Alright! Back to Cyclone!
(I'm glad you love it, guest reviewer.)
For some time, the Dragonets continued feeding the flames in the Scrolls Cave until they heard the boulder slide open. Cyclone and the others quietly ran to the opening to find Tsunami, Flora, and Clay in the doorway; the large gray boulder was rolled aside.
Cyclone heard the rustling of parchment behind him and looked. Anion had as much scrolls as he could carry tucked in his wings. "Oh no you don't." He rushed to him and chucked them back into the Scrolls Cave. "You and Winter have already memorized them, and we don't need the extra weight."
Anion stared at the scrolls, his wings drooped and his tail lowered to the floor. Winter looked at him sympathetically.
Flare ran to Clay and cheered, "You did it!"
Winter's crest of spines stood straight up and her ruff of extra horns bristled. "I hear something." She warned. "Wingbeats."
"Kestrel must be coming." Umbra rushed to get the other Dragonets. After a short while she, Ray, and Candor came zooming out of the scrolls cave.
"All here." Umbra announced, the others by her side.
"Hurry up, we need to get out of here before Kestrel comes back." Tsunami ordered.
"Oh, really? Kestrel is a part of this? I'll be glad to rip her throat out after all these years." The Dragonets whirled around, there, in the doorway, was Cyclone's mother, with a row of Skywings behind her. "I haven't seen her in… nine years! How pleasant this reunion will be." Her cheerful tone contradicted the rage in her eyes. He'd always known that she wasn't a good dragon, but it hurt him to see where he came from in person.
"Who-who are you?" Flare trembled.
"Now this is getting insulting. You all live in my territory, under my mountain, and I'm the most important dragon for hundreds of miles." Cyclone resisted a snort. "How DARE you not recognize me!"
"Queen Vulture of the Skywings…" Anion breathed in awe and fear.
"Now that's more like it. Three moons, it's gloomy in here." She spotted the library, and let out a bolt of electricity, setting the room ablaze.
Anion stared, mortified, at his precious scrolls, then he looked at the queen. To Cyclone's disbelief, he was scowling. Clay then stepped in front of Cyclone and the others, trying to protect them.
"My goodness!" Queen Vulture said, squinting, "You're a Voidwing!" She batted Clay aside like a branch in the way, and grabbed Anion's chin. Clay moved to get between her and Anion, but the Skywing soldiers moved closer, stopping him in his tracks. "How thrilling! You're only nine! They don't normally let their dragonets out into the world, something about corrupting Voidwing superior perfection, you know." She breathed some yellow clouds into his face, and Anion coughed. "I've never had a Voidwing in my arena before! Thrilling, thrilling. Are you an Animus? Tell me, what am I thinking right now?"
Cyclone saw Anion carefully study the queen's expression, then look her in the eye. "You think we're the Dragonets of Fate…"
Nice bluff. Cyclone thought.
Queen Vulture's eyes widened briefly, and she said, "Just absolutely thrilling! I would love to see a Voidwing in my arena!"
"What is going on out here?" Dune grumbled, limping into the cave. He stopped at the sight of the Skywings, and when he saw the queen, Cyclone saw fear in his face for the first time in his life. "WEBS!" Dune bellowed, then he hurtled himself across the cave towards the queen.
"Stop! Dune! They'll hurt you!" Flare screamed, then zoomed toward the queen's flank. Smoke was beginning to come out of her nose, indicating that she was about to breathe fire. A guard yanked her back by her tail, and the two engaged in a claw to claw fight. Flare maneuvered around the Skywing's talons, and sent a barrage of smoke in his face.
Cyclone froze. He couldn't make himself move. He couldn't process what was happening. His own mother was... and how many soldiers... and he might have to...
Dune didn't seem to hear Flare, he seized Queen Vulture by her neck and flung her away from Anion. "Don't touch them!" He roared, "You'll never get your claws on them."
The Queen angled her wings and twisted in the air, landing on her feet, facing him. "They're mine now." She snarled, and launched herself at Dune.
Webs came bolting into the cave with the other Guardians just as the soldiers dashed toward their queen. Webs didn't even think. He threw himself in front of them and whacked three with his tail, and raked the underbelly of another. Cyclone didn't know he could be so dangerous.
