Caiman woke to find himself surrounded by rock walls. He blinked, looking around, and saw that the roof was made up of metal bars. For a moment he wasn't sure where he was, but suddenly he remembered.
Scarlet, he thought. Vulture. The Sky Palace. Queen Ruby- Oh no.
He jumped up, looking around his cell for a way out. He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, but judging from the sunlight, it had been a few hours.
Firestorm, he thought. Where are you? What's happening?
He heard her respond, but it was fainter than it had ever been before. Caiman. Are you all right? What do you remember?
Vulture knocked us out and told Queen Ruby we must have been planning to assassinate her. I guess she believed him.
No kidding. What can you see from where you are?
Caiman stared up through the bars. He saw several tiers of balconies stretching up from where he stood, and occasionally a SkyWing would dart in between them. Some glanced down at him, while others seemed to make a point not to look at him.
Know where we are? he asked.
Think so, she thought.
Caiman listened for more, but nothing came. He thought about the possibilities, and his mind seemed to automatically spit out the worst-case-scenarios.
Scarlet could win the throne from Ruby, then have us killed. Ruby could kill her, then execute us. Either one could win and keep us imprisoned here until we die. Scarlet could win and torture us to make us betray our tribes. Ruby could do the same. He forced his mind to imagine a way out. We could convince a guard to let us go. We could ask for a trial from whoever wins or has already won the challenge. We can hope that we'll be rescued.
Caiman leaned against the wall in despair. None of this would help. If there was a way out, he certainly couldn't see it.
Caiman, Firestorm thought. They have to take us out of here at some point. When that happens, we watch for an opportunity and we wait. If we see one, we take it. We fight if we have to. We have advantages over them.
Caiman nodded, not believing it enough to reply.
That evening, a SkyWing guard landed on the grille above Caiman's cell.
"Get up," he grunted. "Queen Ruby will be giving your friend a trial. Queen Moorhen will arrive tomorrow for your trial."
Caiman stood. "I'm not being taken back to the Mud Kingdom for a trial?"
The guard shook his head. "Apparently they think you're too dangerous to move." The guard snorted to show what he thought of that pronouncement.
Caiman nodded, and three more SkyWing guards flew down behind the first. Caiman recognized one. Vulture. An idea suddenly came over him.
He pointed at Vulture. "You should know that Vulture is a traitor. He's working for the former queen Scarlet, who's planning to return sometime soon and reclaim the throne from Queen Ruby."
The first guard turned to look at Vulture, who stared at Caiman with a look of contempt on his face.
"Some dragons will say anything to save their own scales," he said, shaking his head.
The one guard unlocked the bars, and Vulture dropped in. He held out a set of chains.
"You must really love doing that, don't you?" Caiman asked. "Is that why you volunteered to come capture us for Fatespinner? So you would have the chance to wrap some dragons in chains?"
Vulture brought his claws down on Caiman's head, and wrapped the chains around his neck.
"It would be a good idea for you to not tell lies like that when it's your trial, MudWing," he hissed.
The guards took Caiman to the old arena. They clamped his wings and chained him to the top of one of the towers. In the pit below, a single large boulder was placed in the sand. Firestorm was led out of a tunnel on one side of the arena. Her wings were in clamps like Caiman's and chains were wound around her legs. She walked to a spot just in front of the boulder and stopped. After a few minutes, SkyWings began filling the seats around the arena. When they were all seated, Ruby stepped onto a balcony in the stands, then flew down to perch on the boulder.
"Fellow SkyWings," she said solemnly. "We all know about the prophecy that details a coming doom. We also know that Firestorm is one of the dragons depicted in the prophecy. The trial today is to determine whether or not she is truly capable of what the prophecy says she is.
"Firestorm, why did you run when I sent my soldiers to collect you?"
Firestorm bowed her head slightly. "I was scared, Your Majesty. I didn't know what was happening. AlI knew was that I was being hunted when I hadn't done anything."
"You know that running like that only serves to make yourself look guilty, even if you are innocent?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"You have not been heard from over most of Pyrrhia for the past month," Ruby noted. "What were you doing during that time?"
