Chapter 16

Skywing Palace

Slipstream watched the proceedings with horror and fascination, he saw the fighting and the trial. He sang along with the other dragons and watch as the Dragonets of Destiny were dragged away into the palace. But the next day was the worst. The Seawing dragonet of Destiny, Tsunami, he learned, was changed to fight Gill of the Seawings. Slipstream's father, Gill, Tsunami's father, Gill. He had heard enough times about how Webs had stolen his sister's egg and how it would have been hatched on the Brightest Night to guess what Tsunami really was, his big sister. Slipstream could not and would not let either of them kill each other.

Slipstream had never seen Gill like this. He was crazed and water-deprived. Queen Scarlet was probably one of the cruelest dragons, Slipstream had the displeasure to ever meet, and he had taken classes taught by Whirlpool.

Slipstream watched Gill charge at Tsunami's mouth open in a silent roar. He watched them fought and watched Gill lose. Slipstream watched and waited for the right time to cast his spell without drawing attention to himself. Finally, he saw Tsunami pin Gill and try to reason with Scarlet to let him live.

"Kill him," serval Skywings shouted

"Death! Death! Death!" chanted the Skywing

Then Slipstream cast his spell, silently,

"I enchant Gill's wing biddings to restore his sanity and voice," he whispered, he had never been able to enchant anything other than inanimate objects.

"Perhaps your Dragonet of Destiny doesn't have the stomach for battle, maybe war is too scary for her, perhaps she would like to go back into hiding instead," mocked Queen Scarlet

"No," said Gill suddenly, surprising everyone, "she just knows the difference between fighting in a War and participating in your barbaric amusements."

"You!" shrieked the Skywing Queen, "I thought you were finally ready to fight. You Dragonet kill him now and I will let you go free!"

"You must think I am stupid if you expect me to believe you," said Tsunami releasing Gill, "what happened to you I thought you were crazy?"

Gill looked around and at the prisoners, his eyes found Slipstream and he smiled,

"I think you slamming my head into the ground might have done something," he answered

"Oh," said Tsunami, "your welcome, I guess."

"Guards take him away and make him sure he doesn't get any water at all this time, not even rain!" the enraged Queen Scarlet screamed, "and get the Nightwing Dragonet of Destiny down here."

The guards grabbed both Gill and returned him to the prison towers, while others dragged the Nightwing, who Slipstream did not know into the arena with Tsunami.

As expected, they did not fight each other and merely hugged and fought scavengers. Then Morrowseer arrived, which was a plot twist Slipstream had not seen coming.

Sandstar had not told Slipstream much about her father, and although Sandstar's love for him was clear to him whenever she talked about him, she had not made him out to be a genuinely nice dragon. But now that Slipstream had met him and Blister in person so to speak, he wondered where Sandstar had gotten her kind and thoughtful personality. From the moment he saw Morrowseer, Slipstream instantly disliked him, he was showy and prideful. He showed up with a bunch of Nightwings, which was a cheap intimation tactic, that admittedly worked. Then Morrowseer claimed he had come for Starflight, the other Nightwing dragonet.

"Just me?" asked Starflight clearly scared and confused, "what about the other one?"

"Other one?" asked Morrowseer looking up at the prison towers, spotting Nightshade his face twisted with contempt, "ah, you mean the traitor? Queen Scarlet can keep him. A present from us for her hatching day."

"What about this one," asked Scarlet, "I was just about to have him fight some Icewings."

Morrowseer signaled to the other Nightwings, who descended and began to kill the Icewings.

Slipstream looked up and saw Crane and Frostbite make eye contact, he saw the fear in both their eyes. Slipstream had just enough time to think what a cute couple they make before realizing that Frostbite was about to be killed.

"I enchant all the chains and wing bindings to release all the dragons they hold," Slipstream quickly exclaim.

The chains and wing bindings trembled and fell off the prisoners. The prisoners looked confused for a minute before taking off and flying in all directions.

Frostbite and Crane quickly found each other and hugged, before turning to Slipstream, they were about to say something when a scream of pure pain split the air.