Tsunami leapt into the battle. One soldier, after receiving Tsunami's teeth to his neck, was laying on the cave floor, bleeding out. Cyclone thought he would never get up again. Flora joined Paradise; she was looping around them and trying to hit them with puffs of poison. The other dragonets, even Anion, began fighting the soldiers – but Cyclone remained unable to move.
Dune threw Queen Vulture into a stalagmite and shouted, "These dragonets are sacred!" He jabbed his claws into her neck. "These are the Dragonets of the Prophecy!" He proceeded to attempt to choke her, and roared right into her face, "You CANNOT have them!"
Queen Vulture scored her talons along his wing, putting new marks in it. Dragon membranes were thick, but thinned to a point on the edges, and almost as tough as scales, but with enough force, they can be ripped open, like what happened so long ago to Dune. Thankfully, the Skywing queen didn't claw hard enough. Dune let out a yelp of pain and released his hold on the queen's neck. Queen Vulture took the opportunity and pinned Dune. "I always find the ones who betray me in the end, and they attacked me, so, here I am. What a thrilling time I'm having as well…" She said the word 'thrilling' with as much evil that she could.
Cyclone roared as loud as he could, his glowscales flaring in anger. He dove for the soldier trying to capture him. He stuck one claw into the soldier's throat and yanked to the right. There was no time to make sure he was dead.
Cyclone looked up from the collapsing Skywing, and spotted Flare backed up against the corner, much like their play fight yesterday. Cyclone rushed to help her. The Skywing soldier lunged at Flare, and Cyclone intervened, taking a bite out of the soldier's arm. He was furious and pinned Cyclone. Out of the corner of his eye, Cyclone saw Flare rush over, raise her tail, and jab her barb into his neck, reddening the area. Cyclone rolled out of the way before the dragon fell on him, and found himself standing face-to-face with Kestrel.
Kestrel ignored him, "Poor, poor Vulture," She said bitingly, omitting the title 'Queen'. "Everyone betrays you. Well, you've got me now, let the others go. They are worthless to you."
Queen Vulture glanced toward Cyclone, then she turned back toward Kestrel. "Kestrel, that sounded like an order. Have you switched from disobeying orders to giving them now?"
"I won't fight," Kestrel said, her voice cold and hard, "I'll come with you. Just leave them. These dragonets have nothing to do with the Skywings."
"You will come with me." Said Queen Vulture. "Funny that you thought you had a choice about that. We've got a thrilling trial planned, followed by an even more thrilling execution. But as for these dragonets…" He turned toward Cyclone and his friends. "You cannot expect me to give up prizes like this."
"They're no prizes. They're useless. Every one of them." Kestrel snorted.
The queen's tongue flicked in and out of her mouth. "Look at what happened to my guards, they're all lying on the floor, bleeding to death. You can't expect that to be the fault of just you ten. That's selfish." She stepped over a body to get closer to Cyclone. "Besides, I need them." She glanced toward the others. "They're the new blood my arena needs; they can kill, and I would be terribly sad to let them go." Flare made a sick noise.
Just then, even more soldiers than before entered the cave, but the cave was large enough not to be crowded. One soldier stood by every dragon, worriedly glancing at the pools of golden blood forming around the dead Skywings. "Take them all." Queen Vulture ordered; and the Skywings seized each dragon.
Kestrel suddenly lunged at the Skywing solder clutching Webs and ripped him free. "Tell the Talons." She snarled, shoving Webs toward the river. He dove into the water, and was gone before anyone could stop him.
"Ooo," Queen Vulture exclaimed, "The Talons of Peace. I hope they try storming my Sky Palace to save you. That would be thrilling fun. Especially the part where I slaughter them all."
The soldiers escorted them outside, Queen Vulture cleared her throat and pointed at Kestrel. "Keep her. The other adults are useless to me." She growled. "Release them."
The Guardians – minus Kestrel – solemnly nodded and bolted out of the cave toward who-knows-where.
Cyclone's heart ached. They'd come so close to freedom, but now they were far worse off than before. Life under the mountain had felt like prison. . . But he knew it was nothing compared to being trapped in the claws of the Skywing Queen.
Mommy troubles, right? No? Okay.
I'm actually enjoying putting this up and editing it in the process; something about the fact that I'm showing people the story makes my editing mode go into hyperdrive.
Thanks for reading and thank you so much to anyone who reviews!