"I was looking for answers about the prophecy. And I found some. But there's something you need to know, something more important, at least for you."
"And what is that?" Ruby asked, sounding annoyed.
"Your mother, the former Queen Scarlet, is still alive. And she plans to challenge you for the throne. She's been working with the NightWing who faked the prophecy, Fatespinner. If she wins the challenge, then she will lead your subjects into an alliance with him, and against the other six tribes. And some of your subjects are secretly working for her."
"That's right," a slithery voice called from the queen's balcony. Ruby, Caiman, and over half the SkyWings in the stands turned to look.
Scarlet had arrived, the scars on her face even more horrible in the daylight.
"I challenge you for the throne, Ruby," she hissed.
Caiman was seized by a sudden urge. Tilting his head back, he roared to the sky.
"I warned you!"
Cobra eyed Truthseeker warily. Why Frost was bringing him, she had no idea. The NightWing had been working for Fatespinner, but now he was with them. He didn't seem to have been taken against his will, and Frost couldn't have taken him prisoner on his own.
She felt heat on her left side, and turned to see Peril sliding in next to her.
"What do you think of him?" the SkyWing whispered.
"I don't know," Cobra replied. "He doesn't look like a prisoner, but I can't think of any other reason he'd be with us. Can you?"
Peril shook her head, then called out to Frost. "We've been flying for a few hours. Do you think we've put enough distance between us and them?"
"Probably," Frost called back. "I'm just looking for a safe place to stop. Do you know of any?"
"We'd be safest at the bases of the mountains," she called back. "But I don't know of anywhere specific."
Frost shrugged. "We might as well go down to look."
As he turned downwards, Hurricane suddenly spoke up. "Frost, are you all right? You're flying kind of funny."
Frost looked back at her. "Oh. When I was fighting with Fatespinner, I stretched my wing a bit. I'm fine."
Cougar fell back to Cobra and Peril. "He doesn't look fine," she observed.
"Well, he's flying," Hurricane said. "But you're right. I don't think he'd complain if something was wrong."
They landed at the base of the mountain. Cougar released Snow, who stumbled a moment before gaining her footing. Blizzard landed next to them, gently lowering Gyrfalcon, who, amazingly, had managed to fall asleep.
Hurricane stepped over to him. "When you get the chance, can you look at Frost's wing? I think he hurt it when he was fighting."
Blizzard nodded. "I noticed. I'll see if there's anything I can do."
"I think I found a place we could stay."
At first Cobra didn't recognize the voice, but when she turned to look, she saw Truthseeker. He was standing in front of a large boulder leaning against a short cliff. Cobra walked over, and saw that there was a cave behind it. She breathed a small flame into it, and could just see that it opened into a good-sized cave.
Behind her, Hurricane peered in. "Let me go in and have a look," she offered. I'll be able to see if there's anything in there."
She walked in. A moment later, she called back. "Nothing. Just an empty cave."
The eight dragons followed her into the cave. Peril was holding a burning piece of wood, and dropped it in the center of the cave.
"So," Cobra said, looking at Frost and Truthseeker. "You two have some explaining to do."
Frost nodded. "Back in the cave, I was fighting with Fatespinner. He was about to kill me, but Truthseeker knocked him away. After that, he told me that Queen Glory had sent him to find out what Fatespinner was up to."
Truthseeker nodded. "It's true. She doesn't trust NightWings who say they can see the future. She sent me to find out what was going on. She thought that, given who my father was, it wouldn't seem too strange that I was allying myself with Fatespinner."
"Who was your father?" Peril asked.
"Morrowseer," Truthseeker said, hanging his head slightly.
"So your name is Truthseeker, but your father was a fake prophet, and your queen sent you to be a spy?" Snow asked.
He smiled slightly. "My name's Truthseeker, not Truthteller."
Cobra leaned toward Hurricane. "How can we confirm his story?" she hissed.
Hurricane smiled and held out her front talon. In her palm was a star-shaped sapphire. "Contact Queen Glory. Tell her what we know. Ask her if he is who he says he is."
Cobra nodded.
