Chapter 9

Here we go, Vala thought as they were escorted out into the pit. There was no way for them to fly out of here, thanks to what they both did to each other's wings. It was just a huge pit with no way out.

Even from what King Blade said to me doesn't really help. He said that there should be a passageway to escape from here but the only area I see is up top out of this pit.

Vala hadn't had time to tell Nova about her newfound powers and she was listening in on how worried Nova was.

Why here of all places? The one area I never wanted to be back to. Why is our tribe so bloodthirsty?

Vala reached over and squeezed Nova's claw, in hopefully a way to calm her down. They would get out of here.

Vala and Nova reached the middle of the pit and the guards took off their chains. Vala could tell that Nova was trying to hide the scars across her body from the Spikewings but Vala heard from their minds that they saw.

What happened to that dragonet?

Why is she like that? Did Queen Helen do that?

I personally would kill the dragon responsible for doing that to that dragon.

It made Vala a little happy that her tribe sounded like they wanted a new ruler and hated Queen Helen but still was upset that none of them were standing up.

Come on, we need you! Vala shouted in her mind. Don't you want our tribe to be better off? Join with us and help take down Queen Helen!

"And now it is time for the main event!" Queen Helen announced. Vala looked down at her claws and saw herself standing in the blood where a Spikewing had fallen during one of the earlier battles.

"We have two special fighters here!" Queen Helen said. "We have the dragonet who will be my personal executor if she survives, Nova!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and Vala looked around and realized that guards were stationed within every twenty feet of the Spikewings.

So that's why they cheer and go along with it, because if they don't they will be killed.

"And the other contest was one dragonet who used to be on my capture team. She helped break out dragons from this pit before but now we have her. She is Vala!"

The cheers erupted again but Vala could hear from the Spikewings minds that they recognized who she was.

Why would that dragonet come back here? She had freedom.

Please win and show Queen Helen who is the real leader around here.

Kill Queen Helen and become Queen!

Vala was shocked by that last one. Never in a million years had she ever thought about becoming queen. Sure, she could if she challenged Queen Helen and won, that was Spikewing tradition after all. But from what she learned from King Blade, would it be fair to have a queen rule the tribe? Shouldn't it go back to being a king like how it used to be. She didn't have time to ponder the question because she heard Queen Helen counting down.

"Let the battle commence in three, two, one, fight!"

Vala and Nova leaped at each other and swung but missed each other and skidded to a halt on opposite sides of each other. Vala turned around and swung her tail, but allowed Nova time to dodge it. Nova did the same trick and Vala dodged out of the way. They both stopped and looked at each other with Queen Helen looking on.

How long can we do this before Queen Helen catches on to us? they both thought at the same time.

"Come on, attack each other!" Queen Helen yelled.

We can't keep pretending this, Vala thought. Either they fight for real or don't and Abrax gets killed because of it. Either way wasn't great.

Vala looked over at Nova and saw her pointing to her heart with her claw. Vala was shocked by what she heard from her mind.

Please kill me, Vala. I hope she does, I can't stand working for Queen Helen, at least Vala will have a life with Abrax, I have nothing.

Vala couldn't do that to Nova and shook her head no. Vala saw Nova get sad and put her claw down.

"COME ON, FIGHT!" Queen Helen yelled.

They both turned to look at each other before turning to look at Queen Helen.

"No," they both said in unison.

"Oh you want to disobey me?" Queen Helen asked, grabbing Abrax's chains. "Do you want him to perish?"

"You should perish," came a voice behind Queen Helen and then something jumped from the darkness and landed on Queen Helen's face. Whatever it was bit into Queen Helen and made her scream in pain and fly away. Vala then saw Abrax get released from his chains and saw Sundew with the rest of her group fly down into the pit. Sundew got down to them first and kicked the two guards down there into the wall, knocking them out. A third guard tried to sneak up but Kobli got behind him and tripped him up, pinning him to the ground before snapping his neck. Vala heard from her mind that she regretted doing that.

