and some became decorated with gold. Windows and balconies appeared, and at one point, Firestorm took them on a detour around an open area because several dragons were flying between floors. Finally, they reached a room decorated with gold veins and carved lines in the walls. A column shaped like a thundercloud sat empty on the far end.
"Queen Ruby's throne room," Caiman guessed.
Firestorm nodded. "No security, so the queen's obviously not here."
"Find her, then," Vulture grunted.
Firestorm stared. "The point of this was to scope out the security between Scarlet and the throne room, genius."
Her mind told a different story. The plan was for us to get caught by Ruby, which was supposed to get her into the open so Scarlet could challenge her.
Caiman's eyes widened. What do we do? Is Ruby any better than Scarlet?
Well, on the plus side, Firestorm said, slipping into the throne room and looking around. Ruby is less cruel, less of a tyrant, more merciful, more careful about her subjects' lives. On the minus side, well... She's less ruthless, though plenty of dragons might argue that to be a good thing.
She came back out of the throne room. "We should split up to look in the rooms around here," she announced.
Vulture scowled. "Nice try. I know you'll try to escape again."
"Scarlet said to be back by sunrise," Caiman argued, waving a wing at the brightening horizon.
"Tough," Vulture growled.
Firestorm sighed, picking a direction seemingly at random to search. They walked in the tunnels around the throne room until Vulture suddenly tensed.
"Look out!" Firestorm cried, but it was too late. Vulture's claws smashed down on his head and Caiman crumpled to the floor. He could only watch groggily as Vulture swung Firestorm against the wall. The last thing he heard was Vulture's voice.
"I found them, Your Majesty. It seems they were planning to assassinate you."
Frost jabbed at a NightWing with his spear, and the tip penetrated the scales above her eye. She howled in pain, and he kicked her in the chest, sending her into a SandWing who was advancing on Cougar. He turned and felt immense heat on his wing. He lashed out towards the orange-gold scales next to him, and narrowly missed Spark's wing. It got the SkyWing's attention, though. Spark turned and shoved him backward. Frost cried out before realizing he hadn't been hurt. His spell had worked. He jabbed at Spark, managing to open a gash on his underbelly, but Spark kicked out and knocked the spear out of his hand. Frost scrambled backward as the SkyWing landed on the spear, breaking it in half. Just as Spark was about to burn Frost to a crisp, Peril appeared out of nowhere, knocking him aside. Almost instantly, a circle appeared around them, no one wanting to get too close.
Cactus appeared in front of Frost, preparing to stab him. Frost lunged up and grabbed the SandWing's horns, pulling his head down to the side. His tail stabbed at nothing but air, and Frost bit down as hard as he could just below the tail barb. Cactus screamed as Frost felt his teeth come together over the dragon's tail, and when he let go, he saw that the barb was almost severed.
He felt something hit him hard in the back, and saw Fatespinner out of the corner of his eye. The NightWing's claws dug into his wing, and Frost howled. Fatespinner opened his mouth to bite down, and Frost twisted his head back and shot a blast of frostbreath at him. Fatespinner ducked to the side before the ice could enter his throat, and Frost threw him off. Fatespinner landed a few feet away, then turned to go after Frost again.
Frost remembered what Peril had said. Get the bracelet off Fatespinner's arm. He jumped at the NightWing, grabbing his snout. It was no accident that he dug his claws into the same cuts he had made earlier. With his back claws, he slashed at the bracelet on Fatespinner's arm. Fatespinner threw him off, then hurled him to the ground, pinning his wings out to the side. Frost twisted, feeling the muscles in his wing stretch, but he managed to pull the bracelet off Fatespinner. The NightWing barely seemed to notice as he bit down at Frost's neck.
Out of nowhere, a second NightWing rammed his shoulder into Fatespinner's neck just before his teeth closed on Frost's neck. He was so close, his teeth grazed Frost's neck.
"Need some help?" Truthseeker offered.
Peril knew it when the bracelet left Fatespinner's arm. Spark's blows became uncoordinated and wild, doing little damage to Peril even when he did make contact. She didn't know what to do, so she held him down until he stopped struggling and lay still. His claws scrabbled weakly on the floor. He stared up at her with his blank, broken eyes. She stared back, feeling only pity. He should never have had to go through this.
Suddenly, Cobra's voice broke through into Peril's thoughts. "Peril! Down!"
Peril threw herself to the ground and just saw a streak of black liquid arc over her head, splattering onto a group of soldiers. They suddenly scrambled back, revealing two IceWing dragonets. At the same time, Peril felt a stinging pain on her tail. She stiffened, biting her tongue to keep from screaming. She turned in time to see a drop of black venom sizzle and slide off her tail like water, leaving her scales intact. She stood up again and saw that Spark was charging towards Hurricane, who was facing off with a SandWing. Peril tackled Spark just as Hurricane shot a blast of frostbreath into the SandWing's mouth. His eyes bulged, and he stumbled backwards. Hurricane smacked her tail into Lionfish's throat, and the SeaWing collapsed, gagging.
Peril heard Frost roar. "Out! Now!"
Peril spread her wings wide, dragging Spark towards the entrance. Fatespinner's dragons backed away quickly. Peril saw Cobra and the two dragonets slip behind her, and nodded to Cougar.
"Go. I'll go last."
The amber MudWing nodded, ducking under Peril's wing. A moment later, she risked a glance behind her. Only Cobra was left. Peril jerked her head towards the exit, and after a slight hesitation, Cobra left.
Peril turned back to the dragons in the cave. Some were lying unconscious on the floor, and amid the limp forms, she saw Fatespinner's bracelet.
"Don't try to follow us," she called across the cave, adjusting her grip on Spark. "You won't like what happens if you do."
Fatespinner stepped forwards. The gashes on his snout had been torn back open, and his right forearm was a sea of cuts.
"You won't get away with this," he snarled, in a very different voice from the calm, coaxing voice he had used the first time she met him. "The seven tribes will all know about what you did here. They will never rest until they see you imprisoned or dead."
"You also said that we would die here, in this cave," Peril noticed. "Do you ever get tired of being wrong?"
She shoved Spark in his general direction, not waiting to see the result. She turned and raced up the tunnel. The controlling bracelet was within Fatespinner's grasp. He could get it before Spark tore him to pieces.
She slowed slightly in the tunnel when she saw Cobra ahead of her, just emerging into the moonlight. As Peril exited behind her, Frost pointed at the cave entrance. There was a rumbling sound, and the stone above the opening cracked and tumbled down into the tunnel, sealing it shut.
As the dragons fled the ravine, Peril gave a start of surprise. Waiting in the sky above them was Truthseeker, the NightWing who had locked and unlocked their cells for Fatespinner's interrogations. Peril breathed in, readying a blast of fire.
Frost stopped her. "It's all right," he began, but Blizzard cut him off.
"Later," the older IceWing said. "Right now, let's get out of here."
Frost just nodded, taking to the air. Blizzard followed, carrying the smaller of the IceWing dragonets. Cougar carried Snow. Truthseeker looked at Peril guiltily, then jumped into the air himself. Peril glanced at Cobra and Hurricane, then allowed them to fly first. Peril brought up the rear, casting a nervous glance back at the ravine.
Two grown dragons to guard a single tiny dragonet… for the sake of blackmailing another single dragonet... what was I thinking. That's a little bit overkill, past self.
And no, I did not keep Fatespinner's character consistent. Why would I?
Epic747: Thank you! I'm so glad you like this!
The Sassy Scorbunny: haha nope! He did not.