An hour later, Cobra held the dreamvisitor to her forehead. Queen Glory, she thought.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the rainforest. She looked around, seeing trees, vines, and a single RainWing. Queen Glory.
Cobra bowed slightly to her queen, whose expression was warring between mistrust, confusion, and curiosity. Her scales, however, stayed an even turquoise color.
"Cobra?" she asked.
Cobra nodded. "I know Fatespinner wrote a prophecy against us, but it's not true. He made it up because he saw the five of us stopping him. I think he wants to take over the seven tribes."
Glory nodded. "How are you speaking to me?"
Cobra held out her claws, showing her the dreamvisitor. "We stole this from Scarlet. She was working with Fatespinner. Just recently, she took a group of SkyWings to try to retake the throne from Ruby."
"That would make her even more dangerous," Glory sighed. "Do you think she will win the challenge?"
Cobra shrugged. "I don't know. But when we were in Fatespinner's prisons, we met a NightWing named Truthseeker. He said you had sent him to spy on Fatespinner."
"That's true," Glory confirmed. "Let me talk to him."
Cobra nodded and lifted the dreamvisitor to her forehead. The rainforest disappeared and the cave re-formed around her.
"Here," she said, tossing the sapphire to Truthseeker. "Your queen wants to speak with you."
Firestorm stared at the sky. The challenge was over. Ruby was dead. Scarlet was queen once again, and she had moved Firestorm to the top of one of the rock spires. She and Caiman were the only prisoners there, but Firestorm figured it wouldn't be long before Scarlet filled the prisons again and forced them to fight each other. The noonday sun beat down on Firestorm, with not a cloud in sight. Firestorm stared towards Caiman on the opposite side of the arena.
She tried to speak to him.
Caiman. We'll get out of here. Scarlet is cruel, but she's shallow and frivolous. We should be able to trick her.
Firestorm didn't really believe it, but she didn't tell Caiman that. It wouldn't help.
Some time later, Firestorm fell asleep. Her dreams were strange. She was standing in the arena, with only one wing clamped. Ruby's corpse lay before her, where Scarlet had dropped it. Suddenly, she stood. Her eyes were like orange stones set in her skull.
"Fatespinner," she croaked.
"I know," Firestorm said. "Your mother was working for him. He has her in his debt, and he'll try to use that."
Ruby grabbed her foreleg. "Stop him. Stop her. Destroy. They can't..." She trailed off, then grabbed Firestorm's bound wing. Her scales were hard and cold. She fumbled with the clamp on Firestorm's wing.
"Sorry..." she groaned. "I was wrong. Only you can stop... He will..."
The clamp on Firestorm's wing fell away, and blood started pouring from the open gash on Ruby's throat. She faded away, and a moment later, Frost appeared on her place.
"What?" Firestorm yelped in surprise.
Frost looked relieved. He opened his talons to show her a dreamvisitor.
"Hurricane took it from Scarlet's cave," he explained. "We got out safely. And, remember Truthseeker?"
Firestorm nodded, remembering the NightWing prison guard.
"It turns out Queen Glory sent him to spy on Fatespinner. He wanted to stay with us now that he's lost his cover story for Fatespinner."
Firestorm nodded again. "Anything else I should know?"
"Yeah. Snow wanted to take Gyrfalcon back to the Ice Kingdom where they'd be safe. Blizzard offered to go with them to protect them, as well as to take news about Fatespinner to Queen Glacier. They plan to leave tomorrow night."
"Well, that's their choice," Firestorm sighed. "I'll miss them. Tell them Caiman and I said goodbye."
"Anything we should know from the Sky Kingdom?"
Firestorm's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten. "Scarlet challenged Ruby. And Scarlet won."
Frost's eyes widened. "That's terrible! You managed to escape, at least?"
Firestorm winced. "No. Scarlet's holding us on the stone towers around her arena."
Frost took a deep breath. "We can be there in four days. Can you hold out that long?"
Firestorm nodded, and Frost faded away.
I'm sorry, Ruby.
Sparkpaw the Pikachu: Thank you! And yes, freedom!