"Guys, you're here!" Vala said.

"Oh course we are," Nail said. "Sundew told you we would get you out of here."

"Yeah but I still wanted to drop a bunch of poisonous insects on the Spikewings here," Sundew said.

"That would be too risky," Nail said. "You may have hit Nova or Vala or the other Spikewings here that aren't to blame for what Queen Helen has done."

"Sweet talk guys, but we have to get out here now!" Kobli said.

"True, let's go!" Batik said.

"Wait guys, we can't fly, our wings are sprained!" Vala said.

Nail went and looked at Vala and Nova's sprain wings. "Now how did you two do that?"

"We'd rather not say," Nova said.

"Well then how are we getting out of here?" Kobli asked.

Vala tried to think hard and then thought back to what King Blade said. A passageway to escape. But where? Nova looked around the pit and then noticed something off. One of the sides of the walls had metal covering over it, which was strange since metal was nowhere around any of the other walls. Vala went over to the metal and felt a draft coming from behind.

"Everyone, we can escape through here!" Vala said. "There must be some kind of passage on the other side of the wall."

Sundew went over and checked it out.

"You're right," Sundew said. "Now how are we going to open it up?"

"What if we use the gunpowder we collected?" Nova asked. "Do you have it on you?"

"Yes, here you go," Nail said, throwing them the gunpowder.

"What are we going to do with this?" Vala asked Nova as she opened up the gunpowder and poured it into a cylinder.

"Watch this," Nova said as she put the cylinder by the metal. "Anyone have anything to light it?"

"Here," Sundew said, pulling out something from one of her pouches that she then struck and it lit up with flames.

"Ok, let's hope this works," Nova said and threw the flaming stick at the gunpowder. When it struck the gunpowder, a massive explosion erupted throughout the cave, stunning everyone in place. A massive amount of smoke filled the air and even with her night vision, Vala couldn't see anything around her. She then felt a claw grab her and felt them pull her.

"Come on, this way!" the voice said and Vala felt herself get dragged through the smoke. She felt like there was no end to it but then all of the smoke vanished and Vala found herself in a small tunnel with everyone else. She looked and saw that Nova was the one who pulled her through the smoke.

"Woah, where are we?" Vala asked as she looked around. The small tunnel didn't have much to it, it just had some holes in the walls and around the edges was glass and underneath the glass was lava that gave light to brighten up the room.

Vala went and looked into one of the holes in the wall and jumped back, freaked out by what she saw.

"Are you okay?" Abrax asked Vala.

"Look," Vala said, pointing to the hole.

Abrax went and took a look and came back with a scared look on his face.

"Is that real?" Abrax asked.

"Is what real?" Sundew asked. "Come on, someone tell us what you are seeing, don't leave us in the dark!"

"There are the bones of a dragon in there," Abrax said.

"Wait, there are some here too," Nail said, looking into another one of the holes.

"And over here," Kobli said.

"What is this place?" Batik asked, scared out of his mind.

"I think this is where they used to bury Spikewings that had fallen in battle," Vala said, remembering what King Blade had said to her.

"Ok, that will be giving me nightmares for the rest of my life," Kobli said. "No matter though, we have to keep moving, that smoke is starting to clear up.

Vala turned around and saw the smoke start to clear up and on the other side she saw Spikewing guards looking for them.

"Come on, down the tunnel," Nail said, charging forwards with Batik beside him.

Vala followed after them with everyone else behind her. They ran down the tunnel and saw that the tunnel split into four different tunnels. They decided to run down the far left tunnel but quickly messed up the far right tunnel to make it seem like they went that way. They kept running until they saw an opening into a cavern. Vala ran out with the rest into the cavern and stopped to catch her breath.

"It looks like we lost them," Sundew said, being the last one to exit the tunnel.

"Good," Nail said. "I thought we were going to be running forever."

"So, where are we?" Batik asked.

