The Dragonet Prophecy (14 page)

“Well, I’ll have powers eventually,” Starflight had huffed. “Maybe it’s something NightWings develop when we’re older. You’re supposed to be studying, not making fun of me!”

“I wasn’t making fun,” Clay had protested. It was true he’d been trying to distract Starflight from studying, though. But of course that never worked for long.

Now Clay scraped at the floor under the boulder. He actually missed Starflight. More than that, he was worried about him. How had Kestrel reacted when she couldn’t find Clay, Tsunami, or Glory? She wouldn’t hurt Starflight or Sunny … would she?

Suddenly his claws caught on something. He flattened himself to the stone floor and peered underneath the boulder. A long, sturdy stick was jammed under the rock, holding it in place.

“Here,” he whispered to Tsunami. He wrapped his talons around the stick and tried to yank it free. After a few tries, he realized it wouldn’t come loose, but it did move from side to side. He tried sliding it sideways, and the boulder began to roll. He stopped quickly and looked at Tsunami.

“What if Webs and Dune are waiting for us?” Clay asked.

“They can’t stop us, not all five of us — not if we all fight. The only way they kept us in was by blocking the way out. Once it’s open … we’ll all be free.” Tsunami let out a long breath.

“All right,” Clay said, gritting his teeth. “Let’s do this.”

He shoved the stick as hard as he could. The boulder slowly rolled aside with a soft scraping sound. The central cave came into view, and a shiver ran along Clay’s tail at how strange it looked from the outside.

A forlorn little shape was huddled by the river, trailing her talons in the water. She turned as the boulder moved, and her gray-green eyes went wide.

“Shhh,” Tsunami hissed quietly, bounding across the cave toward her. Sunny leaped up at the same moment and threw her wings open. She pressed her front talons to her snout, beaming.

“You did it!” she whispered.

Clay glanced at the tunnel that led to the guardians’ cave. Even if Tsunami was right that Webs and Dune couldn’t stop them, he didn’t want to stick around and find out. “Where are the others?” he asked quietly.

“I’ll get Starflight,” Sunny said, heading for the study cave. “Glory — I don’t know.” She glanced up at the stalactites. Clay felt a stab of worry. Was Glory all right? What if something had happened to her while she was camouflaged — would she have stayed invisible? What if she had fallen off a stalagmite or flown into an outcropping and hurt herself? What if —

“Right here,” a voice whispered in his ear. Soft wings brushed his, and Glory’s long shape shimmered into view. Her scales shifted from gray and black to a warm golden orange flecked with dark blue.

“You’re all right,” Clay said. In his relief, he twined his tail around hers without thinking.

She tensed, but she didn’t pull away immediately like she normally would. Instead she nudged him with her elegant snout. “Of course I am,” she said. “I would have been fine on my own, you know.”

Perhaps she felt his wings droop, because she added, “But thank you for doing insanely dangerous things for me anyway.”

“Anytime,” Clay said happily.

Glory stepped back and nodded at where Starflight was staggering out of the tunnel from the study cave.

“Kestrel was pretty furious,” she said. “I just had to listen to her from my hiding place. Those two got the brunt of it.”

Clay started forward, but Tsunami and Sunny were already on either side of Starflight. For a horrible moment he thought Starflight was limping — that he’d been beaten or burned or terribly injured by Kestrel.

Then he realized that Starflight was moving oddly because he was carrying a giant sack of scrolls on his back.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Tsunami said, pulling it away from him. “We don’t need these. And you’ve already read them all a thousand times.”

“We might need them,” Starflight protested, yanking it back. “They’ll tell us what’s safe to eat and all the different tribal customs and how to fly in bad weather and —”

“
You
can tell us all those things,” Clay said. “You’re going to anyway.”

“But what if I forget something important?” Starflight fretted.

“Ha. You’d be a lot more likable if you ever did forget anything,” Glory said.

“The only thing that’s important is getting out of here right now,” Tsunami said. “Before Webs and Dune wake up.”

“And before Kestrel comes back,” Glory added.

“What
thrilling
news. Kestrel is part of this? I’ve been looking for
her
for an awfully long time.”

The five dragonets whirled around.

Queen Scarlet was standing in the entranceway. Behind her, the tunnel was blocked by a row of SkyWings in different shades of flame — all of them large, all of them breathing small spurts of fire, and all of them angry.

But none of them looked as angry as the queen of the SkyWings.

“I haven’t seen Kestrel in, what, seven years?” Queen Scarlet said in a pleasant voice that didn’t match the rage in her eyes. “What a fun reunion this is going to be.” She whipped her tail back and forth behind her. “All my least favorite dragons in one place.”

Clay was the closest dragonet to her. He took a step back toward his friends and spread his wings. She’d have to go through him to get to them. He hoped she couldn’t see how his claws were shaking.

“You followed us here,” Tsunami said in a choked voice.

“Oh, I didn’t have to,” said the queen. “Someone sent up a lovely, helpful smoke signal for me. Led us all right here. What a brilliant idea.”

My
idea
, Clay thought, horrified.
This is my fault. I brought the SkyWings down on us.

“Who — who are you?” Sunny squeaked.

“Now really, this is getting insulting,” said the queen. “You’re in
my
territory. Apparently you’re living under
my
mountain. I am
only
the most important dragon for
hundreds of miles
. How
dare
you not recognize me?” She arched her neck and spread her bejeweled wings.

“Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings,” Starflight breathed. He crouched low, touching his head to the floor and crossing his front talons together.

“Now that’s more like it,” she said, striding into the cave. “Three moons, it’s gloomy in here.” She glanced around, spotted Starflight’s sack of scrolls, and set it ablaze with one burst of fire.

