The Dragonet Prophecy (25 page)

“WOO HOOOO!” the crowd agreed.

“So what’s the best way to punish a SeaWing?” Vermilion swooped over the crowd, trying to look as if he was perfectly comfortable in the air instead of on the sands where he usually did his announcing.

“Chop off his head!”

“Stuff grass in his gills!”

“Drown him!”

Vermilion sighed. “All good suggestions,” he said. “But no. The best way to punish a SeaWing — is to take away their water.
All
their water. For months.”

Tsunami looked up at the queen’s balcony and met Clay’s eyes. Her scales were pale with horror.

The writhing SeaWing landed hard on the sands, dropped by the guards. He was twice as big as Tsunami, with talons as sharp and curved as fishhooks. Dried blood flecked his mouth as if he’d been trying to drink from his own veins. His scales were dull and crusted, and his dark green eyes were bloodshot and rolling wildly in his emaciated skull.

He looked completely insane.

“Dehydrated, mentally unstable, and ready to fight at last. It’s Gill of the Seawings! Claws up, tails ready! Fight!”

Gill didn’t wait for Vermilion’s order. He tore across the sand toward Tsunami as soon as he’d recovered his balance. His mouth was open as if he thought he was roaring, but no sound came out. His tongue, purple and swollen, lolled to the side.

Tsunami leaped over his head and ducked into a roll as she landed, carrying her halfway across the arena. She spun to face him as Gill turned and charged her again.

“He’s fast,” Starflight whispered to Clay. “He’s desperate.”

“Tsunami’s fast, too,” Clay said. But he wondered if she was feeling everything he’d felt, down on the sands. Facing her first battle to the death, was she hesitant to kill another dragon? Because Gill wouldn’t hesitate at all. He couldn’t be distracted like Fjord. He’d been driven mad with thirst, and he’d tear Tsunami apart without knowing what he was doing.

The big green dragon reared up with his wings spread and tried to slam himself down on Tsunami’s back. She slashed at his underbelly with her claws. Bright red blood spurted over her blue scales. Gill’s talons slipped off her back, and he crashed face-first into the sand as she shot out of the way.

He was up immediately, lunging after her. His claws seized her tail and he yanked hard, lifting her off her feet. She wriggled in midair and sank her teeth into the webbed skin between his talons.

Gill did his soundless roar again. There was something unearthly about watching dragons fight in silence. It made Clay feel like his scales were crawling across his back.

Gill dropped Tsunami and she whirled quickly, smashing her tail into his legs. The big SeaWing went over like a toppling boulder. The thud of his body landing shook the whole stadium.

Tsunami pounced on his head, pinning his wings with her back talons. She seized his horns in her front claws and shoved his face into the sand. His tail thrashed, bucking her up and down, but Tsunami’s weight was too much for him to throw off.

“I’ve won,” Tsunami shouted. “You can all see that. We can end this now, without killing anyone. I ask you all to let me let him live!”

There was a stunned silence across the arena. Clay glanced at Queen Scarlet, wondering if she would stand up to argue with Tsunami. But her expression was smug, as if she knew exactly what would happen next.

“KILL HIM!” several SkyWings shouted at once. “Snap his neck! Pull out his teeth! Oooo, gouge his eyes! Something gory! Death! Death! Death! Death!” Suddenly all the dragons were shouting at her in unison.

Tsunami lowered her head, breathing hard. She seemed to be studying Gill, perhaps wondering if there was any way to bring him back from the madness.

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Starflight said. “It’s her life or his. If she lets him go, he’ll kill her right away. She has to know that.”

Yes, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier
, Clay thought.

“Perhaps our ‘dragonet of destiny’ doesn’t have the stomach for battle,” Queen Scarlet called snidely. “Maybe war is
too scary
for her. Perhaps she’d like to go back into hiding instead?”

Tsunami lifted her chin and stared straight into Queen Scarlet’s eyes. With a wrench of her talons, she snapped Gill’s neck in one clean break. The expression on her face said, all too clearly,
I’m imagining this is you.