Vala looked around with the group and it looked like a normal cavern but Vala heard the sound of rushing water coming from somewhere in front of them. Vala walked forwards to try to figure out where it was coming from and almost fell into a hole that appeared in front of her.

"Watch out Vala!" Abrax said and tackled her to the side before she fell into the pit. Vala felt dazed but was alive.

"Thanks," Vala said. "That came out of nowhere."

"Look," Nova said. "A waterfall is right here coming down into the hole."

"Yeah," Nail said. "But I can't see the bottom. What is this?"

"This is the pit that Spikewings aren't allowed to go down anymore," Abrax said. "Horrible stories have been told about what's down there. Death, destruction, dragonbite vipers, not a place you want to be."

"So let's leave this place then," Kobli said. "I see a tunnel on the other end of the pit, let's fly over there and leave."

"Uh, one thing," Nova said. "Me and Vala can't fly because of our sprained wings."

"Shoot," Kobli said.

"Great, now what do we do?" Sundew asked.

"I don't know," Nail said. "Or… maybe I do!"

"Huh?" Batik said. "What did you think of?"

"You see Vala and Nova each have an opposite wing sprain," Nail said.

"Yes, what about that?" Kobli asked.

"Well they may not be able to fly over the gap by themselves, but maybe they can do it together!"

"How's that going to work?" Sundew asked.

"Simple," Nail said. "Anyone have any rope?"

"Here," Sundew said, pulling some out of one of her pouches.

"Good," Nail said. "Now Vala, I need you and Nova to stand by each other with each of your good wings able to stretch out."

"Okay?" Vala said.

"Are you sure about this?" Nova asked.

"I'm positive," Nail said and started wrapping the rope around Vala and Nova's body. He wrapped it multiple times to where it started getting tight around Vala's chest.

"And done," Nail said, tying a knot to secure the rope around Nova and Vala.

"Okay so how is this supposed to work?" Vala asked.

"Simple," Nail said. "You each have to work together and flap your wings together to help each other fly across the gap."

"I don't know about this," Kobli said. "Seems risky."

"Well I don't think we have another choice," Sundew said. "Look!"

Vala looked down the tunnel they had come out of and saw the Spikewings guards running down the tunnel.

"They found us!" Batik said.

"Quickly it's now or never!" Kobli said and flew across the gap. Sundew, Nail, and Batik followed after her, leaving Nova, Vala, and Abrax there on the other side.

"Come on, you two need to work together," Abrax said. "Put aside your differences and my feelings towards you and just fly!"

"Are you sure?" Vala asked.

"Yes!" Abrax said and then the guards were getting closer to where Vala could hear their yelling.

"Get them!"

"Kill those traitors!"

"Don't let them get away!"

"It's now or never!" Nova said to Vala.

"Okay, let's do this!" Vala said. "On three."

"Three, two, one, now!" they both said in sync. They ran forwards and started flapping their goods wings and felt themselves getting off the ground.

"Great, keep going!" Abrax said, from beside them.

"We've got this Abrax, go join the others," Vala said.

"No way, I'm making sure that you make it," Abrax said.

They were flying perfectly in sync and were almost on the other side when Vala looked behind her and saw Queen Helen emerge from the tunnel.

Oh you aren't escaping today! Vala heard from Queen Helen's mind. Do it now.

Huh? Vala thought and then a bright flash of light appeared in front of her. In front of her a dragon appeared and from what she had learned, she had a feeling she knew who this dragon was. Queen Ash.

"Goodbye," Queen Ash said and touched the rope around Vala and Nova which made it burst into flames immediately and snap in half. And as fast as Queen Ash appeared, she disappeared before anyone else saw her. And that left Vala and Nova helplessly falling into the darkness of the pit, with no hope to save themselves.

"Vala, Nova!" Abrax shouted and flew down and tried to pull them up but started falling down with them.

Must save them! Vala heard Abrax thinking before he smacked into the wall and got knocked out. And that was the last thing Vala saw before the darkness of the pit swallowed them up.