Elk soar above the Kingdom of Sand, blowing a puff of ice into the hot air. This was nothing like the Ice Kingdom. Or so he was told. The wind blew into his white wings, and the IceWing flapped them, gaining speed. Meerkat tasked him to kill a lizard so he could, maybe, impress the queen, Scorch.

I'll probably miss the kill, Elk thought, diving toward the ground. Folding his wings, Elk landed and sniffed the air. The dry, dusty scent filled his nose and he huffed. There was no scent of lizard. Pale yellow scales caught his eye and he looked up to see a SandWing flying to him.

Aloe, Elk thought. The dragon landed next to him, smiling.

"Hi Elk," the female sand dragon said. "What are you doing here?"

The IceWing turned his head back to face the front but kept his eyes on her. "Hunting," he answered, "then I have a test on MudWings today."

Aloe snorted. "Ouch, I'm glad I'm not you," she teased.

Elk flicked his tail. "Very funny. I got to get back to hunting." He spread his white wings and took off, his friend following. The vast desert and heat were too much and they made Elk feel like he was melting. He shook his head, his spikes rattling.

"How do SandWings stand this blazing heat!?"

"I don't know," Aloe replied.

Elk moved his eyes back in front of him as the two dragons glided above a rock formation. Looking around, the IceWing saw a tiny brown creature on a small rock. A lizard!

Folding his wings to his side, the ice dragon swooped, talons extended. Elk grabbed the lizard before it could scurry away into a hole and held it up.

"Whoa!" Aloe said, pulling up and hovering next to him. "I can't believe you caught it!"

Elk studied the reptile as if it were a scavenger. "Meerkat wanted me to kill a lizard? Really?"

"Yes," a new voice declared. A NightWing was flying to the two dragonets, as well as Bat and Meerkat.

"Shadowbringer?" the IceWing asked.

Shadowbringer nodded, taking the lizard in her talon. "Excellent," praised the NightWing. Elk and Aloe glanced at each other.

Bat cleared his throat. "We were testing you, Elk. We were trying to see how good your vision is."

The white IceWing hovered, his mouth hung open in confusion.

Shadowbringer put her talon on his shoulder. "Are you going to hover there? Or are you going to clean up for Queen Scorch?" Elk shook himself, his spikes rattling. He glided down to the cave to get ready.

Elk sat at a table with a bowl of cooked meat in front of him. Queen Scorch and her daughter, Princess Iguana, and her son, Prince Hyrax were sitting together at the end of the table. Elk took a bite of his meat and Queen Scorch spoke up.

"So, Elk, is it? It must be hard to live in the desert."

"A little, your Majesty," Elk replied.

Prince Hyrax coughed, covering his mouth. "How are you planning to end the war?" Elk looked at him. He never actually thought about what he would do to end the SeaWing war.

"I'll go to the Kingdom of the Sea and talk with the SeaWing princesses," he answered.

Queen Scorch gave a nod then took a bite of her meal.

Elk twitched his whip-like tail. Do I really have to be here? Of course, he didn't want to upset the queen or the royal family.

A darkish brown dragon stepped into the room. "Your Majestys," she began. "A dragon is here for Elk."

Thank the moons! The IceWing dipped his head and got up, following the servant. Making their way through the SandWing palace, Elk noticed a lot of gold-colored tapestries on the walls. Guess what they say about SandWings is true: they love gold.

The SandWing took him to the library and stopped.

"Why are we at the library? I don't understand-" the dragonet began, but was cut off when someone grabbed his throat and covered his mouth.

Elk tried to thrash and scream, but who or whatever had him had restrained him. He was slowly losing consciousness, then everything went black.