“Disappointing,” Queen Scarlet said to Burn, as the crowd of dragons erupted in cheers.

“Catastrophic,” Burn growled. “Look, the idiots love her now.”

Dragons were leaning over the top of the arena walls to throw small jewels at Tsunami. A couple of little emeralds bounced off her scales as she dropped Gill’s head and stepped back from his limp body.

Tsunami gave the cheering dragons a disgusted look, but that didn’t stop them.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” said Queen Scarlet. She rubbed her front talons together. “But now it’s time for the NightWing! My hatching-day present to me!”

Starflight’s terrified eyes locked with Clay’s. All his know-it-all superiority vanished in a heartbeat.

“Wait!” Clay cried as the guards started to unchain Starflight. “Let me fight for him instead!”

“These dragonets,” Scarlet said, waving a claw at Burn. “Constantly pushing and shoving to save each other. It’s just the weirdest thing.” She signaled to the guards with one talon, and they hauled Starflight off to the tunnel. Clay leaned his full weight against his chains, trying to break free, but they held fast.

“You’re not spoiling this for me, MudWing,” Scarlet said. “I’ve been dying to see the NightWing fight. He’s so very sparkly and good-looking. I think after he’s dead I’ll cut off his wings and hang them on my throne room walls. Wouldn’t that be magnificent and thrilling? All those silver scales sparkling like diamonds against obsidian. I
love
it.”

Burn growled low in her throat. “This is a frivolous palace,” she muttered.

“Careful how you speak of your allies,” Scarlet said. “Remember you need us.”

Burn shifted her wings and kept her mouth shut.

No one had chained up Tsunami after her fight. She was still standing in the arena, her back turned to the SeaWing corpse, which was already beginning to smell of dead fish.

Then Starflight was shoved out of the tunnel, and Clay realized what Scarlet’s plan was. Hope fluttered inside him. Tsunami would never kill Starflight. Not in a million years. Not even to stop one of his endless lectures about the science of fire-breathing.

“The rarest of all dragons,” Vermilion called from the safety of a ledge opposite the queen’s balcony. “A real live NightWing. Is he the dragonet of the prophecy? Let’s see what happens when two of them have to fight each other. Tsunami of the SeaWings and Starflight of the NightWings! Claws up, teeth ready! Fight!”

Tsunami and Starflight stood looking at each other. Tsunami’s sides were heaving, and she was covered in Gill’s blood. She looked a bit scarier than usual, and Starflight clawed the sand nervously, as if he wasn’t entirely sure she
wouldn’t
snap and kill him.

Slowly Tsunami walked over to Starflight. He opened his wings, and she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“BOOO … ooo?” called a solitary voice from the crowd, dropping off as no one joined in.

“Awwwww,” went a few dragons in the upper seats, far enough from the queen that they wouldn’t be recognized.

“This is getting worse and worse,” Burn hissed through gritted teeth.

“Aren’t you going to fight?” Queen Scarlet called. Tsunami and Starflight didn’t even look up. “That’s very annoying,” the queen added. “Go on, you’ve been stuck with each other for years. You must be ready to kill her, NightWing. Doesn’t she drive you mad?”

Clay looked over at Glory, wishing she’d smile at him. She’d joked often enough about ways to shut up both Tsunami and Starflight. But her eyes stayed closed.

“No?” Scarlet leaned forward. “Oh, fine, be the worst gladiators ever. Vermilion! Release the scavengers!”

Vermilion flapped his wings, and a huge cage came rolling out of the tunnel. The queen’s son flew to the top of it and bit down to sever the cord that held the door. The door fell open, and four scavengers burst onto the sand, waving claws and squeaking ferociously.

“Scavengers? To kill the dragonets of the prophecy? Are you mad?” Burn snarled.

“Well, it only took one to get your mother,” Scarlet observed. Burn’s head whipped around, her venomous tail arching up toward the SkyWing queen.

“Oh, calm down,” Scarlet said with a snort. “It’ll be fun. I’ve got more things waiting in the wings to kill them if this doesn’t work. This is the only NightWing I’ll probably ever get in my arena, and I want to see him fight
everything
.”

