Iris flapped her wings and leaped away from another set of talons. "Leave me alone!" She slapped away a pair of vicious jaws. "I don't want to hurt you!"
The sand seemed to barely hold her up, and Iris felt herself sinking deeper into the arena floor. Pale, faceless dragons clawed at her, hundreds of them all piling on top of her. Suddenly, a strong claw gripped her forearm and dragged her to the surface. A Mudwing face stared back at her.
"Clay!" Iris went to wrap her wings around him, but he stepped back quickly.
"Are you alright?" She glanced around, noticing the ghost-like dragons had disappeared. "Hey, where did all of those dragons go?"
Clay said nothing. He turned and walked into the center of the arena. Iris to ran after him, but bars slammed down in front of her, blocking her way.
"Clay!" She screeched and reached through the bars. The Mudwing didn't even look back at her.
A scream ripped through the arena, "ICEWING!"
A cloud of white and blue, all too vibrant to be real, hovered over the arena. In a swift motion, it descended on the single dragonet standing in the middle.
"CLAY OF THE MUDWINGS!"
Iris jerked her head up from the stone floor, gasping for air. She leapt up and turned in a circle, punctuating each step with a sharp gasp.
The Skywing on the pavilion next to her jumped back, giving her a bewildered stare.
Iris was about to ask him what he was looking at when a shout from below caught her attention.
"Fight!"
Down in the arena, two opponents faced each other. One was wearing a nervous sort-of half-smile, while the other bore an ugly grimace with a jagged scar running down his face.
Iris noticed with a start that the nervous one was, undoubtedly, Clay, though she had no idea who the other opponent was, besides the fact that he was an Icewing.
Oh no, he's fighting in the arena!
Her mind instantly started flashing through the possibilities, Clay dying, the Icewing dying, Queen Scarlet killing them both, an asteroid falling from space and striking the whole Skywing kingdom dead…
The Rainwing shook her head as if clearing away the flood of thoughts. Her talon began to tap the stone nervously, rat-a-TAT, rat-a-TAT, rat-a-TAT. The steady beat began to fill her head.
She watched Clay jump around on the sand and narrowly avoid the Icewing's serrated claws.
A dangerous thought began to creep into her head, a scary phrase from an old friend.
It's not like that here, you have to. They make you.
Thoughts started flooding Iris' mind, more and more rushing in each second.
Will Clay kill that Icewing? Do I want him to kill that Icewing? If he does, will I ever be able to look at him the same way? Will he turn out like Grouper? What did Grouper even turn out like? I didn't give him a chance to explain. Maybe I should try and talk to him? No, he killed dragons, plus, to even get near him I would have to escape this prison. Wait, Clay's pinned down. No, no, Clay, get up!
"C'mon Clay!" Iris roared, pounding her tail against the stone. Pain spiked along where her tail hit, but she paid no attention. "Clay, fight! Sunny needs you!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Iris saw a blue blur hurl itself off one of the prisons. She turned and saw Tsunami pulling at the wires mid-air, trying to get down to Clay. It reminded her of a shiny blue beetle caught in a spider's web. Prisoners around her fought desperately to keep from being pulled off of their own spires, holding the Seawing up in the process.
Iris heard a disgruntled cry from the Queen below. A few dragons in the stands booed at Tsunami for interrupting their fun. Prisoners around the circle screamed at her to stop so they wouldn't fall to their deaths.
Then there was the worst scream.
A terrifyingly loud, brutal, scale-peeling, scream. A scream that Iris recognized.
A scene unfolded in her head. A group of young dragonets playing in the jungle. One says something along the lines of, "Watch this." A stream of venom shoots from their mouth in the direction of a banana tree. It lands directly on one of the leaves. The dragonets are impressed for a moment. Then the screams begin.
Another dragonet had been sitting perfectly still on the tree, camouflaged, spying, most likely. The venom landed on her foot. A foot that looked exactly like the leaf of a banana tree.
Iris turned to look back at the fight. Paranoia and horror crashed together like waves in her head, but she wasn't just being paranoid, she was right.
The Icewing's face had already turned into something unrecognizable. An ugly mess of melted flesh and scales that looked the tree sap, bits of bone could be seen through the skin that now more closely resembled soup.
Iris once again buried her head underneath her wings. She heard the scrawny dragon next to her throw up. She spent a few minutes trying to erase the image from her mind.
Then, after her mind was finally back to some semblance of stability, a new thought occurred to her.
That was Rainwing venom. There are no other Rainwings in the Sky prisons. I didn't spray that prisoner.
She slowly lifted her head out from underneath her wings. Her eyes settled on the marble tree sitting next to Queen Scarlet's throne.
Glory?