Starflight stared at the burning scrolls, frozen in place. Clay edged sideways, trying to shield him and Sunny and Glory all at once. If only he were bigger!

“My goodness,” Queen Scarlet said, squinting. “You’re a NightWing!” She batted Clay aside as if he were made of leaves and grabbed Starflight’s chin. Clay scrambled up again and took a step toward her, but the clanking of armor and grim expressions of the SkyWings spilling into the cave made him stop.

“A NightWing not yet ten years old,” Queen Scarlet said, turning Starflight around and prodding his scales like he was a cow she planned to eat for dinner. “How thrilling! They don’t normally let their dragonets out into the world. We might corrupt their superior perfection or something, you know.” She breathed smoke into his face, and he coughed. “I’ve never had a NightWing in my arena before. Thrilling, thrilling! Tell me, what am I thinking right now?”

Starflight’s expression was pure terror.

“Too hard?” Queen Scarlet teased. “I’ll give you a hint. I’m thinking — now why would a NightWing, a SeaWing, and a MudWing be hiding out under my mountain? Along with whatever those two are that the MudWing is cutely trying to protect?” She flicked her tail at Glory and Sunny. Clay shivered as the queen leaned closer to Starflight. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain prophecy, would it?”

“What is going on out here?” Dune grumbled, limping into the cave. He stopped short at the sight of the SkyWings. His black eyes turned slowly toward the queen, and Clay saw fear on his face for the first time ever.

“Webs!” he yelled, and then the maimed SandWing hurtled across the cave toward the queen.

“Stop!” Sunny shrieked. “They’ll hurt you!”

Dune didn’t seem to hear her. He seized Queen Scarlet and flung her away from Starflight. “Don’t touch them,” he roared. “You’ll never get your claws on them.”

The queen twisted in midair and landed on her feet facing him, hissing. “They’re mine now,” she snarled. She launched herself at Dune.

Webs came pounding into the cave just as the SkyWing soldiers erupted toward their queen. He barely paused before throwing himself in their way. His tail smacked three of them back, and his claws raked the underbelly of another. Clay had never seen him fight before. He hadn’t known Webs could be dangerous.

“Stay back,” Clay said to Sunny. “And you should hide yourself,” he added to Glory.

“Disappear while you try to die for us again?” she said. “No, thanks.” She pushed past him and went after Tsunami, who was already fighting alongside Webs. Clay shoved Sunny up onto a boulder and ran to join them.

“Wait, I can help!” Sunny called. “Can’t I?”

“These dragonets are sacred,” Dune shouted as Queen Scarlet smashed him into a stalagmite. She was smaller than him, but deceptively strong, and his old injuries slowed him down. He staggered up, gasping, with his scarred wing trailing crookedly beside him. “They’re the dragonets of destiny. You can’t have them!”

“But what if it’s
my
destiny to play with them?” she said, lashing her claws at his stump. He howled, and a stream of blood poured from the new wound. “Oh, wait, that’s right,” she said. “I don’t care about destiny. I don’t care about prophecies or any of that NightWing silliness.”

She scored her talons along his wing, ripping open the scars. “Besides, they made me awfully mad and then ran away. That happens to me far too often, but you know what? I always find the ones who betray me in the end. Even if I have to wait seven years.” The queen seized Dune by the neck and pinned him up against the wall. “Right, Kestrel?”

Clay stumbled. The SkyWing he was fighting knocked him over and trapped his tail and wings beneath four massive feet. The battle seemed to freeze for a moment, and from his crushed position, Clay saw Kestrel slide into the cave.

“Poor, poor Scarlet,” she said bitingly. “Everyone betrays you. Well, you’ve got me now. Let these worthless others go.” She didn’t even look down at the dragonets.

Clay twisted his head and met Tsunami’s eyes. He would never, never have guessed that Kestrel would give herself up to save them. Maybe she really meant it about keeping them alive. Maybe that was the only thing she cared about, no matter how much she hated them.

“Kestrel,” the queen tsked. “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 Scarlet. “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 little dragons . . .” She swept her tail toward Clay and his friends. “You can’t really expect me to give up prizes like this.”

“They’re no prizes,” Kestrel snorted. “They’re useless, every one of them.”

“Plus I’m weird-looking,” Sunny chimed in from the top of her rock.

The queen’s tongue flicked out of her mouth, and more smoke coiled around her horns. “Oh, they’re just the new blood my arena needs. It would be terribly sad to let them go. I would be too, too devastated.”

Clay tried to heave the SkyWing off him, but the soldier who had him pinned was too big. He barely glanced down at Clay’s pathetic struggles.
This would be a good time to call up that inner monster
, Clay thought, but no surge of strength or violence or rage answered him.

“Take them all,” Queen Scarlet announced. “Except this one, of course.” She shook Dune lightly, as if she were shaking the fluff off a dead pigeon. He clawed at her talons, his eyes bulging. “I mean, what use is a crippled dragon who can’t fly? I’m surprised you haven’t killed yourself already, SandWing. But I can take care of that for you.”

“No!” Sunny screamed, leaping at them.

But it was too late. With a chilling
crack
, Queen Scarlet snapped Dune’s neck and dropped his body on the stone floor.

“Dune!” Sunny howled. She squirmed past Scarlet and crouched beside him, shaking him with her front talons. His mangled wing flopped, and his scales scraped against the rocks. His black eyes were empty. “Dune, wake up!”

Clay was too horrified to move, even if he could have escaped the SkyWing soldier.
Dune is dead, and it’s all my fault. I came up with the smoke-signal plan. I brought the SkyWings here to kill him.

Who else is going to die because of me?

Kestrel suddenly lunged at the SkyWing soldiers. She grabbed the one who was clutching Webs and ripped him free. “Tell the Talons,” she snarled, shoving Webs toward the river.