Clay leaned forward, worried. They’d never practiced fighting or hunting scavengers. Scavengers only attacked dragons with treasure, and the dragonets didn’t have anything. He wondered if Starflight had read about their fighting techniques in any of his scrolls.

Then again, scavengers were still prey, only a little fiercer and pointier. The guardians would often release animals in the caves for the dragonets to chase, so they could learn hunting skills. Were scavengers really any different from lizards or goats or ostriches?

Tsunami pushed Starflight back against the wall and spread her wings in front of him, baring her teeth at the scavengers. Three of them ran right at her; the fourth took one look and bolted for the tunnel entrance.

Well, it wasn’t normal for prey to run
at
a dragon. So perhaps scavengers were a little different after all.

Tsunami cuffed aside the first scavenger with a swipe that sent it flying into the seats. All the closest dragons lunged for it, clawing and shouting and climbing over each other to catch it. The scavenger landed, screaming, in one SkyWing’s outstretched talons, and the dragon promptly ate him.

The other two scavengers skidded to a stop and backpedaled out of Tsunami’s reach. She flicked her tongue at them.

Meanwhile, the scavenger who had tried to run came hurtling back out of the tunnel, herded by a trio of large SkyWing guards holding long spears. He pelted across the sand, letting out one long shriek of fear, until he crashed into the opposite wall and fell over. He didn’t get up again.

“This is going well,” Burn muttered. “The NightWing isn’t even doing anything.”

“The other two scavengers are female,” Scarlet pointed out. “They sometimes last a bit longer.”

One of the scavengers pointed, and they split up, circling Tsunami from different directions. They approached slowly, each holding out a silvery claw. Tsunami eyed them until she couldn’t watch them both at once. Then she turned and lunged at the one on her left.

That one darted under her talons and stabbed at her underbelly. Tsunami yelped and reached to grab the scavenger, but it had already scurried away.

At the same time, the other scavenger shot behind Tsunami’s back and threw herself at Starflight. The NightWing tried to bat her away like Tsunami had done, but she swerved around his claws. Suddenly she was climbing up his front leg and before he could shake her off, she scrabbled onto his back.

Clay tensed. He’d never seen a move like that. Definitely not something a cow would try.

Starflight tried to twist his head over his shoulder to bite at the scavenger, but she moved fast, clinging to his scales like a salamander going up a rock. He shook his head furiously and reached up to claw her off. She wriggled aside, and he accidentally clawed his own neck. A thin trail of blood trickled from his scales.

“Not very impressive,” Queen Scarlet sniffed. “I suppose they can’t read scavenger minds. Not enough going on in there.”

Clay clenched his talons. That scavenger was getting close to Starflight’s snout. If she stabbed that claw into one of his eyes . . .

“Tsunami!” he yelled.

Tsunami was halfway across the arena, chasing the scavenger who’d attacked her. Tsunami was faster, but the scavenger kept changing directions and running underneath her. At Clay’s call, Tsunami whipped around and saw Starflight’s danger.

She raced toward him, but before she got there, Starflight suddenly gritted his teeth and slammed his head to the ground. The scavenger was flung forward over his horns, landing hard and rolling into the wall. Almost instantly she was up and staggering away from his teeth, which snapped on empty air.

Starflight didn’t chase her. He stood rubbing his head, watching the scavenger stumble on the churned-up sand. When Tsunami started past him, he reached out and stopped her. Tsunami’s own scavenger ran by and helped Starflight’s scavenger lean against the wall. The two scavengers glared around at the stadium full of dragons. Loud angry squeaking noises came out of both of them.

“You’re right,” Scarlet said with a sigh to Burn. “This isn’t nearly as thrilling as I thought it would be. Let’s go straight to the IceWings!” she shouted across to Vermilion.

He signaled, and guards took off from all over the stadium. Clay watched in dread as they scattered to the IceWing prisoners. He counted at least eight IceWings up there. He vaguely remembered something from one of Starflight’s lectures about how IceWings hated NightWings from some long-ago war.